March 12, 2008

German police raids against patent breaches at CeBit fair

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) On 6 March 2008, the German authorities raided 51 exhibitor stands at CeBit, the German information technology fair, in a search for goods suspected of infringing patents. The Hanover police stated that the reason for this action in which about 180 officials from the police, customs and […]

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March 28, 2007

General ideas behind a computer game are not copyrighted

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The UK Court of Appeal has ruled that general ideas in a computer game can be copied, in the appeal Nova Productions, producer of Pocket Money computer game, made against two rival companies, Mazooma Games and Bell Fruit Games. Nova Productions had lost its case in first […]

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October 6, 2010

EU concerns for US plans to increase the amount of bank transfer data

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [EU-Bedenken über US-Pläne zur Ausweitung des Zugriffs auf Bankdaten | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2246] The EU Commission and MEPs have requested clarifications from US Administration regarding the plans to extend existing anti-terrorism programs targeting bank transfers which would make the EU-US so-called Swift agreement invalid. The Washington Post announced on 27 […]

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November 5, 2009 · Blogs

Compromise on Amendment 138. Telecom Package finalised

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Kompromiss hinsichtlich Zusatz 138. Telekom-Paket zum Abschluss gebracht | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1565] The European Parliament (EP) and the Council were set in reaching an agreement when they started the negotiation activities on 4 November 2009 at 7 PM. After hot debates, an agreement was reached on the 5 November, a […]

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October 20, 2010

Facebook applications raise new privacy concerns again

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Neuerliche Datenschutzprobleme bei Facebook Apps | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2275] Facebook continues to raise concerns related to the privacy of its users’ personal data. According to an investigation made by Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Facebook applications such as FarmVille have been supplying identifying information of its users to several online advertising […]

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August 29, 2012

The French government wants to reinforce Internet control

On 21 August 2012, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault asked three ministers to work on relating CSA (the Superior Council of the Audiovisual) and Arcep (Telecommunications and Post regulator) asking them to coordinate their work with that of Pierre Lescure on Hadopi future. The request made by the prime minister is obviously intended to take Internet […]

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April 9, 2014 · Blogs

Google fined for Street View violating privacy in Italy

Google has paid a 1 million euro fine imposed by Garante Privacy, the Italian data protection authority. The case dates back to 2010 when, Google’s Street View cars drove across the country without being labeled clearly enough to be perfectly recognisable, and thus violating the privacy of citizens being photographed without their knowledge. The data […]

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April 25, 2007

Data retention and increased surveillance in Germany

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The German government has approved the draft legislation that implements the data retention directive, but the political opposition and the growing anti-surveillance movement shows an important resistance to the new plans of the federal Minister for the interior, Wolfgang Schäuble, who wants an ever increased surveillance. The […]

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May 7, 2008

All Italian tax payers' data made public online by the Italian Government

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) To the unpleasant surprise of many Italians, for a few hours on 30 April 2008, the Italian government, through its Agenzia delle Entrate, published on the agency website, agenziaentrate.gov.it, the financial information filed by all Italian taxpayers. Although operational only for a few hours, many people had […]

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May 9, 2007

RapidShare sues German rights holder association

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Rapidshare AG sued the German society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights (GEMA) in order to clarify the legal situation regarding free file hosting in Germany. The counter-attack from Rapidshare, a well-known free file hosting provider based in Switzerland, comes after the suit initiated in Germany […]

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September 25, 2013 · Blogs

The Russian website blacklist shows its limits

Russia has operated since 2012 a national blacklist of sites that allegedly do not comply with the law. The website blacklist currently includes hundreds of websites, from those promoting drug taking and suicide to those offering child pornography, but also sites that infringe the anti-piracy law. All these websites are to be blocked at the ISP level. Moreover, the legislation […]

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June 6, 2007

Legislation banning "Hacking tools" in Germany

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The laws on computer crimes have become stricter in Germany where the creation, use or distribution of so-called “hacking tools” have been banned. On 23 May 2007, the Committee on Legal Affairs of the Bundestag (the lower chamber of Germany’s Federal Parliament) approved a controversial government bill […]

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