December 18, 2019 · Blogs | On the ground | Information democracy | Disinformation and electoral interference | Equal access to the internet | Freedom of expression online

Spain: New law threatens internet freedoms

On 5 November 2019, the Royal Decree-Law 14/2019 that had been adopted on 31 October was published in the Spanish Official State Gazette (BOE). This was just five days before the general elections that would take place on 10 November, under an undefined “exceptionality and urgency”, and justified by the “challenges posed by new technologies […]

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June 15, 2016 · Blogs

It’s time to save the internet!

Net neutrality is a principle that all the internet traffic is treated equally, without blocking or slowing down certain data. Net neutrality is crucial for fair competition between online services, for innovation, and for freedom of expression online. The European Parliament adopted the Regulation on a Single Market for Electronic Communications in October 2015. That […]

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July 26, 2017 · Blogs

Copyright Directive discussed in Romania

On 23 June 2017, EDRi member Asociația pentru Tehnologie și Internet (ApTI) along with The National Association of Librarians and Public Libraries of Romania (ANBPR) and the Center for Independent Journalism (CJI) organised a meeting on the topic of the proposed EU Copyright Directive. Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Victor Negrescu took part in […]

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October 22, 2003

White paper on notice and take-down

The RightsWatch Project, a research project funded under the European Commission’s Information Society Technology programme, produced a white paper on notice and take-down of websites. During a 2 year project RightsWatch tried to develop consensus between providers, right holders and internet users about self-regulatory notice and takedown (NTD) procedures. The attempts miserably failed, since self-regulation […]

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September 11, 2013 · Blogs

LIBE inquiry on surveillance

On 5 September 2013, the Civil Liberties (LIBE) committee from the European Parliament organised a first inquiry hearing, which included Jacques Follorou from Le Monde, Jacob Applebaum from the Tor and Wikileaks projects, Alan Rusbridger, editor in chief of the Guardian, Carlos Coelho, EPP MEP and former chairman of the Echelon committee and Gerhard Schmid, former socialist MEP and rapporteur […]

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June 17, 2015 · Blogs

Belgian Constitutional Court rules against data retention

On 12 June, following two actions for annulment brought independently, the Belgian Constitutional Court ruled against the mass collection of communications metadata. This ruling is line with a recent ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidating the directive that inspired the Belgian law. The Data Retention Directive (2006/24/CE) adopted in […]

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November 17, 2010

European Commission takes next step towards data protection review

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Europäische Kommission setzt den nächsten Schritt zur Überprüfung der Datenschutzrichtlinie | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2358] The European Commission has published a Communication on “a comprehensive approach to personal data protection in the European Union”, as the final stage in the consultation process leading to a review of the 1995 Data Protection […]

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May 7, 2008

EDPS wants data protection considered by EU research projects

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) wants privacy and data protection requirements to be considered in the future EU research and technological development (RTD) projects, especially those developing information and communication technologies. The EDPS’ main role is to monitor EU developments which have an impact […]

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June 29, 2016 · Blogs

Poland adopted a controversial anti-terrorism law

On 22 June, the Polish president signed a new anti-terrorism law. The law contains measures that are inconsistent with the Polish Constitution and with the European Convention on Human Rights. The list of controversies is long: foreigners’ phone calls can be wire-tapped without a court order, and police can collect their fingerprints, biometric photos and […]

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May 7, 2014 · Blogs

Swiss data retention visualisation

The Swiss civil society group Digital Society Switzerland is working on building opposition to the practice of the “data retention” – the requirement for telecommunications companies to store for six months meta-data (such as information on who emailed or called whom, and where the telephones were located) and to make it available for law enforcement […]

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November 19, 2003

Commission holds Microsoft antitrust hearing

The European Commission has concluded a three-day hearing against Microsoft. Several competing companies made presentations to the Commission during the hearing. RealNetworks and Sun Microsystems, as well as the Computer and Communications Industry Association have accused Microsoft of abusing its dominant position in the market. The hearing, which took place on 12, 13 and 14 […]

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May 23, 2007

OECD finds the real piracy losses

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Financial Times obtained an executive summary of a new report produced by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that estimates the trade losses due to piracy and counterfeiting did not exceed 200 billion USD. The report should be endorsed by the OECD board this month and […]

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