September 23, 2015 · Blogs

Two Danes arrested for publishing information about Popcorn Time

The Popcorn Time software has become a popular way of watching movies and TV shows online. The user is presented with an interface that has the look and feel of established streaming services, such as Netflix. In many cases, Popcorn Time is used to access content made available without the authorisation of the rights-holders, but stopping […]

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December 19, 2012 · Blogs

Digitale Gesellschaft promotes net neutrality with Vodafail actions

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Vodafail: Digitale Gesellschaft setzt sich für Netzneutralität ein | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.24_Vodafail_Digitale_Gesellschaft_setzt_sich_fuer_Netzneutralitaet_ein?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121219] There are only a few telecom operators in Germany which offer mobile Internet. The two largest, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone, harm net neutrality in numerous of their tariffs – deeply hidden in their contract terms. The federal government […]

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October 6, 2015 · Blogs

EU Commission: IT companies to fix “hate speech on the Internet”

At the Colloquium on Fundamental Rights on 2 October 2015, EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Věra Jourová gave a widely-reported speech on “hate speech”. At the meeting, she announced that she was organising a meeting between “IT companies, business, national authorities and civil society” in order to “tackle” online hate speech. With […]

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September 10, 2008

Death of website publisher shows deterioration of media freedom in Russia

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Russian and Ingush human rights organizations, as well as OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), are asking for an investigation into the circumstances of the murder of Magomed Yevloyev, the publisher of ingushetiya.ru, an independent news website in Ingushetia region. Yevloyev was a strong critic […]

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July 15, 2004

Court attacks Dutch internet anonymity

By verdict of 24 June 2004 the Appeals Court of Amsterdam in the Netherlands has to a large extent limited the freedom of internet users to express their opinion anonimously. The main issue in this principal case was whether internet provider Lycos was required to hand over the personal data of one of its subscribers […]

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September 27, 2006

Europe faces software patents threat again

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The software patents issue will be back, once again, for discussion, with the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA) proposal which calls for the harmonization of patent laws in EU states. EPLA could to be voted on 11 October 2006 in the European Parliament. Last year, the Parliament […]

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October 10, 2007

Italian Minister of Justice wants to close sarcastic blog

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The Italian Police, following a complaint from Clemente Mastella, the Minister of Justice, has asked for the closing down of blog Mastellatiodio.blogspot.com (translation – I hate you Mastella) which has been placing material on the Minister that he considers as defamatory. If found so, the blog authors […]

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November 5, 2014 · Blogs

FTDI: Is the law criminal?

The EDRi-gram has previously reported on the general silliness, if not active harmfulness to an open society, of certain copying controls that are generically referred to as Digital Rights Management (DRM). However, it’s not often that a practical example comes around that underlines the problem and at the same time has potential to demonstrate the […]

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November 5, 2014 · Blogs

The “Google tax” that is not a Google tax

The new European Commissioner with responsibility for “digital agenda” issues, Guenther Oettinger caused a stir in the media recently when he raised the possibility of introducing “ancillary copyright” payments, requiring search engine providers to pay for displaying copyrighted materials on their sites, on the EU level. The press was all of a sudden full of […]

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October 9, 2013 · Blogs

LSE Report: File-Sharing Is Rather Beneficial To Music Industry

A new report shows again file-sharing is not detrimental to the entertainment industry sales, but quite the opposite. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has released a new policy brief asking the UK Government to take into consideration more than the industry lobbying efforts when deciding on the copyright enforcement policies such […]

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October 23, 2013 · Blogs

Skype Is Investigated In Luxembourg For Its Relations To NSA

Skype, owned now by Microsoft, has entered the attention of Gerard Lommel, Luxembourg’s Data Protection Commissioner, as a result of the documents revealed by Edward Snowden in the PRISM affair. Gerard Lommel has put Skype under investigation over its possible secret collaboration with NSA, within PRISM spy programme, and the company could face criminal and […]

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March 28, 2012

New German court decision on traffic filtering

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Deutsches Gericht entscheidet über Netzfilter | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.6_Deutsches_Gericht_entscheidet_ueber_Netzfilter?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20120328] A Higher Regional Court in Hamburg ruled on 14 March 2012 that the file-hosting site RapidShare had to proactively filter the files uploaded by its users. A court’s press release stated RapidShare was required to block its users from uploading a […]

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