January 14, 2015 · Blogs

Romanian cybersecurity law sent to the Constitutional Court

A new law on cybersecurity, previously reported in the EDRi-gram, was adopted by the Romanian Parliament at the end of 2014. The law gives the Romanian Intelligence Agency (SRI) access to any computer data owned by private companies, without a court order. The proposal was tacitly adopted by the Chamber of Deputies on 17 September. […]

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December 17, 2008

Bulgarian Court annuls a vague article of the data retention law

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) On 11 December 2008, the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) annulled article 5 of the national legislation that implements the Data retention Directive, following a lawsuit initiated by Access to Information Program(AIP). Article 5 of the Bulgarian Regulation # 40 that was issued by the State Agency […]

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April 9, 2003

New content restrictions in Germany

In Germany, new content restrictions were introduced for the protection of minors, extending current regulations and indexing schemes for film and video to internet and games. Since 1 April all kinds of ego shooters and electronic media “glorifying war” are banned. Furthermore, under the new regulation, all computer games must carry labels with minimum age […]

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May 18, 2011

Ireland adopts innovation agenda on intellectual property

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Irland: Innovationen zu geistigem Eigentum | http://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.10_Irland_Innovationen_zu_geistigem_Eigentum] Richard Bruton, the Irish Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, said that he was determined that the Irish government should make whatever changes were necessary to allow innovative digital companies to reach their full potential in Ireland. He said that some […]

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January 28, 2015 · Blogs

Data retention in Kosovo and Switzerland – legalising illegal laws

Less than a year ago, many thought data retention in Europe would finally be faced with incontrovertible evidence that it is not effective or proportionate. Now, sensing an opportunity to take advantage of a more favourable public relations landscape, some politicians seem to have the intention to bring EU data retention back again. Data retention […]

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December 20, 2006

Wiretapping scandal in Greece ends with record fine

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) As a result of the scandal related to the wiretapping of phone conversations of several Greek officials, including Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, during the period August 2004 – March 2005, Vodafone was fined by the Greek privacy committee for not having protected its network against hacking activities. […]

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April 24, 2013 · Blogs

Finland: Common Sense in Copyright Law

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Finnland: Gesunder Menschenverstand im Urheberrecht | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_11.8_Finnland_Gesunder_Menschenverstand_im_Urheberrecht?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20130424] The Finnish campaign “Common Sense in Copyright Law” organized a blackout day 23 April 2013 to market the citizens’ initiative, which would strip the worst parts out of the Finnish copyright law and add German-style fairness-requirement to the copyright contracts. More […]

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December 19, 2007 · Blogs

ENDitorial : "No Swiss DMCA" Referendum campaign

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Like everywhere else, DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) systems which impose technical restrictions on what end users can do with texts and multimedia content are highly unpopular also in Switzerland. At the same time, the representatives of the entertainment industry claim that this technology is necessary, and politicians […]

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July 4, 2019 · Blogs | Information democracy | Online tracking industry / AdTech | Profiling practices

Real Time Bidding: The auction for your attention

The digitalisation of marketing has introduced novel industry practices and business models. Some of these new systems have developed into crucial threats to people’s freedoms. A particularly alarming one is Real Time Bidding (RTB). When you visit a website, you often encounter content published by the website’s owner/author, and external ads. Since a certain type […]

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March 9, 2016 · Blogs

ENDitorial: PNR – political finger-pointing, no viable legislation

The EU Passenger Name Record Directive (or ‘PNR Directive’) would require the storage of travel data for airline passengers, ostensibly for law enforcement purposes. The specialist European Parliament committee responsible for the proposal rejected it in 2013 but adopted the proposal in 2015, following the terrorist attacks. The European Parliament recently decided not to schedule […]

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March 23, 2016 · Blogs

Lots to like in Advocate General’s opinion on free WiFi & copyright

Last week, Advocate General Szpunar published his opinion in the McFadden-case before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The facts of the case In 2010, Berlin businessman Tobias McFadden was offering free, non-password protected WiFi to his customers. Sony Music claimed that the network was being used to infringe their copyrighted material, […]

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February 2, 2006

A CD should work on any device, says French court

Two French companies, Warner Music France and the FNAC, were condemned on 10 January by the Paris District Court to pay fines and damages of 5.000 and 59,50 euros respectively, to the consumer protection association UFC – Que Choisir and to a consumer complaining for not having been able to read a Phil Collins CD […]

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