May 10, 2006

EU moves to criminalise IP offences

The European Commission has revived a proposal to criminalise infringement of all intellectual property rights “on a commercial scale” after a European Court of Justice ruling that the Commission may include criminal offences in their Directives. The proposal would also criminalise the “attempting, aiding or abetting and inciting” of infringement, and introduce multi-year jail sentences, […]

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June 30, 2016 · Blogs

Copyfail #6: The “Google tax”- not a tax and Google doesn’t pay

This article is the sixth in the series presenting Copyfails. The EU is reforming its copyright rules. We want to introduce you to the main failures of the current copyright system, with suggestions on how to fix them. You can find all the Copyfails here. How has it failed? Germany and Spain introduced in their […]

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September 28, 2017 · Blogs | Information democracy | Data protection standards | Freedom of expression online | Surveillance and data retention

Commission’s position on tackling illegal content online is contradictory and dangerous for free speech

Today, on 28 September, the European Commission published its long-awaited Communication “Tackling Illegal Content Online”. This follows a leaked copy we previously analysed. The document puts virtually all its focus on internet companies monitoring online communications, in order to remove content that they decide might be illegal. It presents few safeguards for free speech, and […]

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February 11, 2009

EU Commissioner: No to an Internet freedom law and Yes to net neutrality

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The intentions of some European Parliament members (MEPs) to introduce in EU a similar law with the Global Online Freedom Act proposed by the US Congress in January 2007, was considered unnecessary and a too “hard law” by Commissioner Viviane Reding. The US bill is meant to […]

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March 11, 2004

New EU-plans to promote broadband access

The European Telecom ministers have welcomed new action plans from the Commission to promote broadband access in Europe. The Commission calls on Member States who have not yet put in place a national broadband strategy to do so without delay, with a focus on delivering broadband in under-served areas via a variety of platforms. This […]

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December 6, 2012 · Blogs

Q&A on WCIT : Ask the European Commission

Over the next two weeks, EDRi will participate in two video conferences, on the 7 December and 12 December, organised by the European Commission in order to get live feedback from the ITU’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai. The video conferences are an opportunity to get answers on the discussions taking place […]

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December 13, 2017 · Blogs | Information democracy | Data protection standards | Freedom of expression online | Platform regulation

Censorship Machine: Busting the myths

The European Union (EU) is currently reforming its copyright legislation. In September 2016, the European Commission proposed its controversial draft for the new Copyright Directive, that includes a mandatory “censorship machine” to filter all uploads from every user in the EU (Article 13). To put an end to some of the most tenacious misconceptions related […]

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October 16, 2013 · Blogs

Act now: One minute to save your right to privacy

On 21 October, the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) will vote a an of huge importance to civil rights: The General Data Protection Regulation. The purpose of this very long legislative proposal is to make sure that our rights to privacy and data protection can be effectively asserted in […]

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November 8, 2006

Recommanded Reading

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) A Report on the Surveillance Society: For the Information Commissioner by the Surveillance Studies Network, 2006 http://ico.crl.uk.com/files/Surveillance%20society%20full%20report%20final.pdf

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January 13, 2016 · Blogs

Journalistic plagiarism not covered under Google’s right to erasure

On 24 December 2015, the Amsterdam District Court delivered a new ruling on the “right to erasure” for personal search results on Google (known to some as the “right to be forgotten”). In the Netherlands, this right has thus far been interpreted restrictively, with courts emphasising the importance of freedom to access information online. This […]

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March 19, 2013 · Blogs

Parliament Legal Affairs Committee adopts improved position on privacy legislation

The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) has adopted its Opinion on the Data Protection Regulation. Even though the adopted text has fatal flaws, it represents a significant improvement compared with the Opinions adopted in other committees. Despite the avalanche of lobbying by a section of industry, business associations, “SME associations” funded by big business, […]

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March 6, 2017 · Blogs

Rights groups demand action on export controls

Nine civil society organisations, including EDRi and several EDRi members, have signed a letter to the participants of the Wassenaar Arrangement, a multilateral export control regime with 41 participating states. We joined Privacy International’s efforts, in expressing concerns that “elements of the current control list of technologies and proposed new additions will have adverse effects […]

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