October 21, 2015 · Blogs

FNF15: Privacy advocates’ summit in Brussels

Civil society has a big role in keeping governments on the right track. This is not only true at the national level, but also important with regard to policy-making in the EU. To enable civil society to do so, the annual Freedom not Fear (FNF) conference on 16-19 October in Brussels gathered participants from over […]

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January 30, 2013 · Blogs

Slovenia has a net neutrality law

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Slowenien schreibt Netzneutralität per Gesetz vor | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_11.2_Slowenien_schreibt_Netzneutralitaet_per_Gesetz_vor?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20130207] On 20 December 2012, the Slovenian Parliament approved a legislative framework (the Economic Communications Bill) that includes net neutrality, confirming the open and neutral character of the Internet and forbidding the discrimination of Internet traffic on the basis of the […]

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September 24, 2008

House of the German Pirate Party spokesman raided by Police

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The Bavarian Police searched the house of the German Pirate Party spokesman on the 11 September 2008, searching for information on some leaked plans regarding a Skype wire tap project, that were published by the Party. The Pirate Party published some documents received from an anonymous whistleblower […]

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October 25, 2006

ENDitorial – Regulating the Patent Industry

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) We know that for over two decades, the global patent industry has been trying – discretely, and sometimes less discretely – to get software patents legalised. When Brian Kahin wrote about the US software patent issue in 1990, the US had already allowed software patents for almost […]

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March 27, 2019 · Highlights | Information democracy | Privacy and data protection | Online tracking industry / AdTech | Platform regulation

Google fined 1,5 billion euro for abusive online ad practices

On 20 March, the European Commission imposed yet another massive fine, 1,5 billion euro, on Google. The Commission Directorate-General for Competition stated that the data company has abused its dominant position in the online advertising market by imposing restrictive contracts with third-party websites that prevented rivals from placing their search adverts on these websites.

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December 14, 2016 · Blogs

Google’s forgetful approach to the “right to be forgotten”

Google is unquestionably a pioneer with regard to transparency reporting in the online environment. It was among the first to demand more transparency regarding government restrictions on freedom of communication and access to user data. The company has continued to learn and refine its processes. It has produced a consistent methodology for the various types […]

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December 14, 2016 · Blogs

Polish government: Watchdogs are not welcome

Governments do not like being watched. Nevertheless, it has become common in developed democracies to support independent media and watchdog organisations, sometimes even with dedicated public funds. Wise governments know that listening to justified and neutral criticism is a way to survive past the next elections. The Polish government has clearly decided to follow another […]

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January 13, 2016 · Blogs

Chaos Communication Congress 2015

The Chaos Communication Congress, which is the world’s longest-running annual hacker conference, took place from 27 to 30 December 2015. It gathered 12,000 participants from around the globe and featured more than 160 superb talks in the areas of hacking, science, arts, culture, ethics, society and politics. We have collected all must-see digital rights sessions […]

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November 21, 2005

P2P, filesharing and digital rights

IPJustice organised another panel on P2P, filesharing and digital rights on 17 November 2005, with Robin Gross as moderator. The first speaker was the Canadian law professor Michael Geist, also editor of the excellent daily newsletter BNA’s Internet Law News. He started by telling that a few months ago IFPI had sued 2.200 people in […]

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November 21, 2005 · Blogs

Recommended reading: 3 books

During the WSIS Summit a number of new books were presented and discussed during parallel events. Among these are: Word Matters, a four language “dictionary” offering multicultural perspectives on information society concepts, in French, English, Portuguese and Spanish. “Technology is never neutral: it carries social, economic and cultural consequences. New information and communication technologies are […]

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November 21, 2007

UK govt asks Internet companies to assist in fighting online terrorism

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister, made a statement on 14 November 2007 announcing, among other security measures, the intention to ask Internet companies to assist the government in its fight against online terrorist propaganda by finding ways to stop such content. The Prime Minister stated the Home […]

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November 20, 2013 · Blogs

EDPS: Still A Lot Of Work To Be Done

In a press release published on 15 November 2013, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), criticised the Commission proposal for a Regulation laying down measures concerning the European single market for electronic communications. The announced goal of this Regulation is to ease the requirements for communications providers, standardize wholesale products, aiming at harmonising the rights […]

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