July 4, 2007

German legislation troubles the big Internet companies

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Yahoo and Google seems to have problems adapting their business to the tough requirements of the German law regarding content harmful to minors and the implementation of the data retention directive, respectively. Yahoo has recently changed the way the content filter setting for its photo-sharing service Flickr […]

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September 24, 2008

French file EDVIGE revised after huge civil society mobilization

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Following a very strong opposing movement, the decree allowing the creation of EDVIGE file has been abandoned by the French Government, but it will be replaced by a modified project called now EDVIRSP. On 1 July 2008, the French Government had announced a project creating a huge […]

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September 26, 2007

Turkey blocks again YouTube

A Turkish court from the eastern city of Sivas decided on 18 September 2007 to order the ISPs to block the access to YouTube, considering that one of the video hosted there insulted Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish army. Anatolia news agency reported […]

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November 19, 2008

Google executives facing trial on video posted on YouTube

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) Four former and present Google executives, including Senior Vice President David Drummond are waiting for the confirmation of the order issued by an Italian prosecutor to stand trial for a video on a young man with Down syndrome posted on YouTube in November 2006. The case caused […]

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November 6, 2013 · Blogs

NSA’s Long Data Collection Arm Reaches Everybody

The new revelations from Snowden show that NSA seems to spy on everybody, allies or enemies alike, collecting data form everywhere and everyone, in order to get a “diplomatic advantage” over allies such as France and Germany or an “economic advantage” over countries such as Japan or Brazil. Or even more? NY Times explains that […]

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July 1, 2009

Rapidshare forced by the court to filter more than 5000 tracks

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Gericht zwingt Rapidshare, über 5000 Tracks zu filtern | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1450] The file-sharing site Rapidshare.de has recently lost another case to the German copyright society GEMA, being ordered by the Regional Court in Hamburg to “proactively filter” more than 5000 tracks from GEMA’s catalogue. In January 2008, another regional […]

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July 15, 2009

Azeri online activists framed for hooliganism and put in prison

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Azeri Online-Aktivisten wird Hooligmanismus angehängt – Haftstrafen | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1464] Two young Azeri bloggers – Emin Abdullayev (Milli), one of the founders of AN Network, a grass roots youth movement and Adnan Hajizada, a video-blogger from OL! Youth Movement – have been arrested by the police after they have […]

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October 9, 2019 · Blogs | On the ground | Information democracy | Freedom of expression online | Platform regulation

Content regulation – what’s the (online) harm?

In recent years, the national legislators in EU Member States have been pushing for new laws to combat negative societal phenomena such as hateful or terrorist content online. These regulatory efforts have one common denominator: they shift the focus from conditional intermediary liability to holding intermediaries directly responsible for the dissemination of illegal content on their platforms.

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September 21, 2011

New rules on term of protection of music recordings

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Neue Schutzfristen für Tonaufnahmen | http://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.18_Neue_Schutzfristen_fuer_Tonaufnahmen?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20111004] On 12 September 2011, the Council adopted, by a qualified majority, a Directive that extends the term of protection of the rights of performers and phonogram producers on music recordings from 50 to 70 years. According to the Council press release, the […]

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December 1, 2010

Data protection authorities call for a strict EU-US privacy agreement

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [WP29 fordert strenges EU-US Datenschutz-Abkommen | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2390] As the European Commission prepares to conclude a deal with the US on the protection of personal data exchanged in police and criminal justice cooperation matters, the European privacy watchdogs call for a strict and clear privacy agreement. Article 29 Data […]

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February 8, 2017 · Blogs

Dutch Parliament: Safety net for democratic freedoms or sleepnet?

Currently, Dutch parliament is doing everything they can to get a dragnet surveillance bill approved before the elections on 15 March 2017. If they succeed, soon the online communications of Dutch citizens can, on a massive scale, get caught up in the secret services’ dragnet. So what’s happened since the last time we reported to […]

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November 16, 2011

EDRi letter: EC proposes reduced retention periods for retained data

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Vorratsdaten: Kommission schlägt Verkürzung der Speicherdauer vor | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.22_Vorratsdaten_Kommission_schlaegt_Verkuerzung_der_Speicherdauer_vor?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20111116] In September 2011, European Digital Rights and 37 other NGOs sent a detailed letter to the European Commission with regard to the current stage of the review of the Data retention Directive – the impact assessment. The purpose of […]

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