February 13, 2013 · Blogs

Most Internet users would use DNT settings if easily available

According to a survey by IT service analysts Ovum, 68% of the Internet users would use “do-not-track” (DNT) settings to restrict the use of their personal data, if such a tool was “easily available”. Websites and third-parties, such as advertisers, may record Internet users’ behaviour in order to serve targeted, personalised ads. Such user-specific data […]

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October 11, 2006

The broadcast treaty stalled by WIPO General Assembly

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has decided that the very controversial proposed treaty on the protection of broadcasting organizations, including cablecasting organizations, must be approved by two more meetings before being put for discussion in a diplomatic conference established to take place […]

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November 5, 2014 · Blogs

CJEU: Embedding not a copyright infringement

On 21 October 2014 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that embedding copyrighted videos is not a violation of copyright, even when the source video is uploaded without the permission from the rightsholder. The case, dealing with a dispute between a water filtering company BestWater International and two independent commercial agents […]

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May 20, 2009

French courts give clear decisions for hosted content

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Französisches Gericht trifft klare Entscheidungen bei gehosteten Inhalten | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1403] Several decisions taken by the French courts lately recognize the principle of non-liablilty of some web 2.0 sites for the content hosted. The new interpretation is putting things back on track, after some earlier strange decisions of the […]

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June 3, 2009

EU will examine Google Books project

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [EU wird Googles Buchprojekt prüfen | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1419] Macedonian: [ЕУ ќе го преиспита проектот Google Books | http://metamorphosis.org.mk/edri/eu-kje-go-preispita-proektot-google-books.html] The German delegation submitted at the European Council meeting held in Brussels on 28 and 29 May 2009, an information note asking EU to take action against Google’s online library project, […]

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January 25, 2017 · Blogs

Protecting whistleblowers – protecting democracy

Whistleblowing is defined as the “disclosure by a person, usually an employee in a government agency or private enterprise, to the public or to those in authority, of mismanagement, corruption, illegality, or other forms of wrongdoing”. Whistleblowers have become a trending topic since 2010, when Chelsea Manning disclosed around 700 000 military classified documents to […]

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December 4, 2013 · Blogs

Ireland: Google Ordered To Remove Knowledge Graph Result

On 28 November 2013, Google received an ex-parte interim order from an Irish court to block the publication of a photo image of convicted solicitor Thomas Byrne which appears as a search result alongside the profile of Irish Senator Thomas Byrne, a solicitor himself. Google considers it cannot be held liable for what comes up […]

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January 18, 2006

French Parliament is making the first step in legalising P2P

At the end of 2005 the French National Assembly took a surprising decision by adopting unexpected amendments on the draft law that transposes the directive on copyright in the information society. During a night meeting on December 21/22, with only 10% of its members present, the National Assembly adopted (30 pro and 28 against votes) […]

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July 15, 2009

China accused by the EU for its intentions to censor the Internet

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [EU beschuldigt China, das Internet zensieren zu wollen | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1463] On 25 June 2009, the European Commission condemned Chinese plans to enforce the instalment of the “Green Dam Youth Escort” filtering software on all PCs sold starting with 1 July. As an unprecedented decision, the Chinese authorities postponed […]

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December 18, 2013 · Blogs

EU Data protection regulation stalled again

On 6 December 2013, the EU justice ministers took again a step back in adopting the EU Data Protection Regulation. The day was considered by EU commissioner for justice, Viviane Reding as a disappointing one for data privacy. What was this time? “The ministers did not want to make hasty decisions,” Lithuanian Justice Minister Juozas […]

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May 7, 2003

New EU legislation on copyright infringements

The European Commission has launched a proposal for a new Directive that aims at no less than harmonising penalties for infringements against copyright laws. The proposal, adopted by the Commission at the end of January, is currently under discussion in the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. A first draft of a ‘Working Document’ […]

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September 7, 2011

The EC tries to increase government control of the Internet

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Europäische Kommission will staatliche Kontrolle des Internets ausbauen | http://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.17_Europaeische_Kommission_will_staatliche_Kontrolle_des_Internets_ausbauen?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20110907] The European Commission (EC) Information Society and Media Directorate-General have recently drawn up a series of six policy papers intended to increase government control over the Internet. The policies have in view measures that include governmental control over […]

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