January 15, 2004

Belgian consumer group sues music industry

The Belgian consumer group Test Aankoop (in French: Test Achats) is starting a court case against 4 leading companies in the music industry. Test Aankoop, member of the European Consumer association BEUC, is suing Sony, EMI, BMG and Universal Music at a Brussels court for using technical protection measures on their music CDs that make […]

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January 28, 2004

EP in favour of collecting societies and levies

On 15 January 2004 the European Parliament accepted an own-initiative report about the importance and future of collecting societies, the organisations that collect the rights on copyright and neighbouring rights. The report states that Digital Rights Management is insufficiently developed to replace the work of collecting societies. According to the report, reasonable levies (for example […]

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May 19, 2004

Study: ISPs too eager to take down legal content

In a study about notice and take down procedures, researchers from the Oxford university centre for socio-legal studies were shocked to find how easily internet providers take down perfectly legal content. As mystery-shoppers they opened up 2 websites in July and November 2003, one in the United States and one in the United Kingdom with […]

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June 30, 2004

EU Commission celebrates 10 years of TRIPS

10 years ago, on 23 June 1994, the TRIPS agreement was concluded as a part of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the WTO. A good reason for the European Commission to have a party. After all, the Brussels executive body has not only taken the helm within the EU in transposing the agreement, but also goes […]

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February 12, 2014 · Blogs

European Parliament vote on Collective Rights Management Directive

On 3 February 2014, the European Parliament adopted new rules for collective management organisations and for cross-border licences for online music services. The Directive was adopted by 640 votes in favour, 18 against and 22 abstentions – which is an impressive majority. On one hand, the text improves the management of collective management organisations (CMOs), […]

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June 4, 2014 · Blogs

Google takes the first steps to comply with European Court ruling

The noise, misunderstandings and confusion about the alleged “right to be forgotten” has increased in amplitude since the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its ruling on the so-called “Google case”. Like a politician’s use of statistics, the phrase  “right to be forgotten” has been used by critics of privacy law like […]

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September 10, 2014 · Blogs

TTIP: where the Good Samaritan meets the Trojan Horse

The EU and US are currently negotiating a Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The US negotiator, the United States Trade Representative, is reported to be soliciting support for inclusion of provisions from Article 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in TTIP and other trade agreements being negotiated by the US. So far so […]

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November 5, 2014 · Blogs

The “Google tax” that is not a Google tax

The new European Commissioner with responsibility for “digital agenda” issues, Guenther Oettinger caused a stir in the media recently when he raised the possibility of introducing “ancillary copyright” payments, requiring search engine providers to pay for displaying copyrighted materials on their sites, on the EU level. The press was all of a sudden full of […]

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April 22, 2015 · Blogs

Legal Affairs Committee: ISDS and IPR must be excluded from TTIP

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) resolution in the European Parliament is coming to a conclusion. 16 April 2015 was the deadline for European Parliament committees to submit their opinions to the leading committee, the International Trade committee (INTA). EDRi-gram previously reported about the positive vote of the Civil Liberties Justice and Home Affairs […]

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May 6, 2015 · Blogs

Digital Single Market: A missed opportunity

The European Commission (EC) published its Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy on 6 May 2015. EDRi is thoroughly studying the DSM strategy and its impacts on European citizens’ digital rights. A day before the official publication of the strategy, EDRi issued a press release expressing concerns based on the analysis of the leaked drafts (Draft Communication […]

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May 28, 2015 · Blogs

Parliament Committee adopts a disappointing position on TTIP

The European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) adopted this morning a position on the planned “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership” (TTIP) between the United States and the European Union. “We are delighted with the campaigning activity surrounding this vote,” said Joe McNamee, Executive Director of European Digital Rights. “It is clear that Europe’s citizens will […]

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July 15, 2015 · Blogs

ICANN considers banning privacy services

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is proposing a new Internet policy which comes at the expense of human rights, especially privacy and freedom of speech. The proposed rules are addressed to companies that provide WHOIS privacy/proxy services (which restrict access to domain registrant information) and limit their availability to individuals only, […]

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