January 18, 2006

BEUC's Campaign on Consumers' Digital Rights

In November 2005 BEUC (the coalition of all consumers’ organisations in Europe) has launched a Campaign on Consumers’ Digital Rights. The campaign is meant to show consumers what their digital rights are. BEUC is supported by Zusana Roithova, Member of the European Parliament, Czech Republic. The campaign highlights the complex threats for consumers in today’s […]

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February 15, 2006

No private copy for DVD in France?

According to information published by the newspaper Les Echos a working document of the Ministry of Culture on the draft copyright law excludes the DVD from the private copy exception. Representatives of the industry such as SEV (The Audio Edition Union) consider such an approach will only acknowledge a reality. As Jean-Yves Mirski, general delegate […]

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March 15, 2006

What's so special about French EUCD transposition?

With its succession of coups de theatre, the pathetic show of the French EUCD transposition (DADVSI draft law) is going on. After the surprising adoption, on Christmas Eve, of an amendment legalising the exchange of music and video files on the Internet as private copies, compensated by a monthly fee (‘global license’) collected by ISPs […]

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March 29, 2006

Update on French EUCD Transposition

The DADVSI draft law (French EUCD Transposition) made its first step on 21 March, with 286 votes in favour and 193 votes against. In an unusually crowded National Assembly, 501 out of the 577 Members of the Parliament took part in the vote. All the votes in favour came from representatives of the Conservative government […]

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April 12, 2006

Legal actions against file-sharers in Europe

About 2000 new legal actions are taken in 10 countries by the International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) against file-sharers amounting now to a total number of 5500 cases outside US. IFPI persists in its actions against uploaders, stating it targets persistent file-sharers, who typically upload thousands of music files. “The campaign started in major […]

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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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May 24, 2006

French draft copyright law continues to be criticised

As a continuation of the “saga” of the French draft law on copyright and related rights of the information society (DASDVSI), the French Senate voted this month the law which continues to be severely criticised by the consumer associations as well as software companies. The Senators have adopted the law with 164 votes for and […]

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July 5, 2006

Creative Communities and Consumers in TACD Conference

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) TACD (Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogues) organized a conference under the title “New Relationships Between Creative Communities and Consumers” in Paris on 19-20 June 2006. Participants represented a wide range of interests, including both artists’ and consumers’ organizations, but also WIPO and the European Commission. Several panels explored problems […]

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September 13, 2006 · Blogs

New EDRI members

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) At the EDRI General Assembly of 3 September 2006 in Berlin, Germany, EDRI welcomed 4 new members. Open Rights Group is a new UK independent, non-profit advocacy group, campaigning for the digital civil rights of British citizens. Alcei from Italy is an association of people dedicated to […]

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November 8, 2006

Discussion during IGF against Internet content control

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The first global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was organized by United Nations in Athens between 30 October and 2 November 2006. The forum has shown a strong and large opposition to Internet blocking and filtering, putting under pressure repressive governments such as China. The three sessions devoted […]

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July 18, 2007

New draft Copyright Act voted by the German deputies

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The second draft of the Copyright Act for the Information Society, including amendments proposed by the legal committee of the Parliament, was voted on 5 July by the majority of the German Bundestag and sent to Bundersrat for review. Although Brigitte Zypries (SPD), the Minister of Justice, […]

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October 10, 2007

French ISPs agree to spy on Internet users to stop online piracy

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The Association of the French ISPs (AFA) agreed to propose concrete solutions to stop illegal downloading, following the discussion on 3 October 2007 with the Commission fighting Internet piracy led by Denis Olivennes. The solutions included the introduction of a system to detect the Internet users that […]

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