January 26, 2011 · Blogs

EC’s leak describes blocking as "challenging", "costly" and ineffective

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Durchgesickertes Kommissionspapier bezeichnet Netzsperren als “schwierig”, “kostspielig” und unwirksam | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2550] A leaked draft of the European Commission’s (EC) Green Paper on gambling provides some valuable insights into the Commission’s views on web blocking. Firstly, contrary to Commissioner Malmström’s repeated promises to the contrary, the leak shows that […]

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January 26, 2011

EU institutions want clarifications form Hungary on its media legislation

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [EU Institutionen fordern von Ungarn Klarstellungen zum Mediengesetz | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2551] The Hungarian EU Presidency was met on 19 January 2011 with opposition and criticism due to the controversial media legislation Hungary has recently introduced. Some MEPs displayed white banners that read “censored”. Viktor Orban, the Hungarian Prime-Minister started […]

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January 26, 2011

Sarkozy wants a "civilised" Internet

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Sarkozy wünscht sich ein “zivilisiertes” Internet | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2555] With France at the Presidency of the G20 group in 2011, Nicolas Sarkozy has recently announced the intention to convene a G20 meeting to discuss Internet and copyright issues, before the full G20 summit of heads of state and government […]

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December 5, 2012 · Blogs

Danish opposition wants to abandon the illegal medicine site blocking

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Dänemark: Opposition will Netzsperren gegen illegalen Medikamentenhandel aufgeben | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.23_Daenemark_Opposition_will_Netzsperren_gegen_illegalen_Medikamentenhandel_aufgeben?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121205] A majority outside the Danish government parties proposes to abandon blocking access to websites selling illegal medicine. The law (a new revision of the laws regulating selling of medicine etc.) allowing blocking of these sites was passed in […]

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July 16, 2014 · Blogs

ENDitorial: Commission Communication on IP Enforcement

On 1 July, 2014, the European Commission launched an oddly-named Communication entitled “Towards a renewed consensus on the enforcement of intellectual property rights.” It is good to see the Commission being ambitious, but renewing something that never existed appears to be quite challenging. The document opens by referring to the impressive statistic that a “recent […]

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January 26, 2011

ENDitorial: EDRi publishes study on self-regulation and censorship

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [ENDitorial: EDRi veröffentlicht Studie über Selbst-Regulierung und Zensur | http://www.unwatched.org/node/2556] European Digital Rights has published a study on the scale of measures being undertaken to outsource policing activities to private companies in the Internet environment and its significance for fundamental rights, transparency and openness on the Internet. Internet […]

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February 10, 2010

The Pirate Bay has been censored again in Italy

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Italien: The Pirate Bay wieder zensuriert | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1703] Following the reversal by the Italian Court of Cassation of the appeal won on 24 September 2008 against the decision of the Italian court of August 2008 that ordered the seizure of The Pirate Bay (TPB) in Italy, TPB was […]

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February 10, 2010

France and Denmark may filter online gambling websites

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Frankreich/Dänemark: Sperren für Glücksspielseiten | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1704] An amendment to the draft law on the opening of the market of online gambling was introduced to the French Senate Commission for culture and communication, in order to give the administration the power to apply filters to gambling sites without a […]

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February 25, 2009

The trial of The Pirate Bay in Sweden

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Der Pirate-Bay Prozess in Schweden | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1303] The big, long and extremely mediatized trial filed on 31 January 2008 by Swedish prosecutors against the four Pirate Bay founders for “promoting other people’s infringements of copyright laws” started at Stockholm’s District Court, on 16 February 2009. The first day […]

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February 10, 2010

The winners of the Big Brother Awards Netherlands 2009

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Niederlande: Big Brother Awards 2009 | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1705] The winners of the Big Brother Awards Netherlands 2009 were announced on 5 February 2010 in Amsterdam. In the category “Government”, the prize was awarded to the creation of a fingerprint database of all Dutch citizens, to be accessed by the […]

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September 23, 2015 · Blogs

Germany: The secret service’s 300-million-euro surveillance plan

This is a shortened English version of the German article originally published by Andre Meister on Netzpolitik.org. Translation and changes by Kirsten Fiedler and Nikolai Schnarrenberger. Fibreoptic surveillance, scanning of Internet traffic in real time, cracking encryption, hacking computers: Germany’s foreign intelligence agency “Bundesnachrichtendienst” (BND) is massively expanding its internet surveillance capabilities. On 21 September, […]

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February 10, 2010

ENDitorial: Undead WIPO treaty resurrected in Council of Europe

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [ENDitorial: Europarat belebt untotes WIPO Abkommen wieder | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1706] On January 28 and 29, the Council of Europe held a consultation meeting on the launch of work on a new international instrument that would create neighbouring rights for broadcasting organisations. The purpose of this initiative is to take […]

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