November 5, 2009

Free as in Free Culture

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [Frei wie in freie Kultur | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1566] Free Culture Forum (FCF), organized by the Spanish NGO Exgae together with Networked Politics and the Free Knowledge Institute turned Barcelona in the capital of free culture for 3 days. Of course, Free as in Free Speech. The official Introduction of […]

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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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September 21, 2011

ENDitorial: Finnish Big Brother Awards on Effi's 10th birthday

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [ENDitorial: Finnische Big Brother Awards zu EFFis 10. Geburtstag | http://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.18_ENDitorial_Finnische_Big_Brother-Awards_zu_EFFis_10_Geburtstag?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20111004] EDRi member Electronic Frontier Finland (Effi) organized the seventh Big Brother Awards (BBA) in Finland on 11 September 2011 as part of the celebration events of Effi’s tenth birthday. Electronic Frontier Finland – Effi – was founded […]

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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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September 11, 2013 · Blogs

German newspapers sued for pointing out an alleged illegal site

At the end of August 2013, a group of German publishers sued newspapers Der Tagesspiegel and Die Zeit, accusing them of assisting copyright infringement for having printed an interview with the operator of an alleged unauthorized ebook site, giving the site name as well – TorBoox, which claims to be the largest ebook piracy site […]

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November 5, 2003

Big Brother Awards presented across Europe

Privacy and civil liberty activists across Europe have presented their Big Brother Awards to governments, companies and persons that have excelled in violating the right to privacy. In a weeks period Award ceremonies were held in Germany (24 October), Spain (25 October), Austria (26 October) and Switzerland (1 November). In Germany prices went to German […]

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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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June 4, 2008

Finish CSS decision overturned

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar) The Helsinki Court of Appeal overturned the initial decision taken by the Helsinki District Court ruling that Content Scrambling System (CSS) used in DVD movies is “ineffective”. The decision of the Court of Appeal was taken a year after the first ruling concluded that “CSS protection can […]

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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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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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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 24, 2010

ENDitorial: Richard Stallman on "Copyright versus Public" in Berne

This article is also available in: Deutsch: [ENDitorial: Richard Stallmann in Bern über „Urheberrecht vs. Öffentlichkeit“ | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1731] On 11 February 2010 the auditorium at the University of Berne was packed for a talk by Richard Stallman on copyright issues. Stallman is better known as the founder of the GNU free software system which, together […]

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