Digital Rights Management
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Microsoft gets record-breaking fine
After a five-year investigation into Microsoft’s business practise the EU Commission has decided that the company has violated the EU competition rules by abusing its near monopoly in the PC operating system. Microsoft will have to pay a 497 million euro fine. The Commission has been investigating Microsoft practices since 1998 following a complaint by […]
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Proposal EU Parliament to reject PNR transfer
The European parliament’s committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs is preparing to vote on a proposal by MEP Johanna Boogerd-Quaak to reject the draft decision of the EU Commission under which airline passenger data are transferred to the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. The proposal calls upon EU Member […]
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Cappato report about privacy adopted
On 9 March the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the implementation of the Data Protection Directive of 1995 (95/46/EC), based on an own-initiative report by the Italian radical Marco Cappato. The report is very critical about the lack of adequate privacy protection in Europe. The report centres on data protection within the third pillar […]
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New EU-plans to promote broadband access
The European Telecom ministers have welcomed new action plans from the Commission to promote broadband access in Europe. The Commission calls on Member States who have not yet put in place a national broadband strategy to do so without delay, with a focus on delivering broadband in under-served areas via a variety of platforms. This […]
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Recommended reading: Access to EU documents
On 30 January 2004, the European Commission published a report about the effectiveness of EU legislation on freedom of information. Article 255 of the treaty establishing the European Community, implemented through Regulation 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001, grants a right of access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents to any Union citizen and to […]
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EU Commission proposal for biometrics in passports
The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Council Regulation that will set legally binding minimum standards for harmonised security features, including biometric identifiers, in all EU passports. The Commission chooses facial images as a mandatory biometric identifier for passports. Fingerprints can be added as an option at the discretion of Member States. The […]
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EU ruling on Microsoft by the end of March
Antitrust regulators from the all EU member States will discuss a draft European Commission antitrust ruling against Microsoft in Brussels on 15 March. In a second meeting on 22 March the regulators will discuss the measures, including fines, that will be taken against Microsoft. It is expected that the final ruling will become public in […]
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Fast track procedure for IPR Enforcement
The European Union’s disputed Directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights is scheduled for a fast-track procedure that may lead to it being adopted by the European Council in little more than two weeks. At present, it is still under discussion in the Brussels Parliament. The Rapporteur, French Conservative Janelly Fourtou, and the Council […]
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EU Commission heads for global travel surveillance system
The UK civil liberties group Privacy International, in co-operation with European Digital Rights, the Foundation for Information Policy Research and Statewatch, has published an analysis of the EU-US negotiations on the transfer on passenger information (PNR). The report titled ‘Transferring Privacy’ describes how the European Commission leaves European privacy rights at the mercy of the […]
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More delay for IPR Enforcement and SoftPat Directives
The final vote on two of the most controversial information society Directives, the Directive on Software Patents and the Directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights has been delayed once more. The IPRE directive was withdrawn last minute from the 9 February plenary agenda of the European Parliament. On 6 February the Council presented […]
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European Court underlines public access rights
The European Court of Justice in a recent judgement has underlined the rights to freedom of information. If a governmental document cannot be disclosed in full for reasons of public security or institutional confidentiality, it should at least be made available in part. To promote freedom of information and grant ‘the widest possible access’ to […]
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PNR: Bolkestein's diplomacy and anger Belgian DPA
MEP Marco Cappato has revealed a letter EU Commissioner Bolkestein sent to Tom Ridge, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. The letter was sent on 18 December, only two days after Bolkestein had given his presentation in which he tried to mislead the European Parliament on the true nature of the agreement on the transfer […]
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