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Commission responds to Ombudsman investigation on EU Internet Forum
In April 2016, the European Ombudsman launched an investigation into the European Commission’s failure to disclose information of the “EU Internet Forum”. The EU Internet Forum brings together US internet companies (Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Google), government officials, and law enforcement agencies to discuss how to reduce the accessibility of undefined “terrorist material” and badly defined […]
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#4 Freedom not to be manipulated: How to fight weapons of math destruction*
This is the fourth blogpost of our series dedicated to privacy, security and freedoms. In the next weeks, we will explain how your freedoms are under threat, and what you can do to fight back.
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Orange is the new blacklist
On Monday morning 17 October, Orange customers who tried to access Google.fr, fr.wikipedia.org and other sites found themselves being redirected to the site of the Interior Ministry explaining that those sites were blocked. The banned websites were accused of “provoking terrorist acts or publicly glorifying terrorist acts”.
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Social media as censors of public sphere: YouTube vs. Ombudsman
In early September 2016, a popular Norwegian writer got suspended from Facebook, on account of “child nudity”. The matter escalated into an international incident, involving Norway’s largest printed newspaper and the country’s prime minister. Finally the writer’s Facebook status was restored, the suspension was ended, and Facebook promised to do better.
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EU is now giving Google new monopolies
Originally published on The European Sting There is a lot of noise in the press and among lobbyists about an alleged hostility of the EU towards big American internet companies. Reality is more nuanced and more surprising – the policies appear to be hell-bent on giving Google new monopolies, to the detriment of European citizens […]
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Three steps to end freedom of expression
Our right to freedom of expression is laid out in law by the EU Treaties. To ensure democracy and accountability, this fundamental human right may not be restricted unless it is necessary, achieves an objective of general interest and the measure to restrict it is provided for by law.
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Copyfail #6: The “Google tax”- not a tax and Google doesn’t pay
This article is the sixth in the series presenting Copyfails. The EU is reforming its copyright rules. We want to introduce you to the main failures of the current copyright system, with suggestions on how to fix them. You can find all the Copyfails here. How has it failed? Germany and Spain introduced in their […]
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Copyfail #3: Google and Facebook becoming the Internet police force
This article is the third in the series presenting Copyfails. The EU is reforming its copyright rules. We want to introduce to you the main failures of the current copyright system, with suggestions on how to fix them. You can find all the Copyfails here.
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Guide to the Code of Conduct on Hate Speech
On 31 May, the European Commission, together with Facebook, YouTube (Google), Twitter and Microsoft, agreed a “code of conduct” (pdf) on fighting hate speech. We believe that the code of conduct will damage enforcement of laws on hate speech, and undermine citizens’ fundamental rights. In a joint press release, EDRi and Access Now have therefore […]
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Leaked EU Communication – Part 2: Protecting Google at all costs
While the European Commission talks tough about supporting European industry, much of what is in the leaked Communication on online platforms appears to be designed to protect Google and other online giants, to the detriment of competition and European innovation. “Fair payments” for copyright The Communication refers obtusely to the notion of “fair” distribution of […]
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EU decides that Google is not a search engine
The European Union has adopted legislation which establishes that Google is not a search engine. After two years of legislative process and negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, the final text would also mean that Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckgo are also not search engines. As part of the broad […]
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Journalistic plagiarism not covered under Google’s right to erasure
On 24 December 2015, the Amsterdam District Court delivered a new ruling on the “right to erasure” for personal search results on Google (known to some as the “right to be forgotten”). In the Netherlands, this right has thus far been interpreted restrictively, with courts emphasising the importance of freedom to access information online. This […]
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