Internet Blocking
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Freedom of information in Germany and the UK
On 8 July 2005 the German Senate (Bundesrat) is set to decide on a freedom of information law, granting formal access rights to governmental decisions. But the christian-democrat governments in many of the 16 states have threatened to block the law. In July 2004 the German government announced the rapid introduction of the Federal Freedom […]
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OSCE conference on media freedom on the Internet
The third OSCE Amsterdam Internet Conference was held on 17-18 June 2005. The conference focused on the situation of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Southern Caucasus and Central Asian regions, with experts from this region delivering presentations on the situation in their countries. The debate showed that governmental over-regulation and content censorship are […]
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French court issues blocking order to 10 ISPs
A Paris court (Tribunal de grande instance) has ordered 10 French ISPs to block access to a website in the US with revisionist/anti-semitic content. They have until 23 June 2005 to make it impossible for their customers to visit the website. The case was instigated by eight anti-racist French organisations, after the US provider (ThePlanet.com) […]
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German court confirms blocking order ISPs
The German administrative court of Düsseldorf has once more rejected complaints from internet access providers in the district of Nordrhein-Westfalen against the order to block access to 2 neo-nazi websites hosted in the US. The order was issued in 2002 against 80 different service providers in the region. The providers already saw 8 legal attempts […]
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Conference report Access to Knowledge
On 12 and 13 May 2005 the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) organised a successful conference in London to make progress on a draft international treaty on Access to Knowledge (A2K). It was the third meeting of a very diverse expert group of academics, educators, representatives of libraries, consumer organisations and people from the open […]
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Report about UNESCO conference St. Petersburg
From 17 to 19 May UNESCO organised a large conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, ‘Between two phases of the World Summit on the Information Society’. The 450 participants from all over the world were invited to the luxurious Konstantinovsky Palace. In her opening speech Françoise Rivière, the Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, described the context of […]
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Council of Europe declaration on human rights and Internet
On 13 May 2005 the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers adopted a declaration on human rights and Internet that was prepared by a special committee of academic experts and government representatives. According to the press release, “the declaration is the first international attempt to draw up a framework on the issue and breaks ground […]
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Report on journalism, civil liberties and the war on terror
The international federation of journalists (IFJ) and the UK civil liberties group Statewatch have launched a new report on 3 May 2005, World Press Freedom Day. The report examines how democratic states sacrifice civil liberties and free expression in the name of security and concludes: “The war on terrorism amounts to a devastating challenge to […]
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Initiative European libraries to digitise books
On 28 April 2005 6 EU countries sent an open letter to the European Commission and the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council asking for a European digital library. Inspired by the French president Jacques Chirac, the presidents or prime ministers of Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain and Hungary have signed the letter. On 3 May 2005 […]
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German court confirms ISP blocking order
E-zine Heise reports that the Administrative Court of Cologne on 31 March 2005 has once more approved of an order to force ISPs to block 2 neo-nazi websites hosted in the US. The order was issued by the district government of Nordrhein-Westfalen in 2002 and aimed at 80 different providers in the region. The providers […]
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Rapporteur EU parliament: more liability for ISPs
Rapporteur Marielle De Sarnez (French, Liberal) of the European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education has released her opinion on the proposal of the European Commission to create a new Recommendation on the Protection of Minors and Human Dignity. The report deals with two issues; more liability for ISPs and the introduction of a legal […]
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Germany: meta search engine responsible for hyperlinks
A Berlin court has ruled on 22 February 2005 that a meta search engine has exactly the same legal responsibilities as a regular search engine to prevent users from accessing illegal content. A meta search engine doesn’t have any databases of itself that could contain possibly illegal content, but should be able to filter the […]
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