Internet Blocking
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Unesco NL recommendations on human rights and Internet
The Netherlands National Commission for Unesco has published Recommendations on human rights and Internet, following a conference held on 4 and 5 February 2005. The recommendation focusses on privacy, the right of freedom of expression and the right to communicate, including access to the vast cultural, educational and scientific heritage of mankind. On privacy, the […]
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Search engines voluntarily block harmful content in Germany
According to a report in the German e-zine Heise all the major search engines in Germany have voluntarily agreed to filter out harmful content for their German audience. Google, Lycos Europe, MSN Germany, AOL Germany, Yahoo, T-Online and t-info have founded a self-regulatory organisation that will voluntarily block a list of URLs considered to be […]
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Two Unesco conferences on internet and human rights
In preparation for the second phase of WSIS, in November 2005 in Tunis, Unesco has organised two conferences on the Internet and human rights. On 3 and 4 February Unesco organised a special meeting on online freedom of expression inside of the Paris headquarters. Attended by over 300 delegates from countries all over the world, […]
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Verizon blocks European e-mail
The large US provider Verizon (3 million DSL customers and 1 million dial-up customers) is systematically blocking e-mail from Europe, as well as from China and New Zealand. On 22 December 2004 Verizon has installed new central spam-filters that refuse e-mail from many large European providers. Attempts from European ISPs to have their mail-servers white-listed […]
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EU Parliament adopts Constitution
Members of the European Parliament have voted in favour of the EU’s constitution today (12 January 2005), with a 500 to 137 majority (40 abstentions), setting the EU on a path toward more integration and a little bit more democracy. In the afternoon, the Constitution was celebrated with concerts, balloons and a festive debate involving […]
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New Council of Europe committee on human rights and internet
The Council of Europe is working on a new declaration or recommendation on human rights and internet. An ad-hoc committee of experts on the information society has been meeting for the first time in November 2004, and will have a second meeting in Strasbourg on 3 and 4 February 2005. The Council does not provide […]
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Freedom of information law in German Parliament
The German Parliament (Bundestag) has completed the first reading of a new freedom of information law on 17 December 2004. Germany and Switzerland are the only 2 major Western European member states of the Council of Europe without such a law on accessibility of governmental acts and decision making. Within the EU, only Cyprus, Malta […]
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Successful access to information claim in Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, proponents of open source and open standards have booked a remarkable legal victory. On 7 December 2004 the Supreme Administrative Court ruled against the minister of state administration, Dimitar Kalchev. Two members of parliament and the foundation ‘Access to Information Program’ had demanded access to the 2002 agreement between Microsoft and the Bulgarian […]
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German parliament debates filtering or blocking
On 12 November, the German Lower House (Bundestag) debated in plenary on the merits of individual filtering or state-ordered blocking of illegal and harmful content. Germany is the only country in Western Europe (besides Switzerland) were governmental blocking-orders were issued to providers to prevent internet users from accessing information deemed illegal or indecent. Over 80 […]
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1 million entries in Wikipedia
On 17 September 2004, the experimental free online encyclopaedia Wikipedia reached 1 million (approved) entries. Every internet user can write entries, and suggest improvements for any other entry. This idea has proven extremely viable in the last 4 years. Wikipedia now provides information in 100 languages, 14 of which offer more than 10.000 articles each. […]
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German promise to adopt freedom of information law
The German government is promising to finally implement a freedom of information law, according to an article published in Berliner Zeitung from 3 July 2004. After many years of debate within the red-green coalition, a legal proposal will be sent to parliament (Bundestag) after the summer break. Mrs Stokar, an MP for the Green party, […]
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Free Bitflows conference Vienna
One of the highlights of the Free Bitflows conference in Vienna, Austria on 3 and 4 June 2004 was a lecture by Brewster Kahle about the Internet Archive. This digital archive aims at no less than offering universal access to all human knowledge, by collecting digital copies of all old and new public domain books, […]
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