Switzerland
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Switzerland: Blocking of gambling sites – gambling with human rights
On 1 March 2017, the Swiss National Council debated the proposal to regulate online gambling, and approved it. The consequences of the law go beyond gambling regulations, since they amount to censorship, blocking of content, and restricting the free and open internet.
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Swiss civil society struggles against digital surveillance laws
In June 2016, Swiss civil society activists are redoubling their efforts to collect signatures in support of a referendum vote on the revision of a surveillance law best known under the German acronym BÜPF, “federal law concerning surveillance of postal communications and telecommunications”. This revision would legalise surveillance by means of IMSI catchers (fake relay […]
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Bad analogies and the threat to “cybersecurity”
In policy discussions about the online world a general pattern repeats: The online sphere is differentiated from its offline equivalent by adding the prefix “cyber”, giving it both immediacy and generating a fear of the unknown “cyberworld”. Then, in order to explain “cyberspace”, practitioners draw analogies between cyber and non-cyber, often being blissfully unaware of, […]
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Data retention in Kosovo and Switzerland – legalising illegal laws
Less than a year ago, many thought data retention in Europe would finally be faced with incontrovertible evidence that it is not effective or proportionate. Now, sensing an opportunity to take advantage of a more favourable public relations landscape, some politicians seem to have the intention to bring EU data retention back again. Data retention […]
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Citizens demonstrate against data retention in Switzerland
On 31 May 2014, several hundred demonstrators gathered in front of the Swiss parliament in Berne to protest against mass surveillance by means of the so-called “data retention” of communications metadata. A legislative proposal that would significantly expand state powers of surveillance has already been approved by the Council of States (the smaller chamber of […]
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Copyright meets broadcasting in Geneva
The 27th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization´s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) took place from 28 April to 2 May in Geneva. The Committee assessed the proposal for a Broadcasting Treaty. This initiative for a new binding global copyright treaty has been discussed at WIPO for over 10 years at […]
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Swiss data retention visualisation
The Swiss civil society group Digital Society Switzerland is working on building opposition to the practice of the “data retention” – the requirement for telecommunications companies to store for six months meta-data (such as information on who emailed or called whom, and where the telephones were located) and to make it available for law enforcement […]
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Internet censorship in Switzerland
In Switzerland, internet censorship is gaining ground. 2 recent events demonstrate this development. Last December, the examining magistrate of the canton Vaud issued a command to many Swiss internet service providers (ISPs), to block access to 3 websites. The websites, all hosted in the USA, contain strong criticism of a.o. the Swiss courts and are […]
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