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LEAK: European Commission’s reckless draft Recommendation on “illegal” content
In September 2017, the European Commission adopted its widely criticised “Communication on Illegal Online Content.” Now, already, due to political pressure and internal competition between various European Commission services, a new Commission proposal for a Recommendation on the same subject is close to being shared with the Council for unanimous support, albeit not being legally […]
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Chaos Communication Congress 2017
The 34th annual four-day hacker conference Chaos Communication Congress (34c3), organised by EDRi member Chaos Computer Club, took place in Leipzig, Germany on 27-30 December 2017. The congress offered lectures, workshops and other events on various topics related to information technology and its effects on the society. For the first time, we also organised an […]
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Smashing the law without breaking it: A Commission guide
How to create a general monitoring obligation without creating a general monitoring obligation? That is the question that the Commission has been trying to answer with the Article 13 of its “Proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market”. It aims at solving the issue of a so-called “value gap”, that is […]
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European Parliament – fighting terrorism with closed-door secrecy
The European Parliament’s Special Committee on Terrorism (TERR) was established on 6 July 2017, for a renewable twelve-month mandate. The Committee was created with the ambitious aim of addressing ostensible practical and legislative deficiencies in the fight against terrorism across the European Union (EU) and with international actors.
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Germany: Constitutional complaint against intelligence agency BND
EDRi observer Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF) has filed a constitutional complaint against surveillance by Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND). A new law that the German Parliament passed in October 2016 allows the BND to spy on foreign journalists. This destroys trust between journalists and their sources precisely in places where investigative journalism is […]
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Can we ensure EU terrorism policies respect human rights?
During 2017, the European Union (EU) increased its arsenal its “fight against terrorism”, namely by adopting a Directive on combating terrorism and by setting up a Special Committee in the European Parliament. In partnership with the Open Society European Policy Institute (OSEPI), the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the […]
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Romania: Culture Ministry rallies copyright lobbyists
On 17 January 2018, the Romanian Ministry of Culture organised a debate on the EU copyright reform proposal. With the room full with about fifty participants, three quarters were representing press publishers, record labels and collective management associations. It seemed almost like a full-fledged campaign meeting organised for and by traditional newspapers and rightsholders organisations […]
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CJEU hate speech case: Should Facebook process more personal data?
Austria’s Supreme Court of Justice has referred a case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) regarding hate speech on social media platforms. The referral could have a global impact on Facebook – and ultimately on our privacy and freedom of speech.
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MEPs demand balanced approach to dealing with illegal online content
On 5 December 2017, a group of 31 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) sent a letter to the European Commission demanding action on illegal content online. The letter was initiated by Dutch Liberal MEP Marietje Schaake, and its signatories are from across the political spectrum.
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Copyright Directive may lead newspapers to become their own censors
Copyright discussions continue in the European institutions. On one hand, Axel Voss, the German conservative (EPP/CDU) Parliamentarian in charge of the dossier in the European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) is on some sort of a stand-by while the German government forms. On the other hand, the EU Council, composed of the relevant ministers […]
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Censorship Machine: Busting the myths
The European Union (EU) is currently reforming its copyright legislation. In September 2016, the European Commission proposed its controversial draft for the new Copyright Directive, that includes a mandatory “censorship machine” to filter all uploads from every user in the EU (Article 13). To put an end to some of the most tenacious misconceptions related […]
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Time to stop the #CensorshipMachine: NOW!
Following the launch of the controversial proposed Copyright Directive in September 2016, the European Parliament and the Member States (gathered in the Council of the European Union) are now developing their positions. Now it’s the time to send a clear message to European Parliament and national governments to oppose the “censorship machine”!
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