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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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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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The Civil Liberties Committee rejects #censorshipmachine
On 20 November 2017, the European Parliament (EP) Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) voted against the mandatory implementation of “censorship machines” (aka upload filters) in its Opinion on the Copyright Directive proposal. After a long process and diligent hard work led by Polish Members of the European Parliment (MEP) Michal Boni […]
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School of Rock(ing) Copyright 2017: (Re-)united to #fixcopyright!
In September and October 2017, EDRi, Communia and Wikimedia co-organised a series of copyright-related workshops: School of Rock(ing) Copyright. The goal of the workshops was to engage local activists, researchers and associations interested in copyright to create new spaces of action at the national and European Union (EU) level.
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The privacy movement and dissent: Protest
This is the fourth blogpost of a series, originally published by EDRi member Bits of Freedom, that explains how the activists of a Berlin-based privacy movement operate, organise, and express dissent. The series is inspired by a thesis by Loes Derks van de Ven, which describes the privacy movement as she encountered it from 2013 […]
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Leak: Three EU countries join forces for restrictions & copyright chaos
Leaked documents concerning the Copyright Directive show that France, Spain and Portugal have joined forces in the Council of the European Union to attack the cornerstones of internet freedom in Europe. The documents show that the three countries propose elevating fighting copyright violations to a special status – above combating terrorism, child abuse and serious […]
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Dutch NRA: T-Mobile may continue to violate net neutrality
EDRi member Bits of Freedom asked the Dutch national regulatory authority, Authority for Consumers and Market (ACM), to test the mobile operator T-Mobile’s subscription against the new European rules that protect net neutrality, to verify whether its “Data-free Music” service infringes upon the principle of net neutrality. On 11 October 2017, the ACM ruled T-Mobile […]
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EU Council legal services unclear about censorship filters
On 16 October 2017, Politico leaked the response from the Legal Services of the Council of the European Union (CLS) to the questions raised by six member states about the legality of the upload filter proposal in the Article 13 of the Copyright Directive proposal. As the censorship filter is about restricting fundamental rights, it […]
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Civil society calls for the deletion of the #censorshipmachine
Today, 16 October, European Digital Rights (EDRi), together with 56 other civil society organisations, sent an open letter to EU decision makers. The letter calls for the deletion of the Article 13 of the Copyright Directive proposal, pointing out that monitoring and filtering of internet content that it proposes breach citizens’ fundamental rights.
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