============================================================
EDRi-gram
biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe
Number 7.12, 17 June 2009
============================================================
Contents
============================================================
1. The French Constitutional Council censures the 3 strikes law
2. The dawning of Internet censorship in Germany
3. Stockholm programme - the new EU dangerous surveillance system
4. The telecoms ministers rejected the telecom package as adopted by the EP
5. Finland: Complaints not allowed for the Police child-porn censorship list
6. Windows 7 is launched without IE, but the Commission is not pleased
7. More voices in the EP for digital rights
8. Report: OECD Conference on Sensor Based Networks
9. ENDitorial: Regulating online media in Azerbaijan?
10. Recommended Action
11. Recommended Reading
12. Agenda
13. About
============================================================
1. The French Constitutional Council censures the 3 strikes law
============================================================
As a result of the appeal of the Socialist Party, the French Constitutional
Council decided on 10 June 2009 that 3 strikes (known also as Hadopi)
draft law was infringing the Constitution and the Declaration of the Rights
of Man and of the Citizen from 1789 and rejected the most important parts of
the text. The graduate response was censured, the Council considering that
any sanction applied to Internet users could only be applied by a court.
In the Council's opinion, the draft law infringes article 11 of the
Declaration which ensures the freedom of communication
and expression, that also applies to the online world, as the Internet is
nowadays a very important means of communication. The power to "limit the
exercise by any person of one's right to express oneself and freely
communicate" cannot be given to an administrative authority. "These powers
can only be incumbent on a judge", says the Council. This is the same
position expressed by several members of the European Parliament especially
by the introduction into the Telecom package of the well-known amendment
138.
The Council also believes the law is in breach of article 9 of the same
Declaration that stipulates the principle of the presumption of innocence.
This principle was entirely ignored by the draft law where the text says
that a sanction can be applied to an Internet user presumed guilty: "By
ignoring article 9 of the Declaration of 1789, the law thus setting up, by
operating an inversion of the proof charge, a presumption of guilt that
could lead to the application to the subscriber of sanctions depriving or
limiting his rights".
The Council also ruled that the method of policing the web envisaged in the
law was in breach of a citizen's right to privacy fact which might influence
future decisions on other means of restriction or limitation, such as
filtering projects.
While the socialists asked the law be "completely rewritten with the double
aim of ensuring the financing of culture and preserving the freedom of
Internet users", Christine Albanel, France's culture minister, continued to
defend the draft bill, stating she regretted that she could not finalise
"the logic of 'decriminalisation of Internet users' behaviour by bringing
all stages of the procedure to a non-judicial authority".
The law was promulgated by Nicolas Sarkozy on 13 June 2009 in its censored
form. A new text, named Hadopi 2, is to be presented to the French Council
of Ministers before the end of June in order to give judges the power to
apply sanctions. The text will have to observe the Constitutional Council's
opinion. In any case, the law will be deprived of its core and the graduate
response is crippled.
The government may be in the position of having to consider the fine system
that it had rejected previously. The method has the advantage of seeing
immediate results and of not being in breach of fundamental rights. However,
even for a fine, material evidence will have to be brought in court to prove
an Internet user's copyright infringement, which will be rather difficult to
produce.
The ruling of the Constitutional Council is in line with the arguments the
European Parliament which has tried to outlaw the French bill by the
introduction of amendment 138 into the telecom package. On 11 June, the
package was however rejected at the EU telecoms ministers meeting in
Luxembourg which means that the law will go through a conciliation process
mediated by the European Commission. This will begin in the autumn and the
legislation is expected to be passed only next year.
French Constitutional Court - Decision n 2009-580 DC of 10 June 2009 (only
in French, 10.06.2009)
http://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/conseil-constitutionnel/francais/les-d...
The Constitutional Council censures the graduate response (only in French,
11.06.2009)
http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2009/06/10/01002-20090610ARTFIG00516-le-con...
French anti-filesharing law overturned (10.06.2009)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/10/france-hadopi-law-fileshari...
Press Release of the French Constitutional Council on Decision n0 2009-580
DC (only in French, 10.06.2009)
http://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/conseil-constitutionnel/francais/les-d...
Hadopi : the Constitutional Council censures the graduate response (only in
French, 10.06.2009)
http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2009/06/10/hadopi-le-conseil-cons...
Sarkozy tries to rescue internet law after court decision (12.06.2009)
http://euobserver.com/9/28294
French ruling raises hopes for EU telecoms deal (11.06.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/french-ruling-raises-hopes-eu-telecom...
Hadopi law is promulgated in its uncensored part (only in French,
13.06.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/13144-La-loi-Hadopi-est-promulguee-dans-sa-...
Hadopi 2 will be presented to the Council of Ministers by the end of the
month (only in French, 12.06.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/13142-Hadopi-2-sera-presente-en-Conseil-des...
EDRI-gram: French Government hurries to put HADOPI law into application
(3.06.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.11/hadopi-application-hurry
============================================================
2. The dawning of Internet censorship in Germany
============================================================
Germany is on the verge of censoring its Internet: The government - a grand
coalition between the German social democrats and conservative party - seems
united in its decision: On 18 June 2009, the German Parliament is to vote on
the erection of an internet censorship architecture.
The Minister for Family Affairs Ursula von der Leyen kicked off and led the
discussions within the German Federal Government to block Internet sites in
order to fight child pornography. The general idea is to build a censorship
architecture enabling the government to block content containing child
pornography. The Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) is to
administer the lists of sites to be blocked and the internet providers
obliged to erect the secret censorship architecture for the government.
A strong and still growing network opposing these ideas quickly formed
within the German internet community. The protest has not been limited to
hackers and digital activists but rather a mainstreamed effort widely
supported by bloggers and twitter-users. The HashTag used by the protesters
is #zensursula - a German mesh up of the Ministers name and the word
censorship equivalent to #censursula.
As part of the public's protest an official e-Petition directed at the
German parliament was launched. Within three days 50,000 persons signed the
petition - the number required for the petition titled "No indexing and
blocking of Internet sites" to be heard by the parliament. The running time
of an e-Petition in Germany is 6 weeks, during this time over 130 000
people signed making this e-Petition the most signed and most successful
ever.
During the past weeks, protests became more and more creative - countless
blogs and twitter-users followed and commented the discussions within
governments and opposing arguments. Many mainstream media picked up on this
and reported about the protest taking place on-line. A working group on
censorship was founded and the protest coordinated with a wiki, mailing
lists, chats and of course employing twitter and blogs. One website
"Zeichnemit.de" created a landing page explaining the complicated
petitioning system and making signing the petition easier and more
accessible for non net-experts.
Over 500 people attended the Government official press conference on the
planed internet censorship, a number of whom used this occasion to
demonstrate and voice their concerns. In fact, demonstrators began attending
some of the Minister von der Leyens public appearances, carrying banners and
signs to raise attention to the stifling of information freedom in Germany.
The net community did not only oppose the governments plans, but also made
constructive suggestions on how to deal with the problem of child
pornography without introducing a censorship architecture and circumcising
constitutional freedoms. The working group on censorship demonstrated the
alternatives for instance by actually removing over 60 websites containing
child pornographic content in 12 hours, simply by emailing the international
providers who then removed this content from the net. The sites were
identified through the black lists of other countries documented on
Wikileaks. This demonstration underlines the protesters' main arguments:
instead of effectively investing time and efforts to have illegal content
removed from the internet, the German government is choosing censorship and
blocking, an easy and dangerous way out. The greatest fear of the
protesters is that once in place, the infrastructure will be used to censor
other forms of unwanted content, not only child pornography. German
politicians already seem to be lining up with their wish-list of content to
be censored in future - the suggestions ranging form gambling sites,
islamist web pages, first person shooters, and the music industry cheering
up with the thought of finally banning Pirate Bay and p2p.
More information and linklist (only in German)
http://netzpolitik.org/2009/kommentierte-zensursula-linkliste/
Links, banners and more (16.06.2009)
http://netzpolitik.org/2009/the-dawning-of-internet-censorship-in-germany/
EDRi-gram: German Government forces ISPs to put web filters (22.04.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.8/web-filters-isp-germany
Internet filtering type Loppsi creates polemics in Germany(only in French,
17.06.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/13167-Le-filtrage-du-net-facon-Loppsi-fait-...
(contribution by Markus Beckedahl, EDRi-member NNM- Germany, Thanks to
Geraldine de Bastion for the translation)
============================================================
3. Stockholm programme - the new EU dangerous surveillance system
============================================================
Civil rights groups are worried about a new EU proposal that would enhance a
"dangerously authoritarian" European surveillance and security system that
will include ID card register, Internet surveillance systems, satellite
surveillance, automated exit-entry border systems operated by machines
reading biometrics and risk profiling systems.
On 15 June 2009, EU justice ministers discussed on the so called
Stockholm programme trying to set up the first EU "domestic security
strategy for the EU", by the end of this year. The 'Stockholm Programme' is
the Swedish EU Presidency's proposed legislative agenda in the area of
justice and home affairs for the 2009-2014 period.
According to the Swedish Presidency, the Stockholm Programme aims to "define
the framework for EU police and customs cooperation, rescue services,
criminal and civil law cooperation, asylum, migration and visa policy".
"National frontiers should no longer restrict our activities," said Jacques
Barrot, the European justice and security commissioner on 9 June when he
presented the EU priorities in the justice area for the next five years. The
measures include increased security co-operation and improved immigration
management.
The paper presented by the commissioner calls for stricter border controls,
a better exchange of information on criminal and security issues between the
member states and an increased police co-operation.
European Commission President Josi Manuel Barroso said that "in future, EU
action must aim above all at delivering the best possible service to the
citizen in an area of freedom, security and justice more tangible for the
citizens".
"We want to promote citizens' rights, make their daily lives easier and
provide protection, and this calls for effective and responsible European
action in these areas. In this context, I consider immigration policy
particularly important. This is the vision the Commission is presenting to
the Council and Parliament for debate, with a view to the adoption of the
new Stockholm Programme by the European Council in December 2009," he added.
But civil liberties advocates commented in a different way the
proposal: "What stands out are the proposals related to the Future Group
report. A promise to balance better data protection and EU standards for
'Privacy Enhancing Technology' with the law enforcement agencies demands for
access to all information and communications. An 'information system
architecture' to bring about the sharing of all data across the EU. The use
of 'security technologies' to harness the 'digital tsunami' to gather
through mass surveillance personal data on peoples' everyday activities
through public-private partnerships.
What is new is the clear aim of creating the surveillance society and the
database state. Future generations, for whom this will be a fully developed
reality, will look back at this era and rightly ask, why did you not act to
stop it." said Tony Bunyan from Statewatch.
The paper reintroduces proposals related to immigration and asylum,
insisting on "burden-sharing and solidarity" between member states as
regards asylum seekers and stating legal migrants should have the same
status across the EU and that they should have easier access to the job
market. Frontex, the external borders agency should be given more powers in
preventing human traffic and irregular immigrations at the EU borders.
In the opinion of liberty advocates, these plans will only get us closer to
a surveillance type of society. "An increasingly sophisticated internal and
external security apparatus is developing under the auspices of the EU,"
commented Tony Bunyan.
One of the main concerns is the intention of standardising European police
surveillance techniques and of creating common data gathering systems
operated at the EU level. A particularly worrying statement of the proposal
is: "The SIS II and VIS information systems will have to enter their fully
operational phase. An electronic system for recording entry and exit and a
registered traveller programme must be established. The usefulness of a
system of prior travel authorisation must be examined."
The plans have in view an extension of the sharing of the present DNA and
fingerprint databases stored for new digital ID cards to CCTV video footage
and material gathered from Internet surveillance.
The Daily Telegraph stated they had information from EU officials that the
new plans would need the coverage of the Lisbon Treaty presently stopped by
the Irish referendum in 2008 and waiting for a second Irish vote this
autumn. The Treaty stipulates the creation of a Standing Committee for
Internal Security to co-ordinate policy between national forces and EU
organisations such as Europol, the Frontex, the European Gendarmerie Force
and the Brussels intelligence.
The Stockholm programme will be discussed at the informal ministerial
meeting in Stockholm in July 2009, to be further on examined by the European
Parliament in November with the hope that it would be approved at the Summit
in December 2009, under the Swedish presidency.
EC proposals for the Stockholm Programme (COM(2009) 262/4)
English
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2009/jun/eu-com-stockholm-prog.pdf
German
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2009/jun/eu-com-stockholm-german.pdf
French
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2009/jun/eu-com-stockholm-french.pdf
EU security proposals are 'dangerously authoritarian' (10.06.2009)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/5496912/EU-security-prop...
Brussels outlines justice priorities for next 5 years (10.06.2009)
http://euobserver.com/9/28283
Sweden's EU immigration plans facing headwinds (11.06.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/opinion/sweden-eu-immigration-plans-facing-headwi...
Justice and Home Affairs - Stockholm Programme
http://www.se2009.eu/en/the_presidency/about_the_eu/justice_and_home_affairs...
Closer cooperation between EU countries on the agenda for justice and home
affairs. - Freedom, justice, security: a balancing act (10.06.2009)
http://ec.europa.eu/news/justice/090610_en.htm
European Commission outlines its vision for the area of Freedom, Security
and Justice in the next five years (10.06.2009)
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/news/int
European Commission - Communication - An evaluation of the Hague Programme
and Action Plan (10.06.2009)
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/doc_centre/doc/com_2009_263_en.pdf
Statewatch Observatory
The "Stockholm Programme" - "The Shape of Things to Come"
http://www.statewatch.org/future-group.htm
European Civil Liberties Network - Oppose the "Stockholm Programme"
(04.2009)
http://www.ecln.org/ECLN-statement-on-Stockholm-Programme-April-2009-eng.pdf
============================================================
4. The telecoms ministers rejected the telecom package as adopted by the EP
============================================================
The European Commission continues to pressure the Council and the new
European Parliament to rapidly adopt the telecoms package without a proper
scrutiny of the law or any consideration of the implications of Amendment
138.
At the Luxembourg meeting on 11 June 2009, the telecoms ministers decided to
reject the telecom package in the form adopted by the European Parliament in
the second reading on 6 May 2009, thus proposing a new round of
negotiations.
The ministers consider the Parliament has breached the earlier compromise
reached with the Council on the telecoms package as a whole, obviously the
main issue under question being the controversial issue of copyright
protection and users' rights. And with the new decision of the French
Constitutional Council against the French three strikes law, the European
Parliament will probably insist in its position.
On a press conference on 11 June, the position of the European Commission
was expressed by Viviane Reding's spokesman Martin Selmayr who stated that
the issue of Amendment 138 had been dealt with at the national level (thus
referring to the French Constitutional Council decision) and therefore
should no longer be a European matter. Which, obviously, means that the
Commission wants the amendment dropped from the telecom package.
Reding, which has lately been supporting France's position for the graduate
response, made an appeal to EU lawmakers urging them to finalise the
discussions on the package. "I call on all political players to do their
best in the next days and weeks to settle the last pending issue. Critics
often lament about Europe's lack of competitiveness, because of the alleged
length of the EU's decision-making processes. In the next days and weeks,
Council and Parliament have the unique opportunity to prove these critics
wrong."
The deadline for the European Parliament to send its position to the Council
on the telecoms package is 19 June. After this, there are several options
for the telecoms ministers. One is to adopt the text as voted by the
Parliament but this is unlikely having in view their position on Amendment
138, especially the position of France in the matter.
Another option is to adopt a counter-proposal restating the Council's
initial line which will formally start the negotiation procedure to take
place under the new Swedish presidency. In this case, the Parliament will
have to create a conciliation committee including 27 newly elected members
representing all the EU countries. A formal agreement could be reached by
the end of the year.
EU Council could also reopen the entire case asking for negotiations on the
core of the text which could lead to other debates with unpredictable
duration and results.
A technical possibility could be to split the package but this is unlikely
as the ministers have already stated they did not want to take that road.
As the text is interlinked, splitting it would mean bringing modifications
to a large part of the text.
The European Parliament's schedule is to have a trialogue on 29 September
with a final vote on 15 December which would give time for discussion of the
issues raised by Amendment 138 and for the new MEPs to get familiarised with
these issues.
French ruling raises hopes for EU telecoms deal (11.06.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/french-ruling-raises-hopes-eu-telecom...
Commission steps up pressure on Telecoms Package (10.06.2009)
http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=358&Itemid=9
Reding: don't involve EU in fundamental rights (12.06.2009)
http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=360&Itemid=9
Telecoms package remains hostage of political row (12.06.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/telecoms-package-remains-hostage-poli...
Ministers braced for final round of telecoms talks (11.06.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/ministers-braced-final-round-telecoms...
Presidency Press Statement on the state of play regarding the 'telecoms
package' (12.06.2009)
http://www.eu2009.cz/en/news-and-documents/news/presidency-press-statement-o...
EDRI-gram: European Parliament votes against the 3 strikes. Again
(6.05.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.9/ep-plenary-votes-against-3-strikes
============================================================
5. Finland: Complaints not allowed for the Police child-porn censorship list
============================================================
The Helsinki Administrative court decided on 20 May 2009 that complaints
lodged in regards to the child-porn censorship list maintained by the
Finnish Police are not allowed.
The case originates from one Finnish activist's "battle" against the
censorship list maintained by the Finnish police and originally the
censorship law passed by the Finnish Parliament in 2006, meant to combat
child pornography. The list works in the manner that in conjunction with the
ISPs the Finnish Police is able to bock access to certain sites deemed as
having child pornography content and thus illegal.
However what the activist Matti Nikki contests is that although the list is
maintained for a good cause, many sites including Mr. Nikki's own site
lapsiporno.info (translated as childporn.info) meant to display parts of the
Police's censorship list end up as being blocked in an arbitrary manner by
the Police. This is shown by the way in which the Finnish Police acted in
relation to Mr. Nikki, after he started a direct debate with the Finnish
Police; the Police stepped in and included Nikki's site onto the censorship
list, after which Mr. Nikki was interrogated by the Police and the Finnish
Attorney General deliberated whether Mr. Nikki should be prosecuted for
distribution of child pornography. No action of prosecution followed, and
Mr. Nikki asked that his site be removed from the list of censored sites.
The Finnish Central Criminal Police decided not to release lapsiporno.info.
Mr. Nikki appealed to the Helsinki Administrative Court, which gave its
decision in May 2009.
The decision of the Helsinki Administrative Court states that Mr. Nikki's
site is being censored, however the most worrying aspect is that while the
court admits that the case is in fact about censoring Mr. Nikki's personal
site, it totally walks over the Finnish constitution and the rights
enshrined in it in relation to freedom of speech, without even giving any
reasoning why it has done so. This is a grave violation of Article 10 of the
European Convention on Human Rights.
Mr. Nikki, who is represented by the Helsinki - based law firm Turre Legal,
will appeal the decision to the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland
during June 2009.
Decision of the Helsinki Administrative Court (only in Finnish, 20.05.2009)
http://hack.fi/~muzzy/lapsiporno/files/hao-09-0704-3.pdf
(contribution by Markku Rdsdnen - Summer Associate, Turre Legal, Finland)
============================================================
6. Windows 7 is launched without IE, but the Commission is not pleased
============================================================
Although until recently Microsoft was claiming that Internet Explorer (IE)
browser was an integrant part of Windows operating system, on 11 June 2009
the company stated it would launch its new version of operating system for
the European market, Windows 7, without Internet Explorer. The decision
comes as a result of a Statement of Objections sent to Microsoft in January
2009 by the European Commission regarding competition concerns related to
the bundling of the browser to the operating system. However, the European
Commission has not welcomed the new decision.
A Statement of Objections is a formal step in Commission antitrust
investigations by means of which the parties concerned are informed in
writing of the objections raised against them. Microsoft replied to the this
step on 28 April 2009 and the Commission is presently considering
Microsoft's reply and any additional evidence in the case.
According to the Commission, by bundling Internet Explorer to Windows,
Microsoft is using its dominant position in the operating system market to
block competition in the browser market. Microsoft was already fined in
EU in 2007 for bundling its media player to Windows.
Waiting for the decision of the Commission but wishing to observe its
launching targets for the new version of its operation system, Microsoft
decided to offer this European version without IE. "We're committed to
making Windows 7 available in Europe at the same time that it launches in
the rest of the world, but we also must comply with European competition law
as we launch the product. Given the pending legal proceeding, we've decided
that instead of including Internet Explorer in Windows 7 in Europe, we will
offer it separately and on an easy-to-install basis to both computer
manufacturers and users. This means that computer manufacturers and users
will be free to install Internet Explorer on Windows 7, or not, as they
prefer. Of course, they will also be free, as they are today, to install
other Web browsers," stated Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner in a blog
post on the company website.
In response to this statement, on 12 June, the European regulators showed
they were not pleased with Microsoft's decision as they had suggested that
the company offer a selection of browsers on its operating system to open up
choice for consumers and not a complete lack of options.
"Microsoft has apparently decided to supply retail consumers with a version
of Windows without a web browser at all. Rather than more choice, Microsoft
seems to have chosen to provide less," said the Commission in its statement.
The reaction is explainable as after Microsoft had decided to sell a version
of Windows without its Media Player after the fine received in 2007, it
succeeded in going around the Commission's restrictions by selling an
alternative version of Windows equipped for free with the Media Player,
which was obviously preferred by the consumers.
A potential solution considered in the Commission' Statement of Objections
would be to allow consumers to choose from different web browsers presented
to them through a 'ballot screen' in Windows. Thus, the Commission might
force Microsoft to include other browsers with its operating system which
will probably help competitive browser companies such as Mozilla's Firefox ,
Opera, Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari.
EU unconvinced by Microsoft Internet browser offer (12.06.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/eu-unconvinced-microsoft-internet-bro...
Antitrust: Commission statement on Microsoft Internet Explorer announcement
(12.06.2009)
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/272&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Working to Fulfill our Legal Obligations in Europe for Windows 7
(11.06.2009)
http://microsoftontheissues.com/cs/blogs/mscorp/archive/2009/06/11/working-t...
Brussels threatens Microsoft with fresh fine (19.01.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/brussels-threatens-microsoft-fresh-fi...
============================================================
7. More voices in the EP for digital rights
============================================================
The recent elections have brought more seats for parties supporting digital
rights in the European Parliament (EP), such as the Greens, UK Independence
Party or the Liberal Democrats. The Swedish Pirate Party has succeeded in
getting a seat as well.
The Pirate Party has succeeded in obtaining 7% of the votes in Sweden, thus
winning one representative in the EP. In case the Lisbon Treaty is adopted,
it might even get one more seat. The success of the party is due to two
recent events: the EU's intellectual property enforcement directive which
asks that ISPs turn over traffic data to copyright holders who are trying to
track down filesharers and which was brought into force by the Swedish
Government in April 2009 and the result of the Pirate Bay trial. The party's
success has proven that privacy rights and fair copyright systems matter to
Swedish people.
Ray Corrigan, senior lecturer in -technology at the Open University,
explains: "A lot of IP laws are being driven through because they are off
most people's cognitive agendas. If you start knocking people off the
internet for -allegedly infringing copyright those numbers start to grow
into the thousands, or tens of thousands, very quickly. It has a direct
impact on their children's education and some people may need the internet
for their job."
The Pirate Party will join either the Green or the Liberal groupings in the
European Parliament. "There have been no formal discussions, but we have
been invited by a few groups for informal talks," said Christian Engstroem,
a computer programmer and the candidate heading the party's list who also
said that the party would join the one grouping that will be the closest to
the party's positions on Internet freedoms.
The Pirate Party presence may bring new debates on the issues of patents and
copyright and privacy. Their position is for a five year copyright term, a
file sharing exception and the abolishment of patents.
EDRi-member Open Rights Group considers that the Pirate Party has some
positions that are a little extreme but the party's cultural flat rate
proposal might be something similar to a payment made in exchange for a file
sharing exception. While the Pirate Party advocates for a 5-year term
copyright, many copyright academics feel the economically optimal term is
rather 15 years than the life plus 70 years that is now in force.
Sweden is not the only country where digital rights supporters have
succeeded in making their voice heard. The German pirate party,
Piratenpartei Deutschland, won close to 1% of the vote. And registered
"Pirate Parties" now exist in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Poland and Spain.
Similar groups are attempting to register as political parties in the UK and
the US as well.
"My view is that IP is a good and necessary thing. I'm not in favour of a
free-for-all but I do think that there are many important questions that
need to be addressed. I think it's a good thing that you are getting
representatives in parliament who wish to challenge the established view,"
stated Andrew Dearing, secretary general of the European Industrial
Research -Management Association.
A new and fresh breath of air will be beneficial for the atmosphere in the
European Parliament that relies more on the Internet as a source of
information, but also as a communication tool with its voters. A survey
carried out by Fleishman-Hillard during 1 April to 1 May 2009 shows that
although most MEPs largely use the Internet, it seems most of them still
believe traditional forms of communication, such as television or
newspapers, are more effective. About 75 percent of the MEPs use a web page
to communicate with their voters, 93% use search engines daily to understand
legislative
issues. Still, many of them have to open up to social online media as only
thirty-three percent of them use the social media networks "extensively", 20
percent occasionally, but 29 percent "do not use them or do not plan to use
them."
"Members of the European Parliament recognise that EU citizens go online and
that they therefore need a web presence. However, the majority of MEPs do
not currently take full advantage of social media tools as a means to engage
with voters and drive them to their websites," the survey said.
Pirates to join Green or Liberal groups in EU parliament (3.06.2009)
http://euobserver.com/883/28237
Majority of MEPs do not 'tweet' (4.06.2009)
http://euobserver.com/883/28238
Sweden's Pirate party sails to success in European elections (11.06.2009)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jun/11/pirate-party-sweden
What do the EU results and Pirate Party mean for digital rights? (9.06.2009)
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2009/06/what-do-the-eu-results-and-pirate-par...
EDRIgram: The Pirate Bay asks for retrial claiming conflict of interest
(6.05.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.9/pirate-bay-mistrial
============================================================
8. Report: OECD Conference on Sensor Based Networks
============================================================
"Using Sensor-based Networks to Address Global Issues: Policy Opportunities
and Challenges" was the title of an experts conference the OECD organised on
08 and 09 June 2009, hosted by Portugal, in Lisbon. Andreas Krisch
participated in the conference on behalf of EDRi and CSISAC.
The goal of the Conference was to help policy makers:
a. understand Sensor-Based Networks and their potential contribution to
economic and social welfare,
b. identify how to further stimulate innovation in this area and foster
the development of these technologies where they are needed the most and are
the most promising.
During the one and a half day event, the potentials of sensor based networks
in the areas of health and elderly care, protection of the environment and
transportation were discussed. Presentations on different research and
commercial projects illustrated current and potential future uses of sensor
networks. The presented applications ranged from humidity sensors used for
the reduction of water consumption in agriculture via sensor networks used
to support elderly care at home to traffic control systems for highways
based on information gathered from vehicle on-board computers.
In the last session privacy protection and information security dominated
the discussion on policy options. Panellists made quite clear that, in their
opinion, a widespread use of sensor networks and related technologies will
only be possible in future, when a sufficient level of trust can be
achieved. For this, privacy protection and information security are key.
For a more detailed report on the conference see
http://csisac.org/2009/06/csisac_oecd_rfid.php
CSISAC
http://csisac.org/
Conference website
http://www.oecd.org/sti/ict/sensors
Presentations, session summaries, conclusions
http://www.oecd.org/document/41/0,3343,en_2649_34223_42616233_1_1_1_1,00.htm...
(contribution by Andreas Krisch - EDRi)
============================================================
9. ENDitorial: Regulating online media in Azerbaijan?
============================================================
I was invited last week to a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan by the Council of
Europe that organized together with the local National TV and Radio Council
in order to discuss some issues related to the regulation of online media.
The meeting took place on 4 June 2009 and the first part was dedicated to
the local authorities (Ministry of Communication and Information
Technologies or National TV and Radio Council) local Internet actors (The
online news agency lent.az, or APA news agency) and NGOs (such as Azerbaijan
Internet Forum or IREX Azerbaijan).
Although the authorities and private partners sat at the same table, there
was a huge difference in speeches. While the Deputy Minister of
Communications and Information Technologies Iltimas Mammadov talked about
2000 km optic cable already deployed and measures for using Internet in the
cars via WiMax, the private sector claimed that 95% of the population used
dial-up or similar connections and that the average cost of a 1Mb/s monthly
connection was between 60-120 manats (approx. 53-107 Euro), which is a huge
price for an average person in Azerbaijan.
While the authorities claimed that anyone can start an ISP, the private
sector insisted that, basically, the backbone connectivity could be bought
only from a "special" ISP - Delta Telecom. The high final prices and
allegation of some content being blocked by the authorities could thus be
explained.
Talking about regulating online media, the voices seem to converge in asking
for a definition of "electronic media". Strangely in my opinion, the private
sector representatives asked for a clarification in this respect, seeming to
want such a registration for the electronic media (which is in fact more a
notification). But this could be explained by the fact that otherwise you
are not invited to press conferences or able to get an interview from an
official.
In a country where you need to register your off-line publication with the
Ministry of Justice or your TV or radio station with the National Television
and Radio Council, most of the speakers seem to claim that the regulation
should be the rule to protect others' privacy or honour, to prevent
pro-aggressive war speech (this part may be a result of the war on
Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia) or hacking of websites (?!?).
Another interesting aspect is that the present mass-media law from 2009
lists the Internet as a mass-medium.
The European experience presented by Mr Marcel Betzel, a policy adviser from
the Dutch Media Authority and by myself was focused on whether any
regulation was needed in the new online environment and whether such a
regulation would be feasible.We also tried to emphasise with concrete
examples the importance of self-regulation and its results.
I have specifically explained why a registration of online media could be
seen as a potential infringement of the freedom of expression if we take
into consideration the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights.
Also why we need to consider whether a new legislation is feasible in terms
of its application and whether it will just send the unwanted content hosted
in another country.
Mr. Betzel also presented the difficulties of implementing the new European
Audiovisual Media Services Directive and identifying which site can be
considered web TV or Internet radio, according to the new rules.
Taking into consideration the traditional IT development skills of the
Azeri, the Internet has a lot of place to grow, but for now, it is hard to
estimate what the future actions of the Azeri authorities will be, if any,
for a "better regulation" of the online media.
Regulation of Online Media in Azerbaijan
http://www.coe.az/Latest-News/159.html
Conference on the theme "Regulation of Internet media in Azerbaijan" takes
place (4.06.2009)
http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=103237
Azerbaijan - OpenNet Initiative Profile
http://opennet.net/research/profiles/azerbaijan
(contribution by Bogdan Manolea - EDRi-member APTI - Romania)
============================================================
10. Recommended Action
============================================================
Cloud Privacy - An open letter to Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt
This six page letter (pdf) to Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, is signed by 38
researchers and academics in the fields of computer science, information
security and privacy law. Together, they ask Google to honor the important
privacy promises it has made to its customers and protect users'
communications from theft and snooping by enabling industry standard
transport encryption technology (HTTPS) for Google Mail, Docs, and Calendar.
http://www.cloudprivacy.net/letter/
============================================================
11. Recommended Reading
============================================================
Reykjavik conference maps out future Council of Europe work on media and the
Internet
https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1452361
Political Declaration and resolutions
http://www.coe.int/t/dc/press/source/20090529_final_declaration_iceland_en.d...
============================================================
12. Agenda
============================================================
28-30 June 2009, Turin, Italy
COMMUNIA Conference 2009: Global Science & Economics of Knowledge-Sharing
Institutions
http://www.communia-project.eu/conf2009
2-3 July 2009, Padova, Italy
3rd FLOSS International Workshop on Free/Libre Open Source Software
http://www.decon.unipd.it/personale/curri/manenti/floss/floss09.html
6-7 July 2009, Barcelona, Spain
Fifth Internet Law & Politics Conference organized by the Law and Political
Science Department of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
The Pros and Cons of Social Networking Sites.
http://www.uoc.edu/symposia/idp2009/engl/index.html
13-16 August 2009, Vierhouten, The Netherlands
Hacking at Random
http://www.har2009.org/
23-27 August 2009, Milan, Italy
World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and
Council: "Libraries create futures: Building on cultural heritage"
http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla75/index.htm
10-12 September 2009, Potsdam, Germany
5th ECPR General Conference, Potsdam
Section: Protest Politics
Panel: The Contentious Politics of Intellectual Property
http://www.ecpr.org.uk/potsdam/default.asp
16-18 September 2009, Crete, Greece
World Summit on the Knowledge Society WSKS 2009
http://www.open-knowledge-society.org/
17-18 September 2009, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Gikii, A Workshop on Law, Technology and Popular Culture
Institute for Information Law (IViR) - University of Amsterdam
Call for papers by 1 July 2009
http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/gikii/2009.asp
21-23 October 2009, Istanbul, Turkey
eChallenges 2009
http://www.echallenges.org/e2009/default.asp
24-25 October 2009, Vienna, Austria
3rd European Privacy Open Space
http://www.privacyos.eu
25 October 2009, Vienna, Austria
Austrian Big Brother Awards
Deadline for nominations: 21 September 2009
http://www.bigbrotherawards.at/
16 October 2009, Bielefeld, Germany
10th German Big Brother Awards
Deadline for nominations: 15 July 2009
http://www.bigbrotherawards.de/
13-15 November 2009, Gothenburg, Sweden
Free Society Conference and Nordic Summit
http://www.fscons.org/
15-18 November 2009, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
UN Internet Governance Forum
http://www.intgovforum.org/
============================================================
13. About
============================================================
EDRI-gram is a biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe.
Currently EDRI has 29 members based or with offices in 18 different
countries in Europe. European Digital Rights takes an active interest in
developments in the EU accession countries and wants to share knowledge and
awareness through the EDRI-grams.
All contributions, suggestions for content, corrections or agenda-tips are
most welcome. Errors are corrected as soon as possible and visibly on the
EDRI website.
Except where otherwise noted, this newsletter is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. See the full text at
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Newsletter editor: Bogdan Manolea