EDRi-gram newsletter - Number 7.11, 3 June 2009

[EDRI-gram newsletter]

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           EDRi-gram

biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe

    Number 7.11, 3 June 2009


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Contents
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1. The French Government wants to spy on electronic communications
2. Pressure of the record companies on The Pirate Bay
3. Open source supporters criticize European govts for favouring MS
4. DRI against the Irish law on the interception of communications
5. French Government hurries to put HADOPI law into application
6. WIPO: Visually impaired treaty proposal
7. EU will examine Google Books project
8. Deutsche Telecom investigating the sexual life of job applicants
9. Recommended Action
10. Recommended Reading
11. Agenda
12. About

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1. The French Government wants to spy on electronic communications
============================================================

On 27 May 2009, the law on orientation and programming for the performance
of the domestic security (Loppsi) was presented by Michhle Alliot-Marie to
the French Council of Ministers.

The law will give the French police the possibility to physically or
remotely install spying software to listen to electronic communications and
introduces the Internet filtering by administrative decision.

According to the text, the Criminal Investigation Police will be allowed to
place on a suspect's computer a sort of internal or external USB key which
will send data to the computers of the authorities. The police may also
remotely install Trojans which will give access to all the data in a
computer in real time.

The police will be allowed to make use of these tools only in "the most
severe cases" which however include "support given to the illegal entry and
residence of a foreigner". Under the control of an examining magistrate
(juge d'instruction), the investigating authority will have to justify the
use of the technique by declaring the infringement investigated, the place
where the investigation will take place and its duration. The spyware can be
installed for a four-month period that can be renewed once.

The examining magistrate's control would be a positive thing as the
examining magistrates are independent from the Ministry of Justice and are
free to take decisions, in terms of the gravity of the investigation.
However, if the justice reform project of the French Government comes into
being, the examining magistrates will disappear which means that the
responsibility to authorize spyware will come to the prosecutor of the
Republic.

The law also obliges ISPs to block access, "without delay", to sites
included on a list drafted under the authority of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs. The list will not be made public and therefore it will be
impossible to contest and this will create the risk of abuses.

In order to prevent contestations, for the beginning, the law will target
the paedophilic contents with the declared purpose to "protect the Internet
users from child pornography images". The operators will have to introduce
in their network software that will stop any connection to sites having a
pedophile character that will be listed by the police. The French Government
will always be able to extend the target by a simple decree.

The text also stipulates severe sanctions for the ISPs that do not observe
the law providing  a fine up to 75 000 euro and a year of imprisonment.

Loppsi : the sneaks under the authority of an endangered judge (only in
French, 25.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12976-Loppsi-les-mouchards-sous-l-autorite-d-un-juge-en-voie-de-disparition.html

Loppsi wants to "protect the Internet users" by filtering (only in
French, 27.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/13010-La-Loppsi-veut-proteger-les-internautes-avec-le-filtrage.html

The police will be able to pirate the computers of the yobs (only in French,
25.05.2009)
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2009/05/24/01016-20090524ARTFIG00098-la-police-va-pouvoir-pirater-les-ordinateurs-des-voyous-.php

Loppsi: ISPs will have to "block access without delay" (MAJ) (only in
French, 27.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/13004-Loppsi-les-FAI-devront-empecher-l-acces-sans-delai-MAJ.html

Loppsi presented this Wednesday in the Council of Ministers (MAJ) (only in
French, 27.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/13002-La-Loppsi-presentee-ce-mercredi-en-conseil-des-ministres.html

Draft law on the orientation and programming for the performance of the
domestic security
http://static.pcinpact.com/pdf/Loppsi_projet_loi.pdf

Decrypting: Sarkozy and his work of controlling the Internet (only in
French, 20.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12948-Decryptage-Sarkozy-et-son-oeuvre-de-controle-du-net.html

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2. Pressure of the record companies on The Pirate Bay
============================================================

The Swedish court has denied the request of four major record companies to
fine The Pirate Bay (TPB) for being still operational.

At the middle of May 2009, Universal, EMI, Sony and Warner asked the Swedish
District Court to apply penalties to the operators of TPB for every day they
continue to operate the site. The plaintiffs claimed TPB was an "infringing
service" as they had been able to download through it 467 music albums to
which they owned the copyright. They also asked that the four operators of
TPB take measures so that the works for which they own the copyright could
not be downloaded by Internet users via the site.

Moreover, the recording companies seem to have asked the ISP "Black
Internet" to stop providing services to TPB. Additionally, they asked the
court to apply the penalties even before the District Court ruled on it and
without hearing the four defendants.

On 25 May 2009, the District Court denied the demands stating they wanted to
hear the defendants first and gave the Pirate Bay operators a few weeks to
state their position in the matter. The record companies were also given a
week to decide whether they wanted to appeal the decision to the Court of
Appeal.

"I don't think these are circumstances where the case must be tried
immediately. Usually you get to make your statement before a demand like
this is granted" said judge Caroline Hindmarsh who reviewed the demands and
made the decision.

IT security expert Andri Rickardsson said to DN.se that the demand of the
record companies was surprising. "Swedish law applies in Sweden and their
Internet service isn't even in Sweden. I don't understand why the district
court has anything to do with this. The Pirate Bay operates in countries
where the activity is permitted," said the expert.

Peter Sunde, one of the defendants, has stated that the record companies
have never asked TPB to remove any of the torrents the plaintiffs refer to
in their request to the District Court and accused the record companies of
being more interested in money and power than in the artists they should
represent.

In the meantime, TPB is searching for unbiased judges after they filed,
along with the appeal to the High Court of Justice, accusations against
Judge Tomas Norstrvm for conflict of interest due to its membership with
associations such as the Swedish Copyright Association.

Judge Ulrika Ihrfeldt was appointed to investigate the conflict of interest
but, soon after that, the judge also revealed having been a member of the
Swedish Copyright Association and was removed from the case. The next judge
appointed to lead the investigation, Anders Eka, appears to be connected to
the Stockholm Center for Commercial Law, where lawyers Monique Wadsted and
Peter Danowsky representing the record companies in TPB trial also are
involved.

Although Eka said he had no personal relationships with the plaintiffs'
lawyers and that he had no background in copyright law, he acknowledged
however he might be suspected for potential bias.

Court President Fredrik Wersdll Wersdll stated that the investigation of
Norstrvm's potential conflict of interest would be finished in a few weeks.
If Norstrvm is found biased, the case will be sent back to the District
Court. In case the judge is cleared of the accusation, the High Court of
Justice will deal with the main appeal of the verdict and decide on
whether to hold a new trial.

Pirate Bay Money Squeeze Rejected by Court (25.05.2009)
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-money-squeeze-rejected-by-court-090525/

Pirate Bay: In search of an unbiased judge (23.05.2009)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10248264-38.html?tag=mncol;title

Record Labels Increase Legal Pressure on Pirate Bay (19.05.2009)
http://torrentfreak.com/record-labels-increase-legal-pressure-on-pirate-bay-090519/

Court rejects lawyers' call to gag Pirates (25.05.2009)
http://www.thelocal.se/19656/20090525/

EDRi-gram: The Pirate Bay asks for retrial claiming conflict of interest
(6.05.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.9/pirate-bay-mistrial

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3. Open source supporters criticize European govts for favouring MS
============================================================

Recent governmental plans in several European countries to buy proprietary
software for public administration or education have caused concerns over
the methods used and the lack of public discussion over the decisions.

18 open source companies (including Red Hat) have challenged successfully in
the Federal court a three-year contract between the Swiss Federal Bureau for
Building and Logistics (BBL) and Microsoft for the provisions of Windows
desktops and applications, including support and maintenance. The total
value of the contract was estimated at about 27.8 million euro.

The preliminary ruling of the Federal court from 28 May 2009 was based on
the fact that the BBL disregarded the procurement rules and did not issue a
call for tender. A future final positive decision of the court could mean
that the contract will be canceled and a public auction call needs to be
made.

Just a few days before the court decision, another similar case was raised
by the Swiss open source advocacy group ch/open. They have presented the
situation in the Bern canton, where a 18 million euro contract was
attributed directly for Microsoft software licences, without a public
auction.

Ch/open criticized the lack of transparency of the deal and explained the
current action: "Without any public process, contracts are awarded to a
proprietary software vendor. This makes public administration increasingly
dependent on Microsoft, giving it again no other option in eight years
time."

This deal will be debated in the canton's Parliament by the parliamentary
group on digital sustainability that has the main scope to increase the use
of open source by Swiss public bodies.

Another government-related project that created rumors was the Spain
government decision to install Microsoft software on the 420 000 laptops for
students. After the Spanish Socialist Party supported the idea that laptops
should be equipped with Open Source software, the Microsoft's chaiman Bill
Gates and Spain's Prime Minister Josi Luis Rodriguez Zapatero met on 26 May
2009 to decide on the new software for this project.

The project was criticized even earlier this year by open source
organisations such as Hispalinux that pointed out that there was no public
tender on this topic.

Similarly, in a different corner of Europe, the Romanian Government has
announced that it has mandated the Ministry of Communications to buy
Microsoft licences of 100 million euros for the Ministries and
Governmental Agencies in the period 2009-2012. Although the government
press release talks about obtaining these licences through a possible
auction, there is a clear-cut signal on who will be the winner.

"The Romanian Government seems out of touch with reality" has been the harsh
comment by Lucian Savluc, the organizer of the third national open source
conference eLiberatica that took place in Bucharest in the second part of
May 2009.

Georg Greve, the president of Free Software Foundation Europe and a speaker
at the same event, commented on the situation:
"Microsoft's deals in new EU member states have raised concerns over
corruption before, e.g. in Bulgaria. But while Microsoft seems to raise such
questions more often than others, it should be noted that the problem of
illegal procurement is larger and not limited to Microsoft. Nor is the
problem limited to the new EU member states, as the recent irregularities
and resulting antitrust complaint filed in Switzerland demonstrate. (...)
It seems ironic that the European Commission has to fine Microsoft
repeatedly over sustained monopoly abuse, then transfers part of that money
to Romania, which enjoyed the highest level of financial support ever
granted to a candidate country in the history of the European Union, and the
Romanian government then decides to return part of that money to Microsoft
with close to no tangible benefit for Romania."

CH: Court scraps federal no-bid software licence deal  (28.05.2009)
http://www.osor.eu/news/ch-court-scraps-federal-no-bid-software-licence-deal

CH: Protests over no-bid software contract in Bern  (28.05.2009)
http://www.osor.eu/news/ch-protests-over-no-bid-software-contract-in-bern

Bill Gates, pleased with the announcement of Zapatero of giving laptops to
students (only in Spanish, 26.05.2009)
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/470593/0/zapatero/gates/reunion/

Hispalinux censorship financial costs and technological dependence of the
"solution" for Microsoft Education (only in Spanish, 27.04.2009)
http://www.hispalinux.es/minipc-primaria

ES: Gates and Zapatero weigh in on debate over school laptops (29.05.2009)
http://www.osor.eu/news/es-gates-and-zapatero-weigh-in-on-debate-over-school-laptops

My official position - The Romanian government is about to spend millions of
euro on proprietary software. (27.05.2009)
http://www.cianblog.com/2009/05/27/my-official-position-the-romanian-government-is-about-to-spend-millions-of-euro-on-proprietary-software/

Minister of Communications - mandated to pay 100 million euro for Microsoft
licences (only in Romanian, 1.06.2009)
http://www.mediafax.ro/economic/ministerul-comunicatiilor-mandatat-sa-achite-100-milioane-euro-pentru-licente-microsoft.html

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4. DRI against the Irish law on the interception of communications
============================================================

Digital Rights Ireland has lodged a formal complaint with the European
Commission against Ireland over the Irish law on the interception of
communications.

The Irish law, which is governed by the Interception of Postal Packets and
Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993, applies only
to telecommunications providers who operate under a licence or general
authorisation. Consequently, the vast majority of internet communication
services (such as VOIP providers, webmail and instant messaging services)
are not covered, so the interception of communications on those services is
unregulated.

This is in breach of Art. 5 of the e-Privacy Directive (Directive
2002/58/EC) which requires member states to "prohibit listening,
tapping, storage or other kinds of interception or surveillance of
communications and the related traffic data by persons other than users,
without the consent of the users concerned, except when legally authorised
to do so (by) legislative measures (which are) necessary, appropriate and
proportionate within a democratic society".

Complaint to European Commission over Irish Interception Laws (28.05.2009)
http://www.digitalrights.ie/2009/05/28/complaint-to-european-commission-over-irish-interception-laws/

(contribution by EDRi-member Digital Rights Ireland DRI)

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5. French Government hurries to put HADOPI law into application
============================================================

No sooner has the three strikes law been adopted that the French government
issued CCAPs (special administrative specifications) and CCTPs (special
technical specifications) which were sent by the Ministry of Culture to the
candidate enterprises to put into function the information system of HADOPI.

The call for tenders was sent since the beginning of the year even before
the Hadopi law was adopted, the notification date having been set for 5 June
2009 with a deadline on 1 July 2009 for a first prototype of the graduate
response system. A draft calendar foresees the application of the Hadopi law
in stages starting with 5 June 2009 until 31 March 2010.

In the beginning, Hadopi will send only written recommendations by e-mail at
a rate of about 100 infringing cases per day after which, when the treatment
is completely automatic probably in September 2009, the number of cases will
increase to 1000 per day reaching 10 000 when the prototype is finalised in
2010.

A calendar of actions is left however at the choice of the candidates, the
CCTP mentioning that "the offers will be assessed in terms of the closeness
of the proposed calendar as compared to the target calendar". The ministry
is not concerned with costs or means but only with speed. The candidates
will have a rather difficult task as the beta-test will last only two weeks
before the first warnings and the blocking bugs will have to be corrected in
one day, otherwise they will face sanctions. There is also the result
obligation, the operator taking the responsibility in case of problems and
having to compensate Hadopi in case of delays or malfunctions.

There is no provision for the moment that Hadopi makes sure, before issuing
a warning or a sanction, that illegal downloading has effectively taken
place from the IP address of a suspected Internet subscriber. It appears
that between the IP address collection phase and the warning or sanction
phase there will be a "notarisation and sampling" phase.

The notarisation phase means the "qualification of the data and the
recording of essential elements of the transaction from a trustworthy third
party" meaning the recording of all the elements proving the downloading or
rather making copyrighted material available. "The content, origin,
receiving date, the sender's identification key and the destination of the
file are essential elements" says the CCTP.

Sampling means Hadopi would retain only some of the complaints received in
order to deal mostly with those of higher interest. An algorithmic system
will allow targeting potential recidivists as a priority.

Hadopi does not take into account the presumption of innocence and only
needs to be certain of the reliability of the IP address lists on the basis
of which it would give warnings and sanctions. Hence the provision of
attaching a "chunk" of the file to every submission of a case in court which
would be a material proof of the infringing. However, such a provision
raises practical and economical problems.

The CCAP and CCTP do not precise either the criteria based on which Hadopi
will decide on recidivism in order to send another e-mail, registered letter
or give sanctions. It is only mentioned that a "study of the reiterations
is carried out so as to bring out the following elements for each
subscriber: infringement stage (1st, 2nd, 3rd.); type of actions taken or
sanctions given by the High Authority: time interval between each
infringement; and type of works concerned".

There are also very little details as to what are the means of appeal for
the sanctioned Internet users. It is provided that an appeal can be made by
means of an electronic form or by mail and that the appeal may lead to
informing the ISP of the obligation to re-establish a suspended
subscription. On the other hand, no observations can be brought by a
subscriber before the sanction stage.

For the time being, Hadopi continues to be criticised and contested. On 15
June, a concert evening against the graduate response will take place with
several groups of artists supported by Numerama, co-organised by Riseau des
Pirates and Owni.fr, in partnership with Vendredi Hebdo and International
and supported also by Slate, Agoravox, LePost, Ivox, 22mars, Social Midia
Club, j'affiche and ZikNation.

The evening will include the projection on films dealing with Hadopi, the
new models to remunerate artists, the protection of numerical freedoms, a
debate on the topics as well as music moments.

"The problem with HADOPI is triple: it does not bring more money to artists,
it touches the fundamental rights and finally it opens a breach into net
neutrality allowing private interests to get hold of a judge in order to
oblige an access provider to censure part of the net. This law stigmatises
the Net which is however an incredible chance for the music to get renewed.
(...) A new model must be invented and the technological evolution must be
accompanied rather than rowing against it. This is what the public politics
serve for, not to protect an industry where 5 multinationals make a trust of
the entire market and refuse in a single voice to accept the challenge," was
the statement of Flowers From The Man Who Shot Your Cousin / Waterhouse
Records that will participate in the event.

Exclusive: Hadopi will target as a priority the potential recidivists!
(only in French, 20.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12960-Exclusif-l-Hadopi-ciblera-en-priorite-les-recidivistes-potentiels.html

Exclusive: Hadopi will not collect material evidence... for the moment
(only in French, 27.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/13006-Exclusif-l-Hadopi-ne-collectera-pas-de-preuve-materielle-pour-l-instant.html

Concert-Evening "Hadopi has killed me" Monday 15 June in Paris (only in
French, 26.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12998-Soiree-Concert-Hadopi-m-a-Tuer-le-lundi-15-juin-a-Paris.html

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6. WIPO: Visually impaired treaty proposal
============================================================

The WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) met from
25 to 29 May in Geneva. This time, the main points on the agenda were the
survey on limitations and exceptions and the visually impaired treaty
proposal introduced by Brazil Ecuador and Paraguay (BEP proposal).

As usual, the committee also briefly dealt with the situation pertaining
broadcaster's rights and audiovisual protection but since the national
positions are not moving, no real progress was made.

The most interesting part of the meeting was the discussion about the
BEP proposal. The treaty was strongly supported by the South American
countries and it was also seen in a favourable light by most of the African
representatives (which would like to see even wider support for access to
information, though) and Asian delegates.

However, group B and the European Union did their best to derail the process
of getting the treaty under serious consideration. The given reasons for
this were rather perplexing e.g. "the matter is so complex" (unlike the
broadcast treaty?) and "there's need for more fact-finding" (there's lot of
published research by both WIPO and WBU). In reality, the civil servants
from Germany, France etc. want to oppose categorically any instrument which
would give rights to the users. However, since it is not politically
possible to oppose helping visually impaired persons such poor excuses are
needed.

EDRi also stressed in its intervention the fact that EU is ready to use a
"hard law" approach to help elder stage musicians so it would be very
unsincere to oppose the same approach for blind persons.

WIPO Limitations & Exceptions Treaty Advances; Audiovisual Treaty Gets New
Life (30.05.2009)
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/05/30/wipo-limitations-audiovisual-treaty-gets-new-life/

SCCR to Expedite Work in Favor of Reading Impaired (2.06.2009)
http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2009/article_0012.html

(Contribution by Ville Oksanen, EDRI-member EFFI)

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7. EU will examine Google Books project
============================================================

The German delegation submitted at the European Council meeting held in
Brussels on 28 and 29 May 2009, an information note asking EU to take action
against Google's online library project, Google Books, a project targeting
the scanning of entire book collections of major libraries.

"This move has an impact on cultural and media policy that we need to put on
a European level," said Culture Minister Bernd Neumann.

There is already a dispute between Google and US authors and publishers as
the publishing industry is concerned by the fact that scanning books without
authors' permission is a violation of copyright laws.

Germany's information note argues that many of the rights holders having
works that are scanned by Google are in the EU and that European copyright
law differs from the US one. The German delegation considers that Google is
using the excuse of a fair use exception to face copyright claims, an
exemption which doesn't exist in EU member states.

The main concern is related to the necessity of obtaining consent given by
authors before scanning their works. "Google's actions are irreconcilable
with the principles of European copyright law, according to which the
consent of the author must be obtained before his or her works may be
reproduced or made publicly available on the Internet" says the note.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has shown concerns regarding
competitivity issues: "Through digitalising millions of books without right
holders' permission, Google has already gained a competitive advantage
against similar projects like Europeana and libreka.de - who unlike
Google respect European copyright laws."

The EU has immediately confirmed the launching of a formal inquiry which
will apparently focus on copyright matters and will look into the settlement
Google has with publishers and authors.

After Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers filed a law
suit against Google in 2004 arguing the giant was violating copyright by
displaying excerpts of books without the permission of the copyright
holders, a settlement reached in October 2008 raised criticism and is now
investigated by the US Justice Department on anti-trust grounds.

The settlement would let Google sell to other libraries access to its online
books and subscriptions to its entire library and the revenues would go to
Google, publishers and authors. The settlement gives authors until early
January to adhere to it and hence receive money for having their books
scanned or to opt out of the system by September 2009.

Anne Bergman-Tahon, director of the FEP believes that "millions of works
will never be claimed because these 300 pages of settlement are so
complicated." Therefore, critics argue that when copyright holders do not
come forward, Google alone will have the rights to "orphan books" which,
according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal newspaper are
estimated at 50 to 70 percent of books published after 1923. Google will
hold monopoly under the circumstances and will be in the position to charge
as much as it wants for access to books.

On the other hand, Google stated that by its project it was giving an
eternal digital life to millions of books which are now out of print and
that it was "happy to engage in any constructive dialogue about the future
of books and copyright."

EU may flex regulatory muscles against Google book deal (1.06.2009)
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/eu-may-flex-regulatory-muscles-against-google-book-deal.ars

Germany wants EU to fight Google Books project (2.06.2009)
http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20090602-19649.html

Council calls on Commission to examine Google Books project (2.06.2009)
http://euroalert.net/en/news.aspx?idn=8811

EU states concerned over Google library plans (27.05.2009)
http://euobserver.com/19/28193

EU confirms Google investigation (31.05.2009)
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/86904-page.htm

============================================================
8. Deutsche Telecom investigating the sexual life of job applicants
============================================================

According to German newspaper Handelsblatt, Deutsche Telecom was keeping
records about personal details of job applicants, including details about
their sexual life. Similar records on potential employees were also kept in
Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary.

An anonymous security consultant who used to work for Deutsche Telecom
stated for the German newspaper that this was actually a common practice of
the company.

According to Handelsblatt, the German Telecom hired private detectives from
Germany who were collecting data about potential employees by eavesdropping
phone conversations, investigating their bank accounts and intimate, sexual
life, explaining that this way they could know who they were dealing with.

This was revealed soon after Deutsche Telecom confirmed the information that
it was spying on the directors in its companies and on journalists, in order
to determine where the information was leaking from.

The company announced that it did not order regular reports on the
private life of the potential employees. The people from Macedonian
Telecommunications say that this was not, is not and will not be a practice
of their company.

"These allegations are absolutely wrong, unserious and unsubstantiated.
Such practice is prohibited by the Law on personal data protection.
Everybody knows what information should be submitted by the applicant; first
and last name, address, education, previous work experience, recommendations
and a motivation letter" claim the representatives of T-Mobile and T-Home,
companies owned by Deutsche Telecom.

"All of the employment applications can be found on the company's
website" say the representatives from Macedonian Telecom.

The representatives of the Croatian T-Com stated that they did not
know anything about the spying, and if the investigation proves that this
really happened, the responsible persons will have to bear the consequences.

According to the reports to which the newspaper had access, a woman
that was applying for a job in the Croatian telecom - a branch of DT, is
described as an experienced sexual partner with a rich imagination. The
partners of the candidate allegedly said that she was a "female predator"
with a big sexual urge and that she prefered older men. In another report,
which was allegedly prepared by the German counterintelligence service BND,
a candidate is described as an alcoholic, and another one as a corrupted old
man.

Deutsche Telecom claims it did not order reports with personal data of
the candidates.

"Deutsche Telecom is not analyzing the private life of the applicants.
DT doesn't need any information about the private life of the candidates"
stated Philip Blank, the company's spokesman.

According to AFP, this is one of the several scandals that broke out
in Deutsche Telecom and the company also admitted to have spied on
journalists and members of the supervisory board in order to find the source
of the media. DT also admitted that in 2006 it was checking the bank
accounts of more than 100 000 workers to determine whether any of them were
involved in corruption.

Deutsche Telecom investigating the sexual life of job applicants
(26.05.2009)
http://www.metamorphosis.org.mk/en/news/world/1498-dojce-telekom-go-proveruval-seksualniot-zivot-na-kandidatite-za-rabota

(contribution by Kire Dimik - EDRi-member Metamorphosis - Macedonia)

============================================================
9. Recommended Action
============================================================

On 26 May 2009 the European Commission opened a consultation on the
conclusions of the online commerce roundtable on the online distribution of
music. The consultation will close on 30 June 2009.
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/832&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
http://ec.europa.eu/competition/consultations/2009_online_commerce/roundtable_report_en.pdf

============================================================
10. Recommended Reading
============================================================

Ethnic Profiling in the European Union: Pervasive, Ineffective, and
Discriminatory (26.05.2009)
http://www.soros.org/initiatives/osji/articles_publications/publications/profiling_20090526

Constitutional complaint against Hadopi (only in French, 19.05.2009)
http://www.lesechos.fr/medias/2009/0519//300350517.pdf

The German constitutional court published its 2008-ruling that created a
"fundamental right to the guarantee of the confidentiality and integrity of
information technology systems" in English (27.02.2008)
http://www.bverfg.de/en/decisions/rs20080227_1bvr037007en.html

============================================================
11. Agenda
============================================================

1-4 June 2009, Washington, DC, USA
Computers Freedom and Privacy 2009
http://www.cfp2009.org/

5 June 2009, London, UK
The Second Multidisciplinary Workshop on Identity in the Information
Society (IDIS 09): "Identity and the Impact of Technology"
http://is2.lse.ac.uk/idis/2009/

10 June 2009, Brussels, Belgium
The Global Enforcement Agenda of copyright, patents and other IPRs: Some
consumer perspectives
Organized by TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), Knowledge Ecology
International (KEI) and Health Action International Europe (HAI-E)
http://www.tacd-ip.org/blog/2009/05/29/tacd-kei-and-hai-e-host-event-on-enforcement-agenda-of-copyright-patents-and-other-iprs-in-brussels/

28-30 June 2009, Torino, 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

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/

============================================================
12. About
============================================================

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