EDRi-gram newsletter - Number 7.10, 20 May 2009

[EDRI-gram newsletter]

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           EDRi-gram

biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe

    Number 7.10, 20 May 2009


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Contents
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1. France: Three strikes law voted for good
2. EP limits data breach notification
3. EU supports RFID with proper protection of consumers' privacy
4. Goggle's Street View contested in Europe
5. Lucky win for the Swiss biometric passports
6. Another open door for software patents in EU
7. French courts give clear decisions for hosted content
8. UK creative industries want the disconnection of file sharers
9. Recommended Action
10. Recommended Reading
11. Agenda
12. About

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1. France: Three strikes law voted for good
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After long debates, on 12 May 2009 the French deputies adopted with 296
votes against 233 the three strikes law, with very few modifications. The
following day the Senate also voted the law with 189 against 14 with
socialist senators having decided not to participate in the vote.

During the discussions, most of the amendments introduced by the opposition
were rejected. The Internet users deemed of illegally downloaded content
will have their connection cut off while continuing to pay for the service
(the so called double pain). The amendment by which the users should have
not been sanctioned for downloading music that was unavailable on legal
platforms was also rejected just like the one extending from 30 days to 2
months the period over which a user could make appeal. The law as is now
ignores the presumption of innocence and the allows disclosure of personal
information without any control from a court.

Senator Samia Ghali was the only one from the socialist group who voted
against the article creating Hadopi authority, expressing her opinion that
the project was "inefficient, outdated, too complex, archaic, liberticidal
and old-fashioned".

On 19 May, the socialist deputies filed an appeal to the Constitutional
Council which will have to give its decision by 19 June. The Constitutional
Council already censored the graduate response introduced by the DADVSI law
in 2006, considering it was not in agreement with the equality principle of
the criminal law for making Internet counterfeiting a special case.

MEP Guy Bono, the author of the amendment against graduated response
(amendment 138) in the Telecom Package, said that in case the French
Constitutional Council does dot censure the Hadopi law, he will appeal to
the European Court of Justice. He considers the Frenchlaw is infringing the
amendment already adopted by the European Parliament
at the beginning of May. The amendment says that a user's access to the
Internet can be cut only by court decision. Bono considers the adoption of
the Hadopi law as a "total disrespect to Europe and its citizens three weeks
before the European elections".

Bono is also shocked by the statement of European Commissioner Viviane
Reding who, in an attempt to gain France's favours before the European
elections, said that although Hadopi may face some problems at the national
level, she saw no indication of infringements of the European community
law and "nothing in amendment 138 that might modify this situation".

La Quadrature du Net believes that the Hadopi law is legally dead because
"it opposes to fundamental principles of French and European law, including
the respect of a fair trial, principle of proportionality and separation of
powers." In the group's opinion, it is also technically dead because "it
entirely relies on identifying users through their IP address that can be
altered or high-jacked in many ways As a consequence, innocents will
inevitably be sanctioned. Circumvention techniques are also already largely
available." It is politically dead because "this text is a ball and
chain" that will be dragged "along for a long time." And finally the Hadopi
law is dead for the media "because government's propaganda didn't stand for
long under close scrutiny from citizens over the net" and "60% of the French
reject this text according to an IFOP poll (33% only agree to the scheme)
and a wide opposition includes independent movie theatres, hundreds of
independent labels, science-fiction authors and performing artists."

Hadopi law is adopted according to the Senate (189 votes against 14) (only
in French, 13.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12890-La-loi-Hadopi-est-adoptee-conforme-au-Senat-189-voix-contre-14.html

Hadopi: the appeal to the Constitutional Council filed on Tuesday (only in
French, 18.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12939-Hadopi-le-recours-au-Conseil-constitutionnel-depose-ce-mardi.html

Hadopi law adopted, what now? (only in French, 14.05.2009)
http://www.01net.com/editorial/502369/loi-hadopi-adoptee-et-maintenant/

Guy Bono "appalled" by Viviane Reding's remarks (only in French, 13.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12897-Guy-Bono-34consterne34-par-les-propos-de-Viviane-Reding.html

In campaign, Viviane Reding believes Hadopi does not infringe the European
law (only in French, 13.05.2009)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12896-En-campagne-Viviane-Reding-estime-que-l-Hadopi-ne-viole-pas-le-droit-europeen.html

Anti-piracy law: "make your computer Hadopi-compatible" (only in French,
15.05.2009)
http://www.01net.com/editorial/500262/loi-antipiratage-rendre-votre-ordinateur-hadopi-compatible/

Solemn burial for HADOPI in French National Assembly (13.05.2009)
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/solemn-burial-for-hadopi-in-french-national-assembly

EDRIgram: Three strikes law in France - Second attempt (6.05.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.9/three-strikes-law-france-second

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2. EP limits data breach notification
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The modification of the Privacy and Electronic Communication directive voted
by the European Parliament (EP) on 6 May 2009, as part of second reading of
the telecom package, limits the data breach notification only to the
electronic communications service providers.

Initially, in its first reading of the telecom package last year, the
European Parliament insisted to expand the data breach notification beyond
the initial provision, to online services or even public administration.
This idea was supported by privacy experts such as Peter Hustinx, the
European Data Protection Supervisor who insisted to apply the system not
only to "providers of public electronic communication services in
public networks but also to other actors, especially to providers of
information society services which process sensitive personal data (e.g.
online banks and insurers, on-line providers on health services etc.)."

But in the negotiations with the Council and the European Commission on this
point the EP diluted its initial claims. Thus, the adopted text
includes a mandatory obligation only for ISPs and telecoms. For the rest of
the categories the Commission just takes note of the EP will and says that
it will "initiate the appropriate preparatory work, including consultation
with stakeholders, with a view to presenting proposals in this area, as
appropriate, by the end of 2011. In addition, the Commission will consult
with the European Data Protection Supervisor on the potential for the
application, with immediate effect, in other sectors of the principles
embodied in the data breach notification rules in Directive 2002/58/EC,
regardless of the sector or type of data concerned."

The adopted text includes a similar recital that notes the "general interest
for users to be notified is clearly not limited to the electronic
communications sector and therefore explicit, mandatory notification
requirements applicable to all sectors should be introduced at the Community
level as a matter of priority."

According to the text of the Directive approved by the EP in the case of a
personal data breach, the telecom operator or ISP has the obligation to
notify the personal data breach right away to the competent national
authority. The text also says that if the data breach "is likely to
adversely affect the personal data and privacy of a subscriber or an
individual, the provider shall also notify the subscriber or individual of
the breach without undue delay."

The EDPS considered the voted text as "a satisfactory approach". He
also noted that it is good to see the mandatory notification for personal
data breaches in the final text, which is one of the core elements
of the Directive. However, he expressed his regrets that "its application is
limited to ISPs and network operators. One would hope that the Commission,
in consultation with the EDPS, will soon put forward proposals setting up
mandatory notification requirements applicable to all sectors, as the
Commission has undertaken to do in a declaration annexed to the text adopted
by the EP."

The European Parliament rejected on 6 May the telecom package, due to the 3
strikes-related article, that was presented in extenso in the past EDRi-gram
issue. Now the package needs to be negotiated again with the other EU
institutions, but it is hard to believe that the data breach notification
provisions will be modified.

Modification of the E-privacy Directive - adopted text (6.05.2009)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2009-0360+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN#title2

European Parliament abandons plan to extend data breach notification law 
(13.05.2009)
http://www.out-law.com//default.aspx?page=10010

EDRi-gram: Data breach notification - different opinions in EU bodies ?
(19.11.2008)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number6.22/data-breach-ec

EDPS endorses data breach notification provision in ePrivacy Directive
(23.04.2008)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number6.8/edps-data-breach-notification

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3. EU supports RFID with proper protection of consumers' privacy
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The European Commission issued on 12 May 2009 a recommendation on the use of
RFID (radio-frequency identification) after a fifteen-month period of
consultations with supplying and using industries, standardisation bodies,
consumers' organisations, civil society groups and trade unions.

Having in view the high continuous development of the smart chips industry,
the Commission drafted the recommendation to help in ensuring the protection
of the citizens' fundamental rights to privacy and data protection as
stipulated in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
proclaimed on 14 December 2007.

The non biding recommendation will ask retailers using RFID tags to store
and track products to deactivate them at the point of sale thus avoiding
potential privacy and security problems. The wish of the privacy protection
groups for opt-in principle is included in the recommendation thus giving
customers the possibility to agree to keep their tags active if they wish
to. This could be useful to identify a product found to be dangerous and to
retrieve it. Tags are to be deactivated should customers fail to opt-in.

The Commission recommends organisations using RFID systems to assess the
possible impact on privacy and data protection before using them, to act in
order to minimise "any risk of infringing people's rights", to inform
people who may be affected that the systems are in use by means of an
established logo that can be defined by standardisation organisations and to
inform the operators of the RFID systems on their purpose.

According to the recommendation, the national authorities should do their
best to increase the awareness of the public and small businesses on the
matter and to encourage research and development for more secure and privacy
friendly RFID systems.

Retailers are expected to use an established logo indicating the use of a
RFID tag on a product, to deactivate and remove such a tag in case of risks
to customers' privacy or personal data security and even offer to do so even
if there is no such risk.

EDRi's President and member of the EC RFID expert group, Andreas Krisch,
qualified the Recommandation as "a first important step towards the right
direction", but "for the time being it is important that the privacy impact
assessments are carried out properly to determine the risks for individuals
personal data. In the retail sector RFIDs should be deactivated at check-out
since this is the point where they leave the control of the retail company
and they constitute a risk to individuals privacy when being kept active."

He also insisted on the necesary next steps: "The success of this process
will depend on the ability of all stakeholders to continue the dialog that
was started with the RFID Expert Group. Member states now have an important
role to play in implementing the recommendation. They should actively
initiate a dialogue between DPAs, companies and civil society."

The recommendation was also welcomed by BEUC, the European consumers'
organisation which considers it "an important first step towards finally
addressing some of the core consumer concerns linked to RFID".

The opinion of the retailers is however divided. While the European Retail
Round Table representing big chains believes the recommendation
achieves the necessary balance between the benefits brought by RFID and the
provision of the highest standards of privacy and data protection, "allowing
the technology to develop while ensuring that those who use the technology
will use it responsibly and sensibly", EuroCommerce believes the Commission
did not take into consideration " practical consequences. On the contrary,
by adding constraints on operators, it will reduce the attractiveness of the
new technology for them. This will inevitably be reflected in the costs. If
RFID is to develop its full potential, and to contribute to European
competitiveness, it must be made easy, cheap and attractive, both to develop
and to use."

In two years, Member States are to inform the Commission on the measures
they intend to take in order to meet the objectives of the Recommendation
and within two-three years, the Commission will report on the
Recommendation's implementation including an impact analyisis on citizens as
well as companies and public authorities using smart chips.

EU pushes for smart tag revolution (12.05.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/eu-pushes-smart-tag-revolution/article-182203

Small chips with big potential: New EU recommendations make sure 21st
century bar codes respect privacy (12.05.2009)
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/740

Recommendation of the Commission of the European Communities on the
implementation of privacy and data protection principles in applications
supported by radio-frequency identification (12.05.2009)
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/rfid/documents/recommendationonrfid2009.pdf

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4. Goggle's Street View contested in Europe
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Google continues to face problems with its Street View service. The Greek
data protection agency has banned Street View until it receives
"additional information" from Google. The agency wishes to know the duration
for which the images are kept on Google's database and what measures the
company will take to make people aware of privacy rights.

Google does not appear worried by the action of the Greek authority stating
they do not consider it a banning. "We have received a request for further
information and we are happy to continue discussing these issues with them.
We will discuss with them whether it is appropriate for us to continue
driving in the meantime. Although that dialogue is ongoing, we believe that
launching in Greece will offer enormous benefits to both Greek users and the
people elsewhere who are interested in taking a virtual tour of some of its
many tourist attractions."

At the same time, the company wished to reiterate its commitment to take
measures to protect citizens' privacy: "Google takes privacy very seriously,
and that's why we have put in place a number of features, including the
blurring of faces and licence plates, to ensure that Street View will
respect local norms when it launches in Greece."

Simon Davies, director of Privacy International considers the Greek action
as a very good precedent. "This is fantastic news. The Greek regulators
understand the risks of future technology creep. They have watched what has
happened in the US and UK very carefully and will be familiar with the
arguments on both sides. This highlights the difference between regulators -
some will allow the public space to be exploited, others acknowledge that
people's privacy needs to be protected. Now we wait for the domino effect,
as the Greek decision sets an example that others may follow - we will see
what happens next in Central Europe."

In the meantime, Street View has become active in Prague while the service's
legality in the Czech Republic is still unclear. Filip Pospmsil, a privacy
expert with EDRi-member Iuridicum Remedium believes blurring techniques are
not sufficient as there are still concerns related to the angles and
distances of the pictures.

Street View as well as also other new Internet services is bringing up
certain discrepancies between privacy laws and the technological advances.
"As is usual, everyday reality and technical progress is ahead of the
legislator," said Milana Chamberlain, a partner at law firm Norton Rose. In
her opinion, the relevant legislation should be amended to cope with the
progress of the technology.
"In our view the borderline (between personal freedoms and protection of
privacy) is very subjective and depends on when people start to feel
offended by the fact that their face appears on the internet without their
consent or when they suffer harm because somebody saw them where they did
not want to be seen," said Chamberlain.

Facing complaints about privacy invasion with Street View in Japan, Google
stated it would re-shoot all Japanese pictures by using lower camera angles
so that images from private properties might not appear in pictures. And
although Google also said it has blurred car number plates in the pictures
as it has done in Europe, Japanese privacy campaigners are still concerned
about Street View system shooting images unselectively.

Greece puts brakes on Street View (12.05.2009)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8045517.stm

Google's snapshots of Prague raise privacy issues (21.04.2009)
http://www.cbw.cz/en/article/googles-snapshots-of-prague-raise-privacy-issues-.aspx

Google re-shoots Japan scenes after privacy complaints (13.05.2009)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090513.wgoogle0513/BNStory/Technology/home

UK: Google's Street View does not breach the Data Protection Act (6.05.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.9/uk-google-street-view-ok

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5. Lucky win for the Swiss biometric passports
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A referendum that took place in Switzerland on Sunday, 17 May 2009 was in
favour of the biometric passports law by a very narrow margin. Thus the
official results show that 50.14% of the voters approved the law, with just
5 504 votes separating the two sides.

With one of the closest results in recent Swiss history, the vote on the law
was influenced by the low turnout (38%) and by the number of Swiss citizens
who voted from abroad for such a project. 14 cantons (including Bern, Geneva
or Basel City) voted against the biometric passports. Howevere, the Swiss
living abroad were probably seduced by the rhetoric of the Ministry of
Justice Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf who insisted that the biometric passports
are necessary so that Switzerland may enjoy the EU visa policy and enter US
without a visa.

For example in Geneva, 52.9% people voted against the law, but 55.6% of the
Geneva residents that were abroad supported the project.

The biometric passport law was voted in March 2008 by the Swiss Parliament.
According to the law, the new passport will be equipped with an electronic
chip containing a portrait picture and two fingerprints of the holder. One
of the most controversial provision was to store fingerprints in a central
database.

Some considered that the main reason behind such a fingerprint register is
the access for police investigations, but the justice minister dismissed
these allegations.

Widmer-Schlumpf pledged in a press conference to take opponents' concerns
seriously: "We will do our best to ensure that personal data in the
fingerprint register is secure". She also promised that the ID card would
not contain biometric identifiers.

Most of the Swiss newspapers interpreted the final result as a sign of
scepticism from the population on the new passports and that the final vote
was just lucky.

"It is a slap in the face for the political establishment that includes the
government and long-established parliamentarians. They have to thank lady
luck that they do not belong to the losers," commented the Aargauer Zeitung

A chance majority (only in French, 18.05.2009)
http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/0620df5e-4323-11de-b8d1-5bf7dceb4670/Une_majorit%C3%A9_de_hasard

"Lady luck" helps government win vote (18.05.2009)
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/internal_affairs/Lady_luck_helps_government_win_vote.html?siteSect=1511&sid=10710317

Federal voting: the biometric passport accepted by a hairbreadth. Eveline
Widmer-Schlumpf relieved (only in French, 17.05.2009)
http://www.tsr.ch/tsr/index.html?siteSect=200002&sid=10707597&cKey=1242575472000

Passport vote wins majority and puzzles experts (17.05.2009)
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/internal_affairs/Passport_vote_wins_majority_and_puzzles_experts.html?siteSect=1511&sid=10709166

Biometric passport scrapes through at ballot box (17.05.2009)
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/internal_affairs/Biometric_passport_scrapes_through_at_ballot_box.html?siteSect=1511&sid=10708166

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6. Another open door for software patents in EU
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A new international treaty United Patent Litigation System (UPLS) that may
create an centralised trusted patent court is the new open door for software
patents in the European Union.

The draft UPLS is inspired from the now defunct European Patent Litigation
Agreement (EPLA) and is estimated to creat a new international patent court.
As FFII (Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure) points out, the
system will by-pass the national courts. This court system would be shielded
against any review by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Thus, hand-picked
patent judges will have the last word on software patents, meaning that will
have the ultimate power to interpret patent law.

After the Recommendation of 24 March 2009 of the European Commission to
the Council that would provide the Commission with negotiating directives
for the conclusion of an agreement creating the UPLS, the Competitiveness
Council of EU Ministers of 28-29 May will request a legal opinion to the ECJ
about potential conflicts of the UPLS with the EU treaties.

The UPLS will not be a EU institution (the same as for the present European
Patent Office - EPO) and thus will exceed the competence of the European
Court of Justice that will only "rule on preliminary questions asked by the
court structure established in the framework of the Unified Patent
Litigation System, (...) on the interpretation of EC law and on the validity
and interpretation of acts of the institutions of the Community."

Benjamin Henrion, President of the FFII and leader of its litigation working
group, explains: "A central patent court forbidding any petition right for
review to the ECJ means the patent court has the last word over software
patents. The Agreement is drafted in a way to avoid the ECJ intervention on
substantive patent law."

Brian Kahin, senior fellow of the Computer & Communications Industry
Association, underlines that the US experience proves that "it is clear that
the European Court of Justice needs to be able to oversee the evolution of
patent law. Otherwise, there is constant danger that a self-interested
patent community will successfully press to expand the scope, volume, and
power of the patent system."

The UPLS carries the risk that specialized patent courts will have the last
word for important questions such as limits of patentability. This is
what typically happens in Germany where the Senate of the Federal Patent
Court should refer basic questions to the Supreme Court but do not do this.

European Commission pushes for software patents via a trusted court
(12.05.2009)
http://press.ffii.org/Press_releases/European_Commission_pushes_for_software_patents_via_a_trusted_court

Patents: Commission sets out next steps for creation of unified patent
litigation system (24.03.2009)
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/460&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Recommendation from the Commission to the Council to authorise the
Commission to open negotiations for the adoption of an Agreement creating a
Unified Patent Litigation System (20.03.2009)
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/indprop/docs/patent/recommendation_sec09-330_en.pdf

"Council seeks to legalise software patents with the Community Patent" says
French expert (11.02.2009)
http://stopsoftwarepatents.org/forum/t-129596/council-seeks-to-legalise-software-patents-with-the-community-patent-says-french-expert

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7. French courts give clear decisions for hosted content
============================================================

Several decisions taken by the French courts lately recognize the principle
of non-liablilty of some web 2.0 sites for the content hosted. The new
interpretation is putting things back on track, after some earlier strange
decisions of the lower courts.

Dailymotion, the French video sharing site, has recently benefited of three
decisions in its favour, in each case the site being considered as a mere
hosting site and thus not liable for copyright infringement. On 30 April
2009, the site was cleared in the case filed by comedian Roland Magdane and
his production company Matex, for illegal video sharing of 31 sketches and
unfair competition. The court decided the site was only a hosting site, the
respective videos having been posted on personal users' accounts.
"Dailymotion offers its users an architecture and the technical means
allowing a classification of contents, availability to these contents,
without a prior intervention of the company on these contents that are
supplied by its users who bear their sole responsibility, independently from
the host which is in no way (...) an editor" was the decision of the court.

In April 2008, Dailymotion was also brought to court by production companies
Davis Films, Davis Films Productions, Nouvelles Editions de Films on the one
side and distributor Metropolitan Filmexport on the other for illegal
sharing of movie Le Parfum. The plaintiffs contested the hosting status of
the site considering Dailymotion had an active role in the treatment of the
contents, the classifications being made on commercial criteria and not on
functional or technical ones. Also, the plaintiffs considered that the
notification stipulated by LCEN for the warning of a site on allegdly
illegal hosted content was not mandatory.

However, the court decided Dailymotion was simply a hosting site as users
are those posting contents and choosing the key words. It also ruled that
the notification of illegal content was definitely mandatory. Dailymotion
was therefore exonerated of any guilt and the plaintiffs are to pay 10 000
euros as legal expenses.

In another case, the site was condemned on 13 July 2007 for counterfeiting
by the High Instance Court of Paris for illegally sharing online the movie
"Joyeux Nokl" and required to pay damages to the producers and the
exploitation company. At that time, the judges, although acknowledging
DailyMotion as a hosting provider and not a publisher, decided however that
the site was liable for copyright infringement, as it was aware of the
presence of illegal contents on its site. But on 6 May 2009, the appeal
court of Paris confirmed the hosting status of Dailymotion cancelling the
previous financial sanctions.

The major online auction site eBay had its share of French trials. Thus, in
september 2007 it was taken to court by l'Oreal cosmetic company in France,
Belgium, Spain and UK under the accusation of allowing counterfeit goods to
be traded and asked for about 3.5 million euro in damages.

In August 2008, eBay was already cleared of accusations in Belgium. In UK a
verdict on the matter is expected soon while in Spain the matter has not yet
been heard. The French court decided that the auction site is only a hosting
site as defined by the French law on implementing the e-commerce directive
(LCEN - loi pour la confiance dans l'iconomie numirique) and not an editor
and therefore it is not liable for the content on its website. The court
also considered that eBay has put into force significant means to fight
against online counterfeiting and thus "fulfilled its obligations of loyalty
to other operators on the market."

The court has also asked both parties to closely collaborate in order to
find adequate measures to fight counterfeiting perfumes and cosmetics and
suggested a mediator between the two, a hearing being scheduled for 25 May
on the issue. L'Orial accepted the decision and welcomed the mediation
solution. In its turn, eBay was pleased with the outcome considering the
fight against counterfeiting should be a shared responsibility and the
various involved parties should work together in this matter.

Dailymotion escapes two convictions in ten days (only in French, 11.05.2009)
http://www.01net.com/editorial/502200/dailymotion-echappe-a-deux-condamnations-en-dix-jours/

Counterfeiting : L'Orial dismissed in its pursue of eBay (only in French,
13.05.2009)
http://www.01net.com/editorial/502228/contrefacon-loreal-deboute-de-ses-poursuites-contre-ebay/

Judge sides with eBay in L'Oreal fake goods case (13.05.2009)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10239629-38.html

EDRi-gram: France: Linking can be damaging to your pockets (9.04.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number6.7/linking-decison-france

EDRI-gram: France considering new rules for web 2.0 (23.04.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number6.8/france-rules-web2.0

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8. UK creative industries want the disconnection of file sharers
============================================================

An alliance of eight UK creative industries and five trade unions want the
government to force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to disconnect
persistent alleged illegal file sharers from the Internet and have issued a
set of "urgent recommendations" they want to be included in the government's
Digital Britain manifesto.

The group considers that more than 50% of the net traffic in the UK is
illegal content, situation which puts jobs in the creative industries at
risk. "The growing threat of illegal P2P (peer to peer) file-sharing
threatens (the creative industries), as films go unmade, DVD sales
deteriorate and jobs are lost in production and distribution of content,"
said John Woodward, head of the UK Film Council.

In 2008, the UK Government urged ISPs to take measures to prevent illegal
downloading but refrained from introducing legislation that would force ISPs
to disconnect file sharers. Some of the UK's biggest internet providers
accepted a voluntary scheme and sent warning letters to thousands of users
suspected of illegally sharing music.

The Internet Services Providers' Association (ISPA) considers however that
disconnections could be challenged by users in court and that, for the time
being, the standard of the technology available for monitoring and detecting
illegal sharers was not one to be admissible as evidence in court. In ISPA's
opinion, the rights holders should rewrite their licensing agreements so as
to take into consideration the "new models of online content distribution".
ISPA's secretary general, Nicholas Lansman, said to BBC: "ISPA recognises
that there is a problem with unlawful P2P file sharing, but it is important
to recognise that a major part of the solution lies in licensing reform and
the availability of legal content online."

Woodward agreed the film industry had to introduce radical new business
models and needed to work more closely with ISPs in this digital era. "There
needs to be a better relationship between content providers, ISPS and
consumers." In his opinion, ISPs might consider a graduated response system
if they were "incentivised to tackle piracy" by the content providers paying
distribution fees to ISPs.

UK's Intellectual Property minister David Lammy said earlier this year
that the government would not force ISPs to pursue file sharers. "We can't
have a system where we're talking about arresting teenagers in their
bedrooms," he told The Times newspaper.

Barbara Follett, Minister for the creative industries, also said at a
conference of industry executives in London that the UK government was more
in favour of sending warning letters to offenders threatening with legal
actions rather than taking steps to slow or stop users' connections. "We
propose a requirement for ISPs to notify their customers that are engaging
in unlawful file-sharing and notify them in such a way that any further
action would have consequences," she said adding that the Digital Britain
report in June will include details related to the types of legal action to
be taken.

Call to 'disconnect file-sharers' (12.05.2009)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8044251.stm

UK Govt. to hear calls to disconnect file sharers (12.05.2009)
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2009/05/12/uk-govt-to-hear-calls-to-disconnect-file-sh/1

Net firms reject 'policing role' (12.05.2009)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8046028.stm

British ISPs warn Internet downloaders on the risk of being prosecuted
(18.06.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number6.12/british-isp-virgin-letters

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

End Software Patents launched a wiki to document the case against software
patents. Over 100 articles are being written to give an idea of the scope
and structure of the wiki.
http://en.swpat.org/wiki/Main_Page

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

The world is going Flat-rate
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/05/11/the-world-is-going-flat-rate/

3 Strikes for Print: A Modest Proposal From Ed Felten
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/05/3-strikes-modest-pro

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

22-23 May 2009, Florence, Italy
E-privacy: Towards total control
http://e-privacy.winstonsmith.info/

23 May 2009, Florence, Italy
Big Brother Award Italia 2009
http://bba.winstonsmith.info/

24-28 May 2009, Venice, Italy
ICIMP 2009, The Fourth International Conference on Internet Monitoring
and Protection
http://www.iaria.org/conferences2009/ICIMP09.html

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/

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
============================================================

EDRI-gram is a biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe.
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