The PRISM scandal has brought forth a series of issues related to the protection of the European citizens’ data and reactions calling for measure to prevent spying on these data.
As the EU is currently updating its data privacy legislation, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the German justice minister, believes the EU needs a new set of data privacy rules, “a package of measures at the EU level against mass spying by foreign secret services," and considers that the "high German data protection standards should be the rule."
EDRi-member Digitale Gesellschaft sent a letter to Justice Minister Leutheusse-Schnarrenberger asking her to take position on the amendments tabled by her political party in Brussels.
The minister has also raised the possibility of new, tangible measures to punish corporations that participate in American spying activities. Also, in July 2013, Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the U.S. to observe the German law in intelligence operations in Germany.
"I expect a clear commitment by the U.S. government for the future, that, on German soil, you stick to the German law. We are a friendly partner. We are in a defence alliance and we must be able to rely on each other." She also urged other European governments to work closely together on the issue of data protection and set out tougher data protection laws requiring internet companies to reveal details about who receives personal information from them.
In the meantime, EU data regulators will perform their own investigation into whether privacy rules have been breached by secret US surveillance programmes. In a letter sent on 19 August, to Viviane Reding, Jacob Kohnstamm, Chairman of the Article 29 working party, said that his group would assess the PRISM programme as well as other platforms used by the NSA.
"The WP29 considers it is its duty to also assess independently to what extent the protection provided by EU data protection legislation is at risk and possibly breached and what the consequences of PRISM and related programs may be for the privacy of our citizens’ personal data," said Kohnstamm.
In parallel, Peer Steinbrueck, a candidate to be Germany's next Chancellor, has demanded that EU-US trade negotiations should be stopped in the light of the spying actions revealed. "I would interrupt the negotiations until the Americans say if German government offices and European institutions are bugged or wiretapped," said Steinbrueck in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.
Documents leaked to Der Spiegel by Edward Snowden have revealed that US secret services bugged the offices of the United Nations in New York, and that NSA had cracked the encryption of the videoconference system in the UN. According to the documents obtained by the German magazine, more than 80 US embassies and consulates abroad, including the US consulate in Frankfurt, are involved in a spying programme called Special Collection Service, developed without the knowledge of the host country.
EU needs 'German standards' on data privacy (6.08.2013)
http://euobserver.com/justice/121045
NSA Blowback: German Minister Floats US Company Ban (5.08.2013)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/german-minister-on-eu-com...
(5.08.2013)
Letter from Digitale Gesellschaft (only in German, 23.08.2013)
https://netzpolitik.org/2013/eu-datenschutz-justizministerin-versprich...
Espionage: Merkel pushes for international policy (only in German,
14.07.2013)
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/nsa-affaere-merkel-will-inte...
Merkel rival demands halt of EU-US talks (26.08.2013)
http://euobserver.com/political/121203
EU data watchdog to investigate Prism scandal (20.08.2013)
http://euobserver.com/justice/121153
EDRi-gram: The PRISM scandal gets bigger (17.07.2013)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number11.14/prism-scandal-again
The echoes of the PRISM affair keep growing. On 21 August 2013, Secretary general Thorbjorn Jagland of the Council of Europe, addressed a letter to UK home secretary Theresa May asking for explanations regarding UK’s recent actions following the PRISM scandal.
Jagland was especially referring to the retention at Heathrow airport, on 17 August 2013, of David Miranda, the partner of the Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, for the documents exposing the mass digital surveillance Miranda was carrying and which were, considered by the Metropolitan police as "highly sensitive material the disclosure of which would be gravely injurious to public safety".
Miranda's lawyer in this case told the court that anti-terror laws had been misused to justify obtaining confidential journalistic information, thus avoiding the legal procedures allowing authorities to do that only with explicit safeguards.
Several European newspapers have warned that Miranda’s detention and criminal investigation threatens to undermine the position of the free press around the world. In an open letter, the editors of several European newspapers call on Prime Minister David Cameron, minister to "reinstall your government among the leading defenders of the free press": "We are surprised by the recent acts by officials of your government against our colleagues at the Guardian and deeply concerned that a stout defender of democracy and free debate like the United Kingdom uses anti-terror legislation in order to legalise what amounts to harassment of both the paper and individuals associated with it," says the letter which adds that "the implication of these acts may have ramifications far beyond the borders of the UK, undermining the position of the free press throughout the world".
Earlier on, according to Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian newspaper, the British authorities forced the newspaper to destroy material leaked by Edward Snowden, the former CIA employee. Rusbridger also stated that a month before, a British official had advised him to stop publishing news articles based on Snowden's leaked material and the newspaper was threatened with legal action by the government unless it destroyed or handed over the material from Snowden. Further on, two "security experts" from Government Communications Headquarters, arrived at the Guardian's London offices to oversee the destruction of computers having contained Snowden’s material.
David Miranda wins partial court victory over data seized by police
(22.08.2013)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/22/david-miranda-court-victo...
David Miranda's detention is a threat to press freedom, say European
editors (24.08.2013)
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/24/david-miranda-detention-g...
European rights watchdog queries UK on Snowden affair (22.08.2013)
http://euobserver.com/justice/121174
UK requests destruction of sensitive Snowden files, EU silent (20.08.2013)
http://www.euractiv.com/print/uk-europe/uk-authorities-destroy-sensiti...
Statewatch Observatory - EU-USA: Data surveillance
http://statewatch.org/eu-usa-data-surveillance.htm
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Deutsch: Mazedonien: Ruf nach Rücknahme der geplanten Mediengesetze
The Front for Freedom of Expression, an informal coalition of nine civic associations, demands from Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia to retract the proposed media bills – the Law on Media and the Law on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services, which threaten to further undermine freedom of speech in Macedonia, especially due to the unjustified decision to cover both print and internet-media with new regulations.
The majority of issues allegedly resolved with the proposed bills are already covered in the Broadcasting Law, the Criminal Code, the Law on Civil Liability for Defamation. At the same time, the new media legislation disregards completely a number of key measures that permit the use of public funds to undermine the freedom of the media and, contrary to best practice democratic societies and to regulate self-regulation of the journalists.
We reject the strategy of proponents of the new media legislation, which consisted of creating the impression of a public debate and constructive approach, bringing international experts to Macedonia, consulting with them during the process of preparation of the bills and then, once they left the country, reinstating the problematic provisions that were amended or deleted through amendments proposed by parliamentarians from the ruling majority.
The proposed legislation, in its current form, can only lead to increased control of the government over the majority of media outlets in Macedonia. Furthermore, the decision to entrust regulation of both print and online media to the powerful new Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media, reveals a desire to extend control over those media sectors.
The proposed legislation does nothing to regulate or eliminate the existing practice of distribution of the so-called “government advertising”, which is now the main instrument used to manipulate the independence of the media. Instead, the proposed amendment to Article 92 of the Law on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services, provide to the Government a new source of funding that can be redirected towards the “friendly” media, using undefined and unspecified criteria.
For other media, instead of that carrot, there is a stick in the form of penal provisions and sanctions which, in addition to prescribing fines that are too high in the Macedonian economic context, may be subject to arbitrary decisions of a single person, the Director of the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media. The Director of the Agency becomes a de facto “media tzar” who will hold the fate of media in Macedonia in his or her own hands.
Although the proposed bills never mention the word “censorship”, they create all of the conditions to push the media and journalists into quasi-compulsory self-censorship, as the only means of guaranteeing their survival in the so-called “media market” in Macedonia. From the point of view of freedom of expression, that is a far worse and far more dangerous situation than outright censorship.
The Front for Freedom of Expression (sloboda.kauza.mk) is a wide platform of individuals, organizations, institutions and informal groups that shares a common goal – to preserve and advance the basic human right of freedom of expression, primarily in the Republic of Macedonia, but also all over the world.
The following civic organizations are involved in the Front: the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in the Republic of Macedonia, the Media Development Centre (MDC), Metamorphosis Foundation for Internet and Society, Civil Centre for Freedom, the Foundation Open Society Macedonia (FOSM), the NGO Infocentre, the Coalition “Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities” – Skopje, the Macedonian Centre for European Training (MCET), the “Javnost” Centre for New Policies and Freedom of the Media, “Jadro” – Association of the Independent Cultural Scene, and Civic Association “Kontrapunkt”.
EDRi-gram: Macedonia: Freedom of expression endangered by new law
(5.06.2013)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number11.11/macedonia-freedom-of-expressi...
Statement in Macedonian (27.08.2013)
http://sloboda.kauza.mk/frontot-za-sloboda-na-izrazuvanje-bara-povleku...
Statement in Albanian (27.08.2013)
http://metamorphosis.org.mk/sq/lajme/maqedoni/2466-makedonija-frontot-...
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Deutsch: "Right to Remix": Initiative für eine Reform des Urheberrec...
On its website right2remix.org, the German civil rights organisation EDRi member Digitale Gesellschaft e. V. calls on European policy-makers to adopt remix rights in the European copyright legislation and invites everyone to submit a link to his or her favourite remix work.
The time for such an initiative is way over due. We live in an age of remix. Creativity and culture have always drawn from previous works, but with the Internet and digital technologies, the creative re-use of works has been taken to a whole new level. More people are able to edit and share a greater range of works than ever before. Including a right to remix has thus become a fundamental requirement for freedom of expression and free speech in a digital society.
Establishing a right to remix, however, requires some modifications of the European and national copyright law. Digitale Gesellschaft e. V. proposes to introduce the right to remix as a combination of three creative rights:
- The right to change works during usage and to publish the results. (Transformative usage right(s) with lump-sum compensation, e.g. background music in mobile phone videos) - The right to create and to publish remixes of existing works. (Remix right(s) with lump-sum compensation, e.g. fake trailer for a TV series) - The right to commercialise remixes, in exchange for appropriate compensation. (Remix commercialization right(s) subject to compulsory licensing, e.g. selling music mash-ups on iTunes)
On right2remix.org, supporters are invited to sign a petition and to share a link to their favourite remix work. By submitting links to their favourite remix, signatories contribute to making visible how vibrant current remix culture already is while supporting the call for a legislative action.
‘Right to Remix’: Initiative for a European Copyright Reform
http://right2remix.org/right-to-remix-initiative-for-a-european-copyri...
Remixer Omid McDonald: “Sample-clearance horror stories from hundreds of artists”
http://rechtaufremix.org/remixer-15-omid-mcdonald-horror-geschichten-u...
(contribution by Linnea Riensberg – EDRi member Digitale Gesellschaft - Germany)
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Deutsch: Finnland: Entscheidung über die Zensur einer Anti-Zensur-Website
On 26 August 2013, the Finnish Supreme Court ruled it was legal to censor a website listing domain names of sites that are currently blocked even if the site itself doesn’t host or link to illegal content.
The ruling comes in the case of Matti Nikki’s website lapsiporno.info which was added by the Finnish police on the list of websites to be filtered because it exposed the blocked links. Matti challenged the decision in court and in 2011 a Helsinki court ruled that his site should not be blocked. Yet, this decision was now overturned by the Supreme Court which argued that, in this case, the society’s obligation "to protect the children" supersedes freedom of speech.
The site’s aim was to address the flaws in Finland’s secretive child porn filter system and to show that secret blocking initiatives are not the best solution in dealing with online child pornography. “It has been my belief that censorship isn’t any kind of solution to child porn, and I actually believe it’ll only worsen the situation as it’ll give a reason for the people involved to tighten their security and anonymity,” said Matti.
As the process of blocking the sites is secret and the list of blocked sites has never been officially made public, Matti also included on his website a list of hundreds of URLs that are blocked under the filter. This was what triggered the Supreme Court’s decision. The court’s argument was that by allowing lapsiporno.info to remain accessible, other sites could circumvent the blockade as well by adding illegal content to their websites. The Court waved away the argument that the site is not covered by the blocking legislation, which applies to foreign sites only, since it lists domains of foreign sites.
It didn’t even matter that Nikki's site is hosted in Finland. The court considered that as it contains links to foreign child porn sites, the legislation should also apply to Nikki's site.
The website will therefore remain blocked by most ISPs in Finland. However, it will be accessible to the rest of the world, hosted on a Finnish server.
The case opens a dangerous path. Based on the argumentation of this case, any site mentioning another allegedly “illegal” site might end up on a filtering list.
Finnish Court Censors Website That Criticizes Censorship (26.08.2013)
https://torrentfreak.com/finnish-court-censors-website-that-criticizes...
Finnish court: It is alright to censor a website that criticizes
censorship (26.08.2013)
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2013/08/26/finnish_court_cen...
EDRi-gram: Finland: Blocking of domestic websites ruled illegal (1.06.2011)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number9.11/blocking-case-finland-court
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Deutsch: Russland: Neues Copyright-Gesetz lässt Bedenken bezüglich Redefreihe...
New legislation on online copyright, amending several legislative acts of the Russian Federation on the protection of intellectual property rights in information and telecommunication networks, came into force on 1 August 2013.
For the time being, the law applies to “exclusive film rights, including movies and TV shows, in information and telecommunications networks, including the Internet” but it is expected to extend, in time, to other types of online content.
Amongst other things, the law rules on the liability of internet service providers, introducing the statutory definition of “information intermediary”.
During the adoption of the new law, the Russian Association of Electronic Communications issued a position with a proposal for amendment of the draft law where it expressed concerns related to additional financial and administrative burdens that the new provisions would impose on internet service providers, to a possible imbalance of legal interests of right holders and content distributors, the potential risk of abuse of pre-trial measures and the disruption of the market for digital content due to blocking of IP addresses.
Yandex, the company operating Russia’s leading internet search engine, considered that the proposed access limitation was detrimental for internet users and website owners, but for the right holders as well.
“The chosen method of regulation is aimed to fight not against pirates, but the internet as such, which is almost the same as blocking a highway, on which one accident happened,” said the statement.
Article 19 made an analysis of the respective law, examining its compliance with international standards on freedom of expression. In its analysis, the organisation expresses serious concerns regarding the way in which the procedures to provide safeguards for freedom of expression will be applied, considering that the implementation of the court orders falls under the jurisdiction of a government body rather than the courts or independent adjudicatory bodies.
“In order for an interim blocking order to be made, the courts are only required to take into account the evidence submitted by copyright holders. There is no corresponding requirement to consider the impact that blocking orders may have on freedom of expression.”
Furthermore, Article 19 believes that the new intermediary liability provisions fail to establish clear rules in this area, by adopting notice-and-takedown rules that are unclear, unnecessary and inadequate from the standpoint of the international standards on freedom of expression.
“The Law fails to specify the precise measures that may be ordered by the courts. For instance, there is nothing in the law to prevent a court from ordering a wholesale (and therefore disproportionate) ban on access to domain names contrary to international standards on freedom of expression.”
Russia: Federal law on amendments of several acts on the protection of
intellectual property rights in information and telecommunication
networks – executive summary (14.08.2013)
http://www.article19.org/resources.php/resource/37202/en/russia:-feder...
Russia: Federal law on amendments of several acts on the protection of
intellectual property rights in information and telecommunication
networks – Legal analysis (14.08.2013)
http://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/37202/Russia%E2%80%99...
Russia Adopts Measures Against Online Video Piracy (24.07.2013)
http://www.ip-watch.org/2013/07/24/russia-adopts-measures-against-onli...
This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Lesestoff
Updated Net Neutrality timeline
http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/108784/Net-neutrality-in-Europ...
Newest YouTube user to fight a takedown is copyright guru Lawrence
Lessig (23.08.2013)
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/newest-youtube-user-to-figh...
Open Data: Postponed or unfulfilled promises of Czech ministries?
(21.08.2013)
http://epsiplatform.eu/content/postponed-or-unfulfilled-promises-czech...
No European net neutrality legislation after all (19.08.2013)
http://policyreview.info/articles/news/no-european-net-neutrality-legi...
Filters 'not a silver bullet' that will stop perverts, warns Interpol
chief (4.08.2013)
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/filters-not-a-silver-bullet-that-...
This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Agenda
7 September 2013, Berlin, Germany
Demonstration "Freiheit statt Angst" / rally against surveillance
http://blog.freiheitstattangst.de/
14-15 September 2013, Vienna, Austria
Daten, Netz & Politik 2013 - DNP13
https://dnp13.unwatched.org/
16-18 September 2013, Geneva, Switzerland
2013 Open Knowledge Conference (OKCon)
http://okcon.org/call-for-proposals/
18-20 September 2013, Berlin, Germany
8th International Conference of Information Commissioners (ICIC 2013)
http://www.info-commissioners.org/index.php/blank-menu/281-8th-interna...
23-26 September 2013, Warsaw, Poland
Public Voice Conference 2013
35th International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners conference
http://www.giodo.gov.pl/259/id_art/762/j/en/
24-25 September 2013, Brussels, Belgium
EU hackaton - hack4yourrights
This year’s theme is privacy
http://2013.euhackathon.eu/
27-30 September 2013, Brussels, Belgium
Freedom not Fear 2013
http://www.freedomnotfear.org/
http://www.freedom-not-fear.eu
1 October 2013, Warsaw, Poland
CopyCamp conference
http://copycamp.pl/en/
22-25 October 2013, Bali, Indonesia
Internet Governance Forum 2013
http://igf2013.or.id/
25-27 October 2013, Siegen, Germany
Cyberpeace - FIfF Annual Meeting 2013
http://www.fiff.de/
22-24 January 2014, Brussels, Belgium
CPDP 2014: Reforming data protection: The Global Perspective
http://www.cpdpconferences.org/
24-25 April 2014, Barcelona, Spain
SSN 2014: Surveillance Ambiguities & Assymetries
http://www.surveillance-studies.net/documents/cfp_SSN2014_Barcelona_fi...