An international coalition of 39 civil liberties groups and consumer rights organisations sent a letter to the European Union on 11 August urging rejection of the proposed intellectual property enforcement directive. The coalition warns that the proposed Directive is over-broad and threatens civil liberties, innovation, and competition policy. The proposal requires EU Member States to criminalise all violations of any intellectual property right that can be tied to any commercial purpose, with penalties to include imprisonment.
"If this proposal becomes a reality, major companies from abroad can use 'intellectual property' regulations to gain control over the lives of ordinary European citizens and threaten digital freedoms", said Andy Muller-Maguhn, a board member of European Digital Rights (EDRI) and speaker for the Chaos Computer Club. "Under this proposal, a person's individual liberty to use his own property is replaced with a limited license that can be revoked or its terms changed at any time and for any reason," added the German civil rights activist.
"Currently EU-Member states are implementing the EU Copyright Directive and the EU Software Patent Directive is next in the line. We should really wait and see what effect these new laws have before adding any new legislation," said Ville Oksanen, a lawyer and Vice Chairman of Electronic Frontier Finland (EFFi), a signatory on the organisational letter. "Contrary to what the Enforcement Directive claims, Member States are already obliged by international treaties like TRIPS to protect intellectual property rights," Oksanen continued.
In its letter to EU members, the coalition expressed particular concern over Article 9 of the proposal, which gives intellectual property holders broad new powers to obtain personal information about any European citizen that is alleged to be connected to an infringement. Similar subpoena powers created by the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act are abused by the Recording Industry Association of America to obtain personal information about thousands of users of file-sharing software. The proposed IP Enforcement Directive would extend the ability to abuse this power to Europe.
In conjunction with the publication of the letter, the international group of activists launched the Campaign for an Open Digital Environment (CODE) to raise awareness about the IP Enforcement proposals threat to consumer rights and market competition. CODE encourages European citizens to contact the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs and Internal Market and urge the proposals rejection before the hearing of 11 September 2003 on its merits in Brussels.
CODE Letter urging rejection of EU IP Enforcement Directive
http://www.ipjustice.org/codeletter.shtml
IP Justice White Paper on EU IP Enforcement Directive
http://www.ipjustice.org/ipenforcewhitepaper.shtml
Text of Proposed European Union IP Enforcement Directive
http://www.europa.eu.int/cgi-bin/eur-lex/udl.pl?REQUEST=Service-Search...
Electric Frontier Finland is gearing up its campaign against software patents while the crucial vote is closing up. As part of this project the organisation sent an open letter to Finnish MEPs, in which it asked for support for amendments on the final report of JURI, the committee on legal affairs from the European Parliament. Piia-Noora Kauppi (EPP-ED) and Uma Aaltonen (Greens/EFA) have already responded to the letter and promised to support the amendments.
Open letter EFFI (29.07.2003)
http://www.effi.org/julkaisut/kirjeet/avoinkirje-2003-07-29.en.html
(Contribution by Kai Puolamauki, EFFI)
The Finnish Ministry of Education has published a new draft copyright law. The new proposal does not differ a lot from an earlier version that was rejected by parliament last February. It is still highly complicated and overzealous.
On the positive side the so-called 'community first sale doctrine' is now limited to commercial entities only. Also, DVD-country codes are now clearly defined to be outside the anti-circumvention rules. On the negative side the proposal only allows circumvention of copyright protection in case of listening or watching, but not for private copies. The proposal also forbids the reverse engineering of software if the software is used as a technical protection measure. This is not based on the directive but is a purely Finnish 'invention'.
Electronic Frontier Finland has been asked to write a statement about the law and also to participate in parliamentary hearings, which will be held in the last week of August. Participation is technically open to anyone and thus not limited to Finnish organisations. For example, last time the MPAA produced a written statement about the draft law. This means that if somebody wants to try to explain why limiting otherwise totally legitimate reverse engineering is a bad idea or something similar, it can be done. The deadline for statements is 5 September. Please contact EFFI if you want to help so that we can co-ordinate the effort and give more detailed information about the law.
Ministry of Education's EUCD-page (in Finnish)
http://www.minedu.fi/opm/tekijanoikeus/direktiivin_voimaan_saattaminen...
(Contribution by Ville Oksanen, EFFI)
On the first of July, the Polish Access to Public Data Bill (2001) came into force. The bill obliges up to 10 thousands of public sector institutions (including local government, political parties, public schools, etc...) to put public information (such as information about property, structure, authorities, procedures, etc...) on special web sites. Each institution is obliged to create a separate website for this purpose, separated from their home page (if they have such). The root of all web sites is The Public Data Bulletin (a collection of hyperlinks).
The new legislation creates a lot of problems for most officials. The responsible people often don't know how to create a website and if they do, regulations seem very heavy. The law requires for example using two servers (a main one and a back-up server that automatically takes over when the main server malfunctions) and making a daily back-up of all public data.
There are only about four million internet users in Poland. Though online provision of public information seems to be a proper course of action, enforcement of the Bill seems excessive in a country where the IT infrastructure is only starting to develop.
The Public Data Bulletin (in Polish)
http://www.bip.gov.pl/
There is an article about The Public Data Bulletin (in Polish)
http://www.vagla.pl/skrypts/bip_warunki.htm
Polish - English translation service
http://www.translate.pl/
(Contribution by Piotr VaGla Waglowski, Internet Society Poland)
The EU Commission is preparing the last steps in it's antitrust probe against Microsoft. The Commission has been investigating Microsoft practices since 2000 following a complaint by Sun Microsystems. Sun accused Microsoft of abusing its dominant position in the market by not releasing crucial information on the communication between computers and servers running MS Windows. The Commission is also investigating the tying of Windows media player into the Windows operating system. This makes competition from other media players difficult.
Mario Monti, the Competition Commissioner, already revealed that additional investigations have confirmed earlier findings that Microsoft has abused its dominant position to weaken competition in the low-end server and media player markets. According to the Commission this weakens competition, stifles product innovation, and ultimately reduces consumer choice.
Microsoft has now been given a final conclusion of the probe. Mario Monti, the Competition Commissioner, said "This Statement of Objections, which includes the identification of appropriate remedies, gives Microsoft a last opportunity to comment before the Commission concludes the case. We are determined to ensure that the final outcome of this case is to the benefit of innovation and consumers alike."
The Commission has contacted companies in various market segments and requested information on whether interoperability considerations were a factor in their purchasing choices, and whether non-disclosures of such information by Microsoft influenced their purchase decisions. An overwhelming majority of respondents highlighted that Microsoft's non-disclosure of interface information - necessary for competing servers to properly talk with Windows PCs and servers - did indeed artificially alter their choice in favour of Microsoft's server products.
The Commission also identified remedies. Microsoft would be obliged to reveal the necessary interface information so that rival vendors of low-end servers are able to compete on a level playing-field with Microsoft. For Windows media player the Commission has set out two remedies: offering Windows without Windows media player or a 'must-carry' provision to offer competing media players with Windows. The Commission can additionally fine Microsoft to a maximum of 10% of its yearly turnover.
Commission gives Microsoft last opportunity to comment before concluding
its antitrust probe (06.08.2003)
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&am...
The US consumer group CASPIAN is calling for a boycott of Gillette products. CASPIAN is protesting against the use of Radio Frequency Identifiers (RFIDs) in Gillette products. UK supermarket chain Tesco used RFIDs in Gillette razorblades to test a controversial surveillance system that tracks and photographs customers.
In EDRI-gram number 14 the test and similar theft detection and theft prediction systems are discussed and explained (see link below).
Boycott Gillette
http://www.boycottgillette.org/
Big Brother in the supermarket
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number14/rfid
After public criticism the German ministry of economy (Bundeswirtschaftsministerium) is withdrawing plans to discontinue the central yearly statistics on wiretapped telephones. In an article in 'Focus'-magazine the ministry announced its intention to change the next draft of the telecommunications law accordingly. A week later the ministry issued a press release denying the abolishment plan.
According to Focus, the ministry said abolition would improve transparency. Currently, the central statistics are made up out of the raw data from telephone companies, for every phone number, even if they refer to the same phone line, for example with ISDN. The spokeswoman said that the local statistics of the 'Landesjustizverwaltungen' and the statistics of the 'Generalbundesanwaltschaft' were more meaningful, and pointed out that no information would be lost, since every Bundesland would still publish local statistics.
But the plans were opposed by a remarkable coalition of the ministry of justice and journalists who pleaded to keep the central statistics. Obviously, for journalists, comparing surveillance data from each Bundesland is more difficult than from a central statistic. But the resistance from the ministry of justice is noteworthy; they wish to be able to prove wiretapping is used moderately. In 2001, according to Focus, 20.000 telephone numbers were wiretapped.
Press release Ministry of Economy (22.07.2003)
http://www.bmwi.de/Navigation/Presse/pressemitteilungen,did=21418.html
(Contribution by Lars Weitze, CCC)
While the E-commerce directive (2000/58/EC) is not yet transposed, in France the liability of intermediaries is decided via jurisprudence. In April the owner of the discussion-website percussions.org was convicted to pay half of the legal costs made by the company Eurodim, because a visitor of the website posted a negative message about the head of the company. In the posting, he accused the manager of selling his African percussion instruments for way too much money and generally being better in marketing than teaching. The message appeared in September 2002. The CEO responded in April 2003, 6 months later, with a liability notice. The site-owner immediately removed the posting and handed-over the IP-address of the poster, but was still convicted to pay half of the costs 'for equity-reasons'.
When it comes to search engines, French courts are clearly rejecting liability for intermediaries. In May, the same Paris court (Tribunal du grande instance de Paris) decided that Wanadoo could not be held liable for the results produced by its search engine Voila. The 20-year old singer Lorie was very upset about a website showing a photo-edit of her face on top of the naked body of a 16-year old girl. A few days later, in the case of Matelsom versus Altavista, the Paris Appeal Court came to the same conclusion. They rejected the claim that Altavista should stop sending visitors to the website of a competitor. According to Matelsom, competitor Literitel had wilfully imitated their website and Altavista should stop misleading potential customers.
The draft e-commerce law (Loi relative a l'economie numerique" or LEN in French) is currently discussed in the Senate (See also EDRI-gram nr 2). Nor this draft law nor the E-Commerce Directive touches on the liability of search engines. In July, the Forum of Rights on the Internet published a set of recommendations on the liability of editors of discussion groups. According to this expert group, liability should depend on how closely the editor is involved in the publication. In case of moderated newsgroups, editors should not be treated like paper publishers, but in a way more similar to hosting providers. That way they only risk liability if they don't act after having received a clear notification. The group acknowledges the paradox in it's advice, that moderators of internet discussions run a higher risk of being held liable than owners of unmoderated discussions, but can only advise courts to judge on a case-by-case basis. Remarkably, the group warns organisers of discussion groups never to hand-over user data (like e-mail and/or IP-addresses) to private parties, but only to designated legal or administrative authorities.
About Eurodim vs Percussions.org
http://www.transfert.net/a8976
Lorie vs Wanadoo (12.05.2003)
http://www.juriscom.net/jpt/visu.php?ID=253
Appeal case Altavista vs Matelsom (15.05.2003)
http://www.juriscom.net/jpt/visu.php?ID=197
Recommendations Forum of Rights on the Internet (in French, 08.07.2003)
http://www.foruminternet.org/telechargement/documents/reco-forums-2003...
The German Federal Supreme Court ruled on 17 July that deep links from a news search engine to articles on a publishers web site do not violate German copyright or competition law.
The plaintiff, a media group that publishes several newspapers and magazines, including 'Handelsblatt' and 'DM', sued the search engine provider www.paperboy.de for forbearance. After initial success at the trial level ('Landesgericht'), the case was dismissed on appeal ('Berufungsgericht') which in turn was approved by the Federal Supreme Court.
The supreme court stated that deep links do not violate copyright laws because the copyright owner has already made the the articles publicly accessible. Because the authors enjoy discretion of whether they, despite the immanent risks of lawful or unlawful use such as reproduction, would post works on the internet, they provided free public access. Therefore, every internet user enjoys access to the work simply by learning the uniform resource locater (URL), the court held. The hyperlink technique merely provides an easy and convenient way to use the internet.
The exploitation of the plaintiffs work does not violate unfair competition laws, the court concluded. While a plaintiff may suffer damages as a result of fewer hits on advertisement banners on its website, it may not demand such detours. Whoever uses the internet has to put up with the limitations resulting from the legitimate interests of the public in effient usability of this medium.
The German case is very similar to a Dutch case, instigated by newspaper publishers PCM against the search engine kranten.com. In August 2000, a local Rotterdam court found the deep-links perfectly legal, using the same line of reasoning as the German Supreme Court in this case.
Report in German American Law Journal (18.07.2003)
http://63.142.46.199/cgi-bin/amlaw.cgi/z718paperboy.html?seemore=y
Press-release Bundesgerichtshof
http://juris.bundesgerichtshof.de/cgi-bin/rechtsprechung/document.py?G...
BRIDGE, the German foundation for civil right in the digital society
(Burgerrechte in der digitalen Gesellschaft) has opened an interesting
idea-competition. People and organisations are invited to come with ideas
for a public campaign to raise awareness about threats to freedom in the
digital society. Topic and timeframe must be clearly defined. The winner,
to be announced on 1 November, will receive 15.000 EURO to actually
realise the campaign. The deadline for entries is 1 October 2003.
http://www.bridge-ideas.de/
'Privacy, economics, and price discrimination on the Internet' by Andrew Odlyzko offers an economical explanation for the rapid erosion of privacy on the internet. Privacy appears to be declining largely in order to facilitate differential pricing. Privacy intrusions serve to provide the information that allows sellers to determine buyers' willingness to pay. The author predicts that the economic advantages of price discrimination are likely to remain in direct conflict with public dislike of such practices. There is no easy solution for this problem, and privacy erosion and differential pricing will continue to be contentious public issues.
Privacy, economics, and price discrimination on the Internet (27.07.2003)
http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/privacy.economics.pdf