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Deutsch: EDRi-Stellungnahme zum Urheberrechts-Konsultationsverfahren

European Digital Rights has submitted on 31 March 2011 its response to the European Commission's consultation on the implementation of the IPR Enforcement Directive.

The response examines the claims made by the Commission, the evidence (or lack thereof) for its assumptions and the lessons that it draws and fails to draw from the experience of European citizens with the implementation of the Directive.

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Deutsch: Belgien gibt Pläne zur Durchsetzung geistiger Eigentumsrechte auf

Following a reported flood of calls and e-mails to the parliamentarians involved, a campaign by the digital rights group Belgian Net Users' Rights Protection Association (NURPA) and a series of meetings between the Belgian political parties and ISPA Belgium, the two main parties supporting restrictive solutions for intellectual property enforcement for Belgium have decided to suspend their efforts.

Both the Mouvement Reformateur (MR) and Socialist Party (PS) have decided - albeit for an unspecified period - to remove their initiatives

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Deutsch: Portugiesische Regierung nutzt "Honeypots" zur Abschreckung ...

In an attempt to scare alleged illegal downloaders, the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, through the General Inspection of Cultural Activities (IGAC), in collaboration with the Portuguese Phonographic Association (AFP), has decided to start using a so-called "honeypot".

"Honeypots" is a term that describes sites and services set up as traps with the purpose to lure people into downloading copyrighted files.

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Deutsch: Belgien: Four-Strikes kommen zurück

After the proposition of a Belgian version of the French three strikes law was left aside due to the withdrawal from the political life of the deputy that proposed it in 2010, a new proposal was tabled on 27 January 2011 by five liberal deputies.

The legislation proposed last year was a stronger version than the French Hadopi law meaning that, in addition, the Belgium draft was introducing the obligation for ISPs to block Internet access to the sites hosting content considered as "pirated".

Another difference from the French law is that the graduate response would take four stages instead of

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Deutsch: EU steht vor einer Flut von Gesetzesinitiativen in Sachen geistiges Ei...

In the course of the next few months, the European Commission will be launching a flood of intellectual property initiatives, some aiming at repression, some at restricting access to culture and some at feeding uncreative intermediaries.

Work is now underway on an "impact assessment" which will assess the various options available to address the problem of collective rights management. These are the bodies which collect royalties from anyone who uses music and have become a growing barrier to effective reform of European copyright.

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Deutsch: USA machen Druck: EU soll ACTA noch vor Jahresende beschließen

The US government has expressed its eagerness to see ACTA passed by the European Parliament this year.

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Deutsch: Frankreich: Hadopi erhält weitere Befugnisse

The Hadopi law continues to develop as the French Government pushes last minute amendments to be passed by the Parliament.

Thus, the French National Assembly adopted on 1 February 2011, late at night, an amendment filed at the last moment by the Government, that would allow French three strikes authority (Hadopi) to pay private-sector companies for carrying out online surveillance and filtering.

Amendment 151 to the draft Law on Simplifying and Improving the Quality of Laws extends Hadopi powers to "provide support for innovative research and experimentation projects by state or pri

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Deutsch: Sarkozy wünscht sich ein "zivilisiertes" Internet

With France at the Presidency of the G20 group in 2011, Nicolas Sarkozy has recently announced the intention to convene a G20 meeting to discuss Internet and copyright issues, before the full G20 summit of heads of state and government in Cannes in November.

The French President has had the same discourse for some time now, having pushed the idea of a "civilised" Internet on various occasions since the signature in November 2007 of the so-called "Olivennes agreement", which established the Hadopi authority.

The subject of a "civilised" Internet will also be discussed during the G8 meeting that will take place in D