Civil society groups European Digital Rights (EDRi) and the Fundamental Rights European Experts Group (FREE) have demanded an end to lawless spying on individuals around the globe. At a meeting with the Chair of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee today, the two groups handed over a document (pdf) containing detailed analysis of the current European and US legal frameworks. The document will be submitted to all relevant policy-making and governmental bodies.

In light of recent revelations, which have profoundly undermined trust in online communications tools, there is an urgent need for transparency, predictability and proportionality.

This article is also available in:
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.

This article is also available in:
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.

This article is also available in:
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 Broadca

The echoes of the PRISM affair keep growing.

The EDRi member from Turkey Alternative Informatics Association together with other 11 NGOs from Turkey issued the following public announcement with the title "Reclaiming our rights on social media following the Gezi Park protests":

UN and some international organizations have declared Internet as the main tool of freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Internet and social media are indispensable for the individual to progress, for the individual to take part in society and for a sustainable democracy. Around the whole world masses demand access to information, transparency and participative democracy.

Freedom of expression, freedom to protest and privacy are fundamental human rights. Freedom of expression also consists of dissent.

In a case opposing the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) and Google Spain, Niilo Jaaskinen, the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ ), issued on 25 June 2013 his opinion that, on the basis of the Data Protection Directive, search engine service providers are, in principle, not responsible of personal data appearing on web pages they process.

AEPD requested Google Spain to remove results regarding an auction notice for a repossessed home, based on a complaint from a person who had claimed that the search results were infringing on his right to privacy and who had asked for the removal of the results.

The wave of resistance that started at Gezi Park on the 29 May 2013 in Istanbul and has since spread all over Turkey once again revealed a deep connection between real time communication on social media and social movements. Throughout the protests, social media platforms have become the primary news source in this environment where the mainstream media have proven themselves to be the site of disinformation or inertia.