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Deutsch: Spanien: Oberster Gerichtshof verurteilt NGO wegen des Hostens offensi...

At the end of December 2009, the Spanish Supreme Court confirmed its ruling in making Asociación de Internautas (Internet Users Association - AI) pay a 18 000 Euro fine to SGAE (the General Society of Authors and Editors) for having hosted sites such as putasgae.org and antisgae.internaturas.org which included offences to SGAE.

The case was introduced by SGAE in March 2004 which stated that the website of AI was hosting webpages with the addresses mentioned above, which contained expressions like "hired gun", "mob gang", "fucking pickpockets".

On 6 February 2006, the

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Deutsch: Frankreich möchte Suchmaschinen und ISPs Steuern für Onlinewerbung a...

A report commissioned by the French culture ministry issued on 6 January 2010 proposes a tax on online advertising in order to support the production of music, films and journalism in the digital age.

France is not at the first attempt to tax online advertising. In 2009, after banning advertising on public TV channels, the government proposed a tax on ISPs, mobile operators and commercial TV broadcasters to help fund public television.

The new document, called the Zelnik report (after the its author's name), includes 22 measures intended to improve the sale of online content.

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Deutsch: ENDitorial: Das „Selbst“ in Selbstregulierung wahren

Businesses, particularly in the Internet environment, fear (and often have good reason to fear) government regulation. Traditionally, therefore, Internet Service Providers have pushed for "self-regulatory" solutions to issues surrounding the management and operation of their own networks - as in the case of spam, for example.

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Deutsch: Aserbaidschanische Blogger vom Gericht in Baku missbräuchlich verurte...

On 11 November 2009, two Azerbaijani bloggers were found guilty on hooliganism and violence charges by a court in Baku and sentenced to two years and two years and a half prison respectively.

Bloggers and political activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Abdullayev were arrested on 8 July 2009 on false charges of "hooliganism" after they had posted a video on YouTube mocking the purchase of donkeys from Germany by the Azeri Government.

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Deutsch: Das Recht auf freie Meinungsäußerung vs. das Recht vergessen zu werd...

A cease and desist letter sent by a Germany law firm to the English Wikipedia asked for a name to be removed from several articles. The law firm is representing a convicted murderer, released on parole.

The case looks more complicated, as the US have no law on the personality right, but a strong US First Amendment that protects the freedom of expression. But the German law firm considers that the Wikipedia page on Walter Sedlmayr that was murdered in 1990 needs to delete the name of the 3murderers fifteen years after their conviction.

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Deutsch: Internetsperren erhalten die rote Karte!

Government attempts to block access to the Internet are mounting throughout Europe - but look set to backfire, a new study published on 22 October 2009 concludes.

The Open Society Institute funded the report which is titled "Internet Blocking: Balancing Cybercrime Responses in Democratic Societies." Four experienced professionals, Cormac Callanan of Ireland, Marco Gercke of Germany, Estelle De Marco of France, and Hein Dries-Ziekenheiner of the Netherlands, collaborated on the research.

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Deutsch: Finnland: Breitbandinternet als ein Allgemeindienst eingeführt

According to a decree issued by the Finish Ministry of Transport and Communications, starting with 1 July 2010, a 1 Mbit Internet connection will be defined as a requirement of the Universal Service. Thus, Finland becomes the first country in the world to make access to broadband Internet a legal right.

The decree states that by the end of 2009, the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority will establish which of the telecom operators will be imposed this universal service obligation.

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Deutsch: Websperren müssen der Wahrheit ins Auge blicken

In the negotiations surrounding the formation of a new conservative-liberal coalition in Germany following the recent elections, an agreement has been reached to postpone, for at least a year, the introduction of web blocking. As the law has already been adopted, the procedure by which the law will be stopped from entering into force has not yet been decided.