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A new policy paper drafted by the European Commission (EC) shows its intention to promote new measures to fight against illegal file-sharing, taking as a positive example the French agreement between ISPs and the record industries already presented in EDRI-gram.

The policy paper obtained by EurActiv and entitled "Creative content online in the Single Market" wants to involve all the stakeholders in the activities against piracy: "It seems appropriate to instigate co-operation procedures between access and service providers, right holders and consumers".

The Commission communication also talks about the development of new legal offers of digital content available for consumers, educational programs to

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Following the the EDRi statements on RFID Privacy Issues and RFID Security Issues published earlier this year, EDRi recently contributed with a third written statement to the European Commission's RFID Expert Group focusing on RFID and Informed Consent.

In this paper, EDRi deals with the possibilities of informing individuals about RFID use and strongly asks for a strict opt-in regime for RFID usage. Furthermore various mechanisms for removing, altering or disabling RFID functionality are discussed and evaluated with respect to the protection of personal data.

Finally, EDRi suggests a concept of responsibilities to ensure that RFID technology is only disseminated to organisations that

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Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)16 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on measures to promote the public service value of the Internet, adopted on 7 November 2007
https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?Ref=CM/Rec(2007)16

Council of Europe Submission to the Internet Governance Forum, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 12-15 November 2007, "Building a free and safe Internet"
http://www.coe.int/t/dc/files/events/internet/

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The 8th meeting of the Council of Europe (CoE) group of specialists on Human Rights in the Information Society (MC-S-IS) was held in Strasbourg on 29-30 October 2007. It was mainly dedicated to discussing draft documents on technical measures and their impact on human rights and particularly freedom of expression. Two areas were more specifically addressed: content regulation and intellectual property.

In its position of independent NGO observer to the CoE MC-S-IS, EDRI voices its concerns when needed, including loudly by running campaigns, like the recent one against a new Recommendation failing to uphold online freedom of expression (Rec(2007)11). In this campaign, EDRI statement was endorsed by

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European Digital Rights Initiative (EDRI) is supporting the letter Privacy International (PI) sent on 5 November 2007 asking the head of the European Commission DG Competition, Commissioner Kroes, to take the merger of Google-Doubleclick to the next phase. PI argues that the merger could have serious implications for privacy innovation in advertising.

The letter explains the problems that the merger could bring to the online advertising market: "Google's purchase of Doubleclick is particularly worrying because it is a significant consolidation in this domain and we worry that this very competition to provide high-quality privacy practices will dissipate. Google's dominant position in the search marketplace will be

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31 international and national organisations from different countries have already signed EDRI statement on a new Recommendation from the Council of Europe (CoE) failing to uphold freedom of expression in the online environment.

As other related instruments are currently in preparation by the CoE, EDRI calls for NGOs and groups from all over the world to sign up in support of EDRI statement and take further action to help avoid the risk of more damages to freedom of expression and information in the online world. Signatures should preferably be gathered before 28 October 2007, as the next meeting of the CoE expert group having prepared this Recommendation is scheduled on 29-30 October 2007 in Strasbourg

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The European Parliament (EP) adopted on 27 September 2007 a resolution that endorses the 2005 European Commission's Communication i2010: Digital Libraries supporting the digital libraries initiative that aims at making European information resources easier and more interesting to use in an online environment

The Commission's "2010 Digital Libraries Initiative" came from the heads of states and governments of France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain in April 2005 and covered digitised and born digital material.

The EP resolution, based on a report by French MEP Marie-Hélène Descamps entitled "i2010: towards a European digital library" emphasised the need for more books to be put online and urged the Commission to speed up the process

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Today EDRI issued a statement to express its serious concerns over a new Council of Europe Recommendation on 'promoting freedom of expression and information in the new information and communications environment'.

According to EDRI, the newly adopted instrument promotes opaque "self-regulation" and other soft law instruments driven by private interests and implemented through technical mechanisms. EDRI considers this Recommendation to be damaging and a retrograde step for freedom of expression and freedom of the press in the online world. EDRI is deeply concerned that such instruments will be used to legitimize subtle means of censorship, through privatised censorship and measures to protect against