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In a verdict on 13 July 2006, the court of appeals in Amsterdam upheld a lower court ruling about the question whether Internet service providers (ISPs) have an obligation to hand over a user's identity when accused of illegal uploading by copyright holders. The lower court had concluded that ISPs can be ordered by a judge to hand over the identity of their users, when there is no reasonable doubt that those users whose identity is sought in fact did upload unauthorised files. This fairly strong criterion couldn't be met by BREIN, the Dutch Protection Rights Entertainment Industry Netherlands. It had made the appeal, seeking the name and addresses of 42 users, suspected of infringement of copyright through unauthorised uploads,

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A new book on Human Rights in the Global Information Society, edited by Rikke Frank Jørgensen (EDRI board member from Digital Rights DK) was presented 23 June 2006 in Copenhagen.

In the book, a number of scholars, human rights activists and practitioners examine the links between information and communication technology (ICT) and human rights, exploring the ways in which the information society can either advance human rights around the world or threaten them. This includes issues such as freedom of expression, access to information, privacy, discrimination, freedom of assembly, political participation, gender equality, minority rights, and intellectual property. The book was produced

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UK government has launched a consultation on codes of practice covering the implementation of its communications surveillance laws that, lately, have been largely debated on by privacy campaigners, internet service providers as well as security specialists.

The UK Government has launched a public consultation on Part I and III of The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) Chapter II giving increased power to public authorities in their access to citizens' communications data.

The Home Office has published draft codes of practice for both parts of the act for a 12-week consultation period, stating that the present text has been modified to take into consideration the current practices, to

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On 22-23 June 2006, the New York Times published a story uncovering an international financial surveillance programme, called Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, run by the US authorities. After the 11 September 2001 attacks, the US Treasury Department and/or CIA starting getting access to international transfer data, available in the SWIFT database, in order to investigate terrorist activity.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a Belgian-based industry-owned co-operative that supplies a messaging infrastructure to the global banking community. This 'community' consists of banks, brokers and dealers, investment managers and their market

The UK Home Office has admitted that DNA stored in the UK National DNA Database has been shared with other countries.

UK has today one of the largest law enforcement DNA database with profiles from 3.5 million people, including 500 000 children under 16 years old. The database was established in 1995.

Privacy concerns regarding the database have been expressed, especially when the database was revealed to contained more than 50 000 DNA profiles of children who have never been charged with any offence.

Recently, the UK Home Office Minister Joan Ryan has answered a question from the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokeswoman Lynne Featherstone regarding the access of foreign law enforcement authorities to the database content. Ryan said that there have been 519 requests for details from the database

The European Commission is moving ahead in its efforts to comply with the annulment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of the agreement between the European Community and the US Government on the transfer of passenger name records (PNR).

The Commission adopted on 19 June 2006 two initiatives in order to comply with the ECJ decision. The first initiative is to recommend to the Council to terminate the Agreement with the US by the end of this month, since under the international law, the agreement remains in force for a period of 90 days after it is denounced by either party.

The second initiative is to ask the Council to give an authorisation to open negotiations for a new Agreement with the Unites States on the basis of Article 38, Title VI of the Treaty on European Union. The Commission considers that

On 22 May the German Constitutional Court has declared illegal under the German Constitution the practice of screening data across several private and public databases in order to find potential terrorists ("sleepers"). Several federal states will now have to change their police laws. The decision does not make data screening ("Rasterfahndung", literally: "grid investigation", usual transliterations: "dragnet investigation" or "data trawl") completely illegal, but binds it to very narrow conditions. The measure is still legal for investigations in specific criminal cases, as it was used against the left-wing guerrilla RAF in the 1970s, when the "Rasterfahndung" was invented. But for crime prevention purposes, it can only be done in the presence a concrete danger for the lives or liberties

Starting with 1 January 2007, passports containing electronic chips will be put into circulation for the Romanian citizens. The passports will include a storage system (probably RFID) for personal data, including a facial image and digital fingerprints.

The present passports will preserve their validity and they will be replaced at the request of the citizens. According to a draft Government Decision under public debate the producer of the electronic passports will be designated by international bidding. The sole supplier must provide the necessary documents and technique for the introduction of the electronic system at EU standards. The provider will finance the project and will be further on reimbursed in instalments as established by the contract. The provider, with the agreement of the Ministry of Finance, will also establish