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The European Parliament (EP) discussed on 2 September 2008 the draft directives to reform the EU framework on electronic communications (telecom package). Besides the debates on the telecom issues, the MEPs have discussed the role of the ISPs in combating Intellectual Property Rights violations and the modifications to the ePrivacy directive in order to include more provisions on consumer protection and data security.

Some of the amendments that were passed by the EP Committees were challenged by some of the speakers, beliving they could endanger the principle of the neutrality of the Internet.

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The IMCO (Internal Market Committee) and ITRE (Committee on Industry, Research and Energy) committees of the European Parliament (EP) adopted on the 7 July 2008 the Telecom package, including the amendments that were considered by some NGOs as endangering the principle of the neutrality of the Internet.

One of the MEPs supervising the Telecom package, including the amendments to the five directives that should reform the EU legal framework on electronic communications has explained that the vote on these amendments had nothing to do with copyright enforcement: "There has been a great deal of dismay in the committee at the interpretation being put on these amendments.(...) The

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On 25 June 2008, the European Parliament's Standing Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs asked for measures to correct the European Commission's proposal to amend the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (called ePrivacy Directive).

"We have introduced a few points directed towards better consumer protection and manageability" in order to "improve data protection overall and bring it in line with the changed situation" stated Rapporteur for the project MEP Alexander Alvaro (FDP).

Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), adopted, on 14 April, an Opinion on the European Commission's proposal amending, among others, the ePrivacy Directive. The EDPS basically supported the EC proposal

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The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has issued his opinion on the new draft text of the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (ePrivacy Directive) as proposed by the European Commission.

One of the important changes supported by the EDPS with the new text is the creation of a mandatory security breach notification system. The system should require the Telecoms and ISPs to notify their customers when personal information has been lost. But Peter Hustinx wants to go further and asked for the system to apply not only to "providers of public electronic communication services in public networks but also to other actors, especially to providers of information society services which process

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Many documents with confidential data including benefit claims, passport photocopies and mortgage payments were found on 17 January 2008 lost on a roundabout near Exeter Airport in Devon, UK.

Mr Karl-Heinz Korzenietz, the finder of the documents, told BBC News: "I thought first of all it was rubbish. But when I looked at the papers I discovered they were highly sensitive. I was shocked and surprised that sensitive papers like this would just be lost like that." Mr Korzenietz has also said that this was the second time he found such kind of documents. On 6 November he found another set of similar documents that he handed over to the Royal Mail depot in Exeter which returned the documents to TNT

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Review of the Regulatory Framework for electronic communication networks and services (open until 27.10.2006)
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/consultations/inde...

EU Evaluation Impact Assessment System Questionnaire (open until 30.11.2006)
http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=eias&lang=en

DG Competition Open Consultations
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/general_info/consultation.html

Bloggers privacy expectations and attitudes Online survey done by Karen McCullagh - PhD researcher at CCSR, University of Manchester. The survey will be open until the end of November.
http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/pr

According to the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), severe threats to freedom of expression and freedom of the press may occur if the European Parliament adopts Article 6 of the draft Rome II Treaty as modified by the EP Legal Affairs Committee on 21 June 2005. The rapporteur was Diana Wallis, ALDE UK MEP. The EP Plenary vote in the first reading is scheduled for 6 July 2005. After the final adoption in the co-decision procedure, Rome II will determine the law applicable to non-contractual obligations, thus regulating judicial co-operation in civil and commercial matters.

But the Rome II draft also regulates the law applicable in case of violations of privacy and rights relating to the personality (Article 6, which applies e.g. in defamation cases). This article provides for

The Dutch Attorney-General for the Supreme Court, Verkade, has once more righted internetprovider XS4ALL and author Karin Spaink in their decade long defence against legal attacks by Scientology. In his opinion for the Supreme Court Verkade argues "Although copyright resides under Article 1 of the First Protocol of ECHR and can therefore be regarded as a human right, this does not exempt copyright from being balanced against the right to freedom of information." In this specific case, in which Spaink quoted several critical paragraphs from a statement made in court by a former member of the organisation, freedom of speech clearly prevails above the claimed copyrights of Scientology.

The case started in September 1995, when XS4ALL servers were formally seized by a bailiff, assisted by a representative from Scientology,