EDRI - Freedom of speech

Ireland: Google ordered to remove Knowledge Graph result

bogdan — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 18:31:49 +0000

On 28 November 2013, Google received an ex-parte interim order from an Irish court to block the publication of a photo image of convicted solicitor Thomas Byrne which appears as a search result alongside the profile of Irish Senator Thomas Byrne, a solicitor himself.

Google considers it cannot be held liable for what comes up in its search results, as it only creates a snapshot of content that is elsewhere on the internet and this so-called “caching defence” is covered by the EU’s e-commerce directive law, allowing ISPs to not be held liable for being a mere conduit for information.

However, Google is no longer a mere provider of search results reflecting the content of websites elsewhere on the internet as it currently offers a range of products and services that brin

Search engines pushed to inefficient Internet filtering

bogdan — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 18:28:44 +0000

The UK government continues its endeavours to censor the Internet and has succeeded in convincing search engines to filter search term results “associated” with child abuse images within its child abuse policy, despite the lack of proof of any efficiency of such measures, the rinks to abuses and the dangers to the citizens’ democratic rights.

The Russian govt seeks to increase its control over the Internet

bogdan — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 18:30:30 +0000

The Russian security authorities are taking new measures to expand their surveillance of the Internet by requiring ISPs to store all traffic temporarily and make it available to the Federal Security Service (FSB).

According to an article published by newspaper Kommersant, Vympelkom, the owner of the mobile network Beeline, made a complaint to the Ministry of Communications about the new decree made public on the 21 October 2013, developed by the Ministry together with the FSB, which will require ISPs to monitor all Internet traffic, including IP addresses, telephone numbers, and usernames.

The decree, which is to come into force in July 2014, also requires that ISPs store the traffic for 12 hours after collection and grant the security services exclusive access to the data.

ECtHR: Internet news portal liable for the offensive online comments

bogdan — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 17:56:37 +0000

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on 10 October 2013 in the case Delfi AS vs.

Joint letter on Market Surveillance and Product Safety Regulation

bogdan — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 16:31:42 +0000

On 2 October 2013, EDRi signed a joint letter together with other civil society groups and organisations (CCIA, EDIMa, EuroISPA, EEA and EMOTA) asking the competent EU institutions to act on the amendments to the draft Regulations on Market Surveillance and Product Safety that could have far-reaching consequences affecting online commerce and Internet intermediaries freedom.

The letter asks not to extend the scope of the Regulation to cover intellectual property, as that would undermine legal certainty and put an excessive burden on businesses, particularly SMEs.

Also, the text points to a number of amendments that would undermine the principle of technology neutrality and would specifically burden e-commerce by singling out ‘online’ trade and seeking to impose far-reac

Snowden deserves the 2013 Sakharov Prize

bogdan — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 16:30:07 +0000

On 10 October 2013, the winner of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought will be announced by the Conference of Presidents, as chosen by members of three committees of the European Parliament (AFET, DEVE and DROI).

The Prize, bearing the name of the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, has been awarded every year since 1988 to individuals and organisations for efforts in defending human rights and freedom of expression.

Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor and whistleblower, has been nominated and shortlisted for the award, for his exposure of the vast state sponsored surveillance programme, known as PRISM, affecting millions of people around the world, including foreign presidents, companies and even EU institutions.

EDRi,

Snowden nominated for the 2013 Sakharov Prize

bogdan — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 18:19:41 +0000

Eric Snowden, the whistleblower behind the revelations regarding the electronic surveillance made by NSA, GCHQ and other intelligent services, has been nominated for the 2013 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the Greens/EFA group and GUE/NGL group.

The seven nominees for the 2013 Sakharov Prize were presented at a joint meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Development committees and the Human Rights Subcommittee on 16 September 2013.

The Russian website blacklist shows its limits

bogdan — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 18:13:04 +0000

Russia has operated since 2012 a national blacklist of sites that allegedly do not comply with the law. The website blacklist currently includes hundreds of websites, from those promoting drug taking and suicide to those offering child pornography, but also sites that infringe the anti-piracy law. All these websites are to be blocked at the ISP level. Moreover, the legislation allows the blocking of sites that only link to infringing content if they do not take action within 72 hours of a complaint.

On 19 September 2013, telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor said that Facebook has been provisionally put on a list of banned Internet sites and asked to remove controversial content within three days.

Press release: EDRi and FREE urge European Parliament to bring an end to lawless surveillance

joe — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 09:49:44 +0000

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.

New Russian copyright law raises freedom of expression concerns

bogdan — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 21:51:47 +0000

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.