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Deutsch: OSZE: Netzzugang als Menschenrecht

According to a report issued by the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) on 8 July 2011, the Internet should remain free and access to the Internet should be considered a human right.

The report, based on data received from OSCE participating states and on the responses to a questionnaire sent in September 2010, presents the conclusions of the first comprehensive research on Internet content regulation in the OSCE region, having covered the legal provisions and practices related to freedom of expression, the free flow of information and med

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Deutsch: Britische Rechteinhaber fordern Netzsperren

According to some leaked reports, copyright holders seem to have proposed during a roundtable with UK Government representatives, ISPs and others on 15 June 2011, plans that could lead to the blocking of websites that allegedly host copyright infringing material.

Apparently, the Rightsholder Group' plans include a voluntary website blocking scheme that would involve "expedited court procedures" letting an "expert body" decide if websites that host copyright-infringing material should be blocked, meaning that lobby groups might decide on website

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Deutsch: Verhandlungen münden in verworrenen Text über Netzsperren

After months of negotiation, the Council, Parliament and Commission finally agreed a text on Internet blocking where everyone appears to have got what they wanted, except the European Commission. The agreed text now needs to be signed off by the political groups, before being put to a vote in the Civil Liberties Committee on 12-13 July 2011.

The European Parliament, Council and Commission negotiations on the proposed child exploitation Directive - which originally proposed the introduction of mandatory EU-wide blocking - have provisionally reached a compromise. The text now needs to be approved by the Parliament's political groups before being voted in in the Civil Liberties Committee in July and in a plenary session of the Parliament in September.

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Deutsch: ENDitorial: Hallo CIRCAMP-Netzsperren, Tschüss Demokratie

Late in 2010, with the issue of web blocking still being discussed in the European Parliament, the European Commission decided, with complete disregard for the outcome of the democratic process on this issue, to invest a further 324 059 Euro in the COSPOL Internet Related Child Abuse Project (CIRCAMP).

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Deutsch: Filterung des Internets als Teil der britischen Präventionsstrategie

The UK Home Office has recently published its new version of the Prevent Strategy aimed at countering terrorism, which includes worrying suggestions about the necessity of Internet filtering.

Besides the fact that one can read in the Prevent Strategy that "Internet filtering across the public estate is essential", the document also suggests the Home Office's intention to consider "the potential for violent and unlawful URL lists to be voluntarily incorporated into independent national blocking lists