This article is also available in:
Deutsch: US-Razzien gegen Domains und IP-Adressen gehen weiter

US authorities have resumed their "Operation in Our Sites" in order to attempt to fight counterfeit and piracy-related websites. During this second annual "Cyber Monday" crackdown, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has shut down 150 websites from all over the world.

The recent introduction of draft bills, such as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) now aims at providing a legal basis for domain names and IP address seizures.

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Finnischer Provider soll "The Pirate Bay" sperren

Hot on the heels of a Belgian court decision obligating two ISPs to block the Pirate Bay, the Helsinki District Court ruled on 26 October 2011 that the large Finnish ISP Elisa must block access to The Pirate Bay from its network, or face a 100 000 Euros fine. The block must take effect by 18 November 2011.

Elisa says it will appeal the ruling.

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Brüssel: "Four Strikes" gegen Netzsperren

Last week, the European Parliament took its final vote on the proposed Directive on Child Sexual Exploitation. Parliamentarians voted for a compromise text which rejected the European Commission's proposal to make web blocking mandatory across the EU.

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Weitere Länder ergreifen Sperrmaßnahmen gegen unerwünschtes Glücks...

As the EU regulation of online gambling is still being discussed, more EU countries try to implement Internet blocking as a valid solution to stop access of its own citizens to locally unauthorized gambling websites.

A hearing on online gambling organized on 6 September 2011 by the European Economic and Social Committee focused on the fact that there was "an appetite for action at EU level".

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: US-Hotline verzeichnet große Erfolge bei der Löschung von Missbrauch...

In the course of the past year the US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) made huge improvements in its handling of both domestic and international reports of web-based child abuse material.

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Türkei vertagt Pläne zur Filterung des Internets

Having been fiercely criticized since May 2011 over its Internet filtering system (Procedures and Principles regarding Safe Internet Use) planned to be imposed on 22 August, the Information Technologies Board (BTK) has decided to delay the introduction of the system till 22 November 2011 and to reduce the number of filters that are now said to cover adult content.

The government's plan was to force Internet users to choose from among a list of filtering packages meant to block certain unspecified websites.

Under the modified vers

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Freiwillige Sperrabkommen beeinträchtigen die Menschenrechte

Following the agreement of the EU institutions on a web blocking compromise text which fails to adequately address the lawless blocking which is undertaken in several EU countries, a careful reading of recent research on the legality of this approach is called for.

Last month, Professor Yaman Akdeniz (Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey) prepared a report on Freedom of Expression on the Internet for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: ENDitorial: Warum es gut war, Netzsperren vorzuschlagen

Now that the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee has voted again (yesterday, 12 July 2011, by 50 votes to zero) against the introduction of mandatory EU-wide Internet blocking, it is worth considering the huge value of the German blocking proposal by then Minister Von Der Leyen and the subsequent EU-level blocking proposal by Commissioner Malmström.