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1. EDRI-gram newsletter - Number 2.21, 3 November 2004
(EDRI-gram newsletter)
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Subject: EDRI-gram newsletter - Number 2.21, 3 November 2004
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============================================================
EDRI-gram
biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe
Number 2.21, 3 November 2004
============================================================
Contents
============================================================
1. EDRI response to EU copyright consultation
2. EU governments want 2 biometric identifiers for every citizen
3. Big Brother Awards presented in Austria, Germany and Spain
4. Secret code added to most colour prints
5. Controversy over Czech wiretaps
6. EU Commission line-up before reshuffle
7. Source code review of Irish voting machines
8. NGOs criticise corporate influence in the EU
9. Privacy International condemns compulsory ID in NL
10. Armenian group demands take down website Turkish consulate
11. Call for participation: consultation on fundamental rights
12. Recommended reading
13. Agenda
14. About
============================================================
1. EDRI response to EU copyright consultation
============================================================
In answer to a consultation from the European Commission on the review
of
copyright law EDRI, EDRI-member FIPR and the Vereniging Open-source
Nederland have argued for higher standards of user rights. The response
was endorsed by twenty organisations. In stead of deleting such
provisions
from older Directives such as 91/250 on Software, 92/100 on Rental and
Lending Rights, 93/83 on Satellites and Cable, 93/98 on Terms of
Protection, and 96/09 on Databases, the Commission should broaden the
protection of user rights in the most recent Directive, 2001/29/EC,
known
as EUCD.
This Directive is regarded by the EU Commission as the gold standard in
the field of copyright and related rights. But this Directive is not as
unproblematic as the EU Commission says, according to the response.
There
is a serious risk this Directive will be used to level down user rights
that were granted in previous directives.
For example the Software Directive contains a back-up copy provision.
Industry has been lobbying to delete this right from this directive, in
stead of importing it into the EUCD. In a likewise manner, EDRI would
like
to see the non-waivable right to an equitable remuneration exported from
the Rental Right Directive to the EUCD.
Most importantly perhaps, all the voluntary exceptions and limitations
in
Article 5 of the EUCD should become mandatory and further exceptions
must
be created to legitimise existing useful activities, such as using
anti-virus software. The Software Directive must be extended so that
companies seeking to build compatible products not just have the right
to
try to reverse-engineer interfaces, but also the right to sue platform
vendors in national courts for the necessary interface data.
In their joint response EDRI, FIPR and VOSN ask for a broader review of
copyright law. The Commission should examine in depth all the current
conflicts with competition, employment, environmental and consumer law.
According to the statement, an important failure of the current
copyright
regime is that many copyrighted works are not available to the public,
but
locked in right holders' vaults. A possible solution for this problem is
giving the creator the right to reclaim the copyright from the publisher
when a work has been unavailable to the public for three years. The work
should automatically become public domain after a further two years if
the
creator has not exercised this right.
Another issue discussed in the statement is the EUCD's
anti-circumvention
provision. EDRI recommends that the abuse of a rights-management
mechanism
must void its legal protection, and should render copyrights protected
by
it unenforceable ("Abuse it and lose it").
The response comes to the conclusion that a Digital Rights Directive is
needed to define the rights of consumers, and not just of copyright
owners. On a global level something similar might be achieved by a WIPO
treaty on access to technology and culture. As a first concrete step
EDRI
proposes a Digital Preservation Directive to enable Europe's libraries
to
protect our cultural heritage for the benefit of future generations.
EU Commission consultation on the review of the EU acquis communautaire
in
the field of copyright and related rights (19.07.2004)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/copyright/review/review_en.htm
EDRI/FiPR/VOSN response to the consultation (31.10.2004)
http://www.edri.org/campaigns/copyright
(Contribution by Andreas Dietl, EDRI EU Affairs Director)
============================================================
2. EU governments want 2 biometric identifiers for every citizen
============================================================
On 25 October 2004 Members of the Europarliament Committee on Civil
Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) voted on a proposal from the
Council of Ministers to include a biometric identifier in EU passports
and
visas of travellers with EU destinations. While the MEPs were discussing
the technical implications and privacy guarantees, behind their back the
Council replaced the proposal by a more extreme proposal to include 2
biometric identifiers, instead of just one.
According to the new Council proposal, member states have to include
digitalised fingerprints and a face scan on the RFID chip embedded in
the
travel documents. Face scans will have to be included in travel
documents
18 months after the Council regulations enter into force (Germany will
already start issuing biometric passports at the end of 2005),
fingerprints will follow 18 months later.
Fingerprints as an additional identifier will subject 450 million EU
citizens to a procedure presently reserved for crime suspects. The
initiative for the proposal was taken by Germany, Greece, France, Italy,
Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Spain. It was opposed only by
Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Sweden, while Germany and the United
Kingdom
are said to back an even more extreme proposal that would require iris
scans as a third biometric identifier in travel documents.
The new proposal is likely to be voted in the European Parliament early
next year, but it is in the so-called consultation procedure, which
means
the Council can almost ignore the Parliament's vote. In the 25 October
vote, the LIBE Committee has taken a 'moderate' position, voting in
favour
of all the amendments by Rapporteur Carlos Coelho, a Portuguese
Conservative specialising in the EU's border regime. Coelho calls for a
proportionate approach to biometrics, without calling for a moratorium
on
the technology. In an expert meeting on 6 October, the LIBE MEPs were
advised to do so, because of the many privacy threats and unforeseeable
social consequences of a large-scale introduction.
Draft Council Regulation on standards for security features and
biometrics
in passports and travel documents issued by Member States (19.10.04)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2004/oct/bio-13490.df.pdf
Draft report by Carlos Coelho on the proposal for a Council Regulation
on
standards for security features and biometrics in EU citizens' passports
(30.09.2004)
http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/PR/543/543312/54
3312en.pdf
Statewatch report, 'EU: Compulsory fingerprinting for all passports'
(26.10.2004)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2004/oct/10eu-biometrics-fp.htm
EDRI-gram 2.19 'Biometrics experts sceptical about quick introduction'
(06.10.2004)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number2.19/biometrics
(Contribution by Andreas Dietl, EDRI EU Affairs Director)
============================================================
3. Big Brother Awards presented in Austria, Germany and Spain
============================================================
Last week Big Brother Awards were presented in 3 different countries to
a
wide range of government officials, companies and institutions for
violating privacy and promoting extensive control over citizens lives.
Seville in Spain hosted the 50st BBA event held worldwide on 30 October
2004, 6 years since Privacy International invented the ceremony in
London.
The Spanish jury awarded Zara, a fashion clothing store chain belonging
to
giant Inditex, for using RFID chips in some of their products. The
Spanish
jury also awarded a price to the shadow-government ordering the
confiscation of servers of Indymedia in London. Shadow-government
because
"unfortunately, we are still to be told who that government is."
In Austria, a remarkable peoples price was awarded to the electric
company
of the city of Linz, for trying to stifle critics. Radio technicians
discovered the powerline-technology could produce radio-interference.
The
technicians were not invited to discuss and help solve the issue, but
sued
for 'damage of credit', with a very intimidating demand for compensation
of financial damages. On top of that a lawyer of the Linz Strom GmbH
intervened in his role as member of the supervisory board of an Austrian
media company to prevent the criticism from being spread.
Another price winner in Austria was the Austrian company Hutchison for
developing the tool '3Friendfinder', that enables the localisation of
other GSM-users. The lifetime achievement award was renamed the
'Lifetime-Annoyance-Elisabeth-Gehrer-Prize', rewarding the efforts of
the
Minister of Education, Science and Culture to create a 1984-worthy
immense
database about all schoolchildren/students and storing these data for a
period of 60 years. The education register contains many sensitive data
about ethnicity, religion and income of the parents and detailed reports
about absence. During a lecture in Luzern, Switzerland on 16 October,
Andreas Krisch from Austrian EDRI-member VIBE!AT gave a presentation
about
this legislation, introduced in 2003.
In the category politics, Austria wanted to reflect the European
dimension
of policy-making. The Award went to the responsible Ministers from
Sweden,
France, Ireland and England for their proposal for a Framework Decision
regarding retention of telecommunications data.
In Germany the Minister of Justice, Mrs Brigitte Zypries, received the
Big
Brother Award for pushing for snoopers legislation that allows for the
bugging and tapping of private homes with the help of directional
microphones and laser equipment. She seemed to ignore an important
verdict
of the German Constitutional Court of 3 March 2004, that severely
restricted the possibility of state interference in the private home,
when
she launched a legal proposal that initially even enabled snooping on
the
homes of doctors, journalists and religious officials. Similar to the
Austrian price-winner, in Germany the company Armex GmbH from Gladbeck
was
given the award for developing a GSM-based tracking service, called
'Track
your Kid'. According to the German jury an important part of education
is
to teach children about the values of a free society. "Would such a
society be able to understand and defend personal liberty rights if a
large part of society is getting used to permanent surveillance from
childhood onwards?"
Another German Big Brother Award was presented to the supermarket chain
Lidl, for exhaustive and sometimes barbaric control of their employees.
The German BBA site quotes a large amount of incidents of firing
employees
without much reason, searching personal bags, clothes and cars,
interrogating employees and secretly listening in on conversations in
the
lunchroom with the help of baby-phones.
Lidl was also awarded the price for its operations abroad, not allowing
employees in the Czech Republic to use the toilet during working time.
Menstruating women were allowed to use the toilet in between, but to
enjoy
this privilege they were asked to wear a headband. On 10 December 2004 a
black book on Lidl will be published, the international human rights
day.
At the German BBA ceremony a guest from the Czech Republic was
represent,
Filip Pospisil, who will be in the team organising Big Brother Awards in
the Czech Republic for the first time next year. This will bring the
number of BBA organising countries to 18.
Spanish BBA Winners (30.10.2004)
http://es.bigbrotherawards.org/en/
Austrian BBA Winners (26.10.2004)
http://www.bigbrotherawards.at/2004/nominees/winners_en.php
Lecture Andreas Krisch about the education register in Austria
(16.10.2004)
http://www.vibe.at/aktionen/200410/AKrisch_Datensammlung_at_20041016.pdf
German BBA Winners (29.10.2004)
http://www.bigbrotherawards.de/2004/
'Black book' on Lidl (appears 10.12.2004)
http://www.verdi.de/handel/einzelhandel/unternehmensinformationen/lidl
============================================================
4. Secret code added to most colour prints
============================================================
While printer-manufacturer Canon was awarded a Big Brother Award in
Germany for secretly adding a unique code to every print-out made on
household printing equipment, the practice is very wide-spread. Many
laser
printers seem to print-out a unique number on every print-out, invisible
to the bare eye, measuring only 0,1 millimetre. The Dutch police has
admitted to e-zine Webwereld that they have used these marks to detect
the
sources of print-outs, tracing individual printers through the vendor
chain. "We are familiar with this research method," said Ed Kraszewski
of
the Dutch national police agency KLPD. "We are using it in our research
and it has proven to be successful in the past."
Even though the spokesman would not give any further details on these
successes, anonymous sources confirmed to Webwereld that the Dutch
Railway Police, part of the KLPD, is investigating a gang that could be
counterfeiting tickets on a large scale.
Although modern printers are sold under many different brand names, the
insides are very similar. Inside every machine is a print engine with a
unique and traceable identity. These engines are produced by a handful
companies, such as Toshiba Corp., Canon Inc. and Ricoh Co. Ltd.
Members of the Dutch Parliament have raised the issue on 27 October with
minister Brinkhorst of economical affairs, demanding he should publish a
list of all the involved printer manufacturers, explain why this
'feature'
is kept secret, and how he is encouraging the manufacturers to start a
public awareness campaign.
Dutch track counterfeits via printer serial numbers (25.10.2004)
http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041025dutchprinter/
============================================================
5. Controversy over Czech wiretaps
============================================================
President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic has condemned a series of
police telephone wiretaps as a 'scandalous' invasion of citizens'
privacy
after press reports stated that officers listened in on his telephone
conversations with a businessman.
Czech newspapers reported that police wiretapped entrepreneur Ranko
Pecic,
an old friend of Klaus, for four months until March 2004 and could
overhear his talks with the president.
President Klaus suggested that Jiri Kolar, president of the state
police,
should be sacked over his remarks on wiretapping. The police chief had
said tapping into private conversations by the authorities should not
bother people who are innocent. "I consider what is going on in this
country to be really scandalous, and I believe that it is the task of
us,
all citizens ... who wish for freedom, to really fight against it,"
Klaus
said.
According to press reports police overheard Klaus' private talks with
the
head of one of the opposition parties. The party is under police
scrutiny
after claims that it tried to bribe a member of parliament to withhold
backing for the Cabinet in a parliamentary vote of confidence in August.
According to Czech media the country's police carries out the most
wiretaps per capita in Europe. The figure of 100 wiretaps per 100.000
inhabitants is is said to be cited from a study by the Max Planck
Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Germany.
EDRI-gram
reported previously about the report but it does not contain information
about wiretaps in the Czech Republic. In the report Italy and the
Netherlands top the chart with respectively 76 and 62 wiretaps per
100.000
inhabitants.
The Prague Post: Police wiretaps infuriate president (28.10.2004)
http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2004/Art/1028/news3.php
BBC News: Czech leader in bugging 'scandal' (25.10.2004)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3951975.stm
Italy and the Netherlands top wiretap chart (15.07.2004)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number214/wiretap
============================================================
6. EU Commission line-up before reshuffle
============================================================
After the withdrawal of his first line-up on 26 October, the designated
President of the European Commission, Josi Manuel Durrco Barroso, is
expected to present a new team tomorrow (4 November), during the
European
Council meeting in Brussels. Two of the most controversial
Commissioners-designate will not be part of the college Barroso is
expected to present. Rocco Buttiglione, who was to become Commissioner
for
Justice and Home Affairs, has withdrawn his candidature, while the
Latvian
government has withdrawn Ingrida Udre, whom Barroso had appointed to the
taxation brief.
While the government in Riga has already nominated Andris Piebalgs - a
former Finance Minister and Ambassador to the EU - to replace Mrs. Udre,
Italy's Silvio Berlusconi still keeps the replacement of Buttiglione
secret. The odds are high that the new candidate will be the country's
present Minister of Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini.
Such a decision would however disturb the delicate balance within
Italy's
government coalition, where the right-wing regionalist Lega Nord is
asking
for more influence. A more elegant solution for Berlusconi would be to
send his Education Minister Letizia Moratti, who has served him in many
positions before and would have the additional advantage of keeping the
Brussels Commission's woman quota at the same level as in Barroso's
first
line-up. In addition, Buttiglione would be qualified to take over Mrs.
Moratti's Italian portfolio, which could help avoid major reshuffles of
the Italian cabinet.
It is uncertain that the new Italian Commissioner will keep the
important
Justice and Home Affairs brief. Barroso is said to consider the Greek
Commissioner-designate for environment Stavros Dimas, who has come under
criticism because of his country's poor transposition of EU
environmental
law, Mr. Dimas is a lawyer and has represented Greece's Conservative Nea
Dimokratia party both in the Parliament, of which he has been a member
since 1977, and in various ministerial posts, not involving Justice and
Home Affairs (he was Minister of Trade in 1980 and 1981, Minister of
Agriculture in 1989 and 1990 and Minister of Industry, Energy and
Technology in 1990 and 1991).
Other Commissioners criticised in the European Parliament hearings
include
the Netherland's Neelie Kroes, who was to take over Mario Monti's
Competition portfolio but is said to have too many links to
transnational
companies; Hungary's Commissioner-designate for Energy Laszlo Kovacs,
who's hearing was a disaster in which he almost admitted being
incompetent
for his brief; and Denmark's Mariann Fischer Boel, who was to take over
Agriculture even though she is married to the owner of a big farming
enterprise who receives large amounts of EU subsidies every year.
Barroso speech to the European Parliament (26.10.2004)
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/04/47
4&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Commission Press Room
http://europa.eu.int/comm/press_room/index_en.htm
(Contribution by Andreas Dietl, EDRI EU Affairs Director)
============================================================
7. Source code review of Irish voting machines
============================================================
Six months after cancelling the use of electronic voting machines for
the
European elections Ireland has reached a deal with the Dutch
manufacturer
of the machines. The Irish government will hire a private firm,
acceptable
to both sides, to review the complete source code of the voting
machines.
Nedap, the Dutch company that manufactured the machine, will provide the
code under a non-disclosure agreement. The source code will not be made
public.
In March 2004 the Irish government set up the Independent Commission on
Electronic Voting to review the secrecy and accuracy of the Nedap
system.
In its report the commission concludes "that it is not in a position to
recommend with the requisite degree of confidence the use of the chosen
system at elections in Ireland in June 2004". "(...) the Commission has
not been able to satisfy itself as to the accuracy and secrecy of the
system(...)". The report forced the government to cancel the use of the
machines.
The commission complained that it had never received the full source
code
of the Nedap machines. Nedap only agreed at that time to disclose the
part
of the code the was specifically written for the Irish electoral system.
It is unknown if the review and possible problems found in the code will
be made public. The expert Joe McCarthy has warned that Irish government
will still be under pressure to introduce a paper trail element to the
system. Nedap has argued that the system does not need a paper trail and
that it is trustworthy without one.
Nedap e-voting equipment to be audited in Ireland (31.10.2004)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-1337963,00.html
EDRI-gram 2.9, 'Ireland cancels e-voting' (05.05.2004)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number2.9/evote
============================================================
8. NGOs criticise corporate influence in the EU
============================================================
More than 50 NGOs, brought together by the Corporate Europe Observatory
(CEO), have urged the EU Commission to cut down the disproportionate
corporate influence on Brussels policy making. In an open letter to
designated Commission President Josi Manuel Barroso, the NGOs claim
15.000
Brussels lobbyists, "assisted by an army of public affairs consultants,
today play a powerful and increasingly undemocratic role in the EU
political process". The groups mostly come from environmental,
anti-globalisation and Third World movements.
They also criticise "revolving door' cases", naming the example of
former
Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan, "who less than a year after leaving
the European Commission became not only consultant on WTO issues at the
law firm Herbert Smith, but also Vice-Chairman of the investment bank
UBS
Warburg and Advisory Director at Unilever. Soon after, he also accepted
the Chairmanship of the LOTIS Committee of International Financial
Services London (IFSL), a lobby group representing the UK financial
industry."
They urge the upcoming President of the Commission to refrain from
practices established by predecessors such as the 'Trans-Atlantic
Business
dialogue', co-founded by Sir Brittan and established with semi-official
powers by the Prodi Commission. In addition they call for an obligation
for transparency on the side of the lobbyists, following the U.S.
example,
as a step forward in re-establishing balance in Brussels decision
making.
"Without a radical improvement of the registration and reporting
obligations for lobbyists working to influence the European
institutions,
there can be no effective democratic scrutiny of corporate influence
over
EU policy-making. Europe should learn from the lobbying disclosure
legislation in place in the United States and Canada and oblige firms
and
organisations targeting the EU institutions (with a lobbying budget over
a
certain threshold) to submit regular reports giving details on the
issues
they are lobbying on, for which clients and with what budget. These
lobbying disclosure reports should be fully accessible to the public in
an
online searchable database."
European Commission Must Act to Curb Excessive Corporate Lobbying Power
-
Open Letter to Josi Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission
(25.10.2004)
http://www.corporateeurope.org/barroso.html
The lobbying labyrinth - interactive map of the EU quarter in Brussels
http://www.corporateeurope.org/brussels_large.html
EurActiv: Commission urged to curb corporate lobby influence in Brussels
(03.11.2004)
http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-131560-16&type=News
(Contribution by Andreas Dietl, EDRI EU Affairs Director)
============================================================
9. Privacy International condemns compulsory ID in NL
============================================================
Privacy International has expressed grave concerns about new Dutch
legislation for extended compulsory identification. From 1 January 2005
every Dutchman (and tourist) 14 years and older will have to wear ID,
and
can be fined up to 2.250 euro for not immediately showing ID when asked
to
do so by any police official, or related officials, such as foresters
and
custom officials.
A new government advertising campaign, launched this week, is targeted
at
children between 14 and 18, to make sure they buy an identity card in
time. Officially the Netherlands only have an obligation to show ID when
asked, but in the campaign children are told flat-out they have to
always
wear ID.
Last year Privacy International already warned that the identity
legislation would violate both the European Convention on Human Rights
and
the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child. Seeing the new campaign,
PI
warned that the campaign was an 'underhanded' attempt to convince
innocent
citizens to forego their legal rights. A legally enforced requirement to
carry identification would invite a challenge in the European Court of
Human Rights, says Simon Davies, the director of Privacy International.
Davies says: "The indiscriminate identity requirement offends a core
principle of the rule of law: that citizens should have notice of the
circumstances in which the State may conduct surveillance, so that they
can regulate their behaviour to avoid unwanted intrusions. Moreover, the
requirement would be so extensive as to be out of all proportion to the
law enforcement objectives served. Under the case law of the European
Court of Human Rights, such a disproportionate interference in the
private
lives of individuals cannot be said to be necessary in a democratic
society."
Government ID campaign
http://www.nederlandveilig.nl/bestand.asp?id=211
EDRI-gram 19, 'Dutch compulsory identification above 14 years'
(08.10.2003)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number19/ID
EDRI-gram 24, 'Dutch Lower House accepts compulsory identification'
(18.12.2003)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number24/ID
============================================================
10. Armenian group demands take down website Turkish consulate
============================================================
On 15 November 2004 a Paris court (Tribunal de Grand Instance) is
scheduled to decide about a request from an Armenian group to take-down
part of the website of the Turkish consulate in France. The Armenian
group, the Comiti de difense de la cause arminienne, CDCA, accuses the
Turkish consul of spreading 'denial propaganda', denying the 1915
Armenian
genocide in the Ottoman empire.
The CDCA bases its complaint on a resolution adopted by the European
Parliament in 1987, and on a law adopted in France in 2001 specifically
condemning the denial of the Armenian genocide. According to the CDCA
the
judge should also punish the hosting provider, Wanadoo, for not
controlling the content of websites of their customers and not
responding
adequately to the complaint.
On 21 June 2004 France implemented the European e-Commerce directive
that
regulates the liability of providers for the content of their customers.
The French LEN (Loi pour la confiance dans l'iconomie numirique) was
criticised severely by human rights groups and even tested by the
Constitutional Council for endangering freedom of expression, amongst
others, by introducing a notice and take down procedure that turns
providers into private judges (article 2bis).
Meanwhile, the Turkish defence is arguing to declare the court
incompetent, because of the diplomatic immunity of the office.
Le ginocide arminien et la portie juridique de l'article 6 de la LCEN
sur
la responsabiliti des hibergeurs (13.10.2004)
http://www.juriscom.net/actu/visu.php?ID=577
Press release Comiti de difense de la cause arminienne
http://www.cdca.asso.fr/s/detail.php?r=0&id=178 (French and English,
12.10.2004)
Website Turkish consulate (generates failure message)
http://tcparbsk.com/
also available through a personal website of the Turkish Consul
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/tcparbsk/
Full dossier on the LEN by EDRI-member IRIS
http://www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/len
============================================================
11. Call for participation: consultation on fundamental rights
============================================================
The European Commission has opened a consultation on the establishment
of
an EU Fundamental Rights Agency. This consultation follows the decision
taken by the European Council in December 2003 to extend the mandate of
the European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, based in
Vienna, to become a Fundamental Rights Agency.
The consultation addresses all non-governmental organisations protecting
human rights and all persons involved in the development of protecting
fundamental rights in the EU. The deadline expires on 17 December 2004.
A
proposal for a regulation to establish a Fundamental Rights Agency of
the
European Union will be presented by the Commission in the course of
2005.
EU consultation on fundamental rights (deadline 17.12.2004)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/news/consulting_public/fundamenta
l_rights_agency/index_en.htm
============================================================
12. Recommended reading
============================================================
The OpenNet Initiative has published a report on the diversity of
filtering programs and their impact on international law,
communications,
and policy. The initiative is an ongoing research partnership by the
Advanced Network Research Group of the University of Cambridge, the
Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, and the Berkman Center to
monitor international Internet censorship
A starting point: legal implications of internet filtering (24.10.2004)
http://opennetinitiative.net/docs/Legal_Implications.pdf
============================================================
13. Agenda
============================================================
9-10 November 2004, Brussels, Belgium
Regulating Knowledge: Costs, Risks, and Models of Innovation
This two-day conference, sponsored by MERIT, CEA-PME, the Open
Society Institute, the Greens|EFA in the EP, and FFII, will survey the
state of the policy debate over software patents and its relation to
broader issues of access, innovation, and control of knowledge in the
knowledge-based economy.
http://en.eu.ffii.org/sections/bxl0411
10-11 November 2004, Turin, Italy
The future of memory: preservation of culture in the digital world
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http://www.csi.it/italiano/memoria.htm
15 November 2004, Brussels, Belgium
EU Commission open workshop on spam
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/ecomm/useful_information
/library/public_consult/index_en.htm
18-20 November 2004, Berlin, Germany
UN ICT Task Force Meeting and Global Forum on Digital Development
The UN ICT Task Force will have its seventh meeting in Berlin on 19 and
20 November 2004. The first one and a half days will consist of a Global
Forum on 'Promoting an enabling environment for digital development'
that
is open to qualified civil society experts. Civil society groups are
organising a series of open workshops and events around the Task Force
meeting. Most of them will take place on 18 November.
UN ICT Task Force website and registration info
http://www.unicttaskforce.org
Civil Society events
http://www.worldsummit2005.org
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14. About
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EDRI-gram is a biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe.
Currently EDRI has 17 members from 11 European countries. European
Digital
Rights takes an active interest in developments in the EU accession
countries and wants to share knowledge and awareness through the
EDRI-grams. All contributions, suggestions for content or agenda-tips
are
most welcome.
Except where otherwise noted, this newsletter is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License. See the full text at
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Newsletter editor: Sjoera Nas <[log in to unmask]>
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End of EDRi-news Digest, Vol 20, Issue 1
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