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1. EDRI-gram newsletter - Number 4.5, 15 March 2006
(EDRI-gram newsletter)
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============================================================
EDRI-gram
biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe
Number 4.5, 15 March 2006
============================================================
Contents
============================================================
1. CoE works on new instrument on children empowerment on the net
2. EU public consultation on RFID
3. German Constitutional Court ruling on seizure of emails
4. Results data protection inspection EURODAC kept secret
5. What's so special about French EUCD transposition?
6. Commission considers Microsoft still not compliant with EC Treaty
7. Deep linking is legal in Denmark
8. ITU wants codes of conduct for tackling global spam
9. Agenda
10. About
============================================================
1. CoE works on new instrument on children empowerment on the net
============================================================
The Council of Europe Group of Specialists on Human Rights in the
Information Society (CoE MC-S-IS) held its 4th meeting on 9-10 March in
Strasbourg, with EDRI participating in its capacity of non governmental
observer. Among the many issues on the agenda were:
- the analysis of answers to the questionnaire sent by the group to
CoE member States on their implementation of the CoE Declaration of freedom
of communication on the Internet (only 7 out of 46 answers received so far);
-the review of the CoE Recommendation on media coverage of election
campaigns taking into account new medias, the mapping of human rights issues
and guidelines with regards to roles and responsibilities of different
stakeholders;
- the development of strategies promoting digital inclusion and
Internet literacy;
- the program of the next CoE Pan-European Forum on Human Rights in
the Information Society to be held in Erevan in early October 2006.
EDRI-gram is making public the questionnaire on freedom of communication,
and will report on these issues as they develop in the future.
An important part of this meeting was dedicated to the discussion of a
preliminary draft CoE instrument on "harmful" content. This work is a core
aspect of the group mandate, since MC-S-IS terms of reference state, inter
alia, that it should "elaborate the meaning of "harmful content", as
referred to in Council of Europe instruments, in order to promote coherence
in the protection of minors in all media in the Information Society". It
has been made clear for almost 10 years in other arenas, and specially
within the EU and the OSCE, that human rights standards on freedom of
expression should apply on-line in the same way as they do off-line. A clear
difference should be made between illegal content and content which, though
legal, may be considered as harmful to specific categories of persons, like
children and young people.
It is also generally accepted that "harmful" content is hard to define at a
global level as the "risk of harm" perception is highly depending on
culture, education and other aspects that vary among and within societies.
Even as regards illegal content, the European Court of Human Rights
confirmed this essential
diversity in two different cases. First in the MCB<ller v. Switzerland case
(no. 41202/98, CB'35, 5 November 2002) and reconfirmed in one of its first
Internet case law (Perrin v. the United Kingdom, Decision on admissibility,
no. 5446/03, 18 October 2005). "Today, as at the time of the Handyside
judgment ..., it is not possible to find in the legal and social orders of
the Contracting States a uniform European conception of morals. The view
taken of the requirements of morals varies from time to time and from place
to place, especially in our era, characterised as it is by a far-reaching
evolution of opinions on the subject."
Despite this well-established background, a study commissioned by the
MC-S-IS Secretariat and presented during the 2005 CoE Pan-European Forum on
Human Rights in the Information Society still tries to mix the illegal and
harmful content issues. The authors of this research report, Rachel
O'Connell and Jo Bryce, from the University of Central Lancashire (UK),
attempt to define a "taxonomy-based risk identification methodology",
ranging activities, behaviours and contents from "normal" to "proscribed",
considering in between those that represent a "risk of harm". The danger of
such categorization resides not only in the caricatural globality of moral
judgements (by qualifying what is "normal" and what is "deviant"), but also
in this attempt to identify a continuum between "harmful" and "illegal"
categories. This, inevitably, leads the authors to make highly controversial
recommendations such as "it is hoped that the 'risk of harm' construct
will serve as a key function of the developing horizontal and harmonised
policies and mechanisms for the regulation of European cross-media content
and services."
Fortunately, after strong criticisms during the 2005 CoE
Pan-European Forum and the 3rd and 4th MC-S-IS group meetings, notably from
EDRI, ENPA (The European Newspaper Publishers Association) and many CoE
member States participant in the group of specialists, it is expected that
the CoE won't endorse such an approach. It has been decided that the draft
CoE instrument prepared by the group will mainly focus on "Responsible use,
education, well-being and empowerment of children and young people using the
Internet and related communication services and technologies", as its
provisional title now reads, rather than on attempting to define "harmful
content". The 4th working group meeting has again helped to remove the main
dangers of the draft text, making it more consistent with the general CoE
background of respect for and upholding of human rights, as well as with its
specific efforts on media education and media literacy (a 2nd edition of the
CoE 'Internet Literacy Handbook' has just been released).
Next steps are to be finalise, through on-line discussions, the drafting of
the text so that the draft instrument may hopefully be discussed at the
next meeting of the CDMC (Steering Committee on Medias and Communications,
under the CoE Human Rights DG, scheduled by end of May 2006) and then
submitted to the CoE Committee of Ministers, which should decide on its
approval. This instrument may become either a CoE Declaration or a CoE
Recommendation, its status being still under discussion.
CoE MC-S-IS public website
http://www.coe.int/t/e/human_rights/media/1_intergovernmental_co-operation/M
C-S-IS/
EDRI-gram : EDRI Granted Observer Status In CoE HR Group (29.06.05)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.13/EDRI
EDRI-gram : Human Rights In The Information Society On CoE Agenda (21.09.05)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number3.19/CoE
CoE MC-S-IS questionnaire to member States on their implementation of the
Declaration on Freedom of Communication (English and French, made public by
EDRI on 15.03.06)
http://www.edri.org/docs/CoE-questFoC-en.pdf
http://www.edri.org/docs/CoE-questFoC-fr.pdf
CoE Internet Literacy Handbook, 2nd edition (English and French versions)
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Human_Rights/Media/hbk_en.html
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Human_Rights/Media/hbk_fr.html
(Contribution by Meryem Marzouki, EDRI-member IRIS)
============================================================
2. EU public consultation on RFID
============================================================
During a high-level panel discussion at CeBIT 2006 Mrs. Viviane Reding,
European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, announced a new
public debate on RFID, organised by the European Commission. Its purpose is
to make an inventory of concerns that might necessitate legislative changes.
Mrs. Reding said that "These networks and devices will link everyday
objects into an 'internet of things' that will greatly enhance economic
prosperity and the quality of life. But as with any breakthrough, there is a
possible downside - in this case, the implications of RFID for privacy".
The public debate will rely on a series of workshops addressing RFID
applications, end-user issues, interoperability and standards & frequency
spectrum requirements. These workshops will take place in Brussels between
March and June 2006 and their conclusions will assist the European
Commission in drafting a working document on RFID. This document will be
published in September in an online consultation. Additional feedback
obtained will then be analysed and integrated in a Commission Communication
on RFID, to be adopted before the end of the year. This feedback could lead
to amendments of the e-privacy-Directive, which is up for review this year.
The Communication will also address the need for other legislative measures
for RFID, such as decisions on allocation of spectrum.
These activities are supported by the EU commission at a time
when the growth of the RFID market is impressive, with 600 million tags
being sold in Europe only in 2005. The value of the market, including
hardware, systems and services, is expected to be multiplied by 10 between
2006 and 2016.
The growth is underlined also by a new Economist Intelligence
Unit (EIU) rapport considering that RFID is gathering momentum. The report,
called "RFID Comes of Age", is also warning the industry about the privacy
concerns of this new technology, recognising that "there are genuine issues
to be resolved, such as the ability for anyone with an RFID reader to track
people by the items they wear or carry."
The authors are also suggesting that RFID tags be deactivated at
point of sale to allay privacy concerns, but not require the permanent
"killing" of stored data, as this would limit users' ability to opt-in to
interesting post-sale applications that benefit consumers as well as
businesses.
Lack of RFID security also made the news worldwide a few weeks ago.
During the annual RSA conference in San Jose, cryptographer Adi Shamir
talked about the possibility of bypassing security mechanisms on RFID
tags by reading their power usage. Sending a wrong password to an
average 8bit tag would result in extra power usage, because a note is
made in the RAM memory that it is a wrong bit and the rest of the
message has to be ignored. In theory, people could just use a mobile
phone to do this.
The industry replied that this criticism was out of place; there is
already a new generation EPC approved chips with 32 bit security. That
increases the number of options for a password from 256 to 4 billion,
thus making it a lot less attractive to fool around with a directional
antenna and an oscilloscope.
Recently, researchers Melanie Rieback and Patrick Simpson, supervised by the
renowned cryptographer Andy Tanenbaum, from the Amsterdam Free University
have proven the possibility to introduce virusses through corrupted RFID
tags. They can create a buffer overflow in the reading device, thus creating
an opening that enables further access to the system, including the
databases behind it.
Commission launches public consultation on radio frequency ID tags
(9.03.2006)
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/289
Towards an RFID Policy for Europe
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/rfid/index_en.htm
Industry uptake of RFID increases despite privacy concerns (8.03.2006)
http://store.eiu.com/index.asp?layout=pr_story&press_id=990001899&ref=pr_lis
t
Growth of RFID must respect privacy, says EIU (9.03.2006)
http://www.out-law.com/page-6715
Cellphone could crack RFID tags, says cryptographer (24.02.2006)
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=180201688
RFID Security: A Reality Check (27.02.2006)
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleprint/2170/-1/1
RFID Viruses and worms
http://www.rfidvirus.org/
============================================================
3. German Constitutional Court ruling on seizure of emails
============================================================
On 2 March 2006, the German Constitutional Court has ruled that emails and
mobile phone text messages that have already been transmitted and are
still stored on the recipient's device do not fall under the special
constitutional protections for telecommunication privacy. The decision
was made after a German judge had her computer seized by law
enforcement agencies who suspected her of having given internal
information to journalists (which could not be confirmed later). The
constitutional court decided that emails and similar messages, but also
called numbers and numbers of received calls that are still in the address
book of a phone, can be treated like files and other documents that do not
fall under the constitutional protection for telecommunications. This
means that law enforcement agencies can seize these data even in simple
crime cases, whereas telecommunications interception is only possible for
the investigations of severe crimes and after approval by a judge.
The constitutional court, in the same decision, also limited the amount of
data and electronic information that can be seized. The suspect, according
to the decision, is still protected under the right to informational
self-determination, which the supreme court had developed from the "human
dignity"-clause in the German constitution in its famous 1983 census
ruling. This means that the police has to take into account the principle
of proportionality. They can no longer take away the whole computer or
other equipment and sift through all the data stored on it - a common
practice so far. Under the new decision, they now have to search the
suspect's equipment on location and are only allowed to copy or print out
the data specifically relevant to the actual case.
The reactions to the decision were mixed. While some called it bad for the
privacy of communications, others applauded the strengthening of the
proportionality principle. This might have an impact on German legal
discussions about mandatory data retention. German privacy groups are
currently getting organized to prepare a constitutional challenge, and
they will certainly point out that the retention of all traffic data of
every single citizen is way beyond proportionality. An online-petition
against data retention to the German parliament has already reached more
than 12 000 signatures, a second one with different arguments has been
submitted recently.
Constitutional Court Decision (only in German, 2.03.2006)
http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20060302_2bvr209904.html
Heise News about the decision (only in German, 2.03.2006)
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/70267
Tagesschau.de - The implications for data retention (only in German,
2.03.2006)
http://www.tagesschau.de/aktuell/meldungen/0,1185,OID5290136_REF1_NAV_BAB,00
.html
Online Petition to the German Parliamant against Data Retention (only in
German)
http://itc.napier.ac.uk/e-Petition/bundestag/view_petition.asp?PetitionID=60
(Contribution by Ralf Bendrath, EDRi member Netzwerk Neue Medien - Germany)
============================================================
4.Results data protection inspection EURODAC kept secret
============================================================
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has completed a first
inspection of the central unit of EURODAC, but the complete results of the
report have not been made public, arguing sensitivity of the information.
EURODAC is a community-wide information technology system for the comparison
of the fingerprints of asylum seekers, which was adopted on 11 December 2000
and started operations on 15 January 2003. The system was created to allow
the Member States to identify Non-EU citizens who had already filed an
asylum application in another Member State.
EURODAC Central unit is responsible for the operation of a computerised
central database for comparing fingerprints, an automated fingerprint
identification system and a secure communications system for data
transmission from and towards the Member States.
The EDPS is the competent authority monitoring the activities of EURODAC to
ensure that the rights of the subjects are not violated by data
processing or use of the data held by the Central Unit.
The EDPS expressed the general satisfaction with the security level within
the Central Unit, stating also that some recommendations had been made to
EURODAC. While affirming that EDPS intends to share its findings during a
meeting in June in order to enhance collaboration at the national level, the
press release also states that: C"b,EBecause of the sensitivity of some
information in the report, it is not publicly availableC"b,B .
According to Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, this creates C"b,Ea very bad
precedentC"b,B that could be extended to VIS (Visa Information System) or
other
such type of databases. He considers that the report should be at least
C"b,E"partially accessible" with any "sensitive information" deletedC"b,B .
EDPS generally satisfied with security in EURODAC central unit C"b,b
release (9.03.2006)
http://www.edps.eu.int/Press/EDPS-2006-3-EN_EURODAC.pdf
Statewatch News online (03.2006)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/
Eurodac a European Union-wide electronic system for the identification of
asylum-seekers (11.2005)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/fsj/asylum/identification/fsj_asylum_
identification_en.htm
============================================================
5. What's so special about French EUCD transposition?
============================================================
With its succession of coups de theatre, the pathetic show of the French
EUCD transposition (DADVSI draft law) is going on. After the surprising
adoption, on Christmas Eve, of an amendment legalising the exchange of music
and video files on the Internet as private copies, compensated by a monthly
fee ('global license') collected by ISPs on customers who engage in a
certain amount of downloading and uploading, the French
National Assembly started a renewed debate on 7 March 2006,
based on a deeply modified draft text submitted by the government.
This new version includes two major modifications. The first modification is
that the French government has now introduced many exceptions to the author
right and related rights, which were already included in the EU Copyright
Directive. This is a very welcomed progress since initial versions of the
draft transposition were minimal in this respect although the new considered
exceptions are still not going as further as the EUCD optional ones.
In particular, the French government prefers to deal with some
exceptions through private contractual agreements, instead of
guaranteeing them by law. This especially applies to the "pedagogical
exception". Members of the scientific community, having found that
these agreements do not ensure fair use for education and
research, have then started a petition, "considering the shamefully
regressive and repressive nature of these new agreements in matters
of teaching and research". More than 2000 members of the French
scientific community have already signed in favour of this "campaign
of civil disobedience", and declared that they "have committed
themselves publicly to disobey their minister and the law, and they
will continue, no matter what the cost and in spite of any threats or
sanctions, to show films, play records, distribute texts... in any
way they deem useful and relevant".
The second main proposed modification deals with the penalty regime related
to the illegal upload and download of content protected under intellectual
property legislation. While still considered as an infraction rather than a
lawful private copy exception, downloading such content for non commercial
use is subject to the lowest fine in the French penal code (38 euros),
instead of the current ambiguous regime, with a threat of high penalty for
counterfeit. Uploading under the same conditions could now be subject to the
second lowest fine of this code (150 euros) instead of the 3 years of
imprisonment and 300 000 euros fine for counterfeit. True counterfeit, as
well as upload/download for commercial usage, remains punishable by the high
penalty. Penalties related to DRM circumvention, the use of software to this
end, as well as the dissemination of software to this end, remain in the
intial form of the draft law, while they do not exist in the current
legislation, although the government has downsized these penalties compared
to its earlier proposal of December 2005 (3750 euros fine, 750 euros fine,
and 6 months of imprisonment with 30 000 euros fine, respectively, instead
of the penalty for counterfeit).
However, almost 23 hours of preliminary discussions (7-9 March 2006) have
mainly been dedicated to procedural issues, disputing the democratic and
constitutional validity of the debate. After the Christmas Eve vote, on
6 March, the French government simply announced that it decided to
remove the concerned article, replacing it by an amendment and arguing by
the (disputed) constitutionality of this process. The day after, most likely
after having received 'bad signals' from the Constitutional council (which
is not supposed to intervene at this step of the process), it
reintroduced this article, together with the new amendment supposed to
replace it. Not only is this showing a rather unashamed treatment of the
Parliament, but also this attitude confirms the lack of preparation of the
French government, which nonetheless pretends to transpose in an emergency
procedure a Directive adopted in 2001.
The whole story may probably be explained by the French special (and
historical) conception of the 'droit d'auteur' as opposed to the anglo-saxon
copyright. As a matter of fact, this is attested by the divisions inside the
political majority as well as within the socio-democrat opposition raised by
the adoption of the 'global license' on Christmas Eve. Since then, this
'global license' has also been the subject of an incredible lobbying and an
apocalyptic debate in the media between its advocates and its opponents.
Despite the discourses on the importance of cultural issues used by both
sides, we may notice that, unfortunately, culture is indeed considered as a
merchandise and, consequently, as a consumer issue, which contradicts the
role played by France in the recent adoption of the Unesco Convention on
Cultural Diversity in October 2005
In the mean time, core problems with the EU Copyright Directive are being
dodged, as noted, inter alia, by the EUCD.info coalition set up since
December 2002 by French members of the free-software movement.
The first part of the discussions at the French National Assembly stopped on
9 March. The debate was continued from 14 March, with a vote
tentatively scheduled for 21 March 2006. Given the current chaos and the
unpredictability of any decision, this report only considers the discussion
undertaken until 9 March 2006, included. Future edri-gram issues will
report and analyse subsequent developments.
EDRI-gram : French Parliament Is Making The First Step In Legalising P2P
(18.01.06)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.1/frenchp2p
French National Assembly Dossier, with transcription of the debate (only in
French)
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/dossiers/031206.asp
Meryem Marzouki - Implementation process of the EUCD Directive in France
(09.2003)
http://www-polytic.lip6.fr/article.php3?id_article=99
Petition: "Call for Civil Disobedience for Pedagogical Exception in France"
(only in French, 9.03.06)
http://www.politechnicart.net/exception
EUCD.info coalition
http://www.eucd.info
(Contribution by Meryem Marzouki, EDRI-member IRIS)
============================================================
6. Commission considers Microsoft still not compliant with EC Treaty
============================================================
The European Commission sent a letter to Microsoft on 10 March 2006
stating Microsoft was still not compliant with the EC Treaty rules on
abuse of dominant position.
In March 2004, The Commission ordered Microsoft to disclose complete and
accurate interface documentation, which would allow non-Microsoft workgroup
servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers. The
Commission issued a decision on 10 November 2005 that warned Microsoft to
comply by 15 December 2005 with its obligations to: (i) supply complete and
accurate interoperability information; and (ii) make that information
available on reasonable terms or face a daily fine of up to C"b
million. The Commission then sent a Statement of Objections to Microsoft on
22 December 2005.
The letter sent on 10 March 2006 includes a report from Neil Barrett,
MicrosoftC"b,b"s monitoring Trustee that supports the opinions included in the
Statement of Objections. According to the Trustee, Microsoft did not make
substantial changes to the technical documentation between 29 December 2005
and meetings on 30 and 31 January. According to him the material is still
incomplete, inaccurate and unusable.
In the CommissionC"b,b"s opinion Microsoft did not understand the role of its
Trustee who is supposed to have an active part in monitoring its compliance.
After having analysed the TrusteeC"b,b"s report as well as MicrosoftC"b,b"s
standpoint, TAEUS, the consultants recruited by the Commission, also
concluded in their report that the documentation was inadequate and
contradictory.
In addition, both reports estimate that Microsoft seems to consider that the
users of the documentation are the ones to report incorrect, incomplete or
inaccurate information, which Microsoft would then correct.
Microsoft has requested an oral hearing, scheduled for 30 and 31 March 2006.
The Commission may then, after consulting the Advisory Committee of Member
State Competition Authorities, issue a decision imposing a fine on Microsoft
for every day between 15 December 2005 and the date of that decision. The
Commission may also take further steps to continue the daily fine
until Microsoft complies with the March 2004 Decision.
Competition: Commission publishes information on the role of the Monitoring
Trustee in the Microsoft case (10.03.2006)
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/119
Competition: Commission sends new letter to Microsoft on compliance with
decision (10.03.2006)
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/298&format
=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
You're taking the p*ss, Europe tells Microsoft (11.03.2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/11/eu_ms_response/
Microsoft gets record-breaking fine (24.04.2004)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number2.6/microsoft
============================================================
7. Deep linking is legal in Denmark
============================================================
In a long awaited ruling, the Maritime and Commercial Court in Copenhagen
has decided that so-called deep linking is legal in Denmark. The decision is
expected to have a major impact on many Danish online-services and search
engines.
Controversially, the Maritime and Commercial Court has decided to go against
a prior verdict by a lower Danish court. In July 2002, the court ruled that
the Danish company Newsbooster was violating copyright law and marketing law
by using deep links to articles in Danish online-newspapers. Instead of
linking to the main pages of the newspapers, Newsbooster was linking
directly to the individual articles, thereby allowing readers to bypass the
front pages. The newspapers demanded that the service be shut down - with
success.
In the new case, the court has taken the opposite stance. This time, the
Danish real estate site bolig.ofir.dk was linking directly to houses for
sale at the real estate agent Home. By proving deep links into the
internet-database of Home, Ofir again came into conflict with the same law,
which closed Newsbooster in 2002. But this time, the court decided
differently.
"It should be considered ordinary practice, that search engines make
available deep links, which allow the user to access the required
information in an effective manner (...) Parties, including providers on the
internet, should thus expect, that search services will establish links to
those pages which are published ..." reads the court ruling.
In an interview with Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper , Hanne Bender, one
of the leading Danish experts in copyright-law, described the new ruling as
a milestone. "This decision is incredibly exciting. It challenges everything
that has been said in all prior cases," says Hanne Bender, lawyer at the
company Bender von Haller Dragsted.
Maritime and Commercial Court ruling ( in Danish, 24.02.2006)
http://www.domstol.dk/media/-300011/files/v010899.pdf
(Contribution by Karim Petersen, Danish WSIS network)
============================================================
8. ITU wants codes of conduct for tackling global spam
============================================================
A report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on the spam
issue considers that a more effective approach would be to require the
establishment of enforceable codes of conduct by Internet service providers,
but at the same time promoting anti-spam legislation in all the countries in
the world.
ITU has recently published its 7th edition of Trends in Telecommunication
Reform that examines the regulatory challenges and opportunities of enabling
ICT development. The report provides regulators with tools they can use to
promote effective and innovative development and use of ICTs in a
competitive environment. The 7th chapter, publicly available on the ITU
website, consists in a report prepared by John Palfrey, Executive Director
of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, regarding the present global
spam problems and possible solutions.
The report, presented in a draft form also at the Global Symposium for
Regulators (GSR) held in Tunisia on 14-15 November 2005, just before the
second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),
considers that efforts by governments to counter internet spam by tracking
down and prosecuting spammers have had a limited impact. The solutions
suggested are basically a combination of approaches including anti-spam laws
that should be promoted in all the countries, enforceable codes of conduct,
but also education and awareness activities.
The report concludes: "Despite the challenges that are bound to lie ahead,
regulators should encourage the adoption of an anti-spam law that is
harmonized, as much as possible, with those of other countries. Such an
anti-spam law might involve creating an enforceable code of conduct for
ISPs, placing the responsibility for mitigating spam closer to where the
technical expertise lies."
However, other big players in the international Internet services arena are
considering different approaches. AOL has recently announced a controversial
plan to charge mass e-mailers a fee to bypass their anti-spam system.
A large coalition, including MoveOn, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and
the Gun Owners of America, announced their opposition to AOL's program,
saying it will create an unfair system for delivering e-mail. A public
website was created for all the NGOs or persons that support the opposition.
The groups say payment does not ensure a message is legitimate and the
certified e-mail program won't help non-profits and mailing-list operators
whose missives are frequently misidentified as spam.
Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2006: Regulating in the broadband world
(8.03.2006)
http://www.itu.int/publications/publications.aspx?lang=en&parent=D-REG&selec
tion=2§or=3
Chapter 7: Stemming the International Tide of SPAM (8.03.2006)
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/publications/Chap%207_Trends_2006_E.pdf
Are Spam Blockers Too Strict? (06.03.2006)
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70335-0.html?tw=rss.index
An Open Letter to AOL (28.02.2006)
http://www.dearaol.com/
============================================================
9. Agenda
============================================================
16 March 2006, Belfast, Northern Ireland
FOSS Means Business
http://foss-means-business.org/
20-21 March 2006, Brussels, Belgium
The Politics and Ideology of Intellectual Property
The TACD conference will provide an opportunity to stand back from specific
legislative proposals and consider the broader intellectual and
philosophical aspects of the debate.
http://www.tacd.org/docs/?id=286
29-30 March 2006, Brussels, Belgium
European Spectrum Management Conference 2006
http://www.epsilonevents.com/pdf/SPECTRUM%20BROCHURE.pdf
12 April 2006, Dublin, Ireland
Royal Irish Academy
"Enabling Open Access to Scientific Data and Information within
the Modern Knowledge Economy; the Case for a Scientific CommonsC"b,B
http://www.codataweb.org/codata-ria/
15 April 2006, Deadline funding applications
Civil rights organisations and initiatives are invited to send funding
applications to the German foundation 'Bridge - BCB<rgerrechte in der
digitalen Gesellschaft'. A total of 15 000 euro is available for
applications that promote civil rights in the digitised society.
http://www.stiftung-bridge.de
21-23 April 2006, Yale Law School, USA
Access to Knowledge Conference
Yale Information Society Project
http://islandia.law.yale.edu/isp/a2kconfmain.html
27-28 April 2006, Washington, USA
IP Disputes of the Future - TACD
This conference will ask what will be the IP disputes in new fields of
technology, and how advances in biotechnology and information technologies
will change the nature of IP disputes.
http://www.tacd.org/docs/?id=287
30 April - 2 May 2006, Hamburg, Germany
LSPI Conference 2006
The First International Conference on Legal, Security and Privacy Issues in
IT
http://www.kierkegaard.co.uk/
2-5 May 2006, Washington, USA
CFP2006
The Sixteenth Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy
http://www.cfp2006.org
3-6 May 2006, Wiesbaden, Germany
LinuxTag - Europe's biggest fair and congress around free software,
http://www.linuxtag.org
21 June 2006, Luxembourg
Safer Internet Forum 2006
Focus on two topics: "Children's use of new media" and "Blocking access to
illegal content: child sexual abuse images"
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/sip/si_forum/forum_june_
2006/index_en.htm
16 - 28 July 2006, Oxford, UK
Annenberg/Oxford Summer Institute: Global Media Policy: Technology and New
Themes in Media Regulation
Application deadline 1 May 2006.
http://www.pgcs.asc.upenn.edu/events/ox06/index.php
2-4 August 2006, Bregenz, Austria,
2nd International Workshop on Electronic Voting 2006
Students may apply for funds to attend the workshop until 30 June 2006.
http://www.e-voting.cc/stories/1246056/
===========================================================
10. About
===========================================================
EDRI-gram is a biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe.
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End of EDRi-news Digest, Vol 36, Issue 2
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