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Today's Topics:
1. EDRI-gram newsletter - Number 4.18, 27 September 2006
(EDRI-gram newsletter)
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Subject: EDRI-gram newsletter - Number 4.18, 27 September 2006
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============================================================
EDRI-gram
biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe
Number 4.18, 27 September 2006
============================================================
Contents
============================================================
1. Privacy protection does not hold back the fight against terrorism 2.
Belgium says no to Google News 3. Europe faces software patents threat again
4. Online campaign against data retention started in Germany 5. The draft
Audiovisual Media Service Directive considered unnecessary 6. Global Freedom
of Information survey 7. Microsoft Vista gets criticism before its launching
in Europe 8. Italian authorities messed up by the wiretapping scandal 9.
Recommended reading 10. Agenda 11. About
============================================================
1. Privacy protection does not hold back the fight against terrorism
============================================================
In a press conference on 18 September, Peter Hustinx, the European Data
Protection Supervisor (EDPS) expressed the opinion that terrorism fighting
legislation must observe data protection rights.
The EDPS has advised EU bodies on relevant and very controversial data
protection issues like the transfer of PNR-data, the telecommunications data
retention, and large scale IT-systems such as the Visa and Schengen.
According to Hustinx, privacy and data protection does not hinder the fight
against terrorism and crime.
"It is a misconception that protection of privacy and personal data holds
back the fight against terrorism and organised crime. Current legislation
however does allow for instance law enforcement to check suspicious phone
numbers found in a computer. Good data protection actually goes hand in hand
with legitimate crime fighting because it increases the quality of data
bases and at the same time makes sure that only the right people can access
them" said Hustinx.
If adopted, the new legislation on fighting terrorism will provide an
unprecedented data exchange. Citizens must have the guarantee that their
personal data are used only by authorised entities and only when necessary.
One concern expressed by the EDPS is that a check-up of about 100 existing
personal data processing systems has revealed that in most cases
institutions do not advise individuals when their data are processed and
why.
The EDPS is actually one of the few European institutions that tries to make
a correct balance in the present controversial debates regarding security
legislation, by advising on adequate safeguards and clear standards of data
protection.
Terrorism no excuse for privacy breaches, says EU regulator (19.09.2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/19/terrorism_privacy_breaches/
EU and the right to privacy: EDPS on mid-term state of play (18.09.2006)
http://www.edps.eu.int/Press/EDPS-2006-9-EN_mid_term.pdf
===========================================================
2. Belgium says no to Google News
===========================================================
The Belgium newspaper group Copiepress sued Google News, considering they
should have asked its permission and agreed financial terms when publishing
material from their Belgium newspapers. Google lost in the first instance,
but also the appeal against the ruling given on 5 September 2006.
Facing a 1 million euro fine per day, Google removed the pages in question
but did not answer immediately to the decision of the court asking for the
publishing of the full judgment on its site for 5 days, considering that the
publicity around the case had made this action "unnecessary". However, in
danger of being fined 500 000 euros per day for not publishing the judgment,
Google abided to the court's decision on 22 September. The decision can now
be found on the Belgium version of the Google website - google.be.
Google lawyers will make a new appeal against the decision of the Belgium
court arguing Google News does not infringe the copyright law. The company
states: "It is important to remember that we never show more than the
headlines and a few snippets of text. If people want to read the entire
story they have to click through to the newspapers' website." The company
affirmed it would immediately remove an article at its publisher's request.
The new appeal will appear in front of the Court in November.
Several media organisations recently announced the intention to introduce
the Automated Content Access Protocol (ACAP), a pilot technology for
granting permissions on the basis of financial terms. Francisco Pinto
Balsemco, chairman of The European Publishers Council (EPC) stated: "ACAP
will unambiguously express our preferred rights and terms and conditions. In
doing so, it will facilitate greater access to our published content, making
it more, not less available, to anyone wishing to use it, while avoiding
copyright infringement and protecting search engines from future
litigation."
Copyright: Google publishes its condemnation on its Belgium pages (only in
French, 23.09.2006)
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/depeches/texte/0,14-0,39-28274393,0.html
Facing Belgium, Google hesitates between resistance and response (only in
French, 21.09.2006)
http://www.pcinpact.com/actu/news/31538-google-belgique-presse.htm?ca=&vc=1&
p=3&#c846069
Google loses Belgian news appeal (22.09.2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/22/google_loses_news_appeal/
Google News faces 1m euros fine in Brussels (18.09.2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/18/google_news_copyright_belgium/
===========================================================
3. Europe faces software patents threat again
===========================================================
The software patents issue will be back, once again, for discussion, with
the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA) proposal which calls for the
harmonization of patent laws in EU states. EPLA could to be voted on
11 October 2006 in the European Parliament.
Last year, the Parliament voted against the proposed directive on Computer
Implemented Inventions which would have legitimized software patents in
Europe. The new EPLA proposal would mean an integrated judicial system and
appeals process for patents.
The supporters of the EPLA consider it will help SMEs to better use the
patent system and believe it will not open the door to software patent
litigation.
Three parliamentary groups, PES (European Socialists), Greens/EFA and
GUE/NGL (European United Left), have filed a motion arguing that the
agreement is a threat to democracy, to judicial independence, puts SMEs
under risk and increases the litigation costs. The proposition faces
opposition from anti-patents campaigners as well as businesses.
Critics also accuse Internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy for not
being able to offer clear answers on the draft agreement regarding costs,
judicial independence or jurisprudence.
Pieter Hintjens, President of Foundation for a Free Information
Infrastructure, also opposing the measure, stated that the European Patent
Litigation Agreement "means higher costs for small businesses, and increased
litigation risks. More U.S.-style litigation is not the solution. We just
need a better patent office."
Europe's software patent war ignites again (21.09.2006)
http://news.com.com/2100-1012-6118063.html
Software patents back to haunt Europe (22.09.2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/22/europe_patent/
Commission unable to answer MEPs on Patent Litigation Agreement (21.09.2006)
http://press.ffii.org/Press_releases/Commission_unable_to_answer_MEPs_on_Pat
ent_Litigation_Agreement
===========================================================
4. Online campaign against data retention started in Germany
===========================================================
On 25 September, the German Working Group against Data Retention
(Arbeitskreis Vorratsdatenspeicherung) started an online campaign against
the mandatory storage of all communications data. Through a special web
portal, concerned citizens can send electronic open letters to all 448
parliamentarians of the ruling grand coalition and raise their concern and
protest against data retention. The letters are also anonymized and
published on the portal website. There is no pre-defined text for the
letters that the senders have to write themselves, so such a letter could
not be considered spam. The working group is only giving advice on its main
website on how to frame the arguments in the letter.
With this campaign, the working group wants to raise pressure on the German
government and make it postpone the implementation of the EU data retention
directive until a decision has been made by the European Court of Justice.
The Irish government has already challenged the directive in the ECJ, and
EDRi member Digital Rights Ireland is currently preparing a lawsuit at the
Irish constitutional court as well as the ECJ. German groups are also
preparing a court challenge, should the grand coalition ignore the protests
and enact national legislation for data retention.
Reactions for the online campaign are very good. Within the first two hours
after it was reported in the German news ticker heise.de, campaign
supporters already have sent 120 individually formulated letters of protest.
Stop the data retention ! (only in German)
http://www.stoppt-die-vorratsdatenspeicherung.de
Open Letters against Data Retention (only in German)
http://briefe.gegen.daten.speicherung.eu
Campaign: Open Letters against total logging of telecommunication (only in
German, 25.09.2006)
http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view
&id=53&Itemid=27
ENDitorial : Fighting Mass Surveillance (13.06.2006)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.17/enditorial
(Contribution by Ralf Bendrath, EDRi member Netzwerk Neue Medien e.V.,
Germany)
===========================================================
5. The draft Audiovisual Media Service Directive considered unnecessary
===========================================================
The Office of Communications (Ofcom), the UK communications regulator,
commissioned a research report on the draft Audiovisual Media Service (AVMS)
directive proposed by the European Commission in December 2005, as an
extension to the Television Without Frontiers (TWF) Directive.
The AVMS directive was proposed as a new regulatory framework to cover not
only traditional television but also new media TV-like services.
The business groups are opposed to the proposed directive considering it
will discourage new business in Europe and the same rules that are applied
to television content should not be applied to new media. The business lobby
group CBI said :"TWF as drafted would shoehorn digital content providers
into rules designed for traditional broadcasters, undermining high-value,
high-tech economic growth when it should be stimulating it."
European media scholars have also criticized the directive, considering it
might have a negative impact on the Internet.
The research report performed by RAND Europe examined the impact of the
proposed regulations on Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), online games and mobile
multimedia.
Regarding the IPTV, the study conclusion was that a more internet-like 'open
access' style of content would also involve producers from outside the EU
and therefore the directive could discourage the establishment of
web-broadcasting business in the EU.
It says that AVMS Directive "could itself be a contributory cause of the
migration of economic activity towards this 'open-access' model, but
clearly, the heavier and less practicable the EU regime, the more likely it
is that distributors will favour alternate means to address consumers."
The conclusion of the report is that the proposed AVMS does not offer
companies, especially SMEs, sufficient regulatory certainty to encourage
investment in EU and that the costs involved by the heavy regulation could
make companies move outside Europe.
Based on the report, Ofcom questioned whether the Directive should exist at
all. "The Commission should examine whether or not there is a continued need
for regulatory measures. Over-regulation risks otherwise driving key
strategic activities outside of the EU."
In the event the Directive is implemented, Ofcom said that the regulation
should be light and clear guidance should be provided to the Commission and
national authorities to ensure that the implementation is done in "a
proportionate, transparent, evidence-based and light touch way".
Assessing Indirect Impacts of the EC Proposals for Video Regulation
http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR414/
Television Without Frontiers Directive must protect new media, says Ofcom
(21.09.2006)
http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=7319
EDRI-gram: EU Audiovisual Directive:Budapest Declaration for Freedom of the
Internet (30.08.2006)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.16/budapestdeclaration
===========================================================
6. Global Freedom of Information Survey
===========================================================
Privacy International released on 20 September 2006 a comprehensive review
of Freedom of Information (FOI) Laws and practices in nearly 70 countries
around the world, including almost 40 countries from Europe
Titled "Freedom of Information Around the World 2006 Global Survey of Access
to Government Information Laws", the survey draws attention to the growing
movement around the world to adopt FOI laws. In just the past two years,
over a dozen countries have adopted new laws and decrees, while dozens more
are considering proposals. Important international treaties such as the UN
Convention Against Corruption have also gone into force. These laws are
being used to fight corruption, make government bodies accountable and
promote social and human rights.
The survey also highlights that many problems still exist such as poorly
drafted laws, lax implementation and an ongoing culture of secrecy in many
countries. There are also dangers in backsliding such as in Ireland where
the imposition of onerous fees has significantly reduced use of the law and
in the United Kingdom where a similar proposal is being considered. New laws
promoting secrecy in the global war on terror have also undercut access.
The report is being released just prior to the Annual International Right to
Know Day on 28 September. Advocates in dozens of countries will be holding
events celebrating the day.
An interactive version of the survey in conjunction with freedominfo.org and
the Open Society Justice Institute will be released shortly.
Freedom of Information Around the World 2006 Global Survey of Access to
Government Information Laws (20.09.2006)
http://www.privacyinternational.org/foi/survey
Events on Annual International Right to Know Day - 28 September 2006
http://www.foiadvocates.net/map2006.php
(Contribution by David Banisar - Privacy International)
===========================================================
7. Microsoft Vista gets criticism before its launching in Europe
===========================================================
Vista, the new operating system developed by Microsoft, has received vivid
criticism from European officials and possible competitors regarding the new
features that might take advantage of the Microsoft position in the market.
Two major software companies, Symantec and Adobe, have complained to EU
regarding certain electronic document and security features of Vista.
Symantec has expressed its concern related to the Windows Security Center
and to the feature called PatchGuard that blocks access to the system
kernel. Adobe has complained about the inclusion in the new Microsoft
product of a free software for reading and writing electronic documents.
In its turn, the European Commission has also expressed concerns on how
compatible the new operating system would be with other companies' products.
It also fears that Microsoft's product could eliminate the competition in
computer security.
A letter was sent to Microsoft in March 2006, on this matter, by
commissioner Neelie Kroes expressing the fear that the bundling of Vista
with a very sophisticated antivirus program would have a similar impact as
to the bundling of Media Player with Windows XP in 2004. Then, the
Commission had fined Microsoft about 500 million euro considering the
bundling as anti-competitive and ordered a new version of Windows without
Media Player for the European market.
Microsoft and its partners has accused the Commission of driving a
"vendetta" against the company and advised over the risk that the EU actions
would delay the release of Vista.
In response to the criticisms, the EU Competition Commissioner said that the
agency was not taking actions to prevent Microsoft from making its operating
system more secure but was trying to ensure competitiveness is kept on the
security software market. Kroes emphasized that she was not asking Microsoft
to launch Vista without any security system but she wanted to see changes in
the European version to open it up to other software producers.
In a letter to Financial Times she wrote: "I have seen it suggested that the
Commission may seek to prevent Microsoft from improving the security of its
operating system. This is categorically not the case."
While hoping that the Commission will not ask for the removal of security
features in Europe, Microsoft has announced the launching of the product for
January.
European Union Criticized for Action Against Microsoft
(7.09.2006)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127073-pg,1-RSS,RSS/article.html
EU Commissioner defends herself against Microsoft's criticism (20.09.2006)
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/78435
Yet Another Antitrust Challenge for Microsoft? (21.09.2006)
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127219-page,1-c,vistalonghorn/article.html
#
Adobe, Symantec ask EU to ban Vista bundling (21.09.2006)
http://msn-cnet.com.com/Adobe,+Symantec+ask+EU+to+ban+Vista+bundling/2100-10
14_3-6117994.html
Microsoft accused over Vista row (19.09.2006)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5359130.stm
===========================================================
8. Italian authorities messed up by the wiretapping scandal
===========================================================
The Italian wiretapping scandal has continued since this summer, showing
that Telecom Italia internal security service has tapped phone calls from
their own employees, business partners, competition, but also from political
and football circles.
The wiretapped phone calls database was apparently used to blackmail various
people. According to a prosecutor that is investigating the case the
obtained funds were used for corruption activities. The wiretapping was
possible due to a series of accomplices from the Police, Prosecutors and
Secret services.
The Italian Government issued last week a new normative act on "wiretapping"
that tries to prevent the usage of the wiretapped conversations in any court
cases. The new decree even condemns the possession of illegal wiretapping
information. The Prime Minister has declared that "The objective is to at
least stop the rot spreading. We want to ensure that no wave of blackmail
can begin. That would make the attack on democracy even more serious."
Also, the Italian Ministry of Justice, Clemente Mastella, ordered an
investigation regarding the Telecom Italia procedures on wiretapping and to
check out whether these procedures allow unauthorized access. The final
report should be shared with the lawmakers.
The Italian Data Protection Commission (Garante per la protezione dei dati
personali) issued a new press release on 21 September making a public call
to every citizen, media and other public entities to respect privacy if they
have documents or information regarding the content of the wiretapped
conversations.
The chaotic way in which the public authorities have dealt with the
situation is underlined in several articles that show the state institutions
have reacted very late and only when their leaders' personal interests might
have been at stake.
Andrea Monti from EDRI-member ALCEI has correctly underlined that the
Italian Data Protection Commission, which should have controlled this market
has only "succeeded" in sending a press release. He also points out that,
contrary to the most spread common opinions that the "hackers", "pirates"
and "direct marketing multinational companies" are those targeting our
personal data, the authors of the biggest problems related to the misuse of
information are actually insiders, not very technical, such as members of
the Police and Information Services.
Garante: nobody to publish the contents of the illegal files (only in
Italian, 21.09.2006)
http://www.garanteprivacy.it/garante/doc.jsp?ID=1340198
Decree-Law no. 259/ 22 September 2006,
Emergency provisions for the modification of the norm regarding the
wiretapping (only in Italian, 22.09.2006)
http://www.interlex.it/testi/dl06_259.htm
Eight Years of Abuses and Garante issues a press release (only in Italian,
25.09.2006)
http://www.interlex.it/675/amonti86.htm
Illegal Wiretapping and files: quis custodiet custodes? (only in Italian,
25.09.2006)
http://www.interlex.it/675/telecom.htm
Justice minister seeks information about wiretapping at Telecom Italia amid
scandal (23.09.2006)
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/23/europe/EU_GEN_Italy_Wiretapping_Pr
obe.php
===========================================================
9. Recommended reading
===========================================================
British Academy - Copyright and research in the humanities and social
sciences Through its series of research-related reviews, the British Academy
seeks to examine issues related to the condition and health of the sector.
The Academy is concerned that recent developments in technology, legislation
and practice have meant that the various copyright exemptions, which enable
creative and scholarly work to advance, are not always achieving the
intended purpose. This document summarises the results of a Review of the
issue by a working group established by the Academy.
http://www.britac.ac.uk/reports/copyright/index.html
===========================================================
10. Agenda
===========================================================
28 September 2006
Events on Annual International Right to Know Day
http://www.foiadvocates.net/map2006.php
5-6 October 2006, Erevan, Armenia
Pan-European Forum on "Human Rights in the Information Society: Empowering
children and young people" organized by Council of Europe in cooperation
with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and the Information
Technologies Foundation of Armenia.
http://www.coe.int/t/e/human_rights/media/Links/Events/Forum2006YEREVAN_en.a
sp
16 October 2006, Brussels, Belgium
The European Commission will organise in Brussels on Monday 16 October a
final conference on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to close the
series of consultation initiatives.
http://www.rfidconsultation.eu/
19-20 October 2006 Kirchberg, Luxembourg Hack.lu 2006 Hack.lu is an open
convention /conference where people can discuss about computer security,
privacy, information technology and its cultural/technical implication on
society. The aim of the convention is to make a bridge of the various actors
in the computer security world.
http://www.hack.lu/index.php/Main_Page
19-20 October 2006, Tallinn, Estonia
The Digital Future of Cultural and Scientific Heritage
http://telmemor.net/conference/
20 October 2006, Bielefeld, Germany
Big Brother Awards Germany
http://www.bigbrotherawards.de/
20 October 2006 , Bielefeld, Germany
Demonstration "Freedom instead of Fear" (Freiheit statt Angst), against
Security and Surveillance Delusion http://www.freiheitstattangst.de/
http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
23-24 October 2006, Brussels, Belgium
Conference on International Transfers of Personal Data, organized by the
European Commission jointly with the Article 29 Data Protection Working
Party and the United States Department of Commerce's International Trade
Administration. Registration deadline : 29 September 2006.
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/news/events/news_events_en.htm
25 October 2006, Vienna, Austria
Big Brother Awards Austria
http://www.bigbrotherawards.at
29 October 2006, Athens, Greece
First annual conference -Global Internet Governance Academic Network
(GigaNet)
http://www.internetgovernance.org/pdf/GigaNet.Athens.CFP.8.Sept.2006__2_.pdf
30 October - 2 November 2006, Athens, Greece Internet Governance Forum
http://www.intgovforum.org/
30 October 2006, Prague, Czech Republic
Czech Big Brother Awards
http://www.bigbrotherawards.cz
31 October 2006 - deadline for nominations Stupid Security Awards - Privacy
International The awards aim to highlight the absurdities of the security
industry. The competition is open to anyone from any country.
http://www.privacyinternational.org/stupidsecurity
2-3 November 2006, London, United Kingdom 28th International Data Protection
and Privacy Commissioners'
Conference, http://www.privacyconference2006.co.uk/
15-16 November 2006, Skopje, Macedonia
International Conference "e-Society.Mk"
http://www.e-society.org.mk/
30 November - 1 December 2006, Berlin, Germany The New Surveillance - A
critical analysis of research and methods in Surveillance Studies A two day
international Conference hosted at the Centre for Technology and Society of
the Technical University Berlin http://www.ztg.tu-berlin.de/surveillance
===========================================================
11. About
===========================================================
EDRI-gram is a biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe.
Currently EDRI has 21 members from 14 European countries and 5 observers
from 5 more countries (Italy, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia).
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, corrections or
agenda-tips are most welcome. Errors are corrected as soon as possible and
visibly on the EDRI website.
Except where otherwise noted, this newsletter is licensed under the Creative
Commons Attribution 2.0 License. See the full text at
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Newsletter editor: Bogdan Manolea <[log in to unmask]>
Information about EDRI and its members:
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