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From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of EDRI-gram newsletter
Sent: 06 May 2009 20:14
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Subject: EDRi-gram newsletter - Number 7.9, 6 May 2009
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EDRi-gram
biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe
Number 7.9, 6 May 2009
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Contents
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1. European Parliament votes against the 3 strikes. Again 2. The Pirate Bay asks for retrial claiming conflict of interest 3. EP passes performers' copyright term extension directive in first reading 4. Three strikes law in France - Second attempt 5. UK: Google's Street View does not breach the Data Protection Act 6. Reclaim your DNA from the UK database 7. WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property: Third meeting 8. Recommended Action 9. Recommended Reading 10. Agenda 11. About
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1. European Parliament votes against the 3 strikes. Again ============================================================
Today, 6 May 2009, in the second reading of the Telecom Package, the European Parliament (EP) voted again for the initial amendment 138, with an overwhelming majority of 407 votes for and just 57 against the proposal.
However, on this same occasion, the EP rejected the amendments that would make "network neutrality" principles mandatory.
Although initially MEP Catherine Trautmann's report included the original amendment 138/46 as adopted in the first reading by the European Parliament, after the opaque negotiations with the EU Council from the past 2 weeks this amendment had been changed in a weaker version. The initial text "without a prior ruling of the judicial authorities, notably in accordance with Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights" was replaced by "and the right to a judgement by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law and acting in respect of due process in accordance with Article 6 of the ECHR."
Although the new French authority (called Hadopi) that could be established by the three strikes French draft law can't be considered a "tribunal established by art 6 of ECHR", the text left room to more fuzzy interpretations by removing the wording "prior ruling". Thus the compromise text could be interpreted that such an authority could take a decision of cutting one's access to Internet, but one would be allowed to go to court to challenge this decision.
But the EP decided that the initial amendment 138 needed to be supported once again. The battle was not easy, though. MEP Rebecca Harms insisted in the plenary for the change in the voting list and for having the original amendment 138 first . Her position was supported by MEP Alexander Alvaro and disagreed by the Rapporteur MEP Catherine Trautmann. The Chairwomen Diana Wallis agreed to go on first with the vote on the Amendment 138. 407 votes from MEPs supported the amendment, thus saying NO to 3 strikes in Europe.
Again.
Also the report of Malcolm Harbour (PPE/ED - UK) changed the initial amendment 166 adopted in the first reading by the EP that established a clear principle of the Internet neutrality. Now the main protection left is customer information through contracts, but consumer and competition law cannot regulate fundamental rights.
The new compromise with the Council that includes the text "limitations on access to and/or use of services and applications" is far from the initial amendment 166 that was clear: "Member States shall ensure that any restrictions on the rights of users to access content, services and applications, if such restrictions are necessary, are implemented by appropriate measures, in accordance with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness"
In fact, Mr. Harbour, in an interview published one day before the final vote on the European Parliament website, described as "pure fantasy" the statement that new rules would allow conditional access. "There is absolutely nothing in this proposal that says anything about that," he claimed.
But Mr Harbour was contradicting himself just a couple of weeks earlier when he declared publicly that there were service limitations in his own report:
"On the question of network neutrality, so called, which I think has been vastly over-inflated in all of this debate, the Commission has quite rightly identified the fact that there is a potential - a potential - for operators to use differing quality of service provision in a discriminatory way, for example, by giving a higher capacity or better service quality to their own services as opposed to those of competitors. The commission made a proposal, the council amended that and we agreed.
But the fact remains that any other service limitations which are anti-competitive, and they could certainly include restrictions on access to competitive services like voice over IP, have and can be dealt with by the regulators under the existing framework of competition and access regulation. And that is clear. But what is fundamental is that customer needs to know if there are service limitations and customers may wish to buy a package with service limitations if it is cheaper...There is nothing illegal about service limitations, provided they are not anti-competitive..."
The initial amendments voted in the first reading by the EP, were back on the European Parliament agenda under the name of Citizens Rights Amendments proposed by Eva-Britt Svensson on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group together with other support from other MEPs.
But besides the amendment that re-instated article 138, all the other citizen rights amendments were rejected by the plenary of the EP. Thus, the Harbour report was adopted and the Trautmann report was rejected.
The discussions with the Council will continue and should lead to a third reading at least for the Trautmann Report. But at the same time, there are little chances for something to be changed in relation with the articles on "network neutrality", that would become part of the directive.
"Internet has to be free, but not regulation free" - Harbour on telecoms package (5.05.2009) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2009/welcome/headlines.htm
Ask MEPs to adopt Citizens' Rights Amendments on 6 May (5.05.2009) http://www.openrightsgroup.org/
Citizens rights amendements
http://werebuild.eu/wiki/index.php/Citizens%27_Rights_Amendments
EDRi-gram: European Parliament ITRE committee votes against the 3 strikes
(22.04.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.8/amendment-138-adopted-itre
Telecoms Package: When rapporteurs betray EU citizens. (30.04.2009) http://www.laquadrature.net/en/telecoms-package-when-rapporteurs-betray-eu-citizens
Agreement on a new version of amendment 46/138 in Brussels. The European parliament accepted a weaker text. (29.04.2009) http://www.laquadrature.net/en/new-version-of-amendment-138-46-agreed-weaker-version
Telecoms Package - a licence to chill (4.05.2009)
http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=332&Itemid=9
Amendment 138/46 adopted again. Internet is a fundamental right in Europe
(6.05.2009)
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/amendment-138-46-adopted-again
European Parliament rejects Telecoms Package (6.05.2009)
http://www.iptegrity.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=338&Itemid=9
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2. The Pirate Bay asks for retrial claiming conflict of interest ============================================================
According to Sweden's national radio station, Thomas Norström, the judge in The Pirate Bay trial was a member of pro-copyright groups just like several of the main figures in The Pirate Bay case representing the entertaiment industry or prosecution side.
Apparently, Norström is a member of the Swedish Copyright Association (Svenska föreningen för upphovsrätt), together with Henrik Pontén, Peter Danowsky and Monique Wadsted, three representatives of the entertainment industry in the case against The Pirate Bay. The judge also belongs to the board of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property (Svenska föreningen för industriellt rättsskydd), which is lobbying for tougher copyright laws. Peter Althin, Peter Sunde's lawyer, stated on 23 April that he intended to ask for a retrial. "I will point that out in my appeal, then the court of appeal will decide if the district court decision should be set aside and the case revisited."
Judge Norström denied the fact that his involvement with the two pro-copyright organisations constituted a "conflict of interest" in The Pirate Bay trial as the verdict against the site was decided by both the judge and jury.
Former Chief Prosecutor Sven-Erik Alhem considers that the situation will be harmful for the image of the Swedish courts internationally as well as at the domestic level casting doubt over the judicial neutrality and safety of the Swedish judicial system.
Rickard Falkvinge, Pirate Party chairman, has called for the annulment of the verdict considering it is a case of "corruption and miscarriage of justice" adding that "the copyright lobby has really managed to bring corruption to Sweden."
On 18 April, the Pirate Party organized demonstrations against the decision of the court in The Pirate Bay case, in several cities of Sweden, with more than 1 000 supporters demonstrating in Stockholm for The Pirate Bay defendants and file sharing. The decision of the court has also led to a significant increase of the Pirate Party membership.
Pirate Bay judge and pro-copyright lobbyist accused of bias (23.04.2009) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/23/pirate_bay_judge_accused_of_bias/
Pirate Bay lawyer calls for retrial (23.04.2009) http://www.thelocal.se/19028/20090423/
Judge In Pirate Bay Trial Biased (23.04.2009)
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1209143&cid=27686249
Swedes demonstrate in support of Pirate Bay (19.04.2009) http://www.thelocal.se/18954/20090419/
Pirate Bay judge denies 'conflict of interest' (23.04.2009) http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/23/pirate-bay-judge
EDRI-gram: The Pirate Bay founders considered guilty by the first Swedish court (22.04.2009) http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.8/the-pirate-bay-court-decision
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3. EP passes performers' copyright term extension directive in first reading ============================================================
Although largely opposed by some EU Member States in the Council, criticized by the consumers' organizations and strongly opposed by 4 out of the 7 main political groups (ALDE, GREENS/EFA, NGL, IND/ DEM) in the European Parliament (EP), the directive on performers copyright term extension was passed by the MEPs in the first reading on 23 April 2009.
Besides the four groups, there were other national delegations and key MEPs who joined the fight to reject the directive, but the final vote was 317 in favour, 178 against, 37 abstentions.
The report by Irish MEP Brian Crowley proposed the extension of the term from 50 to 70 years for performers and recording companies, while the initial proposal of the European Commission was to extend the term up to 95 years. The extension by 20 years seems to be a compromise to acknowledge the disapproval of some of the Member States.
"The current differences in term of protection, particularly between Europe and the US, cause legal uncertainty and piracy, especially in the digital environment, where there are no boundaries," said Brian Crowley who added:
"The extended term would also benefit the record producers. It would generate additional revenue from the sale of records in shops and on the Internet."
The new text provides a dedicated fund for session musicians having given up their rights when signing contracts for their performances. The fund is to be financed by contributions from producers who would be obliged to put aside for this at least 20% of the revenues resulted from the extended term, at least once a year. The collective societies are given the right to manage the additional remuneration. A key amendment to ensure benefits accrued only to performers was, unfortunately, rejected.
The initial text has also been modified so as to prevent previous contract terms to deduct money from the additional revenues for performers. Also, an approved amendment allows performers to renegotiate contracts concluded before the entry into force of this legislation. "Use it or lose it" clause says that in case the producers do not make the recording available to the public within a year after the 50-year period has ended, their rights expire and performers can be transferred the rights for the respective recording.
MEPs ask the Commission to launch by January 2010 an impact assessment of the situation in the European audiovisual sector in order to decide whether a similar copyright extension would be beneficial for that area as well. Member States will have two years to transpose the new legislation.
Professor Bernt Hugenholtz, Director of the University of Amsterdam's Institute for Information Law (IViR) criticized the Commission for not having taken into consideration the finding of the two commissioned studies carried out by IViR on the extension of the copyright term. In an open letter addressed in August 2008, he accused the Commission of "wilfully ignoring scientific analysis and evidence".
Monique Goyens, director-general of European consumer organisation BEUC, has also criticised the proposed legislation summarising the present situation as follows: "The technology is of the 21st century, the legislation is of the 19th century and the right holder organisations are of the Middle Age."
The directive is now being sent to the EU Council of Ministers for first reading, where it is currently blocked by several member states.
Parliament buckles: copyright extension goes through to Council of Ministers
(23.04.2009)
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2009/04/23/parliament-buckles-copyright-extension-goes-through-to-council-of-ministers/
European Parliament backs 70-year copyright term for sound recordings
(27.04.2009)
http://www.out-law.com/page-9973
Music copyright still divisive, despite MEPs' backing (29.04.2009)
http://www.euractiv.com/en/innovation/music-copyright-divisive-despite-meps-backing/article-181703
Music copyright to be extended to 70 years for performers (23.04.2009) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/058-54192-111-04-17-909-20090422IPR54191-21-04-2009-2009-false/default_en.htm
IViR Open Letter to Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission (28.08.2008) http://www.ivir.nl/news/Open_Letter_EC.pdf
EDRI-gram: Extended copyright term for sound recordings pushed back
(8.04.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.7/extended-copyright-no
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4. Three strikes law in France - Second attempt ============================================================
The Hadopi (or three strikes) law saga continues with the second reading of the draft law in the French National Assembly having started on 29 April 2009.
After the unexpected rejection of the text in the lower chamber on 9 April 2009, the majority came this time decided to pass the law no matter what.
The pressure was mainly due to the present discussion in the European Parliament for the adoption of the Telecom Package which would put the French law in a critical position. The French Government has tried its best to push the three strikes law to be voted by the National Assembly as fast as possible.
"We will be careful so that you don't go to sleep as we are going to vote this very evening" said deputy Jean-François Copé on 29 April. The entire fight around the draft law seems to have turned into a political debate.
This time, present in a large number, the majority members succeeded in rejecting the opposition's proposal to send back the text to the mixed joint commission (commission mixte paritaire).
Frank Riester, rapporteur of the text, asked for the rejection of "any amendment that puts into question the compromise of the mixed joint commission" that is the toughest form of the text, thus shown the intention of the majority to pass the draft law as it was before its rejection on 9 April.
Fears appear to have existed that the government might make use of the unique (or so called blocked) vote which would have given thepossibility of voting the entire text as a single item instead of voting every single amendment. However, this did not happen and the large number of amendments, especially introduced by the opposition, made it impossible for the Assembly to finalise the discussions and vote by the evening of 5 May.
That morning, there were still 160 amendments to examine out of the total of 214. The vote was therefore postponed till 12 Ma, a decision which is definitely disappointing for Nicolas Sarkozy who wanted to get the vote on the law before a final decision of the EP on the Telecom Package.
According to Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesman for La Quadrature du Net, "The HADOPI law will be undoubtedly voted by a blocked majority, on order. But it will remain a political failure for the government and a democratic as well as technological aberration. HADOPI is a warning signal inviting everybody to rise against the harmful consequences of a regulation sacrificing the citizens and the Internet to the out-of-date interests of some".
In the mean time, the opposition movements continue. Sci-fi writer Roland Wagnerhas has organised a "Sci-fi against HADOPI" group while an anti-Hadopi march was organised on 1 May 2009 by several organisations at the initiative of Libre Accès and the French Data Network in Paris. Also, an important initiative has been taken by consumers groups including La Quadrature du Net and UFC Que Choisir who have launched the project Création Public Internet (Internet Public Creation), a project meant to find new business models and solutions for important issues related to cultural creation and artists'
income.
After the vote in the National Assembly, the Hadopi text will go back to the Senate for a new reading and in the unlikely case the text of the Senate differs from the one voted by the Assembly, the last word will belong to the deputies.
Hadopi: towards a unique vote? (only in French, 4.05.2009) http://www.ecrans.fr/Hadopi-vers-un-vote-unique,7054.html
HADOPI: in the wall, honking (only in French, 30.04.2009) http://www.laquadrature.net/fr/hadopi-dans-le-mur-en-klaxonnant
Hadopi (S2E02): politics first, Hadopi after (only in French, 30.04.2009) http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12795-Hadopi-S2E02-la-politique-d-abord-l-Hadopi-apres.html
Hadopi (S2E01): the majority shows its muscles to the opposition (only in French, 29.04.2009) http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12794-Hadopi-S2E01-la-majorite-montre-ses-muscles-a-l-opposition.html
France reintroduces three-strikes law, clash with EU likely (29.04.2009) http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/france-reintroduces-three-strikes-law-as-protests-mount.ars
FDN and Libres Accès Appeal to manifest against Hadopi (only in French,
28.04.2009)
http://www.fdn.fr/
Hadopi: the vote of the draft law reported till Tuesday 12 May (only in French, 5.05.2009) http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12830-Hadopi-le-vote-du-projet-de-loi-reporte-au-mardi-12-mai.html
Hadopi: the vote reported by a week (only in French, 5.05.2009) http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2009/05/05/01002-20090505ARTFIG00423-hadopi-le-vote-reporte-d-une-semaine-.php
EDRIgram: Three strikes law rejected by the French deputies (22.04.2009) http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.8/3-strikes-france-rejects
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5. UK: Google's Street View does not breach the Data Protection Act ============================================================
In response to a complaint filed by Privacy International, the UK Data Protection Authority, Information Commissioner's Office, found Google's Street View service clear of any breach of the Data Protection Act, as revealed in a public statement on 23 April 2009.
After the service was introduced in UK on 20 March 2009, Privacy International filed a complaint against Google arguing that the company needed the consent of the communities it was photographing, before setting up Street View system. Also, on 3 April the residents of Broughton, Buckinghamshire, made a barricade to prevent the Google car from entering their village because they considered that images presented by Street View could easily be used by burglers, thus facilitating their actions.
Privacy International complained by the fact that Google had not performed safeguards to the technology to the extent promised and that the service had created numerous instances of embarrassment and distress for citizens. "We also believe that the technology has created substantial threat to a number of individuals and that the extent of intrusion into the homes of some complainants is unlawful. In such cases, Google should have acquired consent from individuals before images were captured," said the complaint.
The ICO ruled against Privacy International's action. "It is important to highlight that putting images of people on Google Street View is very unlikely to formally breach the Data Protection Act," stated David Evans, the Senior Data Protection Practice Manager of the ICO adding: "Watch the TV news any day this week and you will see people walking past reporters in the street. Some football fans' faces will be captured on Match of the Day and local news programmes this weekend - without their consent, but perfectly legally."
While acknowledging having received numerous complaints from people who have found their image on Google Street View, ICO considers however that the removal of an entire service would be "disproportionate to the relatively small risk of privacy detriment".
The ICO has expressed satisfaction for Google having put in place adequate safeguards to minimise the risks to the individuals' privacy and safety and stated it would be watching closely so that Google should continue to respond quickly to complaints and deletion requests. "As a regulator we take a pragmatic and common sense approach. Any images of people's faces or number plates should be blurred. We emphasised the importance of blurring these images to protect people's privacy and limit privacy intrusion. Google must respond quickly to deletion requests and complaints, as it is doing at the moment. We will be watching closely to make sure this continues to be achieved in practice," said Evans.
Privacy International had a very strong reaction to ICO's ruling. Its director Simon Davies declared for The Times that ICO "has entirely misrepresented Privacy International's concerns and complaint. We never sought the shutdown of Google Street View, as this ruling implies. We wanted to get Google to focus on the technological solutions and to get the commissioner to uphold the principles behind the law. Instead, he has sacrificed principles for pragmatism, an approach we believe has already been responsible for many of the privacy invasions in Britain."
Davis considers there are dysfunctions in the Commission's handling complaints and technological advice would be necessary. Therefore, Privacy International is "for the creation of a technological advice office, and for greater rigour to be applied to the ICO's relations with companies and government."
Davis also expects a different reaction from Christopher Graham, director general of the Advertising Standards Authority, who is expected to become the next UK Information Commissioner after Richard Thomas, the present ICO, retires on 30 June. "We challenge the incoming commissioner to find the courage to defend the legal principle of privacy and thus restore public trust in his office," he said.
Street View ruling angers privacy campaigners (23.04.2009) http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article6154092.ece
Google wins battle with British weather to launch Street View in UK
(20.03.2009)
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5938017.ece
PI files complaint about Google Street View (23.03.2009)
http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-564039
Privacy International slams ICO ruling on Google Street View (24.04.2009) http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/04/24/235779/privacy-international-slams-ico-ruling-on-google-street.htm
PI calls for review of UK privacy regulator following series of failed judgements (23.04.2009)
http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-564402
EDRIgram: Privacy complaints related to Google's Street View (16.07.2008) http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number6.14/privacy-street-view
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6. Reclaim your DNA from the UK database ============================================================
A coallition of Human rights groups in UK has launched "Reclaim your DNA"
website that helps innocent people contact the police to seek destruction of their DNA and database records. Five months after the European Court of Human Rights decision in the case Marper vs UK, no bill has been introduced in the Parliament to deal with this situation. However, in a recent statement, the UK home secretary Jacqui Smith said that the plans for destruction of the DNA profiles of the innocent people stored by the Police would be published soon.
The website "Reclaim your DNA" was launched on 27 April 2009 by several human rights groups in UK: GeneWatch UK, NO2ID, Black Mental Health UK, ARCH and EDRi-member Open Rights Group.
Dr Helen Wallace, Director of GeneWatch UK, said: "If Scotland can remove innocent people from the DNA database, why can't this happen everywhere?
It's time for people in the rest of Britain to demand their rights".
GeneWatch has already warned that the health and drug companies will want access to the samples in order to create profiles to predict who is genetically susceptible to different illnesses and diseases.
The website explains the procedure of deleting the DNA from the National DNA Database in case you haven't been convicted. It is estimated that at least 800 000 people are in this situation. The coalition presents the arguments for such an action: "Your computer record on the National DNA database can be used to trace you or your relatives. A sample of your DNA, containing your personal genetic information, will also be stored by one of the commercial laboratories that do work for the police.
Your DNA sample contains some private information about your health."
"We have human rights: we need to exercise them if we want to successfully defend them. The digital age means data is constantly easier to collect, store, and analyse, so when government goes too far, it is vital citizens act to defend their right to privacy" points Jim Killock, Executive Director of Open Rights Group making reference also to the European Court of Human Rights decision that considered it is illegal for the government to keep all this personal information belonging to innocent people.
The UK government stalled for nearly 5 months and initial plans seamed to try not to implement directly the judgement. But a statement from the UK home secretary Jacqui Smith insisted on 3 May 2009 that the plans would be presented this week and will also include the destruction of all physical samples, such as mouth swabs, hair and blood. It is estimated that a consultation paper would be released by the UK government to detail all the actions to deal with the destruction of the DNA profiles of the innocent people.
But the civil rights groups remain cautious on the decision. Simon Davies from Privacy International: "The DNA database is already too big.We would argue that the samples of anyone convicted of even minor offences should be removed."
Reclaim your DNA !
http://reclaimyourdna.org/
The UK Police National DNA Database
http://www.genewatch.org/sub-539478
GeneWatch PR: Innocent urged to reclaim their DNA (27.04.2009) http://www.genewatch.org/article.shtml?als[cid]=563486&als[itemid]=564430
Step-by-step guide to reclaim your DNA (27.04.2009) http://gizmonaut.net/blog/uk/reclaim_your_dna_launch.html
Jacqui Smith says DNA database profiles of 800,000 innocent people will be axed (3.05.2009) http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/03/police-dna-database-jacqui-smith
EDRi-gram:ECHR decided against the UK DNA Database (17.12.2009) http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number6.24/echr-marper-case-dna-uk
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7. WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property: Third meeting ============================================================
The central issues in the third meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Committee on Development and Intellectual Property
(CDIP) seemed to be the creation of centralized databases to collect traditional cultural expressions, traditional knowledge, genetic material and public domain material - and to close the digital divide between (post-)industrialized nations and economies in transition, developing countries (DCs) and the least developed countries (LDCs).
Because Public Domain (PD) is decidedly different in different countries, it was proposed that a study on what does PD entail in different countries be undertaken by WIPO. From this study, a database should be created for the use of different actors that need to know what actually belongs to PD.
Another central concern expressed by DCs and LDCs during the meeting was that PD should not only be mapped and preserved, but also enriched when possible. On the other hand, DCs and LDCs were worried that traditional cultural expressions, traditional knowledge and genetic material would be presumed to automatically belong to PD. Although direct concerns were not mentioned with all three areas, it was apparent that with the first, the worry was the westernization of traditional music, texts, behavior patterns etc. and with the second, that traditional knowledge about herbs and medicines as well as treatments would be enclosed by western multinational corporations without benefit to the local tribes and people who actually found them (CDIP/3/3, Recommendation 20)
A clear tension between (post-) industrialized countries and DCs, LDCs and economies in transition was appearant. The latter often promoted to each other innovative and situational suggestions taking multiple views into account. The industrialized countries' representatives, more often than not, attempted to preserve the status quo, although as exceptions to this rule Japan and the Republic of South Korea must be mentioned. Japan had innovative ideas on E-SPEED database from which the member states, their patent and registering officials and stakeholders could observe various kinds of cases and how Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in different countries are handled (CDIP/3/8). Republic of Korea suggested doing a study in Fair Trade practices in different market areas - how to strengthen these and make them more widely used and available (CDIP/3/7). Some industrialized countries representatives expressed doubt on whether these proposals would be feasible in this economical environment, but, of course, this was also met with some skepticism by DCs and LDCs. After all, the kinds of economic problems western countries suffer from are in no way comparable of the normal situation DCs and LDCs face.
Most EU and Group B representatives seemed satisfied with the fairly few comments made by the Czech Republic (in the name of EC and its 27 member
states) and Germany. These representatives mainly commented on certain technical issues in the proposed projects execution, whereas the US representative tended to be more vocal and a stronger proponent of the status quo by more often than not referring to practices which would slow and hinder the proposed changes to the projects. As an interesting side topic, the one time the UK representative used an intervention, he mentioned (freely quoting) that as he was representing the UK population as a whole, also Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) constituency not just the government and rights holders, therefore the need for NGO interventions was not all that necessary. Let us hope that the UK delegate really does represent all the stakeholders in UK, although it remains unclear when these stakeholders have the opportunity to be heard by this representative in relation to WIPO CDIP.
NGOs, DCs and LDCs were all worried specifically about the end of the projects - would the projects carry on after the funding for them by WIPO ended? If a project for setting up a center for certain IPR policy lasted 5 years, would it actually be run after this? What would happen to the hardware bought? It would at that stage be old and in need of replacement, at least some of the personnel trained would be offered work elsewhere both during and after the project ended and the state would not necessarily have the funds to keep the project going on their own.
Worries were also presented on the transparency and wider use of WIPO prepared material. Even though a large part of it is available, either for free or at a reasonable price, if there is no infrastructure in place to facilitate the use, it doesn't mean much.
The meeting was a positive experience compared to previous CDIP meetings from the point of view of NGOs. The representatives of NGOs were offered far more possibilities to comment on the items at the agenda than in previous meetings. Especially The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) did a lot of work for this to happen. The representative for CIEL talked with various member states representatives, the chair and the secretariat - with good results. NGOs had their traditional possibility to offer views and point out specifically important topics during the opening session, but the chair also attended the NGO meeting Wednesday morning.
After that meeting, he offered the NGOs a possibility to give short statements both during Thursday and Friday. The first time this possibility was offered, only Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) were able to use this to their advantage.
During Friday, the NGOs were more prepared for this possibility and more of them, and in more depth towards the topics under handling, were able to use the possibility and various short comments were heard.
During Monday's opening statements, Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) and Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL.net) presented their concerns about libraries using electronic materials in DCs and LDCs . There are problems with this even in industrialized nations, thus they were concerned that in states with less developed practices this would especially cause lots of problems. As an example, the use of orphan works is troublesome even in the industrialized countries: how to handle potential payments if the rights holders are found, how to find out whether the rights holder is known when concentrated databases of e.g. copyright holders do not exist, etc.
Licensing practices are also unclear in many DCs and LDCs, and often do not offer any possibilities for libraries to offer electronic materials to be loaned outside specific contracts (see especially CDIP/3/5 and CDIP/3/INF/2).
During Thursday, FSFE brought to attention the advantages free software and open standards would offer in many situations. The free software and open standards advantages (e.g. possibility to translate software instead of relying on the good will of the software producers) enable more democratic innovation models than traditional propietary software, thus allowing developing countries to reap considerable benefits from using free software and relying on open standards.
CIEL was instrumental in getting the possibility for the NGOs to be active during the Friday session. The CIEL representative saw it essential that the databases containing technical information on IPRs (see e.g. CDIP/3/INF/2, Annex II, Recommendation 5) should include model solutions. If possible, they should also be updated in real time instead of in batches. All surveys and studies ought to be based on empirical studies and statistical analysis performed by independent researchers rather than on rights holder associations' or purely theoretical ones, which often seems to be the case.
Finally, the results from these studies and surveys should be available to all, not just WIPO member states.
On top of what was presented in the official meetings, the political play in the corridors of power were interesting to follow. Who eats lunch with whom, what was said, but especially what was not said, what kinds of presuppositions were brought to discussions depending on the member state or group of the representative. The decision making cannot be considered open, transparent and democratic, even in good will, but progress towards more open and enabling discussions can be, none the less, seen.
Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) : Third Session
http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=17382
Center for International Environmental Law http://www.ciel.org/
EFF
http://www.eff.org/
Library Copyright Alliance (LCA)
http://www.librarycopyrightalliance.org/
Electronic Information for Libraries
http://www.eifl.net/cps/sections/home
FSF Europe
http://fsfeurope.org/projects/wipo/
(contribution by Kai K. Kimppa - Lecturer, Information Systems, University of Turku - Finland)
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8. Recommended Action
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The European Commission has launched a new online tool offering practical advice on the digital rights consumers have under EU law http://ec.europa.eu/eyouguide
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9. Recommended Reading
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European Parliament study: A Review of the increased use of CCTV and video-surveillance for crime prevention purposes in Europe by Clive Norris http://www.statewatch.org/news/2009/apr/ep-study-norris-cctv-video-surveillance.pdf
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10. Agenda
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11 May 2009, Brussels, Belgium
GigaNet is organizing the 2nd international academic workshop on Global Internet Governance: An Interdisciplinary Research Field in Construction.
http://giganet.igloogroups.org/publiclibr/giganetcos/2009brusse
13-14 May 2009 Uppsala, Sweden
Mashing-up Culture: The Rise of User-generated Content http://www.counter2010.org/workshop_call
19-20 May 2009, Brussels, Belgium
Personal data - more use, more protection?
http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/news/events/news_events_en.htm#dp_conference_2009
22-23 May 2009, Florence, Italy
E-privacy: Towards total control
http://e-privacy.winstonsmith.info/
23 May 2009, Florence, Italy
Big Brother Award Italia 2009
http://bba.winstonsmith.info/
24-28 May 2009, Venice, Italy
ICIMP 2009, The Fourth International Conference on Internet Monitoring and Protection http://www.iaria.org/conferences2009/ICIMP09.html
1-4 June 2009, Washington, DC, USA
Computers Freedom and Privacy 2009
http://www.cfp2009.org/
5 June 2009, London, UK
The Second Multidisciplinary Workshop on Identity in the Information Society (IDIS 09): "Identity and the Impact of Technology"
http://is2.lse.ac.uk/idis/2009/
28-30 June 2009, Torino, Italy
COMMUNIA Conference 2009: Global Science & Economics of Knowledge-Sharing Institutions
http://www.communia-project.eu/conf2009
2-3 July 2009, Padova, Italy
3rd FLOSS International Workshop on Free/Libre Open Source Software http://www.decon.unipd.it/personale/curri/manenti/floss/floss09.html
13-16 August 2009, Vierhouten, The Netherlands Hacking at Random http://www.har2009.org/
23-27 August 2009, Milan, Italy
World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General Conference and
Council: "Libraries create futures: Building on cultural heritage"
http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla75/index.htm
10-12 September 2009, Potsdam, Germany
5th ECPR General Conference, Potsdam
Section: Protest Politics
Panel: The Contentious Politics of Intellectual Property http://www.ecpr.org.uk/potsdam/default.asp
16-18 September 2009, Crete, Greece
World Summit on the Knowledge Society WSKS 2009 http://www.open-knowledge-society.org/
17-18 September 2009, Amsterdam, Netherlands Gikii, A Workshop on Law, Technology and Popular Culture Institute for Information Law (IViR) - University of Amsterdam Call for papers by 1 July 2009 http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/gikii/2009.asp
21-23 October 2009, Istanbul, Turkey
eChallenges 2009
http://www.echallenges.org/e2009/default.asp
24-25 October 2009, Vienna, Austria
3rd European Privacy Open Space
http://www.privacyos.eu
25 October 2009, Vienna, Austria
Austrian Big Brother Awards
Deadline for nominations: 21 September 2009 http://www.bigbrotherawards.at/
16 October 2009, Bielefeld, Germany
10th German Big Brother Awards
Deadline for nominations: 15 July 2009
http://www.bigbrotherawards.de/
15-18 November 2009, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt UN Internet Governance Forum http://www.intgovforum.org/
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11. About
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EDRI-gram is a biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe.
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