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Today's Topics:
1. EDRI-gram newsletter - Number 4.17, 13 September 2006
(Bogdan Manolea)
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Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 20:50:54 +0300
From: "Bogdan Manolea" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: EDRI-gram newsletter - Number 4.17, 13 September 2006
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============================================================
EDRI-gram
biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe
Number 4.17, 13 September 2006
============================================================
Contents
============================================================
1. New EDRI members
2. European Parliament pressures EC in the EU-US PNR agreement 3. TOR
servers seized in Germany 4. Opposition to draft WIPO Broadcast Treaty 5.
Online services under investigation for breaching UK Data Protection Act 6.
License to hack: domestic Internet intelligence powers growing in Germany 7.
Russian copyright law gets tougher 8. EU Green paper on surveillance
technology 9. Travellers privacy and European Union 10. ENDitorial :
Fighting Mass Surveillance 11. Recommended reading 12. Agenda 13. About
============================================================
1. New EDRI members
============================================================
At the EDRI General Assembly of 3 September 2006 in Berlin, Germany, EDRI
welcomed 4 new members.
Open Rights Group is a new UK independent, non-profit advocacy group,
campaigning for the digital civil rights of British citizens. Alcei from
Italy is an association of people dedicated to affirm and protect
constitutional rights for "electronic citizens" as new communications
technologies emerge. Nodo50.org is a Spanish ISP for NGOs and a member of
the Association for Progressive Communications. Digital Rights Ireland was
founded in 2005 and they are currently preparing the first legal challenge
to data retention in Europe.
EDRI now has 25 members in 16 European countries, all within the territory
of the Council of Europe. The members of EDRI identified during the meeting
the interest areas for common concern : privacy issues ( RFID, data
retention, anti-terror laws, swift case) Intellectual property (DRM,
Library) and Freedom of speech issues (Filtering).
Alcei, Italy
http://www.alcei.it/
Digital Rights Ireland, Ireland
http://www.digitalrights.ie/
Nodo50.org, Spain
http://www.nodo50.org/
Open Rights Group, UK
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/
============================================================
2. European Parliament pressures EC in the EU-US PNR agreement
============================================================
A debate took place in the European Parliament (EP) on 7 September regarding
the negotiation of a new interim agreement between EU and US on the issue of
passenger name record (PNR) sharing.
The very criticized agreement adopted in 2004 on EU-US personal data sharing
was annulled by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in May 2006.
The Finnish EU Presidency and the EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini
had been highly criticized by the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
for having had informal meetings on the matter with US negotiators on 18
July 2006 and apparently also on 16 August 2006 without informing the EP.
Frattini pointed out that the issue of concluding an interim agreement by 1
October 2006 was of utmost importance in order to avoid legal complaints
from European citizens against air carriers on the transfer of personal data
to US, applied on the basis of national rules. He said it was important to
"guarantee legal certainty with an agreement at European-level, to ensure a
high level of security and at the same time privacy protection for our
citizens".
After heated discussions during the meeting on 7 September, the MEPs decided
to back the Commission in the negotiations of the interim accord that will
be valid by the end of November 2007 on condition they are involved in the
negotiations. The MEPs have required from US for more adequate protection
and sufficient safeguards of European passenger data.
Some MEPs emphasized the necessity that the new deal should not allow full
access of the US authorities to the entire passenger database coming from
Europe but provide data only on a case by case basis.
During the Strasbourg meeting, Sophia in 't Veld (ALDE, NL), Parliament's
rapporteur on PNR, underlined the importance of getting a unified European
opinion on the matter in the light of the rumours circulating that the US
might favour bilateral agreements.
Further on, the EP asked for joint decision-making rights with the Council
of Ministers on the negotiations that will take place after November 2007.
It also proposed a dialogue between parliamentarians from the EU, US, Canada
and Australia by the end of this year in order to have a global approach on
the issue of PNR and also to help in the preparation of the 2007 review of
the agreement.
MEPs angry over EU-US air data snub (7.09.2006)
http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200609/9bb862fa-01fc-487b-877a-f5edd088f1c9
.htm
Parliament of EU backs passenger data-sharing (7.09.2006)
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/07/news/fly.php
EU: Balancing security and data protection for air travel (8.09.2006)
http://www.noticias.info/asp/aspComunicados.asp?nid=217076&src=0
EU fights flight data deal with US (7.09.2006)
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14718038/
Pressure looms over controversial EU-US air data deal (8.09.2006)
http://euobserver.com/24/22368
EDRI-gram: EU-US agreement on passenger data transfer annulled (7.06.2006)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.11/pnr
============================================================
3. TOR servers seized in Germany
============================================================
The public prosecutor's office of Konstanz, Germany raided, during the last
weekend some computing centres and seized several servers that were running
copies of TOR, a well known software used for the anonymisation of the
Internet usage.
The action was related to a child pornography case, and, apparently, the IP
addresses of the servers were found in a chat room where these kinds of
images were traded. Those servers were probably configured as TOR
Exit-Nodes.
No charges have been brought against any of the owners of the servers - at
least for now. Moreover, according to one of the persons whose servers were
seized, a prosecutor told him that it was legal to run TOR servers in
Germany.
According to some, this might be one of the results of the last month
declarations of the German officials that combating terrorism has become a
much more important objective than respecting privacy and the right to
anonymity on the Internet.
Shava Nerad, the executive director of the TOR project, has confirmed that
six TOR servers were seized during the investigation, among others. He also
pointed out that: "This is not a "crackdown" on TOR, as has been widely
reported. We expect and hope that the volunteer TOR server operators in
Germany will get their equipment back after this has blown over, and there
will be no action against TOR."
Germany: Crackdown on TOR-node operators (10.09.2006)
http://itnomad.wordpress.com/2006/09/10/germany-crackdown-on-tor-node-operat
ors/
German police seize TOR servers (11.09.2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/11/anon_servers_seized/
German Computer Confiscations NOT an Attack on TOR (11.09.2006)
http://themostboringblogintheworld.wordpress.com/2006/09/11/german-computer-
confiscations-not-an-attack-on-tor/
EDRi-gram : German Minister of Justice wants limits to the anonymiser
service (30.09.2006) http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.16/anonymiser
Tor: An anonymous Internet communication system http://tor.eff.org/
============================================================
4. Opposition to draft WIPO Broadcast Treaty
============================================================
Several representatives of the IT, telecommunications, consumer electronics
industry, public interest organizations and performers joined in a common
statement issued on 5 September to oppose the WIPO Treaty on the Protection
of Broadcasts and Broadcasting Organizations.
The treaty creates a new class of IP rights meant to protect broadcasters
from the theft of their TV signals which is considered by the signatories of
the statement as "misguided and unnecessary". On their opinion, the issue
could have been solved by a "signal protection-oriented approach, ideally
focusing narrowly and specifically on protecting signals from intentional
misappropriation or theft."
The opponents to the treaty claim that its text may give broadcasters
wide-ranging rights over Internet content and believe the treaty should
include certain limitations and exceptions to make sure the treaty does not
inhibit the use of the content that is legal under the copyright law.
Concern is shown regarding the unprecedented control that broadcasters might
gain over signals in home or personal network environments and the
signatories propose the treaty includes "a provision excluding coverage of
fixations, transmissions or retransmissions across a home or personal
network".
Another issue raised is that of the intermediary liability, the present
draft of the treaty creating the risk for the network intermediaries to face
liability for the infringement of the broadcasting rights.
The draft also excludes computer networks from the protection for simulcasts
although this is provided for the traditional broadcasters and cablecasters.
The latest version of the draft treaty is being discussed in Geneva on 11-13
September 2006 at the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and related
rights.
Statement concerning the WIPO Broadcast treaty provided by certain
information technology, consumer electronics telecommunications industry
representatives, public interest organizations, and performers'
representatives (5.09.2006)
http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/wipo-statement-20060905.pdf
Tech companies oppose WIPO treaty on TV rights (8.09.2006)
http://www.theregister.com/2006/09/08/wipo_treaty_opposition/
Revised Draft Basic Proposal for the WIPO Treaty on the Protection of
Broadcasting Organizations (31.05.2006)
http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/sccr/en/sccr_15/sccr_15_2.pdf
EDRI-gram :Webcasting put on a separate track from the new draft WIPO Treaty
(10.05.2006)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.9/sccr
============================================================
5. Online services under investigation for breaching UK Data Protection Act
============================================================
E-Bay auction site is investigated by UK Information Commissioner's Office
(ICO), as Privacy International has considered the site has infringed the
Data Protection Act.
The Data Protection Act obliges companies to allow people to delete their
personal information. Privacy International claims that although not
impossible, deleting accounts with eBay is very difficult.
Following the complaints of Internet users, Privacy International has
conducted a research by asking a sample of representative users to close
their accounts with some large online companies present on the UK market.
The conclusion was that most of these users could not delete their accounts
with companies such as eBay, Amazon or Friends Reunited.
While with eBay the process is complicated and time consuming, with other
sites like Amazon it appears there are no facilities to delete one's own
account.
"In our view it is in these companies financial interest to hide the account
deletion function, and thus they have acted in an entirely self-serving
manner that denies millions of customers an important right." stated Privacy
International.
Privacy International has also asked ICO to investigate on eBays sharing
personal information with about 10,000 organizations and individuals that
are members of VeRO programme. According to eBay, the programme is a scheme
"designed to aid the investigation of fraud or other unlawful activity on
the site" but Privacy International considers it "disproportionate and
possibly insecure".
ICO can ask for more information from eBay regarding the way they process
the data by an Information Notice. In case eBay does not comply with the
Information Notice, ICO can issue an Enforcement Notice making requests to
eBay. Non-compliance with the Enforcement Notice is considered a crime and
eBay may be considered in breach of the Data Protection Act and fined up to
5 000CB#.
PI report on online privacy -- Dumb Design or Dirty Tricks? (31.08.2006)
http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-542384
PI report on online privacy -- Dumb Design or Dirty Tricks?
Summary of research on complaints regarding online organisations in the UK
(31.08.2006)
http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/compliance/dumbdesignreport.pdf.
Privacy group says eBay breaches Data Protection Act (31.08.2006)
http://www.out-law.com/page-7250
============================================================
6. License to hack: domestic Internet intelligence powers growing in Germany
============================================================
The domestic intelligence agency (Verfassungsschutz) in the German state of
North-Rhine Westfalia (NRW) will be allowed to hack into the computers of
terrosist suspects, if a bill currently under discussion in the state
parliament is adopted. According to the bill, the agency will get the new
competence for "clandestine observation or other reconnaissance of the
Internet, in particular the hidden participation in its communication
facilities or the search for them, and clandestine access to information
technology systems by technical means".
The entire ruling conservative-liberal coalition is arguing that this is
only a clarification of existing competences for communication interception
and the social democratic party is opposing the bill. Karsten Rudolph,
spokesperson for domestic affairs of the SPD in NRW, called the new
regulation "governmentally organized trespassing". The public justifications
for this enlargement of intelligence powers are in fact questionable.
Liberal Domestic Affairs minister Ingo Wolf refers to the fact that the
alledged suitcase bombers, who were caught in Germany recently after a
futile attempt to blow up two trains, had found the plans for building their
bombs on the Internet. But he did not explain how intelligence service
hackers could have detected or even prevented this, given the fact that the
assassins had not attracted any attention before.
Another change in the NRW intelligence agency act, according to the bill,
would be the duty of banks, telcoms and other industries to give information
about their customers to intelligence agents if asked by them.
This obligation, introduced after the attacks of 11 September 2001, was
applied so far only if the perceived threat to the constitution and the
state were a foreign power or an international terrorist organization. Now,
corporations would also have to give information about their customers in
cases of "efforts which are directed against the liberal democratic
fundamental order, the existence or the security of the federal republic or
a state, or which aim at an illegal interference with the administration of
the constitutional powers of the federal republic or its members".
Publicly, this is referred to as "terrorism", but in the German past has on
various occasions also hit political opposition movements as well as
religious groups.
The new bill seems to be part of a conservative campaign to establish
extensive domestic surveillance powers for the Internet. Federal domestic
affairs minister Wolfgang SchCB$uble announced further plans for widening
intelligence powers on the Internet, and the German government recently
decided to raise personell and spending for Internet activities of the
federal domestic intelligence agency. In the state of Schleswig-Holstein,
the conservative government is planning to establish a mandatory data
retention scheme for web anonymizer services, which would go much further
than the EU data retention directive envisages. The federal crime agency
(BKA) is currently working on a central database for Internet
investigations. German law enforcement agencies are already "patrolling"
the public parts of the Internet without initial suspicion, and have
established a coordination agency for this as early as 1998.
While the Internet gets more and more into the focus of law enforcement and
intelligence agencies, other sectors have lost their atractiveness.
The new bill in NRW upholds the information duty for companies about their
customers only for the financial services sector and for telecommunications
providers. The regulations that so far had also established this duty for
postal services and airlines will be cancelled.
The bill for the change of the domestic intelligence act of NRW (only in
German, 3.07.2006)
http://www.landtag.nrw.de/portal/WWW/Webmaster/GB_I/I.4/Dokumentenarchiv/dok
ument.php?k=MMD14/2211
The present act of the domestic intelligence of NRW (only in German,
18.12.2002)
http://www.im.nrw.de/sch/seiten/vs/gesetze/verfschutzg.htm
Heise news (in German) on the new bill (only in German, 31.08.2006)
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/77519
Heise news (in German) on the extension of Internet surveillance (only in
German, 23.08.2006) http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/77160
Minister of Justice criticizes anonymization service (23.08.2006)
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/77162
Ralf Bendrath blog - Internet privacy and related topics
http://bendrath.blogspot.com/
(contribution by Ralf Bendrath, EDRi member Netzwerk Neue Medien)
============================================================
7. Hungary: Act on classified information reloaded
============================================================
At the end of July 2006, the Office of the Hungarian Prime Minister released
their legislative plans for the Autumn comprising the Act on classified
information.
Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) have filed two requests inquiring
about the details of the draft, but the PMC"b,b"s Office refused to disclose
anything about it.
Last time the Hungarian Government submitted the draft of a new Act on
classified information (ACI) to the Parliament was in early December 2005
when the Parliament discussed it in an expedited procedure and completed its
first reading within two weeks. Debate continued throughout January and the
only obstacle was the governmentC"b,b"s having not attached the Penal CodeC"b,b"s
amendments regarding the criminal sanctions of illegally disclosing
classified information.
This was the situation when three NGOs (the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union,
Protect the Future and the Press Freedom Centre) intervened, calling a press
conference to demand that the Government revoke the draft and prepare a
completely new document. The protest was successful.
In January 2006 the Government postponed further parliamentary debate on the
draft legislation and at the beginning of February 2006 the Parliament
finished its winter session without adopting the ACI.
Before submitting the draft to the Parliament, only the ministries and
C"b,Eprofessional bodiesC"b,B (i.e. the secret services) were consulted, there
was no public debate and the media and NGOs working in the areas of freedom
of speech and information were not informed. This resulted in a more
restrictive text than the one already in force. If approved, the draft law
would have enabled the government to deprive citizens from open debate on
public issues and would also have prevented them from expressing alternative
positions that differed from the governmentC"b,b"s view.
HCLUC"b,b"s major concern was the threat to journalists. According to the Penal
Code, journalists who disclose secret documents are subject to imprisonment,
even in cases when the journalist was not proven to have known that the
documents were classified.
According to the draft of the ACI, these sections of the Penal Code would
have stayed in force for an undetermined time. HCLU considers as
unacceptable that during the drafting of the new ACI the relevant sections
of the Penal Code were neither reviewed nor amended.
Secondly, the right of individuals to have access to the retained data is a
constitutional right in Hungary. In theory, all citizens can C"b,b
certain conditions C"b,b
subject of a secret service investigation. According to the draft law the
disclosure of such information would depend on the discretionary decision of
the state, instead of being its obligation.
Thirdly, the draft law would reduce the time limit on releasing secret
information to 80 years from the present 90 years which is still excessive
in HCLU opinion. Furthermore, in cases involving state secrets, the draft
law would extend the time limit to 60 years from the present 20 years while
the draft lawC"b,b"s definition of C"b,EsecretC"b,B does not meet the standards of
a democratic state.
If approved, it would have undermined the freedom of information safeguards
embedded in the Data Protection and Freedom of Information Act. The
categories of the draft lawC"b,b"s data specification were extensive. For
example, there were sections which classified statistical data on public
affairs and on public funds as secret. Additionally, the draft law would
have enabled the government to classify all international affairs-related
data, without regard to the relevant international conventions.
If the present government does not live up to the commitments made in its
manifesto, where it states that the act on state secrets has to be adjusted
to the act on publicity of public interest data, and fails to engage in
public debate on the new ACI, the proponents of freedom of information will
have a harder job than before the elections.
Statewatch- HCLU - Threat to journalists and freedom of information from
draft secrecy law (08.2006) http://www.ecln.org/docbin-2006/HCLU-aug-06.pdf
Manifesto - New Hungary C"Kb
http://www.miniszterelnok.hu/domain2/files/modules/module25/fileok/New_Hunga
ry_Program.pdf
(Contribution by Adam Foldes - HCLU, Hungary - www.hclu.org)
============================================================
8. Russian copyright law gets tougher
============================================================
New changes in the Russian copyright law entered into force on 1 September
2006, giving the same legal regime to the electronic documents as to the
traditional ones.
The new provisions were adopted by the Russian Duma in 2004, but their
application was delayed in order to give the online businesses the
possibility to comply with the new provisions. Among the new provisions, one
of the most important is granting the same protection to the works published
online as to the traditional paper-based books, CDs or videos.
The new law tries also to cover a loophole in the previous version that
allowed Russian websites - the most famous being allofmp3.com - to sell
music online, even though that had signed licences with agencies that didn't
have an agreement with the record companies and artists whose music they
were licensing.
AllofMP3.com used this loophole and, after signing agreements to the Russian
Multimedia and Internet Society (ROMS) and the Rightholders Federation for
Collective Copyright Management of Works Used Interactively (FAIR), it
started selling music on the Internet for very low fees, even outside
Russia. Actually the website is claiming today 14% of the UK digital music
market. AllofMP3.com turnover is estimated around 20-25 millions euros.
The new provisions should close this loophole used by allmp3.com and other
websites. The new law also foresees up to 5 years in jail for the copyright
infringement. The entry into force has been seen as a great step forward by
the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, that has started
actions against AllofMP3 starting with February 2005. The approval of the
new law comes in line with the intentions of Russia to join WTO and , in
this respect, they need all the support of the Office of the US Trade
Representative, that has already asked for the closing of the AllofMp3.com
As in other Eastern European countries, not all experts are convinced that
the law will be actually enforced.
Legal analyst Vadim Uskov pointed out: "Russian laws might be good, but they
are not implemented very well. If usual sellers of counterfeit goods are not
caught on the street, then no one will catch the owners of websites in the
Internet where it is hard to identify them."
>From Internet to Jail (1.09.2006)
http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=701606
Russia gets tough over online copyrights (4.09.2006)
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/93065/russia-gets-tough-over-online-copyrights.h
tml
New Russian law targets AllofMP3.com ( 6.09.2006)
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060906-7676.html
AllofMP3 claims big slice of UK market (15.05.2006)
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/87175/allofmp3-claims-big-slice-of-uk-market.htm
l
============================================================
9. EU Green paper on surveillance technology
============================================================
The European Commission (EC) has adopted a green paper on surveillance
technology used by the civil society in the fight against terrorism, that
will be open for public consultation until the end of this year.
The green paper, resulted from a public conference (Public-Private Security
Dialogue: Detection Technologies and Associated Technologies in the Fight
against Terrorism) that took place in November 2005, is meant to find the
best technologies to be used "in the service of the security of its
citizens" as was stated by European Commission Directorate-General for
Justice, Freedom and Security.
Some of the issues on which the green paper is focused are: standardisation,
certification of tools, integration of detecting systems for various
substances into a sole system, the improvement of the protection of mass
events.
The EC aims to enhance the collaboration between the private and public
sector in finding the best present practices and systems and helping in
spreading them within the EU as well as to support the creation of new more
efficient surveillance technologies, more available and at lower costs.
The green paper admits detections technologies are intrusive into private
life and states limitations must be established to this intrusion when
developing and using such technologies. It also stipulates that any
legislation resulting from the consultation should "fully comply" with EU
Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights
and that "Particular attention must be paid to compliance with the
protection of personal data and the right to private life."
However, concerns have been expressed by the defendants of civil liberties
who believe the industry already has too much control over surveillance
policies in Europe, as previously reported by EDRI-Gram.
The Statewatch report issued in April this year - Arming Big Brother -
showed private security companies were given the power to decide on the way
the EU money was to be spent for the implementation of security systems and
that in the public-private dialogue, the private party was less represented.
Green Paper on detection and associated technologies in the work of law
enforcement, customs and other security authorities - Press Release
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/06/317&format=H
TML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Green Paper on detection technologies in the work of law enforcement,
customs and other security authorities (1.09.2006)
http://regmedia.co.uk/2006/09/06/ec_surveillance_green_paper.pdf
Tell the EC about surveillance (6.09.2006)
http://www.theregister.com/2006/09/06/ec_surveillance_consultation/
EDRI-gram : EU pays for surveillance and control technologies (26.04.2006)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.8/eucontrol
Arming Big Brother The EU's Security Research Programme (04.2006)
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2006/apr/bigbrother.pdf
============================================================
10. ENDitorial : Fighting Mass Surveillance
============================================================
Digital Rights Ireland was established last year to further civil rights in
the Digital Age. We are challenging the European Institutions and the Irish
government through the courts to stop their program of mass surveillance of
citizens. Our litigation will have an impact on digital rights across
Europe.
Every day you move around in society you benefit from an invisible web of
rights, built up over hundreds of years, which allow you to do the things
you take for granted without unwarranted interference. Things like sending a
letter knowing that it won't be monitored by the state along the way. Things
like meeting people or going to public lectures without being followed by
the police just in case you, or one of the people in the room with you,
might do something illegal now or later.
Those are our familiar rights. The courts and international treaties have
affirmed them, and the government will, usually, publicly acknowledge that
it should not breach them.
Legislators and governments are bringing in new laws to deny us these rights
in the digital age. So-called data-retention laws have been drafted which
result in modern technologies being used to strip of us of our rights.
Under this legislation, telephone record data and information about Internet
access has to be collected on a blanket basis by the Internet Service
Provider and has to be retained for years. If you carry a mobile phone, the
information retained will include information about your movements and who
you associate with. The information will be collected and stored on
everyone, regardless of whether you are a criminal, a policeman, a priest, a
judge, or an ordinary citizen. Once collected, this information is wide open
to misappropriation and misuse. No evidence has been produced to suggest
that data retention laws will do anything to stop terrorism or organized
crime.
We are fighting these mass surveillance laws. These mass surveillance laws
are a direct, deliberate attack on our right to have a private life, without
undue interference by the government. That right is underpinned in the laws
of European countries and is also explicitly stated in Article 8 of the
European Convention on Human Rights. The Article specifies that public
authorities may only interfere with this right in narrowly defined
circumstances.
It is legitimate, of course, that law-enforcement agencies should have
access to some call data. Such information has helped in several
high-profile prosecutions. But access must be proportional to the threat
posed. In particular, there should be clear evidence of a need to move
beyond the six months of storage for these data already mandated for billing
purposes. Neither the European Commission nor the European police forces
have made any case as to why they might require years of data to be
retained.
Data Retention, as legislated for in most European countries and mandated by
the Data Retention Directive is unjustified mass surveillance. The
government is deliberately recording information about innocent citizens
without cause.
In collaboration with other EDRI organizations, we have fought data
retention during the legislative process at the national and EU level over
the last year. Although there was some softening of the legislation as a
result, it still offends against the fundamental right to a private life.
Accordingly, we have launched a legal challenge to the Irish government's
power to pass these laws. We say that it is contrary to the Irish
Constitution as well as Irish and European Data Protection laws.
We also challenge the claim that the European Commission and Parliament had
the power to enact the Data Retention Directive. We say that this kind of
mass surveillance is a breach of Human Rights, as recognised in the European
Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights which
all EU member states have endorsed.
If we are successful, the effect from a European Perspective of our legal
challenge will be to undermine Data Retention laws in all EU states, and to
overturn the Data Retention Directive. A ruling from the ECJ that Data
Retention is contrary to Human Rights will be binding on all member states,
their courts and the EU institutions.
Ireland is a particularly well placed jurisdiction from which to launch such
a challenge- it has a written constitution, exposure in English to the
activist judicial precedents from the US, a long-standing tradition of
judicial review of executive decisions and has long been active in the
promotion of international Human Rights standards.
We are at the edge of Europe, but our action has profound actions for the
whole European Union. We are the only group bringing a legal challenge and
we need your support. We need support on a number of fronts:
- We need you to spread the word. If you'd like to know more about Digital
Rights Ireland's case against Data Retention, or would like to support it
see www.digitalrights.ie. If you have a web site or blog tell your readers
about mass surveillance and link to us.
- In particular, it is important that we get European-wide blogger and media
coverage for this launch. If you can help with this please ask to be added
to our press list. Email us at contact - @ - digitalrights.ie.
- And of course we need money. We need to raise a significant amount of
money to sustain the litigation, at least EUR 80,000. That sounds like a
lot, but every small contribution makes a big difference. Please make a
contribution at http://www.digitalrights.ie/support, and please contact us
if you know of someone willing to make a major contribution.
(Contribution by Antoin O Lachtnain - EDRI-member Digital Rights Ireland)
===========================================================
11. Recommended reading
===========================================================
EPIC published the 2005 Privacy and Human Rights Report.
"Privacy and Human Rights: An International Survey of Privacy Laws and
Developments." The 1,200 page report explores privacy developments around
the globe and provides detailed information on emerging privacy topics.
Executive summaries are available in Spanish, Russian, and Arabic.
The Privacy and Human Rights 2005 report documents the continued expansion
of government surveillance authority. Many countries have pursued new
identification schemes, expanded monitoring of communications, weakened data
protection laws, and intensified data transfers between public and private
sectors.
The report also finds continuing public opposition to identification
systems, secret video surveillance, DNA databases, and radio frequency
identification (RFID) technologies. The 2005 edition survey tracks the
adoption of new data protection and open government laws, and includes new
country reports for Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The 2005
edition of Privacy and Human Rights also includes an expanded table of
contents that makes it easier to assess developments in particular
countries.
http://www.epic.org/bookstore/phr2005/phr2005.html
===========================================================
12. Agenda
===========================================================
14-16 September 2006, Berlin, Germany
Wizards of OS 4 Information Freedom Rules http://wizards-of-os.org/
14-15 September 2006, Barcelona, Spain
A New Open Europe: Public access to documents and data protection
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2006/jul/open-europe.pdf
21-22 September 2006. Helsinki, Finland
Workshop: IPR Protection of Software: Copyright, Patent, and/or Open Source?
The aim of the workshop is to bring together the communities of software
economists, lawyers and decision makers to discuss the state of research and
practice on dealing with intellectual property rights and competition law on
software.
http://www.joensuu.fi/taloustieteet/ott/ajankoht/iprseminar.htm
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/Forum2006YEREVA...
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
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/
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/
2-3 November 2006, London, United Kingdom 28th International Data Protection
and Privacy Commissioners'
Conference, http://www.privacyconference2006.co.uk/
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#data_p...
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
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
===========================================================
13. 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:
http://www.edri.org/
- EDRI-gram subscription information
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- EDRI-gram in Macedonian
EDRI-gram is also available partly in Macedonian, with delay. Translations
are provided by Metamorphosis
http://www.metamorphosis.org.mk/edrigram-mk.php
- EDRI-gram in German
EDRI-gram is also available in German, with delay. Translations are provided
Andreas Krisch from the EDRI-member VIBE!AT - Austrian Association for
Internet Users http://www.unwatched.org/
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Back issues are available at:
http://www.edri.org/edrigram
- Help
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End of EDRi-news Digest, Vol 42, Issue 1
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