Swedish ISP Bredbandsbolaget has begun blocking The Pirate Bay but it will not give up the fight. The provider says that in order to ensure that private players “do not have the last word regarding content that should be accessible on the Internet,” it will be forced to fight any new blocking demands. Meanwhile, several of the blocked domains appear to be linking to legal sites.
Torrentfreak: ISP Blocks Pirate Bay But Vows to Fight Future Blocking Demands »
Techdirt: IBM Shamed Into Giving Away Awful Patent On Email Out-Of-Office Messages »
As Netzpolitik points out, while the committee was busy discussing the few things it could discuss, the German parliament was expanding BND’s legal authorities.
German citizens – along with everyone the government spies on – can rest assured nothing has changed. It’s only gotten worse.
Techdirt: Germany’s Spy Agency Walks Away From Three-Year Investigation With Expanded Spy Powers »
On 24 February 2017 the Rapporteur of the European Parliament (EP) Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), Catherine Stihler MEP, published her draft Opinion on the Copyright Directive. The Opinion sends a strong message against the most extremist parts of the European Commission’s proposal: the “censorship machine” (aka upload filter) proposal in Article 13 and the suggestion to expand the “ancillary copyright ” (aka “link tax”), that failed so miserably in Germany and Spain to every country of the EU.
EDRi: A positive step forward against the “censorship machine” in the Copyright Directive »
Julia Reda, Pirate MEP: New copyright study shows fundamental flaws in EU Commission plans for upload surveillance »
