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Romanian parliament rebuff EU Copyright proposals

By on June 5, 2017 in Civil rights, Copyright, EU

A particularly interesting discussion has been unfolding over the past months in the Romanian Parliament, where, on 15 March, the IT&C Committee of the Chamber of Deputies organised a debate on the proposed Directive, in order to collect the views of different stakeholders. After the event, the Committee produced an opinion addressed to the European Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, which is the group responsible for drafting the final report of the Parliament on the package proposal. The members of the IT&C Committee unanimously voted against the European Commission’s Copyright proposal and advised to withdraw it in its entirety.

EDRi » Romanian Parliament: EU Copyright reform does more harm than good »

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EU to move on the Internet Censorship Machine and Link-tax

By on May 31, 2017 in Big Entertainment, Big Media, Censorship, Copyright, EU, Free Information, Freedom of Speech, Intellectual Property, Internet, Link wars, social media

Next Thursday, June 8, the European Parliaments Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) will have its main vote on the EU Copyright Package.

Here a proposal will be hammered out for the parliament’s final plenary vote later this summer. So it’s a very important event. And there are dark clouds on the horizon.

Key points are the EU Censorship Machine (forcing internet platforms to control and, in relevant cases, censor content uploaded by its users) and the Link-tax (a license fee for linking to media news articles).

This is the best – and maybe last – opportunity to stop this from becoming EU law.

Take action, spread the word and please contact your elected members of the parliament.

Julia Reda (German Pirate MEP): Just 9 days left to reject the worst version of EU copyright expansion plans yet »

BoingBoing: ACT NOW! In 9 days, the European Parliament could pass a truly terrible copyright expansion »

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Danish ISP:s stonewalling Big Entertainment

By on May 30, 2017 in Big Entertainment, Copyright, File Sharing, IPRED

Denmark’s ISPs are collectively putting their foot down and will no longer surrender identifying subscriber information to the copyright industry’s lawyer armies. This follows a ruling in neighboring Norway, where the Supreme Court ruled that ISP Telenor is under no obligation to surrender subscriber identities, observing that the infraction of the copyright distribution monopoly is not nearly a serious enough issue to breach telecommunications privacy. This has the potential to end a long time of copyright industry free reign in Denmark, and will likely create a long series of court cases.

Falkvinge: Danish ISPs stop providing copyright industry with subscriber identities »

Torrentfreak: Danish ISPs Stand Up Against ‘Mafia-Like’ Copyright Trolls »

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Is EU slowly killing the Internet?

By on May 17, 2017 in Censorship, Copyright, EU, Free Information, Freedom of Speech, Internet

Article 13 (in the European Union’s draft Copyright Directive), fewer than 250 words, is designed to provoke such legal uncertainty that internet companies will have no option other than to block, filter and monitor our communications, if they want to have any chance of staying in business. Ultimately, only the current internet giants, shedding crocodile tears at the prospect, will be able to survive. From global internet to “Googlebook”.

Joe McNamee, EDRi: Killing parody, killing memes, killing the internet? »

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Just stupid

By on April 22, 2017 in Big Entertainment, Copyright, File Sharing, Intellectual Property

A group of fansubbers who turned the tables on BREIN by taking the anti-piracy group to court have lost their legal battle. The Free Subtitles Foundation sought a legal ruling determining that fansubbers act within the law, but this week the Amsterdam District Court sided with BREIN on all counts.

Torrentfreak: Unauthorized Subtitles For Movies & TV Shows Are Illegal, Court Rules »

TNW: Court rules fan subtitles on TV and movies are illegal »

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EU: The DRM problem

By on April 12, 2017 in Big Entertainment, Copyright, DRM, EU, Internet, IT security

German Member of the European Parliament Julia Reda has published an open-letter signed by UK MEP Lucy Anderson, raising alarm at the fact that the W3C is on the brink of finalising a DRM standard for web video, which — thanks to crazy laws protecting DRM — will leave users at risk of unreported security vulnerabilities, and also prevent third parties from adapting browsers for the needs of disabled people, archivists, and the wider public.

Boingboing » MEP to Commission: World Wide Web Consortium’s DRM is a danger to Europeans »

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