The past year, there have been very mixed signals about Bitcoin and virtual currencies from the EU. They range from the opinion that it is too early to regulate, as we cannot tell how they will develop – to demands for mandatory registration of all players and all transactions.
This piece might give you a picture of the current state of the debate: EU Parliament states Virtual Currencies cannot be anonymous »
The past week, German government put forward its controversial bill to fight online hate speech – threatening social platforms with fines up to € 50 million.
Politico:
Under the rules proposed, social media companies must clearly explain rules and complaint procedures to users and follow up on each complaint. Blatantly illegal content must be deleted within 24 hours, while other law-breaking content must be taken down or blocked within seven days.
Politico: Germany unveils law with big fines for hate speech on social media »
A hold-up translating a key document is delaying a decision by Swedish prosecutors over whether to continue their investigation of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange on allegations of sexual assault.
The Swedish prosecutors said they would make a decision when they receive a full translation of the interview conducted with Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in November.
The prosecutors received the report from Ecuadorian authorities on January 5, and said that it is “almost completed.”
RT » Lost in translation: Swedish prosecutors explain bizarre delay in Assange investigation »
Bitcoin user numbers and investment are set to double every 12 months, commentator Willy Woo has forecast.
Citing data from Google, the increasingly controversial Woo calculates that Bitcoin doubles its users every 371 days.
The Cointelegraph » Bitcoin User Base Doubling Every 12 Months: Google Trends »
From almost a standing start, Sweden has a copyright troll crisis on its hands. Following a ruling by the Patent and Market Court, ISP Telia must hand over the personal details of individuals behind 5,300 IP addresses to companies known to make a business out of settlement fees. In all, around 20,000 persons could be sucked into the controversy.
Torrentfreak: Court Orders ISP to Hand Identities Behind 5,300 IP Addresses to Copyright Trolls »
In November the BGH ruled that Snowden should be invited to Berlin and that the government make preparations to ensure his safety, raising the intriguing possibility that Berlin would have to provide protection to one of the most wanted men in the US. But then the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats appealed the decision. (…)
(T)he court made a U-turn in a ruling published Wednesday.
EDRi has signed a joint open letter together with 27 other civil society organisations expressing concerns about European Commission’s copyright proposal. The proposal requires internet platforms to use automated upload filtering technologies. This obligation would impact negatively on free speech and democracy by building a system where citizens will face internet platforms blocking the upload of their content, even if it is a perfectly legal use of copyrighted content.
EDRi: Civil society urges EU institutions to stop the “censorship machine” in the copyright proposal »
Also, read » Copyright Directive: Lead MEP partly deletes the “censorship machine” »
“It’s like this perfect test case,” says Andrew Ferguson, a professor of law at the University of the District of Columbia. “Alexa is only one of the smart devices in that guy’s house. I don’t know if all of them were on or recording, but if you were going to set up a hypothetical situation to decide if the internet of things could be used as an investigative tool, you’ve got this mysterious hot tub murder.”
Techcrunch: Can your smart home be used against you in court? »
TBL:s three points of interest:
• We’ve lost control of our personal data
• It’s too easy for misinformation to spread on the web
• Political advertising online needs transparency and understanding
The Guardian » Tim Berners-Lee: I invented the web. Here are three things we need to change to save it »
