For our Swedish followers – a special edition of our podcast.
https://soundcloud.com/5july/pod30
Don’t let Big Entertainment censor the net
By HAX on December 13, 2016 in Big Entertainment, Censorship, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Internet
“It is a dangerous path to go down, which forces Internet providers to monitor and evaluate content on the Internet and block websites with illegal content in order to avoid becoming accomplices,” the companies write in a joint statement.
Torrentfreak » ISPs: Blocking The Pirate Bay is Dangerous Censorship »
Links to need pre-clearance?
By HAX on December 12, 2016 in Copyright, Freedom of Speech, Germany, Intellectual Property, Internet, Link wars
This is worrisome…
(A) Hamburg court ruled that the operator of a website violated on copyright by publishing a link to material that was infringing, even though the site operator was unaware of this fact.
Ars Technica: Commercial sites must check all their links for piracy, rules Hamburg court »
Pre-clearing all links with the linked websites would be a very complicated and time-consuming task – for both parties. Not to mention all the paperwork to document this, to avoid future problems.
And exactly what constitutes a »commercial site«?
The Hamburg court ruled that even though the link in question was not used to generate revenue directly, the site as a whole was commercial, since it sells learning materials via one of its Web pages.
So – I guess – if you have ads on your site, if you sell stuff or if you lead your readers to anything of commercial interest (like services that you provide) the purpose can be deemed »commercial«. This resulting in most sites on the net falling into this category.
This is leading to a very real dilemma. Links are the nerve system of the Internet. Most site owners would love to have you link to their pages. And for reference, an open and democratic debate and knowledge building links are essential. (Like in this blog post.)
But according to the Hamburg court, you can get in serious trouble if you don’t obtain a pre-clearance.
Even if you have the time and resources to pre-clear every link – it is likely that people running the sites you would like to link to simply do not have the resources to reply to every request to link.
So if you run a blog or a site that you want people to link to, you better state that it is published under Creative Commons license CC=BY or CC=0.
/ HAX
Falkvinge on the War on Cash
Would you like your government to have more insight into your personal finances than you have yourself? That’s where we’re heading with the ongoing “war on cash” – into a world where every transaction is not just loggable by the government (or a government-coerced agent), but where you can also be held responsible for anything and everything you buy and sell.
Falkvinge: The war on cash being justified as “necessary against organized crime” is the worst excuse ever »
UK: State now allowed to lie in court
(D)espite the establishment of a parallel system of secret justice, the IPA’s tentacles also enshrine parallel construction into law. That is, the practice where prosecutors lie about the origins of evidence to judges and juries – thereby depriving the defendant of a fair trial because he cannot review or question the truth of the evidence against him.
The Register: The UK’s Investigatory Powers Act allows the State to tell lies in court »
NSA spying on in-flight phone calls
GCHQ and the NSA have spied on air passengers using in-flight GSM mobile services for years, newly-published documents originally obtained by Edward Snowden reveal.
Ars Technica: Snowden leaks reveal GCHQ and NSA snooped on in-flight mobile calls »
In France, your Internet history can send you to jail
The contents of your internet history are more than enough to send you to jail in France. A French man has been sentenced to two years in jail for visiting terrorist websites. According to French sources, the 32-year-old man, whose name is not yet released, had been regularly visiting pro-ISIS websites for two years. On top of the two year sentence, the man will also need to pay a 30,000 Euro fine.
Assange still in limbo, releases interview with Swedish prosecutors
It is an obvious and grotesque injustice to detain someone for six years who hasn’t even been charged with an offence.
Observer: Pressure Builds for UK and Sweden to Release WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange »
Swedish hearing with Assange & timeline »
The Independent: Julian Assange releases full testimony to Swedish prosecutors six years after rape allegation »
Will this stop or just encourage terrorists?
Blocking the content not only leads to a slippery slope — and open questions on choosing what content stays and what content goes — but also presumes that the block is the most effective way to stop the bad behavior associated with terrorists. But it leaves out that blocking such content often only makes those posting it feel like they’re on the right path, and that they’re saying something “so true” that it needs to be blocked. It’s not a path towards stopping terrorism or the spread of terrorist ideology — it just gets those engaged to dig in deeper on their views.
A word of warning on piracy filters
A group of prominent legal scholars has warned that the EU Commission’s plans to modernize copyright law in Europe appear to be incompatible with EU law. One of the main problems is the mandatory piracy filter Internet services are required to use, which largely ignore existing case law and human rights.
TorrentFreak: Mandatory Piracy Filters May Violate EU Law, Scholars Warn »