EDRI-gram - Number 7, 23 April 2003
EDRI-gram newsletter
edrigram at edri.org
Wed Apr 23 16:35:39 CEST 2003
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EDRI-gram
bi-weekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe
Number 7, 23 April 2003
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Contents
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1. Scientists against new EU Patent Law
2. Many EU-websites violate privacy-rules
3. Germany expands academic use of copyrighted material
4. UK proposal for biometric ID card
5. Internet censorship in the Ukraine
6. All cops granted access to telecommunication data in NL
7. Spanish case law about hyperlinks
8. Global Privacy Award announced
9. Recommended reading: OSCE report on freedom of the media
10. Agenda
11. About
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1.SCIENTISTS AGAINST NEW EU PATENT LAW
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Last week, 30 authoritative scientists and software innovators from all
over Europe signed a petition against the proposed new EU Directive on
Patent Law. In their letter to members of the European Parliament they
argue that allowing for patents on computer programs will seriously harm
innovation in information technology and endanger the future of the
European Union.
Literally they write: "Acceptance of patentability of algorithms, of
principles of software, of information processing methods or of data
structures is scandalous from the view point of ethics, economically
unjustified and harmful, would impact adversely scientific and technical
innovation, and puts democracy at danger."
The petition arrives just in time to influence the vote in the
Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (JURI), on
28 April. Previous votes in the parliamentary committee on Industry,
External Trade, Research and Energy (ITRE) and the committee on Culture,
Youth, Education, Media and Sport (CULT) showed a majority against the
proposals from the European Commission. A previous petition for the public
at large, organised by the Eurolinux Alliance, drew 140.000 signatures
against patents on computer programs. Public consultation by the European
Commission itself showed 90 percent of the answers against the proposal.
In spite of all that, a majority in the JURI committee seems to be in
favour of the proposed new Directive, pushed hard by its rapporteur Arlene
McCarthy. Members of the European Parliament are organising a hearing for
owners of small and medium-size companies on 8 May, while Eurolinux and the
German-based lobby group FFII are organising a very interesting conference,
starting on 7 May with a keynote by Lawrence Lessig, followed by a dialogue
with Brian Kahin.
Scientists petition (in Spanish, English and French, scroll to the bottom
of the page!) Page also contains excellent multi-lingual references to the
opinions of the different parliamentary committees
http://lists.debian.org/debian-user-catalan/2003/debian-user-catalan-
200304/msg00055.html
Eurolinux petition
http://petition.eurolinux.org/
Text of the proposed new directive (20.02.2003 - in English)
http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/indprop/com02-92en.pdf
Parliamentary hearing and conference
http://swpat.ffii.org/events/2003/europarl/05/
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2.MANY EU WEBSITES VIOLATE PRIVACY-RULES
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According to research by World IT Lawyers, a majority of European websites
violates EU directives protecting on-line consumers. More than half of the
researched websites lacks essential information about the on-line buying
procedure or the consumer right to cancel an order within 7 days. On top of
that, almost half of the websites of companies and institutions lack a
privacy policy. The research compares websites from France, Germany, the
Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Websites within the EU should comply with several EU directives, such as
the Privacy Directives from 1995 and 1997, the E-Commerce Directive and the
Directive on long-distance selling. 60 percent of the websites don't
explain the exact buying procedure to consumers. An equal majority doesn't
explain the right to cancel an order within 7 days, no matter what the
reason is. Only in Great Britain a majority of companies complies with the
obligation to explain the procedure. But less than 50 percent of these
companies point to the right to cancel an order. In Switzerland, Portugal
and the Netherlands, more than two-thirds of websites omit to tell about
this crucial consumer right.
The researchers have also looked at the availability of the standard
business terms (SBT). Almost 70 percent of the websites don't allow users
to download these terms. And if they do, only in 6% of the cases they offer
them in the freely available PDF-format. Germany even scores a saddening 0
percent on the availability in PDF.
A copy of the report is available via <info at degier-stam.nl> (refer to
Louise de Gier).
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3.GERMANY EXPANDS ACADEMIC USE OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
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On 11 April German parliament agreed on the implementation-proposal of the
EU Copyright Directive (EUCD). Only the small liberal opposition party
opposed. Public debate centered around new educational and scientific
limitations on copyright. The new law allows teachers to make works
available to a limited group of class members, e.g. in an intranet, for the
sole purpose of teaching, or to a limited group of persons for their own
scientific research to the degree necessary by a given purpose and only for
non-commercial use.
Academic publishing houses feared that they would loose a major source of
income, suggesting that libraries would purchase one copy of a book and
make it available on the Internet to all the world. The law however limits
the use to small parts of published works, works of small extent, and
single articles from newspapers and magazines. Schoolbooks are excluded
completely. In the first two years after the start of the exploitation,
film works may be used only with the consent of the rightsholder.
The law translates all the obligatory provisions of the EUCD into German
copyright law. Authors are granted a new exclusive 'right of making
available', i.e. the right to control the on-line use of their works.
'Technical measures', i.e. digital rights management systems (DRM) are
protected against circumvention. Following the EUCD in its strictest form,
there is not a single exception in which circumvention would be legal.
Circumvention for non-commercial personal use however, does not incur
criminal or penal charges, as is the case for commercial use, but
rightsholders can sue for damages.
The limitations on copyright in the public interest that existed in German
copyright law before, have also been translated into the digital realm. Two
new limitations for transient copies and for the benefit of people with a
disability have been added from the catalogue of the EUCD.
The private copy limitation states that single reproductions of a work by a
natural person for private non-commercial use on any, i.e. including
digital, medium are permitted. This like most other limitations is bound to
the condition that rightsholders receive fair compensation, i.e. a levy
paid on copying devices and empty media to a collecting society. But on the
internet, the right to make a private copy is completely left to the will
of the copyright owners. According to the European Directive, they are free
to prevent any specific usage through Digital Rights Management. German
government apparently did not put much hope in voluntary industry action,
introducing a fine of 50.000 Euro for companies that don't honour the
limitations on copyright. But they specifically exclude this enforcement
mechanism for works marketed on-line. Without that enforcement, the digital
fair use copy for personal purposes, though explicitly guaranteed, is thus
in fact abolished.
(Contribution by Volker Grassmuck, co-initiator privatkopie.net)
Overview of the state of implementation of the Copyright Directive
throughout Europe
http://wiki.ael.be/index.php/EUCD-Status
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4.UK PROPOSAL FOR BIOMETRIC ID-CARD
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The controversy in the UK around the introduction of an 'entitlement card'
was stirred up again last week by the Home Office (the Ministry of Internal
Affairs for England and Wales). The Sunday Telegraph reported that Home
Secretary David Blunkett (the minister) intends to charge people 35 - 43
euros for the cards. Thus he hopes to win over the Treasury department who
balked at the estimated cost of 2.3 billion euros. Blunkett seems convinced
that people's concerns over terrorism and immigration would mean that they
would not object to the cost of the card.
Another issue raised in the consultation was the type of identity
verification that would be used on the card. The Home office proposed the
use of iris scans while opponents believed that such a technology was not
sufficiently developed for large scale implementation and that people would
resist the idea of having their eyes scanned. Despite these concerns iris
recognition is still being considered.
Identity cards are seen as a highly contentious issue within the UK where
no scheme has existed since 1957. A conservative Government evaluated a
modern scheme in the mid 1990s but was unable to garner sufficient public
support as people's privacy concerns outweighed the perceived advantages of
an identity card. Following the events of 11 September Blunkett revived the
initiative to combat terrorism, illegal immigration, benefit fraud and
identity theft.
In July 2002 the Home Office initiated a public consultation about
introducing an 'entitlement card'. Up to the beginning of January 2003 the
Government had received 2000 responses to the consultation. It claimed that
these were broadly in favour of the scheme though critics argued that many
of these submissions were from companies hoping to benefit from the
implementation of a card system. During January 2003 civil rights groups
including STAND.org and EDRI-member Privacy International raised the
profile of the debate within the mainstream press. This activity meant that
a further 5000 comments were submitted before the end of the consultation
exercise on 31 January. Many of these submissions are expected to be
critical of the Governments proposals. Concerns include 'function creep'
with the card being required for more purposes over time, the vulnerability
of a central database, the likelihood of a card addressing the issues given
for its introduction and the cost of implementing such a large project.
(Contribution by Matthew Postgate, FIPR)
Article in the Sunday Telegraph (20.04.2003)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2003%2F04%2F20%2Fnid20.xml
UK Government consultation pages
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/comrace/entitlements/index.html
Privacy International's UK entitlement card pages
http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/idcard/uk/
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5.INTERNET CENSORSHIP IN THE UKRAINE
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During a meeting of the Freedom of Speech Committee of the Parliament and
Council of Europe on 18 April, Privacy Ukraine presented a report on
Internet censorship in Ukraine. Though the Ukrainian parliament has
organised several hearings on censorship, and earlier this month even
adopted legislation clarifying the term 'censorship', the overall
perspective is bleak.
Freedom of speech is one of the most vulnerable freedoms in Ukraine. The
list of annual illegal actions against journalists in Ukraine (the so
called 'Freedom of Speech Barometer') is long. Traditional media such as TV
and broadcasting in most cases depend on the official pro-presidential
propaganda. The official position of the President Kuchma and his entourage
with regard to Internet on the whole and e-media in particular deletes any
hope for progress in the field until the collapse of the regime.
The report describes 3 censorship incidents in detail.
On 27 June 2001 the private apartment of Mr. Yeltsov, the editor-in-chief
of e-media 'Ukraina Kriminalna' (Criminal Ukraine), was seized by SBU. The
criminal proceedings were instituted because of the on-line publication of
secret documents and an article titled 'From the Life of Derkatch's Family'
about the activity of former chief of SBU Leonid Derkatch and his son, a
member of Ukrainian Parliament, describing their business relations with
Ukraine's oligarchy.
On 19 February 2002 the premises of the on-line political newspaper 'Obkom'
were searched by tax administration officials even though they only had a
warrant to search a bank situated on the floor below. The officials seized
computer equipment and archives. Although the tax authority later said the
search had been done 'by accident', the computers were never returned. The
on-line version of the edition recommenced nearly a year after the
incident, on January 8, 2003. The complaints issued by 'Obkom' were
considered by the court, but Kyiv City Regional Prosecutor Office refused
to initiate criminal proceedings against officials due to the 'lack of
legal grounds'.
On 24 October 2002 the editorial premises of the on-line newspaper
'Antiterror' of the Regional Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
in Lviv City were searched and computers seized by policemen. On-line
publication of the text of the indictment against President Kuchma issued
by the judge of the Kyiv Appeal Court was the reason for these measures.
The contracts with all editorial staff of this on-line medium were
terminated in a few days.
(Contribution by Andriy Pazyuk, Privacy Ukraine)
Electronic mass-media: the last bulwark of democracy in Ukraine?
http://internetrights.org.ua/pages.php?text=news&date=2003-04-18
Freedom of Speech Barometer (English and Ukrainian)
http://en.imi.org.ua/
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6.ALL COPS GRANTED ACCESS TO TELECOMMUNICATION DATA IN NL
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Early in April, the Dutch Lower House silently approved of a change of the
Telecommunication Law that lowers access barriers to personal data
substantially. All 40.000 policemen will have the right to demand the name
and address data of all telephony and internet subscribers. There is no
need for the user to be a suspect, requests can be made in the general
context of investigating serious crime.
Currently, access to the central database with the data of telephony
subscribers is limited to the 500 public prosecutors (and the secret
service). Internet providers in the Netherlands are not yet obliged to
store the Name Address data of their users in this central database, but
might become very eager to do so in the future, when faced with countless
requests from police officers with little or no knowledge of internet.
The proposal also lowers the access barriers on traffic data. Public
prosecutors no longer need judicial approval for demands to hand over
traffic data or orders to analyse traffic data to produce the proper
identity of a user.
Currently, there is no general legal obligation in the Netherlands to
retain traffic data. There is only 1 specific measure obliging telephone
companies to retain the location data of mobile telephony users for 3
months. New obligations however, can be introduced any time, without
parliamentary approval.
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7.SPANISH CASE LAW ABOUT HYPERLINKS
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A Spanish judge last month dismissed charges against a website accused of
hyperlinking to illegal material. The website www.ajoderse.com (which means
'fuck off') was accused based on the article 17 of the LSSICE (the Spanish
version of the European E-Commerce Directive). The site includes hyperlinks
to websites which, supposedly, describe techniques to descramble TV
satellite signals, to get pay TV for free.
The judge gave 2 reasons to dismiss the case:
A) It was not properly stated in court that the linked pages where indeed
illegal.
B) It was not clearly shown that the owners of ajoderse.com were aware of
the illegal nature of the linked webpages.
Without proof of these two prerequisites the judge would not apply article 17.
Nevertheless, article 17 could still turn out to be a powerful instrument
for digital censorship. It is easy for the Spanish government to declare
some site illegal, make it public in a newspaper, and then ask for the
closure of every annoying web with hyperlinks to the now illegal site.
The sentence is important because it is the first application of the
LSSICE, and it shows how this legislation differs from the European
directive it is supposed to mimic, as the last one has no provisions about
linking to illegal pages.
(Contribution by David Casacuberta, CPSR)
Text of the sentence (in Spanish) (07.03.2003)
http://www.bufetalmeida.com/sentencias/ajoderse.html
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8.GLOBAL PRIVACY AWARD ANNOUNCED
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The human rights group Privacy International (PI) has announced that it
will this year host the first international Big Brother Awards. The Awards,
which started in the UK in 1998, were established to 'name and shame' the
most relentless government and private sector privacy invaders. They have
now become an annual event in fifteen countries. More than thirty national
BBA ceremonies have taken place over the past five years.
Privacy International will be staging the awards as an annual event in
London on 25 June, on the hundredth birthday of George Orwell, whose novel
Nineteen Eighty-Four inspired the name of the award. A panel of more than a
hundred experts from thirty countries will decide on the most significant
and dangerous global privacy threats.
PI Director, Simon Davies, said his organisation decided to host the
international event because of the vast influence of regional and global
initiatives and institutions. "The threat posed by these unaccountable and
powerful bodies cannot be overstated", he said. "The international
influence of the US and the growth of international cooperation between
governments is rapidly undermining national protections". Davies says the
inaugural global award will take place during a celebration dinner to mark
Orwell's 100th. "We are taking this initiative very seriously, and hope to
attract many of the world's noted advocates to the event."
"The national awards have been a crucial step in raising public awareness.
We feel these important ceremonies must be complemented by an initiative
that crosses national boundaries."
Places at the awards are strictly limited. Anyone interested in attending
should contact Simon Davies at <simon at privacy.org>.
The Big Brother Awards
http://www.privacyinternational.org/bigbrother/
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9.RECOMMENDED READING: OSCE REPORT ON FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA
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Very readworthy booklet published by the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Experts from UNESCO and the Council of Europe as well as journalists and
internet service providers contributed their papers from a one-day workshop
on freedom of the media and the Internet that was held in Vienna in
November 2002.
The topics of the papers include universal access to Cyberspace; Council of
Europe activities regarding new information and communication technologies;
the diminishing importance of constitutional rights in the Internet age;
the importance of the public domain for creativity, innovation, and
culture; and censorship and intellectual property rights in an
international context.
In his contribution 'Burning the village to roast the pig', Felipe
Rodriquez (founder of NL internet provider XS4ALL) outlines different
approaches to censorship and technical means of escaping it. Optimistically
he concludes: "Implementing any kind of on-line censorship is a
technological battle, any censorship technology can, and will, be defeated."
From quill to cursor: freedom of the media in the digital era (14.04.2003)
http://www.osce.org/documents/rfm/2003/04/41_en.pdf
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10.AGENDA
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3 May 2003 Padova, Italy - The right to communicate in the network society
International conference jointly organized by the WSA, the University of
Padova and the CRIS Campaign, Communication Rights in the Information
Society) and organization of a Communication Rights Forum in Geneva,
parallel to the WSIS.
http://www.scipol.unipd.it/ricerca/ClaudiaPadovani/EuricHome.htm
7 and 8 May 2003, Brussels, Belgium - Conference on Software patents
2 day conference in the Dorint Hotel organised by FFII and the Eurolinux
Alliance, 7 May opening at 09.00 AM with a keynote speech by Lawrence
Lessig (Stanford University) 'Software Patents - Learning from American
Mistakes'.
http://swpat.ffii.org/events/2003/europarl/05/
8 May 2003, Brussels, Belgium - European Parliament hearing on Software Patents
Small and medium enterprises are requested to register and attend
http://www.quintessenz.at/cgi-bin/index?funktion=view&id=000100002512
8-9 May 2003, Namur, Belgium - Collecting and Producing Electronic Evidence
in Cybercrime Cases
2-day workshop organised by the University of Namur
http://www.ctose.org/info/events/workshop-8-9-may-2003.html
12-14 May 2003, Rome, Italy - Workshop on Protection of Personal Data and
e-Commerce.
Workshop organised in the Regional Programme for the Promotion of the
Instruments and Mechanisms of the Euro-Mediterranean Market (EuroMed Market
Programme), aimed at all 27 Euro-Mediterranean Partners (15 EU Member
States + 12 Mediterranean Partners)
Contact: Salvador Font Salas <s.font at eipa-ecr.com>.
13-14 June 2003, Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Freedom of the Media and the
Internet
2-day conference organised by OSCE, the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe.
http://www.osce.org/events/
30 June - 2 July 2003 St. Petersburg, Russia - Building the Information
Commonwealth
http://www.communities.org.ru/conference/
7-10 August 2003 Berlin, Germany - Chaos Computer Camp 2003
http://www.ccc.de/camp/
15 August 2003 - ISEA 2004 deadline for submission of individual papers and
presentations. The 12th edition of this symposium on electronic arts will
take place in 3 Nordic cities (Tallin, Helsinki and Stockholm) and
respectively deal with 'wearable experience, wireless experience and
networked experience'.
http://www.isea2004.net/participation.html
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11.ABOUT
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EDRI-gram is a bi-weekly newsletter from European Digital Rights, an
association of privacy and civil rights organisations in Europe. Currently
EDRI has 10 members from 7 European countries. EDRI takes an active
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Newsletter editor: Sjoera Nas <edrigram at edri.org>
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