WebProNews

Tag: European Union

  • Just Say “NO to ACTA”

    By now, especially in light of the SOPA/PIPA fallout, you’ve probably heard about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which is also lovingly known as ACTA. The international treaty, once ratified, is currently making its rounds through various European governments, even as citizens loudly protest its acceptance.

    In case you are wondering why ACTA is getting so much negative attention from our European brethren, look no further than the video that’s leading this article. Uploaded by La Quadrature du Net, perhaps the epicenter of the anti-ACTA movement, the video does a fantastic job of very clearly pointing out why ACTA is such a potentially destructive piece of worldwide legislation.

    An example, courtesy of the video:

    “ACTA would give large corporations the power to stop generic drugs before they reach the people who need them.”

    Considering we are all aware of how important a for-profit health system is, all way down to the prescription drug market, it’s easy to see why generic prescriptions are such a threat, isn’t that right Pfizer?

    Sarcasm aside, perhaps a look at La Quadrature du Net position on ACTA will provide some additional insight:

    ACTA is one more offensive against the sharing of culture on the Internet. ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is an agreement secretly negotiated by a small “club” of like-minded countries (39 countries, including the 27 of the European Union, the United States, Japan, etc)… ACTA, a blueprint for laws such as SOPA and PIPA, would impose new criminal sanctions forcing Internet actors to monitor and censor online communications. It is thus a major threat to freedom of expression online and creates legal uncertainty for Internet companies. In the name of trademarks and patents, it would also hamper access to generic medicines in poor countries.

    Apparently, access to generic medicine is a big deal to our European neighbors, but since it’s more important to force the sick to line the pockets of the non-generic prescription drug companies, it’s easy to see why ACTA is such an essential set of rules for the world to follow.

  • As ACTA Gets Signed, Europeans Protest

    As ACTA Gets Signed, Europeans Protest

    At a ceremony in Tokyo, Japan, more members of the European Union signed ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement), ratifying the treaty for the countries that signed it. However, because the European Union parliament as yet to weigh in, ACTA is not currently binding, as in, it’s not a “global law,” yet, anyway.

    The European Union parliament, according to The Guardian, is scheduled to debate ACTA (pdf) this summer.

    Procedural processes aside, it’s clear there’s the treaty has a coalition of support as international governments race to apparently rescue the downtrodden entertainment industry, masked in a treaty of intellectual property protection. Speaking of masks, there has been some push-back from EU citizens in a number of areas, including Poland and France.

    Polish citizens took to the streets to express their displeasure with the treaty, which some fear is even more dangerous than the recently-buried SOPA/PIPA bills. The protests, however, weren’t just on a citizen level either. Kader Arif resigned his position as primary ACTA rapporteur, and left the following biting statement in his native French, which was translated by La Quadrature Du Net:

    “I want to denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process that led to the signature of this agreement: no inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, exclusion of the EU Parliament’s demands that were expressed on several occasions in our assembly.

    As rapporteur of this text, I have faced never-before-seen manoeuvres from the right wing of this Parliament to impose a rushed calendar before public opinion could be alerted, thus depriving the Parliament of its right to expression and of the tools at its disposal to convey citizens’ legitimate demands.

    Everyone knows the ACTA agreement is problematic, whether it is its impact on civil liberties, the way it makes Internet access providers liable, its consequences on generic drugs manufacturing, or how little protection it gives to our geographical indications.

    This agreement might have major consequences on citizens’ lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade.”

    As an aside, it would be nice if other politicians were this forthcoming. Concerning the aforementioned citizen protests, as indicated, Poland was a noted hot spot of ACTA disagreement, something the lead image indicates quite well.

    There’s also some video of the protestations:


    Oddly enough, while the Guy Fawkes masks are indeed a nice touch, and fitting if you know the story of November 5th. That being said, do the mask-wearing supporters know they are giving financial support, however vicariously, to Time Warner every time one of the Fawkes mask is purchased?

    It’s highly likely Time Warner would be considered an ACTA supporter.

  • ACTA: French MEP Resigns Over “Charade” In Parliament

    ACTA has taken a blow already today with the resignation of the French MEP (Member of European Parliament) who was in charge of investigating the bill.

    On his Web site, Kader Arif posted a statement titled, “ACTA: A masquerade I will not attend.” The original statement was in French and there is no official English translation yet so please forgive any errors presented in Google Translate.

    I want to denounce as the greatest of all the process that led to the signing of this agreement: no association of civil society, lack of transparency from the beginning of negotiations, successive postponements of the signing of the text without any explanation being given, setting aside the claims of the European Parliament, however, expressed in several resolutions of our Assembly.

    He then goes on to say that the right-winged members of parliament imposed an accelerated schedule to ACTA to pass the agreement as fast as possible before the public was alerted.

    He then lists the many problems with ACTA: the impact on civil liberties, responsibilities it imposes on ISPs, impact on the manufacture of generic drugs and the lack of protection it offers to GIs.

    He then says that he will be resigning his post in what he calls a “charade.”

    This agreement may have a major impact on the lives of our citizens, and yet everything is done for the European Parliament to have no say. So today, in submitting this report in my charge, I would send a strong signal and alert the public about this unacceptable situation. I will not participate in this charade.

    ACTA is now in the public sphere of debate and it’s causing an uproar. Expect more stories like this and more protests from various groups. We’ll keep you up to date on any changes.

  • ACTA Signed By European Union

    ACTA Signed By European Union

    ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, has just been signed in by the European Union.

    ACTA, for those who don’t know, is kind of like SOPA’s big brother. It’s a multi-national trade agreement that seeks to protect copyright through a brutish censorship regime just like SOPA and PIPA. The European Digital Rights Group (EDRI) details their beef with the agreement:

    The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral international agreement which wants to set a “gold standard” for the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Agreement will have major implications for freedom of expression, access to culture and privacy. It will also harm international trade and stifle innovation.

    The EU and 22 member states signed the agreement today according to Wired. The only five member states who have yet to sign the agreement are Cyprus, Germany, Estonia, Netherlands and Slovakia. They are expected to sign it soon though.

    Australia, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and the U.S. signed the agreement back in October 2011.

    As we previously reported, the U.S. signing of the agreement is in direction violation of the constitution as it requires any trade agreements, which ACTA is, to be approved by Congress before being signed by the president.

    The EU signed it, but it’s still not international law just yet. The vote must go before the European Parliament first before becoming law. The EDRI says that ACTA will presented before the International Trade Committee in March and is expected to be voted on by parliament in May.

    There are numerous protests and attempts at stopping ACTA at the European Parliament. Many of them are similar to the actions taken against SOPA last Wednesday but on a global scale.

    Anonymous has a hand in the fight against it too announcing a World War Web. They are using the hashtag #ActAgainstACTA to drive up support on Twitter.

    @YourAnonNews
    Anonymous    ░░░░░░███████ ]▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▃
    ▂▄▅█████████▅▄▃▂
    I██████████████████
    █]. ◥⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙▲⊙◤…
    WORLD WAR WEB. The Internet is here. #Anonymous 1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    They hit a hiccup earlier this morning, however, when members of the group wrongly attacked the EU Parliament, but those attacks have stopped.

    @telecomix
    Telecomix    RT @ungarage The “bad guys” are EU Commission (DG Trade) and Council of EU, not European Parliament (yet), that can still save us! 1 hour ago via Telecomix Microblogging · powered by @socialditto

    @telecomix
    Telecomix    Thanks #Anonymous for stopping the DDoS on the EU Parliament. That’s very nice of you. With datalove, Cameron 1 hour ago via Telecomix Microblogging · powered by @socialditto

    This story will likely continue to develop throughout the week and the months leading up to the vote in the EU Parliament. We’ll keep you updated on any changes.

    If you want to know more about ACTA and what you as a citizen can do, here’s a great Wiki page with plenty of tips.

  • European Union Proposes New Data Privacy Laws

    European Union Proposes New Data Privacy Laws

    If you could erase all your personal data on the Internet, would you?

    The BBC is reporting that a new law is going to be proposed to the EU on Wednesday. It would include the provision for a “right to be forgotten” that would require all data on a person retained by social networks, etc to be deleted unless there are “legitimate” grounds to retain it.

    This new “right to be forgotten” proposal is part of an overhaul to the 1995 Data Protection Directive.

    Details of the revised law were revealed by the Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich.

    A spokesman for the commissioner clarified to the BBC that the revision was mostly for teenagers and young adults.

    “These rules are particularly aimed at young people as they are not always as aware as they could be about the consequence of putting photos and other information on social network websites, or about the various privacy settings available,” said the spokesman.

    He said that currently teenagers and young adults have no way of deleting embarrassing information when they apply for jobs. This new bill, however, would not allow people to erase their police or medical records.

    Other measures in the bill include a requirement for all firms to notify users and the authorities of any possible data loss within 24 hours.

    It would also force firms to explicitly seek permission to use a person’s personal data. Internet users must also be notified when their data is being collected, what it’s being collected for and how long it’s going to be stored.

    People, under the bill, must be able to easily access their personal data and move it to another firm, or delete it, if they so wish

    There are some circumstances which this new right would not apply though. Commissioner Reding told DLD delegates that “the right to be forgotten cannot amount to a right of the total erasure of history.”

    If passed, the law would create a new set of data privacy rules in the EU for the first time. The rules would also apply to overseas companies active in the EU, even if their servers were based in other parts of the world.

    The commissioner suggested that it would simplify regulations and save firms around $3 billion a year.

    Microsoft and Facebook both voiced concerns over the scope of the bill and how much data users would be allowed to control. Facebook, however, said in a statement that they agree regulation such as this should “encourage job creation and economic growth” and that they look forward to seeing how the EU Data Protection Directive develops.

    Firms that fail to abide by the proposed rules could be fined as much as one percent of their global revenues.

    The new rules need to be approved by the EU’s member states and ratified by the European parliament though, so any changes won’t be happening for at least a few years.

  • Google Antitrust Regulation Still Up In The Air In Europe

    Google may or may not face a “statement of objections” from the EU’s antitrust department. Apparently it could go either way, as the regulators have so far been unable to decide whether or not to go this route.

    I guess no news is good news for Google in this case.

    According to Bloomberg, the formal complaint that may or may not happen would be related to alleged anticompetitive practice, as regulators investigate claims from competitors (including Microsoft of course) that Google has gone so far as to stop some sites from accepting rival ads.

    The investigation appears to be about much more than just search results, though that is a big part of it. Some have even alleged that Google’s famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) Panda update has been used anti-competitively.

    Newspaper publishers in Europe are complaining about Google’s use of news content…an age old complaint really.

    Antitrust complaints about Google in general have also included complaints about reviews and travel information.

    The company’s acquisition of ITA Software has been one of the biggest catalysts to such scrutiny, with travel sites, led by the FairSearch Coalition going on a huge campaign to push for regulation of Google’s ways.

    As Google continues to acquire companies and get into more spaces, the complaints are likely to continue piling up.

    In Europe, it’s still possible that Google could face a massive fine.

  • Google, EU Said To Be In “Tentative Discussions”

    The group that’s fined companies like Microsoft and Intel billions of euros in the past few years might reach a less harsh solution where its antitrust probe of Google is concerned.  Rumors indicate that Google and the European Commission are holding talks.

    Note: these rumors are very much unproven, with even the unnamed source who leaked them indicating that negotiations aren’t far along.  Google could still be in a lot of trouble.

    Reuters reported this morning, however, "Google and European Union regulators are in early talks to resolve an antitrust probe against the Internet’s dominant search engine."

    More specifically, Reuters’s source said, "There is some interest from both sides, some tentative discussions in resolving the issue, but no really concrete proposals on the table."

    It might be in Google’s best interest to reach an agreement.  Microsoft won a bit sympathy the last time the European Commission levied a fine – people thought the fine was too large – but corporations of that size risk damaging their reputations when they battle in the spotlight.  Lots of unpleasant details (and/or unfounded allegations) can come out.

    We’ll of course be sure to follow the story and report any significant updates.

    Google’s stock is up 1.01 percent so far today, at least, perhaps indicating that shareholders are feeling encouraged.

  • EU Authorities Find Search Engines Still In Breach Of Privacy Law

    Even if Facebook’s received the lion’s share of attention from privacy advocates today, a group of European data protection authorities hasn’t forgotten about Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft.  The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party said earlier they’re still not obeying an EU data protection directive.

    The companies are all supposed to anonymize search data after no more than six months.  Google’s keeping it for nine, instead, and the Working Party asserted in an open letter to the search giant that it’s doing a poor job of anonymization afterward.

    Yahoo, meanwhile, has started to delete some information after just 90 days, and although that fact earned it a nod, the Working Party has concerns about the way both it and Microsoft claim to anonymize data, as well.

    This could become a significant problem for the three search companies.  The Working Party sent letters to the chairman of the U.S. Federation Trade Commission and the vice president of the European Commission regarding its findings, meaning there could be regulatory consequences rather than plain negative press.

    The letter to the FTC in part stated, "I shared our concerns and have asked the FTC to examine the compatibility of this behaviour with section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the marketplace."