Without much fanfare, the European Commission has published a new cybersecurity strategy. Although Commission President Juncker briefly touched on the issue in his State of the Union Speech, the document was published in the EU’s document database without a news release or press conference. It’s unclear at this point whether the document was published prematurely and an […]
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European Parliament calls for Space Elevator
When I ran for the European Parliament in 2014, one of my 13 campaign issues was that the European space policy needs to be filled with new life and that a space elevator would be the perfect project to unite Europeans behind a common cause:
Reaching for the Stars Together
If we work […]
New leak: Estonian Presidency ignored doubts by 6 Member States about the legality of censorship machine plans
Last week we learned that the Estonian Council Presidency endorses the European Commission’s plans for censorship machines – a planned law that would force online platforms to surveil all user uploads in search of copyrighted content.
Six EU member states expressed doubts about the legality of this proposal, we learn today in a new leak. Statewatch made […]
more ›Estonian Council presidency questions extra copyright for news snippets, but endorses censorship machines
The Estonian Council Presidency has doubts about introducing an extra copyright for news sites in the EU, but generally supports turning internet platforms into censorship machines to try to prevent copyright infringement, leaks reveal.
Estonia currently heads the Council, which represents the Member States’ interests in the EU lawmaking process, and which needs to come […]
more ›A loss for culture and research in today’s copyright votes
The Committee for Culture and Education (CULT) and the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) certainly didn’t prioritize culture, education or research in today’s copyright votes.
Open access down the drain
Both votes were in favour of the extra copyright for news publishers creating charges for the use of snippets and links.
Incredibly, […]
more ›5 takeaways from the first important copyright reform vote in the European Parliament
Today, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee of the European Parliament passed its opinion on the upcoming EU copyright reform. This was the second-most important vote on this project: The vote in the Legal Affairs Committee, which leads on this issue, will follow in September. The outcome clearly shows: Every single vote counts […]
more ›Just 9 days left to reject the worst version of EU copyright expansion plans yet
Two world views are about to clash in a crucial copyright vote next week, on June 8. The European Parliament is currently undergoing a process to find a common position on the copyright reform plans proposed by the European Commission, which would threaten core functions of the internet and which academics have unanimously slammed.
With the […]
more ›Big business interventions leave the EU Digital Single Market with more holes than Swiss cheese
The European Commission has today published its mid-term review of the Digital Single Market strategy – as a Word document with “track changes” left on. At the halfway stage, the European Commission is failing to live up to its ambitions.
Former Digital Commissioner Oettinger let big business interests sabotage the project of tearing down of digital borders […]
more ›Experts unanimously slam EU copyright expansion plans – but are politicians listening?
The European Commission plans to expand copyright in the EU in ways that threaten core functions of the internet: Links and file uploads.
Independent academic experts have denounced these plans in untypically frank terms as “ill-conceived”, “undesirable”, “unlikely to achieve anything”, “an interference with freedom of speech”, “displaying an alarming disregard for fundamental rights” and bad for […]
more ›Open Letter to the European Commission on Encrypted Media Extensions
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is considering to standardize a highly controversial proposal on Encrypted Media Extensions for the use of DRM technology (copyright restrictions) in modern web browsers.
Together with my colleague Lucy Anderson, I wrote the following letter to Vice-President Andrus Ansip and Commissioners Elżbieta Bieńkowska and Margrethe Vestager with a set of […]
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