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Archive for the ‘EU’ Category

EUobserver: Commission backs internet users over content providers

LEIGH PHILLIPS, 09.10.2008 @ 18:16 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Parliament’s rejection of a proposed “three strikes” law - that would see internet users have their connection cut off if they have been found to repeatedly violate copyright - must be respected, the commission said at an EUobserver-organised conference on internet rights.
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Brussels bounces BT-Phorm quiz back to UK.gov: “

‘Let’s try that once more shall we?’

The European Commission has again written to the government for an explanation of UK authorities’ response to BT’s allegedly illegal secret trials of Phorm’s ISP adware system.…

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(Via The Register - Comms.)

European Commission overhauls online shopping laws: “The European Commission wants to create an over-arching consumer protection law which it claims will cut costs and red tape for internet retailers. The proposed Consumer Rights Directive would replace four existing EU directives.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

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EC wants pan-Euro online shopping laws: “

Now all we need is pan-Euro shopping police

An EU directive that will harmonise consumer protection for online and bricks and mortar sales made another lurch along the Brussels’ legislative roadmap yesterday.…

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(Via The Register - Public Sector.)

Post from: TorrentFreak

European Parliament Says No to Three-Strikes Law: “

The European Parliament has voted in favor of an amendment that will prevent member states from implementing three-stikes laws. Disconnecting alleged file-sharers based on evidence from anti-piracy lobby groups restricts the rights and freedoms of Internet users, according to the amendment.

The power of anti-piracy lobbyists has grown significantly across Europe this year. In the UK, six major ISPs are working together with the music industry to start mass warning file-sharers. France has gone even further, and proposed a law that will enable the entertainment industry to disconnect alleged pirates on their third warning.

Both the MPAA and RIAA have pushed other countries to adopt similar legislation as well, but it will be hard for them to succeed in Europe. In April, the European Parliament spoke out against these anti-piracy measures, by saying it would be ‘conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness’. Yesterday, this statement was backed up by an official vote.

The amendment, drafted by Guy Bono and other members of the European Parliament, was adopted by an overwhelming majority. 573 parliament members voted in favor while only 74 rejected. Satisfied with this outcome, Bono stated in a response to the vote: ‘You do not play with individual freedoms like that,’ and said that the French government should review its three-strikes law.’

The vote was welcomed in other member states as well. Swedish EU parliamentarian Christofer Fjellner said in a comment: ‘What’s important about this decision is that now it’s clear that you can’t force [internet service] providers to ban people from the Internet without a legal process.’

It is scary to see how lobby groups are awarded powers that should only belong to law-enforcement agencies. Evidence should never be collectedly by parties who gather it in their own interests, and it is a relief to see that the European Parliament agrees on this.

Data protection watchdogs to hold hearings with Google: “An influential group of European privacy experts said this week that it will lead hearings with Google over the search giant’s claim that EU data protection laws do not apply to it.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

(Via TorrentFreak.)

Europe Gets Prison Break Fix via BitTorrent: “

Last week the fourth season of Prison Break aired in the US with over 6 million viewers on TV. On BitTorrent the season premiere was downloaded more than 2 million times this week. The majority of the downloads go to Europe though. Poland alone is responsible for 12%, compared to only 4% US downloads.

Last week we reported that the season premiere of Fox’s Prison Break was downloaded more than a million times just a day after it was aired on TV. Fox, which offers a free and legit Prison Break stream on Fox.com for US viewers, thinks that most downloads come from overseas, where the episodes haven’t aired yet, let alone that it can be streamed online.

It turns out that Fox’s assumption is right. We decided to look into the download locations of one of the most popular Prison Break torrents and found that, based on a sample of more than 250,000 downloads, most downloaders are located in Europe.

In our sample, which represents approximately 10% of the total downloads this week, the show was most downloaded in Poland (12%). UK and France were in second and third place respectively, followed by Canada and The Netherlands. The US was sixth in the list with only 4% of the total downloads, and Greece, Spain, Australia and Brazil complete the top 10.

As we have said before, availability seems to the key issue why people turn to BitTorrent. Non-US Prison Break fans sometimes have to wait for weeks or even months before the show airs on TV in their country, and many of them are not that patient, or willing to torture themselves. Until this problem is addressed, we’re not likely to see a decrease in TV-show downloads from BitTorrent.

The 4% US downloaders that preferred to get the show via BitTorrent instead of streaming it online probably did so because they wanted to watch it on their TV or get a higher quality copy - streaming isn’t all that. Both Fox and Hulu, the two sites that offer Prison Break streams have not published any numbers, so it’s hard to compare the number of US downloaders (~100.000) with the US streamers.

We do have a new TV-torrent download chart, with plenty of newcomers. So, let’s take a look at the 10 most downloaded shows this week. The data for the weekly download chart is collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.

Top Downloads August 31 - September 07

Consumer group asks EU for security breach law: “The National Consumer Council (NCC) has called on the European Commission to force companies who lose customer data to admit the error publicly. It believes a data breach notification law would force companies to keep data more securely.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

UK signs up to Rome I rules on cross-border contract disputes: “The UK Government has signed up to an EU deal on whose law should govern cross-border disputes over contracts. It says that the agreement will protect UK businesses trading in Europe.”

(Via OUT-LAW News.)

Snoop more, share less - Home Office spurns EU advice: “

Databases not safe, says database-loving gov

Government responses to two outwardly unrelated bits of EU policy go a long way to explain what it really thinks about the War on Terror and the rights of individual citizens.…

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(Via The Register - Public Sector.)