It is 60 years since the original publication of George Orwell's novel 1984.

Could Orwell have imagined the surveillance of the Internet?

The UK government has put an anti-filesharing law on its legislative programme commencing this autumn. The law is based on the Digital Britain report, which includes proposals to make the regulator, Ofcom, oversee protocol and website blocking. Will it contravene the Telecoms Package and how should it be seen in light of the French Conseil Constitutionel decision?

The  proposed law  will be called the Digital Economy bill. It will create changes in the regulatory framework for network providers, and Internet Service Providers. Of particular significance is the proposed change to Ofcom's mandate. Where Ofcom currently has a duty to protect citizens, based

The European Commission has quietly released the Final Report on the Content Online Platform. Does it serve the interests of serious policy-making for online film and music?

Full of grammatical errors and lacking in substantial understanding of the issues, the Final Report on the Content Online Platform  poses a challenge to anyone seeking a serious policy proposition.

The report purports to present the findings of a 'stakeholder discussion'  in relation to policy for creative content on the internet.  It is presented on the DG Information Society website as an EU  policy document.  The policy issues are framed as  online piracy,  new

Viviane Reding, who is currently still the EU Commissioner for Information Society,  has renewed a call to ‘seal the deal' on the Telecoms Package. Her  haste  to get the Package all wrapped up seems a little indecent.  Amendment 138, the reason why the Package has not been sealed, raises issues concerning the protection of   fundamental rights on the Internet. And, as European Commissioner, she is a guardian of the Treaties, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights. But what if she takes up the seat she won as MEP? 

Speaking at a telecoms industry event, she said "In this time of economic crisis, we

Confidential leaked document reveal draconian plans by Germany's right-wing CDU party  for 3-strikes and criminal enforcement of copyright, plus a new right to protect newspapers online. 

Germany's Christian Democrat party, of which the Chancellor Angela Merkel is the leader,  has  set out plans to introduce graduated response / 3-strikes measures to support copyright in a pre-election manifesto that has appeared on  Wikileaks. The document also calls for strengthened international cooperation against copyright infringement, and for the German police to get more resources to

A UK Parliamentary statement has shed light on the Council's position in respect of the Telecoms Package Third Reading. In a written statement to the House of

The British regulator, Ofcom, could be asked to order broadband providers to block websites, protocols and ports,  as well as throttle users. It is  part of a plan to make Ofcom oversee anti-filesharing measures, under the Brown government's Digital Britain proposals, released today. But will they go against EU law? 

The British government's Digital Britain proposals released this afternoon, set out a plan for broadband providers to be asked to block Internet users using 'technical measures, if anti-filesharing warnings do not prove effective. The regulator, Ofcom, is to be given a "duty' to take steps aimed at reducing copyright infringement." The first steps will be make broadband providers

 Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, has declared that Internet is as indispensable as electricity, gas, or water. It is just a sliver away from saying that Internet is a fundamental right. And it begs the question why his Minister and British  MEPS call for restrictions on Internet access and  oppose the Telecoms Package Amendment 138?

The statement comes in an article in the Times today. It is a welcome contribution to the debate surrounding the EU Telecoms Package and Amendment 138, which seeks to enshrine Internet access as a fundamental right in EU law.  Mr Brown writes that: "Whether it is to work online, study, learn new skills, pay bills or simply stay in touch with

The UK will today announce a plan for force ISPs to police copyrighted content using a technical 3-strikes approach - people who download wil find their connection speed slowed down -  throttled - prompted by an automated system. The plans  will be unveiled by the unaccountable Minister Lord Carter, who has resigned and is expected to take up a job with a television company that will arguably benefit from the proposals. 

The report is expected to contain  a three-pronged set of  proposals to deal with broadband infrastructure, peer-to-peer downloading, and broadcast television.  It is understood that the report recommends 'technical measures' against peer-to-peer, a public  body (not a tribunal)  to oversee these measures, a plan to drive up the

The European Commission   yesterday  called for the  issue of fundamental rights and Internet downloading to be dropped from EU policy-making. It was a thinly veiled demand for the Telecoms Package users rights  "Amendment 138" to be  dumped.

The European Commission's statement came in a press conference yesterday, from Viviane Reding's  spokesman Martin Selmayr (video link below).  He said that in the view of Viviane Reding and the Commission, the matter of Amendment 138 has been settled ‘at national' level' following the French Conseil Constitutionel decision earlier this week. Therefore it was no longer a

France's Constitutional Council has effectively neutered the 3-strikes law. The power to restrict someone's Internet access equates to a restriction of their liberty. Only a judge can make that kind of decision.

The decision of the Conseil Constitutionel was released today. It follows the passing of the Creation and Internet law via an emergency process on 13 May, as a key plank in the French government's strategy to deal with downloading of music and film over the Internet.  This law proposed to set up an authority known as the HADOPI, which would act as intermediary between rights holders organisations and ISPs, and would pass on the allegations from the rights holders with a request to the ISPs to warn or sanction their users.

There has been considerable public debate about the status of the HADOPI, whether it is a court or indeed, if it has any legal authority to sanction member of the public. This is the guts of the issue surrounding the Telecoms Package Amendment 138.

Today's decision makes it clear that

The Telecoms Council meets tomorrow to discuss informally a strategy for the adoption of the Telecoms Package.

In anticipation, the European Commission has today issued a press release calling on "all political players do their best in the next days and weeks to settle the last pending issue." It means, dissecting the coded language,  that the European Parliament should bend to the Council and adopt the "compromise" on Amendment 138 - the so-called 'fake 138'. 

The Package contains a number of amendments which will permit broadband providers to restrict users access to services and applications - all they have to do is put it in the small print of the contract.  It is most predictable that blocks on Skype and on peer-to-peer services could follow the adoption of the directive. Adoption would mean that this would officially be EU law. 

 The release contains a quote from the Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding, saying that network