Big tech accountability? Read how we got here in  The Closing of the Net 

European Union Tech Policy

I have been logging EU policy since 2008. The information in these blog posts is deep background on the policy battles of the 2020s. What happens now, rests on what went before.

It's often easy to forget the history of policy,  as we get embroiled in the latest lobbying scam or arguments between different sets of interests. It all seems new, and so urgent and important. In fact, many of the battles are re-runs of earlier ones. We've seen before how these things get resolved. We also see the mistakes of the previous legislation, as well as the successes.  

What the  European Union does in tech policy matters on a global scale. It has led the world with its legislation on privacy (GDPR). It is now hoping to repeat that with new laws to regulate Internet platforms. In that regard, the jury is still out. 

As a guide to my somewhat eclectic headings, the sub-section IPRED discusses  the IPR enforcement directive and other IP or copyright initiatives. The sub-section on Internet Threats looks at any  EU policy initiatives other than copyright which imply Internet blocking. The sub-section on Internet Freedoms has a focus on rights and freedoms and the European Convention on Human Rights.

If you are interested in EU policy for IP,   you may like my book The Closing of the Net which discusses it in the light of influencing factors by States and industry stakeholders.

If you are interested in copyright policy, you may like my previous books A Copyright Masquerade: How Corporate Lobbying Threatens Online Freedoms and The Copyright Enforcement Enigma - Internet Politics and the ‘Telecoms Package’

European Commissioner Michel Barnier is to send a new copyright law to the European Parliament next  month. The law is aimed at regulating the music collecting societies. It will be followed in September by a proposal on enforcement. The timetable was revealed by Barnier’s deputy chef de cabinet, Kerstin Jorna,  at a conference organised by the German collecting society, GEMA. What is curious is the Commission’s optimism about getting these two initiatives adopted by sometime next year.  

Read more: Barnier dreams of copyright consensus by 2013

The Commmissioner for Information Society, Neelie Kroes, has today announced that the European Union will spend money on developing software tools to help political activists in countries such as Syria, to circumvent surveillance technology. At the same time, the Commission is working on ‘self-regulation’ of the European Internet, where ISPs will be asked to prevent the very same circumventions  for the benefit of, among others, the copyright industries.  Upholder of democracy or bureaucratic hypocrisy? It could be both, but  it is odd that the  Commission's   choice of adviser  is   Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. He is the rich  German aristocrat, and former CSU politician, who was found to have  plagiarised chunks of his PhD thesis.

Read more: EU ‘No-disconnect’ policy: freedom or fiasco?

Copyright term extension directive sneaked through the Council - 70 years is now law

An 18-month deadlock over  music copyright in the EU has been released today. The issue concerns the term  of copyright for music and  specifically for sound recordings. A directive to extend the term from the current maximum of 50 years has been  languishing in the bowels of Justus Lipsius building, as the large Member States with big copyright interests

Read more: EU Council deadlock on music copyright released

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Iptegrity in brief

 

Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten. I’ve been analysing analysing digital policy since 2008. Way back then, I identified how issues around rights can influence Internet policy, and that has been a thread throughout all of my research. I hold a PhD in EU Communications Policy from the University of Westminster (2010), and a Post-graduate diploma in marketing.   I’ve served as an independent expert on the Council of Europe  Committee on Internet Freedoms, and was involved in a capacity building project in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. I am currently (from June 2022)  Policy Manager - Freedom of Expression, with the Open Rights Group. For more, see About Iptegrity

Iptegrity.com is made available free of charge for  non-commercial use, Please link-back & attribute Monica Horten. Thank you for respecting this.

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States v the 'Net? 

Read The Closing of the Net, by me, Monica Horten.

"original and valuable"  Times higher Education

" essential read for anyone interested in understanding the forces at play behind the web." ITSecurity.co.uk

Find out more about the book here  The Closing of the Net

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Copyright Enforcement Enigma launch, March 2012

In 2012, I presented my PhD research in the European Parliament.

The politics of copyright

A Copyright Masquerade - How corporate lobbying threatens online freedoms

'timely and provocative' Entertainment Law Review


 

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