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Policy does matter. We may think that the Internet is a free digital environment, where no laws apply but there are many cases which contradict this notion.
In this section of Iptegrity.com, I report on EU policy related to the Internet and online content, in particular, where policy intiatives affect access to film, music and television, and I highlight issues for the policy debate in relation to the Internet. For 2008-2009, copyright enforcement has been the hot topic, with net neutrality emerging as well, in 2009. My focus is on the European Union and its member states - for example, I am currently covering Internet policy - specifically copyright enforcement intiatives - in France and the UK.
I am most interested in the citizen's perspective. However, the issues I cover will affect the Internet and telecoms industries, as well as the media and entertainment industries.
Iptegrity.com offers original reporting from the EU, as well as comment and opinion on issues raised in other media, including non-English language media in Europe. Iptegrity.com is the main English-language news source for the Telecoms Package review of EU telecoms law.
The European Parliament today adopted a data protection package that is being described as 'historic' and monumental'. The new EU measures update data protection rules for the era of the Internet and social media, including the use of data by police and law enforcement. The hot buttons have been the transfer of data outside the EU - especially to the United States - and how the large digital corporations may exploit data for commercial purposes. For whose benefit is this law and how should we regard it?
Read more: EU 'historic' data protection rules highlight privacy paradox
The European Commission is consulting on the enforcement of intellectual property rights and copyright. Hold tight for more debate on website blocking, domain seizure, filtering, account termination .... and a new attack on 'mere conduit'.
With the 16 April deadline looming for responses to the European Commission's consultation on enforcement of intellectual property rights, the question of content blocking is rearing its head once again. The online world is clearly the target, even though the scope of the existing law is much wider. Reading between the lines, the influence of the main stakeholder interests such as the music and film industries, and luxury goods manufacturers, can be seen. Given that this is a heavily polarised and toxic issue, is the European Commission going about this in the right way?
Read more: EU wants to know how ISPs can block music files - in 500 words
"The Home Secretary says it is world leading. Not all people agree with that. Some think it is leading the world over a cliff". Not my words but those of David Anderson Q.C. speaking yesterday at a symposium on the Investigatory Powers Bill hosted by 25 Bedford Row barristers chambers.
The Investigatory Powers Bill comes up for scrutiny in Parliament tomorrow, as the British government tries to push it through before the end of the year. This is the controversial new law that will govern electronic surveillance. But legal experts, who are not usually given to emotive language, say the Bill is bad law, and nothing more than window dressing. From a public interest perspective, the government is rushing the Bill unnecessarily. How safe will our data be under the proposed regime? Will we fall over a digital cliff as the spooks get to play with our Internet connection records?
This report is my interpretation of the legal arguments presented at the 25 Bedford Row symposium on the Investigatory Powers Bill.
Read more: Investigatory Powers Bill - is it leading the world over a cliff?
Is fibre to the premises based on a false premise?
The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, is proposing a strategic shift to fibre optic networks to carry our broadband services. A key plank of the strategy is that British Telecom (BT ) should open up its ducts to competitive broadband providers in order to get fibre to the home. This post argues that there is a serious flaw in this reasoning.
Read more: Out for a duct: what chance for fibre to the home?
As the UK regulator, Ofcom, wags its finger at BT, the UK broadband industry remains in a state of uncertainty. What prospect is there for a strategic leap to super-fast broadband as a national 'right'?
Ofcom's 10-year review of the UK telecoms market last week could have been the opportunity to set this country on the path to a revolution in the delivery of telecommunications services, taking it forward for the next couple of decades. Instead, we get a muddled, jargon-ridden document that tweaks the rules but fails to act decisively, and appears to please no-one. The structural reform of the telecoms industry that will be necessary to achieve the government's vision of super-fast broadband, was only nibbled around the edges. A full-on tackle was avoided amid a great deal of smoke and mirrors.
Read more: Ofcom review: Static on the line brings uncertainty for broadband industry
What should be done with Openreach, the mechanism for competition in UK broadband? The regulator's announcement was a cautious 'leave it as it is'. Here we consider the other options. Divest Openreach from BT? Would public ownership be in the national interest?
Today the UK regulator Ofcom has unveiled its conclusions in a 10 year review of the UK telecommunications industry. At the centre of it all is Openreach, the British Telecom division that controls competitive access to broadband customers around the country. The burning issue is whether Openreach should remain part of British Telecom, or whether Ofcom should force them to separate. It would seem that the regulator will stay more or less, with the status quo. It's also being reported that BT is dangling a £1billion carrot in front of the regulator.
However, the policy question is about the national interest in an internationally competitive broadband infrastructure. The government's policy
Read more: UK telecoms review - is Openreach too hot to touch?
A new EU telecoms law adopted on Tuesday (27 October 2015) should mean lower mobile Internet bills for travellers but threatens also to ride roughshod over net neutrality - or does it? We know there has been a political deal but what does it really mean for policy-makers.
Read more: EU drops the net neutrality principle - will it mean content restrictions?
Will the Internet's future be decided by politics and not by principle?
The European Parliament will take a crucial vote on net neutrality in a couple of hours' time. From the debate this morning, the political undertones of this vote are coming out. What is clear is that the Parliament allowed itself to be pressured by the Council of Ministers. That is not good for European democracy. Nor is it good for the Internet.
Read more: EU net neutrality - how political is this decision?
Tomorrow a crucial vote in the European Parliament will decide whether Europe supports the principle of net neutrality. A proposal will be put before the Parliament that is headed 'open internet access' and will be touted as protecting net neutrality. However, it is highly contoversial, because it threatens to open the door to zero-rating of content. Amendments have been tabled that would protect net neutrality and their acceptance could be crucial for the future of the Internet.
The Parliament has the choice to doff its cap to the Council of ministers or to stand up for itself as a democratic institution and support its own position.
Read more: Net neutrality or zero rating? Tomorrow's EU vote will decide
A highly-respected German website is to be investigated for treason after publishing leaked documents relating to mass Internet surveillance.
The German Internet policy website, Netzpolitik.org, has been put on notice for treason after it published two articles revealing government plans to expand intelligence capabilities for Internet surveillance. The website received the notice yesterday from the German attorney general, following a complaint from the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz - this is the internal intelligence service, the German equivalent of MI5. The matter has sparked a media storm over freedom of the press, in a country where Internet surveillance issues are household knowledge.
Read more: Netzpolitik.org: treason inquiry over German blog and leaked spy plans