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Public consultation on the Regulation regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (Regulation 1049/2001).
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/511&...
http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/revision/index_en.htm

For Dutch readers - Petition for more flexible contracts for members of the rights collecting society which allow them to choose the conditions under which to release their own music and use CC licenses.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bumawakeup/

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Statewatch has made two complaints to the European Ombudsman against the European Commission, one for having failed to keep a proper public record of documents and the other for having failed in 2006 to issue its annual report on access to documents for 2005.

The group considers both cases as maladministration, in breach of Regulation 1049/2001 that sets up the EU bodies public registers of documents. "Open, transparent and accountable decision-making is the essence of any democratic system. Secrecy is its enemy and produces distrust, cynicism and apathy among citizens and closed minds among policy makers. The European Commission must be called to account for its actions or rather its failures

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On 25 March 2006, several Belarusian web-sites: ucpb.org, svaboda.org, charter97.org, belhelcom.org, belaruspartisan.org, gazetaby.com and livejournal.com providing independent news and information were unavailable from 9.00 till 16.00 within the country borders.

Belarusian authorities have the technical and legal possibility to restrict access because of Beltelecom monopoly. According to article 44 of the national Law On Electronic Communication adopted in 2005: " The national operator of electronic communications is the operator having the duties of the mandatory rendering of the universal electronic communications services on the whole territory of the Republic of Belarus according to the

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At the end of September 2006, after a reorganisation of the postal codes system (CAP), the Italian Post (Poste Italiane), now a private company, as well as the Italian Ministry of Communications have changed the way in which one could access the postal code online , limiting it to just one entry at a time, without the possibility to access the entire database. A multiple query could be made only by buying proprietary software sold by Poste Italiane.

According to the Italian laws, postal codes, together with telephone numbers, laws and normative acts are public data, but also in the public domain, and therefore should be publicly available without restrictions.

Further more, the postal codes, as public information, are collected

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The first global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was organized by United Nations in Athens between 30 October and 2 November 2006.

The forum has shown a strong and large opposition to Internet blocking and filtering, putting under pressure repressive governments such as China. The three sessions devoted to content regulation and control have been dominated by the advocates of anti-censorship and access to knowledge that have criticized the state control of Internet content.

Thus, Amnesty International publicly handed a pledge, called Irrepressible Info. that states: "I believe the Internet should be a force for political freedom, not repression. People have the right to seek and

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On 16-19 October 2006 UNESCO conducted the first multi-stakeholder consultations on the implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Lines C3 (access to information), C7 (e-learning), C9 (media) and C10 (ethics) at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.

UNESCO is one of the lead facilitating agencies for the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines. In accordance with the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society and the consultation of possible Action Line Moderators/Facilitators of 24 February 2006 in Geneva, UNESCO has for the last months served as an interim focal point for several Action Lines. At the Paris consultations UNESCO was approved as the formal facilitator for

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Privacy International released on 20 September 2006 a comprehensive review of Freedom of Information (FOI) Laws and practices in nearly 70 countries around the world, including almost 40 countries from Europe

Titled "Freedom of Information Around the World 2006 Global Survey of Access to Government Information Laws", the survey draws attention to the growing movement around the world to adopt FOI laws. In just the past two years, over a dozen countries have adopted new laws and decrees, while dozens more are considering proposals. Important international treaties such as the UN Convention Against Corruption have also gone into force. These laws are being used to fight corruption, make government bodies accountable and

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At the end of July 2006, the Office of the Hungarian Prime Minister released their legislative plans for the Autumn comprising the Act on classified information.

Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) have filed two requests inquiring about the details of the draft, but the PM’s Office refused to disclose anything about it.

Last time the Hungarian Government submitted the draft of a new Act on classified information (ACI) to the Parliament was in early December 2005 when the Parliament discussed it in an expedited procedure and completed its first reading within two weeks. Debate continued throughout January and the only obstacle was the government’s having not attached the Penal Code’s

In a ministerial meeting that took place in Riga on 12 June 2006, ministers from European countries have signed a declaration to diminish the gap in Internet usage for groups at risk of exclusion, but also to increase broadband coverage.

The Riga Ministerial Declaration was signed by ministers of 34 European countries from EU Member States, accession and candidate countries, and EFTA/EEA countries. The declaration shows the commitment of the countries to an "Internet for all" action plan that should allow the disadvantaged groups to access the Internet.

One of the conclusions of the meeting was the necessity to assess the need for legislative measures in the field of e-Accessibility, and to take into account accessibility requirements in the review of the electronic communications regulatory framework beginning in June 2006. Another

Following a fierce battle between an authority of the Italian State and private european online betting companies over their activity in Italy, a big number of betting websites are officialy blocked for Italian Internet users.

Everything began with the 2006 financial law (Law 266/2005) voted by the Parliament under the outgoing Berlusconi government. The law included four provisions - namely paragraph 535-58 of art.1 - which gave the Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato (AAMS or Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies, a part of the Ministry of Economy and Finances) the power to bring to the attention of: (a) providers of Internet services, or (b) providers of other data or telecommunication networks, or (c) entities that offer networks or telecommunication services in