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Last week, European Digital Rights attended the second annual Stockholm Internet Forum which focused on two main themes: Internet Freedom and Security and Internet Freedom and Development. A novelty this year were the Unconference sessions.
On 14 May 2013, the German Federal Court ruled that Google auto-complete feature may, under certain circumstances, constitute an infringement of the personality right, under the German Civil Code and the German Basic Law.
Since April 2009, Google has introduced an "autocomplete" feature integrated into the search engine, which automatically brings forth suggestions, as word combinations, when a user enters a search in a window.
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Deutsch: Französischer Geheimdienst verlangt Löschung eines Wikipedia-Artikel...
The Wikimedia Foundation was asked on 4 March 2013, by French spy agency Direction Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur (DCRI), to remove its article in French “Station hertzienne militaire de Pierre sur Haute” (the military station of Pierre sur Haute) considered by the agency to contain classified military information the publication of which violated the French Penal Code.
According to a judicial source quoted by AFP, the request for the deletion of the article was due to the fact that
After a year of working group meetings, the “CEO Coalition to make the Internet a better place for kids” produces its final documents on 4 February. The outcome of the project is a set of voluntary guidelines divided into five broad headings, ranging from “reporting tools” to “notice and takedown,” It is intended that this will be followed up by a meeting, in about six months, between Commissioner Kroes and the CEOs of the companies responsible. The meeting is designed to put pressure on the CEOs to fully implement the “voluntary” measures.
Sometimes, watching the Commission make up its mind on a controversial topic is like watching a sports match. One of these topics is the question of whether it is legal for governments to encourage internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict fundamental rights “voluntarily” or whether they would need a legal basis. The European Home Affairs Commissioner, Cecilia Malmström is certain... that they do, that they don't and that they might... possibly.
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Deutsch: Google schaltet aus unerklärlichen Gründen portugiesischen Blog ab
On 14 November 2012, the blog of the group Precários Inflexíveis, whose purpose is to expose the working conditions of freelance workers without permanent contracts, was deleted by Google, during the day of the general strike in the country.
Those who tried to find information about the protest and actions of the group, were greeted with the message “This blog is in violation of Blogger's Terms of Service and is open to authors only”.
In documents seen by EDRi, the current Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union made a proposal at the beginning of October to delete the criminal sanctions section of the proposed EU/Canada Free Trade Agreement.
On Monday of next week (29 October, 2012), the European Union and the United States will have a “summit” (draft agenda) on “Exchange of Best Practices for Child Protection Online”. In the course of that meeting, the question of measures to prevent “re-uploading of the content” will be discussed. Both the European Commission and the United States appear to think that widespread, suspicionless upload filtering is “best practice”.