EDRI - EU directive on privacy and electronic communications

Vote in the EP committees on the Telecom Package

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:49:06 +0100

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The IMCO (Internal Market Committee) and ITRE (Committee on Industry, Research and Energy) committees of the European Parliament (EP) adopted on the 7 July 2008 the Telecom package, including the amendments that were considered by some NGOs as endangering the principle of the neutrality of the Internet.

One of the MEPs supervising the Telecom package, including the amendments to the five directives that should reform the EU legal framework on electronic communications has explained that the vote on these amendments had nothing to do with copyright enforcement: "There has been a great deal of dismay in the committee at the interpretation being put on these amendments.(...) The

ePrivacy Directive debated in the EP's Civil Liberties Committee

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:54:15 +0100

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On 25 June 2008, the European Parliament's Standing Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs asked for measures to correct the European Commission's proposal to amend the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (called ePrivacy Directive).

"We have introduced a few points directed towards better consumer protection and manageability" in order to "improve data protection overall and bring it in line with the changed situation" stated Rapporteur for the project MEP Alexander Alvaro (FDP).

Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), adopted, on 14 April, an Opinion on the European Commission's proposal amending, among others, the ePrivacy Directive. The EDPS basically supported the EC proposal

EDPS endorses data breach notification provision in ePrivacy Directive

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:21:05 +0100

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The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has issued his opinion on the new draft text of the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (ePrivacy Directive) as proposed by the European Commission.

One of the important changes supported by the EDPS with the new text is the creation of a mandatory security breach notification system. The system should require the Telecoms and ISPs to notify their customers when personal information has been lost. But Peter Hustinx wants to go further and asked for the system to apply not only to "providers of public electronic communication services in public networks but also to other actors, especially to providers of information society services which process

Personal sensitive data keep on being lost in UK

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:00:46 +0000

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Many documents with confidential data including benefit claims, passport photocopies and mortgage payments were found on 17 January 2008 lost on a roundabout near Exeter Airport in Devon, UK.

Mr Karl-Heinz Korzenietz, the finder of the documents, told BBC News: "I thought first of all it was rubbish. But when I looked at the papers I discovered they were highly sensitive. I was shocked and surprised that sensitive papers like this would just be lost like that." Mr Korzenietz has also said that this was the second time he found such kind of documents. On 6 November he found another set of similar documents that he handed over to the Royal Mail depot in Exeter which returned the documents to TNT

Recommended Action

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 22:18:13 +0100

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Review of the Regulatory Framework for electronic communication networks and services (open until 27.10.2006)
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/consultations/inde...

EU Evaluation Impact Assessment System Questionnaire (open until 30.11.2006)
http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=eias&lang=en

DG Competition Open Consultations
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/general_info/consultation.html

Bloggers privacy expectations and attitudes Online survey done by Karen McCullagh - PhD researcher at CCSR, University of Manchester. The survey will be open until the end of November.
http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/pr

Rome II: Applicable law and freedom of expression

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 21:10:00 +0100

According to the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), severe threats to freedom of expression and freedom of the press may occur if the European Parliament adopts Article 6 of the draft Rome II Treaty as modified by the EP Legal Affairs Committee on 21 June 2005. The rapporteur was Diana Wallis, ALDE UK MEP. The EP Plenary vote in the first reading is scheduled for 6 July 2005. After the final adoption in the co-decision procedure, Rome II will determine the law applicable to non-contractual obligations, thus regulating judicial co-operation in civil and commercial matters.

But the Rome II draft also regulates the law applicable in case of violations of privacy and rights relating to the personality (Article 6, which applies e.g. in defamation cases). This article provides for

New defeat for Scientology in Dutch Internet case

Thu, 24 Mar 2005 16:00:51 +0000

The Dutch Attorney-General for the Supreme Court, Verkade, has once more righted internetprovider XS4ALL and author Karin Spaink in their decade long defence against legal attacks by Scientology. In his opinion for the Supreme Court Verkade argues "Although copyright resides under Article 1 of the First Protocol of ECHR and can therefore be regarded as a human right, this does not exempt copyright from being balanced against the right to freedom of information." In this specific case, in which Spaink quoted several critical paragraphs from a statement made in court by a former member of the organisation, freedom of speech clearly prevails above the claimed copyrights of Scientology.

The case started in September 1995, when XS4ALL servers were formally seized by a bailiff, assisted by a representative from Scientology,

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100

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New French data protection act not unconstitutional

Wed, 04 Aug 2004 11:00:23 +0100

On 29 July 2004 the French Constitutional Council decided that the proposed new data protection act is not unconstitutional, except for one provision (article 9.3), which has been suppressed from the law. The law is an adoption of the European privacy directive of 1995 (1995/46/EC), and was accepted by the French Senate on 15 July 2004.

The proposal to examine the law was submitted on 20 July by members of the French parliamentary opposition. They objected particularly against the powers granted in the new paragraph 9.4 to collecting societies and similar representatives of intellectual property rights to create files with telecommunication traffic data of supposed copyright infringers to 'mutualise the battle against the piracy of works'.

The Constitutional Council rejects this complaint explicitly, considering that existing safeguards established by other laws are sufficient, like

French privacy authority forbids mail-service

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:00:30 +0100

The French data protection authority CNIL has declared the new U.S. mail-service 'Did they read it?' illegal. Through this service, launched in May 2004 by Rampell Software, subscribers get a report about the exact time their e-mail was opened, for how long, on what kind of operating system and if the mail was forwarded to other people. To use this service, subscribers simply forward their mail to Rampell, after which a one-pixel gif is added that allows for this kind of tracking. Rampell carefully avoids explaining the technology, and just promises that e-mails are being kept confidential.

The CNIL finds the service unacceptable under the French privacy legislation of 1978. The recipients do not have a choice to accept or refuse sending this information to the sender and aren't even informed. Because the service provides detailed information on the reading behaviour, the data are considered sensitive, and the collection illegal.

Germans consider prison sentence for spammers

Wed, 24 Mar 2004 10:00:24 +0000

The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine reports about plans from the governing Social-Democrats (SPD) to make spamming an offence in Germany. According to the SPD, merely introducing fines is not enough, and spamming should become an offence, with penalties or a prison sentence. The working group on Telecommunication and Mail of the SPD did not yet decide on the length of the desired sentences. Germany will implement the anti-spam legislation in a specific law against unfair competition that also forbids unsolicited faxing, not in the simultaneous pending revision of the Telecommunication Law.

According to SPD-representative Ulrich Kelber prison sentences are necessary to be able to stop the biggest spammers, that send out millions of unsolicited commercial mails. 2 or 3 of the biggest spammers from the

Results OECD workshop on spam

Wed, 11 Feb 2004 10:00:06 +0000

During the OECD workshop on spam, held in Brussels on 2 and 3 February, the consumer unions of Europe and the USA (united in the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue) presented the results of a survey amongst 21.102 consumers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. 96 percent of the people said that either they hated spam or that it annoyed them. 82% of the respondents said that governments should only allow commercial e-mails to be sent if the recipient has agreed in advance to receive them (opt-in).

In spite of this apparent massive wish for opt-in, representatives from the US Federal Trade Commission defended the new opt-out legislation in the United States. This invoked polite criticism from Commissioner Liikanen and less politely worded responses from representatives from ISPs and consumer associations.

European Commission communication on spam

Wed, 28 Jan 2004 10:00:38 +0000

The European Commission has finally published a Communication on spam, just in time for the OECD conference on spam, hosted by the Commission on 2 and 3 February. The Communication focusses on actions to be taken by the EU member states in order to make the ban on spam more effective. Clearly, implementing the EU directive on privacy and electronic communications (2002/58/EC) is the first and most important step. 7 out of the 15 member states have not yet transposed the directive, Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal.

In general, the Communication does not bring much clarity to the complex problem of banning spam. It only signals problems caused by the impossible compromises dictated by the Directive. For example, Member States may decide for themselves how and by whom the enforcement should be done. In some countries the Data Protection Authority is given the responsibility, in other countries the task is delegated to the National Regulation Authority or the Consumer Ombudsman and in many countries responsibility is not clear at all. The Commission 'solves' this problem by calling on all national parties to collaborate. Even when it is clear who the competent authority is, it often lacks investigation and enforcement powers to trace and prosecute 'spammers'. "The Commission will look to confirm that national transposition measures provide for real sanctions in the event of breach of the relevant requirements by market players, including where appropriate financial and criminal penalties."

Update on anti-spam legislation

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 10:00:20 +0000

In the previous EDRI-gram 6 EU-countries were mentioned that already have a spam-ban, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Greece, Italy and Austria, plus Hungary and Norway in Europe-at-large. We can now add France, Romania and Poland to this list.

French E-Commerce Directive (approved 26.02.2003 in the Lower House)
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/12/ta/ta0089-2.pdf

Polish E-commerce Directive (effective 10.03.2003)
http://www.giodo.gov.pl/English/ust_podpis_el.htm

Romanian E-commerce Directive (effective 05.10.2002)
http://www.legi-internet.ro/en/e-commerce.htm

Since 22 January Romanians can report spam via 2 special email addresses provided by the Ministry of ICT. In Romania the Ombudsman functions as data protection authority. Either he or the Ministry can fine spammers between 10.000.000 and 500.000.000 million lei (approx 280 and 14.000 euro).

EU questionnaire on spam-ban

Wed, 26 Feb 2003 10:00:42 +0000

Per 31 October 2003 spamming will be prohibited in all EU member states, but it is completely unclear what authority should supervise the spam-ban. The European Commission doesn't have a ready-made answer, and is currently asking privacy-authorities and telecommunications ministries what approach they prefer.

The new Privacy Directive prohibits the sending of unsolicited e-mail but doesn't regulate the practicalities of penalties, damage claims or prosecution of cross-border violations. To make matters even more complicated, the Directive leaves the level of privacy protection of legal persons up to member states. Therefore, in some countries all e-mail addresses will be protected, in other states the spam-ban is limited to natural persons. On top of that, the directive bans commercial spam, but does allow for a ban on all unsolicited electronic communications, including those for charity and political purposes.