Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), a high-impact nonprofit organisation focussed on access to software in the broader scope of participation in the digital society, this week named named new leadership for the first time in nearly a decade since its inception.
LAUSANNE – « Rien ne vaut une bonne crise », si l’on en croit la sagesse populaire. Voilà une formule que les décideurs pourraient reprendre pour inciter le monde à adopter une économie plus verte et davantage fondée sur la connaissance. Telle est la conclusion à laquelle a abouti un groupe de discussion à l’École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EFPL) le 18 juin. La crise financière actuelle et l’éveil des consciences vis-à-vis de la crise écologique sont l’opportunité unique pour l’innovation, notamment l’innovation verte, de prendre les devants de l’économie du futur.
Video is becoming an increasingly important communication tool on the web, but questions must be asked about its future, said speakers a recent conference. Will it be a medium of self-expression, available for all, or a translation of television to the internet, where content is provided by some and consumed by the rest? A gathering of technologists, academics, filmmakers and others in New York last week issued a call for a freer video culture.
An international coalition of consumer groups has issued a resolution calling into question global enforcement policy and offering core principles for policymakers to consider in setting new enforcement standards.
The German Parliament on Thursday evening passed legislation that obliges internet service providers (ISPs) to filter websites allegedly containing child abuse material, by a vote of 389 to 146. The vote followed fierce debate about the secret filtering list to be put together by the German Federal Police and transmitted to ISPs once a day with only occasional checks by a five-member monitoring body. Opposition parties joined civil rights organisations in warning that Germany is introducing blocking architecture that was extensible and could be used to “censor“ other content without due process.
LAUSANNE - One should not waste a good crisis, goes the common wisdom - a piece of advice policymakers might use to spur the world closer to a green, knowledge-based economy, said a panel at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Wednesday. The current financial crisis and an awakening recognition of the ecological crisis have presented a unique opportunity for innovation - and particularly green innovation - to take a lead role in driving future economies.
WASHINGTON – Le 9 juin, au cours d’une conférence, la ministre française de la Culture et de la Communication, Christine Albanel, a défini la loi Création et Internet comme étant « à la fois ambitieuse et réaliste ». Selon elle, ceux qui pensent qu’Internet est une zone de non-droit « se trompent d’époque ». À l’occasion de cette conférence, des hypothèses ont également été avancées quant à la législation américaine entourant la réforme des brevets, les droits d’interprétation et d’exécution, et d’autres questions.
As members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) prepare to meet for their annual ministerial meeting in Paris next week, the organisation has issued a report calling for a strategic, innovation-driven response to the economic crisis.
The Sarkozy government will implement a law aimed at promoting legal online downloading in the coming months despite being prevented from cutting off the internet access of alleged three-time offenders, according to official sources.
Meanwhile, the government has already begun preparing a new law that would restore penalties decided by a judge rather than by the newly created HADOPI commission.
L’argument souvent utilisé par les législateurs contre la communication Internet qui veut que ce qui est valable dans l’univers physique l’est aussi en ligne a été utilisé par le Conseil de l’Europe dans une nouvelle résolution concernant les droits fondamentaux en ligne.