(((It's been a lively couple of weeks.)))
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EDRI-gram
biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe
Number 6.7, 9 April 2008
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3. France: Linking can be damaging to your pockets
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A recent decision by the Paris Tribunal has condemned 3 different French websites for linking to another website containing gossip information on the
French actor Olivier Martinez. (((Boyfriend of Kylie Minogue, which you figure would have inured to the poor guy to anything, but no.)))
The actor has decided to sue 3 websites (Fuzz.fr, Vivre-en-normandie.com and
CroixRousse.net) for linking to external websites that presented the respective information.
Fuzz.fr is a Digg-like website, where the website users can vote which news comes on first. However, the court decided that the owner of the website has an editorial responsibility, even if it's a digg-like service, and forced him to pay 1000 euros as damages for infringing the actor's privacy and 1500
euros as legal fees.
CroixRousse.net just posted the title and a link to a Yahoo-based news on the same topic, but the judge decided they needed to pay 500 euros as well, for the same infringement. Also a local blogger who writes at
Vivre-en-normandie.com was sentenced to pay the same amount for putting a link to a similar news item.
Eric Dupin, owner of Fuzz.fr and a famous French blogger has contested the decision, emphasizing the fact that the court doesn't understand the websites from web 2.0. Dupin does not try to deny any responsibility of the sites in relation to the information, but questions the procedure used in this case: "The problem here is the method: we have never been asked to withdraw the respective link, which I would have done. We have been sent directly to justice".
Laurent Galichet, the young owner of the local news website CroixRousse.net that won 3.8 euros from his website in 2008, expressed his stupefaction:
"That means you can be attacked for hosting a link on your website... It's like attacking the newspapers stands, because one the newspapers they show has a court battle." (((No, it's more like suing the newstands because they have a huge arrow on them pointing to a nearby billboard that says "Look at that French guy having sex with Kylie Minogue!")))
It seems that there are also other 17 websites that are attacked by the
French artists' lawyers for similar considerations, even though the news has been replicated by more online sources, some of them out of France.
A wave of condemnations shakes the French Web 2.0 (only in French,
27.03.2008)
http://www.01net.com/editorial/375750/une-vague-de-condamnations-ebranle-le-web-2.0-francais/
Case Olivier Martinez vs. Fuzz : Fuzz condemned (only in French,
27.03.2008)
http://www.presse-citron.net/?2008/03/27/3217-affaire-olivier-martinez-vs-fuzz-fuzz-condamne
Parts of the Court decision (only in French, 28.03.2008)
http://www.presse-citron.net/?2008/03/28/3221-extraits-de-l-ordonnance-de-refere
The French web passes through black hours...(only in French, 28.03.2008)
http://www.vivre-en-normandie.com/blog/2008/03/le-web-franais.html
(((Meanwhile, another hilarious hacktivist stunt by Chaos Computer Club.
And there are those who claim the Germans lack a sense of humor.)))
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4. Fingerprinting the fingerprint proponent
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EDRi-member Chaos Computer Club (CCC) - Germany has published in the latest issue of their magazine Die Datenschleuder the fingerprint of one of the best known proponents of digital fingerprints in passports - Mr. Wolfgang
Schäuble, the German Minister of Internal Affairs. The fingerprint has been printed on a plastic foil, that can replicate the fingerprint when it is pressed on a biometric reader. (((How handy!)))
CCC activists wanted to make a point in their fight against digital fingerprints in any ID document, considering such data is easy to collect and reproduce. Despite the numerous warnings, since November 2007 the German passports have included a biometric chip containing fingerprints that can be checked by the customs authorities.
CCC spokesman Frank Rieger explained: "The main point we want to illustrate here is that biometric fingerprints don't offer any security, they just enhance the surveillance of citizens." (((And celebrities and high-ranking government figures, if there's a difference any more.)))
Since 2004, CCC has published a step-by-step guide on how to copy someones'
fingerprint and how to make fake fingerprints.
Mr. Schäuble's fingerprint was provided by a fan of the club from a glass the Minsiter had been drinking from at a public event. The print of the right hand fingerprint is now included in the 4 000 copies of the magazine and is also available on the CCC webpage.
(((Look how I am virtuously not linking to this off my blog, despite the keen temptation. You'll just have to go implicate Google by yourself.)))
CCC says they are just following Mr. Schäuble's words when he said that there is hardly any difference between a passport photo and a digital fingerprint. When he launched the new passports with biometric features, he explained: "This technology will help us keep one step ahead of criminals.
With the new passport, it is possible to conduct biometric checks, which will also prevent authentic passports from being misused by unauthorized persons who happen to look like the person in the passport photo."
Other politicians, supporters of the digital fingerprinting advantages, are also on the list of targets for the CCC fans, including Chancellor Angela
Merkel, Bavarian Prime Minister Guenther Beckstein and BKA President Joerg
Ziercke.
Chaos Computer Club: Concrete debate on biometrics - Schäuble's fingerprint
(only in German, 28.03.2008)
http://www.ccc.de/updates/2008/schaubles-finger
Mr. Wolfgang Schäuble fingerprint
(((scrubbed by BEYOND THE BEYOND because we're big fans of quixotic French efforts to civilize the Internet here)))
Get your German interior minister's fingerprint here (30.03.2008)
(((Okay, wait, those are Germans, have at 'em, boys)))
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/30/german_interior_minister_fingerprint_appropriated/
CCC publishes fingerprints of Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Home Secretary
(31.03.2008)
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/105728
German hackers threaten to publish Merkel's fingerprints (31.03.2008)
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iANGKUakO3Nf0fbqPmguajqWmlZA
How to fake fingerprints (26.10.2004) (((Got a MAKE
magazine article here easy)))
http://www.ccc.de/biometrie/fingerabdruck_kopieren?language=en
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10. Agenda (((There's a ton of stuff going on all over the Continent)))
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10-12 April 2008, Amsterdam & Hilversum, Netherlands
Economies of the Commons - Strategies for Sustainable Access and Creative
Reuse of Images and Sounds Online
International Working Conference http://www.ecommons.eu
12 April 2008, Rijeka, Croatia
International seminar on digital evidence http://law.pravri.hr/hr/digital-evidence-seminar.pdf
28-29 April 2008, Vienna, Austria
PRISE Final Conference -Towards privacy enhancing security technologies -
the next steps http://www.prise.oeaw.ac.at/conference.htm
9-10 May 2008, Florence, Italy
Digital communities and data retention http://e-privacy.winstonsmith.info/
15-17 May 2008, Ljubljana, Slovenia
EURAM Conference 2008 - Track "Creating Value Through Digital Commons"
How collective management of IPRs, open innovation models, and digital communities shape the industrial dynamics in the XXI century.
http://www.euram2008.org
20-23 May 2008, New Haven, CT, USA
18th Annual Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference
(((Eighteen of 'em? Really? Wow)))
http://cfp2008.org/
30-31 May 2008, Bucharest, Romania
eLiberatica 2008 - The benefits of Open and Free Technologies http://www.eliberatica.ro/2008/
6-7 June 2008, Bremen, Germany
IdentityCamp - a barcamp around identity 2.0 and privacy 2.0
http://barcamp.org/IdentityCampBremen
17-18 June 2008, Seoul, Korea
The Future of the Internet Economy - OECD Ministerial Meeting
http://www.oecd.org/FutureInternet
23 June 2008, Paris, France
GigaNet is organizing an international academic workshop on "Global Internet
Governance: An Interdisciplinary Research Field in Construction"
http://tinyurl.com/3y9ld8
26-27 June 2008, London, UK
International Conference on Digital Evidence
http://www.mistieurope.com/default.asp?Page=65&Return=70&ProductID=8914&LS=DigitalEvidence
30 June - 1 July 2008, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
First COMMUNIA Conference - Assessment of economic and social impact of digital public domain throughout Europe
http://www.communia-project.eu/conf2008
23-25 July 2008, Leuven, Belgium
The 8th Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS 2008)
http://petsymposium.org/2008/
19-20 July 2008, Stockholm, Sweden
International Association for Media and Communication Research pre-conference - Civil Rights in Mediatized Societies: Which data privacy against whom and how ?
http://www.iamcr.org/content/view/301/1/
8-10 September 2008, Geneva, Switzerland
The third annual Access to Knowledge Conference (A2K3)
http://isp.law.yale.edu/
24-28 September 2008, Athens, Greece
World Summit on the Knowledge Society
The deadline for articles submission is 10 May 2008
http://www.open-knowledge-society.org/summit.htm
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11. About
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EDRI-gram is a biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe.
Currently EDRI has 28 members based or with offices in 17 different countries in Europe. European Digital Rights takes an active interest in developments in the EU accession countries and wants to share knowledge and awareness through the EDRI-grams.
(((I don't always blog it, but I always read it.)))
All contributions, suggestions for content, corrections or agenda-tips are most welcome. Errors are corrected as soon as possible and visibly on the
EDRI website.
Except where otherwise noted, this newsletter is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License. See the full text at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Newsletter editor: Bogdan Manolea
Information about EDRI and its members:
http://www.edri.org/
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