London Internet Exchange
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:56:52 +0000
How does EU legislation get made, and what opportunities do outsiders have to influence it? Most people know that the Commission proposes legislation, that the Parliament gets the chance to make amendments, and that nothing gets on the statute books without the approval of the Council of Ministers. But did you know that if the [...]
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:21:34 +0000
Nominet has launched proposals for a “Members’ Code” to deal with “the unlikely event that a member brings the organisation and its members into disrepute”. Code requirements include a duty to treat Nominet employees and customers “in a respectful, professional and courteous manner”, and require members to notify Nominet of “links with other members”. Breaches [...]
Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:02:11 +0000
The European Parliament rapporteur for ACTA, Kader Arif, has resigned just hours after the EU signed the controversial intellectual property treaty. In a statement (translated here), Arif denounced the process leading up to the ACTA signings as “a masquerade”. I denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process which has led to the signature [...]
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:43:50 +0000
The European Union and 22 Member States officially signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) today. The UK was among the signatories who gathered in Japan to sign the controversial intellectual property treaty. The United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, New Zealand and Singapore had already signed ACTA in October 2011. The signatories commit [...]
Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:52:00 +0000
The European Commission (COM) has published its proposals to replace the Data Protection Directive, and thereby conduct wholesale reform of the rules on Data Protection in the EU. COM proposes to replace the existing “Directive” with a “Regulation”: this means that Data Protection standards will be set directly by Brussels instead of being transposed into [...]
Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:01:05 +0000
SOPA and PIPA have been put on hold following online protests from a number of high-profile websites including Wikipedia, WordPress and Reddit. The Wikipedia page alone was accessed 162 million times. An accompanying blog post attracted 12,000 comments. On Friday, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid announced that the PIPA vote, originally scheduled for Tuesday this [...]
Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:02:16 +0000
ACS:Law founder Andrew Crossley has been suspended from legal practice for two years at a hearing of the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal. The solicitor, who is infamous for his so-called ‘speculative invoicing’ campaigns against alleged unlawful filesharers, was also ordered to pay costs of £76,326.55. ACS:Law is thought to have sent approximately 20,000 letters to suspected [...]
Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:48:58 +0000
Major websites, including wordpress, reddit and wikipedia, have temporarily taken their sites offline in protest at anti-piracy legislation passing through the US Senate and House of Representatives. In place of their usual content, the sites display messages of protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). SOPA and [...]
Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:11:15 +0000
Websites accused of copyright infringement could be blocked within 10 days of a complaint, under legislation approved by Spain’s recently elected government. The Sinde Law, named after the former Spanish Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde, establishes a new intellectual property commission to evaluate complaints about allegedly infringing websites. Complaints deemed valid will be passed to a [...]
Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:24:24 +0000
Sir Richard Tilt has been appointed as the new Chair of the IWF Board of Trustees. Peter Neyroud CBE, QPM and Philip Geering also join the Board as Independent Trustees. All new appointees take up their posts with immediate effect. Sir Richard Tilt joined the Prison Service in 1966 as a graduate entrant rising to [...]
