news.buyenne.com

Every year the United States Trade Representative (USTR) inventorizes what problems local industries face when doing business abroad.

The major Hollywood studios, represented by the MPAA, just submitted their latest overview listing trade barriers across the globe.

The MPAA points out that many countries don’t do enough to deter piracy. This is also a common theme in Europe, where privacy laws and regulations make it harder for copyright holders to go after online pirates.

“Privacy has always been a major issue in the European Union. EU Member States have implemented a number of privacy directives to protect individuals’ personal data,” MPAA writes.

According to the MPAA, European privacy rules are extremely complex and difficult. As a result they are often used against efforts that could help to prevent copyright infringement.

For example, IP-addresses are protected as private personal information in several countries including Italy, where they can only be used in criminal cases.

“All EU Member States have detailed data protection laws. These rules, often very strict, are subject to the interpretation of the national data protection authorities,” MPAA notes (pdf).

“Most of them consider IP addresses as personal data and believe that the privacy rules apply to their use,” they add.

The MPAA points out that privacy rights of citizens often trump the rights of copyright holders, which they believe is a “very problematic” development.

As a result, Internet providers often refuse to cooperate with copyright holders claiming that this violates the privacy of their users. This makes it hard for the content industries to cooperate with these companies in various anti-piracy efforts.

“Telecommunications operators and ISPs constantly invoke data protection rules to avoid any meaningful cooperation with the content sector,” MPAA writes.

“Such restrictive interpretations preclude meaningful cooperation with Internet intermediaries, such as telecommunications operators and ISPs, in particular cooperation to combat IP theft.”

In addition, the MPAA is not happy with the EU Court of Justice decision to no longer make data retention mandatory. As a result, many ISPs no longer keep extensive IP-address logs.

The movie studios believe that data retention is an important law enforcement tool, suggesting that it’s harder to track down online pirates without logs.

“Data retention remains a very valuable tool for law enforcement. Rights holders have always claimed the need for reasonable rules and legal certainty. This decision has created even more legal uncertainty in this field.

“Member States have started to respond to the consequences of this decision with legislation and some have invalidated their rules,” MPAA adds.

The data retention argument is not new, but it’s worth noting that the U.S. itself has no mandatory data retention laws. This makes it hard for the U.S. Government to demand that other countries adopt them.

It’s clear though, that the MPAA is not happy with the increased interest in online privacy. With or without help from the U.S. government, they will continue to try and minimize the impact it has on their enforcement efforts.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Microsoft übernimmt Secure Islands für rund 150 Millionen US-Dollar. Dessen Data-Loss-Prevention kommt nun in die Cloud. (Microsoft, Office 365)

Dreidimensionale Fußballvideos erstellt ein Algorithmus, den MIT-Forscher entwickelt haben. Er überlagert 2D-Bilder mit 3D-Bildern, wobei letztere aus einem Computerspiel stammen. (Stereoskopie, 3D-TV)

Look, normally I wouldn’t recommend buying a Windows tablet with a 1024 x 600 pixel display and 1GB of RAM… but the Double Power 7″ Windows tablet might be an exception. That’s because this tablet comes with a free 1-year subscription to Office 365 that’s worth $70. And how much does the tablet cost? You […]

Deals of the Day (11-09-2015) is a post from: Liliputing

Luxury watch maker TAG Heuer is entering the smart wearable space with a watch designed to look good, but which has all the featured you’d expect from a modern smartwatch. The new TAG Heuer connected watch also happens to be the most expensive device running Google’s Android Wear software to date: it’s priced at $1500 and […]

TAG Heuer launches its first Android Wear smartwatch for $1500 is a post from: Liliputing

Zur Aufgabe der NSA gehört neben Spionage auch, amerikanische Computersysteme zu schützen. Doch die NSA hält Sicherheitslücken geheim - und gefährde so die eigenen Bürger, warnen Kritiker. Der Geheimdienst versucht nun, mit einer Statistik den Vorwurf zu entkräften. Doch es bleiben Zweifel. (NSA, Verschlüsselung)

Die Stadt Los Angeles baut 100 LED-Straßenlaternen auf. Darin steckt LTE-Mobilfunktechnik von Ericsson, die direkt ans Glasfasernetz der Stadt angeschlossen ist. (Long Term Evolution, Philips)

Das Aufbauspiel Anno 2205 und das Strategiespiel Grand Ages Medieval sind die wohl aussichtsreichsten Kandidaten für den Deutschen Entwicklerpreis 2015, der von der Spielebranche verliehen wird. Beide Titel sind in mehreren Kategorien vertreten. (Deutscher Entwicklerpreis, Ubisoft)

There are plenty of 2-in-1 tablets that you can use as notebooks when you attach a keyboard dock. But most are designed for general consumers, with a few models sporting slightly tougher cases designed for business or education customers. And then there’s the Panasonic ToughBook 20. It’s a 10.1 inch Windows tablet with a detachable […]

Panasonic ToughBook 20 is a rugged 10 inch 2-in-1 is a post from: Liliputing

The EU Commission is currently working on proposals for the modernization of copyright with the aim of providing a framework more suited to the digital age.

The EU’s plan was set to go public exactly a month from today but just before the weekend IPKat said it had obtained a leaked copy of the draft communication from a ‘Brussels insider’.

“EU copyright rules need to be adapted so that all market players and citizens can seize the opportunities of this new environment. A more European framework is needed to overcome fragmentation and frictions within a functioning single market,” the leaked draft reads.

The document, which could be subject to change before its release next month, advises that the Commission will issue legislative proposals for content portability during the Spring of 2016.

“As a first step, the Commission is presenting together with this Communication a proposal for a regulation on the ‘portability’ of online content services, to ensure that users who have subscribed to or acquired content in their home country can access it when they are temporarily in another Member State,” the report reads.

But in addition to making life easier for citizens, the Commission also wants to make life more difficult for pirates. Noting that creative rights have little value if they cannot be enforced, the Commission calls for a “balanced civil enforcement system” to enable copyright holders to fight infringement more cheaply and across borders.

“A ‘follow-the-money’ approach, which sees the involvement of different types of intermediary service providers, seems to be a particularly promising method that the Commission and Member States have started to apply in certain areas,” the draft reads.

“It can deprive those engaging in commercial infringements of the revenue streams (for example from consumer payments and advertising) emanating from their illegal activities, and therefore act as a deterrent.”

On this front the Commission says it intends to take immediate action to set up a “self-regulatory mechanism” with a view to reaching agreement next spring. While voluntary, the EU says the mechanism can be backed up by force if necessary.

“Codes of conduct at EU level could be backed by legislation, as required to ensure their full effectiveness,” the draft notes.

By the fall of next year the Commission says it will have assessed its options in respect of an amended legal framework covering a number of enforcement issues. No additional details are provided but one of the key items in the draft concerns the rules for the identification of infringers.

The document also highlights a need to address “the (cross-border) application of provisional and precautionary measures and injunctions”. Clarification is needed, but this appears to be a reference to EU-wide site blocking.

Furthermore, the EU indicates it will examine the rules for copyright takedowns and the potential for illicit content to be taken down and remain down.

“The Commission is also carrying out a comprehensive assessment and a public consultation on online platforms, which also covers ‘notice and action’ mechanisms and the issue of action remaining effective over time (the ‘take down and stay down’ principle),” the draft reads.

Finally, Julia Reda MEP is raising alarms over the Commission’s intent to clarify the legal definition of ‘communication to the public’ and of ‘making available’.

“The Commission is considering putting the simple act of linking to content under copyright protection,” Reda writes.

“This idea flies in the face of both existing interpretation and spirit of the law as well as common sense. Each weblink would become a legal landmine and would allow press publishers to hold every single actor on the Internet liable.”

The full document can be downloaded here.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.