Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo are secret backers behind European Privacy [sic] Association

Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo are secret backers behind European Privacy Association | PCWorld: "EPA [i]s an "astroturf organization," or front group, defending the interests of large IT corporations. Paganini refuted these allegations, saying that although the EPA listens to its members ideas and concerns, the reports it produces are independent. He claimed the failure to list the companies on the Transparency Register was an oversight.
Joe McNamee of EDRi (the European digital rights organization) said he had brought the issue to EPA's attention four months ago in January of this year but that nothing had been done. Paganini said that EPA did not know it was supposed to list any corporate members on the transparency register. was unfamiliar with the procedure in Brussels. However, EPA chairwoman Karin Riis Jorgensen is a former elected member of the European Parliament.
CEO says there is also evidence that the EPA has close relationships with two lobbyist consultancy firms, Competere Geopolitical Management and DCI Group, and is working to promote industry-friendly legislation in the new Data Protection Regulation that digital rights organizations say will undermine fundamental civil liberties online." 'via Blog this'

Marsden and Brown speak on #RegulatingCode at ORGCon 8 June: 12noon Room 1

Meet the authors, hear about the book - and recent developments in regulating Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft et al.

Little Atoms 279 – Chris Marsden and Ian Brown & Regulating Code

Podcast here!

Ian Brown is Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Oxford Internet Institute. He is the editor of the Research Handbook on Governance of the Internet. Christopher T. Marsden is Professor of Law at the University of Sussex School of Law. He is the author of Net Neutrality: Towards a Co-Regulatory Solution, Internet Co-Regulation, and three other books. Ian and Chris are the join authors of Regulating Code: Good Governance and Better Regulation in the Information Age.

This week’s Little Atoms is presented by Becky Hogge, with special guest presenter Bill Thompson. Bill Thompson is a technology writer, best known for his weekly column in the Technology section of BBC News Online and his appearances on Click, a radio show on the BBC World Service.

Little Atoms podcast available 17th May 2013

Chris Marsden and Ian Brown

Ian Brown is Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University's Oxford Internet Institute. He is the editor of the Research Handbook on Governance of the Internet.

Christopher T. Marsden is Professor of Law at the University of Sussex School of Law. He is the author of Net Neutrality: Towards a Co-Regulatory Solution, Internet Co-Regulation, and three other books. Ian and Chris are the join authors of Regulating Code: Good Governance and Better Regulation in the Information Age.

This week's Little Atoms is presented by Becky Hogge, with special guest presenter Bill Thompson.

Bill Thompson is a technology writer, best known for his weekly column in the Technology section of BBC News Online and his appearances on Click, a radio show on the BBC World Service.

Human Rights Law Might not be the Answer: Response to Article 19’s Principles on Copyright

Human Rights Law Might not be the Answer: Response to Article 19’s Principles on Copyright | LSE Media Policy Project: Anne Barron: "Hackers are experimenting with new formulations of both freedom and property – re-thinking how both creative autonomy and economic security could be possible for authors in the new economy that the Internet has helped to produce. They are also engaged in imaginative efforts to re-mix trade mark rights, moral rights, ‘copyleft’ licences and informal hacker norms into a new array of authors’ rights that could advance these ideals more effectively than conventional copyrights. The experiments are unfinished and beset by contradictions, but they are arguably more responsive to the exigencies of the ‘digital age’ than the lofty notions enunciated in international human rights law." 'via Blog this'

Better late than never: UNESCO publications finally available free of charge

UNESCO to make its publications available free of charge as part of a new Open Access policy | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: "By adopting this new publishing policy, UNESCO aligns its practice to its advocacy work in favor of Open Access and strengthens its commitment to the universal access to information and knowledge. The Open Access (OA) movement was born in the scientific community to address the spiraling costs of the scientific literature, which is essential to researchers. A wide range of universities, institutions and governments support it as an alternative to the traditional model of knowledge dissemination through costly academic journals. Starting from July 2013, hundreds of downloadable digital UNESCO publications will be available to users through a new Open Access Repository with a multilingual interface." 'via Blog this'

The Shakespeare review: what's the future of UK open data?

The Shakespeare review: what's the future of UK open data? | News | guardian.co.uk: "The main thing missing from the report is detail: what should be core data? How fast is fast? The trading funds should work differently, but how so? Who's actually going to implement this? What about [insert pet dataset here]?
Those questions aren't for Shakespeare to answer, but the answers will impact the entire scope of the review.
There's also potentially significant missed opportunities through not specifically addressing criminal justice data in detail: police data is opening, but court records (and detailed, granular sentencing information) lags significantly behind the rest of the UK government." 'via Blog this'

UK Government Censors Copyright Consultation Submission About Awful Collecting Societies

UK Government Censors Copyright Consultation Submission About How Awful Collection Societies Are | Techdirt: "the first link above is to Techdirt, and the others are to sites like the BBC, El Pais, Die Welt and TorrentFreak. None of them is defamatory, since they are all reporting on established facts. This means that the UK government must think that these facts are somehow "inappropriate". That's a pretty extraordinary state of affairs. The UK government has taken it upon itself to hide what UK collection societies get up to, in an absolutely key consultation, one of whose purposes is surely to get the facts about what's happening in this sector." 'via Blog this'

Law is Code – and legislators need to catch up fast

Law is Code – Slaw: "Law makers of all stripes now need to think in terms of systems and consult with technologists in terms of not only formulating the law but in considering how the law will be implemented. Where there is a law, that law should be given a hand by technologists in terms of how it will be coded so that it comes to terms with the (increasingly) digital world in which we all work." 'via Blog this'

UK proposed digital download law - with enormous #netneutrality implications!

Net neutrality in Europe: UK proposed digital download law - with enormous u...: The UK government has provided a proposed piece of prosumer law legislation that is unbelievably stupid, as illustrated by their case s...