Wednesday 9 August 2017

Queen's Speech and the promised “Data Protection (Exemptions from GDPR) Bill” - Hawktalk

Queen's Speech and the promised “Data Protection (Exemptions from GDPR) Bill” - Hawktalk: "There is no "phasing in" leeway and the GDPR becomes directly applicable next May, except in the areas where Member States are permitted by the GDPR to enact variations.  It follows that there is no need to legislate for the GDPR except to implement such variations and exclusions. The Bill should therefore not be called the “Data Protection Bill”; a more accurate Short Title would be the “Data Protection (Exemptions from the GDPR) Bill”." 'via Blog this'

Friday 4 August 2017

China’s Unprecedented Cyber Law Signals Its Intent to Protect a Precious Commodity: Data - MIT Technology Review

China’s Unprecedented Cyber Law Signals Its Intent to Protect a Precious Commodity: Data - MIT Technology Review: "Among them is a requirement that certain companies submit their products to the government for cybersecurity checks, which may even involve reviewing source code. How often it would be required, and how the government will determine which products must be reviewed is unknown. This could come into play as part of China’s broader regulatory push to expand law enforcement’s power to access data during criminal investigations.

Another vague directive calls for companies to store certain data within the country’s borders, in the interest of safeguarding sensitive information from espionage or other foreign meddling. The government has delayed the implementation of this change until the end of 2018, however.

The reason for the delay seems to be that China wants its laws governing the cross-border flow of data to be “consistent with accepted international practices,” according to the authors of a recent research brief from the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy." 'via Blog this'

SCL: Digital Economy Act Commencement

SCL: Digital Economy Act Commencement: "The first commencement instrument under the Digital Economy Act 2017 has now been published. The Digital Economy Act 2017 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/765) provide separate commencement dates for various provisions. The para numbering that follows reflect the content of the statutory instrument" 'via Blog this'

Thursday 3 August 2017

Annual country reports on open internet from national regulators - 2017 | Digital Single Market

Annual country reports on open internet from national regulators - 2017 | Digital Single Market: "Annual reports of the national regulatory authorities (NRAs) on compliance with the provisions on open internet in their respective countries.

Today the Commission makes available on its website annual country reports from national regulators on open internet.

The reports were prepared by the national regulatory authorities (NRAs) and sent to the Commission and BEREC.

[Note - Germany and Sweden detail infringement proceedings in English - others are problematic unless you read Slovenian, Hungarian and Dutch]

They cover the first 12 months after the open internet rules became applicable on 30 April 2016.

The reports will serve as a basis for BEREC's Report on the implementation of the net neutrality rules expected by the end of the year. The reports will also be used by the Commission in the next Europe's Digital Progress Report in 2018." 'via Blog this'

Tuesday 1 August 2017

Look out Silicon Valley, here comes Brit bruiser Amber Rudd to lay down the (cyber) law • The Register

Look out Silicon Valley, here comes Brit bruiser Amber Rudd to lay down the (cyber) law • The Register: "But for all her bluster, whenever it has come down to actual action, Rudd has backtracked from her bold position demanding changes to arguing that the internet giants need to "work with" the government.

A meeting between the Home Office and representatives of Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter back in March was pushed by the UK government – and Rudd herself – as some kind of showdown.

 But in the end, all that emerged from the meeting was the weakest of promises that the companies would "look at all options for structuring a forum" where they would discuss the issues.

That outcome was called "a bit lame" by chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee Yvette Cooper, who complained: "All the government and social media companies appear to have agreed is to discuss options for a possible forum in order to have more discussions. Having meetings about meetings just isn't good enough."" 'via Blog this'

Pornography and digital rights | openDemocracy

Pornography and digital rights | openDemocracy: "UK society has been wrestling with moral and political questions of how to deal with pornography for nearly 400 years. In the intervening period it’s an issue which has been subject to numerous pieces of legislation regulating access to pornographic material in all its forms, from the Licensing Act 1737 (for plays) to the Obscene Publications Acts and the Video Recordings Act 1984. Such legislation has tended both to delimit what can be published and to set (age-limited) conditions for who can access it.

In this context, the UK government’s efforts to introduce household-level filtering could be seen as no more than appropriate efforts to ensure consistent application of already-agreed principles. There are, however, some crucial differences which make the question of how best to balance individual rights and interests far more difficult in the case of digital content.

The most important point concerns access to information." 'via Blog this'

No, the internet is not actually stealing kids’ innocence | Information Law & Policy Centre

No, the internet is not actually stealing kids’ innocence | Information Law & Policy Centre: "The evidence in support of effective public interventions is as limited as evidence of the harm these are designed to alleviate.

Still, the precautionary principle provides some legitimation for intervention – and there are solutions to be tried.

For example:

In a recent report, my colleagues and I proposed a series of possible legislative and industry strategies. Several have potential to reduce harm without unduly restricting either adults’ or children’s online freedoms.

In another report, we focused on the importance of better digital literacy and sexual education in schools, as well as constructive awareness-raising and support for parents.

In the 2017 report by the House of Lords, the focus was on improving the co-ordination of strategies across society, along with learning from the evaluation of what works and, more radically, introducing ethics-by-design into the processes of content and technological production to improve children’s online experiences in the first place." 'via Blog this'