content regulation / Copyright / Data protection / filtering / GDPR / Internet intermediaries / notice-and-action

The EU Commission and the tackling of illegal content: is more too much?

  The European Commission (EC) Recommendation of 1.3.2018 on measures to effectively tackle illegal content online (C(2018) 1177 final) is now freely accessible. As readers know, this is not the first time the EC has attempted to express meaningful thoughts (for lack of a better word, as once again the instrument is not strictly speaking … Continue reading

content regulation / Copyright / Internet intermediaries / online platforms

Online platforms & copyright: The CJEU v The EC?

Boosting the EU Digital Single Market is not an easy task. Full of energy, the European Commission (EC) disclosed its strategy one year ago in the Communication on Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market, in which it announced that “in the next copyright package, to be adopted in the autumn of 2016, the Commission … Continue reading

content regulation / Copyright / Data protection / filtering / freedom of expression / Human rights / illegal content / Internet intermediaries / notice-and-action / notice-and-take down / online platforms

Data Protection and Copyright: Could Art. 29 WP guidance on automated decision-making “help” with filters?

In its own way, the pan-EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (Art. 29 WP) has been very active in the past few months. One of the most awaited piece of advice released by Art. 29 WP this month covers automated individual decision-making and profiling for the purposes of Regulation 2016/679 (Opinion WP 251). Why … Continue reading

content regulation / Copyright / defamation / filtering / hate speech / Human rights / Internet intermediaries / Law enforcement / liability / notice-and-action / notice-and-take down / terrorism

The EU approach to content regulation online: tackling (il)legal content online with upload and re-upload filters!

Intermediary liability has been up until now a never-ending story. For the past two years, we have been regularly fed with communications, codes of conduct, legislative proposals, as well as soft but loud encouragements, from national governments targeting online platforms and asking them to do much more to tackle illegal content such as child sexual … Continue reading

Consumer data / Cybersecurity / Internet of Things / national security / Risk-based approach

Governments push on with Cybersecurity Law and Policy Initiatives – an Overview so far in 2017

Another day, another massive personal data security breach… but how have law-makers and regulators reacted in developing cyber-security policies so far this year? This week it was reported that Equifax – the US credit bureau – suffered a giant cybersecurity breach this summer compromising the personal information (including names, social security numbers, birth dates, addresses, … Continue reading

content regulation / Copyright / Internet intermediaries

If we had to live with Article 13 of the proposed Copyright Directive, what should it look like?

Readers might remember an open letter sent to the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council a few weeks after the release by the European Commission of a proposal for a new Copyright Directive on 14 September 2016. The open letter, an initiative led by iCLIC, a Southampton University based research centre, had been … Continue reading

content regulation / Copyright / filtering / illegal content / immunities / Intellectual Property / Internet intermediaries

Article 15(1) ECD is dead! Long live Article 15(2) ECD! Or how the European Commission stroke the last blow to the ECD safe harbours with its proposed copyright Directive!

  So here we are, never 2 without 3. After the proposed Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AMSD), and the Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech, here comes the proposed Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market! This proposed Directive contains 24 Articles and touches upon hotly debated and controversial issues, such as … Continue reading

Cybersecurity / Intelligence and security agencies / Jurisdiction / Security

New EU Cyber Security Directive enters into force, alongside new US Cyber Incident Coordination Directive

Cyber threats know no borders even if the law does…so how are cyber policies evolving in 2016 to deal with the increasing complexity and scale of cyber-incidents now faced by countries, businesses, and individuals? As anticipated in my post from January this year, a bolstering of cyber security legislation is squarely on the legislative and … Continue reading

content regulation / Copyright / Data protection / immunities / Internet intermediaries / ISPs / notice-and-take down

The EU Commission and its draft Communication on online platforms: sectorial voluntary action and soft law are the winners of the regulatory challenge!

The topic of intermediary liability is a hot topic these days, with different types of institutions already having had looked, or still looking, at how to interpret/amend/improve the EU intermediary liability legal and regulatory regime. The European Commission [EC] fuelled this debate with its Communication of 6 May 2015 on ‘A Digital Single Market Strategy … Continue reading

Cybersecurity

New US and EU Cybersecurity Legislation Locked-in for 2016

Systemic threats may ideally require systemic solutions, but to what extent will new legal provisions make a real difference in the future in the way organisations share, receive, and use cybersecurity information? Last year, I wrote a post outlining efforts across both sides of the Atlantic to move forward cybersecurity policy in legislation. As expected, … Continue reading