Media News - Friday, April 20, 2012

EU regulator warns against Internet restrictions

The European commissioner responsible for regulating the Internet, Neelie Kroes, warned Web service providers on Thursday against tampering with customers' Internet access based on how much they pay or which services they use. Some Internet service providers (ISPs) want fast and slow lanes for Web traffic, allowing them to charge more for services which use up more space on the radio frequencies carrying the Internet, such as online television or video chat. In an effort to preserve what they call "net neutrality", European Union governments have considered enforcing laws preventing providers from offering differentiated tiers of access, but so far only the Netherlands has succeeded. Evidence from European regulators and Internet activists shows that some Web-based companies such as Skype have been blocked or stalled by mobile Internet operators because they discourage customers from using the phone to make calls. A draft report compiled by European regulators said that some ISPs "throttle" video streaming. ISPs counter that there are legitimate reasons for doing so, such as Web congestion. The Dutch government introduced net neutrality regulations in October last year after Dutch carrier KPN said it would charge users more if they wanted to use Skype or WhatsApp, a free mobile texting service. Internet activists who say they are frustrated by the Commission's slow pace of digital reform have reported 162 cases of blocked or slowed services since 2011 and have called on the EU's executive to take sterner action against ISPs. (Reuters)

CPJ launches Journalist Security Guide

With hundreds of journalists attacked, jailed, threatened, and placed under surveillance each year, covering the news has never been more dangerous. To meet these growing risks, the Committee to Protect Journalists will on 26 April 2012 release its new Journalist Security Guide. The interactive guide, created by CPJ experts, provides advice to local and international journalists of all experience levels. Protecting digital information, preparing for armed conflict, covering organized crime, and mitigating the risk of sexual violence are among the vital topics covered in the guide. The CPJ Journalist Security Guide will be available online in Arabic, English, French and Spanish. The guide will also be available for download in e-reader, iBook, and pdf formats. Advance copies of the guide are available upon request, and interviews may be arranged prior to launch date. (Editor and Publisher)

Latin America lacks legislation protecting online freedom of expression, book says

"Toward a Censorship-Free Internet ("Hacia una internet libre decensura" in Spanish) is an online book available via free download that analyzes legislation in Latin America addressing freedom of expression and Internet censorship. Eduardo Bertoni, director of the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information at Palermo University, compiled the book, which addresses four key issues: the liability of Internet intermediaries, how to handle private data, content filtering, and jurisdiction applicable to freedom of expression. Bertoni said that Latin America still needs a lot of regulation, making it difficult to determine whether governments apply with equal rigor the same laws protecting freedom of speech and press in the traditional media as they do in digital media. In his opinion, all countries in the region could create multilateral or local regulations to protect content published online without Internet censorship, but thus far, no country has made progress in this type of legislation. (Knight Center)

Australian High Court rejects movie and television studios’ appeal to Internet piracy ruling

Movie and television studios on Friday failed to convince Australia’s High Court that Internet service providers should be punished for illegal video downloads made by their customers. U.S. and Australian studios had challenged a landmark lower court ruling that service providers cannot be held accountable for illegal downloads. The studios wanted the companies to be required to take “reasonable steps” to stop customers from downloading pirated movies. Australia’s highest court found that iiNet Ltd., Australia’s third-largest Internet provider, had no direct technical power to prevent its customers from using the BitTorrent system to infringe the copyrights of the studios’ films. Customers of iiNet have downloaded thousands of movies via the Internet’s leading file-sharing protocol, BitTorrent. The case was the first for a court to rule on whether an ISP could be held liable for copyright violations by its users. (Washington Post)

Sony-EMI deal set to get nod from EU

The European competition regulator is set to give a Sony-led consortium the green light in its bid to buy EMI Music's publishing assets for USD 2.2bn. The consortium, which is led by Sony Music's Sony/ATV, will not face an in-depth probe from the European Commission after agreeing to sell off certain assets. To gain approval Sony agreed to sell several music catalogues – including Virgin Records in the US and in Europe and Famous Music in the UK, representing songwriters including Ozzy Osbourne, Culture Club and Tears for Fears – according to the Financial Times. The deal is still awaiting regulatory decisions in the US, Australia and Brazil. However, clearance in Europe is considered to be the most critical step in gaining global approval for the deal. The deal to acquire EMI Publishing, with rights to artists such as Pink and Pharrell Williams, will give Sony a share of between 25 percent and 30 percent of the global music publishing market. EU clearance will dismay rivals, such as Warner Music and small independent music labels, which vehemently oppose the deal and had hoped Sony might face the same in-depth probe as Universal Music. In March, the European Commission made the widely-expected decision to launch a phase two review of Universal Music's GBP 1.2bn bid to buy EMI's recorded music division, home to the Beatles, Coldplay and Katy Perry. (The Guardian)

Survey: social media evidence soaring in court

A new survey reports that social media played a significant role in nearly 700 cases in the past two years alone and that most of these involved either MySpace or Facebook. LinkedIn and Twitter were the next most common social media sites to produce evidence for the justice system. Only one case mentioned FourSquare. The report doesn’t mention Google+ at all. The findings were based on a study of legal databases and were published by X1 Discovery, a company that helps lawyers and law enforcement mine social media. Social media has provided not only new evidence for courts but also a challenge for judges who are struggling to decide what to do with jurors who tweet or discuss cases on Facebook. More highlights from the report can be found on the Forensic Focus blog. A spreadsheet of the findings can be found here. (Paid Content)

• Home |
• Seminars  |
• Events |
• Media Landscape |
• Newsroom|
• Media News|
• Resources

Terms of service and Privacy policy.

Copyright © 1992- 2013 European Journalism Centre. All rights reserved.

Valid XHTML and CSS.

European Journalism Centre

Sonneville-lunet 10
6221KT Maastricht
The Netherlands

Tel. : +31 43 325 40 30
Fax : +32 2 400 42 20

E-mail: info[at]ejc.net