https://pinboard.in/u:jm/public/ recent bookmarks from jm 2026-06-18T09:36:04+00:00 https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/do-not-invite-big-tech-to-your-digital-autonomy-discussion/ jmIf we want to discuss how to improve our digital autonomy, employees from US big tech will not usefully contribute to the conversation. They can’t. And in fact, they’ll likely actively prevent progress by restating old talking points, like how (despite tons of legal analysis to the contrary) Microsoft is somehow able to shield us from the vagaries of the US administration. I recall Microsoft vice-president Brad Smith explaining how Microsoft would go to court to protect European rights and within a week, Microsoft told the International Criminal Court that it had to remove several employees from Microsoft services, because of US sanctions. Microsoft pointedly did not go to court to defend the ICC. If you invite US big tech to your event, you’ll spend some of your time listening to fairy tales. And if you are lucky someone is present to debunk these stories. But still, if Amazon just got 10 minutes of speaking time to talk about their supposedly sovereign cloud, and then someone else says it is not true, the meeting is still left with the impression that it could be true. The issue has successfully been “both-sidesed”. Also, you lost 15 minutes of your day. ]]> amazon microsoft google big-tech digital-sovereignty us-politics europe eu https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:0baf6f3dc2b7/ 2026-06-10T11:52:03+00:00 https://the-decoder.com/landmark-german-ruling-declares-googles-ai-overviews-are-googles-own-words-and-makes-it-liable-for-false-answers/ jm The judge is explicitly cutting down most of the legal defenses they use. They make a sharp cut between search and AI, saying search is indispensable, but AI is not, and defendants have not proven how being held liable for their output would compromise the ability to run a normal search engine. They make a similar hard cut between AI and autocomplete. They go on at length about the nature of truth in utterances, and arrive at a conclusion that AI output has no protections for free expression because it isn't expressing shit - it has no beliefs, it is a commercial product only. There are two injunctions that are denied because they are not considered statements of fact, but the judge rules against google for all the ones that were, and concludes several are default considered false because the linked pages were irrelevant. There is explicit differentiation from aggregating reviews and third party content, because the AI generated text and ideas that were not present in the input. There is also discussion about how there is no excuse for further violations just because its hard to control AI output, and contrasts this with how normal "report and takedown" protections work. There is very little here that is specific to AI overviews in search, and almost all of the arguments apply to AI products in general. AI's only prayer of being remotely profitable must include advertising or shopping features, which means they absolutely must continue generating output that makes statements of fact about other companies. I know nothing about how German courts work, the article alludes to appeals, but if this ruling holds even just in Germany the ability to insure AI products disappears overnight and that makes the product nonviable. ]]> germany eu liability google ai-overviews slop law truth libel facts insurance https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:25401dacd469/ 2026-04-16T13:18:55+00:00 https://chaos.social/@thunfisch/116414098310170847 jmApparently #Microsoft is not able to get enough compute within EU datacenters to handle #Copilot requests. Instead, it will do "Flex-Routing", which processes some requests in non-EU datacenters. This is Opt-Out. The only notification was an e-mail to Admins. If they missed that, companies might be leaking PII outside of the EU from tomorrow on. Get your GDPR Nightmare letters ready! ]]> fail microsoft gdpr regulation security copilot eu flex-routing pii privacy https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:e0414b8f8629/ 2025-09-29T10:05:24+00:00 https://www.thebriefing.ie/google-just-erased-7-years-of-our-political-history/ jm google advertising ads politics ireland eu europe youtube elections history https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:7fb87f1a868b/ 2025-09-02T15:55:49+00:00 https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/27/ovhcloud_interview/?ck_subscriber_id=512829374#438:%20Amazon%20Q%20Rules%20Except%20It%20Doesn't%20At%20All%20-%2018837614 jm"[Microsoft] finally told the truth!" says OVHcloud Chief Legal Officer Solange Viegas Dos Reis. "It's not a surprise," she shrugs, "we already knew that [MS could not guarantee that customer data would remain protected from US government access requests]." However, "this reply from Microsoft brought kind of a shock for customers, because they suddenly discover that what they have been taught for a while. 'Oh guys, don't worry, it will not apply to you. Don't worry.' It's false! Because, indeed, the data can be communicated." Anton Carniaux, director of public and legal affairs at Microsoft France, made the admission during a hearing in the country. In answer to whether he could guarantee that data on French citizens could not be transmitted to the US government without the explicit agreement of the French authorities, Carniaux replied: "No, I can't guarantee it," but added that the scenario had "never happened before." "It's a question of trust," says Viegas Dos Reis. "And because of this question of trust, we have been receiving a lot of questions from our customers about, 'Hey, we know now how it works with US cloud providers. Tell me how it works from other providers.'" ]]> ovhcloud ovh data-protection data-privacy amazon microsoft google cloud-computing sovereignty eu politics surveillance https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:fec01f72dff5/ 2025-07-25T14:40:27+00:00 https://wero-wallet.eu/ jm payment money eu wero banking payments https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:a55e461a07a3/ 2025-07-21T10:55:10+00:00 https://ppc.land/microsoft-cant-protect-french-data-from-us-government-access/ jmMicrosoft France's legal director conceded under sworn testimony that the company cannot guarantee French citizen data stored in EU datacenters remains protected from US agency access. The June 10, 2025 French Senate hearing marked a significant moment in European digital sovereignty discussions as Microsoft executives addressed concerns over extraterritorial data access. During proceedings before the Senate inquiry commission investigating public procurement's role in promoting digital sovereignty, Anton Carniaux, Microsoft France's director of public and legal affairs, admitted fundamental limitations regarding data protection guarantees. When asked directly whether he could guarantee under oath that French citizen data would never be transmitted to US authorities without explicit French authorization, Carniaux responded: "No, I cannot guarantee it." The testimony contradicts years of Microsoft's security assurances regarding European data hosting. Despite implementing encryption and technical safeguards, the company acknowledged that US legislation ultimately supersedes protective measures when federal agencies issue valid data requests. So much for the EU Sovereign Cloud, eh.]]> cloud-computing microsoft eu us-politics sovereignty data-protection privacy via:davey_cakes https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:1cf52abd966f/ 2025-06-05T10:03:37+00:00 https://www.androidpolice.com/eu-new-rules-will-shake-up-android-update-policies/ jmStarting from June 20, 2025, smartphones and tablets sold in the European Union must adhere to the following design requirements (via European Commission): - Resistance to accidental drops or scratches and protection from dust and water - Sufficiently durable batteries which can withstand at least 800 charge and discharge cycles while retaining at least 80% of their initial capacity - Rules on disassembly and repair, including obligations for producers to make critical spare parts available within 5-10 working days, and for 7 years after the end of sales of the product model on the EU market - Availability of operating system upgrades for longer periods (at least 5 years from the date of the end of placement on the market of the last unit of a product model) - Non-discriminatory access for professional repairers to any software or firmware needed for the replacement I'm really looking forward to the improvements in right-to-repair; some of the recent phone models have been an absolute shitshow, using glue etc.]]> repair phones right-to-repair eu ireland smartphones mobile-phones devices hardware software-updates support https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:b458cbf38b47/ 2025-02-26T16:09:53+00:00 https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/26/europe_has_second_thoughts_about/ jmThe Register: In the US, the argument against China supplying network hardware [was] based on the concern that the Chinese government can just order China-based vendors to insert a backdoor. It sounds like you're saying that, essentially, an analogous situation exists in the US now. Hubert: Yeah, exactly. And that has been the case for a while. I mean, this is not an entirely new realization. The thing that is making it so interesting right now is that we are on the brink of [going all-in on Microsoft's cloud]. The Dutch government is sort of just typical, so I mention it because I am Dutch, but they're very representative of European governments right now. And they were heading to a situation where there was no email except Microsoft, which means that if one ministry wants to email the other ministry, they have to pass it by US servers. Which leads to the odd situation that if the Dutch Ministry of Finance wants to send a secret to the Dutch National Bank, they'd have to send someone over with a typewriter to make it happen because [the communications channel has been outsourced]. There's nothing left that we do not share with the US. ]]> supply-chains clouds eu us politics geopolitics backdoors infosec security europe https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:ef97f1a1d8ab/ 2025-01-10T10:34:19+00:00 https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQZSZGfKmlTKKmFvtDgVbjWqttC jmAfter 2021, the major tech platforms we’ve relied on since the 2010s could no longer pretend that they would ever be able to properly manage the amount of users, the amount of content, the amount of influence they “need” to exist at the size they “need” to exist at to make the amount of money they “need” to exist. And after sleepwalking through the Biden administration and doing the bare minimum to avoid any fingers pointed their direction about election interference last year, the companies are now fully giving up. Knowing the incoming Trump administration will not only not care, but will even reward them for it. The question now is, what will the EU do about it? This is a flagrant raised finger in the face of the Digital Services Act.]]> moderation content ugc meta future dsa eu garbage-day https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:62c2d009210a/ 2024-12-04T09:26:47+00:00 https://www.politico.eu/article/european-union-lawmakers-tiktok-romania-election-ultranationalist-calin-georgescu-content-moderation/ jm For years, the Chinese-owned social media app has brushed off security concerns in the United States and Europe that it could be used for mass manipulation and espionage. It now faces an intense regulatory storm in Bucharest over whether it played a role in skewing the democratic process in an EU country and NATO member of 19 million people. [....] "Honestly speaking, we are getting fed up by the documents and the empty promises," Swedish center-right European lawmaker Arba Kokalari said near the end of the hearing. ]]> tiktok elections romania eu bias news propaganda democracy social-media https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:f5ba011f564a/ 2024-12-03T12:20:56+00:00 https://noyb.eu/en/noyb-now-qualified-bring-collective-redress-actions jm noyb data-privacy data-protection class-actions law eu collective-redress https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:57ae6f8b95bb/ 2024-10-18T10:01:05+00:00 https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/nuclear-no-yes-maybe-but-not-like-this/ jmCurrently many (European) countries are individually trying to order up new nuclear power, from many different places. But it appears we can’t treat nuclear reactors like (say) cars you can just procure. If we’d want to do this right, it is probably indeed better to not simply try to order stuff, but to engender a nuclear revival. To not simply point our fingers at Framatome and EDF and say “do better!”. What if we actually made this a European or transatlantic project, and add the vast expertise that is still hidden within our institutes, and indeed setup a project for building 50 nuclear reactors, or more? This would allow a broad base of research that would derisk the process, so we don’t necessarily find out after 15 years of construction that the design is too complicated. And perhaps also not try to pretend that we are leaving this to the free market, but recognize this as a public activity. Doing it like this would require governments, institutes and companies to think different, and I’m reasonably sure we can’t even get this done between a few like-minded countries. Most definitely the EU would not reach consensus on this, since Germany is fundamentally opposed to anything nuclear ever. ]]> bert-hubert nuclear nukes nuclear-power eu future sustainability https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:d5aa57278473/ 2024-09-16T15:45:53+00:00 https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/news/happy-e-e-d-day-to-those-who-celebrate/ jmSunday September 15th was the deadline for every single organisation in Europe operating a datacentre of more than 500 KW, to publicly disclose: how much electricity they used in the last year; how much power came from renewable sources, and how much of this relied on the company buying increasingly controversial ‘unbundled’ renewable energy credits; how much water they used; and many more datapoints [...] Where this information is being disclosed, in the public domain, and discoverable, [the Green Web Foundation] intend to link to it and make it easier to find. [....] There are some concessions for organisations that have classed this information as a trade secret or commercially confidential. In this case there is a second law passed, the snappily titled Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1364, that largely means these companies need to report this information too, but to the European Commission instead. There will be a public dataset published based on this reporting released next year, containing data an agreggated level. ]]> datacenter emissions energy sustainability gwf via:chris-adams eu europe ec https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:b13851aac5df/ 2024-09-12T09:36:22+00:00 https://www.dataprotection.ie/en/news-media/press-releases/data-protection-commission-launches-inquiry-google-ai-model jmThe Data Protection Commission (DPC) today announced that it has commenced a Cross-Border[1] statutory inquiry into Google Ireland Limited (Google) under Section 110 of the Data Protection Act 2018. The statutory inquiry concerns the question of whether Google has complied with any obligations that it may have had to undertake an assessment, pursuant to Article 35[2] of the General Data Protection Regulation (Data Protection Impact Assessment), prior to engaging in the processing of the personal data of EU/EEA data subjects associated with the development of its foundational AI model, Pathways Language Model 2 (PaLM 2). A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)[3], where required, is of crucial importance in ensuring that the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals are adequately considered and protected when processing of personal data is likely to result in a high risk. Great to see this. If this inquiry results in some brakes on the widespread misuse of "fair use" in AI scraping, particularly where it concerns European citizens, I'm all in favour. ]]> eu law scraping fair-use ai dpia dpc data-protection privacy gdpr https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:44a04f4a54d6/ 2024-08-27T08:12:57+00:00 https://european-alternatives.eu/ jm eu europe privacy saas infrastructure ops gdpr dsa https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:046da05e1270/ 2024-08-23T11:08:11+00:00 https://portail-api.meteofrance.fr/web/en/api/RadarOpera jm eumetnet meteorology weather rainfall rain forecasting eu europe ireland https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:61efef3273e3/ 2024-07-18T11:38:32+00:00 https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/17/foss_funding_vanishes_from_eus/ jmFunding for free and open source software (FOSS) initiatives under the EU's Horizon program has mostly vanished from next year's proposal, claim advocates who are worried for the future of many ongoing projects. Pierre-Yves Gibello, CEO of open-source consortium OW2, urged EU officials to re-evaluate the elimination of funding for the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative from its draft of 2025 Horizon funding programs in a recently published open letter. Gibello said the EU's focus on enterprise-level FOSS is essential as the US, China and Russia mobilize "huge public and private resources" toward capturing the personal data of consumers, which the EU's regulatory regime has decided isn't going to fly in its territory. [....] "Our French [Horizon national contact point] was told - as an unofficial answer - that because lots of [Horizon] budget are allocated to AI, there is not much left for Internet infrastructure," Gibello said. ]]> ai funding eu horizon foss via:the-register ow2 europe https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:27e8a4252114/ 2024-01-25T14:42:31+00:00 https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/1750509702629241341 jm thorn scanning csam ashton-kucher eu data-privacy false-positives surveillance accuracy https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:76550c6217fc/ 2023-12-12T10:51:25+00:00 https://danmcquillan.org/eu_ai_act.html jm The whole thing is premised on a risk-based approach(1) This is a departure from GDPR, which is rights-based with actionable rights. Therefore it's a huge victory for industry(2). It's basically a product safety regulation that regulates putting AI on the market The intention is to promote the uptake of AI without restraining 'innovation'(3) Any actual red lines were dumped a long time ago. The 'negotiation theatre' was based on how to regulate [generative] AI ('foundation models') and on national security carve-outs People focusing on foundation models were the usual AI suspects People pushing back on biometrics etc were civil society & rights groups The weird references in the reports to numbers like '10~23' refer to the classification of large models based on flops(4) Most of the contents of the Act amount to some form of self-regulation, with added EU bureaucracy on top(5) As John Looney notes, classifying large models based on FlOps is like classifying civilian gun usage by on calibre. ]]> ai-act eu law llms ml flops regulation ai-risk https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:d4240cecd739/ 2023-10-12T17:21:00+00:00 https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/client-side-scanning-dutch-parliament/ jmnow we are talking about 500 million Europeans, and saying, “Let’s just apply those scanners!” That is incredible. ... If we approve this as a country, if we as the Netherlands vote in favour of this in Europe and say, “Do it,” we will cross a threshold that we have never crossed before. Namely, every European must be monitored with a computer program, with a technology [...] of which the vast, overwhelming majority of scientists have said, “It is not finished.” I mentioned earlier the example that the Dutch National Forensic Institute says, “We cannot do this by hand.” The EU has now said, “Our computer can do that.” 420 scientists have signed a petition saying, “We know this technology, some of us invented it, we just can’t do it.” We can’t even make a reliable spam filter. Making a spam filter is exactly the same technology, by the way, but then much easier. It just doesn’t work that well, but the consequences aren’t that scary for a spam filter. Nevertheless, there are now MPs who say, “Well, I feel this is going to work. I have confidence in this.” While the scientists, including the real scientists who came here tonight, say, “Well, we don’t see how this could work well enough”. And then government then says, “Let’s start this experiment with those 500 million Europeans.” ]]> eu scanning css chatcontrol internet monitoring surveillance bert-hubert https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:b8823261c362/ 2023-08-21T22:51:08+00:00 https://bylinetimes.com/2022/03/09/the-culture-war-funded-by-russian-roubles/ jmBetween 2009-18, anti-gender actors from within the European Union, Russia and the US have spent at least $707.2 million in Europe, with the Russian Federation making up 26.6% of that spend, according to research published by the European Parliamentary Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights.  As reported in this paper, the two main Russian funders of anti-gender disinformation are Vladimir Yakunin and Konstantin Malofeyev – oligarchs sanctioned for their alleged involvement in the annexation of Crimea, after Russia’s 2014 invasion.   Their roubles have mingled with US dollars at the World Congress of Families; with Euros at the Novae Terra Foundation, and La Manif Pour Les Tous; and British pounds at Agenda Europe – in 2013, the assets manager of banker Sir Michael Hintze attended the network’s London summit, the following year Malofeyev’s man in Europe, Alexey Komov, was on the guest list.  The campaigns and individuals funded by this wealth have regularly spread anti-abortion, anti-LGBTIQ disinformation, including that abortion is “Satanic” and that there’s a “homosexual agenda” which wants to make children “sex education propagandists in the EU”. They also spread anti-trans rhetoric.  ]]> russia politics terfs gender lgbtqi abortion europe eu trans-rights https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:55cfd3069679/ 2023-06-20T16:55:34+00:00 https://time.com/6288245/openai-eu-lobbying-ai-act/ jmOne expert who reviewed the OpenAI White Paper at TIME’s request was unimpressed. “What they’re saying is basically: trust us to self-regulate,” says Daniel Leufer, a senior policy analyst focused on AI at Access Now’s Brussels office. “It’s very confusing because they’re talking to politicians saying, ‘Please regulate us,’ they’re boasting about all the [safety] stuff that they do, but as soon as you say, ‘Well, let’s take you at your word and set that as a regulatory floor,’ they say no.” ]]> openai chatgpt eu regulation ai ml self-regulation https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:ae8205598f69/ 2023-05-22T09:51:49+00:00 https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-hits-meta-with-record-e1-2b-privacy-fine/amp/ jmMeta also has until November 12 to delete or move back to the EU the personal data of European Facebook users transferred and stored in the U.S. since 2020 and until a new EU-U.S. deal is reached. This is going to be technically infeasible given Meta's architecture, so the next question is, what happens when they fail to do it...]]> meta facebook dpc edpb data-protection data-privacy eu us fines https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:f8af88bb5b09/ 2022-11-18T11:38:37+00:00 https://www.eccireland.ie/shopping-online-consumer-rights/ jm built-in-obsolescence hardware rights consumer-rights eu right-to-repair repair faulty-goods https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:3fb220a8706f/ 2022-08-10T11:48:07+00:00 https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/#api_5.2 jm solar-pv solar power home eu ec https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:f7b29393b804/ 2022-05-13T09:50:56+00:00 https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/posts/messaging-and-chat-control/ jm The EU wants to oblige providers to search all private chats, messages, and emails automatically for suspicious content – generally and indiscriminately. The stated aim: To prosecute child pornography. The result: Mass surveillance by means of fully automated real-time messaging and chat control and the end of secrecy of digital correspondence. Other consequences of the proposal are ineffective network blocking, screening of person cloud storage including private photos, mandatory age verification leading to the end of anonymous communication, censorship in Appstores and the paternalism and exclusion of minors in the digital world. ]]> surveillance censorship chat-control eu laws messaging apps privacy data-privacy https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:133f804a604c/ 2021-12-16T14:13:25+00:00 https://www.eccireland.ie/ecc-ireland-issues-advisory-on-consumer-warranties-and-statutory-rights/ jmStatutory rights are provided for by legislation (Irish law and EU law as transposed in Ireland). These act as a kind of “legal guarantee”, entitling consumers to seek redress where an item is faulty. Consumers may rely on their statutory rights regardless of whether an item has a warranty or not. Under Irish law, consumers have up to six years to seek redress for faulty or defective items (both new and second-hand). If the product is defective, the seller is generally responsible for providing redress. If a fault arises within six months of purchase, it is presumed to have existed at the time of purchase. For this reason, the consumer should not have to provide proof of the defect. If the fault arises more than six months after purchase, the seller may request that the consumer prove the fault did not arise as a result of misuse – for instance, by obtaining a report from an independent expert. Where an item is faulty, the seller may first offer a repair or replacement item. If this is not possible or fails to correct the problem, a refund may then be provided. Remedies for faulty goods must be provided free of charge. ]]> rights repair support defective-goods guarantee warranty defects ireland eu https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:229b03a343b0/ 2021-11-05T10:49:21+00:00 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/nightmare-letter-subject-access-request-under-gdpr-karbaliotis/ jm eu europe gdpr privacy dsar letters boilerplate https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:cf18f3e484b9/ 2021-10-17T14:08:47+00:00 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/17/facing-chaos-and-needing-a-scapegoat-the-tories-seek-endless-fight-with-europe#comment-152562075 jmFrost is well aware of the futility of his demands – indeed, it is the whole point of his Lisbon performance. Instead of declaring victory, accepting the EU’s munificent offers and turning down the heat in Northern Ireland, he and Johnson prefer to make an impossible demand so that they can blame the EU for rejecting it. They are, as the South Belfast MP, Claire Hanna, has put it, “mining for grievance”. ]]> grievances neologisms phrases boris-johnson uk brexit politics northern-ireland eu https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:ba5d9adc89f5/ 2021-07-05T09:36:30+00:00 https://gir.st/blog/greenpass.html jmAs you can see, 23 year-old Gabriele was vaccinated in February, once, with BioNTech/Pfizer's Comirnaty. What is not included is the date during which she is considered immune. Those are calculated from the number of shots received and the date of vaccination, as well as the circumstances (going to a restaurant vs. going to work, for example) by the scanner app. Apart from the name/manufacturer of the received vaccine, there is no superfluous data inside, so the QR code is not a privacy nightmare, as some have feared. ]]> covid19 vaccination coronavirus green-pass eu qr-codes python data-privacy https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:edde90e50939/ 2021-06-30T10:24:23+00:00 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jun/30/openstreetmap-looks-to-relocate-to-eu-due-to-brexit-limitations jmOne “important reason”, Rischard said, was the failure of the UK and EU to agree on mutual recognition of database rights. While both have an agreement to recognise copyright protections, that only covers work which is creative in nature. Maps, as a simple factual representation of the world, are not covered by copyright in the same way, but until Brexit were covered by an EU-wide agreement that protected databases where there had been “a substantial investment in obtaining, verifying or presenting the data”. But since Brexit, any database made on or after 1 January 2021 in the UK will not be protected in the EU, and vice versa. Other concerns Rischard listed include the increasing complexity and cost of “banking, finance and using PayPal in the UK”, the inability for the organisation to secure charitable status, and the loss of .eu domains. The increased importance of the EU in matters of tech regulation also played a role: “We could more effectively lobby the EU [and] EU governments and have more of an impact, especially in countries where there is no local chapter,” Rischard wrote.]]> mapping brexit uk osm openstreetmap eu copyright databases ip https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:c66761c45e4c/ 2021-04-19T09:42:24+00:00 https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/5g-elephant-in-the-room/ jmAs an icebreaker, [telco operators] were asked if they thought the Chinese could eavesdrop through “backdoors” in Huawei equipment. Every single hand went up. One of the bankers then asked, for balance, if they thought the US could access communications through key Cisco equipment. “All the hands went straight back up without hesitation” [....] In a modern telecommunications service provider, new equipment is deployed, configured, maintained and often financed by the vendor. Just to let that sink in, Huawei (and their close partners) already run and directly operate the mobile telecommunication infrastructure for over 100 million European subscribers. The host service provider often has no detailed insight in what is going on, and would have a hard time figuring this out through their remaining staff. Rampant outsourcing has meant that most local expertise has also left the company, willingly or unwillingly. (via ITS slack)]]> telcos telecoms ops networking eu 5g china huawei nsa tapping https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:d2ae6fa81687/ 2021-04-09T09:02:21+00:00 https://twitter.com/carmelatroncoso/status/1380439779951673347 jmMy conclusion is: this is an immature design of an extremely complex infrastructure with no guaranteed security. The proposed scheme is likely to go down the slippery slope of discrimination and surveillance. I'd like to end reminding my wild thought: Given that fraud is possible anyway, a simple paper-based solution with enough protection to deter cheating may be sufficient to get us through this summer, avoiding long-term consequences. ]]> surveillance dgc vaccination eu carmela-troncoso travel https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:75874645fbf3/ 2020-09-30T10:31:17+00:00 https://twitter.com/gnievchenko/status/1310544553024327682 jm h2 hydrogen green climate-change future eu europe twitter via:ftf https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:f7f426b0dc46/ 2020-09-21T10:14:59+00:00 https://twitter.com/AdamJKucharski/status/1307958852248272898 jm covid-19 sweden households europe statistics eu housing https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:940ab75a2d35/ 2020-07-13T11:47:33+00:00 https://hroy.eu/posts/gdprExplainedByUS/ jmBashing the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) seems to have become one of American activists’ favourite hobbies in the tech field. Some criticism is entirely justified. But many claims that the GDPR is “counterproductive” or “misses the point” are based on misconceptions, rather than an accurate understanding of European data protection laws. As a result, several US privacy advocates have therefore suggested alternative principles or rules… many of which, actually, have been part of EU data protection law since 1995. ]]> gdpr privacy data-protection eu data-privacy us-politics https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:7499f520b9c7/ 2020-07-13T11:44:53+00:00 https://de.ifixit.com/News/35879/repairability-standard-en45554 jm repair ifixit eu en45554 standards europe https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:399a6d523983/ 2020-05-18T10:45:26+00:00 https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Contact-tracing-Public-health-management-persons-including-healthcare-workers-having-had-contact-with-COVID-19-cases-in-the-European-Union%E2%80%93second-update_0.pdf jm covid-19 pandemics contact-tracing eu medicine https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:7a47a03aada0/ 2020-04-15T11:11:33+00:00 https://edpb.europa.eu/sites/edpb/files/files/file1/edpbletterecadvisecodiv-appguidance_final.pdf jm edpb data-privacy privacy covid-19 eu ec contact-tracing https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:a50c5b028683/ 2020-04-01T09:02:36+00:00 https://www.aviationreg.ie/_fileupload/Image/Regulation%20EC261%202004.pdf jm aviation flights holidays cancellation consumer-rights consumer ec eu https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:ebb6d4ae1889/ 2020-03-22T22:59:10+00:00 https://twitter.com/julicouras/status/1241815017961541636 jmMobile contact tracing for #COVID19 A thread with multiple references about what is being done in the world, what has already been done and what is not being done in the European Union. ]]> contact-tracing tracking apps smartphone mobile eu https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:9aeb8156dedf/ 2019-12-11T12:19:29+00:00 https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/12/06/denmark-adopts-climate-law-cut-emissions-70-2030/ jmDenmark’s parliament adopted a new climate law on Friday, committing to reach 70% below its 1990 emissions in the next eleven years. The law targets carbon neutrality by 2050 and includes a robust monitoring system. New legally-binding targets will be set every five years, with a ten-year perspective. The first of these will be set in 2020. In what the government claims is a first for a national legislature, the new law also has a commitment to climate engagement internationally. This includes an ongoing obligation to deliver on international agreements, including climate finance to developing countries. ]]> denmark green climate-change 2030 eu https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:fbe2803b655f/ 2019-12-11T12:18:41+00:00 https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/spain-climate_n_5ddeb9f2e4b0d50f329b79a0?guccounter=2 jmthe Sánchez administration was forced to call another snap election last month. The Socialists again eked out a slim win, and this time agreed to form a coalition with Unidos Podemos, a party to its left. If Sánchez’s center-left vision of a Green New Deal could be criticized for not being ambitious enough, the inclusion of the anti-austerity Podemos could make the country the first to seriously attempt the kind of Green New Deal progressives elsewhere have laid out to curb soaring economic inequality and planet-heating emissions.  Green New Dealers on both sides of the Atlantic argue that addressing both crises at once is key to staving off a resurgent neo-fascist right wing. Vox, a far-right party openly nostalgic for Franco-era Spanish authoritarianism, surged from zero to 24 parliamentary seats last April. November’s election brought that total to 52, making it the third-largest party in Spain.  But, even with a new left flank in the governing coalition, experts say the chances of making transformative changes are slim, thanks to the European Union’s rules on spending and public ownership. It’ll be a test for how much effectively the Green New Deal can beat back the far right while still confined by what one researcher called the “straitjacket of austerity.”  ]]> green-new-deal green gnd climate-change spain left-wing eu https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:bb050c0048cc/ 2019-06-06T14:30:29+00:00 https://www.fastcompany.com/90359828/carnivals-cruise-ships-pollute-more-than-all-of-europes-cars-study?partner=rss jmCarnival’s pollution problem is so bad that across its fleet, the large boats pollute 10 times more than all 260 million of Europe’s cars. That tidbit comes courtesy of a study by the European think tank Transport & Environment, which looked at 203 cruise ships sailing European waters in 2017. The report also found that besides over-tourism and crashing into ports, there’s a good reason for European cities to dislike cruise ships: they are emitting sulfur dioxide all over the place. If you can’t keep your pollutants straight, sulfur dioxide causes both acid rain and lung cancer. Cruise lines, it turns out, have been dropping the gas all over Europe; the report says Barcelona, Palma Mallorca, and Venice were the cities worst affected by sulfur dioxide emissions. Per the FT, “sulfur dioxide emissions from cars was 3.2m kt versus 62m kt from cruise ships, with Carnival accounting for half that, the study found.” ]]> carnival cruises cruise-ships pollution europe eu driving environment climate-change https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:624b949ce214/ 2019-05-22T12:48:39+00:00 https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/revealed-controversial-plan-to-boost-religious-lobby-in-brussels-as-far-right-pledges-to-fight-for-christian-europe/ jm mairead-mcguinness religion secular democracy eu meps europe lobbying https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:b57de52cd9ce/ 2019-05-21T09:47:13+00:00 https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/facebook-and-google-pressured-eu-experts-soften-fake-news-regulations-say-insiders/ jmThe EU’s expert group met last year as a response to the wildfire spread of fake news and disinformation seen in the Brexit referendum and in the US election of President Donald Trump. Their task was to help prevent the spread of disinformation, particularly at pivotal moments such as this week’s hotly contested European parliamentary elections. However some of these experts say that representatives of Facebook and Google undermined the work of the group, which was convened by the European Commission and comprised leading European researchers, media entrepreneurs and activists. In particular, the platforms opposed proposals that would have forced them to be more transparent about their business models. And a number of insiders have raised concerns about how the tech platforms’ funding relationships with experts on the panel may have helped to water down the recommendations. In the wake of numerous reports of massive disinformation campaigns targeting the European elections, many linked to Russia and to far-right groups, EU politicians and transparency campaigners have called these fresh allegations about the tech platforms’ behaviour a “scandal”. ]]> google facebook disinformation russia eu democracy lobbying https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:c81a44f865dd/ 2019-04-24T10:23:56+00:00 https://www.politico.eu/interactive/ireland-blocks-the-world-on-data-privacy/ jmLast May, Europe imposed new data privacy guidelines that carry the hopes of hundreds of millions of people around the world — including in the United States — to rein in abuses by big tech companies. Almost a year later, it’s apparent that the new rules have a significant loophole: The designated lead regulator — the tiny nation of Ireland — has yet to bring an enforcement action against a big tech firm. That’s not entirely surprising. Despite its vows to beef up its threadbare regulatory apparatus, Ireland has a long history of catering to the very companies it is supposed to oversee, having wooed top Silicon Valley firms to the Emerald Isle with promises of low taxes, open access to top officials, and help securing funds to build glittering new headquarters. Now, data privacy experts and regulators in other countries are questioning Ireland’s commitment to policing imminent privacy concerns like Facebook’s reintroduction of facial recognition software and data-sharing with its recently purchased subsidiary WhatsApp, and Google’s sharing of information across its burgeoning number of platforms. ]]> ireland fail gdpr privacy data-protection data facebook eu regulation https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:41ea9d499685/ 2019-04-11T16:08:32+00:00 https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190410/14580641973/eu-tells-internet-archive-that-much-site-is-terrorist-content.shtml jm eu europol policing france archive.org archival web freedom censorship fail https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:c01ee1b12f57/ 2019-04-03T09:37:02+00:00 https://brave.com/iab-cookie-wall/ jmTracking and cookie walls: Visitors to IAB Europe’s website, www.iabeurope.eu, are confronted with a “cookie wall” that forces them to accept tracking by Google, Facebook, and others, which may then monitor them. Dr. Ryan has complained to the Irish Data Protection Commission that this is a breach of the GDPR, which protects people in Europe from being forced to accept processing for their data for any purpose other than the provision of the requested service. “One should not be forced to accept web-wide profiling by unknown companies as a condition of access to a website”, said Dr Johnny Ryan of Brave. “This would be like Facebook preventing you from accessing the Newsfeed until you have clicked a button permitting it to share your data with Cambridge Analytica.” Simon McGarr of McGarr Solicitors, who has worked on data protection cases for Digital Rights Ireland, represents Dr Ryan in his complaint. Mr McGarr said “Where companies rely on consent to process people’s data it is critical that this is more than a box ticking exercise. For consent to be valid, it must be freely given, informed, specific and unambiguous. There’s nothing intrinsically good or bad in cookie technology – what matters is ensuring it’s applied in a way which respects individuals’ rights.” Challenging IAB Europe’s industry guidance on the GDPR: The complaint to the Irish Data Protection Commission will also test IAB Europe’s GDPR guidance to the online advertising industry. IAB Europe has put itself forward as a primary designer of the online tracking industry’s data protection notices. It has told major media organizations, tracking companies, and advertising technology companies that they can sidestep the GDPR, and rely instead on the ePrivacy Directive, which IAB Europe has interpreted as more lax in protecting personal data. IAB Europe has widely promoted the notion that access to a website or app can be made conditional on consent for data processing that is not necessary for the requested service to be delivered, despite the clear requirements of the GDPR, and statements from several national data protection authorities, that say otherwise. “This complaint will make it plain that the media and advertising industry should not rely on IAB Europe for GDPR guidance”, said Dr Ryan. ]]> dpc ireland brave iab-europe iab cookies tracking gdpr law eu https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:c4de5422a77f/ 2019-03-26T22:00:37+00:00 https://boingboing.net/2019/03/26/jfc-fml-jfc.html jma group of left-leaning Swedish MEPs have revealed that they pressed the wrong button, and have asked to have the record corrected. They have issued a statement saying they'd intended to open a debate on amendments to the Directive so they could help vote down Articles 11 and 13. We lost on a technicality, and there is no recourse. This is the most significant piece of internet regulation ever undertaken by a democratic government (that is, excluding Russian and Chinese internet regulations). It will do untold damage to the whole internet. And it's because someone pushed the wrong button. ]]> sweden meps fail voting evoting censorship article-13 eu europe https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:02368a699fe6/ 2019-03-21T16:25:38+00:00 https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/03/brexit-opening-the-seals.html#comment-3122935 jmWhat happens if the EU, as expected, just reaffirms what Tusk said before the summit, that the EU might approve a short extension if the House approves the Withdrawal Agreement and Parliament again says no? Is it possible that submarine May would execute one of her U-turns on March 28 or 29 and revoke Article 50? By then, the petition for revocation could easily have 2 million signatures, giving her air cover in addition to Parliament’s “no ‘no deal’ motion. She’s guaranteed to go down in history as the worst PM the UK ever had if she presides over a crash out. That might change even her fabulously rigid mind. It seems highly unlikely given her well-established pattern of carrying on despite repeated defeats (Richard Smith recalled a famous deportation case when she was at the Home Office) but it can’t be ruled out. ]]> brexit fail disaster uk politics eu theresa-may tories https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:a0928352c85c/ 2019-01-29T21:53:34+00:00 http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2019/01/29/amendment-apocalypse-spineless-mps-just-voted-against-realit jm... in a way, it was typical May tactics. She prioritised vague promises over content. She sabotaged something - anything - in order to fight another day. She made promises she could not keep on issues she knew to be false. Once again, she said anything, anything at all, to survive just a little longer. [...] it has significant medium-term implications too. Firstly, it shows why the backstop was needed in the first place. This country has become an unreliable negotiating partner. It will demand something one day then seek to detonate it the next. The events in the Commons today actually had the ironic effect of reaffirming to the EU the need for the backstop insurance policy. On a broader level, we are about to go around the world asking for trade deals. But we're seen, by everyone, on the largest stage imaginable, to be fundamentally politically insane. We've gone mad and everyone is looking. This is as bleak a day as we have had in the entire Brexit process. All roads now seem blocked. MPs won't back an extension to Article 50. They won't back May's deal. And they won't back no-deal. They've opted for fairy tales over action. Things are looking very bad indeed. ]]> brexit politics uk eu backstop https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:700e63cb2334/ 2018-09-13T10:12:35+00:00 https://www.theverge.com/2016/7/13/12165194/youtube-content-id-2-billion-paid jmGoogle’s new report takes aim at this claim. It asserts that Content ID is a highly effective solution, with over 98 percent of copyright management on YouTube happening through Content ID, and just 2 percent coming from humans filing copyright removal notices. Google also says the music industry opts to monetize more than 95 percent of its copyright claims, meaning they leave the videos up on the service. It claims a whopping half of the music industry's YouTube revenue comes from fan content — covers, remixes, dance versions, etc. — claimed via Content ID. The report also puts a hard figure on how much Google has spent so far on Content ID: $60 million. ]]> filtering copyright eu article-13 copyfight content-id google web ugc https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:d8ce4f90612d/ 2018-06-14T21:10:09+00:00 https://twitter.com/martinkl/status/1007320751463124992 jm twitter threads gdpr compliance law eu append-only logs blockchain event-sourcing architecture storage kafka kinesis https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:a66f2ec82c4c/ 2018-06-08T14:18:00+00:00 http://www.oisin.blog/2018/06/03/programming-and-gdpr.html jmYou could think, as a developer, that the lawyers worry about this kind of fine-grained issue. They don’t. This is one of those situations where they say, well, here’s the risk, you have to make a decision, document it, and be ready to back that up in front of a judge should the soup hit the fan. In this particular case it’s straightforward enough. Are you in control of the presence of data in your database? Yes. It’s up to you to delete it when requested. Are you in control of the data on your harddrive? Yes. It’s up to you to delete it when requested. Are you in control of the operating system implementation or database implementation of deletion? No. Could you get the data back if you wanted to? Yes – but that’s not part of your usual run of business, so why would you explicitly do that? What if some bad dude steals your harddrive and then rummages through it? Ok we are getting a little far-fetched here for most businesses that are not keeping special category data, but if this does happen, then you have failed in your security controls. I guess my overall point here is that GDPR Compliance is a continuum, not a tickbox. You want to be doing the best you can with it and document why you can go so far and not further. The companies that will be getting the big legislative fines are the guys that are willy-nilly exporting special category data out of the EEA en masse without the knowledge of the people associated with that data. The rest of us just need to muddle along as best we can. ]]> gdpr privacy dev tech coding data-protection law eu storage https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:c663de250cbd/ 2018-05-30T11:34:57+00:00 https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1001740417057067010.html jm repealthe8th repealshield twitter blocklists gdpr law ireland eu abuse https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:b378df48db21/ 2018-04-30T09:46:14+00:00 https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/04/27/europe_icann_whois_gdpr/ jmSo was it European law experts Hamilton that wrongly advised ICANN that it could request for a "moratorium" over the new law until it came up with a new solution? It seems unlikely given their expertise and the fact it was them that first warned ICANN that it had wrongly persuaded itself that it was not affected by the new law. What seems more probable is that ICANN's staff and management board simply persuaded themselves that they could stall for time for no reason other than the fact that it would be convenient for them. ]]> icann fail gdpr whois law regulation eu https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:4dbc0c12ac1a/ 2018-04-23T09:22:47+00:00 https://www.mcgarrsolicitors.ie/2018/04/23/use-the-gdpr-to-find-who-has-advertised-to-you-on-facebook-and-get-them-to-delete-your-details/ jmSometimes you get ads on Facebook and you are just not interested in what they’re selling. This is a way to find out who has uploaded your email address into facebook to target ads at you, and then- if you’re in the EU- how to use the new General Data Protection Regulation to get those advertisers to delete you from their system. Totally going to do this. roll on May 25]]> gdpr facebook privacy ads data-privacy eu https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:bbcc41557144/ 2018-04-18T15:07:01+00:00 https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/17/facebook-gdpr-changes/ jmOverall, it seems like Facebook is complying with the letter of GDPR law, but with questionable spirit. Sure, privacy is boring to a lot of people. Too little info and they feel confused and scared. Too many choices and screens and they feel overwhelmed and annoyed. Facebook struck the right balance in some places here. But the subtly pushy designs seem intended to steer people away from changing their defaults in ways that could hamper Facebook’s mission and business. ]]> gdpr design facebook privacy data-protection data-privacy social-networking eu law https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:b2f326655ebb/ 2018-03-30T09:53:00+00:00 https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/29/eu_dumps_300000_ukowned_domains_into_brexit_bin/ jm "As a result of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom, a holder of a domain name does no longer fulfil the general eligibility criteria... the Registry for .eu will be entitled to revoke such domain name on its own initiative and without submitting the dispute to any extrajudicial settlement of conflicts." Apply usual Reg pinch of salt of course. The real announcement states 'this information is subject to any transitional arrangement that may be contained in a possible withdrawal agreement, which is an ongoing negotiation between the United Kingdom and European Commission.' So I guess the plan is to get an agreement in place to avoid this.]]> brexit domains dot-eu eu uk dns the-register https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:2626bed794a4/ 2017-12-05T22:11:35+00:00 http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/12/05/theresa-mays-blue-monday/ jmHaving backed down, May was then peremptorily informed that she was not even allowed to back down. She left her lunch with the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to take a phone call from the DUP’s Arlene Foster, who told her that the deal she had just made was unacceptable. May then had to go back in and tell Juncker that she could not agree to what she had just agreed to. It is a scarcely credible position for a once great state to find itself in: its leader does not even have the power to conduct a dignified retreat. ]]> eu ireland brexit uk theresa-may dup politics ec fintan-otoole https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:9848778d8fa3/ 2017-12-04T22:44:18+00:00 https://hackerone.com/vlc jmThe European Parliament has approved budget to improve the EU’s IT infrastructure by extending the free software security audit programme (FOSSA) and by including a bug bounty approach in the programme. The Commission intends to conduct a small-scale "bug bounty" activity on open-source software with companies already operating in the market. The scope of this action is to: Run a small-scale "bug bounty" activity for open source software project or library for a period of up to two months maximum; The purpose of the procedure is to provide the European institutions with open source software projects or libraries that have been properly screened for potential vulnerabilities; The process must be fully open to all potential bug hunters, while staying in-line with the existing Terms of Service of the bug bounty platform. ]]> vlc bug-bounties security europe europarl eu ep bugs oss video open-source https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:d3b9876db221/ 2017-12-04T11:50:14+00:00 http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2017/12/03/a-wake-up-call/ jmSwathes of the British elite appeared ignorant of much of Irish history and the country’s present reality. They seemed to have missed that Ireland’s economic dependence on exports to its neighbour came speedily to an end after both joined the European Economic Community in 1973. They seemed unacquainted with Ireland’s modern reality as a confident, wealthy, and internationally-oriented nation with overwhelming popular support for EU membership. Repeated descriptions of the border as a “surprise” obstacle to talks betrayed that Britain had apparently not listened, or had dismissed, the Irish government’s insistence in tandem with the rest of the EU since April that no Brexit deal could be agreed that would harden the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The British government failed to listen to Ireland throughout history, and it was failing to listen still. ]]> europe ireland brexit uk ukip eu northern-ireland border history https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:58e57a56259d/ 2017-09-25T10:06:51+00:00 https://www.finder.com.au/eu-piracy-study jmAccording to the report, an average of 51% of adults and 72% of minors in the EU have pirated digital content, with Poland and Spain averaging the highest rates of all countries surveyed. Nevertheless, displacement rates (the impact of piracy on legitimate sales) were found to be negligible or non-existent for music, books and games, while rates for films and TV were in line with previous digital piracy studies. Most interesting is the fact that the study found that illegal game downloads actually lead to an increase in legal purchases. The report concludes that tactics like video game microtransactions are proving effective in converting illegal users to paying users. The full report goes in-depth regarding potential factors influencing piracy and the challenges of accurately tracking its impact on legitimate sales, but the researchers ultimately conclude that there is no robust statistical evidence that illegal downloads reduce legal sales. That's big news, which makes it all the more troubling that the EU effectively buried it for two years. ]]> piracy eu studies downloads ec games movies books content https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:ce0babb6cff3/ 2017-08-01T11:34:13+00:00 https://brianmlucey.wordpress.com/2017/07/09/dark-forces-and-brexit/ jmThe EU have made it clear, as they have to, that there will be no frictionless borders between the union and the UK. Brexit will be dislocative.  As smaller irish companies start to go to the wall post Brexit expect the calls for “something to be done” to start to include Irexit [an Irish exit from the EU a la Brexit]. But this way madness lies. [...] we export more in education services than in beverages ; we exportthree times or more manufactured goods than food; we export six times more in chemicals and related; value added by industry or by distribution and transport is more than 10 times that of agriculture. Seeking Irexit on the basis that it would be good for agribusiness is seeking to amputate a hand for a broken finger. ]]> agribusiness ireland irexit brexit economics eu politics https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:72034b0ae42d/ 2017-07-19T12:00:20+00:00 https://www.heidoc.net/amazon/amazon_global_check.php?asin=B01E3SNO1G jm prices amazon via:its price-check comparison shopping eu uk asin https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:07331145a519/ 2017-07-10T11:29:58+00:00 https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/government/eu-prepares-right-to-repair-legislation-to-fight-short-product-lifespans/ jm right-to-repair repair eu law hacking planned-obsolescence hardware consumer https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:3e59d19e204c/ 2017-05-31T15:20:42+00:00 http://www.datacomplianceeurope.eu/ jmOur consultancy helps our clients understand how EU privacy law applies to their organisations; delivers the practical and concrete steps needed to achieve legal compliance; and helps them manage their continuing obligations after GDPR comes into force. Our structured approach to GDPR provides a long-term data compliance framework to minimise the ongoing risk of potential fines for data protection breaches. Our continuing partnership provides regulator liaison, advisory consultancy, and external Data Protection Officer services. ]]> gdpr simon-mcgarr law privacy eu europe data-protection regulation data https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:a6348c94c2dc/ 2017-04-26T11:15:28+00:00 https://twitter.com/EUCourtPress/status/857142194003738624 jm via:tupp_ed piracy streaming dodgyboxes tv ecj eu https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jm/b:2c20a7477296/