Hate crimes in OSCE in 2008
November 19th, 2009The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe recently published annual report on hate crimes for year 2008.
Consent will be required for cookies in Europe
November 19th, 2009European Parliament and the Council has adopted Directive that requires user consent to internet cookies. Directive will be in force across the European Union within 18 months.
See: Directive amending Directive 2002/22/EC, 2002/58/EC and 2006/2004 (PDF).
Estonia and e-ID
April 19th, 2009Today I stumbled upon one piece about Estonian digital revolution. Report is interesting though superficial.
YouTube blocks access from Latvia
April 9th, 2009Though it there has been no official announcement, it seems that YouTube now blocks access for visitors from Latvia to official music video clips. When you try to access one you get a notice: “This video is not available in your country.”
Most probably this happened because Latvian copyright holders agency AKKA/LAA claimed too much money from YouTube for license. Agency already has been involved in several court cases with local radios and TV stations on license fees. Radios and TV stations disagreed to fees offered by agency stating these fees are too high and inappropriate. Several radio and TV stations already won these cases in part – AKKA/LAA had to lower the fees.
Now the greed of agency resulted in no videos for Latvians. AKKA/LAA earlier this year was criticized for claiming money from bloggers for embedding YouTube videos. As well it has been criticized by artist for nontransparent distribution of money levied by AKKA/LAA.
Enemies of the Internet
March 20th, 2009Last week Reporters Without Borders issued a report entitled “Enemies of the Internet” in which it examines Internet censorship and other threats to online free expression in 22 countries.
“The 12 ‘Enemies of the Internet’ – Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam – have all transformed their Internet into an Intranet in order to prevent their population from accessing ‘undesirable’ online information,” Reporters Without Borders said.
“Not only is the Internet more and more controlled, but new forms of censorship are emerging based on the manipulation of information,” Reporters Without Borders added. “Orchestrating the posting of comments on popular websites or organising hacker attacks is also used by repressive regimes to scramble or jam online content.”
A total of 70 cyber-dissidents are currently detained because of what they posted online. China is the world’s biggest prison for cyber-dissidents, followed by Vietnam and Iran. Though it should be noted that Internet is monitored and controlled even in democracies.
Enric Duran presents a new publication on the crisis and gets arrested
March 20th, 2009Enric Duran – Robin Bank presented a new publication on the crisis entitled “We can live without capitalism” (www.podem.com) and then was arrested in Barcelona.
Enric Duran is the Catalan activist that in September made public an action of bank disobedience. “I have “robbed” 492,000 euros to whom most rob us in order to denounce them and build some alternatives for the society”, he announced.
17 march 2009 around 18.00 h, the Catalan police forces, the mossos d’esquadra, arrested Enric Duran on the premises of the rectorate of the Barcelona University. The support group of Enric Duran severely reject the fact that police forces entered again in university premises, reviving the dictatorship past in the Spanish State.
Fenced freedom
March 18th, 2009The Feedom Monument was partly fenced this monday (March 16) caused by fears of Riga city council that ommemorative march by former members of the Latvian Waffen SS (most of them were drafted during the German occupation of Latvia and fought against the Red Army) will cause clashes. Large numbers of riot police was located nearby the monument and in oldtown.
Previously several organizations applied to march or gather near the monument on March 16 but the Riga city council banned any gatherings near the Freedom Monument. An administrative district court in Latvia has upheld a ban rejecting appeals by three different groupings seeking to hold marches or rallies on this day. Though march to commemorate members of the World War II Latvian Legion and small counterdemonstrations took place despite a ban.
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Latvian torrent tracker “outlaw.lv” closed
February 20th, 2009It seems Economic police (EP) recently closed Latvian torrent tracker outlaw.lv. Website is closed down with announcement “Thanks to EP, tracker temporarily closed”.
In last August police closed another torrent tracker – file.lv.
Latvians forbidden to drive foreign cars
February 19th, 2009Today Saeima (Parliament of Latvia) adopted amendments in Law on traffic forbidding residents of Latvia to drive vehicles registered in other countries. Authors of these provisions stated they are needed because lot of residents of Latvia drive cars registred in neighbouring Lithuania, thus avoiding paying road tax in Latvia and sanctions (e.g. speeding tickets). Amendments are heavily criticized as inappropriate and restricting freedoms.
Press freedom and restrictions in Latvia
February 19th, 2009Recently the Latvian Minister of Justice Gaidis Berzins from Fatherland & Freedom Party proposed drafting a law that would drastically restrict media coverage of criminal cases by forbidding the publication or quoting of case evidence and other materials in case (based on leaked documents and materials made public by the accused). Fortunately parliamentary committee of Saeima (Parliament of Latvia) has rejected those proposals.