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</style><title>ORG parliamentary and policy update/2013-w47 - ORG Wiki</title></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-Mail-URLShareWrapperClass" contenteditable="false"><span class="Apple-Mail-URLShareUserContentTopClass" style="line-height: 14px !important; color: black !important; text-align: left !important; " applecontenteditable="true"><br></span><span class="Apple-Mail-URLShareSharedContentClass" style="position: relative !important; " applecontenteditable="true"><base href="http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_parliamentary_and_policy_update/2013-w47"><div><div class="original-url"><a href="http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_parliamentary_and_policy_update/2013-w47">http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_parliamentary_and_policy_update/2013-w47</a><br><br></div><div id="article" onscroll="articleScrolled();" class="auto-hyphenated" style="-webkit-locale: en; ">
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<div class="page" style="font-family: Palatino, Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.4; "><h1 class="title">ORG Parliamentary and policy update</h1><p>This is ORG's Parliamentary Update for the week beginning 20/11/2013
</p><p>If you are reading this online, you can also subscribe to the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://lists.openrightsgroup.org/listinfo/parliamentary.monitor">email version</a>.
</p>
<h2> <span> Official Meetings </span></h2>
<p>On Thursday Peter Bradwell gave a talk at the Queen Mary University Centre for Commercial Law on the <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.privacynotprism.org.uk/">Privacy not Prism</a> legal challenge.
</p><p>On Friday Javier Ruiz participated in a live debate organised by the Guardian on "Lessons in transparency for the UK government". You can view the transcript of the discussion in the comments section on their <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2013/nov/13/lessons-transparency-uk-government-livechat?utm_content=buffer0af68&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer#start-of-comments">website</a>.
</p>
<h2> <span> Consultations and departments </span></h2>
<p><i>A full list of open consultations and Parliamentary events can be found on our <a href="/wiki/Events" title="Events">here</a></i>
</p><p><br>
</p>
<h3> <span>Open Rights Group sends open letter to Minister</span></h3>
<p>Today, the Open Rights Group sent an <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/ourwork/letters/letter-to-lord-younger-on-copyright-reform-and-parody">open letter</a> to the Under Secretary of State for Intellectual Property <a href="/wiki/Lord_Younger" title="Lord Younger">Lord Younger</a>.
</p><p>The letter's subject is the much needed and long promised copyright reform, which has been the subject of consultations and was initially proposed by the <a href="/wiki/Hargreaves_Review" title="Hargreaves Review">Hargreaves Review</a> published in 2011. ORG believes that there is space for reform to protect people when making parody, caricature and pastiche.
Our executive director also wrote a blog entry, bringing together the different issues of this government's copyright reform. It can be found on our <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2013/dear-government-copyright-reform-is-it-happening">website</a>.
</p><p>You can view the full letter in the letters section of our <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/ourwork/letters/letter-to-lord-younger-on-copyright-reform-and-parody">website</a>.
</p>
<h3> <span> Internet safety summit hosted by Prime Minister</span></h3>
<p><a href="/wiki/David_Cameron_MP" title="David Cameron MP">David Cameron MP</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-hosts-internet-safety-summit">hosted</a> a summit in 10 Downing Street on Monday 18 October to discuss ways to rid the internet of child abuse images. Those in attendance were representatives of <a href="/wiki/ISP" title="ISP">ISPs</a>, search engines, Joanna Shields (current UK Business Ambassador for Digital Industries), the <a href="/wiki/National_Crime_Agency" title="National Crime Agency">National Crime Agency</a>, <a href="/wiki/Internet_Watch_Foundation" title="Internet Watch Foundation">Internet Watch Foundation</a> and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. At the summit, the PM announced that the next stage to tackling child abuse was blocking content on the <a href="/w/index.php?title=Deep_web&action=edit&redlink=1" title="Deep web (page does not exist)">deep web</a>, where most of this content is thought to be. The full communiqué has been published on their <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/internet-safety-summit-at-downing-street-communique">website</a>.
</p><p><br>
</p>
<h4> <span>Google and Microsoft block search terms for child abuse images</span></h4>
<p>During the meeting <a href="/wiki/Google" title="Google">Google</a> and <a href="/wiki/Microsoft" title="Microsoft">Microsoft</a> Bing (which includes the <a href="/wiki/Yahoo" title="Yahoo">Yahoo</a> search engine) <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24980765">announced</a> the introduction of new measures that will block more than 100,000 search terms that can produce results of child abuse images. Instead, the searches will display a warning that child abuse images are illegal.
</p><p>Many child protection experts, including the former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24980765">warned</a> that most of the images of child abuse exist on the deep web and would therefore not appear on mainstream search engines.
</p><p>At the summit, Microsoft <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/internet-safety-summit-at-downing-street-communique">said</a> they "are working now on a rapid expansion of this approach to block all child abuse content against a much wider list of search terms". This could cause potential problems as it might block helpful or education content for victims, however, not enough information is available at this time to know the effects.
</p><p>You can view ORG's commentary on the filtering developments on our <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2013/child-abuse-image-policies-risk-looking-like-cynical-manipulation">blog</a>.
</p>
<h3> <span>Nominet decide to allow second level .uk registration</span></h3>
<p>Following a second consulation on the matter, <a href="/wiki/Nominet" title="Nominet">Nominet</a> has decided to allow a second level registration <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.nominet.org.uk/news/press-releases/nominet-introduce-shorter-uk-domain-name-registrations">commencing</a> summer 2014. This decision will <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25006066">allow</a> for shorter domain names ending in .uk rather than .<a href="http://co.uk">co.uk</a> or .<a href="http://org.uk">org.uk</a>. Current holders of .<a href="http://co.uk">co.uk</a> or .<a href="http://org.uk">org.uk</a> have been given five years to decide whether they want to change their domain name or allow it to be purchased by others.
</p><p>You can find ORG's <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.openrightsgroup.org/ourwork/reports/response-to-nominets-second-.uk-consultation">response</a> to the consultation sent on the 16th of September, on our website.
</p><p><br>
</p>
<h3> <span>Appointment of new director for national Computer Emergency Response Team</span></h3>
<p>Chris Gibson has been <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chris-gibson-appointed-director-of-uks-national-computer-emergency-response-team-cert">appointed</a> as the director of the UK <a href="/wiki/CERT-UK" title="CERT-UK"> Computer Emergency Response Team</a>. According to the <a href="/wiki/Cabinet_Office" title="Cabinet Office">Cabinet Office</a> announcement, the team will be fully operational in early 2014.
</p><p>The team's principle <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chris-gibson-appointed-director-of-uks-national-computer-emergency-response-team-cert">responsibilities</a> will be to respond to cyber attacks by; providing core incident management response; leading international CERT engagement; and providing cyber situational awareness and information sharing.
</p>
<h2> <span> Committees </span></h2>
<h3> <span>Business, Innovation and Skills Committee to publish Open Access response</span></h3>
<p>The <a href="/wiki/Business,_Innovation_and_Skills_Committee" title="Business, Innovation and Skills Committee">Business, Innovation and Skills Committee</a> anounced that they will <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/news/publ-responses-open-access/">publish</a> the response of the Research Councils UK (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/about/Pages/home.aspx">RCUK</a>), for their inquiry into Open Access, on Tuesday 26 November.
</p><p>The inquiry was <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/inquiries/parliament-2010/open-access/">launched</a> in January 2013 to examine ways to reform the subscriptions and publications of academic papers. Open Access means that research publications will become available immediately upon publication.
</p>
<h2> <span> Debates and questions </span></h2>
<h3> <span>Debate on internet infrastructure and governance</span></h3>
<p>On Wednesday, parliament held a half hour debate on " International infrastructure and governance of the internet", called for by Alan Cairns MP. He stressed the need for the UK to support an open internet and encourage other governments to do the same. Unfortunately the debate had a very low attendance, only drawing the further attention of <a href="/wiki/Edward_Vaizey_MP" title="Edward Vaizey MP">Edward Vaizey MP</a> and <a href="/wiki/Glyn_Davies_MP" title="Glyn Davies MP">Glyn Davies MP</a>. Mr Davies said that although the internet must remain open, the government should take enough measures to ensure that dangers are prevented. Edward Vaizey spoke about the importance of the internet in the developing world.
</p><p>You can read through the debate on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm131120/halltext/131120h0001.htm#131120h0001.htm_spnew35">Hansard</a> and see more information on <a href="/wiki/Internet_governance" title="Internet governance">Internet governance</a> on our wiki.
</p>
<h3> <span>Questions by Lord Taylor of Warwick</span></h3>
<h4> <span>Question on integration of EU data protection regulations</span></h4>
<p>Lord Taylor of Warwick has <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/131119w0001.htm#wa_st_24">asked</a> a question on the compatibility between UK and draft European legislation on <a href="/wiki/Data_protection" title="Data protection">Data protection</a>.
Minister of State for Justice, <a href="/wiki/Lord_McNally" title="Lord McNally">Lord McNally</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/131119w0001.htm#wa_st_24">answered</a> that both the UK and EU have carried out assessments on the impact of the laws. He said that the EU assessment was that it would reduce administrative costs caused by the current fragmentation of laws, totalling in €2.3 billion per annum. However, the UK Impact Assessment concluded that these benefits would be outweighed by the costs of creating new administrative and compliance measures required by the new regulation. The total was calculated to be somewhere between £100 million to £360 million per annum.
</p>
<h4> <span>Question on assessment of facial recognition and data protection</span></h4>
<p>Lord Taylor of Warwick also<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/131119w0001.htm#wa_st_92">asked</a> a question on the balance between facial recognition for advertising purposes and personal privacy. He asked if the government had made an assessment of whether there were enough safeguards in place to ensure sufficient consent is given for the use of facial recognition.
</p><p>This comes as Tesco <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24803378">announced</a> at the start of the month that they would be introducing facial recognition technology across their petrol stations to target advertisement.
</p><p>Minister of State for Justice, <a href="/wiki/Lord_McNally" title="Lord McNally">Lord McNally</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/131119w0001.htm#wa_st_92">answered</a> that no assessment had been made, but highlighted that facial recognition is covered under the <a href="/wiki/Data_Protection_Act_1998" title="Data Protection Act 1998"> Data Protection Act</a> (DPA). He also said that the <a href="/wiki/Ministry_of_Justice" title="Ministry of Justice">Ministry of Justice</a> works closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office to ensure that public and private sector adhere to their responsibilities under the DPA.
</p>
<h4> <span>Question on regulation of self-harm websites</span></h4>
<p>Lord Taylor's third <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201314/ldhansrd/text/131121w0001.htm#wa_st_18">question</a> was whether the government would regulate websites that encourage self-harming.
</p><p>Lord Gardinger responded that the government uses a self-regulatory approach for the internet and expects the regulation to come from browsers. He also referred to the Prime minister's <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-hosts-internet-safety-summit">summit</a> on Monday and the new family filters that will be offered by <a href="/wiki/ISP" title="ISP">ISPs</a>, which will be able to block suicide and self-harm websites.
</p>
<h2> <span> International Developments </span></h2>
<h3> <span>Wordpress takes two DMCA claim cases to court</span></h3>
<p>Wordpress' parent company, Automattic, has joined two cases in court under Section 512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act(DMCA). The DMCA is an American federal law used to protect copyright online. If copyright infringement claim is made under DMCA, then the hosting website must remove the content in question.
</p><p>In these cases, content was removed from the sites without sufficient evidence of copyright infringement. In one of the cases, a UK based student journalist published a press statement that was sent to him by an anti-gay-rights group called Straight Pride UK. The group claimed a copyright infringement and under DMCA, the content was removed.
</p><p>You can view Wordpress' statement on their <a rel="nofollow" href="http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/striking-back-against-censorship/">website</a>.
</p>
<h3> <span> Fisa court finds NSA violations on data sharing</span></h3>
<p>Following a transparency <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/victory-government-release-more-nsa-documents-and-fisa-court-opinions-response-eff">lawsuit</a> filed by the <a href="/wiki/Electronic_Frontier_Foundation" title="Electronic Frontier Foundation">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a>, the American government <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/19/fisa-court-documents-nsa-violations-privacy">declassified</a> Fisa court documents which reveal the <a href="/wiki/National_Security_Agency_(USA)" title="National Security Agency (USA)">NSA</a> has broken several rules concerning the protection and distribution of information. The <a href="/wiki/United_States_Foreign_Intelligence_Surveillance_Court_(FISA_court)" title="United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court)"> FISA court</a> is the body responsible for issuing surveillance warrants against suspected foreign intelligence agents.
</p><p>The opinion documents reveal that the security agency shared collected information with other governmental agencies without following procedures. The United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18, is a directive that outlines the procedures for the distribution of data within the NSA. It also specifies that a senior agency official should verify that the data to be shared is related to counter-terrorism. However, the documents show that a large bulk of data was shared without using the aforementioned directive.
</p><p>Reggie Walton, the current presiding judge, said in 2009 that “NSA analysts, cleared and otherwise, have generally not adhered to the dissemination restrictions proposed by the government, repeatedly relied on by the court in authorizing the [email and internet bulk] metadata, and incorporated into the court’s orders in this matter [redacted] as binding on NSA.”
</p><p><br>
</p>
<h3> <span>Indonesia withdraws ambassador to Australia over spying</span></h3>
<p>Indonesia's president has announced the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.afr.com/p/national/indonesia_pulls_envoy_over_spying_QDI1D0xYXoFGBHE1b7SI9J">withdrawal</a> of their ambassador and the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/11/indonesia-freezes-cooperation-with-australia-2013112084236857470.html">freezing</a> of ties in a number of areas. This follows recent allegations, made by the <a href="/wiki/Guardian_and_Snowden_revelations_2013" title="Guardian and Snowden revelations 2013"> Snowden revelations</a> that Australia spied on the Indonesia's ambassador's communications in 2009.
</p>
<h2> <span> Law and Legal Cases </span></h2>
<h3> <span>Luxembourg rules that Skype and Microsoft lawful in sending information to America</span></h3>
<p>Luxembourg’s Data Protection Authority has <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.europe-v-facebook.org/PA_18_11_en.pdf">ruled</a> that their country's subsidiaries of <a href="/wiki/Skype" title="Skype">Skype</a> and <a href="/wiki/Microsoft" title="Microsoft">Microsoft</a> have been operating legally under the Safe Harbour agreement in sending their European user's information to America.
</p><p>This follows a complaint filed by the activist group Europe v Facebook. The group also filed similar complaints in Ireland (against the European subsidiaries of <a href="/wiki/Facebook" title="Facebook">Facebook</a> and <a href="/wiki/Apple" title="Apple">Apple</a>) and in Germany (against <a href="/wiki/Yahoo" title="Yahoo">Yahoo</a>). The Irish Data Protection
Commissioner made a similar <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number11.15/irish-dpa-ok-nsa-facebook-sharing">decision</a> to Luxembourg, while in Germany, the complaint is still under consideration.
</p><p><br>
</p>
<h3> <span>Court order rules ISPs to block more streaming websites</span></h3>
<p>Following a request from the movie industry, a high court has <a rel="nofollow" href="http://torrentfreak.com/uk-piracy-blocklist-expands-with-yify-primewire-vodly-and-others-131122/">ruled</a> that six <a href="/wiki/ISP" title="ISP">ΙSPs</a> <a href="/wiki/BT_Group" title="BT Group">BT</a>, <a href="/wiki/Sky" title="Sky">Sky</a>, <a href="/wiki/Virgin_Media" title="Virgin Media">Virgin Media</a>, <a href="/wiki/Telef%C3%B3nica_UK" title="Telefónica UK"> O2</a>, <a href="/wiki/EE" title="EE">EE</a> and <a href="/wiki/TalkTalk" title="TalkTalk">TalkTalk</a> should block a further five websites that provide access to copyright materials. Those sites are YIFY-Torrents,PrimeWire, Vodly, WatchFreeMovies and Project Free TV.
</p><p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/14/studios_win_movie_streaming_blocks_in_uk/">Last week</a>, a similar court order was issued to the same providers to <a href="/wiki/Website_blocking" title="Website blocking">block two streaming websites</a>.
</p>
<h2> <span> ORG Media coverage </span></h2>
<p>See <a href="/wiki/ORG_Press_Coverage" title="ORG Press Coverage">ORG Press Coverage</a> for full details.
</p>
<h2> <span> ORG contact details </span></h2>
<p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff">Staff page</a>
</p>
<ul><li> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#jim">Jim Killock, Executive Director</a>
</li><li> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#peter">Peter Bradwell, Policy</a>
</li><li> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#javier">Javier Ruiz, Campaigns</a>
</li><li> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.openrightsgroup.org/people/staff#lee">Lee Maguire, Tech</a>
</li></ul>
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