[ORG PM] Parliamentary Briefing 30/11/2012

[Rickesh Shah]

Hello all,

Below is the weekly parliamentary and policy brief for the week ending
30/11/2012. The brief is still in beta mode, so as ever, if there is
anything that you would/wouldn't like to see in here please let me know!

Regards


Weekly Email:

*Official Meetings*

1.     ORG took part in a Ministry of Justice advisory panel, which met for
the first time on 29/11/2012. The European Commission’s revised Data
Protection Regulation was scrutinised. Along with ORG, Which and Privacy
International were also in attendance. Further details of what was covered
are can be found on Jim's
blog<http://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2012/data-protection-debate-at-moj>
.

2.     ORG held Communications Data Bill training sessions in Cardiff,
Bristol, Sheffield and Newcastle this week.Last Saturday we hosted a Stop
the Snoopers' Charter event in London with Index on Censorship, hosting
speakers including Cory Doctorow and other leading privacy experts.

3.   Jim Killock gave a keynote talk at the RSA during an event run by
University of Leeds on users' perspectives of copyright. The key points
were that policymakers needed to listen to a wider range of stakeholders
including internet users, and also that the exceptions recommended in the
Hargreaves report should be implemented. More on this is available on the ORG
website<http://www.openrightsgroup.org/ourwork/speeches/leeds-copyright-event,-rsa:-what-users-say-and-do-about-intellectual-property>
.

*Leveson Report*

The Leveson Report was released this week. Amongst the plethora of
findings, there were some potentially interesting implications for internet
regulation and data protection.

On internet regulation, Leveson did not call for regulation of small blogs
or Internet platforms.

On the topic of data protection, Leveson calls for a narrower scope of the
journalistic use of personal data, and the increased enforcement powers and
penalties through the ICO.

Links: ORG Wiki - Leveson
Report<http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Leveson_Report>

          The Leveson
Report<http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc1213/hc07/0780/0780.asp>

*
*

*Committees*

The Draft Communications Data Bill Joint Committee held a private meeting
on 28/11/2012.

The Joint Committee has finished writing its report into the Communications
Data Bill. It is expected to be released within the next two weeks. Ahead
of its release, reports suggest the Liberal Democrats are distancing
themselves from the proposed powers. This is consistent with previous
comments from Julian Huppert
MP<http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Julian_Huppert_MP>,
who suggested that the bill in its present form would not be allowed to go
through.  According to the BBC, the committee’s findings will argue that

-          The home office has failed to justify the case for a new law,

-          The Bill infringes civil liberties and invades privacy,

-          The measures entailed in the bill would damage British
businesses, in particular ISP’s and CSP’s,

-          The huge pool of data would be a security threat.

The Guardian<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/29/nick-clegg-distances-lib-dems-snooper-charter>,
which has claimed that the report will be released on Tuesday, has also
covered this story.

Links: ORG Wiki<http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Communications_Data_Bill>


The third evidence session into the support for the creative industries
will take place on 04/12/2012. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee will
assess the impact that illegal downloading has on artists, as well as
exploring the support and finance available to individual artists. The
witnesses will include Geoff Taylor of the BPI, Jo Dipple and Andy Heath of
UK Music, and Alison Wenham of the Association of Independent Music among
others.

Links: Parliament UK - CMS
Committee<http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/culture-media-and-sport-committee/news/121129-creative-economy-ev3/>

          ORG Wiki - CMS
Committee<http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/CMS_Select_Committee#ORG_Response>

*
*

*Legislation*

Government Bills**

Defamation Bill

There is an interesting discussion of the Defamation Bill by Andrew Scott
and Alastair Mullis of LSE. They discuss the proposed ‘discursive remedy
proposal’ which would negate the need to bring costly claims by examining
the honesty and reasonability of publishers that the claims made were
indeed in the public interest. They go on to suggest that parliament should
endorse this idea. The blog can be found
here<http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/2012/11/27/a-new-style-public-interest-defence-in-libel-law/>
.

Links - ORG Wiki - Defamation
Bill<http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Defamation_Bill>


Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill

A list of amendments to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill has been
released. The bill will be subject to a line-by-line examination in the
Lords Grand Committee on 03/12/2012. Lord Howarth of Newport proposed a
minor amendment to Clause 68, which is concerned with the licensing of
copyright and performer’s rights, as well as the licensing for orphan
works. The full list of amendments can be found
here<http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2012-2013/0045/amend/ml045-i.htm>
.

Links: ORG Wiki - Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Bill<http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Enterprise_and_Regulatory_Reform_Bill>

          Parliament UK - bill
tracker<http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2012-13/enterpriseandregulatoryreform.html>


*International developments*

Data Protection Directive

The Government published its Impact Assessment of the European Commissions
plans for data protection. The EC’s Impact Assessment suggested that the
new regime would bring administrative savings of up to €2.3 billion a year.
The government disagreed with this assessment, suggesting that the costs of
the regime would far outweigh the benefits, citing a net cost of between
£100 – 360 million a year. More details are contained in the Ministerial
statement released by Helen Green on 22/11/2012, which can be found
here<http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/November_2012/22-11-12/7-Justice-DataProtection.pdf>
.

Links – UK Government Impact
Assessment<http://amberhawk.typepad.com/files/blog-nov2012-eu-data-protection-reg-impact-assessment.pdf>

            ORG Wiki - Data Protection
Directive<http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Directive>


UN ITU

Ahead of the UN ITU conference on the 3rd of December, Google have launched
the #freeandopen campaign. Google have condemned the conference, calling it
a ‘closed door meeting’ which ‘could increase censorship and threaten
innovation.’ The ITU meeting will discuss the regulation of international
internet infrastructure, and critics have suggested that this conference
may open space for governments and the ITU to control access to the
internet. More on Google’s position and their campaign can be found
here<http://sociable.co/business/the-unitu-respond-to-googles-freeandopen-campaign-as-the-eu-votes-to-condemn-changes-to-internet-governance/>.
This is in line with the EU’s position on the conference, with the European
Parliament voting in favour of blocking the proposals. In response, the
ITU’s Paul Conneally stated “We must keep the Internet open for business to
sustain growth in the vast and inter-dependent global digital economy.”

Links - ORG Wiki - ITU <http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ITU>

           ORGzine ITU
article<http://zine.openrightsgroup.org/features/2012/grabbing-at-governance>


WIPO

The Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights’ (SCCR) 25th session
concluded on 23/11/12. The Committee has been discussing international
disability print exceptions, and the feasibility of making copyrighted
materials more freely available to visually impaired persons. The 26th session
is scheduled for July 2013, however an Extraordinary meeting of the WIPO
General Assembly (EGA) will convene on December 17 and 18. Conclusions on
the session can be found
here<http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_25/sccr_25_ref_conclusions.pdf>
.

Links - ORG Wiki - WIPO <http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/WIPO>

          Knowledge Ecology International <http://keionline.org/>

CETA

Trade talks between Canada and the EU are still on-going. Newly leaked
documents have indicated that the EU wants to close talks that it knows are
imbalanced, and there are still a number of unresolved issues, however
copyright reform is no longer one of them. Reports have suggested that
since the EU dropped ACTA it has come to realise that Canada has no real
demands for copyright and IP reforms.  More information on the leaked
documents and what they could mean for CETA can be found
here<http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/michael-geist/canada-eu-trade_b_2191461.html>
.

Links – ORG Wiki - CETA <http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/CETA>

*Other Developments*

Richard O’Dwyer, creator of TVShack, finally struck a deal to avoid his
impending extradition to the US. The ‘deferred prosecution’ agreement means
that he will have to travel to the US and pay a small sum of compensation,
but will not face criminal charges. Background to the case, and further
reaction, can be found on the ORG Wiki.

Links - ORG Wiki - Richard
O'Dwyer<http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Richard_O%27Dwyer>

           Guardian
Article<http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/nov/28/richard-odwyer-us-deal-extradition>

*
*

*Media*


Details of ORG in the news can be found on the ORG Press
Coverage<http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/ORG_Press_Coverage>
 page.

This week ORG has been quoted in Tech Radar, Metro, BBC, and Marketing Week
regarding Facebook’s attempts to change its user voting and its attempts to
further exploit user data. The
Metro<http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/919200-facebook-in-new-battle-with-privacy-groups-over-data-sharing-plan>
article
is a good starting point.

ORG has also been featured in
Recombu<http://recombu.com/digital/news/internet-piracy-prosecutions_M11099.html>,
relating to our intervention in the appeal by Golden Eye’s attempts to
clamp down on copyright infringement.

ORG was quoted in
TechWeekEurope’s<http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/tvshack-richard-odwyer-extradition-us-100454>
coverage
of Richard O’Dwyer’s successful attempt to fight extradition to the
US, and Torrent
Freak<http://torrentfreak.com/poor-bittorrent-copyright-troll-appeals-for-cash-to-fight-opponents-121123/>
covered
ORG’s fund-raising appeal to mount a legal challenge against the Golden Eye
copyright lawsuits.

V3<http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2228077/exclusive-tech-firms-and-rights-groups-set-for-first-advisory-meeting-on-ec-data-protection-proposals>
covered
ORGs attendance at the Ministry of Justice advisory panel on the proposed
EC Data protection regulations.

*
*

*ORG Contact Details*

Executive Director - Jim Killock jim at openrightsgroup.org

Communications Data Bill campaign - Javier Ruiz Javier at openrightsgroup.org

Copyright & Government Consultations - Peter Bradwell
peter at openrightsgroup.org

Parliamentary monitoring - Ricky Shah -
parliamentary.monitoring at openrightsgroup.org
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