tl;dr
The Telecoms Single Market package is finally through. It establishes some
very limited form of network neutrality and promises the end of roaming,
kind of. Copyright reform will be split into two packages – an
uncontroversial one in December and a more ambitious one next year.
This and past reports: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor
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Telecom Single Markets: The European Parliament voted in favour of the
Telecommunications Single Market (TSM) bill. Amendments proposed by several
MEPs to disallow zero-rating were rejected. As a consequence of the
package, roaming charges will disappear in the EU by mid-2017. [1] This
however, will be limited by a “review of pricing” and “fair use” limit. No
one really knows how charges in other EU countries will be handled in
practice. Most civil society groups and Tim Berners-Lee heavily criticised
the network neutrality part of the deal. [2] The Regulation will become
applicable on 30.04.2016. An interesting peculiarity is that BEREC (the
body of national European telecoms regulators) has nine months to produce
implementation guidelines that define the details within the given frame.
[3]
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Copyright Reform: The European Commission will not be able to propose the
announced copyright reform in time. After postponing the dossier for about
12 months already, there seems to be willingness to propose at least…
something. The new plan now is to table a first Information Society
Directive reform that contains the most consensual proposals in December
and to work on a second package with more daring ideas sometime next year.
The reason seems to be lack of courage and lack of agreement within the
political cabinets.
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Digital Single Market Consultation: We haven’t really much to show for
DSM-wise, but the European Commission is already waving another “red
herring” with a new consultation on the Digital Single Market. The question
is what should be done in the 2016-2020 window. [4] This however really
depends on what will (not) be proposed in December.
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Digital Single Market Report: At the same time the European Parliament is
working on a DSM own-initiative report. [5] The most relevant discussions
there are whether and how to distinguish between online services and online
service providers as well as between for-profit and non-for profit
services. We are at the stage where the committee amendments have been
tabled. Next steps are trying to reach compromises ahead of the committee
votes, which are expected in December.
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UK Staunchly Against EU-wide Licensing: Not a massive surprise, but the UK
government has announced that will listen to demand by its home-grown
industry and oppose any attempt by EU to introduce pan-European level
licenses for TV and film. [6] With France and the UK staunchly against this
centrepiece of copyright reform it remains to be seen what the Commission
will actually propose. From what we can tell, Vice-President for the
Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip still stands behind this proposals. A
political clash or back room bargaining is to be expected.
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Mass Surveillance: The European Parliament has passed a resolution [7]
(i.e. nothing binding) that condemns the European Commission’s lack of
action to protect EU citizens from mass surveillance. Data transfers to the
US and Safe Harbour (which was already struck down by the Court of Justice
of the EU) were mentioned, but recent national laws in France and the UK
are also targeted. Our verdict: Too little, too late, not convincing.
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CopyCamp and School of Copyright: THE European copyright bootcamp will take
place this Wednesday in Warsaw. [8] WMCZ, WMPL, WMDE and Dimi will be
present from Wikimedia. The days after European activists will be taught
copyright advocacy at the School of Rock(ing) Copyright. [9] If successful,
the format is to be repeated.
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[1]http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-5265_en.htm
[2]
http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/27/technology/net-neutrality-europe-tim-berner…
[3]
http://berec.europa.eu/eng/document_register/subject_matter/berec/others/51…
[4]
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/have-your-say-public-consultati…
[5]
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?lang=&reference…
[6]
http://www.politico.eu/article/uk-minister-digital-single-market-entertainm…
[7]
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20151022IPR98818/ht…
[8]
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20151022IPR98818/ht…
[9]
http://www.communia-association.org/2015/09/02/edri-and-communia-team-up-fo…
Hi Dimi,
This is really exciting, and +1 to the other ideas.
We think the issue of internet shutdowns is a growing and worrying concern.
At Access, we're rolling out a project to track and respond to shutdowns.
This particularly impacts Wikipedia users -- with a simple order from the
government (and compliance by telcos), people are cut off from Wikipedia,
not to mention emergency services and the resources the internet provides.
Human rights violations often accompany shutdowns.
We'd be happy to present on our findings and what we believe are
sustainable solutions to this problem.
Best,
--
Deji Olukotun
Senior Global Advocacy Manager
Access | accessnow.org
tel: +1 415-935-4572 | @dejiridoo
PGP: 0x6012CDA8
Fingerprint: 3AEE 4194 F70E C806 A810 857A 6AD5 8F48 6012 CDA8
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