Hey there, tech policy geeks!
The perhaps last “digital” legislative file that made it across the
finishing line ahead of the EU elections is on cyberviolence against women.
The Child Sexual Abuse Materials regulation remains stuck.
The AI Liability Act will remain on the next parliament’s to-do list.
On another level, the Council of Europe in Strasbourg adopted its
Anti-Slapp Recommendation.
On yet another level, Italy is fighting puzzle makers.
Read on!
Dimi
=== Cyberviolence Against Women ===
Last week the European Parliament approved the first ever EU rules
explicitly aimed at combating violence against women and domestic violence
<https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-9-2023-0234-AM-298-298_EN.p…>.
It took years for the file to inch across the finishing line, but the
majority was rock solid: 522 in favour, 27 against, and 72 abstentions.
—
The Directive requires all Member States to criminalise certain acts in
their national laws. Among them are the intentional and non-consensual
sharing of intimate or manipulated material (e.g. revenge porn, nude deep
fakes, images of genitalia), cyberstalking (“repeatedly or continuously
placing a person under surveillance, without that person’s consent or a
legal authorisation”), cyber harassment (“repeatedly or continuously
engaging in threatening conduct directed at a person, at least where such
conduct involves threats to commit criminal offences”), and cyber
incitement to violence or hatred.
—
All these criminal offences must be punishable across EU countries by a
maximum term of imprisonment of at least one year. Service providers will
have to comply with relevant content removal orders under this legislation,
but will also have the explicit right to an effective judicial remedy,
including challenging an order before the courts of the Member State of the
competent authority that issued the order.
—
Don’t hold your horses, though. Member States will have until 2027 to
transpose the rules.
===AI Act ===
The European Parliament formally adopted
<https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2024-0138_EN.html> the
Artificial Intelligence Act.
===Files That Didn’t Make It===
Spare a thought for the Child Sexual Abuse Matrials file
<https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?refere…>,
which remains stuck in Council. The Belgian Council Presidency made a last
ditch effort to find a compromise by keeping end-to-end encryption apps in
scope, but providing some safeguards against the scanning of encrypted
data. This was criticised by both sides - children groups and by privacy
activists. It also didn’t get enough support in the Council itself.
—
The AI Liability Act
<https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2023/739342/EPRS_BRI(202…>,
an often overlooked piece of the software liability puzzle, didn’t get
anywhere this mandate. The Cyber Resilience Act (which included liability
on FOSS) and the AI Act simply sucked up all the political energy. Its
rapporteur, German conservative Axel Voss, who is very likely to get
reelected, has stated that he intends to move on with it after the
elections. He said this after stating that the EU regulates technology way
too much. Well, perhaps just a little more then.
===Anti-SLAPPs Recommendation ===
The Council of Europe (NB: the Strasbourg-based international organisation)
has adopted its Recommendation on countering the use of strategic lawsuits
against public participation <https://rm.coe.int/0900001680af2805>
(SLAPPs).
—
Articles 18 and 19 may be of particular importance to many Wikimedians.
They address the cases where a claimant seeks to force the disclosure of
the identity of the defendant whose participation has been done anonymously
or under a pseudonym and call on Member States to protect such identities
and limit disclosures.
===France: SREN Bill ===
After many, many delays, some of them caused by European Commission
notifications, French lawmakers passed the country’s latest “flagship
digital bill” (ahem). The pretext for it was to transpose the latest bunch
of EU law (Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, Data Act). France
being France however, the legislators couldn't resist going way beyond that
remit and attached all sorts of ideas to it. Hence the lofty title “loi
visant à sécuriser l'espace numérique” (loi SREN
<https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/dossierlegislatif/JORFDOLE000047533100/>).
—
French users are supposed to experience a safer digital space by a set of
new provisions. Pornographic websites established in France or outside of
the EU can be blocked if they don’t check user age. Cyberbullies and hate
spreaders will face bans on services for up to six months. Online platforms
that don’t comply with the obligation to suspend such users and block them
from registering a new account face fines. Obligations that seem impossible
to comply with while also respecting other fundamental rights.
—
The law is already being challenged in front of the Constitutional Court by
several parliamentary groups. The European Commission, which needs to be
notified
<https://technical-regulation-information-system.ec.europa.eu/en/notificatio…>
about such laws, may also further delay or challenge it. Wikimédia France
and Wikimedia Foundation are working together on this. Our main grievances
didn’t change
<https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/wikipedia-will-be-harmed-by-frances-pro…>
since last November.
===Poland: DSA Action===
Poland is moving ahead with its Digital Services Act implementation. Our
Polish community (Maciej, Szymon) is engaging in the process. Read their
translated submission
<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DuVB58LBo5wqSg5vmL39owBEqtW0lpqQ/view?usp=…>
here. Interestingly, the Polish legislator seems keen on the idea of having
three regulators responsible for the DSA: Office of Electronic
Communications (telecoms regulator) will be in the lead, but may hand over
cases to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection or Office of
Personal Data Protection, if it decides.
===Deep Dive: Italian Cultural Heritage Code and European Courts===
Ever since the 2019 Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive made
it clear that you can’t claim new copyright or related rights when
digitising a public domain work, Italy has been eager to find a way around
this. The Italian Cultural Heritage Code essentially imposes an
administrative fee on every re-use of public domain material owned by
Italy. There have been legal battles between Italy and Netflix over
Michelangelo’s David
<https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/video-the-fight-for-davids-image-ital…>,
between Italy and Jean Paul Gaultlier over Boticelli images
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/10/uffizi-galleries-sue-jean-pau…>,
and between Italy and German puzzle maker Ravensburger over the Virtuvian
Man
<https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/world/europe/vitruvian-man-puzzle-leonar…>.
Many exciting questions about territoriality and the interplay between
copyright, related rights and administrative laws here. In our opinion this
will end up in front of the Court of Justice of the EU eventually. In the
meanwhile we can highly recommend a Communia blog article
<https://communia-association.org/2024/04/29/the-eu-imperative-to-a-free-pub…>
by Guilia Dore and Guilia Priora on this issue.
===END===
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Wikimedia Europe ivzw
Dear free knowledge supporting friends,
I’m writing with an update about how the Foundation and a group of Wikimedia affiliates have engaged with the Global Digital Compact [1], an effort of UN Member States to develop a shared set of principles that aim to support an “open, free, and secure digital future for all.”
The Global Digital Compact will become the blueprint for how UN Member States shape their internet policies and develop regulation at the country level. Those policies and regulations will impact Wikimedia projects and will define what the internet will look like for decades to come. That's why today, twelve affiliates and the Foundation published an open letter [2] advocating for UN Member States to include three critical points in the Compact. We believe that the inclusion of these commitments will help protect community-governed, public interest projects like the Wikimedia projects into the future, both at an international as well as a national level. The open letter builds on efforts over the past two years from affiliates and the Foundation to help shape the Compact [3]. The three principles we emphasize in the letter are:
* Protect and empower communities to govern online public interest projects.
* Promote and protect digital public goods by supporting a robust digital commons from which everyone, everywhere can benefit.
* Build and deploy artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to support and empower, not replace, people who create content and make decisions in the public interest.
Read more about the full scope of these commitments and sign the open letter here [4]. For more information about the Global Digital Compact and its potential impact on Wikimedia, take a look at our Diff post [5]. You can also ask questions, leave comments, or get involved in our efforts to shape the Compact on the collaboration page on Meta [6].
Warm regards from the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum in Accra,
Ziski, Wikimedia Georgia, Wikimedia User Group Nigeria, Wikimedia Ghana User Group, Wikimedia Chile, Wikimedians of the Caribbean User Group, Wiki Movimento Brasil, Wikimedia Australia, Wikimedia UK, Wikimedia Europe, Wikimedia Deutschland, Wikimedia Czech Republic, and Wikimedia Sverige.
___
[1] https://www.un.org/techenvoy/global-digital-compact
[2] https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2024/04/23/open-letter-protect-wikiped…
[3] https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/07/17/contributing-to-build-an-open-free-an…
[4] https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2024/04/23/open-letter-protect-wikiped…
[5] https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/04/23/wikimedians-have-some-advice-for-the-…
[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_Digital_Compact_Wikimedia_Advocacy_C…
Hi all,
I wanted to share an invitation with you all to a conference Wikimedia
Sverige organizes, together with Swedish Library Association and the
Institute for Intellectual Property and Market Law at Stockholm University,
on 14 June. It will be a one-day conference dedicated to exploring the
intersections of Text and Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence, Copyright,
and Libraries.
The conference will take place in Aula Magna at Stockholm University (those
of you who attended Wikimania 2019 will know the place!) but we will also
enable remote participation and live streaming. Registration for the
conference is now open, and for those opting to participate remotely, the
link to access the conference will be shared closer to the event date.
Speakers include academics from Cambridge and Amsterdam, the Swedish
National Librarian, and a well-known name for many here, Teresa Nobre – as
well as many more.
More info on this link:
https://wikimedia.se/save-the-date-text-and-data-mining-and-artificial-inte…
Best
*Eric Luth*
Projektledare engagemang och påverkan | Project Manager, Involvement and
Advocacy
Wikimedia Sverige
eric.luth(a)wikimedia.se
+46 (0) 765 55 50 95
Stöd fri kunskap, bli medlem i Wikimedia Sverige.
Läs mer på blimedlem.wikimedia.se
Hello!
Things in Brussels are slowing down. The co-leiglsators are formally
adopting the last reforms, while the Belgian Presidency is making one last
attempt to get the regulation combatting CSA material over the finish line.
Meanwhile the European Commission is offering a grant to build a repository
of public domain and open licensed works.
Dimi & Michele
=== CSAM ===
The Child Sexual Abuse Material Regulation
<https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?refere…>
is solidly stuck and unlikely to make it to the finish line, as we have
written before. Nonetheless the Belgian Presidency of the Council made yet
another attempt to get things moving. The latest compromise proposal
includes clearer safeguards to protect end-to-end encryption. It also tries
to introduce a risk-based model, whereas services deemed to be high-risk
would face more obligations.
—
The fundamental issues of the proposal remain though and it looks unlikely
that the European Parliament (which wants to protect end-to-end encryption)
and the Council (where some countries would really like to poke a hole in
end-to-end encryption) can find much common ground.
==== EMFA====
On 13 March 2024, the European Parliament voted on the final text of the
European Media Freedom Act
<https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20240308IPR19014/media-fr…>,
a new piece of legislation that aims at promoting media freedom and
pluralism within the EU. The Council has formally adopted the text
<https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/03/26/european…>on
the 26 of March, which now only needs to be formally signed and published
in the Official Journal - after twenty days it will enter into force.
=== Transparency & Targeting of Political Advertising===
On the 11th of March 2024, the Council of the EU adopted the agreed text of
the Regulation
<https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/03/11/eu-intro…>.
The new rules have been already published in the Official Journal
<https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202400900> and
thus will enter into force on the 9th of April. Some rules will apply
immediately - i.e. Article 3 containing definitions and Article 5
introducing restrictions on third-country sponsors, whilst others from
October 2025.
=== Anti-SLAPPs Directive ===
The Council of the EU
<https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/03/19/anti-sla…>
formally adopted the final text of the anti-SLAPPs directive. The text will
now be signed by the Presidents of both the European Parliament and the
Council and published in the Official Journal. Following twenty days from
its publication, it will enter into force.
=== AI Act ===
The European Parliament formally adopted
<https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2024-0138_EN.html> the
Artificial Intelligence Act.
=== French SREN Bill ===
On the 13th of March 2024, the Commission formally sent to the French
Government its detailed opinion
<https://europa.eu/webtools/rest/html2m/output/html2m-1711446140-zxjvi.pdf>
on the SREN bill, following its formal notification.
The EC highlighted how the new rules need to be in line with the e-Commerce
Directive, particularly the country of origin principle therein established
and its Article 3(4) and (5) for possible deviations from this principle,
and cannot be in contrast with or merely replicating DSA rules.
Furthermore, the EC pointed out that measures concerning the protection of
minors should be developed at EU level, as the DSA, among other things,
aims at addressing the issue.
French Authorities need now to take into account all these remarks before
approving the text if they want to avoid the opening of an infringement
procedure according to Article 258 TFEU. In this sense, the Commission
Mixte Paritaire <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_mixte_paritaire>
(composed of senators and deputies) resumed its work on the 26th of March
and under the guidance of the new Secretary of State in charge of digital
affairs, Ms Marina Ferrari
<https://www.gouvernement.fr/personnalite/marina-ferrari?mission=secretaire-…>,
will try to address the EC’s concerns.
It is worth noting that, as the bill has not been passed yet, ARCOM has not
been formally designated as Digital Service Coordinator - the DSA foresaw
the formal designation by the 17th of February 2024.
===EU Repository of Public Domain and Open Licensed Works===
The European Commission is accepting proposals for a pilot project to build
a repository of public domain and open licensed works
<https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/funding/eu-repository-public-domai…>.
There are 700.000 euro allocated to this. One of the ideas for this is to
have a database of already identified free content, so online platforms can
avoid their systems blocking or deleting it (as is required by the
Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive).
===END===
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Wikimedia Europe ivzw