Policy Observatory

The Council of Europe has released an important report on how human rights apply to ICANN. The findings? Not only do ICANN policies intersect in important ways with free expression and privacy rights, but many ICANN policies and procedures are obviously inconsistent with those rights.

A committee of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe is drafting a recommendation on internet freedom and is requesting public comments until the end of the month.

Pieter Omtzigt of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) wrote a report on mass surveillance, as the basis for a draft resolution of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. In his response to the to the report, the Dutch Minister of the Interior Plasterk rejected the proposal of a multilateral “Intelligence Codex”, i.e., a no-spy treaty between European countries, citing it is unrealistic and would irresponsibly limit intelligence collection.

The Council of Europe commissioned the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law a comparative study in respect of filtering, blocking and take-down of illegal content on the Internet in the 47 member States of the Organisation. The study describes and assesses the legal framework but also the relevant case-law and practice in the field. It is divided in two main parts: country reports and comparative considerations.

Find the complete study for download here

The intergovernmental Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France, has published a freely available report on exceptions and limitations to copyright. The report comes as a contribution to the ongoing process of reforming European copyright rules.

The Council of Europe started preparing an additional protocol to the Cybercrime Convention – a new tool for law enforcement authorities to have access to data in the context of criminal investigations.