Digital Single Market: unjustified geoblocking to end by the end of 2018

Posted on by Federica Romanelli
On November 20, 2017, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission committed to end all geoblocking that unnecessarily impedes consumers to buy products or services online within the EU. The EU digital single market should “give consumers the same possibility to access the widest range of offers regardless of whether they physically enter a shop in another country or whether they shop online.” No justification for different treatments among customers from different EU Member Read more [...]

Lawyer who ignored client’s Facebook inquiries about his case received a 90-day suspension

Posted on by Federica Romanelli
On April 27, 2017, the Nebraska Supreme Court ordered the suspension of an attorney from the practice of law for a period of 90 days followed by 1 year’s monitored probation. The Counsel for Discipline of the Nebraska Supreme Court filed formal charges against the attorney. According to the charges, the attorney had taken over a personal injury case and “failed to adequately answer the client’s questions and adequately explain what was happening regarding the status of the client’s Read more [...]

Guidelines for practical implementation of the GDPR issued by the Italian DPA

Posted on by Federica Romanelli
The Italian Data Protection Authority, Garante per la privacy issued Guidelines for the implementation of Regulation EU/2016/679 on Personal Data Protection (GDPR). The DPA suggests some actions that can be carried out right away to comply with the GDPR and provides a general overview of the major innovations introduced by the legislation. The guidelines are divided into 6 thematic sections: Principles of lawfulness of the processing (Article 6, GDPR); Information and access to personal Read more [...]

German prosecutors are investigating Facebook for not deleting hate posts

Posted on by Federica Romanelli
On November 4, 2016, Der Spiegel, a German newspaper, reported about an ongoing investigation on Facebook over hate posts. According to the complaint filed in Hamburg, Facebook is allegedly not removing illegal content, such as racist or violent posts, from its pages - even after being requested to do so. More information is available here in English.   Originally published on Technethics in January 2017 Read more [...]

Unconsented hyperlinking to copyrighted material is copyright infringement if for profit

Posted on by Federica Romanelli
  On September 8, 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided whether unconsented hyperlinking to copyrighted material is copyright infringement. It held that when that unconsented hyperlinking generates a profit, then it is is copyright infringement. In 2011, GeenStijl published links to some pirated Playboy photos. Sanoma (Playboy publisher) brought an action at the Rechtbank Amsterdam (District Court, Amsterdam) for infringement of copyright: the court upheld Read more [...]