Internet regulation in EU countries

Main article: Censorship (control and anonymity) on the Internet

DSA - EU Digital Services Act

Main article: DSA (EU Digital Services Act)

Internet Corporate Policy

• Google's relationship with governments and intelligence agencies around the world

2024: Pressure on Elon Musk to curb free speech on his social media X

In October 2024, the EU authorities warned X that they could calculate fines against the social media platform, including revenues from other Elon Musk enterprises, including Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and Neuralink.

Under the EU's Digital Services Act, the bloc can fine online platforms up to 6% of their annual global revenue for failing to tackle illegal content and "misinformation" or follow transparency rules.

2023: France bans children from social media without parental permission

In late June 2023, in France, the Senate approved legislation requiring social media platforms such as TikTok to check the age of users and obtain parental consent for those under 15. Read more here.

2022

Germany approved the introduction of AI systems for age recognition by face for authorization in social networks

Three systems that test people's ages with artificial intelligence technology to prevent harmful content from affecting minors were approved on May 31, 2022, by the Juvenile Protection Commission. Read more here.

European Union reaches agreement on digital services law

On April 27, 2022, it became known that the EU authorities, after 16 hours of negotiations, agreed on a law on digital services regulating the activities of large Internet services. Among other things, it obliges services to explain to users the work of recommendation algorithms and provide researchers with access to data to evaluate work. If finally signed, the law will come into force from 2024.

The draft European Digital Services Act (DSA) was first presented in December 2020. Subsequently, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union submitted their proposals to it.

The law divides companies that fall under it into four types in terms of their significance: intermediary companies (Internet providers, domain name registrars, etc.); hosters; online platforms (social networks, app stores, marketplaces, etc.); very large online platforms and search engines (from 10 percent of the market in the EU or from 45 million active users in the EU). The provisions of the law are applied depending on the significance (size and influence on society) on the principle of "more importance - more restrictions."

Some of the provisions of the law already either work in some services, or are regulated by some countries, including control over illegal goods in online stores. But the law also has many new norms dictated by the development of technology in recent years. For example, it obliges online platforms to explain in a simple and understandable language the work of recommendation algorithms and their main parameters. Users should be able to use the service with a recommendation system that is not based on creating their personal profile.

Researchers need to have access to key data from very large services to assess the risks the service poses. Previously, researchers have repeatedly complained that Facebook (recognized as an extremist organization and banned in Russia) blocks their accounts and tools used to collect data for scientific purposes. Shortly before the approval of the law, journalists said that the largest IT corporations tried to lobby for the exclusion of this clause. In addition, they tried to get the targeted advertising clause removed or relaxed . The final version of the law prohibits ads targeted at children or at people's signs, such as nationality, political views, sexual orientation and the like. Another point states that users should be able to challenge the decisions of online service moderators.

In the process of final discussion at the end of April, another point was added to the law caused by military actions in Ukraine. It is expected that the authorities will have the right to activate some kind of crisis response mechanism that will monitor the action and impact of online platforms on these crises and introduce appropriate measures.

The law spelled out various penalties for companies, including fines of up to six percent of global turnover and even a ban on work in the EU. At the end of April 2022, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached a political agreement on all points. In the near future, the bodies must prepare the final text and vote on its adoption, after which it will begin to apply to companies across the EU starting in 2024 or 15 months after adoption, whichever comes later.

A month earlier, the EU authorities agreed on another law on the regulation of the digital sphere, aimed mainly at regulating the largest online platforms. In particular, it obliges mobile platforms, including iOS, to allow third-party app stores and self-installation of applications, and messenger developers must ensure compatibility with other similar services^[1].

Google and Facebook banned from using users' personal data for targeted advertising in Europe

On January 20, 2022, the European Parliament approved a draft law aimed at restricting the use of personal data for targeted advertising in the European Union. The deputies adopted the initiative with 530 votes in favor, 78 against, and 80 parliamentarians were absent. The new rules are expected to take effect in early 2023.

The Digital Services Act (DSA), which was first introduced in 2020, will ban internet companies including Google, Amazon and Facebook from using sensitive information such as sexual orientation, race and religion for targeted ads. The law will require that services provide users with the ability to easily abandon tracking, as well as oblige platforms and various kinds of services to remove illegal content and products, for example, comments on projects related to inciting racial hatred or selling counterfeit goods in the European Union.

Google and Facebook banned from using users' personal data for targeted advertising in Europe

With a huge majority, the European Parliament passed the Digital Services Act. Big win, with support from left to right! The issue of ensuring the legality of personal data processing is one of the key conditions for protecting the rights of citizens in the digital environment and their trust in technological services, which means an important component for the development of the data market in Europe, said Dutch politician and member of the European Parliament Paul Tang.

The approved proposal also includes two rules that parliament agreed in January 2022: a ban on targeted advertising for minors and dark templates that some platforms use to trick users into agreeing or sharing their data with services or companies. Platforms, services or businesses that violate DSA rules face fines of up to six percent of global revenue.^[2]

2021

European Parliament approves mass oversight of private messaging

On August 10, 2021, it became known that The European parliament approved the Chatcontrol ruling - a partial privacy violation that allows providers of services email and messaging to automatically search all personal messages of each user for alleged suspicious content and report similar cases to the police.

The delegation of the European Pirate Party, part of the Greens - European Free Alliance EP faction, strongly condemns automatic mass surveillance, which effectively means the end of privacy in digital correspondence. MEPs from the European Pirate Party plan to sue.

In the vote, 537 members of the European Parliament approved Chatcontrol, 133 voted against and 24 abstained. According to police, in the vast majority of cases, innocent citizens come under suspicion of committing an offense due to unreliable procedures.

"The adoption of the EU's first mass surveillance regulation is a sad day for anyone who relies on free and confidential messages and advice, including victims of violence and media whistleblowers. The decree deals a fatal blow to the confidentiality of digital correspondence, "said Patrick Breyer, a member of the European Parliament from the German Pirate Party[3]

The European Parliament allowed to monitor users in order to protect children

On July 9, 2021, it became known that The European parliament approved a controversial bill allowing technology companies to scan text and audio messages on their platforms for mention of child abuse without fear of violating European privacy laws, including data protection the General Data Protection Regulation,. GDPR

537 MEPs voted for the bill, 133 were against and 24 abstained. Despite the result of the vote, European lawmakers warned the rules were "legally flawed" and could "crumble before the courts."

MPs are concerned that allowing companies to scan messages opens the way for them to monitor other communications. That view was echoed by European data protection regulators, who also warned that these rules would undermine EU privacy rules.

Meanwhile, British, Canadian and American ministers, as well as American actor Ashton Kutcher, who is also a children's rights activist, sided with the Commission and called on parliament to pass the law. Facebook, in turn, announced that it would stop scanning its platforms for illegal material.

It is assumed that the temporary rules will apply only for three years. After that, European lawmakers will have to take other permanent measures to protect children in this area, the^[4].

Removing content from social networks without trial within an hour - the EU tightened Internet regulation

At the end of April 2021, the European Parliament passed a law requiring internet companies to "remove or disable access to content marked as terrorist" within one hour of notification to national authorities. Such notices will be in place across the EU without prior trial and the government will be able to impose financial penalties on firms that refuse to comply.

This bill has been discussed in the EU for many years. It was first proposed in 2018, when terror attacks peaked across the continent and lawmakers found themselves worried about radicalizing opinions online. The law will come into force 12 months after being published in the official EU journal. It must then be adopted by each member state.

EU tightened Internet regulation - content from social networks will be removed without trial within an hour

Notably, the law explicitly excludes the removal of terrorist material that is part of any educational, artistic, journalistic or academic material. In addition, Internet companies are not required to proactively monitor or filter their content.

However, many MEPs and rights groups remain concerned that the legislation could have unintended consequences. While companies are not required to filter content, critics say, they can do so without compulsion, simply so they don't have to respond quickly to appropriate notifications. The algorithmic filters used may not be very legible and will block legitimate content.

In addition, a one-hour limit may be an unbearable requirement for small platforms. They are often used by terrorist groups to host content precisely because they cannot quickly moderate content. The new law could make it harder for these companies to operate, thereby finally stifling competition in a market already dominated by US tech giants.^[5]

Creation of a unified system for checking the age of Internet users in the EU

At the end of April 2021, it became known about the creation in the European Union of a cross-border system for online age verification, focused on protecting the rights of the child. A project called euCONSENT is being carried out by a consortium of the same name, consisting of 12 leading academic institutions and developers of technological products. Read more here.

MEPs announced double standards for Google and Apple

MEPs from Bulgaria and Belgium Angel Jambazki and Tom Vandendris condemned the decision of Google, Apple and Amazon to remove the social network Parler from their platforms. They called such a decision a policy of double standards and an example of monopoly abuse. The statements of parliamentarians are contained in the relevant requests sent to the European Commission (EC). RT got acquainted with the documents^[6].

So, Jambazki recalled that Google and Apple removed the conservative social network Parler from their platforms - the Play Store and App Store. In turn, Amazon has stopped providing cloud hosting services to social networks.

The relevant decisions were made by the management of corporations after the seizure of the Capitol in Washington on January 6.

Then Parler, which, as many MEDIA, argued, was widely popular among supporters of ex-President USA Donald Trump, was accused, among other things, of the lack of moderation and the spread of "threats to public safety."

"All three companies said that the app did not meet content moderation standards, but in fact we all observed the application of double standards and violation of freedoms. Tech giants have jointly sought to restrict freedom of expression on the Internet and destroy social media competition, "Jambazki said.

In addition, the MEP recalled similar actions by Twitter and Facebook.

According to him, companies that represent "one of the main channels of political marketing" have done "everything possible to sabotage the Trump presidential campaign" - for example, by deciding to block the politician's accounts.

Against this background, Jambazki turned to the EC with questions about what is the opinion of the commission regarding the decisions of the aforementioned technology giants and how the commission plans to protect the right of citizens to freedom of speech.

In turn, Vandendris, also commenting on the situation around the social network Parler, announced the infringement of market freedom by Google, Apple and Amazon.

"This is a textbook example of the" doctrine of fixed assets, "according to which a company with a monopoly refuses to provide services," the deputy said.

At the same time, he added that these monopoly companies "hide behind user agreements," fully control access to the market, and also "do not hesitate to impose their own political attitudes and views on their clients."

In this regard, Vandendris asked the EC when the commission intends to update EU legislation to cover such examples of abuse of monopoly position.

In addition, the parliamentarian asked whether the European Commission plans to influence the aforementioned companies so that they bring user agreements "in line with international human rights standards," and whether the EC intends to introduce appropriate sanctions "for such misconduct."

2020

EU to block IT companies for failing to comply with digital laws

The EU will block IT companies for failing to comply with digital laws. This became known on November 17, 2020.

Services of technology companies that do not comply with the requirements of European Union legislation will not be allowed to the European market. According to the European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton, the German weekly Welt am Sonntag, the European Commission is already completing work on creating rules for Internet companies. Together with the European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager Breton will present two bills under the names "Law on Digital Services" and "Law on Digital Markets" on December 2, 2020.

The laws will spell out clear requirements for companies that are major players in the market. In particular, they will be obliged to exchange data with competitors and regulators and promote their products and services only in an honest way.

One of the reasons for the development of bills was criticism of American tech giants from European companies and government agencies. They are not satisfied with the EU norms adopted against Google, and believe that these norms are not enough to curb its anti-competitive actions. Some critics are demanding more from the EU leadership than simply obliging the company to stop anti-smoking practices, and the new bills are designed to meet their demands. According to the documents, the EU countries will have the right in extreme cases to exclude companies or part of their services from their markets.

Strict rules must be followed. To do this, we need an appropriate arsenal of possible measures: fines, the exclusion of companies or part of their services from the Single Market, the ability to insist on the separation of companies if they want to maintain access to the Single Market, or a combination of these measures, Breton said.

The European Commissioner also added that sanctions will apply only to companies that do not comply with EU law, and the toughest measures will be applied only in exceptional cases^[7].

The European Union intends to introduce a ban on end-to-end encryption in instant messengers

The Council of Ministers of the EU decided to oblige operators of platforms such as WhatsApp, Signal and others to create master keys for monitoring chats and messages with end-to-end encryption. The reason for this resolution was the terrorist attack in Vienna. This became known on November 9, 2020.

The decision has already passed the necessary stages of coordination and can be made at a video conference of the EU Ministers of Internal Affairs and Justice in early December 2020. In addition, EU Council President Charles Michel intends to visit Vienna in order to hold talks with Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

November 25 is scheduled to be submitted to the Council of Permanent Representatives of the EU Member States. After the adoption of the project, an order of the Council of Ministers of the EU Commission on the development of a resolution will follow. The^[8].

The German online publication Heise Online commented on the draft declaration of the EU Council on the ban on end-to-end encryption that came at the disposal of Austrian Radio:

"Translated into public understanding German , this document means that governments want to force all service providers to open" black moves "in their encryption. In this matter, unanimity has obviously already been achieved in the Council of Ministers. The document is called "Encryption Security and Security Despite Encryption." According to ORF, end-to-end encryption providers such as WhatsApp and Signal will be required to produce a master key that is not needed in principle for the system to work and hand it over to the authorities. "

In Germany, special services were allowed to access encrypted correspondence in instant messengers

On October 22, 2020, it became known that the German government approved a bill that would allow the special services to provide access to the correspondence of messenger users, for example, such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. It is assumed that such measures will make the fight against terrorism more effective. Read more here.

Court in Germany found illegal intelligence surveillance of foreigners on the Internet

In mid-May 2020, the German Federal Constitutional Court ruled that laws allowing the country's foreign intelligence service to spy on foreigners on the Internet violate basic human rights. Now German intelligence will no longer be able to track emails or other foreign data abroad without good reason.

The court ruling says the Federal Intelligence Service has an obligation to respect the fundamental rights of the constitution, and its actions in the current form violate the fundamental right to telecommunications privacy and freedom of the press. Intelligence is already prohibited from monitoring the internet data of German citizens abroad, but the new regulation means that German spies will only be able to control foreign citizens abroad if there is evidence of a security threat.

Germany's federal constitutional court rules laws allowing the country's foreign intelligence service to spy on foreigners on the Internet violate basic human rights

The case was brought by Reporters Without Borders, an international organization that advocates for freedom of press and information around the world. Speaking outside court, the head of the group's German office, Christian Mihr, said journalists should be able to guarantee the safety of their sources.

We protect journalists so they can do their work, but that requires whistleblowers to be able to reach out to them, "he said. - In this lawsuit, we want to ensure the protection of sources and informants in the digital sphere.

The court ruled that the provisions on monitoring Internet communication of citizens of foreign countries abroad should be updated no later than December 31, 2021. The law should also revise the provisions on the cooperation of German intelligence with foreign intelligence services with which they previously shared information received on the Internet, as well as the rules for collecting and processing personal data.^[9]

2019

Telecom operators will transmit geolocation data to EC as part of the fight against COVID-19

On March 26, 2020, it became known that the telecommunications companies Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, Telenor, Telia and A1 Telekom Austria agreed to provide the European Commission with geolocation data from mobile devices of their subscribers as part of the fight against the spread of coronavirus. Read more here.

French authorities allowed to scan social networks to search for unpaid taxes and undisclosed income

At the end of December 2019, the Constitutional Court France issued a ruling according to which the French authorities can scan social networks for unpaid taxes.

According to the court decision, employees of customs and tax authorities in order to detect hidden income can study accounts, messages and photos in social networks.

French Constitutional Court rules French authorities can scan social media for unpaid taxes

According to Reuters, this initiative became part of a new bill on taxation, which was previously adopted by the lower house of parliament in December 2019. It empowers supervisors by allowing them to gather public information as part of a three-year experiment to monitor online space.

The powers to scan social networks to find unpaid taxes drew criticism from the French data protection body, human rights organizations and members of parliament, who saw in the new rules a violation of the privacy of people.

The Constitutional Court agreed that the law could jeopardize user privacy and freedom of expression for social media users as articulated. Therefore, the court approved it with some conditions.

So, the authorities will be able to use only public information, which the user independently posted on the Internet. And regulators will have to closely monitor how these data are used by the authorities.

In addition, the authorities are prohibited from monitoring content, access to which is closed on social networks using a password.

Public Information Minister Gerald Darmanen called the expansion of surveillance capabilities "another tool to combat fraud." He noted that the British and American authorities have long had similar powers.^[10]

France will oblige to block hostile content in search engines and social networks

France approved amendments in July 2019 that would require tech companies such as Facebook and Google to remove content considered "hate speech" by the French government, The Verge reported.

This provision, which is part of a major bill on Internet regulation, was passed by the lower house of the French parliament on July 4, 2019. If fully approved, social media will have to remove hostile language from its platforms within 24 hours once it is identified. The bill will be submitted to the upper house of parliament, their Senate, for subsequent debate.

The language included in the measure requires companies to remove any content that incites or encourages violence or discrimination based on hate, race or religion. If platforms do not remove content within this period, they may face a fine of up to €1.25 million.

In Austria, may prohibit anonymity on the Internet

The Austrian government intends to oblige users to indicate real names when registering on Internet platforms from 2020. According to the new bill, which will presumably be adopted in the fall of 2019, large platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will be obliged to keep real user names, which, if illegal actions are committed, will allow them to be held accountable^[11] be ^[12].

If the bill comes into force, users will not be able to leave anonymous comments on the Internet, which will allow them to fight the manifestation of hatred on the Web. According to Gernot Bluemel, Minister for EU, Culture and Media, the law will apply to all Internet platforms with an audience of at least 100 thousand registered users or with an annual turnover of at least €500 thousand, as well as resources receiving from the budget subsidies for media development in the amount of over €50 thousand.

According to the bill, the registration of real usernames will be carried out by mobile phone number, which in Austria is tied to the personal data of subscribers. Violation of the new law will entail a fine for operators in the amount of up to €500 thousand. At the same time, platform operators will be obliged to store user data and provide it at the request of law enforcement agencies.

The Austrian opposition criticized this initiative, stressing that the new bill limits freedom on the Web and gives Internet giants such as Facebook, who have not proven themselves from the best side, greater power over user data.

Europe gripped by street protests over bullying internet laws

Mass actions "for saving the Internet" are taking place throughout Europe in March 2019. Tens of thousands of people protesting against copyright reform in the European Union took to the streets of cities. As critics of the reform note, it will entail more and more restrictions on freedoms on the Internet^[13].

In Germany alone, protests have been taking place for several weeks. According to Deutsche Welle, at least 40 thousand people took part in the protest, and in Berlin - 30 thousand people. The police, however, counted 10 thousand protesters.

Along with the Germans, residents of Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Scotland and Estonia expressed their disagreement with the new EU reform. The total number of protesters is being specified.

The essence of the protest

The EU authorities began discussing the reform of copyright law back in 2016, but in three years the final decision was never made. The corresponding proposal was submitted by the German politician Gunther Oettinger from the CDU party (Christian Democratic Union of Germany), who in 2016 served as EU Commissioner for Digital Policy and Economics. The next consideration of the changes will take place on March 26, 2019 in the European Parliament.

The reform implies the modernization of copyright law with an eye on modern digital technologies, including, among other things, the global network itself. Most of all, the protesters are dissatisfied with the articles of reform under numbers 11 and 13. Article 11 obliges news aggregators and social networks operating in the European Union to pay the media for the use of their materials. The size and frequency of material contributions by the governments of European states have not yet been discussed.

As for Article 13, if adopted, liability for copyright infringement by users will fall directly on web resources. These will be social networks and other popular portals that host copyrighted content.

2018

Operator of largest traffic exchange point sues German intelligence agency

The operator of the world's largest traffic exchange point has sued the German Ministry of Homeland Security for intercepting traffic passing through it by the Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND). This was announced on Wednesday, May 30, by the Agence France Presse news agency^[14].

For a long time, the secret service subordinate to the ministry intercepted international traffic passing through the De-Cix exchange point in Frankfurt am Main. However, according to the operator, BND also intercepted the traffic of German users, thereby violating German law.

"We have great doubts about the legality of such practices. We consider ourselves responsible to our customers and will ensure that the supervision of their telecommunications is carried out only in a legal way, "the website of De-Cix Management GmbH says.

The hearing of the case took place on May 30 at the German Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, but the court found it difficult to make a final decision on this case. Given the number of daily telephone conversations, emails, correspondence, searches on the Internet, etc., it is very difficult to separate the traffic of German citizens from the rest from the technical side. The traffic of their Russia, China, countries of the Middle East and Africa passes through De-Cix. The maximum speed of passing traffic is 6 TB/s.

The European Commission intends to oblige messengers to transfer data at the request of the authorities

The European Commission wants to oblige messaging applications and other electronic services to transfer user data to law enforcement agencies within ten days of receiving the appropriate request, regardless of where the company is located or the data is stored. In emergency cases, this period is reduced to six hours^[15] of^[16].

As Euractiv reported in March 2018 with reference to the draft document prepared by the EC, if adopted, the law will significantly expand the list of applications obliged to quickly respond to the requests of law enforcement agencies. The law will apply to "social networks like Twitter and Facebook," cloud services, registries and domain name registrars, and even "digital marketplaces that allow buyers and/or sellers to conduct transactions over a peer-to-peer network," such as user forums and e-commerce platforms.

The date for the announcement of the reform is set for April 17. According to the EC, the measures proposed by it are a need that arose in connection with the rapid growth in the use of online services and applications in criminal offenses. As the European Commissioner for Justice Vera Jurova explained, changes must be made to the current legislation, since at present, in order to obtain the data necessary in the investigation that are not stored in other countries, law enforcement agencies must go through a complex procedure.

This system will allow law enforcement agencies to bypass mutual assistance agreements concluded between countries (the so-called MLAT) and request the necessary data directly from companies.

German Interior Ministry approves launch of state spyware

The Home Office has Germany approved the launch of state Trojan the FinSpy program, which allows you to bypass enciphering and intercept messages in popular ones. messengers Now German law enforcement officers will be able to track encrypted communication on mobile devices carried out through, messengers such as, or WhatsApp Telegram Signal, according to Die Welt.^[17]

Thus, the police hope to improve efficiency in work, for example, to identify persons suspected of terrorist activities, drug trafficking and tax evasion. To use the capabilities of the program, police officers will first have to install the Trojan on the device.

The German authorities acquired a commercial version of FinSpy (the software was developed by the Munich company FinFisher) back in 2013, but did not use the program for legal reasons. According to Die Welt, on January 10, 2018, the Ministry of Internal Affairs gave the go-ahead for the use of the program by the federal criminal department.

2017

Germany wants to introduce backdoors in all types of modern devices

The German government is preparing a bill requiring equipment manufacturers to introduce backdoors into their devices that could be used by law enforcement agencies as part of ongoing investigations. The law will apply to all types of modern devices, including cars, phones, computers, devices from the Internet of Things, etc., according to the German edition of RND in November 2017^[18].

The initiative was authored by German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière. In the past few months, law enforcement has had significant difficulty investigating the recent spate of terrorist attacks and other crimes, he said. He explained this by the fact that "smart" devices warn owners about interference, complicating the work of police officers. The minister gave examples when "smart" cars warned their owners even in the event of the slightest shake-up. When conducting an investigation, the police should be able to intercept such a warning and block it, de Mézières said.

According to the minister, "legal obligations" are imposed on manufacturers to introduce backdoors for use by law enforcement agencies. He also proposed obliging companies to disclose their "programming protocols" for later analysis. This requirement may allow the German authorities to force companies to disclose details about the communication encryption methods they use.

Moreover, the new bill gives the German authorities the right to retaliate against hacker attacks (in March of this year, a similar bill was presented in the United States), which will allow them to hack into any remote computer.

According to human rights activists who have familiarized themselves with the document, some of its wording may provide the German authorities with the opportunity to intercept any Internet traffic and track citizens' online communications. As the authors of the bill explained, only law enforcement agencies will be able to access such information with the appropriate judicial permission. However, the problem is not how backdoors are accessed, but the fact that they initially exist and can be exploited not only by the police, but also by attackers, experts say.

Refusal to cooperate with the Belgian police will cost Skype 30 thousand euros

Skype Technologies in Belgium was fined 30 thousand euros. The company refused the police, who asked for help in wiretapping suspects in the case of the Armenian criminal group^[19].

The Antwerp court rejected Skype Technologies' appeal and upheld a previous decision to apply penalties for refusing to cooperate with Belgian law enforcement agencies.

Wiretapping of members of an Armenian criminal group that used the services of a messenger was required by law enforcement officers during the investigation of the next case. After the company's management refused, the police went to court.

German government orders smartwatches taken away from children and destroyed

Germany's Federal Bureau for Networks (Bundesnetzagentur) has banned the sale of children's smartwatch models in the country, and asked parents who bought their children such watches to destroy them. The agency considers these gadgets as prohibited listening devices. The bureau advises schools to pay closer attention to children who have them^[20].

Bundesnetzagentur is part of the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology. The Bureau has regulatory policies relating to electric, gas, telecommunications, postal and rail networks. The regulator is headquartered in Bonn.

Position of the European Union

The Bundesnetzagentur ban comes after the European Consumer Protection Organisation (BEUC) officially warned users a few days ago about the dangers of children's smartwatch models. The BEUC reports that most GPS chips in these devices have vulnerabilities with which a hacker can seize control of the watch. Recall that the main purpose of the watch is to enable parents to track the location of the child and listen to his conversations on their smartphone. In addition, with the help of watches, the child can call a certain number of assigned numbers or quickly contact parents in an emergency.

Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation

In November 2017, the European Parliament approved by a majority vote the adoption of the new Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation. The provisions will give the national departments of the participating countries broader powers to protect consumers on the Internet. The new powers include the right directly, without going to court, to order a hosting provider to remove or block a seller's site that violates consumer rights if no other effective measures are found to prevent its activities ^[21]

In addition, consumer protection agencies can now impose a fine on the guilty seller, as well as demand that a warning for buyers be displayed on his website. In addition, they received the right to request information about the seller from domains and banks. Finally, supervisory officers can now make trial purchases on suspicious sites, including undercover.

Prior to this, the EU countries were guided by their own adjustments in the field of consumer protection on the Internet. The new rules were adopted by 591 votes to 80, with 15 abstentions. They are not a directive, but a law, that is, they are binding in all EU member states. Further, the document must be formally approved by the Council of the European Union.

The European Parliament voted to strengthen privacy on the Internet

The European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs voted in October 2017 for the e-Privacy privacy provision, which provides for limiting user tracking by Internet companies, the ^[22] to^[23].

This initiative is perceived as a step forward from the point of view of pro-privacy activists, but industry representatives are harshly criticized due to the fact that it limits business activities.

As part of the expanded e-Privacy concept, telecom operators and Internet players will have to guarantee the privacy of customer communications and ask for the consent of users before tracking them on the Internet - including in order to show personalized ads.

Such rules aim to ensure an equal playing field between telecom operators and online players such as WhatsApp, Google and Skype. Currently, only European providers are subject to privacy law.

The document assumes that web browsers should have a default setting that does not allow personalized ads based on viewing history. Instead, users will be asked for consent to place cookies on sites in browsers. Such files are placed on the user's computer and contain information about which sites he visited and from where he entered the Internet. This data is widely used by companies to provide targeted announcements.

Websites will also have to allow users to access content even if they have not agreed to tracking. The measure, however, has come under fire from online advertisers as it forces websites to provide content for free.

Law banning online hate comes into force in Germany

In October 2017, a law came into force in Germany imposing heavy fines on Internet companies for late removal of hate and hate messages.

According to the new rules, Facebook, Twitter and other online services with an audience exceeding 2 million people in Germany need to delete xenophobic posts and comments within 24 times from the moment the complaint is received. In some cases, companies are given a week to take these actions. In the absence of a proper reaction from the administration of services, they can be fined up to 50 million euros.

For hateful posts, social networks in Germany face fines of up to 50 million euros

The German Ministry of Justice clarifies that fines will be imposed only in case of systematic violations. At the same time, after the expiration of the period allotted by law, users will be able to complain to the Ministry of Justice if, in their opinion, the complaint was not processed accordingly.

Social media operators should be held accountable if their product is used as a platform for hate speech or other criminal appeals. There is no place for such phenomena on the Internet, as well as on an ordinary city street, "said German Justice Minister Heiko Maas.

The draft law banning hate on the Internet was developed by the German authorities in March 2017. German Chancellor Angela Merkel supported the idea of ​ ​ regulating content on social networks. In her opinion, this will allow to fight populist movements, which are becoming more widespread throughout Europe.

UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Speech David Kaye said that this law "creates concern about freedom of speech"

According to Josephine Steffen, spokesman for the German Ministry of Justice, the law aims to ensure a free, open and democratic culture of communication and protect those affected by hate crimes.^[24]

Social networks in Germany face multimillion-dollar fines for illegal content

The German parliament (Bundestag) approved a bill in July according to which social networks that have not removed illegal content will be fined between 5 million and 50 million euros. The law will enter into force in October 2017, the BBC reports.^[25]

Photo: Grantist.com

Moderators are given 24 hours from publication to remove "clearly illegal" content such as calls for violence. If the legality of the content cannot be assessed unequivocally, the deadline for its consideration can be extended up to a week.

According to Justice Minister Heiko Maas, such a law is necessary, since the experience of Germany and other countries has already shown that without political pressure, large social platforms do not moderate content properly. He added that while the law is not perfect, it could address the spread of "hate speech" on social media

According to German human rights activists, the adoption of the bill will lead to excessive censorship on social networks, since administrators, fearing high fines, will remove content with the slightest doubt about its legality. In this regard, human rights activists intend to challenge the new law in the European Court of Justice.

In Europe, the organization of access to torrents was recognized as a copyright violation

On June 16, 2017, an EU court recognized the organization of access to servers to torrent trackers as a violation of copyright To Europe , which the Pirate Bay portal, in particular, does. The decision was made in connection with the appeal of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, which requested the opinion of the EU Court in connection with the consideration of the claim of copyright defenders, who, in turn, appealed to the Dutch court to oblige Internet the providers to block access to The Pirate Bay.^[26]

According to the ruling of the EU Court of Justice, Internet portals, helping users share files, contribute to the illegal distribution of copyrighted products.

"The court ruled that the provision of access and management of the platform for the exchange (files) on the Internet should be considered an act of public distribution, the alleged directive (EU on ensuring copyright in the information community)," the communiqué says.

At the same time, as the Court noted, the platform operator plays a significant role in ensuring that users have access to copyrighted objects at any time and from everywhere. The portal also organizes files, organizes a search system and, as follows from the data transferred to the court, makes a significant profit for its services.

The communiqué of the EU Court also emphasizes that now the Netherlands and other member states European Union have to take into account his position in resolving this and similar disputes.

The European Union is inclined to "Chinese" methods of filtering the Internet

While the European Union has been discussing the reform of the Directive on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights for several years, Estonia proposes new measures under which all websites, allowing you to upload any content to the Web, they will be obliged to install copyright filters, not allowing anything that could violate anyone's intellectual property rights, the^[27].

It is understood that websites equipped with such filters will be forced to scan everything that users download, including personal data. This approach is not to many people's liking. But this idea is actively supported by the European media industry and the government of Estonia, the country that currently chairs the EU.

Removal of "wrong" content on the social network in 24 hours and a fine of 50 million euros

The Federal Ministry of Justice Germany and Consumer Protection announced in the spring of 2017 a plan approved by the country's government to oblige social network operators operating in Germany to promptly remove any criminal content. We are talking about the formation of a mechanism for processing complaints from users^[28]

The definition of criminal includes any messages that contain libel, denigration, as well as calls for the commission of crimes, incitement to riots and threats. In "obvious" cases, such content should be removed within a day after the first complaint appears. In less obvious cases, a period of 7 days is given.

Operators of social networks will be obliged to create in their staffing table the position of director for work with complaints, which will be obliged not only to process the messages about illegal content themselves, but also to inform the complainants about the measures taken. Authorities also want to receive quarterly reports on handling user complaints.

The German government presented at the beginning of the year a bill aimed at regulating social networks. So, for posting unreliable news or other offensive information, a fine of up to 50 million euros is provided^[29].

In addition, it is planned to introduce legal requirements for resources to create an "easily recognizable and always accessible procedure for registering complaints about criminal content." Social networks will be required to block or remove illegal content within 24 hours. If an investigation of the incident is required, then 7 days are given to block information of this kind. Penalties in the amount of up to 5 million euros can also be applied to employees of popular communication resources who are responsible for content moderation.

German Justice Minister Heiko Maas, introducing the bill, stressed that its creation is due to the fact that efforts are not being made on the part of social networks to combat the insults and gossip that their users spread. "Too little illegal content is being removed and it's not being done quickly enough," he said. Maas also noted that if the bill is approved, then a system will be introduced to monitor the implementation of the new rules for social networks. The resource administration will be obliged to provide quarterly reports indicating the number of complaints, how they were processed and the number of employees who dealt with user complaints about illegal content.

2016

European Court rules mass data collection on British surveillance law illegal

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that the national legislation of the EU member states cannot oblige telecom operators to massively store data on user negotiations. The decision was made on a complaint against British legislation on the powers of the investigation, which is called the "law of the people"^[30].

The applicants asked to check whether the mass collection of user data without notification and control by the judiciary violates the legislation of the European Union.

The court noted that mass data collection itself can only be justified by "combating serious crimes," since the information collected is not directly linked to threats to public safety.

At the same time, the directive of the European Parliament does not prohibit the collection of data as such, but it must be targeted. According to the court, national legislation should guarantee protection against unauthorized use of such data, and the authorities should justify the need for such measures.

"Yarovaya Package" enters the international market

In November, in the Netherlands, the Ministry of the Interior of the country took the initiative to amend the law "On Intelligence and Security." It is planned that potential criminals will be monitored by law enforcement agencies by personal messages, calls and emails. The proposed changes echo the Yarovaya^[31] in Russia^[32].

The bill initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Netherlands, according to which telecom operators will be obliged to store information about calls and user messages, has been submitted for public discussion and can be adopted by the government of the country.

New amendments to the current law provide for the organization of collection and storage of information about calls and user messages by operators. Thus, law enforcement agencies will be able to track potentially dangerous people for society in advance.

The adoption of such measures is due to an increase in the number of terrorist threats in the EU countries, as well as cyber threats and secret espionage from other states.

The European Union will tighten control over messengers

The European Commission intends to strengthen control over such online services as Skype and WhatsApp. This was reported by the Financial Times^[33].

According to the published documents of the European regulator, messenger owners will be obliged to comply with "security and privacy requirements" in accordance with EU regulations. This initiative will primarily affect American companies that dominate the provision of Internet communication services.

As noted, in September 2016, the European Commission will publish a preliminary announcement, and then submit a separate review with new provisions. These transformations are an integral part of the reforms in the European telecommunications market, the purpose of which is to expand access to Internet resources, as well as eliminate differences in their regulation.

It is assumed that the same rules will begin to apply to messengers as they apply to ordinary phone calls and messages.

See also

• Internet regulation in Kazakhstan

Notes