EU reform of Data Protection directive, partly a directly applicable regulation, partly a directive has been published. The new privacy rules will apply to all online businesses with EU customers.

‘EU proposes radical data protection refresh Titles IT Pro – The European Commission has proposed widespread changes to data protection rules governing Europe, including the addition of significant fines for breaching the laws.’

EU data protection law proposals include large fines

European Commissioner Viviane Reding sets out new privacy rules

BBC reports: Firms face being fined up to 2% of their global annual turnover if they breach proposed EU data laws.

Not everyone has welcomed the text, starting by the UK ICO. Here are my on-going curation to catch up with the contexct, the reform, the different consultation, the UK position and all other reactions.

Not everyone is happy with us, ‘Crazy Europeans!?!‘ as says Paul Bernal, Lecturer in Information Technology, Intellectual Property and Media Law at the University of East Anglia.

It must be a good time to watch this excellent video of a book talk with professor Viktor Mayer-Schönberger who examines the technology that is facilitating the end of forgetting in his book, “Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age”. Mayer-Schönberger argues that in our quest for perfect digital memories where we can store everything from recipes and family photographs to work emails and personal information, weve put ourselves in danger of losing a very human quality—the ability and privilege of forgetting.

So much has been said, wrote, battled about the Stop Online Piracy Act and its twin Protect IP Act.

I have curated diverse views on SOPA/PIPA on my Pearltrees. You can click on each pearl to access the link content:

Some of the main issues, apart from the DNS blocking in itself and the threat to privacy by Deep Packet Inspection for instance, are the question of bogus Notice of Take Down and its chilling effect on freedom of speech.

Have a look here at what Milton Mueller says about Deep Packet Inspection.

The two studies one by Oxford University and the other by the Dutch group Bits of Freedom are a good illustration of the Notice of Take down chilling effect
.
Before anything, Copyright law needs a fundamental overhaul to adapt with the digital era before engaging into a ‘Prohibition’ kind of crescendo battle.

Didn’t we, for generations, shared our best books with friends and family? Why can’t we do that anymore? We need more fair use exceptions. We need to clarify what is copyright and make the rules accessible to everyone. I like to recall the case of President Obama offering an iPod to the Queen with uploaded music, could he know he was infringing copyright law?

Ultimately, it took time to regulate ISP immunity for third party content generally admitted. These regulations are just going backward, shooting the messenger and asking ISPs to become judge and jury.

On ISPs/Search Engine liability, see here.

There is a hierarchy of norm and in the context of today’s economy, copyright industry is not doing that bad for everyone to be asked to contribute to their profit. Remember that digital sales is also full of benefit for them with much lower cost, no packaging, no store, no vendor,…

See on ‘HADOPI, ACTA, Digital Economy Bill: From Human Rights to Economic Rights ‘

I quite like this suggested alternative  to SOPA/PIPA.

Understanding what is SOPA and protect our civil liberties: http://www.pearltrees.com/#/N-f=1_3978005&N-s=1_3978005&N-p=29262790&N-u=1_72898&N-fa=818179

On Obama’s Administration position on SOPA see here.

A clear SOPA Infographic timeline here.

On the Internet Blockout 18 January, here.

More facts on SOPA/PIPA and why they could be dangerous, here.

On how SOPA could be bad for Open Education and initiatives such as the MIT free online courses, here.

So far, both votes have been suspended. ‘The Internet was awarded a major victory Friday morning as Congress announced that they will indefinitely postpone voting on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).‘

Hope you’ll be able to make their own opinions and share your views with us.

A Merry Christmas From FlyAKite.org wishing you many safe surfing on the net.

In our modern societies, women’s emancipation seems to be widely accepted. More and more women have high education. Most statistics show girls have actually better academics results than boys.

Women were denied, and still are denied in some countries, the right to drive a car. Again, statistics show they drive better than men. This is how, some insurance companies have offered lower rates for women.

This is very sexist, you think, and yes, you are right. Not all women are same. They are good and bad driver in each sex, good and bad students in each sex. Good and bad men and women.

What the general consensus is today, is that they both should have equal rights.

Statistics, once again, show that in our western societies, the rate of divorce has seriously increased. We used to say one in two couple will split within 10 years of marriage, today, 10 years, are long life for couples.

As we know that divorce has become more than just a sad fatality, what have we done to make it less painful ?

In a divorce, both couple suffer. It is a failure when things broke apart.

Outside the couple, there should be one major consideration in a divorce, protecting the children. Am I saying that because I am a mother? It could be. It is hard for me to see what is inside the brain of some fathers. Not all have grown up with the ‘education’ of living a family life with all due responsibilities as well as the joy of building a family and maintaining family relations.

What compensation our society has to offer to the parent that has devoted her/his time and life and carrier to look after the children?

In these days when we are all watching, looking and maybe participating to the riots in many western countries against the power of the financial market and Wall Street, I want to bring the attention to the more intimate aspect of the economic crises.

With the economy growing down, with the stress growing up, more couples are falling apart.

The rise of job loss could draw a curve parallel to the curve of divorce statistics.

How we, as a society, as individuals, as mothers and fathers, as law maker, are we facing the issue of separation ?

I wanted to share with you an article that was published in the Guardian ‘The Mythe of the kept women‘ by Emine Saner in September 2009.

This article describes clearly the way the European Convention, Bussels II, enacted to simplify divorce procedure within the EU has been used by large law firms, specialized on International Family Law, to generate big revenues and legal complications.

Clearly in the article, it is exposed how the spirit of the European convention is distorted to give maximum chance to the wealthiest spouse to rush against time to file divorce in a country giving the least protection to the non working, and therefore weakest spouse.

This article mentions :

“Under European regulations, you are able to lodge a divorce petition in one of the member states if you are a national of that country, domiciled there, or have been resident for six months.”

It is actually even more than that. You can lodge a divorce petition in a country where you don’t even live neither yourself, your kids, nor your spouse, simply based on your nationality. And this nationality can be the one you get from your spouse by marriage!!

Practically, what that means?

It means, these wealthy spouses, are rushed to adopt their most favorable jurisdiction to file in, leaving behind family and children. The most ‘inhuman’ ones, would take care of emptying all joint bank accounts in order to  prevent the partner to even be in a position to hire a lawyer. No lawyer, no representation, a very difficult situation where often the mother, as it is the sad reality, would be stuck with her children and not able to have a fair trial.

Thanks god, not every man goes down that way. Many have the decency to understand the end of marital relationships doesn’t mean the end of humanity and loyalty. It is important to understand why laws have been enacted and why the wife who has given up carrier to follow her husband has rights to maintain a certain level of life. Of course, she lives with the children, These kids are innocent in this separation. They do get harmed inevitably. What they need most of all is finding a certain stability. They can’t cope with a divorce if combined with moving house, school, etc…

Don’t think the life of the divorced wife is all marvelous because she receives aliments from her ex-husband. Remember how it is for anyone to get a job, now imagine you are a single parent, with a fatal whole on your CV and you want to get back to the job market.

Imagine you will be in the middle of a legal battle in another country. imagine your kids have one or two weeks school holidays every six weeks. Remember they finish school sometimes as early as 3pm in the afternoon. How are your expected to work with that? Nothing is impossible.

Some European countries have better dealt with helping mothers to keep a professional activity, like France. Some other are culturally much more resiliant. Germen for instance have a very low esteem of working mothers they call ‘Rubenmutter’. In England, the school system often expect the mothers to be at home. It’s a very competitive system. school days are shorter. Of course it all depends on which part of the country. Somehow, following that logic, courts will be more or less generous with the non working spouse with children according to her chances to find a job.

When partners are encouraged to do ‘forum shopping’, this balance is completely destroyed. This is where you come to the situation of a high profile banker, living his wife and family in the UK, filing in France, a forum with no attach, for the single reason of paying amenities in Euros, under the French standard of life, to a wife in UK, left with empty bank accounts, no mean to even afford the trip to the court with young kids to France.

This is an Abuse of the European Institutions.

And no, this is not a hypothetical case.

From the inheritance of the past,
They were the ones who let the facade as it is because it has always been that way,
They were the ones who learned, just enough, how to make it better, gradually adding improvements, keeping the main structure, sometimes weak, sometimes solid,
They were the ones who knocked it down to rebuild a better, safer building world.
They all took risks,
All under the eyes of the Great Architect of the Univers.

Update 07/09/2011:

‘DSK : premier bras de fer dans la procédure civile‘

Update du 06/09/2011:

Un excellent rapel à l’ordre de Gisele Halimi dans Le Monde Point de Vue ‘L’indécent retour médiatique de DSK‘.

S’il était important de laisser a DSK le benéfice du doute et la présomption d’innocence, il est tout aussi important pour la France de ne pas laisser croire que tout est permis aux hommes politiques. Si DSK revenait sur la scène politique sans aucune explication, cela porterait un grand coup à l’image de la France et aux françaises. Je pense que les françaises qui ont vu Anne Sainclair fidèle aux cotés de son époux aimeraient bien en savoir d’avantage sur cette affaire.

La classe politique française, les médias et l’opinion publique s’étaient montrés intraitable avec Edith Cresson, seule premier Ministre femme dans l’histoire de la France. Elle eu la plus courte carrière de Premier Ministre de toute la 5ème République. Je ne la défend pas, je constate simplement qu’on lui a laissé moins d’un an pour développer sa politique. J’ai de fortes de raisons de croire que les choses auraient été différentes si elle portait une cravate. Il est temps que les hommes aussi apprennent à faire face à leurs responsabilités.

“C’est insensé que cet homme soit revenu avec des applaudissements à l’aéroport”, a estimé mardi sur RTL Cécile Duflot à propos de Dominique Strauss-Kahn, ajoutant s’exprimer à titre personnel et non en tant que secrétaire nationale

Christine Delphy publie: ‘Un troussage de domestique, recueil de textes autour de l’affaire DSK‘
- France Soir: ‘DSK : Le PS, entre gêne et emballement‘

- LeFigaro: Duflot sur le retour de DSK : “insensé“

- 20Minutes.fr: ‘François Hollande : «J’aurais été choisi face à Dominique Strauss-Kahn»‘

LeParisien: ‘Le plan de DSK pour renouer avec les Français‘

Update 05/09/2011:

Finalement DSK est libre pour rentrer en France apres un passage au FMI pour s’excuser devant une large audience de ses anciens collaborateurs et employés.
Le procès civil n’est pas encore fini, si tant est que la plaignante veuille poursuivre. La plainte Tristan Banon est encore dans les airs.

Je rappelle que nous ne savons toujours pas ce qui s’est exactement passé dans cette chambre d’hotel ou, selon les conclusions de l’enquete du procureur New Yorkais, il y a eu un rapport sexuel entre DSK et l’employee de l’hotel Mme Dialo. ~Les poursuites ont été abandonnées sur la base des contradictions de la plaingante dont les avocats étaient plus occupés a faire des déclarations a la presse qu’a aider leur cliente a consolider ses dires. Ses mensonges l’ont discréditées. Cela ne veut pas dire qu’il n’y a pas eu de viol ou d’agression sexuelle. DSK s’étant retenu jusque la de fournir une quelconque information sur sa version des faits.
L’hypothèse d’un complot politique de l’Elysée n’est toujours pas dissipée.
Certains de ses amis socialistes, y compris Jack Lang qui a eu une attitude tres décevante durant le DSKGate, ont meme envisagé de reculer la date des primaires socialistes pour permettre a DSK de se présenter !!
Martine Aubry a pris ses distances et les candidats sont nombreux pour ces prochaines élections présidentielles, pendant que dans le proces de Jacques Chirac, les avocats de l’ancien Président de la Republique sollicitent du juge qu’il ne se presente pas en personne, du fait de son état de santé et de sa défectueuse mémoire!!

Les francais ont les yeux sur DSK nous apprend le Journal Le Monde:
<blockquote>”parmi les 450 articles les plus vus du site Le Monde.fr depuis décembre 2010, 146 concernaient Dominique Strauss-Kahn, soit un article sur trois, ce qui est tout à fait inhabituel, et la requête “DSK” est la plus recherchée dans le moteur de recherche du site.”

 

Est-il encore présidentiable?

Toujours selon Le Monde, DSK souhaiterait s’exprimer en public dans une dizaine de jours. Y-a-t-il un espoir pour avoir réponse a des questions simples comme, le vol de retour sur Air France était-il prévu ou s’agissait-il d’un départ précipité? Le CV de Madame Dialo nous laisse également quelque peu perplexe quant aux critères d’embauche dans les hôtels Sofitels ou l’on est surpris d’apprendre que le personnel accède aux chambres sans être en binôme.

Update 23/08/2011:

Thanks to @likidvcel to post this Recommendtion of Dissimissal from the Supreme Court of New York. It says: ‘if we do not believe her, we cannot ask a Jury to do so’.

you would notice the paragraph on the DNA result:

This suggests they had sex. Will we ever know if it was with consent or rape? We just know that having a ‘fast-sex’ is suspicious ! Eat fast-food, do slow-sex is the slogan !

The analyses had shown 5 traces of sperm on the carpet, as well as on her uniform:

What worth lying about a previous rape ?

Surely a dismissal when combined to a lie to immigration officers. No reasonable doubt left for Jury to trial?

Could we expect someone who has just been raped, for the second time, to recall all its movements right after the act? Honestly, I have no idea. I just notice Dialo herself changed her own version at the presence of her lawyer (page 13).

In my view, the most conclusive paragraph on her habits of lying or distorting the truth is:

I am wondering if recordining phone conversations are usual in the state of NY:

Update 22/08/2011:

The paragraph ‘D’ and onwards are not the same typing, including the other complaints against DSK !

No any mention whatsoever of DSK’s own version of the events. For instance, it would have been very easy to check if DSK’s flight was pre-booked or a last minute flee.

Only two certitude in this story:

1- It sounds like they had horrid sex.
2- The Sofitel is extremely negligent on the hire of its staff.

Very instructive about the Sofitel clients habits, in foot note of Page 18:

- Le Parisien : ‘EN DIRECT. Affaire DSK: l’abandon des poursuites se confirme‘

- ‘Prosecutors File Motion to Drop DSK Charge‘.

- ‘Affaire DSK. L’avocat de Diallo va demander un autre procureur’
Twitter reactions.

Liberation titre : ‘DSK: “Je ne peux rien vous dire”‘

We have not heard DSK’s version of the fact yet. Will we ever know what happened that afternoon in his suite? All is blurred. For ever?

- ‘DSK ‘Bombshells’ Sank Case‘

Let me start by few clarifications:

1- I have no special sympathy for Dominique Strauss Khan (DSK)
2- DSK has obviously a reputation of macho man. I seriously dislike.

You remember me saying maybe Dominique Strauss Khan was innocent?
‘DSK, The man who is accused of rape, could be innocent.‘

Maybe no any presumed innocent deserved such hand cuffed media show off ?

You remember how much the luxury bail cost?

‘Proud and Prejudice, America’s Islands‘

‘DSK, sexe, politique et argent, les langues se délient.‘

Tomorrow we might see a complete different version of the rape accusation.
AP: ‘Lawyer: Strauss-Kahn accuser to meet prosecutors‘ + mail.com

Is this justice? Tell me what you think of the US Justice system.

Here is what the French Judge, presidential candidate thinks would happen in France:
‘Eva Joly sait de quoi elle parle, en France on étoufferait l’affaire.‘

- Paper.li The DSK case.
Updates, credit to François PlayBac
@dufourdufour Paris
Rédac’chef Le Petit Quotidien Mon Quotidien L’ACTU L’ÉCO Defensor of strict journalism values Tweet facts not opinions Cofounder PlayBac/Incollables/BrainQuest

http://www.playbac.fr

- ‘Affaire DSK: les avocats de Diallo démentent un arrangement financier‘

- ‘DA filing to reveal new ‘bombshells’ about DSK accuser’s credibility‘

- ‘Dominique Strauss-Kahn to reject plea deal‘

- ‘William Taylor : « Nous sommes optimistes et confiants »‘

- ‘Housekeeper’s Lawyer Says He Will Seek a Special Prosecutor‘

-’Strauss-Kahn Case Is Said to Be Set for Dismissal‘

- ‘War of Letters in DSK Case‘

- ‘Conférence de presse d’un des avocats américains de Diallo mardi à Paris‘

- ‘Affaire DSK : “Madame Diallo se sent abandonnée”‘

- ‘DSK ne rentrera pas tout de suite en France‘

- ‘Lawyer: Strauss-Kahn Accuser ‘Depressed’‘

No Trial for DSK?‘

Check more views on DSK affair on my pearltrees.

The Fly A Kite website is up, so is the Fly A Kite Website Facebook Group and Page. The first Fly A Kite event, KiteUp, will run this Saturday July 16, at 11am at the Columbus Commons (160 S High Street Columbus, Ohio), organised by Deb Dobson. What happens at a KiteUp? Bring your own kite or the materials to make one. Bring kids, or simply the kid in you, and come fly a kite for a good cause. (For more information or to learn more about this new organization, contact Deb Dobson at FlyAKiteOrg@gmail.com or go to http://flyakite.org/about.)

More similar events around the glob are needed to raise awareness. The website will launch debates and provide resources, to make the kites yes, but mostly to learn and educate parents, educators and kids on the issues and benefits of the online world. We are aiming for a big Run A Kite event at the end of the summer. Meanwhile we need all experts to join us, talking cyberbullying, talking online privacy, talking security,….

Netcitizenship is something to learn, it can’t be simply regulated without harm to individual fundamental rights.

Lets all take part to what is the future of the new generations.

About FlyAKite Project:

Fly A Kite is a private initiative launched by Internet Technology and Telecom Lawyer Tara Taubman, with the great help of a bunch of volunteers, to educate and raise awareness on the digital world and online safety. New tools are available on the market, which have many features but also many dangers. Today, Internet access has reached the arena of Human Rights. Many of our daily life actions involve Internet access. Kids at school benefit from the tremendous opportunities offered by e-learning. We believe that censorship and filtering are not the best solutions for secure surfing.
Things to consider:
The law cannot cope with the pace of the fast evolving new technologies.
Internet cross-borders and many national legislations are in conflict.
The concept of privacy has a large cultural component. American privacy is not German privacy, neither Arab privacy.
We still believe privacy exists in the age of the Internet and social networking.
Privacy is control over your audience. Privacy is not secrecy.
We promote transparency and respect for users’ rights.
EU regulations put emphasis on users’ consent. We ask for transparency to allow informed consent. Terms or services or privacy policies are far too fastidious for anyone to read.
We wish to take this summer vacation opportunity to ask everyone to go and Fly a Kite, say no to bullying, think about best online behaviour, find your slogans, and come up with a few principles of net citizenship.
We would like many pictures – no faces shown – of our Kiters with online safety slogans to publish on our site.
We are hoping to organise successful Fly A Kite Kiteups around the globe. We want this to be an opportunity to inform and raise awareness on the benefits and the dangers of the digital world. We want to learn from each other and share our knowledge. We won’t all agree, but we hope we all listen and invoke thought.
If you share these principles, why not join us? Every bit of contribution helps. We need writers, thinkers, commentators, sponsors —, and why not funding? — to organise a very successful Run A Kite event at the end of the summer.

Summer Holidays are already their for some of us or soon coming. If you are wondering how to occupy your kids, why not introducing them to the joy of a kite associated with a fun learning.
Join us with your own kite and choose your online safety slogan. We are hoping to raise safety awareness with our kites around the world. Lets spread the word. Encourage discussions with kids around net citizenship and combat cyberbullying.
We’d love to have them fly in the clouds for a fun Run A Kite event.
Don’t think because it’s winter where you are that you don’t have to join in. We’d love to see Australians and friends from New Zealand and others from every side of the world to join us.
They are many websites online where to get inspired on making kites. Choose you safe site. Make your kites and join the open group Fly A Kite group on Facebook or if you don’t wish to join Facebook, just spread the word around and make groups. We’d love to see your kites pictures and your slogans.
This summer, don’t be a cyberbully…fly a kite! (Rebecca Herold, the PrivacyProf).
Internet is fun!

Starting yesterday the first CrisisCamps in Paris is meeting at this new ‘Geeky’ place, la Cantine. Never been, I was very curious to see what it looks like. Have seen many good meetings being held at La Cantine, litteraly, ‘the cantine’ in English.
I was invited to take part of the privacy panel this afternoon. I regret I could not do the trip and will try to follow ‘virtually’ online.

The organisation, with the help of Google and the Red Cross has been wisely using social media to ‘manage crisis’. These being social, political like in the Middle east of Ivory Coast, or natural disasters, such as Haiti, Chili, Japan. Helping to find missing people, mapping areas and working closely with the Red Cross.

This humanitarian action has privacy incidents. Finding missing persons can help, as well as helping the individuals, the governments to riposte against protestors.

I posted yesterday on Twitter an absolute read essay connected to this issue in the context of Iran election: ‘Anonymity On the Net and the Iranian Uprising‘.

Before the panel on privacy starts this afternoon, I’d love to have your questions and observations to submit. Please send your comments and enrich the debate on how the Google missing person, the red cross and other humanitarian organisations can help searching and re-establishing communications with the respect of privacy and Human Rights?

I know already Ever Bopp, @thenext50k , who went to Haiti to bring Wifi communication has an experience to share.

Read the agenda of the 2011 European Summit of CrisisCamps in Paris

Reading today, thanks to @-pidder_ post on Twitter :

Student (@mrkoot) built a HUGE database of 35.000.000 Google Profiles. It contains 15.000.000 Gmail addresses. http://bit.ly/jAfLgX #privacy

Matthijs R. Koot explains in his blog how, in February 2011, without even violating Google’s terms of use, he could ‘create a database containing ALL ~35.000.000 Google Profiles without Google throttling, blocking, CAPTCHAing or otherwise make more difficult mass-downloading attempts. It took only 1 month to retrieve the data, convert it to SQL using spidermonkey and some custom Javascript code, and import it into a database’.

How easy it was to create a database containing:
- person names,
- aliases/nicknames,
- multiple past educations (institute, study, start/end date), – multiple past work experiences (employer, function, start/end date),
- links to Picasa photoalbums, …. –
and in ~15.000.000 cases, also the username and therefore @gmail.com address.

Additionally, this data base could use face recognition software and other data aggregators to create a more exhaustive profile.

He assures his activities were performed as part of his research on anonymity/privacy at the University of Amsterdam.

He believes that ‘the misuse value of personal data on social networks ought to be elicited before publishing it under a false perception of informed consent. One possible outcome‘.

One more example of mass aggregation and processing of data available and the risks for users as I was pointing out earlier this week with the case of data collected by TalkTalk customer service.

Data minimisation as well as data security should be the principle rule or we will see an rise of identity theft.