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Europe unites to keep online video unregulated
News The vote by European Council ministers on Monday concerned amendments to the Television Without Frontiers directive (TVWF). The European Commission welcomes the fact that the three European Union institutions — the Parliament, the Council and the...
[November 15, 2006, 17:21]
Europe succumbs to UK pressure on data retention
News European Council ministers succumbed to pressure from the UK government on Thursday when they approved controversial changes to a data protection and privacy directive. In reaching a common position on the revised Communications Data Protection...
[December 7, 2001, 15:05]
Software patent fight moves to Parliament
News British companies and citizens who oppose the controversial changes to European law on software patents that were approved by the European Council earlier this week have been urged to lobby UK government ministers with their concerns.
[May 21, 2004, 12:10]
Ministers and EC lock horns over telecom laws
News Commissioner Liikanen is happy that Europe is progressing towards its goal of being the most competitive economy in the world as decided by the European Council in Lisbon last year. At the Telecommunications Council meeting in Luxembourg this week...
[April 6, 2001, 15:03]
Software patent directive adopted
News The European Council adopted the software patent directive on Monday, despite requests from Denmark, Poland and Portugal to reject the directive. The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) accused the EU Council of ignoring the...
[March 7, 2005, 9:45]
Plan to extend police-hacking powers gathers pace
News The European Union Council of Ministers approved a plan in November 2008 to grant law-enforcement authorities in member states the power to perform remote searches of suspects' computers, as well as to perform 'cyber patrols' of the internet and...
[January 5, 2009, 15:16]
EU agreement on communications snooping 'unlikely'
News Members of the Council and European Commission (EC) are vehemently opposed to UK demands for electronic data to be retained for up to seven years for use by law enforcement agencies, as are rapporteurs in the European Parliament and the Data...
[June 27, 2001, 13:19]
EU votes through software patent changes
News The European Council on Tuesday voted through controversial changes to the European Union's Software Patents Directive that will pave the way for widespread patenting of software in Europe. However, the European Council, which is a body that...
[May 18, 2004, 13:55]
UK trumps Europe on Linux streaming
News Now, a Surrey local council has shown that open source operating systems can be included in such programmes. The Commission's service, which streams key decision-making meetings over the internet from the Brussels council chamber, can only be...
[March 2, 2007, 11:17]
Software patents face-off delayed until spring
News The Council of the European Union's Competitiveness Council had been scheduled to vote on the draft Directive on Computer Implemented Inventions last week, but it was left off the agenda amid calls for further consultations.
[December 1, 2003, 13:20]
European 'internet freedom' law agreed
News Europe is set to get a major overhaul of its telecoms regulation, after the European Parliament and Council of Telecoms Ministers reached a compromise on the rights of internet users across the continent.
[November 5, 2009, 12:11]
EU Council agrees to Internet snooping proposals
News The Council of the European Union yesterday agreed a proposal to give individual countries the power to force telecoms and other communications providers to keep records of all voice and data communications of their citizens, possibly for years.
[June 28, 2001, 11:33]
Anger as EU ignores open-source video
News Although the EU Council could not be reached immediately for comment, its website stated: "The live streaming media service of the Council of the European Union can be viewed on Microsoft Windows and Macintosh platforms.
[January 3, 2007, 12:17]
Last-gasp attempt to block patent directive
News Opponents of the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive are set to launch a last-minute intervention to try and prevent it being adopted by the European Council. It is without precedent that anybody can specify that the EU council at the stage...
[March 4, 2005, 17:35]
Anti-patent demo planned in Brussels
News On February 17 anti-patent campaigners will march past the buildings of the main EU bodies involved in the software patent directive -- the EU Council, the European Commission (EC) and the European Parliament (EP).
[February 14, 2005, 15:55]
Europe launches £2bn nanotech push
News The European Nanoelectronics Initiative Advisory Council — abbreviated as ENIAC but not to be confused with the seminal computer built in the 1940s — is a "joint technology initiative" (JTI) that has been endorsed by the Council of Ministers and...
[February 26, 2008, 12:00]
EC pushes on with patent directive
News The European Commission is pushing the EU Council to ratify the controversial software patent directive, sweeping aside the concerns raised last week by a European Parliament committee. But an EC spokeswoman said on Friday that the Council is...
[February 11, 2005, 15:25]
EU Parliament forgives Council for adopting patent directive
News The European Parliament (EP) agreed on Wednesday that the EU Council did not break procedural rules when it adopted the software patent directive earlier this month. The EU Council adopted the draft software patent directive on 7 March, despite the...
[March 31, 2005, 13:00]
Commission refuses to rewrite patent directive
News We expect the European Council to formalise the common position. It has yet to be formally adopted by the European Council, but if this does happen the directive will return to the Parliament. Now we call on the EU Council to demonstrate a more...
[February 28, 2005, 15:45]
Computer crime treaty threatens human rights
News An international coalition of 28 human rights and civil liberties groups has called on the Council of Europe to alter its draft treaty on International cybercrime, warning that the agreement could violate the European Convention on Human Rights...
[October 19, 2000, 7:41]
