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Court ruling will force UK to limit its surveillance powers
The UK government is definitely going to have to make some significant changes to its digital surveillance regime after the Court of Appeal today ruled various snooping powers unlawful. Specifically, the court said that communications data -- the who, when, where and how of a conversation, but not the content -- must only be accessed for the purposes of "fighting serious crime." Furthermore, the state must not look at data before first receiving the approval of a court or independent body. Unfortunately for the government, the Investigatory Powers Act (IP Act) that became law in late 2016 doesn't comply with these rules of thumb, so it looks like there's no other option but to make some serious amendments.
EU court ruling could derail the UK's new surveillance law
The Investigatory Powers Act became the UK government's new digital surveillance law less than a month ago, but it appears it's already been deemed unfit for purpose. The EU Court of Justice today delivered its verdict on a long-running case concerning the legality of surveillance measures. It ruled that while the targeted retention of data for the purpose of combating serious crime is permissible, "indiscriminate" data collection is incompatible with EU human rights law. "Such national legislation therefore exceeds the limits of what is strictly necessary and cannot be considered to be justified within a democratic society," the court said.
Playboy's legal victory could change your freedom to link
A European legal battle may have just set precedent for when you can and cannot link to material without permission. Playboy's Dutch publisher Sanoma sued commercial media site GeenStijl to take down links to their photos of a TV celebrity, claiming it earned them unfair profits. Back in April, the EU court of justice's Advocate General opined that the decision would likely favor the defendant's press freedom. He was wrong. The top EU court just decided in favor of Playboy, stating that posting hyperlinks to unowned content provides tangible profits, which is grounds enough for copyright infringement.
EU court says linking to copyrighted material isn't illegal
The EU Court of Justice announced in 2014 that it doesn't see linking to a publicly available website as a form of copyright infringement. Now, its Advocate General, Melchior Wathelet, says linking to a website doesn't break the law even if it hosts copyrighted content without the express permission of its rightful owner. The Dutch court sought Wathelet's opinion for a case wherein a local blog called GeenStijl linked out to websites hosting a collection of leaked Playboy photos. GeenStijl originally posted a link to a file-sharing service URL where people could download the images. When Playboy successfully got that pulled, it linked to other public sources instead.
EU clears resales of used software, shoots down Oracle's new-sales-only dreams
One advantage American technology fans can celebrate is the right to resell software. After the initial purchase, they're usually cleared to pass along any apps or games as long as the technology itself allows. Europeans haven't had that (legal) option to date, but the EU's Court of Justice has just ruled in a case against Oracle that they will going forward: no matter what the license says, those in EU countries can resell their downloaded apps as long as they don't try to keep a working copy for themselves. The new owner doesn't even have to shuffle over a local example and can go straight to the source. We can't imagine that Oracle and other companies averse to used software are jumping for joy, although copy protection and a lack of digital resale mechanisms might help them simmer down and let us treat our apps like we do our gadgets. [Image credit: Maciej Bliziński, Flickr]
