The Hans-Bredow-Institute and the Institute for Information Law (IViR) have published a study on the future of European audiovisual media regulation. The study develops new ideas and recommendations for shaping a new European framework. A structural reform is favoured, as a response to digitization and convergence. The new framework should concentrate on general principles and be able to adapt and learn. Regulation should not be linked to types of services, but rather be developed by considering its goals, like protection of minors and consumer protection. Standards should be set allowing for effective regulation and coordination. Moreover by taking a 360-degree view on all relevant areas of regulation, it needs to become visible, where the European Law can offer leeway for to the member states’ own media policy.

The study called HERMES draws a precise image of current media consumption and value-added chains by examining several EU member states, as well as certain international states. The developments of the last years are being examined and current phenomena are explored. The centre of attention is the shift away from regular TV to non-linear media and the consumption via alternative channels as well as via new devices, which were not yet taken into account when shaping the present framework. The outcomes are analysed and put into practical guidelines for the near future.

The study has been supported by a grant of RTL Group, Luxembourg.

• Short summary of the findings (pdf)
• Complete study (pdf)
• More about the project

 

The Hans-Bredow-Institute and the Institute for Information Law (IViR) have published a study on the future of European audiovisual media regulation. The study develops new ideas and recommendations for shaping a new European framework. A structural reform is favoured, as a response to digitization and convergence. The new framework should concentrate on general principles and be able to adapt and learn. Regulation should not be linked to types of services, but rather be developed by considering its goals, like protection of minors and consumer protection. Standards should be set allowing for effective regulation and coordination. Moreover by taking a 360-degree view on all relevant areas of regulation, it needs to become visible, where the European Law can offer leeway for to the member states’ own media policy.

The study called HERMES draws a precise image of current media consumption and value-added chains by examining several EU member states, as well as certain international states. The developments of the last years are being examined and current phenomena are explored. The centre of attention is the shift away from regular TV to non-linear media and the consumption via alternative channels as well as via new devices, which were not yet taken into account when shaping the present framework. The outcomes are analysed and put into practical guidelines for the near future.

The study has been supported by a grant of RTL Group, Luxembourg.

• Short summary of the findings (pdf)
• Complete study (pdf)
• More about the project

 

On Thursday 24 September 2015 the Personalised Communication project was launched. With a festive kick-off event in the Agnietenkapel, the joint research initiative between ASCoR and IViR, funded by the University of Amsterdam, officially started.

More information about the event and the project can be found here. 
 

A student on the Informatierecht LL.M. programme, Patrick Leerssen, has been invited to participate in a high-level Council of Europe conference on freedom of expression. The conference, ‘Freedom of expression: still a precondition for democracy?’, will take place in Strasbourg on 13-14 October. It is shaping up to be the biggest conference that the Council of Europe has ever organized on the theme of freedom of expression, with the expected participation of more than 300 experts.

Speakers include several judges of the European Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. Various panels will focus on topics such as pluralist public debate; the democratic potential of the media; the limits of freedom of expression, the fight against terrorism and the dangers of mass surveillance.

Patrick will be session rapporteur for the panel focusing on freedom of expression online and the role of intermediaries. Earlier this year, he presented a paper on this theme at the VOX-Pol conference in Budapest and subsequently reworked the paper and had it accepted for publication in the forthcoming issue of the international, peer-reviewed journal, JIPITEC –  the Journal of Intellectual Property, Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Law. 

Tarlach McGonagle, who coordinates the Informatierecht LL.M. programme, is General Rapporteur for the Council of Europe conference.

Judgment of the Court:
Maximillian Schrems / Data Protection Commissioner, European Court of Justice, 6 October 2015

 

Axel Arnbak:

• Datatransport – Hof EU nog steeds niet volwassen, Het Financieele Dagblad, Opinie & Dialoog, 7 oktober 2015.
   

Ot van Daalen:

• Europese Commissie vertrouwt op nieuw EU-verdrag data-uitwisseling, NPO Radio 1, 6 oktober 2015.
• Gegevens Europese internetgebruikers niet zomaar naar VS, BNR.nl & BNR Radio, 6 oktober 2015.
• Privacybescherming in VS onvoldoende – Meer waarborgen voor EU-data vereist, Tweakers.net, 6 oktober 2015.
• Data Transfer Pact Between U.S. and Europe Is Ruled Invalid, The New York Times, 6 oktober 2015.
• Facebook mag onze gegevens niet meer zomaar in Amerika opslaan. Wat zijn hiervan de gevolgen?, De Correspondent, 7 oktober 2015.

Ot van Daalen & Axel Arnbak: 

• Dit gebeurt er met jouw gegevens op servers in de VS, RTLZ.nl, 5 oktober 2015.
• 'Makkelijker protesteren tegen privacyschending', NOS.nl, 6 oktober 2015.

Nico van Eijk:

• 'Inlichtingenwet Plasterk op losse schroeven na uitspraak Europees Hof', NU.nl, 8 oktober 2015.
• Safe harbour: afnemers cloud-diensten moeten zich beraden op strategie, www.it-executive.nl, 10 oktober 2015.

Kristina Irion:

• Cloud services made in Europ after Snowden and Schrems, Internet Policy Review, 23 October 2015.

See also:

• Ten standards for oversight and transparency of national intelligence services, S. Eskens, O. van Daalen & N. van Eijk, Institute for Information Law, 2015.

 

The Institute for Informaton Law (IViR) was awarded a prestigious NWO grant to carry out a research project on copyright issues that prevent both online access to as well as re-use of the audio-visual materials digitized in the mass digitization project Images for the Future. 

In 2007 the Dutch government launched Images for the Future with the goal to preserve, digitize and make accessible online a large amount of audio-visual material held by, amongst others, the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision. Today while an important part of the archives has been digitized, the material is hardly available online for the general public: copyright issues stand in the way of a broad dissemination. Whereas the digitization of audio-visual material has taken place on the basis of an exception in the Dutch Copyright Act, the making available of that material would most likely infringe the copyright owner's exclusive right, if done without prior authorization. As a result the unprecedented educational, cultural, societal, and economical value of Images for the Future mostly remains untapped, as long as the material cannot be made legally accessible.

The current project will investigate the underlying legal and practical issues relating to the making available of the Images for the Future. The project will develop strategies to overcome the main obstacles that prevent the use of the digitized material by different audiences and for different purposes, focusing on the public broadcasting collection. In doing so, the project will also explore the possibility of cooperating with private partners to develop new business models for making the Images for the Future available to the public with the permission of the rights holders and in such a way that different types of value can be generated from providing access to the digitized material."

The project has started on 1 July 2015.
For more information, contact Lucie Guibault or Simone Schroff

See also the press release (English) and persbericht (Dutch).