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European Regional Bureau Newsletter: 26 January 2019 – 1 February 2019
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<span style="font-family:'Hind Light';color:#3a82e4">Internet Access</span>                    <a name="_GoBack">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Record number of participants join EU Code Week</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">One of the leading digital skills initiatives supported by the European Commission,</span> <a href="https://codeweek.eu/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU Code Week</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">, involved 2.7 million participants and nearly 44,000 events in its 2018 edition, a record that has “exceeded all expectations”</span> <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/eu-code-week-2018-breaks-all-time-record-27-million-participants-and-nearly-44000-events"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">according</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> to the organisers.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Activities took place around the globe, as far as Peru, Malaysia, and Egypt. Italy was the most active European country with 20,000 activities, followed by Turkey (7,700) and Poland (5,000). In France almost half (49%) of participants were girls or women.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The initiative began as a grassroots initiative in 2013 and is run by volunteers, with the aim of promoting coding, computational thinking and digital literacy.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Welcoming the results, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel, said “Our goal is to involve at least half all European schools in the EU Code Week by 2020, hence I encourage even more organisers to get on board and offer coding activities during the EU Code Week 2019.”</span>                <p class="normal_(web)" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:0.000000pt;margin-top:0.000000pt" awml:style="Normal (Web)">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: IoT companies agree on principles for 5G patent licensing</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">A large group of companies</span> <a href="http://actonline.org/releases/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">announced</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> this week their agreement on a list of principles to make it easier for SMEs to licence the standard essential patents (SEPs) found in 5G devices.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The principles,</span> <a href="https://www.cencenelec.eu/news/workshops/Pages/WS-2019-001.aspx"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">drafted</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> by the EU’s standardisation bodies CEN and CENELEC, aim to provide law courts and industry stakeholders with guidance when interpreting the voluntary licensing commitments, known as</span> <a href="http://is.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pages/ISG/EURIPIDIS/documents/05.FRANDreport.pdf"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">FRAND</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> terms (“fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory), often requested by standards organisations  from intellectual property right-holders.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The principles cover six areas, including: avoiding the use of injunctions, ensuring easy-access to licences, not using patent bundling as an excuse to withhold a patent licence, and requirements to use Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) fairly and not exploit information advantages.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">One of its signatories, Morgan Reed, President of ACT | “The App Association”, emphasised how this would help SMEs trade online: “The FRAND promise is essential to a functioning standards system and allows SMEs to fully participate in the technology marketplace, advancing competition. The growth of the global innovation economy depends upon this promise.”</span>                <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Spain: Telefonica and SEAT sign new 5G partnership boosting Connected Cars</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The automobile company SEAT and telecoms operator Telefonica have</span> <a href="https://www.telefonica.com/en/web/press-office/-/mwcapital-seat-telefonica-ficosa-etra-and-i2cat-promote-a-connected-car-pilot-project"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">signed</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> a collaboration agreement for a pilot project to test connected cars, with the aim of expanding access to 5G technology in Barcelona.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The project lies within the scope of the 5G Barcelona consortium, aimed at consolidating the city of Barcelona as Europe’s benchmark 5G hub.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The characteristics of 5G technology that should help the deployment of connected cars include the use of low latency and edge computing – simplifying Internet of Things (IoT) device traffic and permitting real-time local data analysis, all of which will to help communication between the car and its surrounding infrastructure.</span>                <p class="normal_(web)" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:0.000000pt;margin-top:0.000000pt;margin-left:36.000000pt" awml:style="Normal (Web)">
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<span style="font-family:'Hind Light';color:#3a82e4">Trust</span>
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Europe “urgently” needs a security strategy on 5G to counter China</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">In an</span> <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/cd9f206e-2562-11e9-b20d-5376ca5216eb"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">op-ed</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> for the Financial Times this week, the EU’s Security Commissioner Sir Julian King, said that Europe risks becoming “collateral damage” in the race between the United States and China to dominate the global technology market.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">It is “increasingly urgent” for Europe to come up with strong security strategy as new 5G Internet networks are rolled-out worldwide.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">He underlined Europe’s heavy reliance on China’s technology, mentioning that “more than 90 percent of our IT devices are made in Asia, notably China, and China controls 70 percent of the global supply of the critical raw materials you need to make them.”</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The commissioner proposed to use the EU’s newly</span> <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-6467_en.htm"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">agreed</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> investment screening mechanism for the technology sector to coordinate spectrum auctions for 5G and boost joint funding in AI.</span>                <p class="normal_(web)" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:0.000000pt;margin-top:0.000000pt" awml:style="Normal (Web)">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Initial feedback released on actions taken against fake news</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">This week, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Mozilla and the trade associations representing the advertising sector submitted their first</span> <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/first-results-eu-code-practice-against-disinformation"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">reports</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> on the measures taken to comply with the Commission’s Code of Practice on Disinformation.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The reports finds progress was made in taking down accounts and de-monetising purveyors of disinformation, but more must be done to widen</span> <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-746_en.htm"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">access</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> to  fact-checking tools.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Facebook has taken measures to address all the measures in the Code, but should be clearer on how it will boost cooperation with fact-checkers. Google has taken steps to implement all commitments, particularly on improving the scrutiny of ad placements, but must make its tools available in all EU Member States as it is not currently the case.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Twitter has prioritised actions against malicious actors, closing fake or suspicious accounts but more information is needed on how this will restrict persistent users of disinformation from promoting their tweets.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">And Mozilla is about to launch an upgraded version of its browser to block cross-site tracking by default, but, according to the report, the online browser must be more concrete on how this will limit the information revealed about users’ browsing activities.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The first report will be officially published in February 2019 and will be followed by similar monthly reports until May 2019. By the end of 2019, the EC will carry out a comprehensive assessment at the end of the Code’s initial 12-month period.</span>                <p class="normal_(web)" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:0.000000pt;margin-top:0.000000pt" awml:style="Normal (Web)">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Facebook to roll out ad transparency rules ahead of EU elections</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Facebook will implement tools to make political advertising more transparent during the upcoming EU elections, including “issue-ads”.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Speaking at an</span> <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/01/a-discussion-with-nick-clegg/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">event</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> in Brussels, Sir Nick Clegg, the company’s Vice President for Global Affairs and Communications, announced that: “In late March, we will launch new tools to help prevent interference in the upcoming election and make political advertising on Facebook more transparent.”</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Issue-based ads, which attempt to influence voters on an issue such as immigration rather than pull them towards a specific candidate, will also be covered by those rules – most of the political ads ahead of the Brexit referendum were focused on issues rather than people.</span>                <p class="normal_(web)" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:0.000000pt;margin-top:0.000000pt" awml:style="Normal (Web)">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Negotiators remain dead-locked on new Platform-2-Business legislation</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The European Parliament and the Council of the EU did not manage to agree on key aspects of the European Commission’s</span> <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/initiatives/ares-2017-5222469_en"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Regulation</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> “Fairness in Platform-to-Business Relations” when they met for a three-way trilogue meeting with the Commission on Monday, earlier this week.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The co-legislators must still find a compromise on obligations imposed on search engines (other than online rankings), provisions linked to terminations and suspensions (article 4), and their online ranking system. The issues will be discussed again at technical level on February 12.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The so-called “P2B” file is one of the EC’s key proposals to improve the trust of Internet users in online platforms with</span> <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-3372_en.htm"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">new rules</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> increasing the transparency of their terms and conditions and a better dispute resolution system, all in a bid to help hotels, online traders, app developers and other companies that rely on search engines for attracting Internet traffic.</span>                <p class="normal_(web)" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:0.000000pt;margin-top:0.000000pt" awml:style="Normal (Web)">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Germany: Minister warns Facebook against “monopoly” plans</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Katarina Barley, Germany’s Justice Minister,</span> <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-warns-facebook-against-monopoly-plans-to-merge-message-services/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">warned</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> Facebook this week that Germany will enforce European law against Facebook if it combines its Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram messaging services into a unified platform, saying it would amount to a “monopoly”.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The minister raised concerns about data protection and the principle of technological interoperability, saying that “What Facebook is planning is making a mockery of the idea of interoperability”, the concept should instead be “about allowing users of smaller and more secure messengers to send messages to WhatsApp users, for instance.”</span>                <p class="normal_(web)" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:0.000000pt;margin-top:0.000000pt" awml:style="Normal (Web)">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">UK: Digital Minister takes cautious approach to online content regulation</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The British government is grappling with how to tackle distressing content and self-harm on social media, after The Sunday Times ran an</span> <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/revealed-how-big-tech-pushes-teens-like-molly-russell-to-suicide-2nm78cgr7"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">investigation</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> on the impact of social media on teenage suicide: “Revealed: how Big Tech pushes teens like Molly Russel to suicide”.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Health Secretary and former Digital Secretary Matt Hancock, has</span> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47019912"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">written</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> a strongly worded letter to the online platforms concerned (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest) and called for the government to legislate “if [the UK government] think [those companies] need to do things that they are refusing to do”.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">His successor as Digital Secretary, Jeremy Wright, has been more cautious,</span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">warning after he took the position that U.K. Internet regulations must be “properly thought through”. But the Minister eventually weighed in</span> <a href="https://twitter.com/DCMS_SecOfState/status/1089915610446946304"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">announcing</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> that a “online harms white paper” would set out “new laws to tackle the full range of online harms and set clear responsibilities for tech and social media companies in the UK”.</span>                <p class="normal_(web)" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:0.000000pt;margin-top:0.000000pt" awml:style="Normal (Web)">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Poland: Data protection complaint filed against Google</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The Polish NGO Panoptykon Foundation</span> <a href="https://www.gdprtoday.org/panoptykon-files-complaints-against-google-and-iab-europe"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">filed</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> complaints against Google and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) related to the online behavioural advertising market.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The complaint focuses on the role of Google and the IAB as “organisations that set standards for other actors involved in the OBA market…They should therefore be treated as data controllers responsible for GDPR infringements.”</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The Panoptykon Foundation is a member of European Digital Rights in Brussels.</span>                <p class="normal_(web)" style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:0.000000pt;margin-top:0.000000pt" awml:style="Normal (Web)">
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