‘File sharing law goes too far’: Swedish EU election candidates The Local
A clear majority of the Swedish candidates seeking election to the EU parliament are against the IPRED copyright law, arguing that EU countries have gone too far in the hunt for file-sharers. Only 11 of the 39 candidates expressed support for the controversial copyright law in a major new survey conducted by newspaper Sydsvenskan. The law is based on the European Union’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) and was passed by a large majority in the Swedish parliament on February 25th, courting criticism from opponents who argue that it constitutes a threat to democracy and personal integrity. Opposition to the Swedish government bill came primarily from members of parliament for the Centre and Green parties. The new survey indicates that opposition to the IPRED law exists among EU parliamentary candidates representing all parties. 25 candidates answered in the affirmative to the statement: With the IPRED law the EU has gone too far in its hunt for file sharers.

Work continues on [New Zealand] Copyright Act Computerworld
A spokesman in Commerce Minister Simon Power’s office denies government has called a moratorium on further amendments to the Copyright Act. Work continues to find an acceptable replacement for the abandoned Section 92A, the spokesman says. The National Business Review reported that government is considering a review of copyright legislation from the ground up and has accordingly terminated any attempts at patching up Section 92A. That section aimed at making internet service providers responsible for issuing warnings to their users accused of a breach of the Act by illicitly downloading copyright works.

E.U. to Hear Proposal for Cross-Border Net Copyright New York Times
Two European commissioners are proposing the creation of a Europewide copyright license for online content that could clear the way for cross-border sales of digital music, games and video — and lower prices for consumers. The plan, to be offered Tuesday by Viviane Reding, the European telecommunications and media commissioner, and Meglena Kuneva, the consumer affairs commissioner of the bloc, would allow consumers to shop online for media from any retailer in the 27-nation European Union. The two commissioners intend to outline their plan in Strasbourg, where the European Parliament is meeting this week, according to a copy of the proposal obtained by the International Herald Tribune. The commissioners would introduce legislation to create the license this year. Currently, most online retailers limit sales of media — both digital and in the more traditional formats — to the countries in which they are based because of the complexity of satisfying varying domestic copyright rules and fees. “The offer of content online is growing more and more but the current regime is still locked into national territorial licensing, with the result that E.U. consumers are often prevented from legally watching content anytime, anywhere and on any platform,” the commissioners’ proposal said.

Ottawa courtroom joins Twitter age for mayor’s trial Ottawa Citizen
Television cameras are barred from the criminal trial of Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien, but observers are free to use BlackBerrys, laptops and other forms of electronic text messaging to report live on the proceedings. In a small breakthrough for new media technologies, Judge J. Douglas Cunningham rejected concerns about “putting the genie back in the bottle” and said he would allow journalists to send messages from his courtroom directly to the Internet. Cunningham, who is associate chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court, cautioned that the ruling applies only to this particular trial. The new technologies could raise other concerns in a jury trial, he said. The ruling will allow Canwest News Service and other news organizations to provide moment-by-moment coverage of the trial via the popular Internet messaging service Twitter. It applies to anyone who attends, not just journalists. The Ottawa Citizen brought the application to allow its reporters to use their BlackBerrys in court. Lawyer Rick Dearden said reporters have a right to use the devices to gather and disseminate news from court and he rejected a suggestion, advanced by a lawyer assisting the court, that it could put a 20-minute delay on electronic updates. Dearden said this “play is under review” provision would amount to a temporary publication ban without satisfying the legal test for such a restriction.

Get Your Copy of Windows 7 RC1 Wired
Microsoft has made the release candidate of Windows 7, the next version of its desktop operating system, available as a free download. The download has been active since the earliest hours of Tuesday, May 5. This marks the second time Microsoft has made a copy of Windows 7 available as a free preview. In January, the company offered up Windows 7 Beta 1 to testers, and the crushing server load brought on by thousands of users eager to get their hands on the beta release earlier this year resulted in a chaotic and messy release.

Craigslist to meet with state AGs over sex ads CNet News
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said his office found several ads offering and seeking prostitution on Craigslist pages for the Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia/Jefferson City, and Springfield areas. “Craigslist is allowing advertisements for illegal activities like prostitution on its site,” Koster said a statement. “It is blatant. It is irresponsible. It is illegal.”

EU hearing on Microsoft antitrust case in June Reuters
European Union antitrust regulators have set a hearing next month for Microsoft to respond orally to EU charges that it sought to stymie rivals by tying the firm’s Web browser to its Windows operating system. The closed hearing will be from June 3 to 5, European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said. “It will be an opportunity for Microsoft to state orally the arguments they outlined in their response to the statement of objections,” he said. U.S. software giant Microsoft replied to EU antitrust charges, the so-called “statement of objections,” on April 28. The EU’s executive arm charged the company on January 15 with infringing EU rules by abusing its dominant position.

First view of KDE’s Social Desktop Heise Online
At last year’s KDE Akademy saw the first presentations on a vision for a KDE social desktop and now the first application for that desktop are being shown. In a posting on dot.kde.org, the Social Desktop developers have now shown a Social Desktop plasmoid, the KDE term for an application embeddable in the desktop, and are aiming for it to be incorporated in KDE 4.3 due this Summer. More functionality is then planned for the plasmoid in KDE 4.4.

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April, 2009