European CyberLaw Blog

German Court Finds Parent Liable For Child’s File-Sharing

German court finds parent liable for child’s file-sharing: “Parents can be legally responsible for the unlawful behaviour of their children using home internet connections, a German court has ruled. It said that a woman had a duty to monitor the use to which her internet connection was put.”

more @ http://www.out-law.com//default.aspx?page=10687

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German court rejects police data snooping store

Germany’s High Court has told police and secret services that they must stop storing email and telephone data and delete information already collected. The storage of six months’ worth of German comms data for police and anti-terrorism purposes was required by a European Union directive.

more @ http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/03/europe_snoop_law/

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Google ruling set to govern online trade mark use in Europe

Europe’s top court, the Court of Justice of the European Union, will next week rule on whether or not Google can use trade marks to trigger ads when brands battle to reach online consumers.

more @ http://www.out-law.com/page-10840

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Google image search results do not infringe copyright, says German court 

Google does not infringe copyright when it displays thumbnail previews of pictures from other people’s websites, the German Federal Supreme Court has ruled

more @ http://www.out-law.com/page-10891

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High Court ruling serves as a warning against any moderation of user comments

A blog owner can avoid liability for user-generated content that appears on his site without being checked or moderated, the High Court has ruled. But fixing the spelling or grammar in users’ posts could lose him that protection, it said.

more @ http://www.out-law.com/page-10902

Persistent illegal file-sharers should be cut off from the net, an alliance of UK creative industries will tell the government later.

Read Story @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8044251.stm

Cyber cops want new laws to allow remote searches of seized hard drives in the hope they will help reduce long digital forensics backlogs – of up to two years for some forces. It would mean specialised officers in London could access data held on hard drives in police evidence rooms nationally. How such information sharing would work technically hasn’t been decided. 

source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/29/remote_hard_drive_forensics/

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has ruled that Google’s controversial Street View service does not invade individual’s privacy.

Google’s Street View service – available as part of its Google Maps product – shows street-level photographs of major UK cities. This was held in response to a complaint filed by Privacy Interational, which is available here. Privacy International filed a complaint about Street View on the basis that the service had caused ‘distress and embarrassment’ to some individuals identified in the Street Level views.

However, the ICO has issued a statement saying that ‘common sense’ must prevail and ruled that the service does not breach the UK’s Data Protection Act

More details: http://www.which.co.uk/news/2009/04/google-street-view-doesnt-invade-privacy-says-ico-174800.jsp