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On 24 September 2008, the European Parliament approved, in the first reading, with amendments, the proposals initially tabled by the European Commission on 13 November 2007 with a view to reforming the existing EU telecoms rules, in place since 2003. The new Telecoms Package aims to create a Single EU Telecoms Market, encompassing the internet and telecoms sectors, with emphasis on more rights and better choice for consumers, as well as stronger competition. As the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso explained, “Telecoms is a field where our single market can bring about very...

On 29 September 2008 the European Commission published a communication addressing future networks and the Internet. According to the report, broadband and Internet services have been adopted en masse by Europeans, thereby impacting European society and economy significantly. Internet use continues to grow and change in Europe and is speculated to continue to flourish, its changes predicted to result in new opportunities for European businesses and citizens. The pervasiveness of broadband in Europe has shifted the way in which users engage with the Internet. The Internet is increasingly participative...

In its recently published annual report, jugendschutz.net, the body founded in 1997 by the Youth Ministers of the Bundesländer to monitor youth protection on the Internet and which is attached to the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (Commission for the Protection of Young People in the Media), reported a record number of infringements of youth protection laws on the Internet in 2007. The organisation reported a total of 2,883 infringements, 10% more than in the previous year. Most of the infringements were committed on pornographic and extreme right-wing Internet sites. However, social networking...

On 3 September 2008, the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (Portuguese media regulatory body - ERC), handed down a decision holding bullfighting to be “an integrant part of the Portuguese ethos” and stating that there are no reasons that justify its interdiction from television programming. The deliberation 13/CONT-TV/2008 results from a complaint put forward by Mr. Pedro Henrique Assunção Grilo, who argued that the private channel Televisão Independente (TVI) should not have broadcast a bullfight on 5 June 2008 before 22:30h and without an identifying symbol advising viewers on the...

The Greek Ethinko Symvoulio Radiotileorasis (National Council for Radio and Television – ESR) recently issued three important decisions regarding the issues of protection of minors, privacy and protection of a person’s personality. The first decision refers to the well-known series “Prison Break”. The series was broadcast by the Greek channel “ANTENNA” and was rated by the special committee of the channel as second category – available for minors with parental consent. According to this rating, the series could not be transmitted during the “children’s zone” (i.e. before the watershed). On a daily...