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On 12 May 2014, the Council of the European Union (EU) adopted the EU Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline. As the EU only has a limited set of home-grown standards on freedom of expression, one of the main aims of the Guidelines is to “explain the international human rights standards on freedom of opinion and expression”. Another main aim is to provide “political and operational guidance to officials and staff of the EU Institutions and EU member states for their work in third countries and in multilateral fora as well as in contacts with international organisations, civil society...

On 16 April 2014, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers (CM) adopted Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)6 to member States on a Guide to human rights for Internet users (hereafter, “the Guide”). Among the starting premises of the Recommendation are: (i) human rights standards, as elaborated by the Council of Europe, must be upheld on the Internet, and (ii) in safeguarding human rights, states’ obligations include “the oversight of private bodies”. The Recommendation stresses that “human rights, which are universal and indivisible, and related standards, prevail over the general terms and conditions...

On 26 May 2014, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) launched a public consultation on Draft Revised Access Rules for Irish television broadcasters. The draft Rules will update the current Access Rules in place since 2005 and last reviewed in 2012 (IRIS 2012-7/28). The Rules determine the levels of subtitling (including captioning), sign language and audio description that broadcasters will be required to provide; they apply to certain broadcasters within the State but do not apply to broadcast services commonly received in Ireland but licensed in other jurisdictions. Section 41(3)(c) of...

On 10 April 2014 two new (complementary) acts were adopted in Belgium that amend the Criminal Code in order to protect minors against solicitation for sexual purposes through ICT (information and communication technologies) ‘grooming’, on the one hand, and ‘cyberluring’ (‘cyberlokken’), on the other hand. The first act introduces a new article 377quater in the Criminal Code, which criminalises the proposal, through information and communication technologies, of an adult to meet a child who has not reached the age of 16, for the purpose of committing any of the offences established in the sections...

On 15 January 2014 Apple Inc. (“Apple”) agreed to settle a complaint with The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) that Apple violated the FTC Act by failing to tell parents that they were approving an in-app purchase and 15 minutes of additional unlimited purchases by simply entering a password. The complaint was triggered by complaints the FTC had received from parents for in-app charges that were incurred by children that were either accidental or not authorized. Under the terms of the agreement, Apple will provide full refunds to consumers for charges incurred by children that were either accidental...