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On 29 March 2012, the German Bundestag (lower house of parliament), with the votes of the governing parties, adopted without any amendments a bill strengthening the freedom of the press (PrStG) (see IRIS 2010-9/22). The bill is designed to strengthen the freedom of the press by offering better protection to journalists and their sources, in order to ensure that the media can fulfil their oversight function vis-à-vis State activities. In addition, a new paragraph has been added to Article 353b of the Strafgesetzbuch (Criminal Code - StGB; breaches of official secrecy and special obligations of secrecy),...

On 28 March 2012, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court - BVerwG) held that a decision issued in 2008 banning two journalists from photographing on-duty police officers was unlawful. Members of a special police task force (SEK) were accompanying a prisoner suspected of involvement in organised crime from his place of detention to a doctor’s surgery when they were spotted and photographed by two journalists. The leader of the police operation ordered the journalists not to take photographs of the officers and threatened to confiscate the camera if they failed to comply. He claimed...

On 4 April 2012, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe issued a recommendation to the member states on the protection of human rights with regard to search engines. The recommendation acknowledges the importance of search engines in the online environment. It points to the ways in which the operation of search engines can threaten fundamental rights. It discusses the requirements following from the right to freedom of expression, the right to private life and the protection of personal data in the context of search engines. More specifically, it provides a number of recommendations...

On 4 April 2012, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers (CM) adopted Recommendation CM/Rec(2012)4 on the protection of human rights with regard to social networking services. The CM notes in the Recommendation that social networking services (SNSs) are important for the effective exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms because they can assist the wider public to receive and impart information. SNSs are of public service value because they offer possibilities for enhancing the potential for individuals’ participation in political, social and cultural life and facilitate democracy...

For the facts of this case we refer to IRIS 2010-10/1 in which the Court’s Chamber judgment of 27 July 2010 was reported. In essence Mr. Mustafa Aksu, who is of Roma/Gypsy origin, complained in Strasbourg that two publications financed or supported by the Ministry of Culture in Turkey, had offended him in his Roma identity, under Article 14 (the anti-discrimination provision) in conjunction with Article 8 (right to privacy). The action of Mr. Aksu was directed against a book entitled “The Gypsies of Turkey” and a dictionary entitled “Turkish Dictionary for Pupils”,...