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In 2004 Yleisradio Oy broadcast a current affairs programme focusing on some legal aspects of incest cases in the context of child custody disputes. Genuine cases were used as examples. In one case, A. appeared undisguised and using his own first name. He was introduced as a 55-year old driver from Helsinki and it was further announced that A. had been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for sexual abuse of his two children, X. and Y., their gender and current age being mentioned. The judgment concerning A.’s conviction for sexual offences had been declared confidential by the Court of...

On 1 January 2011 the new Law of Ukraine On Protection of Personal Data that was adopted in June 2010 was enacted. Adoption of the Law was a necessary step after ratification of the European Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data. The Law regulates the way personal data are protected during automatic processing and also if it is stored in data banks. The President of Ukraine in January 2011 created a special office named Data Protection Inspection that would observe compliance with the Law and appointed its Head. Everyone who has a database...

On 13 January 2011 Verkhovna Rada (the parliament of Ukraine) adopted two laws on access to information: The Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information” and the new wording of the Law of Ukraine “On Information” (1992). Both laws were supported by almost all members of the parliament after an intensive campaign, held by journalists and civic activists. They were signed by the President Yanukovych on 3 February 2011 and will enter into force on 9 May 2011. The newly-adopted laws are aimed at extending the possibility to obtain information from state bodies and at securing the unobstructed activitivies...

On 15 February 2011, the Spanish Parliament finally adopted the Sustainable Economy Act. The new act includes a series of controversial measures against the illegal downloading of protected works (the so-called Ley Sinde), which the Parliament had initially removed from the bill prepared by the Government and which were later reintroduced with slight modifications (see IRIS 2011-2/23). These measures amend three further acts, namely the Act on Information Society Services, the Intellectual Property Act and the Act on Administrative Jurisdiction. The Ley Sinde aims at blocking or closing down in...

On 10 December 2010, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court - BVerfG) decided to uphold the appeal by the Hamburg-based local broadcaster “Freies Sender Kombinat” (FSK) against an order to search its business premises and confiscate its editorial documents, and to overturn the lower instance rulings. In October 2003, FSK had broadcast a report on alleged infringements by police officers at a demonstration. During the programme, an unknown presenter had played recordings of two telephone calls between a police press officer and somebody who had introduced him/herself in the telephone...