Search results : 978

On 29 September 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a new resolution on the safety of journalists (‘the Resolution’) (for a recent Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Recommendation on the safety of journalists, see IRIS 2016-5/3). Shortly after its adoption, the Council of Europe and the human rights organisation Article 19 welcomed the new Resolution as “ground-breaking” and “comprehensive”. The Resolution builds upon multiple prior resolutions and decisions of the United Nations (UN) entities that focus on the safety and protection of journalists specifically or more generally...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Michigan issued a unanimous ruling on 6 July 2016 that the free music sharing app Pandora Media, Inc. (Pandora) did not violate the Preservation of Personal Privacy Act (PPPA, and also commonly known as the “video rental privacy act or VRPA”) by publically disclosing personal information concerning its customers’ music preferences to third parties without their consent. The Court was asked to determine whether Pandora’s actions violated the PPPA, which prohibits the disclosure of “any record or information concerning the purchase, lease,...

The US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York issued a ruling on 14 July 2016 that quashed a warrant issued under Section 2703 of the Stored Communications Act (“SCA” or the “Act”) by the United States (US) Government against Microsoft. The warrant directed Microsoft to produce the contents of an email account it maintains for a customer who uses the company’s electronic communications services. Although the data requested is stored in the US, to comply with the warrant Microsoft must access customer content that it stores in Ireland and import the data into the US. The Court agreed with...

The State Duma (Parliament) adopted on 22 June and President signed into law on 30 June 2016 amendments to the federal statutes “On state civil service of the Russian Federation” (2004) and “On municipal service in the Russian Federation” (2007), that relate to the use by state and municipal servants of social media and other websites and/or webpages that may identify them. The new rules demand from civil (municipal) servants and applicants to the positions of civil (municipal) servants that thay provide their employer with information on the addresses of the websites and webpages where they posted...

On 19 July 2016 the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation adopted a set of rules to facilitate its remote access to decoding information from “organizations that distribute information” online (Internet and telecom providers), such as all text, voice, graphic, sound, video, and any other messages of their customers. It follows the recently adopted amendments to the federal statutes “On Communications” and “On Information, Information Technologies, and Protection of Information” (see IRIS 2016-8/31). The procedures approved by the FSB stipulate that the Organization and Analytics...