cearta.ie – Page 26 – the Irish for rights

I am a signatory to the following:

Open Letter to the European Commission – On the Importance of Preserving the Consistency and Integrity of the EU Acquis Relating to Content Monitoring within the Information Society

Recent developments, starting with the Communication on Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market Opportunities and Challenges for Europe released on 25/05/2016, followed by a series of proposals (Proposal for a Directive amending the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on copyright in the Digital Single Market) and soft law initiatives (the EU Internet Forum against Terrorism and the Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech Online) seriously put at risk the consistency and integrity of the EU acquis related to the information society.

A key component of this acquis is the prohibition of general monitoring obligations to the benefit of providers of intermediary services. It is a means to achieve at least two central objectives: the encouragement of innovation as well as the protection of fundamental rights of all Internet users, namely the rights protected by Articles 8 and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights. Yet, the proposed Copyright Directive, in particular, seems to negatively affect both the domain and effect of Article 15 of the E-Commerce Directive.…

GradLink in TCD Law School

4 October, 20163 October, 2016

| No Comments

| Conferences, Lectures, Papers and Workshops

Here in Trinity College Dublin, the GradLink Mentoring Programme aims to develop current students’ knowledge of the labour market and career paths, through nurturing career learning relationships with alumni mentors working in a range of career areas. The School of Law is participating in this year’s programme, connecting third year (Junior Sophister) students with graduates of the School who have kindly agreed to act as mentors, to pass on pass on knowledge and experience, and offer advice, guidance and information to our students on issues relating to their career and professional development. There are guidelines for mentors and students here (pdf). One past student said:

I very much enjoyed the GradLink Mentoring Programme as it gave me the chance to get advice from someone with experience in the field I wish to work in. It was invaluable to be able to take the time once a month to remove myself from thinking purely about college to think about my future and where I want to go. The wide range of advice my mentor gave me will definitely be helpful when I am looking for employment and the experience gave me confidence that people can find work in my area of qualification.

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Free speech for Trump but nobody else? Let’s see what Denis O’Brien might have to say about that

3 October, 201625 October, 2016

| 3 Comments

| Defamation, Freedom of Expression

Denis O’Brien (above left) and Donald Trump (above right) are classic crybullies: they cry in public when criticised, whilst bullying others – claiming to be victims, whilst intimating their critics. So, Denis O’Brien (among the 21 Irish lawsuits initiated by him since 2010) seeks to sue the Oireachtas for a TD’s speech about some of his business dealings, to to redact RTÉ’s publication of the same material, and to sue a PR firm for conspiracy and defamation, all the while claiming never to have experienced the level of abuse, venom and hatred resulting from taking a stand to protect privacy in relation to his financial affairs. Donald Trump is notorious for his cheap personal attacks, on the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq, on a former Miss Universe, and a judge who is hearing a fraud case against his defunct university, all the while decrying media criticism and threatening to change the law to weaken the First Amendment and muzzle the press.

The sanctimonious hypocricy at the heart of this strategy is egregious. The First Amendment, against which Trump inveighs when it is used against him, is the very thing on which Trump relies when he harangues everybody else.…

Reality and Illusion in EU Data Transfer Regulation post-Schrems

29 September, 2016

| 1 Comment

| Conferences, Lectures, Papers and Workshops, Cyberlaw, Digital Rights, Privacy

On the first anniversary of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Case C-362/14 Schrems, Professor Christopher Kuner (pictured left), Professor of Law at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels, will give a public lecture on

Reality and Illusion in EU Data Transfer Regulation post-Schrems

The lecture will be held in the Neill Theatre, Trinity Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin, on Thursday 6 October 2016, at 1:00pm.

In Case C-362/14 Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner [2015] ECR I-nyr (Grand Chamber, 6 October 2015), the Court of Justice of the European Union invalidated the EU-US Safe Harbour arrangement allowing personal data to be transferred to the US. The judgment is a landmark in the Court’s data protection case law, and illustrates the tension between the high level of legal protection for data transfers in EU law and the illusion of protection in practice. The judgment has undermined the logical consistency of the other legal bases for data transfer besides the Safe Harbour, and reactions to it have largely been based on formalism or data localization measures that are unlikely to provide real protection. Schrems also illustrates how many legal disagreements concerning data transfers are essentially political arguments in disguise.…

Some forthcoming legislation on the administration of justice, cybercrime, education, intellectual property, and privacy

28 September, 201629 September, 2016

| 4 Comments

| Blasphemy, Copyright, Cyberlaw, Digital Rights, ECJ, Intellectual property, Judicial Appointments, Legal Education, Privacy, Universities

Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty has announced the Government’s Legislation Programme for the Autumn Session 2016 (pdf). It is a considerable update of the programme published last June (pdf) when the government came into office.

The June programme had the feel of a holding document, published to get a new government to the Summer Recess. This programme has a far more substantial feel about, published to demonstrate the government’s confidence in its capacity to promote and enact legislation.

After the publication of the June programme, I examined proposed legislation from the Department of Education and Skills (here; and see also here), the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (here; and see also here and here), and the Department of Justice and Equality (here and here). Under those headings, very little has changed. But there are some notable additions, not least of which is the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) (Amendment) Bill. All we are told is that work is underway on a Bill to “amend various pieces of legislation in respect of electronic communications”. There is no further explanation. This is probably the Bill to provide for further covert surveillance of electronic communications promised by the Minister earlier this Summer.…

National Anthems and Political Dissent

28 September, 20169 October, 2017

| No Comments

| Freedom of Expression, National Anthem, US Supreme Court

For various reasons (set out here, here, here, and here), I have been musing recently about what should and should not be in a National Anthem Bill. In the US, legislation provides that, when the national anthem (since 1931, “The Star-Spangled Banner“) is being played, “persons present should … stand at attention with their right hand over the heart” (emphasis added). Although the photograph left shows Barak Obama doing so as President in 2009, there was a minor controversy during the 2008 election when he neglected to do so at a campaign event. More recently, US gymnastics gold medalist Gabby Douglas apologized in the face of criticism when she neglected to do so during the playing of national anthem at an olympics medal ceremony. Neither Obama nor Douglas meant anything by it. Obama said his grandfather taught him to put his hand on his heart only during the pledge of allegiance, and only to sing during the national anthem. And Douglas was just overcome by the emotion of the moment.

But some people do take advantage of the anthem to make a political point. At the 1968 Olympics, US 200-metre medallists Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) raised their own gloved hands during the national anthem while looking down as a way of opposing US state-sanctioned racism.…

Harmful Communications and Digital Safety

27 September, 201627 September, 2016

| 2 Comments

| Cyberlaw

The Law Reform Commission has today published its long-awaited (pdf) a Report on Harmful Communications and Digital Safety (pdf). It contains 32 recommendations for reform, and includes a draft Harmful Communications and Digital Safety Bill to implement them. In my view, the most important recommendation is the proposal to establish a statutory Digital Safety Commissioner, modelled on comparable offices in Australia and New Zealand. The Commissioner’s function would be to promote digital safety, including an important educational role to promote positive digital citizenship among children and young people. The Commissioner’s role would also include publication of a statutory Code of Practice on Digital Safety, to set out nationally agreed standards on the details of an efficient take-down procedure. As the Law Reform Commission explains:

Under the proposed statutory system, individuals would initially apply directly to a social media site to have harmful material removed in accordance with agreed time-lines: this is similar to the statutory system in place in Australia. If a social media site did not comply with the standards in the Code of Practice, the individual could then appeal to the Digital Safety Commissioner, who could direct a social media site to comply with the standards in the Code.

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