Friday, June 18, 2004

Vera Franz posted:
US-EU deal on flight data leads to dispute
By Daniel Dombey and Raphael Minder in Brussels
Financial Times, June 16 2004

A controversial Europe-US agreement on air passenger information was in
the eye of the storm again on Wednesday, because of mounting pressure
from the European parliament...

On Wednesday, the parliament's legal affairs committee called for the
European Court of Justice to annul both the finding and the US-EU
agreement itself...

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullSto
ry&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373058193&p=1012571727102




Wednesday, June 16, 2004

CITDR

Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution


The Center is pleased to announce our new ODR Working Papers initiative to supplant our longstanding ODR Monthly online journal. The Working Papers initiative provides a space for presentation of new work, papers, articles, book chapters, or other ODR related material. We invite you to consider a submission, publication will be on a rolling basis and we welcome your work readily. The two most recent are:

Jenny Geary and Linda Mckay-Panos "Virtual Tutoring and Student Support Systems" (here is the associated PowerPoint presentation) Trident Foundation Mediation Counselling and Support Foundation, Alberta, Canada.
Ethan Katsh, "Can Avatars Lead Us to a New Model of Dispute Resolution"
If you have timely news or announcements about ODR and related issues / events please post on the ODR News Blog at ODR.info. Or, if you prefer, send the announcements to the Center and we will post.

Thank you!
The Center.

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Turkish FOIA

An education seminar about the usage of the Freedom of Information in Turkey:www.bilgilenmehakki.org

Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, Fikret Ilkiz, Attorney, Louitgard Hammerrer, Article 19 gave lectures on Turkish FOIA to a group of ngo representatives and lawyers. The seminar was held by ISTANBUL BILGI UNIVERSITY
HUMAN RIGHTS LAW RESEARCH CENTER
... The same event was repeated in Ankara and Diyarbak?r later on.

Chinese cyber-dissident gets four years' house arrest
By Tim Richardson
Published Monday in The Register 14th June 2004 13:32 GMT

Chinese cyber-dissident, Du Daobin, has been sentenced to four years under house arrest after being convicted for posting pro-democracy articles on the Net. Du's trial in Xiaogan, in the central province of Hubei, on Friday lasted just 15 minutes, during which time he was not allowed to speak.

Although Du accepts that he posted 26 essays on democracy and respect for human rights, he refuses to admit that it was a crime or that he was guilty of subversion.

Human rights organisation, Reporters Without Borders, accepted that the sentence was lenient, especially since Chinese authorities in the past have imposed long jail terms to such activists. Even so, the group maintains that Du was convicted unfairly on the "baseless charge of 'inciting subversion of the state'".

"This is a Pyrrhic victory," said Reporters Without Borders. "It allows Du to leave prison but it puts him under such a degree of police surveillance that his freedom is illusory. This sentence aims both to silence a human rights activist and at the same time appease those in China and abroad who criticised his imprisonment."

Du, 40, was arrested last October as he returned home from work. As well as pr-democracy activist, he also campaigned for the release of Liu Di, a young student imprisoned for posting messages calling for democracy in China on on-line forums. Liu was released in November last year after more than a year of detention without trial. ®

Related stories
China pulls plug on blogs
Outcry as Chinese Net dissident arrested
Tiananmen protesters fight on the Web

Thursday, June 03, 2004

Bogdan forwarded:
- - - - - - - - -
Dear colleagues,
>
> We are pleased to present you some information regarding the
> International Summer School on Intellectual Property Law which will
> take place in Romania, on the Prahova Valley, between August 22nd and
> September 3rd 2004.
> The greatest challenge of the beginning of the 21st Century is the
> acceleration of technical changes and innovation, that has created a
> new
> competitive dynamism in a range of markets sometimes collectively
> referred to as the "new economy".
> This so-called "new economy" has become almost synonymous
> with the
> information technology industries including computer software,
> hardware, and Internet-based businesses and associated technologies
> such
> as wireless communications.
> Baring in mind the economic potential of using the Internet and
> yet the
> importance of protecting the ideas upon which development is based,
> The
> European Law Students' Association-ELSA Bucharest, The Romanian
> Development Law Association-IDLO Alumni and Nestor Nestor Diculescu
> Kingston Petersen-Attorneys & Counselors gathered their experience
> and
> resources in order to provide 25 law students with knowledge on the
> subject.
>
> ACADEMIC AGENDA OF THE EVENT (8 courses and a moot court
> competition)
>
> Course 1 -"Connection between property, the protection of
> intellectual
> property and the Internet"
> Course 2- "Infringement of copyright in the digital age"
> Course 3- "Trademarks and domain names"
> Course 4- "The use of patents in information age"
> Course 5- "Protection of trade secrets in information age"
> Course 6- "Information about legal research on the Internet"
> Course 7- "The protection of software"
> Course 8- "Internet and the protection of human rights and
> privacy"
>
>
> The guest lecturers invited to the summer school are highly trained
> professionals. Due to their international experience, this summer
> school
> shall be a wonderful opportunity to give new insights on already new
> topics or on new ones. Some of the lecturers shall also act as
> judges in
> the moot court competition.
>
>
> PARTICIPATION IN THE EVENT
>
> The language of the summer school is English.
> The International Summer School How to Protect IP in the Digital
> Age is
> open to all European law students, undergraduates or graduates, with
> some experience in both intellectual property and the Internet. We
> are
> seeking the participation of enthusiastic young students, with a
> diversity of academic backgrounds and nationalities. Our ideal
> candidate
> is someone with some experience in international context, and who is
> dynamic.
> The maximum number of participants is 25!!!
>
> The deadline for submitting the application is 20th of July.
> You can download the application form from our website
> www.summerschool.ro starting with 27 of May.
> If you have any questions about how to fill the application form,
> do not
> hesitate to address it at office@s...
>
> PARTICIPATION FEE
>
> The payment of the participation fee shall be made until the 10th of
> August. The participation fee is:
> 100 EURO -participants from abroad
> 30 EURO -participants from Romania
> The costs of accommodation transport from Bucharest to the venue and
> back, as well as the costs of the field trip, shall be covered by the
> organizers.
>
>
> We are waiting 4 YOU!
>
> Sincerelly yours,
> Diana
>
> Diana Crangasu
> Public Relations Coordinator
> "How To Protect IP in the Digital Age?"
> International Summer School on Intellectual Property Law
> Romania, 22nd August-3rd September 2004
> office@s...
> fax/tel. :+4021 315.57.20
> www.summerschool.ro
> ___________________________________________
> Organizers:
> The European Law Students'Association - ELSA Bucharest
> Romanian Development Law Association IDLO Alumni
> Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston and Petersen-Attorneys&Councelors
>