Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
A Big Win for the Internet
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Today a federal court in Madrid dismissed charges of copyright infringement against YouTube. This decision is a clear victory for the Internet and the rules that govern it. Spanish broadcaster Telecinco had claimed that YouTube should be liable when users upload copyright-infringing material.
The court rejected Telecinco’s claim, noting that YouTube offers content owners tools to remove copyright infringing content and this means that it is the responsibility of the copyright owner – not YouTube – to identify and tell YouTube when infringing content is on its website. This decision reaffirms European law which recognizes that content owners (not service providers like YouTube) are in the best position to know whether a specific work is authorised to be on an Internet hosting service and states that websites like YouTube have a responsibility to take down unauthorised material only when they are notified by the owner.
The law strikes a careful balance: it protects copyright owners’ interests while allowing platforms like YouTube to operate, making it possible – for example – for elected officials to interact with the public in new ways and enabling first-hand reporting from war zones.
This decision demonstrates the wisdom of European laws. More than 24 hours of video are loaded onto YouTube every minute. If Internet sites had to screen all videos, photos and text before allowing them on a website, many popular sites – not just YouTube, but Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others – would grind to a halt.
YouTube and other websites give artists the opportunity to reach wider audiences than ever before and make money in the process. At the same time, people gain access to a wealth of creative content. We believe that letting websites like YouTube thrive is in the best interest of artists, publishers and consumers who can all benefit from the opportunities offered by hosting platforms.
YouTube respects copyright laws and wants to ensure that artists, publishers and media companies succeed online. That’s why we built Content ID; our technology is designed to prevent copyright abuses and give owners control over their content. The owner of a video simply gives us a copy and tells us what to do with an unauthorised upload: remove it, place ads next to it, or simply let them know that it’s been uploaded. Over 1,000 media companies, including Lagardère Active, Channel 4 and RAI in Europe currently use Content ID. And in Italy, all major broadcasters but one are using these tools.
We have always been open to working cooperatively with rightsholders and continue to grow our number of partnerships with content owners and hope to be able to work with Telecinco in the future in the spirit of copyright protection, content distribution and new opportunities.
Posted by Aaron Ferstman, Head of Communications for YouTube - Europe, the Middle East and Africa
Google TechTalk: Designing Privacy as a Product
Friday, September 10, 2010
Google has a whole group of engineers and product managers solely focused on developing innovative privacy features. Do you want to get an insider’s view into this team and the industry leading products they launched? What are the goals and principles leading their work? How do they "design for privacy"? How do they get users engaged? What are the challenges they face?
If you’d like to find out more, join us for a Google TechTalk given by Privacy Product Manager, Yariv Adan, entitled Designing Privacy as a Product". Yariv has spent three years focused on building innovative products that protect both your privacy and your data, and will provide his insights into the goals and challenges we face as a company today.
When
: Monday, September 27th 12:15 - 13:45 hours CET
Where
:
Google Brussels
| Chaussée D'Etterbeek 180 - Steenweg op Etterbeek 180 | 1040 Brussels
Registration
: Please register
here
.
Need another reason to come?
There’ll be a delicious, Googley lunch (!)
About our Tech Talks: Ever wondered how exactly Google is tackling the big technology problems that the online world faces? Want to take a look behind the curtain of our engineering operations and learn from the people who actually work on the Google products and services day-in, day-out? Here's your chance: The Google Brussels TechTalks
Posted by Angela Steen, Policy Analyst, Google
Trimming our privacy policies
Friday, September 3, 2010
Cross-posted from the
Google Blog
Long, complicated and lawyerly—that's what most people think about privacy policies, and for good reason. Even taking into account that they’re legal documents, most privacy policies are still too hard to understand.
So we’re simplifying and updating Google’s privacy policies. To be clear, we aren’t changing any of our privacy practices; we want to make our policies more transparent and understandable. As a first step, we’re making two types of improvements:
Most of our products and services are covered by our main
Google Privacy Policy
. Some, however, also have their own supplementary individual policies. Since there is a lot of repetition, we are deleting 12 of these product-specific policies. These changes are also in line with the way information is used between certain products—for example, since contacts are shared between services like Gmail, Talk, Calendar and Docs, it makes sense for those services to be governed by one privacy policy as well.
We’re also simplifying our main Google Privacy Policy to make it more user-friendly by cutting down the parts that are redundant and rewriting the more legalistic bits so people can understand them more easily. For example, we’re deleting a sentence that reads, “The affiliated sites through which our services are offered may have different privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies,” since it seems obvious that sites not owned by Google might have their own privacy policies.
In addition, we’re adding:
More content to some of our product Help Centers so people will be able to find information about protecting their privacy more easily; and
A
new privacy tools page
to the
Google Privacy Center
. This will mean that our most popular privacy tools are now all in one place.
These privacy policy updates will take effect in a month, on October 3. You can see the
new main Google Privacy Policy here
, and if you have questions
this FAQ
should be helpful.
Our updated privacy policies still might not be your top choice for beach reading (I am, after all, still a lawyer), but hopefully you’ll find the improvements to be a step in the right direction.
Posted by Mike Yang, Associate General Counsel
Facts about our network neutrality policy proposal
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Cross-posted from our Global
Public Policy Blog
.
Over the past few days there’s been a lot of discussion surrounding our
announcement
of a policy proposal on network neutrality we put together with Verizon. On balance, we believe this proposal represents real progress on what has become a very contentious issue, and we think it could help move the network neutrality debate forward constructively.
We don’t expect everyone to agree with every aspect of our proposal, but there has been a number of inaccuracies about it, and we do want to separate fact from fiction.
MYTH: Google has “sold out” on network neutrality.
FACT: Google has been the
leading corporate voice
on the issue of network neutrality over the past five years. No other company is working as tirelessly for an open Internet.
But given political realities, this particular issue has been intractable in Washington for several years now. At this time there are no enforceable protections – at the Federal Communications Commission or anywhere else – against even the worst forms of carrier discrimination against Internet traffic.
With that in mind, we decided to partner with a major broadband provider on the best policy solution we could devise together. We’re not saying this solution is perfect, but we believe that a proposal that locks in key enforceable protections for consumers is preferable to no protection at all.
MYTH: This proposal represents a step backwards for the open Internet.
FACT: If adopted, this proposal would
for the first time
give the FCC the ability to preserve the open Internet through
enforceable rules
on broadband providers. At the same time, the FCC would be prohibited from imposing regulations on the Internet itself.
Here are some of the tangible benefits in our joint legislative proposal:
Newly enforceable FCC standards
Prohibitions against blocking or degrading wireline Internet traffic
Prohibition against discriminating against wireline Internet traffic in ways that harm users or competition
Presumption against all forms of prioritizing wireline Internet traffic
Full transparency across wireline and wireless broadband platforms
Clear FCC authority to adjudicate user complaints, and impose injunctions and fines against bad actors
Verizon has agreed to voluntarily abide by these same requirements going forward – another first for a major communications provider. We hope this action will convince other broadband companies to follow suit.
MYTH: This proposal would eliminate network neutrality over wireless.
FACT: It’s true that Google previously has advocated for certain openness safeguards to be applied in a similar fashion to what would be applied to wireline services. However, in the spirit of compromise, we have agreed to a proposal that allows this market to remain free from regulation for now, while Congress keeps a watchful eye.
Why? First, the wireless market is more competitive than the wireline market, given that consumers typically have more than just two providers to choose from. Second, because wireless networks employ airwaves, rather than wires, and share constrained capacity among many users, these carriers need to manage their networks more actively. Third, network and device openness is now beginning to take off as a significant business model in this space.
In our proposal, we agreed that the best first step is for wireless providers to be fully transparent with users about how network traffic is managed to avoid congestion, or prioritized for certain applications and content. Our proposal also asks the Federal government to monitor and report regularly on the state of the wireless broadband market. Importantly, Congress would always have the ability to step in and impose new safeguards on wireless broadband providers to protect consumers’ interests.
It’s also important to keep in mind that the future of wireless broadband increasingly will be found in the advanced, 4th generation (4G) networks now being constructed. Verizon will begin rolling out its 4G network this fall under openness license conditions that Google
helped persuade
the FCC to adopt. Clearwire is already providing 4G service in some markets, operating under a unique wholesale/openness
business model
. So consumers across the country are beginning to experience open Internet wireless platforms, which we hope will be enhanced and encouraged by our transparency proposal.
MYTH: This proposal will allow broadband providers to “cannibalize” the public Internet.
FACT: Another aspect of the joint proposal would allow broadband providers to offer certain specialized services to customers, services which are not part of the Internet. So, for example, broadband providers could offer a special gaming channel, or a more secure banking service, or a home health monitoring capability – so long as such offerings are separate and apart from the public Internet. Some broadband providers already offer these types of services today. The chief challenge is to let consumers benefit from these non-Internet services, without allowing them to impede on the Internet itself.
We have a number of key protections in the proposal to protect the public Internet:
First, the broadband provider must fully comply with the consumer protection and nondiscrimination standards governing its Internet access service
before
it could pursue any of these other online service opportunities.
Second, these services must be “
distinguishable in purpose and scope
” from Internet access, so that they cannot over time supplant the best effort Internet.
Third, the FCC retains its
full capacity to monitor
these various service offerings, and to intervene where necessary to ensure that robust, unfettered broadband capacity is allocated to Internet access.
So we believe there would be more than adequate tools in place to help guard against the “cannibalization” of the public Internet.
MYTH: Google is working with Verizon on this because of Android.
FACT: This is a policy proposal – not a business deal. Of course, Google has a close business relationship with Verizon, but ultimately this proposal has nothing to do with Android. Folks certainly should not be surprised by the announcement of this proposal, given our prior public policy work with Verizon on network neutrality, going back to our October 2009
blog post
, our January 2010
joint FCC filing
, and our April 2010
op-ed
.
MYTH: Two corporations legislating the future of the Internet.
FACT: Our two companies are proposing a legislative framework to the Congress for its consideration. We hope all stakeholders will weigh in and help shape the framework to move us all forward. We’re not so presumptuous to think that any two businesses could – or should – decide the future of this issue. We’re simply trying to offer a proposal to help resolve a debate which has largely stagnated after five years.
It’s up to Congress, the FCC, other policymakers – and the American public – to take it from here. Whether you favor our proposal or not, we urge you to take your views directly to your
Senators
and
Representatives
in Washington.
We hope this helps address some of the inaccuracies that have appeared about our proposal. We’ll provide updates as the situation continues to develop.
Posted by Richard Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel
A joint policy proposal for an open Internet
Monday, August 9, 2010
At Google we believe in the power of an open and dynamic Internet to drive innovation, investment and economic growth. Preserving this openness calls for engaging in proactive dialogue with stakeholders and policy makers to ensure policies affecting the Internet provide the best online experience for users.
Today, we announced common proposals with Verizon to achieve just that in the US. These proposals underlines our commitment to an open Internet and the need for continued investment in broadband infrastructure. While these proposals are specific to the open Internet developments in the US, we are always keen on continuing the dialogue engaged in Europe on ways to best support the open Internet.
DJ Collins, Director, Communications and Public Affairs, EMEA
The original architects of the Internet got the big things right. By making the network open, they enabled the greatest exchange of ideas in history. By making the Internet scalable, they enabled explosive innovation in the infrastructure.
It is imperative that we find ways to protect the future openness of the Internet and encourage the rapid deployment of broadband. Verizon and Google are pleased to discuss the principled compromise our companies have developed over the last year concerning the thorny issue of “network neutrality.”
In October, our two companies issued a shared statement of principles on network neutrality. A few months later we submitted a joint filing to the FCC, and in an April joint op-ed our CEOs discussed their common interest in an open Internet. Since that time, we have listened to all sides of the debate, engaged in good faith with policy makers in multiple venues, and challenged each other to craft a balanced policy framework. We have been guided by the two main goals:
1. Users should choose what content, applications, or devices they use, since openness has been central to the explosive innovation that has made the Internet a transformative medium.
2. America must continue to encourage both investment and innovation to support the underlying broadband infrastructure; it is imperative for our global competitiveness.
Today our CEOs will announce a proposal that we hope will make a constructive contribution to the dialogue. Our joint proposal takes the form of a suggested legislative framework for consideration by lawmakers, and is laid out here. Below we discuss the seven key elements:
First, both companies have long been proponents of the FCC’s current wireline broadband openness principles, which ensure that consumers have access to all legal content on the Internet, and can use what applications, services, and devices they choose. The enforceability of those principles was called into serious question by the recent Comcast court decision. Our proposal would now make those principles fully enforceable at the FCC.
Second, we agree that in addition to these existing principles there should be a new, enforceable prohibition against discriminatory practices. This means that for the first time, wireline broadband providers would not be able to discriminate against or prioritize lawful Internet content, applications or services in a way that causes harm to users or competition.
Importantly, this new nondiscrimination principle includes a presumption against prioritization of Internet traffic - including paid prioritization. So, in addition to not blocking or degrading of Internet content and applications, wireline broadband providers also could not favor particular Internet traffic over other traffic.
Third, it’s important that the consumer be fully informed about their Internet experiences. Our proposal would create enforceable transparency rules, for both wireline and wireless services. Broadband providers would be required to give consumers clear, understandable information about the services they offer and their capabilities. Broadband providers would also provide to application and content providers information about network management practices and any other information they need to ensure that they can reach consumers.
Fourth, because of the confusion about the FCC’s authority following the Comcast court decision, our proposal spells out the FCC’s role and authority in the broadband space. In addition to creating enforceable consumer protection and nondiscrimination standards that go beyond the FCC’s preexisting consumer safeguards, the proposal also provides for a new enforcement mechanism for the FCC to use. Specifically, the FCC would enforce these openness policies on a case-by-case basis, using a complaint-driven process. The FCC could move swiftly to stop a practice that violates these safeguards, and it could impose a penalty of up to $2 million on bad actors.
Fifth, we want the broadband infrastructure to be a platform for innovation. Therefore, our proposal would allow broadband providers to offer additional, differentiated online services, in addition to the Internet access and video services (such as Verizon's FIOS TV) offered today. This means that broadband providers can work with other players to develop new services. It is too soon to predict how these new services will develop, but examples might include health care monitoring, the smart grid, advanced educational services, or new entertainment and gaming options. Our proposal also includes safeguards to ensure that such online services must be distinguishable from traditional broadband Internet access services and are not designed to circumvent the rules. The FCC would also monitor the development of these services to make sure they don’t interfere with the continued development of Internet access services.
Sixth, we both recognize that wireless broadband is different from the traditional wireline world, in part because the mobile marketplace is more competitive and changing rapidly. In recognition of the still-nascent nature of the wireless broadband marketplace, under this proposal we would not now apply most of the wireline principles to wireless, except for the transparency requirement. In addition, the Government Accountability Office would be required to report to Congress annually on developments in the wireless broadband marketplace, and whether or not current policies are working to protect consumers.
Seventh, and finally, we strongly believe that it is in the national interest for all Americans to have broadband access to the Internet. Therefore, we support reform of the Federal Universal Service Fund, so that it is focused on deploying broadband in areas where it is not now available.
We believe this policy framework properly empowers consumers and gives the FCC a role carefully tailored for the new world of broadband, while also allowing broadband providers the flexibility to manage their networks and provide new types of online services.
Ultimately, we think this proposal provides the certainty that allows both web startups to bring their novel ideas to users, and broadband providers to invest in their networks.
Crafting a compromise proposal has not been an easy process, and we have certainly had our differences along the way. But what has kept us moving forward is our mutual interest in a healthy and growing Internet that can continue to be a laboratory for innovation. As policy makers continue to formulate the rules of the road, we hope that other stakeholders will join with us in providing constructive ideas for an open Internet policy that puts consumers in charge and enhances America’s leadership in the broadband world. We stand ready to work with the Congress, the FCC and all interested parties to do just that.
Posted by Alan Davidson, Google director of public policy and Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president of public affairs, policy, and communications
Worrying restrictions on Internet access in Russia
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Online freedom of expression is a global issue and threats to it come from all over the world. Just last
week, we faced a challenge from far-off Siberia. A district court in a city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East, ordered Internet access provider Rosnet to block access to all content on YouTube.com
because one user had uploaded a video deemed problematic on grounds of ultra-nationalism.
As a result, some
Russian Internet users will no longer have access to the myriad of legitimate online content and video available on services such as YouTube, including, ironically, the Russian President’s own
YouTube Channel
. YouTube users upload more than 24 hours of video every minute.
Encouragingly, many influential Russian commentators have called for the ban to be lifted. The well-known Russian blogger Anton Nossik denounced “the verdict’s ignorance,” saying it “is typical to the whole Russian legal proceedings of Internet-related cases.”
The court order draws attention to an important broader issue. No provisions in the Russian legal system protect neutral online hosting platforms from being held directly liable for the content uploaded by third parties. In the European Union countries, a strong e-commerce directive offers such “intermediary liability protection.” The U.S. offers similar legal protection to hosting platforms.
YouTube is a responsible online platform. We have global community guidelines
to what is and isn’t acceptable. On the site YouTube, our millions of users flag content they deem to be potentially breaching these terms. Flagged videos are reviewed 24x7. If deemed to violate the guidelines, videos are removed from the site.
We look forward to working with the Russian authorities, the legal community and fellow web services to establish a similar environment in Russia. A single potentially inappropriate video should not lead to the blocking of a legitimate online service offering millions of legitimate, useful, commercial and entertaining videos.
Posted by Marina Zhunich, Russia Policy Manager
Innovation culture and Germany’s digital society
Monday, July 19, 2010
When Members of Parliament regrouped in Berlin last year after the German Federal elections, one of the first things they did was establish the
Enquete-Kommission
to look into the internet and digital society. The group was tasked with examining how Germany’s political, legal and social frameworks need to adapt to the opportunities and challenges presented by the digital revolution.
Since the Kommission’s establishment, discussions in Germany about the internet have been infused with new energy. A wide variety of stakeholders are coming to the table to share their positions and arguments. Berlin’s political community is getting involved in the discussion about the possibilities of the web as never before. And German web users from all walks of life are finding their voice, contributing to the debate and sharing their views on what the internet means for them and for society at large.
At Google, we’re keen to stimulate and support this very important discussion. That’s why we’re one of the initiators (together with a wide
range of other interested parties
) of a new thinktank,
the Internet & Society Co:llaboratory
, which we also fund. We think it takes a refreshingly independent and innovative approach to debating how the internet affects us all in our daily lives – and how we can ensure it continues to be an engine of innovation and economic growth.
At the core of the Co:llaboratory are independent
internet policy experts
representing the worlds of science, business, and civil society. These experts bring a diverse range of viewpoints to the table and are responsible for both monitoring developments in the digital world and defining the key issues the group wants to debate. Every quarter, they will make proposals for how developments in the digital world can be framed and used in the best possible way for society as a whole.
It is not called the Co:llaboratory for nothing. Every three months, the group will test and refine its positions and recommendations on a specific topic with a wide community of stakeholders. Their feedback and positions are then brought together into a quarterly report which gives a snapshot of how people think and feel about particular issues. The Co:llaboratory also shares its findings via its
website
and its
YouTube channel
, which is managed and moderated by
politik-digital.de
, one of the co-initiators of the thinktank.
The Co:llaboratory recently issued its
first report
on the state of online innovation culture in Germany – one of the first to come out after the establishment of the parliamentary commission. The findings are based on a survey of more than 530 members of the broader German internet community, and on more than 2,300 responses and statements, covering five key areas:
Internet governance and standardisation
Removing obstacles to innovation: legal frameworks and intellectual property
Data protection and the principle of choice
Digital communication, democracy and freedom of speech
Reducing the digital divide and the importance of access to the internet
I’d encourage you to read the report: it’s insightful, thought-provoking, controversial in places. We don’t necessarily agree with everything that’s said in the report either. But what’s important is that there is now a recognition in Germany that the internet really matters and that it is vital to ensuring we remain innovative and competitive as a country.
We’re glad to be engaged in the debate, and we hope that there will be more initiatives like the Co:llaboratory, ensuring that the views of web users are represented too.
Posted by: Dr. Max Senges, Google Policy team, Germany
[BTW: if you’re not a German speaker, you might want to use
Google Translate
to take a closer look at some of the links I’ve included in this post.]
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