Policy & Law

Data Retention: eco on the ECJ Ruling

The European Court of Justice today ruled that the German regulations on blanket data retention are not compatible with EU law. The eco Association welcomes this judgement and calls for an urgent repeal of the current regulations.

date 2022/09/20

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Policy & Law

ECJ Decides on German Data Retention: eco Association and Spacenet AG Consider Ruling in Favour of Fundamental Rights to Be Realistic

In the legal dispute between SpaceNet AG and the Federal Republic of Germany, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) will decide on 20 September whether the German regulations on data retention are compatible with EU law. eco has supported the lawsuit of SpaceNet AG from the beginning. According to the Association’s assessment, the general and unconditional storage of traffic data, with around 2.35 billion data records per day (IP addresses and telephony), affects almost all German users and costs the industry more than 600 million Euros.

date 2022/09/16

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Policy & Law

eco on the State of the Union Speech by the EU Commission President: "Digital resilience more important than ever"

On the occasion of the State of the European Union speech by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, expected on Wednesday, 14 September, eco Chair Oliver Süme said: "We live in challenging times. The threat of climate change and the current energy crisis as a result of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine show us that we must strive harder than ever for a more resource- and energy-efficient way of living and doing business. At the same time, digital resilience and technological sovereignty are becoming more important than ever."

date 2022/09/13

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Policy & Law

Majority of Germans Call for Digital Skills Education from Primary School Upwards

According to a recent representative population survey by eco – Association of the Internet Industry and the market and opinion research company Civey*, 64.2 per cent of those surveyed want children to learn how to counter bullying and hatred online while they are in school.

date 2022/09/08

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Policy & Law

eco on Digital Strategy: “German federal government must see digitalisation as an enabler”

Tomorrow the German federal government wants to adopt its revised digital strategy and thus finally give Germany a „comprehensive digital awakening”. This move towards digital transformation is long overdue. The current Digital Policy Opinion Barometer shows that 71.1 per cent of German citizens are not satisfied with digital policy in any area.

date 2022/08/30

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Policy & Law

eco on the Revised Draft of the Digital Strategy

Obviously, making progress with digitalisation in Germany can only be achieved if the German federal government and the Internet industry work closely together and exchange information.

date 2022/08/22

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Security

eco Survey on Media Use and Children’s Photos Online: Only 9 per cent of parents cover their child’s face

According to the eco survey, 81.6 per cent of all parents surveyed restrict the circle of recipients when they share photos via messenger services. Only 8.8 per cent use smileys to cover their child’s face.

date 2022/08/08

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Datacenter

eco Alliance on the Energy Crisis: Waste heat from data centres offers great potential, but no alternative to Russian gas in the short term

Heating via the Internet – the utilisation of waste heat from data centres makes it possible. If the heat generated by data centres was used on a consistent basis, large cities in Germany could be heated in a CO2-neutral capacity in the long term.

date 2022/08/01

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Policy & Law

eco on the Digital Services Act (DSA) Final Vote

The Digital Services Act offers the opportunity to bring the horizontal legal framework into line with the technological development leaps which have taken place over the last 20 years and thus to replace the e-Commerce Directive, which no longer did full justice to the realities of digital communication.    

date 2022/07/05

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Policy & Law

ICANN Meeting 2023 in Hamburg

Important decisions on core functions of the Internet will be taken in Hamburg in 2023: eco - Association of the Internet Industry and DENIC eG, together with the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg as host, will organise the 78th meeting of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) from 21 to 26 October 2023.

date 2022/06/15

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Policy & Law

eco Association on Digital Responsibilities of the German Traffic Light Coalition: “Two Steps Back in Digital Transformation”

With ambitious goals, the traffic light coalition has made a strong start in digitalisation and must not now get caught up in the minutiae or in wrangling over responsibilities. Digital transformation will only succeed if it is not weakened by divided leadership, too many responsibilities and bureaucratic red tape.

date 2022/06/13

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Policy & Law

Four Years of the GDPR: eco Association Calls for Uniform Application Across the EU and Germany

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been in force in Europe for four years. However, there is still uncertainty about its interpretation and implementation. eco – Association of the Internet Industry calls for a uniform application of the GDPR that not only creates legal clarity and the necessary scope for development and innovation but also makes it easier for Internet users to handle.

date 2022/05/25

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Policy & Law

eco on CSAM Regulation: “Monitoring obligations instead of effective child protection”

The European Commission has proposed new legislation to “prevent and combat child sexual abuse”, with which it plans to have extensive search and monitoring obligations, Internet blocking and chat controls implemented. From the perspective of eco, the planned regulation fails to take into account the legitimate fight against illegal Internet content.

date 2022/05/12

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Policy & Law

Ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court: Online State Searches in Bavaria Partly Illegal

The German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) has ruled that the Bavarian Law on the Protection of the Constitution is in large parts not compatible with the German constitution. This applies, among other issues, to the provisions contained therein on online state searches, the tracking of mobile phone terminals, data transmission and blanket data retention.

date 2022/04/29

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women.in.tech

eco on Girls’ Day: The IT & Tech Industry Badly Needs Female Reinforcement

At the age of 15, ten times fewer girls than boys consider taking up a technical profession. In order to counteract this imbalance, to provide impetus to the debate, and to offer recommendations for companies, policymakers, educators and parents, eco - Association of the Internet Industry has published a white paper entitled: "Girls in Tech: A Call to Action" for Girls' Day on 28 April.

date 2022/04/27

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