UK

Europe Rules ISPs Can't Be Forced to Block Pirate Sites

Lindsy Embree — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:27:54 -0500

Full article: CNet
Rich Trenholm
Good news from Europe: ISPs can't be forced to monitor or block customers from using the Web. A European court has ruled that record labels and film studios can't use the courts to instruct a broadband company to track or try to block a customer.

European Commission Claims 95 Percent of Citizens Have Broadband Access

Lindsy Embree — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:44:59 -0500

Full article: V3.co.uk
Dan Worth
The European Commission estimates that around 95 percent of European Union citizens now have basic broadband access, as the organization aims to achieve universal coverage by 2013.

eBay Lobbies U.K. Government for Faster Mobile Broadband

Lindsy Embree — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:42:29 -0500

Full article: FierceWireless
Paul Rasmussen
Online auction site eBay entered the growing debate over faster mobile broadband speeds, and has sent its "Mobile Manifesto" to the UK government calling for the deployment of LTE to happen without further delay.

U.K. ISPs to Face Tighter Regulations on Its Advertised Broadband Speeds

Lindsy Embree — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:01:58 -0400

Full article: NextWeb
The Committees of Advertising Practice, the body responsible for writing advertising codes in the UK, has ruled that beginning in April 2012 Internet Service Providers can only advertise a specific maximum speed if 10 percent of customers can actually receive it.

UK Government Tried to Make it Harder to Appeal Three Strikes Accusations

Stevie Converse — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:20:08 -0400

Full article: TechDirt
Mike Masnick
Back when the legacy entertainment industry and U.S. ISPs announced a "voluntary" six strikes plan to deal with those accused (but not convicted) of copyright infringement online, the agreement seemed to bend over backwards to make the appeals process difficult. It's beginning to look like that sort of limitation is all a part of the bigger plan to further curb the ability to appeal these cases.

Super Wi-Fi or White Spaces, What's Up with Unlicensed Broadband?

Stevie Converse — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:35:40 -0400

Full article: GigaOM
Stacey Higginbotham
The U.K. has laid out plans to use white spaces broadband. In the U.S., a combination of rules designed to keep those trying to use the spectrum for broadband from interfering with those trying to use the spectrum for TV or wireless microphones have made the deployment of services and building devices a time-consuming challenge. While the nation waits for white spaces, which first became available as a result of the digital TV transition that occurred in 2009, the stated use for those airwaves have changed.

UK Plans White Space Mobile Internet by 2013

Stevie Converse — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:19:58 -0400

Full article: Engadget
Daniel Cooper
Free from the wrangling that has dogged things in the States, Ofcom has released plans to make the UK the first country in Europe to implement white space mobile Internet.

U.K. Broadband Speeds 'Far Slower' than Advertised

Lindsy Embree — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:17:07 -0400

Full article: ComputerandVideoGames.com
A new study has revealed "striking disparities between the theoretical and real-world download speeds for British broadband users."

British Government Agrees that Copyright Has Gone too Far

Lindsy Embree — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 07:53:14 -0400

Full article: Ars Technica
Timothy B. Lee
The British government pledged to enact significant changes to copyright law, including orphan works reforms and the introduction of new copyright exceptions. And the tone of the comments was surprising: The government agrees that "copyright currently over-regulates to the detriment of the UK." CD ripping for personal use should become legal at last -- and the government is even keen to see that the consumer rights granted by law can't simply be taken away by contract.

UK Publishes All Central Government Spending Data over £25K

Stevie Converse — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:01:08 -0400

Full article: Open Knowledge Foundation Blog
Friedrich Lindenberg
The UK has released central departmental spending data over £ 25k. The decision of the UK Government to publish this data represents a huge step towards more participatory governance, greater transparency and accountability in financial governance.