European External Action Service

A WaPost piece: “Why Turkey’s government is threatening academic freedom?

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Why Turkey’s government is threatening academic freedom washingtonpost.com – Jan 16 Turkey is making international news. And, unsurprisingly, the news is gloomy yet again. Emboldened by his party’s electoral victory in November, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has set out on a crusade against academics. After 1,128   Investigation against Academic Signing Peace Statement  Bianet :: … Read more

Cyberculture agenda: French (and probably other) governments are after Encryption software…

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French Ministry of Interior wants to ban open wifi, Tor Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow A leaked memo from the Ministry sets out new bills it would like to see introduced into the French Parliament as early as next month, setting out an ambitious plan to block privacy tools, something only technically possible by recreating China’s … Read more

Cyberculture agenda: Big Data might justify racism in wrong hands… Wikipedia’s use of artificial intelligence…

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Wikipedia is using artificial intelligence to get more actual humans writing articles The Next Web by Napier Lopez Better artificial intelligence is often associated with the detriment of a human workforce, but judging by some new practices by the team at Wikipedia HQ, it doesn’t have to be that way. Racist algorithms: how Big Data makes bias seem objective  Boing … Read more

Eurosphere agenda: “Montenegro on the path to Nato membership…”Court blocks Catalan independence bill

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Court blocks Catalan independence bill BBC News | Europe | World Edition Spain’s Constitutional Court revokes Catalonia’s parliamentary motion that set in motion a process of unilaterally breaking away from the rest of the country. EU’s new ‘Directive on Terrorism’ aims to criminalise preparatory acts  EurActiv.com The European Commission adopted on Wednesday (2 December) a package of measures … Read more

For the record, “all identified Paris attackers were from the EU…

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EU official: all identified Paris attackers were from the EU Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Despite the rumors that tricked more than half the state governors in the USA into enacting racist anti-Syrian policies, there is no evidence that the Paris attackers came from outside the EU. (more…) VIDEO: Bataclan band: People died saving friends BBC News … Read more

Opportunist authorities are quick to blame Encryption after Paris… Cyberculture Agenda…

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Exploiting Emotions About Paris to Blame Snowden, Distract from Actual Culprits Who Empowered ISIS The Intercept by Glenn Greenwald Whistleblowers are always accused of helping America’s enemies (top Nixon aides accused Daniel Ellsberg of being a Soviet spy and causing the deaths of Americans with his leak); it’s just the tactical playbook that’s automatically used. So … Read more

Journalism agenda: “The Economist’s anti-ad-blocking tool was hacked…

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Narcodata, an In-Depth Data Journalism Project That Contextualizes the Drug War in Mexico  Global Voices Online Screenshot from Narcodata’s introduction video. The Economist’s anti-ad-blocking tool was hacked and infected readers’ computers  Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Pagefair is an ad-blocking circumvention tool that publishers can use to track readers who’ve taken technological countermeasures to protect their privacy. … Read more

Cyberculture agenda: “HOWTO use Tor Messenger…

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How big data and The Sims are helping us to build the cities of the future The Next Web by The Conversation By 2050, the United Nations predicts that around 66 percent of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. It is expected that the greatest expansion will take place in developing regions such … Read more

Eurosphere agenda: “Tech industry association vs. German privacy watchdogs….

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Tech industry association bashes German privacy watchdogs EurActiv.com The European tech industry is firing back against German data privacy chiefs, who announced this week that they would suspend data transfers to the United States and suggested businesses operating in Europe store data only in EU member states. Migrants grieve and wait on Greek island BBC News | … Read more

Journalism agenda: A journalist, Svetlana Alexievich wins Nobel… Twitter and Reddit moves more into journalistic production…

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Nobel Prize in literature goes to journalist from Belarus  EurActiv.com Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarussian journalist and dissident writer, won the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday (8 October) “for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time”, the Swedish Academy announced.   How the Crowd and Automation Are Shaping Journalism Social Media Today by … Read more

Data battles in Europe: “NSA spying means US servers are not a fit home for Europeans’ data…Cyberculture agenda..

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EU top court: NSA spying means US servers are not a fit home for Europeans’ data  Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Historically, US companies have been able to get around the (relatively stringent) European data-protection rules thanks to a “Safe Harbor” agreement between the US and the EU — but Max Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist, … Read more

Cyberculture agenda: Key challenges to freedom of expression online identified by EDRI

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EDRi identifies key challenges to freedom of expression online Yeni Medya On 13 November 2014, EDRi met with the European External Action Service (EEAS) for a civil society consultation on the EU Human Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline. The EEAS aims at improving the Guidelines in the future and was seeking input … Read more

Cyberculture agenda: “The Secret Gear Connecting Google’s Online Empire….

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Revealed: The Secret Gear Connecting Google’s Online Empire Wired Top Stories by Cade Metz For a decade, Google has been building the networking equipment that runs its online empire in secret. Today, it’s raising the curtain. Who benefits from the ‘internet space race’?  Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog by Adam Fish … Read more

Eurosphere roundup: Croatia, the new member… A day with the Eurocrats

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Library of the European Parliament’s Blog: Croatia ? sources of information For the occasion of Croatian accession to the European Union on the 1 July 2013 and becoming the 28th member state, we have prepared this document as introductory information to sources that are already available in Library of European Parliament Croatia: President Plays Beethoven to … Read more

Euro roundup: The Franco-German axis takes some hits recently

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Frosty

by Open Europe blog team


The Franco-German axis, which for so long has defined the European Union, has taken some serious hits lately. Following the trauma of the eurozone crisis, the relationship between the two countries is heading towards a historic post-war low – to the point that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy are no longer on speaking terms according to whispers in Brussels. This wasn’t helped by Sarkozy’s comments the other week that “95 percent” of the bailout package deal agreed corresponded to French demands.

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