FIPR - Welcome

foundation for information policy research

Welcome

The Foundation for Information Policy Research is an independent body that studies the interaction between information technology and society. Its goal is to identify technical developments with significant social impact, commission and undertake research into public policy alternatives, and promote public understanding and dialogue between technologists and policy-makers in the UK and Europe.

Hot topics: [Surveillance][Copyright][e-democracy][Health privacy]

Announcements

Response to OFCOM Spectrum Framework Review Consulation

15 February 2005

FIPR, along with a number of other organisations, has signed the Consultation Response produced by OpenSpectrumUK, an ad hoc coalition of non-profit organisations engaged in community wireless networking and the promotion of license-free access to the public airwaves.

Response to Copyright Consultation

1 November 2004

As a direct result of the workshop that FIPR recently organised on Copyright in Europe, FIPR was able to develop a response to the European Commission consultation on the review of copyright law. This response was then endorsed by 20 other organisations under the banner of EDRI (European Digital Rights) and has now been jointly submitted to the Commission.

The response effectively sets out an agenda for NGO activity on copyright issues in Europe for the next five years and is therefore of considerable significance.

Further information is available on the EDRI site, along with the text of the response itself (and the list of supporting organisations). The text is also available as a PDF and translated into Italian.

Workshop: Copyright in Europe

9-10 October 2004

The Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) will host a European workshop on the consultation currently being run by the European Commission on the EU legal framework in the field of copyright and related rights (whose deadline is at the end of October).

This workshop is supported by the OSI IPR and Public Domain Program.

This is an opportunity to discuss our responses with consumer and user interest groups, academics and other European partners in an open, informal forum. Participants from the new EU member states are especially welcome. Please forward this message as appropriate.

As well as discussing the issues in the Commission Staff Working Paper, we have an opportunity to put forward our own vision of the future. Topics might include the repeal of the Database Directive, DRM and competition policy, the relationship between contract and copyright, compulsory licensing, a fruit-of-the-poisoned-tree clause, the reform of collecting societies, the term of protection, and a campaign for a Digital Rights Directive.

The seminar will take place in Cambridge, UK on 9-10 October 2004. An agenda and further information is now available -- click here.

NB: Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, attendance at the Conference is FREE.

EU pushes for more expensive electronics

21 September 2004

The European Commission was criticised today by the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) for making a great flourish of liberalising the market in car components, such as exhausts and door panels, while quietly pushing for law changes that will make the more expensive electronic accessories pricier still.

FIPR's views were expressed in a response to an EU consultation on rights-management technology, which is available in full online at: http://www.fipr.org/copyright/ipr-consult.html
and the full press release is here.

Mistaken Identity: public meeting on ID card proposals

4 May 2004

The government has introduced draft legislation for a national identity card. The card system will cost at least £3 billion and is likely to become an essential part of life for everyone residing in the UK. If the draft legislation is accepted by Parliament, everyone will be required to register for a card. Biometric scans of the face, fingers and eye will be taken. Personal details will be stored in a central database. A unique number will be issued that will become the basis for the matching of computer systems.

Join us at this free public meeting to hear from key figures in the fields of law, politics, security, technology and human rights. Decide for yourself whether this is a plan that should be supported.

ID card scheme an expensive flop

26 April 2004

The Home Office has today published plans for a compulsory national ID card scheme. Its 120-page consultation document again contains no evidence that the scheme will help prevent terrorism or illegal immigration. But it is full of evidence that the scheme will cost many billions of pounds that might be better spent on targeted investigations by the intelligence agencies and police.

Ian Brown, Director of FIPR, commented: "It is unfortunate that the Home Office is fixated on ID cards when there are many more workable measures that could be taken to fight terrorism. We can only hope that the Cabinet members that have opposed these plans take this last opportunity to stop this legislation going forward."

IPR enforcement directive improved, but could be better

9 March 2004

The European Parliament has today passed an improved but still problematic version of the Intellectual Property Rights enforcement directive. FIPR has been producing briefings and analyses of the directive for MEPs and other interested groups since last summer, and is pleased that some of its concerns have been taken on board. The problematic section on Technical Protection Measures, which have caused controversy in related US and EU legislation, has been removed from the final legislation. Criminal sanctions have also been deleted. But the scope of other parts of the Directive have unfortunately been widened to cover non-commercial infringement.

FIPR will continue to monitor the progress of the Directive as it is implemented into Member State laws. You can read our briefing for EDRi on remaining problems with the Directive, along with our press archive.

FIPR responds to medical privacy consultation

30 January 2004

In a response to a NHS consultation, FIPR has commented that the NHS must desist from centralising all personal health information, leave the information in the hands of its natural custodians (the general practices, hospitals or other carers), redesign payment systems so that settlement occurs locally, and delete transient administrative data (such as payment details) promptly. The guiding principles for regulation in this field must be ethical, and founded on informed consent. They should be enunciated clearly and in public, and applied in a consistent and joined-up way across health research and administration, so that the law continues to uphold the principle of patient consent...

FIPR gives evidence on ID cards to Home Affairs Committee

8 January 2004

In written and oral evidence to the Home Affairs Committee hearings on ID cards, FIPR has commented that the Home Office proposals seek to create an authentication token with the flexibility of a Swiss Army Knife. But a Swiss Army Knife is not a very good knife, nor a very good screwdriver, nor a very good corkscrew. If a tool is going to be used at all often, it is best to have one designed for the job. A one-card-fits-all solution to all authentication and fraud prevention problems across many public and private services is likely to be second-best for all of them, as well as more expensive... We therefore urge the Committee to advise the Home Secretary to either abandon the proposed scheme, or come back with a modified proposal that focuses exclusively on identity cards, that has a clear specification, whose benefits are shown to be achievable on a preponderance of all the empirical evidence. Finally, these benefits must show that ID cards are a better use of Home Office funds than an equivalent increase in the police budget.

FIPR calls for "spychip" moratorium

20 November 2003

FIPR and over 30 other European and US consumer, privacy, and civil liberties organizations have endorsed a position statement on the deployment and uses of RFID tags. These tiny devices can be embedded in all kinds of consumer products and scanned from 5-10 feet away, revealing information about the product and potentially other information about the product owner. We are calling for a voluntary moratorium on RFID tagging of consumer items until a formal technology assessment process involving all stakeholders, including consumers, can take place.

New campaign calls for safe e-voting

4 November 2003

A coalition of technical, legal and political experts including FIPR has today launched a campaign to ensure that electronic voting can be trusted by voters and politicians across Europe. You can sign-up to our campaign and and get more information from our e-democracy pages.

"Electronic life records" must support not attack human rights

30 October 2003

FIPR has called on the government to ensure that a new electronic database of life events — births, marriages, deaths etc. — supports rather than reduces privacy and liberty. Read our response to the Office of National Statistics' consultation on these plans...

Public meeting on Home Office snooping plans

2 October 2003

The London School of Economics will host a public meeting on Wednesday 22 October to assess proposed government legislation to retain and snoop on information about the phone and Internet activity of everyone in the UK. Organised by FIPR and Privacy International, the meeting will feature a wide range of speakers from all sides of the debate, and is free to attend.

New FIPR report finds problems with EU copyright law

8 September 2003

European citizens could find many common activities banned as the EU Copyright Directive becomes law, a new FIPR report reveals. Transferring songs from a copy-protected CD to a Walkman or computer could be illegal, as could watching a DVD on a computer running Linux.

"Implementing the EU Copyright Directive", published today, reports on legal developments across the EU as member states change their laws to comply with the Directive...

New export controls would infringe basic freedoms and hinder innovation

30 April 2003

FIPR has responded to the DTI consultation over new export controls arguing that "there must be a minimalist implementation of the EU regulations insofar as they apply to collaborative research and development work, and any residual effects on research in science, technology and medicine must be eliminated by means of an Open General Export Licence."

The complete response is here.

NHS Systems Fail to Protect Patient Confidentiality

5 February 2003

FIPR has called for much greater privacy protection for patients' medical information in a response to a National Health Service (NHS) consultation.

Current NHS strategy is focused on creating a central electronic patient record. There is already a "clearing" database that records payments made for all hospital treatment, along with the names and addresses of patients. Other medical databases available to ministers and civil servants contain enough information to identify the vast majority of the patients. FIPR believes that making this information available to so many NHS administrators and civil servants is unethical and will lead to growing abuse.