歐盟要推可替換的手機電池

Hacker News Daily 上看到的,歐盟要推動可替換的手機電池:「European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries」,對應的討論在「European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries (techspot.com)」。

歐盟官方的文章在「Making batteries more sustainable, more durable and better-performing」這邊可以看。

這讓人有點懷念,當年的 dumb phone 都是可以換電池的,也的確有商務人士會自己帶幾個充好的電池跑,需要的時候可以換... 不過這也代表機構工程師要把長久以來是直接固定的電池換成可替代的形式。

但好像沒看到這個要求的 timetable...

法國法院判決 Steam 上的遊戲可以轉賣

Valve 不允許轉賣 Steam 上的遊戲,結果就被告上法院,並且判決違反歐盟法律:「French court rules Steam games must be able to be resold」。

French website Next Inpact reports the Paris Court of First Instance ruled on Tuesday that European Union law allows Steam users to resell their digital games, just like they can any physical product.

看起來 Steam 會上訴,再等幾個月看看...

歐盟對十四套 Open Source 軟體推出 Bug Bounty Program

歐盟對於 14 套 open source 軟體推出 bug bounty program,協助改善這些軟體的品質 (主要是資安這塊):「EU to fund bug bounty programs for 14 open source projects starting January 2019」、「In January, the EU starts running Bug Bounties on Free and Open Source Software」。

這十四套軟體的選擇應該可以參考「EU aims to increase the security of password manager and web server software: KeePass and Apache chosen for open source audits」這邊...

然後看到「Intigriti/Deloitte」這個才知道原來 Deloitte 也有做這個啊...

歐盟通過終結日光節約時間

看到歐盟通過終結日光節約時間的新聞:「Latest: European Parliament approves proposal to end bi-annual clock change」。

Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly, who has been campaigning for the change, said: "I'm very pleased that after years of discussions at Committee level in the European Parliament, of which I'm the only Irish member, that out proposal was debated and voted on today in Parliament, and that Parliament accepted our proposal to ask the European Commission to come forward with a recommendation that we would end the bi-annual clock change."

其中藍色是目前還有在實施的地區,其他都是已經終止的:

取自「File:DaylightSaving-World-Subdivisions.png

主要是因為日光節約時間對於現代社會的好處愈來愈少的關係吧... 早期在歐美國家很盛行,現在歐洲決定廢止這個制度,應該會讓美國再次討論起來。

歐洲議會嘗試撥款支援 Open Source Software 的 Bug Bounty 計畫

Hacker News 上看到歐盟議會試著以 Bug Bounty 計畫支援 Open Source Software 的消息。這次看到的是 VLC:「VLC: Bug Bounty Program - Get Rewards through HackerOne」。

The European Parliament has approved budget to improve the EU’s IT infrastructure by extending the free software security audit programme (FOSSA) and by including a bug bounty approach in the programme.

這還蠻特別的... 由官方經費贊助 open source 的計畫,除了 VLC 外,重點會在成效以及後續還有哪些被贊助。

歐盟法院認為公開無線網路的營運者不需要對使用者的侵權行為負責

歐盟法院 (The Court of Justice of the European Union) 認為公開無線網路的營運者不需要對使用者的侵權行為負責:「EU Court: Open WiFi Operator Not Liable For Pirate Users」。

不過這是有一些前提的,法院認為應該要符合這幾個要件,營運方才不要負責。基本上完全沒有 filter 限制的無線網路會符合這些條件:

The Court further notes that in order for such ‘mere conduit’ services to be exempt from third party liability, three cumulative conditions must be met:

– The provider must not have initiated the transmission
– It must not have selected the recipient of the transmission
– It must neither have selected nor modified the information contained in the transmission.

帶這並不代表丟著不管,而是在發生後要求改善:

In an effort to strike a balance between protecting a service provider from third party liability and the rights of IP owners, the Court ruled that providers can be required to end infringement.

“[T]he directive does not preclude the copyright holder from seeking before a national authority or court to have such a service provider ordered to end, or prevent, any infringement of copyright committed by its customers,” the Court found.

One such measure could include the obtaining of an injunction which would force an operator to password-protect his open WiFi network in order to deter infringement.

但法院並不同意直接監控:

On a more positive note, the Court rejected the notion of monitoring networks for infringement or taking more aggressive actions where unnecessary.

“[T]he directive expressly rules out the adoption of a measure to monitor information transmitted via a given network. Similarly, a measure consisting in terminating the internet connection completely without considering the adoption of measures less restrictive of the connection provider’s freedom to conduct a business would not be capable of reconciling the abovementioned conflicting rights,” the Court concludes.

網路對現在的言論自由非常重要,所以只有在確認侵犯他人權益的情況下才採取必要措施,歐盟法院這樣判大概是覺得這樣吧...

歐盟廢止境內漫遊的費用

歐盟廢止了在歐盟境內漫遊的費用:「Europe finally abolishes mobile phone roaming charges」:

Members of the European parliament have voted through new rules that will scrap mobile roaming charges and stop holidaymakers returning home to the nightmare of a massive phone bill racked up on their travels.

不過接下來還有要戰:

The abolishment of roaming charges was not met with universal approval. In the days before the vote Roger Helmer MEP tabled an amendment to reject the agreement on behalf of Ukip.

搭板凳看吧...

歐洲議會通過網路中立條款

前幾天歐洲議會通過了網路中立條款:「European Parliament passes strong net neutrality law, along with major roaming reforms」,條文內容的 PDF 可以在這裡看到。

PDF 的左側是 Text proposed by the Commission,右側是 Amendment,可以看到「網路中立」被清楚定義:

The principle of "net neutrality" means that traffic should be treated equally, without discrimination, restriction or interference, independent of the sender, receiver, type, content, device, service or application

然後下面圍繞著網路中立的主題規範了許多電信服務提供商的行為,並且保障公民的上網權利。另外還要求各國的電信主管機關制定檢舉程序,讓公民可以很容易檢舉。