Hungary: Government limits FOIA transparency law

In an unexpected move last week, Parliamentarians in Hungary took action to change the country’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in an effort to limit the scope of data accessible to the public under the law. Read More »

Fearing good fortune, Estonia crowd-sources ideas

Worried that success might spoil Estonia, its leader has reached out to citizens to tell the government what it should do to satisfy their fast-evolving desires, Estonian Public Broadcasting reports. Read More »

Hackers find refuge in Soviet Internet relic

Following the release of stolen information of several top American officials and celebrities 11 March, a little-known Soviet corner of the Internet is coming in from the cold. Read More »

Russia hopes to get tough on cyber attacks

The Russian government has announced plans to beef up the state’s cyber security.  Although specifics of the plan have yet to be laid out, the Kremlin has said it’s first step will be to consolidate authority for fighting the problem under the nation’s internal security agency. Read More »

The uses and abuses of fighting extremism on RuNet

The Internet is becoming ever more accessible in Russia, offering unlimited possibilities for the distribution of every kind of content. Cyberspace is also censored very minimally. This gives everyone an opportunity to speak their minds and cyber-antagonism is widespread in the Russian Internet community. Read More »

Uzbekistan seizes MTS subsidiary

MTS, Russia’s largest mobile company, had its local Uzbekistan subsidiary seized by authorities and four of its manager’s sentenced following a court verdict on 17 September, reports Bloomberg. Read More »

Balkans reaffirm commitment to data protection

It should come as no surprise that the EU considers the protection of personal data as a fundamental right guaranteed by a number of international and national legal acts. These laws cover the right to have private and family life respected, the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data, and the free movement of such data. Read More »

Russian website offers free crowdsourced legal advice

The Russian online group “Nepofigism” (a neologism that loosely translates to “giving a damn” or “not being ambivalent”) offers a free legal consulting service. The project’s creators designate no particular direction for the consulting. Their aim is to offer real help to people with any type of problem. The site is a space for professionals and ordinary Internet users with various legal and everyday problems (such as violations of consumer rights, labor laws, and family law). Read More »

Russian anti-corruption fighter says office bugged

Several hidden listening devices and a video camera were found in the Moscow office of Russian anti-corruption activist, blogger, and opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, according to RIA Novosti. Navalny said in a blog post that devices were found after his friend and lawyer, Andrei Mishchenkov, thought to bring a bug detector to his office at RosPil, a nonprofit aimed at exposing corruption in Russian government. Read More »

Wiretapping increases across the EU and beyond

Wiretapping and retention of users’ data by government agencies has increased across Europe in the last years. The trend has been thoroughly analyzed in a report by the European Commission. Read More »

Cyberactivism branches out beyond just politics in Belarus

Social networks dealing with local issues is hardly anything new, but in Belarus they tend to focus exclusively on politics. (an example of the latter is the revolution, organized through social networks, that rocked the streets of Minsk in the summer 2011).

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Crime-fighting tool sparks legality issues

The number of people who are wiretapped in Serbia and the Southeast European region has increased over the years, mainly due to countries’ desire to fight organised crime and corruption. However, the crime-fighting tool is not always being implemented legally. Read More »

Russian courts struggle to adhere to online transparency law

Two years after the enactment of a law that required all courts–except closed courts–to publish their rulings online, legal experts are increasingly concerned that it is ineffective and needs substantive reforms, despite recent praise from President Vladimir Putin. Read More »

Estonia considers using social media in court

The Estonian Justice Ministry has proposed an amendment that, if passed, would allow Estonian courts to deliver subpoenas via email, Facebook, and Twitter.   Read More »