Press Law

*Guest post by prof. Dirk Voorhoof, Ghent University and Daniel Simons, Greenpeace International.

In a case about a Ukrainian journalist being arrested during an anti-globalisation protest in Russia, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Butkevich v. Russia (13 February 2018) has clarified that the gathering of information is an essential preparatory step in journalism and an inherent, protected part of press freedom. The ECtHR found that the arrest, prosecution and conviction of the journalist had violated his right to freedom [Read more…] about The right of journalistic newsgathering during demonstrations

Guest post by prof. Dirk Voorhoof, Ghent University.*

After long proceedings at national level, after a preliminary ruling by the EU Court of Justice on 16 December 2008 (Case C-73/07), and after the European Court of Human Rights Chamber judgment of 21 July 2015, the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR on 27 June 2017 finally found no violation of the right to freedom of expression and information in Satakunnan Markkinapörssi Oy and Satamedia Oy v. Finland. In essence the case concerns the mass collection, processing and publication of personal taxation data which were publicly accessible in Finland. The combination of a narrow interpretation of (public interest) journalism with a wide [Read more…] about No journalism exception for massive exposure of personal taxation data

Guest post by prof. Dirk Voorhoof, Ghent University.*

In its decision of 9 March 2017 in Rolf Anders Daniel Pihl v. Sweden, the ECtHR has clarified the limited liability of operators of websites or online platforms containing defamatory user-generated content. The Court’s decision is also to be situated in the current discussion on how to  prevent or react on  “fake news”, and the policy to involve online platforms in terms of liability for posting such messages. Although the Court’s ruling expresses concerns about imposing liability on internet intermediaries that would amount to requiring excessive and impractical forethought capable of undermining the right to impart information via internet, the decision in Pihl v. Sweden itself guarantees only minimal protection for the rights of internet intermediaries and [Read more…] about ECHR in Pihl v. Sweden: blog operator not liable for promptly removed defamatory user comment

Guest post by Dirk Voorhoof, Ghent University.*

 

The Grand Chamber strikes again: Bédat v. Switzerland

Criminal conviction of journalist for having published documents covered by investigative secrecy in a criminal case is no violation of Article 10 ECHR

It has become common knowledge amongst “Strasbourg observers” that the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights doesn’t have the best reputation in terms of guaranteeing the right of freedom of expression and information. In earlier cases such as [Read more…] about Grand Chamber Judgment Bédat v Switzerland

The ground-breaking Costeja González judgment of the ECJ was followed in the Netherlands by several proceedings about the ‘right to be forgotten’. This was also the objective of recent preliminary relief proceedings brought by a convicted killer. Having served his term, he has been trying to erase all online links between his name and the crime. In these attempts he met with resistance from an interest group and the father of his victim, who make online publications about the murder. The killer started preliminary relief proceedings for the removal and keeping removed of publications of the defendants containing both his name and details of his crime. The Court in preliminary relief proceedings ruled (pdf) [Read more…] about Google Spain in the Netherlands III: does convicted murderer have ‘right to be forgotten’?

In the fall of 2014 the Amsterdam Court was offered a chance to shed light on the interpretation of the Google Spain (Costeja) decision of the European Court of Justice, which created a ‘right to be forgotten’. The court then ruled that Google was right to refuse to remove links to refused a convicted criminal to profit from this judgment. To our knowledge, this was the first decision in its kind. Last week, the Amsterdam court ruled on yet another request to be forgotten. It again found in favour of Google and this time decided that the right of removal is not meant to [Read more…] about Dutch court (II): Google Spain Ruling Not Meant to Suppress News Reporting

Last week, the Court of Amsterdam in preliminary relief proceedings got a chance to shed light on the consequences of the much-discussed Google Spain (or Costeja) judgment of the Court of Justice EU in the Netherlands. As far as we are aware, this is the first time that a national court was asked to apply the Google Spain ruling. The proceedings in Amsterdam centred on one of the many ‘right to be forgotten’ requests Google received after the Google Spain judgment. This request was made by the owner of an escort agency who was convicted to six years’ imprisonment in 2012 for ‘attempted incitement of contract killing’, which conviction is still under appeal. He had been caught [Read more…] about Dutch Google Spain ruling: More Freedom of Speech, Less Right To Be Forgotten For Criminals