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Welcome to the ORG Wiki

The Open Rights Group is a fast-growing NGO focused on raising awareness of issues such as privacy, identity, data protection, access to knowledge and copyright reform.

About ORG • About Orgwiki

Contents 1 Issues 2 Consultations 2.1 Current Consultations 2.2 Past Consultations 3 Useful Resources 4 Press Coverage 4.1 Press criticism 5 ORG Volunteers 6 ORG Merchandise

Issues

Digital Rights Issues: What's going on at the moment? What's coming up? Add your concerns and suggestions for action that can be taken.

• Electronic Voting The Open Rights Group declared no confidence in the results for the May 2007 electronic voting pilots. We are observing the e-count for the London Elections in 2008
• Intercept Modernisation Is the Government planning to store communications traffic data of all UK citizens in one giant database?
• Discgate The lost data from HMRC and other government data losses.
• DRM Defective By Design. Losing functionality you’ve always taken for granted.
• IPRED2 Making IP infringement a crime rather than a civil offence.
• Computer Misuse Act IT pros criminalised
• RIP Act Part III UK Government Wants Private Encryption Keys return of the Crypto Wars.
• Net Neutrality the clear separation between Internet access and Internet content.
• Internet Censorship people do not want the government to censor the Internet for them.
• Copyright Term Extension - With Gowers and Hugenholtz in our back-pocket, we're campaigning in both the UK and European Parliaments
• Children's Digital Rights creating dossiers on children.
• National Vehicle Tracking Database recording the movements of every vehicle on the road.
• Trusted computing who should your computer take its orders from?
• OpenDocument Did you ever receive a document you could not open?
• Identity cards and Biometric passport.
• Software Patents the divisive issue over whether to allow for the patenting of software.
• DNA database.
• Internet privacy.
• Access to public sector data
• RFID
• TV Without Frontiers Directive Regulate TV on the Internet, Ofcom think it could affect podcasting.
• BPI telling ISPs to freeze the accounts
• Copyright Education in schools
• UK Podcast Licence
• WIPO Broadcast Treaty
• NHS Care Records Service Centralising patients' medical records
• Freedom of Information - changes to the regulations that would make it easier for FOI requests to be refused
• Graduated response Rightsholders are pressuring governments to enact laws which make ISPs cut off the internet connections of suspected illicit filesharers

See also Category:Issues and Category:Current Issues

Consultations

Current Consultations

These consultations are currently open. Please help us respond:

• Consultation on legislative options to address illicit P2P file-sharing - This consultation is intended to set out and gather views on a proposal for a co-regulatory approach that could be adopted in order to facilitate and ensure co-operation between Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and rights holders to address the problem of illicit use of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file-sharing technology to exchange unlawful copies of copyright material. This takes forward Recommendation 39 of the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property which addressed the issue of illicit use of P2P. The consultation also identifies and seeks views on other potential options and calls for evidence on issues related to illicit use of P2P.

Past Consultations

The Open Rights Group regularly contributes to public consultations. Recent examples include:

• the Gowers review on intellectual property - a review of all UK’s intellectual property framework
• the APIG DRM Public Inquiry - a review of the use and rules for DRM in the UK
• the Public Consultation on Content Online in the Single Market
• DNA - looking at ethical issues surrounding the use of forensic bioinformation
• Freedom of Information Consultation
• BBC On Demand Services Consultation
• Electronic Patient Record and its use
• e–Government Framework for InformationAssurancehere
• Ofcom PSP Consultation March 2007
• The Impact of Surveillance and Data Collection upon the Privacy of Citizens and their Relationship with the State
• Effective Consultation A review of Consultation Policy to see how Government consultations can be improved.
• Data Protection Strategy The Information Commissioner’s Office discuss how they go about minimising data protection risk.
• Public consultation on the framework code of practice for sharing personal information
• The Byron Review of risks to children from exposure to potentially harmful or inappropriate material on the internet and in video games
• Data Sharing Review Consultation A consultation into how personal information is used and shared in the public and private sectors
• Freedom of Information (FoI): Designation of Additional Public Authorities A consultation into whether and how the FoI regime should be extended to organisations that carry out functions of a public nature and to contractors who provide services which are a function of that public authority.
• 'Copyright exceptions' - Introducing greater flexibility to copyright law. 8 April 2008
• 'Content online' - The EC want to boost Europe’s online content sector by further regulation of a Single Market in content online. Issues under consideration include DRM, multi-territory licensing and piracy. 29 February 2008

Useful Resources

Creative Business in the Digital Era: A project to show that open approaches to intellectual property are a strong choice for practitioners working in the creative industries.

Digital Rights Resources: Websites, blogs, press releases, official sites, etc.

Digital Rights Case Studies: Case study details of abuses of people's digital rights.

Digital Rights Issues in Art: List of expressions of digital rights issues in artistic form.

Letter writing: Want to write a letter to your MP? Check out our guide.

MP's surgery: Our guide to arranging the meeting and talking to your MP.

Parliamentary Groups and Committees: Links and information about Parliamentary Groups and Committees involved in issues of concern to the Open Rights Group.

Philosophies of Open: Texts relating to Open practice

Think Tanks

Press Coverage

The Open Rights Group often pops up in the media. An archive of press coverage is maintained here on the wiki.

Press criticism

Pages for the ORG community to fact-check and expose sloppy journalism.

ORG Volunteers

Want to help out more? Add your name to our list of volunteers and explain what sort of stuff you'd like to do.

If you don't have time to volunteer regularly, please consider contributing to the wiki. Handily, we have a To Do list prepared - take a look and get stuck in.

ORG Merchandise

Potential shirt / promotional designs: A loose area for t-shirt and other promotional slogan ideas to be kicked around. Get in there and give your comments!

Resources for Designs: A central area for links to artwork, style information, etc.