United Kingdom

On 14 February, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ruled that Google could be liable as publisher for comments posted on its Blogger platform if it fails to act promptly in response to notice of a complaint.

Members of the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations call upon the Members of the British Parliament to reject any form of statutory control or any other legislation concerning regulation of the British press, following the release of the Leveson Report in November 2012.

The use of insulting words or behaviour will no longer be a criminal offence in the UK under the Public Order Act of 1986. ARTICLE 19 urges the government to address other laws that violate freedom of expression, such as
Section 127(1) of the Communications Act 2003, which makes it illegal to use grossly offensive language online.

IFEX lays out the main recommendations of the Leveson Report into the culture, practice and ethics of the U.K. press, and why some free expression advocates think they might constrain press freedom.

Maria Gallastegui, who has staged round the clock peace protests in Parliament Square, argues that a new law preventing her from putting up a tent violates her right to freedom of expression. The enactment of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (2011) forced Gallastegui to end her “peacestrike” earlier this year.

The UK government’s plans to store information on every citizen’s use of email, the web and phones have been dealt a serious blow by a parliamentary committee report.

Diverging opinions have emerged both among British politicians and within the IFEX community following the release of Lord Justice Leveson’s report into media ethics in the UK.

In his blog post for Index on Censorship, Padraig Reidy outlines how cycling organizers are still using the UK courts to silence critics.

Sixty NGOs worldwide called for libel law reform as a defamation bill was reviewed in the UK House of Commons. Join over 60,000 and sign a petition calling for libel reform here.

The Global Network Initiative outlines serious concerns with the UK’s draft Communications Data Bill.

Ensuring high standards of professionalism, including high ethical standards, while protecting freedom of the press is the challenge faced by the Leveson inquiry.

Following Privacy International’s inquiry into exports of Gamma International surveillance technology, the Secretary of State has advised the company that their system requires a licence to export to all destinations outside the EU.

In an open letter to the foreign secretary, rights organisations point to the intimidation campaign against peaceful political activists.

Paul Chambers’ conviction was quashed following a Divisional Court ruling that a Tweet in which Chambers jokingly threatened to blow up an airport was not objectively “menacing”.

Privacy International is pressuring the government to ban exports of British surveillance technologies to regimes that routinely engage in internal repression and serious human rights abuses.

The rights group says that free expression protects jokes, even bad ones, and that Paul Chambers’ Twitter joke about blowing up the Liverpool airport shouldn’t result in a criminal conviction.