Amsterdam Athinai Berlin Bratislava Bruxelles Bucureşti Budapest Dublin Helsingfors Kobenhavn Lefkosia Lisboa Ljubljana London Luxembourg Madrid Paris Praha Rïga Roma Sofia Stockholm Tallinn Valletta Vi 104 lnius Warszawa Wien SPIES ALLEGEDLY OPERATE AMONG EU JOURNALISTS The new head of the Belgian State Security Service Alain Winants declared there are spies among the 1,500 journalists accredited by EU institutions He stated that it is terrifying how many Russian and Chinese reporters were in Brussels Similar allegations are contained in a confidential report of the European Commission according to which the risk of espionage in the European Union has increased These allegations were immediately rejected by the European Federation of Journalists EFJ and also by the International Press Association API The EFJ Secretary General Aidan White said that this sort of loose talk ends up smearing everyone working in journalism by casting a cloud of suspicion over them The head of the API Lorenzo Consoli called the accusations an attack on investigative journalism stating that it is in the interest of the public for reporters to investigate confidential documents Accusations Without Proof Won’t Do Any Good It is only logical to assume that secret services will use all available means to gain access to information that might be of interest It would be odd indeed if they decided to respect the journalistic profession and didn’t try to use it as an opportunity to cover up their espionage activities But the fact is putting forth unproven allegations as we have seen with Winant and with the Commission will certainly not help with the elimination of this potential risk They should have either directly pointed to the guilty parties and demonstrated that the threat is real or they should have just kept quiet because now they’ve made it look as if they are just trying to scare off anyone who might be trying to gain access to confidential that is important information EU WANTS TO EXTEND MUSIC COPYRIGHTS OUT TO 95 YEARS As early as next month the European Parliament is expected to vote on an extension of copyright protection for musicians composers and performing artists from the current 50 to a total of 95 years The copyright protection period would start with the first public presentation of the given song or composition So far the proposed change has been reviewed by the legal committee of the Parliament where it was approved without any major changes Still there were several members who opposed the change claiming such a move goes against the interests of the consumer and lesser known artists who will supposedly end up paying for regulations that will only benefit large recording companies and a handful of well known artists The British media have accused the EU of not having backed up its decision with any in depth analysis and that it just accepted and went along with the arguments presented by the music industry Musicians and performers are of course arguing that they need such a change in order to secure income for themselves and their families when they grow old An Unpleasant Change More and more music is becoming easily available over the Internet This however does not mean that the average consumer won’t have to pay for the newly proposed EU measure Its impact will first be felt by any public establishments or facilities playing recent or older music from dance clubs to supermarkets These entities will certainly not be willing to bear the burden of the additional fees for the extension of copyrights on their own and they will try to pass the cost along to their customers EU PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR A RED SWITCH FOR COMPUTER GAMES Computer games have a largely positive impact on the mental development of children This is according to a report released by the European Parliament’s Committee for the Internal Market according to which half of all children using a computer are doing so without any supervision Computer games do not pose any hazard and they may even contribute to the development of important skills states the author of the report and the MEP Toine Manders According to him such skills include creativity cooperation and strategic refl ection Additionally the report calls for including the use of computer games in schools However not all games are suitable for children of all age categories and parents therefore need help with keeping an eye on the type of games that their children are playing and for how long Computers and computer games should therefore be equipped with some sort of a red switch which could be used by parents to block access to inappropriate games and to prevent their children from playing for too long The Value of Good Advice It isn’t just children but also parents that need an education on how to evaluate computer games and to reject those that might be harmful for their kids Children could receive such information at school that is provided the school has someone who is able to help them make such judgments but the other question is who can help the parents make such decisions europlatform e

e MINISTER OF JUSTICE WELCOMES EU EXPERTS AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE E JUSTICE WITHOUT BARRIERS IN PRAGUE From left Jacques Barrot Vice President of the European Commission Commissioner responsible for Justice Freedom and Security Jiří Pospíšil Minister of Justice and Mrs Diana Wallis Vice President of the European Parliament EU matters W Fellner Germany J J de Almeida Portugal F Fonseca Morillo European Commission Tomáš Boček Deputy Justice Minister of the Czech Republic Jacques Barrot Vice President of the European Commission Commissioner responsible for Justice Freedom and Security and Mrs Viviane Reding Media and Information Society Commissioner From left Jacques Barrot Vice President of the European Commission Commissioner responsible for Justice Freedom and Security and Jiří Pospíšil Minister of Justice Czech Republic F P Pereira GS Council More than 300 experts from the EU will present their national solutions in the area of digitising the judicial system during the conference e Justice without Barriers more photos and electronic version available on www leadersmagazine cz

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