OWS.EU Partner in Focus: Leibniz Supercomputing Centre

The Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) is the second partner we are introducing following our portrait of the University of Passau. The LRZ forms part of the BADW (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften), providing technical support and supercomputing power, delivers a robust infrastructure for the Open Web Index. The research team of LRZ is guided and supported by the chairman of the board of directors, Prof. Dr. Dieter Kranzlmüller. The team includes Research and Information Management Team leader Megi Sharikadze, Research Data Management Team leader Stephan Hachinger, Research Managers: Shahab Khormali, Jirathana Dittrich and Nana Gratiashvili, Research Associates Mohamad Hayek and Stuart Gordon, and Communications Manager Anita Schuffert. The LRZ team has multiple functions: coordinates the project management and research activities, takes care of financial support to third-party program of the project, contributes to infrastructure work-package, actively participates in dissemination, communication and exploration measures as well as in topics such as governance, legal and ethical aspects of OpenWebSearch.eu.

Shahab Khormali is in charge of project management, with a primary focus on Cascade funding, also known as Financial Support for Third Parties (FSTP), activities to be tackled within the project. We asked him about crucial milestones thus far as well as the outlook for the last project period and beyond.

Shahab Khormali, Leibniz Supercomputing Centre of the BAdW (LRZ), Research Manager

Please describe your tasks (LRZ) in the project. What is your field of expertise that you bring to the project?

Shahab: BADW-LRZ, as one of the foremost European computing centers, contributes to the OpenWebSearch.eu project in two key areas. The first is the technical domain, where, along with the other participating data centers in the consortium, we are responsible for providing a state-of-the-art storage and compute infrastructure. In this context, LRZ’s Research Data Management team, led by Dr. Stephan Hachinger, applies its expertise on developing and managing highly scalable, reliable and secure computing infrastructure, and supports the project in executing core services and storing core data products.

The second area concerns project management and coordination and communication. Within this framework, LRZ’s Research and Information Management (RIME) team, comprising experts in science management and communication and heading by Dr. Megi Sharikadze, leads the “Project Management and Coordination Office (PMCO)” and actively supports the “Open Web Search Ecosystem and Sustainability” and “Outreach and Communication” project goals.

In PMCO, the LRZ team works closely with the project coordinator and partners to oversee the overall project management. We together ensure that the project remains aligned with the project objectives, while progressing efficiently and successfully. We are responsible for delivering optimal project performance, managing resources efficiently, overseeing reporting, maintain effective communication and networking with the relevant stakeholders, supporting international cooperation, fostering innovation and capacity building. Additionally, we coordinate the entire process of third-party contributions, handling everything from the initial preparation and announcement of open calls to the evaluation, awarding, distribution of funds, and final closure of grants. The PMCO oversees that each step is carried out smoothly and efficiently, and maintains clear processes, especially, for continuous communication with all involved third-party partners.

How is the project progressing so far?

Shahab: The project is progressing very well being on track. We have achieved several key milestones, including the successful completion of the mid-term project review with extremely positive feedback from the reviewers. This also included the approval of all deliverables and milestones in the first periodic report. Furthermore, we conducted all three open calls for third-party contributors as planned. The selected third-parties have been successfully integrated into the project. Moreover, we are introducing the project to key stakeholders across Europe and enhancing the project’s visibility within the relevant networks and circles.

What are the challenges you are facing with regard to your tasks?

Shahab: My main task belongs to PMCO activities. In this context, I do not think we have faced any major challenges. However, one important topic for us and the consortium is the continuation of the project in the form of a follow-up project. This relates to our ecosystem and sustainability responsibilities. In this context, we are closely following up on this matter and actively working to address it by applying for and securing new funds.
Another challenge worth pointing out is establishing long-term and productive relationships with industrial stakeholders and policymakers. Engaging effectively with these groups and ensuring ongoing collaboration throughout the project is an area that requires continuous attention and improvement.

Which milestones do you plan to achieve in the next months?

Shahab: A key milestones in the coming months is the completion of the first group of third-party projects, meaning that all partners should timely finalize their projects, and submit their project reports. This will allow us to close these projects officially. In addition to this, we look forward to conducting the mid-term review for the second and third groups of third-party projects in March/April 2025. Another important consideration is that the new end date of the project (due to a six-month prolongation) must be integrated across all project tasks.

What makes the OWS project special?

Shahab: In my opinion, the OpenWebSearch.eu is special and important due to its focus on cutting-edge IT and internet search technologies, which are continuously evolving being highly dynamic. It brings together highly specialized partners with state-of-the-art infrastructure and technologies, ensuring innovation and tangible outcomes. Additionally, the involvement of third-party contributors adds diverse expertise, enriching the project’s outcomes.

Do you already have plans for the time after the project ends?

Shahab: Yes, we have plans for the continuation of the project’s themes and objectives beyond its end date, and we are actively pursuing new funding opportunities to continue the work.

Thank you for the interview!

Read more about LRZ: https://openwebsearch.eu/partners/leibniz-supercomputing-centre-lrz/

EU research power against Google’s dominance | ZDF heute

OpenWebSearch.eu was mentioned on the website of German newscast ZDF heute

Book author and journalist Stefan Mey wrote up a portrait on the OpenWebSearch.eu project, which has just entered its third year. The Horizon Europe funded project forms part of the Open Search Initiative initiated by Starnberg based Open Search Foundation. The organization has been alligning forces with 13 European research entities since September 2022 to attempt build a European Open Web Index.

In the article OSF chairman Dr. Stefan Voigt who also works as a researcher with consortium partner German Aerospace Center  is quoted as follows: “Our aim is to provide a directory of all content on the World Wide Web as a public service.”

The idea of a free and open web index should promote more diversity in the narrow search engine market. Currently roundabout 3.10 Billion URLs have been crawled, with the status being regularly updated here: https://openwebsearch.eu/the-project/status/

Read the ZDF heute article: https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/wissen/open-web-search-google-alternative-konkurrenz-monopol-100.html

 

Nine new Third-Party partners support the Horizon Europe funded project „OpenWebSearch.eu“– receiving 950,000 Euro in funding over the next 9 months | Media Release

New partners from academia and industry collaborate closely with the EU-funded project OpenWebSearch.eu to progress open and free web search guided by European values.

Starnberg / Germany, December 2024 – The OpenWebSearch.eu project sets out to pilot a European Open Web Index (OWI) as foundation for the development of innovative search and AI applications that are grounded in European values. 
Following open calls in the beginning of 2024, the OpenWebSearch.eu consortium recently onboarded nine Third-Party project partners into their Community Programme. The new partners will develop new search applications on top of the OWI and provide computing power to expand the Open Web Search infrastructure. Each project will receive funding ranging from 50,000 to 150,000 Euro.

OpenWebSearch.eu’s Community Manager Ursula Gmelch: “Seeing innovative third-party contributors expand the project scope with new ideas, scale up resources and expand the community is a meaningful step forward. We are excited to onboard this set of innovative Third-Party partners.”

Developers Call: Encouraging Innovative Search Applications

Through its second open call the OpenWebSearch.eu project sought proposals for leveraging OWI data in novel use cases or research scenarios. Seven new Third-Party project partners from six European countries – France, Italy, the Netherlands, UK, Austria and Germany –, will bring their innovative, mostly AI-driven concepts to life.

Contributing new concepts for the usage of the OWI, these projects set out to

  • enable better search results for specific queries, e.g. in the domain of educational resources, open-source mobile maps search functionalities or custom search for municipalities and councils in the EU
  • detect disinformation while enhancing more trustworthy data retrieval
  • identify low quality content through AI-based ‘neural crawling‘
  • deliver quality knowledge for people with diverse information literacy as well as diverse linguistic backgrounds, thus enhancing inclusion.

The selected projects are provided by:

  • France based NGO e.foundation who operate the open source e/OS/ mobile phone operating system
  • Italian DEXAI Artificial Ethics who focus on multi-lingual approaches in search result verification
  • Wizenose, a Netherlands-based company offering solutions for trustworthy educational online resources
  • SPINQUE, a Netherlands-based company offering better search solutions for municipalities and councils in the EU
  • The University of Groningen, who combat disinformation by providing knowledge graphs through retrieval of diverse perspectives and argument search.
  • Researchers from the University of Pisa and the University of Glasgow, who focus on improving search quality
  • Know-Center, an Austrian company providing accessibility in the health domain
Data Centres Call: Securing the Open Web Search and Analysis Infrastructure

Following the third open call for data centres, two new data centres will join the OpenWebSearch.eu network of computing infrastructure providers.: France based company Exaion and the University of Oldenburg in Germany will be hosting parts of the Open Web Search and Analysis Infrastructure.

Prof. Michael Granitzer, the project’s principal investigator from University of Passau: “Providing significant computing power to crawl billions of web pages to build and store an Open Web Index is the biggest bottleneck. With the datacentres of the University of Oldenburg and Exaion joining the Open Web Search Community, we can provide a proof of concept to demonstrate that the OWI and its infrastructure can be efficiently scaled with additional computing power.”    

The OpenWebSearch.eu project has the goal to crawl and index the entire text-based internet on a regular basis. One of the major challenges of providing an Open Web Index and an Open Web Search and Analysis Infrastructure (OWSAI) is to operate with huge amounts of data. This task is currently performed by the five data centres CERN, LRZ, IT4I , DLR and CSC that are founding partners in the project. In the long run, data storage will be spread over more shoulders and more data centres will join the Open Web Search Community.

About OpenWebSearch.eu

OpenWebSearch.EU is the first project funded by the European Union that aims to enable independent web search and thus free, unbiased and transparent access to information.

14 renowned European research organisations – including XXX (Please insert name of your institution) gave the starting signal for the collaboration in September 2022. Over a period of three years, the researchers develop the core of a European Open Web Index. Under grant agreement no. 101070014, the project is being funded with 8.5 million Euro from the European Union’s Horizon research and innovation programme under the NGI – Next Generation Internet initiative.

About Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. It aims to build a knowledge- and innovation-based society and a competitive economy while contributing to sustainable development. The programme aims at implementing the European Commission’s guidelines.

Contact

media@opensearchfoundation.org
OpenWebSearch.EU

From EU project to EU search engine | NKS DIT “Success Stories“ Yearbook

The National Contact Point Digital and Industrial Technologies (NKS DIT) of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research introduces the OpenWebSearch.EU project in their yearbook, which features “success stories“ from the Horizon Europe EU program.

With the purpose of presenting stories of particularly successful EU projects to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the German public, this year’s volume features 12 flagship projects that have reached important milestones.
OpenWebSearch.eu is portrayed as an important undertaking to foster European digital sovereignty in alignment with ethical requirements, as the following statement from the entry underlines: “The collaborative, decentralized and interdisciplinary European approach makes a major contribution to a fair, open, diverse and free web.“
“This is a great recognition of our work to date,” says a delighted Prof Dr Michael Granitzer, holder of the Chair of Data Science and scientific coordinator of the EU project. “I also see it as a signal of how important open and transparent digital technologies are for the future of Europe. With our web index, we are creating a foundation on which new, promising AI applications can be built.”

2.7 billion URLs indexed in 185 languages

Over the past two years, the interdisciplinary research team coordinated by Professor Granitzer has developed an Open Web Index prototype. It is currently hosted via an infrastructure of four European supercomputing centers and is modelled with an open future so that new promising technologies such as AI applications can be taken into account. Moreover, different types of search engines could be set up, including vertical search engines that focus on special interest topics or argument search engines, which can help reduce confirmation bias in search results. The index prototype has so far “crawled” 2.7 billion URLs in 185 languages and comprises 400 tebibits, which is roughly equivalent to 191,000 pictures.

AI-driven web search in the focus of the coming project year

The project continues until end of August 2025. Next year, the team wants to develop ethical guidelines for the curation and establishment of the hosting infrastructure and explore options for its long-term funding. The focus will in addition be on the preparation of data for the use of AI-driven web searches. The research team is also aiming to further scale the index with the aim of covering a relevant part of the web and making the data usable in application scenarios for web search, AI and web data analysis.
“Our mission is to contribute to a fair, open, diverse and free web. We make the European economy and society less dependent on global digital players by enabling transparent and open access to web data – for independent search engines as well as for the analysis of web data and the use of AI,” explains Professor Granitzer.

Find the full project portrait via NKS DIT here:

https://www.nks-dit.de/aktuelles/news/erfolgsbroschuere_2024_nksdit_digitale_schluesseltechnologien

 

Together for free and open web search: OWS.EU Community Meet-Up was a great success!

From 9 to 11 October the #ossym24 brought together the open web search community to discuss technical, legal, ethical and economical aspects of free, unbiased and transparent access to information on the internet.

This year the OWS.EU consortium organised for the first time a “Community Meet-Up” on the evening of the first conference day. Many participants accepted the invitation and mingled with the experts from the project. Tables were dedicated to specific topics like “Infrastructure”, “Sustainability”, “Ethics”, “Legal” or “Web Index and Crawling”.

Megi Sharikadze (Leibniz Supercomputing Centre) who is heavily involved in management and coordinating aspects of the EU-funded OpenWebSearch.EU project explains the idea behind the gathering: “Usually the people involved in open web search initiatives are spread across Europe and beyond. It’s not always easy to stay in touch. The opportunity to meet the community locally, exchange ideas, inspire others and share common motivations is therefore of the utmost importance. As we build an open European web search ecosystem together, our community is growing and diversifying. We remain committed to motivating others and finding new allies – especially as we pass the halfway point of the OpenWebSearch.eu project. We have made great strides over the past few years, bringing on board new partners selected through our Community Programme. Now it is time to go out with our results and spread the word about how free and open web search can enhance our sovereignty and innovation potential in Europe”.

How to join the community

Are you a researcher, entrepreneur, inventor, politician, etc. interested in open web search, its chances and challenges? Don’t miss our monthly community meetings where the latest developments in open web search are presented and discussed on a regular basis. The 45-min community updates take place online on the BigBlueButton platform every first Monday of the month. The next Community Meet-Up will take place on 4 November 2024 in conjunction with our partner project NGI Search. Find out more about the event and registration in our community area.

 

OWS.EU Community Meet-Up @ #ossym24

The 6th International Open Search Symposium #ossym24 invites open search enthusiasts to discuss and promote ideas and concepts of Open Web Search at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Garching from 9 to 11 October 2024. OWS.EU hosts a Community Meet-Up during the conference.

OWS.EU Community Meet-Up @ #ossym24

The #ossym24 is organised by the Open Search Foundation in collaboration with the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ). OWS.EU is proud to be involved in this year’s symposium and to invite attendees to the first OWS.EU Community Meet-Up @ ossym on Wednesday, 9 October, 7 PM. Members of the OWS.EU project will be waiting for you to discuss all aspects of a European Open Web Search over a catered dinner. The community meet-up is a get together for everyone involved in the OWS.EU project and its Community Programme but also for people who want to join or learn more about the quest for a better European Web Search that enables free, unbiased and transparent access to information.

#Ossym24 with a multifaceted programme

Members of the OWS.EU project are also heavily involved in the conference programme. Our colleagues will present their work on technical, legal and ethical aspects of piloting a European Open Web Search. All details and times can be found at the event website.

Sign up and save your spot

The #ossym24 will take place in a hybrid format in presence and online, registration is required. Participation in both formats is free of charge. There are 100 places available for on-site participation at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre in Garching near Munich. Save your spot now!

Presenting the first Market Feasibility Study on a European Open Web Index

In the light of “Free Web Search Day” on 29 September, OpenWebSearch.eu and its partner Open Search Foundation present the results of a 9 month long in depth market potential study*, focussing on the economic impact of an Open Web Index for Europe.

The Munich based consulting firm Mücke Roth & Company, who was selected as a OpenWebSearch.eu third-party partner in 2023, was commissioned with a study to investigate the macro-economic as well as the societal implications of a European Open Web Index, as currently developed by OpenWebSearch.eu.

On 30 September 2024 the final study results will be presented to the public for the first time. The presentation will be hosted by OpenWebSearch.eu consortium partner Open Search Foundation alongside Mücke Roth & Company and with the kind support of the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt in Munich.

The study is available for DL via the following link:

https://openwebsearch.eu/market-potential-study

Methodology and Findings

By employing both top-down and bottom-up analysis methods, the study quantifies the presumable benefits and costs, offering a robust framework for transparent decision-making for OpenWebSearch.eu and its stakeholders.

Applications of an Open Web Index were derived in a broad variety, and over various industries. Use cases were detailed for a more tangible understanding of benefits from the Open Web Index for different customer and user segments, which could help to showcase the index potential in certain industries and for respected stakeholders.

The cost-benefit evaluation has specifically shown that an open search infrastructure on the basis of an Open Web Index is expected to amortise in the fourth year. The report forecasts a considerable macro-economic benefit of 4 to 5 billion euros in the first decade.

For anyone interested in learning more, the presentation will be streamed online. Sign-up here:

https://gstoo.de/OpenWebSearch

 

*The study was funded by the European Union.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, granting authority.
Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

OWS.EU Partner in Focus: University of Passau

The University of Passau coordinates the OpenWebSearch.EU project and is beyond that responsible for providing the Open Web Index (OWI), which includes the development of technology for coordinating crawlers, building the OWI and enabling its download. Building the OWI is one of the key milestones in the OWS.EU project since it will accelerate further use and research towards an open web search.

Prof. Michael Granitzer leads the OWS.EU project and holds the Chair of Data Science at University of Passau. Together with Jelena Mitrović, Professor of Legal Informatics and Natural Language Processing and leader of the Junior Research Group CAROLL, he supervises the research team working on the Open Web Index. We talked to three researchers from their team about the work they do in the OWS.EU project: Saber Zerhoudi, Mahmoud Istaiti and Mohammed Al-Maamari.

How is the project progressing so far?

Saber: Very good, we made considerable progress over the past months. Our team has developed a scalable and distributed crawling software that is currently deployed across three datacenters. To keep users informed about the content being crawled and provide them with filtering options, we have also created a monitoring dashboard that can be accessed under https://dashboard.ows.eu/.

Can you explain what the dashboard does?

Saber: One of the key features of the dashboard is its ability to display near real-time information about the crawling process. Users can easily track the progress of the crawling tasks and view statistics on the number of pages crawled. This transparency ensures that users are always informed about the status of our crawling pipeline.

Furthermore, the dashboard offers users the flexibility to filter the crawling content based on various criteria, such as domain, keyword, or date range. This functionality allows users to focus on specific subsets of data that are relevant to their needs, saving time and effort in analyzing the collected information.

In addition to monitoring and filtering capabilities, the dashboard provides users with the ability to actively contribute to the crawling process. Users can submit lists of URLs they wish to have crawled, expanding the scope of our data collection efforts. This feature enables users to tailor the crawling process to their specific requirements, ensuring that the most relevant and valuable data is collected.

But how does this look from the perspective of a website owner? Will they have the option to manage their data?

Saber: Yes, to address the important aspects of data privacy and intellectual property rights, we have integrated takedown request and website ownership verification functionalities into the dashboard. Through our third-party partners, users can easily submit takedown requests for content they believe infringes upon their rights. Similarly, website owners can verify their ownership, establishing a clear line of communication and ensuring that any concerns or requests are promptly addressed.

By combining a scalable and distributed crawling software with a user-friendly monitoring dashboard, we have created a powerful tool for data collection and management. The ability to monitor, filter, and contribute to the crawling process, along with the integration of takedown request and website ownership verification features, positions our system as a comprehensive solution for users seeking to gather and analyze web data efficiently and responsibly.

What other milestones did you achieve in the project so far?

Mahmoud: My role involves enhancing the crawler process by implementing various filters and features, as well as integrating different data sources into our process. Additionally, I am working on developing machine learning models to extract information from privacy policies.

One major accomplishment is that we can now label crawled websites as either spam or high-quality content by verifying their presence on datasets like Wikipedia external links or CURLIE.

Mohammed: I specialize in Machine Learning and Data Science. My responsibilities include building and processing datasets, training machine learning models (such as URL classification models), and enhancing model modularity.

Key milestones we achieved so far include developing and comparing various URL classification models and building and open-sourcing several datasets.

What are the challenges you face in your work?

Saber: Navigating the diverse infrastructure setups, guidelines, and technology stacks unique to each of the three data centers that currently host the OWSI can be a significant challenge. Each data center has its own distinct configuration of hardware, software, and networking components, which requires a deep understanding of the specific environment to effectively manage and maintain.

Moreover, data centers often have their own set of best practices, policies, and procedures that must be followed to ensure smooth operations and compliance with industry standards and regulations. These guidelines cover various aspects, from physical security and access control to data backup and disaster recovery protocols.

Mahmoud: Same, I often encounter issues related to the infrastructure, that can be a challenge at times.

Mohammed: For me it’s often challenging to effectively test the trained machine learning models.

What are the next steps from here? 

Saber: In the coming months, our goal is to streamline the crawling process across various datacenters using a centralized control center. This automation will enhance efficiency and consistency in data collection. Additionally, we are exploring methods to integrate embeddings seamlessly into our crawling-preprocessing-indexing pipeline.

Mohammed: In the coming months, I aim to optimize and improve the machine learning models, particularly the URL classification model.

Mahmoud: I plan to finish the integration of data from the Mastodon platform into our process.

 

Thank you for the interview!

Read more about University of Passau: https://openwebsearch.eu/partners/university-of-passau/

The macro-economic value of a European Open Web Index could amount to billions | Media Release

A comprehensive market feasibility study reveals: huge socio-economic potential of OpenWebSearch.EU for the European economy within first 4 years and beyond

Starnberg, August 24Innovation and economic growth in Europe increasingly depend on digital sovereignty and direct access to open data. The Open Web Search project OWS.EU was set up between 14 consortium partners from IT, research and education with the aim of creating a European Open Web Index (OWI) as a foundation for independent web search in Europe. The purpose of the project is to establish a web index that benefits society not only by being transparent and open, but also by minimizing unilateral commercial bias as currently often seen in conventional search results. The OWI should also serve as a foundation for digital sovereignty, which in turn could drive rapid economic growth across many industries and fields of study. 

As part of the OWS.EU Community Programme the Munich based consulting firm Mücke Roth & Company (MRC) has been appointed with a market-potential study* to forecast the quantifiable economic potential of the OWI for the European economy within its first years of operation. Additionally, a range of societal aspects were investigated as well.

Key study findings

The study results underpin a large range of potential economic growth opportunities that could emerge for the first time through being independent of non-European tech giants. This applies to the IT and AI sector as well as to traditional industry, the start-up scene and SMEs. The cost-benefit evaluation has specifically shown that an open search infrastructure is expected to amortise in the fourth year. The report forecasts a considerable economic benefit of 4 to 5 billion euros in the first decade. 
The non-commercial, social benefits of an open web index were also analysed in detail across six relevant categories and were classified as very positive.

On 30 September 2024 the study results will be presented to the public for the first time. The presentation will be hosted by OWS.EU consortium partner Open Search Foundation alongside Mücke Roth & Company and with the support of the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt in Munich.

About OpenWebSearch.EU

OpenWebSearch.EU is the first project the EU has funded (Horizon research and innovation programme, grant agreement No 101070014) to get tomorrow’s web search up and running. Since September 2022 the researchers are developing the core of an European Open Web Index as a basis for a new Internet Search in Europe. In addition, the project sets the foundation for an open and extensible European open Web Search and Analysis Infrastructure (OWSAI), based on Europe’s values, principles, legislation and standards.

*The study was funded by the European Union.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, granting authority.
Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Update from OWS.EU partner projects: Part 3

Building an Open Web Index does not only include technical challenges, but also legal and societal ones. To extend our R&D activities around Open Web Search, we initiated the OWS.EU Community Programme. In our first Third-party call we asked for contributions on legally compliant data gathering and identifying legal or economic aspects that enable or block the development and maintenance of an Open Web Index. The call opened in March 2023 and ended with the onboarding of six new partner projects in November 2023. This blogpost includes updates from two projects that address legal challenges of providing an Open Web Index: ALMASTIC and LOREN.

ALMASTIC: Legal Evaluation of Technical Aspects of the Open Web Index

The ALMASTIC project aims to legally secure the Open Web Index by subjecting its technical aspects to legal evaluation. Its goal is to identify obstacles and mitigate legal risks in the process of successful global dissemination.

After helping to draft the first version of the Open Web Index License (OWIL 1), a comprehensive analysis of relevant legislation, case law and applicable guidelines and academic literature has been performed, forming a solid basis for the future legal compliance of OpenWebSearch.EU. The examination focused on five key areas:

  1. liability for third-party content,
  2. copyright,
  3. data protection,
  4. cybersecurity, and
  5. data governance.

The team around Prof. Kai Erenli from the University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna will use the remaining time of the project to finalise their analysis while keeping in mind that a final assessment is not always possible, as the legal situation in many relevant areas is currently highly dynamic and relevant legal acts have yet to be finalised or case laws identified.

More information about the ALMASTIC project.

LOREN: Legal Open European Web Index

The LOREN project seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of the legal constraints and requirements for building and operating an Open Web Index. The project will specifically look into the legal implications of crawling, data storage and sharing as well as provide recommendations for building and operating an Open Web Index that complies with the European laws and regulations.

The team around the two lawyers Paul C. Johannes and Dr. Maxi Nebel compiled and analysed the laws and norms that are relevant to building and maintaining of an Open Web Index. Results are currently compiled into a legal opinion with actionable advice regarding crawling, searching, indexing, sharing of index and disclosure of data for scientific purposes.

Additionally, the LOREN team started to work on the implications of the right to de-referencing. Furthermore they are analysing existing open source and open data licenses in regard to the suitability for usage in an Open Web Index. In the next months the team will concentrate on providing their legal opinion with advice concerning selection and/or adaptation of open data licenses for the Open Web Index. In order to present a workable license the LOREN team has worked together with other projects from call #1 of the OWS.Eu Community Programme.

More information about the LOREN project.