Legal and regulatory issues

Computer crime

• CA - Police frustrated in anti-porn battle  +/-

  (Reuters) The arrest of rock star Pete Townshend in an international crackdown on child pornography has prompted Canadian police to highlight their difficulties in investigating about 2,300 suspects who used credit cards to access Internet kiddie-porn sites. Toronto Police, told Reuters "Police in the U.K. have arrested 1,500 paedophiles in the last few months. We in Canada have been working on this for over two years and we've arrested less than 5 percent of (the suspects)," Gillespie said Operation Snowball, Canada's largest child pornography investigation, underscored the lack of co-operation between federal, provincial and municipal police forces across the world's second-largest country in such major investigations.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• Canada blocks free Net TV  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Canadian regulators ruled that it is illegal to put broadcast TV signals onto the Internet without permission, dashing the hopes of entrepreneurs hoping to create new Net TV businesses.

• China to clean up Internet game piracy  +/-

  (Reuters) China plans to launch a campaign next month to clean up Internet game piracy in a bid to improve protection of intellectual property, the official Xinhua news agency has said. Topping the hit list are illegal Internet cafe owners who make big profits by setting up on-line servers to steal Web games from legitimate operators, Xinhua quoted an official at the Ministry of Culture in charge of the campaign as saying.

• Commentary: Digital denial  +/-

  (Forrester Research) by George F. Colony, Chairman and CEO. Digital media will transform the music and film industries--whether they like it or not.

• Copyright's Role in the Future  +/-

  (Economist) See also leading article Copyrights - A radical rethink. The best way to foster creativity in the digital age is to overhaul current copyright laws. Over the past 50 years, as a result of heavy lobbying by content industries, copyright has grown to such ludicrous proportions that it now often inhibits rather than promotes the circulation of ideas, leaving thousands of old movies, records and books languishing behind a legal barrier. see also Survey: The Internet Society

• Microsoft offers CD copy-protection  +/-

  (MSBNC) Microsoft announced the introduction of new digital rights software aimed at helping music labels control unauthorized copying of CDs, one of the biggest thorns in the ailing industry’s side

• Music piracy 'great', says Robbie  +/-

  (BBC) Singer Robbie Williams has said he believes music piracy is a "great" idea. He made the comment at a music trade fair in Cannes, predicting it would anger his record company EMI.

• NO - Student slapped with music-piracy fine  +/-

  (Reuters) A court has fined a Norwegian student over his song-swapping Web site in a ruling hailed by the music industry as a victory for giants such as EMI and Sony, who say their revenue has suffered from online music piracy. The court in Lillehammer ruled that Frank Bruvik broke the law when he made his own version of the now-closed U.S. Web site Napster.com, enabling users to download songs by clicking on links on his site, Napster.no.

• US - Tech firms fight copy-protection laws  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Technology groups are going on the offensive against Hollywood in a bitter dispute over a call for government-mandated copy protection. The Alliance for Digital Progress, a coalition of companies including Apple Computer, Microsoft, Dell Computer, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Intel have joined together to oppose legislation backed by the movie studios that would allow the U.S. government to set antipiracy standards for PCs and consumer-electronics devices.

Data Protection (privacy)

• Protection of Privacy  +/-

  (Economist) see also Survey: The Internet Society

e-Government

• Technology-based Democratic Process  +/-

  (Economist) see also Government Authority. see also Survey: The Internet Society

• US - Congress plans to slash e-government funding  +/-

  (internet.com) Congress is proposing to dramatically slash 2003 funding for the Electronic Government Act passed amid much fanfare last November. President Bush signed the bill in December, requesting E-Gov funding of $45 million this year and ramping up to $150 million by 2006. Instead, Congress plans to gut the funding by almost 90 percent to only $5 million.

• US - Government opens online portal to rulemaking  +/-

  (Washington Post) With the introduction of www.regulations.gov, the Bush administration is taking the first step to expand electronic rulemaking to the entire government and populace. The goal is to enable anyone with a computer and Internet access to find every federal regulation that is open for comment, read it and submit their views.

Hotlines

• UK - Child porn complaints rocket  +/-

  (Guardian) The Internet Watch Foundation, a UK industry funded body set up to battle the growing problem of child pornography on the web, said that the number of complaints had risen 64% to 17,868 in 2002.

Information society and Internet policy

• Survey: The Internet Society  +/-

  (Economist) Despite the dotcom boom and bust, the computer and telecommunications revolution has barely begun. Over the next few decades, the internet and related technologies really will profoundly transform society. (Recommended). see Protection of Privacy, Constant internet connectivity, Copyright's Role in the Future, Technology-based Democratic Process, Government Authority and Social and Political Ramifications.

Interception

• FR - Les parlementaires créent un accès direct aux données informatiques  +/- Translate

  (Forum des droits sur l'internet) Les députés ont adopté le 16 janvier 2003 plusieurs amendements à la loi sur la sécurité intérieure (LSI) facilitant l’accès direct et la consultation à distance par les autorités judiciaires des données de connexion conservées notamment par les opérateurs de télécommunications.

• US - Senate limits Pentagon 'snooping' plan  +/-

  (CNET News.com) The U.S. Senate voted unanimously to slap restrictions on a controversial Pentagon data-mining program that critics say would amount to a domestic spying apparatus. By unanimous consent, the Senate inserted a moratorium on the program into a massive spending bill. The vote represents an unusual triumph of privacy concerns over the Bush administration's arguments that the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness (TIA) program would be useful for national security. If fully implemented, TIA would link databases from sources such as credit card companies, medical insurers and motor vehicle agencies in hopes of snaring terrorists.Letter from CDT and other civil liberties groups.

Internet access and use

• Constant internet connectivity  +/-

  (Economist) see also Survey: The Internet Society

Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law

• ES - Detenidos dos alumnos de un instituto de Barcelona por injuriar y calumniar a sus profesores en una página web  +/- Translate

  (Delitos informáticos) Agentes del Cuerpo Nacional de Policía han procedido a la detención de dos jóvenes de quince años, estudiantes de un instituto de Barcelona, acusados de la realización de páginas web a través de las cuales, supuestamente, realizaban calumnias e injurios a sus profesores, según ha informado Europa Press.

• FR - Responsabilité des prestataires intermédiaires  +/- Translate

  (Forum des droits sur l'Internet) Le Gouvernement a introduit au sein du projet de loi pour la confiance dans l’économie numérique une série de mesures destinées à transposer la directive européeenne sur le commerce électronique du 8 juin 2000 relative à la responsabilité des prestataires intermédiaires. Ainsi sur le plan civil, les personnes qui assurent, même à titre gratuit, le stockage direct et permanent de signaux, d’écrits, d’images, de sons pourront voir leur responsabilité engagée dès lors "où elles ont eu la connaissance effective de leur caractère illicite (...) elles n’ont pas agi avec promptitude pour retirer ces données ou rendre l’accès à celles-ci impossible". Au niveau pénal, le projet de loi prévoit que la responsabilité de ces prestataires pourra être retenue que "si, en connaissance de cause, ils n’ont pas agi avec promptitude pour faire cesser la diffusion d’une information ou d’une activité dont elles ne pouvaient ignorer le caractère illicite". Visant à la fois les fournisseurs d’accès à l’internet et les hébergeurs, le projet de loi propose également de permettre aux juges des référés d’ordonner soit la suppression d’un contenu illicite, soit d’ordonner toute mesure susceptible "de cesser d’en permettre l’accès".

• RIAA: ISPs should pay for music swapping  +/-

  (Reuters) Hillary Rosen, chairman and CEO the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), has said that telecommunications companies and Internet service providers will be asked to pay up for giving their customers access to free song-swapping sites. The music industry is in a tailspin with global sales of CDs expected to fall six percent in 2003, its fourth consecutive annual decline. A major culprit, industry watchers say, is online piracy. Now, the industry wants to hit the problem at its source--Internet service providers (ISPs). see also Chairwoman of Music Trade Group RIAA to Step Down

• US - Judge orders Verizon to reveal identity of KaZaA user  +/-

  (EFF) A judge ordered Verizon Internet Services to divulge the name of a Verizon subscriber to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) because the subscriber allegedly used KaZaA peer-to-peer software to share music online. see also Recording Firms Win Copyright Ruling (Washington Post). see RIAA v Verizon .

Mobile and wireless

• EU - Consumers' organisation points to problems with mobile telephony  +/-

  (EurActiv) A new pan-European survey, published by the European Consumers' Organisation BEUC, reveals that mobile phone users are plagued by many problems in the field of pricing, roaming charges, unfair or misleading contract terms and concerns about the possible health hazards.

Protection of minors

• BE - Dutroux renvoyé aux assises en «prédateur solitaire»  +/- Translate

  (Libération) La justice belge a écarté la thèse d'un réseau pédophile. Procès prévu l'année prochaine. Marc Dutroux doit répondre de l'assassinat de deux fillettes et de deux adolescentes, du meurtre d'un de ses complices, de l'enlèvement, de la séquestration et du viol de neuf enfants ou adolescents. Après six ans et demi d'instruction, la chambre d'accusation de Neufchâteau, près de la frontière luxembourgeoise, a renvoyé Marc Dutroux et son épouse, Michèle Martin, ainsi qu'un troisième complice devant la cour d'assises.

Racism and xenophobia

• CoE - Racist and Xenophobic Content on the Internet - The Additional Protocol to the Convention on cybercrime  +/-

  (IJCLP) by Gianluca Esposito. The paper presents the Additional Protocol to the Cyber Crime Convention of the Council of Europe, which deals with acts of racist and xenophobic nature committed trough computer systems.

• Strategies to Tackle Racism and Xenophobia on the Internet  +/-

  (IJCLP) by Isabelle Rorive. The paper analyses different attempts to tackle the problem of racist and xenophobic content on the Internet. The question whether internet content should be regulated at all is debatable but if regulation is wanted, such content needs to be criminalized and criminal laws against such content need to be enforced. This task is rendered difficult, as different standards exist in Europe and in the US. The author concludes that the co-regulative approach which targets intermediaries provides some relatively effective means to tackle the problem of racist and xenophobic content on the Internet.

Market & Technology

Employment and social issues

• Office surfers face wipeout  +/-

  (ZDNet Uk) High-speed Net access at the office has long outstripped its reach at home, tempting workers to enjoy the benefits of broadband for personal as well as business pursuits. Now a broad corporate crackdown on office Net use may be looming, driven by cost-cutting efforts and increased scrutiny of workers' online activities.

Junk mail (spam)

• US - Building a better spam trap  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Unsolicited e-mail messages, or spam, are on track to make up the majority of traffic on the Internet. But a group of researchers and developers hopes to halt that by coming up with better ways of blocking those messages from consumers' in-boxes. The Spam Conference, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was originally intended to be an informal gathering of 30 people or so. But more than 500 registered to discuss and debate the best way to battle the problem.

Market

• UK - Ringtones hit right note for record industry  +/-

  (Guardian) Record companies are banking on the scourge of teachers and those travelling on public transport - the novelty mobile phone ringtone - to compensate for falling sales. Figures show the revenues record companies pull in from royalties on ringtones have soared 58% over the last year, while global record sales have dropped by a fifth in the US over the past two years.

Technology

• US - Microsoft to reveal source code to governments  +/-

  (AP) The source code Microsoft has long guarded as secret intellectual property is now becoming the carrot dangled before governments to keep them from defecting to competitors' software. Microsoft announced a Government Security Program (GSP) to make the underlying code for its Windows operating system available to several governments and governmental agencies for viewing. see also Open-Source Windows? Uh, Kinda;

Who's who

• Chairwoman of Music Trade Group RIAA to Step Down  +/-

  (Reuters) see also RIAA: ISPs should pay for music swapping

• UK - 'Outsider' will be named as first head of Ofcom  +/-

  (Times) The Government will ratify the appointment of Stephen Carter as the first chief executive of Ofcom.

Useful addresses

• Law Gateway  +/-

  (SOSIG) The SOSIG Law Gateway provides guidance and access to global legal information resources on the Internet.The service aims to identify and evaluate legal resource sites offering primary and secondary materials and other items of legal interest. Descriptive records and links are created for legal service sites and specific documents. see also European Union Law.

QuickLinks consists of

• a free newsletter appearing approximately once a week. The newsletter is distributed by electronic mail through an "announcement only" mailing list. To be included on the mailing list, send a blank email to quicklinkshtml-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (HTML) or quicklinks-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (Text)
• a Web site with frequent updates, an events page, news items organised by category as well as chronologically by issue and full text search.