Legal and regulatory issues

Competition

• EU - Commission launches investigation into possible state aid for France Télécom  +/-

  (RAPID) The Commission has decided to launch a formal investigation into the granting to France Télécom (FT), via a public institution, of a shareholder's advance in the form of a maximum credit line of

Computer crime

• Dark World of Child Porn  +/-

  (ABC) The murder of innocents. Plunging the dark depths of child porn web sites commentary By Michael S. Malone.

• UK - Sex laws shake-up unveiled  +/-

  (BBC) Adults befriending children with the intention of abusing them face five years in jail as part of the first radical overhaul of sex laws for 50 years. The new offence of sexual "grooming" of children will allow police officers to intervene and arrest a suspect before any sexual activity takes place. But Home Office minister Hilary Benn said that while he did not "under-estimate the difficulties" of bringing such a prosecution, it was the government's view a new offence was needed to protect children. see also Sex offences crackdown at a glance.

• US - Agents Wade in Filth to Find Predators  +/-

  ((Washington Post) As an FBI agent overseeing undercover work in online chat rooms, Stacey Bradley must venture into what she calls "the beast of the Internet" and view images on the computer that turn her stomach, even make her cry: screen after screen of sexually explicit photographs and video clips of children, some even depicting torture.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• EU - Music industry slates piracy measures  +/-

  (BBC) Music industry bosses have attacked proposals by the European Commission to try and reduce piracy, describing them as "inadequate". The Commission's draft directive called for counterfeiters to be jailed and their bank accounts frozen. But it does not want to criminalise people who download music from the internet for their own use. see Commission Press Release and Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on measures and procedures to ensure the enforcement of intellectual property rights. Be careful : this text is provisional. The final proposal will be made available as soon as possible after a revision by the legal revisers of the European Commission. Proposed Directive on enforcement of intellectual property rights: frequently asked questions (RAPID).

• The Database Right File  +/-

  (IViR) On 11 March 1996, almost six years after the first proposal (COM(92) 24 final) was presented to the Council, the European Database Directive was finally adopted (Directive 96/9/EC). This page contains a collection of links to relevant documents, case law and publications regarding the directive.

• The Race to Kill Kazaa  +/-

  (Wired) The servers are in Denmark. The software is in Estonia. The domain is registered Down Under, the corporation on a tiny island in the South Pacific. The users - 60 million of them - are everywhere around the world. The next Napster? Think bigger. And pity the poor copyright cops trying to pull the plug.

• UK - Burned CDs bring legal heat down on Internet café chain  +/-

  (New York Times) A judge in London found a sprawling chain of the EasyInternet café chain guilty of copyright infringement for allowing customers to download online music and copy the music onto compact disks. The High Court rejected EasyInternet's argument that it was not liable when customers downloaded copyright materials from the Internet.

• USA - SBC claims Web frames patent  +/-

  (ZDNet) SBC Communications is claiming a wide-ranging patent on Web frames that could affect hundreds of sites that use the technology. In a letter sent to at least one company that uses frames on its Web site, SBC said it is entitled to as much as $50 million in licensing fees, although actual figures would depend upon a company's revenue. see also Dan Gillmor: SBC's patent claim on Web navigation is way off course (Mercury News).

Data Protection (privacy)

• EU - Microsoft agrees to change its .NET Passport system after discussions with EU watchdog  +/-

  (RAPID) The European Union's Working Party on data protection ("Article 29 Working Party") agreed on 29th January a working document on on-line authentication services. As well as some general material and some guidelines to be applied by all present or future on-line authentication systems, the document includes two case studies on the most prominent systems at present: the Microsoft .NET Passport system and the Liberty Alliance Project. Following discussions with the Working Party, Microsoft has agreed to implement a comprehensive package of data protection measures, which will mean making substantial changes to the existing .NET Passport system. see also Press release by the Article 29 working party and Working Document on on-line authentication services. See also EU - Microsoft agrees to Passport changes (CNET News.com) .

Health

• ZA - Text messages prove a life-saver  +/-

  (BBC) A scheme using text messages to remind patients to take their medicine is proving a hit in South Africa.

Hotlines

• IT - Pedofilia: 12 milioni immagini porno in internet  +/- Translate

  (ansa.it) Secondo stime dell' organizzazione Save the children, considerate approssimate per difetto, su Internet ci sono attualmente 70 mila siti contenenti materiali pedo-pornografici per un totale di 12 milioni di immagini; solo in Italia, il giro d' affari della pedopornografia e' stimato intorno agli undici miliardi di euro all' anno. I dati sono emersi, a Udine, durante la presentazione di Stop it, un' iniziativa che attraverso un sito web permette di segnalare immediatamente la presenza di materiale pornografico individuato in rete. 'Stop it' e' stato cofinanziato dalla Commissione Europea nell' ambito dell' Internet Action Plan, la strategia dell' Unione Europea per la tutela dell' infanzia in Internet. Vedere anche Il pedoporno che sfrutta internet (Punto Informatico)

Information society and Internet policy

• WSIS delegates fail to agree on open-source 'support'  +/-

  (InfoWorld) A three-day meeting that brought together Asian governments, organizations, companies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) ended with the approval of a declaration that, among other things, calls for encouraging the development of open-source software. A draft of the declaration had called for open source to be "supported" but was changed after objections from the U.S. government delegation.

Interception

• UK - Government stands firm on snooping laws  +/-

  (BBC) The UK Government is determined to push ahead with its plans for internet snooping despite mounting opposition. A report from MPs on the All Party Internet Group (APIG), recommended that the government abandon plans to require internet service providers to store customer data for up to six years.

Internet access and use

• EU - Accelerating Broadband in Europe  +/-

  (RAPID) Mr Erkki Liikanen, Member of the European Commission, responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society, Broadband Day Brussels, 28 January 2003

Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law

• DE - DGB fordert Maßnahmen gegen rechtsextreme Webseiten  +/- Translate

  (Süddeutsche Zeitung) Der Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund hat die Bundesländer zum Vorgehen gegen rechtsextreme Internet-Angebote aufgefordert. Die Länder sollten nicht länger abwarten, sondern dem Beispiel Nordrhein-Westfalens folgen, sagte der NRW-Landesvorsitzende des DGB, Walter Haas, in Düsseldorf. Die Aufsichtsbehörden der Länder seien zum Handeln gesetzlich verpflichtet, ihr Zögern sei "bedauerlich und unverständlich", sagte Haas am Holocaust-Gedenktag. siehe auch Erotik-Polizei: Beck will mehr Schutz für Minderjährige (Spiegel). Der rheinland-pfälzische Ministerpräsident Kurt Beck (SPD) hat strenge Maßnahmen gegen Porno-Anbieter im Internet gefordert: "Die Zugangsanbieter fürs Internet müssen dann illegale Angebote herausfiltern. Ich erwarte, dass die Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz Sperrungsverfügungen an die Provider erlässt", sagte Beck mit Blick auf den neuen Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag, der im April in Kraft treten soll. Heftige Proteste gegen neue Web-Zensurgelüste (Heise). Die weiteren Auflagen für Provider zu Web-Sperrungen, die jüngst vom DGB und vom rheinland-pfälzischen Ministerpräsidenten Kurt Beck lautstark gefordert wurden, stoßen in der Internetwirtschaft und bei Netzpolitikern des Bundestags auf heftige Kritik.

• 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 toute 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".

• US - Verizon appeals RIAA subpoena  +/-

  (ZDNet) Verizon Communications is asking an appeals court to block a court order pursuant to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) requiring Verizon to give the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) the name of a Kazaa subscriber who allegedly downloaded hundreds of music recordings. see also US - Judge orders Verizon to reveal identity of KaZaA user

Protection of minors

• Teens And The Internet Disturbing "Camgirl" Sites Deserve a Closer Look  +/-

  (FindLaw) by Harry A. Valetk. A growing number of teens in the U.S. and U.K., some as young as 14 years old, are getting into the habit of asking for handouts online. Known as "camgirls" and "camboys," teens are posting webcam photos of themselves in skimpy outfits on personal websites, linking them to wish lists on shopping sites like Amazon, and then asking admirers for gifts. Typically, gifts include popular teen items like CDs, DVDs, and stereos. But, some entrepreneurial teens give special admirers access to "members only" sections that offer more provocative shots in return for more expensive gifts.

Racism and xenophobia

• CoE - Signature of Council of Europe Protocol against racism in cyberspace  +/-

  (CoE) Eleven member States of the Council of Europe (Armenia, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands and Sweden) have signed the Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime, concerning the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature, committed through the use of computer systems. The Austrian President, Thomas Klestil, will sign the Protocol on Thursday 30 January, during his visit to the Council of Europe. More states are expected to sign the Protocol in the weeks to come.

Safer Internet awareness

• UK - Government promises safer school surfing  +/-

  (vnunet.com) The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) is ramping up its action to encourage safe internet use by schoolchildren, and help school IT managers make informed decisions about web safety strategy. The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) is conducting a review, to be completed before April, of web filtering, monitoring and detection software.

Security and encryption

• Expert weighs code release after Slammer  +/-

  (IDG) The Slammer worm was based on sample code published to help explain the threat posed by the security vulnerability that Slammer exploited, according to David Litchfield, the security expert who discovered the vulnerability. The stunning success of the worm in spreading itself across the Internet had Litchfield questioning whether he will publish proof-of-concept (or "exploit") code in the future. Experts: Microsoft security gets an 'F' (Reuters). Computer security experts say the recent "SQL Slammer" worm, the worst in more than a year, is evidence that Microsoft's year-old security push is not working. see also Free benchmark could have found Slammer vulnerability (Computerworld) and How digital Armageddon was averted (BBC).

Market & Technology

Market

• US - AOL reports first drop in subscribers  +/-

  (MSNBC) After a relentless decade-long climb to more than 35 million global subscribers, the number of America Online users has slipped for the first time. Tucked in among the more dramatic announcements in its earnings release, the online division of AOL Time Warner reported the departure of 170,000 U.S. users

• US - Porn Profits: Corporate America's Secret  +/-

  (ABC) Pornography has grown into a $10 billion business and some of the nation's best-known corporations are quietly sharing the profits. Companies like General Motors, AOL Time Warner and Marriott earn revenue by piping adult movies into Americans' homes and hotel rooms, but you won't see anything about it in their company reports. And you won't hear them talking about the production companies that actually make the films - or the performers the producers hire, men and women as young as 18, for sex that is often unprotected.

Rating and filtering

• Clean It Up  +/-

  (PC Magazine) Content filtering helps ensure that the Internet is used the right way. Comparison of 13 filtering solutions for parents, schools and employers, with two Editor's choices, Cybersitter 2001 and St. Bernard iPrism, a hardware solution.

Statistics

• US - Survey: Net crucial but suspect  +/-

  (Reuters) Internet users consider the Web an important source of information even though they increasingly question the credibility of online data. The UCLA Internet Report, a global survey of thousands of people on how they use the Web, found that people are less concerned about personal data and credit card information being stolen online, even though fewer are using the Internet to shop.

Who's who

• The Lord of the Webs  +/-

  (MSNBC) Berners-Lee is the inventor who gave us the World Wide Web, a system built on "languages" largely created by Berners-Lee. He’s now working on a sequel, called the Semantic Web.

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