Legal and regulatory issues

Computer crime

• US - Senate OKs Revised 'Virtual' Child-Porn Ban  +/-

  (Reuters) The U.S. Senate approved a bill that would strengthen existing child-pornography laws, aiming to help authorities track down pedophiles on the Internet while avoiding free-speech concerns that derailed a similar law last year. The Senate voted 84 to 0 to require those charged in child-pornography cases to prove that their material did not depict actual children, making it easier for prosecutors to use computer images as evidence in trials. The bill, known as the PROTECT Act, also outlaws the sale or trade of child pornography, bans the use of child pornography to entice a minor for sex, and allows victims of child pornography to sue for damages. Depictions of child sexual intercourse, or adults passing themselves off as children while having sex, would be classified as obscenity and thus stripped of many free-speech protections.

• US - Visa getting tough on child porn  +/-

  (Christian Science Monitor) The credit card company Visa has set up a system to identify purveyors who use Visa to sell illegal pornography. This means the card issuer is reporting sites with illegal photos and videos to the global police forces responsible for enforcing child-porn laws. Visa estimates that 80 percent of the 400 Web sites it has identified as child porn have either been shut down by law enforcement or have had their Visa privileges terminated. Child porn isn't the only thing Visa is targeting. The company has also decided it does not want its brand to be used to purchase Internet photos and videos involving rape and bestiality. And it has banned the use of Visa on a hate site.

Consumer protection

• CA - Canadian Code of Practice for Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce  +/-

  (Industry Canada) The Canadian Code of Practice for Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce was approved in principle in January 2003. The Code is intended to establish benchmarks for good business practices for merchants conducting commercial activities with consumers online. From January to March 2003, the Code will undergo pilot testing by a number of industry sectors. The Code will then be reviewed and revised. The revised Code will be published in the autumn of 2003.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• NO - Teenager to Face Retrial for Film Piracy  +/-

  (Reuters) A Norwegian teenager cleared of cyber piracy charges in a landmark ruling is to be tried again in an appeals court. Jon Johansen, aged 19 and dubbed "DVD Jon," was acquitted by an Oslo court in January of charges of theft after he developed a computer program to copy DVD movies which has been outlawed in the United States. Johansen had admitted copying only legally-purchased DVDs using his program, and the Oslo district court ruled that he was entitled to do this. Prosecutors, on behalf of Hollywood studies, lodged an appeal in the Borgarting appeals court in Oslo, objecting to the application of the law and the presentation of evidence.

Data Protection (privacy)

• US - FTC levies heavy penalties for breach of childrens' privacy  +/-

  (Press Release) Mrs. Fields Cookies and Hershey Foods Corporation have each agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that their Web sites violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule by collecting personal information from children without first obtaining the proper parental consent. Mrs. Fields will pay civil penalties of $100,000 and Hershey will pay civil penalties of $85,000. The separate settlements bar the companies from violating the Rule in the future and represent the biggest COPPA penalties awarded to date.

Domain names

• US - Crime-fighters seize Web sites  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Federal police have adopted a novel crime-fighting tactic: seizing control of domain names for Web sites that allegedly violate the law. The domain names for several Web sites allegedly set up to sell illegal "drug paraphernalia" would be pointed at servers located at the Drug Enforcement Administration. In a separate announcement, the Justice Department said it had taken over the iSoNews.com domain, whose owner pleaded guilty to using his site to sell "mod" chips that let Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation owners modify their devices so that they could use them to play illegally copied games, or "warez."

Health

• DE - Gesundheitsinfos im Internet als Trendthema  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Die in der Industrie-Initiative D21 organisierten Unternehmen sind der Ansicht, dass Informationen über Krankheit und Heilung zukünftig die entscheidenden Inhalte für Internetnutzer werden. Eine Umfrage des D21-Mitgliedsunternehmens Emnid ergab, dass schon heute jeder vierte Surfer das Internet als Informationsquelle bei Gesundheitsfragen nutzt -- besonders vor und nach einem Arztbesuch.

• EU - Advertising genetic tests via the Internet  +/-

  (RAPID) Statement by the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies. The purpose of this statement is to alert civil society and decision-makers on the problems raised by advertising of genetic tests via the Internet. There is a proliferation of Internet-based offers of genetic tests aimed especially at establishing fatherhood as well as tests for predisposition to several diseases - heart diseases, diabetes, etc. Mass marketing of genetic tests raises several serious problems in ethical, social and legal terms, which the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies considers to require urgent attention. The European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies intends to work on these issues in the future. An Opinion on the ethical aspects of genetic testing in the work place is in preparation.

• UK - Research urges hospitals to end mobile ban  +/-

  (vnunet) Evidence is growing that the ban on mobile phones in hospitals is unnecessary and could even in some cases be detrimental to patients. Reports in The Lancet and the British Medical Journal have urged hospital administrators to end the ban, which was introduced after a Medical Devices Agency report found that four per cent of phones interfered with equipment.

Information society and Internet policy

• EU - Report on Transparency Directive in online services  +/-

  (RAPID) The first European Commission report shows that the Community-level application of the binding system of prior notification of national rules on online services has been highly successful. Extended to online services by Directive 98/48/EC, this system has prevented new barriers to the free movement of services and saved litigation. The report confirms the notification procedure's importance in ensuring a clear and stable European legal framework at a time when the Information Society is developing rapidly.

• WSIS - PrepCom-2 for World Summit on the Information Society Concludes  +/-

  (WSIS Press Release) The second meeting of the preparatory committee for the World Summit on the Information Society (PrepCom-2) concluded with two working documents for a draft Declaration and Action Plan.

Junk mail (spam)

• FR - Legislators vote to ban spam  +/-

  (AFP) France's National Assembly has voted in favor of banning unsolicited e-mail sales messages, known as spam. The move, presented to the lower house of parliament in the form of government amendments to a law to "increase confidence in the digital economy," was approved by deputies at a first reading. Direct electronic marketing without prior consent would be allowed in certain circumstances where the parties involved were properly registered so as not to penalise e-business between companies. The deputies also called for Internet site hosts to be responsible for a "minimum of surveillance" of their pages, to prevent the diffusion of messages or images of racism, paedophilia and crimes against humanity.

• IETF to rally anti-spam forces  +/-

  (Wired) The Internet Research Task Force, the closest thing the Internet has to a governing body for all matters technical, inaugurated the Anti-Spam Research Group this week to develop "a taxonomy of the (spam) problem and the proposed solutions." The ASRG will seek to establish a more systematic, research-based framework for collaboration among those fighting spam.

Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law

• DK - Government to restrict online betting  +/-

  (Copenhagen Post) Formulated in response to the growing popularity of Internet betting, the Danish government's proposals aimed at defending state's betting monopoly will restrict the activities of foreign bookmakers by outlawing their advertisements in the Danish media. They will also make it illegal for such companies to employ people in Denmark. Those affected would include Danes currently working for foreign bookmakers, and newspapers and Internet sites relying on cash from their advertisements - including the weekly newspaper 'Tipstjeneste,' which is one of the government's staunchest critics.

Mobile and wireless

• Thai firm fined for providing porn mobile phone services  +/-

  (AFP) A Thai telecoms firm has been fined for providing pornographic pictures and messages to mobile telephone users. Samart Info Media Co, a subsidiary of Thai satellite and telecoms firm Samart, was ordered to pay a fine of 90,000 baht (2,090 dollars) by the consumer protection board. The firm was found to have used and offered lewd messages that are considered against Thai culture. Several parents whose children used the mobile service had complained to the board, prompting an investigation.

Racism and xenophobia

• AU - Racist websites and hate games bypassing the law  +/-

  (Sydney Morning Herald) Computer games that simulate killings of particular races are being sold over the internet, and Australian laws are ineffective to deal with them. A study by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission into the proliferation of racist material on the internet has stumbled across 20 such computer games and 25 locally produced racist websites.

• US - Racist Collectibles on EBay?  +/-

  (AP) Activists have asked the Internet auction site eBay to stop listing items they say are racially offensive and demeaning to blacks. The groups said eBay is violating its own policy that discourages sellers from listing items that promote racial intolerance.

Security and encryption

• EU sets jail terms for hackers  +/-

  (Reuters) Computer hackers and virus spreaders could be jailed for five years in serious cases under new laws approved by European Union justice ministers. Authorities worldwide have woken up to the dangers of network failures in key installations such as electricity and water supply. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, concerns have also grown about hackers gaining access to security information. "There will be common definitions...and sanctions for a number of online criminal activities," said European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs Antonio Vitorino. [Ed: not in fact yet formally adopted. see Minutes of 2489th Council meeting - Justice and Home Affairs - Brussels, 27-28 February 2003. The Council, pending some parliamentary scrutiny reservations and without prejudice of the examination of the opinion of the European Parliament, reached a common approach on the Framework Decision on attacks against information systems.]

Telecommunications

• DE - Regulierungsbehörde legt Jahresbericht 2002 vor  +/- Translate

  (IHK Newsletter) Die deutschen TK-Märkte befinden sich trotz der anhaltenden Konsolidierung weiter auf Wachstumskurs. Matthias Kurth, Präsident der Regulierungsbehörde für Telekommunikation und Post (RegTP), sagte bei der Vorstellung des Jahresberichts 2002, die Umsatzerlöse, die Auslastung der Netze und die Zahl der Lizenznehmer seien auch im vergangenen Jahr gestiegen. Zudem entwickle sich das Kundenwachstum im Mobilfunk und im Internet weiterhin dynamisch.

• US - FCC Member Defends Stance on State Powers  +/-

  (Washington Post) Faced with harsh criticism from several key lawmakers at a House hearing, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission defended his decision to join the agency's two Democrats in a vote giving state officials broad powers to regulate local telephone competition. see also US - Republicans Criticize FCC Phone Decision (AP). Republican lawmakers criticized a divided Federal Communications Commission for a decision letting states decide whether to spur competition between the regional Bell phone companies and their rivals.

Market & Technology

Electronic commerce

• AOL Starts a Service For Copying of Music  +/-

  (Washington Post) America Online is launching a music service today that will enable its subscribers to listen to newly released music and copy, or "burn," it onto CDs for a fixed monthly fee. The big looming question is whether AOL users will pay as much as $17.95 a month to download music, since millions of computer users already listen to music and burn CDs free from Kazaa and other Web sites not authorized by the music industry. Initially, AOL will offer what it calls the standard version of its music service free for 30 days.

Junk mail (spam)

• US - Spammers hiding behind students  +/-

  (Network World) University networks already stressed by file-sharing programs, viruses and hackers now face a new threat: students who sublet their network access to spammers for as little as $20 per month.

Market

• Microsoft's 'youth' IM goes online  +/-

  (Reuters) Microsoft has unveiled a test version of 3° - or threedegrees - an instant messaging product aimed at 13 to 24-year-olds that lets them hang out online together - as part of the software company's efforts to target the set that grew up with the Web. see also Microsoft Gets a Clue From Its Kiddie Corps (MSNBC). Because threedegrees relies on the cutting-edge peer-to-peer technology, the project will be a great test bed for future Microsoft P2P products. Threedegrees is also a fascinating experiment in how music can be legally shared over the Internet.

Statistics

• UK gripped by text message mania  +/-

  (vnunet) Monthly UK text message volumes reached an all-time high, according to figures released by the Mobile Data Association (MDA). The number of personal text messages sent across UK GSM networks in January 2003 totalled 1.65 billion, equating to a daily average of 53 million.

Useful addresses

• UK - Intellectual Property  +/-

  (IP) Welcome to the Government-backed home of UK Intellectual Property on the Internet. We hope to bring you all the answers to your questions and all the resources you need to find your way through the IP jungle of Copyright, Designs, Patents and Trade Marks.

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