Legal and regulatory issues

Audiovisual

• EU - Commission proposes extending the Culture 2000 and MEDIA programmes up to 2006  +/-

  (RAPID) The European Commission is making a proposal to the Council and the European Parliament to extend the existing Community programmes on culture and the audiovisual industry unchanged until the end of 2006. The MEDIA Plus and MEDIA Training programmes provide support for audiovisual creativity and the audiovisual industry in Europe. The "Culture 2000" programme provides support for collaborative projects with a view to highlighting Europe's cultural diversity and helping bring about a shared cultural area in Europe.

Competition

• EU - European Competition Policy : Quo Vadis ?  +/-

  (RAPID) Prof. Mario Monti European Commissioner in charge of Competition Policy, XX. International Forum on European Competition Policy Brussels, 10 April 2003

• EU - Vertical and horizontal integration in the media sector and EU competition law  +/-

  (Europa) by Miguel Mendes Pereira. The ICT and Media Sectors within the EU Policy Framework U.L.B.-SMIT (Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunications) CEAS-Norwegian School of Management, Oslo Telenor Broadcast.

Computer crime

• DE - Erneuter Schlag gegen Kinderporno-Ring  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Die Polizei hat einen Schlag gegen die Verbreitung von Kinderpornografie über das Internet geführt. In allen Bundesländern wurden dazu 137 Wohnungen und Arbeitsräume durchsucht. Dabei wurden 95 Computer samt Zubehör sichergestellt. Die Aktion richtete sich gegen 158 Tatverdächtige; 20 von ihnen seien bereits einschlägig in Erscheinung getreten. Nach Abschluss der Durchsuchungsaktionen hätten insgesamt 22 Personen gestanden. Anfang April hatte das Bundeskriminalamt in einer ebenfalls bundesweiten Aktion bei 187 Tatverdächtigen Durchsuchungen durchgeführt.

• FR - Le ministre de la Justice souhaite aggraver les peines sanctionnant la production d'images pédophiles  +/- Translate

  (internet.gouv.fr) Le ministre de la Justice s'est exprimé sur la lutte contre la pédocriminalité, notamment la lutte contre la fabrication d'images en vue d'une diffusion sur le réseau internet, en séance publique au Sénat. Il a annoncé la présentation d'un projet de loi permettant notamment une aggravation des peines applicables pour les délits de fabrication d'images pédo-pornographiques, et les délits de diffusion de ces images sur internet. Il s'agit notamment de porter à 10 ans les peines d'emprisonnement sanctionnant ces délits en "doublant les quantum de peine à la disposition des magistrats".

• FR - Lutte contre les formes nouvelles de délinquance et de criminalité  +/- Translate

  (internet.gouv.fr) Le ministre de la Justice a présenté un projet de loi portant adaptation de la justice aux évolutions de la criminalité en Conseil des ministres. Le titre 1 du projet de loi, relatif à la lutte contre les formes nouvelles de délinquance et de criminalité organisée prévoit des "interceptions de correspondances émises par la voie des télécommunications", dans les enquêtes portant sur un flagrant-délit par exemple. Les interceptions de correspondances sont initiées à la demande du Procureur de la République et placées sous la responsabilité du juge des libertés et de la détention du tribunal de grande instance.

• Internet, vecteur incontrôlable du tourisme sexuel  +/- Translate

  (Le Soir) Internet risque de faire augmenter le tourisme sexuel et de le rendre plus difficile à contrôler, se sont inquiétés des experts réunis en fin de semaine à Rome pour une "Conférence européenne sur la protection des enfants contre l'exploitation sexuelle dans le tourisme".

• Transfert.net reprend du poil de la bulle  +/- Translate

  (Le Soir) Un nouveau site transfert.net, héritier du magazine Transfert, qui avait fermé ses portes en mai 2002 après la débâcle de l'internet et de la nouvelle économie, a été lancé sous la forme d'une "agence de presse en ligne", ont annoncé ses repreneurs.

• US - IFCC 2002 Internet Fraud Report  +/-

  (IFCC) The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC), which began operation on May 8, 2000, is a partnership between NW3C (National White Collar Crime Center) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). IFCC’s primary mission is to address fraud committed over the Internet. This mission is met by facilitating the flow of information between law enforcement agencies and victims. From January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2002, the IFCC Web site received 75,063 complaints. This total includes many different fraudulent and non-fraudulent complaints, such as auction fraud, credit/debit card fraud, computer intrusions, unsolicited email (SPAM), and child pornography. During this same time period, IFCC has referred 48,252 complaints of fraud, a three-fold increase from the previous year.

• US - Who's 14, 'Kewl' and Flirty Online? A 39-Year-Old Detective  +/-

  (New York Times) Three undercover officers in the New York Police Department impersonate not cocaine smugglers, but teenage girls - and, sometimes, boys - to serve as their invisible protectors.

Consumer protection

• DE - Regulierungsbehörde geht gegen 0193-Dialer vor  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Die Regulierungsbehörde reagiert auf Meldungen über Gefahren, die von Dialern in der Rufnummerngasse 0191 bis 0195 ausgehen. Würden solche Nummern missbraucht, dann werde man sie einziehen, so ein Sprecher der Regulierungsbehörde. Die Nutzung dieser Nummern für Dialer-Einwahlen entspreche nicht dem Zuteilungsbescheid, sei deshalb nicht zulässig und werde von der Regulierungsbehörde untersagt. Erste Verfahren gegen Betreiber laufen nach Angaben der Behörde bereits.

• UK - Ad watchdog raps NTL over broadband claim  +/-

  (vnunet.com) The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has accused internet service provider (ISP) NTL of potentially misleading consumers by advertising its 128Kbps service as broadband without qualifying the speed. see Adjudication.

• UK - Important changes to the consumer protection regime for e-tailers  +/-

  (Fox Williams) New laws affecting e-tailers came into force on 31 March 2003. The Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002 implement Directive 1999/44/EC which is designed to encourage people to shop across borders, knowing they have protection if anything is wrong with the products they buy. The promotion of e-commerce within Europe has been welcomed by e-tailers.

Content regulation

• CN - Reporters Without Borders website blocked  +/-

  (Reporters sans frontières) Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières) deplores as a blow to free expression a decision by the Chinese authorities to block access to the organisation's website and called for the immediate lifting of the ban, which may have been imposed because of a press release on the site about the extended imprisonment of cyber-dissident Liu Di. Internet users reported on 14 April that the site, www.rsf.org, was inaccessible in China.

• Congress OKs Internet Porn Restrictions  +/-

  (Washington Post) Congress passed legislation that would give jail time to online pornographers who deliberately mask their sites behind innocuous domain names. The House and Senate overwhelmingly approved the Child Abduction Prevention Act, which strengthens penalties for pedophiles, provides funding for a national child-abduction alert system and bolsters prohibitions against child pornography. The bill also bans the distribution of "virtual" child pornography - legal pornographic images of adults that have been digitally altered to look like children having sex.

• Cuba - Reporters Flout Censorship  +/-

  (Wired) Despite a recent government crackdown on journalists who work outside of the state-run media in Cuba - and many other obstacles - dissident writers continue to publish their work online.

• DE - Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Multimedia stößt sich an Telepolis  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Die Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Multimedia-Diensteanbieter (FSM) hat die Veröffentlichung eines Fotos eines Kriegsopfers im Magazin für Netzkultur Telepolis beanstandet. Nach ihrer Ansicht dürften solche "Gewaltdarstellungen" nicht veröffentlicht werden, heißt es in einem Brief. Die FSM habe eine Beschwerde über ein Bild in dem Telepolis-Artikel Bombenzensur oder "Kollateralschaden"? erhalten, auf dem ein durch Kopfschuss getöteter Junge abgebildet sei.

• La police du cinéma : de la protection des mineurs au rejet de l'ordre moral  +/- Translate

  (rajf.org) Par Nicolas Guillet. L'arrêt du Conseil d'Etat du 14 juin 2002 « Association Promouvoir » constitue l'épilogue du contentieux né autour du film Baise-moi. Il donne notamment l'occasion de revenir sur le contrôle de légalité qu'exerce le Conseil d'Etat sur les visas d'exploitation des films cinématographiques, alors que les compétences du ministre de la Culture, chargé du cinéma, ont été récemment élargies en la matière.

• Pakistan Tries to Block Porn Web Sites  +/-

  (AP) Pakistani authorities have blocked 1,800 Web sites in a crackdown on Internet pornography in this deeply conservative Muslim country. But it's not proving to be easy. "Curbing porn sites is as difficult as blocking the wind," said Web engineer Farhan Parpia, of the state-owned telecommunications company. "You block one, and dozens more come up like mushrooms."

• UK - Ofcom 'must enforce watershed'  +/-

  (BBC) Broadcasting standards must not be allowed to fall when new "super-regulator" Ofcom takes over, the head of a present TV watchdog has warned. Ofcom is due to take over the Independent Television Commission's (ITC) role in December. ITC chief executive Patricia Hodgson praised Ofcom's plans to be a "light touch" regulator, but said it needed to take the lead in enforcing rules like the 9 p.m. "watershed" for adult programming, and on privacy. The ITC's final report also said Ofcom would also need to make sure there was enough competition in the UK broadcasting industry.

• US - Court blocks how-to-hack seminar  +/-

  (CNET News.com) A pair of students were blocked by a Georgia state court from presenting information at a security and hackers' conference on how to break into and modify a university electronic transactions system. Education software company Blackboard successfully convinced a Georgia state court to block the students' presentation, which was scheduled to be given at the Interz0ne conference in Atlanta last weekend. The restraining order was grounded largely in federal and Georgia state antihacking laws and a state trade secrets act. The information was gleaned after one of the students had physically broken into a network and switching device on his campus and subsequently figured out a way to mimic Blackboard's technology.

Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology

• UK - BBC dealt online ultimatum  +/-

  (Guardian) Culture secretary Tessa Jowell has told the BBC that it has until June to prepare a submission justifying the £112m it spends each year on its online and interactive services ahead of an independent government review.

• UK - Good progress towards government switchover targets  +/-

  (ITC Press Release) The Government has published a joint report by the Independent Television Commission and the BBC on Progress Towards Digital Switchover. The BBC and the ITC are required to produce the report under Section 33 of the 1996 Broadcasting Act, and the Government requested it as part of their Digital Action Plan.

• US - The storm over broadband bundling  +/-

  (CNET News.com) by Randolph J. May . Cable companies do not have a monopoly in the multichannel marketplace. Technological advances and marketplace dynamics are driving what might be called a digital multichannel marketplace. Bundles promote more efficient utilization of capacity, reduce customer churn, and aid in cross-selling, all of which reduce costs.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• CA - Le Québec pas vraiment libre pour les PUF  +/- Translate

  (transfert) Les Presses Universitaires de France (PUF) exigent d'un site québécois qu'il retire les textes des auteurs qu'elles éditent. Créé par Jean-Marie Tremblay, professeur de sociologie, ce site propose tous les grands classiques des sciences sociales tombés dans le domaine public. Au Canada, le droit d'auteur protège les oeuvres littéraires pendant 50 ans à compter de la mort de leur auteur, mais que le droit français et européen accorde, lui, une protection de 70 ans à compter du décès de l'écrivain (ou du traducteur).

• DE - Bundestag verabschiedet neues Urheberrecht  +/-

  (Heise) Deutschland erhält ein Pendant zum heftig umstrittenen Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) der USA: Der Bundestag hat den bereits im Rechtsausschuss abgehandelten "Gesetzesentwurf zur Regelung des Urheberrechts in der Informationsgesellschaft" verabschiedet.

• DE - Parliament vote on copyright bill  +/-

  (Baker & McKenzie) On April 11, 2003, the German Upper House adopted the "Bill on Copyright in the Information Society" which implements the EU Directive 2001/29/EC. The Copyright Bill still has to pass the German Lower House in order to be enacted and come into force. It makes a number of amendments to the German Copyright Act (Urheberrechtsgesetz) regarding the digital use of works of authorship. The hotly debated Section 52a of the Copyright Bill, which will establish a new limitation to copyright in order to make digitally available articles and parts of books for the benefit of science and education, is now planned to be introduced for a test period until end of 2006. see also New Copyright Law Pleases Scholars and Angers Academic Publishers (Chronicle of Higher Education). A hotly contested copyright law adopted by Germany's Parliament gives universities and research institutions considerable leeway to digitally distribute copyrighted materials among students and scholars without paying extra charges. The law has been welcomed by academics. But academic publishers, who fought tooth and nail against the bill, say it will force them out of business.

• FR - Les sites français d'échange de fichiers se sabordent en série  +/- Translate

  (Transfert) C'est l'hécatombe dans la communauté française du partage de fichiers. Avant même son adoption, la future loi sur l'économie numérique (LEN) pousse de plus en plus de plates-formes de piratage à s'auto-détruire. RV007, edonkey-divx et edonkeyfr figuraient parmi les sites les plus connus des utilisateurs francophones du système d'échange Edonkey2000. En l'espace d'une semaine, ils sont tous devenus inaccessibles.

• How cyber piracy affects you  +/-

  (BBC) Software piracy is booming. The temptation is great: simply copy a program to CD and hey presto, software for free. The perfect crime where Bill Gates is the only victim, right? Not quite. For software companies, piracy means lost revenue, which in turn means fewer jobs, scaled-back operations and less tax for the public purse. For users, counterfeit software may be a false economy. The program may contain a virus or be incomplete; and the user will have no entitlement to future upgrades. For businesses, there's the threat of legal action and hefty fines - Microsoft, for instance, has been criticised for tackling charities which bought copied software in good faith - and even professional embarrassment. Under a new EU directive, organisations caught out may have to apologise in print as well as face fines.

• NL - Resellers of recording media liable for copyright levy  +/-

  (Baker & McKenzie) The Dutch government has submitted a legislative proposal as a supplement to the existing regulation regarding copyright levies in the Dutch Copyright Act 1912. Under the existing regulation, manufacturers and importers of recording media, such as audiotapes, videotapes and writable CDs, are responsible for paying a copyright levy. This copyright levy is intended as a compensation for the copying of sound- and image recording media for private use. It is paid in the form of a fixed amount for each blank data carrier. Under the legislative proposal, resellers of recording media will also be liable for paying this copyright levy if the manufacturers and importers have failed to do so.

• UK - Net cafe settles over music rights  +/-

  (BBC) The Easyinternet cafe chain has paid £80,000 to the record industry in an out-of-court settlement over music copyright. The company had earlier been found guilty of copyright infringement for allowing customers to download music from the internet and onto CDs. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) had taken legal action after learning the company was permitting music copies to be made for a fee of £5.

• US - Digital Publishing: the Rights Issues  +/-

  (NINCH) February 22: New York. Digital Publishing: A Practical Guide to Rights Challenges in the Electronic Environment for Artists, Museums, Authors, Publishers and Readers. Summary Report.

• US - Electronic Frontier Foundation opposes stealth lobbying on copyright  +/-

  (EFF) The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released a detailed analysis of the dangers posed by digital copyright bills in individual states. The product of stealth lobbying efforts by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), these new measures are aimed at criminalizing the possession of what the MPAA calls "unlawful communication and access devices," but which are so broad that they could ban critical security and privacy tools online as well as restrict what machines you can connect to the cable, satellite, and Internet lines in your home.

• US - Govt sides with record labels  +/-

  (Reuters) The U.S. government sided with the recording industry in its dispute with Verizon Communications, saying a digital-copyright law invoked by record labels to track down Internet song-swappers did not violate the U.S. Constitution.

• US - Jail for seller of illegal Xbox chips  +/-

  (BBC) An American has been sentenced to five months in jail for selling chips that helped gamers to bypass anti-piracy technology on consoles. He also received a $28,500 fine and five months of home detention with electronic monitoring when he was sentenced in a Virginia court last week.

Data Protection (privacy)

• US - EPIC announces 2003 privacy threat index  +/-

  (Press Release) The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is establishing a new Privacy Threat Index to track the growing threat to privacy resulting from the expansion of government surveillance. It will follow the color-coded scheme established for the Homeland Security Advisory System by the Department of Homeland Security for the EPIC Privacy Threat Index. The rankings from green, blue, and yellow to orange and red signal Low Condition, Guarded, Elevated, High and Severe. Based on developments during the past year, EPIC assessed the current level as Yellow. see also EPIC privacy threat index remains unchanged as national terrorism threat level reduced. US - Homeland Security Dept. Fills Privacy Post (Washington Post). The former privacy officer of Internet advertising giant DoubleClick will be the Department of Homeland Security's first privacy czar.

• US - The paradox of privacy  +/-

  (CNET News.com) by Michael Kanellos. Recently, I was the victim of an electronic privacy attack. After I wrote an article skeptical of a new strategy at a desktop company, someone retaliated by posting my personal information to a discussion Web site. The data included my phone number, every address I've had in the past 18 years, clues about my social security number, and the value of my house.

Domain names

• OECD - Comparing domain name administration in OECD countries  +/-

  (OECD) The aim of this paper is to provide comparative information on the administration of domain names across the OECD area.

e-Government

• FR - Quelle politique de diffusion des données publiques?  +/- Translate

  (Forum des droits sur l'internet) Cette recommandation cherche à définir les conditions de développement d´une industrie de l´information avec l´ensemble des acteurs, publics et privés ainsi que l´articulation à mettre en œuvre entre ceux-ci. Elle souhaite trouver un équilibre entre, d´une part, la nécessité d´informer les citoyens et, d´autre part, la volonté d´encourager le développement des produits du secteur privé réalisés à partir des données publiques.

• Hard work ahead for online rulers  +/-

  (BBC) The fourth annual survey of e-government by consulting firm Accenture reveals the increasingly sophisticated use many national authorities are making of the net. The 22 governments monitored in the survey are all putting more services online and fine-tuning existing ones to meet the needs of citizens. The report ranks the 22 governments according to the extent and complexity of their web use. Those on the top rung allow citizens to go online and carry out complete transactions, such as calculate and pay tax bills, and are using the experience of putting services online to transform work methods in government departments. Only one country, Canada, is ranked as reaching this level of complexity, and, for the third year running, it is seen as having the most sophisticated e-government. The study recommends that governments abandon targets that measure success based on giving everything they do a website. Instead, they should do more to work out if what they are doing is actually useful. see also Press Release

• US - "Democracy in the Digital Age" Conference Report  +/-

  (LawMeme) by James Grimmelmann. A highly impressionistic, highly opinionated, and entirely unoffcial set of observations from one attendee of the Yale Information Society Project conference.

• US - e-government Act comes into effect  +/-

  (CNET News.com) The E-Government Act of 2002 has come into effect, creating an Office of Information within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The e-government project is designed to use the Internet and computer systems to deliver information to agency workers and the general public more efficiently. However, funding could prove a challenge to the plan. The Bush administration requested $45 million for the project this year, but Congress trimmed that number to $5 million.

• US - Survey Finds Americans Split on 'E-Government'  +/-

  (Washington Post) A new survey on Americans' growing relationship with "e-government" - government services and information online - reflects their concerns about privacy and security. The report said that 49 percent of its general American population survey believe it is appropriate for the government to search its existing databases for information that could help it track down terrorists. But 42 percent disagreed, believing that "protecting privacy should be a top priority." The third annual survey on e-government was conducted by Hart/Teeter Research on behalf of the Council for Excellence in Government.

• US - White House Officials To Conduct Web Chats  +/-

  (Washington Post) Senior administration officials will begin a series of Web chats. These "online discussions," titled "Ask the White House," will allow visitors to the official Web site, www.whitehouse.gov, to quiz top Bush aides without the media serving as middleman. [Ed: European Commissioners have been doing this for some time, taking questions in all 11 official languages. The earliest in the archive took place on 18 June 1997, with European Parliament Vice-President Georgios Anastassopoulos and Commissioner Marcelino Oreja on the Amsterdam Treaty. Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy holds the record with 9 chats]

Employment and social issues

• UK - Disability Rights Commission to investigate Web sites  +/-

  (Fox Williams) The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) will formally investigate one thousand Web sites for their ability to be accessed by Britain’s 8.5 million disabled people. The DRC will assess Web sites in both the public and private sectors checking for compliance with industry recognised accessibility standards.

• US - Porn spam - legal land mine for employers  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Graphic images appearing unbidden on PCs by way of e-mail in-boxes could qualify as evidence of a "hostile work environment," something that's prohibited by federal employment law. As a result, porn spam could begin to crop up in sexual harassment complaints from employees offended by the material. Even if companies aren't the source of such messages, they could be liable for hefty civil fines if managers know that porn spam is a problem and don't move to address it.

Health

• EU - Europe goes on-line for health information, but prefers more traditional sources  +/-

  (RAPID) Where do Europeans turn when they want reliable information on health? A Eurobarometer survey published by the European Commission shows that, across the EU, nearly one in four Europeans (23%) use the internet to get health information. The picture varies considerably, though, between countries: in Denmark and the Netherlands around 40% of people use the internet for health information, while in Greece, Spain, Portugal and France usage is at 15% or less. Health professionals, such as doctors and pharmacists, are still by far the most important source of health information for Europeans and the traditional media - television, newpapers, magazines - still outperform the internet. Other key findings of the survey are that medical and health organisations achieve the highest trust rating on health issues (84%), while businesses and political parties receive the lowest (16% and 11% respectively).

Hotlines

• EL - Hotline Safeline.Gr in operation  +/-

  (Safer Internet) SafeLine (www.safeline.gr) is the first hotline in Greece dealing with illegal Internet content. It launched its operation on 14 April. SafeLine accepts reports concerning websites or newsgroups found on the Internet and contain: images of child abuse, anywhere in the world; racist and xenophobic content that violates Greek law; other illegal content, from the point of view of the user making the report. The hotline was created under the NETWATCH project, which is co-funded by the European Union's Safer Internet Action Plan.

Information society and Internet policy

• EU - Commissioner Liikanen assesses 'e-Inclusion in Europe'  +/-

  (EurActiv.com) The underlying goal of the Commission's eEurope 2005 Action Plan is to make information society accessible to all, and e-Inclusion is a key element of the process, Mr Liikanen told a ministerial symposium in Crete on 11 April. The e-Inclusion concept is especially pertinent to the needs of people with disabilities. Text of Mr Liikanen's speech: eInclusion in Europe .

• US - Fretting about the future, lost liberty  +/-

  (CNET News.com) by Declan McCullagh. At the 13th annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy (CFP) conference, attendees fretted about shrinking privacy, growing online censorship, and their reduced ability to make "fair use" of music, video and software girded with anticopying technologies. Events included panels with titles such as "Terrorizing Rights" and enthusiastic condemnations of corporate miscreants. What many CFPers failed to recognize, however, is the tremendous difference between actions by governments and those undertaken by corporations. We should be most worried about government infringements of our civil liberties. Especially in wartime, freedom suffers.

Interception

• Inside Cisco's eavesdropping apparatus  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Cisco Systems has created a more efficient and targeted way for police and intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on people whose Internet service provider uses their company's routers.The company recently published a proposal that describes how it plans to embed "lawful interception" capability into its products. Among the highlights: Eavesdropping "must be undetectable," and multiple police agencies conducting simultaneous wiretaps must not learn of one another. If an Internet provider uses encryption to preserve its customers' privacy and has access to the encryption keys, it must turn over the intercepted communications to police in a descrambled form. Cisco's decision to begin offering "lawful interception" capability as an option to its customers could turn out to be either good or bad news for privacy.

• Les prestataires techniques maintenus à distance des courriers électroniques  +/-

  (Forum des droits sur l'internet) Un juge néo-zélandais et un juge français viennent à quelques semaines d´intervalle de statuer sur la conservation par des prestataires techniques de courriers électroniques reçus ou envoyés par leurs clients.

Internet access and use

• UK - Campaigners call for unlimited broadband  +/-

  (BBC) A lobby group has been launched in the UK to campaign for unlimited broadband access. AntiCap UK has grown out of cable firm ntl's decision to limit the amount of downloads customers can make to one gigabyte per day. Many of the founders of the campaign are subscribers to ntl's fast net service and have been angered by the capping, which ntl introduced without warning.

• UK - ISPs to cut business broadband charges  +/-

  (vnunet.com) A number of internet service providers (ISPs) are cutting the cost of ADSL broadband access to business customers, and more are expected to follow suit.

Junk mail (spam)

• AU - Anti-spam laws proposed in new report  +/-

  (News.com) Unsolicited email is set to be outlawed in Australia and spammers could face prison sentences, after a dramatic about-turn from a federal Government taskforce charged with examining the issue. Anti-spam laws will be drafted "as quickly as possible" after the final report into spam by the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE) was released. see also Media Release.

• US - AOL targets spam e-mails  +/-

  (BBC) The largest internet service provider in the US, America Online is taking legal action to try to stop the flood of spam that has infuriated many of its 27 million customers. AOL has filed lawsuits against more than a dozen individuals and companies who it says have sent millions of unsolicited messages through its electronic network.

  • Complaint (America Online v. Maryland Internet Marketing) [Computer Software, Mortgage Offers]
  • Complaint (America Online v. John Does 1-10) [Online Pharmaceuticals, "Mexican Steroids"]
  • Complaint (America Online v. John Does 1-20) [Mortgage Offers]
  • Complaint (America Online v. John Does 1-30) [Digital Cable Descramblers, Sexually Explicit Websites, Male Sexual Organ Enhancement Drugs, "Generic Viagra," Online College Degrees] [WARNING: Exhibit A contains sexually explicit images]
  • Complaint (America Online v. Byte Night) [Pornographic Websites] [WARNING: Exhibit A contains sexually explicit images].

• US - Fake hate emails mar activists' reputations  +/-

  (CNN) An Arab-American activist, a legal adviser to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, checked his e-mail one day and found scores of angry messages asking why he hated Americans and Jews. The messages were responding to e-mails marked as coming from him. Only one big problem: he never sent the hate mail. He was the victim of a new form of harassment in which fake e-mail is sent using real addresses. By exploiting the simplicity and openness of the Internet's mail protocols, unidentified provocateurs have been sending incendiary messages posing as Shora and other Arab-Americans. The tactic, known as e-mail spoofing, requires little technical know-how and no illegal computer break-ins. Yet it has caused a lot of trouble -- wasting time, damaging reputations and even leading to the suspension of e-mail accounts.

• US - FTC Files Suit Against Sender of Porn 'Spam'  +/-

  (Washington Post) The Federal Trade Commission is suing one of the country's most active purveyors of pornographic junk e-mail, part of a stepped-up push by the agency to combat spam. see also Asks Court to Block Deceptive Spam Operation (Press Release) . The Federal Trade Commission has asked a U.S. District court judge to block an allegedly illegal spam operation that uses deceptively bland subject lines, false return addresses, and empty "reply-to" links to expose unsuspecting consumers, including children, to sexually explicit material. The agency alleges that Brian Westby used the spam in an attempt to drive business to an adult Web site, "Married But Lonely." The FTC has asked the court to order a halt to the deceptive spam, pending trial. It will seek a permanent injunction at trial. FTC v. Brian D. Westby.

• US - Ruling Backs Anti-Spam Activist  +/-

  (Washington Post) An Internet site that provides personal information about an alleged purveyor of mass e-mail is not harassment and does not need to be removed, a Maryland district court judge ruled.

Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law

• DE - Sperrverfügungen gegen Websites: Einer kam durch  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Der Telekommunikationsanbieter Telefonica muss die von der Bezirksregierung in Düsseldorf ins Visier genommenen Nazi-Webseiten nicht sperren. Die Bezirksregierung selbst hat ihre Beschwerde beim Oberverwaltungsgericht gegen ein Urteil des Verwaltungsgerichts Minden zurückgezogen, das die sofortige Vollziehung der Verfügungen aussetzte. Jetzt erhielt Telefonica nun auch den Aufhebungsbescheid für die Sperrverfügungen insgesamt.

Mobile and wireless

• Europe - Three mobile radio operators form alliance  +/-

  (Heise) (post-edited Babelfish translation - see original news item in German). The Spanish Telefonica Moviles and the Italian Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) have announced the formation of an alliance with the German T-Mobile. In the future, their total of 162 million customer will be offered uniform services across national borders. As the first result of the co-operation, the partners want to offer special roaming agreements with new services and tariffs in the areas of speech, data communication and mobile Internet.

• US - Keeping same number at heart of cell phone fight  +/-

  (AP) Cell phone companies asked a federal court to block a regulation that would force them to let consumers keep their phone numbers when switching wireless carriers. Congress decided in 1996 that people can keep their traditional local phone numbers when they change phone companies. The FCC decided that wireless carriers would have to offer the same service in the top 100 U.S. cities by June 1999. The FCC has extended that deadline three times.

• US - No Help for Callers in Trouble  +/-

  (Wired) Since 1991 New York state has collected at least $200 million from a surcharge added to every New Yorker's cell-phone bill. The money is earmarked for installing an "E911" service, which uses GPS technology to quickly trace the location of 911 callers on their cell phones. But instead of paying for a Wireless Enhanced 911 system, the money has gone to the state police, who have spent the funds on departmental dry cleaning bills, ballpoint pens, travel, car leases, grounds maintenance for precincts and winter boots, according to an audit (PDF) conducted by the New York State comptroller's office.

Portals, browsers and search engines

• Inside the Soul of the Web  +/-

  (Wired) 24 hours watching the world look for answers at Google.

Protection of minors

• DE - German law shields children from content  +/-

  (Washington Internet Daily) Germany became the first country in Europe to enact legislation protecting minors from harmful media content. The Treaty on Human Rights & the Protection of Minors in Broadcasting and Telecommunication Media creates a new central commission for decisions on illegal and harmful media and Web content. The new version of Germany's Minor Protection Law, moreover, introduces much stricter rules for computer games.

• DE - Jugendfreies Internet  +/- Translate

  (c't) Ein Staatsvertrag reguliert Internet und Neue Medien. Alles soll besser werden mit einem einheitlichen Jugendmedienschutz: Zusätzlich zur Novellierung des Jugendschutzgesetzes steckt ein neuer Medienstaatsvertrag Regeln für Online-Medien ab. siehe auch DE - Jugendschutznovelle mit skurrilen Nebenwirkungen (c't)
  Seit dem 1. April ist das neue Jugendschutzgesetz in Kraft. Vielerorts herrscht heftige Verwirrung darüber, welche Konsequenzen es speziell für Computerspieler und Händler hat. Einen Kernpunkt der Veränderungen bildet die verbindliche Altersfreigabe von Unterhaltungssoftware, wie es sie für Kino- und Videofilme bereits gibt.

• DE - Jugendschutz: MSN sperrt Mitgliederverzeichnis  +/- Translate

  (Heise) MSN Deutschland hat als Reaktion auf das Inkrafttreten des Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrags nicht nur alle "Erwachsenen"-Gruppen geschlossen, sondern mittlerweile auch das deutsche "Mitgliederverzeichnis" komplett gesperrt. In einem Bericht des WDR-Magazins "Markt" nannte Friedemann Schindler von jugendschutz.net einige der dort geposteten Bilder "schwer jugendgefährdend".

Racism and xenophobia

• UK - Racially Inflammatory Material on the Internet  +/-

  (Home Office) This guide is designed to provide basic information relating to racially inflammatory material on the Internet. The Guide is not a definitive statement of the law or of the application of the law in any particular circumstances. This edition relates to the law in England and Wales as of December 2001.

Rating and filtering

• ASACP, ICRA Trade Links  +/-

  (Adult Video News) Adult Sites Against Child Pornography and the Internet Content Rating Association have exchanged links under the Industry Resources category. They share a common mission: protecting children.

• DE - Schutz vor dem Schmutz  +/- Translate

  (Die Zeit) Neue Programme sollen Kinder von bedenklichen Internetseiten fernhalten - und Eltern die totale Überwachung garantieren

• US - ACLU loses battle against filtering company  +/-

  (CNET News.com) The American Civil Liberties Union has lost its first attempt to challenge a controversial 1998 copyright law. In a strongly worded decision Edelman v. N2H2, a federal judge in Boston dismissed a lawsuit aimed at defanging part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The ACLU's suit against filtering-software company N2H2, claims the law unconstitutionally interferes with researchers' ability to investigate and evaluate the effectiveness of Internet filtering software.

• US - Google filter blocks innocuous sites  +/-

  (MSNBC) Children using Google’s SafeSearch feature, which was designed to filter adult Web sites, may be shielded from far more than their parents ever intended. A new report prepared by Harvard University’s Berkman Center says that Google’s filtered search technology incorrectly blocks tens of thousands of innocuous Web pages, including ones created by Apple Computer, IBM, the White House, the Library of Congress and the Washington Post. see Empirical Analysis of Google SafeSearch by Benjamin Edelman.

Security and encryption

• Cybersecurity in Europe and EU-Russia Co-operation  +/-

  (RAPID) Mr Erkki Liikanen Member of the European Commission, responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society IT Security Russia Conference Moscow, 4 April 2003

• US - Security confab focuses on trust, tools  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Hackers are thinking up more and more ways to sneak through software gaps into personal and office computers. The security companies and experts gathering at the RSA Conference 2003 in San Francisco are working to put a stop to it--how do their efforts shape up? Roundup with a series of articles.

• US - Strike and Counterstrike: The Law on Automated Intrusions and Striking Back  +/-

  (BlackHat Windows Security 2003) by Curtis E. A. Karnow. There is a growing interest in 'self help' mechanisms to counter internet mediated threats. Content providers such as record labels and movie studios favor proposed federal legislation that would allow them to disable copyright infringers' computers. Software licensors endorse state laws that permit the remote disabling of software in use by the licensee when the license terms are breached. Internet security professionals debate the propriety and legality of striking back at computers which launch worms, viruses, and other intrusions. The presentation discusses legal doctrines used by the courts to evaluate claims that the assaults are illegal, as well as evolving legal issues of striking back at the attacking system.

Self-regulation / codes of conduct

• Bloggers' ethics  +/-

  (CyberJournalist.net) The blogging community has been abuzz with talk about the actions of a Texas blogger who admitted to plagiarizing for his popular war blog, The Agonist. What are the ethical responsibilities of bloggers? CyberJournalist.net thinks you can't have it both ways: if someone wants to publish a blog that is taken seriously as a news source, then that person should follow journalistic practices and ethics. Bloggers should always attribute information on their Web sites. CyberJournalist.net also suggests that bloggers consider adopting an ethics and practices policy. To that end, CyberJournalist.net has created a model for a Bloggers' Code of Ethics (based on the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics). see also Ethics and Credibility.

Telecommunications

• EU - Commission underlines objectives for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2003  +/-

  (RAPID) The European Commission has adopted a Communication setting out the EU priorities and objectives for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03). This Conference, organised periodically by the International Telecommunication Union, will next take place in Geneva from 9 June to 4 July 2003, with the objective of updating the allocation and other usage conditions of the radio spectrum at global level.

• EU - France must comply with judgment on financing of universal service in telecommunications  +/-

  (RAPID) A judgment handed down by the Court of Justice of the European Communities in December 2001 criticised France's system for financing universal service in telecommunications. Almost sixteen months later, the Commission has concluded that insufficient remedial action has been taken. It has therefore decided to serve formal notice on the French authorities to comply fully with the Court's ruling.

• EU - France - Commission calls for equal treatment for cable networks in the provision of telecommunications services  +/-

  (RAPID) On 8 April 2003 the Commission decided to send France a reasoned opinion for having failed to comply with the "Cable" Directive and the "Full Competition" Directive by maintaining special arrangements for the provision of telecommunications services by cable. The combined effect of the two Directives for cable operators is to remove restrictions on the provision of telecommunications services on cable networks, which until recently were essentially dedicated to the distribution of television programmes.

• UK - Freeserve successfully challenges telecoms regulator  +/-

  (Baker & McKenzie) Freeserve has successfully challenged the earlier rejection by Oftel of its complaint concerning the pricing of BT Openworld. The CAT ordered Oftel to reinvestigate Freeserve's allegation of predatory pricing and to do so within the course of the next three months. This is the first time Oftel has been successfully challenged in Court. See Competition Appeal Tribunal decision, Freeserve press release, Oftel press release, B&M press release, and The Guardian. [Ed: Oftel's press release states "The Competition Appeal Tribunal has upheld Oftel's decision relating to a complaint by Freeserve that BT was behaving anti-competitively in its broadband marketing activities." ]

Market & Technology

Internet access and use

• WthRemix Winners Announced  +/-

  (Slashdot) The contest to redesign the World Wide Web Consortium's homepage has announced its winners, judged on criteria including standards compliance, accessibility, graceful degradation, and aesthetics.

Market

• Gloom settles on global CD sales  +/-

  (BBC) The global slump in music sales gathered pace in 2002, music industry figures have revealed. Sales dropped by 7% around the world last year after a 5% dip in 2001, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The industry's inability to beat what it has labelled internet pirates and the "massive proliferation" of CD copying have been blamed.

Mobile and wireless

• Europe bets on mobile gambling  +/-

  (AP) Forget about grand casinos and shady bookmakers. Europeans can now satisfy their gambling urges on the spot with their cell phones. "M-gambling" is gaining speed after a sputtering start in the late 1990s when it relied on a far slower technology called WAP.

• The Wi-Fi Revolution  +/-

  (Wired) We stand at the brink of a transformation. Over the past three years, a wireless technology has arrived with the power to totally change the game.T he technology is Wi-Fi, and it's the first blast in a revolution, called open spectrum, that will drive the Internet to the next stage in its colonization of the globe. What makes the new standard so alluring? Wi-Fi is cheap, powerful, and, most important, it works. Like the Web, it's open, unregulated, and free. It doesn't require a loyalty oath to some corporate behemoth. and see other articles in Issue 11.05 UNWIRED - A Wired Special Report - May 2003.

• UK - 3G firm seeks DoCoMo loan  +/-

  (BBC) Britain's only operational 3G mobile network looks likely to get a £200m cash injection from Japanese mobile giant NTT DoCoMo to help it reschedule a key loan.

Portals, browsers and search engines

• How the Mosaic browser triggered a digital revolution  +/-

  (News.com) On April 22, 1993, a group of students at the University of Illinois released a piece of computer code designed to get information from various public networks. Little did they know that their pet project, a humble application named Mosaic, would fundamentally change everyday life. While Web browsers with graphical interfaces had traded hands among academics years earlier, Mosaic was the first to be widely adopted and introduce the masses to the Internet.

Protection of minors

• UK - Pocket tracker monitors children  +/-

  (BBC) Parents can find out where their kids are playing Worried parents will soon be able to keep an eye on their children at all times via a wearable tracking device and a website that maps where they go. The wearable device will have a panic button that, when pressed, instantly alerts parents via phone that something is wrong.

Rating and filtering

• SurfControl unveils IM filtering tool  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Web filtering company SurfControl has introduced new technology that helps companies block instant messaging - an application beloved by employees but a headache for some information technology managers. Instant messaging has become so popular that it's practically replaced the watercooler for office chitchat among co-workers. IM is rapidly infiltrating the workplace, with about 80 percent of U.S. companies having adopted it. And traffic from instant chat is expected to soar by 130 percent next year to 4.3 million messages each day, according to researcher IDC. Still, most IM use in the workplace is without the knowledge or consent of IT administrators. As a result, companies have already started to ban IM at work--a trend that has become both a threat and an opportunity for IM providers.

Standards

• Web services standards facing a split?  +/-

  (CNET News.com) IBM, Microsoft and BEA Systems plan to submit a high-profile Web services proposal to the Oasis standards body, company executives said, despite an ongoing effort by the World Wide Web Consortium to sort through similar proposals.

Statistics

• US - Eluding the Web's Snare  +/-

  (New York Times) A new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, The Ever-Shifting Internet Population: A new look at Internet access and the digital divide, has found that 42 percent of American adults say they are not connected to the Internet, and a surprising number live in a household where other relatives are regular Internet users, or they have close friends who regularly go online. Yet they refuse to join the crowd.

Technology

• Software rams great firewall of China  +/-

  (CNET News.com) The U.S. government's Voice of America has commissioned software that lets Chinese Web surfers sneak around the boundaries set by their government. The software enables PC users to set up a simple version of what's known as a circumvention Web server, or a computer that essentially digs a tunnel under a firewall set up by a government, corporation, school or other organization.

Forthcoming events

• 2003-04-30 US, Washington DC - Public Spam Workshop  +/-

  (FTC) The Federal Trade Commission is hosting a three-day Spam Forum from Wednesday, April 30 through Friday, May 2 in Washington, D.C. The forum is being held to address the proliferation of unsolicited commercial e-mail and to explore the technical, legal, and financial issues associated with it. It will be open to the public and preregistration is not required. Panels include discussions of: E-mail Address Gathering, Falsity in Sending Spam, Open Relays/Open Proxies/Form Mail Scripts, The Economics of Spam, Blacklists Best Practices, Wireless Spam, Federal and State Legislation, International Perspectives, Litigation Challenges, Technological Solutions to Spam/ Structural Changes to E-Mail

• 2003-05-13 US, Washington, DC - Wireless Innovations: New Technologies and Evolving Policies  +/-

  (NTIA) The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), in cooperation with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the U.S. Department of State's International Communications and Information Policy (CIP) group, will host a two-day wireless technology showcase and policy discussion. The first day, May 12, will consist of an exhibition of new, innovative wireless technologies, devices and applications. The second day, May 13, will feature panel discussions on unlicensed wireless technologies by key policy makers, entrepreneurs, industry representatives and experts from government and academia.

• 2003-05-15 EU, Brussels - Content for broadband and digital tv beyond national borders  +/-

  (Puntoit) Puntoit is organizing a Workshop at the European Parliament in Brussels on 15 May, on "Content for broadband and digital tv beyond national borders. At EU level, the most critical issue concerns content distribution rights. Do we need new rules to give unrestricted access to consumers at European level?" This unique event will bring together representatives from content, providers, broadcasters, telecom operators, manufacturers, and EU Institutions. Italian version: Accesso ai contenuti nell'era della larga banda, 3G e tv digitale E' ormai evidente che, nell'era della larga banda, del 3G e della tv digitale, la questione chiave per il settore dell'ICT riguarda l'accesso ai ai contenuti. Il Workshop tratterà due tematiche in due sessioni separate: i) Come è possibile massimizzare la disponibilità del contenuto nel quadro del mercato unico? ii) Quale può essere il ruolo delle regole della concorrenza per risolvere i problemi di accesso al contenuto e per affrontare la questione della protezione dei diritti di proprietà intellettuale in un contesto di capacità tecnologiche in continua evoluzione?

• 2003-06-22 CA, Montreal - ICANN Meetings  +/-

  (ICANN) The second round of ICANN meetings in 2003 will be held 22-26 June in Montreal, Canada. The meetings are free to attend, and open to any interested person. ICANN encourages broad participation in its bottom-up consensus-development process. You can take part in these meetings by attending in person, by taking part in the webcast and remote participation opportunities, and/or by joining one of the various ICANN-related mailing lists. The meetings will be hosted by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), which is providing a local website that will give information regarding the area, the meeting, and local hotels.

• 2003-06-30 US, Stanford - Internet Law Program, Summer 2003  +/-

  (Stanford Law School) June 30 - July 4. Registration is now open for this summer's Internet Law Program (ILaw) in Stanford, CA, sponsored by the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. On the agenda: recent reforms in intellectual-property systems, privacy versus security on the Net, the changing shape and role of ICANN, "open" versus "proprietary" software systems, regulating pornography, jurisdictional problems, cybercrime, addressing the digital divide, and more. No previous experience with Internet law is necessary to enroll. The program is designed for lawyers, policymakers, business and technology professionals, government and non-profit executives, and journalists who write about technology. International participation is encouraged.

Useful addresses

• AlltheWeb URL Investigator  +/-

  (David Goldstein) This tool enables users to obtain detailed information about a specific website or web page after entering its URL into the search box. Investigate - you'll see who owns the domain, what language the site is written in, its subdomains and size, the date it was last updated, and a link to see how the site looked in the past. Try out for QuickLinks. Sign up for David Goldstein's newsletter.

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.