Legal and regulatory issues

Computer crime

• RO - Second worm suspect investigated  +/-

  (BBC) A second person is being investigated in connection with the MSBlast worm that caused havoc online last month. Romanian police confirmed they have a suspect, believed to have released a modified version of the virus. Iinside the virus was the suspect's online nickname which helped Romanian police and anti-virus firm BitDefender to track him down.

• UK - Girl raped by chatroom 'friend'  +/-

  (BBC) A 15-year-old girl has been raped by a man she met through an internet chat service. The teenager was attacked in Wigan, Greater Manchester, after meeting up with the man who police say had 'groomed' her over several weeks. She had met the man, who said he was called Simon, through an internet site run by the mobile phone firm T-mobile where they exchanged mobile phone numbers.

• US - Legal Definitions of Child Pornography, Obscenity and "Harmful to Minors"  +/-

  (Law Library Resource Xchange) by Mary Minow. Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). This article contains the text of federal and state laws, as well as urls to websites, that some may find offensive. In particular, the article quotes statutory language verbatim that is of a graphic nature. LLRX is not responsible for any content that the reader may encounter by following links from any website referenced in this article. Also note that this article may be blocked by filters that look for offensive words. It should not be blocked by filters that block only images, even if keywords are used to red flag suspect sites.

• US - Man arrested in domain deceit  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Federal law enforcement officers arrested a man for allegedly creating misleading domain names to deceive children and direct them to pornographic Web sites. John Zuccarini's arrest marks the first to be made under the Truth in Domain Names Act, which took effect in April and prohibits people from creating misleading domain names as a means to deceive children into viewing content that's harmful to minors, or tricking adults into clicking on obscene Web sites. Zuccarini was arrested on charges of creating at least 3,000 misleading domain names, such as dinseyland.com, that would result in Internet users accessing advertising Web sites. These Web sites, some of which were pornographic, would pay Zuccarini a total of as much as $1 million a year for bringing viewers to their sites, federal prosecutors said.

Content regulation

• AU - IIA Content Code Guide for Users  +/-

  (IIA) The Internet Industry Association has prepared this guide to assist Australian Internet users understand Australia's co-regulatory framework for online content. The new regulatory regime commenced on 1 January 2000 and places certain obligations on Internet Service Providers and Internet Content Hosts. It also requires the development of industry codes of practice.

• TH - Censors can't agree what to ban  +/-

  (Bangkok Post) A move in Thailand to impose a ratings system on internet websites has struck a problem - the would-be censors cannot agree what should be banned.About 100 officials, child protection workers, computer scientists, students and internet surfers met yesterday under the auspices of the Information and Communications Technology Ministry. But the meeting could not agree on the definition of the "grey area'', to which limited access would be allowed.

Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology

• US - Court stays rules on media owners  +/-

  (New York Times) A federal appeals court issued a surprise order blocking the Federal Communications Commission from imposing new rules that would make it easier for the nation's largest media conglomerates to add new markets and areas of business. The decision came a day before the new rules, considered among the most significant efforts at deregulation adopted during the Bush administration, were scheduled to take effect. Former radio pirates relish victory against FCC (AP), FCC puts brakes on transfers of radio, TV station licenses. see also Panel Fires Shot Across FCC's Bow (Washingon Post). The Senate Appropriations Committee dealt another potential setback to the Federal Communications Commission's new media ownership rules, adding an amendment to a spending bill that would prevent the agency from raising its cap on the size of large broadcast television networks.

• US - The two faces of the FCC  +/-

  (CNET News.com) By Randolph J. May. On Aug. 21, the Federal Communications Commission finally released the monstrous official text of its inelegantly denominated triennial review of unbundled network elements. This is the long-awaited decision governing the extent to which incumbent telephone companies such as Verizon Communications and SBC Communications must share their local networks with competitors at government-mandated discounted prices. Although worse epitaphs could be hurled at the agency, the best that can be said is that the FCC's order is decidedly two-faced.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• EU - Software patents - A clicking bomb  +/-

  (Economist) An explosive row over how to protect intellectual property in Europe. Should a new piece of encryption software or an internet business method be covered by patents, or do copyright and trade secrets suffice? These questions underlie a heated controversy in Europe pitting open-source advocates, software developers and academics against big software firms, intellectual property lawyers and the European Commission. Because of the row, the European Parliament has again postponed the first reading of a directive on computer-related inventions.

• US - Aiming at Pornography to Hit Music Piracy  +/-

  (New York Times) The recording industry, struggling to curb music piracy, is shining the spotlight on another demon lurking on the Internet: pornography. The industry is trying to enlist broader public support with a campaign intended to show that the peer-to-peer networks for swapping files like KaZaA and Morpheus are used not only to trade songs but also pornographic images, including child pornography. see also the bill Protecting Children from Peer-to-Peer Pornography Act of 2003 (search on HR 2885 in Thomas).

• US - Databases--the next copyright battle?  +/-

  (Reuters) Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are circulating a proposed bill that would prevent wholesale copying of school guides, news archives and other databases that do not enjoy copyright protection. The proposed bill would provide a legal umbrella for publishers of factual information such as courtroom decisions and professional directories. The measures would be similar to the copyright laws that protect music, novels and other creative works.

• US - Music industry unveils Internet amnesty plan  +/-

  (Reuters) Internet users who promise to stop illegally copying music will be able to avoid prosecution under an amnesty program to be unveiled by the recording industry next week. Users would sign a notarised form promising to stop using "peer to peer" programs like Kazaa to download copyrighted music for free and to delete all songs they may have acquired illegally, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Data Protection (privacy)

• EU - Air passenger details won't travel to US  +/-

  (out-law.com) The European Commission rejected a controversial US post-9/11 security measure for the transfer of airline passenger data from Europe to the US because it sits uncomfortably with the EU's stringent data protection regime. The EU wants the US to improve its own data protection rules. see also EU: U.S. Anti-Terror Flight Rules Breach Privacy (Reuters).

Domain names

• FI - Finns Rush to Register Internet Domains  +/-

  (AP) The Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority which oversees Internet names received more than 17,000 requests for ".fi" suffixed Internet names within hours after a change in legislation. Previously, domain names have only been issued that exactly correspond to the name of a business, organization or trademark. Under the new legislation, Finnish domain names can be almost arbitrary, as long as they fulfill "requirements of decency." 42,000 names were registered under the old rules.

Information society and Internet policy

• EU - Strategies to boost the Broadband in Europe  +/-

  (RAPID) Mr Erkki Liikanen Member of the European Commission, responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society, Informal Telecoms Council Viterbo, 4 September 2003.

Junk mail (spam)

• IT - Spammers face jail  +/-

  (BBC) Senders of unsolicited junk e-mails in Italy will now face jail sentences of up to three years. Italy's privacy watchdog issued the ruling in an attempt to limit the huge amount of advertising and promotional material sent online. Sending e-mails without the permission of the receiver is against the law in Italy. Offenders now risk fines of up to 90,000 euros and between six months and three years in prison, if they are proved to have had the intention of making a profit.

Safer Internet awareness

• EU - Safer Internet - Call for proposals published  +/-

  (Europa) The European Commission has published a call for proposals to implement the Work Programme 2003 - 2004 of the Safer Internet programme covering . € 11.7 million is made available to promote safer use of the Internet and new online technologies including mobile phones. An Information Day will be held in Luxembourg on 12 September 2003. On the same day, a public consultation will take place on Commission preparations for proposing a follow-up programme covering the period 2005 - 2008, the Safer Internet plus programme. see also EU acts to make Internet and mobile phones safer (RAPID) This call will establish a European network of safer internet awareness centres and will continue to support for two more years the existing network of hotlines that allow users to report illegal content. Other areas covered include a study on children's use of new media, quality labels for Web sites and benchmarking of filtering systems.

• US - New NetSafeKids.org site goes live  +/-

  (National Academies) How can parents deal with this dark side of modern technology and still allow children to explore the cyberworld? In 2002, the National Research Council of the National Academies released Youth, Pornography, and the Internet, a report on protecting children and teens from sexually explicit material and threats from sexual predators operating online. NetSafeKids is based on the important findings of this report. It provides practical information and tips on types and sources of sexually explicit content, ways that inappropriate material can reach children and teens, the threat of cyberstalking, the pros and cons of filtering and monitoring tools, and other issues involving Internet safety.

Security and encryption

• Heart of Darkness, on a Desktop  +/-

  (New York Times) More and more PC owners are discovering software lurking on their computers that they had no idea was there - software that can snoop, destroy or simply reproduce itself in droves. The SoBig and Blaster worms that have been invading computer systems worldwide for several weeks are slowing down. But the two intruders left behind software that could linger undetected for months.

• Re: That movie  +/-

  (Economist) The latest computer scourges, and their consequences. Those who use the internet are unlikely to be seeing the headline above for the first time. In late August, a computer virus known as SoBig.F sent out millions of e-mails with that and other vague but enticing subject lines. Those unfortunates who opened the attachment to these e-mails will have had their machines infected by the virus, which will then have used their machines as platforms to spread the epidemic further.

Telecommunications

• EU - Commission reviews first case under new electronic communications regime  +/-

  (RAPID) The Commission has reviewed the first case submitted to it under the new regulatory framework for electronic communications. Oftel, the UK national regulatory authority (NRA), came to the conclusion that there was sufficient competition in one of the UK wholesale mobile markets making existing sector-specific regulation redundant. The Commission concurs with Oftel's analysis and sent Oftel its comments on 29 August 2003.

Market & Technology

Market

• Of monkeys and penguins  +/-

  (Economist) Darl McBride, capitalist crusader against the commie horde of Linux users. The SCO case of 2003 sounds increasingly like the famous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, which pitted religious fundamentalists against progressives wanting to teach Darwin alongside the Bible in American classrooms. The SCO case plays the same role in a culture war now consuming the software industry.

Mobile and wireless

• Japan signals mobile future  +/-

  (BBC) Japan leads the way in mobile phone innovation, as BBC ClickOnline's Richard Taylor reports from Tokyo, one of the most connected cities in the world.

Portals, browsers and search engines

• Search Needs Better Labeling  +/-

  (CyberAtlas) An in-depth study of people unaware how pay-for-placement search found that they are surprised, and often negative, when they find out how paid listings work. Context-Based Research Group conducted the ethnographic study, which looked at the actions and feedback of 17 participants in four test cities, on behalf of Consumers Union's Consumer WebWatch. The study examined consumer interactions with 15 top search sites, including Google, Yahoo! and AOL, during March 2003. After choosing 17 individuals, some of them very Web savvy but unaware of pay-for-placement search, the researchers interviewed them about their search habits. They then explained the pay-for-placement business model, and pointed out explanatory pages on the search engines' Web sites, gauging consumer reactions.

Forthcoming events

• 2003-09-12 EU, Luxembourg - Safer Internet public consultation and Information Day  +/-

  (Europa) The Commission is making preparations for proposing a follow-up programme covering the period 2005 - 2008, the Safer Internet plus programme, including getting input from interested parties. A public consultation will take place in Luxembourg on Friday 12 September 2003. On the same date, Information Day on the Work Programme 2003-2004 & the Call for Proposals will take place.

• 2003-09-15 ES, Valencia - Summit on e-Government - paving the way to 2010  +/-

  (e-Forum) 1st e-Forum Summit, 15th- 16th September, 2003, Valencia - Spain. The Summit is destined to become one of the most significant European e-government events, enabling participants to speak to a high quality audience drawn from both the private and public sectors. Speakers will include representatives of the European Commission, and e-government actors from both the current and soon-to-be EU Member States. The Summit will cover a wide range of current e-government topics and will present the work of the e-Forum Working Groups, which is designed to feed into future EU policy-making in this area.

• 2003-09-19 UK, Manchester - Digital Games Industries: Development, Impact and Direction  +/-

  (CRIC) Against the backdrop of the highly competitive economic environment of gaming platforms, software and new game-enabled consumer technologies, the ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC) will be hosting a two day workshop on the socio-economics of digital gaming. The workshop aims to bring together international delegates from academic, policy and commercial circles for an in-depth discussion on nature and characteristics of this emerging sector: the 'drivers', key 'players', the 'current state of play', and the impact of the industry on the modern economy and the framework of its evolution.

• 2003-10-16 EU, Brussels - Workshop on Unsolicited Commercial Communications or Spam  +/-

  (Europa) A one day workshop on unsolicited commercial communications or spam will take place in Brussels on 16 October 2003. Building on the "opt-in" regime to be introduced in all Member States by the end of October, the workshop will aim at discussing additional measures needed to address the various legal, technical and educational facets of spam e.g.: effective enforcement by public authorities, co-operation within industry (filtering, codes of conduct), consumer awareness, international co-operation. The workshop will be introduced by Commissioner Liikanen. The results will be used in the context of a Commission Communication expected later this year on the subject. The workshop is primarily addressed at Member States, industry and consumer associations, but is open to all interested parties. Attendance is free of charge but prior registration is required.

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