Legal and regulatory issues

Competition

• DE - T-Online ordered to revive Overture deal  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Overture Services has obtained a court injunction to restore its contract with T-Online, one of Europe's largest Web access providers. A German court ordered Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Online, to continue providing the commercial search provider's results on its T-Online Web sites.

• FR - France Telecom fined record 40 million euros for unfair charges  +/-

  (AFP) France's competition council has fined France Telecom a record 40 million euros (45 million dollars) after a decade-long investigation into the state operator's failure to sell its list of subscribers to rival companies at a lower price. The competition council found that France Telecom failed to obey numerous legal injunctions to make its subscriber list available more cheaply to operators starting up director inquiry and telephone information services. The fine is one of the biggest in the history of the competition council and was imposed after a mammoth legal process that was started back in 1992.

• Some insights into online competition  +/-

  (New York Times) The Internet has indeed spurred competition. But it has not led to uniformly low prices. In the book business, at least, Amazon has demonstrated that it is possible to build a large base of customers who will not bolt to the competition if you raise prices a little bit. Barnes and Noble, by contrast, caters to discount hunters with little loyalty to its particular service. (Customers at smaller sites are, if anything, even more price-sensitive.) Review of Price Competition Online: Amazon Versus Barnes And Noble, article in the June issue of Quantitative Marketing and Economics, by Professor Austan Goolsbee, an economist at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and Professor Judith Chevalier, an economist at the Yale School of Management.

Computer crime

• US - P2P Taken to Task for Child Porn  +/-

  (Wired) Senators turned a critical eye to file-trading networks in a hearing that explored the use of peer-to-peer services for the exchange of illegal pornography. While no new legislation was introduced, the hearing, convened by the Senate Judiciary Committee, focused on increasing criminal exploitation of file-sharing technologies to distribute child-porn images. Several witnesses, representing law enforcement and child-protection agencies, blamed peer-to-peer networks for contributing to the spread of illegal pornographic images by allowing users to cloak their identities. see also Testimony of NCMEC. See also Kazaa Chief Denies Link Between P2P and Child Porn (dc.internet.com), and the bill Protecting Children from Peer-to-Peer Pornography Act of 2003 (search on HR 2885 in Thomas).

Content regulation

• SG - Panel proposes new censorship guidelines  +/-

  (Straits Times) New guidelines on what Singaporeans can see at the cinema, theatre and on television were proposed by a committee appointed by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (Mita). The Committee reviewed the following media: films, videos, broadcast media, sound recordings, publications, arts entertainment and new and converging media. It calls for the setting up of a council comprising the four partners of regulators, industry, community and artists to look into media education for consumers and parents. For a start, industry players should share responsibility by providing suitable consumer advice to alert consumers and parents of content that may be sensitive to some. see Executive summary and Full report with interesting reference to Singapore's "symbolic ban" on 100 Web sites.

• TH - Govt can't block porn sites, claim researchers  +/-

  (Bangkok Post) It will be almost impossible for the Thai government to effectively block access to pornographic web sites, according to researchers from Chulalongkorn University, but it can introduce other measures such as a rating system, self-regulation and even consider legalising the porn business.

• TH - Webmaster complains over censorship of erotic police site  +/-

  (Sydney Morning Herald) The owner of a gay website showcasing pictures of Thai police in their snug-fitting brown uniforms has complained over police efforts to block access. The Nation newspaper reported that misterpolice.com webmaster Vorapong Siriwan was seeking to remove his website, which also includes tales of sexual fantasies involving police, from a blacklist of 100 censored sites.

Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology

• FR - Les câblo-opérateurs préparent aussi leur offensive dans la télévision sur internet  +/- Translate

  (ZDNet France) NNoos et NC Numéricâble, les deux principaux câblo-opérateurs du marché, ont dévoilé leurs offres de rentrée, combinant accès internet et télévision câblée. Et fourbissent leurs armes pour la télé sur IP.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• RIAA's Lawsuits Meet Surprised Targets  +/-

  (Washington Post) 261 song sharers across the nation have been sued by the major record companies with the help of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the music industry's trade group. The RIAA is targeting what it calls "major offenders" of peer-to-peer digital song sharing, which it considers to be a violation of copyright law. Federal law allows penalties of up to $150,000 per copyrighted work, or, in other words, per song. see also US - Parent-child topic: music downloads, Record sales' woes go beyond file swapping and Music industry tries to change Web culture, Beyond File-Sharing, a Nation of Copiers, File-Sharing Battle Leaves Musicians Caught in Middle and Whatever Will Be Will Be Free on the Internet (New York Times), Is the music industry tone deaf or what? (AnchorDesk), On-line firms, DJ offer to pay Brianna's fine and FAQ: Are You Next? (Newsweek), see also RIAA Press Release, Lawsuit Attacks RIAA Amnesty Plan (Wired) and Why the RIAA's "Amnesty" Offer is a Sham (EFF).

• EU - New report finds problems with copyright law  +/-

  (FIPR) European citizens could find many common activities banned as the EU Copyright Directive becomes law, a new FIPR report reveals. Transferring songs from a copy-protected CD to a Walkman or computer could be illegal, as could watching a DVD on a computer running Linux. Implementing the EU Copyright Directive reports on legal developments across the EU as member states change their laws to comply with the Directive.

• EU delays vote on digital copyright plan  +/-

  (CNET News.com) A vote on the European Union's proposed directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, which has been compared to a controversial U.S. law, has been pushed back to November. The proposed directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights is now scheduled for discussion on Nov. 4. Janelly Fourtou, the European Parliament member responsible for guiding the proposal, has not yet produced her report on the draft legislation, according to those familiar with the situation. The delay in voting on the new proposal follows the rescheduling of a vote on a proposal on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions, which has attracted heated criticism from computer scientists, economists and developers. see also EU - Software patents - A clicking bomb

• US - Lawsuits 'not scaring swappers'  +/-

  (BBC) Music-swapping on the internet has not slowed despite a flurry of lawsuits, according to industry trackers. The Recording Industry Association of America has filed lawsuits against 261 US individuals, claiming they have illegally downloaded and shared music. The move is part of the industry's attempts to stop people illegally swapping copyrighted songs on the web. But research firm BigChampagne, which monitors the peer-to-peer networks which file-swappers use, said the scare had not worked.

Data Protection (privacy)

• Release of the 2003 Privacy and Human Rights Report  +/-

  (EPIC) The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and Privacy International has released the sixth annual Privacy and Human Rights survey. The report is the most comprehensive survey on privacy and data protection ever published. The report will be released at the National Press Club in Washington, DC and simultaneously webcast on the Internet. This report reviews the state of privacy in over fifty-five countries around the world. Key topics include Total Information Awareness, the public response to the USA-Patriot Act, traveler profiling, biometric identification, and other new technologies of surveillance. According to the 2003 Privacy and Human Rights report, governments have enhanced their surveillance powers, affecting many fundamental human rights, including privacy. But public opposition is growing.

• UK - First ruling under new rules on e-mail marketing  +/-

  (out-law.com) A landmark decision confirms that you need to check for explicit consent before using a marketing list for an e-mail campaign, even if you believe in good faith that the list comprises only those who opted to receive marketing. That is the view of the UK's Advertising Standards Authority, which today published its first public decision based on new requirements for consent before marketing by e-mail. It clarified another important point: what is necessary to identify a marketing communication as such.

Domain names

• US - Kids.us Domain Open for Business  +/-

  (eWeek) Registration for the kids.us domain has opened. Along with opening registration of kids.us, domain registry NeuStar began its review process for content of registered sites. Part of the process for registering a domain includes having NeuStar review the content to ensure it is suitable for minors before the site becomes active. NeuStar also plans ongoing monitoring of sites once they are live to make sure they comply with its content policy. That policy bans, among other things, content with pornography, violence, hate speech, gambling and inappropriate language as well as the use of interactive features such as instant messaging, chat and message boards or the linking to sites outside the kids.us domain.

e-Government

• AU - Offensive sites banned under FOI  +/-

  (News.com AU) Child pornography, bestiality and violent websites banned by the Australian Broadcasting Authority cannot be accessed under freedom of information laws passed by the Senate. Amendments to the Communications Legislation Bill ensure highly offensive online content and website addresses containing illegal material can no longer be reached through the use of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. see Communications Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2002 and Minister's speech in Senate on second reading (ParlInfoWeb / Hansard).

• E-Democracy, E-Governance, and Public Net-Work  +/-

  (Publicus.Net) by Steven Clift. As our one-way broadcast world becomes increasingly two-way, will the governance process gain the ability to listen and respond more effectively? The information-age, led by Internet content, software, technology, and connectivity, is changing society and the way we can best meet public challenges. E-democracy, e-governance, and public net-work are three interrelated concepts that will help us map out our opportunity to more effectively participate, govern, and do public work.

Information society and Internet policy

• EU - eEurope 2005 Mid-term Review  +/-

  (Europa) The eEurope 2005 Action Plan was launched by EU leaders at Seville in June 2002. It sets out the targets to be achieved by between 2003 and 2005 to promote the development of a knowledge-based economy in Europe. This web area is part of the public consultation to a mid-term review of the Action Plan which is currently underway. Contributions are invited by email and should be submitted by 25 September 2003.

Interception

• UK - Government sweeps aside privacy rights  +/-

  (Guardian) Ministers in Britain were accused of conducting a systematic campaign to undermine the right to privacy as it emerged that a host of government departments, local councils and quangos are to be given the power to demand the communications records of every telephone and internet user. A draft order to be debated by MPs reveals that ministers want the list of organisations empowered to demand communications data to be expanded to include seven Whitehall departments, every local authority in the country, NHS bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and 11 other public bodies ranging from the postal services commission to the food standards agency. Until now, the list included only police forces, the intelligence services, customs and excise and the inland revenue. see also 'Snoopers' charter' unveiled (BBC), Home Office Press Release and List of Statutory Instruments currently in force under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA).

Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law

• NL - ISP wins Scientology case on appeal  +/-

  (XS4ALL Press release) The Court of Appeal in The Hague has rejected all of Scientology's claims in appeal in Scientology's action against XS4ALL, Karin Spaink and ten other internet providers. The court concluded that Spaink's publications which quoted from works of Scientology were completely legal. In this case, the court said, freedom of opinion does not take second place to enforcement of copyright. Scientology cannot invoke copyright in these proceedings in order to preclude any discussion of the nature of the sect. This means that there are no grounds for any claim against XS4ALL or other providers. The court also set aside a lower court's declaratory judgment relating to ISP liability and to hyperlinks. see English translation of judgment.

• US - Pennsylvania Attorney General suspends tactic in fighting child porn  +/-

  (Philadelphia Inquirer) The Pennsylvania Attorney General has agreed to halt his behind-the-scenes effort to get Internet service providers to block child pornography Web sites until a federal judge rules whether Fisher's tactic violates the First Amendment by indiscriminately blocking legitimate sites. The decision was announced at a federal court hearing on a request by civil rights groups for a temporary restraining order to stop the year-old program. see also CDT Challenges Pennsylvania's Internet Blocking Statute (CDT) and US - Porn-Blocking Law Taken to Court (Wired).

Safer Internet awareness

• DE - EU Kommission warnt vor Jugendschutzproblemen im Mobilfunk  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Vorerst keine weiteren Webfilter, dafür Jugendschutzkonzepte für den Mobilfunk und ein 'Safer Internet Forum' - diese Eckpunkte stellte die Generaldrektion Informationsgesellschaft (DG InfoSoc) der Europäischen Kommission bei einer öffentlichen Anhörung zur Zukunft des Safer Internet Action Programms in Luxemburg vor. 'Safer Internet Plus' soll sich demnach nahtlos an das 1999 gestartete Programm anschließen und für den Zeitraum von 2005 bis 2008 Jugendschutzprojekte in allen Mitgliedsländern der Union finanziell unterstützen. Das 'Safer Internet Forum' ist als gesamteuropäisches beratendes Expertengremium gedacht. Die Kommission will es bis Ende des Jahres besetzen.

Technology

• Open-source software - Microsoft at the power point  +/-

  (Economist) Governments like open-source software, but Microsoft does not. Microsoft's chief executive, Steve Ballmer, interrupted his holiday in Switzerland to visit Munich and lobby the mayor. Microsoft even dropped its prices to match Linux - a remarkable feat since Linux is essentially free and users merely purchase support services alongside it. But the software giant still lost. City officials said the decision was a matter of principle: the municipality wanted to control its technological destiny. It did not wish to place the functioning of government in the hands of a commercial vendor with proprietary standards which is accountable to shareholders rather than to citizens. Across the globe, governments are turning to open-source software which, unlike proprietary software, allows users to inspect, modify and freely redistribute its underlying programming instructions. Scores of national and state governments have drafted legislation calling for open-source software to be given preferential treatment in procurement.

Market & Technology

Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology

• UK - Digital TV beats 'red button blues'  +/-

  (BBC) The last five years of digital TV in the UK have transformed viewing from a passive experience to one where viewers have far greater control over what they watch and when. A lot of this is due to interactive television and the enhanced programming and advertising it offers.

Internet access and use

• AOL's Appeal to Youth  +/-

  (Washington Post) Too busy to read your child a bedtime story? Not to worry. America Online wants to come to your rescue, with a new online service for kids that will, among other things, allow your little one to choose a wholesome bedtime story to be read aloud by the computer. It is part of a new business strategy at struggling Dulles-based America Online, which has been losing subscribers who are switching to high-speed Internet connections offered by cable television and telephone companies. The fresh approach is a bid to hold onto more of its existing subscribers by appealing to their 6-to-12-year-old children with new online games and programming, called "KOL," which will be packaged as part of the basic AOL service.

• File swappers face data limits  +/-

  (BBC) Net service providers and network managers are struggling to cope with the deluge of data that peer-to-peer systems can generate. Many are adopting tools that limit how much of a network file-sharing systems can sequester. Some organisations are imposing daily limits on how much people can download. Persistent offenders who regularly exceed their quota are being punished with long-term download limits.

Market

• AOL Europe emerges as a bright spot  +/-

  (New York Times) AOL Europe is emerging as an upbeat counterpoint to AOL's sagging business in the United States. In the past two and a half years, AOL Europe has more than doubled its subscribers to 6.2 million and nearly doubled its revenue to about $1.4 billion. The European service has gradually cut its costs and its losses, and in its latest quarter it finally broke even.

• Blogger bucks premium-services trend  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Google-owned Web log-creation site Blogger is eliminating its paid version and folding premium functions into its free service, bucking a trend toward making people pay for Web site extras. The creation of Blogger Pro, which cost subscribers a yearly fee of $35, came about as a result of financial necessity, Blogger co-founder Evan Williams wrote in an e-mail to subscribers. Now that Google owns the service, that need has passed. Google said it would give Blogger Pro subscribers either a $24 Blogger sweatshirt or a prorated cash refund. [Ed: I chose the sweatshirt].

• UK - Dial up for BBC comedy clips  +/-

  (BBC) Comedy lovers in the UK will soon be able to watch classic sketches such as Basil beating Manuel with a spoon in Fawlty Towers on their mobile phones. Favourite moments from BBC comedy shows will be made available for download in a deal with the Vodafone network. This is the first such deal for the BBC and BBC Worldwide expects it to grow rapidly. Eight 30-second clips from Fawlty Towers will be offered initially, with other shows expected to follow shortly. The deal was made possible after the show's star, writers and other rights holders agreed to it.

Statistics

• DE - Mehr als die Hälfte der Deutschen nutzt das Internet  +/- Translate

  (Pressemitteilung) Die Zahl der Internet-Nutzer in Deutschland ist 2003 nach einem schwachen Zuwachs im Vorjahr wieder deutlich angestiegen. 34,4 Millionen Erwachsene, das sind 53,5 Prozent der Bevölkerung ab 14 Jahren, sind inzwischen online. Gegenüber 2002 stieg die Online-Nutzung um 22 Prozent. Am häufigsten wird das Internet von den 14- bis 19-Jährigen ( 92,1 Prozent) genutzt, am wenigsten von Menschen über 60 Jahren (13,3 Prozent). In dieser Altersgruppe sind die Zuwachsraten allerdings besonders hoch. Zu diesen Ergebnissen kommt die ARD/ZDF-Online-Studie 2003, über die die neueste Ausgabe der Fachzeitschrift "Media Perspektiven" berichtet. sihe Internetverbreitung in Deutschland: Unerwartet hoher Zuwachs, Offliner 2003: Stabile Vorbehalte gegenüber dem Internet und Veränderung des Mediennutzungsverhaltens bei Onlinenutzern.

• Europe - Camera phones tempt handset buyers  +/-

  (The Register) Camera phones are beginning to revitalise the European cellphone market, bringing consumers back into shops to buy new handsets. So says market watcher Canalys, which reported that shipments of camera phones jumped 166 per cent during the second quarter over the same period last year. Just under 3.9 million camera phones shipped in Europe during Q2, up from just over 1.4 million in Q2 2002.

• Europe - Internetnutzung in Europa  +/- Translate

  (ECIN) Electronic Commerce Info Net. Bei einer für 2003 auf rund 378 Millionen geschätzten Einwohnerzahl sind in der EU 42,9 Prozent der Bevölkerung online, also mehr als 162 Millionen. Demgegenüber gibt es in der Gesamtheit der nicht-EU-Länder erwartungsgemäß weniger Internetnutzer, nämlich nur rund 28 Millionen - obwohl die Gesamtzahl der Einwohner mit gut 344 Millionen fast gleichauf mit den EU-Einwohnern liegt. Die Penetrationsrate erreicht dementsprechend lediglich 8,2 Prozent. Dass auf diesem niedrigen Niveau auch eine Wachstumsrate von 73,5 Prozent im Zeitraum von 2000 bis 2003 keine schnellen Entwicklungen verspricht, ist selbstverständlich. siehe auch Tabelle und Karten Internetnutzer Millionen und Internetnutzer Prozent.

Forthcoming events

• 2003-09-19 US, Washington DC - TPRC Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy  +/-

  (TRPRC) The 31st Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy hosted by The National Center for Technology & Law, George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA. September 19 - September 21, 2003.

• 2003-10-20 SE, Stockholm - SAFT International conference: Future Kids Online  +/-

  (SAFT) The SAFT Project invites you to the International Conference Future Kids Online 20-21 October 2003, Stockholm, Sweden. For two full days, up to 200 participants will meet to discuss issues of safer use of the Internet among children and teenagers. Potentials as well as risks concerning kids' online behavior will be in focus, eg. chatting, communities, online gaming, instant messaging, file sharing, pornography, racism and source criticism. Current research and extensive survey results on children's use of new media will be presented. The roles of both parents, educators, industry and government are also on the agenda. Along with politicians, researchers, industry representatives and experts, kids themselves will present their views and opinions on Internet use and safety issues.

Useful addresses

• Democracies Online Newswire Information  +/-

  (Publicus.Net) by Steven Clift. I spread e-democracy joy (and pain) to the 2600 members of my Democracies Online Newswire e-mail announcement list each week. Learn more about DoWire and its related communities of practice and country-specific e-mail lists. My goal is organize everyone who is interested using the Internet to make their community and our world a better place. Using democratic internet to improve the outcomes of governance and citizen participation through the intelligent use of information and communication technologies is my strategy.

• US - Papers from TPRC Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy  +/-

  (TPRC) Papers are online covering a wide variety of issues likely to be of to QuickLinks readers, for example: The Internet: Still Wide Open and Competitive? by Eli Noam. This paper aims to measure market concentration in the Internet sector, to trace it over time, and to compare it with trends in other information industries. The findings are interesting: the newer the medium, the more concentrated it is, and often the more its concentration is rising in recent years. Thus, print media are relatively unconcentrated, and rising only slowly. Film, Broadcasting, and New Media, the next entrants, are more concentrated in the order of chronology. Most concentrated are the Internet media, especially Broadband, the newest of media. see also The Post-.COM Internet: Toward Regular and Objective Procedures for Internet Governance (Milton Mueller, Lee McKnight). Makes the case for using regular and objective procedures to assign new Internet top-level domain names (TLDs) instead of the unscheduled, discretionary and ad hoc processes and criteria currently used by ICANN. The paper proposes a procedure for adding 40 top-level domains to the Internet domain name system on an annual basis.

Editorial information

• Daily digest  +/-

  (QuickLinks) After a long hiatus, Bloglet is back in operation. This allows you to receive an e-mail with a daily digest of new items posted to QuickLinks. There is a link to the subscription form on the QuickLinks home page. To subscribe, enter your e-mail address and submit the form. This is in addition to the possibility of receiving RSS feeds using your news aggregator, mentioned in issue 278.

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