Legal and regulatory issues

Competition

• UK - BBC accused of trying to 'banish' rival  +/-

  (Guardian) A new TV company hoping to offer Freeview customers 10 new subscription channels, has reported the BBC to media watchdogs accusing it of trying to strangle the new venture at birth by banishing its channels to the outer reaches of the onscreen programme guide.

• UK - MPs call for BT to loosen its stranglehold on broadband  +/-

  (Guardian) MPs called on Ofcom to loosen the stranglehold that BT has on broadband as the telecommunications regulator prepares to launch a full scale review. In its eagerly awaited report on the broadband market, the House of Commons trade and industry select committee highlighted the failure of BT's rivals to gain access to its phone lines so they can offer broadband services.

Computer crime

• DE - Internet-Ring zum Kinderporno-Tausch aufgeflogen  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Die Polizei hat einen international organisierten Kinderporno-Ring auffliegen lassen. Rund 100 Beschuldigte aus dem In- und Ausland sollen kinderpornografische Bilder im Internet ausgetauscht haben. Am frühen Mittwochmorgen seien zeitgleich die Wohnungen der Verdächtigen in elf Bundesländern sowie einigen europäischen Ländern durchsucht worden, teilte das Landeskriminalamt in Hannover mit. Dabei stellten die Ermittler unter anderem Computer und Dateien sicher.

• UK - MP calls for violent porn ban  +/-

  (BBC) An MP is to call for greater control on violent internet porn sites, following the murder of Brighton teacher Jane Longhurst. Graham Coutts killed the teacher to 'satisfy a bizarre and macabre fantasy' after spending hours viewing images of women being strangled and raped, Lewes Crown Court decided. After he was jailed for life, Jane's mother Liz, from Reading, called for the sites to be banned. Now her MP, Martin Salter, is to table a Parliamentary Early Day Motion on the subject, and hopes to get at least 100 MP's to support a ban. See also Net closes on 'sick' website porn;

• UK - Scotland - Executive deaf to call for internet porn study  +/-

  (Scotsman) After the conviction of an internet-obsessed Scot for murder, the Scottish Executive said it had no intention of re-assessing the issue of lurid websites and their links to violent crime.

• US - False Domain Info May Mean Jail  +/-

  (Wired) Congress may crack down on businesses and people who provide false information when they register a website, proposing huge fines and extra jail time for those who violate copyright and trademark law. Backers say the bill, known as the Fraudulent Online Identity Sanctions Act, targets only those who lie when submitting data to domain-registration databases and then go on to break federal laws. Co-sponsors Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Howard Berman (D-California) hope the law will help copyright holders track down those who sell counterfeit merchandise on the Web, set up "phisher" sites to con unsuspecting Internet users into turning over credit card and PIN numbers, or illegally offer copyright works for download. They also hope the bill will curb malicious spammers and prevent the registration of domain names that are knockoffs or misspellings (such as www.wirred.com) of legitimate companies.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• EU - Intellectual property directive taken off Parliament's agenda  +/-

  (EurActiv.com) In order to buy the Irish Presidency more time to secure a majority within a divided Council, the Parliament has decided to withdraw the intellectual property directive from its 9 February plenary agenda.

Data Protection (privacy)

• Online Search Engines Help Lift Cover of Privacy  +/-

  (Washington Post) Cybersecurity experts say an increasing number of private or putatively secret documents are online in out-of-the-way corners of computers all over the globe, leaving the government, individuals, and companies vulnerable to security breaches. At some Web sites and various message groups, techno-hobbyists are even offering instructions on how to find sensitive documents using a relatively simple search. Though it does not technically trespass, the practice is sometimes called "Google hacking."

Domain names

• RFC - .sex Considered Dangerous  +/-

  (IETF) Request for Comments 3675 by Donald E. Eastlake 3rd of Motorola Laboratories with input from Declan McCullagh. Periodically there are proposals to mandate the use of a special top level name or an IP address bit to flag "adult" or "unsafe" material or the like. This document explains why this is an ill considered idea from the legal, philosophical, and particularly, the technical points of view.

e-Government

• EU - Reinforcing eDemocracy  +/-

  (RAPID) Mr Erkki Liikanen, Member of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society, eDemocracy Seminar Brussels, 12 February 2004.

Electronic commerce

• European forum to address obstacles to e-business  +/-

  (EurActiv) The European e-business kicks off its activities on 18 February with the aim of lifting barriers to e-business take-up in Europe. The forum will seek support and cooperation from stakeholders across the board, including industry, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), public sector and consumer associations.

• FR - La LEN à l'épreuve de la comparaison européenne  +/- Translate

  (01net) La France est l'un des derniers pays européens à transposer la directive de juin 2000 sur le commerce électronique. Les points sensibles actuellement discutés dans l'Hexagone ont déjà été adoptés chez nos voisins. Le texte devait entrer dans les droits nationaux avant le 17 janvier 2002. Soit deux jours après que la loi pour la confiance dans l'économie numérique (LEN) a été présentée en Conseil des ministres... Elle ne doit revenir devant les sénateurs, pour une deuxième lecture, que les 6 et 7 avril prochains.

Hotlines

• EU - Greek hotline joins INHOPE  +/-

  (Press Release) The Greek hotline Safeline has joined INHOPE at the General Assembly meeting in Helsinki. The NCMEC, USA and the StopIT, Italy hotline became full members. Including Safeline, INHOPE now has 19 members covering 17 countries focused on the wide range of illegal use and content on the Internet. INHOPE is an organisation whose mission is to facilitate and co-ordinate the work of Internet hotlines in responding to illegal use and content on the Internet. INHOPE is grateful for the long term support from the Safer Internet Action Plan of the European Commission which enabled INHOPE to become the international organization it is today.

Information society and Internet policy

• FR - Installation du Conseil Consultatif de l'Internet: la protection des mineurs  +/- Translate

  (Internet.gouv.fr) Claudie Haigneré, a installé le Conseil Consultatif de l'Internet. Ce conseil est chargé de conseiller le Gouvernement sur toutes les questions qui concernent les communications électroniques. Comme l'a indiqué Claudie Haigneré, ce n'est nullement un organe de régulation mais un lieu de réflexion sur les enjeux éthiques et sociétaux de l'internet, un 'conseil des sages' composé 'd'élus de la représentation nationale, de représentants des instances de régulation et de 10 personnalités qualifiées.' La première réunion de ce conseil et son installation se sont déroulé dans les locaux du ministère de la Famille. Elle avait en effet pour thème la « Protection des mineurs sur Internet ».

Mobile and wireless

• Is it wrong to steal wireless bandwidth?  +/-

  (AnchorDesk) You know you've hit the big time when your moral dilemmas start showing up in the 'Ethicist' column in the New York Times. A reader wrote to say she'd 'accidentally discovered that the wireless Internet card in my laptop lets me access the Web' via what is a neighbor's Wi-Fi connection. She then asks whether what she's doing is wrong and whether she should offer to pay part of the monthly connect fee. Our country's newspaper-of-record-slash-arbiter-of-ethics essentially tells her to come clean about her usage--as long as she can identify who's sharing the wealth. If she can't (which is pretty likely), the NYT counsels her to go ahead and take a free ride - but not to overdo it.

• ITU - Social and Human Considerations for a More Mobile World  +/-

  (ITU) The preliminary draft of the ITU Background Paper on  Social and Human Considerations for a More Mobile World has been posted on the ITU website. The paper will be presented at the upcoming workshop on Shaping the Future Mobile Information Society, 4-5 March 2004, Seoul, Korea.

• JN - Shaping the Mobile Information Society: The Case of Japan  +/-

  (ITU) The ITU Strategy and Policy Unit has published a preliminary draft of a case study on Japan [pdf] to be presented at the ITU Workshop on Shaping the Mobile Information Society, 4-5 March 2004, Seoul, Korea.

• UK - Mobile firms seek £4bn VAT refund  +/-

  (Guardian) The five mobile phone operators will begin legal proceedings to try and claim back £3.9bn in VAT from the government following the auction of licences to operate the next generation of wireless services during the dot.com boom.

Protection of minors

• FR - Les enfants du Net : Recommandation du Forum des droits sur l'internet  +/- Translate

  (Communiqué de presse) Recommandation du Forum des droits sur l'internet : Les Enfants du Net - (1) Les mineurs et les contenus préjudiciables sur l'internet. Rapport remis à Christian Jacob, Ministre délégué à la Famille, dans le cadre du Conseil Consultatif de l'internet placé auprès de Claudie Haigneré, Ministre déléguée à la Recherche et aux Nouvelles technologies. Publiée le 11 février 2004, cette recommandation est le fruit de plusieurs mois de concertation d'un groupe de travail constitué de représentants d'administrations, d'associations d'utilisateurs et d'acteurs économiques concernés. see also FR - Installation du Conseil Consultatif de l'Internet: la protection des mineurs

• UK - Net abuse victims need justice review, warns charity  +/-

  (Guardian) Child protection must be reviewed in order to help the victims of internet paedophilia because traditional policies and practices could distress them further, the children's charity Barnardo's said. The charity warned that the use of video cameras during police interviews and court proceedings could remind children, who have been forced to pose for child abuse images posted on the internet, of their ordeal. see also Just One Click from abuse. see also Punish online customers like abusers, conference urged.

• UK - Online victims 'need help centre'  +/-

  (BBC) A children's charity says more needs to be done to help children who've had nasty experiences on the net. Barnardo's wants the government to establish a centre staffed by people who are trained to deal with the problems caused by modern technology. They would be able to help kids with a variety of issues - from being misled in chatrooms to child abuse.

Rating and filtering

• FR - Porno et violence sur Internet : des mesures pour protéger les enfants  +/- Translate

  (Le Monde) Le gouvernement prend des mesures pour protéger les mineurs contre les sites douteux. Le gouvernement a avancé deux mesures pour protéger les mineurs contre les dérives d'Internet concernant les sites pornographiques ou violents. Un budget de 7,5 millions d'euros a été dégagé à cet effet. Un logiciel de filtrage des sites Internet va être installé dans tous les établissements scolaires, afin d'écarter les moins recommandables, selon le ministre de l'enseignement scolaire, Xavier Darcos. Le logiciel, élaboré spécifiquement pour l'éducation nationale, est déjà opérationnel dans de nombreux collèges et lycées. Une "liste noire" de quelque 400 000 sites douteux a été établie et 150 à 200 nouveaux sites litigieux sont examinés par le logiciel chaque jour. De plus, 400 000 guides pratiques d'utilisation du Réseau à destination des parents et des mineurs vont être diffusés à partir du mois d'avril prochain. Ils seront distribués par Wanadoo, le premier fournisseur d'accès français et mis en encarts dans deux publications jeunesse de Bayard Presse (Je Bouquine et Okapi).

Safer Internet awareness

• DE - State Regulatory Authorities for Broadcasting welcome "Safer Internet Day"  +/-

  (Press Release) The institutions responsible for the protection of youth on the Internet in Germany welcome 6 February 2004 as Europe's Safer Internet Day. The Direktorenkonferenz der Landesmedienanstalten - DLM (Directors Conference of the German Regulatory Authorities for Broadcasting) and the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz - KJM (Commission for the Protection of Youth from Harmful Content) of the State Regulatory Authorities for Broadcasting view the Safer Internet public service campaign (www.safer-internet.net) as an important foundation for the protection of youth from harmful content. siehe auch Kampagne für sicheres Internet dringend notwendig - Landesmedienanstalten und Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz begrüßen Safer Internet Day (Pressemitteilung)

• UK - BT launches 'internet green cross code'  +/-

  (Guardian) An electronic green cross code, providing advice on how to safely use the internet, was launched by British Telecom in a bid to improve public awareness of the risks posed by paedophiles online. The code, which is endorsed by the Home Office and children's charities, provides a simple but comprehensive guide to young people about how to deal with the potential dangers they face online. The guidelines advise children not to give out their personal details, consider carefully why people may be requesting personal information from them, and to tell their parents or teachers about what they get up to online, particularly if they have a bad experience.

Security and encryption

• DE - Biometrie: die Praxis ruft  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Die Biometrie ist drauf und dran, als Zugangskontrolle in Firmen und als Identifikationsvehikel im Pass- und Visawesen in großem Maßstab eingesetzt zu werden. Nicht nur der Start eines Pilotprojekts am Frankfurter Flughafen zur Identifikation per Iris-Erkennung, das Innenminister Otto Schily publikumswirksam einläutete, rückt dies ins Interesse der Öffentlichkeit: Das Fazit einer zweitägigen Veranstaltung, die der Verband für Sicherheitstechnik unter dem Titel "Biometrische Verfahren im praktischen Einsatz" in Hamburg organisierte, war ebenfalls eindeutig.

• EU - Handbook of Legislative Procedures of Computer and Network Misuse  +/-

  (EDRI-gram) Study for the European Commission, Directorate-General Information Society, by Rand Europe. The Handbook is designed to help European Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRT) deal with incidents and operate in a European environment with divergent legal codes dealing with computer crime and misuse. Particular attention is devoted to the examination of the content of the Council of Europe's Cybercrime Convention and the proposed European Framework Decision on Attacks Against Information Systems. The publication contains an analysis of legislation in each EU member state in the area of computer crime. A summary table is also provided together with the law enforcement points of contacts and reporting mechanisms.

• The Virus Underground  +/-

  (New York Times) Virus-writing is no longer exclusively a high-skill profession. By so freely sharing their work, the elite virus writers have made it easy for almost anyone to wreak havoc online. When the damage occurs, as it inevitably does, the original authors just shrug. We may have created the monster, they'll say, but we didn't set it loose. This dodge infuriates security professionals and the police, who say it is legally precise but morally corrupt. A 10-page article by Clive Thompson.

• US - VeriSign works to ID kid surfers  +/-

  (CNET News.com) VeriSign plans to unveil a digital identity program for school-age children, which it says will bolster online safety for the growing number of young Web surfers. The Net infrastructure and security company and partner i-Safe America, a group that educates children about online safety, will demonstrate the use of digital IDs at a Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee luncheon and technology fair in Washington, D.C.

Self-regulation / codes of conduct

• UK - Fiona Millar: My battle with the PCC  +/-

  (Guardian) Fiona Millar on how her complaint to the Press Complaints Commission became a farce.

Voice over IP

• US - FCC Considers Regulating Internet-Based Phone Calls  +/-

  (Washington Post) The Federal Communications Commission began formally considering regulation of Internet-based phone calls. Internet traffic, unlike voice traffic, is not regulated. A majority of the commissioners said they favor minimal regulation and that the new technology should be allowed to flourish and enhance competition in the local phone markets.

Market & Technology

Market

• US - Comcast Makes Mega-Bid for Disney  +/-

  (Washington Post) Comcast launched an unsolicited bid to take over the Walt Disney Co., offering $56 billion in stock to gain control of the legendary entertainment conglomerate that owns the ABC television network, ESPN sports channel and such global icons as Mickey Mouse. A merger would elevate the nation's largest cable television firm to the ranks of industry giants such as Time Warner and News Corp. - entertainment behemoths that own movie studios, television networks and the means to distribute programming over cables or satellites. see also An Audacious Attempt at Media Giant Status and The Mouse That Reeled.

• Microsoft to protect Disney films  +/-

  (BBC) Disney has joined forces with Microsoft to start selling its movies over the net later this year. The venerable animation studio has signed up to use Microsoft software to stop its films being pirated. The deal reflects Microsoft desire to establish a foothold in the home entertainment market. For its part, Disney sees the potential for selling movies via the net but it is also worried about the potential for its creations to be pirated once it makes them available for download. The deal with Microsoft will wrap the software giant's Digital Rights Management (DRM) system around the media being made available to stop it being illegally copied.

Mobile and wireless

• A bit of Japan in France: Europe gets a taste of 3G  +/-

  (IHT) A little piece of Japan is tucked inside Alcatel's campus at Vélizy, just outside Paris. Alcatel and Fujitsu have created a space where a mobile phone user can get direct access to NTT DoCoMo's pioneering third-generation network service, called FOMA. It is intended as a showroom for Europeans to come see what 3G is like when it works.

• Eurostar considers Wi-Fi  +/-

  (ZDNet UK) Train operator Eurostar is set to begin testing wireless Internet access on its cross-channel services later this year, joining operators such as GNER and Virgin Trains that are already experimenting with the service. The system is likely to be similar to the one GNER is testing, connecting to the Internet via a satellite link, Eurostar said. The downside is that service will be interrupted while trains are under the English Channel.

Statistics

• JN - Serious crimes tied to online dating up 37%  +/-

  (Kyodo News) Serious crimes, including murder, robbery and rape, linked to online dating sites rose 37% in 2003 from the year before to 137 cases, the National Police Agency (NPA) said. The number of all online dating sites-related crimes came to 1,746 cases.

• UK - Downloads outsell DVDs and vinyl  +/-

  (BBC) Sales of legal music downloads have reached a new high to become the second most popular singles format in the UK. More than 150,000 downloads were sold last month, exceeding sales of 12-inch, seven-inch and DVD singles, the Official Charts Company reported. This included a record 50,000 downloads in the week after the 19 January launch of online music service MyCokeMusic. CD singles remain the most popular singles format, however, with 341,461 sold during that week.

• US - Sex in the workplace  +/-

  (Arnall Golden Gregory LLP) Nearly one-quarter of American workers have used company computers for sexual or romantic purposes. In a poll, 24 percent of workers revealed that they have used company computers to visit X-rated Web sites, participate in steamy chat rooms or exchange romantic notes. In response, employers are increasingly banning employees from visiting sex-related sites and from participating in romantic relationships between supervisors and subordinates.

Forthcoming events

• 2004-03-19 UK, Oxford - Security and the Politics of e-Voting Research  +/-

  (Oxford Internet Institute) Date: 19 March 2004 15:30-16:30 Location: Seminar Room, Oxford Internet Institute, 1 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3JS. Speaker: Dr Barbara Simons, Co-Chair, Public Policy Committee, ACM. Dr Barbara Simons will summarize the findings of a paper she co-authored, entitled 'A Security Analysis of the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment (SERVE)'. This critique of the security concerns surrounding Internet-based voting systems might have contributed to the Pentagon's decision to call halt this experiment in e-voting.

Useful addresses

• Cheapskate's Guide to a Safe PC  +/-

  (Wired) If you're wondering what lunacy your computer might contain but aren't in the mood to fork over a few hundred bucks for software that can examine and secure your system, fret not. There are plenty of free tools available for download that do a good basic job of purging and protecting computer systems. And some of these tools, such as SpamBayes, Spybot and the Mozilla Web browser, work better than similar commercial products. [Ed: SpamBayes works - if your network administrator will let it ...]

• EDRI-gram newsletter  +/-

  (EDRI) EDRI-gram is a bi-weekly newsletter about digital rights in Europe. Currently EDRI has 14 members from 11 European countries. EDRI takes an active interest in developments in the EU accession countries and wants to share knowledge and awareness through the EDRI-grams. All contributions, suggestions for content or agenda-tips are most welcome. Newsletter editor: Sjoera Nas . EDRI-gram subscription: web interface e-mail to: edri-news-request@edri.org Subject: subscribe.

• Queryster All-In-One  +/-

  (Web Search Guide) Queryster is a new search tool that gives quick access to individual search engines through a "map" of search engine logos. Click on the logo for the engine you wish to search and enter the search terms. You can customize the "map" to have the search engines you want from a list of 25. Under Tools, Queryster has options for people search, business search and many other tools. This makes it a better-than-average All-In-One tool.

• Visualizing Paris, Barcelona and other Cities  +/-

  (Search Engine Watch) Wanadoo Maps has added a new twist to online yellow pages in Europe: photos of thousands of buildings in France and Spain. In France, the photos are available via France Telecom's Yellow Pages site, Pages Jaunes. The directory features pictures of building facades for all listed street addresses in France's nine largest cities, including Paris, Lille, Marseille, Bordeaux and Nice. Photos of four cities in Spain are available at the QDQ Media Callejero Fotografico web site: Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Valencia.

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