Legal and regulatory issues

Audiovisual

• UK 'not ready' for TV switch-off  +/-

  (BBC) Media watchdog Ofcom has warned that only 85% of British homes are likely to have moved to digital in time for the proposed switch-off of analogue TV. The organisation says that market forces will not be enough to persuade all viewers to make the transition. Analogue is due to be terminated between 2006 and 2010 but may stall without government intervention, Ofcom chief executive Stephen Carter said.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• The music industry - Fightback or death-rattle?  +/-

  (Economist) The recording industry has launched a wave of lawsuits outside America in a bid to curb illegal file-sharing on the internet, which has contributed to a steep decline in music sales. The industry is cutting costs, consolidating and finally getting to grips with legal online distribution

Data Protection (privacy)

• EU - e-Privacy Directive - Commission sends reasoned opinions to 8 Member States  +/-

  (RAPID) The Commission has taken the second step in infringement proceedings against eight Member States for failing to notify it of measures transposing the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (e-Privacy Directive) into their national laws. The Directive governs areas like 'spam' e-mail and identifier 'cookies'. These proceedings were opened against nine Member States in November 2003 (see IP/03/1663), but Sweden has since notified the Commission of new spam legislation. The second stage in infringement proceedings involves sending reasoned opinions to Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Finland. They now have two months in which to respond and could face action before the European Court of Justice if they fail to comply

• EU - Project on Privacy and Identity Management  +/-

  (Press Release) "PRIME - Privacy and Identity Management for Europe" is the name of a 4-year project, conducted within the EU 6th Framework Programme, which was launched on March 1st, 2004. Its objective is the research and development of solutions to empower individuals in managing their privacy in cyberspace. PRIME presents a comprehensive response to the end-users' needs to minimise disclosure of personal data while accessing services and to enforce their privacy preferences. The results of PRIME will be monitored by a Reference Group formed by experts from industry, public administration, consumer protection and citizen rights organisations, R&D, standardisation bodies, data protection authorities, and law enforcement agencies.

• US - Administration asks for extension on passport deadline  +/-

  (CNN) The Bush administration has asked Congress to give other countries two more years to issue biometric passports for entry to the United States, saying it is clear that none of the 27 countries entitled to issue the advanced technology passports will be able to meet an October 26 deadline.

Domain names

• UN Global Forum on Internet Governance  +/-

  (CircleID) More than 200 leaders from government, business and civil society attended the Global Forum on Internet Governance, held on 25 and 26 March 2004 and organized by the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force. The forum, held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, was intended, according to a UN press release, 'to contribute to worldwide consultations to prepare the ground to a future Working Group on Internet Governance to be established by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which is to report to the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (Tunis, 2005)'.

Mobile and wireless

• ITU - Shaping the Mobile Information Society  +/-

  (ITU) The Strategy and Policy Unit Monthly Flash gives a regular update on research and analysis work on cross-cutting issues in tele- and infocommunications, based on original ITU research. The Flash also includes reports on upcoming events. Click here to subscribe to the news update.

Security and encryption

• Britain sees surge in 'phishing'  +/-

  (BBC) UK bank customers have been warned they may be targeted in a new wave of 'phishing' scam emails. The Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) has told BBC News Online it is worried by a surge in phishing scam emails in recent days. Customers of some of the UK's largest banks are being targeted, APACS said. Phishing scamsters pose as a bank to request personal details as part of a bogus 'security check'. The crooks then use the details to empty accounts.

Self-regulation / codes of conduct

• European Internet Coregulation Network agrees action plan  +/-

  (Press Release) The first meeting of the European Internet Coregulation Network, held in Paris, was attended by more than 17 representatives from 8 European organisations. The meeting was intended to set the priorities for 2004 of this newly formed network. In the short term, the network will, by June 2004, issue a "Policy statement" to the European institutions, concerning the prevention of children’s exposure to harmful content (including violent and pornographic content) on the internet. This will highlight the main principles of the Network’s policy on child protection on the internet. Two working groups were launched: child protection and mobile phone, led by the Oxford Internet Institute; and Internet governance, in the perspective of the WSIS, led by Forum des Droits sur l'Internet.

• Lutte contre les contenus illicites : les fournisseurs d'hébergement Internet se mobilisent  +/- Translate

  (AFA) L'Association des Fournisseurs d´Accès et de Services Internet (AFA) publie une charte par laquelle les hébergeurs français prennent l´engagement de renforcer leur contribution active à la lutte contre les contenus pédo-pornographiques, racistes ou antisémites. S'appuyant sur le Point de Contact, service par l´AFA permettant le signalement par les internautes de contenus de pornographie enfantine ou de messages incitant à la haine raciale, cette charte prévoit : une communication renforcée sur les moyens mis à disposition du public pour les aider à signaler ces contenus, un engagement de chaque hébergeur à rendre le signalement de ces contenus plus aisé sur ses services en ligne et, pour tout professionnel qui aurait connaissance de tels contenus, l´engagement de les signaler sans délai aux services de police.

Market & Technology

Junk mail (spam)

• Spam Monster Eyes Another Target  +/-

  (Wired) Spim is to chat clients what spam is to e-mail - unsolicited messages from unknown losers pushing products and services. And it's on the rise: Spim is expected to triple from 400 million messages in 2003 to 1.2 billion messages this year, according to technology market research firm The Radicati Group.

Portals, browsers and search engines

• Google plans rival e-mail service  +/-

  (BBC) Google, the world's most popular internet search engine, plans to offer an e-mail service called Gmail in a bid to rival Yahoo and Microsoft's Hotmail. The new service promises to take away the need to delete unwanted messages and organise e-mail according to topic. The service is still being tested and not yet generally available, but will be offered for free on www.gmail.com. Google mail provides one gigabyte of storage - many times more than existing rivals that also offer free e-mail.

Statistics

• How well can you use the web?  +/-

  (BBC) The web is getting easier to use - but many of the difficulties encountered are partly down to users themselves, says usability guru Dr Jakob Nielsen.drawing on the results of the annual survey the Nielsen Norman Group runs to find out how people use the web. The survey asks those taking part to complete a few simple tasks such as booking a holiday online and searching for information. When it was first run seven years ago, 60% of respondents failed to complete the set tasks. Today, by contrast, two-thirds of those surveyed succeed. Now for the not so good news. it's largely down to improvements in search engines - the tools that 88% of those surveyed turned to for help in carrying out their tasks. These need to be efficient and reliable, because the survey found that few users know how best to use them.

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