Legal and regulatory issues

Computer crime

• UK - MPs investigate computer crime law  +/-

  (vnunet.com) MPs will meet to lay the groundwork for an overhaul of the 'ineffective and inadequate' Computer Misuse Act 1990 (CMA). The Home Office has already committed itself to review the CMA, which fails to specifically outlaw malicious behaviour such as denial-of-service attacks (DoS). Very few prosecutions have been brought under the legislation. The All Party Internet Group (Apig) will hold a public inquiry to gather advice from industry, users and government officials about how to improve the Act. See written evidence.

Content regulation

• Researchers Join Forces to Expose Net Censorship  +/-

  (Berkman Center for Internet & Society) An international team of academics from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Toronto has begun monitoring worldwide Internet censorship and surveillance. The Open Net Initiative (ONI) was formed in 2004 with support from the Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• EU - ECJ rules on compulsory copyright licensing for monopolies  +/-

  (RAPID) Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-418/01 IMS Health GmbH & Co. OHG v NDC Health GmbH & Co. KG. The refusal by an undertaking in a dominant position to grant a licence for a copyright only constitutes an abuse of a dominant position in certain circumstances. In order for such a refusal to be regarded as abusive it must prevent the emergence of a new product or service for which there is a potential demand, be without objective justification and be capable of eliminating all competition on the relevant market. Full text of judgment.

• EU - Court case sparks Microsoft-EU spat  +/-

  (Reuters) An intellectual property case at the EU's highest court sparked a fresh clash between Microsoft and the European Commission over whether the ruling would strengthen the EU executive's case. The commission, which has fined Microsoft 497 million euros, said the ruling strengthened its case, but the U.S. software giant strongly rebuked this view. The European Court of Justice set out guidelines under which a company- in a case involving the German units of NDCHealth Corp and IMS Health - could be said to be abusing a dominant position.

• US - Music industry sues 477 more computer users  +/-

  (AP) The recording industry sued 477 more computer users, including dozens of college students at schools in 11 states, accusing them of illegally sharing music across the Internet. The Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the largest labels, praised efforts by colleges and universities to use technology and school policies to crack down on music piracy on their own computer networks. But it said the most egregious offenders on campus deserved to be sued.

• US - New Study Urges Patent Upgrade  +/-

  (Wired) The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office doesn't require a major overhaul, but it does need to take 'decisive steps' to ensure that funding shortages and outdated policies do not hinder innovation, said the National Research Council in a new report. The report cites increased competition among businesses to file and enforce patents as a key reason the patent office is swamped. Among the problems the office faces: a backlog of 500,000 patent applications and an influx of approximately 350,000 new applications a year.

• US - The Patent Busting Project  +/-

  (EFF) Every year numerous illegitimate patent applications make their way through the United States patent examination process without adequate review. The problem is particularly acute in the software and Internet fields where the history of prior inventions (often called "prior art") is widely distributed and poorly documented. As a result, we have seen patents asserted on such simple technologies as: one-click online shopping, the hyperlink and paying with a credit card online. EFF is launching a Patent Busting Project to take on illegitimate patents that suppress non-commercial and small business innovation or limit free expression online. The Project has two components: A. Documenting the Damage and B. Challenging The Patents. Once it has identified some of the worst offenders, EFF will begin filing challenges to each in the form of a "re-examination request" to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Data Protection (privacy)

• EU - Obligation of carriers to communicate passenger data  +/-

  (Consilium) On 29 April 2004, the JHA Council adopted a Council Directive on the obligation of carriers to communicate passenger data. The purpose of this initiative is to improve border controls and combat illegal immigration by the transmission of advance passengers data by carriers to the competent national authorities. At the request of the authorities responsible for carrying out checks on persons at external borders, carriers will be obliged to transmit, by the end of check-in, information concerning the passengers they will carry to an authorised border crossing point through which these persons will enter the territory of a Member State. This Directive has a particularly important role to play in combating illegal immigration.

• EU - Proposal on data retention  +/-

  (Statewatch) The governments of the UK, France, Ireland and Sweden have proposed a draft EU Framework Decision that if adopted will see all communications location and traffic data retained for between 1 and 3 years, or longer should the member states choose. The proposal was endorsed by the EU summit on 25 March 2004 as part of a raft of proposals to combat terrorism in the wake of the Madrid bombings. This proposal is not limited to terrorism, and will apply to the: 'prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of crime or criminal offences including terrorism'. The proposal brings home to roost long standing demands by the law enforcement community for the compulsory retention, and thus surveillance, of all telecommunications. It is notable that these demands are coming not from the security and intelligence services but from national criminal intelligence services.

Gmail

• Gmail and its discontents  +/-

  (CNET News.com) by Declan McCullagh. The sharp reaction to Google's announcement of the Gmail service underscored a deep divide in the tactics and strategies employed by Internet privacy activists. Privacy groups like the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., and London-based Privacy International denounced Gmail as an intrusion that must not be permitted to exist. This approach differs from traditional privacy activism, which alerts people to a product's potential dangers and lets them make up their own mind. The objections lodged against Gmail are telling, because they illuminate two different views about how to respond to new technologies. The protechnology view says customers of a company should be allowed to make up their own mind and that government regulation should be a last resort. Privacy fundamentalists, on the other hand, insist that new services they believe to be harmful should be banned, even if consumers are clamoring for them.

• US - EPIC Files Gmail FOIA Requests  +/-

  (EPIC Alert) EPIC filed Freedom of Information requests with federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies seeking records concerning 'use of Google search technology for law enforcement and intelligence purposes, and particularly the possible use of Google's Gmail service for law enforcement and intelligence investigations.' The requests note that Google's Gmail is capable of performing functions for law enforcement and intelligence agencies that have been the subject of Congressional action and widespread public debate. Gmail is capable of storing a vast amount of personal communications data for link analysis, creating a honey pot for law enforcement requests to pervert the system for surveillance.

Domain names

• EC tells Europe and ICANN to make peace  +/-

  (The Register) Erkki Liikanen, the EC member responsible for the Internet, among other things, gave a recent speech titled 'Internet governance: The way ahead' and fired warning shots across the bows of both the American Internet overseeing organisation - Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) - and the top-level domain owners of European countries. In it, Liikanen gave a careful rundown of where the EC stands in relation to Internet governance. And it is this: ICANN was set up to do the job of running the Internet and it will stand by it, despite the mistakes, and so long as it continues to make changes. In the meantime, the companies from different European country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) are going to have to come to agreement with ICANN or the EC will lose patience and governments will step in, and that role will most likely come from a very eager and prepared International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Internet governance the way ahead (RAPID) Comments by Mr Erkki Liikanen, Member of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society, SIDN event. The Hague, 15 April 2004.

e-Learning

• Teachers pool computer knowhow  +/-

  (BBC) Teachers from across Europe have met to swap ideas on the best use of technology in the classroom. In the first of what is planned as an annual forum, 100 teachers from 45 countries met to discuss innovations in the use of ICT in schools. The event - called the Forum for Innovative Teachers - is part of a scheme to build a community of teachers for sharing ideas and practices. It was organised by the computer giant, Microsoft.

Internet access and use

• EU - Telecoms ministers and CEOs step up Internet efforts  +/-

  (EurActiv) Meeting at a major conference in Ireland, participants placed emphasis on bolstering demand for high-speed broadband connections while keeping the Internet safe from spam and harmful content. The EU broadband conference was convened by the Irish Presidency to provide a forum for EU communication ministers and industry leaders to consider future trends and strategies for the delivery of broadband throughout the EU.

• UK - BT broadens broadband Britain  +/-

  (Guardian) High speed internet access will be available in the most remote areas of Britain from the Scottish Highlands to Dartmoor in Devon under plans unveiled by BT today. 'Broadband Britain' moved a step closer to reality as BT unveiled a new strategy to accelerate its plans to make high speed internet access available to everyone, including those in most rural areas. The telecoms giant said that 99.6% of British homes and businesses would have access to high speed internet services by summer 2005. "

Junk mail (spam)

• EU - European anti-spam laws lack bite  +/-

  (BBC) European laws on spam are 'meaningless' finds a study by Dutch academics. Researchers at the University of Amsterdam said the laws will provide no safeguard against spam because most of it originates outside the EU's borders. Only a co-ordinated international effort will make a difference to the amount of spam being sent they warn. The authors of the study say the European laws also lack key clauses that would make them more useful to end users.

Mobile and wireless

• ITU Strategy and Policy Unit Monthly Flash - April 2004  +/-

  (ITU) In this edition: Living in the Mobile Information Society 1. More Mobile in Morocco 2. A Korean Mobile Information Society 3. Messaging Mania in Norway.

Protection of minors

• DE - Jugendschützer nehmen das Internet ins Visier  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Die Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien (BPjM) kontrolliert zunehmend mehr Videofilme, Tonträger oder Internetseiten auf bedenkliche Inhalte. Das sagte die BPjM-Vorsitzende Elke Monssen-Engberding bei der Jahrestagung der Prüfstelle auf einer Tagung in Würzburg. Auf der Basis des neuen Jugendschutzgesetzes können neben Jugendämtern jetzt auch anerkannte Träger der freien Jugendhilfe wie der Kinderschutzbund oder kirchliche Jugendorganisationen gewaltverherrlichende oder pornographische Medien bei der Prüfstelle beanstanden.

Racism and xenophobia

• OSCE - Conference urges unity against rising anti-semitism  +/-

  (Guardian) Anti-Semitism is on the rise and to defeat it will take coordinated action by many countries, speakers told an international conference on the subject. 'It is not good that a conference on this theme has to take place in 2004, and that it should deal with current problems, not historical questions,' President Johannes Rau of Germany told the anti-semitism conference in Berlin of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. "

Security and encryption

• UK - Computer hacking 'costs billions'  +/-

  (BBC) Three-quarters of UK companies have been hit by security breaches in their computer systems over the past year, costing billions to industry. Viruses, staff misuse and hacking are blamed in the survey by the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) and accountancy firm PwC. Most businesses know there is a problem, PwC said, and virus writing gangs are getting more sophisticated.

• US - CDT, Presenting List of Devious Spyware Practices, Calls for FTC Action  +/-

  (CST) A broad coalition of high tech companies and consumer advocates has compiled a list of unfair, deceptive or devious practices involving software downloaded from the Internet - software that takes over users' computers and resists removal, sometimes even stealing information. The Center For Democracy and Technology (CDT) presented the list at a Federal Trade Commission workshop on April 19 and called on the FTC to take enforcement action against software makers and online advertisers who engage in the condemned practices. Examples of Unfair, Deceptive or Devious Practices Involving Software (Consumer Software Working Group). see also To foil intruders, install a counterspy (New York Times).

Telecommunications

• EU - Consultation on priorities and objectives in the World Radiocommunication Conference 2007  +/-

  (Europa) Following the conclusion of the ITU WRC-03 conference, the Commission requested the Radio Spectrum Policy Group to provide it with an advisory Opinion on the policy priorities and objectives to be pursued by the European Community at the next conference (WRC-07), to ensure that European preparation of this event would be accompanied by a reflection process at political level taking into account Community interests. The RSPG has decided to set up a public consultation on this issue. It therefore welcomes all interested parties to express their views, whether they are individuals, representatives of particular companies, associations or public entities which could be affected by the results of negotiations at WRC-07. Deadline for responses: 21 May 2004.

• EU - Secondary trading of rights to use radio spectrum  +/-

  (Europa) Responses to the public call for consultation in the context of the development of a Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) Opinion. The main objective is to form an opinion on the potential benefits and drawbacks of secondary trading of spectrum for European Community policies and in particular the EC internal market; on the procedures and conditions to be addressed when introducing spectrum trading; and on the potential need for co-ordination among Member States regarding introduction of spectrum trading in order to avoid a fragmentation of the market for spectrum and wireless technologies.

• EU - Spectrum implications of switchover to digital broadcasting  +/-

  (Europa) Responses to the public call for consultation in the context of the development of a Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) Opinion on the spectrum implications of switchover to digital broadcasting. RSPG sought the views on this issue of all radio spectrum users, both commercial and non-commercial.

Market & Technology

Portals, browsers and search engines

• Google files for unusual $2.7 billion IPO  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Internet search leader Google filed to go public, seeking to raise $2.7 billion in an unusual auction-style offering that will give the founders rare control over the company.

• The weakness of Google  +/-

  (Economist) Despite the hype around its IPO, Google is not certain to be an internet winner. This week, Google, a secretive private firm that is also the world's favourite internet search engine, reached a regulatory tripwire that forces firms with more than 500 investors to disclose almost as much information as firms listed on America's stockmarkets do. In Silicon Valley, where firms often pay workers in shares as well as cash, this is common and often prompts firms to go one extra step to an initial public offering (IPO) of shares. But the IPO hype around Google and its likeable and soon-to-be fabulously rich founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, obscures a more subtle point. Not only is Google less strong than it looks, but an IPO might make it even weaker at a crucial moment, since Google is about to face simultaneous onslaughts from two fearsome rivals?Yahoo!, an internet portal that offers free e-mail and other services, and Microsoft, computing's software superpower, which runs an internet portal of its own.

Statistics

• EU - Europäisches West-Ost-Gefälle bei Internet-Zugängen  +/-

  (Heise) Mit dem Beitritt der zehn neuen Staaten zur EU (von Nord nach Süd: Estland, Lettland, Litauen, Polen, Tschechien, Slowakei, Ungarn, Slowenien, Zypern und Malta) wandert ihre Grenze rund tausend Kilometer ostwärts bis nach Russland, Weißrussland und zur Ukraine und schließt 75 Millionen zusätzliche Bürger (17 Prozent) ein. Das Bruttoinlandsprodukt der Gemeinschaft steigt dabei um etwa 417 Milliarden Euro, also um rund fünf Prozent.

• La France compte plus de 23 millions d'internautes  +/- Translate

  (Reuters) Le nombre d'internautes en France a atteint en mars les 23 millions, une progression de 14% par rapport au même mois de l'an dernier, selon une étude Médiamétrie. Selon cette étude, 23.089.000 Français de plus de 11 ans se sont connectés à internet au cours du mois de mars quel que soit le lieu, soit 45% de la population française âgée de 11 ans et plus. En mars 2003, ils étaient 20.258.000, soit 39,7% de la population.

• Market share slips away from Nokia  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Nokia rivals are wrestling market share away from the cell phone giant, as worldwide handset sales surged in the first quarter of 2004. Major mobile handset vendors shipped 153 million units worldwide, about 40 percent more than in the same period the previous year, research firm Strategy Analytics said. Nokia accounted for 44.7 million of those shipments. The company's market share dropped to 29 percent in the first quarter from 35 percent in the same period a year ago.

• UK - Text messaging reaches new high  +/-

  (BBC) The British love of text shows no signs of abating as numbers sent hit record levels. According to the Mobile Data Association (MDA), 2.1 billion text messages were sent in March 2004, a 25% rise on the total from the same month last year. On average, around 69 million text messages are sent every day in the UK. Older people are also catching the bug and using text in an increasing variety of ways.

• US - 14% of Internet users say they no longer download music files  +/-

  (Press Release) The recording industry campaign against those who download and swap music online has made an impact on several major fronts, but the number of Americans downloading music and sharing files online has increased, according to the most recent survey of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Forthcoming events

• 2004-05-19 UK, London - Mistaken Identity  +/-

  (PI) A public meeting on the government's proposed national identity card. Wednesday 19th May, 2004 13.30 - 17.00 hrs, The Old Theatre, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Organised by Privacy International in association with Liberty, Statewatch, Stand.org.uk & the Foundation for Information Policy Research. The government has introduced draft legislation for a national identity card. The card system will cost at least £3 billion and is likely to become an essential part of life for everyone residing in the UK. If the draft legislation is accepted by Parliament, everyone will be required to register for a card. Biometric scans of the face, fingers and eye will be taken. Personal details will be stored in a central database. A unique number will be issued that will become the basis for the matching of computer systems. The implications for everyone in the UK are far-reaching.

• 2004-06-10 DE, Berlin - Media Diversity through Competition? The Changing Face of Media Regulation and Media Markets  +/-

  (www.wirtschaftsrechtsgespraech.de) 9th International Berlin Business and Trade Law Conference. Hosted by Humboldt-University and Wilmer Cutler Pickernig LLP, the conference will focus on merger control in the media sector. Federal Minister of Economics Wolfgang Clement will give the opening speech.

Who's who

• EU - Liikanen appointed as President of Bank of Finland  +/-

  (EurActiv.com) Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen was officially appointed as new governor of the Finnish Central Bank. He will leave the Commission on 12 July.

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