Legal and regulatory issues

Authentification

• EU - Asylum finger-printing finds over 17,000 multiple claims  +/-

  (EUobserver.com) An EU finger-printing database set up last year is helping to identify the thousands of asylum seekers who apply for asylum in several EU countries simultaneously in the hope of being accepted more quickly. Known as Eurodac, the database shows that, since January last year, 17,287 of the almost 247,000 processed asylum seekers have made multiple applications. Almost 25,000 illegal immigrants are also registered on the database.

• NL - Widening role of personal identification number  +/-

  (Digital Media Europe) by Joe Figueiredo. Dutch citizens and residents could be issued a national personal identification number by 2006 under which their personal details will be stored centrally and subsequently accessed by all central, provincial and local-government authorities - from hospitals to schools.

• PL - Polish Web Portals Criticize Draft Telecoms Law  +/-

  (Reuters) Polish Internet portals warned that a telecoms bill making its way through parliament would require Poles to present identification documents before opening free e-mail accounts. In a letter sent to lawmakers, three portal operators said that, by failing to allow users to sign up electronically, the law went far beyond the requirements of a European Union directive it is meant to implement.

• Simple passwords no longer suffice  +/-

  (CNN) To access her bank account online, Marie Jubran opens a Web browser and types in her Swedish national ID number along with a four-digit password. For additional security, she then pulls out a card that has 50 scratch-off codes. Jubran uses the codes, one by one, each time she logs on or performs a transaction. Her bank, Nordea PLC, automatically sends a new card when she's about to run out. As more Web sites demand passwords, scammers are getting more clever about stealing them. Hence the need for such 'passwords-plus' systems.

• US May Use New ID Cards At Borders  +/-

  (Washington Post) Government contractors hope a mix of new and existing technologies will better identify foreigners entering the United States through thousands of miles of land borders, without causing backups that stretch halfway to the ocean. One key ingredient is a rapidly emerging but controversial technology known as RFID, or radio frequency identification, which companies are increasingly using to remotely track products.

Computer crime

• UK - Ban paedophiles from the internet, says BT  +/-

  (Guardian) The courts should bar everyone convicted of sexual offences against children which involve the internet from using the technology, said Nick Truman, head of security at the online arm of British Telecom, BT Openworld. Mr Truman, a member of the Home Office internet taskforce for child protection, also called on the police to inform ISPs of convictions so that the offender's internet account could be cancelled.

Consumer protection

• FSM: Dialer-Angebot speziell für Kinder rechtswidrig  +/- Translate

  (Jurawelt) von RA Dr. Martin Bahr, Kanzlei Heyms & Dr. Bahr. Die Beschwerdestelle der Freiwilligen Selbstkontrolle Multimedia-Dienstleister (FSM) hatte darüber zu entscheiden, ob ein Dialer-Angebot, das sich vorwiegend an Kinder richtet, rechtmäßig ist. Die FSM ist ein eingetragener Verein, der 1997 von Medienverbänden und Unternehmen der Online-Wirtschaft gegründet wurde. Die Selbstkontrollorganisation bietet jedermann die Möglichkeit, sich über strafbare oder jugendgefährdende Inhalte im Netz zu beschweren oder Fragen zum Thema Jugendschutz im Internet zu stellen. Ein Mitglied der FSM bietet auf einer Webseite, die als überwiegende Zielgruppe Kinder hat, kostenpflichtige Dialer an. Die Beschwerdestelle des FSM sieht darin einen Verstoß gegen § 6 Abs.2 S.1; Abs.4 JMStV, wonach es verboten ist, die Unerfahrenheit von Jugendlichen auszunutzen. Entscheidung.

Content regulation

• China bans game for 'distorting history'  +/-

  (AFP) China has banned a Swedish-made computer game accused of 'distorting history and damaging China's sovereignty,' by showing Manchuria, Tibet and Xinjiang as independent nations. The computer game, Hearts of Iron, made by the Stockholm-based games developer Paradox Entertainment, also showed Taiwan as a part of Japan, Xinhua news agency said, citing a censorship committee under the Ministry of Culture.

• China closes down 16,000 Internet cafes in three months  +/-

  (AFP) China has closed 16,000 Internet cafes in the past three months, as a campaign to protect its 367 million children and adolescents from corrosive influences picks up steam, state media said. The number of cafes forced to cease operations was reported by the Xinhua news agency and suggests a much more comprehensive drive to control a once-thriving industry than previously believed. China has long seemed divided on how to deal with the Internet, since on the one hand it holds huge potential for the economy, while on the other it poses a risk to the communist regime by making information more freely available. In recent months, the Chinese leadership appears to have decided to err on the side of caution, partly as a result of a new push to raise the ethical standards of the young."

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• Labels to dampen CD burning?  +/-

  (CNET News.com) The recording industry is testing technology that would prevent consumers from making copies of CD 'burns,' a piracy defense that could put some significant new restrictions on legally purchased music. Tools under review by the major labels would limit the number of backups that could be made from ordinary compact discs and prevent copied, or "burned," versions from being used to create further copies, according to Macrovision and SunnComm International, rivals that are developing competing versions of the digital rights management (DRM) software.

Data Protection (privacy)

• Tracking the e-mail you sent  +/-

  (New York Times) A new service promises to pull back the curtain on anyone hiding behind the common white lie 'I never got your e-mail.' Users of the service, DidTheyReadIt, can clandestinely track when and where their e-mail is read. The service, which has already drawn complaints from privacy advocates, offers a new and quiet way to harvest behavioral information about friends, colleagues and potential customers. 'There's a type of covert surveillance here,' said Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit privacy advocacy group. 'Just from a technology viewpoint, it's basically an evil service.'

Domain names

• FR - La domaine ".fr" est en pleine mutation  +/- Translate

  (Droit et Nouvelles Technologies) par Thibault Verbiest. Le système de gestion des noms de domaine de la zone .fr va bientôt connaître sa première grande métamorphose. Celle-ci prendra deux formes : d´une part un assouplissement progressif, mais à terme radical, des conditions d´enregistrement des noms de domaine en .fr, et d´autre part, la suppression du monopole de l´AFNIC au lendemain de l´adoption de la loi pour la confiance dans l´économie numérique (LEN).

e-Learning

• UK - Latin set for schools comeback  +/-

  (BBC News) Latin is being made available to thousands of pupils across the UK, even if there is no specialist teacher in their school. And gone are the days of wading through Julius Caesar's accounts of his Gallic wars. Pupils now get to read about the exploits of 'wheeler-dealer' Caecilius who manages to offends his wife by buying the prettiest girl available at a slave market and Grumio the cook who is in and out of affairs. The Cambridge Online Latin Project, which has been tested by 2,000 pupils aged 12 and upwards over the past four years, is being rolled out nationally in September.

Junk mail (spam)

• US - Network Associates awarded antispam patent  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Security software company Network Associates has been granted a patent for methods of filtering spam, or unsolicited e-mail. The United States Patent and Trademark Office approved the patent, a sweeping grant for Network Associates' methods and systems used within its McAfee antispam products. The patent covers a combination of techniques to fight spam, including what's known as compound filters, paragraph hashing and Bayesian rules,

Quality of service

• Hotmail trashes saved files  +/-

  (CNET News.com) A Hotmail customer lost all the data she had stored in her email account, while experts say the security of free online services should not be taken for granted.

Safer Internet awareness

• UK - Consultation on promotion of media literacy  +/-

  (Ofcom) Ofcom's strategy and priorities for the promotion of media literacy. Consultation document. Closing date for responses: 10 August 2004. The three main strands of OFCOM's proposed activity are i) Research ii) Connecting, Partnering & Signposting and iii) Labelling of audiovisual content. On the latter, the consultation document says "Viewers and listeners need to have clear, accurate and timely advice about the nature of content so that they can make an informed choice. This advice can be effectively delivered using a content labelling framework. Ofcom will challenge the industry to consider creating a common content labelling (information) scheme for electronic audiovisual material delivered across all platforms. With industry agreement Ofcom will establish a crossmedia working group (including the BBC, PSB commercial broadcasters, BSkyB, BBFC, Mobile industry, ISPA, ELSPA and others) on labelling as a first step. see also UK - Content labelling scheme: Ofcom consults (outlaw.com).

Self-regulation / codes of conduct

• Ireland launches code of practice of practice for mobile services  +/-

  (Digital Media Europe) The Irish mobile industry's trade association, the Irish Cellular Industry Association (ICIA), has launched a Code of Practice for the responsible and secure use of mobile services, as well a parental guide to mobile phone services, and a content-filtering trial, while the Irish government plans to build a national registrar of 3G users. To protect minors, the Irish government is to build a national register of 3G mobile phones which can carry video clips. By its very nature the register will in effect become a national register of 3G phone users.

• Technologies de l´information et de la communication et «co-régulation»  +/-

  (Droit et Nouvelles Technologies) Une nouvelle approche? par Yves Poullet. A partir de la récente déclaration de principes du Sommet de Genève sur la société de l´information, l'auteur analyse le modèle de "Gouvernance de l'Internet" préconisé par le Sommet Mondial de la Société de l'Information. Ce modèle dit de «co-régulation» est approfondi à partir de divers textes utilisant ce modèle de façon explicite: la création en France du Forum des droits de l'Internet et le récent accord européen inter-institutionnel «Mieux légiférer» qui répartit les rôles entre les autorités publiques et celles privées y compris les associations civiles au service d'une régulation plus légitime et effective. Ainsi se trouvent distinguées la régulation publique, la co-régulation et l'autorégulation.

Market & Technology

Quality of service

• Hotmail trashes saved files  +/-

  (CNET News.com) A Hotmail customer lost all the data she had stored in her email account, while experts say the security of free online services should not be taken for granted.

Statistics

• UK - Digital Television and Broadband continue to grow  +/-

  (Ofcom) Ofcom has published the latest research data on the digital television and broadband markets in the UK. Digital television penetration was estimated to have increased to 53% of UK households, up from 50% from the previous quarter. The UK has reached almost 4 million broadband users. Ofcom's market research also shows that the decline in the use of narrowband services has continued as consumers upgrade to broadband. 67% of adults connect to the internet at home using narrowband, down from 73% in November 2003. 53% of UK adults now have internet access at home, up from 50% in November 2003. 25% of these adults now connect to the Internet using broadband.

• UK - Mobile usage shows gender split  +/-

  (BBC) Gender differences are beginning to appear in the content men and women are downloading to their mobile phones. Games are mainly downloaded by men, while women are leading the current craze for ringtones.

Forthcoming events

• 2004-07-01 FR, Paris - 3èmes Etats Généraux Européens du Nommage Internet  +/-

  (EGENI) le jeudi 1er Juillet 2004,CCIP, 27 avenue de Friedland, 75008 Paris. Quelle est l'évolution de la gouvernance Internet entre la première phase du Sommet mondial de la société de l´information qui s'est déroulée du 10 au 12 décembre 2003 à Genève et sa seconde phase prévue à Tunis du 16 au 18 novembre 2005? Quel impact auront ces deux rencontres mondiales organisées sous l'égide de l'ONU et quels en sont les enjeux majeurs? Une réduction de la fracture numérique? L'aboutissement de ce que l'on nomme génériquement la "révolution numérique"? C'est bien cette problématique que EGENI 2004, fidèle à cette formule pour la troisième année consécutive, développera le jeudi 1er juillet 2004 sous forme d'ateliers.

Useful addresses

• Reuters RSS  +/-

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