Legal and regulatory issues

Audiovisual

• UK - BSkyB launches rival to Freeview  +/-

  (BBC) Broadcaster BSkyB is planning to launch a free-to-air satellite package offering 200 TV and radio channels and interactive services. The service, to be launched later this year, will compete with Freeview, the free-to-air digital terrestrial service backed by the BBC and BSkyB. For a one-off payment of £150, it will include the BBC's digital services and Sky News as well as other free stations. But unlike Freeview, a satellite dish will be needed to pick up the service.

Competition

• EU - Microsoft to fight record fine  +/-

  (BBC) Microsoft, the world's largest software company, has appealed against a European Union ruling that it abused its dominant market position. In March, Microsoft was hit with a record fine of 497m euros and ordered to change how it operates. See also Microsoft likely to gain stay of competition ruling, lawyers say (International Herald Tribune).

Computer crime

• Can we really police online chat?  +/-

  (BBC) Keeping track of potentially dangerous paedophiles who lurk in online chatrooms from the relative 'safety' of their own home is an onerous task. But enforcement agencies across the globe are keen to get their act together. This week the Virtual Global Task Force (VGTF) proposed building on the covert work already being done to track down sexual predators intent on grooming youngsters via chat rooms. While the specifics have yet to be ironed out, the crux of the scheme is that police around the world will manually 'listen in' to online conversations 24 hours a day, seven days a week. see also Police to patrol net chat rooms and Virtual Global Summit hailed a success (Internet Watch Foundation).

• Online crime engenders a new hero: Cybersleuth  +/-

  (New York Times) A lot of perfectly respectable small businesses are raking in money from Internet fraud. From identity theft to bogus stock sales to counterfeit prescription drugs, crime is rife on the Web. But what has become the Wild West for savvy cybercriminals has also developed into a major business opportunity for cybersleuths.

• UK - Withdraw credit cards from net paedophiles, MP demands  +/-

  (Guardian) People who finance the sexual exploitation of children via the internet should have their credit cards withdrawn, according to a backbench Labour MP. Judy Mallaber, MP for Amber Valley, Derbyshire, has called for people who use a credit card to support internet-based child prostitution or to pay for child abuse images online to have their card cancelled.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• Australia-US Free Trade Agreement Examined  +/-

  (Slashdot) An evaluation of the impact of the changes Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement is available from the Australian Parliamentary Library (Research Paper #14 PDF). It takes a very critical stance, with statements such as 'IPRs fit awkwardly in an agreement that has the aim of advancing free trade.' and 'While there has not been a comprehensive economic evaluation of IPRs, the Productivity Commission has found that, as a net importer of IPRs, Australia would lose more than it gains by strengthening IPRs. The net economic impact is thus likely to be negative.'

• EFF: The Patent Busting Project  +/-

  (EFF) The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Patent Busting Project is here to protect you from dangerously bad patents. And you can help us pick which patents we're going to bust first! We're currently seeking nominations for ten patents that deserve to be revoked because they are invalid. A patent must be software or Internet-related and there must be a good reason to suspect that the patent claims are invalid. We're especially interested in patents that target tools of free expression, such as streaming media, blogging tools, and voice over IP (VoIP) technology. Most importantly, the patent-holder must be aggressively enforcing its patent and suing (or threatening to sue) alleged infringers. We're particularly interested in cases where the patent-holder is trying to force small businesses, individuals, nonprofits, and consumers to pay licensing fees. Deadline to enter is June 23.

• EU - ECJ Opinion on Database Directive  +/-

  (IPKat) Directive 96/9 on the legal protection of databases (the database directive) introduced a sui generis right that was designed to protect the contents of organised collections of data, even if the compilation of data fell far short of a work of authorship that was entitled to copyright protection. The nature of the sui generis right is defined by Article 7 of the database directive. Advocate General Christine Stix-Hackl has delivered Opinions concerning the interpretation of the database directive in no fewer than four cases that have been referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for preliminary rulings. Three deal with databases of football fixtures, while the fourth deals with a database of horse-racing data. All of these cases raise issues concerning the true import of Article 7.

• Inside the WIPO's Broadcast Treaty Negotiations  +/-

  (LawMeme) The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is considering a treaty on IP protection for broadcasts. The basic idea -- that broadcasts could be protected from reproduction even when the contents are public domain -- is repugnant enough, but some of the details are even ookier. A crack team of copyfighters is on the spot, however, inside the closed doors of the treaty-making organization, reporting on the goings-on. They're blogging up a storm, thanks to some clever use of social software. The Union for the Public Domain has their reports.

• Reed allows academics free web access  +/-

  (Guardian) Reed Elsevier is allowing academics to put papers that have been accepted for publication in its print and online journals on to the internet, breaking with years of tradition and reigniting the debate over open access to academic thinking. Until now the world's largest academic publisher has been a staunch opponent of open access, saying it poses a threat to the quality of academic research. But it is now letting academics put a text version of their accepted articles on to their own websites, or sites operated by their institutions. However, academics will not be allowed to put links to their papers in central academic databases.

• UK - BBC to open archives under Creative Commons licence  +/-

  (out-law.com) The BBC released details of its Creative Archive initiative, which will allow people to download, manipulate and share clips of BBC documentaries, without fear of breaching copyright laws. The scheme embraces the Creative Commons licensing model. Founded in 2001, Creative Commons is a non-profit US corporation founded on the notion that some people may not want to exercise all of the intellectual property rights the law affords them.

• US - The Information Commons - A Public Policy Report  +/-

  (Free Expression Policy Project) In the last decade, mass media companies have developed methods of control that undermine the public's traditional rights to use, share, and reproduce information and ideas. These technologies, combined with dramatic consolidation in the media industry and new laws that increase its control over intellectual products, threaten to undermine the political discourse, free speech, and creativity needed for a healthy democracy. In response, librarians, cyber-activists, and other public interest advocates have sought ways to expand access to the wealth of resources that the Internet promises, and have begun to build online communities, or 'commons,' for producing and sharing information, creative works, and democratic discussion. This report documents the information commons movement, explains its importance, and outlines the theories and 'best practices' that have developed to assist its growth. PDF version

Data Protection (privacy)

• CA - Lawsuit questions IBM's ownership of EPAL standard  +/-

  (IDG) A lawsuit filed against IBM in a Canadian court calls into question IBM's ownership of EPAL (Enterprise Privacy Authorization Language), a programming language for creating data privacy policies on computer networks. In December 2003, IBM submitted a draft of EPAL to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), hoping to turn it into a standard. Zero-Knowledge claims that EPAL is based on work the company did with IBM.

• UK - Watchdog's 'alarm' over ID cards  +/-

  (BBC) Plans for a national ID card scheme risk changing the relationship between the British state and its citizens, the information watchdog has warned. Richard Thomas said he had initially greeted the plans with 'healthy scepticism' but the details had changed his view to 'increasing alarm'. The government hopes a pilot scheme will pave the way for compulsory identity cards within the next decade. see Privacy chief attacks Home Office plans for ID cards (outlaw.com).

• US - FTC: All eyes on consumer privacy  +/-

  (CNET News.com) The Federal Trade Commission plans to make consumer privacy rights a higher priority. The FTC's director of consumer protection, Howard Beales, said that his outfit is gearing up to bring more privacy-related cases against Internet operators, with one expected in the coming weeks.

Domain names

• Why ICANN('t) pay the bill  +/-

  (IDG) The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a group that has had its fair share of problems, has yet another: The 'Net coordination body wants more money - and more power - but one of its largest partners, the Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries, isn't willing to play ball. In May, ICANN proposed a budget of $15.8 million for next year - nearly double its current annual expenditure. The request irked Kane so much that he responded on May 26 with a dismissive three-page letter to ICANN head Paul Twomey. His message was unmistakably clear: CENTR members refuse to pay a cent more.

e-Government

• EU to launch Europe-wide public services portal  +/-

  (Kablenet.com) The EU has issued revised plans for the development of an online public services portal. The portal, to be known as 'Your Europe', is hoped to become the EU's main Web site offering cross border e-government services for businesses and citizens.

• UK - Hansard remixed for the net generation  +/-

  (Guardian) A new website that allows voters to search and annotate the text of parliamentary debates has been launched by a team of volunteer programmers. The site, called Theyworkforyou.com, was unveiled at the NotCon conference in London, and is the fruit of nine months' work by a loose group of e-democracy activists.

• UK - Public to get online access to law  +/-

  (KableNet.com) The Department for Constitutional Affairs is planning a new online database of UK primary and secondary legislation. He said there are proposals for the development of two enquiry databases: one for government employees operating through the Government Secure Intranet; the other for the public through the Web site. The former will include prospective legislation that has been passed by Parliament but not yet come into force. It will not include draft bills still going through the legislative process. Both databases will cover all of the UK, taking in legislation from the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Assemblies.

e-Learning

• UK - 'Shameful waste' on e-university  +/-

  (BBC) A Labour MP has condemned a failed online degree scheme as a 'shameful waste' of tens of millions of pounds of public money. Dr Ian Gibson, who chairs the science and technology committee at the Commons, called the UK's e-university 'an absolute disaster'. The online university - called UKeU - was set up a year ago but failed to attract enough students. The plug was pulled on it in February and it is being quietly dismantled.

Hotlines

• CN - China creates web vigilante site  +/-

  (BBC) The Chinese authorities have begun a new website for people to report on what officials describe as illegal or unhealthy information on the internet. The site claims it will protect Chinese web users, set to number 100 million by 2005 - a tally second only to the US. It is the latest move by Beijing to try to control the use of the internet.

Junk mail (spam)

• DE - German Spam Floods Inboxes  +/-

  (ZDNet UK) German residents have been targeted by a flood of racist emails. This is thought to be the first time that right-wing extremists have used wide-scale spamming to reach their audience. The emails included stories about the alleged criminality of foreigners and their abuse of the German health and social welfare system, which has led to suggestions that the European elections may have been the trigger for the spam attack. The emails, sent by computers infected with the Sober.G virus, contained racist messages and links to right-wing Web sites. Sober.G is a mass-mailing worm that sends itself to email addresses harvested from each infected computer. First detected in May this year it has been most active in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, according to MessageLabs. See also German Spam Floods Inboxes (Wired). Zombies are personal computers that have been infected with a virus that allows spammers to control them from a remote location for the purposes of sending out mass quantities of spam. These infected machines allow spammers to send much more e-mail than they could with their own e-mail server. It also makes it harder for authorities to trace the source of the messages.

• UK - Spammers consider a soft touch  +/-

  (vnunet.com) The UK is increasingly seen as a soft touch for spammers, many of whom have decided to set up shop here, according to anti-spam organisation Spamhaus. Steve Linford, founder of Spamhaus, told vnunet.com that the European e-Privacy Directive, enforced in December 2003, had simply made the problem worse.

Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law

• DE - BGH schränkt Haftung von Presseorganen für Hyperlinks ein  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Ein Presseorgan haftet nicht für Hyperlinks auf rechtswidrige Angebote, die als Ergänzung eines redaktionellen Artikels ohne Wettbewerbsabsicht gesetzt werden - sofern der Inhalt der verlinkten Seite nicht eindeutig als strafbar zu erkennen ist. So entschied der Bundesgerichtshof (BGH). Damit bestätigte das oberste Gericht ein Urteil des Kammergerichts Berlin als Vorinstanz. Im Fall hatte die Online-Ausgabe der Zeitung Die Welt im Oktober 2000 über eine Unternehmerin und deren Online-Glücksspielangebote berichtet. In diesem Zusammenhang waren im Artikel zwei dieser Glücksspiel-Sites verlinkt. Das hatte einen über eine entsprechende Lizenz verfügenden deutschen Anbieter von Sportwetten auf den Plan gerufen. Seiner Ansicht nach hatte die Welt durch das Setzen der Hyperlinks für die Glücksspiele geworben und damit rechtswidrig gehandelt. Denn es sei strafbar, ohne Lizenz im Internet für inländische Teilnehmer Glücksspiele zu veranstalten.

Protection of minors

• ES - Alarm bells over anorexia and bulimia Internet sites  +/-

  (AFP) Child protection groups in Spain called on the government to take action against Internet web sites that encourage young girls suffering from anorexia and bulimia to celebrate and hide their condition.The call comes after a six-month inquiry carried out by child protection group Protect Them which revealed the existence of about 30 chat room sites in Spanish in which youngsters exchanged tips on how to hide their condition from their parents.

• Mobile porn is a 'time bomb'  +/-

  (electricnews.net) European mobile phone firms must act to ensure that adult content reaches only adults, a research company warns. Mobile operators face a backlash over adult content if they are unable to balance lucrative revenues with legitimate parental anxieties, according to a report from research company Current Analysis. The warning comes as visual advances in mobile handset technology have led to the widespread introduction of mobile devices capable of taking pictures, videos and watching short video clips and films.

Rating and filtering

• UK - BT puts block on child porn sites  +/-

  (Observer) British Telecom has taken the unprecedented step of blocking all illegal child pornography websites in a crackdown on abuse online. The decision by Britain's largest high-speed internet provider will lead to the first mass censorship of the web attempted in a Western democracy. The move, previously thought to be at the limits of technical possibilities of the internet and prohibitively expensive, was given the personal backing of BT chairman Sir Christopher Bland at a board meeting last month after intense pressure from children's charities. Known as Cleanfeed, the project has been developed in consultation with the Home Office and will go live by the end of the month. Other major players in the internet market, such as Energis and Thus, which owns rival Demon Internet, are said to be preparing to block banned sites. BT trials website blocking technology (Web User News). The trial will prevent BT internet customers from visiting any site blacklisted by the UK's internet industry body. The Internet Watch Foundation's (IWF) blacklist relates to global child sexual abuse websites that have been assessed as ""illegal to view"" in the UK, under the 1978 Child Protection Act. see also Turning a corner in online abuse? (Guardian). As BT takes the unprecedented step of blocking all illegal child pornography websites, John Carr hopes other internet service providers across the world will follow suit. BT's modest plan to clean up the Net (The Register).

Safer Internet awareness

• Rethinking 'stranger danger' for teens: Part 1  +/-

  (Net Family Newsletter) Anne Collier, Editor, discusses the findings of Janis Wolak, professor at the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center. Prof Wolak recently presented her latest findings on Net-based sexual exploitation of children which give a fresh perspective. What stood out in Janis's findings (soon to be published by the Journal of Adolescent Health) was that "stranger danger" is not the right warning message for teenagers who spend time in online chat.

• UK - Schools urged to smash internet myths  +/-

  (Guardian) Children are confused about the dangers posed by using the internet with some believing it puts them at risk of catching HIV or being abducted by aliens, according to research by the University of London's institute of education (IoE). Schools should do more to address such false and exaggerated fears about the internet, which may prevent some children from exploiting its benefits. The IoE called for UK schools to teach the EU education programme, known as Educaunet [Ed: co-funded by the Safer Internet programme], which is used in Belgium, France, Austria, Portugal, Denmark and Greece. The researchers concluded that the programme helped pupils to develop "a more rational and better conceptual understanding of risks on the internet".

Self-regulation / codes of conduct

• Self-regulation beats state control  +/-

  (dotJournalism) The control and monitoring of illegal content is more effectively controlled by industry self-regulation than by state legislation, according to new research funded by the European Commission. Issues of self-regulation for web publishers and broadcasters have been explored in a series of reports produced by the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP) project at Oxford University and published on selfregulation.info.

Telecommunications

• EU - Questionnaire on Spectrum Management  +/-

  (Aegis) Aegis, IDATE and Bird & Bird are conducting a study for the European Commission (DG Information Society) on the availability of information on Spectrum Management in Europe. Our objective is to identify the scope and quality of information provided by national regulators and the extent to which this meets the needs of spectrum users. To do this, we need a clear understanding of what spectrum users require in terms of information on spectrum allocations, authorisation procedures, standards and the application of any new approaches to spectrum management such as auctions or trading. If you are currently a user of radio spectrum, or may be considering becoming a user in the future, we would welcome your views in this area. Deadline 31st July 2004.

• EU - Telecoms Council Results  +/-

  (Press Release) Main results of the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council held in Luxembourg on 10 June 2004 include eContentplus - Political agreement on a Common position, Safer Internet Plus - Agreement on a general approach and eEurope 2005 - Council conclusions.

Market & Technology

Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology

• US - Cable's new frontier - video on demand.  +/-

  (New York Times) Like digital channels, video on demand is available only to digital subscribers, but viewers cannot surf past these networks: they have to seek them out.

Junk mail (spam)

• US - Comcast Slows Flow Of Spam  +/-

  (Washington Post) Comcast, the USA's largest provider of high-speed Internet access, has begun blocking a channel frequently exploited by spammers to send out large volumes of e-mail, a move that many technologists say was long overdue and should be matched by other service providers. The company began targeting certain computers on its network of 5.7 million subscribers that appeared to be sending out large volumes of unsolicited e-mail and it is blocking port 25, a gateway used by computers to send e-mail to the Internet.

Mobile and wireless

• Global mobile phones: A holy grail gets closer  +/-

  (International Herald Tribune) A holy grail of global travelers - a single mobile phone and service that can hop between the two major cellular technologies, GSM and CDMA - was quietly introduced two weeks ago. The lack of fanfare accompanying its start may be due to two sizable but temporary drawbacks: The service is available only from the United States and only to big business customers. "Global Phone," introduced on May 24 by Verizon Wireless with the new Samsung A790 phone, seeks to appeal to the far-flung business executive with two standards and a single phone, phone number and bill.

Statistics

• UK - Net games lure 'bored housewives'  +/-

  (BBC) Middle-aged women are getting hooked on card games and puzzles online, says a report. While hardcore online gaming remains the preserve of young men, research firm Screen Digest found that 'bored housewives' are fuelling the growth of other games offered on the net. Females make up 65% of the growing market in skill-based games such as cards, solitaire and puzzles.

Voice over IP

• UK - BT transforms phone network  +/-

  (BBC) BT is planning to rebuild its phone network in the UK in a radical move that will cost billions. It could change the way people use their phones and allow most people with a BT phone line to plug into broadband using computers, mobiles or other devices. It could also mean that mobiles and fixed lines become interchangeable, with the same number and bill. BT plans to convert the majority of its customers to the new network by 2009. The technical work requires a gradual closing down of the old Public Switched Telephone network (PSTN) to make way for an internet protocol (IP) network.

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