- Berlin Declaration on Collectively Managed Online Rights: Compensation without Control +/-
(Wizards of OS) * DRM and mass-prosecution of filesharers are not solutions acceptable to an open and equitable society. * Primary goal of copyright lawmaking must be a balance between the rights of creators and those of the public. * Collecting societies need to become more democratic, transparent and flexible, allowing their members to release their works under open-access, non-commercial licenses. * With the collecting societies suitably reformed, the successful European experience with exceptions and limitations compensated by levies should be reviewed for possible application to the on-line realm. * We urge the European Commission to consider a content flatrate to ensure compensation of rightsholders without control over users.
- EU - EC joins international trademark treaty +/-
(RAPID) The European Community is submitting its instrument of accession to the Madrid Protocol on the international registration of trademarks to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. It is the first time that the EC as such accedes to a WIPO treaty. This link will allow businesses to benefit from the advantages of the Community Trademark through the Madrid Protocol system and vice-versa, which will simplify procedures, reduce the costs for international protection and make administration easier.
- EU plant Strafen gegen "Urheberrechts-Piraten" +/-
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(Heise) Was an Strafandrohungen gegen "Urheberrechts-Piraten" aus der umstrittenen Intellectual Property Enforcement Direktive im Februar herausgenommen wurde, soll voraussichtlich bis Ende des Jahres im EU-Rat erneut auf den Tisch kommen. "Die Vorschläge dafür liegen längst in den Schubladen", sagte Andreas Dietl, Direktor für Europaangelegenheiten bei der Electronic Digital Rights Initiative (EDRI), am Wochenende auf der Konferenz Wizards of OS. Daniel Fontanaud von der Generaldirektion Justiz und Inneres der EU-Kommission bestätigte dies heute gegenüber heise online.
- iTunes Case Study - Digital Media Project +/-
(Harvard Law School) Since its U.S. launch in 2003, iTunes, Apple's Online Music Store, has become the pacesetter in the digital media marketplace. In light of the recent launch of iTunes in Europe, the Digital Media Project has released its newly updated iTunes Case Study to provide an in-depth look at this service from the perspective of comparative law. The report examines different legal and regulatory regimes from a range of countries in Europe and Asia-Pacific and considers how iTunes and services like it are likely to fare under different sets of legal and cultural norms.
- WTO / EU - The TRIPs agreement 10 years on +/-
(RAPID) Speech by Pascal Lamy, EU Trade Commissioner. International Conference on the 10th Anniversary of the WTO TRIPs Agreement, Brussels, 23 June 2004. see also WTO agreement on intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
- EU-US air data row hots up +/-
(EUpolitix) The European Parliament's legal affairs committee has voted to take a Trans-Atlantic anti-terror agreement to the EU courts. MEPs voted 21 to ten to challenge a European Commission ruling that the transfer of EU air passenger data to US security agencies is adequate within Europe's privacy laws. A second case recommended by the committee, 19 to 14 votes, will seek to overturn a signed deal between national governments and the EU.
- FR - La Commission de l'informatique et des libertés confiante dans ses objectifs +/-
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(ZDNet France) En présentant le bilan 2003 (PDF 3,5 MO) de la Commission nationale de l´informatique et des libertés (Cnil), son président fraîchement élu, Alex Türk, a surtout voulu marquer son empreinte pour l'avenir: celle du changement et de la nouveauté. Avec une équipe quasiment renouvelée à ses côtés, il a fixé les objectifs de l´institution, en tenant compte de la refonte de sa loi fondatrice, informatique et libertés de 1978. Elle devrait être examinée au Sénat, en seconde lecture, dans les jours à venir.
- FR - Mise en garde de la CNIL contre « Did they read it ?» +/-
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(CNIL) La CNIL considère que l´utilisation du nouveau service de suivi de courrier électronique « Did they read it ?» (L´ont-ils lu ?) serait illégale en France. Ce service permet à un internaute de savoir si les destinataires de ses messages électroniques les ont lus, à quel moment, combien de fois, pendant combien de temps, s´ils les ont transmis à d´autres personnes et depuis quel serveur de messagerie. Le processus se déroule entièrement à l´insu des destinataires des messages électroniques.
- OECD - Privacy Online +/-
(OECD) A new document on online privacy and practice. The document is the work of its Working Party on Information Security and Privacy.
- Anti-Spam Technical Alliance Publishes Industry Recommendations to Help Stop Spam +/-
(ITU) The Anti-Spam Technical Alliance (ASTA), whose participants include Yahoo!, Microsoft, EarthLink and America Online, have unveiled the result of more than a year of close collaboration by presenting a host of detailed best practices and technical recommendations for the entire industry in an effort to fight the scourge of spam. The proposal provides recommended actions and policies for Internet service providers (ISPs) and e-mail service providers (ESPs) as well as large senders of e-mail including governments, private corporations and online marketing organizations. These recommendations primarily focus on two key issues: helping solve the e-mail forgery problem by eliminating domain spoofing through Internet Protocol (IP)-based and signature-based solutions; and best practices to help prevent ISPs and their customers from being sources of spam."
- EU - United front against spam urged +/-
(BBC) The European Commission has urged the computer industry to sort out its anti-spam strategy. Lack of co-operation between all those tackling spam was holding back efforts to stem unwanted commercial messages, said EC official Philippe Gerard. At an anti-spam meeting in London, he said it was up to industry to do its part now that laws were in place to prosecute spammers.
- Spam Laws Worldwide - UK +/-
(LawMeme) by Rebecca Bolin. Many people have been watching how the UK's December 2003 spam legislation has developed. Though there was little hope for it at the time, it seems the situation is now out of control, and no one believes the UK legislation (though based on the strong EC Directive) will do much at all. Section 32 offers the preferred method of enforcement. Persons or the Office of Communications can request that the Information Commissioner enforce the regulations. Even before the regulations, the Commissioner warned that it did not have enough funding to carry out responsibilities under the new laws. These predictions were correct. Though the law threatens fines for non-compliance, seven months later, none have been issued.
- US - FTC Says No to Antispam Registry +/-
(Wired) A national 'do not e-mail' registry would do little to prevent the proliferation of junk e-mail and could even make the spam problem worse, said the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC was required to produce the report for Congress under a provision of the federal Can-Spam Act. The 'do not e-mail' registry would have functioned much like the national 'do not call' registry, allowing consumers to protect themselves from unwanted marketing. However, technical oversights in the e-mail system would make such a registry impossible in practice, concluded the report.
- US - Spammer prosecutions waste time and money +/-
(The Register) by Thomas C Greene. The recent US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report on the futility of establishing a national 'do not email' registry contains a number of interesting observations related to spam control and to the so-called CAN-SPAM Act. In a nutshell, the FTC rejects the registry because it would become a weapon that spammers could use to fortify their ever-growing lists of victims. But there are a number of related points in the report that deserve attention. One is an indirect critique of the CAN-SPAM Act, recent legislation that promises lawsuits and even jail time for incontinent spammers. The Act is meant as a deterrent, and in order for it to work as such, it will obviously have to be used, and spammers will have to be made examples. Unfortunately this is an expensive and often futile business,
- In Europe, Cellphone Profits Go Up as Clothes Come Off +/-
(International Herald Tribune) Executives of some of the world's largest telecommunications companies came to Amsterdam late last month and hobnobbed with sex shop owners, publishers of pornographic images and producers of hard-core videos. The thrill they were seeking, of course, was economic.
- The camera phone backlash +/-
(BBC) Mobiles with built-in cameras have sparked fears of industrial espionage. And schools, health clubs and strip joints have also banned the devices. Is the lens cap being put on phone snappers?
- The march of the mobiles +/-
(Guardian) New breakthroughs aimed at boosting phones' power and storage capacity could herald the technology's next great leap forward. In Japan, JP Morgan analyst Kazuyo Katsuma confirmed what industry insiders had known for months, that the first phone with integrated hard disk storage was on its way. Meanwhile in Helsinki Nokia announced it was testing fuel cells powered by tiny hydrogen-based energy sources. The company claimed the cells could triple the life of existing mobile phone batteries.
- UK - New generation embraces mobiles +/-
(BBC) A new generation of mobile users are becoming so emotionally attached to their phones that they cannot live without them. This is one of the key findings of a study into how people use their mobile phones entitled Me, My Mobile and I. The annual study from research firm Teleconomy reveals that 10 to 14-year-olds - dubbed M-Agers - are rapidly becoming the most sophisticated users of phones.
- UK - The state of wireless London +/-
(CommsWatch) This study looks at how wireless networking (WLAN) in London has developed over the last three years from hacktivist pastime to mainstream pursuit. Comparing networks built by freenetwork groups, commercial hotspot providers, and public sector initiatives the study also examines the sales and uptake of WLAN equipment and makes some direct measurements of wireless activity in the Greater London area. Finally the study looks at the development of WLAN in the home and makes a recommendation for a Wireless Festival for London in 2004/2005.