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(EurActiv) Broadcasters have exceeded the airtime quotas reserved for European programmes, according to a Commission report. But independent producers say broadcasters are stripping them of their authors' rights.
(ESA) Satellites can help the EU monitor climate change, address international crises and contain natural disasters. EU Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin and Mr Antonio Rodotà, the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), officially opened a large stakeholder consultation forum aiming at the definition of European needs to enhance global monitoring for environment and security (GMES).
(TED) Feasibility study on the creation of a structure/network to increase European research into private international law, civil law and civil procedure from an EC point of view. The main purpose of this study is to compile an inventory of research being carried out at present in the Member States in these fields. It should describe the scope of this research work and initiatives currently underway to create a network and instigate cooperation between various institutions involving several Member States. The inventory will also consider issues such as the dissemination of research findings, resource pooling, defining priorities, and how ideas and experience can be of benefit to and shared between different Member States and with other university disciplines. The study will then suggest ways of increasing the role research plays when policies are being drawn up in Europe, and political decisions taken, and will propose various methods of achieving this (e.g. creation of a European institute, opening a specialist section in an existing institute, creation of an international association or a university network). This study will take place with the creation of a European judicial area in civil matters in view. Final date for obtaining contract document and additional documents: 6.10.2004. Final date for receipt of tenders: 15.10.2004.
(Cordis) The European Commission has declared the response to the first call for proposals under the Preparatory Action for security research as 'a strong signal of the strong support for a European coordinated action in the field of security research, by all stakeholders in the field.' The Preparatory Action, with a budget of 15 million euro for 2004, will help prepare the way for a security research programme. The first call for proposals closed at the end of June following the submission of around 175 proposals. The proposals request funding of 200 million euro in total, although only 14 million is available for the call.
(TED) Impact of free/open source software on innovation and the competitiveness of the information and communication technologies (ICT) sector in the EU. Prior information notice. The study should analyse the economic impact of free and open source software (F/OSS) on the structure and dynamics of the ICT sector in Europe, as well as in the overall economy. The study should first draw the current picture with regards to the market share of F/OSS in the global and European software market. It should then analyse the economic impact of the projected deployment of F/OSS in the ICT producing sector in Europe. Moreover, it should analyse the dynamics and the innovation potential that the proliferation of F/OSS could bring about in the European economy (including in the IT producing and using sectors, and the society overall); the study should project the prospects for F/OSS in the short and long-term future, should describe different scenarios and identify relevant policy challenges. In this respect, it should seek for relevant competitive advantages of the European IT sector in this field, and should explore how such advantages could be further leveraged.
(International Herald Tribune) by Jonathan Zuck and Laurent Ruessmann. Since the European Commission's surprising rejection of the merger of General Electric and Honeywell, the tension between European and American antitrust enforcers has gotten continually worse. Despite the polite tone and optimistic rhetoric, the growing divergence could easily devolve into a trans-Atlantic trade war and create critical problems for the future of global business, especially in the information technology sector. [Jonathan Zuck is president of the Association for Competitive Technology, an advocacy group for the U.S. technology industry. Laurent Ruessmann is the association's antitrust counsel in Brussels].
(Heise) Internet-Polizisten des BKA sind im vergangenen Jahr beim Surfen im weltweiten Netz auf rund 600 mögliche Straftaten gestoßen. Mehr als 60 Prozent der Delikte waren der Kinderpornografie zuzurechnen. Bundeskriminalamts-Präsident Jörg Ziercke stellte am Donnerstag in Wiesbaden klar, dass das Signal des BKA lauten müsse: Das Internet ist kein rechtsfreier Raum. Seit zwei Jahren unterhält das Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) ein Zentrum mit 60 Mitarbeitern, die sich ausschließlich mit
(Ireland On-Line) An Irish database of child pornography, which helped catch scores of paedophiles around the world, has found its perfect home at Interpol. The hefty database was transferred a few months ago from its base in University College Cork to the international police organisation Interpol?s offices in France, where European and international police forces can access the acclaimed library. Interpol has taken over funding the Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe (COPINE) project. COPINE, headed by Professor Max Taylor, has catalogued hundreds of thousands of important images since it was first set-up in 1998 at UCC as an EU funded project.
(Findlaw) Phishing is a particularly pernicious type of Internet identity theft scam - one that involves fraudulently copying legitimate businesses' emails and websites in an attempt to extract information from the business's customers on false pretenses. U. Washington law professor Anita Ramasastry explores the current federal laws - and the proposed new federal law - that could be applied to address the phenomenon of "phishing.
(BBC) The UK's advertising watchdog has waded into the debate over what exactly constitutes broadband. The Advertising Standards Association (ASA) ruled that net provider Wanadoo could not use the phrase 'full speed' in ads for its 512Kbps service. The watchdog said it would mislead consumers into thinking this was the fastest internet connection available.
(Out-law.com) The UK Office of Fair Trading has taken action against a businessman who was sending bogus data protection "registration" demands. The official-looking notices used a logo similar to the Information Commissioner's. The mailings misled the businesses receiving them to believe that they were under a legal obligation to register with the sender immediately at a cost of £49.
(BBC) The regulation of premium rate, 090, phone services is to be reviewed by the communications watchdog Ofcom, in an attempt to cut fraudulent activity. Of particular concern recently has been the rise in complaints to the premium rate watchdog, Icstis, about rogue internet diallers. These automatically change a user's net provider, dialling up a premium rate number when they next go online.
(Australian IT) All Austrakian internet service providers would be forced to block hard-core pornography reaching home computers under a radical plan to protect children being pushed by federal Labor MPs. Mark Latham's office is understood to have shown "strong interests" in controls that would automatically filter out violent pornography such as images of rape, torture, bestiality and coprophilia. A confidential paper from the left-wing think tank the Australia Institute, which is now being considered by the Opposition Leader's office, proposes that ISPs install compulsory filtering programs so only adults who can verify their age could view X-rated material.
(Reuters) China is working with its top two search engines to crack down on Internet pornography by restricting the use of keywords, Xinhua news agency says. A recent survey of Internet use in China showed that 70 per cent of surfers used Chinese search engines such as Baidu and 3721 and U.S.-based Google Inc to look for information. Baidu has barred 40,000 keywords. China began its crackdown on porn sites in mid-July and closed 700 Web sites in the first 10 days of the campaign.
(Reporters sans frontières) Reporters Without Borders voiced concern about increased efforts by the Iranian authorities to gag the Internet, including the trial of a theology student at the end of July for a message posted on a news website and a proposed law that would throttle online dissent.
(Institut für Urheber- und Medienrecht) Drei Folgen der MTV-Show »I want a famous face« und eine Ausgabe der RTL II-Sendung »Big Brother« verstoßen nach Ansicht der Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (KJM) gegen den Jugendschutz. Die Kommission hat laut Pressemitteilung nach einer Prüfung festgestellt, dass die Sendungen geeignet sind, die Entwicklung von Kindern oder Jugendlichen zu beeinträchtigen. Als Konsequenz legte die KJM Sendezeitbeschränkung von 22.00 Uhr bzw. 23.00 Uhr für den Fall einer Wiederholung fest. Die Entscheidungen beruhen auf dem Grundsatzbeschluss der Kommission vom 27. Juli, wonach TV-Formate, die Schönheitsoperationen zu Unterhaltungszwecken thematisieren, grundsätzlich nicht vor 23.00 Uhr gezeigt werden dürfen. Weiter bemängelte die KJM, dass es trotz der frühen Einbindung der Freiwilligen Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen (FSF) zu der Ausstrahlung derartiger Formate vor 22.00 Uhr gekommen sei. Mit der Freigabe habe die Selbstkontrolleinrichtung die rechtlichen Grenzen des Beurteilungsspielraums überschritten. Die Kommission kündigte ein Gespräch mit der FSF an, in dem die Prüfmaßstäbe für Unterhaltungsformate zum Thema Schönheitsoperationen erörtert werden sollen.
(Korea Times) The Korean government will implement a set of comprehensive and systematic measures to prevent illegal harmful information from reaching juveniles. The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) plans to further fortify technological power for filtering noxious images and text flowing through Peer-to-peer (P2P) sites. It will also strengthen monitoring of cyber communities, including those for suicide, and P2P sites from next month.
(Reuters) Communist Vietnam, which tightly controls access to the Internet within its borders, has formed a special police unit to investigate online crime and curb distribution of banned publications in cyberspace. The Southeast Asian country jailed three dissidents last month who had distributed criticism of Vietnam's political system on the Internet. Hanoi has formed a police force to combat online fraud, 'cheating or gambling via the Internet, and saving and distributing banned publications on the Internet'.
(RAPID) Member States should continue to promote open and interoperable standards for interactive digital TV - including the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) standard - on a voluntary basis, says the European Commission in a new Communication on the interoperability of interactive digital TV. There is no clear case for imposing technical standards at present, but the issue should be reviewed again in 2005. Proposals made by the Commission include setting up a Member State group on MHP implementation, confirming that Member States can offer consumer subsidies for interactive TV receivers - subject to state aid rules - and monitoring access to proprietary digital interactive TV applications.
(RAPID) The Commission is reviewing legislation on copyright and related rights. The review is aimed at updating the legislative framework in the field of copyright and related rights, increasing its consistency and also simplifying the provisions. In addition, there is a need to analyse whether this framework still contains shortcomings which have a negative impact on the functioning of the Internal Market. In this case, additional harmonisation measures may have to be envisaged. It has launched a consultation of all interested parties on the basis of a working paper. Commission working paper. All interested parties are invited to send their comments on the working paper before 31 October 2004,
(Economist) Scientific publishing is having to change rapidly to respond to growing pressure for free access to published research. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee told the British government that the country's universities should be required to ensure that all their research papers are available free online, and that government-funded research grants ought to include free access to the findings a condition of the awards. In October 2003, the leading research associations of Germany, France and Switzerland signed what has become known as the "Berlin Declaration" - another call for free access to research findings. One of the groups behind the declaration, Germany's Max Planck Society, is now changing its employment contracts to require staff to return the copyright of their work to the society. At the moment it gets assigned to the publishers.
(La vie du net) Le gouvernement belge entend, dès la rentrée, durcir la lutte contre les atteintes à la propriété intellectuelle. Deux avant-projets de loi sont en préparation au cabinet du ministre de l'Economie, Marc Verwilghen, révélait « L'Echo » ce mardi. En ligne de mire : les pirates de logiciels, de jeux vidéo, de CD et DVD mais aussi les contrefacteurs de vêtements, bijoux... Le premier de ces avant-projets porte sur les aspects civils de la lutte antipiratage et vise à faciliter la vie des plaignants et de l'ensemble de l'appareil judiciaire. Le plaignant pourra, par exemple, éviter des lenteurs en demandant une action en cessation devant le tribunal de commerce et non plus devant le tribunal de première instance, explique le cabinet Verwilghen.
(The Register) by Monika Ermert. The German version of the alternative license system Creative Commons was formally launched during the third Wizard of OS conference in Berlin. Larry Lessig, Stanford Law School Professor and Creative Commons wizard, presented the license as a simple idea to mark content with freedoms bestowed upon users by authors - in contrast to the trend of ever stricter copyright regimes.
(BBC) A total of 57 people have been arrested in a weekend operation targeting music, film and computer game piracy. Anti-fraud investigators swooped on a number of markets and car boot sales in the UK last weekend, netting over half a million pounds worth of DVDs and CDs.
(Luchtzak Aviation) The High Court has ruled that easyJet did not infringe the airline reservation software copyright of Navitaire, a US-based company that is part of Accenture. The case was brought by Navitaire, which had previously supplied airline reservations software to easyJet, after the airline had developed its own reservations software. In an important precedent for the UK software industry, Judge Pumphrey ruled that allowing the "business logic" to be protected by literary copyright was an unjustifiable extension of copyright protection.
(BBC) A campaign is under way to protect music copyrights due to expire on 50-year-old records by Elvis Presley and other rock legends. The UK music industry has begun the fight over a legal loophole on royalty payments. Starting on 1 January 2005, copies of songs can be issued in Europe 50 years after their release without the need for payments to copyright owners. It could affect records by Chuck Berry, James Brown - and by 2013, The Beatles.
(CNET News.com) The Congressional Budget Office released a new study on digital copyright issues, outlining economic problems that Congress should keep in mind as it grapples with making new laws. While stopping short of specific legislative recommendations, the paper offers a set of principles for lawmakers that's largely focused on avoiding being tied too closely to past practices or to the interests of powerful companies or consumer groups.
(EFF) The FCC is considering whether to impose a "broadcast flag" content protection scheme on digital broadcast radio. The RIAA is pushing for the flag, which would impose FCC technology mandates on all future digital radio receivers. Apparently, the MPAA's success in getting preemptive FCC regulation of next generation televisions emboldened the RIAA to seek a similar regime for digital radio. EFF has filed two sets of comments on this issue. Now, you may be wondering why we care about this little FCC backwater proceeding. After all, nobody has an HD Radio yet. The format might not even succeed. So who cares? Well, in their latest comments, Disney let slip what this is all about: In addition, to the extent the Commission considers such a content protection mechanism, it should also consider whether to extend that mechanism to all music distribution platforms, including satellite digital audio radio service, the Internet and broadcast radio service.
(Wired) JibJab, a small animation site, is running an animation that mocks President Bush and his Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry. The wildly popular cartoon may be goofy, but the legal wrangling about it is becoming a serious and important test of artists' fair-use rights in the digital age. The free This Land Flash-animated cartoon is set to the melody of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land.' With the exception of two lines, all of the lyrics have been changed to mock Bush, the 'right-wing nut job,' and Kerry, the 'liberal wiener.'" Ludlow Music, which owns Guthrie's copyright to the song, threatened to sue JibJab Media, which created the animation. But attorneys for JibJab struck first, filing a lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court in Northern California that asks a judge to declare that This Land does not violate copyright.
(BBC) A US software firm which developed a program to copy PC games and DVDs has collapsed after repeated legal action from film and software bodies. 321 Studios said that despite 'best efforts', three federal court rulings against it had killed off the firm. The company had defended its program, saying it was meant to let people innocently back-up DVDs and games. Its programs, DVD X Copy and Games X Copy, worked by getting around copy protection codes.
(New York Times) Acacia Research holds five U.S. patents covering streaming video and audio. It is demanding licensing fees fromfinancial and educational institutions and news organizations, including the New York Times. In June, Acacia sued nine cable and satellite companies. In late July, it sent out more letters demanding licensing fees from educational organizations that offer Web-based classes.The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that is skeptical about the value to society of software patents, announced Acacia as winner of its "busting patents" competition, which sought nominations for the worst Internet-related patents.
Open source software
(Guardian) Munich's plan to move its desktop PCs from Microsoft Windows to Linux by 2009 has apparently been called into question. In this case, however, 'apparently' means 'not really'. What we are actually seeing is an attack on the German government's love affair with software patents.
(Out-law.com) The City of Munich has stalled plans to put Linux on thousands of desktops, citing fears that a forthcoming European Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions could leave it exposed to litigation. Although the rollout is back on track, this was just the latest attack on one of Europe's most controversial Directives. But much of the criticism is unfounded, according to John Gray, a patent attorney with Glasgow-based patent and trade mark attorneys Fitzpatricks. Here, Gray presents his views on separating the facts from the fiction.
(InternetPolicy.net) The Swiss data protection authorities and several political parties have used a governmental consultation round to protest against a proposal to introduce a new sectoral ID number for persons, the SPIN law. According to the privacy authorities, the proposed law violates both constitutional and data protection principles. The new personal identification number would be sectoral and based on a central server within the federal justice department. But the sectors are not clearly defined or even analysed, thus violating the principle of proportionality.
(BBC) The UK could 'sleepwalk into a surveillance society' as a result of ID cards and other plans, the information commissioner Richard Thomas has warned. He is concerned about how much information will be collected and shared under the ID card plans. Mr Thomas is also concerned about plans for a population register and a database of every child."
(Wired News) The government is increasingly using corporations to do its surveillance work, allowing it to get around restrictions that protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans, according to a report released Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization that works to protect civil liberties. Data aggregators -- companies that aggregate information from numerous private and public databases -- and private companies that collect information about their customers are increasingly giving or selling data to the government to augment its surveillance capabilities and help it track the activities of people. see The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: How the American Government is Conscripting Businesses and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society and ACLU Press Release.
(Out-law.com) Mexico's tourist board has lost its attempt to seize control of the domain name Mexico.com from a telecoms company. Finding that the name was being used legitimately, an arbitration panel rebuked the tourist board for attempting to hijack the name.
(Register) Penguin Putnam's decision to rename one of its best-selling books could mean that one of the Net's oddest domain name battles may be drawing to a close. The dispute is odd because it is not over ownership of a domain name, but about its use as a book title. Penguin published a book by Katie Tarbox, in which she writes about how she was molested by a paedophile who she met online while he was posing as a teenage boy. Penguin decided to call the book Katie.com despite the fact that the domain itself had already been registered and belonged to Katie Jones. It says this was an oversight, and that the domain was brought to its attention after publishing. Jones' efforts to have the name of the book changed were unsuccessful, until last week, when Penguin Putnam announced that it is to rename Katie.com A Girl's Life Online.
(BBC) The UK government has started advertising on Google in order to tempt more visitors to its website. Directgov, the government's flagship website, was launched in March but has not attracted the numbers hoped for. The government is teaming up with paid-for listing providers, Google, Overture and Espotting, to draw attention to the site.
(CNET News.com) A new set of polls suggests that high-tech security experts have significantly less confidence in the security and accuracy of e-voting tools than does the public at large.
(New York Times) Now that computers are a staple in schools around the country, perhaps the machines should come with a warning label for teachers: 'Beware: Students may no longer hear a word you say.' Teachers have started to fight back. All agree that the best weapon against attention deficit is the same one that worked before the dawn of computers: strong teaching. But new strategies don't hurt, either. Some teachers have found, in fact, that the best defense against the distractions of technology is other technology. Here are five examples of teachers who are fighting fire with fire. see also In the Classroom, Web Logs Are the New Bulletin Boards.
(BBC) he government has given the green-light to internet-only pharmacies in England. The move follows a decision to ease the rules on where new pharmacies can be located. Under the plans, pharmacists opening in large shopping centres or for more than 100 hours a week will find it much easier to get a licence.
(BBC) A number of Finnish conscripts have had their full term of military service slashed because of their addiction to the internet. The Finnish Defence Forces say doctors have found some young men miss their computers too much to cope with the compulsory six months in the army.
(Reuters) Web sites are recommending unproven complementary medicines for cancer that could interfere with conventional treatments and be dangerous or deadly, a leading expert said. Prof. Edzard Ernst analyzed 32 Web sites and found many recommended treatments not supported by scientific evidence.
(CircleID) by Geert Lovink. This is the first part of a three-part series interview by Geert Lovink with Jeanette Hofmann, policy expert from Germany, where she talks about her experiences as a member of the ICANN's Nominating Committee and her current involvement as a civil society member of the German delegation for the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS).
(Ofcom Consumer Panel) The Ofcom Consumer Panel held its first meeting on 23 February 2004. We think it would be helpful if we report on how we have set about carving out our work in the first six months of our existence, so that all who are interested in how we are handling our remit can see where we have got to. In future years we will report at least once a year. In terms of accountability we hope that the development of our website (www.ofcomconsumerpanel.org.uk) will enable everyone on whose behalf we are working to get a continuous view of what our priorities are and how we handle them as we go through the year. Accompanying this report are annexes, which set out: * who we are and our relationship with Ofcom ? annex 1; * how we decided to work at the outset ? our Statement of Intent ? annex 2; * the workstreams we are currently pursuing ? annex 3; * our consumer research spec ? annex 4; and * contact details ? annex 5.
(Harvard Law School) Berkman Briefings. A call to action went out: a small, California-based organization called People for Internet Responsibility (PFIR) posted an announcement for an urgent conference ? Preventing the Internet Meltdown. The meltdown that PFIR envisioned was not an impending technical malfunction or enemy attack. Instead, conference organizers foresaw "risks of imminent disruption" to the Internet that would come from an unlikely sector: government officials and bureaucrats working on the unglamorous-sounding problems of Internet Governance.
(CircleID) The United Nations Secretary-General has appointed Markus Kummer to head the Secretariat that will support the future Working Group on Internet Governance. Mr Kummer is a Swiss career diplomat. He chaired the negotiating group that developed an agreed text on Internet governance for the WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action in December 2003. his future working group is to report to the second phase of WSIS, to be held in Tunis in 2005. Mr Kummer says: "The time-frame is very short indeed. And the task ahead of us is daunting."
(Heise) Der dreijährige Streit um die aktuelle Version der Telekommunikations-Überwachungsverordnung (TKÜV) steckt den betroffenen TK-Unternehmen, Wirtschaftsverbänden und Datenschützern noch fest in allen Gliedern -- da legt das Bundeswirtschaftsministerium schon wieder kräftig Zündstoff nach. Laut einem neuen Entwurf für das umkämpfte Paragrafenwerk, der heise online vorliegt, sollen die Betreiber öffentlicher Telekommunikationsanlagen nebst Internet-Providern künftig zum Abhören sämtlicher TK-Kennungen verdonnert werden. Das Spektrum würde demnach von IP-Adressen über Handy-Gerätenummern anhand der IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) bis zu kompletten Funkzellen oder WLAN-Hotpots reichen. Zudem will das Wirtschaftsministerium auf Betreiben des Justizressorts die Auslandsüberwachung ausweiten.
(LawMeme) by Rebecca Bolin. Notes from the Institute for Spam and Internet Public Policy (ISIPP) conference on spam, the International Spam Law and Policies: The Global Case. see also Spam Laws Worldwide Index.
(CircleID) by John Levine. A common approach to the spam problem is to divide it into the authentication problem and the introduction problem. The authentication problem involves ensuring whoever claims to have sent an e-mail message really did send it. Authentication has gotten a lot of attention. While it's far from solved, it's fairly well understood. The introduction problem involves vetting mail from people who haven't written before. A lot of anti-spam proposals turn out really to be introduction proposals. While some of these proposals are quite clever, and some of them are plausible solutions to the introduction problem, none of them solve the spam problem, because the introduction problem is not the spam problem.
(Toronto Star) by Michael Geist. Canadian policy makers and parliamentarians should adopt a notice and takedown system that respects the rights of copyright holders, the privacy rights of users, the fairness of court review, and the need to appropriately limit the burden placed on ISPs. Such a system would be characterized by a four-step process. First, a copyright holder, having exercised appropriate due diligence in confirming an alleged infringement, sends a notice to the ISP. Second, the ISP promptly notifies its customer of the allegation and leaves it to the customer to voluntarily take down the content. Third, if the customer refuses to take down the content, the copyright holder applies to a Canadian court to order its removal. The ISP serves as a conduit to ensure that the subscriber is aware of the court proceeding and can challenge if desired. Fourth, if the court issues an order, the ISP responds to the order by taking down the content. This notice and takedown approach would provide copyright holders with an efficient mechanism for removing infringing content. It would also ensure respect for subscriber privacy and free speech rights, while granting ISPs limited liability.
(BBC) Fans of file-sharing have been handed a significant victory by a US court. Federal appeal court judges have ruled that the makers of peer-to-peer software are not responsible for what users do with their network. They said the structure of the networks made it impossible for the system's creators to exert control over users. MGM v. Grokster. The Court held that distributors of peer-to-peer file-sharing computer networking software were not liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement by users. [Ed: good non-technical description of P2P].
(CNET News.com) Some gambling ads on Google, Yahoo and other major Web sites are illegal in California, according to a lawsuit which alleges that the companies sell rights to Web advertisements based on searches for terms such as 'illegal gambling,' 'Internet gambling' and 'California gambling.' The lawsuit demands that the companies stop accepting the advertisements and give California 'millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains'.
(Reuters) American state prosecutors have urged Internet file-swapping networks to take greater responsibility for the copyrighted music, pornography and computer viruses transmitted with their software. Attorneys general for 45 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands said 'peer to peer' networks like eDonkey and Blubster should improve pornography filters, strip out 'adware' that tracks user activity and do a better job of warning their users about online risks.
(BBC) A California lawyer has filed a potential class action lawsuit against the internet search company Yahoo. Stephen Galton says he was subject to a 'barrage of harassing, defamatory and abusive messages' from anonymous users on a Yahoo message board.
(ITU) The ITU Strategy and Policy Unit will soon release a new publication examining the emergence of high-speed wireless Internet access together with the proliferation of portable devices entitled The Portable Internet, the sixth in its series of 'ITU Internet Reports' originally launched in 1997. This new report will be released in conjunction with ITU TELECOM Asia 2004, to be held in Busan (Republic of Korea) from 7 to 11 September 2004.
(OpenNet Initiative) ONI conducted a research probe into the practice of search engine filtering in China, with a focus on Baidu.com and Yisou.com, two popular Chinese search engines. Our probe concludes that the Yisou and Baidu search engines are indeed actively filtering keyword search requests and that searches for certain keywords are sometimes obstructed by China's gateway filtering.
(ZDNet UK) Microsoft is urging Web designers to take more responsibility for content filtering, after forming a partnership with ICRA (the Internet Content Rating Association). The software giant is incorporating support for ICRA's Web site blocker Meta tags into its FrontPage 2003 software. The partnership has been welcomed by child protection agencies, who hope designers will use it to make the Internet a safer place. Microsoft incorwants Web designers to use content tagging. See also Press Release.
(CommsWatch) There have been some misunderstandings about how BT is using the database of the Internet Watch Foundation for the company's "Operation Cleanfeed" which blocks access to child abuse images by retail customers of BT Internet service. So it's helpful that the IWF has now published a set of questions and answers about its database, how it is compiled and how it is used.
(NetAlert) NetAlert CyberSafe Schools is an Internet safety program designed to help teachers empower students on safe use of the Internet. NetAlert CyberSafe Schools provides a range of teaching materials to assist in educating students effectively on Internet safety. Find out more about the program, discover the importance of Internet safety in schools or download the teaching materials now!
(NetAlert) The top Internet fears facing Australian parents are the safety of their children online, pornography and their own need for better education. These are the findings of research from two organisations who have joined forces to tackle the issue of online child safety, NetAlert, the Internet education and safety advisory body and ninemsn, a 50:50 joint venture between Microsoft and Australian media company, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL). Together they will develop a co-branded website that will launch in early October, on the ninemsn network. The website will provide Internet safety and child protection information to the seven million parents and children who visit ninemsn each month. NetAlert and ninemsn will also work together on further research into Internet use and behaviours, and online safety technologies.
(ECP.NL) The KWINT (Kwetsbaarheid op Internet or Vulnerability on the Internet) program has developed a brochure 'A safer internet for all'. Issues addressed in the brochure are the continuity of the internet in the Netherlands, cyber crime, transparency of the internet, information security, authentication and international developments. The brochure aims at anyone who is involved in the subject 'internet safety' within the governmental, corporate and social sectors. It especially aims at those who are responsible for the policy on internet safety and/or work on creating a safer internet. The program resulted from the government policy document 'Kwetsbaarheid op Internet' and is an initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. (Text from the ECP.NL newsletter - free subscription but not available on line).
(ZDNet UK) UK ISPs are adopting a code of practice that will enable them to shut down e-commerce sites found to have sent spam, regardless of how and from where the spam was sent. At an extraordinary general meeting of the London Internet Exchange (LINX), which handles more than 90 percent of the UK's Internet traffic, 150 member ISPs agreed on a set of measures designed to close a loophole in the current system. The LINX initiative aims to tackle spammers who host their e-commerce Web sites with a reputable ISP while sending spam from another network. ISPs' anti-spam policies will now also target Web site owners even when the site owner uses a third party to send the spam itself. See LINX's Best Current Practice (BCP) document.
(vnunet.com) DSL customers should find it easier to switch broadband providers, after a group of internet service providers signed up to a voluntary code of practice. Under the code, ISPs will do all they can to minimise the delays and disruption many broadband customers currently face when migrating from one service provider to another. The 16 ISPs which have signed up to the code account for approximately 70 per cent of the ADSL market, and more are expected to join.
(Economist) How humans harness electromagnetic waves - and specifically those in the radio-frequency part of the spectrum - has become so important that old and new ways of thinking are now lining up for a tense confrontation that will affect numerous businesses and billions of consumers. The old mindset, supported by over a century of technological experience and 70 years of regulatory habit, views spectrum - the range of frequencies, or wavelengths, at which electromagnetic waves vibrate - as a scarce resource that must be allocated by governments or bought and sold like property. The new school, pointing to cutting-edge technologies, says that spectrum is by nature abundant and that allocating, buying or selling parts of it will one day seem as illogical as, say, apportioning or selling sound waves to people who would like to have a conversation.
(vnunet.com) The BBC will this week begin its first widespread use of live broadband internet broadcasting, for coverage of the Olympic Games. Home internet users will have access to more than 1,200 hours of live coverage from the Games, with five broadband streams broadcasting exclusive events as well as normal TV programming. Specialist software known as Geo-IP, from supplier Quova, will be used to ensure programmes can only be viewed in the UK. Multicasting will help the BBC reduce costs by sending out content to distributed servers and ISPs once, allowing many recipients to access content from the same source. Using geographic analysis of cache and computer proxies, as well as ISP records, the BBC will also use Geo-IP for future streaming projects where it wants to differentiate programming by territory.
(Washington Post) When Jessica Cutler put her dirty secrets on the Web, she lost her job, signed a book deal, posed for Playboy - and raised a ton of questions about where America is headed.
(vnunet.com) ISPs have reacted with anger to a surprise price hike on some of BT's broadband products, even claiming that it could put some of them out of business. From 1 September the price of BT's wholesale IPStream Office services will increase by between £2 and £14 per month, excluding VAT. The telco blamed the rise on regulatory pressures from Ofcom over price margins. Ofcom stated: "We are not going to pass any comment until we publish our statement on the review of wholesale broadband access". "BT has taken a commercial decision in advance of publication of our statement. Our focus is on sustainable competitiveness and one issue is the price margin between IPStream and DataStream."
(Economist) After a series of mistakes and unforeseen problems, Google got its widely watched share offering back on track this week. But it has had to cut the price sharply, lopping billions off the company?s implied value. Were the internet-search firm's founders just a bit too greedy? Google makes most of its money from so-called sponsored links - discreet ads that come up with any search - and can do so because of its lead in search traffic and technology. But that lead is under threat.
(Silicon.com) Microsoft's lack of multicultural savvy cost the Redmond behemoth millions of dollars. The software giant has seen its products banned in some of the biggest markets on earth--and it's all because of eight wrongly colored pixels, a dodgy choice of music and a bad English-to-Spanish dictionary. Speaking at the International Geographical Union congress in Glasgow, Microsoft's top man in its geopolitical strategy team, Tom Edwards, revealed how one of the biggest companies in the world managed to offend one of the biggest countries in the world with a software slip-up.
(BBC) Software to allow security officials to better search and translate documents in foreign languages, especially Arabic, has been demonstrated at a technology show in Las Vegas.
(PC Magazne) Parents need to protect their kids online. For this story, we tested many types of parental-control tools. We reviewed seven traditional Web-filtering apps, which remain the most popular first line of defense in protecting children from accessing inappropriate content on the Web. We also tested ISPs that provide parental controls, as well as some that offer special browsers designed for children. We looked at two wireless routers that include filtering capabilities and other parental controls - an interesting solution if you have a home network. And we tested four monitoring applications; these apps provide the most aggressive approach, letting you view the sites your kids have visited, read their instant-messaging conversations, and review information about the applications they have used.
(Guardian) Digital Britain has arrived, for most of us at least. Over the past five years consumers have embraced an array of technologies that have placed Britain at the digital cutting edge. A catalogue of developments drawn up by the media regulator, Ofcom, shows that in every area, from home entertainment to telecoms, homes and businesses are signing up to digital in droves. But the advances in technology mean the balance of financial power is shifting: Ofcom's report shows that income from subscriptions to pay-TV services such as Sky Digital have outstripped advertising for the first time, setting a tough challenge to advertiser-funded channels such as ITV; while revenue from mobile phones has overtaken that from residential fixed-line services for the first time.
(Consumer Panel Web site) The Ofcom Consumer Panel has commissioned large-scale market research project into the current small business and consumer experience of the communications market. This will be an annual survey to test changing consumer concerns year on year. The research will focus on the consumer experience of telecommunications (fixed and mobile), the internet (including broadband) and broadcasting - including digital switchover - and use of technology. The research is due to be completed by November 2004 with publication of full results due in January 2005.
(Press release) Ofcom has published The Communications Market 2004, its report on key trends within the radio, television and telecommunications sectors in 2003-4. The Communications Market report will be published annually. It collates data from numerous sources including Ofcom's own research and provides an interpretation of emerging trends within each sector as well as an analysis of new developments common to the communications market as a whole.
(Pew Internet & American Life Project) The vast majority of American Internet users say the Internet plays a role in their daily routines and that the rhythm of their everyday lives would be affected if they could no longer go online. Yet, despite its great popularity and allure, the Internet still plays second fiddle to old-fashioned habits. See The Internet and Daily Life.
(Pew Internet & American Life Project) Search engines have become an essential and popular way for people to find information online. A nationwide phone survey of Internet users shows that 84% of online Americans have used search engines. On any given day online, more than half those using the Internet use search engines. And more than two-thirds of Internet users say they use search engines at least a couple of times per week.
(ZDNet) IM restores that rapid-fire pungency e-mail used to have, an electronic version of someone sticking their head in your office door.
(OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media: Conference on Date: 27 - 28 August 2004. Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The conference is a follow-up to the 2003 Amsterdam Internet Conference. More than 20 international experts will lecture. Interested representatives from IGOs, NGOs, academia, media and industry are invited to attend. Eventually a "Freedom of the Media - Internet Cookbook" with best practices and benchmarks for Internet legislation, regulation and education will be produced and published at end of this year.
(OECD) 2nd OECD Workshop on Spam - Busan, Korea - 8-9 September 2004. The OECD's 2nd Workshop on Spam is being hosted by the Ministry of Information and Communication, Korea. It will be held in Busan, Korea on 8-9 September 2004. The objective of the workshop will be to build on the results of the Brussels Workshop on Spam, held on 2-3 February 2004, and attempt to deepen this work and explore some of the issues and problems in greater detail. Participants will: Consider the next steps in developing an "OECD Anti-spam Toolkit". Examine network management solutions to reduce spam. Examine the use of authentication and technical tools to reduce spam. Consider best practice and technical tools to reduce mobile spam and instant messaging spam. Consider how to improve co-operation with Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies and non-OECD countries in general.
(OII) Date: 9 Sep 12:30-14:00 Location: Oxford Internet Institute, 1 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3JS Attendance: This event is open to the public. If you wish to attend, please register your name with the Events Office. Discussion of Internet governance has been shaped by three myths; that the market can decide, that the Internet is different to "legacy" media and that national governance is unimportant. The author challenges these three myths and argues that contemporary, well functioning, arrangements may be unstable requiring stronger hierarchical governance in the future.
(Public Voice Symposium) September 13, 2004. Wroclaw, Poland. This conference aims to provide an opportunity for civil society leaders and academic experts, particularly in the New European Union Member States, to meet with European data protection authorities and to explore emerging challenges to the protection of personal privacy. The event will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the International Conference on Privacy and Data Protection Commissioners.
(DDM) Le groupe de contact des acteurs de la lutte contre le « spam » Conférences-débats. 16 septembre 2004 - Deuxième conférence. Réagir face au "spam" : se plaindre ou porter plainte. De 9h à 13h à la Direction du développement des médias, 69 rue de Varenne, 75007 Paris. Appuyé sur l'avancement des travaux du groupe de travail consacré aux plaintes et sanctions piloté par la CNIL et des retours d'expérience, ce thème contribuera à clarifier les conditions nécessaires au dépôt de plaintes par les utilisateurs, à la lumière du nouveau paysage législatif français. Il apportera en outre des éléments d'information techniques relatifs au mode d'identification des "spammeurs" par les utilisateurs et par les autorités en charge de leur poursuite.
(Forum des droits sur l'internet) Mardi 28 septembre 2004 au Palais du Luxembourg - salle Clemenceau. Ce colloque est l'aboutissement des travaux menés par le Forum des droits sur l'internet depuis juin 2003 (Groupe de réflexion 'Propriété intellectuelle et Peer-to-Peer'). Accueilli par le Sénat, il apportera ses enseignements aux parlementaires qui vont débattre, à la rentrée, des questions liées à la protection de la propriété littéraire et artistique dans la société de l'information. Enfin, cette manifestation s'inscrit dans le processus de concertation mis en place par le Ministre de l´économie et des finances, le Ministre de la culture et de la communication ainsi que le Ministre délégué à l´industrie le 15 juillet dernier.
(INDICARE) This workshop will bring together high-level experts from industry, academia and policy to discuss the chances and challenges of the newly emerging mobile music market and the role of DRM solutions. The conference will have an interdisciplinary approach with a focus on business models and market developments. Special attention will be paid to consumer issues - in particular the acceptability of new mobile music services by consumers.
(Harvard Law School) Are information and communication technologies transforming politics? The purpose of this conference is to take a hard, skeptical, results-oriented look at the election in 2004 as well as the many issue-based campaigns, emerging business models, and new technologies that affect and comprise ?politics? online and off. Key topics include: electoral politics; issue campaigns, including NGOs and labor organizing; business; and international development. This conference is the fifth in the biennial Internet & Society series.
(RAPID) Portfolio Responsibilities of the Barroso Commission. Viviane REDING, Commissioner for Information Society and Media. Responsible for: Information Society, Audiovisual Policy, Coordination of Media Affairs. Information Society DG adding: Audiovisual policy and Media programme Units from DG EAC Agencies: ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency). Also Günter VERHEUGEN, Vice President, Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry. Enterprise and Industry (renamed), adding: Space (from DG RTD), Security-related research (from DG INFSO/RTD). Rocco BUTTIGLIONE, Vice President Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security. Justice, Freedom and Security DG (renamed) Agencies: EUMC (European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia), will be combined with Fundamental Rights. Charlie McCREEVY Commissioner for Internal Market and Services; Internal Market and services DG (renamed) adding: management of notifications by MS of draft rules on services from ENTR DG Agencies: OHIM (Office for the Harmonisation of the Internal Market - Trade Marks and designs). Markos KYPRIANOU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection.
(EuroISPA) The current newsletter - Issue 5 - deals with Safer Internet. With special articles from Stephen Balkam, CEO of ICRA, and Cormac Callanan, Secretary-General for INHOPE. Our EuroISPA member article, The three pillars of child protection on the 'Net', comes from ISPA UK. (Registration required to receive the current newsletter). See also Issue 4 - eCommerce Contribution by Meelis Atonen, Minister for Economic Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Estonia, and articles from NLIP and Amazon.com. Issue 3 - Trust & Security contribution by Herwig Schlögl, Deputy Secretary General of the OECD and articles from ISPA UK and eBay. Issue 2 - Spam. contribution from Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society and articles from ISPA Austria and Microsoft. Issue 1 - eEurope. Including an exclusive interview with Ján Figel', Slovakian European Commissioner designate twinned with the Information Society and Enterprise Commissioner, and articles from ECO and Cable & Wireless.
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