Legal and regulatory issues

Computer crime

• IJCLP Special Issue on Cybercrime  +/-

  (IJCLP) The International Journal of Communications Law and Policy and the Yale Journal of Law and Technology present Issue 9 on Cybercrime which will be published in two parts.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• Copying, content and communism  +/-

  (BBC) Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect, has been talking about the digital future. The other Bill, technology critic Bill Thompson, has been reading between the lines. Bill Gates thinks I'm a communist. Not the old-fashioned state socialist, but a 'new modern-day sort of communist', the sort who 'want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and movie-makers and software makers'. He clearly thinks that those of us who are concerned about the restrictions on creativity placed in our way by the extension of intellectual property law, and those who oppose software patents, pose a serious danger to the US economy and Microsoft's profitability.

• EU - Not-so-golden oldies  +/-

  (Economist) Over the next few decades a torrent of the most popular tracks from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and many other artists will become public property in Europe, to the pleasure of fans and the consternation of the music industry. Music executives want the European Commission to protect them from unwelcome competition by extending the copyright term. Artists have rallied to the cause: Sir Cliff Richard, U2, Status Quo and Charles Aznavour all want the 50-year limit increased. The music industry points out that America gives artists almost twice as much copyright protection as Europe. America has repeatedly lengthened copyright terms, now giving performers protection for 95 years after publication.

• Online Groups Brag About Movie Piracy  +/-

  (AP) In not-too-secret online forums, Wesley Snipes' latest movie, 'Blade: Trinity,' is the subject of intense discussion and evaluation. But unlike typical movie fan sites, the chatter from visitors to Web sites like VCDQuality.com doesn't key on the vampire film's plot, acting or bloody visual effects. Instead, computer users dish out praise or criticism on the caliber of video and sound achieved by online groups whose sole mission is to make available unauthorized copies of Hollywood films within a day or two of a movie's debut, if not before.

• US - Copyright and Digital Media in a Post-Napster World  +/-

  (Harvard Law School) Berkman Center for Internet & Society. The Digital Media Project released a new report assessing how the digitization of music and movies has transformed not only businesses but copyright law and the idea of intellectual property. The report updates a whitepaper, released originally in 2003, to reflect major areas of change. In addition to new lawsuits and proposed legislation, one of the major developments since 2003 lies in international policy changes. The White Paper includes an International Supplement that offers an overview of the most fundamental shifts.

• US - Software firms want copyright law rewrite  +/-

  (CNET News.com) by Declan McCullagh. A group of large software companies has taken the first step toward a tussle with the telecommunications industry by asking Congress to rewrite copyright law so alleged Internet pirates can be more easily targeted by lawsuits. The Business Software Alliance, counts as members Microsoft, Autodesk, Borland, Intuit, Sybase and Symantec, has released a white paper that effectively describes its legislative proposals for 2005. The companies say they fear a revenue-sapping future in which software programs are traded as frequently and readily on peer-to-peer networks as MP3 music files are today.

Data Protection (privacy)

• EU - Commission approves new standard clauses for data transfers to non-EU countries  +/-

  (RAPID) The European Commission has approved a new set of standard contractual clauses which businesses can use to ensure adequate safeguards when personal data is transferred from the EU to non-EU countries. The new clauses, submitted by a business coalition, will be added to those already available under the Commission's June 2001 decision. Use of standard contractual clauses offers companies and other organisations a straightforward means of complying with their obligation, under the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive, to ensure "adequate protection" for personal data transferred outside the EU. See Model Contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries.

• EU - Proposal for a Regulation concerning the Visa Information System (VIS)  +/-

  (RAPID) The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Regulation concerning the Visa Information System (VIS) and the exchange of data between Member States on short-stay visas. The VIS will be a system for the exchange of visa data between Member States and thus primarily an instrument to support the common visa policy. The VIS shall be composed of a European central database, which will be connected to the national systems to enable consulates and other competent authorities of the Member States to enter and consult data on visa applications and the decisions taken thereto. The data to be processed in the VIS shall include alphanumeric data and photographs, but also fingerprint data of the applicants, to ensure exact verification and identification.

• UK Data protection fine for Special Constable  +/-

  (out-law.com) A Special Constable working for Dorset Police was fined £1,000 yesterday for using a police database to investigate people she knew, in breach of the UK's Data Protection Act.

Domain names

• ICANN partying like it's 1999  +/-

  (CNET News.com) by Declan McCullagh. It's been five years since Internet users had to worry about paying an extra $1 or so annual fee--akin to a tax--for each .com, .net or .org domain name they own. Now the international organization that oversees domain names has rediscovered the idea. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) believes it needs a fatter budget funded by domain name fees--and plans to start charging domain name owners in a process that will begin next year.

• VeriSign faces a fight to keep running .net  +/-

  (New York Times) The Internet's underpinnings will become a topic of debate when rival companies publicly bid to run .net, one of the Internet's most popular domains. This will be the first time that VeriSign's .net franchise will be challenged. While .net is not as ubiquitous as .com, it has more than five million registered domain names. So far, at least three companies in addition to VeriSign have indicated that they plan to compete for the franchise, which expires on June 30. They are NeuStar which runs .biz, and Afilias, which manages .info, and Denic, which manages Germany's eight million registered .de domain names.

e-Government

• EU - Margot Wallstrom gets trendy with blog  +/-

  (EurActiv) The Communications Commissioner has launched a 'my blog' section on her website giving her personal thoughts on recent developments. Her first comments focus on the tsunami disaster and her first working days under the Luxembourg Presidency but she also talks about her taste for Portuguese Fado and about the fact that she had put on weight during the Christmas break.

• UK - Freedom of Information Act now in force  +/-

  (out-law.com) The Freedom of Information Act came into full effect on New Year's Day, giving individuals for the first time the statutory right to see a massive amount of information held by Government departments and thousands of public bodies. People have a right to information about the way decisions are made, and public money is spent, by more than 100,000 public authorities, including Government departments, schools, NHS Trusts, police forces and local authorities. Anyone, of any nationality, and living anywhere in the world, will be able to make a written request for information, and expect a response within 20 working days. There will be no charge for requests which cost central government less than £600 to answer (£450 for the rest of the public sector).

Electronic commerce

• IM - Isle of Man changes gambling rules  +/-

  (New York Times) Reversing a four-year-old policy, the Isle of Man is now allowing Internet casinos based there to accept bets from American residents. The change, while affecting only a handful of Internet casinos, adds a wrinkle to an emerging trade battle between the United States and much of the world over Internet gambling.

Health

• Canada considers shutting down Internet prescription drug trade  +/-

  (AP) Internet sales of prescription drugs to U.S. consumers could be banned by Canada if a proposal being drafted by health officials is approved. The changes would essentially kill a $700 million industry that has become increasingly popular with underinsured patients in search of cheaper medicine. The issue has become touchy politically for President Bush, whose administration has argued that reimporting U.S.-made drugs from Canada would put consumers at risk because U.S. regulators could not guarantee their safety.

Hotlines

• CA - Internet child pornography tip-line to be launched  +/-

  (Globe and Mail) A national tip-line for reporting on-line child sexual exploitation will be officially launched in Canada. The project grew out of an on-line service created by Child Find Manitoba in September 2002. Called cybertip.ca, the Manitoba-based service was the first on-line service in Canada to report instances of child exploitation. The website collects complaints and incident reports about child sexual exploitation or luring on the Internet and forwards the most serious to appropriate law enforcement agencies.

Information society and Internet policy

• ITU - Council Working Group on WSIS & Internet Governance  +/-

  (ITU) The ITU Council Working Group on WSIS held a meeting on 13-14 December 2004 discussing ITU activities relevant to the World Summit on the Information Society. see input documents.

Junk mail (spam)

• US - Deal halts an Internet nuisance  +/-

  (Associated Press) Under an agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, a man known as the 'Spam King' will stop infecting computers with advertising programs until a federal lawsuit against him is resolved.

Mobile and wireless

• UK - Headsets Limit Radiation, Study Says  +/-

  (Cell Phone News) Results from a University of York study showed using hands-free headsets reduce cell phone radiation by as much as 47%. The study, part of the UK's Mobile Telecommunications Health Research program, concluded that radiation was cut by nearly half when using a wired hands-free kit running up from the torso, rather than directly talking on a phone against the head.

• UK - Kids phone pulled over safety concerns  +/-

  (The Register) A mobile phone targeted specifically at young children has been withdrawn from sale in the UK over safety fears. Communic8 Ltd, the distributor for the MYMO phone, pulled the product following concerns contained in an official report headed by the Government's radiation experts warning about the dangers faced by young children who use cellphones.

Security and encryption

• Microsoft Sends Shivers Through Antivirus Market  +/-

  (IDG News Service) The stocks of major antivirus software vendors dropped after Microsoft released beta anti-spyware technology and said it would begin giving away an improved tool to remove worms and viruses from its customers' computers. While the free antivirus and virus removal tools are not an immediate threat to the products from those companies, the releases could signal tougher times ahead for desktop security vendors, as Microsoft uses its size and influence to expand into markets now dominated by those companies. Microsoft Securit at Home page. see also Microsoft AntiSpyware First Impression (InsideMicrosoft - part of the Blog News Channel).

Telecommunications

• FR - Le coût du service universel fortement revu à la baisse  +/- Translate

  (ZDNet France) Contrainte par Bruxelles de revoir le calcul de la charge du service universel, l'ART a fixé la facture à 125 millions d'euros pour 2002 - contre 409 millions auparavant. France Télécom percevra 68 millions d'euros de compensation.

Market & Technology

Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology

• Gates taking a seat in your den  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Bill Gates is coming to your living room, whether you like it or not. Microsoft's chairman is setting the company on a course to provide software and tools that will allow different forms of entertainment to blend. Messaging will become a crucial part of Xenon, the code name for the next Xbox. Microsoft will also work with television outlets like the Discovery Channel and MTV Networks to create tools for delivering content, as well as advertising, into the home.

Mobile and wireless

• Barely legal? Strip poker hits Cingular phones  +/-

  (CNET News.com) A tepid version of strip poker for cell phones has debuted in the United States, and while there's no nudity - on the screen, at least - the game's distributor is preparing for complaints that it stretches the boundaries of good taste.

Portals, browsers and search engines

• Google aims to outsmart search tricksters  +/-

  (CNET News.com) by Stefanie Olsen. Google will introduce new technology controls to thwart people using blogs to manipulate rankings in its search results. Google plans to give publishers a new control, or tag, that they can insert onto a Web page to indicate that comments or links are not their own or of lesser value to the search engine. Called a 'no follow' tag, the control when placed before pages of blog comments will signal to Google as it indexes the Web that the pages are to be overlooked.

Rating and filtering

• Finding filters & other software  +/-

  (Net Family News) If they've decided to use filtering or monitoring software, busy parents usually want to know yesterday which one to buy. Some very credible sites specialize in picking the best and making your job much easier. GetNetWise.org gets the prize for comprehensiveness, with its database of just about all online-safety tools available. But the best sites for narrowing the choices down are Software4Parents and InternetFilterReview.com. A third, FilterGuide.com, offers a credible 3rd opinion.

Statistics

• Europe - Broadband to surge  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Nearly 72 million households in Europe will have broadband by 2010, according to projections by Forrester Research. This will amount to 41 percent penetration of the total population and 67 percent of those expected to be online that year, the market researcher said.

• Legal music downloads 'take off'  +/-

  (BBC) Sales of legally downloaded songs have shot up more than tenfold in 2004, with 200 million tracks bought online in the US and Europe in 12 months. The global music industry has hailed the increase as a sign the digital music market has 'taken off'. A million songs are now available to buy on legal sites, according to an International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) report. see also IFPI Press Release and Music industry scuppers pirates (Guardian).

• OECD - ICT access now widespread but laggard users risk new digital divide, warns OECD  +/-

  (OECD) Companies in OECD countries still mainly use the Internet for information search and provision, with only around one in five enabling clients to purchase their products online, according to the latest edition of the OECD's Information Technology Outlook. Although the volume of electronic business transactions is rising steadily, notably in the area of business-to-consumer e-commerce where small firms are increasingly active, gaps are visible in other sophisticated uses of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs).

Technology

• File-swappers ready new network  +/-

  (BBC) Legal attacks on websites that help people swap pirated films have forced the development of a system that could be harder to shut down. One site behind the success of the BitTorrent file-swapping system is producing its own software that avoids the pitfalls of the earlier program. A test version of the new Exeem program will be released in late January. But doubts remain about the new networks ability to ensure files being swapped are 'quality copies'.

Forthcoming events

• 2005-02-08 UK, London - Safer Internet Day conference  +/-

  (Internet Watch Foundation) The Cyberspace Research Unit (CRU) in partnership with the Home Secretary's Internet Task Force has organised a conference entitled 'Children and Young People's Use of Mobile Phones', which will take place in London, on February 8 2005. This UK event is being funded largely by the European Commission Safer Internet programme and similar activities to mark European Internet Safety Day will take place across Europe on February 8. Safer Internet Day represents an effort by a global community of awareness-raising partners to promote a safer Internet for all users, especially young people. Agenda.

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