Legal and regulatory issues

Audiovisual

• UK - BBC Charter Review Green Paper released  +/-

  (DCMS) The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has published the Green Paper on the future of the BBC. A few of the key proposals in the Green Paper: The abolition of the current board of Governors to be replaced by a new, transparent and accountable BBC Trust to oversee the corporation with ultimate responsibility for the licence fee and for making sure the BBC fulfils its public service obligations. The BBC to continue to be established by a Royal Charter, the next one should last for 10 years. Continuation of the licence fee at a level to be set in the future. A review of whether there is a case for other methods of funding the BBC, particularly subscription, before the end of the next Charter period.

Competition

• EU - BBC's online services 'under threat from EC'  +/-

  (Guardian) The European Commission is planning a frontal assault on public service broadcasters throughout Europe, including the BBC, and threatening them with a residual role as niche players in the digital multimedia era, German sources warned.

• EU reviews Microsoft's antitrust compliance  +/-

  (New York Times) The European Commission is consulting with the computer industry over the next week on whether Microsoft is complying with last March's antitrust ruling against the company, a commission spokesman said.

• EU to investigate iTunes costs in UK  +/-

  (Guardian) The European commission is starting an investigation into the pricing of Apple Computer's digital music service after consumers complained that downloading tracks was more expensive in the UK than other parts of Europe. Officials are investigating whether price differentials on iTunes between the UK and other countries such as France and Germany of up to 20% are unjust and amount to a breach of EU pricing regulations.

Computer crime

• FR - Pédo-pornographie et Pédophilie sur internet  +/- Translate

  (Forum des droits sur l'internet) Consacrée à la prévention et à la lutte contre la pédo-pornographie et la pédophilie sur l'internet, la recommandation publiée par le Forum des droits sur l'internet est le fruit de près d'un an de travaux d'un groupe de travail constitué de représentants des pouvoirs publics, des acteurs économiques et des associations concernés. Points clés de la Recommandation : Pédo-pornographie : un phénomène important et diffus sur internet. Pédophilie sur internet : un sujet de préoccupation, encore mal évalué. Principales mesures proposées : Pouvoirs publics : lancer une étude sur les risques encourus par les jeunes ; renforcer des moyens des services d'enquête ; constituer une base d'informations mutualisée entre services d'enquête ; sécuriser la situation juridique des enquêteurs ; renforcer la coopération internationale ; lancer une vaste campagne de sensibilisation du public. Fournisseurs d'accès à l'internet et de services en ligne : généraliser le lien "protection de l'enfance" et les meilleures pratiques ; encourager la vigilance des jeunes sur les services interactifs ; mettre en place un adulte référent sur les forums de discussion ; permettre le blocage des contacts indésirables sur les chats et la messagerie instantanée. Grand public : mobiliser les associations familiales pour responsabiliser davantage les parents.

• UK - Call for child porn users amnesty  +/-

  (BBC) Fewer users of internet child pornography should face court action, a child protection group has said. The Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS) wants to encourage otherwise low-risk offenders to confess and hand over their computers. The threat of court action discourages this - instead they could just be cautioned and placed on the sex offenders' register, CCPAS suggests.

Consumer protection

• EU - Unfair commercial practices: Parliament approval of new law  +/-

  (RAPID) The Commission has welcomed the vote by the European Parliament approving a new EU law to ban pressure selling and misleading marketing. The new legislation to harmonise Member States' rules on unfair commercial practices was proposed by the Commission in June 2003. It will clarify consumers' rights and facilitate cross-border trade by establishing common, EU-wide rules against aggressive or misleading business-to-consumer marketing. see also Questions and answers on the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.

• EU to outlaw phone lottery scams  +/-

  (BBC) Legislation to be voted through the European Parliament will make telephone lottery companies illegal throughout the EU. The legislation is targeted mainly at the UK, where the Office of Fair Trading has identified such scams as one of the country's top 10 frauds. Unwanted automated phone calls telling people taht they have won a prize if they return the call. But before they can claim anything, people are told to send money to pay for administration fees and taxes - and all, of course, for a prize that doesn't exist. The UK Office of Fair Trading believes the practice is netting fraudsters up to £150m a year.

Content regulation

• DE - Heftige Proteste gegen geplante Jugendschutzrichtlinien  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Die Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (KJM) stößt mit neue Vorgaben für Rundfunksender und Mediendienste im Internet größtenteils auf Ablehnung bei den Betroffenen. Mit dem Entwurf (PDF) für "gemeinsame Richtlinien der Landesmedienanstalten zur Gewährleistung des Schutzes der Menschenwürde und des Jugendschutzes" schießt das noch junge Aufsichtsgremium nach Ansicht von Kritikern weit über den selbst schon umstrittenen Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag (JMStV) hinaus. Dieser soll die Basis für die im Raum stehenden Bestimmungen bilden. Die Folge wäre laut Wirtschaftsverbänden eine enorme Rechtsunsicherheit im Markt sowie die Behinderung zahlreicher Online-Geschäftsmodelle.

• IR - Iran jails blogger for 14 years  +/-

  (BBC) An Iranian weblogger has been jailed for 14 years on charges of spying and aiding foreign counter-revolutionaries. Arash Sigarchi was arrested last month after using his blog to criticise the arrest of other online journalists.

• US - Attorney general says he will prosecute obscenity aggressively  +/-

  (AP) Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will move aggressively to prosecute obscenity cases, and he laid out a broader agenda much like that of his predecessor, John Ashcroft. In his first lengthy address since becoming attorney general in early February, Gonzales said people who distribute obscene materials do not enjoy constitutional guarantees of free speech.

• US - Senator wants cable, satellite decency standards  +/-

  (Reuters) Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens will push to apply broadcast decency standards to subscription television and radio services like cable and satellite. see also Michael Powell says the government had no interest in censoring satellite radio (CNet News.com).

Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology

• Broadcast TV and Broadband Video: Collision and Disruption  +/-

  (Breakthroo) The report examines the collision between broadcast TV and broadband video, and makes sense of: layers of convergence and fragmentation; disruptive innovations for scheduling and distributing video; de-centralised content and P2P networks; value chain structural changes, effects on incumbents, accelerating competition; trends in shifting of time, place and media, etc. see New report highlights... P2P reduces entry barriers for video distribution and enables de-centralised content (Ofcomwatch).

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• EU - Commission refuses to rewrite software patent directive  +/-

  (ZDNet UK) The European Commission (EC) has rejected requests to rewrite the Computer Implemented Inventions Directive (CIID), sparking a furious response from campaigners who accused the EC of acting undemocratically. An EC spokesman confirmed that the Commission had declined requests from the European Parliament to go back to basics on the CIID, which opponents claim will allow the widespread patenting of software in Europe.

Data Protection (privacy)

• EU - Commission opposes framework decision on data retention  +/-

  (EDRI-gram) According to an update about developments in the JHA Council given to the Dutch Parliament, the Commission wants to initiate a proper first pillar legal initiative, with full co-decision rights for the European Parliament rather than a framework decision on mandatory data retention in the third pillar. The draft framework decision on data retention was introduced in April 2004 by the governments of France, the UK, Ireland and Sweden.

Information society and Internet policy

• EU- I2010: How to make Europe's Information Society competitive  +/-

  (RAPID) Speech by Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media, eEurope Advisory Group, Brussels, 22 February 2005.

• UK - Europe crowned as Internet Villain  +/-

  (ZDNet UK) Europe was crowned as the Internet Villain for 2005 at the 7th Annual UK Internet Industry Awards, the ISPAs. Facing stiff competition from BT, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, Lycos and Carol Vordermann, the EU took the award for work that, said the ISPA judges, 'has threatened the 'Country of Origin' principle, which has encouraged e-commerce across the EU, and for the Draft Framework on Data Retention'.

• WSIS - PrepCom-2  +/-

  (WSIS) The second meeting of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom-2 of the Tunis phase) took place in Geneva (Switzerland) from 17-25 February 2005. Documents online include Draft Decision of PrepCom-2, Final Report, Report on the Work of the Sub-Committee, Political Chapeau and Operational Part, Compilations of comments.

• WSIS - Streit um zukünftige Rolle der ICANN bei der Internetverwaltung  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Für das Internet gibt es keine völkerrechtlichen Verträge, es funktioniere vielmehr in einem totalen rechtlichen Vakuum -- das beklagten bei der zweiten Vorbereitungskonferenz für den Weltgipfel der Informationsgesellschaft (WSIS) in Genf Vertreter mehrerer internationaler Regierungen. Brasilien erklärte, man sei bereit, beim kommenden Gipfel in Tunis Verhandlungen über einen völkerrechtlichen Vertrag zur Frage der Verwaltung des Internet zu starten. Zumindest in einem Punkt des Reizthemas globale Netzverwaltung herrscht inzwischen Einigkeit bei den in Genf versammelten Regierungsvertretern.

Interception

• IT - GSM provider warns: too many wiretaps  +/-

  (EDRI) The Italian mobile operator TIM, one of the largest mobile phone companies in Italy has issued a unique warning that the number of wiretaps has reached the limit. In a fax sent to all Italian public prosecutors they say that they have already over-stretched their capacity from 5.000 to 7.000 simultaneously intercepted mobile phones. New requests now have to be processed on a 'first come first serve' basis, they write.

Junk mail (spam)

• AU - Australia and China Sign Historic Agreement to Help Limit Spam  +/-

  (Press Releas) Representatives from the Australian Internet Industry Association (IIA) and the Internet Society of China (ISC) have signed an agreement to help manage spam. The signing ceremony formalises the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)between the associations to lessen spam traffic over the Internet. Giving immediate effect to the MoU, the IIA and ISC will hold a roundtable on March 1 to share technical and policy measures to limit the amount of spam originating from or passing through the two countries.

• EU and Asia unite against spam  +/-

  (RAPID) A joint drive to combat spam e-mail from Europe and Asia was agreed by Government participants attending an Asia-Europe (ASEM) conference on eCommerce, held in London on 21-22 February. In a joint statement on international anti-spam cooperation, ASEM's 25 European and 13 Asian member countries agree to take action to fight spam nationally and to promote anti-spam efforts in international organisations and by industry. ASEM members include China and South Korea, which are reportedly major sources of spam.

• IL - Microsoft strikes back at Israel's number 1 spammer  +/-

  (Haaretz) Microsoft Israel filed a lawsuit against a spammer, for the damage it claims the massive volume of e-mails he sent caused. The 30-year-old entrepreneur who is responsible for sending more than 50 percent of the unsolicited advertising e-mail messages in Israel (or 'junk mail' as its detractors call it) seemed eager for a fight.

• Spamming tool goes on the run  +/-

  (ZDNet UK) Months of pressure from anti-spam campaigners have paid off. Send-Safe.com, a service that helped spammers to send junk emails over the Internet was on the run after US telecoms giant MCI bowed to mounting pressure and stopped hosting it late.

• UK - International internet spring clean  +/-

  (Computeractive) The Office of Fair Trading has kicked off this year's annual 48-hour global assault on scammers infesting the internet. With the UK this year holding the presidency of the International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (ICPEN), the OFT organised the annual sweep of rogue traders on the internet. This year's annual spring clean targeted scammers as per usual but predominantly focused on how frauds are spread by spam. see Press Release.

• US - Woman's Spam Conviction Thrown Out  +/-

  (Washington Post) A Virginia state judge dismissed a North Carolina woman's conviction on felony spamming charges, saying there was insufficient evidence that she flooded tens of thousands of America Online e-mail accounts with unsolicited bulk advertisements. But the judge upheld the conviction of the woman's brother, who had been found guilty of the same crime. They were found guilty in November of three felony charges each for using false Internet addresses to send mass e-mail advertisements through an AOL server in Loudoun. Prosecutors said their felony convictions for spamming were the nation's first. The jury had recommended that Jaynes spend nine years in prison and that DeGroot pay $7,500 in fines for violating the anti-spam law.

Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law

• AU - ISPs face new child porn reporting obligations  +/-

  (ZDNet Australia) Internet service providers and content hosts will be required to report online child porn to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) from 1 March under amendments to the Criminal Code Act 1995. The Minister for Justice and Customs has written to all major ISPs to advise them of their new obligations. An ISP or Internet Content Host (ICH) will face penalties if they are made aware that their service can be used to access material they have reasonable grounds to believe is child pornography or child abuse material and they do not refer details of that material to the AFP within a reasonable time of becoming aware of the material's existence. It will also be a federal offence under the new provisions - carrying a penalty of 10 years' imprisonment - for a person to use a carriage service such as the Internet to access, transmit or make available child porn or child abuse material. supplementing existing state and territory laws.

• AU - New obligation for ISPs and ICHs to report child pornography and child abuse material  +/-

  (Attorney-General's Department) Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Internet Content Hosts (ICHs) will have an obligation to report material they have reasonable grounds to believe is child pornography or child abuse material to the Australian Federal Police (AFP), when amendments to the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Criminal Code) commence on 1 March 2005. See the full text of these amendments Crimes Legislation Amendment (Telecommunications Offences and Other Measures) Act (No 2) 2004.

Mobile and wireless

• UK - Tough rules for ringtone sellers  +/-

  (BBC) Firms that flout rules on how ringtones and other mobile extras are sold could be cut off from all UK phone networks. The rules allow offenders to be cut off if they do not let consumers know exactly what they get for their money and how to turn off the services. The first month under the new rules has seen at least ten firms suspended while they clean up the way they work. The rules have been brought in to ensure that the problems plaguing net users do not spread to mobile phones.

Multilingual content and software

• FR - Google book plan sparks war of words  +/-

  (Reuters) France's national library has raised a 'war cry' over plans by Google to put books from some of the world's great libraries on the Internet and wants to ensure the project does not lead to a domination of American ideas. Jean-Noel Jeanneney, who heads France's national library and is a noted historian, says Google's choice of works is likely to favor Anglo-Saxon ideas and the English language. He wants the European Union to balance this with its own program and its own Internet search engines.

Racism and xenophobia

• DE - Rechtsextremer Web-Content nimmt zu  +/- Translate

  (ZDNet.de) Eine Zunahme von volksverhetzenden und den Holocaust leugnenden Internet-Inhalten konstatiert die deutsche Wirtschaftsinitiative "no abuse im internet". Die Beschwerdestelle hat nach eigenen Angabe seit Jahresbeginn mehr Hinweise auf strafbare rechtsextreme, in Deutschland gehostete Websites erhalten als je zuvor. Hass-Propaganda verbreite sich überraschend vor allem durch am Markt etabliert Provider, obwohl die Inhalte gerade in der Bundesrepublik strafbar sind. Zusätzlich habe der Handel mit rechtsextremen Tonträgern auf Internet-Auktionshäusern zugenommen.

Rating and filtering

• UK - Surfcontrol integrates Internet Watch Foundation database  +/-

  (Press release) IWF member, SurfControl, a provider of Web and email filtering, has strengthened its zero tolerance approach to illegal online content by integrating the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) URL database into its consumer parental control software product CyberPatrol. The IWF URL database contains a list of Web sites that have been assessed by the IWF and confirmed to contain indecent images of children that would be illegal to view in the UK.

Safer Internet awareness

• DE - Broschüre informiert über Gefahren für Kinder beim Online-Chat  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Sexuelle Belästigung Minderjähriger in Chaträumen des Internet ist nach Angaben der Organisation jugendschutz.net an der Tagesordnung. Wie aus der Jugendschutzbroschüre "Chatten ohne Risiko?" hervorgeht, berichten 160 von 200 befragten Kindern von sexuellen Belästigungen in den virtuellen Treffpunkten. Die Broschüre präsentiert Ergebnisse einer Onlineumfrage des Portals Blinde Kuh, einer vom Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend geförderten Suchmaschine für Kinder.

• DE - Ein Netz für Kinder - Surfen ohne Risiko?  +/- Translate

  (jugendschutz.net) Im Februar 2005 erschien die vierte Aktualisierung des praktischen Leitfadens für Eltern und Pädagogen. Er präsentiert zahlreiche Kinderseiten, die eine Projektgruppe und die Kinderredaktion "Die Klickers" auf ihre Attraktivität und Handhabung hin getestet haben. Insgesamt 78 Klick-Tipps fanden Aufnahme in die Broschüre.

Security and encryption

• AU - Lover sentenced over email hack  +/-

  (Australian IT) A jilted computer technician has received a suspended sentence after hacking into his ex-lover's email account and deleting notes from her new boyfriend. The defendant pleaded guilty to unlawfully accessing data held in a computer. The judge sentenced him to five months' jail, fully suspended on the condition he did not get into further trouble in the next three years. he charge carried a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.

• EU geht schärfer gegen Hacker vor  +/- Translate

  (Heise) Der EU-Rat hat einen umstrittenen EU-Rahmenbeschluss über Angriffe auf Informationssysteme offiziell verabschiedet. Ziel der Gesetzgebung ist es, Cracker und Angreifer auf vernetzte Computersysteme besser bekämpfen zu können. Dazu werden EU-weit erstmals strafrechtliche Mindeststandards auf dem Gebiet der Cyberkriminalität geschaffen. Verboten werden Handlungen wie das unerlaubte Eindringen in Computersysteme - "Hacking" im Wortlaut des Beschlusses, das Verbreiten von Viren oder Angriffe auf Online-Dienste etwa durch Denial-of-Service-Attacken. Kritikern zufolge schießt das Papier aber über das Ziel hinaus. Es wird befürchtet, dass auch legitime Sicherheitstester kriminalisiert werden könnten.

Self-regulation / codes of conduct

• DE - Selbstregulierung der Suchmaschinenanbieter  +/- Translate

  (Heise) von Monika Ermert. Die Suchmaschinenanbieter Google, Lycos Europe, MSN Deutschland, AOL Deutschland, Yahoo, T-Online und t-info haben in Berlin die Gründung einer eigenen Selbstregulierungsorganisation unter dem Dach der Freiwilligen Selbstkontrolle Multimedia-Diensteanbieter (FSM) angekündigt. Das erste große gemeinsame Projekt soll die Ausfilterung der von der Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien (BPJM) indizierten URLs automatisieren. Auf einem Server werden die auf den Index gesetzten URLs abgelegt, so dass die Suchmaschinen zum Abgleich mit ihren Listen rein softwaregestützt darauf zugreifen können. Dabei müssten laut des von den Suchmaschinen unterzeichneten Kodex sichergestellt werden, dass die Links nicht veröffentlicht oder weiterverbreitet werden können. Verhaltenssubkodex für Suchmaschinenanbieter der FSM (VK-S).

• FR - Un label contre la pédo-pornographie et le racisme  +/- Translate

  (Le Journal du Net) Un label "Net + sûr" a été lançé à l'initiative de la majorité des fournisseurs d'accès internet en France afin de lutter contre les contenus pédo-pornographiques et incitant à la haine raciale. Ce label a été présenté par l'Association des Fournisseurs d'Accès et de services internet (AFA) lors d'une conférence de presse conjointe avec le ministre délégué à l'industrie, Patrick Devedjian, à l'occasion de la "Journée européenne pour un Internet plus sûr". Voir communiqué de presse (AFA).

• IT - Un codice di autodisciplina per gli operatori della telefonia mobile  +/- Translate

  (01net) E' stato ratificato dal ministro delle Comunicazioni Maurizio Gasparri il primo Codice di condotta per l'offerta dei servizi a sovrapprezzo e la tutela dei minori, sottoscritto dagli amministratori delegati delle società di telefonia mobile, Marco De Benedetti per Tim, Pietro Guindani per Vodafone, Tommaso Pompei per Wind e Vincenzo Novari per 3. Si tratta di un codice di autodisciplina che, attraverso l'identificazione di una serie di misure di autoregolamentazione, assicura da un lato il diritto d'informazione e la libertà di espressione, garantendo dall'altro il pieno rispetto della tutela e della protezione dei minori. see also English version Mobile operators sign up to voluntary code of conduct (Press Release).

Market & Technology

Cable and satellite

• EU - Dead heat for Galileo companies  +/-

  (BBC) The two consortia that want to run Europe's new satellite navigation system could not be separated in the latest round of the bidding process. It was expected a winner would emerge to capture the multi-billion euro contract to operate Galileo. But the two groups, iNavSat and Eurely, will now have further negotiations with the Galileo Joint Undertaking, the body set up to award the concession.

Employment and social issues

• UK - Porn, an acceptable career?  +/-

  (BBC) These days anyone can set up a website and become a porn star. With the internet fundamentally changing the industry, could pornography be becoming mainstream?

Market

• PL - Battle Waged in Poland Over Control of a Telecom  +/-

  (New York Times) A dispute between major French and German companies over the ownership of a Polish mobile telephone company has led to new managers being barred from the building, and the loser in the dispute is demanding Polish prosecutors protect its interest. The loser in the Polish courts so far is the French company, Vivendi Universal. Vivendi said that it had filed a complaint under a 1989 agreement between Poland and France aimed at encouraging bilateral investment. Vivendi said Deutsche Telekom and Elektrim, a Polish utility, had conspired to take its stake in the telephone company, Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa, or P.T.C.

Mobile and wireless

• UK - 'Friends fear' with lost mobiles  +/-

  (BBC) People are becoming so dependent on their mobile phones that one in three are concerned that losing their phone would mean they lose their friends. More than 50% of mobile owners reported they had had their phone stolen or lost in the last three years. More than half (54%) of those asked in a poll for mobile firm Intervoice said that they do not have another address book. A fifth rely entirely on mobiles.

Forthcoming events

• 2005-01-18 BE, Namur Surveillance électronique : possibilités techniques et cadre juridique  +/- Translate

  (CRID) Ce séminaire s´attache à l´analyse technique et légale des modalités de surveillance. Dans la première partie, nous analyserons les obligations de rétention des données de trafic, telles qu´elles sont mises à charge des opérateurs de réseaux publics de télécommunications et des fournisseurs de services de télécommunications. Dans la seconde partie de la journée, nous nous attacherons à l´étude de la technologie RFID qui permet le tatouage électronique et invisible des produits.

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