Legal and regulatory issues

Competition

• EU - Microsoft accused over Vista row  +/-

  (BBC) European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has accused Microsoft of orchestrating a "co-ordinated campaign" to discredit her. Ms Kroes' comments have come as her department and the US software giant continue to clash over Microsoft's forthcoming Vista operating system.

Computer crime

• EU - Green Paper on detection technologies for law enforcement  +/-

  (RAPID) The Commission has adopted a Green Paper on detection technologies for law enforcement, customs and other security authorities to further enhance the interaction between public and private sectors and help Member States acquire the best tools available at the lowest possible cost. see also Memo.

• US - Plan to fight child smut would close Web sites  +/-

  (New York Times) As part of the battle against the spread of child pornography on the Internet, a U.S. initiative has begun allowing for the shutdown or blocking of sites offering illicit images of minors, even in cases where no criminal investigation is being conducted. The initiative is part of an effort among a group of Internet service providers and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Consumer protection

• UK - Broadband firms given speed warning  +/-

  (Guardian) The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that companies marketing 8Mb broadband services will have to make very clear that top speeds will 'vary significantly' depending on where customers live, following a complaint from NTL against rival Bulldog.

• UK - Forbidden text message draws £30,000 fine  +/-

  (out-law.com) A mobile service provider has been fined £30,000 by the premium rate phone regulator over a text message service which charged customers without their permission. Appearing to be a network update, the message charged each user 50p without their knowledge. Opera Telecom has been fined by ICSTIS, though it was only the service provider which administered the sending of the messages and not the company with which they originated. Only service providers, and not content providers, are liable for ICSTIS fines. ICSTIS will be introducing a new code of practice this year which would allow it to fine information providers directly, provided they accept responsibility for breaches.

Content regulation

• UK - Banned spy novel published on net  +/-

  (out-law.com) Sacked spy Richard Tomlinson has defied the UK's secret services by posting the first chapter of his spy novel online.

• UK - Call to ban pro-suicide websites  +/-

  (BBC) The UK government should make it illegal for internet sites to incite or advise people on how to commit suicide, a charity says. Papyrus, set up to tackle young suicide, said the risk posed by pro-suicide websites was not being taken seriously enough. The charity said the 1961 Suicide Act should be amended to make it illegal to publish such material on the web.

• US - Acceptable nudity?  +/-

  (BBC) When is nudity acceptable on the news? Ever since the infamous 'nipplegate' incident involving Janet Jackson's costume malfunction, television channels in America have been especially sensitive to any bare flesh. So Allan Little's piece from Swaziland saw a group of BBC World producers studying the US rule book very carefully... since we broadcast on American cable networks, and have to respect 'local' laws.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• BE - Google faces fines after Belgian ruling  +/-

  (Guardian) A ruling by a Belgian court could potentially block Google's news aggregation business. A complaint against the internet giant was launched by Copiepresse, an organisation that manages copyright for the French and German-speaking press in Belgium. The court has ordered Google to stop reproducing articles from French-speaking newspapers in the news section of one of its Belgian websites. The court's ruling, which was issued on September 5, stipulates that Google must pay a fine of 1m euros (£675,000) a day if it does not comply. see also Google to appeal, as court rules news site is illegal (Guardian), Google loses Belgian news appeal (Register) and Google not above law, publishes Belgian copyright infringement ruling (ZDNet).

• DE - Behind Google's German courtroom battle  +/-

  (CNET) A local business owner is fighting with the search giant for the right to use the term "Gmail." So far, he's winning. Google's free Web e-mail offering may be available for correspondence in 40 languages, but efforts at worldwide expansion using the moniker "Gmail" continue to face complications.

• EU - Europe's software patent war ignites again  +/-

  (CNET) Three political groups in the European Parliament have warned that the possibility of introducing software patents is re-emerging. Last year, the Parliament derailed a proposed directive that, critics argued, would have legitimized software patents in Europe. Internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy plans to deliver a new speech promoting the measure, called the European Patent Litigation Agreement.

• EU - Tesco loses trade mark right over unsent documents  +/-

  (out-law.com) Tesco has lost the right to a Europe-wide trade mark on the word 'Metro'. The trade mark right for Europe has now passed to German retailer MIP Metro because Tesco did not submit a set of papers to the EU trade mark authority.

• Microsoft gives go-ahead to open-source Web services  +/-

  (CNET) Microsoft is pledging not to assert its patents pertaining to nearly three dozen Web services specifications--a move designed to ease concerns among developers by creating a legal environment more friendly to open-source software. See alos Is open source getting to Microsoft?.

• P2P File-sharing site eDonkey agrees to $30 million settlement  +/-

  (CNET) The parent company of popular file-sharing network eDonkey has agreed to pay $30 million to settle a copyright infringement case brought by six music labels, according to court documents filed this week. The settlement follows a federal district court ruling earlier this week that dealt what appears to be final blow to MetaMachine's peer-to-peer (P2P) client eDonkey; the eDonkey Web site has since been taken down.

• SE - Voters Keelhaul Pirate Party  +/-

  (Wired) The Swedish national elections failed to bring the copyright reform movement its first political victory. The Pirate Party not only failed to score the 4 percent required for a seat in Sweden's Parliament, but appears to have missed the 1 percent that would have afforded the party state assistance with printing ballots and funding staff in the next election. The Pirate Party's single-issue platform includes a 5-year limit to commercial copyright, the abolition of patents and stronger privacy protections online.

• UK - Copyright hindering scholarship in the humanities and social sciences  +/-

  (British Academy) A report from the British Academy expresses fears that the copyright system may in important respects be impeding, rather than stimulating, the production of new ideas and new scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. The Academy publishes with the report a draft set of guidelines for Fellows and scholars on their rights and duties under copyright legislation. They include : authors and producers of original creative material should understand that their interests in copyright are not necessarily identical with those of publishers and should not rely on publishers to protect them.

• US - Copyright infringement - Universal will attack YouTube, MySpace  +/-

  (out-law.com) The world's biggest record label has said that it may pursue YouTube and MySpace for copyright infringement. The move reverses big business's recent courting of the new media titans.

Data Protection (privacy)

• EU - ICC hopes to makes data transfer out of EU simpler  +/-

  (out-law.com) The International Chamber of Commerce has produced a standardised application form that can be used to seek permission from all 25 EU countries to send personal information from within the EU to outside it. It awaits approval by EU data protection authority the EC Article 29 Data Protection Working Party. The form relates to Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs), agreements which companies can enter into to control the passing of personal information from within Europe to out with it.

• EU - Ireland brings case against data retention to Europe  +/-

  (out-law.com) The Irish government has filed its case against the European Union's data retention directive in the European Court of Justice. Although it backs the principles of data retention, Ireland submits that the choice of Article 95 of the Treaty establishing the European Community as the legal basis for the Directive is fundamentally flawed.

• EU - Terrorism must not mean privacy breaches, says EU data guru  +/-

  (Silicon) The EU's data protection head has hit out at claims that privacy advocates are blocking governments' attempts to pass so-called anti-terror legislation. The EU Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) Peter Hustinx said effective legislation cannot exist without data protection controls. Including such measures in new laws can only improve them by introducing safeguards to make sure only the right individuals can access sensitive details, added Hustinx. Hustinx said in a statement: 'It is a misconception that protection of privacy and personal data holds back the fight against terrorism and organised crime.' see EU and the right to privacy: EDPS on mid-term state of play.

• Follow you, follow me  +/-

  (Guardian) GPS tracking can be used to stay in touch with friends, or more sinister purposes such as spying on a spouse. Ronan Fitzgerald examines the potential for abuse.

• FR - La Cnil condamne le Crédit Lyonnais à 45.000 euros  +/-

  (ZDNet France) Pour la première fois, la Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés a eu recours aux pouvoirs de sanction dont elle dispose depuis 2004, à l'encontre des entreprises ou autre entité violant la loi informatique et libertés. Le 28 juin, elle a prononcé une amende de 45.000 euros contre Le Crédit Lyonnais ( LCL) pour sanctionner une «entrave à l'action de la Commission» et l'«inscription abusive» de plusieurs clients dans un fichier central de la Banque de France.

• US - Social networking site fined $1m for gathering children's data  +/-

  (out-law.com) A social networking website, Xanga , has agreed to pay a $1 million fine to settle with the Federal Trade Commission in the US over allegations that it collected, used and disclosed personal details of children under 13, an offence under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Digital content

• Journal Nature Opens Peer-Reviw Process to Comments Online  +/-

  (Cairns Blog) From the Wall Street Journal: 'Nature, one of the world's most prestigious scientific research journals, has embarked on an experiment of its own. In addition to having articles subjected to peer reviews, the 136-year-old journal is trying out a new system for authors who agree to participate: posting the paper online and inviting scientists in the field to submit comments praising - or poking holes -- in it.' more about the project.

• State of Play Academy Launches  +/-

  (Cairns Blog) Free Classes on Online Dispute Resolution and Copyright in State of Play Academy! State of Play Academy, New York Law School's new virtual world law teaching academy, beta launches this week. Our aim is to: 1) democratize law teaching by making it available to an open audience; and 2) understand how teaching and learning can most effectively be done within a three-dimensional, immersive and social online environment like a virtual world.

e-Government

• CN - Justice at the click of a mouse in China  +/-

  (Reuters) A court in China has used a software program to help decide prison sentences in more than 1,500 criminal cases. The software, tested for two years in a court in Zibo, a city in the eastern coastal province of Shandong, covered about 100 different crimes, including robbery, rape, murder and state security offenses.

Electronic commerce

• EU - Distance Selling Directive: state of play and public consultation  +/-

  (RAPID) The European Commission has adopted a Communication on the implementation of Directive 1997/7/EC on Distance Selling, and launched a consultation in order to assess the need to update the Directive. see also Questions and Answers on Distance Selling

• FR - Jeux en ligne: la Française des Jeux et le PMU défendent leur monopole face à Bwin  +/-

  (ZDNet France) Les dirigeants du site de paris sportifs Bwin.com ont été mis en examen par la police française. Ils risquent plusieurs années de prison pour avoir violé le monopole d´État de la FDJ et du PMU, en proposant aux internautes français de parier en ligne. La police française a arrêté les deux patrons de la société de paris en ligne Bwin.com.

• French curbs on gambling face challenge  +/-

  (Financial Times) France is likely to face a legal challenge from the European Commission over its restrictions on gambling operators. The threat was made following the arrest in France of two senior executives of Bwin, an Austrian online sports betting operator. The French authorities claim Bwin has violated French gaming law, which bans private sports betting businesses from operating in the country. Under EU law, governments have the right to place restrictions on gambling and sports betting operators, but they must be "non-discriminatory, proportionate and consistent". Mr McCreevy's spokesman said: "It is not acceptable to limit the freedom to provide betting services on account of protecting consumers and at the same time allow monopoly holders to advertise betting services."

• US - Sportingbet arrest threatens internet gambling  +/-

  (Guardian) The future of all unlicensed forms of internet gambling - from poker to horse racing bets - in at least seven US states was under threat after it emerged that the arrest of Peter Dicks, Sportingbet's British chairman, at New York's JFK airport was linked to Louisiana state's wide-ranging laws against gambling by computer. Most legal experts had, until yesterday, seen the federal Wire Act 1961 as the main threat to internet gaming operators targeting US customers. But several states, including Louisiana, have more up-to-date laws, more suited to the internet age.

Information society and Internet policy

• ITU - World Information Society Report  +/-

  (ITU) The ITU's World Information Society Report (WISR) charts progress in building the Information Society and track the dynamics driving digital opportunity worldwide using a new tool - the Digital Opportunity Index (DOI). See also profiles of the different chapters of the World Information Society Report in the SPU newslog.

Interception

• UK - Attorney General for admissibility of phone-tap evidence  +/-

  (BBC) The Attorney General Lord Goldsmith says he now favours allowing intercept evidence to be used in court. He told the BBC he thought it would increase the chances of jailing crime bosses and terrorists. He had been persuaded of the benefits by seeing how the US had used intercept evidence to jail five top Mafia bosses. see also DPP backs attorney's call to admit phone-tap evidence in court (Guardian) and Analysis: phone tap U-turn would end 'illogical' law (Times).

Junk mail (spam)

• Spam fighter hit with $11.7 million judgment  +/-

  (CNET) The nonprofit group behind a popular blacklist used to block spam has been hit with a multimillion-dollar judgment, but the order may not be enforceable. A U.S. District Court ordered that Spamhaus must pay $11,715,000 in damages to e360insight, who sued the U.K.-based organization earlier this year over blacklisting.

• UK - Microsoft sues British spammer for Hotmail breach  +/-

  (out-law.com) Microsoft has won what it described as the largest reported civil award against a spammer in Europe. The software giant says it won a court order requiring spammer Paul Fox to pay £45,000. Rather than pursue a case under Britain's limited anti-spam laws, Microsoft filed a complaint that Fox had breached the terms and conditions of its Hotmail service.

Mobile and wireless

• EU - O2 airs grievances to Ombudsman  +/-

  (EurActiv) In the latest development in antitrust cases against mobile operators for alleged illegal price-rigging on the international roaming market, O2 has appealed to the European Ombudsman. In July 2004, the Commission sent 'statements of objection' to Vodafone and O2, accusing the two operators of using their dominant positions on the market for mobile telephony in Britain to charge operators from abroad exaggerated rates for passing on their customers' international calls. In its complaint to the Ombudsman, O2 accused the Commission of attempting "to conceal evidence on its file, which O2 is entitled to see and which supports O2's defence".

• UK - Vodafone makes broadband move  +/-

  (BBC) Mobile phone operator Vodafone is to enter the UK fixed-line broadband market after striking a deal to use infrastructure from BT. The contract means Vodafone does not have to invest in a fixed-line network of its own. Vodafone hopes to launch the new service before the end of the year. The move will enable its customers to benefit from bundled packages of mobile and broadband services nationwide.

Protection of minors

• Social sites multiplying like...  +/-

  (Net Family News) Press releases about new social-networking sites are multiplying exponentially. A thoughtful commentary by 'technology activist' Paul Lamb in CNET - 'Social networking for all' - looks beyond the current SN scene populated by 'the young and the digitally restless' to a time when 'social-networking tools are put to use in 'average' communities and for the larger social good.'

• UK - Code of conduct proposed for social networking sites  +/-

  (out-law) Operators of social networking sites should create a joint code of practice regulating their treatment of children. That is just one of the possible courses of action suggested by researchers behind a report into children's use of the sites. Respected consumer bible Which? has conducted research into the dangers posed to children by social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo and has found behaviour which it says could shock parents. Users of the sites are exposed to bullying, pornography and junk food advertising, said the report, and parents are largely unaware of the problems.

• UK - 'Name and shame' plan for websites  +/-

  (Guardian) Websites that fail to protect children from sexual predators could face legal action from a new online child protection agency. The huge popularity of social networking sites such as MySpace, where millions of youngsters have posted personal information, has increased concern at the potential for paedophiles to 'groom' youngsters for abuse through the internet.

• UK - Warnings over social site 'abuse'  +/-

  (BBC) Social networking sites such as Bebo and MySpace must do more to police what users do, warns Computing Which? A study of the sites by the consumer watchdog unearthed pornographic images, evidence of bullying and inappropriate adverts. It also proved easy to pose as a child as the sites did no age or ID checks.

• Wi-Fi gives kids access to unchaperoned Net  +/-

  (CNET News.com) An increasingly wide range of mobile devices are giving the kids who use them entry points to wireless broadband outside of the home and parental control. Portable game players like Sony's PSP (PlayStation portable system) and Nintendo DS are just a couple of the popular mobile gaming devices that also let kids log onto the Net or connect to a peer-to-peer chat network. And Microsoft's upcoming Zune portable media player will likely let kids join social networks on the fly via built-in Wi-Fi. Couple those gadgets with free wireless broadband in parks, cafes and even entire cities and all bets are off when it comes to parents maintaining control of their kids online, consumer advocates worry.

Rating and filtering

• Europäischer Gerichtshof überprüft Jugendschutzsystem  +/-

  (Heise) Das Landgericht Koblenz hat dem Europäischen Gerichtshof (EuGH) die Frage zur Vorabentscheidung vorgelegt, inwiefern Alterskennzeichnungen nationaler Selbstkontrollgremien wie der Freiwilligen Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft (FSK) mit EU-Recht zu vereinbaren sind. Konkret geht es um einen laufenden Rechtsstreit, bei dem ein Konkurrent einem Internet-Versandhaus untersagen lassen will, über dessen Internetpräsenz japanische Comics auf DVD oder Videokassetten ohne Prüfung durch die FSK zu vertreiben. Die verklagte Firma führt die Anime aus Großbritannien ein, wo sie durch das dortige FSK-Pendant, das British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) auf ihre Jugendfreiheit hin getestet und für Jugendliche ab 15 Jahren freigeben wurden.

• IR - Authorities boast of success in Internet filtering  +/-

  (Reporters sans frontières) Iran is doing its utmost to isolate its citizens from the rest of the world by purging the Internet of independent content, in the name of "morality", says Reporters Without Borders, noting that the authorities even brag about the success of their censorship. 'We are filtering more than 10 million websites', boasted the technical head of the Iranian company in charge of Internet censorship, on 11 September 2006.

• Microsoft tests parental-control software  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Microsoft has released a trial version of a free parental-control tool for Windows XP. Windows Live OneCare Family Safety is designed to help keep Web content that parents deem inappropriate from reaching their children. The beta version of the tool, available to the general public, updates an earlier preview version of the tool made available to about 3,000 testers in March.

Safer Internet awareness

• UK - Pupils reminded of internet safety  +/-

  (BBC) Internet savvy schoolchildren are to be reminded about the dangers of revealing personal details online as part of an expanding web safety campaign. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) launched a national campaign, including talks, workshops and a film featuring a boy who was abused by a paedophile whom he met in an online chatroom.

Taxation and tariffs

• EU - TVA sur licences de télécommunications mobiles-UMTS  +/-

  (RAPID) T-Mobile Austria GmbH e.a. / République d'Autriche et Hutchinson 3G UK Ltd e.a. / Commissioners of Customs & Excise. Conclusions de l´Avocat général dans les affaires C-284/04 et C-369/04. L´Avocat général, Mme Kokott, estime que l´adjudication par l´Etat de licences de télécommunications mobiles-UMTS par voie d´enchères n´est pas soumise à la TVA. L´adjudication par un organisme d´Etat de ces licences par voie d´enchères est certes selon l´avocat général une activité économique au sens des dispositions relatives au système commun de la TVA[1]. L´Etat et les autres organismes de droit public ne sont toutefois pas assujettis pour les activités qu'ils accomplissent en tant qu'autorités publiques

Market & Technology

Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology

• UK - Major TV broadcasters go mobile  +/-

  (BBC) BBC One, ITV1 and Channel 4 are to be broadcast to mobile phones as part of a mobile TV service launched by BT. BT Movio will offer BBC One, ITV1 and E4 live - but with some films, sport and US shows removed from the line-ups. Channel 4 will broadcast a slimmed-down version. The service will be the first to be broadcast via the DAB digital radio network instead of the 3G phone system.

Digital content

• Geofilter sollen Einkünfte von TV-Anbietern retten  +/-

  (Heise) Immer mehr US-Fernsehsender stellen ihre Sendungen kostenlos online. Um sich das Lizenzgeschäft mit lokalen und internationalen Sendern nicht kaputt zu machen, setzen sie darum mehr und mehr auf Geofiltering, um Kunden einzelner Partner oder aus bestimmten Ländern auszusperren. Der konservative US-Sender Fox etwa sperrt seit Ende August Zuschauer, die nicht aus den USA kommen, vom Zugang auf kostenlose Downloads aus.

• Google opens up 200 years of news  +/-

  (BBC) Web giant Google is further expanding its online empire with the launch of the Google News Archive Search. The web-based tool allows users to explore existing digitised newspaper articles spanning the last 200 years and more recent online content. People using the search are shown results from both free and subscription-based news outlets. Partners in the project include the New York Times and the Guardian.

• TV embraces the online clip age  +/-

  (BBC) Millions of us are now sharing and watching home-made videos on the web. Audiences do not just want to watch TV shows any more. They want to make and star in them too. Dubbed web 2.0, there has been an explosion in sites that promote freedom to share and use content driven by the user.

Market

• DE - Time Warner to sell AOL Germany to Telecom Italia  +/-

  (Associated Press) Time Warner has agreed to sell AOL Germany's Internet access business to Telecom Italia for €675 million (US$856 million), giving the Milan company a firm foothold in the German market. The all-cash deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close early in 2007. Once complete, it will make Milan-based Telecom Italia the second-biggest provider of broadband Internet in Germany with 3.2 million customers, behind T-Online International, part of Deutsche Telekom AG.

• FR - Time Warner to sell AOL France to Neuf Cegetel  +/-

  (International Herald Tribune) Time Warner has agreed to sell AOL France's Internet access business to Neuf Cegetel, a French telecommunications network operator, for about $365 million in cash. Under the agreement, Neuf Cegetel will acquire AOL's Internet access business in France, including its 500,000 broadband customers. The French company will also acquire its ASME operation, which manages AOL France's customer service operations.

Mobile and wireless

• BE - Vodafone exits Belgium for £1.4bn  +/-

  (BBC) Vodafone has sold its 25% stake in the Belgian mobile phone business Proximus to Belgacom for 2bn euros (£1.4bn). The deal is in line with Vodafone's strategy of pulling out of markets with limited long-term commercial benefit. The firm sold its Japanese business last year for £8.9bn and has come under pressure to sell its holding in US business Verizon Wireless.

• Wireless: Mobile operators forget parents at their peril  +/-

  (International Herald Tribune) Children are the future, especially for mobile phone operators: kids love to communicate, they play games and buy music, and they don't mind fiddling around with complicated technology. The cellphone industry, recognizing all of the above, is enthusiastically seeking ways to attract the youth market to more advanced data services - game and music downloads, video clips and more. But analysts caution that operators must tread carefully, for what kids crave is often at odds with the wishes of their parents, who pay the bills and worry about what kinds of content their children are exposed to.

Security and encryption

• UK - Sky suspends broadband movie download service  +/-

  (ZDNet UK) British TV network BSkyB has suspended its broadband movie download service, after a Microsoft security patch on Windows Media's digital rights management was cracked. A notice on the Sky by Broadband service's home page reads: 'In order to make an essential update to the Sky by broadband security system, we are sorry that access to all movies and some sports content has been temporarily suspended.'

Statistics

• DE - Mobile phones are taken for granted by more and more children  +/-

  (GHeise) A poll by the institute Synovate Kids + Teens (formerly known as Institut für Jugendforschung [Institute for Youth Research]) indicates that two thirds of 11- to 12-year-olds in Germany have their own mobile phone. In the age group 9- to 10-year-olds 37 percent said that they owned a mobile phone; among 6- to 8-year-olds that figure was still a remarkable 8 percent. At 89 percent almost every one of the 13- to 14-year-olds, the age bracket of teenagers proper, was found to own a mobile phone.

Forthcoming events

• 2006-10-19 EE, Tallinn - Digital Future of Cultural and Scientific Heritage  +/-

  (TEL-ME-MOR) The TEL-ME-MOR Policy Conference titled "The Digital Future of Cultural and Scientific Heritage" is a high level international event to be held in the National Library of Estonia, Tallinn, on 19-20 October 2006. The conference will provide a forum for discussion of the latest digital library developments in Europe and in the world, highlighting future research requirements and formulating recommendations as to how the R&D agendas can lead to improving access to our common cultural heritage.

QuickLinks consists of

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