• Telia/Telenor merger plan in shreds
  
• EU - The Community's audiovisual policy in the digital age
  
• Ireland - Hotline addresses concerns on net's downside
  
• USA - Court overturns fake child porn act
  
• EU - Awareness Information day, Brussels, 27 January 2000
  

Forthcomings events | Background items

Legal and regulatory issues

   Access to public sector information / IT in government

• USA - PTO Considers 'E-Commerce Law Office' (Law News Network) The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is eyeing a one-stop, online system for processing trademark examinations.

   Audiovisual

• EU - The Community's audiovisual policy in the digital age (RAPID) The Commission adopted a Communication on the principles for the Community's audiovisual policy in the digital age. This reviews the regulatory and support mechanisms already in place or to be taken over the next five years at Community level to keep pace with the vigorous growth in this sector generated by rapid technological change. The Commission is eager to maximise growth potential while ensuring that certain fundamental principles are respected. COM(1999) 657 | DE | FR.

   Competition

• Europe to investigate Microsoft (BBC) The European Commission has been ordered to investigate claims from a French company that the US software giant has abused its dominant position. A European court found that the EC had been wrong to dismiss the complaint from French software wholesaler Micro Leader Business (MLB). Arrêt du Tribunal (troisième chambre) du 16 décembre 1999 dans l'affaire T-198/98 Micro Leader Business contre Commission des Communautés européennes.

• France Telecom Says To Cooperate With U.K. Over NTL France Telecom will fully co-operate over a British government ruling that it must divest its Crown Castle holdings before its planned investment in cable company NTL.

• UK - Call to probe media merger (Financial Times) Pressure is mounting on UK competition authorities to recommend a full investigation of the proposed £8bn ($13bn) merger between Carlton Communications and United News & Media, two big media companies. see also Carlton and TF1 in internet deal.

• UK - Vivendi stake in TV network is challenged (Financial Times) The Independent Television Commission has expressed concern about the acquisition by Vivendi, the French media group, of a large shareholding in British Sky Broadcasting.

   Computer crime

• Ireland - Hotline addresses concerns on net's downside (Irish Times) A hotline for reporting child pornography was recently launched by the Irish Internet service providers' association.

• USA - Court overturns fake child porn act (ZDNN) The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the constitutionality of a portion of the Child Pornography Prevention Act. The section in question made it a crime to possess digital images or videos of people who "appear" to be minors engaging in sexual acts, even if the participants are youthful-looking adults who appear to be under the age of consent.

• Australia - police face charges over emailing offensive images (AAP) Up to a dozen NSW police officers are facing criminal charges after being caught transmitting pornography on the service's internal computer system.

• EU - Initiative of the Republic of Austria (1999/C 362/06) with a view to adopting a Council Decision to combat child pornography on the Internet DE | FR

• France - L'Anti-réseau (Libération) La police vient de démanteler l'Etoile noire, un groupe de jeunes internautes à l'origine d'un trafic de logiciels piratés.

• UK - Lara Croft creator busted in kid-sex scandal (New York Post) One of the masterminds behind sexy computer-game heroine Lara Croft has been charged with trying to procure a nine-year-old girl for sex.

• USA - 4 Men Indicted on Charges of Sex With Minors They Met Online (New York Times) In a continuing investigation into the use of the Internet by pedophiles, four Westchester County men were indicted today for having sex with minors whom they met online.

• USA - Disney Official Guilty in Pornography Case (New York Times) Patrick J. Naughton, a prominent Internet executive for the Walt Disney Company was convicted of possessing child pornography on his computer, but a Federal jury deadlocked on the most serious charges against him: that he enticed a minor to have sex and traveled across state lines with the intent of doing so. see also Naughton jury: Cops 'screwed up' (zdnet UK)

• USA - DoJ To Nail Net Pedophiles (Newsbytes) US Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder today announced that the Justice Department will provide $3 million in grants to 10 state and local law enforcement agencies in an effort to beef up the number of Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force units.

• USA - Investigators say teen ran child porn Web site (AP) Alerted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, state investigators found that a 17-year-old Wisconsin boy was running a home-based Internet Web site that featured child pornography and had more than 100 pictures on display.

• Prosecutors Watching the Web (Law News Network)

   Content regulation

• ABA registers codes of practice for Internet service providers and content hosts (Press release) The Australian Broadcasting Authority has registered three codes of practice that outline the obligations on Internet service providers and content hosts in relation to Internet content unsuitable for children or potentially offensive to adults. see also ABA Approves IIA Code of Practice for Content Regulation (IIA) and Guide for Australian ISPs.

• UK - Radio Authority fines station (Press Release) The Radio Authority has fined Hallam FM £50,000. The South Yorkshire station has been fined following late night phone-ins which involved gross breaches of the statutory requirements regarding taste and decency and incitement to crime. The broadcasts included a gratuitous description of paedophilia, and the condoning of and encouragement of rape. see also Radio Authority fines Xfm.

   Copyright, trademarks and patents

• UK - Online Pirate Convicted (Newsbytes) One of the first major Scottish online software pirates has been convicted by Edinburgh's Sheriff Court. The man was found guilty of copyright infringement of Novell products. He received 300 hours of community service and his computer hardware was also seized.

• USA - Auction Sites See Legal Action (Wired) EBay has filed suit to stop auction aggregator Bidder's Edge from listing eBay items for auction alongside items from Yahoo, Amazon, and other auction sites.

• Chinese court rejects Microsoft piracy suit (The Register)

   Data Protection (privacy)

• USA - Advisory Committee on Online Access And Security (Press release) The Federal Trade Commission has established an Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security. Providing consumers access to information collected about them and providing security for such information are two of five core fair information practice principles. The other three principles are "Notice," "Choice," and "Enforcement."

• USA - EPIC Releases New Report on Online Privacy (Press release) The report "Surfer Beware III: Privacy Policies without Privacy Protection" finds that none of the top 100 shopping web sites adequately protect consumer privacy.

   Domain names

• Expansion of global Top-Level Domains (CPSR) Comments of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility to the Domain Name Supporting Organization.

   Electronic commerce

• Australia - Online betting 'too great' a threat (Australian) John Howard received strong support yesterday from the anti-gambling lobby for his plan to ban Internet gambling, amid claims that such a ban was unworkable. see also PM's push to freeze gambling, Howard warned against Net betting ban, Qualified support from operators.

   Electronic democracy

• USA - White House Announces Online Initiatives (New York Times) Vice President Al Gore urged all federal agencies to place government publications and information online and announced plans for the White House to undertake a yearlong study of the feasibility of Internet voting.

• California Commission Sees Big Obstacles to Internet Voting (New York Times (registration required))

   Information society and Internet policy

• Bull warns against international e-commerce regulation (zdnet UK)

• France - Internet : la corégulation à inventer (Libération - Bernard Spitz)

   Internet access and use

• Internet: France Télécom va baisser ses tarifs aux opérateurs (AFP) France Télécom va baisser de 11,2% en moyenne ses tarifs d'interconnexion et de 19,3% les tarifs d'accès à internet par le réseau téléphonique pour l'an 2000, au terme d'un véritable bras de fer avec l'autorité de régulation du secteur. voir aussi France Télécom baisse le prix du péage sur ses tuyaux (Libération) Décision nº 99-1078 (Autorité de régulation des télécommunications).

• EU - KPNQwest accuses regulators of blocking growth (Financial Times) Telecommunications regulators were accused of blocking European electronic commerce business growth by failing to decide about freeing up national telephone networks to allow access by outside internet companies.

   IT in education

• USA - Push for Computers in Classrooms Gathers New Foes (New York Times (registration required))

   Junk mail (spam)

• Big Fine for Spamming AOL Members (New York Law Journal) A group that markets a cancer cure over the Internet has been hit with more than $600,000 in damages for clogging the computer systems of America Online with the transmission of millions of the unsolicited e-mail messages known as "spam."

   Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law

• Affaire Lacoste: il faut responsabiliser l'auteur d'un préjudice (AFA) La décision du Tribunal de Grande Instance de Nanterre du 8 décembre 1999 pose à nouveau la question de la responsabilité des hébergeurs dans un cas d'atteinte aux droits des tiers, s'agissant en l'occurrence de la diffusion non autorisée de photographies dénudées du mannequin Lynda Lacoste. voir aussi Fournisseurs d'hébergement: ni responsables, ni coupables, mais solvables (IRIS).

• France - Pédophilie sur l'internet: non-lieu pour deux français (AFP) [case against access providers for distribution of child pornography dismissed] Les gérants de deux fournisseurs d'accès français à l'internet, World-Net et FranceNet, accusés en 1996 de diffuser des images à caractère pédophile, ont obtenu un non-lieu rendu mardi par le Tribunal de grande instance de Paris.

   Protection of minors

• EU - Awareness Information day, Brussels, 27 January 2000 (European Commission, Information Society DG) Mr Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner for the Information Society, will address this meeting, organised in the context of the Action Plan on promoting safer use of the Internet. The purpose of this meeting is to encourage actions to increase awareness among users of the Internet, particularly children, parents and teachers, of ways to be able to enjoy the benefits of the Internet while avoiding illegal and harmful content, and in particular to:
  • inform participants of the results of the preparatory action on awareness http://www.netaware.org
  • hear from projects already under way or planned in Member States
  • explain the ways in which awareness activities can benefit from support at EU level
  • get feedback to the Commission from meeting participants
  • stimulate the formation of consortia to present projects under the 2000 call for proposals.
  DE | FR.

   Racism and xenophobia

• EBay Cuts Off Auction of Racist Web Addresses (Washington Post) Civil rights groups are rushing to secure Internet address names that contain some of the most racist words in the English language in order to keep them away from hate groups.

• Italy - La loi inadaptée face au racisme sur l'internet (AFP) L'ancienne présidente de la communauté israélite italienne, Tullia Zevi, a regretté que "l'Italie n'arrive pas à punir les responsables sur internet de délits prévus par la loi" en matière de racisme, après la publication sur un site raciste du nom de 9.800 familles juives italiennes par ordre alphabétique.

   Rating and filtering

• Australia - filtering software approved (Internet Industry Association) Internet industry codes of practice Schedule 1: approved filters.

• Web Filter Blocks More Gun Sites (APBnews.com) Concerned by violence in the nation's schools, SurfWatch has beefed up its online filtering software to block thousands of new Web pages hawking guns and ammunition.

   Taxation and tariffs

• USA / EU - Will Euro taxes hinder Net growth? (zdnet UK) Testifying before the US Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, representatives of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission found themselves at loggerheads with members of the 19-person panel, which is charged by Congress to study the impact of domestic and foreign taxes on the Internet. see also EU Ponders E-Biz Regulations (Wired) and Internet Tax Proponents Claim Public Support (Ecommerce Times).

   Telecommunications

• Germany - UMTS Licences To Cost At Least DM200 Million (Total Telecom) UMTS licences will cost a minimum DM200 million each, with industry observers believing they could fetch at least DM1 billion. The RTP, telecoms regulator, had planned to auction the UMTS licences.

• Switzerland - 19 firms admitted to wireless local loop auction (Total Telecom) The Swiss telecoms regulator ComCom has admitted 19 firms to the auction of a total of 48 so-called wireless local loops, which give access to end users without a fixed telecom connexion.

Market & Technology

   Audiovisual

• EU - Commission proposes Media Plus programme (RAPID) The Commission adopted a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the implementation of a training programme for professionals in the audiovisual programme industry (Media Plus - Training) and a proposal for a Council Decision on the implementation of a programme to encourage the development, distribution and promotion of European audiovisual works (Media Plus - Development). The two Decisions will cover the period 2001-2005. COM(1999) 658 | DE | FR

   Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology

• Microsoft in deal on 'enhanced TV' (Financial Times) Microsoft aims to accelerate the introduction of "enhanced television" services that combine TV programming with internet-style information and e-commerce, through a partnership with Excite@Home, a leader in providing high-speed internet access via cable TV services.

• Not Your Father's Netcast (Wired) Researchers previewed the future of Webcasting with a first time demonstration of high-definition TV over the next generation Internet.

   Data Protection (privacy)

• Would you pay $10 for privacy? (zdnet) Zero-Knowledge launches Freedom.net, which aims to give Web users anonymous access to e-mail, Web sites and more. see also Secrecy Good For Business (Newsbytes).

   Electronic commerce

• E-Commerce For Everyone (Ecommerce Times) This week's new alliances between AOL and Wal-Mart, as well as Yahoo! and Kmart, are designed to tap into the 96 million Americans who make less than $50,000 a year and have yet to become Internet users.

• The Victims of E-Commerce (Ecommerce Times) The independently owned bookstore simply does not have the market muscle to compete with giants such as barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.

• Pricing Errors on the Web Can Be Costly (New York Times)

   Internet access and use

• Telewest to launch ISP (Financial Times) Telewest, the UK cable operator, is planning to launch an internet service provider early next year that will undercut rivals by offering unmetered internet access for £10 a month.

• Mobilising for m-commerce (Financial Times)

   Market

• Telia/Telenor merger plan in shreds Sweden and Norway tore apart the Nordic region's biggest merger, after failing in last-ditch efforts to save the $50bn union between Telia and Telenor, the state-owned telecommunications groups. see also A disastrous disconnection and How a Nordic union came to grief.

• Broadcaster widens grasp with ZDF deal (Financial Times) Euronews has won a digital broadcast deal in Germany that extends its continental market and marks a step in the pan-European news channel's return to life.

• BSkyB deal shows limits on media consolidation (Financial Times) British Sky Broadcasting, the UK pay-TV operator controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, last week finally sealed a long-awaited deal to buy a 24 per cent stake in KirchPayTV, a subsidiary of Leo Kirch's privately owned media empire in Germany.

• France Télécom règle les derniers conflits qui l'opposaient aux exploitants du câble (Le Monde) Propriétaire des infrastructures du câble, France Télécom a conclu un accord avec NC Numéricâble, l'exploitant du groupe Canal+. Il apportera ses tuyaux à son partenaire, et prendra 43 % du capital de NC Numéricâble.

• Vodafone, BBC to offer text, video for cellphones (zdnet UK)

   Multilingual content and software

• Microsoft adds trio of languages to Hotmail (CNET News.com)

   Portals, browsers and search engines

• Netscape Directory Making a Splash (The Industry Standard) Netscape's volunteer-based Open Directory Project, once ignored by bigger players as a do-it-yourself Web directory, is drawing attention and criticism as it has become the Web's fastest-growing site list.

• AOL France lance son portail généraliste ouvert à tous les internautes (AFP)

   Standards

• Consortium proposes Net acceleration standard (The Register)

   Statistics

• Euro ISP Churn Rate (Newsbytes) The arrival of free-to-subscribe Internet service providers (ISPs) in Europe is causing Internet users to churn between ISPs much faster than was previously thought.

• South African Teenagers Surge Online (Nua) The majority of Internet users in South Africa are under 25 and from higher income groups, according to a report released this week by Interface Media. Nineteen percent are under 18 years old and 42 percent are aged between 18 and 25.

• Yahoo's reach tumbles in latest Japan Web rankings (IDG) Yahoo Japan was a big loser on the Japanese Internet in November according to the latest national Web site access rankings.

• UK - Internet creates haves and have-nots (zdnet UK)

   Voice over IP

• Thus makes breakthrough in online calls (Financial Times) Thus, formerly Scottish Telecom, has become the first company in Europe to implement a new technology that will enable it to offer full voice communications over the internet.

QuickLinks consists of

• a free newsletter appearing approximately once a week. The newsletter is distributed by electronic mail through an "announcement only" mailing list. To be included on the mailing list, either fill out the form at http://www.qlinks.net or send an email to quicklinkshtml-subscribe@eGroups.com (HTML)or quicklinks-subscribe@eGroups.com (Text)

• a Web site with frequent updates, an events page, news items organised by category as well as chronologically by issue and full text search.

QuickLinks is edited by Richard Swetenham richard.swetenham@cec.eu.int - Contributors: NewsNow UK, MediaGrok, David Goldstein, Gerhard Heine, John Rabun, Alan Reekie, Rupert Selzer