Issue no. 386 - 20 April 2008

• EU - INHOPE appoints new Secretary General (Press Release)
  The INHOPE network is delighted to announce the appointment of Birgit Roth as the new Secretary General. Birgit Roth was Public Policy manager, Government Relations & Regulatory Affairs for Deutsche Telekom AG. Ms Roth was previously a Member of the German Parliament for the Speyer-Neustadt constituency. The INHOPE Association of Internet Hotlines was founded in 1999. The general public can report illegal internet content such as child pornography to hotlines. The hotline confidentially then reviews each report, referring illegal material onto the relevant law enforcement agencies or Internet Service Providers for further action. Today, there are thirty members of INHOPE worldwide, including members from Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. INHOPE is part funded by the EC Safer Internet Programme.

Issue no. 385 - 21 March 2008

• IWF ISPA Award Winner Announced (IWF)
  The 2008 IWF Board award for most significant contribution to combating illegal content on the internet has been awarded to Richard Swetenham, Head of the European Commission eContent and Safer Internet Unit. The Internet Services Providers' Association (ISPA UK) has been organising the UK Internet Industry Awards since 1999 to herald the best of the internet industry and to celebrate innovation and best practice. One of the Special ISPA Awards is the Internet Watch Foundation Award. The awards ceremony took place in London on Friday 14 March 2008.

Issue no. 384 - 24 February 2008

• IE - Government appoints internet safety director (Silicn Republic)
  The Government of Ireland has appointed a director to head up the new Office for Internet Safety (OIS), which will strive to make the internet a safer place. The Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan TD has appointed John Laffan to the role and he will take up the position from the beginning of March. See also Establishment of an Office for Internet Safety and an Internet Safety Advisory Council.

Issue no. 382 - 6 January 2008

• UK - IWF Chief Executive awarded OBE (IWF)
  Peter Robbins QPM, Internet Watch Foundation Chief Executive, has been awarded an OBE for services to children and families in the Queen's New Years Honours list.

Issue no. 377 - 5 July 2007

• Lessig Moves On From Copyright to Corruption (Google Blogoscoped)
  Lawrence Lessig, founder of the Creative Commons movement and copyright analyst, is moving up onto a higher plane of the problem: the systematic corruption that makes politicians and professionals of different areas fail to understand his copyright analysis. For the last 10 years he worked on delivering clear arguments to the copyright debate,

Issue no. 372 - 25 February 2007

• UK - ISPA 2007 Winners Announced (thinkbroadband.com)
  The Internet Services Providers' Association (ISPA UK) held an award ceremony to celebrate the winners of the ISPA 2007 UK Internet Awards. The Internet Watch Foundation Award was handed to The Home Secretary's Task Force for Child Protection on the Internet for their multi-agency forum of a vast array of experts to contribute towards policies and good practice documents which in turn help make the Internet safer for children. The Corporate Social Responsibility Award was awarded to Orange for its support for the Internet industry through its work with the National High Tech Crime Unit and the Home Office. The Internet Villain award however was given to Commissioner Viviane Reding and the European Commission for producing 'the most arcane set of rules yet seen for prior registration of .eu domains, requiring UK registered companies to submit legal affidavits to justify the authenticity of their business.' The final award, Internet Hero, was given to Annie Mullins from Vodafone for her work with the Home Office Task Force on Protection of Children on the Internet and the EU's Safer Internet Programme.

Issue no. 369 - 5 November 2006

• Charles Clark - Obituary (Times)
  As who understood the myriad byways of authors' copyright, Charles Clark was a rarity among publishers. But before he turned to the legal wrangles of the media, he had made his name with Penguin Books in the 1960s. see also Daily Telegraph [Ed: Charles Clark was a member of the Commission's Legal Advisory Board for the Information Market. He was the author of the phrase "the answer to the machine is in the machine".]

Issue no. 366 - 3 September 2006

• EU's bold voice for communication (International Herald Tribune)
  In the two years since becoming the European commissioner in charge of digital communications, Viviane Reding has accomplished more than many expected, and more than her critics wanted. Her biggest coup came last month when, using entreaty, bluster, legal threats and finally a proposal to regulate prices, Reding goaded European mobile phone operators into halving the fees they charged for roaming - fees that had approached €3, or $3.80, a minute to make or receive calls outside one's home market.

Issue no. 358 - 21 April 2006

• Nigel Williams: A Man With A Mission (CBS News)
  by Larry Magid. Nigel Williams, who has died at age 51, was a pioneer in computer safety for children, founded Childnet International and was Northern Ireland's Commissioner for Children and Young People. see also INHOPE tribute and a special website put together by the Childnet team.

Issue no. 347 - 19 October 2005

• DE - Sperrverfügungsgegner mit Preis gewürdigt (Heise)
  Die Alcatel SEL Stiftung für Kommunikationsforschung vergibt ihren diesjährigen "Forschungspreis Technische Kommunikation" an den Direktor des Instituts für Informations-, Telekommunikations- und Medienrecht der Universität Münster, Thomas Hoeren. Der Jurist erhalte die Auszeichnung wegen seines Engagements in den Bereichen Urheberrecht, Digital Rights Management und wegen seiner kritischen Haltung gegenüber den Sperrverfügungen gegen Access-Provider.

Issue no. 344 - 18 September 2005

• Google snaps up internet pioneer (BBC)
  Google has hired one of the founding fathers of the net as its 'chief internet evangelist'. Net legend Vint Cerf, who helped to define the way the internet works, will join the search giant on 3 October. He joins from telecoms firm MCI and will take on a role that will help to shape Google's strategy and the technologies it backs.

Issue no. 339 - 29 May 2005

• EU - New appointments to the INHOPE Executive (INHOPE)
  Inhope - the Association of Internet Hotline Providers - has elected Ms. Ana Luiza Rotta from the Spanish Protegeles hotline to the position of President. Mr. Frank Glen from the UK, Internet Watch Foundation was elected as Vice-President, Ms. Barbara Haindl from the Austrian Stopline hotline as Treasurer and Ms. Suvi Kuikka from the Finnish Northern hotline as executive member without Portfolio.

• UK - Ofcom appoints chairman of new broadcast training body (Press Release)
  Ofcom has appointed Ralph Tabberer, Chief Executive of the Teacher Training Agency, as the first chairman of the Broadcasting Training and Skills Regulator (BTSR ). Under Section 27 of the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom is required to promote training and development across the broadcasting industry. BTSR is a new body which is being established in a joint initiative between Ofcom, UK television and radio broadcasters, and Skillset (the Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries) to create a co-regulatory system for training and development.

Issue no. 331 - 13 February 2005

• EU - Commission reorganises its Information Society and Media DG (Europa)
  From 1 February, the Information Society and Media Directorate General of the Commission has two new Directorates and three new Units. This reorganisation completes the changes following President Barroso's decision to bring together under the responsibility of Commissioner Viviane Reding, all three aspects of modern day electronic communications ?in the fields of broadcasting, computer networks and of electronic communication services.

Issue no. 324 - 21 November 2004

• Ron Plesser (Parry Aftab)
  Parry started this blog as a tribute for Ron Plesser, partner in the firm Piper Rudnick in Washington DC, who has died of a heart attack. He was one of the leading privacy lawyers in the United States.

Issue no. 321 - 10 October 2004

• US - Cybersecurity chief resigns (CNN)
  Amit Yoran, the US government's cybersecurity chief has resigned after one year with the Department of Homeland Security, confiding to industry colleagues his frustration over what he considers a lack of attention paid to computer security issues within the agency.

Issue no. 317 - 22 August 2004

• EU - Mrs Reding to be new Commissioner for Information Society and Media (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.

Issue no. 308 - 2 May 2004

• EU - Liikanen appointed as President of Bank of Finland (EurActiv.com)
  Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen was officially appointed as new governor of the Finnish Central Bank. He will leave the Commission on 12 July.

Issue no. 300 - 1 February 2004

• FR - La Cnil continuera sans son président (Le Monde Informatique)
  Le mandat de membre de la Cnil de Michel Gentot n'a pas été renouvelé lors du Conseil des ministres du 28 janvier dernier. Ce conseiller d'Etat honoraire ne pourra donc pas être réélu président de cette institution créée en 1978. Le sénateur UMP du Nord Alex Türk est généralement considéré comme son successeur le plus probable. L'élection est prévue le 3 février prochain. Autre personnalité écartée par le gouvernement : la consultante Cécile Alvergnat. Le gouvernement a nommé deux nouveaux membres pour remplacer les éconduits : la présidente du Forum des Droits sur l'Internet, la conseillère d'Etat Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, et Jean-Marie Cotteret, professeur en sciences politiques à l'université Paris I.

• UK - Microsoft creator to be knighted (BBC)
  The king of computer software Bill Gates is to receive an honorary knighthood from the Queen for his contribution to enterprise in the UK. Mr Gates, the world's wealthiest man, is also being honoured for his work on poverty reduction around the world, said the Foreign Office. As an American citizen he cannot use the title 'Sir' but will be entitled to put the letters KBE after his name.

Issue no. 296 - 4 January 2004

• UK - Web's inventor gets a knighthood (BBC)
  The inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, has been awarded a knighthood for his pioneering work. Dubbed the 'Father of the Web', he came up with a system over 10 years ago to organise, link and browse net pages. The famously modest man said he was 'quite an ordinary person', and although it felt strange, he was 'honoured'. The physicist created his hypertext program, which was to revolutionise the net, while he was at the particle physics institute, Cern, in Geneva.

Issue no. 294 - 14 December 2003

• UK - Ofcom hires telecoms watchdog for consumer role (Guardian)
  New media super-regulator Ofcom has appointed a telecommunications watchdog to oversee its independent consumer panel. Colette Bowe has been named as chairman of the panel, which has been set up as part of the Communications Act to represent consumers' interests across the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors. Ms Bowe is chairman of the council of the telecoms ombudsman service, Otelo, which settles disputes in the industry. She will stand down from this post when she takes up her new role.

Issue no. 293 - 7 December 2003

• CN - The Muzimei Phenomenon and its Impact on the Chinese Internet (Living in China)
  The whole Chinese internet is crazy about Muzimei! Blogcn.com, a major Chinese weblog hosting system, was brought down due to a sudden surge of traffic that was directed to Muzimei's blog on Blogcn.com. Many Chinese bloggers who had mentioned Muzimei in their blogs witnessed similar increase of traffic to their sites. Who is Muzimei? How did she shake the Chinese Internet and society with her personal blog? 'Love Letters Left' is where Muzimei, a columnist writer at Guangzhou City Pictorial Magazine, documents her private life. Sex is the theme of her blog and love making is what motivates her blog. see Sex diaries trigger Internet gossip and Sex diaries arouse concern (Shenzhen Daily).

• US - Jackson website pleads innocence (BBC)
  Singer Michael Jackson has launched a website to protest his innocence and speak directly to the world about the child abuse accusations he faces. Mr Jackson has been charged with abusing a 12-year-old boy. On the site he said the charges were based on 'a big lie' and he wanted to end 'this horrible time' by proving they were false in court. See also Trial by mouse (Guardian) .

Issue no. 292 - 23 November 2003

• Twilight of the PC Era? (Washington Post)
  Nicholas Carr seems an unlikely candidate for the technology world's Public Enemy No. 1. A mild-mannered 44-year-old magazine editor and freelance writer, he's spent five years laboring for the Harvard Business Review, not exactly a hotbed of bomb-throwers. But now he finds himself branded a wild-eyed heretic and a threat to the underpinnings of the entire economy. His offense? Penning a 12-page article about the state of information-technology (IT) investment in the corporate world. Why has it jacked up the aggregate blood pressure in Armonk, N.Y., Silicon Valley, Calif., and Redmond, Wash.? Consider the title: 'IT Doesn't Matter.'

Issue no. 290 - 9 November 2003

• ICANN to Open Office in Brussels (Press Release)
  The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announces that Paul Verhoef will be joining the ICANN staff on a full-time basis as the Vice President of Supporting Organizations and Committee Support. Paul Verhoef joins ICANN from his position as the head of international policy aspects for the Information Society Directorate General for the European Commission (EC).

Issue no. 288 - 19 October 2003

• UK - Oxford Internet Institute seeks Net scholars (OII)
  Oxford University has announced two new professorships. The closing date for applications is 24 November 2003. Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation. The appointee will be a non-stipendiary professorial fellow of Keble College. Professor of Society and the Internet. The appointee will be a non-stipendiary professorial fellow of Mansfield College. In each case, the postholder is required to reside within twenty-five miles of Carfax during six months at least in each academical year.

Issue no. 258 - 2 February 2003

• The Lord of the Webs (MSNBC)
  Berners-Lee is the inventor who gave us the World Wide Web, a system built on "languages" largely created by Berners-Lee. He’s now working on a sequel, called the Semantic Web.

Issue no. 257 - 26 January 2003

• Chairwoman of Music Trade Group RIAA to Step Down (Reuters)
  Null RIAA: ISPs should pay for music swapping

• UK - 'Outsider' will be named as first head of Ofcom (Times)
  The Government will ratify the appointment of Stephen Carter as the first chief executive of Ofcom.

Issue no. 256 - 18 January 2003

• Case admits defeat at AOL Time Warner (Guardian)
  Steve Case, the America Online chief who engineered the much-criticised merger with Time Warner, has finally bowed to investor pressure and will step down. see also Tripped Up by a Flawed New Media Idea (New York Times).

Issue no. 246 - 29 September 2002

• New Approach for AOL Broadband (New York Times)
  Lisa A. Hook has been able to maneuver within AOL's bureaucracy to build a team of 40 people to start work on its broadband service.

• US - A cybersage speaks his mind (CNET News.com)
  For a law professor specializing in the Internet, David Sorkin takes a pretty dim view of cyberlaw. An associate professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Sorkin in 1995 was one of the first academics to offer a course on cyberlaw. But when it comes to legislating our way to Internet nirvana, Sorkin remains a skeptic. In fact, he says the law governing the offline world is equipped to handle most online disputes, and cautions that attempts to address Internet problems such as spam are only going to make matters worse.

• US - Lawrence Lessig's Supreme Showdown (Wired)
  Lawrence Lessig helped mount the case against Microsoft. He wrote the book on creative rights in the digital age. Now the cyberlaw star is about to tell the Supreme Court to smash apart the copyright machine.

Issue no. 242 - 30 July 2002

• DE - Medienkonzern Bertelsmann bekommt einen neuen Chef (Heise)
  Die Berichte über eine Ablösung von Thomas Middelhoff (49) als Vorstandsvorsitzendem von Bertelsmann, einem der größten Medienkonzerne der Welt, wurden von dem Unternehmen bestätigt. Nachfolger Middelhoffs wird der 59-jährige Gunter Thielen, bislang Vorstandschef der Arvato, der Druck- und Dienstleistungssparte von Bertelsmann. Sein Stellvertreter wird der 57-jährige Siegfried Luther, der seit 1990 Finanzvorstand bei Bertelsmann ist.

• UK - Lord Currie to head Ofcom (Guardian)
  Lord Currie of Marylebone has been confirmed as the new chairman of Ofcom, declaring that he was "honoured and delighted" to accept the role. He also announced he is giving up the Labour whip in the House of Lords and has resigned as a member of the Labour party in an effort to head off Tory accusations of cronyism. Lord Currie's appointment has been welcomed by internet and telecoms companies, who had been concerned the appointment of a chairman with a broadcasting background would see Ofcom concentrate on content issues at the expense of infrastructure concerns. see also UK - BBC set to find an ally in Currie (Guardian)
  The commercial sector's ongoing battle to curb the power of the BBC is likely to get little support from the new chairman of Ofcom, who has been a strong supporter of the corporation's relentless expansion.

• UK - New information commissioner named (ZDNet UK)
  Richard Thomas, director of public policy at Clifford Chance, has been named to take over as the UK's new information commissioner when Elizabeth France steps down later this year. He is currently a board member of the National Consumer Council, and has previously served as a director of consumer affairs at the Office of Fair Trading and was involved in setting up the Insurance Ombudsman Bureau and the Banking and Building Societies Ombudsman schemes.

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