(ZDNet UK) The cost of subscribing to a broadband Internet service is falling all over the world and the price difference between cable and DSL services has almost disappeared.
(ZDNet UK) The number of British adults online has jumped sharply, thanks to 'silver surfers' and the broadband boom. 57 percent of all adults now use the Web, up from one in two in April. Almost half use the Internet at home, while three in ten use it at work or their place of study. Up to 10 percent access the Web at public places such as Internet cafes, libraries and on the move.
(Guardian) Police battling to stay ahead in the war against online crime have unearthed a new threat to credit card holders and internet bank users. Tony Levene reveals how 'keystroke logging' works;
(BBC) Plans for introducing ID cards in the UK are poorly thought out and vital details are still unclear, say MPs. The Commons home affairs committee says ID cards should go ahead and can help fight organised crime and terrorism. But it criticises a 'lack of clarity' over how the scheme will work in practice, with too much information kept secret by ministers. Committee Report.
(BBC) Apple says it is looking closely at software firm RealNetworks' claim that it has found a way for tunes from its online store to be played on iPods. Real said it had created a program to mimic Apple's protection software which allows tracks downloaded from iTunes stores to be played only on iPods. Apple said it was 'stunned' at Real's 'hacker tactics'. Real has hit back by saying that consumers and not Apple should decide what music goes on their iPod. see also Is Real's 'hacking' of iPod legal? (CNET News.com). Code-crackers risk fines and prison time when they defeat copy-protection technology, but such draconian rules likely don't apply in the case of RealNetworks and its iPod 'hack,' legal experts said. Apple Shows Some Mean Colors (Silicon Valley) by Dan Gillmor.
The Trouble with Tethering(Engadget). We asked Siva Vaidhyanathan, an assistant professor of Culture and Communication at NYU, to put things in perspective for us. He explains why RealNetworks? move might actually be good for Apple and why all these attempts by companies to tether their customers to specific products, platforms, and formats are bound to backfire.
(BBC) The BBC's commercial subsidiary launched a year ago to exploit the corporation's software and technology innovations is to close, becoming the first victim of new director general Mark Thompson's public value regime. From now on, all the BBC's public service and commercial activities must pass a public value test to prove that they fit within the corporation's remit.
(BBC) Ofcom has made its first significant foray into regulation of the BBC after its chairman Lord Currie stepped in on behalf of independent producers to help sort out 'fundamental problems' over deals to supply programming.
(internetnews.com) Spam is a global problem: Even though most of it originates in the United States, the bulk of it is sent from overseas on behalf of American spammers. Is law or technology the best way to solve the problem? That's the question considered by privacy experts at a conference called 'International Spam Law & Policies: The Global Case.' Most speakers firmly came down against legislation, promoting a mix of private legal action and technology.
(out-law.com) Privacy International announced the winners of its Big Brother Awards 2004, the sixth year that the privacy group has run a competition to name those who have "done the most to devastate privacy and civil liberties in the UK".
(reticon) Bundesweit wird auf Grund eines Urteils des Amtsgerichts München das Computerspiel Manhunt beschlagnahmt. Das Spiel war schon durch Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien indiziert worden. Dass ein Computerspiel beschlagnahmt wird, ist in Deutschland eher selten der Fall, zuletzt geschehen vor fast 10 Jahren bei dem Spiel "Mortal Combat II". Manhunt hatte schon bei der ersten Publizierung für viele Diskussionen gesorgt, da das Spiel äußerst brutale Gewaltszenen enthält. siehe auch
Brutalo-Spiel bundesweit beschlagnahmt (Onlinekosten.de).
(Guardian) The parents of a 14-year-old boy who was bludgeoned and stabbed to death by another teenager blamed a video game for his murder. Stefan Pakeerah was stabbed and beaten repeatedly with a hammer in an attack his mother described as mimicking the gameplay in the video game Manhunt. see also Shops withdraw computer game.
(PA) More research was needed into how violent video games can influence the behaviour of adolescents, a psychology expert said. Professor Mark Griffiths, of Nottingham Trent University, said a link had already been proved between violence and video games in children aged eight years or below. But more study was needed into the long-term impact of blood-thirsty games on the behaviour of older children as they grow up. see also Caution call on video game storm (BBC).
(Calgary Sun) Creeps who prey on children will face yet another hurdle as a successful Manitoba-based snitch line is set to expand nationally. The Canadian federal government has pledged to fund cybertip.ca - a program of Child Find Manitoba - 700,000 a year for five years to combat Internet crimes against children throughout the country. And Bell Canada has contributed a lump sum of $700,000 to expand the website by the fall. Cybertip.ca receives tips regarding Internet incidents of child pornography, luring, child sex-tourism, or child prostitution and forwards that information to the appropriate law enforcement agency. see also Bell fighting on-line child porn (Globe and Mail).
(ZDNet UK) Up to 100 UK local telephone exchanges will be upgraded to offer symmetrical broadband services by the end of the year by Updata, a new entrant to the UK telecoms sector. Updata, which cut its teeth in the Danish telecoms market, announced this week that it is targeting the UK education market with a range of managed broadband services.
(Reuters) German neo-Nazis seeking to access racist propaganda on the Internet will now receive a lesson on the Holocaust when visiting a Web Site named after the Nazi victory salute 'Sieg Heil.' All traffic to the former neo-Nazi Web Site 'siegheil.de' has been redirected to 'shoa.de,' a site providing information on the origins of anti-Semitism and a detailed account of the Nazis' murder of some six million Jews. Germany's central registration authority for web addresses, Denic, revoked the license of the former operator of siegheil.de at the request of the German Internet watchdog jugendschutz.net.
(silicon.com) Human rights organisation Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has accused two of the biggest names in search -- Yahoo! and Google -- of deliberately conspiring to censor the Web. RSF called the pair 'irresponsible' for blocking some content labelled as subversive by the Chinese government -- sites relating to Tibet's independence, for example. Such sites disappear from the Chinese language version of Yahoo and a Yahoo-parented search engine, Yisou, while a local search engine that Google now owns a share of, Baidu, also censors its results.
(CircleID) Thankfully, a new anti-spam technology has made its way into the market. This approach, known as Sender Address Verification or SAV, is poised to cripple spammer's ability to deliver machine-generated email. [Ed: Read the comments as well as the article].
(CNET News.com) Sven Jaschan, self-confessed author of the Netsky and Sasser viruses, is responsible for 70 percent of virus infections in 2004, according to a six-month virus roundup by antivirus company Sophos. The 18-year-old Jaschan was taken into custody in Germany in May by police who said he had admitted to programming both the Netsky and Sasser worms, something experts at Microsoft confirmed. (A Microsoft antivirus reward program led to the teenager's arrest.)
(Reuters) Ukrainian police shut a modeling agency which photographed underage girls and sold images over the Internet in North America as part of their biggest crackdown on child pornography. Police are questioning about 15 people about the agency, which operated for three years across the country.
(Pressemitteilung) Auf Veranlassung der Länder übergreifenden Stelle jugendschutz.net haben US-amerikanische Provider von Speicherplatz wichtige neonazistische Websites geschlossen, denen zentrale Funktion in der internationalen Vernetzung der rechtsextremen Szene zukam. Auch die deutsche Registrierungsstelle für Web-Adressen, DENIC, ist in der letzten Woche auf Veranlassung von jugendschutz.net gegen die unzulässige Website sieg-heil.de vorgegangen. Unter der Domain ist inzwischen das Aufklärungsangebot von shoa.de zu erreichen.
(Guardian) A powerful new surveillance system which uses the latest automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology is being rolled out at service stations.
(Guardian) David Blunkett's plan for compulsory identity cards will be condemned by MPs tomorrow as improperly costed, poorly thought out, secretive and 'lacking in clarity both over the scheme's scope and practical operation'. The MPs, on the home affairs select committee, stress that they do not oppose ID cards in principle. But they express alarm about what they describe as 'function creep' once a national identity register is in place. They warn that ministers are already planning to use the ID card scheme as a cover to introduce a national fingerprint system within five years.
(Register) The UK's sixth annual Big Brother awards honoured outstanding achievement by those individuals and organisations who make your business their business, and generally interfere with, snoop on, aggravate and irritate the public with their activities. Laurels were bestowed to recipients in five categories: Worst Public Servant, Most Invasive Company, Most Appalling Project, Most Heinous Government Organisation and Lifetime Menace Award - now renamed the David Blunkett Lifetime Menace Award. Human rights watchdog Privacy International, which organises the awards, said it was overwhelmed by nominations for Blunkett, the Home Office and national ID cards but since each had been recognised in previous years different candidates were considered instead.
(AP) French Internet service providers agreed to cooperate in a crackdown against Web surfers who illegally download music online. In a government-backed charter also signed by record labels and musicians' groups, France's leading Internet companies agreed to pull the plug on pirates and step up cooperation with copyright prosecutions. The agreement was signed by representatives of Internet service providers Free, Noos, Club-Internet, Wanadoo and Tiscali France. The chief executive of Club-Internet who also is head of France's association of Internet service providers, stressed that companies like her own would "cut subscriptions only upon the decision of a judge." Nevertheless, the charter also calls on music copyright holders to carry out "targeted civil and criminal" court action against pirates by year-end.
(RAPID) The European Commission adopted a Communication on the implementation of Articles 4 and 5 of the "Television without Frontiers" Directive on promotion of the broadcasting of European works, including those of independent producers. The average broadcasting time for European works in the EU-15 was 66.95% in 2001 and 66.10% in 2002. The showing of independent producers? works broadcast by all European channels in all Member States was 37.75% in 2001 and 34.03% in 2002. The share allocated to recent European works by independent producers was 23.32% in 2001 and 21.10% in 2002.
(Libération) Aux termes de la charte signée entre l'industrie du disque et les fournisseurs d'accès, tout abonné qui contreviendra aux droits des auteurs pourra être débranché. Des millions de Français usagers des services peer-to-peer (P2P) d'échanges gratuits de fichiers comme Kazaa sont désormais dans le collimateur. Pour officialiser le top départ de la chasse à ces «pirates», il a fallu mercredi trois ministres, des producteurs, des représentants des auteurs, dont la Sacem, et des fournisseurs d'accès à l'Internet. Du beau monde pour signer une «charte» pour le «développement de l'offre légale en ligne» et la «lutte contre la piraterie numérique». Le tout à l'Olympia, un «symbole», comme l'a souligné le ministre de la Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, présent avec ses camarades Nicolas Sarkozy (Economie) et Patrick Devedjian (Industrie).
Charte d´engagements pour le développement de l´offre légale de musique en ligne, le respect de la propriété intellectuelle et la lutte contre la piraterie numérique. «Extrêmement défavorable au consommateur» Entretien avec Julien Dourgnon, de l'UFC-Que choisir. Les fournisseurs d'accès se frottent les mains Entretien avec Marie-Christine Levet, présidente de l'Association des fournisseurs d'accès (AFA) et de Club Internet.
(vnunet.com ) Sixty-five per cent of all emails sent in June 2004 were spam - up from just eight per cent three years ago, according to email monitoring company Brightmail.The steady increase in spam rates shows no sign of slowing, and existing legislation such as the US Can Spam Act will have little effect, claimed the company.
(New York Times) A new Internet-based system for issuing child-abduction alerts is being introduced in 13 states this summer and is expected to be adopted by more states soon. The system is intended to speed the process and get the alerts out to more people, including ordinary citizens who can receive text messages on their cellphones.
(Reuters) Face aux protestations d'internautes, Météo France a décidé de rétablir la gratuité de ses prévisions à trois jours pour l'ensemble de la France, mais les mesures plus précises resteront payantes. La direction de l'établissement public s'est également défendue de diffuser des prévisions trop aléatoires, comme l'affirme la revue de défense des consommateurs "Que Choisir".
(OII) The Oxford Internet Institute has received a grant from the ESRC to hold four seminars and one small conference focusing on civil society participation in the World Summit on the Information Society. Four events will be held in the run up to the 2nd summit in November 2005. A final seminar will be held early in 2006, to allow for an informed and reflective discussion of the whole WSIS process. We are currently seeking expressions of interest from researchers, civil society advocates and activists who wish to participate in, or contribute to, these seminars. Numbers are limited so please contact us as soon as possible and certainly by 1st October 2004.
(Guardian) An internet virus which infects computers by infiltrating search engines caused a crippling slowdown in online connections around the world. The world's most popular search engine, Google, stopped working for a time in parts of Britain, France and America. Rivals such as Yahoo, Lycos and Altavista were also affected. Experts said search engines were bombarded with requests generated by the MyDoom virus, which sends fake emails appearing to inform people that their mail has been returned. "
(Europa) At the second meeting of the High Level Group on Digital Rights Management Systems (DRM) it was decided to launch a wider consultation of all stakeholders on the Final Report. This informal consultation will allow views to be expressed by interested circles on the outcome of the High Level Group. A workshop will be organised by the Commission in the course of November 2004, at which the issues identified as obstacles directly linked to DRM will be addressed. Stakeholders and interested circles are invited to submit their comments to the Commission until the 15 September 2004.
(Heise) Das Dreiecksverhältnis zwischen Regierungen, den Verwaltern der nationalen Länderdomains (ccTLD) und der Internet- sowie DNS-Verwaltung ICANN sorgt einmal mehr für Diskussionen. Beim Treffen in Kuala Lumpur konnte sich ICANNs Regierungsbeirat (GAC) noch nicht auf eine Aktualisierung der Prinzipien für die Delegierung und Administration der Länderdomains einigen. Angeheizt wurde die Debatte durch ein Papier, das der GAC-Vertreter des deutschen Wirtschaftsministeriums, Michael Leibrandt, vorlegte. Darin wird eine deutlichere Betonung der Rolle der Regierungen gefordert.
(University of Ottawa) Friday, October 1st and Saturday, October 2nd, 2004. Bringing together leading academics from 16 countries, including Lawrence Lessig, David Post, Bernt Hugenholtz, Graham Greenleaf, and Ian Walden, the conference will explore comparative approaches to intellectual property law, e-commerce, Internet regulation, and developmental issues. The conference will begin in Ottawa on the evening of September 30, 2004 with the iCommons Canada launch party at which time the newly-ported Canadian version of the popular Creative Commons licence will be introduced to the public. The guest of honour at the celebration is Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford Law School, founder of Creative Commons.
(Stanford Magazine) You can pay $25 for Lawrence Lessig?s new book. Or you can download it for free. What?s the catch? None, according to Lessig, who convinced Penguin Books that releasing Free Culture online actually would increase sales of hardcover copies. Which may be true: there have been more than 180,000 downloads?and Penguin is on its third printing. Lessig?s bottom line has to do with cannibals and converts. People who decide not to buy a book because it?s free online represent the cannibalization rate. The conversion rate reflects the number of people who hear about a book because it?s online, but decide to buy the hardcover because it?s easier to read than the downloaded version. ?If the conversion rate is greater than the cannibalization rate, then you sell more books,? Lessig says.
(TF1) La charte anti-piratage numérique annoncée le 15 juillet par le gouvernement (voir notre article) sera signée mercredi entre les fournisseurs d'accès à Internet et les auteurs et producteurs de musique, a annoncé mardi le ministère de la Culture et de la Communication. La signature de ce document se déroulera à l'Olympia en présence des trois ministres associés dans la présentation de ce plan, Nicolas Sarkozy, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres et Patrick Devedjian. La "charte d'engagements pour la lutte contre la piraterie et pour le développement des offres légales de musique en ligne" a été élaborée entre les fournisseurs d'accès à Internet, les distributeurs, les distributeurs en ligne, les sociétés d'auteurs et les producteurs. Elle associe une majorité de professionnels de la filière musicale.
(BBC) Children as young as 11 are able to gamble online, according to a new report. They are able to do so because of failures by a number of websites to carry out proper age checks. The vast majority of sites tested by children's charity NCH allowed under 18-year-olds to register their details, the report found. The charity is now urging gambling websites to apply stringent age verification software. A 16-year-old girl was asked by the charity to attempt to register with around 37 UK gambling websites. She claimed she was 21 and gave her Solo debit card details. As a result, the teenager was able to register her details with 30 UK websites and she would have been able to place bets. see also Schoolgirl tests online gambling (BBC), UK bookies blamed for underage gambling and Will's Web Watch: 'Kids are gambling... quick, blame the web!' (silicon.com).
(RAPID) The Commission has sent two separate "statements of objections" to two UK mobile network operators (MNOs), O2 and Vodafone. The objections relate to the rates that both O2 and Vodafone charged other MNOs for international roaming at wholesale level. Other MNOs needed to roam on O2's and Vodafone's UK networks in order to enable their own subscribers to use their mobile phones while in the UK. This situation is known as international roaming. The high roaming fees were detrimental to consumers travelling to the UK. see also International Roaming.
(Guardian) Everything from games consoles to PCs and hi-fis will soon be linked in the average digital household. So how will it affect the way we receive media? In June, a new body called the Digital Living Network Alliance, an umbrella group comprising more than 145 companies, including Microsoft, Intel and Sony, set down a list of common principles: their aim is to ensure that everything from pocket computers to PCs and hi-fis will be able to interact by communicating with each other within the home over a network using common standards.
(ZDNet Australia) A spam taskforce operating under the auspices of the Australian Internet Industry Association (IIA) has released a draft industry code of practice designed to block the spam epidemic. Members of the public and all relevant stakeholders are invited to submit comments by 30 August 2004.
(Sydney Morning Herald) Controls on extreme pornography and other prohibited content on internet websites in Australia have virtually ceased, a newspaper claims. An investigation by the Daily Telegraph revealed the federal government's watchdog was powerless against offshore operators and that just four Australian-based sites were ordered off the web last year.
(The Register) he Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has just finished its bi-annual five-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur and it's feeling pretty good about itself.What in retrospect may be seen as the organisation's most vital period has gone off without hardly a hitch. Its head, Dr Paul Twomey was already calling the 'best ever' ICANN meeting at the Friday close press conference. ICANN meetings have always promised thunder and lightning yet provided sparks, but there was a big difference this time that everyone had noticed - it had actually achieved something.
(RAPID) To improve mapping in Europe, the European Commission is launching the INSPIRE (INfrastructure for SPatial InfoRmation in the European Union) initiative. A database with consistent geographical information, INSPIRE will support environmental protection policies as well as infrastructure development, agriculture and maritime navigation. A new Directive proposed today calls on EU Member States to put geographical information on a publicly accessible electronic network and to progressively harmonise it. At present, information on rivers, road networks and other geographical features is collected in an uncoordinated way and based on different methods and specifications, resulting in data gaps and lack of comparability.
(Reuters) The United Nations is veering off-track in its discussions on whether government officials should set Internet policy, a founding father of the network says. Instead, governments should join together to fight electronic crime globally and develop best practices to encourage the growth of Internet commerce, said ICANN's chairman Vinton Cerf, who helped invent the Internet's early architecture.
(KableNet.com) The European Commission is looking for suppliers to work on a new communications infrastructure covering all national governments and EU institutions across the continent. The €100m (£66m) system will replace the existing network, known as Testa, which allows the exchange of data between European and national administrations. The deadline for responding to the tender notice is 13 September 2004.
(ZDNet UK) A UK court has ruled that modifying a PlayStation2 to get around copy protection and regional restrictions infringes on Sony's intellectual property. Sony has won a landmark judgment against a man who sold modified PlayStation2 chips that circumvented copy protection. The UK high court ruled on Wednesday that Sony's intellectual property rights were being violated by the practice of 'modding', also known as 'chipping'. Sony had brought its case against David Ball, a UK citizen, who was accused of selling some 1,500 mod chips. Users could install them in their PS2 to play imported games from other regions as well as pirated copies. Like many console and DVD-drive makers, Sony uses regional encoding that prevents European hardware, based on the PAL standard, from playing software from the US or the Far East. Mr Justice Laddie ruled that Ball had violated the European Union Copyright Directive, which came into UK law in 2003. He further found that the sale, advertising, use, or possession of such mods chips for commercial purposes was also illegal. This is the first time that the UK's copyright laws have been used to prevent the circumvention of copy protection.
(BBC) Mobile music players are set to become the must-have gadget for music fans. A report predicts that people will buy more than 10 million players this year to listen to music while on the move. The buying frenzy is being driven by the success of Apple's iPod and the reams of copycat gadgets aiming to cash in on its popularity. The study by London-based Informa Media predicts that more than 21 million mobile music players will be in use around the world by the end of 2004.
(RAPÏD) The EU's initiative to free up parts of the radio spectrum for innovative wireless technologies is off to a good start, but will need a sustained effort from EU Member States, MEPs and industry to succeed, says the European Commission in its first annual progress report on radio spectrum policy in the EU. This looks at measures taken under the new telecoms package (in particular the Radio spectrum Decision) to allocate the radio spectrum more efficiently, to expand the single market for innovative new radio-based technologies. These technologies have huge potential to enhance competitiveness and deliver new public services.
(FT) Gangs linked to international terrorism and organised crime are relying increasingly on music piracy to fund their operations, according to music industry figures. Leading music groups saw the value of pirated sales rise by 4 per cent to $4.5bn (?3.7bn, £2.4bn) last year, and claimed the proceeds were being used for money laundering, drugs trafficking and terrorism. The International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), representing music labels in 70 countries, said it had uncovered evidence of links between gangs involved in music piracy and Middle East terrorists. IFPI press release and Report
(CNET News.com) by Declan McCullagh. The U.S. Copyright Office is about to endorse new legislation that would outlaw peer-to-peer networks and possibly some consumer electronics devices that could be used for copyright piracy. Marybeth Peters, the U.S. Register of Copyrights, is planning to announce her support for the measure at a Senate hearing. The Induce Act, which critics warn could imperil products like Apple Computer's iPod, is an 'important improvement over existing law,' according to a copy of her statement seen by CNET News.com. Peters goes even further than the politicians supporting the Induce Act, saying a 1984 Supreme Court decision 'should be replaced by a more flexible rule that is more meaningful in the technological age.' That 5-4 ruling said that VCRs were legal to sell because they were 'capable of substantial noninfringing uses' - a legal shield that one federal court has extended to cover the Grokster and Morpheus file-swapping networks.
(Guardian) Culture secretary Tessa Jowell confirmed that the analogue TV signal would not be switched off before 2012, two years later than previously promised by the government.
But she said the process of switching off BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five's analogue services could start in some regions as soon as 2007.
(Guardian) The television watchdog, Ofcom, ruled out a ban on advertising junk foods to children yesterday, saying the role of advertising in obesity was small compared to that of other factors such as exercise and family habits.
It said any other action would have to wait for the government's public health white paper in the autumn. The decision to kick the issue into the long grass sets Ofcom on collision course with the growing campaign to curb marketing to children.
(EURIM) Status Report for MPs. Recently there has been increasing focus on the presence of, and ability to gain access to, illegal and harmful content online. This has been followed by calls to prevent access to such material and to regulate the Internet. Such calls often ignore the technical and / or legal barriers to doing so, and fail to take into account the collective responsibility of society in general for the Internet ?cleaning up its act?.
We need to recognise that this is an international problem, and that the UK is leading the way in industry and law enforcement co-operation. Since 1997, UK hosted potentially illegal content is down from 18% to less than 1%. 99% of illegal content reported is traced to outside the UK. Child abuse content traced to the USA is now 55%, while content traced to Russia is 23%. International co-operation between law enforcement agencies is therefore a crucial component and one which may be hampered by lack of expertise or resources from country to country.
(PA News) Tony Blair announced a Government-backed summit into ways to stop paedophiles accessing child porn on the internet. The Prime Minister invited internet firms to the talks in September in a new bid to block online viewing of youngsters being abused. He also welcomed a BT initiative which used new technology to block access to child porn ? but revealed the scale of the problem with 200,000 attempts to view hardcore websites in just three weeks. Mr Blair urged other firms to follow BT?s lead.
(Digital Media Europe) OPTA, the Dutch telecom watchdog, has reported receiving 2,200 spam complaints - including 1,900 over e-mail - in the two months since anti-spam regulations went into force in the Netherlands.
(Reporters sans frontières) The Chinese authorities have stepped up Internet censorship to include blogging, closing two sites hosting blogs - personal pages where Internet-users post their own comments on the news.
(Wired) While many online newspaper readers are used to the idea of registering to read free content online, some news buffs are supporting and creating sites that help them beat the system with fake or shared login information that helps keep their personal information under wraps.
(USA Today) Although Florida is fighting back with an anti-spam law that went into effect this month, the state has long been known as the "spam capital of the world." Florida is relatively attractive to folks who are running scam-type operations because it has very favorable personal bankruptcy laws. If they get sued, they're able to hold on to a lot more of their personal possessions.
(BBC) Telecoms giant Cable & Wireless has been urged to use its influence in the Maldives to help free jailed net users. The press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, has written to the company's boss, asking him to put pressure on the Maldives authorities to end abusive internet censorship. Reporters Without Borders says that the Maldives is one of the world's most repressive in terms of freedom of expression on the internet.
(CNET News.com) State utility commissions can have very little control over Net phone companies, a New York federal judge wrote in an order that hands another victory to Vonage and similar upstarts. State utility commissions will be able to work with Vonage to rectify customer complaints but won't be able to regulate or tax the company, according to U.S. District Judge Douglas Eaton. Eaton's order strikes at the heart of a debate between federal regulators, which want to exercise a hands-off approach to voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to let the young industry grow, and states, which rely on tax revenues to pay for public programs.
(ZDNet UK) Britain's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) has helped to smash a Russian gang involved in online extortion. Three men were arrested in a series of raids that targeted an online protection racket that threatened to crash online sport bookies' Web sites unless the gang was paid off. More arrests are expected to follow. Three men were arrested in a series of raids that targeted an online protection racket that threatened to crash Web sites unless the gang was paid off. More arrests are expected to follow.
(Guardian) EU competition commissioner Mario Monti finally gave the green light to Sony and BMG to merge in a deal that will create the world's second biggest music company. But he said he would look hard at any future mergers in the sector to make sure that any deals did not increase the music majors' domination of the market.
(Guardian) The new media super-regulator has had an incredibly active first few months and it has had its share of critics. Here Ofcom's chairman David Currie tells Maggie Brown what's gone right - and wrong.
(Australian IT) Vietnam has stepped up efforts to control internet traffic, instructing service providers to terminate contracts with cybercafes that allow customers to access pornographic or anti-government websites. The directive is the latest in a string of measures unveiled in recent months to prevent 'bad and poisonous information' being circulated online. This latest regulation requires the communist nation's seven state-owned ISPs to disconnect cybercafes if they allow clients to access forbidden websites. Cafe owners are also instructed to monitor their customers' use of the web for any violations of government regulations, such as distributing viruses and accessing pornographic sites or those that 'threaten national security'.
(Guardian) BBC new media director Ashley Highfield has revealed that the corporation could launch its own low cost broadband service just weeks after commercial rivals accused it of breaching a 'catalogue of promises' to cap spending. And it is also likely to press ahead with plans to launch a standalone search engine to compete with US giants Google and Yahoo!.
(Guardian) Two-thirds of the public believe that the BBC should no longer be funded by the licence fee alone, according to a new government report What You Said about the BBC that will have far-reaching consequences for the future of the corporation. But the research concluded that the licence fee was the 'least worst' option for funding the BBC which was deemed to have an overall 'satisfaction rating' of 75%. However the report highlighted widespread concern even among the BBC's strongest supporters that programming had 'declined in quality'. see also Public mystified by BBC regulation.
(ZDNet UK) Around 230,000 attempts to reach paedophilic Web content have been blocked by BT's Cleanfeed, but AOL says this content blocker may not be the answer.
(BBC) Parents are still largely unaware of the risks their children take on the net, even though 75% of teenagers use the net at home. A London School of Economics study suggested 57% had seen net porn but most stumbled on it accidentally via spam or pop-ups. Only 16% of parents thought their children had seen porn online. Children are aware of net safety, but parents need help in understanding how to talk through good and bad net experiences and risks, said the report.
(New York Times) Search engines like Yahoo and Google have spawned bidding wars among a growing number of marketers who want to place their ads next to search results. That is a beautiful thing for Yahoo and Google, of course, but in the long term, some analysts think it could haunt them.According to a report by the Internet research firm Nielsen//NetRatings, the demand for search advertising is growing far more quickly than the supply of available advertising spots. The report's author, Kenneth Cassar, said the implications could be far reaching.
(vnunet.com ) T-Mobile and Orange are the latest mobile operators to launch 3G services into the UK, joining 3 and Vodafone.
Both have introduced Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/GPRS datacards. T-Mobile's datacard offers speeds of 128Kbps, while Orange's runs at the full UMTS speed of 384Kbps.
(BBC) Police have set up fake websites to catch people accessing child porn, the National Crime Squad (NCS) has said.
A web sting has been set up by the NCS, who worked with the FBI, Interpol, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Australian HI-Tech Crime Centre. The online operation, known as Operation Pin, targets offenders by setting up fake websites that collect details of people wanting to look at child porn. Law enforcement agencies have worked with search engine operators to ensure that the fake sites appear when a person looks for certain keywords. The aim is to prevent people joining the more clandestine community of experienced paedophiles. As yet it is unclear how many offenders have been caught as a result of this approach.
(Guardian ) Wanadoo, the UK's biggest internet service provider, is planning to launch a new online video-on-demand service next year and is set to begin partnership talks with pay-TV operators including BSkyB and NTL. It hopes to be able to offer channels such as Sky Sports and Sky One in addition to movies, music and big events to broadband subscribers. If BSkyB strikes a deal it would potentially mean that sports fans would no longer have to buy a package of channels they did not want, being able instead to cherry-pick their favourite events. Eric Abensur, the UK managing director of Wanadoo, also revealed that the company - formerly called Freeserve until the service was rebranded earlier this year - is working with Orange to develop a cheap all-in-one phone service. Both Orange and Wanadoo are owned by France Telecom. The company recently dropped the price of its entry-level broadband service to £17.99 a month and yesterday launched its new Livebox service, an all in one wireless "home gateway" box that will allow subscribers to link PCs, televisions, games consoles and other devices around the home wirelessly.
(RAPID) The European Commission has granted regulatory approval to the creation of Sony BMG, a joint venture combining the recorded music businesses of Sony and Bertelsmann after concluding that it did not have sufficiently strong evidence to oppose the deal. The Commission will keep a close watch on the music sector as it becomes even more concentrated and would very carefully scrutinise any further major concentration in the industry.
(RAPID) The exemption from business tax which the France Télécom group enjoyed up to the end of 2002 constituted aid that was incompatible with the EC Treaty. France Télécom has to pay back to the state an amount estimated at between ?800 million and ?1.1 billion plus interest. In addition the shareholder?s advance made available to the operator in December 2002 contains aid components.
(New Zealand Government) Five new training modules on cyber safety for schools were launched by by Education Minister Trevor Mallard. The modules have been developed by the Internet Safety Group with funding from the Ministry of Education. They build on information in the Netsafe Kit for Schools, also supported by the Ministry of Education and distributed to all schools. The Internet Safety Group is the Ministry's designated agent for internet safety resources, advice and professional development. The training programme is made up of a comprehensive set of teaching modules with workbooks. Targeted at the specific needs of key school personnel, they will be delivered by licensed providers in a series of workshops around the country.
(Washington Post) George Washington University this fall will become one of a small number of colleges to attempt a novel solution to the problem of students illegally downloading music from the Internet: It's going to give them the music, legally, for free. Through a deal worked out with the online music library Napster, students living in campus residence halls will be able to access hundreds of thousands of songs over the university's high-speed network, effectively allowing them to use their personal computers as digital jukeboxes.
(Libération) Et si les internautes adeptes de l'échange de musique gratuite via l'Internet étaient privés d'accès au réseau ? C'est l'une des propositions qui seront discutées aujourd'hui, alors que trois ministres Nicolas Sarkozy en tête réunissent au ministère des Finances les représentants de l'industrie du disque, du cinéma, de l'Internet, les associations d'artistes et de consommateurs sur le thème de «la lutte contre la piraterie».
(AFP) China has launched a 'people's war' against pornography on the Internet, giving websites a deadline until September to rid themselves of indecent content. Officials have so far identified 500 websites across China that carry pornographic pictures and film clips. Zhou Yongkang, the minister of public security, has vowed to crack down on the activities and severely punish those found guilty of violating the law.
President Hu Jintao has gone one step further, saying a 'people's war' must be waged against pornography on the Internet.
It appears the Chinese have answered their president's call, filing a total of 22,000 complaints on a dedicated government website set up to make it easier for the public to report online wrongdoing.
(Digital Media Europe) French music fans who download music illegally are to have their internet connection shut down as part of a severe clamp down on the practice by the French government. A co-operation agreement between French internet services providers (ISP) and the music industry is due to be signed under the initiative of the French Ministries of Industry, Culture and Finance. Under the new agreement, which aims to promote legal music downloading sites such as Apple?s iTunes, regular offenders could have their internet connection terminated. According to the agreement, the termination of the account of a regular offender could be implemented very quickly. In a few hours a judge will be able to order an ISP to shut down a connection at the request of a record label monitoring peer-to-peer networks.
(BBC) BT says it is blocking more than 10,000 attempts each day to access child porn. Its figures provide the first firm evidence of the extent of web paedophilia and BT is targeting the porn with its Clean Feed system. The Internet Watch Foundation called the figures 'staggering' and said children were being abused in order to supply the hardcore images. Police officials said the extent of the online porn problem was 'extremely disturbing'.
(Guardian) The results of publicly-funded scientific research carried out in Britain should be made freely available to all and the government should help universities fund digital archives of their academic work, a committee of MPs will urge. In its long-awaited report into the scientific publishing market, the Commons science and technology committee will also call on the Office of Fair Trading to carry out a biennial review of the market.
(EurActiv.com) France, Spain and Germany have announced they will be linking up their criminal records' systems electronically from 2005 on. A joint statement issued by the three Member States called for this model to be used in setting up an EU-wide register "as soon as possible". The trio's initiative emerged as EU justice ministers were discussing ways to share information on criminals convicted of serious crimes, in response to judicial shortcomings underlined by a Franco-Belgian serial murder investigation.
(newmediazero ) by Sarah Monk. Now that the dust has settled following the House of Lords' decision in the Naomi Campbell privacy case against The Mirror, it's important to remember that this case isn't just applicable to celebrities who are routinely hounded by the paparazzi. The principles laid down by the Lords apply to anyone passing on information that could be characterised as confidential or private. This presents the online world with a major problem. Nowadays the first place that stories often circulate is in Internet chat rooms or on message boards. As with defamatory material, anyone involved in passing on private information can be fixed with liability. So we're not just talking about the person posting the material; an ISP or chat room host could also be targeted.
(CoE) At a meeting of the Council of Europe's Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM) on 11-14 May 2004, it was decided to organise the 7th European Ministerial Conference on Mass Media Policy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 10-11 March 2005. The main topics of the Conference will be 1) freedom of expression and information in times of crisis, 2) cultural diversity and media pluralism in times of globalisation and 3) human rights and regulation of the media and new communication services in the Information Society. The CDMM is now preparing the draft political texts (a draft political declaration, draft resolutions on the three main topics of the Conference and a draft action plan) to be adopted by the Ministers at the Conference, outlining priorities for future work within the Council of Europe in the area of media law and policy. In this context, the CDMM would like to invite non-governmental organisations working in the media field in Europe and other interested persons to submit their ideas and proposals as regards these future activities. The proposals should not exceed 2 pages and should be sent to the Media Division, in English or French, by 31 August 2004.
(Dutch EU Presidency) Under the Dutch Presidency of the European Union, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is organising this conference. Network and information security is a prerequisite for the growth of electronic businesses and the competitiveness of the whole economy. So e-Security can substantially contribute to the Lisbon objectives.
(OSCE) The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Mr Miklos Haraszti, is organizing a two-day conference on "Guaranteeing Media Freedom on the Internet" on 27 and 28 August 2004 in Amsterdam. The conference is a follow-up to the 2003 Amsterdam Internet Conference. More than 20 international experts will lecture. Interested representatives from IGOs, NGOs, academia, media and industry are invited to attend. Eventually a 'Freedom of the Media - Internet Cookbook' with best practices and benchmarks for Internet legislation, regulation and education will be produced and published at end of this year. Agenda;
(RAPID) In response to an initiative by the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, the joint working party of representatives from the Commission, the European Jewish Congress and the Congress of European Rabbis met officially for the first time on 13th July to discuss the fight against anti-Semitism. The Dutch Presidency of the European Union was also represented.
At the meeting the participants reaffirmed their desire to develop a coordinated long-term plan of action to combat anti-Semitism in all its guises throughout the European Union."
(Guardian) Ashley Highfield, the head of BBC Online, tells Owen Gibson why criticism of the corporation's rapid digital expansion will not curb his plans for innovation "
(Reuters) Microsoft has won a judgement against a Californian spammer. A federal judge in California has awarded Microsoft $4m after finding that a California man and his company had sent spam, or unsolicited email, to users of its MSN and Hotmail services to get them to download a toolbar onto their computer desktops.
(IRIS) DELIS, LDH and IRIS joint Communique. By voting identically to the National Assembly, the French Senate has allowed the final adoption on July 15, 2004, of the draft law on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data. This law revises the French Data Protection Act of January 6, 1978, and transposes the European Directive of 1995. Many aspects of the adopted text constitute a regression of the protection of citizens ensured so far by the Data Protection Act of 1978, and not all of them are a consequence of transposing the European Directive of 1995. Logically following its vote against this text, the parliamentary opposition would submit the adopted law to the French Constitutional Council. If the Council Decision does not allow to restore the level of protection enjoyed by French citizens before the adoption of this law, the DELIS coalition, the LDH and IRIS reserve themselves the possibility of filing a complaint with the European Commission, in order to have it carried by the Commission before the Court of Justice of the European Communities, against France for infringement of the Community legislation.
(Europa) 23 - 24 September 2004 Residence Palace, International Press Centre, Brussels. The European Commission in co-operation with the GSM Europe/GSM Association and the Mobile Manufacturers Forum (MMF) organize the Second Mobile Communications Seminar on Health, Environment and Society. Following the January 2004 Conference, this one-and-a-half day seminar aims to contribute towards Europe-wide science-based public policy and regulation on health and electromagnetic fields (EMF) in order to ensure safety for everybody and improve public information. Best practices will be identified on the basis of a comprehensive and interdisciplinary perspective of the issues and a continuing dialogue between public policy representatives and all stakeholders.
(New York Times) Six months after the Super Bowl, writers, producers and network executives are in a state of confusion about what they are allowed to say and show on television.
(Cory Doctorow) This talk was originally given to Microsoft's Research Group and other interested parties from within the company at their Redmond offices on June 17, 2004. The author argues 1. That DRM systems don't work 2. That DRM systems are bad for society 3. That DRM systems are bad for business 4. That DRM systems are bad for artists 5. That DRM is a bad business-move for Microsoft.
(out-law.com) It's probably the hottest sector in the security field today. Yet the biometrics industry, which produces human-based identification systems, is weighed down with claims and counterclaims, fallacies and myths. Two years ago, OUT-LAW ran a story about the vulnerability of biometric products. Last month, we ran a report by a volunteer for the UK's trial of a biometric passport scheme. Today we present an article that was contributed to OUT-LAW by Russ Davis of ISL Biometrics, arguing against some of the criticisms faced by the technology.
(out-law.com) The European Commission has called upon the UK Government to justify its approach to data protection law ? because it fears that it does not comply with the European Data Protection Directive. The concerns are believed to focus on a court's definition of what constitutes "personal data" in Michael Durant's landmark case against the UK's Financial Services Authority and subsequent guidance on the case from the UK's Information Commissioner.
(CNN) A federal judge has struck down Washington state's ban on selling some violent video games to minors, calling it a violation of free speech. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik wrote that depictions of violence have been used throughout the country's history to convey important social messages, and that the Supreme Court has never upheld bans on violent depictions under obscenity laws. The state's ban sought to prevent minors from buying or renting games that portray "realistic or photographic-like depictions of aggressive conflict" in which the players kill or injure law enforcement officers. The law included a provision to fine retailers $500 for violations.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is seeking to strike down a top 10 list of patents which the online civil liberties group considers as unwarranted and harmful to innovation. Only 614 of the nearly 7 million existing patents have been revoked, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Some 3,927 patents have been narrowed since the agency began conducting re-examinations in 1981. The hardest part for challengers is qualifying for a re-exam at all. A challenger must find written evidence, called "prior art" in patent parlance, showing others developed the technology before the patent application was filed -- a formidable task that consumes a cottage industry of patent researchers and lawyers.
(DDM) 16 septembre 2004. De 9h à 13h à la Direction du développement des médias, 69 rue de Varenne, 75007 Paris. Appuyé sur l'avancement des travaux du groupe de travail consacré aux plaintes et sanctions piloté par la CNIL et des retours d'expérience, ce thème contribuera à clarifier les conditions nécessaires au dépôt de plaintes par les utilisateurs, à la lumière du nouveau paysage législatif français. Il apportera en outre des éléments d'information techniques relatifs au mode d'identification des "spammeurs" par les utilisateurs et par les autorités en charge de leur poursuite. voir aussi cycle de conférences-débats
(Guardian) For the first time Internet Explorer has lost a tiny bit of market share. Ben Hammersley believes this small change may signify large challenges ahead for Microsoft.
(BBC) Europe is experiencing excellent broadband growth, but nearly 30% of broadband users in Europe have slow connections, says a report. Analysts Jupiter Research said there was a great disparity between the quality of service different people are experiencing.
(Digital-Lifestyles.info) "Piracy is a Crime" is the new £1.5
million (?2.25 million) campaign from the UK film industry. Film makers
have grouped together with retailers like Asda and HMV to form the
Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness, and have predicted
an annual loss of about £1 billion (?1.5 billion) to the film industry
in 2007. To combat this, the new campaign has a tough new message for
the public. A new trailer seeks to educate the public that film piracy
has links to organised crime and funds terrorist activities. By issuing
posters featuring a gunman, the ITIPA is hoping to capitalise on the
public's fear of terrorism to discourage the public from buying dodgy
DVDs down the market. The majority of public opinion seems to be that
piracy is a "soft crime" with no real victims, whereas low risks and
high returns are making it an attractive option for criminal gangs ?
raids to premises involved in piracy have also unearthed drugs,
pornography and weapons. see also Introducing
Del-Qaida (Guardian) Comment by Duncan Campbell. Worried
about losing money, the entertainment business is peddling false links
between DVD pirates and terror cells.
(Out-law.com) The UK watchdog for premium rate phone numbers has announced that every company wanting to run premium rate services using internet dialler software must first get the regulator's prior permission. The announcement comes in the wake of a public outcry over rogue diallers ? software that installs a default dial-up number onto an unwitting person's computer to call a premium rate number, resulting in an unexpectedly expensive call every time the computer connects to the internet.
(RAPID) The European Commission adopted ambitious proposals for
the new generation of programmes in the education, youth, culture and
audiovisual fields. These will succeed the current programmes for the
period 2007-2013.
(LawMeme) by James Grimmelmann. Ernie Miller has been blogging up an incredible storm about S. 2560, the Act Formerly Known as the INDUCE Act, now called the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act. ('Infringement' is singular, but 'Copyrights' is plural. Go figure.) His coverage matters to lawyers, techies, copyfighters, and consumers. That is, everyone. Ignore it at your peril. The IICA is one of the most dangerously misguided and malicious pieces of technology legislation to rear its ugly head in the last decade. Ernie's obsessively detailed articles are a powerful indictment of a bad idea. I have only one thing to add to what Ernie is saying: an index.
(CircleID) by William Drake. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), held an ITU WSIS Thematic Meeting on Countering Spam from 7 to 9 July 2004, in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting was focused around various topics including: Scope of the problem, Technical solutions, Consumer protection and awareness, Legislation and enforcement, and International cooperation. The following is a report by William J. Drake, Senior Associate International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development in Geneva.
(BBC) Constant vigilance is needed to tackle paedophiles who ruin young lives with their activities on the internet, Tory leader Michael Howard said. The Tory leader invited police and experts on the internet to his party's London HQ to discuss ways of tackling the web's 'darker' side.
(BBC) Two students from Oxford University are facing disciplinary action after hacking into the university's computer. They could be fined £500 or be suspended after infiltrating the system and publishing their story in a student newspaper.
(OECD) Peer-to-peer (or P2P) networks are used to download music, movies, images, games and software from the Internet. The number of people logged on simultaneously to popular file sharing networks approached close to 10 million in April 2004, a rise of 30% from the same period a year earlier, according to a pre-released section of the OECD Information Technology Outlook 2004. The included country-specific data for all 30 OECD countries reveals that users in the U.S. make up over half the total number of people using file-sharing networks, followed by Germany (10.2%), Canada (8.0%) and France (7.8%). The report also shows that usage of P2P networks is growing fastest in Europe and Canada. Whereas the share of P2P users from the United States as part of all OECD users is falling, the share of Germany, France and Canada is on the rise.
(International Herald Tribune)
Some academics who closely monitor
Icann have been pushing for auctions as a fairer way to determine who
should control so-called generic top level domains like .com or .net
that help users find their way around the Internet. A report from the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has given its endorsement for auctions.
(BBC) File-sharing is booming, with people downloading millions of files despite efforts by the entertainment industry to stop the practice, say experts. Films and other files larger than 100MB are becoming the most requested downloads on networks around the world, said UK net analysts CacheLogic. It measures peer-to-peer traffic on the networks of internet service providers. It estimates that at least 10 million people are logged on to a peer-to-peer (P2P) network at any time.
(Guardian) A former crown court judge, found to have 75 pornographic images of boys on his laptop computer, was yesterday sentenced to a 12-month community rehabilitation order.
(CDT) CDT has released a report calling for continued reform at the Internet Corporation on Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The report calls on ICANN to focus on its limited mission and bottom-up, consensus-based approach, which remains the best model for managing core Internet naming and numbering functions. ICANN is meeting July 19-23 in Kuala Lumpur.
(ZDNet UK) Agreement has been reached between ICSTIS, which regulates the UK premium rate phone services market, and the government over new powers that will be introduced to try and crack down on the threat posed by rogue diallers, according to people familiar with the matter. An announcement is expected this Friday detailing new powers that will be granted to ICSTIS (the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services). As ZDNet UK reported last week, premium rate operators used to have to seek permission from ICSTIS before launching in Britain, but the government took this requirement away two years ago when the EU e-commerce directive came into UK law. Officials from ICSTIS, the Department of Trade and Industry and Ofcom have been meeting to thrash out this problem. According to those close to the discussions, the government has agreed with ICSTIS's demand for tougher regulation. "We're going to return to some form of licensing," said an informed source. "The finer details are being finalised as we speak."
(Guardian) Software patents are back on the European agenda and the stakes are high. Are they necessary for innovation or do they impede it? Ben Hammersley investigates.
(RAPID) The European Commission?s view on how to translate principles agreed by UN Member States in Geneva in December 2003 into action to create a worldwide information society are set out in a Commission Communication. This Communication outlines priorities and proposes actions for the second phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), which will flesh out a plan of action agreed in Geneva and is to culminate in a WSIS summit meeting in Tunis from 16 to 18 November 2005. Future WSIS work should focus on creating the right policy environment for information society technology applications to flourish, accelerating the take-up of proven applications, e.g. for e-government, e-health, and e-learning, and promoting research in this area. Unfinished work from Geneva on internet governance and financing measures to bridge the digital divide must also be completed.
(RAPID) Speech by Mario Monti, European Commissioner for Competition Policy. Workshop on access to quality audiovisual contents and development of New Media. Hotel Hilton, Brussels, 8 July 2004
(Internetnews.com) A new study has confirmed what many a cubicle dweller has long suspected: Many companies, maybe even yours, are monitoring outgoing e-mails. According to a new survey conducted by Forrester Consulting and sponsored by Proofpoint Inc., a company that makes anti-spam and filtering software, more than 43 percent of corporations with more than 20,000 employees employ staff to monitor and read outbound e-mail. The survey of 140 corporate decision-makers found that companies' concern about employees leaking sensitive information via e-mail ranked as the biggest reason behind the snooping policy.
(InfoWorld) Researchers at three French government-funded research organizations have revealed a new license compatible with the Free Software Foundation Inc.'s GNU General Public License (GPL). Plenty of free software licenses exist already, but they are mostly written in English, from the point of view of the U.S. legal system, which can pose a problem in countries where the legal system is based on different assumptions. The new license, known as CeCILL, is intended to make free software more compatible with French law in two areas where it differs significantly from U.S. law: copyright and product liability. See English version of the license.
(Internationak Herald Tribune) As a concept BPL, for broadband over power lines, or HomePlug has been around for a long time. What is new in the past two years is a series of technical breakthroughs, mainly in chips designed by Intellon, a small company based in Ocala, Florida. These chips have made power-line transmission fast enough, cheap enough and reliable enough to merit serious attention. A standards-setting group called the HomePlug alliance has also played an important role.
(Wired) Thanks to the federal government's crackdown on obscenity, commercial radio stations have been clamoring for technology that delays broadcast feeds for up to 40 seconds, giving hosts and producers a chance to bleep out naughty words. Long a staple of political-minded talk shows at large stations, delay systems are now being put to work 24 hours a day, even during the weekly gardening hour and the afternoon stock market report.
(Europa) Access to Celex menu search is free of charge from 1 July 2004. Nevertheless the use of a login and a password is temporarily required. Please use the login enlu0000 and the password europe.
(ZDNet UK) E-commerce legislation brought in by the government in 2002 has been blamed for the dramatic rise in premium rate fraud hitting dial-up Web users. ICSTIS, the organisation that regulates the premium rate telephone services, is demanding that the government gives it the powers it needs to fight the growing menace of rogue diallers. In recent weeks ICSTIS (the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services) has been contacted by thousands of UK consumers complaining that their phone bills include expensive calls to premium rate numbers that they didn't call. It is thought that many of these people have fallen victim to criminals who have secretly installed diallers -- software that is used by adult Web sites, for example, as a billing method -- on their PCs that have caused them to call premium rate numbers without their knowledge. ICSTIS says that the government is partly to blame for this situation. 'Premium rate operators used to have to seek permission from us before launching, but when the EU e-commerce directive came into UK law two years ago it took this requirement for prior permission away,' said ICSTIS spokesman Rob Dwight.
(CNET News.com) One in four people online has illegally downloaded a feature film -- and it's cutting into box-office and DVD sales, the Motion Picture Association of America said. A survey of 3,600 Internet users in eight countries, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, showed that as many as 50 percent had downloaded copyrighted content in the last year. Of those people who have downloaded films, 17 percent said they are going to the movies less often, and 26 percent said they bought fewer DVDs, according to online researcher OTX, which conducted the study in partnership with the MPAA.
(BBC) UK mobile users have more protection from premium rate spam text messages thanks to a new consumer protection scheme. Firms providing premium rate text services and content have teamed up with networks to let users cancel the services by sending a single text. Providers of new or existing services will have to be able to recognise the keyword 'STOP' by 1 August 2004. The scheme, launched by the Mobile Data Association (MDA), should give people more control over what is sent to them.
(Reuters) Mobile phone operators and suppliers of video on demand have asked the European Commission to help them gain access to the rights to sell consumers the latest movies, music and soccer content. Company executives told Competition Commissioner Mario Monti hat movie producers and other content providers have little interest in doing business with the new media, while video stores and TV networks have no interest in making way for new rivals.
(Heise) Der Streit zwischen dem Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels und dem in Berlin ansässigen wissenschaftlichen Dokumentenlieferdienst subito eskaliert: Die Buchhandelslobby hat einerseits gemeinsam mit Stichting STM, dem internationalen Verband der Verleger im Bereich Science, Technology und Medizin, eine Klage (PDF) gegen den Kopienversand der Bibliotheken beim Landgericht München I eingereicht. In einem Musterverfahren wollen die Verleger subito den "weltweiten" Artikelversand untersagen. Darüber hinaus haben die beiden Verbände aber auch eine Beschwerde bei der EU-Kommission eingelegt. Die Verlage fühlen sich demnach durch die Versanddienste der Bibliotheken, die sie als "ruinöse Wettbewerbshandlungen" bezeichnen, "rechtswidrig geschädigt".
(vnunet.com) The Federation Against Software Theft (Fast) has welcomed government moves to clamp down on copyright piracy. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has established the Creative Industries IPR Forum to provide a national strategy for dealing with intellectual property (IP) crime. The DTI's strategy, to be unveiled later in the summer, is expected to set out priorities, combine the activities of various agencies and improve the processing of information to support enforcement processes. A copyright strategy group, to be chaired by the science minister Lord Sainsbury and arts minister Estelle Morris is also to be established.
(Heise) "Wer sich auf seiner persönlichen Homepage im Internet präsentiert, ist nicht automatisch auch selbstbewusst", schreiben Psychologen der Technischen Universität Chemnitz. Mit anderen Worten: Besitzer privater Webseiten im Internet sind offenbar introvertierter als ihre Zeitgenossen ohne eigenen Internetauftritt.
(Heise) Die Sicherheitsbehörden von Bund und Ländern sollen bei der Bekämpfung des islamistischen Terrorismus und Extremismus noch enger zusammenarbeiten. Die Innenministerkonferenz hat heute in Kiel beschlossen, dass alle nationalen und internationalen Erkenntnisse über islamische Terroristen und Extremisten zentral ausgewertet werden können, um terroristische Anschläge besser verhindern zu können. Erforderlich sei die Prüfung der Voraussetzungen für die Einrichtung gemeinsamer Dateien von Polizei und Verfassungsschutz, insbesondere einer Indexdatei. Außerdem soll unter anderem die Zusammenarbeit weiter verbessert werden.
(CNN) The video game industry seems to delight in pushing the envelope - and the bounds of good taste -with ever-gorier content. That has put it under renewed attack from legislators and activists who claim some titles must be kept out of kids' hands, though courts have repeatedly granted games First Amendment protections.
(BBC) A coalition of children's charities has urged the UK government to set strict controls on services that let parents track their children by their mobiles. The Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety (Chis) presented their case outlining their concerns to MPs. Chis' John Carr said it was vital that mobile companies were legally bound to confirm who signed up to the services. The coalition is worried that as more firms offer the services a lack of legal safeguards could mean tracking facilities get into the wrong hands. 'It is a classic example of a technology-led solution where it should have been child safety-led,' John Carr, NCH's technology advisor and Chis spokesperson told BBC News Online.
(Internetnews) Seventy-five registrars from around the world have banded together to protest the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number's (ICANN) proposed 2004-2005 budget, which significantly raises the yearly fee for registrars regardless of size.
(The Register) Vodafone's new mobile content filtering system, designed to stop children accessing Web nasties with their mobiles, raises more questions than it answers. In January, the major UK operators agreed to implement a content filtering system, with an independent body in place to rate content, by the end of the year. Vodafone has launched its filtering system five months early, presumably hoping to steal a media victory from under the noses of its rivals. Child protection groups have welcomed the Voda's decision to begin content filtering before the December deadline, but early indications are that the operator has bitten off more than it can chew.
(Economist) Wireless networking: Few people have a kind word to say about telecoms regulators. But the success of Wi-Fi shows what can be achieved when regulators and technologists work together.
(CNET News.com) Microsoft has paid the $600 million fine handed down by the European Commission in its antitrust ruling against the company. Microsoft deposited the payment in an escrow account while the company's appeal is taking place. While Microsoft had the option of submitting a promissory note in place of such a payout until proceedings are complete, the company dipped into its massive cash reserves, estimated at $50 billion, to cover the largest antitrust fine ever levied against a company by the European Union. see also Microsoft wants EU to learn from its U.S. victory (Reuters).
(SSRN) by David Johnson, New York Law School, Susan Crawford, Cardozo School of Law and John Palfrey, Harvard University - Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Three problems of online life - spam, informational privacy, and network security - lend themselves to the peer production of governance. This emerging order could lead to an accountable internet without an offsetting loss of those aspects of online life that we have found most attractive.
(BBC) The BBC has just under four months to redefine the remit for its online services, the government has said. The Graf Report, commissioned by the government, also said at least 25% of the BBC's online content should be externally supplied by the end of 2006. BBC Online should prioritise its coverage of news, current affairs and education, the report concluded. see also BBC review may shut more websites and Graf's report pleases almost all.
(Europa) On 24 June, the European Commission invited leading associations of Internet Service providers and industry players to an exploratory meeting in Luxembourg to discuss the scope for a European Code of Conduct for Internet service providers, particularly in the field of protection of minors. Such a code would build on, rather than replace, existing national codes of conduct. The Commission suggested that this work might be done in stages, identifying areas of greatest consensus and others where more work might be needed. Industry should take the initiative in drafting the Code but other interested parties including user/consumer/child welfare representatives and regulators would need to be consulted before it is finalised. Industry participants gave a positive reception to the idea. EuroISPA (European Internet Service Providers Association) agreed to consult its membership on the setting up of an industry Working Group co-ordinated by EuroISPA and on the timetable for drawing up a first draft of a Code, and to give a rapid response to the Commission. see Safer Internet programme.
(IRIS) After the conclusion of the first preparatory committee (PrepCom1) of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which took place in Hammamet (Tunisia) from 24 to 26 June, 2004, the Human Rights Caucus is pleased with the noteworthy advances which the starting of the Tunis phase has finally shown, despite unacceptable practices of a number of agent provocateurs who attempted to disrupt the work of civil society organizations and to discredit the Caucus and its members.
(CNET News.com) A divided U.S. Supreme Court suggested that a federal law designed to restrict Internet pornography violated Americans' rights to freedom of speech, but the court stopped short of a definitive ruling striking down the law as unconstitutional. The 5-4 ruling upheld an injunction barring prosecutors from filing criminal cases under the Child Online Protection Act, or COPA, until a full trial takes place. COPA restricts the use of sexually explicit material deemed 'harmful to minors' on commercial Web sites. Violation of the law can result in civil fines and prison terms. In its decision Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union, the high court said that a full trial in Philadelphia would permit the case to reflect the 'current technological reality' about the state of porn-filtering applications. Supreme Court Justices Uphold Block of Web Porn Law but Send Case Back and Internet Filters Are: [Good] [Bad] [Both] (New York Times), Washington Post transcripts COPA Supporter Jan LaRue, Chief Counsel, Concerned Women for America, COPA Opponent Ann Beeson Associate Litigation Director, American Civil Liberties Union.
(CNET News.com) A malicious program that installs itself through a pop-up can read keystrokes and steal passwords when victims visit any of nearly 50 targeted banking sites, security researchers warned. The program is part of a larger trend, as malicious hackers increasingly focus not on random acts of destruction but on stealing money.
(CNET News.com) Offers of drugs, particularly Viagra, accounted for about one-third of global spam messages sent in the first half of 2004, according to a study by Commtouch, a company that sells antispam products. Commtouch said about 55 percent of spam messages originated in the United States, while slightly more than 73 percent of them referred recipients to Web sites hosted in China. China, South Korea, the United States, Russia and Brazil host more than 99 percent of all Web sites mentioned in spam, according to Commtouch. Pitches for drugs and medicines made up about 30 percent of spam e-mails. Mortgage/refinancing and 'organ enlargement' ranked second and third with 9 percent and 7 percent respectively.
(BBC) China is expanding its censorship controls to cover text messages sent using mobile phones. New regulations have been issued to allow mobile phone service providers to police and filter messages for pornographic or fraudulent content. But analysts fear the real targets are political dissidents.