[eccr] QuickLinks 245 - 15 September 2002

QuickLinks 245 - 15 September 2002

HTML version: http://www.qlinks.net/quicklinks/latest.htm
Forthcoming events: http://www.qlinks.net/quicklinks/events.htm
Home Page: http://www.qlinks.net

Legal and regulatory issues

   Competition
1. EU /  UK and Germany - Commission intends to clear 3G network
sharing agreements between T-Mobile and MM02
2. FR - Plainte de l'UFC contre Orange pour abus de position dominante

   Computer crime
3. DE - Haftstrafen wegen Verbreitung von Kinderpornografie
4. NO - Child porn definition controversial
5. UK - Four arrested in child porn raids
6. UK - Soham Case Officers Held Over Porn Offences

   Consumer protection
7. UK - Freeserve ads 'misleading', says ASA

   Content regulation
8. GR - Gaming law defeated in court
9. CN - Google is back but don't try asking any difficult questions
10. KR - Online content screening panel sitting idle

   Copyright, trademarks and patents
11. DE - Medienverbände stellen Strategie gegen Raubkopierer vor
12. US - ISPs gird for copyright fights

   Data Protection (privacy)
13. UE - Mieux protéger la vie privée des internautes

   Digital divide
14. UK - Integrating Intellectual Property Rights and Development
Policy

   Domain names
15. US - kids.us - consultation on policy document
16. ICANN - Dot-Org Selection Process Criticized
17. US - Dot-Kid Tussle in Congress
18. US will renew ICANN's authority

   e-Government
19. UK - Capita punishment

   Junk mail (spam)
20. US - Be wary of Washington's spam solution

   Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law
21. DE - Bezirksregierung Düsseldorf ordnet sofortige Sperrung von
Nazi-Websites an
22. CH - ETH-Professor im Verfahren um "rassistische Links"
freigesprochen

   Mobile and wireless
23. UK - Judge jails high-flying mobile user

   Racism and xenophobia
24. EU - September 11th : the erosion of civil liberties in the EU?

   Safer Internet awareness
25. DE - Tipps für Eltern und Kinder zum Internet

   Security and encryption
26. A brief guide to the politics of hacking
27. US - Administration Pares Cyber-Security Plan

Market & Technology

   Market
28. Game over for web-based cheaters
29. IM giants told to work it out
30. Porn company offers to buy Napster

   Mobile and wireless
31. KR - Guerre des portables en Corée du Sud

   Rating and filtering
32. Words to the wise on the Web

   Statistics
33. Europe - We can provide for you

   Technology
34. How to blow your bandwidth

Forthcoming events

35. 02-09-16 DE - Hacker-Verband: Kongress gegen Internet-Zensur

1. EU /  UK and Germany - Commission intends to clear 3G network
sharing agreements between T-Mobile and MM02 (RAPID)
The European Commission has reached the preliminary conclusion,
subject to third-party comment, that it can take a favourable view
regarding two sets of agreements to share infrastructure networks for
the third generation (3G) of mobile phones. The agreements were filed
for approval under the competition rules by mobile network operators
T-Mobile and MMO2 and concern the networks that they are building in
Germany and in the United Kingdom. The Commission's analysis of the
two deals is that the significant cost savings anticipated from the
sharing of network elements should lead to quicker 3G network roll-
out and services competition, which will benefit consumers, without
leading to undue restraints on network competition. Other benefits
include greater network coverage and a more limited environmental
impact.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14464.htm

2. FR - Plainte de l'UFC contre Orange pour abus de position
dominante (Reuters)
L'Union fédérale des consommateurs (UFC-Que Choisir) annonce avoir
porté plainte devant le Conseil de la concurrence contre Orange pour
abus de position dominante, à la suite de la décision de l'opérateur
de téléphonie mobile de surfacturer les communication de ses clients
vers les réseaux mobiles concurrents.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14449.htm

3. DE - Haftstrafen wegen Verbreitung von Kinderpornografie
(Morgenweb)
Wegen der Verbreitung von Kinderpornografie im Internet hat das
Landgericht Stuttgart zwei Männer zu Haftstrafen von drei und
zweieinhalb Jahren verurteilt. Die beiden 49 und 51 Jahre alten
Männer hatten sich nach Überzeugung des Gerichts
kinderpornografisches Material aus dem Internet beschafft und selbst
Bilder in einschlägigen Clubs verbreitet. Der Richter sagte in der
Urteilsbegründung, Kindesmissbrauch zähle zum schlimmsten
zwischenmenschlichen Verhalten.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14453.htm

4. NO - Child porn definition controversial (Aftenposten)
The organization Save the Children is angered by the lack of an age
limit in the definition of child pornography in Norway. The Justice
Department interprets the law to mean that sexual maturity defines
child pornography.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14455.htm

5. UK - Four arrested in child porn raids (Daily Telegraph)
Detectives are questioning three men and a 16-year-old arrested over
the making and distribution of indecent images of children via the
internet. The four have been taken into custody as part of Operation
Duke. Five arrested in internet child porn raids at dawn (Croydon
Guardian)
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14456.htm

6. UK - Soham Case Officers Held Over Porn Offences (Ananova)
Two officers working on the inquiry into the murder of Holly Wells
and Jessica Chapman have been arrested on suspicion of pornography
offences. They were arrested in connection with a worldwide FBI
operation against internet pornography. The arrests are part of
Operation Ore in which UK police have been targeting users of pay-per-
view websites based in the United States and is part of the FBI's
Operation Candyman. see also Chapmans' Liaison Officer Accused In
Child Porn Inquiry (Ananova). A liaison officer who has been at the
side of the family of murdered schoolgirl Jessica Chapman throughout
their ordeal is one of two Cambridgeshire officers arrested over
allegations involving indecent pictures of children. Family liaison
officer Detective Constable Brian Stevens was arrested as part of an
investigation into child pornography on the Internet. Last month the
officer read a poem, written by a friend of the Chapmans, at the
memorial service for Holly and Jessica in Ely Cathedral.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14457.htm

7. UK - Freeserve ads 'misleading', says ASA (silicon.com)
UK ISP Freeserve has been ordered by the Advertising Standards
Authority to drop its current claims that customers can surf for "
long as (they) like" after rival Internet service provider
BTopenworld lodged a complaint.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14462.htm

8. GR - Gaming law defeated in court (CNET News.com)
A new Greek law banning the playing of electronic games was declared
unconstitutional by a judge, and the charges against three people
were dismissed. The decision by a judge in Thessaloniki, Greece,
could eventually result in the law being repealed, according to
reports in the local press. Before thes decision, computer game
players and Internet cafe owners in Greece said they would fight the
law. According to opponents, the law was conceived to address illicit
gambling but was written so broadly that playing any electronic game
could be considered illegal.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14458.htm

9. CN - Google is back but don't try asking any difficult questions
(Guardian)
China's web censors have lifted their ban on access to the popular
international Google search engine - but they have ways of making
sure no one asks the wrong question. The Chinese technology appears
to be capable of learning as it goes. An initial search for "Tibet
independence" yesterday on Google went through unchecked. When
repeated a minute later it was blocked.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14450.htm

10. KR - Online content screening panel sitting idle (Korea Herald)
Korea's online and communications content monitoring agency designed
to filter out "harmful" information has suspended its operations. In
June, the Supreme Court ruled the operations of the ICEC to be
unconstitutional. The Information and Communication Ethics Committee
(ICEC) is an agency operated by the Ministry of Information and
Communication and its chief mission is "controlling communication
practices regarding harmful information" according to its Web site
(www.icec.or.kr). The information ministry had been using the ICEC as
a chief online censoring organ, particularly tracking Web sites that
incite anti-government sentiment or circulate improper content.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14477.htm

11. DE - Medienverbände stellen Strategie gegen Raubkopierer vor
(Heise)
Medienunternehmerverbände wollen den Aktivitäten der Nutzer in
Online-Tauschbörsen nicht länger zusehen. Sie suchen nach Wegen,
Raubkopien im Reich der Bits den Garaus zu machen. Anhaltspunkte soll
ein 200-seitiges Gutachten zur "Datenpiraterie im Internet" des
Münchner Rechtsprofessors Ulrich Sieber bieten, das der Deutsche
Multimedia Verband (dmmv) gemeinsam mit dem Verband privater Rundfunk-
und Telekommunikationsanbieter (VPRT)  am Rande des Medienforums 2002
in Berlin vorstellte. Siehe auch Politiker gegen weitere Verschärfung
des Urheberrechts.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14442.htm

12. US - ISPs gird for copyright fights (CNET News.com)
A delicate detente is breaking down under pressure from peer-to-peer
networks, placing two powerful industries on a collision course that
could reshape the legal landscape for online file-swapping. Record
companies and movie studios have long turned to Internet service
providers for help in their battle against online piracy, but ISPs
are beginning to balk at what they see as increasingly onerous
demands to step up pressure against online copyright infringement.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14467.htm

13. UE - Mieux protéger la vie privée des internautes (Le Soir)
L'Europe souffle le chaud et le froid sur le respect des données
personnelles avec une nouvelle directive qui suscite des débats
passionnés. Nous avons demandé au professeur Yves Poullet, des
Facultés universitaires de Namur et directeur du Crid (Centre de
recherches informatique et droit) d'évoquer les points forts de cette
nouvelle directive.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14470.htm

14. UK - Integrating Intellectual Property Rights and Development
Policy (CIPR)
The idea of the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights
originated in the UK Government's White Paper on International
Development "Eliminating World Poverty: Making Globalisation Work for
the Poor". The aim was "to look at the ways that intellectual
property rules need to develop in the future in order to take greater
account of the interests of developing countries and poor people."
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14446.htm

15. US - kids.us - consultation on policy document (Neustar)
NeuStar seeks the guidance of community members, experts, and
interested parties to formulate content guidelines and restrictions
for the kids.us domain. We seek public input on our first discussion
draft of content guidelines and requirements of this special domain.
We invite all interested parties to comment on this paper at
(KidsDomainComments /at/ NeuStar.us) through October 11, 2002. see also
Rules set for kid-friendly Web domain (Reuters). Sex, violence and
the "seven dirty words" prohibited by the U.S. Federal Communications
Commission would be banned from a children's Internet domain,
according to preliminary guidelines released by the domain manager.
NeuStar, which plans to set up the kid-friendly Internet zone, said
it would rely on existing guidelines for television and advertising
to determine what material would be appropriate for the ".kids.us"
domain.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14459.htm

16. ICANN - Dot-Org Selection Process Criticized (Washington Post)
The Internet Society (ISOC) has assumed a commanding lead in the
competition to control the "dot-org" Internet domain after winning a
key endorsement from staff at the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN). Competitors have criticised the
recommendation from ICANN staff.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14445.htm

17. US - Dot-Kid Tussle in Congress (Reuters)
The manager of the United States' Internet domain asked Congress not
to interfere with its efforts to set up a kid-friendly zone free of
violence, pornography and other adult material. The Senate should not
pass a law requiring NeuStar to set up a "dot-kids.us" domain because
it would disrupt the company's own efforts to set up the domain in a
commercially viable manner, a NeuStar official said. see also Letter
on .kids.us (CDT). Congressionally mandated creation of a kids.us
domain would set a dangerous precedent for regulation of the domain
name space. In addition it would create new concerns about free
expression online and would be ineffective in protecting children
from inappropriate content. To make kids.us effective for parents,
the site must be aggressively maintained and monitored. The kind of
enforcement necessary to make the site safe for children would be
expensive and difficult, and that money would be better spent
educating children and parents how to be safe when using the Web and
about the tools already available to filter inappropriate content.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14460.htm

18. US will renew ICANN's authority (Washington  Post)
The U.S. government will renew ICANN's authority to manage the
Internet's global addressing system, Commerce Department
Undersecretary Nancy Victory told reporters.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14444.htm

19. UK - Capita punishment (Guardian)
Why is the Government so devoted to a digital future when it plainly
doesn't work? The development of large-scale government IT systems
whose cost-benefit is open to doubt.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14476.htm

20. US - Be wary of Washington's spam solution (CNET News)
About three dozen high-level lobbyists met quietly at the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce to concoct a way to drastically reduce the deluge
of unsolicited e-mail. The invitation-only lunch meeting, which
lasted about two hours, started a process that could result in an
industry agreement on new laws or self-regulation.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14474.htm

21. DE - Bezirksregierung Düsseldorf ordnet sofortige Sperrung von
Nazi-Websites an (Heise)
Die Düsseldorfer Bezirksregierung hat im juristischen Tauziehen um
Website-Sperrungen nochmals nachgelegt. Erst Ende Juli hatte sie die
Widersprüche von 38 Providern gegen ihre Sperrungsverfügung vom
Februar zurückgewiesen. Daraufhin klagte rund ein Dutzend der
betroffenen Unternehmen gegen die Verfügung. Nun hat die Behörde den
sofortigen Vollzug der Sperrverfügung angeordnet und damit die
aufschiebende Wirkung der laufenden Klagen ausgehebelt. Die Provider
müssen die Sperrung nun umgehend umsetzen, sofern sie nicht vor
Gericht einen Antrag auf Aussetzung des sofortigen Vollzugs stellen.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14471.htm

22. CH - ETH-Professor im Verfahren um "rassistische Links"
freigesprochen (Heise)
Das Bezirksgericht Zürich hat  den ETH-Assistenzprofessor Thomas
Stricker vom Vorwurf der Rassendiskriminierung wegen Verbreitung
rassistischer Links freigesprochen. Die Bezirksanwaltschaft hatte
5000 Franken Bußgeld beantragt, weil Strickers Homepage Links
enthielt, die laut Anklage zu rassendiskriminierenden Texten führten.
Die Richterin vertrat die Auffassung, dass mit einem Link "ein
fremder Inhalt bereitgehalten" werde. Die Links des Angeklagten
hätten jedoch nicht auf rassistische Seiten verwiesen. Dem
Angeklagten könne nicht zugemutet werden, alle von den Websites
aufgeführten weiterführenden Links zu überprüfen.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14463.htm

23. UK - Judge jails high-flying mobile user (vnunet)
A Crown Court judge has called for airline companies to seize mobile
phones from passengers before flying. Judge Timothy Mort was speaking
after sentencing a man to four months in jail for using his phone to
play a game during a flight.He called for all mobiles to be
confiscated as passengers board an aircraft, pointing out that the
devices can affect communications and cause auto-pilot systems to
malfunction.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14461.htm

24. EU - September 11th : the erosion of civil liberties in the EU?
(RAPID)
Anna Diamantopoulou, European Commissioner responsible for
Employment and Social Affairs, European Parliament's Committee on
Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs. The speech
is about the fight against discrimination, particularly
discrimination based on racial or ethnic origin but also religion or
belief, age, disability and sexual orientation.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14465.htm

25. DE - Tipps für Eltern und Kinder zum Internet (Pressemitteilung)
Ab welchem Alter sollen Kinder das Internet nutzen? Wie viel Zeit
sollten sie mit Surfen verbringen? Wie können Kinder vor möglichen
Gefährdungen geschützt werden? Diese Fragen beantwortet kurz und
übersichtlich das Faltposter "Der richtige Dreh im www" des
Bundesministeriums für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend und der
Gesellschaft für Medienpädagogik und Kommunikationskultur (GMK).
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14452.htm

26. A brief guide to the politics of hacking (CNET Reviews)
Some of you may not realize this (or care), but there's a difference
between hackers and crackers.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14447.htm

27. US - Administration Pares Cyber-Security Plan (Washington Post)
As the White House moves to finalize a national plan to better
secure cyberspace, high-tech firms and other companies are continuing
a furious campaign to have some recommendations struck from the
document. The administration no longer plans to recommend that
Internet service providers such as America Online, MSN and EarthLink
bundle firewall and other security technology with their software.
Instead, it will ask ISPs to "make it easier" for home users to get
access to such protections.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14473.htm

28. Game over for web-based cheaters (vnunet)
Blizzard Entertainment has dropped more than 14,000 players from the
online version of its Warcraft III game after catching them cheating.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14448.htm

29. IM giants told to work it out (CNET News.com)
Six top financial institutions have met privately with AOL Time
Warner, Microsoft, IBM and other leading corporate instant messaging
providers and urged them to build communications networks that
interoperate. For the Wall Street firms, a lack of IM
interoperability has been a source of increasing frustration and a
possible pinch on profits.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14443.htm

30. Porn company offers to buy Napster (Reuters)
Private Media Group, a publicly traded adult entertainment site
based in Spain, has made an offer to acquire the assets of defunct
song-swapping site Napster. Private Media said it plans to use the
Napster trademark to offer millions of adults worldwide the ability
to swap adult-oriented content for free and to also gain access to
"top quality" content at a reasonable price. Private Media claims to
own the largest library of adult-oriented content in the world, with
global copyrights to the content.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14451.htm

31. KR - Guerre des portables en Corée du Sud (Le Soir)
Au pays du matin calme, l'utilisation de l'internet via le portable
rencontre un franc succès.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14469.htm

32. Words to the wise on the Web (CNET News.com)
Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once quipped that though he
couldn't define pornography, he knew it when he saw it. Will
filtering software ever have it that easy? Not anytime soon, and not
without a lot of human intervention, according to language expert
Geoffrey Nunberg. The Internet is too vast and diverse, and the
applications too indiscriminate in their quest for the obscene and
the pornographic, he says.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14468.htm

33. Europe - We can provide for you (Guardian)
For the first time, Europe has more internet users than the US.
According to Irish-based industry monitor Nua.com, Europe has almost
186 million users, while Canada and the US register 182 million. The
difference may not seem substantial, but Europe is still a growing
market. As the European market continues to increase, the battle to
dominate the continent's internet service provision is becoming
increasingly heated. There are three big players in Europe's ISP
market; Germany's T-Online, France's Wanadoo and Italian Tiscali.
Between them, they control the market with a total of around 25m
regular subscriptions.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14475.htm

34. How to blow your bandwidth (Globe and Mail)
What's the fastest way to eat up bandwidth? Keep running a peer-to-
peer file-sharing program. So says Marc Morin in a paper called The
Effects of P2P on Service Provider Networks. He has measured exactly
how much P2P technology is influencing the Internet. We were all
wrong when we tried to calculate P2P traffic by adding up the size of
the MP3 files we were swapping. The real problem is the peer-to-peer
software itself: The two main P2P networks, Kazaa and Gnutella, now
make up an astonishing proportion of all Internet traffic - about 40
to 60 per cent.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14472.htm

35. 02-09-16 DE - Hacker-Verband: Kongress gegen Internet-Zensur
(Netzeitung)
In Nordrhein-Westfalen soll der Zugang zu kritischen Websites
gesperrt werden. Der Chaos Computer Club holt jetzt eine Konferenz
zur Informationsfreiheit am Montag den 16.09.2002 nach Düsseldorf.
Konferenz zu Informationsfreiheit, Kontrolle von Inhalten und Zensur
im Internet
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem14454.htm

Main Sources and Contributors:
Baker & Mackenzie E-Law Alert, Michael Geist BNA - ILN,
cybertelecom.org, jugendschutz.net, Gerhard Heine.

QuickLinks
Links to news items about legal and regulatory aspects of Internet
and the information society, particularly those relating to
information content, and market and technology.



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