[eccr] A selection of QuickLinks 227 - 10 March 2002

QuickLinks 227 - 10 March 2002

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

Legal and regulatory issues



   Content regulation
6. Deutschland - BPjS grübelt über Indizierung von Counter-Strike

   Convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology
7. UK - BT gets its broadcasting licence

   Copyright, trademarks and patents
8. UE / France - La brevetabilité des logiciels


   Digital divide
10. UK - Digital divisions split town and country

   Domain names
11. Expired domain names point to porn
12. ICANN - Net law expert slams domain dispute process
13. ICANN - The big roll-back
14. ICANN 2.0
15. RIPE an ICANN: Selbstverwaltung ist machbar
16. USA -  Court Hands Barcelona.com To Spanish City

   e-Government

19. Deutschland - Informationsfreiheitsgesetz lässt auf sich warten
20. EU - Commission launches secure pan-European platform for
eGovernment services
21. EU - Second meeting of national experts on public eProcurement


   e-Learning
23. Deutschland - Lernen im Netz: Die Universitäten und die Online-
Studiengänge

   Employment and social issues
24. UK - Ford offers amnesty on Internet porn

   Health
25. Deutschland - Gesundheitsministerin wirbt für elektronischen
Gesundheitspass
26. Health fears about mobile phone masts allayed by report

   Information society and Internet policy
27. Forum sur les compétences au 21ème siècle
28. Medien-Stiftungen rufen nach Medienkompetenz

   Interception
29. UK - Big Brother Awards highlight digital privacy threats

   Internet access and use
30. EU - The Broadband Challenge

   Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law
31. Deutschland - Ermittlungsverfahren wegen Website-Sperrung
eingestellt
32. France - Internet et diffamation: délai de prescription

   Mobile and wireless
33. Deutschland - Bundesverwaltungsgericht lässt Bürgerentscheid
gegen Mobilfunk zu

   Multimedia content and tools
34. UK - Urgent need to save digital heritage, say campaigners

   Internet access and use
40. Bloggers are the minutemen of the digital revolution

   Market
41. Morpheus' downfall: Bills weren't paid

   Mobile and wireless
42. Allemagne - Premier defilé de l'i-mode
43. Waiting for Wi-Fi

     Statistics
45. Fewer B2B Hubs To Share Growing Online Trade - Study
46. Online Fraud Loss 19 Times Offline's - Gartner


Useful addresses

50. USA - E-Government: Creating Tools of the Trade Program



6. Deutschland - BPjS grübelt über Indizierung von Counter-Strike
(Heidse)
Die Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Schriften (BPjS) prüft
derzeit eine Indizierung der englischen Verkaufsversion des PC-Action-
Spiels Counter-Strike und will eine Entscheidung bis spätestens
Anfang April 2002 fällen.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13237.htm

7. UK - BT gets its broadcasting licence (ZDNet UK)
The Independent Television Commission (ITC) has awarded a
broadcasting licence to BT, in a move that could eventually see the
telco using its network to transmit television and video to large
numbers of customers. The licence will allow the firm to provide a
full range television and related services over telephone networks
and broadband cable. BT insists, though, that it isn't planning to
become a fully fledged broadcaster in the near future.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13251.htm

8. UE / France - La brevetabilité des logiciels (Secrétariat d'Etat
à l'Industrie)
Le Ministre délégué à l'Industrie, aux PME, au Commerce, à
l'Artisanat et à la Consommation, a fait part à la Commission
Européenne de la position du gouvernement français concernant le
projet de directive sur la brevetabilité des logiciels présenté au
Conseil marché intérieur. voir aussi Pierret prend position sur les
brevets  (transfert).
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13260.htm

10. UK - Digital divisions split town and country (BBC)
A joint study by IBM and Local Futures into the social effects of
technology has found that some sectors of society are in danger of
being entirely cut off from the benefits of technologies that keep
people in touch while they travel.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13264.htm

11. Expired domain names point to porn (Network World)
The number of domain names being allowed to expire - intentionally
or accidentally - is at an all-time high. Now shady middlemen called
traffic aggregators are increasingly buying these names and
redirecting corresponding Web traffic to other sites, primarily porn
and gambling venues. Organizations as varied as the Boston
Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dutch government have seen their
expired domain names snapped up by traffic aggregators and redirected
to porn sites.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13246.htm

12. ICANN - Net law expert slams domain dispute process (The Register)
The process for deciding ownership of Internet domains is flawed,
biased and in drastic need of reform, an expert in Internet and e-
commerce law has concluded. With Fundamentally Fair.com? An Update on
Bias Allegations an the ICANN UDRP, Professor Michael Geist of the
University of Ottawa has extended a previous study into how ownership
of domain names is decided and concluded that, if anything, the
situation has got worse.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13231.htm

13. ICANN - The big roll-back (O'Reilly)
On February 24 came the latest in a series of scathing critiques of
ICANN that have emerged on a regular basis since the institution was
first proposed out of the blue to a surprised public by the Internet
Assigned Number Authority and the monopoly domain name registrar,
Network Solutions. What is novel about the current critique is its
author -  the president of ICANN.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13242.htm

14. ICANN 2.0 (David R. Johnson and Susan P. Crawford)
ICANN's legitimacy is under attack from several directions,
including from its own management.  There does appear to be
substantial support, among many with varying viewpoints, that the
ICANN experiment needs now to move into a new phase.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13241.htm

15. RIPE an ICANN: Selbstverwaltung ist machbar (Heise)
Selbstverwaltung im Netz ist kein gescheitertes Experiment, sondern
etablierte und stabile Praxis: So reagierte in ungewöhnlich scharfer
Form die europäische Vergabestelle für IP-Nummern, das RIPE in
Amsterdam, auf die vom Präsidenten der Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) vorgeschlagene Strukturreform.
Response to the ICANN reform proposal document (RIPE NCC).
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13263.htm

16. USA -  Court Hands Barcelona.com To Spanish City (Newsbytes)
A U.S. court has declared that the operators of a tourism portal at
Barcelona.com are cybersquatters, and that the Internet address they
registered in 1996 should be awarded to the Spanish city of Barcelona.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13268.htm


19. Deutschland - Informationsfreiheitsgesetz lässt auf sich warten
(Heise)
Das Netzwerk Recherche, der Deutsche Journalisten-Verband (DJV) und
die Deutsche Journalisten-Union (DJU) in ver.di fordern in einer
gemeinsamen Erklärung die parlamentarische Durchsetzung des immer
wieder verschleppten Informationsfreiheitsgesetzes.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13230.htm

20. EU - Commission launches secure pan-European platform for
eGovernment services (RAPID)
The European Commission has set up a secure communications
infrastructure for information exchange among European public
administrations. In line with the eEurope initiative(1) this
facility, which is financed and managed under the Interchange of Data
between Administrations (IDA) programme, will provide a platform for
new pan-European eGovernment services to citizens and enterprises by
improving co-operation between European public services at all levels
of government.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13232.htm

21. EU - Second meeting of national experts on public eProcurement
(IDA)
The state of play in public eProcurement in Member States and
progress in removing barriers to the use of electronic tools for
transnational public procurement were assessed in a workshop on
Transborder Public eProcurement held in Brussels on 21 February 2002.
This workshop was the second in series managed by the IDA programme.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13245.htm

23. Deutschland - Lernen im Netz: Die Universitäten und die Online-
Studiengänge (Heise)
Die deutschen Hochschulen gehen verstärkt ins Netz. Zu den
herkömmlichen Angeboten treten immer mehr Studiengänge, die per
Computer absolviert werden können. Chatrooms und elektronische
Diskussionsforen ersetzen die Diskussion im Seminar, Übungsblätter
gibt es per Download, die Betreuung erfolgt per E-Mail. Die
Universitäten Erlangen-Nürnberg und Trier testen sogar seit rund
einem Jahr die Abfrage von Prüfungsergebnissen per WAP-Handy.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13250.htm

24. UK - Ford offers amnesty on Internet porn (ZDNet UK)
Twenty thousand workers at Ford have been told to clean up their
computers and remove any offensive, including racist, material they
have on their machines. They have been given a two week 'amnesty' to
delete the offensive content and can get help from Ford's computer
systems managers to remove the content during this period. After the
deadline, on Friday 15 March, any employee found to be in possession
of or found sending offensive material will be dismissed.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13258.htm

25. Deutschland - Gesundheitsministerin wirbt für elektronischen
Gesundheitspass (Heise)
Bundesgesundheitsministerin Ulla Schmidt hat erneut die Einführung
eines elektronischen Gesundheitspasses gefordert. Deutschland könne
hier eine internationale Vorreiterrolle übernehmen, erklärte die
Ministerin am 5. März 2002 auf dem Kongress ehealth 2002 - Telematik
im Gesundheitswesen in Bonn.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13235.htm

26. Health fears about mobile phone masts allayed by report (FT)
Health concerns about mobile phone masts were allayed with the
publication of a scientific study into emission levels conducted by
the Radio Communications Agency, a division of the Department of
Trade and Industry, which showed that emission levels from mobile
phone masts were at least several hundred times below agreed
international levels. The study measured electromagnetic emissions
from 100 mobile phone stations located at or near schools.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13261.htm

27. Forum sur les compétences au 21ème siècle (RAPID)
Rencontre entre Viviane Reding, Gerhard Schröder et José Maria Aznar
à Berlin  A l'occasion du Sommet sur les compétences au 21ème siècle,
organisé à Berlin par la Fondation Bertelsmann et et la Fondation AOL
Time Warner, Viviane Reding, commissaire européenne en charge de
l'Education et de la Culture, s'est entretenue avec le chancelier
allemand et le Premier ministre espagnol de thèmes qui seront à
l'agenda du Conseil européen de Barcelone. Viviane Reding a en outre
rencontré le président du conseil d'administration de AOL Time
Warner, Steve Case. Ils ont parlé des perspectives de coopération
entre l'Europe et les Etats-Unis dans le domaine de l'Internet, en
particulier sous l'angle de la protection des jeunes (contrôle
parental) et de la mise en réseau d'écoles de part et d'autre de
l'Atlantique dans le cadre du Plan d'action « eLearning ».
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13234.htm

28. Medien-Stiftungen rufen nach Medienkompetenz (Heise)
Digitale Medienkompetenz muss verstärkt genauso wie Lesen, Schreiben
und Rechnen als Grundfähigkeit betrachtet werden, fordern gemeinsam
die Bertelsmann Stiftung und die AOL Time Warner Stiftung im Rahmen
des 21st Century Literacy Summit.Siehe auch Rede von Bundeskanzler
Gerhard Schröder anlässlich des 21st Century Literacy Summit und
White Paper.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13274.htm

29. UK - Big Brother Awards highlight digital privacy threats (ZDNet
UK)
Government plans to store all Internet traffic in a single warehouse
featured highly in the Big Brother Awards in London last night. A
proposal by the National Criminal Intelligence Service to store all
UK Internet traffic for seven years in a single data warehouse won
the Big Brother Award for Most Appalling Project. see also UK - Net
monitoring scheme under fire (BBC).
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13256.htm

30. EU - The Broadband Challenge (RAPID)
Mr Erkki Liikanen, Member of the European Commission, responsible
for Enterprise and the Information Society, EICTA (European
Information and Communications Technology Industry Association)
Conference. Brussels, 7 March 2002.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13233.htm

31. Deutschland - Ermittlungsverfahren wegen Website-Sperrung
eingestellt (Heise)
Das Ermittlungsverfahren gegen Regierungspräsident Jürgen Büssow und
Mitarbeiter der Düsseldorfer Bezirksregierung in Zusammenhang mit der
Sperrung von Internet-Angeboten ist eingestellt. Das geht aus einer
Pressemitteilung der Staatsanwaltschaft hervor, die die
Bezirksregierung auf ihrer Website zitiert. siehe auch
Bezirksregierung Düsseldorf nicht "die Wacht am Rhein" im Internet.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13236.htm

32. France - Internet et diffamation: délai de prescription (Yahoo!)
La cour d'appel de Paris a suivi la jurisprudence de la Cour de
Cassation dans un jugement qui avait fait couler beaucoup d'encre au
sujet de la prescription des diffamations commises en ligne.
L'affaire oppose depuis novembre 2000 le député européen du Front
National, Carl Lang, au Réseau Voltaire, une association qui lutte en
faveur des libertés et de la laïcité.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13262.htm

33. Deutschland - Bundesverwaltungsgericht lässt Bürgerentscheid
gegen Mobilfunk zu (Heise)
Nach einem rund vierjährigen Rechtsstreit muss die niederbayerische
Gemeinde Neukirchen vorm Wald ein Bürgerbegehren gegen
Mobilfunkmasten zulassen. Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht in Berlin habe
eine Beschwerde der Gemeinde im Landkreis Passau gegen ein Urteil des
Bayerischen Verwaltungsgerichtshofes (VGH) zurückgewiesen.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13229.htm

34. UK - Urgent need to save digital heritage, say campaigners
(Guardian)
The digital age may only just have dawned, but the Digital
Preservation Coalition, a group of eminent institutions, issued a
warning that large swaths of the nation's digital heritage risk being
lost for ever without urgent action to preserve them.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13259.htm


40. Bloggers are the minutemen of the digital revolution (Technology
Review)
Bloggers are the minutemen of the digital revolution. "Blog" is
short for "Web log". Several years ago, heavy Web surfers began
creating log - compendia of curious information and interesting links
they encountered in their travels through cyberspace. Blogs are more
dynamic than older-style home pages, more permanent than posts to a
Net discussion list. They are more private and personal than
traditional journalism, more public than diaries.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13248.htm

41. Morpheus' downfall: Bills weren't paid (CNET News.com)
StreamCast Networks' delinquent licensing bills were to blame for
the blackout of the hugely popular Morpheus file-swapping network
last week, according to Dutch company Kazaa BV. see also StreamCast
Suggests Competitors Torpedoed Morpheus (Newsbytes) and Morpheus woes
lift rival from obscurity (CNET News.com)  L'après-Napster tourne à
la foire (Libération).
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13225.htm

42. Allemagne - Premier defilé de l'i-mode (Libération)
Ce service de téléphone mobile qui fait fureur au Japon débarque en
Europe.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13224.htm

43. Waiting for Wi-Fi (Salon)
Outside of airports and Starbucks, the wireless Net is still hanging
fire. You can build your own node, but who'll hook you up with the
rest of the world?
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13243.htm

44. Browser Makers Hid Java Proxy Flaw For A Year - Researcher
(Newsbytes)
A critical security flaw in Java that could allow browser traffic
hijacking was hidden from the public for almost a year, a security
researcher said. Patches that protect users of Microsoft's Internet
Explorer and Netscape's Navigator browsers against the bug were
released yesterday, nearly eleven months after the software makers
learned of the vulnerability in their implementation of Sun
Microsystem's Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13253.htm

45. Fewer B2B Hubs To Share Growing Online Trade - Study (Newsbytes)
The number of e-commerce exchanges is shrinking, but the need for
these business-to-business (B2B) virtual trading posts is increasing.
According to a new study by Emarketer, a company that aggregates and
analyzes e-business information, worldwide B2B e-commerce will total
$823.4 billion in 2002. By 2004, that figure is projected to nearly
triple to $2.4 trillion
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13247.htm

46. Online Fraud Loss 19 Times Offline's - Gartner (Newsbytes)
More than 5 percent of online consumers last year were victims of
credit card fraud, a crime that accounted for more than $1 out of
every $100 spent on Internet sales, according to a report published
today. Online crooks made off with more than $700 million, a figure
that - dollar for dollar - is 19 times the year's offline fraud
total, a GartnerG2 survey found. The e-fraud losses make up 1.14
percent of total annual online sales of $61.8 billion.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13266.htm



50. USA - E-Government: Creating Tools of the Trade Program (CTG)
Center for Technology in Government, University at Albany, State
University of New York.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem13240.htm

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.


QuickLinks is edited by Richard Swetenham
(richard.swetenham /at/ cec.eu.int) - Main Sources and Contributors: Michael
Geist BNA - ILN, David Goldstein,  Gerhard Heine

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