[eccr] QuickLinks 259 - 9 February 2003

QuickLinks 259 - 9 February 2003

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

Computer crime
1. US - Ex-student accused of spying on campus

Consumer protection
2. DE - German govt. proposing limits on expensive web-dialers
3. FR - Les fournisseurs d¹accès sermonnés par la Commission des
clauses abusives

Content regulation
4. Malaysian police raid website office

Digital divide
5. Vietnam Wrestles With Internet Growth

Domain names
6. US - Feds pull suspicious .gov site
7. US - Pro-life cyber squatter ruled in contempt

e-Government
8. FR - Développement de l¹administration électronique
9. US - Court backs vote-swapping Web site

Information society and Internet policy
10. EU - Moving towards open platforms and interoperable services in
tomorrow's information society
11. ICANN - Dyson cleans out her closet

Interception
12. US - PATRIOT Act II Draft Online

Internet access and use
13. Chat Network Nixes File Sharing

Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law
14. FR - Projet de loi pour la confiance dans l¹économie numérique

Mobile and wireless
15. Special report - Nothing but air
16. UK - Online child porn arrests total 1,600
17. UK - Ring in the changes

Protection of minors
18. EU - Daphne II continues to combat violence against women and
children
19. UK - 'I was groomed online'

Racism and xenophobia
20. Can Europe block racist Web sites from its borders?

Rating and filtering
21. UK - Software blocks MPs' Welsh e-mail

Security and encryption
22. US - Bush Orders Guidelines for Cyber-Warfare

Self-regulation / codes of conduct
23. UK - Web kitemarks still in business

Market & Technology

Statistics
24. UK - Internet access hits the wall

Forthcoming events

25. 2003-03-10 Singapore - Rethinking Media Policy in the Internet Age

Editorial information

26. New QuickLinks service - daily digest

1. US - Ex-student accused of spying on campus (CNET News.com)
A former Boston College student was indicted for allegedly installing
keystroke-recording software on more than 100 campus computers and
accessing databases containing personal information on other students,
staff and faculty.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15258.htm

2. DE - German govt. proposing limits on expensive web-dialers
(Washington Internet Daily)
The German Ministry of Economy & Labor finalized a draft law that
would require transparent billing by providers of new Web dialing
services. The new dialer services have to be registered with German
regulatory authorities. Not only the content providers themselves,
but also the network providers such as Deutsche Telekom (DT) would be
responsible to show users the actual rates of the dial-up connection
of the respective 0190- service.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15254.htm

3. FR - Les fournisseurs d¹accès sermonnés par la Commission des
clauses abusives (Forum des droits sur l¹internet)
La Commission des clauses abusives a rendu public sa recommandation
relative aux contrats de fourniture d¹accès à l¹internet. Après
plusieurs années de travaux, ce document pointe du doigt 28 types de
clauses en recommandant aux acteurs de les faire disparaître des
conditions générales d¹utilisation.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15278.htm

4. Malaysian police raid website office (BBC)
Malaysian police have raided the offices of the independent news
website, Malaysiakini. The editor of the site, Steven Gan, told BBC
News Online the police had taken away all of its headquarters' 19
computers and servers.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15274.htm

5. Vietnam Wrestles With Internet Growth (AP)
Plans are in motion to quadruple the current number of Internet users
in Vietnam to four million by 2005 and the country's fledgling
information technology sector will get injections of $100 million over
the next two years, an initial investment aimed at harnessing the
Internet's economic potential.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15259.htm

6. US - Feds pull suspicious .gov site (CNET News.com)
In a move that raises questions about the security of governmental
domains, the Bush administration has pulled the plug on the AONN.gov
Web site pending an investigation into the authenticity of the
organization that controlled it.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15257.htm

7. US - Pro-life cyber squatter ruled in contempt (Washington Times)
A pro-life cyber-squatter didn't go to jail yesterday, but a federal
judge said William Purdy is in contempt of a court order and must pay
$500 a day until he stops using a raft of domain names that include
well-known corporate trademarks including that of The Washington Post.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15256.htm

8. FR - Développement de l¹administration électronique (Forum des
droits sur l¹internet)
Le Forum des droits sur l¹internet a rendu public le 3 février sa
recommandation relative au "développement de l¹administration
électronique". S¹inscrivant dans un contexte de mobilisation politique
forte en faveur de la e-administration, cette recommandation a pour
objet d¹accompagner les travaux que mène actuellement le secrétariat
d'Etat à la réforme de l'Etat sur ce sujet en portant à sa réflexion
un plan d'action pour le développement de l¹administration sur
l¹internet. Il offre des solutions concrètes à destination des
praticiens pour mettre en oeuvre l¹administration électronique dans
une perspective de service au citoyen.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15279.htm

9. US - Court backs vote-swapping Web site (Reuters)
A U.S. appeals court ruled in favor of a Web site that enabled Gore
and Nader voters to swap their votes in the 2000 presidential
elections. A discussion forum, Votexchange2000.com, and others allowed
citizens to swap Gore votes in states where Bush was likely to win
anyway for the Green party candidate Nader. A Nader supporter in a
state with a closer contest would then pledge to vote for Gore in
return.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15260.htm

10. EU - Moving towards open platforms and interoperable services in
tomorrow's information society (RAPID)
Mr Erkki Liikanen Member of the European Commission, responsible for
Enterprise and the Information Society, Public Hearing on Open
Platforms and Interoperability for Digital Television and 3G Brussels,
4 February 2003.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15267.htm

11. ICANN - Dyson cleans out her closet (The Register)
Esther Dyson, one of the key figures in the development of the
commercial Internet, advisor to Al Gore, promoter of the Net in
Eastern Europe and poster woman for the dotcom millionaires, went to
massive lengths to distance herself from the failures of ICANN, the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Dyson was
speaking in the Oxford Union at a conference called 'The Politics of
Code', jointly organised by the Oxford Internet Institute and the
Programme in Comparative Media Law and Politics at Oxford University.
The one day conference brought together many net luminaries, including
Professor Lawrence Lessig from Stanford University, Alan Davidson of
the Center for Democracy and Technology and Harvard Alvestrand, chair
of the IETF.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15261.htm

12. US - PATRIOT Act II Draft Online (Center for Public Integrity)
The Center for Public Integrity has obtained the Justice Department's
draft of PATRIOT II. The document, 120 pages long, consisting of
section-by-section analysis and legislative languag and dated January
9, 2003, appears to be genuine.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15277.htm

13. Chat Network Nixes File Sharing (Wired)
One of the earliest hosts of online file trading has decided to
abandon the controversial practice and return to its roots as a real-
time chat network. DALnet, one of the largest Internet relay chat
networks and a forefather of Napster and Kazaa, announced it would ban
channels whose primary purpose is to distribute files beginning March
1.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15268.htm

14. FR - Projet de loi pour la confiance dans l¹économie numérique
(Forum des droits sur l'internet)
Le Forum des droits sur l¹internet a rendu public le 6 février sa
recommandation aux pouvoirs publics sur le projet de loi pour la
confiance dans l¹économie numérique présenté par Madame Nicole
Fontaine, Ministre délégué à l¹Industrie, au Conseil des ministres du
15 janvier 2003. Ce texte doit être examiné par l¹Assemblée nationale
à partir du 25 février prochain. Le projet de loi a notamment pour
objet de transposer les dispositions de la directive 2000/31 sur le
commerce électronique. Le Forum a travaillé sur des points essentiels
du projet de loi qui concernent : la définition de la communication
publique en ligne, la responsabilité des intermédiaires techniques
avec en particulier le régime juridique des hébergeurs, et le filtrage
des contenus illicites. La position exprimée résulte du processus de
concertation interne au Forum auprès de l'ensemble de ses membres.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15280.htm

15. Special report - Nothing but air (CNET.com)
If there is one ray of hope amid the gloom that has cloaked the
digital economy, it could be summed up with one word: wireless.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15262.htm

16. UK - Online child porn arrests total 1,600 (BBC)
More than 1,600 men have so far been arrested in Operation Ore, the
huge UK police investigation into child porn on the internet. Of
those, 46 were suspected of being directly involved in child abuse.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15270.htm

17. UK - Ring in the changes (Guardian)
Victor Keegan dismisses the mobile phone companies' squawks of protest
at a recent ruling to reduce their charges
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15269.htm

18. EU - Daphne II continues to combat violence against women and
children (RAPID)
The Commission has decided to transmit to Parliament and the Council a
draft Decision on the "Daphne II" Programme (2004-08) aimed at
preventing violence against women and children and protecting victims
and at-risk groups. "Daphne II" will cover the period 2004-08 and
follows on from the Daphne Programme (2000-03) and an initiative of
the same name launched by the Commission in 1997.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15271.htm

19. UK - 'I was groomed online' (BBC)
It is the modern parent's nightmare - the new stranger danger - your
child lured to a meeting by an adult they don't know over the
internet. To find out how real that danger is, the BBC asked a team of
specialist investigators to pose as a 14-year-old child in an internet
chatroom.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15265.htm

20. Can Europe block racist Web sites from its borders? (FindLaw)
by Anita Ramasastry. Based on a treaty that went into effect in
January, Europe is attempting to shut out racist and xenophobic "hate"
Web sites. The result of Europe's actions, however, may not be to shut
down such sites. Instead, the United States may become a haven for
hatemongers' sites, due to the strength of our First Amendment.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15266.htm

21. UK - Software blocks MPs' Welsh e-mail (BBC)
A scanning system meant to stop abusive and pornographic e-mails
reaching MPs may also be blocking messages sent in Welsh because it
does not recognise the language. The four MPs of the Welsh party,
Plaid Cymru, have noticed that bilingual English-and-Welsh e-mails
sent to them have been rejected for allegedly having "inappropriate
content". see also UK Parliament Mail - The Ministry Of Silly Messages
(Seth Finkelstein).
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15264.htm

22. US - Bush Orders Guidelines for Cyber-Warfare (Washington Post)
President Bush has signed a secret directive ordering the government
to develop, for the first time, national-level guidance for
determining when and how the United States would launch cyber-attacks
against enemy computer networks, according to administration
officials.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15255.htm

23. UK - Web kitemarks still in business (vnunet)
The Which? Web Trader scheme may have closed down but the concept of
the safe shopping kitemark lives on. The Interactive Media in Retail
Group (IMRG) has said it will continue to run its own larger but less
well-known scheme featuring the Internet Shopping Is Safe (ISIS) logo,
which runs on similar principles to Which? Web Trader.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15273.htm

24. UK - Internet access hits the wall (BBC)
The latest research from telecoms watchdog Oftel has found that net
take-up is levelling off, despite a huge increase in the uptake of
broadband. Much of the interest in high-speed net services seems to be
coming from people who already have a dial-up connection. In the past
year overall figures for both dial-up and broadband net access at home
have remained at around 42% of the population in the UK. see Oftel's
latest research on key trends in fixed and mobile telephony, and
Internet residential consumers and business users.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15276.htm

25. 2003-03-10 Singapore - Rethinking Media Policy in the Internet Age
(Bertelsmann Foundation)
A workshop organised by Bertelsmann Foundation and Asia Europe
Foundation will take place in Singapore on 10-11 March 2003 to explore
and promote greater understanding of media policy, Internet self
regulation, user empowerment and media literacy. The Bertelsmann
Foundation and the Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF), seek to start an
Asian European dialogue to promote information sharing and offer new
perspectives for both Asia and Europe in this field. Workshop
Handbook and Workshop Program. events.htm
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15272.htm

26. New QuickLinks service - daily digest (QuickLinks)
News items are posted to the QuickLinks web site as soon as they have
been identified by the eagle-eyed QuickLinks team. Thanks to Bloglet,
you can now receive these as a daily digest. Just enter your e-mail
address in the form on the home page. The existing Yahoo! QuickLinks
Update service continues, which sends an e-mail as soon as each
individual item is posted, as well as the classic weekly-ish
QuickLinks newsletter in text and HTML flavours.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem15263.htm

Main Sources and Contributors: Baker & McKenzie 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.


QuickLinks is edited by Richard Swetenham (richard.swetenham /at/ cec.eu.int)


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