[eccr] QuickLinks 290 - 9 November 2003

> QuickLinks 290 - 9 November 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. BR - Cybercrime’s superlab: Brazil
> 2. IT - Governo approva ddl contro la pedofilia
> 3. IT - Pedofilia: due importanti operazioni in due giorni
> 4. UK - Police issue internet gun warning
> 5. UK - Race to save new victims of child porn
> 6. UK - Web 'grooming' sentences upped
>
> Consumer protection
> 7. UK - E-mail scam targets banks
>
> Content regulation
> 8. CN - China to consolidate Net cafes
> 9. DE - Das deutsche Internet - bald frisch von der KJM gefiltert?
>
> Copyright, trademarks and patents
> 10. EU - A continent full of criminals
> 11. Questions by authors on searches by Amazon
> 12. US - FCC orders anti-piracy tech for TVs
> 13. US - Study: Millions delete all music files
> 14. US - To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and
> Patent Law and Policy
>
> Data Protection (privacy)
> 15. DE - LKW-Maut: Datenschützer fordern Kündigung
> 16. EU - Court gives data protection ruling
> 17. UK - Cabinet decision on ID card
> 18. UK - Government stalls on child protection reforms
>
> Digital signatures
> 19. EU - Legal and Market Aspects of Electronic Signatures
>
> Domain names
> 20. ES - Ruée sur les domaines internet de la future reine d'Espagne
> 21. ICANN - Internet group mulls a meaty meeting
>
> e-Government
> 22. The New Civic Virtue of the Net
>
> Electronic commerce
> 23. EU - European Court upholds Italian Internet gambling ban
>
> Employment and social issues
> 24. US - Agencies Surf for Translators
>
> Information society and Internet policy
> 25. EU - Council endorses MODINIS Programme
> 26. US - Media Ownership and Democracy in the Digital Information Age
> 27. WSIS - UN tech summit looms with no agenda
>
> Junk mail (spam)
> 28. GDDe - Global Organization Tackles Proliferation of Spam
>
> Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law
> 29. See you later, anti-Gators?
> 30. UK - Net makes royal rumour spread inevitable
> 31. US - How Direct is Too Direct When It Comes to Hyperlinks?
>
> Market
> 32. Music-industry mergers
>
> Racism and xenophobia
> 33. FR - Paris Court Convicts Jewish Man Over Web Hate Call
>
> Security and encryption
> 34. E-police unlikely to get bigger budget
> 35. UK - Users face malicious attacks from HTML email
> 36. US - FTC accuses pop-up maker of 'extortion'
>
> Self-regulation / codes of conduct
> 37. EU - Mobile self-regulation - draft paper
> 38. EU - Advertising industry: better self-regulation needed
> 39. UK - Ofcom launches consultation on future regulation of
> broadcast advertising
>
> Statistics
> 40. World drowning in oceans of data
>
> Telecommunications
> 41. DE - Call by Call: Schluss mit 0190
> 42. DE - Regulierungsbehörde verbietet 0190-Sparvorwahlen
>
> Market & Technology
>
> Employment and social issues
> 43. Games at work may be good for you
>
> Junk mail (spam)
> 44. Help! my Belkin router is spamming me
>
> Mobile and wireless
> 45. Nokia targets multimedia mobiles
> 46. Symbian will lose smartphone battle
>
> Portals, browsers and search engines
> 47. Google tests desktop search
> 48. How good is Google?
>
> Security and encryption
> 49. Web Vipers
>
> Statistics
> 50. UK - Speed 'tempts dial-up net users'
>
> Forthcoming events
>
> 51. CANCELLED event 2003-11-24 FR, Paris - EGOVOS 3: Open Standards
> and Libre Software in Government
>
> Who's who
>
> 52. ICANN to Open Office in Brussels
>
> 1. BR - Cybercrime’s superlab: Brazil (New York Times)
> In Brazil, organized crime is rife and laws to prevent digital crime
> are few and largely ineffective. The country is becoming a laboratory
> for cybercrime, with hackers - able to collaborate with relative
> impunity - specializing in identity and data theft, credit card fraud
> and piracy, as well as online vandalism.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17006.htm
>
> 2. IT - Governo approva ddl contro la pedofilia (Corriere della Sera)
> Il governo ha approvato il disegno di legge (ddl) contro lo
> sfruttamento sessuale dei bambini e la pedopornografia anche via
> Internet. Il ddl prevede come reato la realizzazione, attraverso
> l'utilizzo di minori, di materiale pornografico anche in forma
> virtuale. Il provvedimento istituisce inoltre un Centro nazionale a
> cui dovranno pervenire tutte le segnalazioni dell'esistenza di siti
> che diffondono materiale pornografico utilizzando il web. I fornitori
> di servizi attraverso reti di comunicazioni elettroniche saranno
> obbligati a segnalare al Centro i contratti stipulati con soggetti e
> imprese che diffondono, distribuiscono o commercializzano anche in via
> telematica, materiale pornografico.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17010.htm
>
> 3. IT - Pedofilia: due importanti operazioni in due giorni (Corriere
> della Sera)
> Due importanti operazioni di lotta alla pedofilia hanno inferto nuovi
> colpi a un fenomeno che appare sempre più diffuso se è vero che non
> più tardi di lunedì un'inchiesta di Telefono Arcobaleno
> (organizzazione che combatte la pedofilia online) e Osservatorio sui
> diritti dei minori ha posizionato l'Italia al quinto posto mondiale
> per produzione di siti internet pedopornografici, con un incremento
> pari al 295,7% rispetto allo scorso anno.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17011.htm
>
> 4. UK - Police issue internet gun warning (BBC)
> Criminals are using the internet and postal system to get guns into
> the UK, senior police officers have warned. They also told an all-
> party parliamentary group of MPs there should be more armed officers
> on the streets as the number of armed criminals grows.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17025.htm
>
> 5. UK - Race to save new victims of child porn (Guardian)
> Senior police officers have revealed that the scale of peer-to-peer
> traffic in illegal images of children now dwarfs almost any other
> paedophile network they have encountered.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17019.htm
>
> 6. UK - Web 'grooming' sentences upped (BBC)
> Jail terms for paedophiles convicted of the "grooming" of children
> will be a maximum of ten years - after MPs agreed a radical shake-up
> of sex crime laws which date back to Victorian times. Ministers have
> decided to increase the maximum sentence from seven years after a
> series of high profile cases. An amendment making the change has been
> added to the Sexual Offences Bill, which received an unopposed third
> reading in the House of Commons and returns to the House of Lords for
> further consideration. The bill will revamp the UK's current "archaic,
> incoherent and discriminatory" laws and includes measures on rape,
> voyeurism and legal definitions of consent.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17018.htm
>
> 7. UK - E-mail scam targets banks (BBC)
> Customers of Nationwide, the UK's largest building society, have
> become the latest online banking consumers to be targeted by an e-mail
> scam. The scam, known as 'phishing', also targeted Barclays, Lloyds
> TSB, NatWest and Halifax customers. The e-mails ask customers to
> verify their details and handover pin numbers and passwords, through a
> replica website. They are sent randomly to consumers, in the hope that
> someone will divulge their banking details.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17051.htm
>
> 8. CN - China to consolidate Net cafes (CNET Asia)
> Nearly all of China's 110,000 Internet cafes will be consolidated
> under the management of larger, mainly state-owned companies in the
> next three years. The move aims to 'regulate and standardize' the
> 'fledgling and troublesome' cafe business. The government is concerned
> about the sudden popularity of such cafes, which are gathering places
> for online gamers and those seeking Web information outside of
> official sources, in a country where many still cannot afford PCs or
> Internet access.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17043.htm
>
> 9. DE - Das deutsche Internet - bald frisch von der KJM gefiltert?
> (Telepolis)
> Auf den Münchner Medientagen berichtete die KJM - Kommission für
> Jugendmedienschutz - nun erstmals von ihrer Arbeit - und auf der
> daran folgenden Podiumsdiskussion flogen die Fetzen: Der Krieg
> Fernsehen gegen Internet ist noch lange nicht ausgestanden und seit T-
> Online auch Video on demand anbieten und somit direkt mit dem Pay-TV
> Premiere konkurrieren will, "sind Sie auf meinem Radar", so Premiere-
> Chef Dr. Georg Kofler zur T-Online-Jugendbeauftragten Gabriele
> Schmeichel.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17044.htm
>
> 10. EU - A continent full of criminals (BBC)
> Technology analyst Bill Thompson is only one of millions of file
> sharers who will be turned into criminals by a new European law. A
> group of MEPs and administrators gathered to hear Janelly Fourtou
> argue that I should be sent to prison. Of course, they didn't mention
> me by name, but Ms Fourtou, an MEP and the driving force behind the
> European Intellectual Property Enforcement Directive, wants to make a
> criminal of anyone who uses peer-to-peer networking software to share
> unlicensed copies of music, movies and other products of the
> entertainment industry.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17028.htm
>
> 11. Questions by authors on searches by Amazon (New York Times)
> The online retailer Amazon.com has introduced a feature that lets
> users search for specific words or phrases in a database of the texts
> of 120,000 books, prompting an expression of concern from the Authors
> Guild, a writers' trade group, who regarded the practice as
> questionable and that publishers did not have the right to make the
> contents of books available without the authors' permission.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17050.htm
>
> 12. US - FCC orders anti-piracy tech for TVs (AP)
> The government has approved an anti-piracy mechanism to make it harder
> for computer users to illegally distribute digital TV programs on the
> Internet. In its order, the Federal Communications Commission told
> makers of digital television receivers that by July 1, 2005, their
> models must recognize an electronic marker that broadcasters can embed
> in their programs to limit piracy. Archive of information regarding
> the broadcast flag (EFF).
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17009.htm
>
> 13. US - Study: Millions delete all music files (Reuters)
> More than a million households deleted all the digital music files
> they had saved on their PCs in August, a sign that the record
> industry's anti-piracy tactics are hitting home, research company NPD
> Group said. NPD credited the ongoing anti-piracy campaign by the
> Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and said publicity
> about the move led more consumers to delete musical files.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17035.htm
>
> 14. US - To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and
> Patent Law and Policy (FTC)
> The Federal Trade Commission has issued its report on how to promote
> innovation by finding the proper balance of competition and patent law
> and policy. Although both competition in markets and patents for
> inventors can work together to foster innovation, the report states
> that each policy requires a proper balance with the other to do so.
> The report - which makes recommendations for the patent system - is
> the first of two reports about how to maintain that balance. A
> forthcoming second report by the FTC and the Antitrust Division of the
> Department of Justice (DOJ) will make similar recommendations for
> antitrust law. Executive Summary [PDF 149KB]. see also Report [PDF
> 2.28MB]
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17000.htm
>
> 15. DE - LKW-Maut: Datenschützer fordern Kündigung (Heise)
> Vertreter verschiedener Datenschutz- und Bürgerrechtsorganisationen
> haben die Bunderegierung dazu aufgefordert, den Vertrag mit Toll
> Collect zu kündigen. Das Mauterfassungsystem für den schweren LKW-
> Verkehr ist nach Ansicht der Verbände nicht nur ein technisches und
> finanzielles Desaster, sondern sei im Kern ein 'Straßen-
> Totalüberwachungs-System'. Das Verfahren, über eine On-Board-Unit
> laufend die Fahrdaten zu ermitteln, berge ein erhebliches
> Überwachungspotenzial.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17033.htm
>
> 16. EU - Court gives data protection ruling (Reuters)
> The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice has given its first
> ruling on EU data protection law in relation to an Internet Web site.
> see Lindqvist. [Ed: see Court's ruling on applicability of Directive
> to non-commercial Web sites (yes) and question of whether posting on
> Internet constitutes transfer to third countries (no) ].
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17021.htm
>
> 17. UK - Cabinet decision on ID card (Independent)
> The cabinet agreed to draw up plans for a national identity card, but
> it will wait 'until later this decade' to decide whether to make them
> compulsory. The compromise, forced through by Tony Blair, was designed
> to defuse a bitter row between ministers over the practicality and
> wisdom of the step.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17022.htm
>
> 18. UK - Government stalls on child protection reforms (Guardian)
> A multimillion pound government project to improve the sharing of
> information about England's 11 million children to protect them from
> abuse, neglect and deprivation has been delayed amid legal and
> technical problems. The deadline for implementation of the
> information, referral and tracking (IRT) scheme, meant to identify
> children at risk before they reach crisis point, has been pushed back
> by six months. By September, 150 councils were meant to have ensured
> that local welfare and law enforcement agencies understood what
> information they could and could not share under current law. But this
> was not possible because one of the 10 IRT pilots received legal
> advice last month that warned it could be illegal for the NHS to put
> information it holds on children onto a database accessible to other
> agencies, such as social services.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17034.htm
>
> 19. EU - Legal and Market Aspects of Electronic Signatures (Europa)
> Report of the European Commission project on legal and market aspects
> of electronic signatures. This study is performed by the K.U.Leuven
> (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven). Project manager Jos Dumortier,
> Professor at the Faculty of Law and Director of the Interdisciplinary
> Centre for Law and Information Technology (ICRI). For the legal
> aspects he worked together with his research fellow Patrick Van Eecke
> and with Georgia Skouma of the IT Law Unit of the law firm Landwell
> (Bogaert & Vandemeulebroeke, Brussels). For market and technical
> issues Professor Dumortier was assisted by Hans Nilsson and Stefan
> Kelm. They are well-known technical experts in electronic signatures
> and related standardisation and implementation issues.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17047.htm
>
> 20. ES - Ruée sur les domaines internet de la future reine d'Espagne
> (AFP)
> Les demandes d'enregistrement de domaines internet en rapport avec
> Letizia Ortiz, la fiancée du prince héritier d'Espagne, Felipe de
> Bourbon, ont afflué depuis l'annonce le week-end dernier de leur
> mariage prochain. Le ministère espagnol de la Science et de la
> Technologie, qui supervise la vente des domaines en .es pour
> l'Espagne, n'enregistrera toutefois pas le domaine
> www.letiziaortiz.es, pour "éviter toute confusion". Le gouvernement a
> également bloqué la semaine dernière les noms de domaines nationaux
> pouvant se référer au mariage du Prince Felipe pour éviter leur
> détournement par des internautes mal intentionnés.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17008.htm
>
> 21. ICANN - Internet group mulls a meaty meeting (CNET News.com)
> ICANN's meeting in Tunisia will focus on IPv6, VeriSign's 'wild card'
> redirection service, and intellectual property rights in domain names.
> Representatives of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
> Numbers predicted that the dozens of working groups will produce more
> 'substantive' discussions than those formed during previous meetings,
> which often were devoted to internal procedures.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17042.htm
>
> 22. The New Civic Virtue of the Net (STLR)
> Who should the law-makers of cyberspace be? Who should be setting the
> rules that apply to conduct in the new global medium of cyberspace?
> What polity or polities should we look to as a source of legitimate
> and welfare-enhancing rules for conduct on the net?
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17016.htm
>
> 23. EU - European Court upholds Italian Internet gambling ban
> (EuPolitix)
> The liberalisation of internet gambling in Europe has been put on hold
> after EU courts authorised governments to restrict the flow of cross-
> border sports betting. In the Gambelli case, the European Court of
> Justice (ECJ) ruled that the Italian government's prohibition of
> unregulated cross-border sports betting via the internet does not
> breach EU law per se but merely restricts? European market freedoms of
> establishment and services. The court held the gambling ban on the
> 'net' is justified on moral and social grounds - that is, through a
> concerted drive to reduce gaming and gambling in the state. The court
> added that gaining state money or the procurement of finances for
> public funds from lotteries, games of chance and betting would not be
> a valid reason for a ban
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17031.htm
>
> 24. US - Agencies Surf for Translators (Washington Post)
> The CIA and the FBI are launching a program to help solve the shortage
> of linguists in Arabic and other languages, which officials say has
> become a crisis in the fight against terrorism. They're going online
> and creating a "virtual" network of bilingual university students,
> professors and other language experts. When the National Virtual
> Translation Center starts operations Dec. 1, it will initiate an
> unusual and perhaps risky plan: hiring individual language speakers
> around the nation who haven't worked in government to translate
> documents and audiotapes sent to their homes or offices by e-mail. At
> least 300 non-government employees are expected soon to be working as
> center contractors, with most coming from universities, companies and
> private laboratories. Most of them will get a cursory background check
> and will not receive full security clearances. Those working at this
> level will not be given secret materials to translate, but they will
> do more humdrum work.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17012.htm
>
> 25. EU - Council endorses MODINIS Programme (Euractiv.com)
> The multiannual MODINIS Programme was launched by the Commission on 26
> July 2002 and covers the period from 2003 to 2005. Its original aim
> was to monitor the progress of the eEurope initiative, disseminate
> good practices and prepare measures to pave the way for a European
> policy on network and information security. It also seeks to promote
> the dissemination of good practices and launch the Agency for the
> Security of Networks and Information. The amendment, approved by the
> Council on 27 October without debate, sets the budget for the
> programme at 21 million euro.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17041.htm
>
> 26. US - Media Ownership and Democracy in the Digital Information Age
> (Stanford Law School)
> by Dr. Mark Cooper, Director of Research at the Consumer Federation of
> America. Cooper analyzes the growing threat to media democracy,
> combining a detailed review of First Amendment jurisprudence with
> rigorous economic analysis to demonstrate the continuing need for
> structural limits on media ownership to promote democratic discourse
> in America.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17013.htm
>
> 27. WSIS - UN tech summit looms with no agenda (Associated Press)
> Who controls the Internet and how richer nations should subsidize its
> growth in poorer countries are central issues dividing planners a
> month ahead of the first United Nations summit on information
> technology. More than 50 heads of states have confirmed their
> attendance for the Dec. 10-12 Geneva meeting, but there's still no
> agreement on what they'll be asked to consider. So government,
> business and civic representatives are convening in the Swiss city to
> try to narrow differences over such contentious issues as government
> oversight of on-line media that several rounds of talks failed to
> overcome.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17007.htm
>
> 28. GDDe - Global Organization Tackles Proliferation of Spam
> (TelecomWeb)
> Proclaiming spam a worldwide problem that threatens the global
> Internet economy, the Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce
> (GBDe), one of the world's leading voices on e-commerce policy, has
> called for a global strategy to tackle spam, including focusing on
> "fraudulent email". In addition to addressing the issue of spam, the
> GBDe announced an agreement between Consumers International, an
> organization representing consumer groups and agencies worldwide, to
> establish alternative dispute resolution (ADR) guidelines, and a
> policy framework for broadband adoption. In seeking to halt spam, the
> GBDe warned against regulations that penalize legitimate marketers who
> send bulk email. The international body said the focus should be on
> emails intended to deceive, either in the content of the message or
> the identity of the sender. Approximately 60 percent of all email
> includes false headers and deceptive content, according to GBDe
> estimates.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17026.htm
>
> 29. See you later, anti-Gators? (CNET News.com)
> In an effort to improve its corporate reputation, adware company Gator
> has launched a legal offensive to divorce its name from the hated term
> 'spyware' - and so far its strategy is paying off. In response to a
> libel lawsuit, an antispyware company has settled with Gator and
> pulled Web pages critical of the company, its practices and its
> software. And other spyware foes are getting the message.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17049.htm
>
> 30. UK - Net makes royal rumour spread inevitable (BBC)
> So was it a good idea for the Prince of Wales's private secretary Sir
> Michael Peat to come out fighting, and declare that the unreportable
> allegations about the prince were "untrue" and "risible"? But one
> thing almost all the experts agreed on: the allegations were bound to
> get out sooner or later. The reason? The internet.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17004.htm
>
> 31. US - How Direct is Too Direct When It Comes to Hyperlinks?
> (LawMeme)
> by James Grimmelmann. Diebold, a manufacturer of electronic-voting
> machines, claims that it is copyright infringement to make available
> copies of its internal memos. Students at Swarthmore College decided
> to engage in an "electronic civil disobedience" by hosting the files
> and by linking to sites hosting the files. Swarthmore has responded by
> shutting off the Internet access of any student linking to the site
> with the leaked memos as part of the disobedience. Let's see. Can't
> host the files. Can't link to the files. Can't link to a site with the
> files. Where will the madness end?
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17048.htm
>
> 32. Music-industry mergers (Economist)
> Sony and Bertelsmann have unveiled plans to merge their music
> subsidiaries, creating a company that would have a quarter of the
> world market for recorded music. Competition authorities have frowned
> on such deals in the past, but the prevalence of piracy may persuade
> them this time. See also Bertelsmann deal with Sony responds to
> plummeting sales (IHT);
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17023.htm
>
> 33. FR - Paris Court Convicts Jewish Man Over Web Hate Call (Reuters)
> A French court has sentenced a Jewish extremist to a suspended four
> month jail term for inciting racial hatred against French Jewish
> celebrities he branded "anti-Israeli" on his Web site. Computer
> scientist Alexandre Attali, 29, was found guilty of inciting racial
> hatred for calling for attacks against Jewish people in particular.
> The court also fined him 13,000 euros ($15,000). The Web site alleged
> Jewish and non-Jewish celebrities, including Oscar-winning actress
> Juliette Binoche and best-selling writer Regine Deforges, backed a
> French boycott of Israeli products to protest against Israeli
> government policies.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17017.htm
>
> 34. E-police unlikely to get bigger budget (vnunet.com)
> Businesses must take more responsibility for corporate security
> because funding for electronic policing will not increase.
> Organisations must work on the basis that prevention is better than
> cure and not rely on over-stretched police resources, according to
> Peter Sommer, senior research fellow at the London School of
> Economics.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17029.htm
>
> 35. UK - Users face malicious attacks from HTML email (BBC)
> Net security experts are now predicting a growth in attacks that
> strike when people are simply browsing messages or the web. Russ
> Cooper, chief scientist at security specialist TruSecure, said the
> risk of such attacks would grow as long as e-mail messages were
> written that used the HTML formatting more usually used to create
> webpages. Mr Cooper said the threat from maliciously formed HTML was
> increasing and was being used to damage, disrupt or collect sensitive
> information about users and their computers.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17005.htm
>
> 36. US - FTC accuses pop-up maker of 'extortion' (Reuters)
> U.S. regulators said that Windows users should disable a back-door
> communications channel called Windows Messenger Service to prevent
> unscrupulous marketers from filling their screens with unwanted ads.
> see also FTC Obtains Order Barring Pop-up Spam Scam, Urges Consumers
> to Take Steps to Protect Themselves and how to disable Windows
> Messenger Service.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem16999.htm
>
> 37. EU - Mobile self-regulation - draft paper (PCMLP)
> This draft paper on self-regulation of mobile content and services
> (PDF format) was drawn up by the Programme in Comparative Media Law
> and Policy at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at Oxford University,
> as part of the Selfregulation.info project funded by the European
> Commission under the Safer Internet programme. It was presented at the
> World Telemedia Conference in Prague on 5 November 2003, organised by
> the Network for Online Commerce (NOC). The project investigates self-
> regulatory codes of conduct across national, EU and International
> boundaries covering a wide range of media from Internet, film, video
> (games), (digital) television to mobile communications. The project
> will also assist self-regulatory bodies in the development and
> implementation of codes of conduct. Comments invited until 1st Dec:
> (3gcomments /at/ selfregulation.info)
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17001.htm
>
> 38. EU - Advertising industry: better self-regulation needed
> (EurActiv.com)
> Speaking at the World Federation of Advertisers on 28 October,
> Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne reminded the audience of
> the advances made in the area of self-regulation but stressed the need
> for continued efforts. Among the problem areas, Mr Byrne listed the
> differences in the levels of compliance with advertising codes across
> the Member States, as well as the difficulty in controlling certain
> advertising methods by code-owners. Self-regulation has been a central
> feature of the legislative framework set out by the Misleading
> Advertising Directive (1984). Self-regulation gives industry a chance
> to promote the application of fair advertising practices.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17036.htm
>
> 39. UK - Ofcom launches consultation on future regulation of
> broadcast advertising (Press Release)
> Ofcom, the new communications regulator from the end of 2003, is
> launching a public consultation on the future regulation of broadcast
> advertising. The Communications Act 2003 places a duty on Ofcom to
> consider effective forms of self-regulation for its various functions.
> Ofcom is seeking views on its proposal to delegate the regulation of
> advertising on television and radio to a new industry co-regulatory
> body. The new body would have responsibility for drawing up, reviewing
> and enforcing Codes, approved by Ofcom, setting standards for the
> presentation and content of broadcast advertisements. The new body
> would operate under the banner of the Advertising Standards Authority
> (ASA), currently the industry regulator for non-broadcast advertising.
> Ofcom would retain backstop powers over the new system. The
> consultation document, The Future Regulation of Broadcast Advertising
> and Summary. Ofcom is also publishing a linked consultation document,
> Criteria for transferring functions to co-regulatory bodies, proposing
> criteria for transferring regulatory functions to co-regulatory
> bodies. The closing date for responses is 9 January, 2004.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17027.htm
>
> 40. World drowning in oceans of data (BBC)
> Growing net, computer and phone use is driving a huge rise in the
> amount of information people generate and use. US researchers estimate
> that every year 800MB of information is produced for every person on
> the planet. Their study found that information stored on paper, film,
> magnetic and optical disks has doubled since 1999.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17040.htm
>
> 41. DE - Call by Call: Schluss mit 0190 (Spiegel)
> Wer auf der Telefonrechnung eine 0190-Nummer entdeckt, dem fährt erst
> einmal der Schreck in die Glieder: Die Nummer steht längst synonym für
> Abzocke in den Netzen. Das soll bald vorbei sein. Die
> Regulierungsbehörde verordnet eine deutliche Trennung von 'Mehrwert-'
> und Telefondiensten.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17037.htm
>
> 42. DE - Regulierungsbehörde verbietet 0190-Sparvorwahlen (Heise)
> Die Regulierungsbehörde hat den Einsatz von 0190- und 0900-Rufnummern
> für Call-by-Call-Gespräche untersagt. Die entsprechenden Dienste
> müssen ihre Arbeit innerhalb von drei Wochen einstellen. Die
> Regulierungsbehörde stellte klar, dass Call-by-Call nur über die dafür
> vorgesehenen Vorwahlziffern 010xy und 0100xy angeboten werden darf.
> Offenbar will die Regulierungsbehörde in allen Bereichen für Ordnung
> sorgen. Vor einiger Zeit hatte sie bereits dem Missbrauch von Online-
> Einwahlnummern den Kampf angesagt. Die Regulierungsbehörde begründet
> die Entscheidung mit Vorteilen für den Verbraucher: Sie sorge für
> Klarheit und Transparenz. Die bestehenden Angebote verstießen gegen
> das Gesetz und verwirrten den Verbraucher. Außerdem bestehe bei den
> Sparvorwahlen mit 0190- und 0900-Rufnummern die Gefahr, durch
> Verwählen einen teuren Mehrwertdienst anzuwählen.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17032.htm
>
> 43. Games at work may be good for you (BBC)
> Playing simple computer games at the office could improve productivity
> and job satisfaction, research suggests. Scientists from the
> University of Utrecht have studied the effects of game playing on 60
> employees in a Dutch insurance firm. The team measured changes in work
> and job attitudes and found that game players felt better about their
> job. Many big companies ban games which come as standard on many
> computers, saying they are just a waste of workers' time. But, says
> research leader Professor Jeffrey Goldstein, there has been little
> research to show how playing games might positively change employee
> productivity, job satisfaction or reduce absenteeism.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17024.htm
>
> 44. Help! my Belkin router is spamming me (Register)
> The marketing geniuses at Belkin, the consumer networking vendor, have
> dreamed up a new form of spam - ads served to your desktop, by way of
> its wireless router. A former Belkin wireless router user was
> perplexed to find machines on his network redirected to an ad for
> Belkin's new parental control system, following a software update.
> Belkin confirmed that the behaviour was designed into the products as
> a way to make it easier for consumers to sign up to a free trial of
> its parental control software.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17020.htm
>
> 45. Nokia targets multimedia mobiles (BBC)
> Surfing the net, text and multimedia messaging, e-mail, calendar and
> gaming have all become key parts of handsets, making them a lot
> smarter. Nokia has been outlining its strategy to drive this market
> into the next year, announcing this week it hopes to ship 100 million
> devices with colour displays, Java and MMS in 2004.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17039.htm
>
> 46. Symbian will lose smartphone battle (vnunet.com)
> Analyst Gartner has warned that, without a concerted effort by Symbian
> and its backers, Microsoft will sweep them aside in the smartphone
> business. Redmond's ability to offer standardised handsets which are
> easier for businesses to support and use will help the software giant
> win corporate approval, the market watcher predicted.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17030.htm
>
> 47. Google tests desktop search (CNet News.com)
> Search company Google is testing software that lets people navigate
> the Web without opening up an Internet browser, placing itself in a
> field that Microsoft has designs on - desktop search. The search
> company has introduced the Google Deskbar. The downloadable software
> for users of Microsoft’s Windows operating system puts a Google search
> box in the desktop taskbar
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17015.htm
>
> 48. How good is Google? (Economist)
> As search engines go, in other words, Google has clearly been a
> runaway success. Not only is its own site the most popular for search
> on the web, but it also powers the search engines of major portals,
> such as Yahoo! and AOL. All told, 75% of referrals to websites now
> originate from Google's algorithms. Eric Schmidt, its chief executive,
> understood that the key to monetising all those customer searches (now
> 200m a day) was to place small, unobtrusive and highly relevant text
> advertisements alongside Google's search results. Advertisers like
> this system because they pay only if web surfers actually click on
> their links. And consumers either do not mind, or even learn to love
> these commercial links for their relevance, just as they appreciate
> the Yellow Pages. For Google to stay permanently ahead of other
> search-engine technologies is almost impossible, since it takes so
> little to lose the lead. In contrast to a portal such as Yahoo!, which
> also offers customers free e-mail and other services, a pure search
> engine is always but a click away from losing users. Yahoo!, in fact,
> will probably be the first to attack. Even more frightening
> (especially to those who remember Netscape's fate in the browser
> wars), Microsoft smells blood. It is currently working on its own
> search algorithm, which it hopes to make public early next year,
> around the probable time of Google's share listing.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17014.htm
>
> 49. Web Vipers (Washington Post)
> These days, careless computing can be downright dangerous. E-mail spam
> is not just annoying; it can bring offensive content, fraudulent
> schemes and damaging viruses into personal computers. Hackers are
> constantly probing home Internet connections, looking for
> vulnerabilities so they can gain remote entry and steal personal data.
> (Memo to those with wireless home networks: You are an especially
> inviting target.) Worms can literally take over your computer and
> allow hackers to turn it into a weapon for more mayhem. Viruses can
> wreck hard drives, wiping out years of hard work. Think we're
> exaggerating? Spam accounts for roughly 60 percent of all e-mail, up
> from 18 percent 18 months ago. In 1995, the number of hacking or
> computer attacks reported to the CERT Coordination Center for
> cybersecurity was 2,412. In the first three quarters of last year, the
> number was 114,855. In many cases, each attack affected hundreds of
> thousands of machines. see also Watch Your Wallet, Kids' Play, Stop
> Pop-Ups, Can Spam , Cookies & Spyware, Rx for Viruses, Wireless
> Worries, The Apple Alternative and Geek Speak.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17003.htm
>
> 50. UK - Speed 'tempts dial-up net users' (BBC)
> A million Britons will swap dial-up for broadband in the next year,
> says the telecoms watchdog Oftel. More are signing up to broadband, an
> always-on connection 10 times faster than dial-up, as it gets cheaper.
> Oftel's latest figures show half of all households in the UK are
> online, with 750,000 new web users in the last three months. Both
> dial-up and broadband net access is cheaper in the UK than other
> European countries.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17046.htm
>
> 51. CANCELLED event 2003-11-24 FR, Paris - EGOVOS 3: Open Standards
> and Libre Software in Government (EGOVOS)
> This event, previously announced in QuickLinks, has been cancelled.
> MERIT at the University of Maastricht are no longer organising the
> conference on the topic of Open Standards and Libre Software in
> Government at UNESCO Paris, November 24-26, 2003. Until now, MERIT
> was responsible for the logistics and through the FLOSSPOLS project,
> EC funding for the conference. This is now wholly withdrawn. We have
> taken this decision in consultation with the European Commission,
> whose support for this conference was earlier being provided through
> the proposed FLOSSPOLS project at MERIT.
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem16846.htm
>
> 52. ICANN to Open Office in Brussels (Press Release)
> The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
> announces that Paul Verhoef will be joining the ICANN staff on a full-
> time basis as the Vice President of Supporting Organizations and
> Committee Support. Paul Verhoef joins ICANN from his position as the
> head of international policy aspects for the Information Society
> Directorate General for the European Commission (EC).
> http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17038.htm
>
> Main Sources and Contributors: Baker & McKenzie E-Law Alert, Michael
> Geist cybertelecom.org, jugendschutz.net, Gerhard Heine, David
> Goldstein, Net Family News, Peter Finch.
>
> QuickLinks is edited by Richard Swetenham (richard.swetenham /at/ cec.eu.int)
>
  
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