A committee created by the Israeli Justice Ministry has released on electronic issues including ISP liability and privacy issues. The committee recommended adopting e-commerce type provisions along with protection of ISPs for liability for third party content. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/475571.html
On September 2, 2004, the public hearings on the draftlaw "On interception of telecommunications" (registration number — 4042-1) took place in Kyiv, in the conference hall of the Ukrainian House (2 Khreshchatyka str, 5th floor). During the hearings, the participants discussed the new version of the above-mentioned lawdraft in which most of the amendments proposed by the state uthorities, business and public organizations have already been introduced. The public hearings were organized by the Internet Association of Ukraine together with the Internews-Ukraine and Ukrainian Internet Community. http://www.irf.kiev.ua/en/programs/inf/inf/news/?doc:int=1161
China's Legislature has passed the Law on Electronic
Signature, which legalizes increasing electronic deals. The
law grants electronic signatures the same legal effect as handwritten signatures and seals in business transactions.
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040828-045733-4670r.htm
ComReg (Commision for Communications Regulation) has announced plans to alter the General Authorisation framework - the code that allows telecoms companies to operate in Ireland. The proposed changes to the framework will formalise ComReg's powers in the area of overcharging. Companies in breach of the framework could be brought to court or lose their authority to operate in Ireland.
This report was originally prepared for the OECD Workshop on Spam held in Brussels (February 2 -3, 2004). Countries covered by the report are: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Russia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Authors present provide a concise background on spam and the situation in the above countries. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/26/47/31861202.pdf
The Czech Republic's Senate recently passed an anti-spam law that criminalizes sending email or SMS commercial messages without the consent of the recipient. The law has yet to be signed by President Vaclav Klaus. http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2004/TT/0819/tt1.php
The Australian Federal Government will review laws covering spyware as part of a range of e-security initiatives announced by the IT Minister. The review will examine Australia's existing legislative framework to assess how current laws cover spyware practices. http://auspyware.notlong.com/
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have set up a task force to marshal the efforts of government, business and civil society in order to tackle the problems posed by unsolicited e-mail messages, or spam.
The OECD Task Force will ensure a better focus of work on priority areas and improved co-ordination between different policy communities. Key objectives will include coordinating international policy responses in the fight against spam, encouraging best practices in industry and business, promoting enhanced technical measures to combat spam along with improved awareness and understanding among consumers, and facilitating cross-border law enforcement.
The Task Force has been given two years to study existing and emerging anti-spam strategies across all sectors; develop and promote an anti-spam "tool-kit" focused on practical anti-spam strategies, arrangements and solutions; and devise a public awareness strategy in order to support global efforts to combat spam. http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=2586
Legal Media Group - 01 August 2004
The European Commission has launched a call for tenders to conduct a study that will look at the overall value of patents in today’s knowledge economy.
The results of the study will be used by the Commission to develop and implement suitable patent policies.
The objective of the study is to provide a picture of the effects of patents on the economy, and to come up with an evidence-based conclusion about the merits or disadvantages of patents in the EU market.
“It should be understood that the aim of the study is to evaluate the impact, in the EU, of patents in general,” the Commission stated in its contract notice.
“An important distinction is to be made between the value of innovation and the value of patents. This study should only focus on the latter aspect and consider the value of innovation only in as far as it is influenced by patents,” it wrote.
The aim is also to inform EU policies about the development of the knowledge economy, the support of SMEs as well as the proper functioning of the internal market in relation to patent policies.
The deadline for requests to participate or submit tenders is August 10. The deadline for requesting tender documents is this Tuesday, August 3.
For more information, click here:
http://ted.publications.eu.int/udl?REQUEST=Seek-Deliver&LANGUAGE=en&DOCID=105318-2004
British solicitor Sarah Monk has a thoughtful essay in New Media Zero about the online impact of the recent Law Lords' decision in a case involving super-model Naomi Campbell: "...it's important to remember that this case isn't just applicable to celebrities who are routinely hounded by the paparazzi. The principles laid down by the Lords apply to anyone passing on information that could be characterised as confidential or private.
"This presents the online world with a major problem. Nowadays the first place that stories often circulate is in Internet chat rooms or on message boards. As with defamatory material, anyone involved in passing on private information can be fixed with liability. So we're not just talking about the person posting the material; an ISP or chat room host could also be targeted....
"Whereas with newspapers the process of vetting content is taken very seriously by editorial staff before publication, chat room hosts generally adopt the approach of removing material after publication once they are notified of a complaint. This strategy is fine where the complaint relates to defamatory postings... This is the so-called 'notice and take down' procedure. Where a complaint relates to material that's an invasion of someone's privacy or is confidential, there's no such statutory defence.
"As with defamation, the person making the complaint is likely to attack the chat room host or the ISP for the following reasons: first, because they want the information taken down; second, because they want to make an example of them and warn off others from further circulating the information; third, because the host is likely to have deeper pockets than the author from which to pay damages and costs; and finally, because the author of the material is often untraceable in any event.
"The question is how to assess whether material does in fact infringe an individual's privacy. The guidelines from the Law Lords in Campbell's case aren't particularly clear on this matter. The bare bones of the test they applied are whether the information is confidential and, if it is, whether publication is justified... The difficulty in applying this test in practice is aptly demonstrated by the five Law Lords being unable to agree on how it impacted upon the Campbell claim...
"Applying the House of Lords test is a heavy enough burden for experienced editorial staff in newspapers and broadcasters. However, it's a burden that will also now fall squarely on the shoulders of chat room hosts and ISPs..."
