InternetPolicy.net

"Internet Repression News"

Internet Repression News is a new monthly e-report from Reporters without Borders. Currently focussing only on China, it is posted on RSF's website even though it is written for a very specific audience of 14 heads of companies selling equipment and software enabling the Chinese government to censor and monitor Internet use. The idea is to put pressure on the companies (which are based in Japan, North America, Europe and South Korea) to urge China to reconsider their policies. Maybe with some encouragement and help, RSF could expand the monthly's geographic coverage to Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, etc...?

TCP/IP standard for home appliances

The Associated Press is reporting today that "Four Japanese electronics makers have agreed to work together in developing a common standard to link refrigerators and other home appliances to the Internet. Toshiba Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Sharp Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. said Wednesday that the system called 'iReady,' which stands for 'Internet ready' or 'I am ready,' will make network appliances from each of the makers compatible and help reduce development costs... Proposed network appliances include ovens that cook dishes following downloaded recipes and home-heating systems that can be adjusted from mobile phones, the companies said in a joint statement. The companies are asking others to join in developing the technology, including possibilities for offering it overseas, and the first products are expected by next year, Sanyo spokesman Ryan Watson said..."

P2P downloads legal in Canada

From "Canada deems P2P downloading legal" by John Borland (CNET News): "Downloading copyrighted music from peer-to-peer networks is legal in Canada, although uploading files is not, Canadian copyright regulators said in a ruling released Friday [12 December]. In the same decision, the Copyright Board of Canada imposed a government fee of as much as $25 on iPod-like MP3 players, putting the devices in the same category as audio tapes and blank CDs. The money collected from levies on 'recording mediums' goes into a fund to pay musicians and songwriters for revenues lost from consumers' personal copying...

"In its decision Friday, the Copyright Board said uploading or distributing copyrighted works online appeared to be prohibited under current Canadian law. However, the country's copyright law does allow making a copy for personal use and does not address the source of that copy or whether the original has to be an authorized or noninfringing version, the board said. Under those laws, certain media are designated as appropriate for making personal copies of music, and producers pay a per-unit fee into a pool designed to compensate musicians and songwriters. Most audio tapes and CDs, and now MP3 players, are included in that category. Other mediums, such as DVDs, are not deemed appropriate for personal copying. Computer hard drives have never been reviewed under that provision, however. In its decision Friday, the board decided to allow personal copies on a hard drive until a fee ruling is made specifically on that medium or until the courts or legislature tell regulators to rule otherwise...

"Canada has already raised the hackles of some copyright holders through its reluctance to enact measures that significantly expand digital copyright protection, as the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has done in the United States. As a result, Canada could become a model for countries seeking to find a balance between protecting copyright holders' rights and providing consumers with more liberal rights to copyrighted works. For now, it remains unclear how other countries might be influenced by Friday's ruling..."

Click here for the Copyright Board of Canada's factsheet about the decision, and thanks to BeSpacific for the pointer.

New report on VoIP regulation

The New Millenium Research Council has just released a 24-page report on The Future of Internet Phone Calling: Regulatory Imperatives to Protect the Promise of VOIP for Industry and Consumers. While focusing on the US market, this is a hot issue in most countries so the arguments are relevant elsewhere. A principal theme of the report is that further deregulation of traditional telephony is a better option than imposing rules from the circuit switched era on VoIP. The separately authored chapters are:

• "The Policy Dilemma of IP Networking" by David P. McClure, President and Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Internet Industry Association
• "VoIP: Rights and Responsibilities" by Debbie Goldman, Research Economist, Communications Workers of America
• "The Regulatory Treatment of Internet Telephony" by Lee W. McKnight, Associate Professor of Information Studies, Syracuse University, and Martha Garcia-Murillo, Assistant Professor of Information Studies, Syracuse University;
• "Access to Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP)" by Gregg C. Vanderheiden, Professor of Industrial Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison; and
• "Poking Holes in the Regulatory Landscape: Harnessing the Disruptive Power of Voice-over-IP Technology" by Glenn A. Woroch, Adjunct Professor of Economics, University of California-Berkeley.

Thanks to Grant Gross, IDG News Service Washington Bureau, for drawing our attention to this report

President Bush signs US anti-spam law

President Bush signed the CAN-SPAM Act into law yesterday. Click here for the White House's Fact Sheet about this legislation which takes effect on 1 January 2004. As noted in one of our earlier items, it could have consequences far outside the law's intended scope.

2004 US elections' Internet "loophole"

According to an email from PoliticsOnline, US election laws for 2004 specifically exempt online communications from most new regulations and spending restrictions that apply to federal election campaigns. Given the growing impact of Internet fundraising, organizing tools and issues-oriented websites and blogs in American politics, this is an extraordinary loophole - one to watch as the new year unfolds.

WSIS - the road ahead

Ambassador David Gross, head of the US delegation to the recently concluded World Summit on the Information Society, expressed satisfaction with WSIS's outcome when IDG News Service interviewed him in Geneva. He was particularly pleased about the deflection of calls for changes in Internet governance into the drafting of a report:

"IDGNS: Delegates agreed to have the Secretary-General of the United Nations (Kofi Annan) establish a committee to study the issue of Internet governance. Was it too difficult to reach any hard decisions on this issue in Geneva?

Gross: It was an excellent decision to have the Secretary-General of the U.N. establish a working group on Internet governance. The mechanism for creating the committee will be an open process; it will not just be a governments-only organization. In addition to governments, the committee will be open to the private sector, Civil Society and other inter-governmental organizations. In effect, it will be open to everyone and anyone.

IDGNS: What is the primary focus of this committee?

Gross: The group is to do one very limited thing -- to create a report.... the objective of the report is to help define the term Internet governance and identify the public policy issues associated with it..."

So attention now shifts to the follow-on conference in Tunisia in 2005. Perhaps in response to the criticism expressed by human rights groups about Tunisia as a venue, the speech read by Tunisia's foreign minister at the closing session of WSIS-1 was particularly gracious in its invitation to civil society groups to participate in WSIS-2: "I also would like to lay particular emphasis on the role that we hope will be assumed by the components of civil society and the representatives of the private sector," the minister said on behalf of President Ben Ali, "so that they contribute, with their customary sense of initiative and creativity, to coordinating and unifying efforts with governmental parties during the preparation of the Tunis Summit." See Tunisia Online for the full text of his speech.

Global IPv6 Service Launch Event

The EC's Information Society directorate will host a "Global IPv6 Service Launch Event" in Brussels on 15-16 January, to draw attention to the start of an interregional IPv6 connectivity service. See the event website for additional details.

The Internet and the right to communicate

Don't miss "The Internet and the right to communicate" by William J. McIver, Jr., William F. Birdsall, and Merrilee Rasmussen in the current issue of First Monday.

European co-regulation network launched

From EuroActiv.com via Quicklinks: "The European co-regulation network for the Internet was officially unveiled by Commissioner Liikanen at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) on 11 December. Organisations from seven European countries have already signed up. The European Internet co-regulation network is an initiative by the French organisation Le forum des droits sur l'Internet which is supported by the Commission. The aim of the network is fourfold:

• "Exchange good practices and knowledge at European level on legal issues raised by the Internet
• "Organise the debate between governments, civil society and private companies on issues related to the governance of the information society (spam, child protection, intellectual property rights, etc.)
• "Make proposals (possibly of a legal nature) to the European institutions
• "Prepare and follow-up for the second stage of the WSIS to take place in Tunis in November 2005.

"The network is currently made up of organisations from Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Sweden and the UK. It has an open structure to stakeholders from other European countries. The main focus of the network's first meeting in Paris in March 2004 will be to set out priorities for the next few months. A first evaluation of the network will be made in March 2005 ahead of the second round of the WSIS..."

For a related story, see our item on "EU agrees to prior consultations on Information Society rules" (27 November 2003).