InternetPolicy.net

Russia drafting new net laws?

Two draft laws to regulate the Internet are apparently nearing completion in Russia, says Julie Corwin in a feature article for RFE/RL. One of them may extend state control over net content, while the other could be aimed more at "redistribution of property" - which seems to imply new surcharges and/or licensing rules. Corwin offers few specifics as both groups of Duma deputies have been denying that new legislation is even being prepared.

ITU anti-spam summit underway

The Age (Australia) ran a report yesterday by Peter Capella and Agence France Presse about the ITU's spam summit: "Regulators from about 60 countries... began a meeting [on 7 July] at the UN's telecommunications agency to try to stop the growing tide of unsolicited e-mails or 'spam' that threatens to drive users and businesses off the Internet. 'It's a disease which has spread around the world. We have an epidemic on our hands which we need to control,' said Robert Horton, the acting head of the Australian Communications Authority who is chairing the three-day meeting in Geneva...

"Regulators hope that the meeting, the first of its kind, will mark a first step in building greater international cooperation needed to bring spam under control within two years. 'No single country is able to control spam or the abuse of the Internet, we must all act in a concerted manner because the weakest country becomes the weakest link in the chain,' Horton said. As a first step, regulators were likely to try to overcome a first hurdle by setting up a register of contacts in individual countries. The issue is often dealt with by different government telecommunications, broadcasting or trade agencies. Regulators are also aiming to swap notes over different types of legislation which are emerging in countries including the United States, South Korea and Britain, as well as technical safeguards. US, British and Australian regulators last week signed a cooperation agreement to share information, exchange evidence and coordinate enforcement against cross-border spam violations..."

Audio feeds from the Geneva meeting are available here, while background materials are online here. Matthew B. Prince's 15-page paper on Countering Spam: How to Craft an Effective Anti-Spam Law is especially worth reading.

US court rejects email privacy

Washington Post reporter Jonathan Krim wrote on 1 July: "A company that provides e-mail service has the right to copy and read any message bound for its customers, a federal appeals court panel has ruled in a decision that could expand e-mail monitoring by businesses and the government. The 2-to-1 decision by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit in Massachusetts alarmed privacy advocates, who said it torpedoes any notion that e-mail enjoys the same protections as telephone conversations, or letters when they are sorted by mail carriers." Our colleagues at the Center for Democracy and Technology added that if this decision is upheld, it will mean that ISPs and email handlers based in the United States are free to harvest and use email content for any purpose without notifying their customers or obtaining their consent.

The full text of the court's decision is here. The court majority reasoned that email differs from wireline phonecalls in that phonecalls are not "stored" by the transmission network, and storage undermines expectations of privacy.

But just as Congress extended legal privacy protections to cellular phonecalls and GSM transmissions, which are much easier to intercept than email (because they are radio waves that blanket populated areas), it should not be hard for Congress to amend existing laws to protect "stored" email even if it is physically vulnerable to interception.

Canada: ISPs not liable for customer download royalties

Today's Global E-Law Alert reports that "The Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in the Tariff 22 case, overturning a Federal Court decision that would have obliged ISPs to pay royalties for online music downloaded by their customers..."

US Supreme Court criticizes net porn law

Adult website hosts can breathe a little easier now that the US Supreme Court has upheld an injunction blocking enforcement of the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). The court's 5-4 decision requires the government to prove that COPA is the least restrictive way to protect youngsters from exposure to sexual content "harmful to minors" if it wants the injunction lifted.

Civil society unheard at cybercime hearing

The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing last week (17 June) on the question of whether Congress should ratify the Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime as requested by President Bush. (Several other law-enforcement-related treaties were also on the hearing agenda.) "The only witnesses who testified about the Cybercrime Convention were government officials," notes the latest EPIC Alert, "and no nongovernmental organizations or industry groups were given the opportunity to participate. The government witnesses did not mention any criticisms or possible drawbacks of ratifying the treaty... In fact, the treaty remains very controversial in Europe, particularly the provisions relating to the lack of protections for the use, collection, and distribution of personal data...and there is concern that the extensive surveillance tools enabled by the Cybercrime Convention are threats to a democratic society."

The Electronic Privacy Information Center opposes US ratification of the Convention; on the day of the hearing, EPIC sent a letter to the Foreign Relations Committee explaining why. The written statements of those who testified at the hearing are online here.

Online publishers not liable for 3rd-party ads

Paul Festa writes for CNET.com: "Web site owners [in the US] can rest a little easier following a little-noticed court decision last month that bolsters legal protections against lawsuits arising from the activities of their advertisers. Ramey v. Darkside involved a Washington, D.C., area dancer who sued a Web site publisher after one if its advertisers used a photo of her without her permission. In a May 17 ruling, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler rejected the bid in a decision seen as a statement that online publishers aren't responsible for the content of advertisements created by others... 'This case should help search engines and Web sites avoid liability for the ads they run, even if the Web sites help the advertiser develop the advertising content and decide where to place it,' said Eric Goldman, an assistant professor at Marquette University Law School..."

"Cyber-trespass" bill advances in US Congress

Two days ago, the US House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection unanimously approved a new draft of the "Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act" (a.k.a. the SPY ACT, HR-2929). If passed by Congress, this legislation would make it a crime to take control of a computer by deception in order to send unsolicited material to others, divert an Internet browser to "Web pages not of the owner or authorized user’s choosing," deliver "advertisements that a user of the computer cannot close without turning off the computer or closing all sessions of the Internet browser," remotely change the user's default search site or starting page without permission, gather personal information by keystroke logging or other surreptious means, disable anti-virus or anti-spyware programs, etc. It is a fascinatingly specific catalog of malware tricks we've grown to hate, with penalties for violators of up to $1 million.

OECD Guidance on Privacy Policy and Practice

"...Privacy Online: OECD Guidance on Policy and Practice has been prepared under the auspices of the OECD Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy (ICCP) by its Working Party on Information Security and Privacy (WPISP). Focused on the implementation of the OECD Privacy Guidelines online, the policy and practical guidance offered in this publication...reflects the OECD ministerial high‑level objective to build bridges between different national approaches in order to ensure the effective protection of privacy and personal data as well as the continued transborder flow of personal data on global networks."

The 392-page paperback, published in English or French last November, costs 75 dollars or 75 euros. An electronic PDF version has just been put online. It costs 60 dollars or 60 euros to download if you want to be able to print it, but a free copy can be saved on your computer and browsed on screen.

EC announces VoIP consultation

The European Commission has announced a public consultation on "The Treatment of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) under the European Regulatory Framework." A statement defining the consultation is available here (29 pages, 268 kb PDF). The aim of this exercise is to clarify how the directives of the EU regulatory framework for electronic communications apply to VoIP. Written comments in electronic format should be sent to [email protected] by 31 August 2004 at the latest, marked "VoIP" on the subject line. All comments received will be published unless confidentiality is specifically requested. For more information via traditional channels, contact:

Regulatory Framework Unit (B1)
DG Information Society
B-1049 Brussels, Belgium
Tel +32 2 2968633