An Intergovernmental meeting will be held in Geneva on FOSS under UNCTAD coordination: Expert meeting on Free and Open Source Software: Policy and development implications
Geneva, 22–24 September 2004
http://www.unctad.org/Templates/meeting.asp?intItemID=1942&lang=1&m=8936
Resources available on UNCTAD webpage on FOSS linkaged to some issues and aplications:
http://r0.unctad.org/ecommerce/ecommerce_en/freeopen_en.htm
For who from developing and LD countries has good relationship or contacts with key people in its Governement and also can be considered an expert on FOSS by the Government there are fellowships available.
Notification
The Expert Meeting on Free and Open Source Software, convened in accordance with the decision taken by the Commission on Enterprise, Business Facilitation and Development at its eighth session, will be held from 22 to 24 September 2004. The Meeting will open at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 22 September 2004.
Background and purpose of the Meeting
An increasing number of countries are developing national policies and strategies to promote the digital economy. Many have recognized the important role of software - in addition to hardware, affordable access and human capacities and skills - as the medium that enables people to use technology productively.Because social and economic activities are heterogeneous and human and natural environments are varied and different, the role of software as the interface between this human diversity and, often ubiquitous, hard technology is fundamental to the wide adoption of information technologies and to closing the digital divide. Given this singularly important role of software, the increasing prominence and use of so-called free and open source software (FOSS) has encouraged a debate about its ability to help, in particular, developing countries overcome the digital divide and increase the use and productive effects of information technology in commercial activities, governance and other fields. FOSS is software whose source code - its set of instructions - has been made open to the public and freely available under a license that prevents its appropriation. It is not necessarily free, as in "gratis" or free-of-charge. It is "free" and "open" because it can be used, changed and redistributed in a relatively unhindered manner. This Expert Meeting will bring together experts from both developed and developing countries, from international and regional bodies involved in FOSS issues, from the software technology industry and from civil society organizations. The objective of the Expert Meeting is twofold. First, it will provide the UNCTAD Commission on Enterprise, Business Facilitation and Development with a substantive basis that could support discussions about FOSS at a higher policy level. Second, it will allow an assessment and exchange of experience among experts from UNCTAD member States, while benefiting from inputs from participating FOSS specialists from academia, business and civil society.
Participation
Experts are expected to include officials from government offices responsible for information technology strategy, including software and FOSS policy and implementation. Representatives from other public or private institutions, the academic world and NGOs, with proven expertise in the subject, will also be invited to participate. Experts are nominated by their national governments but will participate in the Meeting in their personal capacities. Nominations should be submitted to the UNCTAD secretariat no later than 26 July 2004. (I've just got this info yesterday though! A.T.) In addition, experts from international and regional organizations dealing with FOSS issues will be invited. Specialized agencies and intergovernmental bodies wishing to participate in the Meeting, as well as non-governmental organizations in the General Category and those in the Special Category wishing to participate as observers, are requested to inform the UNCTAD secretariat of the names of their representatives.Financial assistanceFunds will be made available to finance the participation of a limited number of officially nominated experts from developing countries and economies in transition. Governments of developing countries and countries with economies in transition requiring funding are therefore invited to explicitly request financing in their letters of nomination. The Secretary-General of UNCTAD will base the decision as to which experts should receive financing on the principle of equitable geographical representation, beneficiary needs, in particular LDCs, and the expertise of the experts concerned. Changes in nominated experts will be considered as new nominations. Nominations with requests for financing should be received no later than eight weeks before the meeting (i.e. by 26 July 2004 at the latest), and should be accompanied with the following information about the nominee:
Curriculum vitae; Mailing address; Telephone and fax number; E-mail address; and Name of a contact person in the Permanent Mission in Geneva.
It should be noted in this connection that once the list of experts to be financed has been finalized, the Secretary-General of UNCTAD will have all travel arrangements made in accordance with United Nations rules and regulations, though use of the least costly travel fare will be authorized.
Background documents and contributed papers
The provisional agenda for the meeting, together with the secretariat´s annotations, is being circulated as document TD/B/COM.3/EM.21/1. The UNCTAD secretariat has prepared, as official documentation for the meeting, a background paper entitled "Free and open source software" (TD/B/COM.3/EM.21/2), aimed at facilitating the discussions. Experts are encouraged to submit written contributions on experiences with FOSS at the national level, focusing on the following items:
(i) overall familiarity with FOSS and the FOSS debate in the Government;
(ii) what strategic, administrative or normative approaches are being considered or implemented;
(iii) the extent of FOSS use in business and households;
(iv) examples of significant localization efforts and applications;
(v) possible economic effects and influence on related sectors and issues such as education and intellectual property regulation.
These papers will be made available to other participants in the form and language in which they are received.
Logistics
The meeting will take place at the United Nations Office of Geneva, Palais des Nations. Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in the six official languages of the United Nations.Upon arrival, participants are requested, before entering the Palais des Nations, to collect their badge at the UN Security Service, Villa Les Feuillantines, 13 Avenue de la Paix (close to the main entrance to the Palais on the Place des Nations, on the opposite side of the road). The Security Service is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (non-stop). Due to the existing security measures in force, participants are strongly advised to arrive before 8.30 a.m. in order to complete procedures and reach the Meeting in good time. Walking from Villa Les Feuillantines to the E-Building (Bâtiment E) of the Palais takes about 10 minutes. Participants are requested to carry a passport or similar national identity card with them. There is a general interdiction on the entry of taxis to the grounds of the Palais des Nations, and visitors will be dropped off at the requested entrance gates. Further, luggage is not authorized inside the buildings unless the Security Service grants special clearance.Further information and contact detailsLinks to information and details can be accessed at: http://www.unctad.org/ecommerce
Nominations and related communications concerning representation at the Meeting should be sent to the UNCTAD Secretariat, Intergovernmental Affairs and Outreach Service, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10; fax: + 41(0)22 917 0056; e-mail: correspondence@unctad.org.
Substantive and other enquiries should be addressed to Mr. Dimo Calovski, Economic Affairs Officer, as the coordinator in the Services Infrastructure for Development and Trade Efficiency Division; E.7063, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10; tel: +41(0)22 917 9946 or 917 5912 or 917 5515, fax: +41(0)22 917 0052, e-mail: fossem@unctad.org (signed)Rubens RicuperoSecretary-General of UNCTAD

---

An "e-Discovery" event!
You are invited to attend Kroll Ontrack’s Webinar titled “Zubulake vs. UBS Warburg: E-Discovery Lessons Learned.” This online seminar is scheduled for Tuesday, August 31st, at 12:00 PM Central / 1:00 PM Eastern / 10:00 AM Pacific. This will be a live Internet broadcast.

Seating is limited, so please register by Friday, August 27th to reserve your complimentary seat. If you have colleagues who would be interested in learning more on the topic of e-discovery, please feel free to forward this invitation along to them.

For more information or to register for this event, visit our Web site at www.krollontrack.com/aug04webinar. If you are unable to attend this online seminar, but would like to attend a future one, please continue to check our website at www.krollontrack.com/eEvidence/UpcomingEvents/ for future online seminars.

We hope you are able to attend.

Regards,
Rick Anderson

Bogdan sent this:
An interesting conference on data protection dedicated for Eastern Europe:

Public Voice Symposium"Privacy in a New Era:Challenges, Opportunities and Partnerships" 13 September, 2004 Dorint HotelWroclaw, Poland

This conference aims to provide an opportunity for civil society leaders andacademic experts, particularly in the New European Union Member States, tomeet with European data protection authorities and to explore emergingchallenges to the protection of personal privacy. The event will be held inconjunction with the annual meeting of theInternational Conference on Privacy and Data Protection Commissioners.There are a limited number of Fellowships available for representatives ofnon-governmental/non-commercial organizations from EU New Member States.

For more information :http://www.thepublicvoice.org/events/wroclaw04/
Best regards,Bogdan Manoleawww.legi-internet.ro

---

BilgilenmeHakki.Org ("Freedomofinfo.org" in English) publishes report about the Turkish Freedom of Information Council

On 09 August, 2004 BilgilenmeHakki.Org published a report in PDF format about the Turkish Right to Information Assessment (Review) Council. Following a BilgilenmeHakki.Org investigation the following conclusions are made in the report:

• The Turkish Right to Information Act is in force.
• A considerable number of public institutions established their freedom of information units and started to accept access to information requests including through the Internet.
• The public started to use their right to information and several thousands of requests have been made to public institutions.
• The members of the Right to Information Assessment (Review) Council have been identified, and the Council have been established.
• With the publication of this report it is now public knowledge that the Council is fully functional and deals with appeals.
• So far the Council dealt with 73 appeals and 29 of these have been investigated and decided.

However, following this BilgilenmeHakki.Org investigation further significant questions are raised:

• There is no other publicly available document which provides the contact details of the Right to Information Assessment (Review) Council apart from this BilgilenmeHakki.Org report. So how will the public lodge appeals if necessary?
• Why does not the Council have an established website?
• Why is not the Council subject to the same regulations as laid down above in so far as the implementation plan is concerned? The public institutions were required to launch their websites by 27 June, 2004. Why does not this regulation apply to the Council?
• Why doesn’t the Council make public its decisions?

The enactment of a right to information law is a significant step towards openness, transparency, and democratisation in Turkey. Within such a short time, a considerable number of public institutions established their freedom of information units and the Act is fully functional. However, there are significant problems and question marks about the establishment of the Right to Information Assessment (Review) Council. It is unfortunate that we can only get information about the Council via a right to information request to the Prime Ministry.

BilgilenmeHakki.Org therefore recommends that

• The Right to Information Assessment (Review) Council is immediately brought to sunshine.
• The Council publishes its decisions and provides reasons for rejected appeals.
• The public institutions are informed about the whereabouts of the Council and that they provide the public information about how to appeal to the Right to Information Assessment (Review) Council if necessary.

BilgilenmeHakki.Org will make its recommendations to the Prime Ministry with the publication of this report and will continue to monitor the developments in Turkey.

---

CDT Releases Report on ICANN and Internet Governance

In the context of ongoing global debates about Internet governance, CDT has
released a report calling for continued reform at the Internet Corporation
on Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The report calls on ICANN to focus on
its limited mission and bottom-up, consensus-based approach, which remains
the best model for managing core Internet naming and numbering functions.
ICANN is meeting July 19-23 in Kuala Lumpur. July 14, 2004

CDT Report, "ICANN and Internet Governance: Getting Back to Basics" [PDF],
July 14, 2004:
http://www.cdt.org/dns/icann/20040713_cdt.pdf

More on ICANN:
http://www.cdt.org/dns

How the world is learning to love ICANN | The Register

How the world is learning to love ICANN | The Register

Vera Franz posted:
US-EU deal on flight data leads to dispute
By Daniel Dombey and Raphael Minder in Brussels
Financial Times, June 16 2004
A controversial Europe-US agreement on air passenger information was in
the eye of the storm again on Wednesday, because of mounting pressure
from the European parliament...

On Wednesday, the parliament's legal affairs committee called for the
European Court of Justice to annul both the finding and the US-EU
agreement itself...

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullSto
ry&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373058193&p=1012571727102

---

CITDR

Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution


The Center is pleased to announce our new ODR Working Papers initiative to supplant our longstanding ODR Monthly online journal. The Working Papers initiative provides a space for presentation of new work, papers, articles, book chapters, or other ODR related material. We invite you to consider a submission, publication will be on a rolling basis and we welcome your work readily. The two most recent are:

Jenny Geary and Linda Mckay-Panos "Virtual Tutoring and Student Support Systems" (here is the associated PowerPoint presentation) Trident Foundation Mediation Counselling and Support Foundation, Alberta, Canada.
Ethan Katsh, "Can Avatars Lead Us to a New Model of Dispute Resolution"
If you have timely news or announcements about ODR and related issues / events please post on the ODR News Blog at ODR.info. Or, if you prefer, send the announcements to the Center and we will post.

Thank you!
The Center.

Turkish FOIA

An education seminar about the usage of the Freedom of Information in Turkey:www.bilgilenmehakki.org

Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, Fikret Ilkiz, Attorney, Louitgard Hammerrer, Article 19 gave lectures on Turkish FOIA to a group of ngo representatives and lawyers. The seminar was held by ISTANBUL BILGI UNIVERSITY
HUMAN RIGHTS LAW RESEARCH CENTER... The same event was repeated in Ankara and Diyarbak?r later on.

---

Chinese cyber-dissident gets four years' house arrest
By Tim Richardson
Published Monday in The Register 14th June 2004 13:32 GMT

Chinese cyber-dissident, Du Daobin, has been sentenced to four years under house arrest after being convicted for posting pro-democracy articles on the Net. Du's trial in Xiaogan, in the central province of Hubei, on Friday lasted just 15 minutes, during which time he was not allowed to speak.

Although Du accepts that he posted 26 essays on democracy and respect for human rights, he refuses to admit that it was a crime or that he was guilty of subversion.

Human rights organisation, Reporters Without Borders, accepted that the sentence was lenient, especially since Chinese authorities in the past have imposed long jail terms to such activists. Even so, the group maintains that Du was convicted unfairly on the "baseless charge of 'inciting subversion of the state'".

"This is a Pyrrhic victory," said Reporters Without Borders. "It allows Du to leave prison but it puts him under such a degree of police surveillance that his freedom is illusory. This sentence aims both to silence a human rights activist and at the same time appease those in China and abroad who criticised his imprisonment."

Du, 40, was arrested last October as he returned home from work. As well as pr-democracy activist, he also campaigned for the release of Liu Di, a young student imprisoned for posting messages calling for democracy in China on on-line forums. Liu was released in November last year after more than a year of detention without trial. ®

Related stories
China pulls plug on blogs
Outcry as Chinese Net dissident arrested
Tiananmen protesters fight on the Web

---

Bogdan forwarded:
- - - - - - - - -
Dear colleagues,
>
> We are pleased to present you some information regarding the
> International Summer School on Intellectual Property Law which will
> take place in Romania, on the Prahova Valley, between August 22nd and
> September 3rd 2004.
> The greatest challenge of the beginning of the 21st Century is the
> acceleration of technical changes and innovation, that has created a
> new
> competitive dynamism in a range of markets sometimes collectively
> referred to as the "new economy".
> This so-called "new economy" has become almost synonymous
> with the
> information technology industries including computer software,
> hardware, and Internet-based businesses and associated technologies
> such
> as wireless communications.
> Baring in mind the economic potential of using the Internet and
> yet the
> importance of protecting the ideas upon which development is based,
> The
> European Law Students' Association-ELSA Bucharest, The Romanian
> Development Law Association-IDLO Alumni and Nestor Nestor Diculescu
> Kingston Petersen-Attorneys & Counselors gathered their experience
> and
> resources in order to provide 25 law students with knowledge on the
> subject.
>
> ACADEMIC AGENDA OF THE EVENT (8 courses and a moot court
> competition)
>
> Course 1 -"Connection between property, the protection of
> intellectual
> property and the Internet"
> Course 2- "Infringement of copyright in the digital age"
> Course 3- "Trademarks and domain names"
> Course 4- "The use of patents in information age"
> Course 5- "Protection of trade secrets in information age"
> Course 6- "Information about legal research on the Internet"
> Course 7- "The protection of software"
> Course 8- "Internet and the protection of human rights and
> privacy"
>
>
> The guest lecturers invited to the summer school are highly trained
> professionals. Due to their international experience, this summer
> school
> shall be a wonderful opportunity to give new insights on already new
> topics or on new ones. Some of the lecturers shall also act as
> judges in
> the moot court competition.
>
>
> PARTICIPATION IN THE EVENT
>
> The language of the summer school is English.
> The International Summer School How to Protect IP in the Digital
> Age is
> open to all European law students, undergraduates or graduates, with
> some experience in both intellectual property and the Internet. We
> are
> seeking the participation of enthusiastic young students, with a
> diversity of academic backgrounds and nationalities. Our ideal
> candidate
> is someone with some experience in international context, and who is
> dynamic.
> The maximum number of participants is 25!!!
>
> The deadline for submitting the application is 20th of July.
> You can download the application form from our website
> www.summerschool.ro starting with 27 of May.
> If you have any questions about how to fill the application form,
> do not
> hesitate to address it at office@s...
>
> PARTICIPATION FEE
>
> The payment of the participation fee shall be made until the 10th of
> August. The participation fee is:
> 100 EURO -participants from abroad
> 30 EURO -participants from Romania
> The costs of accommodation transport from Bucharest to the venue and
> back, as well as the costs of the field trip, shall be covered by the
> organizers.
>
>
> We are waiting 4 YOU!
>
> Sincerelly yours,
> Diana
>
> Diana Crangasu
> Public Relations Coordinator
> "How To Protect IP in the Digital Age?"
> International Summer School on Intellectual Property Law
> Romania, 22nd August-3rd September 2004
> office@s...
> fax/tel. :+4021 315.57.20
> www.summerschool.ro
> ___________________________________________
> Organizers:
> The European Law Students'Association - ELSA Bucharest
> Romanian Development Law Association IDLO Alumni
> Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston and Petersen-Attorneys&Councelors
>

What do iLaw participants think are the pressing issues?

From John Palfrey's weblog relating to "i-law 2004":

What do iLaw participants think are the pressing issues?
For me, a long-awaited session. What do the participants think are the Pressing Issues in internet law?

* Peer production: does it really matter to those of us who aren't interested in developing Apache? Charlie Nesson pushes back to Yochai Benkler: what is this freedom that you think we want, and what do you think that we want to do with it? Why do we care? When we want something else, this is the way to get it? Charlie wants to know what the "it" is. Yochai says it's blogging, it's being more engaged with the world around us in creative rather than passive ways, it's having more platforms to do other things we want to do -- like earning money.

* We can test propositions over and over again. Scientists should love it. We can change the world through experiments. We will fix things like no longer boiling trees to make paper.

* Jay McCarthy: people are already doing the things that Yochai says we will want to do, like blogging and making movies.

* Charlie really wants to know: To what new creative endeavors will this new mode of production be applied? Larry says it's work as play, or play as work (someone says it's Ender's Game). Just experiment. You might learn, and learn to be able to do, new and incredible things.

* Yochai: most of the great peer production examples are hybrids, not pure plays (Wikipedia is probably the closest thing to the pure play).

* Dave Winer: You panel guys should move off the stand. Practice what you preach. Make it an un-conference. Let's do peer production. [A "hum" from the audience reveals no consensus: about 50/50. So two guys move off into the audience, two guys stay up there. Heh.]

* National security: a pressing issue, with a cool back-and-forth on the Pentagon Papers, but no resolution on the point.

* Media literacy: learning how in the context of making a film that you can radically alter how people understand a series of events. Our kids are far ahead of us. They are learning how to be creators, not just users. They are re-mixers. Pew says that 44% of people had "contributed something to the Internet", which is huge -- huge in terms of people becoming creators. But most of what these kids are doing is illegal -- perhaps criminal under today's law.

Headline for today: Lessig: "All of us should aspire to become 'just bloggers.'" (A great side effect of the conference is new bloggers.)

* Terry raises the K-12 Initiative problem: it turns out to be very possible to get digital versions of textbooks put online and accessible to children with disabilities that make it harder to read (blind, e.g.). There's a trade group representing these publishers who are focused on this issue -- with some trepidation, but also with a sense of the promise. The law is convoluted in this area, and is holding things back at this point. There's movement, with the likely adoption soon of an XML DTD that's standard for these publishers. But the economics, law, technologies, administrative aspects of this issue are extraordinarily complex.

* Rebecca MacKinnon, (one can hear Ethan Zuckerman making the same point, from afar), draws our attention to developing countries. She knows what she's talking about: her NKZone weblog is an important idea. Ben from OSIWA (in Dakar, Senegal); Phillipp from Bridges.org, Heather Ford (a representative from Creative Commons-South Africa), a Latin American, others question some of the immediate relevance of the theory discussed here and focus us tightly on IPR issues. Free culture is essential, most seem to agree.

* Alex Tarkowski: worries about free-riding upon the system generally, and cites the peer production of term papers. (Alex, to his credit, has pursued the translation of Creative Commons licenses into Poland).

freedominfo.org
Update, May 20, 2004

Ecuador Enacts 'Transparency and Access to Information Law'

http://www.freedominfo.org/news/ecuador/20040520.htm

On May 18, 2004, Ecuador formally published the new "Transparency and Access to Information Law" in the government's official record, after passage by Parliament earlier in the month and approval by President Lucio Gutierrez. For freedominfo.org, Carlos Osorio and Kati Costar provide the first English-language analysis of the new law, together with the Spanish-language legal text.

According to the Osorio and Costar report:

With refreshing democratic language, the new Ecuadorian Transparency and Access to Information Law establishes that "[a]ccess to information is a right of the person guaranteed by the State" and requires that government agencies proactively publish functional, operational and financial information. At the same time, a number of inconsistencies within the text, such as allowing the Armed Forces to restrict the right to information, could prove to be obstacles in Ecuador's push for transparency.

http://www.freedominfo.org/news/ecuador/20040520.htm

_______________________________________________________________
freedominfo.org is a one-stop portal that describes best practices,
consolidates lessons learned, explains campaign strategies and
tactics, and links the efforts of freedom of information advocates
around the world. It contains crucial information on freedom of
information laws and how they were drafted and implemented, including
how various provisions have worked in practice.

FOIA

From Dr. Yaman Akdeniz:
EU Agreement on security procedures for the exchange of classified information with Bulgaria, Romania, Iceland, Norway, Turkey, Canada, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, the United States of America, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and FYROM

Press Note: BilgilenmeHakki.Org website received an EU document entitled EU Agreement on security procedures for the exchange of classified information with a number of states including Turkey. This document was obtained from the Council of the European Union by Mr. David Banisar of Privacy International, a well known FOI expert under the EU public access to Council documents procedure...

Notes from the EU Agreement

Article 2 of the Agreement defines classified information as follows:For the purposes of the present Agreement, classified information shall mean any information (namely, knowledge that can be communicated in any form) or material determined to require protection against unauthorized disclosure and which has been so designated by a security classification (hereafter: 'classified information').

Article 4 requires Each Party to
(a) protect and safeguard classified information subject to the present Agreement provided or exchanged by the other Party;
(b) ensure that classified information subject to the present Agreement provided or exchanged keeps the security classification given to it by the providing Party. The receiving Party shall protect and safeguard the classified information according to the provisions set out in its own security regulations for information or material holding an equivalent security classification, as specified in the Security Arrangements to be established pursuant to Articles 11 and 12;
(c) not use such classified information subject to the present Agreement for purposes other than those established by the originator and those for which the information is provided or exchanged;
(d) not disclose such classified information subject to the present Agreement to third parties, or to any EU institution or entity not mentioned in Article 3, without the prior consent of the originator.

You can read the full document entitled EU Agreement on security procedures for the exchange of classified information with a number of states including Turkey.

You can also see and read the final version of the EU agreement with revisions - to track the changes made to the original document.

For more details: http://www.bilgilenmehakki.org/

---

Harvard Weblogs: What makes a weblog a weblog?

Harvard Weblogs: What makes a weblog a weblog?

Knowlege Economy Forum-III

I have just returned from Budapest at where the Knowledge Economy Forum-III was held by the World Bank and the Hungarian Government...


Closing Session at the Hungarian Parliament...



Here is the website of the event: http://www.worldbank.org/eca/kef
And this is one of the last presentations made by Halil Ibrahim Akca, Deputy Undersecretary, State Planning Organization:
Turkey: The Country Perspective! (Next year the IVth Forum will be held in Istanbul)

---

FREE CULTURE

The new book from Larry Lessig may be found online, for free at :

http://www.free-culture.cc

" Lawrence Lessig could be called a cultural environmentalist. One of
America's most original and influential public intellectuals, his focus is
the social dimension of creativity: how creative work builds on the past and
how society encourages or inhibits that building with laws and technologies.
In his two previous books, CODE and THE FUTURE OF IDEAS, Lessig concentrated
on the destruction of much of the original promise of the Internet. Now, in
FREE CULTURE, he widens his focus to consider the diminishment of the larger
public domain of ideas. In this powerful wake-up call he shows how
short-sighted interests blind to the long-term damage they're inflicting are
poisoning the ecosystem that fosters innovation.

All creative works-books, movies, records, software, and so on-are a
compromise between what can be imagined and what is possible-technologically
and legally. For more than two hundred years, laws in America have sought a
balance between rewarding creativity and allowing the borrowing from which
new creativity springs. The original term of copyright set by the
Constitution in 1787 was seventeen years. Now it is closer to two hundred.
Thomas Jefferson considered protecting the public against overly long
monopolies on creative works an essential government role. What did he know
that we've forgotten?

Lawrence Lessig shows us that while new technologies always lead to new
laws, never before have the big cultural monopolists used the fear created
by new technologies, specifically the Internet, to shrink the public domain
of ideas, even as the same corporations use the same technologies to control
more and more what we can and can't do with culture. As more and more
culture becomes digitized, more and more becomes controllable, even as laws
are being toughened at the behest of the big media groups. What's at stake
is our freedom-freedom to create, freedom to build, and ultimately, freedom
to imagine."

---

“The Right to Information in Turkey”, International Conference
by Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law and Human Rights Law Research Center,
in cooperation with TESEV (Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation) and
Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties.
February 26th, 2004

Details...

---

OECD Backs Broadband for Economic and Social Development

Balca Celener posted:
OECD Backs Broadband for Economic and Social Development

---

Bogdan sent this report:

EU - EP Report on collecting societies for authors' rights
Report on a Community framework for collecting societies for authors'
rights A5-0478/2003. Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal
Market Rapporteur: Raina A. Mercedes Echerer
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17577.htm

NL - Microsoft wins Lindows fight in the Netherlands (The Register)
Resellers of the Linux distribution Lindows in the Netherlands were
ordered to stop selling the product. Amsterdam judge Rullmann agreed
with Microsoft that in many ways Lindows is 'profiting from the
success of Windows' by infringing Microsoft trademarks.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/35221.html

IT - VALIDITY OF E-MAIL AS EVIDENCE
The Court of Cuneo ordered a company to fulfil its obligations to another
company on the basis of a claim proved with e-mail communications. The
order is interesting as it represents one of the few precedents in relation
to the issue of the validity of e-mails as evidence in Court. An e-mail may
have the same validity as a written document when it is linked to the sender
through information authentication tools. The Judge of Cuneo held that the
use of authentication credentials such as a user ID and password to access
the e-mail account represents a valid means of adducing evidence on the
origin of the message and therefore the Judge held that the e-mails had the
same validity as written documents and admitted them as trial evidence.
http://punto-informatico.it/p.asp?i=46663

NO - LINKING TO INTERNET DATABASE IS LEGAL
The owner of the finn.no website lost its lawsuit against the owner of the
notar.no website. Both websites provide advertisements for properties for
sale and Notar provides a link to the Finn/Eiendom website where Finn offers
its property advertisements. The link is not a deep link and does not
involve framing. Nevertheless, Finn claimed that the link infringed the
copyright in their database and contravened the Norwegian Marketing Control
Act. Finn claimed damages and removal of the link. The claim was dismissed
as the Court held that Finn had voluntarily made its database available to
the public by placing it on the Internet and therefore the link was merely a
way to make it easier for a user to find the information. Further, the Court
did not find the linking to be in conflict with good business practices


US - COPYRIGHT TERM EXTENSION ACT
A group of economists submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in
the case of Eldred v. Ashcroft, arguing that the term extension provided in
the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) adds no economic value to the owner
while it extends a monopoly and increases costs to create new derivative
works. Recently, the authors published a paper that counters a common
claim that copyright extension so far out in the future can have little
effect on creativity.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=488085
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID488085_code59984.pdf?abstractid=488085

US - CYBERCRIME TREATY
The Senate is considering ratification of the Cybercrime Treaty, aimed at
stopping computer hackers. But according to the ACLU, the treaty's
language is too broad, threatening the core liberties of citizens. The
treaty, among other mandates, requires signatory nations to grant to its law
enforcement new powers of search and seizure, and forces U.S. law
enforcement to cooperate with investigations of activities that are legal in
the U.S. but illegal overseas.
http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=14605&c=39

Italy to retain communications data for five years (Statewatch)
On 23 December 2003, the Italian data protection authority expressed
its 'concern' about a decree that the government approved on the
compulsory storage of traffic data relating to telephone and Internet
communications by service providers. The decree introduces the
wholesale collection and storage of traffic data on all telephone and
Internet communications by service providers compulsory for sixty
months, in case it may subsequently prove useful for criminal
investigations.
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2004/jan/03italy-dataretention.htm

Spyware cures may cause more harm than good (CNET News.com)
A small army of angry Web users has set up a network of Web sites
where they post reports of antispyware programs said to prey on
consumers by installing offending files. Some of these charges could
get a hearing soon, as public-interest group The Center for Democracy
& Technology plans to file complaints with the Federal Trade
Commission against specific companies.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5153485.html

ES - LEGISLATION ON INTERNET SERVICE QUALITY
As the number of complaints from ADSL users has increased dramatically
during recent months, several Internet user associations are creating a
lobby group to demand that the Spanish Government approve legislation
governing Internet service quality. Several consumer associations and other
organizations are considering creating a similar lobby group relating to
Internet content, focusing particularly on legislative measures to improve
secure navigation and the protection of children.
http://www.internautas.org/article.php?sid=1481&mode=thread&order=0
http://www.belt.es/noticias/2004/febrero/02/seguridad_red.htm

US - STOPPING SPAM BY REQUIRING E-MAIL STAMPS
Major ISPs indicate interest in a system in which bulk emailers must pay 1
cent to buy a digital "stamp" for each e-mail message sent. The encrypted
stamp would verify the identity of the sender and require e-mailers to honor
requests to opt out. Opponents of the system argue that e-mail stamps
cannot work because the Internet and its traffic are not regulated by one
authority like the postal system is regulated by the federal government.
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/32760.html

FR - Les enfants du Net : Recommandation du Forum des droits sur
l'internet (Communiqué de presse)
Recommandation du Forum des droits sur l'internet : Les Enfants du Net
- (1) Les mineurs et les contenus préjudiciables sur l'internet.
Rapport remis à Christian Jacob, Ministre délégué à la Famille, dans
le cadre du Conseil Consultatif de l'internet placé auprès de Claudie
Haigneré, Ministre déléguée à la Recherche et aux Nouvelles
technologies. Publiée le 11 février 2004, cette recommandation est le
fruit de plusieurs mois de concertation d'un groupe de travail
constitué de représentants d'administrations, d'associations
d'utilisateurs et d'acteurs économiques concernés.
http://www.foruminternet.org/activites_evenements/lire.phtml?id=66

EU - Handbook of Legislative Procedures of Computer and Network
Misuse (EDRI-gram)
Study for the European Commission, Directorate-General Information
Society, by Rand Europe. The Handbook is designed to help European
Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRT) deal with incidents
and operate in a European environment with divergent legal codes
dealing with computer crime and misuse. Particular attention is
devoted to the examination of the content of the Council of Europe's
Cybercrime Convention and the proposed European Framework Decision on
Attacks Against Information Systems. The publication contains an
analysis of legislation in each EU member state in the area of
computer crime. A summary table is also provided together with the law
enforcement points of contacts and reporting mechanisms.
http://www.qlinks.net/items/qlitem17646.htm

Mémoire - Les contrats de distribution et Internet - FR
Michaël MALKA - 17/02/2004
http://www.juriscom.net/uni/visu.php?ID=447

JP - E-MAIL LOGGING REQUIREMENT
A bill that would let police without warrants require ISPs to keep logs of
e-mail up to 90 days is expected to go to the Diet this session. The
Justice Ministry's revision of the Criminal Procedure Law aims to give law
enforcement officials stronger tools to deal with Internet crime.
http://www.asahi.com/english/nation/TKY200402190172.html

KR - EMPLOYEE HACKS MESSENGER CONVERSATIONS
An employee of a Internet travel agency hacked his work colleague's Internet
Messenger conversations and reported them to the company head. The employee
used a hacking program to monitor conversations. It is an offence under the
Information Protection legislation to monitor another person's personal
information or communications through phone, Internet, or other information
communication networks.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200402/200402180019.html

CA - RECORDING INDUSTRY P2P MOTION
Following the lead of RIAA in the U.S., CRIA sought orders from the Federal
Court to require several large ISPs to disclose the identities of
subscribers who uploaded large quantities of pirated music through the ISPs'
IP addresses. Shaw and Rogers have opposed disclosure, citing obligations
under PIPEDA, the cost of tracing dynamic IP addresses, and the risk of
misidentifying subscribers. Vidéotron, affiliated with a legitimate music
downloading site, said it will comply. The motion was adjourned until March
12, 2004. There are suggestions the court may consider the reasoning of a
December U.S. appeals court decision that limited ISP disclosure
obligations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3496417.stm

'Télécharger tue l'industrie musicale'
Jean-Christophe BOBABLE - 19/02/2004
http://www.juriscom.net/int/visu.php?ID=457

The Creative Commons by Sandy Starr
'What if the law had said that you need someone's permission before taking
their image?' So asked LawrenceLessig, to draw our attention to what the
consequences might have been for
photography and film if they had been regulated as closely when they first
emerged as the internet is today.
http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/0000000CA401.htm

---

CFP 2004 / Computer Freedom & Privacy Conference

CFP 2004 / Computer Freedom & Privacy Conference