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EU Telecom Council OKs New Liberalization
The European Commission's telecommunications council met last week in Luxembourg and approved the commission's directive to liberalize the last mile of telecom services. The proposed directive, which the commission introduced in July, is aimed at unbundling the "local" loop of telephone networks by January 2001, a move widely hailed as a step to injecting greater competition in the European telecom market. Now that the plan has been approved, it will be debated during the European Parliament's plenary session this month. It's expected to reach final adoption of the framework. Some countries already have measures in place to employ the commission's recommendations.
The Luxembourg meeting also included discussion on the status of a new top-level domain (tld) for the European Union. Ministers were briefed on a resolution by the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that moves toward granting the trading zone a TLD of "eu". The European commission is considering presenting a proposal and a legal framework surrounding the development of .eu as another country top-level domain. The commission's proposal is expected to be submitted to the European Parliament and member states for approval in the coming months. During the meeting, council ministers released documents on the creation of .eu that calls for the ICANN to ensure that the process of domain registry is fully open and transparent.
Time Is On Their Side
The European Commission on Wednesday announced its approval of the proposed merger between America Online and Time Warner, only after AOL offered to sever certain ties to German media group Bertelsmann. It is a condition that is aimed at preventing AOL from accessing Europe's leading source of music publishing rights, staving off potential dominance in the area of online music delivery.
"The merger will create the first Internet vertically-integrated content provider, distributing TW branded content (music, news, films, etc.) through AOL's Internet distribution network," the commission said in a statement. Without the condition, the commission feared that a combined AOL and Time Warner " would have controlled the leading source of music publishing rights in Europe, where TW and Bertelsmann together hold approximately one third of the market."
The commission will appoint an independent party to oversee the company's divestiture of the Bertelsmann link. "The Commission has a duty to prevent creation of dominant positions in all sectors, be they in the old or new economy. In a music market already characterized by a high degree of consolidation, the danger, which has been averted, was that by allowing AOL to team up effectively with three of the five music majors the resulting integrated company could have dominated the on-line music distribution market and music players", European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said in a statement.
Australia Moves To Strengthen Federal
Signaling the growing importance of information technology and its role in government. the federal government of Australia is opting for a major change by making the National Office for the Information Economy, currently housed in the Ministry for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, its own executive agency, Sen. Richard Alston announced Tuesday. The move "recognizes the potential for government online services to drive consumer take-up and the need for coordinated policies to address practical technical, regulatory and social issues affecting both government and business,' said Alston in a statement. The new executive agency will be given direct responsibility for the development, coordination and overview of broad policy in relation to information economy issues, including:
- The convergence of information economy, information technology and communications issues;
- The regulatory, legal and physical infrastructure needed for online services (including e-commerce);
- The application of new technology to government administration, information and service provision; and
- The coordination of government policies in the international arena.
The Federal Privacy Commission also presented a review of privacy policies during the 22nd International Conference on Privacy and Personal Data Protection. The Web Seal Project assesses the role of Web privacy seals and their effectiveness in promoting responsible privacy practices. The report looked at three major online privacy seal companies: TRUSTe, BBBOnLine, and WebTrust. Though the report found favorable strengths in each company, it did note that "none of the seals required their participants to meet all of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) principles" on privacy protection. Specifically, few companies required participants to adhere to strict requirements on the use of personal information. "Nonetheless, seals are playing valuable educational role in promoting privacy awareness in the minds of both consumers an business alike," the report stated.
BSA Honors Irish Prime Minister
Business Software Alliance presented Bertie Ahern, Ireland's prime minister, Monday with its "Cyber Champion Award," — marking the first European lawmaker to receive the award. He was honored for his role on the adoption of major legislation aimed at intellectual property protection, as well as the most innovative digital signature laws in Europe. The Irish Copyright Act represents Ireland's commitment to reducing an already steep privacy rate of 51 percent compared to 34 percent tin Western Europe. BSA President Robert Holleyman noted in a statement that "the EU and the members states have been watching these developments in Ireland closely, and we predict that nations seeking to replicate the success of Ireland's technology economy will enact similar, farsighted legislation."
Ireland's copyright legislation includes provisions that allow copyright holders to obtain a civil search warrant to investigate alleged software piracy. Additionally, it enables the submission of anonymous evidence and informants. BSA asserts that such measures will "significantly" increase the leads of software theft.
- by Maureen Sirhal
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