The government's bid to push the digital economy bill through has been dealt another setback after Sion Simon, the creative industries minister appointed to pilot the legislation through parliament for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, announced he is to stand down as an MP.
A spokesman for the DCMS confirmed that Simon will step down at the February recess, which starts next Friday, and that a replacement will be announced in due course by No 10.
Source: The Guardian
Lord Lucas, a Conservative peer, has tabled several amendments to the Digital Economy Bill that would settle a number of copyright and electronic publishing arguments once and for all. The one that’s been catching the headlines is immunity for search engines from prosecution under copyright laws as they go about their normal business of searching the web. ... Also included in the amendments are a legal right to shift an electronic work that you have legally aquired to any format you chose for your own personal use, ending the nonsense that makes the music on every iPod in the country technically illegal and a clarification of the rights issues involved in online streaming. ... Most radical and interesting, though, is the right of copyright creators to re-market their work. Should a copyright owner fail to offer a work in all formats in all regions, the original creator has the right to compel them to allow them a licence to publish it themselves after two years.
Source: The Telegraph
An NHS trust at the forefront of work on the £12.7bn NHS IT scheme has called in police after a breach of smartcard security compromised the confidentiality of hundreds of electronic records. ...
Source: Computer Weekly
The Commission today moved to the second phase of an infringement proceeding over the UK to provide its citizens with the full protection of EU rules on privacy and personal data protection when using electronic communications. European laws state that EU countries must ensure the confidentiality of people’s electronic communications like email or internet browsing by prohibiting their unlawful interception and surveillance without the user’s consent. As these rules have not been fully put in place in the national law of the UK, the Commission today said that it will send the UK a reasoned opinion.
...
- There is no independent national authority to supervise interception of communications, although the establishment of such authority is required under the ePrivacy and Data Protection Directives, in particular to hear complaints regarding interception of communications.
- The current UK law – the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) – authorises interception of communications not only where the persons concerned have consented to interception but also when the person intercepting the communications has 'reasonable grounds for believing' that consent to do so has been given. These UK law provisions do not comply with EU rules defining consent as freely given specific and informed indication of a person's wishes.
- The RIPA provisions prohibiting and providing sanctions in case of unlawful interception are limited to 'intentional' interception only, whereas the EU law requires Members States to prohibit and to ensure sanctions against any unlawful interception regardless of whether committed intentionally or not.
Source: EU Commission Press Release
TalkTalk, the second largest internet service provider in the UK, has threatened to launch legal action if business secretary Peter Mandelson follows through with his plan to cut off persistent illegal filesharers' internet connections.
Carphone Warehouse-owned TalkTalk, which has more than 4 million ISP customers and owns the Tiscali and AOL brands, claimed the government's plan was based on filesharers being "guilty until proven innocent" and constituted an infringement of human rights.
"The approach is based on the principle of 'guilty until proven innocent' and substitutes proper judicial process for a kangaroo court," said Andrew Heaney, the executive director of strategy and regulation at TalkTalk. "We know this approach will lead to wrongful accusations."
Source: The Guardian
From today we are inviting developers to show government how to get the future public data site right - how to find and use public sector information.
The developer community through initiatives such as Show Us a Better Way, the Power of Information Taskforce, MySociety and Rewired State have consistently demonstrated their eagerness and abilities to "Code a Better Country". You have given us evidence and examples to help drive this forward within government.
We have an early preview of what the site could look like; we are now inviting interaction and comment from the developer community. With over 1000 existing data sets, from 7 departments (brought together in re-useable form for the first time) and community resources, we want developers to work with us to use the data to create great applications; give us feedback on the early operational community; and tell us how to develop what we have into a single point of access for government-held public data.
We know it is still work in progress, and there’s still a lot to do. That’s why we need you to help us get this right. Let us know what features or changes would make the site better for your and what other data sources you would like to see here.
Source: Cabinet Office
The author of the research which provided the backbone to government plans for retaining DNA on the database has questioned whether it can be relied on to construct policy.
The government was forced to issue new rules on the retention of innocent people's DNA n the database after a European Court of Human Rights ruling staressed the currrent arrangements were illegal.
It's eventual suggestions – for a six and 12 year limit depending on the crime the person has been acquitted of – were based on research by the Jill Dando Institute for Crime Science.
But this morning, Gloria Laycock, director of the insitute, told politics.co.uk the research was not ready when it was referred to by government.
Source: politics.co.uk
In a landmark ruling that will set legal precedent, the Paris Court of Appeals decided last week that the company Edu4 violated the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) when it distributed binary copies of the remote desktop access software VNC but denied users access to its corresponding source code. The suit was filed by Association pour la formation professionnelle des adultes (AFPA), a French education organization.
Source: FSF France
