Seen on BroadbandTVNews:

Draft proposals that would end the national monopolies held by music royalty collection societies have been leaked from the European Commission.

Kablenet reports:

Scotland’s business minister has raised the prospect of extending the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act beyond public sector bodies.

The Register sends word that:

BT, the UK’s largest broadband provider, has begun threatening subscribers with disconnection from the internet if it is told they are sharing copyright music over peer-to-peer networks

The Register reports:

Legal broadband subscription services that permit file sharing may appear on the market by the year’s end, according to music industry sources - after government intervention brought both music suppliers and ISPs to the table.

Via Kablenet:

Transport for London has been criticised for collecting data from users of its young person’s ‘Zip’ travel card without telling them why.

Kablenet reports:

The Cabinet Office has set out a series of actions for government to maintain better standards in data handling.

A brace of reports have strongly criticised the data protection record of HM Revenue and Customs which, in November 2007, lost in the post discs containing the personal details of 25 million people.

A quote from the Poynter Review:

The [data] loss was entirely avoidable and the fact that it could happen points to serious institutional deficiencies at HMRC.

…and one from the IPCC investigation:

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has found that the processes for data handling were woefully inadequate at HM Revenue and Customs’ Child Benefit Office in Washington … [there was] a complete lack of any meaningful systems; a lack of understanding of the importance of data handling; and a ‘muddle through’ ethos.

The Information Commissioner has said he will take formal enforcement action [pdf] against HMRC in light of the reports.

More coverage is available on the Open Rights Group blog.

News from the Kablenet wire:

The Ministry of Defence has published an ‘action plan’ to implement all the recommendations of an official review of its data security.

Outlaw.com reports:

A new set of consumer contract laws to harmonise the rules that govern online selling across the EU will be proposed this autumn by the European Commission. The EU’s consumer chief also promised fresh guidance on viral adverts and profiling technology.

The Times reports:

Boris Johnson is facing his first big policy obstacle as Mayor of London after the Information Commissioner objected to his plans to map crime in the capital street by street…