Data protection is a top priority for Government Departments and there are a number of key areas in which we have made improvements:

Vital openness and transparency achieved through the publishing of data breaches in annual resource accounts-there is currently no equivalent requirement to report in the private sector

Enhanced departmental roles increasing accountability with senior information risk owners at board level owning risk and reporting to accounting officers on data security measures

Huge training efforts-90,000 staff trained at HMRC alone, NHS training package available to 1 million plus staff, new civil service wide e-learning package delivering data security training on an unprecedented scale

Increased technical precautions to minimise the likelihood of data losses-encryption programmes in all Government Departments with over 30,000 laptops encrypted in MOD alone.

Updated and improved guidance being issued on all aspects of departmental security including physical, personnel and information security.

Source: Tom Watson MP (Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office; West Bromwich East, Labour)

Censorship technologies are purveyed as a way to protect us from the evils of child abuse. But they’re costly systems that are unlikely to actually protect anyone or prevent any child abuse — they’re more likely to interfere with the way the Internet works and hamper innovation by online communities.
…
The IWF’s censorship failed doubly to be transparent. It is not transparent technologically, which leads inevitably to a conflict the end-to-end expectations of the rest of the Net. And its process of attempting to block and filter is far from transparent to those who are caught up in it: from puzzled and frustrated Wikipedia users to the millions of Britons who never realized they were paying their ISPs for a compulsorily and arbitrarily sanitized Internet.

Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation

The voluntary Code, to which ISPs covering over 95 per cent of broadband customers have signed up, is designed to provide greater clarity for consumers and reduce the potential for consumers to be misled over the speeds they will be able to achieve from their broadband service.
Video briefing

Ofcom will monitor compliance over the next six months to ensure ISPs are honouring the commitments made signing up to the Code.

Under the Code, ISPs are required to:

• provide consumers at the point of sale with an accurate estimate of the maximum speed that their line can support;
• explain clearly and simply how technical factors may slow down speeds and giving help and advice to consumers to improve the situation at home;
• offer an alternative package (if there is one) without any penalties, if the actual speed is a lot lower than the original estimate; and
• explain fair usage policies clearly and alert consumers when they have been breached.

Source: Ofcom press release

Lawyers for the rights holder of several music tracks, including ‘Scooter - Jumping All Over the World’, have sought a court order from nine UK ISPs to release the details of customers deemed to be responsible for illegally sharing the copyright content online.

Digiprotect Gesellschaft Zum Schutze Digitale Medien’s lawyers have consequently issued warning letters to some of the individuals concerned, threatening High Court legal proceedings unless a fine of £500 is paid within 21 days.

Source: ISPreview

Microsoft, Yahoo! and Google have signed up to a privacy framework which orders them to challenge any government in the world over requests for private information if they believe the request breaks international human rights laws.

The three companies are amongst those who have signed up to the Global Network Initiative (GNI), an organisation formed to promote a set of principles by which its members agree to abide.

Source: Out-law

Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has asked Nominet, which is in charge of the .co.uk registry, to justify its independence from Whitehall. In a letter dated October 15, senior civil servant David Hendon, BERR’s Director of Business Relations, asked Nominet chairman Bob Gilbert: “What arguments would you employ to convince my Ministers that the present relationship between government and the and the company is appropriate in ensuring that public policy objectives in relation to the management of the domain name system and the standing of the UK in the internet community are are understood and taken into account?”

Source:The Register

Around nine out of 10 broadband users don’t understand the limitations on their service, research conducted by YouGov for price comparison website uSwitch.com has found. While ‘unlimited’ broadband services tend to have fair-usage policies enabling service providers to penalise heavy users by, for instance, restricting their bandwidth during peak hours, the majority of UK broadband consumers remain unsure about exactly how limited their ‘unlimited’ service really is.

Source: ZDNet

The European Parliament cast an overwhelmingly positive vote today on the report drafted by MEP Roberta Angelilli which supports the launch of a new EU Safer Internet programme. The 5-year programme (2009–13), proposed by the European Commission last February, will have a budget of € 55 million to combat illegal online content but also to tackle illegal and harmful conduct such as grooming and cyberbullying.

“Today’s children and teenagers face new challenges when they use Web 2.0 services. The EU will coordinate actions to empower children and protect them”, said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media in response to the positive outcome of the vote in Parliament. “I am particularly glad that the Parliament addressed the Commission’s proposal so promptly and strongly endorsed our proposals to make the Internet safer for children. I am convinced that the new Safer Internet programme will play an important role in our understanding of the challenges regarding online risks for young people and children, and will provide concrete help to many young internet users and their parents.”

Today’s vote during the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg followed a debate on the Commission’s proposal, which was applauded by all political groups. Some MEPs even considered the programme as “one of the best things Europe could do”. The new Programme is now expected to be approved by the Council before the end of 2008.

The Safer Internet programme 2009-2013 builds on the success of the previous Safer Internet programme started in 2005 and will also encompass recent communications services from the Web 2.0, such as social networking. The proposed new programme will co-fund projects to:

* Ensure awareness of children, parents and teachers, and support contact points that are providing them with advice on how to stay safe online.
* Provide the public with national contact points for reporting illegal and harmful content and conduct, in particular on child sexual abuse material and grooming.
* Foster self-regulatory initiatives in this field and stimulate the involvement of children in creating a safer online environment.
* Establish a knowledge base on the use of new technologies and related risks by bringing together researchers engaged in online child safety at European level.

Of the € 55 million budget for the new Safer Internet Programme, 48% should serve to ensure public awareness, 34% to fight against illegal content and tackle harmful conduct online, 10% to promote a safer online environment and 8% to establish a knowledge base.

Source:EUROPA Press Release

The European Union’s Data Retention Directive was not procedurally flawed and should not be repealed, an Advocate General to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said. Ireland’s argument that the law was wrongly adopted has been rejected. The Data Retention Directive orders all EU member states to pass laws telling telecoms companies to keep records of phone and internet use for between six and 24 months. Though it has not objected to the substance of the Directive, Ireland objected to the way in which it was adopted and asked the ECJ, Europe’s highest court, to repeal it. An Advocate General’s opinion is only advisory, but is followed in around 80% of cases by the ECJ itself.

Source: OUT-LAW

Departing head of Ofcom Lord David Currie has indicated in a lecture that he believes regulation of the internet is an increasing necessity. This corresponds with recent comments made by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham to the same effect.

According to Andy Burnham, the introduction of a ratings system for internet content would not be “over-burdensome”. We have asked the Ministry of Truth (aka Department for Culture, Media and Sport) on several occasions how such a system might work and how its Minister’s view that such regulation would be easy to implement could be squared with general consensus that it would be unworkable. Or, as one expert put it: “bonkers”. We asked again last week.

Source: The Register