The European Union’s Data Retention Directive was not procedurally flawed and should not be repealed, an Advocate General to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said.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

Government plans to build a giant database holding information about every phone call, email and internet visit were last night dealt a major blow after the man in charge of prosecuting terrorism in England and Wales warned of the dangers posed by a “Big Brother” security state. Sir Ken Macdonald, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), told ministers not to “break the back of freedom” by creating irreversible powers that could be misused to spy on individual citizens and so threaten Britain’s hard-won democracy.

Source: The Independent

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 

Stephen Carter, Gordon Brown’s old PR supremo now moved to the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, will spearhead an action plan to put the UK at the forefront of the digital and communications industries, it was announced today. Carter, who is the first minister for communications, technology and broadcasting and was previously head of Ofcom, will produce a report that will look at the state of broadband, digital radio, spectrum, IT skills, digital broadcasting and intellectual property in the UK.

Source: Computing

Woman’s Hour today majored on Contactpoint today, with yours truly trying to correct some of the misinformation that is flying around. A shame that the new Under Secretary didn’t seem to realise that Contactpoint will contain a great deal more than a simple name and address, and I didn’t have the opportunity to correct that. Still, the item is first on the menu here.

Source: Terri Dowty on the Action on Rights for Children Blog

[Lib Dem community spokeswoman Julia Goldsworthy] asked: “How much more control can they have? How far is he prepared to go to undermine civil liberties?” Mr Hoon interjected: “To stop terrorists killing people in our society, quite a long way actually. If they are going to use the internet to communicate with each other and we don’t have the power to deal with that, then you are giving a licence to terrorists to kill people.” He added: “The biggest civil liberty of all is not to be killed by a terrorist.”

Source: BBC

The government is drawing up plans to give the police and security and intelligence agencies new powers to access personal data held by internet services, including social network sites such as Facebook and Bebo and gaming networks. The move, heralded in this morning’s speech on international terrorism by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, is prompted by concern that criminals and terrorists are using websites as a way of concealing their communications, according to Whitehall security sources.

Source: The Guardian

Using Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR), we intend to make BBC iPlayer download functionality available on Mac, Linux and Windows for the first time later this year. Whatever platform you use, you’ll now be able to download TV programmes from the BBC to watch later - on the train, in the garden, or wherever you like.

Source: BBC Internet Blog

The government’s terror watchdog has expressed concern about proposals for a giant database to store details of all phone calls, e-mails and internet use. Lord Carlile told The Independent the “raw idea” was “awful” and called for tight controls on its use.

Source: BBC

The Crown Prosecution Service will examine evidence that BT and Phorm’s stealth advertising targeting trials broke wiretapping laws, despite a recent police refusal to pass the case to prosecutors. The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions told campaigner Alex Hanff that a private prosecution under section one of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) is possible. … If the Director of Public Prosecutions does grant consent to prosecute, the CPS will take over handling of the case. His Office wrote: “It may also be necessary for them to liaise with the City of London police to determine whether there are any other avenues of investigation which can reasonably be pursued.”

Source: The Register