US Congress steps into cyberspace
The BBC reports that “US politicians could soon be rubbing shoulders with orcs and night elves in World of Warcraft.” Further, the BBC says that it’s unlikely that in-game trading will be taxed and the Joint Economic Committee, who is conducting the investigation, has said the investigation was prompted by the “dramatic increase in the popularity of online gaming”.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6065534.stm

EU ‘threat’ to internet freedom
Internet broadcasters should not be subject to the same rules which govern television, peers have been told. Attempts to update the 1989 TV without Frontiers EU directive, are being considered by a Lords committee.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6056942.stm

eu: Regulation without frontiers
The EU’s proposed rules for internet video are out of tune with the times: TELEVISION used to be simple: you turned on, tuned in, and dropped off. Only a small handful of stations existed, because spectrum was scarce. In return for government licences, broadcasters were heavily regulated. But technology has changed everything. Cable and satellite deliver hundreds of channels; broadband links and sites such as YouTube allow anyone to distribute video to millions of people; and mobile phones will soon let people watch television anywhere. Everything has changed, in short, except the regulations. Europe’s attempt to update the rules, however, has become highly controversial.
http://economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8035887

us: Politics Get Caught in the Web
In the quest for political office, modern campaigners deal in the currency of the moment, information. Information is power, and campaigns trade fiercely in it, exhaustively researching their opponents’ past, scrutinizing the moods of the elusive swing voter and spewing (or leaking) favorable information about their own candidate. Of course, politicians try to harness the power of the internet, but some campaigns look more like they are stumbling than steering through cyberspace. In the quest for political office, modern campaigners deal in the currency of the moment, information. Information is power, and campaigns trade fiercely in it, exhaustively researching their opponents’ past, scrutinizing the moods of the elusive swing voter and spewing (or leaking) favorable information about their own candidate. Of course, politicians try to harness the power of the internet, but some campaigns look more like they are stumbling than steering through cyberspace. The article also refers to a lawsuit alleging cybersquatting on a dozen domain names and asks “Why are so many campaigns tripping over the internet?” Campaigns are about collecting, controlling and disseminating information. The internet has a lot of rules about information transfer. These rules include complicated “unauthorized access” statutes, copyright law, trademark law and domain-name regulations.
http://wired.com/news/columns/0,71928-0.html

us/eu: U.S. Joins Council of Europe Convention on Computer-Based Crime
The United States is now a party to the Council of Europe (COE) Convention on Cybercrime, the only multilateral treaty that specifically addresses the problem of computer-related crime and electronic evidence gathering, the White House announced September 29.
http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=September&x=20060929165524xlrennef8.465213e-02

The Future of the Internet
The OECD hosted a workshop entitled The Future of the Internet in Paris on 8 March 2006. Presentations given at the event will serve at “food for thought” for future OECD work.
http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/The+Future+Of+The+Internet.aspx

The Federal Trade Commission today announced its decision to retain, without changes, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) Rule, which implements the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Also see http://www.out-law.com/page-6719

us: CDT Report Finds Changing Technology Makes Government Surveillance More Intrusive
Against the backdrop of debate over warrantless wiretaps and Administration calls to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, CDT today released a report about how privacy law has failed to keep pace with technology. The report, entitled “Digital Search & Seizure: Updating Privacy Protections to Keep Pace with Technology,” calls for an in-depth Congressional review of the ways digital technology makes government surveillance easier and more intrusive.
http://www.cdt.org/publications/policyposts/2006/4#1

Report claims Google has no licence to operate in China
Less than a month after starting its new China-based search engine, Google’s position in the world’s second-biggest internet market was thrown into doubt yesterday when the local media published reports questioning whether the US company had a valid operating licence.
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1715141,00.html