Archives for the 'Internet' Category

Net neutrality - the European Commission’s vision of an open and neutral internet

Published on 29 Jul 2010 at 3:49 pm. No Comments.
Filed under Misc, Internet, Net Neutrality.

Blog Author: Tony Ballard
 
Consultation documents on net neutrality published in June by Ofcom and the European Commission show signs of quite different approaches.  In so far as Ofcom perceives competition issues to lie at the heart of the debate it is wrong to do so.  Directive 2009/140, part of the telecoms reform package, is directed […]

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Content regulation on the Internet

Published on 18 Mar 2010 at 10:03 am. No Comments.
Filed under Misc, AVMS Directive, Internet, Content Regulation, Social Networking.

Blog Author: Tony Ballard
 
On 12 March it was widely reported that a magistrates court in Wrexham convicted and fined one Darren Mattox for posting a message about his former girlfriend on Facebook.  Apparently he had called her by an offensive name.
 
He was prosecuted for having done so under section 127 of the Communications Act, which […]

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Clause 17 of the Digital Economy Bill – should internet law be in the hands of Ministers?

Published on 19 Jan 2010 at 5:46 pm. No Comments.
Filed under Misc, Internet, Digital Britain, Copyright Infringement.

Blog Author: Tony Ballard
 
Those who are familiar with the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 will not be entirely surprised by clause 17 of the Digital Economy Bill or the amendments to it that Lord Mandelson has proposed.  They may, however, share some of the concerns that were expressed in 2006 about increasing the powers […]

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Webcasters and mobisode providers face fees for the first time, or a fine

Published on 4 Dec 2009 at 11:11 am. No Comments.
Filed under Misc, Broadcasting, AVMS Directive, Internet, IPTV.

Blog Author: Tony Ballard
On 19 December 2009 the provision of television programme services on the internet or on mobile platforms without an Ofcom licence becomes an offence.
 
This is one of the lesser known consequences of the implementation of the AVMS Directive.  Since 2003, when the Communications Act was enacted, webcasters and mobisode providers, and indeed […]

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When are search engines liable?

Published on 18 Aug 2009 at 4:14 pm. No Comments.
Filed under Internet.

Blog Author: Cate Haywood
Metropolitan International Schools Ltd v (1) Designtechnica Corporation (2) Google UK Ltd & (3) Google Inc [2009] EWHC 1765 (QB)
The High Court has set aside an Order to serve Google Inc out of the jurisdiction, on the basis that the defamation claim against it had no reasonable prospect of success. A reasonable […]

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Project Canvas - IPTV in the Living Room

Published on 25 Feb 2009 at 1:51 pm. 1 Comment.
Filed under Misc, Broadcasting, Internet, Television Licensing, IPTV, Project Canvas.

Blog author: Tony Ballard
In an article in the Financial Times in early January this year, Mark Thompson wrote that the debates last year on the future of public service television had missed the most serious challenge - how it could migrate beyond traditional television to digital platforms, and how demand for universal high speed broadband […]

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TV Licence Fee and Online Services

Published on 27 Nov 2008 at 11:58 am. 1 Comment.
Filed under Misc, Internet, Licence Fees, Television Licensing.

Blog Author: Tony Ballard
Debates about the scope of the television licence fee have something of the quality of those ancient debates attributed to St Thomas Aquinas among others about how many angels can stand or dance on the head of a pin.  Of sometimes stunning irrelevance to the practical world, they nevertheless enable those concerned […]

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Government Launches New UK Council for Child Internet Safety

Published on 4 Oct 2008 at 11:45 am. No Comments.
Filed under Internet.

Blog Author: Cate Haywood
On 29 September 2008, the Government set up the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), consisting of over 100 organisations from the public and private sector who will report to the Prime Minister and will help deliver the recommendations made in Dr Tanya Byron’s report ‘Safer Children in a Digital World’.  […]

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