ITProPortal.com / Legal IT

BSI consults on first British Standard for accessible websites

Team Outlaw — Mon, 01 Dec 2008

A British Standard will give business owners and marketing managers new guidance for building and maintaining web content that is accessible to disabled people. A draft version of BS 8878 was released for public comment today

Government announces new law for increased data sharing

Desire Athow — Thu, 27 Nov 2008

The powers of Government to share data will be increased under new laws announced yesterday. Legislation will introduce a fast-track procedure to allow data sharing whenever "a robust case" can be made for sharing, said a Ministry of Justice report.

Internet shoppers to get duty relief for Christmas

Team Outlaw — Mon, 17 Nov 2008

Internet shoppers who wait until December to look for a Christmas bargain may save more money than they thought when HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) eliminates customs duty on personal purchases costing less that £105. The customs-free limit until now was £18

MySpace finds a way to keep user-uploaded videos online

Team Outlaw — Fri, 07 Nov 2008

Social networking site MySpace will place advertising on some user-uploaded videos that will be recognised by advertising software

Count page views, not site visits, when suing for internet libel

Team Outlaw — Thu, 06 Nov 2008

Courts cannot assume that online material has been read without some evidence in libel cases, a court has ruled

Contractor loses memory stick with Government Gateway

Team Outlaw — Wed, 05 Nov 2008

Another Government contractor lost track of equipment containing citizens' personal data, newspaper reports have revealed.

US court narrows scope for business method patents

Team Outlaw — Tue, 04 Nov 2008

One of the US's highest courts has ruled that business methods cannot be patented unless they meet a test laid down by the Supreme Court

Wikipedia content will be set free for collaboration if licence change approved

Desire Athow — Mon, 03 Nov 2008

Content published on user-generated encyclopaedia Wikipedia might soon be usable along with content from other open source information projects

American Airlines sues Yahoo! over keyword sales

Team Outlaw — Tue, 28 Oct 2008

American Airlines is suing search engine company Yahoo! over the use of its trade marks to trigger adverts for competing airlines. The company has previously settled a similar case with Google

Privacy watchdog calls Home Office plans threat to British way of life

Team Outlaw — Mon, 27 Oct 2008

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said that a single database of phone and internet usage records would undermine the "British way of life

IP and media regulation will be examined in digital review

Team Outlaw — Sun, 26 Oct 2008

Copyright laws and the way that media and telecoms services are regulated could be due for change under a review the Government will conduct into the UK's digital economy. Ex-chief executive of Ofcom Stephen Carter will conduct the review

Data protection officials to lobby for new child-protecting laws

Team Outlaw — Wed, 22 Oct 2008

Data protection authorities from all over the world have agreed to call for legislation specifically limiting the collection and use of children's personal data

Advocate General rejects Ireland's data retention objections

Team Outlaw — Tue, 21 Oct 2008

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 rejecte

German privacy watchdogs agree social networking ground rules

Team Outlaw — Mon, 20 Oct 2008

Social networking sites are not permitted to store information about people's use of the sites beyond the duration of a particular session in Germany, according to a panel of all that country's data protection officials

Court of Appeal orders men to disclose encryption keys

Desire Athow — Fri, 17 Oct 2008

Two men have been told that they cannot rely on their right to silence to refuse to give British police a computer password

Google to appeal thumbnail copyright defeats in Germany

Team Outlaw — Wed, 15 Oct 2008

Google has lost two German court cases over copyright in images displayed as thumbnails in search results. German courts ruled in both cases that Google's display of miniature versions of pictures without permission infringed copyright in the originals

Commission admits failure and redrafts e-money rules

Team Outlaw — Wed, 15 Oct 2008

The European Commission has admitted that its rules on e-money have stifled the market for virtual currencies over the past eight years and has proposed a revised set of regulations that it hopes will stimulate demand

New US law strengthens intellectual property enforcement regime

Team Outlaw — Wed, 15 Oct 2008

A new law has been created in the US which toughens penalties for infringements of intellectual property law. The law will also create an intellectual property (IP) enforcement co-ordinator

German court says IP addresses in server logs are not personal data

Team Outlaw — Mon, 13 Oct 2008

A German court has ruled that website operators are allowed to store the internet protocol (IP) addresses of their visitors without violating data protection legislation. Without additional information, IP addresses do not count as personal data, it said

European Commission overhauls online shopping laws

Desire Athow — Sun, 12 Oct 2008

The European Commission wants to create an over-arching consumer protection law which it claims will cut costs and red tape for internet retailers. The proposed Consumer Rights Directive would replace four existing EU Directives