PolicyTracker: the spectrum management newsletter
US senators push to extend moratorium on Internet taxes until 2006
For months past US senators have been at loggerheads over how to free the logjam of competing interests in relation to Internet taxes. The debate has the most far-reaching ramifications because settlement will determine whether the cost of going online to
How to get a ‘bandwidth overdraft’ without those excessive fees
The world of the Virtual Network Operator (VNO) is largely unknown outside the confines of the telecoms industry, and many within it would happily concede that even they don’t have much of a clue about what VNOs actually do.
EC seeks regulatory clarity
The European Commission’s commitment to creating regulatory certainty for the rapid deployment of broadband communications via powerlines has been met with a mixed response.
EC spam directive: A long hard road
Having set out tough measures to tackle spam the European Commission is beginning the most difficult part of the project – forging an international alliance against this modern menace.
EC Safer Internet Initiative: Harmonisation headaches
Spring-cleaning is always a dirty business, but the European Commission’s (EC) most recent plan to sanitise the Internet is a tougher cleaning task than most.
Shot across the bows for software giants
When an agreement is designed to achieve international consensus any controversy is all the more important for having cleared this huge hurdle. It’s significant therefore that the World Summit on the Information Society agreements contain a large plug for
WSIS: policy implications
Trying to close the digital divide has opened a familiar international rift. There are also worrying signals for the big software companies.
Google seeks to avoid trademark suits
Google has asked a US court to decide whether keyword advertising breaches trademark law.
Puzzling ruling on P2P downloads
Canadian copyright regulators have ruled that downloading copyrighted music from peer-to-peer networks is legal but uploading files is illegal.
BskyB football deal attacked
A UK consumer group has condemned BSkyB’s ‘virtual monopoly’ on screening Premiership football games as anti-fan, anti-competitive.
US: no regulation for internet telephony
The chief US regulator has warned against regulating VoIP, the technology which enables users to make cheap calls over the internet.
Ofcom treads carefully on spectrum trading
Ofcom, the UK’s newly converged communications regulator, will have its mettle tested in the coming year as it considers what are expected to be a number of disparate submissions from the industry, government and the public on a proposed new system for tr
EC calls for press reform in Japan
The EC will continue to lobby for changes to Japan’s press club system despite accusations of cultural bias.