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Europe Sets Five-Year Internet Strategy – BusinessWeek

May 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Half of Europeans subscribing to ultra-high-speed broadband by 2020, bringing an end to the phenomenon of ‘digital virgins’ and the creation of a European cyber-attack rapid response system – these are just some of the ambitious goals contained in the EU’s five-year plan for the online world, unveiled on Wednesday (19 May).

Anxious that the US, Japan and South Korea – still in parts classified as a developing country – are stealing a march on the old continent, where almost a third of people have still never accessed the worldwide web, the European Commission says it is time for a digital revolution.

While today, just one percent of Europeans are signed up to fast fibre-based internet, 12 percent of Japanese have such connections and 15 percent of South Koreans.

“Can you imagine that there are still some 30 percent of Europeans who have never used the internet? Digital virgins, so to say,” Dutch commissioner Neelie Kroes said in announcing the wide-ranging plans. “We want to ensure they all have the opportunity to discover the wonders of the digital world.”

By 2013, Brussels wants all Europeans to have basic broadband and by 2020, for everyone to have access high-speed broadband above 30Mbps, with 50 percent of Europeans able to subscribe to ultra-high-speed rates of above 100Mbps.

via Europe Sets Five-Year Internet Strategy – BusinessWeek.

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A Line in the Sand: Getting Tough on Money Laundering in Dubai and the UAE | Westlaw Business

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Whopping $500 million fines are just one reason sanctions and anti-money laundering measures continue to haunt international commerce. With advances in electronic transmittals, hundreds of billions in dirty money swirls all over the world with breathtaking speed and efficiency. Rather than passively watching the problem spiral, however, the United Arab Emirates and one of its prominent regulators have stepped in with aggressive preemptive action.

With last week’s mega fine imposed by the U.S. on ABN Amro (since acquired by Royal Bank of Scotland) for “turning a blind eye” to sanctions against Iran, Cuba and other countries, the focus of international efforts to control criminal cash flows has received renewed attention. The U.S. and the UN have traditionally borne the yoke of international trafficking cops, but when it comes to money laundering, the United Arab Emirates and the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) have drawn a line in the sand.

The Sanctions Committee of the United Nations, for example, is a subset of the UN Security Council. From Saddam’s Iraq, to Darfur in the Sudan, the UN has long advocated the use of sanctions “as an enforcement tool when peace has been threatened and diplomatic efforts have failed.” As a consequence, companies and individuals doing business with rogue states bring themselves within the legal jurisdiction of a world body.

The U.S., meanwhile, has a number of different mechanisms for combating illicit traffic. On an international scale, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), contained within the Department of Treasury, maintains a list of Specially Designated Nationals. Doing business with individuals and companies on this list subjects U.S. citizens and residents to criminal penalties. Because the list is public information, a presumption of intent when doing business with any person or entity on the list. OFAC maintains a list of 20 extant sanctions programs on its website; the site also includes a list of memoranda between OFAC and bank regulators.

Though not as large or influential as the UN or U.S., the UAE, a geographically a tiny Gulf outpost, has in its own right backed up its claim as a world financial center by committing considerable energy and resources to combating not only money laundering but the financing of terror. The DFSA oversees the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a self-contained financial free zone with its own civil and commercial law framework located in the Emirate of Dubai. As for penal law, however, UAE federal law still applies not only to the DIFC but all free zones. The DFSA thus provides the compliance mechanisms and the UAE the criminal penalties for money laundering.

While not an Islamic issue, money laundering has received attention from both the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB). Both organizations, in their respective governance and corporate responsibility provisions, underscore the importance of compliance with relevant AML laws.

via A Line in the Sand: Getting Tough on Money Laundering in Dubai and the UAE.

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Whoops! Google says mistakenly got wireless data | Reuters

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Google Inc said its fleet of cars responsible for photographing streets around the world have for several years accidentally collected personal information that consumers send over wireless networks.

The company said on Friday that it is currently in touch with regulators in several countries, including the United States, Germany, France, Brazil and Hong Kong, about how to dispose of the data, which Google said it never used.

“It’s now clear that we have been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open (i.e. non-password-protected) WiFi networks,” Google Senior VP of Engineering and Research Alan Eustace said in a post on Google’s official blog on Friday.

Google, the world's largest Internet search engine, did not specify what kind of data it collected, but a security expert said that email content and passwords for many users, as well as general Web surfing activity, could easily have been caught in Google’s dragnet.

“The bottom line is a lot of personal content is definitely available in open WiFi hotspots,” said Steve Gibson, the president of Internet security services firm Gibson Research Corp.

via Whoops! Google says mistakenly got wireless data | Reuters.

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Aggressive IP enforcement is a must | Deputy AG Gary G. Grindles | National Law Journal

April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Businesses that create and rely upon intellectual property, from large entertainment conglomerates to small biotech firms, make up among the fastest-growing sectors of the U.S. economy. These industries also represent a significant portion of U.S. exports, with intellectual property now comprising a significant — and growing — share of the value of world trade. The proliferation of worldwide Internet access and advances in traditional distribution methods, such as transportation and shipping, now allow American businesses of all sizes to market their intellectual property throughout the world. Digital content, whether embodied in software, books, games, movies or music, can be transmitted from one corner of the world to another almost instantly.

But these unprecedented opportunities for American businesses and entrepreneurs are put at risk by criminals and criminal organizations that seek unlawfully to profit by stealing from the hard work of American artists, authors and inventors. For every new technological advancement by American business, there is, unfortunately, a criminal who would seek to misuse it for his own illicit purposes. Criminals are responding to American innovation with their own creative methods of committing intellectual property crimes — from widespread online piracy to well-funded corporate espionage to increased trade in counterfeit pharmaceuticals and other goods.

When we fail to enforce intellectual property rights aggressively, we fail to protect some of our nation's most important and valuable resources. The theft of even a single trade secret can completely destroy a burgeoning small business. When criminals sell counterfeit drugs and medical devices to consumers, our nation's public health is compromised. And when illicit products such as counterfeit airplane parts or pirated electronic components make their way into the marketplace, they place our public safety at risk.

In light of these threats, it is imperative that the government act, and act aggressively. And that is exactly what we at the Department of Justice are doing. In cooperation with our partners across the federal government, the Department of Justice has redoubled its commitment to protecting American innovation and technology through aggressive criminal and civil enforcement of our nation's intellectual property laws.

via Aggressive IP enforcement is a must.

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World Intellectual Property Day | The White House

April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In recognition of World Intellectual Property Day, the US government is engaging in activities all over the world to highlight the importance of intellectual property and our commitment to protecting it.

Our law enforcement agencies, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, announced today the formation of a national network of law enforcement personnel.

The Department of Justice announced that the FBI is increasing its manpower that focuses of IP significantly, by creating regional IP squads in major cities around the nation and adding an additional 20 new agents to those squads.

In addition, the DOJ announced that it will be adding 15 new prosecutors throughout the country to add to its current force of 200 prosecutors specially trained to handle IP enforcement.

In collaboration, the Department of Homeland Security announced that its multi-agency IPR Center is creating partnerships with 70 federal, state and local law enforcement in 22 cities to collaborate on IP enforcement actions.

And ICE announced the efforts of a major sweep – Operation Spring cleaning – that resulted so far in 45 arrests, the seizure of 701,384 counterfeit items valued at $44 million.

Many other agencies that also work on IP enforcement are joining this united effort.  Secretary Clinton and Secretary Locke and Ambassador Ron Kirk are issuing statements highlighting the importance of intellectual property. There are also a numbers of events taking place today where senior government officials are speaking on intellectual property, including Ambassador Miriam Sapiro of USTR at the National Press Club, Under Secretary of State Robert Hormats at the US Chamber of Commerce. I will be speaking at an event with the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers, the head of USTR, Ambassador Ron Kirk, the head of our US Patent and Trademark Office David Kappos and other senior Commerce officials, including Under Secretary Francisco Sanchez.  And embassies throughout the world are reaffirming those same sentiments in statements issued by their ambassadors and in a number of educational programs they are holding.

The President has made clear that strong enforcement of America’s intellectual property is a critical part of our plan to promote exports and create jobs.  I look forward to continuing our dialogue and utilizing the expertise out there to harness and protect what has always been one of America’s greatest strengths – the diversity of great ideas.

via World Intellectual Property Day | The White House.

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Canada’s privacy boss setting rules for the world

April 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

For Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart, it all started with Monica Lewinsky. One Sunday morning 10 years ago, Ms. Stoddart was in the Eastern Townships of Quebec reading a story in The New York Times Magazine about how technology was giving birth to a new era, one where everyone’s personal information was being digitized, stored and tracked in cyberspace. The chilling piece, titled “The Eroded Self,” offered an ominous take on the future of privacy in a world where even the deleted emails and bookstore receipts of the world’s most infamous White House intern are easily retrieved and laid bare before the masses of the Internet. As chance would have it, a few weeks later Ms. Stoddart received a call from the Quebec government, asking if she would be interested in heading up the province’s access-to-information and privacy commission. She couldn’t say no. A decade later, Ms. Stoddart is a seasoned veteran of the online privacy wars as she nears the end of her seven-year term as Canada’s top privacy watchdog. After landmark investigations into Facebook and other online giants, she has not only laid the foundations for Canadian privacy in the age of the social Web, but has helped Canada rise up to become an international leader in online privacy legislation and enforcement.

“My objective is not to necessarily have Canada play a leading role in international online privacy, my responsibility is to deliver privacy protection as appropriately as possible to Canadians,” Ms. Stoddart said in an interview with the Financial Post. “But very early on in my stint as Privacy Commissioner, I came to the realization that particularly because of our very close trade and cultural links with the United States, that this job couldn’t be done just in Canada.” By mandating that even the largest U.S. online companies abide by Canada’s privacy laws when doing business in Canada or handling the personal information of Canadian users, Ms. Stoddart is, in effect, a sort of global Web cop, helping to improve privacy for billions of users across the borderless Internet. Last year, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner was thrust into the international spotlight after an exhaustive 14-month investigation into Facebook prompted sweeping changes as to how the world’s largest social network – with more than 400 million users – handles the sensitive personal information of its users.

via Canada’s privacy boss setting rules for the world.

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The Triumph of the Ordinary Cellphone – NYTimes.com

April 9, 2010 By

Forgotten in the American tumult is a global flowering of innovation on the simple cellphone. From Brazil to India to South Korea and even Afghanistan, people are seeking work via text message; borrowing and lending money and receiving salaries on cellphones; employing their phones variously as flashlights, televisions and radios.

And many do all this for peanuts. In India, Reliance Communications sells handsets for less than $25, with 1-cent-a-minute phone calls across India and 1-cent text messages and no monthly charge — while earning fat profits. Compare that with iPad buyers in the United States, who pay $499 for the basic version, who might also have a $1,000-plus computer and a $100-plus smartphone, and who could pay $100 or more each month to connect these many devices to the ether.

Not for the first time, the United States and much of the world are moving in different ways. American innovators, building for an ever-expanding bandwidth network, are heading toward fancier, costlier, more network-hungry and status-giving devices; meanwhile, their counterparts in developing nations are innovating to find ever more uses for cheap, basic cellphones.

The United States does not share the romance of the phone that prevails elsewhere — even in wealthy Europe. Since returning last year from India, I have been struck by how often calls drop here and surprised that text-messaging, so vital to Indians, has yet to entrench itself in the United States, where so much messaging travels on the Internet.

A recent report by the World Economic Forum and Insead, the French business school, concluded that the United States ranks below 71 other nations in its level of cellphone penetration, even though it leads in other areas of connectivity. Some Americans are not connected at all. But millions of others are beyond the phone, so to speak: they own one; they use it; but they own other devices, too, and the phone is not a be-all and end-all.

But it is from Kenya to Colombia to South Africa that cellphones are becoming the truly universal technology. They are the kind of places that have built cellphone towers precisely to leapfrog past the expense of building wired networks that have linked Americans for a century.

via Currents – The Triumph of the Ordinary Cellphone – NYTimes.com.

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Murky world of corruption in China | BBC News

March 30, 2010 By

Bribery and other forms of corruption are problems often encountered by foreign businesses operating in China.

This can result in companies providing clients with expensive trips abroad, lavish meals and red envelopes stuffed with money.

But not all businesses get drawn into this murky world; some say they abide by the same high standards they observe elsewhere.

And one foreign business advisor said firms that supply good products and services will always do well – even if they refuse to be corrupt.

The use of bribery in the business world in China has come into sharp focus because of the trial involving four executives working for the Anglo-Australian mining firm Rio Tinto.

The four were sentenced in Shanghai to between seven and 14 years in prison for taking bribes and stealing commercial secrets.

But how much of a problem is bribery for foreign firms operating in China?

One British businessman, who did not want to be named, said it was a big problem, particularly in China’s smaller cities.

He told the BBC of one occasion when he was trying to set up a joint venture company with a Chinese partner in Shandong province.

Negotiations had been going on for weeks, without any success, he said. Then, at one meeting, he was asked to step outside for a chat with an official.

“He said all the problems could be overcome – so I asked him how. He said it could be done if I gave him 1m yuan ($146,000: £98,000),” said the businessman.

via BBC News – Murky world of corruption in China.

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An experiment in cross-language communication with the BBC – Google Translate Blog

March 25, 2010 By

Earlier this month BBC launched an experiment using Google Translate to faciliate real-time discussion across languages. The project was part of the BBC’s SuperPower series which explored the transformative power of the internet. On SuperPower Nation Day, BBC readers from around the world were invited to discuss the Nation Day event online–and have their comments translated live for others to read.

The initiative used Google Translate to translate comments between seven languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, Persian, Indonesian, Portugese, and Spanish. While the translations were not perfect, most users were surprised by how well Google Translate enabled people from around the world to communicate with one another.

“Acredito que isto pode dar certo!” wrote Nathana from Brazil in one of the comments–or, as translated by Google Translate, “I believe this can work!”

While a few of the translations looked strange at first glance, most users found them intelligible and useful. For example one user’s comment was translated from Persian into, “World, the village is small. We all need each other to help maintain the world.” As you can see, not perfect, but understandable.

via An experiment in cross-language communication with the BBC – Google Translate Blog.

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Trademark Filings Mostly Down Worldwide in 2009

March 23, 2010 By

International trademark filings at the World Intellectual Property Organization dropped 16 percent in 2009, amid a 12 percent decline in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filings.

The WIPO dip stems from a global economic slowdown and restrained consumer demand around the world, said Francis Gurry, WIPO’s director general, in a statement.

Last year, 35,195 international trademark applications flowed into WIPO's 84-member system, which includes countries and groups of nations like the European Union. That compares with 42,075 applications in 2008.

via Trademark Filings Mostly Down Worldwide in 2009.

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