Mondaq.Com - feed of articles on IT & Telecoms

United States: FCC Seeks Comments On The Use Of Broadband To Promote Health Care Delivery And Services - McDermott Will & Emery

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Comments in response to the FCC's public notice on health care issues are due December 4, 2009.

United Kingdom: Slash The Cost Of ICT - Google Points The Way - Anthony Collins Solicitors

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Google's announcement in July that it intends to offer an operating system is the latest, and highest profile sign, of new trends that offer cheaper, more reliable computing for organisations.

United Kingdom: Staff At Mobile Phone Company Sell Customer Data To Rivals - CMS Cameron McKenna LLP

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Information Commissioner has announced, today, that employees of a major mobile telephone company have unlawfully sold thousands of customer account details, including contract expiry dates, to the company's competitors.

Canada: New Protection For Licensees Of IP — BIA And CCAA Amendments Come Into Force - McCarthy Tétrault LLP

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

At long last, amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) have come into force, providing licensees of intellectual property (IP) with some additional level of protection.

United States: Protecting Data In A Business Failure - Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:28:22 GMT

This economic crisis is also exceptional for its threat to personal data. The United States is in the midst of the first severe economic meltdown of the information age — an age where data about consumers, employees, patients and borrowers is maintained on computers for companies large and small.

United States: Pennsylvania Court Considers Appropriate Balance Between Electronic Discovery And Privacy - Cozen O'Connor

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Requests for electronically stored information ("ESI") often raise privacy concerns for counsel and clients. Courts are increasingly being called on to balance those privacy concerns against the interests of parties seeking information with which to litigate their disputes.

United States: Reorganizing Your Subsidiaries? Pay Me Again For That Software! - Saul Ewing LLP

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:27:15 GMT

A recent opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit serves as a strong reminder to those structuring and evaluating mergers, acquisitions, and even internal corporate reorganizations to carefully consider the impact of federal intellectual property laws on the transferability of licensed software and other licensed intellectual property.

United Kingdom: Selecting The Right Telecoms Partners & Solutions - Hudson & Yorke Limited

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:16:55 GMT

Telecommunications and network services are business-critical. Consequently, it is imperative that large organisations select the right partners and solutions to meet their current and future communications requirements.

United States: Kentucky In No State To Seize Domain Name - IPKat

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:01:47 GMT

In 2008 the State of Kentucky, in the course of enforcing its criminal laws, sought penal forfeiture of the fulltiltpoker.com domain name on the basis that it had been used in the commission of multiple crimes within Kentucky. A seizure order was made and served on Safenames, requiring it to transfer the domain name immediately transferred to an account of Kentucky.

Canada: New Wireless Entrant Fails to Satisfy Canadian Ownership Rules - Fasken Martineau

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

On October 29, 2009, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued its decision respecting the eligibility of Globalive Wireless Management Corp. (Globalive) to operate as a telecommunications common carrier in Canada.

Canada: Canadian Telecom Regulator Sets Rules for Internet Traffic Management - Fasken Martineau

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

On October 21, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued its new policy governing the ability of internet service providers (ISPs) to manage or "shape" the internet traffic that is transmitted across their networks.

United States: HHS Issues Interim Final Rule Conforming HIPAA Civil Money Penalties To HITECH Act Requirements - McDermott Will & Emery

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The new HIPAA civil money penalties scheme substantially increases the potential penalties for HIPAA violations occurring on or after February 18, 2009.

Canada: GPLv3 And Tech M&A - McCarthy Tétrault LLP

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It has been a little more than two years since the Free Software Foundation updated the GNU General Public License with the release of GPLv3 in June 2007.

Canada: Industry Committee Amends Anti-Spam Bill - McCarthy Tétrault LLP

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In May of this year, we sent an e-Alert that reviewed the concerns many Canadian businesses had expressed with the first draft of Bill C-27 — the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA).

United Kingdom: 500,000 Reasons For Data Controllers To Be Careful - MacRoberts

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Ministry of Justice has issued a consultation paper to assess the appropriateness of fines of 10% of annual turnover up to a maximum of £500,000 for serious breaches by data controllers of any of the eight data protection principles.

Canada: Linden Lab Aims To Make (Second) Life Easier For IP Owners - McCarthy Tétrault LLP

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Second Life®, one of the most popular three-dimensional virtual worlds accessible via the Internet, is working to provide owners of intellectual property (IP) with better tools for managing and controlling their content.

Canada: Appeal Court Finds No Defamation Liability For Hyperlinking - McCarthy Tétrault LLP

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In Crookes v. Newton, the BC Court of Appeal recently considered whether hyperlinking to another website or article that contains defamatory material gives rise to liability for defamation.

United States: Hotspots Can Be Black Holes Of Hacking Danger - Duane Morris LLP

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Like nomads searching for oases, we roam in our quest to find Wi-Fi hotspots from which to connect to the wireless world. Unfortunately, these cozy areas where everything seems so right actually can be black holes where our private data can be siphoned away.

United States: Three Strikes And You’re…OUTTTT! (Of French Cyberspace) - Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

On October 22nd, France’s highest court approved the “three strike law”, which will deny Internet access to those people that illegally copy music and movies and are deemed repeat copyright infringers.

United Kingdom: EU Telecoms Package Threatens Government's Plans To Disconnect Internet Users - CMS Cameron McKenna LLP

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The European Parliament and European Council have agreed new wording for a contentious provision in the EU Telecoms Package; it seeks to ensure that Internet users’ fundamental rights and freedoms must be respected by Member States.

Australia: Privacy Law Reforms And Privacy Regulation Simplification - Addisons

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:00:11 GMT

Last month, the Federal Government announced that it will overhaul the privacy laws of Australia and implement a consistent privacy law regime.

United States: FCC Seeks Comment On Changes To Federal E-Rate Program That Would Facilitate Broadband Deployment - Bracewell & Giuliani LLP

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

On November 3, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") released its Public Notice requesting comment on, among other issues, changes to the schools and libraries universal service support mechanism ("E-Rate Program") to improve broadband deployment to meet the instructional and informational needs of public schools and libraries.

United States: FCC's "Net Neutrality" Looking To Regulate The Internet? - Duane Morris LLP

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

On October 22, 2009, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched a potentially controversial proceeding that looks toward regulation of the Internet. The FCC has proposed to formally codify certain Internet-openness policies that it has followed for the past several years, while adding two more policies.

United States: Internet's Expansion With Internationalized Domain Names May Spur Registration Boom And Cybersquatting - Duane Morris LLP

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)—which is responsible for managing the assignment of domain names and IP addresses on the Internet—approved a new plan on October 30, 2009, to allow non-Latin characters in domain names.

United States: Data Security Regulations Revised And Postponed - Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Massachusetts’ new information security standards have been revised by the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR), and the compliance deadline has been extended until March 1, 2010.