Dugie Standeford

LONDON - A European Commission (EC) plan for boosting productivity and growth may be the most practical arrangement available, but it’s unlikely to make Europe the world’s most competitive knowledge-based economy by 2010, many said here Tues. The “i2010” initiative aims to halt and reverse the Continent’s economic slide against competitors in the U.S., China and Korea by focusing on information & communications technology (ICT). But delegates at a packed U.K. Presidency/European Union conference Mon. first rejected 53%-47% and then stalemated on a motion endorsing i2010 as it stands as the best way to achieve that goal.

An “upstart” London-based TV channel aims to create a direct link between govt. agencies and public bodies and “willing” audiences. Information TV (ITV) -- which bills itself as a “new approach to public service broadcasting” -- transmits programs via broadcast and simulcast on U.K. environmental, health, science and technology, and education and skills issues, plus European cultural and educational topics. It carries its own programming and that of SoundTV, which provides entertainment shows and which will launch next month as a separate channel managed by ITV. The commercial channel is funded by content providers who pay to air programs. CEO Fred Perkins said he’s not interested in building mass audience but in catering to viewers looking for specific public-service information. But advertisers, too, are beginning to see the value in devoting a half-hour or hour to a product instead of fighting competitors on mainstream channels, he said. ITV also carries programming created by entrepreneurs who, for whatever reason, aren’t able to start their own channels. The TV industry should “wake up to convergence” and start satisfying consumer demand for content, Perkins said. Absence of exciting content is fuelling infringement, but piracy should be “a stimulant [to creativity] rather than a threat.” What’s more worrisome, he said, are sometimes “backward ideas” coming from Brussels. The European Union (EU) TV Without Frontiers directive and various moves toward regulating Internet content are bids to apply old-fashioned rules to a new TV arena, Perkins said. The danger is the EU will impose doctrines and laws that encourage, rather than discourage, piracy, he said.

Europe’s telecom industry would like to have a common position on retention of telephony and Internet traffic data when it meets in Sept. with justice and home affairs (JHA) ministers, said Sandro Bazzanella, dir.-EU affairs for the European Competitive Telecom Assn. At an informal Sept. 8-9 JHA Council event called by the U.K. Presidency, ministers, law enforcement officials and industry representatives will discuss the Council’s controversial draft framework decision on data retention, he said. It’s unclear whether the talks will include a proposed directive about to emerge from the European Commission (EC) as well. Communications services providers (CSPs) say data preservation, not retention, is the way to help law enforcement, claiming there’s no need to hold massive amounts of traffic data, Bazzanella said. But European CSPs seem divided on whether to harmonize national data retention laws with EU law, he said. In countries that have tough data retention rules, CSPs see harmonization as easing regulation. But in countries where CSPs and law enforcement cooperate smoothly even without data retention laws, providers fear a directive or framework decision could mean stiffer requirements, Bazzanella said. Italy, which boasts one of Europe’s strictest data retention regimes, recently enacted antiterrorism legislation that, among other things, requires all telephony providers to store traffic data until Dec. 31, 2007. Providers of public Internet access also must retain users’ data, said digital policy consultant Andrea Glorioso. ISPs must hold the data for at last 6 months, a period that can be extended 6 more months. The law mandates identification of mobile telephone users before service actually is activated, whether at the moment of the order or when the SIM is handed over, he said. Owners of Internet cafes and public telephone shops with at least 3 terminals must get permits within 30 days from local Ministry of Home Affairs representatives and store all customer traffic data. Wi- Fi points and locations that don’t store traffic data will have to demand users show identification, a practice already used at some Italian airport hotspots, Glorioso said. Legally, Bazzanelle said, the new provisions enable traffic data retention by outlawing relevant data protection provisions until the end of 2007. The law doesn’t contain specific rules for Internet traffic data, but calls for telephony providers to store all failed dial attempts, a stipulation whose high cost riles telcos. Ministers agreed, however, to hold a further debate on the costs and allocation of costs caused by the requirement, “while excluding any financial reimbursement by the State.” Glorioso said some provisions -- such as an obligation for Internet public points to hold user data -- aren’t “that bad,” but the public and private sectors “completely lack the necessary resources to put the law in practice.” Italian politicians often take a short-term approach, he said. With the 2006 elections near, pols seek “public visibility and emotional impact, not the practical viability of these measures. The Italian govt. was under pressure to act against terrorism before the Aug. parliamentary break, said Marco Berliri, a telecom attorney with Lovells in Rome. Because data retention at the EU level remains only a proposal, the govt. felt it needed an emergency law. But Berliri said the measure is a law decree, which will dissolve unless approved by Parliament.

The push for mandatory communications traffic data retention is killing industry and consumer confidence in the European Union (EU), 3 German industry groups said this week. Politicians aren’t adequately explaining the reasons for and benefits of holding Internet and telecom data, and their failure to assess the impact of such legislation is convincing citizens and businesses their concerns are being ignored, the organizations said. The Federation of German Industries (BDI), German Assn. for Information Technology, Telecoms & New Media (BITKOM) and German Carriers Assn. (VATM) disputed the need for mandatory retention and said any such obligation must be strictly limited.

A German high court ban on most preemptive tapping of phone calls, e-mail and other communications could empower opponents of retention of communications traffic data. The challenged state law, enacted by Lower Saxony, authorized police to eavesdrop on citizens and process cellphone traffic and location data, e-mails and SMS traffic even without suspicion of crime. But the Federal Constitutional Court held the law unconstitutional, saying preventive surveillance must be based on reasonable belief a specific crime is planned. At least one other state reportedly has such a law and others are said to be considering them.

Despite keen European Commission (EC) interest in wireless loops to close the last mile, use of the 5.8 GHz band that way is being delayed by concern over possible interference with military uses. There are “unsolved issues related to the protection of military radar, which is why this band has not made the same progress in Europe in comparison” with 2 other unlicensed bands recently freed to spur Wi-Fi development, said Andreas Geiss of the EC’s Information Society Directorate-General radio spectrum policy unit. “Member states have very contradicting views as to the possibilities to use this band for broadband wireless access [BWA].”

The European Commission (EC) this week freed unlicensed radio spectrum in advance of an expected wave of new Wi-Fi applications. The move to make 2 frequency bands available in all member states for wireless access requires use of “intelligent” techniques to avoid interference with other users, especially military radar and satellite services, in the frequencies. Some say problems of uneven quality and lingering shortages would be solved better by licensed spectrum made available by wireless access platforms for electronic communications services (WAPECS).

European leaders said Wed. they'll try to bridge the divide over retention of Internet and telecom traffic data by seeking accord on the substance of a measure first and then working out its legal basis under European law. But even as U.K. Home Secy. Charles Clarke touted the unpopular current Council framework decision on data retention -- the U.K. now holds the Presidency the European Commission (EC) said it will shortly unveil a package of data retention and protection measures. EC Vp- Justice, Freedom & Security Franco Frattini said the 2 proposals would move ahead in parallel while ministers sought agreement on the need for data retention, and its scope.

Last week’s London bombings intensified debate over the need for -- and wisdom of -- requiring retention of Internet and telephony traffic data. Home Secy. Charles Clarke set an emergency meeting tomorrow (Wed.) with other justice and home affairs ministers to discuss a “response to the terrorist threat.” He’s expected to push a controversial proposal to require retention of communications traffic data. In June, ministers provisionally backed the proposal, which is opposed strongly by the European Commission, communications services providers and civil libertarians. The proposal would impose a standard holding period of 12 months, leaving member states free to allow retention for 6-48 months, a Home Office spokeswoman said. The move would have scant impact in the U.K., where ISPs, under a voluntary code, routinely hold some subscriber data up to a year, the spokeswoman said. Authorities want data held because phone and Internet traffic information often has proven essential to criminal investigations, the spokeswoman said. Mobile phone records were critical to finding those accused of the March 2003 Madrid bombing and a high-profile U.K. child murder. The U.K., which now holds the European presidency -- and which was one of 4 countries that originally sought a data retention directive -- has concerns about a patchwork of national data retention laws, she said. After the July 7 blasts, ISPs contacted the Home Office to offer practical assistance, said the Internet Services Providers’ Assn. (ISPA) U.K. The National High Tech Crime Unit asked ISPA members to preserve data now on their systems, including content of e-mail servers, e-mail server logs and pager, SMS and MMS messages on network platforms, plus call data for fixed, mobile and VoIP. ISPA said it will encourage members to “focus on endeavors that will be effective in combatting terrorism,” but added that keeping data of no use to criminal investigations “will make the extraction of vital evidence even harder.”

London telecom networks weren’t damaged by terrorist bombings in the heart of the city Thurs., but many mobile phone users had problems caused by congestion. A British Telecom (BT) spokesman said Thurs. the explosions on one bus and in several Underground stations didn’t hurt its fixed-line infrastructure, but, due to congestion, it urged people to call only in emergencies. Mobile phone operators pleaded with customers in central London to avoid unnecessary calls. Onetel said its phone and Internet saw heavy traffic, with priority being given to emergencies. ISPs were dealing with a “great rush” for certain websites, such as the BBC and Transport for London, said a spokesman for ISPA U.K. He said e-mail appeared to be moving fairly smoothly, proving, as it did after Sept. 11, 2001, that the Internet is fairly impervious to such attacks.