June 2008
Mon, Jun, 30 2008
Lord Justice Jacobs said that this was not the right argument to make, and that the prosecution had, crucially, not proved that the ETMs actually worked.
Mon, Jun, 30 2008
Packaging firm Smurfit must pay a rival damages because it made groundless threats about a patent infringement lawsuit to one of its rival's customers.
Mon, Jun, 30 2008
Nearly two out of three people working in marketing have been part of an exercise in which customers' data has been lost or stolen in the last two years alone, a study has found. In 90% of cases the incident went unreported.
Fri, Jun, 27 2008
The managing body for the internet's domain name system will massively increase the 'real estate' of the internet, letting brands and generic words become top-level domains. A legal expert said that the plans will make brand protection a nightmare.
Fri, Jun, 27 2008
A direct mailing and internet banner ad that poked fun at financial software giant Sage has been banned by the UK's advertising regulator. A rival's promotion carried the headline "Sick of Sage?" and claimed that Sage's product range was a "bag of bits."
Fri, Jun, 27 2008
easyJet has confirmed that Expedia is not the only online travel firm to have felt the airline’s wrath – it has also fired off letters to several other UK websites warning them to stop selling its flights.
Thu, Jun, 26 2008
Employers will be allowed to discriminate in favour of female or ethnic minority job candidates under a new law announced by Harriet Harman MP today. The Equality Bill will also ban contractual prohibitions on staff discussing pay with each other.
Thu, Jun, 26 2008
Four reports were published yesterday that relate to the security of Government information systems. The recommendations in one of them, the Poynter report, may be familiar to anyone who knows international security standard ISO27001.
Thu, Jun, 26 2008
Sir Gus O'Donnell wrote one of the four reports published yesterday on the security of Government information systems. The report will have a major impact on both the public and private sectors.
Wed, Jun, 25 2008
The loss last year of 25 million records by HM Revenue and Customs was the result of "woefully inadequate" processes for data handling, not individual employees, according to an investigation. The Government has responded with new data security plans.
Wed, Jun, 25 2008
Dealing with staff who misbehave on the web may be hampered by office policies written without Web 2.0 sites in mind, an employment expert has said. The warning follows disciplinary action against 18 police officers who boasted about crashes on Facebook.
Wed, Jun, 25 2008
A new set of consumer contract laws to harmonise the rules that govern online selling across the EU will be proposed this autumn by the European Commission. The EU's consumer chief also promised fresh guidance on viral adverts and profiling technology.
Tue, Jun, 24 2008
Thirty-eight online traders and three high street shops have been caught selling 18-rated video games to children in a series of undercover investigations. Such sales are illegal and businesses can be punished by prison sentences and fines.
Tue, Jun, 24 2008
A British trade body has called for new rules to exempt small businesses from music licensing fees that are payable if they let staff listen to a radio or watch TV. Some employers have received demands for unpaid licence fees dating back several years.
Tue, Jun, 24 2008
Employers face a £1,000 penalty if staff are caught watching TV online and the business does not have a TV licence. TV Licensing has warned that its officers are visiting unlicensed addresses throughout this summer's sports tournaments.
Tue, Jun, 24 2008
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) must control the extent to which life companies can use surpluses in their with-profits funds to subsidise corporate activities, a committee of MPs concluded last week.
Mon, Jun, 23 2008
Police were right to ask a journalist to reveal source material for a book about terrorism but the terms of the order obtained were too wide, the High Court has ruled. Arguments on what the terms of the production order should be will be heard this week.
Thu, Jun, 19 2008
Scots face up to 10 years in jail for sending text messages or emails with sexual content. Scotland's just-published Sexual Offences Bill contains stiff penalties for any sexual messages whose intent is to humiliate the recipient.
Thu, Jun, 19 2008
Google and Yahoo! will face a competition probe over their proposed advertising deal. The inquiry will look at whether the deal gives the already-dominant Google too much market power.
Wed, Jun, 18 2008
An envelope used in a Virgin Media mailshot broke advertising rules because it failed to make its marketing nature obvious. The envelope should have stated clearly that it contained marketing material, the UK's advertising regulator has ruled.
Wed, Jun, 18 2008
A policy that allows consumers to take out life insurance without having to disclose adverse results of predictive genetic tests has been extended to 2014, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) announced last week.
Wed, Jun, 18 2008
A firm of stockbrokers has been fined for failing to adequately protect its customers from the risk of identity fraud. The FSA said its mistakes included failing to manage the risk of staff using Instant Messaging and web-based email.
Tue, Jun, 17 2008
A major news agency has claimed that a blog's quotation of its stories is copyright infringement and has demanded they be taken down in a case which could redraw the lines of acceptable blog behaviour.
Tue, Jun, 17 2008
Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon has asked the House of Lords to halt his extradition to the US because US prosecutors abused the legal process by engaging in plea bargaining.
Tue, Jun, 17 2008
Radio spectrum made available by analogue television signal switch-off will be auctioned from next summer, communications regulator Ofcom has said. The sell-off will proceed despite the EU's desire to co-ordinate spectrum across the EU.
Tue, Jun, 17 2008
A leading US technology executive on trial for his alleged role in the backdating of share options also stands accused of a string of drug and sex offences and of spiking colleagues and customers' drinks with ecstasy.
Mon, Jun, 16 2008
Most company data breaches are caused not by employees but by people outside of the company, a four-year study has found. Business partners are involved in five times more breaches now than in 2004, it said.
Mon, Jun, 16 2008
Virgin Media has begun sending letters of warning to some of its customers saying that artists' lobby group the BPI has evidence of illegal file sharing from their accounts. Virgin, the UK's second largest ISP, is the first to take such action.
Mon, Jun, 16 2008
The Government's hard line on the collection and use of information on travellers could isolate it within Europe and leave it with less information than other states, a parliamentary committee has warned.
Mon, Jun, 16 2008
Financial services firms need to do more to ensure standard contracts with consumers do not include unfair terms, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has warned.
Mon, Jun, 16 2008
Life companies will no longer be able to use surpluses held in their with-profits funds to meet the cost of compensation payments under new rules proposed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) earlier this month.
Fri, Jun, 13 2008
Banks, mortgage companies and credit card providers could face a flood of mis-selling claims following a report from the Competition Commission that claims consumers are being overcharged £1.4 billion a year for payment protection insurance (PPI).
Thu, Jun, 12 2008
Search engine giant Google has given its backing to the idea of a national privacy law in the US, accordng to reports. The company, whose own privacy policies are often controversial, told a senior politician that it supported the idea.
Thu, Jun, 12 2008
Mobile phone firm O2 looks likely to fail to stop competing mobile firm 3 from using its name and trade-marked bubble motifs in its adverts. The competing company had used graphics similar to O2's in ads comparing the two companies' prices.
Thu, Jun, 12 2008
Software companies involved in setting technical standards should be forced to declare their intellectual property in the area and fix maximum fees for the standard's use of it before the standard is set, according to the European Commission.
Thu, Jun, 12 2008
A proposal to harmonise the way contract disputes are handled across Europe has been agreed by the EU Council of Ministers. The new rules, known as Rome I, will come into force in around 18 months' time.
Mon, Jun, 9 2008
An ex-employee of recruitment firm Hays has been ordered to disclose details of his profile at social networking site LinkedIn. Mark Ions set up a rival agency and is accused of using LinkedIn to steal clients. He says Hays encouraged his use of the site.
Mon, Jun, 9 2008
Nine in ten web users want guidelines on what information the media can use from social networking sites and 78% would change the information they publish about themselves online if they thought it would later be reproduced in the mainstream media.
Mon, Jun, 9 2008
A Parliamentary committee has called on the Government to be more transparent about its uses of personal data and to adopt "a principle of data minimisation." Its report includes safeguards it recommends to avoid the UK becoming a surveillance society.
Thu, Jun, 5 2008
A Code of Practice to ensure that internet service providers (ISPs) offer greater clarity over customers’ broadband line speeds was published by Ofcom today. The Code does not require the disclosure of average speeds, but Ofcom said that might change.
Thu, Jun, 5 2008
Implementation of software is being delayed by complex procurement processes, according to 65% of IT directors and almost two-thirds say that dealing with vendors on software procurement has become increasingly complicated.
Wed, Jun, 4 2008
The Information Commissioner’s Office has today published new guidance to help organisations comply with the Data Protection Act when providing information about their employees under TUPE, the law that protects staff when a business is transferred.
Wed, Jun, 4 2008
One in four Facebook users would consider leaving their bank to be able to obtain online banking through Web 2.0 gadgets, according to research published today.
Wed, Jun, 4 2008
Reckless printing isn't just creating a huge carbon footprint by turning forests into the contents of landfill sites via office rubbish bins. Running off copies of documents also creates a forgotten security risk, according to ENISA.
Tue, Jun, 3 2008
Google has been urged to add a link from its search engine homepage to its privacy policy. An open letter sent today by US consumer and privacy groups echoes the call of an influential group of privacy law experts in Europe. Google has rejected the calls.
Tue, Jun, 3 2008
Google's system of keyword advertising faces a challenge in Europe's highest court that could change the way the system operates across the EU's 27 member states.
Tue, Jun, 3 2008
Police-ordered photography of an anti-arms trade protester did not breach the protester's privacy rights, the High Court has ruled.
