Hi, Here is your weekly round-up of highlights from OUT-LAW News. As always, click the links to read the full stories of the summaries below or see these and many other stories from this week's news at http://www.out-law.com/page-5951. You can also now access our archive of weekly emails at http://www.out-law.com/page-7793. The OUT-LAW Team ***This week's highlights from OUT-LAW News*** 1. Careless and inexcusable data lapses slammed by UK privacy chief The Government and some of Britain's largest companies are guilty of "careless and inexcusable" data security lapses leading to serious breaches of privacy, the Information Commissioner has said. 11/07/2007 http://www.out-law.com/page-8259 2. In-house lawyers under threat from whistleblowing duty In-house lawyers can be under a greater obligation than other staff to act as a whistleblower within firms, even though they are not always protected by whistleblowing legislation, according to a Law Society Group. 11/07/2007 http://www.out-law.com/page-8256 3. Deal struck on the phone is binding, rules High Court An oral contract over the phone is binding, the High Court has ruled in a multi-million pound case which threatened to undermine the way the world of high finance operates. The verbal agreement did not have to be in writing, the court found. 10/07/2007 http://www.out-law.com/page-8255 4. Men jailed for inciting terrorism on the internet Three men have been jailed for their use of the internet to incite terrorism. The three were convicted after entering a late change of plea to 'guilty' earlier this week. 09/07/2007 http://www.out-law.com/page-8241 5. ISP told to block file-sharing in landmark case An internet service provider in Belgium must screen traffic for music piracy, a court has ruled in a decision which overturns conventional thinking on how two major European directives relate to one another. 06/7/2007 http://www.out-law.com/page-8239 6. Our data retention is not data protection watchdogs' business, says Google privacy boss The retention of search engine query data is a security matter and not one for Europe's data protection officials, according to Google's global privacy chief. Peter Fleischer said that its retention of user search data was "just not their field". 06/07/2007 http://www.out-law.com/page-8233 ***OUT-LAW Radio*** We talk to the lawyer taking on the first copyright spat to hit virtual world Second Life, and we hear why your boss might own your Facebook profile. 12/07/2007 http://www.out-law.com/page-7212 ***About this email*** This is a weekly email for subscribers of OUT-LAW.COM, a website run by international law firm Pinsent Masons of 30 Aylesbury Street, London, EC1R 0ER. Feel free to forward this email to your friends. If someone forwarded this email to you and you'd like your own subscription, register free at http://www.out-law.com. Existing subscribers: you can manage your profile at http://www.out-law.com/page-520. The email address for this subscription is <>. Feel free to give us your feedback by replying to this email. To unsubscribe, please reply with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. (We'd also appreciate you telling us why you've decided to unsubscribe.)