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This week's news on Out-Law.com
TMT & Sourcing & Intellectual Property
EU Commission will clarify website notice and takedown procedures
EU Commission will clarify website notice and takedown procedures
The European Commission will clarify the procedures for taking down and blocking
access to illegal content after complaints that the rules were unclear and
resulted in illegal content staying online for too long, it has said.
12/01/2012
ICANN opens application process for new 'top-level' domains
The organisation that oversees the addressing system for websites will consider
applications for new domains submitted from today.
12/01/2012
MPs express concern over unitary patent proposals
A plan for an EU-wide patent could lead to inconsistent decisions and high legal
costs, a committee of MPs has warned.
11/01/2012
Scottish authorities should be given more time to pursue FOI evaders, says outgoing watchdog
Authorities should have at least double the time they currently do to bring
prosecutions against people who amend official records to prevent material being
released under freedom of information (FOI) laws, the outgoing Scottish
Information Commissioner has said.
10/01/2012
Public should be informed whenever phone-tracking technology is used, says expert
The public should be informed when a building or facility operator uses systems
to track the location and movements of mobile phones, a data privacy expert has
said.
09/01/2012
Amazon obtains patent for 'one-click' payment method in Canada
The Canadian Patent Office has granted online retail giant Amazon a patent for a
'one-click' payment method for processing transactions, according to reports.
06/01/2012
Employment
Nearly one third of businesses might terminate contracts early to avoid Agency Workers Regulations, recruiters claim
Nearly one third of businesses which take on temporary staff and contractors are
expected to end contracts early to avoid new laws giving those workers the same
employment and working conditions as permanent staff, according to a poll of
recruitment companies.
10/01/2012
Energy
Smart meter technology is privacy intrusive, researchers claim
Researchers have said that they have intercepted unencrypted smart meter data and used it to uncover details that represent an intrusion into user privacy. 11/01/2012
Construction
Government must do more to address PFI funding concerns says Treasury Committee
Proposed changes to the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) do not fully address
concerns that it is being used as a way of keeping the cost of major
infrastructure projects off the Government's balance sheet, an influential
committee of MPs has said.
11/01/2012
HS2 legislation should be passed more quickly, says expert
The Government should not delay new laws to allow a £32 billion national high
speed rail network to go ahead, an infrastructure law expert has said.
10/01/2012
Banks
Banks will be allowed to dip into liquidity reserves during financial
difficulties, says international banking committee
Banks will be allowed to go below new minimum liquidity levels set by global
regulators in times of particular financial difficulty, a group of international
banking supervisors has announced.
10/01/2012
Manufacturing
Government must do more for recycling to avoid material shortages, manufacturers
say
The Government must develop a more "ambitious" approach to waste management in
order to tackle the shortage of materials that the manufacturing industry sees
as its biggest threat, the industry has said.
09/01/2012
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