Ofcom targets ‘slamming’ offenders and to make switching easier
Ofcom, the UK’s telecoms regulator, has proposed a set of measures to allow broadband and landline customers to switch providers more easily and to better protect them from being switched to another...
View ArticleGoogle told to postpone privacy policy update by Article 29 Working Party
Google recently announced its plans to introduce one privacy policy to cover all of its uses of personal data across all the services it offers worldwide; currently Google has separate privacy policies...
View ArticleEuropean Banking Authority asks for ban on “.bank” and “.fin” domain names
The European Banking Authority (EBA) has urged the Internet Cooperation for Assigned Names (ICANN) to withdraw the availability of “.bank” and “.fin” general top level domain names (gTLDs). ICANN...
View ArticleInformation Commissioner’s Office gives mixed reaction to proposed new EU...
The Information Commissioner’s Office – the UK’s data protection regulator – has given a mixed reaction to the proposed new European Union’s data protection laws. Overall, the ICO welcomes a lot of the...
View ArticleMore criticism of Google’s privacy changes
On 1 March 2012, Google consolidated all of its privacy policies into one, so that personal data collected through one Google service can be shared with other Google services such as YouTube, Gmail and...
View ArticleThe Pirate Bay going the same way as Newzbin – Dramatico Entertainment Ltd...
Following the recent ruling in favour the British Recorded Music Industry (BPI) that Internet service providers (ISPs) must block access to Newzbin2, a website that offers users a search engine and...
View ArticleDigital Economy Act lives on, again – R (British Telecommunications plc and...
BT and TalkTalk, the Internet service providers (ISPs), have seen their appeal in the judicial review of the Digital Economy Act 2010 (DEA) rejected by the Court of Appeal. They had argued that the DEA...
View ArticleCNIL questions sent to Google about new privacy policy
Following on-going criticism about Google’s implementation of a new privacy policy, CNIL, the French data protection regulator, has asked Google to answer 69 questions about the move. The new privacy...
View ArticleUK teenage website operator faces extradition to US for making money out of...
A UK man who was a teenager when he operated the tvshack.net website is facing extradition to the US after the Home Secretary approved the US’s request. Richard O’Dwyer’s site made £150,000 from...
View ArticleGovernment proposes intermediary role for ISPs in new Defamation Bill
The Government has proposed that intermediaries such as Internet service providers act as “liaison points” between authors of allegedly defamatory comments and the people about whom the allegations are...
View ArticleHigh Court does not consider Google a publisher in relation to blogs on its...
In April 2011, a blog named “London Muslim” published an article on Blogger.com, a blogging platform operated by Google Inc. The article was about Mr Tamiz, a former Conservative Party local election...
View ArticleFacebook counter-sues in Yahoo! patent fight
Facebook has hit back against Yahoo! in the latest round of a patent spat. Facebook has accused Yahoo! of infringing some of Facebook’s patents relating to online recommendations and photo-tagging....
View ArticleApp withdrawn following privacy complaints
A Russian app-developer has withdrawn an app from the market following privacy complaints. The “Girls Around Me” app allowed users to find women nearby who had “checked in” to a social network. The app...
View ArticleInternet filtering law to restrict access to pornographic material proposed
A new Bill proposed to Parliament, if approved, would oblige Internet service providers (ISPs) to prevent customers from accessing pornographic images unless those customers have specifically notified...
View ArticleRegulators’ body advises that consent needed for use of image recognition...
The Article 29 Working Party has advised that social networking sites such as Facebook should get specific consent from users before suggesting to other users that photos those subsequent users are...
View ArticleNew cookie law to be enforced from 26th May
The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 will be enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office from 26 May 2012. The Regulations require website...
View ArticleMarathon data publication to be investigated by Information Commissioner’s...
The London Marathon organisers are being investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Office after the names, email addresses and home addresses of all 38,000 participants in this year’s competition...
View ArticleWeb site operator may be liable for site to which it links – McGrath v...
McGrath sued Professor Richard Dawkins and various others for allegedly defamatory material posted on a web site. This was an application by the defendants to strike out the claim. The most interesting...
View ArticleTripAdvisor latest to complain about Google’s alleged abuse of dominant...
TripAdvisor has become the latest business to complain that Google has allegedly abused its dominant position in the way it displays search results. TripAdvisor alleges that the search engine giant...
View ArticleECJ rules that infringements claims based on keywords can be heard by courts...
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that, where an action is brought for trade mark infringement by using, for example, Google’s “adwords”, that action can be heard by the courts in the...
View ArticleHigh Court orders that The Pirate Bay should be blocked
The High Court recently ruled that both the operators and users of The Pirate Bay file-sharing website were guilty of infringing copyright. That ruling came in response to an application by a number of...
View ArticleGovernment announces Defamation Bill in Queen’s Speech
The Government has announced in the Queen’s Speech that it will propose a new Defamation Bill. The Government wants to see a better balance between free speech and protecting reputation. At the moment,...
View ArticleWeb site operator successfully sued for unknowingly infringing copyright by...
The owner of copyright in a photo has successfully sued a web site operator where that operator used the photo without the copyright owner’s permission. This was despite the web site operator not...
View ArticleICO issues new cookies guidance on the last working day before law goes live
The Information Commissioner’s Office – the UK’s data protection and privacy regulator – has issued guidance on cookies, just hours before the new law became live. Cookies are small files left on...
View ArticleWebsite users want more personalised ads but want to protect their privacy
55% of Internet users would rather the adverts are more personalised to what they want. Meanwhile, 90% are happy for sites to provide advertising if it means that they do not have to pay. 89% said that...
View ArticleConsumer had case to not pay for online bets made using his account despite...
Cochrane signed up to be a user of Spreadex’s online betting service. In the sign-up process, he ticked a box agreeing to their terms and conditions. He made a series of bets. Then, having left his...
View ArticleASA considers subjectivity of advertising claims
Geartronics Limited operated a website that sold gearbox systems. Pro-Shift Limited challenged a number of claims that Geartronics made on the website, such as: - the website was the “Home of the...
View ArticleAffiliate marketing network provides undertakings to OFT
MoreNiche Limited (M), a company which runs an online network for 30 merchant businesses and nearly 150,000 affiliate marketing businesses, has given legal undertakings to the Office of Fair Trading...
View ArticleICO’s Google Street View investigation back on the road
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has reopened an investigation into Google’s Street View service. The initial investigation was looking into the alleged unlawful collection of personal...
View ArticleASA tries to repair damage caused by non-compliant website
M Blue Limited (MBL) operated a business that repaired video game consoles. On its website, MBL listed the various repairs it could perform and the fees it charged for those repairs. A consumer asked...
View ArticleCash-strapped hospital given £325,000 data protection fine after data...
The Information Commissioner’s Office has handed out its biggest ever fine for breach of data protection laws: £325,000. The unlucky recipient of this record was Brighton and Sussex University...
View ArticleUK online retail is second biggest in world
The UK online retail market is now the second biggest in the world (after the US). Online sales will grow by 13% to £77bn this year. There are now an astonishing 230,000 online businesses in the UK, up...
View ArticleNike tweets causes ASA to issue guidance on sponsored advertising
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that tweets by the footballers Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshire breached the CAP Code because they were not sufficiently identified as advertising. The...
View ArticleEuropean Commission sues five countries for failing to implement cookies law
The European Commission is suing five countries for failure to implement the European Union laws that require users’ consent to use of cookies. The laws should have been implemented by May 2011. Only...
View ArticleITC rejects ACTA amid push to have it ratified anyway
The controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which would require European Union (EU) member states to put in place effective enforcement procedures to deal with counterfeiters, has...
View ArticleICO enquires about Tesco website after experts highlight concerns
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has confirmed that it will be making enquiries as to the security of Tesco’s website after a number of experts highlighted concerns as to the way it protects...
View ArticleGrowing numbers use online pharmacies
13% of UK pharmacy users who were surveyed online already use Internet pharmacies, with 14% prepared to do so in the next year. Those are the results of a survey of 1,000 people by Sempora Consulting,...
View ArticleEuropean Commission to suggest standard terms when using cloud service providers
The European Commission has announced that it will provide some model standard terms and conditions when businesses use cloud service providers. It is concerned with the current take-it-or-leave-it...
View ArticleOFT tells retailers to change websites for Christmas
In the Office of Fair Trading’s (OFT) annual sweep of popular retail websites for compliance with consumer laws, it has found that, out of 156 websites reviewed, 62 may be in breach. The OFT’s report...
View ArticleDfE needs education on data protection laws
The Department of Education has been rebuked by the Information Commissioner’s Office – the UK’s data protection regulator – after a website security flaw meant that parents who had responded to a...
View ArticleM-commerce could account for one quarter of online purchases by 2017
The independent retail analyst Verdict Research has predicted that m-commerce will grow by a staggering 504 per cent between 2013 and 2017 – resulting in almost £1 in every £4 being spent online...
View ArticleMobile coupon usage expected to rise by 30 per cent in 2013
A new report from Juniper Research has found that the number of consumers receiving coupons via mobile devices is expected to rise by 30 per cent in 2013 – meaning that more than 500m people worldwide...
View ArticleICO updates cookie policy to allow implied consent
The Information Commissioner’s Office is changing the way it gains user consent for setting cookies on its website. The ICO previously used a policy of asking first-time visitors to its website for...
View ArticleNo joy for Nominet’s new .uk domain names – so far…
The domain name registry for the “.uk” domain names, Nominet, has temporarily put on hold its plans to introduce new categories of “.uk” domain names. Nominet had asked for feedback on a planned...
View ArticleM-commerce continues to rise… but UK retailers are missing out
A study by Skava, a US-based mobile app company, has found that only 50 per cent of the top 100 UK retailers have optimized their websites for mobile devices, compared to 100 per cent of the top US...
View ArticleRetailers losing £2.3bn a year in revenue due to slow online payment processes
A study by Experian has found that online retailers are making customers spend more than five minutes verifying their identities - and its costing them billions in lost revenue. Experian says that...
View ArticleEuropean E-Commerce taskforce advises the UK Government on how to boost cross...
The European E-Commerce taskforce has published a report – Empowered Consumers, Unleashed Businesses - on cross-border e-commerce in the EU and advised retailers on how to increase international online...
View ArticleBusinesses rush to register for new .london domain name
ICANN has given the go ahead to a new domain name, .london, to the delight of Londoners everywhere. With the registration for the new Dot London Domain names due to open for business next spring,...
View ArticleNominet not fazed by poor start as amended .uk domain name proposal published
Nominet has announced a revised plan to launch a shorter .uk domain name despite previously receiving a poor response to its original proposal. Nominet made it clear earlier this year that whilst the...
View ArticleRevenge pornography law receives Royal Assent
The Criminal Justice and Courts Act has received Royal Assent. Amongst the changes brought about by the new law is a new law dealing with so-called “revenge pornography”. This is where someone who has...
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