EC proposes a single EU-wide selection of mss operators

Posted on August 24, 2007 | Filed Under spectrum policy

motorola-iridium-9505.jpgSince its Radio Spectrum Decision from 2002 the European Commission argues for a common, more market-based, approach to spectrum allocation. If common european rules were established certain bands of radio spectrum could be managed more effectively. This week’s EC decision proposal therefore advocates for a single EU-wide selection and authorisation procedure for operators that want to offer EU-wide mobile satellite services, ranging from high-speed internet access to mobile television and portable satellite phones. Until now operators of satellite communications were licensed by national authorities without a coordinated approach to selection and authorisation. System operators therefore must obtain licenses for each member state individually, a situation that leads to a fragmented market of mobile satellite services. The proposed decision introduces a selection of the operators of systems of mobile satellite services at European level. However, a “european FCC” is still not in sight, meaning that operators will still be authorised by each Member State, but subject to a number of harmonised authorisation conditions.

About this Post
author: gregor | Permalink | | Print This Article | Leave a Comment

How are Europe’s children tackling online risks?

Posted on August 13, 2007 | Filed Under communication technologies, digital content

photo_internet_safety.jpgAlready 1996 the Commission indicated the need for adaptation of current regulations for the protection of minors in the advent of new audiovisual and information services in its Green Paper on the Legal Protection of Minors and Human Dignity in Audiovisual and Information Services . Online illegal and harmful content is not only easily accessable and often found unintentionally, but its source is also difficult, sometimes maybe even impossible, to identify compared to traditional broadcasting. As a follow-up to the Council Recomendation 98/560/EC, calling for the implementation of national self-regulation frameworks, the Commission introduced the Safer Internet Action Plan to meet this challenge. The idea behind the plan is to foster a favourable environment for the development of the Internet industry by promoting safe use of the Internet and combating illegal or harmful content by three lines of action:

  • creating a safer environment by establishing a European network and encouraging self-regulation and codes of conduct;
  • developing filtering tools;
  • raising awareness.

From a recent Eurobarometer survey the EC hopes to gain information on how to refine the EU’s Safer Internet programme to best contribute to internet safety. In the survey children of 9-10 and 12-14 years old from all 27 EU Member States plus Norway and Iceland were asked in-depth about how they use online technologies, and how they would react to problems and risks when using the internet. The survey shows that children use the internet mainly for online gaming, surfing and communication several times a day. The EC has issued a press release, which also quotes Commissioner Viviane Reding:

“It is encouraging to see Europe’s youth embrace digital technologies so confidently. The capability of making active use of new media is key for the development of a knowledge-based society in Europe. At the same time, these survey results underline Europe’s need for proactive online media education. We must also continue to raise awareness about the opportunities and risks of new media, especially among parents. Where the security of our children is at stake, there can be no room for complacency.”

About this Post
author: gregor | Permalink | | Print This Article | Leave a Comment

it’s silly season … let’s shut down the net

Posted on August 8, 2007 | Filed Under digital content

elton.jpgDuring silly season we’re regularly blessed with more or less entertaining absurdities by the media. Of particular interest was Sir Elton John’s article ‘Why we must close the net’ published on August 1st in the british paper The SUN. He claims the internet is destroying good music, because it “has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff” and continues saying: Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet. I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span. (there is a good comment on that at createdigitalmusic.com)
The European Commission however thinks otherwise. The creation of an open and competitive single market for online content is one of the key aims of the EU’s i2010 initiative. Due to arrive in the second half of 2007 - after silly season I guess - is a communication on content online, which is intended to encourage the development of innovative business models and to promote the cross-border delivery of different kinds of online content. Several contributions on questions regarding the rapid convergence of audiovisual media, broadband networks and electronic devices were made in a public consultation procedure to help shape the communication and are available online. Not suprisingly Sir Elton was not part of the contributors; in my favourite quote of the SUN article he says: Let’s get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging. Although I do not agree with Sir Elton and will not be marching for protest, I will still stop blogging for now and leave my PC to join an “analogue” live session of the australian band architecture in helsinki.

About this Post
author: gregor | Permalink | | Print This Article | 3 Comments

Goodbye Privacy - Fundamental Rights in the Digital World

Posted on August 4, 2007 | Filed Under events / publications

video surveillanceComing up this September: the annual “Ars Electronica Festival” in Linz, Upper Austria, a festival for art, technology and society. For the first time this year there will be a Theme Symposium, called “Goodbye Privacy - Fundamental Rights in the Digital World”, jointly organized by the fundamental rights section of the Austrian Judges’ Accociation and the Ars Electronica Center. It takes place on the 5th/6th of September, speakers include Joi Ito (”activist, entrepreneur, member of the board of directors of Creative Commons, ICANN and WITNESS”), Viktor Mayer-Schönberger of Harvard University, Wolf-Dietrich Grussmann of the EU Commission, DG INFSO, and lots of others, including for instance fellow blogger Dragana Damjanovic of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, and Maria Berger, the Austrian Minster of Justice. Registration is open (languages are English and German, admission is free, to register send an e-mail to Christian Hubmer).

PS: I have to disclose a personal interest: I will moderate the first panel.

About this Post
author: hans peter | Permalink | | Print This Article | Leave a Comment

The full force of competition law …

Posted on August 2, 2007 | Filed Under communication technologies

Commissioner Viviane Reding today presented a website to benchmark how mobile operators in all 27 Member States have applied the Roaming Regulation. In the press release Reding welcomed “that many operators offered the new Eurotariff as the holiday season began” and concluded that the “interplay between regulation and the voluntary anticipation of the regulated tariffs by industry appears to benefit consumers”.

So we can rest relieved, although

“in a few cases – the exception rather than the rule – we [Reding’s pluralis majestatis] note attempts to delay the effects of the regulation by non-transparent or possibly even anti-competitive behaviour. These will have to be analysed very carefully by national and European regulators. If we find evidence for behaviour that violates the law, the EU Roaming Regulation foresees sanctions which could be complemented by the full force of competition law.” [emphasis added]

Wow! Judging from past experience in the application of competition law to international roaming, this is not what one would call “credible threats” in regulation theory.

So we will see how the full “force of this commission” (Shakespeare, King Henry VIII, Act I, Scene 2) will work out this time. Is this a Commission “against whose fury and unmatched force / the aweless lion could not wage the fight” (King John, Act I, Scene 1), or can operators rest assured that “her feeble force will yield at length” (The Passionate Pilgrim, Sonnet XIX)?

Since the Roaming Regulation is a prestige public relations legislation project of the Commission, this time I do believe that operators will have to comply; as Shakespeare wrote in Richard II (Act III, Scene 3):

For do we must what force will have us do.

PS: “What is decreed must be, and be this so.” (Twelfth Night, Act I Scene 5)

About this Post
author: hans peter | Permalink | | Print This Article | Leave a Comment