Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Co-regulation - Ofcom's view

Ofcom has released its final post-consultation report on its approach to co-regualation - the result of a 2-year process. It is largely a very well-written and researched and sensible document - I would have liked more emphasis on sustainability and 'mission creep' of self- and co-regulatory bodies but that's my report for the EXC - if you want your own work, write it yourself!

Excellent work by Tom Keidrowski and his team!
"We also received a link to the RAND study for the European Commission in the response
from Dr. Chris Marsden. The study examined a range of national schemes, including the
IMCB, ATVOD, ICSTIS, Nominet and IWF in the UK, as part of an evaluation of potential coand
self-regulatory solutions for online services. Similarly to our view - that a spectrum of
options is available when addressing particular issues -, the RAND study proposes a
‘Beaufort scale of self-regulation’ based on the degree of government intervention. While the
published study was an evaluation of schemes, it veered toward a view that there was merit
in considering co-regulation rather than purely self-regulation in many instances."

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Legislation on privacy before net neutrality in US?

California liberal Henry Waxman will be new head of the Commerce Committee, replacing Bellhead John Dingell. That makes both privacy and NN legislation more likely. Frannie Wellings, assistant to Sen. Dorgan, certainly expects that.

Meanwhile in the EU, the mini-super-regulator has been voted down by the Council of Ministers, and we grind on to the 2nd Reading in Parliament...

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

AVMS agreed December 2007

The European Parliament formally approved without amendments the Council's common position on the new Audiovisual Media Services without frontiers Directive.

Ofcom paper on convergence

In preparation for Monica Arino's seminar Wednesday at 12, you might find this new paper interesting: http://www.culture.gov.uk/Convergence/submissions/seminar1/ofcom_update4feb08.pdf