IMPACT®

International Code of Advertising Practice: ICC publishes new version

The International Chamber of Commerce has published a new version of it's International Code of Advertising Practice. The new version governs all types of marketing - previously there were different codes for different types.

It looks like the new code will have implications for all marketers - the stricter rules that previously just applied to electronic marketing (email, text messages) now appear to apply to other forms too. I haven't had a chance to look at the new Code properly yet so watch this space for an overview soon.

Go to the Code

Global review of Freedom of Information laws available online

A review of freedom of information law and practice across the world has been published online by Privacy International. The review was led by David Baniser, a Research Fellow at the University of Leed's School of Law. To quote David in the Forward:

The previous two years have been an exciting time for those promoting and using the right of access to information. Countries on every continent have adopted laws. Others have amended and improved their laws. International rights and duties through the UN and other international bodies have emerged. Innovation has flourished. A new breed of national oversight bodies - the Information Commission and public interests tests have now become commonplace.

Go to the Review

.mobi Domain Names Now Available to all

The BBC reports that .mobi domain names are now available for registration by the general public. The organisation charged with overseeing the domain name registration, Mobile Top Level Domain (MTLD), expects 200,000 mobile sites to be registered in the next year during a so-called "land rush".

To avoid the issues with cybersquatters and speculators  mentioned in our earlier blog about Tom Cruise you might want to consider securing a .mobi registration for your brand.

RFID consultation - last day for responding

Earlier this month I posted an article about the EU RFID public consultation. Tomorrow is the last day for responding to the consultation.

AOL sued by 3 members for disclosing search queries

Internet giant AOL is being sued in the USA by 3 of its members for accidentally placing details of their search queries on its research website. The search queries were publicly available for 3 months. This meant that the public could view what these members had been searching the web for.

The legal action argues that AOL:

• Infringed on their privacy
• Failed to make the search queries secure
• Should stop collecting search queries.

The legal action is based upon US law. The US does not have any comprehensive data protection/privacy legislation equivalent to the UK Data Protection Act so the action argues infringement of the Californian Electronic Communications Privacy Act and some Californian "fair business" laws.

We're not US lawyers so we're not going to mull over whether this action is likely to succeed. However, the action goes to show (as if you didn't already know) that:

• Data protection is important
• One aspect of this - keeping your customers information private and secure - is particularly important
• If you fail to protect the personal data that you hold, you risk damage to your reputation and getting sued

It only gets worse for AOL. Whilst at the moment the class action is by 3 members, those members are inviting other AOL members whose search queries were disclosed to join the action. According to Richard Wray's story about the action in the Guardian Technology section, this means that the action could end up being for as much as $658 million.

What others say about the legal action

Internetnews.com story

Contractor UK story

Guardian Technology story

BBC & Microsoft sign a deal to create next generation of BBC websites

The BBC and Microsoft have done a deal for the revamping of the BBC's websites. A "memorandum of understanding" has been signed. The deal is non-exclusive, meaning that the BBC can still use the talent of other IT firms where it wants to.

According to a Guardian Technology article today:

The memorandum of understanding aims to identify areas of common interest between the BBC and Microsoft on which a strategic alliance could be developed.

It sounds like the revamp aims to make the most of all those exciting "Web 2.0" features that have made a success of the likes of Flickr and Youtube. The Guardian story quotes the Director General, Mark Thompson, as saying that the revamp includes:

"plans for its online archive, for a radically reinvented website in the web 2.0 world - a second generation of internet-based services - and for ways to share its online content in the future." 

The BBC's websites are already fantastic so the IMPACT bods are looking forward to seeing the revamp take shape.

Read the BBC news story

Freedom of Information: latest decision notices

Just a quick overview of the latest Decision Notices from the Information Commissioner. There have only been a few since our previous update last month:

• Mr S Sugar - Jurisdiction. (To do with a request for information made by Mr Sugar to the BBC). The issue was whether or not a letter issued by the Information Tribunal was a decision notice. If it was then the Information Tribunal had jurisdiction to deal with Mr Sugar's challenge to the letter. If it was not, Mr Sugar would have to seek judicial review of the letter in the High Court. Decision: The letter was a decision notice, and said it would have been strange if Parliament had intended that issues over the letter could only be decided by judicial review. The BBC was a public authority for the purposes of the Act.
• Mr S Sugar - Derogation. (The same Mr Sugar as the previous decision notice - to do with the same request for information). Mr Sugar had requested a copy of the Balen Report from the BBC. The report was about the BBC's coverage of events in the Middle East. The BBC argued that the report was exempt from disclosure under the Act because it was being held for purposes of journalism - a specific exemption that the BBC has under Part VI of Schedule 1 of the Act. The Act doesn't define "journalism". Decision: The BBC could not withhold the Balen Report from disclosure because it wasn't being held for the purposes of journalism. The Tribunal invited the parties to suggest, within 20 days, how Mr Sugar's request should be dealt with following this decision.
• Mr G Marlow. The Tribunal had declined to issue a decision notice to Mr Marlow on the same subject matter in December 2005. The subject was a request by Mr Marlow for information from Melton Borough Council which he alleged the Council had failed to comply with. Decision: The Tribunal replaced the previous decision notice with a new one, in which it found that the Council had complied with Mr Marlow's request by providing information in response to it.

You can go to Decision Notices direct from IMPACT - see the bottom of the right hand column of the blog.

Freedom of Information Act: extend the boundaries of openness, Whitehall is urged

A senior academic is pushing for Whitehall to embrace the Freedom of Information Act. In the September issue of Public Money & Management (PMM) magazine, Michael Hunt, Senior lecturer in Public Administration at Sheffield Hallam University, argues:

"The real success of the Freedom of Information Act will be the confidence acquired by both government and the public to extend the boundaries of openness in a way that improves the nature of democracy in the modern state."

Resources

Egov story

Politics.co.uk story

William Hill stops taking US bets

William Hill has announced that it has stopped taking bets from US customers because of uncertainties over the US legal environment for gambling. Read the full story on the BBC news website.

Public authorities can share more info: Dept of Constitutional Affairs

The Department of Constitutional Affairs has issued a vision statement advocating more information sharing between public sector bodies and setting out the benefits. The statement makes clear that this information sharing can be done within the current legal regime:

• "There are enormous benefits to sharing information... There is already a lot of information being shared within the present legal framework - but within existing law we can and must do more. We must, of course, properly use the provisions in the Data Protection Act as a safeguard to protect privacy and confidentiality but it must not be used to justify unnecessary barriers to sharing information. Our vision is to ensure that information will be shared to expand opportunities for the most disadvantaged, fight crime and provide better public services for citizens and business, and in other instances where it is in the public interest."

The vision statement is quite short, so take a look if you've got a couple of minutes spare today.

Some commentators are critical of the statement (see the comments from The Register, link below) but my personal view is that, despite its brevity, the statement's message is positive and to be welcomed.

Public bodies have in the past appeared uncertain about what they can share and to what extent. One way of getting the position sorted within these bodies would be for them to work together to produce "information sharing policies" which give detailed guidance to staff within the bodies.

Read what others have say about the statements

Government Departments Don't Share (Naked Law blog)

Gov spins information sharing (The Register)

Data sharing climbs government agenda (VNUnet)