New GAC Principles

ICANN’s Government Advisory Council (GAC) is currently updating the GAC Principles for Delegation and Administration of ccTLD Registries. The final draft is now available for downloading. I haven’t had a chance to review both documents but the following provisions are, I think, relevant to the rules issued by the CICT affecting the PH domain (emphasis are mine):
1.2. The main principle is the principle of subsidiarity. ccTLD policy should be set locally, unless it can be shown that the issue has global impact and needs to be resolved in an international framework. Most of the ccTLD policy issues are local in nature and should therefore be addressed by the local Internet Community, according to national law. Does this mean that the local ccTLD policy must be embodied in a statute, not a regulatory issuance? Moreover, if dotPH can show that the issue of redelegation has global impact, can it petition ICANN for a resolution within an international framework?
(more…)

My Favorite Lawyer

(Pic grabbed from here)

Meet Lionel Hutz, educated at Harvard, Yale, MIT, Oxford, the Sorbonne, and the Louvre. He practices law at the “I Can’t Believe It’s A Law Firm™” located conveniently in the Springfield Shopping Mall.

Here’s how he prepares for trials: “Mr. Simpson, don’t you worry. I watched Matlock in a bar last night. The sound wasn’t on, but I think I got the gist of it.” (more…)

The Irony Behind the Geico-Google Trademark Suit

In a lawsuit pending before a Federal Court in Virginia,  Google is being sued for its AdWords Program  which allows Google advertisers to have links to their sites appear in the “Sponsored Links” portion of the Google results page.  Geico claims that when people place the search term “Geico”, the results page returns links to Geico’s competitors.  According to the plaintiff, this constitutes trademark infringement because it creates customer confusion. 

In the context of the Internet and in particular, to the searching capabilities of Google, this is a patently baseless suit.  (more…)

BPO-Call Centers and the IT Industry

A friend recently told me that their group (composed of HR practitioners working in the IT industry) is resisting admitting HR people from call-center or BPO companies on the ground that the latter does not form part of the IT industry. The logic goes that these companies are mere users of IT. They don’t create IT products or perform strictly IT services. After all, if an artist trades in his brushes for a mouse, he doesn’t become an IT worker, does he? And the movie and music industry aren’t part of the IT industry just because their products work on computers, are they? If IT only serves as an enabler in a company, it doesn’t make it an IT company. (more…)

The Supremes on File Sharing

The New York Times reports that the US Supreme Court has decided to hear the file-sharing case filed by the music industry against Grokster and Streamcast.  This will be an important decision and like the Sony Betamax case, it will determine which way innovation will move on the Internet.  If the Court rules in favor of the music industry, it would mean that Copyright holders can exercise greater control over technologies that affect their commercial interests.  Greater control creates a larger drag because innovators would be required to seek prior permission from copyright holders.  (more…)

VoIP and Phone Call Centers

 The following was posted on one of the mailing lists:

There are phone call centers in some provinces in Luzon that offering as low as 7 pesos per minute international calls. They have telephone sets connected to DSL. Is this legal?

If the phone call centers are offering services to the public in general, then they’re technically violating the law (i.e., the Public Service Law and the Public Telecoms Policy Act) because no telecommunications service can be offered to the public without a franchise and a license from the NTC. (more…)

World Bank WebCast on Legal Framework for eDevelopment

The World Bank’s eDevelopment Services Thematic Group will hold a seminar entitled “Legal Framework for e-Development:Best Practices and Lessons Learned“ on December 14, 2004.  It will be webcast at 9pm EST. For a copy of the program, click here.

San Isidro de Sevilla, Tulungan Mo Kami!

While the CICT takes on the “ICT RoadMap” challenge from GMA, we should all to pray to St. Isodore of Seville, the patron saint of  computers, computer users, computer programmers, and the Internet. 

ICT Roadmap?

The Philippine Star reports that the President has ordered the CICT to draw up an ICT Roadmap “ that will not only interconnect the entire country through the Internet but would also explore the full potentials of the country’s knowledge economy.”

Say again? (more…)

Christmas in the Supreme Court

I was at the Supreme Court this afternoon and saw this Christmas tree in the lobby.  The picture (taken from a phone) does no justice to the tree (no pun intended).  I considered for a moment if its presence constituted a violation of the State-Church separation doctrine.  After all, Christmas trees are for Christmas which is a religious celebration of Christians.  I wonder what our non-Christian brothers will say.

An Intellectual Giant Blogs

I just found out from Lessig’s blog that Judge Richard Posner  is now blogging.  I studied Posner’s work in a class I took on the Economic Analysis of Law with Steven Shavell.   I’m drawn to the field and I hope to integrate it into some of the courses I’m teaching.  Anyway,  I’m happy to have yet another great blog to read. (more…)

Internet Governance: US DOC, UN, WGIG, WSIS, ITU & ICANN

Internet governance acronyms multiply with complexity.

As ICANN holds one of its quarterly meetings in Cape Town,  Internet Governance looms large.  Basically, the UN and the ITU organized the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) which formed the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) which will, in turn, submit a report on the matter for the 2nd phase of the WSIS in Tunisia.  Essentially, the UN/ITU/WSIS/WGIG mix want to wrest from ICANN the control or management of the DNS .  Currently,  ICANN acts in behalf of and under contract with the US government (after an interesting series of events captured in Milton Mueller’s extraordinary book “Ruling the Root“). (more…)

Typhooned Out

As “Yoyong” - a Category 4 typhoon - slams into  the Philippines, I pray we all get through this  in one piece. For those who would like to help, you can donate food or money to Project Noah at the Loyola House of Studies in Ateneo De Manila.  The image is from NASA’s Earth Observatory Site

Which Spongebob Character are you?

Spongebob - Congratulations, you are Spongebob!
You’d love to work at the Krusty Krab 24/7, and
you don’t care if everyone knows! I’m Ready!

Which Spongebob character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

CyberSexual Harassment

Today’s Philippine Star Nation section headlines a story about  Internet Prostitution.  Apparently, there are women out there who engage in cybersex with foreign men and for money.  The article claims that the following laws were violated: “Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, Republic Act 9208 known as the Anti Trafficking of Persons Act of 2003, and the Special Law for the Protection of Women and Children enacted under Republic Act 7610.”   Without going through all of them, I dare say that if the women were not minors and engaged in this endeavor voluntarily, no crime is committed.  Can it be prostitution if there’s no physical contact?  Can it be pornography if the sound and images are not published but intended only for one person?   Can there be a crime if this activity occurs between two (2) consenting adults? (more…)

More on the Supreme Court’s E-Library

A student of mine, Gerard Chan, pointed out to me that there is a separate site for the Court’s E-Library program.  It must be a site under construction because not all the links work.  Plus, it’s not very inviting because of the “username/password” box prominently diplayed on the home page.  Is this for public access or not?  There is a strange link appearing on the upper right hand corner (the link leads to CD Asia), the leading commercial provider of Supreme Court decisions, laws, executive issuances, and other legal information.  I don’t understand why the link exists. If the Court succeeds in drawing users to their E-Library, then it threatens CD Asia’s business.  Strange bedfellows, indeed. (more…)

FSF Freebie - Free Culture

When I was in Harvard, I joined the Free Software Foundation as an associate member. I saw that an annual meeting was approaching and I figured it was worth $60 to see and hear Richard Stallman in person. Anyway, my $60 is still working because I just got a free copy of Larry Lessig’s Free Culture. Whoo hoo!

The Supreme Court’s E-Library

I recently attended the launching of the Supreme Court’s E-Library which is basically a reworking of the decisions and other issuances posted on the Court’s site. For purposes of this discussion, I’ll focus on that part of the site featuring court decisions.

From the home page, it’s clear that you need to click on the Jurisprudence link but once you do this, a navigation bar appears on the left. But it’s so small that I often click on the link many times before I realize the navbar has even opened. You then need to choose whether you’re looking for a Decision, Resolution, Circulars & Orders or an Administrative Matter. What’s the difference between them? I’m not entirely sure. (more…)

Richard Epstein Open Source Sustainability

Thanks to Michael Geist’s BNA Updates, I found the New Economic Policy Forum on the Financial Times site where James Boyle, Richard Epstein, Thomas Hazlett and Eli Noam publish columns about (what else?) the New Economy. Richard Epstein writes about the unsustainability of Open Source and I can’t help but comment. (more…)