E-Commerce Law Week, Issue 336

In Germany, Email Blocking May Be Illegal
Spammers rejoice! A German court may just have criminalized spam filters. According to a recent ruling by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Karlsruhe, Germany, companies and universities that selectively block email messages from a specific sender may be in violation of German law. The ruling, issued on January 10, is the first of its kind on this topic by a German higher regional court and will force a criminal investigation against the person(s) responsible for blocking the emails.

This decision has implications for companies offering email or spam filtering services in Germany, as well as companies that filter the email of their German-based employees' for spam. Such companies would be well-advised to ensure that their spam filters and email services do not inadvertently violate this law by blocking messages without their customers' or employees' knowledge. Otherwise, they might just find themselves on the wrong end of a German inquisition.

FTC Asks Industry to Weigh in Again on COPPA Sliding Scale
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that seeks to make permanent the parental consent "sliding scale" originally set forth in its Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) final rule and set to expire April 21, 2005. The FTC "sliding scale" mechanism for obtaining verifiable parental consent prior to collecting, using, or disclosing the personal information of children under 13 years of age was initially conceived as a temporary tool that the FTC hoped would be quickly replaced by cheaper, more reliable, technology-based methods of obtaining verifiable parental consent. But according to the FTC, such new solutions have not become available. 

New York, Ohio Join List of States Appealing FCC's Vonage Decision
On January 7, New York and Ohio joined the list of states that have petitioned for review of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Vonage order. In that order, the FCC declared exclusive federal jurisdiction over the regulation of certain aspects of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. In addition, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates -- an association of 42 advocate offices designated by various state laws to represent the interests of utility consumers -- filed a separate petition on January 11.

Questions and comments about E-Commerce Law Week are always welcome. Please send your feedback to Sally Albertazzie.