E-Commerce Law Week - 1/20/00

Issue 86, Week Ending January 15, 2000

• The new US Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) encryption export regulations are here. The new regulations, which went into effect last Friday, represent a sweeping decontrol of encryption hardware and software (including source code) exports.
  • "Revisions to Encryption Items; Interim Final Rule"
• Recent liberalizations in Japanese encryption controls suggest that industry positions will continue to dominate the country's agenda on encryption. This past summer, Japan decontrolled some encryption exports in accordance with the 1998 changes to the Wassenaar Arrangement, and it is likely that the government will carry out further liberalizations as needed, both to promote Japanese industry and avoid friction with the U.S. and other major trading partners.  
• While the US, Japan and other countries move in the direction of liberalizing encryption exports, several other Asian countries have also made the news recently for their new Internet surveillance initiatives. Last month in Kazakhstan, the government passed a resolution to establish a National Telecommunications Billing Center which will allegedly be used to monitor the volume of international voice and data communications in Kazakhstan. In China, the Public Security Bureau in Shanghai has issued a directive requiring corporate Internet users to submit "registration" forms that include their postal addresses and the name of their Internet Service Providers (ISPs) by January 30th. And on a more positive note, the Singapore government recently released guidelines that require ISPs to obtain consent prior to remotely scanning their customer's computers for viruses.  
• In Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp., a federal district court in California last month found that the display of copyrighted images by image search engine ditto.com is a "fair use" that does not violate the Copyright Act. The court also rejected a claim that the display of the images without associated "copyright management information" violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).  
• When the 106th Congress reconvenes on Monday, January 24, legislators will have several Internet-related issues on their plates. The topics that Congress may address in the upcoming session include: electronic signatures, Internet-related privacy issues, unsolicited bulk e-mail ("spam"), Internet taxation, Internet gambling and, despite last Friday's announcement of new encryption export regulations, perhaps even encryption legislation.