eCommunications Overview

The communications and media industries have a huge impact on individuals, consumers and citizens. The UK needs this sector to be innovative, energetic and competitive, ready to respond to the challenges presented by today's - and tomorrow's – ever changing communications environment.

The Government is aiding this process by opening up competition, removing unnecessary burdens on business and streamlining the regulatory environment.

We will not compromise on quality. Viewers, listeners and customers continue to have a choice of high-quality services, and the assurance that their interests as consumers and citizens will be safeguarded.

We will put in place a framework that can better and more rapidly respond to developing and converging technologies, evolving markets and changing public attitudes and expectations.

With Ofcom as the single regulator for the communications industry, there will be greater certainty and clarity - decisions will be made after an assessment of their impact across all aspects of the industry.

Burdens on business will be kept to a minimum. We will crack down on market abuses, but the aim is to remove regulation, wherever possible.

The UK promotes competition, with the benefits that this brings in terms of investment, new management skills, dynamism and creativity.

Spam - an increasing global nuisance:

 “Spam” is the nickname for what we describe as any unsolicited marketing e-mail sent without the consent of the addressee and without any attempt at targeting on recipients who are likely to be interested in its contents.  Spam clogs up the e-mail inboxes of individual and corporate account subscribers, leading to annoyance, wasted time and resources and bulk volume handling problems for Internet Service Providers.  In addition to this, pornographic or ‘scam’ spam can be highly offensive to consumers, and levels of these types of spam are rising.

By July2004, spam was estimated to account for more than 65% of all global e-mail traffic, an increase of 23% since February 2003. (Brightmail - filter Software Company).

The DTI, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Information Commissioner (ICO) announced on Friday 2 July 2004 that they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States, the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for mutual assistance in the enforcement of spam laws.

You can download the MoU as a PDF document.

A full press release can be found on the GNN News site.
 

Information is also available on the following websites:

FTC.

Australian Communications Authority

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

***NEW***

Asian and European countries agree to work together to defeat spam criminals at the 2005 ASEM London conference.

 ‘Spam’ – unsolicited email – is no longer just an annoyance to internet users and a threat to business. It is also increasingly a vehicle for transnational crime and other illegal activities on a global scale.

In London this week, experts from Asia and Europe shared cutting-edge ideas and experience in order to try and arrive at a collaborative approach to defeat the ‘spammers’. 

 Today (Wednesday 23 February) Government participants at the conference adopted an ASEM Joint Statement on International Anti-Spam cooperation.

THE PROBLEMS:

The participants recognised:

• that the convenience and efficiency of electronic mail and the Internet  are seriously threatened by the extremely rapid growth in the volume of spam;

• the urgent need to address international spam enforcement cooperation and spam-related problems, such as online fraud and deception, so-called ‘zombie’ computers, phishing, and dissemination of viruses;

• the need to acknowledge the importance of freedom of expression;

• that governments alone cannot effectively tackle internet issues, and therefore global cooperation and public-private partnerships are essential;

• that the relevant laws and enforcement mechanisms need to be supported through awareness raising, industry self-regulation, technical solutions and partnerships between governments and the internet community; 

• that there is a need to ensure that appropriate local, regional and/or national enforcement authorities have a high degree of coordination and understanding of the problems created by unsolicited commercial communications and of the available remedies;

• the need for all to take appropriate security measures to protect their networks and personal computers;

 THE SOLUTIONS:

 In the statement, the participants:

•  agreed to engage in regular discussions and actions through their policy and enforcement officials with the aim of combating spam;

• agreed that anti-spam efforts should not only include legislation and enforcement, but also awareness raising, industry self-regulation, technical solutions and partnerships between governments and the internet community;

• encouraged communication and coordination among the different international bodies, public and private, who are developing cross-border policy, regulatory, technical, and other tools to combat spam;

• encouraged in particular all countries to set up appropriate structures to fight spam nationally, as a first step towards international cooperation;

• encouraged dialogue between public authorities and appropriate private sector representatives to promote ways in which the private sector can support governments and enforcement agencies in bringing spam cases and pursue their own initiatives to fight spam;

• reaffirmed their aim to work together to advance international cooperation in the fight against spam in relevant international fora such as ASEM.

The ASEM representatives also confirmed that a priority for ASEM countries would be to coordinate anti-spam efforts at domestic level, and at the international level between ASEM and the other international organizations dealing with spam, such as the EC and the OECD Spam Task Force.

Full Press Release in MS Word

Joint statement on International Anti-Spam Cooperation in MS Word

Find out more on SPAM and the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC).

The World Summit on the Information Society ( WSIS )

What is WSIS?

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is an international initiative supported by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The first phase of the World Summit  was held on the 10 December 2003, in Geneva, Switzerland and the second phase is scheduled to be held from 16 to 18 November 2005 in Tunis, Tunisia.

The UN General Assembly Resolution 56/183

Resolution 56/183 welcomed the Summit and described its aim as being "the development of a common vision and understanding of the information society and the adoption of a declaration and plan of action for implementation by Governments, international institutions and all sectors of civil society”.  It further encouraged contributions from all relevant UN bodies and other intergovernmental organisations, including the active participation of international and regional institutions, civil society including non-governmental organisations, and the private sector, in the intergovernmental preparatory process of the Summit and the Summit itself. 

Market Liberalisation in the Telecommunications Sector

The telecommunication sector is important for the development of the ICT sector as a whole, and as one of its crucial backbones, it contributes to the development of the world economy. Liberalisation in the sector has the potential to facilitate a step change in the ICT infrastructure of developing as well as developed countries, and therefore enhance their economic and social well-being altogether.

A carefully planned market opening, conducted in an open and transparent manner, allows market predictability - this is what attracts potential investors to the sector. Liberalisation can also be used indirectly to achieve objectives of universal access to services. Private investment and competition in the telecoms sector usually lead to increased supply of infrastructure and services. But strong and innovative approaches to sector reform can also ensure that marginalized groups or regions are not forgotten, without automatically deterring investors.

A comprehensive overview of Market Liberalisation in the Telecommunications sector with case studies is available.

Government Policy and the Future of eCommunications

Under our page Government Policy and the Future of eCommunications we set the goal to see the widest possible access to a choice of different and high-quality communications services. We can all gain something from these new services, we want every section of our society to have the benefits of these services, and use them to the full.

Markets in Transition

In Markets in Transition we examine the effects of digitisation in all sectors and if the explosive growth of the Internet has had the greatest impact on the market. The opportunities to compete in these new and challenging markets have been greatly influenced by the UK's policy of creating a stable regulatory environment that supports and underpins competition in both the network and service sectors.

eCommunications Regulation

eCommunications Regulation shows the Government's intention is to ensure that, as far as possible, the law relating to e-business is neutral in its application, providing the same legal environment on-line as it does off-line. Included in this page is The Electronic Communications Act (2000), (the purpose of the Act is to help build confidence in electronic communications). Other regulatory issues are being given their own pages on this website.

The other regulatory subjects include; The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, The Regulations implement the main requirements of the E-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC) into UK law - aimed at encouraging greater use of e-commerce. The Regulations may apply to businesses advertising / selling goods and services online, transmitting or storing electronic content or those providing access to a communication network. The Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000,Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, a general principle that communications should only be intercepted with the prior consent of both parties was established.  The Lawful Business Practice Regulations offer an exemption to this general principal for businesses wishing to intercept communications on their own systems, so long as the reason for the interception is one of those reasons set out in the Regulations. The Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58/EC), the Directive updates the existing EU Telecoms Data Protection Directive (97/66/EC).  Enabling location-based services, new requirements for publicly available directories, the extension of controls on unsolicited marketing by email and SMS, and the use of cookies on websites.  A public consultation is now running on how to implement the Directive in the UK, closing in June 2003. As an associated regulatory subject The Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999 the Regulations implement the main requirements of the Telecoms Data Protection Directive (97/66/EC) into UK law.

eCommunications Policy and Consultation

eCommunications Policy and Consultation includes information on Domain Names & ICANN and ENUM (electronic number mapping).

Support for the Knowledge Driven Economy

Support for the Knowledge Driven Economy, highlights the present intense phase of development in UK's information technology and electronic communications sector.

eCommunications Support, Information and guidance

eCommunications Support, Information and guidance about regulation, policy, and support for development in this critically important sector is readily available from the DTI including areas of activity and key-contacts.

UK Research and Development

UK Research and Development, information on UK Innovation in the fields of IT, electronics, communications, and creative content which is at least on a par with the best in the world.

Online Trading Statistics

Online Trading Statistics, online access to the Government report 'Business in the Information Age' and 'UK Online for Business Benchmarking Study'.