IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 19 June
19-06-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Bord Gais delayed encryption disclosure | Jammie fails to dodge piracy charge
The Irish Times reports that Bord Gais failed to tell the Data Protection Commissioner for almost a week that a stolen laptop containing sensitive customer information was not encrypted. The computer, containing banking details of almost 75,000 customers, was stolen on 5 June, but it wasn't until 11 June that the company told the commissioner's officials that it was not protected by encryption. Commissioner Billy Hawkes said he was about to issue an enforcement notice compelling Bord Gais to tell customers about the data breach before it finally went public on Wednesday.
The paper also says that alternatives to the television licence fee have to be considered with "caution and due diligence", according to Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan, who rejected a Fine Gael call to change a system that is "inefficient" and "plagued by evasion". FG communications spokesman Simon Coveney said consideration should be given to the introduction of a household levy, similar to the business levy that applies to pubs and hotels. Minister Ryan said the licence fee system has served well despite its "limitations" and changing it is not a priority.
The paper also notes that online retail firm Cdiscount is to create 50 jobs in Dundalk, as reported by ENN on Thursday.
The same paper reports that e-payments group Payzone has posted a pretax loss of EUR90 million on revenues of EUR583 million for the six months to the end of March. The loss includes an impairment charge of EUR77 million following a goodwill review and intangible amortisation costs of EUR7 million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) grew 8 percent to EUR20.3 million on a pro forma basis. The basic and diluted loss per share over the period was EUR0.21.
The paper also notes that Nokia's new N97 handset will not be available through Vodafone in Ireland. The operator says it will instead launch a stripped-down version of the N97, which it calls the N97 Mini. "Due to the N97 Mini's competitive pricing, we feel that it will appeal to a wider segment of consumers," the company said in a statement. Vodafone declined to give any further information. O2, Meteor and Three Ireland all said they intend to sell the N97 but none was able to provide a launch date or expected pricing.
The Irish Independent says that Kerry-based financial services company Fexco is expanding into the South Pacific, as noted by ENN.
The paper also notes that tougher legislation is to be imposed on premium rate telephone service providers who rip off consumers, Communications Minister Eamon Ryan has told the Dail. He said the legislation would be published shortly. He also said the regulation of premium phone services would be moved from RegTel to ComReg, with significantly large fines for those phone services that flout the law.
In other news of ComReg, the paper says the regulator has received EU approval for its decision to direct Eircom to cut the price it charges competitors for access to its telecoms infrastructure. Read more on this story on ENN.
The same paper says that Google will allow users in Germany to remove images of their homes from the Street View mapping service before it goes live in that country. Users can go to the site and have their homes removed in "plenty of time" before the service is operational, Google said in a statement. The company's software automatically blurs faces and licence plates. Google is expanding the Street View maps from the US to other countries, letting users see locations from ground level.
The paper also reports that Apple has said that devices made by rivals may not work with updates to its iTunes software, dealing a potential blow to Palm's new Pre phone. Palm has flagged the Pre's ability to transfer music and videos from iTunes as a selling point for its device. The touch-screen phone, which went on sale this month, is a challenger to Apple's iPhone. Apple made the announcement on Thursday on its website, saying rival products may not connect properly with the iTunes software and online store.
The same paper notes that US broadcaster NBC will use Microsoft software to sell advertising on television. The technology that NBC is using will let marketers target specific demographics using data from TV set-top boxes.
The Irish Examiner reports that DSG Retail Ireland, the Irish division of the retail group that operates the Currys and PC World chains, has called for a 3.5 percent cut in the Republic's VAT rate. It is looking for new legislation to help reduce commercial rental rates, in a bid to keep down the numbers of people going north to shop and boost competitiveness in the retail sector south of the border.
According to the Financial Times, Research in Motion has posted a surge in smartphone subscribers and revenues for the three months to 30 May. The BlackBerry handset maker added 3.8 million net new subscriber accounts, 65 percent above the same quarter last year, to fuel a 53 percent year-on-year rise in revenues to USD3.42 billion and adjusted net income of USD0.98, exceeding a USD0.92 consensus forecast. However, the company forecast net subscriber additions of 3.8 million to 4.1 million, sales of USD3.45 billion to USD3.7 billion and earnings per share of USD0.94 to USD1.03 for the second quarter -- numbers that fell short of recently raised analyst expectations.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a replay of the only file-sharing case in the US to go to trial has ended with the same result, finding a Minnesota woman to have violated music copyrights and ordering her to pay hefty damages to the recording industry. A federal jury ruled that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs, and awarded recording companies USD1.92 million, or USD80,000 per song.
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