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ISPs to tackle many issues in 2002
Tuesday, January 15 2002
by Matthew Clark


This year will be a year in which ISPs will look to tackle a number of issues
including cyber crime, new regulations, '.eu' domains and child pornography. 

On Monday the Internet Service Provider Association (ISPA) was formed in the US,
replacing the Commercial Internet exchange (CIX), which is disbanding. The new
body, which represents ISPs and other Internet companies, said that it would have
a broader focus than its predecessor, but initially it will concentrate on
compliance and liability issues that affect its members. 



The new body, which will have a larger membership and broader goals than the CIX,
said "the ISP community has matured (and) so have its needs for an organisation
that could represent the growing legal and policy issues common to service
providers." Founding members of US ISPA's board include representatives from
America Online, Cable & Wireless, Earthlink, eBay, Teleglobe, Verizon Online and
WorldCom.



Some of the issues the new body says it will focus on this year include Internet
security, on-line liability and compliance with the new antiterrorism law, the
USA-Patriot Act and the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime and it also
plans to work closely with the US government in the aftermath of 11 September.
The ISPA also says it will provide a forum for infrastructure, cyber-security
issues and "a variety of other policy and legal issues of concern to ISPs, such
as Internet privacy, content regulations and intellectual property."



The Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland (ISPAI), a body formed in
1998, provides similar industry support for Ireland's ISPs. 



"This year is going to be the year of cyber crime and data protection,"
claimed Cormac Callanan, chairman of the ISPAI. Although the Irish ISP
Association is part of a larger ISP Association across Europe, and not connected
to the new US body, Callanan said that it would be examining many of the same
issues as its US counterpart. 



Unlike the US body, the ISPAI restricts its membership to ISPs operating in
Ireland, but the organisation does work closely with other hi-tech industry
organisations as well as the Irish government. 



Some of the issues Callanan said that the Association would examine in 2002
include the expected release of the .eu domain name, adherence to the Council of
Europe Convention on Cybercrime, data protection, child pornography, and the roll
out of Internet infrastructure. 



A variety of new laws and regulations are expected to be introduced in Ireland
and throughout Europe this year as ISPs and governments look to come to terms
with the implementation of the Council of Europe initiatives and other European
laws that will require more stringent record keeping of ISPs' user activities.
New internationally agreed legislation, which must be implemented on a national
level, may require ISPs to keep records of the activates of their users,
including what sites they visit, what material is uploaded or downloaded and what
e-mail is sent as well as to whom. 



While decisions of how this will be done, over what time frame and for how long
records will be kept, have not yet been made, the impact on ISPs and the way they
run their businesses could be enormous. The new measures, designed to help law
enforcement agencies cope with increasing levels of cyber crime, are "not just
an issue for ISPs to haggle over," Callanan claimed. He pointed out that the
data retention measures are still being debated, and in some cases resisted, by
privacy groups, ISPs, governments and users. 



Meanwhile new regulations regarding the real-time interception of
telecommunications information are also set to be introduced this year, with
similar implications for ISPs and opponents of the proposed new laws. Callanan
did not suggest that the ISPAI opposed any of these measures but did say that the
body wanted to ensure that its voice was heard before laws were formally
established. 





Callanan went to say that he was hopeful of progress in still more
Internet-related issues in the next 12-months. Attempts to stamp out child
pornography have progressed in recent years, thanks in part to the establishment
of child pornography hotlines throughout Europe and North America.  Meanwhile
nations that do not take sufficient steps to prevent child pornography, such as
Russia, are facing increased international pressure which has led to significant
and advancement in the arena, Callanan explained. 



Rollout of high-speed Internet, namely DSL, in Ireland continues to be a concern
for the body's members and the row between the ODTR and Eircom over the issue has
stopped progress for the most part. But Callanan said the industry agrees that
DSL would be positive and that some constructive signs had emerged such as the
recent agreement between Eircom and Esat over site access.