London riots radio reporting

Please find below some of the radio reports and commentaries I did for Radio 1 in the Netherlands during the London riots, an impression of the events that took place in the British capital and which sent shock waves through the nation. - in Dutch.

• Riots have broken out and youths are looting in north, east and south London, click HERE

• The first arrests are being made but the situation is still not under control, click HERE

• Arrests and prosecutions are in full swing and order has been restored on the streets of London, click HERE

• The riots are followed by a fierce political debate and the judiciary is working overtime, click HERE

• A week after the riots: No mercy for the arrested looters, are the sentences too stiff? Click HERE

www.radio1.nl

Severe weather warning for London

LONDON – You would think the hordes of noisy summer tourists and the many delayed tube lines - due to summer engineering works - are enough reasons to stay around the house, but if you are planning to spend Tuesday at home, you could not have picked a better day. 

On top of the crowded West End streets and the transport saga, the Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for the London area. The UK's national weather service announced this morning that it expects ‘torrential rain’ and said ‘there is a risk of localised flooding’. 

A Spokeswoman of the Meteorological Office told the BBC: "A yellow alert has been issued to highlight the risk of localised surface-water flooding".

Jim Knighton, of the London Fire Brigade, advises everyone to stay indoors as much as possible, and assured me that the Fire Brigade is "ready and waiting to help people who might be hit by flooding”. He added that “keeping people safe is our top priority but flooding can also devastate people's properties and possessions, so wherever possible we use sandbags to keep water out of people's homes". Clearly, London is on standby and ready to be drenched.

With street vendors at every corner trying to talk you into a cheap umbrella and the black cabbies doing great business today, another advantage of this typical English weather is, in light of recent events, hard to ignore: surely there won't be any looters out today.

Please find the Met Office's weather forecast HERE

Picture: dailymail.co.uk

Read if you dare

LONDON - The UK Court of Appeals ruled on 26 July that users of news clippings' services must obtain a license from publishers if they wish to click legally on links that take them to the newspaper websites in question. If not, they might be infringing the publisher's copyright.


Most publishers have no objection if an article is looked at for non-commercial purposes, but when it comes down to 'clippings' services, it is entirely a different issue.

The Court of Appeal upheld a High Court decision that clients of a news clippings service, Meltwater - relating to marketing and PR firms - must be in possession of a license in order to look at articles on newspapers' websites, through Meltwater. The Court held that only those who look at these sites for nonprofessional purposes are not breaching any rights, which means that professionals who browse through articles at work - and with their clients in mind - are likely to break the law.

The Court of Appeal did not specify what ' commercial /non-commercial use' is, but perhaps should have done so: when are you looking at a newspaper article 'as part of your job'? Publishers' terms and conditions usually contain a paragraph that states that an article can only be accessed for 'personal and non-commercial' use: does this mean that only someone who reads certain articles at home for his own interest, is not breaking the law? What if that information later on goes to be used in the course of work, one way or another?

Some websites, including those of the Financial Times and the free business daily City AM, are nearly exclusively visited by professionals who want to keep themselves up-to-date with developments in the industry. Not because they want to, but because their job requires them to do so. So it is hard to implement the Court's decision: in many ways, every day, millions of people are possibly breaching publishers' copyrights on a daily basis.

As a result, the Court has - probably unwillingly - put the online publishing industry into turmoil. Surely, newspapers would not want to forbid people from reading their free online editions? Their advertisers would get nervous and the value of the site as a whole would go down. And certain pages could be scrapped if professionals are not allowed to pay them a visit. Undoubtedly, the Court wanted to protect publishers' copyrights and highlight the issue of unique content protection, but if a news service is offered freely and openly to all, you should be able to read its content without having to fear you are breaking the law.

Picture: www.123rf.com

Madeleine McCann India 'sighting'

INDIA - The ongoing search for the missing British girl Madeleine McCann - who disappeared in May 2007 during a family holiday in Portugal - took a surprising twist last week after a young girl matching Madeleine's description was spotted at a market in northern India. A British tourist noticed a girl 'bearing a remarkable likeness to Madeleine' in the Indian city of Leh. Madeleine, who vanished just before her fourth birthday, would now be eight years old. I reported this incident for Radio 1 in the Netherlands. To listen to the broadcast, click HERE - in Dutch

Picture: www.telegraph.co.uk

Visa is losing grip on the Asian market

SEOUL/BEJING - South Korea’s largest credit card firm, BC Card, is considering legal action against payment processor Visa, the Chinese press agency Xinhua has reported. “BC Card plans to file a complaint against Visa with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) over its unfair transaction activities”, an official at BC Card told Xinhua. 

The official claims that Visa has recently imposed fines of up to $100.000 on BC Card for not processing international transactions through the VisaNet payment system, a requirement Visa has for local partners wishing to carry out international transactions. BC Card claims Visa has withdrawn $50.000 from its settlement account as BC Card used China UnionPay instead for international transfers. Another fine of $50.000 was because BC Card used Star Network – a US payments network – to process international transactions. 

Experts have stressed these latest incidents are another sign Visa is losing grip on the region and China UnionPay’s influence is growing in Asia. China UnionPay is the sole bankcard processor in China and its overseas presence has grown significantly in recent years.

Picture: closingamericasgobjap.com

eBay liable for your fake Gucci or Prada

Luxembourg - The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that eBay - and similar online marketplaces and auction sites - may be liable for trademark and copyright infringements if their users offer and sell counterfeit goods on their websites. 

In a case brought by the French cosmetics giant L’Oréal, Europe's most important Court has ruled that online marketplaces should not be exempted from liability if they have indications that suggest that certain online sales are unlawful, and they do not remove such items or block the sale of these products on their websites. For years, it has been common practice that fake products have sold under luxury brand names such as Armani, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Richemont and Burberry.

The Court of Justice for the EU also said that under European law operators of online marketplaces can be ordered by national courts to take measures to prevent counterfeit goods being sold on their sites. This means courts in the UK, Germany, France, Italy or other European Union countries can step in and obstruct the sale of fake bags, scarfs, clothes, shoes and other common luxury goods. 

Online marketplaces are, however, not liable for copyright infringement if they merely allow customers to display signs of trade marks next to their goods, but there are no signs the actual goods are offered as such.

Kirsten Gilbert, a partner at the London law firm Marks & Clerk, said in a response: "EU trade mark law has been straining under the pressure of dealing with the internet age. The rise of online commerce has created a host of scenarios never envisaged when our laws were drafted. Today's ruling will give national courts guidance on how to approach just one of these scenarios”.

Published previously in a London based publication, August 2011. Copyrights apply. Picture: welfordmedia.co.uk

US accelerates crackdown on online gambling

Washington/New York - Authorities in the US are stepping up efforts to enforce the country’s strict online gambling laws.   

On 23 June, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized ten dot.com domain names, among them doylesroom.com and bookmaker.com. Ann Marie Puig, of bookmaker.com, as well as Darren Wright and David Parchomchuk, of BetEd owner ThrillX Systems, have been indicted on counts of alleged money laundering and operating an illegal gambling business, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland announced.

On the same day payment processor Bradley Franzen, one of 11 people indicted on Black Friday, last April, admitted to helping PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker to circumvent US laws that prohibit the processing of payments from online gambling websites. 

Franzen pled guilty to criminal charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison, although he has entered a guilty plea deal that recommends leniency at his sentencing which is scheduled for 26 August.

Michiel Willems 2011, published previously in a London based publication. Copyrights apply at all times.
 

Radio 1 reports - in Dutch

Some items I did for Radio 1 in the Netherlands in the last few weeks.

For my radio broadcast from the world premiere of the last Harry Potter movie click HERE

For my radio broadcast about former News International chief Rebekah Brooks click HERE

For my radio broadcast about the beginning of the British phone hacking scandal click HERE

www.radio1.nl

Australia addresses match-fixing in sports

AUS - Sports Ministers in Australia have taken a united stand against corruption in sports by signing an agreement to address match fixing in sports betting. 

New laws would make it compulsory for ‘sports organisations and betting companies to share information,’ and funding for sports organisations is going to be ‘contingent on sports implementing appropriate anti-match-fixing and anti-corruption practices,’ it was announced last week. 

The laws will be implemented at state-level and a new watchdog, the National Integrity of Sport Unit, is set ‘to oversee the national arrangements’, Federal Sports Minister Mark Arbib said in a statement. 

"This is an outstanding result for sport. I am pleased that all Australia’s governments are presenting a united front against the scourge of match-fixing," Senator Arbib explained. "Sport is vulnerable to organised crime, to launder money and conceal illegal activity. The most important thing for Australian sports lovers is to have confidence that our sports are played fairly and that all players are giving their best."

“[The deal] demonstrates a growing interest of the Federal Government to get involved in gambling,” concluded Bill Brown, partner at Landers & Rogers in Melbourne. And Cheng Lim, a partner at Mallesons Stephen Jaques, sees the agreement as “a positive first step in developing a national response,” which is needed since “the laws that regulate sports betting have not been able to keep apace with developments in the betting industry, particularly the growing popularity of online betting”, Lim said from his Melbourne office.

The agreement provides ‘sports with a right to veto bet types’, according to the Sports Minister's statement. Although no formal requirements are yet in place, “steps have already been taken to ban some ‘exotic’ in-play betting perceived to be prone to corruption within the sport,” said Jamie Nettleton, partner at the Sydney law firm Addisons.

Although the Interactive Gambling Act has banned most online gambling activities since 2001, online sports betting is legal in Australia, with many state-licensed betting companies in operation.

Michiel Willems, 2011. Published previously in a London based publication. Copyrights apply. Picture: Fridaymash.com

German deadlock

Anti-gambling organisations in Germany are outraged with their politicians. This might come as a surprise, since the Interstate Treaty on Gambling (ITG) largely outlaws online gambling in Germany. The anti-gambling movement is furious because it is looking beyond tomorrow. Unintentionally, their valued e-gambling ban is at stake.

The current ITG expires at the end of this year, on 31 December at midnight, and in recent weeks it has become evident that German politicians will most likely not be able to have a new Treaty approved and implemented before New Year’s Day. Theoretically, this means the market would be fully open on 1 January.

Many gambling experts wonder how German lawmakers managed to get themselves in such an incredible position. Only last April, the Heads of the German Federal States - except for Schleswig-Holstein - agreed on a new Interstate Treaty (NIT), which was subsequently sent to the European Commission (EC) for approval. The EC has three months to raise any concerns (the so-called standstill period), which means that, by 10 July latest, the EC has to make public whether it has any objections to the draft NIT and whether it is convinced the text complies with EU legislation. So far, the timing was right and the German gambling monopolies seemed to be safeguarded after 31 December.

That was before 13 June, when Germany’s Federal Prime Ministers decided to delay their final decision on the NIT until October; they indicated they will need more time to come up with a legal framework that can be supported by all 16 states. Two issues, however, make the October deadline unrealistic. Firstly, the northern State of Schleswig-Holstein has proposed its own gambling Bill, which has more in common with Atlantic City than the restrictive, monopolistic approach of the 15 other states. Under Schleswig-Holstein’s draft Bill, which was approved by the EC on 9 May, there are no limits as to the number of licences that can be granted and all forms of casino games would be allowed. It will be a huge challenge to come to some sort of agreement that can carry the support of all 16 German Federal States.

Secondly, it is a safe bet to say the EC will reject the NIT in its current form. The NIT would allow online lotteries but solely those that are organised by the state lottery providers, and online sports bets for which a maximum of seven concessions shall be issued. In the past, the EC has made it clear it does not tolerate such monopolies and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) basically crushed the German framework in September 2010 when it said that ‘Germany’s state monopolies could not be justified under European law’. The NIT has failed to address these issues.

Approval in Brussels

But even if the other states manage to get Schleswig-Holstein on board and all of them will agree on a final text in October, the final Treaty still needs to be sent to the EC for approval. This means that another standstill period of three months will commence, so the EC’s endorsement could be given in early January at the earliest, after which the adoption and approval processes in all 16 federal parliaments still have to begin. Legislative processes that can easily take up to a year. And that is just the most positive scenario. More realistic is that the NIT will be rejected by the EC in July and Schleswig-Holstein will not give up so easily on its liberal draft Bill. Experts predict the NIT will never see the light of day, at least not in its current form, simply because it does not comply with EU legislation. It clearly needs to be amended for EC approval.

Pushing for a NIT that does not respect EU principles seems to be a refusal to acknowledge reality. It is becoming more and more likely the current ITG will expire without a new one replacing it in time, which means the market will be fully open, at least for some time. Conservative lawmakers being unable to regulate - for operators it must be a dream come true.

Michiel Willems, 2011. Published previously in a London based publication. Copyrights apply. Pictures: US State Department, state.gov.

 

New association to self-regulate Chinese payments

The Chinese Government has launched the China Payment and Settlement Association (CPSA), a payment clearing association set up to develop China’s payments industry. 

The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the People’s Bank of China (PBC) - the country’s central bank - have given the CPSA the powers to develop industry standards, and regulate the payments and settlement industry. The CPSA’s aim is to encourage industry self-regulation and the management of payment services as well as competition in the market.

The CPSA has also been given the authority to distribute licences to third parties, such as payment providers and processors, to operate on the Chinese market. No licences have been distributed as of yet, but experts expect that to happen soon.

Online payments are growing rapidly in China, but, to date, there has been little regulation of the industry. In June 2010, the PBC decided that non-financial institutions involved in payment services should obtain third party payment licences. Although 32 companies have applied so far, no third party has been granted a licence yet.

Michiel Willems, 2011. Published previously in a London based magazine. Picture:  newsroom.sebgroup.com

UK Payments Council works on new mobile account-to-account scheme

UK banks are developing a system that would allow British customers to transfer money between accounts from different banks by using their mobile phones. 

The UK Payments Council (UKPC), which represents the UK banking industry, has started “to explore how a mobile can help customers make a payment from one account to another,” said Gary Hinock, Acting Chief Executive of the UKPC.

Whether British customers will embrace this system depends on “whether or not there is demand for mobile payments,” said Samee Zafar, Director at Edgar Dunn & Co. “I believe there is, but if you look at the history of consumer products there is hardly anything that can be compared to the growth in m-devices.”

“For industry wide adoption to work effectively, we need a unified solution on both the front and the back ends,” said David Divitt, Consultant at ACI. “Most issues with the adoption of new systems arise because they are not designed with the end user as the primary focus.” 

Zafar added that “consumer acceptance is never achieved with great technology alone. It requires critical mass investments in raising awareness, marketing, consumer education, and incentives, and let us not forget merchants, who are equally important and will need to be fully on board.”

Hinock stressed that “security is a priority for us,” but  predicts that, ultimately, “the wallet might drop off its top spot in the not too distant future”.

Michiel Willems, 2011. Published previously in a London based magazine. Pciture: Lloyds TSB.

Less porn and violence for most Australians

Australian ISPs to block more than 500 sites

Two of Australia’s largest internet service providers (ISPs) have agreed to block over 500 websites, it was announced. Telstra and Optus - by far the largest ISPs in Australia - as well as smaller ISPs itExtreme and Webshield, have decided to block all websites listed on the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s ‘Refused Classification’ (RC) list of offending websites. 

Websites that are put on the RC list contain material that is banned for ‘sale, hire or public exhibition,’ because the content contains ‘matters of sex, drugs misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standard of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults’. 

The Australian Government has made a number of failed attempts to introduce internet filters in order to fight child pornography, extreme violence and illegal gambling. This latest move by Australia’s largest ISPs means that ‘most Australian internet users will have their web access censored,’ the Australian news website news.com.au wrote.

Some recent radio broadcasts for Radio 1 in the Netherlands - in Dutch. If you click on the links, my items start straight away.

•  http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=12731989&start=01:00:45

•  http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=12750828&start=00:59:03

www.radio1.nl
www.bnntoday.nl

Tickets for the London 2012 Olympics

My radio 1 broadcast from last week, about the Olympic tickets uproar in the British capital - in Dutch. 

My section starts straight away. Click HERE

www.radio1.nl