Laurence Kaye on Digital Media Law

Protection of children - New Legislation for Websites

Dear Reader,

From October this year, if you operate a website which has interactive features used by children, you will be required to vet new staff you employ to act as moderators on the website. This means that their names must be registered with the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), a public body which has been set up to prevent unsuitable people from working with children. From 2010 you will also be required to ensure all existing staff moderators are ISA-registered (even if they have already undergone a CRB check).   

The relevant legislation is The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, which provides for the maintenance of a register of people who are banned from certain activities relating to children (a 'barred list'). Under a commencement order which came into force in January this year, this Act will apply to regulate moderators of websites with interactive features aimed at children. 

You can read more about this development in the law by reading the article on our website.

Yasmin Joomraty and Mailin Bala

SABIP & Strategic Priorities For Copyright

Dear reader

SABIP (Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property), which was established in June 2008 as a follow-up to the Gowers Review, this week published its paper 'Strategic Priorities For Copyright'. It identifies six areas for its work programme:-

1. The role of the copyright system in fostering creativity and innovation.
2. Issues concerning the ownership and coverage of copyright.
3. Rights management techniques and technologies.
4. The relationship between copyright and contract law.
5. Possible simplification of the copyright framework.
6. The implications of changing attitudes and practices among consumers.

So pretty fundamental questions! But underlying all these issues is the single, central question which is posed on page 11 of the Paper: "Does the paradigm shift towards a digital economy necessitate an equally fundamental adaptation of the copyright framework or its component parts? Alternatively, can innovation within the existing framework bring about effective adaptation in a more incremental way?"

I can't comment too much because I am a member of SABIP's Copyright  Expert Panel which provided input to SABIP. But I would encourage everyone who has an interest or stake in copyright to give their views to info@sabip, preferably by the end of May. Don't feel that learned treatises are essential. Short submissions on particular issues, especially where supported by evidence or practical experience, will be equally valuable.

Laurie Kaye