Alerts and Updates
Vibes
January 13, 2006
Welcome to Vibes, Duane Morris' periodic update on legal developments in information technology, e-commerce and telecommunications.
Recent Developments
D.C. Appeals Court Rejects Telephone Excise Tax Arguments
On December 9, 2005, the D.C. Court of Appeals rejected the federal government's argument that the Internal Revenue Service may collect a 3% surcharge on long-distance telephone charges that vary by time but not by distance. The court unanimously agreed with the lower court's decision in National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. U.S. that the statute that imposes a tax on phone calls is only applicable to calls that vary by distance and time. The court's decision is the third such defeat on this issue. On November 2 and May 11, federal appeals courts in Cincinnati and Atlanta also rejected the federal government's arguments. This demonstrates the trend towards limiting, if not abolishing, the excise tax.
The complete decision in National Railroad Passenger Corporation v. United States of America may be found by following
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200512/04-5421a.pdf
New Internet Addresses Coming Soon?
In an attempt to make Internet addresses more user-friendly, UnifiedRoot S & M BV, an Amsterdam-based company, is introducing a new Internet addressing service. The new service will permit individuals and organizations to utilize Internet addresses that end with the name of their business or virtually any other word that person or organization chooses. In order to avoid conflicts between names, UnifiedRoot will not register any top-level domains, such as .edu and .com, that have previously been registered with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The success of the new Internet address system will depend upon the cooperation of Internet service providers, who will have to update their domain name server directories. European Internet service provider Tiscali SpA has already made the change.
More information regarding UnifiedRoot's new Internet address system may be found at
http://www.computerworld.com/news/2005/story/0,11280,106559,00.htmlFrench Parliament Adopts New Anti-Terrorism Legislation
On December 15, 2005, France's upper house of Parliament approved new anti-terrorism legislation that permits broader use of video surveillance in public places and bolsters existing standards for data retention by Internet service providers, telecommunication firms and cyber-café operators. The service providers would be required to retain certain data for a minimum of one year. Law enforcement is granted wide powers to be permitted to access this information, often without judicial oversight. The new law was previously approved by the lower house of Parliament; however, both houses will need to approve the legislation again before it may become law. The Interior Minister has already signaled his intention to implement the new law in 2006.
Additional information regarding the Law to Combat Terrorism, including a link to the law (in French), may be found at the following Web sites
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/12/french-senate-approves-new-anti-terror.php
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/66788
Illinois Video Game Laws Violate Free Speech
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois recently held that an Illinois statute that requires video store retailers to place age restrictions on the sale or rental of violent video games infringes upon the free speech rights of the game developers. In Entertainment Software Ass'n v. Blagojevich, the court reasoned that the definition of what constitutes a violent video game contained in the statute was too vague. As such, it was "highly probable" that game developers would self-censor. The court also struck down the Sexually Explicit Video Game Law, which the court found to be overly broad in its restrictions.
The complete decision in Entertainment Software Ass'n v. Blagojevich, N.D. Ill., Case No. 05 C 4265, may be found at
http://www.mediacoalition.org/legal/esa%20blagojevich/12.2.05%20Illinois%20Decision.pdf
Battle Over Wiretap Access Continues
On November 23, 2005, several organizations, including the Center for Democracy & Technology, the American Library Association and Sun Microsystems, joined in a request for a stay of the Federal Communications Commission's August 5, 2005 order that extends the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act wiretap access rules to certain Internet communications systems, including interconnected VoIP services. On December 8, 2005, federal law enforcement agencies asked the FCC to deny the request for a stay.
The November 23, 2005 request for stay may be found at
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/CALEA/calea_order_stay_request.pdf
Georgia Court Reverses Itself on Venue Requirement in Georgia Identity Fraud Statute
In a previous issue of Vibes, we reported that the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in The State v. Mayze that the venue portion of the Georgia Identity Fraud Statute was unconstitutional because it violated Article VI, Sec. 2, Part VI of the Georgia Constitution, which mandates that "[A]ll criminal cases shall be tried in the county where the crime is committed...."
In a 4-3 decision, the court recently reversed its earlier ruling to permit prosecution where the victim lives. The majority reasoned that, "Regardless of where the records were accessed, the use of the information obtained therefrom is consummated in the county where the victim lives."
The Georgia Supreme Court's recent decision may be found at
http://www.houstonda.org/articles/Mayze.pdf
The complete Georgia Supreme Court decision in The State v. Mayz may be found at
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-warner24dec24,0,3015790.story?coll=la-home-headline
For Further Information
For more information on the topics discussed in this update, please contact one of the attorneys of our Information Technologies and Telecom Practice Group or the lawyer in the firm with whom you are regularly in contact.
Disclaimer: This Alert has been prepared and published for informational purposes only and is not offered, nor should be construed, as legal advice. For more information, please see the firm's full disclaimer.
