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The German Government and the European Commission together organised a European Ministerial Conference on "Global Information Networks: Realising the Potential" in Bonn from 6 to 8 July 1997. It ended with the adoption of a declaration, signed by participating ministers from EU, EFTA and Central and Eastern European countries, as well as Cyprus. In this declaration, the ministers attempt to define the role of both the public and private sectors, the aim being to strike an optimum balance between the opportunities and the dangers inherent in the rapid development of the information technologies....

The recently amended Norwegian Broadcasting Regulation has entered into force. The new set of rules replaces several former provisions and unites all rules relating to broadcasting in one single Regulation. The amended Broadcasting Regulation implements the Directive on `Television Without Frontiers' in more detail than before. It explicitly stipulates that the broadcasters are obliged to reserve 50% of their transmission time for European productions, and 10% for independent productions. The already existing prohibition concerning the broadcasting of advertising in conjunction with childrens'...

On 26 June 1997, the United States Supreme Court ("Court") struck down as unconstitutional sections 223(a)(1)(B) and 223(a)(2) as well as 223(d)(1) and 223(d)(2) of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 ("CDA"), which was enacted by Congress to restrict indecent, sexually oriented materials from being displayed to minors over the Internet. The decision in Reno v. ACLU was the first time the Court considered free speech rights in cyberspace (see IRIS 1996-7: 7). Section 223(a) prohibits the transmission of obscene or indecent material on the Internet where there is knowledge that the recipient...

The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers have finally adopted the new text of the "Television without Frontiers" directive, the main objective of which is to create the conditions necessary for the free movement of television broadcasts. Directive 97/36/EC, modifying Directive 89/552/EEC "Television without Frontiers" of 3 October 1989 was adopted on (the exact date will be published in the September issue of IRIS (issue No 1997-8) since at the closing date of this issue the President of the European Parliament was still to sign), at the end of two years of intensive negotiations between...

The new Broadcasting Standards Commission has published its first research report. The Commission was created out of the merger (under the Broadcasting Act 1996) of the Broadcasting Standards Council and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission on 1 April 1997. The study looks at public attitudes to media regulation in a changing social climate. It was undertaken by the Commission as part of a wider consultation on its new role combining standards and fairness in broadcasting. The research based on two national surveys and 14 focus groups also addresses the issue of privacy. In general, the respondents...