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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....

On 23 June 1997, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly adopted a recommendation on the scientific and technological aspects of the new information and communications technologies. The Assembly stresses the necessity to bridge the gap it considers to be existing between "the high level of development of the new information and communication technologies and the society's readiness for them". In order to do so, it recommends the Committee of Ministers to analyse its work programme, thereby taking into account the changes brought about by the new information and communication technologies...

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...

In May the Austrian Federal Ministry of Justice tabled two draft bills to transpose Directive 96/9/EC of 11 March 1996 concerning the legal protection of databases, into Austrian law. One of the Bills proposes a Federal Act to amend the Copyright Act (Urheberrechtsgesetz-Novelle 1997 - Copyright Amendment Act); the other concerns the law applicable to databases (Datenbankrechtsgesetz -Database Protection Act). Both drafts carry extensive explanatory memorandums. The drafts are open to comment until 14 July 1997 under the "expert opinion procedure". The drafts (if necessary in a revised form) will...

On 2 May 1997, the Supreme Court of The Netherlands (Hoge Raad) decided that the publication for advertising purposes of a photograph of a dancer, taken during his performance at a gay event, can amount to a breach of his right to personal privacy. The Supreme Court based its decision on Articles 21, 30 and 35 of the Dutch Copyright Act (Auteurswet), which stipulate that, in cases of non-commissioned portraits, the portrayed person retains a reasonable interest to oppose the use of his picture for commercial and advertising purposes. The use of a picture for advertising purposes necessarily involves...