UK to investigate breaches at outsourcing centres

The UK's Information Commissioner is launching an investigation into outsourced data centres after a Channel 4 television programme exposed security breaches at Indian call centres. Channel 4's Dispatches was offered individuals' banking details for as little as £8 by criminal networks in India, Out-Law.com reports. Deputy Information Commissioner David Smith said that dependent on the outcome of the investigation the office would consider whether it should use formal enforcement powers to prevent such incidents. It could potentially prevent some companies from sending their data outside of the UK for processing. Smith said that companies which outsource their data processing or any back office functions are entirely responsible for that data and its security. It is not permissible, he said, for a company to simply pass blame on to a contractor.Full Out-Law.com report

Creative Commons – a new copyright model

With the explosion in self-generated Web sites comes the problem of who owns copyright on content published for global consumption. CDU reports that Professor Brian Fitzgerald’s lecture on the new field of copyright law known as Creative Commons, outlined the enormous potential for copyright infringement where content posted on the Net can be easily accessed, altered and ‘cut and pasted’ into new versions of someone’s creativity. Fitzgerald, who is project leader for Creative Commons investigation in Australia, said those happy to share their content could simply badge their material as Creative Commons: Attribution. This allowed it to be reproduced, so long as the creator of the material was acknowledged. Full CDU report