[FYI] (Fwd) FC: Russia may register Net-press; Feds want Net-drugsto

["Axel H Horns" <horns@t-online.de>]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Fri, 26 May 2000 11:01:06 -0400
To:             	politech@vorlon.mit.edu
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject:        	FC: Russia may register Net-press; Feds want Net-drugstore
 	regulations
Send reply to:  	declan@well.com

*******

From: Paul Spirito <berezina@nihidyll.com>
Subject: Proposed Russian Internet Regulations
Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 08:14:45 -0400

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2000/05/24/041.html

| Press Minister Seeks To Regulate Internet
| By Andrew McChesney
|
|
| A top government minister has come out in favor of tougher
| regulation in cyberspace, a move that critics say could
| tighten the stateâ^À^Ùs control of the free flow of information. | |
Press Minister Mikhail Lesin on Monday called for new rules |
requiring the registration of local media outlets that use | the net,
saying they should be subject to registration in | the same way any
other media is under the law. | | The sought-after requirement is part
of a wieldy Internet | bill being considered by the State Duma. That
draft | legislation seeks to regulate the registration of Internet |
addresses and could qualify all 30,000 Russian web sites as | mass
media. | | The Center for Media Law in Moscow has warned that the |
vagueness of the wording "mass media" poses a serious | challenge to
free speech, since any Internet site could | conceivably be considered
mass media. | | However, Lesin said Monday that he was targeting any
web | site that claimed to be a news agency or newspaper. | | "As long
as they identify themselves as mass media outlets, | they should be
subject to registration in compliance with | the established order,"
Lesin said on radio station Ekho | Moskvy.

[...]

***********


http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,36601,00.html

    DOJ Wages War on Net Drugs
    by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)

    3:00 a.m. May. 26, 2000 PDT
    WASHINGTON -- Internet shoppers, look out: The next time you buy
    from an overseas pharmacy, you might go to jail.

    The problem of Americans ordering from unregulated drugstores
    abroad is so acute that new federal penalties are necessary,
    administration and congressional officials said during a hearing
    Thursday.

    "I believe that the noose is slowly tightening around the neck of
    domestic sites ... but the question on foreign sites is what can
    we do about them?" asked William Hubbard, senior associate
    commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration.

    "An effective Internet enforcement process requires establishing
    priorities, identifying and monitoring potentially violative
    websites, and making appropriate referrals for criminal
    prosecution," Hubbard told members of the House Commerce
    Subcommittee on Oversight.

    The Justice Department had its own proposal: Grant it the power to
    block related financial or credit card transactions.

    "Such an amendment (to existing law) would provide the department
    with an important weapon to combat the harms posed by offshore ...
    online pharmacies," said Ethan Posner, deputy associate attorney
    general.

    Posner said it is currently illegal to order unapproved drugs from
    another country. He also said it's against U.S. law for an
    overseas pharmacy to sell prescription drugs to Americans without
    a prescription.

    But if drugs are legal in other countries and not in the United
    States, there's little incentive for foreign companies to kowtow
    to the Justice Department or FDA rules.

    [...]


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