In recognition of Link Data Security's many years of experience in the data security field, we were made a member of ITEKs new IT-Security council.

This has quickly become the leading Danish panel of experts that advises the Danish government on issues of electronic security. The council was created October 2001 and its 12 members were selected to represent various aspects of commercial and public interests. ITEK is the "Confederation of Danish Industries" trade association for IT, telecommunications, electronics and communication enterprises in Denmark.

The IT-Security council consists of representatives from the major Danish IT-Security providers in various fields and major companies who need IT-Security. The council's various tasks include: General information about IT-Security for Danish Companies; commenting law proposals in the IT-Security area and encouraging Danish companies to give higher priority to IT-Security.

It is important that delicate decisions are based on sound technological views and practical knowledge. A good example is governmental subsidizing of musicians to compensate for pirate replication (CD-audio/CD-R and MP3). If it really is possible to apply safe audio protection, there would be no need for compensation. It has been our recommendation that any such system could be easily overcome by standard PC CD/CD copying software incorporating the same error handling as found in normal CD-audio players. It would be possible for the music industry to permit download using "on the fly" watermarking technology. Downloaded music would then be "stamped" with the purchaser's name or credit card number etc.. This would limit pirate distribution. While such decisions are not up to us, we do have long experience in predicting the level of security various solutions can offer.

Another subject worth a fight would be tax compensation to companies that use copy protection on their CD/DVD-ROM distribution. After all, pirated distribution does not create any income via VAT or tax from companies or employees, whereas legal distribution does.

We'll see what we can do during the Danish EU Presidency starting mid 2002!