Government Related-Answers

How is WiFi technology regulated?

Wireless has a potential problem that somebody's location can be seen by other people. Of course, this is very annoying and risky. In this article, I will discuss about the regulations in USA, EU, and Japan ligislate this issue.

Among those three countries, Japan has the best preparation in their laws for wireless. In 1998, "Guidelines on the Protection of Personal Data in Telecommunications Business" was launched by The Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication giving the clear guidelines about the location of information.

In contrast, USA has the worst wireless regulation regulation. In 1996, 1996 Telecommunications Act was launched. However, the act does not give clear rule about the location of information. As a result, there are some interpretation rule below this act.

European Union has clearer regulation for information security than USA, as EU's regulation does not give ambigous rule like USA's 1996 Telecommunications Act. The regulation, "technology-neutral" standard issued in 2002. It should have been implemented by October 31, 2003. However, so far only four countries, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, and Finland, have been fully adapted this rule. The eleven rest EU members are still proccessing this regulation to be applied in their own regulation.

The future explanation can be found in the resources below.

RESOURCES

1. http://www.landuseinpa.com/docs/docs_added_5_27_2003/wireless.pdf
2. http://motz.antville.org/topics/networking/
3. http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/report0106.html
4. http://www.isoc.org/briefings/015/index.shtml

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