The Register reveals that “

[t]he European Union yesterday called on Member States to participate in a major review of the accounting directives for small biz firms to help reduce the administrative burden on SMEs.  Charlie McCreevy, who is the EU Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, said that during this “difficult period” of ongoing economic doom and gloom the small biz world, which many tech multinationals have increasingly punted their goods at in recent years, could be easily overlooked.  ‘All the talk in the press is about the banks, the big financial institutions, the mortgage lenders. We are all affected by what is happening. What we must not forget is that for small businesses, life goes on,’ said McCreevy.  ‘They remain the backbone of the European economy.’”

In a different article, the Register reports that “[u]pdates to the ageing Computer Misuse Act (CMA) finally come into force in England and Wales on Wednesday (1 October).” The updates raise the maximum penalty for unauthorized access to a computer system from six months to two years in prison, making the offence serious enough that an extradition request can be filed.  Denial of service attacks, previously something of a legal grey area, are now clearly criminal, with a maximum penalty of up to ten years behind bars.  Thirdly the amended act makes it an offence to distribute hacking tools for criminal purposes.

The New York Times writes that “[t]he U.S. House of Representatives on Sunday passed a bill that would significantly increase penalties for copyright infringement and create a new office of intellectual-property enforcement coordinator in the White House.  The bill, which passed the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent on Friday, was stripped of one of its most controversial provisions, which would allow the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute civil lawsuits on behalf of copyright owners. The DOJ, in a letter to lawmakers last week, objected to that provision, saying it ‘could result in Department of Justice prosecutors serving as pro bono lawyers for private copyright holders regardless of their resources.’  The legislation, called the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property, or PRO-IP, Act, now goes to President George Bush for his signature.”

“While there are some problems with IT security in the U.S., Americans in general have better security behavior to prevent data loss than other parts of the world.”  That, according to Internetnews.com, is the finding of a new report sponsored by Cisco that asked 2,000 globally dispersed professionals about their views on behaviors that could lead to data leakage.  “Based on study, I agree that in general if you look through the data it appears that U.S.-based IT users have better behaviors that might contribute to less data loss issues,’ Fred Kost, director of security solutions at Cisco told InternetNews.com. ‘And IT clearly perceives that they have better control.’”

BusinessWeek this week has a list of the “25 Most Influential People on the Web.”