M-ads bad news, e-sign investigations and dot-gone...

NEWS According to the paper such services - which allows retailers to market their goods to a passing phone users - contravene the 1999 Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations. The Data Protection Commission, which is examining the rules, believes the legislation could apply even if a customer has given consent to receive third-party adverts. Staying with matters legal, the FT also reports that the government is re-examining the status of electronic signature. E-Centre UK, an industry body representing the likes of J Sainsbury and BT, has been called in to help resolve conflicting legislation. A law given royal assent in July gives digital signatures the same legal footing as written ones. However, existing rules dictate that documents need to be signed or exchanged physically to make them binding. Theme of the week: dot com gloom. Today's Independent attempts to get to the bottom of the stock market's prolonged aversion to tech stocks. "After the dramatic sell-off in technology shares in March," it writes, "the bargain hunters came out in force. But a spate of profit warnings this autumn from most of the leading lights of the Nasdaq has left even the bargain hunters nursing ugly losses." The paper predicts that for the first time since 1994, the FTSE 100 will finish lower than it started the year. Finally, news of one-time dot-com pioneer who appears to have fled the country as five creditors have forced his company into liquidation. Joseph de Saram founded Rhodium, an encryption specialist, in 1995 but after years of growth which saw de Saram enter the Sunday Times Rich List last year, the company now owes £1m. Last night the Guardian tracked de Saram down to Sri Lanka.