12 million .DE domains
Domain names are proving as popular as ever in Germany, with the 12th million .DE domain being registered on April 14.
http://www.domainesinfo.fr/english/191/12-million-de-domains.php
2008.05.11
DotAsia Goes Live With Thousands of Registrations
There have been over 10,000 domain registrations for each of the first five days of open registrations, DotAsia have announced. Since then, there have been between 2,000 to 4,000 new domains registered each day. The most popular countries for registrants have been China followed by Australian, New Zealand, Indian and Korean registrants. US and Japan are also among the top 10 countries registering .Asia domains.
The Principles for User Generated Content Services: A Middle-Ground Approach to Cyber-Governance
The debate over how, whether, and by whom the Internet should be regulated has occurred mostly at the extremes: some have argued that formal regulation of the Internet is impossible and undesirable, advocating for self-governance and heavy reliance on private arrangements, while others have argued that formal, traditional regulation is possible, inevitable, and ideal. ... This Note begins, in Part I, by summarizing the literature on cybergovernance, tracing commentators’ evolving attitudes toward selfgovernance and private arrangements. Part II describes the Principles and their development, focusing on the threads of cooperation and private arrangements underlying the Principles. Part III examines the Principles in light of the various approaches legal scholars have taken to cyber-governance and argues that the Principles represent a promising middle ground that takes advantage of the benefits and minimizes the problems associated with each model.
Part III also provides a suggestion for how to deepen and extend the middle-ground approach embodied in the Principles, based upon some of their strengths and weaknesses. Part IV concludes.
http://harvardlawreview.org/issues/121/march08/notes/principles_for_user_generated_content.pdf
SI: New eDemocracy service involves citizens in legislative process
Slovenia’s national government portal eUprava has introduced a new eDemocracy service, which will allow citizens to follow closely the preparation and adoption of regulations, and co-operate in the elimination of administrative barriers.
The new service offers the public the opportunity to influence changes in existing legislation, by contributing their suggestions, comments and opinions. Citizens may electronically submit concrete proposals for change, and suggestions on how to help eliminate administrative barriers – which may often also involve changes in rules or regulations.
In addition, the portal provides a direct link to elected representatives, thus contributing to greater efficiency in the democratic process, and to improved communication between the general public and public administrations. The eDemocracy service is also intended to help citizens improve their understanding of the system and how it works, by providing general information on the public administration, democratic processes, and the adoption of laws and regulations at both national and EU level.
The eDemocracy service is broken down into four main parts: eliminating administrative barriers; contacting elected representatives; democratic processes, and legislation, legal rules in the EU, public information or elections.
HU: Hungarian city offers eGov services by SMS
Békéscsaba municipality, in south-eastern Hungary, has become the latest local authority to offer round-the-clock wireless eAdministration services.
The rate of penetration of the Internet in the Hungarian market is still relatively low and this acts as a major obstacle to using web-based eGovernment services. On the flip side, mobile phone penetration is close to 100 %, so this seems to be the real alternative to provide such services for the time being.
Following in the footsteps of early pioneering cities (such as Budaörs, Érd and Debrecen) where local authorities offer various SMS-based services, Békéscsaba, a county seat close to the Hungarian-Romanian border, also introduced such eGovernment service on 15 April 2008. Citizens do not need to be technologically savvy to use this cheap and user-friendly service. For the time being, services offered cover the document office (ID cards, addresses, driving licences, vehicle registration and number plates, etc.), taxation and social policy.
After sending the word ‘WAP’ – short for wireless application protocol – to a designated number, citizens can start browsing a menu system and read about requirements, necessary documents, stamp duties and fees. Once they are sure about what they need to do and how, they can make an appointment and only need to show up five minutes before the agreed time. In order to speed up the process, they can also provide data over the phone in advance. In case there is a need for a specific form, they can specify an eMail address to which the office can send the form. Completing the form in advance also saves time.
Using this new service, citizens can really enjoy a hassle-free, fast and “one-stop-shop” service at their municipality, even when they are on the go. The telecoms service provider already has plans to introduce this service in Budapest in the near future.
Making Online News: The Ethnography of New Media Production
Little has been published about the daily work of online journalists, how it differs from traditional media production, and what consequences it has for the character and quality of online news. We aim to fill this void. Research has tended to stay outside the doors of online newsrooms, and there is a lot to learn from entering.
Network of Centres of Excellence
The Network of Centers of Excellence is a project designed to work with selected outstanding scientific and technological institutions in the developing world, using them as regional hubs of learning and training for developing country scientists and engineers. To this end, the Network organizes long- and short-term training courses scientists from developing countries, especially from Africa, seeking to create links within the scientific community and strengthen the mobility of scientists. The training courses focus on new and emerging technologies, such as biotechnologies and ICTs. UNCTAD, in collaboration with the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD), launched the Network in 2005.
China refuses to guarantee open Internet during Olympics
China is refusing to guarantee that it will not censor the Internet during this summer's Olympic Games, but insists that the international media will still be able to function normally. Officials from China's Technology Ministry took a somewhat odd opportunity to speak about its censorship plans during a press conference after the Olympic torch relay crossed Mount Everest. They said that while the government would be able to "guarantee as much [access] as possible," there is no way that China would turn off the Great Firewall entirely during the Games.
2008.05.10
Microsoft e-gov tool free for governments
By John Rendleman
Microsoft is making its Citizen Services Platform for creating Web-based electronic government services available to local and regional governments. The platform is available without charge to municipal governments, but they will have to operate a Microsoft computing environment to run the platform.
The Citizen Services Platform includes eight ready-to-use templates for the most common types of transactions between municipal governments and residents, and it can be customized to offer the preferred level of sophistication. E-government services that municipalities and regional governments launch using the platform can, for example, range from simple, so-called presence offerings that provide static information to more complex transactional services incorporating live data streams or enabling online, real-time interactions between residents and government.
The platform includes the following templates:
E-Councilor template—A Windows Live Agent that allows messenger communication with a virtual government worker to ask questions.
Web TV template— Allows government and citizen video hosting in Web 2.0 style.
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 templates— A set of 40 templates to customize scenarios that address site and system administration needs.
Local government communications template— Sample portal with intranet and extranet templates.
Role-based My Site template— Designed for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the My Site functionality.
Agenda Management template— Allows organizations to streamline processes.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM templates for municipal governments— Vertical templates, including reference data models, predefined work flows and role-based user experiences.
The Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Role-based My Site and Microsoft Dynamics CRM templates are available now; the others will be available later this summer.
“We’re interested in getting citizens out of line and online,” said James Osteen, assistant director of Miami’s information technology department. The city is giving input to Microsoft as it develops additional templates for the platform, Osteen said, including a template in the works for people applying for, documenting, paying for and tracking building permits in addition to a possible template incorporating Virtual Earth to give people localized, neighborhood-oriented services or access to information based on their geographical position.
2008.05.09
Technology Group Plans Wireless Network
A who's who of technology and telecommunications companies announced Wednesday that it intended to build the first of a new generation of nationwide wireless data networks. The consortium includes a disparate group of partners: Sprint Nextel, Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner and Clearwire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/technology/07sprint-web.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
€ 200 Million for industrial research in Embedded Computing Systems
Only 3 months after its launch the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking (JU) published its first Call for proposals. With € 100 million public funding from the European Commission and the participating Member States and at least a € 100 million contribution from industry and research organisations the Call should generate an activity of more than € 200 million. The ARTEMIS JU, a Europe-wide public-private research partnership, addresses embedded computer systems that – while running almost unnoticed by users – improve the performance of all kinds of machines: from cars, planes and phones, to factories, washing machines and televisions.
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=4097
ANRCTI announces winners of tender for new Telecentres
The Romanian telecoms regulator ANRCTI has announced that AccessNet International, Rartel, National Radiocommunications Company and Vodafone Romania have won the tender for the installation of telecentres in 172 rural localities of Romania that currently have limited or no access to telephone and internet services. AccessNet will install 150 telecentres in 31 counties, Rartel 19 telecentres in 14 counties, the National Radiocommunications Company one telecentre, and Vodafone Romania will install two. To date, ANRCTI has organised tenders for the installation of telecentres in 633 localities with 350 telecentres already functional. Each telecentre is equipped with at least two telephones, two computers linked to the internet and a fax, and are available for use by the whole community at ‘affordable’ tariffs.
http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=23022&email=text
Wikipedia goes to court to defend defamation immunity
Wikipedia, the free, user-generated online encyclopedia, faces a court battle to protect itself from liability for everything that users post on the site. The company behind the site will argue that it should be granted immunity under US law.
Romania's Regulator Releases End-2007 Market Data
Romania's mobile penetration rate at the end of 2007 reached 106.2% as a result of 22.9 million active SIM cards, the head of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications and IT (ANRCTI), Dan Georgescu, said at the sidelines of "Communications Day" conference. He added: “The penetration rate is no longer relevant for a comparison with EU states in this sector, because Germany, for instance, is behind Romania, and another two operators will launch their services this year on the Romanian market.” The market also experienced a surge on the number of mobile phone calls and text messages, up by 48.25% year-on-year (y/y) and 40.91% y/y respectively. On the contrary, fixed-line penetration rate has only marginally increased by 1.4% y/y to total 4.26 million lines.
HU: Broadband user base reached 1.39 million in 1Q
According to data published by the Hungarian telecoms regulator the National Communications Authority (NCAH), the number of broadband subscriptions in the country reached 1.39 million at the end of March, broken down as 763,000 ADSL subscriptions, 446,000 cable modem subscribers and others, 181,000.
http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=22971&email=text
2008.05.08
Radio Free Europe's websites in Belarus under attack
Several Radio Free Europe websites were under a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in the past week. The attacks started on 26 April 2008, the 22nd anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, primary targeted at the Belarus Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) service which was offering live coverage of a rally of protest organized in Minsk against the plight of uncompensated victims and a government decision to build a new nuclear plant.
Martins Zvaners, RFE spokesman, thinks that was the largest attack ever experienced by RFE. At its peak, the DDoS attack was sending more than 50000 requests to the RFE sites, flooding its servers' capacity and throwing them offline.
Although there is no proof of who was behind the attacks, Zvaners pointed his finger at the Belarus administration: "This started on the day of a demonstration that they wanted no one to cover. They've never been real happy with us. In an ongoing sense, they are always 'jamming' our signals. We can't say for certain who did it, but you look at the circumstances and you can start to draw some possible inferences."
US State Department spokeswoman Jessica Simon stated that it was the Belarusian Government's responsibility to stop such kind of attacks while Nina Ognianova, the program coordinator for Europe and Central Asia at the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said it was also the responsibility of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to find and punish those responsible with the attacks. "In Belarus especially, RFE/RL service is significant now more than ever because Lukashenka's regime has destroyed the other independent and opposition broadcasters. (...) So we certainly are very concerned about this short-lived but successful attacks" said Ognianova.
RFE issued a news release on 28 April following which the attacks stopped and the sites went back online. According to Zvaners, RFE has now taken protection measures against similar attacks.
During the three days of the attack, RFR/RL's Belarus Service was supported by 22 Belarusian sites that hosted its content. "Dear friends. We value your solidarity and we promise to support any site that falls victim to such an attack in the future. (...) Thanks to all of you for your support of freedom" said Alyaksandr Lukashuk, director of RFE/RL's Belarus Service, who considers that the response to the attack was an example that could create a precedent for future online "esprit de corps" among journalists and pro-democracy advocates.
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number6.9/radio-free-europe-belarus
Radio Free Europe's websites in Belarus under attack
Several Radio Free Europe websites were under a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in the past week. The attacks started on 26 April 2008, the 22nd anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, primary targeted at the Belarus Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) service which was offering live coverage of a rally of protest organized in Minsk against the plight of uncompensated victims and a government decision to build a new nuclear plant.
Martins Zvaners, RFE spokesman, thinks that was the largest attack ever experienced by RFE. At its peak, the DDoS attack was sending more than 50000 requests to the RFE sites, flooding its servers' capacity and throwing them offline.
Although there is no proof of who was behind the attacks, Zvaners pointed his finger at the Belarus administration: "This started on the day of a demonstration that they wanted no one to cover. They've never been real happy with us. In an ongoing sense, they are always 'jamming' our signals. We can't say for certain who did it, but you look at the circumstances and you can start to draw some possible inferences."
US State Department spokeswoman Jessica Simon stated that it was the Belarusian Government's responsibility to stop such kind of attacks while Nina Ognianova, the program coordinator for Europe and Central Asia at the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, said it was also the responsibility of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to find and punish those responsible with the attacks. "In Belarus especially, RFE/RL service is significant now more than ever because Lukashenka's regime has destroyed the other independent and opposition broadcasters. (...) So we certainly are very concerned about this short-lived but successful attacks" said Ognianova.
RFE issued a news release on 28 April following which the attacks stopped and the sites went back online. According to Zvaners, RFE has now taken protection measures against similar attacks.
During the three days of the attack, RFR/RL's Belarus Service was supported by 22 Belarusian sites that hosted its content. "Dear friends. We value your solidarity and we promise to support any site that falls victim to such an attack in the future. (...) Thanks to all of you for your support of freedom" said Alyaksandr Lukashuk, director of RFE/RL's Belarus Service, who considers that the response to the attack was an example that could create a precedent for future online "esprit de corps" among journalists and pro-democracy advocates.
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number6.9/radio-free-europe-belarus
Sixteen Telcos to Build Submarine Cable System to Link India and U.K.
Sixteen major telecoms carriers have signed a construction and maintenance agreement (C&MA) to build the first direct, high-bandwidth optical-fibre submarine cable system from India to the United Kingdom.
The new cable will connect three continents, with 13 landings in India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
The project is one of the several major India-Europe cable projects recently announced, driven by carriers' desire to capture the rapid growth of voice and data traffic between India, Europe, and the Middle East.
The new cable will provide higher capacity and diversity for broadband traffic currently relying largely on traditional routes from Europe to India.
The 15,000km cable network system, named the Europe India Gateway (EIG) cable system, will connect three continents at a cost of more than US$700 million. Thirteen landings are planned in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and India. The system will utilise state-of the-art next-generation technology which is designed to provide up to 3.84 terabits per second using dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) to provide upgradeable transmission facilities which support internet, e-commerce, video, data, and voice services. The system is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2010.
Sixteen telecommunications companies are investing in the project: AT&T, Bharti Airtel, BT, Cable & Wireless, Djibouti Telecom; du; Gibtelecom; IAM; Libyan Post, Telecom and Information Technology Company; MTN; Omantel; PT Comunicacoes, Saudi Telecom Company; Telecom Egypt; Telkom SA; and Verizon Business. In addition to the C&MA, the EIG consortium also signed a supply contract with Alcatel-Lucent and Tyco Telecommunications for the cable system's construction.
Telecoms: European Commission launches public consultation on the functioning and the effects of the EU Roaming Regulation
As of today, the European Commission invites feedback by industry, consumers and other interested stakeholders to review the functioning and effectiveness of the EU Roaming Regulation, which entered into force on 30 June 2007. According to the provisions of the Regulation, the Commission must report to the European Parliament and the Council in 2008 about the functioning of the new roaming rules and their effects. The public consultation aims to gather responses from mobile operators, businesses, consumer associations and any interested party by 2 July 2008.
Towards Information Literacy Indicators
UNESCO's Information for All Program (IFAP) has released a paper providing a basic conceptual framework for measuring information literacy. The publication includes a definition of information literacy; a model that links information literacy with other adult competences, such as ICT skills; and a description of information literacy standards in education.
Now showing online
An article from the NY Times discusses how within the last few months, television distributors have opened up their libraries of classic content online, making thousands of episodes of programs like "The Twilight Zone" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" available free. In putting old episodes online, broadcasters are tapping into the "long tail" of niche content that the Internet has monetized.
2008.05.07
NZ National plans $1.5bn broadband spend-up
The National Party says it would invest up to $1.5 billion to get fast broadband into nearly every home in the country if it wins the election.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10505539
France considering new rules for web 2.0
A French Parliamentary report suggests a change in the law (LCEN) that implements the European Directive on e-commerce in order to make clearer the distinction between editing and hosting activities in the new applications related to Web 2.0.
The report of the Deputy Jean Dionis du Séjour on the application of the LCEN was updated on 16 April 2008, after the first version was submitted to the Parliament on 23 January. The update concerns some of the latest court decisions in France that established the responsibility of some websites for others' RSS feeds or for user-generated content. The report specifies that the law has created a hosting status that is different from that of an editor and that "this distinction must not be emptied by the court decisions."
The report also claims that the law needs to be changed in order to comply with the new applications available, such as hosting collaboratives websites or online auctions. This could be helpful in order to avoid the situation already presented in EDRi-gram, when Paris Tribunal condemned 3 different French websites for linking to another website containing gossip information on a French actor.
But the report also suggests increasing the obligations on the hosting companies, especially by making public the methods used to fight illegal activities, that would prove their good will. This provision could be enforced by an independent authority, like the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL).
But the French Government does not seem to share this opinion. The new State Secretary in charge with information society, Eric Besson, made clear in the first public appearance that he didn't think that the law needed to be changed. "I will not be the Minister of Internet castration" he declared in a public meeting to Dailymotion, one of the biggest video-sharing French websites.
Since Mr. Besson has an objective to present to the French Government by 31 July 2008 the new plan on information society, he may discuss also the problems of the new type of applications on the Internet.
Eurobarometers on data protection in EU
According to a couple of Eurobarometer surveys on data protection, issued by the European Commission on 17 April 2008, EU citizens have little faith in the security of data transmission on the Internet.
Two surveys were conducted by Gallup in January 2008, investigating the perceptions on data protection among EU citizens and data controllers respectively. The surveys involved about 27000 EU citizens and 5000 companies from all 27 member states.
The findings of the surveys show that 82% of European Internet users have little trust in personal data management on the Internet and 64% of EU citizens are concerned about data protection issues feeling that the awareness and information on these topics are not satisfactory enough. The lack of information appeared to be a major problem. Especially the national data protection authorities were rather unknown to most of the EU citizens.
Only 28% of respondents said they knew about such institutions existing in their country.
Less than half of the respondents think data is properly protected in their own countries and more than half of them considering the legislation cannot cope with the increasing amount of exchanged personal information.
The surveys also reveal an increase in the awareness of the risks related to potential abuses of private data, proportional to the increased use of privacy protecting tools and technologies. Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) that include automatic anonymisation after a certain lapse of time, encryption tools and cookie-cutters, are better known by companies, more than half of them using now such tools. The studies revealed that, although increasing, the level of awareness it still relatively low among EU citizens. More than two thirds of Internet users in some country (such as Ireland or France) say they have never heard of PETs.
One of the topics covered by the studies was data monitoring. Citizens, as well as data controllers, agree on the monitoring of passenger flight details (82%), telephone calls (72%), Internet (75%) and credit card usage (69%) to combat terrorism but only within well-defined limits. About a third of the respondents believe only suspects should be monitored while about 20% wanted even stricter safeguards.
Commenting on the results of the surveys, Commission Vice-President Jacques Barrot, temporarily in charge of justice and home affairs, said: "It is our intention to fully analyse and understand the feedback we have been given by Europe's citizens in this survey and we will ensure these comments inform the work we are doing in this area this year. I am convinced that this survey will also be a salutary lesson for all stakeholders involved in handling personal data and maintaining data protection".
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/248
Explaining International Broadband Leadership
In a new report examining in depth broadband policies in 9 nations the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation concludes that while we shouldn’t look to other nations for silver bullets or assume that practices in one nation will automatically work in another, U.S. policymakers can and should look to broadband best practices in other nations. Learning the right lessons and emulating the right policies here will enable the United States to improve our broadband performance faster than in the absence of proactive policies. The report analyzes the extent to which policy and non-policy factors drive broadband performance, and how broadband policies related to national leadership, incentives, competition, rural access, and consumer demand affect national broadband performance. Based on these findings the report makes a number of recommendations to boost U.S. broadband performance.
Also included in the report are the updated 2008 ITIF Broadband Rankings, a composite measure of broadband penetration, speed and price among OECD countries. When these factors are considered together, the United States ranks 15th out of 30 OECD nations in broadband performance.
2008.05.06
New leadership for Creative Commons and new anti-corruption project for Lessig
By Andrew Nachison
Tech entrepreneur Joi Ito is the new CEO of Creative Commons, the alternative copyright licensing organization that has spawned widespread sharing and reuse of digital content and educational materials - like course lecture notes available for free from MIT. The founder of Creative Commons, Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig, has moved on to a new project, Change Congress, which describes itself as a movement to increase transparency in the US government’s legislative branch. So far it appears to be an online pledge campaign around a set of commitments, like “Don’t take money from lobbyists and political action commiteees.” The approach is different, but the mission sounds to me awfully similar to the Sunlight Foundation, which “serves as a catalyst to create greater political transparency and to foster more openness and accountability in government.” More about the Creative Commons changes and $4 million in new funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
2008.05.05
WB loans $203 mln to Turkey's Cadastre Modernization
The World Bank (WB) approved a $203 mln loan to be used for the Cadastre Modernization Project for Turkey, WB said on Thursday. The project aims at contributing to public services by spreading and making effective e-government applications.
The term of repayment of the loan financed by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will be 23.5 years, with no repayments for the first five years, according to a statement posted on the official website of the World Bank.
The project aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the land registry and cadastre services.
"This objective will be achieved through renovating and updating cadastre maps to support digital cadastre and land registry information; making the digital land registry and cadastre information available to public and private entities; improving customer services in land registry and cadastre offices; improving human resources in the Turkish Land Registry and Cadastre Agency (TKGM); and developing policies and capacity to introduce in Turkey best international practices in property valuation." the statement said.
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/finance/8845032.asp?gid=231&sz=35481
New Deloitte Study Suggests to Governments: 'Customer-Centered Transformation Can Reduce Costs, Improve Effectiveness'
Governments Should Use Leading "Customer Experience" Practices to Improve the Delivery, Effectiveness of Public Services
Governments face growing pressure to improve the customer experience for citizens accessing public services, according to a new Deloitte report titled One Size Fits Few: Using Customer Insight to Transform Government.
Leading businesses have trained people to expect high quality, personalized services -- standards that citizens are now applying to government. At the same time, governments around the world are confronting significant short- and long-term fiscal pressures -- from managing rising health care costs to rebuilding public infrastructure. According to the Deloitte study, governments can both reduce costs and improve the level of service they offer to their consumers by adapting to the public sector some of the customer-centered reforms pioneered by leading companies.
Microsoft walks away from Yahoo deal
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer vowed last week not to pay "a penny" more than he thought Yahoo was worth, and he kept his word Saturday. After intense weekend negotiations stalemated on price, with Microsoft raising its bid by $5 billion and Yahoo demanding twice that, he walked away from what would have been one of the biggest technology deals ever.
Egyptian Political Dissent Unites Through Facebook
Facebook has evolved into one of the latest tools for political dissent in Egypt, as activists use the social-networking site to organize protests on soaring food prices. The activists, who are urging Egyptians to stay home Sunday and boycott buying all commodities through Tuesday, use signs similar to online banner ads on the site to promote the strike. One such banner is fiery red and reads: "May 4, a general strike for the people of Egypt."
