Information Policy

Newspapers in Slovakia protest media legislation

Slovakia's leading newspapers published identical protests on otherwise blank front pages Thursday to condemn legislation that they said would undermine press freedom. The six main dailies left their front pages empty except for a list of "seven sins" in the legislation, which would require them to print responses by people or institutions to any news article even if the published information were true.

http://iht.com/articles/2008/03/27/business/smedia.php

YouTube Removes Videos Banned in Turkey

YouTube has removed several video clips that had prompted Turkish authorities to block access to the video-sharing Web site, a move the company believes will lead to a restoration of access soon.

http://news.theage.com.au/youtube-removes-videos-banned-in-turkey/20080328-220i.html

Wikipedia hits 10 million total articles

That's how many Wikipedia has now, if you count all the articles in the 250-plus languages the encyclopedia is available in.

http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9905726-52.html

"Right to information is fundamental for development", experts say

Right to access information held by public bodies and its contribution to transparency, media pluralism, good governance, empowerment and poverty eradication were the focus of debates during the international experts meeting on "Freedom of Information and Sustainable Development, Sealing the Link" held last week at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=26322&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Cuba to allow ordinary Cubans to go mobile

The government of Cuba, under new President Raul Castro, has said it is allowing ordinary Cubans to buy mobile phones, a luxury previously reserved for those who worked for foreign firms or held key posts with the state. The announcement marks the first official lifting of a major restriction under the new regime, and is the kind of small freedom many Cubans have been hoping he would introduce since succeeding his older brother Fidel as president in February. Previously, some Cubans had managed to acquire mobile handsets by having foreigners sign contracts in their names, but mobile phones are a very uncommon sight. Telecoms monopoly Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA) said it would allow the general public to sign pre-paid contracts in Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC), which are geared toward tourists and foreigners and worth around 23 times the regular pesos (CUP) that Cuban state employees are paid in. This will mean that mobile services will still be too expensive for many Cubans. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, ETECSA, which is owned by the Cuban government (73%) and Telecom Italia International (27%), had an estimated 165,000 users at the end of 2007.

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=22413&email=text

330m Africans will own cellphones in 2008

By CHARLES KAZOOBA

Africa is projected to experience a 22 per cent jump in its mobile phone subscriber base during 2008, with the number of people owning a phone increasing from the current 270 million to 330 million.

The Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) — a global trade association representing 700 GSM celullar operators in 215 countries — says mobile phone penetration will also rise by a corresponding 5 per cent from 28.78 per cent in 2007 to 33.9 per cent in 2008.

Addressing the Africa e-Government conference that ended in Kampala recently, Vitalis Kizito Olunga, chairman of GSM Africa, said the outlook remained positive, with mobile phone subscribers outnumbering fixed lines by a ratio of 15:1.

http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Business/biz310220085.htm

Gartner sees 6.9 mn WiMax users by ’11, warns of hype

MUMBAI: Research house Gartner expects India to have 6.9 million WiMax connections by the end of 2011 but has cautioned that only quicker spectrum allocation and licensing from the government, and not the current hype, can help this wireless broadband technology be adopted widely. “We don’t see much growth in the next one or two years” as the spectrum squeeze drags on, a Gartner analyst who co-authored a report on the sector, said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotech/Internet_/Gartner_sees_69_mn_WiMax_users_by_11_warns_of_hype/articleshow/2902919.cms

Africa: Making Communication Cheaper, Faster And More Transparent

One of the key indicators of good governance is the extent to which citizens are able to participate in decision-making in a country.

In the past, citizens in many countries have only had access to information through their elected representatives. But with the growth of the internet and other informational tools, this is rapidly changing.

Today, the internet is not only making businesses more efficient through e-commerce, but also enabling more citizens to participate in governance by giving them direct access to information.

Like e-commerce, e-governance - also known as electronic governance - aims to improve efficiency of the delivery of services by making communication cheaper, faster and more transparent, according to 'Growth and Success through e-governance', a new book published by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The book, edited by Devindra Ramnarine and RoseMarie-Rita Endeley, highlights the experiences of Malta and Cyprus in implementing e-governance initiatives and the lessons that can be learned.

The publication explains major concerns associated with e-governance and gives recommendations on ways to improve e-governance.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200803260963.html

Delhi, the best e-governed state in India: Survey

Delhi emerged as the best e-governed state in 2007, followed by Goa and Chhattisgarh, even as Karnataka and Gujarat plummeted in e-governance initiatives, a Dataquest-IDC e-Gov survey says.

"Delhi was voted the best e-governed state by its denizens for meeting nine out of 14 parameters set for the survey," Dataquest's chief editor Prasanto K Roy said in a statement in Bangalore on Friday evening. "The nation's capital state rose to the top from third position in 2006, while Chhattisgarh jumped to third position from 14, with an impressive record of e-governance performance," said Roy.

http://www.egovnews.org/?p=3487

Challenging the digital divide: the role of telecenters in e-inclusion practices

The problem is that there is not only one digital divide, but many: geographical, etc. These efforts have, hence, many designs, from fiscal incentives to direct provision of Internet access from physical places: telecenters, places people can go to use telecommunication services. The main difference with a cyber cafe is profit ≈ in the latter case ≈ or bridging the digital divide ≈ in the fomer case.

http://ictlogy.net/20080327-challenging-the-digital-divide-the-role-of-telecenters-in-e-inclusion-practices/