Information Policy

Youth attending the launch of the Next Generation Leaders programme look to themselves to provide leadership of the Internet

GENEVA, Switzerland-7 October 2009-Insights from youth attending the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World Conference in Geneva, gathered via a poll, show that they considered future leaders of the Internet were far more likely to emerge from educational institutions than from industry, government, or technical communities. Leadership, for this group, is a bridging role relying on education to combine and complement commercial, policy, or technological advances.

Their view of leadership positions the youth to address and find solutions to over-arching concerns such as privacy and security, which they ranked as a far greater concern today than censorship, government regulation, or over-commercialisation.

The poll took place at the launch of a new Internet Society (ISOC) programme designed to identify and promote future leaders such as the talented youth selected for this global conference.

"The Internet Society's Next Generation Leaders programme offers a unique opportunity to advance potential Internet leaders, and the results of this poll indicate the importance of balanced education for leadership," said Bill Graham, responsible for strategic global engagement at the Internet Society. "We want to provide the world's next generation of Internet leaders the opportunity to accelerate their careers."

"We have specifically designed our programme to prepare young professionals for leadership, bridging the boundaries between business, technical development, policy, and governance on local, regional, and international levels. It is based on specialized coursework, introductions to current high-level leaders, and project work. Graduates will have a great opportunity to advance their careers faster than they could on their own," continues Graham.

Candidates in the programme will also have the opportunity to apply for ISOC's existing representation programmes, such as ISOC Ambassadorships to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) or ISOC Fellowships to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

This programme is made possible through generous support from Nominet Trust.

For more information about joining or supporting the Internet Society Next Generation Leaders programme, see:

http://isoc.org/leaders/

History of the internet - 40 years on

29 Oct 1969 - The first ARPAnet message is sent between the University of California and Stanford University. The message reads: "lo". It is meant to spell log-in, but the system crashed.

March 1972 - The first basic email program is written.

The @ sign is chosen for its 'at' meaning.

1974 - Intel releases its first processor - the 8080.

1976 - Apple Computer is founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Queen Elizabeth sends her first email.

1979 - Bob Metcalfe and others found 3Com (Computer Communication Compatibility).

1980 - Tim Berners-Lee writes a program called Enquire Within, the predecessor to the World Wide Web.

1981 - IBM announces its first Personal Computer (PC).

Microsoft creates DOS.

1983 - Cisco Systems founded.

November 1983 - The Domain Name System (DNS) is designed by Jon Postel, Paul Mockapetris, and Craig Partridge. The domain names .edu, .gov, .com, .mil, .org, .net, and .int are created.

24 January 1984 - Apple Computer introduces the first Macintosh computer.

15 March 1985 - Symbolic.com becomes the first registered domain name.

1987 - 25 million PCs are sold in the U.S.

1990 - ARPAnet ends and Tim Berners-Lee creates the World Wide Web.

1992 - The term "surfing the internet" is coined by Jean Armour Polly.

December 1994 - Microsoft licenses technology from Spyglass to create a web browser for Windows 95.

24 August 1995 - Windows 95 released.

1999 - AOL buys Netscape and, along with Microsoft, shares almost 100% of the browser market.

Oct 1999 - Shawn Fanning creates Napster, which opens up the possibilities of peer-to-peer file sharing and begins a copyright war in the music industry.

February 2000 - A large-scale denial of service attack is launched against major sites including Yahoo and eBay, sparking a security alert.

The 10-millionth domain name is registered.

2000 - Fixed wireless, high-speed internet technology is used instead of copper and fiber-optic lines placed in the ground.

Many of the 'dotcom' companies set up during the dotcom boom of the 1990s fold.

July 2001 - A judge rules that Napster must remain offline until it can prevent copyrighted material from being shared by its users.

The Code Red worm and Sircam virus attack hundreds of servers and email accounts, causing major security breaches.

January 2003 - The Internet celebrates its 'unofficial' 20th birthday.

2005 - YouTube launched.

2006 - There are an estimated 92 million websites in existence.

August 2006 - AOL announces that it will give the majority of its services away for free using funding from advertising income (services were previously charged on a monthly basis).

January 2007 - Microsoft launches its various consumer versions of Microsoft Vista.

February 2007 - Apple surpasses one billion iTunes downloads.

March 2007 - 1.1 billion people used the internet, according to Internet World Stats.

April 2007 - Search engine giant Google surpasses Microsoft as 'most valuable global brand' and also becomes the most visited website.

Christmas 2007 - BBC iPlayer launched.

2008 - Google celebrates it tenth birthday and launches the Google Chrome web browser.

Wikileaks is disabled.

Microsoft offers to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion.

January 2009 - Actor Ashton Kutcher becomes the first Twitter member with more than a million followers.

October 2009 - Microsoft launches the Windows 7 operating system.

The internet reaches its 40th birthday.

By Vicky Woollaston

http://news.hostexploit.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2333:history-of-the-internet-40-years-on&catid=3:host-and-registrar-news&Itemid=30/

European Commision Announces Additional ICT Research Budget For Internet Technologies

The European Commission said on 28 October that it would allocate €300 million to kick-start European Union research efforts into new Internet technologies that could see the Internet used as a medium for the collection of real-time data and its use across a range of services.

Examples of possible future services might include public transport, smart traffic or energy systems that use sensor networks or mobile devices to collect constantly updated information, which is then used to optimise the operation of the system. The Commission claimed that the efficiencies generated by such systems could reduce road congestion in the EU by 20 percent, and greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent, also leading to savings of billions of euros.

Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media said that such technologies could also "make our health care systems more efficient and treat patients from afar."

The Commission said it would spend the €300 million additional budget between 2011-2013, and that the money would be on top of €200 million annually being spent on ICT research through the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Develoment. Projects applying for a share of the €300 million would have to match the Commission’s contribution with their own finance. A call for proposals will be published in 2010.

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/foi/library/fi-communication_en.pdf

Google chief gives view of Internet's future

The ranking of real-time social-media content by search engines is "the great challenge of the age," Google CEO Eric Schmidt told an audience at an industry event in Orlando, Fla. In Schmidt's view, the Web in 2014 will have significantly more content in Chinese, boast an even greater level of social media and be available at much faster bandwidth speeds.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_web_in_five_years.php#comment-165317

Civil Society Media and Global Governance

Intervening into the World Summit on the Information Society

Arne Hintz

How do community, alternative and citizens media activists and advocates interact with global media policy processes? Are their concerns recognised, and do new forms of multi-stakeholder governance offer a place for them? Focusing on the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society, "Civil Society Media and Global Governance" examines agendas and strategies of media actors, traces successes and failures, and proposes a new conceptual framework for the relation of these media with global policy processes.

http://iamcr.org/members-books-newsmenu-325/545-civil-society-media-and-global-governance

Consumers: 60% of cross border internet shopping orders are refused, says new EU study

There are widespread problems with refusals of orders for EU consumers trying to purchase goods online in another Member state, according to a new European Commission report on cross border consumer e-commerce published today. An extensive independent mystery shopping exercise was carried out for the Commission where shoppers across the EU tried to purchase a list of 100 popular products –for example cameras, CDs, books, clothes - from a cross border provider. Over 11,000 test orders were carried out. The research found that 60% of cross border transactions could not be completed by consumers because the trader did not ship the product to their country or did not offer adequate means for cross border payment. Latvia, Belgium, Romania and Bulgaria are the countries where consumers are least able to buy cross border (for full list of EU-27 countries ranked see MEMO/09/475 ). But in all but two countries the odds of succeeding in a cross border purchase are lower than 50%. The foregone benefits to citizens are also very clear. In more than half of Member States, 50% or more or the products could be found 10% cheaper (transport costs included) from a website in another country. And 50% of products searched could not be found in national sites and were only offered by another Member State trader. The Communication presents a series of measures to be taken to reduce the complex regulatory environment which is acting as a disincentive for businesses to serve consumers in other Member States. In addition and to boost confidence in online trading, the problems regarding the collection of commercial data and its use to profile and target consumers will be analyzed in a stakeholders forum.

Commissioner Kuneva said: "The results of this research are very striking, we now have concrete facts and figures showing the extent to which the European single market for consumers is just not happening in online retail. Better deals and greater product choice for consumers on our vast European market could be just a click of a mouse away. But in reality online shoppers are still largely confined within national borders. Europe's consumers are being denied better choice and value for money. They deserve better. We must simplify the legal maze that is preventing online traders from offering their goods in other countries".

"Achieving a Digital Single Market is a top priority for Europe", said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "We won't have a real Digital Economy until we remove all barriers to online transactions, also for end-consumers. This must be on top of the list of all policy initiatives to re-launch the single market project."

The e-commerce market

The European e-commerce market was estimated to be worth 106 billion euros in 2006. The internet is the fastest growing retail channel. In 2008, 51% of EU retailers sold online.

But the gap between domestic and cross-border e-commerce is widening as a result of barriers to online trade. While the share of EU consumers who shop online grew from 27% to 33% in two years (2006-08), the share of those who bought anything online from another EU country was stagnant (6% to 7%). And only 21% of traders currently sell at a distance across borders.

Yet the potential is clearly there. One third of EU consumers say that they would consider shopping online from another EU country if the product was cheaper or better, and a third are willing to buy in another language. 59% of retailers are prepared to trade in more than one language.

The m ystery shopping: findings

An online test conducted on behalf of the European Commission set out to check the opportunities and barriers for consumers shopping online across borders in the EU by going through the shopping process. Testers in all EU countries searched for 100 popular products (ranging from CDs, to computers, digital cameras and washing machines) on the internet, checking what savings can be made when buying across borders and how difficult it is to buy online from another EU country. In total, close to 11,000 test transactions were carried out. The main findings are:

Substantial savings for consumers are possible . In 13 countries out of 27 and for at least half of all product searches, consumers were able to find an offer in another EU country which was at least 10% cheaper than the best domestic offer (all costs, such as delivery to the consumer's country, included).

Access to products which are unavailable at home . Shoppers in 13 EU countries could not find domestic online offers for at least 50% of the products which they searched for, but found them in another EU country.

Most orders fail . On average, 61% orders placed online in another EU country failed, mainly because the trader refused to serve the consumer’s country of residence or did not offer adequate means of cross border payment.

The barriers to e-commerce

The communication published today presents a strategy for tackling the barriers to cross-border online trade. Some of the priority areas for action are:

Create a simple, single set of rights for EU consumers. The proposal for the Consumer Rights Directive aims to replace the current confusing patchwork of laws with one simple EU-wide set of rights, offering equal protection to consumers while reducing compliance costs for retailers and offering them legal clarity.

Boost cross-border enforcement. Coordinated EU-led action to enforce consumer law (such as “Internet sweeps”) should continue, to stamp out illegal practices and boost consumer confidence in cross-border shopping.

Simplify cross-border rules for retailers , e.g. on value-added tax, recycling fees and copyright levies. Currently some retailers must deal with several tax authorities, face different national rules on recycling electronic waste, and may end up paying copyright levies in several countries for the same goods. The Commission’s proposals address the first two problems. On levies, practical solutions must be found quickly.

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1564

Developing countries must boost broadband: U.N.

By Jonathan Lynn Reuters

GENEVA (Reuters) - Developing countries risk missing out on the benefits of information technology because of their lack of broadband infrastructure, a U.N. agency said.

Lack of broadband Internet access deprives countries of the possibility of building up offshoring industries, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report late on Thursday.

It also prevents people from tapping into all the advantages of mobile phones, whose use is exploding in poor countries.

"The narrowing of the digital divide remains a key development challenge," UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General Petko Draganov said.

"What is known as the broadband gap for example is becoming a serious handicap for companies in many poor countries," he told a briefing to launch UNCTAD's Information Economy Report.

Companies and consumers are 200 times more likely to have access to broadband in developed countries than in the poorest Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the report shows.

And the cost of broadband access varies widely -- over $1,300 a month in Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic and Swaziland against less than $13 in Egypt or Tunisia.

Broadband is essential for offshoring industries such as call centers and back offices, which many developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia want to develop and expand.

Such industries are likely to expand despite the economic crisis because they enable companies in rich countries to cut costs, UNCTAD notes.

Broadband allows consumers to make better use of their mobile phones -- rapidly overtaking computers as the information and communications technology (ICT) tool of choice in developing countries.

People in poor countries are using mobile phones for banking, to check markets and monitor the weather -- reducing the need for travel and boosting productivity, UNCTAD noted.

As a result mobile phone usage is growing. In Africa there are already 20 times more mobile subscribers than fixed lines, and India added almost 100 million new mobile subscribers in the first seven months of this year, it said.

However, the economic crisis has hit sales of ICT goods such as phones and computers and trade in them declined dramatically last year, according to figures from the top six exporters -- China, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, United States and Germany.

Exports have recovered this year, especially from China, now by far the biggest ICT goods exporter.

This is part of a continuing shift to dominance of the sector by Asia, which already accounted for more than half of ICT goods exports by 2007, UNCTAD said.

ICT exports are not only growing faster in China than elsewhere, but are also the fastest growing sector in China.

(Editing by Jon Boyle)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102300987.html

EU: Telecoms package problem must be solved in eight weeks or be ditched

The European Parliament has until the end of the year to agree a new telecoms reform deal with the EU's Council of Ministers. It will announce tomorrow the start date for negotiations which can take no longer than eight weeks.

Parliament and Council representatives must agree a compromise by December that must be ratified by their organisations by February otherwise the whole Telecoms Package will be scrapped, according to a European Parliament spokeswoman.

The Council and Parliament are in disagreement over a clause in a Commission-proposed reform package for telecoms regulation which would stop internet users being cut off for alleged file-sharing without a court's authority.

The dispute derailed the ratification of the Telecoms Package before summer and negotiation is about to start over a compromise deal. Unless that single clause is agreed the whole reform programme will be discarded.

A Conciliation Committee will be formed and will comprise 27 MEPs and 27 Council representatives, one on each side from every EU member state. Once it begins negotiation on a proposed text it has just eight weeks to reach agreement.

A spokeswoman for the European Parliament said that it would announce the exact date for negotiations to start tomorrow, but that the date would be in early November.

"That means they will have to agree by the end of the year," she said. "They can have as many meetings as they like, but it can only take six to eight weeks."

Any text agreed by the Conciliation Committee will have to be passed both by the Parliament and the full Council of Ministers. This, too, must happen within eight weeks.

The EU governing bodies will once again have to accept or reject the whole Telecoms Package, they cannot reject one clause and adopt the rest, said the spokeswoman. "And if it is rejected early next year then the Commission will have to start again from zero," she said.

The disputed amendment would stop countries passing laws that allow for the disconnection of internet users suspected of engaging in illegal file sharing without court oversight.

"No restriction may be imposed on the fundamental rights and freedoms of end users without a prior ruling by the judicial authorities … save when public security is threatened," said the amendment.

Both the European Consumers' Organisation (Beuc) and the European Internet Service Providers' Association (Eurispa) have called in recent days for the Parliament to hold firm in protecting the rights of internet users not to be disconnected without judicial oversight.

"Citizens should not be cut-off from [the] internet without a fair trial," said Beuc director general Willemien Bax. "Consumers must not be treated as pirates or criminals. We are in the 21st century and such draconian measures have no place in an open society. People have rights that cannot and must not be overlooked for the sake of the music and film industry."

Eurispa also backed the original amendment. "We believe that unrestricted access to the internet is an integral part of Fundamental Freedoms, providing a secure business environment and protecting citizens’ civil liberties," said a Eurispa statement. "Any restriction of an individual to those rights should only be taken following a prior judicial ruling. Only a court can guarantee a proportionate, balanced decision, respectful of the Fundamental Rights of Information, Privacy and Communication."

The Parliament spokeswoman confirmed that the disputed clause is the only part of the Telecoms Package that is being renegotiated.

http://www.out-law.com/page-10466

ICTs for democracy: Information and Communication Technologies for the Enhancement of Democracy - with a Focus on Empowerment

This report examines the potential of information an communications technologies (ICTs) for advancing democracy and empowerment, with a special focus on Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Access to and the strategic use of ICTs have been shown to have the potential to help bring about economic development, poverty reduction, and democratisation – including freedom of speech, the free flow of information and the promotion of human rights. Based on signs of current democracy deficits in the case study countries, it is crucial that ICTs be made central to development cooperation and to approaches to advance democracy in the three countries

http://www.apc.org/en/system/files/SIDA_ICTs+for+Democracy.pdf

OECD: Rethinking e-Government Services

User-Centred Approaches Expecting substantial savings and improved public services – a trend further accentuated by the financial and economic crisis beginning in 2008 – OECD countries have invested in the development of e-government services over the past 10-15 years. However, despite the initial exceptional take-up, governments later saw low adoption and low use of e-government services which are still far from satisfactory today.

http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?sf1=identifiers&st1=422009091P1