Information Policy

Article 29 Working Party on online social networking

Article 29 Working Party issued on 22 June 2009 an opinion on how European privacy laws affect social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace.

The opinion states the social networking sites should be responsible for the compliance to European privacy laws and, on the other hand, that users of such sites should upload pictures or information about other individuals only with the consent of the respective individuals.

Presently, social networking users share pictures and tag friends' images without requiring a prior consent and generally, communicate publicly, placing their own and others' private information on shared "walls".

The Data Protection Authorities recommend that users are given the opt out choice and are warned of the privacy risks and on the personal data that is being made available to others. The opinion says that "the homepage should contain a link to a complaint facility covering data protection issues for both members and non-members".

The group also draws attention to the processing of personal data on the Internet for commercial purposes, recommending that before using the collected data aimed for personalised advertisements, the sites should obtain the prior consent of the respective users. Data on sensitive topics such as race, religion or sexual orientation should not be processed or passed on to advertisers and individuals should be allowed to adopt a pseudonym. Special attention should be given to the processing of the minors' personal data. This is an opinion that has been lately supported by the European Commission which has announced future strong measures to regulate online tailored ads.

The opinion also advises imposing limits on retaining the data of inactive users believing that abandoned accounts, together with their accompanying data, should be deleted.

The Article 29 Working Party's opinion is based on the principle that social networking websites must be subject to the EU Data Protection Directive even when their headquarters are outside the European Union space.

The group interprets the definition of "data controller" as covering the service providers who, therefore, must adhere to privacy laws. Although an exception is made for personal or "household" users, when users broadcast or gather information very widely via such sites, they become data controllers themselves which could affect users who organise concerts, human rights letter-writing campaigns or try to sell a homemade product online.

The recommendations are not binding but show the trend in the legislative measures that might be taken in the future at the national as well as EU level. The group has focused lately on privacy issues related to search engines and its initiatives have led to actions in this direction. The big search engines such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, have been pressed to reduce the retention period of data collected from their users.

The opinion has implications on the way the responsibility of social networks themselves is seen in carrying images and information that could breach protecting privacy and security rules.

The European Commission has lately focused more on protecting citizens and consumers' privacy and social networking websites are considered potentially dangerous for inexpert users.

Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding has shown her support to this line of action and has kept pushing the major players in this field in adopting a code of conduct meant to protect young users, threatening to otherwise take further action to protect privacy.

http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.13/article-29-social-networks

Botnets pushing up spam loads

Botnet-controlled PCs are responsible for some 83 per cent of all spam messages, according to a recent report. Security firm MessageLabs said in a recent report that despite efforts to shut down service providers notorious for hosting shady operations, spam vendors are continuing to send out huge loads of junk mail through the use of botnet-infected systems.

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2245041/botnets-pushing-spam-loads

North Korean 3G network hits 19,000 subscribers

North Korea's first and only public cellular telephone network attracted 19,200 subscribers after just over three months in business.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/062909-north-korean-3g-network-hits.html

U.S.: Biden announces program to expand broadband Internet access for rural areas at Pa. stop

DAN NEPHIN, Associated Press Writer

WATTSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden outlined a $4.7 billion loan and grant program Wednesday to develop the infrastructure needed to deliver broadband, or high-speed, Internet access to areas that are underserved or without access.

America lags behind more than a dozen other countries in terms of Internet access and that has to change, Biden told about 200 people at Seneca High School, about 12 miles east of Erie.

"The bottom line is, you can't function — a nation can't compete in the 21st century — without an immediate, high-quality access for everything from streaming video to information overline," Biden said.

While Seneca has broadband Internet access, Biden said many students do not have access at home.

Providing the means for access would improve educational opportunities, he said. He also spoke of the power of the Internet to create jobs in rural America.

"We believe we are in the process of transforming rural America ... so it's integrated with the country, without losing it's character," he said. The program also covers inner-city areas without broadband access.

"Getting broadband to every American is a priority for this administration," Biden said.

The $4.7 billion is part of $7.2 billion included in the federal stimulus package to improve rural Internet access.

The Commerce and Agriculture Departments on Wednesday published the criteria they will use to judge funding applications. They will consider projects that provide wired or wireless access starting at low-end DSL speeds, but will give priority to ones promising higher speeds. They'll consider an area "underserved" by broadband, and thus eligible for grants, if half or fewer of the households can get wired broadband today, among other criteria.

Applicants can begin applying on July 14. The first round of funding will be awarded in September. Besides providing money to create the infrastructure, the funding can also go toward training people to use the Internet.

In 2007 and 2008, the Pew Internet and American Life Project asked households that lacked broadband why they haven't signed up. Lack of availability was ranked fourth, given by 14 percent. Most answered that they didn't need the Internet, that it was too expensive or too hard to use. Many people who don't use the Internet simply don't have computers.

About 95 percent of households can already get broadband, according to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. But the industry hasn't been very forthcoming in saying exactly where it's available, and that's part of what the stimulus package wants to address — it has allocated $350 million to mapping U.S. broadband access.

Biden appeared with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-Pa., as part of a "rural America tour."

All spoke of the need for broadband access to create jobs and improve education and health care.

"Broadband is not just about being able to Google faster. It's not merely a luxury or an option for entertainment. It is an essential tool in today's world," Dahlkemper said.

On the Net:

Broadband USA: www.broadbandusa.gov

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-us-biden-stimulus-broadband,1,4779748.story

Online Activism Isn’t Dead

by Leslie Harris

The social and political impact of the Internet is growing at a rapid pace. After all of the successes credited to President Obama’s social media campaign network in last fall’s election, we still find ourselves at the earliest stages of development of the social layer of the Net. Still, some are quick to dismiss the activist power of the Internet and still are not convinced that this medium will continue to change the way the world organizes around issues.

Take a piece in today’s Washington Post by Monica Hesse, which commented on the “trendiness” of online activism and discounted these “click to join” groups as nothing more than numbers on a Facebook page. This completely misses the impact that social networks have had on increasing the awareness of many issues and building communities around these issues. As we gear up for our nation’s 233rd birthday, we are reminded of how colonists planted seeds of activism and organized against oppressors from abroad. Instead of Facebook fan pages, they had militiamen; instead of asking others to click a link, they asked them to help gather supplies; instead of Twitter feeds, they used horses to get messages across. From top to bottom, they created organization that allowed supporters to thrive in any role or level they chose. The mother who allowed soldiers to sleep in her cabin, was as vital to their success as the soldiers themselves. It didn’t matter what a supporter of the revolution was doing, their support alone was enough.

Today there are groups on Facebook aimed at gathering supporters for just about any cause. Just like any other advocacy effort, supporters join for a variety of different reasons. That’s where the Hesse piece really misses the mark. The assumption is made that to participate in any activism online, one must be willing to fight hard and organize physical results to be “worthy” of being a supporter. This claim ignores the power of community building and the very essence of grassroots advocacy. My support of a specific issue is not measured by how much I donate or how many rallies I attend. To discount followers of causes on social networks engaging in conduct that is a “trendy and easy virtue” ignores the impact that supporters have on social networks at every level of involvement. The person simply receiving message updates on the issue is just as vital to the success of the cause as the top-level organizer who sends tasks and ideas to the group’s followers.

It’s especially disheartening to read about Anders Colding-Jorgensen and his little social experiment of creating a fictional Facebook cause and group just to “prove” how little the followers of a social media group matter. The time spent on rounding up supporters for a fake issue could have been better spent organizing supporters for a real global issue.

While not all social media activist campaigns are built with the same number of leaders and organizers, every level of involvement in these mediums is important. These networks are valuable at even the base level of getting information to hundreds of thousands of new supporters, regardless of how involved those supporters might ultimately be.

Rather than simply dismiss the power of social network organizing, we should focus on developing its use further as we have only begun to explore the possibilities of organizing masses online around global issues. If several thousand people can use a Facebook group to save an outdoor movie festival in Washington and one man can organize millions to take to the streets in Columbia against the FARC then there’s no telling what the future holds for social networking.

http://blog.cdt.org/2009/07/02/online-activism-isnt-dead/

Russia has World’s Most Engaged Social Networking Audience

Vkontakte.ru Ranks as Most Popular Social Networking Site in Russia with 14 Million Visitors

LONDON, U.K., June 2, 2009 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of the social networking category in Russia, based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service. The study found Russia to have the world’s most engaged social networking audience, with visitors spending 6.6 hours and viewing 1,307 pages per visitor per month.

Two-Thirds of Global Internet Users Access Social Networking Sites

Of the 1.1 billion people age 15 and older worldwide who accessed the Internet from a home or work location in May 2009, 734.2 million visited at least one social networking site during the month, representing a penetration of 65 percent of the worldwide Internet audience. The Russian social networking audience had the highest engagement among the 40 individual countries reported by comScore, with an average of 6.6 hours and 1,307 pages consumed per visitor. Brazil ranked close behind at 6.3 hours, followed by Canada (5.6 hours), Puerto Rico (5.3 hours) and Spain (5.3 hours).

“Social networking has become a popular online pastime not only in mature Internet markets like North America, but also in developing, high-growth Internet markets such as Russia,” said Mike Read, SVP & managing director, comScore Europe. “In a country as geographically large as Russia, social networking represents a way of connecting people from one corner of the country to the other. The highly engaged behavior of social networkers in Russia offers significant opportunity for marketers and advertisers seeking to reach these audiences.”

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/7/Russia_has_World_s_Most_Engaged_Social_Networking_Audience

Nigeria: Etisalat to invest USD2 billion in infrastructure

Nigerian mobile operator Etisalat Nigeria will invest USD2 billion over the next three years in the deployment of network infrastructure, writes local newspaper This Day, citing the cellco’s CEO Steven Evans. Despite the economic downturn, Etisalat says it intends to galvanise competition and refresh the market by aggressively rolling out its products in all regions of the country. It hopes to achieve 45% population coverage by the end of this year and 80% coverage by the end of 2010. At present, the cellco has the capacity to accommodate four million wireless subscribers, but from September this year will be able to accommodate twelve million customers. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Etisalat Nigeria is the latest entrant in the Nigerian mobile market, having launched commercial GSM services in seven cities in November 2008. In the last week, the cellco reached the milestone of one million mobile subscribers, around seven months after launching operations.

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=29107

3G or 4G? Parsing the Economics of Mobile Broadband

GSMA technology director Dan Warren explains why some operators are running head-first toward LTE while others are holding back

Verizon Wireless is jumping into long-term evolution (LTE), launching its first networks this year, while AT&T is taking a little more time, planning its rollout in 2011 and upgrading its 3G network in the interim. In Japan, there’s a similar story. NTT DoCoMo is as gung ho over LTE as its Verizon, but Softbank Mobile appears to be in no hurry.

Why are some operators rushing forward with LTE while others are content to wait? One simple explanation is the distinction between CDMA and UMTS service providers: CDMA operators, with no migration path remaining on their 3G networks, are proceeding immediately to 4G, while UMTS providers, with plenty of upgrades left for their high-speed packet access (HSPA) networks. That’s only a partial explanation, though. It’s true many CDMA providers—Verizon, Sprint, KDDI, MetroPCS—have been quick to adopt LTE, but in Canada Telus and Bell Mobility have opted to deploy HSPA networks to compliment their CDMA networks. Meanwhile, HSPA operator DoCoMo will have one of the first LTE launches in the world, followed by Nordic operators TeliaSonera, Tele2 and Telenor.

https://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/110/36104?7649

Information and Communications for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact IC4D Data and Methodology

Information and Communications for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact takes an in-depth look at how ICT, and particularly broadband and mobile, are impacting economic growth in developing countries. The data section includes at-a-glance tables for 150 economies of the latest available data on ICT sector performance. Performance measures for access, affordability and applications in government and business are also introduced.

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTINFORMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/EXTIC4D/0,,contentMDK:22229759~menuPK:5870649~pagePK:64168445~piPK:64168309~theSitePK:5870636,00.html

World Bank Board Approves US$ 151 Million to Extend Affordable Communications Services to Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved an International Development Association (IDA) credit[1] of US$151 million to extend access to affordable communications services to Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. This is the third phase of the Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP) – a US$424 million regional program that will increase the availability of reliable communications services for citizens, businesses and governments in Eastern and Southern Africa. Under RCIP 3, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania will receive US$20 million, US$31 million and US$100 million respectively.

Despite considerable developments in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector in Africa over the last ten years, the region still has the world’s lowest telephone and Internet user penetration and highest costs.

“Economic development in Eastern and Southern Africa is held back by prohibitive ICT costs and limited communications infrastructure,” said Rick Scobey, World Bank Acting Director for Regional Integration in Sub-Saharan Africa. “RCIP is helping the region to leverage the exciting developments in the sector and overcome the challenges through a combination of sound policy and regulatory frameworks, competitive market structures, and catalytic investments into public-private partnerships to accelerate roll-out of infrastructure networks.”

“Ultimately, RCIP will make affordable Internet and voice communications services more widely available, and in turn create new opportunities for employment, regional trade, social participation, and government efficiency. The recently launched submarine cable projects, together with such national backbone networks are already driving down substantially the costs of broadband connectivity in Africa,” said Mohsen Khalil, World Bank Group Director for Global Information and Communication Technologies.

"This project is a very exciting development for Malawi. The country has had a lot of success in the development of basic voice services, but our international call costs and broadband internet are currently very expensive compared to the rest of the world, and beyond the reach of most people. This project will link Malawi to the world by fiber-optic cable, and reduce the cost of international connectivity - which will in turn reduce the cost of international telephony and broadband internet service," said Timothy Gilbo, World Bank Country Manager for Malawi.

In Mozambique, the project leverages the sector liberalization reforms implemented by the government and will further contribute to the competitiveness of the sector to improve affordability, access, and use of networks. It will support the licensing of new operators, the establishment of rural access points throughout the country, and purchase capacity for universities and government institutions. The project will also set the basis for the development of eGovernment applications that will enable the provision of public services to citizens through electronic platforms.

“We are already seeing exciting developments in Malawi, which is working to become connected to the fiber optic cable which runs along the East African coast, and in Mozambique, where we have seen an explosion in mobile phone availability across the country,” said Peter Nicholas, World Bank Acting Country Director for Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. “RCIP will leverage these developments and help Malawi, Mozambique and other countries in the region to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of telecommunications infrastructure and services.”

In Tanzania, the project will strengthen the policy and regulatory environment and promote sector reform in order to maximize the benefits of access to international bandwidth. Some components will specifically target priority groups such as the private sector by enabling a national business portal for all business registration information and a telemedicine system for Muhimbili National Hospital. In addition, the project will scale up the national vital registration system, enhance accessibility of land records through websites and mobile phone text messages, and develop an eProcurement pilot for the Medical Stores Department.

“In Tanzania, RCIP will support the implementation of the Government's National ICT Infrastructure Development Program, which aspires to provide ICT connectivity to Tanzanians at all levels,” said John Murray McIntire, World Bank Country Director for Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi. “In particular, RCIP Tanzania will support last mile initiatives for rural access, the Government Communications Network (GovNet), eGovernment, and capacity building.”

RCIP 3 is a further milestone in the World Bank Group’s commitment to the goals of the Connect Africa Summit, which was held in November 2007 in Rwanda. As a result of the Summit, the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank have partnered to help Africa achieve the Summit goals by mobilizing funds to invest in infrastructure and applications, advising on the policy and regulation of the ICT sector across the continent, and helping with the design and implementation of national e-strategies.

The first phase of RCIP was approved by the Board of the World Bank in March 2007, providing assistance to Burundi, Kenya, and Madagascar, with a combined IDA volume of around US$164.5 million. The second phase, a US$24 million IDA grant for Rwanda, was approved in September 2008. RCIP complements regional undersea cable initiatives such as the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) developed by telecommunications operators with support from IFC and other development partners.

http://www.webnewswire.com/node/460184

Political Participation Through Social Media

While many traditional newspaper publishing companies are loosing their clients to the internet, social websites such as Facebook or MySpace are capturing new members every second. It appears that such websites are becoming the most effective means of distributing private or public information.

Indeed, citizens can express their political opinions by being supporters of different political parties or presidents on Facebook pages. As for instance, the pages of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy have 95 724 members. His pages provide access to all relevant news from the government. Members can read about the laws and re-forms that the government intends to implement, speeches that have been delivered on different occasions or official visits made by the president. By leaving positive or negative comments, people can create pressure on the decision makers to revisit certain legislation proposals or they can influence political views of other readers.

This system permits people to identify with different political believes. There are however a few drawbacks. Some individuals do not want to join these groups on principle of discretion as their membership is visible to all. Some people think that joining a specific political group could lead to a conflict at their workplace or community.

If we take the example of Barak Obama, who built his political campaign on the Internet by using means such as Facebook and YouTube, we can see how the new technology can directly change voters participation and election turnouts. Through internet, Obama established connection with otherwise inaccessible groups and become the most popular president in the world.

On his Facebook pages, we can find videos of his speeches, his agenda, projects he is planning to organize and various newspaper articles about his presidency. Moreover, his pages include some personal photos. This particularity made Barack Obama known as the “human” or “family” president.

The power of social networking is even greater in France where people are known for their political activity. There are thousands of groups and blogs discussing, opposing or supporting the French laws. We take an example of one group against the Law “DARCOS” created and named after the minister of education in December 2008. The group has already 21 664 members with a total of 541 comments. Law Darcos plans to re-form the French high school diploma (Baccalaureate). Prepared in four years at present, the Minister plans to reduce this time to one year. The Facebook group represent the discontent students and the many political slaps that France has suffered this year.

The Internet opened a new wave of political participation reaching more people than ever before. Youngsters use groups on social networking websites to read and comment on certain laws but also to organize public gatherings and protests. This social networking trend may lead to a greater political transparency and public inclusion. As a result, one may wonder if Facebook and blogs are good ways to etablish sustainable relationship between the government and citizens. That is a question that only time can answer.

http://pep-net.eu/wordpress/?p=545

Vietnam to Allow Mobile Users to Hold Maximum of Three SIMs

The Ministry of Information and Communications has issued a decree requiring that an individual can only register up to three pre-paid mobile phone SIM cards beginning 10 August 2009, Vietnam News Brief Service reports. Beginning in 2010, under a regulation by the ministry, mobile-phone services for pre-paid subscribers will be cut if they do not provide personal information or if they supply false data to providers to obtain more phone numbers.

There is currently to maximum limit on the number of SIM cards a mobile user can hold. With six telecoms service providers already operating in the country, and Gtel Mobile to start services in July, some users hold more than one SIM card with different operators. The ministry’s new decree is a move to manage unregistered pre-paid mobile subscribers, preventing mobile-phone harassment and spam messages.

https://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/130/36094?7649

YouTube offers reporting tips from top journalists

YouTube opened an online journalism training hub on Monday featuring tips from some of the top names in the business including Bob Woodward of Watergate fame. The YouTube Reporters' Center, located at youtube.com/reporterscenter, hosts a series of short video tutorials on subjects such as investigative journalism, citizen journalism, journalism ethics and how to conduct an interview. The five-minute video on investigative journalism is presented by Woodward, who along with a fellow Washington Post reporter uncovered the Watergate scandal which led to president Richard Nixon's resignation. CBS News anchorwoman Katie Couric offers tips on 'how to conduct a good interview' while Ariana Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post website, talks about 'citizen journalism.' New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof provides instruction on reporting from a conflict zone 'without getting shot.' Other tutorials include 'How to Capture Breaking News on Your Cell Phone' and 'How to Build Your Audience on YouTube.' YouTube described the venture as a bid to help 'citizen reporters' learn more about how to report the news. The Google-owned video-sharing site also invited users with reporting experience to upload 'how-to' videos to YouTube to 'share your knowledge with citizen journalists around the world.'

http://www.ejc.net/media_news/youtube_offers_reporting_tips_from_top_journalists/

Intel Social Media Guidelines

These are the official guidelines for social media at Intel. If you're an Intel employee or contractor creating or contributing to blogs, wikis, social networks, virtual worlds, or any other kind of social media both on and off intel.com—these guidelines are for you. We expect all who participate in social media on behalf of Intel to be trained, to understand and to follow these guidelines. Failure to do so could put your future participation at risk. These guidelines will continually evolve as new technologies and social networking tools emerge—so check back once in awhile to make sure you're up to date.

When You Engage

Emerging platforms for online collaboration are fundamentally changing the way we work, offering new ways to engage with customers, colleagues, and the world at large. It's a new model for interaction and we believe social computing can help you to build stronger, more successful business relationships. And it's a way for you to take part in global conversations related to the work we are doing at Intel and the things we care about.

If you participate in social media, please follow these guiding principles:

* Stick to your area of expertise and provide unique, individual perspectives on what's going on at Intel and in the world.

* Post meaningful, respectful comments—in other words, no spam and no remarks that are off-topic or offensive.

* Always pause and think before posting. That said, reply to comments in a timely manner, when a response is appropriate.

* Respect proprietary information and content, and confidentiality.

* When disagreeing with others' opinions, keep it appropriate and polite.

* Know and follow the Intel Code of Conduct and the Intel Privacy Policy

http://www.intel.com/sites/sitewide/en_US/social-media.htm

Digital TV take-up reaches 73% of UK households

LONDON - The use of digital television in UK households has increased by 5.7% year on year to 73%, according to the latest Ofcom findings. Digital TV take-up reaches 73% of UK households

This leaves the remaining 27% of the 60.2 million sets in the UK still continuing to receive analogue terrestrial broadcast, despite the looming digital switchover.

The take up of digital television on main TV sets has increased 2.4% year on year to 89.6%, while more than 61% of consumers have also converted their second television set to digital - an increase of 8% year on year, according to figures for Q1 2009.

In addition, sales of freeview enabled equipment reached almost 3.4 million units in Q1, up 7% year on year.

Freeview is still the most widely-used digital service on main sets, accounting for around 9.8 million homes, 38.5%, in Q1, up by 200,000 over the year.

The number of homes using freeview on any set in the home reached nearly 18 million - 70% - in Q1 2009, up by about 313,000 on Q4 2008.

The survey also revealed pay satellite customers accounted for almost 8.9 million homes, with free-to-view customers, which includes all homes with satellite TV on the main set, which do not pay a subscription, adding a further 0.5m.

Meanwhile, cable television was received in 13.2% of all homes, up 0.4% from the last quarter.

http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/rss/916555/Digital-TV-take-up-reaches-73-UK-households/

Mobile Phones as a Tool for Civil Resistance - Case Studies from Serbia and Belarus

Author: Fabien Miard

The recent so-called “Twitter Revolutions” in Moldova and Iran have created a renewed interest in the role of new communication technologies in civil resistance and social protest activities. It is a new example in a growing list of events where such technologies played an important role in facilitating protests. Twitter and other microblogging platforms represent a new phenomenon because they easily work across different types of communication technologies such as instant messaging, blogging, and text messaging. This convergence also draws attention to the wide-spread use of mobile phones in civil resistance, a factor often overlooked by Internet enthusiasts. This R@D product summarizes some key insights from interviews with civil activists in both Serbia and Belarus that were part of a master thesis project on mobile phone usage in protest movements, and it links them to insights gained from the recent “Twitter Revolutions”. Although the cases of Serbia and Belarus might initially seem similar because of their geographic proximity, struggles with dictatorial leaders, and historical Communist dominance, mobile phone use by activists in these countries is markedly different. Mobile phones were a critical tactical tool in bringing down Milosevic in 2000. However, only 8 years later, mobiles are less useful to anti-Lukashenka Belarusian activists in the present day because of the state’s increasingly effective surveillance of mobile communication. http://www.digiactive.org/wp-content/uploads/research3_miard.pdf

WordPress blocked in Guatemala

Guatemala's ongoing political crisis, which began with the murder of lawyer Rodrigo Rosenberg and has been fueled largely by YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and blogs, reached a new level over the weekend when several ISPs began blocking access to WordPress.com.

Reports of the blocking first reached Twitter on June 26, when user @demuxer noted that some Internet users in Guatemala were unable to access WordPress and wondered if Chapintocables, a political blog created after Rosenberg's death, was somehow involved: http://opennet.net/blog/2009/06/wordpress-blocked-guatemala

The Iranian Election on Twitter: The First Eighteen Days

The political events that transpired during and after the 2009 Iranian election garnered global attention, particularly due to the purported importance of Twitter. As a platform-independent service for communication, Twitter has become a preferred vehicle to broadcast unfolding events in Iran both within the country and to an international audience. The use of Twitter to communicate about these events is a striking instance of the memetic spread of behaviors and ideas online. Our report serves as an initial assessment of the Twitter web ecology -- that is, users interacting with their technological environment -- to sketch out the broad anatomy of discourse on Twitter by providing a novel perspective with quantitative data. Our servers continue to collect data, and we plan to publish a follow-up report that comprehensively explores the structure of the events from additional perspectives and depths.

Key Findings

* From 7 June 2009 until the time of publication (26 June 2009), we have recorded 2,024,166 tweets about the election in Iran.

* Approximately 480,000 users have contributed to this conversation alone.

* 59.3% of users tweet just once, and these users contribute 14.1% of the total number.

* The top 10% of users in our study account for 65.5% of total tweets.

* 1 in 4 tweets about Iran is a retweet of another user’s content.

http://webecologyproject.org/WEP-twitterFINAL.pdf

Politics 2.0 - The Obama Campaign

Barack Obama’s electoral campaign represents a masterpiece in online-campaigning. The use of ICTs and the creation of an Obama-brand were the key features to mobilising the masses. Obama’s opponent, senator McCain, couldn’t motivate as many people to participate in his campaign.

Barack Obama was registered on more than a dozen different social media, the main ones (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter) included, and succeeded in forming an online community that strongly supported his goals. The online-headquarter was my.barackobama.com (MyBO) “[which] was at the heart of the campaign’s new media strategy. [… The] site allowed users to create events, exchange information, raise funds, and connect with voters in their area. MyBO was the digital home from which the campaign could mobilise its army of supporters.” [2] This portal helped creating a community with more than two million profiles. Of course, the easy-to-use website also attracted adversaries, which made community managers essential to evaluate and delete certain statements if necessary.

Citizens participate in Obama’s Campaign

The operators of MyBO established a strong sense of community as everyone with political interest could participate. In blogs, people could express themselves and report about their personal experiences during the campaign. Useful information, such as phone lists and guides for campaigning, were distributed via this internet-portal; even fund-raising-statistics of all members were included. However, the “real spirit of the community could be seen in the more than 200,000 offline events organized through MyBO.” [2]

The Obama campaign collected 13 million email addresses and sent one billion emails to mobilize its supporters. “The Obama team used email as an integral platform to engage supporters, bloggers, and online media. Often overlooked by traditional communications departments, email has one major advantage: speed.” [2] Putting email recipients into groups gave the campaign the opportunity to send individually designed messages to specific groups of people. An even faster way to communicate is SMS, which can be used to contact people without internet access, especially in rural areas.

Citizens make President independent

Obama’s blog was the centre where all news and information were displayed. “It was the hub that captured all activities in the Obamaverse and shared them with the world. The blog was the campaign’s repository, a place where stories, videos, news, and pictures were captured and pushed out to Obama’s many social network profiles.” [2] As people could participate, the campaign’s theme “Yes we can!” was emphasised. One of the Obama’s campaign stated goals was to involve people and to make them participate.

The fund-raising was well organised, and, instead of a few companies making large donations, many citizens donated small amounts of money. “3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations online adding up to more than $500 million. Of those 6.5 million donations, 6 million were in increments of $100 or less. The average online donation was $80, and the average Obama donor gave more than once.” [4] Even though Harfoush states different sums, one thing is for sure: Obama’s success in fund raising is based on small donations by many people. As a result, Obama’s campaign was neither dependent on financially strong lobbies nor on his party. The campaign’s activities in the Web 2.0 made Obama become a one-man-party. “Without entirely realizing it, America elected its first Independent president.” [3]

The campaign was successful because it was both consistent and authentic in all the different media used. Despite the campaign’s uniform appearance, campaign managers created a specific concept for each online-platform. Citizens could participate in the campaign; feedback was wanted, appreciated and heard. In summary, many volunteers supported and influenced Obama’s campaign and consequently led to the historic election outcome.

Source:
http://pep-net.eu/wordpress/?p=533

Web slows after Jackson’s death

The internet suffered a number of slowdowns as people the world over rushed to verify accounts of Michael Jackson's death. Search giant Google confirmed to the BBC that when the news first broke it feared it was under attack. Millions of people who Googled the star's name were greeted with an error page rather than a list of results. It warned users "your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application". "It's true that between approximately 2.40PM Pacific and 3.15PM Pacific, some Google News users experienced difficulty accessing search results for queries related to Michael Jackson and saw the error page," said Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker. It was around this time that the singer was officially pronounced dead. Google's trends page showed that searches for Michael Jackson had reached such a volume that in its so called "hotness" gauge the topic was rated "volcanic". Google was not the only company overwhelmed by the public's clamour for information. The microblogging service Twitter crashed with the sheer volume of people using the service. Before the company's servers crashed, TweetVolume noted that "Michael Jackson" appeared in more than 66,500 Twitter updates. According to initial data from Trendrr, a Web service that tracks activity on social media sites, the number of Twitter posts Thursday afternoon containing "Michael Jackson" totaled more than 100,000 per hour. TMZ, the popular celebrity gossip site that broke the story following a tip-off that a paramedic had visited the singers home also crashed.

http://www.ejc.net/media_news/web_slows_after_jacksons_death/

Nielsen Study: teens still rely primarily on traditional media

Don't get too caught up in the hype of digital media usage. That is a key message of "How Teens Use Media," a new research report by The Nielsen Co. that it will present in New York Thursday at its annual "What Teens Want" conference. "The notion that teens are too busy texting and Twittering to be engaged with traditional media is exciting, but false," according to the executive summary. Instead of replacing traditional media with new-media consumption, teens are simply making time for both, it concludes. Other myths that the report debunks are that teenagers' preferences differ vastly from adults, that teens' media and entertainment spending is insulated from the recession (they actually reduce it, with out-of-home entertainment more affected than in-home) and that traditional advertising can't resonate with teens (once ads break through the clutter, teens like them more). The leading type of media use among teens is still television, with the average teenager watching 3 hours and 20 minutes per day, debunking the myth of YouTube as the lead medium. Actually, Nielsen says, teens watch more TV than ever, with usage up 6% over the past five years in the U.S

http://www.ejc.net/media_news/nielsen_study_teens_still_rely_primarily_on_traditional_media/

UNESCO releases new publication on open educational resources

UNESCO has released its first openly licensed publication. Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace brings together the background papers and reports from the first three years of activities in the UNESCO OER Community. Access the online edition

Education systems today face two major challenges: expanding the reach of education and improving its quality. Traditional solutions will not suffice, especially in the context of today's knowledge-intensive societies.

Open Educational Resources (OER) offer one solution for extending learning opportunities. The goal of the OER movement is to equalize access to knowledge worldwide through sharing online high quality content. Open Educational Resources are digitalized materials offered freely and openly for use and reuse in teaching, learning and research.

Since 2005, UNESCO has been at the forefront of building awareness about this movement by facilitating an extended conversation in cyberspace. A large and diverse international community has come together to discuss the concept and potential of OER in a series of online forums.

The background papers and reports from the first three years of discussions are now available in print. Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace provides an overview of the first steps of this exciting new development: it captures the conversations between leaders of some of the first OER projects,and documents early debates on the issues that continue to challenge the movement. The publication will provide food for thought for all those intrigued by OER – its promise and its progress.

Open Educational Resources: Conversations in Cyberspace is UNESCO's first openly licensed publication – an indication of the commitment of the Organization to the sharing of knowledge and the free flow of ideas.

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28899&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

'.eu' internet domain to be available also in Cyrillic and Greek alphabets

Speakers of Bulgarian and Greek will soon be able to have .eu websites in their own languages. The European Commission today adopted new EU rules to make it possible for internet users and businesses to register domain names under .eu using the characters of all the 23 official languages of the European Union, now including Cyrillic and Greek scripts. This means that later this year .eu will also be available in the alphabets used by Bulgarians, Greeks and Cypriots and special characters used in other languages. Until now, Czechs could only use 27 of 42 characters, and Lithuanians 23 of 32. A new report of the Commission on the development of Europe's top level domain, published today, shows that the number of .eu domain names registered (currently at around 3 million) grew by 11 % in both 2007 and 2008.

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1044&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

UK launches dedicated cybersecurity agency

The UK government has announced that it is to form a cybersecurity agency, one of whose functions will be to develop a cyberattack capability.

The Office of Cyber Security (OCS), dedicated to protecting Britain's IT infrastructure, will be created in line with a model proposed — and in part practised by — the US, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday. The OCS will have charge of a cross-government programme of work, while a multi-agency Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC), based at GCHQ in Cheltenham, will coordinate the protection of critical IT systems.

As well as cyber-defence and cyberattack coordination, the OCS will act as a conduit for information security collaboration between government and industry experts. Robert Hannigan, the prime minister's security adviser, told ZDNet UK that the OCS would be about "drawing together what people are already doing in the Ministry of Defence, the intelligence services and the police".

The government has never admitted that it has the systems and personnel to launch a cyberattack. However, according to a senior government official, who wished not to be named, the OCS will have a role in coordinating cyber-offense capabilities that will build on the resources the government currently has.

In extreme cases, the government will launch a cyberattack in response to intrusions into the UK's own systems. "Yes, we will do things proactively," the Whitehall official said at a Cabinet Office press briefing. "Information assurance has been about building stronger walls, but there's only so much you can do. You come to a point when you are allowing criminals and others a low risk in continuing to attack, and there comes a time when that has to change. This is the first time we are saying publically we are not going to sit back."

The government will develop information systems to allow it to launch denial-of-service attacks and to spy on chosen targets, said the official. "We will have a whole range of offensive capabilities, including distributed denial-of-service," said the official. "DDoS is not a first response — we definitely need graduated responses."

"Aggressive attacks are pretty far up the scale, and we want to avoid collateral damage as far as possible. It's a fine line. We don't want to get into cyber-warfare, but it's not reasonable to sit back," the official added.

The Cabinet Office official said the government would try to respond to attacks on UK systems by recourse to the law: "Whenever we can, we will pursue criminals through legal frameworks, but that only works in some countries. Clearly, in other areas of the world, people are acting with impunity."

The threat of cyber-warfare among countries was highlighted by the May 2007 attacks on the Estonian national infrastructure. Further attacks, on countries such as Georgia, have strengthened the government's resolve to address IT security issues.

The model for the OCS is similar to that in the US, which plans to quadruple the number of security experts defending against cyberattack, while cyber-offense capabilities are currently under the aegis of the US Air Force. The Pentagon will create a cyber-command to oversee US cyber-military efforts.

The OCS will come under protection of the Cabinet Office and will report to the National Security Secretariat in that office. No director has been named for the department.

The office will pool intelligence capabilities from MI5, MI6, the Ministry of Defence, the Metropolitan Police e-Crime Unit, and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca). Other government agencies involved include the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS); the Central Sponsor for Information Assurance (CSIA); CESG, the information-assurance arm of GCHC; and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI).

The OCS will launch with a staff of 16 to 20, while the CSOC in Cheltenham will have 20 to 25. "We will start small and learn from initial US attempts [to build a cyber-security department]," said a Cabinet Office official. "We want to establish a core team."

The government will also reach out to industry to create a pool of IT security expertise, given the scale of the task of securing UK public and private sector IT infrastructure. A key priority for implementing the strategy will be to develop a cyber-industry with "opportunities for high-tech businesses in the UK", according to a government statement.

In addition, the OCS plans to launch a cyber-skills strategy to address skills gaps in government and industry, and work with other countries to develop international law in that area.

The OCS will seek to strengthen links with countries, such as the US, and develop links with other European partners like Germany and France. Hannigan said cybersecurity collaboration with Nato is in the early stages, but that work is planned to build channels of communication with the European Network Security Agency (Enisa).

On Thursday, prime minister Gordon Brown announced the OCS as part of the government's 2009 National Security Strategy, which for the first time includes an IT security component called the Cyber Security Strategy 2009.

In a statement, Brown said securing cyberspace was necessary to give people confidence in the security of web transactions.

"Just as in the 19th century we had to secure the seas for our national safety and prosperity, and in the 20th century we had to secure the air, in the 21st century we also have to secure our position in cyberspace in order to give people and businesses the confidence they need to operate safely there," said Brown.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39667231,00.htm

SKorea to set up cyber warfare command: official

SEOUL (AFP) — South Korea's military is looking to launch a cyber warfare command designed to fend off computer attacks from North Korea and other countries, officials said.

The plan will be included in a military reform package to be presented to President Lee Myung-Bak, a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

South Korea's military computer networks are under ever-growing cyber attack.

The South's military security unit said in a report last month that every day the military counters an average of 10,450 hacking attempts and 81,700 computer virus infections.

Experts say South Korea -- one of the world's most wired societies -- needs an integrated unit to fight cyber attacks by North Korea and China, which run elite hacker units.

In 2004 hackers based in China used information-stealing viruses to break into the computer systems of Seoul government agencies.

Last year South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo warned his cabinet against what he said were attempts by Chinese and North Korean computer hackers to obtain state secrets.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5geMDsdejQoeSn8FQseQHZKeTe50A

Study: Online A Teenage Wasteland

by Gavin O'Malley

As the head of any teen-filled household knows, young adults have hardly abandoned TV for new media. Yet, according to a new report from Nielsen Company, U.S. adolescents are actually watching more TV than ever -- up 6% over the past five years.

Another perhaps counterintuitive finding is that while teens clearly love the Internet, they actually spend less time online than matured adults.

Teens, Nielsen's study on the state of teen media usage finds, spend 11 hours and 32 minutes per month online -- far below the average of 29 hours and 15 minutes for which adults are presently responsible. However, while teens watch less online video than most adults, they report that the ads are highly engaging. Indeed, while teens spend 35% less time watching online video than adults 25-34, they recall ads better when watching TV shows online than they do on the tube.

"The media experience is broadening for all consumers, not just teens," said Nic Covey, director of insights for The Nielsen Company. "Looking at our research across markets and media, we see that, contrary to popular assumption, teens are actually pretty normal in their usage, and more attentive than most give them credit for."

Overall, teens read newspapers, listen to the radio and do, in fact, seem to like ads more than most. Those who recall TV ads are 44% more likely to say they liked the ad.

Teens obviously play video games, but their tastes are not all for the blood-and-guts style games, as just two of their top five most-anticipated games since 2005 have been rated "Mature."

Perhaps even more shocking, teens' favorite TV shows, Web sites and genre preferences across media are mostly the same as their parents. For U.S. teens, American Idol was the top show in 2008, and Google the top Web site, while general dramas are a preferred TV genre for teens around the world.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=108710

China's Censorship Blowback

By Rebecca MacKinnon

I'm not sure what the Chinese government is thinking, or whether certain parts of certain ministries and party apparatus have gotten completely out of control.

Until recently, it had seemed to me that the Chinese government was managing its censorship system with surprising success: censoring enough (combined with strategic arrests) to keep people from using the Internet to organize a successful nation-wide political opposition movement; but at the same time allowing enough space for online discourse and citizen-muckraking that people have felt freer and more empowered than ever before, which actually seemed to work in favor of the central government's legitimacy—despite being very bad news for corrupt local officials. But this month, something shifted. It's unclear whether the shift is long-lasting or just temporary madness until the PRC's 60th anniversary on October 1st.

Most of China's educated, largely apolitical, internet-connected urbanites have until now been generally willing to accept the political status quo—and with it a certain amount of censorship, thuggishness and injustice, political paranoia and occasional bizarreness—in exchange for overall social stability (compared to any other time in living Chinese memory), economic growth, plus an impressive increase in China's global power and status. But whoever is driving the latest Internet crackdown and the accompanying moralistic propaganda drive may have done substantial damage to the government's credibility.

http://www.circleid.com/posts/20090625_chinas_censorship_blowback/

Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network's Plan to Dominate the Internet — and Keep Google Out

Larry Page should have been in a good mood. It was the fall of 2007, and Google's cofounder was in the middle of a five-day tour of his company's European operations in Zurich, London, Oxford, and Dublin. The trip had been fun, a chance to get a ground-floor look at Google's ever-expanding empire. But this week had been particularly exciting, for reasons that had nothing to do with Europe; Google was planning a major investment in Facebook, the hottest new company in Silicon Valley.

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-07/ff_facebookwall

The European Commission has adopted a Communication on Internet governance: the next steps

This Communication analyses progress on Internet governance and the changing role of governments in the process. It also reviews progress by ICANN in achieving the goals set for it in 1998. The Communication identifies a number of public policy principles that should be observed by other stakeholders and proposes an approach for moving international discussions on these matters forward.

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/internet_gov/index_en.htm

Kazakhstan to tighten internet law

Kazakhstan's parliament has approved a law tightening state control of the internet, which, media rights activists say, will limit freedom of speech in the former Soviet state.

The bill would subject blogs, chat rooms and social networking sites to possible criminal prosecution, enabling the courts to block all websites considered in breach of Kazakh law.

Media rights activists say the law is designed to allow arbitary crackdowns on anyone opposing Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's president.

But authorities say the legislation aims to curb the distribution of child pornography, extremist literature and other unsuitable material.

"This law is not a regulation of the internet. The amendments introduced to the law are aimed at stopping the dissemination of illegal information on the internet," the government's state information agency said.

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/europe/2009/06/2009625115714327645.html