Information Policy

Internet Society and World Wide Web Consortium Strengthen Relationship to Help Ensure Open Global Internet

The Internet Society (ISOC) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced a donation from ISOC for the purpose of advancing the evolution of W3C as an organization that creates open Web standards.

Citing strongly aligned views on the value of an open global Internet and support for the current Internet governance and management model, the Internet Society pledged to support W3C efforts to implement a more agile, inclusive, and flexible organizational structure.

"ISOC and W3C have worked together for years in a number of areas, and have deeply shared values about the Internet's development," said Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. "Our support to the W3C in their transition efforts demonstrates ISOC's commitment to ensuring the Internet continues to be a global platform for innovation. What is at stake is the Internet's openness, which is a critical enabler of new products and services to billions of users worldwide."

The announcement reflects the two organizations' shared aim of ensuring the continued growth and accessibility of the global Internet and Web, and stewardship responsibilities to ensure they continue to benefit users worldwide.

"ISOC and W3C have a long history of cooperation and the Internet ecosystem has benefited from our shared yet independent voices," said Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. "The W3C staff, Members, and community continue to work on making W3C more relevant and valuable to the Web and Internet communities. ISOC support will allow W3C to evolve its structure to ensure we continue to forge solid working relationships with the increasing numbers of developers and users, worldwide."

The two organizations will continue to operate independently, and will maintain their long-standing, informal collaboration. ISOC's pledge of support is for three years, with both organizations working to ensure progress.

An FAQ about the relationship between ISOC and the W3C is available here:

http://isoc.org/standards/isoc-w3c-faq.shtml

Electronic Signature Under The Law Of Gibraltar

Alain Megias, IBLS

In Gibraltar, electronic signature legislation was introduced by the Electronic Commerce Ordinance 2001, which was passed by the House of Assembly on March 5, 2001 (the “ECO.”) The ECO fosters the development of electronic commerce in Gibraltar notably by providing a framework for the accreditation of electronic signatures.

The ECO, which incorporates the provisions of the relevant EU directives (particularly the May 2000 Directive on a Legal Framework for E-Commerce), is viewed as an important step in Gibraltar's development as an e-commerce hub to rival its nearest competitors in the EU, such as Guernsey, Malta and the Isle of Man. The ECO is aimed at facilitating the use of electronic means for transmitting and storing information and affords legal recognition to transactions effected electronically. It also provides a framework for the accreditation of electronic signatures and determines the activities and liability of service providers.

How is electronic signature defined under the ECO?

# Electronic signature is defined under Section 11 as a signature in electronic form which: Is in, attached to or logically associated with, information;

# Is used by a person ("the signatory") to indicate his adoption of that information;

# Is uniquely linked to the signatory and capable of identifying him;

# Is created using means that the signatory can maintain under his sole control; and

# Is linked to the information to which it relates in such a manner that any subsequent alteration of the information is revealed.

http://www.ibls.com/internet_law_news_portal_view.aspx?s=articles&id=BD942165-5083-41E7-AF25-7F284A128188

Belarus to toughen control over Internet

By YURAS KARMANAU

MINSK, Belarus

Belarus' authoritarian leader is promising to toughen regulation of the Internet and its users in an apparent effort to exert control over the last fully free medium in the former Soviet state.

"We will identify any person who disseminates lies and dirt, and will make them answer strictly to the law," President Alexander Lukashenko said Wednesday.

He told journalists that a new Internet bill, proposed Tuesday, would require the registration and identification of all online publications and of each Web user, including visitors to Internet cafes. Web service providers would have to report this information to police, courts and special services.

Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994, weeding out opposition and dissidents. All television channels and most print media have become state-controlled, and many of the independent newspapers ordered closed have taken refuge in cyberspace.

Last June, Belarus adopted a media bill that allowed the government to close Web sites without warning and imprison journalists for reproducing foreign media reports.

Lukashenko won a third term in 2006 in an election that Western governments deemed fraudulent.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/tech/D9CTPM983.htm

EU - Testing and refining criteria to assess media literacy levels

(TED) As part of the European Commission's development of a media literacy policy, the Commission is seeking assistance in the form of an experts' study on the analysis and testing of the media literacy assessment criteria set in the 2009 study on assessment criteria for media literacy levels. The study will be a close follow-up of the previous one; however it will have more of a practical approach. The main goal is to analyse and test out the criteria detected in the previous study and to get in-depth and concrete results on the media literacy levels of European citizens. (The European Commission will provide the study team with the assessment criteria for the analysis and the testing of the media literacy levels). Time limit for receipt of requests for documents or for accessing documents: 14.1.2010.

http://ted.europa.eu/Exec;jsessionid=376CF13F10E64125BFE47CCA961143D9.instance_2?DataFlow=N_one_doc_access.dfl&Template=TED/N_one_result_detail_curr.htm&docnumber=335589-2009&docId=335589-2009&StatLang=EN

Italy drops plans for Internet crackdown

Italy has abandoned plans to crack down on Web sites inciting hatred or violence - a proposal floated after an attack on Premier Silvio Berlusconi earlier this month drew some praise over the Internet.

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-technology/italy-drops-plans-for-internet-crackdown-20091224-ldk4.html

New gTLD Program — ICANN Proposes Draft Expression of Interest

Pre-Registrations Model ICANN is publishing for public comment a draft model for soliciting Expressions of Interest for new generic top-level domains (new gTLDs) [PDF, 192K]. According to this EOI / pre-registration model, entities interested in participating in the first round of the New gTLD Program are required to submit basic information about the participating entity and the requested top-level domain, also referred to as "string".

http://icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-2-18dec09-en.htm

Social Network Ad Spending

Facebook's current strong performance is propping up the entire business of paid social-network advertising in the U.S. EMarketer estimates that U.S. marketers will spend more than $1.2 billion to advertise on online social networks in 2009, increasing to $1.3 billion in 2010 and $1.4 billion in 2011. That translates to 3.9% growth in 2009, 7.1% in 2010 and 7.7% in 2011. Much of the growth is coming from Facebook, which has a worldwide user base of 350 million. While Facebook has grown, MySpace has fallen off, both in traffic and revenues. To find out more about digital marketing and eMarketer's report, "Social Network Ad Spending: 2010 Outlook,"

http://www.emarketer.com/Reports/All/Emarketer_2000621.aspx?utm_source=IABSmartBrief&utm_medium=TextReportSocialNetworks%2B&utm_campaign=IAB0508&aff=IABSmartBrief

Government to assist universities in Africa technologically

Ministry of education in Ghana is commited to providing all possible technical and financial support to the universities in Africa by assisting them to collaborate and share facilities such as laboratories, instruments and libraries. The government is studying a programme to provide schools and universities more access to personal computers, internet and support the development of research and educational networks. Dr. Joseph Annan, Deputy Minister of Education in- charge of Tertiary Education has said "We encourage the universities to also take the initiative and begin to connect to each other to accelerate the emergence of network clusters that would join to create the National Research and Education Network (NREN)". University authorities in Africa need to be efficient in the use of bandwidth irrespective of the amount involved to generate enough savings for the various institutions. More efficient networks and better use of core resources will be achieved through bandwidth management according to the minister.

"Therefore, a workshop that prepares the professionals with knowledge of system tools required to build and manage these emerging networks is an opportunity," he added. The African Network Operators Group (AFNOG) Workshop on Network Technology aims to offer advanced training to people who are in the process of developing and enhancing an Internet-connected network with regional and international connectivity. The target audience includes senior and mid-level technical staff of commercial internet service providers, academic networks, government networks or non-governmental organisations networks. This workshop builds on the experience of previous AFNOG workshops held since 2000 in 10 different African countries, and also the Internet Society's International Network for Education Transformation (INET) workshops, held annually from 1993 to 200

http://www.digitallearning.in/news/news-details.asp?Title=Government-to-assist-universities-in-Africa-technologically&newsid=17002

Digital Villages for all Kenyan Districts by 2012

In two years time, every district in Kenya will have a digital village. All the people will be able to download forms from the internet for birth certificates, passports and driving licenses.

Kenyans have been urged by the government to embrace information and communication technology and use communications tools, including mobile phones, responsibly.

http://www.egovonline.net/news-list/239-international-news/7933-digital-villages-for-all-kenyan-districts-by-2012-.html

Forecast: Facebook will overtake MySpace in ads next year

Facebook's rapid growth in ad revenues -- projected to reach $605 million next year -- is set to boost it past rival MySpace in 2010, eMarketer reports in its "Social Network Ad Spending: 2010 Outlook." MySpace's ad dollars are expected to fall from $490 million this year to $385 million in 2010, while social-network spending overall is expected to increase 7% next year, eMarketer forecasts.

http://www.clickz.com/3635971