Information Policy

Facebook’s ‘coolest’ data hub coming to Sweden

Facebook announced Thursday that it would immediately begin building a massive data centre - its third globally and first in Europe - in the Swedish town of Luleå, near the Arctic Circle. "After a rigorous review process of sites across Europe, we concluded that Luleå offered the best package of resources, including a suitable climate for environmental cooling (and) clean power resources," said the world's largest social media site, which counts more than 800 million users worldwide. The icy region was especially attractive due to its cool climate, "since cooling servers is a major issue for data centres," Facebook said, adding that Luleå also fulfilled its requirement that the data centre primarily run on renewable hydropower. The Luleå data centre will consist of three server buildings, each covering an area of around 28,000 square metres, Facebook said, adding that construction would begin immediately. The first building would be open for business within a year, it said, while the entire data centre was expected to be up and running by 2014. Swedish Enterprise Minister Annie Lööf meanwhile announced that the government would help subsidize the new data centre, pumping in SEK 103m (USD 16m). http://www.ejc.net/media_news/facebooks_coolest_data_hub_coming_to_sweden/

Internet users cross 20 million base in Pakistan

By Muhammad Yasir

KARACHI: Pakistan Internet users have been on the rise with accelerated pace, crossing 20 million benchmark with a greater percentage accessing the Internet via mobile phones, said Freedom on the Net 2011 in its report on Friday.

The report cited International Telecommunications Union (ITU) saying that estimated users have been surging significantly on monthly basis however, the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) estimated a far lower number of Internet users at only 10 million.

On the other hand, some of the local think thanks said the Internet users have crossed almost 23 million at present with surging number of broadband and mobile Internet users.

The report stated that the Internet is available in all the major cities of the country, as well as in many remote areas. The majority of people use dial-up connections whereas broadband Internet is growing speedily in big cities.

With the explosion of mobile-phone use and the gradual spread of broadband Internet in Pakistan, access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) has increased, as have citizen journalism and online activism, the report said.

Pakistan does not yet have a third generation (3G) network, which is also a hindrance for the spread of broadband Internet and other wireless services. Remote areas of the country have no access to broadband, and are left with only a slow, intermittent dial-up connection, rendering any meaningful online activities very difficult.

The number of broadband users reached almost 1.5 million. Pakistan is ranked as one of the top countries recently that registered high growth rate in broadband Internet penetration, Point Topic, a global broadband tracker said in its report published a few months back.

The country, which has seen a boom in its telecom sector and information technology services in recent years, recorded around 46.2 percent growth of subscribers and is placed fourth on the ranking list.

It is top in the list of South Asian countries lagging behind its neighboring states such as Sri Lanka that spots 11th place with its broadband penetration growing in 30s while India lags at the 14th place in terms of broadband growth.

There more than 50 ISPs including 10 broadband companies operating in different parts of the country under their licence at various charges.

These service providers have brought advanced technology to deploy their network including Wimax, DSL, FTTH and HFC. The number of operators with variety of technology has been expanding the base of technology users with competition, showing the falling rates of service by every passing month.

The different service providers include PTCL, Wateen, WiTribe, Qubee and Comsat. The broadband packages are lowest in the world ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 3,000 per month depending on the speed and utility of data by the subscribers. However, the stiff competition among the operators resulted in constant decline and multiple offers to the users.

Pakistan has already developed and expanded its technology highways with international undersea cable for its future demands. Presently, there are four undersea cables connecting Pakistan to rest of the world including PTCL’s owned SMW3, SMW4 and IMEWE and one with TWA.

The domestic Internet highways or domestic fibre backbone providers are PTCL, Wateen, Mobilink and Multinet.

Internet has been evolving in its different technological modes through high-speed broadband, which has become basic need of the people for the purpose of information, education, entertainment and business. Hence, it is an indispensable source that plays a vital role in different aspects of the masses’ lives.

Pakistan’s digital growth prospects have begun to look brighter lately. Besides having a large bilingual (English and Urdu) Internet using population as the estimated viewership of blogs has reached nearly 3.4 million.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011%5C10%5C29%5Cstory_29-10-2011_pg5_18

Russia: Big government goes online

A website is being launched which will allow every Russian citizen to become a participant in an extended government.

­The project, initiated by President Dmitry Medvedev in mid-October, was launched by the Public Committee of the President’s Supporters.

“This is a mechanism to receive feedback from citizens,” State Duma deputy Robert Shlegel told Izvestia daily. He said that everyone will be invited to join the extended government.

To register, users will have to indicate their profession. Then they will be regularly notified of online discussions relating to their field of expertise, given the opportunity to express their views on the initiatives of the president, and to vote. Anonymous visitors to the site will only be able to comment without the possibility of voting. 

There are 60 million internet users in Russia, so potentially more than 40 per cent of citizens will be able to  take part in the work of online government.

The website is the first step in putting into practice the president’s vision of an extended government, outlined by Medvedev earlier this month. Shortly after the announcement, he met with representatives of the Public Committee of President’s Supporters, a newly-established body tasked with forming the extended government. During the meeting, he stressed that in putting forward the idea he “didn't mean an increase in the number of bureaucrats.” 

Among more than 80 members of the Supporters Committee, there are only three government officials.  They are from the Ministry of Economic Development and the Justice Ministry. The committee is divided into thematic groups, which include housing, business, social policy, military and defense, and culture.

rt.com/politics/russia-unveils-e-government-initiative-959/

New guidelines launched for Dubai govt websites

DUBAI — The Dubai e-Government Department has launched the 2011 edition of the Government Websites Guidelines (GWG) for Dubai Government entities.

 

The 2011 GWG was reformulated after rigorous international benchmarking, regional and local government customisation; feedback from key stakeholders in Dubai Government and also builds upon the success of previous Dubai Government websites guidelines and evaluations.

Government entities will be able to view or download the new edition via Dubai e-Government’s corporate website on www.deg.gov.ae.

Ahmed bin Humaidan, Director-General of Dubai e-Government Department, said: “It is very encouraging to see that our government partners in Dubai have responded positively to previous editions of the Government Websites Guidelines. As a result of such a comprehensive GWG standard, the overall Dubai Government websites evaluation results increased from an overall average of 61 per cent in 2006 to 86 per cent in 2010.

However, taking the cue from His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who advised us that the path of excellence and distinction does not stop at a certain stage, we have decided to raise the bar even further and have therefore reformulated the GWG to ensure that we remained customer-focused, and abreast with technology and latest website trends.”

Bin Humaidan said that the new model and the related guidelines for Dubai Government websites will set a new target and benchmark for the government entities in the continuous journey to excellence. “We sincerely believe that compliance with the new guidelines will enhance the customer experience in our governmental websites leading to increased customer satisfaction and higher usage.” Dubai e-Government Department has been evaluating Dubai Government websites since 2006 after providing the required guidelines and standards to ensure a certain level of uniformity and compliance among government websites. The 2011 guidelines are part of this quality initiative and were established after a rigorous international benchmarking exercise including compliance with recommendations laid out by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), as well as taking into account the particularities of the Dubai Government. The newly-formulated GWG is based on a strategic ‘Government Websites Excellence Model’ (GWEM) which was developed internally by Dubai e-Government Department. The GWEM is built around a customer-focused concept and consists of 46 guidelines around accessibility, usability and design, content and policies.

The Dubai e-Government Department will conduct biennial (every two years) evaluations of Dubai Government websites for compliance with the new GWG standards.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2011/October/theuae_October764.xml§ion=theuae

Government by (all) the people

RUSSIA may sound an unlikely place for a bold experiment in participatory democracy. But Wikivote, an online forum where citizens collaborate in redrafting laws, seems to be enjoying unlikely early success there.

The website displays a draft law and lets users propose rewrites of each paragraph; others can vote on the suggestions. In another section they can debate “thorny questions”. A reputation-rating system gives serious users’ votes more weight; invited experts get even more. The site’s first full-scale test came earlier this year, when protests erupted over a new fisheries bill that proposed charging Russians for their beloved pastime of fishing in public waterways. At the government’s behest, Wikivote posted the draft bill; it went through two redrafts with over 1,000 proposed modifications, according to Vasiliy Burov, one of the project’s creators. On the site now is a longer and trickier education bill.

Successful examples of legislation by the masses are rare. Most people don’t know how to write laws. Tim Bonnemann, the founder of Intellitics, an American firm specialising in public-participation tools, says a better method is to canvas views widely but use a small team to write a draft. The hard part is not the technology (a simple online discussion forum is adequate) but creating a fair and transparent process that assures people their voices have been heard.

Another problem is that even a public consultation, let alone public law-writing, takes a lot of time and money to do well, especially when large groups are involved. Tom Steinberg, the director of MySociety, a British e-democracy organisation, says most attempts in collaborative lawmaking, whether run by governments or do-gooders, are one-offs that never gather enough steam and public interest.

A third problem is that government websites of this sort are often clunky, and poor at drawing in the public debate that thrives elsewhere online. Professional lobbyists willing to plough through the process therefore often have a big advantage. America’s site for rewriting government rules, regulations.gov, displays the comments on a draft bill as a list of the commenters’ names. These may run into the hundreds and the visitor must click on each name separately to see what was said. That makes getting the overall picture dauntingly tedious. Even Estonia, a world leader in e-government, had lacklustre results when it launched osale.ee, a portal for public comments on bills, in 2007. In the first two years, according to a study by Meelis Kitsing of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, the most comments any bill got was 27 (one-third got none). In contrast the Brazilian parliament’s cheerful and friendly e-Democracia site is often cited as a rare success story: it channels comments straight to the parliamentary agency that advises MPs.

Non-governmental sites, on the other hand, may be easier to use, but officials are wont to ignore them. Two students who founded a site called Lexpop earlier this year think they may have got around this problem: a Massachusetts state legislator, Tom Sannicandro, has agreed in advance to propose a bill on “net neutrality” that the site’s users will draft. (Drafting hasn’t yet begun, though, and some doubt that anything coherent will emerge).

The big difficulty for such projects in advanced democracies is that they have to break into lawmaking systems that often function tolerably well. Wikivote, by contrast, trades on the fact that some Russian ministries produce legislation so shoddy that it does not work. “The goal of the state is to get higher-quality laws,” Mr Burov says. “It’s not about being more democratic. So much of what’s idiotic in Russia happens not because somebody wants it that way, but because there’s nobody to prevent idiocy from happening.”

http://www.economist.com/node/21534760

Russian telecommunications market to be worth more than €30bn in 2012

 

Russian telecommunications market exceeded PMR last year expectations growing at a faster pace in 2010. The reason for the better results was very dynamic development of the broadband internet market. Mobile telephony operators also registered a double-digit growth of their combined revenues. The value of the market is forecast to well exceed €30bn next year.

Current situation

According to the latest report “The telecommunications market in Russia 2011. Development forecasts for 2011-2015” published by PMR, a market research company, the value of the telecommunications services market in Russia increased by 17.3% year on year to €27.3bn in 2010, from approximately €23.2bn in 2009. The growth rate measured in local currency was lower and amounted to 10%. It should be noted that PMR last year forecasts concerning the telecoms market value in 2010, excluding exchange rate fluctuations, assumed the growth rate of 4 p.p. lower than the actual result.
Overall economic recovery in the country continue to be one of the main market growth drivers in 2010. The demand for telecommunications services in Russia went up after the crisis which hit the Russian economy end of 2008. In 2010, after a sharp decline in 2009, operators also increased the investments in the construction of new networks and the improvement of service quality.
The Russian telecommunications market has been steadily increasing, starting in 2000 with the development of mobile telephony and internet access. In the last two years, the market was affected by the migration of voice traffic from fixed to mobile networks and also to the internet and, as a result, the segment of fixed-line telephony began to stagnate. The growth of mobile voice services also declined with the increasing maturity of this market. The most dynamic during recent years was the segment of internet access, including both fixed and mobile technologies. This market was an area of business growth for the operators in 2009-2010, and it will continue to play a role of the development driver for the entire telecommunications market in Russia, considering its relatively low maturity.
Mobile telephony is by far the largest segment of the Russian telecommunications market. Based on the revenue reports provided by operators, total sales of mobile voice and non-voice services in Russia in 2010 amounted to RUB 710bn (€17.7bn), which is 10.6% more than in the previous year measured in roubles, or 17.9% measured in euros. The mobile telephony market accounted for the largest part of the telecommunications spending in Russia last year. Even if to exclude mobile VAS and to consider only the mobile voice segment, the mobile telephony share would reach the level of almost 50% in 2010, while the total number of registered SIM cards already exceeded 150% of the total population of Russia.
Provision of access to the internet remains the most dynamic and fast growing segment of the telecommunications market in Russia, which increased by 30% year on year in 2010. This growth of the market was driven by quickly increasing penetration of fixed-line broadband but also enhanced by the fast expansion of 3G networks and the operators’ active promotion of mobile internet.

3G and LTE uptake

With the commercial launch of UMTS networks in 2008, an increasing contribution to the growth of the mobile telephony market in Russia is already coming from non-voice value-added services provided in mobile networks, especially from broadband internet. Development of 3G networks is also changing the landscape of the Russian mobile telephony market. Operators from the Big Three group got a new source of revenue from the development of mobile broadband internet, which became the main 3G application.
Meanwhile, two concepts of the future LTE networks development in Russia have been recently presented. In December 2010, the Russian government proposed to create LTE Consortium which was expected to come up with proposals related to the development of 4G networks in the country. The consortium was created by the leading national telecommunications operators, including Rostelecom, MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon. Smaller regional operators were not invited to join. Mid of 2011, LTE Consortium presented a report which states that the available radio spectrum is feasible to be shared between four operators and each of the operators will need to invest RUB 85.7bn (€2.1bn) to install approximately 20,810 base stations covering over 10,400 of locations in the country with more than 1,000 of inhabitants, i.e. to build a federal LTE network. The condition is that the operators will use simultaneously a 690-880 MHz and 2,500-2,700 MHz radio bandwidth having 30 MHz spectrum each. In March 2011, there was also an agreement between MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom, Rostelecom and Skartel, which had already had available a bandwidth for LTE, that Skartel would build LTE networks in 180 cities and towns in Russia and would give each of the operator 20% capacity in this network. Skartel expects to invest approximately RUB 60bn (€1.5bn) in the project.
It is not certain yet what kind of strategy for LTE development will be applied in Russia. Either the government will announce a tender for four federal licences or Skartel will build the network. A real barrier for the development of the LTE network in the country is the fact that radio bandwidth is already used by military communication systems and the investments in conversion are considered to be very high. “All in all, the most probable scenario now could be the launch of the first LTE networks in Russia not earlier than in 2014” – comments Pawel Olszynka, a PMR analyst and one of the report authors.

Short-term forecasts

Macroeconomic development forecasts for Russia for 2011-2012 are positive. GDP is expected to reach 4.5% annually. This remains a good background for the business development and investments in telecommunications services and networks. The growth in the consumers’ confidence boosts the demand for IT and telecommunications services and facilitates the spending on personal computers, mobile phones and the internet.
The Russian telecommunications market will continue its upward trend over the next two years or so, triggered by the growing internet services market, both in fixed and mobile networks. One strategic advantage of the Russian ISP market over other Central and Eastern European countries is its big size, poor development and territorial coverage, therefore, almost all providers and all wire and wireless technologies will have a chance to get their niche. In a broader perspective, the services connected with the telecommunications market, e.g. digital pay TV, will also play a more important role. The mobile market in Russia will not be driven by simple emission of millions of SIM cards, but rather by attracting customers to actively use new services. Non-voice and more advanced value-added services will continue to gain in significance and an increasing proportion of mobile carrier revenues will come from this source.


This press release is based on information contained in the latest PMR report entitled “Telecommunications market in Russia 2011. Development forecasts for 2011-2015”.

Blacklist Bill allows Feds to remove websites from Internet

The House version of the Internet Blacklist Bill was released October 26, 2011, with no effort to fix problems that existed in the Senate version. A violation of the First Amendment, it is contrary to official positions of internet freedom and censorship.

“Under the Internet Blacklist Bill -- S.968, formally called the PROTECT IP Act -- the Department of Justice would force search engines, browsers, and service providers to block users' access to websites that have been accused of copyright infringement -- without even giving them a day in court.” (Demand Progress)

The S.968 bill is considered dangerous and short-sighted due to its broad writing that covers a multitude of issues, bringing danger to not only Internet security but is considered a serious threat to free online speech and innovation. The Censorship-galore Department describes it as an attempt to build the Great Firewall of America, requiring service providers to block access to certain websites. This bill could shut down YouTube, Twitter and many other social websites that bring together the Occupy movements across the nation and world---any user-generated content site where the law can make the sites’ owners legally responsible for the posted content of its users. Additionally, the bill could shut down music storage lockers and cloud-based products, while its broad-based terminology includes provisions that allow selected websites to be charged with felony charges for streaming unlicensed content---video game play-throughs, coverage of band performances and karaoke videos. As reported to Tech Dirt the CCIA, CEA and NetCoalition prepared a joint letter to members of Congress who had originally sponsored the bill, saying that on behalf of the technology industry they had never been approached about the bill. This is ironic, as Protect IP is basically driven by the demands of the entertainment industry. Yet the bill will dramatically reduce jobs, job growth and innovation in the country---something promised by the GOP when they were voted into office and something not yet seen The House had previously agreed to meet with organizations that represented the tech industry and who would be most affected by Protect IP. However, the House has chosen to rush the bill through this past Wednesday without listening to professional opinions or advice from the tech industry, individuals who feel strongly that the bill is “jobs-destroying,” “innovative-binding,” “and internet-breaking.” Letter to the GOP House from CCIA, CEA and NetCoalition:

October 24, 2011 Via Facsimile and E-Mail The Honorable Lamar Smith Chairman Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable John Conyers, Jr. Ranking Member Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Bob Goodlatte Chairman Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Mel Watt Ranking Member Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman Smith and Representatives Conyers, Goodlatte, and Watt: We want to thank you for convening a meeting on Friday in regard to the legislative proposal to address rogue foreign websites that infringe the rights of U.S. IP owners. We also appreciate the time your staff has devoted to this important and complex issue. We regard this initial meeting as a productive step toward building consensus around a solution, and we urge that the Committee await introducing legislation until the affected stakeholders can comment meaningfully on the specifics of the approach. One point of consensus that appeared to emerge in Friday’s meeting was that in an area as complex as Internet regulation, the specific text by which the framework is implemented matters greatly. Thus, the stakeholders who stand to be directly affected by the regulatory framework under consideration should be consulted on the text. For this reason, we urge you to reconvene affected stakeholders and experts when a draft has been prepared, and utilize the input that they may provide before introducing legislation. Our industries remain committed to working with all stakeholders to craft a legislative proposal that addresses this issue without undue collateral damage. Sincerely, Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) NetCoalition

With the Internet Blacklist Bill literally shoved through the House, those same copyright holders will be able to cut off advertising and payment processing to such sites. Without court review.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/313463

Megabits and MDGs: How broadband can work for greater good

There is broad agreement that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). But questions remain on how to scale up both access and content. This was the topic at hand for a plenary session at the Broadband Leadership Summit held in Geneva on 24-25 October 2011.

At the "Megabits and MDGs" session, President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi raised the issue of fostering partnerships to reach the country’s citizens with broadband access. According to President Nkurunziza, this would help accelerate e-government, e-learning, e-health and e-commerce.

http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2011/october/20111025mbitsmdg/ 

Inside Facebook's massive cyber-security system

by Jim Giles

FACEBOOK has released details of the extraordinary security infrastructure it uses to fight off spam and other cyber-scams.

Known as the Facebook Immune System (FIS), the massive defence network appears to be successful: numbers released by the company this week show that less than 1 per cent of users experience spam. Yet it's not perfect. Researchers have built a novel attack that evaded the cyber-defences and extracted private material from real users' Facebook accounts.

Rostelecom, Beltelecom sign new cooperation agreement

Russian national operator Rostelecom signed a letter of intent with Belarusian national operator Beltelecom. The two will cooperate on the commercial launch of the Nx10Gbps links connecting Moscow and Frankfurt. The links will cross areas of Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. The operators plan to expand the capacity of cross-border links and their own network to 1Tbps in this direction. The operators also plan to develop a joint business providing telecommunications services in 2012-2015 under the agreement. The joint activity will include internet access mainly corresponding to needs of subscribers at Beltelecom, as well as renting international communications links for transit from Russia to Europe for customers at Rostelecom.

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/rostelecom-beltelecom-sign-new-cooperation-agreement