Information Policy

Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design 2006

Jakob Nielsen has released his annual list of the Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design.

They are:

1. Bad Search
2. PDF Files for Online Reading
3. Not Changing the Color of Visited Links
4. Non-Scannable Text
5. Fixed Font Size
6. Page Titles With Low Search Engine Visibility
7. Anything That Looks Like an Advertisement
8. Violating Design Conventions
9. Opening New Browser Windows
10. Not Answering Users' Questions

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html

Annual review of ICT Trends in India-2006

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is changing the face of contemporary World. The ICT has not only connected the World at one single platform but it is also helping in the integration of various traditional societies into modern societies. The mandates of globalisation also require an interaction between Indian economy and World’s economy. Globalisation is closely related to ICT and the ICT strategy of a nation is very crucial to put it on a global map. The ICT strategy in India must be techno-legal in nature rather than purely legal or purely technological. Unfortunately, Indian ICT Strategy is not upto the mark and the same is further degraded with the introduction of the proposed amendments to the IT Act, 2000 (if the original recommendations have been accepted as it is). The concepts of cyber forensics in India, cyber security in India, computer security in India, etc have not yet got the attention of the Indian Parliament.

http://perry4law.blogspot.com/2006/12/ict-trends-in-india-2006.html

Cybersecurity a Growing Problem

Brian Krebs, The Washington Post

More than 90 percent of all e-mail sent online in October was unsolicited junk mail......Spam volumes monitored by Postini rose 73 percent in the past two months as spammers began embedding their messages in images to evade junk e-mail filters that search for particular words and phrases. In November, Postini's spam filters, used by many large companies, blocked 22 billion junk-mail messages, up from about 12 billion in September.....At any given time, between 3 million and 4 million compromised computers are active on the Internet, according to Gadi Evron....Botnets have become the moving force behind organized crime online, with a low-risk, high-profit calculation," Evron said. He estimated that organized criminals would earn about $2 billion this year through "phishing" scams, which involve the use of spam and fake Web sites to trick computer users into disclosing their financial and other personal data.......Another trend experts cite is the steady shift of Internet criminal activity from nights and weekends to weekdays, suggesting that online crime is evolving into a full-time profession for many......The past 12 months also brought a steep increase in the number of software vulnerabilities discovered by researchers and actively exploited by criminals.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/26/AR2006122600922.html

International Working Group (IWG) on Online Consultation and Public Policy Making

INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL DEMOCRACY WORKING GROUP CHOSEN FOR NSF-FUNDED SUPPORT

An NSF-funded initiative to “build and sustain an international digital government research community of practice” has agreed to provide support for an international “digital democracy” research group to be co-chaired by Peter M. Shane, the Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law at Ohio State University, and Stephen Coleman, Professor of Political Communication at the Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds.

The Center for Technology in Government at SUNY Albany announced on December 13 that the International Working Group (IWG) on Online Consultation and Public Policy Making will be one of four international research groups receiving its support over the next three years.

Professors Shane and Coleman believe that the IWG will be the first formal research group under transatlantic leadership to focus on the use of online consultations to improve the quality of democracy. The IWG will study, specifically, how to evaluate the policy and other social impacts of government-run or government-supported solicitations of public input via the Internet with regard to public policy. The group will also consider how the optimal design of such initiatives is affected by cultural, social, legal and institutional context.

http://www.dowire.org/notes/?p=319

PL: Government promises free internet

The Polish Government is planning to offer free internet connections to disadvantaged members of society in a bid to ensure that all citizens can have equal access to the constantly growing array of public services now available on-line.

The Polish Ministry of Regional Development and the Ministry of Interior and Administration plan to allocate EUR4 billion between them, from 2007-2013, to the development of the Information Society.

Around EUR800 million of this will go to providing free internet access to people in the lowest income brackets. The data transfer rate of the free lines will be 144 kb/s, which should be sufficient to make use of the many advantages of the "€˜Net"€™ including, of course, eGovernment services.  

Anna Stevan„ska, chairperson of the Electronic Communication Office said her agency is negotiating for the service with the leading Polish telecommunications company, Telekomunikacja Polska. The aim is to enable people in need to use a "€˜social subscription plan"€™, which will include a free internet connection. This will be a real breakthrough in the IT development of the country, she notes.  

A further EUR700 million will be spent on developing IT resources within public administrations offices. The overall amount invested is significantly higher than originally intended but the participating ministries have decided to allocate additional funds in the hope that they will receive co-support from European funds.

http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/6405/194