Information Policy

The Future of the Internet - A Political View

by Geoff Huston

Lets face it, gathering a collection of ministerial delegations to laboriously recite prepared speeches to each other sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry. And observing meetings where the major outcome appears to be limited to the scheduling of the next meeting can become somewhat tedious after a while. It should not be surprising that the level of expectation of tangible outcomes for such governmental meetings is invariably abysmally low. So what's the value of adding yet another meeting to governments' schedule? What makes the OECD-hosted ministerial meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy so unique in the context of the Internet's current political landscape and its political future? Why would a meeting about the dismal science of economics hold any interest at all?

http://www.potaroo.net/ispcol/2008-07/foi.html

Internet law made simple

Lexelerator, an internet law wiki to help SMEs get online. © Yong Hian Lim - Fotolia.com Internet law is a new frontier where SMEs fear to tread. Now European researchers have created a new internet law wiki designed to encourage more SMEs to go online.

The internet has enabled a brave, new world of online commerce, pushing new ventures and large corporations to launch confidently into cyberspace.

But SMEs have lagged far behind, held back in large part because they lack reliable information about their online legal obligations. Without the enormous resources of a legal department, many SMEs fear the potential repercussions.

Now European researchers have developed what is probably the first internet law wiki written for non-experts. A wiki is an online information source contributed by the users, like Wikipedia.

“Fear of legal problems is one of the main reasons why SMEs are slow to launch internet-based services, from e-commerce to online marketing,” explains Margaretha Mazura, initiator of the LEKTOR project.

SMEs have good reason to be fearful. Internet law across Europe represents a patchwork of varying standards. Even where European directives exist, the national regulations implementing the directive vary from country to country.

http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm?section=news&tpl=article&ID=89984

Study: Mobile Users More Loyal Than PC

If brands want loyalty, they may continue to be impressed with mobile content sites. Consumers of mobile content appear to be more loyal to the sites they visit than subscribers to the same content accessed through the Internet, according to a new paper written by Philip Sugai and Donghun Kim, both professors at the International University of Japan,

Although the mobile platform has been considered inferior to the PC since the launch of mobile data services, this study shows that not to be the case, Sugai said.

This research surveyed more than 400 PC and mobile phone subscribers in Japan, and tested their loyalty by finding out how much they would be willing to pay to remain loyal to their current mobile or PC content sites in light of a series of other competing offers. The loyalty of subscribers to both free content and services such as Yahoo! Japan and subscription-based content such as Disney were each studied, with results clearly showing the power of the mobile platform versus the PC for both.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/article.aspx?id=162470

Belarusian bloggers' charity action

Belarussian bloggers have launched http://bynames.info blog, which will participate in the competition with a 4000 USD reward fund.

If the blog wins, all the money will be transferred to a charity account of Michail Larin, a young man who is connected to an artificial heart device.

He urgently needs a heart transplantation surgery, but it can't be done in Belarus. The operation costs a lot of money - EUR 350.000

"Komsomolskaya Pravda" newspaper organised a fund raising action for Michail. 10% of the sum needed has already been gathered.

Belarusian rock and pop musicians launched http://serca.tut.by - an online resource where they upload their exclusive recordings which are available for free. The musicians ask only for one thing - "Help Mikhail Larin".

Bank accounts for donations in EUR/USD:

Charitable account #6430010000013 ASB BELARUSBANK branch # 511/319 for Larin Michail Vladimirivich

Top 10 Web Politricks

Written by Nicole Ferraro

The Internet has played a greater role this presidential election season than ever before. We have had our first-ever YouTube debates, Facebook participatory forums, and endless array of vlogged politico gaffes. And, as a result, the politicians have learned there's a whole World Wide Web of people they can no longer ignore.

So, in an attempt to target the connected crowd, the '08 political campaigns themselves have been pulling out all the stops, trying to make their candidates appear hip to this Internet thing.

But, after months of suffering through it all, it seems that couldn't be further from the truth.

Most of the online efforts set forth by the political campaigns this season have been laughable at best, and have demonstrated how completely out of touch politicians generally are with what's happening on the Tubes. Whether it's the hip-happenin' band of youngsters steering Obama's every move, or the straight-laced, quill-using conservative crew on the McCain team – the Web efforts put in place this election season have been getting weirder and weirder.

Rather than fooling us into believing the candidates care about the Internet, these efforts have made all the more clear their lack of understanding and concern. ("I don't know what this 'digital divide' stuff is – but did you know our campaign managers can Friend you on Facebook?")

So we at Internet Evolution are taking a stand against these silly politricks and letting the politicos know we're onto them. What follows next, in reverse order, is our ever-enlightening multi-page analysis of the Top 10 Web Politricks.

As always, and unlike the candidates, we want your feedback – so be sure to cast your ballot (get it?!) for your favorite Internet Politrick on the boards below!

Here are our 10:

10) Fight the Smears: Obama's Myth-Busting Site
Tackling the issues that matter, likeee, secret Muslimism.

9) Robo-Calling
Think: telemarketing PLUS spam. Now with VOIP!

8) Disseminating Inaccuracies 2.0
Or... If it's not true, it should be.

7) McCainSpace & MyBarackObama
Create a social network to satisfy the obsessive politician-groupie in you.

6) The RNC's "Barackbook"
Join Barackbook; befriend a would-be terrorist.

5) Spam the Liberals!
Mac attack on the liberal blogosphere.

4) Political Celebrity in Absentia
It's like real social networking, but minus the networking socially part.

3) Hillary's Sopranos Ripoff
Or, how to get de-nominated, virally.

2) Swiftboating on YouTube
"Swiftboating" style videos end up on YouTube as the Willie Horton attack ad auteur gears up again.

1) Twitter Me This: Veep-stakes
Twitter your VP selection... after choosing him/her using a Facebook Poke.

http://www.internetevolution.com/document.asp?doc_id=162076&f_src=ieupdate