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Winter 2015 Issue 52 |
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GLOBAL:
Top 10 Forecasts for IT Organisations and Users for 2016 and Beyond Gartner
has revealed its top strategic predictions for 2016 and beyond, looking at
the digital future, as well as an algorithmic and smart machine-driven world
where people and machines must define harmonious relationships. “The 'robo'
trend, the emerging practicality of artificial intelligence, and the fact
that enterprises and consumers are now embracing the advancement of these
technologies is driving change,” says Daryl Plummer, vice president,
distinguished analyst, Gartner. “Gartner's Top Predictions begin to separate
us from the mere notion of technology adoption and to draw us more deeply
into issues surrounding what it means to be human in a digital world.” 1)
By 2018, 20 per cent of business content will be authored by machines Technologies
with the ability to proactively assemble and deliver information through
automated composition engines are fostering a movement from human- to
machine-generated business content. Data-based and analytical information can
be turned into natural language writing using these emerging tools. Business
content, such as shareholder reports, legal documents, market reports, press
releases, articles and white papers, are all candidates for automated writing
tools. 2)
By 2018, six billion connected things will be requesting support In
the era of digital business, when physical and digital lines are increasingly
blurred, enterprises will need to begin viewing things as customers of
services - and to treat them accordingly. Mechanisms will need to be
developed for responding to significantly larger numbers of support requests
communicated directly by things. Strategies will also need to be developed
for responding to them that are distinctly different from traditional
human-customer communication and problem-solving. Responding to service
requests from things will spawn entire service industries, and innovative
solutions will emerge to improve the efficiency of many types of enterprise. 3)
By 2020, autonomous software agents outside of human control will participate
in five per cent of all economic transactions Algorithmically
driven agents are already participating in our economy. However, while these
agents are automated, they are not fully autonomous, because they are
directly tethered to a robust collection of mechanisms controlled by humans —
in the domains of our corporate, legal, economic and fiduciary systems. New
autonomous software agents will hold value themselves, and function as the
fundamental underpinning of a new economic paradigm that Gartner calls the
programmable economy. The programmable economy has potential for great
disruption to the existing financial services industry. We will see
algorithms, often developed in a transparent, open-source fashion and set
free on the blockchain, capable of banking, insurance, markets, exchanges,
crowdfunding - and virtually all other types of financial instruments. 4)
By 2018, more than 3 million workers globally will be supervised by a
"robo-boss” Robo-bosses
will increasingly make decisions that previously could only have been made by
human managers. Supervisory duties are increasingly shifting into monitoring
worker accomplishment through measurements of performance that are directly
tied to output and customer evaluation. Such measurements can be consumed
more effectively and swiftly by smart machine managers tuned to learn based
on staffing decisions and management incentives. 5)
By year-end 2018, 20 per cent of smart buildings will have suffered from
digital vandalism Inadequate
perimeter security will increasingly result in smart buildings being
vulnerable to attack. With exploits ranging from defacing digital signage to
plunging whole buildings into prolonged darkness, digital vandalism is a
nuisance, rather than a threat. There are, nonetheless, economic, health and
safety, and security consequences. The severity of these consequences depend
on the target. Smart building components cannot be considered independently,
but must be viewed as part of the larger organisational security process.
Products must be built to offer acceptable levels of protection and hooks for
integration into security monitoring and management systems. 6)
By 2018, 45 per cent of the fastest-growing companies will have fewer
employees than instances of smart machines Gartner
believes the initial group of companies that will leverage smart machine
technologies most rapidly and effectively will be startups and other newer
companies. The speed, cost savings, productivity improvements and ability to
scale of smart technology for specific tasks offer dramatic advantages over
the recruiting, hiring, training and growth demands of human labor. Some
possible examples are a fully automated supermarket or a security firm
offering drone-only surveillance services. The "old guard"
(existing) companies, with large amounts of legacy technologies and
processes, will not necessarily be the first movers, but the savvier companies
among them will be fast followers, as they will recognise the need for
competitive parity for either speed or cost. 7)
By year-end 2018, customer digital assistant will recognise individuals by
face and voice across channels and partners The
last mile for multichannel and exceptional customer experiences will be
seamless two-way engagement with customers and will mimic human
conversations, with both listening and speaking, a sense of history,
in-the-moment context, timing and tone, and the ability to respond, add to
and continue with a thought or purpose at multiple occasions and places over
time. Although facial and voice recognition technologies have been largely
disparate across multiple channels, customers are willing to adopt these
technologies and techniques to help them sift through increasing large
amounts of information, choice and purchasing decisions. This signals an
emerging demand for enterprises to deploy customer digital assistants to
orchestrate these techniques and to help "glue" continual company
and customer conversations. 8)
By 2018, two million employees will be required to wear health and fitness
tracking devices as a condition of employment The
health and fitness of people employed in jobs that can be dangerous or
physically demanding will increasingly be tracked by employers via wearable
devices. Emergency responders, such as police officers, firefighters and
paramedics, will likely comprise the largest group of employees required to
monitor their health or fitness with wearables. The primary reason for
wearing them is for their own safety. Their heart rates and respiration, and
potentially their stress levels, could be remotely monitored and help could
be sent immediately if needed. In addition to emergency responders, a portion
of employees in other critical roles will be required to wear health and
fitness monitors, including professional athletes, political leaders, airline
pilots, industrial workers and remote field workers. 9)
By 2020, smart agents will facilitate 40 per cent of mobile interactions, and
the post-app era will begin to dominate Smart
agent technologies, in the form of virtual personal assistants (VPAs) and
other agents, will monitor user content and behaviour in conjunction with
cloud-hosted neural networks to build and maintain data models from which the
technology will draw inferences about people, content and contexts. Based on
these information-gathering and model-building efforts, VPAs can predict
users' needs, build trust and ultimately act autonomously on the user's
behalf. 10)
Through 2020, 95 per cent of Cloud security failures will be the customer's
fault Security
concerns remain the most common reason for avoiding the use of public Cloud
services. However, only a small percentage of the security incidents
impacting enterprises using the Cloud have been due to vulnerabilities that
were the provider's fault. This does not mean that organisations should
assume that using a Cloud means that whatever they do within that cloud will
necessarily be secure. The characteristics of the parts of the Cloud stack
under customer control can make cloud computing a highly efficient way for
naive users to leverage poor practices, which can easily result in widespread
security or compliance failures. The growing recognition of the enterprise's
responsibility for the appropriate use of the public Cloud is reflected in
the growing market for cloud control tools. By 2018, 50 percent of
enterprises with more than 1000 users will use Cloud access security broker
products to monitor and manage their use of SaaS and other forms of public
Cloud, reflecting the growing recognition that although Clouds are usually
secure, the secure use of public Clouds requires explicit effort on the part
of the Cloud customer. From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
10/12/2015 New
Standards in Personal Data Protection The issue of the transfer of personal data between the European
Union and the United States has long been a touchy subject. The 'Safe
Harbour' program has been widely criticized, and recent decisions of the EU
Court of Justice are set to introduce a new level of quality. Unfortunately,
the Court's decision also entails serious consequences, as explained by Jacek
Grabowski from Gemius' legal department. For nearly 15 years the 'Safe
Harbour' program has enabled the transfer of data between European and US
companies. In fact, it was a compromise which generated certain reservations
from the beginning. The EU Directive on the protection of personal data,
which came into force during the implementation of this program and is still
in place, forbids the transfer of data outside the EU unless the other side
guarantees equal or higher protection standards. 'Safe Harbour' guaranteed no
such protection. It was criticized primarily for its lack of effective mechanisms
for enforcing compliance with the rules of the program; its limited options
for individual complaint submissions and its dispute resolution mechanisms
were – from a European point of view – non-transparent. 'Safe Harbour' was
criticized by the European personal data protection authorities. The European
Commission has repeatedly tested the program and subtly advocated its
revision. The information revealed by Edward Snowden of the large-scale
surveillance conducted by US government agencies added fuel to the fire.
Emerging from the impasse required bold political decisions. The Commission
transferred responsibility to the national data protection authorities, who
were bound by the decision of the Commission. A ground-breaking challenge In early October, the EU Court of Justice cut the Gordian knot.
This was both a bold move and a painful and unfavourable business decision in
the short-term. It was stated that the national data protection authorities
are not bound by the decision of the European Commission. They are therefore
responsible for checking whether the regulations under which European data is
transferred outside the EU meet the determined standards. In this respect the
judgement strengthens the position of the data protection authorities (e.g.
GIODO in Poland) and even encourages the authorities to check whether foreign
companies which fall under their jurisdiction are acting in accordance with
the law. The CJEU went one step further and assessed that the data protection
rules laid down in the ' Practical implications The CJEU's decision can be approached from many angles and has
serious consequences for various stakeholders. In light of this judgment, the
General Regulation on the Protection of Personal Data is all the more
important; this should define coherent Europe-wide standards for the
protection of data and legal requirements for the processing of data. It is
worth noting, for example, that the definition of personal data in accordance
with this act can be fulfilled by a cookie identifier – it may be that every
company making overseas transfers of any information about a given cookie
identifier or a group of these IDs is covered by this regulation and all its
requirements. The most unpleasant effects will be experienced by companies
whose business activity involves the transmission of personal data between
the EU and the US, especially considering the kind of information we
recognise as personal data. Until there is a relevant international agreement
(such as the currently negotiated TTIP), companies must determine the
appropriate legal basis for data transfer and ensure that proper standards
for its protection are met. They will have to identify which data transfers
were carried out under the 'Safe Harbour' program and select the most
suitable alternative. In accordance with Polish law, the premise for legalizing such
transfers may be, for example, a contract between the data controller and a
given person, the individual consent of GIODO for a particular company (to
obtain this consent, the company will have to demonstrate that they have
provided adequate privacy protection standards), the introduction of binding
corporate rules (approved by GIODO) or standard contractual clauses approved
by the European Commission. Given that US companies are accustomed to
self-regulatory programs, in the longer term they may adopt the use of data
protection instruments, such as binding corporate rules or standard
contractual clauses. Terra incognita The CJEU judgement paves the way for inspections to be carried
out by the European personal data protection authorities. These authorities
may be of the opinion that no contractual obligations (standard contractual
clauses or binding corporate rules) will protect Europeans against mass
surveillance on the part of the United States. This surveillance may result
in decisions prohibiting particular companies from transferring data to the
US. In this sense, the legal risk of activities conducted by companies with
headquarters overseas is elevated. This may result in the improvement of data
protection standards, with companies ensuring the adequate and appropriate
supervision of their processing, but it can also be expected that some
European data protection authorities – despite having doubts – will make the
decision to allow transfers. At that point, the practical implications of the
CJEU judgement will only concern the procedure for determining the legal
basis for data transfer. At present it is hard to predict which scenario will
come to pass. The CJEU decision also has a political significance. It could
present a huge obstacle to the transmission of data, should the Americans not
choose to enhance their protection standards. The influence of the judgement
on negotiations under the TTIP agreement between the US and the EU could also
be considerable. The agreement, which is intended to standardize regulatory
norms, will also have to deal with the standardization of privacy rules on
both continents. We have set sail from the 'Safe Harbour' into uncharted
waters. Now anything is possible. From http://www.gemius.com/
11/10/2015 One
in Three: Internet Governance and Children’s Rights In November 2015, the Internet Governance Forum will focus on
the theme of ‘policy options for connecting the next billion’. Following
publication of her co-authored report ‘One in three: internet governance and
children’s rights’, Professor Sonia Livingstone discusses how internet
governance needs to consider the specific rights and needs of children, both
in terms of protection from harm as well as the right to access and use
digital media. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,
children below the age of 18 possess the full range of human rights enjoyed
by adults. As legal minors undergoing crucial processes of human development,
they have additional rights too – to play, to parenting, to develop to their
full potential, and so forth. The recent international NETmundial initiative, an important
international effort on internet governance, observed that the “rights that
people have offline must also be protected online”. Such an idea is not new:
over a decade ago the 2003 phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society adopted the Geneva Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action in
which the position of children was expressly recognised: “We are committed to
realising our common vision of the Information Society for ourselves and for
future generations. We recognise that young people are the future workforce
and leading creators and earliest adopters of ICTs. They must therefore be
empowered as learners, developers, contributors, entrepreneurs and
decision-makers. We must focus especially on young people who have not yet
been able to benefit fully from the opportunities provided by ICTs. We are
also committed to ensuring that the development of ICT applications and operation
of services respects the rights of children as well as their protection and
well-being.” Yet, over the past decade or so, the complex tapestry of
organisations that now constitute internet governance has barely recognised
the distinctive rights and needs of children as a substantial group of
internet users. For its meeting in November 2015, the Internet Governance
Forum chose as its theme ‘policy options for connecting the next billion’. In
my paper, ‘One in three: internet governance and children’s rights’,
co-authored with Jasmina Byrne and John Carr and just published by CIGI in
time for the forum, we estimate that 300 million of that number will be
children, most of them in developing nations. This represents a significant
responsibility for many key actors, and for global internet governance
bodies. How will they meet it? As report co-author John Carr comments: “The
internet’s achievements are spectacular and beyond doubt but what this report
reminds us is that for all that the internet has worked to change the world’s
economy, has changed the way we do politics and hold governments to account,
it is also a medium for children. Policy makers need to fix that prosaic but
profound fact firmly in their minds whenever they think or talk about the future
of the internet or its governance.” So far, internet governance organisations have sought an
age-generic (or ‘age-blind’) approach to ‘users’. But children have specific
needs and rights that are not met by governance regimes designed for
‘everyone’ – and too often, provision for ‘users’ in general embeds
assumptions in practice about their being adults, thereby failing to meet
children’s rights in practice. Even when specific provision is made for
children, it focuses heavily on child protection, especially in relation to
illegal activities that threaten children. This is important, for sure. But
beyond this, children’s rights to protection must somehow be balanced against
their rights to participation, since addressing the former in isolation risks
the unintended consequence of infringing the latter. Such crucial subtleties
have been signally lacking in the various multistakeholder policies, Internet
Bills of Rights and other regulation increasingly proposed and promoted
around the world. Indeed, I find it astonishing how often policy makers debate
internet governance as if all users were adults or, failing that, carefully
protected by informed parents. Our report argues against an age-generic or
age-blind approach to internet provision and governance, drawing on growing
international evidence that a substantial minority of internet users are
minors and that many encounter risk unsupported. In addition to addressing
issues of child protection in the online domain, we argue that policy and
governance should now ensure children’s rights to access and use of digital
media and the deployment of the internet by the wider society to advance
children’s rights across the board. As internet use rises in developing
countries, international internet governance organisations face a key
challenge in shaping, through multi-stakeholder processes, the emerging
models of best practice that will underpin the development of positive norms
recognised by states, parents and other relevant parties. Jasmina Byrne
observes that: “Implementation of child rights in the digital age requires not
only adherence to human rights and values, but also empowerment and
participation of child users in ways which foster their creativity,
innovation and societal engagement.” We therefore recommend that internet
governance organisations acknowledge and address the fact that an estimated
one in three internet users are children. Recognition of children’s rights
should be embedded in the activities, policies and structures of internet
governance processes. This includes provision and participation rights as
well as protection rights. Strategies need to be developed to address
conflicts between rights – especially to ensure that children’s rights to
provision and participation are not unduly compromised in an effort to
protect them. While States and public institutions bear the primary
responsibility to ensure the realisation of children’s rights through the
creation of legislative and policy frameworks, rights frameworks now
encompass the activities and responsibilities of business also, and this
applies to the internet industry as much as any other. In the
multi-stakeholder context of internet governance, parents and children (and
their representatives) should be recognized and included as significant
stakeholders. This will require specific efforts and the development of
appropriate mechanisms of participation and inclusion. In addition to supporting a constructive dialogue between
internet governance and child rights organisations, it is important for
internet governance to develop mechanisms to represent and implement
children’s rights online. To develop these, internet governance organisations
could explicitly draw on the experience of child rights organisations (or
children’s commissioners or ombudspersons) based on their established work in
other domains. Since questions of child protection seem especially likely to
trigger critical concerns over internet governance in terms of its remit,
accountability and forms of redress, it is vital that internet governance
bodies find ways to establish their legitimacy in relation to all
stakeholders, including children and those who represent children’s rights.
To underpin the above efforts, an evidence base is required. The risks and
opportunities afforded to children by ‘the internet’ are far from simple or
universal, and they are too little understood especially in the global South
and in relation to emerging digital technologies. To ground this research
enterprise, internet governance organisations should ensure that important
information about children’s internet access and use is collected so that it
is known how many children use the internet and which inequalities or other
problems exist. From http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/
11/04/2015 From
the Digital Divide to Digital Citizenship While much of the current discussion (as with the previous round
of these discussions in the early 2000’s) is concerned with how to ensure
that the widest possible numbers of people have some form of physical access
to the Internet, now as then, there is rather less concern with whether that
newly provided “access” in any way enables the end user to effectively “use”
the Internet for anything other than the passive consumption of a specific
range of messages (with providers such as Facebook determining which messages
those might be). Not surprisingly after roughly two decades of more or less
intensive academic research on the subject the understanding of the DD is now
rather more nuanced and multi-layered than earlier with a strong recognition
of the connection between such factors as income, age, gender and location
and the ability to (or even interest in) “accessing the Internet and thus
presumably “bridging the digital divide”. As well there is an emerging
understanding that the DD as such is a “moving target” in that there will
always be new technologies, improvements in quality and quantity of
opportunities for use and so on; and as such, responses to the DD should
probably be seen more as a necessarily continuous process than a discreet and
one off set of measures or interventions or technology installations. But given the continuing concern for the DD in a rapidly
evolving technology landscape and a somewhat more slowly, but also evolving
policy environment, it is perhaps timely to shift the focus and turn the
issue around. When the DD discussion was first introduced the challenge was
focused on how to ensure that the widest possible numbers of individuals were
able to access the Internet so as to take advantage of the opportunities
which were just beginning to emerge. By now, almost twenty years after the
initial discussions in these areas, many of those opportunities are quite
visible and in fact have been turned into the stuff of economic, social,
political and administrative life in modern societies and including in both
Developed and large sections of Less Developed countries. These applications,
programs, and activities on and through the Internet have become in many
cases completely intertwined to the point of being inextricably at the very
core of economic life (e-commerce); of communications and
inter-communications and social interaction with friends and family and
seamlessly with strangers as well; of political life through on-line
activism, information seeking, advocacy and the range of the day to day
activities that constitute political life in modern society; and of life as
in the context of administrative governance through e-government and on-line
form filling, registration, tax paying among others. What is evident from the above is how commonplace and necessary
has become access and use of the Internet for very very large proportions of
the population. It has become part of the very substance of their
participation as citizens, consumers, voters, social beings in the modern
digitally enabled world. Even those without such Internet access are
increasingly integrated into the seamless digital environment through the use
of the digital by those with whom they do have regular contact whether
through trade, cultural interactions or in the domestic/personal sphere. It is in this time increasingly
difficult to not be a part of the digital ecosystem in one respect or
another. Precisely this commonplaceness and necessity I think has had the
effect of changing what is the nature and response to those who are not
online or digitally enabled in modern society. No longer is it that they are
on the other side of some imagined “digital” divide (or abyss), rather they
are seen as no longer being members of the social, political and economic
community which frames the actions and opportunities of the rest of us—in
fact they are outcastes, aliens in the world that the rest of us live in and
from which we draw such great advantage. In the social and political world,
we recognize that having access to such collectively sustained and guaranteed
advantages (and rights) is that which is at the very core of being a citizen.
One element of the notion of “citizenship” is that it is an “automatic”
feature of being born into or being legally accepted within that political
jurisdiction, a notion which has considerable resonance both for those
currently being defined as “digital natives” or (for the older generation) as
“digital immigrants“. Another element of being a “citizen” is to have certain rights
(and obligations) in relation to a political entity (generally a State) while
the political entity in turn has certain rights and obligations in relation
to the individual as well. The
specific nature of these rights and obligations varies as between political
entities. It is also evolving over time initially including (primarily) the
right (and responsibility) of participating in the political governance, but
also evolving into civil (or civic) rights as for example having the
protection of the rule of law. Increasingly this is being extended into a
range of “social” rights as for example, those which have come to be
associated with the social contract and the range of social and public
services which may be available at a national level within this context. Thus
just as a “citizen” now has the right to the protection of the state, the
right to certain benefits (alongside certain obligations) and services, the
right to participate in the various modes of determining the practice and
outcome of governance, so in a digitally enabled citizenship these
protections, services, rights to participate would extend into the ubiquitous
digital sphere as well. In this then, not only would the right to digitally
enabled services be an aspect of the overall right of citizens to services
but equally the right to have various of those services in a digitally
enabled format would equally be ensured. To a degree, talking of the “digital citizen” is simply a
re-casting of what is already widely accepted in those societies with the
widespread use of the digital as the basis for public (and other service)
delivery. However, by talking of the “digital citizen” and the rights of the
citizen to the full advantages of the digital sphere one shifts the
discussion concerning for the example the Digital Divide from one of ad hoc
initiatives and voluntaristic programs to becoming an obligatory element in
the activities of the modern state. In this of course, it simply reflects the
emergent significance of the digital sphere in relation to the activities of
the state. It is also a necessary corollary of those jurisdictions such as
where digital actions have become a necessary element for active
participation in civic life or even as is the case in several jurisdictions
where Internet rights (or the Right to the Internet) has become enshrined in
the Constitution. In this approach I am going somewhat beyond and outside the
current discussions on “digital citizenship” (as for example presented Karen
Mossberger and her colleagues or the “civics” education oriented
“digitalcitizenship.net“) which focus rather on defining the nature of
citizenship in a digital age. Their concerns, as important as they are, focus
on how conventional citizenship is supplemented and enabled by the digital.
The approach I am suggesting here is one which is based on the notion that
the digital, in transforming other aspects of conventional life, is also
transforming our civic life. Thus “digital citizenship” is a newer and
evolved form of citizenship and moreover one which is necessary to and
appropriate in the digital age/the Information Society. This new form of
citizenship has multiple aspects but for our purposes the two most salient elements
are that with this new form of citizenship goes certain rights – at a minimum
to be able to have access to and to effectively exercise citizenship rights
in a digital age; and on the part of the State the obligation to ensure that
the citizen is in a position to exercise their digital citizenship in an
appropriate and effective way. Precisely what might be implied by this remains to be teased out
but certainly it includes the universal right to Internet access and at a
speed and quality sufficient to be an active and effective citizen, equally
it implies sufficient digital (and other) literacy to make effective use of
this access in support of effective digital citizenship and it includes the
assurance of technology designed and linked directly to legal and rights
based structures of anti-discrimination associated with disability, age,
ethnicity, language and so on so as to ensure that there is no discrimination
in the opportunity for use. In this framework rather, we can look forward to
a society where rather than a series of unbridgeable “Digital Divides” with
digital “have’s” and “have not’s” the response to which is voluntary and ad
hoc, we have “digital citizens” with certain rights guaranteed by the
digitally enabled State to ensure digital access and the, training and other
pre-requisites sufficient to ensure the opportunity to exercise those rights.
(I have recently presented what I think might be an initial program in
support of effective digital citizenship From https://gurstein.wordpress.com/ 11/10/2015 CHINA:
Government Transparency Aided by the Internet, Report Says The Internet has contributed significantly to making the work of
governmental departments more transparent over the past five years, a report
released today by the China Internet Network Information Center said. The
government turned to the Web to disclose information in a big way from 2011
to 2014, with many departments creating official accounts on social media,
including the popular WeChat messaging app and Weibo micro blogs, the report
said. The report, which reviewed Internet developments and the industry's
influence over the past five years, said the number of government WeChat
accounts now exceeds 100,000 and the number of government micro-bloggers has
reached about 280,000. Additionally, 96 percent of governmental departments
have provided residents with online services, improving work efficiency and
offering more public convenience, the report said. Departments also started
publicizing policies, laws and rules on the Internet and soliciting public
opinion. By the end of 2014, they had reported receiving more than 120,000
responses, it said.
From http://www.news.cn/
10/29/2015 JAPAN:
Nearly 90% of People Worried About Cyberattacks, Survey Finds A government survey published Saturday showed that nearly 90
percent of respondents are concerned about possible cyberattacks on Japanese
companies and government bodies. In the poll, conducted by the Cabinet Office
in July, 85.7 percent voiced such concern, while 6.8 percent did not. The
survey also showed that 93.2 percent expected Internet crimes to continue
increasing, with 56.4 percent concerned about using the Internet — up 11
percentage points from the preceding Cabinet Office survey in 2007. In
multiple-answer questions to those who showed concern about cyberattacks,
80.7 percent pointed to the possibility of data leakage through virus
infection, while 65.2 percent were alarmed by national security threats due
to leakage of diplomatic or defense secrets. Loss of international
competitiveness through stealth of advanced technology was mentioned by 53.8
percent. In one of the latest incidents of data leakage due to a cyberattack,
the semigovernmental Japan Pension Service lost data in May on about 1
million people, including their pension numbers, names, birth dates and
addresses. A National Police Agency official said the Cabinet Office survey
reflected increasing anxiety among people about cyberattacks. The survey was
the third of its kind conducted by the Cabinet Office, with a 2004 poll being
the first. The latest poll carried out from July 2-12 drew valid responses
from 57.4 percent of 3,000 adults around the nation. From http://www.japantimes.co.jp 08/30/2015 SINGAPORE:
The Secret Behind Data Centre Success AT just 718.3 sq km with a modest population of a little over
five million, Singapore is just a drop in the ocean when compared with its
sizeable neighbours. Yet the ‘little red dot’ has been anything but meek in
the data centre industry, accounting for over 60% of the region’s market and
leading South-East Asia as a hub, according to a report from
DataCenterDynamics. This is quite a feat, especially given the limited
availability of space and the novelty of the Singapore data centre scene.
Just a few years ago, the data centre industry in Singapore was a vastly
different one. With just a few players, the field was largely bare and open.
Recently, with the demand for cloud services escalating, the momentum has
certainly picked up as more multinational corporations are choosing to set up
operations here. So what has Singapore done right in attaining pole position
as a data centre hub in South-East Asia? The success of a data centre can be
attributed to three main factors: Space, power and interconnectivity. Space As a small dot on the global map, it should come as no surprise
that Singapore does not have much spatial capacity to spare. Given the
limited space availability, looking towards new technologies that allow for
minimal use of land without any compromise on efficiency has become
pertinent. To that end, the Singapore Government has been pushing for ‘Green
IT,’ allocating extensive resources to fund R&D (research and
development) initiatives to boost green and efficient data centre operations.
Apart from the environmental benefits and cost reductions, the widespread
proponent for Green IT has been to optimise not only horizontal, but vertical
space utilisation as well. Many of Singapore’s data centres are housed across
multiple floors. Much like HDB (Housing Development Board) designs, we
optimise rack space by stacking multiple layers, allowing the same space to
cater to larger data storage needs. Having more storage space in a single
data centre facility also makes it easier for data centre operators to better
manage overall power efficiency. Power A reliable power supply is essential to ensure constant uptime
and efficiency of data centres. The stable availability of power ensures that
less redundancy is needed to be built in. Singapore’s sound infrastructure
makes it easier for companies to build power infrastructure and gridlines to
support the dissemination, allocation, and re-allocation of power. The
Government continues to raise the bar in data centre quality through
eco-friendly initiatives and regulations placed on the way data centres are
managed. The implementation of the Building and Construction
Authority-Infocomm Development Authority (BCA-IDA) Green Mark Scheme for Data
Centres serves as good measure to increase the environmental efficiency of
Singapore’s data centres. The scheme assesses data centres in Singapore based
on five key criteria: Energy efficiency, water efficiency, sustainable
construction and management, and indoor environment quality, as well as other
green features. It is important for data centres to implement sustainable
technologies to ensure that power is not only utilised and conserved
efficiently, but renewed as well. Cooling is essential in for data centres,
and the efficient use of water, especially in Singapore, is high on the
energy efficiency agenda. Data centres are known for high energy consumption,
but sustainable technologies and guidelines from the Singapore Government is
making it easier to ‘green’ local data centres. Interconnectivity The establishment of submarine cable systems has proven to be a
pivotal factor in determining Singapore’s pole position in the data centre
landscape. The island-republic boasts 15 submarine cable systems that are
able to provide high bandwidth capacity. This is especially important to
financial businesses that require a network-rich infrastructure that ensures
security. Furthermore, the presence of submarine cables offers customers
scalable, low-cost and low-latency connectivity – a desirable advantage for
multinational companies and startups with global expansion plans. As such, a
multitude of companies are not just flocking to Singapore but choosing to
headquarter their businesses here. This in turn has given rise to several
financial clusters springing up in Singapore, which further propels the need
for efficient cloud services. The presence of these vibrant business hubs in
itself is an asset for companies to tap into. The heightened digital traffic
that passes through Singapore’s data centres allows for an interconnected
ecosystem where enterprises and business partners can not only network but
also enjoy world-class cloud services. Uniquely Singapore Space, power and interconnectivity aside, the local government
has a large role to play in the quick ascent of Singapore’s data centre
industry. Firstly, the Singapore Government is one that is stable and open
with its licensing policies. This is in contrast to some other countries
within the Asia Pacific region, where companies may face challenges in
gaining approval to set up their headquarters. This alone is an attractive
factor that places Singapore ahead of its neighbours. Secondly, the
Government has relentlessly taken on initiatives to further boost Singapore’s
presence on the global data centre map. The Infocomm Development Authority of
Singapore (IDA) recently announced its plans to establish a data centre park
(DCP) aimed at housing at least half a dozen new data centres on the west
side of Singapore. With new policies being implemented, it comes as no
surprise that Singapore holds reigning pole position as the country with the
highest total data centre capacity. Singapore’s close proximity to
substantial markets such as Australia, South Korea and Japan is yet another
factor that has spurred the rapid development of data centres in the small
island. Its geographically convenient location positions it centrally within
the mature Asia Pacific market, a region that has been consistently growing,
with the public cloud services market forecast to hit US$7.4 billion in 2015,
according to Gartner. Ever-growing industry Not all data centres are built equal. As such, some will
certainly reign more successful than others. The keys to their success?
Interconnectivity, carrier density and operational excellence. This winning
combination, alongside Singapore’s swift rise as a financial and business
hub, will further cement the Lion City’s status as a leader in the data
centre landscape, not just regionally but also globally. From https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 11/19/2015 INDIA: 5
Technologies for Smart Cities
Nowadays,
technology is fast transforming the way government departments function,
adding efficiency, flexibility and transparency to the process. It is also
enabling governments to respond faster to issues and improve government
services to public, along with reducing operating costs. According to
Gartner, the Indian Government spent approximately USD 6.6bn in 2014 and it
will increase its IT spend by five per cent in 2015. M2M
becomes even more significant and important in the context of Smart Cities
considering the burgeoning urban population and their strain on natural
resources such as water, electricity, fuel, etc. According to a report by
Booz and Company, every minute, 20 Indians move into cities. India’s urban
population will increase by 140 million in 10 years and 700 million in four
decades, straining natural resources and increasing the need for more
environment-friendly technologies like smart meters, sensors and recycling
plants, all enabled by M2M technology. Data Security: IoT is the
backbone of Smart Cities. However, without a robust security and privacy
infrastructure, there can be no practical and safe application of IoT within
a Smart City. Access and control standards for ICT networks within the Smart
City are imperative for both data and human security, the lack of which can
cause serious threats and vulnerabilities to all who live and operate in such
cities. For instance, an Air Traffic Control (ATC) system in a Smart City is
a completely automated system that manages air traffic at major international
and domestic airports and controls the transport of thousands of lives and
belongings on a daily basis. Imagine this sophisticated network of sensors,
monitors and other IT systems in the ATC being attacked by cyber criminals,
who hack and manipulate the system to perpetuate a terrorist attack resulting
in large-scale loss of life. India is
now waking up to the importance of IT and cyber security, although it would
be a critical success factor in the management and future of our Smart
Cities. Building a more conducive security environment will have to be
two-fold, with more stringent government regulations for data protection and
security, on one hand, and a developed security services industry with the
ability to manage advanced targeted cyber security threats and attacks, on
the other. New Storage Technologies: As Smart Cities grow, the amount of
information gathered and stored for analysis and record will grow
tremendously. Moreover, the data gathered will be required for analysis and
leveraging big data analytics and for the enhancement and better
administration of the Smart City through improved decision-making. New
storage technologies, such as flash, high-capacity drives, software-defined
storage and Cloud infrastructures, etc., will only grow to serve IoT
deployments needed in Smart Cities. Prompted by the requirement of high
availability of data and reliability of storage and datacentre systems, these
advanced storage technologies will be expected to greatly enhance the
productivity and efficiency of Smart Cities and to help manage growth in data
volume without large spends. Software-defined storage solutions can increase
automation in smart plants and factories and reduce management time and
costs. Technologies
for Renewable Energy: Solar, wind, electric mobility, biogas and other
alternatives will greatly shape the success of India’s Smart City
infrastructure. Smart cities require large amounts of energy supply that can
only be achieved through recycling, effective management and new sources of
energy. According to the India Renewable Energy Status Report 2014, From http://egov.eletsonline.com/ 10/21/2015 AZERBAIJAN:
E-government Switches to Cloud Technology Azerbaijani electronic government portal will now be available
on the cloud, according to Deputy Minister of Communications and High
Technologies Elmir Velizade. Velizade says Azerbaijan's main efforts are now
focused on the use of modern technology so that the ICT sector could
contribute to the development of the country in a short period. “This sector
is known to be a priority in Azerbaijan, and serious attention is given to
it. For us, it is encouraging that in the framework of the first European
Games, we were also able to demonstrate the potential of Azerbaijan in the
field of ICT. It is equally important that a large role in this issue played
Azerbaijani experts. However, of course, we need to look to the future, and
today there is a need in the application of new solutions in many areas. In
particular, today the country has successfully implemented the project of
e-Government. For us it is very important to transfer the implementation of the
solution into the cloud platform,” said Velizade. The deputy minister said that the demand for professionals in
this regard is that they are mastering the latest technology, trying to apply
them to Azerbaijan. The main objective of the application of cloud technology
is to reduce costs, improve the quality of services to citizens and
information security. The e-gov portal is a key tool for supporting citizens,
businesses and private sectors of the country. It aims to reduce the number
of documents requested from citizens because different government bodies
interact with each other electronically. Access to the portal is carried out
using a digital signature, the identity data of the private entrepreneurs and
citizens, verification data, as well as a mobile authentication system, which
can be obtained after registration on the portal. The portal, launched in
Azerbaijan in 2013, now offers about 400 e-services through 45 government
agencies. Over one million citizens are active users of e-services in state agencies.
Moreover, the e-government portal allows for the provision of e-services to
citizens of foreign countries. All services provided by Azerbaijani
government agencies are expected to be online by 2020. Soon, the e-gov portal will also be available in a mobile
version, which is essential for a country whereby mobile phone penetration
stands at 112 percent. The portal will also receive a function for convenient
online payments via the Automated Payment Utility Service. The objectives of
the project are to increase the use of non-cash payments, simplifying the
process of budget payments, and the integration of e-government projects with
the infrastructure of the national payment system. Moreover, subscribers of
fixed and mobile communications in the near future will be able to receive
statements of their expenses for telecommunications services through the
portal. In addition, a service for issuing certificates for central credit
register will be available soon. From http://www.azernews.az/ 10/13/2015 U.S.:
White House Issues Governmentwide Cyber Action Plan The White House on Friday issued a broad new plan designed to
better respond to cybersecurity incidents such as those that exposed secrets
on millions of citizens as well as government operations. The new guidance,
which aims to protect the most high-value information assets the federal
government holds, is the latest step in the months-long fallout from the
devastating hack of sensitive federal employee files from the Office of
Personnel Management revealed this summer. “We must continue to double down
on this administration’s broad strategy to enhance federal cybersecurity and
fundamentally overhaul information security practices, policies, and
governance,” said federal Chief Information Officer Tony Scott in an Office
of Management and Budget blog post Friday. The new plan -- a memorandum to
the heads of federal agencies and departments from Scott and OMB Director
Shaun Donovan -- builds on a 30-day “cybersecurity sprint” this summer, during
which Scott’s office called on agencies to immediately tighten online
defenses in the wake of the OPM breach. Agency deputy secretaries will be in
charge of implementing the plan, according to the document. The plan lays out an initial set of deadlines. By the end of the
year, - OMB will issue new “incident response best practices” to
agencies; - The Department of Homeland Security will extend the
protections under its intrusion-detection system known as EINSTEIN. A new DHS
contract will equip all agencies with updated “EINSTEIN 3A” email and network
surveillance technology that also blocks certain malicious activities; - Agencies will be required to report all cyber positions to OPM
and a group of agency CIOs will create a special subcommittee focused on rapid
deployment of emerging technology. During the cyber sprint, agencies were directed to identify and
review the security of their high-value assets -- those containing sensitive
or critical data that, presumably, would be of high-value to hackers, too. By
Dec. 31, the director of national intelligence will lead a threat assessment
of those assets “that are at high-risk of targeting by adversaries,”
according to the plan. DHS will lead a separate team -- made up of personnel
from the Pentagon, the intelligence community and others -- to “continuously
diagnose and mitigate the cybersecurity protections” for the high-value
assets. The DHS team will continue to conduct “proactive assessments on a
rolling basis” as officials identify new threats, the plan stated. Longer-term deadlines include: - By Jan. 31, OMB will release a plan for implementing new
cybersecurity shared services; - By March 31, OMB will release new guidance on safeguarding
personally identifiable information; - By the end of April, GSA will finalize a contract vehicle for
pre-vetted services for incident response services that can quickly be
leveraged by agencies in the wake of a breach; - By June 30, the National Institute of Standards and Technology
will issue new guidance to agencies on recovering from cyber events. DHS is also expected to expand a suite of tools to help agencies
continuously monitor and respond to threats on their networks. Full
deployment of “Phase 2” capabilities under the Continuous Diagnostics and
Mitigation program -- dealing with access control and authentication --
should be completed by the end of fiscal 2016. In addition, the action plan
itself pushes agencies to implement stronger identity management for users
seeking wide access to federal networks. The percentage of federal employees
required to use a smart card in addition to a password to log on to computer
networks increased from about 42 percent to more than 72 percent during the
cyber sprint, OMB said at the time. That’s continued to grow and is now about
80 percent, according to Scott. Thanks to the cyber sprint and other action
taken by the administration, the state of federal cybersecurity “is stronger
than ever before,” Scott said in the blog post. But Scott, who has frequently described the federal government’s
cybersecurity challenges as more akin to a marathon than a sprint, also
hinted at deep challenges that remain. “Cyberthreats cannot be eliminated
entirely, but they can be managed much more effectively,” he said. Agencies
sometimes neglect to patch security holes identified half a decade ago, and
struggle to take inventory of information and devices connected to the
Internet, according to numerous Government Accountability Office reports.
“Across the federal government, a broad surface area of legacy systems with
thousands of different hardware and software configurations contains
vulnerabilities and opportunities for exploitation,” Scott said in the blog
post. The new plan, he added, “helps get our current federal house in
order, but it does not re-architect the house.” Scott and OMB Director Shaun
Donovan also issued updated guidance under the annual Federal Information
Security Management Act. This year’s guidance, for the first time, defines a
“major” cyberincident and mandates agencies report these incidents to
Congress within seven days. The new cyber action plan comes a week after
Scott’s office proposed a broad rewrite of the federal government’s strategy
for buying, managing and securing agency IT systems, known as Circular A-130.
Over the summer, the administration also issued updated guidance on how
contractors should secure government data. From http://www.nextgov.com/
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AFRICA:
The Sweet and Sour Bits from the East African Internet Freedom Report; Where
Kenya, Rwanda Lead and Burundi Trails THE JUST released “State of Internet Freedom in East Africa
2015” survey, by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and
Southern Africa (CIPESA), has some brilliant data on ICT in East Africa. The
research mostly covers developments in the period between May 2014 and August
2015 and includes; Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda. One key
finding, though not too surprising, was that internet access continues to
rise, with penetration in Kenya standing at 69% of the population, Uganda
20%, Rwanda 31% and Tanzania 22%. The mobile phone access rate in Kenya
stands at 84%, Rwanda 74%, Uganda 62%, Tanzania 71%, and Burundi 31%. M&G Africa extracted some of the
juiciest pieces of information, key to understanding ICT development in the
region: Regional round-up Kenya There are 29.6 million internet users in Kenya, representing a
69% penetration rate, while mobile penetration stands at 84%. In 2014, the
Kenya government launched the National Optic Fiber Backbone which has now
connected 57 towns in 35 counties. Rwanda There are 3.5 million internet users in Rwanda. Mobile telephone
subscriptions stood at 74% in July 2015. The Rwanda Universal Access Fund
(UAF), financed by a 2% contribution from the annual turnover of licensed
telecommunications operators, aims to accelerate the use of ICT. In November
2014, Rwanda rolled out the Fourth Generation (4G) broadband network in
partnership with a South Korean telecom company, Korea Telecom. The
high-speed wireless broadband technology builds on more than 3,000 kilometres
of fiber optic cable that is rolled out countrywide. The 2015 Alliance for
Affordable Internet report, ranked Rwanda as the top developing country with
the most affordable internet. Burundi Burundi has the lowest ICT access figures among the five members
of the East African Community. As of June 2014, the industry regulator known
as L’Agence de Régulation et de Contrôle des Télécommunications (ARCT)
reported 3.2 million mobile phone subscribers. This represented a 31% mobile
penetration rate amongst the country’s population of 10 million. Burundi’s
internet penetration as of 31 December 2014 was estimated to stand at 4.9%. Tanzania The government of Tanzania is working towards building
nationwide high-speed data connections through construction of optical fibre
cable all over the country. This, coupled with increasingly affordable smart
phones, has enabled internet use to increase at a fast rate. Internet
penetration rose from 3.5 million users in 2008 to 11.3 million users in
2014. There are 34 million fixed and mobile telephone subscriptions for the
country’s population of 49 million which represents a tele-density of 71% Uganda There are 11.9 million internet users in Uganda, implying a 34%
penetration rate. Telephone penetration stands at 62%. The entry of Vodafone
into the sector in the first half of 2015 brought the total number of voice
operators to seven. Through the national broadband Initiative, government has
laid a total of 1,400 kms of fibre optic cable connecting major towns and
government agencies. Most regularly used communication technologies Findings show that the most frequently used communication
technology means was voice over mobile and landline, 77% of respondents use
it daily. SMS came in second with 69% of respondents using it daily. Email,
and the instant messaging application “WhatsApp”, were used daily by 64% and
57% of respondents, respectively. About 30% of respondents did not use the
social networking platforms Twitter and Google Plus, and a similar percentage
did not blog or use Viber. Cyber Crime The survey showed that instances of cybercrime such as cyber
fraud, identity theft, website hacking, and online violence against women
(including revenge porn) also seem to be on the rise - this provides
governments a duty to protect citizens, private businesses and state
interests. One country stepping up in this field in Rwanda. In March 2015,
Rwanda approved the National Cyber Security Policy aimed at safeguarding data
from cyber attacks, and the Rwanda National Police has set up a Cybercrime
and Digital Forensics unit and in April 2015, the ICT ministry launched the
“Stay Safe Online” campaign aimed at raising public and organisational
awareness on the current cyber security threats and ways of preventing them.
When rating knowledge of privacy and security the levels were low with only
10% of the respondents indicating they had excellent knowledge. Almost an
equal number (11%) had no knowledge at all, while 61% of those surveyed had
between good and workable knowledge. When looking at country data, none of the Burundi respondents
had excellent knowledge although officials working for the media development
authorities were the majority among the 40% who indicated they had a good
level of knowledge. In Kenya, of the 20% of respondents who did not have any
knowledge, the majority were from the media. As seen above, at country level the use of tools and
technologies, intended to protect privacy and security online, was lowest in
Rwanda and highest in Uganda. Governments enact laws infringing on internet freedom The survey noted that as the number of internet users grows, so
did the content questioning governments’ democratic and transparency
credentials - this meant a knock on effect with governments enacting laws
that threaten the right to freedom of expression, both online and offline. Uganda enacted its Interception of Communications Law in 2010,
Rwanda in 2013, while 2013 amendments to Burundi’s Code of Criminal Procedure
provides for interception of communications as does Kenya’s 2012 National
Security Services Act. More recently, Tanzania passed a Cybercrimes Act that
leaves the door open for trampling internet rights, after ignoring civil
society protests about the shortcomings of that law. The country also enacted
a statistics law that drew civil society criticism for limiting citizens’
access to information. In Kenya, the government justified amendments to the
security law, which restricts civic space and gives state agencies more
powers over citizens’ digital communications, arguing that the country was at
war with Somalia’s Al Shabaab militia and needed decisive measures to fight
terrorism. The country also passed a Cybercrime and Computer related Crimes
Bill (2014) which threatens free speech. From http://mgafrica.com/
10/04/2015 EUROPE:
EC Opens Consultation on Egovernment Plans The European Commission announced the start a public
consultation on the new eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020, one of the actions
for completing the Digital Single Market. The stated aim of the plan is to
address the needs, requirements and expectations of European citizens and
businesses with respect to the delivery of effective, efficient and
user-friendly government services in the EU. Responses are sought from
individual citizens, businesses or private organisations, as well as from
public administrative bodies at all levels (international, EU-wide, national,
regional and/or local). The consultation runs until 22 January 2016 and the
EC said the collected views will help define the scope and vision of the new
plan, including the cross-border interoperability of government services as
well as its overall organisation given the rapid change in digital
technologies and society. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 11/04/2015 FRANCE:
Crowdsourcing New Digital Law Democracy in France is entering a new phase, with the first
public online consultation of a new digital law. Over a three week
consultation period this autumn, more than 20,000 citizens and organisations
went online to vote and comment on the text of the new digital law. Its aim
is to promote open data, safeguard net neutrality and ensure internet access
to all citizens. But will the comments be taken on board? E-government champion France was ranked 4th in the United Nations E-Government Survey
2014. In the wake of such positioning, choosing regulation for the digital
world of online consultation to help legislate on the matter made sense. It
could potentially help patch “the huge disconnect between how the policy-makers
are thinking and the practical way it affects businesses on a day to day
basis,” says Clara Maguire, chief operating officer of the London-based
business networking company We Are PopUp. She believes that regulation of the
digital world must be participatory and have rapid feedback mechanisms to
keep up with “a tech and innovation process that’s moving through iterative
and rapid cycles.” The advantage of performing a broad consultation reaching
out to a wide variety of stakeholders also helps in avoiding to adopt a blunt
top-down approach to regulation. For example, in the digital world,
regulation targeting tech giants, such as the web-based private taxi company
Uber, could inadvertently end up stifling innovation from smaller companies
caught in the regulatory crossfire. This open consultation of the French law
is a significant test of the democratic process, according to Gilles Babinet,
CEO of data aggregation company Captain Dash and EU Digital Champion for
France. “This could affect the constitution of our country. If it [public
consultation] works, it could become mandatory,” he says, “Parliament would
have a lesser important say.” Engagement level He believes that the level of participation towards developing
the new digital law is encouraging. “Digital laws are normally very technical
and therefore it wasn’t obvious that it would be a success,” says Babinet,
“but I can see it has worked and plenty of people replied and left comments.”
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However, some independent observers of the digital sector are not so enthused
about participation levels. 20,000 participants is a good start but it is
“nothing when you consider the tens of thousands of stakeholders active in
France,” says Christophe Deshayes, author of two books on the digital
revolution and on how to find happiness in the 2.0 era. Without a certain
amount of expertise in the subject area, Deshayes believes that citizens
could find participation difficult. This bottom-up participation in law
making is new in France but has been tested elsewhere. Switzerland’s
semi-direct democratic model has been engaging citizens for years in relation
to regulatory decisions through referendums. And the EU has various methods
of public consultation via the online portal Your Voice in Europe. By
contrast, since 1994, South Africa has systematically made all its new draft
bills available for consultation, prior to discussion by policy makers–the
issue of adequate level of engagement has, however, been raised in the
country. Next steps Babinet and Deshayes note, that this type of online
participation is a good start in promoting citizen engagement in lawmaking.
“We need to find the triggers to create engagement,” says Babinet, “It’s an
aspect of government in the future to go and fetch the voters in the right
manner, to involve people.” The digital law under debate itself will help lay
the foundations for future digital engagement of citizens by improving rates
of internet access and digital literacy in the French population. The
open-source method of inviting public consultation on the text is certainly
in keeping with the content of the digital law, which advocates a move to
open access to data and use of open-source software. The government is
currently compiling the 147,710 votes and 8,501 comments from the online
consultation, “a huge job” according to Babinet. The top contributors will
then be invited to present their ideas to Axelle Lemaire, secretary of state
for digital matters. It remains to be seen how many, if any, proposed changes
will be taken on board for the final text of the law. As Maguire points out
“it really depends if it’s a legitimate attempt to engage. That will be
judged by what follow up consultation they do and where in the process they
really were before opening consultation.” From http://www.euroscientist.com/ 11/19/2015 SLOVAKIA:
Parliament Passes Amendment on Egovernment THE SLOVAK PARLIAMENT passed a legislative amendment on
eGovernment on September 23. The bill was submitted by the Finance Ministry
and leads to significant changes
in three areas. The first change to be introduced by the so-called electronic
government bill concerns the conditions and methods of identification and
authentication of individuals via computer. The draft bill has been aimed at
making the legal norm more precise and to supplement it so that the rules of
identification and authentication are applied exclusively to public
administration, and thus prevent any contradictions in interpreting it, for
example for use in internal communication between public administrative
bodies, the ministry explained, as quoted by the TASR newswire. The move will
result in the introduction of authentication certificates and a central
authorisation register, it added. The second change concerns payments to
public administration bodies which it should make easier; for example, by
scrapping the accounting and pairing of payments. Changes are also going to
be made with respect to registers. Source registers will undergo a change,
while data referencing will also be amended. Legislators also accepted an amending proposal drawn up by MP
Róbert Madej of the ruling Smer party regarding discounts (of 50 percent) on
fees for judicial administration when these are processed electronically.
This aims to increase electronization (the process of moving from paper-based
to digital systems) in Slovakia, with every ordinary citizen attracted to
submit electronic applications by being offered a discount, according to
Madej. The deputy added that many companies like banks, building societies
and non-banking financial institutions do not require such a discount because
they are bulk-buying claims and bulk-reclaiming them in the courts, often in
an unsubstantiated, unlawful and bullying manner. To prevent this, every
petitioner will have the right to submit five claims a year to a particular
court with a 50-percent discount. From http://spectator.sme.sk/
09/29/2015 Turkey
Bans Reddit Under Internet Censorship Law The Turkish government has officially blocked Reddit in the
country. Reports of the website being inaccessible first started coming in
earlier today, and the status remains unchanged. Turkey's Telecom Authority
(TIB) officially confirmed the ban with a vague statement, dated November 13,
saying, "After technical analysis and legal consideration based on the
Law Nr. 5651, ADMINISTRATION MEASURE has been taken for this website
(reddit.com) according to Decision Nr. 490.05.01.2015.-252804 dated
13/11/2015 of the Presidency of Telecommunication and Communication" The ban has been imposed under the country's Internet Act,
officially named Internet Law Number 5651, which allows TIB to ban online
content or entire websites for various reasons, including pornography, drugs,
terrorism, prostitution and even "crimes against Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk", Turkey's first president. This law was introduced in 2007, and
has been the focus of heated debate a number of times since, as it gives the
country's telecom department grounds to ban anything online, without needed
the court's authorisation. And they don't need to have evidence of wrongdoing
either, plain suspicion is enough. It's thereforeno surprise that, when the body's
censorship power was expanded last year, it resulted in protests and riots in
Turkey and Ankara. Reddit isn't even the first major website to face the
banhammer, YouTube was banned in April last year, after which the court
overturned the order, and Twitter as well. However, if you're in Turkey,
there's a way to circumvent the problem. Reddit users are confirming that the
ban has been implemented on the DNS level, which is what translates a web
address into a navigable IP address. That means you can get around it with
simple DNS rerouting, like through Google's service here. From http://www.dnaindia.com/
11/16/2015 North
America: U.S. - White House Issues Governmentwide Cyber Action Plan The White House on Friday issued a broad new plan designed to
better respond to cybersecurity incidents such as those that exposed secrets
on millions of citizens as well as government operations. The new guidance,
which aims to protect the most high-value information assets the federal
government holds, is the latest step in the months-long fallout from the
devastating hack of sensitive federal employee files from the Office of
Personnel Management revealed this summer. “We must continue to double down
on this administration’s broad strategy to enhance federal cybersecurity and
fundamentally overhaul information security practices, policies, and
governance,” said federal Chief Information Officer Tony Scott in an Office
of Management and Budget blog post Friday. The new plan -- a memorandum to
the heads of federal agencies and departments from Scott and OMB Director
Shaun Donovan -- builds on a 30-day “cybersecurity sprint” this summer,
during which Scott’s office called on agencies to immediately tighten online
defenses in the wake of the OPM breach. Agency deputy secretaries will be in
charge of implementing the plan, according to the document. The plan lays out an initial set of deadlines. By the end of the
year, - OMB will issue new “incident response best practices” to
agencies; - The Department of Homeland Security will extend the
protections under its intrusion-detection system known as EINSTEIN. A new DHS
contract will equip all agencies with updated “EINSTEIN 3A” email and network
surveillance technology that also blocks certain malicious activities; - Agencies will be required to report all cyber positions to OPM
and a group of agency CIOs will create a special subcommittee focused on
rapid deployment of emerging technology. During the cyber sprint, agencies were directed to identify and
review the security of their high-value assets -- those containing sensitive
or critical data that, presumably, would be of high-value to hackers, too. By
Dec. 31, the director of national intelligence will lead a threat assessment
of those assets “that are at high-risk of targeting by adversaries,”
according to the plan. DHS will lead a separate team -- made up of personnel
from the Pentagon, the intelligence community and others -- to “continuously
diagnose and mitigate the cybersecurity protections” for the high-value
assets. The DHS team will continue to conduct “proactive assessments on a
rolling basis” as officials identify new threats, the plan stated. Longer-term deadlines include: - By Jan. 31, OMB will release a plan for implementing new
cybersecurity shared services; - By March 31, OMB will release new guidance on safeguarding
personally identifiable information; - By the end of April, GSA will finalize a contract vehicle for
pre-vetted services for incident response services that can quickly be
leveraged by agencies in the wake of a breach; - By June 30, the National Institute of Standards and Technology
will issue new guidance to agencies on recovering from cyber events. DHS is also expected to expand a suite of tools to help agencies
continuously monitor and respond to threats on their networks. Full
deployment of “Phase 2” capabilities under the Continuous Diagnostics and
Mitigation program -- dealing with access control and authentication -- should
be completed by the end of fiscal 2016. In addition, the action plan itself
pushes agencies to implement stronger identity management for users seeking
wide access to federal networks. The percentage of federal employees required
to use a smart card in addition to a password to log on to computer networks
increased from about 42 percent to more than 72 percent during the cyber
sprint, OMB said at the time. That’s continued to grow and is now about 80
percent, according to Scott. Thanks to the cyber sprint and other action
taken by the administration, the state of federal cybersecurity “is stronger
than ever before,” Scott said in the blog post. But Scott, who has frequently described the federal government’s
cybersecurity challenges as more akin to a marathon than a sprint, also
hinted at deep challenges that remain. “Cyberthreats cannot be eliminated
entirely, but they can be managed much more effectively,” he said. Agencies
sometimes neglect to patch security holes identified half a decade ago, and
struggle to take inventory of information and devices connected to the
Internet, according to numerous Government Accountability Office reports.
“Across the federal government, a broad surface area of legacy systems with
thousands of different hardware and software configurations contains
vulnerabilities and opportunities for exploitation,” Scott said in the blog
post. The new plan, he added, “helps get our current federal house in
order, but it does not re-architect the house.” Scott and OMB Director Shaun
Donovan also issued updated guidance under the annual Federal Information
Security Management Act. This year’s guidance, for the first time, defines a
“major” cyberincident and mandates agencies report these incidents to
Congress within seven days. The new cyber action plan comes a week after
Scott’s office proposed a broad rewrite of the federal government’s strategy
for buying, managing and securing agency IT systems, known as Circular A-130.
Over the summer, the administration also issued updated guidance on how
contractors should secure government data. From http://www.nextgov.com/
10/30/2015 Pentagon
Releases Cyber Acquisition Guidance The Defense Department's acquisition office has released
guidance for program managers to better address cybersecurity risk during the
acquisition process. In a memo preceding the guidance, dated Oct. 30,
officials said, "Program managers must assume that the system they
field, including their external interfaces, will be under cyberattack. To be
cost-effective, cybersecurity must be addressed early within acquisition and
be thoughtfully integrated with systems engineering, test and evaluation, and
other acquisition processes throughout the system life cycle." The
guidance is based on a handful of acquisition policies issued by the Pentagon
in the past 20 months. It includes tips for systems security engineering and
sample language for requests for proposals, among many other provisions. It
also lists a number of underlying principles, including continuously updating
data flows throughout a system's life cycle and using an "open-systems
approach" to implement security architectures that can counter emerging
threats. Defense officials and outside experts have long spoken of the need
to incorporate cybersecurity into acquisitions rather than patch
vulnerabilities after the fact. The new guidance is an attempt to do that.
Cybersecurity is also front and center in Better Buying Power 3.0, a broader
set of DOD guidelines aimed at reforming the acquisition system. From https://fcw.com/
11/06/2015 Internet
Freedom Based on the First Amendment Is Unattainable As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton gave a speech at the
National Press Club in which she stated, "New technologies do not take
sides in the struggle for freedom and progress, but the United States does.
We stand for a single Internet where all of humanity has equal access to
knowledge and ideas." With those words, the United States began a
campaign to establish global Internet freedom based on our First Amendment.
The intent was to ensure the greatest possible freedom for people all over
the world to take full advantage of the enormous expressive and associational
capabilities of the Internet. As laudable as that goal may be, it is also
fundamentally unattainable. Given all that is stake for both human rights and
the future of electronic communications, a more realistic approach to
Internet freedom is needed -- one that seeks global rules that can work
across legal jurisdictions and borders. While freedom of speech is nearly
universally recognized in modern democratic societies as an indisputable
right, the reality is that every society limits speech. The form these limits
take, from outright censorship to restrictions on defamation or obscenity, is
a reflection not only of the country's political system, but also of its
history and culture. It is for this reason that the United States cannot expect the
world to simply adopt our domestic First Amendment system. At the same time,
we cannot allow other countries to globalize their own content regulations,
which often privilege privacy, security, public order and morality over free
expression. The European approach to the 'right to be forgotten' laws shows
the danger of seeking to globalize a local information ordinance. Last year,
the European Court of Justice ruled that search engines had to delete search
results with links to personal information that was outdated, inadequate or
no longer relevant. For all of its good intentions, the ruling was a dark day
for free expression. It favored privacy over free speech and put
unprecedented judge-jury power in the hands of search engines. As a result, less information is
available to Internet users. At first this only affected Europe, and
suppressed information could still be accessed elsewhere. The approach of
applying restrictions only within a governed territory is similar to the way
in which China, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia restrict content. Unfortunately, European regulators were not content to keep
things within their own borders. Based on the theory that only a
globally-applied right to be forgotten can be effective, the French privacy
regulator recently ordered that any link targeted for deletion under Europe's
right to be forgotten regime must also be deleted globally. Google rightfully
has rejected that interpretation, and has successfully fought to push the
decision back to European courts. Rather than attempting to export its narrow
view of the right to be forgotten, Europe should recognize that countries
around the world face significantly different security, cultural and
political realities. And in doing so, regulators should rely on a principle
of comity for international expression. Comity is a live-and-let live
approach, holding that global restrictions should apply to only a very
limited set of concerns -- such as terrorist plotting, criminal activity, and
child pornography. Otherwise, rules governing Internet content should remain
local in scope. Of course, pushing Europe to take such an approach means the
U.S. itself must accept the principle of comity. American political leaders,
who often loudly object when other countries seek to impose their restrictive
policies on our Internet freedom, need to exhibit some international modesty.
Our current insistence on pushing First Amendment-based Internet governance
internationally is not only unrealistic, it will lead other nations to demand
we adopt their systems. Like a trade war, this is a game that everyone loses.
By adopting an approach that requires people to respect local speech laws
when in that jurisdiction, but not to seek to apply local content rules
globally, America can forcefully oppose the globalization of the right to be
forgotten -- along with other ill-conceived restrictions that are sure to
arise around the world. From http://www.infoworld.com/ 10/17/2015 Barbados
Endorses OECD's Global Standard for the Automatic Exchange of Information
(AEOI) Today, Barbados formally endorsed the AEOI global standard
during a signing ceremony held in Barbados. The event was held in conjunction
with a meeting of the OECD's Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of
Information for Tax Purposes that was also hosted in Barbados.
"Transparency and the exchange of tax information between governments
has long been a strength of Barbados and it is a cornerstone of our reputation
as a leading, low-tax financial centre", said Donville Inniss , Barbados
Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business
Development, and Vice Chair of the Steering Committee of the Organization For
Economic Cooperation And Development (OECD) Global Forum. "However,
today's signing, one that binds Barbados to the OECD's global standard for
the automatic exchange of information, is important because it reinforces our
commitment to transparency and to the full participation of Barbados within
discussions regarding international tax matters." In addition to the AEOI global standard, Barbados plans to sign
the OECD's multilateral competent authority agreement (MCAA) – a mechanism
which facilitates AEOI. Signatories to the MCAA have control over their
international relationships and apply their own standards on confidentiality
and data protection. "AEOI is an essential practice for Governments and
supporting this OECD initiative is now a minimum requirement of entry for jurisdictions
that wish to participate within the global economy. As a signatory to the
AEOI convention, Barbados once again reinforces its reputation – that of a
highly cooperative and well-regulated international financial centre,"
continued Minister Inniss. "In my role as Vice Chair of the OECD
Steering Committee, I will continue to help governments understand that some
offshore financial jurisdictions -those that embrace the creation of a
substantive businesses and ethical business structures – can, and do, provide
an enduring benefit to both domestic markets and the global economy". To facilitate economic development in both Barbados and host
countries, Barbados has a long-held strategy to negotiate fulsome double
taxation agreements and bilateral investment treaties. Such agreements
facilitate mutually beneficial international partnerships and provide
Barbados -based structures with a unique ability to go beyond the exchange of
tax information and actually stimulate international trade. A study conducted
in 2014 by Dr. Walid Hejazi , Professor of International Business, Rotman
School of Management, examined the unique economic relationship between From http://finance.yahoo.com/ 10/28/2015 Internet
Society Policy Briefs The documents below provide a concise Internet Society
perspective on critical Internet issues. Please follow the links to read more
on the different topics. Each policy brief is available both online and in a
PDF form. The documents are available in English now and will soon be
available in French and Spanish. Botnets The Internet and Human Rights Internet Governance Internet Interconnection IXPs Local Content Network Neutrality Open Internet Standards Privacy on the Internet The Challenge of Spam Botnets Botnets are a complex and continuously evolving challenge to
user confidence and security on the Internet. Combating botnets requires
cross-border and multidisciplinary collaboration, innovative technical
approaches, and the widespread deployment of mitigation measures that respect
the fundamental principles of the Internet. Read more... The Internet and Human Rights Internet-related government policy, corporate decisions, and
technical-development choices influence the extent to which the Internet
supports or challenges fundamental human rights. Championing trust, open
Internet principles, and dialog among stakeholders are critical ways to
promote the Internet’s role in supporting human rights. Read more... Internet Governance The term Internet governance refers to the processes that impact
how the Internet is managed. The historic and future success of the Internet
as an open and trusted platform for innovation and empowerment depends on a
decentralized, collaborative, and multistakeholder approach to Internet
governance. Read more... Internet Interconnection The success of the Internet depends on reliable, efficient, and
cost-effective interconnections among networks. Governments need to create
policy and regulatory environments that remove artificial barriers and foster
flexibility in interconnecting networks. Read more... Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) Internet exchange points (IXPs) can improve Internet quality and
affordability in local communities. IXPs help strengthen local Internet
connectivity, develop local Internet industry, improve competitiveness, and
serve as a hub for technical activity. Read more... Local Content Creation of and access to relevant local online content in
developing countries is an important driver for the adoption and growth of
the Internet in those regions. Well-functioning local connectivity,
government support of content development and training, and a clear legal
regulatory environment are critical for the growth of local content. Read
more... Network Neutrality Network neutrality is a complex and controversial topic and is
an important part of a free and open Internet. Enabling access, choice, and
transparency of Internet offerings empowers users to benefit from full access
to services, applications, and content available on the Internet. Read
more... Open Internet Standards Open Internet standards are a foundation of the Internet,
allowing anyone to set up a new online service and make it available to the
rest of the Internet without requiring permission from anyone else. Broad,
multistakeholder participation in Internet standards processes and
recognition of open standards by governmental and regulatory bodies are
important for the continued growth and evolution of the Internet. Read
more... Privacy on the Internet Privacy helps reinforce user trust of online services, yet
online privacy is under constant pressure of being undermined. Promoting
strong, technology-neutral data-privacy laws, privacy-by-design principles,
and ethical data-collection and handling principles is a key approach to
protecting and fostering online privacy. Read more... The Challenge of Spam The proliferation of spam email presents a harmful, costly, and
evolving threat to Internet users. Governments can help reduce the impact of
spam by deterring offenders via effective laws and enforcement measures,
multistakeholder antispam efforts, the adoption of best practices, and
citizen education about the dangers of spam. For more information about any
of these topics, please view our issues section. Please do check back periodically as
we intend to add more policy briefs in the future. From http://www.i-policy.org/
11/04/2015 ISOC:
Announcing the Internet Society 2016 Action Plan I am pleased that the Internet Society 2016 Action Plan has been
approved by our Board of Trustees at a meeting last weekend in Yokohama. The
2016 Plan is the result of discussions by the staff and the Board with
ongoing input from our Chapters and Members. After engaging, through
Community Forums, InterCommunity, regular Advisory and Community meetings and
on our ongoing digital channels and listening to the voices of ISOC, we
present, here, what we believe are the most urgent priorities facing the
Internet today. As you read through the plan, you will see that we believe we
must focus on two key areas: Connecting the unconnected – While there are 3
billion people online today, the digital divide is rapidly becoming an
opportunity divide. We are committed to bringing the benefits of the Internet
to the remaining unconnected 4 billion people around the world. Promoting and restoring trust in the Internet - In an era of
massive data breaches, the Snowden revelations and large-scale attacks, there
has been an erosion of trust in communication over the Internet. We need to
reverse this trend and collaboratively implement the technologies and
policies that will restore that necessary trust. Access to an open, trusted
Internet changes lives. We have seen this in the stories we’ve heard from our
many members and Chapters. The United Nations has recognized this and for the
first time acknowledged that the Internet access as a key part of
implementing the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We must seize
on this important development and intensify our efforts to ensure that the
Internet is for everyone, everywhere. There are forces, though, that have a different view of the
Internet’s future. The Internet has always been a global “network of
networks” - interconnected and reachable by all. But some entities would like
to fragment that Internet – to break it into separate regional, national or
corporate networks. Some would bring us back to an era of walled gardens
where access and content was controlled by specific gatekeepers. Some would
censor users, limit free expression and turn the Internet into a tool for
control rather than a tool for freedom. This is not the future that we want.
Our time now is a critical one. We have before us an urgent choice about the
kind of Internet we want to have – and through that choice the kind of global
society we want. I encourage you all to read our 2016 Action Plan and give us
your feedback. At the Internet Society, we are ready for the work ahead in
2016 and beyond. Help us with this important work; join with us to make these
goals a reality. We welcome new members of the Internet Society and look
forward to working with the many allies and partners who want an open,
global, trusted Internet for all. From http://www.internetsociety.org/ 11/09/2015 New
Standards in Personal Data Protection The issue of the transfer of personal data between the European
Union and the United States has long been a touchy subject. The 'Safe
Harbour' program has been widely criticized, and recent decisions of the EU
Court of Justice are set to introduce a new level of quality. Unfortunately,
the Court's decision also entails serious consequences, as explained by Jacek
Grabowski from Gemius' legal department. For nearly 15 years the 'Safe
Harbour' program has enabled the transfer of data between European and US
companies. In fact, it was a compromise which generated certain reservations
from the beginning. The EU Directive on the protection of personal data,
which came into force during the implementation of this program and is still
in place, forbids the transfer of data outside the EU unless the other side
guarantees equal or higher protection standards. 'Safe Harbour' guaranteed no
such protection. It was criticized primarily for its lack of effective mechanisms
for enforcing compliance with the rules of the program; its limited options
for individual complaint submissions and its dispute resolution mechanisms
were – from a European point of view – non-transparent. 'Safe Harbour' was
criticized by the European personal data protection authorities. The European
Commission has repeatedly tested the program and subtly advocated its
revision. The information revealed by Edward Snowden of the large-scale
surveillance conducted by US government agencies added fuel to the fire.
Emerging from the impasse required bold political decisions. The Commission
transferred responsibility to the national data protection authorities, who
were bound by the decision of the Commission. A ground-breaking challenge In early October, the EU Court of Justice cut the Gordian knot.
This was both a bold move and a painful and unfavourable business decision in
the short-term. It was stated that the national data protection authorities
are not bound by the decision of the European Commission. They are therefore
responsible for checking whether the regulations under which European data is
transferred outside the EU meet the determined standards. In this respect the
judgement strengthens the position of the data protection authorities (e.g.
GIODO in Poland) and even encourages the authorities to check whether foreign
companies which fall under their jurisdiction are acting in accordance with
the law. The CJEU went one step further and assessed that the data protection
rules laid down in the ' Practical implications The CJEU's decision can be approached from many angles and has
serious consequences for various stakeholders. In light of this judgment, the
General Regulation on the Protection of Personal Data is all the more
important; this should define coherent Europe-wide standards for the
protection of data and legal requirements for the processing of data. It is
worth noting, for example, that the definition of personal data in accordance
with this act can be fulfilled by a cookie identifier – it may be that every
company making overseas transfers of any information about a given cookie
identifier or a group of these IDs is covered by this regulation and all its
requirements. The most unpleasant effects will be experienced by companies
whose business activity involves the transmission of personal data between
the EU and the US, especially considering the kind of information we
recognise as personal data. Until there is a relevant international agreement
(such as the currently negotiated TTIP), companies must determine the
appropriate legal basis for data transfer and ensure that proper standards
for its protection are met. They will have to identify which data transfers
were carried out under the 'Safe Harbour' program and select the most
suitable alternative. In accordance with Polish law, the premise for legalizing such
transfers may be, for example, a contract between the data controller and a
given person, the individual consent of GIODO for a particular company (to
obtain this consent, the company will have to demonstrate that they have
provided adequate privacy protection standards), the introduction of binding
corporate rules (approved by GIODO) or standard contractual clauses approved
by the European Commission. Given that US companies are accustomed to
self-regulatory programs, in the longer term they may adopt the use of data
protection instruments, such as binding corporate rules or standard
contractual clauses. Terra incognita The CJEU judgement paves the way for inspections to be carried
out by the European personal data protection authorities. These authorities
may be of the opinion that no contractual obligations (standard contractual
clauses or binding corporate rules) will protect Europeans against mass
surveillance on the part of the United States. This surveillance may result
in decisions prohibiting particular companies from transferring data to the
US. In this sense, the legal risk of activities conducted by companies with
headquarters overseas is elevated. This may result in the improvement of data
protection standards, with companies ensuring the adequate and appropriate
supervision of their processing, but it can also be expected that some
European data protection authorities – despite having doubts – will make the
decision to allow transfers. At that point, the practical implications of the
CJEU judgement will only concern the procedure for determining the legal
basis for data transfer. At present it is hard to predict which scenario will
come to pass. The CJEU decision also has a political significance. It could
present a huge obstacle to the transmission of data, should the Americans not
choose to enhance their protection standards. The influence of the judgement
on negotiations under the TTIP agreement between the US and the EU could also
be considerable. The agreement, which is intended to standardize regulatory
norms, will also have to deal with the standardization of privacy rules on
both continents. We have set sail from the 'Safe Harbour' into uncharted
waters. Now anything is possible. From http://www.gemius.com/
11/10/2015 Have
Your Say in the Public Consultation on the Next Egovernment Action Plan 2016
- 2020 The Commission is consulting on the new eGovernment Action Plan
2016-2020, one of the actions for completing the Digital Single Market, as
announced in the Communication on a Digital Single Market Strategy for
Europe. The new eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 will address the needs,
requirements and expectations of European citizens and businesses with
respect to the delivery of effective, efficient and user-friendly government
services in the EU. This consultation seeks to gather views from individual
citizens, businesses or private organisations, and from national/
regional/local public administrations. Responses will be analysed together
with Member States and will help to define the new eGovernment Action Plan
2016-2020. The Commission will use your views and the collected data to
define the scope and vision of the new Plan, its actions, user involvement,
cross-border interoperability of government services, key enablers, as well
as the plan's organisation given the rapid change in digital technologies and
society itself which may require new policies and public services. Responses are sought from • Citizens • Businesses • Public administrative bodies at all levels (international,
EU-wide, national, regional and/or local) Duration 30 October 2015 – 22 January 2016 (12 weeks) Comments received after the closing date will not be considered. Transparency Please state in the questionnaire whether you are responding as
an individual or representing the views of an organisation. We ask responding
organisations to register in the Transparency Register. We publish the
submissions of non-registered organisations separately from those of
registered ones as the input of individuals. How to respond Respond online The questionnaire is available in English, French and German but
feel free to answer it in any EU language of your preference. You may pause
at any time and continue later. Once you have submitted your answers, you can
download a copy of your contribution. Only responses received through the
online questionnaire will be taken into account and included in the report
summarising the responses. Questionnaires sent by email or in paper format
will only be accepted from the visually impaired (EN, FR and DE word version
available below). Replies & feedback We shall publish a summary of the results of the consultation 1
month after the consultation closes. A synopsis report covering the substance
of the replies will follow within 3 months after the closure of the
consultation. Individual feedback is not envisaged; all information will be
processed in an aggregated and anonymised manner. Please read the Specific
Privacy Statement on how we deal with your personal data and contribution. Frequently Asked Questions Protection of personal data & privacy statement • Protection of personal data • Specific privacy statement Contact Write to us for any clarifications you may need. E-mail: CNECT-CONSULTATION-EGOV-ACTION-PLAN@ec.europa.eu Postal address: European Commission DG Communication Networks, Content & Technology Unit H3. Public Services Avenue de Beaulieu 25 3/30 B-1049 Brussels - Belgium From https://ec.europa.eu/
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CHINA: Issues
Plan to Promote "Three-network Convergence" China's State Council on Friday released a plan for promoting a
nationwide project to deliver telecoms, radio and television, and Internet
services over a single broadband connection. The "three-network
convergence" project is aimed at connecting IT infrastructures and
facilitating information sharing, according to the plan. "The project
can help upgrade consumption mode, overhaul industrial structure and improve
people's livelihood," said the document. From http://www.news.cn/
09/04/2015 China Issues
Guidelines on Big Data Promotion The State Council, China's cabinet, has issued guidelines to
boost the development of big data, an official statement said on Saturday.
The action framework for promoting big data, ratified by Premier Li Keqiang,
aims to forge a new model for social governance in the coming five to 10
years, highlighting accurate management and multi-dimensional cooperation. It
stipulates that a trans-departmental data sharing platform should be formed
by the end of 2017 and a unified platform for governmental data should be
established before the end of 2018, which allows citizens to get access to
public data resources including credit, transport, public health, employment,
culture, education, science, agriculture, finance and weather service. China
should accelerate the opening and sharing of government data to promote the
integration of resources and improve governance, boost industrial innovation
and foster new business patterns to support economic restructuring. To this end,
the government will set up an overall coordination mechanism for big data
development and application, speed up the establishment of relevant rules,
and encourage cooperation between the government, enterprises and
institutions, according to the statement. China aimed to cultivate a batch of
international competitive brands in big data industry, 10 world leading
enterprises and 500 firms focused on big data application, service and
manufacturing. From http://www.news.cn/
09/05/2015 China to
Accelerate Integration of Internet, Agriculture More will be done to promote the application of digital
technology in the agriculture sector to reinvigorate the rural economy, Vice
Premier Wang Yang said on Monday. The government should improve Internet
infrastructure and rural logistics in the countryside, nurture tech-savvy
farmers, and encourage big data in agriculture, Wang said during an
inspection in Beijing. He encouraged companies to explore sustainable
business models and take advantage of the Internet to improve supply,
techniques and services. China's cabinet unveiled its "Internet
Plus" action plan at the beginning of July, which aims to integrate
digital technology into traditional sectors to make them more efficient.
Agriculture was on the top of the list. Wang said the move will brighten the
prospects of the sector. From http://www.news.cn/
09/14/2015 China Launches
First Big Data Pilot Zone China launched its first big data pilot zone in the southwestern
province of Guizhou Friday. It is the latest move since China's State Council
issued guidelines to boost big data development earlier this month. The
action framework for promoting big data, ratified by Premier Li Keqiang, aims
to nurture a group of 500 companies in the industry, including 10 leading
global enterprises focused on big data application, services and
manufacturing. It said a platform for sharing data between government
departments should be established by the end of 2017 and a unified platform
for government data should be established before the end of 2018. The big
data pilot zone will be an experiment in big data sharing, use, innovation
and security, said Wang Na, head of the informatization department with the
National Development and Reform Commission, at the launch ceremony. Big data
has become a strategic resource and core element for innovation, said Wang
Cunfu, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. As
the world's most populous country and the second largest economy, China is
expected to account for 20 percent of the world's data capacity by 2020,
creating a massive market for economic transformation, said Wang. The mountainous Guizhou Province, one of the least developed
regions in China, has become a pioneer in China's big data development due to
a moderate climate, sufficient power supply and good network infrastructure. "The rapid expansion of our company could not succeed
without government support," said Lin. "Governments are most
capable of data integration," said Wang Jiangping, deputy provincial
governor, adding that building Guizhou on the Cloud will start with
integration of government data and then spread to private data. The sharing,
exchange and use of big data also leads to concerns about protection of
intellectual property and privacy, said Wang. Guizhou was the first
provincial-level region in the country to pass a regulation on information
infrastructure construction in May 2014. It will explore legislation on big
data in the future, said Wang. From http://www.news.cn/
09/18/2015 Government
Revs Up Cyberspace Rules Legislation to regulate the Internet and root out nuisances like
spam has greatly accelerated over the past five years, the China Internet
Network Information Center reported today. The number of laws, rules and
guidelines related to the Internet reached 76 at the end of 2014, a 262
percent year-on-year increase, said the center's cyberspace report, which
also reviewed Internet industry developments over the past five years. The
bulk of the legislation came from the Cyberspace Administration of China,
which was established early last year to govern the Web. The administration
championed fights against illegal or improper online behaviors, the report
said. It also noted achievements such as the blocking of spam texts, in a
joint effort with China's telecom giants such as China Mobile, and a campaign
to root out terrorism-related audio and videos online. From http://www.news.cn/
10/29/2015 JAPAN:
Revised My Number System Law Enacted The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to revise
the law for the My Number universal ID system, in which each resident of the
nation will be assigned a 12-digit number, in a majority vote supported by
the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, the Democratic Party of Japan and
other parties. The revised My Number law will expand the use of the ID
numbers, allowing the government to link the ID number assigned to each
person with his or her account numbers at financial institutions. The
government plans to put the system into actual use in January 2018. The
12-digit numbers will be issued to each person in October. Linking the ID
numbers with account numbers at financial institutions will make it easier
for the government to track assets held at those institutions. The government
will be able to use the My Number system for tax inspections and to prevent
people from obtaining pension benefits illegally. However, linking the ID numbers with basic pension numbers was
postponed by up to 17 months following the recent theft of personal
information from the Japan Pension Service. The tie-up was originally
scheduled for January 2016. The lower house also passed into law Thursday a
bill to revise the Personal Information Protection Law. The revised law will
make it easier for companies to process personal information collected online
to use it as so-called big data. Both bills passed the House of
Representatives in May, but deliberations at the House of Councillors were
suspended following the revelation in June of the theft of personal
information from the JPS. The DPJ later demanded revisions, including
delaying linking the ID numbers with basic pension numbers, which the ruling
parties accepted. The bill to revise the law for the My Number system was
amended and passed anew by the upper house in August. It was then sent to the
lower house. From http://the-japan-news.com 09/03/2015 Japan
Enacts Law to Allow Gov't Access to Personal Bank Data The Diet enacted legislation Thursday to allow the government to
access the bank deposit data of all residents from 2018, despite growing
public concern over possible leaks and abuse of personal information. The
legislation was enacted to revise the Social Security and Tax Number System,
known as the “My Number” system, under which the government will assign
12-digit IDs to every resident, both Japanese and foreign, from October to
simplify administrative procedures for taxation and social security from
January. The revision will expand the scope of the ID numbers’ use by linking
it with people’s bank accounts on a voluntary basis, benefiting tax and other
authorities in the discovery of tax evasion and wrongful receipt of welfare
benefits. Following massive personal data leaks from the Japan Pension
Service following cyberattacks in May, deliberation of the bill was stopped
for three months after it cleared the House of Representatives and only resumed
last week. The legislation was modified to delay linking the ID numbers with
people’s pension data until November 2017 at the latest. The government also
aims to use the ID numbers to identify victims of disasters and smoothly
deliver assistance funds. With the numbering scheme set to launch in January, concerns are
growing over slow preparations by municipalities as well as small and
medium-sized companies to update data systems and boost security. Companies
will be required to manage all of their employees’ ID numbers and include
them in tax-related documents. A government survey also showed that of the 55
million households across Japan scheduled to receive the ID numbers by mail,
at least 2.75 million, or 5%, may not be able to get them as they reside away
from their registered addresses. Those people include senior citizens in
hospitals and nursing homes. The Diet also enacted legislation Thursday to
amend a privacy protection law to make it easier for businesses to use
personal data while toughening penalties for data abuse. The amendment allows
businesses to use personal data without the consent of individuals, providing
names and other items that could be used to identify them are removed. The
amendment followed requests from businesses seeking to use the massive
volumes of data they collect. Under the legislation, the government will set
up a watchdog next January for the protection of private data that will be
empowered to undertake searches. From http://www.japantoday.com 09/04/2015 SOUTH
KOREA: Science Ministers to Tackle Global Issues The OECD Ministerial Meeting Daejeon 2015 and World Science and
Technology Forum will kick off in Daejeon on Monday. Ministers, scientists,
and officials from international organizations will gather in the city, often
dubbed as an innovation hub in South Korea, to discuss how to achieve
sustainable economic growth and to address global challenges including
climate change and poverty through science and technology. More than 3,000
participants from 60 nations are expected to join the five-day event,
consisting of science forums, panel discussions and information and
communication technology exhibits. “Hosting the OECD ministerial meeting in Korea
is a great opportunity for the nation as it will advance the nation’s status
in the world’s science and technology sectors,” said an official from the
Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the organizer of the event.
Korea, which has risen up as one of the world’s economic and ICT powerhouses
from the rubbles of the 1950-53 Korean War, will serve as an exemplar of
development achieved through its science and technological advancements, the
official explained. “What is more meaningful is that the Daejeon meeting will be the
largest of its kind to ever take place, since it includes not only OECD
member states, but also OECD partners and members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations,” an official from the preparatory organization said.
The OECD partners include Argentina, Brazil, China and India, while the ASEAN
members include the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. Officials from
international organizations such as the World Bank, European Commission, and
Inter-American Development Bank will take part in the discussion sessions.
Through the Daejeon Declaration, a joint statement to be issued on the final
day of the meeting, the global science and technology ministers are expected
to vow to work together to help advance the science and technology
capabilities of developing nations. From http://www.koreaherald.com 10/18/2015 Korea
to Ease Tech, Medical Regulations The South Korean government Friday unveiled plans to ease
regulations on drones and self-driving cars, paving the way for the
futuristic technologies to spur related industries. The plans were given
in a brief when President Park Geun-hye presided over the fourth regulatory
reform ministerial meeting at Cheong Wa Dae. “Deregulation is crucial to
secure our future growth engines and to revitalize the economy,” said the
president, calling for parliamentary support for the passage of related bills
at the National Assembly. According to the deregulatory measures, the
government will start a pilot program allowing drones to fly high, even at
night, above four sites in the nation from December. A total of 15
consortia, consisting of big companies such as Korean Air, KT and CJ, have
been selected to conduct the program that aims to verify the safety of drones
in use for land surveillance, safety inspection and package delivery
purposes. The government also plans to seek a law revision to start
test-driving driverless cars from February next year. Last month, the
government designated a combined 361 kilometers of both expressways and
ordinary roads around the Seoul area for testing. Other than drones and
self-driving cars, the government picked an additional six technologies for
the deregulation drive ― the Internet of Things, 3-D printing, smart home
solutions, carbon fibers, solar power modules and electric boilers. From http://www.koreaherald.com 11/06/2015 |
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INDONESIA:
Prepaid SIM Card Registration Rules Tightened INDONESIA’S Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
has tightened the country’s prepaid SIM card registration process to combat
high churn rates and abuse, including SMS spam. The registration requirement
for prepaid SIM cards was first rolled out a decade ago, but has proven to be
ineffective. Regulation No 23/2005, which allows registration via the 4444
SNS shortcode, has long been abused, industry pundits say. Minister of
Communication and Information Technology Rudiantara (pic above) said the new
registration system for prepaid SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards will
be more “accurate and careful,” especially with regards to the identity of
both users as well as retailers. Under the new regulation, which will come
into effect on Dec 15, registration will not be done by users but by
authorised retailers or outlets, and will only work with valid
identification. “The registration system for new prepaid SIM cards will be
done in a one-stop manner at the reseller where users get their numbers,”
Rudiantara told Digital News Asia (DNA) Oct 19. He said the new registration system will be applied nationwide,
including remote areas, but added that the time needed to complete the
process will be dependent on the number of customers. Once the new regulation
goes live on Dec 15, manual registration via the 4444 shortcode will be
discontinued, Rudiantara said. The chairman of Indonesia’s Telecommunication
and Cellular Association (ATSI), Alexander Rusli (pic), hailed the new
policy, adding that industry players have already put in place the
infrastructure to support its implementation. This preparation includes the
‘Retail Outlet Identity’ (ROID) system for prepaid SIM card resellers. But
Alexander acknowledged that getting the systems ready was merely one aspect.
“Technology support would not be as difficult as educating the outlets, which
are huge in number. “Training people can’t be done in one or two days,” he
told DNA in Jakarta. According to Alexander, under the new policy, all
outlets will have to use the ROID system to identify their owners. In the case
of any abuse – such as the reselling of user data, or fraud – it would be
easy for the Government to track down the outlet responsible. Any retail or
outlet which does not use the ROID system will be automatically blocked from
conducting further business. It might also face further action, but such
punitive measures are still being discussed, he added. Telco industry response Telecommunication service operators PT XL Axiata Tbk, PT Indosat
Tbk and PT Hutchison 3 (Tri) told DNA they are prepared for the new
regulation. XL Axiata president director and chief executive officer Dian
Siswarini (pic above) said her company has already prepared its IT system and
educated its retail outlets on how to handle the new requirement. Education
was the most challenging aspect, she added. “Actually, education for retail
outlets for the first phase is done, but it must be continuous because not
all retail outlet are big businesses or well educated,” she said. This
education also included the measures resellers might face if there are
violations. In fact, discussions on violations were conducted earlier this
year, according to Dian. XL prepared its IT infrastructure to handle the new
regulation in May last year, and has introduced a new standard operation
procedure (SOP) for its retail outlets. Meanwhile ATSI’s Alexander, also
Indosat president director and chief executive officer, said around 160,000
retail outlets have been educated on the ROID registration system. For its
part, Hutchison Tri already had an online registration system in place,
according to its chief sales and marketing officer Dolly Susanto. “We
developed a next-generation system we have been using since June 2012, for
the online registration of all retail outlet identities,” she said. Dolly
said Hutchison Tri has around 200,000 resellers on its integrated online
identity system. With a total of 54.8 million customers, she said her company
was ready to support the new regulation. From http://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 10/23/2015 CAMBODIA:
Gov't Approves Telecom Draft Law The Cambodia's Council of Ministers on Friday passed a draft law
on telecommunications, which is designed to enhance telecom quality and to
attract more investors in the sector, according to a news statement. The
passage was made during a weekly cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Prime
Minister Hun Sen, the statement said. "The draft law is aimed to ensure
the quality and efficiency of telecom infrastructures, networks, and
services, and to encourage investments in this sector," the statement
said. "It is also to protect the interest of users and to mobilize
revenues for the national coffer." According to the constitution, the
draft law needs to be approved by the national assembly and finally reviewed
by the senate before being submitted to King Norodom Sihamoni for
promulgation. Cambodia currently has six mobile phone operators, some 27
Internet service providers, and two fixed phone companies. By August 2015, the
mobile phone operators have sold 21 million SIM cards, exceeding the
country's population of 14.8 million, said the Telecommunication Regulator of
Cambodia, adding that over 5.8 million people have access to the Internet.
The fixed phone operators are serving nearly 300,000 customers, it said. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 10/09/2015 MALAYSIA:
Data Centre Alliance Launched THE Malaysian Data Centre Alliance (MDCA), a professional alliance
for the data centre industry, has been launched to oversee the collective
development of data centres in Malaysia. MDCA will lead key initiatives
towards growing the industry, and will play an instrumental role in
transforming Malaysia into a preferred data centre hub in the region,
national ICT custodian the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) said in
a statement. “The data centre sector was identified as a key growth area
under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and has in the past couple
of years shown steady progress,” Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Malaysia’s Minister of
Communications and Multimedia, said at the launch in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 28.
The ETP aims to make Malaysia a high-income nation by the year 2020. Ahmad
Shabery said the half-year revenue for the industry was RM292 million
(US$92.7 million), this is set to hit RM562 million (US$178.4 million)
revenue for 2013, marking a 20% growth from 2012. “With the formation of MDCA and the initiatives that it will
undertake, the data centre industry is set to grow further and contribute a
total of RM2.1 billion (US$666 million) to the country’s Gross National
Income (GNI) by the year 2020,” he claimed. He added that his ministry would
work closely with MDeC, which is “behind the reins” of the MDCA, to meet the
target of making Malaysia the preferred destination for data centre
investors. In 2010, the Malaysian Government, via the ETP, recognised the
data centre industry as a key growth area. This resulted in the development
of the Entry Point Project 3 (EPP3) which aims to position Malaysia as a
world class data centre hub. “As the advisor and champion of the EPP3
initiative, MDeC’s role is to facilitate growth of the industry,” said MDeC
chief operating officer Ng Wan Peng. “We are working with the industry to
elevate Malaysia’s standing in the robust global data centre sector. Such
initiatives include understanding the needs of the industry through regular
forums, creating the awareness of the importance of data centres in a
business entity, catalysing the industry through incentives and programmes
for data centre professionals,” she added. Other initiatives including providing comprehensive facilities,
services and expertise that would create a conducive business environment for
the sector, Ng said. “With the establishment of MDCA, this effort will be
more streamlined and will attract more Domestic Direct Investments (DDIs) and
Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), which will subsequently contribute to the
country’s economic growth,” she argued. MDeC said the combined data centre
floor space of all 17 founding members of MDCA is approximately one million
sq ft, catering to thousands of customers across diverse business sectors
such as telecommunications, information technology, manufacturing, financial
services, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as the government and
public sector. “As the voice for the data centre industry in Malaysia, it is
important for MDCA to raise overall awareness with the general public on the
roles and importance of data centres, and how they impact lives of the people
today,” said MDCA chairman Billy Lee. “MDCA will act as a platform for
members to contribute to the establishment of best practices, education
programmes, industry leadership initiatives and technical standards,” he
added. Lee said that MDCA’s initiatives would centre on five main areas –
business development, connectivity and bandwidth, green technology standards,
energy, as well as standards and policies. From https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 10/29/2015 THAILAND:
Plan to Make Phuket and Chiang Mai 'Smart Cities' THE INFORMATION and Communication Technology Ministry is eyeing
Phuket and Chiang Mai as 'smart cities' that focus on tech start-ups as part
of a move to turn Thailand into the digital hub of Asean. ICT Ministry
Minister Uttama Savanayana said under the policy the ministry planned to roll
out pilot projects to drive the country forward, with the "smart city"
plan one of them. Uttama spoke yesterday in a special interview at the
Consumer Insight seminar hosted by Nation Broadcasting Corporation. He was
interviewed by Suthichai Yoon, adviser to the Nation Multimedia Group's
editorial board. The minister said Phuket and Chiang Mai could be piloted as
smart cities because of their technology readiness, location, and
internationalism. Ministry's two main tasks He said another possible model for rolling out smart cities was
establishing technology hubs in special economic zones. "Currently,
there is a lack of direct governmental support in terms of direct investment
and direct policies to support tech start-ups, but there are relevant
supports such as the support scheme provided by the Software Industry Promotion
Agency," he said. Uttama, who was given the portfolio last month, said
there were two main tasks the ministry would tackle over the next three
months. He said the first task was to formulate a solid digital economy
master plan, which is currently being developed. The draft of the plan would
consist of five main domain missions - hard infrastructure, soft
infrastructure, service infrastructure, digital economy promotion, and a
digital society. The second task involved delivering the pilot projects including
projects centred on e-commerce, e-education, e-industry, and e-government.
Uttama said the Ministry would work with other ministries, such as Commerce,
to set up an e-commerce platform to help businesses go online, especially
small and medium-sized enterprises and those in agriculture. Hi-speed Internet for every village "The plan is to have a national e-payment platform as a
crucial part to help drive e-commerce," he said. "Moreover, the
government can also play a role to verify online merchants through the Trust
Mark." For education, he said the plan was to have hi-speed Internet
coverage for every village in the country by 2016 so as to connect remote
communities and schools. He said the e-industry pilot project focused on
encouraging SMEs to benefit from using technology. The 2,000 ICT centres
nationwide could be utilised to leverage SMEs' capabilities. Uttama said the
e-government agency was playing a big role in the planned roll-out of the
e-government pilot project. 'Smart cities' would be the fifth pilot project
introduced over the next three months, he said. "The ICT Ministry plans to steer
the existing budget, especially the budget for the student tablet scheme, to
be used for running the pilot projects," he said. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 09/15/2015 Government
Unveils Six Key Digital Economy Projects The Information and Communications Technology Ministry has
announced six flagship projects designed to support the government's
"digital economy" scheme. ICT Minister Uttama Savanayana said the
projects would support and create opportunities and increase the efficiency
of the private sector and the community. Uttama said they would also promote
social equality, utilise information technology so people could adopt
government services through digital technology, develop human resources to
support the digital economy and develop basic networks and connectivity of IT
infrastructure. They would also develop super-clusters that improved the
quality of life of Thais, the minister said. He said the ministry would
provide knowledge to help small and medium-sized enterprises upgrade their IT
systems, such as inventory and accounting systems, and enhance their
businesses. He said the ministry would order the Electronic Transactions
Development Agency to encourage government agencies to provide online
services to support the public. He said the ministry would cooperate with
universities such as Prince of Songkla University and government agencies to
develop IT start-ups and invite content providers to launch businesses in
Thailand. The ministry will facilitate the sharing of resources by CAT
Telecom and TOT, such as fibre-optic networks, to provide IT infrastructure
to support the digital-economy scheme. The government will also develop two
"smart city" prototypes in Phuket and Chiang Mai. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 10/10/2015 VIETNAM:
New Regulation Expected to Activate Domain Name Market VietNamNet Bridge - Circular 24, which took effect on October
10, has made it easier to register ‘.vn’ domain names. According to the
Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (VNNIC), Vietnamese businesses
have registered 182,000 ‘.vn’ domain names out of 500,000 operational
businesses. Taking into account that businesses registered more than one
domain name, the number of businesses registering ‘.vn’ domain name is even
lower than 182,000. The figure, as an analyst commented, showed that
Vietnamese businesses do not care about registering domain names, though they
know that they will receive benefits, including easy brand identification.
“By not having a website and not using email with professional domain names,
a lot of businesses and individuals deprive themselves of the opportunities
to popularize their image,” he said.
“The businesses which do not register the national domain name will
face big problems. They will find it difficult to approach customers and get
involved in domain name disputes, while their brands will be affected,” he
said. Tran Minh Tan, director of VNNIC, said the ‘.vn’ domain names were not
covered by Intellectual Property law, and the domain name registration was
implemented in accordance with the international practice ‘first come, first
served’. Therefore, state management agencies cannot apply any policies
to preserve the domain names related to trademarks if the trademark owners do
not protect the names themselves by registering domain names with agencies.
According to Tan, many ‘.vn’ domain names relating to businesses’ brands have
fallen into the hands of other individuals and institutions, both domestic
and foreign. Since the owners of the brands did not register domain name
registration quickly enough, they could not acquire the domain names with
their brand names. In many cases, businesses had to spend big money to buy
the domain names back from other individuals and institutions who registered
the domain names just for speculation. Tan cited a series of dispute cases
recently which related to ebay.com.vn, heineken.vn, bayer.vn, bitis.vn,
samsungmobile.vn, visa.com.vn, mhb.vn and habeco.vn. “As there was no
detailed regulation on settling the disputes relating to domain names, most
of the cases were listed as ‘administrative claims’. VNNIC, as the state
management agency which grants domain names, can only handle with the
complaints about the following of procedures.” Pham Tuan Anh, director of
NetNam Online Service Center, commented that the new regulation sets easy
procedures for domain name registration, under which businesses will have no
reason to hesitate to register ‘.vn’ domain names. A VNNIC report showed that
by the end of June 2015, Vietnam had developed 56,000 new domain names,
raising the total of ‘.vn’ domain names to 319,000. From http://english.vietnamnet.vn/ 11/06/2015 Sci-Tech
Ministry Plans $45mil. for Training Project At a meeting held to collect comments on the project last week,
Tran Thi Ngoc Ha of the ministry’s organization and personnel department said
around 350 experts, 80 research groups, 500 doctors, and 500 scientific and
technological managers would be funded to attend domestic and overseas
training courses by 2025 under the project. The project requires some VND900
billion to be sourced from the State budget. Head of the organization and
personnel department Tran Dac Hien said the project will be improved based on
comments the ministry collects before it goes before the Government in late
2015. If approved, the project will be implemented from 2017. Hien said the
project is being drawn up based on comments of many experts and scientists.
He added that demand for human resource development in science and technology
is large. Associate Professor Dr. Phan Tuan Nghia from the Vietnam National
University Hanoi said the draft project should include a binding clause
requiring trainees must come back to their home country for work after
getting funding of the project to attend training course abroad. Professor
Tran Duc Vien from the Hanoi University of Agriculture said the project
should contains clear goals for improvements in the scientific and technology
sector as well as key and priority technologies to be used in the country in
the coming years. Representatives of ministries and agencies at the meeting
discussed the criteria and qualifications of candidates selected for training
courses of the project, including requirements for foreign language
proficiency. Hien said the project aims to develop the quality of human
resources for Vietnam in science and technology and that the ministry has a
database of more than 1,000 qualified candidates for selection. The ministry
will join hands with the ministries of home affairs and finance to issue a
joint circular to solve the problems related to candidate selection and
finance for the implementation of the project. From http://english.vietnamnet.vn/ 11/07/2015 MIC’s
New Regulation Could Create More SMS Spam The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) plans to
loosen control over mobile subscribers, thus raising concern about an increase
in spam messages. MIC, which is drafting a new circular on mobile
subscription, may allow one subscriber to own up to five sim cards instead of
three as currently applied. Experts have warned that this may pave the way
for more spam messages. Under the draft regulation, theoretically, one
pre-paid user can have up to 25 sim cards of five operational mobile networks
Viettel, VinaPhone, MobiFone, Vietnamobile and Gtel. Meanwhile, post-paid
users can register as many subscription numbers as they want. Mobile network
operators say that it is necessary to allow subscribers to own more sim cards
because there are more devices which need mobile sim cards such as cars, 3G
USB and tablets. The lifting of the cap on the number of sim cards every
individual or organization can have aims to help users use their mobile
devices. The draft regulation says that users must use the sim cards in
compliance with the number of devices they have. However, a telecom expert in HCM City noted that five sim cards
are ‘more than enough’ for a user. “I believe that very few people have more
than five mobile phones and 3G devices,” he said. “Meanwhile, allowing more subscription
numbers will lead to a waste of resources,” he said, adding that users only
need one or two sim cards. The expert went on to say that the new regulation
would only encourage the spread of spam messages, which has caused headaches
to the watchdog agency and subscribers. Mobile phone subscribers are
complaining that they are often bothered with hundreds of spam messages every
day. Meanwhile, both the watchdog agency and mobile network operators have
not done anything to stop the messages. Users buy new sim cards when mobile
network operators launch sale promotion campaigns, offering additional value
to scratch cards. However, users will throw away the sim cards after they use
up all the money in the accounts, because they do not intend to keep the
subscription numbers for contact. “Allowing users to possess more sim cards
will do more harm than good,” he said. “This will lend a hand to people to
send spam messages.” According to the HCM City Information and Communication
Department, spam messages could be sent from three sources – telcos which
send flash ad messages, content service providers (CP) and SubCP. SubCP is
the most difficult to control. From http://english.vietnamnet.vn/ 11/10/2015 |
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INDIA:
Delhi Govt Approves E-office Plan Delhi Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal gave its
approval for implementing the e-office system in every department. In the
first phase of the plan, reportedly 15 departments will be cover. It wil make
Delhi the first state in the country to totally adopt the e-office concept.
The Department of Information Technology will be the nodal department for the
project. Delhi government has already procured a combined single-user licence
through Delhi e-Governance Society. Also, the Cabinet has reportedly
permitted the individual departments to procure the required hardware and
manpower from National Informatics Centre Services Inc. (NICSI) at empanelled
rates. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 08/27/2015 Govt
Launches Online LPG Connection Scheme ‘SAHAJ’ DBT on LPGIn line with Digital India Vision, the government
launched online LPG connection scheme SAHAJ. The customers now can register
for new LPG connections and make payments online online through the portal –
mylpg.in. The scheme was launched by Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum
and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan. “The vision of Digital India is to
transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge
economy and ensure that government services are available to citizens electronically,”
Pradhan said. Pradhan said that the initiatives taken by Petroleum Ministry
in the last seven months have enhanced coverage of LPG and extended better
services to customers. The ever-growing expansion of PAHAL, a scheme aimed to
improve the subsidy administration of LPG across the country, has ensured
smooth transfer of subsidy on LPG cylinder directly to the customers’ bank
accounts. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 08/31/2015 Railway
Minister Suresh Prabhu Launches Three IT Initiatives Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launched three IT initiatives
developed by Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), the IT arm of
Ministry of Railways. The initiatives include paperless unreserved ticketing
through mobile phones between He said that Introduction of Coin-cum-Currency operated
Ticketing Vending Machine is another step forward in ensuring that passengers
get their tickets quickly under ‘Operation five minutes’ announced in Railway
Budget. These ticket vending machines shall be installed at all the major
stations in the country. 450 machines are being procured and installed by
CRIS and shall be available at major stations during the next 3 months. The
Freight Monitoring App named ‘Parichaalan’ shall greatly help the senior
decision makers of Operating Department to plan freight operations on
real-time basis. “After the initial experiment, this App shall be provided to
other operating officers in the field,” said. The Minister said that very soon
Monthly Season Ticket (MST) can also be purchased through mobile by the
passengers in Mumbai and Chennai suburban Railway network. The Railway
Minister also said that even the platform ticket will soon be made available
through the mobile phone. The Railway Minister also announced that a
Memorandum of Understanding will be signed shortly between Railways
Department of CRIS and ISRO for using Geospatial Technology and satellite
technology for various operations of Railways. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/02/2015 Participate
in ‘Digitising India’ and Earn Rewards The government has undertaken an initiative namely Digitise
India Platform (DIP) – digitizeindia.gov.in – for large scale digitization of
records in the country that would facilitate efficient delivery of services
to the citizens. “Register now as a Digital Contributor to do data entry
jobs, earn rewards and redeem them for remuneration,” the official website
says Any Indian citizen who wishes to become a contributor can sign up with
the platform. “Your participation and contribution as a Digital Contributor
will help the country to transform into a knowledge driven economy.” The
initiative aims to achieve the vision of Digital India, where every Indian is
digitally empowered and every information is digitally available. “Digitize
India Platform offers an opportunity for government agencies to transform
themselves into digital enterprises and for Digital Contributors, rewards for
doing simple data entry jobs,” the website says. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/07/2015 ‘Reform
and Perform for Smart City Aid’ The smart services in the ambitious Smart City project of the
Modi-led Government will come with a nominal user fee for the citizens. Union
Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu made it clear to the states and
union territories that those wanted the ‘Smart City’ project rolling in their
cities need to reform and perform for complete aid from the Central
Government by collecting user charges from people for the smart services in
their cities. “If you want to remain like this, remain. It’s your choice.
Reform and perform and become a Smart City, the Centre is ready to do the
hand holding,” he said while addressing a regional workshop on smart cities
in Hyderabad. He stated that transforming cities into smart ones is difficult
task, but not impossible. It was the 2nd of the three scheduled workshop on
‘Smart Cities’ project by the Union Urban Development Ministry. Principal
Secretaries of urban development ministry of 12 selected states and union
territories, and municipal commissioners, deputy commissioners, mayors and
deputy mayors from 40 cities selected for smart city development participated
in the workshop. The first workshop was held in New Delhi on September 3 and the
3rd workshop is scheduled in Kolkata on September 12. The Union minister
stated that many urban bodies had not raised taxes for years, though citizens
were ready to pay more if they were provided better services. “Cities would not be forced to collect
user charges, but only those who want to reform and perform will get the help
of Central government. The short listing of 100 cities for the ambitious
project is only a prequalification process as only 20 of them will be
selected for the next round. Those cities which do not perform will not be
found in the next round,” he said. The estimated funding for a smart city is
Rs 5,000 crore. Of the total, center would pay Rs 500 in a period of five
years and a similar amount needs to be contributed by the State government.
The rest of the amount will be sourced from the international banks, for
which the centre would recommend. He said International agencies such as
World Banks and ADB would come forward to lend only if the urban bodies have
the ability to pay back. We are going to recommend for loan for those cities which are
ready to reform and have creditworthiness. The plans and features of smart
city is what citizens want for themselves in their cities. The broad contours
of a smart city as visualized by the centre includes essential core infrastructure,
sanitation, health and education facilities, clean and sustainable
environment, good public transport, city governance, adoption of smart
technologies to ensure a decent living and catalyze economic growth, which is
the need of the hour, he said. He urged the mayors, municipal commissioners
and corporators to raise to the occasion, as lot of responsibilities lies on
them. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/10/2015 Delhi
Govt Urges Industry to Bridge Digital Divide The Delhi Government is pitching for partnership with industry
to bridge the digital divide. “The Delhi Government seeks to transform the
national capital into ‘Digital Delhi’ by leveraging technology to provide
better livelihood, improved transportation and enhanced quality of life,”
said Adarsh Shastri, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Information &
Technology, and Government of NCT Delhi. Shastri said that the state
government’s vision was to ensure quick, scalable and robust solutions to
improve the city on all fronts. “Delhi government initiated many programmes
in this regard, and one of them was to enable 11 districts of Delhi
electronically,” Shastri said. He added that there were about 219 firms in Delhi
which were needed by the citizens at some of point, hence the government
started the process of making these firms online and so far 24 of them have
become available online. Delhi Government is trying to leverage technology and internet
to provide a single access card to pay for all modes of public transport.
Moreover, efforts are being made to create an app which would provide
information in real time about various options available to reach a
destination from a particular location and also the details of the time and
cost that each mode of transport would incur. Sharing his views on public
Wi-Fi, Shastri said that Delhi needs a unique model as the scale was
humungous with almost six million users expected to be using public Wi-Fi on
a daily basis. “To bridge the digital divide in Delhi, partnership between
the government and industry was the need of the hour,” he said. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/12/2015 SRI
LANKA: First Smart City to Be Kandy Sri Lanka’s central city Kandy will be developed as the first
‘Smart City’ in the island, Rauf Hakeem, new Minister of Town Planning and
Water Resources said in a media report.“ From http://www.lankabusinessonline.com 09/07/2015 |
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AZERBAIJAN:
New Rules for Purchasing SIM Cards Declared The Azerbaijani government has decided to enact new measures in
mobile phone registration to prevent third party users from utilizing
registered cell phone numbers. Under the recent governmental amendments,
local mobile operators will take a range of measures to assign users to a
specific SIM card. Mobile operators have already begun to send SMS messages
to subscribers with an invitation to the service center to register his/her
mobile number to his/her name. This measure will help operators keep
registration records and insure the validity of information and solve any
further problems related with his/her respective number. The changes are
applied when customers sign contracts with the telecommunications companies,
which are prohibited from selling SIM cards to a third party. The contracts
currently do not provide a guarantee of control, and if the number is used by
a third party, then all responsibility for this number is laid upon the
registered owner of the number. About one third of all SIM cards in the
country are not registered to a specific user. The mobile operator subscription database was created using data
provided by the Interior Ministry from September 1 in order to eliminate
mobile phone use by third parties. Database use, however, has been pushed
back one month due to some technical difficulties. As of now, operators are
attempting to reference personal data through the individual identification
number (FIN), which will eliminate incorrect personal information about
citizens. These measures will resolve a range of problems existing between
operators and subscribers, such as the illegal sale of SIM cards, which
creates a lot of problems for its registered owners. They will also rule out
the possibility of buying SIM cards using another person’s passport data and
work to fight against mobile scams that withdraw funds from the subscriber's
balance. The scams could also register the number to someone else’s bank
account. As it is impossible to get the money back, the subscriber would then
have to contact his/her operator to obtain account statements. Other frequent
cases involve false calls from unregistered SIM cards in order to warn of an
imminent terrorist attack. The responsibility for such calls in the future will rest on the
registered owner of the number. New rules are expected to significantly facilitate
the process of notification, as subscribers will regularly receive messages
about fines and fees, including gas, water, and electricity bills, violations
of traffic rules, the expiration of the identity cards, passports, etc. The
possible electronic sale of SIM cards on the Electronic Government Portal
(e-gov.az) is under consideration. The online purchase of mobile numbers can
be done under the user’s own e-signature and payment method. Currently, there
are three mobile operators in Azerbaijan – Bakcell, Azercell, and Azerfon.
The mobile connectivity rate has reached 112 percent in the country according
to the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies. From http://www.azernews.az/
09/03/2015 Azerbaijan
Unveils New Tax Incentives for Space Industry Azerbaijan, which entered the space club with its first
satellite in 2013, will support this sector of economy by exempting
satellites and other spacecraft from the property taxes starting in 2016. The
proposal was reflected in the draft amendments to the Tax Code, which is
being presented to the Parliament. The natural resource-rich country realizes
that in the current economy, it should count on non-oil sector and today, the
information and communication technology sector is one of the top priorities
for Azerbaijan. Fiscal freedom is expected to create additional conditions
for the further development of the young industry and turning the country
into a competitive participant of the international telecommunications
market. Earlier, Minister of Taxes Fazil Mammadov noted at a meeting of the
Parliamentary Committee on Economic Policy that orbiting a satellite has a
special place among the achievements of Azerbaijan in the field of ICT.
“There is a high competition in this area in the world, therefore, Azerspace
[first satellite of Azerbaijan] needs a certain time to provide sustainable
competition,” he said. Tax incentives are used to enhance the competitiveness of
companies in the production of spacecraft in many countries, the minister
said, which is important considering that Baku is expecting to earn $500-600 million with the operation of
the satellite, which will work in orbit for at least 15 years. In addition,
the first telecommunication satellite will be self-subsidized as of 2016.
Azerbaijan began operating the Azersky satellite on December 2014. The
satellite was launched in June 2014 as part of strategic cooperation in the
space industry between Azerbaijan and France. This project has high
profitability and the payback period of investment is 5-7 years. The
satellite is capable of shooting 6 million square kilometers of the surface
of the Earth. The resolution of the images obtained will be 1.5 meters. The
satellite will work in orbit for 12 years. Azercosmos suggests using the satellite’s
capabilities for agriculture, surveying land, as well as in ensuring the
safety of oil and gas pipelines. In addition, to further develop the
satellite program, Azercosmos is planning to buy a second low-orbit satellite
which will have ultra-high resolution and will be used for photographing the
terrain in emergency situations, for agriculture, to address environmental
problems, mapping and others. In the current economic situation, the
formation of a constellation of satellites can be a costly affair. However, Azerbaijan needs to have at least four satellites to
ensure the efficiency and stability of satellite communications services in
the event of unforeseen circumstances and emergencies. The future development
of the satellite program will lead to a reduction of tariffs for
telecommunication services, as well as significantly save costs from the
rental of bandwidth from foreign satellites. From http://www.azernews.az/
10/19/2015 |
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AUSTRALIA:
Parliament Looking at Adopting BIM for Infrastructure Projects A
Federal Parliamentary Committee is examining the feasibility of introducing
BIM methodology for future infrastructure projects. BIM (building information
modelling) is a process involving the generation and management of digital
representations of physical and functional characteristics of places. BIM
allows for the creation of intelligent, three-dimensional models that can be
shared in the design, construction and management phases of infrastructure
development. Tomorrow, the Infrastructure and Communications Committee will
meet with representatives of AutoCAD creator Autodesk, described by the
Committee as an international leader in the development of BIM, to discuss
the role that BIM can play in improving the quality and efficiency of
infrastructure projects. According to Autodesk, "25 per cent of
infrastructure project costs are tied to change orders, requests for
information (RFIs), rework, and design clashes that are not found until
construction begins." “The
AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) industry is showing
progress in improving their productivity and reducing these project costs
through the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM).” Committee Chairman
Jane Prentice MP (Ryan, Qld) said, “The current Inquiry into the role of
Smart ICT in the design and planning of infrastructure has already uncovered
a range of exciting and innovative technologies, which have the potential to
make the procurement of infrastructure more efficient and long-term
management more effective.” Prentice believes that BIM is set to revolutionise
the way governments and industry do business when it comes to investing in
infrastructure. “The new tools becoming available to government and industry
have the power to transform the economic productivity of infrastructure
development, making existing infrastructure more productive and new
infrastructure more cost-effective.” From
http://www.itwire.com
09/08/2015 Call for Halt to Introduction of ISP Copyright Code The
federal government has again been called on to stop the process of
implementing an ISP copyright code. The Internet users rights group
Electronic Frontiers Australia has confirmed it wants the process to be
halted, with its call coming in the wake of the introduction of new
anti-piracy website blocking laws. In an appeal for the process to be
stopped, the EFA said today that while it does not condone copyright
infringement, international experience shows that copyright notice schemes
are of “marginal value at best in addressing online copyright infringement.”
In calling for the government to halt the process of implementing an ISP
copyright code, the EFA said work on the code should not proceed until the
implementation of the new mandatory data retention obligations has been
concluded. EFA Executive Officer Jon Lawrence said the process should not
continue until the government has conducted a “detailed cost-benefit analysis
to ensure that it is not an unnecessary additional regulatory burden that
will further harm competition in the sector and result in higher connectivity
charges for Australians.” According
to the EFA, the majority of online copyright infringement in Australia is
demonstrably driven by market failures, and the market is, finally,
addressing those shortcomings. Lawrence said 10 weeks have now passed since
the “apparently urgent 'website-blocking' bill became law in Australia, yet
we are still to see a single case presented.” “The deadline for the ISP
Copyright Code has now also passed and, as per previous attempts to find a
consensus between the ISP industry and content distributors, the issue of who
pays for notices to be sent to allegedly-infringing users remains unresolved.
Lawrence said the current government, “which is ostensibly committed to
deregulation must accept the reality that finding a consensus on the cost
burden of a copyright notice scheme is simply not possible.” "It must
also realise that legislating to impose such a scheme will only add another
layer of unnecessary regulation on to Australia's ISP sector, which is
already struggling with the government's overly-hasty and
inadequately-prepared data retention legislation. Enough time and money has
been wasted on the ISP Copyright Code. It's time for the government to get
out of the way and allow the market to evolve." Lawrence
says the Australian video content market has been transformed this year with
the introduction and “explosive growth of a number of excellent new streaming
video-on-demand (SVOD) services.” “As ACMA reports, 'almost two million
Australians have subscribed to SVOD services since early 2015',” Lawrence
says. “It is therefore no surprise that Choice's research already shows a
material decline (from 23% to 17%) in the number of respondents that
regularly download infringing content, as well as reporting a massive 33% of
respondents who are downloading 'much less often' since subscribing to
streaming services. “That's one-third of users whose reported behaviour has
changed, in six months.” From
http://www.itwire.com
09/08/2015 ISPs Unable to Meet Government Metadata Legislation – Starts
Today Australian
metadata laws come into effect today (13 October 2015) although Attorney
General George Brandis says it will not be enforced until April 2017! The
AG's comment is fortuitous because most ISPs do not have systems in place to
meet their obligations under the Data Retention Act. According to industry
lobby group Communications Alliance 84% of ISPs say they are not ready and
will not be collecting metadata on time. It also found that 66% were not
‘entirely sure’ what type of metadata the Government wants to collect.
Communications Alliance chief executive John Stanton said ISPs have had to
start collecting a significant amount of new data, and complying with the
laws has been difficult and time consuming. "The Government's claim that
what they are asking for is retention of the status quo has never been
correct. The vast majority of ISPS are saying: 'We're trying, but we're not
there yet'." Contrary
to the Attorney General’s April 2017 deadline for compliance, ISPs must start
retaining metadata as of today unless they have been granted an extension –
that then gives them another 18 months. Getting an extension – also known as
DRIP (which is perhaps an appropriate acronym for Data Retention and
Investigatory Powers Act 2014) – is not easy. 81% of ISPs have presented a
plan [application] and only 10% have been approved so far. “ISPs were not
given enough time to get ready. I think the survey shows that very clearly.
The way that the legislation is drafted does not provide us with all of the
detail about what exactly is required in all of their services. There are a
thousand different nuances that I have seen flying around as to what needs to
be retained in respect of a particular service. The complexity has always
been part of the bedevilling aspect of this regime. There are still many
providers, as the survey highlights, that aren't certain that they've got
their requirements completely figured out," he said. What
is the result of non-compliance? Apparently, the process of complying with
DRIP involves a tsunami of paperwork – many smaller ISP believe it will be
unviable for them to stay in business. These are predominately from regional
or niche areas servicing what the bigger Telcos will not. “It is possible
smaller ISPs would close down rather than struggle on. I have seen the emails
from smaller providers who are really questioning whether they ought to try
to stay in business in the light of this cost of compliance. If you're a small
family-owned operator in a regional town, with a few hundred customers, this
is exactly the sort of regulatory cost that could convince you to try and
find another way to earn your living," he said. Internet Australia, a
not-for-profit peak body representing everyone who uses the Internet is
equally damning in its findings. CEO Laurie Patton said that a statutory
review of the Act, scheduled for three years after it is operational, should
be brought forward so that problems are sorted out sooner rather than later.
“We maintain that the process is so flawed that it should not be allowed to
go unchecked for that long. We are talking about major security issues and
significant costs that need to be dealt with now.” According to Mr Patton,
“Our industry intelligence tells us that the implementation process is way
behind schedule – with many ISP’s affected by the legislation still
struggling to understand their obligations and therefore still compiling
their implementation plans.” From
http://www.itwire.com
10/13/2015 Data
Retention Compliance Could Pass to Consumers as Tax Impost: IA Internet
Australia is not letting up with its constant pressure on the federal
government over the Data Retention Act, now warning that consumers will be
the big losers if the government fails to deal with implementation issues
associated with the act. Repeating its call for the legislation to be
reviewed immediately, rather than after three years as is currently required,
IA now warns that a so-called ‘Internet Tax’ will be passed onto consumer
through increased Internet access fees when the real costs of the new Act
come to light. IA CEO Laurie Patton says it is widely accepted in the
industry that the amount of funding allocated by the Government to cover
implementation costs is insufficient, with total funding for capital costs
now down to $128 million after the Attorney General’s Department took $3
million for its expenses. “The as yet unknown costs of the Data Retention Act
will end up being passed on to consumers in the form of increased Internet
fees. “Does the Government really expect Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and the
hundreds of smaller ISPs to carry the costs for this problematic
legislation?” Patton points out that the status of the data retention
implementation is due to be considered at Senate Estimates on Tuesday (19
Oct), and says the Attorney General’s Department is expected to be asked to
explain why hardly any ISPs were able to comply with the requirements of the
ACT when it came into force last Tuesday. “It
has been reported that even Telstra has asked for and been granted an 18
months extension,” Patton said. “The Act is fundamentally flawed and it’s no
surprise that so, too, is the implementation process”, Patton says, adding
that Internet Australia had received mixed reports from its ISP members. “The
general feeling is that the officers in the AG’s department are trying hard
to assist, but the plain fact is they’re stuck with a very confusing and
poorly drafted Act.” According to Patton, even if the implementation problems
can eventually be sorted out there will be huge and ongoing costs to industry
in complying with the Data Retention Act. “We tried to assist the Government
by putting together some figures on what the real implementation costs might
be. However, at this stage many of our ISP members tell us they’d just be
guessing.” Patton also maintains that beyond the question of costs is the
amount of time required and the frustration experienced by ISPs just trying
to complete the paperwork and, he concludes, “If Telstra is struggling to put
in place the necessary processes and to complete the forms, with all its
resources, how are small to medium sized ISPs supposed to get it done?”. From
http://www.itwire.com
10/19/2015 Senate
Passes eHealth Legislation The
Senate yesterday passed without amendment the government's legislation to
revamp the national eHealth record system. The Health Legislation Amendment
(eHealth) Bill 2015 implements recommendations from the 2013 review of the
Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR), including renaming
the record to 'My Health Record'. The bill will allow the health minister to
apply an opt-out participation model for the eHealth record to particular
areas. The change will enable trials of new approaches intended to boost
participation in the system. Health minister Sussan Ley last month revealed
details of the opt-out trials, which will be conducted in Queensland and NSW.
The bill was endorsed by Senate's Community Affairs Legislation Committee.
However, the changes to the system have raised concerns among privacy
advocates. From
http://www.computerworld.com.au
11/13/2015 NEW
ZEALAND: Telco Wants Certainty for Industry from Regulatory Review With
regulation of the New Zealand telecommunications industry under scrutiny, the
country’s biggest telco, Spark, says ensuring industry players have certainty
to continue investing in New Zealand’s digital future should be the main
thrust of a review into the Telecommunications Act. The New Zealand
Government today announced a review into the telco act, issuing a discussion
document - Regulating Communications for the Future – as a prelude to looking
at how the industry should be regulated post 2020. The review will consider
key issues, including how to set the wholesale charges that all service
providers pay the monopoly fibre lines companies to connect their customers
to fibre broadband, and the process for eventually switching off New
Zealand’s old copper network for broadband and voice services in favour of
the new UFB fibre network. “The most important thing the review needs to do
is provide certainty to industry providers and their customers of the
regulatory settings that will apply in the period from 2020 onwards, says
Spark General Manager Regulation, John Wesley-Smith. We welcome this
comprehensive discussion document and the Government’s commitment to engaging
with industry and New Zealanders on these matters well ahead of time. Giving
service providers and network operators a clear picture of the costs we will
face from 2020 on will allow us to focus on ensuring we bring the best of new
products, services and innovation to New Zealanders.” The
Government’s review will also look at how the mobile industry is regulated.
“New Zealand is very well served by three mobile service providers who
compete aggressively with one another on price, speed and coverage. As the
Government’s discussion document notes, the next challenge for our sector is
to ensure our regulatory framework creates the right incentives for mobile
operators to extend the next generations of mobile broadband technologies
deep into rural New Zealand, and it is timely to review the best way to
achieve this.” Wesley-Smith said the review will also look at issues of
‘convergence’, “where previously distinct technologies and industries (like
telecommunications and broadcasting) are coming together, and ‘net neutrality’,
which has been an issue in some overseas jurisdictions. Convergence is great
for consumers and means new products and services are springing up all the
time. This is creating huge changes in how New Zealanders live, work and
play. It’s positive that the Government is looking to ensure our regulatory
settings are keeping up with the rapid pace of change. Net neutrality is a
high profile issue in the United States but is not such a problem here in New
Zealand because our copper and fibre networks are wholesale-only open access
networks and we have a strong product disclosure regime. Net neutrality
concerns are grounded in the potential for vertically-integrated monopoly
network owners to dictate the terms of internet access to content providers
and customers. Customers in New Zealand have a genuine choice of service
provider, which is the ultimate protection against that outcome.” From
http://www.itwire.com
09/08/2015 VANUATU:
Law Reforms Culminate in Launch of Online Business Registry The
benefits of a series of legal reforms are set to be realized in Vanuatu, with
the opening of an online service that will dramatically simplify the way
business is done in the country. The online business registry allows both
Ni-Vanuatu and overseas investors to register a business, maintain its
details, and pay fees online, reducing the average time for company
registrations from more than 3 weeks to under 3 days. It was launched by the
Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Willie Jimmy, and Deputy
Chairman of the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) Board, Lionel
Kaluat, at a ceremony attended by representatives of the private sector and
supporting development partners, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
and the governments of Australia and New Zealand. “The launch of this
registry represents a fundamental shift in Vanuatu’s business environment,”
said Andrea Iffland, Regional Director of ADB’s Pacific Liaison and
Coordination Office. “All business entities—from newly established
sole-traders to growing businesses looking to incorporate—can easily enter
the formal economy, and women especially now have the option to register
their business through an accessible and affordable service.” The
legal reforms recognize new corporate structures, including one-person
companies that encourage women to register a business independently, and
community companies, which allow communities to run a business and ensure the
profits from it, are shared fairly. The registry will add to Vanuatu’s
international business standing and make it easier to do business in the
country through search functions, which allow users to obtain important
information about the status of a business, its management, and ownership
structures. “Completion of these reforms and the availability of the services
they enable through the registry is an enormous achievement for Vanuatu,”
said VFSC Commissioner George Andrews. “In terms of transparency and making
it easier to do business, we now have a world-leading legislative and
regulatory system.” The convenience of submitting annual filings via the
registry, coupled with online payments and digitized reminders, is expected
to increase compliance with business regulations. The
registry can be found at www.vfsc.vu or accessed through kiosks in VFSC
offices. Comprehensive training programs on its use and services will be
provided throughout September in Port Vila, Luganville, Malampa, Penama,
Tanna and Torba with an extensive corporate governance training program to
follow. Support for the creation of the registry and the legal reforms that
underpin it have been provided by ADB’s Pacific Private Sector Development
Initiative (PSDI). PSDI is working with ADB's 14 Pacific developing member
countries to improve the enabling environment for business and to support
inclusive, private sector-led economic growth. It is cofinanced by the
Government of Australia, the New Zealand Government, and ADB. From
http://www.pina.com.fj
08/30/2015 |
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AFRICA:
Kenya Says Open Data Portal Usage Increases The Kenya Open Data Initiative (KODI) has recorded a steady
growth in access to content via the country's Open Data portal, signifying
its increased importance in planning at national and county government levels
for various stakeholders including civil society, entrepreneurs, media,
development partners, academicians and researchers among others, CIO East
Africa. KODI is a project of the Kenyan ICT Authority providing a one-stop access
point for all public data. Open data is data that is publicly available in a
discoverable way. The project works with national government agencies and
county governments to release and archive data in friendly reusable forms,
basically sharing it publicly and freely. ICT Authority said that viewership
of Open Data on the KODI's portal, relaunched four months ago, has gone up by
10 million hits to reach 54 million. The authority observed that the last
four months have especially been very encouraging with added support from the
government. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 10/19/2015 NAMIBIA:
The E-Government Project – A Reform Initiative The Namibian government initiated the e-Government project a few
years into independence to enhance the efficient public service delivery
through the usage of information and communication technology (ICT). It was
in 2005 that Cabinet approved the e-Governance Policy for the Namibian Public
Service, after the review and development of legal and institutional
frameworks relevant to e-Government. The actual work of the project started
during 2010 with the e-Readiness assessment where five categories were
identified as the primary target for information collecting. These were
policy and legal, access, local content, capacity and competences, and
willingness. A survey was conducted among government institutions and ICT
businesses. In addition, consultations were done with stakeholders, comprised
of representatives of institutions such as the University of Namibia, the
Polytechnic of Namibia, NCCI, ICT Alliance, Telecom, and MTC. The analysis
resulted in an average score of 2.2 out of the total of 4 points for
Namibia’s readiness. Furthermore, the result of the e-Readiness assessment was used
to develop the e-Government Strategic Action Plan. This plan outlines
strategic objectives, programmes, projects and institutions responsible for
the implementation. The table below provides a snapshot of the plan. The
implementation phase started with the restructuring of the Department of
Public Service Information Technology Management under the Office of the
Prime Minister to enable it to carry out additional roles and
responsibilities required for the implementation of the e-Government project.
The Head of the Department is a Deputy Permanent Secretary and it consists of
three directorates. The Directorate of Quality Assurance, Standards, Skills
Development and for Coordination is responsible for establishing and
enforcing standards and best practices across the government institutions for
consistency and alignment of efforts in the e-Government project
implementation as well as for the promotion of e-Government within Namibia
and collaborative efforts for inter-governmental exchange programs. The
Directorate of Technical Support and Network Services is responsible for the
ICT Infrastructure of the Government of Namibia for matters of e-Government.
The main activities of the directorate are to implement and maintain the
Unified Data Centre, the Disaster Recovery Centre and the government-wide ICT
networking facility. The Directorate of Solutions Architecture is responsible
for the designing, developing, implementing, supporting and maintaining of
software solutions for the Government of Namibia. The main activities of the directorate are to provide
recommendations on software solution acquisitions, develop and implement
software solutions, provide support and maintenance for the software
applications, define an Interoperability Framework, develop and implement the
Government Portal and implement a Centralised Help Desk solution, all within
the government environment. Among the first projects to be implemented are
the developments of the interoperability solution for the Government of
Namibia, the review of the e-Governance Policy and IT Policy for the Public
Service of Namibia, the development and adoption of security guidelines
including the necessary standards and the development of the monitoring and
evaluation framework and toolkit. The interoperability solution project
consists of the software interface that will allow data exchange among
databases belonging to government agencies under a secure environment, the
review and drafting of required regulations and the competence enhancement
for the staff members who will be responsible for the implementation and
support. The solution would foster the creation of online services
capable of simultaneously using data held in different databases that will be
accessed via the governmental portal. The solution will be implemented in a
secure environment with encryption, time stamping, audit trails and proper
authentication of participating entities. The project is implemented with the
assistance of the Estonian e-Governance Academy with whom the Office of the
Prime Minister has a signed Memorandum of Understanding. Participants in the
pilot phase of the project are the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of
Home Affairs and Immigration, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industrialisation,
Trade and SME Development, Roads Authority, and the Government Institutions
Pension Fund. The participants were chosen according to the data registries
they are responsible for managing. The 24-month project has been running
since November 2014, to end in November 2016, with the full-scale
implementation to be achieved by April 2016. The implementation of the ICT Security Guidelines is essential
and will help the e-Government project to ensure that confidentiality,
integrity and availability are always maintained and improved continuously to
the level comparable to international standards. In addition, it will help to
improve the users’ trust level and create good public perception towards
those systems that will be implemented. Stakeholders and relevant parties
will be consulted to discuss the draft guidelines to solicit changes,
comments and feedback. The main aim of the e-Government project is to improve
the delivery of public services to citizens, businesses and clients by taking
advantage of the information and communication technologies, hence the
computerisation of processes will be carried out to enable access to services
through the Internet. Ndeshipanda C. Ndilula is the Director of Quality
Assurance and Standards in the Office of the Prime Minister. From https://www.newera.com.na/ 11/09/2015 ZAMBIA: Gauteng Opts for E-government The Gauteng Provincial Government has established a new
department, to be known as the Department of e-Government, to improve service
delivery, modernise the public service and stimulate the province’s
knowledge-based economy. The department is mandated to implement the
e-Government Strategy of the Gauteng City Region which seeks to, among other
things, consolidate back-end systems and processes to bring about better
front-line service delivery to the people. In this regard, the department is
finalising the architecture for a common platform that will enable all GCR
entities to provide online and digitised services to the public. This will
ensure that people will access public services at a touch of a button, and in
the process saving them time and money as they will no longer have to travel
to government offices frequently. As part of this approach, government also
launched a self-service invoicing system, which is an online platform that
allows service providers to submit their invoices directly to Gauteng
Provincial Treasury, a major move in efforts to meet the 30-day payment deadline. The e-government department will oversee the rollout of the
Gauteng Broadband Network GBN, which will connect all government buildings
and various public service access points, including Thusong Centres, urban
renewal zones and targeted economic zones. The establishment of the
e-government department concludes the restructuring process that has been
going on for some time to ensure that government departments are properly
structured and aligned to implement the programme of action. The Department of
Finance, which was previously responsible for the functions of procurement,
payments, forensic auditing, transversal human resources management and ICT,
has been shut down. ICT functions will be performed by the new e-Government
Department while the rest of the functions have been transferred to other
departments. The Department of e-Government will report to the MEC for
Finance and Boy Ngobeni, the current head of the Department of Education,
will become its new head effective from 1 October 2015. From http://it-online.co.za/
10/08/2015 ZIMBABWE: First Internet Governance Forum Event Held in Harare -
Seeks Input into Governance Yesterday, a advisory group that has been set up to lead From http://www.techzim.co.zw/ 10/20/2015 EUROPE: Armenia - The First Internet Governance Forum ArmIGF
2015 The first Armenian Internet Governance Forum ArmIGF 2015 is
organized by the multistakeholder Internet Governance Council (IGC) of the
Republic of Armenia with the support of the Ministry of Transport and
Communication (MTC) and the Internet Society NGO (ISOC Armenia). The main
objectives of the forum are to provide an open and transparent platform for
all stakeholder groups, to bring up and discuss the Internet governance
related issues, to give the floor to the wide community, to deliver the
messages to the policy makers. The first ArmIGF will be held on 7-8
September, 2015 in Yerevan, Armenia. Deputy Transport and Communication
Minister Gagik Tadevosyan emphasized the importance of cybersecurity, net
neutrality. “Net neutrality is one of the issues which is in the center of
policy makers’ and regulators’ attention. The definitions of net neutrality
are different but are in accordance with principles adopted in Armenia. ”,
“Armenpress” reports, Gagik Tadevosyan stated. From http://armenpress.am/
09/08/2015 BULGARIA: E-Government Is a Key Priority of the Present
Government “Introduction of the e-government is a key priority of the
present government,” deputy head of the Bulgarian delegation to the
Parliamentary Assembly of Black Sea Economic Cooperation Pavel Hristov told
journalists. He presented a report on the implementation of e-government in
the countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation during the meeting of the
Committee on Economic, Trade, Technological and Environmental Affairs, a
reporter of Radio FOCUS – Varna announced. Pavel Hristov said that in recent
months the government has been actively working on topics related to
e-government, e-justice and e-health. The draft electronic identification
project has been moving forward as well. “This is a key component required
for the successful implementation of this type of e-governance, especially in
the part related to the connection between citizens, business and
administration,” Pavel Hristov added. "Electronic identification is an
electronic certificate verifying the user's identity and electronic signature
is another type of certificate", Pavel Hristov added. From http://www.focus-fen.net/ 10/06/2015 Bulgaria’s Electronic Voting
Referendum Falls Short Preliminary results in Bulgaria’s
referendum on whether to introduce online voting showed that turnout was too
low to make the result binding on Parliament, but high enough to require the
National Assembly to discuss the issue on the House floor. Exit-poll data by
Alpha Research put the turnout at 35.3 per cent at 6pm, one hour before
polling stations closed, above the 20 per cent threshold needed to put the
question on Parliament’s agenda. Official data on turnout was not available
as the Central Election Commission said it had technical difficulties
throughout the election day, caused by heavy traffic. The vote was
overwhelmingly in favour of introducing online voting, with 70.6 per cent
voting “yes” and 28.8 per cent against, while 2.8 per cent of ballots were
invalid, Alpha Research said. The referendum on electoral reform was first
put forth by Bulgarian President Rossen Plevneliev in 2013, but his proposal
was stymied by the ruling majority in the now-departed 42nd National
Assembly. After the election of the current Parliament in October 2014,
Plevneliev resumed his campaign, calling for a referendum on three questions
– the introduction of a majoritarian element in the election of MPs, the introduction
of compulsory voting, and electronic voting. However, in July 2015, the
National Assembly, where the largest party is Boiko Borissov’s GERB, the
centre-right force that nominated Plevneliev as its presidential candidate in
2011, cut the three proposed questions down to just one, that on electronic
voting. Plevneliev’s proposal to hold the referendum simultaneously with
scheduled mayoral and municipal elections was accepted. From http://sofiaglobe.com/ 10/26/2015 Swiss Make Good Use of E-Government Services The Swiss government has said its open data policy is paying off
among citizens, who have an advanced use of e-government services compared to
other countries. Pointing to a recently released study, the government stated
that more than two-thirds of its citizens had used some kind of open
government portal in the past year in the hopes that doing so would have a
“positive influence” on leaders’ effectiveness. According to the comparative
study published by the Berlin-based D21 Initiative, 69% of Swiss citizens
interviewed said they used electronic government – “e-government” – services
in 2015, an 11% increase over 2012. Services studied included mobile access
to government information and free access to public data. Switzerland showed the greatest increase in e-government service
use of all the countries studied. Usage increased by 6% in Austria and by 5%
in Sweden, while usage decreased in Germany. About 70% of Swiss interviewed
said they had taken advantage of free government access to public data at
least once in the past. In addition, the D21 study looked at user
satisfaction with e-government services in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and
Sweden. Switzerland also showed the highest scores for user satisfaction;
however, respondents said that e-government services could be improved
through better monitoring and usability. Visibility was another potential
area of improvement for Swiss e-government portals, as the study revealed
that users are not aware of many of the services offered. The D21 study,
titled “eGovernment Monitor 2015”, was published at the end of July. From http://www.swissinfo.ch/
09/03/2015 Estonians to Teach CIG About E-government A team of experts from the Baltic state of Estonia will be
sharing their knowledge and experience with government officials this week
about best practices in e-governance. Although successive administrations have
pointed to the power of the web as a way of increasing government efficiency
and cutting costs, Cayman has been slow to use the internet to improve public
services. Having only just completed the “information-gathering stage” on
e-government, officials said the Estonians will be hosting workshops to help
transition CIG towards the “strategic development” stage. Although only a
small country, the northern European state of Estonia is a leading
jurisdiction when it comes to e-government and its practical implication.
Four representatives from the country’s e-Governance Academy will present and
lead discussions with both the public and private sector about the Estonian
e-governance experience, digital identity management and how elements of that
country’s model could be adapted and used locally. “Our objective is to fully
understand the model by which a country of just over a million people has
achieved extraordinary success in this field,” said backbench MLA Alva
Suckoo, who was given the responsibility to oversee the development of
e-government. “We will also be looking at their best practice to see what can
apply in our local situation.” Government appointed Ian Tibbetts as director of e-government
almost a year ago. Since then he has been working with the e-government
steering committee and the e-government task force to gather information,
which is now finished, officials said. At present, government offers very
limited on-line services and no on-line payments. Virtually all government
entities now have websites but many of them are very basic and even the
agencies such as immigration, which has a more comprehensive website and
offers online tracking among other internet services, does not accept online
payment. The premier and deputy governor ,who have all spoken at length about
the possibilities offered by e-government, will alsobe at the opening of the
four day-long seminar, as well as representatives from the steering committee
and task force. Tibbetts has also invited members of the public to attend the
sessions at the Westin Hotel. From https://cnsbusiness.com/
09/27/2015 IRELAND: Minister Confirms Support for Internet Governance
Transfer Ireland “firmly” backs the planned transition from US government
to international oversight of a critical area of global internet management,
Minister for Communications Alex White told delegates yesterday at the Dublin
meeting of the powerful internet governance group Icann (Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers). As the US government prepares to hand over
supervision of the internet’s addressing and domain name management to
international supervision, the Minister told the opening session of the
public meeting that Ireland “firmly supports the multi-stakeholder model of
internet governance”. Ireland was an appropriate place to hold Icann’s 54th
public meeting, he said. “Few countries have benefited from the
transformative power of the internet socially and economically to the extent
that Ireland has,” he told the audience at Dublin’s Convention Centre. Some 2,500 delegates from 130 countries are in Dublin for one of
Icann’s three annual “public meetings”, at which technical standards for the
internet’s core structure, and operating policies, are discussed and decided.
Anyone may attend the meeting for free. The structures needed for the
historical handover of oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
(Iana) will be the dominant – and controversial – concern at the meeting,
which runs until Thursday and will conclude with an open session with Icann’s
board. Icann hopes the Dublin meeting will produce agreement on a formal
handover proposal that will be acceptable to the internet community as well
as the US government. But Icann president and chief executive Fadi Chehadé
noted the difficulty of finding agreement, especially with the organisation’s
consensus-based voting approach. “We’ve tested our multi-stakeholder model to the ends of it,” he
said in his opening address. “But we are moving forward. And I think the
community that comes together here in Dublin will continue in its commitment
to keep the momentum forward, to finish our work and to deliver to the world
what the world is watching us do.” On another key issue being debated at the
meeting, Mr Chehadé noted that Icann was a technical and standards
organisation and could not be responsible for shutting down websites based on
demands from copyright holders, national governments, businesses or others
with concerns about a website’s activities. “Icann’s remit . . . is not in
the economic and societal layer [of internet operation],” he said. However,
Icann did have a responsibility to work with authorities and law enforcement.
The challenge, he said, would be in finding “balance”. He noted credit card
companies manage to get rogue websites closed using international resources,
without demanding Icann shut down sites. From http://www.irishtimes.com/ 10/20/2015 UKRAINE: E-Democracy Expert Says Electronic Governance Can Help
Rid Itself of Corruption Jordanka Tomkova joined Ukraine Today in the Viewpoint studio
for a discussion on the implantation of e-governance in Ukraine. Jordanka
Tomkova is a Swiss-funded E-Governance Advisor in Ukraine working on the
E-Governance for Accountability and Participation Program (EGAP) - a
programme seeking to promote high standards and practices in electronic
governance and electronic democracy in Ukraine. "E-Governance is a
cross-sectorial strategy that enables the optimization, efficient and
effective use of information and communication technologies across sectors.
The services that should be aimed for will include E-Health, creating
facilities for business licensing, business licensing; it will be used to
create greater transparency, land registration, E-education etc. And also
administration services which are important for citizens as it will allow
them to get their driving license without standing online, renewing their
passports etc." "One of the key aspects of E-Governance is how do
you better engage citizens in decision making processes; In Ukraine when you
look at international rankings of country, it scores quite low. So, civil
servants will need to gain new skills on how to interact with citizens in an
online environment effectively and efficiently." From http://uatoday.tv/
10/20/2015 Revisiting
Internet Governance You might recall that I played an advisory role to the World
Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in 2012 in Dubai. In
the run-up to that event — as well as during and after it — I gave my opinion
on the role of internet governance, plus an analysis of what was happening.
At that time I held a more conciliatory position on the issue, but you may
have noticed that, in the wake of the Snowden revelations and the illegal NSA
activities, as well as many other similar activities from ASIO in Australia
and no doubt the Russian, Israeli and Chinese authorities, my position has
shifted significantly. While at WICT 2012 the Americans and their allies
positioned themselves as the good guys against the baddies from Russia and
China who wanted to control the internet; but whatever credibility the USA
had at that time has totally dissipated, and along with that the
international discussion on the issue. Yet there are still some NGO organisations arguing for some form
of e-governance (or not). The reality is that it is most unlikely the
discussion will ever reach such a high level of traction again, and this is
all for the best. With the benefit of hindsight I perhaps should have taken a
more 'militant' position on the issue, like some of my international
colleagues did at the time. The realpoltik is that in addition to all of its
other aspects — such as its social and economic elements — the internet has
become a weapon in the arsenal of the military and security forces. Of
course, we all knew that this was the case but the abovementioned affairs
brought this out into the open, and I think even the most militant opponents
of internet governance were shocked by the extent to which these agencies
were already using the internet and the other technologies it facilitates,
such as data-gathering and data analytics. So I am now firmly in the camp of those who support the notion
that no government, or any international organisation such as the ITU or the
UN, should attempt to concoct some sort of governance. We also know that even
if they try this, it can and will not happen. This is something that some of
my colleagues such as Doc Searls and David Weinberg have been saying for well
over a decade. Their rationale is actually rather simple — there is no such
thing as the internet. We have given it a name, but it is not a 'thing'. In
2003 my colleagues described it as a voluntary agreement between thousands of
network operators around the globe that facilitates the flow of data for
their mutual benefit. For that purpose they have all voluntarily adopted a
range of telecommunications standards and protocols that allow this to
happen. No one signed an agreement. No one owns more than just their own
network. This also makes it totally impossible for any government or
international organisation to exert any governance over this non-entity. In
this respect it is also futile for any government, telco or ISP to try and
filter, control or manipulate the internet in any way. The only way for
governments to exercise any control is to build a gigantic firewall around
their national networks and operate this national network of networks as a
virtual private network. That this can be done is clear, as can be seen from
the case of China, North Korea, Iran and, in the past at least, also Syria.
However, as is evident from China, there are still ways around the national
filter; and at the same time the country would have to weigh up the
consequences for their own economic opportunities in the digital economy of
limiting the free flow of communication. In a way the internet is similar to
iron. It can be used to make weapons and it can be used to make ploughs. And
both are happening so we will have to live with that. In the early Middle
Ages people like Charlemagne banned the export of iron to stop others making
weapons. We can safely conclude that he and others were not successful. And
whatever governments do to control the internet, will follow a similar path. In the end, the NSA and other spy agencies will come to a
similar conclusion. By all means use the internet to catch criminals, child
abusers and terrorists, but do it in a smart way — one that will be more
effective, will cost significantly less, and will fit much better in a
democratic society. It is that same internet that was used by the spy
agencies that was also used by Snowden and Wikileaks. Thanks to the internet,
the public reaction was swift and, dare I say, effective. At least, mass
surveillance in the way the NSA was doing it, has now been declared illegal
in the USA. They will have to be smarter in future and I am sure they will
now operate in a way that is more appropriate to a democratic society. If
they don't, there will be other Snowdens and Assanges. It is regrettable that
the Americans are still on a witch-hunt for those two people so that they can
burn them at the stake. So, in conclusion, internet surveillance and internet governance
is dead and buried, but some governments don't know it yet. However all those
still trying to find the holy internet surveillance grail, will eventually
come to the same conclusion and their attempts will quietly disappear —
hopefully to be succeeded by a smarter and more democratic use of the
internet. Unfortunately, in the meantime trillions of taxpayers' money will
have been wasted in building mass surveillance systems. On the positive side,
people such as myself, who are in favour of free speech and democratic
principles and against mass surveillance, can relax because — unless our
governments follow the path laid down by China, Iran and North Korea — the
internet will never again allow such restrictions to occur. Any illegal and
criminal activity that utilises the internet can be dealt with within the
legal systems of our democracies. No extra legislation is needed for this and
any attempts to draft it based on using the internet for it will be futile as
there are so many ways that can be used to bypass such systems. From http://www.circleid.com/
09/29/2015 E-Government
Will End Multiple Charges by MDAs A practitioner in the information technology (IT) space and
Managing Partner, Techsol Professional Service Ltd, Mobolaji Moshood, has
said the adoption of electronic or e-government will put an end to multiple
charges by the state’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). He said
e-government initiatives are designed to improve internal efficiencies within
the government organisations and improve access to government services for
the general public. Moshood, who was reacting to complaints by residents of
Lagos State and other states over duplication of services and multiple fee
payments from the government agencies, argued that e-government would stop
these pains, adding that it was better to address the root cause rather than
the reactive method governments usually adopt in bid to satisfy certain
business investors or government agents in their quests for personal gains. “The strategies of e-government are enormous. They are designed
to create a simple, moral, accountable, responsive and transparent (SMART)
government; promotes the causes of e-citizen and e-democracy; e-government is
not translating processes but transforming processes; necessitates capacity
building within the government and is targeted at networked and integrated
government,” he said, adding that e-government is citizen-centric, provides
multi-channel delivery of public services and is aimed at providing
convenient access of information to all, and improving service access and delivery.
According to Moshood, e-government enables development and participation of
all segments of the population, adding that it also allows them to reap the
benefits of IT through participation in governance process by allowing their
voices to be heard. “E-government supports in development and inclusion of
private sector in public service delivery,” he said. From http://www.biztechafrica.com/ 10/04/2015 ISU
Professor, Student Team to Research E-Government Arafat Kabir, a master’s student majoring in politics and
culture, and Michaelene Cox, M.A. ’11, an associate professor in the
Department of Politics and Government, teamed up to better understand
research trends in e-government. Kabir presented their work at the 2015
Illinois State University Research Symposium held in the spring at the Bone
Student Center. Cox began researching e-government three years ago and
regularly attends the European Conference on e-Government. Kabir, who is
Cox’s graduate assistant, decided to work on a portion of Cox’s e-government
research related to public trust and e-democracy. “I encouraged him to do
this not just for the research experience, but for the presentation
experience, to give him practice with communication skills, and to take
responsibility for a product that the public is going to see,” Cox said.
Kabir analyzed almost 600 articles published in the past 10 years on
e-governments in Europe and the United States. Through looking at research
trends, Kabir found more American articles than European articles on public
trust and e-democracy. “While it may be speculative to conclude that scholars
based in the U.S. are, by far, more interested in public trust and
e-democracy than Europeans, the difference in number may simply reflect
editorial decisions as what to publish,” said Kabir. “In the end, significant
works are being done in this field both in the U.S. and Europe.” From https://news.illinoisstate.edu/ 10/17/2015 Internet
Governance: What Could Go Wrong? In mid-December, the United Nations General Assembly will meet
in New York for two days to discuss the future of Internet governance. A
group of countries led by China and Russia is arguing that oversight of the
Internet should move from the current “multi-stakeholder” model to a more
centralized, government-centric approach managed by the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU). Should you be worried? Yes, but not in the way
you might think. The risk here lies not so much in the threat of a dramatic
UN-takeover of the Internet, but rather in the fact that UN-style
bureaucratic paralysis is already forestalling effective action to limit
commercial hacking, preserve Internet freedom and identify and prevent
potential terrorist threats to critical infrastructure. The main threat is
not in what is happening with Internet governance, but rather what is not. How did we get here? In 1998, the Clinton Administration began
the process of privatizing the Internet, which until then had been run as a
project of the U.S. government. The question was who, if not Uncle Sam, would
be in charge? Many governments thought the job ought to go to the ITU, an arm
of the United Nations that regulates international telephone services.
Others, including the Clinton Administration, worried that the ITU—which was
dominated by government-owned telephone companies and public utility
regulators—would be overly regulatory, strangling the fledgling World Wide
Web in the crib. The answer turned out to be the creation of a unique
institution, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
ICANN functions as loosely organized set of committees, governed by consensus
and overseen by a board of directors. Membership in ICANN is open to anyone,
and everyone gets one vote, governments included. Meetings can take days and
decisions—which must be based on consensus—are often elusive. Efficient? No.
A success? Yes, based on the remarkable growth of the Internet. Despite ICANN’s apparent success—or perhaps because of it—many
of the world’s governments have never stopped believing that Internet
governance ought to be undertaken by a multi-national body like the ITU, in
which they (governments) have the final say. Not surprisingly, the
governments that feel most strongly about this are the most autocratic ones.
Their cause is strengthened by the fact that the U.S., through a
never-invoked contract with ICANN, continues to claim the final say over the
assignment of names and numbers to Internet addresses, raising political
hackles in many European capitals, especially in the post-Snowden Era. An Internet Governance Battle Simmers for 20 Years The battle to control the Internet has simmered for nearly 20
years. In 2001, the U.S. agreed to a two-part “World Summit on the
Information Society” (WSIS), which was held in 2003 and 2005. At the 2005
meeting, the U.S. agreed to another summit—“WSIS+10”—in 2015. Now, after
years of preparatory work and preliminary drafts, the day of reckoning may
finally have arrived. The ground rules for the WSIS+10 process were
established in July 2014 in UN Resolution 68/302, which outlined “an
intergovernmental negotiation process that will include preparatory meetings,
resulting in an intergovernmentally agreed-upon outcome document for adoption
at the high-level meeting of the General Assembly.” As the date approaches,
lobbying over what will be contained in that agreement has been intense. The
autocratic states appear to have two main goals. First, they want the UN to
endorse their use of censorship to repress online speech. For example, Second, and more broadly, the pro-government faction seeks to
replace the U.S.-sponsored ICANN model with a multinational organization
modeled after the UN itself. As the Russian Federation puts it, the UN should
declare that governments should “have an equal role and responsibility for
international Internet governance… based on international agreements between
the States under the auspices of the United Nations.” China declares: “The roles
and responsibilities of national governments in regard to regulation and
security of the network should be upheld,” and calls for the
“internationalization” of ICANN. It is tempting to see all this as nothing
more than diplomatic posturing, and to be sure, the current draft of the
proposed agreement stops far short of embracing the autocrats’ proposals. But
even if the UN stops short of “internationalizing” Internet governance, the
process is upping the pressure on the U.S. to give up what little control it
continues to exercise through its contract with ICANN. Indeed, in March 2014,
the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it was prepared to transition
its role in overseeing ICANN’s naming and numbering functions to the
multi-stakeholder community, and—conditional on ICANN agreeing to put in
place acceptable principles and policies for self-governance—said that it
would complete the transition by September 2015. But after months of consultations and committee meetings, ICANN
failed to come forward with an acceptable plan, leaving U.S. oversight still
in place, but only on the most tenuous terms. It is extremely unlikely that
the Chinese and Russians are going to take over Internet governance anytime
soon, or even that they will win what would be an essentially symbolic
victory at the UN. Rather, the threat arises from paralysis and inaction in
the face of the tremendous challenges facing the Internet today. The need for
effective action to limit commercial hacking and to identify and prevent potential
terrorist threats to critical infrastructure is real. It is also urgent that
we achieve some basic international agreements among the major powers on the
boundaries between espionage and theft, on the one hand, and armed conflict,
on the other. Rather than leading on these issues, the U.S. and its allies
appear to be bogged down in a diplomatic rear-guard action focused on arcane
institutional issues—fiddling while cyberspace burns. Until that changes, the
risks associated with cybersecurity will continue to grow. From http://www.brinknews.com/ 10/29/2015 ICANN
and EuroDIG Sign Memorandum of Understanding on Multistakeholder Model of
Internet Governance CANN and the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG)
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to further encourage collaboration
and cooperation between both organizations in their efforts to further
promote and strengthen the multistakeholder model of Internet governance in
Europe. The MoU was officially signed on 21 October 2015, during a signing
ceremony that took place during ICANN's 54th Public Meeting in Dublin,
Ireland. It was signed by ICANN President & CEO, Fadi Chehade, and
EuroDIG Managing Director, Sandra Hoferichter. "The agreement aims to
further common objectives between ICANN and EuroDIG, including for the
planning and organization of the annual EuroDIG event, as well as to
strengthen active participation in ICANN's policy-making processes, and to strengthen
the support for the multi-stakeholder participation and governance model of
the Internet." From http://www.circleid.com/
11/01/2015 UN
Works Through Issues of a Changed Internet Most nations in the world agree that all aspects of society now
depend on the internet. But this year’s process of reviewing the 2005 World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is showing how many challenges to
the internet have arisen and how far apart nations are on the ways to address
them. On 15-16 December at the United Nations, a General Assembly High-Level
Meeting will be held to allow “in-depth discussions on important issues in
the implementation of the WSIS outcomes, including the progress, gaps and
challenges, as well as areas for future actions.” But despite the increased
importance of the internet worldwide – or perhaps because of it – it seems
increasingly unlikely that the event will lead to major new decisions or have
the importance of its predecessor two-part WSIS of a decade ago. The WSIS+10
review is now working on the basis of a “zero draft” outcome document [pdf]
compiled by the co-facilitators of the process, Latvian Amb. Janis Mazeiks
and United Arab Emirates Amb. Lana Nusseibeh. The co-facilitators’ letter
accompanying the zero draft is available here [pdf]. Following the stakeholder consultations and preparatory
committee at the UN in New York from 19-22 October, the co-facilitators said
they expect to make changes to the draft and recirculate it. A central issue
dividing nations for several years now has been how much of a role to give to
governments and the United Nations in global internet governance. A week ago
stakeholder consultations and the preparatory committee on the WSIS+10 review
were held at the UN headquarters in The multi-stakeholder issue was heavily discussed during the
week, and will continue to be a key issue, but there are differentiated
views, making agreement unlikely. “I think that’s a debate that will not get
resolved in this review process,” said Nusseibeh. It is one that “we will see
go on for many years to come.” A look at an exchange that took place during
the preparatory meeting over the need for a third summit reveals differences
in perspectives between developed countries seeking to preserve the status
quo and emerging economies seeing a need to reopen the process. India said it
supports a review of WSIS and would “very strongly” support a high level
meeting. “We don’t understand this position of not being able to change anything,”
the delegate told the meeting. “We are talking about a dynamic internet. More
is yet to come.” He mentioned cybersecurity, ICT for development, and human
rights as areas that have arisen since the last WSIS meeting. The US delegate then retorted that a review is ongoing every
year, and that the US is “not opposed to taking on new issues,” but that all
three issues mentioned by India are being discussed already. The US and other
western countries repeatedly said that a compelling case has not been for
high level meeting. Russia then weighed in to say it thinks it is “very
important to make a new agenda with a summit in 2020.” India came back and
said the ongoing review system should continue, however this platform is a
different platform. “If the ongoing system was sufficient we shouldn’t be
sitting here,” he said, calling for reconsideration of the approach that a
review is not needed. “Economies that are growing very rapidly like India see
massive growth in the next five years, four times the growth in internet
penetration in the country by 2020, which will throw up new challenges,” such
as security, cultural, and social issue. “We are an open democracy, voices
are expressed and encouraged in our system,” and it is necessary to have
ongoing process, “but in the UN context we need to have a review in 2020.” To which the US gave a little ground. The US could see a UN
General Assembly review, he said, but a new high level summit “would
undermine our work here and the WSIS.” At the WSIS, he said, “they said we
should come together in 10 years and see if it is working well. We have and
it is.” Still, the US could see sitting down and discussing, he said.
Earlier, South Africa made the comment that the WSIS outcomes have
demonstrated “the need for new processes to fill gaps in ways for governments
to address their responsibilities.” To which the US, which appeared to play a
de facto arbiter role in the discussion, noted that the ICANN Government
Advisory Committee (GAC) and NetMundial in Brazil had been added to the
process. And, the US, said, there have been no specifics about the
“responsibilities” of governments that are not being addressed. The US
supported a Brazil proposal to work with governments on identifying needs.
Reflecting the state of the internet itself in 2015, there are many seeming
contradictions from all sides. In general, governments seem driven by a
desire to control and track behaviour online, some likely in undemocratic
ways. And western countries, led by the US, known to rely on surveillance to
monitor users, push for openness and transparency. It it not clear where
public concerns about surveillance or other control enter into the
government-led UN process. Next Steps to December Assembly Summing up the weeklong meetings, Nusseibeh said overall, they
had seen “reaffirmation of WSIS principles.” Members stressed that ICT for
development should be at the heart of the outcome document. Financing,
bridging the digital divide, especially with women, education, culture,
diversity all seem likely to be emphasised in the document. Aligning the WSIS
and 2030 SDGs, she said, “I think this can be done.” Nusseibeh also said
there appeared to be an emerging compromise on having nongovermental
stakeholders at the table, she said, and it appears IGF will be renewed,
probably for 10 years. Developing country participation is needed. The issues
of enhanced cooperation and internet neutrality appear to need more
discussion. On human rights, there was not consensus on the location of it in
the document, but there is consensus on the importance of it. This is also
true for cybersecurity, where the gap is on whether it should be included as
a section or mentioned elsewhere. On WSIS action lines, it is to be decided
whether to mention or build on them. And there was openness to consider the
rationale for a high level event, and how to link to the SDGs. Member states “may be closer to compromise than it may have
seemed at the outset of these three days,” she said. Mazeiks said in
conclusion that were was a “clear desire” among member states to negotiate on
on the zero draft text. He said they are now “extremely tight on time,” and
urged comments by 30 October. By 10 November the co-facilitators will issue
the next text. Consultations are expected during the week of 16 November,
after the 10-13 November Internet Governance Forum (IGF) where both
co-facilitators will be present. “Informal informal” consultations will
result in a document at the end of the week of 16 November, he said, ahead of
the 15-16 high-level General Assembly. Panel: Politics of Internet Governance On 30 October, a panel of the UN co-facilitators, academics and
former US WSIS negotiators (now industry lobbyists) discussed the political
side of global internet governance. They addressed internet governance,
security, freedom and the ongoing effort to transition oversight of the
internet away from the United States. The panel at Columbia University’s
School of International and Public Affairs was called “The High Politics of
Internet Governance: Global Policy Conflicts a Decade after the World Summit
on the Information Society.” The On the panel, WSIS review co-facilitator Nusseibeh said three
themes emerged from the stakeholder consultations: ICT for development
(ICT4D), human rights and building confidence and security, and internet
governance. “We are in the middle of a process,” co-facilitator Mazeiks said.
There is a consultation track with stakeholders and a negotiation track with
governments. On ICT4D, according to Nusseibeh, the broader goal is to harness
internet for social good. She cited statistics showing the dramatic growth in
mobile phones and other ICTs, to the extent that some take the view that “it
ain’t broke,” so we don’t need to fix it, and more government interference is
not needed. But despite this progress, she said, other countries say the
digital divide remains too large. More than half the world remains offline.
Only 37 percent of women worldwide are online, and the gender issue has come
up in this round of discussions under WSIS, she said. Another concern is that
an estimated 80 percent of content online is available in only one of ten
languages. And most importantly, now 10 years since WSIS, it has become
clear that mere access to ICTs is not a sufficient measure for developing
countries. The new emphasis is the quality of that access, how relevant and
how accessible content is for users in developing countries, how does it
impact their daily lives. She said there is strong potential for synergies
between the WSIS process and the recently adopted 2030 UN Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). Stakeholders agreed that WSIS should capture the
cross-cutting role ICTs can play in the SDGs, and calls for the WSIS process
to feed into the larger SDG review process that will look back in 15 years,
as it would ensure a larger relationship between internet, an important
driver and tool for development, and the global development agenda. Also
noted was that cybersecurity is bigger than in the past, and the human rights
aspect has increased. Cybersecurity is related to ensuring national security
considerations, and there is now concern about balancing privacy/freedom of
expression and security/anti-terrorism. On internet governance, the internet has evolved into a global
infrastructure, and for many this has to be reflected in its governance
structure. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was created at the original
WSIS as a non-negotiating body, a platform for discussion of issues of the
day. The next IGF meeting is taking place from 10-13 November in Brazil. At
the recent preparatory committee meetings, many governments voiced support
for extending the IGF’s mandate, perhaps for 5, 10 or 15 more years (15 would
put it on the same timeline with the SDGs). It has been noted that the IGF
does not represent a substitute for an actual negotiating venue, however. And
on a key issue of the review, the WSIS+10 process relies on multi-stakeholder
involvement, but there are differing views on the extent of multi-stakeholder
engagement. Some, especially the G77+China countries, prefer that governments
lead, while others, notably the large developed economies, insist on
retaining the multi-stakeholder model making all equal. Rise of State Control On the panel, Prof. DeNardis talked about what has changed in 10
years. Now, every aspect of society depends on the internet, she said, and
the function of the internet has changed. The internet is no longer a
communications network. It is now a control network. – Prof. Laura DeNardis.
“The internet is no longer a communications network,” she said. “It is now a
control network,” with many more things connected than just communications
devices. A big question now is how to account for human rights and also have
security, she said, as users have data collected on them, and are subject to
censorship. “Internet governance has become a proxy for state power,” said
DeNardis. Goldstein, a former US negotiator, discussed the terms
“multi-stakeholder” and “multilateral.” The internet was unregulated, but
increasingly states favour a multilateral system, which means an elevated
role for government. The China+G77 submission explicitly calls for a
multilateral model, he said. This issue came to a head at the World Conference on
International Telecommunications (WCIT), held in Dubai in December 2012.
There, said Goldstein, the meeting broke down when the UN International
Telecommunication Union (ITU), which organised the original WSIS, was
elevated to be the body in control of internet governance. Some 89 countries
signed the treaty at the WCIT, while others, including the United States,
walked out. The tension between those two blocs and types of mentality
established three years ago continues today, in the background of the
WSIS+10. It is “quite unlikely” that the upcoming WSIS+10 conference will
resolve those issues, said Goldstein. David Gross was the lead US delegate
for the WSIS, long since back in the private sector. His message on the panel
was one of caution. “We need to be careful not to go on in the way we have,”
he said. Rather, we need to ask a core question: what ought to be the role of
the UN? For him, the role should be taking technology and using it for
the betterment of humanity. But for issues of where discussions should take
place it is not the right place. Internet governance encompasses a whole host
of different issues, and “the world does not lack for places to discuss
these.” “I do not believe [the UN headquarters in New York] is the right
place to have serious … discussions about internet governance,” said Gross.
This is consistent with his position at the WSIS in 2005, when he was
influential in making the IGF a non-negotiating “talk shop” rather than a
place for serious discussions. Gross also said we need to be careful not to
“hide the ball” – making it hard for all to participate – by holding too many
forums that small countries cannot attend or participate in. Jeni Markovski
of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), who
formerly was a negotiator for Bulgaria, said he recalled that the word
“governance” did not translate well into some languages, as it literally
meant “government”. He also recalled earlier discussions that sought to separate
governance OF the internet (such as the technology of moving packets around)
from governance ON the internet. He said there are “so many places”
addressing these issues, that the UN is “yet another place.” ICANN, despite
being a California non-profit corporation that plays a technical role, is
sometimes seen as a competitor to the UN on internet management. It is
considered to be multi-stakeholder with a government advisory committee and
range of business committees. Markovski noted that “the reality is the
majority of people are not online.” He also promoted ICANN as a “very open”
organisation. He further downplayed the issue of moving away from US control
over the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which is responsible for
making changes to the underlying internet. All the US does is check that
ICANN is doing what it is supposed to be doing, he said, so the change would
just mean a single government is no longer doing that. Latvian Amb. Mazeiks, the WSIS+10 co-facilitator, promoted the
UN, saying there is “not one UN,” but rather many specialisations, and there
is an understanding of shared interest. There are differences on how much of
a role governments should play in internet governance, he said. But the UN in
New York is “where small countries send their best diplomats.” The internet
involves much more difficult security issues now. “The discussion should
happen at the UN,” he said. DeNardis said now there is governance OF, ON and
BY governments, via surveillance. This is leading to lack of trust in the
internet. “Don’t take the internet for granted, or the multi-lateral
governance of the internet for granted,” she said. The goal should be keeping
it open. Gross suggested that it is necessary to find ways for people to
gather in virtual ways rather than getting together in person. “This is not diplomatic or academic,” he said. “The world really
depends on how this comes out.” He noted reports that show that freedom on
the internet continues to go downward. Mazeiks said separately that there was
support during the recent WSIS+10 meetings for moving cybersecurity and human
rights issues to other places within the zero draft text. DeNardis noted that
there are a lot of barriers to participation, and that the multi-stakeholder
model is somewhat of an answer to these. Stakeholder Voices On 19 October, a range of stakeholders, seemingly most from
larger economies, took the floor at the UN to voice support or concern for
various issues in the WSIS+10 process. Many mentioned areas they feel are
missing or insufficiently addressed in the draft, such as: culture and
cultural diversity, the needs of people with disabilities, the high cost and
low availability of broadband internet, the need for peaceful cyberspace,
recognition of IT professionals, people with chronic diseases,
regional/community-based development, including women in internet
policymaking, and multilingualism. One participant noted that the words “information
society” are not mentioned once in the 2030 SDGs. From http://www.ip-watch.org/
11/04/2015 ‘Turn
Digital Divides into Digital Opportunities,’ Ban Tells Annual UN Forum on
Internet Governance To cover the “breadth and depth” of the recently adopted
Sustainable Development Goals, the potential of the data revolution must be
explored through the use of new and non-traditional sources of data, United
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed at the 10th annual Internet
Governance Forum (IGF), which opened today in João Pessoa, Brazil. “Less than
two months ago, world leaders adopted the visionary 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development. Our challenge now is to implement this blueprint for
a better future. Information and communications technologies and the Internet
can empower this global undertaking,” said Mr. Ban in his remarks at the Forum,
delivered by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development,
Department of Economic and Social Affairs Lenni Montiel. Mr. Ban observed that there are several challenges in
implementing the Sustainable Development Agenda, including large digital
divides. “People living in poverty, women and girls, children, persons with
disabilities, older persons, indigenous peoples and marginalized, vulnerable
groups lack adequate access to and training in using ICTs and the Internet,”
said the Secretary-General, adding that cyberattacks, cybercrime and issues
related to privacy and surveillance are also issues that need to be
addressed. Mr. Ban urged all stakeholders to “intensify efforts to promote
accessibility, affordability, education and multilingualism by investing in
critical infrastructure and capacity building and by building an open,
reliable, safe, secure, stable and inclusive Internet through multilateral
and multi-stakeholder global partnerships.” He also called for collective
reaffirmation of the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and
interrelation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, both online and
offline. Each year, the United Nations convenes the IGF meeting, through
the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, to bring together various
stakeholders to discuss current and emerging Internet governance issues, as
well as related opportunities and challenges. The IGF is an open, inclusive
and transparent forum for dialogue on public policy issues related to key
elements of Internet governance. It is intended to foster a common
understanding of how to maximize Internet opportunities and address the
challenges that arise. According to a news release issued by the Department
of Economic and Social Affairs, the three-day meetings is expecting some
5,000 attendees, including high-level government officials, civil society
leaders and Internet policy experts, both in-person and online. The news
release also added that “Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering
Sustainable Development” is the overarching theme of this year’s Forum,
focussing on the importance of Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) and the Internet in developmental activities. “Information and Communications Technologies, as a powerful
enabler of sustainable development, can make great contributions to the
implementation of the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda,” noted Mr. Wu
Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. Other
sub-themes that will be addressed in the Forum are Cybersecurity and Trust;
Internet Economy, Inclusiveness and Diversity, Openness; Enhancing
Multi-stakeholder Cooperation, Internet and Human Rights, Critical Internet
Resources and Emerging Issues. “The IGF Platform has contributed towards
efforts at national, regional and international levels to build a cyberspace
that promotes peace and security, enables development and ensure human
rights,” said Mr. Montiel. Further, the Department observed that Agenda 2030 aims to
“significantly increase access to information and communications technology
and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in
least developed countries by 2020.” According to the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), there are more than 7 billion mobile subscriptions
worldwide, compared to only 738 million in 2000. However, ITU estimates that
four billion people in the developing world still remain unconnected despite
making progresses in bridging the digital divide. From http://www.un.org/
11/11/2015 Anti-Corruption
Case Sharing Accelerates Under APEC Network Anti-corruption authorities and law enforcement agencies from
the 21 APEC member economies have stepped up case information exchanges and
begun laying a path toward greater extradition and asset recovery cooperation
under a landmark APEC network. Focal points of the APEC Network of
Anti-Corruption Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies, or ACT-NET, met in
the Philippine port city of Cebu this week—convening for the first time since
the network was established in Beijing last August, led by China, Indonesia
and the United States, and endorsed by President Xi Jinping and fellow APEC
Leaders last November. Together, ACT-NET focal points shared information on
their criminal investigation methods, specific cases and operations currently
underway, and examples of mutual legal assistance. They also detailed
prosecution and asset recovery cases and best practices, as well as explored
areas of possible future cooperation. An ACT-NET Course of Action on Fighting Corruption, Ensuring
Transparency and Promoting Cooperation was proposed by the Philippines which
chaired the ACT-NET meeting, one of a cluster of meetings here this week to
strengthen the technical bandwidth of APEC members to crackdown on corruption
and illicit trade. “It is not possible to win the war against corruption
without deeper collaboration,” underscored Melchor Arthur H. Carandang, the
Philippines’ Overall Deputy Ombudsman and current ACT-NET Chair, in remarks
opening the proceedings. “We need to be united and steadfast in the fight
against corruption as responsible members of the international community.”
“ACT-NET is facilitating increased knowledge sharing and exchanges between
governments, encouraging cooperation on areas of mutual understanding, and
fostering lasting partnerships,” explained Carandang. “We are now pushing for
a multi-sectoral approach that will further engage the private sector, civil
society and our respective governments in anti-corruption initiatives.” Focal points discussed fugitive repatriation and informal
international cooperation, including multilateral task forces, combating
international corruption cases and cross-border law enforcement operations.
Building regional capacity for asset recovery and anti-money laundering was
an additional focus, detailing cases and special operations, as well as
information seeking and step-by-step guides on cross-border cooperation in
bribery cases. Corruption costs economies globally more than USD2.6 trillion
annually, or five per cent of total gross domestic product, according to the
World Bank. It is also estimated to raise the cost of doing business by more
than ten per cent. “A balanced, vibrant and stable socio-economic environment is a
prerequisite for domestic and international investments to thrive, the
foundation of which is anchored on a graft-free economy and a
corruption-intolerant society,” concluded Carandang. “We are confident that
the spirit of good governance and integrity will triumph over the forces that
sow social inequities and economic disparities.” The ACT-NET secretariat
tasked with centrally administering case information shared under the network
will remain in Beijing until further intersessional review by focal points.
The next ACT-NET meeting will take place in and be led by Peru in 2016 during
its year as APEC Chair. From http://www.apec.org/
08/26/2015 |
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CHINA: Tech,
Media, Telecom IPOs to Stall China's technology, media and telecommunication IPOs reached a
new high in the first half of 2015, but the momentum is expected to slow in
the next six months due to capital market fluctuations, according to a report
from PricewaterhouseCoopers on Tuesday. There were 42 Chinese technology,
media and telecommunication IPOs in the first half, an increase of 75 percent
year-on-year, and their financing totaled 22.1 billion yuan ($3.5 billion),
it said. "As we can see, a more streamlined and transparent listing
procedure for IPOs has made the domestic exchanges more attractive. However,
the positive momentum is expected to slow down in the second half of 2015
given the temporary freeze to IPOs by the regulatory body to cope with the
recent significant capital market fluctuations," said Amanda Zhang,
northern China technology industry leader with PwC China. The State Council
ordered the suspension of new share offerings on July 4 after a three-week
stock market collapse. Vincent Cheuk, market leader of Beijing entrepreneur
group and northern China head of the private equity group at PwC China, said:
"The IPO slowdown creates opportunities for private equity companies,
hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds because the financing demand of
enterprises has always been strong." Regarding Chinese technology, media and telecommunication IPOs
in the first half, the report said 30 were made on Shenzhen's ChiNext board
and small and medium-sized enterprise board, nine were made on Shanghai's
main board, and only three were undertaken overseas. The report said the
average price-earnings ratio of Chinese A-share technology, media and
telecommunication companies had been as high as 74 by the end of August 31,
while that by the end of June 30 it had been 115. "In the long run, we
still anticipate significant growth in technology, media and
telecommunication listings on domestic exchanges as a result of the
introduction of the new registration-based system, as well as the
continuation of multi-level capital market reform," said Zhang. She
added that some Chinese technology, media and telecommunication companies
will still choose overseas markets for listing because of their corporate
structure and capabilities, as well as more mature investors in those
markets. Strategic emerging industries, such as technology, media and
telecommunication, have been highlighted as important forces guiding
socioeconomic development since the State Council issued a statement on
accelerating the cultivation and development of strategic emerging industries
on Oct 10, 2010. Today, the emergence and development of a group of
high-growth, tech-innovation companies is ushering in strong demand for
capital market financing, a trend with relevance to the reforms in the
domestic stock market. "Support from the financial system and capital
markets is crucial for the development of startups. The future reform of the
capital market is significant because it will provide a richer financing
channel for innovative companies and in addition, the market's value
discovery function will also ensure there is a strong impetus for
innovation-driven industries," Cheuk said. From http://www.news.cn/
09/09/2015 Government Transparency Aided by the Internet, Report Says The Internet has contributed significantly to making the work of
governmental departments more transparent over the past five years, a report
released today by the China Internet Network Information Center said. The
government turned to the Web to disclose information in a big way from 2011
to 2014, with many departments creating official accounts on social media,
including the popular WeChat messaging app and Weibo micro blogs, the report
said. The report, which reviewed Internet developments and the
industry's influence over the past five years, said the number of government
WeChat accounts now exceeds 100,000 and the number of government
micro-bloggers has reached about 280,000. Additionally, 96 percent of
governmental departments have provided residents with online services,
improving work efficiency and offering more public convenience, the report
said. Departments also started publicizing policies, laws and rules on the
Internet and soliciting public opinion. By the end of 2014, they had reported
receiving more than 120,000 responses, it said. From http://www.news.cn/
10/29/2015 JAPAN:
Defense Ministry to Toughen IT Checks The Defense Ministry has decided to introduce a new inspection
regime on information systems and computer software that it procures to
confirm that the products are safe from cyber-attacks or cyber-espionage. The
ministry will conduct hearings on not only companies that directly deliver
the products but also on the details of subcontractors and companies from
which the suppliers buy parts. The details to be checked include equity
relations, countries of manufacture and nationalities of workers taking part
in the jobs. With the theft of highly confidential information and other
crimes perpetrated by cyber-attacks on the increase, the ministry judged that
controlling supply chain risks (see below) is necessary to prevent the
insertion of programs used for malicious purposes or to alter the original
program in any way. The Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency, which
was established Thursday, will explain the new inspection regime to major
companies that are likely to bid on ministry contracts by the end of this
month at the earliest, and will make guidelines for the inspections by the
end of this fiscal year. The ministry procures about ¥100 billion worth of information
technology products annually. The products are used in command network
systems that relay orders to units of the Self-Defense Forces, systems to
control radar information, and Defense Ministry personnel management systems.
The ministry in principle procured such products through open bidding. There have been only a limited number of cases in which the
ministry arranged special contracts with supplier companies that contained
clauses for protecting secrets and asked the companies to take especially
strict actions against divulging information. In recent years, however,
attention has been paid to the risks of cyber-espionage and subversive
actions targeting IT systems. The United States and some other countries have
toughened controls on procurement of IT system products. It is difficult to find
malicious software in IT system products at the time of delivery. In
addition, supply networks of software products and electronic chips installed
in the products have become increasingly complicated. It is tough for the
ministry to know which countries participate in a given company’s supply
networks. Therefore, the ministry decided on a policy that requires the whole
of a product’s supply network to be checked as a condition for companies to
participate in tenders of defense equipment, after which procurement
contracts are made. The checks will cover the companies’ subcontractors,
sub-subcontractors and companies that supply parts to the contractors.
Because such companies’ costs may surge depending on the range of inspections
and points to be checked, the ministry plans to explain the inspection regime
to six major telecommunication companies and electronics manufacturers this
month. By the end of the fiscal year, the ministry will conduct a test
procurement of IT products under the new regime. “Steps against
cyber-espionage are urgent tasks. Though checks on IT products are essential
from a perspective of national security, Japan’s efforts don’t seem to have
progressed enough,” said Prof. Motohiro Tsuchiya of Keio University, an
expert in security affairs. “Not only the Defense Ministry but also the whole
of the government should reexamine procurement methods.” This phrase refers
to risks that can occur in supply chains from the stage of production of
material goods and services to the stage that the products reach consumers.
Especially in cases of IT products, there is a risk that companies with
insufficient business expertise may enter the supply chain. From http://the-japan-news.com 10/03/2015 Govt
Unveils Members of Dynamic Society Panel The government announced Friday the list of members of a new
panel to discuss ways to create a society enabling dynamic engagement by all
citizens, including television personality Momoko Kikuchi. Kikuchi is among
15 private-sector members of the panel that also include former Internal
Affairs Minister Hiroya Masuda. The list was announced at a news conference
by Katsunobu Kato, minister in charge of the dynamic society project, a new
policy pillar of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Referring to Kikuchi, Kato said,
“In addition to her career as a successful actress and a mother, she is
currently studying at university for her new career.” He expressed hopes that
Kikuchi will make use of her experience during discussions at the panel. The
government plans to hold the first meeting of the panel on Thursday. The
Liberal Democratic Party set up at a General Council meeting Friday a
headquarters to realize a “society with all 100 million-plus people” envisioned
by Abe and named Ichiro Aisawa to head the task force. Aisawa currently
serves as chairman of the Committee on Fundamental National Policies in the
House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet. Meanwhile, the
ruling party replaced Hajime Funada with former Justice Minister Eisuke Mori
as chief of the party’s headquarters for the promotion of constitutional
amendments. From http://the-japan-news.com 10/23/2015 South
Korea Cooperates on Online Gov't Services with Indonesia, Uganda Korea is cooperating with Indonesia and Uganda to develop online
government services in those countries. The Ministry of Government
Administration and Home Affairs and Indonesia's Ministry of Administrative
Reform and Bureaucratic Reform formed their second e-government and
administrative reform joint committee and signed a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) to establish and manage the Korea-Indonesia e-Government
Cooperation Center in Jakarta on Aug. 24. Under the agreement, the two
nations plan to open the online government services center in February and
jointly manage it over the next three years, until December 2018. The
main purpose of the center is to establish master plans to develop online
government services in Indonesia and to develop other joint projects, to
exchange technology and human resources to build online government services
capacity, and to consult with Indonesian government agencies on related laws
and the overall system. The two nations also intend to hold a vice
minister-level meeting of the e-government cooperation committee once every
year and to discuss how to manage the center. Uganda intends to introduce an online procurement system in 2016
and 2017 and to use Narajangteo as a benchmark in order to establish its own
strategy on how to build such a system. Every procurement procedure is
processed online through the Narajangteo website, and procurement notices of
all public institutions are published on the site. Companies can register
once and then bid for government procurement proposals. The system was
designed to reduce the time and expense at both public institutions and
companies, and to make the procurement process more
transparent. "Tunisia, Cameroon and Rwanda recently adopted
Narajangteo and interest in the system is spreading all around Africa,"
said an official from the Public Procurement Office. "We intend to
further reinforce cooperation on online procurement with African
nations." From http://www.korea.net/
08/28/2015 |
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THE Invention Development Fund (IDF) has announced the
establishment of a new Technology Development Centre (TDC) in “ Focus for The TDC in Looking to partner startups The TDC in From https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ CAT TELECOM has announced that it will proceed with the plan to
build a national Internet gateway, which it claims would help make Meanwhile, to expand capacity and reduce costs, all
international Internet gateway (IIG) providers would have to collaborate in
forecasting future demand and crafting Internet network investment plans.
Such collaboration would not only reduce investment duplication, it would
also reduce the cost of IIG traffic, he said. The combined current capacity
of TOT's and CAT Telecom's IIG networks will be able to support demand for
only the next five years. He said Joint efforts ICT Minister Uttama Savayana said TOT and CAT would need to
discuss implementing some of the projects together, including those involving
international undersea cables and nationwide underground cables. Suphachai
Chearavanont, president of the Telecommunications Association of Thailand,
said that to transform the country into a regional digital hub it would be
necessary to create land-based cable links connecting From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ Vietnamese government has officially launched its Facebook pages
as part of an e-government plan which aims at introducing all government's
public services on the internet by the end of 2016. The pages, Thong tin
Chinh phu (Government Information) and Dien dan Canh tranh Quoc gia (National
Competitiveness Forum) will publish information on government activities and
instructions. With the first status posted on Oct. 3, the page "Thong
tin Chinh phu," which is on trial run, received nearly 24,500 likes as
of Wednesday night. Vietnamese Minister of Health was the first cabinet
member of From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ Ministry's
IT Skill Standards Expected to Improve The information and technology (IT) skill standards introduced
by the Ministry of Information and Communications will help training centres,
employers and employees evaluate the competency of IT staff, experts have
said.In May, the ministry issued a decree outlining skill standards for
professional staff in the IT sector, which took effect in June. According to
the ministry, the country needs about 1 million IT staff by 2020.The
standards relate to the database, network system, system management,
information security, software design and development.According to the
ministry, the standards are knowledge and skills that IT staff must master in
order to perform tasks.This is expected to narrow the disparity in quality
among training centres and schools, which has caused difficulties for
employers during the recruitment process.The ministry also expects the move
to allow certifications granted by domestic and international training
centres to be mutually recognised.Participants at a workshop aimed at
speeding along the application process agreed that the standards would help
improve IT staff performance, and would in turn allow staff to catch up with
their counterparts around the world, Viet Nam Economics Times reported on
Tuesday. Dr. Nguyen Phuong Thai from the University of Technology within
Ha Noi National University said the university was applying standards through
a Japanese IT association.He said the university also co-operated with IT
companies to help students take tests to earn international IT certificates,
which tend to be useful during job applications.A representative from Posts
and Telecommunications Institute of Technology said at the workshop that
current training programmes at universities and colleges across the country
helped develop IT skills to a degree.However, lessons to develop the skills
were primarily based on specific projects or job requirements, instead of
being systematic.Last month, at Tech Insider Expo 2015 – the biggest IT event
of the year in Viet Nam - employers said it was hard to find enough qualified
candidates. They said the biggest weakness of Vietnamese IT staff was
English-language competency. Pham ThiXuanNguyet, head of CSC Group's Human Resource
Department, said many graduates failed to meet employers' requirements
because they lacked experience, English language skills and knowledge about
their expertise.Ho Dinh Minh Tam, Nguyet's counterpart in Lazada Vietnam,
said there is a gap between what students learned at schools and what
employers required.She said students in many universities still practised
with outdated software programmes while the IT world underwent drastic
changes.Truong GiaBinh, president of the Viet Nam Software and IT Service
Association, said the IT human resource shortage is not a new problem in Viet
Nam, but it has worsened."The problem lies not only in the number, but
also the quality of IT human resource," he said.There are about 32,000
IT graduates in Viet Nam each year, but only 9,000 graduates are able to meet
employers' requirements, and about 3,000 graduates have acceptable English
competency. From http://vietnamnews.vn/ Vietnamese
PM's Viewpoint on Internet The Internet is a great invention of mankind. Thanks to its
inception, the world has made a gigantic stride, gaining exceptional
achievements in almost all fields, sailing the world through agriculture
civilization to a new era of globalization and knowledge economy development.
It was November 19, 1997 when It is regretful that the information is sometimes read, shared
and dispersed, causing negative social effects and consequences. I believe
that the Internet is not only a technological environment, a business
environment or a connectivity environment but also an important environment
for culture and education, which affects personality development and
contributes to shaping the future culture of humankind. This is also an
important condition to enhance openness and transparency, contribute to
ensuring the rights to democracy-freedom, human rights, and civil rights in a
progressive, law-governed State in which all power belongs to people. Thus,
building a cultural and humane Internet environment is what we are working on
together. I called on all people to act as the citizens with high sense of
responsibility when using social network in particular and the Internet in
general. Information, images and data should be uploaded responsibly and
shared with high sense of responsibility. “Internet citizens” should join
hands in fighting for the reason, fairness and elevated values so as to
establish, maintain and develop a civilized Internet environment in Pending the global-level technical solutions and law on Internet
security, the aforesaid Ethics Code of Conduct for Cyber Peace and Security
is necessary. Every Vietnamese citizen should work together with people
around the world to build a Clean and Pure Internet environment. Harmful,
unverified and unreliable information should not be uploaded and dispersed;
vulgar words should not be used in articles, pictures, comments or
conversations on the Internet to dehumanize people. Information technology
experts need to uphold their responsibility, not to lend a hand to technology
crime, not to disperse virus, not to take part in cyber-attacks and
cyber-terrorism, etc. We should not only uphold our responsibility to perform
well domestically but also mobilize foreign friends through Internet
connections to join this event. The Government of Vietnam affirms that it
protects citizens, organizations, businesses, trade names of The Internet is growing as a driving force for development but
it still needs and must be a Clean and Pure environment. From http://english.vietnamnet.vn/ Two information centers for the results of Myanmar's upcoming
Nov. 8 general election will be launched in Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw
respectively for two weeks starting from the election day, an official of the
Union Election Commission (UEC) told a press conference in Nay Pyi Taw
Tuesday.The two information centers to be opened at Yangon's Myanmar Peace
Center and Nay Pyi Taw's Office of the UEC will release the election results
obtained from polling stations nationwide daily until it is officially announced
by the UEC, based on the results submitted by the sub-commissions region or
state-wise, Director General of the UEC U Tin Tun said.The nationwide
eligible voters' list will be publicized on Nov.2 , he added.The press
conference also dealt with the status of advance voting of overseas Myanmar
citizens.The election campaigning by political parties and candidates have
been in full swing since it started on Sept. 8 and is set to end on Nov. 6,
two days before the election day.A total of 6,065 candidates involving 91
political parties and 310 independent runners will compete for seats in
parliament in the upcoming general election. The commission designated 1,163
constituencies for the vote at three levels of the parliament across the
country, namely the House of Representatives (Lower House), the House of
Nationalities (Upper House), the Region or State Parliament which also
involves ethnic representatives.There are 32 million eligible voters in the
country, according to the commission's revised figures. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 10/27/2015 |
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INDIA:
Govt to Set Up National Fingerprint Database of Criminals The government will reportedly set up a national fingerprints
database of convicts and arrested criminals soon. The database will be set up
by the Ministry of Home Affairs by collating records from all the states and
union territories. It will facilitate speedy identification of offenders,
According to report, the government has decided to integrate the records of
the state agencies and make them part of the national database. The National
Informatics Centre is reportedly creating a ‘cloud’ for this integration. The
integration of all data available with the Central Finger Print Bureau (CPFB)
would help police and investigators anywhere in the country get finger print
data of any criminal on real time basis. The Ministry of Home Affairs is also
planning to integrate the fingerprint database with other biometric
techniques like digital images, palm prints and auxiliary biometric like Iris
records in future, according to report. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 08/27/2015 PM Modi Reviews Projects via ICT-Based ‘PRAGATI’ Platform Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired his fifth interaction
through PRAGATI, the ICT-based, multi-modal platform for pro-active
governance and timely implementation. In course of his review, the Prime
Minister expressed concern at the grievances relating to post offices. Noting
that postal services are vital for the poorest sections of society, he
directed the Department of Posts to work towards improvement in service
delivery, especially in areas such as payment of policy benefits, money
orders, postal savings accounts, and delay in delivery of post. The Prime
Minister reviewed the progress of key infrastructure projects in the Railway,
Road, Power, Telecommunication and Agri-Infrastructure sectors, spread over
several states including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand, Odisha,
Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan,
Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. He also reviewed the Western Dedicated
Freight Corridor and Chennai Metro Rail. The Prime Minister urged speeding up of work for early
completion of the projects. Modi also reviewed the scheme for provision of
mobile services in Left Wing Extremism affected areas. Emphasising that
mobile connectivity was extremely essential for the common man, particularly
in backward areas, he urged all concerned states to accelerate implementation
of the scheme. The Prime Minister was given a demonstration of the progress
of the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) scheme,
through live video conferencing with three police stations in Assam, Uttar
Pradesh and Karnataka. He called for enhancing both the level of sophistication,
and the speed of implementation of this scheme across the country. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 08/27/2015 Digital India to Hinge on eGovernance, Agree Experts With a view to accelerate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital
India initiative, IT Secretaries from across the India recently showcased a
number of innovative and transformative initiatives on IT and eGovernance
undertaken in their respective States to serve the citizens. The officials
had gathered at a workshop on ‘UN e-Government Development Index’, organised
by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG),
along with UNDP, held in New Delhi. DARPG stressed on strengthening
eGovernance, as it is an important pillar of Digital India campaign and it
will play a vital role to digitally empower the administrative and governance
processes for providing citizen-centric services. Inaugurating the workshop,
DARPG Secretary Devendra Chaudhury highlighted the importance of process
change, which can be effectively enabled by IT tools and consequential
changes in approach to eGovernance as a business model similar to eCommerce. A key focus of the workshop was to understand the United Nations
eGovernment Survey, which assesses eGovernment development across all 193
member states. The Survey, launched in 2003, has three components – Telecom
Infrastructure Index, Human Capital Index and Online Services Index. The
workshop featured presentations by four States—Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh—on innovative eGovernance initiatives
launched by them to improve service delivery to citizens. Karnataka
eGovernance Secretary Srivatsa Krishna made a presentation focusing on
citizen services being provided through their MobileOne platform, while
representative from Andhra Pradesh presented his views on a public grievance
redressal system known as ‘Meekosam’. Uttar Pradesh shared its experience on
IT and eGovernance initiatives aimed at creating a conducive environment for
eGovernance including fiscal incentives and ‘Citizen First’ programme, and
Himachal Pradesh came up with an online application system to register
complaints. Yuri Afanasiev, UN Resident Coordinator & Resident Representative
of the United Nations Development Programme, speaking on the occasion
commended the Indian government on its ambitious plan to transform governance
and provide citizen-centric services. “eGovernance is like building a house.
Build a strong foundation and everything works.” The UN official, pointed out, “The key challenge for the country
is to deliver services to the last mile population, removing the digital
divide, towards improving the quality of their lives.” Acknowledging India’s
progress in digital governance, Richard Kerby, Inter-Regional Adviser on
eGovernment with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said that
eGovernment has to be a part of the national development strategy and
sustainable development. “While open data is key to empowering people, it
should support a bottom-up approach, with citizens contributing to the data
collection process equally with governments,” Kerby added. Meanwhie,
Additional Secretary of the Department of Electronics and IT, Tapan Ray,
stressed on the need to integrate efforts across governments to achieve the
vision of a digitally empowered India. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 08/28/2015 DIPP
Becomes First Govt Department to Have Cashless Transactions With the implementation of an electronic payment system, the
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has become the first
government department to have 100 percent cashless transcations. “DIPP
emerges as the first Department of GOI (Government of India) to implement the
system of 100 per cent receipt and payments in an electronic/cashless
manner,” the department informed via twitter. The move, which is part of the
government’s efforts to encourage use of plastic money, would help in
improving ease of doing business in the country. Currently, India is ranked
142nd among 189 nations in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2015
study. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 08/28/2015 ‘Delhi
Police One Touch Away’ Mobile App Launched Delhi Police has launched trial version of a new mobile
application, “Delhi Police One Touch Away”. The app has brought together all
its earlier launched apps and links to the websites of its specialised units
under one common platform. The app was launched by Delhi Police Commissioner
B S Bassi. “It is being launched on trial basis. With the help of this app,
we aim to reduce public inconvenience and dissatisfaction with police
functioning,” Bassi said. Currently, it is available for only Android users.
An official statement said the user-friendly mobile app “not only provides
contact details of police officers (dealing with the public) but also has
provision to disseminate information (documents, photographs, audio or video)
to various predefined groups in police”. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/01/2015 India
Favours Multi-stakeholder Model of Internet Governance India favours multi-stakeholder model of internet governance
mechanisms, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology said in an
official statement. The Ministry held
consultations last week with a view to preserve the character of the
Internet as a unified, dynamic engine for innovation and to encourage equity
and inclusion. The multi-stakeholder consultation attended by academia,
business, civil society, technical community and government discussed issues
for enhancing the accountability of the Internet Corporation Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN). Many stakeholders appreciated the transition of Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions from the U.S. Commerce
Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA) to the Global Multi-stakeholder Community as a positive development.
The meeting concluded with a call to all stakeholders to participate actively
in all global processes keeping in mind the perspectives of the Indian
communities. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/09/2015 PM
Pitches for Utmost Use of Space Technology in Governance Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged Department of Space to
pro-actively engage with all stakeholders to maximise the use of space
science in governance and development.
“Subsequently, Cabinet Secretary has asked all Secretaries of all
Central Ministries/ Departments to assess the current utilisation of Space
technology-based tools in their Ministry/Department and explore new potential
application areas,” an official statement said. Further, in order to hold
proactive interactions with the Central Ministries, 18 expert teams were
constituted within ISRO. These teams conducted one-to-one interactions with
the Ministries/ Departments and joint action plan on “Effective Use of Space
Technology” was prepared with 60 Central Ministries/Departments. “About 170
projects across various Ministries/Departments have emerged in the areas of
Natural Resources Management, Energy & Infrastructure, Disaster &
Early Warning, Communication & Navigation, e-Governance & Geo-spatial
Governance, Societal Services and Support to Flagship programmes.,” the
statement added. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/07/2015 PM
Modi Asks Departments to Form ‘Technology Cell’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all departments to form a
‘technology cell’ where the youth with scientific temper can work for the
promotion of technology. Emphasising upon the need of using space technology
for the benefit of common man, the Prime Minister said, “No space should be
left between the common man and the space technology. Technology is a driving
force with huge impact.” He was addressing the National Meet on “Promoting
Space Technology based Tools and Applications in Governance &
Development” at a function organised in New Delhi. The one-day National Meet
provided an opportunity for interaction amongst ministries/departments and
state governments towards enhanced utilisation of the space technology in
governance and development. Various areas were identified for the use of
space technology including environment impact assessment, forest fire alert
system, GIS-based infrastructure planning, mapping of protected areas &
coastal zones, asset management, satellite communication for remote regions,
countryside DTH coverage through expansion of private channel network served
by additional satellite transponders, tele-education, etc. Modi also called
for “Start-up India, Stand-up India” initiative to be implemented with regard
to science. He appealed to the youth with scientific temper for “start-up” in
the field of technology. S. Kiran Kumar, Secretary, Department of Space said
that the space technology can be useful for the flagship programmes of the
Government including Digital India and Clean Ganga Mission. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/08/2015 Three new mobile-based services for EPF members namely Mobile
Application, SMS-based UAN Activation and Missed Call service have been
launched in Hyderabad.Bandaru Dattatraya, Minister of State for Labour &
Employment (Independent Charge) launched the services. “By downloading the
new mobile application from the EPFO website, www.epfindia.gov.in the members
would be able to activate their UAN accounts from the comfort of their mobile
phones and can also access their accounts for viewing their monthly credits
through the passbook as well view their details available with EPFO,”
Ministry of Labour & Employment said in an official release.Similarly,
the EPF pensioners have been given the facility to access their pension disbursement
details through this mobile app. likewise the employer can also view their
remittance details.The SMS-based UAN activation service which enables members
to activate their accounts by sending an SMS to 7738299899 thus further
making the activation process easy. Once activated, the member becomes
eligible to all services envisaged in UAN programme such as credit alerts,
passbook etc. This new service is especially helpful to such members who may
not have easy access to computers or smart phones.EPFO has already in place a
Short Code SMS service which has enabled the members in knowing their details
along with contribution and PF Balance through an SMS at 7738299899. As an
extension to this service, the Missed Call service is intended to further
ease the process since only a missed call at 01122901406, at no cost to the
member, would provide all the envisaged details. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/17/2015 Ministry
of Law & Justice Develops Web App for Monitoring Court Cases As part of the e-Governance initiative, the Ministry of Law
& Justice has developed web-based application – Legal Information
Management & Briefing System (LIMBS) for managing and monitoring all
court cases in which Government of India is a party. The application
facilitates information related to all court/tribunal cases being handled by
the various Ministries/Departments and other government organisations. Also,
this application caters to a wide range of requirements for various
departments and administrative authorities for effective monitoring of court
matters. “LIMBS is very
user-friendly and capable of producing various sets of customised MIS reports
which are required for effective monitoring. It also provides timely reminder
alerts though SMS,” Ministry of Law & Justice said. Union Law & Justice Minister Shri D.V.Sadananda Gowda said
that several Ministries/Departments have already begun the process of
uploading data. In a letter, the minister has requested his Cabinet
colleagues to instruct their respective ministry officials to use the
application. He has also offered requisite training and guidance and any
other related assistance to the officials for uploading information. Ministry
of Law & Justice has developed the single web-based application in
consultation with the Ministry of Railways and National Informatics Centre
(NIC). From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/22/2015 IAS
Recruits to Suggest Ways to Ease Governance IAS officers have been given the deadline of 30th November to
come up with ideas on simplifying at least two processes of the government.
The step has been taken as Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to conduct a
feedback session on completion of their three-month stint at the Centre. This
lot of 170 officers, who are on deputation at the Centre before they head for
the first state postings, are being kept on their toes during the training as
part of an idea mooted by the PM. Over the past one month, the Department of
Personnel and Training (DoPT) has issued as many as 99 orders on how they
should go about their work. However, they can fall back on three senior
secretaries, who have been appointed as chief mentors. The chief mentors
include Rajiv Mehrishi, Home Secretary; Mohan Kumar, Defence Secretary and
Sindhushree Khullar, Chief Executive, NITI Aayog. The 52 ministries and
departments, where the young IAS officers have been posted as assistant secretaries,
have been divided into four clusters – social, economic, infrastructure and
regulatory. These have been assigned to Jugal Mohapatra, Secretary, Rural
Development; A C Duggal, Secretary, Finance Services; Amitabh Kant,
Secretary, Dept of Industrial Policy & Promotion and Sanjay Kothari,
Secretary, DoPT, respectively. All four of them have been tasked with meeting
every 15 days to keep an eye on the performance of the assistant secretaries.
As per a concept paper on the exercise being undertaken for the first time,
“The time spent with the Central Government will help the officers acquire a
national perspective and a deeper appreciation of harmonisation of
diversities in national policies.” Before the session with the PM, each of
the officers will be required to prepare a ‘Paper on Innovation’ or ‘Process
re-engineering to improve functioning of the Government of India’, along with
identifying at least two processes for simplification and compiling the
guidelines or norms pertaining to their desk. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/24/2015 Govt
Shifts to E-Publishing of Gazette Notifications The government has stopped physical printing of Government of
India’s Gazette Notifications and introduced e-publishing of the same,
putting an end to the long wait for the important documents. The government’s
printing press is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Urban
Development. Gazette Notification is an important legal requirement to
validate, authenticate and to make effective various kinds of Laws, Acts,
Rules, Orders and Government decisions. All user groups had to wait for a few
months for copies of such notifications as physical printing of the same was
a time taking exercise. The Ministries and Departments of government used to
submit their Gazette publication requirements to the Government Printing
Presses where the work of typesetting, printing and publishing was
undertaken. “Seeking to end such delays, Ministry of Urban Development has
directed the Department of Publication to stop physical printing and switch
over to e-publishing of all Gazette Notifications on its official website
http://www.egazette.nic.in within five days of receipt of the same from
respective ministries and departments,” an official release said. The records
for the gazette will be maintained by the department for all future
references. User groups and citizens can download and print all Gazette
Notifications free of charge. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/09/2015 Governance on Cloud 9
Cloud computing has emerged as a powerful tool to empower
Government to improve citizen-centric services by adopting ultra-modern
technology. It’s easy to access, it’s cost-effective, it’s flexible to one’s
requirements. Besides, Cloud technology is also generating lakhs of jobs for
the skilled youth. Vishwas Dass of Elets News Network
(ENN) writes about the status of Cloud Computing in India as also
elsewhere. With technological advancements happening day in and day out,
governments across the globe have been trying to harness latest technologies
to improve and strengthen citizen-centric services and their delivery. In
this context, Cloud Computing has emerged as one of the landmark innovations
in the digital landscape that has changed the way corporate firms and
governments deliver services. Cloud Computing, which facilitates IT services
to Cloud users with greater reliability, flexibility and scalability, has a
huge potential for usage in the field of eGovernance and rural development in
developing countries like India. The importance of this technology can be understood by the fact
that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s many technology-driven projects like
‘Digital India’ and ‘100 Smart Cities’ heavily rely on Cloud Computing,
which has also helped education, health, banking, financial services and
insurance (BFSI) sectors immensely in improving their services. According to
reports, India Inc has pledged `4.5 lakh crore for Digital India, which can
create over 18 lakh jobs in the country. Revolution in sky. The Cloud has literally brought revolution by
offering solutions to store and share data. It is Cloud Computing which has
empowered governments to roll out e-services like payment of property tax,
drinking water, electricity, registration of land records and building plan
approval, among others, to help people deposit taxes at the click of a mouse.
eGovernance services to customers, businesses and even to the agencies
themselves have made a huge impact on The Cloud is all set to transform the way we do business and
grow on the digital platform. Cloud Computing in all likelihood is going to
be a boon for the small to medium size businesses (SMBs), which employ 40 per
cent of the overall workforce and are growing at a rate of eight per cent per
year. According to another report, if all SMBs in India were to adopt Cloud
Computing, the market could reach USD56 billion, creating additional 1.1
million jobs in the near future. Adoption of IT technology is often
considered an expensive affair and the myth is that it requires purchase
of hardware, software, modern networks and manpower to operate. On the
contrary, it is simple and cost-effective for SMBs to run IT solutions by
having an account with a Cloud Computing service provider. Cloud solutions
help SMEs implement technology quicker to gain competitive advantage. Cloud
is also giving a thrust to India’s economy by creating more jobs in India.
Many believe that if the Cloud market continues to expand in India, job
prospects would also go up conspicuously. It is believed that this year
alone, Cloud Computing will create over two million jobs. Consulting firm
Zinnov has come out with a study that projects that Cloud Computing market in
India will reach USD4.5 billion by the year-end. The situation can be gauged by the fact that many multinational
companies in India have shelved their plans of developing their own
Cloud-based solutions and instead of this bidding for Cloud Computing service
providers because of requirement of the whopping funds. Real-time governance
When asked, Prashant Choudhary, Senior Director, Sales – State Government and
PSU, CA Technologies, said that the Government departments can immensely
benefit by Cloud Computing. “This technology can change the way IT services
are delivered and realise benefits ranging from reduced costs, improved
organisational agility and transformation in overall service delivery. It can
be used to facilitate eGovernance in real-time. Choudhary asserted that Cloud technology should be used
extensively by the Governments to transform key citizen-centric services. “A
number of large scale enterprises have committed to set up Cloud-based data
centers in India in the near future. If reports are to be believed, the surge
in Internet penetration backed by the Digital India initiative is likely to
attract USD17 billion investment in the next three to four years in “Cloud effects everyone today, ranging from an average user to
large-scale enterprises. Cloud-based technologies remain at the heart of most
discussions pertaining the technological transformation enterprises are
undergoing,” Sajan Paul, Director Systems Engineering – From
http://egov.eletsonline.com/ 10/10/2015 ePragati:
Andhra Hits New High in eGovernance Ever since the launch of Central Government’s ‘Digital India’
programme, states are vying to showcase their digital initiatives, but with
the launch of largest eGovernance programme ‘ePragati’, the Andhra Pradesh
Government has become the first State in the country to have Enterprise
Architecture for providing integrated services to the citizens, writes Arpit
Gupta of Elets News Network (ENN). The Government of Andhra Pradesh, under
the leadership of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, has set another
benchmark by launching ePragati, an enterprise digital platform that aims to
bring together 745 services offered by 33 departments and more than 315
government agencies in the State. The objective of ePragati is using technology
to transform governance. Chief Minister Naidu launched the novel initiative
ePragati recently in Visakhapatnam to provide an integrated ‘One Governance’
system, which is citizen-centric, transparent and effective. ePragati – the
AP State Enterprise Architecture – is a comprehensive framework for
implementing eGovernance holistically and provide integrated services to the
citizens covering all departments of the government. Based on the Open Group
Architecture Framework, it has been developed by IT giant Wipro Technologies
at an estimated cost of Rs 2,398 crore. Speaking at the launch of ePragati, Naidu said, “ePragati is an
action plan for IT revolution. The project is aimed to bring together 745
Government-to-Businesses, Government-to-Citizens, Government-to-Employees and
Government-to-Government services offered by 33 departments and 315
government agencies. We will come up with an iconic IT building in
Visakhapatnam like that of HITEC City in Hyderabad.” The project is envisaged
to be implemented in three phases and set for completion by December 2017.
The first phase will comprise three packages, namely core governance,
agriculture and education, and the services will be available by early
November. The Chief Minister also released a detailed vision document of
ePragati project during the launching ceremony. “ePragati will place Andhra
Pradesh globally among the top governments implementing eGovernance. AP will
set a role model for other states in the country’s IT sector. The aim of the
Government is to make at least one person e-literate (tech savvy) in each
family,” said IT Minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy. “ePragati is a huge digital dream and digital roadmap for public
sector transformation. It is a mega project the eGovernance sector as the
vision and size is so huge, including the budget. It is also like a lifecycle
approach that accommodates life and each event of citizen, including birth,
health, career, development, death, etc.,” said Advisor to Government J
Satyanarayana. IT Minister Raghunatha Reddy, HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao,
Panchayat Raj Minister Ch Ayyanna Patrudu, Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao,
IT Advisor J Satyanarayana and NASSCOM President R Chandrashekhar were
present on the occasion. ePragati is a comprehensive framework for implementing
eGovernance holistically and provide integrated services to the citizens
covering all departments of the government. Besides, heads of multi-national
companies from IT industry, such as Cisco President Dinesh Malkani, Oracle
Managing Director Sailender Kumar, Wipro Chief Executive Officer Soumitro
Ghosh, Cyinet Founder Chairman BVR Mohan Reddy and Tata Consultancy Services
(TCS) Vice-President V Rajanna, also attended the event. It aims for a transformational change in the way government
services are conceived, designed, delivered and consumed. The public private
partnership (PPP) has been designed as a tool to provide integrated services
to its citizens by adopting a Whole-of-Government approach. It seeks to enhance the Quality of Life by deploying the
cutting-edge technologies, including SMAC, in various sectors like
Agriculture, Education, Healthcare, Construction, Skill Development, and
Urban and Rural Development. It forms the basic IT Fabric that supports the 7
Developmental Missions comprising the Sunrise AP. It realises the goal of
establishing One Government, by adopting the best principles of Enterprise.
Architecture, like establishing shared infrastructure and applications,
enforcing technology standards, ensuring interoperability through the use of
a SOA-based middleware called eHighway. It includes 72 projects, made into 14
packages for ease of implementation over the next 3 years, at a cost of Rs
2,398 crore. With the launch of ePragati project, several IT firms, including
HP and Cisco, along with NASSCOM, have unveiled their plans for the State.
Neelam Dhawan, Managing Director, HP India. We are looking at developing an
innovation hub in Andhra Pradesh in order to encourage entrepreneurship. We
are all set to partner with the State Government and sign an MoU with the
latter soon to offer services in health and education. HP India is planning
to establish as many as four e-health centres and 10 mobile health centres to
bring specialist doctors from urban areas to patients in rural areas. Cloud
technology and Internet will be used by the computer manufacturer to connect
patients with doctors. We are planning to set up a Centre of Excellence (CoE)
over a stretch of 5 km to nurture and boost local talent. Tentatively, the
Centre of Excellence is likely to be established in Vijayawada. It will help
people innovate for IoT (Internet of Things). We are committed to help Andhra
Pradesh become a knowledge and technological hub of India and realise the
vision of ‘Sunrise Andhra Pradesh’. Cisco India would also connect about
5,000 students in the government schools with some of the best teachers
worldwide. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/12/2015 AP
Shows the Way in eGovernance While Andhra Pradesh has already earned a reputation of being
the leader in eGovernance, it is growing leaps and bounds through its latest
e-initiatives setting milestones, writes Sudheer Goutham of Elets News
Network (ENN). Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu,
presides over an eCabinet meeting. Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N
Chandrababu Naidu, is widely acclaimed for his vision in creating the fastest
growing IT hub of the country — ‘HITEC City’ in Hyderabad. The CM, with greater
zeal and experience, is now going in a big way to develop cities like Vizag,
Vijaywada and Tirupati, on similar lines, with more emphasis on
Vishakhapatnam as an IT hub. In the process of achieving the vision of
transforming Andhra Pradesh into the most advanced technology hub of the
country, the State Government has recorded many firsts in eGovernance within
a short span of a year. Some of the notable ICT initiatives of the State are as follows:
eCabinet. While Andhra Pradesh has already topped in recording highest number
of e-transactions across the country, it has also created a niche in the
country as the most advanced and technology-driven State by conducting the
first ever eCabinet meeting. Now, such eCabinets are being conducted
regularly. eCabinetThe Chief Minister and his colleagues held the first
eCabinet meeting in September 2014, which involved no papers related to the
agenda as in the conventional Cabinet proceedings. Only tablets and
electronic devices were used in the proceedings, where the Cabinet members
electronically noted minutes of the meeting, suggestions and remarks were
keyed in and power-point presentations were made and they eventually emerged
as paperless politicians. “Agenda of the meeting was accessed in their
devices through an app called eCabinet. The data is password protected and
cannot be shared or viewed by others. The electronic files that need sharing
are hosted on a file-sharing system using File Cloud tool,” said Dr Ratnakar
Jauhari, CEO, eGovernance Authority, AP Government. Before the first eCabinet meeting was conducted, the ministers
were acquainted with eCabinet app on its login and file-sharing features.
Andhra Pradesh became the first State in India to conceive and execute
state-wide enterprise architecture – Andhra Pradesh State Enterprise
Architecture (APSEA) or ePragati. Designed at an estimated cost of 2,358
croreRs., APSEA is a comprehensive architecture to leverage the latest
advances in eGovernance tools. “This will become a model in Government Enterprise
Architecture in India,” said N Chandrababu Naidu during a media interaction.
ePragatiThe project is aimed at bringing together 745 G2B (Government to
Business), G2C (Government to Citizens), G2E (Government to Employees) and
G2G (Government to Government) services offered by 33 departments and more
than 300 government agencies. “The main objective of ePragati is to move away
from the piecemeal approach and provide an integrated ’One Governance’ that
will be citizen- centric, transparent and effective,” said GS Phani Kishore,
Special Secretary, IT Department, AP Government. Entrusted the ground work to IT giant Wipro, the ambitious
project is going on since January this year. As many as 72 projects of
various departments of similar nature such as welfare departments, land
management, tourism, industries, etc., are grouped under 14 packages. The
project is envisaged to be implemented in three phases and set for completion
by December 2017. eOffice product, pioneered by the National Informatics
Centre (NIC), aims at supporting governance by using more effective and
transparent inter and intra-government processes. “eOffice is the unique
initiative in From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/12/2015 Punjab
Vows to Make mGovernance Effective Government-of-PunjabChief Secretary of Punjab, Sarvesh Kaushal
recently laid emphasis on making ‘Mobile Governance’ more effective and
citizen-friendly, besides ensuring the data and financial security. While
inaugurating a day-long conference on ‘Mobile Governance and e-Governance
Competency Framework (eGCF)’ for government officials, the Chief Secretary
said that for the last seven years, Punjab has been at the forefront of
e-Governance initiatives and has pioneered itself in the mGovernance. “Punjab
Government is making concerted efforts to ensure acceptability of new tools
of mGovernance amongst the masses by focusing on data and financial
security,” said Kaushal. The Chief Secretary sought officials’ participation
to popularise eGovernance tools among the people and said the task can be
fulfilled by ensuring transparency and quick delivery. Kaushal in his address
also stressed on importance eGovernance Competency Framework to build
adequate and relevant capacities at all levels. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/17/2015 Govt
Discusses Multi-stakeholder Approach to Internet Governance In pursuance of its commitment towards multi-stakeholder
approach to internet governance and as part of the series of ongoing
multi-stakeholder discussions, the government held consultations over the
approach. “The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY)
in collaboration with the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)
conducted a multi-stakeholder consultation to discuss the Zero Draft,” the
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said in an official
release. The consultation was held in relation to the ongoing overall review
by the General Assembly of the implementation of the outcomes of the World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+10 Review). The review process will
be concluded by a High-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on December
15-16 in New York. Currently, the United Nations is facilitating a preparatory
process for the WSIS+10 Review in consultation with Member States and relevant
stakeholders. The main aim of the meeting is to conduct a ten year review of
the WSIS outcomes documents, as envisaged in Paragraph 111 of the Tunis
Agenda, 2005. The meeting was attended by stakeholders from business, civil
society, government, academia and technical community, and also some remote
participation. The discussion touched upon issues related to the priorities
for India at the global level inter alia digital divide, ICT for development,
human rights, Internet Governance, Enhanced Cooperation and follow up, review
and implementation of WSIS action lines. “The inputs from the stakeholder
will be taken into account to develop India’s position on overall WSIS +10
review process,” the ministry said. The discussion was concluded with a call
for Indian stakeholders to actively participate in the WSIS+10 Review
process. From http://egov.eletsonline.com/ 10/19/2015 Govt
Reduces Spend on Print Ads, Pushes for Digital Ads Online advertisingThere has been a drop in advertisements
released to print publication by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual
Publicity (DAVP) in order to boost digital medium. This was further confirmed
by Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the Minister of State for Information and
Broadcasting, at the fourth edition of CII’s Big Picture Summit. Rathore
said, “The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that government
advertisements to print publications should be reduced while increasing
digital ads.” According to reports, every department within the central
government has been asked to increase spends on digital media. From http://egov.eletsonline.com/ 10/19/2015 Environment
Ministry Launches New Website on National Clean Development Mechanism
Authority A new website - http://www.ncdmaindia.gov.in has been launched
by the National Clean Development Mechanism Authority (NCDMA) in the Ministry
of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. The new website, launched last
Friday, will capture the entire life cycle of CDM Projects. With step, the
Ministry has taken another step in applying the principles of e-governance.
The on-line uploading of project related information in a module wise pattern
will help to capture the entire life cycle of CDM projects. It will also
enable monitoring of the projects at different stages. This web-based
application will promote transparency in operation and monitor sustainable
development activities relating to the CDM projects in the country. It will
be the first such web-based application developed globally in this direction.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change, Shri Ashok Lavasa, appreciated the initiative to further
streamline the working of India’s National CDM Authority. The NCDMA is
reckoned as one of the most efficient and pro-active Designated National
Authority (DNA). Shri Lavasa recalled that the National Clean Development
Mechanism Authority (NCDMA) was established in December 2003 for according
Host Country Approval (HCA) to the CDM projects. Till April 30, 2015, it has
accorded HCA to 2, 941 projects facilitating possible investment of about Rs.
579,306 crores in the country. These projects are in sectors of energy
efficiency, fuel switching, industrial processes, municipal solid waste,
renewable energy and forestry which spread across the country (covering all
states in India). As on 24th April 2015, 1, 564 out of a total of 7,629
projects registered by the CDM Executive Board are from India, which is the
second highest in the world. Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) issued to
Indian projects is 191 million (13.27%). Since the inception of NCDMA, it used to approve projects based
on the submission of hard copies of all documents. In July 2010, the Ministry
of Environment and Forests, with the help of GIZ, developed the existing
website (http://cdmindia.gov.in/admin/) to reduce the processing time and
large-scale usage of papers to automate the project data submission process
and started paperless operation partly, in July 2010. Later, the Government
mandated large-scale CDM projects to commit and earmark 2% of revenue
generated from the sale of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) to support sustainable
development activities for the local communities. However, the existing
framework does not have the requisite information and also lacks information
on the status of the registered/ unregistered projects accorded Host Country
Approval. Thus, to improve the functionality of the Designated National
Authority (DNA), it was decided by the Members of the NCDMA to capture the
entire lifecycle of the CDM projects and also have provision to monitor the
commitment of the project proponents for sharing of 2% of the CERs revenue.
The new website has been designed and developed with the help of GIZ. This
MIS is a web-based collation and monitoring tool functioning in a module-wise
manner. It will capture all information provided by the project proponents in
various modules starting from user registration, prior intimation, submission
of projects, host country approval, validation, registration, issuance and
Transaction of CERs. Based on the submission, it will undergo approval
workflow, documenting all events relating to host country approval; NCDMA
meetings, Issuance of Letter of Authority. The reporting module will generate
various reports displaying the status of projects. Shri Lavasa also said that in the second commitment period of
the Kyoto Protocol (2013-2020), the number of CDM projects has come down
drastically. In comparison, it may be seen that in 2012, there were 3, 227
projects registered with United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) and in 2013, it was reduced to 307 projects. In 2014 it was
further reduced to 158 projects and in 2015 it is only 47 projects registered
so far. Interestingly, in 2013, India has registered 115 projects, which are
the highest by any country. Last year, the NCDMA has accorded Host Country
Approval to 76 projects and India registered 56 projects with UNFCCC in 2014.
Thus, keeping a futuristic view, this website may help DNA to prepare for the
future market mechanisms evolving under the UNFCCC. From http://pib.nic.in
11/02/2015 Army Launches Its Own Cloud, Data Centre, Digi-Locker
Union
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has inaugurated the Central Data Centre,
Army Cloud and Digi-Locker for the Indian Army. He complimented the army for
initiating such steps as a part of the Digital Army programme. Parrikar also
emphasised on the need to educate every person on the advantages of such
services and technology updation. The facility under the Army Cloud includes
Central Data Centre, both in Delhi a Disaster Recovery site for replication
of its critical data along with virtualised servers and storage in an
environmentally controlled complex. Digi-Locker will provide a secure and
exclusive data storage space to all the units and formation headquarters of
the Army over its dedicated data network. The Digi-Locker of Indian Army is
similar to e-Locker of Digital India program and has all the advanced
features like digital signatures and watermarking. In keeping with the
national vision of Digital India, the Indian Army has launched a programme
for Digital Army with nine pillars for digitisation. Three of the nine
pillars of this umbrella program, namely Broadband highways, Universal access
to telephones and Army Data Network stress upon Information Technology
Infrastructure development. Another three namely e-Governance, Electronic
delivery of services and Online information for all, focus on delivery of
services to all units and formation headquarters.
From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/10/2015 |
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AZERBAIJAN:
E-gov Portal Makes Online Payments Available The Electronic government portal in Azerbaijan now features a
function for convenient online payment. The Automated Payment Utility Service
of the state payment portal is integrated into the e-government portal, says
the Computer Information Center under the Communications and High
Technologies Ministry. The objectives of the project are to increase the use
of non-cash payments, simplifying the process of budget payments, and the
integration of e-government projects with the infrastructure of the national
payment system. Through integration the Azerbaijan Central Bank clearing
system, payments are carried out in real time through the e-government
portal. Currently, the number of the state institutions connected to the
portal includes the ministries of economy and industry, emergency situation,
taxes, and internal affairs. Moreover, the system enjoys the services of the
State Social Protection Fund, State Customs Committee, State Migration
Service, and Azerbaijan Mortgage Fund. In addition, the portal connects utilities and communications
companies, operators of fixed and mobile communication. The e-government
portal is a key tool for supporting work with citizens and enterprises in the
public and private sectors. It aims to reduce the number of documents
requested from citizens, as different bodies will interact with each other
electronically. The e-government portal was launched in Azerbaijan in 2013.
Currently, the portal offers about 400 e-services through 45 government
agencies. Over one million citizens are active users of e-services of the
state agencies. Moreover, the e-government portal allows for the provision of
e-services to citizens of foreign countries. All services provided by
Azerbaijani government agencies are expected to be online by 2020. Moreover,
the local municipalities will be connected to the Automated Payment Utility
Service of the state payment portal in the next six months, said Vahid
Gurbanli, the Deputy Director of the Department for the Payment Systems and
Calculation of the Central Bank. Now the municipalities have a greater need for access to a
system of online payments, namely receiving payments for rendered services.
Technical readiness is required to connect municipalities to the state
payment portal. After formation of the information systems, they will be
ready to accept payments online, he added. Earlier, the Taxes Ministry
successfully implemented pilot projects on the use of electronic registration
for the payment of municipal taxes in eight municipalities in the country.
The municipal taxes include the land tax on individuals, taxes on personal
property, trade tax on construction materials of local importance, as well as
tax on profits on enterprises and organizations in municipal property.
Moreover, Gurbanli said that students of paid faculties at state universities
in Azerbaijan will soon be able to pay student tuition online via the state
payment portal. In addition, Azerbaijani citizens will be able to
electronically obtain their personal data on utilities and other payments,
said head of the Data Computing Center Nail Mardanov. He said, at present,
work is underway to create a database for such payments. The service is
primarily aimed at the elimination of disputes between service operators and
citizens on the issue of payments. From http://www.azernews.az/
09/14/2015 Azerbaijan,
Serbia to Establish Working Group on ICT Azerbaijan and Serbia will establish a joint working group on
cooperation in the information and communication technologies, the
Communications and High Technologies Ministry said. The issue was discussed
as part of the meeting between the Azerbaijani Minister of Communications and
High Technologies Ali Abbasov and Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic, who is on visit to
Baku as part of the IV meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on
Trade and Economic Cooperation. The sides agred to hold the first meeting of
the working group in Belgrade, and the second meeting in Baku as part of the
21st international exhibition and conference Bakutel-2015 on December 2-5.
The ministers expressed their interest in developing cooperation in the field
of telecommunications and information technologies. This was discussed during
the fourth meeting of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation
in Baku on September 28. Multilateral business-forums Serbia has also offered Azerbaijan
to conduct business forums between Azerbaijan on the one hand, and a number
of Balkan countries, on the other hand, Shahin Mustafayev, the co-chairman of
the commission, the Azerbaijani Economy and Industry Minister said as part of
the Azerbaijani-Serbian intergovernmental commission meeting in Baku on
September 28. “We have already carried out a similar business forum in
Belgrade,” he said. “We were offered to conduct business forums between
Azerbaijan on the one hand, and Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina
on the other hand. We support this proposal. We hope that this format will be
further intensified and these meetings will be held at a higher level in the
future.” On his part, Rasim Ljajic said that Azerbaijan and Serbia must
develop the economic relations, in particular, trade turnover. “The trade
turnover between Serbia and Azerbaijan amounted to 16 million euros in 2014,”
Ljajic said. “This is a token amount of money. We must continue our work to
significantly increase it. We are also very interested in Azerbaijani
investments. We invite all companies from Azerbaijan to join the process of
privatization of our companies. Currently, more than 500 companies pass through a tender in
Serbia. We hope that Azerbaijani companies are interested in investing in
Serbia.” The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Serbia amounted to 3.22
million manat in January-August 2015, which is 7.3 percent more than in the
same period of last year. Virtually the entire turnover accounted for the
import of Serbian products to Azerbaijan. During the meeting, the sides also
discussed cooperation in trade, industry, investment, finance, transport,
energy, agriculture, information and communication technologies, health,
youth, sports, etc. The two countries plan to cooperate closely as Azerbaijan
and Serbia have agreed on an air service agreement between them. Moreover,
Serbia is considering the introduction of a visa-free regime with Azerbaijan.
From http://www.azernews.az/
09/29/2015 E-government
Switches to Cloud Technology Azerbaijani electronic government portal will now be available
on the cloud, according to Deputy Minister of Communications and High
Technologies Elmir Velizade. Velizade says Azerbaijan's main efforts are now
focused on the use of modern technology so that the ICT sector could
contribute to the development of the country in a short period. “This sector
is known to be a priority in Azerbaijan, and serious attention is given to
it. For us, it is encouraging that in the framework of the first European
Games, we were also able to demonstrate the potential of Azerbaijan in the
field of ICT. It is equally important that a large role in this issue played
Azerbaijani experts. However, of course, we need to look to the future, and
today there is a need in the application of new solutions in many areas. In
particular, today the country has successfully implemented the project of
e-Government. For us it is very important to transfer the implementation of
the solution into the cloud platform,” said Velizade. The deputy minister said that the demand for professionals in
this regard is that they are mastering the latest technology, trying to apply
them to Azerbaijan. The main objective of the application of cloud technology
is to reduce costs, improve the quality of services to citizens and
information security. The e-gov portal is a key tool for supporting citizens,
businesses and private sectors of the country. It aims to reduce the number
of documents requested from citizens because different government bodies
interact with each other electronically. Access to the portal is carried out
using a digital signature, the identity data of the private entrepreneurs and
citizens, verification data, as well as a mobile authentication system, which
can be obtained after registration on the portal. The portal, launched in
Azerbaijan in 2013, now offers about 400 e-services through 45 government
agencies. Over one million citizens are active users of e-services in state
agencies. Moreover, the e-government portal allows for the provision of
e-services to citizens of foreign countries. All services provided by
Azerbaijani government agencies are expected to be online by 2020. Soon, the e-gov portal will also be available in a mobile version,
which is essential for a country whereby mobile phone penetration stands at
112 percent. The portal will also receive a function for convenient online
payments via the Automated Payment Utility Service. The objectives of the
project are to increase the use of non-cash payments, simplifying the process
of budget payments, and the integration of e-government projects with the
infrastructure of the national payment system. Moreover, subscribers of fixed
and mobile communications in the near future will be able to receive
statements of their expenses for telecommunications services through the
portal. In addition, a service for issuing certificates for central credit
register will be available soon. From http://www.azernews.az/ 10/13/2015 UZBEKISTAN:
Rating Assessment of ICT of State Agencies Summed Up Experts of the Center for developing system "Electronic
government", the Center for information security and SUE
"UZINFOCOM" has evaluated the effectiveness of the development and
implementation of ICT in the activities of organizations for the third
quarter of this year. The
monitoring that was conducted from 20th to 30th September 2015 covered the
activity of 115 organizations that are subject to rating assessment. The evaluation was conducted based on
the monitoring of official websites of companies on the Internet, the
information presented at Single Portal, as well as information provided by
the organizations in the interagency system NIS.UZ. As shown by the results of the assessment,
the average rating of 115 state agencies in the III quarter compared with the
previous reporting period has grown from 68.29 to 73.69 points (by
7.9%). The highest score among
all state agencies received the company "Uzvinprom-holding" (96.61
out of 100), thereby leading the ranking and shifting the State Tax Committee
of the Republic of Uzbekistan from the first position. The top five ranking also includes
such organizations as the company "Uzavtosanoat", the State Tax
Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Central Bank of the Republic of
Uzbekistan and JSC "Dori-Darmon". From http://technologies.uzreport.uz/
10/23/2015 |
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AUSTRALIA:
Spectrum Review to ‘Bring $177 Billion in Benefits’ The
Government has announced its response to the Spectrum Review undertaken by
the Department of Communications, in conjunction with the Australian
Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). The review is now complete and is
available here. The Government has announced it will implement its
recommendations in full. The three main recommendations are: #
Replace the current legislative arrangements with new legislation that
removes prescriptive process and streamlines licensing, for a simpler and
more flexible framework. #
Better integrate the management of public sector and broadcasting spectrum to
improve the consistency and integrity of the framework. #
Review spectrum pricing to ensure consistent and transparent arrangements to
support the efficient use of spectrum and secondary markets. “Spectrum
is a critical enabler of Australia's current and future communications
infrastructure,” said Turnbull announcing the release of the review’s
recommendations. “But the legislative framework for managing spectrum in
Australia has become outdated. Change is required to enable industry and
consumers to make the most of the spectrum.” He said implementing the
review's recommendations will reduce the regulatory burden on spectrum users
by making interactions with the framework, including allocation processes,
simpler and faster. “The reforms will put in place arrangements that can meet
the future demands of spectrum users. The framework will be simpler, more
efficient, flexible and sustainable to support new and innovative
technologies and services while providing certainty of spectrum access rights
for users.” The Department of Communications says the economic benefits of
spectrum reform will be substantial. It quotes a finding from a report by the
Centre for International Economics that national benefits from spectrum
reform could be as high as $177 billion over a 15 year period, “depending on
the factors included.” Wireless
services support more efficient processes and delivery of existing services,
enabling improvements in productivity, says the report. “The ACMA has
estimated that mobile broadband increased Australia’s economic growth rate by
0.28% each year from 2007-13. This equates to an economic contribution of
$33.8 billion by mobile broadband alone over this period, primarily through
productivity improvements. “In 2014, an Australian Radio Communications
Industry Association study showed that the spectrum used for two-way radio
generates economic benefits of between $1.99 billion and $3.72 billion per
annum.” The
review’s terms of reference were to consider ways to: #
simplify the framework to reduce its complexity and impact on spectrum users
and administrators, and eliminate unnecessary and excessive regulatory
provisions. #
improve the flexibility of the framework and its ability to facilitate new
and emerging services including advancements that offer greater potential for
efficient spectrum use, while continuing to manage interference and providing
certainty for incumbents. #
ensure efficient allocation, ongoing use and management of spectrum, and
incentivise its efficient use by all commercial, public and community
spectrum users. #
consider institutional arrangements and ensure an appropriate level of
Ministerial oversight of spectrum policy and management, by identifying
appropriate roles for the # # Minister, the Australian Communications and
Media Authority, the Department of Communications and others involved in
spectrum management. #
promote consistency across legislation in relation to compliance mechanisms,
technical regulation and the planning and licensing of spectrum. #
develop an appropriate framework to consider public interest spectrum issues. #
develop a whole-of-government approach to spectrum policy. #
develop a whole-of-economy approach to valuation of spectrum that includes
consideration of the broader economic and social benefits. The
report says the recommended legislation will streamline regulatory processes
and clarify the role of the Government and the ACMA. “It will also provide
for greater use of market mechanisms and rationalise the number of licence
categories, reform current highly prescriptive and lengthy allocation
processes and device supply regulations.” Tyeh Government's decisioon to
implement the review's recommendation has been welcoems by industry bidies
Communications Alliance (CA) and the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association
(AMTA), both of whome released statements to that effect. The ACMA says it
now expects to move to a single, streamlined and more flexible approach to
radiocommunications licencing. “This is a win for industry and consumers,”
said deputy chairman Richard Bean. “It provides a more responsive regulatory
regime—rather than black letter law—that will take away unnecessary barriers,
reducing delays and costs of getting new technologies to the market. “As well
as enabling the ACMA to quickly respond to technological advances, the
changes will also widen the ACMA’s compliance options. It will provide us
with a full range of compliance tools to respond to modern market
structures.” From
http://www.itwire.com
08/26/2015 NEW
ZEALAND: Govt’s Telco Framework an “Important First Step” Towards Greater
Certainty Telco Investors Ensuring
industry players have certainty to continue investing in New Zealand’s
digital future should be the main thrust of a review into the Telecommunications
Act announced this week. That’s according to Spark New Zealand, addressing
the media following the release of the Government’s discussion document,
Regulating Communications for the Future, which looks at how the industry
should be regulated post 2020. Key issues include how to set the wholesale
charges that all service providers pay the monopoly fibre lines companies to
connect their customers to fibre broadband, and the process for eventually
switching off the old copper network for broadband and voice services in
favour of the new UFB fibre network. “The most important thing the review
needs to do is provide certainty to industry providers and their customers of
the regulatory settings that will apply in the period from 2020 onwards,” sats
John Wesley-Smith, General Manager Regulation, Spark. “We
welcome this comprehensive discussion document and the Government’s
commitment to engaging with industry and New Zealanders on these matters well
ahead of time. Giving service providers and network operators a clear picture
of the costs we will face from 2020 on will allow us to focus on ensuring we
bring the best of new products, services and innovation to New Zealanders.”
The Government’s review will also look at how the mobile industry is regulated.
“New Zealand is very well served by three mobile service providers who
compete aggressively with one another on price, speed and coverage,”
Wesley-Smith adds. “As the Government’s discussion document notes, the next
challenge for our sector is to ensure our regulatory framework creates the
right incentives for mobile operators to extend the next generations of
mobile broadband technologies deep into rural New Zealand, and it is timely
to review the best way to achieve this.” The review will also look at issues
of “convergence”, where previously distinct technologies and industries (like
telecommunications and broadcasting) are coming together, and “net
neutrality”, which has been an issue in some overseas jurisdictions. “Convergence
is great for consumers and means new products and services are springing up
all the time,” Wesley-Smith adds. “This is creating huge changes in how New
Zealanders live, work and play. It’s positive that the Government is looking
to ensure our regulatory settings are keeping up with the rapid pace of
change.” Wesley-Smith says net neutrality is a high profile issue in the
United States but is not such a problem here in New Zealand because the
country’s copper and fibre networks are wholesale-only open access networks
alongside a strong product disclosure regime. “Net neutrality concerns are
grounded in the potential for vertically-integrated monopoly network owners
to dictate the terms of internet access to content providers and customers,”
Wesley-Smith adds. “Customers in New Zealand have a genuine choice of service
provider, which is the ultimate protection against that outcome.” From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
09/09/2015 |
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EUROPE: Paving Way for Multi-Billion Euro Potential of Open Data The new European Data Portal plays an important role in seizing
the potential of Open Data, whose market size is expected at �325bn for the
period 2016-2020, according to two new studies. Capgemini Consulting carried
out the studies on behalf of the European Commission within the framework of
the Connecting Europe Facility programme to support the deployment of
European Open Data infrastructure. The market for open data is anticipated to
increase by 36.9% to �75.7bn by 2020. A report has revealed that the EU28
plus countries had completed only 44% of the journey towards achieving full
open data maturity, but there are large discrepancies. About 32% of European
countries, recognised globally, are having solid policies, licensing norms,
better portal traffic and various local initiatives and events for promoting
Open Data and its re-use. The UK leads the way in solid open data practices
with the largest national traffic to its own open data portal in Europe with
175,400 visitors per month. The second report claims that the effective use of Open Data may
save 629 million hours of unnecessary waiting time on the roads in the EU.
The accumulated cost savings for public administrations making use of Open
Data are estimated to be �1.7bn across the EU28 plus countries in 2020.
Capgemini made some recommendations in order to help speed up adoption of
Open Data. They include increasing awareness among citizens and businesses
around Open Data; adopting a free cost model as much as possible to encourage
re-use. Other recommendations include adding basic functionalities to
portals, maximising the use of site analytics, developing national guidelines
and measuring the success of an Open Data initiative. Capgemini VP and EU
lead Dinand Tinholt said: "In our world of connected people and
connected things, citizens, businesses and organizations need a better,
faster and more comprehensive view of data to help decision-making. This
portal does precisely that. "We are delighted to collaborate with the
European Commission on this journey towards reaping the full benefits of Open
Data. This is the first European assessment of Open Data in a series of three
annual studies, planned for 2016 and 2017. From http://www.cbronline.com/ 11/19/2015 Estonia Creating Conditions for Transnational Data Exchange The Information System Authority is launching a next generation
central server of X-Road today. The server allows to manage secure data
exchange between the databases of The new version considers the changes in IT management of the
Estonian public sector as well as the growing interest of private sector in
using the possibilities of X-Road. The X-Road version launched today will
ensure the integrity of messages with a qualified digital signature. A tool
for providing secure signatures along with qualified certificates are used to
create an electronic seal complying with the requirements of the European
Union. The development of version 6 of X-Road was funded by the European
Regional Development Fund. The data exchange layer X-Road of the Information
System Authority is a technical and organisational environment, which enables
to manage secure internet-based data exchange between national information
systems. X-Road enables to manage persons’ access to the data stored and
processed in national databases. From https://www.ria.ee/
11/04/2015 SWEDEN: Pirate Bay Censorship Marks the End of Open Internet,
ISP Warns The ISP under legal pressure to block The Pirate Bay in Sweden
has criticized efforts to make the provider an accomplice in other people's
crimes. In a joint statement two key executives of Telenor / Bredbandsbolaget
warn that folding to the wishes of private copyright holder interests could
mark the beginning of the end for the open Internet. Almost exactly one year
ago, Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, Nordisk Film and the Swedish
Film Industry teamed up against Swedish ISP Bredbandsbolaget (Broadband
Company). In a lawsuit filed at the Stockholm District Court, the
entertainment industry plaintiffs argued that Bredbandsbolaget should be held
liable for Internet piracy carried out by its own subscribers. The companies
argued that if the ISP wants avoid liability it should block its customers
from accessing The Pirate Bay and streaming portal Swefilmer. Telenor subsidiary Bredbandsbolaget (Broadband Company) has
fought the action every step of the way and will find out at the end of November
whether those efforts have paid off. Should it prevail the decision will be a
historic one – no other ISP in Europe (complex Netherlands’ case aside) has
managed to avoid blocking The Pirate Bay following a legal battle. If the ISP
loses (and the odds suggest that it will) the provider will be required to
censor the site, something it is desperate to avoid. In a joint statement
this week Patrik Hofbauer, CEO of Telenor and Bredbandsbolaget, and Anna
Bystrom, company legal counsel, warned that an adverse ruling could put the
model of a free and open Internet at risk. “When a judgment becomes precedent
a trial is about so much more than an Internet service provider and two
controversial websites,” the executives begin. “If the media companies are given the right it will lead to
absurd consequences and Internet subscribers will ultimately end up using a
severely censored Internet.” Hofbauer and Bystrom highlight the fact that
should the case go the plaintiffs’ way, Bredbandsbolaget and other Internet providers
will be regarded as accomplices to infringement committed on sites such as
Swefilmer and The Pirate Bay. However, the implications stretch far beyond
those two domains. “A conviction that makes us criminals because we do not
block these sites is very dangerous and opens a door must remain closed,”
they explain. “Moving forward, will ISPs then be forced to block social media
if we are deemed to contribute to copyright infringement, threats and
defamation that may occur there?” Indeed, copyright is the tip of the
iceberg. Could ISPs’ liability stretch further still, to controversial sites
such as Wikileaks for example? “Will sites where whistle-blowers can reach out with secret
classified material also need to be blocked? If so, Sweden would then be subjected
to a harsh level of censorship unique in the EU,” Hofbauer and Bystrom warn.
While the copyright holders in the legal action are clear on their goals,
it’s clear that Bredbandsbolaget is concerned that this case represents the
thin end of a wedge, one that starts with copyright but has the potential to
expand into unforeseen areas. Once the genie is out of the bottle, the
company argues, the threat to the open Internet could be great.
Bredbandsbolaget says the legal and ethical choices it is confronted with are
not always easy ones and it sometimes finds itself in the middle of
contradictory demands from legislators on one side and stakeholders on the
other. But on this issue, initially involving The Pirate Bay but with the
potential to spread much further, the ISP’s position has been easy. “Our role in society should be about making information
available and we can not risk engaging in censorship,” the ISP explains.
“When we faced pressure from individual players in this case, we put our
values to the
test. We are against piracy, but the idea that under threat of punishment
ISPs must make assessments of the sites that Swedish people visit is absurd.”
In conclusion and while welcoming a positive outcome to the case, the
executives say that if they’re forced to bend to the whims of outside
influences, people may have to kiss goodbye to a free and open Internet. “The
day when we and other operators must be guided by private interests, that may
represent the beginning of the end for what we in From https://torrentfreak.com/ 11/16/2015 LATIN
AMERICA: Software Market Grows 12.8% in 2014 The software market in Latin America ended 2014 with a turnover
of USD 13.305 million, representing a 12.8 percent growth on 2013, according
to the IDC consultancy. The segment that grew the most was application
development and integration at 17.5 percent, followed by business
applications (14.4%) and infrastructure (12%). For 2015, IDC estimates that
the software market will continue the positive trend, mainly driven by
manufacturing, retail and services. Mexico, which accounts for 21 percent of
the software market, saw a growth of 8.09 percent in 2014. Brazil, with a 53
percent share, leads the region and grew by 14.2 percent. Next are Chile and
Colombia with a 5 percent share, and with 22 percent and 13.8 percent growth
respectively; Argentina accounts for 4 percent of the market and grew 24.6
percent. Peru has a 3 percent market share, followed by Venezuela with 2
percent and the rest of Latin America with 6 percent. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/18/2015 Digital
Economy in LatAm Generates USD 195 bln The digital economy in Latin America generated USD 195 billion
between 2005 and 2013, according to the study "The Ecosystem and Digital
Economy in Latin America", presented at the Futurecom exhibition
underway in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This figure is equivalent to 4.3 percent of
the accumulated growth of the GDP in the region. In addition, the digital
economy was responsible for the creation of 900,000 jobs per year in the same
period. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 10/31/2015 BRAZIL:
PC Market to Shrink by a Third in 2015 - IDC The Brazilian PC market is expected to shrink by nearly a third
this year, affected by the economic recession and appreciation of the dollar
against the real, according to market research firm IDC, reports Reuters.
Sales of PCs in Brazil should total 7.4 million units in 2015, down 29
percent over the 10.3 million PCs sold in 2014. Sales in Q2 dropped by 38
percent over the same period in 2014, to 1.637 million units. With the
result, Brazil dropped from seventh to eighth place in the worldwide PC
market, behind the US, China, Japan, India, UK, Germany and France, according
to IDC. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/16/2015 Global
Enterprise Network Equipment Industry This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Enterprise
Network Equipment in US$ Million. The Global market is further analyzed by
the following Product Types: Routers, Ethernet Switches, WLAN Equipment, and
Application Acceleration Equipment. The report provides separate
comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific,
Latin America, and Rest of World. Annual estimates and forecasts are provided
for the period 2014 through 2020. Also, a seven-year historic analysis is
provided for these markets. Market data and analytics are derived from
primary and secondary research. Company profiles are primarily based on
public domain information including company URLs. The report profiles 53
companies including many key and niche players such as - A10 Networks, Inc. ADTRAN, Inc. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Aruba Networks, Inc. Avaya Inc. From http://finance.yahoo.com/ 08/30/2015 Global
Broadband Growth Slows Sharply: 4 Billion Still Offline Geneva, 21 September, 2015 – Broadband Internet is failing to
reach those who could benefit most, with Internet access reaching
near-saturation in the world’s rich nations but not advancing fast enough to
benefit the billions of people living in the developing world, according to
the 2015 edition of the State of Broadband report. Released today just ahead
of the forthcoming SDG Summit in New York and the parallel meeting of the
Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development on September 26, the report
reveals that 57% of the world’s people remain offline and unable to take
advantage of the enormous economic and social benefits the Internet can
offer. Access to information and communication technologies, particularly
broadband Internet, has the potential to serve as a major accelerator of
development, with the importance of ICT connectivity specifically recognized
in the new UN Sustainable Development Goals. With the 17 goals now firmly on
the global agenda, governments and private industry both have a strong
interest in finding ways to get people online, the report argues. The Broadband Commission comprises more than 50 leaders from
across a range of government and industry sectors who are committed to
actively assisting countries, UN experts and NGO teams to fully leverage the
huge potential of ICTs to drive new national SDG strategies in key areas like
education, healthcare and environmental management. “The UN Sustainable
Development Goals remind us that we need to measure global development by the
number of those being left behind,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao,
who serves as co-Vice Chair of the Commission with UNESCO Director-General
Irina Bokova. “The market has done its work connecting the world’s wealthier
nations, where a strong business case for network roll-out can easily be
made. Our important challenge now is to find ways of getting online the four
billion people who still lack the benefits of Internet connectivity, and this
will be a primary focus of the Broadband Commission going forward.” Produced annually by the Broadband Commission, The State of
Broadband is a unique global snapshot of broadband network access and
affordability, with country-by country data measuring broadband access
against key advocacy targets set by the Commission in 2011. New figures in
the report confirm that 3.2 billion people are now connected, up from 2.9
billion last year and equating to 43% of the global population. But while
access to the Internet is approaching saturation levels in the developed
world, the Net is only accessible to 35% of people in developing countries.
The situation in the 48 UN-designated Least Developed Countries is
particularly critical, with over 90% of people without any kind of Internet
connectivity. This year’s figures show that the top ten countries for
household Internet penetration are all located in Asia or the Middle East.
The Republic of Korea continues to have the world’s highest household
broadband penetration, with 98.5% of homes connected; Qatar (98%) and Saudi
Arabia (94%) are ranked second and third respectively. Iceland has the highest percentage of individuals using the
Internet (98.2%), just ahead of near-neighbours Norway (96.3%) and Denmark
(96%). Monaco remains very slightly ahead of Switzerland as the world leader
in fixed broadband penetration, at over 46.8% of the population compared with
the Swiss figure of 46%. There are now six economies (Monaco, Switzerland,
Denmark, Netherlands, Liechtenstein and France) where fixed broadband
penetration exceeds 40%, up from just one (Switzerland) in 2013. The
Asia-Pacific region now accounts for half of all active mobile broadband
subscriptions, with Macao, China easily taking top place with 322 active mobile
broadband subscriptions per 100 people – or just over 3 subscriptions per
inhabitant – followed by second-ranked Singapore (156 subscriptions per 100
people) and Kuwait (140 subscriptions per 100 people). In total, there are
now 79 countries where over 50% of the population is online, up from 77 in
2014. The top ten countries for Internet use are all located in Europe. The
lowest levels of Internet access are mostly found in sub-Saharan Africa, with
Internet available to less than 2% of the population in Guinea (1.7%),
Somalia (1.6%), Burundi (1.4%), Timor Leste (1.1%) and Eritrea (1.0). “The 2030 Agenda recognizes the power of new technologies to
accelerate human progress, to bridge the digital divide, to develop knowledge
societies – we must do everything to support States in reaching these goals,
especially developing States,” said UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova.
“This calls for stronger efforts by governments and all actors, in ensuring
access, use and affordability – it requires also greater work to build the
capacities of all women and men to make the most of all new opportunities.”
The Commission’s advocacy around the importance of broadband has seen the
number of countries with a National Broadband Plan in place grow from 102 in
2010, when the Commission began its work, to 148 today, according to the
report. The State of Broadband 2015 is the fourth edition of the Commission’s
broadband connectivity report. Released annually, it is the only report that
features country-by-country rankings based on access and affordability for
over 160 economies worldwide. From http://www.itu.int/
09/21/2015 SMEs
Urged to Use ICT in Businesses SMALL and medium enterprises (SMEs) are encouraged to use
information and communications technology (ICT) in their businesses as the
Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is starting to roll out its
nationwide free Wi-Fi pilot project. DOST Secretary Mario Montejo said that
he hopes more SMEs will tap into the many opportunities presented by
technology especially with the start of the free Wi-Fi project, which will
ensure easier access to the Internet. The free Wi-Fi project will cover 967
municipalities, 3,269 schools, 202 rural health units, 59 major rails, 21
seaports, 10 airports, 736 local government units, 141 national government
agencies, 125 state universities and 43 major cities, said Montejo during
last Tuesday’s Digital Strategies for Development Summit in Cebu City. “The
budget this year is P1.4 billion to start rolling out in the areas we have
identified which includes Cebu. Hopefully, we can help bring technology
closer to the SMEs,” he said. The Free WiFi services will be set up in public offices or
establishments where people can easily connect to the Internet. Based on DOST
data, Internet penetration in the country was only 50 percent and the
agency’s target is to reach a 99 percent penetration rate. However, Seok Vong
Yoon of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that it will take more than
putting in place the infrastructure for the ICT. “There should be a
comprehensive policy and strategy. These include not only investments in
infrastructure but also regulatory reforms. (It’s) more of establishing an
enabling environment for the investors,” he said. “The market should be more
open to encourage more competition which in the end will benefit everyone and
countries can start seeing more people using the Internet as a tool for
business, to improve services for the public and private sector and more.
Eventually we can achieve inclusive growth,” Seok said. Meanwhile, The
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will conduct a case study on the
use of ICT and how it can support SMEs in the Philippines. The Philippines is
a large market with a growing ICT industry, and the 130-member states of the
ITU would like to learn how this can benefit the Philippines’ SME industry,
said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. From http://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/ 09/24/2015 |
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CHINA: Internet of Things Reaches $90b in 2014 The value of China’s Internet of Things (IoT) industry reached
580 billion yuan ($90 billion) in 2014, a yearly increase of 18.46 percent,
said a report issued on Sept 24. The IoT, which connects traditional devices,
including home appliances, to the Internet, has become a powerful driving
force of innovation and economic growth in China, said the report issued by
Xinhua News Agency on an IoT expo in Wuxi city, East China’s Jiangsu
province. The report said China’s IoT technologies have continued to
integrate with both traditional industries like agriculture and manufacturing
and rising industries such as new energy and new materials. China has formed
four IoT industry centers in Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Bohai
Rim, and central and western China, with Yangtze River Delta taking the lead
in terms of industrial scale, it said. The report also listed major
challenges facing China’s IoT, including its reliance on importation of
sensor and chip technology, problems in application, information and data
security.
From http://www.gov.cn/
09/25/2015 EU, China Sign Key Partnership on 5G The European Union (EU) on Monday announced that it has signed a
key agreement with China on the "fifth generation" of
telecommunications systems, or 5G, a move aimed to seek an edge in the global
digital competitiveness. "Both parties are committed to reciprocity and
openness in terms of access to 5G networks research funding, market access as
well as in membership of Chinese and EU 5G associations," the EU said in
a press release. Signed at Monday's EU-China high level economic and trade
dialogue in Beijing, the agreement was described by the EU as a
"milestone" in the global race to develop 5G networks. "It's a
crucial step in making 5G a success," said Gunther Oettinger, EU
Commissioner for the digital economy and society. "With today's
signature with China, the EU has now teamed up with the most important Asian
partners in a global race to make 5G a reality by 2020." 5G is expected
to be commercially available from 2020 and China is viewed to be a likely
major player of 5G development and also potentially the world's largest
market for the new technologies, products and services. Under the agreement,
the EU and China will seek to reach a global understanding, by the end of
2015, on the concept, basic functionalities, key technologies and time plan
for 5G. They also decided to cooperate on joint research actions and to
promote bilateral participation of enterprises in 5G research projects.
Meanwhile, they will work to facilitate the identification of the most
promising radio frequency bands to meet the new spectrum requirements for 5G. Besides, the possibilities will be jointly explored on services
and applications for 5G, especially in the area of the Internet of Things
(IoT) which connects traditional devices, including home appliances, to the
Internet. Commenting that China will have a substantial role in establishing
a 5G global standard, the EU said both sides will jointly promote global
standardization for 5G. "Under this agreement, EU companies,
particularly the EU telecoms and ICT (Information and communications
technology) industry are likely to have easier access to the Chinese
market," the press release said. "In particular, European companies
will be able to access and participate in China's publicly funded 5G
research, development and innovation initiatives on the same terms as Chinese
companies currently participate in the EU's 5G activities." The EU
stressed that the agreement is "very timely" as the 5G standardization
race will start already in 2016 together with discussions on spectrum
requirements for 5G that should culminate during the World Radio Conference
2019. The EU's executive body, the European Commission, is investing 700
million euros (782 million U.S. dollars) through the Horizon 2020 Programme
to support research and innovation in 5G and has signed similar agreements
with the Republic of Korea and Japan in recent months.
From http://www.news.cn/
09/28/2015 Robotic Capabilities to Get Big Boost The Beijing municipal people’s government is looking to harness
its strengths in intelligent robotic technologies to make the region a
powerhouse in technology innovation. According to a plan issued by the Beijing
Municipal Science & Technology Commission in June, Beijing will utilize
its technology and innovation strengths in robotics to promote industrial
transformation and upgrading. The main goal is to master a batch of
international cutting-edge and core technologies and manufacturing
techniques, develop key components and form a perfect technology innovation
system of intelligent robots by 2020, to support the synergetic and
innovative development of Beijing’s intelligent robotics industry. The State
Council has unveiled the “Made in China 2025” plan, which seeks to transform
China from a manufacturing giant into a global manufacturing power. The plan
focuses on setting up a manufacturing innovation center and boosting
intelligent manufacturing. It states that the robotics industry is a key area
in the development of China’s manufacturing industry. Robotics is the core of
intelligent manufacturing, and China has already embraced the technology in a
big way. At present, China has more than 500 robotics companies. Beijing has
already achieved the world’s most advanced level in humanoid robots, formal
verification of operating system and other key robotic technologies. It is
already a leader in specialized robots and medical health service robots in
China and has a complete and intelligent robot innovation chain in place,
ranging from research to production. Based on the Beijing plan, structural
design, operating system, artificial intelligence, key components, safety and
reliability and other key technologies in robotics are expected to see
renewed impetus. Packaging techniques for intelligent robots and equipment and
integration levels in automatic production line system will also be improved.
Wang Tianmiao, director of the robotics institute at Beihang University,
said: “Beijing has an advantage in developing service robots and we should
focus on basic research including human-machine co-fusion, intelligence and
safety ... strengthen international cooperation of intelligent robots and the
establishment of an industrial design and manufacturing center.” At the same
time, the capital will also promote the application of service robots,
including dedicated service robots and home-service robots. Robots will also
“take up positions” in logistics, rescue, custody, medical treatment, elderly
care and rehabilitation industries by forming three to five robot industry
demonstration bases gradually. Furthermore, universities, research institutes
and enterprises will be encouraged to use their own resources to build three to
five technology innovation service platforms for intelligent robots and
promote international technological breakthroughs in medical and health
services. What is more, up to five industrial clusters for robots with
distinctive features will be set up in the Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei region.
Officials from the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission said
technology innovation and transformation of intelligent robots will boost the
automation, networking and intelligence capabilities of manufacturing
equipment and enhance overall manufacturing strength.
From http://www.gov.cn/
09/28/2015 ‘Internet Plus’ Tops China’s Economy Driver Survey In a survey conducted by People’s Tribune magazine, “Internet
Plus” was listed as the new top economic driver ahead of “new type of
urbanization” and “mass entrepreneurship and innovation”. The recent survey
covered 5,466 people, including Party and government cadres, specialists and
academics, business leaders and the general public. About 60 percent of the interviewees
believed that the driving force behind development “has improved”. The survey came after Premier Li
Keqiang’s remarks about the economy at the Summer Davos in Dalian in September.
“The Chinese economy is going through a transition with traditional drivers
being replaced by new ones. ... This is a painful and challenging process.
Ups and downs in growth are hardly avoidable,” the Premier said in the
speech. He also noted that the economy will not experience a “hard landing”. Opportunity for transformation Respondents were asked to consider nine options as new drivers
propping up the economy, and list them according to the level of their
effect. Every single option
offered in the survey was chosen, but “Internet Plus”, “new type of
urbanization” and “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” emerged as the top
three. In fact, “Internet Plus” has become the hot phrase of the year ever
since the Premier mentioned it in the government work report for the first
time. The Premier also noted the huge market and appeal of the Internet in
China as the country has nearly 700 million Internet users. Tapping into the
knowledge and experience of the general public can result in major achievements
and efforts should be made to use this resource of hundreds of millions of
people via the Internet, according to Premier Li. The new driver of development The release of the survey coincided with the Premier’s
inspection tour to Henan province, where he was once governor, and his
schedule highlighted the importance he placed on the top three drivers. The
development of the Zhengdong New District in Zhengzhou, Henan, is a
successful example of promoting urbanization, as it has provided the experience
for developing a new type of urbanization that conforms to China’s
conditions. Three examples in the province stand out. A large equipment
manufacturer achieved remarkable progress in mass entrepreneurship and
innovation; a cold-chain logistics company has created many new development
patterns through crowd-funding and “Internet Plus”; and a newly-established
cross-border e-commerce platform has realized sales revenue of more than 700
million yuan with about 100 employees. All these examples left a lasting
impression on the Premier. It has been less than a year since the Premier
first put forward “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” at the Summer Davos
in Tianjin, but since then it has gained momentum across the country. The
word “maker” has also joined the language of commerce after appearing on the
government work report. The Premier sees “mass entrepreneurship and innovation” as a
“new driver” of the economy, praising its potential on many occasions.
Despite the growing downward pressure faced by the economy, more than 60
percent of the respondents believe that China’s development driver “has
become stronger”. As the People’s Tribune magazine said, a stable driving
foundation is important for a country’s development, however, whether its
people are optimistic about the country’s future development or not will also
exert an influence on future economic and social development. In recent
years, some sections of the foreign media have been making pessimistic
comments about China as the economy transformed from high-speed growth to
mid-to-high growth. However, it is encouraging that the survey showed that
such voices had not affected the public’s rational expectations for the
economy, the magazine said.
From http://www.gov.cn/
10/08/2015 Pay System, E-commerce a Good Measure of Spending Transaction data from China UnionPay and Alibaba could be used
as a gauge for the strength of China’s expanding service and consumption
sector, economists said, as traditional indicators become increasingly
irrelevant. UnionPay handles transactions for almost all of the nation’s bank
cards, while Alibaba runs the country’s largest online sales platform. An
index developed by Alibaba showed consumer prices in August quickening more
than the government’s official reading, while the Tsinghua-UnionPay Advisors
Indices of spending at luxury hotels in China rose to a record in August.
Both contrast with the Caixin Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, which
slid to 47.2 in September－signaling
a contraction in the sector－the
lowest since March 2009. While China’s traditional growth engines of
manufacturing and investment sputtered, the resilient service sector held up
the overall economy that otherwise would have fallen precipitously. However,
while there are various, frequently updated indicators for traditional growth
engines, economists are largely left in dark about how healthy the service
sector is due to the insufficiency of reliable data. This is a major reason
why China’s second quarter GDP data encountered huge skepticism, given the
vast incongruence between it and the sagging industrial production data.
Chinese officials are quick to rebuke the outdated fixation on these
“old-engine” data as the economy is undergoing a profound structural change－shifting
away from investment and manufacturing to consumption and service. For
services, the most relevant official monthly data are retail sales, but
economists fret over the flatness of the indicator, which doesn’t reflect the
volatility of prices. Another widely-recognized indicator is the
nonmanufacturing Purchasing Managers Index released by official and private
agencies. However, analysts said the PMI is based on surveys of purchasing
managers, and the sampling of different enterprises can affect the reading.
For example, official and private PMI results often suggest different
directions in the economy, as the former is based more on large State firms
while the latter focuses more on small private firms. “There is always a conflict
between the official PMI and private PMI,” said Gan Jie, a finance professor
with the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, adding that the question
remains whether the economy is getting better or worse. Gan said compared to
industrial firms, the service sector is much more diverse and heterogeneous,
and so gauging it in the same way is difficult. “Input of industrial firms is
homogeneous, such as electricity. Other metrics such as new orders, inventory
levels, supplier deliveries, can be applied to firms in various industries.
In the service sector it is difficult to find indicators that simultaneously
apply to education, healthcare and tourism,” she said. To grasp the monthly
fluctuation of China’s GDP, Morgan Stanley analysts developed a “headline indicator”
that factored in six indicators: electricity production, steel production,
fiscal revenue, imports and exports, and car sales. These alternative
indicators, they believe, tell more about the real state of the economy than
GDP. Another widely-used indicator is the “Li Keqiang index”, a method
inspired by the Premier’s way of gauging the real economy that factors in
bank loans, electricity production and railway freight volume. The attempt to
develop a similar headline indicator in the service sector is still under
way. “We are desperately looking for ways to gauge the service sector. The
problem is they lack reliable, high-frequency subindexes in this area,” said
Qiao Hong, chief China economist for Morgan Stanley.
From http://www.gov.cn/
10/15/2015 E-commerce
Giants Speed Up Rural Expansion The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says it is moving faster in
its rural market expansion by opening Guizhou province's first county
operation and service center in Yinjiang county, which is seen as a
breakthrough in its rural e-commerce strategy for western China, and a new
era in online business for the relatively poor province. This is also a part
of the State's deployment and development of rural electronic commerce to
increase consumption, because China's unbalanced urban-rural development has
come with enormous barriers but also bright opportunities for online shopping
for enterprises such as Alibaba and JD who are in now a furious race to
dominate the rural market. The State Council and ministries also have their
action plans and guidelines that emphasize the importance of agricultural
products and agricultural production, with the central government budget for
2015 earmarking 2-billion yuan ($31.5 million) for the development of rural
e-commerce in the mid-western parts of China. The Alibaba Group's research
division, AliResearch, shows a rural online market in 2014 worth more than
180-billion yuan, which is expected to reach 460 billion yuan in the coming
year, while experts from the Bank of China's investment banking division, BOC
International, put the value of agricultural produce and production in rural
areas in the trillions of yuan. Some experts say that the use of computers
and smart phones and the mobile Internet in rural areas make them a
"blue ocean" and a gold mine, while the China Internet Network
Information Center reports that, as of December 2014, there were 649 million
rural people with Internet access, or nearly 31 percent of the total rural
areas. In considering all of this, Alibaba, Asia's largest online
retailer, has announced plans to put 10-billion yuan into 1,000 county
service centers and 10,000 village centers nationwide in 3 - 5 years and, in
a letter to shareholders, Jack Ma, the group's executive chairman, explained
that globalization, rural markets and big data are the three pillars of
growth for the future. Meanwhile, JD, China's second largest online retailer,
is showing a firm hand in settling its own service centers in counties across
the country, with the number of centers expected to go above 500 this year.
Wang Bingnan, an assistant commerce minister, comments, "Rural
e-commerce will bring peasants convenience, employment, and entrepreneurships,"
then adds that JD's rural e-commerce this year involved thousands of people
and that Guizhou is making itself the State's e-commerce center by following
its plan of accelerated rural development.
From http://www.chinagate.cn/
10/28/2015 New Online Services Have Tougher Time Fundraising Ding Jinlin has earned more than 200 five-star ratings from her
customers since June after registering as a part-time ayi, or housekeeper, through
an online tool that helps connect people with service providers. The tool for
booking housekeepers, located at 58.com, works something like Uber, the
taxi-hailing app. The customer pays a fee up front when scheduling a
housekeeper, and the worker keeps all the money earned on a job. Ding said
she earned more than 8,000 yuan ($1,258) in September. The average salary of
business employees in Beijing was 6,463 yuan in 2014. The website this month
adjusted the service fees for all ayi with a "gold rating", such as
Ding, from 35 yuan per hour to 25 yuan to attract more orders. That means she
can only earn 5,710 yuan if she worked the same number of hours as last
month. Rapidly growing online-to-offline services enjoyed skyrocketing growth
in the first few months of this year thanks to abundant capital in the
industry, which allows online service providers to ignore commissions from
its users and provide subsidies. However, analysts have warned that startups
now need to tighten their purses because fundraising is likely to become more
difficult as investors have become more cautious after the big fluctuations
of the stock market earlier this year and a slower-growing economy. Shen Lingkun, an analyst with market research company Zero2IPO
Group, said venture capitalists have tightened their investments in the third
quarter. The total number of venture capital investment transactions during
the quarter in China was 716, a decline of 20.4 percent compared to the
previous quarter. The Internet industry attracted 257 transactions, followed
by IT and the telecommunication industry. The three accounted for about 66
percent of the total capital investment in the third quarter. China's largest
online ride-booking company, Didi Kuaidi, raised $3 billion of fresh investment
through its latest fundraising round, which is by far the world's largest
transaction for a non-listed company. Didi recently cut its subsidies to
registered drivers and passengers despite its abundant cash flow. New
emerging business models also face regulatory uncertainties that could
greatly increase costs. One example is recent draft rules released by the
Ministry of Transport that require car-hailing service providers to sign
labor contracts with the drivers. Wang Yumei, a senior analyst with Huatai
Securities Co, said at a recent forum that most O2O service providers are the
cash burning type that require a round of fundraising every three months.
Cash-burning startups should spend more efforts on improving the customer
experience and optimize their business models, she said.
From http://www.chinagate.cn/
10/28/2015 China
Ranks No. 1 in Global Online Retail Trade China’s online retail trade now ranks first in the world and the
number of Internet shoppers has surpassed 360 million, the China Internet
Network Information Center reported on Oct 29. The Internet has been a boon
to China’s economy, contributing 7 percent to the country’s GDP last year,
said the center’s report, which reviewed the Web industry’s influence on the
economy over the past five years. Retail trade online more than doubled to
2.79 trillion yuan ($438 billion) in 2014, the report said, pushing China
past the United States as the biggest online market in the world. Sales in
the electronics industry, which includes smartphones and cloud storage
services, also were driven by the Internet from 2011 to 2014, the report
said. Mobile networks have taken the place of computers as the entry point
for users surfing the Web over the past five years. By 2014, China had 594
million netizens using mobile networks, up nearly 90 percent year-on-year, it
said. The report also noted there are currently more than 4 million
application stores, helping users to shop, search and book tickets through
their mobile terminals.
From http://www.gov.cn/
10/29/2015 China Builds Asia's 1st Big Data Base for Int'l Shipping The first big data base for international shipping will be
established in east China's port city of Qingdao. The 5 billion yuan (787
million U.S. dollars) project includes a big data exchange, a research
academy, an industrial park and a big data center, according to an official
with the Qingdao International Shipping Service Center. The center signed a
strategic agreement to jointly develop the base with AsiaInfo, a leading
provider of high-quality software and solutions in China, at an international
ocean forum held here on Friday. "The construction of the base will push
the modernization of Qingdao's shipping industry and its integration with
information technologies," said the official. The container throughput
of Qingdao Port ranks fourth in the country. Qingdao is also one of China's seven
international cruise home ports. From http://www.news.cn/
10/31/2015 Online Shoppers Finding a Lot to Complain About Most complaints made by Chinese consumers last year were about
online shopping, a report from China's top legislative body said on Monday.
The number of complaints and disputes related to shopping on the Internet
rose sharply and the network has become a breeding ground for counterfeits,
the report by a law enforcement team under the Standing Committee of the
National People's Congress said. In 2014, Chinese industrial and commercial
authorities dealt with 78,000 complaints concerning online shopping, up 356.6
percent year-on-year. Of the total of 20,135 cases taken on by consumer
associations, 92.3 percent concerned online purchases, the report said. Yan
Junqi, vice-chairwoman of the NPC Standing Committee, said: "Ignoring
consumers' rights and selling counterfeits are very prominent in the online
shopping industry." She revealed that just 58.7 percent of products sold
online were found to be authentic during a random inspection in 2014 by the
State Administration of Industry and Commerce. With the boom in complaints,
the number of disputes caused by online purchases also went up, she said.
Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court has handled 107 such disputes since
the revised Chinese Consumer Protection Law took effect on March 15 last
year, she said. A typical example, from Anhui province's financial website,
described how a woman surnamed Xu paid a 2,000 yuan ($316) deposit before she
bought sanitary ware priced 1,000 yuan cheaper online than she could find
elsewhere. But when it was delivered, Xu found it was poor quality and she
was told the deposit could not be repaid because it was a sale product. Yan
suggested that the Supreme People's Court should clarify the revised law by
the end of this year and appealed to consumer associations to play their
role. Qiu Baochang, head of the lawyers' group for the China Consumers'
Association, said: "We are always overloaded with work since the revised
law came into effect. "We have asked officers to update their knowledge
of the law and how the online industry works, including means of payment, to
catch up with the pace at which e-commerce is developing."
From http://www.chinagate.cn/
11/03/2015 JD.com Asks for Promo Probe into Alibaba China's second-largest e-commerce company JD.com Inc said it has
sent a letter of complaint to a Chinese anti-trust regulator and formally
requested an investigation into rival Alibaba Group. The complaint concerns a
State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) regulation that forbids
e-commerce platforms from limiting or barring their merchants from
participating in promotions on other platforms. The regulation came into
effect on October 1. JD.com said in its letter that it has received
information from merchants indicating that Alibaba, which dominates Chinese
e-commerce, is "forcing merchants" to choose to exclusively deal
with one e-commerce site during promotional activities. If merchants choose
to participate in certain promotional activities on Alibaba's Tmall website
during the upcoming Singles Day online shopping event on November 11, they
"are not permitted" to participate in other platforms' activities,
otherwise "Alibaba will carry out punishment or sanctions," JD.com
said after it had been informed by sellers on its website. Alibaba spokesman
Rico Ngai said: "We strongly deny the accusations. Alibaba welcomes
competition as it benefits consumers, merchants and service providers."
No one with the authority to speak on behalf of SAIC was available for
comment. If the SAIC does launch an investigation and finds the company has
violated regulations, it could be punished according to the country's laws
governing antitrust and unfair competition. JD.com said Alibaba's behavior
has "harmed merchants' interests" and "not only obstructed
normal market competition, but also seriously harmed consumers'
interests." The two companies are bitter rivals in Chinese e-commerce, with
little love lost between their founders. If the SAIC does investigate, it
would not be Alibaba's first tussle with the regulator. In January, the SAIC
published a so-called "white paper" report on its website,
criticizing Alibaba for not doing enough to suppress widespread
counterfeiting on its websites. The company's shares fell more than 8 percent
on the day after the report. Two days after the report went up on the website
the regulator retracted it, saying that it was not an official "white
paper" and that it did not carry any legal force. An Alibaba spokesman
said at the time that the company felt vindicated. Tensions have come to a
head in the run-up to China’s annual Singles Day event, the world's biggest
online shopping bonanza. Alibaba said sales of over US$9 billion were done at
last year's event. The event is closely scrutinized, and in April Alibaba was
fined 800,000 yuan (US$126,192) by the price bureau in Zhejiang Province for
violations by third-party sellers during the promotions.
From http://www.chinagate.cn/
11/04/2015 China Targets Telecom Reform, Merger Plans Remain Unconfirmed China’s industry regulator will continue studying reforms in the
telecom sector to figure out the next step, but has not taken any action
toward the reported consolidation of telecom companies, a Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology spokesman said. “The development of a
company is decided by the market,” spokesman Zheng Feng said during a press
conference, refusing to elaborate on the topic. His remarks came after media
reports that the government is considering pushing forward mergers for the
country’s three state-owned telecom service providers to improve efficiency
and accelerate modernization of the information sector. Although the reports
still lack official confirmation, related companies listed in the A-share
market have started to react. China Unicom, one of the telecom giants, hit
the 10-percent daily growth cap during morning trade. The three operators,
China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, exchanged executives in August,
the first such adjustment in a decade. The companies posted combined profits
of 110 billion yuan (around $17 billion) in the first three quarters of the year.
China will promote reforms in the telecom sector and further open it to
private investors in the next five years, according to proposals released by
the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on formulating the 13th
five-year plan (2016-2020) for national economic and social development.
From http://www.gov.cn/
11/05/2015 National Agricultural E-commerce Platform Set Up China launched a national e-commerce platform on Thursday to
serve rural areas through supply and sales of agricultural products. Set up
by All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, www.gxyj.com,
aims to match supply and demand of daily consumer products, agricultural
production materials and produce via online to offline cooperation. Users can
trade online and use services ranging from online payment to logistics and
quality certification, according to Wang Zhengwei, chairman of China Co-op
E-commerce Ltd. The e-commerce platform also sets up specific zones for
specialty produce and direct-sale products to offer convenient, safe and
quality online shopping services to rural and urban users. China will
establish sound e-commerce infrastructure and policies while nurturing a
batch of influential agricultural e-commerce brands in the next three years,
according to the joint plan from the ministries of agriculture and commerce
and the National Development Reform Commission released in September.
From http://www.chinagate.cn/
11/06/2015 China’s Rural Areas to Benefit More from E-commerce Chinese rural areas will benefit from e-commerce as online
businesses combine with brick-and-mortar stores in rural areas. The State Council on Nov 9 released a
guideline on development of e-commerce in rural areas until 2020 to promote
rural entrepreneurship, expand rural consumption and bring poor rural
residents out of poverty. A rural
e-commerce system will feature openness, orderly competition, good faith,
security, reliability and environmental protection. An online rural shopping
platform will enable rural areas to access e-commerce. The government will promote Internet
technology in agriculture, and use big data analysis to guide production. Better broadband access and better
roads will raise the logistics capacity of rural areas. In 2014, online retail sales rose 49.7
percent to 2.79 trillion yuan ($439 billion), compared with a 12 percent
growth for total retail sales of consumer goods.
From http://www.gov.cn/
11/09/2015 Electric Car Production Surging Government support helped China’s electric car production in
October jump eightfold year on year to 50,700 vehicles, the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology said on Nov 10. Output of pure electric
and plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles in October 2015 was 850 percent and 200
percent higher, respectively, than in October 2014, said the ministry. In the
first 10 months, Chinese carmakers produced 206,900 new energy vehicles,
three times as many as they did in the same period last year. Intense
promotion by the government has brought more and more new energy vehicles
onto China’s roads, saving energy and combating pollution. Measures including
tax exemptions, subsidies and requirements for government bodies to buy green
cars are in place. In March, the Ministry of Transport set a target of
300,000 new energy commercial vehicles on China’s roads by 2020: 200,000 new
energy buses and 100,000 new energy taxis and delivery vehicles. The State
Council also announced plans in early October to build a nationwide
charging-station network that will fulfill the power demands of five million
electric vehicles by 2020.
From http://www.gov.cn/
11/10/2015 ‘Singles Day’ Sales Exceed $14b People from all over the world are impressed with online
transactions on China’s “Singles Day”, which falls on Nov 11, as evidence of
the global impact of China’s business activities. The day, which was first
celebrated at universities in China in the 1990s, has become the world’s
biggest annual online shopping day -- nearly five times larger than Cyber
Monday in the United States. In 2014, China’s online shopping sales on the
“Singles Day” nearly reached $10 billion, well dwarfing Cyber Monday with
some $2 billion in sales. The “Singles Day” also surpassed US Black Friday, a
day that Americans go shopping after celebrating Thanksgiving Day, to become
the world’s largest shopping day in terms of sales volume. China’s e-commerce
giant, Alibaba’s Tmall online marketplace on Nov 12 reported a sale of 91.2
billion yuan ($14.3 billion) on “Singles Day” shopping spree, a 60-percent
rise from last year’s 51.7 billion yuan ($8.1 billion). Alibaba Group also
moved its count-down program from its headquarters in Hangzhou to Beijing to
mark the day with a glitzy variety show. The company hosted a four-hour TV
show on the eve of the “Singles Day”, featuring not just top Chinese pop
singers and movie stars, but also James Bond’s Daniel Craig and a cameo from
Kevin Spacey, who greeted Chinese consumers as “President Underwood” from the
blockbuster TV series “House of Cards.” Those efforts appeared to have paid off. In the first hour and a
half, Alibaba’s total gross merchandise volume exceeded $5 billion, while
last year it took about 13 hours to achieve such volume. More than three
quarters of transactions were made on wireless devices such as smartphones
and tablets, Alibaba data shows. Cell phones became the most popular product,
with a whopping 3.13 million sets sold on the day, followed by nuts, milk,
honey, cars, apples, TV sets and watches. According to Alibaba, 232 countries
and regions with more than 5,000 overseas brands participated in the
promotion. The United States, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Australia were
the top five countries in terms of imported products. Both retailers and
policymakers are keen to see the boom of the “Singles Day” sales. China’s
13th Five-Year Plan released last week made it clear that consumption should
play a fundamental role in China’s future economic growth. “The rebalancing
is already happening in China, given the steady rise of consumption as a
share of GDP,” said Wang Tao, chief China economist at the United Bank of
Switzerland. “A spate of government policies such as improving social
security, reducing tax burden and raising minimum wages have all supported
consumption,” he added. The purchases meant 467 million parcels need to be
delivered nationwide. In all, the “Singles Day” will generate $760 million in
shipments, according to government figures. Over 200 banks and Alipay,
Alibaba’s online payment service, processed 710 million transactions in 24
hours, peaking at 85,900 deals per second. Alibaba President Ma Yun has said
he hopes to turn the “Singles Day” into a global occasion.
From http://www.gov.cn/
11/12/2015 China’s B2C Market Grows by Half in Q3 Third quarter is generally considered a slack season in the
retail industry, but China’s online business-to-consumer (B2C) market grew by
49.7 percent, according to a report released on Nov 16 by Analysys International.
Transactions reached 503.6 billion yuan ($78.8 billion) in the third quarter
this year. Alibaba’s Tmall led the way by claiming a share of 54 percent,
followed by JD.com with 23.2 percent and Vipshop, a major flash sale
operator. Tmall, JD.com, Vipshop and their respective business models
represent the big picture of China’s B2C market, the report said. The
Internet research company also said e-commerce had entered a new phase where
an industry reshuffle and big data applications had become key. From http://www.gov.cn/
11/17/2015 JAPAN: Govt Launches Electricity Retail Market Watchdog The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry on Tuesday launched an
electricity market watchdog to protect consumers and ensure fair competition
ahead of the full liberalization of power retailing in April 2016. The
five-member Electricity Market Surveillance Commission is headed by Tatsuo
Hatta, president of the Asian Growth Research Institute. Its secretariat has
a staff of around 70. “One of our major tasks is to make preparations for the
liberalization,” Chairman Hatta said at the first meeting of the commission,
which reports directly to the economy, trade and industry minister. The
commission will work hard to monitor market developments and set electricity
trading rules, Hatta also said. The watchdog will examine whether power
retailers explain terms of contracts to consumers appropriately before
concluding the deals and will give business improvement recommendations to
such companies when necessary. The new entity will have a contact point for
consumers with complaints about troubles with power retailers. The commission
will also give its opinions on whether the government should approve the registration
of power retailers. The watchdog will check the power transmission fees that
major power companies will set when they open up their transmission cables to
new power market entrants. The results of its research will be reported to
the industry ministry in December. Of the major companies, Hokuriku Electric
Power Co., Chugoku Electric Power Co. and Okinawa Electric Power Co. have not
recently reviewed their basic costs, which are used to set the transmission
fees. The commission will put an additional emphasis on the three firms to
see whether they can lower the basic costs. From http://the-japan-news.com 09/03/2015 SOUTH KOREA: Economic Growth Lies in Investing in New Tech “The key to lifting the nation from its sluggish economy and its
downward spiral lies in the creative industries,” said President Park
Geun-hye during the opening ceremony for the “Center for a Creative Economy
and Innovation Festival” held in Daejeon on Aug. 27. “As all 17 of the
Centers for a Creative Economy and Innovation across the nation are now in
full operation, we have seen great results, both big and small, coming to
light there. I hope that these achievements will help the nation gain growth
momentum, fanning the flames of the creative industries across the nation,”
the president said. President Park outlined three roles that the centers
should take on: become a place where new ideas, technologies and capital
investment are shared freely among start-ups; be a platform that allows both
businesses and academia to cooperate to innovate and grow local economies;
and, lastly, to be a stepping stone to creating more jobs for young
people. Following the festival, President Park oversaw a brief ceremony
where corporations agreed to invest in the Centers for a Creative Economy and
Innovation. “I hope that those who start their own business here will become
new leaders, to drive the nation’s economy, to thrive in their chosen
industry and also create more jobs,” the president said. From http://www.korea.net
08/28/2015 Gov't to Spend 5.7 Tln Won for 5G, Drones South Korea plans to invest around 5.7 trillion won ($4.83
billion) over the next five years to help nurture the fifth-generation (5G)
network, unmanned drones and other high-end technology. Under the plan, the
Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning will allocate the budget in 19
industry areas. "The government will spearhead investment on research
projects, and improve rules and regulations to provide companies with more
leeway in doing business," ICT Minister Choi Yang-hee said in a meeting
with industry officials. During the meeting, Koo Ja-yeol, who heads LS Group,
the country's major electricity materials supplier, cheered the ministry's
move, adding that such support is needed amid the prolonged economic slump in
China and South Korea. "Local companies have been facing troubles as
rules and regulations failed to support businesses," Koo said. "The
government must continue its communications with companies to overcome
huddles." From http://www.koreaherald.com 08/28/2015 Smartphone Market Growth to Slow in 2016: Data The global shipment of smartphones is anticipated to suffer a
setback in 2016, industry data showed Thursday, with Chinese handset makers
expected to further cement their foothold in the mid- to low-end smartphone
segment. According to the data compiled by industry tracker TrendForce, the
combined sales of smartphones for next year are estimated at 1.34 billion
units, up 5.8 percent from 2015. The market is estimated to grow 8.3 percent
this year. TrendForce said this year "marks the end of the smartphone
boom that began with the launch of the iPhone in 2007," with the
smartphone market landing in the so-called plateau period. U.S. giant Apple
Inc., which recently showcased the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, also lack
"fresh looks" compared to other devices launched by rivals such as
Samsung Electronics Co., the tracker said. Accordingly, TrendForce said
Apple's shipments are expected to grow 7.5 percent, compared to an estimated
16 percent growth for this year. Amid the slowing growth in the global
smartphone market, Chinese players are still expected to maintain robust
growth and possibly beat existing smaller players such as Microsoft Corp. or
Sony Corp. Chinese players are anticipated to post 10 percent on-year growth
in smartphone sales at 576 million units. Seven out of 10 major global
smartphone makers were Chinese in the second quarter, TrendForce added. From http://www.koreaherald.com 09/10/2015 FSC Hints Possibility of
Approving More Internet-Only Banks Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Yim Jong-yong has
hinted that the financial regulator may approve the establishment of more
Internet-only banks. Yim presented the position on Monday during a
parliamentary audit of the FSC at the National Assembly. The FSC chief said
that the financial regulator had planned to issue licenses for up to two
qualified entities, but will make flexible considerations depending on the
application review process. Yim also reaffirmed the government’s plan to sell
Woori Bank, saying that the government will not excessively stick to its goal
to recoup public funds injected in the bank. From http://world.kbs.co.kr
09/14/2015 S. Korea‘s
ICT Exports Edge Up in August South Korea's exports of information communication technology
products rose slightly in August from a year earlier on a rise in shipments
of key products, data showed Thursday. Outbound shipments of ICT
products amounted to $14.44 billion last month, up 0.7 percent from a year
earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry
and Energy. Imports also surged 11.4 percent on-year to $7.55
billion last month, with the country logging a surplus of $6.9
billion. The increase in ICT exports was attributed to the rising
number of outbound shipments of mobile phones and
semiconductors. In August, exports of smartphones jumped 16.7 percent
on-year to $2.42 billion, following the releases of the latest models such as
the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus by Samsung Electronics Co., the
ministry said. Shipments of semiconductors gained 4 percent
on-year to $5.45 billion on a rising demand for mobile chips. On
the other hand, exports of display panels fell 7.5 percent to $2.72 billion,
mostly due to a rise in overseas production by local manufacturers, the
ministry said. By region, shipments to China, the world's single
largest market for South Korean products, inched up 0.3 percent on-year to
$2.46 billion, with exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
countries gaining 9.2 percent to $1.08 billion. Shipments to the
United States moved up 8.1 percent on-year to $750 million, while shipments to
the European Union sank 16.3 percent to $460 million. Meanwhile,
the country's overall exports fell 14.7 percent on-year to reach $39.33
billion in August. From http://www.koreaherald.com 09/17/2015 Q4
Outlook Bright for Building, IT Sectors: Biz Body The outlook for South Korea's construction, information
technology and electronics industries is bright for the fourth quarter on
real estate deregulation and the strong performance of chipmakers, a leading
business body said Sunday. In its latest industry outlook, the Korea Chamber
of Commerce & Industry said the construction industry will likely have
"not bad" business conditions in the current quarter thanks to the
government's property deregulation and brisk government investment. In
August, the government eased regulations on the property market, such as the
loan-to-value ratio and the debt-to-income ratio, both aimed at widening
public access to home mortgages. The IT and electronics industry will be
powered by a strong gain in demand for semiconductors, whose exports expanded
5.8 percent on-year in the first eight months of this year. From http://www.koreaherald.com 10/11/2015 ICT
Exports for September Post Year's High The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced on
Tuesday that information and communication technology (ICT) exports grew
one-point-six percent on-year in September. The latest figure, standing
at roughly 16 billion U.S. dollars, was the highest to be posted so far this
year. Imports of ICT surged one-point-four percent during the same
period to amount to some seven-point-eight billion dollars, resulting in a
trade surplus of eight-point-one billion dollars. A ministry official
said South Korea’s ICT exports posted growth for two consecutive months
despite forecasts that the global ICT market would contract and despite a
decline in the nation’s overall exports. The official said the ICT sector had
served as a pillar of the nation’s industries. Last month, mobile phone
exports surged 34 percent to stand at two-point-eight billion dollars.
Semiconductor exports grew eight-tenths of a percent to roughly
five-point-nine billion dollars while exports of digital TVs amounted to 610
million dollars, or up more than nine percent. Exports of displays and
computers, meanwhile, fell 14 percent each during the same period. From http://world.kbs.co.kr
10/13/2015 Gov't
to Create 55 Billion Won Fund to Foster Computer Graphics Industry The government has decided to create a 55-billion won fund to
foster the country’s computer graphics industry. The Ministry of Science, ICT
and Future Planning announced a set of plans to promote the industry on
Wednesday during a meeting of chiefs of economy-related ministries at the
government complex in Seoul. The ICT ministry and the Ministry of Culture,
Sports and Tourism plan to raise ten billion won and 40 billion won,
respectively, next year to create the fund. Using the fund, the culture
ministry will mainly invest in content or businesses based on computer
graphics, while the ICT ministry will invest in film production companies
which promise to donate some of their profits to computer graphics companies.
The government will also support companies lacking research and development
capabilities by linking them to state-funded research institutes for joint
research and development. In addition, the government decided to provide
active support for the virtual reality game industry. From http://world.kbs.co.kr
10/14/2015 LG Group is gearing up for the Internet of Things era that
connects all mobile devices and electronic machines through the Web.
Affiliates of the group have secured technological know-how in diverse fields
of electronics, telecommunications and information technology services. They
are seeking synergies to lead the still nascent but lucrative market. LG
Electronics is already a major force in the field as it owns 139 IoT-related
patents as of 2014 -- the largest in Korea and the fourth globally, according
to Korea Electronics Technology Institute. The company’s key IoT platforms
include LG webOS and LG Wellness. LG webOS, an award-winning smart TV
operating system, is currently used in LG’s smart TVs around the home and in
hotels to provide high-speed content. The company plans to expand the OS to
other IoT services. The Wellness platform, based on the company’s bio-signal
analysis technologies, collects data on a user’s sleep patterns, heart rate
and movement, then uses the data collected to improve the user’s environment
through lighting and air conditioning. From http://www.koreaherald.com 10/20/2015 KT
Vows to Be Game-Changer in ICT KT, a leading mobile carrier in South Korea, is looking to shake
up the local and global information and communications technology sector by
introducing exclusive services and products developed on the back of its
cutting-edge technologies. KT’s chief executive Hwang Chang-gyu has been
pushing the company to pursue customer-centered innovation, introducing a
total of 18 original technologies and services developed for the first time
in the world since taking his post in January 2014. “The key to rising above
our competition is to cast a fresh look into our customers’ needs and their
changing lifestyles based on Internet technology, which is creating
opportunities to draw up new business models and approaches,” Hwang said. In
June, KT unveiled the world’s fastest mobile data service, known as “GiGA
LTE.” By combining its existing Long Term Evolution, or LTE, networks with
localized Wi-Fi connections, the service provides users with data speeds up
to 1.17 Gigabits per second. From http://www.koreaherald.com 10/22/2015 |
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INDONESIA:
Blibli.Com to Bring SMEs into the Digital Age THE e-commerce space is fiercely competitive, and companies are
hard-pressed to differentiate themselves from the crowd. Online shopping mall
Blibli.com is trying to do so by embracing as many Indonesian small and
medium enterprises (SMEs) as possible, according to Kusumo Martanto, chief
executive officer of the site’s operator PT Global Digital Niaga. “As the
original ‘made-in-Indonesia’ online shopping site, we have a commitment to
empower Indonesian sellers as well as buyers, so that our efforts can
contribute significantly to the country,” he told Digital News Asia (DNA) via
email. SMEs and local products can help boost the Indonesian economy, but
many SMEs have trouble developing distribution channels to reach more buyers,
he said. E-commerce is the logical solution, he argued, allowing SMEs to
reach a wider network of buyers without having to spend money on promotions
or on setting up physical outlets. Blibli.com itself has taken the initiative
to cooperate with Indonesia’s SME and Cooperatives (Smesco) – the official
institution responsible for developing SMEs – and Markplus Inc to develop the
so-called ‘SMEs go online’ section on its portal, called ‘Gallery Indonesia
WOW’ (pic below). Under this initiative, Blibli.com will distribute local SME
products all over the country via its integrated facilities, including
warehousing and free shipping, and also offering payment facilities with its
banking partners and round-the-clock customer service. “We also have an
‘incubator team’ especifically assigned to acquire merchants and to conduct
workshops to help SMEs develop their e-commerce business potential,” Kusumo
said, adding that more than 1,000 SMEs have come on board the initiative. He
admitted that the number of local SME products displayed on Blibli.com was
still small, at around 20% of the total, but was targeting to increase this
to 40% within a year. “We are more than happy to display and promote local
products, especially high-tech products made in Indonesia,” he added,
referring to smartphone brands such as Advan, Mito, Evercoss, and IMO. Big potential, heated competition Such a strategy is needed to stave off competition from the
increasing number of foreign-owned online shopping sites in Indonesia,
according to Kusumo. “Currently, many foreign players are operating here
without any legal entity. As a local brand, Blibli.com must strive to become
the market leader by promoting local SME products,” he said. The e-commerce
potential in Indonesia, and in Asean (the Association of South-East Asian
Nation) as a whole, is huge, according to AT Kearney and CIMB Asean Research
Institute (Cari) in their report Lifting the Barriers to E-Commerce in Asean.
This is especially given the region’s population of 650 million. Indonesia,
the most populous Asean country with around 250 million people, is expected
to become the region’s biggest e-commerce market, with a potential value
estimated at about US$25-30 billion. This is a massive leap compared with the
US$1.3 billion value recorded at the end of 2013. At a Google-Deloitte event
in August, Indonesia’s Minister of Communication and Information Technology
Rudiantara said total e-commerce transactions in Indonesia reached US$12
billion in value in 2014. Compared to the potential value estimated by AT Kearney and
Cari, there is still room to grow. Their report also suggested that
Indonesia’s e-commerce market can be further driven as more Indonesians get
Internet access. Businesses are aware of the potential, and many are eyeing a
piece of this enormous pie. On Dec 8, 2014 the largest telecomunication operator
in Indonesia, Telkomsel, launched a shopping site named Blanja.com, following
XL Axiata which had earlier launched Elevenia. In an official statement,
Telkomsel said it decided to get into the online shopping industry because of
the huge potential, and added that it will be leveraging its mobile-money
platform, T-Cash. On Sept 8 this year, PT Global Ecommerce launched its
MatahariMall, with a US$500-million financial boost from property giant Lippo
Group. Kusumo is unfazed. “The more new players come in, the merrier the
competition – as long as they are really serious” and do not conduct
“destructive price wars,” he said. Since it was established in 2011,
Blibli.com has focused on providing quality service instead of competing on
price alone, he declared. “We want to provide a complete service as
Amazon.com does, with reliable and guaranteed products,” he said. According
to Kusumo, e-commerce currently makes up only 1% of the total retail market
in Indonesia. Therefore, there is still a lot of room for growth. “With that
huge potential and with more players competing, the industry will only grow,”
he added. Clear regulations needed Minister for Communication and Information Rudiantara
introducing the draft of ‘Roadmap E-Commerce Indonesia’ to Trade Ministry
official in Jakarta on Aug 31. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Government is
preparing its ‘Roadmap E-commerce Indonesia’ to further develop e-commerce in
the republic. Rudiantara, after opening the Asia Internet Symposium (AIS)
2015 in Jakarta on Sept 7, told DNA then that the roadmap was in the process
of being finalised. “It is about 95% complete, and will be finalised after we
meet with relevant ministries. There are eight ministries and institutions
involved in preparing this roadmap,” he said. These include the Central Bank,
and the ministries of Finance, Trade, Industry, Communication and Information
Technology. The roadmap is expected to reduce barriers when it comes to
investments in the e-commerce sector, and will address issues like access to
funding, taxation, licensing, education, human resources, and distribution
channels. “Currently, there are more than 146 regulations that need to be
reviewed,” said Rudiantara. For Kusumo (pic below), who also serves on the
supervisory board of the E-Commerce Association of Indonesia (IdEA), there is
an obvious need for such a roadmap. “Government regulations must be there as
a legal umbrella to support the business players and to protect consumers,”
he said, stressing however that such regulations must be clear, simple and
uncomplicated. “The regulations must provide a real solution,” he added.
Besides regulations, Kusumo is also hoping for government support for online
shopping sites started by local businesses, such as Blibli.com, and funded by
Indonesian companies. “So far we have not submitted any request for
government incentives, but we expect the Government to protect local
e-commerce,” he said. One such incentive could be a tax holiday for
investments in research and development, he noted. “If incentives are not
possible, then the Government should provide regulations that require foreign
e-commerce players to establish a legal entity in Indonesia,” he said. From http://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ Indonesia Hopes Its E-Commerce Ecosystem Churns Out a Unicorn or
Two by Next Year Fresh from a visit to the Silicon Valley’s tech entrepreneurial
ecosystem, Indonesia’s Communication and Information Technology Minister
Rudiantara is hoping that the country’s digital economy will produce at least
two ‘unicorns’ in the e-commerce business in 2016. Unicorn is a popular term
in the investment industry for a start-up company whose valuation has
exceeded $1 billion. “The target is we have a unicorn next year. By 2020, we
want that there should be at least 10 unicorns in It is interesting to note that Indonesia still has e-commerce in
its negative investment list, which bars or limits entry or holdings by
foreign players. The country is, however, planning to remove this high-growth
sector of the digital economy from the negative list next year. According to
Rudiantara, Indonesia’s digital economy has an estimated value of $130
billion, or around Rp 1,756 trillion. One of the goals of the Indonesian
government is to develop up to 1,000 technopreneurs by 2020 who will create
businesses worth $10 billion. On the government’s part to boost this sector,
head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Franky Sibarani said in
press statement, Indonesia requires a special zone that can accommodate the
software and information technology industry. Digital innovations and tech
industries need a conducive business climate and a startup ecosystem to
thrive, he said. Franky suggested that Bandung Technopark in West Java was
suited as an environment to stimulate growth of the digital economy. “After
this visit, we will discuss with the Mayor of Bandung Ridwan Kamil to
accelerate the realisation of special areas for digital and creative economy,
so it can be offered to investors,” said Franky. Rudiantara, Franky as well
as Indonesian Trade Minister Thomas Lembong and the Head of Indonesian Agency
for Creative Economy Triawan Munaf were part of the delegation who visited
Silicon Valley this week after accompanying President Joko Widodo on his US visit. From http://www.dealstreetasia.com/ 10/30/2015 Indonesian
SMEs Part I: Driving the Economy INDONESIA, South-East Asia’s economic powerhouse from 2010 to
2012, is now facing a slowdown, triggered by the drop in commodity prices – a
major source of export income – and the weakening of the rupiah that had led
to a decrease in public consumption. The republic experienced economic growth
of 6.2% in 2010 and 2011, declining to 5% in 2014. Indonesia’s Central Bank
has estimated that economic growth in 2015 will be in the range of 4.7% to
5.1%. Part of the slowdown can be attributed to the overall global economic
downturn, which is why observers are looking to the Government to identify
the domestic sectors that could potentially contribute to economic growth.
“Indonesia needs to start an overall economic restructuring which has a solid
foundation and which is not easily swayed by external factors,” said Rosan
Perkasa Roeslani, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce
(Kadin) for Banking and Financial. Rosan, in an official statement obtained
by Digital News Asia (DNA), said that the new economic structure must be
based on domestic industry. “We [need to] develop and support ‘local champions’ – excellent
local products and brands that can be a mainstay and enter the global
market,” he added, with reference to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
SMEs must be encouraged because they contribute to “national economic resilience,”
he argued, adding that the sector was one of the economic pillars that proved
resistant to the 1998 monetary crisis. Beyond mere ‘resilience,’ SME
development and digitalisation can also contribute substantially to the
country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product). A report by Deloitte Access Economics
and Google Ÿ Offline
business: No access to broadband, no computer or smartphone, and does not
have a website; Ÿ Basic
online business: Broadband access, digital device such as a computer or
smartphone, and a static online presence; Ÿ Intermediate
online business: Immersed in social media through a combination of
integrating websites with social media, live chat or customer threads on
websites; and Ÿ Advanced
online business: Sophisticated connectivity, social media integration and
e-commerce capabilities. Deloitte Access Economics’ survey of 437 SMEs in Jakarta,
Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Medan, and Makassar found that 36% fell into the
first category (offline); 37% were at No 2 (basic); 18% at No 3
(intermediate); and only 9% in category 4 (advanced). “SMEs that get online, engage in social media and develop
e-commerce capabilities, enjoy significant business benefits in terms of
revenue, employment, innovation and competitiveness. Each step up the digital
engagement ladder brings benefits,” said the report. For one, advanced online
businesses grew their revenue 80% faster than offline businesses. “Advanced
online businesses are also one and half times more likely to increase the
number of people they employ when compared with offline businesses,” and are
17 times more likely to be innovative. SMEs with higher levels of digital
engagement are also likely to be more globally competitive, the report added. Equitable economic growth According to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) data, more
than 97% of companies across its member economies are SMEs. In an APEC SME
ministerial meeting in the Private sector help needed For Indonesian SMEs to fulfill their business potential, they
need to be aware of the role of technology and digitalisation in supporting
their business, Ikhsan argued. “SMEs have long proven to be the backbone of
the economy. To develop them and allow them to reach potential domestic,
regional and global markets, SMEs must understand technology and ‘go
digital’,” he added. Ikhsan said that while more SMEs are using technology,
many are still unaware of the digital transformation that the greater
business world is undergoing. The Indonesian Government however is aware, and
has tasked Akumindo with reaching out to the nearly 58 million SMEs in the
country on the need to be digitally engaged. Unfortunately, limited human
resources have hampered Akumindo from carrying out this mandate, according to
Ikhsan. “We are trying our best … but we also realise our limits in terms of
scale and capabilities,” he said, urging private sector companies involved in
the technology and digital space to help Akumindo in its task. “This cannot
be driven only by the Government. The private sector has the know-how, and in
a more detailed and strategic way,” he added. Ikhsan also said that almost
all SMEs in Indonesia were aware of the huge business potential of going
digital, it was only they did not know how and where to start. From https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 11/11/2015 Indonesian
SMEs Part II: Lack of Data, Coordination and Will THE small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Indonesia has
proven to be quite resilient to the slings and arrows of external economic
factors, and is doing its bit in providing jobs to Indonesians as well. The
country certainly recognises the value of SMEs, and is intent on developing
and boosting the sector, with technology adoption and digitalisation being
cited as key. But these aspirations face on-going challenges. The first is
the availability of comprehensive and up-to-date data on the SME sector and
its contribution to the country’s economy, according to the Association of
Indonesian SMEs (Akumindo). “This will be the priority for the Government and
us,” its chairman Ikhsan Ingratubun told Digital News Asia (DNA), adding that
a report would “hopefully be published in 2016.” Indonesia’s Ministry of
Cooperatives and SMEs had last released a whitepaper on the sector in 2013,
which reported that SMEs had contributed to 57.95% of Indonesia’s GDP (Gross
Domestic Product) and 16.44% of its foreign trade in 2011. The SME
contribution comprised handicraft (30%), fashion products and accessories
(29%), furniture (27%), food and beverage or F&B (10%), and health and
beauty products (4%). “I believe that the SME contribution to GDP has now reached 60%,
and its portion of exports has reached 25%,” Ikhsan said. He also argued that
there was a lack of regulatory support to encourage and promote the sector,
describing the existing legislation No. 20/2008 that covers SME empowerment
and development as one that lacks any bite. The law covers what qualifies a
business to be defined as an SME, in terms of assets and profits. It also
alludes to what kind of support an SME is entitled to in terms of financing,
development, and land support, but falls short of making that support
mandatory, he said. “That 2008 regulation seems to have been crafted just for
the sake of having legislation around SMEs,” he accused, saying that there
are no specific articles in the law about what SMEs are entitled to in terms
of financing, training, and development. Ikhsan suggested the law be amended
to first recognise the SME sector as the main economic pillar, not merely
“one of the sectors that can” contribute to economic prosperity. “By applying
this approach, the articles inside the law will have more a more powerful
impact on the development of the SME sector. “More thought would be given on
how to maximise the sector’s contribution to GDP, with the proper push from
the central Government as well as local governments,” he argued. Ikhsan also
said the law has to be amended to include some kind of mandatory push as well
as penalty for parties that refuse to support good SMEs, because currently,
only SMEs are being held liable. Poor technology skills The Asean SME Index 2014 published by the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Economic Research
Institute for Asean and East Asia (Eria) in March 2014 shows that the
competitiveness of Indonesian SMEs in terms of the implementation and
transfer of technology is lower than that in Malaysia, Singapore and
Thailand. Gaps in promoting technology use and transfer stem from “the lack
of a strategic approach to innovation policy for SMEs, poor provision of information
on innovation support services, limited access to standard certification
services, lack of technology support in universities, and few linkages
between SMEs and R&D (research and development) labs and incubators,” the
report stated. This is further exacerbated by “poor protection and promotion
of intellectual property rights, lack of broadband infrastructure,
underdeveloped science/ industrial parks, lack of competitive clusters, and
insufficient financial incentives in technology development and R&D
activities.” Among the reasons why Indonesia was lagging its Asean neighbours
in this regard was because “innovation strategy elements are included
sporadically in some policy documents without a consistent approach. Each
ministry has its own plan.” “There is neither synergy nor a system uniting
all the strategy elements in the country,” the Index said. As with Akumindo, the Asean SME Index 2014 also referred to the
lack of information: “The website of the National Innovation System provides
a database of innovation service providers and contains many types of
innovation support programmes. Since it is just being launched, the
information is still incomplete.” The authors of the report also underlined
how slow and unstable Internet connections in the country have hampered
approximately around 60 million SMEs in Indonesia from going digital. Last
but not least, the Indonesian SME sector has not made optimal use of
incubators. “The number of incubator is still small. There is not even a
virtual incubator available, and there have been no government regulations
around incubators,” the report said. By contrast, Thailand for example has a
special institution for incubators called The University Business Incubator
(UBI), coordinated by the Office of Higher Education Commission and the
universities themselves. Currently, UBI has established nine university
networks covering 56 universities around the country. In Malaysia, e-commerce has already been accepted as a new way
of doing business, while its Government has recognised that the promotion of
e-commerce and enhancing its use will enable Malaysian SMEs to compete more
effectively domestically and in the global market, the report noted. “All
important and relevant information on SMEs can be accessed through the SME
Info Portal which serves as the online one-stop SME node providing
information on all programmes available for SMEs such as access to finance,
markets, infrastructure, technology and advisory services and information.
“SMEs can also obtain relevant information through the SME Corporation
Malaysia’s portal [which also] provides opportunities for SMEs to communicate
through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for real time and
up-to-date information on SME events or programmes, including issues
confronting SMEs.” But there is hope – even as DNA was preparing this report, the
Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (Kadin) announced a one-stop SME portal at
ukmmarket.co.id. This free online SME marketplace would allow SMEs to go
digital without having to worry about having to develop and maintain their
own sites, or implement their own payment gateways, according to Kadin. “We
know that going digital is not a choice nowadays, it’s the way it should be,”
said Ahmad Zaky, chief executive officer of PT Madani Sisfotel which operates
the portal. “We also know that many SMEs have very limited knowledge about
going digital, and this portal will help them,” he said at the launch in
Jakarta on Nov 11, adding that his company would be working with various
agencies and ministries to create greater awareness, especially in rural
communities. Large enterprise help Surprisingly, large enterprises in Indonesia are coming in to
fill the gaps in the SME sector, although their ambitions are also being
thwarted by a variety of factors. For instance, in 2014, Google Indonesia
kicked off its Gapura annual programme that provides training and seminars
for SMEs on the ‘online way,’ part of the US technology giant’s efforts
across the region. The programme is supported by Indonesia’s Ministry of
Cooperatives and SMEs, and various associations. “Most Indonesian SMEs are
still reluctant to go online because they do not understand [digital] or are
not ready to penetrate bigger markets,” Google Indonesia’s Public Policy &
Government Relations head Shinto Nugroho said in an official statement.
“Gapura helps SMEs find out more about online business, and gives them tips
on optimising their websites,” he added. PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk
(Telkom) also has a similar initiative called Kampung UKM Digital (literally,
‘Digital SME Village’). “The concept of Kampung UKM Digital is to utilise information
and communications technology (ICT) in a comprehensive and integrated way in
the business process, so that SMEs will be more advanced, independent and
modern,” Telkomsel’s Enterprise & Business Services director Muhammad
Awaluddin said at the launch in Bandung in June. Muhammad said Telkomsel is
also gathering IT volunteers, communities and partner companies to provide
practical training for SMEs, and that it is targeting to ‘digitalise’ one
million SMEs by the end of the year. All these initiatives would come to
naught, he however acknowledged, if the SMEs themselves lack the will and are
not proactive in wanting to adopt technology. “They must be passionate about
improving their business, and must be willing to advance and able to compete
in the global market,” Muhammad said. From https://www.digitalnewsasia.com 11/12/2015 Indonesian
SMEs Part III: Views from the Ground THE call for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia to
‘go digital’ is not new, but there has been a lack of awareness and
education. SMEs have heard the call, but don’t necessarily understand what it
actually means, going by what some owners told Digital News Asia (DNA). For
some, it merely means using social media to sell their products. “I
automatically associate ‘going digital’ with selling via social media
networks like Instagram or Facebook,” said Noor Anugrahandina, owner of Roro
Kenes Indonesia, which specialises in handmade leather bags. These bags are
targeted at women from the middle-class and above, and range in price from
Rp1.7 million to Rp3.9 million (approximately US$124-US$285) a piece.
Speaking to DNA at last month’s Trade Expo Indonesia 2015 in Jakarta, Noor
said the only social media network she uses is Instagram, to display her
products. “Actually, I have a website, but it has no content except for an
e-catalogue which is rarely updated,” said Noor, who founded the business in
April 2014. “If I think about the time I would need to spend on it, and also
the workers I would have to hire to properly manage my website – especially
to respond to requests and questions from potential buyers – well, my
partners and I cannot afford this at the moment,” she added. Noor said she is aware of the business benefits of adopting
technology and getting online, and that an attractive, fully-functional and
well-managed digital presence would open a bigger market. However, just like
many other SME owners, Noor believes that going digital would be complicated,
time-consuming, and more importantly, would require special expertise. “We do
not quite understand what is required to go digital – after we build a
website, what next? How do we make it interactive, and how much is it going
to cost to manage it?” she said. For Noor, as with many such SME owners,
managing the business is time-consuming enough, without needing to add a
digital dimension. “It is a big responsibility. Once our products are
displayed on websites or we go into e-commerce, the demand will certainly
increase – but would we be ready to meet this increase in demand?” she said.
Currently, at full clip with its 10 workers, her company Roro Kenes can only
produce 100 bags per month. Being physical seems to be a better bet than going digital. Noor
said she appreciates efforts by the Indonesian Government, as well as various
ministries and associations, in organising SME exhibitions such as Trade Expo
Indonesia. “I try to participate in one event every month to promote and sell
our bags,” she said, adding that while participating in exhibitions also
takes its toll in terms of time and effort, the business returns are there.
“If there is assistance and training available for SMEs to go digital, where
we are taught how to manage and utilise technology for our business in an
efficient way, I will obviously participate. I want my business to thrive
too,” she said. No weeping gently for these guitars Unlike Roro Kenes, BatikGuitar was digital from its inception,
to better reach customers, said its owner Guruh Sabdo Nugroho. Having a
digital presence gives the maker of handmade batik-painted guitars an edge,
he told DNA. “From the start, I knew it would be difficult to compete in the
market if I only used conventional distribution channels such as shops –
which are usually filled with the popular guitar brands anyway,” he said.
Guruh first started selling his guitars in 2011 via Facebook. The response
was good enough, but he later also promoted his guitars on the Kaskus
Internet forum, considered Indonesia’s largest online community. In 2013, he
decided to hire an expert to develop a website, which has now become the main
portal for his business. “To sell a product in a digital way, you need a
story or narrative – and the story I sell is that you have unique guitar,
specially crafted in a completely handmade process,” he said. BatikGuitar’s
instruments sell for US$800-US$4,000 each, or about Rp10 million to Rp55
million, depending on the amount of work and the quality of the raw
materials. In one month, Guruh can only make 10 to 15 guitars, both
electric and acoustic. He crafts the guitars himself, assisted by five
workers at his workshop in Solo, Central Java. The BatikGitar website
contains complete and updated product information – which is however
displayed merely as an e-catalogue, and does not cater to direct bookings or
electronic purchases. Still, even in this relatively limited fashion, the
benefits of ‘going digital’ has seen great returns, especially with his
buyers who mostly come from outside Indonesia, according to Guruh. “The
advantage of selling a unique product like mine online is grabbing buyers
from other countries – 70% of my buyers come from overseas, mainly from
Australia, the Netherlands, and Russia,” he said. But despite the advantages
of going digital, Guruh is reluctant to increase his online presence. As with
Noor, he worries about increased demand. In Guruh’s case, it is difficult to find talented and reliable
people capable of crafting handmade, batik-painted guitars – which is also
why he can only receive a limited number of orders each month. “If our
website was opened for direct orders, I am afraid I would not be able to meet
all the orders due to our limited production capacity,” he said. When it
comes to increasing calls for SMEs to adopt technology, Guruh said the main
challenges are not only access to technology, but also production capacity
and human resources. “If we have more skillful human resources, we could
increase our production and then we could go fully digital – production
capacity, human resources and technology are all closely linked,” he said.
When it comes to Indonesian SMEs being asked to go digital, as usual with
technology issues, it is not only about technology. From https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 11/13/2015 THAILAND:
Shift to E-Payment Urged to Cut Costs THE COST of making payments at the banks should go down once
electronic transactions become more widely used, said Boontuck Wungcharoen,
chairman of the Thai Bankers' Association (TBA). Speaking at a Bank of
Thailand conference on the trends and developments of digital payments,
Boontuck said that in his personal view, e-payments would become more
attractive if the fees were seen as reasonable by customers. As it is now,
the cost of digital banking is lower than for physical banking, but its fees
are higher. Under the TBA's five-year strategy ending in 2019, the
association is focusing on transactional efficiency in order to reduce the
use of cash. Boontuck told the conference that there were 49 billion
transactions a year in Thailand sees 20 cashless transactions per head per year, while
emerging markets have 40 and developed markets 283. The TBA wants to see the
per-head cashless-transaction figure raised to 50-60 by 2020, while the value
of electronic payments rises from 30 per cent of the total currently to 60-70
per cent within five years. If these goals are met, the banking industry and
the country as a whole could save Bt100 billion a year in transaction costs.
The banks will be the big winners, as the annual cost of handling cash and
cheques is reduced by about Bt36 billion. Vunnaporn Devahastin, senior adviser
to the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission, told the
conference that it would encourage more government-to-consumer e-payments
through the state-owned banks. Tongurai Limpiti, deputy governor for
financial institution stability at the BOT, said that under the central
bank's Financial Sector Master Plan (Phase III), e-payment services should be
available anywhere at any time and via any device. Punnamas Vichitkulwongsa,
president of the Thai E-Payment Association, said telecom operators should
increase their role as the agents to help unbanked customers access payment
services. BOT Governor Prasarn Triratvorakul said on the sidelines of the
seminar that it was possible that the fees charged for inter-region
transactions would be terminated because the cost of this service to the
banking industry has gradually declined and e-payment had become more
prevalent. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 09/01/2015 E-Commerce
Business Registrations Jump 544% in 10 Months E-commerce business registrations increased fivefold during the
first 10 months of this year, the Commerce Ministry's Business Development
Department reported. The number of e-commerce registrations reached 15,363,
up by 544 per cent compared with the first 10 months of last year. Pongpun
Gearaviriyapun, director-general of the department, said more e-commerce
enterprises were acquiring licences amid the emerging growth of online
trading. The top three online businesses are those related to computing and
the Internet, accounting for 17 per cent of the total, followed by fashion
and apparel with 16 per cent, and health and medical care with 12 per cent.
The department has projected that the number of e-commerce businesses
registered with the agency will reach 20,000 next year. In addition, the
department reported that the number of new companies increased by 2 per cent
year on year during the first three quarters of this year to 47,159,
indicating that the business sector remains confident that the economy will
recover. Pongpun expects more new companies in the remaining months of the
year as consumers' spending power rises and the economy gets stronger, after
the government's economic stimulus packages take effect. The number of
business closures increased in the first nine months by 16 per cent to
11,862, largely because the department has been clearing its registration
system of inactive businesses. The department projects between 60,000 and
65,000 newly registered companies this year. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 10/17/2015 Thai
Firms Embracing Cloud Services THAILAND'S "digital economy" initiative will create
new business opportunities using cloud computing technology for both
start-ups and established companies, according to Rick Harshman, Amazon Web
Service's head of Asean markets. He said the Thai policy would bring about a
new competitive advantage for the country, which was one of the five key
markets for AWS in Asean. "We've seen a big demand for our training
programme for cloud services in Bangkok," he said, adding that AWS is
also providing training and certification on the latest technology in Kuala Lumpur,
Jakarta, Singapore and Manila. He said the demand for cloud services, in
which computing capacity, storage and related information-technology services
are provided and paid for as a utility like electricity, is evolving rapidly
in the 10-country Asean market. Among the benefits of cloud technology are
speed, agility, and lower cost for users, as they do not have to invest
substantially upfront in IT infrastructure to start Internet-based or digital
businesses. In Thailand, Ascend of the Charoen Pokphand Group is one of the
major users of cloud services for e-commerce, e-payment, financial and other
digital services. In Malaysia, iFlix, a movie-streaming subscription service,
has also turned to cloud technology to serve various markets in Asean,
including Thailand. Harshman said a Singapore-based shipping company had
moved its on-premise IT infrastructure to the cloud, while Singtel was
providing on-demand TV using cloud services. "In the Philippines, our
customers include telecom, retailing, and fast-food companies. In Indonesia,
the Wilmar conglomerate is a major customer," he said, adding that many
corporates have turned to cloud technology for new services while keeping
sensitive or strategic data on their premises. The widespread use of
social-media apps in Thailand and other Asean countries will further
accelerate the adoption of cloud technology. He said the 600-million-people
Asean grouping also had relatively high Internet and smartphone penetration
rates, resulting in a fast-growing demand for new digital and mobile
services. Ash Crick, chief technology officer of Malaysia-based iFlix,
said the company would launch its monthly movie subscription service in
Thailand shortly. Without cloud technology, it is not feasible to launch such
an operation in multiple cross-border markets with a relatively low IT
investment cost, he said. Besides Malaysia and Thailand, iFlix is expanding
into the Philippines with a focus on Hollywood, Southeast Asian and local
movies in these three markets where cable and satellite TV services are still
pre-dominant. He added that movie-streaming services would shortly catch on
like in US and other markets where Wi-Fi and Internet access is widely
available. Eric Tsai, chief technology officer of KKBox, a Taiwan-based music
subscription start-up, said cloud technology allowed the company to launch
its service quickly across national borders with a relatively low investment
cost. KKBox currently provides its service in six markets, namely Taiwan,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan. In Thailand, it has
teamed up with GMM and Advanced Info Service for a monthly subscription
service costing Bt89. With a database of more than 20 million Thai, Asian and
Western songs, customers are allowed to download music to a maximum of three
devices. In Thailand, Tsai said, KKBox shares its revenue with GMM and AIS as
most customers buy the subscription via mobile phones. "In the six
markets, we now have a combined 2 million monthly subscribers. Unlike
Spotify, which provides mainly Western music, KKBox's focus is on local
songs. "About 80 per cent of our usage is for local music while the rest
is a mix of Western and other music," he said, adding that the target
groups in Thailand are urban consumers aged 22 to 35. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 10/24/2015 VIETNAM:
E-Commerce Contributes to Growth After five years of implementation of the General Plan to
Develop Electronic Commerce 2011-15, e-commerce has contributed greatly to
the country's socio-economic growth. A new general plan for the next five
years, to be released by the Ministry of Trade, was discussed at the seminar
"Policies for E-Commerce in Viet Nam 2015" held in HCM City
yesterday. "By 2020, e-commerce will strongly develop in all cities and
provinces," Tran Huu Linh, head of the Ministry of Trade's E-Commerce
and Information Technology Department, said at the seminar. Business to
customer (B2C) e-commerce worldwide by 2020 will reach annual growth of 20
per cent and gain US$3.4 trillion, of which cross-border e-commerce will take
30 per cent or more than $1 trillion. In Viet Nam, 30 per cent of the
population will be using online shopping by 2020, the ministry said. B2C
turnover is expected to increase by 20 per cent each year, reaching $10
billion or 5 per cent of retail turnover within the 2015-20 period. In
addition, cross-border e-commerce will develop and take 15 per cent of export
turnover by 2020. "Mobile-ecommerce and local e-commerce will be the
major developments," Linh said. Mobile ecommerce globally is expected to take one-fourth of
global retail at $850 billion, in Viet Nam, $300 million within the period.
"Online payments will become popular and support the growth of
e-commerce," he said. The internet of things will also contribute to the
trend, with 50 billion internet-connected devices expected by 2020. However,
Linh stressed that logistics would be one of the most important factors in
e-commerce development. According to a survey conducted in China, 25 per cent
of customers in China were not satisfied with logistics services.
"E-commerce will help enterprises develop both local and export markets,
as well as join in the global supply chain," Linh said. "But
e-commerce management policies must also protect consumer rights as well as
create the best conditions for enterprises," he added. For e-commerce
infrastructure, Linh said that a legal framework must be completed, and that
online payments via B2C, B2B, G2C (Government to Customers) and G2B must be
set up and be secure. Logistics systems must also be improved. Promoting e-commerce
in the business community is also an important task, he said. The target is
to have 60 per cent of enterprises on the internet with updated information
about their companies and products. "By 2020, 80 per cent of them are
expected to order and receive orders through the internet, and an additional
20 per cent of supermarkets and shopping centres will accept credit
cards," Linh said. Linh said that authorities must effectively supervise
online trade, solve all arguments, adjust regulations, and encourage
electronic bills and online payments. "To meet the development of
e-commerce, authorities should also provide more training courses for
staff," he said. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
09/19/2015 Imports
of Used IT Goods to Be Banned in Vietnam The Ministry of Information and Communications has issued
Circular No 31/2015/TT-BTTTT, stipulating the ban for products such as
laptops, tablets and mobile phones, along with speakers, flash disk drives,
as well as liquid-crystal display and light emitting diode screens, digital
cameras. The ban will also apply to used components and accessories of these
products. The circular provides guidelines for the implementation of Decree
No 187/2013/ND-CP, which was issued in November 2013 on enforcing the law of
commerce with regard to the international trade of goods. It replaces
Circular No 11/2012/TT-BTTTT. From http://english.vietnamnet.vn/ 11/15/2015 |
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BANGLADESH:
Post Offices Going for E-commerce Services Bangladesh Post Office is working to launch e-commerce services,
and a pilot project is slated to take off at the divisional headquarters by
December. The government department aims to use its vast network of 8,500
post offices to offer the services and become the market leader in e-commerce
by 2021, said SS Bhadra, acting director general of the postal division. “We
have modernised services in a big way over the past few years, and hope to
serve people better with the launch of e-commerce.” Bangladesh's e-commerce
sector is currently growing by around 8 to 10 percent a year, in a market now
worth more than Tk 200 crore, and the post offices are capable of taking the
services to the remotest parts of the country, said Bhadra. Though the
state-owned entity is yet to make a definitive list of the e-commerce
services it will offer, it has decided to dedicate an independent website to
e-commerce. “Currently, e-commerce services mostly cover the urban areas but
the post offices can help take it to a national level, using its capacity to
reach every door, which other e-commerce service providers are not yet
capable of,” he said. Bangladesh Post Office currently cannot make deliveries for
parcels other than personal ones, officials said. Australia, India and Japan
are among the countries that have launched e-commerce services through the
postal network, and the Post Office has already collected reports on those to
make a plan. People will be able to use cash, postal cash cards, or
electronic money transfer service (EMTS), all already offered by the Post
Office, to pay their e-commerce bills. Postal cash cards, launched in 2011,
are a service like any debit card, with cash points available at some 1,446
post offices. Currently, there are some 73,000 postal cash card holders in
the country. The government also introduced EMTS in 2010, which has gained
popularity since then, and some 2,750 post offices are equipped to offer the
service, as per the Posts and Telecommunication Division's data. Transactions through the EMTS stood at Tk 80.74 crore in the
last five years. Bangladesh Post Office has suffered revenue losses over the
past few years, losing out to faster modes of communication, but hopes to
turn the trend with e-commerce, Bhadra said. The postal division's revenue
was Tk 253 crore against expenses of more than Tk 520 crore in fiscal
2014-15, and revenue stood at just Tk 219.13 crore against Tk 448.46 crore in
expenses the year earlier. As government officials' salaries and other
expenses are increasing every year, it has become tough to minimise the gap, but
increasing revenue is still an option, with new and improved services, Bhadra
said. “The use of personal letters is declining, and very few parcels are
being sent regularly, so e-commerce could become the post offices' lifeline.”
Till date some 2,500 post offices have been established as e-centres, and all
the 8,500 offices will be brought under the network by June 2017, under a
project worth Tk 540.94 crore, he added. From www.thedailystar.net/ 10/09/2015 Govt.
May Temporarily Restrict Apps’ Use Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday hinted at temporary
regulation of the internet in the coming days, in particular some
communication apps like Viber, to allow police and detectives to trace the
militants and their activities. She gave the hint while speaking at a press
conference held at her official residence Ganabhaban, arranged to brief the
media about the outcome of her just-concluded three-day visit to the
Netherlands. Sheikh Hasina said that there are some bad side-effects of
having digitized Bangladesh, to go with the overwhelming good impacts. She
said that the country now has the 3G internet connection and 4G connection
will come soon. "The militants are doing their activities using the
internet and some apps. If these activities are going on using the internet
then the government might think to snap these for some time to nab the
militants," she said. From http://www.theindependentbd.com 11/08/2015 INDIA:
Online Fire Licence to Increase Ease of Doing Business Soon In an effort to increase ease of doing businesses in West Bengal
and boost investors’ confidence, the State Government is set to issue fire
licence online to those willing to set up new units.Speaking at the
CII-organised “Safety Symposium & Exposition: Proactive Approaches
towards Safety at Workplace & Beyond”, the Minister for Fire &
Emergency Services, Disaster Management, Javed Ahmed Khan said, “We have
hired a company to create a dedicated portal for this. It is expected to be
operational by the end of this year,”He further said that in terms of
infrastructure, resources and preparedness in taking on fires or other
calamities, From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/10/2015 G-2-G
E-commerce Portal to Be Launched Soon National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd (NBCC) will soon
launch first G-2-G (government to government) e-commerce portal to cater to
real estate requirements of various government entities as part of Digital
India initiative. The portal will be launched shortly, NBCC CMD AK Mittal
said adding that it will assist the government entities in smooth deployment
of properties under their control. According to report, the portal will
enable online booking and payments for properties. It will also facilitate
meeting of like-minded parties for viable joint-ventures and other market
oriented arrangements in workshops, resorts and factories. NBCC is a
subsidiary of Urban Development Ministry. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/18/2015 PM
Modi Distributes E-rickshaws as Part of Financial Inclusion Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed cycle rickshaws and
e-rickshaws to more than 600 people under the “Jan Dhan Yojana” scheme in From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/19/2015 Mahindra Forays into E-commerce with M2ALL Launch The Mahindra group has forayed into the
e-commerce segment with the launch of M2ALL.com, an e-marketplace for
Mahindra products and services. M2ALL has already begun taking bookings for
the new compact SUV — Mahindra TUV300. “M2ALL.com combines speed and
convenience of e-commerce transactions,” said VS Parthasarathy, Chief
Financial Officer, Mahindra group. Currently, five of Mahindra Group’s 31
brands will have virtual stores at the marketplace. According to report, all
the brands will be available within the next two years. M2ALL also offers the group companies
and external sellers e-commerce technology, which includes online catalogue
management services, integration with payment gateways, back-end integration
and support services. From www.business-standard.com 09/20/2015 MSME
Ministry to Ease Norms for Doing Business The Ministry for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)
plans to introduce a single page registration form and do away with the
‘prior experience’ clause under the Compulsory Public Procurement Order for
the sector. Moreover, a hike in investment limits has been proposed in plant
and machinery. Dr. Anup K. Pujari, Secretary, Ministry of MSME said, “The
investment limits in plant and machinery for the micro enterprises is
proposed to be raised to Rs 50 lakh, of small enterprise to Rs 10 crore and
medium enterprise to Rs 30 crore. The existing limit are Rs 25 lakh, Rs 5 and
Rs 10 crore respectively. A bill in this regard has been introduced in the
Lok Sabha.” The proposed amendment to the MSMED Act comes in the wake of
changes in price index and cost of inputs consistent with the emerging role
of the MSMEs in various global value chain. The Ministry is also set to
introduce a one-page form for registration of MSMEs to reduce paperwork and
eliminate ambiguous wordage in the registration form. Dr. Pujari said that
the Ministry has been persistently trying to advise the Central and State
Governments not to expect ‘prior experience’ in procurement from start-ups.
Procurement agencies could well ask such enterprises to provide warranties on
their products which were longer than those with ‘prior experience’. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/24/2015 BSE
Implements XBRL-based E-filing of Financial Results Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has moved to XBRL-based e-filing of
financial results for reporting of financial results by listed companies, as
part of its effort to facilitate the electronic filing for all relevant
disclosures. Earlier in June, BSE had launched XBRL, an electronic format for
communication of business and financial data and reporting of shareholding
pattern by listed firms. “BSE has launched the XBRL solution on for the
listing agreement pertaining to financial results,” according to an official
statement. Companies using XBRL-based format would be adopting global
reporting standards. “It would help make reporting easier, faster and more
accurate,” BSE said. According to report, BSE is planning to launch
XBRL-based reporting for all relevant disclosures required by companies under
the new listing norms notified by regulator SEBI in September and which come
into effect from December. Under XBRL-based e-filing of financial results, listed
companies would be required to fill in data in a simple excel file – format
available on BSE’s portal ‘listing centre’ and the system will automatically
generate the XBRL-based financial results after due validations. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/21/2015 USPTO
Gives Cloud Computing Patent to ESDS Support for Data Services (ESDS), managed cloud provider
offering managed Datacenter services has received first cloud computing
patent (no. 9176788) for its eNlight Cloud from United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO). Having recognised for its innovation ESDS promises
to completely transform the commodity based computing into utility model.
According to Gartner report, the present average global compute consumption
by any organization is extremely low at 8 per cent while it is just 5 per
cent among Indian organisation. Unlike the present Pay-Per-Use Cloud model,
ESDS’ eNlight Cloud deliver of an in-built intelligence to constantly monitor
consumption of virtual machines and accordingly assign computing resource in
real-time. Large enterprises to SMEs are set to significantly benefit from
the on-demand availability for maximum computing load and make IT investments
based on their actual requirement and not on financial strength. Piyush
Somani, Managing Director & CEO of ESDS said, “90 per cent of the IT
infrastructure investments go unutilised and organisations under tremendous
financial stress need to quickly realise this dire state of the actual
consumption v/s the dollar spent. With our strong legacy in managing
thousands of virtual machines, ESDS is committed to deliver innovative Cloud
technology that is scalable and affordable. Additionally, this patent is a
testimony of our commitment to deliver on government’s ‘Digital India’ vision
by making IT compute accessible and affordable to all businesses.” From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/05/2015 |
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AZERBAIJAN: E-commerce Market Volume Exceeds $7.8 mln The total volume of retail electronic commerce has doubled in Azerbaijan.
The e-commerce market was worth roughly 8.2 million manat (about $7.8
million) in Azerbaijan in January-August 2015, the Azerbaijan State
Statistics Committee reported on September 15. In January-August 2015, 92.7
percent of goods were acquired by legal entities and 7.3 percent by
individuals in Azerbaijan. Non-food products accounted for some 96.5 percent
of the market turnover of e-commerce. Total retail sales in Azerbaijan
amounted to 15.9 billion manat in January-August. Compared with the same
period of 2014, sales of consumer goods in the country increased by 11.3
percent during this period. At the same time, 49.9 percent were accounted for
by food products. While e-commerce continues to grow in Azerbaijan, the
country has recently offered to reduce the maximum threshold for duty-free
e-commerce. Today, goods imported through international postal traffic or
transport and courier services that do not exceed a value equivalent of
$1,000 per individual for 30 days are exempt from customs duties. Last year,
the volume of e-commerce in the Azerbaijani market increased by 2.4 times and
amounted to 6.4 million manat ($6.1 million). Today, Azerbaijan is only just
finishing the first phase of e-commerce implementation with major pioneer
merchants offering at least some products and services online. In the second
phase, an increase in the number of complex e-commerce solutions will likely
be made available, including such services as online ticketing, food
ordering, etc. The third phase presupposes these complex services will become
expected by society. Consumers will start demanding that a company offers its
product or service online. In turn, merchants will expand their offerings and
improve already existing services. At the final stage, it is expected that
e-commerce will form a sizeable percentage of the country’s economy. At such
a pace, e-commerce will become one of the most important trends in the
Azerbaijani economy in the next few years. From http://www.azernews.az/
09/15/2015 Atrabank Connects to AzeriCard’s Service Internet Banking Atrabank OJSC has connected to service Internet Banking of
processing company AzeriCard (the system of OJSC International Bank of
Azerbaijan). AzeriCard reports
that from today Atrabank’s customers can subscribe to the Internet Banking
service. There are two ways to subscribe. If the card is subscribed to the
SMS Notification service there is possibility to register it without onetime
passwords list from ATM. By
choosing “Register by card number” at https://www.hbservice.com and entering
the card number, onetime password will be sent to your mobile phone. For more information and user manual
you can visit “Services” section at
website www.azericard.com. From http://abc.az/
09/23/2015 Azerbaijan, Costa Rica Enjoy Potential to Enhance E-Commerce
Ties Azerbaijan and Costa Rica enjoy great potential in expanding
cooperation in the field of e-commerce, Azerbaijani Communications and High
Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov stated at an October 21 meeting with Costa
Rican Minister of Foreign Affairs and Religion Manuel Gonzalez Sanz in Baku.
Abbasov said that both countries have a great mutual interest in expanding
cooperation in the field of high technologies. Touching upon regional and
global projects initiated by Azerbaijan, the minister noted that one of them
is the construction of the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway,
supported by the UN General Assembly. "Azerbaijan is also the initiator
of establishing the Eurasian Connectivity Alliance – EurACA," he added.
Manuel Gonzalez Sanz was also informed about work carried out in the
establishment of the National Nuclear Research Centre in Azerbaijan, the
country's satellite program, the broadband services development, etc.
"Extensive capacities of the global network may contribute to the
development of electronic interaction between Azerbaijan and Costa
Rica," Abbasov said. Manuel Gonzalez Sanz, in turn, expressed his country's interest
in cooperating with Azerbaijan and took the initiative to implement joint
projects. He also invited Minister Abbasov to participate in the annual
Freedom Online Conference to be hosted by the Freedom Online Coalition in
Costa Rica in 2016. E-commerce, defined as any commercial transaction,
business or otherwise, that takes place online, includes the buying and
selling of goods and services as well as the collection of bill payments and
the transferring of money. The State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan
reported that in the first half of 2015, Azerbaijan’s volume of e-commerce
increased by 1.9 times and amounted to 6 million manats ($5.72 million). Last
year, the volume of the e-commerce market in Azerbaijan increased by 2.4
times and amounted to 6.4 million manats ($6.1 million). It is expected that
e-commerce will become one of the most important trends in the Azerbaijani
economy in the next few years. Azerbaijan, an energy-rich South Caucasian
country that pursues a multi-directional foreign policy, is keen on
developing good political and economic relations with Latin American states.
One of these Latin American countries, Costa Rica, is also interested in
developing ties with Azerbaijan, and Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Affairs
and Religion Manuel Gonzalez Sanz's visit to Azerbaijan is a good sign of
this cooperation and a good opportunity for both countries to develop
bilateral relations in various fields. This visit would give impetus for the
development of cooperation with other Latin American countries. From http://www.azernews.az/
10/21/2015 Expansion of ICT Business Expected in Azerbaijan The recent decree on the facilitation of licensing procedures
for entrepreneurship and encouraging business transparency in Azerbaijan is
expected to positively affect every economic sphere, and the information and
communication technologies sector is not an exception. Communication and High
Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov has also instructed the heads of structural
divisions of the agency to provide more opportunities for private sector
development and innovative entrepreneurship in the country and to take
liberal steps in this direction. He noted that special attention should be
paid to projects in the service sector and the manufacture of innovative and
export-oriented products. Structural subdivisions of the Ministry were
instructed to continue work on the formation of a single digital market, to
ensure the transparency of relations with citizens by expanding rendered
electronic services. Azerbaijan has been developing the ICT field for over a
decade and has achieved great results being one of the leading countries in
ICT development in the region. The country sponsors start-ups by issuing grants to the most
promising small business. The decree will promote the emergence of new actors
in different sectors of the economy, including in the field of information
and communication technologies, Head of the Research Center for Information
Yashar Hajiyev told Trend. The issuance of licenses under the “one contact”
principle will make a major contribution to the development of
entrepreneurship and creation of a favorable competitive environment, he
said. This will further promote other simplified methods, which will
inevitably yield positive results, Hajiyev added. “Will the simplification of
licensing procedures hasten competition in the market? Definitely, it will.
It contributes to the emergence of new actors in the ICT market, which will
offer new ideas, suggestions and thus form a more reasonable pricing. Under
domestic law, any service should be competitive,” Hajiyev said. “If we talk
about telecommunication services, then in the market should be several
companies that provide the same services so that population had the right to
choose. Unfortunately, we are still faced with the fact that the consumer is
not entitled to select the provider of Internet services or cable television
services, if the building where he lives is entirely in the service area of a single provider,” he added. Decisions in the regulation, Hajiyev stressed, must be taken
very deliberately and clearly to prevent the withdrawal of existing market
players, as this may weaken competition, which in turn, could lead to
inadequate price increases. Investments in the ICT sector of the country
increased by 2.2 times from January to September 2015 compared with the same
period last year, according to the Communication and High Technologies
Ministry. Over 209 million Azerbaijani manats (over $200 million) have been
invested in Azerbaijan’s ICT sector in these nine months. The enterprises and
structural subdivisions of the ministry invested 61.2 million manats in the
country’s ICT sector. Meanwhile, revenues from the ICT sector during this period
rose by 9.6 percent to 1,281 billion manats between January and September.
The ICT sector accounted for 2.1 percent of Azerbaijan’s GDP during this
period, and three percent of the country’s non-oil GDP. Over eighty percent
of revenues received the ICT sector was accounted for by the private sector.
Today, digital television signals cover 99 percent of the population of
Azerbaijan. The level of mobile penetration in the country amounts to 112
percent, while 75 percent of the population is connected to the Internet, and
65 percent of them are users of broadband services. With all these factors,
the newly created opportunities are supposed to further develop the sector in
the near future. From http://www.azernews.az/
10/26/2015 E-marketing
to Boost Tourism in Azerbaijan Azerbaijan has set up a working group on electronic marketing in
tourism, as the country enjoys favorable conditions for tourism development,
offering these possibilities around the year. The working group was set up to
promote the tourism potential of Azerbaijan via e-marketing, the Culture and
Tourism Ministry reported. Today, Azerbaijan with its natural beauties,
history, art, and international events, has turned into a top tourist
destination in the region. Over 2 million tourists came to Azerbaijan last
year, which amounted to about one billion manat (over $950,000 million) in
revenue from tourism. In the near future, the country is expected to increase
its tourist flow up to 5 million a year. This target seems quite attainable,
as the country has turned into a center for international events, including
popular competitions like Formula 1 and Euro 2020. This year, Azerbaijan
welcomed guests from around the world at the inaugural European Games Baku
2015. Over 28,000 foreign tourists mostly from Russia, UK, Germany,
the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the US, and the United Arab
Emirates gathered in Baku during the 17 days of competition. Earlier,
Azerbaijan also switched to issuing electronic visa, while Azerbaijan and the
European Union simplified the visa regime between the sides. In accordance
with the marketing plan of the Ministry, the working group will be involved
in organization of the respective campaigns in target markets, implementation
of relevant projects aimed at promoting the tourism potential of Azerbaijan
in foreign websites and marketing research on tourism. More than three
billion people in the world use the Internet at present, which have turned
this media into an effective means of propaganda. Tourists that have already
visited Azerbaijan and shared their photos on social networks promote the
country and attract more visitors. An analysis of the experience of some
foreign countries shows that in recent years, e-marketing is widely used in
tourism and other sectors of the economy. Unlike a traditional means of
promotion, electronic marketing requires less financial costs and has a more
effective advocacy and communication effect. From http://www.azernews.az/
11/02/2015 Azerbaijan
Creates a Database on Stock Market CJSC Baku Stock Exchange has marked its 15th anniversary by
introduction of its new corporate website from 16 November. According to the
BSE, the site is located at the same address (www.bfb.az) but for the first
time it contains e-database of issuers listed in the BSE. There are also a
number of other updates, including an online calculator, and other basic
innovations. From http://abc.az/
11/16/2015 Taxation
of E-Commerce Can Be Started from 2016 Azerbaijan can start taxation of e-commerce already in 2016,
Azerbaijan's Deputy Taxes Minister Natig Amirov said at a press conference
dedicated to the results of the first 10 months of 2015 on November 17. He
said that the draft law was submitted to the government for consideration two
years ago, but so far it was impossible to reach an agreement in some points
with the Ministry of Finance. "International experience and technical
support of international organizations was used during the development of the
draft law," he noted. "The bill is fairly comprehensive. Last
month, we again submitted it to the government for consideration and we hope
that it will be adopted already in 2016." Earlier, the Taxes Ministry
reported that Azerbaijan plans to keep a record of those involved in
e-commerce. The ministry told Trend that the bill does not provide for the
creation of a special taxation mechanism. At the initial stage it is
suggested to keep a record of individuals and legal entities involved in
e-commerce. In accordance with the current tax legislation, they have to pay
value added tax [18 percent]. The Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee
reported that e-commerce market volume amounted to 10.5 million manats in the
country as of January-October 2015. The total volume of retail e-commerce in
Azerbaijan increased by 1.9 times compared to the same period of 2014. Some
91.9 percent of goods purchased in electronic form by the population of
Azerbaijan in January-October 2015 accounted for legal entities and 8.1
percent - physical entities. Non-food items accounted for 96.3 percent of
e-commerce market turnover. AIOC's income tax payments fall short of
projections Amirov went on to add that in January-October 2015, income tax
payments from the Azerbaijan International Operating Company fell short of
projections by 104 million manats. He said revenues were forecasted to reach
800 million manats, but due to falling oil prices, the oil companies'
revenues declined, resulting in total income tax of 696 million manats from
the consortium. The reduced income from the oil sector was offset by
increased revenues from the non-oil sector, which exceeded the forecast by
136 million manats. “This made it possible to meet projections of tax revenues in
the state budget,” the deputy minister remarked. He said that the most
difficult period is over. “We were very concerned about how much the oil
revenues from the consortia would amount,” he said. "We are very pleased
that the deficit was only 104 million manats. I hope that in the remaining
two months, we will fulfill our commitments and completely execute the
forecast on the budget.” The state budget revenues in the amount of 7.12
billion manats or 36.6 percent of total revenues are forecasted in Azerbaijan
through the Ministry of Taxes in 2015. Some 4.81 billion manats or 67.7
percent will account for the revenues from the non-oil sector. The revenues
from the oil sector are projected at 2.3 billion manats with 32.3 percent of
tax revenues. Thus, 33 percent of a total volume of tax fees will account for
the value added tax, income tax - 31 percent, income tax proceeds – 13.8
percent, excise taxes - 8 percent, other taxes – 14.2 percent. Amirov also
said that as of November 1, 2015, tax arrears of Azerbaijan's state
enterprises amounted to about 444 million manats. "The overall tax debt
of the country amounts to 1.368 billion manats. The remaining part (497
million manats) of tax debts accounts for the private sector," he added.
From http://www.azernews.az/
11/19/2015 UZBEKISTAN:
IT Enterprises Render Services Worth 3.4 Trillion Soums October 27 saw the meeting of the Collegium of the Ministry for
development of information technologies and communications, which summed up
the development results of the sphere of information technologies and
communications in the first nine months of 2015. As was noted at the meeting,
enterprises of the sphere of communication, informatization and
telecommunication technologies during the reporting period rendered services
worth 3.4 trillion soums (growth in comparison with the similar period of
2014 amounted to 16.4%). The
total speed of use of international information networks rose by 27.7%
compared with the beginning of 2015 and amounted to 21.25 Gbit/s. The number of ports installed to
provide fixed broadband access to the Internet was brought to 716.9 thousand
and the number of used ports increased by 21.5%. The growth of both
indicators will allow providing multiservice broadband services (IPTV, video
telephony, high-speed Internet, data transmission, the ability to view HDTV
channels, etc.). The meeting
analyzed the status of port operations to provide broadband telecommunication
services in the regions. The need for rational and universal port operation
for the provision of broadband services through FTTx technology, as well as
improvement of technical services for rapid response to requests of the
consumers of telecommunication services were noted as well. From http://technologies.uzreport.uz/
10/29/2015 |
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Internet
Offers Pacific Exporters Avenue to Boost Sales, Cut Costs - ADB Improved
communications links and increased internet connectivity offer exporters in
remote Pacific islands new online opportunities to scale up sales and move
into new markets, says a new Asian Development Bank study brief. The brief,
drawn from a 2015 report, Aid for Trade in Asia and the Pacific: Thinking
Forward About Trade Costs and the Digital Economy looks at steps that
exporters can take to overcome the vast distances and high costs that hinder
trade in the region. Aid for Trade is development assistance that aims to
increase trade by creating an enabling environment for exporters, and every
other year ADB reports on the trends and future potential of Aid for Trade.
The 2015 report includes, for the first time, a special section on the
Pacific. “Trade costs have fallen in the region but in general they remain
high, which constrains business” said Alisa DiCaprio, Regional Cooperation
Specialist in ADB’s Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department.
“However fast improving communications links and the spread of the internet offer
new opportunities particularly for small businesses, and those run by women,
to generate increased sales.” E-commerce
allows firms to diversify and sell to a wider range of markets than
traditional firms, sharply reducing the impact of geographic distance. A 2014
survey by Pacific Trade and Invest found that 44% of exporters in the Pacific
had enhanced their websites to boost export orders, and a growing number of
firms are engaging in e-commerce activity. Building up e-commerce, however,
requires further infrastructure upgrades and continued efforts to create the
right enabling environment for online business. One group who stand to gain
significantly from this trend are women-led firms who have limited
involvement in export activities. Giving women greater access to the internet
will allow them to explore and tap new market opportunities, and to use their
limited resources more efficiently to grow their firms. An increasing number
of Pacific exporters are focusing on selling specialized products into niche
markets, which can command a premium price. Goods from the Pacific have
global appeal for consumers that seek environmentally or community-friendly
products, and broader use of the internet will help businesses reach out to
more customers. Moving forward, the brief says, targeted investment is needed
to support the private sector in utilizing the internet for business, and to
help identify, develop, and market niche products. ADB, based in Manila, is
dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive
economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional
integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members—48 from the
region. In 2014, ADB assistance totaled $22.9
billion, including cofinancing of $9.2 billion. From
http://www.adb.org
10/19/2015 AUSTRALIA:
ACMA Tackles Challenges of a ‘Digitised’ Economy Australia’s
increasingly digitised economy is posing new challenges for media regulators
as they try to balance the needs of existing spectrum users with facilitating
access for new technologies and for broader applications. In its annual
five-year spectrum outlook report (FYSO) released on Thursday, the Australian
Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) says the challenge of balancing the
needs of existing spectrum users with facilitating access for new
technologies and for broader applications is an increasing focus for the
authority “as access to spectrum has become a key driver of productivity in a
digitised economy.” The report has been released following ACMA research
commissioned last year identifying a $33.8 billion increase in Australia’s
economic activity in 2013 resulting from mobile broadband. This year’s FYSO
has been released in conjunction with the ACMA’s, Beyond 2020- A Spectrum
Management Strategy to address the growth in mobile broadband capacity,
discussion paper. The
discussion paper released today, seeks industry feedback on the ACMA’s medium
and longer term planning approaches to address rising demand for mobile
broadband services. ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman said, how to deal with the
increasing sophistication and utility of wireless technologies and the
rapidly growing and competing demand for scarce spectrum are two of the key
challenges identified in the FYSO. ‘The FYSO is an annual update that the
ACMA has been using since 2009, both as a key transparency measure and to
solicit feedback from interested parties. “Stakeholders can use the FYSO to
identify when the ACMA expects a particular work program to start and to
understand the priorities it intends applying to particular activities. The
challenge of balancing the needs of existing spectrum users with facilitating
access for new technologies and for broader applications is an increasing
focus for the ACMA, as access to spectrum has become a key driver of productivity
in a digitised economy.” Chapman
says that one of these challenges will be maintaining appropriate spectrum
arrangements for mobile broadband into the future. “As the national spectrum
manager, the ACMA plays an important role in facilitating the continued
growth in mobile broadband capacity.” He said the mobile broadband paper
describes a draft set of strategies, including a transparent spectrum
management planning process, for identifying potential future spectrum
options for mobile broadband. “To that end, the FYSO plays an integral part
in keeping stakeholders informed on the ACMA’s mobile broadband strategies
and articulates the proposed work programs outlined in the mobile broadband
paper.” “Although there is considerable continuity between the 2011 and 2015
papers in so far as Beyond 2020 asserts the need to use improved technologies
and increased infrastructure, as well as additional spectrum, to address the
persistent growth in demand for mobile broadband, it signals a number of
changes in approach. Our experience at the coalface since 2011 has suggested
that the ACMA’s earlier focus on explicit, quantitative targets for
additional spectrum should be revisited,”Chapman concluded. The ACMA seeks
comment on the issues discussed and the solutions proposed in the Beyond 2020
paper by 23 October this year and, following consideration of responses, the
authority expects to release its updated mobile broadband strategy and
associated work programs in early 2016. From
http://www.itwire.com
09/10/2015 Renewed
Government Focus a ‘Boon’ for Tech Start-Up Sector Australia’s
start-up sector is taking heart and confidence in the technology industry’s
future growth and development with the elevation of Malcolm Turnbull to the
prime ministership. According to not-for profit advocacy group StartupAUS CEO
Peter Bradd technology entrepreneurship and innovation has moved into its
“rightful place” as one of the most important agenda’s for the Turnbull
government. “The announcement of a coordinated approach to bring together
innovation initiatives right across government will enable Australia to take
advantage of these new growth opportunities and ensure Australia’s place as a
first world economy.” Bradd says the new ministerial line-up under Malcolm
Turnbull is a “strong and credentialed team well placed to support the growth
of Australia’s startup ecosystem.” “Prime Minister Turnbull has clearly
recognised the future drivers for Australia’s economic growth and the younger
and more diverse front bench highlights this emphasis. “With
Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister, Christopher Pyne as Minister for
Industry, Innovation and Science Minister, Wyatt Roy as Assistant Minister
for Innovation and Mitch Fifield as Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for
Digital Government, there is a passionate and experienced team in place to
deliver on Turnbull’s opening promises around innovation and our future
economy. “This is a leadership team that has already demonstrated they
understand the key drivers of the startup ecosystem and its role in shaping
our future economy. Bradd cited a recent global report by PwC predicting
technology based startups are worth over $US109 billion and have the
potential to create 540,000 jobs by 2033. “This is critical in the face of
the recent Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) report,
which predicted that in the next decade, 40% of Australian jobs could be
replaced by automation.” Bradd cited StartupAUS’s release of a “credible,
action-oriented plan” called Crossroads that set out structured world-class
programs “to help ensure Australia gets to where we need to be,” saying that
this document was critical in shifting the political debate around policy
settings to stimulate start-up activity. Bradd
also highlighted the new cabinet member’s recent achievements in the digital
technologies area. “Last week, one of Christopher Pyne's last duties as
Minister for education was endorsing the Digital Technologies Curriculum and
encouraging the Education Council to get more students studying science,
technology, engineering and mathematics. This was an incredibly important
move in ensuring our skill set is competitive in Australia, and offers a huge
advantage to current students and future graduates. “Minister Wyatt Roy has
spent an incredible amount of time educating and inspiring our federal
government and the Australian public on embracing technology entrepreneurship
as a pathway to future growth. He has sat in many meetings with StartupAUS
and other ministers assisting to explain the recommendations of policy and
the benefit back to the Australian economy. “StartupAUS recently held a round
table with most of the ASX 20, whom account for nearly 50% of the ASX market
capitalisation. They unanimously voiced the importance of an innovative
economy of the future if Australia is going to have any chance at competing
with nimble international players. “Our overseas counterparts are rapidly
disrupting whole industries. Therefore supporting tech startups is about
supporting industry and providing them with an environment whereby they can
thrive and compete in the current fast paced innovative climate where
distance is no longer a defence,” Bradd concluded. From
http://www.itwire.com
09/21/2015 Mobile
Bill Shock Down a Further Six Percentage Points The
number of consumers who experience unexpectedly high mobile phone bills has
fallen, according to new research released by the Australian Communications
and Media Authority. Twenty seven per cent of post-paid mobile phone bill
payers received a higher than expected bill in the last 12 months, compared
with 33 per cent in 2013. The average over-run amount (higher bill compared
with normal bill) has fallen by 21 per cent. There has also been a fall in
those receiving very high bills (considered to be at least double the normal
amount). The Spend Management Tools and Alerts Survey 2015, conducted by
Newspoll in February 2015, tracks mobile phone bill payers' awareness and use
of spend management tools and alerts as well as their experience of
unexpectedly high bills. From September 2013, after the introduction of the
new Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code (TCP Code), providers were
required to phase in spend management alerts relating to data, voice and SMS
(within 'Included Value' plans) at 50 per cent, 85 per cent and 100 per cent
of included usage. This was a key outcome of the ACMA's Reconnecting The
Customer (RTC) public inquiry in 2011. The research found that consumers are
using a range of spend management tools that are now available, with SMS
alerts being the most commonly used (67 per cent). Of those who received an
SMS alert, 92 per cent found these useful. "It is pleasing to see that
spend management alerts are improving the consumer experience" said ACMA
Chairman, Chris Chapman. "Industry has certainly done some heavy lifting
to put this system into place, but there's still more work to do, as the
research has identified some consumer issues such as timing of the alerts and
how to effectively use them, as well as and other tools to get the most out
of their mobile phone allowance." From
http://www.cellular-news.com
10/02/2015 Service
Providers See Boost from Govt's Secure Cloud List The
creation earlier this year of the Certified Cloud Services List has had an
already begun having an impact on government adoption of cloud according to
the Australian vendors who have been added to the CCSL. The CCSL is
maintained by the Australian Signals Directorate, which unveiled the initial
list in April alongside the newest edition of the government's Information
Security Manual. The refresh of the ISM and the CCSL's launch followed the
2014 release of an updated government cloud policy under which agencies must
adopt cloud where it is "fit for purpose, provides adequate protection
of data and delivers value for money" when obtaining new ICT services or
replacing existing services. The list is intended to make it easier for
government departments and agencies to securely adopt cloud services.
"Assessments are performed by members of ASD's Information Security
Registered Assessors Program," a spokesperson for the Department of
Defence said. "A vendor itself is not assessed, rather a specific cloud
service that the vendor provides. If a service meets ASD's certification
requirements, it will be awarded certification and added to the published
CCSL." The
first tranche of services to join the list were Microsoft's Azure cloud
computing service and Office 365 and Amazon Web Services' EBS, EC2, S3 and
Virtual Private Cloud services. Macquarie Telecom in May became the first
Australian company to be added, with its GovZone cloud service becoming part
of the CCSL. Then in September the ASD added another two Australian cloud
providers, with services from Canberra-based Sliced Tech and
Sydney-headquartered Vault Systems joining the CCSL. IRAP assessors are
currently undertaking more than 20 assessments of cloud services for
government use, according to Defence. Anecdotal feedback on the initiative
from government agencies has been "overwhelmingly positive,"
according to the spokesperson for the department. "Smaller federal and
state/territory government agencies in particular rely on the list to inform
cloud adoption projects. The CCSL is a strong example of how government can
work with industry to save time and resources," the spokesperson added.
"The CCSL provides an authoritative list of services to inform the accreditation
decision by an agency, as detailed in the Australian government Information
Security Manual. The reality is government is inherently risk averse and we
expect them to be prudent custodians of the country's assets," said
Macquarie Telecom co-founder and managing director Aidan Tudehope. "So
they do look for guidance when adopting new technology. And the reality is,
most agencies aren't experts when it comes to technology – they're experts in
their domain. When they have another department that takes the effort to
understand the dynamics of new technology and put out some guiding
frameworks, they absolutely leverage that framework. "From an Australian
government and public point of view, in addition to streamlining procurement
processes, the initiative allows government departments to leverage the
benefits of the cloud while reducing the likelihood the exposure of sensitive
government data," said the CEO of Vault Systems, Rupert Taylor-Price.
The assessment process undertaken by Vault Systems covered a range of
OpenStack-based services the vendor offers, including compute, object and
block storage, networking, and secure Internet gateway. "The list is
extremely useful as it provides certainty for government customers that a
minimum level of security compliance has been attained," said Sliced
Tech's CEO, Jason McClure. "It also enables agencies to feel more
enabled to progress cloud and other 'IT-as-a-service initiatives whilst still
meeting their obligations for compliance." "We actually had a
number of existing and new customers asking when we were going to be on the
list since April," McClure said. “Being added to the list has provided
validation by ASD of the information Sliced Tech provided to those customers.
Government agencies now feel more enabled to utilise us as a result of us
demonstrating our compliance, especially when we achieve higher compliance
than themselves or other providers." Taylor-Price
said there has been an "overwhelming amount of interest" in Vault's
services after it was added to the CCSL. "It would appear that cloud
solutions offer opportunities to solve a lot of the challenges that agencies
have with tight project timelines," the company's CEO said. Prior to
creation of the CCSL, Sliced Tech had already on its own initiative submitted
to government audit reports of its clouds at the Protected ISM
classification, McClure said. The creation of the list validated Sliced
Tech's decision to invest in the process, the Sliced Tech CEO said. "We
are currently one of two providers that hold both ASD certifications (gateway
and cloud), which provides significant differentiation in the assurance that
we provide a range of compliant services," he said. Tudehope said that
Macquarie Telecom was “absolutely” seeing an impact of being on the list. From
http://www.computerworld.com.au
10/02/2015 IoT Could
Offer Potential $116 Billion Positive Impact on the Australian Economy A
government commissioned report is warning that while Australia's fundamental
IoT capabilities are good, the lack of industry and Government focus risks
denying Australia the opportunity for IoT competitive advantage and global
market leadership. At stake is a potential upside impact worth up to AU$116
billion to the Australian economy by 2025, the report notes. It is estimated
that there were 10 billion internet-connected devices in 2014 - a number that
is expected to grow to between 30 and 50 billion by 2020. The Report makes 12
core recommendations for regulatory and policy changes, combined with
industry initiatives. The recommended package of measures is designed to
avoid the risks inherent in the development of the IoT and facilitate its
development in Australia in ways that will drive economic growth and
competitiveness. The Report singles out the industry verticals of Mining,
Agriculture, Transport and Telecommunications as sectors where IoT-based
development can have greatest impact and where Australia has an opportunity
to develop world-leading expertise. The launch of the Report was accompanied
by an announcement by the University of Technology Sydney that the Knowledge
Economy Institute (KEi) - an IoT innovation hub, established by Sirca, will
be hosted at UTS as the national focal point for IoT innovation and the
start-up community. The CEO of the KEi, Mike Briers, will be appointed as
Australia's first Professor of IoT at UTS. Plans are underway to establish
other IoT implantation hubs in other capital cities. The IoT Think Tank and KEi
will work together to provide data and commercial grade IoT technology to
support proof of concept projects that bring together business, Government
and researchers to solve problems. From
http://www.cellular-news.com
11/04/2015 NEW
ZEALAND: What’s Driving Multi-Million Dollar Data Centre Demand? New
Zealand is a relatively early adopter of cloud services but the significant
capital expenditure savings from using third-party data centres, coupled with
the Government’s policies to adopt Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) has
provided strong stimulus, particularly in the corporate sector and SME
market. Whilst the corporate sector has increased use of data intensive
applications such as data mining and data analytics, consumer segments have
increased consumption of videos, social networks, mobile data and gaming.
These factors have resulted in a need for increased amounts of data storage
and computing capacity in New Zealand’s data centres. As a result, the New
Zealand data centre services market grew 16.4 percent over 2013, and in 2014
totalled $118 million. According to Frost & Sullivan’s new report, New
Zealand Data Centre Services Market 2015, a growth of 18 percent in data
centre service revenues is forecasted for 2015 with managed hosting recording
stronger growth than co-location which will ease with the increased migration
to cloud services. The
market is expected to reach $272 million by 2020 with strong growth of
virtual private cloud services seeing managed hosting growth outpacing that
of co-location. Phil Harpur, Senior Research Manager, Australia & New
Zealand ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan says that after the Christchurch
earthquake, there has been increased concern over the impact of external
events on business operations, resulting in a growing demand for disaster
recovery and business continuity services. “Multiple, connected,
multi-tenanted data centres are the most effective and cost efficient way of
providing these services,” Harpur says. “To achieve higher economies of
scale, a model of fewer, larger, centralised data centres is ideal. However,
this is very difficult to achieve in New Zealand due to the relatively small
size of the local market. “Larger IT services providers, such as IBM, are
looking to consolidate their data centre footprint across both Australia and
New Zealand into smaller numbers of larger, newer and more efficient data
centres in centralised locations, often though leasing arrangements with
specialist third party providers. “As
New Zealand data centre customers adopt cloud services for a growing portion
of their overall IT service needs, they migrate from co-location services and
managed hosting to cloud services, with some companies migrating from
on-premise IT systems directly to private cloud services, negating the need
for core data centre services.” Harpur says data centre services are in high
demand from the Telco/IT Services sector as cloud providers and IT service
providers grow their cloud service offerings. High growth in data traffic
over the last few years has also see the Internet / Media industry displaying
robust growth in use of data centre services. Digital Media organisations
were amongst the first category to migrate to public clouds and will be a key
driver of growth within data centres over the next five years, as services
such as online video and online gaming become more popular. Most New Zealand
educational institutions still have a significant proportion of their IT
systems on-premise, though a few of them, such as the Christchurch
PolyTechnic Institute of Technology have adopted the cloud relatively fast. Data
Centre Providers There
are 3 major categories of outsourced data centre providers in the New Zealand
market: •
IT Service Providers account for the largest segment in the market and often
lease wholesale or co-location space to smaller local cloud providers -
Datacom and IBM are the two largest providers •
Telcos operating in New Zealand that own their own data centres include Spark
Digital (which dominates this market segment), Vocus, Vodafone and Vector •
Specialist data centre providers are carrier neutral and generally have a
high level of expertise in the data centre services industry. According
to findings, the average power density requirement of data centres is now up
to 30KW to 40KW per rack and continues to increase in line with the
increasing demand for high-performance computing applications. As rack
densities decrease, Harpur believes physical data centre space needed
declines - this trend impacts data centre providers offering co-location
services on both a retail and wholesale level. Going forward, Harpur believes
data centre providers have several challenges. “Securing sites in CBD
locations (where property prices are at a premium and continue to rise;
especially in Auckland), and gaining access to sufficient power is
increasingly challenging,” he adds. “New Zealand’s relatively small market
size and the lack of suitable locations to build additional capacity
exacerbate this issue making it increasingly difficult for data centre owners
to plan for additional capacity.” From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
09/21/2015 $300
Million Rural Broadband Scheme Under Flack as Govt Ministry Sacking Unveils
UFB Cracks Minister
for Communications Amy Adams must start an independent technical audit of the
delivery outcomes on the Government’s $300m rural broadband scheme after the
Minister sacked the ministry responsible for its management. That’s the
damning verdict of the Labour Party, when launching a scathing attack on
Government plans to take the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
(MBIE) off the nationwide fibre rollout. Following the decision, Adams will
now transfer responsibility for the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) to Crown
Fibre Holdings, a move which has caused angst amongst the opposition party.
“Amy Adams is desperately trying to contain the growing fallout from her
government’s mismanagement of rural broadband,” says Clare Curran, ICT
spokesperson, Labour Party. “She has sacked MBIE from the job and handed
control of the next tranche of government funding to Crown Fibre Holdings.
“The sacking comes smack in the middle of a tender process for new funding for
UFB and after all councils had pitched to MBIE for new money for rural
broadband.” According to Curran, this explains why MBIE went into shutdown
mode last week and refused to meet with mayors anxious about their chances to
secure funding to improve very low connectivity in their regions. “It
also occurs as submissions are closing for a major review of the
Telecommunications Act turning the Government’s broadband strategy on its
head,” Curran adds. “Amy Adams forced urgent legislation through Parliament
in May to levy telcos to fund the next stage of rural broadband. She’s put
that programme on hold and handed the management of it to a secretive Crown
Agency which was set up to manage contracts, not to ensure equitable internet
access and speeds for rural New Zealand.” At present, Curran believes Adams
is trying to “distance herself from accountability” for rural broadband
because mounting regional anger at low internet speeds and poor access is
doing damage to the Government’s reputation in its heartland. “This
announcement is effectively an acknowledgement that rural broadband has
failed,” Curran adds. “The big problem is how long rural households and
businesses have to wait to get better internet.” From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
10/27/2015 What Are
the Two Key Barriers Preventing NZ SMEs from Embracing Tech Changes? Almost
60 percent of New Zealand’s small to medium-sized enterprises say the pace of
technology development is ‘about right’, but cost, government regulation and
finding the right staff are making it harder to get the full benefit of
innovation. That’s according to the latest MYOB Business Monitor survey,
which also claims that almost half (47 per cent) of the more than 1,000 SME
business operators interviewed for the survey have acquired new computer
hardware or software in the last year. Yet perhaps more tellingly, 33 per
cent report cost as a major barrier to adopting technological innovation, 19
per cent are concerned government regulation is holding them back, and 12 per
cent cite a lack of appropriately skilled staff. Most respondents in
Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch are comfortable with the pace of
change. However, 21 per cent of business operators outside of the main
centres feel they are struggling to keep up with the latest innovations in
technology. Business
operators in the transport and logistics industry (26 per cent), the
agriculture sector (23 per cent) and manufacturing and wholesale (21 per
cent) are also more likely to feel technology is changing too fast. MYOB New
Zealand CEO Tim Reed says keeping pace with rapidly changing technology is
‘the new normal’ for businesses, which stand to gain considerable benefits
from the latest innovations. “The latest innovations - from the cloud, to
business intelligence - are transforming the way we do business,” he says.
“While it can take some effort to keep pace with emerging and evolving
technologies - especially if they are not yet commonplace in your sector - it
is worth the investment. “The benefits include improved productivity and
efficiency, greater ability to reach and interact with new customers, and
having access to real-time information to support better decision making.” Satisfaction
levels Reed
says one of the keys to business adoption of technology is good quality
internet access at a fair price. “Access to the internet has become one of
the essential resources for modern business - something that needs to be
continually addressed at a national level,” he adds. Satisfaction with
internet access (speed and reliability) has slipped in the latest MYOB
Business Monitor, from 49 per cent in March 2015 to 40 per cent in September
- levels of dissatisfaction have also climbed from 29 per cent to 34 per
cent. Businesses in the Hawkes Bay (41 per cent) and Waikato (40 per cent)
are most unhappy with their internet access, while the Manuwatu/Wanganui
region has the highest level of satisfaction (48 per cent). From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
10/28/2015 Boost for
Local Business as New Tech Hub Arrives in Wellington Wellington
City Council and BizDojo have launched the city’s new tech hub and Collider
programme - a key component of the Council’s Economic Development Strategy.
Unveiled last night, Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown says the tech hub will
be a place for Wellington's innovative businesses to call home. “The BizDojo
Wellington will be the home of the tech hub, becoming a neutral space where
everyone from technologists to coders, designers and social entrepreneurs,
can come together to collaborate,” Wade-Brown says. “The Collider programme
and activities being hosted at the tech hub will increase connectivity
amongst technology companies, start-ups, entrepreneurs, tertiary
institutions, scientists and supporting institutions. “Wellington’s
innovative businesses will be offered the best possible chance of success.
Council is committed to job growth in the Smart Capital.” In 2011, Wade-Brown
says the Council’s Economic Development Strategy set a goal of transforming
Wellington into the Smart Capital and identified the creation of tech hub as
a vital initiative in making this happen. “Wellington
city is full of innovative, rapid-growth ventures,” adds Councillor Jo
Coughlan, Chair of the Economic Growth and Arts Committee. “It provides the
capital’s entrepreneurs with a shared space to collaborate, learn, and grow,
which was a priority when the council set its 2011 Economic Development
Strategy and named eight big ideas to grow Wellington’s economy last year. We
have a great base of high tech companies already - some of them the best in
the world. Now we can grow more businesses, attract more talent and give some
of the world’s best and brightest leaders and innovative business people a
place to call home right in the heart of Wellington city.” The tech hub will
consist of BizDojo’s co-working space and Collider’s programme of activities,
located at BizDojo, 115 Tory Street. “They say the best ideas come from
sitting around the kitchen table - and that is literally where all the
thinking is done in BizDojo,” adds Nick Shewring, Founder and Chief
Entrepreneur, BizDojo. The communal space and interactive culture cultivated
in BizDojo creates an ecosystem where access to expertise and support can be
provided over a coffee in the kitchen or in a more formal meeting space. This
unique environment combined with the Collider programmes and a city full of
high tech talent will help grow Wellington’s reputation as the smart capital
of New Zealand.” Collider is a partnership between Wellington City Council
and BizDojo, and will be located at BizDojo’s co-working space at 115 Tory
Street, Wellington. The Council’s contribution towards the tech hub will be
up to $3.2 million over three years and will be used to fund the
non-commercial elements of the tech hub. From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
11/12/2015 Telcos
Make “Stuttering Progress” in Bid to Become Digital Service Providers “Telecoms
operators have made stuttering progress in their efforts to become digital
service providers.” So says Mark Newman, Research Analyst, Ovum, who claims
the bundling of third-party services (typically digital media services on the
consumer side and cloud services for enterprise customers) has become
commonplace and is a great strategy for adding value to the core business.
But telcos have had much less success in creating new, incremental digital
service revenue streams. “It may well be that bundling other companies’
services is the best approach for the telecoms industry,’ Newman says.
“Operators’ track record in commercialising their own (digital) products
created in-house is pretty dreadful. But it does represent an admission that
telecoms operators will not be able to diversify away from their core
business.” Is
this just the way it is? Or are there other approaches that telcos can take
to becoming more immersed in digital services markets? “One operator that has
managed to become a diversified digital technology and services group is the
Japanese giant Softbank - owner of Japan’s third-largest, and the US’s
fourth-largest, mobile operator,” Newman adds. “But Softbank was a technology
and Internet company before it became a telecoms operator.” For Newman,
finding digital conglomerates with telecoms operators at their core is tough.
“Some of the enthusiasm three to four years ago for launching digital
businesses has waned,” he adds. “There has been some M&A activity in the
Internet of Things space and an enthusiasm for entering the TV business, but
the broadcast TV sector cannot really be labeled digital.” As explained by
Newman, a number of operators are rolling out venture capital businesses,
either directly or by investing in the funds of established VC firms, but
there are few examples of operators turning their early-stage investments
into longer-term shareholdings. “Operators
tend to see VCs as a way of building stronger partnerships rather than as
vehicles for building digital investment portfolios,” Newman adds. “Google,
Facebook, and Amazon are all extremely active in M&A. In some cases the
companies that they acquire are immediately plugged into their core
businesses - either to create new technology capabilities or to enhance
existing services. But they are also making acquisitions to diversify into
new markets that have little to do with their core business.” Google last
month created a new corporate structure to create greater transparency and
accountability within its core advertising business and other businesses in
sectors as diverse as healthcare, automotive, and energy management. “It is
interesting that while Google seems to be embracing the principle of a
conglomerate - a business strategy that has become a dirty word in the
corporate sector - telecoms operators seem to have become more focused on
investment and M&A activity that adds value to the core,” Newman adds. From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
11/12/2015 $20
Million Saved as Govt Unveils 12 Telco Providers Economic
Development Minister Steven Joyce and Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne
have announced a list of twelve telecommunications providers who have been
selected to provide telecommunications and managed security services to
government. As explained by the Beehive, government agencies will be able to
easily select the suppliers and services they want based on their business
needs. According to both parties, the All of Government contract will save
taxpayers at least $20 - $30 million within the first two years. “Agencies
will be able to purchase these services on demand easily, with no minimum
terms or volumes,” Joyce says. “This means they can focus on creating services
that their customers want, rather than having to worry about owning,
operating and maintaining large amounts of telecommunications equipment and
running costly procurement processes. “This approach will drive cost-savings
across government.” Joyce
says the list offers a choice of providers and services to best meet
agencies’ business requirements now, and the flexibility to change to take
advantage of service innovations. “These services will be delivered through a
standardised technology approach, supplied and managed by several providers,”
Dunne adds. “That will remove technical barriers and allow for greater
collaboration between agencies. “This will make it simpler to integrate
customer services across agencies, and easier for people to interact with government.”
As Dunne puts it, the adoption of this model reflects the way government now
wants to purchase and use ICT services. “The list of providers is open to
allow services and membership to evolve as technology, delivery models and
requirements change,” Dunne adds. “This will allow services and the providers
to remain innovative, relevant and competitive.” The
twelve telecommunications providers are: #
Agile Integration #
Aura Redshield Security #
CityLink #
Cogito Group #
Datacom Systems Wellington #
Dimension Data New Zealand #
Fujitsu New Zealand #
Mobile Mentor NZ #
SMX Limited #
Spark New Zealand #
Two Degrees #
Vodafone New Zealand From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
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EUROPE: Belgian Court Orders Facebook to Stop Collecting
Personal Data from Non-Facebook Users The Brussels tribunal of first instance yesterday issued an
injunction against Facebook to stop it collecting personal data from
non-Facebook users in Belgium. The injunction, initiated by Willem
Debeuckelaere, President, Belgium’s Commission for the Protection of Privacy
(DPA), takes effect within 48 hours after notification of the judgment which
was published on 9 November. If Facebook fails to comply, it faces a fine of
250,000 euros, payable to Belgium’s DPA. The Tribunal says that Facebook’s
practice of putting cookies on devices of non-Facebook registered users
visiting Facebook violates Belgian data protection law. According to Facebook,
these cookies are necessary for security reasons. Belgium’s DPA published on
16 May 2015 a statement which provides the basis for this case. It stated
“Since January 2015 the privacy commissions of the Netherlands (the lead
authority), Hamburg-Germany and Belgium have worked together as an
own-initiative group. France and Spain recently joined the contact group…. Up
to this day Facebook refuses to recognize the application of Belgian
legislation nor the Belgian Privacy Commission.” A Facebook spokesman said:
“We've used the datr cookie for more than five years to keep Facebook secure
for 1.5 billion people around the world. We will appeal this decision and are
working to minimize any disruption to people's access to Facebook in
Belgium.” Importantly, the Tribunal ruled, following the view of From http://www.privacycommission.be/ 11/10/2015 Polish ICT School Infrastructure Slightly Better Than Global
Average The study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) has said that the global average is 4.7 students to every
school computer. In Australia, the best country in terms of number of
students per school computer according to the study, there are just 0.9
students to each computer. This was followed by New Zealand, Macau and the UK
with 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 respectively. Poland is not the worst faring country in
Europe and the Mediterranean however, beating other nations like Greece
(8.2), Israel (4.7) and Germany (4.2). As many as 97.7 percent of Polish
schoolchildren have at least one computer at home, above the OECD average of
95.8 percent. The global leaders were Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland
(99.9 percent, 99.8 percent and 99.8 percent respectively). From http://www.thenews.pl/
09/22/2015 SWEDEN: Tele2 Reaches 90% LTE Coverage in Baltic States Sweden-based Tele2 Group has reached its target of achieving 90%
population coverage with its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks in the
Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The firm said it spent EUR50
million (USD56 million) in the region in 2014 to attain its coverage goal and
that it will continue to expand its 4G network coverage, along with
increasing network capacity, as both data consumption and the number of
mobile internet users are expected to grow significantly. Malin Holmberg,
Market Director for the Baltics, Croatia and Austria at Tele2 Group,
commented: ‘Over the past year Tele2 has focused on building the best
performing 4G network in the Baltics to ensure that our existing and new
customers can enjoy superior mobile data experience, not only in larger
cities but also in rural areas across the whole region. We are confident that
high 4G network quality and wide coverage will secure customers loyalty as
well as contribute to revenue growth from data services.’ From https://www.telegeography.com/ 09/09/2015 LATIN AMERICA: LatAm Cities Put People First in Developing Urban
Transportation Car for hire service Cabify has unveiled a fleet of private jets
and helicopters earlier this month to fly Mexico City residents with deep
pockets over the congested streets of the big city. Those rich enough to
afford to "cabifly" celebrated, but most were left wondering if
this was the future of urban transport: speed and comfort, but only for the
privileged few. Latin America's new generation of local leaders and urban
planners appeared determined to change the status quo of the transportation,
out of a realization that cities must prioritize people over cars in order to
survive, especially in the age of global warming. "Transportation,
driven by rapid growth in car use, has been the fastest growing source of CO2
in the world," according to the New York-based Institute for
Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), which promotes mobility
projects around the world, including Latin America. "An affordable but largely overlooked way to cut that
pollution is to give people clean options to use public transportation,
walking and cycling, expanding mobility options especially for the poor and
curbing air pollution from traffic," an ITDP report said, adding that
"the analysis shows that getting away from car-centric development will
cut urban CO2 dramatically and also reduce costs." Major Latin American
metropolises, such as Mexico City, Colombia's capital Bogota and Brazil's Rio
de Janeiro, are rethinking the long-held belief that proper urban planning
requires miles of roadways and acres of parking lots to accommodate cars, and
are focusing instead on building better mass transit systems and
people-friendly environments, like parks and pedestrian promenades. The
problem in Latin America, however, is that inequality often gets in the way
of implementing those changes, as Bogota's newly reelected mayor, Enrique Penalosa,
has noted. Elected to a second term on Oct. 25 after serving as mayor from
1998 to 2001, Penalosa often speaks out about the need to plan cities around
people, not cars. "An advanced city is not one where even the poor use
cars, but rather one where even the rich use public transport," Penalosa
said in a 2013 TED talk titled "Why buses represent democracy in
action." Penalosa, who joked that he was "almost impeached"
during his first term for trying to reclaim Bogota's sidewalks from cars,
pointed to New York, Paris and London as examples of integrated cities where
the subways serve people from all walks of life. Latin American societies are
much more segregated, Penalosa said in an earlier interview in Lima, Peru.
"High-income residents of Lima or Bogota feel very proud when they go to
Paris, New York or London and can get around by subway. But here in their own
city, they think it's dreadful to have to commute together with the poor
people, it seems unimaginable to them," said Penalosa. The car also continues to be a coveted symbol of social status
in Latin America, and cities like Mexico continue to build infrastructure
exclusively designed for automobiles, like elevated roads. But the shift from
cars to mass transit has to happen to make cities more sustainable, which is
why Penalosa is a big proponent of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems with their
own dedicated lanes. Despite the cultural hurdles, a growing number of Latin
American cities are making strides in improving mobility. In the past 10 years,
eight have won the ITDP's Sustainable Transport Award for having
"implemented innovative and sustainable transportation projects,"
including Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2015;
Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2014; Mexico City, Mexico in 2013; Medellin,
Colombia in 2012; Guayaquil, Ecuador in 2007; and Bogota, Colombia in 2005. Brazil's major cities have growing concerns about air pollution
and are seeking to upgrade their urban transportation systems, which mostly
use diesel buses. Considering the high costs, long construction periods of
new subway and railway lines, express bus lanes with electric vehicles serve
as the best option for bigger cities. Belo Horizonte has launched a
"gold-standard" BRT system, and created pedestrian-only streets and
27 km of bikeways. In accepting the award, Mayor Marcio Lacerda said,
"We in Belo Horizonte are working every day to make life better. We
understand that good transport is fundamental to improving life for everyone
in our city. This award means so much to us because it indicates that we are
getting better, and that the work is worth it." From English.news.cn 10/31/2015 Brazil to Increases Taxes on Smartphones, Computers The Brazilian government is planning to introduce new measures
to increase revenue in 2016, including a review of the tax exemption on
computers, tablets and smartphones, reports Folha de Sao Paulo. The existing
"Lei do Bem" was introduced to encourage the national technology
market and has helped reduce the price of some electronic devices in recent
years. Initially, the legislation was supposed to last until the end of 2015
but had been extended until 2018, during better economic times. However,
according to estimates the government would not be able to raise BRL 8
billion this year in taxes because of the incentive, a significant sum for
the troubled economy. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/01/2015 Mexico to Bring Free Internet to 7,600 Schools Mexico's communications and transportation ministry (SCT) has
reached an agreement with the country's Union of Entrepreneurs for Technology
in Education (Unete) to bring free internet access to over 7,600 schools. The
initiative is part of the government's National Digital Strategy to boost
digital skills and daily ICT use in schools. "The aim of this effort is
to give Mexican children more solid tools with which to become part of the
knowledge society," said new communications undersecretary Monica Aspe
Bernal. Unete said the agreement will benefit over 2.4 million students and
99,000 teachers. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/14/2015 NORTH AMERICA: U.S. - Social Media Engagement Rates Decline US — Marketers are posting more on social media but have seen
engagement rates drop off in the past year, according to a new report. The
report from Forrester Research, How Top Brands Are Using Facebook, Twitter
and Instagram, showed that over 80% of top global brands actively post on
Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Instagram, and they are doing so
more frequently than before. The report found the average rate of posting as
6.5 posts per week on Facebook, up from 6.3 in 2014; 18.3 Twitter posts per
week, up from 17.5; and 4.9 Instagram posts per week, up from 3.1. Google+
has also seen a marginal rise since 2014: from 3.5 posts per week to 3.6,
while Pinterest was unchanged on 9.9 and LinkedIn dropped from 5.7 to 4.7. However, as Mobile Marketer reports, engagement rates do not
appear to have followed the same pattern. Only Facebook has seen any growth
in interaction by social followers of brands, up from 0.07% to 0.22%. This is
apparently mostly due to more brands paying to promote their Facebook posts
to a larger number of users. Instagram’s engagement rate had fallen from 4.2%
to 2.3% and Twitter’s engagement rate fell from 0.035% to 0.027%. Pinterest
and Google+ also saw slight declines (from 0.1% to 0.04% and from 0.07% to
0.04% respectively), while LinkedIn remained relatively stable at 0.05%.
“While B2C marketers are becoming more active on social networks, the vast
majority of their followers haven’t seemed to notice,” said Nate Elliott,
VP/principal analyst at Forrester Research and co-author of the report.
“Marketers are doing more work but generating less attention.” From http://www.research-live.com/ 09/06/2015 Facebook Bends to Advertiser Viewability Demands Facebook will begin allowing advertisers to use a third-party
firm to measure how much of their ads are seen on its platform, according to
people familiar with the matter. The social media giant will work with
independent measurement firm Moat to determine if a video ad has been viewed,
the people said. Ad viewability is currently one of the hottest issues facing
marketers and publishers. Marketers are worried about paying for ads that
appear on parts of Web pages that people never see. Some companies including
Google have suggested that only half the online video ads across the Web are
actually viewable. Currently, Facebook and Google are using their own
software to measure viewability rates, which has left many advertisers upset
because they are more comfortable with having independent companies provide
the proof that ads were seen. That tension is among the reasons why big
advertisers such as Unilever have pulled back on buying video ads from
Facebook and Google, according to people familiar with matter. In June,
Twitter announced it would allow advertisers to use Moat to measure ad
viewability on its service. Google’s YouTube is also close to offering advertisers the
ability to use third-party verification, some of the people familiar with the
matter say. The Financial Times earlier reported that YouTube was preparing
to offer independent ad verification. “We’re committed to meeting all of our
clients’ measurement needs through a combination of product innovation and
industry partnerships,” said Google, in a statement. “We have further efforts
planned in this area and are taking our clients’ feedback into account as we
continue to roll out new solutions,”the company added. Facebook is also
offering advertisers the option to pay for ads when the entire ad unit
appears on the users screen. The Media Rating Council and Interactive
Advertising Bureau issued guidelines last year that state that an online
video ad should only be deemed viewable if at least 50% of the ad is visible
on a user’s screen for at least two consecutive seconds. Advertisers believe
those guidelines are too lenient and have demanded more stringent measures
from social media platforms and publishers. From http://blogs.wsj.com/
09/22/2015 Free Basics vs. Basic Internet Freedom: Three Questions for Mark
Zuckerberg Today Facebook announced several changes to Internet.org in
response to growing international complaints about the program. While some of
the changes are positive, our core concerns remain — the program now known as
Free Basics violates Net Neutrality and establishes Facebook as a global
gatekeeper for internet connectivity, affecting billions of peoples’ ability
to connect to the free and open internet. Earlier this year nearly 70 rights
groups from around the world — including Access — sent an open letter to Zuckerberg
outlining several concerns about Internet.org’s treatment of digital rights
online, some of which were addressed today. Specific changes to the
Internet.org program include: The free connectivity app formerly known as
Internet.org, which Facebook has launched around the world, is now known as
“Free Basics.” Free Basics will allow for HTTPS/TLS, giving users the ability
to encrypt their web browsing sessions. (However, there’s a catch. See below
for more.) Updated guidelines that clarify technical guidelines, developer
participation, and more. Below are three questions we’re asking (and
answering) about Facebook’s changes to Internet.org/Free Basics. We’ll be
doing a deeper dive soon. Will Free Basics respect Net Neutrality? Net Neutrality requires that the internet be maintained as an
open platform on which network providers treat all content, applications, and
services equally, without discrimination. An important precept of Net
Neutrality is that everyone should be able to innovate without permission
from any entity. Free Basics partners with telecommunications providers to
provide free access to internet-connected services, sites, and applications,
a practice often referred to as “zero-rating.” People accessing only
applications pre-approved by Facebook aren’t experiencing the full breadth of
the open internet, and can be deprived of options to explore opportunities
for educational, commercial, cultural, and social development. Facebook is
now in the position of deciding winners and losers through Free Basics. It’s
no surprise that zero rating has been banned or restricted in countries such
as Canada, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Chile. Does Free Basics maintain better security for users? Encryption is essential for guaranteeing the privacy and security
of users. Free Basics’ proposed implementation of HTTPS/TLS, a standard
protocol, does not always provide encryption at critical points when users
browse online. While participating websites can designate that all
connections be encrypted, the same option is not available for users
themselves. Free Basics Users will be able to confirm that their connection
to Free Basics itself is encrypted, but they will have no way of knowing if
their interactions with websites are encrypted at every point between them
and the website. Additionally, users can verify the validity of
Internet.org’s TLS certificate, but they are unable to verify that they are
conducting a banking transaction with a real bank on the other side of Free
Basics, as the bank’s website sits behind the Internet.org pathway. This is
dangerous for people who will be banking online, or conducting other critical
or sensitive interactions online through Free Basics. Does Free Basics offer connectivity to the free and open
internet? In a word, no. Free Basics’ continues the practice of offering
users a taste of restricted access before prompting them to purchase data
plans. This practice fails to acknowledge the economic reality for millions
of people who can’t afford those plans. Even if some users upgrade, many
millions can’t or won’t, so how will Facebook address the reality of people
stuck with second-tier access? New users could get stuck on a separate and
unequal path to internet connectivity, which will serve to create a new form
of digital divide. The final choice of developer applications available on
Free Basics is left to the determination of Facebook and its partners,
furthering a dangerous model where large web companies and telcos become
strong gatekeepers to users who seek to access the Internet.The internet is a
valuable resource in developing countries, but we must ensure this happens
equitably through access to the full internet. These changes to Internet.org
come as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to visit Silicon Valley
later this week during an official tour in the United States. His west coast
agenda features meetings with top technology companies, including Facebook,
where he will take part in a question-and-answer “town hall” alongside Mark
Zuckerberg on September 27. Mr. Modi, how do you plan to stop the use of internet shutdowns
in India? This month, authorities in the state of Gujarat — Mr. Modi’s
home state — ordered the shutdown of SMS and mobile internet services in the
face of public protests and unrest. Not only do they contravene international
law, blanket shutdowns are bad public policy: you do not quell “rumour-mongering” by
cutting off access to information. Attempts to block online tools for crowd
mobilization disproportionately harm everyone by restricting access to
emergency services and news reports. Blocking also cuts off avenues for
public officials and community leaders to communicate accurate information or
voice calls for restraint. There is no compelling evidence that shutting down
of communication services improves security, further casting doubt on the
value of network shutdowns as tools for public officials in democracies. Mr. Modi, how will you protect our ability to securely
communicate in private via robust encryption tools? This month, India’s Department of Electronics and Information
Technology presented its draft National Encryption Policy that would have
required all citizens to store encrypted messages and data in a plaintext
form readable by the government for a period of 90 days. The draft law would
have also required online communication platforms who offer services in India
to give the government backdoor access to their encryption tools. After a significant backlash, the
government withdrew the proposal for now, though indicating they planned to
bring it back soon. From https://www.accessnow.org/ 09/29/2015 Rebuilding
Communities and Fostering Lifelong Learning Through Intergenerational
Dialogue Guests and project partners from at least 10 countries met in
Vilnius to attend an international conference on intergenerational learning
on 11th of September. The event was organised in the context of European
Trans e-Scouts project and was hosted by one of the project partners
Association Langas i ateiti. Association Langas i ateiti Director Ms. Loreta
Križinauskienė opened the conference by emphasizing the importance of the
project for local communities: the dialogue between the two generations not
only facilitates the lifelong learning and exchange of skills, but also
brings people together. “Every strategy is bloodless scheme without people
who make it happen,” with this note Ms. Gražina Kaklauskienė, Deputy Director
of Erasmus+ programme in Lithuania began the conference panel referring to
the success of the project. She stressed the fact that even though young
people know how to obtain information, but this information does not always
equal knowledge. Therefore, similar projects are needed to boost young
people’s learning motivation and skills. Mr. Marius Vaščega, working in the European Commission
Representation in Lithuania, introduced the situation of youth employment
highlighting that at present the average of the EU youth unemployment rate is
still around 21%. “Employment and digital skills will be even more
interconnected,” Mr. Marius Vaščega said. In addition, he listed initiatives
run by the Commission to address the skills gap such as Grand Coalition for
Digital Jobs, Digital Single Market strategy, Communication on Rethinking
Education and on Opening up Education. Mr. Valdas Maskvytis from the Ministry
of Social Security and Labour in Mr. Jacques Van Egten, CESES President, was invited to introduce
his organisation which is The Confederation of European Senior Expert
Services offering professional, voluntary, short-term assistance and advice
with over 24,000 volunteers. Mr. Van Egten shared more examples of
intergenerational projects in Belgium. Some of Trans e-Scouts project
participants – e-Facilitators, senior mentors and young volunteers – from
four partner countries were also present and used the opportunity to share
their experience during two workshop sessions of the conference. Trans
e-Scouts project’s leading organisation is D.O.T. (Spain); project partners
are: Fundacion Esplai (Spain), LIKTA (Latvia), Langas i ateiti (Lithuania)
and Telecentar (Croatia). The project partners are also members of Telecentre
Europe network. From http://www.telecentre-europe.org/ 10/06/2015 One
in Three: Internet Governance and Children’s Rights In November 2015, the Internet Governance Forum will focus on
the theme of ‘policy options for connecting the next billion’. Following
publication of her co-authored report ‘One in three: internet governance and
children’s rights’, Professor Sonia Livingstone discusses how internet
governance needs to consider the specific rights and needs of children, both
in terms of protection from harm as well as the right to access and use
digital media. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,
children below the age of 18 possess the full range of human rights enjoyed
by adults. As legal minors undergoing crucial processes of human development,
they have additional rights too – to play, to parenting, to develop to their
full potential, and so forth. The recent international NETmundial initiative, an important
international effort on internet governance, observed that the “rights that
people have offline must also be protected online”. Such an idea is not new:
over a decade ago the 2003 phase of the World Summit on the Information
Society adopted the Geneva Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action in
which the position of children was expressly recognised: “We are committed to
realising our common vision of the Information Society for ourselves and for
future generations. We recognise that young people are the future workforce
and leading creators and earliest adopters of ICTs. They must therefore be
empowered as learners, developers, contributors, entrepreneurs and
decision-makers. We must focus especially on young people who have not yet
been able to benefit fully from the opportunities provided by ICTs. We are
also committed to ensuring that the development of ICT applications and
operation of services respects the rights of children as well as their
protection and well-being.” Yet, over the past decade or so, the complex tapestry of
organisations that now constitute internet governance has barely recognised
the distinctive rights and needs of children as a substantial group of
internet users. For its meeting in November 2015, the Internet Governance
Forum chose as its theme ‘policy options for connecting the next billion’. In
my paper, ‘One in three: internet governance and children’s rights’,
co-authored with Jasmina Byrne and John Carr and just published by CIGI in
time for the forum, we estimate that 300 million of that number will be
children, most of them in developing nations. This represents a significant
responsibility for many key actors, and for global internet governance
bodies. How will they meet it? As report co-author John Carr comments: “The
internet’s achievements are spectacular and beyond doubt but what this report
reminds us is that for all that the internet has worked to change the world’s
economy, has changed the way we do politics and hold governments to account,
it is also a medium for children. Policy makers need to fix that prosaic but
profound fact firmly in their minds whenever they think or talk about the
future of the internet or its governance.” So far, internet governance organisations have sought an
age-generic (or ‘age-blind’) approach to ‘users’. But children have specific
needs and rights that are not met by governance regimes designed for
‘everyone’ – and too often, provision for ‘users’ in general embeds
assumptions in practice about their being adults, thereby failing to meet
children’s rights in practice. Even when specific provision is made for
children, it focuses heavily on child protection, especially in relation to
illegal activities that threaten children. This is important, for sure. But
beyond this, children’s rights to protection must somehow be balanced against
their rights to participation, since addressing the former in isolation risks
the unintended consequence of infringing the latter. Such crucial subtleties
have been signally lacking in the various multistakeholder policies, Internet
Bills of Rights and other regulation increasingly proposed and promoted
around the world. Indeed, I find it astonishing how often policy makers debate
internet governance as if all users were adults or, failing that, carefully
protected by informed parents. Our report argues against an age-generic or
age-blind approach to internet provision and governance, drawing on growing
international evidence that a substantial minority of internet users are
minors and that many encounter risk unsupported. In addition to addressing
issues of child protection in the online domain, we argue that policy and
governance should now ensure children’s rights to access and use of digital
media and the deployment of the internet by the wider society to advance
children’s rights across the board. As internet use rises in developing
countries, international internet governance organisations face a key
challenge in shaping, through multi-stakeholder processes, the emerging
models of best practice that will underpin the development of positive norms
recognised by states, parents and other relevant parties. Jasmina Byrne
observes that: “Implementation of child rights in the digital age requires not
only adherence to human rights and values, but also empowerment and
participation of child users in ways which foster their creativity,
innovation and societal engagement.” We therefore recommend that internet
governance organisations acknowledge and address the fact that an estimated
one in three internet users are children. Recognition of children’s rights
should be embedded in the activities, policies and structures of internet
governance processes. This includes provision and participation rights as
well as protection rights. Strategies need to be developed to address
conflicts between rights – especially to ensure that children’s rights to
provision and participation are not unduly compromised in an effort to
protect them. While States and public institutions bear the primary
responsibility to ensure the realisation of children’s rights through the
creation of legislative and policy frameworks, rights frameworks now
encompass the activities and responsibilities of business also, and this
applies to the internet industry as much as any other. In the
multi-stakeholder context of internet governance, parents and children (and
their representatives) should be recognized and included as significant
stakeholders. This will require specific efforts and the development of
appropriate mechanisms of participation and inclusion. In addition to supporting a constructive dialogue between
internet governance and child rights organisations, it is important for
internet governance to develop mechanisms to represent and implement
children’s rights online. To develop these, internet governance organisations
could explicitly draw on the experience of child rights organisations (or
children’s commissioners or ombudspersons) based on their established work in
other domains. Since questions of child protection seem especially likely to
trigger critical concerns over internet governance in terms of its remit,
accountability and forms of redress, it is vital that internet governance
bodies find ways to establish their legitimacy in relation to all
stakeholders, including children and those who represent children’s rights.
To underpin the above efforts, an evidence base is required. The risks and
opportunities afforded to children by ‘the internet’ are far from simple or
universal, and they are too little understood especially in the global South
and in relation to emerging digital technologies. To ground this research
enterprise, internet governance organisations should ensure that important
information about children’s internet access and use is collected so that it
is known how many children use the internet and which inequalities or other
problems exist. From http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/
11/04/2015 From
the Digital Divide to Digital Citizenship While much of the current discussion (as with the previous round
of these discussions in the early 2000’s) is concerned with how to ensure
that the widest possible numbers of people have some form of physical access
to the Internet, now as then, there is rather less concern with whether that
newly provided “access” in any way enables the end user to effectively “use”
the Internet for anything other than the passive consumption of a specific
range of messages (with providers such as Facebook determining which messages
those might be). Not surprisingly after roughly two decades of more or less
intensive academic research on the subject the understanding of the DD is now
rather more nuanced and multi-layered than earlier with a strong recognition
of the connection between such factors as income, age, gender and location
and the ability to (or even interest in) “accessing the Internet and thus
presumably “bridging the digital divide”. As well there is an emerging
understanding that the DD as such is a “moving target” in that there will
always be new technologies, improvements in quality and quantity of
opportunities for use and so on; and as such, responses to the DD should
probably be seen more as a necessarily continuous process than a discreet and
one off set of measures or interventions or technology installations. But given the continuing concern for the DD in a rapidly evolving
technology landscape and a somewhat more slowly, but also evolving policy
environment, it is perhaps timely to shift the focus and turn the issue
around. When the DD discussion was first introduced the challenge was focused
on how to ensure that the widest possible numbers of individuals were able to
access the Internet so as to take advantage of the opportunities which were
just beginning to emerge. By now, almost twenty years after the initial
discussions in these areas, many of those opportunities are quite visible and
in fact have been turned into the stuff of economic, social, political and
administrative life in modern societies and including in both Developed and
large sections of Less Developed countries. These applications, programs, and
activities on and through the Internet have become in many cases completely
intertwined to the point of being inextricably at the very core of economic
life (e-commerce); of communications and inter-communications and social
interaction with friends and family and seamlessly with strangers as well; of
political life through on-line activism, information seeking, advocacy and
the range of the day to day activities that constitute political life in
modern society; and of life as in the context of administrative governance
through e-government and on-line form filling, registration, tax paying among
others. What is evident from the above is how commonplace and necessary
has become access and use of the Internet for very very large proportions of
the population. It has become part of the very substance of their
participation as citizens, consumers, voters, social beings in the modern
digitally enabled world. Even those without such Internet access are
increasingly integrated into the seamless digital environment through the use
of the digital by those with whom they do have regular contact whether
through trade, cultural interactions or in the domestic/personal sphere. It is in this time increasingly
difficult to not be a part of the digital ecosystem in one respect or
another. Precisely this commonplaceness and necessity I think has had the
effect of changing what is the nature and response to those who are not
online or digitally enabled in modern society. No longer is it that they are
on the other side of some imagined “digital” divide (or abyss), rather they
are seen as no longer being members of the social, political and economic
community which frames the actions and opportunities of the rest of us—in
fact they are outcastes, aliens in the world that the rest of us live in and
from which we draw such great advantage. In the social and political world,
we recognize that having access to such collectively sustained and guaranteed
advantages (and rights) is that which is at the very core of being a citizen.
One element of the notion of “citizenship” is that it is an “automatic”
feature of being born into or being legally accepted within that political
jurisdiction, a notion which has considerable resonance both for those
currently being defined as “digital natives” or (for the older generation) as
“digital immigrants“. Another element of being a “citizen” is to have certain rights
(and obligations) in relation to a political entity (generally a State) while
the political entity in turn has certain rights and obligations in relation
to the individual as well. The
specific nature of these rights and obligations varies as between political
entities. It is also evolving over time initially including (primarily) the
right (and responsibility) of participating in the political governance, but
also evolving into civil (or civic) rights as for example having the
protection of the rule of law. Increasingly this is being extended into a
range of “social” rights as for example, those which have come to be
associated with the social contract and the range of social and public
services which may be available at a national level within this context. Thus
just as a “citizen” now has the right to the protection of the state, the
right to certain benefits (alongside certain obligations) and services, the
right to participate in the various modes of determining the practice and
outcome of governance, so in a digitally enabled citizenship these
protections, services, rights to participate would extend into the ubiquitous
digital sphere as well. In this then, not only would the right to digitally
enabled services be an aspect of the overall right of citizens to services
but equally the right to have various of those services in a digitally
enabled format would equally be ensured. To a degree, talking of the “digital citizen” is simply a
re-casting of what is already widely accepted in those societies with the
widespread use of the digital as the basis for public (and other service)
delivery. However, by talking of the “digital citizen” and the rights of the
citizen to the full advantages of the digital sphere one shifts the
discussion concerning for the example the Digital Divide from one of ad hoc
initiatives and voluntaristic programs to becoming an obligatory element in
the activities of the modern state. In this of course, it simply reflects the
emergent significance of the digital sphere in relation to the activities of
the state. It is also a necessary corollary of those jurisdictions such as
where digital actions have become a necessary element for active
participation in civic life or even as is the case in several jurisdictions
where Internet rights (or the Right to the Internet) has become enshrined in
the Constitution. In this approach I am going somewhat beyond and outside the current
discussions on “digital citizenship” (as for example presented Karen
Mossberger and her colleagues or the “civics” education oriented
“digitalcitizenship.net“) which focus rather on defining the nature of
citizenship in a digital age. Their concerns, as important as they are, focus
on how conventional citizenship is supplemented and enabled by the digital.
The approach I am suggesting here is one which is based on the notion that
the digital, in transforming other aspects of conventional life, is also
transforming our civic life. Thus “digital citizenship” is a newer and
evolved form of citizenship and moreover one which is necessary to and
appropriate in the digital age/the Information Society. This new form of
citizenship has multiple aspects but for our purposes the two most salient
elements are that with this new form of citizenship goes certain rights – at
a minimum to be able to have access to and to effectively exercise
citizenship rights in a digital age; and on the part of the State the obligation
to ensure that the citizen is in a position to exercise their digital
citizenship in an appropriate and effective way. Precisely what might be implied by this remains to be teased out
but certainly it includes the universal right to Internet access and at a
speed and quality sufficient to be an active and effective citizen, equally
it implies sufficient digital (and other) literacy to make effective use of
this access in support of effective digital citizenship and it includes the
assurance of technology designed and linked directly to legal and rights
based structures of anti-discrimination associated with disability, age,
ethnicity, language and so on so as to ensure that there is no discrimination
in the opportunity for use. In this framework rather, we can look forward to
a society where rather than a series of unbridgeable “Digital Divides” with
digital “have’s” and “have not’s” the response to which is voluntary and ad
hoc, we have “digital citizens” with certain rights guaranteed by the digitally
enabled State to ensure digital access and the, training and other
pre-requisites sufficient to ensure the opportunity to exercise those rights.
(I have recently presented what I think might be an initial program in
support of effective digital citizenship From https://gurstein.wordpress.com/ 11/10/2015 Uncensored Internet a
Global Concern, Pew Survey Finds A median of 50 percent of people from 38 countries surveyed
by Pew Research Center say it is very important to have an Internet without
government censorship. In the survey released today, Pew found that majorities in 32
of the 38 countries surveyed agreed on the importance of Internet
freedom. About 70 percent of people surveyed in the United States,
Argentina, Germany and Spain deem it very important. In the U.S., 69 percent
said Internet freedom was very important, 22 percent said it was somewhat
important and 7 percent deemed it not too important or not important at all.
Only 21 percent of citizens of Burkina Faso and Indonesia deemed Internet
freedom very important. Pew found a correlation between Internet
penetration and support for Internet freedom: The more smartphone owners
there were in a country, the more likely those residents supported an
uncensored Internet. Eighty-seven percent of those surveyed in the U.S. said
they used the Internet at least occasionally. In Burkina Faso, that number
was 14 percent. “As access to the Web continues to spread around the
globe in the coming years, the desire for freedom in cyberspace may grow as
well,” the report said. The survey’s results come amid some calls for
filtering the Internet in the wake of last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris.
Pew’s survey — which also addressed global attitudes on religious freedom,
gender equality and other forms of freedom of expression — was based on
40,786 face-to-face and telephone interviews in 38 countries with adults 18
and older conducted from April 5 to May 21, 2015. From http://www.siliconbeat.com/ 11/19/2015 Green
Trade Boosted as Network Takes Shape A new APEC Green Supply Chain Cooperation Network is being put
into action to facilitate the reduction of pollution and waste linked to
manufacturing and logistics networks in the Asia-Pacific while boosting
secure trade and economic growth. The network will guide public-private
sector development of green supply chains in APEC economies—supply chains in
the APEC region move about half of global trade. The initiative was endorsed
by APEC Leaders in Beijing last November. Trade and environment officials
from the region moved forward with its adoption during working-level policy
meetings this week in the port city of Cebu. In focus is
environmentally-friendly, economically viable purchasing, production
activity, and distribution and consumption of goods and services. Industries
that could play a role range from automobiles and electronics, to retailing
and financial services. A newly launched pilot green supply chain center in Tianjin, the
world’s tenth largest port city, will bring together officials, businesses
representatives and researchers to support the growth of the sector. It lays
a foundation for the establishment of additional centers in APEC economies
that could serve as a backbone for regional efforts to advance green supply
chains under the network. An expert group is being formed to provide counsel
in advancing the network. The group will stock take green supply chain
practices in particular sectors as well as across the different stages of
international production and supply chains. An annual dialogue, capacity
building activities such as workshops and training, and an online portal are
also being introduced to bridge implementation gaps between APEC’s diverse
member economies. On the occasion of the pilot green supply chain center opening,
Wan Bentai, Chief Engineer at China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection,
said that China is taking unprecedented steps to strengthen the prevention
and control of air, land and water pollution but that severe challenges remain.
He added that sharing the concept and experience of developing an ecological
civilization through active regional cooperation is vital to ensuring mutual
green development. Examples of green supply chain practices may include the
use of easily disposable, low impact materials, recycling and operational
efficiency enhancements. The adoption of such practices could help to cut
carbon emissions and other forms of pollution as well as lower business
costs. “Trade in manufactured goods typically involves the movement of
component parts and materials through international production and supply
chains which can be quite resource intensive,” noted John Larkin, Chair of
the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment, which is overseeing
implementation of the APEC Green Supply Chain Cooperation Network and member
collaboration on related initiatives. “Improvements to production and supply
chain processes could help to ensure that goods and services are delivered to
consumers more efficiently and with less strain on the environment,”
explained Larkin. “The economic case for firms to embrace green supply chain
practices can be strong, offering them potentially significant business cost
savings.” The network will further raise awareness of the possible benefits
of green supply chains as well as build public and private sector support for
these undertakings in the region. The Third APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting on
5-6 September will review the initiative’s progress and chart the way
forward. From http://www.apec.org/ 09/04/2015 Innovation
to Improve Transportation’s Efficiency and Effectiveness “Innovation in regional transportation systems should address
the evolving challenges encountered in transport sector and further improve
the efficiency and effectiveness of operations,” said Philippine
Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya on
Friday. Abaya made this announcement to transportation ministers who met in
Cebu, the Philippines at the 9th APEC Transportation Ministerial Meeting to
address vital topics relevant to the support of region’s growth to create
greater prosperity to the people in the region. Under the theme, theme
“Driving Economic Growth: Inclusive Mobility and Sustainable Transport
Systems,” Ministers took note of the emphasis given to ensure that
transportation services and facilities are accessible and convenient to the
public, while remaining reliable and resilient in the face of disasters and
environmental and resource constraints. “Advancing inclusive mobility means
addressing the transportation requirements of all, especially those in
vulnerable sectors of our society--the persons with disability, women,
children, and the elderly,” said Abaya. “Improving mobility translates to increased productivity which
helps accelerate economic progress. Inclusive mobility would meant that
everyone’s needs are incorporated in the transport plans, programs,
activities, projects of all economies throughout the region,” he continued.
“Today, we’ll be discussing how we can make sure that transportation systems
are responsive to these needs.” Abaya said that ministers will also discuss
the need to develop sustainable transportation systems that would support the
continuous flow of passengers and goods. “We have chosen to highlight the
enhancement of transportation safety and security, investment in resilient
infrastructure, and the promotion of green technology,” he explained. “We
shall explore some of these innovations, particularly instructive
technologies in data applications and intelligent transportation systems.”
Ministers heard from civil society and the private sector to provide new
perspectives on transport issues and enrich their discussions on both the
ministerial and working group plans. From http://www.apec.org/
10/09/2015 Digitalisation
to Drive Asia’s Higher Education IT Spending to US$10.4bil IT (information technology) spending in the higher education
sector in the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan (APeJ) will increase from
US$8.7 billion in 2015 to US$10.4 billion in 2019, a five-year compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2%, according to IDC. The increased spending
will be mainly driven by digital transformation efforts, according to IDC
Government Insights’ recent published research Best Practices: Enabling
Tomorrow’s Tertiary Institutions – Digital Transformations Through
Personalized Curricula, Collaborative Ecosystems and Smart Campus
Initiatives. “Higher education institutions in mature economies display a
more mature IT spending pattern, where IT spending is shifting focus from
hardware to services and software spending components,” said IDC Government
Insights market analyst Shreyashi Pal. “This is because the APeJ tertiary
education sector will be increasingly focused on addressing the urgent need
to increase cybersecurity priorities of digital assets, reduce IT costs,
improve business-IT alignment, and leverage cutting-edge technologies for IT
consolidation and streamlining of scarce ICT resources,” she added. IDC Government Insights’ research also highlights that the
opportunities for higher education in the Asia Pacific region are rooted in
personalised learning, collaborative education, and Smart Campus initiatives,
the research and analyst firm said in a statement. It believes that dynamic
business and technology landscapes are bringing about rapid changes to
traditional tertiary education demands and practices. Achieving adaptive
agility has been more critical than ever to tertiary educators and
educational institutions globally as a result of ensuring long-term relevance
and operational sustainability. The benefits of ICT in education varies from
enhancing the learning experience and equipping students with new sets of
skills, to expanding the reach of education to people having no access, as
well as to reduce the cost of education. The success of these benefits,
however, depends on the maturity of the ICT infrastructure in the tertiary
education system and the willingness of education institutions to increase
ICT investments, IDC Government Insights said. All leading drivers of IT investments in higher education are
related to bringing about better operational outcomes through cost reduction
initiatives. These priorities are notably universal across both higher
education institutions in mature and developing economies of the Asia Pacific
region. IDC Government Insights predicts that the Third Platform technologies
driving the education industry transformation and bringing about this change
are cloud or X-as-a-Service models, mobility, social engagement and
collaboration, and big data and analytics. Third Platform technologies are
bringing about higher education digitisation and operations transformation.
These new blended environments will offer seamless learning experiences,
enhanced operational productivity to tertiary education users, open up new
practices as well as operational excellence pursuits for the Asia Pacific
higher education sector in the coming years. A blended and collaborative
ecosystem that enables the intelligent, instantaneous, and gainful
exploitation of organisational knowledge is critical, IDC Government Insights
said. From http://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 10/23/2015 |
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CHINA: New Mobile Users Should Register Identification New mobile users in China are now required to register their identification,
according to a new regulation that will start on Tuesday. Mobile operators
should replace registrations from old users who did not register their
identification before Sept. 1, 2013. The regulation seeks to have 90 percent
of mobile users registered with real names by the end of this year. Several
other new laws and regulations will come into effect on Tuesday. According to
the revision of the Advertising Law, advertising companies should not employ
children under the age of 10 as spokespeople. Health care products are banned
from using a spokesperson and are no longer allowed to make claims that
products can cure diseases, according to the new law. According to a new
regulation on public supervision over environmental protection, citizens, enterprises
and organizations can report malpractice of local government to upper-level
government or supervisory organs, via letter, fax, email and hotline. The
regulation urged protection of whistleblowers's rights and a timely reaction
to complaints. It also encouraged a special fund to award whistleblowers.
According to a regulation on private lending, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending
platforms no longer bear responsibility for problems between borrowers and
lenders who meet on the platform unless they provide a guarantee
beforehand.
From http://www.chinagate.cn/
09/01/2015 Mobile Internet Users Hit 875m The number of people in China using mobile Internet has
surpassed 875 million, according to an industry report released on Nov 10.
China has the world’s largest population of mobile Internet users. The value
of the market is expected to exceed 2.3 trillion yuan ($362.2 billion) by
year end and surpass 3 trillion yuan next year, said a report from the China
Center for Information Industry Development. It said “Internet technology
services,” including mobile Internet commerce, smart homes and mobile
offices, will become new growth engines, helping entrepreneurship and
innovation. In September, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
(MIIT) urged telecommunication companies to lower Internet prices and increase
connection speeds. By the end of this year, the average broadband speed for
users in major municipalities and provincial capitals will be increased to 20
megabytes per second (Mbps) from the current 9 Mbps. Other urban areas should
be improved to 10 Mbps from the current 7 Mbps, the MIIT said.
From http://www.gov.cn/
11/10/2015 Internet to Aid China to Combat Poverty The Internet is playing an important role in helping about 70
million destitute individuals among roughly 1.3 billion Chinese shake off
poverty, according to Han Baojiang, an economist from the Party School of the
CPC Central Committee. Han made the remark at a briefing organized by the
All-China Journalists Association on Wednesday on the strategic overview of
China's 13thFive-Year Plan outlined at the recent Fifth Plenary Session of
the 18th CPC Central Committee. "In the remote regions of Online services help them make acquaintancewith such families
and maintain the friendship after their departure. The dual structure of
urban and rural areas has greatly affected the lives of left-behind children,
women and the elderly. Therefore, the urbanization of rural areas is needed
so that farmland will not disintegrate into numerous tiny plots that hinder
the adoption of agricultural mechanization. Bylearning from farming in
Germany, for example, people can better understand that agriculture should
rather be taken as a resort for a change of a lifestyle from cities than
simply be considered as a means of food supply, Han said. "With a
lifestyle typified by a slowedrhythm demanded by city residents, agriculture
can gradually be transformed into a service industry and it will go beyond
the traditional definitions of farmland, farming and farmers," Han
said.
From http://www.chinagate.cn/
11/12/2015 China is close to complete a five-year development plan for
home-made robots industry, multiple sources said on Nov 20. The ambitious
plan aims to more than double the market share of made-in-China robots to 50
percent by 2020. An expert who participated in drawing up the plan said a
committee advising on the robotics element of the country’s “Made in China
2025” strategy is “almost ready” to submit its draft to the central
government for final approval. “It will be announced in early 2016, if not
next month,” said the expert, who asked to remain anonymous. The government
committee’s members come from across a range of key industrial sectors
covered by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. “Made in
China 2025” is an attempt to transform the country from being the biggest
manufacturing power into one of the world’s strongest modern
technology-driven economies. Guangdong-based newspaper 21st Century Business
Herald also reported the robot plan will be implemented by year end, citing
another unnamed source. A committee document supplied to China Daily revealed
the country will look specifically at making “breakthroughs” in key
technologies, such as decelerator and controlling systems. The document also
mapped out a longer 10-year growth route for the robotics industry, by which
time China is expected to have more than 70 percent of the global market.
“Domestic robot makers will have a bigger say in the market in coming years
as they advance in industrial know-how and in developing and manufacturing
service robots,” the document said. Luo Jun, executive president of the International Robotics and
Intelligent Equipment Industry Alliance, however said domestic players
currently took about 20 percent of the market share, which makes the 50
percent target “very difficult to accomplish”. Luo said Chinese players
currently have around a fifth of the global market, making the 50 percent
target “very difficult to accomplish”. Chinese vendors are already making
strong inroads into lower-end markets, largely based on price. But it’s the
global vendors, including Switzerland-based multinational ABB Ltd, that still
have a firm hold on higher-end manufacturing, which demand greater levels of
accuracy and sophistication of their robots, especially in areas such as
welding or delicate assembly. China’s car-making industry, the biggest
domestic market for robots, still depends on imported devices for most
assembly work. According to the MIIT document, capturing a bigger local market
remains the priority for domestic firms if they are to compete effectively
with foreign rivals. But as manufacturers continue to replace their sometimes
aging systems with state-of-the-art robotics, the ministry estimates that by
2020 at least 150,000 will be added to Chinese factories, bringing the total
industrial robot population nationally to 1.8 million by 2025. From http://www.gov.cn/
11/21/2015 JAPAN: 15% of Tokyo High Schoolers Bullied on Internet, Survey
Shows Some 15 percent of 3,222 high school students in Tokyo have been
insulted or had personal information leaked by others over the Internet,
according to poll results recently released by the Tokyo Metropolitan Board
of Education. “A growing number of children are using the Internet with
smartphones, but they are immature in their usage, with few families having
any rules about it,” a board of education official said. The board plans to
reflect the poll results in drawing up measures to prevent Internet bullying.
The poll, conducted from January to February, collected answers from 18,612
students at publicly run schools, between the third and 12th grades,
including the 3,222 high school students. Those who have been insulted by
messages or had personal information leaked accounted for 3 percent of
elementary school pupils and 9 percent of junior high school students. Those
who felt ignored by friends on social-networking sites or messaging
applications stood at 3 percent of elementary pupils, 6 percent of junior
high school students and 12 percent of high schoolers. Of the insulted or
ostracized students, 38 percent did nothing after such attacks, 17 percent
consulted with friends and 16 percent discussed the attacks with relatives.
The poll found families that had set rules on how to use the Internet at 49
percent of elementary school pupils, 31 percent of junior high school
students and 11 percent of high school students. Students who have their own
smartphones ranged from 8 to 25 percent for third- to sixth-graders, 46 to 56
percent for seventh- to ninth-graders and 78 to 87 percent for 10th- to
12th-graders. From http://www.japantimes.co.jp 08/30/2015 Manufacturers Crunch Big Data to Find Consumer Preferences Gurunavi, Inc., operator of a restaurant information portal
site, has launched a business to jointly develop food products with food
manufacturers by providing big data (see below), including users’ browsing
history, for a fee. The manufacturers can then make use of the massive amount
of information to gain a sense of consumers’ preferences. As products’
lifespans are shrinking due to diversifying consumer needs, observers said
such moves are expected to spread to other companies. Gurunavi has developed
the first of its joint food products, potato chips called “Otokogi X Gurunavi
Katamari Beef,” with Yamayoshi Seika Co. in Tokyo, which will go on sale on
Sept. 28. In response to requests from Yamayoshi Seika to produce snacks that
young men can eat while drinking beer, Gurunavi analyzed more than 50 million
users’ browsing history, as well as the menus of about 145,000 affiliated
restaurants and word-of-mouth communication on social media. As a result, the
company found that steaks and other meat dishes are rapidly increasing in
popularity. Based on results from conducting field research at popular
restaurants and eateries, thick potato chips that taste like yakiniku grilled
meat with garlic was chosen as the new product. For developing products, food manufacturers frequently purchase
and analyze data of the point of sale system (POS) from distributors, in
addition to conducting questionnaire surveys and observing shelves at retail
stores. “There are many trend-conscious users, so we can spot the latest
trend instantaneously through them,” a Yamayoshi Seika official said
regarding Gurunavi’s big data. Gurunavi is also developing products with a
frozen food manufacturer and a seasoning maker. “We want to expand our
business to forecast demand for midsize distributors and farmers,” a Gurunavi
executive said. As for the use of big data, Askul Corp., a leading office
supply mail-order company, took the lead in establishing a laboratory in
February 2014. Refers to massive digital information that includes the
purchasing history of online shopping, location information using Global
Positioning System and comments on social media. Collecting and analyzing
such big data for market research is increasing. A bill to revise the
Personal Information Protection Law, aiming to establish guidelines for the
utilization of big data, is under deliberation in the House of Councillors. From http://the-japan-news.com 09/16/2015 Repeated Data Falsification Threatens to Harm Nation’s
Manufacturing Culture Cases of heinous data falsification have been revealed one after
another in connection with condominium construction and the production of
anti-vibration rubber for railways. The situation can be described as grave,
threatening to undermine confidence in the manufacturing culture that has
been built up by Japanese businesses over many years. Some of the piles
supporting one of four condominium buildings in Yokohama that were sold by
the Mitsui Fudosan Group were found not to reach solid ground. This is
clearly faulty construction. The Yokohama municipal government has been
investigating the case as a suspected violation of the Building Standards
Law, and falsified data has been found in a construction report. Foundation
work, of which piling is representative, is directly linked with the safety
of residents. In fact, one of the condo buildings was found to be tilted.
Asahi Kasei Construction Materials Corp., which undertook the construction,
bears an extremely heavy responsibility. The cause of the defective
foundation work must be investigated regarding both the faulty piling and the
data falsification. Asahi Kasei Construction Materials has undertaken piling work on
about 3,000 buildings nationwide over the past decade, including commercial
buildings. It must be urgently confirmed whether cases of tilting or data
manipulation similar to that in the Yokohama condo complex occurred in the
construction of these buildings. Mitsui Fudosan Group’s response to the case
remains problematic. According to a residents association for the Yokohama
condo complex, residents pointed out last November a gap in the height of two
handrails in a corridor that connects two of the condo buildings. However,
Mitsui Fudosan initially told the association that the gap was deemed to be a
result of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. It was nearly a year before
the faulty construction was made public. As a leading Japanese real estate
firm, Mitsui Fudosan’s attitude toward crisis management will be questioned.
Leading tire maker Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. was found to have manipulated
performance data during the manufacturing process for anti-vibration rubber
products. This falsification of performance data is the third such
instance to be revealed at Toyo Tire & Rubber, following a case in 2007
involving anti-fire construction materials and one in March this year for
seismic isolation rubber. The data manipulation for anti-vibration rubber
continued until August, when it was revealed by a whistle-blower. We are
appalled at its corporate culture, which cannot learn from past failures.
Those who worked at the construction site for the Yokohama condo complex must
have recognized the importance of foundation work. Those present at the
manufacturing plant for anti-vibration rubber are supposed to understand the
significance of performance tests. Nevertheless, the people working at these
locations became involved in casual data manipulation. This makes us
concerned about whether the technology-backed professionalism in Japan’s
manufacturing sector has been deteriorating. It is impossible for users to
inspect whether data on the safety and quality of products provided by
manufacturing companies are authentic. Betraying users’ trust is a truly
serious crime. A huge amount of money, time and labor is necessary to regain
trust that has been destroyed. All companies should learn from these data
falsification cases. From http://the-japan-news.com 10/17/2015 Big Data to Analyze Safe Medication for Children The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to start a project
this month to examine the side effects and proper dosage of medicine
prescribed for children, using so-called big data — large volume or complex
data — and electronic medical records collected from medical institutions
across the country. Information on the effectiveness and safety of medicine
for children is insufficient when compared to that of adults. The ministry
plans to collect data from 1 million child patients annually from about 60
medical institutions and submit the information to the National Center for
Child Health and Development. After data analysis on dosage and other
factors, doctors can use the information to safely prescribe medicine to
children. Before the mass production and sale of drugs, clinical trials are
usually conducted to check the effects and proper dosage by administering the
medicine to patients. In the case of children, however, it is difficult to
secure sufficient subjects for clinical trials as the number of children
suffering from serious diseases is small compared to adults. For this reason, medicine is prescribed to children at the
discretion of doctors, with many doctors relying on adult cases or overseas
data as references. The methods and dosages may be different from that
approved in this country. According to experts, the effects and safety of
children’s medicine have not been sufficiently verified. The health ministry
has positioned the National Center for Child Health and Development as a
“children’s medicine information center” and plans to collect data from
electronic medical records from about 60 medical institutions, including
public hospitals for children and regional clinics across the country,
regarding the dosage used, effects and side effects of medicine administered.
After getting parents’ consent, the ministry plans to compile a database.
“[The database] will also be useful for research on unexpected effects when
drugs are combined or on characteristics of children who are prone to develop
a specific disease and its prevention,” said Naohisa Yahagi, deputy manager
at the center’s Division for Data Science and System Strategy. From http://the-japan-news.com 11/02/2015 Gov't Looks to Self-Driving Cars, Drones to Spur Innovation Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will ease regulations to
allow for self-driving cars to be tested on public roads from fiscal 2017
with the aim of companies providing the service for the 2020 Olympics in
Tokyo. Abe’s decision, which came from a meeting with the head of Toyota
Motor Corp and other executives, could be a boon for Japan’s auto sector as
they catch up with Google in the development of self-driving cars. Promoting
the technology could also spark innovation and capital expenditure, two
elements that economists say are essential if Japan wants to break out of its
decades-long cycle of bouncing in and out of recession. “Investment holds the
key to higher productivity, and based on this investment we can take the lead
in sparking the next industrial revolution,” Abe said on Thursday. Toyota,
Nissan Motor Co and Honda Motor Co, all hope to bring a car to market around
2020 that the driver can switch to autopilot mode and want to use the Tokyo
Olympics as a platform to unveil their cars of the future. This vision should become easier to realise now that Abe has
come out in support of the plan, because this commits the government to
scaling back Japan’s often onerous regulations, a government official told
reporters. The government is not planning to offer subsidies related to the
development of self-driving cars, the official said. Abe will also ease
regulations to allow small drones to deliver packages in three years, which
could encourage innovation in another field that Japan has lagged behind in
recent years. Abe’s administration is trying to revive its economic agenda by
focusing on ways to get companies to increase domestic capital expenditure.
Increased business investment is important because this will increase
productivity, create jobs and make it easier for wages to rise, economists
say. From http://www.japantoday.com 11/08/2015 SOUTH
KOREA: Innovation in Science, Technology to Solve Global Challenges The Daejeon Declaration was adopted at the OECD Ministerial
Meeting Daejeon 2015 on Oct. 21. The declaration presents a future
policy direction for the development of science and technology around the
globe over the next 10 years. In the declaration, ministers and vice
ministers from 57 countries and the heads of 12 international organizations
stated that, “Innovation is essential to address new global challenges, such as
ageing and globalization.” Participants urged the OECD to support policy
developments for scientific and technological innovation. They urged the OECD
to: investigate how best to support basic research in the health sciences;
identify innovative approaches that would foster cooperation between the
various stakeholders involved in R&D; and, examine effective ways to
integrate ethics and social values into the evolution and governance of
health technologies. In the declaration, they said that, “We share a vision that
science, technology and innovation provide new opportunities for investment,
increase employment, productivity and economic growth and upgrade the quality
of life of all human beings.” They further agreed that, “Science, technology
and innovation are: being revolutionized by the rapid evolution of digital
technologies, which are changing the way scientists work, collaborate and
publish; increasing the reliance on access to scientific data and
publications ('open science'); opening new avenues for public engagement and
participation in science and innovation.” In this regard, the declaration
invites the OECD “to explore the innovation policy frameworks needed for
sustainable development and for the next production revolution.” In the
declaration, meeting participants also stated that “applied research needs
adequate long-term funding, even in the context of budgetary
constraints.” They also said that, “A market-friendly, competitive
environment is required for businesses to invest in research and innovation,
and for entrepreneurship to flourish.” Minister of Science, ICT and
Future Planning Choi Yanghee, who chaired the meeting, praised the
declaration, saying that, “I believe we have set up a new milestone for the
future development of science and technology through the adoption of the
Daejeon Declaration.” “I hope the international community can make
extended efforts in order to achieve the goals contained in the declaration,”
Choi concluded. From http://www.korea.net
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SINGAPORE: Moving to Solve ICT Talent Crunch THE Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and New
York-headquartered education startup General Assembly (GA) have announced a
partnership to offer what they describe as a “career accelerator” into the
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry. Under the
partnership, GA will offer two full-time courses in Singapore: Web
Development Immersive (WDI) and User Experience Design Immersive (UXDI),
whose durations are 12 weeks and 10 weeks, respectively. GA, which says its
vision is to empower individuals to pursue the work they love in technology,
business and design, recently raised US$70 million in Series D funding led by
media company Advance Publications. “With the support of the IDA, which
shares our goal of making education more accessible, our programmes will
provide even more students with the opportunity to start and advance their
careers” GA cofounder and chief executive officer Jake Schwartz said in a
statement. Meanwhile, the IDA hopes that this tie-up will address doubts
around such programmes, said its executive deputy chairman Steve Leonard. “The
doubt is that if I go through something like this, will I find myself with no
better prospects than before?” he told the audience at the launch event in
Singapore on Oct 13. “What we’re trying to do is to make sure that young and
mid-career professionals have a place in the ICT industry,” he added. GA has
a track record of 99% of its alumni getting a job within six months, claimed
its Asia Pacific senior regional director Riley Batchelor. 70% subsidy for Singaporeans The WDI and UXDI courses will commence on Nov 2 and Nov 9,
respectively. Applications for the courses are now open, with GA expecting a
maximum of 25 students per course. The WDI course will cost S$11,500
(US$8,200) while UXDI will cost S$10,000 (US$7,100) in total, with
Singaporeans enjoying a 70% subsidy, according to Batchelor. “We’ll be
working with the IDA to get grants for Singapore citizens for a value of up
to 70% of the tuition fees,” he said. Besides these full-time programmes, GA
is also looking to launch more part-time programmes in 2016, having launched
part-time UX design, product management, and front-end web development
programmes in October, November and December, respectively. “We’re looking to
launching new programmes in 2016, probably in similar areas, in part-time
courses in data science and mobile development,” Batchelor said. “Although we
have not officially announced it yet, we are always looking to expand the
number of courses we have,” he added. The IDA’s Leonard said these part-time
courses are for those who are already in a career, while the ‘Immersives’ are
for those between jobs or who have not yet started. “We’re trying to cover a
wide spectrum of needs and requirements in the community,” he said. These
courses will be essential for equipping people for Singapore’s Smart Nation
initiative, Leonard declared, citing the need for everyone to contribute to
this. “Everybody in Singapore needs more talent to help build and be
confident in creating with technology,” he said. Whatever “industry you’re
in, rides on technology … these programme are to address the hunger in the
market for such individuals,” he added. From http://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 10/14/2015 Singapore’s Hive to Bring Data Science Goodness to the People THE Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has
launched IDA Hive, the new home for the Government’s Digital Services team,
and will house almost 100 data scientists, coders, engineers, designers, and
other experts. These experts are divided into a data science group, and a
product design and development group. The Digital Services team was
responsible for developing and launching apps such as the Singapore Civil
Defence Force’s MyResponder, the Ministry of National Development’s
OneService, and the recently announced Beeline. “The Hive brings together,
for the first time, a multi-disciplinary team dedicated to public impact
through technology,” said Singapore’s Minister for Communications and
Information Dr Yaacob Ibrahim. “It enables the Government to be nimble and
responsive in developing digital services and policies,” he said in a
statement released to the media at the launch event. The IDA Hive includes
workspaces, and a ‘Design Experience’ lab to assess user experience – it
includes a heat map of where users are focusing their eyeballs on, as well as
engagement, performance and stability metrics dashboards. The Government’s
Digital Services team is tasked with improving government services and their
impact through the use of data science and analytics, the IDA said. The team
also serves as a consultancy for other government agencies in developing new
digital services. Smart Nation, smart government Providing a better quality of life through a digital government
is key in providing anticipatory services. The three key objectives at Hive
are designing better digital experiences, bringing agile development into
digital services, and using data analytics to improve the economy as well as
society, according to the IDA. IDA government digital services director Mark
Lim said that the Hive will bring creativity into the often-stereotyped
bureaucratic environment. “The Hive is a creative space for engineers and
data scientists to come together to solve problems [for the public good],” he
told Digital News Asia (DNA) at the launch on Oct 29. For a project to be
undertaken by IDA Hive, it has to fulfil three key criteria: It has to be
impactful for the public, has to be innovative, and has to have cross-agency
tie-ups. “We are just a small elite team helping to solve the problems that
are more critical to the citizens, and not all the problems the Government
might face,” Lim said. “We believe that if we can target the right areas, we
can solve key issues that will bring maximum benefit to Singaporeans,” he
added. The IDA Hive will collaborate with both government agencies and
industry players to test ideas and maximise their impact with technology,
according to Lim. Visualising data Along with the launch of the Hive, the IDA also announced the
public beta launch of the revamped Data.gov.sg, the Singapore Government’s
portal of publicly available datasets. Dashboards with the more popular and
relevant charts are now available on the front page. Users can also preview
datasets without needing to download them, and see in-depth datasets released
through the blog section of the site. An API (application program interface)
is also being developed that would allow access to the Government’s open data
with a single API key, instead of having to go to individual agencies,
according to the IDA. New analytics tools are also being developed to help
government agencies analyse browsing patterns and app performance to improve
user experience, the agency added. These include an A/B email analytics tool,
a mobile application analytics visualisation tool, and a visual heat map. From https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 10/30/2015 The Secret Behind Singapore’s Data Centre Success AT just 718.3 sq km with a modest population of a little over
five million, Singapore is just a drop in the ocean when compared with its
sizeable neighbours. Yet the ‘little red dot’ has been anything but meek in
the data centre industry, accounting for over 60% of the region’s market and
leading South-East Asia as a hub, according to a report from
DataCenterDynamics. This is quite a feat, especially given the limited
availability of space and the novelty of the Singapore data centre scene.
Just a few years ago, the data centre industry in Singapore was a vastly
different one. With just a few players, the field was largely bare and open.
Recently, with the demand for cloud services escalating, the momentum has
certainly picked up as more multinational corporations are choosing to set up
operations here. So what has Singapore done right in attaining pole position
as a data centre hub in South-East Asia? The success of a data centre can be
attributed to three main factors: Space, power and interconnectivity. Space As a small dot on the global map, it should come as no surprise
that Singapore does not have much spatial capacity to spare. Given the
limited space availability, looking towards new technologies that allow for
minimal use of land without any compromise on efficiency has become
pertinent. To that end, the Singapore Government has been pushing for ‘Green
IT,’ allocating extensive resources to fund R&D (research and
development) initiatives to boost green and efficient data centre operations.
Apart from the environmental benefits and cost reductions, the widespread
proponent for Green IT has been to optimise not only horizontal, but vertical
space utilisation as well. Many of Singapore’s data centres are housed across
multiple floors. Much like HDB (Housing Development Board) designs, we
optimise rack space by stacking multiple layers, allowing the same space to
cater to larger data storage needs. Having more storage space in a single
data centre facility also makes it easier for data centre operators to better
manage overall power efficiency. Power A reliable power supply is essential to ensure constant uptime
and efficiency of data centres. The stable availability of power ensures that
less redundancy is needed to be built in. Singapore’s sound infrastructure
makes it easier for companies to build power infrastructure and gridlines to
support the dissemination, allocation, and re-allocation of power. The
Government continues to raise the bar in data centre quality through
eco-friendly initiatives and regulations placed on the way data centres are
managed. The implementation of the Building and Construction
Authority-Infocomm Development Authority (BCA-IDA) Green Mark Scheme for Data
Centres serves as good measure to increase the environmental efficiency of
Singapore’s data centres. The scheme assesses data centres in Singapore based
on five key criteria: Energy efficiency, water efficiency, sustainable
construction and management, and indoor environment quality, as well as other
green features. It is important for data centres to implement sustainable
technologies to ensure that power is not only utilised and conserved
efficiently, but renewed as well. Cooling is essential in for data centres,
and the efficient use of water, especially in Singapore, is high on the
energy efficiency agenda. Data centres are known for high energy consumption,
but sustainable technologies and guidelines from the Singapore Government is
making it easier to ‘green’ local data centres. Interconnectivity The establishment of submarine cable systems has proven to be a
pivotal factor in determining Singapore’s pole position in the data centre
landscape. The island-republic boasts 15 submarine cable systems that are
able to provide high bandwidth capacity. This is especially important to
financial businesses that require a network-rich infrastructure that ensures
security. Furthermore, the presence of submarine cables offers customers
scalable, low-cost and low-latency connectivity – a desirable advantage for
multinational companies and startups with global expansion plans. As such, a
multitude of companies are not just flocking to Singapore but choosing to
headquarter their businesses here. This in turn has given rise to several
financial clusters springing up in Singapore, which further propels the need
for efficient cloud services. The presence of these vibrant business hubs in
itself is an asset for companies to tap into. The heightened digital traffic
that passes through Singapore’s data centres allows for an interconnected
ecosystem where enterprises and business partners can not only network but
also enjoy world-class cloud services. Uniquely Singapore Space, power and interconnectivity aside, the local government
has a large role to play in the quick ascent of Singapore’s data centre
industry. Firstly, the Singapore Government is one that is stable and open
with its licensing policies. This is in contrast to some other countries
within the Asia Pacific region, where companies may face challenges in
gaining approval to set up their headquarters. This alone is an attractive
factor that places Singapore ahead of its neighbours. Secondly, the
Government has relentlessly taken on initiatives to further boost Singapore’s
presence on the global data centre map. The Infocomm Development Authority of
Singapore (IDA) recently announced its plans to establish a data centre park
(DCP) aimed at housing at least half a dozen new data centres on the west
side of Singapore. With new policies being implemented, it comes as no
surprise that Singapore holds reigning pole position as the country with the
highest total data centre capacity. Singapore’s close proximity to
substantial markets such as Australia, South Korea and Japan is yet another
factor that has spurred the rapid development of data centres in the small
island. Its geographically convenient location positions it centrally within
the mature Asia Pacific market, a region that has been consistently growing,
with the public cloud services market forecast to hit US$7.4 billion in 2015,
according to Gartner. Ever-growing industry Not all data centres are built equal. As such, some will
certainly reign more successful than others. The keys to their success?
Interconnectivity, carrier density and operational excellence. This winning
combination, alongside Singapore’s swift rise as a financial and business
hub, will further cement the Lion City’s status as a leader in the data
centre landscape, not just regionally but also globally. From https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 11/19/2015 THAILAND: Cartoonists Opt for New Outlets Online to Survive WITH comics becoming less popular, the Thai cartoon industry has
realised that it needs a different, more unique style to survive and it also
has decided to jump on the social-media bandwagon so it can reach its
audience directly and keep readers more actively engaged. At a recent
discussion entitled "Is the Thai Cartoon dead?" in Bangkok, Prabda
Yoon, vice-president of the Publishers and Booksellers Association of
Thailand (PUBAT), said: "The Thai cartoon industry is not dead yet, but
has actually become more active thanks to online cartoonists' new identity
and diversity." Prabda explained that nowadays cartoonists had greater
opportunities to publish their works due to the latest technology. They can
also test their new pieces on the Internet and publish them if the response
is good, he added. "Thai cartoons are actually more popular now, because
not only are children naturally drawn to them, but adults are also familiar
with comics from their childhood. Hence, cartoons play a greater part in
entertaining people and technology offers different uses for the cartoons,
such as in the form of Line stickers or mascots," Prabda noted. Piyaphach Jeeno, a cartoonist who won the International Manga
Award in 2013 and 2014, said local cartoonists were developing more unique
drawing styles, as they chose not to be too involved with the business side
of things. However, he said, distancing oneself from business has its pros
and cons. While cartoonists have become more independent and have the freedom
to develop different styles, they still face financial instability as most of
them work as freelancers and often need a second job. However, he said, the
Internet was a real game changer for the Thai cartoon community as
cartoonists can now be their own publishers. As many cartoonists post their
work on a blog or Facebook page to either share with their friends or to
build a portfolio, they get many "likes" their pieces and could get
commercial gains, he said. Such online outlets have also caught the attention
of new cartoonists, who now feel more confident to create and post their
creations on Facebook, he said. Jarun Homtientong, also a PUBAT vice president, said Thai
cartoons date back to King Rama VI's reign, when they were used to entertain
people or nudge them towards or away from certain ideology - such as
convincing them that Communism is bad. "I believe cartoons have the potential
to change people's minds and help develop the country, rather than just being
considered a cheap entertainment tool," he said. The discussion was part
of a press conference for the upcoming Book Expo Thailand 2015, which will
run from October 21 to November 1 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention
Centre. The history of Thai cartoons will be showcased at the 12-day event,
which will also include an exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of
Thailand's king of cartoons Prayoon Chanyavongs.This year's expo will also
introduce a free mobile app, "Thailand Book Fair", which will help
attendees navigate the site and find what they are looking for. The app will
be ready for download from October 20. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 10/11/2015 Full 4G Service Will Transform Thailand into True Digital
Economy: Experts THE introduction of full 4G service will bring new services,
products and content to the market and help transform Thailand into a true
digital economy, industrialists said recently. "The introduction of 4G
will bring about new services, products and content, and we expect the IT
industry will significantly expand as a result. Many content providers,
gaming companies and other new types of business will enter the market in the
next two to three years," Tommy Matsuo, chief executive officer of
Ookbee Mall (Thailand), said. The e-commerce industry will blossom, as
consumers will enjoy a stress-free environment to shop in, with more
information about products be available, helping people to be better informed
about what they are buying, he said. For example, product information will
not stop at size, colour and availability, as consumers will be able to see
more details behind products, learning about the history and communicating
directly with suppliers, he added. The introduction of 4G will break down
borders between the online and offline world. So, it will be important for
businesses to reorganise or establish their O2O (online to offline) strategy
soon. "With the introduction of 4G services users will benefit
from faster and more reliable mobile data services, as well as improved
efficiency and productivity," Alessandro Piscini, CEO of Lazada
Thailand, said. "At Lazada, we are already seeing large numbers of
consumers turning to mobile devices to purchase items online. When 4G
networks arrive, this will ensure that consumers can always reach online
shopping portals quickly and complete purchases more simply when on the go.
Being able to view products more quickly allows buyers to scan more products
per minute, and this is good news for sellers, too," he said. A recent
In eBay study noted that the top three barriers preventing consumers from
shopping on their mobiles were slow connection speeds, payments timing out
and network reliability. With 4G connectivity, there is the opportunity to
remove these walls and offer a better service, pleasing the consumer and
seeing the sales for online businesses grow, Piscini added. Stephane Cudennec, Amdocs customer business executive at APAC,
said 4G deployment would help transform Thailand into a true digital economy,
driving the adoption and growth of new and innovative services such as online
shopping (e-commerce), mobile or interactive banking, HD video and TV content
delivery, online gaming, and much more. It would bring a sea of change in how
people function, whether it is buying products and services, |banking,
communicating, entertaining themselves, or fetching information. A truly
digital life would become the way of things, where citizens will use the
Internet to carry out day-to-day activities, he said. This would also bring
opportunities for other stakeholders. For example, the arrival of 4G means
that customer expectations would evolve faster than the 4G services rolled
out, and they would expect a consistent and superior experience regardless of
devices they use or where they are located, he explained. Enterprises that
invest in digital capabilities will be able to transparently and
intelligently interact with customers and gain customer |loyalty in a sticky
market, he believed. It would
also enable mobile service providers to deliver a "true" digital
experience to their consumers by leveraging platforms such as self-service
care and an "omni-channel" strategy to provide a highly
personalised interaction with their customers, Cudennec said. An omni-channel
strategy will be critical to achieving this, "since a truly digital
experience requires an omni-channel strategy and platform that is device- and
channel-agnostic, to ensure that consumers receive a consistent experience,
regardless of the channels of interaction or the digital device they choose
to use," the Amdocs executive said. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/09/2015 VIETNAM: City Uses More IT in Public Services HCM City has increased the use of information technology in
public administration, helping usher in e-governance, according to a
Government report. Vo Thi Trung Trinh, deputy director of the city Department
of Information and Communications, said the administration, districts,
departments, and corporations have been connected to a single system, and
meeting invitations are sent through email, smart phone and SMS and meetings
are held securely online. All 24 districts have installed the same software
programmes, she said. So far more than half a million documents have been
sent electronically from 177 offices, she said. In 2016-20 the city will set
up an e-office to manage administrative operations and offer online public
services to the public and businesses. The city will also integrate and link
all its administrative units. But Trinh admitted that some problems exist
with online payment of fees for public services due to the lack of a legal
framework for such payment. To handle problems, the Department of Information
and Communications has improved the website
http://dichvucong.hochiminhcity.gov.vn on which many online activities can be
done. Tran Thi Binh Minh, deputy director of the Department of Planning and
Investment, said her department also provided public services in areas like
land, business-related issues, and investment promotion online. Hong Van Hai,
head of the Judicial Department's criminal record section, said the judicial
and information and communications departments are jointly working on a pilot
software programme to verify the birth, death and marital status of citizens.
The programme, to be tested next year, will help cut the time needed for
people to apply for a criminal record certificate. E-governance At a recent meeting on e-governance held in the city, Nguyen
Quang Trung of the HCM City Open University said there are three essential
elements in the success of e-governance: government management capability,
information and communications technology infrastructure and human resources,
and local conditions. Government capability includes leadership, funding for
project deployment, e-governance development strategy, capacity of project
managers, and legal framework, he said. Infrastructure refers to computers,
mobile devices and the internet, but a lack of public familiarity with
computers is a major hurdle. "Age, ability to use computers, internet
availability, and locations will affect the success of e-governance,"
Trung said. "E-government projects should get the highest priority with
respect to focus, funds and human resources and should take advantage of
international support." Le Doan Hop, a former information and
communications minister, underlined the need for e-governance, saying,
"All public requirements can be fulfilled by the Government without
meeting face-to-face, and it will prevent corruption." Though it has
been in the works for a long time, in Viet Nam e-governance remains in a
fledgling stage compared with elsewhere, he said. "The country's
e-governance system should link the central government with communes,
businesses and people." Viet Nam should use international models like
those used in Israel and Singapore, he said. In a 2014 UN survey, From http://vietnamnews.vn
08/31/2015 Vietnam to Launch 4G Mobile Service in 2015 Vietnamese telecom service suppliers are set to launch 4G
service within this year. Viettel, a Vietnamese military-run telecom
corporation, said on its website on Monday that it is investing to build 23,000
base transceiver stations, with 12,000 of them 4G, by the end of 2015.
According to a representative of Viettel, the 4G service will be launched in
October. The 4G network will first offer services in communes, followed by
districts, provinces and cities. Viettel users will have to change SIM cards
for 4G services while phone numbers will remain unchanged. Together with
Viettel, Vinaphone, one of the big names in the country's telecom market,
also announced to launch 4G service this year. Users of Vinaphone can keep
their SIM cards when changing to 4G service. 3G service was first launched in
Vietnam in 2009. As of June 2015, some 29.1 million people, or around 32
percent of the country's population have subscribed to 3G, an increase of
29.6 percent year-on-year, according to Vietnam's General Statistics Office.
While Viettel and Vinaphone announced their plans for 4G service, Mobiphone
stays silence so far. Viettel, Vinaphone, and MobiFone owned some 99 percent
of the service's market share in Vietnam. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 09/07/2015 High-Tech
Park Contributes to City Economy Thirteen years after it opened, the Sai Gon Hi-tech Park (SHTP)
has achieved total sales of US$13.6 billion, including exports of $13.5
billion. Since the first company was licensed at the SHTP in September 2005,
HCM City has issued licences to 101 additional companies with a combined
investment of $4.9 billion, of which FDI accounted for over $4 billion.
SHTP's products now account for 94 per cent of HCM City's hi-tech products,
according to Le Hoai Quoc, head of SHTP Management Board. As of September, 82
investment projects in the park remained valid, with total registered capital
of $4.38 billion. These include 46 operational projects, 10 under
construction, and 16 which have been licensed in 2015. Two projects were
delayed while the others are under preparation. Quoc said the SHTP
enterprises and factories had created over 22,000 jobs, with 100 per cent of
them being skilled workers. The average export value of SHTP's hi-tech
products in the period 2011 – 2014 and the first nine months of 2015
accounted for over 90 per cent of the city's exports of hi-tech products.
SHTP's export turnover also rose from 5 per cent of the city's total exports
in 2011 to 14.19 per cent in 2014 and 18 per cent in the first nine months of
the year. "These figures indicate the significant contribution of
SHTP to HCM City's socio-economic development, through the park's mobilisation
of foreign direct investment for the city," Quoc was quoted as saying in
the Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper. "It is the value
of infrastructure facilities and supporting industries, not the lower land
rental price, that is the most important factor for tenants to SHTP," he
said. Quoc said this point of view was demonstrated with the huge investments
in the SHTP, including the license granted to the $1 billion project of the
Intel Group in 2006 and the investment certificate awarded to the $1.4
billion project of the Samsung Group in 2014. These huge projects have helped
attract investment in the supporting industry. He said the Central Government
and the city's authority should issue policies to support domestic scientific
and technological enterprises to manufacture products that meet the criteria
of FDI projects. To help scientific and technological enterprises develop,
the Government should grant tax incentives and issue policies to help them
access preferential loans from commercial banks, Quoc said. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
10/26/2015 E-Learning
Changes Classrooms in Vietnam There is a high school in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. Walk into
one classroom, and you will see high-tech facilities ranging from laptops to
an electronic white board and an electronic lectern. On the student laptops
and at the teacher's desk, interactive "smart" educational software
has been installed. This is one of Vietnam's top "high-tech"
classrooms. It is elements of Korea's classroom technologies that have
been installed at the Cau Giay High School and which opened on Oct. 30 in
Hanoi. The school was able to adopt such "digital learning" systems
as Vietnam was chosen as one of the new partners for this year's
"Innovative ICT-based Pilot Classroom" program, the so-called
"high-tech classroom" project run by the Ministry of
Education. The Ministry of Education has been running its high-tech
classroom project since 2011. It aims at sharing Korea's successful
developmental experience and its technology with the global community and at
helping to develop e-learning systems in classrooms around the world. This is
the fifth year for the project and over that time it has helped develop
digital education systems in a total of 11 countries, including Paraguay,
Azerbaijan and, one of this year's partner countries, Uzbekistan. The high-tech classroom program offers a customized, three-year
step-by-step program for each partner country. It offers a user-oriented and
customized learning environment, as well as solutions for improvement based
on preliminary research. Specialists in the field visit the partner countries
and help local teachers get trained. The partner countries generally have
shown a high satisfaction rate, and due to that, starting this year, the
ministry has decided to offer a fourth-year plan to some countries based on
performance evaluations in the third year of the program. "The high-tech
classroom program enhances local teachers' tech abilities and even triggers
changes in teaching methods in our partner countries. Teachers give students
work that requires cooperation using smart devices. The countries are really
satisfied with these changes," the ministry said in a
statement. The high-tech classroom program chooses each year's partner
countries based on an evaluation of demand. Laos and Peru newly joined the
list of partner countries for 2016. From http://www.korea.net/
10/30/2015 Vietnam
Urged to Go Ahead with 4G While the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) still
questions the timing for licensing 4G services, analysts and businesses and
their partners all believe now is the right time to start 4G. According to
former Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Le Nam Thang, under
the ‘N+1’ principle, when calling for players for the ‘4G game’, MIC hopes to
see at least one new face. However, only Viettel, MobiFone and VinaPhone, the
three largest mobile network operators, all are familiar names, have applied
for providing 4G services. And all of them are state-owned enterprises, while
there is no private investor in the playing field. The other telcos, such as
FPT, VTC and CMC, have not released any information. A local newspaper quoted
its sources as saying that the three companies don’t intend to join the 4G market,
at least for now, because their infrastructure systems are not good enough to
compete with the three largest mobile network operators. Thang, who has kept
a close watch over the telecommunication sector for many years, noted that
healthy competition will bring big benefits to users and businesses, and that
if the 4G deployment attracts different economic sectors, Vietnam will be
able to take full advantage of society’s resources. According to Tran Tuan Anh from MIC, Viettel, MobiFone and
VinaPhone would be allowed to provide 4G services on a trial basis in three
cities and provinces. Under the telecom development program, MIC will
consider licensing 4G in 2016 which will pave the way for 4G services to
officially hit the market in 2017. Telcos have blamed MIC for the delays in
licensing 4G. The ministry said Vietnam should not start 4G until mobile
network operators can recover their investment capital in 3G. However, the
MIC’s hesitancy has caused Vietnam to lag behind the world. Commenting about
the time for 4G to be deployed in Vietnam, Mai Liem Truc, former Deputy
Minister of Post and Telematics, now MIC, said that the state management
agency needs to be ‘technologically neutral’, i.e., it should not make
interventions into the technologies that firms use. The Trans Pacific
Partnership (TPP), the agreement of 12 member countries which Vietnam has
signed, also says that the states must be neutral in technology. Therefore,
Truc said, MIC should not say it would license 4G services once telcos have
recovered their investment capital in 3G, because this would be ‘not
neutral’. Mantosh Malhotra, Qualcomm South East Asia Director, said in
developed countries, 4G has been applied for a long time. Now is the right
time for Vietnam to start 4G as the 4G ecosystem is good and 4G terminal
devices have become cheap. From http://english.vietnamnet.vn/ 11/12/2015 Smartphones
Gain in Popularity as Tablets Sales Decline in Vietnam Hoang Tong Linh in Dong Da District in Hanoi said he has been
using the same iPad for four years, though he changed his smartphones twice
during the same time. “I don’t have the intention to buy a new tablet, though
my iPad has some scratches on its cover. I’d rather buy a new smartphone than
a new tablet,” he explained. Linh bought two iPads in late 2011, one for his
parents and the other for his two children. “Some scratches have appeared on
the iPad as my children dropped it so regularly. But I still cannot find any
reason to buy a new one,” he said. Thai Van Hung in District 3, HCM City,
said he has been ‘faithful’ to his iPad 3 for the last few years. Though he
likes iPad Air and iPad Air 2 because they are thinner and lighter than his
iPad 3, he does not intend to buy a new one. “The latest-generation products
are really good, but I just need my iPad 3 to satisfy my needs – surfing on
internet, accessing Facebook and receiving/sending emails,” he explained.
“Meanwhile, my iPad 3 still looks good as if it is brand new,” he said,
joking that the product’s durability is the reason new products don’t sell as
well as expected. Lac Huy from CellPhoneS, a large smartphone distribution
chain, noted that the sales of iPad and tablets in general have been
decreasing in the last two years. This is not because Apple’s products are no longer a favorite.
In fact, Apple’s machines are very durable while software has been upgraded
regularly. “A lot of customers come back to our shop to upgrade the operating
system for their iPads which were bought two or three years ago instead of
buying a new product,” Huy commented. The owner of another distribution chain
in Hanoi also said the demand for iPads has decreased sharply. However, he
denied that Vietnamese tend to fasten their belt on high-technology luxury
products. “Hanoians do not regret money on high-technology products,
especially Apple’s. This explains why they change their smartphones so
regularly,” he said. The main reason behind this, according to Le Duc, the
owner of Shopdunk on Thai Ha Street in Hanoi, is that with the strong
development of smartphone and large-size phablets, iPad is not the priority
product for them. Tablets were once advertised by manufacturers as the
product which can replace traditional laptops but many users don’t use their
laptops as much as before. From http://english.vietnamnet.vn/ 11/20/2015 |
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INDIA: Smart Transportation for Smart Cities Lifeline of High-tech Cities A Smart City cannot be complete without proper implementation of
smart transportation, because it is going to be the lifeline of these
high-tech cities. Whether you talk about a western model or look at the Smart
Cities notion, it is in the context of the concepts which are already being
implemented or are under implementation in India. Already, we see Metro
lines, which are working well here. In addition, we have certain concepts
like Intelligence Traffic Management System, which is in place. Then, we are
also looking out at GIS tracking. These days, many transportation vehicles,
including DTC, are seriously contemplating and the government is also coming
up with various regulations in this respect. Integration of Plans The Government has launched several important schemes like Make
in India, Digital India, Skill India and Swachh Bharat. Smart transportation
for smart cities is an integration of all these. It is not merely for
transportation of a city, but also for creating jobs in the country, and of
course ensuring low pollution. Moreover, it is also for building keys to
manage it all. However, in the first perspective, the clear picture is that
it’s not a standalone scheme. The erstwhile Planning Commission had also
prepared a very comprehensive report on urban transportation.The Smart Cities
can be classified into five categories: metros, emerging cities, temple
cities, hilly districts and the coastal districts, having different
transportation requirements. For each vertical, we need a different
configuration. If you have smart transportation, obviously, there will be no
traffic congestion and pollution level will be low. IT in Transportation Transportation is a very complex topic to be talked about. By
2050, the urban population is expected to increase by up to 70 per cent and
the urban areas are likely to get multiplied by three times. Also, the 75 per
cent of infrastructure that is needed is still not built and that is why the
notion of Smart Cities is very important. The transportation is most
important and all the four pillars of comprehensive development, i.e. social,
institutional, physical and economic, are fixed by a steel frame of
governance, smart technology and information technology. Even in the core
infrastructure flagged by the Ministry of Urban Development, efficient urban
mobility and public transport connected by robust IT connectivity is a key
factor. The transportation in a Smart City should be regional and jointly
worked out by urban and transport planners. Safe Transport When we talk about Smart Cities, we talk about safer living.
150,000 people die every year on Indian roads and most of them die in these
100 cities, which we are planning to be develop as smart cities. `54,000
crore has been earmarked for Smart Cities project, but as per the World Bank,
we lose `150,000 crore every year because of transportation, road accidents
and deaths. Smart transportation system is a combination of intelligence,
low-carbon energy and adaptable services. It’s a connected, integrated and
automated system to better serve the interest of users and be responsive to
the needs of travellers. Every year, we lose `90,000 crore due to traffic
congestion, but with smarter transportation around, we can save a lot of
energy, money and resources. If technology is used in urban transit systems,
there would be various benefits like safety, convenience and efficiency. Dependable Transportation Smart transportation is one of the important verticals of smart
cities. When technology comes into picture, we have to identify how it enters
into transportation. We have GIS system, GPS, RFID, etc. All these
technologies are enabling us to monitor and track our assets around the
world. Then, what is smart technology for a common man? Can we get the
prediction of congestion, see availability in the buses, etc. These are the
things we talk about from the common man’s perspective. DIMTS is leveraging
geo-spatial technology in transit. We have location-based service products,
which are running in 1,300 plus buses in Delhi. We are involved in other
business like identity management, driving license, etc. We also have our
mobile app: ‘Next- Bus Delhi’ for delivering the bus-related information. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 08/31/2015 Free Wi-Fi Facility in DTC Buses Soon Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced that free Wi-Fi
facility would be available in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses soon.
“Delhi Government is in touch with some big companies to provide free Wi-Fi
facility in DTC buses as soon as possible,” Kejriwal said while attending an
awards ceremony at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium in Delhi. Many global giants
including Google, Facebook and Cisco have reportedly consulted with the Delhi
Government for its ambitious free wi-fi project. Many domestic firms have
also shown interest in the project and consulted with the government. The
tender document, if cleared by the cabinet in mid-September, will be floated
soon. The officials expect tenders to be awarded in October. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/01/2015 ‘Smart Cities Get More for Less’ The State Government has been making sincere efforts to educate
the people of rural areas using technology to ensure better growth and
employment prospects for them, says Anthony J C Desa, Chief Secretary,
Government of Madhya Pradesh, in an interaction with Manish Arora of Elets
News Network (ENN) How would you define a Smart City? A Smart City would be a
city providing public services to its citizens with the highest possible
level of efficiency at the lowest possible cost in the most convenient
manner. What IT-based steps have been taken in Madhya Pradesh to deliver
better public services? Madhya Pradesh is one of the leading states as far as
adoption of Information Technology and eGovernance is concerned. We have introduced
an online system of transferring scholarship and pension straight into the
account of beneficiaries. Under this system, scholarship to the students of
various categories, pension to the senior citizens and disabled, and subsidy
under different government schemes are credited in the bank account of the
persons concerned. The procurement of wheat, rice and maize is being done through
an online system of registration, sale and payment. All kinds of tenders in
the State, by all construction agencies and work department, are floated
through electronic tendering process. Tell us something about the process of
e-tendering started by MP Government. Unlike most of the states, our all
mining and excise-related auctions are being conducted through e-Auction
system. We have also started a major drive for issuance of caste certificates
for SC/ST and OBCs, and keep online record of all these. That way, this
becomes a permanent record with lifetime validity and can be downloaded
anytime, anywhere using the digital signature. The Government of India
defines an online transaction as the one in which application for services is
made online, requests are processed by the Government online and the services
are provided online. With such a mega infrastructure for online public
service transactions, Madhya Pradesh can lead among most of the states of the
country. What all areas does eShakti programme cover? We started a major
digital education programme called eShakti for imparting training to the
women in remote areas, Aanganwadi workers and Asha Health workers, who can
obtain relevant information by accessing internet. This would help them in
their profession and deliver services more efficiently. We have also been
able to achieve a great leap in digital literacy in rural areas. How do the
State’s best practices help young graduates of rural areas get employment?
The policies of MP Government are quite apt for setting up BPOs in rural
areas, where unemployed graduates can easily find jobs. Our endeavour in this
direction has been very successful so far. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/01/2015 Smart National Common Mobility Card Model Is Here The Urban Development Ministry has launched a Smart National
Common Mobility Card (NCMC) model to enable hassle-free travel by metro and
other transport systems across the country besides shopping, an official
statement said. Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu approved the ‘EMV
Open Loop Card with stored value’ for this initiative. Following the failure
of an earlier effort to come out with such an inter-operable mobility card,
Naidu set up a committee last year under the chairmanship of Additional
Secretary, Urban Development Ministry to recommend a card which is
inter-operable across different transport systems in the country and which
can also be used as a credit/debit card. The committee had representatives of
National Informatics Centre (NIC), Centre for Development of Advance
Computing (C-DAC), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), National Payment
Corporation of India (NCPI) and the Ministry of Finance. After extensive study of various models being followed across
the world, the Committee has recommended the EMV Open Loop Card with stored
value based model. “This Smart Common Mobility Payment Card addresses the
deficiencies associated with other cards being used in Singapore and other
countries. This card meets travel needs based on stored value of money and
can be used for travelling by any means of transport and also enables account
based retail applications. Accordingly, this card does away with the need for
carrying separate cards for banking and transit requirements,” the statement
added. Some of the other models examined include Closed Loop Solution like
the Octopus cards in Globally, there is no nationwide common card except in Singapore
where in inter-operability is confined to city only. The Committee, hence,
recommended EMV Open Loop Card with stored value for use across the country.
The Urban Development Ministry has decided to task the National Payments
Corporation of India with indigenous development and management of Clearing
and Settlement of payments, Simulating Cards, Terminals and network, a
support base of vendors for providing certified tools, cards, terminals and
other services. This is in line with the ‘Make in India’ initiative. C-DAC
will develop the standards and hardware for Metro gates/validators along with
related ecosystems. Funding of Rs. 4.47 cr also has been approved in this
regard. Certification and authentication mechanism will be developed by NPCI
or any other government agency. Naidu has directed the Ministry officials to
ensure time bound and coordinated progress in this regard by various agencies
to ensure early introduction of Smart Mobility Cards and also to inform the
States of this initiative for taking appropriate action for integration of
other systems with the new smart card. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/01/2015 Environment
Sustainability Crucial for Smart Cities in India The unplanned nature of urbanisation
in India has resulted in appalling housing conditions, non-existent
sanitation, and increasing exploitation of natural resources.According to
experts there is an urgent need to explore the potential for building
synergies across sectors for critical resources in the context of rapid urbanization
in India.Experts feel that the scale and nature of urbanization and
increasing need for basic infrastructure to support it signifies that there
would be an impact on the earth’s carrying capacity.Discussing the issue at
‘Trialouge 2047’, a programme organized by Development Alternatives (DA), a
global think tank, experts have called for urbanization within the current
resource constrained landscape.The surge of urbanisation and growing number
of cities and towns provides an opportunity to deliver improved basic
services, generate livelihood options, offer education and health
facilities.Zeenat Niazi, Vice-President of DA said that the quality of urban
life and its resource footprint are strongly linked. “Increased urbanization is linked with
more and more consumption of natural resources like land, water, energy and
building materials to meet the rising demand for food, basic services and
goods,” she said. Zeenat said that India is expected to
witness an urban transformation, of the scale and speed unlike anywhere else.
She urged for a holistic perspective towards inclusive development. “Soil is
important because opportunity cost of food is that much more – or water in
rivers is more valuable than water in the cities for its ecosystem benefits.
We have to look at things from that perspective,” she said.Nitin Pandit,
Chief Executive Officer of World Resources Institute India, urged for
creating a balance between the urbanization and the environment.
“Urbanization in the history of mankind is not a new thing. With India moving
towards the urbanization quickly, it has failed to balance the environment
with modernization. Sadly, we don’t have a will to build environment friendly
buildings.”India’s plan for ‘Housing for All by 2022’ with 20 million houses
in 4041 towns and urban transformation in100 Smart Cities, ensures there will
be huge investment of resources in construction, both financial and natural
resulting in competition and conflict over limited resources across various
sectors.The growing need of urbanization will have to answer multiple
questions like, should a fertile tract of land be used for agriculture or to
build a new city on the banks of the river? Should sand and soil be used to
make bricks and cement or grow vegetables and grain? How far can we go
without irreversibly damaging ecological flows? Gaurav Shorey, Founder member
‘5waraj’, regretted that developers in India do not pay attention to the
needs of environment and sustainability. “New housing complexes in greater
Noida or other NCR regions don’t have sustainability. But those complexes
were built on some extremely fertile agricultural land which earlier used to
produce the yearly vegetables for the people of Delhi and NCR,” he
said.Shorey added that teaching green building concept to the developers is
not easy in this country. “Indian laws talk more about disaster management
but never mention the environment friendly housing complexes. Therefore, the
proposed ‘Housing for All’ concept not only will ruin the environment but
also will affect the future generation badly,” he warned.A livable city
provides its citizens economic and livelihood opportunities as well as caters
to their social and cultural wellbeing. There is a need to deliberate on
barriers and opportunities that exist for moving towards resource efficient
‘Housing for All’, now and for the future. Santosh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer
– Operations, Jones Lang LaSalle India, said that in the changed times
developers are becoming conscious about protecting environment. “The scenario
of infrastructure crunch in the country often doesn’t give any relaxation to
the developers to focus on the sustainability issue, but the situation is
slowly changing,” he said. The urban housing deficit in the country at
present is pegged at 18.78 million units (Ministry of Housing & Urban
Poverty Alleviation (MHUPA), 2011), which is estimated to increase to 38
million units by 2030(MGI, 2010).India has witnessed unprecedented
urbanisation, with the population growing significantly from 285 million in
2001 to 377 million in 2011 (Census of India, 2011);projected to have
additional 400 million people in urban agglomerations by 2050 (United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), 2014). From http://southasia.oneworld.net
09/02/2015 ‘E-pragati’
Shaping Growth of Andhra Pradesh The Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to rechristen its
Andhra Pradesh State Enterprise Architecture as ‘e-pragati’. It has been
developed in association with tech giant Wipro, and is a an inclusive
framework to implement eGovernance and provide e-services to the citizens of
the State, as per a press release.APSEA is an inclusive architecture to
leverage the recent technologies in eGovernance tools.The release further
revealed that with e-pragati, Andhra Pradesh becomes the first State in the
country to opt and execute a state-wide enterprise architecture.Chief
Minister of the State, Chandrababu Naidu said, “This will become a model in
government enterprise architecture in India.”He added, “Advanced countries
like South Korea, Singapore, the United States, Estonia, Norway, Denmark,
Australia and New Zealand have all embraced this type of architectural
approach to eGovernance.”According to the release, e-pragati extends to 33
secretariat departments and more than 300 government agencies in the State.
It attempts to provide around 745 services in the government to customer
(G2C), government to business (G2B), government to enterprise (G2E) and
government to government (G2G) areas. Classified into 14 groups, it comprises
a total of 72 projects, whose approximate expenditure is Rs 2,358 crore that
will be funded and implemented over a period of three years. Out of this, the
government will invest an amount of Rs 1,528 crore and balance the remaining
amount through public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.The Chief Minister also
said, “e-pragati focuses on achieving a unified and connected government with
citizen-centricity at its core. Implementation of e-pragati will lead to
free-flow of information among departments, paving the way for an integrated,
outcome-driven and accountable government.” From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/08/2015 Digital
India Stepping Stone for Smart Cities, Skill India: SAP Effective implementation is a must for the success of ICT-driven
Digital India programme, feels Dr Andreas Tegge, Head Global Government
Relations, SAP SE. The initiative can be the backbone for Smart Cities and
Skill India, he stresses in an interaction with Elets News Network (ENN).
What is your vision about Digital India?Digital India is indeed a
transformational initiative. The programme is really holistic and covers the
entire spectrum of requirements for infusion of ICT into India’s progression
for development. Digital We at SAP have been privileged to be associated with a number of
initiatives by the Indian Government. We keenly look forward to our continued
engagement with the Digital India programme.Given your global experience,
what policy initiatives you feel are important for India and how can these be
taken?As India progresses towards increased adoption of technology for
delivery of public services, I feel it is the right time for putting in place
the policy guidelines related to cloud computing, internet of things (IoT),
procurement of IT products and services, social media and mobile governance.
A number of case studies from other parts of world can be used as a
reference. For example, EU is working on a template for service level
agreement for cloud services, a code of conduct for data protection in the
cloud and a tool for users to navigate through the many security standards
for cloud computing.These tools could offer a good learning for the
development of a cloud computing policy in India. Cloud has a real disruptive
potential in innovating IT application development, adoption and use in
public services. Similarly, I feel preparation of mobile governance roadmaps
for specific needs of Indian states can help bringing in a structure to the
Indian Government’s use of mobiles for service delivery. Increasing industry
participation in Government procurement through enabling procurement
guidelines and procedures can also help. What’s your recommended approach for capacity and skill
building?There is a lot of appreciation for the transformative potential of
information and communication technologies within the Indian Government
organisations today. From that perspective, capacity and skill building can
now gradually migrate from basic digital literacy to advanced programme and
project management. I understand that there is a full-fledged capacity
building programme being managed by the Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology. Going forward, I feel that the capacity and skill
building initiatives may be required to be integrated with the larger Skill
India programme and also aligned with academia and University systems. This
will ensure availability of skill base on emerging technologies. For example,
I feel that it is time to include Internet of Things in the syllabus of
technical and management programmes of different universities in India. ‘We have moved from Internet of Content to Internet of People
and now to Internet of Things. With 75 billion devices likely to be connected
by 2020, the IOT offers tremendous potential for use in the digital
government agenda’On the point of capacity building of Government officials,
it is important to increase industry participation in these areas. Some of
the emerging areas that require attention in the capacity building programmes
include cloud-based solutions and procurement models for the same, mobile
application development, cyber security and Internet of Things. It is also
important to create a structure that enables a horizontal transfer of
knowledge of architecture, project management experiences and sharing of best
practices between Indian Government organisations. Something like a Digital
India knowledge portal may help.Where do you see the opportunity for industry
collaboration, from your global learning?I feel a huge opportunity exists for
the Government-Industry collaboration in making the Digital India programme a
big success. I understand that an Industry-Government consultative process
exists for most of the policy and programme initiatives; however, potential
for industry collaboration exists at all levels, i.e. policy, programme
project and applications. Knowledge transfer and sharing can also be
facilitated at inter-governmental level. While sharing the global experiences
is definitely useful, it is equally important to understand the complex and
diverse local requirements in India. The sheer size of each of the projects
is unprecedented and therefore a yardstick for industry collaboration will be
to develop local solutions with global experiences as the base. Can you share your experience in cloud policy in other
countries?Let me first take the EU example. In September 2012, the European
Commission adopted a strategy for “Unleashing the Potential of Cloud
Computing in Europe”. The
strategy outlines actions to deliver a net gain of 2.5 million new European
jobs, and an annual boost of �160 billion to the European Union GDP (around
1%), by 2020. It focuses on key elements including safe and fair contract
terms and conditions, cutting through the jungle of standards, select
industry group on certifications, establishing a European cloud partnership,
code of conduct for cloud service providers and service level agreements. SAP
has been working as a part of the industry group for the same.The US
Government developed the ‘Cloud First’ policy in 2011, which requires the government
CIOs to implement a cloud-based solution wherever feasible. Similarly, in the
public sector, the UK Central Government announced a ‘Cloud First’ policy in
March 2013, which requires that when procuring new or existing services,
public sector organisations should consider and fully evaluate potential
cloud solutions first – before they consider any other option. The above examples can be useful for emerging geographies, such
as India, in evolving their cloud policy.What do you see as the roadmap for
Internet of Things for Digital Government and how do you think it can be
achieved?We have moved from Internet of Content to Internet of People and now
to Internet of Things. With 75 billion devices likely to be connected by
2020, the IOT offers tremendous potential for use in the digital government
agenda. It is important to create local use cases, promote innovations,
encourage industry participation and publish the IOT policy. IOT can help
provide useful insights digitally for improving decision making in the
Government. It is heartening to see the current initiatives of the Indian
Government to promote IOT, particularly the CoEs, in partnership with
NASSCOM, that was recently announced by PM Narendra Modi. IOT is a big focus
area for us at SAP and we keenly look forward to working with the Indian
Government in this space.Any recommendations on holistic management of 100
Smart Cities and Skill India programmes?As I mentioned earlier, Digital India
can be a backbone for Smart Cities and Skill India. Digital India programme
can provide the overarching guidelines for adoption of technologies related
to IOT, analytics, cloud, mobile, etc., which can form the basis of smart
cities solutions. The skill requirements for smart cities and Digital India
can be mapped to the larger skill India programme. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/08/2015 E-Tourist Visa Shows an Increase of 893% in 2015 A total of 1,69,976
tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa during January-August 2015 as compared to
17,120 during January-August 2014, registering a growth of 892.9%. “This high
growth may be attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 113 countries
as against coverage of earlier Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) scheme for 12
countries,” Ministry of Tourism said in an official release.
In August 2015, a
total of 22,286 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 2,705
during the same month in 2014, registering a growth of 723.9%.
The percentage shares
of top 10 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facility during August
2015 were as follows: USA (25.93%), Germany (10.00%), UAE (8.92%),
France (8.76%), Australia (7.20%), Canada (6.39%), Republic of Korea (4.23%),
Japan (3.41%), Russian Federation (2.37%) and Singapore (2.22%). From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/11/2015 Criminal
Tracking System Launched in Maharashtra Police stations in Maharashtra have moved towards paperless
working mechanism with the launch of a Crime and Criminal Tracking Network
and System (CCTNS). The system is claimed to be the first such initiative by
a state. It will enable police to register an FIR with a single click.
Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao launched the CCTNS in Nagpur in the
presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Additional Chief Secretary
(Home) K P Bakshi, Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal, and other
dignitaries. Rao said, “CCTNS has the potential to transform the working
mechanism and make police force more people-friendly. It is an affirmative
step towards achieving the goal of ‘Digital Maharashtra.’” Chief Minister
Fadnavis announced that many other applications related to CCTNS to make
police people-oriented will be implemented in the state. “The state
government is planning to put every smart city under CCTV system
surveillance. Mumbai would also come under CCTV coverage in a year.” From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/17/2015 Kerala
Plans to Cash in on Rural IT Parks IT parks will no more be restricted to the urban areas in
Kerala, as the State Government is now all set to usher in a new wave of IT
revolution by taking hi-tech aspirations to its far-flung rural hamlets and
smaller towns. The Department of Information Technology has decided to
promote the rural IT parks at very attractive rates, which are hugely
underutilised at present, said IT and Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty,
speaking to the media in Thiruvananthapuram. “The concept of rural IT parks, which
was conceived by the previous Left government, aimed at spreading the IT
proliferation to other parts of the State. Rural IT parks will set up the
benchmark for next generation. When Technopark (in Thiruvananthapuram) was
first floated, it did not sell quickly, it took a little time to get
publicity. But later, Technopark and Infopark (in Kochi) received much
exposure,” said the Minister. With the aim of developing satellite centres in
towns close to Technopark and Infopark, the previous Government had decided
to promote rural IT Parks in the ‘hub and spoke’ Kerala model. However, a
recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) described this
model as ‘total flop’. “The underutilised spaces in the rural IT parks will be included
in our road shows to promote it in a big way. The facility at Kozhikode will
be showcased as the Startup destination. We are confident that we will be
able to sell it,” said Kunhalikutty. Kerala IT Secretary P H Kurian asserted
that they were planning to rent out underutilised spaces at 50 per cent lower
rates than that of Technopark and Infopark. The larger will be the area, the
cheaper will be rates. “We will
charge Rs 18 per sq ft in rural IT centres for the facilities. If the
companies are willing to take bigger spaces, we will give it at Rs 15 per sq
ft,” said Kurian. The seven locations include Kundara (Kollam district),
Ambalappuzha and Cherthala (both in Alappuzha district), Koratty (Ernakulam),
Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/21/2015 Railways Joins Hands with Google for Free Wi-Fi in
Trains, Stations In order to woo the passengers, Indian
Railways has decided to provide free Wi-fi services to 400 railway stations
across the country. For this, the Railways has collaborated with tech giant
Google and christened the project as Nilgiri which would enable people to
access free high speed Wi-Fi for about 30 minutes. Notably, using satellite
communication technology, the Indian Railways is currently providing Wi-Fi
connectivity in moving trains for selected routes. Notably, many political
outfits had been announcing of providing free Wi-Fi facility in many States
apparently to appease youth towards their technology-driven policies. As an
instance, the Aam Admi Party (AAP) had also announced to provide free Wi-fi
internet facility to city residents which one of the promises made by the
party.According to the plan, a One Time Password (OTP) will be generated for
this purpose to enable users to access high speech internet for the first half
an hour. Sources said that after first 30 minutes, the speed would be
reduced. The project employs Google’s Fiber technology which provides
internet services up to a speed of 1 Gigabits per second.Google Fiber was
launched in 2010 and the service is available only in the United States of
America.The project would be carried out in phases and it is expected that
the first phase will be completed in four months. From http://egov.eletsonline.com
09/21/2015 Facebook
Plans to Launch Low-cost Wi-Fi Service in India Social networking site Facebook is planning to launch a special
Wi-Fi service in India which would help in subsidising the cost of internet
in the country. Facebook Vice President for mobile and global access policy
Kevin Martin said, “Our connectivity lab has been working with drones and
unmanned aerial vehicles to lower the cost of service.” He added that special
Wi-Fi service will be available at a lower cost. Moreover, the service will be
available without advertisements and video, improving the internet speed. The
social network giant also announced that it will not withdraw its
controversial zero-rated platform internet.org from India. It is reportedly
planning to open it up to newer telecom operators to provide internet access
to the unconnected. Emphasizing that internet.org does not violate the
principles of net neutrality, Martin said that it offers an opportunity to
all developers to grow and facilitates internet access to the unconnected
across the world. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/22/2015 Startups
Have an Important Role in ‘Digital India’ Digital age has created a fertile new environment for Startups,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an event in San Jose, California. Modi
emphasised that Startups will have an important role in achieving the NDA
Government’s ambitious Digital India vision. “From creating infrastructure to
providing services, from manufacture of products to human resource
development, from supporting governments to enabling citizens and promoting
digital literacy, Digital India is a vast cyber world of opportunities for
Startups,” he said. The Prime Minister said, “The convergence of technology,
integration across diverse fields, distributed architecture and people
willing to back an idea, have opened a new world for enterprise. I see
Startups, technology and innovation as exciting and effective instruments for
India’s transformation, and for creating jobs for our youth.” Highlighting
the rapid growth of Startups’ ecosystem in India driven by the energy,
enterprise and innovation of youth, Modi said, “We have a huge market with
rapid growth and untapped opportunities in every sector. We now have the
institutions, incentives and interest for new ventures. We have incubators,
accelerators and investors willing to back an idea and assume risks.” The
outstanding group of Startups in India is applying technology to transform
healthcare, education, agriculture, clean energy, security, financial
inclusion of the poor and access to clean water, he added. “Our Startups represent
not just commercial success stories, but are powerful examples of social
innovation.” Pitching for partnership between India and the United States, he
said that the two countries together can advance towards prosperity with
innovation and technology. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/28/2015 Delhi
Metro Ranked First in ‘Information During Travel’ Delhi Metro has bagged the first rank in ‘information during
travel’, as per an international survey of Metro systems conducted by Railway
and Transport Strategic Centre (RTSC). Moreover, Delhi Metro has secured
second position in ‘train cleanliness and comfort’. “The survey was conducted
as per international standards EN 13816 (an European survey system used
widely to assess the performance of the public transportation systems in From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/07/2015 Delhi
Govt to Crackdown on Online Sites Selling Liquor The Delhi Government is reportedly set to crackdown on
e-commerce trade of liquor. Delhi government’s Excise Department has come
across certain websites offering online liquor shopping and has recently
caught a person supplying Haryana liquor in Delhi through the mode at cheaper
rates. As per Delhi Excise Act, selling through online is not allowed in the
national capital. According to report, the Excise Department has sent a list
of four-five websites, which offer online liquor shopping, to the Cyber Cell
of Delhi Police to arrest their owners. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/08/2015 Digital India - Netizens Played to Gallery on FB?
“I changed
my profile picture to support Digital India, the Indian Government’s effort
to connect rural communities to the Internet and give people access to more
services online.” These were the lines written by Facebook Founder and CEO,
Mark Zuckerberg, who changed his profile picture in the tricolour to support
the Digital India initiative undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Thanks Mark Zuckerberg for the support. I (also) changed my DP (display
picture) in support of the efforts towards a Digital India,” replied PM Modi
after changing his profile picture in a similar fashion. The above
conversation happened after PM Modi’s recent visit to the United States,
which attracted huge media attention. A link appeared on Zuckerberg’s
Facebook profile — fb.com/supportdigitalindia, clicking on which
people could change their profile picture and thus express their support for
a futuristic India that would be digital and technology led, so to say. And,
what followed was only expected in a social media-conscious times — a large
number of people Modi-fied their DPs by adorning profiles with the tricolour.
Indeed, an innovative way to back a national cause.
However, was it as genuine an expression of support as it
looked, or it was more about a herd mentality or an artificial exhibition of
nationalism? Well, much would depend on how you choose to look at it. To me,
it looks both: a natural sense of nationalism that any normal human being
would have, and a nationalism that is put on to catch attention. It’s that
very natural emotion of nationalism that makes you cry out with joy when
India wins a match, and it’s that very put-on nationalism to cry out just
because others are, so that you are not left behind the rest. And, what about
those, who didn’t change their picture? Were they an ignorant lot, or any
less national, or the idea of India going digital didn’t excite them? I
believe they simply chose not to be part of the herd and stayed away from the
aping act. In reality, they were also as Indian as others, without losing
even an iota of Indian-ness in them. Afterwards, giving a new twist to the
tale were some reports that claimed the link used to create those tricolour
pictures was actually meant to garner support for Internet.org — another
Zuckerberg initiative. The website nextbigwhat.com wrote, “If people are
changing their profile picture to look cool and show support towards Digital
India, Facebook is counting it as a support for Internet.org.” However, a
spokesperson from Facebook trashed the claim, “There is absolutely no
connection between updating your profile picture for Digital India and
Internet.org.” Amid all such claims and counter-claims, what remains beyond
debate is that we, the Indians, have a huge fancy for technology. Whether the
idea DP change came naturally or was put on, the fact remains that a huge
number of people did it. So, going by that, we can safely say that India has
the potential to go digital and the zeal to embrace the concept of ‘Digital
India’, in its totality. (The views expressed in the write-up are author’s
own, and they do not represent the views of the organisation she works for.) From
http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/08/2015 Digital
India: Punjab’s Village Turns IT Enabled Dhudike has reportedly become the first village in Punjab to
come under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Digital India’ programme. The
village is the native place of Lala Lajpat Rai. Deputy Commissioner Parminder
Singh Gill inaugurated the WiFi internet service in the village. The project
has been executed by Punjab National Bank. The bank has adopted the village. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/10/2015 Over
2 Lakh Tourists Arrived on E-Tourist Visa During Jan-Sept 2015 During January- Septembe 2015, a total of 2,01,705 tourist
arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 19,290 during January- September,
2014 registering a growth of
945.6%. “This high growth may be attributed to introduction of
e-Tourist Visa for 113 countries as against coverage of earlier Tourist Visa
on Arrival (TVoA) scheme for 12 countries,” Ministry of Tourism said in an
official release. During the month of September, a total of 31,729 tourist
arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 2,170 during the same month in 2014,
registering a growth of 1362.2%. The percentage shares of top 10 source
countries availing e-Tourist Visa facility during September were as follows:
USA (18.71%), UK (9.24%), Australia (8.50%), Germany (7.22%), China (6.36%),
France (5.22%), Canada (4.54%), Israel (3.61%), Japan (2.83%), and Mexico
(2.66%). The Government of India launched Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA)
enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), presently known as
e-Tourist Visa scheme on 27th November 2014. At present e-Tourist Visa
facility is available for citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 Airports
in India. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/12/2015 Railways Launches Paperless Tickets for Local
Commuters Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu on Friday launched
several IT passenger enabled services through video conferencing from New
Delhi. The services include—paperless Unreserved Ticketing through mobile
phones on suburban stations over Central Railway, Paperless platforms tickets
at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Dadar Central, Panvel, Thane and Lokmanya
Tilak Terminus, Andheri, Mumbai Central, Borivali, Dadar Western, Dadar
Central, Vasai Road, Bandra, New Delhi and Nizamuddin stations on Northern
Railway, Western Railway and Central Railway, paperless season tickets on
suburban sections of Western Railway, Central Railway and New Delhi-Palwal Section
of Northern Railway, currency, Coin-cum-Card operated Automatic Ticket
Vending Machines (ATVMs) at various suburban stations on Central Railway, and
Western Railway and Train Enquiry Mobile Application (TEMA) on iOS platform.
On the occasion, Chairman Railway Board, AK Mital and other board members,
additional member Mohd Jamshed and MD, Centre for Railway Information Systems
(CRIS) Vandana Nanda were present. While addressing the gathering, Prabhu said, “Moving ahead in
the direction of making Digital India, today, I am happy to unveil the system
for paperless Unreserved Tickets, paperless Season Tickets and paperless
Platform Tickets through mobile phones, in the Mumbai Suburban system of WR
and CR and Delhi–Palwal section of Northern Railway”. Notably, about 50
Currency-cum-coin-cum-card Ticket Vending Machines (CoTVMs) are now
functional over various stations. Besides, a train enquiry mobile app on the
iOS (Apple iphone platform) was also unveiled. The app is working well on the
Android and Windows-based mobile phones. Railway officials stated that the
paperless Unreserved Ticketing System is indeed a boon for the suburban
commuters which helps reduce the time a passenger takes at the station,
waiting in queue to buy a ticket. It will enable “Mission 5 minutes” (not
more than 5 minutes to buy a ticket) to become a reality. Railways will also
benefit from this innovation because it will be able to cope with higher
ticket sales with lower investments. Notably, paperless Ticketing service already exists in some
sections of Mumbai Western Railway and Delhi. With the latest launch, it will
be available across all of Mumbai’s suburban sections on both Central and
Western zonal Railways. This system is based on the “UTS on Mobile” app,
which has a “Railway Wallet” feature. A few safeguards have been built-in to
prevent misuse of the mobile UTS tickets such as the tickets cannot be
forwarded from one phone to another. Second, one cannot buy the ticket after
starting one’s journey. A system of distinct daily colour codes, embedded QR
codes, and sync feature has been devised for ticket examiners and passengers’
convenience. Another innovative system being introduced for Mumbai suburban
section of Western Railway and Central Railway is the Cash/Smart Card operated
Ticket Vending Machine (CoTVM), which is a self-service kiosk for passengers
to buy their own unreserved tickets. It has a user-friendly graphical
interface that can be used by all the passengers. Train Enquiry Mobile Application on iOS platform— CRIS—the
IT arm of the Indian Railways, has enhanced the train enquiry system by
developing mobile apps. Mobile app for Windows 8 and Android were launched
earlier and are widely used by rail passengers. Now one more step ahead,
mobile app for iOS platform has also been developed and ready for launch. It
has now become easier for the rail passengers to track information on
expected arrival and departure timings of a particular train and other
information. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/10/2015 IRCTC
Launches Station-based E-catering Service The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has
launched a pilot project of a station-based e-catering service, which allows
passengers to order meals as per their choice and will be delivered at
stations from popular private caterers. In the first phase of the project,
trains passing through 45 specified railway stations, comprising nine in the
east zone, namely Guwahati, Howrah, Kharagpur, Mughalsarai, New Jalpaiguri,
Sealdah and Vishakhapatnam have been named. The other stations under this
project include Ahmedabad, Anand Vihar, Allahabad, New Delhi, Kanpur Central,
Lucknow, Varanasi, Chennai Central, Mumbai Central, Delhi, Bangalore city,
Madurai, Amritsar, Thiruvananthapuram Central, Chandigarh, Gorakhpur,
Varanasi, Jaipur, Bilaspur, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Ludhiana, Secunderabad,
Tirupati, Vijayawada, Chennai Egmore, Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Thrisur,
Yasvantpur, Nagpur, Pune, Agra Cantt, Gwalior, Jhansi, Bhopal, Surat and
Vadodara. Debashis Chandra, IRCTC Group General Manager (East Zone), said, “
Station-based e-catering will be only for stations and not on moving trains.
The service will allow passengers to either order meals online at
www.ecatering.irctc.co.in or by calling 0120-2383892-99/1800-1034-139 (toll
free) or by sending SMS Meal to 139 with details of PNR and seat number and
the meals will be delivered at their berth.” Various fast food units like KFC, McDonald’s, Switz Foods, Only
Alibaba, Domino’s, Haldiram, Bikanerwala, Nirula’s, Sagar Ratna, Pizza Hut
have entered into a tie-up with IRCTC to serve the passengers passing through
these stations. Chandra also said, “On receiving the meals, passengers have
an option of making payment online or through cash on delivery mode. The
delivery of food would be made through authorised persons.” “We have a
dedicated call centre for this entire facility functioning from 10 am to 6
pm,” he added. Regarding the cancellation of orders, Chandra said, “The
passengers will also have an option to cancel their order two hours before
reaching the station where the meals are scheduled to be delivered to them.
In case passengers have made online payment for their order, the amount will
be refunded after deducting a cancellation charge. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/21/2015 Delhi
Govt’s eServices to Come for a Price The Delhi Government is soon going to charge fees – between Rs
50 and Rs 500 – for some of its eGovernance services, including issuing
different certificates online. About two months ago, the Revenue Department
of the Delhi Government launched its eDistricts project, under which the
certificates are issued and delivered online. The Department issued an order
fixing the user charges for different certificates. The order is likely to
come into force by the end of this month. While income, domicile, birth,
caste, lal dora and surviving member certificates will cost Rs 50, marriage
and solvency certificates can be obtained for Rs 350 and Rs 500,
respectively. A senior official said, “Efforts are on to integrate the
payment gateway of the eDistrict portal with the State Bank of India. The
discussions are in an advanced stage and it is likely to become operational
by November-end.” Officials believe that people won’t mind paying the extra
cost because the facility would make the process convenient and transparent.
According to one of the officials, “Earlier, people would run from pillar to
post for the certificates, often being fleeced by touts. But after the launch
of the project around two months back, people could apply sitting at home.
The certificates are also delivered online and the documentation process for
this is also being simplified. The number of affidavits required for it is
also being reduced. However, death certificates and disability certificates
will not be charged for. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/02/2015 Greater
Noida Plans Making Property Info Available Online The Greater Noida Authority has said that it will put all the
property-related details on the website and resolve grievances of land
allottees via the online system. An official from the Authority said, “We
will soon finalise the date for providing online services. As per the plan,
we will be able to put property details online by the end of November.” At
present, it takes more than a month to complete a work, such as getting
mortgage permission. So, the Authority is planning to execute a job within
five to fifteen days, depending on the nature of job. An allotte, namely
Rohit Mattu, said, “Let us see if the online system provides any relief to
allottes. Every time we have a query or when some work has to be done, we
have to visit the Greater Noida Authority office at the Chitvan Estate area.
Following the footsteps of the Noida Authority, the Greater Noida authority
is also planning to develop an online facility to address the grievance
through smartphone apps. As per the officials, “Once the portal and smart app
is in place, works such as execution of lease deeds, issue of no-dues
certificate, transfer of plots, issue of duplicate papers, transfer/surrender
of flat/house, renting permissions, transfer memorandums and mortgage
permissions will be done on mobile phones itself.” From egov.eletsonline.com 11/02/2015 Govt
Clears Balloon Internet Project of Google Project Loon-The Narendra Modi Government at the Centre has
cleared internet giant Google’s proposal to provide internet connectivity
through floating large balloons. According to the proposal, Google will float
large balloons at a height of about 20 kilometers from the earth’s surface,
which will facilitate transmission of internet services. Termed ‘Project
Loon’, the technology has successfully been tested in New Zealand, Brazil and
the state of California of the United States. However, the government has
approved only testing of Project Loon for now, and committee under the
chairmanship of the Secretary, Department of Electronics & Information
Technology (DeitY) set up to work on it, according to sources. He said that
Google may initially partner with BSNL for testing this technology. As per
Google, each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40km in
diameter using a wireless communications technology called LTE or 4G. To use
LTE, Project Loon partners with telecommunications companies to share
cellular spectrum so that people are able to access the Internet everywhere
directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled devices. Google uses solar
panel and wind to power electronic equipment in the balloon throughout the
day. The role of the internet giant would be that of a technology service
provider and not as internet service provider. From http://egov.eletsonline.com/ 11/04/2015 Make
India Digitally Empowered Society Union Minister for Communication and Technology, Ravi Shankar
Prasad expressed the ‘Digital India’ initiative of the government to
transform India into a digitally empowered society. Speaking at the ‘Future
Unleashed’ Technology Conference organised by Microsoft to commemorate its 25
years of operations in India, Prasad said, “The government was working
towards connecting all the 2.5 lakh gram panchayats through Bharat Net optic
fibre network. Nearly 1.5 lakh post offices will also be digitized.” ‘Digital
Saksharata Abhiyan’ was geared towards making at least one person in every
household digitally literate. The minister said that support of regional
languages was imperative to take the whole of India to digital age. He said a
country as diverse as India with 22 official languages would require some
efforts in localization of the contents. He appealed to Microsoft to develop
software in regional languages to promote digital inclusiveness. The Minister
laid stress on innovation in developing low cost technologies that would help
in taking the Digital India to the doorstep of the poorest of the poor. He
said Microsoft’s theme for celebrating 25 years in India goes very well with
the philosophy of the government. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft said, “Indian
startups and e-commerce space was one of the most exciting spaces in the
world and added that Microsoft was prepared and eager to work with e-commerce
companies that enabled small businesses to scale up their operations.”
Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Chief Minister said, “42 government services
have been brought online in Maharashtra and spoke about his vision to bring
all government provided services on a single platform.” From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/06/2015 Govt to Turn Rural Post Offices into Common Service Centres
As the
government sets the Digital India programme rolling, now it intends to reach
out to those located in the far-flung areas through the post offices located
there. According to Union Minister for Communications and Information
Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad, the post offices across the country will soon
starting functioning also as Common Service Centres (CSCs) to provide various
citizen-centric e-services. Speaking at a function in Kolkata recently,
Prasad said that the postal department has a crucial role to play in bringing
in digital revolution in the country. The vision of Digital India is to
ensure all can access newer avenues of growth using communications device
like a smart phone, he said inaugurating the revamped building of the local
Bhowanipore Post Office.
“We are also committed to developing eCommerce, eEducation and
eHealth. This is the larger vision of a digital India. And in this digital
India initiative, rural post offices have a very crucial role to play. We
have decided that all the 1.30 lakh rural post offices should also become
common service centres (CSCs) to further provide services,” the minister
added. Implemented under the National e-Governance Plan and formulated by the
Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), CSCs are
ICT-enabled service delivery points at the village-level for reaching
government, financial, social and private sector services in the areas of
agriculture, health, education, entertainment, FMCG products, banking,
insurance, pension and utility payments. Prasad said he expects the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) to grant payment licence to the proposed Post Bank of
India by mid-2016. “We expect to get the RBI nod by July. With 1,54,000 post
offices, the new initiative will usher in a financial revolution across the
country.” From http://egov.eletsonline.com
11/13/2015 All Indian Railway Contracts Online from
Next Year
Prabhu also said that in the past the Indian Railways used to
take six years to issue a tender for a project after it's announcement,
but added that such an extensive time lag was a thing of the past.
"My colleagues in the Railway Board tell me that earlier when a project
was announced, it would take six years for a tender to be issued... The time
gap has been reduced to six months. My target is to reduce it even further
and make it completely transparent," Prabhu said. Besides, in a bid to
modernise, the railways ministry was also pushing for a roll out of new,
modern coaches which would change the way in which a typical journey by
Indian Railways was often perceived, Prabhu said. "We have already
rolled out first few coaches. But it will take time because there are
thousands of coaches which need to be renovated and re-fitted. Once that is
done, people will experience a different type of travel experience when they
travel by Indian Railways," Prabhu said. The bi-weekly Rajdhani Express,
which was flagged off by Prabhu, along with Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant
Parsekar will depart Margao Railway station at 10:05 a.m. on every Sunday and
Monday and reach Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway station at 12:40 p.m. on
the subsequent day. From Hazrat Nizamuddin station the Rajdhani will leave at
10:55 a.m. on every Friday and Saturday and reach Margao the next day at
12:55 p.m. The 16 coach train will halt at Thivim, Kudal, Ratnagiri, Panvel,
Surat, Vadodara and Kota railway stations. From http://www.siliconindia.com 11/15/2015 |
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AZERBAIJAN: Expressbank Presents E-Purse Expresspay for Clients New e-wallet payment system ExpressPay has been presented in
Azerbaijan. OJSC Expressbank reports that via e-wallet the users will be able
to make a number of payments or send money via cell phone at any time. That
requires installation of application ExpressPay to your mobile phone (Android
and iOS) and replenishing the account through ExpressPay terminals. Due to ExpressPay e-wallet it is
possible to arrange automatic payments and payment templates. In addition, in
the payment history the customer can see a receipt for each payment and send
it to email. With the help of the
e-purse the client can also pay for Expressbank services (payment of loans,
replenishment of deposit and current accounts, replenishment of credit cards
online). It is also available to pay services of non-banking credit
organization EmbaFinans (furniture Embawood and Madeyra), NIKOIL Bank, PAŞA
Sığorta, Bakıtaksi, services of mobile operators, utilities, communication
services (Aztelekom–BTRIB), cable TV and Internet providers, online games,
social networks and other services.
A hotline for payment ExpressPay terminals has been created for
quality customer service. Now at any time the customer can call or send a
WhatsApp message with suggestions, complaints or information about technical
problems to phone number (055) 5000132. From http://abc.az/
09/01/2015 Bakcell's Ultra-Fast LTE Network to Support 225 Mbps Bakcell, the first mobile operator and the leading mobile
Internet provider of Azerbaijan, has announced 225 Mbps support in its
ultra-fast LTE network by upgrading it with LTE-Advanced Carrier aggregation
technology. Bakcell is one of 73 networks (out of 422) worldwide using
carrier aggregation technology and having LTE-Advance category 6 enabled,
AzerTag reports. Launched in May 2015, Bakcell LTE network provides a high
quality and fastest mobile internet experience to all Bakcell customers
operating in 1800 MHz band and supporting most advanced technologies being
Category 4 (up to 150 Mbps) enabled. Now, with the help of most advanced
carrier aggregation technology Bakcell customers will experience 50% faster
internet with up to 225 Mbps download speed capability. Carrier aggregation
technology makes possible to use multiple radio channels (carriers) in
different or the same frequency bands as if they were one. More carriers mean
more speed and more capacity. This is similar to expanding the lanes on
crowded motorway to multilane autobahn. As much lanes you have, as more cars
can path with highest speed. Carrier aggregation category 6 technology level
itself allows achieving up to 300 Mbps having 40MHz bandwidth on certain or
across multiple frequency bands. With LTE category 6 support device that can
operate in 1800 MHz (Band 3), user will get a full benefit of having ultimate
experience at Bakcell ultra-fast LTE-Advanced mobile network. As of October
2015, such well known manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, HTC, LG, Huawei,
Sony and others already released more than 80 devices that are commercially
available on the market and supports LTE-A category 6 operation in 1800 band. From http://news.az/
10/16/2015 Mobile
Numbers Ported to Azercell Jump Subscribers choosing Azercell Telecom LLC, the company providing
quality communication and high-level customer services, are increasing in
number. Thus, there has been a positive trend in Mobile Number Portability in
the past year and the number of subscribers shifting to Azercell has ecxeeded
those leaving Azercell for other mobile operators. In general, Azercell
subscribers have increased by some ten thousand since the end of last
September. Currently, Azercell with more than 4.5 mln subscribers is the
leading company in mobile communications market in Azerbaijan. Having
provided Mobile Number Portability service since February 1, 2014, Azercell offers
to join its network through its service centers of over 200 located in Baku
and regional areas. It should also be noted that there has been 39 per cent
growth in usage of Azercell’s mobile internet service. Azercell’s mobile
internet is very favorable. Following the 55 per cent discount on internet packs, the mobile
internet traffic increased by 39 per cent leading to 3.3 per cent growth in
revenue in the recent quarter. At present, every second subscriber of the
company is the mobile internet user. Focused on promptness and innovation,
Azercell offers subscribers quality and favorable products and the most
contemporary services and invites all to benefit from Azercell customer
experience. Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996 and since the first
years sustains a leading position on the market. Azercell introduced number
of technological innovations in From http://www.azernews.az/
10/27/2015 Azercell
Offers Access to Digital Literature Masterpieces For instance, unlike other services, there is no need to make
additional payment for every book. A subscriber can ready any book in the
library by paying AZN 3.5 monthly fee from his/her balance. Obviously, this
monthly subscription fee is quite low than the price of a book. Another
important case is that the readers will be provided not only with foreign
literature, but also works of Azerbaijani authors. Next important advantage
of the service is that you do not need regular internet for Bookmate library
since any book downloaded is available anytime, anywhere, i.e. in the
underground and airplane. Furthermore, it does not matter which device you
have got in hand – phone, tablet or computer. It is because the book is
downloaded to your personal library, not the device. It is for the first time that subscribers
have been offered books in Azerbaijani, Russian, English or Turkish
languages. You can get bestselling, mostly read and famous classic and
contemporary works and other pieces of art in this half-a-million rich
library. Bookmate functions on
Android and iOS operating systems.
In addition, subscribers can enter www.bookmate.com and read books or
download them to mobile devices. From http://abc.az/
11/13/2015 TURKMENISTAN:
GPS-monitoring Optimizes Transportation System Turkmenistan expands the introduction of GPS-traffic monitoring
system to effectively control the traffic flows, improve safety and prevent
congestion on the city streets, Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper wrote. At the
meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, President Berdimuhamedov instructed to
actively use the satellite tracking technology in road transport based on the
capabilities of the TürkmenÄlem 52 ° E national satellite. The president also
instructed to take the necessary measures to build the public parking lots
and strengthen control over parking lots only in specially designated areas. From http://en.trend.az/
09/21/2015 UZBEKISTAN:
ADB to Provide Loan for Modernization of City Sewer System The Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has
approved a loan worth $81 million for the modernization of the municipal
sewerage and sewage treatment system in the city of Jizzakh (administrative
center of Jizzakh region, the central part of the country), said the message
posted on the official website of the bank. The project calls for a massive
rehabilitation of sewerage system of Jizzakh, which was built in 1970 and has
never been capitally renovated since then. The project includes construction of a
new water treatment plant, construction or reconstruction of more than 62
kilometers of trunk sewers and four pumping stations, as well as support
during the operation of new facilities.
Upon completion of the project in 2020, the capacities of the system
will allow to collect and process up to 30,000 cubic meters of sewage a day,
pumping capacities will be increased to more than 15,000 cubic meters per day
against 9,000 cubic meters in 2013. In addition, a company for management of
sanitation facilities in Jizzakh region, as well as for personnel training
will be also created within the framework of the project. The loan will be allocated from the
funds of Asian Development Fund of ADB. The Uzbek government has allocated
$15.6 million for the project. It is expected that the loan agreement will be
signed before the end of this year.
Uzbekistan has been a member of the ADB since 1995, and today is the
largest recipient of loans of this financial institution in Central Asia. From http://en.trend.az/
09/11/2015 "Uzbektelecom"
Reduces Tariffs for Internet Providers Up to $ 199.7 From October 9, Joint Stock Company "Uzbektelecom"
reduced tariffs for Internet services (external channel) for providers of
Uzbekistan up to $ 199.68 for 1 Mbit / s. It should be noted that this year, the
rates were reduced several times. From January 1, to $ 259.29, from January 7
to $ 257.42, from January 8 to $ 253.74, from January 22 to $ 251.94, from
February 27 to $ 240.2, from March 17 to $ 233.27, from June 2 to $ 219.01, from
June 11 to $ 206.97, from July 1 to $ 205.12, from July 22 to $ 204.01, from
August 3 to $ 202.9, from October
1 to $ 201.83, and from October 9 to $ 199.68 for 1 Mbit / s. Recall that in 2014, costs were cut
six times. From $ 306 in January to $ 265 for 1 Mbit / s in December 2014. From http://technologies.uzreport.uz/
10/14/2015 Digital
Television Coverage of Uzbekistan Reaches 54% Transition to digital television broadcasting is being carried
out in Uzbekistan stage-by-stage. Currently, the coverage level of the
population with digital TV broadcasting has reached 54%. Until the end of
2015, it is planned to install 19 transmitters for digital television and
bringing coverage up to 70%. This was reported during the meeting of the
Collegium of the Ministry for development of information technologies and
communications, which summarized the results of the development of
informational technologies and communications in the first nine months of
2015 and identified practical measures for further development of the sector
up to the end of the year. From http://technologies.uzreport.uz/
10/29/2015 The software market in our country is represented by various
innovative applications, which allow to improve and automate management
processes. One of such software products is MedData automated information
system, developed by Bepro developers centre for medical institutions. MedData is installed in 14 polyclinics
in Sirdarya region, 4 in Yakkasaray district of Tashkent as well as at the
Republican perinatal centre. The resolution of President Islam Karimov
"On measures on further implementation and development of modern
information-communication technologies" dated from 21 March 2012 has
served as an important factor in improving activities in this sphere. - The system has two interfaces–
"Polyclinic" and «Hospital», - says Irina Berger, a project manager
at Bepro developers centre. - For example, such modules as
"Registry", "Doctor", "Statistics" are
available for polyclinics. Each employee will have an account with relevant
access to database. In particular, the registry personnel will have access to
diary of each doctor, the doctor will have access to patient's files and
records. As noted by representatives of medical institutions, which have
installed MedData information system, application of the newest ICT tools in
healthcare eases the procedures for both patients and medical workers. - In
most cases, a patient spends more time on procedures not related to medical
examination or treatment, - says leading ICT specialist at the Republic
perinatal centre Pavel Kim. - For example, a patient waits in the registry,
in the queue before doctor's cabinet, during fill-out of forms and receipts.
Introduction of MedData system has substantially improved this process. In
particular, all medical records of patients have been transferred into
machine-readable format, registry's work has been automated. From http://uza.uz/
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AUSTRALIA:
Government Looks for Providers of New Welfare ICT System The
federal government is looking for ICT industry partners to design and begin
construction of a new welfare payment system. The Minister for Human Services
Senator Marise Payne on Friday released Requests for Expressions of Interests
to provide the system. The government is seeking interest from ICT providers
for the Core Software Vendor selection process, which will help select a
commercial off-the-shelf integrated technology platform to support the WPIT
programme. Procurement of Systems Integrators will begin in 2016. “The start
of procurement marks the first milestone for the Welfare Payment
Infrastructure Transformation (WPIT) programme,’’ Minister Payne said. “This
is one of the largest social welfare business transformations undertaken
worldwide. Success will depend on establishing strong industry
partnerships.’’ The Minister says the new welfare payment system is a
once-in-a-generation investment, which will transform the way the department
delivers payments and services to millions of Australians each year. “Finding
innovative and expert industry partners is the first step in providing a
modern platform that will make interacting with government services easier
for our customers. Over the next year, the department will commence two major
procurement activities to secure a Core Software Vendor and Systems
Integrators.’’ Minister Payne says the new system will reduce red tape for
customers, lower the costs of administering welfare payments and save
taxpayers money. “Customers can expect to see improvements to our payment
systems by the end of 2016 with enhancements that will make online
interactions quicker and easier.” The Requests for Expressions of Interest
(EOI) listing can now be viewed on AusTender. From
http://www.itwire.com
09/18/2015 Skilled
IT Professionals Key to Turnbull’s Digital Vision: ACS The
Australian Computer Society says lifting the supply of skilled IT
professionals and other STEM-based occupations - as well as a greater focus
on innovation - is key to grasping the opportunities Prime Minister Turnbull
has said are being created in a globally connected, digital world. Responding
to Malcolm Turnbull’s post-appointment comments, the ACS says it is excited
by Prime Minister Turnbull’s focus on setting a national agenda which seeks
to make Australia more agile and better equipped to capture the opportunities
through global digitalisation. ACS CEO Kim Finch Finch also applauded the
Turnbull-led government’s increased focus on innovation and the combination
in one portfolio with industry and science under Minister Christopher Pyne.
“It is extremely encouraging to see Innovation as part of a portfolio at the
Federal level. Innovation is the key to achieving sustained economic
prosperity and particularly for Australia as we look to reduce our
traditional reliance on the mining sector and develop new engines of growth. “We
are looking forward to working with Prime Minister Turnbull and his new team
on the challenges which lie ahead and in particular improving outcomes in the
digital skills space and helping Australia build a strong digital future.”
The ACS also welcomed Senator Mitch Fifield's appointment as Minister for
Communications. “Senator Fifield will bring a wealth of knowledge and
experience to the role which will help navigate digital policy through a
sometimes challenging political process,” said acting ACS CEO Kim Finch. “We
look forward to working with the Minister and helping him build From
http://www.itwire.com
09/21/2015 Government
Promises to Implement Digital ID for All Buried
deep in the bowels of the 32 page Government Response to Financial System
Inquiry report by former Commonwealth Bank CEO David Murray, were some
chilling sentences that confirmed the Government’s intentions to figuratively
stamp the biblical mark of the beast’ on every Australian residents’
foreheads. In actual fact, the ‘mark of the beast’ happens to be a national
system to implement a digital identity for all individuals, which was
recommended by Murray in his report. Here
are the actual words on page 20 of the document: #
Digital identity #
Develop a national strategy for a federated-style model of trusted digital
identities. #
The Government agrees that a national digital identity strategy will help
to streamline individuals'
engagement with government and provide efficiency improvements. #
The Digital Transformation Office will work across government and with the
private sector to develop a Trusted Digital Identity Framework to support the
Government's Digital Transformation Agenda. As
is always the case with government propaganda, the words are couched in
benevolent terms - ‘streamline individuals’ engagement with government’. In
actual fact, what this really means is a more convenient way for government
to track and keep tabs on every single living soul residing in this country -
from birth until death. As they have in the past, proponents of the scheme
may argue that if you have nothing to hide then why should you be concerned.
After all, you don’t mind using your Medicare Card or Driver’s License to
identify yourself. The answer is of course that Australians are not by law
required to carry either card as proof of identity or to perform
transactions. In fact, we are a freedom loving people who love the freedoms
that Australia has always provided and who don’t like to be presided over by
authoritarian governments - especially centralised federal governments. Under
this new digital identity scheme, if you want to remain anonymous and
maintain the privacy of your affairs, too bad. You have no privacy and
whatever financial transactions you make - unless it’s strictly cash - the
government will know. And speaking of cash, has anyone noticed that the good
old folding stuff that you used to keep in your wallets is fast becoming an
endangered species? Yes, the Digital Transformation Office intends to not only
have us replace cash with digital streams of ones and zeros but also our
identities. Welcome to our brave new Australia. From
http://www.itwire.com
10/21/2015 IoT
Goes Above and Below Ground to Make Cities Healthier Smart
cities could become healthier cities as the Internet of Things learns to
gauge conditions from the sky to the sewer. Fledgling IoT teams working above
and below ground came out for the Re.Work Connect Summit conference in San
Francisco on Thursday. Both say they can help cities understand and
anticipate things that affect human health. With smaller devices and smarter
analytics, they're improving upon the systems that have been testing urban
conditions for years. The so-called "smart cities" trend has
generated a lot of attention for things like automated traffic, parking
management and better transit, but urban life also has an underside of health
dangers. For the Senseable City Lab at MIT, that side is found literally
underground. Its Underworlds project is analyzing sewage for signs of
diseases and poor health. "You can tell a lot about a person by sampling
their gut. And as this data is flushed down the toilet, there's a vast reservoir
of information on human health and behavior that goes with it," Project
Manager Newsha Ghaeli said. It's
not a new concept, but today most sewage testing happens at wastewater
treatment plants, which are miles from the source and collect material from
all over the city. The Underworlds project, like other IoT deployments,
brings it down to the hyperlocal level. By studying sewage on a street or
neighborhood level, the researchers hope to learn things like where outbreaks
of disease begin and even detect pathogens before people start getting sick.
Flu viruses and other bugs incubate in people's bodies before they cause
symptoms. Testing can also uncover things like markers for diabetes and
obesity, which are major public health issues in many U.S. cities. Tracking
those factors could help in evaluating government policies, like New York
City's recently passed law restricting the size of sugary drinks, Ghaeli
said. MIT started its research in its hometown of Cambridge, Massachusetts,
where it has carefully lowered iPhone-controlled robots into the city's
antique sewers in about 10 locations. The robots collect the dirty water and
run it through a filter to isolate the kinds of residue the researchers are
interested in. After the robot has collected several samples, the scientists
retrieve the filters and take them into a lab. The goal is to eventually
build a near-real-time sewage information network with testing done by the
robots in the field. The
team is already on its second-generation robot, Luigi, a slimmed-down version
of its bulky predecessor, Mar.io. Luigi is also cheaper to build and can
sterilize itself after doing its work, saving the researchers a lot of work,
Ghaeli said. MIT will build out its system across Cambridge over the next two
years and then deploy a larger network in Kuwait, which is helping to fund
the project. That works because the system can be tuned to local needs: For
example, Kuwait is not interested in the flu, but it does want to know about
norovirus, Ghaeli said. Smaller sensors and hyper-local data make a
difference above ground, too. Aclima, a startup in San Francisco, sells
hardware, software and services for testing air quality. Like the Underworlds
team, it has downsized and localized the hardware needed to collect environmental
data. In 2010, Aclima rolled out an indoor test network at Google with 500
devices across 21 buildings around the world. Each has 12 sensors for things
like carbon dioxide concentrations, said Kim Hunter, managing director of
communications and engagement. Since
then, Aclima has ventured outdoors. Now Aclima sensing devices are attached
to Google Street View vehicles in Denver as part of a pilot project. As the
cars are driven around to take photos, they also collect information on
substances like ozone, carbon monoxide, methane and particulate matter. This
generates highly localized information from many sites. Aclima is also
working with the Environmental Protection Agency and has commercial
deployments of its indoor and outdoor equipment. Aclima's sensors fit into
devices that are much smaller than traditional air-quality gear. A typical
stationary monitoring site is as big as a trailer and houses reference
equipment that's two feet (60 centimeters) wide and as much as nine feet
tall, Hunter said. Aclima's indoor sensor modules can fit in an outstretched
hand, and its mobile platform fits in the back of a small hatchback car. From
http://www.computerworld.com.au
11/13/2015 NEW
ZEALAND: Digital? Cloud? Automation? Why You Should Talk to Your SI About
Legacy Three
themes are dominating IT service providers’ go-to-market messaging in 2015:
digital, Cloud, and automation, but their trump card, legacy, is absent. As
fast as Cloud is maturing, digitisation is reaching the peak of expectation,
and both are in demand from customers who need help deploying the same
technological solutions that younger, leaner competitors are using to attract
new customers. “Automation is intrinsic to Cloud platforms, but the challenge
for outsourcers is how to automate legacy systems and processes,” claims Ian
Brown, research analyst, Ovum. “The last remaining dollars are being squeezed
out of labor arbitrage, so the race is on to automate and maintain offshore’s
cost advantages. ITO and BPO providers cannot sustain the growth levels of
the past, unless they adapt to the new normal, but their greatest value to
most large enterprises will be helping them to tame the legacy challenge.”
Disappointingly, however, Brown believes that few SIs have so far managed to
offer a joined-up story about how they bridge the chasm between the digital
front-office, legacy systems, and back-office processes. “There
is an over-emphasis on the digital and not enough emphasis on how digital
fits into and interacts with legacy IT and processes,” Brown adds. “Too
often, digital projects risk failure because back-office systems and
processes cannot cope, and can compromise the digital “customer experience”,
and the money isn’t there to invest in the back office.” Consequently, Brown
believes businesses need to take a strategic approach to digital and bring
all the business stakeholders (including IT) together to understand their
dependencies. “This is where SIs can and should help with planning,” Brown
adds. “Full-scale heterogeneous legacy systems automation is still some years
away for most enterprises. Pockets of automation may exist around individual
platforms and applications, but business processes span the IT landscape and
it is the challenge of integrating and automating the underlying operations
from the digital front end to the legacy back office that currently exercises
the SIs.” However,
whether focusing on digital, Cloud, or process automation, Brown believes the
SIs’ real value lies in integrating and managing new-generation third-party
services and platforms with legacy and “modernised legacy” systems to support
end-to-end business processes. “Few service providers seem to want to talk
about legacy, but maintaining and modernising legacy systems will be a
necessary accompaniment to service integration and management in the delivery
of digital services to large enterprises,” Brown adds. “You can’t separate
the old from the new.” From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
09/07/2015 1
in 10 NZ IT Teams Waste over $100K a Year on Redundant Tech Added
pressure from the boardroom, poor ROI and outsourcing experiences are also
key themes contained in the research from Rackspace, which quizzed a total of
252 IT decision makers across both sides of the Tasman. Findings showed that
one in ten (10 percent) companies wasted over $100,000 a year on redundant
IT, 13 percent wasted $50,000 - $99,999, and 25 percent wasted $10,000 -
$49,999. Boardroom pressure, release issues and poor hires. The report also
suggests that 43 percent of surveyed IT decisions makers have experienced
executive pressure to implement technology, even though they personally
believed it was too risky for the business. On top of this, almost half (45
percent) of medium and 38 percent of large surveyed businesses have released
a version of software to the wider business/consumer that has caused issues.
But it’s not just the technology that is under performing. More
than half (54 percent) of all surveyed businesses, and three quarters (77
percent) of medium sized surveyed organisations have employed a member of
staff in the IT team, only to realise after the fact, that they were a bad
hire. “In a crowded market where new technologies are released at such a
rapid rate, the modern day choice has become less black and white than it was
a decade ago,” says Angus Dorney, Director and General Manager, Rackspace
A/NZ. “It can be difficult to forecast if a purchase is going to deliver on
its promise to provide your business with sufficient ROI. “In some cases,
this research shows that a lot of technology is purchased and never used.” Technology
not delivering on a promise Dorney
says almost three quarters (73 percent) of survey respondents reported making
a poor purchasing decision, with one third (33 percent) purchasing software
and 29 percent purchasing hardware, that didn’t deliver what was promised to
the business. Also, 32 percent of respondents are investing in software, and
31 percent investing in hardware, that became irrelevant within the intended
lifespan. In fact, Dorney says poor purchasing decisions are more prevalent
than ever with 45 percent of survey respondents believing they were more
likely to make a poor technology decision now, than they were ten years ago. Read
more Why technological change is making IT decisions harder “In our
experience, helping to ensure you’re making the right choices when it comes
to technology can come down to doing your research, taking the time to do an
in-depth comparison of the available offerings and consulting reputable and
experienced providers,” Dorney adds. “If you do the ground work, you’re more
likely to have the foundation you need for a swift and seamless
implementation, selecting the right technology for your business needs.” Outsourcing
experience Outsourcing
provides an economical solution for many businesses when it comes to running
critical technology outside of the team’s capabilities. However, not all
third parties are providing the levels of customer service and output
expected by their clients. More than half (57 percent) of survey respondents
have had a negative outsourcing experience from an IT service provider. The
top reasons for re-thinking an outsourcing policy include: •Moving
to a different provider (41 percent) •The
service continually went down (31 percent) •There
were security concerns (31 percent) Teams
are however learning from these mishaps, using them to shape their purchasing
choices in the future with almost nine out of ten (88 percent) of survey respondents
reporting having learned important lessons from regretful decisions. These
include: •Always
have a second opinion (39 percent) •Better
diligence in researching before implementing (38 percent) •Educate
employees on the benefits of the technology being implemented (37 percent) From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
09/17/2015 99%
of Kiwis Set for 2025 UFB Access as Govt Makes Ambitious Broadband Pledge Recognising
the growing demand for high-speed broadband across New Zealand, and its
importance to regional growth, the Government has announced a bold new
connectivity target for areas outside the UFB footprint. Under this target
virtually all New Zealanders, 99 percent to be precise, regardless of where
they live or work, will be able to access broadband at peak speeds of at
least 50 Mbps by 2025. “Our use of, and reliance on, technology and broadband
connectivity are increasing rapidly,” says Amy Adams, Communications Minister.
“It’s vital that we set aspirational targets to ensure we keep up with this
pace of change. This is about setting a vision of where we want New Zealand
to be in ten years.” According to Adams, by 2025, the Government’s vision
would see 99 percent of New Zealanders able to access broadband at peak
speeds of at least 50 Mbps (up from 97.8 per cent getting at least 5 Mbps
under RBI) with the remaining one percent able to access to 10 Mbps (up from
dial up or non-existent speeds). Adams
claims that rural communities are set to benefit most under the new targets
which mark a ten-fold increase on the current target peak speeds of 5 Mbps
under the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI). “This change will see New Zealand
move from 17th in the world for rural connectivity targets to 7th and ensure
no-one misses out on the opportunities of the digital age,” she claims. “We
want to see all Kiwis, whether urban or rural, with access to the economic
and social opportunities high-speed connectivity brings. We’ve come a long
way already in improving rural connectivity under the RBI and 4G networks,
with average internet speeds having tripled since this Government took
office, but we want to take that even further.” Adams says Budget 2015 set
aside $360 million to extend Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) and the Rural
Broadband Initiative and establish a Mobile Black Spot Fund. The 2025 rural
broadband targets are aligned with the Government’s two-pronged approach to
boosting economic growth across regional New Zealand through the Business
Growth Agenda and Regional Growth Programme. Adams
says fast, reliable broadband allows rural and farming communities and
regions to remove the barriers and disadvantages of distance, and provided
opportunities for them to raise productivity, attract and retain staff, and
compete on a national and global stage. “The targets send a critical signal
to industry and consumers,” she adds. “They will provide guidance for
industry investment, regulators, and the Government’s broader policy
settings. They also recognise the importance we attach to connectivity as a
critical enabler of economic growth.” The
target date aligns with completion of existing connectivity programmes which
are timed as follows: #
RBI phase one due for completion December 2016 #
4G rollout requirements due for completion August 2019 #
UFB phase one build due for completion December 2019 #
UFB phase two currently planned for completion 2022 (subject to contract) #
RBI phase two completion subject to tender process #
Rural broadband target of 50 Mbps for 99 per cent by 2025 From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
10/07/2015 Boost for
Rural Hospitals as NZ Broadband Rollout Finishes All
rural public hospitals and integrated family health centres now have access
to high speed broadband across New Zealand, as revealed by Health Minister
Jonathan Coleman and Communications Minister Amy Adams. According to Dr
Coleman, the 39 hospitals and integrated family health centres identified by
DHBs as candidates for the government’s Rural Broadband Initiative are now
all able to connect to fibre capable of peak speeds of at least 100 Mbps.
“Faster broadband enables healthcare to be delivered in new and innovative
ways,” Dr Coleman adds. “These e-Health solutions offer better, safer, more
efficient healthcare closer to home. “A good example of this is Telehealth.
This technology enables patients to be seen by their health professional
remotely which improves health monitoring, lowers healthcare costs, and gives
more flexibility to patients and health professionals. Telehealth not only
breaks down geographic barriers within New Zealand, but it also enables
health practitioners to more easily discuss cases and exchange information with
colleagues all over the world.” Adams says high speed connectivity is
changing the way Kiwis live, work and do business and the opportunities to
use this connectivity to help improve the quality of healthcare in New
Zealand is enormous. “We’ve
come a long way already in improving rural connectivity and this latest
milestone shows the RBI is making a difference to hospitals and health
centres in rural areas as well as farmers, schools, families and households,”
Adams adds. Going forward, Adams says the government is now focused on
extending RBI to as many Kiwis as possible. “We’ve allocated an extra $100
million to expand the Rural Broadband programme as well as $50 million to
improve mobile coverage in black spot areas along main highways and in popular
tourist destinations,” Adams adds. “We’ve also got a bold 2025 target for
rural broadband and are proud to be putting rural connectivity at the heart
of our regional economy development strategy.” According to Adams, benefits
of high speed internet for healthcare include real-time transmission of
medical imagery enables the interpretation of MRI, ultrasound, X-rays, and
other diagnostic procedures to be performed remotely. In addition, the
completion now allows for video conferencing between doctors, specialists and
patients assists in remote diagnoses and faster delivery of care. From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
11/16/2015 Spark
Digital Draws on Innovative ICT Services Following Govt Deal Spark
Digital has been appointed to the Telecommunications as a Service (TaaS)
panel in multiple categories, as the government looks to draw on the telco’s
IT service offerings and investment in infrastructure. As one of New
Zealand’s largest ICT providers for New Zealand government agencies, Spark
Digital CEO Tim Miles was quick to praise the government on creating its new
model for delivering services. “TaaS will simplify the way our customers
interact with us and consume their services, it’s the new standard for how
telecommunications is delivered and purchased,” Miles says. “We have brought
together world-class tools and services with our significant investment in
infrastructure to ensure our customers have the best ICT services available.
Spark Digital is uniquely positioned to provide Desktop as a Service,
Infrastructure as a Service (through Revera), IT Managed Services, Hardware
and Licencing and now - Telecommunications as a Service. We are connecting
all IaaS data centres with high speed optical infrastructure making fast
access to secure information a reality for our clients, and by shifting the
focus to ‘digital first’ we’ll enable a more efficient public sector who will
provide better services to New Zealand citizens and businesses. The next step
will see us roll out this new way of purchasing to our private sector
clients.” Miles says the TaaS supplier panel will provide a range of
cross-government telecommunications and managed security services sourced
from a competitive, innovative market which are easy for agencies to access
and assist agencies to provide better public services. In keeping with the
government message, Miles says TaaS aims to change the way telecommunications
services are managed and used by government agencies. The panel is
administered by the Government Chief Information Officer at the Department of
Internal Affairs, and reflects the goals of the Government ICT Strategy and
Action Plan. From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
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EUROPE: Case C-362/14 Maximilian Schrems v Data Protection
Commissioner Following today’s judgment of the CJEU in Case C-362/14
Maximilian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner invalidating the “Safe
Harbour” Decision, IAB Europe calls on the European Commission and the U.S.
government to address the various issues and obstacles identified by the
Court, and swiftly put in place a new framework enabling the safe transfer of
EU citizens’ personal data between the EU and the U.S. for commercial purposes.
“International data transfers are the life blood of the digital economy”,
said Townsend Feehan, IAB Europe CEO. “Today’s ruling brings with it
significant uncertainty as to the future possibility for such transfers. All
parties must now ensure that those transfers, on which the EU’s digital
economy so critically depends, may continue in a manner that enables
continued growth and innovation, while providing adequate protection for EU
citizens’ personal data.” IAB Europe believes that the new framework should provide a
level playing field and the legal certainty that today’s ruling has called
into question, and ensure effective enforcement by U.S. authorities of data
protection commitments entered into by companies operating under it.
Predictable rules are imperative for the achievement of the EU’s digital
single market. This way, companies of all sizes will be able to reap the
benefits of the global digital economy. Today’s ruling is also an opportunity
to strengthen transatlantic cooperation, and we urge the U.S. and EU to seize
that opportunity. In the meantime, we look to the European Commission to
quickly issue guidance to companies that depend on Safe Harbour for their
data flows to the U.S. From http://www.i-policy.org/
10/07/2015 Privacy Groups Hail 'Freedom from Surveillance' in European
Court's Facebook Ruling Private industry was in a rage while privacy groups were elated
on Tuesday over a new ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) affirming
European citizens’ right to privacy from American tech companies. On Tuesday,
the European court ruled in favor of Max Schrems, an Austrian graduate
student who asked that EU’s data protection commissioner bar Facebook from
transmitting his personal data to the US on the grounds that many tech firms
had cooperated with the National Security Agency. Transmission of personal
data had previously been covered by a “safe harbor” agreement between Europe
and the US that allowed tech firms to share the data with explicit consent
from their customers. Businesses that operate in Europe must now make sure
they are compliant with the EU’s own laws before they subject their
customers’ personal information to laxer restrictions in the US, the court
said. The advertising industry was not pleased. “Today’s decision by the European Court of Justice jeopardizes
thousands of businesses across the Atlantic,” said Mike Zaneis, executive
vice-president of public policy and general counsel for the Interactive
Advertising Bureau, who called the overturned provision “an efficient means
to comply with EU privacy law”. “The weakening of the Safe Harbor agreement
limits European consumers’ access to valuable digital services and impedes
trade and innovation,” said Zaneis. “We urge the US and EU to agree on new
rules for the transatlantic transfer of data, taking into account the CJEU’s
judgment.” Evan Greer, campaign director for internet activist group Fight
for the Future, said: “The ECJ has confirmed what the vast majority of
internet users already know: large US-based tech companies have been deeply
complicit in mass government surveillance, and have traded their users’ most
basic rights for a cozy relationship with the US government. While the
discussion around NSA spying has far too often focused only on the rights of
US citizens, the ECJ ruling is a reminder that freedom from indiscriminate
surveillance is a basic human right that should be protected for everyone,
regardless of where they live.” Advertisement Tech giants such as Facebook, Apple and Google have long planned
for a loss and are likely to fall back on their own user agreements to allow
them to transmit data overseas or use their own legal status within Europe to
circumnavigate the ruling. “Facebook, like many thousands of European companies,
relies on a number of the methods prescribed by EU law to legally transfer
data to the US from Europe, aside from Safe Harbor. “It is imperative that EU
and US governments ensure that they continue to provide reliable methods for
lawful data transfers and resolve any issues relating to national security,”
said a Facebook spokesperson. The judgement is likely to be “good news for
lawyers” for years to come, said one tech executive, and likely to
disproportionately hit smaller tech companies. James Kinsella, a former Microsoft exec who runs European
privacy law compliance company Zettabox, said flatly that the new regulation
would not stifle trade. “It will require that companies doing business in
Europe understand where they are putting their customers’ data. To say it
will stifle is like saying, ‘requiring seatbelts in cars stifled car sales.’
No, it didn’t. It made cars safe; it made auto travel a more reliable form of
transportation. It made the car an even more desirable and dependable form of
transportation. So, too, with cloud services. At the moment, companies are
putting their ‘passengers/customers’ data in the back seat without a seat
belt.” Kinsella also saw at least one area of industry that would benefit
immediately from the ruling: European cloud storage. “It will help boost the
cloud services business here, in Europe, which will be a good thing for
everyone, because it will generate more competition and require that all
providers consider new rules (like the GDPR) that will make ALL data safer
for everyone.” From http://www.theguardian.com/ 10/07/2015 EU
Declares Information War on Russia The European Union’s foreign affairs department said Thursday it
was launching a rapid-response team to counter what it considers biased
Russian media reports. The unit, which will include up to 10 Russian-speaking
officials and media professionals from EU member states, will be fully
operational by the end of September and will be part of the European External
Action Service (EEAS). Officials say it is a first step in the EEAS’s
response to growing concern in eastern Europe and EU Baltic states about the
destabilizing influence of Russian-language news reports. The EEAS was tasked
by the European Council in March with coming up with a response to what EU
leaders described as “Russia’s ongoing disinformation campaign,” with a
specific request that the EEAS establish a “communication team” as a “first
step” in fighting back. The team, which will be based in the EEAS’s Brussels
headquarters, falls short of requests from Latvia that the EU establish a
full-blown, EU-funded Russian-language television channel, to provide an
alternative source of news to Russian-speakers in both EU and “eastern
partnership” countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and
Belarus). Officials Thursday stressed the limited scope of the team and were
adamant its role would be to improve EU communications with Russian-speaking
communities and not to be producing Brussels-funded propaganda. “This is
mostly about reinforcing our existing actions,” said an EU official. “It’s more
about reallocating resources and doing more to reinforce that and communicate
better.” The team’s role would be to improve EU communications with
Russian-speaking communities — not to produce Brussels-funded propaganda. The unit, which includes Russian-language experts from the U.K.,
Latvia and Sweden, will be attached to the EEAS’s existing communications
team. The EU member states will pay the salaries of the personnel, but the
unit has not been allocated a budget. “The team will carry out media monitoring
and will work on the development of communication products and media
campaigns focused on explaining EU policies in the region,” the official
said. However, the EEAS said it has neither the resources nor the mandate to
go beyond the capabilities of the new unit and the funding of TV channels in
Russian was not on the cards. “This is not about engaging in
counter-propaganda,” the EU official said. “However, where necessary the EU
will respond to disinformation that directly targets the EU and will work …
to raise awareness of these activities.” The unit’s daily routine will consist of monitoring Russian
media and suggesting ways for EU institutions to tailor their media strategy
to counter Russian broadcasts, in a bid to win the hearts and minds of eastern
partnership audiences. In June, a study funded by the Dutch government
recommended the creation of a Russian-language “content factory” that would
produce entertainment and documentary programs, alongside news and current
affairs broadcast from a “news hub.” An EU official said the department had
not been approached by Euronews, a multilingual broadcaster which last year
received �25.5 million from the EU, to expand its Russian- and
Ukrainian-language programming as part of the EU’s response. From http://www.politico.eu/
08/30/2015 Snowden
Criticizes Russia for Crackdown on Internet Freedom Edward Snowden, the U.S. intelligence leaker granted asylum in
Russia in August 2013, has criticized his country of residence for its
crackdown on Internet freedom and gay rights in a speech after receiving a
Norwegian prize, British daily The Guardian reported Saturday. Snowden, 32,
was awarded the Norwegian Academy of Literature and Freedom of Expression's
Bjornson prize for his work on the right to privacy, the report said. The
former NSA contractor, who is wanted in the U.S. on charges of theft and
espionage and therefore cannot leave Russia for fear of arrest, participated
in the awards ceremony via videophone from Russia. In his acceptance speech,
he condemned the country's tightening grip over online activities and
treatment of gay people as "fundamentally wrong." "This drive that we see in the Russian government to
control more and more the Internet, to control more and more what people are
seeing, even parts of personal lives, deciding what is the appropriate or
inappropriate way for people to express their love for one another … [is]
fundamentally wrong," Snowden was cited by The Guardian as saying. He
described the restrictive use of intelligence monitoring by governments as
useless and said January's deadly attack at the editorial offices of
satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris proved that surveillance does not
necessarily keep citizens safe. "In the Charlie Hebdo attacks, for
example, the intelligence services say: 'Oh yes, we knew who these people
were.' But it didn't stop the attack," Snowden was cited by The Guardian
as saying. From http://www.themoscowtimes.com/ 09/08/2015 Russian
Censor Blocks Two Independent Crimean Internet Publications One of the anti-Putin billboards reported on Sobytiya Kryma,
found while looking in vain for ’calls to mass disturbances and extremism’.
Russia’s Roskomnadzor, officially Russia’s media regulatory body, has
informed two websites providing information about events in Crimea that they
are to be blocked on Russian territory, including Russian-occupied Crimea.
The letters sent to both Sobytiya Kryma [Events in Sobytiya Kryma states that this is a new precedent in the use of
sanctions against the Crimean electronic media. It doubtless is, but the fact
that two websites have been targeted simultaneously, suggests that a major
crackdown on this last bastion of the independent press available to Crimeans
is underway. Certainly the de
facto prosecutor, Natalya Poklonskaya recently stated that a number of
websites had been blocked as ‘extremist’, but gave no details. The two
Internet publications targeted so far are independent and present both an
alternative view of events in On Oct 3, for example, Sobytiya Kryma reported that a Sevastopol
bus driver was being checked out for ‘extremism’ after being denounced by a
passenger for listening to supposedly “anti-Russian jokes” on the Ukrainian
programme ’95 Kvartal’. It also informs, citing the Ukrainian newspaper Dzerkalo
Tyzhnya, that Olha Tymoshenko, former head of the Yevpatoria Ukrainian
School, would face prosecution on two charges of ‘separatism’ if she returns
to Crimea. Tymoshenko told
Dzerkalo Tyzhnya that the occupation regime is claiming that she was planning
to come to Yevpatoria on May 9 [Victory Day] in order to carry out a
‘terrorist act’. She explains
also that in Spring 2014, she was forced to resign, being told that if she
didn’t, they’d come up with some criminal charge against her. The site also
shows “yet another Putin-Hitler” piece of graffiti, citing a Kerch
publication. The Centre for Journalist Investigations has long been a target
for Russia’s FSB, although, like Sobytiya Krym, the site and many of its
journalists moved to Kyiv fairly soon after Russia’s occupation. That they were wise to do so became
abundantly clear back in March this year when Natalya Kokorina, an editor for
the Centre was detained and subjected to around 6 hours interrogation in
Simferopol and a 4-hour search was carried out of her parents’ home. Kokorina was questioned as a witness
over an article published by the Centre about Crimeans fighting in Donbas and
their hope for Crimea’s return to Ukraine. The author of the article, Anna
Andriyevska would face criminal prosecution if she returned to Crimea, and
her parents have faced harassment (a detailed account of the article in
question can be found at Wave of Repression against Independent Crimean
Journalists). In its 2015 Freedom of the Press report, Freedom House assesses
Crimea under Russian occupation separately – and damningly - as one of the
ten “worst of the worst”. It is
rated at 94 on a scale to 100 (where 100 is the worst), against Russia at 83,
and Syria and Iran at 90. Ukraine
this year is at 58. 18 months after Russian invaded and occupied Crimea, most
Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian-language media have been silenced or forced to
move to mainland Ukraine. One
blogger, Yury Ilchenko, is in custody, almost certainly in connection with
articles where he condemned Russia’s annexation of his native Crimea. Other bloggers and journalists, or
their families, have faced enough harassment and threats to make it clear
that they would be in danger in Russian-occupied Crimea. There are ways of
bypassing such blocks, but the fact that they are now being imposed is the
latest blow for freedom of expression and access to information in Crimea
under occupation. From http://khpg.org/
10/06/2015 Efamro
Guidance on Safe Harbour and Russia Data Following the Court of Justice of the European Union’s ruling on
the transfer of personal data between the EU and US, and the introduction of
the Russian data localisation law, Efamro (the European Research Federation)
has issued recommendations for research companies affected. It said that a
working party will meet on 15th October to discuss the implications of the
rejection of the Safe Harbour scheme and that in the meantime market research
agencies relying on Safe Harbour to justify personal data transfers to the US
needed to make alternative arrangements. To be compliant Efamro recommends
agencies first check which data transfers are affected and then finding
alternative ways of ensuring protection. Meanwhile, the Russia Data Localisation Law which came into
effect on September 1, 2015 states that organisations collecting data from
Russian citizens must store that it on databases located within Russia
itself. It only applies to data collected after September 1, 2015. Efamro’s
guidance notes point out that “the obligation to store personal data in
Russia applies to seven types of data processing and is summed up in the law
as follows: recording, systematisation, accumulation, storage, updating, changing
or retrieval of personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation.”
Personal data means any information directly or indirectly related to any
identified or potentially identifiable person and is likely to include name,
date and place of birth and address. From http://www.research-live.com/ 10/13/2015 LATIN
AMERICA: Brazil's Internet Freedom Is Under Attack Safety or spying? To many internet users, freedom of speech is sacrosanct. The
internet offers a safe space in which to express one’s opinion without fear
of reprisals. Well, this was once the case. In recent years, and particularly
over the past decade, the monitoring of people’s internet usage has been on
the rise. This can be seen as a positive or a negative. The key issue is that
this is open to abuse – and it has been used as such. What might once one day
be used to foil terrorist plots, might be used to keep tabs on public protest
and general dissent the next. What could be used to stop drug trafficking,
could be used to target the opposition. The debate over whether individual
liberties should be surrendered for a perceived ‘greater good’ has been
waging on for years. But the battle has always been one-sided. Brazil may be
the latest country to take the axe to internet freedom. Brazil’s liberal internet laws Brazil has a robust set of laws and rules regarding the
internet. Enshrined in law, a set of protocols known as the ‘Marco Civil’,
‘The Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet’, set the rules of
engagement for the online world. Transcribed as legislation in May 2014, the
Marco Civil states its aims are to ‘establish the principles, guarantees,
rights, and obligations for the use of the internet in Brazil’. The key
provision of this law is the ‘guarantee of freedom of speech, communication,
and expression of thought, in accordance to the Federal Constitution’.
Perhaps surprisingly for legislation pertaining to the internet, these laws
allow significant freedoms. But this may be about to change. There can often be a fine line between libel and criticism. But
all too often, this line is drawn by the subject in question, and time again,
this is drawn far to thinly. A new raft of bills concerning internet
behaviour are set to be tabled at From http://www.businessinsider.com/ 10/07/2015 Brazil
Major Target of Cyberattacks in Latin America Brazil is the biggest target of cyber attacks in Latin America,
according to an advanced threat report by global IT security firm FireEye for
Latin America. Chile is second, followed by Mexico, Peru and Argentina. Since
the beginning of the year, FireEye recorded a significant increase in the
number of attacks in the region. In terms of sectors, the
chemistry/manufacturing/mining sector was the most impacted by cyberattacks
in Latin America, while telecommunications came in eighth place and
entertainment/media in tenth. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 10/28/2015 NORTH
AMERICA: U.S. - Aggressive Cybersecurity Strategy Offers Greater Information,
Protection Organizations with sensitive data are having to look more
carefully than ever before at how they approach their cybersecurity
strategies in the face of more organized threats. One expert advocates for
collecting and sharing information to better thwart bad actors. SANTA CLARA,
Calif. — When it comes to cybersecurity, there are two strategies. The first
is reactive and is put into motion once security protocols have failed. The
second, the proactive approach, can take you down the proverbial rabbit hole
and into a world of intelligence gathering that puts you across the virtual
table from those who might be coming for your secured data. At least this is
how Alert Logic’s Stephen Coty described the strategy options to attendees of
the 17th Cloud Expo this week. The longtime cybersecurity expert warned that
system breaches are not the only threats posed by those with access to
sensitive information. He used the case of the recent Ashley Madison breach, in which
the emails of users were compromised, as an example of how a bad actor could
leverage an employee’s organizational data as a tool for blackmail. “It
raises questions for us as security people. How do we get proactive about
that?” Coty said. “We have to search those data dumps as quickly as possible
when they come out because we need to know if we have any exposure out
there.” While comprehensive security tools are considered a necessary best
practice, they are often not enough to completely eliminate the threat of
data loss without additional efforts. “We are getting breached on a
day-to-day basis, and we’ve really got to start getting ahead of these
things. Right now we’re in such a reactive mode,” Coty said. “We defend
against these attacks by deploying security architecture, which is what we’re
supposed to do. This is the right thing to do.” But he warns not all of the
security tools translate effectively to cloud-based systems. Coty also cites the weakness of applications as the No. 1 attack
vector among organizations. Much of this problem stems from the software
development process and the fact that developers are not adequately focusing
on security during the development life cycle. For more effective security,
Coty said the use of a security incident manager can help to compile reports
of a series of events that may otherwise seem unconnected. In his role as the
chief security officer, Coty also advocates for hunting the hunters on
popular underground trading posts and even buys malware from sellers. Through
the use of honeypots, or traps designed to attract and monitor hacking
activity, and the collection of intelligence through relationship building,
Coty said security teams can better assess who might be coming for their
information and how. By purchasing malware available through underground
sources and developing relationships with the sellers, companies can reverse
engineer threats to find the code’s “kill chain” and begin to form a threat
profile. “The better you understand your adversary, the better you’ll be able
to be proactive about [security],” he said. According to Coty, companies and
their security teams need to be more focused on information sharing as a
preventative tool for the larger security community. “This is the key to
getting preventative and getting ahead of these guys, but it doesn’t stop
just with you,” he said. “We’ve got to start getting better at information
sharing.” From http://www.govtech.com/
11/06/2015 Imation
to Showcase Leading Data Protection Solutions at VMworld 2015 Imation (IMN), a global data storage and information security
company, today announced that it will lead the conversation around protecting
high-value data at next week’s VMworld® conference in San Francisco. As
information and mobility become increasingly critical, so do the methods for
storing and protecting that information in virtual environments. Imation will
demonstrate how it has developed a family of solutions and its recently announced
Secure Data Movement Architecture (SDMA™) to help organizations best
identify, store and protect their high-value data while reducing complexity
and costs. Be sure to visit Imation’s booth and attend the company’s events
throughout the week: Booth – #2323; Imation solutions will be available for
demonstration and discussion Breakfast Event – Join Imation and industry analyst George Crump
of Storage Switzerland for a free breakfast and engaging storage discussion
on Tuesday, Sept. 1 from 7 to 8:30 a.m. at Sears Fine Foods near Union
Square. For more details and to register, click here; space is limited.
vBrisket VMworld Party – Join us at SouthPaw BBQ at 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 31
to gather with other VMware fanatics. Listen to guest speakers and enjoy some
great smoked BBQ. For more details and to register, click here; space is
limited. Because of a growing range of internal and external threats, it’s
never been more critical for organizations – especially those with
virtualized IT infrastructures – to ensure their high-value data is safe and
secure. Imation launched two new solutions earlier this year to help with
this: Lock & Key, a new feature of the Imation’s Nexsan Assureon™
secure archive solution, enables organizations to enhance their security
strategies by requiring a second factor of authentication for storage
administrators to gain access to storage systems. By using their access
credentials and an encrypted, tamper-resistant, industry-leading IronKey™
secure storage device, administrators will be able to access a secure
management user interface for one or more of Imation’s Nexsan Assureon
storage systems no matter where they are. Imation Secure Data Discovery is
interactive software that helps IT administrators assess the value of their
file data based on the ages and types of files they have. Secure Data
Discovery analyzes how many of an organization’s files are considered
high-value data, how much disk space those files use and how much primary
storage capacity can be saved by offloading less frequently accessed
high-value data to secure archive solution for long term protection. Lock & Key and Secure Data Discovery are components of
Imation’s SDMA, which helps IT administrators actively manage their
high-value data files and protect them from tampering, destruction, loss or
leakage through their entire lifecycle. SDMA empowers end users to manage
their own policy for protecting their high-value data in addition to enabling
organizational control and management policies. It also addresses the need to
safeguard data files throughout the data lifecycle. Imation also proudly
offers the deep Nexsan portfolio of purpose-built storage solutions, which
enable users to deploy the right storage products for the right application.
The Nexsan product lines are: Imation’s Nexsan Assureon™ is a set of secure
storage solutions that reduce storage cost by offloading and deduplicating
data from primary storage that is infrequently used or has aged by policy.
Imation’s Nexsan E-Series™ is a family of high-density, high-performance and
highly reliable storage solutions that can be directly attached or networked
to workstations and servers. Imation’s Nexsan NST™ is a set of flexible
hybrid storage appliances that scale to meet mid-sized organization
application and storage needs with unified NAS and SAN access capabilities in
a single solution. VMworld, hosted by VMware, offers thousands of attendees
training, sessions and access to a wealth of technology partners on topics
such as virtualization best practices, building a private cloud, leveraging
the public cloud, managing desktops as a service, virtualizing enterprise
applications and more. For more information, visit www.vmworld.com. From http://finance.yahoo.com/ 08/26/2015 Web
Cookies Open the Door to Remote Site Compromise Attention, webmasters: Insecure website cookies set via HTTP
requests may allow a remote attacker to obtain private information from a
victim's HTTPS session, warns DHS-CERT. The problem is this: A cookie can
contain a “secure” flag, indicating that it should be sent over only an HTTPS
connection. Yet, there is no corresponding flag to indicate how a cookie was
set. That means that attackers who act as a man-in-the-middle even
temporarily on an HTTP session can inject cookies that will be attached to
subsequent HTTPS connections—and use them to obtain data. Cookies are vastly
common—websites use them to remember returning visitors and to track their
activities. But, HTTP cookies have long been known to lead to potential
security issues—as outlined by the authors of the cookie code, RFC 6265. One section of the code explains that cookies do not provide
integrity guarantees for sibling domains (and their subdomains), and that
sometimes, websites will be unable to distinguish a sibling site’s cookie
from a cookie it set itself. So, an attacker might be able to leverage this ability
to mount an attack against the sister site using the original site’s server.
Similarly, cookies as coded do not provide isolation by port. If a cookie is
readable by a service running on one port, the cookie is also readable by a
service running on another port of the same server. If a cookie is writable
by a service on one port, the cookie is also writable by a service running on
another port of the same server. They also don’t provide isolation by scheme. “Although most commonly used with the http and https schemes,
the cookies for a given host might also be available to other schemes, such
as ftp and gopher,” the authors of the cookie code explained. “Since RFC 6265
does not specify any mechanism to provide isolation and integrity guarantees,
web browser implementations do not always authenticate the domain setting a
cookie.” That means that a malicious attacker can utilize this to set a
cookie that is later used via an HTTPS connection instead of the cookie set
by the actual site; for example, an attacker may set bogus cookies for a site
that override the real cookie when the victim is loading HTTPS content. By
exploiting other weaknesses in the server, the attacker-controlled cookie may
be used to obtain private information. Some web browser vendors have noted that previous attempts at
more secure cookie management have been foiled due to the lack of a widely
implemented standard. DHS-CERT explained that a complete solution may include
future updates to RFC 6265 and/or RFC 6454 to enable safer handling of
cookies via an updated same origin policy for cookies, but for now, there are
workarounds to help mitigate the issue. Webmasters should deploy HSTS (RFC
6797) on the top-level domain they control, and utilize the
"includeSubDomains" option. This partially mitigates the attacker's
ability to set top-level cookies that may override subdomain cookies. If
using Internet Explorer, they should update to IE 11 or later. HSTS support
was added to IE11 in June 2015. From http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/
09/30/2015 CEOs
and Governments Should Treat Digital Security as an Economic Risk Digital security risk should be treated as an economic rather
than a technical issue, and should be part of an organisation’s overall risk
management and decision-making, according to a new OECD Recommendation to
member countries. A global, interconnected, open and dynamic digital
environment brings considerable business and economic opportunities - and
holds even more promise as the Internet of Things and Big Data become
pervasive. But countries and businesses are increasingly exposed to digital
security threats that are growing in both number and sophistication. The OECD
Recommendation on Digital Security Risk Management says that leaders and CEOs
in the public and private sectors should take specific responsibility for the
issue and integrate it into overall planning, rather than treating it solely
as a technology matter. “Digital risk cannot be eliminated, and a totally
secure digital environment is impossible if you want to reap the economic
potential it opens up,” said OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Director
Andrew Wyckoff. “But digital risk can be managed effectively. The leaders of
an organisation are best-placed to steer the cultural and organisational
changes needed to reduce this risk to an acceptable level.” The OECD, whose
last Recommendation on digital security was in 2002, offers eight principles
to guide digital security risk management, including on the responsibility of
different actors, co-operation between stakeholders and the role of
innovation. It recommends that countries adopt national plans to identify
measures to prevent, detect, respond to and recover from digital security
incidents. From http://www.oecd.org/
10/01/2015 Guarding
Against Online Risk: The Battle Against Cybercrime As our societies become ever more digitised, the online environment
also becomes an increasingly tempting target for criminals and terrorists.
With more personal information stored digitally all the time, cybercrime is
now a highly organised industry that is, in effect, also a global 'rent a
hacker' black market. It offers massive profits to those who make a living
from undermining the personal security and privacy of others. This is an
unfortunate reality. Its scale is alarming and the problem is growing. While
not always carried out for profit, a cyber-attack happens every minute
somewhere in the world. More than 150,000 viruses and other types of
malicious code are in circulation. At least a million people are victims of
cybercrime daily, although it is also thought that many attacks go unnoticed.
Attacks against companies can generate many millions in costs, not to mention
the catastrophic market loss and reputational damage. The devastating digital
attack on Sony Pictures in late 2014 showed that our systems are still
vulnerable. Unsurprisingly, security against such incidents has become
central to consumer confidence and the online economy. People are naturally
concerned by the risks: a survey published this year showed that 85% of
internet users across the EU thought the risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime
is increasing. We cannot get the best out of the opportunities offered by
digital tools and online networks if we do not trust them. People will
hesitate to use e-services if they are not confident that they are reliable,
safe and secure. They may actually choose not to use them at all. We have to
stay one step ahead, to be ready to anticipate and respond to new security
challenges. Just as importantly, we have to be constantly on guard and aware
of potential as well as actual threats. The same survey showed that only 47%
of Europeans feel well informed about the risks of cybercrime. Raising awareness of the risks and threats, as well as the fact
that cybersecurity is a shared responsibility, are the main objectives of a
campaign to be held across Europe throughout October: European Cybersecurity
Month. In some 150 different events being organised in more than 25
countries, people will be able to learn more about online security and how to
secure data and information online to protect against threat. Building trust
and confidence in the online environment and fighting cybercrime also
requires strengthening cybersecurity activities in general. Here, the
European Union already works on a number of fronts, from promoting a better
internet for children to bolstering international cooperation on
cybersecurity as a way to fight cybercrime. However, since we have to be
tough against the rising attacks in such an important and sensitive area, the
legislation has to be tough as well. The EU's directive on attacks against information systems, for
example, came into force in 2013 and is designed to help EU countries deal
with large-scale attacks against businesses and government organisations. It
penalises illegal access, system and data interference, among other areas. We
are progressing well with the reform of the EU's rules on data protection,
which will strengthen legal certainty and trust in the digital marketplace. I
very much hope this will be in place by the end of the year; it will be the
first step in our Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy to align the EU's
different national rules and also increase trust in digital services. This
will be followed by a reform of the ePrivacy directive to ensure a high
degree of privacy protection for individuals using communication services,
regardless of the technologies used. Another urgent objective is to finalise negotiations on the
network and information security directive. It is vital to get this agreed
and in place as soon as possible, something which EU leaders themselves
called for back in June. The directive will be the first comprehensive piece
of EU legislation on cybersecurity and a fundamental building block for our
future work. Once in place, it will require companies in critical sectors –
such as energy, transport, banking and health – to adopt risk management
practices and report major incidents that can affect the DSM to their
national authorities which will, in turn, be able to carry out more
capacity-building with better cross-border cooperation inside the EU. Cybersecurity is the first line of defence against cybercrime,
which is by its very nature borderless, flexible and innovative. These days, cybercriminals are only
limited by their imagination, so we have to be able to match and anticipate
their ingenuity. Raising awareness is already a great step forward - and so I
wish the European Cybersecurity Month campaign every success - because then,
when they are online, people can make better informed choices and guard
against risks. Cybersecurity is a matter for everyone, a shared
responsibility. Like the internet itself, cyber-attacks do not recognise
borders. We are all in this together and need to help each other to fight a
negative global phenomenon. From https://ec.europa.eu/
10/04/2015 Facing
Mass Surveillance and Other Threats to Privacy and Freedom of Expression -
Council of Europe at the 2015 Internet Governance Forum The world has been shaken by the revelations on electronic mass
surveillance. The protection of personal data across virtual borders and the
potential chilling effect of threats to privacy on freedom of expression are
the subject of intense debate and controversy. What have governments, the
private sector and civil society done concerning these problems so far? How
should they address them in the future? The Council of Europe aims to discuss
these and other questions with representatives of governments, business and
civil society at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to be held in João
Pessoa, Brazil, from 10 to 13 November – including with Maximillian Schrems,
an activist who litigated against Facebook in a recent case concerning the
Safe Harbour data transfer pact between the EU and the USA. At the IGF, which
is organised every year by the United Nations to discuss public policies
concerning the Internet, the Organisation will share with other stakeholders
its most recent work to promote and protect human rights on the Internet. In
an Open forum, the Council of Europe will present the work of its
Parliamentary Assembly on mass surveillance, including a Resolution adopted
in April which stated that the mass surveillance practices disclosed by US
whistleblower Edward Snowden “endanger fundamental human rights”. The Assembly
also called for the collection and analysis of personal data without consent
only following a court order granted on the basis of reasonable suspicion,
better judicial and parliamentary control of intelligence services, and an
effective protection for whistle-blowers exposing unlawful surveillance. Participants will discuss Council of Europe policy guidelines on
Internet freedom currently being prepared and its Platform to promote the
protection of journalism and safety of journalists, which by 1 November had
received 88 alerts of media freedom violations in Europe. Other topics on the
agenda are the challenges to preserving the confidentiality of journalists’
sources, how to ensure a safe online environment for journalists, and the
question of if there is a slide towards online censorship in which both
governments and private actors play a role. In another open forum
co-organised by the Council of Europe and the Office of the High Commissioner
of Human Rights of the United Nations, participants will analyse the current
challenges to the right to privacy, and in particular, what governments, the
private sector and civil society have done with regard to the revelations of
mass surveillance. Joe Cannataci, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy,
will address the participants. From http://www.i-policy.org/
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China, U.S. Reach Important Consensus on Fighting Cyber Crimes:
Xi China and the United States have reached important consensus on
the joint fight against cyber crimes, visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping
said Friday, stressing bilateral dialogue and cooperation on cyber issues. At
a joint press conference with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House,
Xi said China and the United States have agreed to step up investigation
assistance and information sharing on cyber crime cases. Both governments
would not engage in or knowingly support online theft of intellectual
property, he said, adding that the two sides will explore the formulation of
appropriate norms of behavior in cyber space. The two countries have also
agreed to establish a high-level dialogue mechanism on the fight against
cyber crimes, said the Chinese president. In addition, Xi expressed the hope
that cyber issues would not turn into a point of confrontation between the
two sides. "China and the United States are two major countries in the
internet sphere and we should strengthen dialogue and cooperation," Xi
said. "Confrontation and friction are not the right choice for both
sides." At the press conference, Obama said the United States and China
have made "significant progress" in agreeing to how the two
countries can work together, exchange information, and go after individuals
or entities that are engaging in cyber crimes or cyber attacks. He also underlined the importance for the From http://www.news.cn/
09/26/2015 China to Enhance Crackdown on Infringement, Counterfeit on
Internet The Chinese government will do more on intellectual property
infringement and counterfeiting in e-commerce. About three years will be
required to "effectively curb" the practices which are increasing.
Government supervision, self-regulation by the industry and public
participation will bring healthy development to e-commerce, according to a
circular issued by the State Council General Office. There will be campaigns
in agriculture, food, drugs, cosmetics, medical equipment, electric products,
auto parts as well as house decoration materials, according to a post on the
central government's website on Saturday. Big data, cloud computing, the
Internet of things, and mobile Internet will be used in the campaigns,
according to the circular. Internet providers are urged to cooperate with
authorities. Enterprises providing distribution, storage, mail and express
services should insist on real-name systems. The government will enhance law
enforcement and encourage information sharing among regions. Cross-border
coordination will be improved, the circular said. The government will also
publish "black lists." From http://www.news.cn/
11/07/2015 China, US Prepare for Launching Dialogue to Fight Cybercrime Senior Chinese and U.S. officials met in Beijing on Thursday to
prepare for the launch of a high-level joint dialogue mechanism to fight
cybercrime, hoping to take a further step on cyber cooperation. Alejandro
Mayorkas, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, led representatives from
Homeland Security, the State Department, Department of Justice, National
Security Council and the FBI. They will visit China from Wednesday to Friday.
The From http://www.chinagate.cn/
11/13/2015 Beware: 11% of Free WiFi Sites Pose Dangers A security company's recent investigation of the security of
free WiFi connections at public venues indicates those joining unknown
networks to avoid telecom fees may be paying an unexpectedly high price. More
than 11 percent of the 68,000 plus WiFi networks at major public places－including
airports, railway stations, scenic spots and shopping malls in Beijing,
Shanghai and Guangzhou－were
unsafe, said RainRaid, an independent information security consultancy based
in Shanghai. The company's six-month investigation found users of the unsafe
sites risked theft of personal and financial information. Its team connected
smartphones to WiFi services as ordinary users, and its equipment tracked
whether a phishing attack ensued. In some cases, criminals disguised the
insecure WiFi access as a government or business center service for the
public. "The names may seem pretty similar to regular WiFi services, and
users will show little suspicion," said Yao Wei, RainRaid's founder. The
attackers may obtain users' personal information, such as e-mail user names
and passwords. More seriously, they may siphon off payments or money
transfers meant for others. Shanghai municipal government issued a warning
last week about several bogus WiFi hot spots similar to i-Shanghai, the free
wireless Internet service provided by the government at 450 public sites in
the city. The fakes included "1-Shanghai", "i-ShangHai"
and "i-shanghai". When residents connect their smartphones to the official
i-Shanghai site, they are only required to enter their mobile phone numbers.
The sham sites request names, ID numbers, and social media user names and
passwords, which will be stolen by those who set up the fake access, the
notice said. One recommended countermeasure is to avoid free WiFi sites that
do not require users to log in. "A notable characteristic of the
phishing WiFi is that people don't need to log in when using them, which is
different from regular free WiFi services, which usually require an
identifying code or a code sent to users' phones via text message," said
Jiang Kaida, who works for the network and information center at Shanghai
Jiao Tong University.
From http://www.chinagate.cn/
11/19/2015 JAPAN: Public-Private Joint Efforts Needed to Foster
Cybersecurity Specialists Damage from cyber-attacks has become serious. All-out efforts
must be made jointly by the public and private sectors to bolster protection
measures against them. The government has drafted a new strategy on
cybersecurity, with Cabinet approval scheduled for early September. The
strategy calls for strengthening the functions of the National Center of
Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC), which serves as the
control tower for the government’s cybersecurity policy, to expand the
coverage for its audits and surveillance from the central government offices
alone to independent administrative agencies and special corporations. A
“ready reserve team” will be established to cope with crises. The team will
consist of personnel from the private and public sectors who are engaged in
everyday jobs at ordinary times and equipped with high abilities of analyzing
information and carrying out cybersecurity measures. They will be gathered in
times of emergency. The team should conduct training repeatedly to enhance
effectiveness. Based on a lesson from a massive data breach at the Japan
Pension Service that compromised information on some 1.25 million
subscribers, a new system will be put in place to prevent data breaches even
if a targeted e-mail is opened. It is essential to build a system that will
enable early discovery of computer virus infections to prevent the range of
virus intrusions from expanding. There were 264 cyber-attacks on government
offices in fiscal 2014, which were threatening to cause serious damage such
as information leaks. This was about double the figure recorded in the
previous fiscal year. Beginning in October, individuals will be notified of the
numbers assigned to them before the so-called My Number system for social
security and tax goes into force next January. There is deep concern among
the people about potential leaks of such personal information. The Ise-Shima
G-7 summit will be held in Japan next year while the Tokyo Olympic and
Paralympic Games are set for 2020. The budget for implementation of measures
against cyber-attacks and the personnel for that purpose urgently need to be
augmented. The new cybersecurity strategy calls on private companies to also
beef up measures against cyber-attacks. In addition to fostering engineering
specialists, the strategy calls for information to be shared thoroughly and
promptly between public and private sectors and among firms in times of
cyber-attacks. A system will be introduced under which cybersecurity measures
taken by businesses are evaluated objectively by a third-party body. Active
cooperation is called for on the part of individual companies in this regard. Cybersecurity is now a common agenda for the international
community. The government’s strategy will reportedly call for deepening
cooperation with other countries, including the United States and Southeast
Asian nations, to effectively counter international terrorist groups that
abuse cyberspace. The United States is especially advanced in this field.
Even so, personal information on more than 20 million people was recently
compromised when the entity in charge of administration of personnel affairs
for a government-related organization suffered a cyber-attack. It is
necessary to exchange information steadily with the United States on various
examples of damage and prevention measures so that what is learned from the
exchange can be used effectively as steps to be taken domestically. Setting international
rules on cyberspace is also important. China and North Korea, among others,
are said to have been committing organized cyber-attacks on other countries.
It is not easy to make rules with the participation of such countries, but it
is necessary to proceed with negotiations tenaciously to achieve the goal. From http://the-japan-news.com 08/21/2015 Low Security Consciousness at JPS Exacerbated Pension Data
Breach The Japan Pension Service can hardly be regarded as an
organization properly handling a massive amount of personal information. Its
sloppy information management must be corrected urgently. An in-house
investigation committee at the JPS and a third-party panel at the Health,
Labor and Welfare Ministry have released, separately, reports on the findings
of each of their investigations into an incident in which 1.25 million cases
of personal information, including the basic pension numbers of pension
recipients, were compromised at the JPS. According to the JPS report, the
organization received a total of 124 targeted e-mails carrying a virus from
May 8 to 20. File attachments of five of the e-mails were opened, causing 31
personal computers to be infected with the virus and information to be
compromised within three days from May 21. There were several opportunities
during that period for the JPS to prevent the damage from spreading. However, the organization failed to block further e-mails from
the address used for the first problematic e-mail following its receipt. It
did not confirm properly from mail recipients whether they had opened
attachments, and delayed action to cut off Internet connections for the
entire JPS computer system. JPS President Toichiro Mizushima said during a
news conference Thursday, “I thought we had confirmed whether the attachment
had been opened.” The comment is one indication of the lenient attitude
within JPS of leaving everything to those in charge. It was natural for the
report to say that “a sense of crisis was lacking.” It is also problematic
that sloppy information management has become everyday practice at the JPS.
Personal information was permitted to be stored in an Internet-connected
shared file server when deemed necessary. It can thus be said that the JPS
faced a constant danger of the unauthorized exposure of information. Rules such as setting passwords were not observed and the JPS
did not have a system in place to check what was going on. The report
identified that long-standing problems — carried over from the era of the
JPS’s predecessor, the Social Insurance Agency — including a lack of unity as
an organization, underlie the data breach. At the now defunct SIA, a lack of
control was caused by a three-tier structure for employees, including those
recruited by the SIA’s central and local offices. This led to a number of
scandals, including a huge blunder with pension record-keeping. Such an
organizational culture likely remains pervasive within the JPS. A sweeping
organizational reform is called for, in addition to the bolstering of
information management systems. The welfare ministry’s responsibility is also
grave in this regard. According to the report released by the ministry’s third-party
investigation panel, adequate supervision could not be provided because it
was not clear which department at the ministry was in charge of the JPS’s
information systems. Despite the fact that the JPS had suffered a similar
cyber-attack in April, before it received the targeted e-mail in May, the
ministry provided no information on the incident nor did it issue an alert.
It was natural for welfare minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki to say, “Both the JPS
and the ministry must take responsibility [for the incident].” It is
necessary to ensure that a recurrence of similar incidents is robustly
prevented, and that work proceeds toward restoring confidence in the pension
system. Joint efforts by private and public sectors are sought to deal with
cyber-attacks, which are becoming more ingenious and shrewd. From http://the-japan-news.com 08/22/2015 Filling the Ranks of Japan’s Cyberwarriors in Time for 2020
Olympics Proves a Major Challenge The government has set up new organizations tasked with boosting
cybersecurity in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games —
but filling the slots of these cyberwarriors is proving to be an ongoing
battle. Toshiaki Endo, minister in charge of the Olympic and Paralympic
Games, has acknowledged that securing an adequate number of highly skilled
specialists to combat the threat of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks
is a major challenge for Japan. “Finding a single security hole means a
victory for a hacker. Five years (until the Olympics) is not really enough
time,” a government official said. With society and the economy heavily
reliant on information technology, cyberattacks against government agencies
are increasing exponentially. The number surged nearly fivefold from 1.08
million in fiscal 2012 to 5.08 million in fiscal 2013. And a data breach at
the Japan Pension Service this year deeply eroded public confidence in the
government’s cybersecurity measures. High-profile international events such
as the Olympics tend to be targeted by hackers. During the 2012 London
Olympics, the organizers’ official website was hit by more than 200 million
cyberattacks. That number is almost certain to increase for the 2020 Tokyo
Games, with Endo noting that the figure “may go to another digit.” The government set up a working team on cybersecurity last
October to prepare for the 2020 Games. Based on the basic law on
cybersecurity, which was enacted the following month, the government in
January created a cybersecurity strategy team, headed by Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yoshihide Suga, and the National Center of Incident Readiness and
Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC). The headquarters drafted a new strategy
paper emphasizing measures for the period up to 2020. The draft calls for the
establishment of a Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) for the
2020 Olympics and Paralympics. It would be staffed with dozens of experts
from both the public and private sectors whose job would be to minimize
damage from cyberattacks. Most cyberattacks against government agencies are
blocked, mainly by firewalls. But personnel at the Japan Pension Service
inadvertently opened email messages containing a computer virus attachment.
CSIRT will be responsible for the quick recovery of affected computer
systems, on the premise that “there is no such thing as perfection when it
comes to cybersecurity,” one top government official said. In an effort to
give the team much-needed experience, the headquarters is aiming for a 2018
launch ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and just a year before the Tokyo
Games. For the Olympics, “we are concerned most about disruption caused by
cyberattacks against key infrastructure such as transportation networks and
energy facilities,” a government official said. The NISC has conducted competition-style training for the
cyberattack response capabilities of 12 government ministries and agencies,
as well as an exercise for operators of key infrastructure. It hopes to
promote information-sharing through public-private collaboration. The NISC plans
to boost its staff by employing private-sector engineers on fixed-term
contracts and increasing the number of personnel loaned from government
ministries and agencies. The monitoring and recovery of the computer systems
of government agencies and key infrastructure requires large numbers of
highly skilled personnel. According to an estimate by the
Information-Technology Promotion Agency, Japan, adequate cybersecurity
response would require a total workforce of 350,000. But there are just
265,000 information security engineers in the country, with 160,000 of them
needing to be retrained, the agency said. “Public assistance needs to be
provided for personnel training in the private sector,” said one executive
from a company that works with police in the fight against cybercrimes. From http://www.japantimes.co.jp 08/30/2015 Nearly 90% of People Worried About Cyberattacks, Survey Finds A government survey published Saturday showed that nearly 90
percent of respondents are concerned about possible cyberattacks on Japanese
companies and government bodies. In the poll, conducted by the Cabinet Office
in July, 85.7 percent voiced such concern, while 6.8 percent did not. The
survey also showed that 93.2 percent expected Internet crimes to continue
increasing, with 56.4 percent concerned about using the Internet — up 11
percentage points from the preceding Cabinet Office survey in 2007. In
multiple-answer questions to those who showed concern about cyberattacks,
80.7 percent pointed to the possibility of data leakage through virus
infection, while 65.2 percent were alarmed by national security threats due
to leakage of diplomatic or defense secrets. Loss of international
competitiveness through stealth of advanced technology was mentioned by 53.8
percent. In one of the latest incidents of data leakage due to a cyberattack,
the semigovernmental Japan Pension Service lost data in May on about 1
million people, including their pension numbers, names, birth dates and
addresses. A National Police Agency official said the Cabinet Office survey
reflected increasing anxiety among people about cyberattacks. The survey was
the third of its kind conducted by the Cabinet Office, with a 2004 poll being
the first. The latest poll carried out from July 2-12 drew valid responses
from 57.4 percent of 3,000 adults around the nation. From http://www.japantimes.co.jp 08/30/2015 SOUTH
KOREA: Watchdog to Receive Preliminary Applications for Internet Bank South Korea regulators on Tuesday said they will receive
preliminary applications from consortiums wanting to launch South Korea's
first Internet-only bank. According to the Financial Services Commission and
Financial Supervisory Service, prospective operators will be allowed to
submit applications Wednesday through Thursday. The preliminary approval
process will eventually lead to the creation of the first new entity in the
country's banking industry in 23 years. Government regulators said Kakao
Bank, Interpark Bank Grand, KT and 500V consortia are expected to
apply. An Internet bank is a bank that offers services remotely via
online and telephone banking without physical buildings. Such banks emerged
in the 1990s with advances made in online banking sector technology. Under
the FSC plan, Internet-only bank operations will range from deposits, lending
and credit cards to foreign exchange transactions, and their financial soundness
would be regulated the same way as that of other commercial lenders. The
government encouraged local IT firms to invest in the untapped Internet-only
banking industry and even lowered entry barriers, including stake ownership
limits. From http://www.koreaherald.com 09/29/2015 New
Cyber Security Technology Demonstrated in Seoul The Korea Information Security Technology Research Institute
Corp. (KISTRI) has demonstrated a new U.S.-developed technology that blocks
hacking by building a so-called "black hole" firewall. KISTRI and a
cyber-security academy demonstrated the technology, developed by Cyber
Advanced Technology, in Seoul on Thursday. The new tool creates a wall
that disables the traditional TCP/IP communication language of the
Internet. The technology locks hackers in a so-called "black
hole" so that they cannot locate information even if they succeed in
entering a network. From http://world.kbs.co.kr
11/13/2015 |
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INDONESIA: Online Travel Agency Traveloka to Use Cybersource
Payment Solutions E-COMMERCE payment management services provider CyberSource, a
Visa Inc company, has announced a partnership with Indonesian online travel
agency (OTA) Traveloka. Traveloka will use CyberSource’s payment gateway services
to process web and mobile payments from multiple issuers, CyberSource said in
a statement. To secure the checkout process, Traveloka will also deploy
CyberSource’s Payment Tokenization, which replaces sensitive payment data
with a unique identifier or token that cannot be mathematically reversed, it
said. The actual payment data is securely stored in CyberSource data centres,
which are operated by Visa. Since its launch in 2012, Traveloka has grown
from a flight metasearch engine to become the leader in Indonesia’s OTA
market, CyberSource said in its statement. The company provides vast
selections of competitive hotel rates and tickets for domestic and
international flights. It was essential for it to streamline and simplify its
business operations to focus on more strategic business objectives and
maintain its competitive advantage. “We believe that delivering a top-notch,
end-to-end experience to our customers is instrumental to our growth,” said
its head of commerce Samsu Sempena. “Our customers’ payment journey is a key
component of this experience and we are delighted to partner with
CyberSource, a trusted and established name in the payment management space. “CyberSource solutions will enable us to deliver a faster and
more convenient booking experience for our customers securely, especially
with the TravelokaQuick feature on our mobile app and web channel.” Together
with CyberSource Decision Manager, which features a fraud detection radar,
these solutions will help Traveloka process a wider spectrum of payment
methods in a fast and secure manner, CyberSource said. “Online travel sales
in Indonesia is gaining momentum as Internet penetration grows and consumers
increasingly shift to online transactions for convenience ,” said
CyberSource’s South-East Asia senior regional director Chew Ann Wee. “In
addition, mobile transactions have boomed as the number of mobile phones
equipped with data plans increases. “CyberSource recognises that Indonesia's
thriving online travel market has immense growth potential. “We are delighted
to work with Traveloka to realise its goals, by providing a hassle-free,
end-to-end, online payment experience which enhances customer experience and
promotes customer loyalty,” Chew added. From http://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 10/14/2015 PHILIPPINES: Creating Cybersecurity Body Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III has formed the
National Cybersecurity Inter-Agency Committee that will assess the vulnerabilities
of the country's cybersecurity, and the Office of the Executive Secretary
released Wednesday a copy of Executive Order No. 189 for the creation of the
committee. According to the executive order, the increasing number of cyber
threats that put government and commercial information systems at great risk
necessitates the creation of a body that will coordinate government agencies
in preparing appropriate and effective measures to strengthen their
cybersecurity capabilities. The National Cybersecurity Inter-Agency Committee
will issue updated security protocols to all government employees involved in
the storage, handling and distribution of all forms -- digital, electronic,
snail mail, and others -- of documents and communications. It will also enhance
the public-private partnership in the field of information sharing, involving
cyberattacks, threats and vulnerabilities to cyber threats; and conduct
periodic strategic planning and workshop activities that will reduce the
country's vulnerabilities to cyber threats. The committee will also serve as
the country's coordinating arm in domestic, international and transnational
efforts on cybersecurity. The committee will be under the Office of the
President, and will be chaired by the Executive Secretary and co-chaired by
the Director General of the National Security Council and the Secretary of
Department of Science and Technology. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 09/23/2015 THAILAND: Cyberwar Unit Not Linked to Single Gateway Thai Armed Forces' "cyberwarfare unit" has nothing to
do with a controversial project to establish a single international Internet
gateway, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha said at his weekly press
briefing yesterday. Lamenting that the two issues had become mixed up, Prayut
said the cyberwarfare unit aimed to combat advanced technological threats
from abroad and spying, while the single gateway was more of a service issue.
Prayut also stressed that the military's communication departments had long
had their own cyber-units before the issue came under the spotlight.
"The military deals with this [unit]," he said. "This has
nothing to do with me. I am part of the government now," and not the
military.Prayut's reaction follows criticisms that emerged as the Army
announced last week that it was setting up the unit to handle cybersecurity.
The announcement raised concerns over the extent to which the unit will have
authority to control the Internet, especially how it might link to the single
gateway. Some also wondered whether the cyberwarfare unit would deal with
people accused of lese majeste.The prime minister's order to implement a
single gateway for the country's online system appears in four Cabinet
meeting minutes from June to August. If established, the single gateway would
allow the government, as the country's major Internet service provider, to
have absolute control over uses of the Internet countrywide.Prayut and the
government have said the matter is still being studied and is not planned for
realisation any time soon. He also said that he would punish officials
responsible for taking the Cabinet minutes for noting his words incorrectly. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 10/28/2015 Military Stresses Need for Cyber Vigilance THE military yesterday stressed the need for cybersecurity
readiness at the national level, as the country still only maintains preparedness
at the military and ministry level.General BunjerdTientongdee, special
adviser to the permanent secretary for the Defence Ministry, was referring to
the Information and Communications Technology Ministry.He issued the warning
during a session on "Thailand Under Cyber Attack: Military preventive
measures and incident response" at the Cyber Defence Initiative
Conference held at Bitec.There should be a national cyber-security warning
centre similar to the National Disaster Warning Centre, National Security
Council and National Intelligence Agency, he said.Bunjerd, who is an
information technology security expert at the Defence Technology Institute,
also called on the public to trust the Armed Forces for cyberwarfare plans.
"No one designs an army to fight the people. "The cyberwarfare
division is the country's response to protect it from threats of cyberwars.
"Please be confident in the Armed Forces. Today, high-level commanders
in all branches have talked about cybersecurity, which indicates the military's
readiness," he said. Lt-General SuttisakSlakcom, adviser to the Defence Ministry,
said Thailand lacks the infrastructure to manage cyber threats. There was no
national cyber command. A national cybersecurity committee had been
established by the YingluckShinawatra administration, but it expired
following her departure. A national cybersecurity committee needs to be set
up by law, he said. Group Captain AmornChomchoey, deputy chief of the Air
Forces' Cyber Warfare Division, said the country needs to have a
"one-stop service" to take care of national cybersecurity. It is
lacking of this kind of agency at the national level to alert and inform the
public, solve problems and deal with cybersecurity issues. Watch for cyber threats There is a "government monitoring service" operated
and run by ThaiCERT with sensors on the 40 computer systems of government
agencies to watch for cyber threats and to alert agencies under
attack."To deal with cybersecurity, it needs to get the private sector
to participate, especially the Internet service providers," he
said.Maj-General RitteeIntravudh, director of the Army's Military Technology
Centre Signal Department, said that to deal with cyberwarfare, cybersecurity
readiness is not only needed in the government, but also in the private
sector and among the people. The important thing is to have collaboration.
However, Colonel ChartchaiChaigasam, director of the Armed Forces' Cyber
Warfare Division, said the division was set up under a Defence Council
resolution in May 2013 and has been operating since October last year.In the
Thai Armed Forces, there are five fighting domains - ground, air, sea, space
and cyberspace. More than 100 countries also have a cyber-warfare division in
their army. The two priorities of the Cyber Warfare Division are planning to
protect the Army's network and attacking or accessing the enemy. This
division's mission is to protect the country from wars. It will operate under
the law and on request from the government. The three strategies for dealing
with cyberwarfare are protection, detection and response. The four actors are
an organisation or agency focusing on cyberspace, law makers and enforcers,
the private sector, and a defence unit acting on request by the government
and under the law. As his responsibility is preparation for Cobra Gold 2016,
it will be the first ever war games with a cyber slant. Six of the seven
countries have readiness to do military exercises for cyber-warfare. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 10/30/2015 VIETNAM:
Internet and Network Security Internet plays a key role in shaping a new world which is far
beyond the imagination of not only normal people, but also those who invented
it. Vietnam, since the day it officially connected to the internet on
November 19, 1997, has been witnessing a lot of big social changes, both
positive and negative. Vietnam has about 41 million internet users, or 41
percent of the total population. About 26 million Vietnamese access social
networks from their mobile devices for two hours on average every day. Search
engines and social networks like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Viber all
have been operating freely in Vietnam. Internet has reached out to everyone,
including the people in rural and remote areas. With internet, the virtual
space has taken shape and existed independently from the physical space,
while every individual, with small electronics devices, can access the global
network. The nations/organizations/individuals who can control the internet
technology will gain strategic advantages. Therefore, all the entities in the
international system have been trying every possible means to approach and
master the internet technology in order to hold strategic advantages. Stemming from this point of view, Vietnam needs to approach the
issue as follows: First, the expansion of internet is inevitable. No country or
company, no institution or individual can stop the movement. Instead of
preventing the movement, a civilized nation needs to ‘ride’ the wave and take
control over the information revolution. Vietnam should consider itself as
the ‘subject’, not the ‘object’ of the virtual network. Vietnam needs to be
consistent in following the strategy on expanding and mastering internet so
as to effectively exploit the good points of the virtual network. Many
individuals, companies and institutions in Vietnam have successfully taken
full advantage of the network to popularize their products and services. A
Vietnamese, Nguyen Ha Dong, had a global success when starting up his
business with his mobile game Flappy Bird, welcomed all over the world. The
Internet must continue to play an important role in the knowledge-based
economy Vietnam is striving for. Second, it is necessary for Vietnam to define the risks so as to
prevent them and minimize the negative things the internet may bring. The
internet technology allows some individuals to conduct attacks to cause
serious consequences. Network security is the most important and complicated
component in non-traditional security, since even one individual with one
computer from somewhere can damage the prestige of many other individuals and
institutions. The person can even destroy the tangible infrastructure network
with just some operations with a computer. Stuxnet, the attack on Iran’s
nuclear power program, for example, broke up the program, and the power of
the attack was compared with the power of a limited military strike. Vietnam
has seen some individuals, through blogs, websites and social websites,
creating false information to defame other individuals and organizations.
This could be considered a type of internet-based terrorism at the slightest
level. Third, Vietnam needs to lay down policies and rules on the
operations of the internet. The rules on internet security raised by the
leadership of the Boston Global Forum need to be popularized for the sake of
a ‘clean’ and ‘pure’ internet. Internet is not simply a technology concept,
but has become an important cultural and educational environment. And in
order to have ‘clean’ and ‘pure’ internet, Vietnam not only needs powerful internet
security system. Individuals need to build up a ‘firewall’ for themselves. From http://english.vietnamnet.vn/ 11/20/2015 NA
Approves Law on Cyber Information Safety Under the chair of NA Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, they
heard a report on acquiring feedback on the law that was delivered by member
of the NA Standing Committee and head of the NA Committee on Science,
Technology and Environment Phan Xuan Dung. The deputies also heard the
presentation on the draft revised Law on Pharmacy by Minister of Public
Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien and a report examining that law by head of the NA
Committee on Social Affairs Truong Thi Mai. Seventeen lawmakers later raised
their opinions on the draft Law on Asset Auction, including those regarding
auctioneers, auction businesses, violation settlement and compensation, among
others. In the afternoon, the NA discussed in groups the bills on pharmacy
and associations. On November 20, legislators are due to adopt the draft Law
on Supervising the National Assembly and People’s Councils, review the pilot
enforcement on bailiff, and discuss the adoption of a protocol amending the
establishment of the World Trade Organisation. In the afternoon, they will
cast votes to approve the draft amended Law on Accounting and debate the
draft Law on Faiths and Religions. From http://english.vietnamnet.vn/ 11/20/2015 |
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INDIA: Rs 500cr Centre Likely to
Come Up to Tackle Cyber Crime The government is likely to set up a centre worth Rs 500 crore
to deal with cyber crime.For this purpose, an expert committee was set up to
give recommendations and prepare a roadmap to tackle the pressing issue.The
committee reportedly submitted its report namely ‘Roadmap for Effectively
Tackling Cyber Crimes in the Country’ to Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The
Home Minister asked all concerned officials for immediate implementation of
the report.Some of the key recommendations of the committee:Indian Cyber
Crime Coordination Centre (ICCCC) to be set up at the national level having
branches in all states.The Centre will have linkages with CCTNS and NATGRID
for information related to various kinds of crime and criminals.One of the
priorities of ICCCC will be to check hacking of Indian government official
communication network by international gangs.The committee also suggested to
ensure one dedicated secure gateway for all government communication in order
to reduce dependence on foreign servers. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/18/2015 74%
of Internet Users Can’t Recognise Online Threats Altaf Halde, Managing Director - South Asia, Kaspersky Lab Do
you have the ability to recognise online threats? Kaspersky Lab has found
that three-quarters (74%) of internet users would download a potentially
malicious file, because of the lack of ‘cyber-savviness’ they need to spot
dangers online. The results of a quiz, which questioned 18,000 internet users
all over 18-years-old from 16 countries around the world including a total of
1,348 respondents from India with an aim to learn about their online habits,
has raised concerns about the ability of users to recognise online threats.
The cyber-awareness of internet users was tested during the quiz when they
were asked to download the song ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles. Out of the four
download options, only one was a safe wma. file, intentionally named
‘Betles.Yesterday.wma.’ This was chosen by just a quarter (26%) of
respondents, who spotted that it was a harmless file type, despite the
spelling error in the file’s name. The most dangerous file option, exe.
contained the well-known ‘mp3’ term as part of its name,
‘Beatles_Yesterday.mp3.exe,’ tricking a third (34%) of respondents into
selecting it. 14% chose a scr. screensaver download, a file type which has
recently been used to spread malicious material, and 26% selected the zip.
option, which could have contained some dangerous files. The inability of
users to spot danger online is not limited to music. According to the survey,
one in five (21%) users download files from a variety of online sources,
increasing their risk of encountering a malicious supplier. During the
survey, only 24% of users could recognise a genuine webpage, without
selecting a phishing option. In addition, while specifying the web pages on which they were
prepared to enter their data, over half (58%) of users only named fake sites.
The findings follow recent consumer research from Kaspersky Lab and B2B
International, which disclosed that 45% of Internet users have encountered a malware
incident in the last 12 months, yet 13% of those who had been affected didn’t
know how. Altaf Halde, Managing Director – South Asia, Kaspersky Lab says,
“Consumers are susceptible to scams and phishing attacks as they are less
aware of security threats. Phishing is rampant in not just websites or email
but also online games and music, social networks and chat services, all of
which are heavily used by youngsters. Checking for signs of malicious
activity, and knowing how to spot a phishing page or dangerous download
option is vital.” From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/13/2015 Govt
Plans I-T Software to Track Black Money Trail The Government is reportedly planning to unveil PAN activity
monitoring and analysis software tool. According to report, the tool called
Income Tax Business Application-Permanent Account Number (ITBA-PAN) will
enable Income Tax department to check transactions history of a person across
the country and help in effective tracking of black money trail. The Finance
Ministry is expected to activate the tool by the end of October. Currently,
it is under the final tests. It will also enable the tax department and its
intermediary organizations -NSDL and UTIITSL – to allocate a fresh PAN number
and subsequently issue a new card in 48 hours flat as compared to the about
15 days time taken currently. The software will also allow a PAN holder to
request for deletion or de-activation of his or her PAN. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/14/2015 Cyber
Security Alliance Cracks CryptoWall Crimeware Code Fortinet, Intel Security, Palo Alto Networks and Symantec Corp,
co-founders of the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA), have announced publication of
research examining the evolution and global impact of the aggressive
CryptoWall ransomware. Analysis of the CryptoWall Version 3 Threat is the
first published report using combined threat research and intelligence from
the founding and contributing members of the CTA. This whitepaper provides
organisations worldwide valuable insight into the attack lifecycle of this
lucrative ransomware family, which is associated with over USD325 million in
revenue for the malicious actors behind it, as well as recommendations for
prevention and mitigation. The CTA further discovered 406,887 attempted
CryptoWall infections, 4,046 malware samples, and 839 command and control
URLs for servers used by cybercriminals to send commands and receive data.
The hundreds of millions in damages span hundreds of thousands of victims
across the globe. North America was a particular target for most campaigns.
All of the key findings and intelligence in the report are based on the
collective visibility the members of the CTA have into the CryptoWall v3
threat. Speaking about the initiative, Rick Howard, Chief Security Officer,
Palo Alto Networks, said, “This type of collaborative research by security
vendors reflects the power of effective threat information sharing and the
positive effect it can have on helping maintain trust in our digital world.
As a founding CTA member, we are committed to the idea that this new way of
working together – of combining intelligence on a common adversary and
sharing cyber threat information as a public good – is to the benefit of all
organisations in the battle against cybercrime.” Derek Manky, Global Security Strategist, Fortinet, said, “The
explosion of connected devices and our reliance on digital platforms have
created an environment that is both empowering and creating new ways for
adversaries to penetrate networks. Managing this risk is a shared responsibility.
“We need to step forward, and not wait for the adversary to make the move
first. This research demonstrates the power of the CTA partnership; when we
grow our collective intelligence across all sectors, we can better combat
advanced threats, deploy security controls to counteract the latest moves and
deliver greater security for our customers and all organisations.” Vice
President of McAfee Labs, Intel Security, Vincent Weafer, said, “When we
joined the Cyber Threat Alliance, we dedicated ourselves to working closely
with our partners in industry and law enforcement to detect and disrupt
cybercrime campaigns. This research demonstrates an ability to leverage our
collective threat expertise and intelligence to provide enhanced protection
for customers, and help us more effectively collaborate with law enforcement
in order to disrupt criminal ecosystems and ultimately help bring more cyber
criminals to justice.” From egov.eletsonline.com 10/30/2015 |
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AZERBAIJAN: To Be Protected from
DDoS-attacks Azerbaijani internet users will soon be protected from
DDoS-attacks, as a commercial service for the issue from Azerbaijan's primary
provider, Delta Telecom, will be put into operation by late September-early
October. The company reported that the service will be available to different
categories of users who will be able to use it at affordable rates. The
service is a result of the company attaching great importance to the
stability of its infrastructure. Prices will be given according to the
capacities of the Internet channel in use. “For instance, if the cost per
megabit cost providers at 10 manats, the company will be able to provide full
protection of the bought traffic from DDoS-attacks by paying 1.5 manats. In
addition, Delta Telecom will offer enterprise solutions and solutions based
at the data center on a commercial basis,” the company said. Protection
against DDoS-attacks is organized at the level of hardware-software complexes
“Arbor Networks”. The protection system allows it to secure servers and the
infrastructure of businesses. In addition, customers will be able to provide
multi-level protection of information systems from outside intruders. The
Arbor Networks systems, which the company uses to protect against external
cyber threats, will apply methods of traffic clearing in the border points
and using an internal filter. In case of detection of anomalies, the system
will block them at the border points, and then at the inner filter will block
all sorts of attacks, such as the large number of requests that result in a
system failure. Earlier, Delta Telecom reported on strengthening the security
of the internal segment of AzNET. The company intends to provide an
additional two outputs to a global backbone network to Georgia via an access
point in the Balakan region of Azerbaijan. Currently, the domestic segment of
the company has five high-speed alternative points of access to Europe. They
are located in the Gazakh, Agstafa, Agdash, Gusar, and Khachmaz regions.
Internet traffic to Azerbaijan by Delta Telecom network comes from three
directions: Russia, Georgia and Turkey via Nakhichevan. The physical capacity
of the domestic segment of the Internet is 300 gigabits, expandable up to
500. About 70 gigabits are used in the total traffic into the country. The remaining part is not used and is held in reserve in order to
ensure the stability of the segment. These resources are sufficient in case
the total amount of traffic consumed in Azerbaijan will increase by several
times. Azerbaijan ranks the cyber security issue high on its list of
priorities and cooperates with countries around the world to ensure the
stable use of Internet by local users. Currently, the internet penetration
rate in Azerbaijan stands at 70 percent. The broadband Internet penetration
among the population stands at 50 percent. The number of cyber threats has
reduced in Azerbaijan, as the number of cyber security-related requests from
state structures of the country dropped to 104 in August, the Cyber Security
Center reports. Requests in the last month decreased by 27.2 percent compared
to July 2014. Azerbaijan has recently strengthened the security of the
e-services portal. The Information Technology Centre has implemented an
information security management system according to the requirements of the
ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard, the Center reported earlier. The Center is the
operator of the portal Electronic Government, and implementation of the
standards confirms that the activities of the National Center for
Certification Service are carried out in accordance with international
standards. The certification of e-services in accordance with ISO 27001 will
ensure security, transparency, and facilitate citizens' access to services. From http://www.azernews.az/
09/17/2015 Cyber Threats Decline in Azerbaijan The number of cyber threats has reduced in Azerbaijan, as the
number of cyber security-related requests from state structures of Azerbaijan
dropped to 104 in August, the Cyber Security Center reports. Requests in the
last month decreased by 27.2 percent compared to July 2014. In August, 85.5
percent of the total number of requests were reviewed and approved. The total
number of computer security requests amounted to 1,122 from the period of
January to August. About 87.6 percent of these had been reviewed and approved
in the first eight months. Based on the audit on information security
companies in Azerbaijan, 200 reports were prepared and sent to the relevant
bodies in the January-August period. Currently, the internet penetration rate
in Azerbaijan stands at 70 percent. The broadband Internet penetration among
the population stands at 50 percent. Azerbaijan, which is now boosting its
ICT sphere, understands that cyber security provisions are a must for every
country, and is ready to accept international experience on this matter.
Earlier, Israel expressed its availability to share its cyber security
experience with Azerbaijan. Israel created an organization called Tehila to
combat cyber threats in 1997, and formed the National Information Security
Management in 2002. Azerbaijan aims to strengthen cyber security in the
fast-growing ICT sector of the country, which faces with some ninety percent
of cyber attacks from abroad. The country receives many cyber attacks as a
result of its ongoing cyber war with Armenia, which is another front for the
longstanding conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh territory under Armenian occupation for over 20 years. The
country combats cyber crime on two levels. The first level concerns legal
issues, which involves the Justice Ministry, prosecution agencies and other
structures, while the second level is technological, which includes
operators, and companies providing cyber services that use detection systems
and improve cyber security. From http://www.azernews.az/
09/11/2015 |
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Cyber Security: Needs a Global
Perspective The
rapid development of technology and growth of IT enabled devices, the
vulnerability of personal data and a demand for better cyber security hygiene
are trends driving global security. These are issues that require concerted,
collective and consistent action at the highest level of governments and
multi-national corporations. According to Frost & Sullivan’s senior
consultant Anthony Leather, complex changing global dynamics are forcing
security stakeholders, that’s everyone, to re-evaluate resources and
operational requirements to protect citizens and critical assets against a
range of evolving threats. Economic and financial instability, as well as
political and social unrest make cyber security one of the largest challenges
facing both governments and critical infrastructure operators today. Frost
& Sullivan has identified the five trends in the security industry that
will shape the way in which governments will protect their citizens and
critical assets in the future.” Key
areas will be: 1.
The rapid development of technologies that allow greater flexibility and
security to end users, providing a more predictive and proactive approach of
security procedures. Emerging
trends will include unmanned aerial systems, the Internet of Things and
wearable devices in public safety and intelligent security solutions. 2.
The emergence of Internet of Things programmes in public safety. There will
be a rapid growth of IP enabled devices used by law enforcement departments. 4G
LTE connected devices used by officers, in vehicles and within surveillance
systems, is expected growth at over 13% until 2024. 3.
The increased debate on intelligence and privacy, following the soaring
terrorism threat levels across the globe. The
rising concern about privacy laws and technologically sophisticated terrorism
networks will also eclipse the backlash against the National Security Agency
(NSA) and protection of personal data. 4.
The rising use of Web intelligence and Big Data analytics throughout law
enforcement. Constraints on budgets and an increased focus on business
efficiency will squeeze security provider prices with a focus on affordable
security solutions that show a clear return on investment both for protection
and operation. The cyber problem will continue with a call for greater
collaboration between government and industry, focus in the boardroom, and
better cyber security hygiene. 5.
The continuous growth of investments in critical infrastructure security, as
legacy systems are replaced with newer technology. Highlights include the
growth of airport and mass transport infrastructure in Asia Pacific, an
expected investment growth of 8% into border security, and strong investment
in cyber solutions in banking and finance over the coming years.” From
http://www.itwire.com
11/05/2015 NEW ZEALAND: SMBs on High Alert
as New Kiwi Security Task Force Builds Cyber Resilience The
New Zealand Internet Task Force (NZITF) has launched a public funding
campaign to build a proof of concept Computer Security Incident Response Team
(CSIRT) to serve New Zealand’s small and medium-sized businesses and
not-for-profit organisations. NZITF chairman Barry Brailey says the task
force wants to demonstrate the value of a CSIRT by making a “positive,
operational contribution” to internet security. “To prove the concept of a
CSIRT that helps the private sector and charities, we want to partner with
like-minded companies to fund, guide and shape the future of national
incident response capabilities here in New Zealand,” Brailey says. Brailey
says the NZITF is seeking funding partners while working with government
agencies to ensure that the aggregate data and typologies that CSIRT deals
with can subsequently be fed into the ongoing work to build a national
Computer Emergency Response Team. “We are very grateful for, and encouraged
by, the early support from ASB, our first platinum partner, and Trade Me who
has signed up to be our first silver partner,” Brailey adds. According
to ASB’s executive general manager technology and innovation Russell Jones,
the move is a “significant step forward” in the development of From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
10/29/2015 Cost of Cyber Attacks Smash $300
Billion Mark, Yet NZ Businesses Still Don’t Care Cyber
attacks are taking a serious toll on business, with the total cost of attacks
globally estimated to be at least US$315 billion over the past 12 months. But
perhaps crucially, new research from Grant Thornton International’s Business
Report (IBR) survey reveals that in New Zealand, only 26 percent of
respondents surveyed see cyber attacks as a threat in their sector. In
addition, 50 percent have a person specifically tasked with cyber-security
while 62 percent didn’t have an IT privacy and security strategy in place.
“High profile security breaches are becoming more common and without a
comprehensive strategy to prevent digital crime, businesses are really putting
themselves in the firing line,” says Hamish Bowen, Partner, Operational
Advisory, Grant Thornton New From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
11/13/2015 |
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EUROPE: Highlights of Estonian ICT Day at the World Bank and the
Future of E-Government This past Friday the World Bank hosted an all-day conference
titled “Estonia ICT Day: Smart Digital Solutions for Sustainable Development”
at its headquarters here in Washington, DC that I was honored to attend in
person. With presentations by Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves,
Director General of the Information System Authority of Estonia Taimar
Peterkop, and many other luminaries, the day focused on how Estonia has
become the global model for e-government with almost every task from voting
to filing taxes to purchasing a fishing license accomplishable entirely
online. In fact, today one need appear in person at a government office only
to finalize marriage or divorce and to purchase property – every other
transaction between a citizen and the state is completed entirely online and
can be done via smartphone from anywhere in the nation or even abroad. The
day’s opening keynote address was provided by President Ilves, who offered a
summary of how Estonia rebuilt itself after its 1991 independence by focusing
on the technology sector. A central tenant of that redevelopment involved
employing technology, automation, and the nascent web to build an
e-government that would leverage computerization of traditionally
time-consuming paper processes to allow a relatively small government to
provide a level of service on par with vastly larger and richer nations. In this vein, he noted that automation is often viewed with fear
in many countries, that technology will displace jobs and raise unemployment.
In the case of smaller nations like Estonia, however, he said that precisely
the opposite is true – such automation allows a relatively small workforce to
be far more efficient and to accomplish what traditionally would require a
vastly larger team with a much larger budget. For example, the size of the
national tax collection authority shrunk by nearly half after the
introduction of electronic tax filing, while providing the same level of
service. This allows smaller countries like Estonia to accomplish far more per
employee and per dollar spent, serving their citizens in a much better way.
Underlying the Estonian e-governance model is a fully decentralized data
fabric premised on a model of “only once” in which any given piece of
information about a citizen is requested only a single time and held only by
the agency requiring it. Thus, instead of the US model, where you must
repeatedly provide your name,
address, social security number, and other details in practically every
encounter with the US Government and often repeatedly in the same paperwork
in the same visit, the Estonian model requests this information just once and
keeps all of it separate, linking it transparently and only as needed. Recommended by Forbes From a citizen standpoint this absolutely minimizes the amount
of information that one is required to provide in a given encounter with the
government, ensuring that every transaction is as streamlined and rapid as
possible. Mr. Peterkop gave the example that a citizen could be walking along
a river in a forest in rural Estonia, decide suddenly that he wanted to go
fishing, and simply pull out his smartphone and purchase the necessary
fishing license in less than five minutes while standing in the middle of the
river with his fishing rod ready to go (in fact 90% of fishing permits are
issued online). Almost a third of votes were cast online as of last year. In
a nod to nations like Greece that are struggling with tax revenue collection,
President Ilves noted that when tax filing was made available online, compliance
rates increased due to the streamlined process, taking less than five minutes
on average to file a tax return and with refunds issued in less than a week. Such a model lies in contrast to that of many other nations like
the US Government, which suffer from heavy duplication of data across
agencies and databases due to their historical legacy of paper records that
required such duplication. Yet, most intriguingly, in today’s world of
heightened cyber vigilance one of the most common refrains of advice for
governments and corporations alike is to centralize their most sensitive and
precious records into a small set of heavily protected data stores. This has
the advantage in allowing all resources to be focused on protecting a
relatively small number of high-value cybersecurity targets. On the other
hand, this also means that attackers can focus all of their efforts on just a
single target and even the most hardened of data stores will always have a
weak link. The US Office of Personnel Management discovered this the hard way
earlier this year when a single breach was able to disclose a massive
cross-section of the US Government’s most sensitive personnel records. Instead, by decentralizing records across the government and
with each agency holding only a tiny piece of the overall data environment,
the Estonian data model has no single points of failure and a successful
breach would compromise a very limited amount of information. When asked how
Estonia chose this model and what kind of roadmap other countries should
follow to build a system similar to Estonia’s, President Ilves noted that the
decentralized model actually happened by accident. At the time Estonia was
building its first e-governance platforms most other nations were building
massive centralized data centers using huge mainframe supercomputers. Estonia
couldn’t afford to purchase or maintain such massive technology investments
for its government services so it had to be innovative and piece together a
distributed fault-tolerant environment by cobbling together a dispersed
cluster of comparatively commodity systems. Over time it became clear that
such a model had considerable benefits over the centralized mainframe model
and became an integral part of Estonia’s long-term e-government strategy. In fact, today Estonia spends just $63 million a year on IT
government-wide, compared with the nearly $700 million the US allocated to
Healthcare.gov alone. The President noted that the system’s decentralized
nature makes it far more resilient to sustained cyber-attacks, an important
consideration for the first country to endure a nation-wide cyber-attack. To
bolster this, Estonia has developed the concept of “data embassies” that are
essentially remote backups of the entire records of government stored in set
of data centers around the world, ensuring that even if a massive calamity
were to damage or destroy government facilities in the homeland, the nation
would continue to survive with all of its records intact. Estonia, like most
countries, has specific laws requiring that government records reside
exclusively on national territory for national security purposes. Making use
of the Vienna Convention protections that grant “sovereign soil” status to
embassies, the President noted these remote backup facilities are located
within Estonian embassies in a set of countries around the world, meaning
since they are within the embassy grounds they are still formally on Estonian
soil, but with the benefit of geographically distributing the doomsday
archive of the nation. He noted that such a model might be especially useful
to nations in seismically or climatically active regions. As for a roadmap that other countries could follow, President
Ilves noted that, in true agile development fashion, Estonia’s e-government
systems have been built iteratively over many years, focusing piece-by-piece
on the nation’s evolving needs. Thus, he emphasized that there is no single
“master plan” document that other countries could follow step-by-step to
replicate its success. However, Estonia has licensed its entire software
infrastructure openly and partnered with the private sector to commercialize
and redistribute the system to other governments around the world, with a
number of other countries adopting or evaluating the technology already. This
allows nations to “drop in” Estonia’s innovations either piece-by-piece or as
an entire digital government in a box. In fact, United States Deputy Chief
Technology Officer Ryan Panchadsaram noted that the United States had met
with Estonian e-government representatives and was closely examining
Estonia’s system as a model for the US Government. President Ilves noted that a founding tenant of Estonia’s
e-government infrastructure is the concept of transparency – that every
citizen has the right to see not only all of the data that the government
holds on them, but a complete list of everyone who has ever accessed those
records. In fact, at any time an Estonian citizen can access a secure
dashboard listing the complete history of all accesses to any data held on
them by the government. In contrast, in United States citizens have no legal
right to demand a master inventory of every record held about them by any
government agency or to request a master log of every access to any of those records
(and few agencies even have the infrastructure in place to log every access
to an agency record). Putting this into perspective, even the Chairman of the
United States House of Representatives Oversight Committee had no ability to
know that at least 45 Secret Service employees accessed his personnel record
and widely distributed it, including to the Washington Post after a highly
contentious hearing involving the agency. Thus, in the United States even a
senior lawmaker has no visibility into government access of his records,
while in Estonia every single citizen has total visibility and control over
their data. It was noted that Estonia is rated by Transparency International
as the least corrupt of all former Soviet Republics and in 2014 it was ranked
the 26th least corrupt nation on earth. The President attributed this in
large part to digital government’s natural resistance to the kind of bribery
and favoritism that enables and promotes corruption, quipping “you can’t
bribe a computer.” In fact, the President noted that the anti-corruption
effect of digital services has actually been viewed negatively by some
countries in which corruption is a central part of doing business, suggesting
strong potential for automation to root out endemic corruption. The notion of
using algorithms to objectively oversee routine governmental transactions
like tax collection, licensing, and other activities that are frequent
bastions of corruption is a fascinating concept and one that holds tremendous
promise for countries trying to shake off legacies of corruption. One final question the President was asked revolved around how
Estonia came to have free wifi internet access across the country, which has
become one of its trademarks. He noted that this was in fact a product of
capitalism rather than government intervention. A handful of cafes in the
tourist area of Old Town in the city of Tallinn had decided to offer free
wifi to patrons in a bid to attract customers wishing to check their email
and catch up the latest events. In turn, the other cafes had to offer their
own free wifi to compete, which in turn led to other businesses like hotels
having to add the service until eventually it had spread across the country.
Through necessity and built via an agile development process, Estonia has
become an unexpected global model for the future of e-government, today
offering nearly every governmental interaction with its citizens online. Even
the United States has turned to Estonia in its own efforts to try and
modernize America and bring its governmental systems into the twenty-first
century. With this digital revolution has come increased transparency and
compliance, decreased waste and corruption, and an economic powerhouse that
has rapidly built the nation into a digital-first workforce and stands
testament to the power of data and technology in making government work for
its citizens. From http://www.i-policy.org/
10/06/2015 FRANCE: President Ilves, Francis Fukuyama Discussed Future of
Information Technology Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and political scientist
and writer Francis Fukuyama discussed the future of information technology in
Stanford University, Silicon Valley. The discussion between Ilves and Fokyama
focused on the role of technology in the election processes of democratic
countries and using technology to rise participation rate and trust in
democracy. Estonia is the only country in the world where one can vote
online, which represents a unique global example of harnessing technology to
promote democracy. So far, voters have had the choice to cast an e-vote at
election time on eight occasions since 2005. President Ilves emphasized that
one of the positive aspects of e-voting is the opportunity to cast your vote
from any geographical location by using digital identity or ID card/Mobile ID
and upload the required software into your computer. For example, one third
of the electorate in Estonia used the e-voting option when casting their
votes for the 2015 Parliament elections. “The proportion of e-voters continues to grow. This demonstrates
that people choose electronic voting channels as they have trust in the
system. While gender, age or residence-related differences could be observed
among standard voters and e-voters in the initial few years, the latest
studies have shown that these differences have disappeared,” Ilves added. The
Head of State emphasised that Estonia is very serious about ensuring the
security of e-services, and various technical, legal and administrative steps
have been taken to this end at state level. Ensuring safety has the key
importance of maintaining the trust of our citizens, he said, adding that he
has had no reason to doubt the security of the system. Fukuyama, however,
raised the question of information technology development interfering with
the private sphere of people's lives. Ilves agreed that products like
Google’s smart glasses are quite definitely teetering on the edge. He added
that people also voluntarily give away loads of information about themselves
by using various free telephone apps: “There is no such thing as a free app.
Someone, somewhere is making lots of money with these data.” Fukuyama also admitted that Americans are always upset when they
feel that the government violates their privacy, while at the same time they
share huge amounts of personal information by using various applications and
are totally oblivious to the fact themselves. On the other hand, the
development of information technology will ensure more and more transparency
for the purposes of public governance, such as public sector spending. Ilves
and political scientist Fukuyama also exchanged ideas about the freedom of
the internet. “Certain authoritarian countries insist on restricting the
freedom of the internet. In Estonia, we find that such restrictions and the
promotion of these restrictions by various international organisations are
highly dangerous. The freedom of the internet is an important aspect for a
well-operating civil society; therefore, it is one of the tools for promoting
and ensuring democracy,” Ilves said. From http://news.err.ee/
09/29/2015 LATIN AMERICA: Colombia and Chile to Head Regulatel in 2016 and
2017 Colombia and Chile will chair the Latin American Forum of
Telecommunications Regulators (Regulatel) in 2016 and 2017, taking over from
current chair Puerto Rico. Regulatel is made up of 20 regulators in Latin
America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Venezuela) and 3 in
Europe (Spain, Portugal and Italy). Chile's Department of Telecommunications
(Subtel) also announced that undersecretary of telecommunications Pedro
Huichalaf was unanimously elected as head of the association starting 2017. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 11/06/2015 NORTH AMERICA: U.S. - Why the Government Is Investing Millions
in Internet Freedom Technologies In a famous speech in early 2011, then Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton laid out the Tom Malinoswki, the State Department’s top official on human
rights, kicked off the gathering by turning around and lifting his smartphone
to take a selfie with the crowd during his opening speech. The selfie was a
jovial way to start an optimism-filled event, where government officials and
activists alike reiterated that new apps and technologies are the best way to
liberate the internet’s oppressed. “Every time censors try a new technique,
the tool developers adapt, keeping thousand of users connected to the global
internet,” Malinowski said. US ambassador Power echoed his words, declaring
that there’s no way to stop freedom online, and any effort to do so will fail
just like all previous efforts to stop other technologies enhancing freedom
of speech. “The architecture of the internet is broader, flatter, and more
efficient than anything that has come before it,” she said, adding that
repressive governments are aware of that, and know that the odds are not in
their favor. “The internet is more repressive overall than it was five years
ago.” For Jillian York, the Director for International Freedom of Expression
at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, however, the focus of the new
initiative is wrong, given that censorship globally “is largely dwindling,”
and countries are more focused on surveillance and going after dissidents
“for speech after the fact.” “Circumvention is a band-aid,” she told
Motherboard via Twitter direct message. “While I'm not in favor of government
funding for Internet freedom, I'd still rather see it put to better use, or
see diplomacy efforts to push countries toward a more open internet.” But Ian
Schuler, who worked as senior director of Internet freedom programs at the
State Department between 2011 and 2013, thinks that since its launch the
initiative has been successful—even if he himself admits that today “the
internet is more repressive overall than it was five years ago.” “It would be a lot worse” without the State Department efforts,
including the money that went to app developers through the Open Tech Fund,
according to Schuler. For example, he added, WhatsApp probably would not be
using the end-to-end encryption technology created by Open Whisper Systems,
if the non-profit developer had not been, in part, funded by Radio Free Asia
with State Department money. Alec Ross, the former State Department's tech
guru and a close advisor of Clinton at the time, said that the internet
freedom agenda has always had a varied focus, not just on censorship but also
on encrypted secure communications. “Go forth and circumvent.” “Samantha Power is not going to come out and say ‘announcement
everybody, we got an anti-surveillance tool that we’re funding’—that’s
neither the language nor the intent of this funding,” Ross told Motherboard
on the phone. “But if you look at some of the things that they funded in the
past, then obviously a lot of it is about providing secure communications for
people in authoritarian countries.” Indeed, the Open Tech Fund has given
funds to several projects that are not just about censorship circumvention,
such as encrypted chat app Cryptocat, and email encryption tool Mailvelope.
With its latest fund, however, it seems clear that the State Department is
primarily committing to fighting, and circumventing, censorship. Indeed,
after Powers’ speech, at the end of the event, Malinowski closed with a clear
call for action. “Go forth and circumvent,” he said. From http://motherboard.vice.com/ 09/30/2015 America Slow to Cede Internet Control The popularly held image of the Internet is that it exists as a
global resource that — the best efforts of some governments notwithstanding —
is impossible to fully control, almost like a technological force of nature.
But, of course, a clear Wi-Fi connection doesn’t just appear out of thin air.
The Internet, like all types of man-made infrastructure, has regulations and
dedicated human monitors. The ultimate authority, perhaps unknown to many of
its global users, has been at the US Department of Commerce. Now that setup
is changing, leaving the future of global Internet governance in uncertain
terrain and sparking an intense debate over who the overseers of the Internet
should be and how they should operate. The argument is rife with competing
national and corporate interests and could directly impact how the Internet
grows for decades to come. In August the Department of Commerce delayed, at least for
another year, a long-standing White House plan to give up sole oversight of
the group that oversees basic functionality of the Internet, the Internet
Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a semiautonomous nonprofit.
ICANN, based in Los Angeles, has three main components, responsible for the
domain name system (DNS), the Internet protocol (IP) numbers that identify
computers connected to the Web and the system used to connect computers to
one another. The organization is basically responsible for supervising the
connections among users and websites and ensuring that information gets from
one place to another via the Internet. But in June the House of
Representatives passed a bill mandating congressional review of the proposed
transfer of the US-controlled ICANN to a global body or international group,
citing concerns about influence by authoritarian regimes. In light of revelations of US spying and considerable
international pressure to change, ICANN is now struggling to transition into
a being fully independent operator — despite the best efforts of supporting
organizations and the input of hundreds of interested parties. Eventually,
the hope is that ICANN will be run through a mandate from an international
body made up of a mixture of corporations, civil society groups and
representatives from the world’s governments, a model that has been dubbed
multistakeholder. The new incarnation of ICANN will eventually decide who's
in charge and how to best manage a free and open Internet. But getting ICANN
to that point is easier said than done. Carl Bildt, a former prime minister
of It is a huge global issue. In the past 15 years, Internet use
has boomed around the world. In Africa, Internet access has increased nearly
7,000 percent. In the Middle East, it’s a 3,000 percent. But all these new
users want a piece of the governance pie, to have some authority over their
domains. Although many experts believe the US has done a good job
guaranteeing Internet continuity, what’s next may not be easy. A draft
proposal from ICANN’s internal transition committee has quickly become
divisive, as concern over policies that seem to prioritize American corporate
interests threaten negotiations for control of the Web. A tug of war over
jurisdiction, governmental involvement and human rights law is brewing. For
example, because ICANN’s California legal jurisdiction is not yet set to
change and because there is no higher international court with the authority,
many ICANN experts are concerned about U.S. judicial precedent favoring large
corporations in intellectual property disputes. The proposal was submitted for public comment at the end of
July, and ICANN watchers around the world jumped at the chance to dissect and
debate it. Engineers from ICANN’s three main divisions authored the 199-page
document outlining the transition of ICANN’s largest subgroup, the Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority, out from under the Department of Commerce and
into its new role as a subsidiary and partner of ICANN. Alissa Cooper, one of
the lead authors of the proposal, is an American engineer and the chairwoman
of the IANA stewardship transition coordination group. She supervises
volunteers who write, revise and submit to Congress the document outlining the
steps of the transition and the new shape of ICANN. “It’s a lot of work,” she
said. “There have been literally hundreds of people involved in this
process.” One key issue is the huge complexity of the topic. Besides the
engineers who wrote it, almost no one can understand the proposal. And for an
attempt at a document that claims to seek full-bodied support from the
average global Internet user, this may be unfortunate. “The proposal is very
technical,” said Arun Sukumar, a lawyer and the head of the cyber initiative
at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi–based think tank, who has
been studying Internet governance and writing about ICANN’s predicament from
an Indian perspective. “The technicalities in the IANA proposal pose a
challenge because if civil society groups and businesses don’t understand the
proposal fully, then it’s going to be a problem.” Also, he said, there is not
enough diversity in ICANN, so any proposal will put developing, non-Western
countries — even those that want to be involved — at an immediate
disadvantage. “The IANA proposal does not adequately address the issue of
diversity or human rights within ICANN,” said Sukumar. “We see primarily
American corporations and organizations, and they tend to aggressively
dominate the debate.” Many members of a major initiative led by Bildt, the
Global Commission on Internet Governance, agree that the lack of diversity in
ICANN is stark. Emily Taylor, an expert in Internet law and an associate at
the UK-based Chatham House think tank, believes ICANN could address diversity
issues by better supporting multilingual domain names. While users have
recently been able to register domain name suffixes in Chinese, Arabic and
Hebrew, they don’t work in most email programs or in a predictable way in
many browsers. “For the billions of users who aren’t familiar with Latin
script, that’s a fairly major drawback,” said Taylor. “Why is it that ICANN
finds it difficult to do this?” The debate will continue at ICANN’s next meeting, later this
month in Dublin. “It’s hard to believe how our institutions are so
underdeveloped in this space,” said Eileen Donohoe, an Internet expert and a
former US ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council. She compared the growth
of the Internet to a rain forest, with multiple co-existing species that make
up parts of the whole and contribute to the ecosystem. It’s blooming
chaotically, growing far beyond what American borders can contain. “No one
controls a rain forest, but a rain forest can be destroyed,” Donohoe said. “We’re
all dependent on the functionality of it, so we should all be invested in
ensuring its health.” From http://www.pri.org/
10/17/2015 The Government’s Threat to Internet Freedom Is Growing The U.S. government is keen on internet freedom… but only in
countries it doesn’t like. This September, the U.S invested another $10
million toward helping activists in authoritarian regimes circumvent state
censorship of the internet. But the goverment’s attitude to web freedom
within its own borders suggests that what it wants for its enemies may not
necessarily be what it wants for itself. It’s been three years since the last
major government push to control the internet came to a spectacular end. The
Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), which activists
feared would lead to the neutering of user-created content on the web, led to
an unprecedented conflagration of global online protest that eventually
brought down both bills. But the threat to web freedom did not subside: it
only grew stronger. A review of copyright law launched just a year after the
SOPA and PIPA protests now threatens independent aggregation and news sites
including the Drudge Report and Real Clear Politics. Matt Drudge himself
claims, extraordinarily, that a Supreme Court Judge told him directly that
his website would be “over” once the new rules on copyright were passed. The
web pioneer, whose site is one of the most well-trafficked in the world, also
predicted that the age of independent websites like his was coming to an end,
and that web users would soon be pushed into the “cyber ghettoes” of social
media. Presidential candidate and conservative firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 96% has also sounded the alarm about the
growing government threat to web freedom. Pointing to recent FCC moves to
reclassify broadband internet as a public utility, Cruz warned that the
threats to free speech online were growing. “Liberty on the net is every day
more imperilled by big government and Washington politicians who want to
muzzle dissent,” Cruz told The Blaze. “I think the threats to free speech,
under big government statists, have never been greater.” Elsewhere, regressive,
culturally authoritarian radicals are pushing for the government to bring the
censoriousness of college campuses to the web. Following the lead of online
social justice warriors including Zoe Quinn and Anita Sarkeesian, a U.N.
group recently released a report calling for governments to demand ISPs and
search engines censor themselves in order to prevent “cyber violence” (read:
criticism and ridicule) against women. The report was withdrawn following widespread criticism — but
other organisations linked to the U.N. quietly continued the anti-“cyber
violence” push. Some on the authoritarian left no longer even pretend to
conceal their loathing of the free, open internet as it exists today. Salon
contributor and Arthur Chu recently penned a column calling for the repeal of
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a crucial law that enables
platforms like Twitter and Disqus to allow open communication on their
platforms by exempting them from any legal liability for their users’
comments. For years, defenders of web freedom have long warned that the
establishment fears and loathes the new reality of the internet, where
anything they say can be instantly challenged by millions of ordinary people
around the world. Before his death, the late Reddit developer and web freedom
activist Aaron Swartz marvelled at how quickly politicians from both the
Democrats and the GOP set aside their differences in the attempt to push
through SOPA and PIPA: “Somehow – the kind of thing you never see in
Washington – they’d all managed to put their personal differences aside, and
come together to support one bill.” Swartz also recounted a meeting he had
with a U.S. Senator, during which the topic of web censorship was raised: “I
asked him why, despite being such a progressive, despite giving a speech in
favour of civil liberties – why [did] he want to censor the internet? That
typical politician smile faded from his face, and his eyes started burning
fiery red… And he started shouting at me. “These people on the internet, they
think they can get away with anything! They think they can just put anything
up there! There’s nothing we can do to stop them! They put up everything! …
Well, we’re gonna show them. There’s gotta be laws on the internet – it’s
gotta be under control.” – Aaron Swartz, recounting a meeting with a U.S. Senator With progressives cheering the end of the “Wild West Web” and
the Republican establishment working with Democrats to erode legislative
protections on web freedom, the threats to the free web are multiplying. The
opponents of freedom of speech are tenacious, organised, and well-connected.
But just as opponents of web freedom can be found on the left and the right,
so too can its defenders. If a bipartisan movement of opposition to the new
threats to the open web is to emerge, it is likely to come from the nascent
cultural libertarian movement. But they will need to organise quickly: their
opponents have a long head start. From http://www.breitbart.com/ 11/01/2015 Information and Communication Technologies Uptake in Global
Smart Plants Market Shifts to High Gear Information and communication technology (ICT) deployments in
manufacturing industries are currently limited to the sporadic use of machine
to machine (M2M) communications and cloud solutions. However, cloud adoption
for core processes, cyber security efforts, and the implementation of
artificial intelligence for advanced robotics are important for the
development of fully automated plants. Strong long-term prospects exist
particularly for IT service, communication equipment, fixed network, and
wireless network providers in the industrial automation space. New analysis
from Frost & Sullivan, Connected Industry Insight Series: ICT
Opportunities in the Global Smart Plants Market (https://www.frost.com/mafc),
estimates that the manufacturing, and energy and utilities sectors will spend
a combined total of �206.51 billion on ICT in 2019. For complimentary access
to more information on this research, please visit: http://owl.li/R88Yg "The plant-floor is still dominated by fixed networks
installed over industrial Ethernet or fieldbus protocols for field-level
networks," said Frost & Sullivan Information & Communication
Technologies Senior Research Analyst Shuba Ramkumar. "ICT vendors can
contribute to the development of improved plant-floor communication systems
in collaboration with automation vendors." On the other hand, revenue
opportunities for mobile network operators (MNOs) will remain limited. Demand
for cellular connectivity services will be low when compared to fixed-line
and short range M2M services. Collaborating with industrial automation
providers to design, integrate and implement fully automated plants based on
manufacturer requirements will be a crucial step in bringing the concept of
smart plants to reality. ICT vendors must work with other providers in the IT
ecosystem to develop end-to-end services that include network equipment,
connectivity, virtualisation, cloud-based software, data analytics and cyber
security. "Communication equipment vendors need to build
comprehensive services which takes into consideration inputs from all
stakeholders in the production process," explained Ramkumar. "By
leveraging partnerships with fixed line providers and IT solution providers,
MNOs too can extend existing relationships with manufacturers beyond network
provision to offer integrated solutions for the plant-floor and branch
offices." Enabling collaborative manufacturing and real-time
connectivity between the end consumer and the manufacturer will accelerate
plant-floor automation and help ICT providers anchor their place in the
global smart plants space. Connected Industry Insight Series: ICT
Opportunities in the Global Smart Plants Market is a Market Insight that is
part of the Connected Industries
(http://ww2.frost.com/research/industry/information-communications-technologies/connected-industries)
Growth Partnership Service program. This study outlines the opportunities for
ICT in the manufacturing industry and analyses ICT spend in the manufacturing
sector across components such as IT hardware, IT software, IT services, and
communication. The research also offers recommendations for different types
of providers in the IT ecosystem. From http://finance.yahoo.com/ 08/25/2015 Research and Markets: Global Capital Market ICT Spending
2015-2019 According to the report, the global capital market ICT spending
to grow at a CAGR of 4.63% over the period 2014-2019. Due to the rise in
several cyber-attacks and security threats over the last five years, many
investment firms and brokerage houses started to spend a significant amount
of time and money on IT risk management systems to identify, manage,
optimize, and mitigate risk. As the global financial market has become more
open and deregulated, addressing the risk faced by financial institutions
across geographies, asset classes, customer segments, functional departments,
and products has become the top priority for financial organizations. Failure
to manage these risks can cause huge damage to organizations. In addition,
consolidation, globalization, convergence, and shifting regulations have
imposed countless challenges on the financial services industry. Further, the
report states that the high cost of ICT is one of the major challenges facing
this market during the forecast period. Key Topics Covered Executive Summary Market Research Methodology Introduction Market Landscape Market Segmentation by Type of Product Market Segmentation by Geography Buying Criteria Market Growth Drivers Drivers and their Impact Market Challenges Impact of Drivers and Challenges Market Trends Trends and their Impact Vendor Landscape Key Vendor Analysis From http://finance.yahoo.com/ 08/26/2015 The Role of ICT in a Connected Car Future: Emerging
Opportunities for ICT Providers in the Connected Car Sector The evolution of connected car services has thrown the door open
for several ICT opportunities. This research service highlights the ICT
opportunities resulting from connected car deployments and analyses the
drivers and restraints of the connected car market. It investigates the key
ICT components that enable connected car services in line with possible
changes to car OEMs' business models, particularly the challenges around
connectivity that require a deep understanding of future progress. It also
identifies a few ICT companies to watch in the connected car space; these
participants are likely to become key technology market leaders in this
sector. eCall type initiatives have triggered deep thinking among car
manufacturers (OEMs) on business model transformation, as connected car
services can be created as a result of connectivity and intelligence. - The
market is also buoyed by available technology options to make connected cars
or intelligent mobility systems within smart cities possible. On the other
hand, cultural and technological obstacles are the most immediate barriers to
connected car service adoption. The extent to which car OEMs are ready to
change their business models can be determined by how close they desire to be
to their customers. On one extreme, a car OEM can offer its own branded
connectivity package. In the middle ground, the car OEM can offer both
connectivity and other value added services at a higher price. On the other
extreme, a car OEM might consider becoming a mobile virtual network operator
(MVNO) that owns and controls the access and infotainment services it offers
to its customers. - Another option for car OEMs to consider is to change from a
car seller to a service provider. This could be in different forms, in
selling mobility as a service or even "data" as a service. - Frost & Sullivan believes the biggest winners among ICT
stakeholders in the connected car market are those with: extensive
infrastructure knowledge, software tools to enable efficient use of data and
insights, and services that help car OEMs simplify their operational
processes. - Frost & Sullivan identified several companies to watch in
this space. These are Vodafone, AT&T, Qualcomm, Intel, Ericsson, and
Guardtime. - The ICT industry also needs to progress alongside various
industry trends, particularly through finding ways around security and
privacy, integration of new innovations such as machine learning for a
selfhealing intelligent transport system and the complete inclusion of
various elements within a smart city system. From http://finance.yahoo.com/ 10/13/2015 The Gaps in Global Internet Governance Are Growing, According to
New CFR Interactive With over 40 percent of the world's population now online, the
Internet has revolutionized the way the world communicates. But with fast
evolving technology, a proliferation of actors with access to the Internet,
and an absence of international consensus on what should be permissible, the
gap between existing world arrangements and the challenges posed by the
Internet is in fact widening, according to the latest addition to the Global
Governance Monitor, a multimedia resource from the Council on Foreign
Relations (CFR). Produced by CFR's International Institutions and Global
Governance (IIGG) program and CFR's digital and cyberspace policy program,
the interactive guide assesses the global challenges of governing in
cyberspace. They include: Privacy: A patchwork of incompatible privacy
regimes challenge new business models and services that rely on the
collection of data from the Internet, exemplified by the European Court of
Justice's recent decision to strike down the Safe Harbor Agreement that
allowed transatlantic data flows. Online espionage: "The United States has tried to develop
norms of acceptable espionage, distinguishing between spying conducted for
national security interests and the theft of intellectual property for
commercial gain," but no international consensus exists yet.
Cybersecurity: With no standard definition of cybersecurity, "it is no
surprise that efforts to improve online security are fragmented." Trade:
Absent precedents or clear rules on the trading of digital goods and
services, the international free trade system is strained as electronic
commerce continues to grow. Freedom of expression: Anyone can express his or
her views in cyberspace, and many protestors have used the Internet for
organizing, information sharing, and calling for increased government
transparency. However, some governments have used the Internet to surveil
their citizens and to censor dissenting content. Terrorist organizations have
also begun using cyberspace to recruit new followers and spread extremist
ideologies. First launched in 2009, the Global Governance Monitor uses
images, video, text, and interactive maps to track multilateral efforts to
address global challenges. The guide's nine other components monitor global
cooperation and recommend policy options to improve the world's capacity to
tackle challenges in nuclear proliferation, armed conflict, transnational
crime, global finance, oceans, climate change, human rights, terrorism, and
public health. The Global Governance Monitor has received several Telly and
W3 awards for its quality of content. Like those before it, the Internet
component includes a brief video of Internet-related governance challenges;
an issue brief, arguing that while collaborative governance structures are
emerging, they are not developing fast enough to tackle policy challenges
associated with the Internet; a matrix cataloging relevant governance
institutions and documents; an interactive map detailing critical countries
and events; and a resource guide for further information on the topic. View
all of the monitor's components at: www.cfr.org/ggmonitor. Produced in collaboration with MediaStorm, the feature is made
possible by a generous grant from the Robina Foundation. More CFR
interactives can be found at: www.cfr.org/publication/interactives.html. The
International Institutions and Global Governance (IIGG) program at the Council
on Foreign Relations aims to identify the institutional requirements for
effective multilateral cooperation in the twenty-first century. CFR's digital
and cyberspace policy program focuses on how to keep the global Internet
open, secure, and resilient in the face of unprecedented threats. MediaStorm
is a production company whose principal aim is to usher in the next
generation of multimedia storytelling by publishing social documentary
projects incorporating photojournalism, interactivity, animation, audio and
video for distribution across multiple media. From http://www.cfr.org/
10/20/2015 ICT Groups Want to Join Forces Barbados ICT Professionals’ Association (BIPA) president Philip
Lewis signalled this recently as BIPA members hosted a Mix ‘N Mingle event at
the 3Ws Pavilion, University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus. In
addition to BIPA, the event which was attended by about 50 people, involved
the Barbados chapters of the Information Systems Security Association and the
Internet Society. The presidents of each association gave a brief overview of
their respective body’s aims and objectives and Lewis said “it is expected
that out of the Mix ‘N Mingle there will be a stronger relationship between
the three societies”. Lewis, who is managing director of Northpoint
Consulting Inc., noted that “this will result in greater collaboration and
cross-functional support on the achievement of these goals”. Also present at
the event was the UWI Computer Science Society executive team. BIPA is
forging a mentorship relationship with this entity’s student members “to
encourage and foster developmental support in the early stages of their ICT
careers”, Lewis explained. From http://www.nationnews.com/ 10/23/2015 Global Internet Freedom Continues to Weaken: Report Global Internet freedom – a key measure of privacy, access and
free speech on the Web – has declined for the fifth year in a row. Government
censorship and an increasingly unrelenting crackdown on privacy tools have
made it more difficult for Web users to speak freely and retain anonymity
online, according to a sprawling new report by the non-profit advocacy group
Freedom House. “State authorities have … jailed more users for their online
writings, while criminal and terrorist groups have made public examples of
those who dared to expose their activities online,” the report said.
Governments in many parts of the world, it added, have started demanding that
offending content be taken down, rather than just blocked by filtering
software – cognizant that users have become more adept at using anonymity and
proxy tools to circumvent traditional blocking methods. “Undermining online
encryption and anonymity weakens the Internet for everyone, but especially
for human-rights activists and independent journalists.” The increasingly sophisticated means by which users circumvent
blocking software has also made governments more willing to take much broader
measures. The report’s authors pointed to a case in Turkey, where the
government sought to ban five websites related to the Kurdistan Workers’
Party, a designated terrorist entity. However the sites are hosted on
Wordpress, a global service that uses a more secure version of the
traditional hypertext protocol that powers much of the Web. Because the
secure protocol made it too difficult to ban the five specific sites, the
Turkish government banned the entirety of Wordpress – some 70 million
websites. Myriad technology companies have been forced into an uncomfortable
position by governments’ increasing appetite for censorship. Several major
tech behemoths, including Twitter and Google, have issued transparency
reports detailing information about the governments that ask for content
takedowns and user details (however, the companies are often restricted by
law from providing too many details). Companies have also sought a compromise by banning certain
content according to the request of government authorities, but only in those
countries. In the last six months of 2014, Facebook blocked about 5,800
pieces of content in India, complying with the wishes of local
law-enforcement authorities there. This is the fifth consecutive year that
global Internet freedom has declined. The report found that more than 60 per
cent of all Internet users live in countries “where criticism of the
government, military or ruling family has been subject to censorship online.”
Almost as many – 58 per cent – live in countries where users have been jailed
for sharing political, social or religious content online. According to the
report, China was the world’s worst abuser of online rights in 2015, followed
by Syria and Iran. The report cited a widespread crackdown by Chinese
authorities on “rumours,” a vaguely defined concept, as well as the jailing
of several well-known rights activists. In the From http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ 11/01/2015 ICT4D:
7 Must-follow Twitter Accounts Development must incorporate technology, but we’re still in a
flux period of defining what that means, according to Wayan Vota, a 20-year
veteran of international development and co-creator of ICT4D Jobs, an online
hub for finding work in the sector. The lack of clarity spells opportunity
for those interested in getting into international communication and
technology for development — whether helping to create community FM radio
stations in Senegal or assessing mobile phone use among Syrian refugees. To
stay on top of the current buzz in the sector, start by following these
industry insiders, who tweet about everything from data transparency to where
to find the next ICT4Drinks meetup. And for more information on the pathways
to a career in ITC4D, check out this article. From https://www.devex.com/
11/01/2015 Once upon a time, two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet
Union, held summits to reduce the danger of a nuclear war. Today, the
summitry is between the US and China, a large part of which is to reduce the
dangers of confrontation and conflict in cyberspace. The stakes could not be
higher. How the world responds to the threat of cyber attacks will determine
the extent to which future generations will be able to benefit from the
digital era. In addition to the possibility of conflict, there is the danger
that governments will overreact, erecting barriers to information that
undermine the potential of the Internet. In a way, we are already in a
low-level continuous conflict in cyberspace. China is not the only country
that is engaging, through direct or indirect state action, in massive cyber
operations against other countries’ political and economic structures. We are
in the midst of one of those historic shifts when offensive technologies are
cheaper and more powerful than defensive ones. Clearly, there is a need for rules of the road in cyberspace,
and perhaps cyber-power summitry – the US is the Internet technology leader,
while China has the largest numbers of users – is the first step in this
direction. But the danger is not only political confrontation between states.
Fear of loss of control within states is driving new data-localization
requirements and other new barriers that would ultimately fracture and even
balkanize the Internet. In Russia, the Kremlin clearly has its own reasons
for stipulating – despite the unavoidable economic cost – that all data generated
within the country be stored on Russian-based servers. But equally worrying
are policies in the European Union that, in the name of defending citizens’
privacy, are leading to the erection of barriers to the free flow of data. In some European countries, not least Germany, there seems to be
a conviction that citizens’ data will be safe only if it is stored on
European soil, out of reach of, say, evil American spies. This simplistic
philosophy also seems to have underpinned the European Court of Justice’s
recent decision invalidating the so-called Safe Harbor agreement, which
facilitates the free flow of information across the Atlantic. As a result,
the entire legal framework for these data transfers has been thrown into
disarray. Ensuring the protection and integrity of data is indeed a vital
issue. But this has very little to do with where data are stored. Attackers
based in China recently broke into the US Office of Personnel Management and
stole up to 22 million files with sensitive information on federal employees.
Chinese and Russian hackers routinely penetrate secure industrial and
government networks in the US and Europe. And several countries are tapping
underwater cables carrying the world’s communications. So what problem does
data localization actually solve? The solution to privacy concerns lies not in data localization,
but in the development of secure systems and the proper use of encryption.
Data storage actually means the continuous transfer of data between users,
with no regard for Westphalian borders. Security in the digital world is
based on technology, not geography. With the rapid development of global
value chains, our economies are becoming increasingly dependent on the free
flow of data across political borders. With the advent of new, global
technologies such as blockchains – continuously growing transaction databases
used, for example, to sustain virtual currencies – the notion of data
localization becomes even more misguided. The OECD has just issued a report
highlighting how data-driven innovation will increasingly drive the economies
of the future. Crucially, it stresses “the need to promote the ‘openness’ in
the global data ecosystem and thus the free flow of data across nations,
sectors, and organizations.” These principles are enshrined in the just-concluded
Trans-Pacific Partnership, which will govern trade and investment among 12
Pacific Rim countries, including the US. The rest of the world should follow
suit. Indeed, a huge global agenda of digital governance – the new domain of
diplomacy – lies before us. It includes the establishment of formal and
informal norms for state behavior, better legal mechanisms for addressing
cross-border cybercrime, transparent national legislation for law
enforcement, and endorsement of the need for encryption to protect the
integrity of data. In all of these areas – and more – efforts to deal with
cybercrime and terrorism must not undermine the principles on which the
Internet is built. China will face a choice. Today, it talks about its
so-called “One Belt, One Road” initiative to link its economy with those of
Central Asia and Europe. But Europe also faces some important choices. The EU must not allow
a muddled understanding of digital realities to give rise to profoundly
damaging digital protectionism. It must overcome the institutional barriers
that make it seemingly impossible to forge a common position on external
cyber policy. And it needs to take the foreign-policy implications of its
actions seriously: When EU countries talk about data localization, others do
too. Finally, the US needs to adapt as well. It must accept that it is no
longer the only global cyberpower, and that its own behavior must comply with
globally accepted norms to which all must adhere. The Internet has already
become the world’s most important infrastructure. But this is only the
beginning: soon it will be the infrastructure of all other infrastructures.
Policies born of confusion, chaos, and confrontation have no place in this
new world of opportunities. From https://www.project-syndicate.org/ 11/01/2015 Internet Governance Forum: Ten Years After Ten years after feeble beginnings,
the Internet Governance Forum, once the baby of the United Nations World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), stood last week in Joao Pessoa. But
in all these years, did it also learn to walk? The IGF is more popular than
ever but also perhaps more inadequate than ever at containing and advancing
the many views and concerns that are raised there by a multitude of global
stakeholders. Some 150 workshops and panels, more open fora by UN
organisations than ever, 2500 attendees and, according to the organisers
around double that number of remote participants remote – by numbers the 10th
Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a huge success. The IGF was created by the
2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) as a non-negotiating
place for discussion of internet issues. It launched 10 years ago to
enthusiasm about a place to voice views, and skepticism about whether those
views would have any impact in a non-negotiating environment. A slight change towards producing
tangible output and an attempt to link the discussion forum with the
decisions to be made in December at the UN General Assembly High Level Forum
in New York were welcomed by many participants. Yet there were also many
voices from civil society and some unruly young participants accusing
governments of paying lip-service to human rights and multi-stakeholder
regulation at the IGF only to put the sheer opposite into national
legislation. After ten years of IGF meetings in democratic and autocratic
countries, there is some success the forum could claim, Jeanette Hofmann,
director of internet governance at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for
Internet and Technology in Berlin, told Intellectual Property Watch. “There is
so much more expertise now than in Athens,” Hofman said, referring to the
first IGF in 2006. There is more trust and respect of the various stakeholder
groups. Athens, she said, was still “under the impression of WSIS that nobody
wanted to continue or to repeat.” Negotiations on the WSIS documents, the
Tunis Agenda, resulted in the first big international clash over internet
governance concepts. No Taboo Topics Anymore The major success story according to
her has been that “no topics are banned anymore” from the IGF agenda. In
Athens, there had been a taboo around the very core topic the forum had been
built for: Internet governance of core internet resources. “It was banned
from the agenda!”, she recalled, and “later on there were other taboos such
as intellectual property rights and the role of human rights in internet
governance. Now we can address all these issues.” In fact, the planned
handover of the oversight of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
from the United States to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) and its stakeholder community is the one development that, if
agreed during the WSIS might have prevented the creation of an IGF in the
first place. The fight about US oversight over the
Internet root zone had nearly resulted in a breakdown of WSIS talks. During
the 10th IGF closing ceremony Izumi Okutani, chair of the CRISP Group, the
team preparing the IANA transition for the five regional IP address
registries, said she saw the work to develop for a multi-stakeholder overseen
IANA “as a concrete example, excellent example and a product of how this
multi-stakeholder process has worked and produced in addressing a policy
question.” “There are some sticky issues that we still have to deal with,”
said VeriSign Director of Policy Keith Drazek, who is member of one of the
key groups working on the transition proposals. “But I feel like we are very
much on track to delivering a proposal that meets the criteria laid out by
NTIA, shows that the bottom up multi-stakeholder process is mature, and it
can deliver something that would be acceptable.” According to Drazek, the
process is proof of the multi-stakeholder process in itself. VeriSign
currently acts as the maintainer of the central root zone of the domain name system.
Leaving out considerations about the future of this contract in the
transition discussions so far has caused some critical reactions. Policy Discussion Versus Policy
Making Leaving aside the discussion of the
accountability of ICANN, the future IANA operator, during the IGF meeting in
Joao Pessoa, was a desideratum (deficiency) difficult to defend, found Milton
Mueller, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public
Policy, like Hofmann an academic who has watched IGF for a decade. Mueller is
much less positive when asked to take stock of the IGF at 10. The biggest
change since Athens according to Mueller is, “it has succeeded in shaping
public discourse in the community of people interested in internet
governance, channelling things into the ‘multi-stakeholder model’.” In
addition, he said, there is a general feeling at the IGF “that there is some
value in having an institution that brings together people from across all
the IG-relevant venues (ICANN, IGOs, regional internet registries or RIRs,
standards organisations, civil society groups, governments, business) for
dialogue, and that no other alternative does this. If there is no IGF, where
does this happen?” (For IP-Watch archive reporting from the 2006 Athens IGF,
see here and here) At the same time, Mueller is decided
on what the biggest shortcoming of the mega-meetings is: “The big failing is
that there is no real work for these people to do once you bring them
together.” Instead of utilising the experience, wealth of knowledge and – to
some extent – diversity at the meetings, especially the plenary time is spent
on generic comments, for example on cybersecurity concepts and developments
in that field, he said. “There is no attempt to define a particular issue and
use the IGF to develop a consensus or plan of action,” he said. In the end,
Mueller could not think of “any major new policy or policy shift that can be
attributed to IGF.” One of the IGF Youth attendees from Peru in a session on
the much-applauded NetMundial conference put it bluntly: “I participated in
many workshops. There were very interesting topics and controversial ones
like net neutrality and zero rating. But we repeat the same ideas and talk a
lot, but we get nowhere. But when governments start to deploy, the policies
of the internet and human rights discussed in in the IGF and similar
platforms, we don’t see what is discussed here implemented.” Trade agreements
behind closed doors, the strengthening of surveillance legislation and talks
on how to ban encryption came up time and again during the week as examples
illustrating that governments while applauding the IGF multi-stakeholder
principle and the NetMundial Declaration once home do not feel bound to the
feel-good declarations or statements. Trade Agreements, Surveillance –
Where Multi-Stakeholders Have Less Say “Everything that we are discussing
here is there, from DNS to spectrum to youth to consumer rights, internet, to
cross data flow and to privacy,” warned Carolina Rossini, Brazilian lawyer
and board member of Coding Rights pointing to the Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP) and other mega regional trade agreements. But there is no openness for
multi-stakeholder consultations in the many trade negotiations currently
underway or recently completed. “I can’t imagine any other space on the
internet policy area less open to discussions, less open to the public to
comment,” said Claudio Ruiz from the Chilean organisation Derechos Digitales
in a panel dedicated to the TPP. “It has been negotiated in total secret and
total opacity for more than five years,” he said, also kept from national
parliaments. “The trade negotiations are being
made in secret not just for us but also for our national congresses,” Ruiz
said. He said he is afraid that the TPP will put an end to any discussion on
the future of copyright in the digital age. Recent developments with regard
to mass surveillance also put a question mark to many IGF participating
states’ willingness to honour commitments made in international fora, many
NGO representatives warned during the IGF week. Marilia Maciel, researcher at
the Getulio Vargas Law School noted: “What we have seen since NETMundial is a
very worrisome trend in terms of countries trying to put forward laws that
would legitimize mass surveillance, and this is really something that we
should look into.” Maciel said the uptake of more encryption technology is
extremely important, “but laws are very important too.” Encryption technology and the
backlash reaction from governments toward it, mainly by considering potential
obligations for intermediaries to preserve decryption possibilities for
authorities, was one of the top emerging issues discussed in Joao Pessoa,
alongside developments of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Despite the applause
from governments left and right and also from corporations like Google which
was represented in a considerable number of panel discussions, in the end it
was “not the governments who protect freedom of speech, not the corporations,
not the police,” concluded Nadine Moawad, APC programme coordinator, activist
and blogger. “The only people who will protect it is us, by our
relentlessness and our sheer insistence that we will not shut up about our
rights, to say what we want to say.” Whither IGF? An extension of the IGF mandate by
the UN WSIS+10 High Level Meeting in December is already be expected by many
observers given a draft outcome document. The document will form the basis
for another round of informal consultations from 19-20 November and 24-25
November, in New York. This was “another success story that the UNGA now
considers extending the mandate by 10 years instead of five. This may sound
like not much, but given the huge scepticism of many developing countries
against the multi-stakeholder setting, this is definitely progress,”
explained Hofmann. A major ongoing discussion remains how to make the IGF
more output oriented and the host Brazil tried to push the 10th edition a
little more into that direction, trying to use its successful NetMundial
meeting as a precedent. Some baby steps were taken, including an output
document compilation on “Policy Options for Connecting the Next Billion”
which according to the Brazilian IGF chair’s summary will be forwarded to
other related processes such as the United Nations General Assembly 2nd Committee through the UN Department
of Economic and Social Affairs, to the International Telecommunication Union
Council and to United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
through council meetings. Furthermore, several Best Practice Forums (BPFs)
delivered what was labelled as “living documents” on regulation of unwanted
communications, on establishing Computer Security Incident Response Teams
(CSIRTs), on developing meaningful multi-stakeholder participation
mechanisms, on practices to counter online abuse and gender-based violence
against women and girls and creating an enabling environment for IPv6
adoption.“ Finally the intersessional work of the so-called dynamic
coalitions was presented in dedicated plenaries. The Brazilian organisers also tried
to build a bridge between the IGF multi-stakeholder discussion and the UN GA
decision making process, by inviting the two co-facilitators of the
preparatory consultations for the future WSIS mandate text. Brazilian
Ambassador Benedicto Fonseca Filho, director of the Department of Scientific
and Technological Affairs of the Ministry of External Relations, said it was
his experience that the different processes would ignore each other. “What is
taking place here is largely ignored by most of the representatives in New
York and Geneva, and vice versa,” he said. Will governments in New York hear
the concern by many IGF participants to include protection of anonymity on
the net in the document and to not fall back to a government-only UN working
group on internet governance. The latter, a considerable number of IGF
participants were afraid, would be a backlash against the multi-stakeholder
principle and could result in putting the IGF into the corner of a
“discussion only” body for much longer. From http://www.ip-watch.org/
11/18/2015 Measuring
Human Rights in the ICT Sector: Why, How, and with What Impact? No, you haven’t – they were long, complex, tedious, and designed
for lawyers – but, thankfully, Ranking Digital Rights have done it for you.
On 3 November, Ranking Digital Rights launched a global ranking for ICT
companies on digital free expression and privacy: the 2015 Ranking Digital
Rights Corporate Accountability Index evaluates the world’s most powerful
internet and telecommunications companies’ effect on freedom of expression
and privacy. With numerous cases emerging, from Yahoo and AT&T to
Instagram, online rights continue to fall prey to censorship, data breaches,
and communications interception, to name only a few of the threats posed in
the digital sphere. Digital companies, from telecommunications companies to social
networking platforms, exert a powerful influence over the online and offline
lives of people across the globe. It’s an influence which is perpetually
expanding and establishing itself in new areas. These companies have a
responsibility to respect human rights, yet, as Ranking Digital Rights’
Director, Rebecca MacKinnon says, “If this was a test, nearly everyone
failed.” The Ranking Digital Rights Index has found that many of the world’s
most powerful internet and telecommunications companies fail to disclose key
information about practices affecting human rights. Despite some positive
findings, including an increase in transparency reporting, the index has
highlighted a need for significant, systematic, and sector-wide improvement. The research found: Disclosure about collection, use, sharing, and retention of user
information is generally poor; Disclosure about private and self-regulatory
processes is minimal and ambiguous at best, and often non-existent; Nearly
50% of companies in the Index scored less than 25 percent, showing a serious
lack of respect for freedom of expression and privacy; Social media titans
Twitter and Facebook scored a paltry 58% and 35% respectively regarding
freedom of expression. Google ranked highest among internet companies, while
the UK’s Vodafone ranked highest among telecommunications companies. This
said, no company has hit over a 65% rating, so none of the companies ranked
has cause for celebration or complacency. The Index ranks companies according to 31 criteria which are
focused around commitment, freedom of expression, and privacy, as well as
making practical recommendations. The Index will aid human rights advocates,
policy-makers, and responsible investors. It could also help companies to
improve their own policies and practices, enabling them, as well as pushing
them, towards respecting human rights in the sectors which they themselves
continue to shape and develop. Recent cases have shown that, left
unsupervised in the hands of corporations, freedom of expression and privacy
can be left broken on the floor of the digital playroom. This index could be
a valuable resource for users and companies alike, as well being a watchful
eye on those who might seek not to play fair with online rights. From http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/
11/20/2015 Asia-Pacific
Region Rallies Around Info Superhighway The first session of the Working Group on the Asia-Pacific
Information Superhighway met in Incheon, Republic of Korea, calling for a
regional cooperation framework to implement the Asia-Pacific Information
Superhighway initiative.The working group brought together ICT policy makers
from around the Asia-Pacific region, broadband infrastructure experts and
representatives of civil society and the private sector with the objective of
improving broadband connectivity in Asia and the Pacific.The creation of the
Working Group on the Asia-Pacific Information. Superhighway had been
recommended by member States at the ESCAP’s intergovernmental Committee on
ICT and endorsed by the ESCAP Commission.The Asia-Pacific Information
Superhighway, an initiative by the United. Nations Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP, aims to provide seamless regional
connectivity between land and undersea-based ICT infrastructure to increases
availability, reliability and affordability of broadband Internet for all. The working group called on ESCAP to begin preparing a regional
cooperation framework for the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway. It
identified four concrete areas to be emphasised in the framework, where
regional cooperation can make a real difference for the people of Asia and
the Pacific in improving physical access to broadband.The working group
emphasised the need to act together to upgrade physical broadband
infrastructure across the region. Additionally, countries agreed to work
together on harmonising Internet traffic management to reduce the number of
costly inefficiencies in the way data is routed within and between countries
of the region. Also, they agreed that regional dialogue and concerted actions
can yield Internet transmission networks that are more robust and resilient
to natural disasters given its importance in disaster management.Lastly, the
working group recognised that regional cooperation could help ESCAP countries
to provide a more inclusive access to broadband Internet by promoting
partnerships and good-practices to deliver broadband access in underserved
areas. As an enabling infrastructure and a potent stimulant for economic
activity and innovation, broadband Internet holds great promise for
accelerating socioeconomic development.However, according to Ms. Shamika
Sirimanne, the Director of the ICT and Disaster Risk Reduction Division of
ESCAP, “Asia and the Pacific is the most digitally divided region in the
world. Only 6 per cent of the population living in developing countries in
the region is connected to fixed broadband Internet.” From http://www.dailynews.lk 09/07/2015 |
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China’s rapid development means it’s no longer unusual to see
fixed robot arms working around the clock, performing simple, highly
repetitive tasks, such as welding and moving components on a typical
production line. For the factories, robots make good employees; they work
long hours, don’t claim wages and never complain. Meanwhile, for an aging China,
with its declining birth rate, robots, particularly the industrial kind, may
offer a solution to a looming labor shortage that could potentially drag down
economic growth over the long term. The expected population shortfall has
prompted widespread concerns that China will be over the hill before
attaining its goal of becoming the world’s leading economy. In response, the
central government has relaxed the three-decades-old family planning policy
that restricted most couples to one child. Lu Jiehua, professor of sociology
at Peking University, ruled out the possibility that the new policy will be
the game changer that reverses the population decline, citing a change in
public attitudes toward reproduction and family size. By April, only 1.37
million of the 11 million couples eligible to have a second child had filed
an application, according to the National Health and Family Planning
Commission. Official statistics showed that China’s potential workforce,
people ages 16 to 59, peaked around 2011, and has been in decline since. At
the same time, the number of people working has been declining as a
proportion of total population. Last year, there were 916 million people
between the ages of 16 and 59 in China, roughly 66 percent of the entire
population. The proportion hit a peak of 74.5 percent in 2010, and has been
falling ever since. Lu’s perception that robots offer a relatively simple
solution to the problem is shared by other experts, such as Wang Weiming,
deputy director of the Equipment Department at the Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology. “The development of the robotics industry will solve the labor
shortage in China efficiently, thus reducing labor costs for manufacturing
industry,” Wang said, adding that skilled workers only account for 13 percent
of national employment, resulting in a shortfall of 33 million people.
Despite the fact that manufacturers are offering ever higher salaries, the
majority of young people are unwilling to engage in labor-intensive
occupations. An industrial robot, however, can do the work of an average six
skilled workers on two shifts on a production line. “Moreover, the robots are
not simply replacements for manpower because they also better ensure the
consistency of quality control in every batch of items, which helps
manufacturers to raise productivity and optimize labor distribution,” Wang
said. Job makers or breakers? The fact that robots－which don’t require
air-conditioned offices, paid vacations or frequent salary raises－appear to
be ideal employees and few humans can hope to compete with them, naturally
raises another question: What if robots perform so well that humans become
redundant and unemployment rises? Industry experts said that such a scenario
is improbable. “It’s unlikely that there will be a conflict between the
installation of robots and employment levels in China in the next five
years,” Qu Daokui, president of Siasun Robot & Automation Co, said. Qu
said the application of industry robots is limited to only a few fields such
as welding, hauling and stacking－repetitive, strenuous manual
labor that few people wish to do－so using robots to replace the
humans currently engaged in these tasks is unlikely to affect the employment
rate. Statistics released by the International Federation of Robotics shows
that the major applications for industrial robots include handling, welding,
assembly, dispensing, processing and “clean room” work in dust-free
environments. Although most of the robots are used on automobile production
lines (38 percent) and the manufacturing of electronic products (27.6
percent), they are also gradually being adopted by traditionally
labor-intensive industries, such as foodstuffs and plastic wares, sectors
that have suffered most from the labor shortage in recent years. “From Germany
to South Korea to China, a direct factor in employment has been the economic
cycle of a country, not the rising number of robots being installed,” Qu
said. Wang Yuechao, director of the Bureau of Major R&D Programs at the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that based on current technology, robots
are unable to perform complex tasks that are currently undertaken by senior
skilled workers. “A six-joint robot is already the most sophisticated thing
that engineers can build using the current available technology, but its
flexibility doesn’t compare with our hands at all,” Wang said. “So the range
of jobs in which robots will replace humans is too narrow to threaten overall
employment levels.” Moreover, a report by the International Federation of
Robotics said a prosperous robotics industry could created 1 million to 2
million jobs between 2017 and 2020. “Our study proves that robots create
jobs,” said Gudrun Litzenberger, general secretary of the federation, in a
written statement. Take Germany, for example, where the number of robots per
10,000 workers rose from 146 in 2000 to 261 in 2011, accelerating
manufacturing volume and lowering the unemployment rate from 6.9 percent to 6
percent. “It’s a fact that productivity and competitiveness are indispensable
for a manufacturing enterprise to be successful in the global market.
Robotics and automation are the solution,” Litzenberger said. The way ahead? The pursuit of economic growth and high employment has been a
top priority for governments around the world in the wake of the 2008 global
economic crisis. As a result, many countries have turned to automation. In
2011, US President Barack Obama included a National Robotics Initiative as
part of the wider Advanced Manufacturing Initiative to boost US efforts in
automation and robotics. In 2012, the European Commission set out a plan for
a “revolution” to re-industrialize Europe and boost economic growth, with the
goal of increasing the contribution of industry to the EU’s total GDP to 20
percent by 2020. Robotics and automation is a significant part of the plan.
In recent years, Japan, South Korea and China have all published plans for
the development of robotics. “Some people ask why developed countries need to
develop robots when they barely have any strenuous manual work for the robots
to do. The answer is that these countries and regions are trying to solve a
different problem to China,” said Song Xiaogang, executive director of the
China Robot Industry Alliance. “Smart manufacturing”－the use of
advanced technologies, such as robotics and 3-D printers, in tandem with a
highly skilled workforce－is
the ultimate goal of the re-industrialization trend in these highly developed
economies, Song said. “The intention of smart manufacturing is to use
automated technology to greatly shorten the R&D period, and thus increase
the competitiveness of the companies,” Song said. Currently, complex testing and quality-control procedures mean
that launching a product can be a prolonged process. However, if a computer
can precisely simulate the testing and production processes, the development
period could be shortened correspondingly. “A precondition for computers to
accurately simulate a real production scenario is that the entire production
line must be fully automated, or completely controlled by the computer,” Song
said. “Developed countries such as the US, Japan and South Korea have
accumulated enough data for smart manufacturing after spending many years
developing the use of robotics, while China is a beginner at this stage.”
Despite being a latecomer, China is not resigned to being a follower: a
robotics industry guideline published by the Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology in early 2014 spelled out two major objectives for the
industry: meeting the huge market demand for low-end robots, and developing
high-end robots. “Low-end robots will be used to replace the missing humans
and solve China’s labor-shortage problem. In the meantime, it’s equally
important that we develop our own high-end robots and collect more data from
increasingly automated production so we will be able to develop our own smart
manufacturing,” Song said. A future dilemma Since the very beginnings of robotics research, concerns such as
those related in Aesop’s fable The Farmer and the Snake－about a
farmer who tries to save a freezing snake by placing it in his jacket, only
to be fatally bitten when the animal recovers－have never been far from people’s
minds. In December, the British scientist Stephen Hawking told the BBC that
the development of full artificial intelligence could “spell the end of the
human race”. A month later, Microsoft’s Bill Gates said humans should be
worried about the threat posed by artificial intelligence. What makes Hawking
and Gates so nervous is not the sight of the endlessly repetitive robotic
arms on production lines, but the dream of the founders of robotic science:
the creation of a machine capable of independent sensation, thought and
action. “If we feel the wind is rising, we consider putting on a coat, and
then we get a coat and put it on. In the past few decades, what we have done
in robotics development has focused on giving robots the ability to grab a
coat and put it on－the
ability to act－but
we have not given them the ability to perceive and think, which is the most
difficult part,” Xu Yangsheng, a member of the Chinese Academy of
Engineering, told the 2015 China Conference of Artificial Intelligence, held
in Beijing on July 25 and 26. “Now is the time to be open to the idea of
creating intelligence for robots,” he said. Artificial intelligence research
began at a 1956 conference at Dartmouth College in the US, and early pioneers
were convinced that it would only take a few decades to build a machine as
intelligent as a human being. That vision later proved to be a serious
underestimation of the complexity of the task, and AI development entered a
slow phase. However, fast-paced improvements in hardware and the relatively
recent development of big data－large,
complex sets of data that can provide insights that lead to better, more
accurate decision-making－have
brought hope for the future of AI. Between 2009 and 2013, about $17 billion
was poured into the global AI sector, which grew at more than 60 percent a
year, according to a 2014 report published by the quantitative analysis
company Quid. “The development of the Internet and big data has brought a new
spring for the development of AI, because big data on the Internet provides
plenty of materials for AI, and thus promotes the comprehensiveness and
accuracy of its learning ability,” said Tan Tieniu, deputy secretary-general
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “However, it’s still too early to say
that robots are becoming smarter than humans because there’s still a long way
to go before we come close to developing a general-purpose AI,” he said.
Technological advances have enabled robots to outperform humans in a number
of specific fields, such as face and voice recognition and piloting aircraft,
but as yet no one has figured out how to incorporate these abilities into one
device. “AI represents the direction of future development. I don’t believe
that AI will surpass the human race, but it will influence our society, so
it’s high time for us to start AI research from the perspective of the social
sciences,” Tan said. “An Chinese old maxim says: ‘Water can float your boat,
but it can also sink it’, so whether AI will turn out to be a demon will
depend heavily on how we handle its development.”
From http://www.gov.cn/
09/14/2015 News Analysis: Internet Technology Reshapes China's Economy The Internet will play an increasingly important role in
reshaping China's economy, as more people are online here than anywhere else
in the world, experts said. By the end of June 2015, China had 668 million
Internet users, 48.8 percent of the population. Total e-commerce transaction
volume in 2014 surged 59.4 percent to 16.39 trillion yuan (2.57 trillion U.S.
dollars), nearing its goal of 18 trillion yuan by 2015. China's cabinet
unveiled its "Internet Plus" action plan at the beginning of July
to mold information technology and traditional sectors into a cohesive,
efficient force. Lin Nianxiu, deputy head of the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC), said at a conference here on Tuesday that China
needs the integration as it will address the problems of rising costs and
overcapacity. Internet Plus will help cultivate new engines for economic
growth and upgrade economic structure, Lin said. The action plan identified
areas that can benefit from Internet Plus, including manufacturing, modern
agriculture, energy, finance, services, logistics and e-commerce. Entering
the food delivery business one year ago, China's Internet giant Baidu has
been combining its cutting-edge technology with the catering sector. Zhao
Cheng, editor-in-chief of Baidu, said the company had become a leader in the
sector as analyzed orders and matched the positions of customers with food
delivery personnel. With this technology, the company can process more orders,
quicker, making the process more convenient for clients and making more
profits for restaurants, Zhao said. Chinese taxi-hailing and ride-on-demand
provider Didi, a leader in the sector, also uses mobile and location
technology. "The Internet has made it easier for startups and slashed
the costs associated with innovation," said Lin. Lin urged companies to
embrace the Internet for their management operations, too, as it would raise
overall productivity. The NDRC will reinforce policy support for companies to
participate in the Internet Plus program and collaborate with other
government departments to realize scientific decision making in promoting
Internet Plus, Lin said. Huai Jinpeng, deputy head of the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), said at the forum that companies
should make good use of the Internet and look for opportunities from untapped
areas. The ministry will continue to improve Internet infrastructure and make
broadband Internet accessible in every corner of China, according to Huai. By
the end of this year, the average broadband speed for users in major
municipalities and provincial capitals will be increased to 20 megabytes per
second (Mbps) from the current 9 Mbps, the MIIT announced earlier this year.
The ministry will press ahead with the overall implementation of the
"Broadband China" strategy, which was floated in August 2013 by the
State Council to boost information consumption and expand broadband coverage
across the country.
From http://www.news.cn/
09/29/2015 China's "Magic Cube" Computer Unlocks the Future Using a supercomputer like a magic cube as tall as a two-story
building, Chinese scientists want to calculate the future of the earth. They
hope to calculate almost everything in natural earth systems from the growing
of a cloud to the changes of climate hundreds or thousands of years in the
future with the buzzing, blue "magic cube", in the Zhongguancun
Software Park in northern Beijing. Several research institutes under the
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), including the Institute of Atmospheric
Physics, the Institute of Computing Technology, the Computer Information
Center and Sugon Information Industry Company, have jointly unveiled the
special supercomputer named the prototype of Earth System Numerical Simulator
and the software "CAS Earth System Model 1.0" running on the
device. The prototype is about one tenth the size of a future earth
simulator, which is still in design, and will be used by scientists to
develop the final simulator, and conduct short-term climate forecasts and
control of air pollution. Ding Yihui, a member of the Chinese Academy of
Engineering and an expert of China Meteorological Administration, said the
prototype and the software are a breakthrough for China's development of the
earth systems simulator, and will provide a solid basis for the integrated
study of weather and climate. Zhang Minghua, a researcher with the Institute
of Atmospheric Physics, said the "CAS Earth System Model 1.0"
includes the complete modules representing the climate and biological
systems, all scientifically interconnected. "The computing system can simulate the atmosphere, ocean
currents, land surface processes and biological systems," Zhang said.
"Even factors from space like cosmic rays and solar wind can be
simulated in the device, which is very powerful," said Ding, adding that
the simulator could help scientists study climate changes at least 30 years
ahead and the change of PM 2.5. air pollutant particles. "It will play
an important role in reducing greenhouse gases and improving the
climate," Ding said. Cao Zhennan, assistant to the CEO of the Sugon
Information Industry Company, said earth system simulation needs a
high-performance computer. The "magic cube", with a total investment
of 90 million yuan (about 14 million U.S. dollars), has a peak computing
power of at least 1 petaflop, making it one of China's 10 most powerful
computers. Its total storage capacity is over 5PB. Using the prototype of the
Earth System Numerical Simulator, it takes about one day to calculate changes
over six years in the atmospheric cycle, the water cycle, the rock and soil
cycle, the biological cycle and other natural cycles, said Zhou Guangqing,
director of the information center of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics.
According to Zhu Jiang, head of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, the
final simulator is expected to have a computing capacity 10 times higher than
the current prototype.
From http://www.news.cn/
10/03/2015 China's Tech Empire Comes of Age Abroad When Lei Jun told the World Internet Conference in China last
year that his tech startup Xiaomi will be the world leader in smartphones in
the next five or 10 years, an Apple executive prophetically replied, "It
is easy to say, but more difficult to do." Xiaomi's prodigious success
has revolutionized the market for "made in China" goods, much due
to the founder's appeal to patriotism. Lei, 46, originally wanted to name his
company "Red Star", but this was already registered. So he settled
for Xiaomi, the Chinese for "millet", inspired by Mao Zedong's
phrase during China's Civil War of 1945-1949: "We want to conquer the
world by using millet and rifles." He often quotes Mao at product release
meetings and the company recently made headlines by setting up a Communist
Party branch. FUN OF
TECHNOLOGY In 2010, when it was founded, the Chinese market was dominated
by foreign brands. Newspapers splashed photos of people queuing for Apple's
iPhone 4 and few would consider buying handset from a domestic start-up. But
by the end of 2014, Xiaomi's market value stood at 45 billion U.S. dollars,
about 180 times its worth of 2010. It has grown far ahead of domestic rivals
Huawei and Lenovo, topping the Chinese market, and is now the world's third
largest smartphone manufacturer after Apple and Samsung. Lei's smiling face
has graced the pages of the Wall Street Journal, Time, and Forbes. Xiaomi
battled for market share by being controversially cheap. Supporters claim its
smartphone has the same or better functions than the foreign brands, but for
less than 2,000 yuan, and its "high-quality, low-price" reputation
has become a role model for other Chinese firms. Its slogan is "May more
people enjoy the fun of technology." Lei gambled on the popularity of
mobile Internet - and won. In 2012, the number of Chinese online on mobile
phones for the first time outnumbered those online on their desktops. By June
this year, 668 million Chinese were online, almost half of the country's population,
and mobile phone web users numbered 594 million. Before unveiling its first
handset, Xiaomi developed an Android-based mobile operating system and
WeChat-like text and voice messaging service, both with millions of users.
The company built its reputation through online selling and social media
marketing. When the first Xiaomi smartphone was released in August 2011, more
than 300,000 handsets sold online within five minutes. On April 18 this year,
a record 2.12 million smartphones sold online within 12 hours. The success
was repeated in foreign markets such as Brazil and Southeast Asia. In July
2014, Xiaomi entered India, selling more than 800,000 handsets, and quickly
grabbing 1.5 percent of the market. Business insiders say Xiaomi's popularity
comes from experience of developing countries, where large populations with
huge middle and low-end markets are consistent with Xiaomi's strength. PATENTS
BARRIER However, taking a Chinese start-up abroad successfully requires
patents - and Xiaomi's lack of intellectual property has proved its Achilles'
heel. Doubts first arose last year with the launch of its air purifier, which
was criticized as remarkably similar to that of Japanese brand Balmuda in
appearance, internal structure, and even in its marketing. In December,
Sweden's Ericsson won a court order banning the import and sale of Xiaomi
smartphones in India after claiming they infringing patent rights. Xiaomi
paid a substantial sum in compensation, which reinforced public doubts over
domestic brands. Hugo Barra, vice president of Xiaomi in charge of According to China's Ministry of Industry and Information
Technology (MIIT), almost all Chinese smartphone manufactures have been
blocked in the global market, especially in North America and Europe. Lacking
core patents is the main barrier. Xiaomi has been dubbed China's Apple, and
Lei has acknowledged learning from Steve Jobs in explaining the similarities
with the iPhone. But critics argue that Apple has more than double the
patents claimed by Xiaomi. "Lei's salute to Jobs is just trickery to
disguise copying Apple's designs," says a blogger who posted an article
titled "Xiaomi Discredits the Reputation of 'Made-in-China'." MARTKET
SATURATION Domestic smartphone makers have made China the world's largest
and most competitive market. Yu Xiaohui, head of the China Academy of
Telecommunication Research, revealed that Chinese manufactures accounted for
six of world's top 10 vendors based on market share. At home, the number of
Chinese smartphone manufactures exceeds 200, and they have 80 percent of the
market. However, the first quarter of this year saw a fall in smartphone
sales in China, with shipments down 4.3 percent to 98.8 million according to
IT consultancy IDC. "China's smartphone market is saturated," says
Yu Li, vice director of marketing of China Academy of Telecommunication
Research. "The time of explosive growth has passed, and higher-level
competition is approaching." Lei Jun revealed on his microblog that
Xiaomi had sold 34.7 million units from January to June, down from the second
half of last year, and a poor start to meeting its goal of selling 100
million handsets this year. But he remains optimistic: "Even if growth
slows, smartphone makers can still get opportunities by keeping prices
competitive." But affordability is not a panacea. "As smartphone
users demand ever more in quality," says Yang Ye, director of From http://www.news.cn/
10/07/2015 China to Improve Telecom Services in Rural, Remote Areas The State Council, China's Cabinet, on Wednesday decided to
improve broadband in rural and remote areas. Stronger telecom services will
help attract investment and fuel coordinated development, narrowing the gap
between urban and rural areas, said a statement released after a State
Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang. The meeting
urged more input from the central budget, more support from local policies
and capital, more telecom construction and maintenance from private capital,
more public-private partnerships, as well as stricter supervision of
subsidies. By 2020, 50,000 more villages will get access to broadband and 30
million rural households will enjoy upgraded services. The total investment
is estimated to hit more than 140 billion yuan. The meeting also stressed the
importance of e-commerce, saying faster expansion of e-commerce in rural
areas will stimulate consumption, benefit farmers and support the real economy.
Private investment is encouraged to explore channels for agricultural
products to enter urban market. Poor areas will be given priority to set up
pilot e-commerce villages. E-commerce training and infrastructure will be
improved. Forged and fake goods will be tackled, and credit support like
loans and interest subsidies are expected. The meeting called for faster
development of express couriers to lower cost and provide jobs. The State
Council suggested mergers of delivery companies, easier license acquisition
and customs clearance, better cooperation between delivery and e-commerce,
safer and faster delivery services, and more mortgages and leasing businesses
for the industry.
From http://www.chinagate.cn/
10/15/2015 China to Promote S&T Development for Info Protection China will strengthen science and technology research on methods
to protect state secrets and pool wisdom from research institutions,
universities, enterprises and government organs. Du Yongsheng, deputy
director of the National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets,
made the remarks on Thursday at a seminar held by the China Confidentiality
Association, which is affiliated with the administration. As the domestic and
international situation undergoes profound and complex changes, maintaining
state secrets faces new challenges. Technology is used in both stealing and
protecting information, said Du. Attended by officials, entrepreneurs and
specialists, the seminar focused on developing trends, protection methods,
products, application and assessment of technology used to protect
information, as well as how to cultivate more talent in the field. Du Hong,
head of the association, said more events will be held to promote
development.
From http://www.news.cn/
11/05/2015 Chinese
Cash to Pour into High-Tech Start-Ups Chinese cash is starting to pour into high-tech start-ups in
Europe and the United States. One of the largest funds has been set up by
China Development Bank in partnership with Bpifrance, the French state-owned
investment vehicle. The 250 million euro ($275 million) Sino-French
Innovation Fund will be used to support digital startups in France, China and
the US. "French companies have an urgent need to develop their
activities across a wide range of markets," Nicolas Dufourcq, chairman
of Bpifrance, said in a statement. "This is something that China, as
well as the United States, can offer." The fund was launched earlier
this year and will be managed by Cathay Capital, a cross-border investment
firm, with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Paris and New York. Indeed, this
move into funding overseas tech-based businesses is gathering pace. An
increasing number of Chinese companies are looking beyond the country to
invest in foreign startups. Last month, Zhongguancun Software Park
Development Co Ltd, a government-backed enterprise, unveiled a 40 million
euro fund to nurture high-tech fledgling firms in Nordic countries. Sectors
earmarked for investment include finance, gaming, communication and new
energy projects. "Northern Europe is a traditional major source of
innovation," Liu Kefeng, general manager of Beijing Zhongguancun
Software Park, said. "We hope the fund, co-backed by Chinese and Finnish
enterprises, can promote the exchange of ideas and technology between China
and the Nordic countries." The decision to put together these
partnership deals is the result of the country's growing wealth and Beijing's
desire to attract cutting-edge companies. Denis Barrier, managing partner of
Cathay Capital, pointed out that it was "natural evolution" for
more Chinese companies to invest in smart startups. "China is the most competitive ecosystem in the world when
it comes to online business and a very innovative nation," Barrier said.
But to retain its edge in a fast-evolving world the country needs to tap into
the latest global developments by investing in new ventures, he added. This
policy is also a direct consequence of China's economic expansion, according
to Bharath Madhus, co-founder of Securly, a Silicon Valley-based startup
backed by Chinese investors. "It makes sense for Chinese venture capital
to diversify into other competitive regions," he said. Securly has
developed software and cloud-based services for parents and schools to manage
the time children spend online. Founded in 2013, the company raised funding
from Chinese venture capital firms, Zhen Fund and Innovation Works, without
disclosing detailed figures. Although Securly has no immediate plans to move
into the Chinese market, its investors will help smooth the way when the time
is right. "Addressing foreign markets can be difficult, so investing in
(the right products) is a good first step," Barrier, at Cathay Capital,
said. "Still, it doesn't solve the real question: how to make it a significant
part of the main core business outside China," he added.
From http://www.chinagate.cn/
11/10/2015 China
Makes Breakthrough in Li-Fi Technology, with Speed of 50 Gbps A new Chinese breakthrough in visible light communication (VLC)
technology may enable people to download a HD Hollywood movie in around 0.3
second simply using the light of a lamp. A test conducted by the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology confirmed that the real-time traffic rate
of a Chinese VLC system had reached 50 gigabytes per second (Gbps), the
ministry announced Friday. The real-time speed is the highest obtained by
China so far. In August 2014, media reported a group of Mexican scientists
used similar technology to transmit data with speeds up to 10 Gbps. IT expert
and academic Wu Jiangxing said it will be possible to establish a huge VLC
network based on the billions of bulbs and LED lighting facilities already
around the globe. "Every bulb can serve as a high-speed Internet access
point (similar to a WIFI hotspot ) after VLC technology is widely applied in
the future," said Wu, unable to give a specific time frame.
"Imagine downloading several movies while you are waiting for a green
light at a crossroad or surfing the Internet on planes and high-speed trains
via the lights." The technology is green and consumes far less energy
and can secure information better than radio, which has loopholes such as
signal disturbance, leaks and interception, according to the ministry. The
VLC system was developed by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Information
Engineering University and has entered a phase of "integration and
micromation in design." The university succeeded in developing a
wireless broadcasting system based on VLC in 2013. The ministry and the
university have not specified when the Li-Fi system will be accomplished and
put into practical use. From http://www.news.cn/
11/13/2015 Tianhe-2
Retains World’s Most Powerful Supercomputer China’s Tianhe-2 supercomputer has retained its position as the
world’s most powerful system for the sixth consecutive time, according to a
biannual Top500 list of supercomputers released on Nov 16. Tianhe-2, or Milky
Way2, with a performance of 33.86 petaflops per second (Pflop/s), was
developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology and deployed at
the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou. It has held the title since
June 2013. The Chinese system is almost twice as fast as the next on the
list, Titan of the US Department of Energy, which has a performance of 17.59
Pflop/s. In fact, there has been no change among the ranking of the world’s
top5 supercomputers since June 2013 in the latest edition of the closely
watched list. “The top five computers are very powerful and expensive,” Jack
Dongarra, professor of the University of Tennessee and editor of the report,
said in an email. “It will take perhaps another year before a new system
enters the top five.” Among the significant changes to this list from July
2015’s list is the sharp decline in the number of systems in the United
States, now at 201. “This is down from 231 in July and is the lowest number
of systems installed in the US since the list was started in 1993,” the
statement said. In contrast, China made “a great leap” to 109 systems. “China
received a big boost from Sugon, Lenovo and Inspur,” said Dongarra. “The large number of
submissions came from Sugon.” According to the Top500 statement, Sugon has
overtaken IBM in the system category with 49 systems, while Lenovo, which
acquired IBM’s x86 server business last year, has 25 systems in the list, up
from just three systems on the July 2015 list. In addition, some systems that
were previously listed as IBM are now labeled as both IBM/Lenovo and
Lenovo/IBM. Inspur, the third vendor from China, now has 15 systems on the
list. “China is ... carving out a bigger share as a manufacturer of high
performance computers with multiple Chinese manufacturers becoming more
active in this field,” the statement concluded. Overall, HP leads the list
with 156 systems followed by Cray with 69 systems and China’s Sugon with 49
systems. IBM ranks fourth with 45 systems. Lenovo ranked sixth while Inspur
ranked eighth on the list. The Top500 list is considered one of the most
authoritative rankings of the world’s supercomputers. It is compiled on the
basis of the machines’ performance on the Linpack benchmark by experts from
the United States and Germany. From http://www.gov.cn/
11/17/2015 Construction
of China's Mega Radio Telescope Enters Final Stage Chinese scientists on Saturday tested the installation of the
"retina" of the world's largest ever radio telescope to be
completed in September next year. Technicians lifted a 30-tonne feed cabin of
the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope - or FAST - above a
half-finished dish-like reflector measuring 500 meters in diameter and 1.6
kilometers in perimeter. Once completed, the cabin, home to a feed source
which collects signals from the universe, will be suspended 140 to 160 meters
above the reflector made up of 4,450 panels. Each panel is an equilateral
triangle with a side length of 11 meters, and has cables fixed to the back of
it so that it could adjust angles and positions in synchronization with the
source cabin, which is driven by cables, servomechanisms in additional to a
parallel robot as a secondary adjustable system. "If you compare the
FAST to an eye, then the feed source is its retina," said Sun Caihong, a
chief engineer with the FAST program, "All signals we collect eventually
comes here." Sun said control of high-precision and long-distance
movements of the source cabin using steel cables had been a serious challenge
for experts, but they managed to narrow down maximum error to less then 10
millimeters. "This is one of our greatest innovations," he said.
Construction of the FAST began in March 2011 with an investment of 1.2
billion yuan. The installation of the test feed cabin means the construction
of FAST has enter its final stage. Technicians are still continuing the work
that started months ago to assemble the reflector, which is hung over the
ground supported by thousands of steel pillars and cables in a valley deep in
southwest China's mountainous Guizhou Province. The Karst formation in the
local landscape is good for draining rainwater underground and protecting the
reflector, Sun said. The surrounding area has "radio silence" as
there are no towns and cities within a sphere of five km and only one county
center within a sphere of 25 km, he said. Upon completion, the telescope will
be the world's largest of its kind, overtaking Puerto Rico's Arecibo
Observatory, which is 300 meters in diameter. It will also be 10 times more
sensitive than the steerable 100-meter telescope near Bonn, Germany,
according to Zheng Xiaonian, deputy head of the National Astronomical
Observatories under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "FAST will be the
top level facility in the world for at least 20 to 30 years," Zheng said.
Unlike optical telescopes used to observe the universe by visible light, a
type of electromagnetic radiation, radio telescope operate in the radio
frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum where they can detect and
collect data on radio sources. The key science goals of FAST are based on
observables between 70MHz and 3 GHz, including the 21 cm HI hyperfine
structure line, pulsar emissions and radio continuum. Earlier reports said it
will enable astronomers to jumpstart many science goals. For example, they
could survey natural hydrogen in distant galaxies, detect faint pulsars, look
for the first star shining, or even hear possible signals from other
civilizations. From http://www.news.cn/
11/21/2015 SOUTH
KOREA: To Invest 1.9 Trillion Won Next Year for ICT The government has decided to invest about one-point-nine
trillion won next year to foster the industries of information and
communications technologies (ICT). The Ministry of Science, ICT and
Future Planning said on Tuesday that it had finalized a plan to promote ICT
industries in a strategy meeting held the previous day. The plan focuses
on technical development and construction of infrastructure for
five-generation (5G) mobile networks. In addition, the government will
support small businesses and venture firms seeking business in the Internet
of Things. From http://world.kbs.co.kr
09/02/2015 World
Scientists Discuss Science, Technology Science experts from around the globe will gather in Korea to
attend a special committee and to share their thoughts on the path the world
is taking to further develop science and technology. The OECD Ministerial
Meeting Daejeon 2015: World Science & Technology Forum, scheduled for
Oct. 19 to 23 at venues across Daejeon, will have three sections: the OECD
Ministerial Meeting Daejeon, the World Science & Technology Forum and the
OECD Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy. During the five-day
run, ministers and vice ministers from OECD and ASEAN member states,
including the U.S., Germany and Spain, as well as chief executive officers
from some of the world’s leading businesses, and Nobel Prize winners from 66
countries, will share their ideas on how to formulate policies related to
science and technology over the next 10 years. The OECD ministerial meeting
will allow the world’s ministers and vice ministers involved with science and
technology to discuss ways to realize effective scientific and technological
innovation and how to increase innovation in science and technology in a
manner so that global challenges and issues can be dealt with effectively. From http://www.korea.net/
09/11/2015 KT
Plans to Invest W13tr in Smart Giga Network by 2020 Aiming to become the world’s tech and telecommunication leader,
KT Corp., a leading mobile carrier in Korea, rolled out a set of grandiose
business plans to lead what it calls “the next industrial revolution,” over
the next few decades. Delivering a presentation at a press meeting on
Wednesday, Hwang Chang-gyu, the chief executive of the mobile carrier, said
it would lead to what he called “the fourth industrial revolution,” based on
the advancement and convergence of information and communications
technologies. “KT will establish an intelligent GiGA network infrastructure
and create new businesses through ICT convergence to take the lead in the
fourth industrial revolution in the nation,” said CEO Hwang, adding, “The
fourth revolution will bring vitality and convenience to the lives of
Koreans.” The press meeting was held to mark the 130th anniversary of the
adoption of communications technology in Korea on Sept. 28 and of the
establishment of Hansung Telegram Office, the first state-run telegram agency
that preceded KT. From http://www.koreaherald.com 09/23/2015 Korea,
China Boost Smart Infrastructure Cooperation A city goes “smart” as its roads, buildings, parks and other
places integrate with information and communications technology (ICT). The
so-called “smart city” allows residents to get their hands on information,
whether it be traffic- or climate-related, and services that they need
anywhere and at any time with a mere couple of touches on a smartphone or
tablet. Now, eyes from around the world are focusing on the construction
of such future cities that are centered on citizens, services and
cyberspace. China, too, has lain out its plans to establish more than 50
smart cities across the country every year until 2020. Korea has decided to
join forces with it in those efforts. Representatives from the Ministry
of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and from China's National Development
and Reform Commission came together at the first Korea-China Urban Policy
Cooperation Committee in Beijing on Oct. 13. During the meeting, the two
sides brainstormed about how to cooperate on possible future smart city
construction projects across China. The talks concluded with the signing
of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that encompasses the mutual exchange
of information on technology needed to construct smart infrastructure,
enhanced cooperation on construction projects and the participation of
companies from both countries in the projects. “As building smart cities
is one of China’s top priorities, this meeting will help both construction
and IT companies from Korea have more opportunities to take part in some of
China’s smart city initiatives,” said an official from the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure and Transport. “The two countries will continue to strengthen
their cooperation at the government level.” From http://www.korea.net
10/15/2015 World
Science & Technology Forum Opens for 1st Time in Asia The World Science & Technology Forum, an extension of the
OECD ministerial meetings that began in 1962, opened in Daejeon on Oct.
19. With the theme this year of “Creating our Common Future Through
Science, Technology and Innovation,” the meeting is being held for the first
time in Asia. Ministers and vice ministers from 57 countries and representatives
from 12 international organizations will attend the gathering, and it runs
until Oct. 23. Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning Choi Yanghee
showed Korea’s will to contribute to science and technology worldwide. “Korea
hopes to share its dynamic experiences from the past and the present with the
international community, and to make concerted efforts with other countries
that actively support business startups and innovation, in order to
contribute to innovation in the international community's science and
technology," he said. The gathering began its five-day schedule
with the forum's opening ceremony. The forum has four main subjects: a
national system of innovation in science and technology; scientific and
technological innovation that shapes our future; science and technology that
helps the creative industries; and, science, technology and innovation that
focuses on sustainable and inclusive growth. Four special sessions and 12
parallel sessions will be held on these subjects. From http://www.korea.net
10/19/2015 OECD
Holds Technology Policy Meeting The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's
science committee opened a general meeting in Daejeon on Thursday to share
ideas on the role of the science technology in economic and social development.
At the closed-door OECD Committee for Science and Technology Policy meeting,
participants also discussed ways to foster science experts and assist
underdeveloped nations in the segment, a source with knowledge of the matter
said. The OECD CSTP was first established in 1972 to promote cooperation in
the science realm among developed countries.Currently, the committee also
includes a handful of partners, including China, India, Indonesia and South
Africa. South Korea was an observer nation but was included in the committee
after becoming a member of the OECD in 1996. Science ministers from member
nations of the OECD had adopted a joint declaration Wednesday charting out a
vision and guidelines for sustainable and inclusive growth through scientific
development. The "Daejeon Declaration on Science, Technology and
Innovation Policies for the Global and Digital Age" came after a two-day
meeting of top science policymakers from members of the Paris-based
organization in Daejeon, the country's hub of technology research located 164
kilometers south of Seoul. The OECD Ministerial Meeting Daejeon 2015, World
Science & Technology Forum will run through Friday, with South Korean
experts and citizens planning to hold a joint conference on the last day to
discuss ways to utilize the achievements of the event. From http://www.koreaherald.com/ 10/22/2015 KT
Seeks to Lead Industry 4.0 with Intelligent Infrastructure KT, South Korea’s top telecom carrier, is seeking to play a
leading role in technological convergence across industries in the upcoming
fourth industrial revolution era. The so-called Industry 4.0 describes a
new industrial paradigm of smart manufacturing process based on new
technologies such as Internet of Things, cloud, big data, analytics, robotics
and augmented reality. KT, which started out as a state telegram agency
in 1885, aims higher to transform not just the manufacturing sector but also
all industries and our daily lives through technological
convergence. “Through the intelligent infrastructure, KT will make
efforts to make South Korea the leader in the fourth industrial revolution,”
said KT chairman Hwang Chang-gyu. “The fourth industrial revolution will
bring vitality to the local economy.” Celebrating the company’s 130th
anniversary in September, KT unveiled the road map, including plans to invest
13 trillion won ($10 billion) to find new profit sources and tap deeper into
the intelligent industry by 2020. From http://www.koreaherald.com 10/23/2015 S.
Korea, France to Enhance Cooperation in High-Tech, Space Industries President Park Geun-hye and French President François
Hollande have agreed to enhance substantial cooperation in the high-tech
and space industries. During summit talks at Seoul's presidential office
on Wednesday, the two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in three
high-tech industrial sectors—digital healthcare, self-driving vehicles and
nanotechnology. Park and Hollande also agreed to expand bilateral
cooperation in satellite development to include research and development in
aerospace and climate change. In addition, the two nations will each
designate five promising startup companies next year and allow them to join
the other country's startup assistance programs in an effort to foster global
companies. The two leaders also agreed to increase exchange and
cooperation in education, culture, transportation and tourism. They will also
create a fund to support joint production projects and businesses that create
cultural content. In all, South Korea and France signed six memoranda of
understanding (MOUs). From http://world.kbs.co.kr
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INDONESIA: Aiming to Beat Malaysia in Internet Access by 2019 UNDETERRED by its current Internet penetration rate of only
34.9%, Indonesia has laid down the gauntlet and said it intends to overtake
its Asean neighbour Malaysia by 2019. The republic’s Minister of
Communication and Information Technology Rudiantara acknowledged that
Indonesia lags behind other Asean (Association of South-East Asian Nations)
countries in terms of Internet penetration, but believes it can climb up to
the region’s No 2 spot by 2019, behind Singapore. “It is quite aggressive,
yes – we’re going to be above Malaysia, but still cannot beat Singapore
because we’re facing the challenge of connecting thousands of islands across
our archipelago,” he said. According to industry regulator the Malaysian
Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the Internet penetration rate
in Malaysia stood at 66.6% as of the first quarter of 2014. Indonesia itself
estimates the Internet penetration rate in Malaysia is 70.4% currently, and
Thailand is slightly ahead of the republic at 43.8%, while Singapore is just
about completely wired at 99%. Speaking at the APNIC 40 (Asia Pacific Network Information
Centre) conference in Jakarta on Sept 8, Rudiantara said his government was
working hard to develop the Internet infrastructure in the country. He also
invited the Internet community and industry players to assist the Indonesian
Government in its policy-making. “We want all of you to participate in our
policy-making process in Indonesia – we are open to discussions and any
advice,” Rudiantara said in his speech at the opening ceremony of APNIC 40.
“The Internet [space] in this country is very dynamic – the Government will
not pretend that we understand the technical details,” he said. “For me, the
best regulation is actually less regulation.” APNIC is the regional Internet
registry for Asia Pacific, providing number resource allocation and
registration services. Its members include Internet service providers and
national internet registries. The APNIC 40 conference itself is bringing
together Internet and networking experts from around the region over eight
days for policy development, decision-making, education, information sharing,
and networking. Last year’s edition was held in Brisbane, while this year’s
conference is being backed by the Association of Indonesian Internet
Providers (APJII). Rapid growth, sophisticated use Indonesia’s aspirations to overtake Malaysia may not be so
farfetched after all. With a rapid growth in Internet access over the last
few years, the republic is now home to 88.1 million Internet users. This is a
relatively small proportion of its total population of approximately 250
million people, however, which is why APJII chairman Jamalul Izza underlined
the urgent need for more robust Internet infrastructure. “Based on our survey
last year, the number of Internet users in Indonesia has grown tremendously
from 16 million users [nine years ago] to 88.1 million in 2014. “We expect
the number to grow at the same rapid rate in the future, and that will not
happen without the support of Internet infrastructure in the country,” he
said in his speech at APNIC 40. But it is not only the number of Internet
users that is moving up rapidly – Internet use amongst the populace has also
become more sophisticated, according to Jamalul. “The Internet used to be
only for checking emails … then we started to browse for any kind of
information. “Nowadays, people are using Internet to shop online, to
video-conference, even to order motorbike taxi or ojek,” he said. Infrastructure boost The Indonesian Government’s ambition may still come back to
haunt it, but Rudiantara (pic above) is optimistic of reaching the target
with the implementation of its National Broadband Plan, which aims for
fixed-broadband access at 71% of urban households and 10% of rural
households. “In accordance with our National Broadband Plan, we are now in
process of making sure that approximately 500 major cities and regional
capitals are connected to the Internet by 2018. “This plan is supported by
our Palapa Ring Project which is deploying 36,000km of fibre-optic
connectivity throughout the country, except for Papua island, where we are
still using satellites,” he said. The Palapa Ring Project (click image below
to enlarge) is a mega project Indonesian President Joko Widodo has instructed
Rudiantara to kick off to support connectivity in the country. It is expected
to be the backbone of the five-year goal of the National Broadband Plan, and
is also expected to boost the country’s telecommunication industry. From https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 09/10/2015 MALAYSIA:
Outsourcing M’sia to Local Players - Go Regional, or Drown in the AEC MALAYSIAN global business services (GBS) players need to start
venturing outside the country and look at partnerships with other companies
in South-East Asia urgently, or risk losing out when the Asean Economic
Community (AEC) comes into being. The AEC, to be officially launched on Dec
31, 2015, would facilitate trade and investments between members of Asean
(the Association of South-East Asian Nations) – the movement of goods,
products and even talent within the region would be made significantly
easier. According to Outsourcing Malaysia chairman David Wong (pic above),
currently only 20% of the association’s members have revenue from overseas.
"This is very low. We hope they are able to get more business from
outside Malaysia,” said Wong, who is also an advisor to the National ICT
Association of Malaysia (Pikom). “One of the ways would be through regional
collaboration. It can be a strategic alliance, a joint venture, or even
mergers and acquisitions,” he said after releasing findings from the Global
Business Services Outlook Report 2015 in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 17. Outsourcing Malaysia is a chapter of Pikom, representing the
country’s shared services and outsourcing (SSO) industry – or what is now
more popularly referred to as the GBS industry. Wong argued that local GBS
players must look at regional collaboration urgently, as the impact of the
AEC must not be underestimated. “Companies are not going to come here [to
Asean] and appoint [GBS providers] country by country, or location by
location,” he said, adding that the advantage would be with GBS companies
that can look after the whole South-East Asian market as one. “As you know,
the whole idea for AEC is the single-market, borderless, free movement of
investments, products and talent,” he said. “So if you are going to be just a
Malaysia-focused company, you are going to lose out. “We should really look
outwards. In a way, I think the AEC is good as it is putting pressure on
companies to go out of the country – because if they don’t go out, they will
be sitting ducks,” he added. Potential for Malaysian companies The Global Business Services Outlook Report 2015 highlighted
that the GBS industry was worth US$670 billion in 2014 in terms of global
demand. Asia Pacific has the largest market share, at 36% or US$240 billion.
The greatest demand in Asia Pacific came from Japan, estimated at US$110
billion, followed by Australia with US$35 billion worth of demand. In Asean
countries, GBS demand in Singapore was US$8 billion, in Thailand it was US$7
billion, Malaysia had a mere US$4 billion, while demand in Indonesia was
US$2.5 billion. The report shows that there is “a lot of potential for local
GBS players if they expand their business abroad,” said Wong. He however
admitted that it would be challenging for Malaysian companies to capture a
lion’s share of the US$240 billion global pie, as countries like the
Philippines and India were still securing most GBS jobs. Nevertheless,
there’s still hope. “I think we are strong in serving the South-East Asian
market,” he said. “But if you set up in Malaysia to serve the US market, then
it would be challenging,” he added. Budget wish list Meanwhile, Wong said he hoped that the Malaysian Government
would announce initiatives to help improve the competitiveness of local GBS
players in the national budget for next year, Budget 2016, due to be tabled
in October. Wong said that there are a few areas that the Government could
address, such as talent, funding, and exports. “We are in the service
industry, and we need talent. We only have 77,000 workers in our industry,
but we need to have at least double that by 2017 for the industry to achieve
its US$3.4-billion target. “So there is a gap of 77,000. Where do we get
those from? We will need the Government’s intervention to [help us] fill the
gap,” he added. The talent problem was exacerbated by the fact that while the
industry had jobs, graduates were largely not employable. “Based on our
internal survey, the employability [rate of graduates] is about 5%, so it’s
not that the industry doesn’t have jobs. We have jobs, but they [graduates]
can’t fit in,” said Wong. As for funding, he argued that it was becoming increasingly
difficult for GBS companies to borrow money. “With the type of services we
provide, it takes time to generate income. We are delivering a service, but
before we can deliver the service, we have to first invest on people,
infrastructure and systems – all this means a heavy cost,” said Wong. “The
Government has set up various funds provided by bodies such as Malaysia
Venture Capital (Mavcap), Malaysian Debt Ventures (MDV), and others.
“Unfortunately, not a lot of those funds go to GBS companies,” he added. In
terms of ‘exports,’ Outsourcing Malaysia is hoping the Government, via its
various agencies, could help local GBS players expand their presence across
Asia Pacific. From http://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 09/18/2015 SINGAPORE:
How to Became Asia’s Data Centre Hub SINGAPORE is pretty much the ‘hub’ for anything in Asia these
days, having taken advantage of its geographical position – smack dab in the
middle between East and West – to become a centre for aviation and travel,
financial services, and other industries. Add data centres to that impressive
list. However, that was not always the case, according to DatacenterDynamics
(DCD) chief executive officer George Rockett. “When we first did an event in
Singapore nearly a decade ago, it was a nascent market – there were a few
institutions here, but there wasn’t a lot else going on,” he said in his
opening keynote at Singapore Data Centre Week 2015 that kicked off Sept 14.
Singapore’s growth into a hub can be credited to government initiatives,
according to Aaron Rasmussen, director of DCaaS (Datacentre-as-a-Service)
operations at IO. “The Government does a very good job at providing
initiatives for multiple data centres to come in and thrive,” Rasmussen told
Digital News Asia (DNA) in an interview prior to Rockett’s keynote address. It also helps that Singapore occupies a key geographical
location within Asia, both Rasmussen and Rockett argued. “We see today that
Singapore is in a very central position for a very large market twice the
size of the United States – 600 million people – getting to grips with
technology,” Rockett said, referring to South-East Asia. “We have the benefit
of a key strategic geographic location with world-leading connectivity, and a
low risk of natural disasters,” Rasmussen (pic) said. These factors are what
other data centre operators see as vital to their operations. The Lion City
currently enjoys top billing in the data centre market in Asia, according to
Omer Wilson, Asia Pacific marketing director at Digital Realty. “Over 50% of
the data centres in Asia are here – it is a vast market for data centres,” he
said. Challenges ahead Singapore, in scaling up to become a data centre hub, has
benefited from the ‘Hub and Spoke’ model of data management. This model
allows the database to reside within the country of the company using the
database, while utilising the computing power of a data centre hub to run the
application. But legislation may throw a spanner into this, with Indonesia,
for example, implementing a data sovereignty law that requires data centres
and backup sites to remain within the country. Despite this development, the
Hub and Spoke model is unlikely to go away any time soon. “So many people are
moving to a cloud environment, and the IT folks who have to support this have
to follow a strict regimen of where the data is stored – and it will have to
be centralised within key locations,” Rasmussen said. Meanwhile, Equinix’s
South Asia managing director Clement Goh told DNA, “You need economies of
scale and low latency to run a data centre – the application itself can sit
anywhere. “What some service providers do is put the server farms in a hub,
while putting the database out in individual countries,” he added. Meanwhile,
Zeena Saleem, market director for IO in Singapore, believes that other
countries in the region can take advantage of Singapore’s position as a data
centre hub, rather than challenging it. “For example, for Chinese companies expanding into Asia,
Singapore is an ideal place for them to set up their data centres,” she told
DNA. Demand for data centres in Singapore is unlikely to slow down, according
to Zeena (pic), with many companies choosing the island-republic as a
location for a primary or secondary data centre. This will be also be driven
by trends such as mobility, the Internet of Things, and the digitalisation of
business, some of which are being driven by the Government in Singapore.
“Singapore is leading the world in its initiatives for the development of smart
cities and the Smart Nation [initiative],” said IO’s Rasmussen. “This will
continue to drive the companies that support that, and data centres will be
on the front edge for years to come with the Smart Nation,” he added,
referring to the national vision to empower people via technology. Meanwhile,
Equinix’s Goh and others will discuss these issues and more at Data Centre
Week 2015, being held in Singapore from Sept 14-17. DNA is an official media
partner. From http://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 09/15/2015 Singapore
Unveils Task Force to Boost Semiconductor Industry THE Singapore Semiconductor Vision (SSV) 2020 task force has
been unveiled, with its mission to boost the city-state’s position as a
global semiconductor manufacturing hub. Global industry association
Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) and the Singapore
Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA) will spearhead the task force.
Other members from the public and private sector are the Agency for Science,
Technology and Research (A*Star), Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB),
Applied Materials SEA, GlobalFoundries Singapore, and Micron. “We see
Singapore’s semiconductor industry [as being] in a position of strength and
[of] continued importance to the economy,” Lim Kok Kiang, assistant managing
director of cluster group engineering at EDB, told a media briefing on Oct
13. Singapore had managed to attract semiconductor companies like Fairchild, National
Semiconductor and Texas Instruments early on, according to Lim. Semiconductor
manufacturers accounted for S$51.6 billion (US$36.8 billion) of Singapore’s
manufacturing output, and the Lion City as a leading location for advanced
semiconductor manufacturing, he added. Singapore currently produces 6% of the world’s 300mm wafers, but
challenges abound, with its electricity (1.6 times) and labour rates (2
times) significantly higher than neighbouring countries. “To ensure the
continued success of Singapore’s semiconductor industry, it is critical to
enhance public-private partnership,” Lim said. “The SSV 2020 task force is a
major step in the right direction,” he added. The task force have come up
three recommendations for the semiconductor industry, focusing on innovation;
research and development (R&D); and talent. Individual working groups
have been formed to address each area. Global competitiveness through innovation The task force’s first recommendation is to maintain global
competitiveness through innovation. The priorities for the working group in
this area is to see a 25% increase in energy efficiency and productivity over
the next five years. In this regard, two R&D projects have been
identified for potential industry-wide implementation. The first is an
autonomous robot that would be equivalent to deploying four operators in a
wafer fabrication plant. “One of the top reasons we use automation is for
productivity,” said Ang Kay Chai, special vice president of GlobalFoundries’
Singapore operations, who is leading this working group. “You have to
convince the shopfloor employees to accept these robots and change our
workflow to use these robots,” he added. Meanwhile, the working group
tackling energy efficiency will set out to identify opportunities to reduce
energy consumption of participating companies by 5% per year. Public-private R&D partnerships Singapore has always enjoyed a vibrant and productive research
sector, with a strong tradition of A*Star working together with companies in
the industry, according to Kwong Dim-Lee, executive director of the agency’s
Institute of Microelectronics. The R&D working group will look into a
public-private platform to engage and strengthen links between A*Star and the
industry’s R&D programmes. Besides a public platform, A*Star and other
government agencies will lead an annual technology conference which will
identify the short- to mid-term needs of the industry, and to then focus
research efforts to meet these needs. The third priority would to evolve the current
public-private R&D partnership model to create a unique competitive
advantage to create and capture value, according to Applied Materials
South-East Asia president Russell Tham. He said that there were two factors
that would determine which areas to focus on. “One is a more formalised and
structured industry consultation that will help A*Star and the public sector
identify which areas should be focused on, as Singapore can’t be everything
to everybody,” he said. “Two is to evolve partnership models to maximise
value capture in Singapore,” he added. EDB’s Lim added that to seize new
opportunities available for the industry, the integration of new technology
is even more crucial, and the R&D partnerships need to be more
deliberate. “This is a reinforcement to do more rather than say it has never
been done before,” he said. Next-generation leadership The third and final recommendation is to develop talent, both
current and future. The task force is looking to groom top talent, defined as
those with the career potential to become a senior manager in a multinational
corporation with international responsibilities. The priorities for the
working group would be to set up a Semiconductor Leaders Accelerator
programme for ‘high-potentials,’ or employees who have been identified as
having the potential, ability and aspiration for leadership in a company. The
task force aims to partner EDB and the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) to
develop an industry-wide leadership programme, with a target to groom 150 such
leaders over the next five years. It also aims to increase student engagement
and scholarships to attract such talent, and will partner EDB and WDA to
develop initiatives to increase the hiring rate among graduates. Singapore’s
semiconductor industry has gone through both the personal computer (PC) and
mobility boom. With the Internet of Things (IoT) set to be the next big
thing, more will need to be done to ensure the nation’s position in the
global semiconductor industry. EDB’s Lim was optimistic, however. “While
there may be challenges in the near-term, we are confident that our mid- to
long-term outlook remains positive,” he said. “By supporting the Singapore
semiconductor industry to invest in productivity, innovation and talent, we
can ensure that Singapore remains competitive,” he added. From http://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 10/14/2015 THAILAND:
State-Owned Telecom Companies Look to Raise $281m Infra Fund in 2016 Thailand’s state-owned telecom companies TOT PCL and CAT Telecom
are studying the possibility of forming a 10-billion-baht (around $281
million) infrastructure fund next year. This proposal came up after the
Cabinet approved Metropolitan Electricity Authority’s project to move a
261-kilometre electricity wire underground; leading to the conclusion that
the telcos’ cable-laying on the same route also needed to be underground. The
underground cable laying for the project requires an estimated investment of
7 billion baht, said TOT’s acting president Montchai Noosong. Currently, TOT
is generating an annual revenue of 400-500 million baht from renting out the
cable for 25,000 kilometres, of which 20,000 kilometres is in So far, the company is in the process of drafting a term of
reference for hiring a financial advisor to evaluate the project’s
possibility. It expects to make at least one billion baht a year from renting out the
underground cable initially. Meanwhile, he said that this month the company
expected to finalise on a partner for the third-generation cellular business
on the 2.1 gigahertz spectrum. TOT has about 5,320 3G base stations
nationwide that it has invested for 20 billion baht, of which 11 billion baht
came from bank loans. Montchai said the potential partner has proposed to set
up 11,000 3G base stations for TOT. The subsidiary of the potential partner
plans to lease 80 per cent of the combined capacity of TOT’s existing base
stations and the planned new base stations to offer a 3G cellular service. If
the deal is not changed, it will generate more than 3 billion baht in annual
rental income for TOT. Local media earlier reported that it was in talk with
Advanced Info Service (AIS), which also had long sought arbitration over the
status of its ownership of the 13,000 towers after its concession with TOT
expires in September this year. The companies are are yet to arrive at a
solution for the dispute. From http://www.dealstreetasia.com/ 11/08/2015 VIETNAM:
Race Begins for Faster Internet Local network providers are racing to develop 4G service as they
await the green light from the Ministry of Information and Communications,
which has not yet put out bids to choose providers. The ministry said the
bids could be opened by the end of this year or early next year. Shortly
after Viettel told media that it would trial 4G service this October,
Vinaphone announced it would also trial this service soon. MobiFone has not
made an official announcement, but it also revealed plans to develop 4G. In
June, Viettel proposed that the ministry grant a licence for its 4G service
this year. It was the first company to officially announce its plans for 4G
in Vietnam, a service it has also piloted in Laos and Cambodia. The telecom
group expects to provide 4G service at the beginning of 2016 if the ministry
agrees. Viettel customers will have to change SIM cards if they want to use
4G services, but phone numbers will remain the same. Viettel said its 4G
network would initially cover the biggest towns, districts, provinces and
cities nationwide. By the end of this year or in the first quarter of next
year, the firm will finish installing 12,000 4G stations. Meanwhile, MobiFone
named 4G technology development among its top priorities in its development
strategy for the 2015-20 period. The network provider also sent a licence
proposal to MIC for 4G LTE (long-term evolution) service on 1800 MHz band
beginning next year. MobiFone also has plans to provide value-added services
on its 4G infrastructure, focusing on network planning and optimising costs. 4G prices attractive Do Minh Phuong, deputy director of Viettel Group, said in a
recent report that Viettel will only differentiate between calling and data
charges, but will not have separate prices for 3G and 4G services. While
there will not be a specific charge for 4G service, separate data charges
will apply. For instance, if data for 1 gigabyte (GB) of 3G costs VND5,000
(US$0.2), 1GB of 4G will cost $0.2 or less, the Dau tu (Investment) newspaper
reported. The newspaper quoted Thieu Phuong Nam, country manager of Qualcomm
Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos, as saying that 3G and 4G packages were different
in many countries in the world, depending on each network provider's business
model. However, most network providers sell data services base on used
volume, with no distinction between 3G and 4G services. The downloading speed
of 4G is faster than 3G, and thus the data volume used will increase sharply. As a result, small data packages will run out soon, and users
will have to buy bigger packages, which creates a new income source for
network providers. Vu Hoang Lien, former head of VNPT's 4G project and
chairman of the Viet Nam Internet Association, said the cost of 4G should theoretically
be cheaper than the cost of 3G. However, 3G prices in Viet Nam were already
comparatively cheap, as network providers lowered the price to compete with
rivals. Therefore, it was difficult for providers to hike costs for 4G, he
said. Moreover, subscribers would have to use more data when using 4G,
resulting in higher total costs, Lien added. The price would also depend on
each provider's business model and its customers, said Thieu Phuong Nam. For
customers in big cities like Ha Noi and HCM City, the price would not be a
major sticking point. However, for those with lower incomes, the price should
be considered, Nam said. Viet Nam has nearly 30 million 3G subscribers, which
make up a large share of telecom providers' profits. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
09/19/2015 With fierce competition as a result of open-door policies in
many countries, businesses, especially small – and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs), should build their own markets, apart from selling what the market
demands. Vo Tri Thanh, Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic
Management (CIEM), made the recommendations at a seminar yesterday as part of
a business festival in HCM City. Regarding opportunities offered to SMEs, he
said globalisation and regionalisation via free trade agreements would
increase the inflows of goods, services, capital, skilled labourers,
technology and information on a larger scale. Southeast Asia was a dynamic
region with huge potential to develop goods and services, Thanh noted. Nguyen
Phuong Dong, deputy director of the municipal Department of Industry and
Trade, stressed the need for SMEs to maximise their efforts and affirm their
role as pioneers in improving the competitive edge of made-in-Viet Nam
commodities and boosting exports. Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank's country
director in Viet Nam, suggested SMEs market products favoured by consumers at
reasonable prices. Enterprises should focus on innovations to keep their
traditional customers and lure new ones while focussing on exploring the
actual demands of the market instead of being concerned about their rivals,
she said. Co-operation will help them gain more knowledge and experience to
churn out high-quality products more quickly, she recommended. The festival,
which drew hundreds of businesses from cities and provinces in the southern
region, featured a range of activities, including a 60-booth exhibition,
aiming to help the businesses exchange and update information on Viet Nam's
integration. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
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INDIA: Govt Names 98 To-Be-Made Smart Cities The government has announced the names of 98 cities, which
include 24 state capitals, to be developed into smart cities. On expected
lines, the largest chunk of cities from any single state went to Uttar
Pradesh with 13 cities finding their names in the list, followed closely by
Tamil Nadu (12) and Maharashtra (10). The list of proposed smart cities,
unveiled by Union Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty
Alleviation, M Venkaiah Naidu, includes names of seven cities from Madhya
Pradesh, six each from Gujarat and Karnataka, and three each from Bihar and
Andhra Pradesh. Speaking on the occasion, Naidu said the prime motive behind
the smart city project is to enhance urban life. “The Smart Cities Mission is
very practical and realistic. We need public’s participation.” He maintained:
“Smart cities need smart people…we need people’s co-operation to move forward
in our mission.”North-eastern towns and cities like Guwahati, Kohima, Imphal,
Aizawl, Shillong, and Agartala have also been chosen. However, cities like
Patna, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and Shimla are among the nine
capital cities that failed to make it to the list. To start with, in the
first year, the government would select 24 cities that would be first
developed into smart cities. The minister also released a list containing
features of a smart city. Click here for full list of cities nominated by the
Government. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 08/27/2015 India
Slips in UN’s Broadband Penetration Ranking At
a time when the Government of India is pushing the Digital India initiative
and expanding the broadband reach, the country’s position in United Nations’
broadband penetration ranking is not encouraging. According to the State of
Broadband 2015 report by the UN, India’s broadband penetration ranking has
slipped to 155 from 113. However, the number of people with broadband access
on mobile phones has gone up to 5.5 per cent of the population compared with
3.2 per cent in 2013. “Although global mobile cellular subscriptions will
exceed 7 billion in 2015 (with nearly half of these subscriptions for mobile
broadband), growth in mobile cellular subscriptions has slowed markedly,” the
report says. The total number of unique mobile subscribers is between 3.7-5
billion people (according to different sources). The report says that some
observers are interpreting this as an indication that the digital divide may
soon be bridged. The digital divide is still persistent in terms of access to
broadband internet, including the challenge of extending last-mile access to
infrastructure to remote and rural communities. According to International
Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) latest data, only 43% of the world’s population
is now online with some form of regular access to the internet. This means
that 57% or some 4.2 billion of the world’s people still do not have regular
access to the internet. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/22/2015 Boost for Digital India, Make in India: Qualcomm to Invest $150
Million in Startups US-based chip maker Qualcomm announced that it will invest USD
150 million (Rs 9.8 billion) for Indian startups. The investment will be
through a venture fund to push Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India
and Make in India initiatives. The sectors of investment vary across the
mobile ecosystem, including hardware, software platforms, e-commerce,
healthcare, location-based services and retail technology. Qualcomm Executive
Chairman Paul E Jacobs met Modi at the Digital Economy event in San Jose. “We
share Modi’s vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and
knowledge economy, he said.
“India is at the cusp of a technology revolution and mobile
technologies will lay the foundation for Digital India.” Jacobs further
added, “We are committed to providing local innovative startups with the
support needed to help India’s Internet of Everything (IOE) ecosystem grow.”
In India, the technology giant has been investing in making wireless and
mobile communication by working with smartphone vendors. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/28/2015 Indian
Tech Industry Revenue to Touch $350 Billion by 2025 Moving to capture the digital opportunity, the Indian technology
and services industry is on track to reach its goal of $200 billion to $225
billion in revenues by 2020 and furthermore to reach revenues of $350 billion
by 2025, says a Nasscom report. “India’s technology and business service
providers are at the cusp of a significant opportunity as digital
technologies get embedded in a widening range of products and services. The
global and domestic market presents a huge opportunity for companies that can
build expertise in these new technologies and deliver value through them,” an
official release said. The report is based on extensive research conducted
for over a year by McKinsey & Company. BVR Mohan Reddy, Chairman, Nasscom
said, “The technology and services industry in India has become a
transformational partner for its customers.” The report states that
technology is becoming a dominant factor in capex, making return on
technology investment a key success factor for enterprises. With a $6
trillion cumulative technology capital investment globally, the economic
landscape will be split among three types of enterprises: digital leaders and
attackers, smart followers, and digital laggards. Each of these enterprises
will operate a varied mix of disruptive, transformative, and traditional
technology, mirrored in their investment choices. Driven by the adoption of
digital technology, the total addressable market for global technology and
business services will likely expand to about USD 4 trillion by 2025, growing
at an average annual rate of about 3.6%. The big implications for companies are: The need to develop new
service lines. New service lines will account for 40% of all revenues by
2025. Shifting portfolios to advanced, disruptive technologies. Managing
customer digitization at different speeds. Companies will need to cater to
customers who are Digital leaders, Smart followers as well as the Digital
laggards. Re-skilling of people as revenues decouple from headcount. Forging
new capabilities through M&A, partnerships, incubators and open
innovation. Probably the most pressing need is for companies to develop
offerings along new digital service lines, even as they re-invent their traditional
service lines. Noshir Kaka, Managing Director, McKinsey & Company, India
said, “Companies hoping to prosper in the new environment will have to
closely watch six new service lines- including the Internet of Things,
Cybersecurity, Social, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud.” CP Gurnani, Vice-Chairman, Nasscom said, “Organisations will
need to operate in a way that they can cater to customers entering the
digital environment at different speeds. Digital leaders and attackers will
make significant investments to convert their entire system into digital
architecture. Smart followers will deploy digital technologies into their
front end services, while retaining the legacy technologies for the moment.
Digital laggards will keep most of their legacy systems, making only
incremental investments in digital tech.’’ Providers serving these customers
will have to adjust their value propositions for each segment turn into a
‘3-in-1 organisation’, the report says. Industry Growth across segments: As
the industry grows over the next decade, its mix of technologies and demands
will change significantly. Over all, the share of digital technology
investment in cumulative expenditures will rise from 10% in 2014 to 35% in
2020 and 60% in 2025. About 80% of incremental expenditures will be driven by digital
technologies. These could be platforms, cloud-based applications, big data
analytics, mobile systems, social media, and cybersecurity, as well as
services needed to integrate these technologies with legacy tech. Half of
this incremental investment will be funded by a projected 20 to 25% cut in
legacy expenditures. These reductions will be largely in spends on
infrastructure, traditional application development and packaged software.
The global addressable market for Business Process management (BPM) services
will likely touch about $ 260 billion by 2025, for an annual average growth
rate of 4 to 6%. Expansion will be driven by business process-as-a-service
offerings and big data analytics. The global total addressable market for engineering
services will likely reach up to $ 480 billion by 2025, a compound average
growth rate of 8 per cent. The share of embedded software will rise
significantly and lines between investment in engineering services and
information and communications technology will blur. Technology and business services expenditures in Over the next decade, five disruptive forces will shake the
global economy and touch all aspects of society. These forces will create a
world that is more interconnected, more interactive, and more aware, while at
the same time one that is trying to harness and protect the same set of
finite resources. This digital transformation that is impacting the global
economy is also creating new imperatives for India’s growth, with many
companies adopting digital technologies into their business models. For 2015
& beyond, the growth rate is likely to be ahead of many other leading
economies such as China, Brazil and Russia. Outlining the steps needed to
become a global centre for innovation in digital technology, R Chandrasekhar,
President, Nasscom said, “There has to be concerted action by the government,
industry, academia and Nasscom to create the right conditions for the
technology and services industry to sustain its momentum. The development
agenda should bring government, industry, and academia together.” The report outlines some key steps that need to be taken: Foster
Innovation clusters: that will fund research in key emerging technologies and
linked to technology institutes. Build Capabilities: Design, develop and
rollout a massive re-skilling program to train and reskill 4-5 million
people. Entrepreneurship: Turbo-charge the startup economy and government’s
ongoing Startup India program. Branding: Undertake a branding and public
relations exercise, media campaign to reposition India as a global Digital
Innovation Hub, moving ahead from its current pole position of low cost and
efficiency leader. Regulatory: To support the development of India as a
centre for digital innovation, new regulations should help create a domestic
market, protect intellectual property, strengthen cyber-security laws and
ease the creation of public-private partnerships in education. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/06/2015 5 Technologies for India’s Smart
Cities
Nowadays, technology is fast
transforming the way government departments function, adding efficiency,
flexibility and transparency to the process. It is also enabling governments
to respond faster to issues and improve government services to public, along
with reducing operating costs. According to Gartner, the Indian Government
spent approximately USD 6.6bn in 2014 and it will increase its IT spend by
five per cent in 2015. M2M becomes even more significant
and important in the context of Smart Cities considering the burgeoning urban
population and their strain on natural resources such as water, electricity,
fuel, etc. According to a report by Booz and Company, every minute, 20
Indians move into cities. India’s urban population will increase by 140
million in 10 years and 700 million in four decades, straining natural
resources and increasing the need for more environment-friendly technologies
like smart meters, sensors and recycling plants, all enabled by M2M
technology. Data Security: IoT is the backbone of Smart Cities. However,
without a robust security and privacy infrastructure, there can be no
practical and safe application of IoT within a Smart City. Access and control
standards for ICT networks within the Smart City are imperative for both data
and human security, the lack of which can cause serious threats and
vulnerabilities to all who live and operate in such cities. For instance, an
Air Traffic Control (ATC) system in a Smart City is a completely automated
system that manages air traffic at major international and domestic airports
and controls the transport of thousands of lives and belongings on a daily
basis. Imagine this sophisticated network of sensors, monitors and other IT
systems in the ATC being attacked by cyber criminals, who hack and manipulate
the system to perpetuate a terrorist attack resulting in large-scale loss of
life. India is now waking up to the
importance of IT and cyber security, although it would be a critical success
factor in the management and future of our Smart Cities. Building a more
conducive security environment will have to be two-fold, with more stringent
government regulations for data protection and security, on one hand, and a
developed security services industry with the ability to manage advanced
targeted cyber security threats and attacks, on the other. New Storage
Technologies: As Smart Cities grow, the amount of information gathered
and stored for analysis and record will grow tremendously. Moreover, the data
gathered will be required for analysis and leveraging big data analytics and
for the enhancement and better administration of the Smart City through
improved decision-making. New storage technologies, such as flash,
high-capacity drives, software-defined storage and Cloud infrastructures,
etc., will only grow to serve IoT deployments needed in Smart Cities.
Prompted by the requirement of high availability of data and reliability of
storage and datacentre systems, these advanced storage technologies will be
expected to greatly enhance the productivity and efficiency of Smart Cities
and to help manage growth in data volume without large spends.
Software-defined storage solutions can increase automation in smart plants
and factories and reduce management time and costs. Technologies for Renewable
Energy: Solar, wind, electric mobility, biogas and other alternatives
will greatly shape the success of India’s Smart City infrastructure. Smart
cities require large amounts of energy supply that can only be achieved
through recycling, effective management and new sources of energy. According
to the India Renewable Energy Status Report 2014, From http://egov.eletsonline.com/ 10/21/2015 Big Data Market to See USD 50bn Growth by 2019
Big Data
technology is set to surge to nearly $50 billion by 2019. The report
claims that software will be the main growth driver. The Big Data market is
growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.1 per cent over the
2014-19 forecast period with annual spending reaching US $48.6 billion in
2019. “The ever-increasing appetite of businesses to embrace emerging big
data-related software and infrastructure technologies while keeping the
implementation costs low has led to the creation of a rich ecosystem of new
and incumbent suppliers,” said Ashish Nadkarni, Programme Director,
Enterprise Servers and Storage and co-author of the report with Dan Vesset,
Programme Vice President, Business Analytics & Big Data. As per the
report, all the three sectors of Big Data market- infrastructure, software
and services will grow over the next five years. The industry sectors are
interested in big data but the largest sector is discreet manufacturing,
banking and process manufacturing.
From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/10/2015 |
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The issue of From http://news.az/
From http://www.azernews.az/
ICT
Revenues Exceed $1B in The Electronic government portal in From http://www.azernews.az/
In the index of penetration of broadband internet services to
home users, According to the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee, this
figure is 10.8 percent more than in the same period of 2014. The report show
that some 81.1 percent of proceeds obtained from the sector, were accounted
for by non-state enterprises. Around 72.6 percent of the total volume of
information and communication services accounted for the services rendered to
the population. Some 54 percent of a total volume of obtained income was from
mobile services. A total volume of revenues obtained from mobile services in From http://www.azernews.az/
From http://www.azernews.az/
The volume of innovation grants allocated by the state through
the Ministry of Investments and Development for purchasing technologies has
increased from 150 million tenge to 400 million tenge (278.21 tenge = $1),
said the message from the country’s National Agency for Technological
Development. Moreover, earlier
the grants were allocated as reimbursement, while the new rules envisage the
mechanism of co-financing. In
accordance with the previous rules, it was possible to get grants only for
receiving licenses for the right to use technologies. This is while according
to the new rules, grants are allocated both for receiving licenses and for
obtaining equipment which is the integral part of the license, as well as the
necessary construction documentation.
Further, the volume of grants for conducting industrial research
(first category) was increased from 30 million tenge to 70 million
tenge. From now on, grants will
be allocated through the Ministry of Investments and Development for
conducting the second category industrial research (targeted technological
programs). The grant covers up to
80 percent of the costs of no more than 800 million tenge. The applications for innovation grants
for purchasing technologies, carrying out industrial research (first
category), supporting the production of high-tech products at the initial
stage of development, patenting in foreign countries, and (or) regional
patent organizations will be received till Nov.20. The applications for grants for
innovative industrial research (the second category - targeted technology
programs) will be received till Dec.11.
Grants are provided on a non-refundable basis. From http://en.trend.az/
The State Inspectorate for Supervision of Communications,
Information and telecommunication technologies on the results of radio
monitoring in conjunction with the State Unitary Enterprise "Center for
Electromagnetic Compatibility", and an analysis of monthly reports of
quality indicators and downtime of base stations provided by operators,
including the results of consideration of complaints has identified a number
of violations, including: -
Discrepancy of established norms of quality indicators of mobile services; - Failure on providing subscribers
with the opportunity to use mobile services around the clock; - Unsatisfactory state of the mobile
communication coverage areas with low population density. Considering the above facts, the
inspectorate has sent instructions to mobile operators, LLC «COSCOM»
(trademark Ucell), LLC «Unitel» (TM Beeline), LLC «RWC» (TM Perfectum) and
JSC "Uzbektelecom" (Uzmobile) to respond appropriately on bringing
the mobile communications services in line with the requirements of laws and
regulations of the Republic of Uzbekistan. From http://technologies.uzreport.uz/
International
ICT Conference Takes Place at TUIT The international conference "ITPA-2015 — prospects of
development of infocommunication technologies" took place at the From http://technologies.uzreport.uz/
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Asia-Pacific
Telecommunity Discusses ICT Development The
12th Asia-Pacific Telecommunication and Information and Communication
Technology ( ICT) Development Forum kicked off here Tuesday, with the
attendance of about 120 participants from over 22 countries and regions. As
the key activities of Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), the three-day forum
focused on ICT development issues for developing nations. "The forum
provided an opportunity for Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) members to share
information on the best practices and experience for the common issues in ICT
development, as well as establish and enhance the present and future
collaborative projects for the region, to facilitate investment for
establishment of ICT infrastructure, to discuss about sustainable development
through improving accessibility and affordability of ICT services, to focus
on the telecommunication and ICT development issues of common concern with
special attention on the rural areas," said Hoi Chi Leong, the Director
of Bureau of Telecommunications Regulation of Macao. Despite the rapid
development of ICT in Asia-Pacific, there are still gaps in ICT accessibility
and affordability in developing countries, Secretary General of the APT,
Areewan Haorangsi noted, adding that public-private-partnership,
government-led initiatives, infrastructure sharing model have been enrolled
to facilitate the building of base installation in unprofitable areas.
"It is important that the ICT services should be accessible to everyone
at affordable cost on equitable basis," Areewan Haorangsi said.
"The potential of digital economy should be fully exploited to realize
the transformation impact of digital technologies on the economy and societal
well-being of people," she said, adding that the goal will be fulfilled
by making jointly efforts. From
http://www.globalpost.com
09/22/2015 Top
10 Forecasts for IT Organisations and Users for 2016 and Beyond Gartner
has revealed its top strategic predictions for 2016 and beyond, looking at
the digital future, as well as an algorithmic and smart machine-driven world
where people and machines must define harmonious relationships. “The 'robo'
trend, the emerging practicality of artificial intelligence, and the fact
that enterprises and consumers are now embracing the advancement of these
technologies is driving change,” says Daryl Plummer, vice president,
distinguished analyst, Gartner. “Gartner's Top Predictions begin to separate
us from the mere notion of technology adoption and to draw us more deeply
into issues surrounding what it means to be human in a digital world.” 1)
By 2018, 20 per cent of business content will be authored by machines Technologies
with the ability to proactively assemble and deliver information through
automated composition engines are fostering a movement from human- to
machine-generated business content. Data-based and analytical information can
be turned into natural language writing using these emerging tools. Business
content, such as shareholder reports, legal documents, market reports, press
releases, articles and white papers, are all candidates for automated writing
tools. 2)
By 2018, six billion connected things will be requesting support In
the era of digital business, when physical and digital lines are increasingly
blurred, enterprises will need to begin viewing things as customers of
services - and to treat them accordingly. Mechanisms will need to be
developed for responding to significantly larger numbers of support requests
communicated directly by things. Strategies will also need to be developed
for responding to them that are distinctly different from traditional
human-customer communication and problem-solving. Responding to service
requests from things will spawn entire service industries, and innovative
solutions will emerge to improve the efficiency of many types of enterprise. 3)
By 2020, autonomous software agents outside of human control will participate
in five per cent of all economic transactions Algorithmically
driven agents are already participating in our economy. However, while these
agents are automated, they are not fully autonomous, because they are
directly tethered to a robust collection of mechanisms controlled by humans —
in the domains of our corporate, legal, economic and fiduciary systems. New
autonomous software agents will hold value themselves, and function as the
fundamental underpinning of a new economic paradigm that Gartner calls the
programmable economy. The programmable economy has potential for great
disruption to the existing financial services industry. We will see
algorithms, often developed in a transparent, open-source fashion and set
free on the blockchain, capable of banking, insurance, markets, exchanges,
crowdfunding - and virtually all other types of financial instruments. 4)
By 2018, more than 3 million workers globally will be supervised by a
"robo-boss” Robo-bosses
will increasingly make decisions that previously could only have been made by
human managers. Supervisory duties are increasingly shifting into monitoring
worker accomplishment through measurements of performance that are directly
tied to output and customer evaluation. Such measurements can be consumed
more effectively and swiftly by smart machine managers tuned to learn based
on staffing decisions and management incentives. 5)
By year-end 2018, 20 per cent of smart buildings will have suffered from
digital vandalism Inadequate
perimeter security will increasingly result in smart buildings being
vulnerable to attack. With exploits ranging from defacing digital signage to
plunging whole buildings into prolonged darkness, digital vandalism is a
nuisance, rather than a threat. There are, nonetheless, economic, health and
safety, and security consequences. The severity of these consequences depend
on the target. Smart building components cannot be considered independently,
but must be viewed as part of the larger organisational security process.
Products must be built to offer acceptable levels of protection and hooks for
integration into security monitoring and management systems. 6)
By 2018, 45 per cent of the fastest-growing companies will have fewer
employees than instances of smart machines Gartner
believes the initial group of companies that will leverage smart machine
technologies most rapidly and effectively will be startups and other newer
companies. The speed, cost savings, productivity improvements and ability to
scale of smart technology for specific tasks offer dramatic advantages over
the recruiting, hiring, training and growth demands of human labor. Some
possible examples are a fully automated supermarket or a security firm
offering drone-only surveillance services. The "old guard"
(existing) companies, with large amounts of legacy technologies and
processes, will not necessarily be the first movers, but the savvier
companies among them will be fast followers, as they will recognise the need
for competitive parity for either speed or cost. 7)
By year-end 2018, customer digital assistant will recognise individuals by
face and voice across channels and partners The
last mile for multichannel and exceptional customer experiences will be
seamless two-way engagement with customers and will mimic human
conversations, with both listening and speaking, a sense of history,
in-the-moment context, timing and tone, and the ability to respond, add to
and continue with a thought or purpose at multiple occasions and places over
time. Although facial and voice recognition technologies have been largely
disparate across multiple channels, customers are willing to adopt these
technologies and techniques to help them sift through increasing large
amounts of information, choice and purchasing decisions. This signals an
emerging demand for enterprises to deploy customer digital assistants to
orchestrate these techniques and to help "glue" continual company
and customer conversations. 8)
By 2018, two million employees will be required to wear health and fitness
tracking devices as a condition of employment The
health and fitness of people employed in jobs that can be dangerous or
physically demanding will increasingly be tracked by employers via wearable
devices. Emergency responders, such as police officers, firefighters and
paramedics, will likely comprise the largest group of employees required to
monitor their health or fitness with wearables. The primary reason for
wearing them is for their own safety. Their heart rates and respiration, and
potentially their stress levels, could be remotely monitored and help could
be sent immediately if needed. In addition to emergency responders, a portion
of employees in other critical roles will be required to wear health and
fitness monitors, including professional athletes, political leaders, airline
pilots, industrial workers and remote field workers. 9)
By 2020, smart agents will facilitate 40 per cent of mobile interactions, and
the post-app era will begin to dominate Smart
agent technologies, in the form of virtual personal assistants (VPAs) and
other agents, will monitor user content and behaviour in conjunction with
cloud-hosted neural networks to build and maintain data models from which the
technology will draw inferences about people, content and contexts. Based on
these information-gathering and model-building efforts, VPAs can predict
users' needs, build trust and ultimately act autonomously on the user's
behalf. 10)
Through 2020, 95 per cent of Cloud security failures will be the customer's
fault Security
concerns remain the most common reason for avoiding the use of public Cloud
services. However, only a small percentage of the security incidents
impacting enterprises using the Cloud have been due to vulnerabilities that
were the provider's fault. This does not mean that organisations should
assume that using a Cloud means that whatever they do within that cloud will
necessarily be secure. The characteristics of the parts of the Cloud stack
under customer control can make cloud computing a highly efficient way for
naive users to leverage poor practices, which can easily result in widespread
security or compliance failures. The growing recognition of the enterprise's
responsibility for the appropriate use of the public Cloud is reflected in
the growing market for cloud control tools. By 2018, 50 percent of
enterprises with more than 1000 users will use Cloud access security broker
products to monitor and manage their use of SaaS and other forms of public
Cloud, reflecting the growing recognition that although Clouds are usually
secure, the secure use of public Clouds requires explicit effort on the part
of the Cloud customer. From
http://www.computerworld.co.nz
10/12/2015 How
ICT Impacted MDGs in 15 Years RECENTLY,
the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development
agenda was held in New York with a high-level plenary meeting of the General
Assembly. The summit was also meant for governments to make their final
assessment of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which global
leaders agreed upon in the year 2000. It is evident that in the past 15
years, the ICT revolution has not only impacted on the MDGs but driven global
development in an unprecedented way. According to ITU study on ICTs, the
report indicated that ICTs will play an even more significant role in the
post 2015 development agenda and in achieving future sustainable development
goals as the world moves faster and faster towards a digital society. Experts
say technological progress, infrastructure deployment, and falling prices
have brought unexpected growth in ICT access and connectivity to billions of
people around the world. For instance, statistics have shown that in 2015
alone, there are more than 7 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide,
up from less than 1 billion in 2000. Out of this number, 3.2 billion people
globally are said to be using the internet of which 2 billion are from
developing countries. Internet
penetration Globally,
the ITU study showed that 3.2 billion people are using the internet and
expected to do so by end 2015, out of which 2 billion are from developing
countries. For every internet user in the developed world, the report said
there were about two in the developing world. However, about 4 billion people
from developing countries are said to have remained offline, representing 2/3
of the population residing in developing countries. Of the 940 million people
living in the least developed countries (LDCs), only 89 million use the
Internet, corresponding to a 9.5 per cent penetration rate. Specific
achievements in the last 15 years of ICT growth Mobile
cellular subscriptions The
report postulated that by end 2015, there will be more than 7 billion mobile
cellular subscriptions, corresponding to a penetration rate of 97 per cent,
up from 738 million in 2000, an indication that global internet penetration
grew 7 fold from 6.5 per cent to 43 per cent between 2000 and 2015. Mobile
broadband In
a similar trend, mobile broadband is said to be the most dynamic market
segment; globally, reaching 47 per cent penetration in 2015, a value that
increased 12 times since 2007. Household
with Internet The
proportion of households with internet access at home recorded another
substantial growth which increased from 18 per cent in 2005 to 46 per cent in
2015. Fixed
broadband On
the contrary, the fixed-broadband uptake is said to be growing at a slower
pace, with a 7 per cent annual increase over the past three years and is
expected to reach 11 per cent penetration by end 2015. The report also revealed that the
proportion of the population covered by a 2G mobile-cellular network equally
grew within the same period from 58 per in 2001 to 95 per cent in 2015. 3G
mobile broadband The
3G mobile broadband coverage, according to the ITU survey is extending
rapidly and into the rural areas. 1n 2011 alone, 3G recorded 45 per cent
population coverage out of world population of 7 billion. In 2015, its
population coverage hit 69 per cent out of world population of 7.4 billion
and rural population coverage hit 29 per cent out of world rural population
of 3.4 billion people. This is also as its urban population coverage hit 89
per cent out of world population of 4 billion. The
Digital Divide in 2015 By
end 2015, 34 per cent of households in developing countries are expected to
have internet access, compared with more than 80 per cent in developed
countries. In least developed countries (LDCs), only 7 per cent of households
is estimated to have internet access, compared with the world average of 46
per cent. While, internet penetration in developing countries stands at 35
per cent; LDCs lag behind with only 10 per cent. In Africa, one in every 5
people is said to be using the internet in 2015, compared to almost 2 in 5
people in Asia and Pacific, and 3 in 5 people in the CIS. However, it was
further revealed that mobile-broadband penetration levels are highest in
Europe and the Americas, at around 78 active subscriptions per 100
inhabitants. Africa is the only region where mobile broadband penetration is
found to have remained below 20 per cent, with fixed-broadband penetration
standing at less than 1 per cent in LDCs. Africa and the Arab States stand
out as the regions with the fewest fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100
inhabitants, at less than 1 and less than 4, respectively. Broadband
now affordable in 111 countries The
study recorded that in 2014, the price of fixed or mobile broadband plan
corresponds to less than 5 per cent of average growth (GNI) per capital in
111 countries, thus meeting the Broadband Commission target. The global
average price of a basic fixed-broadband plan (52$) is 1.7 times higher than
the average price of a comparable mobile-broadband plan of (30$).In
developing countries, average monthly fixed-broadband prices (in $) are 3
times higher than in developed countries; mobile-broadband prices are twice
as expensive as in developed countries. Fixed
broadband subscriptions According
to the survey, fixed-broadband uptake remained slow in developing countries
and particularly in LDCs, where penetration rates stood at 7 per cent and
less than 1 per cent, respectively. While the prices of fixed-broadband plans
dropped sharply between 2008 and 2011, especially in developing countries,
they have been stagnating since then and even increased slightly in LDC. From
http://www.vanguardngr.com
11/04/2015 NEW
ZEALAND: Digital Savvy the Key to Success Around
97 per cent of all businesses in New Zealand are small to medium enterprises
(SMEs), equating to around 456,000. The SME sector employs around 580,000
Kiwis and generates around 29 per cent of New Zealand's GDP. Powell said that
although these businesses were concerned about staying relevant in a rapidly
changing market, they often did not take the necessary steps to make sure
this happened. "We know that around eight out of 10 small-business
owners worry about customer retention and a lot of SME owners say keeping up
with marketing trends is a huge concern, and yet they don't recognise digital
as being something they should do by way of marketing or maintaining customer
relationships," Powell said. "So we have a real problem in New
Zealand, but we also know that those digitally capable SMEs are more likely
to grow their businesses and employ more staff," he said. "This
changing market is no different to the revolution that saw people get off the
horse and cart and get into a car driven by an internal combustion engine. It
is exactly the same." Powell
said although New Zealanders were fast adopters of new technology personally,
they were not as good at uptake when it came to their business - something he
said needed to change. One example was in the real estate industry, with a
study from an Australian agency showing advertisements that had an embedded
video received more than 400 per cent more interest than those that didn't.
"If you get so many more views from inputting a video into a real estate
listing, why would you not do that every single time," Powell said.
"There needs to be a recognition about the importance of technology, not
just for business growth but for the whole issue of business sophistication -
the more sophisticated a business can present itself, the more likely it's
going to be able to grow." From
http://www.nzherald.co.nz
10/13/2015 |
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