|
|
|
Winter 2016 Issue 56 |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
EUROPE: CROATIA -
Regulator Adopts New Wholesale Regulations SPAIN: Cutting High-speed
Broadband Red Tape NETHERLANDS: Govt
Criticises EC 5G Action Plan SWITZERLAND: Pushing
Ahead with Major Telecom Law Reform LATIN AMERICA: Soros
Foundation Sought to Influence Negotiations for Internet Regulation Experts Say U.S. Election
Result Will Not Change Washington's Intervention Policy Toward LatAm NORTH AMERICA: U.S. -
Obama Issues Plan to Give Feds 1.6 Percent Pay Raise in 2017 Cyber Guidelines Are
'Required Reading' for Transition Teams |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
CHINA: Food Safety Draft Stipulates Stricter Online Regulations China Adopts Law on Cybersecurity China Sets Up Big Data Zone in Inner Mongolia China Pushing to Build Internet Infrastructure for Belt and Road
Initiative Countries JAPAN: High-Tech
Measures Eyed to Boost Construction Productivity New Rules Would Ease
Switching to Budget Smartphone Carriers SOUTH KOREA: To Build
Network of Smart Expressways by 2020 Designing Seoul's Smart
Future President Emphasizes
Pioneering Reforms in Science, Technology Drug Ministry Improves
Guidelines for 3-D Printed Medical Devices |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
CAMBODIA: Drafting
E-Commerce Law as Online Sales Grow THAILAND: Plan to
Provide 4,000 Villages with Broadband Internet Access Subsidy Plan for TV
Broadcasters Village Broadband
Internet Project Set for Approval VIETNAM: HCM City
Approves Draft for Smart City Project |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
INDIA: Delhi Wi-fi Plan
Downsized, Hotspots for Now UNDP to Meet Govt
Departments on Digital Initiatives Government Plans Using PDS Network
for Banking Services |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
AZERBAIJAN: Tax Amnesty System to Be Introduced Soon TURKMENISTAN: Laws on Legal Regulation of Internet Adopted Turkmenistan to Carry Out Modernization of Railways UZBEKISTAN: Updating Procedure for Cotton Fiber Sale “Uzbekenergo” JSC Considers Introduction of Automated Power
Management System Project Program of Measures for Tashkent Region Development Approved |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
AUSTRALIA: Govt Seeks
Input on Telecom Competition Law Changes Call for Govt Regulatory
Restraint over Data Retention Compliance ACCC Not Ready to Stop
Regulating ADSL Just Yet ACMA Reviewing Rules on
Telemarketing, Research Calls New Defence ICT Strategy
Outlines $20b, 10-Year Investment Government Pushes Ahead
with Controversial Telco Security Bill NEW ZEALAND: Government
Prepares to Embrace Digital Interactions |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
Europe’s E-Government
Landscape – National Interests Take Precedence GEORGIA: Improving
Internet Accessibility and E-Governance New E-Georgia: EU Helps
Develop E-Government in Georgia NETHERLANDS: Govt Sticks
to Tough Stance on Net Neutrality Dutch Health Ministry
Invests EUR 105 mln in Digitalisation UKRAINE: Transparency
International Welcomes the Completion of First Round of E-Declarations LATIN AMERICA: COLUMBIA -
We Should Not Fear a Fragmented Internet NORTH AMERICA: CANADA -
ITAC Tells Government How to Close Its Digital Skills Gap U.S.: Internet
Governance Transition Meets GOP Opposition Everybody Wants Digital
Government, but Doubts Remain About ROI 3 Lessons to Be a Bold
Government Leader How the Government IT
Shop Is Changing Digital Government
Services Explosion — What Took So Long? Only Governments Can
Safeguard the Openness of the Internet Accelerating Federal
Digital Government in the Age of Trump (Industry Perspective) IT, Management Advice
for the New Administration Governments Around the
World Deny Internet Access to Political Opponents E-Government Global
Trends: Integrated Services, Open Data, E-Participation and Digital
Technologies |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
CHINA: On India’s Path to E-Gov JAPAN: Govt to Revise
Online Law Database Infrastructure Ministry
to Compile Construction Worker Database South Korea, Uzbekistan
Join Hands on E-Gov't, Public Administration Gov't Opens Mobile
Service on Financial Information Sharing with the World,
Part 4: Patent Information System |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
MYANMAR: Lower House
Urges Effective Implementation of E-Gov't System SINGAPORE: To Develop
National Diabetes Database as Efforts Against Disease Intensifies Authorities Launch
SGSecure App in Fight Against Terrorism Monetary Authority of
Singapore Publishes First Set of Data APIs THAILAND: ICT Ministry Considering
State-Owned Satellite Internet, Cellphone Fees
to Have Greater Weight in Calculating Inflation VIETNAM: PM Calls for
Reform of Gov’t
Working Methods French Firm Supports Quảng
Ninh in Egov Environment Data Center
to Be Built in Vietnam's Mekong Delta Vietnam Gov’t:
Overturn Online Business Limits HCM City Government
Saves Money by Using Emails, Text Messages |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
INDIA: To Use More
Satellites for Public Services, E-Governance Net Neutrality War Rages
on in mygov.in Oracle, Maharashtra Government Sign
MoU to Gear Up Digital Transformation Goa Panchayats to Come Under
E-governance Soon Madurai Police Goes Digital for
Filing Chargesheets ePashu Chikitsa Reaches Villages Dubai Government to Move Towards
E-records Tablets to Replace Paper in Maharashtra Assembly Soon Online Filing of Government’s Employees Performance Report by Next Year PAKISTAN: Considering ICTs as Key Enabler for Good
Governance |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
AZERBAIJAN: RIA System to Be Introduced Azerbaijan to Introduce Single Database of Produced Goods KAZAKHSTAN: Creating Defense and Aerospace Industry Ministry TURKMENISTAN: Releasing Data on State Budget Execution UZBEKISTAN: Sherzod Shermatov Appointed First Deputy Minister for
IT Information and Communications Ministry Opens Appeals Department |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
AUSTRALIA: Census 2016 -
Labor Caves in, Backs Govt on ABS Fines Motion Australian Electoral
Commission Wants Money to Fix Ageing IT Systems Government Launches
Facial Verification System NEW ZEALAND: Gov’t Seeks
Input for Second Foray into Open Government |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
EUROPE: Companies Feel
Unprepared for EU Data Protection Rules GERMANY: Digital Economic
Index Continues to Grow RUSSIA: Mobile Payments:
Offered by Many, but Still in Its Infancy UK: Consumers Favor
Privacy Over Convenience LATIN AMERICA: BRAZIL -
E-commerce Market Will Be Worth BRL 56 bln in 2016 NORTH AMERICA: CANADA -
Small Company Looks to Scale Big with Cloud Storage BC Rural Dividend Funds
over $8 Million in Projects Province Provides
$100,000 to Help Women in Small Business Throughout B.C. Data-driven Defence Will
Best Protect Enterprises, Says Expert 4 Digital Transformation
Lessons Businesses Can Learn from Creatives What Donald Trump’s
Surprise Election Win Means for Canada’s Tech Sector CIX Names This Year’s 20
Most Innovative Canadian Tech Companies U.S.: Commerce Taps
Big-data Development Partners Global Mobile
Advertising Revenues Surged to �37 Billion ($49 Billion) in 2015 Big Data and Business
Analytics to Hit USD 203 bln by 2020 Internet Shutdowns Cost
Countries $2.4 Billion Last Year Mobile Firms to Put USD
50 Bln on Machine Learning by 2021 World Bank Group, CTIC
Dakar Launch Tech Lab to Spur West and Central Africa’s Digital Economy |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
CHINA: Alibaba Leads Asian Listed Firms in Market Value E-commerce Poverty Reduction Highlighted in Longnan Alibaba Teams Up with HP, Intel for New Laptop Computer China Promotes E-commerce in Rural Areas Chinese Official Urges Innovation in Robotics Technology Huawei Unveils Blazing Fast Mobile Processor, Xiaomi to Join Fray Robotics Industry Booms in China China to Launch First E-commerce Satellite in 2017 E-commerce: Changing the
Landscape of Rural Poverty Baidu, China Unicom Partner to Promote Artificial Intelligence Farmers Use E-commerce to Maximize Profits Digital Stars in Spotlight at World Internet Conference JAPAN: Online Esthetic
Medical Advertising to Be Tightened Japan, Saudi Arabia to
Cooperate on Internet of Things, Renewables SOUTH KOREA: SKT Forms
Partnership to Develop Specialized Network for Connected Cars Korea to Extend Int’L Cooperation on Smart Cities Internet-Only Bank Seeks
Gov't Approval for Service KT Develops New
Cost-Efficient 5G Network Repeater Search, Chatbot Services
to Change E-Commerce Korean Carriers Collide
over New IoT Networks IT Industry Seeks New
Opportunities in Silicon Valley Businesspeople of Korea,
Japan Discuss Cooperation in AI, IoT |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
INDONESIA: Launching
Reform Package to Boost E-Commerce Business Facebook Wants Drones to
Boost Indonesia's Access to Internet THAILAND: Direct Sales
of Rice Gaining Traction on Internet Co-Working Spaces Meet
Job, Lifestyle Needs of Tech Start-Up Entrepreneurs Shopee Tapping
E-Commerce Explosion in Southeast Asia Mobile E-Commerce Marketplace Says VIETNAM: Firms Urged to
Use E-Commerce Gtel Mobile Licensed to
Provide 4G in VN |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
India, U.S. to Use
S&CD Platform to Boost Trade, Investment E-commerce Generates
$1.2 Million Revenue in Every 30 Seconds: Study Non-taxing GST Apps to
Be Made by Companies Soon India Is Double-Digit
Growth Market for Cargo Deliveries Government
Empanels ADG Online Solutions for Digital Marketing Campaigns |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
AZERBAIJAN: Use of E-Signatures Simplified Azerbaijan Creates E-Portal for Eoods & Services Export TURKMENISTAN: Ashgabat Intensifying Int’l Ties in
Telecommunications Sphere UZBEKISTAN: Introducing International Standard Industrial
Classification of All Economic Activities Mobile Offices of People's Bank Create a Number of Facilities for
Clients |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
AUSTRALIA: Smartphone
Market Holds It Breath in Anticipation of Multiple Vendor Releases Govt Finally Announces
Data Retention Grants NEW ZEALAND: MYOB -
Business Confidence Up for Small Business |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
AFRICA: Google Digital
Skills for Africa Trains over 500,000 People Saving South Africa’s
Internet freedom KENYA: Primary Schools to
Get 1.2 mln Laptops by December EUROPE: RUSSIA -
Regulator Checks Wi-Fi Hotspot Authorisation SERBIA: 64.7% of
Households Have Internet Connection SWEDEN: Over 1 mln
Excluded from Digital Society - Study LATIN AMERICA: Ericsson
Colects 1,200 Tonnes of E-waste BRAZIL: 4G Broadband
Users Up by 193% in One Year NORTH AMERICA: Canada
Speedtest Results Reveal Fastest ISP, Wireless Service in Your City Words of Inspiration and
Encouragement for Women in IT Canada Lags Behind Other
G20 Nations in Fostering Digital Platform Innovation: Accenture Is Public or Private
Cloud Cheaper? Here’s the Answer Skills Gap, Women in
Tech Among Canadians’ 3 Priorities for Innovation Minister U.S.: The Power of Data
Collection for a Healthy Community U.S.: The Role of Data
Analytics in Predictive Policing The Global Economic
Damage of Internet Blackouts Information Becomes
Chaotic Work in Progress in the Age of the Web |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
CHINA: Baidu to Share Artificial Intelligence Platforms for
Public Use China Embraces Online Medical Services First Security Robot in Service at Shenzhen Airport Big Data Serves in Poverty Alleviation for Arun Banner Across China: VR Enriches Lessons, Learning Experience Chinese Doctors Use 3D Printer for Skull Surgery Mobile Internet Revives Rural Communities JAPAN: Utilize IT-Based
Systems to Raise Competitiveness of Farm Exports SOUTH KOREA: Technology
Boosts Impact of Overseas Aid Telemedicine Pilot
Program Kicks Off for Disabled Korea to Expand Free
Internet Access in Public Places AI, Big Data to Impact
Intellectual Property Globally: KIPO Chief |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
INDONESIA: Digitizing
Tourism Sector to Win Regional Market MYANMAR: Regional Government to Install
796 CCTV Cameras Around Yangon SINGAPORE: Wi-Fi
Available on Board All NUS Campus Shuttle Buses SMS Public Alert System
for Emergencies Launched THAILAND: 85% of Thais
Access the Net Every Day Major Shortage of
Digital Marketing Employees VIETNAM: Ministry
Cracks Down on Taxi Firms 25 Free-Wifi New Buses
Run in HÀ Nội |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
INDIA: Education-Technology Market
Pegged at $2.5 Billion Honeywell Connection
Launches Electronics Essentials Range in India Govt Approves Rs 1,102 Crore
Undersea Cable Link to Andamans Education Through Space Technology
in Telangana Kerala to Get Four Digital
Libraries Satellite-based
Surveillance System Launched to Monitor Illegal Mining Uber Inks Driver
Training Pact with IT Ministry; Aims to Create 1 Million Jobs Mumbai Traffic Cops to Get Hi-tech
Breath Analysers EPFO Pensioners Can Now File Digital Life Certificates Mobile App to Tell You About top
Government Appointments Cyber Police Stations in
Maharashtra Soon UMANG to Serve as Master App for
Government Services Free
Wi-fi for Tourists Visiting Daman and Diu |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
AZERBAIJAN: Kvotter Mobile Social Network Launched UZBEKISTAN: Obtaining Patent for Selection Achievement Goes
Online |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
AUSTRALIA: Government
Tipped to Block Overseas Online Shopping Access Australia Has Plenty of
Cyber Potential, but Will It Do Anything About It? Completion of 4G Rollout
Drives Decline in Australian Router Spend Changes to Regional
AM/FM Radio Broadcasting Contemplated by ACMA Govt’s New Cyber HQ to
Boost Opportunities for Collaboration NEW ZEALAND: NZTech and Precision Agriculture
Team to Push Precision Agriculture |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
EUROPE: Conference in
Strasbourg: “Internet Freedom - A Constant Factor of Democratic Security” Gartner’s Top
Cybersecurity ‘Macro Trends’ for 2017 Security the Biggest
Concern for Canadian Organizations Using the Cloud: Survey U.S.: Report - IoT
Security Failure Are 100 Percent Preventable US Appoints Its First
Chief Information Security Officer IT Modernization,
Improved Cybersecurity and Innovation Are All Intertwined FCC Approves Rules on ISP
Customer Data Protection Think Tank: U.S.
Elections Are Far from Hack-proof 75% of Orgs Lack
Cybersecurity Expertise Most Americans Believe a
Tech-Enabled Terrorist Attack Is Imminent |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
CHINA: Most Chinese Mobile Users Exposed to Data Security Risks -
Report Xi Stresses Internet Innovation, Security Ordering Online Makes Lunch Easier, but Not Safer China Mulls Sharing Blacklist of Telecom Scammers Int'l Cooperation Needed for Establishing a Sound Cyberspace
Community JAPAN: Train a Cohort of
IT Security Experts to Fight Cyberterrorism Ahead of 2020 SOUTH KOREA: Google
Products Found with Most Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities - Report S. Korea Denies Google's
Request for Map Data, Citing Security Concerns |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
SINGAPORE: NUS, Singtel
Launch $43 Million Cyber Security Laboratory THAILAND: Move to Boost
Security for Mobile Banking Cybersecurity Will Be
Vital to the Success of Thailand 4.0
VIETNAM: HCMC Tries
Cyber Security Drill Institute Launches First
Training for Cybersecurity Simulations |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
Security of Indian Ocean Linked to
Stability of Global Eco INDIA: Five Things to Remember for Cyber Security Microsoft Opens
Cybersecurity Engagement Centre in India Symantec
Upgrades Its Digital Security Through Blue Coat Telemetry |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
TURKMENISTAN: Bank Deposits Now Safe, Gov't Says Winners of Cyber Security Challenge Uzbekistan and Intellect2all
Competitions Identified |
||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
AUSTRALIA: Govt Cyber
Advisor Shares Concerns over Its Critical Infrastructure Public Service Dataset
Pulled over Privacy Fears Australian IoT Industry
Told to Put Security First Cyber Security
Governance in Public, Private Sectors Falls Short NEW ZEALAND: Cyber
Security Could Be an Export Earner, Says NZTech |
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
EUROPE: Conference in Ghent to Address Future of Work in
Digital Era
ITALY: To Free Up Spectrum for 5G Trials in 3 Cities in
2017 PORTUGAL: Internet Traffic Grows 31% in 2015
UK: Altnets Say Govt Should Aim for 80% FTTP Coverage by
2026
LATIN AMERICA: Brazil, EU Earmark BRL 93 mln for ICT
Research
COSTA RICA: Hosting the 6th Annual Freedom Online
Conference 6th Annual Freedom Online
Conference: Freedom Online Coalition Chair’s Summary Prepare Network Systems for the Upcoming Leap
Second
How a Coding-adverse IT Team Brought Toronto’s CN Tower
into the 21st Century
IDC Predicts ‘Augmented Humans’ Will Implant Technology
in Their Bodies in by 2021
Canadian Offices Not Adapting Quickly Enough to New
Technology, Dell Finds
Toronto Canada’s Top City for IT Skills, Calgary Most
Expensive, CBRE Says U.S.: Public Sector CIOs Need
Digital Transformation Vision Global IT Spending to Hit USD 2.7 tln in 2020 - Study |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
CHINA: Wechat "Very
Hard" to Expand Globally Virtual Reality Industry
Boost in SW China China Promotes Sci-tech
Cooperation Along Belt and Road China Developing Fastest
Supercomputer Again China Moves to Become an
Internet Power Ceramic 3D Printing
Technology Unveiled at Ceramic Fair Chinese Supercomputer
Project Wins Top Int'l Prize
JAPAN: Agriculture Ministry to Exploit ‘4th Industrial
Revolution’ Technology
SOUTH KOREA: Seoul Boasts World’s Fastest Mobile
Internet Speed - Survey
BOK to Use Automated Data Collection for Economic
Forecasts
S. Korea, US Agree to Seek ICT Cooperation KT Chairman Touts
Intelligent Networks as Future of Mobile Era |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
SINGAPORE: Data Could Give a Competitive Advantage
Singapore to Explore Driverless Vehicles for Streets
Cleaning |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
INDIA: Maharashtra Grants Rs 250 Crores for ‘Smart City’
Aurangabad
Hyderabad
Emerges as Hub of Campaign Against Uniform Civil
Code
Digital India to Be Supported by Vayam Technologies
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
AZERBAIJAN: “Connecting
to Alternative Future” Project Launched at BHOS Investments in
Azerbaijan’s IT Sector Increases |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
37% of IT Pros to Look
for New Jobs in 2017 NEW ZEALAND: Survey Finds Business
Networks Sub-Optimal
Fixed Broadband Services in Decline
NZ Urged to More Aggressively Adopt Latest Technologies |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
GLOBAL:
IT Spending to Hit USD 2.7 tln in 2020 - Study Worldwide IT spending is forecast to reach USD
2.7 trillion in 2020, led by financial services, manufacturing, and healthcare,
growing at a CAGR of 3.3 p0ercent for the period, according to the latest
report from IDC. Revenues are seen at USD 2.4 trillion in 2016. Among the
trends in the forecast is the positive momentum displayed in big industries
like financial services and manufacturing, where companies continue to invest
in 3rd Platform solutions (cloud, mobility, and big data) as part of their
digital transformation efforts.Combined, banking, discrete manufacturing,
process manufacturing, and telecommunications, will generate nearly a third
of worldwide IT revenues throughout the forecast. Consumer purchases
accounted for nearly a quarter of all IT revenues in 2015, thanks to the
ongoing smartphone explosion. But consumer spending for PCs, tablets, and
smartphones has been weakening, which will have a dampening effect on the IT
market overall. Looking ahead, even the moderate growth forecast
for the tablet market will be driven by commercial segments rather than
consumer tablet sales. Healthcare will remain the fastest growing industry
with a five-year CAGR of 5.7 percent. Banking, media, and professional
services will also experience solid growth with CAGRs of 4.9 percent and
combined revenues of more than USD 475 billion in 2020.In terms of company
size, more than 45 percent of all IT spending worldwide will come from very
large businesses (more than 1,000 employees) while the small office category
(1-9 employees) will provide roughly one quarter of all IT spending
throughout the forecast period. Medium (100-499 employees) and large (500-999
employees) business will see the fastest growth in IT spending, each with a
CAGR of 4.4 percent. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 08/29/2016 E-Government
Global Trends: Integrated Services, Open Data, E-Participation and Digital
Technologies The 2016 United Nations E-Government Survey
reports a positive global trend towards higher levels of e-government
development. Countries in all regions are increasingly embracing innovation
and utilizing ICTs to deliver services, increase transparency and engage
people in decision-making processes. The E-Government Development Index (EGDI) is
based on three components: provision of online services, telecommunication
connectivity, and human capacity. According to the 2016 survey, the list of
countries leading in E-Government development is ranked as follows: 1. United Kingdom 2. Australia 3. Republic of Korea 4. Singapore 5. Finland 6. Sweden 7. Netherlands 8. New Zealand 9. Denmark 10. France The report also highlights a number of trends,
insights and recommendations in the areas of integrated services, open data,
e-participation, digital technologies and bridging the digital divide. Integration through e-government 1. A new trend in e-government is the evolution
towards integrated public services through one-stop platforms. Services from
various public agencies are bundled together as a single, joined-up service
in a one-stop-shop. This makes it easier for people to interact with public
administration. 2. According to the 2016 Survey: 90 countries
(including over 50 developing countries) provide a link to a one-stop-shop
service platform; 105 countries provide advanced search features; 98
countries require digital ID for online or mobile services; and 71 countries
provide an online tracking system. 3. E-government can help connect individual
systems and government functions, as well as public services, into a coherent
system, thus enabling whole-of-government (WoG) service delivery in the
economic, social and environmental areas. 4. Governments should aim to deliver integrated
services, not only between economic, social and environmental areas but also
between various sectors, subsectors and activities. 5. E-government will inevitably help siloed
governments integrate. The automated systems used in e-government inherently
require a certain level of standardisation, convergence and interconnectivity
in order to work. This technological integration may then carry over into
better institutional connectedness and integration. 6. Trends show an increasing number of countries
with a government-wide CIO institution or equivalent authority body for
coordinating national e-government development. 7. E-government serves as an enabler of policy
integration. It provides governments with increased insight into complex
issues and analysis of a situation or policy, and offers opportunities to
re-engineer existing decision-making processes and information flows. 8. However, policy integration presents a major
challenge for many countries. Formulating integrated policies requires deep
insight into a range of complex issues across economic, social and
environmental dimensions. Open government data 1. In an effort to make public institutions more
inclusive, effective, accountable and transparent, many governments are
opening up their data for public information and scrutiny. 2. Making data available online for free allows
the public and various civil society organizations to reuse and remix them
for any purpose. This can potentially lead to innovation and new or improved
services, new understanding and ideas. 3. In 2016, 128 out of 193 UN Member States
provide datasets on government spending in machine readable formats. The use
of open government data vary around the world in terms of the number of
datasets released, how they are presented, and in
the tools provided to increase usage of data. 4. Combining open data with new technologies like
Big Data analytics, the Internet of Things, geographic information systems
are powerful tools for efficiency gains and anticipatory governance, to focus
on prevention rather than reaction. 5. The issue that many governments are tackling
today is not whether to open up their data, but how to do so. Challenges
include issues related to legal frameworks, policies and principles, data
management and protection, identity management and privacy, as well as cyber
security. 6. A government-wide vision, collaborative
leadership, adequate human resources, appropriate legislation and
institutional frameworks as well as clear data governance are essential to
open up government data. 7. Strategies such as capacity building
programmes, tutorials, open government data guidance tool-kits, data
dictionaries, app competitions and data literacy campaigns are essential to
empower people to use government data. These tools should be employed to
reach out to all people in society, including vulnerable groups. Ensuring
access to the Internet and bridging the digital divides is critical. E-participation 1. E-participation is expanding all over the
world. With growing access to social media, an increasing number of countries
now proactively use networking opportunities to engage with people and evolve
towards participatory decision-making. This is done through open data, online
consultations and multiple ICT-related channels. 2. While developed countries are among the top 50
performers, many developing countries are making good progress as well. Lower
income levels do not hamper posting basic public sector information online
and using social networking for engaging with people on a broad range of
development-related issues. 3. A growing number of e-participation
applications and tools are put in place in various sectors, with the objective
of responding to the needs of various communities. This can contribute to new
forms of collaborative partnerships between government bodies and people, and
reinforces the focus on people’s needs. 4. E-participation depends on strong political
commitment, collaborative leadership, vision and appropriate institutional
frameworks that ensure structured ways of engaging people. E-participation
also requires capacity development and training programmes for government
leaders, public officials and for civil society, including digital literacy
for vulnerable groups. Online services and digital technologies 1. Countries across the world have made
substantial progress in online service delivery. Higher levels of online
service tend to be positively correlated with a country’s income level. 2. Digital technologies — the Internet, mobile
phones, and all the other tools to collect, store, analyze, and share
information digitally — are being increasingly utilized. 3. Governments are increasingly adapting e-government
services for the mobile platform, providing public sector field workers
access to mobile applications, enabling smart/flexible working and delivering
citizen services anytime, anywhere. In all sectors reviewed, mobile apps and
SMS services have experienced a large and significant growth. 4. Accessibility and availability of mobile
devices support improvements in health, education, agriculture, commerce,
finance and social welfare. It can allow regions that leapfrogged into
wireless broadband to step up innovation and narrow the digital divide.
Overall, ensuring the accessibility and availability of broadband remains an
urgent global priority. 5. The use of Geographic Information System (GIS)
data and Internet of Things (IoT) hold the potential to transform the way
public policy is formulated, implemented and monitored. Their early adoption
has shown increased levels of civic participation and enhanced efficiency,
transparency and accountability. However, improvements of legal and
regulatory frameworks and enhanced cooperation are required at all levels. 6. Bridging the digital divide between countries
and people is a key objective of the international community. It requires
international cooperation and support. It also requires mobilizing the public
and private sectors and societies to develop devices, applications,
technologies, and safeguards that can enable and mobilize ICT for addressing
poverty, illiteracy, and disease. Progress has to be accompanied by policies
to equip people to use online and mobile services, and develop the necessary
enabling environment and safeguards. From http://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/ 10/02/2016 Will
the Internet Ever Be as Free as Air? By most standards, the Internet is a raging
success. There are now more than 3 billion users, a figure that's tripled in
just 10 years. By 2019, global Internet commerce is expected to total $28
trillion, or one-eighth of all the sales in the world. The Big Connect has
brought more prosperity, better health and education, and closer social ties.
What it has not brought - despite early predictions - is more global
freedom.The annual Freedom House report, "Freedom in the World,"
has found a "10-year slide" in freedom, as defined by factors in
two dozen categories. From 2005 to 2015, some "105 countries have seen a
net decline, and only 61 have experienced a net improvement." Last year,
the ratings of 72 countries fell - the most since the slide began.The
Internet got off on the right foot. A "Galactic Network" is what
J.C.R. Licklider of MIT called his concept of interconnected global
computers: "Everyone could quickly access data and programs from any
site." In 1962, Licklider became the first head of the computer research
program at DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and a decade
later ARPANET was up and running, linking government and university research
centers. In the 1990s, the Internet made its critical
transition, expanding from a network mainly scholarly to a network mainly
commercial and personal. President Bill Clinton's advisor, Ira Magaziner,
established a credo that has guided U.S. policy for two decades."The
first principle," Magaziner wrote, "is that, in general, the
Internet is a medium that has tremendous potential for promoting individual
freedom and individual empowerment. Therefore, where possible, the individual
should be left in control of the way in which he or she uses this medium. We
should maximize the opportunity for human freedom."To ensure that
happened, Internet governance derived from what was called the
"multi-stakeholder model." Groups of users, engineers, businesses,
NGOs and governments made decisions - mostly technical - by consensus. In
1994, Mitch Kapor, co-founder of Lotus, the software company that produced
the digital spreadsheet revolution, declared, "We are entering an era of
communication of the many to the many... [T]he nature of the technology
itself has opened up a space of much greater democratic possibility." As it's turned out, "greater democratic
possibility" is not universally admired. Authoritarian regimes find
their positions of power threatened by the disintermediation of the Internet,
just as have previously protected businesses.Challenges to those in authority
were much easier to mount on the Internet than through pamphlets, wall
posters, on radio and television, or in the streets - and the new online
challenges can come from beyond national boundaries. In the early days,
despots were blissfully unaware. They've now responded with a vengeance and
with coordination.The Green Movement, the uprising in Iran that followed the
disrupted elections of 2009, was the authoritarians' wake-up call."The
movement," wrote Abbas Miliani of Stanford University, "was widely
seen as a new non-violent, non-utopian and populist paradigm of revolution
that infused 21st century Internet technology with people street power." Dissidents were suppressed by state violence in
the streets, but to prevent the Internet's use by citizens clamoring for
freedom and democracy in the future, regimes in Iran, China, Russia and the
Middle East took strong steps, learning from each other. As a result, Freedom
House reports that Internet freedom has declined for five consecutive years.
Specifically, in 2015: -Content removals increased: Authorities in 42 of
the 65 countries assessed required private companies or Internet users to
restrict or delete web content dealing with political, religious or social
issues, up from 37 the previous year. -Arrests and intimidation escalated: Authorities
in 40 of 65 countries imprisoned people for sharing information concerning
politics, religion or society through digital networks. -Surveillance laws and technologies multiplied:
Governments in 14 of 65 countries passed new laws to increase surveillance
since June 2014 and many more upgraded their surveillance." But because the Internet is global, these
domestic activities are insufficient to suppress freedom. Now, authoritarian
states are trying to control global Internet governance.As scholar
Christopher Walker wrote: "The focus of such efforts is not merely
defending authoritarianism at home, but reshaping the international norms
that stigmatize such governance. The Internet has given an urgency to this
effort. Behind the smoke screen of 'Internet sovereignty' and 'Internet
security,' authoritarian regimes are doggedly working to neutralize
democratic discourse and organization in cyberspace. Oppressive governments
now routinely seek to apply repressive local standards to platforms such as
Facebook, Google, and YouTube, with the aim of constraining the free flow of
independent information and quarantining democracy." Freedom on the Internet presents thorny policy
issues, even for democratic countries. Nearly every nation, for example, has
its own definition of free speech. Before the Internet, countries could bar
or censor publications that violated its rules, but the Internet makes
communications across borders far easier. Should a nation with tighter
controls on speech be able to block speech travelling by Internet from a
freer country?The United States excludes speech that
is defamatory, obscene or fraudulent, or that advocates the use of force for
an imminent lawless action. But Germany's definition prohibits the promotion
of Nazism (as well as ridiculing the national anthem), and France has lately
been trying to block videos by citizens of police arrests of minorities.In
his new book, Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World, Timothy
Garton Ash, an Oxford historian, writes that "the internet is...history's
largest sewer." Flowing through it are exhortations to terrorism, lies
and conspiracy theories, bullying and harassment. According to a Pew survey in 2014, one-fourth of
users have encountered physical threats on the Internet. Garton Ash, in a book
of nearly 500 pages, struggles to compose a set of guidelines for free speech
in an Internet age. It's not easy.In the short term, increased Internet
access has led to more attempts at government repression, but, in the long
term, there's reason for optimism. While nearly everyone in the U.S. and
Europe is online, the proportion in China is only about half and in many Asia
and African countries, far less.As the economic and cultural benefits of the
Internet reach practically all citizens, it will be difficult - impossible,
even - to take that connection away or even limit it. The Internet will
become as essential as air. For that reason, physical access should be one of
the two goals of global Internet policy for the United States. The second goal is one the U.S. government has
championed for the past 20 years: the right to connect as equivalent to the
right to assemble and speak freely. Cultural differences in the definition of
free speech will be difficult to reconcile, but those differences can't be an
excuse for repression. It is encouraging that the United Nations General
Assembly this summer passed a non-binding resolution declaring that people
should have the same human rights online as they do off-line.But merely
declaring rights is not enough. The U.S. and other democracies must use all
opportunities to advocate Internet freedom, condemning and undermining
attempts to abridge access and speech, including providing training and
technology to help people in authoritarian countries navigate around obstacles
presented by their governments. What if we fail? The worry is that the Internet will become
fragmented, and its greatest asset, immediate global connectivity, will be
sacrificed. And, again, it's not just the authoritarian nations, like China,
that are talking about their own internets. The Edward Snowden revelations
and other disclosures about the National Security Agency spying on leaders of
such countries as Brazil and Germany led to widespread outrage and to calls
from some countries to circumvent U.S.-based Internet services -- or, in the
case of Chancellor Angela Merkel, to create a separate European Internet.John
Perry Barlow, a famous Internet activist of the early days, said in his
"Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" in 1996 that
governments "have no moral right to rule us, nor do you possess any
methods of enforcement that we have true reason to fear." This kind of
optimism seems quaint. In 2005, just 400 million users lived in the
developing world; today, there are more than 2.1 billion, and the regimes
that run those countries fear the Internet as a threat to their authority,
and they're doing something about it.In the end, however, the Internet could
still prove Barlow correct - but only if technology's pursuit of freedom receives
a big helping of will, moral support, and good policy.James K. Glassman, the
founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute, is a visiting
fellow at the American Enterprise Institute's Center for Internet,
Communications and Technology Policy. Twitter: @jameskglassman From http://www.dallasnews.com/ 10/12/2016 37%
of IT Pros to Look for New Jobs in 2017 If your IT department isn’t already worried about
staff retention, some new stats might change that. A new poll finds 37% of IT
pros plan to begin searching for a new employer in 2017, and 26% plan to
accept a new job. Many factors are driving people’s desire for a job change,
according to Spiceworks’ 2017 Tech Career Outlook. The most frequently cited
reasons are: to advance my IT skills (cited by 69%); to get a more
competitive salary (64%); to work at a company that makes IT more of a
priority (40%); I’m burnt out at my current job (40%); to find a better
work-life balance (38%); to get better benefits (401k, healthcare) (33%); to
work with a more talented IT team (26%); to get better work-from-home options
(24%); to get a better job title (22%).More than half (59%) of respondents
believe they’re underpaid, yet only 24% expect a salary increase from their
current employer in excess of 5% in 2017, and only 12% expect a promotion.
Faith in the hiring climate is another driver: 70% of respondents expect the
IT job market to remain favorable in 2017, which is inspiring many IT pros to
seek out higher paying jobs with greater potential for advancement. “Many IT professionals believe they’re underpaid
and their department is underfunded,” said Peter Tsai, IT analyst at
Spiceworks, in a statement. “This is leading many tech professionals to take
advantage of the favorable job market expected next year and seek employers
that prioritize their IT department, invest in tech talent, and provide
adequate resources IT professionals need to be successful." On the flip
side, 61% of IT professionals feel appreciated by their current employer,
Spiceworks finds. Continuous skills development is a hallmark of IT, and
respondents to Spiceworks’ survey have plans in this area, too. When asked
which skills IT pros plan to improve in the coming year, IT pros prioritized
security/cybersecurity (cited by 62% of respondents), networking (56%), and
virtualization (45%) skills. When asked what IT tasks will be the most
challenging next year, most IT professionals said getting business leaders to
understand the importance of IT priorities and fund critical IT projects. IT
pros also expect to face challenges associated with keeping their
organization’s data secure, ensuring IT infrastructure is up to date, and
upgrading end-of-life software and operating systems on time. Spiceworks
makes free IT management software and has built a community of IT pros. Its
survey included 476 respondents from North America and EMEA. From http://www.computerworld.com.au 11/15/2016 CHINA: Adopting Law on Cybersecurity China's top legislature on Monday adopted a Cybersecurity
Law to safeguard sovereignty on cyber space, national security and the rights
of citizens. The government will take measures to "monitor, defend and
handle cybersecurity risks and threats originating from within the country or
overseas sources, protecting key information infrastructure from attack,intrusion, disturbance and damage," the law reads.
Efforts will also be made to punish criminal activities online and safeguard
the order and security of cyberspace. Individual users and organizations are
not allowed to jeopardize security on the Internet or use it to "damage
national security, honor and interests," according to the provisions.
Online activities that are attempts to overthrow the socialist system, split
the nation, undermine national unity, advocate terrorism and extremism are
all prohibited, according to the provisions, which also forbade activities
including inciting ethnic hatred, discrimination and spreading violence and
obscene information online. The law was passed at the bimonthly session of
the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing
Committee, which concluded Monday, after a third reading. From
http://www.news.cn/
11/07/2016 INDIA:
E-commerce Generates $1.2 Million Revenue in Every 30 Seconds - Study Every 30 seconds, global e-commerce industry
generates over $1.2 million revenue with Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter
contributing $5,483, $4,504 and $4,308 respectively, says the ASSOCHAM –
Deloitte study joint study. Social networks are contributing significantly to
the growth of e-commerce business revenue. The maturity of social media and
its reach across masses and classes makes it a suitable platform for online
sales.“Social media helps e-tailers to build brand
awareness by responding to customer queries. Seasonal sales and offers are
displayed in social networks to reach maximum number of people. E-tailers
have even started to motivate customers with reward points to provide
feedback on the product on social networks,” said D S Rawat, Secretary
General, ASSOCHAM. Prospective customers also interact with users of the
product or service on social networks before making purchase decision. The social media provides a platform for
e-tailers to engage with customers for: advertisement, building brand
awareness, developing a community of trusted user, spreading Word-of-Mouth
and customer feedback. Furthermore, payment gateways help the e-tailers to
receive money instantly rather than waiting for the CoD payments, thus
reducing chances of theft and fraud. The retailers are slowly moving towards
payment gateways for improving security and dealing with other complexities
which arise with financial transactions. The banks as well as the e-tailers
are offering different offers like cashback and easy Monthly Installment
(EMI) to encourage customers for card-based payments. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/20/2015 SOUTH
KOREA: Seoul Boasts World’s Fastest Mobile Internet Speed - Survey Seoul’s mobile Internet speeds are the fastest
among seven major cities around the globe. A recent report by U.S. mobile
network analyst RootMetrics showed Seoul has a download speed of
74-point-four Mbps(megabits per second) on the wireless network,
followed by Madrid with 44-point-six Mbps and Tokyo with 39 Mbps. London came
in fourth with 29-point-eight Mbps, trailed by Paris, Dublin and New
York. RootMetrics said that with its outstandingly fast Internet speed,
Seoul presents a new international standard for network performance. The
company obtained the findings after measuring the Internet speed in each of
the seven cities. In Seoul, more than 20-thousand tests were conducted from
May to June, using Samsung's Galaxy S6 Edge Plus smartphone. From http://world.kbs.co.kr
08/24/2016 AUSTRALIA:
Govt Cyber Advisor Shares Concerns over Its Critical Infrastructure An expert who advised the prime minister ahead of
the government's Cyber Security Strategy has shared his grave concerns about
the security of critical infrastructure in Australia. Dr Tobias Feakin, head
of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy
Centre, was speaking as part of a panel at SINET61 in Sydney this week.
"Naming no names," he said, "I've been party to conversations
with some very large infrastructure delivery companies where that cyber
security discussion is not happening at the board level. "So the drop
off point seems to be quite sharp in the critical infrastructure scene in
Australia. That concerns me." Feakin was appointed by prime minister Malcolm
Turnbull to be part of a panel of experts to advise on the Australian Cyber
Security Review in 2014. Though a classified document, the ideas within the
review underpin this year's Cyber Security Strategy. No measures to secure
critical infrastructure are put forward in the strategy, aside from a mention
that the Australian Cyber Security Centre was "improving its links to
critical infrastructure providers".Feakin revealed that the panel had
had "a conversation" around critical infrastructure protection but
said "there's more work to be done". Power play The expansion of the Internet of Things and the
rise of smart cities required a better understanding of where vulnerabilities
lay, Feakin said. "I do think we reach a juncture where we're not
comprehending what's critical, where those nodes exist, where the
interdependencies lie," said Feakin. "With increased roll out of
government services online, increased data pools existing, I'm not quite sure
we're clear let alone where physical infrastructure is, but where that
[digital] part of infrastructure is. We're struggling." A 2014 study
from Unisys revealed that 86 per cent of critical infrastructure providers in
Australia and New Zealand had suffered a breach that led to the loss of
confidential information or disruption of operations. The politics and power
plays happening in the APAC region were also a concern, Feakin added.
"[Infrastructure] is not being done with cyber security baked in at a
level I think is necessary. Especially when you're overlapping that with the
kind of strategic change that we're seeing in this region which invariably
does play a role in everything we see in the cyber domain. "We see
everything going on in the physical world being reflected in the cyber
domain." Although it sounded like a "dangerous mix", Feakin
said the situation represented a "tremendous opportunity" in
Australia for government and industry to collaborate and propose policy in
the area. From http://www.computerworld.com.au 09/16/2016 CANADA:
Words of Inspiration and Encouragement for Women in IT “Remember a moment when someone in your career or
life said something to you that made a difference and pulled you forward,”
invited Lori Scarlett, Director of Human Resources at Ingram Micro, speaking
to the Women in the IT Channel Recognition luncheon held August 24 at the
Weston Golf and Country Club in Toronto.Aligned with the event theme of “Pay
it Forward,” Lori then asked us to think about doing the same to make a
positive impact for someone else.Sharing a model, called “Touchpoints” — she
offered a simple and quick framework to guide us in how to share an
encouraging word or a positive challenge in a way that will help propel
someone else forward. Simply asking “How can I help you?” is the first step.
In my experience, acknowledging a person’s strengths or qualities, as well as
their work and tasks, can also go a long way to providing encouragement.Those
words of encouragement of believing in someone else’s capabilities is a gift
to others — especially to women in an industry where we represent only about
25 per cent of the total. And those moments of encouragement are also
business critical, according to Marcus Buckingham of Gallup, who studied
80,000 managers in over 400 companies to identify the factors for creating a strong workforce linked to
strong business results. He advises leaders to “…do everything you can to
help each person cultivate his talents. Help each person become more of who
he already is.” I suggest each of
us has the opportunity to be such a leader. unspecifiedCertainly, the Women in the IT Channel
honorees provided tangible examples of leaders who are “paying it forward”
both in their contributions to particular causes as well as their leadership
in the IT/Tech sector. Grace Martins, General Manager at QRX technologies is
involved with SNAPSO: Special Needs Adult Program Services Organization,
while Lynda Partner, Vice President, Marketing at Pythian runs a
not-for-profit, called Face-2-Face that captures and shares video-based
stories of ordinary Canadians.Another inspiring honoree, Heather Schaan,
Vice-President & General Manager helped establish and grow Microserve’s
post-secondary scholarship and bursary funds at BCIT (British Columbia
Institute of Technology), University of Victoria and the University of
Alberta. And Norma Tidd, PC Parts Now Inc. Founder, is a longstanding
organizer of the Canadian Computer Charity Golf Classic, raising more than
$5.8 million for Easter Seals and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Foundation — and there’s still time to get in on this year’s tournament on
September 8.There were plenty of inspiring moments to reflect on at the Women
in IT Channel luncheon. Putting inspiration into action, today I took the
lead to encourage a young woman who is a software developer to take her next
steps toward a leadership role. Who will you encourage with your leadership
today? From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 08/29/2016 U.S.:
5 Myths of Managed Services Heightened cybersecurity risks and growing
complexities in technology have led to increased use of managed services
providers (MSPs). Many in-house IT teams are seeing the value of investing in
and relying on MSPs that can help them offload certain tasks while cutting
costs for their organizations. However, some technology officers are still
skittish about handing the keys over to someone else.Much of that resistance
is driven by some myths about MSPs. Let's break down a few of the most common
ones to help underscore why an MSP might be one of the best IT investments
you can make. Myth 1: All IT services are the same Only fix something if it's broken, right? Well,
yes, but it's better if it never breaks at all.There
are two types of MSPs: "break/fix" companies, and value-based
managed services. The break/fix approach is exactly what it sounds like: You
pay for IT support only when something breaks and needs to be fixed. Such
providers are entirely reactive, so there's no financial incentive for them
to stop a problem before it starts or make the platform as strong as possible
for the future.Value-based managed services are a completely different
approach. Instead of reacting to problems after they happen, such providers
actively work to prevent them from happening in the first place. The approach
combines the expertise of security specialists and ethical hackers to find
vulnerabilities so the providers can continuously improve — and keep the
servers running.And in the category of value-based managed services,
vendor-managed service combines the best of both worlds. This is when the
vendor that built the product also manages it. It's a big advantage because
the developers who created the product might only be a short walk down the
hall from the team that is managing it for clients — which means that any
issues are handled quickly. Myth 2: The data isn't secure Yes, it is! And I'll prove it to you with one
word: FedRAMP. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management
Program is like the Federal Information Security Management Act on steroids.
It's much more rigorous than setting up security measures according to
specifications and documenting them.Let me ask you a question: When is the
last time you scanned for vulnerabilities on your server? And when you
scanned for those vulnerabilities, how long did it take to fix them? And did
you write up a plan of action and milestones (POAM)?If
you're like most agencies, your last scan was probably awhile ago, and your
POAM is still only half-finished. Under FedRAMP, any certified service provider
is required to run such scans every month and provide a POAM that a
third-party authority can audit. That means MSPs can catch and take action on
new security threats quickly. And with the hundreds of thousands of malware
hacks launched each month -- some of which are sophisticated enough to have
their own help desks -- that capability is increasingly important. Myth 3: You don't save money with MSPs In reality, you do because MSPs have economies of
scale in their favor. That means you get access to a multibillion-dollar
infrastructure for a fraction of the cost. Part of that cost covers: - Accreditation. Each government asset requires
accreditation. The cost of setting up the software with a data center or
cloud and then running through an accreditation process can run over $100,000
and take more than six months to complete. An MSP, however, can be up and
running with an interim or full authority to operate within a month. Training. Maintaining the cloud and platform
layers requires specialized training, which costs substantial time and
financial investment. A proper MSP manages those layers, allowing the
customer's IT staff to focus on core competencies and the mission. - Build time. A non-trivial amount of time is
required to design, architect, build, secure and test an enterprise-level
solution. An MSP has the infrastructure and the dedicated personnel to help
design and continuously improve that solution. - Staying current. Technology advances quickly,
and most on-premises consumers pay for maintenance and software upgrades but
don't install them. That leads to unfixed bugs, mismatched software versions
and wasted money. On top of that, as solutions grow, the hardware might also
need to be upgraded. MSPs handle all of that. Myth 4: We can do the same thing in-house This might be somewhat true, but it's expensive.
You need a dedicated staff that can architect, create and maintain the system
infrastructure; actively perform load testing, code scanning, vulnerability
scanning and penetration testing; and constantly update software. You also
need to set aside extra time and money for accreditation, training, software
and hardware upgrades, and compliance.That's a lot of work. And even so,
full-time employees might not be skilled in specific IT areas, and/or they
might be spread too thin with other duties (e.g., strategy and people
management) to keep up with relevant trends.MSPs stay on top of technology or
they fail as a business. They need to provide top-of-the-line 24/7 support because
their reputations and livelihoods depend on it. Myth 5: I don't need an IT team if I have an MSP Some people think that once they do the hand-off
to an MSP, their jobs are done. This couldn't be further from the truth. The
teams still need to work together, but the job has just gotten simpler and
better defined.A proper MSP should enhance the customer's IT team, not
replace it. It should allow the agency's employees to focus solely on their
mission rather than on infrastructure and software platforms. Basically, the
MSP handles all the boring stuff so the agency can handle the rest. From https://fcw.com/ 09/23/2016 |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
EUROPE:
CROATIA - Regulator Adopts New Wholesale Regulations The Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries
(Hakom) has approved new decisions on wholesale regulation. This includes
fixed and mobile termination and wholesale broadband access regulations. The
decisions will enter into force on 1 January 2017 or 1 July 2017, depending
on the decision. All decisions were previously submitted to the European
Commission (EC), which had no objections. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/19/2016 SPAIN:
Cutting High-speed Broadband Red Tape Spain’s industry ministry has announced that EU directive
2014/61/EU on measures to reduce the cost of deploying high-speed electronic
communications networks has been transposed into the country’s legislation.
Operators laying out high-speed broadband networks will now find it easier to
access physical infrastructure such as ducts, poles or masts belonging to
energy and other utilities, as well as roads and railway lines. Measures will
also be taken to coordinate civil works more efficiently to avoid having to
reopen street ducts when installing fibre-optic networks. The permit-granting
procedure will also be simpler and more transparent with a view to making
broadband rollout cheaper and faster.Spain’s telecommunications minister
Victor Calvo-Sotelo recently announced that the country has Europe’s largest
fibre to the home (FTTH) network, with some 22.5 million installed accesses,
compared to just 1.6 million in 2012, while 4G technology is now available in
90 percent of the country. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/09/2016 NETHERLANDS:
Govt Criticises EC 5G Action Plan The Dutch government supports the European
Commission's recently presented goals for broadband by 2025, but has
questioned whether they're achievable. A letter from the Foreign Affairs Ministry
on the proposals said that it sees the important contribution telecom
infrastructure makes to economic growth, but the aim for 100 Mbps throughout
the EU may be to ambitious. In the Netherlands, 18 Mbps is already the
average and that appears sufficient for the moment. It's also concerned about
the 5G action plan presented, saying the EU should not try and prescribe too
much before the 5G standards are set or seeing what the latest developments
in 4G can do. The Commission should not promote 5G over other technologies,
which could limit businesses choice in technology, the letter said. The Dutch
government is also against the plans to subsidise local Wi-Fi networks, for
which the EC has proposed a budget of EUR 120 million. This could create
problems for commercial networks and slow investment in next-generation
mobile services. The Dutch expect other countries also will be critical of
the Wi-Fi plan. Overall, the government said it was positive that the EC's
goals are not binding. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 11/11/2016 SWITZERLAND:
Pushing Ahead with Major Telecom Law Reform Switzerland's Federal Council has approved plans
for a major reform of the Telecommunications Act, including measures such as
imposing net neutrality and forcing dominant operators to open up fibre
networks to competition. Following a public consultation that received 151
responses, the Council said it asked the federal communications department
(UVEK) to develop the new legislation by September 2016. Proposals include
increased consumer protection in areas like unsolicited marketing and
measures to block online child pornography. In addition, Switzerland plans to
develop its own net neutrality principles, further lower roaming charges and
introduce the power to require dominant operators to open their networks to
other providers. At the same time, the government wants to reduce the
administrative burden for telecom providers, relax the rules on spectrum
usage and improve access to buildings for network infrastructure. Norms will
also be developed for domain names, emergency calls and communications during
extraordinary situations. Swisscom issued a statement saying it was largely
against most of the proposed measures. The incumbent operator said it was
"sceptical" about the idea of extending network access regulations
to new technologies and revising the Telecommunications Act. Roaming prices
have been "radically reduced" already, and the issues of network
neutrality and the protection of consumers and minors have been addressed
through self-regulation, the operator said. The access regulation would only
be justified to stimulate increased investment, Swisscom said. However,
Switzerland already has an extensive fibre infrastructure, thanks to
investments by telecom, cable and utility providers, and they "have no
immediate plans" to stop investing, the company said, noting that
"no other OECD country invests as much per inhabitant in infrastructure
as Switzerland." From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/26/2016 LATIN
AMERICA: Soros Foundation Sought to Influence Negotiations for Internet
Regulation An organization funded by George Soros, a
proponent of net neutrality, attempted to buy its way into negotiations that
would impact Internet regulation, a leaked document shows.With net regulation
as its main concern, the leftist billionaire’s Open Society Foundations
funneled $66,290 to a nonprofit with the goal of influencing the positions of
Latin American governments in negotiating the Transpacific Partnership
Agreement (TTP).The leaked document reveals the Soros organization under the
project title “Promotion of Human Rights Standards in Latin American Internet
Regulation” provided the funds in 2013 to ONG Derechos Digitales, a nonprofit
based in Chile focused on public interest and technology.In the “Objectives
and Goals” section, the memo, referring to the TTP as the TTPA,
states:“Advocate for the protection of human rights standards in the
Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA): provide technical assistance to
negotiators of Latin American countries (Chile, Peru, and Mexico) of the
TPPA; raise awareness about the TPPA in the Spanish-speaking countries.The
listed indicators that would prove the success of the grant includes
‘protection of human rights standards in the TPPA; increased capacity of
civil society in Latin America to influence internet regulation; a stronger
network and better collaboration of civil society working on digital rights
in Latin America.’ ”The leaked memo makes clear the Open Society Foundations
sought to “influence legislation” in Latin American countries to ensure
“compliance with the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights.” The memo states: “Over the past few years, the governments in
Latin America have started to regulate the online environment, mainly driven
by the need to implement trade agreements. That said, this “regulation trend”
is set to further accelerate in the coming years as the internet penetration
rate is predicted to jump over 50%. This presents a good opportunity for civil
society to help set standards and influence legislation in compliance with
the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights.”According to a Breitbart
report, the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights is pushing for a system
of “universal human rights and rules, and it tasks governments with altering
their own domestic laws to align with those of the Convention, including
rules pertaining to property rights and the judicial system.” Twenty-three
Central and South American countries are currently members.White House
spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Obama would push for the TPP to be
passed before he leaves office in January. Earnest said the president would
make the case for the treaty during a speech in Laos on Sept. 6.“The president is going to make a strong case that we
have made progress and there is a path for us to get this done before the
president leaves office,” Earnest said.Soros has expressed “tepid” support
for the TPP. Writing last year in the New York Review of Books, the
billionaire called the TPP “an excellent opportunity for a two-pronged
strategy” to forge a partnership with China if the treaty could be amended
not to exclude China. Soros
opposed Obama’s request to fast-track the TPP past Congress, instead
advocating for the treaty to be altered to help forge a strategic partnership
with China. From http://www.worldtribune.com/ 09/07/2016 Experts
Say U.S. Election Result Will Not Change Washington's Intervention Policy
Toward LatAm Electoral rhetoric has shown that Washington is
not likely to change its interventionist attitude toward Latin America after
the Nov. 8 presidential elections, Venezuelan analysts have
said."Historically, the U.S. elections do not have much importance in
terms of Latin America. Democratic and Republican presidents alike have
maintained an interventionist attitude in the region," said Sergio
Rodriguez, former director of international relations for the Venezuelan
presidency, in an interview with Xinhua.Rodriguez called both Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald
Trump's campaigns mediocre for putting personal attacks above policy
proposals.Emiro Romero Navas, a Venezuelan political campaign expert,
observed that the United States would maintain its "hegemonic policy of
imposition" on Latin America through economic agreements."The
co-existence between Latin America and the United States is defined by
Washington. The major topics of these economic agreements are determined
based on the interests of corporations and economic groups which run the
global economy," Navas told Xinhua.For both analysts, whoever wins the
White House will have little impact on its current policies toward Latin
America. However, they highlighted that international media
are exploiting Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric and anti-free trade
stance.For Rodriguez, "Trump is threatening to do what the Democrats
have already done," pointing to the "numerous aggressions"
carried out against Latin American countries.He added that when Clinton was
secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, the cabinet legitimized a parliamentary
coup against Paraguay's former President Fernando Lugo in 2012."In her
role as secretary of state, she directly participated in all sorts of aggressive
campaigns against Latin American countries," Rodriguez said.Meanwhile,
Navas said that these "attempts at parliamentary coups" threaten
the legitimacy of certain countries.In terms of Clinton distancing herself
from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), one of the most contested policy
aims of President Barack Obama, both analysts commented she was only showing
"an image of distance" and seeking to gain credibility among
left-leaning voters. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 10/27/2016 NORTH
AMERICA: U.S. - Obama Issues Plan to Give Feds 1.6 Percent Pay Raise in 2017 President Obama issued an alternative pay plan
Wednesday, giving civilian federal employees a 1.6 percent raise in 2017.The
total figure includes a 1 percent base increase, and a 0.6 percent locality pay
bump, matching the amount the president requested in his fiscal 2017 budget
proposal. Obama issued a separate plan providing a 1.6 percent boost in
monthly basic pay rates for military service members.Obama said he would make
a decision by Nov. 30 regarding a locality pay plan. Locality pay rates vary
by area.The president just met his Aug. 31 deadline to formally announce his
pay raise proposal for federal employees for the upcoming year. If the
president fails to inform Congress of his alternative pay plan for feds by
Aug. 31 each year, then the increase mandated by the 1990 Federal Employees
Pay Comparability Act kicks in. Under FEPCA, the raise is determined by the
change in the Employment Cost Index minus 0.5 percent. For 2017, that would
have been around 2.1 percent.Presidents, however,
largely have ignored the FEPCA formula in their federal pay raise proposals,
preferring to offer their own figure, which is allowed under the law. Congress created FEPCA, which provides an annual
across-the-board salary boost and a locality pay adjustment for General
Schedule employees, to close the public and private sector pay gap.Feds
received a 1.3 percent pay boost for 2016, which included locality pay
adjustments. Obama has received criticism from federal employee advocates for
giving historically low across-the-board raises to base pay in recent years
-- following three years of no raises at all during the pay freeze -- and the
locality pay areas and definitions announced at the end of last year provided
the administration with a different avenue for increasing feds’
compensation.Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees
Union, said the 1.6 percent figure was “far too low” given the pay freeze and
“meager” raises over the last few years. “We continue to highlight the impact
on federal workers of low pay increases and the impact on federal agencies’
ability to recruit and retain the skilled workforce our nation needs,”
Reardon said in a statement.American Federation of Government Employees National
President J. David Cox Sr. also was unimpressed with the 1.6 recommended
raise. “President Obama acted because Congress has not. AFGE reiterates our
call for Congress to pass a 5.3 percent pay raise in 2017 that will make up
for years of neglect and begin to close the widening gap between employees in
the federal and private sectors,” said Cox. Obama said his pay raise recommendation for
civilian federal workers “will not materially affect our ability to attract
and retain a well-qualified federal workforce.”Congress has the final say on
any pay raise. Lawmakers could upend the president’s 1.6 percent
recommendation and the FEPCA formula this fall by coming up with their own
pay raise proposals for federal civilian employees, but it’s not likely at
this point. Earlier this summer, the House passed the fiscal 2017 Financial
Services and General Government Appropriations Act, allowing for a pay raise
for federal workers next year. For the last several years, federal workers
have ended up with the pay raise the president recommended.Lawmakers in both
chambers have introduced legislation that would give federal employees a 5.3
percent pay hike across-the-board in 2017, but those bills are not likely to
gain any traction when Congress returns to a busy fall after summer recess.
The fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, and Congress has yet to agree on any fiscal
2017 spending bills.If Congress doesn't intervene, Obama's 1.6 percent
recommendation will take effect on Jan. 1, 2017. From http://www.govexec.com/ 08/31/2016 Cyber
Guidelines Are 'Required Reading' for Transition Teams A forthcoming set of guidelines on cyberthreat
information sharing between the private sector and the government will be
required reading for presidential transition teams, according to a top White
House adviser."This is an incredibly important project," said
Michael Daniel, White House cybersecurity coordinator, in reference to a 2015
executive order that urges companies to form sector-specific information
sharing and analysis organizations.At a Sept. 1 meeting, Daniel said ISAOs
are a fundamental component of President Barack Obama's national cyber
defense strategy and should operate alongside the more formalized information
sharing and analysis centers (ISACs) for critical infrastructure
industries.The Department of Homeland Security convened the ISAO Standards
Organization to develop voluntary guidelines for sharing cyberthreat
information between the private sector and government. The group plans to
release an initial set of guidelines at the end of the month, with more
detailed guidance tentatively slated for release in the second quarter of
2017. Those guidelines will help the next
administration and Congress with some of the "nuts and bolts of what
government needs to do," Daniel said."We knew that the ISAC model
wouldn't work for everyone," he said, adding that ISAOs will help expand
information sharing among other non-critical infrastructure companies and
organizations.Greg White, executive director of the ISAO Standards
Organization, said almost any group of companies can form an ISAO as long as
they have similar concerns about cybersecurity, especially as the internet of
things spreads threat vectors exponentially in the coming years.Similar
businesses facing similar sets of threats could band together to share
information, as could local or regional governments, local small
manufacturers and small companies. The forthcoming guidelines will explain
how to organize ISAOs, what kind of information they could share and
how.White said state election organizations "should absolutely be an
ISAO," given recent attempts by hackers to access state voter data. ISAOs' reporting obligations to DHS differ from
those of ISACs. Organizations that have balked at being designated as critical
infrastructure can use the ISAO structure to share information without the
same stringent federal requirements.The first ISAOs are beginning to emerge.
Michael Echols, executive director of the International Association of
Certified ISAOs, told FCW that his association has signed up several groups
in the past few months. IACI launched in late July to offer experienced help
with ISAO operations, and Echols said he left his position as director of
DHS' Cyber Program Management Office in early August to join the
association.IACI is not part of the ISAO Standards Organization but is
complementary to its efforts, he said. It currently represents seven ISAOs
but expects to have 20 in a year, he added. From https://fcw.com/ 09/01/2016 Women
in Tech - Los Angeles’ Strategy CIO Ted Ross outlines the importance of a
technology workforce that looks like the community it serves.Information
technology jobs with the city of Los Angeles are in high demand, and for good
reason. According to CIO Ted Ross, 9 percent of city jobs are in IT, yet they
account for 17 percent of wages. As far as the people who hold those jobs,
however, they are four times more likely to be men than women. It's a stat
likely repeated in many IT shops across the country.In Los Angeles, officials
have taken a number of steps to encourage more diversity in tech. Internal
development efforts include a training program centered around key leadership
skills like communication and negotiation. We caught up with Ross at the Los
Angeles Digital Government Summit, where he outlined some of the other
elements of the city's strategy. From http://www.govtech.com/ 09/09/2016 Pentagon
Advisory Board Rolls Out Innovation Plan The Pentagon's Defense Innovation Advisory Board
said there is no shortage of ideas and innovation in the military, but what
is lacking is the means to share and build on innovative ideas.The board,
which was created by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in March, held its first
public hearing to announce its interim findings and recommendations. Members
include astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Instagram Chief Operating Officer
Marne Levine, Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt and Code for America founder
Jennifer Pahlka.Since its inception, the board has conducted a number of
fact-finding trips to military facilities, bases and commands, including
Nellis Air Force Base, Fort Bragg and Special Operations Command.They have
been speaking with top commanders across the services and trying to meet with
ground-level troops and operators in what they describe as the "user
research phase" of the board's process.The board's first recommendation
is that the Defense Department create a chief innovation officer position,
according to board member, former Obama administration adviser and Harvard
Law School Professor Cass Sunstein. That person would focus on sharing
innovation activities and ideas across DOD and would create a defense
innovation network to facilitate the cataloging, sharing and distribution of
ideas. The next recommendation is to focus on incentives
to recruit the best cyber talent."In the tech community, we are blessed
with an extraordinary pool of talent, but even we cannot meet all of the
demands of technical expertise," Levine said. She added that tech
companies are competing with one another across a global market of talent,
and they have resources the federal government does not.Levine said there
should be a "digital ROTC" that offers tuition payment for those
who want to pursue technology positions in the military. Students in those
programs would focus on cyber operations and cyber defense.She added that the
military also needs to focus on retaining talent by making specialization
both possible and attractive. She said the current system has the wrong
incentives by emphasizing promotion rather than specialization.In the coming
months, she said the board should explore whether and how to create a
science, technology, engineering and mathematics path at DOD. Google Vice President Milo Medin said DOD needs
to focus on protecting weapons systems from infiltration. Most systems are
tested and certified before they come online, but ongoing testing using
automated tools is needed. He added that Cyber Command and the National
Security Agency should be directed to help perform ongoing analysis of the
systems’ security.Retired Adm. William McRaven, former commander of Special
Operations Command, said there is a stark difference between innovation in
Special Forces and other military units. There are more layers of bureaucracy
in conventional forces, and combatant commanders need more freedom of
movement to innovate.In special operations, he said, "the
distance…between the soldier in the foxhole and the decision-maker is really
truncated."He said commanders are able to make decisions and secure the
resources necessary to try new ideas. That ability needs to be spread across
other commands. Reid Hoffman, executive chairman of LinkedIn,
proposed the idea of having embedded software development teams within the
commands. "This would enable commands and bases and other institutions
to essentially deploy modern techniques and modern workflow," he said,
and would allow DOD to operate the way industry does.Richard Murray,
professor of bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology, said
the academic world can be a model for DOD innovation. At universities,
students and professors are encouraged to design, prototype and test ideas
and innovation within limited barriers. In particular, he said people in
academia have the freedom to fail and learn from the experience, and that
kind of freedom is needed in the military.McRaven said bringing that attitude
to the military will be a challenge. "Students and faculty drive
innovation because they get grants to do that, they get grants to
collaborate, so who is it that would provide those grants...to the soldiers
in the field?" he asked. If combatant commanders are given access to
resources and can supply them below the corps level, innovation would ratchet
up significantly, he said, adding that combatant commanders must be empowered
to assume the risk for innovating.Tyson expressed optimism for the future of
DOD innovation based on the mindset of the millennial generation. "I see
a level of scientific literacy and technological savvy and curiosity that I
think is maybe without precedent in previous generations," he
said."The U.S. will move backwards just by standing still" if it
doesn't embrace the talent of that generation, he added From https://fcw.com/ 10/05/2016 |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
CHINA: Food Safety Draft Stipulates
Stricter Online Regulations China has published and is soliciting public opinion
on a draft revision to the country's food safety regulation, which stipulates
stricter rules for online food sales. The draft, published by the State
Council's Legislative Affairs Office on Wednesday, stipulates liabilities for
food producers as well as operators of online sales platforms for food safety
violations. If any food producer has been punished for food safety problems,
online sales platforms should immediately stop serving the offender,
according to the draft. The draft says China's food safety law and
regulations should also be applied to imports and exports of food through
e-commerce channels. The draft also says that in cases in which any inedible
substance is found in foods, producers and business operators are obliged to
present proper evidence to answer any reasonable doubts, or they will be held
liable for food additive violations. The public is invited to comment on the
draft via multiple means at any time before Nov. 19. From
http://www.news.cn/
10/20/2016 China Adopts Law on Cybersecurity China's top legislature on Monday adopted a
Cybersecurity Law to safeguard sovereignty on cyber space, national security
and the rights of citizens. The government will take measures to
"monitor, defend and handle cybersecurity risks and threats originating
from within the country or overseas sources, protecting key information
infrastructure from attack,intrusion, disturbance
and damage," the law reads. Efforts will also be made to punish criminal
activities online and safeguard the order and security of cyberspace.
Individual users and organizations are not allowed to jeopardize security on
the Internet or use it to "damage national security, honor and
interests," according to the provisions. Online activities that are
attempts to overthrow the socialist system, split the nation, undermine
national unity, advocate terrorism and extremism are all prohibited,
according to the provisions, which also forbade activities including inciting
ethnic hatred, discrimination and spreading violence and obscene information
online. The law was passed at the bimonthly session of the National People's
Congress (NPC) Standing
Committee, which concluded Monday, after a third reading. From
http://www.news.cn/
11/07/2016 China Sets Up Big Data Zone in Inner
Mongolia China unveiled Monday a big data zone being built
in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Inner Mongolia zone, centered at the
regional capital Hohhot, is one of the seven under construction in China and
will focus on analysing data on energy, meteorology and geology to help
energy conservation and cooperation. Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National
Development and Reform Commission, said the commission will draw up policies
to bring big data products, industry, and technology to the zone. Businesses,
research institutes, and universities are also encouraged to participate. A
number of information industry heavyweights including Alibaba, Baidu, China
Telecom and Tencent have offices in the zone. The authorities aim to make the
Inner Mongolia big data zone north China's big data center and a leading
global big data base by 2020. According to a previous estimate, China will
account for 20 percent of the world's data capacity by 2020. From
http://www.news.cn/
11/07/2016 China Pushing to Build Internet
Infrastructure for Belt and Road Initiative Countries Chinese government is actively promoting Internet
infrastructure of Belt and Road countries, said officials and company
representatives at the third World Internet Conference (WIC) in Wuzhen, east
China's Zhejiang province. China-Pakistan cross-border cable project, a
project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), has been under
construction since May. "The CPEC is the shortest route that links China
to the Middle East, Africa, and Asia," said Amir Azeem Bajwa, Major
General of the Special Communication Organization of Pakistan. "We call
it the 'digital Silk Road'." There are 135 million mobile phone users in
Pakistan, huge potential for telecom cooperation with China. Yang Xiaowei,
general manager of the China Telecommunications Corporation, said at WIC that
the company would cooperate with operators in the Belt and Road countries on
a Pan-Asia network. Chen Zhaoxiong, vice minister of industry and information
technology, pointed out that China is working on unifying standards for
cross-border e-commerce in Belt and Road countries to tackle technological
challenges and expand new industries. According to the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU), the information level of Asian Pacific and Africa are both below
the global average. In 2011, China's leading telecom company China Unicom
initiated the Asia-Africa-Europe-1 (AAE-1), a 25,000 km submarine cable
system which ventures to link 19 nations and regions across Asia, Africa and
Europe. In order to boost big data and cloud computing in the Middle East and
North Africa, Aliyun, Alibaba's cloud computing subsidiary, set up a joint
venture with Dubai's Meraas in May 2015. This joint venture will offer system
integration services to help private companies and governments in the region
to reduce IT spending. "There are ample opportunities for Belt and Road
countries to cooperate on information infrastructure, Internet applications,
information content exchange, big data and intelligent manufacturing,"
said Yang Xiaoya, an official from ITU. From
http://www.news.cn/
11/18/2016 JAPAN:
High-Tech Measures Eyed to Boost Construction Productivity The Japanese government, at the first meeting of
its council on investment in the future on Monday, set a goal of boosting the
productivity of construction sites by 20 percent by 2025 as the industry
faces a serious shortage of workforce. The council is due to compile by
mid-2017 a growth strategy that will call for promoting the so-called fourth
industrial revolution utilizing cutting-edge technologies such as artificial
intelligence and information and communications technologies. The panel was
created through the realignment of councils linked to growth strategies,
including the Industrial Competitiveness Council. Chaired by Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe, the new council comprises economic revitalization minister
Nobuteru Ishihara and other relevant ministers, and private-sector members
including Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, the
nation’s biggest business lobby known as Keidanren. “I want you to thoroughly work on structural reforms
and immediately start to draw up necessary measures,” Abe said at the
inaugural meeting. The first task for the council is improving productivity
in the construction industry. A shortage of some 1.3 million workers is
projected at construction sites in 10 years. The government aims to promote
the spread of ICT to help the industry save energy and shorten construction
periods. Specifically, it will review terms of order placements for public
works projects to help boost the introduction of three-dimensional measuring
using drones. The government will also collect 3-D data on roads and bridges
as bid data and allow private companies to use them, while setting up a
public-private body to discuss rules for their use. From http://the-japan-news.com 09/13/2016 New
Rules Would Ease Switching to Budget Smartphone Carriers The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry
plans to reduce the fees three major mobile phone carriers charge budget
smartphone operators for using their communication lines, according to
sources. If the communication line fees are reduced, the burden for budget
smartphone operators will be reduced, which is expected to help them
strengthen their management base and lower charges for customers. The ministry aims to promote
competition by making it easier for users to switch from major carriers to
budget smartphone operators and lower communication charges in the industry
as a whole, including those of major carriers, the sources said. In April,
the ministry issued guidelines to request that the major mobile phone
carriers — NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Corp. — stop excessive
discounts such as selling handsets for virtually no cost. The measure was aimed at making carriers utilize
funds for lowering communication charges, instead of offering handset
discounts. The latest plan to reduce communication line fees is one policy
measure to get major carriers to lower charges for customers. Fees for the
use of the communication lines of major carriers are calculated using a
formula based on a ministry ordinance. However, the formula allows major
carriers to add extra amounts of profits to the operating costs they charge
to budget smartphone operators. The ministry intends to revise the ordinance
so that major carriers will no longer be able to add more profits than
necessary, the sources said. The ministry will also request major carriers
shorten the period required for customers to be able to remove a SIM (see )
lock, which fixes them to one network. The SIM lock period is currently set
at six months from purchase. In the case of a service plan with up to 5
gigabytes of data usage, major carriers charge about ¥7,000 per month for
unlimited phone calls each within 5 minutes. Budget smartphone plans cost about ¥2,000 per
month under a service plan that does not include phone calls. If the period
for removing the SIM lock is shortened, customers will be able to choose a
carrier more freely, the sources said. With the SIM lock, mobile carriers
effectively restrict customers from switching to another carrier for six
months. The ministry has judged that this prevents them from changing to
budget smartphone operators. The ministry plans to implement these two
measures after discussions are held by an expert panel to be set up
mid-October, the sources said. The three major carriers account for about 90
percent of the customer contracts in the domestic mobile phone market. NTT
Docomo has a share of about 40 percent, while KDDI and SoftBank each have a
share of nearly 30 percent. Others, including budget smartphone operators,
account for only about 8 percent. From http://the-japan-news.com 09/24/2016 SOUTH
KOREA: To Build Network of Smart Expressways by 2020 The Transport Ministry plans to build a network
of smart expressways that will include new sections of road where electric
vehicles can be charged on the go, officials said Tuesday. Under the plan,
the government will build an additional 1,000 kilometers of expressway,
extending the total length in the country to 5,131 kilometers by 2020. This
will create a complete network in which nearly 96 percent of the country’s
population will be able to access an expressway within 30 minutes from their
homes, said the ministry. It will also mean that 78.2 percent of the
country’s total area will become accessible via an expressway, up from the
current 70.7 percent. From http://www.koreaherald.com 08/30/2016 Designing
Seoul's Smart Future "Smart designs to pioneer smarter
living." The 2016 Seoul Design Week kicked off on Sept. 22 at the
Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), showcasing a portfolio of high-tech designs
that explore innovative solutions for a "smarter" city. These
designs were created by professionals from schools, corporations and
organizations with the goal of identifying the roles and responsibilities of
design at the dawn of a new, technology-driven era. The event explores the
theme "Smart City, Smart Design, Smart Life" along five tracks,
each section asking different questions about how to improve the convenience
and sustainability of city life. The main section of the exhibit, "Smart
Design, Smart Life," introduces 49 different types of
"appcessories," handy plastic or metal accessories that can connect
to your smartphone app and increase the functionality of your mobile device.
The "Smart Mobility International Conference and Exhibition"
section showcases electric vehicles and other means of transport that will be
used in the near future, including electrically powered scooters, bicycles
and hover boards. Visitors can try charging an electric car, or hop on a
Segway-like scooter for a ride around a model city block. From http://www.korea.net
09/28/2016 President
Emphasizes Pioneering Reforms in Science, Technology Korea established a fourth-generation synchrotron
radiation facility, the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory X-ray Free Electron
Laser (PAL-XFEL), on Sept. 29. Korea is now only the third country in the
world to have such facilities, after the U.S. and Japan, a tool that can be
used to develop new medicines and to treat cancer. During a ceremony to mark
its opening, President Park Geun-hye said, “Thanks to the establishment of
this laser, Korea has realized another one of its science and technology dreams,
taking a big step into the future.” The president said, “This
fourth-generation synchrotron facility is key to solving the mysteries of
space and life, such as photosynthesis and chemical reactions, which human
beings have so far been unable to reveal. It is also a core part of the
infrastructure required to get an upper hand in the increasingly fierce
competition among future industries.” She valued the establishment of the
laser, saying, “The establishment of this facility can greatly contribute to
economic development and to revitalizing the local economy by advancing
Korea’s science and technology up a notch and fostering future industries.” From http://www.korea.net
09/29/2016 Drug
Ministry Improves Guidelines for 3-D Printed Medical Devices The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
released improved guidelines for 3-D printed medical devices Friday, with
aims to spur the growth of the emerging business segment. The ministry’s new
guidelines establish more concrete and detailed regulatory standards for
conducting product efficacy, safety and biocompatibility testing for 3-D
printed implants for bone fixtures and dental surgery. In improving its
guidelines, the ministry aims to encourage more companies to develop and
commercialize more safe and efficient 3-D printed medical devices, it said.
Currently, only 18 3-D printed medical products from 10 companies — including
surgical implants and markers used during bone fixture surgeries — have been
approved here, according to the ministry. Next month, the ministry plans to
newly introduce guidelines for creating artificial cartilage, blood vessels
and skin using 3-D printing technology. The information can be viewed by
visiting the Korean website of www.mfds.go.kr and clicking on the
“Regulations & Information” tab and the “guidelines” category. From http://www.koreaherald.com/ 10/21/2016 Korea
to Expand System for Digital Currency South Korea announced Monday it will lay the
systemic groundwork for the spread of digital currency as part of efforts to
promote financial technology, also called fintech. "The government will
push for the systematization of digital currency on a full scale in tandem
with a global trend in the U.S., Japan and other countries," Yim
Jong-yong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, said in a speech at
the 12th Fintech Center Demo Day event. He added the government and the local
financial industry will launch a consortium on blockchain within this year
for joint research and pilot projects. Blockchain is a key technology for the
digital currency bitcoin, enabling data sharing across a network of
individual computers. It records and tracks practically all bitcoin
transactions. Yim said the government will also offer 3 trillion won ($2.65
billion) in financial support over the next three years for the development
of the fintech sector. The FSC described the measures as the "basic
direction" of the second-stage fintech development roadmap to be
unveiled in the first quarter of 2017. The government has so far focused on
removing unnecessary regulations on the fintech field. "In the second
stage, the government will place a focus on re-designing the existing system
to be suitable for the fintech environment," Yim said. Meanwhile, the
FSC signed a memorandum of understanding with the Monetary Authority of
Singapore on bilateral cooperation on the fintech industry. Under the accord,
the two countries will exchange relevant information, knowledge and manpower. From http://www.koreaherald.com 10/24/2016 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CAMBODIA:
Drafting E-Commerce Law as Online Sales Grow Cambodia has been drafting the E-commerce law to
facilitate and regulate online business operations for investors and
customers, the commerce ministry said in a press release on Sunday. E-commerce
refers to the purchase of goods and services via online system, which would
bring a lot of new business opportunities for young entrepreneurs in Cambodia
and undoubtedly contribute to the national economic growth, said the press
release posted on the ministry's Facebook page, along with a video clip.
"However, this kind of business requires specific rules and regulations
to manage its transactions to ensure accuracy and safety for all the
concerned parties," it said. In the 9-minute video clip explaining the
process of drafting the E-commerce law, which began in 2013, the commerce
ministry said with the rapid growth of internet usage across the country,
purchasing goods and services online has expanded rapidly in the last five
years. According to the figures of the ministry of posts and
telecommunications, some 6.3 million of the kingdom's 15 million people have
access to the internet by last year, most of them get access to online via
smart phones. Commerce minister Pan Sorasak said the draft law was not only
for Cambodia, but also for the entire world because E-commerce had no
borders. "Presently, we work in a physical space, the
space where we see each other in conducting trade. But E-commerce is not in
this way, it's a big environment..., we can purchase (goods or services)
immediately via computer, and E-commerce has no borders," he said in the
clip. Kem Saroeung, director of legal affairs department at the commerce
ministry, said the law was designed to protect both investors and consumers.
"The draft law will also covers E-payment, which is managed by the
national bank of Cambodia," she said. "It also states punishment
for those who abuse the law." The bill is being drafted by the commerce
ministry in cooperation with justice ministry, posts and telecommunications
ministry, national bank of Cambodia and council of ministers. Ou Phannarith,
director of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) department at the
posts and telecommunications ministry, said, "The E-commerce law will be
a legal instrument that increases confidence for both investors and
consumers." Sam Phalla, products manager of online shop Elegant Brand
KH, said that when the E-commerce law was in place, online sellers and buyers
would have a legal way to settle their differences when problems occurred.
"In the absence of the law, when there is a problem, people share it via
social media and Facebook only," he said. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 11/06/2016 THAILAND:
Plan to Provide 4,000 Villages with Broadband Internet Access THE National Broadcasting and Telecommunications
Commission office will propose to the watchdog’s telecom committee a plan to
roll out a broadband Internet network in almost 4,000 villages at a cost of
Bt11.5 billion. The project would be funded by the watchdog’s universal
service obligation (USO) fund, NBTC deputy secretary-general Korkij
Danchaivichit said. He added that the NBTC office draw up this project after
meeting with ACM Prajin Juntong, deputy prime minister and acting Digital Economy
and Society minister recently. If approved, it would be a collaboration
between the regulator and the Digital Economy and Society Ministry to promote
broadband service access to remote areas. The NBTC would install broadband
Internet in 3,920 villages, including the establishment of Internet centres
in schools with between five and 11 desktop computers per school. The Internet connection speed would be 30/10
megabits per second. Korkij said the NBTC planned to soon hire a consultant
to study the project before the drafting of its terms of reference (ToR) the
NBTC’s board approved the initiative. If the telecom committee approves the
proposal, the NBTC office would send the proposal to the Broadcasting and
Telecommunica-tions Research and Development Fund (BTFP) panel for its
consideration and then to the NBTC board for final approval. The planned ToR
would divide the broadband Internet network installation zones into four
geographical areas, with telecom |operators invited to bid for the project. Currently
the USO fund, which is part of the BTFP fund, has Bt24 billion in cash.
According to the government plan, there are 74,987 villages, which can be
divided into an A and B class and a C and C-plus class. The zone A and B covers 30,635 villages, which
already have access to broadband Internet, while the zone C and C plus
consists of 44,352 villages that do not.
The NBTC would roll out broadband Internet in all 3,920 villages in
the C-plus zone. Earlier the government assigned the Digital Economy and
Society Ministry to take care of zone C, which totals 40,342 villages. The
ministry invited telecom operators to join the bid for the roll out of
broadband internet in the zone but only TOT did so. As a result, the ministry
will scrap the bid and will draft a new ToR. The ministry will spend Bt13
billion in covering 24,000 villages in zone C with broadband Internet in the
first phase. It is expected to assign the NBTC to install the broadband
Internet network in the remaining 10,000 villages of zone C. The National
Council for Peace and Order recently allowed the NBTC to use the USO fund to
develop telecom projects for the public. In 2014 the NCPO told the NBTC to
suspend its plan to use the USO fund, pending its complete scrutiny of the
NBTC’s overall budget spending. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 10/24/2016 Subsidy
Plan for TV Broadcasters THE BROADCASTING committee of the National
Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission will tomorrow propose a plan
to subsidise digital-TV broadcasters’ costs of transmitting their programmes
to satellite and cable platforms. The proposal, that will be put before the
NBTC board, will be between Bt600 million and Bt800 million per year for
three years, said a broadcasting industry source. The source said the
committee yesterday approved the subsidy scheme, aiming to ease the financial
burden of digital-TV broadcasters. The money will come from the NBTC budget.
If approved by the NBTC board, the subsidies are expected to begin next year.
Besides broadcasting programmes via the terrestrial system, the digital-TV
broadcasters are required to send their programmes to the cable and satellite
platforms as well, under the NBTC’s “must carry” rule to enable all platforms
to access free TV channels on and equal basis. The digital-TV operators have
been responsible for the cost. NBTC deputy secretary-general Pakdee Manaves said
yesterday that the broadcasting committee approved providing financial
support to the broadcasters but did provide further details on the plan.
According to a source in the satellite industry, the expenditure of all 26
digital-TV channels for sending their standard-definition (SD) programmes via
Ku- and C-band satellite systems to other TV platforms is estimated at about
Bt400 million a year. If the transmission of high-definition (HD) shows is
included, the total cost is around Bt600 million to Bt800 million per
year. Ten of the country’s
digital-TV channels are categorised as HD. They transmit their HD signals to
terrestrial TV receivers, while SD signals are provided to satellite TV
receivers to control costs. Meanwhile, the dispute between MCOT and
Springnews Television over digital-TV transmission service and fees is likely
to be resolved after Springnews expressed its intention to pay up. MCOT last
week sought permission from the broadcasting committee to discontinue its
transmission service for Springnews TV because it had not paid any fees. Before the weekly meeting of the NBTC’s
broadcasting panel began yesterday, a representative from Springnews showed
up to submit written confirmation that it was prepared to take responsibility
for this matter this month. However, the amount of the payment must be agreed
by both sides in accordance with the latest consultation and negotiation,
according to the written notice signed by Kosol Songneam, director of
Springnews Television. The company also revealed that on October 5, MCOT and
Springnews TV had reached an agreement on remedial measures after the delay
of the second-phase roll-out plan for MCOT’s transmission network. Under the
measures offered by MCOT as the authorised provider of digital TV
transmission service, Springnews TV will receive a 25-per-cent discount on
the leasing fees incurred between November 2014 and May 2015. But for the
first phase of their contract, Springnews still disagreed with some details.
According to a source at MCOT, the operator of Springnews TV signed a
contract to lease the digital TV transmission service in July 2014 for a
monthly charge of Bt4.72 million. As of last month, Springnews owed about
Bt106.54 million to MCOT. After this new development, the NBTC’s broadcasting
panel decided to postpone making a decision on this issue. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/08/2016 Village
Broadband Internet Project Set for Approval THE DIGITAL Economy and Society Ministry will
next week submit the Bt15-billion village broadband Internet project to the
Cabinet, which it hopes to see rolled out to 24,700 villages nationwide next
year. If approved by the Cabinet, the ministry will transfer the Bt15-billion
budget to TOT. TOT president Montchai Noosong said yesterday that TOT was
already drafting the technical specifications for the project’s equipment. A
TOT source said the budget would be divided into three parts – Bt9 billion
for the installation of wireless and fixed0line access points in the 24,700
villages, Bt3 billion for three years of network maintenance and Bt3 billion
for the installation of free Wi-Fi in the villages. According to its original
plan, TOT will install only the wireline network in the villages as specified
by the ministry. Wirelines will
still be the main network. The wireless service will run on TOT’s
2.3-gigahertz spectrum. All network assets from the project would belong to
the ministry, Montchai said. The ministry opened bidding for the project
midyear but aborted it last month, citing that TOT, the only bidder, had
failed to provide sufficient technical details. However, last week the
ministry decided to mandate TOT for the project. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com 11/11/2016 VIETNAM:
HCM City Approves Draft for Smart City Project HCM City’s steering committee for the smart city
project hosted a meeting on Friday to approve a draft plan of the project,
which aims to develop the southern metropolis into a smart city. Speaking at
the meeting, Nguyễn Thành Phong, chairman of the People’s Committee and head
of the project’s steering committee, said the city would collect the opinions
of city authorities, experts, and its residents to issue a completed plan by
the end of this year. Under the plan, the project is expected to be carried out
from 2017 to 2020. It focuses on e-government, traffic, health, welfare,
public security, water supply and drainage, environment, education, economy,
agriculture and communications. In addition, the city will launch minor
projects such as a traffic control centre, electronic medical records system,
smart electricity metres, and a security and traffic camera system. According
to Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, deputy chairman of the People’s Committee, building a
smart city is necessary for the city’s development and potential. The targets
are to develop a sustainable city as well as improving the quality of life of
its residents. Nguyễn Việt Dũng, director of Department of Science and
Technology, said local authorities should provide information and knowledge
about the smart city for residents. The work would help people understand
what a smart city is, and encourage them to give their best ideas for the
project. According to Phong, the city has implemented seven “breakthrough
missions,” including smart city development, to realise the resolutions of
the 12th Party Congress and the 10th City Party Committee Congress. He
emphasized that the city’s leaders should be united and determined to start
the project. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
09/12/2016 Building
VN into Start-Up Nation: PM The Vietnam National University-Hanoi (VNU)
should take the lead in building Việt Nam into a start-up nation, Prime
Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc told its managerial staff yesterday. Concerning
VNU’s target of becoming a research-oriented university by 2030, the PM said
VNU should link research with reality, considering start-ups as measurements
of training quality. The university should promote ideas and research
projects ahead of technological and socio-economic trends in Asia, he noted.
However, to meet real demand and keep up with the start-up spirit, the
university needs to bring knowledge into practice. Tertiary education in Việt
Nam, including in VNU, has yet to meet the real demand of businesses and the
economy, he said, pointing out that 225,000 graduates are unemployed
nationwide. He said this was a huge waste of social resources and stressed
that education quality needs to head toward the start-up target. He asked the
university to adapt its research to reality, which can be seen through
establishing and successfully operating enterprises, noting that research
findings must satisfy the demand of businesses, develop the economy and serve
socio-economic development. Education and training have continually been
prioritised, he affirmed, saying the sectors must proactively provide
high-quality human resources for the country to achieve industrialisation,
modernisation, and national development targets. The PM said VNU has proved
to be the top facility in the national tertiary education system, which now
comprises 412 universities and junior colleges, and applauded its education
and research that have both won national and international awards. VNU is a
State-owned tertiary education establishment housing multiple universities
and institutes, including seven colleges and five faculties. Later the same
day, PM Phúc attended the launch of a programe encouraging youths’
involvement in creating start-ups in Hà Nội with the participation of more
than 1,000 young people. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
10/17/2016 Digital
Map Planned to Ease City Traffic HCM City will build a complete digital map of
roads to provide online information to reduce traffic jams and accidents,
according to its Department of Transport’s road infrastructure management and
exploitation division. To create the map, the city People’s Committee has
asked the Ministry of Transport to share data about all vehicles in the city
so the city will set up IT applied measures for managing and regulating
traffic. Ngô Hải Đường, the head of the division, said last week the transport
department’s existing digital map is simple since it only updates data about
buses and traffic congestion and warnings about traffic jams. Once the
ministry provides the data about the city’s taxis, buses, trucks and other
vehicles, they will be incorporated to complete the digital map. Once that is
done, the public can use smart phones to check the city’s transport situation
to choose the appropriate streets to avoid traffic jams. In the first nine months of the year the city saw
2,850 traffic accidents in which 586 people died and 2,340 others were
injured, according to the police. Violation of road rules by trucks, taxis
and buses is a major reason for traffic disorder in the city. Taxis and
buses, for instance, often let passengers get on or off at places where they
are not permitted to. Fewer people are using buses, adding more and more
private vehicles to the streets, because of the declining quality of buses.
So the city plans to replace 500 old buses by year end, according to the
department’s public transport management and operation centre. On Tuesday the
centre and the Sài Gòn Bus Company introduced 20 new buses with modern
facilities on route No 7 between Chợ Lớn Bus Station and Gò Vấp District. The
city had planned to replace 1,680 old buses in 2015-17, but has only managed
200 as of last month, according to the centre. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
10/24/2016 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
INDIA:
Delhi Wi-fi Plan Downsized, Hotspots for Now WiFi HotspotThe Delhi Government’s plan of City
Wi-Fi Plan seems to have changed to the Wi-Fi Hotspot plan for now. In a shift
from its earlier announcements to provide free Wi-Fi in the entire national
capital, now it plans to deploy 3,000 hotspots in the first phase. As per the
new plan, citizens will get up to 1 Mbps bandwidth and free 1 GB data
download per month. The scheme will be implemented in three phases. Speaking
at a forum recently, Ashish Khetan, vice chairman, Delhi Dialogue Commission
said, “Wi-Fi connectivity was one of the major demands that people asked for
during elections and we will soon be able to provide free Wi-Fi connections
at pre-defined locations.” “In the first phase Wi-Fi will be deployed in all
government and private colleges and universities; in the second phase it will
be available in all 275 villages of Delhi; and in the third phase it will be
launched in all the unauthorised colonies and jhuggi jhopri clusters of
Delhi,” added Khetan. The Aam Aadmi Party’s election manifesto 2015, however,
said that the government will make Wi-Fi freely available in public spaces.
Delhi city-wide Wi-Fi can help in bridging the digital divide. It will also
provide an impetus to education, entrepreneurship, business, employment and
also tie in with women’s safety initiatives. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/18/2015 UNDP
to Meet Govt Departments on Digital Initiatives DigitalThe United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) will hold a meeting with various government departments to connect
digital initiatives for e-governance and e-education. “In terms of
e-education and e-governance India ranks way far below than the potential it
has because of disconnect of good opportunities that are often not coming
together and also help in improving long and sustainable effort that needs to
be done,” said UNDP Country Director Jaco Cilliers, according to a statement
issued by Assocham. Cilliers said that India has established a clear lead in
this area by going beyond policies that merely recognise strategic role of
ICT for growth and development and is institutionalising concrete measures
that support ICT initiatives. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/20/2015 Government
Plans Using PDS Network for Banking Services The Centre has
plans to use the 5.5 lakh strong public distribution system (PDS) network to
extent banking services. The plan would initiate with a project that would
cover a tenth of the PDS shops soon, a finance ministry official has
revealed. “We intend to use the PDS as a point of banking presence. You will
be able to access your account by going to a point of sale terminal in a PDS
shop. That is what we’re working towards,” the official said, adding
that under the plan, the PDS network will act as a business
correspondent for the banks. There is also plan to start a project to
cover 55,000 shops soon. All PDS shops are run by the state governments and
they typically sell food articles, including grains, sugar and also kerosene,
at subsidised prices as part of food security system. At present, 1.5 lakh of
the PDS shops have handheld machines which help establishing the identity of
a beneficiary and also give a list of items he is entitled for, said another official. “They connect with the
Aadhaar server to make this possible. By a simple software and hardware
upgrade, the same machine can connect with the core banking system of a
bank.” Speaking on scope of the idea, the official said the PDS network is
larger than that of post offices as every village with 1,000 population has a
shop. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/26/2016 Jharkhand Govt Inks Pact
with Tech Mahindra to Promote IT/ITeS, Startup, Incubation & Skill
Development The Government
of Jharkhand has selected Tech Mahindra, a specialist in digital
transformation, consulting and business re-engineering, as a strategic
partner to help the State in its digital journey and employment generation
through skill development. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect
was signed between officials of Jharkhand Government and Tech Mahindra in
presence of State Chief Minister Raghubar Das, and Ulhas N Yargop, Director,
Tech Mahindra. According to MoU, Tech Mahindra, as a strategic IT partner,
will work towards promoting technology adoption by the citizens in the state
apart from helping build an ecosystem with greater participation of industry
players. The partnership also requires Tech Mahindra to work with the
Government of Jharkhand to promote digital literacy and skill development
working with various industry organisations including Nasscom Foundation.
This apart, Tech Mahindra with the help of the State Government would work
towards enhancing industry-academia collaboration by supporting local
universities and technical institutions in areas like robotics, process
management, cloud computing and software development cycle among others.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das said, “The State Government is
very happy to ink strategic MoU with global giant Tech Mahindra under its
Digital Jharkhand Programmes to promote IT/ITeS sector, Start up, Incubation
and skill development.” The Government
of Jharkhand has been aggressively pushing various technology led programmes
and initiatives such as Skill India, Digital India and Startup India
initiatives. Over the next five years, the state has set a target to skill
over 2,000,000. Besides, to position the state as a preferred IT destination,
Jharkhand has also announced very progressive IT/ITeS, BPO/BPM, ESDM
(Electronics System Design and Manufacturing) and Start-up policies. “We look
forward to Tech Mahindra as our partner in the journey to provide our
citizens state-of-the-art services through state’s network upto grass roots
level. Tech Mahindra’s proposal to State is perfectly aligned to states
IT/ITeS, ESDM, BPO & Start Up policies. We are very excited & do look
towards them as our partner in this journey,” the Chief Minister added.
Tech Mahindra which provides cutting edge technology solutions and services
to many leading global organisations, has been working closely with many
governments, both at the state and the Central levels, offering unique
solutions in areas like Irrigation, Health Unique Identification, Police,
Cyber Security and Emergency Response System and skill development among
others. Saral Rozgar, one of the startups incubated by Tech Mahindra has also
extended partnerships with the skill development training partners of
National Skill Development Corporation for engaging the trained youths to the
entry level jobs. “Tech Mahindra is proud to be associated with the Jharkhand
government is enabling the state in its digital transformation journey. We
believe that technology is going to significantly impact the governance
process, especially the way governments interact with the citizens, and also
creating skilled and digitally literate workforce. Our partnership with
Jharkhand is a step in this direction,” said Jagdish Mitra, Chief
Strategy and Marketing Officer, and Head of Growth Factories at Tech
Mahindra. Tech Mahindra is also looking at exploring the possibility of
setting up of a BPO centre in Jharkand which can provide various citizen
centric services to the citizen apart from serving other clients. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/30/2016 Telangana a
Step Beyond RTI via Open Data Policy Hyderabad: In
what can be a step beyond the Right to Information (RTI) Act towards transparency
and accountability, the Telangana State Government becomes only the second
state to introduce Open Data Policy that enables proactive data sharing by
the Government. Factly signed an MoU with the Government of Telangana to
collaborate and partner in implementation of the Open Data Policy. Other
allied policies under the primary ICT policy were also introduced. Rakesh
Reddy Dubudu, Founder, Factly, describes this move of unveiling set of allied
polices as another step in the right direction towards attracting niche
business, and improving governance and accountability. “In next few decades
it is all going to be about data. Data analytics, artificial intelligence,
cyber security all are interconnected and it boils down to information and
data. Telangana government is proactive and is thinking about the future.
Such allied policies would give a push to the new age business related to
data and also opens up the government. Even the world over, governments are
coming up with open government partnerships,” said Rakesh Reddy. Transparency,
Social and Commercial value, Participatory Governance, Better Governance. On
the sidelines of the main programme, Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and
Letters of Intent were signed by the Government of Telangana with Cisco,
Factly, DSCI, CtrlS, SCSC, NASSCOM, Cropdata Technology Private Limited. The
areas covered under the agreements include deploying City Digital Platform
(CDP), setting up of virtual video-based classrooms, digitization of
important landmarks and monuments of Hyderabad, collaboration on open data
initiative, developing a joint cyber security charter and a detailed
execution plan, setting up of state of the art data centres, providing a
cyber security response centre, cryptography and setting up of a Malware
Research Centre, setting up of Data Sciences Center of Excellence, and
providing reports of expected crop production and vulnerability. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/03/2016 Haryana’s IT
Policy to Encourage IT Based Companies
From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/23/2016 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AZERBAIJAN: Tax Amnesty System to Be
Introduced Soon Azerbaijan will introduce a system of tax
amnesty, which stands for the voluntary disclosure of income on January 1,
2017, said Nijat Imanov, head of department on tax policy and strategic research
in the Taxes Ministry. The system is introduced in line with the recent
decision of President Ilham Aliyev on the approval of reforms to be held in
the sphere of taxes in 2016. “The system allows a taxpayer to disclose the
information not previously reported to a tax agency and pay accrued taxes on
a voluntary basis and thereby avoid liabilities normally associated with
prior non-disclosure,” Imanov said. He mentioned that financial sanctions at
the rate of 50 percent and a fine of 0.1 percent for each day are currently
imposed in the case of the revelation of hidden income. As many as 700,000
taxpayers are currently registered in the country, while some 75,806 of them
were registered in January to August, 2016. From http://www.azernews.az/
09/08/2016 TURKMENISTAN: Laws on Legal
Regulation of Internet Adopted Turkmenistan has adopted laws on legal regulation
of the Internet. Participants of the workshop organized by the OSCE in
Ashgabat have emphasized the significance of the laws adopted in Turkmenistan
on regulating the activities of media outlets, in particular, the law “On
legal regulation of development of Internet and rendering online services”,
‘Neutral Turkmenistan’ newspaper reported. Ashgabat is hosting a three-day
workshop (Sept.7-9) on new possibilities of communication with help of online
resources of public authorities. The event has been organized as part of the
joint projects of Turkmen government and OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.
Representatives of parliament, a number of ministries, media outlets are
taking part in the event. During a government meeting, Turkmenistan’s
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov tasked the representatives of government
and local media outlets to widely use digital tools for increasing
efficiency, comprehensive and timely coverage of events in the country and in
the sphere of international relations. From http://en.trend.az/
09/09/2016 Turkmenistan to Carry Out
Modernization of Railways Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov
gave a number of recommendations on improvement of the developed program of
development and reformation of the country’s railway industry in 2017-2030,
Turkmen Dovlet Habarlary state news service reported Sept. 24. The issue was
discussed at the Turkmen Cabinet of Ministers’ meeting, where Berdimuhamedov
noted the importance of reconstruction and electrification of the country’s
railways, bringing them in line with international standards. Modernization
of railway sections Ashgabat-Turkmenbashi and Ashgabat-Farab are planned,
according to the report. In particular, a construction project will be
developed in order to organize the phased implementation of the planned work
on the laying of a high-speed steel highway on the Ashgabat-Turkmenbashi section.
The modernization of the locomotive fleet is also planned. General overhaul
of the main railway infrastructure, functioning on the Turkmenbashi-Farab
section is planned for 2017-2022, according to the report. Turkmen president
also gave specific instructions, concerning the acceleration of the
construction of the Atamyrat-Ymamnazar-Akina railway and taking the necessary
measures for its timely completion, to relevant officials. This is a segment
of the railway project on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT)
route, groundbreaking ceremony of which was held in June 2013. From http://en.trend.az/
09/24/2016 UZBEKISTAN: Updating Procedure for
Cotton Fiber Sale On August 30, the Cabinet of Ministers of
Uzbekistan adopted a Resolution "On improvement of mechanism of sale and
calculations for cotton fiber". The resolution says that the sale of the
cotton fiber for export and enterprises in the Republic have to be carried
out by the JSC “Uzpahtaexport" for hard currency. In addition, contracts
can be concluded through the Uzbek Republican Commodity Exchange in
accordance with the annually approved parameters of the balance of production
and supply of cotton fiber. Storage and release of cotton fiber for export
and local enterprises should be made only at cotton terminals. Cotton
terminals also serve as a place where foreign buyers and enterprises of the
Republic check the quality and quantity of cotton for final acceptance. The
document approved: - Regulations on the procedure of sale of cotton fiber and
the calculations to be made by JSC "Uzpahtaexport" with the
territorial branches of JSC "Uzpahtasanoat"; - Regulations on the
procedure of sale of cotton fiber on the stock exchange through the Uzbek
Republican Commodity Exchange (UZEX) to enterprises of the Republic and for
export; - Regulation on certification and weighing of cotton fiber. The
document also approved an updated list of cotton terminals of JSC
“Uzpahtaexport”. According to the Resolution, the contracts on sale of cotton
fiber for export and enterprises of the Republic concluded prior to the entry
into force of this regulation, shall be executed in accordance with the
legislation in force at the time of their conclusion. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
09/14/2016 “Uzbekenergo” JSC Considers Introduction
of Automated Power Management System Project Tashkent hosted a conference on improving the
activity of the Joint Stock Company "Uzbekenergo" to strengthen the
discipline of payment for consumed electricity. The event participants
discussed the project on introduction of the automated electrical power
control and metering systems. Its implementation will contribute to the
financial viability of the energy sector of Uzbekistan, as well as create a
number of amenities for consumers. The introduction of automated electrical
power control and metering systems (AMR) will be implemented through the
installation of smart electricity meters. They will ensure the accuracy and
reliability of electric power metering, consumers’ financial discipline and quality
of power supply. Currently the system is being implemented in Bukhara,
Jizzakh and Samarkand regions. On the basis of international tenders the
contract for the project was signed with the South Korean company «KT
Corporation», the participants’ of the event emphasized. "Smart electricity meters have the function
of detecting different kinds of fraud and the immediate disconnection in the
event of such detection, as well as the ability to remotely turn off if the
consumer did not pay for electricity. In addition, new meters allow the use
of flexible tariffs based on the amount of electricity consumed, the time
consumption in the different seasons of the year and / or time of day, and so
on ", project manager, representative of the company« KT Corporation »
Ying Kee Kim said. Overall, AMR is an advanced technology which has many
features. With the introduction of AMR "Uzbekenergo" will be able
solve a number of issues related to the reduction of non-technical losses,
accurate and timely billing for electricity and the possibility of the
introduction of tariffs depending on time of use of the electricity. The
system introduction provides substantial benefits for consumers of all
categories. It is timely and accurate invoicing, improving energy security, reducing
power outages, a rapid response in the event of failures and other problems
in the network. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
09/17/2016 Program of Measures for Tashkent
Region Development Approved The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers dated September
9 approved a program of measures for the integrated development of the cities
and districts of Tashkent region in 2016-2018. The document was adopted in
order to implement policy measures for rational use of natural raw materials,
production and employment potential, ensure steady growth of level and
quality of life of the cities and districts population of the Tashkent
region. The Resolution approved: - The main target parameters of industrial
production in Tashkent region in 2016-2018; - The forecast parameters of
investment projects on creation of new, modernization, technical and
technological re-equipment of existing capacities of industrial enterprises
in Tashkent region in 2016-2018; - The forecast parameters of localization
projects involving organization of competitive import-substituting products
manufactured in Tashkent region in 2016-2018; - The list of directions of
activities realization for further development of raw materials, deep
processing of fruit and vegetable production, to increase food production in
Tashkent region in 2016-2018; - Basic parameters for rapid development of
engineering-communication and production infrastructure in Tashkent region in
2016-2018. The resolution entrusted the heads of Tashkent
region khokimiyat and territorial structures, joint-stock companies,
associations, large enterprises, commercial banks with personal
responsibility for the implementation of the program in a timely manner.
Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Tashkent region hokimiat
and other engaged ministries, departments, economic associations and
enterprises are instructed to: - within a month submit for approval to the
Cabinet of Ministers targeted programs of investment projects for new
construction of industrial facilities, modernization, technical and
technological re-equipment of existing capacities of industrial enterprises,
comprehensive measures to further develop the resource base, organization of
deep processing of fruits and vegetables, increased production and export of
food goods through effective use of irrigated land, as well as advanced
development of engineering and communication infrastructure and production
based on the parameters provided by this decree; - undertake relevant
measures to improve the level of industrialization in Akkurgan, Bekabad,
Buka, Kuyichirchik, Parkent, Yukorichirchik and Chinaz regions on the basis
of wide introduction of modern equipment, resource-saving technologies,
ensuring increase of deep processing of local raw material volumes in the
framework of the action program. Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Uzbekistan
in cooperation with Tashkent region hokimiyat, the State Committee on
privatization, de-monopolization and development of competition, Ministry of
Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade of Uzbekistan is tasked to
implement systematic measures to increase workload and volume of production
of industrial enterprises, eliminate shortcomings and restart production on
idle industrial enterprises of the region, including through the sale of the
state's share of inefficiently used, idle capacity and bankrupt enterprises
to foreign investors. According to the document, annually the Ministry of
Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade of Uzbekistan when forming
the Investment Program of the Republic of Uzbekistan needs to provide the
inclusion of investment projects envisaged for implementation in accordance
with this decision, specifying the volume and sources of financing in the
prescribed manner. The Resolution also entrusted: - The Ministry of
Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan in cooperation with Tashkent region
hokimiyat to develop specific measures ("roadmaps") to reduce the
share of subsidies received from the state budget through further expansion of
the revenue base of local budgets in Akkurgan, Bekabad, Buka, Parkent and
Kuyichirchik areas. - The State Committee for Architecture and Construction,
Goskomzemgeodezkadastr of the Republic of Uzbekistan in cooperation with
Tashkent region hokimiyat to ensure allocation of land for business
activities within implementation of projects included in the Program of
measures approved by this resolution, as well as issuance of permits for
construction of facilities on the principle of "one window". - The
State Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Geology and Mineral
Resources to ensure issuance of licenses for the right to use subsoil for the
implementation of projects for production of building materials and other
industrial products in specified manner. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
09/20/2016 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AUSTRALIA:
Govt Seeks Input on Telecom Competition Law Changes The Australian government has invited interested
stakeholders to offer comment on its proposed amendments to telecommunications-specific
anti-competitive conduct laws in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. The
changes were suggested in the Harper Review that concluded in March 2015.
Treasurer Scott Morrison has released an exposure draft bill with changes in
section 46 of the Act. These relate to the misuse of market power. The
changes will prohibit corporations with sufficient market power from acting
in a manner that has the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially
lessening competition. Section 46 applies to all corporations, including
carriers and carriage service providers. The section interacts with, and has
similarities to, the telecommunications-specific anti-competitive conduct
laws in Part XIB of the Act. Under this part, a carrier or carriage service
provider is held to be engaging in anti-competitive conduct if it has
substantial market power and utilises that to lessen competition in a
telecommunications market or engages in conduct in violation of certain other
provisions, including section 46. From http://www.itwire.com
09/05/2016 Call
for Govt Regulatory Restraint over Data Retention Compliance The Communications Alliance has urged the federal
government to exercise regulatory restraint if some telecommunications service
providers are unable to fully comply with the mandatory two-year data
retention regime by the time of the April 2017 deadline. Communications
Alliance (CA) chief executive John Stanton made his call in response to the
government’s announcement on Monday of the $128.4 million in grants to
industry under the Data Retention Industry Grants Programme (DRIGP). Internet
Australia chief executive Laurie Patton has supported CA’s call for
regulatory restraint but repeated previous criticism that it is more than a
year since the Act was passed by parliament on the basis that it was urgently
required for national security purposes – and “the inordinate delay in the
provision of the information has left ISPs to foot the bill for capital
equipment without knowing how much funding they might receive”. “This has
caused considerable unnecessary stress to our ISP members. It compounds a
litany of issues with this legislation that we have consistently maintained
is fundamentally flawed,” Patton complained. John Stanton said the government appeared to have
done a reasonable job of apportioning the limited funds available,
“particularly among smaller providers, although some of the larger players
face heavy unfunded expenses to meet their compliance requirements”. “But the
lengthy delay in finalising the grants process has put many services
providers under immense pressure to complete, on time, the work to enable
them to comply with this regime. “The government should acknowledge that
these delays have made compliance more difficult to achieve within the
prescribed timeframe. “The attorney-general should publicly commit that no
action will be taken, come April next year, against any service provider that
is genuinely working to comply with the regime, but has been disadvantaged by
the slow pace of decision-making,“ Stanton
concluded. Patton also noted that the $128 million provided by the government
is about a third of the full implementation costs estimated by PwC at the
Government’s request. “What’s not covered are the significant operational
expenses involved in complying with the scheme. So apart from having to cough
up 20% of their upfront costs ISP’s will be out of pocket on an ongoing
basis.” Patton again warned that it was inevitable that the costs imposed on
the industry by the government will be passed on to consumers. From http://www.itwire.com
09/06/2016 ACCC
Not Ready to Stop Regulating ADSL Just Yet Although the National Broadband Network rollout
is gathering pace, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
believes it should continue to regulate Telstra’s wholesale ADSL service. The
ACCC today issued a draft decision on that argues Telstra’s continuing
dominant position in wholesale and retail ADSL means that the competition
watchdog should continue to regulate the wholesale ADSL service for a further
five years. The ACCC declared the wholesale ADSL service in February 2012.
The declaration is set to expire in February next year. Declaring a service
forces a network operator to open up its infrastructure to access seekers,
with the ACCC setting ‘default’ price and non-price conditions for access.
The ACCC’s draft decision argues that “Telstra retains a dominant position in
both the national wholesale and retail markets for high speed fixed-line
broadband services”. The watchdog’s draft view is that although there are
areas in Australia where there appears to be infrastructure competition in
the wholesale ADSL market, “infrastructure competition does not exist on a
national basis and as a result there is limited competition at the retail
level on a national basis.” The ACCC document includes figures indicating
Telstra retains almost 62 per cent of the wholesale ADSL market at a national
level. “Continuing regulation will ensure network providers continue to have
access to Telstra’s copper network at reasonable prices,” ACCC commissioner
Cristina Cifuentes said in a statement. “This will encourage them to continue
competing in the retail market to develop and offer different ADSL broadband
products to meet the needs of customers as they prepare to shift to the NBN.”
Telstra and the ACCC are currently awaiting the outcome of a Federal Court
case over the latter’s move to cut the regulated wholesale prices of a number
of the telco’s fixed-line services, including ADSL. From http://www.computerworld.com.au 10/14/2016 ACMA
Reviewing Rules on Telemarketing, Research Calls The Australian Communications and Media Authority
is considering possible changes to the rules and regulations governing telemarketing
and research calls, including providing greater clarity to assist consumers
receiving the calls. The ACMA issued a discussion paper on Monday seeking
public feedback on a number of proposed changes including a requirement that
the name of the calling company be provided at the start of the call – and
removing requirements on industry that have been identified as realising
“little or no consumer benefit”. Legislation covering current standards for telemarketing are
“sunsetting” in the New Year and must be remade before they lapse on 1 April 2017. The acting ACMA
Chairman Richard Bean says the standard provides some important and
long-standing community safeguards in relation to telemarketing and research
industry calls and the authority welcomes views from interested parties in
relation to the continued application of the safeguards and the proposed
changes. Bean says there has been recent public debate about parties exempt
from the obligations contained in the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (DNCR),
including about telemarketing by registered charities. “Under legislative provisions, the Industry
Standard is restricted to the specific areas noted above and does not provide
an opportunity to contemplate broader issues. The ACMA will refer any submissions
made about other important issues to the Department of Communications and the
Arts.” The Industry Standard places specific obligations
on industry and provides consumers with the minimum levels of conduct that
they can expect from all telemarketers, including in relation to permitted
calling times and when a call must be terminated. This means that even if a
particular entity, such as a charitable organisation, is exempt from the
requirements of the DNCR Act and therefore able to call numbers listed on the
register, it must still meet the requirements contained in the Industry
Standard. Different rules can apply depending upon whether a call is a
research call or a telemarketing call, but in general: • A call is a research call if one of its purposes
is to conduct opinion polling or standard questionnaire-based research • A call is a telemarketing call if one of its
purposes is to offer to supply, or to advertise or promote, goods or
services, or an interest in land, or a business or investment opportunity, or
to advertise or promote a supplier of any of the above, or to solicit
donations. And, telemarketers and researchers are not able
to call people during certain times, unless the consumer has consented to
being called at that time. Times when calls are not to be made: And,
telemarketers and researchers are not able to call people during certain
times, unless the consumer has consented to being called at that time. From http://www.itwire.com
11/07/2016 New
Defence ICT Strategy Outlines $20b, 10-Year Investment The Department of Defence has released an updated
ICT strategy intended to help it implement the ‘One Defence’ reform program
and the priorities outlined in the 2016 Defence White Paper. The First
Principles Review (FPR), released by the government in April 2015, called for
a shift to the One Defence model, which would include implementing “an
enterprise approach to the delivery of corporate and military enabling
services to maximize their effectiveness and efficiency.” The Defence
Integrated Investment Program (DIIP) unveiled alongside the 2016 Defence
White Paper earmarked additional funding to address what the government said
was underinvestment in ICT over the last 10 years. The new Defence ICT
strategy document — ICT Strategic Direction 2016-2020 — is the successor to a
2009 ICT strategy. It was launched publicly today by Defence CIO Dr Peter
Lawrence at the MilCIS conference in Canberra. The document states that
Defence ICT needs to prepare for and embrace a number of changes in the
technology landscape including the growth of connected devices, the increased
importance of ICT in supporting military operations, and increased threats to
cyber security. The Defence ICT environment encompasses around 100,000
workstations, 3000 applications, 280 processing centres and 670 networks.
Currently, Defence ICT “does not adequately support the cooperation,
coordination and communications needs of its personnel,” the document states.
The Defence ICT workforce “does not reflect all capabilities needed for the
future,” the document states. The current state of ICT is characterised by
challenges including fragmented processes and information, separate
“infrastructure islands”, aging infrastructure and applications and a lack of
innovation. In addition there is a reliance on bespoke applications, a
reactive instead of preventative approach to cyber security in many areas and
limited industry strategy partnering. The 2015 First Principles Review of
Defence identified a “costly and complex” application landscape within the
Defence Department as a source of waste and inefficiencies. “Duplicated
systems and processes reflect entrenched resistance to implementing
businesslike approaches such as shared corporate services and the empowerment
of single accountable officers in areas such as information management,” the
review argued. The strategy sees Defence shifting to a more
efficient, scalable ‘Single Information Environment’ architecture with
standardised businesses processes and a reduced cost of ownership for ICT.
Elements of the SIE, including the consolidation of data centres,
infrastructure remediation, and investment in end user computing and
networking, are being delivered now. Defence has already begun what it believes
is the largest ERP program implementation undertaken by the Australian
government. Delivery of the strategy will be overseen by a Defence ICT
Advisory Group and a Defence ICT Leaders Group. In total, Defence plans to
invest $20 billion over 10 years in ICT to implement the strategy. From http://www.computerworld.com.au 11/08/2016 Government
Pushes Ahead with Controversial Telco Security Bill Attorney-General George Brandis yesterday
introduced in the Senate a bill to implement the government’s Telco Sector
Security Reforms program. The TSSR bill — Telecommunications and Other
Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 — has previously been the subject of a public
consultation, with the government releasing two exposure drafts. The telco
industry expressed concerns over both exposure drafts. The bill is intended
to ensure that Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure remains secure
from threats such as espionage, sabotage and foreign interference. The
security framework introduced by the bill will “formalise the relationship”
between government agencies and carriers, carriage service providers and
carriage service intermediaries “to achieve more effective collaboration on
the management of national security risks,” states the bill’s explanatory
memorandum. The legal regime introduced by the proposed regulation will
require telcos to “do their best to protect telecommunications networks and
facilities from unauthorised interference, or unauthorised access, for the
purposes of security,” the bill states. Telcos will be required to advise the government
ahead of time of changes to their networks or facilities that may have an
impact on their security, including plans to provide new services, procuring
certain types of equipment or entering outsourcing arrangements. Instead of
individual notifications of changes, a telco may submit a security capability
plan that will outline multiple proposed changes they intend to make. The
government through the attorney-general may direct a telco to either
undertake or not undertake certain actions. For example, the attorney-general
“may give the carrier or carriage service provider a written direction not to
use or supply, or to cease using or supplying, the carriage service or the
carriage services” if they are considered “prejudicial to security”. If the
bill is passed, the attorney-general may “give a carrier, carriage service
provider or carriage service intermediary a written direction requiring the
carrier, provider or intermediary to do, or to refrain from doing, a
specified act or thing within the period specified in the direction.” The
proposed legislation could potentially see the government overriding a
telco’s choice of equipment vendor or network design decisions. There have been some changes between the second
exposure draft and the current bill. For example a requirement on telcos to
“do the carrier’s best or the provider’s best to protect telecommunications
networks and facilities from unauthorised interference or unauthorised access
to ensure” the security of networks and communications is slightly tweaked to
cover “telecommunications networks and facilities owned, operated or used by
the carrier or provider”. Another changes is that
the Attorney‑General’s Secretary when employing a power to gather information
to assess possible non-compliance with the legislation “must have regard to
the costs, in complying with any requirement in the notice, that would be
likely to be incurred by the carrier, provider or intermediary”. A further
change allows telcos to be reimbursed for the cost of copying documents
sought by the government. “Australia’s national security, economic prosperity
and social well-being increasingly depend on the security and resilience of
telecommunications services,” a statement issued on behalf of Brandis and
communications minister Senator Mitch Fifield said. “This is why the Government, with the benefit of
input from key telecommunications stakeholders, has developed this important
legislation, which provides greater certainty for the industry and better
protects telecommunications networks from national security threats.” The
government said the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and
Security will hold a public inquiry into the bill. From http://www.computerworld.com.au 11/10/2016 NEW
ZEALAND: Government Prepares to Embrace Digital Interactions The Government Administration Committee has
called for submissions on the Electronic Interactions Reform Bill that would
amend a range of legislation to enable digital interactions between
individuals, businesses, and government agencies. Meanwhile Inland Revenue
has begun accepting digital signatures, with MYOB claiming to be the first accounting
software provider to support the facility. MYOB said the use of digital
signatures by Inland Revenue would redefine how businesses interact with the
organisation. “The Inland Revenue guidelines … allow documents, such as tax
returns, to be filed with an electronic signature rather than in writing,
meaning there will be no need to print, sign and send forms to Inland
Revenue,” MYOB said. “The new service means tax compliance documents can be
quickly and securely transmitted to Inland Revenue without the need for
paperwork and without the painful delays. Businesses can do it simply and
easily, directly through our platform or via their accountant.” MYOB said it had been working with Inland Revenue
to find ways of simplifying a range of compliance and taxation processes, and
had also worked with the government on the introduction of eGST, as well as
changes to provisional taxation to allow it to be calculated and paid
directly through a business’s accounting software package. The Electronic
Interactions Reform Bill contains proposals from the Department of Internal
Affairs (DIA), the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE),
and the Department of Conservation (DOC) that would allow certain services
offered by Births, Deaths and Marriages to be completed without requiring
statutory declarations, and would remove some restrictions on the use of
photographs stored in the Identity Verification Service with the consent of
the subject of the photograph. It would also allow requirements for
individuals to “appear before” government agencies in certain proceedings,
and for certain types of notices to be provided electronically. Further
amendments relate to the online sale of game hunting licences. From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 10/18/2016 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EUROPE:
A Turning Point for eGovernment in Europe? Accelerating Digital
Transformation of Public Sector. Technology is changing the game quickly and will continue
to do so. Technology is reaching every corner of our world and it is bringing
rigorous changes to every industry, every organisation, its processes and
people. Public sector included. And the future won’t be different. It is not
very clear though which technologies will make what impact; predicting future
technologies provides very engaging over-the-horizon figments of imagination,
but misses the robustness and reliability that public sector can actually
build on. No one can actually predict what government could look like in the
next ten years. The only thing that is certain is that it will be very
different from how it looks now. The biggest challenge is, therefore, not so
much in anticipating what comes next, but ensuring governments are able to deal
with the change. Digital is not yet in the DNA of governments. The
latest eGovernment Benchmark that we have delivered for the European
Commission reveals that countries’ performance is not revolutionarily
improving. Even worse: while a ‘digital diagonal’ of countries is improving,
the gap with those who are behind the European average is growing. New
technologies such as mobile are incorporated slowly and in only a few
countries in a consistent cross-agency approach. Digitisation of public
authorities themselves is either in embryonic state or is happening in silos.
We have seen some inspiring examples of new ‘business models’ for
governments, such as a crowdsourced eGovernment solutions map or
public-private collaboration on authentication mechanisms – but they are not
common practice. The policy priorities of the consecutive eGovernment action
plans have not changed much since the 2010 eGovernment Action Plan that was
launched in 2006; now ten years ago. In all honesty, we could doubt to what
extent public sector has really advanced over the years in acquiring an
attitude that can deliver on the potential of digital. In the words of the UK
Government Digital Services’ Executive Director, Stephen Foreshew-Cain: ‘The
biggest problem we face is re-shaping ourselves so that we’re better placed
to change as rapidly as the world around us[1].’ Our Digital Transformation Framework provides
guidance for exactly that purpose. Research of Capgemini and MIT[2] conducted in the field of digital transformation
learns that so-called ‘digital masters’ excel in two critical dimensions:
the what of technology (digital capabilities) and the how of leading change
(leadership capabilities). Evidence shows businesses that perform well on
both dimensions are receiving higher revenues from their physical assets and
are also more profitable than their industry peers. In parallel, this
mechanism is likely to be true for public organisations with regard to their
cost efficiency and realisation of public value. ■ Digital capabilities: A set of digital
transformation elements implemented by the organisation, including the
strategic assets and digital investments that are used to create those
elements. The research showed executives are digitally transforming three key
areas of their organisations: user experience, operational processes and
business models. Within each of the three pillars, different elements are
changing. These nine elements form a set of building blocks for digital
transformation. No organisation in the research sample fully transformed all
nine elements. Rather, executives are selecting among these building blocks
to move forward in the manner that they believe is right for their
organisations. ■ Leadership capabilities: The way in which
senior executives drive change throughout the organisation. This includes
creating and communicating vision, establishing governance and measurement
mechanisms, and building a digital-ready culture. These serve as means for
leaders to ensure that building blocks are built effectively and that the
organisation has the skills and culture to drive (public) value from them. I started this chapter by stating that technology
is changing the game quickly and will continue to do so, and that the biggest
challenge is therefore not so much in anticipating what comes next, but
ensuring governments are able to deal with the change. Digital transformation
of government – the sub title of the new eGovernment Action plan - can only
be realised through building digital capabilities and effective digital
leadership, supported by an adequately skilled public apparatus. This should
be high on every public leader’s agenda. If so, this could indeed proof to be
the turning point for eGovernment development in Europe.This blog post is the
first in a series of blogs that puts the results of the eGovernment Benchmark
in the context of digital transformation of public sector. The following
blogs will illustrate the need for each building block and present examples
of how it can be successfully implemented. From https://www.capgemini.com/ 10/04/2016 Europe’s
E-Government Landscape – National Interests Take Precedence The Digital Single Market is a priority for the
European Commission, but national interests are taking precedence over pan-European
idealism at the cost of e-government progress.The UK is lagging behind its
European competitors on digital government, according to management
consultancy Capgemini, while national interests are slowing down progress
towards the Digital Single Market.CapGemini assessed 34 European governments’
progress towards digitising their services for its eGovernment 2016 Benchmark
report, carried out on behalf of the European Commission – Future-proofing
eGovernment for a Digital Single Market. The report, published earlier this
month, uses metrics including the availability and usability of public
services online, government transparency and how much control citizens have
of their data.With the Digital Single Market set down as a priority for the
Juncker administration in Brussels, there’s also some bad news, as the report
warns:Today, however, there are still many barriers to maximising its
potential and which confine digital services within national borders, leaving
users unable to use cross-border online services efficiently and smoothly.
The cross-border mobility indicator is not yet even half way to being fully
achieved. The low rate of 48% indicates that online cross-border transactions
are rare. In large part this is because national interests
take priority over pan-European ones:The past years of benchmarking
eGovernment show that cross-border services lag significantly behind national
services. The gap currently is 24 percentage points, implying that the
availability and quality of services on offer to non-residents is inadequate.
Studying in another country in many cases still includes paper application
processes and face-to-face encounters before being able to commence.There has
to be a paradigm shift here, argues the report:If it works across borders, it
will automatically work within a country. Interoperability is crucial here:
if online services are put in place with other countries (electronic ID’s,
sharing and re-using data in back offices etc.), it automatically means they
are in place for national service providers. This would require countries to
agree on and use the same interoperability standards for sharing and re-using
data (perhaps through a central component for data exchange). It would be the
source of different dynamics within national eGovernment operations but could
provide the lever to really move forward, instead of progressing
incrementally as we have seen over the past years. The report cites the key challenge for
governments as being to deliver the potential of the Digital Single Market by
successfully collaborating and joining-up across domains and tiers and
borders. This has some particular challenges:Some
countries are smaller in size and therefore can use a relatively direct
governance model (e.g. Malta), or have adopted a centralised model, whereby
one organisation owns a clear mandate to lead the implementation of its
eGovernment strategy (e.g. Denmark, Estonia). This is not generally the case
in Europe, nor easy to realise. Countries vary in size and in democratic
traditions, are organised differently and are hence more dependent on
cross-agency collaboration to get things done. Performers The UK is classed as a ‘moderate performer’ in
the lowest grouping of countries in the report along with most of eastern and
southern Europe. Countries in northern and western Europe are classed as
either a ‘steady performer’ or ‘accelerator’. That results in what Capgemini
describes as a Digital Diagonal across Europe – with the UK on the wrong side
of it.To be fair, the UK does do well in some areas. It comes in second for
‘mobile readiness’ of its e-government services, behind Iceland, and does
well in ‘user centricity’ and ‘cross-border mobility’:Most countries do not
apply a consistent approach to design mobile-friendly public sector websites
across domains and leave opportunities to make services and information
available through mobiles unused. Most countries are much more advanced in
the user centricity of their websites than mobile friendliness. Only the UK
manages to provide mobile-friendly websites across domains, and is therefore
also able to open up the online information and services to mobile internet
users. Many other countries do not provide their users
with mobile-friendly interfaces, and so hinder users access to information
‘any time, any place’. This is information that is already online. It seems a
missed opportunity that is definitely worth exploring – as the number of
mobile internet users is increasing exponentially.Where the UK struggles is
with the limited rollout of the Verify authentication system for e-government
services. Verify is intended to allow people to use online services with a
single-sign on for services across government and providing secure access to
personal data.Overall, European governments are making progress with an
average score of 73% in user-centricity, up by 3% on the previous year. But
only one in four websites are sufficiently mobile friendly, and transparency
is still unsatisfactory with a ranking of just 51%. The report states:The results indicate year-on-year progress across all the
European countries compared. There is, however, a big difference between the
compound indicators, with much better performances for usability and online
availability of services than for the ease and speed of using those services.
This shows that many Member States are not focusing enough on the quality of
the user’s experience.Despite progress in general (low growth of 3 percentage
points), public authorities in Europe still have
some way to go to reach acceptable transparency standards. The transparency
of public organisations’ data stands out by being 10 points above the
average. It is also positive that users have gained better access to personal
data that is handled on the governments’ websites, but they still face
considerable barriers when it comes to the clarity of the service delivery
process. My take A very in-depth report from Capgemini that
rewards some detailed attention. The conclusions are a combination of
encouraging and discouraging, but present a frank and pragmatic assessment
that is more useful than the self-promoting declarations of how great
everything is that comes too often from the political class. From http://diginomica.com/ 10/28/2016 GEORGIA:
Improving Internet Accessibility and E-Governance A National Internet Governance Forum is taking
place in the Georgian capital Tbilisi today, 5 September, organised by the EU
and the Council of Europe (CoE) in cooperation with the Georgian Ministry of
Economy and Sustainable Development and other local stakeholders.The forum is
an opportunity for state and non-state actors in the telecommunications
market to discuss the improvement of Internet accessibility in the South
Caucaus, personal data protection, internet copyright, online protection of
the children, new media and e-governance, according to EU Neighbourhood
Info.The event aims to stimulate multi-stakeholder dialogue between
telecommunications market players, and to highlight latest developments and
human rights standards in the internet governance field. The leading experts
of the Council of Europe, representatives of the Ministry of Economy and
Sustainable Development, Georgian National Communications Commission,
Internet Society, ICANN, European IP Networks, Small and Medium Telecom
Operators Association of Georgia as well as representatives of academia are
all contributing to the Forum’s sessions.The event is organised within the
framework of the joint CoE/EU Project ‘Protecting Internet Freedom through
Legislation and Arrangements for Multi-stakeholder Dialogue’. The project
aims to increase the compliance of national legal frameworks and policies
with CoE standards on freedom of expression, and to raise awareness of
relevant state authorities about CoE internet governance and human rights
standards and related European Court of Human Rights case-law. From http://www.finchannel.com/ 09/06/2016 New
E-Georgia: EU Helps Develop E-Government in Georgia Georgian and international experts are working
together to develop an e-Georgia Development Strategy and turn Georgia into
an IT-based governance state. We are actively working on the e-Georgia
Development Strategy. This document is a guideline based on international and
local experiences and best standards in practice,” said chairman of Georgia’s
Data Exchange Agency (DEA) Irakli Gvenetadze. The Strategy unites all state
institutions and identifies the necessary activities, the implementation of
which can turn Georgia into a sustainable e-Governance model state,” he
added. The new e-Georgia would improve access to e-services for businesses
and citizens, strengthen transparent and open governance, and define the role
of information technologies in administration reform. For this purpose the
European Union (EU)-funded 'Twinning workshop' was held this week in capital Tbilisi,
where EU experts and representatives from the Georgian Government discussed
the country’s e-Government Development Strategy for the next two years. The event was part of the ‘Support to
Strengthening of e-Governance in Georgia II’ project. International experts
from Great Britain, Austria, Estonia and Denmark presented their
recommendations for the document. The final version of this document is to be
approved by the Government of Georgia. The EU Twinning project ‘Support to
Strengthening of e-Governance in Georgia II’ is a two year project aimed at
assisting implementation of Georgia's E-Government Strategy with a total
budget of �1.3 million. Electronic governance or e-governance is the
application of information and communication technology for delivering
government services as well as back office processes and interactions within
the entire government framework. Through e-governance, government services
will be made available to citizens in a convenient, efficient and transparent
manner. From http://agenda.ge/ 11/06/2016 NETHERLANDS: Govt Sticks to Tough Stance on Net
Neutrality The Dutch government is sticking to its proposal
for a ban on price discrimination by internet providers, the ministry of
economic affairs said in response to questions from parliament. Legislation
implementing the ban, as part of the EU regulation on net neutrality, was
passed by the lower house earlier this year, but has been held up by
questions in the upper house. The PVV party has questioned the guidelines
proposed by EU regulator Berec for enforcing the net neutrality rules and
whether the legislation may lead to lawsuits. The ministry confirmed that
market players may file legal appeals, and this could take time, especially
if it ends up in European court. The government acknowledged that the
Netherlands is taking a stricter stance on the matter than some other
countries. While Berec is against negative price discrimination, it has not
ruled out the possibility of positive discrimination. The ministry said most
other EU member states were taking a different stance, and that could result
in the European Commission starting an infringement procedure against the
Netherlands. The ministry's opinion was written prior to Berec releasing its
final guidelines. The final guidelines, which are not legally binding, do not
include a specific ban on positive price discrimination, also known as zero
rating. The upper house of the Dutch parliament has scheduled a committee
meeting on net neutrality for 13 September. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 08/31/2016 Dutch Health Ministry Invests EUR 105 mln in
Digitalisation The Dutch health ministry plans to spend EUR 105
million over the next three years improving digital information exchange among
hospitals. In a policy plan presented with the annual state budget, the
ministry said e-health solutions such as remote care and digital patient
dossiers will have a strong facilitating role in supporting preventive care,
cost savings and customised services. This includes taking advantage of the
increasing use of personal mobile devices and apps, and emerging technologies
such as sensors and 'smart' solutions. Plans include improving standards to
support increased digital information exchange between hospitals and with
their patients and the 'Fast Track eHealth' initiative to encourage small
businesses to invest in 'health deals'. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/22/2016 UKRAINE: Transparency International Welcomes the
Completion of First Round of E-Declarations Transparency International, the global
anti-corruption movement and its partner in Ukraine, welcome the completion
of the first step in providing the Ukrainian people with a public electronic register
of the assets of politicians and senior civil servants, including those of
President Petro Poroshenko.Transparency International now calls for the
declarations and the origin of the declared assets to be verified, and
welcomes President Poroshenko’s commitment in this regard.“President
Poroshenko has kept his promise to introduce an asset register and to declare
his own wealth. This is a major achievement and a good step for delivering on
needed anti-corruption reforms. Ukraine now needs to empower the
anti-corruption authorities and provide them with resources to investigate
and hold to account those who have enriched themselves illegally,” said José
Ugaz, chair of Transparency International.The first tranche of assets made
public surprised Ukrainians who saw how many public officials owned large
amounts of wealth, including artworks, jewellery and fancy cars, as well as
luxury property. Now the challenge for the anti-corruption institutions in
Ukraine is to effectively distinguish between legally acquired and corrupt
wealth in order for Ukrainians to continue believing in the fight against
corruption. Transparency International calls on the National
Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) to work closely with Ukrainian
citizens and journalists to check the declarations of public officials and
the origins of their declared assets if their lifestyles do not conform to
their reported incomes.“We are also waiting for the State to verify the
information in the filed declarations and reports. Public officials who made
false declarations or are found to have illicit wealth must be brought to
justice,” said YaroslavYurchyshyn, the Executive Director of TI Ukraine,
Transparency International’s partner in the country.E-declarations, however,
are only one instrument for exposing potential corruption. The National
Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) must follow through with
investigations into the origin of declared income using all the tools at its
disposal, including court approved autonomous wiretapping. The NACP must also
be able to demonstrate intent by officials for cases to be successful.
Finally an independent Anti-Corruption Court must be established as soon as
possible, with active participation and support of international experts. The
court would have the specific mandate to end impunity of corrupt officials
and to pursue cases of corrupt officials in a timely fashion. This would
support the judicial reform launched on 30 September 2016 to make the
judicial and law enforcement systems of Ukraine independent and reliable in
practice. From http://www.transparency.org/ 11/09/2016 LATIN AMERICA: COLUMBIA - We Should Not Fear a
Fragmented Internet Hugo Zylberberg is a fellow at the School of
International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. You can follow him
@hugozylb.Several high-profile reports have recently lamented the
fragmentation of the internet, generally described as a series of technical
standards, proprietary platforms, and government policies that restrict the
flow of data online or the type of online content that can be accessed in a
country. The World Economic Forum recently warned about the “danger of
splintering” the internet, which could hinder “the internet’s enormous
capacity to facilitate human progress.” Similarly, the Global Commission on
Internet Governance warns of a possible future where governments fail to keep
the internet open and inclusive, leading to loss of global GDP.It should come
as no surprise that people from different sociocultural backgrounds and
countries disagree on the norms and institutions that should govern the
internet. Internet fragmentation is a by-product of three billion users using
the same platform with another three yet to be connected. Instead of
promoting a single unified internet, policymakers, academics, civil society
groups and businesses should work to ensure that the various fragments that
emerge remain compatible. Indeed, most internet users today don’t interact
with a global internet. The world is fragmented into different cultures,
languages, and ideologies and these differences are reflected on the
internet. Many users in sub-Saharan Africa experience an internet with lower
speeds than in other parts of the world, which prohibits bandwidth-intensive
uses like video streaming. Many in Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines and
Thailand claimed to be using Facebook more than the internet according to a
2015 survey, seemingly unaware that one relies on the other. Many behind the
Great Firewall of China don’t know of a world that includes Facebook or
Google.In some cases, the internet’s fragmentation stems from legitimate
cultural differences. Europeans can’t buy—or in some cases, access—Nazi
memorabilia online and can remove their names from search results due to a
different conception of free speech and privacy than in the United States.
Other types of fragmentation should be challenged, such as the gender divide
where women experience more online sexual harassment and abuse than men. As developing countries expand internet access
domestically, countries with considerable internet penetration should focus
less on uniformity (e.g. how can countries with low internet penetration
adopt our standards?) and more on compatibility (e.g. how can countries with
high and low internet penetration make standards interoperable?). For
instance, the Privacy Shield on the flow of personal data between the United
States and the European Union aims to develop compatibility between both
approaches to privacy, rather than trying to impose one approach over
another. Future free trade agreements or mutual legal assistance treaties
should become occasions to understand how legitimate national regulations can
be compatible. Trying to impose culturally-dependent standards on partner
countries simply increases the risks of rising cyber powers adopting
authoritarian models of internet governance incompatible with the
multistakeholder approach. Instead of operating from the perspective that
everyone should adopt the standards of mostly Western, mostly white and
mostly male internet users, academics—with the hope of informing policymakers
and tech companies—should turn to the more interesting question of when, if
ever, fragmentation and different approaches to internet policy can be
legitimate: when can Russia or the European Union legitimately implement some
form of data localization? When can companies such as airlines or insurance
companies legitimately offer different price schemes to different customers
based on personal data they have collected? When can Facebook or Twitter
legitimately use automated tools to delete content without human
intervention? Academics need to explore these questions to inform a healthier
public debate departing from the “one internet” ideology.The ideological
posture defending one global internet obscures the legitimate solutions that
different places will find to some of the tangible economic, social or
security issues raised by digitalization. Academics, policymakers and tech
companies should begin to question the legitimacy of fragmentation on a
case-by-case basis rather than rejecting it altogether. Some internet
fragmentation will be legitimate and necessary given the social and cultural
differences between internet users. Only by recognizing this will sustainable
solutions that apply on a global scale be found. From http://blogs.cfr.org/ 11/06/2016 NORTH
AMERICA: CANADA - ITAC Tells Government How to Close Its Digital Skills Gap If Canada wants to remain competitive on the
world stage, its government must adapt to the digital age – and that includes
closing the skills gap, according to a report released today by the the
Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC).“On a global basis, every
country in the world is talking digital strategies and innovation agendas,”
ITAC CEO Robert Watson tells ITBusiness.ca, noting that in Canada’s case, any
digital strategy should include addressing its government workforce’s
significant skills gap.“Governments are the largest consumer of IT in
Canada,” he says. “And when it comes to nurturing Canadians’ talent and
skills, they have to lead the way.”ITAC’s report, “Digital Government,” is
the third of four “Innovation Papers,” a series outlining how Canada’s
government can best pursue the six-pillar “innovation agenda” that Minister
of Innovation, Science and Economic Development NavdeepBains revealed earlier
this year. It suggests multiple ways the government could
lead its own digital transformation, arguing that successfully doing so could
give Canadian IT workers the boost they need to significantly push Canada’s
economy forward.“We’re not saying they aren’t listening, because they
definitely are listening,” Watson says, before observing that a fully
digitized government is more secure, more innovative, more efficient, and
more accessible for citizens and businesses alike than today’s piecemeal
operations.“But just as (Finance) Minister (Bill) Morneau tapped into the
financial industry for his economic advice, we think the government should
tap into the ICT industry’s knowledge base for its digitization efforts,” he
says.Why – and how – the government must close its digital skills gap. By
now, it’s common knowledge both within and outside the industry that by 2019,
Canada could face a shortage of up to 182,000 skilled ICT workers thanks to
the sector outpacing overall economic growth by a rate of more than four to
one over the past two years. And that, Watson says, represents a leadership
opportunity for all three levels of government in Canada: to not only inspire
more high school and university students to join the ICT workforce upon
graduating, but to create jobs for them too.“We already do presentations
where we go into high schools and talk to students about what an ICT career
can mean for them,” he says. “But of course also government has to be one of
the options they have as a career – a place where they can go and work for a
long time.”Though Watson notes that both the federal and provincial
governments have been very supportive on the educational side, collaborating
with ITAC to develop technology programs at some 20 postsecondary
institutions across the country and currently leading discussions with 23 more,
the report indicates a lack of similar commitment to developing the
government’s internal ICT workforces. The federal public service, for example,
currently has approximately 17,385 employees in its computer systems
division. On average, they’re 45 years old, and have been working for the
federal government for approximately 15 years.The division’s lack of new
blood, combined with the risks inherent in relying on veteran workers’
knowledge of legacy systems, has led to programs that attempt to fill the gap,
such as the University of Ottawa’s CIO Institute of Professional Development,
recently endorsed by the Government of Canada’s own CIO.Unfortunately, the
report notes, the federal government continues to lack a single definite
source of information that clearly articulates minimum requirements for its
ICT workforce. Addressing that problem would help leaders create the right
policies and program investments, it says.In summation, “ITAC asks the
Government of Canada to (1) better understand the upskilling requirements of
its ICT workers; and (2) leverage this data to develop the right policies and
programs, which will better prepare its current workforce to support 21st
century requirements,” the report says. Solving the legacy dilemma Implementing ICT infrastructure is an expensive
undertaking, and Watson understands why governments would be reluctant to
upgrade every facet of their legacy systems at once; however, the costs
shouldn’t prevent them from upgrading individual systems one at a time, or
from building a central network as they do so.“We aren’t promoting a big bang
theory,” he says. “We’re proposing a systematic approach.”Above all, he says,
the government needs to recognize that ICT is a sector organizations must
continuously invest in.“The government hasn’t really
purchased ICT property for years,” he says. “We know they have to support
their legacy systems, but we want them to effectively invest in today’s
technology too.” In the meantime, though running multiple systems
makes realizing their dream of a centralized system difficult, ICT managers
are used to running multiple systems separately, Watson admits.The
consequences for ignoring ITAC’s advice could be disastrous. In its report,
the organization notes that Canada’s aging IT systems have led to data
breaches at the National Research Council and cybersecurity risks at the
Canada Border Services Agency, to name two.While the federal government has
added nearly $400 million to Shared Services Canada’s budget to maintain
mission-critical legacy data centres, networks and security infrastructure,
more funding is needed to maintain a secure, stable system until a full
upgrade can take place, ITAC says.“ITAC asks that — until a strong, stable
and secure IT service delivery system can be supplied — the Government of
Canada identifies and accounts for all costs associated with Shared Services
Canada’s need to maintain legacy infrastructure,” the organization writes in
the report. “Additionally, ITAC recommends the Government develop a
transition fund to help departments and agencies kick-start digital
initiatives and innovate public service delivery.” Creating a central digital services authority “Any large organization needs a compass,” Watson
says. “And let’s face it – the federal government is one of the
largest.”ITAC’s report, however, depicts Canada’s ICT systems as guided by
numerous compasses, most of them pointing in different directions. For
example, the organization praises the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
(TBS) for making strides in its Strategic IT Plan and Cloud Adoption
Strategy, but calls the federal government’s systems maintenance practices a
“cumbersome, ad hoc approach” that spans “numerous departments.”Instead, the
report says, Canada’s governments need to implement an integrated service
strategy, overseen by a central body, to ensure that every department is
moving in the same direction.Watson is quick to clarify that such an
organization wouldn’t necessarily dictate every IT-related move by every
faction of the government – “there are many people within the government who
are capable of managing their department’s ICT systems quite fine,” he says –
but rather serve as an authority on best practices. “Any board or advisor needs someone who’s been
involved in a similar project, learned their lessons, and can advise them on
what the long-term strategy should look like,” he says. “Other governments
have done it – the U.S., U.K., Australia are all advanced as digital
governments, and all use industry advisory councils to help them guide thems
through opportunities such as ours.”The report emphasizes that creating a
central digital services organization would benefit every facet of government
would benefit.“Departments and agencies would be able to access ICT
subject-matter experts — people who could provide integrated modernization
planning and expertise to help those embarking on transformation,
modernization and digitization plans,” it says. “Moreover, the service could
report directly to (and be held accountable by) the Prime Minister or a
central agency like TBS.” …And that’s the tip of the iceberg Other ITAC recommendations for the government’s
digital transformation include: - Creating a modern hardware procurement process that
reduces duplication, balances cost with value, and reaches the market
quickly; - Collaborating with industry leaders on an
advisory council to help guide the government’s digital transformation and
infrastructure modernization efforts; - Developing a planning process that includes ICT
experts and staff at both the pre-planning and final development stages of
tech-related projects. From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 10/26/2016 U.S.:
Internet Governance Transition Meets GOP Opposition Republicans will continue to oppose the U.S.
government’s plan to cede its control over a major internet governance body
as the Sept. 30 transition date nears.GOP lawmakers are pressuring the
government to stop its transition activities, citing provisions in a current
government funding law that prohibit the Commerce Department from spending
money to relinquish control of the body of that governs the internet
domain-naming system.The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications
and Information Administration has held a contract for 18 years to run the
department, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.In August, NTIA announced
that the agency would cede control of IANA when its contract runs out on
Sept. 30, “barring any significant impediment.” An international nonprofit
will take over.Congress could be the impediment to that plan. With the main
focus of lawmakers this month on passing stopgap legislation to fund the
government, moving forward on the IANA transition could prove damaging for
the administration among Republicans who dictate the size of the agency’s
budget. The issue is particularly bothersome for House
Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee
Chairman John Culberson, whose panel is tasked with funding the Commerce
Department.It was Culberson’s subcommittee that initiated the current
appropriations language denying funds for the agency to “relinquish
responsibility” of NTIA “with respect to internet domain name system
functions” during fiscal year 2016.If Congress were to extend government
funding past Sept. 30, when the current fiscal year expires, the rider would
still be active. The language is also part of the 2017 appropriations bill
for the Commerce Department.Agency officials say they are abiding by the law,
spending no money on the transition.But if the Commerce Department goes
forward, it could negatively affect the agency’s relationship with the
chairman, the Texas Republican hinted. “I intend to enforce the prohibition
in my bill by using every legislative tool available to me, including
objecting to Department of Commerce requests to move around money,” Culberson
said in a statement to Morning Consult. Culberson wrote to Secretary of Commerce Penny
Pritzker in June saying he “vehemently” opposes the transition “that could
greatly threaten internet freedom,” adding he would make sure his prohibitive
appropriations riders are “fully enforced.”There could be a partisan fight if
Culberson continues his campaign. The top Democrat on Culberson’s
subcommittee, Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), is “supportive of the transition
process to permanently shift the administration of certain Internet domain
name system functions to ICANN.”ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers, is an international nonprofit located in California that
oversees the network stability of the internet.The transition “will ensure
that the Internet’s technical functions remain free and independent of
special interest pressures for years to come allowing the internet to
continue to grow and thrive without pressures from governments or foreign
entities,” Honda said in a statement to Morning Consult. “I have long championed this model and fought
against efforts to undercut and prevent this transition,” he added.The plan
to cede control of IANA to a multi-stakeholder international body comes after
two years of work between the U.S. government and the internet community. The
goal has been to move toward a privatized approach of internet governance and
prohibit any one country from having excessive influence over the internet’s
functions.Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has been leading the opposition to the IANA
transition in the Senate. He introduced the Protecting Internet Freedom Act,
a measure that would bar NTIA from allowing the IANA contract to expire
unless authorized by Congress. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) introduced companion
legislation in the House.Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, James Lankford of
Oklahoma, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Tom Cotton of Arkansas co-sponsor the
Senate measure. Culberson is among 14 Republican co-sponsors of the House
bill, along with Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin and Joe Barton of
Texas. From https://morningconsult.com/ 09/07/2016 Everybody
Wants Digital Government, but Doubts Remain About ROI Government employees think that making their
agency more digital is important, but many say they haven't seen measurable
benefits from the IT investment they'd already made, according to a new
survey of government IT professionals.James Warrick of Beacon Technology
Partners, which conducted the survey, presented the results at a Sept. 15
conference on digital government sponsored by 1105 Media, GCN's parent
company. He said he doesn't interpret the findings as saying ROI is
impossible."I think what they're saying is that digital government is
hard because of what it involves," Warrick said. "It's not just the
upfront cost, it's not just having to bring along and modernize legacy
systems; it's involving policies, it's involving IT governance, change
management."The survey also found that agencies interested in
implementing more digital services were concerned about change management and
security. At agencies that had already adopted digital services, however,
respondents raised concerns about the time involved with digital innovation
and legacy system maintenance. Warrick said that part of realizing ROI is
investing in technology that is relevant to the citizens and government
employees who will be using it. Replacing his daughter's lost learner's permit
was much more difficult than replacing a lost debit card, Warrick said. ROI
is demonstrated when a service answers a clear citizen need. "It's not
top down, it's bottom up," he said. "It's very
different.""The moment of truth" is what Mark Forman, Unisys'
global head of public sector, called the point of service when citizens are
looking for government to solve a problem. According to Forman, who was the
federal government's first administrator of the Office of E-Government and
Information Technology, it can be the police responding to an emergency call
or a driver registering for a license at the Department of Motor Vehicles. However, "there is no silver bullet"
for making the transition to more digital, according to former General
Services Administration CIO Casey Coleman, who is now the group vice
president of civilian agencies at Unisys Federal Systems. She stressed that
it's important to start with the end in mind and keep the focus on the
user.Larry Gillick, the deputy director of digital strategy at the Department
of the Interior, was straightforward in his theory of how government often
interacts with citizens. "Ninety-nine percent of what we do in
government is a little irritating," he said. "There is a lot of
stupid in what we do."Digital government should lower the barrier to
service, Gillick argued, making it easier for people to get what they need.
Until that happens, he said, digital government hasn't truly been realized at
an agency. From https://fcw.com/ 09/16/2016 3
Lessons to Be a Bold Government Leader Well-behaved women seldom make history, though
the same could be said for government employees.“A lot of us in government
get stuck with this idea that government can’t be bold because we don’t take
action to make change,” said National Defense University Chancellor Jan Hamby
at Bold Friday, an event hosted by Government Executive and Nextgov.Feds have
good reasons for sticking with the status quo: they don’t want to get in
trouble, they don’t want to get their bosses in trouble and they don’t want
to waste taxpayer dollars. But lack of action also has consequences.“A ship in port is safe, but that is not where ships are
meant to be,” Hamby said, attributing the quote to her mentor Adm. Grace
Hopper.So how can feds disrupt their own agencies? Here are a few tips from
the Bold Friday speakers who have gone through the process of pivoting
programs, revamping processes and launching innovative projects: 1. Be a servant-leader. “That’s when the leader is willing to invest
themselves and put themselves at risk for the benefit of their followers,”
Hamby said. In her first year as NDU chancellor, she said she put her on job
on the line with an ambitious pitch to pivot the school’s curriculum to
better serve the military’s cybersecurity operations.Though Hamby and her
staff expected to launch fall 2017, military brass wanted it sooner—as in
last fall. Sixteen have graduated from the retooled program. 2. Don't be afraid to break what you built. FedRAMP, the government’s cloud service producer
certification program, had a problem. Authorizations were taking longer and
longer, and the FedRAMP team was hearing more criticism from industry, the
agencies waiting for authorizations and the press.“It
was sign we needed to change,” Claudio Belloli, FedRAMP program manager for cybersecurity,
said.Then, according to Belloli, the team had an a-ha moment.“We created FedRAMP," he said. "We created the
authorization process that we were using up to that time. And there was no
reason we had to stick to that—and clearly no reason to stick to a program
that’s starting to break.”So a year ago, the team started to reimagined the
program and came up with FedRAMP Accelerated, which recently authorized its
first cloud service provider in 15 weeks.Change isn’t a one-time thing,
Belloni said, and now the FedRAMP team is open to possibility it’ll have to
mix up the program in a year or two. 3. Give credit freely. Everyone involved in a project needs to know how
their efforts push the mission forward, said Arianne Gallagher, the Office of
Management and Budget’s federal hiring change agent. Gallagher helped
establish the Presidential Innovation Fellows program in 2012 using existing
federal hiring rules. The program’s success relied on agencies willing to
work with the fellows, and the many lawyers and administrative staffers
figuring out how to bring candidates onboard.“You’ll
be surprised how much you can get accomplished in government—and anywhere—if
you don’t care who gets the credit,” Gallagher said. From http://www.nextgov.com/ 10/07/2016 How
the Government IT Shop Is Changing Extreme commoditization and automation of
infrastructure, culminating in cloud technology, are changing the job of the
government CIO. His or her time and attention are shifting from an infrastructure
focus to an application management and development focus.That is a good
thing, but it represents a major shift in skills and perspective. Those CIOs
who embrace the new mindset will help government perform better. Agile
technology, acquisition and a new approach to labor will aid with the shift.
But first, it's worth taking a moment to understand how the CIO operated in
the past and where the IT shop is heading. The CIO of yesteryear Until recently, the CIO's responsibility for all
computing operations heavily emphasized infrastructure: desktops, servers and
software platforms, connectivity, data centers and commodity procurement.
Those are primarily tactical activities from a mission perspective, yet they
took up 90 percent of the CIO's time.The successful CIO of yesteryear was
commodity-driven, process-focused and a manager of a large, lower-skilled
labor force that performed repetitive tasks. His or her main concern was
keeping the infrastructure running. Today's CIO in transition Now the federal government is reaching an
inflection point with the advent of cloud technology. Most of the tasks the
CIO's organization performs are automated -- procuring computing resources or
storage, provisioning, failover/disaster recovery and technology refreshes.
The change is reducing the demands on a huge percentage of the CIO’s
responsibilities, time and workforce.Aided by the Federal Risk and
Authorization Management Program and evolving procurement practices, cloud
technology allows the government to provision computing and storage in
minutes when it used to take months. In short, the IT shop has more time to
focus on mission-centered application needs. The CIO of tomorrow The CIO sits at a critical juncture. Custom
applications have always been the lifeblood of most government organizations
because they enable agencies to deliver on unique missions. But you wouldn’t
know it by examining where most CIOs spend their time. Now the
order-of-magnitude productivity gains of managing infrastructure via the cloud
has laid bare the truth that the CIO mission is about the applications.
There's no escaping that truth anymore.From my perspective, CIO shops face a
number of challenges in shifting to an application mindset. Managing
infrastructure requires a large, semi-skilled workforce that follows scripted
processes. Application management requires significantly more skill and,
because every application is different, is immune to being managed by rigid,
scripted processes.The infrastructure-focused mindset is no longer viable in
an application-centered world. Iterative delivery and fewer highly skilled
workers can do more than 10 times the work of many people with lesser skills
following a script. The new work introduces a different tempo and positions
the team as a more strategic agency resource as it delivers unique
applications that keep pace with changing mission-critical capabilities. What's next? Cloud and agile approaches have created a perfect
storm for the CIO. Recent agile initiatives led by the Department of Homeland
Security and the General Services Administration’s 18F are making the
inevitable come to light. Government CIOs fall into three categories when it
comes to acknowledging the new reality: those leading the shift, those
preparing to embrace it and those who don't get it.All three groups must
grapple with issues such as agile development, software delivery management,
procurement and a new workforce that can keep pace with new demands.In future
articles, I will discuss how these issues and opportunities will help
government CIOs successfully transition to an application management and
development approach. As a result, the new CIO will emerge as a strategic
adviser, and the government will get more bang for its buck. From https://fcw.com/ 10/14/2016 Digital
Government Services Explosion — What Took So Long? It’s due to a combination of very powerful forces
coalescing, according to one public official.SAN FRANCISCO — Thought leaders
from the public and private sectors gathered on Nov. 3 to hone in on what it
means to go digital and think about new ways of doing business.In the public
sector, that means taking government as a service to the next level, as
“government has always been a service,” noted Nathan Shedroff, a design
strategist for the California College of the Arts.Shedroff, who moderated a
panel on the topic at the CON.VERGE conference held in San Francisco’s
Mission District, added that despite the fact that digital services have been
around since at least the mid-'90s — and certainly by 2000 — there has
recently been “an incredible upswing” in cities around the world, especially
in the United States and the UK, adopting digital services.The reason it’s
taken so long for interest and significant investment in this space? For Tom Loosemore, founder of the UK’s Government
Digital Service, it’s a combination of very powerful forces coalescing, the
first of which, he said, is that there are few things politicians can do that
will both save money and improve the quality of services.“And transforming
services to make them digital is one of them,” Loosemore continued, adding
that the second force is citizens’ expectation of public services to be
simpler, more convenient, available 24/7 and in real time.“I think thirdly,
and actually this is quite possibly the most powerful force, there are too
many people inside government who have had enough of the way things have
worked over the last 20 years in most governments around the world,” he said,
“which was a wholesale outsourcing, very tangled delivery with frankly a
handful of very large vendors who got very, very good at milking the system.” The sentiment in the U.S. is similar. Jeremy
Goldberg, director of Innovation Partnerships for the San Francisco Mayor's
Office of Civic Innovation, said that expectations may have changed in terms
of citizens wanting things to happen quicker and be more available.“But I
really believe that expectations have always been there that, ‘You can do
better than this.’ It’s just now there’s a bigger, broader platform to
communicate and engage,” Goldberg said. “And from our perspective in the
Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation … we’re surrounded by an incredible amount
of talent and skills, and people who want to give back and make the city a
better place to live.”For those who work in local government, he said, they
see day in and day out when they’re not getting things done because they’re
most often living where they work. “So you know when something’s not working,
when it’s not on time.” And that personal connection helps drive those
working in local government to make it easier for people to submit their
requests, and to be more responsive, efficient and effective.From the
perspective of Chris Averill with IT and software development company
Globant, the drive for digitalization comes back to saving money. “Technology
has the potential of doing that,” he said, “but if it’s not done right, it
can become a massive inhibitor.”But new people are coming into government and
shaking things up, he said, and working to do things the right way. "It
comes down to inspirational people who are willing to put their jobs on the
line to make the change." From http://www.govtech.com/ 11/04/2016 Only
Governments Can Safeguard the Openness of the Internet On 6 October 1536, in the prison yard of
Vilvoorde castle near modern-day Brussels, a man named William Tyndale was
strangled then burnt at the stake. His crime? To translate the Latin Bible
into English, his native tongue. A priest and scholar, Tyndale was an
information freedom-fighter, whose mission was to open up the scripture for
ordinary men and women. ‘If God spare my life,’ he reportedly told a fellow
priest, ‘I will cause the boy that drives the plough to know more of the
scriptures than you!’Tyndale worked in the midst of an extraordinary new
information era, ushered in by the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press.
Prior to the press, there were just 30,000 books in all of Europe; some 50
years later, in 1500, there were more than 10 million. The Catholic Church
had responded to these developments with alarm. It tried to retain a monopoly
on biblical interpretation by declaring translations from Latin heretical.
Their logic was simple: control the flow of information, and you control its
power. Like Tyndale, today’s citizens are living through
another information revolution. While Gutenberg’s technology laid the
groundwork for change, activists such as Tyndale were the real engines of
transformation. The press was the mere means; without Tyndale’s democratic impulse,
such tools could have been concentrated in the hands of powerful, used to
produce more Latin bibles for priests to sermonise from on a Sunday. Tyndale
set out to use the technology at his disposal to empower and liberate
ordinary people, giving them the opportunity to understand, think and make
decisions for themselves. Open information meant believing that people should
be free to encounter and recombine ideas at will, without some grand designer
dictating the appropriate ends. Dazzled by the astonishing pace of change, we can
start to see technical advances as solutions in and of themselves. But
technology is not teleology. Too often observers focus on technology alone
and forget the structures of law, ownership and power that determine how it
is used. The medium is not the message – and the internet’s open architecture
will not in itself guarantee a more democratic or open world.Radio offers a
cautionary tale. Commentary about radio in the 1920s sounds eerily similar to
discussions of the internet today. The technology would revolutionise human
communication, it was claimed, enabling a new and better democracy by
creating a peer-to-peer world where everyone could broadcast. Yet radio
delivered on its technological promise but not on its social one. Instead of
a communication commons, citizens got a one-way medium dominated by the state
and a few huge corporations – in large part because the rules and policies
built around it protected these concentrations of power. The internet’s low-cost transmission can just as
easily create information empires and robber barons as it can digital
democracy and information equality. The growing value of being able to mine
and manipulate huge data-sets, to generate predictions about consumers’
behaviour and desires, creates a self-reinforcing spiral of network effects.
Data begets more data, locked down behind each company’s walls where their
proprietary algorithms can exploit it for profit.But in an alternative, more
open world, how would we pay to create information in the first place? After
all, it costs real money and real resources to make new software, movies or
drugs.One answer could be to use the collective mechanisms we already have,
especially in the form of the state. Just as citizens pay taxes for the provision
of shared public goods such as national defence or parks, so we might use the
same mechanisms for equitable, collective creation and distribution of
information. Moreover, in contrast to the model of state-owned radio, it need
not be a government committee deciding which authors get paid, or what
software gets written. The fact that the state raises these funds does not
mean that it must choose who gets funding. We can use traditional market
mechanisms driven by demand to allocate all or part of the money collected. Specifically, rather than getting a patent
monopoly right as they do today, inventors might instead acquire a
‘remuneration right’. This could entitle them to payment from a central
government fund according to the value of their contribution – based on how
much their drugs improved health, for example, or how many times their song
was played. Such decisions depend on profound and contestable questions of
value, of course, that should be subjected to the heat of public scrutiny and
debate.And that takes us back to Tyndale. He took the possibility of the
printing press and married it with openness. Today, the equivalent gesture
might be to turn away from private monopolies to fund innovation and
creativity. What matters is who owns information, not just the infrastructure
by which it is distributed. Digital technology must be combined with concrete
actions that protect openness across the spectrum, from maps to medicines,
from software to schools. Better that we do it through public institutions,
instead of relying on mavericks and martyrs.Aeon counter – do not remove From http://www.govexec.com/ 11/05/2016 Accelerating
Federal Digital Government in the Age of Trump (Industry Perspective) The reality is that government customers expect
anything they need to be available on any device they’re using, at any hour —
no matter who is in the White House.It’s unclear how President Obama’s
federal digital government programs may change after he leaves office. Though
President-Elect Donald Trump recently said he would issue a technology policy
once elected, how much would his technology focus matter?The U.S. Digital
Services team and 18F, the General Services Administration’s digital agency,
already have changed the federal government conversation. As a tangible
outgrowth of President Obama’s digital government strategy, issued in May
2012, agencies have responded by beginning internal dialogs about how they
can use digital technologies to streamline interactions with constituents. DIGITAL HELPS FULFILL GOVERNMENT’S PURPOSE The federal government was established to serve
people, a purpose it can achieve only if it constantly evaluates and responds
to the ways constituents need and want to do business. A time-crunched
citizenry has to periodically interact with government, and when government
becomes more customer-centric, the people it serves develop greater trust,
rather than dreading these exchanges as exhausting necessary evils.The
reality is that government customers expect anything they need to be
available on any device they’re using, at any
hour.Almost everyone maintains a connection to the online world. While
certain areas of the country still have limited Internet-at-home access, most
individuals can interact online using smartphones. In the future, they may
use beacons, such as Amazon Echo or similar devices — or technologies that
haven’t even been conceived yet. Regardless of the preferred device,
government must meet customers where they are and provide services at the time
they’re needed. DIGITAL OPPORTUNITIES ARE BOUNDLESS The federal government has unlimited
opportunities to become more efficient, more constituent-aware and more
customer-friendly, reflecting what many of the states have been doing for the
past 25 years. Because most federal processes still are based on traditional,
paper-based systems, in many cases requiring someone to come to a counter or
make a phone call to conduct business, those practices are an obvious place
in which to focus the initial digital transformation.Public lands are a good
example of an area that, with bipartisan support, is embracing this change.
At a late-September meeting with several dozen recreation permit holders, Joe
Meade, the Forest Service’s national director of recreation, announced a
shift toward modernizing the recreation permit process, including developing
an online permitting process.TinnelleBustam, the Forest Service’s assistant
director of recreation, positioned it as a move toward becoming an agency of
“yes-first,” in which a customer-service approach guides service delivery.The
recreational industry responded favorably to the announcement, expressing
hope that funding would be available to the agency for implementation. NO-COST PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS ELIMINATE THE
BUDGET CONCERN Fortunately, tight budgets don’t have to
decelerate federal digital government projects. A public-private partnership,
especially with a company that has a long history of delivering digital
services, can solve the challenge of constrained funding.In the traditional
model, a government agency defines a digital service it wants to launch,
creates specs and issues an RFP. A responding company indicates what the cost
will be to develop the service. Then, requirements or deployment needs
change, and the agency is on the hook for funding the changes.In a no-cost,
transaction-based, public-private partnership, on the other hand, the private
sector becomes government’s partner in delivering the service. The private
company makes the investment in building the solution, then charges users a
minimal efficiency fee. This puts the private company in the position of
implementing state-of-the-art security and reinvesting in the service to
continuously improve it for end users.Solutions get delivered faster because
the sooner the service is available, the sooner the private company begins
recouping its investment. Customer service and end users’ needs are always
top of mind, because if the private company doesn’t develop a service that
gets used, it doesn’t get paid. Government is relieved of the responsibility
to repeatedly find money in the budget to pay for changes or enhancements;
the private company maintains and upgrades the service, including responding
quickly to rule or legislative changes. Several federal pioneer projects provide a road
map for future digital government solutions: - The National Park System has implemented Your
Pass Now, a pilot P3 program that lets visitors electronically purchase their
entrance passes to certain national parks. Rather than requiring visitors to
physically purchase paper passes at a ranger station or approved reseller,
Your Pass Now gives visitors the convenience of acquiring their passes at the
click of a button, whenever they want and wherever they are. Your Pass Now
could be extended to U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management sites
and more to give visitors increased ease of access. - The U.S. Department of Transportation provides
pre-employment screening crash and inspection data online, giving the trucking
industry the information it needs on prospective drivers, in the form and
time frame needed. USDOT is considering making its recall notification
process digital, as well. This move would advance cooperation between the
private sector and multiple levels of government, making accurate vehicle
ownership and recall information available through state and federal
connection points. It also would allow vehicle owners to receive up-to-date
recall information at a centralized website or through push notifications to
their smartphones. The landscape is right for federal digital
government acceleration. Working with the private sector through a no-cost,
transaction-based model, the federal government can fulfill its purpose —
serving its customers efficiently and well — even after Trump takes office on
Jan. 20, 2017. From http://www.govtech.com/ 11/11/2016 IT,
Management Advice for the New Administration . The clock is ticking on the transition, and
President-elect Donald Trump's team is moving fast to fill positions across
government, from high-visibility Cabinet posts to backroom policy jobs deep
in agencies and components.Over the course of the election season, FCW's
resident blogger Steve Kelman and a roster of contributors have offered
advice on how the next president should handle issues ranging from management
to cybersecurity to IT governance. And FCW's reporting team has gathered
advice from thought leaders in and out of government. Here's what people are
saying. Priming the pump for innovation in the next
administration Incorporating technology and innovation early in
transition planning will position the next administration to define
meaningful, achievable and scalable policy priorities and prepare for an
effective first 100 days and beyond. A bipartisan proposal for performance management
in the next administration Continuity is particularly important for implementing
systemic management reforms, such as making performance measurement an
accepted part of how the government does business, because those reforms are
typically low visibility and can easily be put off track by starts and stops
with every new administration. What the next administration needs to do about
the workforce No matter how much technology the government
wants to deploy, it needs talented people to accomplish its many missions. What the next president needs to do on cyber To continue to lead the world in cyber innovation
and capabilities, it's imperative that the U.S. make cyber education a
priority and view it as every bit as necessary as teaching chemistry or
algebra. Will the next president keep IT modernization
going? Some IT leaders have expressed concern that a new
administration might not feel the same urgency to maintain the pace of
reform. Data policy for a new administration The government needs to institutionalize the
gains that have been made in data policy to effectively build on any
progress. From https://fcw.com/ 11/11/2016 Governments
Around the World Deny Internet Access to Political Opponents Whether or not your ethnic group has political
power in the country where you live is a crucial factor determining your
access to the Internet, according to a new analysis.The effect varies from
country to country, and is much less pronounced in democratic nations. But
the study, published today in Science, suggests that besides censorship,
another way national governments prevent opposing groups from organizing
online is by denying them Internet access in the first place, says Nils
Weidmann, a professor of political science at the University of Konstanz in
Germany.Internet access is clearly linked to individuals’ socioeconomic
status and the level of development where they live. These factors contribute
to “digital divides” seen throughout the world. In the new analysis, Weidmann
and his coauthors aimed to shed light on a factor that isn’t as well
understood: political divisions between ethnic groups. To achieve this, the group first had to create a
new global map reflecting how Internet access varies across geographic
regions within individual nations. For many countries, especially
autocracies, such “subnational data” is difficult to find or is simply not
available, says Weidmann. So he and his colleagues used data from a Swiss
Internet service provider that handles huge amounts of global traffic, and
information from a database that tracks the global Internet routing system,
to create a global database of “subnetworks,” or small units of the Internet
that correspond to just a few hundred IP addresses. They used a geolocation
database to map those subnetworks. The map above highlights all the active
subnetworks in the world in 2012. The researchers then turned to the so-called
Ethnic Power Relations list, a database that categorizes the world’s ethnic
groups according to their political relevance in their home countries,
distinguishing between politically “included” vs. “excluded” groups. Using
this distinction, and geographic information pinpointing the settlement
regions of individual groups, Weidmann and colleagues determined how Internet
penetration rates relate to political power. (About a third of the groups in
the list were too widely dispersed to be included in the analysis.)They
concluded that excluded groups had significantly lower access compared to the
groups in power, and that this can’t be explained by other economic or
geographic factors (like living in rural vs. urban areas). Weidmann says the
results add a new layer to our understanding of how national governments
control Internet use. “You don’t have to censor if the opposition doesn’t get
access at all.” He says organizations aiming to increase Internet access for
humanitarian reasons must bear that in mind, and be careful not to reinforce
such political bias. Mike Orcutt Associate Editor I’m an associate editor at MIT Technology Review.
I report from Washington, D.C., where I’m on constant lookout for stories
that illustrate how the U.S. government is embracing (or failing to embrace)
emerging technologies, and that highlight events and debates in Washington
that serve to create—or hinder—new technological opportunities and
industries. You can contact me at mike.orcutt@technologyreview.com. From https://www.technologyreview.com/ 09/02/2016 Imagine that you were almost twenty years old and
you wanted to change the world by helping people who are somehow barred from enforcing
their rights, what would you do? The Londoner Joshua Browder answered this
question by programming the chatbotDoNotPay, which is claimed to be “The
World’s First Robo Lawyer”. Doing good with a bot It is a chatbot (programme allowing for natural
language conversations) that can be approached by people with specific
problems like homelessness or unjustified parking tickets and helps them to
file a letter to the competent authorities. The idea was sparked when Browder
received 30 unjustified parking tickets at the age of 18. He wondered how he
could help people who wanted to take action against a parking ticket. He then
successfully programmed a chatbot which asked people simple questions in
order to obtain the knowledge necessary for making their case. After an
automated conversation, the bot advises people on the right course of action
and potentially even returns a letter that they can use to send to their
local authorities. In order to understand the administrative process and the
relevant criteria, Browder filed several freedom of information requests.
Browder programmed two versions for London and New York, which became a huge
success: The Tech Insider says that 3,000 people used the service, 250,000
parking tickets were appealed, with 160,000 successful appeals, saving the
appellants a combined US$ 4 million. The young coder extended this idea to
compensation in cases of late trains or late flights. Yet, he was also
frequently contacted by users asking him for help with other problems. This
is when he discovered the problem of evictions and ensuing homelessness.
Collaborating with lawyers and several non-profit organisations, he went on
to extend his chatbot to cover this topic as well. This new area revealed
limitations of such automation projects: while there was an enforceable right
to housing in the UK, the situation in the US varied from one city to
another. Shelly Nortz from the advocacy group Coalition of the Homeless told
the Washington Post about the problems of automation: “Automation can be
helpful, but it can also be incredibly flawed. A lot of our clients don’t fit
into cookie-cutter situations and I’m afraid of vulnerabilities that could
rise from a bot handling applications and other legal issues.” Take away for eGovernment This story certainly challenges some general
assumptions concerning eGovernment. First, eGovernment is not a one-track
development: inventions and ideas can also come from other actors and
especially from civil society. As in other fields, innovation is often sparked
by collaboration and there are several attempts to institutionalise such
collaboration. Take for example the innovation lab of the World Food
Programme, bringing together different actors from international
organisations, the private sector as well as civil society. In the case of
DoNotPay, Browder collaborates with different local councils and other
administrative entities. For his latest project, helping refugees who speak
only their native tongue, Browder managed to get access to the super computer
Watson. Another lesson from this story can be framed as
automation paradox. This describes the insight that automation and
digitisation can lead to more instead of less humanity and an example of how
the internet can narrow the gap between individual and state. In the case of
a Robo Lawyer, this fact is achieved by making certain legal services
available for free. This most probably helped people to invoke their rights
in situations in which they would have otherwise omitted any action. In other
cases, digitisation replaces the work of civil servants and, thereby, frees
up some time resources. As a consequence of automation, civil servants might
have more time to focus on atypical or difficult cases. Again, the example of
DoNotPay is telling, as Browder was always open to comments and input from
people in need and has continued to develop new features for them. The chatbot is also a good example of how a rule
of law culture can be implemented. When we think about the evolution of the
rule of law, we often think about landmark cases taking judicial and
administrative review to another level. Yet, the rule of law can also be
concerned when there is a widespread under-enforcement of rights just because
individuals do not have enough resources. There are different reasons barring
people from enforcing their rights before a court. Digitisation can allay
some of the difficulties, if it is implemented the right way.As this example
shows, eGovernment is not necessarily a disruptive game changer that can help
to improve government services, the development can happen evolutively. The
initiative does not necessarily come from the administration. Automation can
help to further the rule of law culture and to make the administration more
humane. Not exactly what you would expect from digitisation of government, is
it? But then, you do not expect a twenty year old to succeed in changing the
world… From http://policyreview.info/ 09/07/2016 The
Electronic Face of Authoritarianism: E-Government as a Tool for Gaining
Legitimacy in Competitive and Non-Competitive Regimes E-government in autocracies is used as a
seemingly democratic pattern of legitimation which became increasingly
popular during the last decade. The most current data of the UN e-government
survey (2014) show that several autocracies massively expand their online
facilities. Recent studies question the widespread assumptions that such
initiatives improve transparency and foster democratization. They propose the
hypothesis that authoritarian regimes set up e-government as a response to
globalization pressures and to demonstrate modernity and legitimacy to the
international community. However, this article argues that the hypothesis
does not account for the variations of e-government across different types of
authoritarian regimes and suggests a refinement. The qualitative assessment
of four post-Soviet authoritarian regimes points to crucial differences of
how e-government is used to legitimate authoritarianism. While the
non-competitive regimes of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan create their web
presences primarily for an international audience, the article finds a
surprising citizen-responsiveness on the websites of the competitive regimes
of Kazakhstan and Russia. This article proposes a new concept of e-government
in autocracies and illustrates that some type of competitive authoritarian
regimes use their websites not only for gaining external legitimacy but also
as an efficient tool for obtaining the support of their people by offering online
services and simulating transparency and participation. From http://www.sciencedirect.com/ 09/29/2016 E-Government
Global Trends: Integrated Services, Open Data, E-Participation and Digital
Technologies The 2016 United Nations E-Government Survey
reports a positive global trend towards higher levels of e-government
development. Countries in all regions are increasingly embracing innovation
and utilizing ICTs to deliver services, increase transparency and engage
people in decision-making processes. The E-Government Development Index (EGDI) is
based on three components: provision of online services, telecommunication
connectivity, and human capacity. According to the 2016 survey, the list of
countries leading in E-Government development is ranked as follows: 1. United Kingdom 2. Australia 3. Republic of Korea 4. Singapore 5. Finland 6. Sweden 7. Netherlands 8. New Zealand 9. Denmark 10. France The report also highlights a number of trends,
insights and recommendations in the areas of integrated services, open data,
e-participation, digital technologies and bridging the digital divide. Integration through e-government 1. A new trend in e-government is the evolution
towards integrated public services through one-stop platforms. Services from various
public agencies are bundled together as a single, joined-up service in a
one-stop-shop. This makes it easier for people to interact with public
administration. 2. According to the 2016 Survey: 90 countries
(including over 50 developing countries) provide a link to a one-stop-shop
service platform; 105 countries provide advanced search features; 98
countries require digital ID for online or mobile services; and 71 countries
provide an online tracking system. 3. E-government can help connect individual
systems and government functions, as well as public services, into a coherent
system, thus enabling whole-of-government (WoG) service delivery in the
economic, social and environmental areas. 4. Governments should aim to deliver integrated
services, not only between economic, social and environmental areas but also
between various sectors, subsectors and activities. 5. E-government will inevitably help siloed
governments integrate. The automated systems used in e-government inherently
require a certain level of standardisation, convergence and interconnectivity
in order to work. This technological integration may then carry over into
better institutional connectedness and integration. 6. Trends show an increasing number of countries
with a government-wide CIO institution or equivalent authority body for
coordinating national e-government development. 7. E-government serves as an enabler of policy
integration. It provides governments with increased insight into complex
issues and analysis of a situation or policy, and offers opportunities to
re-engineer existing decision-making processes and information flows. 8. However, policy integration presents a major
challenge for many countries. Formulating integrated policies requires deep
insight into a range of complex issues across economic, social and
environmental dimensions. Open government data 1. In an effort to make public institutions more
inclusive, effective, accountable and transparent, many governments are
opening up their data for public information and scrutiny. 2. Making data available online for free allows
the public and various civil society organizations to reuse and remix them
for any purpose. This can potentially lead to innovation and new or improved
services, new understanding and ideas. 3. In 2016, 128 out of 193 UN Member States
provide datasets on government spending in machine readable formats. The use
of open government data vary around the world in terms of the number of
datasets released, how they are presented, and in
the tools provided to increase usage of data. 4. Combining open data with new technologies like
Big Data analytics, the Internet of Things, geographic information systems
are powerful tools for efficiency gains and anticipatory governance, to focus
on prevention rather than reaction. 5. The issue that many governments are tackling
today is not whether to open up their data, but how to do so. Challenges
include issues related to legal frameworks, policies and principles, data
management and protection, identity management and privacy, as well as cyber
security. 6. A government-wide vision, collaborative
leadership, adequate human resources, appropriate legislation and
institutional frameworks as well as clear data governance are essential to
open up government data. 7. Strategies such as capacity building
programmes, tutorials, open government data guidance tool-kits, data
dictionaries, app competitions and data literacy campaigns are essential to
empower people to use government data. These tools should be employed to
reach out to all people in society, including vulnerable groups. Ensuring
access to the Internet and bridging the digital divides is critical. E-participation 1. E-participation is expanding all over the
world. With growing access to social media, an increasing number of countries
now proactively use networking opportunities to engage with people and evolve
towards participatory decision-making. This is done through open data, online
consultations and multiple ICT-related channels. 2. While developed countries are among the top 50
performers, many developing countries are making good progress as well. Lower
income levels do not hamper posting basic public sector information online
and using social networking for engaging with people on a broad range of
development-related issues. 3. A growing number of e-participation
applications and tools are put in place in various sectors, with the
objective of responding to the needs of various communities. This can
contribute to new forms of collaborative partnerships between government
bodies and people, and reinforces the focus on people’s needs. 4. E-participation depends on strong political
commitment, collaborative leadership, vision and appropriate institutional
frameworks that ensure structured ways of engaging people. E-participation
also requires capacity development and training programmes for government
leaders, public officials and for civil society, including digital literacy
for vulnerable groups. Online services and digital technologies 1. Countries across the world have made
substantial progress in online service delivery. Higher levels of online
service tend to be positively correlated with a country’s income level. 2. Digital technologies — the Internet, mobile phones,
and all the other tools to collect, store, analyze, and share information
digitally — are being increasingly utilized. 3. Governments are increasingly adapting
e-government services for the mobile platform, providing public sector field
workers access to mobile applications, enabling smart/flexible working and
delivering citizen services anytime, anywhere. In all sectors reviewed,
mobile apps and SMS services have experienced a large and significant growth. 4. Accessibility and availability of mobile
devices support improvements in health, education, agriculture, commerce,
finance and social welfare. It can allow regions that leapfrogged into
wireless broadband to step up innovation and narrow the digital divide.
Overall, ensuring the accessibility and availability of broadband remains an
urgent global priority. 5. The use of Geographic Information System (GIS)
data and Internet of Things (IoT) hold the potential to transform the way
public policy is formulated, implemented and monitored. Their early adoption
has shown increased levels of civic participation and enhanced efficiency,
transparency and accountability. However, improvements of legal and
regulatory frameworks and enhanced cooperation are required at all levels. 6. Bridging the digital divide between countries
and people is a key objective of the international community. It requires
international cooperation and support. It also requires mobilizing the public
and private sectors and societies to develop devices, applications,
technologies, and safeguards that can enable and mobilize ICT for addressing
poverty, illiteracy, and disease. Progress has to be accompanied by policies
to equip people to use online and mobile services, and develop the necessary
enabling environment and safeguards. From http://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/ 10/02/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
CHINA: On
India’s Path to E-Gov Taking a cue
from India’s success in e-governance, China is all set to launch its own
version of e-governance latest by the year 2020. China has decided to put
lots of its government services online for which it has extended its Internet
plus initiative into the public sector. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang himself
backed the plan,announcing in English that China
plans to accelerate the governance reform through internet,
http://www.theregister.co.uk reported. Chinese government plans to achieve
e-governance through three main points. The first one is to draw up a list of
functions to deliver online. The second one is to ensure that government
portals serve as the basis for integration of government services as well as
online services, with help from social investment and third-party platforms.
Lastly, the plan will converge online government service platform with local
administrative centers, just like one-stop service centres governments around
the world. This announcement is also important because Premier Li positions
it as an important economic reform as it will streamline many business
interactions with the government. It will also address China’s
anti-corruption agenda because Chinese businesses can go online without
having to go through government’s red tapism. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/23/2016 JAPAN: Govt to Revise Online Law Database Starting next fiscal year, the government will
revise its online database of laws, which has had to undergo repeated
corrections and modifications, to ensure the accuracy of its information. The
current system is run by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
Its accuracy has often been questioned, with several corrections and
modifications being made on a monthly basis. The government aims to offer
accurate information under the revised system. Not only the internal affairs
ministry, but also other ministries and agencies in charge of each law, will
check the contents and update the information following amendments. About
4,000 laws and ordinances, among other regulations, can be found on the
existing system. Since the service began in 2001, the ministry has been in
charge of its management. In addition to updates following amendments to
relevant laws and other items, the ministry checks all the clauses in the
system every four years. However, corrections and modifications have been
frequently made to the database. In 2005, for instance, in the list of kanji
characters allowed to be used for personal names under the ordinance for
enforcement of the Family Registration Law, about 140 characters were found
to have been incorrectly input into the system. The error led to a rejection
of a birth registration by a municipality where the local government referred
to the incorrect information offered by the database. The search system
notifies users that the ministry “will not bear the responsibility for any
disadvantages and problems caused by the use of this system.” However, local
government officials and others have questioned this, saying it is
inappropriate that the ministry does not take any responsibility for a
database run by the central government. From http://the-japan-news.com 09/25/2016 Infrastructure
Ministry to Compile Construction Worker Database In response to a nationwide shortage of
construction workers, the infrastructure ministry is planning to compile a
database of all roughly 3.3 million construction workers in the country as
early as fiscal 2017 to facilitate the flow of needed human resources in the
industry. The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry intends to
create a database in which workers can register their skills qualifications
or employment records to establish their work history. Construction companies
will be able to make use of the information provided to improve working
conditions on the ground. The idea is to alleviate the shortage of
construction workers by making it easier to muster human resources. The
ministry is leaning toward establishing an incorporated foundation to have
industrial associations operate the system. The database will incorporate all
roughly 3.3 million workers with the consent of individuals. The database is expected to store personal
information in great volume. To secure its safety, it will be put under
constant watch to prevent illegal access and virus infection. In addition to
their names and dates of birth, construction workers will be asked to
register information including qualifications, employment history and
training courses they have received. An IC card will then be issued so
workers can use it to update their personal information such as when they
acquire a new qualification or move on to another construction site.
Painters, reinforcement workers and other subcontractors tend to change
employers when they move to a new construction site. Workers need to be
qualified to handle electrical equipment or to mold. Those who weld or
operate machinery are required to receive skills training. By having
construction workers make their personal skills and job histories known,
employers are expected to better working conditions according to the provided
information. For employers, gathering accurate information on
workers’ skills qualifications or employment histories has not been easy. By
compiling a database, the industry intends to set up a system that would make
the search for needed human resources much more efficient. At the same time,
the ministry is planning to urge industry associations to make employment
contracts more transparent and improve working conditions by paying wages
that correspond to workers’ qualifications, skills and experience. The shortage of workers in the field
of construction is becoming a serious issue. The number of construction
workers dropped to 3.31 million in 2015, about 70 percent of its 1997 peak of
4.55 million. Only about 10 percent of the workers are below the age of 30.
The ministry and industry are both working to promote inflow of younger
workers. From http://the-japan-news.com 10/21/2016 South
Korea, Uzbekistan Join Hands on E-Gov't, Public Administration Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov stated that,
"Korean experts played a key role in giving Uzbekistan a 20-step boost
on the United Nation's E-Government Development Index," during a meeting
on Aug. 17 in Tashkent with the Korean Minister of the Interior Hong Yun-sik.
The president asked that Korea continue to walk alongside Uzbekistan as it
develops its range of e-government services, and help support the
implementation of Uzbekistan's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. For
the past three years the two governments have jointly funded the Korea-Uzbekistan
E-Government Cooperation Center, and have expanded business ventures in the
sector. This year, the two founded a joint corporation and established a
program in Uzbekistan with Inha University to cultivate IT specialists in
collaboration with Uzbekistani authorities. In addition to e-government, the
two countries are always expanding cooperation in the realm of public
administration. During the Korea-Uzbekistan Public Administration Forum on
Aug. 17, Uzbekistan's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Rustam Azimov said that, "Today's forum is proof of our mutually
beneficial, dynamic and multilateral partnership in public
administration." From http://www.korea.net/
08/24/2016 Gov't
Opens Mobile Service on Financial Information South Korea's state financial watchdog said Monday
it has launched a mobile service to offer information on the nation's
financial transaction system. The Financial Supervisory Service opened the
Financial Information Network, http://fine.fss.or.kr,
in early September. It features "integrated services" to
provide finance consumers with "complete information" on financial
transactions here, especially via major search engines, such as Naver and
Daum, according to the FSS. The new portal, it added, has already drawn more
than 110,000 users over the past six weeks. Reflecting such keen public
interest in the web service, the FSS said it opened a mobile version of FINE
earlier Monday. From http://www.koreaherald.com 10/17/2016 Sharing
with the World, Part 4: Patent Information System The Korean government has been concentrating on
establishing e-government services since 1987 when it enacted laws expanding
the supply of desktops and promoting the use of computer networks in order to
provide high-quality government services to the citizens in a more convenient
manner. Thanks to such ongoing efforts to develop related technologies,
Korea’s e-government systems are now receiving praise from all around the
world. We would like to trace this journey from its initial footsteps through
to some of today's successful cases, and look at future directions in which
Korea's online government services and international cooperation could go.
This is the fourth part of a series about the Korean government sharing its
e-government systems with the world. Today we cover Korea’s online patent
information system.
Korea’s well-established position in intellectual
property rankings is largely attributed to its online patent system which
enables users to carry out patent procedures online, from making an initial
application, through to patent examination and registration. In 1999, the
Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) developed an online patent
information system dubbed KIPOnet. This was the first online patent
information system ever developed in the world. It digitalized all the patent
administration procedures, from receiving initial applications, through to examining
and registration. The patent authorities also established another online
patent portal system: the Road to Patents (특허로). This was designed to help
individuals who wish to apply for a patent by supporting patent-related
administration processes. Another helpful online patent service was the Korea
Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS), an online patent
information database that provides information about intellectual property
rights from around the world for free. These patent-related online systems significantly
reduce inconveniences by simplifying the procedures that used to require a
lot of paperwork. They have also boosted convenience, especially in terms of
patent registration and examination, by providing 24-hour services, even late
at night and on weekends. In fact, according to KIPO, since 1999 the
introduction of the KIPOnet automated patent administration service, and
since offering non-stop, around-the-clock services throughout the year, the
patent examination period has been reduced by 49 percent and the government
has saved some KRW 483.8 billion worth of administration costs as of 2009.
The patent information search engine has also shortened the period and cost
of R&D in various industry sectors. Such online systems can also
contribute to protecting intellectual property rights across the nation.
Intellectual property rights are directly linked to high added-value
industries, which in turn leads to competitiveness for national firms and for
the country overall. This has been exactly the case with an iris scanning and
recognition system that received a spotlight recently in the mobile
communications industry. Korea’s automated, online patent registration
systems have been shining in the spotlight all around the globe. KIPO
received an E-Asia Award in the category of Electronic Policies and
Activities at the 27th Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation and
Electronic Business, in New Delhi in November 2009. KIPO has since developed
another online international patent application and registration system,
PCT-Receiving Office Administration (PCT-ROAD), by taking over KIPOnet’s
international patent-related functions. Korea has supplied this system to a
total of 26 countries, including Egypt and Israel in 2009. The world’s attention
on Korean patent registration systems has lead to more exports, too. Korea
has been sharing its experience and knowledge about online patent
registration systems with Mongolia, Azerbaijan and the African Regional
Intellectual Property Organization as forms of overseas development
assistance (ODA). In February 2016, Korea and the UAE signed a
contract worth USD 4.5 million covering the export of Korea's online patent
registration system and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on future
cooperation on patents and patent information. Under the agreement, the two
countries will work together to build an online patent information system and
educational programs in the intellectual property sector. Korea will also
cooperate on helping the UAE expand its patent bureaus by providing
consultations. Korea will also build a digital patent information system that
will cover all administrative procedures. As the first step, by this June the
two countries will build an online system for e-applications and mobile services.
By the end of the year, they will build a system to review patent
applications, registrations and other related services. From http://www.korea.net
10/18/2016 170,000
Government Publications Now Available Online A range of government publications produced
between 1953 and 2014 have now been made publicly available online. On Nov.
3, the National Archives of Korea, part of the Ministry of the Interior,
released about 170,000 government records from its archives at www.archives.go.kr. The documents
include such records as whitepapers, statistics, collections of regulations
and research papers published by central and provincial government bodies and
other public organizations. The newly released publications include data from
the 2015 Collection of Government Publications, a collection of 92,000
government records, along with information from a list of 235,000 records.
They also include a new collection of 77,000 publications that were put
together this year. The total amount of data available online accounts for
around 72 percent of all data held in the National Archives of Korea. From http://www.korea.net
11/03/2016 Korea
Gears Up for Future Cooperation on E-Government The five leading e-government countries gathered
in Busan to discuss cooperation on and the future direction of electronic and
online government services. E-government ministers and experts from Korea,
the U.K., New Zealand, Israel and Estonia took part in the third Digital 5
Ministerial Summit, in Busan on Nov. 10 and 11, and the theme this year was
“Leading Digital Innovation.” The Digital 5, also known as the “D5,” is a
network of countries with leading digital governments. It was formed by the
initiative of the U.K. and Korea. The first D5 meeting took place in London
in 2014, and Korea chaired this year’s D5 meeting. The D5 meeting is composed
of conferences, ministerial roundtable meetings, working level meetings for
senior officials, and discussion panels involving experts. In the conference
and the roundtable meetings, participants discussed how to set up an
exemplary e-government model, how to secure talented personnel in
informatization, measures to secure trust in digitalization, and ways to
provide customized services. In the discussion panels and working-level
meetings, participants talked about ways to boost user convenience, attract a
talented workforce, build trust in digitalization and how to establish a
next-generation certification system. Ministers of the D5 countries will
adopt the Busan Communique on Nov. 11 that will propose a vision and future
direction of development for e-government. From http://www.korea.net
11/11/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
MYANMAR: Lower House Urges Effective
Implementation of E-Gov't System Representatives with Myanmar's House of
Representatives (Lower House) have called for effective implementation of
e-government system to boost government administration work, parliament
sources said Friday. Parliament members agreed that implementation of the
e-government system will be of great benefit to the country and its citizens,
adding that it will quicken the policy and law making process and increase
the effectiveness of tax collection, thereby ensuring transparency and
curbing corruption. Other MPs said e-government, which is a useful system of
public management through ICT, can boost public trust in the government as
better services can be brought to the people through effective management.
More MPs added that e-government can reduce cost and delay in the public
sector and facilitate interaction between government organizations and
business people. Myanmar parliament's second session has resumed since July
25. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 09/16/2016 SINGAPORE: To Develop National Diabetes Database
as Efforts Against Disease Intensifies SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Health will be
developing a National Diabetes Database to consolidate patient data such as
where diabetic patients live and seek care, Minister of State for Health Chee
Hong Tat announced on Friday (Sep 23) at the opening of the annual Singapore
Health and Biomedical Congress 2016. This will enable the ministry to better
come up with strategies to manage the disease, Mr Chee said. Currently, data
on diabetes is spread out across multiple repositories within the Health
Ministry and individual healthcare institutions. The data in each database is
also captured differently. This, Mr Chee said, makes it difficult to compare
data and affects planning and research. The ministry hopes to change all that
with the new database, which will collate data from multiple sources,
including existing databases in healthcare institutions, and layer on data
analytics to analyse the information collected. This will then be put into
customised dashboards for different users. "For example, Regional
Healthcare Systems may use aggregated data for larger scale planning of
outreach programmes, whilst clinicians may have a dashboard that shows more
specific information about the patient, such as risk profile for developing
diabetes-related complications," said Mr Chee. More than 400,000 Singaporeans have diabetes and
it is projected that more than a million Singaporeans could get diabetes by
2050. Diabetes is associated with an increased risk of stroke, kidney disease
and lower limb amputations. In April, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong had
declared war on diabetes. "We want to help Singaporeans live life free
from diabetes, and for those with the disease, to help them control their
condition to prevent deterioration," he had said in Parliament. Also
announced at the congress is the setting up of two new research centres by
the National Healthcare Group and the Nanyang Technological University Lee
Kong Chian School of Medicine. The Centre of Primary Health Care Research and
Innovation will look at introducing new technologies and creative ways in the
area of primary care, while The Games for Health Innovation Centre will look
at developing games to motivate patients to make lifestyle changes. More than
2,500 delegates, both local and overseas, will be attending the two-day
Congress. From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/ 09/23/2016 Authorities Launch SGSecure App in Fight Against
Terrorism SINGAPORE: A new mobile app that enables the
police and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) to send important alerts to
the public during terrorist attacks or other major emergencies was launched
by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday (Sep 24). The SGSecure app is a
“one-stop portal for members of the public to download useful information on
counter-terrorism and to receive alerts in the event of major emergencies in
Singapore,” said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The app is intended to
augment current public alert capabilities such as the public warning system,
and will provide information and guidance to members of the public in the
event of a major incident like a terrorist attack or a big fire. The app was
unveiled at the official launch of SGSecure, a national movement which aims
to prepare the public to deal with a terrorist attack. Through the app,
members of the public can receive quick alerts on their mobile phones through
a central messaging broadcast platform. They can also use the app to send
information quickly to the emergency authorities through the app’s
"point, shoot and send" function. From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/ 09/24/2016 Monetary
Authority of Singapore Publishes First Set of Data APIs Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Friday
announced that it is publishing 12 sets of data from MAS' Monthly Statistical
Bulletin as Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) on the MAS website,
including frequently accessed datasets on exchange rates and interest rates. MAS noted that following the launch
of APIs, financial institutions can now use it to minimize costly manual data
entry, while application service providers can create applications to compute
exchange rates to help companies file tax returns. The APIs also allow users to
illustrate trends in a faster and easier way through the automation of the
extraction of MAS' data, said the authority. Lawrence Ang, Executive Director of Information
Technology Department at MAS, said MAS has been encouraging financial
industry players to publish open APIs on their datasets to allow users to
connect information and offer innovative solutions. "MAS is leading by example
through the launch of these 12 APIs. MAS will progressively publish more
datasets as APIs in the coming months," added Ang. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 11/11/2016 THAILAND:
ICT Ministry Considering State-Owned Satellite THE INFORMATION and Communications Technology
Ministry has hired Thammasat University Research and Consultancy Institute
(TU-RAC) to conduct a feasibility study to develop a state-owned
communications satellite. The move is part of the government's plan to
utilise communications technology to support economic and social development
and to enable people to get quick access to state information. The government
also wants to have its own communications satellite to cater to the rising
usage of satellites for communications, instead of relying mainly on Thaicom
satellites. The country's sole satellite operator, Thaicom, has allocated six
and a half transponders of its broadcasting satellites for state agencies on
a rental basis and another transponder for their use free of charge. The
state agencies also use a combined two gigabytes per second (gbps) of data
bandwidth for Thaicom's iPSTAR broadband satellite. As one part of the TU-RAC
study, the total satellite usage by the state agencies is expected to grow between
3 per cent to 5 per cent annually, taking in 14 transponders and utilising
four gpbs in next five years. These figures indicate that the agencies'
demand for satellite services in the next five years will be the equivalent
of only half the normal 24-transponder satellite. The cost of satellite usage by state agencies is
projected to reach Bt4.296 billion per year in 2021 and Bt5.788 billion per
year in 2026, up from the current Bt1.76 billion per year. Of the Bt1.76
billion, Bt297 million per year is the cost of using 6.5 satellite
transponders, while Bt680 million is for using two gbps bandwidth, and Bt783
million per year is for broadcasting. Group Captain Somsak Khaosuwan, deputy
permanent secretary of the ICT Ministry, said recently that the study would
be submitted to the government for consideration once it was completed.
Currently the state agencies use a total of two gbps of satellite bandwidth
on the Ku band for promoting educational activities, which is expected to
increase to four gpbs in 2021. They use 0.25 C-band transponders for
providing medical services, which is expected to rise to two transponders in
2021. They use 0.25 transponders on the Ku band for public disaster relief,
which is expected to remain unchanged by 2021, and use one C-band transponder
and 2.5 Ku-band transponders for national security, expected to increase to
two C-band transponders and six Ku-band transponders by 2021. The agencies
use two C-band transponders for other activities - forecast to be three
transponders in 2021. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 09/05/2016 Internet,
Cellphone Fees to Have Greater Weight in Calculating Inflation THE COMMERCE Ministry will adjust its inflation
calculation system by increasing the weightage for Wi-Fi and mobile phone
service fees, and processed food in order to reflect the real cost of daily
spending. The change is due to greater use of Internet and mobile phones by
customers, while lifestyle has seen a huge change. Also, the ministry
foresees stronger inflation next year from an expected average of between 0-1
per cent this year, mainly based on expectation of oil price increasing from
US$35-$45 per barrel to above $50 per barrel. Pimchanok Wornkorporn, deputy
director-general of the ministry’s Policies and Trade Strategies Bureau, said
Internet is playing a greater role in the daily life of people. The new
inflation basket weight, which currently has 450 items of goods and services,
would be adjusted next year. The ministry will revise some items and add
items that play a greater role in the daily life of people so that inflation
will precisely reflect the cost of living. For instance, home Internet cost
should be included in the inflation basket next year, while mobile-phone fee
and the cost of processed food would have more weight in calculating
inflation. In addition, as an agency responsible for calculating the cost of
living, the ministry would conduct a “purchasing power parity” index in each
province so that the private sector and other government sectors can use the
information to help local consumers or determine the minimum wage for each
province. The purchasing power parity is measured by finding the values of a
basket of consumer goods (such as rice, fruits, and some essential goods,
etc.). If that basket costs Bt100 in one province, in another province may
cost Bt120 depending on the price of goods. This PPP has been started to
collect information covering 43 provinces now. The ministry plans to cover 77
provinces by early next year. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/07/2016 VIETNAM:
PM Calls for Reform of Gov’t Working Methods Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc yesterday
emphasised the importance of reforming working methods inside the Government
at a Cabinet regular monthly meeting, which convened on Tuesday. He made the
comment during a session to discuss a draft decree on working regulations for
the new Government, which will serve as a framework for ministries and
sectors to follow. PM Phúc highlighted the need to improve the transparency
of Government activities. He requested a reduction in the number of meetings,
saying that government officials should understand daily life. “It is
difficult to come up with new models and practical policies if we only sit at
our desks,” he said. While pointing out that co-ordination between ministries
and sectors remained poor, he asked that the decree include concrete
regulations on co-ordination mechanisms and ministers’ responsibilities in
co-operating with each other to compile policies. He also emphasised the role
of ministers as a ‘commander-in-chief’ of each sector from grassroots to
central level. “Wherever there is an event in the sector you are in charge
of, you need to supervise it. You are not supposed to just work at your
ministry,” PM Phúc said. He also asked the Government’s Office to intensify
supervision of ministries and localities in implementing tasks assigned by
the Government. Addressing
frequent delays at ministries, he urged government officials speed up by
using the internet. He asked for greater use of information technology in
organising Government activities as well as the PM and deputy PMs’ management
work, saying that it would save time. Social economic efforts In yesterday’s session, the Cabinet discussed the
social and economic situation in the first eight months of 2016. The consumer
price index (CPI) was a highlight of August’s macro economy, with a rise of
0.1 per cent over July. The CPI of the first eight months rose by 1.91 per
cent compared to the same period last year. Total State budget revenues by
mid August were nearly VNĐ604 trillion (US$26.8 billion), equivalent to 59.5
per cent of the estimated revenues of the whole year. Foreign direct
investment continued to rebound with total registered capital in the first
eight months of nearly $14.4 billion, of which nearly $9.8 billion was for
implementing projects. Newly-registered enterprises increased by 19.7 per
cent. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, of the 13 targets
of social and economic development set for this year, 11 targets would
possibly be reached or exceeded, with two targets likely to be missed. One
targets set to be missed is achieving gross domestic product (GDP) growth of
6.7 per cent. The ministry blamed the likely failure on the decline of crude
oil and disasters such as frost, drought, saline intrusion, storms and floods
that adversely affected agricultural production. Another target which will be difficult to achieve
is increasing exports by 10 per cent due to reduced fish catches, the decline
in global oil prices and a drop in price of the country’s major exports.
Cabinet members said the country was also struggling with high public debt,
slow bad debts payments and a decreased industrial production index. In his
speech to conclude the 2nd session of the Government’s new term, Prime
Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc said that the people want to see concrete results
from what the Government had promised. He cited a World Bank report
indicating that the investment environment ranking of the country rose from
93 to 90 out of 189 economies, while the index for start-up business rose
from 125 to 119 and access to credit index rose from 36 to 28. “These are
bits of good news, but now it is important to turn that spirit into actions,”
Phúc stressed. Investment environment The PM asked ministers and local authorities to
regularly check the implementation of the Government’s resolution to support
businesses and improve the investment environment. “We must have desire and
determination to reform the investment environment in Việt Nam, to eliminate
all barriers to create favourable conditions for businesses and citizens to
invest," he stressed. Phúc also reminded the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment and the People’s Committee of central Hà Tĩnh
Province to clarify responsibility in the Formosa case, in which the
Taiwan-invested steel project was found to have polluted the sea environment.
Regarding the on-going equitisation of State-owned enterprises, the Prime
Minister said that the Government would carry out measures to maximise the
benefits of the State, ensure fairness to investors and create social trust. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
09/01/2016 French
Firm Supports Quảng Ninh in Egov French software company Linagora and Hanel DTT’s
joint venture will support the northern province of Quảng Ninh in developing
an e-government (Egov) and training human resources. The provincial
Department of Information and Communications and the two companies signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the partnership in Hà Nội on September 5
on the occasion of French President Francois Hollande’s visit to Việt Nam.
Under the MoU, Linagora and Hanel DTT will consider supporting Quảng Ninh in
building a civil service mailbox system with 20,000 users and an information
portal on tourism and external services. Quảng Ninh will also work with the
two firms to train IT staff and students in Hạ Long University to use open
source software. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
09/12/2016 Environment
Data Center to Be Built in Vietnam's Mekong Delta An environment data center will be constructed in
Vietnam's Mekong Delta to offer climate change-related information for making
sustainable development plans in the region, the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment said Wednesday. Scheduled to become operational by
2022, the data center will collect, integrate, analyze and store data on
natural resources and environment. It will be built on investment of nearly
14.5 million U.S. dollars, of which 13.8 million U.S. dollars will come from
the World Bank's official development assistance. The center will help the
nine provinces of An Giang, Bac Lieu, Ben Tre, Ca Mau, Dong Thap, Kien Giang,
Soc Trang, Tra Vinh and Vinh Long restructure agriculture, improve water
resources and infrastructure systems, and develop appropriate livelihood models.
From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 10/05/2016 Vietnam
Gov’t: Overturn Online Business Limits The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) on Monday (Oct 3)
proposed eliminating a ban on business services offered online or via communication
networks without getting prior permission. Reporting to the National Assembly
Standing Committee, which kicked off its fourth meeting session on Monday,
Justice Minister Le Thanh Long said that the Government decided to eliminate
Article 292 three months after it stirred up debate in the media and
generated criticism from the business sector, especially the start-up
community. Violation of the current law carries a fine of up to VND5 billion
(US$222,200) and five years in prison. The MoJ’s proposal faces opposition
from the National Assembly (NA)’s Ombudsman Commission, which fears that
multi-level marketing (MLM) business models - known as "pyramid
schemes" - would spread in the countryside. “There has been an on-going
pyramid scheme nightmare in the countryside. I have received so many
complaints from residents about the issue,” Ombudsman Committee Head Nguyen
Thanh Hai said. “Hence I earnestly ask to keep the part
regulating MLM in Article 292,” she said. Article 292 was just one among 141
articles of the Penal Code 2015 proposed by the MoJ to be amended or
supplemented after the newly-adopted law was found to have several legal
loopholes just a few days before its implementation date on July 1. Deputies
of the 13th NA - the very legislature which passed the error-riddled Penal
Code last year - had to urgently vote on June 29 to delay implementation of
the law. Some claimed the legislation contained as many as 90 legal faults.
The Government, and the MoJ in particular, was asked by the NA to revise and
fix all the loopholes before it is resubmitted to the NA for approval. Drugs ban extension The MoJ also proposed adding two new drug
substances - cathinone and XRL 11 - to the list of drugs banned by the Penal Code.
Cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant, is found in khat leaves, the
smuggling of which has seen a steep increase this year. The other substance
is made from synthetic cannabinoid products sold under brand names like Spice
or K2, which are rapidly gaining popularity in Viet Nam. The MoJ also asked
to remove the general terms of “other drug substances” regulating drugs
offences, saying unknown drugs should not be included in the law for the sake
of caution. “Viet Nam has very strict penalties for drug offenders so any
extension of the drug list subject to criminal charges should be considered
carefully,” Justice Minister Le Thanh Long said. For instance, under the
Penal Code, those who carry 100 grams of heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine
could face a death sentence. But the NA’s Law Committee Chairman, Nguyen Khac
Dinh, said different kinds of drugs appeared every now and then and it would
be too complicated to amend the law whenever a new drug came out. He added
that having the terms “other drug substances” regulated in the Penal Code
would effectively help law enforcement by providing a legal basis for them
should a new drug be smuggled into Viet Nam. From http://english.vietnamnet.vn/ 10/05/2016 HCM
City Government Saves Money by Using Emails, Text Messages HCM City saved more than VND180 million (nearly
$9,000) in two months thanks to sending invitation letters in the form of
email and text messages. At the city government meeting on administrative
reform on Wednesday, Mr. Vo Sy, Deputy Director of the Office of the HCM City
People's Committee, said the people’s committee began placing paper
invitation letters and attached documents via email and text messages on July
20th. Previously, the people’s committee had used paper letters of
invitation, accompanied with documents. Thanks to the change, from July 20th
to September 20th, the people’s committee saved over VND180 million from
paper, ink and postal charges. The office of the HCM City People’s Committee
previously had to spend VND94 million for printing and sending invitation
letters to meetings and accompanying documents each month. By using email and
SMS, the office can save over VND1 billion a year ($50,000). "In the
near future, HCM City must stop the use of paper documents and turn to
e-documents to meet the need of building the e-government and smart city in
the city," said HCM City’s Vice Chair Tran Vinh Tuyen. Tuyen said HCM
City plans to have a paper-free administration, digitising all documents in
Government offices to streamline administrative procedures and reduce costs.
“The use of e-documents in the near future is appropriate for online public
services. It would also facilitate the introduction of e-governance,” he
stressed. He instructed districts to expand their online services to serve
the public faster and more efficiently. The use of IT at State administrative
agencies is crucial to simplifying procedures and developing HCM City into a
smart city, he said. From http://english.vietnamnet.vn/ 10/14/2016 Việt
Nam’s Test Cases Posted Online The Supreme People’s Court on October 19 launched
a test cases page on the website toaan.gov.vn providing data on test cases in
Việt Nam. According to the law, a test case is a legal action whose purpose
is to set a precedent. An example of a test case might be a legal entity who
files a lawsuit to see if the court considers a certain law or a certain
legal precedent applicable in specific circumstances. This is useful, for
example, to later file similar lawsuits under similar circumstances. Speaking
at the launch ceremony in Hà Nội, head of the General Department under the
Supreme People’s Court, Đào Thị Minh Thủy, said applying test cases was a
milestone in the country’s judicial reform process. The test cases page is
expected to provide official information by the Supreme People’s Court on
test cases to various groups, including residents, judges and People’s
Jurors. The information includes valid test cases, their sources and
cancelled or replaced cases. Readers can leave comments or messages on the
page, which would help the People’s Court improve test case-related
activities in Việt Nam. Also yesterday, the Supreme People’s Court announced
the recognition of four test cases that the Judges’ Chambers had approved and
would be used in courts at all levels in Việt Nam. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
10/21/2016 Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has launched the
National Statistical Survey Programme, which consists of three national
survey censuses and 11 statistical surveys. The three national censuses are
the National Population and Housing Census, the National Rural and
Agricultural Census and the National Economic Census. The population and
housing census collects data on population, social labour and housing. The
purpose is to conduct research and analysis of the population scale,
distribution and growth rate as well as the sources of labour and housing.
The census takes place on April 1 once every 10 years. The rural and
agricultural census collects basic data on rural areas, agriculture, forestry
and fisheries for conducting research and analysis of the scale and
distribution of rural and agricultural labour. It also collects data on land
scale and agricultural production conditions, evaluates the progress of some
national agricultural programmes and goals and builds a database on rural
areas, agriculture and fisheries for survey samplings and international
comparison. The agricultural census takes place on July 1 once every 10
years, in years that are multiples of five. The economic census collects
basic data on the number of economic facilities, number and quality of labour
working at the facilities and the results of management policies and human
resources development projects. Four of the 11 statistical surveys are on
land, population, labour and employment. Two others survey National Accounts,
State budget, finance and currency. The five remaining surveys also collect
data on agriculture, forestry and fisheries but on a smaller scale. They
conduct mid-term rural and agricultural investigation and investigations on
cultivation areas, yields of short-term and long-term crops and cattle
breeding. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
10/21/2016 DIV
Officially Launches New IT System Deposit Insurance of Viet Nam (DIV) has
officially operated a new information and communication system for its
business process related to deposit insurance. The system is a key component
of the World Bank’s Financial Sector Modernisation and Information Management
System project in Việt Nam. The system was being developed by the FPT IS
since November 2014. The project aims to provide the DIV with a centralized
database for information management and collection, which can connect to the
SBV database; improve DIV’s business performance with advanced software
solutions and equip it with a disaster recovery system, ensuring the
continuity of DIV operations. The system will help improve DIV’s efficiency
in performing its important role in the protection of depositors, while
contributing to enhance the sharing and use of information and increase
effectiveness in ensuring the safety and stability of the organisation’s 1252
insured deposits, comprising 92 commercial banks, cooperative banks and
credit funds; 1,156 people, and three microfinance institutions. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
10/22/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
INDIA: To Use More Satellites for
Public Services, E-Governance
Admitting that there was capacity shortage in
providing an array of public services, Kumar said the country would have to
double the number of satellites in the near future to give a reasonable level
of service to the citizens. "With 34 satellites for communication,
observation, navigation and related services, we are short of capacity in
providing more space-based services. We need to build more satellites and enhance
our ability to launch more rockets at a faster pace," reiterated Kumar.
The space agency plans to have at least 1-2 launches every month to deploy
more satellites in the earth's lower and higher orbits for providing
effective solutions to the country, its government and citizens For instance,
two launches are scheduled in this month (September) to carry five
satellites, including two Indian (INSAT-3DR & ScatSat) and three foreign
satellites. "We are in the process of increasing our launch frequency
though we have a long way to go as the present supply chain is inadequate to
meet our growing demand for more satellites and space-based services,"
Kumar pointed out. Observing that the Indian industry had a huge opportunity
to capitalise on the growing demand for satellites and launch vehicles, the
chairman said the world was looking at providing internet services using
satellites at lower cost. Antrix chairman and managing director S Rakesh said
satellites accounted for 75 per cent of the $330-billion global space
industry. "In the global space industry, the small satellites market is
booming, with a potential for launching about 2,000-2,500 spacecraft over the
next five years," Rakesh added. From http://www.siliconindia.com 09/03/2016 Thursday is the the last day for submitting
comments and suggestions to the government on mygov.in, as a huge debate is
going on regarding Net Neutrality. The deadline was extended by five days on
August 15 after a lot of people came up with their comments. As of now,
around 70,000 people have submitted their comments and suggestions on the
issue. In the month of April, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
had received more than one million comments with a large number of people
demanding implementation of ideal net neutrality. Net neutrality calls for an
equal treatment to all the internet traffic without any special favours to an
entity or firm on the basis of payment for content or service providers such
as telecom companies, which seems unjust. The expert panel has proposed
regulation of domestic calls through internet-based apps like Skype, Whatsapp
and Viber putting them on par with services offered by telecom operator.
However, the committee has suggested a free approach to app-based international
calls. As per the data from TRAI, the pricing difference is around 12.5 times
in the case of a voice call and 16 times for messages between services
offered by telecom operators and Over-the-top (OTT) players. Net Neutrality
became a bone of contention in the wake of Bharti Airtel announcing a plan to
include separate charges for VoIP calls at standard rates. The government
will now take the decision after going through the public opinion and
recommendations of TRAI. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/20/2015 Oracle,
Maharashtra Government Sign MoU to Gear Up Digital Transformation Oracle and the
Government of Maharashtra have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to
pace up the state’s digital transformation initiatives. Taking advantage of
Oracle’s Cloud solutions, Oracle and the Government of Maharashtra will
develop the state’s smart city programme, with the aim of making the state’s
urban landscape more livable and inclusive, while driving economic growth. As
per the MoU, Oracle and the Maharashtra Government will create a Center of
Excellence (CoE) to help accelerate its smart city programme and modernising
the government’s technology solutions. The CoE, based in Mumbai, will serve
as a research platform to design, develop and test new capabilities that will
deliver better government-to-citizen (G2C) and government-to-business (G2B)
services. Benefiting from the power of the Cloud, the CoE will enable rapid
innovation with nominal capital expenditures. In addition to this, the CoE
will also offer a flexible and scalable common framework, as well as a team
of experts, allowing individual cities to scale and replicate its solutions. The proposed
projects, to be finalised before the end of the calendar year, include: Smart
city in a box Mobile platform for service questions Unified app development
for services like drivers license renewals or property tax payments Digital
platform to deliver smart city services across the state Connected
infrastructure across all devices, kiosks and citizens Infrastructure
services for equipment and IT. Resources to manage transportation logistics,
including analytics, asset tracking, fleet management Resources to
manage utilities, including water and power. Many of these projects will
support the government’s e-services programme aimed at citizens, visitors,
business establishments and government officials. Both Oracle and the
Government of Maharashtra will invest in IT infrastructure, training and
skill set resources as well as management of the CoE. The Government of
Maharashtra, the largest state economy in India initiated a programme in
April to develop 10 smart cities, adding to the 33 announced by the central
government in the 100 smart cities initiative. In a statement,
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “Cloud computing has
changed the landscape of governance. It has the power to enable inclusive
growth and to transform the state into a digitally empowered society.”
“Together with Oracle, we want to build a new, efficient, transparent and inclusive
system that benefits our people. The CoE is a step in that direction and will
make more government services available with the click of a button. I look
forward to working with Oracle on this important mission,” he added. In a
reaction, Oracle Corporation’s Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz, said:
“We are thrilled to further our commitment in India by working with the
Government of Maharashtra and the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra
Modi, to help position India as a world-class design and manufacturing
epicenter. The Cloud Center of Excellence powered by Oracle will play a key
role in improving the lives of the people of this state.” “By moving to the
Cloud, the Government has the opportunity to create a digitally empowered
society and a growing knowledge economy. We look forward to making this
partnership a success.” This comes after Oracle’s recent commitment with
Prime Minister Modi to support the country’s global digital leadership.
Oracle unveiled a massive, state-of-the-art campus centered in Bengalaru,
nine incubation centers throughout India, and an initiative to train more
than half a million students each year to develop computer science skills. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/05/2016 Goa
Panchayats to Come Under E-governance Soon With all Goan
panchayats set to be covered under an e-governance scheme, villagers will be
able to enjoy government services online. The step to digitise all panchayats
and inter-link them under the digital India mission will be done within three
months. Speaking on the occasion, Goan Panchayat Minister Rajendra Arlekar
said: “We are taking the e-governance scheme to all Panchayats in the next
two-three months. All government documents would be made available online so
that the people don’t have to travel to taluka headquarters or state capital
for obtaining them.” He said to facilitate hassle-free online issuing of
documents, each Panchayat would be connected to Block Development Office
(BDO) and then to Directorate of Panchayat in Panaji. Introduction of e-governance
scheme will also reduce lengthy paper work at panchayats. Several legislators
along with Arlekar gathered at Dharbandora panchayat website launch and
shared their views on e-governance scheme. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/05/2016 Madurai
Police Goes Digital for Filing Chargesheets Stepping into the world of
digitisation Madurai police recently launched a system of e- chargesheets. The Madurai City Commissioner
of Police, Shailesh Kumar Yadav, on Sunday launched computerised registration
of chargesheets, saying this initiative would enable standardisation of
records. “The common integrated police records
updating system (CIPRUS) divides a criminal case into seven phases including
inquest, arrest card, seizure mahazar and charge sheet. While form-1 is used
for first information reports (FIR), form-VII is for appeals, which is the
last stage. There are different forms for each stage. From now on, the first
five processes would be done online,” he added. The filing of FIRs online in the crime and criminal tracking
network and systems (CCTNS), which is a project that is underway throughout
India, uses e-governance to enhance the efficiency of policing. It was launched at all the police stations in Madurai a few
months ago to enhance transparency. The initiative brought an end to
handwritten FIRs. After the Madras high court
allowed registration of FIRs and chargesheets online, it was brought into
effect for FIRs on April 15, Kumar said. “The pilot project carried out in
Kancheepuram was a success. It is being implemented across the state. Tamil
Nadu is the first state in India to implement computerising of police
records”. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/05/2016 ePashu
Chikitsa Reaches Villages The government has
started offering e-health facilities to villagers through Common Services
Centers (CSCs), the access points for delivery of various electronic services
to villages in India, thereby contributing to a digitally and financially
inclusive society. As part of CSC, ePashu Chikitsa, an animal tele-medicine
facility is being delivered successfully to rural India. This is being done
through CSC eGovernance Services India Limited, a special purpose vehicle
(CSC SPV) to monitor the implementation of the CSC scheme. Under this
programme, a full-time qualified veterinary doctor is available from 9.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. five days a week for
tele-consultation. Any animal owner can go to nearest CSC, schedule an
appointment with the doctor, can interact with the doctor through video,
audio and text messages and check the doctor prescribed slip. The potential
to transform animal healthcare through CSC is huge, given the fact that there
are 1,60,000 CSCs a cross 600,000 rural villages. Addressing the challenge of
huge shortage of qualified veterinary doctors is critical because animal
husbandry and livestock sectors are critical for the rural economy,
especially the small and marginal farmers. They not only contribute to their
income but also their best insurance against any natural calamity. To ensure
hassle free experience to the animal owners, the process for
tele-consultation has been made simple. Basically, the
owner of the animal will take the pictures and short video of the diseased
part of animal. Then, he or she will visit the nearest CSC centre to make a
registration for the doctor’s appointment. Before fixing the appointment and
sharing the data, the CSC operator also known as VLE (village level
entrepreneur) will get the consent form filled. Thereafter, with the help of
Google Drive or Drop box, the pictures and videos would be shared with team
of veterinary doctors. According to an official, 22000 VLEs across India have
shown interest on this service. Over 250 consultations had so far taken place
within the short period of launch of the service. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/12/2016 IIPA
Preparing Govt. Officers in E-governance The Indian
Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) has initiated a multitude of
e-governance training initiatives for senior and middle level government
officers under its capacity building endeavour for Digital India Programme.
These e-governance trainings are being designed and conducted at IIPA by Dr.
Charru Malhotra (Project Director; Associate Professor- e-Governance
& ICT, IIPA), an official communiqué said. It was felt that in wake
of recent launch of Digital India Programme in 2014, it is important that
government officers must be trained well in prudent design and application of
e- Governance, with special reference to related concerns such as design of
e-governance projects, Change Management and Government Process
Re-Engineering- GPR. With support and vision of its Director (Dr. T.
Chatterjee, IAS), in last two years, IIPA has initiated a multitude of
e-governance training initiatives. Apart from conducting a complete stream on
e-Governance for Advanced Professional Programme in Public Administration
(APPPA) participants, several other customised trainings on Digital India for
various representatives of Administrative Training Institutes (ATIs) of
states and ICT/ e-governance training capsules are being conducted at IIPA
for senior and middle level officers, drawn from centre and state. Several such
intense and well-acclaimed trainings, which have already been conducted by
Dr. Malhotra and her project team at IIPA include ToTs on “ Digital India
Framework”, “e- Governance Basics” as well training on “ e-Governance Project
Life cycle” for senior level Set-1 officers as well as another detailed one
for the Set-2 officers. The next e-governance training will be conducted at
IIPA by Dr. Charru Malhotra on Oct 17- 18, 2016 is titled “Transforming
Governments through ICT: Government Process Reengineering (GPR)”. It has been
especially designed for senior and middle-level officers including Joint
Secretaries, Principal Secretaries ,Directors,
Deputy Secretaries, Commissioners and Scientists- For State/ UTs and
equivalent officers. The proposed training programme has been designed to be
highly interactive. It extensively relies on expert deliberation and peer
interaction. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/18/2016 Dubai
Government to Move Towards E-records The Dubai Government
has decided to move towards e-records by moving all its documents onto
Blockchain and go paperless, an official statement said recently. According
to Dubai Media Office, it will be done by 2020. The step is aimed to ‘make
life and work easier for people in Dubai; users will only need to enter
personal data or business credentials once”, Hamdan bin Mohammed, the Crown
Prince of Dubai, said in a tweet recently. “The Dubai Blockchain Strategy
also aims to unlock 25 million hours of economic productivity annually in
saved document processing time,”he added. Blockchain is a digital ledger that
is held across a distributed network of computers. Records are logged in
real-time and are irreversible. Dubai’s Museum of the Future Foundation – the
country’s innovation incubator – first established a “Global Blockchain
Council” among private firms, government agencies and startups to research
the potentials of the technology. The council presented seven pilot projects
in May this year, using Blockchain in health records, securing the diamond
trade; recording title transfers, business registrations and digital wills,
and boosting tourism. Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest bank, is also working
with India’s ICICI on a pilot project to use blockchain technology for global
remittances and trade finance, in what they say is a first for banks from the
Middle East and India. The project showed banks can significantly cut
transaction cost and time, while demonstrating a near real-time transfer of
invoices and purchase orders for trade finance purchases, Emirates NBD said.
So far, governments globally have been using Blockchain to improve its public
service delivery. Australia plans to use it in elections voting; the Republic
of Georgia and Sweden are exploring Blockchain in its land registry system;
while Singapore is trialing the tech to prevent freight firms from defrauding
banks. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/23/2016 Tablets to
Replace Paper in Maharashtra Assembly Soon The Maharashtra
government has decided to procure computer tablets in a bid to introduce
paperless functioning in the state legislature from the upcoming session in
Nagpur from December 5. A government panel set up for procurement of the
tablets has given its approval along with financial sanction, a member of the
panel said on Wednesday. “States like Goa and Haryana are already using
tablet computers during sessions of their respective legislative assembly,”
said senior Congress leader and MLC Manikrao Thakre. The state government
spends around Rs 50 crore annually for publication of various committee
reports, official surveys, reference reports and daily reports for the
members of assembly and council. Compared to that, the tablets will cost only
Rs 5 crore. “Once the tablets are procured, the cost of [publishing]
documents will be saved,” Thakre said. Also, the high-speed internet is
expected to significantly reduce the waste of time in searching the
information and presenting it before the House. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/02/2016 Online Filing
of Government’s Employees Performance Report by Next Year From the next fiscal year, the central government
will start filing of officers’ performance reports online. This will help
curb the delay in the submission of employees
confidential report which in turn use to hamper his/her promotion. Working on
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s directive it has also been decided that an
officer can be assessed solely on the basis of his/her overall record and
self-assessment for a year if his Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR)
is not recorded by December 31 of the assessment year. Modi wants greater
transparency in babus work and online filing of the performance reports will
help in achieving that goal. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT)
has written to all cadre-controlling authorities like the Home Ministry (for
Indian Police Service), Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change
(for Indian Forest Service), Department of Public Enterprises (for central
public sector enterprises) and the Department for Financial Services (for
public sector banks, financial and insurance companies) in this regard. The
letter referred to instructions issued last year by the DoPT in which the
authorities concerned were asked to ensure online filing of APARs. “Now it
has been decided to ensure online filing of annual performance reports of all
officers of 36 central civil services including those in Indian Police
Service (IPS) and Indian Revenue Service (IRS). The National Informatics
Centre has been asked to develop an online module in this regard,” said an
official of DoPT. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/14/2016 PAKISTAN: Considering ICTs as Key Enabler for Good
Governance President Mamnoon
Hussain has said that the Government of Pakistan considers Information
Communication Technologies (ICTs) as key enabler to enhance productivity,
transparency, and good governance for empowering the people for moving
towards attaining the objectives set under Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). The President noted that ICT in Pakistan has become one of the most
dynamic sectors and a major contributor to economy. The President said this
while talking to Dr Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman and Founder, Talal
Abu-Ghazaleh Organisation (TAG-Org) who called on him at the Aiwan-e-Sadr,
Islamabad on Wednesday. The President appreciated the initiatives of TAG-Org
for enhancing the role of ICTs in creating new opportunities for social
interaction, enabling new business models, and contributing to economic
growth and development in all other sectors. The President acknowledged the
substantial contributions and achievements of Dr Abu Ghazaleh in diverse
areas including his role in promoting Information and Communication
Technologies for achieving sustainable development. President appreciated the
efforts of Dr Abu Ghazaleh to take Pakistan-Jordan relations to higher levels
through enhancing collaboration in the field of ICT. The President said that
Pakistan is keen to benefit from expertise of TAG-Org and hoped that the
organisation will invest more in the ICT sector in Pakistan. The President
emphasised that the Muslim Ummah should use its platform to forge greater
cooperation and joint ventures in the sector of ICT and science &
technology. The President expressed Pakistani government's commitment to
TAG-Org for joint ventures and strategies for development and deployment of
digital services in Pakistani markets and assured the visiting dignitary of
the government's support to TAG-Org for mutual collaboration programs both
with the organisation and with the Jordanian Government. Dr Talal
Abu-Ghazaleh explained the role and utility of services of his organisation
in the field of ICT and expressed his desire to further expand cooperation
with Pakistan in this regard. He stated that Pakistan should play a greater
and leadership role in the Muslim world in the ICT sector.-PR From http://www.brecorder.com 10/23/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
AZERBAIJAN: RIA System to Be
Introduced The introduction of the system of Regulatory
Impact Analysis (RIA) in Azerbaijan is believed to have a positive impact on
the development of business environment in the country. RIA, a document
created before a new government regulation is introduced, permits to
determine the consequences of a planned regulation, providing valid arguments
supporting it. Executive Director of the Center for Analysis and
Communication of Economic Reforms, Vusal Gasimli said that the instrument
will allow to assess the influence of a given law on the development of
business, attraction of local and foreign investments, and social environment
of the country. He mentioned that the country is interested in the
development of RIA system, as well as in the training of professional
personnel in the sphere. RIA, which is done whenever an adopted decision
involves a state intervention and carried out before a draft law is written,
is able to underpin the capacity of government to ensure that regulations are
efficient and effective. Gasimli said that the method has received
approval in most of the countries, therefore its introduction is of great
importance for the improvement of business climate in Azerbaijan. He added that
comprehensive economic reforms are currently underway in Azerbaijan. The
system, which is considered to be an important element of an evidence-based
approach to policy making has no universally recognized methods and practices
of implementation. Some three groups of countries are currently
differentiated within the system, including those where the system is used in
case of the passing an act, which envisages budgetary expenditures (the USA
and Canada), those where the system is applied in reference to all regulatory
documents (the UK and Netherlands) and those where RIA is used should its
reasonability is evident (South Korea, Czechia). From http://www.azernews.az/
09/21/2016 Azerbaijan to Introduce Single
Database of Produced Goods Azerbaijan, which has set a goal to form economic
growth through the non-oil sector, is continuing to take measures aimed at
protecting and promoting local entrepreneurship. The recent decree of
President Ilham Aliyev on the creation of a single database of goods produced
in Azerbaijan is also considered to be a certain step toward the further
development of entrepreneurship in the country. The database will contain
thorough information about domestically produced goods and their
manufacturers, including legal address, contact, production opportunities,
and partners. The order also provides for the creation of the internet portal
available in three languages (Azerbaijani, English and Russian). Moreover,
the system will also include search system, e-information exchange service
with the manufacturers, as well as a section, which will allow manufacturers
to add necessary data to the portal or update it. The Head of State has allocated some 400,000
manats ($244,933) from the President’s Reserve Fund to the Center for
Analyses of Economic Reforms and Communications for the purpose. The Fund
will further take measures to agitate posting of data on the portal. Main
objectives of the decision are the provision of sustainable growth in the
sphere of entrepreneurship, as well as stimulating export opportunities of
produced goods, integration into international market and creation of
advantageous conditions in the sphere. The expansion of manufacturing
capability of entrepreneurs necessitated improvement of certain mechanisms of
the state assistance and promotion of locally produced goods at the
international level. A number of economic reforms have been recently
introduced in the country to stimulate business development by introducing
new privileges for entrepreneurs. Certain projects are currently implemented
in the country and are expected to broaden entrepreneurial activity, increase
export potential and competitiveness of the economy, as well as
import-substituting output. From http://www.azernews.az/
09/22/2016 KAZAKHSTAN: Creating Defense and
Aerospace Industry Ministry Defense and Aerospace Industry Ministry has been
created in Kazakhstan, according to an order by the country's President
Nursultan Nazarbayev, the presidential press-service reported. The Ministry’s
activity will be focused on the implementation of the state policy in the
sphere of defense, aerospace and electronics industries, information security
in the sphere of information and communication (cyber security),
mobilization, formation and development of the state material reserve, participation
in the military-technical policy and military-technical cooperation and
management of the defense contracts. Information Security Committee,
Aerospace Committee and Committee for the State Material Reserves will be
formed under the Ministry of Defense and Aerospace Industry. From http://en.trend.az/10/07/2016 TURKMENISTAN: Releasing Data on State
Budget Execution In the first nine months of 2016, profitable part
of the state budget of Turkmenistan was executed in the volume of 10.7
billion manats, and expenditure part was executed in the volume of 11.9
billion manats, according to the country’s Ministry of Finance. “Some 79.3
percent of the Turkmen budgetary funds have been allocated to finance the
social sphere during this period,” the ministry said. The state budget
revenues of Turkmenistan for 2016 approved by the parliament are projected at
102.478,5 billion manats, while expenses - at 104.878,5 billion manats. Since
January 1, 2015 the official exchange rate in Turkmenistan remains at 3.50
manats to the US dollar. Turkmenistan holds one of the key positions in the
region on the natural gas supplies. China and Iran are gas importers. Russia
stopped purchasing Turkmen gas in 2016. The revenue part of the budget of the
country is mainly formed due to such sectors of the industry as oil and gas,
chemical, electric power industry, construction. From http://en.trend.az/
10/24/2016 UZBEKISTAN: Sherzod Shermatov
Appointed First Deputy Minister for IT Under the Decree of the Interim President of
Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev dated November 2, 2016, Shermatov Sherzod
Khotamovich became the First Deputy Minister for the Development of
Information Technologies and Communications of Uzbekistan. Sherzod Shermatov
previously worked as a rector at Inha University in Tashkent. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
11/03/2016 Information and Communications
Ministry Opens Appeals Department The Ministry for Development of Information Technologies
and Communications of Uzbekistan said on its website it opened a special
appeals department at its central office. The new department was created to
improve response procedure for appeals by legal entities and individuals to
the ministry and accountable bodies, in addition to resolving the problems
confronting citizens and businesses. The department was created under the Law
of Uzbekistan “On Appeals of Legal Entities and Individuals” and Resolution
366 of the Cabinet of Ministers dated October 27, 2016, “On Liability for
Strict Implementation of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Appeals of
Legal Entities and Individuals” by Directors of Ministries and Authorities,
Economic Unions, Head of Karakalpakstan Supreme Council, City and District
Khokims”. The department’s functions include: - Receiving citizens; -
Receiving and processing in a preliminary procedure written appeals -
Registering appeals; - Examining management appeals; - Notifying applicants
when their appeals are redirected to other departments of the organisation; -
Notifying appellants on prolonged examination of the appeal. - Controlling
document execution and fulfilling the decisions; - Counselling on appeals; -
Organising files and storing appeals; - Analysing incoming appeals and
preparing statistical data; - Processing oral appeals .“The work of the new
department will contribute to protecting citizens’ rights in information
technologies and communications and safeguarding the interests of legal
entities in this field. In addition, this will improve the efficiency of the
ministry and accountable bodies,” the ministry’s press service said. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
11/08/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
AUSTRALIA:
Census 2016 - Labor Caves in, Backs Govt on ABS Fines Motion The Australian Labor Party has caved in and voted
with the Coalition government to allow the Australian Bureau of Statistics to
fine people over submitting late or incorrect census forms. A motion in the Senate today was moved by the
Greens, with support from independent Senator Jacqui Lambie and Senator Nick
Xenophon, calling on the Coalition to give a commitment that the ABS would
not fine anyone who did not complete the census. The motion asked the
government to "direct the Australian Bureau of Statistics to issue a
statement declaring that no Australians will be fined for failing to complete
the census".The motion came about after the census had to be aborted on
9 August. It was supposed to be held mostly online but the website was taken
offline at 7.30pm following what was claimed to be a distributed denial of
service attack. This claim has been disputed. Greens Senator Scott Ludlam
said the Greens and most of the crossbench agreed "that the government's
incompetence and inability to properly conduct the census is not an
acceptable reason to expose ordinary Australians to fines of $180 per
day". Ludlam, the Greens communication spokesman and
co-deputy leader of the party, said: "“Thousands of people attempted to
complete the census on census night and during the days that followed, and
were unable to. Many people, already concerned about the changes to the
census that were snuck through by the government and the ABS, lost any
confidence they had left in the process." He said the Greens had
received many reports of aggressive census collectors giving residents
incorrect information. "Even worse, many people that have already completed
the census have been harassed by census collectors." The ABS painted an
open manhole on the footpath & I fell in & have been stuck down here
for days. Ludlam said about one in five households had not completed the
census, and nothing the Coalition had done "has given those people any
confidence that their information will be managed appropriately". “That
the Labor party are siding with this incompetent government, and not with the
people facing fines due to that incompetence, is disappointing, though unfortunately
not surprising,” he added. From http://www.itwire.com
09/12/2016 Mandatory
Data Breach Notification Scheme Forms Part of Government’s Response to Data
Retention Inquiry The government has finally introduced a long-awaited
bill that will create a mandatory data breach notification scheme. Justice
minister Michael Keenan today introduced the Privacy Amendment (Notifiable
Data Breaches) Bill 2016 in the House of Representatives. The government
committed itself to legislating a data breach notification scheme in response
to the parliamentary inquiry into data retention. The report of that inquiry
was tabled in February 2015. The government in December 2015 released an
exposure draft of proposed legislation. (A breach notification scheme
previously considered by parliament drew bipartisan support but was not
passed before the 2013 election.) The exposure draft received a mixed
reception. Consultation on the draft finished in March. The Senate as
recently as last week called on the government to legislate a mandatory data
breach notification scheme “by the end of the 2016 sittings”. The scheme
outlined in the revised bill introduced into parliament this morning by
Keenan requires an organisation subject Privacy Act obligations to notify the
Australian Information Commissioner and affected individuals if it
experiences a data breach of the kind specified in the bill (an “eligible
data breach”). The minister cited the US Office of Personnel
Management and Ashley Madison breaches as demonstrating “the potential harm
that can result to individuals following unauthorised access to or
unauthorised disclosure of personal information”. “If an individual is at
likely risk of serious harm because of a data breach involving their personal
information, receiving notification of the breach can allow that person to
take action to protect themselves from that harm,” Keenan said. For example,
an individual affected by a data breach may change a password or cancel a
credit card, he said. “Experiencing an eligible data breach under the bill
will not necessarily mean that the entity concerned has breached the existing
Privacy Act information security requirements,” the minister said. “For
example, it’s possible that despite having taken reasonable steps to secure
personal information it holds, an entity may nonetheless experience a data
breach due to human error or other circumstances that are not reasonably
foreseeable. “Where an entity has reason to suspect that an eligible data
breach may have occurred, the entity is required to undertake a reasonable
assessment of the circumstances. If an entity has reasonable grounds to
believe they have experienced an eligible data breach, after an assessment or
otherwise, the entity must notify the information commissioner and affected
individuals.” Organisations can notify individuals directly or
if that is not practical publish a notice about a breach. There are some
exceptions to notification obligations. For example, if a notification could
prejudice a police operation or breach legal secrecy obligations. There is
also an exception if an entity “can determine with a high degree of
confidence that it has taken action to remediate the harm arising from an
eligible data breach before that harm has occurred,” Keenan said. In
addition, an organisation can apply to the Australian Information
Commissioner for an exemption, either altogether or for a specific period.
The Information Commissioner will have the power to investigate
non-compliance with scheme and potentially apply for civil penalties to be
levied. The bill has undergone some changes since the exposure draft, for
example changing “serious data breach” to “eligible data breach”. Under the
current version of the bill, a data breach is defined as unauthorised access
to, or unauthorised disclosure of, personal information about one or more
individuals. In addition, a data breach occurs when personal information is
lost in circumstances that are likely to give rise to unauthorised access or
unauthorised disclosure. Serious harm, the bill’s explanatory memorandum
states, could include serious physical, psychological, emotional, economic
and financial harm, as well as serious harm to reputation and other forms of
serious harm that a reasonable person in the entity’s position would identify
as a possible outcome of the data breach. To give rise to an eligible data
breach a reasonable person would need to be satisfied that the risk of
serious harm occurring is more probable than not, the explanatory memorandum
states. The bill outlines a list of relevant matters to help determine
whether that is the case. “It would not be appropriate for minor breaches to
be notified because of the administrative burden that may place on entities,
the risk of ‘notification fatigue’ on the part of individuals, and the lack
of utility where notification does not facilitate harm mitigation,” the
explanatory memorandum states. From http://www.computerworld.com.au 10/19/2016 Australian
Electoral Commission Wants Money to Fix Ageing IT Systems The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has
warmed its existing IT systems are nearing the end of their life and that it
needs money to have them updated. In a parliamentary submission, Inquiry into
the conduct of the 2016 federal election and matters related thereto,
Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers raised concerns about the AEC's current
staffing model, noting that the number of staff has gone unchanged since
1984, despite the growing pool of voters. "I believe the temporary
staffing model and the AEC's election and roll management IT systems are at
the end of their useful life," Rogers wrote in his submission to the
Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. "As a result, much of the
delivery of elections and the data for monitoring and reporting on that
delivery is reliant on human intervention and manual processes." Rogers
explained that the extra money given to the commission after a 2011 review
has been eroded and the AEC is yet again in a position where it cannot invest
in new systems or staffing changes. "The IT systems, which have been built over
a long period of time, are not able to be easily integrated with contemporary
mobile platforms and in many cases, will not be supported by vendors in
future," he added. Pointing to the electoral system in place in the
Australian Capital Territory, Rogers said he recently saw how the territory's
system worked during its October election, enabling the monitoring of
activity and ballot stock at every polling place in real-time. "While
the AEC faces additional issues of scale, geographical dispersion, and
internet access, having the financial capacity to implement such a system
would be a significant contribution in ensuring smooth-running elections,"
Rogers said. The AEC is in the midst of carrying out its own internal
feedback, evaluation, and improvement process, which Rogers expects will feed
into the continuous improvement of its planning and procedures. The AEC said
it is currently looking into more modern and efficient delivery methods of
the multi‑part, paper‑based election system, which Rogers said may include
further automation, investment in IT systems to allow for upgrade or
replacement, and cross‑system integration "The AEC notes the legislative and financial
constraints that have so far prevented the AEC from trialling or investing in
possible solutions in these areas, and is committed to working with the
relevant stakeholders, including the Department of Finance and Government, to
develop realistic, appropriate solutions for the future," the submission
said. Supporting electronic voting in its own submission to the committee,
Australia Post said that it is prepared to be an advocate for the cause.
Pointing to research the postal service commissioned, Australia Post said
that 47 percent of eligible voters were surprised that electronic voting was
not already available and that 26 percent expect electronic voting to be
available by the next federal election. "Australia Post stands ready to
play a key role as a trusted partner in the expansion of electronic voting in
Australia," it said in its submission. "Australia Post already
supports the Australian Electoral Commission and the various state and
territory based electoral bodies in their role as custodian of the electoral
process and in their drive to enrol voters and ensure participation in the
electoral process. "Our digital design and build capabilities,
digital -- and physical -- identity capabilities, and an unparalleled
physical network can all be leveraged in the development and provision of
electronic voting." The government organisation conceded in its
submission, however, that it feels electronic voting will not replace
traditional voting methods and said it could well be a complementary method.
In August, Australia Post told the Victorian Electoral Matters Committee it
was looking to move into the business of running elections, and plans to use
the blockchain as a central pillar of its plan. The idea of electronic voting
was discussed at length earlier this year, with Prime Minister Malcolm
Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten both suggesting a change to
electronic voting after the federal election. "We're a grown up
democracy, it shouldn't be taking eight days to find out who's won and who's
lost," Shorten said while conceding the election, a week after polls
closed. "I take nothing away from the professionalism of the Australian
Electoral Commission, but it's the 21st century." Previously, former chair of the electoral committee
Tony Smith said he had considered electronic voting in detail but had changed
his mind to oppose it. "Australia is not in a position to introduce any
large-scale system of electronic voting in the near future without
catastrophically compromising our electoral integrity," the Liberal MP,
who is now Speaker, said at the time. In New South Wales, electronic voting
already exists, with iVote being used at the last two state elections. Last
year, around 19,000 people voted using the NSW system before an error was
spotted that had removed the group voting boxes for the Outdoor Recreation
Party and the Animal Liberation Party. "There was no fault on the
computer systems per se; it was a human error in data entry," New South
Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC) CIO Ian Brightwell told ZDNet at the time.
"Unfortunately, at the time of going live, we didn't have an opportunity
to view the ballot paper." A month prior, a pair of security researchers
found the analytics service used by iVote left voters vulnerable to having
their ballots changed, as well as having the iVote site open to the FREAK
attack. However, the NSWEC said the researchers' claims were overstated. From http://www.zdnet.com
11/04/2016 Government
Launches Facial Verification System The first phase of the government’s new Face
Verification Service (FVS) is now live, justice minister Michael Keenan has
announced. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian
Federal Police now have access to citizenship images held by the Department
of Immigration and Border Protection, with the government planning to expand
both the number of agencies able to use the FVS and the types of image
accessible through the system. Keenan said that visa, passport and driver
licence photos will be added to the FVS, which is intended to make it easier
for agencies to share imagery between discrete systems in order to verify
identity. A Face Identification Service (FIS) to identify unknown individuals
is planned to commence operations next year. The minister said that access to
the FIS will be “restricted to a limited number of users in specialist
areas.” The government today also launched its third report assessing the
cost to Australia of identity theft. Identity crime costs Australia $2.6
billion every year, according to the report, including direct and indirect
losses and the costs of preventing and responding to identity theft. Around
4-5 per cent of Australians are believed to experience a financial loss from
identity crime each year, the report said. From http://www.computerworld.com.au 11/16/2016 NEW
ZEALAND: Gov’t Seeks Input for Second Foray into Open Government The State Services Commission, the lead agency in
delivering New Zealand's commitments to the International Open Government Partnership
(OGP) is seek public comment on its final OGP Self-assessment Report for
progress on delivering on New Zealand’s first National Action Plan 2014-2016.
It is the second call this month from the government for public comment on
New Zealand’s participation in open government initiatives. According to
State Services Commission’s web site, it has commissioned engage2, an
Australian company that designs and manages community and stakeholder
engagement strategies for governments, to “engage with the public so that we
can jointly develop an action plan for New Zealand.” The engagement process
is underway so take the opportunity to participate.” It is seeking comment by
25 September. This is an international open government initiative separate
from the International Open Data Charter. On 5 September, Land Information
Minister Louise Upston issued a call for public input on whether New Zealand
should adopt the charter or develop its own framework suited to its
requirements. She made no mention of the separate initiative to join the Open
Government Partnership. The Open Government Partnership is, according to
its web site, “a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete
commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight
corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.” It is
overseen by a Steering Committee including representatives of governments and
civil society organizations. It was launched in 2011 when the eight founding
governments (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South
Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States) endorsed the Open
Government Declaration, and announced their country action plans. Since 2011,
a further 62 additional governments to join the Partnership. The Open Data
Charter was signed by the leaders of the G8 nations in 2013. To date only 14
national governments have signed up to it. From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 09/16/ 2016 Transforming
Government Through 'As-a-Service' Model When it comes to ICT provisioning, the New
Zealand government is a leader in adopting the As-a-Service (aaS) model. The
transition to As-a-Service began nearly 20 years ago and today a host of ICT
products and services are available, shared building blocks which government
agencies can adopt to improve service delivery. Some of these include
Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Telecommunications-as-a-Service, enterprise
content management services, IT security services, a secure login service,
website development and hosting platforms, shared workspaces and cloud-based
productivity tools. eGov Innovation speaks with Ron Stuart, Manager
Government ICT Supply Strategy at the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA),
to discuss New Zealand’s transformation of government ICT through aaS. Tell us about the As-a-Service (aaS) model
provided by DIA. How does it work and how is it transforming ICT in the New
Zealand government? The New Zealand Government's move to As-a-Service
began nearly 20 years ago and has been accelerating since 2012 when
Infrastructure-as-a-Service arrangements were established with three onshore
providers of storage and utility compute capability. Since then, a number of
additional aaS capabilities have been established to move supply capabilities
to be outcome focussed rather than on-premise legacy environments. This has
transformed government by making common many of the underpinning capabilities
consumed by government agencies. In the past, ICT provisioning was focussed on
design-build-operate legacy environments for each individual agency. There
was limited collaboration between agencies and no supply leverage. With the
aaS model, New Zealand government agencies are able to: -Access a pool of shared ICT resource
capabilities that have been negotiated on a pan government basis -Buy on demand on a subscription basis -Pay only for what they need, when they need it -Procure capability without the burden of
ownership and maintenance What benefits and cost savings has the aaS model
brought about? Significant value and benefit has been achieved
in terms of establishing future environments and shifting legacy systems into
As-a-Service. But this shift has not been cost free or able to fully realise
cashable savings. The New Zealand Government goal has been to sustainably
reduce the cost of ICT by $100m per year by 2017 and this has been largely
achieved – but as a reduction in the increasing cost of ICT which is
significantly increasing overall as a result of the impact of technology on
all parts of government delivery. New Zealand government agencies are able to
achieve the following benefits: - Cost savings through economies of scale - Removes the need for each agency to tender
services and run costly procurement processes - Agencies can focus on creating better services rather
than having to worry about owning, operating and maintaining IT - Allow greater integration and collaboration
between agencies What are some challenges encountered in the
process of ICT transformation and how do you overcome them? ICT transformation is about technology, people
and process but is mainly about people. The movement towards outcome focus
rather than technology (design, build, operate) has been challenging from
many perspectives – investment cycles, opex/capex, operating models, procurement,
capability and fear of change. The role of technologists is changing rapidly
with the emerging role being much more focussed on supporting business to
achieve citizen outcomes rather than on the technology itself. What strategies and best practices would you
recommend for governments looking to transition to aaS? Transition takes time and it requires engagement
with all parts of government to understand the role that technology and
service delivery plays in delivering outcomes to citizens. It requires vision
and collaboration. The culture of the environment needs significant
consideration. What we have learned about our government’s transition to aaS
is that our society, our environment and culture is both the primary enabler
of change and an impediment to change. An analysis of New Zealand’s
environment identifies that we are a small Pacific Island nation and that we
are a consumer of both global capability and of local innovation. This means
that we needed to think outside of our geophysical boundaries to understand
both jurisdiction and security risks, and after much debate we have adjusted
our policy settings appropriately. The acceptance that security can be
enhanced in certain areas via off-shore hosting and service delivery requires
a change in consumption thinking and a programme has been established to
enable this, components of which are: -Requiring agencies to have a public cloud
services plan -Change perceptions of the risk profile for
public cloud -Enable agencies to transition their ICT operating
models -Lift the capability of cloud practitioners -Streamline security certification for public
cloud services -Modernise commercial frameworks (including
development of a public cloud ICT marketplace) We have also positioned New Zealand very strongly
with global suppliers as a place where the government is prepared to innovate
in the delivery of cloud services. This has created significant value for
both government and the suppliers. What strategies and best practices would you
recommend for governments looking to drive cloud adoption? Strategies and best practices are contextual to
the environment and society in which you exist. New Zealand, as a small
sparsely populated country, realised that major investment in data centres
and capability within New Zealand by global suppliers was highly unlikely.
This realisation meant that we created an offshore hosting strategy to
support the cloud-first strategy. This also meant that we offered global
suppliers the opportunity to innovate and test opportunities within the New
Zealand environment – this has led to New Zealand being regarded as a
globally leading and innovative environment. What are some of DIA's future plans moving
forward? We are testing and preparing to implement an ICT
marketplace where New Zealand Government agencies will be able to procure
commodity/subscription based public cloud products. We are also investigating
the creation of an integrator/resource marketplace where qualified and
contracted capability can be sourced. From http://www.enterpriseinnovation.net
09/20/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
EUROPE: Companies Feel Unprepared for EU Data
Protection Rules A vast majority (82%) of all business and IT
professionals responsible for data protection are concerned about compliance
with the European Union’s GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation,
saying they expect to be insufficiently prepared when the regulation goes
into effect in April 2018. The comes from a survey by Dimensional Research
for Dell among business and IT professionals in the US, Asia-Pacific and
Europe. Companies in the Benelux especially are not sufficiently versed in
the consequences of the new privacy regulation.Among all respondents, more
than 80 percent say they have little or no knowledge of the GDPR. Around 70
percent say either that their company is not prepared or that they are not
sure about preparedness. Only 3 percent say their company has a plan.Within
Europe, German participants indicate they feel most prepared (44 percent);
the percentage goes to 26 percent for those in the UK. Outside Europe, 75
percent say they are not prepared or do not know whether they are prepared
for the law.Most companies (97%) do not have a plan for the introduction of
the data regulation in 2018 while 79 percent say they do not know if their
organisation would face a fine if the law were to go into effect this
year.Less than half of respondents feel sufficiently prepared for the
security procedures required by the GDPR. Only 21 percent believe that their
organisation is effectively prepared for access governance, an important
security aspect in the law. More than 90 percent say that their existing
security practices will not meet the new requirements. More than 80 percent
do say their email security is well prepared.The survey was conducted in the
US, Canada, Asia Pacific (Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and India), the UK,
Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain and Poland. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 10/14/2016 Information and communication technologies (ICTs)
continue to conquer countries all around the world, as more people are
getting connected worldwide. The ICT uptake is growing consistently, and
Belarus is not an exception.The growth of IT services export, increase in IT
infrastructure support, and improvement of IT industry support by government
are outlined as the latest ITO trends in Belarus.According to the report
Measuring the Information Society 2015, published by the International
Telecommunications Union, Belarus is ranked 36th among 167 countries on the
ICT development index (IDI). IDI is a composite index that covers access to
ICTs, the use of ICT, and ICT skills. With an IDI value of 7.18, Belarus is
the highest ranked country in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
regional group while leaving behind the neighbouring EU states as well,
including Latvia (37th), Lithuania (40th), and Poland (44th).Since 2010, the
absolute IDI figure of Belarus has risen from 5.30 to 7.18. For a number of
consecutive years, Belarus is the only country from the CIS region recognized
as one of The Most Dynamic Countries. Belarus is also the only country in the
region within the highest quartile of global rankings. In addition, Belarus
is ranked 41st by the ICT price basket performing better than numerous EU
states, including Slovenia (49th),Slovakia (51st), Czech Republic (52th),
Poland (53rd), Malta (54th), Estonia (55th), Portugal (56th), Spain (57th),
Croatia (66th), Romania (69th), and Hungary (74th). With its IDI skills
sub–index of 9.75, Belarus showed one of the world's best results being
ranked as #4 in 2015. Online media and internet development in Belarus
are impressive with regard to its scale and speed being the fastest growing
in Europe. In 1994, the first website appeared in the BY domain. As of May
2015, the number of websites within the BY. domain was estimated as 120,000.
In 2015, the volume of the Belarusian web development market approached $5
million. According to the latest Gemius research, the Belarusian internet
audience exceeds 5 million people. Roughly, one in four Belarusians buys
goods via Internet and uses the web for training, one in five uses the web to
execute financial transactions.Continually improving its ICT infrastructure,
refining higher ICT education, and implementing innovative ICT projects,
Belarus strives to become a genuine e-country.In terms of IT infrastructure,
Belarus has made a significant progress as well. In its E-Government Survey
2016, the United Nations ranked Belarus # 49 globally among 193 countries and
placed the country into the group with high e-government development index
(EGDI). The Global Innovation Index 2015 (GII)
co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO) ranks Belarus as #79 among 128 countries on its
global innovation index scale. The strengths indicated to show the country’s
progress in innovation include institutions, knowledge & technology
outputs, human capital & research, business sophistication, and
infrastructure.On the pan-European scale, the lack of ICT talents and slow
time to market (TTM) are viewed as some of the key factors that influence
corporate sourcing decisions. The European Commission (EC) says the demand
for new information and communications technology (ICT) sector jobs is up to
120,000 a year in Europe, which EC Digital Single Market Chief Andrus Ansip
says could lead to a shortage of more than 800,000 skilled ICT workers
throughout the continent by 2020. To cope with quickly growing demand for
skilled ICT resources, reduce costs, focus on business development, and speed
up TTM, the EU companies today are more likely to seek for external
assistance from outside their home countries. At that, one of the main trends
is to replace short-term cost savings by longer-term IT management strategic
partnerships with neashore IT service providers. According to the Ministry of Statistics of
Belarus, computer and IT services is the third largest service sector in the
country, following transport and construction services. In addition, the
share of IT services is the second in the total exports of services,
following transport services.Since 2012, Gartner has
been including Belarus in the top 30 locations for offshore services. In
2016, IBA Group submitted Belarus for the European Outsourcing Association
(EOA) Awards and was announced a finalist in the Offshoring Destination of
the Year category.In its Analysis of Belarus as an Offshoring Destination,
Gartner said:“A strong education system and cost-competitive salaries, together
with a reasonably strong workforce, have enabled Belarus to develop a mature
IT outsourcing industry, supporting the country as an alternative destination
for offshore activities, especially software development.” From http://development.by/ 09/17/2016 GERMANY: Digital Economic Index Continues to Grow The German Digital Economic Index has grown from
49 index points in 2015 to 55 index points this year, according to the annual
Monitoring-Report Wirtschaft DIGITAL report unveiled by the German Federal
Ministry for Economics and Energy (BMWI). The study is done by market
researchers TNS Infratest and ZEW and first time includes indexes per company
size. This shows that the digitalization index for SME stands at 50, lower 55
for one person companies or 53 for large companies. For the next five years,
the index is expected to grow to 58 index points. Other findings include that
51 percent of the companies has deployed a form of M2M/IoT service, 70
percent of all companies has added digitalization to its company strategy compared
with 64 percent in 2015 and the percentage of companies generating more than
60 percent of the revenues digitally has grown from 27 percent to 43 percent.
The index shows a clear difference between branches with ICT and
knowledge-based companies having more than 70 index points, while healthcare
and other manufacturing companies score less than 40 points. In between are
the so-called average branches including finance, trading, utilities, machine
manufacturing, chemical/pharmaceutical industry, transportation and logistics
industry and shipping industry. In 2021, the aforementioned division will
still be the same, although the knowledge-based companies are expected to
have more index points that the ICT companies. Problems to increase the
digitalization come mostly from below par broadband for 40 percent of
companies and high investment costs for 38 percent. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 10/21/2016 RUSSIA:
Mobile Payments: Offered by Many, but Still in Its Infancy Operator Megafon has recently announced a contactless
payment card linked to a subscriber’s mobile phone balance, instead of to a
bank account. Megafon is far from the only player in a busy mobile payments
scene in Russia. As in many other countries, mobile operators compete with
banks, credit card issuers and third parties for mobile payment
customers.Russia is a vast country with a large population of around 145
million people. The mobile penetration amounts to 176 percent, but this masks
the fact that many people use multiple Sims. It counts four major telecom
operators (MTS, Vimpelcom, Megafon, Tele2) and some smaller ones (such as
Rostelecom and Smarts Group). Statista estimates that by the end of 2016
there will be around 60 million smartphone users in Russia, a penetration of
about 24 percent. Megafon active mobile payment player The Megafon card enables to pay from a handset
balance in all locations where payments using MastarCard bank cards are
accepted. At the moment, residents of the city and region of Moscow, the
cities of St Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Tver, Kaliningrad, Murmansk, Archangel
and Vologda can activate the service at the operator's branded shops. The
option will become available across the country from 1 October. The card has
been launched in cooperation with bank Round. The most interesting feature of
the card is that users of the service have been offered an 8 percent interest
rate for funds in the balance. They also receive a 10 percent cash-back when
paying in some locations, and can transfer money without commission fee across
the country. Megafon not only operator to offer one or more
forms of mobile payment. MTS started a partnership with Mastercard in 2012
for its Paypass technology, offering its customers the mobile wallet
function. Around 10 million subscribers used Megafon mobile payment services
in 2015. Customers can use the services to pay for utilities, internet,
parking, and purchases at online shops. MTS has recently extended its mobile
payment offerings by launching payments via SMS, thereby enabling feature phone
users to also make us of mobile payments. This is a logical step in a country
where the majority of mobile phone users still have a feature phone, although
in 2015 smartphone sales already outstripped feature phone sales. The
penetration of smartphones will therefore continue to increase in the coming
years Megafon is an active player in the mobile payment
field as it also cooperates with competitor Vimpelcom and Gemalto on NFC
based mobile ticketing for public transport in Moscow. With the 'Troika'
transport card application downloaded travelers can board metro trains, trams
and buses across the Russian capital with simply a tap of the handset on a
contactless reader. Megafon and
Vimpelcom are supplying UpTeq Multi-Tenant NFC SIM to their subscribers free
of charge. Tickets can be purchased directly via the Troika application, with
payment debited automatically from the user's regular mobile phone
balance.Vimpelcom entered the field with their universal payment system
called Ruru in partnership with Alfa Bank in June 2011. Customers can use
their Vimpelcom phone credit, a Visa or Mastercard bank card. Vimpelcom has
since opened up this system to subscribers of MTS, Megafon and Tele2. Tele2 Russia intensified its partnership with
payment system QiWi in May 2016, the Visa QiWi wallet. Subscribers of the
operator can pay for goods and services from numerous suppliers from their
mobile phone balance. Tele2 had previously expanded its cooperation with QiWi
in 2013, when it allowed customers to top up the balance of the Visa QiWi
wallet from their mobile credit. Tele2 had already launched mobile payments,
the Tele2 Wallet, on the Mobi platform in 2011, using SMS or USSD. NFC taking off According to Russian business daily Vedomosti NFC
has started to take off in Russia. In late 2015, just 20% of the smartphones
connected to MTS integrated this technology (up from 14% in 2014); but the
proportion could jump to one third next year, according to MTS representative
Dmitry Solodovnikov. In 2017, contactless transactions in Russia will amount
to 50 billion rubles (approximately EUR 686 million at the current exchange
rate), Solodovnikov believes.Many other mobile payment initiatives are taking
place in Russia as well. For example, internet search engine Yandex has its Yandex
Money app, which allows users to pay for goods and services and withdraw cash
at ATMs via their NFC smartphones. SPSR Express, a delivery service, added a
payment function to their mobile application in January 2016, enabling their
1,500 couriers to accept mobile payments. Although many banks have their own mobile banking
app, those are limited to banking services such as money transfers and cannot
be used for payment of goods or services.According to AC&M Consulting the
Russian mobile payments market grew by 37 percent in 2015, to RUB 70.4
billion (EUR 0.96 billion). This is still only a small portion of the total
ecommerce market, which ecommercenews.eu said stood at RUB 650 billion in
2015. With the major mobile operators offering mobile payment as well as
several third parties and a rising smartphone penetration we expect the
mobile payment industry in Russia to continue to grow in the coming years. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/05/2016 UK:
Consumers Favor Privacy Over Convenience An overwhelming majority of UK consumers favor
privacy over sharing their data to improve convenience, according to a new
study from KPMG.The global consultancy polled 7,000 consumers in 24 countries
worldwide to better understand attitudes to data security and privacy.In the
UK, the balance between privacy and convenience appeared to come down in
favor of the former, with 60% of respondents seriously concerned about the
way companies handle and use their personal information and a third feeling
they have no control over it at all.Many found it “creepy” the way apps
access personal data (67%); and adverts (77%) and billboards (85%) that can
be personalized based on purchasing behavior.However, where there’s a genuine
use case – such as car tracking devices for the emergency services (78%) and
smart meters (66%) – most were happy about sharing data.Interestingly, the
report also found that healthcare providers and banks were most trusted with
consumers’ data, while social media and gaming companies were branded least
trustworthy.This is despite the NHS accounting for by far the majority of
data breach incidents reported to the ICO in the last quarter (43%). Financial institutions fared better (6%),
although recent research from compliance firm Neopay found millennials more trusting
of tech companies like Apple to handle their money than banks.“Our research
suggests that millennials are no different to gen X when it comes to this,
but what is clear that the privacy expectations do differ across the world
and between different people. Privacy can enable trust but getting it wrong
can completely destroy it,” KPMG global privacy lead, Mark Thompson told
Infosecurity.“Organizations need to recognize the
privacy expectations of customers and the need to meet these expectations is
critical. Increasing transparency is hugely important to creating a trusted
relationship. Thus it’s paramount that businesses make sure they keep their
promises about how personal data will be collected, used, retained, disclosed
and destroyed.” From http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/ 11/04/2016 LATIN
AMERICA: BRAZIL - E-commerce Market Will Be Worth BRL 56 bln in 2016 The e-commerce market in Brazil is forecast to
reach revenues this year at BRL 56 billion, up 18 percent from the year
before, according to the Brazilian Electronic Commerce Association
(ABComm).The total number of orders in virtual shops is expected to hit 190.9
million. Growth was mainly attributed to the convenience of online
consumption, such as low prices and promotions. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/19/2016 NORTH
AMERICA: CANADA - Small Company Looks to Scale Big with Cloud Storage Some companies need enterprise-grade storage even
when they are small startups, but it can be a challenge to balance performance
and cost.That’s the situation Montreal-based BusinessMobileSolutions.ca found
itself. Initially the firm turned to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to quickly and
easily scale its storage as its customer base grew. However, AWS became
insufficient when the company had specific requirements, realizing it had to
compliment that service with something more
robust.BusinessMobileSolutions.ca’s main application is CosmosSync, a mobile
collaboration tool used extensively by companies in the automotive industry,
including repair shops and rental car agencies, to document status of cars
brought into their facility and share that information later with someone
else. For example, a body repair shop might have to share data with an
insurance company. CosmosSync enables users to walk around the shop
using their smart phone and yet still store, synch and collaborate with the
team.The tool also enables users to upload a great deal of content, including
photos and video. Body shop owners, for example, can take a tremendous number
of photos of cars, and also retain documents about their repair, all of which
are uploaded to a server to be stored and later shared with insurers for
payment approvals.Company CTO Thomas Bouvrette was involved in defining the
cloud storage requirements about two years ago, and initially trialed AWS’ S3
storage for this application. “AWS was our first choice because of the
price,” he said. “They were big and could scale as we scale.”However, AWS
started to show some limitations as BusinessMobileSolutions.ca grew and
evolved. For example, the company has to be able to rename folders and alter
the base structure, which AWS didn’t easily support. So Bouvrette began to
look for other options. Ultimately, the firm chose Zadara Storage, which
it now uses in combination with its AWS compute resources. It now has an
estimated 6TB of storage from Zadara hosted at an Equinix data centre, with
backup to AWS S3 set up as an add-on service for another layer of redundancy.
The Zadara resources are collocated from nearby AWS data centres via
high-speed fiber lines to ensure extremely low latency and easy
scalability.Bouvrette manages his storage via an online management interface
from which he can change storage levels, media, controllers and any
additional specialized features, such as Docker container support, on the
fly. “Zadara is easy to maintain on our side.”The Zadara storage the company
uses is also dedicated to BusinessMobileSolutions.ca and not shared with
anyone else, providing it with isolated resources and no “noisy neighbor”
problems that can happen when other tenants impact service levels. And
similar to AWS, it is only billed for the storage that is consumed. Zadara
takes care of all provisioning, operation, maintenance and upgrades. For a small organization, this model is a
no-brainer, but Bouvrette was looking for additional functionality common to
enterprise. Zadara’s ability to handle data snapshots, a typical
enterprise-grade storage requirement for traditional on-premise storage gear
but not often found for cloud storage deployment, was pivotal for
BusinessMobileSolutions.ca. For example, customers sometimes accidentally
delete their data or find they have some other on-site data corruption issue.
Bouvrette was able to create rules in Zadara to capture a snapshot every hour
so restoration is a breeze if a CoscmosSync customer calls in a panic to
restore their data. From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 10/05/2016 BC
Rural Dividend Funds over $8 Million in Projects The B.C. government is distributing over $8.16
million in new grants to help rural communities diversify and strengthen
their economies Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
Steve Thomson and Parliamentary Secretary Donna Barnett announced today.In
the first intake of the three-year $75 million BC Rural Dividend, funding is
being awarded to 73 local governments, First Nations and not-for-profit
organizations around the province for single and partnership projects.A total
of 118 single (up to $100,000) and partnership (up to $500,000) project
applications were received in the first intake.Successful projects range from
supporting development of a value-added agricultural sector in Cranbrook, to
a project in Williams Lake that supports youth and seniors’ entrepreneurs,
and a bioenergy system for the Kwadacha Nation in remote Fort Ware.Last month
a total of $464,294 in project development grants were awarded to develop
strong single applicant, or partnerships projects, for future intakes. The second intake of the BC Rural Dividend is now
open and will close at midnight Oct. 31, 2016. Application forms can be
filled out online and are available at: www.gov.bc.ca/ruraldividend.As part of
a continuous improvement process, the program’s eligibility requirements were
reviewed over the summer months. The updated BC Rural Dividend Program Guide
is now available online and anyone wishing to apply to the second intake can
review the changes at the BC Rural Dividend web site.The Province also
released its progress report which highlights actions taken since the 2014
rural development strategy was released. The report, Accelerating Success for
British Columbia’s Rural Communities, also contains a map of all the recent
successful proponents. The report is available online at: http://ow.ly/2bKl304Vk9H From https://news.gov.bc.ca/ 10/07/2016 Province
Provides $100,000 to Help Women in Small Business Throughout B.C. Premier Christy Clark announced today $100,000 in
provincial funding for the Women’s Enterprise Centre (WEC) to continue and
expand its mentoring programs, helping women throughout British Columbia
learn indispensable business skills.The announcement was made today at We for
She: Championing the Next Generation, one of North America’s largest
gathering of women’s organizations, companies, experts, business leaders,
advocates and young women with the goal to advance gender equality and grow
the provincial economy by giving students and young women a greater
understanding of their career options and potential, expanding their
confidence in what they can achieve, and giving them a chance to meet dynamic
and successful role models. WEC will provide three different mentoring
formats to ensure accessibility and relevance throughout the province that
include: - Five new one-to-one mentors; - Peer mentoring that will include 40 new women
mentees; and - Deliver six mentor advisory forums to 300 more
participants. In addition, WEC is partnering with the Certified
Professional Accountants of BC to develop and deliver five peer mentoring
groups in five separate communities of the province with the goal of
increasing women business owner’s financial literacy. A minimum of 30 small
business owners will get six months of peer mentoring that will help them
better understand financial statements, cash flows, the impact of price
changes on overall profitability, and more. With the financial support from the Province of
B.C., WEC has been able to offer a mentoring program to women in the early
stages of their business since 2007. This year’s funding comes from a
partnership between the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism, and Skills Training
(JTST), which is contributing $50,000, and the Ministry of Small Business and
Red Tape Reduction (SBRT), which is contributing the remaining $50,000. The
program will run from Nov. 1, 2016, through Oct. 31, 2017. From https://news.gov.bc.ca/ 10/14/2016 Data-driven
Defence Will Best Protect Enterprises, Says Expert Tunnel vision is a phrase that describes looking
too narrowly at a problem. To use a cliché, you don’t see the forest for the
trees.Infosec pros suffer from it as well, Roger Grimes, principal security
architect in Microsoft’s information security and risk management practice,
said at this month’s SecTor cyber security conference in Toronto.Often all
they see is a myriad of threats in front of them every day instead of
concentrating on the ones that are most likely to pierce defences.In short,
he argues that what CISOs need to do is create a data-driven defence.After
the conference we caught up with Grimes and asked him to expand.“I get hired
to do penetration testing and in the last 20 years I’ve broken in in an hour
or less, except for one company that took me three hours.” he said – and he
considers himself an average attacker .”In attacking I’m not that great, but
I can break into anything. The reason why is they just don’t do the simple
things they should do – the stuff they’ve been told to do for 30 years:
Patch, and don’t get tricked into running things they shouldn’t.” “Most companies for one reason or another really
aren’t trying to defend against the right things. The vast majority of
corporations could significantly decrease the chance of attacks against their
companies by better patching just a few programs and (with the savings)
giving their employees better anti social engineering training. Yet companies
spend millions of dollars on things that are absolutely not going to work
because they don’t fix the two biggest elephants in the room:” Awareness
training and patching most commonly exploited programs.These he says include
Java, Adobe Reader, Acrobat and Flash. These days, he adds – other than
browser plug ins — Windows isn’t among the top 10 exploits.It’s true exploits
change over time, Grimes says, but how infosec teams respond
shouldn’t.Defenders should regularly monitor logs to determine the
organization’s biggest threats, and then go after them. On average an organization faces 13 to 15 new
threats a day, he figures, or 5,000 new threats a year. But only five of them
are really being used to breach the network. Log and other data should show
that. If the main threat is Java, the CISO could have a team focusing or
mitigating it. “Instead, I go to a company and tell them, ‘You’ve got to
patch your Java, and I go back the next year and it’s still not patched.”
He’s told to patch the issue would cause operational issues.“I
don’t think it’s communicated to the CIO and the board of directors they’ve
identified the number one problem that if it was solved would eliminate the
most risk – but we’re not really doing anything about it. “That conversation
doesn’t happen because nobody’s even clear about what the number one problem
is. They just see all the problems and try to fix all the problems, and in
the process very little gets done.” Grimes says in companies
he visits two thing could eliminate up to 90 per cent of their risk. “If you
don’t fix the two or three things that are your biggest risk, everything else
the company does is not going to make them safer.”“Easily” the biggest bang
for the security buck is awareness training,” he adds. If the organization
does a half an hour a year training at lest double it. “At Microsoft we had
some issues and found if we did two to four hours a year it significantly
reduced the chances of our employees being socially engineered.”Data is king
in this fight, he told the SecTor audience – if an issue isn’t being measured
it can’t be controlled. CISOs have to figure out the top root causes and
threats and work from there.“You need to identifywhat your current, historic
and most likely future threats are, then you figure out all the detection
tools you have and how they could detect those threats, and then figure out
the gaps,” Grimes said in the interview.“If you’re worried about a worm,
figure out how that it’s getting into your environment, then how to stop it,
because if you’re not working on the root cause of how the big things get
into your environment you’re never going to defeat it.” From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 10/25/2016 4
Digital Transformation Lessons Businesses Can Learn from Creatives An acclaimed photojournalist, an up-and-coming
fashion designer, a sculptor of elaborately-shaped colourful nets that
stretch between buildings, and an iconic U.S. filmmaker might not sound like
typical digital transformation advisors, but creating new projects despite
the odds stacked against them has given each one more insight than you might
think.Adobe Systems Inc. certainly appeared to believe the 10,000 marketers,
designers, software engineers and other professionals who attended this
year’s Adobe Max could learn a thing or two from fashion designer Zac Posen,
sculptor Janet Echelman, photojournalist Lynsey Addario, and Pulp Fiction
director Quentin Tarantino when it invited the quartet to speak at its
conference’s day-two keynote on Nov. 3.One by one, each guest was invited to
the stage by Adobe CMO Ann Lewnes, who interviewed Posen and Tarantino about
their changing creative processes and the effects technology has had on their
work, while ceding control to Echelman and Addario during their respective
presentations.The result: four lessons your company can use whether it’s in
the middle of a digital or creative transformation or not. Recognize what you’re getting into, and why Before his 1992 breakthrough, Reservoir Dogs, was
released, Tarantino famously spent years working in a southern California
video store while writing screenplays and shopping them around to studios
(two of them, True Romance and Natural Born Killers, were eventually
produced).Less well known is the three years and $3000 he spent shooting a
much lower-budget 16-mm film (presumably My Best Friend’s Birthday, though he
didn’t specify the title) that today, he admitted, he would be able to shoot
without borrowing someone’s camera – and it would look better too.“Now that
technology has become more conducive, a kid in the projects can… make their
version of the 400 Blows… if they have the tenacity to take it all the way,”
he said. “And that’s available to them in a way that it was never available
to me.”However, just because it’s easier to produce a film doesn’t mean it
should necessarily be distributed, Tarantino said. Some ideas need more time
to percolate than others. “I know when something needs to sit in the
incubator,” he said, tapping his head. “And I know when it’s time for it to
come out.”Back when novice filmmakers needed to pitch every project producers
could act as filters, ensuring that anyone who survived was a reasonably
competent director, Tarantino said, a process which has since
disappeared.“Not every movie needs to be made. Not every movie should be
made,” he said, to applause. “I made a movie that did not need to be made. It
needed to made to teach me how to make a movie, but
no one ever needed to see the [expletive] thing.”Now think back to your own
digital transformation project. Do you really need to implement every facet?
Do you know what you’re getting into, and why? Be open to new ideas Janet Echelman didn’t set out to become a
sculptor. In fact, she’d been painting for a decade when she found herself
waiting in India for materials that never arrived, and was forced to cast
about for something new.“It was the most horrible situation I think I have
ever faced,” she told the Adobe Max audience. “Feeling like I had to deliver
and had nothing to make art with, I started looking at materials and… I
thought, ‘okay, I’m going to learn how to make bronze.’”Ten weeks later,
Edelman found herself with a dozen bronze sculptures of children the size of
her hands and a wailing wallet. Frustrated, she took a walk to the beach,
where she went for a swim and watched the fishermen remove the day’s catch
from their nets.“At that moment I was calculating in
my head, ‘If I want to make my bronze this big, how much is this going to
cost?’ I didn’t have enough money for the raw materials,” she said. “Then I
looked at the nets… and thought, ‘that’s a great way to make volumetric form
without having solid material.’ And so she began collaborating with the fishermen
on her first soft-material sculpture, which she called Wide Hips.“What I discovered was that the wind became a kind of
choreography, always moving and changing everything,” she said. “I didn’t set
out to be a sculptor of wind… I stumbled upon it… It completely mesmerized
me.”Since then Edelman’ sculptures, anchored by woven rope and built from a
fibreoptic material that lights up based on a variety of creative algorithms,
have found their way into Canada as well, with Vancouver receiving a
sculpture of its own in honour of the TED Conference’s 30th anniversary in
March 2014.In that particular installation’s case, Edelman collaborated with
Google to develop an app that allowed passersby to choose new colours using
their smartphones. Make sure creativity and technology are in sync Born in 1980, fashion designer Zac Posen has
never known a world without technology; yet he also told the Adobe Max crowd
that he believes “creativity is as important as sleeping and
eating.”“[Creativity and technology] don’t fight each other,” he said. “They
need to have that dialogue of synergy.”Posen’s most recent combination of
technology and creativity was a fibreoptic dress worn by actress Claire Danes
at this year’s Met Gala in May, which a model showed off to the audience’s
delight. Most importantly, never give up! The keynote’s biggest emotional wallop, by far,
came from veteran photojournalist Lynsey Addario, who since 2000 has
photographed conflicts and injustice in locales as far flung as Haiti, the
Republic of the Congo, Darfur, Iraq, and Afghanistan (both under the Taliban
and without).Leading the audience through some of her most harrowing stories,
each of them accompanied by photos ranging from triumphant to heartbreaking,
Addario described a career that has inspired, challenged, and frustrated her
– sometimes all at once, as when the former Life Magazine sent her to cover
the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2004, when it was one of the most dangerous
zones in the second Iraq War.Addario sent back photos of what turned out to
be so many wounded U.S. soldiers, army officials had to lay them, tile-like,
in the cargo area of a plane. After holding onto Addario’s photos for four months,
her contact at Life sent her an email saying, “I don’t think we can ever run
your pictures of wounded soldiers, because my editor thinks they’re too harsh
for the American people to see.”“Of course… I was furious and said, ‘how dare
you make that decision on behalf of the American people, and how dare you
send me into war if you don’t have the guts to publish my images,” Addario
said, to loud applause.In March 2011, Addario and four of her colleagues were
kidnapped in Libya by former leader Muammar Gaddafi’s armed forces, and
released after five days of horrendous treatment.“They pulled my laces out of
my shoes, tied my feet together, my arms together, and placed us in vehicles
tied up on the front line and sort of watched us and laughed as bombs and bullets
rained around us,” she said. “They kept us there for hours, they beat us
repeatedly over the course of the first three days, threatened us with
execution… and after six days we were transferred to Tripoli and
released.”And yet she keeps going back. Don’t let a similarly minor setback
deter you. From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 11/04/2016 What
Donald Trump’s Surprise Election Win Means for Canada’s Tech Sector In watching Donald Trump become the U.S. president-elect
after a long and divisive campaign that was full of vitriol and thin on
substance, Canada’s tech sector is holding its breath as it enters uncharted
waters in its relationship with the elephant to the south, and some industry
observers worry of impending disaster.After seeing Trump take a clear stance
against free trade and the concept of open borders for people, many in the
U.S. tech sector made a point to speak out against his policies. In an “open
letter from technology sector leaders on Donald Trump’s candidacy for
president” a long list of tech entrepreneurs – including the co-founder of
Flickr, CEO of Meetup, CEO of Box, vice-president of product at Twitter, the
co-founder of Reddit, and many more – slammed the Republican candidate’s ideas
as “a disaster for innovation.”Given that Trump admitted in his 1997 book
that he “didn’t even know how to turn on a computer,” it’s no surprise to see
the tech sector feels a disconnect. Free trade uncertainty biggest concern Now it seems that disaster is about to be
realized and it’s bound to seep across the border to Canada.The
president-elect’s desire for a more closed border could pose serious
challenges for Canadian tech, says Rory Capern, an experienced technology
executive based in Toronto. Capern is currently the managing director of
Twitter Canada, but makes it clear he’s not speaking on behalf of the company
about the U.S. election.“Canada’s tech sector has
seen progress by opening up our relationships with the U.S. market and the
U.S. tech industry,” he says. “To watch some of that progress get unwound by
the thickening of the border and limits of immigration in and out of the
country is a concern for me… there was talk of a physical wall across the
border in some cases.” Capern is referring to Trump’s early campaign
promise to build a wall along the border with Mexico and make Mexico pay for
it. While he didn’t focus much attention on Canada during the campaign, his
open disregard for free trade may leave some eager to construct one.What he
was saying sounded like the economic policies of centuries past, according to
Ian Lee, assistant professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton
University. Trump often spoke of wanting to boost exports while limiting
imports.“Trump is a mercantilist, and mercantilism
died 300 years ago,” Lee says. “He’s made clear he would put restrictions
around the border on stuff coming in, wherever the States would be
advantaged.”While Clinton spelled out her plans for the tech sector and an
innovation agenda in a lengthy “fact sheet” on her campaign website, Trump’s
website only posted a specific policy on cyber security in regards to the
tech sector. As a result, observers are left to guess on Trump’s approaches
based on speeches, media interviews, and his Twitter feed. From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 11/09/2016 CIX
Names This Year’s 20 Most Innovative Canadian Tech Companies Industry organization the Canadian Innovation
Exchange (CIX) announced its picks for this year’s 20 most innovative publicly
traded Canadian tech companies on Tuesday.CEOs and Founders from each of the
20 will be presenting at this year’s annual CIX Public Investor Day, which
will be held at Toronto’s MaRS incubator on Wednesday November 23, and
jointly presented both by the Information Exchange and small cap financial
information site Stockhouse.com.The companies were chosen by a selection
committee made up of technology experts and investors from across the
country.“It is great to see Canadian public companies driving innovation
across all technology sub sectors,” Justin Meiklem, Stockhouse’s
vice-president of marketing, said in a statement. “Canadian tech companies
are innovating in fintech, software, Internet, industrials, and cleantech,
and all of those are represented in this year’s CIX Top 20.” To narrow the list down to 20, the CIX selection
committee reviewed hundreds of company profiles, choosing the winners based
key factors including overall innovation, product/service offering, depth of
management, market opportunity, and business model.Now in its ninth year, the
Canadian Innovation Exchange’s annual showcase was created to honour Canada’s
most innovative publicly traded startups and small- and mid-size tech
companies.In its selection committee’s collective opinion, these are this
year’s 20 most innovative publicly traded Canadian tech companies, in
alphabetical order:AcuityAds Inc.: Toronto-based developers behind a machine
learning-based programmatic marketing platform that analyzes social data to
identify receptive audiences.Apivio Systems Inc.: Richmond, B.C.-based
developer of carrier-grade Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications
equipment and software, which it then markets and distributes on both an
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Original Design Manufacturer (ODM)
basis. Since 2002 the company has sold 5 million phones. Its company’s
largest market is presently South Korea, but its North American presence is
growing. BitRush Corp.: Toronto-based fintech focused on
funding, developing, and delivering cryptographic technologies and
blockchain-based solutions across North America and Europe.C-Com Satellite
Systems Inc.: Established in 1997, Ottawa-based C-Com Satellite Systems bills
itself as “a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of
commercial grade, fully motorized, auto-pointing mobile antennas for the
delivery of broadband Internet to remote locations.” Thus far more than 7000
units of its signature iNetVu product line have been deployed in over 100
countries.CHAR Technologies Ltd.: Toronto-based developers behind SulfaCHAR,
a targeted gas cleaning solution targeting the $3 billion (and growing) toxic
and corrosive hydrogen sulfide problem in the natural gas industry.CO2
Solutions Inc.: Founded in 2012, Quebec City-based CO2 Solutions’
intellectual property currently includes 47 issued and 39 pending patents
related to calcium-based carbon capture.Deveron UAS Ltd.: Toronto-based
providers of a full-service drone data solution for farmers.DIRTT
Environmental Solutions: Calgary-based manufacturers of 3D design,
configuration, and manufacturing software prefabricated interiors. dynaCERT Inc.: Toronto-based developer behind
electrolysis-based technology that generates hydrogen and oxygen on demand to
reduce the amount of carbon emissions generated by the portable generators
used in the rail, marine, oil and gas, and mining industries.Firan Technology
Group Corporation: Toronto-based manufacturer of printed circuit boards and
precision illuminated display systems for the telecom, medical, avionics,
military, and advanced test markets.HIT Technologies: The Vancouver-based
manufacturer of Hitcase, an extreme Otter Box that essentially turns your
iPhone into a GoPro.H-Source: Online marketplace for healthcare
professionals.MediaValet Inc.: Cloud-based digital asset management (DAM)
solution provider based in Vancouver.Memex Inc.: Burlington, Ont.-based
productivity solutions provider whose goal essentially appears to be adding
as many factory tools as possible to the Internet of Things (IoT). Nanotech Security: Vancouver-based advanced
security solutions developer and provider behind KolourOptik, a
nanotechnology platform aimed at the authentication, brand protection, and
anti-counterfeiting markets.Perk Inc.: Waterloo, Ont.-based developer whose
signature insights and intelligence solution, Perk IQ, allows brands to
measure performance and gather advertising attribution, brand impact, and
purchase behaviour data.Points Inc.: This Toronto-based corporation has
partnerships with more than 50 of the world’s largest and most popular
loyalty programs who take advantage of its “Points Loyalty Commerce Network”
to increase their currency distribution, drive member engagement, provide
relevant “earn and burn” opportunities, and integrate with app developers and
digital wallet operators.ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc.: Toronto-based biotech
company that discovers and develops precision therapeutics for the treatment
of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS). ProntoForms Corporation: Ottawa-based firm
specializing in digital field services solutions that allow company workers
to fill out estimates, proposals, work orders, invoices, timesheets,
inspection forms, or incident reports, or create their own.Symbility
Solutions Inc.: Cloud-based, mobile-enabled software provider for the
property and health industries. The Toronto-based firm also includes an
“intersectional” division that delivers “mobile and IoT product strategy,
design thinking, and engineering excellence for businesses that want to get
ahead.” From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 11/10/2016 U.S.:
Commerce Taps Big-data Development Partners The Commerce Department's National Technical
Information Service has selected 35 organizations to help turn oceans of raw
federal data into innovative services and capabilities.It's a big step for
the future of NTIS, an agency that pivoted to a new mission to survive.
Powerful legislators had wanted to shutter the agency, which was established
as a fee-for-service hub for printed technical information. That mission was
disrupted by the internet.In 2015, the agency announced a new focus on
government data and earlier this year named Census Bureau CTO Avi Bender to
lead the effort. NTIS turned to industry to find partners in improving data
acquisition, analysis and application.The 35 companies, nonprofit groups and
academic research organizations NTIS selected will work as joint venture
partners on data projects conducted and funded by federal agencies. The
companies include a mix of young data-focused firms -- such as Palantir,
Govini and Socrata -- and established contractors -- such as IBM, Deloitte
and Booz Allen Hamilton. Academic participants include Stanford and Columbia
universities. The federal government collects data in a wide
range of areas, including weather and climate, economic statistics,
population and demographics. However, the government is often not nimble
enough to transform the data into new and useful forms or to combine it with
commercial datasets that can make it even more valuable to consumers.The
National Weather Service has been a pioneer in turning federally generated
data into fuel for more innovative services. Commercial weather forecasting
channels have built their businesses on NWS' raw data on storms, tides and
other weather measurements.The joint venture partners essentially form a list
of approved contractors that are eligible to bid when NTIS releases agency
requests for data applications.Commerce officials said the organizations will
be able to tap into the vast expanse of federal data, which the agency
estimates could generate trillions in investments and innovative commercial applications.A
2014 study by the agency estimated the federal government's data could spur
$3.3 trillion in investments annually in the U.S. and that government
data-intensive firms generate annual revenues as high as $221
billion."We want to accelerate the data innovation process by quickly
connecting private-sector experts with agencies striving to create smart
cities, deliver critical public services, enhance operational excellence or
improve accessibility and interoperability among national datasets," Bender
said in an Oct. 20 statement. From https://fcw.com/ 10/21/2016 Global
Mobile Advertising Revenues Surged to �37 Billion ($49 Billion) in 2015 Brussels, 22 September 2016 – IAB Europe and IHS
revealed their global figures for mobile advertising revenue today. The
figures show that mobile advertising growth continues to accelerate and
increased 68.2% to �37bn ($49bn) in 2015 from �22bn ($29bn) in 2014, driven
by a mobile first consumer world and improving marketing technologies.Mobile
display continues to drive investment with the highest growth at 92.6%,
whilst mobile search lagged behind, up 51.8%. Messaging grew by 20%, as users
continue to migrate from operator-owned messaging services to app-based
messaging platforms.In 2015, display accounts for over half of all mobile
spend globally with a 52.3% share at �19bn ($26bn) and search takes a 42.8%
share at �16bn ($21bn). Messaging’s share continues to decline with a 5%
share at �2bn ($2.4bn). The share by region of the global figure of �37bn
($49bn) for 2015 is: North America: 45% (�17bn / $22bn) Asia-Pacific: 34% (�13bn / $17bn) Europe: 19% (�7bn / $9bn) Middle East & Africa: 0.9% (�0.3bn / $0.4bn) Latin America: 0.7% (�0.3bn / $0.3bn) Growth year-over-year was led by APAC, which saw
a 69% leap in 2015. All regions excluding Middle East and Africa grew by over
50%: Asia-Pacific – 69% North America – 67% Latin America – 60% Europe – 58% Middle East and Africa – 37% Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe said: “The
Global Mobile Advertising revenue numbers demonstrate that the channel is a
key driver in the evolution of digital advertising and the growth of display
confirms the importance of mobile for brand advertisers to reach their
consumers. It is key for advertisers, agencies and publishers to have a
cohesive view of the customer journey and mobile is playing an increasing
role in that.”"These global figures reflect brands' recognition that
mobile is a critical platform for reaching today's consumers," said Anna
Bager, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Mobile and Video, IAB.
"We've experienced skyrocketing growth for mobile advertising in the
U.S. - a 66 percent upswing year-over-year from 2014 to 2015 - and
considering the small screen's power to reach audiences, it is unsurprising
to see an upward trajectory the world over." “The research shows that
mobile is becoming the key channel for advertisers to reach their consumers
and continues to evolve the online advertising market. These numbers have
been underpinned by the industry coming together to collaborate and create
improvements to mobile advertising infrastructure”, said Daniel Knapp, Senior
Director Advertising Research, IHS. “Access to improvements in technology,
measurement and creatives are helping advertisers use mobile as a channel for
brand advertising.” From http://www.ipolicy.com/ 09/22/2016 Big
Data and Business Analytics to Hit USD 203 bln by 2020 Global revenues for big data and business
analytics (BDA) will grow from USD 130.1 billion in 2016 to more than USD 203
billion in 2020, according to a report from IDC. The market is set to
increase by 11.3 percent this year and to continue rising at a compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7 percent through 2020 driven by the banking,
discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, government and professional
services industries, said the report. Banking will see the fastest spending
growth in big data and business analytics over the five-year forecast period
and will be joined by telecommunications, utilities, insurance and
transportation as the industries with the largest CAGRs.Geographically, over
half of all big data and business analytics revenues will come from the US,
reaching more than USD 95 billion by 2020. The second largest geographic
region will be Western Europe, followed by Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) and
Latin America, while Latin America and the Middle East & Africa will be
the two regions with the fastest growth over the five-year forecast period,
said IDC. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 10/04/2016 Internet
Shutdowns Cost Countries $2.4 Billion Last Year Around the world, digital technology is seen as
vital for economic development. In the U.S. alone, the internet accounts for
about six percent of the entire economy. Digital technology has expanded its
role in the global economy in recent years, as both developed and developing
nations have become increasingly reliant on the internet.The centrality of
the internet to social and economic life recently led the United Nations to
enact a resolution supporting the “promotion, protection and enjoyment of
human rights on the internet.” The resolution specifically condemns state
efforts to intentionally prevent or disrupt access to information online.Yet
powerful forces continue to threaten the vitality of the internet. In recent
years, a number of countries have blocked particular applications, shut down
specific digital services, turned off mobile telecommunications services, or
disrupted the entire internet. Government officials give many reasons for
ordering these disruptions, such as safeguarding government authority,
reducing public dissidence, fighting terrorism, maintaining national security,
or protecting local businesses. Those actions separate people from their family,
friends, and livelihoods, undermine economic growth, interfere with the
startup ecosystem, and threaten social stability by interrupting economic
activity, says Darrell West in a new paper.In “Internet shutdowns cost
countries $2.4 billion last year,” West analyzes the economic impact of
temporary internet shutdowns. He examines 81 short-term shutdowns in 19
countries over the past year and estimates their impact on the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) of those nations. Based upon this analysis, West finds that
between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016, internet shutdowns cost at least
US$2.4 billion in GDP globally.Economic losses include $968 million in India,
$465 million in Saudi Arabia, $320 million in Morocco, $209 million in Iraq,
$72 million in the Republic of the Congo, $69 million in Pakistan, $48
million in Syria, and $35 million in Turkey, among other places. These are
conservative estimates that consider only reductions in economic activity and
do not account for tax losses or drops in investor, business, and consumer
confidence.Clearly, internet disruptions are creating significant detrimental
impacts on economic activity in a number of nations around the world. And, as
West writes, “As the digital economy expands, it will become even more
expensive for nations to shut down the internet. Without coordinated action
by the international community, this damage is likely to accelerate in the
future and further weaken global economic development.” From https://www.brookings.edu/ 10/14/2016 Mobile
Firms to Put USD 50 Bln on Machine Learning by 2021 Mobile broadband operators are forecast to put
over USD 50 billion into big data and machine learning analytics through
2021, according to ABI Research, which said machine learning technologies
will lead operators to profoundly change how they manage the telecom
business. Telecom big data solutions include the commercial IT kit; the open
source, Java-based Hadoop ecosystem, SQL/NoSQL data management, and
orchestration platforms. Spending on this infrastructure will exceed USD 7
billion in 2021. The biggest growth and most value however will come from
using predictive analytics to improve telecom business performance, with
machine-learning-based predictive analytics wet to grow at nearly 50 percent
CAGR and reach USD 12 billion through 2021. Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia and ZTE
all deliver big data and machine learning systems oriented toward network
operations. Hadoop/NoSQL startups like Argyle Data, and chip vendors, led by
Intel and Qualcomm, are delivering solutions pertinent to the telecom
operator. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 10/14/2016 World Bank Group, CTIC Dakar Launch
Tech Lab to Spur West and Central Africa’s Digital Economy The World Bank Group and CTIC Dakar
today launched the Jambar Tech Lab, a business acceleration program to help
West and Central African tech start-ups commercialize and scale innovative
digital products. First of its kind in the region, the program will connect
40 local high-growth startups with the knowledge, capital, and access to markets
they need to grow.The program is part of a new regional effort to improve
competitiveness, attract investment, and create jobs through digital
technologies.“The digital economy plays a key role in many African countries,
as part of the broader services sector that drives more than half of the
economic growth in the continent,”said Ganesh Rasagam, manager for Innovation
& Entrepreneurship in the World Bank Group’s Trade & Competitiveness
Global Practice. The GSMA estimates that last year, mobile technologies and
services in Africa supported about 3.8 million jobs and generated about $150
billion of economic value. Those numbers are expected to rise to 4.5 million
and $210 billion by 2020. Despite this growing market
potential, many digital entrepreneurs across the region still lack the
necessary skills and resources to accelerate the development of their
businesses, either by entering larger markets or attracting capital from
early-stage investors.In order to bridge these gaps, Jambar Tech Lab will offer
a six-month program designed to improve the capacity of local firms to
identify market opportunities, develop and test products and services, and
access business mentors and appropriate financing. The curriculum will cover
key topics such as investment readiness and investor engagement, diaspora
networks, and internationalization of digital enterprises, and will seek to
create the capacity and networks necessary to scale high-potential ventures
into profitable businesses. Supported by the governments of Finland,
Norway, Sweden, and Senegal, Jambar Tech Lab will be implemented by CTIC
Dakar. CTIC Dakar, established in 2011 through a joint World Bank and IFC
grant, is Senegal and Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa’s first ICT incubator.
Since its establishment, CTIC Dakar has trained over 2000 entrepreneurs and
supported over 80 companies that have a cumulative revenue turnover of $6
million and 41% average annual revenue growth.In the coming months, the
Jambar Tech Lab will be joined by new regional acceleration programs in
eastern and southern Africa. In early 2017, the World Bank Group will also
launch the Pan-African Acceleration Program, and select 20 star performers
from across the continent to receive additional coaching, mentorship, and
exposure to global investors and funds. From http://www.worldbank.org/ 11/03/2016 Globalstar Revenue Lifts 8% to USD
1.9 Mln in Q3 Satellite services provider
Globalstar said third quarter revenues lifted 8 percent from the year before
to USD 1.9 million, driven mainly by more subscribers and higher ARPU.
Service revenue increased 12 percent, pushed by Duplex service revenue(+26%, ARPU +22%) and Spot revenue. Simplex revenue
meanwhile decreased slightly.'The net result went to a loss of USD 2.6
million from a gain of 24.1 million, pulled down by lower non-cash derivative
gains. The adjusted EBITDA meanwhile advanced 48 percent to a gain of USD 5.9
million from 3.9 million. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 11/06/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
CHINA: Alibaba Leads Asian Listed
Firms in Market Value Alibaba's market value surpassed all other Asian
listed firms, according to the e-commerce giant on Saturday. The world's largest
e-commerce platform closed at 104.64 U.S. dollars per share on the New York
Stock Exchange Friday, totalling over 266 billion U.S. dollars, the highest
market capitalization of any Asian listed firm. Rallying share prices due to
booming business and outstanding financial performance have seen Internet
companies catching up with traditional sectors. Another Chinese internet
company, Tencent, topped the Asian listed-firms market capitalization earlier
this month. Alibaba reported stellar growth in the second quarter of this
year, with revenue rising about 59 percent year on year, the strongest rise
since its IPO two years ago. In addition to its e-commerce business, Alibaba
is hoping for momentum in its financial, cloud computing and logistics services
over the next decade. From
http://www.chinagate.cn/ 09/18/2016 E-commerce Poverty Reduction
Highlighted in Longnan Zhong Xingjuan is a housewife who lives with her
two little kids in Cheng County, in China’s western province of Gansu. Just last
year, she opened an online shop on Taobao, a Chinese e-commerce giant with a
special program—Rural Taobao—aiming to help rural residents lift themselves
from poverty through online sales. Offering about 50 local products and
promoting them on popular social media platforms Weibo and WeChat, Zhong
earned over RMB 20,000 (USD 2,999) in her first year. “I just took some
photos of our natural scenery, showing how I pick only the best wild
vegetables from our forest, and people will send me red packets [a convenient
money transfer feature on WeChat] to place their orders. And then later, I
call the deliveryman to send them out,” said Zhong. In Cheng County, local
farmers are using new media such as WeChat and Weibo as well as e-commerce
platforms such as Taobao, JD.com, and Sunning to market their special,
favorably priced agricultural products.
With seven national poverty-stricken counties—one of which is Cheng
County—Gansu’s city of Longnan was announced in May 2015 by the State Council
Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development (LGOP) as the first
pilot city to conduct e-commerce poverty reduction. When it comes to poverty alleviation, Longnan has
formed its own unique e-commerce model, including online and offline
interactions, direct connections between farmers and customers, and an
emphasis on increasing income and broadening knowledge. Over 56,000 people
have now found work in e-commerce-related fields, while the per capita income
of 640,000 poor farmers increased more than RMB 430 (USD 65) in 2015. About
240 government officials, experts, and e-commerce managers and shop owners
gathered Sunday in Longnan to discuss the path to help farmers overcome
poverty through e-commerce. At the two-day on-site meeting, attendees
explored better ways to help local farmers increase their income by selling
quality agricultural products over online platforms, and looked at how to
emulate this e-commerce model across a greater number of poverty-stricken
areas. Qu Tianjun, a high-ranking official from LGOP, believes
it is now time to spread this experience to more areas with similar economic
and social conditions but also believes that more needs to be done to create
new brands and star-rated shops as well as to improve agricultural-product
standardization and value. “Given its location in a mountainous area, Cheng
County has various agricultural resources but has obvious weaknesses with
transportation, talent, and logistics. The miracle that’s happened here can
be attributed to the huge input injected into local infrastructure, including
roads, Internet, and electricity. But the most important factor here has been
the great importance that the local government has attached to these
initiatives, along with creative use of new media and positive relationships that
have been built with e-commerce firms,” said Qu. From
http://www.chinagate.cn/ 09/27/2016 Alibaba Teams Up with HP, Intel for
New Laptop Computer China's e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba has
released a laptop computer in partnership with Hewlett Packard and Intel Corporation.
The computer, released at the ongoing Computing Conference
2016 in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, runs on
Alibaba's own smart operating system YunOS, and will mainly be used in
China's education sector and in offices. The computer will be used in
cloud-based education and multimedia presentations. Governments in Zhejiang,
Chongqing and Wuhan have inked cooperation deals to use the computer in their
offices to boost efficiency. Alibaba's YunOS system has been applied in a
variety of areas, including wearable devices, automobiles and smart phones.
The Computing Conference 2016 concludes on Sunday. From
http://www.news.cn/
10/14/2016 China Promotes E-commerce in Rural
Areas To boost rural development, China will push for
faster growth of the e-commerce sector across its vast under-developed areas.
"Policy support will be given to small online retailers ... to lower their
operational costs," the Ministry of Commerce announced Monday. More will
be done to support and nurture e-commerce businesses operating in rural
regions, and training programs will be on offer to small business owners,
according to guidance advice posted on the ministry's website. Cooperation
between e-commerce businesses and service providers that deal with rural
consumers will be encouraged, infrastructure that supports or facilitates
e-commerce in rural areas will be upgraded, and private investors will be
encouraged to support the sector, it noted. The document came as retail sales
emerged as a major driver of China's economic growth. The country is
transitioning from an export-reliant economy to a consumption-driven one. In
2015, consumption contributed 66.4 percent to China's gross domestic product
(GDP), up 15.4
percentage points from 2014. To further tap market potential, China is
looking to exploit the ample retail opportunities in its underdeveloped rural
areas and e-commerce sector.
From
http://www.news.cn/
10/17/2016 Chinese Official Urges Innovation in
Robotics Technology Vice Premier Liu Yandong proposed Thursday that
all countries, including China, should forge ahead with robotic research,
sci-tech innovation and the commercialization of the result products. While
addressing the opening ceremony of the World Robot Conference 2016 (WRC2016),
which runs till Oct. 25, Liu said advancements in robotics had supported the
development of intelligent manufacturing, and helped improve production
efficiency and people's lives. "The central government highly values the
role innovation plays in robotics technology and industry development. We
hope to work with other countries on smart industries, including robotics,
and build an intelligent society that will benefit mankind," Liu said.
She called for greater international exchanges and cooperation in areas such
as formulation of industry standards, patent applications and intellectual
property rights protection. With the theme "Win-Win Collaborative
Innovation Toward the Building of an Intelligent Society," the WRC2016
has drawn nearly 150 robotics companies from across the world. From
http://www.news.cn/
10/20/2016 Huawei Unveils Blazing Fast Mobile
Processor, Xiaomi to Join Fray Huawei, like Apple, is one of the only phone
brands that makes its own processors. Its newly-unveiled gizmo Kirin 960
processor has caught the eye of many. According to reports from Android
Central, the Huawei device powered by Kirin 960 outperformed iPhone 7 and a
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in the launch speeds of 13 out of the 14 most popular
apps in China during test. The mobile processor is the heart of any smart
device. It is designed to support the running of applications, including
graphics processing, memory management and multimedia decoding. Currently the
more popular processors on the market include Qualcomm's Snapdragon (used in
phones like the Samsung Galaxy S7) series as well as Apple's A-series
chipsets used in iPhones. Huawei’s arch-rival in China, Xiaomi Inc, currently
relies heavily on Qualcomm’s processors. Faced by the competition, Xiaomi is
also looking to produce its own in-house processor so as to lower production
costs, according to news circulated online. The Kirin 960 will most likely
power Huawei's upcoming, long-rumored Mate 9. From
http://www.news.cn/
10/26/2016 Robotics Industry Booms in China "Please do not stand too close or my pretty
face will be too big in your photos," Jia Jia told her "fans"
at the 2016 World Robot Conference in Beijing. Jia Jia is a typical oriental
beauty with shiny hair, bright skin, a slender figure and a tender voice.
More importantly, as China's latest interactive robot, she is considerate and
humorous. Aside from Jia Jia, many other robots have delighted the audience
during the five-day robot conference that closed this week, such as humanoid
robots that can read emotions or write traditional Chinese calligraphy, and
robots that can perform medical operations, wait at tables or work in
factories. "If asked to use one word to describe the development of
China's robotics industry, I would choose 'explosion,'" said Zhao Jie,
director of the Robotics Institute of Harbin Institute of Technology. Zhao
said thousands of companies were established in dozens of robot industrial
parks across China, with the number of employees growing rapidly. China's
robot shipments topped 68,000 sets last year, accounting for 26.7 percent of
the global market. Asia has become world's largest supplier of industrial
robots, taking up 60 percent of the global market. According to the International Federation of
Robotics (IFR), about 75 percent of shipments in the past five years were from
China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, the United States and Germany. The
average growth of China's robot market over the period stood at 17 percent
per year. "Not only the increasing market size, but I am also optimistic
about the manufacturing and development of China's industrial robotics,"
said Wang Yu, a professor of engineering at Hong Kong University of Science
and Technology. Wang said that after just one year, roughly one-third of
industrial robots used in China were manufactured domestically, and the
percentage is still climbing. In addition to industrial robots, service
robots have also received extensive attention. China's service robotics are
leading the world in firefighting, disaster relief, health care and catering.
According to an IFR report, an estimated 94,800 professional service robots
will be installed from 2013 to 2018, with total sales of 17.1 billion U.S.
dollars. Medical and military robots accounted for 55 percent of the total
sales. Remebot, China's first neurosurgery robot, was a
hit at the conference. The designers said that it was accurate to just one
millimeter, and with its help, brain surgery that used to take hours could be
done within 30 minutes. Service robotics has become a major field of
development in China's robotics industry, said Sun Bolin, honorary chairman
of the product information working committee of the China Instrument Society.
Besides areas such as coal mining, power generation and oil exploitation,
service robots can also accomplish much in anti-terrorism, criminal
investigation and explosives handling, Sun said. The National Natural Science
Foundation of China announced plans at the conference to invest 200 million
yuan (29.5 million U.S. dollars) to support the study of the basic theory and
key technologies of robots that can work alongside people. Chinese companies have also been engaged in
cross-border mergers and acquisitions in the robot industry. In April,
Wanfeng Technology Group acquired U.S. industrial robot manufacturer Paslin,
giving Wanfeng access to advanced automated welding technology and clients
that Paslin has developed over 80 years. Many investment and finance
institutions are also eyeing the future of China's robotics industry.
"We are actively encouraging listed companies to participate in the
industry either through capital contribution or technology acquisition,"
said Li Xiaoxue, deputy director of the China Association for Public
Companies. "China's robotics industry is transitioning from a follower
to a frontrunner," Li said.
From
http://www.news.cn/
10/27/2016 China to Launch First E-commerce
Satellite in 2017 China plans to launch its first e-commerce
satellite in 2017, with the primary purpose of using satellite data in
agriculture. The plan was announced on Monday during an international aviation
and aerospace forum in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, by the China Academy of
Launch Vehicle Technology, China Aerospace Museum and Juhuasuan, an arm of
e-commerce giant Alibaba. "In an era of space economy, the potential of
a commercial space industry is immeasurable," Han Qingping, president of
the Chinarocket Co., Ltd, said at the forum. In 2015, the value of the global
space industry amounted to 330 billion U.S. dollars, 76 percent of which
resulted from commercial activities. Chinese authorities are making efforts,
including legislation, to support and regulate the development of a
commercial space industry. "China is speeding up the making of space
law, with the aim of having completed drafting the law by the end of this
year," Hu Chaobin, an official from the State Administration of Science,
Technology and Industry for National Defense, said during the forum. From
http://www.news.cn/
10/31/2016 E-commerce: Changing the Landscape of
Rural Poverty As the Internet becomes more widely accessible,
creative ways to reduce poverty such as e-commerce have been applied in many
areas. These make full use of the channels connecting rural and urban
markets, thus creating potential jobs and boosting rural economy. From Street Vendor to Online Seller Cheng County, in northwestern China's province of
Gansu, has recently made exemplary efforts: it has managed to shake off
poverty by selling agricultural products via warehouse-based online trading.
The county is a land rich in minerals as well as solar and animal agriculture
resources. Many residents engage in the sale of agricultural products. They
process these regional specialties in scattered family workshops and then
carry them in bags to markets around neighboring counties and villages.
Transaction volumes are low, sales are uncertain, and the marketing model is
energy-consuming. To make the matter worse, it is difficult to connect
farmers to markets, particularly those living in poor regions with scant
commercial infrastructures and information imbalances. In June 2013, the
county became the first pilot zone for poverty reduction through e-commerce
in northwest China. It not only decreases information asymmetry between
producers and consumers, but also accelerates connectivity between sales
channels and platforms. Keeping in touch with changes in consumer demands and
market fluctuations, local farmers expand their income and reduce poverty by
selling their agricultural products on the national market. According to the local government, there are 102 impoverished
villages in the county, among which 81 are now connected to high-speed
Internet, offering the possibility to start local online businesses. Up to
now, 17 towns have been covered, with 890 online shops opened and even more
e-commerce service providers engaged. Importantly, e-commerce not only
provides more employment opportunities for rural residents, but also drives
more college graduates and migrant workers back home where they can be
self-employed. "Zhang Xuan, a college-graduate village official who
served for Cheng County, used to help us sell our products, such as
free-range chicken and walnuts, via an online shop," said local farmers.
"Farmers are expected to escape poverty by increasing off-farm income.
In the past, farmers spent their leisure time playing cards, gossiping or
watching TV during the off-season. But today, sitting in front of computers,
they manage online stores," added a local official. Buying Online In April 2015, Cheng County set up its own Taobao
(an Internet distribution website launched by China's e-commerce giant
Alibaba) rural service center to help rural citizens shop and do business
online. The center also serves as a platform for distribution, supply chain
optimization, quality inspection as well as employee training
, aiming at cutting the living expenses of local citizens and
improving their economic performances. "In addition, the center also
employs locals as its partners and increases their off-farm opportunities.
These partners are trained and sustained financially and technically; they
are also tasked with helping villagers, most of whom know little about online
shopping, to make purchases on the Internet," said Tang Zhongqiang,
Alibaba's regional manager of Taobao Villages. According to the local center,
villagers pay after receiving goods and can also return goods back if they
are not satisfied with their purchase. If people buy large equipment, the center’s
partners can also help with installation and provide post-sale services.
Moreover, locals can also pay phone and utility bills at the center’s
location. "My neighbor Chen Huaimin, a 60-year-old online shopper, can't
help buying daily supplies via the Internet. It is because he enjoyed good
service when buying a leather jacket online last April," pointed out
Chen Yanping, also a villager from Cheng County. In the case of another
villager Chen Xiangxiang, Taobao Village helped her save money and energy in
buying large electric appliances like a refrigerator, oven, washer and
air-conditioner when renovating and decorating her house. "For example,
a Haier three-door refrigerator might be sold for 2,680 yuan (U.S $398) in
stores, but only costs 1,299 yuan (U.S. $193) online. Chen Xiangxiang can
save 1,381 yuan (U.S $204) through e-commerce," introduced Chen Yanping.
"In the past, deliveries could only reach counties and towns, but now
they can reach villages directly. The center is introducing locals to online
shopping for the first time. It also pushed logistics platforms to reach
villages at the grass-root level and occupy rural markets," indicated a
partner working for the Taobao Village. Tang Zhongqiang of Alibaba said
helping locals make purchases on Taobao can also help improve
e-commerce-related knowledge among rural people, and it's expected that in the
future rural online buyers, or at least some of them, will become online
sellers. Up to now, a total of 40 rural service centers has been established
in about 15 towns in Cheng County. Their sales volume now stands at more than
8.55 million (U.S.$ 128), accounting for 77,000 transactions. Digitizing Traditional Enterprises "In an effort to respond to the needs of
online shoppers, we created an online retail store that makes all our new
products exclusively available online. It makes our business more profitable
as revenue grows quicker," spoke Chen Yanjun, who used to be a
storeowner in Cheng County. E-commerce brings new market opportunities across
China for enterprises, while pushing traditional retailers to reinvent and
upgrade by embracing "O2O". All information about a product or
service is available just one click away. A company from Cheng County
specializing in honeysuckle began to integrate its online and offline
retailing in 2014 with the help of the local government. In the past, it only
sold honeysuckle vines to other factories for further processing, which could
then be used in herbal medicine, but the profit margin wasn’t that big. Now, it has digitized its retail services and
opened up its official Taobao online store. Furthermore, a new honeysuckle
tea factory was also set up after integrating natural resources into the
digitization of sales and management. With an enlarged customer base and
market, its online income reached 1 million yuan (U.S. $148,000), accounting
for 33 percent of its sales revenue. Going digital has been a trend and can
be observed across many industries in Cheng County today. For instance, hotel
and retail businesses have taken a digital initiative to go online via
e-commerce, thus reaching a larger customer base and improving business
visibility as well as profitability. Setting off a Chain Reaction Since e-commerce businesses have been rapidly
growing and are expected to grow even more in Cheng County, they also became
a major factor changing the shape of local logistics industries,
scenic-spot-based agritainment, and rural informatization. To build an
e-commerce platform based on supply chain management, local government and
business retailers have mobilized their social resources to attract more
investments. Those investments are used to set up more physical warehousing
locations, distribution centers and courier firms, as well as to support
local start-ups. An increasing number of independent online stores from Cheng
County have signed up for a Taobao Account or teamed up with JD.com.
Additionally, villagers also managed to open stores via WeChat, a do-it-all
super mobile e-commerce platform. By using tierce e-commerce platforms, a
well-designed WeChat store can be built within 5 minutes and offer multiple
payment options. And the best part is these services are free. "This kind of business model shrinks the
distance between villagers and urban areas. As they get closer they get to
know more about each other, and so rural-urban integration benefits
all," a local official claimed. To solve delivery issues and boost the
sales of agricultural products, much of rural roads are paved and
well-maintained with these investments. And Countryside Inns, privately owned
rural hotels, are also being established, boosting rural tourism, helping the
generation of employment, as well as improving the earning capacity of
locals. Meanwhile, rural information service centers are also formed,
covering 17 towns in Cheng County, where local people can easily learn about
supply and demand, job opportunities and national agricultural policies. The
center is also helps the elderly and people without an Internet access to buy
daily necessities and pay bills. "Cheng County set a fine example for all
rural counties in China. While tapping into market methods and Internet
technologies to alleviate poverty, we should still employ traditional
circulation systems, explore new business models, and nurture a supportive
environment for e-commerce in rural areas," indicated Hong Yong, an
assistant researcher at the Research Institute of the Credit and E-commerce
School, Ministry of Commerce. "A booming e-economy in rural China will
help us realize the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all
aspects," Hong believes. From
http://www.chinagate.cn/ 11/02/2016 Baidu, China Unicom Partner to
Promote Artificial Intelligence Chinese Internet giant Baidu inked a strategic
partnership with leading telecom company China Unicom on Wednesday with the aim
of applying artificial intelligence (AI) and other leading technologies to
future products and services. The two companies will leverage their expertise
and advantages in online and offline services to cooperate on projects in
mobile Internet, AI, big data and telecom services. Baidu will help China
Unicom put the services of more than 10,000 brick-and-mortar outlets and
300,000 franchised stores online. China Unicom will offer Baidu stronger
telecom infrastructure support such as Internet data centers and information
and communication technology. Robin Li, Baidu board chairman and CEO, said his
company already cooperates closely in linking mobile search, mapping and
group buying services with China Unicom's services, and Baidu is looking
forward to impressive results from AI technology. Wang Xiaochu, board
chairman of China Unicom, called the move an important step for cross-sector
cooperation between Internet companies and telecom firms in line with the
government's "Internet Plus" proposal to upgrade traditional
sectors with IT technology. The latest quarterly financial statements showed
that Baidu had steady profit growth in the third quarter while China Unicom
suffered a heavy drop in profit growth year on year in the first three
quarters, which put more pressure on the company to upgrade its products and
services. From
http://www.news.cn/
11/03/2016 Farmers Use E-commerce to Maximize
Profits After harvesting potatoes on his plot, Hao Jinde
saved some for his family to eat and sold the rest, over 500 kg, making 600 yuan
(88 U.S. dollars). Instead of peddling on the street as in the past, this
year Hao sold them to a store belonging to the online shopping platform,
Lecuntao, at his village in Jingle County, a potato growing region in
northern China's Shanxi Province. "Compared with selling to the local
guys, I got about 50 yuan more," Hao said. Lyu Yaofeng, manager of the
platform's Jingle County branch, said the platform could purchase the
potatoes at a higher price, as they would sell them for a much higher retail
price to villages about 100 km away where they do not produce potatoes. At
the same store, Hao and other villagers now have direct access to pears and
other produce that can be delivered to their village at lower than market
price. "Most of the produce online come straight from where it is grown,
which ensures lower prices," said Li Erping, manager of the store in
Hao's village. Lecuntao is an e-commerce platform aimed at the
rural market, which sets up physical stores in rural villages. Since it was
launched in 2014, its physical store network has grown to over 70,000
villages in China's 25 provinces. Rural customers can either order online or
make their purchases at the physical stores in their village. While the
Chinese government is advocating e-commerce in rural area as part of poverty
reduction efforts, online shopping platforms, including Alibaba's Taobao and
JD, are also expanding their services to rural villages, which have helped
with sales of agricultural produce. In late October, Chinese authorities for
the Internet, national planning and poverty alleviation jointly released a
plan on poverty reduction using the Internet, encouraging e-commerce in rural
areas and promising to expand broadband coverage to 90 percent of China's
poverty stricken villages by 2020. According to the Ministry of Commerce, the number
of online shops selling agricultural produce exceeded 1 million by September
this year, bringing sales to 170 billion yuan, and they are expected to hit
over 220 billion by the end of the year; that is 6.3 percent of total online
sales, and a 35 percent increase year on year. When farmers have difficulty
selling produce, the Internet is now a major channel to turn to. According to
an official in Linxian County, a date growing area in Lyuliang, dozens of
online platforms were used to sell slow-moving date stocks last year. Thanks
to the online sales, date sales increased by 30 to 40 percent, saving local
farmers from financial losses. "The 'Internet+' concept has changed
rural China," said Fan Wusheng, director of the poverty alleviation
office in Jingle County. "With their produce sold online, farmers are
now able to make maximum profits." From
http://www.chinagate.cn/ 11/03/2016 Digital Stars in Spotlight at World
Internet Conference Fifteen of the latest digital inventions, ranging
from Tesla's autonomous vehicle to a new generation of semi-conductors, were
on show on Wednesday at the third World Internet Conference (WIC) held in
east China's Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province. The organizer, the Cyberspace
Administration of China (CAC), appointed a committee of 33 technologists from
home and abroad to screen about 500 entries submitted by companies and
research institutes over the past year, and select those which best represent
current trends. The organizers are promoting WIC as a premium platform for
tech firms to display their latest achievements. The WIC, running from Nov.
16 to Nov. 18 this year, is an annual meet of the world's tech firm bosses,
academics, and government officials to discuss current Internet trends.
"The selection process was hard for us as judges because the technology
develops very fast, and there were too many achievements," said Ni
Guangnan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "The fifteen chosen
will have the widest implications on our lives." Nine of the winners
came from foreign companies, including Microsoft, Tesla and Qualcomm.
Microsoft's HoloLens, for instance, is a hologram-projecting visor that
enables users to see three-dimensional digital controls and immerse
themselves deeper in a digital environment. It overlays digital information on top of the
real world to create a mixed reality, while interacting with holograms in
mixed reality enables users to visualize and work with digital content as part
of their real world. "If we can change the way we see the world, we
change the world as well," said Microsoft executive vice president Harry
Shum as he wrapped up his speech. Another presentation that wowed the
audience was Tesla's autopilot 2.0 which found a parking space and parked
itself. By pressing the remote, the car drives itself out to meet the human
"driver," said the company' s vice president Robin Ren in a video
demo. "I do this every day, and every time it is perfect." What he
did not mention was a fatal crash earlier this year involving a Tesla Model S
0n autopilot. Ren defended the autonomous driving technology saying human
error causes 94 percent of accidents. By using self-driving technology, most
of these crashes can be avoided. CHINA CATCHING UP Optic fiber specialist Wu Hequan, who chaired the
committee, said compared with the West, China started late in digital
technology research, but recent progress has been impressive. Among the
Chinese winners was search engine Baidu's artificial intelligence (AI)
creation Baidu Brain. According to Baidu, the Brain is composed of advanced
algorithms and super computing power, built on super-large scale neural
networks. It is the nerve center of Baidu's autonomous car, facial and voice
recognition, and robots that can compose and read poems or comment on a live
football match. The company's cloud computing will soon allow patients to
consult a robot which can read basic medical reports and make diagnosis based
on the huge amount of data it processes. China has over 700 million Internet
users and some of the world's leading tech companies. Most of them are
exploring the new opportunities in AI, the Internet of Things, and virtual
reality. On the commercial front, China has bypassed most developed nations
in popularizing e-commerce and social networking platforms. The two leading enterprises Alibaba and Tencent
that drove the progress were also selected for their technological
achievements - Alibaba for its payment unit which handled more than 120 billion
yuan (17.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the 24 hours of this year' s Singles' Day
online shopping festival. Zhang Yong, the CEO of Alibaba, said the cloud
computing system overcame the pressure of dealing with 170,000 orders and
120,000 payments in every second during the shopping bonanza. "In the
next three decades, there will be tremendous changes in human society,"
Alibaba' s charismatic founder and board chairman Jack Ma said at WIC opening
ceremony. "In the future, companies and nations which can make the best
of big data and computing technology will be the champions." From
http://www.news.cn/
11/16/2016 There was no lack of excitement at the World
Internet Conference (WIC) as tech bigwigs unpacked their ideas. Some talked
with humor, others provided food for thought. CEO of Sogou Wang Xiaochun
stole the show with a speech employing Artificial Intelligence (AI). As Wang
talked, his voice was captured and precisely transcribed line by line onto a
screen behind him, with simultaneous English translation. The awesome part:
there were almost no mistakes. Sogou's voice recognition system is 95 percent
accurate in a quiet environment. Translation is 90 percent accurate. Sogou, a
subsidiary of NASDAQ-listed Sohu.com, is best known for its popular Pinyin
input system, used everyday by roughly 300 million smartphone users to
generate Mandarin from Latin characters. The company also runs a search
engine - Sogou - second only to Baidu in the Chinese language market. The
search engine of tomorrow will be a question-and-answer robot, Wang said.
"The future lies in artificial intelligence. For an input system, to
capture and recognize voices is not enough," he continued. "Our input system may find the words and
sentences for you, to help you think." Chinese tech companies are
becoming more interested in AI research as the dividend from mobile
connections alone is on the wane. The past decade was focused on connecting
businesses and people, and the growth of tech companies like Alibaba and
Tencent. With 90 percent of China's 700 million Internet users on
smartphones, there is little room left for expansion in that direction. Even
Alibaba's Jack Ma admitted at the WIC that the time of "e-commerce"
will end as all businesses will soon be connected to the Internet in some way
or another. Cheng Wei, chief executive of ride-haall about AI. AI research
started more than 60 years ago and there have been some major ups-and-downs,
Wang explained to his audience. The current wave is backed by unprecedented
quantities of data and computing power. AlphaGo's victories against legendary
Go player Lee Se-dol in 2016 were touted a major milestone in AI development.
"I am optimistic there won't be a 'down' this time," Wang said. A report released by the WIC showed AI research
in China attracting 2.6 billion U.S. dollars of investment in 2015. Chinese
companies have a core competitive advantage against foreign rivals, huge
volumes of data with comparatively light restrictions on its use. Leading the
way is search engine Baidu. Company president Zhang Yaqin told Xinhua that
about 15 percent of company revenue went on research and development, mostly
relating to AI: 1.5 billion U.S. dollars last year. Baidu set up its
Institute of Deep Learning AI lab in Silicon Valley and persuaded former
Google deep learning founder Andrew Ng to jump ship to become chief scientist
of the project. The company has developed a range of AI applications around
its "Baidu Brain," including self-driving cars and a
voice-controlled assistant called Duer. The "MIT Technology Review"
featured Baidu's Deep Speech among its 2016 top 10 breakthroughs in
conversational interfaces. The WIC also put Baidu Brain in its top 15 of the
year, prompting a fleet of 15 autonomous cars to appear in the WIC host town
of Wuzhen for the public to test "drive." Unfortunately, the
limitations of the vehicles were obvious. Staff only allowed members of the
public to try out the cars for a few minutes, on a designated section of
road, and under close supervision. Taking videos was not allowed. "There
might be some problems and we don't want the public to be confused,"
said a Baidu employee. "Yes, we are doing great, but around the world
this technology is still in its early development. Errors are inevitable."
Jerry Kaplan, a Stanford University computer scientist who attended the
conference, said it is not helpful to compare AI to human intelligence. To
him, AI is a collection of tools that allow people to perform tasks with the
help of machines, something humans have been doing for two hundred years.
"Don't think about it as an artificial person," Kaplan told Xinhua
in an interview. "It is rather a toolkit of techniques can be used to
solve a specific problem." Zhang, Baidu president, said AI "can't do
everything" but can free people from repetitive jobs. "Our ultimate
goal is to let people do more creative and more interesting things," he
said. From
http://www.news.cn/
11/18/2016 JAPAN:
Online Esthetic Medical Advertising to Be Tightened A health ministry panel plans to ban false and exaggerated
representations of esthetic procedures such as body hair removal and
liposuction on the websites of medical institutions, according to informed
sources. The panel will consider possible punishment for violating envisioned
ban, the sources said. To implement the tightened regulations effectively,
the ministry will commission outside groups to carry out online policing.
Medical institutions’ websites are not subject to advertising regulations, as
they are considered venues providing information that consumers can access at
their own discretion. A growing number of complaints about esthetic medical
treatments prompted the ministry to produce guidelines for medical
institutions’ websites in 2012 and urge related organizations to make
voluntary improvements. But with the number of complaints remaining high, the
Cabinet Office’s Consumer Commission in July last year called on the ministry
to treat medical institutions’ websites as advertisements. The panel has judged that such a change would
significantly strengthen regulations for medical institutions’ websites,
leading to negative results for consumers, such as a decrease in information
available to those interested in esthetic medical treatments. Instead, the
panel agreed to ban all false and exaggerated representations on such
websites, not limited to esthetic medicine. The government will revise the
medical care law and the ministry will produce new guidelines with detailed
examples of violations. According to the National Consumer Affairs Center of
Japan, the number of complaints related to online information on esthetic
medical treatments surged to 405 in fiscal 2014 from 64 in fiscal 2006. In
one case, a woman in her 40s living in the Kanto region found a website for a
plastic surgery hospital offering free trials of esthetic medical treatments.
She told a consultant that she wanted to remove age spots on her face. The
consultant replied that such treatment was not available under the trial
program, but that the spots needed to be removed as soon as possible. The woman concluded a ¥250,000 contract. When she
later tried to cancel it, she was told she had to pay a cancellation fee. In
another case, a woman in her 20s in the Kanto area visited a clinic after
viewing a website saying that treatment would be offered at an initial trial
price of ¥1,000 and that a simple injection could make her face look slimmer.
But a doctor at the clinic recommended surgery, claiming the injection would
not work. The woman felt unable to refuse and underwent the operation, for
which she was billed about ¥600,000. She asked for a refund because she could
not see a noticeable difference three months after the surgery. Another woman
in her 20s in the Kanto area received an injection from a clinic she found
online that was supposed to remove fat. The clinic’s website said that the
results would be apparent in as little as one day. But when notice any
changes a day or two later, she complained to the clinic, which told her to
wait at least a month. She said the clinic’s explanations were unreasonable. From http://www.japantimes.co.jp 09/14/2016 Japan,
Saudi Arabia to Cooperate on Internet of Things, Renewables Japan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to advance
bilateral cooperation in fields such as network-connected devices and
renewable energy, Japanese officials said. In the first meeting held Sunday
in the Saudi capital to support the Mideast country’s structural reform drive
and help Japanese companies to make inroads, Japan’s trade minister Hiroshige
Seko said the occasion marks the beginning of bilateral cooperation in a
concrete form. If combined with the “Abenomics” economy policy mix being pursued
by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Saudi Arabia’s reform efforts
would create a “synergy” that yields great benefits, Seko said at the outset
of the meeting. The ministerial-level meeting was attended by Adel Faqeih,
Saudi minister of economy and planning, among other officials. At the
meeting, the two sides also agreed on Japanese support in such areas as
talent development in animation and video games, energy conservation and
nuclear power, martial arts seminars and athletic training, Japanese
officials said. Executives of about 30 Japanese companies accompanying Seko
also met with Saudi officials and pitched their business plans. The meeting
was the result of an agreement reached between Abe and Saudi Deputy Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Tokyo last month. The next such meeting is
expected to be held in Tokyo in the spring. From https://www.japantoday.com 10/11/2016 SOUTH
KOREA: SKT Forms Partnership to Develop Specialized Network for Connected
Cars South Korean network operator SK Telecom said Thursday
that it has partnered with the Korea Expressway Corp. and the Korea
Electronics Technology Institute to start developing a new network technology
for connected cars -- a business forecast for sharp future growth. The three
companies signed a memorandum of understanding in Seoul, agreeing to
cooperate for the co-development of the next-generation
“Vehicle-to-Everything,” or V2X, technology. V2X refers to technology
embedded in automobiles that enables cars to communicate with any entity that
may affect it, including other cars, road sensors and pedestrians. It is
considered a core element of connected cars and self-driving vehicles. The
advancement of V2X technology is expected to significantly improve driving
safety -- an important part of actualizing self-driving vehicles -- by
sharing the location of individual cars on the road, potential accidents and
road infrastructure in real-time, SKT said. From http://www.koreaherald.com/ 09/08/2016 Korea
to Extend Int’L Cooperation on Smart Cities Korea will expand cooperation overseas in regard
to constructing smart cities. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and
Transport held its second managerial council meeting of the "K-smart
City" export promotion team on Sept. 8. In the meeting, representatives
from related government organizations gathered to share cases of on-going
overseas cooperation projects and discussed future directions. Vice Minister
for Land and Infrastructure Kim Kyung-hwan said, “It is high time we actively
foster smart cities as promising export items in the future, since they're
considered a platform for the knowledge-based sector of the economy,” urging
that visible outcomes could be made through systematic collaboration with the
"K-smart City" export promotion team. “In regard to on-going
projects like those in Kuwait and Bolivia, we also need to engage in
negotiations with partner countries in order to include as much Korean smart
city technology as possible,” said the vice minister, while emphasizing the
importance of actively promoting Korea’s successful cases overseas in order
to win more opportunities for cooperation. Smart cities are one of the nine
national strategic projects selected by the Korean government that it hopes
will encourage economic growth in the future. The government announced its
nine projects at its second science and technology strategy meeting in August
this year. Since President Park Geun-hye’s visits to the Middle East in March
last year, the Korean government has signed a memorandum of understanding
with Kuwait to build a smart city in South Saad Al-Abdullah, Kuwait. The
Korea Land & Housing Corporation will commence construction in 2018.
Also, in March this year, the Korean consortium Sunjin-Pyunghwa Engineering
received an order to design a new suburb in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. From http://www.korea.net
09/19/2016 Internet-Only
Bank Seeks Gov't Approval for Service South Korea's financial regulatory body said
Friday it will soon decide whether to issue a permit for the nation's first
online-only bank. Two consortiums, one led by KT Corp. and the other by Kakao
Corp., are preparing to enter the banking sector with their technical
expertise. KT's consortium submitted an application earlier in the day for
the government's approval for the establishment of K-Bank, the Financial
Services Commission said. The envisioned Internet bank will be capitalized at
250 billion won ($227 million), with more than 150 employees, according to
the consortium composed of 21 firms. Its headquarters will be located in the
central Seoul district of Gwanghwamun. The FSC said it will make a decision
on whether to issue a license by the end of this year after an internal
review. "K-Bank aims to start the business within this year," it
said. The other consortium, led by Kakao, which operates the country's
dominant chat app Kakao Talk, is expected to submit an application in
November or December. From http://www.koreaherald.com/ 09/30/2016 KT
Develops New Cost-Efficient 5G Network Repeater South Korean network carrier KT on Monday said
that it has successfully developed a new, cost-effective telecommunications
device able to deliver next-generation 5G network signals inside closed
buildings by using network infrastructures already installed in buildings.
KT’s newly-built repeater -- a device which amplifies network signals for
small areas or buildings and plays an integral role in enabling network
services indoors -- runs on existing network cables and repeaters built for
Long-Term Evolution, or LTE networks. By significantly cutting installation
costs and raising efficiency, KT said its new 5G repeater allows the firm to
provide 5G services at cheaper costs than those of its competitors. KT, the
country’s second-largest telecom firm, claims that its newly-built 5G
repeater is the first of its kind to be introduced worldwide. The firm plans
to utilize its new 5G repeater technology to service its 5G network services
at indoor venues during the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018. 5G
broadband network technology -- which can deliver data 1,000 times faster
than LTE, or 4G -- refers to the next major phase of wireless communication
technologies. From http://www.koreaherald.com 10/10/2016 Search,
Chatbot Services to Change E-Commerce SK Planet, the
operator of South Korea’s leading online open market, highlighted search,
recommendation and chatbot services as the core technologies to foster
e-commerce during a seminar on Monday. During its 5th annual IT conference
Tech Planet 2016, the operator of 11 Street, shared its outlook on changes in
e-commerce led by advanced IT technology. “Technological advancement has
changed online and offline shopping experiences for both users and sellers.
Many more changes are ahead, especially on the mobile platform, due to the
development of artificial intelligence and big data,” said Lee Sang-ho, chief
technology officer of SK Planet, at the conference held at COEX, in southern
Seoul. Lee suggested integrated and personalized commerce equipped with
efficient search, recommendation and chabot services as the future of
e-commerce. The search service presents shoppers with a list of goods that
may match what they are looking to purchase. From http://www.koreaherald.com 10/17/2016 Korean
Carriers Collide over New IoT Networks South Korean mobile carriers SK Telecom, KT and LG
Uplus on Wednesday collided over the superiority of new networks for the
Internet of Things technology as the latter two established a new alliance
against the segment’s leader SKT. KT and LG Uplus on Thursday announced a new
partnership for the swift commercialization and expansion of the Narrow
Band-Internet of Things, or NB-IoT, network across the nation. The two local
carriers plan to cooperate in making the NB-IoT the standard network
supporting devices utilizing IoT technology. They did not disclose a concrete
investment plan. Their joint push towards NB-IoT challenges their rival and
segment leader SK Telecom’s pursuit of an alternative IoT network called
LoRaWAN, which stands for “long-range wide area network.” KT and LG Uplus
highlighted the superiority of NB-IoT over LoRaWAN during a press conference
held in Seoul Wednesday to mark their partnership, sparking criticism from
SKT which claimed the rivals moves “hurt the development of Korea’s IoT
ecosystem." From http://www.koreaherald.com 11/03/2016 IT
Industry Seeks New Opportunities in Silicon Valley The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning
hosted the 2016 K-global@Silicon Valley conference in Santa Clara, CA, on
Nov. 2 and 3. The event is aimed at helping small and medium-sized Korean
venture firms and startups from across the IT industry expand their business
overseas. As the opener of the two-day seminar, an international conference
brought together IT experts from around the world, allowing them to share
their insights about the globalization of new technologies and industries,
under the theme of industry 4.0. The two-day trade fair invited a select
group of 44 promising smaller and venture businesses to hold one-on-one
business talks with more than 200 international buyers, concerning exports
and investment. A group of 25 startups, selected as rising businesses in the
domestic industry by institutions specialized in providing assistance to
startups, showcased their unique technologies and services to Silicon Valley
investors in the Startup IR program. From http://www.korea.net
11/07/2016 Businesspeople
of Korea, Japan Discuss Cooperation in AI, IoT Business representatives of South Korea and Japan
gathered Tuesday to discuss ways to step up cooperation in emerging
technology sectors, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of
Things (IoT). Chairmen of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI)
and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), as well as 30 other
regional chamber chiefs of the two nations, held a meeting in Songdo, west of
Seoul. "As the global trade market remains in the doldrums,
emerging economies will provide more opportunities in investment in their
infrastructure development," Park Yong-maan, KCCI chief and Doosan Group
chairman, said during the meeting. "As the boundary between real life
and the digital world is rapidly getting blurred in the wake of AI, IoT and
big data, companies need to lift the barriers and step up
collaborations." Akio Mimura, the JCCI head and former Nippon Steel
& Sumitomo Metal adviser, said he hopes that the two nations will expand
cooperation in various sectors as South Korea hosts the 2018 PyeongChang
Winter Olympics and Japan holds the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. From http://www.koreaherald.com 11/08/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
INDONESIA:
Launching Reform Package to Boost E-Commerce Business Indonesia on Thursday launched an economic reform
package for e-commerce business aimed at facilitating startups to expand
their business networks. The move is expected to cope with market
capitalization target in the business sector which was initially set at 130
billion U.S. Dollars by 2020. "The aim of this reform policy is to
expand people's economic activities across the nation efficiently that are
interconnected with global consumers to ensure their existing businesses get
broader and farther market," Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for the Economy
Darmin Nasution said in his remarks to launch the package. The package,
officially known as roadmap for e-commerce business, is the 14th economic
reform policies issued by President Joko Widodo administration in the past
two years. The minister said that the package provides certainty and easiness
to e-commerce business for startups, serving as the guidance document for the
creation of the national electronic-based trade system which would be
developed from 2016 to 2019. Creation of the e-commerce business roadmap
involves 12 ministries and state agencies, including the central bank and
financial service authorities and players in the business through their
associations, the minister said. The launching of reform package for
e-commerce business was also expected to create breakthrough and new
invention in the business, the minister said. Indonesia is among countries
with intensive use of internet with 93.4 million users in which 71 million of
them are savvy smartphone users. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 11/10/2016 Facebook Wants Drones to Boost Indonesia's Access
to Internet The government and social media giant Facebook
are seeking cooperation to boost internet access for small and medium
enterprises (SMEs), Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Saturday after a meeting
with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the sidelines of an APEC summit in Lima.
Better internet access could help thousands of Indonesian SMEs in remote
regions of the country that so far have not been able to promote their
products domestically and internationally. Kalla said Zuckerberg had offered
Indonesia to use Facebook’s Aquila drone, a solar-powered unmanned aerial
vehicle, to beam the internet to remote parts of Indonesia. He added that the
government welcomed the plan and had assigned the Industry Ministry to work
on the details. He said better connectivity could help SMEs in the regions
grow their business. “An online system provides information about the market
and products. This system could unite markets and protect the quality of
products being sold in the market,” Kalla said. Facebook’s offer to Indonesia is part of the
company’s effort to help small businesses tap the potential economic benefits
from around 4.2 billion people around the world who have yet to get access to
the internet. “Mark [Zuckerberg] in his speeches cited Indonesia as an
example where regions could be connected through the internet to produce
economic benefits,” Kalla said. Under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s
administration, Indonesia’s vision for the digital economy foresees local
companies valued at a total of US$130 billion and the birth of 1,000
so-called technopreneurs by 2020. Jokowi has issued a number of policies to
implement its e-commerce road map, including economic stimulus packages and
greater access to financial support for SMEs and IT-based companies. Kalla
said the government had given financial support to SMEs across the country,
which would be supplemented by an agreement by APEC members to help each
other in conducting training to support SMEs. “When we talk about SMEs, we
are talking about the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals]. With strong SMEs
a country can alleviate poverty, as demanded by the APEC,” Kalla said. On Saturday, the first day of the two-day APEC
summit, Kalla joined the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) along with 21
leaders of APEC member countries, including outgoing US President Barack
Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to discuss a theme titled “Growing Global
MSMEs and Promoting Sustainable Development.” Kalla said that during the
forum Indonesia had proposed that APEC member countries cut import tariffs on
what he called Indonesia’s development products, such as crude palm oil,
coffee, cocoa, rubber and rattan. “The development products must be accepted
without tariffs in those countries, because that is one of the ways to
support agricultural products in a developing country like Indonesia. If such
products are prevented [from entering foreign markets] it will create a new
kind of poverty,” Kalla said. Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister AM Fachir
said Indonesia welcomed the adoption of APEC’s Education Strategy and the
APEC Baseline Report on Current Education Status during the APEC Ministerial
Meeting (AMM), which had “Developing Human Capital” as its theme. “Indonesia
is committed to creating an education community that is strong and cohesive
at the APEC,” said Fachir. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/21/2016 THAILAND:
Direct Sales of Rice Gaining Traction on Internet RICE farmers struggling to cope with low paddy
prices are being offered help to sell their produce directly to end consumers
to overcome the crisis. With the price of paddy falling to as low as Bt5 per
kilogram, many farmers have been plunged into deep financial trouble this
harvest season. However, many people are now offering assistance as farmers
in many areas try to adapt to the problem. Kasetsart University lecturer
Decharut Sukkumnoed said after a workshop on Sunday at the university’s
faculty of economics that many people and organisations had volunteered to
relieve farmers’ financial burdens. “There has been a lot of good news
regarding the farmer financial crisis right now, as many people have offered
help to farmers’ families who are planning to sell their parents’ rice,”
Decharut said. He said the Commerce Ministry had ordered Provincial Commerce
Offices across the country to help farmers’ families to directly sell rice.
Meanwhile, many rice mills in Chiang Rai, Payao, Chai Nat and Suphan Buri
have volunteered to mill and store rice for private direct sales. He also
said many organisations had offered free spaces for rice vendors both in
Bangkok and other provinces. In Bangkok, Thammasat and Kasetsart universities
have designated space for rice sellers to open shop on their campuses. “I
have received offers from IT firms that can help to develop online platforms
to sell rice for farmers and their family members. This is including mobile
applications that allow the customers to order rice products from farmers
directly. The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives is also
considering providing low-interest loans for rice direct sellers too,”
Decharut said. The campaign for farmers’ families to directly sell
rice, which was initiated by Decharut to tackle the lowest paddy prices in a
decade, is gaining traction on the Internet as farmers have started to
advertise their products on social media, while other people have volunteered
to help by designing packaging and providing free marketing. However, E-sarn
Organic Agricultural Community Enterprise Network director Ronwarit
Pariyachattrakul criticised the direct-sales model, which might help farmers
obtain higher prices in the short term, but did not solve the farming crisis
in the long term. “We need to shift our rice production to organic and
rebrand Thai rice to be premium organic rice in order to raise the prices in
the international market. If we are successful, our rice price will be higher
automatically and demand for our rice will increase,” Ronwarit said. “Our
network has been producing organic jasmine rice for many years and despite
the low paddy price this year, our organic produce can be sold at Bt14 per
kilogram compared to jasmine paddy from chemical farms, which can be sold
only Bt5 per kilogram,” Ronwarit said.
“The Agricultural Extension Department should be at the |forefront to
promote organic rice farming.” For a short-term solution, he said government
agencies that need rice to feed the Army, prisons and public hospitals should
buy rice directly from farmers at higher prices. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/01/2016 Co-Working
Spaces Meet Job, Lifestyle Needs of Tech Start-Up Entrepreneurs CO-WORKING facilities have gained popularity among
tech start-up entrepreneurs in Thailand over the past few years, says Amarit
Charoenphun, chief executive officer and co-founder of Hubba. As an operator
of co-working space with branches in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Laos, he said:
“Before there was a Hubba co-working space, it was difficult for people to
group together to create a start-up, as they needed economical space [due to
the lack of a big budget] and an environment conducive to what they were
doing. “In some cases, a start-up is launched by just one person, but it’s
hard to get a working space for just one guy, so we saw some of them working
at trendy coffee shops or other public places. The co-working space business
was therefore created to respond to these needs. “When you’re a member, you
can book a space for one person at a price starting from just over Bt290 per
day for complete office and related facilities, including hi-speed Internet
and beverages around the clock.” Amarit explained. “Working hours also vary,
as some come to work at 9am and leave at five in the evening, while others
may come at two in the afternoon and stay up quite late. Those who deal with
colleagues in different time zones may come in the evening and leave the next
morning. “This is the new work style for those who work online
or on the digital platform. They also kind of try to have a work-life
integration. Some may work a few hours in the morning and take a long break
for coffee in the afternoon. “Early evening, they may enjoy a
physical-fitness session, and then they return to work. Work is now more
flexible – and productivity is key to success. For those who want to be an
entrepreneur, it’s now much easier if you have good ideas and co-workers.
It’s also much cheaper to start a business like a website, an app or a physical
product,” the CEO said. “In my opinion, old-style office space does not meet
the requirements of start-up people. First of all, it will cost over
Bt100,000 to just sign a lease contract for a small office. This doesn’t work
for start-ups that are still in the process of testing business ideas and
models, which may fail and new ideas and new models may have to be tested
again. “Co-working space is therefore the answer for
these people. In addition, it’s more convenient to get experts in many fields
such as computer programmers, accountants or marketing to help implement
business ideas and models around co-working facilities,” he added. “Now, we
have four branches in Bangkok, in the Ekamai and Sukhumvit areas as well as
in Siam Discovery. In Chiang Mai, we have two affiliated branches, and in the
Lao capital, Vientiane, we have one affiliated branch. The major branches can
accommodate up to 300 working people at a time. “Many new college graduates
have looked at digital-business opportunities due to the success of Google,
Facebook and Amazon, among others. Then there are many multi-billion-dollar
business start-ups. These examples used to be far away in western countries,
but they are no longer so. “In Malaysia, there are Grab taxis, and there are
the likes or Jack Ma of Alibaba in China. All these Asians have inspired the
new generation of Thai entrepreneurs and start-up hopefuls,” Hubba’s
co-founder said. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/19/2016 Shopee
Tapping E-Commerce Explosion in Southeast Asia Mobile E-Commerce Marketplace
Says Thailand one of segment’s most dynamic countries SHOPEE, a leading mobile e-commerce marketplace,
has committed to continuing to invest in Thailand and elsewhere in the region
due to the region’s being the fastest growing e-commerce market. In Southeast
Asia, each country is different. That is the beauty of the region, but it is
also the challenge. But with more than a half billion people, the region is
worth the effort. One of the reasons Southeast Asia is challenging is the
fact each country is different, with their own languages, logistically set
ups, payment methods, culture, and user preferences. That is why Shopee has a
local office in each market – because localisation is very important, said
Terence Pang, the company’s chief operating officer. In this competitive
landscape, Pang said, everyone [e-commerce players] want to come to Southeast
Asia as it is a very interesting market, but not everyone will be successful
because firms need to have unique local knowledge to bring into the market. The penetration of online e-commerce in Southeast
Asia compared to the retail market is between 1-3 per cent, while in mature
market like the US, China, Japan, Germany, and European countries, e-commerce
markets enjoy double digital penetration. There is a lot of room for Shopee
to grow, Pang said, adding the company needs to invest more in its ecosystem
including payments and logistics as well as educating users and top talent on
e-commerce. “The number of smartphone users in this region is rising
continuously. We recognise the huge opportunity for online marketplaces to
create differentiated solutions that suit the ever-changing needs of the new
generation of users. Shopee is committed to creating a platform that serves
the needs of both buyers and sellers,” Pang said. Taiwan is the country with
the most advanced e-commerce market. To lift their e-commerce standards,
Southeast Asian need more initiatives to drive the segment. Each country has
different e-commerce characteristic. For example, in the Philippines the
challenge is logistics since it has more than 1,000 islands. It is impossible
to identify one logistic provider that can provide 100 per cent coverage. Pang said providing coverage to be able to access
all the markets in the Philippines is the challenge. In Southeast Asia,
Thailand is ideal for e-commerce in terms of the size of the market, its
population, the penetration of the Internet especially the mobile Internet,
and the affluence of the people. The challenge in Thailand is more education
because as Thailand is growing so fast, users might not fully understand the
concept of e-commerce. “Thailand is the very good market. The market is quite
ready for e-commerce. Our strategy is to educate Thais in order to bring them
onto the platform, to grow, and expand the market and to increase the user
base,” Pang said. Shopee is a consumer to consumer platform and a business to
consumer platform. In Southeast Asia, there is blurring line between C2C and
B2C because technology enables everyone to be able to sell and buy
online. “E-commerce is a very
local business. It is not a business you can win globally ... Now, the focus
is on the countries we are in, understand, and know consumer behaviour. We
believe in the run long e-commerce is localised business, not a global
business,” said Pang. Shopee is the largest and fastest growing mobile
e-commerce market in Southeast Asia. In one year, it grew to US$1.5 billion
(Bt53 billion) in gross merchant value. It has 250,000 orders per day, and
20,000 orders per day in Thailand. It has more than three million users in
Thailand, and 20 million in the region. "We are set to be a technology platform
provider, providing a platform for users to buy and to sell. We have a really
strong focus on enablement and instruction. We want everyone to be able to
buy and sell on Shopee, from small individuals to the bigger sellers,” Pang
said. He explained that Shopee was developed to be an easy platform to sell
on, with items listed to sell in 30 seconds. He said it also has a clean and
simple user interface app with payment and logistics integration that makes
it very simple to buy and sell. The company does not charge licence fees and
there are no commissions. It provides money subsidies for shipping. “We know
shipping is concerned with pinpointing online shoppers, so we provide free
shipping. All these things we provide allows everyone to enjoy online
shopping,” Pang said. He added that those measures meant Shoppe was
successful in getting an increasing number of users to buy items, with most
users making their first online purchase on Shopee. There are also a lo of
individual sellers, he said. “We help more young entrepreneurs and startups come
on to the platform, to be successful in creating businesses on the platform
in Thailand and SEA [Southeast Asia],” he said. He added that e-commerce has continued
to change since first started in the region. “When Shopee started in December
2015, we identify two key trends that would be changing in SEA. One is the
shift in consumer’s behaviour from PC to mobile and social commerce growing.
That is why Shopee came to the market – to capture these two key trends since
day one,” he said. He said that over the past five years Instagram and
Facebook had become bigger e-commerce players in Thailand but they did not
have proper logistics and payment channels, so Shopee saw that as an
opportunity. “In the past, social media was for social media, e-commerce was
for e-commerce. Now, Shopee integrates them as a service. Shopee’s challenge
is how to teach consumers to better sell online,” Pang said. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/21/2016 VIETNAM:
Firms Urged to Use E-Commerce Vietnamese enterprises, especially small- and
medium-sized ones, should increase the use of e-commerce to boost their
exports and showcase their products to potential partners globally, a seminar
heard in HCM City yesterday. Nguyễn Thị Hạnh, chief representative of the Việt
Nam E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency (Vecita) in HCM City, said
Việt Nam was among countries with a high growth rate in internet penetration
and has around 50 million internet users or more than half of its population.
Its key export markets like the US, Japan, South Korea and the EU have high
rates of internet use, and it would be very effective if enterprises know how
to use the internet to access them, she said. “But the use of e-commerce
among Vietnamese exporters remains low,” she told the seminar organised by
the world’s leading e-commerce company, Alibaba, OSB Investment and
Technology JSC, VPBank, and the Post and Telecommunication Insurance Joint
Stock Corporation (PTI). A survey by Vecita of more than 800 export firms
found that only 42 per cent of them have websites. Most surveyed firms
contacted their business partners through direct meetings (59 per cent) and
via trade fairs and trade promotion programmes (19 per cent), while only 19
per cent said they approached potential buyers through websites, e-commerce
platforms and email, she said. In the survey, more than 59 per cent of
enterprises said e-commerce was “effective” for exports and 14 per cent said
“ineffective,” she said. Lê Đăng Doanh, former director of the Central Institute
for Economic Management, said, existing and future free trade agreements
would provide opportunities for Vietnamese firms to boost exports, but the
competition would be fiercer. Vietnamese exporters have been encountering
challenges in a fast-changing global economy and due to the slow growth of
the global economy and the depreciation of the British pound, he said. This
requires them to adopt effective measures to boost exports, he said. Trần Xuân Thủy, the country manager of Alibaba in
Việt Nam, said cross-border transactions were shifting from a traditional
environment to an online environment to optimise operations. With advantages
like low costs, convenience and absence of geographical restrictions,
e-commerce offers opportunities for small-scale firms to compete, explore and
expand markets, he said. Speaking about her experience in using e-commerce to
promote exports, Lê Thị Thiện Ngân, director of Paper Colour Co Ltd, which
makes 3D pop-up cards for export, said her company had been exporting online
since 2014 and enjoyed great success. From making 1,000 products a month, the
company has expanded to produce 22,000-24,000 now, she said. Alibaba, OSB,
VPBank and PTI have signed an agreement to offer exporters services to enable
them to access the global market. Hạnh said Việt Nam’s e-commerce sector had
grown at 25-30 per cent annually in recent years, and this was expected to
continue for the next five years. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
10/21/2016 Gtel
Mobile Licensed to Provide 4G in VN Minister of Information and Communications Trương
Minh Tuấn on Tuesday signed a licence allowing Gtel Mobile Joint Stock
Company (Gtel Mobile) to provide 4G telecommunication service in Việt Nam.
This brings the number of operators receiving licences for 4G service to
four. Like the three major network operators -- Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone --
Gtel will deploy 4G telecom service on 1800 MHz, which was previously used
for the 2G service. According to the ministry’s Telecommunications
Department, responsibilities of the network provider in terms of coverage
range, quality and service fees will be stipulated clearly in the licence to
ensure rights of users and feasibility of implementation. Gtel Mobile was
founded in July 2008 as a joint venture between Global Telecommunication
Corporation and Russia’s VimpelCom. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
10/22/2016 VN
Sets Its Sights on E-Commerce Growth Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) are encouraged to promote brand building and e-commerce development to
enhance competitiveness at a workshop on e-commerce yesterday in Cần Thơ
City. The event is organised by the Việt Nam E-Commerce Association (VECOM)
in collaboration with the Industry and Trade Department of Cần Thơ City as
part of efforts to make SMEs take advantage of the fast growing e-commerce
opportunities in Việt Nam. "Innovation happens every day and the
revolution is on. Consumers take shortcuts and the recipes used today will
not work tomorrow. Therefore, it’s time for SMEs to take e-commerce seriously
and make proper investment in building their brand online via the most
effective tool – websites – to maintain and even enhance their
competitiveness in the market," President of VECOM Nguyễn Thanh Hưng
said. "Building websites is the first move to enter e-commerce and the
domain name you choose for your website can significantly impact the
reputation and credibility of your brand," Hưng added. "Choosing the right domain name is the first
step towards building a successful and credible online presence. Once a business
has an official online presence by owning a standard domain name, it is
ensured high visibility every time and everywhere," Nguyễn Minh Thái,
business director of Mắt Bão Network, one of the leading domain name
providers in Việt Nam, said. "Moreover, globally recognised domain names
like .com also help businesses access larger markets, not only in the
country, but also beyond the boundaries, reaching higher potential growth and
increasing their profits", Thái said. The workshop aims to provide local
SMEs an overview of e-commerce and its immense growth potential in Việt Nam
and introduce effective tools to create an online business. It has attracted
the participation of hundreds of local SMEs and leading consultants and
experts in e-commerce, especially in the field of website building, online
payment, brand development based on domain name and online advertising. According to the Việt Nam E-Commerce Report 2015,
there were more than 10,000 e-commerce platforms and websites registered in
2015, doubling the number in 2014. This certainly will strengthen the growing
trend of making online purchases in Việt Nam. It is projected that Việt Nam’s
revenue from online shopping will increase by 40 per cent by 2020. The report
also said online retailers posted over US$4 billion in sales last year and it
is expected to increase to $10 billion by 2020, making up five per cent of Việt
Nam’s total retail sales. Despite the rapid growth in online sales, several
Vietnamese enterprises have not fully recognised the opportunity. In fact,
only 20 per cent of SMEs have websites to promote their sales, of which it is
difficult to access 70 per cent via mobile phones. E-commerce takes stronger role According to a master plan to develop e-commerce
from 2016-20, around 50 per cent of businesses will have an internet presence
to update their business information and popularise their products.
Meanwhile, 80 per cent of enterprises will order or receive orders through
e-commerce applications on the Internet or on mobile platforms. All
supermarkets, shopping malls and distribution facilities will install
point-of-sale (POS) systems which enable non-cash payment for purchases. In
addition, non-cash payment will also be encouraged in roughly 50 per cent of
households in big cities and 70 per cent of providers of power, water,
communication and media services. Regarding e-commerce market scale, about 30
per cent of the population is expected to partake in online shopping by 2020,
with the average value of purchased commodities reaching $350 per buyer. The
Ministry of Industry and Trade said after five years of ecommerce master plan
development in 2011-15 period, the sector has affirmed its position
contributing to socio-economic development in Việt Nam. Experts believe that
e-commerce is new and complicated model that needs integrated management
tools and co-operation among relevant agencies to create an
fair business environment that ensure companies and customers’ rights. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
10/29/2016 E-Commerce
Startups Ready to Compete with Int’L Rivals Vietnamese e-commerce startups are capable of
competing with international companies, which are increasingly coming to Viet
Nam to set up business, delegates heard at a forum yesterday in HCM City.
“More foreign investors are coming to Viet Nam, but are not able to catch up
with the character of the new emerging market with its unstable policies,” Le
Hai Binh, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Electronic Commerce Association,
said at the Viet Nam Startup forum. The forum was held during Global
Entrepreneurship Week, an event celebrated in more than 160 countries by 10
million people. “Vietnamese startups should be confident to compete with
foreign companies on their home ground,” Binh said. Huynh Viet Phuong, head
of representative office of Viet Nam Internet in HCM City said: “The
challenges for foreign investors are our advantages. This is strength for
Vietnamese startup and you don’t need to worry about their money or
experience.” But Phuong also suggested startups should control their quality
of products, know who their customers are and should not do business in a
hurry. “Around 95 per cent of startups in Silicon Valley failed because they
did not have the right development trend,” Lucy Keoni, a US startup expert,
said. She stressed the role of investors and trainers
in guiding startup owners and staff.
“This is the same for Vietnamese startups. Before starting business
operations, you should set out your development path,” Binh added Huynh Ngoc
Duy, CEO of Mat Bao JSC, said: “Vietnamese startups dare not share their
ideas because they are afraid of stealing, but it is not fully true.” “Global
startups often have their own community to share ideas because if you discuss
one idea from different aspects with many people, you can learn and avoid
mistakes,” he added. “The Vietnamese Government has paid a lot of attention
to developing the business community, especially for startups. There are
600,000 enterprises and 4 million households contributing to economic
development,” Vo Tan Thanh, deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of
Commerce and Industry, said. By 2020, Viet Nam plans to have at least 1
million enterprises, with the private economic sector contributing 45 – 50
per cent of GDP. “VCCI is proud of being the 13th partner of the Global
Entrepreneurship Network and we are trying to deploy many startup
encouragement projects around the country,” he added. Corporate social responsibility At the forum, VCCI spoke about corporate social
responsibility policies of companies. Le Thi Thu Thuy, vice director of the
Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise Promotion Centre, of VCCI, said: “The
Global Entrepreneurial Week is a big opportunity for many attendees to
develop their local and international business networks and learn from their
peers. “We want to show these start-ups that corporate social responsibility
policies such as zero tolerance towards threatened wildlife consumption can
attract new business and foreign investment. Vietnamese e-commerce businesses
have a unique opportunity to be leaders in the reduction of wildlife
trafficking,” she said. TRAFFIC’s research has identified e-commerce as an
important area to target to reduce wildlife trafficking. The Viet Nam Startup
forum is a key way to reach companies entering the sector. In June, TRAFFIC conducted a 23-day rapid
assessment of the top eight e-commerce websites in Viet Nam to determine the
prevalence of wildlife sales online. For 30 minutes each day, TRAFFIC
searched for wildlife products that ranged from birds and lizards to rhino horn
and ivory. Over the course of the assessment, TRAFFIC found 180
advertisements for wildlife – 64 per cent of which advertised illegal
commodities. “TRAFFIC’s rapid assessment suggests e-commerce websites are a
low risk channel to supply consumers with illicit wildlife products,” said
Madelon Willemsen, head of TRAFFIC in Viet Nam. “With the growth of the
e-commerce market in Viet Nam, we must closely monitor activity in this
sector and engage businesses to act against the illegal trade of wildlife.
“Through TRAFFIC’s partnerships with civil society organizations like VCCI,
we are encouraging the business community, including the e-commerce sector,
to adopt corporate social responsibility policies that reduce illegal trade
and consumption of wildlife,” she added. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/19/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
India, U.S. to Use S&CD Platform to Boost Trade,
Investment
From http://www.siliconindia.com 09/01/2016 E-commerce
Generates $1.2 Million Revenue in Every 30 Seconds: Study Every 30 seconds, global e-commerce industry
generates over $1.2 million revenue with Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter
contributing $5,483, $4,504 and $4,308 respectively, says the ASSOCHAM –
Deloitte study joint study. Social networks are contributing significantly to
the growth of e-commerce business revenue. The maturity of social media and
its reach across masses and classes makes it a suitable platform for online
sales.“Social media helps e-tailers to build brand
awareness by responding to customer queries. Seasonal sales and offers are
displayed in social networks to reach maximum number of people. E-tailers
have even started to motivate customers with reward points to provide
feedback on the product on social networks,” said D S Rawat, Secretary General,
ASSOCHAM. Prospective customers also interact with users of the product or
service on social networks before making purchase decision. The social media provides a platform for
e-tailers to engage with customers for: advertisement, building brand awareness,
developing a community of trusted user, spreading Word-of-Mouth and customer
feedback. Furthermore, payment gateways help the e-tailers to receive money
instantly rather than waiting for the CoD payments, thus reducing chances of
theft and fraud. The retailers are slowly moving towards payment gateways for
improving security and dealing with other complexities which arise with
financial transactions. The banks as well as the e-tailers are offering
different offers like cashback and easy Monthly Installment (EMI) to
encourage customers for card-based payments. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/20/2015 Non-taxing
GST Apps to Be Made by Companies Soon To give
taxpayers more option to file returns once the much-awaited tax reform is
rolled out, the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has invited private
companies to build third-party interfaces. Open for technology,
accounting and financial services firms, it will enable businesses to file
taxes from a host of platforms like mobile apps or portals instead of applying
only through the GSTN portal. The idea is to fuel
“innovation” and have multiple solutions for different sectors such as FMCG
or manufacturing since they may have different needs and also for
corporations of different size, said a senior official of the agency, which
is building the technology back-bone for the country’s largest tax reform
ever. The approach is similar to,
the official said, “what the income tax
department follows. Individuals are free to file their returns from multiple
sources,” said the official. They will go through a tough screening process
and “will be certified by the government of India’s Standardisation Testing
and Quality Certification agency (STQC) to ensure they meet quality standards
and taxpayers do not have to worry about a bad interface”, the official
added. With the government setting a deadline of implementing the new
taxation regime by April 1, 2017, the GSTN is hopeful of readying its
technology systems before the deadline. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/12/2016 India Is Double-Digit Growth Market for Cargo
Deliveries
From http://www.siliconindia.com/ 10/19/2016 Government
Empanels ADG Online Solutions for Digital Marketing Campaigns ADG Online Solutions-an award winning digital marketing
and web development agency under NEGD (National E-Governance division) has
been empanelled by the government of India. ADG Online Solutions will execute
its digital marketing campaigns and under NICSI (National Informatics Centre
services incorporated) for software development. Deepa Sayal, Director of ADG
Online Solutions said, “This empanelment comes as a stepping stone for us to
help government organisations and agencies grow digitally through our
frontline services like mobile app development, social media innovation, data
analytics, online branding and digital PR. We thank all our patrons for their
committed patronage & well wishes.” NeGD is an autonomous business
division, under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Government
of India) for supporting and assisting DeitY (Department of Electronics and
Information Technology) which is spearheading the Digital India Program of
India. ADG will be catering to digital marketing and governance programs for
NeGD. NICSI is a Government of India Enterprise under NIC, (Ministry of
Electronics & Information Technology). It’s main
focus is to provide IT solutions for multiple e-governance projects
undertaken by NIC, DeitY, Governments and Government organisations. ADG
Online Solutions came into existence in 2005. It is one of the most popular
digital media marketing and web development agency that has helped build
market share for a large chunk of blue chip accounts across B2B and B2C
domains. Apart from digital marketing and web development, it also serves as
a data research and analytics firm. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/15/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
AZERBAIJAN: Use of E-Signatures
Simplified The initiative of the Communications and High
Technologies Ministry of Azerbaijan on application of certified USB-keys for
access to e-services is an important step in addressing the problems of popularization
of e-signatures’ use. Osman Gunduz, a coordinator of the Public Council for
e-Government Services Promotion at the ASAN-service under the President of
Azerbaijan, announced about this while talking to Trend on September 21. He
noted that this will largely eliminate the problem that users faced when
using e-services. “One of the obstacles reducing the public interest in the
use of e-signature was associated with the need to additionally purchase card
readers, as well as downloading special software allowing them to use it. And
the offered USB-keys simplify the use of e-signature and make it more
convenient,” Gunduz said. Equally important for many is that the innovation
also has contributed to the decrease of the cost of e-signature, making it even
more affordable, which is a very important step, Gunduz believes. USB-keys
are sold at a price of 18 manats ($11), and this includes the possibility of
using all advantages of e-signature. It’s a more affordable option compared
to SMART-cards that were sold at a price of 13 manats ($8) separately from
the e-signature. In addition, the user had to pay additional 18 manats ($11)
to purchase the e-signature itself. “However, I believe we should not stop
there, because, despite the availability and technological progress in the
use of e-signatures, there are still some problems associated with its
popularization among the population, which should be given special attention
to,” said Gunduz, adding that it is necessary that the government agencies
introduce more and more electronic services requiring the use of
e-signatures. Issuance of the certified USB-keys to the citizens of
Azerbaijan started recently. The USB-keys can be purchased through the
National Certification Services Centre or online from e-imza.az. USB-keys
have replaced SMART-cards. They can be used for authentication, protection of
electronic correspondence, personal data storage, as well as to sign
documents, store private keys and certificates. USB-keys and SMART-cards are
identical in their characteristics devices. The difference is that USB-keys
can be directly connected to the computer via the USB-port, while the use of
SMART-cards requires additional hardware – a card-reader. From http://www.azernews.az/
09/21/2016 Azerbaijan Creates E-Portal for Eoods
& Services Export Azerbaijan has created an electronic portal for
the export of homemade goods and services as part of promotion of non-oil
exports, the Azerbaijan Export and Investments Promotion Fund (AZPROMO) said
in a message Oct. 24. The e-portal at www.export.az is a mechanism to support
entrepreneurs in order to enhance the export potential, expand relations with
foreign trade partners, and produce competitive local goods meeting
international standards for foreign markets. Information about the non-oil
goods produced in Azerbaijan, the companies operating in various spheres of
Azerbaijan’s economy, the countries where Azerbaijani products are exported,
as well as target countries, certificates of companies and other information
can be obtained on the portal. Both local and foreign companies have to
register in order to use the portal, after which they can place information
about themselves and their products on the portal, as well as view
information about other companies. Currently, the portal operates in
Azerbaijani and English, and its Russian version is planned to be launched in
the near future. From http://en.trend.az/
10/24/2016 TURKMENISTAN: Ashgabat Intensifying
Int’l Ties in Telecommunications Sphere The international exhibition Turkmentel 2016 and
conference titled “Turkmenistan and world information and communication
systems” will be held Sept. 28-30 in Ashgabat, said a message from the
event’s organizers – Turkmen Communications Ministry and the country’s
Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The forum will be attended by
representatives of companies – manufacturers and service providers in
telecommunications sphere – from 20 countries. Such companies as Rohde &
Schwarz, Thales, Gilat Satellite Networks, Hermes, Huawei Technologies, AXIS
Communications, SICKO, TRIAX, ELTI d.o.o., Iskratel, SES Broadband Services,
Eastern Wind and Rostelekom, Sony Solutions Group, Nokia Siemens Networks,
Tyco Electronics are represented on the Turkmen market. Turkmenistan
modernizes telephone exchanges, extends fiber-optic lines, operates satellite
communication systems, purchases modern equipment, expands national cellular
network and the number of high-speed Internet users
increases. From http://en.trend.az/
09/24/2016 From 1 January 2017, Uzbekistan is expected to
adopt the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic
Activities. The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan adopted
this decision, in order to implement a universally recognized classification
of economic activities in the interdepartmental interaction of state bodies,
its use in the classification of small business entities, as well as further
improving the system of statistical, tax and financial reporting. As noted in
the document, the State Statistics Committee has made a transition to the
Nationwide qualifier of types of economic activity of the Republic of
Uzbekistan, developed on the basis of statistical classification of economic
activities in the European Union (NACE). According to the document, the
Ministry for development of information technologies and communications of
the Republic of Uzbekistan has been instructed to include the Nationwide
qualifier to the registry of directories and classifiers of the system
"Electronic government" for its consequent use in information
systems and resources of state bodies that contain and process information
about legal entities. In addition, bodies of state administration, the
Council of Ministers of Republic of Karakalpakstan, khokimiyats of regions
and the Tashkent city have been instructed to: - strictly follow the
Classification of entities when defining the types of organizations; - ensure
the use Nationwide qualifier in the information systems and resources, as
well as in interdepartmental electronic interaction. The document comes into
force from 1 January 2017. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
08/30/2016 Mobile Offices of People's Bank
Create a Number of Facilities for Clients Advances in information technologies in the years
of independence have radically improved the quality of services offered by
financial institutions. New services have been integrated into the country’s
banking system, which allows clients to save time and money. In this regard,
People's Bank is a telling example. Heeding the population’s interests and
demands, People's Bank has opened new offices, cash desks, saving-banks, and
mobile cash departments, which allow to service clients in distant villages
and mahallas. The bank’s employees commute to these areas to receive cash and
effect payments through credit cards, transferring the funds to enterprises
by special programmes on tablets. Today we have possibilities and conditions
for mobile cash departments. In the past, we used to go to People's Bank’s
office, which was not very convenient. But now it is. They have tablets,
thermal printers, and points of sale, which effect our payments immediately.
Once a long road has become shorter. We are grateful to the bank, said the client
of the Bank Flura Kamoliddinova The bank’s employees render quality services
at any convenient time, even on a day off, which helps save customers’ time
and money. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
09/01/2016 Huawei Opens Authorized Information
and Network Academy Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy
has been officially opened at Tashkent University of Information
Technologies. The project called HAINA will assist in training of
high-quality ICT and telecom specialists in Uzbekistan. It is expected that by
the end of this year about 60 people will have completed educational and
practical courses among whom there will be some gifted students of the
university. The project has been started in Central Asia for the first time
and is unique due to the fact that TUIT will set up a specialized
Certification Center of specialists in the field of information and
communication technologies. CEO of Huawei in Tashkent Wang Peng, rector of
the Tashkent University of Information Technologies Utkir Khamdamov,
university teachers, students and journalists attended the event. Honorable
guests visited all the offices of Huawei Authorised Information and Network
Academy, as well as made a welcoming speech. It was emphasized that the
Academy will serve as a bridge between ICT industry and the young generation,
who is willing to work and develop the skills in this direction.
Smart-laboratory of the academy is equipped with modern techniques. It can
accommodate 20 students. All servers and unique software are provided by
Huawei in the framework of the memorandum signed with the leadership of TUIT
in May this year. “By
signing this memorandum, we set a target to prepare and hand over the Academy
by the 25th anniversary of Uzbekistan’s Independence. I am proud we managed
to honour our word and create a smart-lab for interactive ICT and telecoms
classes,” said Wang Peng, CEO of Huawei in Uzbekistan. The project will
include educational sessions on: IP networks, which focuses on creating and
operating small and medium sized networks; IT networks, which focuses on
expanding expertise and developing skills to create networks independently,
using IT devices and equipment and others. The project also involves training
for teachers in such areas as design software for training, consultation on
the implementation of the training centers at the regional level. HAINA is
free affiliate program. It supports universities and professional colleges
and includes Huawei certification courses for young professionals. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
09/20/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
AUSTRALIA: Smartphone Market Holds It Breath in
Anticipation of Multiple Vendor Releases The Australian mobile phone slide continued in
2016Q2 as only 1.8 million mobile phones were shipped as opposed to 2.2
million units one year ago. This represented a fall of 18% YoY for the
overall mobile phone market, which includes feature phones and smartphones,
as it experienced its third consecutive quarter of double digit YoY decline.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Quarterly Mobile Phone
Tracker, 1.7m of total mobile phones shipped were smartphones. "The
market has reached its saturation point for a while now and shipments are
driven more and more by refresh cycles rather than first-time purchases"
says Bilal Javed, Market Analyst at IDC Australia. Faced with intense
competition, market leader Apple continued to struggle as market share
plummeted from 48% in 2016Q1 to 40% in 2016Q2. Recently, Apple experienced
its slowest quarter in over 2 years. Slow down at the top has allowed other
vendors to join the playing field, with mid-range vendors benefiting the
most. Samsung consolidated their second spot in
Australia as they rode on the success of the highly rated flagship handsets,
Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge and closed in on Apple to grab 33% of the market
as compared to 31% in 2016Q1. Features of the flagship device such as
removable storage, waterproofing and faster processer grabbed consumer
attention and accounted for over 63% of Samsung's shipments. "Whilst the
Galaxy S7/S7 Edge was locking horns with Apple devices, the refreshed J
series (J1, J1 Mini and J3) along with the still successful Galaxy S5 was
Samsung's answer to the other Android vendors in the low/mid-market
space" says Bilal. Alcatel controls just over 5% of the smartphone
market as they consolidated their hold on the low-end space. The targeted
strategy of pre-paid phones exclusive to telco providers is the key driving
force behind Alcatel shipments. Huawei took fourth spot with 4% market share
as they launched the much anticipated flagship P9 as well as the Mate 8
towards the end of the quarter. However, Huawei's majority shipments came
from Y series models in the sub AU$100 price bracket. Huawei struggles to
build momentum as they lack brand awareness amongst Australian consumers. ZTE rounded out the top 5 in Australia as they
push into the market through a variety of channels and attractive price
points. Vendors such as LG Electronics and HTC had a disappointing quarter as
the much hyped flagship LG G5 and HTC 10 respectively did not live up to
expectation. "Australian consumers are becoming increasingly aware of
alternative buying options in smartphones and the lack of innovation, minimal
marketing and high price point of the device forced HTC out of the top 5. A
major surprise came from OPPO who experienced triple digit growth and could
move onto challenging the likes of HTC, Huawei, LG and Microsoft in the near
future" adds Bilal. The recent slowdown may simply be the calm before
the storm, as major launches from Apple, Samsung and the new Google Nexus
device are pending in the coming quarter. "These product launches are
likely to return the market to positive growth YoY and shipments are expected
to break the 2 million barrier" adds Bilal. Vendors following the big 2
will need to continue to innovate and provide attractive value propositions
to gain market share. From http://www.cellular-news.com 08/25/2016 Govt Finally Announces Data Retention Grants Telstra, Optus and Vodafone have together been
apportioned about 65% of the funds allocated for companies to implement the
data retention scheme that the government voted into law more than a year
ago. Telstra was allotted $39.9 million, Optus $28.8 million and Vodafone
$14.8 million. The total amount allocated for the scheme by the
attorney-general's office is $128.4 million. This is a much smaller sum than
the $188.8 million which was the lowest amount estimated by
PriceWaterhouseCoopers as being necessary for implementing the scheme. PwC
was engaged by the government to make an estimate. The high end of the amount
estimated by the accounting firm was $319.1 million. The data retention bill
was introduced in October 2014 and requires telcos to keep a limited set of
metadata for two years. The bill was passed on 26 March 2015. A media release
from the attorney-general's office said 180 service providers would receive
support, with most to get 80% of their implementation costs. All eligible
small and medium businesses will receive a minimum contribution of 80%
towards implementation costs. Service providers will receive 50% of their grant
when they sign a funding agreement with the balance to be paid once reporting
requirements are met. Reacting to the announcement, Internet Australia chief
executive Laurie Patton said the inordinate delay had left ISPs to bear the
cost of capital equipment without knowing what they would get. "This has
caused considerable unnecessary stress to our ISP members. It compounds a litany
of issues with this legislation that we have consistently maintained is
fundamentally flawed," Patton said. He said IA supported the
Communications Alliance in its call for the government to exercise
"regulatory restraint" if some ISPs were unable to meet the
requirements of the data retention regime by the deadline of April 2017.
"Our view is that the government needs to be cognisant of the fact that
its delay in providing funding has compounded the difficulty some ISP’s have
faced in becoming compliant," Patton said. He said the amount provided
fell well short of the estimates made by PwC. "What’s not covered is the
significant operational expenses involved in complying with the scheme. So
apart from having to cough up 20% of their upfront costs ISPs will be out of
pocket on an ongoing basis. As we have previously pointed out, it is
inevitable that the costs imposed on the industry by the government will be
passed on to consumers." From http://www.itwire.com
09/06/2016 NEW ZEALAND: MYOB - Business Confidence Up for
Small Business The future is looking bright for small and medium
businesses, with a growing number reporting increasing revenue and boosted
confidence heading into next year, MYOB says. The latest research from MYOB's
six-monthly Business Monitor survey of more than 1000 small to medium
enterprises showed an increasing number of small businesses were feeling more
optimistic about revenue and growth. One of these businesses is Dances for
School, a Wellington-based company that offers dance programmes for schools.
Co-owner Ezra Bush said revenue has doubled every year since 2014 and he did
not see that changing, despite being in the highly competitive education and
arts sectors. Part of that came down to
prioritising the business over personal gain. "My partner and I could
have taken home about $3000 each per week. Instead I'm sleeping on the couch
of my own apartment and renting out the two rooms of the apartment to staff
members so we can save a bit of money to expand and do sales, while paying
[staff] good wages," Bush said. He was confident about business growth as well:
he wanted to reach 15,000 students by December 2017 (there were currently
6400), to add two more staff and to take the business overseas in the next
three years. MYOB's research showed more than 20 per cent of small businesses
were now optimistic about the economy, up from a negative 30 per cent in
August 2015. Almost 40 per cent of respondents said they experienced
increased revenue in the past year and 42 per cent expected their revenue to
grow over the next year. Just under half of small businesses in the
construction industry saw revenue increase over the past year. Close to half
of small business operators in Auckland reported improved revenue in the past
12 months and 44 per cent were forecasting growth for next year. More than
half of respondents from the Bay of Plenty said their revenue was up from a
year ago, while the number of Wellington businesses reporting increased
revenue stayed constant. MYOB New Zealand head of SME Ingrid Cronin-Knight
said many small businesses were seeing increased revenue as the wider global
economy improved, consumer spending increased and the outlook for the dairy
industry started to look up. "SMEs are often the first parts of the
economy to benefit from upturns given how important cashflow is to their
operations. It's great to see optimism growing out there." Just under
half of small businesses in construction and trade reported revenue growth in
the past year and 13 per cent reported a fall in income. In manufacturing, 46
per cent reported increased revenue. Both sectors recorded a positive outlook
for 2017, but were both outstripped by the retail and hospitality industry,
where 49 percent of businesses expected to see improved performance next
year. More than 20 per cent of construction businesses and 20 per cent of
manufacturers intended to take on more staff in the next year. Some concerns
expressed by respondents included cashflow, competitive activity, late
customer payments and fluctuating exchange rates. From http://www.stuff.co.nz
09/22/2016 NZ
Tech Companies Stunted by Sales Inefficiencies The organisers of a survey of 300 New
Zealand-based technology companies says it shows a lack of focus on sales
efficiency that will prevent most of them from growing substantially. Sixty
percent of the companies in the survey were over 10 years old, 35 percent had
annual revenues of less than $1 million and only two percent generated more
than $50 million in turnover. “New Zealand’s hi-tech industry will continue
to be a few large companies and a long tail of small businesses, unless there
is a much greater focus on sales efficiency,” says the Market Measures
report. It is based on a survey by marketing advisory firms Concentrate and
Swaytech, sponsored by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. It surveyed more
than 300 New Zealand-based technology companies on their approaches to
marketing and selling their products. The managing director of Concentrate,
Own Scott, said commentators often underestimated the huge challenge of
marketing and selling New Zealand’s innovations offshore. “Our tech companies
are developing world class innovations, but too few of them realise their
potential as they struggle to cost-effectively scale their sales activity.” The Wellington Customer Director of New Zealand
Trade & Enterprise, Sharon-May McCrostie, said the organisation worked
with high-tech companies of all sizes and stages to help them reach
international markets and she urged companies going offshore to “relentlessly
focus and invest in execution to really bring benefits to themselves and to
New Zealand and grow bigger, better and faster.” She said: “We are seeing
more Kiwi companies executing competitive and truly innovative strategies and
achieving game-changing results. But as the Market Measures study suggests,
we still see companies staying in start-up mode for too long.” Swaytech
Director, Bob Pinchin, added: “The challenge for the small firms is
extracting themselves from the long tail of hi-tech exporters by finding
cost-effective ways to achieve substantial growth.” To break out of the long
tail trap, Pinchin said companies should adopt a three step approach. “First
they have to increase the intensity of their sales efforts by focussing more
tightly on which markets they target and the sales model they use. They need
to become much better at communicating the value they deliver, so they can
charge premium prices; and they need to be more adventurous in how they use
digital marketing.” From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 10/18/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
AFRICA: Google Digital Skills for Africa Trains
over 500,000 People Google said over 500,000 people in Africa have received
trainings in its Africa Digital Skills programme, launched in April.The
announcement which was made alongside the launch of its new online training
portal. The company said it is on the way to meet its goal of training one
million people in Africa in one year.The portal which contains 89 online
courses on a wide range of digital subjects including web analytics, social
media management and mobile marketing, will be available in English, French
and in the near future, in Portuguese. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 10/27/2016 Saving South Africa’s Internet freedom South Africa’s Internet freedom is under threat,
but some people have been working hard to make sure that our access to the digital
world doesn’t get restricted. The controversial Film and Publications
Amendment Bill has received great resistance from South Africans who feel
that it threatens Internet freedom in the country. Right2Know argued that
Cabinet was attempting to push through the “Internet censorship regime”
despite massive public opposition. “We believe the record of public comment
will confirm that the majority of South Africans want a free Internet,” said
Right2Know. One of the people fighting against the Bill is Michalsons
attorney Nicholas Hall. “We have been working hard to make sure that our
access to the digital world doesn’t get restricted. It seems that our efforts
are paying off,” said Hall. Hall questions whether the Act is even relevant
any longer – an argument which has been adopted by the Parliamentary Legal
Services. Hall raised this, and numerous other points,
against the Bill: The Bill seems to have been drafted using an old
version of the Film and Publications Act – the Bill references sections that
were repealed by earlier amendments and court rulings. The Bill fails to take
into account the Constitutional Court case of Print Media South Africa v
Minister of Home Affairs, which ruled pre-publication classification
unconstitutional. The Act aimed to serve two main purposes: to protect
children from harm through making child pornography illegal, and to enforce
the first by requiring pre-publication classification. If the Constitutional
Court regards the second purpose as unconstitutional, the only thing left
would be the illegality of child pornography. But child pornography is
already made illegal by the Criminal Law Sexual Offences Amendment Act. This
means that the Film and Publications Act has no meaningful reason to exist
anymore. “It is very unlikely that the committee will approve the Bill, and
we are confident that it will be scrapped and sent for a full redrafting,”
said Hall. From http://mybroadband.co.za/ 10/31/2016 KENYA: Primary Schools to Get 1.2 mln Laptops by
December The Kenyan government says it will deliver 1.2
million digital devices to all 23,000 primary schools in the country for
Class One by December. Cabinet Secretary for ICT Joe Mucheru said the
project, which is fully funded by government, is being jointly implemented by
the Ministries of Education, ICT, Energy and Industrialisation. In August,
the government received the first batch of 5,000 devices from China. The
deliveries were expected to rise to 30,000 devices at least on a weekly basis
under the Digital Literacy Programme.The Cabinet Secretary said moving the
continent towards an ICT and knowledge-driven economy will make it
competitive in the global economy, adding that ICT has the ability to level
the world’s socio-economic playing field – allowing Africa to take its
strategic position. Mucheru noted that ICT could unlock human capital and
provide technology solutions to create economic opportunities that need to be
fully exploited. Mucheru called on the public and private sectors to raise
innovation and create opportunities, challenged governments to embrace ICT
and align the education curricular with technology. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/26/2016 EUROPE: RUSSIA - Regulator Checks Wi-Fi Hotspot
Authorisation Russian federal telecommunications regulator
Roskomnadzor has checked over 18,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots against the
requirements of the authorisation for internet users, which is mandatory
according to Russian law. No authorisation present for 5,500 public Wi-Fi
hotspots. The figure is an improvement from 2014, when 90 percent of public
hotspots were not authorised to function. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/23/2016 SERBIA: 64.7% of Households Have Internet
Connection An annual report by the Statistical Office of the
Republic of Serbia reveals that 64.7 percent of households have an internet
connection, representing a 0.5 percent growth on 2015. The highest internet
penetration is in the capital Belgrade and amounts to 73.1 percent.In terms
of devices, internet access is mostly via PC (72%), followed by mobile phone
(76.5%) and laptop (49.3%). In terms of connection type, ADSL leads with 45.5
percent, followed by cable internet (45.3%) and modem (1.2%).A total of 56.7 percent
of Serbian households have a broadband internet connection (+2.7% y/y). Also,
90.3 percent of those aged between 16 and 24 years has a profile on social
networks (Facebook, Twitter).Some 4.94 million Serbians use a mobile phone or
91.8 percent of the total, compared to 91.4 percent a year earlier.Finally,
over 1.51 million Serbian use e-government services, while over 1.45 million
made online purchases over the past year. Cloud services for storing or
sharing data were used by 19.4 percent of the internet population in Serbia. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/23/2016 SWEDEN: Over 1 mln Excluded from Digital Society
- Study Over a million Swedes live in digital exclusion,
with difficulties accessing public services or community information through
digital channels. The group is growing each year, according to a study from
the Swedish Local Fibre Alliance (SSnF). The study identified five factors
that hinder Swedes from taking part in digital society fully: broadband
access, training, motivation and ability of the user, and access to
equipment, such as laptop or tablet. A large percentage of those who in
digital exclusion are older, born outside Europe or have a low income, and
their number is expected to increase in line with the growing immigration
from outside Europe. The association called on the government to do more to
ensure all residents have the opportunity to participate in the digital
society, in a joint effort with state and local authorities. The study
proposes measures such as basic IT training for newcomers, adapting state
income support so that more households can access internet at home as well as
networking between non-profit, public and private sectors. Fromhttp://www.telecompaper.com/ 10/27/2016 LATIN AMERICA: Ericsson Colects 1,200 Tonnes of
E-waste Ericsson said it has collected 1,200 tonnes of
electronic equipment at end of life in Latin America, including hardware,
batteries, cables and other telecom infrastructure components.The initiative,
part of company's programme for ecological management and product recovery,
has been operating since 2005 in 107 countries (25 in Latin America). The
programme not only collects but also recovers products and eliminates safely
waste at no cost to customers. More than 98 percent of the collected material
is recycled through agreements with partners. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/23/2016 NORTH AMERICA: Canada Speedtest Results Reveal Fastest
ISP, Wireless Service in Your City Rogers offers the fastest fixed line broadband
speeds available in Canada, and Bell Mobility tops wireless download speeds
on average, according to a new report based on data from Ookla’sSpeedtest
Intelligence.The new Speedtest Market Report released Wednesday is based on
8.8 million broadband tests and almost 800,000 mobile tests conducted by
Canadians using speedtest.net. It shows that Rogers offered the fastest
download speeds on average, offering 153.48 Mbps, which is more than twice as
fast as second-place Shaw’s 71.41 Mbps. Bell offered the fastest upload
speeds of any ISP, at 30.58 Mbps.Bell Mobility came out on top for top
download speed on mobile, offering 30.47 Mbps on average. But two different
Rogers-network brands in Fido Solutions and Rogers Wireless were a close
second, posting 29.84 Mbps and 29.37 Mbps. Fido offered the fastest mobile
uploads at 10.62 Mbps. The Speedtest report shows that Canadians are
enjoying faster Internet and mobile services overall, compared to last year.
For fixed broadband, speeds shot up 40 per cent for download and 33 per cent
for upload. Mobile download speeds were up by 21 per cent, and upload by 18
per cent.While the incumbent carriers – Rogers, Bell, and Telus – continue to
control the Internet and mobile markets, some new local service providers are
providing some competitive pressure, the report states. In the mobile area,
Shaw-owned Wind Mobile has plans to deploy its first LTE network in early
2017, which could help it compete with the speeds offered by other
carriers.These numbers provide a national average, but if you’re looking for
the fastest possible service in your particular city, you should check out
the maps offered in the Speedtest report, which offers specific details for
Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, London, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal,
and Halifax. Regional reports by province are also available. From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 08/24/2016 BRAZIL: 4G Broadband Users Up by 193% in One Year Brazil ended July with nearly 43 million 4G
mobile broadband accesses, according to data from the National
Telecommunications Agency (Anatel). Since the start of 2016, 15 million new
accesses were added. Over the period of one year, the growth was 193 percent,
going from 14.6 million to the current 42.9 million accesses. Signal coverage
is available in 560 cities, where 58 percent of the Brazilian population
lives. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/09/2016 Words
of Inspiration and Encouragement for Women in IT “Remember a moment when someone in your career or
life said something to you that made a difference and pulled you forward,”
invited Lori Scarlett, Director of Human Resources at Ingram Micro, speaking
to the Women in the IT Channel Recognition luncheon held August 24 at the Weston
Golf and Country Club in Toronto.Aligned with the event theme of “Pay it
Forward,” Lori then asked us to think about doing the same to make a positive
impact for someone else.Sharing a model, called “Touchpoints” — she offered a
simple and quick framework to guide us in how to share an encouraging word or
a positive challenge in a way that will help propel someone else forward.
Simply asking “How can I help you?” is the first step. In my experience,
acknowledging a person’s strengths or qualities, as well as their work and
tasks, can also go a long way to providing encouragement.Those words of
encouragement of believing in someone else’s capabilities is a gift to others
— especially to women in an industry where we represent only about 25 per
cent of the total. And those moments of encouragement are also business
critical, according to Marcus Buckingham of Gallup, who studied 80,000
managers in over 400 companies to identify the factors for creating a strong workforce linked to
strong business results. He advises leaders to “…do everything you can to
help each person cultivate his talents. Help each person become more of who
he already is.” I suggest each of
us has the opportunity to be such a leader. unspecifiedCertainly, the Women in the IT Channel
honorees provided tangible examples of leaders who are “paying it forward”
both in their contributions to particular causes as well as their leadership
in the IT/Tech sector. Grace Martins, General Manager at QRX technologies is
involved with SNAPSO: Special Needs Adult Program Services Organization,
while Lynda Partner, Vice President, Marketing at Pythian runs a
not-for-profit, called Face-2-Face that captures and shares video-based
stories of ordinary Canadians.Another inspiring honoree, Heather Schaan, Vice-President
& General Manager helped establish and grow Microserve’s post-secondary
scholarship and bursary funds at BCIT (British Columbia Institute of
Technology), University of Victoria and the University of Alberta. And Norma
Tidd, PC Parts Now Inc. Founder, is a longstanding organizer of the Canadian
Computer Charity Golf Classic, raising more than $5.8 million for Easter
Seals and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Foundation — and there’s still
time to get in on this year’s tournament on September 8.There were plenty of
inspiring moments to reflect on at the Women in IT Channel luncheon. Putting
inspiration into action, today I took the lead to encourage a young woman who
is a software developer to take her next steps toward a leadership role. Who
will you encourage with your leadership today? From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 08/29/2016 Canada
Lags Behind Other G20 Nations in Fostering Digital Platform Innovation:
Accenture Platform-based businesses from Salesforce to Uber
have become some of the world’s biggest economic success stories in recent
years, but Canada’s government and business leaders have been slow to foster
the type of innovation culture that leads to more of them, according to a
recent study by professional services firm Accenture PLC.Released in
mid-September, the organization’s “Five Ways to Win with Digital Platforms”
study has Canada in eighth place out of 16 G20 countries based on its
“platform readiness index,” which measures five factors including a
population’s tech savvy and “innovation culture” – the ability of a country’s
businesses to collaborate on improving digital technology.Canada scored
especially low on innovation, an Accenture representative told ITBusiness.ca,
coming in 14th place. “Policy makers must appreciate that platform
business models are becoming a key route for the growth and global expansion
of small businesses and entrepreneurs, who are the driving force of job and
wealth creation in most economies,” authors Laurence Morvan, Francis
Hintermann, MadhuVazirani write in the study, noting that platforms are
becoming “the principal route by which incumbent market leaders can enter
adjacent markets and re-invent themselves in the digital era.”The authors say
the success of digital platforms, which they define as applications that
facilitate commercial exchanges between two or more groups, can be traced back
to three features: - Their networking effect, which brings a greater
number of customers, merchants, and partners together than 20 years ago, at a
fraction of the cost; - A convergence of technologies including cloud,
automation, analytics, artificial intelligence, and mobile devices that’s
creating a targeted “as-a-service” economy that gives large and small
companies alike access to scalable, on-demand, and high-quality services at
comparatively low prices; and - The pervasive, rapidly expanding volumes of
open and shared data that specialists from a wide range of industries can
mine for often-unforeseen value. “While it used to take Fortune 500 companies an
average of 20 years to reach a billion-dollar valuation, today’s digital
start-ups can get there in four years,” the authors write. “And digital
platforms are largely responsible for that shift.” Where leadership comes in So how can business leaders and governments
facilitate that success? Accenture’s report contains good news and bad
news.The bad news, of course, is that both parties can do better: in addition
to Canada’s lackluster ranking, only 15 per cent of Fortune 100 companies
have developed digital platform business models to begin with, according to
Accenture.The good news is, a low score does not mean that platform owners
and partners cannot succeed, or that governments are incapable of raising
their country’s score, the researchers write.“China, the United States and
India clearly benefit from their large base of digital users and high level of
user savviness, particularly smartphone usage,” the authors admit, noting
that India and China are likely to show the greatest improvement by 2020
mainly because of online population increases and public policy
improvements.However, all three nations have several other supportive
elements in place too, they note, including high levels of digital
entrepreneurship and a collaborative culture of innovation.Meanwhile, Germany
and the U.K. are outpacing Brazil despite its larger user base, thanks to
their higher technology readiness and pro-innovation policies.As for how
Canada’s government and business leaders can help the platform economy grow,
Accenture offers five suggestions for each. For government: - Prioritize data protection standards and rules,
with an eye towards harmonizing data privacy and data security legislation
and smoothing out cross-border data transfers; - Design regulations with digital platforms in
mind, perhaps by experimenting with potential regulations alongside new
technologies and business models; - Encourage cross-border electronic trade by
harmonizing taxes and standards, consumer protection, contract laws, and
logistics infrastructure; - Invest in digital infrastructure; - Educate small and medium-sized businesses on
alternative funding options, such as crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending,
and on data privacy and consumer protection. For business leaders: Proposition: Create discrete platforms that
support both customers and service providers; Personalization: Target customers with tailored
experiences across every available channels, using customer data to
anticipate needs and offer personalized experiences; Price: Apply new pricing models, such as
pay-as-you-go, “freemiums,” and subscription pricing in response to peak
demand; Protection: Make sure trust is embedded in your
platform, using both prevention and compensation techniques; Partners: Scale your platform rapidly by
identifying digital partners such as app developers and payment service
providers who can enrich the platform experience and fulfil your customers’
needs. Methodology To compile its report, Accenture researchers
conducted in-depth interviews with 50 leading experts, platform owners,
platform partners, business leaders, venture capitalists, and academics from eight
“priority” G20 countries (Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy,
United Kingdom and the United States), and analyzed 16 countries based on the
Accenture Platform Readiness Index, which measures five factors: - Digital user size and savviness: How prepared
consumers and businesses are to operate in the the digital space; - Digital entrepreneurship: How prepared the
workforce is to develop and implement new platform-related ideas; - Technology readiness: The overall level of
technology and digital assets in the economy that enable digital platforms to
generate, grow, and scale; - Open innovation culture: The ability for
companies to collaborate with each other in order to foster digital
innovation; and - Policy and regulation: How governments support
digital businesses, help create an environment that fosters innovation, and
safeguard the security of digital operations. From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 10/14/2016 Is
Public or Private Cloud Cheaper? Here’s the Answer Cost reduction was always one of the biggest attractions
of cloud computing, but the question has always remained: is it cheaper to do
it in-house or with a third-party public cloud provider? Now, 451 Research
claims to have answered that question, and the answer is: It depends.The key
metric here isn’t so much volume (the number of virtual machines that you’re
running) as it is labour efficiency (the number of engineers that it takes to
run them). In its latest Cloud Price Index, the analyst firm says that while
public cloud can offer cost benefits for smaller computing environments, when
you reach a certain ratio of labour efficiency it makes more financial sense
to do it in-house.451 Research found that when labour efficiency is beyond
400 virtual machines per engineer, all private cloud options become cheaper
than both public cloud and managed private cloud platforms.This will make
sense to any company that has suffered ‘cloud shock’ when switching to a
public cloud service. While the lack of hardware and software investment can
be appealing, hidden costs such as data transfer fees and the price of
scaling up data storage and virtual CPU usage can leave companies paying more
than they expected for public cloud services, unless they plan their capacity
carefully. The Cloud Price Index also reveals cost
differences between different cloud infrastructures used in private
infrastructures. Private cloud frameworks from VMware and Microsoft offer
total cost of ownership advantages compared with OpenStack, but only below
that key 400 VM-per-engineer figure. As soon as companies mature to the point
where they can have one engineer managing more than 400 virtual machines, the
equation flips and OpenStack becomes more economically viable.These numbers
stem from the role that staff salaries play in the cost of administering
private cloud, point out 451 Research analysts. It’ll be good news for
OpenStack, which holds its annual User Summit in Barcelona this week.Jonathan
Bryce, executive director of the OpenStack Foundation, welcomed the numbers.
He explained that OpenStack on private cloud was originally a functionality
proposition rather than a cost one.“When we first
started talking to people a couple of years ago, they were using OpenStack in
private deployments because they wanted to give developers programmable
elastic infrastructure that they could innovate with,” he said. Things have changed since those early days as
OpenStack has become easier to deploy, and as administrators with the
necessary training have eased pressure on the skills market. 451 specifically
referenced OpenStack’s certification program and suggested that more
administrators supporting the open source system will hit the market in the
coming year.“If you know your application and you
have some experience in running infrastructure, then you can definitely run
workloads in that environment more cot effectively than public cloud,” Bryce
added.We have seen some landmark cases where large tech firms have abandoned
private cloud infrastructure in favour of their own. The most notable is
cloud storage firm DropBox, which walked away from Amazon Web Services in
favour of its own home-cooked infrastructure.Nevertheless, appetites for
public cloud remain strong, and 451 Research warns against moving entirely to public cloud on the basis of TCO arguments. In its
statement on the Cloud Price Index, its analysts warn that companies pursuing
private cloud options must be mature enough to handle the capacity, resource
usage and labour efficiency thresholds, or risk wasting “thousands of dollars
each month compared with a public cloud infrastructure”.TCO isn’t the only
factor in the public vs private cloud debate either, 451 analysts concluded.
Security, privacy and long-term strategy are still big factors, too. From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 10/25/2016 Skills
Gap, Women in Tech Among Canadians’ 3 Priorities for Innovation Minister The federal government does not have a monopoly
on good ideas.That was the first message delivered by NavdeepBains, Canada’s
minister of innovation, science, and economic development at Google Canada’s
Go North startup conference on Oct. 28, and the foundation of his speech, in
which he presented the leading priorities that Canadians have suggested for
the Liberal government’s innovation agenda.“For several months, we’ve held
dozens of roundtable discussions… and invited Canadians to share their ideas
with us online and through social media,” he said, noting that the government
had received more than 1300 submissions regarding its innovation agenda and
that many of these ideas will help shape the Liberals’ future mandate.So
which ideas have proven most important to innovation-minded Canadians? Bains
shared three: 1. The need to secure the right people –
including women, immigrants, and training for the next generation – who can
help us close the gap between the number of IT-related jobs posted and the
number of workers available to fill them; 2. The need to support companies’ efforts to
compete on a global, rather than simply Canadian, stage; 3. The need to harness emerging technologies to
pursue new avenues of growth – or even achieve historic victories, such as a
national reduction in carbon emissions. Priority 1: Develop the next generation of
workers It’s no secret that Canada’s ICT sector is
expected to have 180,000 unfilled jobs – the so-called skills gap – by 2019,
and industry and government leaders both recognize that filling these
positions will require a significant investment in the country’s workforce,
Bains said.“We want to make sure we’re bringing people of all disciplines together,
because that’s when the magic happens,” he said. “There’s not a single
industry that technology doesn’t touch anymore…. [and]
in Canada we’re simply not keeping pace with demand.”To close the talent gap,
the government is concentrating its efforts on three key areas, Bains said:
science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and entrepreneurial
training; incentives for companies to increase workforce diversity,
especially women; and immigration.“As the father of
two girls, I have to say that no country can afford to leave half of its
brainpower on the sidelines,” he said, to loud applause. “And yet today, less
than one in three computer and engineering graduates is a woman. That’s
simply not good enough.” In particular, Bains emphasized the importance of
giving students entrepreneurial training, which he said would help them both
integrate into the modern job market and expand it themselves; and of
mid-career training, which he called essential if Canada wanted its workforce
to remain competitive.“Basic training should start very, very early, and
continue throughout an employee’s career,” he said. “Children as young as my
daughters, who are six and nine… should be taught to code at the same time
they are learning how to read and write in English and French.”Bains also
emphasized that the government is putting its money where its mouth is by
providing $2 billion to help university and college campuses across the
country build state-of-the-art research facilities.As for immigration, Bains
said he that many a business leader had told him the government’s first
priority should be figuring out how to incorporate the best talent the world
has to offer into its ranks.“Bringing in top talent does not take away jobs
from Canadians. It actually has a multiplier effect,” he noted. ”One key hire
can attract many others and create many more jobs.” Priority 2: Build the next generation of globally
competitive companies Canada is very good at starting companies, but
not at scaling them, Bains told the Go North crowd – appropriate, given that
representatives from more than 500 startups were attending the
conference.“Not many people know this about Canadians, but we truly are a
nation of entrepreneurs,” he said. “We start over 70,000 new companies every
year.”But when it comes to building high-growth firms – companies that employ
hundreds or thousands of workers and post 20 per cent or more growth three
years in a row – we’re decidedly less skilled, Bains said.“If you look at the
Canadian economy, I would say that maybe three to five per cent [of
companies] are what we define as high-growth,” he said. “We have to scale
up.”For its part, the government plans to leverage its purchasing power to
help, he said. “In other countries governments use their
purchasing power to help companies scale up, and the entrepreneurs I’ve heard
from wonder why Canada can’t do more of the same,” Bains said. “They tell me
it makes a huge difference when the government of Canada is an early adopter
of innovation, and it also helps to have the government as a marquee customer
when these new entrepreneurs go abroad in search of new clients.”Another
reason so many Canadian companies post flat numbers might simply be inertia,
Bains said – many are satisfied with modest gains.Others have been less than
prepared for just how much digital technology is disrupting industries such
as mining, agriculture, retail, and finance, he said.“I’ve heard this from
many of you – just as we are digitizing our economy, and just as we’re
embarking upon this fourth industrial revolution, we need to look at these
emerging technologies and how they’re going to impact so many industries,”
Bains said. Priority 3: Harness emerging technology to pursue
new areas of growth The third theme that has repeatedly risen in the
government’s innovation-related discussions with Canadians involves
harnessing emerging technology, Bains said, noting that in his opinion one of
the most effective contributions governments can make is setting “big
horizon” goals such as climate change initiatives and supporting companies in
their efforts to achieve them.“Make no mistake – driving economic growth
through innovation is a daunting challenge,” he said. “It means setting
ambitious goals, learning from failure, and never quitting…. Entrepreneurs
understand that. But government needs to understand that.”Presently, he
noted, Canada ranks in 22nd place among the world’s 34 most advanced
economies when it comes to research and development spending, while corporate
spending on ICT workers is only half that of the United States. However, he said, the government is doing its
part to encourage innovation through research, investing more than $1 billion
over the next four years to develop clean technology, and $900 billion to
support 13 “cutting-edge” research projects across the country in emerging
fields such as machine learning, big data, and clean energy.“We are betting
big on Canada to compete in these areas,” he said. “Why? Because they have
the potential to create spinoff entities across all sectors of the economy.” Canada’s future growth doesn’t have to be flat For too long, Bains said, Canada has relied on
trade and high commodity prices to boost its economy during periods of weakness
– and in today’s free trade-driven, resource-light, and digitally disrupted
economy, that’s no longer enough.“Canada has gained so much over the past
half-century, but we won’t automatically do the same over the next half,
especially if we stay the course,” he said. “Low growth does not have to be
Canada’s destiny. We don’t have to accept these pressures as limitations. We
can see them as opportunities and seize the future.”“Our government is
prepared to think big, aim high, and act boldly, just like an entrepreneur,”
he said. From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 11/03/2016 U.S.:
The Power of Data Collection for a Healthy Community A healthy community is one in which a diverse
group of stakeholders collaborate to use their expertise and local knowledge
to create a community that is socially and physically conducive to their
health. The data that exists has the potential, when properly shared and
organized, to help understand health problems and build healthy
communities.But today, the public sector faces the challenge of moving from a
static model of data collection, analysis, modeling and planning, to a
modernized approach of moving from real time data collection to action. Why?
There exists a lack of best practices, standardization, experience, skills
and technology about data use, as well as overly-siloed operations where
departments do not share data – even within their own organizations.Esri can
help you overcome these challenges by providing scalable solutions that help
organizations better understand how to apply GIS to the health of their
communities. With Esri’s technology, you can share data and collaborate
across your program, department and organization. It is not only necessary to collaborate
internally, but essential to connect with partners in the community such as
education, city government, public safety and non-profits to lay the
foundation for a healthy community.Nowhere is this ability to share and
connect data and information more evident than in Esri’s ability to power GIS
with field data collection.Mobile data collection apps allows you to collect
and process data out in the field, in your office, or in any other location –
a truly powerful ability that allows you to reach your community where they
are and where you need to be. Both online or offline, your workforce can
access maps and collect and view real-time information.With GIS software, you
can bring data straight from the field into a geodatabase in a seamless
workflow – and also take GIS data back into the field via collector mobile
device or laptop computer. GIS software is customized to best meet your needs
by optimizing the functionality needed to complete the task. From https://www.govloop.com/ 09/09/2016 U.S.:
The Role of Data Analytics in Predictive Policing The exponential escalation of mobile computing
and analytics has given officers intelligence on the go and greatly improved
their chances of being in the right place at the right time.From the right
vantage point, it is almost possible to watch the steady tide of technology
seeping into the briefing rooms and patrol cars of American law enforcement
agencies.The devices and technologies that may have once started as benign
civilian conveniences have transformed into powerful tools that enable
agencies to pinpoint their resources, prevent crime and cast a wider net for
wrongdoers. The exponential escalation of mobile computing and analytics has
given officers intelligence on the go and greatly improved their chances of
being in the right place at the right time. While these tools come with profound
benefits to the men and women behind the badges and the communities they
serve, there are ramifications that ripple far into the public space as well
as considerations that must be made to prevent misuse and infringement on
civil rights. But we still seem far from the broad-stroke
reports of many in the mainstream media who might tell you that cops
everywhere can peer into your life with the click of a mouse or a well placed
drone — at least at the local level. Despite some of these overblown stories
of advanced surveillance capabilities, many in local law enforcement would
tell you that funding for boots on the ground will almost always win out over
bids for the latest NSA-style tech. Even if smaller agencies want it, they
probably can’t afford it.This is not to say there aren’t those with a
spy-style kit they can’t or won’t talk about. These methods tend to encourage
public distrust and suspicion, but we’ll cover that a bit later on.Despite
the gloomy and often mischaracterized capabilities of police powers in the
U.S. and the tools they use daily, a wider look at the profession and its
emerging capabilities can show us just how important technology is and will
become in policing. SEEING CRIME BEFORE IT HAPPENS It’s 4 p.m. on a Tuesday in June in Santa Cruz,
Calif., and the squad car radio echoes off with chatter about a strong-arm
robbery near the rail bridge that connects the popular boardwalk with a
nearby beachfront neighborhood. The suspect, a woman with a backpack, has
taken another woman’s belongings by force and was last seen making her way
toward the network of vacation homes and beachgoers enjoying the sunny
afternoon.But Santa Cruz police officers are already nearby and move in to
track the perpetrator within moments of the first report. There’s nothing
random about their presence in the area. What on the outside might look like
blind luck or coincidence is actually part of a predictive system the
department has been perfecting with the help of academic partners turned
businessmen since 2011.And this is not someone sitting in a room with a
crystal ball or tarot cards trying to pinpoint the next crime; this is the
intersection of advanced probabilistic algorithms and community policing.
It’s appropriately called PredPol, short for Predictive Policing. Crime data fed into the PredPol system provides
officers with 15 different zones for four types of crime — auto theft,
vehicle burglary, burglary and gang-related activity — at the start of each shift.
Each zone covers an area of 500 square feet.In a city where tourism can
double the population in a single night, the deputy chief said maximizing the
efficacy of his department was a no-brainer. The technological edge provided
by the advanced software would help to close the gap between what was, at the
time, increasing crime and staffing limitations.“Time
is a zero-sum game. I only have the number of officers times the number of
hours that they’re working to address crime issues in the city. If now all of
a sudden a chunk of our time is dealing with radio calls for service, that
greatly reduces my proactive policing time. The only way to increase that is
you either lower the demand or you get more officers to dilute or diffuse the
calls for service so you have more proactive time,” said Deputy Chief Steve
Clark. “I couldn’t afford more officers, so I had to get smarter about how we
were going to deal with our limited time resources.” Despite giving officers a substantial leg up when
it comes to patrolling the city, Clark said the system still requires them to
interact with the community and walk the beat, as it were. They cannot, and
do not, rely solely on the system’s predictions to do their jobs. They still
patrol the city as any cop would, but they’re looking for any indication that
the predictions were correct.However effective the system might be in
predicting crime, Clark said the job of policing is more than simply
following the data. “You can’t become too reliant on these things. The
officers have to continue to sharpen their saws as far as their instincts,
their training, their experience, their instincts — those things that we
spend a lot of money to teach them and train them, those years of
experience,” he said. “Public safety is a discipline or a field, if you will,
that you can never lose the human element in.” From Clark’s perspective, the platform does more
than just point cops in the right direction; it also removes the potential
for race- and income-based biases so often a concern in policing. The
predictive platform doesn’t see race, financial status or any of the other
indicators that often lead to the perception of police profiling. All PredPol
sees are the reports of crimes that have occurred, which are then translated
into where they are likely to occur next.“There’s
nothing in there about demographics,” Clark said. “Whether it be the
population type or monetary demographics. These are actual crime reports, and
that’s what it makes its predictions from.”Halfway across the country in Eden
Prairie, Minn., a town of about 63,000 people, predictive policing has taken
on a slightly different form. Officers rely on a dedicated analyst for
up-to-the-moment intelligence on their patrols.The public safety system may
not rely on advanced probabilities and mapping, but rather law enforcement
analyst Ryan Kapaun, who tracks each crime and translates it into usable
intelligence for the department, which averages 60,000 calls for service a
year. Using fairly simple tools, like the Microsoft
Office suite and IBM’s Analyst’s Notebook, Kapaun funnels officers’ suspect
descriptions, potential patterns and anything else that may help stop or
catch a criminal.“To just map every burglary, for me, doesn’t tell me a lot,
because it doesn’t tell me that those burglaries are linked. So one might be
an overnight garage burglary [and] one might be a front-door-kicked-in
burglary during the day while people are at work,” he said. “What I’m most
interested in is not aggregating and mapping all of the burglaries. What I
want to know is, what are the anomalies? What doesn’t fit? What are the
burglaries, as an example, that aren’t fitting the
other burglaries?”The concept took time to catch on with his badge-wielding
colleagues, according to the analyst. But now Kapaun’s work represents one
more tool in each officer’s belt that can help them make split-second
decisions on patrol. “Everyone is using data, and they might not
either be aware of it or understand it, and if you think of it, a police
department has a wealth of data — they’re data-rich. It’s just figuring out
how to take that data and use that data in a way that’s meaningful,” he said.
“I think a lot of agencies end up using the data to just say, ‘Burglaries are
up 15 percent from this week over last week.’ For a patrol officer, when I
used to do that, eyes would glaze over. What does that mean? You have to tell
the story with the data.”Kapaun said the program’s successes have the
department looking at how to expand it and potentially bring in other analysts. THE RISE OF BIOMETRICS AND FINGERPRINT
ALTERNATIVES In recent years the push to include alternative
identification methods in daily police work has exploded past fingerprinting
and the classic mug shot. Law enforcement agencies are now looking toward options
like facial recognition to help “finger the right perp.”At the federal level,
the FBI’s Next Generation Identification program has given new identity tools
to federal, state and local law enforcement, and has stoked the flames of
critics, who believe the system is little more than a way to catalog people —
the guilty, the innocent and those somewhere in the middle.But the program
seems to be the next logical step in a national process where fingerprints
and photographs don’t always tell the whole story of a person’s criminal
past. The larger program, which extends its database services to
participating state and local agencies, relies on a growing index of finger
and palm prints as well as facial and iris scans to identify persons of
interest. In San Diego, the city’s police department (SDPD)
employs facial recognition equipment to identify people its officers come in
contact with. For example, if an individual does not produce an ID during a
traffic stop, facial recognition could close the information gap for the
officer.According to Officer Steve Thorn, the SDPD facial recognition program
coordinator, around 100 facial scanners have served the department well since
the city first signed on with the Automated Regional Justice Information
System, a larger regional law enforcement collective.“Officers use the
devices to assist in the identification of individuals lawfully detained or
arrested when those persons are unwilling or unable to provide identity. A
typical situation would be when officers contact an individual for a crime.
The crime could be minimal in nature, such as littering or jay-walking, or
more severe such as battery or theft,” he said. “If the individual has no
identification on them or would not provide their name, the officers could
use the device to verify their identity and issue a citation in the field
versus having to transport the individual to a police station and take
fingerprints, which could be very time-consuming.” But the usefulness of the tools extends far
beyond identifying criminals. Thorn said officers also use the department’s
100 or so scanners to work with the homeless community and identify potential
missing persons.“I have spoken to a number of
officers who use the device regularly. They all say the device works very well,
saves time and helps prevent misidentification. The device is extremely
useful for officers assigned to the quality-of-life team and homeless
outreach team. Both teams are a resource to the homeless population, but also
take enforcement action as necessary. A vast majority of homeless peoples
have no identification in their possession, and the device enables the
officers to make quick identification and take appropriate action.”For
critics, programs like these represent a way to capture and store permanent,
vital information about civilians with little oversight. Most recently, the
Next Generation Identification program took fire from critics when the FBI
petitioned to exempt it from federal privacy regulations, which critics say
would prevent the misuse and abuse of data.In a U.S. Government
Accountability Office report, published in May, the agency pointed to gaps in
the FBI’s processes and recommended steps the top domestic law enforcement
agency could take to improve the program’s accuracy and transparency. VIDEO: ANYTIME, ANYWHERE? Police video is not a new concept by any stretch
of the imagination. What started as the occasional camera capturing a liquor
store or bank robbery has grown into cameras being installed on seemingly
every street corner. In the past few years, law enforcement agencies across
the country have started equipping officers with body cameras to document
interactions with citizens.The prevalence of video and its societal benefits
are the reason that researchers at Purdue University are working on the CAM2,
a cloud-based platform that links publicly available cameras through a
single, easily accessible portal. Despite how popular reports may have
painted the research to this point, the team scoffs at the idea that it’s a
way for police to peer into the lives of unsuspecting Americans.Yung-Hsiang
Lu leads the team behind CAM2. From his perspective as a technologist, the
system has applications in law enforcement environments, but it doesn’t give
them anything sensitive. “We do not use any data that requests passwords,
and furthermore we actually take reasonable efforts to exclude any camera we
think may look at a private space,” he said. “Most of the cameras we have in
our system come from Departments of Transportation of different governments,
different states, different cities. For obvious reasons, because our research
is about data management, it is not about looking at whether you are sitting
on your sofa or not.”The scalable video platform allows users to log in and
view a wealth of publicly available cameras collected from around the world,
which can be watched in real time or recorded for later. In terms of
potential, Lu said the analyzable data from the platform could ultimately
help in a number of sectors, including transportation planning.The problem
facing the system is the fragmented sources of the
video feeds, Lu said. Engineers have had to work around the multitude of
camera systems to adapt them to a singularly accessible platform. The larger challenge of video is inextricably
linked to big data and has unsurprisingly been the focus of researchers
around the world. While the platform may not equate to the next big
surveillance tool, there are undeniable benefits for police, first responders
and the communities they serve.David Ebert heads up Purdue University’s
Visual Analytics for Command, Control and Interoperability Environments in
conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security’s Centers of Excellence,
and said the video platform has sparked the interest of some in the larger
law enforcement environment who see more potential applications.“One of the
things that I see as a great potential for this also is in the emergency
response and disaster response fields,” he said. “Basically a tornado comes
through or hurricane comes through, you’re trying to do assessment of damage
and where your resources should be allocated. Being able to pull up that
information through this sort of system is a good way to crowdsource the
information instead of having to wait until people upload photos, or look
through Twitter images or Snapchat information and things like that.” But the tool comes with the need for the
inclusion of best practices, Ebert added. While it may not be peering into
the living rooms of everyday citizens, he likens it to how local agencies
address the collection of information on publicly available social media
platforms.“I think a similar set of guidelines for
these type of cameras would be very appropriate.
Depending on your current interpretation of the laws, the view is that all of
the information that people put out on social media they’re making publicly
available if they don’t have privacy settings turned on, so there is no
violation of privacy. That’s the perception, but the question is, have the
laws caught up with what the public expects?” And now to the stuff agencies seem a bit shy
about.The Stingray made recent national news as information slowly trickled
out that the U.S. Justice Department had provided local agencies with the
funds to purchase so-called cell-site simulators. The devices are designed to
intercept cellular communications, access the data within them and track
locations. But as quickly as the technology made its way to the headlines,
legislation began to consider the implications of what many considered to be
the possibility of mass surveillance by local agencies.States like Illinois
and Nebraska began to propose legislation to strip agencies of their
simulators and bar them from buying new ones. But this isn’t the only kind of
tech that has some people concerned. The Los Angeles Police Department
declined interview requests about its use of a software platform produced by
a company called Palantir, which also won’t discuss its work with law
enforcement agencies. On the upside, the department talked about the
product and its potential for a company testimonial, so we do have a small
idea about what it is capable of, even if it’s just the stuff the company
needs to sell it to other departments. While the lack of transparency might
seem like a cause for concern for residents, the system appears to be little
more than an advanced data analytics platform geared toward law enforcement
applications.Basically Palantir’s platform uses available data sources to
“make sense of all of the noise that is out there,” according to Police Chief
Charlie Beck in a 2013 testimonial. “For years we’ve had stovepipe systems
that have a lot of information, but don’t talk to each other and don’t
compare that information, and Palantir allows us to do that,” he added. While details are limited, as of a few years ago,
the company was gaining momentum. In 2012, Palantir founder Alex Karp told
TechCrunch that while he could not disclose how many government contracts the
company had, he did say that doubling his staff would help it meet demand.By
pulling untapped or underutilized data sets into the investigative process,
officers are now able to piece together information that might otherwise
appear unrelated. Combining information like crime and arrest records, field
interview cards, automatic license plate readers, Department of Motor Vehicle
information and rap sheets, as well as publicly available camera footage and
police body cameras, is helping to usher in effective predictive policing programs
across the country. From http://www.govtech.com/ 09/09/2016 Heightened cybersecurity risks and growing
complexities in technology have led to increased use of managed services providers
(MSPs). Many in-house IT teams are seeing the value of investing in and
relying on MSPs that can help them offload certain tasks while cutting costs
for their organizations. However, some technology officers are still skittish
about handing the keys over to someone else.Much of that resistance is driven
by some myths about MSPs. Let's break down a few of the most common ones to
help underscore why an MSP might be one of the best IT investments you can
make. Myth 1: All IT services are the same Only fix something if it's broken, right? Well,
yes, but it's better if it never breaks at all.There
are two types of MSPs: "break/fix" companies, and value-based
managed services. The break/fix approach is exactly what it sounds like: You
pay for IT support only when something breaks and needs to be fixed. Such
providers are entirely reactive, so there's no financial incentive for them
to stop a problem before it starts or make the platform as strong as possible
for the future.Value-based managed services are a completely different
approach. Instead of reacting to problems after they happen, such providers
actively work to prevent them from happening in the first place. The approach
combines the expertise of security specialists and ethical hackers to find vulnerabilities
so the providers can continuously improve — and keep the servers running.And
in the category of value-based managed services, vendor-managed service
combines the best of both worlds. This is when the vendor that built the
product also manages it. It's a big advantage because the developers who
created the product might only be a short walk down the hall from the team
that is managing it for clients — which means that any issues are handled
quickly. Myth 2: The data isn't secure Yes, it is! And I'll prove it to you with one
word: FedRAMP. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management
Program is like the Federal Information Security Management Act on steroids.
It's much more rigorous than setting up security measures according to
specifications and documenting them.Let me ask you a question: When is the
last time you scanned for vulnerabilities on your server? And when you
scanned for those vulnerabilities, how long did it take to fix them? And did
you write up a plan of action and milestones (POAM)?If
you're like most agencies, your last scan was probably awhile ago, and your
POAM is still only half-finished. Under FedRAMP, any certified service
provider is required to run such scans every month and provide a POAM that a
third-party authority can audit. That means MSPs can catch and take action on
new security threats quickly. And with the hundreds of thousands of malware
hacks launched each month -- some of which are sophisticated enough to have
their own help desks -- that capability is increasingly important. Myth 3: You don't save money with MSPs In reality, you do because MSPs have economies of
scale in their favor. That means you get access to a multibillion-dollar
infrastructure for a fraction of the cost. Part of that cost covers: - Accreditation. Each government asset requires
accreditation. The cost of setting up the software with a data center or
cloud and then running through an accreditation process can run over $100,000
and take more than six months to complete. An MSP, however, can be up and
running with an interim or full authority to operate within a month. Training. Maintaining the cloud and platform
layers requires specialized training, which costs substantial time and financial
investment. A proper MSP manages those layers, allowing the customer's IT
staff to focus on core competencies and the mission. - Build time. A non-trivial amount of time is
required to design, architect, build, secure and test an enterprise-level
solution. An MSP has the infrastructure and the dedicated personnel to help
design and continuously improve that solution. - Staying current. Technology advances quickly,
and most on-premises consumers pay for maintenance and software upgrades but
don't install them. That leads to unfixed bugs, mismatched software versions
and wasted money. On top of that, as solutions grow, the hardware might also
need to be upgraded. MSPs handle all of that. Myth 4: We can do the same thing in-house This might be somewhat true, but it's expensive.
You need a dedicated staff that can architect, create and maintain the system
infrastructure; actively perform load testing, code scanning, vulnerability
scanning and penetration testing; and constantly update software. You also
need to set aside extra time and money for accreditation, training, software
and hardware upgrades, and compliance.That's a lot of work. And even so,
full-time employees might not be skilled in specific IT areas, and/or they
might be spread too thin with other duties (e.g., strategy and people
management) to keep up with relevant trends.MSPs stay on top of technology or
they fail as a business. They need to provide top-of-the-line 24/7 support
because their reputations and livelihoods depend on it. Myth 5: I don't need an IT team if I have an MSP Some people think that once they do the hand-off
to an MSP, their jobs are done. This couldn't be further from the truth. The
teams still need to work together, but the job has just gotten simpler and
better defined.A proper MSP should enhance the customer's IT team, not
replace it. It should allow the agency's employees to focus solely on their
mission rather than on infrastructure and software platforms. Basically, the
MSP handles all the boring stuff so the agency can handle the rest. From https://fcw.com/ 09/23/2016 The
Global Economic Damage of Internet Blackouts Last weekend, cellphones across Iraq lit up with
the same text message. “Dear subscriber,” the message read in Arabic. “On
instructions from the Ministry of Communications, internet access will be cut
off every day between October 1 and 8, from 6 to 9 a.m. These instructions
were issued to every internet service provider.”The scheduled blackouts
coincided with the third round of national placement exams for sixth graders
in Iraq; the blackouts are intended to keep students from cheating. The
country has made a habit of interrupting internet access nationwide during
the exams: I wrote about another episode in detail earlier this
year.Intentional, government-instigated internet blackouts are becoming more
and more common. And when governments choose to shut off the internet—if not
to prevent cheating, then to stifle political protests, as in Egypt in 2011
or in Gabon just this month, or ostensibly to fight terrorism, as in Iraq in
2014—the downtime can have far-ranging consequences. It prevents citizens
connecting with the rest of the world. It can make it difficult to request
emergency services. If a country’s already experiencing unrest, it can give
cover to serious human-rights abuses. The type of government that’s willing to darken
the internet for hours or even days on end may not be particularly moved by
the free-speech or human-rights implications of a blackout. But it’s
difficult to ignore the side effects detailed in a new report from Brookings,
which studies the widespread damage even a short hiccup in connectivity can
deal to a country’s economy.In the report, Darrell West, the director of the
think tank’s Center for Technology Innovation, examines the economic effects
of 81 internet shutdowns that took place in the span of a year, between
summer 2015 and 2016. Based on the reduction in economic activity during the
shutdowns, he estimated that they cost a minimum of $2.4 billion in GDP,
globally.The country most economically harmed by its own internet shutdowns
was India—by a long shot—which lost out on nearly $1 billion in GDP,
according to West’s calculations. The bill for Saudi Arabia’s blackouts came
to $465 million, Morocco’s was $320 million, and Iraq’s amounted to $209
million. To show the increasing frequency of blackouts,
West cites a 2011 study from a trio of researchers at the University of
Washington that tracked the number of times a government “interfered” with
the internet in its country. The study found that the number of interferences
began climbing rapidly in the mid-2000s, peaking at 111 in 2010, the last
year the researchers examined. Since then, the problem has only gotten worse.“National blackouts these days seem fairly unremarkable
due to the prevalence as of late,” says Doug Madory, the director of internet
analysis at Dyn, a company that monitors and reports on problems with the
global internet. He cited scheduled interruptions during exams in Iraq and
Syria; partial blackouts in politically unstable parts of Venezuela,
Ethiopia, and Kashmir; and occasional targeted bans on social media platforms
in countries like Pakistan, Turkey, and Brazil. 4 blackouts in Iraq in past 5 days for 6th grade
exams on Islam, Arabic, English & Math. Daily outages to continue thru
9-Oct. pic.twitter.com/9VBhrHa426 — Dyn Research (@DynResearch) October 3, 2016 I asked West why he focused on the economic harm
of internet blackouts, when they bring also about so many other ill effects. He
said he was drawn to the question because no one had attempted to calculate
the damage in monetary terms before—and because it might attract renewed
attention to the issue.“I thought this would be a
substantial contribution to people’s understanding because it shows how
countries are shooting their economies in the foot through shutdowns,” he
said. Madory said the approach is a valuable one.“The hope is that a government would be less likely to
order an internet blackout if it knew the negative impacts of such a decision
in terms of hard dollar figures,” he said.But developing those estimates is
an inexact science. Most of the time, when a government interferes with
internet services, it simply shuts down access in the entire country—but
sometimes, governments take a more surgical approach. In 22 of the 81 cases
West studied, only a subset of mobile networks were taken offline; in 14
cases, governments only banned one or more apps or services (think WhatsApp,
YouTube, or Facebook). West tailored his math to take into account the
differing extents of government intrusion.There are still a lot of factors
missing from the analysis, West concedes, which likely means the $2.4 billion
price tag for one year of shutdowns around the world is an underestimate. It
doesn’t take into account the effects periodic shutdowns might have on
investors’ confidence in an economy, for example, or the pressure of lost tax
revenue that would accompany any economic slowdown. “Shutdowns directly harm the biggest
multi-nationals and the smallest start-ups by preventing mobile transactions
and blocking access to markets,” said Peter Micek, global policy and legal
counsel at Access Now, a digital-rights advocacy organization.“More broadly, this dangerous practice defeats trust in
the internet economy, and tells the world your country is closed to
business,” he continued. “We expect more investors, development banks, and
lending agencies to take a hard look at governments who order shutdowns—and
the companies that execute the orders.”When it’s time for the next round of
national exams in Iraq, the reasoning goes, perhaps the government will think
twice about scheduling daily internet outages, if it’s burdened with the
knowledge that each hour that networks remain down
costs the country dearly. From http://www.nextgov.com/ 10/07/2016 Information
Becomes Chaotic Work in Progress in the Age of the Web Technology has not only brought transparency that
the campaigns and parties can’t do much to control, but also a speed of communication
that sometimes leaves them exposed.(TNS) -- More than ever before,
unauthorized and uncontrolled disclosures of information are driving and
illuminating the national conversation.Donald Trump’s 1995 tax returns saw
sudden daylight despite the candidate’s reticence about revealing them — a
defiance of routine practice for presidential hopefuls.That document drop was
low-tech. Someone put them in the mail to newspapers with a postmark from the
Trump Towers.In contrast, the releases that vex Hillary Clinton come 21st
century-style.Emailed transcripts of her high-paid remarks to big bankers
surfaced via WikiLeaks, embarrassing a candidate who clearly said one thing
behind closed doors and another in public as she fended off Bernie Sanders’
populist primary campaign.Other relevant data made it through the front door
of government. Clinton’s office tried to take State Department
emails private — and shield from disclosure those that weren’t destroyed but
were demanded in court by the Judicial Watch organization. Missives
eventually emerged that showed staff interactions with people from the
Clinton Foundation.Trump’s decades in the tabloid limelight built a record of
his preenings on “Access Hollywood,” “The Apprentice,” “The Howard Stern
Show” and news programs — which exposed his lewd talk and led women to come
forward alleging assault.Technology has not only brought transparence that
the campaigns and parties can’t do much to control, but also a speed of
communication that sometimes leaves them exposed.Trump’s habit of frequently
tweeting messages to the world at large has showed how impulsive he can be.
He blurted insults, self-congratulation, raw rumors and suspicions with
140-character abandon. Pity the political adviser trying to stop him.For the
Clinton campaign, emailed memos that ended up on WikiLeaks read at times like
certain transcripts of the old Nixon-era reel-to-reel tapes — not for any
illegality, but for candid, closed-door assessments by political staff. Such instant exchanges are likely to be careless
and devoid of tact. In the old days, memos might be typed and carried to
someone else’s desk or not written at all, with meetings and one-on-one
conversations and internal phone calls the preferred methods of
communication.Motives and perceived motives for the leaks add another
dimension to the national conversation. It is unknown who sent out the
solitary Trump tax filing. Clinton and government officials tie WikiLeaks
disclosures to Russian hackers, but details are hazy. Video files of broadcast
networks are private property, so their dissemination can become
controversial.Information becomes a chaotic work in progress in the age of
the web. From http://www.govtech.com/ 10/21/2016 Malicious
Internet Activity Surges Threefold There has been a threefold increase in the number
of malicious DNS queries, new research has revealed, with 82 million of them
identified in August alone.As of the end of August, more than five million
new domains were being queried daily, with 150 million new domains each month.
In the period between March and August, nearly 1 billion were created—and the
vast majority of these are malicious yet unknown to security vendors,
according to Nominum Data Science.When it comes the internet threat fabric,
nearly four million suspicious domains are created daily, with the majority
of command and control infrastructure hosted in the US.In a report on DNS
security, Nominum found that botnet command and control activity jumped in
August, driven by Necurs, the most wide-spread botnet family, with more than
six million related machines under cybercriminal control. It is run by a
Russian organized cybercrime group, Nominum said, and is responsible for
millions of dollars in losses tied to the Dridex banking Trojan, and more
recently, the Locky ransomware strain. “Necurs exploded onto the scene in June 2016, a
few months after we first started monitoring its C&C servers,” the report
noted. “The number of Necurs-related queries reached 558 million in August 2016.
As many as 59 million queries have occurred on a daily basis. Necurs also has
at least 10,000 live domains on any given day. Some of these are used as
C&C servers, while the rest are used as decoys to deceive security
experts.”Meanwhile, the number of infected Internet of Things (IoT) devices
has surged, driven by a 131% increase in the Mirai botnet, in less than two
weeks from when its source code was released.“Prior to the Mirai source code
release, we identified approximately 213,000 bots using this method,” the
report said. “Since the code release, multiple new Mirai botnets have
accumulated an additional 280,000 bots, bringing the count of Mirai bots to
493,000 within the sample data Nominum analyzed.”The now-infamous October 21
distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on managed DNS provider Dyn
should be a wake-up call, the company said. That attack took down websites at
Twitter, Paypal, The New York Times, Box, Netflix and more, and originated
from a large number of compromised IoT devices that are part of Mirai,
including internet-connected cameras, routers and digital video recorders. “The attacks highlighted the easily
overlooked—yet vital—role that DNS plays on the internet,” said Craig
Sprosts, vice president, Product Management & Strategy, Nominum, in a
blog. “A lone attacker was able to prevent hundreds of millions of internet
users from accessing their favorite sites by targeting a single managed DNS
provider. Given the growth in IoT devices, the scale and frequency of these
types of attacks is likely to increase. Without question, CSPs must be
prepared for the unfortunate day when their DNS—or one of their
subscribers—is the intended target of an attack, so as to preserve both
network and brand integrity.”The firm’s report ominously warned, “The Mirai
botnet is continuously executing DNS attacks, perhaps presaging another big
attack.”Looking closely at DDoS, amplification, Pseudo Random Subdomain
(PRSD) IoT-based, mobile malware and other types of attacks, the report
points out that security teams can leverage the DNS (which is the target
platform in 93% of attacks) to discover anomalous behaviors and patterns to
pinpoint new threats and take effective measures. “When evaluating DNS software, network teams tend
to look only at queries per second (QPS) as an indication of reliability, but
these metrics can be misleading. Instead, network teams must evaluate how the
DNS performs on the worst days when traffic patterns are highly unusual,”
said Sprosts. “Common DNS implementations have very simple rules that don’t
differentiate between legitimate and attack traffic. In the case of the
latest attack, when the authoritative DNS servers were unable to respond to
queries, the querying servers continued to flood the authoritative servers,
waiting hopelessly for a response. This overwhelms the DNS server and slows
DNS responses to all queries—both legitimate and malicious traffic—creating a
major traffic jam, which can bring the internet to a halt.” From http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/ 11/04/2016 We
Should Not Fear a Fragmented Internet Hugo Zylberberg is a fellow at the School of
International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. You can follow him
@hugozylb.Several high-profile reports have recently lamented the
fragmentation of the internet, generally described as a series of technical
standards, proprietary platforms, and government policies that restrict the
flow of data online or the type of online content that can be accessed in a
country. The World Economic Forum recently warned about the “danger of
splintering” the internet, which could hinder “the internet’s enormous
capacity to facilitate human progress.” Similarly, the Global Commission on
Internet Governance warns of a possible future where governments fail to keep
the internet open and inclusive, leading to loss of global GDP.It should come
as no surprise that people from different sociocultural backgrounds and
countries disagree on the norms and institutions that should govern the
internet. Internet fragmentation is a by-product of three billion users using
the same platform with another three yet to be connected. Instead of
promoting a single unified internet, policymakers, academics, civil society
groups and businesses should work to ensure that the various fragments that emerge
remain compatible.Indeed, most internet users today don’t interact with a
global internet. The world is fragmented into different cultures, languages,
and ideologies and these differences are reflected on the internet. Many
users in sub-Saharan Africa experience an internet with lower speeds than in
other parts of the world, which prohibits bandwidth-intensive uses like video
streaming. Many in Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand claimed to be
using Facebook more than the internet according to a 2015 From http://www.i-policy.org/ 11/06/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
CHINA: Baidu to Share Artificial
Intelligence Platforms for Public Use China's Baidu decided Thursday to make its artificial
intelligence (AI) system's core capabilities and underlying technology
available to program developers, start-up entrepreneurs and traditional
companies to help develop AI for the public good. The company will launch two
AI platforms for public use, PaddlePaddle and ai.baidu.com, to help companies
develop AI systems for their own sectors, according to Baidu chief scientist
Andrew Ng, speaking at the Baidu Technology Innovation Conference. AI will be
a core tool for remarkable changes in daily life, just as electricity was
over a century ago, said Robin Li, founder, CEO and chairman of the search
engine titan. As a pioneer in developing AI, the company has developed an AI
system called the Baidu Brain, featuring state-of-the-art technology for recognizing
and processing speech, images, words as well as building user profiles based
on big data analysis. Baidu Brain's ability to recognize speech and faces is
up to 97 percent and 99.7 percent accurate, respectively, according to Li. Baidu has used its AI technology to develop
intelligent mapping, translation and advertising services. The company's
driverless car's core operating system is enabled by the Baidu Brain to offer
high-precision electronic mapping, positioning, sensing, decision-making and control
services. Leading visual computing technology firm NVIDIA announced at the
conference it will deepen its partnership with Baidu in developing
cloud-based autonomous driving technology and platforms. Baidu aims to
commercialize the driverless technology by 2018 and achieve mass production
of the cars by 2020. Li, who is also chair of the B20 employment task force,
a forum under the G20 framework, said that possible job losses due to AI
development could be addressed via technology and innovation. The B20
employment taskforce proposed an initiative called SMART, which calls for
sustainable innovation, a massive public platform, accessible networks,
revolutionary reform and technological innovation to pool knowledge for
shared growth. From
http://www.news.cn/
09/01/2016 China Embraces Online Medical
Services Wuzhen Internet Hospital opened in Zhejiang
province during the 2nd World Internet Conference, offering online medical
services. Trying to see a doctor in China's public hospitals can be a painful
experience, often involving queueing overnight just to get a consultation
lasting a few minutes. A Chinese Internet firm is attepting to address the
problem by providing Chinese patients online access to licensed doctors in
more than 2,400 hospitals across the country. The Wuzhen Internet Hospital
based in Wuzhen, a riverside town in Eastern China's Zhejiang Province, was
founded in December 2015 to provide services via an app it has developed
called We Doctor. Zhang Guimin, marketing director of the company, described
the firm as the medical version of Uber, where patients can describe their
illness and arrange appropriate doctors. "Doctors can pick up orders on
their own and confirm an appointment for an online diagnosis when they have
time," Zhang said. The medical service is the online equivalent to a
hospital outpatient service. Users can get prescriptions and pay bills on
their cellphones, and have medicines delivered afterwards. They can also make face-to-face appointments with
doctors through the app. "It is better to see a patient in person in the
case of a serious illness," said Chen Aiguo, head of the surgical
department at Tongxiang No 3 People's Hospital, Zhejiang, "The app is
very helpful for making appointments and conducting further consultations. You
can just do it with your phone." Zhang is among 26,000 doctors
registered on We Doctor. The app sees an average of 31,000 appointments made
each day. "The app helps connect well-known doctors with patients from
not only major cities but also rural areas," Zhang said. "It helps
balance unevenly distributed medical resources." Home to the world's
largest online community, 710 million people as of June 2016, more than 95
percent of China's cities, towns and villages now have broadband. Wuzhen
Internet Hospital set up a branch in southwest China's Sichuan Province in
October to facilitate remote diagnosis services in the poverty-stricken
Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture. Qiu Jipo, 47, lives in the mountainous Qiaodi
Township and was among the first to use the service. Suffering from femoral
head necrosis and arthritis, Qiu has a five-hour walk to the nearest clinic
that can treat him. Through a remote video system set up by We Doctor's
Sichuan branch, Han Sijing, a veteran doctor from 416 Hospital in Chengdu,
capital of Sichuan, is able to diagnose Qiu, and supervise a local specialist
in the township's clinic to treat him. "Seeing a doctor outside the town
or a doctor from a top-level hospital had been unthinkable before," Qiu
said. Besides the Internet hospital in Sichuan, Wuzhen Internet Hospital has
branches in 16 cities and provinces, including Beijing, northwest China's
Gansu Province and southwest China's Guizhou Province. The Internet firm
plans to set up 100 branches over the next three years, providing online medical
consultations and e-prescription via cellphones or remote video systems. From
http://www.chinagate.cn/ 11/17/2016 First Security Robot in Service at
Shenzhen Airport The first security robot joined staff at Shenzhen
airport on Wednesday. "AnBot", or "Shenzhen Xiaoan" in
Chinese, can work around-the-clock and react to emergencies with an electric
riot fork. The intelligent guard is 1.5 meters tall and weighs about 75 kg.
With four digital cameras, the security robot is capable of autonomous
patrols, intelligent monitoring and auto recharging. It can answer
passengers' questions about flight information and communicate with people in
different contexts, said an official with the Shenzhen Public Security
Bureau. In case of emergencies, AnBot can deter suspects with sound and
light, and use tools like the electric riot fork to prevent crime. The use of
intelligent security robots will ease pressure on airport police in their
daily patrols and save human resources, said the official. More security
robots will be deployed in different areas of the airport. AnBot was
developed by Shenzhen Public Security Bureau, the National University of
Defense Technology and a domestic technology company. Besides a booming
industrial robot sector in China, robots have been increasingly used in the
service sectors such as senior care and domestic cleaning. From
http://www.news.cn/
09/21/2016 Big Data Serves in Poverty
Alleviation for Arun Banner Recently, a platform powered by big data tech was
set up in Arun Banner, Hulunbuir League, Inner Mongolia autonomous region,
producing accurate and efficient poverty alleviation in the local area. This
big data system covers detailed information of the more than 15,000 local
residents living in the impoverished area, and also manages the aid-funds to
guarantee it can benefit the poor. Furthermore, around 1,500 local cadres and
their corresponding aiding subjects are filed in the system. As a
self-designed system, the poverty-alleviation e-platform cost over 170,000
yuan ($25,000) to be built and was sponsored by the regional and local
finance departments, said Chen Qian, head of the poverty relief office in
Arun Banner. “Every time I pay a visit for the poor in a village, I need to
write a journal and upload photos on this big data system, mainly about the
present living conditions of those in need,” said Feng Lizhi, deputy mayor of
Xiangyangyu, a town in Arun Banner. “Look at this picture; this family harvested
an amount of edible fungus, which means the family could earn 20,000 yuan per
capita this year,” said Feng, clearly excited. Feng came to visit Zhang
Ronghua, a villager labeled as poor in the system, and helped him escape
poverty by providing a job as a cleaner. Also, Feng contacted local retailers
to help Zhang distribute his mushrooms. Feng also showed how the big data
platform runs by taking out a phone and scanning a code in Zhang’s home, and
then the basic information and daily aid records were instantly presented on
the screen. As a farmer receiving targeted
poverty-alleviation funds, Zhang Ronghua has suffered from cirrhosis and his
wife has been tormented with heart disease for years, resulting in high
medical bills that far beyond the family’s ability to cope. “Nowadays, the
local government has taken practical actions to support poor families, and I
am quite grateful for what they have done to help our family, especially
Feng, who often comes to visit and solve our problems. And thanks to his
support, the fungus can be sold at a nice price,” Zhang said. This year, the
income for Zhang’s family is expected to reach 40,174 yuan, which means this
family’s dire situation will soon be changed, according to Feng. With 6.72
percent of the population in poverty, Arun Banner has been recognized as a
key target poverty-reduction county in Inner Mongolia. With a population of
320,000 people, it houses 64 poor villages and 15,000 impoverished residents,
and the big data platform provides local cadres and departments with a
manageable, efficient and practical tool to tackle poverty. From
http://www.chinagate.cn/ 11/04/2016 Across China: VR Enriches Lessons,
Learning Experience Instead of pens and paper, students in the
classrooms of the future will have headsets and rather than learning by rote
they will be encouraged to take a more hands on approach to their studies.
Although in its early stages of development, schools in China are exploring
how they can incorporate VR lessons into their classroom experience. One such
lesson, by online game developer NetDragon, uses VR to teach children fire
safety. Students are catapulted into a simulated environment where a fire has
broken out. They must crawl across the floor, avoid obstacles, such as desks
and chairs, and escape. VR education tools are not just for school children,
either. At the VR medical school under Sichuan University, a virtual anatomy
system allows medical students to examine organs and tissues from every
angle. They can even isolate organs for closer inspection. A virtual scalpel
is currently in development, which will mean students can practice their
surgical skills without the need for a real body. The VR sector has huge potential and a growing
number of Chinese developers are exploring how VR can be used as an
educational tool. Simon Leung, vice-chairman of NetDragon, said the company
has developed VR immersive classrooms and tablets that transport students to
a 360-degree immersive digital world based around their curriculum. Moreover,
due to motion sensors, the VR headsets can tell whether children are focused
on the task at hand, Leung said. New Oriental, a private education company
partnered with the Chinese online video content provider LeEco to develop
"China's first VR course" last December. VRschool, a Beijing-based
firm, developed an "immersive education system," which is already
being used by 10 schools. Longtu Education -- with its gaming background --
expects to begin offering courses to equip teachers and instructors with the
skills to use VR in their lessons. Despite the obvious passion, the sector is
still in its infancy, with immature hardware and a lack of content still
holding back developers. Tan Zheng, chairman of VR equipment producer
ANTVR, said that despite the increasing number of Chinese VR companies, there
is a lack of core technology and name brands. Huang Ronghuai, professor at
the Smart Learning Institute under Beijing Normal University, said, "The
content is limited. There are no 'systematic VR textbooks' yet, and so the
existing VR lessons are nothing more than test pieces. Although Chinese
parents are often more than willing to allow their children to use technology
to give their kids an edge, they are suspicious of VR as they are unsure if
the technology will have any side affects. Besides, the equipment comes at a
price. A top-end VR headset and computer could cost upward of 10,000 yuan
(1,475 U.S. dollars). "More must be done to develop the technology,
which will lower the cost and improve the user experience," said Huang,
"still we are optimistic that we can really change the current model of
education." From
http://www.news.cn/
11/08/2016 Chinese Doctors Use 3D Printer for
Skull Surgery Doctors in southwest China's Chongqing
municipality have successfully replaced a section of a female cancer
patient's forehead with a 3D-printed part. The patient, Liu Li (Not her real
name), who is in her early 20s has had recurrent tumors for over 16 years, and
has kept her hair long at the front to cover the growths. "I have had
bangs for over a decade, finally I can grow my hair out and not be paranoid
about my tumors," she explained. When her tumors first began to show,
around 16 years ago, Liu had them removed but they returned and grew back
larger than before. Despite multiple operations over the years, the tumors
returned every time. The tumors were eventually identified as benign, but due
to their location they put pressure against her right eye socket, meaning if
they were not removed they would likely impair her vision and limit her motor
skills. Doctors agreed that a complete excision was the
only suitable procedure. Moreover, due to the location of Liu's tumors the operation
would disfigure her face and the damage would be almost impossible to repair
by traditional plastic surgery. After discussion, a 3D-printed bone replica
procedure was agreed as the best operation. Liu underwent a high-precision CT
scan so that doctors could create a 3D reconstruction of her skull and print
a 1:1 replica of the bone part, with a precision of 20 microns. The replica
piece was then implanted and fixed in place with titanium screws. The
operation, which was conducted earlier this month, was a success and Liu was
discharged from hospital a week after going under the knife. From
http://www.chinagate.cn/ 11/09/2016 Mobile Internet Revives Rural
Communities Since its launch in August 2015, We Country has
signed up more than 900 villages around China. We Country is a platform
developed by Chinese Internet giant Tencent, offering rural communities
technical assistance to help them get the most out of their smart phones. It
is widely seen as an extensive trial of using mobile Internet to transform
rural China. Combating Cattle Theft with Wechat Tongguan Village, Liping County was We Country’s
first test-site. It is a five-hour drive from Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou
Province – four hours on the expressway followed by one hour on a rugged
mountain trail. In this community of around 400 households, more than 90
percent are of the Dong ethnic minority. Like many other Chinese villages,
most of the young people are away working better-paid jobs in the city. Their
aging parents and young children are left to tend the fields, each earning a
meagre average annual income of RMB 2,600. Tencent started its charitable
campaign in Guizhou and neighboring Yunnan Province back in 2009, with
donations and educational assistance. During the course of the campaign, Chen
Yuanyuan, social responsibility manager for Tencent, quickly noticed a common
problem affecting rural communities – that rural residents were very
disconnected, without access to many modern developments including the
circulation of information, wealth creation, and emotional growth. She
realized that what would help these residents most was not donations of cash
or assistance, but an increase in their ability to connect. Before the advent
of mobile Internet, it was impossible to proliferate Internet connection in
the countryside due to the prohibitive cost of equipment and the scale of
training needed. Mobile Internet has made it possible to close the
urban-rural digital gap. When Tencent launched their trial program in
Tongguan, less than 15 percent of its residents owned smart phones. First,
Chen Yuanyuan and her colleagues secured a donation of handsets from ZTE, got
funding from China Mobile to set up 4G base stations in the region, and free
Internet access provided by Guizhou Mobile. They then taught local residents
how to use smart phones and the Internet, including elderly people who were
illiterate. One female resident received a white smart phone, replacing her
ancient model with a black and white screen which she had been doggedly using
to save money. Now with free Internet access, she has learned how to surf the
web and has installed WeChat, the Tencent messaging app that has more than
800 million registered active users. The woman’s daughter was her first
WeChat friend. Whenever the two weren’t talking, she could text her daughter
to tell her to come down for lunch. She later extended the connection to
include fellow members of the village choir of which she is chairwoman, so
that she could more easily distribute notices, exchange information and dispense
payments for performances. When a BBC reporting team came to the village to
film a documentary in April 2015, she took a selfie with the dashing British
presenter and posted it on WeChat. Elderly villagers also embraced their
smartphones with great gusto after mastering the video call function which
allowed them to have face-to-face talks with their children who live and work
out of town. Tongguan was also the first rural community in China to open a
public WeChat account. The village committee uses this digital platform to
notify people of public affairs up for discussion, such as village finances
and old age pensions. It also conducts surveys, calls for participation in
public events, solicits opinions and collects feedback. The connection goes both
ways: through WeChat, villagers can rate the committee’s performance as
excellent, mediocre or disappointing. An elderly villager found her name was
not on the list of recipients for basic subsistence allowance published on
the village Wechat account, although she was eligible. She brought the issue
to the village committee and soon after got her application reviewed and
accepted. This is an example of the degree of transparency that the Internet
can facilitate in the management of village affairs. According to the village head, Wu Zhengang, after
information about public affairs is published online (information ranging
from village elections and finances, to means testing for the basic
subsistence allowance) he and his colleagues are subject to various inquiries
and requests from fellow villagers. “This demands great competence from
village cadres. They are expected to adhere to the rules, have the guts to
tackle difficult issues, and be fair and transparent.” Wu created a WeChat
group for messaging in times of emergency. One night a villager reported an
instance of cattle theft on the group using his mobile phone. Immediately,
more than 30 villagers joined him in the search and within half an hour the
thief was caught. Chen Xiao’an, the project manager for We Country, who lived
in Tongguan for a year and a half, has personally witnessed the changes
there. All one needs now, when buying drinks at any corner store in the
village, is a cellphone, as the store keeper has learned to accept WeChat
payment. “At first he kept account books as a precaution, fearing the money
in his digital account would evaporate,” Chen chuckled. Growth DrawsYoung People Back Escaping poverty is We Country’s main priority
for villages. The core mission of the scheme is to pin down and develop any
particular specialty products that could potentially be turned into famous
brands with extended product lines. In Tongguan, Tencent invested RMB 15
million in the creation of a museum based on the Grand Songs of the Dong
People. The facility serves as a platform for Dong cultural exchanges and a
venue for exhibitions; and also offers accommodation for tourists. The
construction and operation of the museum created jobs close to the village,
and so enticed many young people, who had become migrant workers, to return
home. It also increased the incomes of village elders with few employment
opportunities, by exhibiting and marketing traditional handicrafts, such as
homemade cloth and straw sandals. In August 2015, Tencent officially launched the
We Country project and expanded its operation model from three trial spots
(including Tongguan) to the rest of China. On hearing Chen Yuanyuan’s
presentation at the launch, Tang Qizhao, an official in charge of poverty
reduction efforts in Xiangxi Prefecture, Hunan Province, was excited by what
the Internet could offer to the rural poor. “Do rural residents need the
Internet? The answer is yes, if they want to engage with the cities where
they sell their produce and seek medical services and where their children
find jobs,” Tang said. With Tang’s help We Country was introduced into
seven counties and one city in Xiangxi Prefecture to facilitate local poverty
relief efforts. A free WIFI service covers all rural neighborhoods in these
locations; and WeChat accounts and groups have been created to increase
connectivity and promote local farm products. Bi’er Village was the first in
the prefecture to join the We Country program – and soon saw the benefits.
Using WeChat one farmer sold more than 10,000 kg of sweet oranges. The
village’s WeChat account is run by seven people between the ages of 20 and
50, including five who are at college or working out of town. They teach
fellow villagers how to use WeChat, carefully select posts to be shared on
the public account, and organize public events – all for free. When talking
of their dedication, Mi Dan, a college student, explained that the Internet
has allowed members of the village attending schools elsewhere to contribute
to the local economy through their mobile phones, which they are all too glad
to do but were unable to do in the past. Such avid participation is what Chen
Yuanyuan had hoped would happen with the We Country program. “In order to
make a fortune, it is critical for a village to have a signature product and
brand,” she said. “It is much easier to rise above the poverty line than to
enter the rich club, but even if a village has no specific product or brand
to bank on, the emotional bonding and access to information brought about by
the Internet still creates more opportunities and enhances the odds of
improving the local economy,” Chen said. People Power One function of We Country is to set the stage
for businesses and citizens who have the capability and desire to contribute to
rural development, through investment or professional skills. So far the
program has recruited more than 30 corporate and individual partners in such
areas as architectural design, brand planning, painting, healthcare,
vocational training, smart phone manufacturing, agricultural technology,
video streaming, app technology and crowd funding. Take Dongguan as an
example. One company constructed a “smart village” operational platform on
WeChat; another designed the packaging for local produce; and a third designed
local residences. Some of these services have charges, so who pays for them?
Under the We Country program the price is much lower than the market rate and
participating villages can try crowdfunding or apply for government funding.
Poverty reduction is a national policy. In the course of her work with We
Country, Chen Yuanyuan has been impressed by the fervent efforts the
government is making to combat poverty, though the state does need more
viable programs through which it can apply its policies and funding support. This year We Country plans to create 100
exemplary cases eligible to apply for government funding and crowdfunding.
Meanwhile it will phase out monetary donations and shift towards the role of
“match-maker.” According to Guo Kaitian, vice president of Tencent and
chairman of the Tencent Foundation, what We County is doing is to bring IT
professionals and Internet strategy into rural communities to help them make
better use of their resources. A survey by the China Internet Network Information
Center (CNNIC) showed that at the end of June 2016, 191 million Chinese
Internet users lived in the countryside (26.7 percent of the national total).
Recognizing the untapped potential of China’s rural market, many e-commerce
giants like Alibaba, JD and Suning are making forays into this sector. Though
these are not charitable ventures like Tencent’s We Country, they will still
help transform the technological and economic landscape in rural China. With the assistance of We Country, Tongguan
Village has adopted a point-based bonus system. Its members are rewarded with
credit points, which can be turned into cash when they reach a certain
number. Villagers are eligible if they abide by the village charter, actively
participate in local cultural events, eschew the use of chemical pesticides
in farming, keep their houses in line with the traditional style of the
neighborhood, and make sure their children go on to higher education. “We
show them the way, but nothing can be done without their participation. May
it be preserving cultural traditions, retaining local talent or managing
village affairs, voluntary and widespread engagement by its members is the
key to a successful community,” said project manager Chen Xiao’an. We Country
enables young farmers who work away from home to follow and participate in
the latest developments in their villages. Their value cannot be
underestimated. “It is difficult for outsiders to build trust in a rural
neighborhood,” Chen Yuanyuan explained. “Normally this takes a long time. So,
in our program, local people are the kingpins in mobilizing a community. Once
these people kickstart the disscussion of local issues, their fellow
villagers, including those working elsewhere, will be pulled in. This way the
whole community’s awareness of democracy burgeons.” From
http://www.chinagate.cn/ 11/09/2016 JAPAN: Utilize IT-Based Systems to Raise
Competitiveness of Farm Exports The international competitiveness of our farming
sector, in which productivity remains low, should be enhanced through the use
of advanced technology — Japan’s strong point. As Japan’s rural communities
continue to age, there is a serious shortage of successors to take over from
elderly farmers. There is plenty of room for utilizing information technology
in farming, including for reducing heavy labor through automation and
analyzing meteorological data and market trends. The Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries Ministry considers the use of IT as a priority in its budget
for next fiscal year. The government’s council on investment in the future
also regards improving the productivity of the farming sector as a challenge
in carrying out the government’s growth strategy. We hope steady progress
will be made. To make the farming sector a highly profitable growth industry,
it is essential to bring in diverse participants, such as by attracting young
people and business firms. Bolstering further links between farming and IT is
vital to realize this. Out in the field, various efforts are already under
way. At a vineyard in Koshu, Yamanashi Prefecture, the
amount of agricultural chemicals used has been reduced to half of what was
needed before, thanks to sensors measuring air temperature and humidity. This
has not only improved product quality but also reduced costs. In the
developmental stage, Japan’s own technology of satellite-based vehicle
guidance control system can operate a tractor on farmland with a margin of
error of a few centimeters. Artificial intelligence also assesses the
ripeness of fruit and harvests it using robot arms. There are robots for
milking cows that can detect the early onset of diseases in cattle and manage
their health. High-quality livestock produce and fruit grown in Japan are
also popular in other countries. If advanced technologies are put to
practical use, the competitiveness of Japan’s farming exports will be
markedly augmented. One concern is that the use of IT has been promoted
separately in specific regions and by different companies. Even if IT-based
systems were developed, the cost would be relatively high as long as the
market remained limited. Large amounts of data have not yet been coalesced,
meaning it is impossible for multiple systems to work together. This has
hindered the spread of IT in the farming sector. The government has set guidelines on the
categories of work, and their names, in agriculture that will be compiled in
a database. This is a step forward. It is necessary from now on to
standardize environmental data collected at the point of production, such as
air temperature and humidity, so they can be used in any system. It must not
be forgotten that for IT to be used to its maximum potential, structural
reforms in the farming sector are essential. To extract larger benefits of
automated and mechanized farming, it is crucial to increase the scale of
farming. The pork-barrel farming
subsidy system should be corrected, while intensive support should be offered
to core farmers with a fervent willingness to manage their farms. The
barriers for companies to participate in agriculture should be lowered. Scale
should be increased by consolidating farmland. To strengthen the earning
power of the farming sector, a strategy aimed at bringing about a synergistic
effect in terms of regulatory reforms and technological innovation is needed. From http://the-japan-news.com 09/27/2016 Telemedicine Pilot Program Kicks Off for Disabled A pilot program connecting doctors with disabled
patients through the use of information and telecommunications technology
kicked off on Thursday, South Korea's health ministry said. Under the program
pushed forward by the Health and Welfare Ministry, doctors will see a total
of 150 patients to provide treatment and fill out prescriptions through the
Internet. The program will involve the patients, including those in welfare
and other facilities, and two hospitals, officials said. "Disabled
people are the ones who need telemedicine the most as they have difficulty in
receiving medical treatment," said a ministry official. For the disable
patients with severe conditions, nurses will visit their houses periodically
and report back to doctors of their condition. Last year, the ministry
launched a similar pilot program for people in rural areas, mostly islands,
correctional facilities, sailors of deep-sea fishing vessels and soldiers
near the border with North Korea to test the feasibility of the system. From http://www.koreaherald.com 09/01/2016 SOUTH
KOREA: Technology Boosts Impact of Overseas Aid Korea is expanding cooperation with developing
countries by sharing its knowhow of intellectual property (IP) and providing
technological support. Since 2004, the Korean Intellectual Property Office
(KIPO) has been running some 113 knowledge-sharing projects in 50 countries,
with the aim of providing technical training to local professionals. One such
project deals with "appropriate technology," small-scale tech
that's simple enough for most people to manage at the local level. The
project makes use of KIPO's expired patents to solve problems affecting local
communities by coming up with technical solutions. Over the past six years,
11 different technologies have been developed and distributed in 10 countries
around the world. One of the first projects of this kind was based in Chad in
2010. At the time, there was a shortage of firewood due to a government ban
on logging, and residents had a hard time locating fuel for cooking. Hearing
this, the KIPO stepped in and developed a type of charcoal that could be made
by compressing biomass from sugar cane waste. This helped to solve the fuel
shortage, and allowed residents to become self-reliant. With the
infrastructure now in place, some 30 people can produce over 600 nuggets of
coal in one day. From http://www.korea.net
09/01/2016 Korea
to Expand Free Internet Access in Public Places Korea will expand free wireless Internet access
in public places to bridge the digital divide in technology use, the
government said Sunday. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said
it will open 1,020 mobile hot spots in traditional markets and other welfare
facilities Monday. Starting with 2,000 public Wi-Fi zones in 2012, the ICT
ministry has opened a total of 11,280 locations across the nation until the
end of 2015. The ministry said it will additionally install about 1,000 free
Wi-Fi networks next year in cooperation with local mobile carriers. From http://www.koreaherald.com/ 10/16/2016 AI,
Big Data to Impact Intellectual Property Globally: KIPO Chief The advancement of artificial intelligence and
big data will have a big impact on the global community of intellectual
property, chief of Korea’s state-run patent office said. Choi Dong-gyou,
commissioner of the Korea Intellectual Property Office, said he shared his
views at the recent global conference of the World Intellectual Property
Office held in Geneva, Switzerland, on Oct. 3-11. The advancement of
artificial intelligence and big data will have a big impact on the global
community of intellectual property, chief of Korea’s state-run patent office
said. Choi Dong-gyou, commissioner of the Korea Intellectual Property Office,
said he shared his views at the recent global conference of the World
Intellectual Property Office held in Geneva, Switzerland, on Oct. 3-11. “I
delivered an opening statement stressing how the fourth industrial
revolution, based on artificial intelligence and big data, will affect the
development of the IP system,” Choi said in an interview with The Korea
Herald. “I also introduced Korea’s recent policies including revisions to the
Patent Act, aimed at ensuring efficient granting of patents and preventing substandard
patents.” From http://www.koreaherald.com 10/20/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
INDONESIA: Digitizing Tourism Sector to Win
Regional Market Indonesia started to apply digital technology in its
tourism sector, aimed at better improving its resources and stakeholders in
the sector and winning market in the region through an advanced
telecommunications technology system. The advanced digital system, called the
Dashboard M-17, in the nation's tourism sector was jointly inaugurated by
Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Panjaitan and Tourism
Minister Arief Yahya in the latter ministry's national coordination meeting
held here on Thursday. "We have to realize that digital technology would
closely embrace people in their daily life and it would be more intense in
the future. So it would be inevitable for us to carry out marketing tasks
with digital technology," Arief said. He added that with digital
technology, the marketing tasks would be cheaper and easy, has a worldwide
access and paves the way for the ministry to attract more tourists in the
future. Through the application of Dashboard M-17 digital system, all works
in the ministry including marketing, development of tourism industry, tour
destinations and human resources in the ministry would be conducted on
digital technology-based system, the tourism minister said. Application of
the digital system was essential to compete with other countries in the
region - Malaysia and Thailand - in tourism sector, the minister said. Integrated with the immigration agency, the
Dashboard M-17 digital system provides real-time data on foreign tourists
entering the nation through several gates. "The real-time data would
provide comprehensive information on the tourists' country origins, ages,
gender and other related necessities. Information resulted from this process
would eventually be used to analyze the market based either on timeline or
origin country basis," Arief told the press conference. Besides that,
the digital system also monitors and provides information on marketing
strategies applied by other countries in the tourism sector. Indonesia now
intensifies tourism and economy creative sectors, expected to highly
contribute to the nation's economy in the future amid downturn trends
experienced by oil and gas, mining and palm oil sectors in the last few
years. Indonesia now develops 10 new tour destinations, dubbed as the New
Bali, across the archipelago country. The resort island of Bali was the
nation's top tour destination, favored by foreign tourists across the world.
The nation has set target to welcome 20 million foreign visitors by 2019 from
over 10 million recorded in 2015. With such a target government expected the
sector to earn 20 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 09/15/2016 MYANMAR: Regional Government to Install 796 CCTV
Cameras Around Yangon The Yangon Region government plans to install 796
CCTV cameras, including 154 modernised traffic lights, said Police Lt-Col Aung
Ko Oo from the No 2 Traffic Police Force. Myanmar Shwe Yin Company will
cooperate with the CRCC company from China to install four cameras at each
traffic light. A total of 606 cameras will be installed at 154 traffic
lights. Similarly, the traffic rule enforcement supervisory committee
proposed to the regional government that 40 cameras at Yangon’s 20 entrances
and exits be installed, along with 80 cameras at 40 other locations in Yangon
and 60 cameras at another 30 locations to monitor illegal parking. Moreover,
the regional government plans to install 20 cameras that can rotate 360
degrees at 20 traffic lights, said Police Lt-Col Aung Ko Oo. The committee
also proposed that the regional government set up 2,000 warning signs in
about traffic rules, pave a 100-metre long tarmac road at each traffic light
and set up road signs in traffic light areas, the police official said. From http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/ 08/31/2016 SINGAPORE: Wi-Fi Available on Board All NUS
Campus Shuttle Buses SINGAPORE: A pilot has been launched on the
campus of the National University of Singapore (NUS), allowing staff and
students to tap on Wi-Fi on board all its campus shuttle buses. The service
is provided through a "mesh network of connected vehicles", billed
as the first of its kind in Singapore. In a joint media release on Thursday
(Sep 22), local telco StarHub and NUS said that unlike conventional wireless
network infrastructure, the "mesh platform" that is being piloted
leverages vehicles as mobile Wi-Fi access points that connect to one another
and to fixed points in buildings throughout the NUS campus. The approach
helps extend overall Wi-Fi network coverage and enables a myriad of Internet
of Things (IoT) devices to be connected seamlessly, the statement said. The
university also said that data generated from the pilot will be used to
better understand commuting and mobility trends on campus, and provide
insights into its management of campus operations and services. For instance,
it can track the exact location of the shuttle buses on campus and determine
the number of passengers on the buses in real-time, so that buses can be
deployed accordingly to meet demand. “The deployment of wireless mesh vehicular
technology will allow NUS to conduct research into areas such as wireless
mesh network enhancements, commuting and mobility trends, and other
technologies that will drive us towards becoming a Smart Nation,” said
Professor Lawrence Wong, Deputy Director of IDMI who is leading the NUS
Living Lab initiative in a bid to transform the university into a major
test-bed for new technologies. The year-long project at NUS is part of an
initiative by StarHub, which aims to build an extensive lab for developers
and researchers to test their solutions in a real-life environment. StarHub
added that the data generated from the network can be used to “analyse and
address urban challenges facing Singapore logistics and transportation
companies today” and help them improve their operations and planning. The
pilot is conducted in collaboration with ComfortDelGro Bus and Veniam, a
company that builds networks of connected vehicles. From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/ 09/22/2016 SMS Public Alert System for Emergencies Launched SINGAPORE: The authorities will be able to send
SMS text alerts through all telcos by end-2017 to warn members of the public
in the localised vicinity of a terrorist attack and other emergencies. These
alerts will warn residents of danger, and give appropriate advice on how they
can and should respond. Coordinating Minister for National Security and
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean announced this system at the fourth
revamped Emergency Preparedness Day in Pasir Ris on Saturday (Oct 15). These
community events are part of the SGSecure national movement – aimed at
sensitising Singaporeans to the threat of terrorism, and training them to
effectively prevent and deal with an attack. StarHub is currently the only
telco service provider to have implemented the service. "It has been
implemented on the Starhub network since August 2016, and will be rolled out
progressively to Singtel and M1's mobile subscribers by end-2017," the
media release from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said. The
location-based SMS alert system comes after the launch of the SGSecure app in
September, which also has similar alert features. But Mr Teo said Singapore
cannot rely on just a single channel of communications during an emergency.
"Not everyone may have downloaded the SGSecure app. Some might not have
turned on the location function to receive location advisories on the
SGSecure app. And some of us may still not be familiar with apps or we may
have older 2G phones which don't support apps," said Mr Teo. "We
still want all of them to receive our alerts. So we will therefore have additional
platforms to reach out to a wider group of people." From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/ 10/15/2016 THAILAND: 85% of Thais Access the Net Every Day Thai people’s digital consumption is growing
faster than expected, with around 85 per cent of Thais accessing the Internet
daily and 70 per cent using smartphones, according to the Google Consumer
Barometer. Google conducted a comprehensive survey looking at how Thais use
the Internet and found the ease and practicality of "living online"
becoming more of a reality in Thailand. Results of the survey were released
on Friday. It was found that Thais access the Internet more often as 85 per
cent access the web daily and this rose to 92 per cent for people under 25.
Thais are getting more digitally-savvy as 69 per cent prefer to do tasks
digitally and up to 80 per cent for people under 25. Accessing the Internet
via mobile devices was preferred as 70 per cent do this via smartphones.
Thais are multi-tasking as 58 per cent use connected devices while watching
TV, but interestingly 88 per cent of content they access is not related to TV
content they watch. For online video usage, it found 45 per cent of Thais
watching online videos on a daily basis. Thais are also more used to watching
longer video, with 77 per cent watching videos longer than 5 minutes. The
Consumer Barometer is a public tool that delivers global insights on
consumers' online behaviour. Working with TNS, Google conducted interviews
across 56 countries to provide advertisers, agencies, journalists and
academics with the most up-to-date digital insights. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 09/04/2016 Major Shortage of Digital Marketing Employees More than 85 per cent of businesses are facing a
shortage of digital marketing workers despite the growing number of Internet
users and growing digital advertising costs, according to a leading
jobplacement website. JobsDB general manager Noppawan Chulakanista said businesses
were paying more attention to digital marketing, as seen by the more than Bt8
billion spent on advertising via digital media and the 38 million Internet
users. "The national scheme of Thailand 4.0, which is motivating
entrepreneurs to use innovation to drive the national economy, is also the
factor attracting Thai business owners to employ more digital labour,"
she said. Noppawan said there were some 5,000 digital job positions but the
number of applicants for those positions was only 700 - an 85 per cent
digitallabour insufficiency, according to JobsDB statistics. She said the
salary structure of digital marketing jobs was up to 61 per cent higher than
typical marketing. Digital marketing salaries started from Bt19,305 and rose
to Bt48,333 for supervisor positions while other marketing salaries started
from Bt16,000. She said that showed digital jobs were needed in the market
because of the high growth rate of digital businesses. People choosing this career path should love to learn
new things quickly independently and from others, understand the world's
seasonal trends and consumer insights, and be up to date and literate in
English. "In order to keep digital workers in your companies, you |have
to give opportunities and progress avenues in this job field as well as pay
them a proper salary," she said. Noppawan urged companies to screen
people applying for digital marketing jobs through a practical test, on top
of a facetoface interview, to determine their suitability for the position.
"Thailand is encountering difficulties in driving digital media and
online market industries as well as the country's economy," she said.
"Hence, we want students to take a look at digital jobs in order to
respond to Thailand's digital media worker requirements increasing." From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 09/16/2016 VIETNAM: Ministry Cracks Down on Taxi Firms The Ministry of Transport has required the Hà Nội
and HCM City transport departments to promote management, inspections and
penalisation of under nine-seat automobiles under transport contracts, Uber
taxi and Grab taxi. This action is apart of the ministry’s pilot plan on
applying science and technology for the management and connection of
activities transporting passengers under contracts. Under the plan,
enterprises that have been granted licenses for passenger transport services
under contract would use an app for booking tickets via mobile phone for
their customers. Initially, the plan was for five provinces and cities,
including Hà Nội, HCM City, Đà Nẵng, Quảng Ninh and Khánh Hòa. So far, the
ministry has received the plan on applying science and technology for the
management and connection of transport activities from Grab Taxi Ltd Company
and Ánh Dương Việt Nam Joint Stock Company. It has also had guidance for
those companies to implement their plans. However, some other household transport services
have not complied with existing regulations, including having no badge of contract , signing contracts with companies providing
software that was not suitable with the existing regulations and not paying
taxes. For Uber Taxi, the ministry has worked with company often and also
guided it to build apilot plan on applying science and technology for the
management and connection of transport activities but at present, the
ministry and relevant state offices have not received a plan from Uber Taxi.
Based on the practice, the ministry has ordered the transport departments of
Hà Nội and HCM City to continue guiding transport companies in the two major
cities in implementing their plans on applying technology for the management
and connection of transport activities and also to provide a list of under
nine-seat cars granted badges of contract for tax offices to promote
inspection of tax payments, reported zing news. The Hà Nội and HCM City
transport departments have directed inspectors of the departments to
coordinate with police and tax offices in the two cities in promoting the
inspection and penalization for cases in violation, especially the case of using
software not suitable with the current regulations. The ministry has required
the two departments to report on the results of the management, inspection
and penalization of under nine-seat cars, Uber Taxi and Grab Taxi before
September 20, 2016. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
09/01/2016 25 Free-Wifi New Buses Run in HÀ Nội The Hà Nội Transport Corporation has put 25 new
buses with free WiFi into operation this morning. Buses No. 36 and. No 38,
serving passengers traveling on the routes of Yên Phụ-Linh Đàm and Nam Thăng Long-Mai
Động, were the first ones on the road, painted in blue with the new brand
logo of pigeons and the image of Khuê Văn Các (the pavilion of the
constellation of literature). Deputy director of the corporation Nguyễn Việt
Triều told the Giao thông (Transport) online newspaper that the new buses,
which could carrying a maximum of 60 passengers each, met the EURO 3
standards on emission and were equipped with a GPS system and a speaker
system to inform passengers of destinations. In the near future, the corporation
will step-by-step launch more buses of this type on all routes in the city.
Additionally, the uniform of the bus drivers and driver’s assistants will be
changed to blue to match with the colour of the new buses. From http://vietnamnews.vn
09/12/2016 Website Trains Foreign-Language
Teachers The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education
Organisation’s (SEAMEO) Regional Training Centre (RETRAC) has used
Tech4Teach, an online site, in 40 training courses for 1,200 foreign-language
teachers in 11 southern provinces in the last two years. Created in 2014,
Tech4Teach is one of eight key teacher training components in the Ministry of
Education and Training’s programme called Teaching and Learning Foreign
Languages in the National Education System, which is being implemented
between 2008 and 2020. The use of Tech4Teach is part of a blended learning
approach being used in a number of training programmes at the centre. The
approach involves face-to-face and online study and discussion. At the 20th
anniversary of the centre held on Thursday in HCM City, Minister of Education
and Training Phùng Xuân Nhạ praised the centre’s achievements in researching
and training in educational management and foreign language courses. He said
that SEAMEO RETRAC should aim to become a prestigious centre in Southeast
Asia. Việt Nam officially became a member of SEAMEO in 1992. In 1995, the
Ministry of Education and Training established the centre and organised
specialised training in the fields of innovative education technologies,
technical vocational education, and language teaching for human resources. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
09/24/2016 Careless Social Media Users Allow
Online Scams to Flourish Social media users are not being careful enough
as Internet fraud gets increasingly sophisticated, the Hà Nội Public Security
Department warned yesterday. The Hi-tech Crime Prevention (PC50) division of
the capital city’s police department unveiled yesterday the details of an
online scam carried out by Nguyễn Tuấn Linh, a 29-year-old native of Thanh Hóa
Province. Linh claimed on Facebook that he imports Chinese products and sells
them at cheaper than market prices, tricking gullible customers into ordering
products and paying for them via bank transfer. Within two months, Linh had
defrauded five customers to the tune of around VNĐ180 million (US$8,100).
Earlier this year, in April, the division discovered that Nguyễn Văn Hào, 23,
resident of Vĩnh Phúc Province, used a website to get money from mobile phone
users. Hào advertised on the website that if mobile phone users topped up
their mobile phone accounts via the website, they would get 10 times more
credit. He made VNĐ116 million ($5,200) from the scam. Other common types of
online fraud are selling ‘lucky’ mobile phone numbers or cheap plane tickets
or raising business capital online. Most online fraud cases violated Article
226 of the national Penal Code for illegally posting or using information on
the Internet and the telecommunication network, officials said. Hà Thị Thu Hằng, deputy head of the
division, told Tiền Phong (Vanguard) that it has become common that scammers
not only spread false, shocking, misleading information but also take
advantage of social media platforms to steal money from their users. Since the beginning of this year, the division
has handled 23 online scammers and passed on several more to other
responsible agencies. Fifty per cent of the cases succeed in getting cash in
hand. According to Hằng criminals able to use advanced technologies can reach
several victims in different places without having to approach them. The fact
that Facebook is based in another country, and social media users are not
restricted in terms of age, gender, occupation and education, makes
identification difficult. Meanwhile the scams are getting more and more common
and complicated. “There are too many social media users, but their awareness
of online scams is low, making it easy for them to fall into traps,” she
added. She advised that social media users increase the security level of
their accounts so that scammers can’t steal their online identities for
nefarious purposes. Social media users should also beware of unclear,
misleading information and check it before responding, commenting or sharing.
With online competitions, asking netizens to pay fees or taxes with scratch
cards before receiving prizes is the most obvious sign of a scam. Government
agencies do not act through any intermediary for taxes. Prize winners are
required to pay fees and taxes at tax or customs agencies. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
11/05/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
INDIA:
Education-Technology Market Pegged at $2.5 Billion
From http://www.siliconindia.com 09/20/2016 Honeywell Connection
Launches Electronics Essentials Range in India
From http://www.siliconindia.com/ 09/24/2016 Govt Approves
Rs 1,102 Crore Undersea Cable Link to Andamans The union cabinet has approved a Rs 1,102.38
crore undersea project for enabling a direct communication link between
the mainland and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The link would be established
through a dedicated submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC). The project, to be
completed by December 2018, will link Chennai with Port Blair and five other
islands of Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Havelock, Kamorta, and Great Nicobar.
This approval would equip Andaman and Nicobar Islands with appropriate
bandwidth and telecom connectivity for implementation of e-governance
initiatives; establishment of enterprises and e-commerce facilities. It will
also enable “the provision of adequate support to educational institutes for
knowledge sharing, availability of job opportunities and fulfill the vision
of Digital India”, an official statement said. “The Andaman and Nicobar
Islands are of immense strategic significance for India. The geographical
configuration and the location of the island chain in the Bay of Bengal safeguard
India’s eastern seaboard. Provision of secure, reliable, robust, and
affordable telecom facilities in these islands is of importance from a
strategic point of view to the country and also an important requirement for
the socio-economic development of the islands,” the statement said. “It is
essential to have submarine OFC connectivity between mainland India and the
islands as it is the only option for catering to projected future bandwidth
requirements,” it added. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/25/2016 Education
Through Space Technology in Telangana Moving a step
ahead in improving its educational channel Mana TV, the Telangana state
government inked a pact with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on
Wednesday. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the officials
of state Information Technology, Electronics & Communication Department
and ISRO’s Development & Educational Communication Unit (DECU). DECU
Director Virender Kumar, said “The Telangana government and DECU will work
together to create and disseminate educational content by using Satcom, so
that it reaches entire population of the state.” The ISRO DECU officer lauded
the state government for embarking on a noble programme to use space
technology that would greatly benefit to the holistic development of the
state. The Information Technology Minister, K.T. Rama Rao said with this
arrangement state educational channel will start coaching classes from
October 1 for those appearing for Group II services examination of the Telangana
Public Service Commission (TPSC). “The channel will telecast daily a
four-hour programme for candidates preparing for the examination. Mana TV
will also launch similar coaching programmes for the students preparing for
EAMCET, the common entrance test for admissions to engineering and medical
courses, Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and
other competitive examinations,” said the Minister. KTR, as the
minister is fondly know, said that the ultimate goal of the government is to
ensure that Mana TV reaches all 90 lakh houses in the state and students from
schools to colleges and universities, and also those seeking jobs and
preparing for various competitive exams. He announced that with the help of
ISRO, 6,000 schools in the state will launch digital classes from October 14.
“So that all section of people can benefit, the government would go beyond
education to use satellite technology. We may launch more channels to cater
to various sections as was done in Gujarat,” he added. Even Telangana State
Irrigation Department had signed an MoU with the National Remote Sensing
Centre (NRSC) of ISRO to use space technology for real-time monitoring of all
water resources in the state. KTR, who is also Minister for Municipal
Administration & Urban Development Department, said the government also
planned to use ISRO’s satellite technology for flood management and to solve
other urban issues. Also, this technology will be used to provide better
services to farmers and for effective management of underground water
resources, he added. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/29/2016 Kerala to Get
Four Digital Libraries Four digital
libraries would be set up in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district as part of
digital literacy project. The decision to set up digital libraries was
announced by N K Sinha, Secretary, Union Ministry For Culture and Tourism,
through a webcast as part of the seminar on ‘Transforming public libraries
into vibrant and inclusive knowledge spaces’ in
the national capital recently. The live webcast was screened at one of the
libraries, Avittam Thirunnal Library, Kuriyathi as part of the
second stage of digital literacy project in Kerala being implemented by P N
Panicker Foundation, under which four digital libraries will be set up in the
district. Each of them will be provided with digital gadgets and accessories
like computers, laptops, webcams, projectors, printers, Kindle e-readers
along with high-speed internet connections. “We already received
gadgets worth Rs 2.5 lakh and are working to offer effective e-skill training
to all members of the library and children in Kuriyathi aged between 6 and
18,” said Surendran Kuriyathi, secretary, Avittam Thirunal Library. The other
library to be digitalised is the Jai Christ Library at Adimalathura and a new
library will be set up at Peringamala in Thirunvanthapuram. The digital
literacy programme in Kerala initiated by the P N Panicker Foundation is all
set to transform public libraries into lively and all-encompassing digital
knowledge hubs and across the state 18 libraries will be digitized spending
Rs 1 crore. The project, which was officially inaugurated by Vice-President
Hamid Ansari in August, aims to digitally empower the marginalised and common
man to overcome the digital divide they face in the society. “Our aim is the
absolute democratization of information through digital media. For that the
basics of e-learning should reach even the poor, who now form only less than
one-fourth of total e-literates in the state. Otherwise they will stand
marginalized in various e-governance, e-health and e-commerce platforms,”
said N Balagopal, vice-chairman, P N Panicker Vigyan Vikas Kendra. The
foundation has also tied up with Indian Public Library Movement (IPLM) to
open a web portal. It will allow a student in the remotest village in Kerala
will have access to the archives of Kolkata National Library and even the New
York Public Library and other international libraries free of cost,” said B R
Nair, a member of the foundation. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/04/2016 Satellite-based
Surveillance System Launched to Monitor Illegal Mining In relevance to check
illegal mining, the Ministry of Mines came out with Mining Surveillance
System (MSS). This technology is a pan-India surveillance network that aims
to check illegal mining activity through automatic remote-sensing detection
technology. The Mines Minister, Piyush Goyal, said at the launch of the
surveillance sysytem, “MSS will trigger an alarm whenever there is an
instance of illegal mining outside permitted areas. Karnataka, which saw
large instances of illegal mining in the past, stands to gain tremendously
from this technology”. The minister added, MSS technology (a satellite-based
monitoring system) will help design planned development of mining and also
provide complete data of labourers working in the sector online, which will
lead to better safety standards. The Indian Bureau of Mines in co-ordination
with the Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics
(BISAG), Gandhinagar and the Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology (MEITY) have developed MSS on behalf of the mines ministry. The system
checks 500 meters around the existing mining lease boundary to search for any
unusual activity relating to illegal mining. Any discrepancy is flagged off
as a trigger. Automatic software leveraging image-processing technology will
generate automatic triggers of unauthorised activities. These triggers will
be studied at a remote-sensing control centre of IBM and then transmitted to
district-level mining officials for field verification. There are overall
3,843 mining leases of major minerals in India, of which 1,710 are working
and 2,133 are non-working mines. Most working mines have been digitised.
Efforts are on to complete digitisation of non-working mines and will be
completed in 3 months. Initially, a total of 296 triggers have been
generated in the MSS software across the states, which covers a total of
3,994.87 hectares under the system. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/19/2016
From http://www.siliconindia.com/ 10/19/2016 Mumbai Traffic
Cops to Get Hi-tech Breath Analysers Mumbai’s traffic
police personnel will soon be equipped with advanced breath analysers which
will have built-in cameras and printers to help them keep records of drunk
drivers. “With the help of advanced breath analysers, traffic police will
able to get a photograph of the offending motorist or bikers. They will also
able get information about the repeat offenders, collected in the data base,”
an official said. To begin with, 56 breath analysers will be distributed
among the personnel manning road traffic. Through these state-of-the-art
equipment, data will be collected on the spot and sent to a central server.
The adoption of this new technology is expected to be a major help for the
police during the festive season when revellers are often seen drunk driving.
A few days ago, the city traffic police also started issuing e-challans to
penalise motorists who violate traffic rules. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/23/2016 EPFO Pensioners
Can Now File Digital Life Certificates The Employees’
Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has joined hands with CSC e-Governance
Services India to utlise the latter’s 200,000-strong network of common
services centres to widen its reach and enable EPFO pensioners submit their
digital life certificates online. “To start with, the pensioners of Employees
Pension Scheme of EPFO can submit their digital life certificates via
JeevanPramaanPatraprogramme through a large number of Points of Presence (PoP)
of CSC network in addition to those available at EPFO offices,” EPFO said in
a statement. The broadband-enabled CSC network is one of the largest
government-approved online service delivery channel in the world. There are
rural service delivery points established by District eGovernance Societies
(DeGSs) selected by state governments for aggregating content and offering
relevant government to customers (G2C), business to customers (B2C), business
to business (B2B) and other services. The initiative means that the
pensioners living in remote areas now need not visit the EPF offices or their
banks for filing paper-based life certificates. “In near future, it is also
planned to enable various other online services namely Aadhaar seeding with
Universal Account Number (UAN), e KYC operated upload and update facility,
UAN card related services and online claim related services,” EPFO said. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/28/2016 Mobile App to
Tell You About top Government Appointments The Central
government has launched a first-of-its-kind mobile application that can help
people find key top level appointments in government. Launched by Union
Minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday, the mobile app Employees Online (EO)
would also enable over 4,900 IAS officers to access details of their Annual
Performance Appraisal Reports (APAR), Immovable Property Returns (IPR),
postings, domestic and foreign training, among others. “The application is
one more step towards transparency and e-governance. It will also check on
the number of repeated RTI applications filed by citizens to seek
governance-related information as most of the details will be put online for
public in a real-time basis,” Singh said. The application
will also provide details of all senior-level appointment orders in the
government including those of secretaries as soon as they are approved by the
Appointments Committee of Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “It
will put an end to all kind of speculation as far as appointments are
concerned. The application will help in a greater way to all the IAS officers
and common people as they will be able to access all the information related
to Personnel Ministry through it,” said Rajiv Kumar, Establishment Officer. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/02/2016 Cyber Police Stations
in Maharashtra Soon 42 cyber crime
labs across the state of Maharashtra will be converted into cyber police
stations as part of the state government’s strategy to fight sharply rising
incidences of cyber crimes. The incidences of cyber crime have risen by a
whopping 142.1 per cent in the last few years, the official said, adding that
the government will issue a notification in this regard soon. “Maharashtra is
the first state in the country which will have a cyber police station in each
district simultaneously,” a media report quoted a senior Home Department
official as saying. The state government on August 15 this year had
inaugurated 34 cyber labs to cover all districts in the state. In all, 51
cyber crime labs are being set up by the state cyber crime wing. These
include the 34 labs at the district level, seven at Inspector General’s
offices, nine at commissioner of police offices and one lab at the state
police headquarters, the official said. The cyber police stations will be
given the responsibility to invesigate cyber crime cases as tackling such
crimes is a daunting task for normal police stations.According to the
official, the cyber labs come with trained manpower and modern equipment to
deal with the new age crimes in the cyber world, the official
said.Maharashtra saw 907 cases of cyber crime registered in 2013, while as
many as 2,195 such cases were filed in 2015. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/04/2016 UMANG to
Serve as Master App for Government Services The Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology has launched Unified Mobile App for
New-Age Governance (UMANG), which will serve as a mobile gateway to avail
Central, state and local government services. The government aims to deliver
healthcare and skill development services to farmers and students through
this app. “UMANG will enable citizens to download a single mobile app instead
of multiple apps for each department, and make it easy for them to discover
government services,” said an official. Noida-based Spice digital will
develop the first set of apps as part of UMANG. The group will also provide
support for Aadhar based e-KYC, document access via Digilocker and easy
payments via PayGov — the government’s payment gateway. By December 2019, 200
apps will be developed. “The app will have a section where the citizen can
update their preferences, frequently accessed services and short-cuts,
languages, and so on, which will then be available for all services so that
data entry can be minimised,” said Jatinder Verma, President, Spice Digital.
UMANG is slated for launch within four months. Validation for this mobile app
will be provided through Aadhaar. “Since most government services will be
linked to Aadhaar, it makes sense to integrate it with UMANG,” said a senior
official in the ministry of electronics and information technology. The
government’s existing app store “Mobile Seva” hosts applications from various
government departments, leading to a multiplicity of apps. Now UMANG will
serve as a master app for all government services. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/04/2016 Free Wi-fi
for Tourists Visiting Daman and Diu The Information
Technology Department of Daman and Diu in partnership with state-owned telecommunications
company BSNL has started providing free wi-fi facility at many tourist and
public places of the union territory as part of the Digital India programme.
“Free wi-fi internet service has been made available at many tourist and
public places as a step towards Digital India programme launched by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi,” Daman and Diu administrator Praful Patel said. To
promote tourism, the service has been made available in the areas which are
popular among tourists like Fort area, Pargola Garden, Bom Church, Moti Daman
and Nani Daman Jetty, Devka Beach, Marwad Hospital, Somnath Temple and
Jampore Beach. In Diu, the facility can be availed at Nagoa Beach, Khukri,
Bandar Chowk, and Jalandhar Guest House. The service enables a user to use data
upto 300 MB on mobile handset at a speed of 2-4 Mbps. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/06/2016 Kerela to Digitise 45,000 Schools Using ICT Kerela will make use of Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) to transform as many as 45,000 classrooms in the
state. The IT@School Project will upgrade various elements of classroom
learning such as infrastructure, textbooks, learning materials, teacher
training, handbooks, monitoring and evaluation using ICT and e-governance in
classes from standard 8 to 12. In the first phase, this project will be
implented in schools of Alappuzha, Puthukad, Kozhikode North and Thaliparamba
assembly constituencies. “This project aims to make Kerala a fully
digitalised state in education sector. The state government would facilitate
necessary physical, academic and digital contents which are required for
implementing ICT education as part of this programme,” C Raveendranath,
Minister for Education said. Teachers would be trained to use ICT equipment,
ICT enabled subject training, training on ICT content development and its
technical aspects. Under this programme, all schools would be equipped with
digital interactive textbooks, digital content collection for easy learning
of all subjects, resource portal, e-learning/m-learning/learning management
system and evaluation mechanisms. Computers, multimedia projector, sound
system and high speed internet connection and a well-equipped computer lab
will also be provided to the schools. This programme would be closely
monitored and evaluated by the panchayat-constituency-district-state level
mission teams and task force, which would be formed as part of General
Education Protection Mission. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/17/2016 86.4% Growth
in Foreign Tourists Arrival on E-tourist Visa E-tourist visa has fuelled the tourism growth in
India with 1,05,268 foreign tourists arriving in the month of October as
compared to 56,477 in September. Overall, Indian tourism industry saw a
growth of 86.4 % growth in the last month. Tourists from United Kingdom (UK)
occupy the top slot (22.9%) in terms of number of people using e tourist visa
to visit India followed by USA (12.1%) and France (6.6%) amongst other
countries. The government of India is providing e tourist visa for citizens
of 150 countries arriving at 16 International Airports in India. This high
growth is attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 150 countries as
against the earlier coverage of 113 countries. The percentage shares of top
10 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facilities during October 2016
were as follows: UK (22.9%), USA (12.1%), France (6.6%), China (5.8%),
Russian Fed (5.6%), Germany (5.5%), Australia (4.5%), Canada (3.6%), Spain
(2.3%) and Netherlands (2.1%). From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/18/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
AZERBAIJAN: Kvotter Mobile Social
Network Launched Bakcell, The First Mobile Operator and Leading
Mobile Internet Provider of Azerbaijan, is pleased to announce yet another
success of the “Kvotter” project, being the participant of “AppLab” program.
Thus, the beta version of “Kvotter” application has been made available for
use on Android devices. “Kvotter” – is a mobile social network that allows
sharing quotes from various books. By installing the “Kvotter” application on
your device, you will be able to take a photo of a quote you liked from the
book you read at the moment, convert the writing on the picture into the
text, mention the name of writer and the book, and store or share it with
your friends by means of this application. In addition, you will be able to
see and give your “likes” to what your friends read and the quotes they
share. It should be noted that 4 out of 11 projects recently presented by
Applab participants to Wayra UK company (being the startup acceleration
program of the “Telefonica Open Future”), have attracted the most interest
and successfully qualified for the next selection process. The “Kvotter” is
also among these four successful projects. An investment worth around 70.000 pounds will be
allocated for the startup projects, which will successfully pass the final
selection process. This investment is equally distributed for organizing and
developing services. Bakcell and Wayra UK have started their cooperation at
the end of 2015. The main goal of this cooperation is to develop the startup
projects from Azerbaijan and provide young Azerbaijani developers and
entrepreneurs with an opportunity to gain access to international markets.
Bakcell, The First Mobile Operator and the Leading Mobile Internet Provider
of Azerbaijan, offers a variety of products for modern mobile communications
customers. Bakcell provides class leading 3G and 4G mobile internet
experience in the country under the Sür@ brand name. With more than 5300 base
stations Bakcell’s network covers more than 99% of the population and 93% of
the land area of the country (excluding occupied territories). Bakcell is a
leader in innovation and it focuses on bringing the best of the mobile
internet to Azerbaijanis through new partnerships and its Sür@ services.
Bakcell 3G service is available in all regions of Azerbaijan and covers 93%
of population. From http://en.trend.az/
09/21/2016 UZBEKISTAN: Obtaining Patent for
Selection Achievement Goes Online The Single portal of state interactive services has
launched a new service of Agency on intellectual property of Uzbekistan. From
now on, sending documents for a patent for a selection achievement has become
possible in electronic form. Within 5 working days, the Agency on
intellectual property of the Republic of Uzbekistan sends notification of
acceptance of applications of individuals and legal entities for
consideration, submitted through the Single portal to obtain a patent for a
selection achievement. The examination of documents is a paid service and
costs: 1 MW for submitting, 1 MW for the examination, 4 MW for testing, 2.2
MW for the publication, registration and issuance of the patent. Following
documents are to be provided in electronic form when submitting an electronic
application via the Single portal: - A document confirming the payment of the
state fee. a) the application for grant of a patent of the Republic of
Uzbekistan, indicating the author (authors) of a breeding achievement,
information about their place of residence or location, as well as
suggestions on the name of the selection achievement; b) a description of the
selection achievement (technical questionnaire); c) pictures of samples of
the selection achievement; d) documents on tests of selection achievement,
carried out by the applicant; d) a declaration by the applicant confirming
that the selection achievement was not used, not sold, not transferred and
meets the requirements of novelty; e) a document confirming the priority of
selection achievement (if necessary); f) a power of attorney in case of
submitting through a patent attorney or a trustee. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
09/09/2016 “Turon Mobile” Allows Paying More
Than 80 Types of Services Internet banking is a bank account management system
via the Internet. Any client of the bank registered in the system, may
transfer money between accounts, pay for purchases and perform other banking
transactions, without leaving his house. A similar system operates in many
domestic banks, including "Turonbank" Joint Stock Commercial Bank.
The service is called «TURON MOBILE», and since its implementation, the
number of its users has reached three thousand. The remote management system
of bank accounts of individuals was first introduced in 2012 by "Turonbank".
It enables customers to make payments on the bank account without visiting a
bank, savings bank or any other payment points. Using this system the clients
can pay more than 80 kinds of services at any time. Mobile services, digital
television, utilities, Internet services, and more are among them. In
addition, the system allows to transfer money from one plastic card to
another. In order to do this, log in, keep the card number of the recipient
and the amount. After that, the operation to transfer funds from one card
will be carried out in a few minutes. The service is valid only for the
holders of "Turonbank" payment cards. «TURON MOBILE» system is very
comfortable and safe. At the moment, the number of users is more than three
thousand people. The advantage of this service is that the customer can carry
out the banking transactions without visiting the bank, regardless of
location, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
- said the Chief specialist of the Department of monetary circulation
Botir Nazarov. To become a user of the «TURON MOBILE» system it is necessary to register in
it. To do this, it is enough to download the corresponding application or
visit the official website of the bank. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
09/14/2016 "UZEX" Leadership Launches
Mobile Citizens' Reception Pursuant to the Resolution of the Cabinet of
Ministers "On the responsibility of the heads of ministries and
agencies, business associations, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of
the Republic of Karakalpakstan, khokims of regions, cities and districts for
the unconditional fulfillment of the requirements of the law of
Uzbekistan" On appeals of individuals and legal entities »№366 from
October 27, 2016 the leadership of "Uzbek Republican Commodity
Exchange" organized mobile reception of individuals and entities.
According to the approved schedule, mobile receptions of citizens were held
in Tashkent and Andijan, Namangan, Ferghana, Syrdarya and Jizzakh regions.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the administrative board of
"Uzbek Republican Commodity Exchange" JSC, directors and
specialists of territorial exchange branches, small businesses and private
entrepreneurship enitties, as well as other participants of electronic
trading. During the meetings, it was noted that in order to create favorable
conditions and additional convenience for Exchange customers, other
individuals and legal entities measures to improve and upgrade citizens'
appeals system have been adopted. In particular, a new section on the appeals
of citizens a was introduced on special information
portal of "UZEX". In this section website users can get acquainted
with the schedule of mobile reception of citizens, as well as in advance send
their questions to address them locally. During the last period a new section
of the portal has received more than 70 applications, a large part of which
consists of proposals for improving the system of electronic trading exchange
and work process. In turn, these proposals, as well as other complaints of
citizens, including the collective requests have been carefully studied, all
kinds of measures for their positive resolution were analyzed and taken into
account. During the event interactive exchange services
that are an essential component of the Exchange system of feedback and help
improve the quality of exchange services were also presented. In general, the
exchange portal provides more than 20 interactive services. The main ones
include two-way information interaction. These include the hotline,
call-center, online consultation forum, the official exchange pages on social
networks Facebook and Twitter. In addition to the portal service has the
service of interaction with experts of exchange, which provides website
visitors contact details to communicate directly with the specialists of the
central apparatus and regional branches of the exchange. Through the portal
of Exchange and Single portal of state interactive services a user can also
send an e-mail, and at the same time monitor the progress of its performance
in real time. At the end of the events the results on the submitted appeals
through the portal were announced, proposals to improve the mechanisms of
electronic auction trading were developed. Conducting similar meetings will
be continued in other regions of the country according to the schedule posted
on the Exchange's portal. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
11/17/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
AUSTRALIA:
Government Tipped to Block Overseas Online Shopping Access The federal government is poised to force ISPs to
block access to overseas retailers who refuse to include GST in the purchase of
goods under $1000 by online shoppers from Australia, according a report from
consumer advocate Choice. As the law currently stands, only goods purchased
online from overseas retailers that cost over $1000 are required to include
GST. That is set to change from July 2017 under new regulations that will
require the GST to be included in all overseas online purchases, including
small ones. Local Australian retailers, led by big chains such as Harvey
Norman, have long been lobbying hard to force the GST on overseas retailers.
However, pundits, consumer advocates and successive Australian governments
have until now resisted change, saying that collecting GST on small overseas
purchases is impractical, uneconomic and would disadvantage local consumers.
The report in Choice says the federal government has not released any
modelling on the impacts of this new system, and they have not revealed how
it's going to hit consumers. Furthermore, according to Choice, a Treasury
official, who requested anonymity, has claimed that the federal government
would use the Telecommunications Act to block access to overseas websites
that do not comply with Australian tax laws regarding the collection of GST. This would involve forcing carriers and ISPs to
block access to “rogue” overseas online retailers. However, neither Treasury
nor the ATO have confirmed the claim, according to Choice. The Choice report
says that under the Telecommunications Act, the government has the power to
force telecommunications companies to help it enforce the law related to
"[protecting] the public revenue." Choice has criticised any such
move, saying that it would disadvantage Australian consumers. "Consumers
buy a range of specialty products from overseas-based online stores. These
include niche cosmetics brands like Charlotte Tilbury or Glossier, and
non-standard sized clothing brands like Long Tall Sally and Pink Clove,"
says Choice head of communications Tom Godfrey. "If the federal
government is going to start blocking these websites, it will disadvantage
local consumers while providing absolutely no economic benefit to Australia.
"These products are not available in Australian stores. If the websites
that supply them are blocked, consumers will lose out." From http://www.itwire.com
09/14/2016 Australia
Has Plenty of Cyber Potential, but Will It Do Anything About It? There's both good news and bad news from last
week's SINET61 cyber innovation conference in Sydney. Yes, Australia has the
potential to be a great innovator, and not just in the cybers. But can it
break out of its historical complacency? The good news is that there is
indeed a real opportunity. Australia is already a "cyber tourism"
destination, with other nations eager to learn from us. We know about
critical infrastructure protection, and we're learning more from Japan. We
know about the security of internet-things that can affect the physical
world, the so-called cyber-physical systems. Both technologies represent huge
growth markets in the Asia-Pacific region. "The difference between Australia,
and China and America, I think, is this word called 'trust'. You are the
trusted entity, not only in the region, but in the world, and you have an
opportunity," said Robert D Rodriguez, founder and chairman of SINET,
the Security Information Network. "Here is the place, and the time is
now," he said. Rodriguez believes Australia has "a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to capitalise on its resources in the
sciences, and in research and development, to "capture the world as the
leading R&D centre in computing, artificial intelligence, cyber-physical,
and so on". Other nations are envious of Australia's
much-delayed Cyber Security Strategy, which was eventually released in April
this year. That seemed to be confirmed at SINET61 by comments from Dawn Meyerriecks,
deputy director of the Directorate of Science and Technology at the US
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It's something I've also heard directly
from technologists from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and
other agencies, and through the industry grapevine. Why? Because Australia's
strategy goes beyond short-term goals such as intelligence-sharing, giving
attention to, and sometimes providing money for, industry and economic
development, and education and training. Alastair MacGibbon, the prime
minister's special adviser on cybersecurity, is not only a fan of the
strategy -- part of his job is to help implement it -- he reckons the delay
has had a positive effect. "In many respects, the delay in the strategy,
and the pent-up desire in the community that I've seen for that strategy,
means that it'll be more successful," MacGibbon told the conference. "I've been here for several of these
strategies, and I've never detected the same level of interest. I've never
seen industry be as engaged, academia as engaged, and frankly I've never seen
government as engaged in this process." The conference heard plenty of
talk of Australia's strengths in quantum computing, unmanned aerial vehicle
systems for agriculture and environmental monitoring, and our research in
probably-correct operating systems. And I was certainly pleased to hear
MacGibbon reject the idea of an Australian Silicon Valley. As I've written
before, it ain't going to happen. This inaugural SINET61, a collaboration
between SINET and CSIRO's Data61, was intended to foster collaboration
between researchers, industry, and government, and it seems to have
succeeded. Plenty of side conversations, head nodding, and card exchanging.
But how will things continue from here? Not well, I suspect. Here's just some
of the bad news, at least as I see it. One, government processes still seem
to fall short of the prime minister's agile ideal. Eddie Sheehy, chief
executive officer of Nuix, said that one government funding source had taken
three case officers and nine months to consider an application. "I
wouldn't have trusted these guys with a calculator," Sheehy said. Two, there's still an emphasis on startups.
Startups have become the political battleground for politicians seeking
disruptor-cred. They're buying into the pop culture of disruption, and
ignoring much of the innovation that happens in existing businesses because
it doesn't generate as many headlines. Startups also tend to be about
short-term higher-risk business investment. But, says Dr Jackie Craig, head
of the Cyber and Electronic Warfare Division of Australia's Defence Science
and Technology (DST) Group, that tends to result in short-term research, and
only incremental improvements to existing systems. The DST Group consciously
looks for long-term, breakthrough research, but can startups ever do the
same? Three, even if startups were the answer,
Australia is expensive. Indeed, as tech industry commentator Paul Wallbank
reminded us earlier this month, Sydney is the second-most expensive city in
the world for establishing a startup, beaten only by Zurich. "Addressing
Sydney's chronic shortage of affordable accomodation is firmly in the state
and federal governments' remit, and beyond giving property developers a green
light to build high rise apartments neither level of government has shown any
interest in addressing it," Wallbank wrote. "Similarly, the tax
structures which penalise Australian employees of high growth businesses and
dissuade investment in early stage ventures are totally the responsibility of
the federal government and it's hard to see that changing in the term of the
current dysfunctional administration." Four, Australian investors still tend to avoid
tech investments, or anything they perceive as higher-risk, even for a small
percentage of their investment portfolio. Could that be down to the average
company director being 63 years old? Five, as noted by John Grill, chair of
the Industry Growth Centre Advisory Committee, a number of speakers said that
collaboration between researchers and industry is poor. I also heard plenty
of comments to the effect that Australia has good people and resources, but
they need to collaborate more. We need better government support. We need
better industry connections. We've been hearing these messages for decades.
I'm wondering whether Australians simply prefer talking about the need for
collaboration rather than actually doing it. By coincidence, on Tuesday
morning I stumbled across a blog post by Kit Perez, a postgrad student in
intelligence and counterintelligence, titled What You Can Learn From Troy
Hunt. Perez is referring to the Australian security researcher of that name
and his work on Have I Been Pwned, amongst other things. Perez's message is
simple. You achieve things by doing them. "If you see a problem that
affects you, don't feel like you need a crowd or a leader to tell you how to
handle it. Use your skills, use your brain, and come up with a solution that
upholds principles and gets the job done," she wrote. "When you
decide to simply step up and come up with a solution, others will see it, and
they will sometimes adopt your solution for themselves, thereby spreading the
original message." Stop the talking, Australia. Just get on with it. From http://www.zdnet.com
09/20/2016 Completion
of 4G Rollout Drives Decline in Australian Router Spend The wired router market in Australia has seen a
31% year over year (YoY) revenue decline in the second quarter of 2016 driven
by decreased service provider spend according to IDCs Quarterly Router
Tracker. This decrease aligns with the completion of service provider network
upgrades to meet the demands of 4G LTE at the edge. The decline would have
been more pronounced were it not for significant spending across the first
half of 2016 on high end service provider routers to remedy unscheduled
network outages. IDC taxonomy classifies high end routers as having a list
price greater than USD $20,000. Outside of the service provider space
enterprise sales were stagnant, with growth through the first half of 2016 tempered
by the Federal elections as projects were put on hold. In Australia, Cisco
still commands the lead in the wired router space in terms of revenue with
Juniper and Nokia jostling for runner up position. "The dramatic decline
does not necessarily indicate an irreversible market contraction but the
completion of core network upgrades " says IDC Market Analyst, Ahmar
Karimullah, "We fully expect to see the router market rebound heading
towards 2020 with the deployment of 5G by all the mobile carriers, an inevitable
less constrained NBN, and signaled network investment by the likes of
Telstra." "Elections always see projects put on hold so we expect a
buoyant second half of the year in the enterprise space as spending catches
up" added Mr Karimullah. From http://www.cellular-news.com 10/11/2016 Changes
to Regional AM/FM Radio Broadcasting Contemplated by ACMA A proposal to convert AM to FM for commercial
radio broadcasting services in regional areas of Australia is under
consideration by the communications regulator, the Australian Communications
and Media Authority (ACMA). The ACMA has just released a draft of its
proposals which, if implemented, would see radio in smaller regional
communities soon undergo a major change. The authority is now seeking public
comment on its proposal to revise its approach to considering requests for
AM–FM conversion. The ACMA acting chairman Richard Bean says that previously
the ACMA and its predecessors have “only considered AM–FM conversion of
commercial radio broadcasting services in very exceptional circumstances”.
‘The ACMA’s revised approach has been developed in response to a request by
the Minister for Communications to prioritise planning for AM-FM conversions
in certain smaller regional radio markets where reasons to hold back do not
apply. “While there is still an important place for AM transmitters in Australia—for
example for the provision of wide coverage services—FM has the potential to
deliver a range of benefits including improved audio quality, reduced signal
interference and lower costs.” The peak radio industry body Commercial Radio
Australia (CRA) approached the Minister in January 2015 with the proposal to
convert AM services to FM in selected regional solus markets –
single-licensee markets in which there are no separately-owned FM commercial
stations, against which the converted licences might receive an unfair
advantage. And, the ACMA says that a conversion of a commercial radio
broadcasting service from AM to FM without additional licence fee arguably
delivers “an advantage to the AM licence-owner over any FM radio competitors
who may have acquired their FM services commercially or from the ACMA in a
previous price-based allocation”. “However, this is not a consideration in
the many small solus radio licence areas in regional Australia where the only
two commercial radio broadcasting licences are held by the one licensee,” the
ACMA notes. The proposed revised approach by the ACMA can be accessed in the
consultation paper issued by the authority, with comments on the proposal due
to be submitted by Friday 2 December. At the same time the ACMA says it is
also consulting on AM-FM conversion proposals in Exmouth, Paraburdoo,
Karratha, Tom Price and Port Hedland in Western Australia and in Broken Hill,
NSW. From http://www.itwire.com
11/06/2016 Govt’s
New Cyber HQ to Boost Opportunities for Collaboration A new facility for the Australian Cyber Security
Centre will house up to 650 workstations, offering significant room for the
ACSC to expand. However, a crucial driver for the ACSC’s relocation is that
it will boost opportunities for collaboration between the centre’s lead
agency — the Australian Signals Directorate — and the other agencies that
participate in the ACSC. The ACSC — which brings together cyber security
capabilities from Department of Defence, the Attorney-General’s Department,
the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the Australian
Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission
(ACIC) — is currently based out of the Ben Chifley Building in Canberra. The
ACSC move is currently the subject of a parliamentary inquiry, which launched
on Friday. Defence is planning to relocate the ACSC to leased facilities at
BP14-16 within the Brindabella Business Park in Canberra. The new offices
will support multiple physical security zones and also provide room for
industry, academia and innovation initiatives. Relocating the centre to an environment that
supports working at multiple levels of classification will “facilitate
greater levels of collaboration between ASD and its ACSC partners,
particularly CERT Australia, the AFP and the ACIC, most of whose personnel
currently do not hold the appropriate clearances required to work in the Ben
Chifley Building,” states a Department of Defence submission to a
parliamentary inquiry into the relocation project. “Historically, ASD’s
information security mission has been focussed on the protection of highly
classified information and networks, much of which required ASD staff to work
in an appropriately secured environment. Over the last decade ASD’s cyber
security mission has increasingly been directed towards the protection and
defence of government networks that are connected to the internet. The nature
of the work has evolved to the point where operating solely in a highly
classified environment is a hindrance to ASD’s delivery of their cyber
security mission.” Relocation of the ACSC was one of the priorities of the
national cyber security strategy unveiled in April, following an assessment
in February by the Department of Defence that the expansion in the centre’s
operations would require new facilities. Relocating the ACSC “will enable a more
integrated partnership between the Government and its operational
stakeholders, including businesses, the research and academic community and
foreign partners collaborating with the ACSC,” the government’s cyber
security strategy stated. “Relocation may improve the ability of relevant
ACSC agencies to quickly recruit new people and offer more flexible
arrangements to continue to attract and retain a highly skilled workforce. It
will enable the ACSC to accommodate new staff recruited as a result of the
Strategy’s implementation.” The project has an approved budget of $38.8
million (excluding GST), including fit-out and relocation, Defence said.
Subject to parliamentary approval, construction is expected to commence in
March next year and be completed by December 2017, with some ACSC work
expected to be conducted out of the new HQ by June 2017. Earlier this year
both the ASD and CERT Australia launched recruitment campaigns to boost their
cyber capabilities. From http://www.computerworld.com.au 11/14/2016 NEW ZEALAND: NZTech and Precision Agriculture Team
to Push Precision Agriculture The New Zealand Technology Industry Association
(NZTech) has formed an alliance with Precision Agriculture Association NZ to
help New Zealand’s agriculture sector make the most of technology. NZTech
chief executive, Graeme Muller, said New Zealand had an enormous opportunity
to use technology as a means to support the economic growth of its
agriculture sector and become a world leader in a fast growing agritech
market. According to NZTech, New Zealand is achieving good agritech export
growth rates relative to other nations. “Global agritech investment is
expanding rapidly, with VC investment in agritech firms in 2014 estimated at
over $US2.36 billion making investment in agritech higher than fintech,” it
said. Muller said: “With our traditional strengths in agriculture and our
growing strengths in tech, this is an opportunity we should pursue with
vigour. Agriculture is a big user and creator of technology. “Tech sector
innovations are being adopted in many agricultural areas with examples such
as the application of precision agriculture on-farm and industry-wide
information capture and utilisation through activities such as the
development of the Dairy Data Network.” Precision Agriculture NZ claims to connect
participants in the precision agriculture value chain to one common
organisation; land users, researchers, commercial companies, regional
councils, primary industry organisations, rural professionals and students.
Its chairman, Craige Mackenzie, said there was an increasing focus on the
uptake of technologies in land-based primary production systems, developing
initiatives to promote and support the allocation of additional funding for
research and the development of precision agriculture technologies, building
capability within the sector and promoting adoption of precision agriculture
through industry events, symposiums and field days. “We believe both
organisations working together will contribute to the future prosperity and
success of the New Zealand economy and particularly with the profile and
sustainability of NZ primary sector exports,” Mackenzie says. The Internet of Things (IoT) is seen as having
huge potential in agriculture. IoT technology company, Ayla, has suggested
that agriculture could be “The first big industrial IoT market.” It argues:
“Rising prices of fertiliser and electricity, combined with regulations
limiting irrigation are placing increasing demands on farmers to more
precisely utilise their resources. Reducing spoilage and food waste will require
both better in-field monitoring as well as better monitoring and management
within the field-to-shelf supply chain. It is a world where deadline
pressures, a lack of information and conquering the challenges of time and
distance confront individuals on a daily basis.” In Europe governments are
taking concerted action to explore the application of IoT to agriculture
under the concept of ‘precision farming’. In February 2105, Forbes magazine
reported: “The European Union has sponsored several projects on the topic
[precision farming] during the Seventh Framework Programme and, now, during
under Horizon 2020. The currently running EU-PLF project for instance, is
designed to look at the feasibility of bringing proven and cost-effective
precision livestock farming tools from the lab to the farm.” From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 09/08/2016 Broadband
Compare Adds Phone and Chat Support New Zealand broadband comparison website
https://www.broadbandcompare.co.nz/ has launched telephone and online chat
support and says it has expanded its database of internet providers and
broadband plans available in New Zealand to more than 2800 different
broadband packages from 94 different New Zealand ISPs. It says the new
support services will help people who are not entirely comfortable committing
to a new broadband plan without discussing the options first. For the online
service, visitors to the site input their address and the site returns
information on the type of broadband connection available at their property.
Users then apply filters to say what they use the internet for and if they
need any extras like a telephone landline, free modem or the type of contract
they are after. Once these questions are answered, Broadband Compare says the
website returns the most suitable plans which can then be sorted by the
Broadband Compare rating or according to price. The company says more than 13,000 people visited
the free to use broadband comparison website in August to check the internet
connectivity at their address and to compare broadband plans. The site
launched on 30 June. It was founded by Gavin Male and Alex Grace, recent
migrants to New Zealand who had difficulty finding the best broadband plan
for their needs. It now claims to be helping more than 500 people a day find
a more suitable broadband plan for their needs. Male said: “Some users have
been pleasantly surprised at how much money they have been able to save,
especially when switching to some of the new providers who are focussed on
providing their services through the new ultra-fast fibre broadband network,
almost everyone has been surprised at how many different options there are in
the market for providing their broadband connection to home or work.” From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 09/14/2016 New
Zealand Consumers Are Over the Hype of Wearables Despite smart watches and fitness wearables
adoption growing year on year, IDC's findings suggest New Zealand consumers
may already be over the initial hype of these devices. The study revealed that
in New Zealand although wearable fitness device adoption at 11% is now higher
than the worldwide average, smart watch adoption is less than half the
average rate in 2016. "New Zealand's wearable adoption rates could be
interpreted as suggesting there is room for significant growth, particularly
in the smart watch market," says Chayse Gorton, Client Device Market
Analyst at IDC New Zealand. "However, on further analysis this
hypothesis is not as clear as it first appears. If there is to be significant
growth in the market it will be driven by adoption of devices that are able
to solve a problem. This is because New Zealand is full of price conscious
consumers who need to see real value in purchasing a device." "Fitness wearables are resonating well with
New Zealand consumers in part because New Zealand is a sporting nation at
heart, and these devices are able to improve the users tracking capabilities.
As a result, New Zealand fitness wearable adoption lifted from 9%, in 2015,
to 11% adoption in 2016. "In contrast, when you look at the adoption of
more "one size fits all" style smartwatches, adoption rates are
lagging. New Zealand smartwatch acceptance was flat year on year, only
achieving 3% adoption in the New Zealand market in 2016. For the same countries
displayed in the graph below, average smartwatch adoption is 8%," says
Gorton. In the longer term only 13% of New Zealand consumers expect to
purchase a wearable in the future, and this is already impacting shipment
numbers. Across Australia and New Zealand wearable shipments declined 15% in
the first 6 months of 2016, compared to the same period in 2015. This
suggests that unlike other countries, New Zealand consumers are quite
pragmatic about the technology and not at all caught up in the hype of wearables. Although consumers value the ability to monitor
health aspects in real time, use map/GPS functions, and send SOS messages
etc, a greater ROI will be achieved by purchasing devices specific to their
individual needs. For this reason, until the price of smartwatches falls
significantly it will be specific purpose wearables that drive adoption
rates. From http://www.cellular-news.com 10/03/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
EUROPE: Conference in Strasbourg: “Internet
Freedom - A Constant Factor of Democratic Security” An international conference will bring together in
Strasbourg on 9 September some 200 representatives of governments, civil
society, business and academia to discuss best practices to protect and
promote Internet freedom in the context of the current international security
crises.The conference will promote a Council of Europe Recommendation adopted
earlier this year inviting states to prepare evaluations of their Internet
freedom using a number of detailed indicators as guidance. These indicators
focus on access to the Internet, freedom of expression, the right to privacy
– including 11 specific indicators on surveillance measures - and effective
remedies for alleged violations of human rights.Jointly organised by the
Council of Europe, the Estonian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers,
and the German Chairmanship of the OSCE, the conference will be opened by
Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland.Speakers include Mart Laanenmäe,
Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, DunjaMijatović,
OSCE Special Representative on Freedom of the Media, and Joseph Cannataci, UN
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy.The conference, which will be held
in the Agora building (Room G.03), will be webcast live on the conference’s
website. From http://www.i-policy.org/ 09/08/2016 NORTH AMERICA: CANADA - Better Trained People,
Not Technology, Will Improve Cyber Security, SecTor Told Looking back over his 18 years in the cyber
security industry Chris Pogue sees nothing to boast about. “Arguably we
haven’t gotten any better at cyber security,” the CISO of Virginia-based
consulting firm Nuix told the annual SecTor conference in Toronto on
Wednesday. “We’ve actually gotten worse.’“Why do will suck at this? Why are
we still fighting the same battles? Why haven’t we made any progress?”The
reason isn’t technology, he said, it’s people.Infosec pros have to do a
better job at doing the basics of security – including patching and properly
configuring devices – and better train employees to be more security-aware,
he said.According to one study 47 per cent of breaches can be attributed to
malicious activity from attackers, 25 per cent to human error, and the rest –
21 per cent – to “system glitches.”“I don’t really believe that,” Pogue said,
“because I’ve worked probably 2,000 breach investigations in 18 years and I
have never worked a single breach that was the cause of a system glitch – an
unknown failure of a computer system to an attacker. Not one.” “It’s not the technology – we have been doing
this for 18 years and we have adequate technology to prevent data breaches,
and yet we keep having them at alarming rates.” However, people always need a
scapegoat, he suggested. When something good happens we take credit. When
something bad happens we blame someone or something else.“Computers
don’t commit crimes. They don’t routinely break into systems and steal credit
card information. There is always a person on the other side doing
something.”He went into a long discourse about the human brain to explain
this, and how other industries looking at safety issues have come to a
similar conclusion – human factors play a huge role in problems. “We’re not
the first industry to have these problem,” he said, but “we’re taking longer
than those to solve it.”In fact, he believes only two per cent of network breaches
were unavoidable. “I’ve never seen any computer or so difficult they couldn’t
have been prevented. “Attackers are shooting fish in a barrel most of
the time. It’s things like poor patching, flat networks, poor IT hygiene.
It’s basic stuff we continue to get wrong. And we can’t do it any
more.”Organizations buy technology “and we’re still left with the same mess
because none of us have approached the right problem in the right way. We’re
trying to solve a problem that includes the messiness of people with
technology. And you can’t do it. Wrong problem, wrong solution.”Building a
secure mindset in an organization takes time, he said, but managers want to
buy security equipment.Organizations have to admit the cyber security problem
isn’t technology, he said. Then they have to create a plan to solve it with
employees. It will need support from the C-suite, Pogue added, including
understanding there is an ROI for security.It also means understanding that
governance regimes are only part of the solution, and that security is a
journey, not a destination. The key to success, he added, is marrying human
intelligence and technology.But most important is to create a culture of
security-minded employees, he said, so they become deeply involved. “Hook them
emotionally and they will do anything.”Earlier this year at another security
conference an IT security executive at a Canadian bank said awareness
training for some is futile. But in an interview Pogue disagreed.”I think
that is absolutely false. I’m also a professor of cyber security at Southern
Utah University and I’ve seen first hand in training law enforcement, college
students, my own staff that you can change them from your weakest link into
your greatest asset just by getting them invested.“I think cyber security
training as it exists today needs an overhaul, because a lot of it’s boring,
especially for non-technical people. It needs to be entertaining, it needs to
be interesting, it needs to be able to communicate technical concepts in a
way the target audience can understand. And I think once you can hit that
sweet spot then you’ve got something”How do you be entertaining with
awareness training? “By being entertaining … people love stories, people
watch movies, love books for a reason, so make a story out of it …There are
ways to do it. You have to be creative.” From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 10/20/2016 Security the Biggest Concern for Canadian
Organizations Using the Cloud: Survey Security is the biggest concern among 211 senior
level IT and business decision makers at Canadian organizations that in some
way use cloud computing, according to a vendor survey.Seventy-five per cent
of respondents listed that as their number one worry with cloud computing
according to the survey, paid for by Toronto-based solutions integrator
Scalar Decisions and released this month.Second on the list were integration
concerns, followed by concerns the cloud couldn’t support operation
performance requirements.Just over one-third (36 per cent) said their
organization had general security policies and no formal cloud security
policy in place, with another 10 per cent saying their organization had
undocumented informal security policies.Fourteen per cent said their
organization had written cloud security policies enforced by IT, with another
19 per cent saying those policies were also supported by corporate
governance.Survey respondents also divided themselves into novice,
intermediate and experienced cloud users. The number of those in each
category was smaller than the overall base, which reduces the accuracy of the
survey. However that didn’t prevent Scalar CTO Neil Bunn from drawing
conclusions. Related Articles Global cloud computing Why cloud security is
everyone’s business Concerns about cloud service provider security
have become counterproductive, and are distracting CIOs and CISOs from
establishing the organizational, security... September 9th, 2016 Gartner @gartner_inc cloud security Q&A: Former Alberta CISO on
overcoming cloud security concerns Information is widely viewed as a company’s most
important asset. And today, more than ever, cyber-threats are a looming
presence... December 19th, 2014 Brian Clendenin
@brianclendenin “The biggest elements that struck me was the
realization of clients that the further they delve into cloud (by experience)
the more the need to delve into cloud security … You had to be doing a lot of
cloud to realize the importance of building a security framework when using
it. Early adopters in the survey were less concerned, or were more concerned
about rudimentary issues such as the location of data. Those who were highly
experienced realized their entire security practice need to change to adapt
to what they were able to deliver.”The aim of the survey was to find out the
state of adoption of cloud computing among Canadian organizations. Scalar
does a separate security survey. However, Bunn said, it was “overwhelmingly
clear security was a hot button” in the results. “Many acknowledged that
cloud does need its own distinct approach to security,” he said, especially
if the IT department is using platform-as-a-service PaaS or
infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) tools, existing policies don’t handle
dynamic environments well Of the full group surveyed (355 people), 41 per
cent said their organization doesn’t use any cloud services.The study
includes answers to other questions, some of which have small samples from
which it may be hard to deduce conclusions. For example, of the 211
respondents whose organizations use the cloud there were only 70 IT decision
makers. That group said an average of 31 per cent of their workloads were
currently in a public cloud. They expected that to increase to 35 per cent of
workloads in the next 12 months, and 41 peer cent in 36 months.They also said
an average of 20 per cent of their budgets were currently allocated to public
cloud, expecting that to grow to 25 per cent in 12 months and 29 per cent in
36 months.Asked what their company perceived as its top concerns or
challenges before adopting cloud computing, 42 per cent of business and IT
users said reliability, followed by security (37 per cent.) However, 67 per
cent said their firm was able to overcome the security concerns.Still, 75 per
cent said security is a still worry, as well as integration and operational
performance. From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 11/09/2016 Gartner’s
Top Cybersecurity ‘Macro Trends’ for 2017 Paying the security tax. Answering to Dr. No.
Submitting to the control centre. If you’ve ever been responsible for running
IT security at a business, these will all sound familiar – too familiar.But
there’s another way to look at security, says Earl Perkins, a research
vice-president in the Internet of Things group at Gartner. Presenting at the
research firm`s
symposium in October, he spoke of cybersecurity trends to look
out for in the year ahead. He also had some helpful advice on how to frame
cybersecurity as a benefit to your organization, rather than be viewed as a
hindrance.“We’ve been playing a poker game for
decades,” Perkins says. “We’ve been betting just enough chips on security and
now we’re hoping the hand we hold will be enough to win.”Rather than hope the
next card off the top turns a weak hand into a flush, security chiefs should
take heed of these seven trends and plan accordingly: 1. Seeking the balance of risk and resilience As organizations have a growing need to move
quickly and adopt new technology, security has to stop managing risk and
start building resilience, Perkins says. It’s not about abandoning risk
management, but balancing it with the needs the business has to create value.“Security doesn’t have to be a Dr. No kind of thing,”
Perkins says.Rethinking security’s approach in this way will require defining
a new mission. You’ll also have to develop a new risk formula capable of
handling new variables and factors. Then communicate this new approach and
mission to employees.Soon enough, soon you’ll be seen in a different light. 2. Security disciplines converge while skills
expand The definition of cybersecurity is expanding and
chief security officers may find their job requirements are creeping up as a
result. In addition to the legacy IT systems to protect, more operational
technology (OT) is seeing IT systems embedded with the Internet of Things trend.
Similarly, physical security systems such as video surveillance are connected
and rely on IT systems.And Perkins has bad news for CSOs: “If it fails, it’s
already your fault.”You’ll have to assess what new skill sets are needed on
your security team to meet all these new demands. They’ll likely include
roles responsible for identity management, embedded security, and
cyber-physical security automation.Don’t hesitate to invest in training for
your current team, or even build up security skills development within your
company’s lines of business. Know where the gaps are and how you plan to fill
them – eventually. 3. Secure digital supply chain needs grow Just because software as a service is now
off-loading some application delivery on the IT department’s behalf, that
doesn’t mean the job of the chief security officer is also done. Rather, a
confusing mish-mash of considerations must be made about how to handle a user
and the device before and after accessing these new cloud services. Once
cloud apps start integrating with internal systems, it really gets
interesting. Gartner - SaaS control markets Managing security around cloud software has
become a confusing matter. Image courtesy of Gartner.The response to this
problem so far has been developing management consoles that are multi-cloud
and multifunction, Perkins says. As those consoles evolve, they will also
help manage security based on a user’s need and priority standing.“I want you to implement and enforce different types of
policies based on use,” Perkins says. CSOs should also have an
enterprise-wide public cloud strategy, implement solutions that solve cloud
complexity, and have a governance approach that matches cloud life cycle. 4. Adaptive security architecture embraced “Our hope is you’ll reach a point where you
create a security architecture where you prevent everything that you could
reasonably be expected to prevent,” Perkins says. After that, you’ll need to
respond to the ones you missed in an effective way and catch the others
you’ll never detect with predictive security.“Detection
and response is a lot like going to the barn and seeing the door open and
realizing the horse has escaped,” he says. “Predictive would allow us to know
the horse is acting kind of funny and we need to be ready.”The technical
version of keeping the horse in the barn involves a commitment to software
define architectures, dividing a control pane of applications and APIs from
your data plane. Your security team should be preventing attacks by isolating
systems in this way, and when an incident is detected, the risk needs to be
confirmed.From a budget point of view, shift spending from prevention to
detection and response, as well as predictive capabilities. From a conceptual
point of view, operate like a security operations centre that is in
continuous response mode. 5. Security infrastructure adapts The number of code libraries being used by your
organization is only growing and they are all aging. Security checks need to
be run on these code sets often, not just when they are deployed. So security
application testing has to be embedded into the lifecycle of these
repositories.As organizations create a pervasive digital presence through
always-connected devices, sensors, actuators, and other IoT gear, network
security concerns will grow.“Wi-Fi is not the answer to doing the Internet of
Things,” Perkins says. While your gateways will still talk with IP and Wi-Fi
devices, there will be strange new elements more familiar to those with OT
(operational technology) skill sets. Make sure to talk with those experience with OT in your organization.Many
organizations will want to invest in discovery solutions just to find IoT
devices within their organization. Also key to managing network security will
be setting up segmented network portions, and designating trust zones. 6. Data security governance and flow arrives “You’re going to have introduced to you different
kinds of data flows,” Perkins says. “Some of it will look familiar and some won’t
look familiar at all.”To continue to ensure that you can properly audit and
protect your data, you’ll have to profile it by its flow type. To start with
– is it structured, semi-structured, or unstructured data? In line with your
software-defined strategy, create a boundary between your data and its
destinations.CSOs will want to incorporate big data plans into their security
strategies to keep pace. Priorities should be placed on organization-wide
data security governance and policy. 7. Digital business drives digital security Thanks to IoT, “there is a pervasive digital
presence,” Perkins says. “Once you network this presence, it substantively
alters the risk for your business.”Digital security is the next wave in
cybersecurity and it involves getting a grip on this pervasive presence.
Risks include espionage and fraud, sabotage of automated devices, device
impersonation and counterfeiting, and beyond. From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 11/01/2016 U.S.:
Report - IoT Security Failure Are 100 Percent Preventable One hundred percent of internet of things
security failures reported between November 2015 and July 2016 could have
been easily avoided had manufacturers and developers taken a more serious
approach to security and privacy, according to new research.That number comes
from Online Trust Alliance, a nonprofit that works with companies and
policymakers to enhance privacy and security on the internet.“I wasn’t
surprised, but somewhat disappointed that so many of the basics continue to
be overlooked,” OTA Executive Director and President Craig Spiezle said in an
interview.He and his team found that every single security failure could have
been identified and addressed before products reached the market if companies
had followed the 31 principles and practices outlined in OTA’s "IoT
Trust Framework."That might seem like a lot, but many are basic best
practices, such as verifying that patches, firmware and software revisions
come from trusted sources—something Nest failed to do that led to malfunctioning
thermostats in January 2016—or disabling user accounts after a certain number
of invalid login attempts to prevent brute force or other login attacks. According to a March 2016 issue brief from the
Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center on International Security, consumers’
security concerns are the biggest barrier to IoT adoption. And it's no
wonder: In its 2014 IoT study, HP found "an alarmingly high number of
vulnerabilities per device."In January 2015, the Federal Trade
Commission included this note in its staff report on privacy and security in
the IoT; yet, the vulnerabilities and privacy issues OTA assessed were all
found more than six months after the release of that report. Spiezle says IoT
security is uniquely challenging because it’s “three dimensional.” There’s
the security of the physical device, the mobile app, and the back-end
service—and then there’s the data flow between the three points.“Even though the security fundamentals are simple, the
complexity magnifies the difficulty of managing [a product’s] security,” he
said.The implications, however, are far-reaching.“Security
starts from product development through launch and beyond," Spiezle
said. “If businesses do not make a systemic change, we risk seeing the
weaponization of these devices and [further] erosion of consumer confidence
impacting the IoT industry on a whole due to their security and privacy
shortcomings.” From http://www.nextgov.com/ 09/09/2016 US Appoints Its First Chief Information Security
Officer The White House has named Gregory Touhill the country’s
first Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), a position created under
President Barack Obama’s Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP), launched
in February. The new position is one of the plan's key features, with the aim
of pushing cybersecurity policy, planning, and implementation across the
federal government.Touhill, a retired Brigadier General, is currently the
deputy assistant secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications at the
Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Cybersecurity and Communications
(CS&C), where he focuses on the development and implementation of
operational programmes designed to protect government networks and critical
infrastructure. Touhill will be assisted by Grant Schneider, appointed acting
deputy CISO. Grant currently serves as the director for Cybersecurity Policy
on the National Security Council staff at the White House where he focuses on
development and oversight of cybersecurity policies to protect government
data, networks, and systems. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/09/2016 IT Modernization, Improved Cybersecurity and
Innovation Are All Intertwined The Professional Services Council today unveiled
its 26th annual CIO Survey, conducted in partnership with PSC member company Grant
Thornton. Not surprisingly, this year the top two priorities for agency
technology leaders are IT modernization and improved cybersecurity. Those are
not separate thoughts but rather a focusing of attention on the need to move
away from outdated technologies and a recognition that the two efforts must
be done in parallel.An aging infrastructure exacerbates cybersecurity
vulnerabilities, while any adoption of new technologies must incorporate
cybersecurity best practices.The convergence of technology and services, the
power of consumption-based buying and the availability of an ever-increasing
array of new technologies provide for a marketplace where the potential for
innovation is almost limitless. Around the world, new technologies,
applications and opportunities are constantly and rapidly changing the way we
live, work and play.Government must not continue to lag in its adoption of
commercial best practices and new technologies, particularly given the fact
that federal agencies spend well over $80 billion annually on IT. And they
are spending up to 80 percent of their IT budgets to sustain an aging and
insecure legacy infrastructure. That ratio would spell disaster for companies
that are trying to stay abreast of technology developments. The survey shows that agency IT leaders are
committed to reversing that trend, yet even in the case of well-understood
and valued initiatives such as cloud computing, respondents said they believe
their progress is too slow.At the same time, there is a clear understanding
of the ever-increasing cybersecurity threats that agencies face and the need
to move away from security through “denial of service” to a world of “secure
information sharing” and “trusted computing from untrusted devices.”The CIO
survey highlights the necessity for simultaneously modernizing legacy IT and
improving cybersecurity. Aging IT infrastructure creates a host of problems
for government, including spending too much money, falling behind on
cybersecurity and being unable to take advantage of new innovations and
delivery channels.Together, industry and government can reverse the federal
government’s increasing reliance on an outdated IT infrastructure by
accelerating the adoption of cloud computing and similar technology upgrades
and by rationalizing or retiring legacy systems. The survey also identifies the compelling need
for the federal IT workforce to be trained and ready to take advantage of
innovative new technologies and approaches. Earlier this month, PSC released
a report titled “Ensuring the Effectiveness of Federal Chief Technology
Officers.” Recognizing that the CTO position is a relatively new phenomenon
at most agencies, the report provides recommendations to address CTO
priorities, organizational placement and the importance of a federal council
to share ideas and collaborate on initiatives — all to address the need to
make it easier for agencies to innovate and adapt.As both studies make clear,
IT modernization, improved cybersecurity and greater access to innovation are
all intertwined. Much will change when a new administration takes office in
January, but one thing will remain constant: There is a tremendous
opportunity for government to capitalize on the insertion of new technology
to deliver more effective mission results. From https://fcw.com/ 09/21/2016 Presidential Debate 2016 - Cybersecurity
Highlights Significant Differences in Policy, Understanding Between
Candidates During Monday night's first presidential debate,
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump sparred on a number of issues, but their
stances on cybersecurity and defense drew striking differences between the
campaigns.The first of three presidential debates Sept. 26 was full of the
typical political jabs and deflections, but at least six minutes of the
roughly two-hour ordeal fell to discussion of cybersecurity and the
21st-century threats facing the country.During the debate, the stark
differences between Democratic candidate and former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump were highlighted in
their policies on jobs creation and growth to the need for policing and
prison reform and immigration. But perhaps no divide was as glaring as their
positions on cyberwarfare and defense.When asked by NBC moderator and
journalist Lester Holt how they would address cybersecurity challenges and
the growing international threats online, Clinton pointed to “probing”
aggression on the part of nation states, like Russia, and the need for firm
national resolve. “I think cybersecurity, cyberwarfare, will be one
of the biggest challenges facing the next president because, clearly, we’re
facing at this point two different kinds of adversaries. There are the
independent hacking groups that do it mostly for commercial reasons to try to
steal information that they then can use to make money,” Clinton asserted.
“But increasingly, we are seeing cyberattacks coming from states, organs of
states. The most recent and troubling of these has been Russia.”In his
rebuttal, Trump was reluctant to pin a growing list of online assaults and
data thefts to any one nation state, despite reports that support his
opponent’s argument. He instead argued that perpetrators could be anyone,
including overweight individuals launching attacks from the comfort of their
homes.“As far as the cyber, I agree to parts of what
Secretary Clinton said. We should be better than anybody else, and perhaps we
are not. I don’t think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC.
She’s saying 'Russia, Russia, Russia,' but I don’t – maybe it was,” Trump
countered. “I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could
also be lots of other people. It could also be somebody sitting on their bed
that weighs 400 pounds, OK.” Whatever the case may be, Clinton called for a
tougher stance on international cyberattacks and warned that the United
States would protect its online assets. Though she made it clear her
administration would not look forward to engaging in a “different kind of
warfare,” she said aggression would be met with the necessary force.“We need
to make it very clear, whether it’s Russia, China, Iran or anybody else, the
United States has much greater capacity," she said, "and we are not
going to sit idly by and permit state actors to go after our information, our
private-sector information or our public-sector information."In his
subsequent response, Trump shifted the conversation to the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the need to get “very, very tough” with ISIS
online. “We came in with the Internet, we came up with the Internet, and I
think Secretary Clinton and myself would agree very much when you look at
what ISIS is doing with the Internet, they’re beating us at our own game.
ISIS. So, we have to get very, very tough on cyber and cyberwarfare. It is a
huge problem,” he said. “I have a son, he’s 10 years old. He has computers.
He is so good with these computers, it's unbelievable. The security aspect of cyber is very, very tough
and maybe it’s hardly doable, but I will say we are not doing the job we
should be doing. But that’s true throughout our whole governmental
society.”Trump ultimately offered little in the way of solutions to the
problems of recruitment and radicalization in cyberspace. And the former
Secretary of State agreed that defeating ISIS would, at least in part,
require an online component. But she also added that the effort would require
ongoing military action and the continued targeting of the group’s
leadership. She also said the greater technology community would be an
integral part of the limiting the reach of the extremist group.“I think there are a number of issues we should be
addressing. I have put forth a plan to defeat ISIS, it does involve going
after them online,” Clinton said. “I think we need to do much more with our
tech companies to prevent ISIS and their operatives from being able to use
the Internet to radicalize, even direct, people in our country, in Europe and
elsewhere.” From http://www.govtech.com/ 09/27/2016 FCC Approves Rules on ISP Customer Data
Protection The FCC has approved a draft proposal regulating how
ISPs can use customer data. This
follows a public consultation earlier this year which received extensive
feedback. The Commission will vote on the proposal on 27 October. The FCC
already regulates personal data and privacy issues at telecom network operators.
Its oversight is extended to internet providers after its Open Internet Order
last year reclassified broadband access as a telecommunications service. The
rules, if adopted, would give consumers greater control over their ISPs’ use
and sharing of their personal information, and provide them with ways to
easily adjust their privacy preferences, the FCC said.The draft rules require
that ISPs offering either mobile or fixed broadband to consumers must tell
customers about what types of information the ISP collects about its
customers; specify how and for what purposes the ISP uses and shares this
information; and identify the types of entities with which the ISP shares
this information. ISPs must provide this information when a customer signs up
for service, and update customers when their privacy policy changes in
significant ways. In addition, the information must be available clearly on
the ISP’s website or mobile app. The Commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee
(CAC) will develop a standardized privacy notice format that would serve as a
‘safe-harbor’ for those providers who choose to adopt it. In order to use
customers' sensitive information, ISPs would be required to obtain explicit
prior persmission, through an opt-in. This covers data such as location,
health, on children, social security numbers, web browsing history or the
content of communications. Sharing of most other types of information would
be subject to an opt-out. ISPs would still be able to share anonymised data
without being subject to the above rules, as long as they committ to not
re-identifying the customers associated with the data. Additional rules
include a ban on rejecting customers who refuse to share part or all of their
data, and heightened disclosure and vetting by the FCC for 'pay for for
privacy' type products. In addition, the rules would require ISPS to take
reasonable efforts to protect customer data from security theats. A set of
guidelines on such measures is included, in line with the FTC's Consumer
Privacy Bill of Rights. Any data breaches would need to be reported to
affected customers within 30 days of discovery and to the FCC within seven
days, and the FBI must be notified if more than 5,000 customers are affected. The FCC's rules stop short of regulating online
services such as search engines and social media sites. Consumer Watchdog
welcomed the broadband regulations but said "ultimately we also need
privacy regulations covering so-called 'edge providers' like Google,
Facebook, Amazon and Twitter". Industry group USTelecom was more
concerned about how the FCC determines what is 'sensitive' customer data.
While welcoming the approach to basing the privacy regulation on the type of
data, USTelecom said that the Commission would be better off deferring to the
FTC on defining what is sensitive, in order to ensure a uniform approach.
"We are concerned . . . that the commission, which has no expertise with
regard to determining the content of speech, is now attempting to redefine
what consumers may regard as sensitive," the group said in a statement. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 10/07/2016 Think
Tank: U.S. Elections Are Far from Hack-proof In the wake of high-profile hacks of Democratic
Party systems and attempts to infiltrate state voter databases, intelligence
and homeland security officials have been rushing to reassure Americans that
the upcoming election cannot be hacked. But one cybersecurity think tank says
not only are voting systems vulnerable, they are easy to hack.FBI Director
James Comey recently described the U.S. voting system as "clunky as
heck," and because it is not a high-tech networked system, "it is
hard for an actor to reach our voting processes."Panelists at a
discussion sponsored by the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology
did not dispute the characterization of voting systems as clunky, but they
argued that it does not make them immune from hacking or manipulation.The
panelists said even machines that are not connected to any network can be
corrupted via removable media such as USB drives, and the black-box nature of
many voting systems means there is no way for election officials to run
diagnostics before or after votes are cast. ICIT recently released a two-part report, titled
"Hacking Elections Is Easy," that outlined a range of vulnerabilities,
infiltration points and tactics that could be used to undermine credibility
in an election or even manipulate the results."In all likelihood,
cyber-physical attacks against electronic voting systems may continue to go
unnoticed due to a lack of cyber-hygiene culture, a lack of verifiable and
thoroughly tested security mechanisms, a lack of standardization, and a lack
of public attention," the report states.Furthermore, "in 2016, 43
states relied on voting machines that were at least 10 years old and that
relied on antiquated proprietary operating systems such as Windows XP,
Windows 2000, unsupported versions of Linux, and others," the report
states. "Vulnerabilities for these operating systems are widely
available for free download on Deepnet."The report also says electronic
voting machines are so unsophisticated that an "[18-year-old] high
school student could compromise a crucial county election in a pivotal swing
state with equipment purchased for less than $100." In addition to manipulating individual machines,
the panelists said that when devices are connected to networks to tabulate or
transmit results, those results can be intercepted or manipulated."If
you wanted to go influence results on a national scale, you're not going to
be successful," said Tony Cole, an ICIT Fellow and a vice president at
FireEye. "However, if you want to go influence the election in a swing
state, in a regional area where it could have a significant influence, you
potentially could."Cole said a concerted effort by a team of
individuals, possibly with nation-state backing, could tip a close election
one way or the other."All these voting systems today are in church
basements locked up, in elementary schools -- I mean, those are our polling
places," he said. "Wherever those systems are stored, it would not
be difficult for somebody over a period of four years to work on actually
compromising a multitude of those systems...in a swing region in a swing
state. It wouldn't difficult at all to have a small, dedicated team focused
on that." Most election workers do not have the training or
expertise to know whether anyone is trying to tamper with hardware, Cole
said. Plus, they are vulnerable to phishing scams and might accept free USB
drives that hackers could use to access systems.However, he argued that a
more likely and feasible method of manipulating an election is downstream in
the tabulation and data transmission process."Invariably, there are
going to be some regions, some states where people have machines that they are
interconnecting to the tabulation system, so once you have that, you bridge
the air gap and you have the possibility of a tainted result," he
said.He was quick to point out that although it is technically feasible, the
odds that hackers will influence the outcome of this year's election are low.
"Nevertheless, I don't want this problem to get tucked away for four
more years and no focus on it so an adversary has another four years to study
it to see if they can do it in 2020," he added.Cole said an organization
such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology should issue
mandatory security standards for electronic voting systems to improve
election security. But he warned that the approach would not eliminate the
problem."Everything is hackable given enough time and resources, and
people need to be aware of that," he said. From https://fcw.com/ 10/20/2016 75%
of Orgs Lack Cybersecurity Expertise Three-quarters of organizations lack skilled
cybersecurity experts—resulting in more breaches.A study from Tripwire found
that 66% of respondents faced increased security risks due to this workforce
shortage; and 69% have attempted to use technology solutions to fill the
gap.Finding cyber-talent is easier said than done: A full 72% said they had
challenges hiring skilled cybersecurity experts; half said their
organizations do not have an effective program to recruit, train and retain
skilled cybersecurity experts.It’s only going to get worse: A study by Frost
& Sullivan, conducted on behalf of (ISC)2, estimates that by 2020 there
will be a shortfall of 1.5 million trained cybersecurity
professionals.“Cybersecurity is a growth industry for employees, and supply
is falling far short of demand,” said Tim Erlin, director of IT security and
risk strategy for Tripwire. “Smart organizations need to establish effective
programs for educating and developing employee skills around information
protection. Having the right tools is only part of the solution. A lack of
cybersecurity skills not only degrades an organization’s ability to respond
to incidents, it also inhibits organizations from developing and deploying
effective prevention.”According to Tripwire’s study, only 25% of the
respondents were confident their organizations have the number of skilled
cybersecurity experts needed to effectively detect and respond to a serious
cybersecurity breach.Erlin continued: “While tools can’t replace people,
effective automation can give skilled employees more time to spend on the
tough problems. Organizations should examine where their cybersecurity teams
are investing manual effort into tasks that could be automated. Reducing and
removing tedious, manual work can help improve employee retention as well.” From http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/ 10/21/2016 Most
Americans Believe a Tech-Enabled Terrorist Attack Is Imminent A full 69% of Americans believe a major,
technology-based terrorist threat is likely within the next three to five
years.Pace University announced poll findings that show that fear of these
kinds of cyber-threats increases with age, reflecting a potential
generational divide in how technology is understood and experienced. Only 58%
of participants under 30 believed that a technology-based terrorist threat
was imminent, while 85% of participants over 60 felt the same way. Men are
also more likely to fear these kinds of cyber-attacks, with 76% responding
yes, compared with only 61% of women.“We live in
extraordinary times. Just last weekend a cyberattack cut millions of
Americans off from the internet,” said Pace University president Stephen
Friedman. “And throughout the presidential election cycle, hacked emails have
been released in an attempt to influence America’s most fundamental and
democratic process. We are ever-more reliant on technology, and our
vulnerability to cybercriminals and cyber-attacks increases in tandem.” “There is no electronic system that
cannot be hacked,” added Joel Brenner, former Inspector General and senior
counsel at the National Security Agency, who reviewed the findings.The
results dovetail with an earlier Gallup poll showing that Americans view
cyber-terrorism as a leading threat to US vital interests in the next 10
years. In that study, US adults ranked cyber-terrorism (73%) along with
international terrorism (79%) and development of nuclear weapons by Iran
(75%) as the highest of a dozen potential threats.This is the first year
Gallup asked about cyber-terrorism, defined in the poll as "the use of
computers to cause disruption or fear in society."Interestingly, Gallup
found that Republicans and Democrats, including independents who lean toward
each party, differ considerably in their assessments of what constitutes a
real danger to the vital interests of the US. Republicans and
Republican-leaning independents are much more likely to categorize most
issues as a "critical threat." From http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/ 10/28/2016 Trendspotting:
The Rise of the Public Safety Network The ever increasing threat to public safety from
terrorist attack, natural disaster, crime, and disease is driving governments
to examine the use of cutting-edge information and communications
technologies as they seek to establish advanced public safety telecom
systems. Currently, dedicated public safety networks adopt the narrow-band
digital trunking technology, which is outdated uses low bandwidth and offers
poor mobility. Narrow-band digital trunking can no longer meet the increasing
needs of multi-media services on public safety networks and instead, LTE
broadband trunking, offering high bandwidth and all IP-based operation, is
becoming the mainstream in the market. It is the era of LTE-based public
safety networks.Operators are playing an increasingly important role in
deploying public safety networks, developing more new services, and working
with vertical industries to leverage the capacity advantage of LTE
networks.3GPP specifications pave the way for operators to deploy public
safety networks. Most public safety networks are deployed
according to regional public safety standards, such as TETRA and P25. In
recent years, 3GPP has been working with LMR (Land mobile radio) industry
organizations, such as APCO (P25), ETST (TETRA), and TCCA, to develop public
safety standards, ensuring 3GPP specifications are more applicable and making
LTE networks more suitable to public safety communication. The Group
Communications System Enabler for LTE (GCSE_LTE) defines how to achieve
trunking communication on LTE networks, whilst Proximity Services (ProSE)
define the communication mode for terminals disconnected from the network.
Mission Critical Push-To-Talk (MCPTT) defines the one-push critical task
function. These standards ensure that LTE networks are technically suitable
for public safety communication. Public safety network: the next blue ocean for
operators For governments, there are many advantages of
leveraging operator networks to deploy public safety networks. Operator
networks are cost-effective, and offer good coverage and capacity, allowing
integrated and unified scheduling of professional voice, data, and HD video
services on one terminal and one network. LTE technology ensures that public
safety networks can achieve long term evolution. For operators, public safety
networks will offer the opportunity to develop new services and expand
business boundaries, at the same time making public safety networks more
reliable and offering a better network. The trend is clear, more governments are going to
authorize operators to deploy national public safety networks, which in term
will generate new revenue streams for the companies. In U.K., ESMCP has
offered 2 billion pounds to EE for the deployment of LTE-based public safety
networks to support police, fire, medical, and other public safety services.
The network is planned to be put into trial commercial use by the end of 2016
and commercial use by H1 2017. In Korea, SKT has received USD $2 billion of
funding from the government to deploy a national LTE public safety networks,
which is expected to be commercially launched in 2017. PTS, a Swedish
regulator, has announced that no dedicated spectrum will be allocated to
public safety networks and suggests that public safety services should be
supported by public LTE networks. LTE-based public safety network: a mature
industry chain As LTE-based public safety communication and LTE
trunking communication generates more attention globally, the LTE-based public
safety industry is gaining momentum. There are more than 300 models of
anti-surge, anti-moisture, and anti-theft LTE terminals in the market, with
annual sales volumes in the millions and is growing rapidly. The diversity of
LTE terminals satisfies the needs of customers in various industries.There is
a growing need for IT devices, such as LTE anti-surge, anti-moisture, and
anti-theft smartphones, shoulder microphones, vehicle mounted stations, video
surveillance devices, ECVs, drones, and detecting robots. A number of
trunking server providers offer professional scheduling platforms and app.
development services to different industries and business scenarios, meeting
the need of public safety service customization. Network encryption and information resistance
technologies are also developing, often encompassing data encryption and
related protection technologies, to prevent user information from being
stolen or tampered and creating a safe network environment for users. As
public safety develops and improves, the industry chain will involve more
industries, such as smart transportation, air and water transportation, oil
and drilling industries, logistics, security, and tourism.Huawei, a leading
global ICT provider has launched the LTE Integrated Trunked Radio Access
(LiTRA) solution to help operators deploy secure, efficient, and professional
LTE-based ... From http://www.totaltele.com/ 09/05/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
CHINA: Most Chinese Mobile Users
Exposed to Data Security Risks - Report Nearly 96 percent of Chinese mobile Internet users
have been exposed to information security risks, and over 40 percent of them
have "suffered losses," according to a new report. Of those
suffering losses, some have had their private information or money stolen
from their mobile accounts, while many have had to spend extra time dealing
with security risks, according to the report released Monday by China
Internet Network Information Center. Mobile Internet users in the country
numbered 620 million as of the end of 2015, accounting for more than 90 percent
of all Chinese Internet users. However, 38 percent of mobile Internet users
still believe it is "very safe" to surf the web via smartphone, the
report said, calling for enhanced safety awareness. Nearly 45 percent of
users are in the habit of connecting to WiFi networks without first
confirming their safety, making them vulnerable to theft of private
information, it said. About 19.6 percent of users said they make purchases or
mobile payments while connected to public WiFi networks. But Chinese mobile Internet
users are more vigilant when scanning QR codes, with 67.5 percent of
respondents saying the codes include unknown security risks, according to the
report. As of the end of 2015, 450 million Chinese mobile Internet users had
security apps installed on their cellphones, though some of the apps had been
pre-installed by phone manufacturers, it said. From
http://www.news.cn/
10/10/2016 Xi Stresses Internet Innovation,
Security Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist
Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has called for more independent
innovation in the Internet and information technology, as well as enhanced
cyberspace security. Xi made the remarks Sunday afternoon at a study session
attended by members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. He
called for the construction of a safe and controllable information technology
system, and for major breakthroughs in the fields of high-performance
computing, mobile communication, quantum communication, core chips and
operating systems. At the meeting, Xi said the digital economy should play a
greater role in pushing forward economic development and that the country's
Internet management and cyberspace security defense should also be enhanced.
The Internet and information technology should be better used to advance
social governance, Xi said, calling for a greater voice from China in setting
the rules of the Internet, as well as greater efforts to build China into an
Internet power. At the session, Wei Shaojun, director of the
Institute of Microelectronics at Tsinghua University, gave a lecture on
China's strategy on developing Internet power. Noting that the Internet and
information technology are developing rapidly and increasingly integrated
with society, Xi warned of the gap between China and the world's frontiers in
relevant fields. "We should work with solidarity in mind, improve our
knowledge and strengthen strategic planning," he said. Xi said Internet
and information technology is a "highland" of global technological
innovation and a magnet for research and development investment around the
world. He called on relevant industries in China to concentrate on developing
core technologies and enhancing security defence measures for key information
infrastructure. Xi called for greater investment in information
infrastructure, increased integration of the Internet and the real economy,
and better development of the digital economy, so as to create new space for
economic growth. Given the rising power of the Internet in
mobilizing people, Xi said that efforts should be made to ensure that
"positive energy," which means bright and patriotic information,
circulates in cyberspace. As Internet-based communication highlights interaction,
first-hand experience and sharing, it should be used to give voice to the
public, to benefit their livelihood and address their concerns, Xi said.
Efforts should be made to uphold cyber security, as well as to safeguard the
integrity, safety and reliability of Internet data, Xi said. Development of
the Internet has also prompted social governance to shift from pure
government supervision to greater emphasis on coordinated governance across
society, Xi said, calling for the building of a national center of big data
to promote coordinated management across different administerial levels,
regions, departments and businesses. The Internet should be used to encourage
scientific decision-making by governments, as well as to enhance social
governance and efficient public services, Xi said. Xi stressed the importance
of confidently safeguarding the sovereignty of China's cyberspace and
explicitly expressing China's assertions. He also asked officials at all
levels to learn, understand and use the Internet. "Officials,
particularly the high-ranking ones, cannot work efficiently without Internet
know-how or proper understanding of the Internet," Xi said. Officials
should build up their understanding of the rules of the Internet, be more
capable of guiding public opinion on the Internet, lead information
technology development and guarantee cyber security, Xi said. From
http://www.news.cn/
10/10/2016 Ordering Online Makes Lunch Easier,
but Not Safer Gone are the days when people throng out of
office blocks for a quick bite at lunch. In Chinese cities today, busy office
workers have their meals delivered after a few simple touches on a
smartphone. The process takes a few minutes, and who can resist a good online
discount? The marriage of a fledgling mobile Internet industry with the
Chinese love for food has created an explosion in online catering businesses
over the past two years. Hundreds of thousands of dishes are now a swipe away
on the three dominant delivery platforms - waimai.meituan, waimai.baidu, and
ele.me, or the "Big Three." But do the mouth-watering pictures on
the phone match the sanitary conditions we expect? Recent investigations by
Xinhua and other media outlets reveal worrisome findings. UNLICENSED KITCHENS In theory, online catering platforms require
restaurants to post pictures of their business license and health
certificates online where customers place their order. While most comply,
some flounder and post blurred or fake images. A store that franchises
American fast-food chain Subway on ele.me was found to have an expired
license; in another case the localization photo of a nondescript restaurant
registered as Mr. Bread led Xinhua reporters to well-known spicy food chain
Wushan Roasted Fish. Li Jiang, an official with the Beijing food and drug
safety watchdog, said an expired license is as good as not having one, and
those who give fraudulent information will be severely punished. There are
around 58,000 eateries in Beijing offering food delivery services on the
three dominant platforms, plus a minor one named Daojia, Li said. District
food safety watchdogs conduct regular raids to ensure everyone plays by the
rules. While the authorities have not yet received any
reports of major food safety cases, there are unverified comments left on these
platforms complaining about diarrhea and worse. Other media outlets have
exposed appalling scenes. A City Times reporter found that flowing sewage,
thick oil stains, leftovers, and scattered chop sticks were a common scene at
a popular hotpot restaurant in the southwestern city of Kunming. The
restaurant had been open for only five months and had positive online
ratings, listing ahead of 77 percent of its competitors. Few customers bother
to check restaurant licenses before ordering. "To be honest, I only pay
attention to ratings and other customers' comments," said Ma Juan, a
Beijing office worker. "If a restaurant has a poor sanitary record then
its rating will not be high, right?" HIDE-AND-SEEK China had 688 million Internet users by the end of
2015, with more than 90 percent using smartphones. A recent report by think
tanks FutureX and the Data Center of China Internet (DCCI) showed that around
150 million Chinese used online catering services as of June 2016. The figure
rose by 32 percent in six months and keeps growing. The country has strict
food safety regulations, but the proliferation of kitchens and restaurants
riding the e-commerce boom makes supervision more difficult. Last year, the
national legislature amended its seven-year-old Food Safety Law, adding
provisions to govern online vendors. A report by the Ministry of Commerce in
September said around 8,000 unlicensed online eateries were ordered to close
in just two weeks in late August to early September, after an unannounced
city-wide food safety inspection. An anonymous worker at one of the "Big
Three" said many vendors simply reopen on rival platforms, a phenomenon
that discourages platforms from closing down "problem" vendors,
especially the popular ones. "The three platforms are fighting for market
share. If one strengthens supervision while the others do not, vendors jump
ship taking their customers with them. The one who abides by the law
loses," he said. "Technologically speaking, it is not a big deal
for a platform to kick out unruly vendors. But does it really want to?"
The DCCI report says the "Big Three" account for nearly 90 percent
of market share among young office workers, catering services's main
users. Confronted with Xinhua's
findings, both meituan and ele.me declined to comment. Baidu repeated that it
requires all registered vendors to post authentic licenses on their web wage
and runs regular checks to ensure compliance. Fu Weigang, a researcher with
the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, says the proliferation of
"problem kitchens" has everything to do with lax supervision of
online platforms, which sacrifice food safety to cut staffing costs and reach
more customers. Fu suggested that the authorities mobilize the public to
become informants on vendors and platforms who do not play by the rules.
"Informants should be rewarded so they are encouraged to help law
enforcers spot violations," he said. From
http://www.chinagate.cn/ 11/04/2016 China Mulls Sharing Blacklist of
Telecom Scammers A Chinese regulator is mulling establishing a
shared blacklist mechanism against telecom fraudsters in the latest effort to
crack down on rampant scams. Firms and individuals identified to have
committed fraud will be blacklisted and the information will be accessible to
the entire telecom industry, according to a guideline released by the
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The MIIT has required
telecom companies to refuse blacklisted users for certain services. By the
end of 2016, telecom companies should ensure that 100 percent of the
country's telephone accounts are registered under real identities, according
to the guideline. The move came amid a national campaign against rampant
online and telecom fraud that has spread across the nation, leading to
significant property loss. In 2015, China detected roughly 590,000 telecom
fraud cases, with the amount swindled reaching 22.2 billion yuan (3.3 billion
U.S. dollars). From
http://www.news.cn/
11/07/2016 Int'l Cooperation Needed for
Establishing a Sound Cyberspace Community The call, by President Xi Jinping on Wednesday,
for the collaborative creation of a cyberspace community of common destiny is
a shared aspiration of the international community, especially developing
nations. The rapid development of the Internet has changed the world in which
we live, bringing new opportunities as well as new challenges to the human
society, Xi said in a live-broadcast speech to the opening ceremony of the
third World Internet Conference (WIC). The Internet is a dynamic, global
domain. It is more than a platform for fervid shopping, from it has emerged
systems that change the way we live our lives and the way we interact with
the world around us. The rise of the global village has also shone a light on
issues such as imbalanced growth among nations, incomplete governing rules
and unbalanced order. These tensions have materialized as identity theft,
online crimes, cyber attacks and terrorist activities. As the information gap
among countries and regions continues to expand, it is increasingly difficult
for the existing rules that govern cyberspace to represent the will and
interests of the majority of nations. Consequently, different nations are
experiencing contrasting fates in cyberspace. In order to address these
pressing challenges, as Internet development has no boundaries, international
cooperation must be mobilized and a cyberspace community of common destiny
established. To this end, China has already suggested a series
of principles and proposals for the healthy development of the Internet. At
the second WIC last year, Xi suggested four principles to promote the
development and governance of the Internet, including respecting sovereignty
on cyberspace and safeguarding peace and security. Xi also listed five
proposals, including facilitating the construction of global Internet
infrastructure and developing a cyberspace governance system to promote
fairness and justice. The principles and proposals were highly appraised and
welcomed by the international community. At the WIC this year, Xi said the
online world should be built upon the notions of equality and respect;
innovation and development; openness and sharing; and security and order.
These objectives, together with the principles and proposals, lay a
foundation for nations to build a cyberspace community of common destiny.
China will be actively involved in realizing this blueprint, contributing not
only a burgeoning market, products and technology, but also culture and
thoughts. From
http://www.news.cn/
11/17/2016 JAPAN: Train a Cohort of IT Security Experts to
Fight Cyberterrorism Ahead of 2020 Both the public and private sectors should
cooperate in nurturing manpower to protect the security of our information
society. The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry has established a new
national qualification system in which those who have advanced knowledge and
skills in the field of cybersecurity will be registered as “IT security
support providers.” Examinations for qualification in this field will begin
next fiscal year. To fight cyberterrorism during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and
Paralympics, the ministry hopes to train at least 30,000 cybersecurity
specialists. Crimes committed via the internet have become more diverse.
Hackers have stolen customer lists and credit card information from the
computers of public organizations and private companies, and have tampered
with websites. In some cases, they have demanded large sums of money in
exchange for the data they have stolen. The main tasks of IT security support
providers would be to serve as a control tower to determine the weaknesses of
in-house cybersecurity systems, augment their protection and make sure they
can withstand cyber-attacks. They are also required to promptly deal with any
breaches in security. The planned examinations will be of the highest
degree of difficulty among the tests related to information processing that
have been conducted by the central government. Previous examinations have
only resulted in the issuance of a certificate showing a passing grade, and
did not extend a registered national qualification to the successful
examinee. Registered IT security specialists will be obliged to take annual
training courses and pass an exam to upgrade their knowledge and maintain a
high level of cybersecurity skills. It will be necessary to enhance the
qualification’s credibility in society by constantly reviewing the content of
lectures to ensure they are up-to-date and of the highest level. The
inauguration of the new national qualification system would be meaningless
unless enterprises and organizations effectively use qualified experts. The
government plans to draw up a list of registered security support providers,
so business enterprises can refer to it when hiring IT security
professionals. It is important, first of all, to make it widely
known that registered security specialists are at work. Another essential
need is for company managers to change their mind-sets. According to a 2013
survey conducted by an auditing firm that operates internationally, companies
with executives who energetically take in-house cybersecurity measures
totaled 59 percent in the world as a whole, while among Japanese enterprises
it was a mere 27 percent. If private information leaks from a business
enterprise as a result of a cyber-attack, the company’s credibility will be
impaired. Taking cybersecurity measures is an important investment to ensure
corporate defense. If enterprises offer cybersecurity professionals
preferential employment conditions, it will help generate a virtuous cycle of
highly talented people aiming to become IT security support providers. There
are fears that the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games may be easy targets of
cyberterrorism. In regard to ticket sales, competition management and other
matters, the Olympics cannot be held without information technology. If a
security system related to an event comes under a cyberterrorist attack, the
Games will be thrown into utter confusion. Reinforcing the security of
transportation networks and financial systems is also vital. The skills of IT
security support providers will be tested everywhere. From http://the-japan-news.com 11/01/2016 SOUTH KOREA: Google Products Found with Most
Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities - Report Google Inc.'s products were found to have the highest
number of Internet security vulnerabilities, accounting for 22 percent of
risks found in the third quarter, a report out Tuesday said. According to the
Korea Internet & Security Agency, 155 of 694 reported common
vulnerabilities and exposures (CVE) were discovered in Google devices. Adobe
came next at 107 (15 percent), followed by Oracle's 71 (10 percent),
Microsoft's 65 (10 percent) and Apple's 54 (8 percent). The report was drawn
among high-severity risks that were rated 7 or over in the Common Vulnerability
Scoring System. Overall, CVEs fell 5 percent in the third quarter compared
with the previous quarter, the South Korean agency said. The vulnerabilities
of Google products rose 66 percent on-quarter, mostly from the chipsets that
equip Android-operated products. The report said 87 of the 155 risks for
Google products were associated with the chipsets. For Adobe, the risks fell
by 43 percent on-quarter, but a majority of the problems were still
attributed to its Flash Player. There were 36 CVEs scoring 9 or over, 20 of
them found in Microsoft Office products, according to the report. From http://www.koreaherald.com 11/15/2016 S. Korea Denies Google's Request for Map Data,
Citing Security Concerns South Korea decided Friday not to allow Google
Inc. to take government-supplied map data outside the country, citing
possible security breaches. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and
Transport, which supervises mapping policy, announced the decision after a
meeting with officials from the foreign, defense and other-related
ministries. "There are security concerns amid the confrontation between
the South and the North," the ministry said. "(The ministry)
suggested Google come up with supplementary measures to relieve security
concerns, but Google did not accept this." The Seoul government had said
it might allow Google to use the government-supplied maps if it deleted or
blurred sensitive and military facilities, including the presidential office
Cheong Wa Dae. From http://www.koreaherald.com 11/18/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
SINGAPORE: NUS, Singtel Launch $43 Million Cyber
Security Laboratory SINGAPORE - The cyber security space in Singapore
received a boost with the launch of a laboratory under an official National
Research Foundation (NRF) scheme to develop new technologies to combat
security threats. The NRF, National University of Singapore (NUS) and telco
Singtel will invest $43 million in the laboratory over the next five years in
areas such as data analytics and machine learning for automatic cyber attack
detection, and tamper-proof encryption techniques. The NUS-Singtel Cyber
Security Research and Development Laboratory, hosted by the NUS School of
Computing, is the 10th laboratory supported under the Corporate
Laboratory@University scheme by the NRF. "We must constantly be on
guard, and be prepared to deal with the increasingly sophisticated cyber
threats," said Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for
National Security Teo Chee Hean at Monday's (Oct 24) launch. A key
deliverable of the NUS-Singtel Cyber Security Research and Development
Laboratory will be increasing Singapore's pool of cyber security
professionals, and raising their capabilities, he said. The facility will
host 100 researchers and train 120 new cyber security professionals from the undergraduate
to postgraduate level over the next five years. Citing increasing threats
targeting both the public and private sector, DPM Teo, who is also chairman
of NRF, said Singapore has taken progressive steps over the years to
strengthen its cyber security capabilities. These include the $130 million
National Cyber Security Research and Development Programme in 2013 to bolster
the nation's security. He said that an additional $60 million will be
allocated to a Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 Plan. From http://www.straitstimes.com/ 10/24/2016 THAILAND: Move to Boost Security for Mobile
Banking THE EFFORT to improve the security of mobile
banking transactions to boost consumer confidence in using them has taken a step
in the right direction after major players in the initiative vowed to work
more closely in launching relevant measures. The announcement came as the
National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) plans to
launch a fingerprint proofing system with telecom companies to verify the
owners of mobile-phone numbers by early next year. The NBTC, the Bank of
Thailand, the Thai Bankers' Association, and the Telecommunications
Association of Thailand (TCT) reached an agreement yesterday to launch five
short-term measures designed to boost consumer confidence in using mobile
banking, Internet banking, and PromptPay services. They met to discuss
measures aimed at achieving that amid mounting concerns over the security of
the electronic transaction system. According to the measures, the involved
parties will seek a common practice to verify the identity of the
mobile-phone users. Then the NBTC will instruct telecom companies to proceed
strictly with the practice of verifying their subscribers' identities.
Commercial banks and mobile-phone operators will jointly inform users of
mobile banking, Internet banking, and PromptPay services that if they lose a
mobile device, they have to inform their bank urgently to cancel the service
and get a new SIM card. If service users can prove that they told a bank to
suspend their mobile banking, Internet banking, or PromptPay services after
losing a device, they will not be held responsible for any damage. Banks will
inform telecom firms what phone numbers are used for mobile banking, Internet
banking and PromptPay services so operators will pay more attention to these
numbers. Request for new SIM card When requiring a new SIM card, a mobile-phone
subscriber using mobile banking, Internet banking or PromptPay services will
have to make a request for the new card - they cannot authorise another
person to do that. Suphachai Chearavanont, president of the
Telecommunications Association of Thailand, said the telecom and banking
industries would collaborate to step up their security systems. Ronadol
Numnonda, BOT assistant governor for the Supervision Group, said the central
bank would try to create more confidence in online banking services by giving
more information to people on how to apply for PromptPay so it was more secure.
Thai Bankers' Association chairman Predee Daochai said he was confident the
PromptPay system was secure. However, he admitted that online fraud and
online theft were increasing. His association and the BOT are working closely
on the issue, he said. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 09/13/2016 Cybersecurity Will Be Vital to the Success of
Thailand 4.0 Thailand has pledged to embrace digital
transformation and leverage technology to advance into a next-generation
economic powerhouse. The nation’s digitisation journey starts with the
“Thailand 4.0” economic model which focuses on technological innovation and
digital development to improve the quality of life, productivity and
efficiency. The government aims to develop a high value-added economy by changing
Thailand’s traditional farming to smart farming, traditional SMEs to smart
enterprises and traditional services to high-value services. It will tap
digital technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, big data
and analytics, to nurture smart, secure and connected communities which are
innovative, forward-thinking and well-equipped to stay at the forefront of
the competition. At the heart of Thailand’s digitisation trend lie consumers
and their increasingly digital lifestyles. The Electronic Transactions
Development Agency (ETDA) revealed that Thais spent more time on the Internet
– 6.2 hours a day – and that smartphone usage in Thailand has increased
significantly to 85.5 per cent. As organisations continue to roll out new
business models to cater to Thais’ growing appetite for digital content,
products and services, security has been identified as the foundation for
innovation and growth. Many new technology services and business models are
built on trust, and their adoption rate is only sustainable if consumers have
confidence in the organization’s capabilities to safeguard personal and
financial data. Growth of sophisticated cyberattacks Organisations without effective security
strategies are likely to adopt digital capabilities slower and realise fewer
benefits. ETDA revealed that Thailand was targeted by more than 4,300 cyber
attacks last year, up from 3,000 in 2014, while MasterCard flagged payment
security as a concern for most online consumers and cited it as the reason
behind lower online shopping figures in Thailand. More than half the Thai
population does not shop online. In early August, a bank in Thailand shut
down half of its ATM machines nationwide after hackers breached its servers
and compromised Bt12 million. The cybercriminals had infected ATM machines
with a malware designed to instruct them to dispense cash on demand.
Ransomware has now become the most profitable malware type in history. It is time for companies to identify
an effective security strategy to support their transformation objectives.
The Cisco 2016 Midyear Cybersecurity Report found that organisations are
unprepared for future strains of more sophisticated ransomware. Fragile
infrastructure, poor network hygiene and slow detection rates provide plenty of
time and opportunities for attackers to infiltrate. The struggle to restrain
the operational space of attackers is the “biggest challenge” facing
businesses and threatens the underlying foundation required for digital
transformation. Making the move to smarter security To protect their business environments,
organisations can take simple yet significant steps to enhance their security
operations such as monitoring the network; deploying patches and upgrades on
time; segmenting the network; and implementing defences at the edge,
including email and web security. Using next-generation firewalls and IPS,
then integrating defences by leveraging an architectural approach to security
rather than deploying niche products and measure time to detection and insisting
on fastest time available to uncover threats then mitigating against them
immediately will help. Businesses can also make metrics part of
organisational security policy by protecting users everywhere they are and
where they work, not just the systems they interact with and when they are on
the corporate network. Finally, back up critical data and routinely test
their effectiveness while confirming that back-ups are not susceptible to
attacks. In 2015, a cybersecurity survey conducted by ETDA found that 87 per
cent of companies said they had experienced both data and monetary loss from
cyberattacks. Undoubtedly, cyberattacks can be debilitating to businesses,
regardless of size or industry, and can cause tremendous amount of stress and
cost to consumers. To achieve Thailand 4.0, security has been identified as a
critical foundation and needs to become a priority for decision-makers. To
close the attackers’ opportunity, organisations must have a multi-layered
approach to security and build cybersecurity into their digital
transformation process as a foundational element, rather than trying to “bolt
it on” as an afterthought. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/10/2016 VIETNAM: HCMC Tries Cyber Security Drill HCM City is carrying out a cyber security drill
even as the city and country are grappling with a grave deterioration in
online security. The annual drill focuses on responding to cyber attacks to
improve competence during real situations and investigation, analysis and
incident response. Organised by the Department of Information and
Communications, the Việt Nam Information Security Association, Ministry of
Defence and Quang Trung Software Company, it includes three phases. The
first, from September 19 to 23, provides training for IT staff working for
State agencies in the city. The second phase (September 30 – October 2) will
focus on addressing cyber attacks and remotely taking control of cyber
attacks. The third (October 2-7) will rehearse various scenarios in common
cyber attacks on the internet and mobile phones. The drill is an opportunity
for technicians to practise with computer technology and raise awareness of
information safety at offices, enterprises and the community, according to
the department. It is essential for all relevant agencies to co-operate
in responding to incidents and protecting information since there is no
geographic limitation when it comes to cyber attacks, it said. They need to
join hands to protect themselves, it added. There have been a number of cyber
attacks recently. At the end of July an alleged Chinese hacker group carried
out several attacks on Việt Nam’s two largest international airports and the
official website of Vietnam Airlines. Data about thousands of Vietnam
Airlines’ Golden Lotus members was leaked. The hackers also took control of
the speaker system at Nội Bài airport for a few minutes when a male voice
distorted Việt Nam’s claims of sovereignty over the East Sea in English.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Việt Nam, the attacks affected
more than 100 flights at the two airports. The hackers claimed to be 1937CN
from China, one of the biggest hacker groups in the country and with a
history of hacking into Vietnamese and the Philippine websites. Airport
security forces soon regained control over the hacked screens and speaker
system. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
09/23/2016 Institute
Launches First Training for Cybersecurity Simulations The Institute for Cyber Security Research and
Training (CSO) has launched a training system for cybersecurity simulations,
the first of its kind in Việt Nam. The institute on Thursday ran a cybersecurity
drill in which a hacker attacks the computer system of a thermal power plant,
taking control of the power supply equipment. The country’s first
cybersecurity training simulation is based on virtualisation, according to Đỗ
Ngọc Duy Trác, chairman of CSO’s board of directors. The training simulates
the cyber-systems of state agencies and businesses, including server systems,
power stations, cyber-equipment, industrial control equipment and typical
cyber-security systems. The training uses costly, cutting-edge technologies
from Israel, according to Trác. The training involves more than 1,000
scenarios of cyberattacks with simulated devices of power stations, ATM
systems, bank server systems and industrial control systems. It can carry out
20 cybersecurity drills involving more than 200 cyber security experts at the
same time. The training also has automatic attack system scenarios,
simulating high-performance cyberattacks with more than 6,000 types of
attacks, more than 100 techniques to escape from the defensive system, 30,000
kinds of malware and forms of botnet cybersystems, and dozens of DdoS
attacks. The simulation helps practitioners respond faster and more
effectively to complex and advanced attacks in real situations. It also acts
as a laboratory for testing the capacity of IT systems of government agencies
and analysing the operation of malware. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
11/05/2016 Clamp
Down on Pre-Activated SIMs The Ministry of Information and Communications
(MIC) has ordered mobile network providers to intensify the confiscation of
pre-activated SIM cards in order to reduce spam text messages. Five mobile
network providers, including Viettel, VNPT (VinaPhone), MobiFone, Gtel Mobile
and Vietnammobile, started to review their distribution channels and confiscate
pre-activated SIM cards at the beginning of this month. They had committed to
finishing the confiscation process before December 15. Pre-activated SIM
cards did not only lead to spam and phishing messages but could also be used
as a tool for crimes and terrorism, leaders of the information ministry said
at the signing ceremony of the network providers’ commitment to the
confiscation of pre-activated SIM cards last month. MIC said it would form
inspection teams and direct the city’s information department to examine the
confiscation process of each network provider. The ministry is currently
drafting an amendment to Article 15 of the Government’s Decree No. 25 that
was issued in 2011. The amendment will increase the amount of fines
on network providers, distribution agencies and customers that violate the
regulations on registering, storing and using mobile accounts’ information.
General directors and directors of mobile and telecommunication enterprises
would receive a fine of VNĐ180-200 million (US$8,100-9,000) when violating
contracting procedures, general trading conditions and regulations on
registering and storing mobile accounts’ information, the information
ministry said. VinaPhone representatives reported that on November 5, the
network operator sent text messages and invited customers that owned
pre-activated SIM cards to re-verify their identities at its transaction
stores. If the customers did not re-verify their identities within 15 days
after receving the announcement, their access to all mobile services would be
locked on November 21, Vinaphone said. The operator guaranteed that none of
its distributors would be distributing pre-activated SIM cards by January 1
next year. Representatives from MobiFone said that the operator examined and
confiscated all pre-activated SIM cards that appeared at distribution
channels nationwide before November 1. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
11/15/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
Security of Indian Ocean
Linked to Stability of Global Eco
From http://www.siliconindia.com/ 10/17/2016 INDIA: Five
Things to Remember for Cyber Security In the wake of various data breaches in the
recent times, there are five important lessons which have been observed to be
useful in preventing most of the data breaches while making the system less
vulnerable. The steps may hold high significance, considering that in 2015,
cyber-attacks and big data breaches on various Indian organizations made it
to the headlines. The security breaches exposed important government records,
emails, financial information (debit/credit card details) and other personal
information to cyber criminals. According to a Global Security Survey
conducted by PWC, there is an increase of 117 per cent average number of
information security incidents detected by respondents from 2,895 in 2014 to
6,284 in 2015. The precautions could be highly helpful since it has been
observed that hackers are capable of hacking and subverting billions of USB
devices. From keyboards to printers and thumb drives to data from warehouses,
these hackers can penetrate any level of security. It has increased
vulnerabilities of our computer systems and victimizes people of adverse data
breaches on different IT platforms. So what are the most important lessons
derived on the basis of various data breaches: End-to-End Encryption: End-to-End Encryption is one of the easiest way
to protect PCs, USB devices, stored data and removable media. Its features
like full disk encryption, file encryption, and removable media encryption
protects against all threats even if device is lost or stolen. Audit Trails: It is impossible to
monitor the stored data 24X7, in such situation audit trails help in tracking
system or device’s activity, to determine the level of data breach. Storing
audit trails remotely, where actually they can only be appended to, can keep
intruders from covering their paths. Chronological sequence of the breaches,
if any occurred is provided by audit trails makes you feel secure even when
you’re not accessing your devices. Timely
Software Updates: Cyber criminals and hackers always try to find out a
small error to peep into your system. Any outdated software can easily give
them access & control of your devices and system to steal profound
data. To avoid such gaps, software publishers fix these gaps that by
publishing new updates make your system error free, safer and secure towards
any possible threats. It is must for every user to update their softwares
regularly so that to avoid loss of any important records/information. Securing codes: Security codes such
as passwords, user pins, etc. are really important in order to protect the
data/important records from manipulation of data, or other illegal
operations. Security codes must be of unique pattern and to avoid any easy
access and or guessing by hackers or cyber criminals. Security codes at every
level result into better safety and prevention from threats and
vulnerabilities.Create Backups:Backups
are the best methods of preventing data loss. Regular data backup allows
every organization or a person to backup the entire data/records which one
can access in case of any unavoidable data loss. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 09/26/2016 Microsoft Opens
Cybersecurity Engagement Centre in India
According to the leading software security group
Kaspersky Lab, India is among the top five countries in the world
to be attacked by ransomware -- malware that forces its victims to pay a
ransom through certain online payment methods to regain their data. In the
last 12 months, Microsoft's cybersecurity management team met with over 100
organizations in the country to understand what plagued them. "The team
observed three common IT issues plaguing them that include unmanaged and
unregulated IT assets usage, procurement and maintenance, poor knowledge of
cyber hygiene among users within organizations and inability of companies to
timely monitor, detect and remove cyber threats," the company said. The
CSEC will bring together Microsoft and its partners to identify and respond
to cyber threats in the country. "As governments and enterprise embrace
digital transformation and strive for resilience, a holistic and agile
security platform is ever more critical. This is where Microsoft's unique
threat intelligence innovations and trusted cloud ecosystem offer them
powerful protection against security threats," added Madhu Khatri,
Associate General Counsel of Microsoft India. In addition to enabling and
empowering enterprises to manage modern security threats effectively, the
CSEC aims to expand Microsoft's public-private partnerships in India. The centre
will also enable customers tap into a pool of resources such as security
specialists and technologies at Microsoft. As part of Microsoft Consultancy
Services (MCS), a dedicated India-based response team will offer security
consultancy services to enterprise customers. Microsoft has also rolled out
Microsoft Secure, a nationwide campaign to increase awareness on
cybersecurity to help organizations understand their security requirements
better. From http://www.siliconindia.com/ 10/21/2016 Symantec
Upgrades Its Digital Security Through Blue Coat Telemetry Symantec Corp
has integrated Blue Coat’s security telemetry to its existing systems to
enhance the company’s threat intelligence capabilities. It has also started
using data-crunching force of artificial intelligence which is used to
analyse numbers reaching into trillions. By using Blue Coat and artificial
intelligence, the company has blocked at least 500,000 online threats and
provided visibility and protection for Symantec customers across the world. “Symantec
research teams have unparalleled visibility into the entire threat landscape,
including the most advanced attacks, and Blue Coat researchers have been
categorising, mapping, and fingerprinting the internet with a view into the
darkest parts of the web and malware trade craft,” said Greg Clark, CEO of
Symantec. With this new technology integration, Symantec is now protecting
175 million consumer and enterprise end points, 163 email users, 80 million
web proxy users and processes nearly eight billion security requests across
these products every day. This level of visibility allows Symantec to
discover and block targetted attacks which were undetectable earlier. “By
fast-tracking the integration of the threat intelligence capabilities from
Symantec and Blue Coat, Symantec products are now blocking 500,000 additional
attacks per day for our endpoint, email, and web security customers. Drawing
out those kinds of results from data is only possible by using artificial
intelligence, which gives our threat researchers a vastly augmented ability
to spot attacks earlier than anyone else,” added Clark. With this
integration, the foundation for Symantec’s Integrated Cyber Defence Platform
has been laid, which allows Symantec products to share threat intelligence
and improve security outcomes for customers across all control points. “The
fragmentation that exists amongst threat intelligence solutions continues to
have a negative impact on organizations across all industries,” said Jon
Oltsik, Senior Principal Analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. “In
today’s threat landscape, an integrated solution that combines security
intelligence and detection engines, helps organisations stay ahead of
advanced threats.” The combined Symantec-Blue Coat threat telemetry has led
to a series of significant protection improvements as well as discoveries of
new attack campaigns in a short period of time. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/05/2016 Ixia’s Multi-Terabit Network Security Test Platform Network testing software and hardware developer
Ixia has launched CloudStorm, a multi terabit network security test platform
to provide network security testing of hyperscale cloud data centers. The
product will test and validate the increased capacity, efficiency, and
resiliency of hyperscale cloud data centers, including how well those centers
can handle Secure Sockets layer (SSL) traffic and Distributed Denial of
Service (DDoS) attacks. The new product can simulate mixed applications,
malicious traffic, and other network traffic to test those data center
designs. “Extensive encryption is now a reality. Security and application
performance validation in this encrypted world needed a dramatic increase in
the performance of security test platforms,” said Sunil Kalidindi, Vice
President of Product Management at Ixia. “CloudStorm helps customers break
the SSL test barrier by delivering a near terabit level of SSL bandwidth with
strong encryption ciphers.” Ixia has strengthened its leadership role in the
application and security testing market with the introduction of CloudStorm.
It enables users to validate a data center’s capacity to handle cloud-scale
applications, measure the impact of SSL traffic on performance, and assess
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation techniques to handle terabit
attacks. CloudStorm is the first test platform capable of simulating Internet
of Things (IoT) devices generating multi-terabit DDoS traffic, which is two
times greater than the volume of any previously known attack. This enables
customers to validate the performance of hyperscale data centers easily and
economically, while improving the security resiliency of their network. This
flexible and scalable solution simulates 2.4 terabits of mixed applications,
as well as malicious traffic, to test the critical elements of complex data
centers, including server applications, storage workloads, and network
security devices. Cloud-based data centers enable enterprises to
achieve scale and agility. However, network security and application delivery
platforms may not be equipped to handle this volume of traffic, creating
security vulnerabilities, as well as impacting availability and performance
of business-critical applications. CloudStorm offers high-performance
encryption support with hardware offload, facilitating a cloud-scale volume
of SSL traffic. As a result, CloudStorm offers enterprises and data center
operators unmatched encrypted application performance to find the right
balance between security with SSL inspection capabilities and application
performance with an acceptable quality of experience. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 11/17/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
TURKMENISTAN:
Bank Deposits Now Safe, Gov't Says The law “On compulsory guarantee of deposits of individuals”
has entered force in Turkmenistan. This law defines the legal, economic and
organizational bases of guaranteeing deposits of the individuals in banks of
Turkmenistan, participation of banks in the system of compulsory guarantee of
deposits. The aim of the compulsory deposit guarantee system is to promote
the attraction of savings of the population, protect the interests of
depositors, strengthen confidence in the banking system of Turkmenistan by
paying guarantee compensation in case if a member bank is compulsory
liquidated. The main principles of the system of compulsory guarantee of
deposits are mandatory participation of banks, which accept deposits of
individuals, transparency of the compulsory deposit guarantee system, the
cumulative nature of the formation of the fund for compulsory deposit
guarantee. The subjects of the mandatory deposit guarantee system are
investors, the Central Bank of Turkmenistan and the participating banks. From http://en.trend.az/
10/24/2016 UZBEKISTAN: Receiving Certificate on Granting
Legal Protection to Topographies of Integrated Circuits Becomes Online The Single portal of state interactive services
has launched a new service of the Agency on intellectual property of
Uzbekistan. The new interactive service allows legal entities and individuals
to send all the necessary documents for obtaining the certificate on granting
legal protection to topographies of integrated circuits in real-time
(online). When sending an electronic application via the Single portal,
following documents are to be provided in electronic form: - The application
for registration; - Deposited materials, identifying topology, including a
summary; - The document confirming payment of patent fee for the state
examination or a document confirming the right to exemption from payment of
patent fees; - When applying for the registration by a Trustee, the
application shall contain a power of attorney of a Trustee; - The application
for registration related to the topology, in case if it had been used for
commercial purposes after the date of its filing to the Agency must also
contain a document confirming the date of first use of this topology for
commercial purposes. The fee for the services is established at 2.4 minimum
wages. The service is rendered for two months. The response is sent
electronically to the user's personal account on the Single portal and/or
e-mail, which was specified during registration on the portal. The Agency
reserves the right to refuse registration of the application in the case of
non-compliance by the applicant with the requirements established by part 2
of article 8 of the Law On topographies of integrated circuits". From http://news.uzreport.uz/
09/14/2016 Winners of Cyber Security Challenge
Uzbekistan and Intellect2all Competitions Identified International trade center hosted the final
stages of the competition and awarding ceremony of open competition in the
field of information security «Cyber Security Challenge Uzbekistan» as well
as IT projects competition «Intellect2All». Both competitions were held in
the framework of “ICTWEEK Uzbekistan-2016", where the participants of
two competitions also visited master-classes from leading international and
domestic experts in the field of information security. Final tournament
competition called CTF-tournament (Capture the Flag) took place at the
Tashkent University of Information Technology. The finalists had to solve a
total of 30 tasks in order to detect and prevent threats and secure their own
systems. For each solved task, team or an individual participant received a
"flag", thereby earning points. All points were recorded in the
overall tournament standings. The final stage of the competition was
different from previous ones as it was as close as possible to the realities
of the modern cyberspace. Competition «Cyber Security Challenge Uzbekistan»
aims at improving intellectual potential of young people. It was attended by
young professionals in the field of IT security. It is worth emphasizing that
the age of the target audience of the competition ranges from 15 to 30 years.
Republican IT projects competition «Intellect2all» finished on the same day,
which was attended by over 1,800 participants. The finalists of the
competition were assessed in three categories: web development, mobile
applications, and virtual reality applications. For example, the winners in
the nomination "Virtual Reality Applications" presented their
application which would help to attract young people to the history of our
country and the world. The winners of the two competitions were awarded
diplomas and valuable prizes from the organizers and partners of the
competition. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
09/22/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
AUSTRALIA: Govt Cyber Advisor Shares Concerns
over Its Critical Infrastructure An expert who advised the prime minister ahead of
the government's Cyber Security Strategy has shared his grave concerns about the
security of critical infrastructure in Australia. Dr Tobias Feakin, head of
the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's International Cyber Policy
Centre, was speaking as part of a panel at SINET61 in Sydney this week.
"Naming no names," he said, "I've been party to conversations
with some very large infrastructure delivery companies where that cyber
security discussion is not happening at the board level. "So the drop
off point seems to be quite sharp in the critical infrastructure scene in
Australia. That concerns me." Feakin was appointed by prime minister
Malcolm Turnbull to be part of a panel of experts to advise on the Australian
Cyber Security Review in 2014. Though a classified document, the ideas within
the review underpin this year's Cyber Security Strategy. No measures to
secure critical infrastructure are put forward in the strategy, aside from a
mention that the Australian Cyber Security Centre was "improving its
links to critical infrastructure providers".Feakin revealed that the
panel had had "a conversation" around critical infrastructure
protection but said "there's more work to be done". Power play The expansion of the Internet of Things and the
rise of smart cities required a better understanding of where vulnerabilities
lay, Feakin said. "I do think we reach a juncture where we're not
comprehending what's critical, where those nodes exist, where the
interdependencies lie," said Feakin. "With increased roll out of
government services online, increased data pools existing, I'm not quite sure
we're clear let alone where physical infrastructure is, but where that
[digital] part of infrastructure is. We're struggling." A 2014 study
from Unisys revealed that 86 per cent of critical infrastructure providers in
Australia and New Zealand had suffered a breach that led to the loss of
confidential information or disruption of operations. The politics and power
plays happening in the APAC region were also a concern, Feakin added.
"[Infrastructure] is not being done with cyber security baked in at a level
I think is necessary. Especially when you're overlapping that with the kind
of strategic change that we're seeing in this region which invariably does
play a role in everything we see in the cyber domain. "We see everything
going on in the physical world being reflected in the cyber domain."
Although it sounded like a "dangerous mix", Feakin said the
situation represented a "tremendous opportunity" in Australia for
government and industry to collaborate and propose policy in the area. From http://www.computerworld.com.au 09/16/2016 Public
Service Dataset Pulled over Privacy Fears The Australian public service's workplace
authority has removed from public view the data of more than 96,000 public
servants it collected in its annual employee census. A report in the Canberra
Times said the data was taken down because of fears that the confidential
information of employees might not be secure. However, the takedown may have
come too late as the Australian Public Service Commission said the dataset
had been downloaded 58 times before it was removed. This is the second time
in a week that reports of a dataset being made public and then removed have
surfaced. As iTWire reported on 29 September, data extracted from the
Pharmaceutical Benefits and Medicare Benefits schemes was taken off the
data.gov.au website after a researcher found that service provider IDs could
be identified. The public servants' data was removed because there were fears
that the ID codes for departments and agencies could serve as a means to
identify individuals. The census in question is the largest workplace survey
in the country and was taken on condition of anonymity. It has been an annual
count since 2003, but agency identifiers have never before been attached to
the data. From http://www.itwire.com 10/07/2016
Australian IoT Industry Told to Put Security
First Professor Jill Slay, the director of the
Australian Centre for Cyber Security at UNSW in Canberra, has delivered a
scathing attack on the IoT industry for failing to design in security, on the
vendor community for peddling false promises, and bemoaned what she sees as a
general lack of leadership in cyber security. Delivering a speech at the
Everything IoT conference in Sydney, Slay opened her presentation by telling
the audience: “I am the person who is going to pour cold water on all your
enthusiasm.” Of her role, and that of other security researchers she said:
“We have hacked every kind of device you can imagine. We walk a few steps
behind you agile people who adopt new things. Then we attack them and tell
you why you shouldn’t use them. That is who we are. … Our mantra is: ‘Don’t
bolt on the security afterwards, build it in at the beginning.’ Security by
design. Hack it to death yourself.” She called on all involved in IoT in
Australia to develop a culture of security as a matter of urgency. “The
Internet of things has a bright shiny future, but we are way past the
beginning already. We need to build in the security now. “I commend you all
for your excitement and I trust you will secure everything. Let us develop a
culture of security as we develop a culture of agility. Meanwhile she accused vendors of making
unrealistic promises about their technologies. “I live in Canberra. What I
see is the vendor solution to everything. It would appear that we just have
to buy the right tool and the right vendor training for the tool and then we
will see a system that is secure. If anybody promises you that, it is just
not true.” Slay claimed that the growth of cyber crime in Australia had been
“exponential” but was under-reported. As a result, she said insufficient funds
were being devoted to combatting it. “In Queensland there are more reports of
domestic violence than of cyber crime, so more resources are put into that.
We don't have the finances and we don't have the resources to tackle
cybercrime.” Slay said that, despite the government having a cyber security
strategy there was no clear cyber security leadership in Australia. “If you
live in my world, in the training, teaching and research world, it is really
difficult to understand who wants to be the leader in cyber security. Who
wants to say: “This is the direction we should go nationally’.” She acknowledged there was now a government cyber
strategy but said: “If you look at the literature, and that is what
professors do. There are two major voices in the literature. One is the
computer scientists that have done great work in developing the algorithms,
but also this is the realm of cyber security for national security and cyber
security gets mixed in with national security.” Compounding the problem, Slay
said was a great shortage of cyber security professionals. “We have a huge
shortage of data scientists, a huge shortage of cyber security professionals
and an even greater shortage of those who can deal with data science and with
cyber security.” Also, she said cyber criminals would always be more agile
than organisations seeking to counter them.“As law
abiding companies we have to be governed by policy, regulation, law and
ethics. The bad guys are not governed by policy, regulation, law and ethics.
So even if we become as agile as possible, they will be much more agile than
us.” Slay predicted that poor security practices among SMEs would make large
organisations vulnerable, despite their own best efforts. “I feel the top end
will be reliant on the bottom end, and that is where the risk will be.In
Australia we have a lot of SMEs and they struggle to deal with cyber security
because it is hard for them to access the right level of expertise at the
right costs.” From http://www.computerworld.com.au 10/18/2016 Cyber
Security Governance in Public, Private Sectors Falls Short Cybercrime is the second most-reported economic
crime in Australia and costs the economy an estimated $17 billion annually,
but despite this there are widespread “frailities” in the governance of cyber
security among executives in both the public sector and private enterprise,
according to a newly published report. The survey of Australia's security
preparedness by the Macquarie Telecom Group and the National Security College
found that there is considerable variation in cyber-risk governance
arrangements and an absence of cyber-risk knowledge at the executive/board
level. In government agencies, the report says knowledge of cyber risks is
still inadequate, and among respondents to the survey, 41% regard their
executive team/board as having poor or limited knowledge of cyber risks. Only
50% of executive teams are provided cyber threat reports monthly or more
frequently. And, in medium-sized business in the private sector, the study
found that there was insufficient executive knowledge of cyber risks, with
58% of respondents stating their board had a sufficient understanding of
cyber risks, and 30% saying their board or executive team never received
reports of cyber threats, while 46% reported their board discusses cyber
security “rarely or never”. And, among private enterprises, awareness of
government services was found to be limited, with just 46% of respondents
aware of the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN), while
47% tended not to report attacks stemming from malware or distributed denial
of service (DDoS). In government agencies, the survey found that cyber risk
management is still not prioritised across all agencies, with 84% having an
individual chiefly responsible for cyber security, yet only 64% of the
executives sitting on the executive team or board, “indicating that cyber
risk management is not embedded at the highest decision-making levels”.
According to the survey, knowledge of cyber risks is still inadequate in government
agencies. Among government agency respondents, 41% regarded their executive
team/board as having poor or limited knowledge of cyber risks, and only 50%
of executive teams are provided cyber threat reports monthly or more
frequently. And, the report says there is infrequent consideration of cyber
risks in the government sector, with no agency reporting cyber risk
management was reviewed monthly or weekly. “This contrasts with private business, where 31%
review cyber risk management at least monthly. This reinforces the
possibility that the culture of cyber security is not yet mature,” the report
says. On the risks and implications of their report, Macquarie Telecom and
the National Security College say the “patchwork of governance arrangements” —
shown in the variation of titles, responsibilities and executive team
membership — “reflects latent problems with executive knowledge over the
risks of cyber threats, their responsibilities, and how to improve cyber
threat management”. The two organisations also observe: • It is likely that medium-sized companies and
agencies remain unable to acquire the requisite experience and expertise in
cyber security management. There is significant variance in cyber security roles,
processes and internal/external reporting. The relative absence of systematic
cyber risk discussion at board level indicates a cyber compliance culture
rather than an active cyber risk management culture. • The data indicates that executive/board knowledge
of cyber risks is inadequate. The indication that executive knowledge of
cyber risks is poor underlines the reduced capacity to adequately understand,
and take seriously, the full range of threats to companies or agencies. • It is likely that the full range of risks is
not being adequately reported. The relatively high levels of tolerance for
persistent — and perceived "low-level" — threats, such as malware
and DDoS, suggests that the relevant Australian cyber security initiatives do
not receive information on the range of cyber threats faced by Australia.
This means authorities may lack the accurate and comprehensive information
needed to appropriately prioritise national cyber defence initiatives. • Government cyber security initiatives are not
achieving purchase with medium-sized businesses. With just 38% of companies
familiar with CERT Australia (the Computer Emergency Response Team), and 46%
with ACORN, medium-sized enterprises are not taking full advantage of the
services available to them. In their recommendations, the two organisations
say cyber-risk management should be “normalised” as core board business, and
“asserted as a priority on a par with financial risk management as part of
all government and business decision-making”. According to the report, the
benefits of implementing this recommendation are that the increasing array of
digital risks are integrated into core organisational decision-making, risk
assessments, investments and strategy planning. “Consequently, executive
teams develop better situational awareness of their organisation’s key
threats and opportunities,” the report notes. The report also says that
collaboration with government cyber security agencies should become the
default policy setting for businesses and agencies, and “non-reporting of
cyber threats should become the exception, not the rule”. According to the two organisations, the
collective security of all Australian companies is enhanced with the timely
sharing of threats to public and private organisations. “Sharing by default
enhances the government’s awareness of the threat landscape and improves its
capacity to act in the national and sectoral interest. “The Commonwealth
should offer incentives to companies and organisations to provide early and
full disclosures of cyber breaches. In addition, executive teams should
mandate the disclosure of all information security breaches to the relevant
government agencies,” the report concludes. From http://www.itwire.com
11/03/2016 NEW
ZEALAND: Cyber Security Could Be an Export Earner, Says NZTech The head of the New Zealand Technology Industry
Association (NZTech), Graeme Muller, has warned that the country faces a
security skills shortage, but despite this claims that cyber security could
become a significant export earner for the country over the next decade.
Muller was addressing a roundtable discussion on cyber-security skills at the
New Zealand security summit in Wellington.He said: “A recent report from
Cisco said there was a global cyber security skills shortage of more than one
million people, as governments and corporations struggle to keep up with the
growth in cyber threats. “Right now in the United States there are over
200,000 open cyber security jobs without candidates and cyber jobs have grown
74 percent in the last five years. Nearly 75 percent of US security
professionals say they do not have enough staff to defend their organisations
against current threats.” Muller said the New Zealand the government and the
tech sector had recognised this growing global problem and had created a
collaborative private-public sector taskforce to proactively initiate
solutions such as specialist tertiary degrees and the inclusion of cyber
security in the new school curricula. “Skills shortages in any industry mean that
salaries will always be high and cyber security is no exception. The demand
for talent is so acute that US cities are offering huge salaries to attract
the right people and skills.,” Muller said. “This could present a wonderful
opportunity for New Zealand. If we can maintain our international reputation
as a safe and secure country and produce world class cyber professionals,
security could become a significant export earner over the next decade,”
Muller said. “The effective and safe use of information technology has the potential
to deliver incredible benefits to the New Zealand economy by enabling greater
efficiency and productivity. The technology industry is fast becoming a
significant source of export revenues for the country accounting for at least
$6.3 billion in exports last year.” From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 10/17/2016 Government
Task Force to Build Cyber Security Skills Communications Minister Amy Adams has announced
the establishment of a Cyber Security Skills Taskforce to address the shortage
of cyber professionals in New Zealand. The eight-person taskforce will be led
by David Eaton, CTO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) New Zealand and also
a member of the CERT Establishment Advisory Board. It will also include
representatives from academia and industry.It will establish a pathway for
junior analysts, including a level 6 qualification and industry-supported
internships to be developed in 2017. However this will do little to produce
highly qualified security professionals. A level 6 course, according to the
New Zealand Qualifications Framework is not a degree level course but a
certificate or diploma course and “qualifies individuals with theoretical
and/or technical knowledge and skills in specialised/strategic contexts.” Adams said there was a lack of New Zealanders
entering the profession at a sub-degree level, so the taskforce would focus
on working with academia and industry to develop the course, with industry
supported internships. “There is a growing global shortage of cyber security
professionals. It’s estimated that there will be a global workforce shortfall
of between one to two million positions by 2019,” Adams said. “This shortage
is limiting the ability of organisations to protect themselves from the
increasing threat of cyber attacks. New Zealand is competing for talent in a
global market and it’s important that the Taskforce looks at ways in which
New Zealand can grow its own talent.” The members of the task force are: Jo Healey, CEO of Dimension Data NZ who “has a longstanding
interest in improving cyber security skills in New Zealand, and a good
understanding of industry needs in relation to cybersecurity skills,”
according to the minister. Brent Lewis, the principal of Avondale College
who “has developed innovative teaching models in New Zealand based around a
facilitated learning model.” According to the minister, under his leadership
the college as achieved outstanding results in international certifications
from Cambridge CIE, Microsoft, Adobe Autodesk and others. Dr Ryan Ko, a senior lecturer and head of the
cyber security programme at Waikato University. He has “extensive experience
in cybersecurity skill and training development, including establishing the
New Zealand cyber security challenge.” Kendra Ross, co-founder and director of cyber
security company Duo Ltd. She established and runs 1stTuesday – New Zealand’s
largest network of security professionals, and has been on the advisory board
of the Wellington Regional Council initiative on increasing economic growth
through cyber security skills. She also is on the CERT Establishment Advisory
Board. Dr Rick Ede, CEO of Unitec Institute of
Technology, which “plays a leading role in cyber security research and
teaching within New Zealand.” Chris Rutter, head of technology transformation
and value management at ANZ Bank New Zealand, where his responsibilities
includes developing and implementing workforce strategies for the
bank’s technology area. Tia Greenstreet, head of careers and transition
at Wellington College. From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 11/09/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
EUROPE: Conference in Ghent to Address Future of
Work in Digital Era 91% of all citizens in Flanders are connected to the
internet at home, 78% own a laptop and 58% are the proud owner of a
tablet.[i] These recent figures show that we all like to buy the latest
digital devices and update our homes with the latest technologies, but
digital skills are indispensable in the workplace as well. The latest digital
evolutions translate themselves into new demands at the office, for both the
employer and employee. Which skills are increasingly important in the job
market and how will organisations adapt to future technological changes?
These are among the issues that will be discussed at the Telecentre Europe
Annual Conference jointly organised with the first I-LINC international event
in Ghent from October 6-8. Belgium assumes leading role in Europe Experts, stakeholders and organisations from
across Europe will gather in Ghent to discuss the future digital challenges
and the impact this will have on employment. Belgian Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister for the Digital Agenda, Alexander De Croo, will talk on the
opening day of the conference about the pioneering role Belgium plays with
regard to digital innovation and entrepreneurship within organisations and
government.Alexander De Croo said, “The development of digital economy will
define our future welfare. Governments and institutions must show courage and
ambition. Belgium has the potential to become one of the leading countries in
Europe, but only if it decisively focuses on digital frameworks. Therefore,
our strategy ‘Digital Belgium’ focuses on bringing digital skills to people
and linking them to the right job. Together with other public and private
organisations such as Telecentre Europe, we aim to be one of Europe’s leading
digital countries by 2020.” Ghent invests in e-inclusion Nine out of ten future jobs will require digital
skills. This does not only demand a systematic policy on a national and
international level, but also requires the support and effort of local
governments. Thanks to their commitment, more and more people are given the
chance to unlock their digital potential, regardless of age, social or
cultural background.The City of Ghent has been committed to e-inclusion for
the past ten years with Digitaal.Talent@Gent, a program in collaboration with
Digipolis and the Public Centre For Social Welfare. All citizens of Ghent can
develop their digital skills through a variety of projects. Even vulnerable
groups such as the underprivileged, senior citizens and people with
disabilities are given the change to discover their digital talent.Deputy
Mayor of Ghent, Martine De Regge explained, “Every citizen of Ghent deserves
to have access to the digital world. In order to guarantee access for
everyone, the city has set up 75 telecentres across Ghent. You can visit
these centres if you want to use a computer with an internet connection, but
also if you want help or advice from one of the computer volunteers.” The Fourth Industrial Revolution Beside Deputy Prime Minister De Croo, fellow
Belgian Saskia Van Uffelen – CEO of Ericsson BeLux and ‘Digital Champion of Belgium’
– will address the future revolution in the job sector caused by these
digital changes. Recent research has shown that 65% of the jobs of today will
not exist anymore by 2020[ii]. How do we prepare ourselves for these changes
and make sure that our employment rates keep rising, as well as productivity
rates?Experts and academics will share their ideas
and vision with members of the European Commission. Not only business and the
private sector, but the public sector too will need to stimulate and encourage
companies and organisations to adapt to these future digital changes in the
workplace. Putting words into action The so-called “Fourth Industrial Revolution” is
one of the major challenges and opportunities for Europe. It describes the
changes ahead as a result of new technologies, such as Artificial
Intelligence, 3D Printing, Drones, Robotics, the ‘Internet of Things’ and
many other emerging technologies and working practices.LaurentiuBunescu, CEO
of Telecentre Europe added, “This event also presents the first I-LINC
international conference. I-LINC is a platform and a community of experts and
organisations that foster employment and entrepreneurship through digital
skills. We help young people and interested organisations in addressing
employability related issues in the light of these emerging technologies.”The
conference brings together organisations, governments and industry to share
ideas and to brainstorm the future challenges for jobs and employment in the
context of these future changes. Through debates, hands-on workshops and
enticing talks, the event aims to set out the future synergy between work and
digital skills.MāraJākobsone, Chair of Telecentre Europe said, “A key aspect
in teaching skills, which was long underestimated, is finally being
recognized by the new EU skills agenda – the importance of lifelong and
non-formal learning opportunities. The non-formal education community,
represented by Telecentre Europe members offers efficient and fast ways to
upgrade digital skills requested for job through mentoring and project-based
learning. At the event, more than 120 delegates from 70 organisations in 25
countries will share their experience of helping European citizens to acquire
digital skills for future work.” From https://teannualconference.info/ 10/03/2016 ITALY: To Free Up Spectrum for 5G Trials in 3
Cities in 2017 The Italian government has announced plans to
free up frequencies to launch trials of 5G technology in three as yet unnamed
Italian cities next year. Italy "is deeply convinced of the benefits of
5G technology, so much so that in 2017 we will trial it in three cities, one
in the north, one in the centre and one in the south, using part of the
spectrum,” said Italian undersecretary for economic development in charge of
telecommunications Antonello Giacomelli at the Global 5G Event in Rome hosted
by the 5G Infrastructure Association - Public Private Partnership (5G PPP).
The trials are set to take place on the 3.4-3.8 GHz band, although Giacomelli
also denied any delay in Italy’s plans to free up the 700 MHz frequencies for
mobile use, saying the country was fully in line with the European Council's
decision to set a 2022 deadline to vacate the band. At the same event,
Vodafone Italia CEO Aldo Bisio welcomed the undersecretary’s proposal and,
according to Corrieredella Serra, commented that “after the trial stage
[Vodafone envisages] the 5G coverage of three major Italian cities by
2020." Telecom Italia chairman Giuseppe Recchi likewise revealed plans
to press ahead with the rollout of 5G services. "We are currently
considering which northern cities to choose to start trials of 5G, to ensure
that we have the first city covered with this technology in 2020," he
said. From https://www.telecompaper.com/ 11/10/2016 PORTUGAL: Internet Traffic Grows 31% in 2015 The telecommunications and postal sectors in
Portugal were worth EUR 6.3 billion in 2015, down by EUR 121.2 million
(-1.9%) compared to the previous year, according to data by Statistics
Portugal.The volume of voice traffic on the fixed network decreased by 15
percent in 2015 (-1.1 billion minutes), while voice traffic originating on
the mobile network increased by 5.5 percent, reaching 25.1 billion minutes in
2015.Since 2012, when a peak of 27.9 billion messages were sent, SMS traffic
decreased by an average of 6.4 percent per year. In 2015, there were 21.3
billion SMS, or 11.2 percent less than in the
previous year.Broadband internet access traffic volume exceeded 2 billion GB
in 2015, up 30.7 percent on 2014. Although fixed broadband represented 96.1
percent of total traffic, traffic growth on the mobile network was more
significant (+38.2%) than on the fixed network (+30.4%). From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 11/11/2016 UK: Altnets Say Govt Should Aim for 80% FTTP
Coverage by 2026 INCA report makes six recommendations designed to
remove barriers to fibre deployment.Altnet lobby group the Independent
Networks Corporation Association (INCA) on Thursday called on the U.K.
government to set a target of extending fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) coverage
to 80% of the population by 2026.The U.K. should aim for near universal
coverage by 2030, INCA said.The ambitious target forms part of one of six
recommendations set out by INCA in a new report titled Building Gigabit
Britain, which is sponsored by Vodafone, Sky, FTTP operators CityFibre and
Hyperoptic, leased lines provider WarwickNet, and fixed-wireless operator
Relish."We urgently need to upgrade to pure fibre connections and
government needs to act by setting the vision and framework to encourage
competitive investment," said Malcolm Corbett, CEO of INCA, in a
statement.The coverage targets form part of recommendation number one: that
the government should establish a 'Gigabit Britain Strategy', specifying its
ambition for fixed-line infrastructure. It should draw up a new costing
analysis of commercial FTTP deployment and encourage local authorities and
devolved administrations to create their own Gigabit strategies. Connected Britain 2017 Unsurprisingly, the industry group also called for
Ofcom to ensure that BT's Openreach arm does not inhibit investment by
altnets, and that it commits to providing timely and effective access to its
ducts and poles. INCA also wants an independent tribunal to resolve any
disputes that crop up between Openreach and alternative operators."The
altnets are doing a great job. Five years ago few of them existed, today they
provide more than twice as many FTTP connections as BT and many more offer
great wireless broadband services," said Corbett. "These are the
people building Gigabit Britain and if we don't encourage and support their
much needed investment, the U.K.'s economic position will be put at
risk." INCA has also called on the government to scrap
business rates on all new fibre assets for 10 years, reduce the notice period
required for digging fibre on minor roads, take steps to prevent public money
being spent on FTTP overbuild, and create an inventory of public
infrastructure assets and make it available to network builders.Finally, INCA
also wants the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to make sure advertising
of FTTP and hybrid copper/fibre products gives consumers accurate
information."[The recommendations] if followed, will not only help the
telecoms industry to meet and exceed their current deployment plans – without
government subsidies – but will also ensure our nation's fibre infrastructure
is future-proofed," Corbett said. From http://www.totaltele.com/ 09/08/2016 LATIN AMERICA: Brazil, EU Earmark BRL 93 mln for
ICT Research Brazil and the EU have earmarked BRL 93 million
in 14 research ICT projects of universities and Brazilian and European
institutions. The money became available for projects in 2011.The projects
were selected from three submission rounds. The National Network of Education
and Research (RNP), linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation
and Communications, is preparing a fourth round. The parties expect to put a
total investment of EUR 16 million into six projects related to cloud computing,
IoT and 5G. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 09/22/2016 COSTA RICA: Hosting the 6th Annual Freedom Online
Conference Costa Rica hosted the sixth Freedom Online
Conference on the future of the Coalition which gathered 30 governments
working to advance Internet freedom and security, the respect of privacy and
data transparency.The Conference was held October 17th and 18th, Costa Rica
is the current Freedom Online Conference Chair.“Internet is a very powerful
knowledge tool, and it must have all the conditions for a comprehensive
development; but is also a tool that we must use in our battle against
inequity, and fundamental in fighting poverty. Our administration implements
the National Strategy of Universal Solidary Access and Service crdigit@l,
which works with $300 million USD to democratize the access to information
and communication technologies, and reduce la digital gap with special
emphasis in vulnerable populations. This strategy involves five programs:
Connected Communities, Connected Homes, Equipped Public Centers, Connected
Public Spaces, and Solidary Broadband Network. Internet is the result of
knowledge, innovation and technology which should be working towards
consolidating free and democratic societies”, said Costa Rica’s president
Luis Guillermo Solis in his inaugural speech. The Coalition members work closely together to
maximize Internet freedom, to coordinate diplomatic efforts and engage with
civil society and the private sector to support free expression, association,
assembly and privacy online –worldwide.The Minister of Science, Technology
and Telecommunications, Marcelo Jenkins, stated that Costa Rica is a country
that defends the free access to Internet. “We defend the free access to
Internet and it is important to safeguard its full and good use; so that its
accessible to all people and that beyond its use for entertainment purposes,
people can take in the information and use it to improve their quality of
life, in the business end of things as well as academic, cultural and social.
It is important to prepare ourselves to modify paradigms and incorporate the
technology and the access to those changes”, indicated Jenkins. Some of the attending panelists included: Frank
La Rue, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to
freedom of opinion and expression at the UN office of the High Commissioner
of Human Rights; Edison Lanza, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression,
Camille Francois, Affiliate member at the Harvard Law School Berkman Center
for Internet & Society; Eileen Donahoe, Global Affairs Director with
Human Rights Watch; among others. Assistant Secretary Malinowski lead the
U.S. delegation, and was joined by Coordinator for Cyber Issues Christopher
Painter.Costa Rica is the Pro-Tempore Chair of the Freedom Online Conference
since 2015 and has promoted the participation of the member countries and
other interested parties, such as the private sector and non-government
organizations. It has also encouraged the expansion of the membership to
include countries of the Latin American and Caribbean region. From http://news.co.cr/ 10/19/2016 6th Annual Freedom Online Conference: Freedom
Online Coalition Chair’s Summary On 17-18 October the 6th Annual Freedom Online
Conference took place in San José, Costa Rica. This international event
gathered more than 200 participants from 48 countries, from all regions of
the world and all levels of development. The Conference met under the theme
Enhancing an open, active and constructive online community for the enjoyment
of an effective citizenship online and centered on contributing to the
ongoing multi-stakeholder exchange on how to address the challenges,
opportunities and potential of free, open and accessible online channels and
platforms for political, social and economic development. A quick (numerical)
guide to the Conference can be found here.Over the course of the two-day
conference conclusions related to the protection and promotion of human
rights and fundamental rights online and their effective implementation, were
reached. In summary, it was highlighted that there was the need to, inter
alia: enhance the multi-sectorial approach when dealing with Freedom Online,
and to build trust amongst all actors; strengthen education, training and
capacity building, in particular for legislators and users; address the gaps
in the international legal framework and set global norms regarding privacy
and transparency, in particular; connect the framework of Freedom Online
Coalition (FOC) with existing frameworks with a view to maximize synergies;
recognize the mutually reinforcing nature of human rights and
cyber-security.The full Chair’s Summary can be found here. From https://www.freedomonlinecoalition.com/ 11/08/2016 NORTH AMERICA: CANADA - Shared Services Canada
Reaches Out to ICT Sector for Help Developing IT Transformation Mandate It’s been a slow process — nearly five years to
be exact — but the federal government has formally embarked on starting the
consultation process on its IT transformation agenda to revamp internal IT
services infrastructure. According to Canada’s national ICT business
association, it’s a process that’s well overdue.On Tuesday, Public Services
and Procurement Minister Judy Foote announced that Shared Services Canada
(SSC) is launching a consultation to seek feedback from Canadians, federal
public servants, client departments, and industry on its IT Transformation
Plan. Canadians can provide their feedback before Oct. 31 of this year, by
visiting www.ittransformationconsultation.ca.A
summary of the feedback received will be released before the end of 2016.“The
plan will drive the overall modernization of IT in government, and will help
Shared Services Canada ensure the successful delivery of online federal
services to Canadians,” Foote said in a statement.SSC’s plan: “Consolidate,
streamline and improve Government of Canada information technology” The SSC was established in 2011 by the
then-in-power Conservative government to “consolidate, streamline and improve
Government of Canada information technology” across 43 government agencies
and departments. This includes the email, data centres, telecommunications,
network and IT security services, and government service delivery to
citizens.The IT transformation initiative is part of the federal government’s
overarching Information Technology Strategic Plan 2016-2020 framework. It
includes IT service delivery and transformation goals such as the proposed
Cloud Adoption Strategy and an updated Cyber Security Strategy. The mandate
complements the Strategic IT Plan released by Treasury Board Secretariat
(TBS) this past August, who recently tabled a strategy as draft with a
request for feedback. But there have been events in Ottawa that perhaps
have precipitated this week’s announcement, specifically around the recent
resignation of Statistics Canada chief statistician Wayne R. Smith. Media
reports revealed that internally, Smith was unhappy with the centralized
level of service being provided by SSC and felt it was hindering his
department’s operational progression.“All of you are aware of my view that
this loss of independence and control is not only an apprehension, but an
effective reality today, as Statistics Canada is increasingly hobbled in the
delivery of its programs through disruptive, ineffective, slow and
unaffordable supply of physical informatics services by Shared Services
Canada,” said Smith in an letter email sent to media.And while the initial
SSC plan was to streamline IT infrastructure across department units,
including the more than 600 data centres, CBC.ca reports that as of this
year, only 80 data centres have been closed and plans to centralize the email
system have been placed on indefinite hold. Moving forward, the SSC is now seeking
feedback from employees, ITC industry firms and Canadians with an interest in
IT and large modernization projects. On Monday, Ron Parker, SSC president, noted that
the process is also underway to connect with Canadians online to discuss the
strategy. In a press conference, Parker told media that it is still to be
determined how much the government will potentially save under the plan.“That
would be in the profile of what we report to Parliament in the winter of
2017, or the early spring,” Parker told media.ITAC: “By consulting with the
sector, the Government of Canada can tap into best practices”Despite the
delays, it is encouraging the federal government is moving forward in
consulting Canadians, according to the Information Technology Association of
Canada (ITAC). In a statement, ITAC noted that it “encourages and supports
SSC in receiving industry feedback on the IT Transformation Plan that is
designed to outline how the department will carry out its mandate to deliver
IT services across the Government of Canada.” This week’s announcement represents how the
current Liberal government is doing things differently, according to ITAC
president Robert Watson. “The ICT sector sees IT transformation and
modernization strategies being deployed successfully around the world – by
consulting with our sector, the Government of Canada can tap into these best
practices.”To support the initiative, ITAC is presently encouraging its
members to respond via SSCs online consultation portal in addition to
consolidating member feedback with the aim of presenting formalized comments
to SSC to support the final development.According to Kelly Hutchinson, ITAC’s
vice president of government relations and policy, the organization intends
to do the same for the federal government’s overarching strategic IT plan.“It
is refreshing to see that ITAC members will be engaged on all of the moving
pieces versus the per-project engagements we have seen in the past,” said
Hutchinson. “They want to get it right and so we are seeing collaborative
engagement from the bureaucrats to the ministerial staff.” From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 09/22/2016 Prepare Network Systems for the Upcoming Leap
Second As if network administrators don’t have enough to
worry about, keeping their timing right is a big priority. Not timing of the
work they do, but network timing of the type done by NTP (network time
protocol) servers with master clocks.This is about to become important
because a leap second has to be added to their systems on Dec. 31 — at
precisely 6:59:59 p.m. Eastern
Standard Time. So admins have to start thinking about how it will affect
their servers, routers, switches and operating systems. They have a guide —
the last time it had to be done was just over a year ago, June 30, 2015.Just
like in a leap year when a day is added to the calendar, a leap second has to
be added periodically to precision equipment bring atomic time in line with
the Earth’s actual rotation (also called astronomical time). Among those who
need precision time are financial trading companies, telecommunications
providers and airlines.This will be the 27th time since 1972 a second has
been added to world clocks. Most of the time equipment makers ensure their
gear is able to to it right, but sometimes there are foul-ups. The June 30, 2012 leap second resulted
in unexpected computer system outages and crashes, including the Amadeus
airline management system, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Yelp, and Opera and some
Internet service providers. According to one Cisco Systems blog, an
Australian service provider has reported that a large number of its Ethernet
switches seized up over a two-hour period following the leap second. However,
the change was largely well managed that year and in 2015.Hopefully by now
the industry has ironed out ways to make this periodic time shift painless,
but one of them is to make sure that administrators today — a little over two
months ahead of the event — are prepared.One of the first IT companies to
remind administrators is Cisco, which last week published an information page
on the matter that includes information on all products. It also promises
updates will be released this month for its products to prepare for the evnt. The vendor also warns that to make the change as
painless as possible administrators should ensure NTP sources and strate are
properly deployed, all version of NTP are consistent across the network and
common time-driven alarms are properly managed.“For most companies it’s not a
big deal,” industry analyst Zeus Kerravala said in an interview Monday. “But
if you’re dealing with high frequency trading and real-time data monitoring
it could matter. Just make sure any operating system you’re running on your
network devices supports the latest version of network time protocol to pick
up the leap second change.” From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 10/10/2016 How a Coding-adverse IT Team Brought Toronto’s CN
Tower into the 21st Century It’s exactly the sort of iconic destination you’d
expect to see on the cutting edge of technology, but until recently Toronto’s
CN Tower didn’t offer visitors WiFi, let alone a mobile app.Enter Hewlett
Packard Enterprise (HPE) subsidiary Aruba Network’s Mobile Engagement
solution, which the tower’s IT staff recently used to develop and release a
new mobile app as part of a wireless infrastructure upgrade, just in time for
the attraction’s 40th anniversary.“We’re not a coding organization,” Kevin
McManus, the CN Tower’s IT director, explains. “My entire staff across Canada
is roughly about 20 people, so we purposely went looking for a partner where
we could build something without having to bring code development
in-house.”Released during the summer, the “CN Tower Experience” app takes
advantage of the attraction’s new 150-node Aruba Gigabit wireless LAN to
individually guide its 1.6 million annual visitors through the tower while
delivering personalized, proximity-based marketing notifications, Lisa
Tompkins, the tower’s director of sales and marketing, says.“Our ultimate
goal, really, is ongoing guest experience enhancement,” she says, noting that
the app also allows visitors to purchase advance tickets or make reservations
at one of its restaurants, and that the organization hopes to add time-based
notifications such as time-sensitive admission offers over the next year as
well. Designed using off-the-shelf products While developing the app, the CN Tower’s IT team
was assisted by Access 2 Networks (A2N), a local Aruba partner they had
collaborated with in the past.It also helped that the team was familiar with
Meridian, an off-the-shelf product they had whitelisted some time ago, and
which A2N helped them use to build the app, McManus says.“We built a
plug-and-play application, so we were limited by the capabilities of the
product,” he says. “But being one of the first clients to take on the product
here in Canada made the contract a pretty good steal for us, and there were
services, mostly consulting, that Aruba gave us free of charge to break the
ground a little bit.”Once A2N became involved it was easy for the tower’s IT
team to build the app framework, McManus says, since technical functions
including the navigation features and push notifications had been built into
the Meridian software to begin with.Without any coding necessary on the IT
team’s part, the completed framework was then passed onto the marketing team
for content.“It’s really about giving this power to the marketing team, not
the IT team,” he says. “Using the Meridian software they can configure a
series of campaigns, and even the time of day or week that they run.” A foundation for future marketing efforts “A couple years ago Lisa and I made the conscious
decision to bring our IT and marketing functions a lot closer together as we
realized how closely our worlds are merging, with IT being a significant
enabler for a large number of the marketing activities that take place on the
property,” McManus says. “So whenever we look at our marketing programs, we
ask, ‘what can IT do to make this better?’ or vice versa.”Tompkins echoes the
sentiment: when the CN Tower’s marketing team thinks about how it can better
engage visitors, technology plays a much greater role than it did before.“One
thing that we’ll be looking into over the coming year is the languages the
app is available in,” she says. “Right now it’s just English and French, but
we live in a multicultural city, and have a very multicultural and
multilingual audience, so our goal is to make it available in other languages
as well.” Another enhancement the organization would like
to add is using Aruba’s technology to enhance descriptions of whatever they
might be viewing from one of the tower’s three observation decks, she
says.Still another would be analytics – using the WiFi nodes to keep track of
how much time guests spend at the tower and where.“I always think of us as a
vertical theme park,” he says. “We have crowds to manage, food and beverage
services, a children’s play zone… and significant wait times during the
summer season.”Eventually, he says, the organization would like to
collaborate with third parties to deliver specialized ads through the app:
Deals for impatient visitors – in their language! – who might want to visit
the nearby Ripley’s Aquarium, for example, or the historic Steamwhistle
restaurant, before returning to the tower at off-peak hours.After all, with
thousands of visitors already downloading the app since the tower began
advertising it last August, McManus and Tompkins now know firsthand the value
of leveraging technology to both delight and manage crowds – it’s just a
matter of implementing it. From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 10/12/2016 IDC Predicts ‘Augmented Humans’ Will Implant
Technology in Their Bodies in by 2021 Global research firm IDC says the next era of IT
transformation will marry technology with biology to take the human mind and
body to unprecedented levels of mental and physical capability.That was one
of the top worldwide IT predictions for 2017 as outlined Tuesday by Frank
Gens, senior vice-president and chief analyst at IDC.Gens dubbed IDC’s
augmented humanity concept its new “fourth platform.” Over the past few
years, IDC has been laying out its view of a “third platform” consisting of
cloud, mobile, social and big data/analytics. As described by Gens on
Tuesday, the fourth platform of augmented humanity pushes the current
wearable technology trend beyond skin-deep layers into “cellular and
sub-cellular levels” of our biology.“The fourth
platform will be the penetration of the human body and the integration of
technologies with human biosystems,” he said. “This means the fourth platform
is us.” Major tenets of the fourth platform include
augmented sensing, augmented memory and cognition, augmented mobility,
embedded or injectable technology and augmented identity. Some augmented
humanity applications cited by Gens will be purely medical, such as brain
implants being developed by the U.S. military to treat memory loss.But other
examples mentioned by Gens would have clear commercial uses, like a smart
tattoo created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to remotely
control a user’s smartphone.Gens said augmented humanity is now in an
“innovation stage” that will probably last until 2021 before entering an
“early adopters” stage between 2021 and 2026. He foresees the trend becoming
“early mainstream” in 2026 – just a decade from now.“The
fourth platform is really going to roll out over the next 10 years (but) the
next four years will be crucial,” Gens said. Ethical, legal issues As with any new technology, augmented humanity is
sure to raise questions – and eyebrows – as it evolves.“We
predict ethical and legal issues will come with the fourth platform hand in
glove … and create a lot of controversy and debate – and for good reasons,”
said Gens.Rather than spelling the end of third platform technologies,
however, he said augmented humanity will build upon them. By 2020, he expects
one-third of health and life sciences companies to begin developing the first
products and services that integrate third platform technologies with the
human body.IDC had plenty of other prognostications for the coming years.
Here are some of the highlights.Third platform techs: By 2019, mobile, cloud,
big data and social will drive nearly 75 per cent of all IT spending, growing
at twice the rate of the total IT market. Technologies currently seen as
innovation accelerators – artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things
(IoT), augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) and blockchain – will become
“mainstream” by then, said Gens. Cloud: “Cloud will become much more intelligent,
industry specialized and channel mediated,” Gens said.How? According to IDC,
cloud will boost the capacity of AI and cognitive computing; cloud-based
encryption, threat analytics, compliance and blockchain will become the
backbones of trust and security within business transactions and operations;
businesses themselves will move beyond simply being consumers of cloud
services to provide cloud-based services and products to their own
customers.In addition, we’ll witness the rise of what IDC calls “industry
collaborative clouds,” which will triple to a total of 450 by 2018. Gens said
organizations will flock to these clouds – formed around vertical industry
subsets where members contribute to “a common goal” – to save time and money. AI/cognitive computing: By 2019, 40 per
cent of digital transformation initiatives and 100 per cent of IoT
initiatives will be supported by AI/cognitive capabilities, IDC predicts.
Over 110 million consumer devices with embedded intelligent assistants will
likely be installed in U.S. households by that year, IDC added.Enterprises
might want to boost their AI skills and talent pool, since IDC believes 75 per
cent of all developer teams will include AI/cognitive functionality in one or
more of the applications or services they produce within the next two
years.Developer teams: Flowing out of that demand for AI apps, IDC expects
developer teams to double or triple their current size by 2018 as enterprises
continue to transform their businesses through AI and other digital
technologies. Open source: IDC sees developer teams sourcing
more than 80 per cent of their solution components from open source
communities by 2020.AR/VR: The monthly active base of consumers using mobile
VR apps could top 400 million in 2018. Gens said social media is poised to
“go immersive,” with over 20 per cent of commercial media on Facebook
featuring 360-degree VR by 2020.IT channel changes: Although some observers
thought SaaS would kill the traditional IT distribution channel, Gens said
the proliferation of cloud will actually help transform that old model. As
the size and sophistication of the cloud grows, so does the need for integrators
and industry-specific offerings, he explained.“(Channel
partners) need lots of help reaching, selling and supporting a wide variety
of cloud uses,” he said.By 2018, major IT distributors will transition at
least one-third of their business from hardware sales to cloud services,
sales or brokering, IDC suggests. From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 11/03/2016 Canadian Offices Not Adapting Quickly Enough to
New Technology, Dell Finds Over 40 per cent of Canadian employees feel their
workplace technology is further away from the edge than they would like, and
more than a third report having a smarter home than office, according to Dell
Technologies’ latest Future Workforce study.However, 77 per cent of Canadians
say they are satisfied with the level of technology at their jobs – a stark
contrast to their global counterparts, the company said.Nor was it the only
way that Dell found Canadians breaking rank with international trends: - When it came to low-tech versus high-tech
office perks, 45 per cent of Canadians preferred the former, versus 29 per
cent globally; - Half of us would willingly use virtual and
augmented reality products at their office, compared to 66 per cent globally; - Less than half of Canadians believe artificial
intelligence will make jobs easier, versus 62 per cent of global respondents; - 90 per cent of Canadians prefer face-to-face
interaction over remote communication, compared to 57 per cent
internationally. However, this comparative conservatism among
Canadians when it comes to embracing new workplace technology doesn’t mean
we’re averse to it, Dell noted: When asked if they had plans to participate
in the so-called “sharing economy,” illustrated by Uber and Airbnb, 60 per
cent of Canadian respondents said they planned to embrace it, a rate
consistent with their global counterparts.Then there were the 42 per cent of
Canadian employees who said their workplaces weren’t smart enough. Moreover,
only 39 per cent expected to be working in a smart office over the next five
years, whereas 57 per cent of global respondents did.The findings indicate
that the more access Canadian employees have to technology, and the more
experience they have using it, the more likely they were to say their
workplace wasn’t going far enough: 35 per cent of respondents said their home
was more cutting edge than work, for instance, a number that rose to 41 per
cent among employees at large enterprises. Unsurprisingly, millennials were also found to
embrace new technology more quickly than their global peers: 46 per cent
reported believing they will work in an Internet of Things (IoT)-driven smart
office within the next five years; and 75 per cent agreed that new office
technology could make their jobs easier.In an Oct. 31 statement, Dell EMC Canada
CMO Carolyn Rollins said that while Canadians might not presently be early
adopters of workplace tech, that’s no excuse for employers to rest on their
laurels:“Generational shifts and the increased participation of millennials
and youngers in the workforce bring growing expectations that their employers
integrate the latest technologies seamlessly and securely into their working
lives,” she said. “While this may seem daunting for employers, it’s a
business-critical opportunity for Canadian companies to be at the forefront
of the future workplace.” To conduct the survey, Dell and Intel
commissioned research firm Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) to survey 3,801
full-time employees at small, medium, and large organizations across seven
industries (education, government, financial services, healthcare,
manufacturing, media and entertainment, and retail) in 10 countries,
including 300 from Canada.It’s worth noting that one reason so many Canadians
might be satisfied with the level of technology at their jobs is that 83 per
cent of Canadian respondents were happy, period, with their jobs, especially
remote (90 per cent) and public sector (85 per cent) employees.Meanwhile,
technology had nothing to do with why Canadians were satisfied or unsatisfied
with their jobs: those who were cited work-life balance (33 per cent) and
colleague relationships (26 per cent) as the two job aspects they were
happiest with; while those who weren’t cited salary (38 per cent),
opportunities for career growth (27 per cent), and flexibility in choosing
where to work from (19 per cent) as the three leading reasons they wanted to
leave. From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 11/08/2016 Toronto Canada’s Top City for IT Skills, Calgary
Most Expensive, CBRE Says Canada’s tech sector employment has surged by almost
25 per cent in the past five years and some of its biggest urban cities and
their surrounding areas are the best places to find that new tech talent,
according to a new report.Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal, and Calgary
are the top five cities for tech talent, according to a study conducted by
the Canadian division of Los Angeles-based real estate and investment
services firm CBRE Group Inc. But
some smaller, yet fast-growing markets like Waterloo are attracting new
employers to set up shop because of lower costs to access that talent. Top 10 Canadian tech talent cities Here’s the complete top 10 list from CBRE, which
ranks cities based on 13 metrics that include talent supply, growth,
concentration, cost, completed degrees, industry outlook for job growth, and
market outlook for both office and apartment rent cost growth. Toronto, ON Vancouver, BC Ottawa, ON Montreal, QC Calgary, AB Halifax, NS Edmonton, AB Waterloo, ON Winnipeg, MB London, ON In the five years of somewhat muted economic growth
overall recovering from the global recession, Canada’s tech sector looks to
be a bright spot. Nine out of the top 10 Canadian markets
recorded growth in tech jobs, eight of which was in the double-digits, CBRE
says.Beyond established markets like Toronto and Vancouver, growth of markets
like London and Waterloo, Ont. show that companies are eagerly starting to
set up shop in some lower cost markets as well. Not only is real estate less
expensive there, but so is the talent compared to many of the big cities.
Since tech workers cost on average 45 per cent more than non-tech workers in
Canada, bringing home an average of $83,000 per year, it’s no wonder that
some firms are targeting cities where labour comes a bit cheaper. Top 10 most expensive tech markets in Canada Here’s CBRE’s top 10 list for costs of a typical
tech firm in Canada, based on a 75,000 square-foot office lease and salaries
of 500 employees: Calgary, AB – $39.8m Ottawa, ON – $38.2m Edmonton, AB – $36.4m Toronto, ON – $36.6m Vancouver, BC – $34.8m Waterloo Region, ON – $33.2m Montreal, QC – $32.9m London, ON – $32.2m Halifax, NS – $31.6m Winnipeg, MB – $30.7m Waterloo, Halifax, and Winnipeg are showing the
highest rates of tech job growth and are on the bottom half of this list,
CBRE points out. Calgary’s costs are expected to come down if the energy
market continues to decline.On an international scope, Canada’s tech hubs are
low cost by comparison. For example, Toronto and Vancouver rank 49 and 50
respectively on the most expensive markets in North America. Thanks in part
to a lower Canadian dollar right now, that could encourage more American
firms to set up shop north of the 49th parallel. From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 11/08/2016 U.S.: Public Sector CIOs Need Digital
Transformation Vision A report from IT research firm Gartner says
public sector CIOs need to promote a compelling vision for digital
transformation and make change inclusive. If successful, the results could
transform the type of services government agencies can offer citizens.CIOs in
the public sector have the opportunity to harness digital disruption and
bring about a revolution in citizen services, but organizational hurdles and
a lack of a compelling vision could be stumbling blocks to realizing these
goals, according to a new report from Gartner.The Aug. 17 report noted that
public sector leaders, including CIOs, should focus on creating a culture
that is less averse to change and more unified in its vision and direction --
one that can manage change more effectively over longer time frames."The
role of the CIO will be much broader than just technology. In a world where
uncertainty abounds, stability lasts a few months at best and IT systems are
produced through agile deployment based on the concepts of adaptation and change,
a comprehensive view of the enterprise is needed," Elise Olding,
research vice president at Gartner, told InformationWeek in an email. "CIOs are well positioned to understand the
profound impact of digital disruption across the business units in an
organization and have a voice at the strategy table," Olding added.Noted
leaders, Olding explained, often expect employees to change, but seldom
examine and take actions to change their own behaviors. She added that
leadership in times of uncertainty will be very different, especially for
leaders at government agencies."An essential step is for the CIO is to
examine their own leadership practices and make needed changes," Olding
wrote. "As well, the CIO needs to hold his or her IT leadership team
accountable for the new leadership behaviors. Employees will be more open to
change when they see their leaders behaving differently."Leaders would
need to learn to listen more, ask more questions, engage employees in
dialogue, and solicit all employees to help to solve tough problems. "In the public sector, many employees have
been taught to stay in their boxes and do their jobs," she explained.
"Encouraging employees to contribute, making it safe for them to change
and recognizing progress will be important actions for leaders to take to
build the trust and collaboration needed."The Gartner report noted
government agencies and departments continue to operate in silos, creating a
barrier to delivering cross-cutting (or horizontal) services that are now
made possible by digital technologies and data.In addition to the governance,
policies, standards, and financing that must be arrayed to take advantage of
these digital capabilities, the Gartner report suggested government should
also increase its ability to use advanced analytics to predict what is likely
to happen in any given situation and prescribe the best course of action when
the event occurs. "More often than not, it isn't the CIO who
needs to be convinced about the tremendous potential of digital transformation,"
Rick Howard, research vice president at Gartner, wrote in an email to
InformationWeek."Government CIOs, in particular, are keenly aware of how
CIOs in the private sector are combining the capabilities of cloud, mobile,
social and analytics -- and, increasingly, data from the internet of things
-- to create entirely new business and service models."Howard explained
that, instead, government CIOs must overcome, or compensate for, the absence
of a sustained business vision that is fully supported by their executive
peers."Governments struggle with technology-enabled innovation because
innovation requires a higher tolerance of risk," he noted. "What's
needed is digital leadership at all levels of government." From http://www.informationweek.com/ 08/19/2016 Global
IT Spending to Hit USD 2.7 tln in 2020 - Study Worldwide IT spending is forecast to reach USD
2.7 trillion in 2020, led by financial services, manufacturing, and
healthcare, growing at a CAGR of 3.3 p0ercent for the period, according to
the latest report from IDC. Revenues are seen at USD 2.4 trillion in 2016.
Among the trends in the forecast is the positive momentum displayed in big
industries like financial services and manufacturing, where companies
continue to invest in 3rd Platform solutions (cloud, mobility, and big data)
as part of their digital transformation efforts.Combined, banking, discrete
manufacturing, process manufacturing, and telecommunications, will generate
nearly a third of worldwide IT revenues throughout the forecast. Consumer
purchases accounted for nearly a quarter of all IT revenues in 2015, thanks
to the ongoing smartphone explosion. But consumer spending for PCs, tablets,
and smartphones has been weakening, which will have a dampening effect on the
IT market overall. Looking ahead, even the moderate growth forecast
for the tablet market will be driven by commercial segments rather than
consumer tablet sales. Healthcare will remain the fastest growing industry
with a five-year CAGR of 5.7 percent. Banking, media, and professional services
will also experience solid growth with CAGRs of 4.9 percent and combined
revenues of more than USD 475 billion in 2020.In terms of company size, more
than 45 percent of all IT spending worldwide will come from very large
businesses (more than 1,000 employees) while the small office category (1-9
employees) will provide roughly one quarter of all IT spending throughout the
forecast period. Medium (100-499 employees) and large (500-999 employees)
business will see the fastest growth in IT spending, each with a CAGR of 4.4
percent. From http://www.telecompaper.com/ 08/29/2016 ICT
Is Almost a Perfectly Performing Sector Over the last few years, the information and
communications technologies sector (ICT) has been among those with fastest growth.
It is no secret that in recent years rapid expansion
of different ICT services could be observed in Latvia: programming, data
storage, development of mobile applications, development of various complex
ICT solutions, etc. However, unlike retail trade or manufacturing, the sector
usually is not in the spotlight of economic analysts and policy makers. This
can be explained by the size of the sector – ICT only accounts for about 5%
of the total value added, even though this level is close to the European
Union's average. Nevertheless, the success of the sector should be noted: it
is one of the fastest growing, with high productivity levels, high average
salary, implementation of latest technologies, and other positive features. The ICT sector consists of six subsectors:
publishing activities, video and television programme production, programming
and broadcasting activities, telecommunications, computer programming and the
related activities as well as information service activities. Historically,
the largest part of the ICT sector turnover in Latvia has been generated in
the telecommunications sector (about 60%), where important players of the
telecommunications market are operating. But over the last few years,
computer programming and information service activities have been rapidly
gaining their relative share.ICT sector's value added share in Latvia and EU
(%) and real annual growth (year-on-year, %) The ICT sector employs 2.9% (2015) of the total
number of working population. Taking into account that the sector accounts
for about 5% of total value added, it is easily seen that the sector's
productivity hovers above the average level. In fact, it has the most
elevated productivity level among all sectors. But, certainly, labour
productivity of such a level can also be explained by a comprehensive degree
of automation and capital intensity. For instance, the telecommunications
sector is very capital intensive (technologies are cost intensive), thus
providing ample value added per person employed. However, the huge capital
and technology intensity is the factor why the salaries paid by the sector
are among the largest across all sectors. Higher average salaries are paid
only in the financial sector. The large salaries of the ICT sector are
determined by several factors. Comprehensive technological intensity has
already been mentioned. It means that there are fewer workers employed but
their skills have to be very advanced. For instance, computer programming
requires very specific training. The main reason, however, is the fact that
Latvia's ICT sector is operating in an environment of open market
competition. The ICT sector has almost no transnational barriers in
comparison to other sectors. Latvian ICT companies are competing and
collaborating with companies from all over the world. That is why the ICT
sector plays an important role in external trade. For instance, in 2015 the
ICT sector accounted for almost 10% of the current account surplus. What future challenges does the ICT sector face
in Latvia? During the last decade, the availability of PCs and the internet
in households and companies has increased substantially. That has been a
significant factor driving the growth of the ICT sector. Further challenges
will be related to an increase in computer/internet literacy of the
population. The range of activities using ICT is still very narrow in Latvia.
Many do use the internet for entertainment purposes, but only a few take the
advantage of the full spectrum of offered opportunities, like communication with
the public sector, e-learning, e-purchases, etc. Moreover, the ICT sector is
transforming: the importance of mobility is increasing, therefore, the
development of mobile applications and solutions is currently the main driver
of changes in the ICT sector, From http://www.baltic-course.com/ 08/31/2016 Will
the Internet Ever Be as Free as Air? By most standards, the Internet is a raging
success. There are now more than 3 billion users, a figure that's tripled in
just 10 years. By 2019, global Internet commerce is expected to total $28
trillion, or one-eighth of all the sales in the world. The Big Connect has
brought more prosperity, better health and education, and closer social ties.
What it has not brought - despite early predictions - is more global
freedom.The annual Freedom House report, "Freedom in the World,"
has found a "10-year slide" in freedom, as defined by factors in
two dozen categories. From 2005 to 2015, some "105 countries have seen a
net decline, and only 61 have experienced a net improvement." Last year,
the ratings of 72 countries fell - the most since the slide began.The
Internet got off on the right foot. A "Galactic Network" is what
J.C.R. Licklider of MIT called his concept of interconnected global
computers: "Everyone could quickly access data and programs from any
site." In 1962, Licklider became the first head of the computer research
program at DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and a decade
later ARPANET was up and running, linking government and university research
centers. In the 1990s, the Internet made its critical
transition, expanding from a network mainly scholarly to a network mainly
commercial and personal. President Bill Clinton's advisor, Ira Magaziner,
established a credo that has guided U.S. policy for two decades."The
first principle," Magaziner wrote, "is that, in general, the
Internet is a medium that has tremendous potential for promoting individual
freedom and individual empowerment. Therefore, where possible, the individual
should be left in control of the way in which he or she uses this medium. We
should maximize the opportunity for human freedom."To ensure that
happened, Internet governance derived from what was called the
"multi-stakeholder model." Groups of users, engineers, businesses,
NGOs and governments made decisions - mostly technical - by consensus. In
1994, Mitch Kapor, co-founder of Lotus, the software company that produced
the digital spreadsheet revolution, declared, "We are entering an era of
communication of the many to the many... [T]he nature of the technology
itself has opened up a space of much greater democratic possibility." As it's turned out, "greater democratic
possibility" is not universally admired. Authoritarian regimes find
their positions of power threatened by the disintermediation of the Internet,
just as have previously protected businesses.Challenges to those in authority
were much easier to mount on the Internet than through pamphlets, wall
posters, on radio and television, or in the streets - and the new online challenges
can come from beyond national boundaries. In the early days, despots were
blissfully unaware. They've now responded with a vengeance and with
coordination.The Green Movement, the uprising in Iran that followed the
disrupted elections of 2009, was the authoritarians' wake-up call."The
movement," wrote Abbas Miliani of Stanford University, "was widely
seen as a new non-violent, non-utopian and populist paradigm of revolution
that infused 21st century Internet technology with people street power." Dissidents were suppressed by state violence in
the streets, but to prevent the Internet's use by citizens clamoring for
freedom and democracy in the future, regimes in Iran, China, Russia and the
Middle East took strong steps, learning from each other. As a result, Freedom
House reports that Internet freedom has declined for five consecutive years.
Specifically, in 2015: -Content removals increased: Authorities in 42 of
the 65 countries assessed required private companies or Internet users to
restrict or delete web content dealing with political, religious or social
issues, up from 37 the previous year. -Arrests and intimidation escalated: Authorities
in 40 of 65 countries imprisoned people for sharing information concerning
politics, religion or society through digital networks. -Surveillance laws and technologies multiplied:
Governments in 14 of 65 countries passed new laws to increase surveillance
since June 2014 and many more upgraded their surveillance." But because the Internet is global, these domestic
activities are insufficient to suppress freedom. Now, authoritarian states
are trying to control global Internet governance.As scholar Christopher
Walker wrote: "The focus of such efforts is not merely defending
authoritarianism at home, but reshaping the international norms that
stigmatize such governance. The Internet has given an urgency to this effort.
Behind the smoke screen of 'Internet sovereignty' and 'Internet security,'
authoritarian regimes are doggedly working to neutralize democratic discourse
and organization in cyberspace. Oppressive governments now routinely seek to
apply repressive local standards to platforms such as Facebook, Google, and
YouTube, with the aim of constraining the free flow of independent
information and quarantining democracy." Freedom on the Internet presents thorny policy
issues, even for democratic countries. Nearly every nation, for example, has
its own definition of free speech. Before the Internet, countries could bar
or censor publications that violated its rules, but the Internet makes
communications across borders far easier. Should a nation with tighter
controls on speech be able to block speech travelling by Internet from a
freer country?The United States excludes speech that
is defamatory, obscene or fraudulent, or that advocates the use of force for
an imminent lawless action. But Germany's definition prohibits the promotion
of Nazism (as well as ridiculing the national anthem), and France has lately
been trying to block videos by citizens of police arrests of minorities.In
his new book, Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World, Timothy
Garton Ash, an Oxford historian, writes that "the internet
is...history's largest sewer." Flowing through it are exhortations to
terrorism, lies and conspiracy theories, bullying and harassment. According to a Pew survey in 2014, one-fourth of
users have encountered physical threats on the Internet. Garton Ash, in a
book of nearly 500 pages, struggles to compose a set of guidelines for free
speech in an Internet age. It's not easy.In the short term, increased
Internet access has led to more attempts at government repression, but, in
the long term, there's reason for optimism. While nearly everyone in the U.S.
and Europe is online, the proportion in China is only about half and in many
Asia and African countries, far less.As the economic and cultural benefits of
the Internet reach practically all citizens, it will be difficult -
impossible, even - to take that connection away or even limit it. The
Internet will become as essential as air. For that reason, physical access
should be one of the two goals of global Internet policy for the United
States. The second goal is one the U.S. government has
championed for the past 20 years: the right to connect as equivalent to the
right to assemble and speak freely. Cultural differences in the definition of
free speech will be difficult to reconcile, but those differences can't be an
excuse for repression. It is encouraging that the United Nations General
Assembly this summer passed a non-binding resolution declaring that people
should have the same human rights online as they do off-line.But merely
declaring rights is not enough. The U.S. and other democracies must use all
opportunities to advocate Internet freedom, condemning and undermining
attempts to abridge access and speech, including providing training and
technology to help people in authoritarian countries navigate around
obstacles presented by their governments. What if we fail? The worry is that the Internet will become
fragmented, and its greatest asset, immediate global connectivity, will be
sacrificed. And, again, it's not just the authoritarian nations, like China,
that are talking about their own internets. The Edward Snowden revelations
and other disclosures about the National Security Agency spying on leaders of
such countries as Brazil and Germany led to widespread outrage and to calls
from some countries to circumvent U.S.-based Internet services -- or, in the
case of Chancellor Angela Merkel, to create a separate European Internet.John
Perry Barlow, a famous Internet activist of the early days, said in his
"Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" in 1996 that
governments "have no moral right to rule us, nor do you possess any
methods of enforcement that we have true reason to fear." This kind of
optimism seems quaint. In 2005, just 400 million users lived in the
developing world; today, there are more than 2.1 billion, and the regimes
that run those countries fear the Internet as a threat to their authority,
and they're doing something about it.In the end, however, the Internet could
still prove Barlow correct - but only if technology's pursuit of freedom
receives a big helping of will, moral support, and good policy.James K.
Glassman, the founding executive director of the George W. Bush Institute, is
a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute's Center for Internet,
Communications and Technology Policy. Twitter: @jameskglassman From http://www.dallasnews.com/ 10/12/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
CHINA: Wechat "Very Hard"
to Expand Globally CEO of Tencent Pony Ma on Thursday explained the difficulty
in expanding Wechat overseas. "It is very hard for Wechat to expand
overseas, unless we can offer wholly different customer experience, but
social apps are basically all alike," Ma told a forum at the third World
Internet Conference in east China's Zhejiang Province. "In markets
dominated by WhatsApp or Line, we can't challenge them." WhatsApp is the
world's most popular instant messenger, with close to a billion active users.
WeChat lags behind with around 650 million users, mostly in China. Tencent,
possibly China's premier Internet company, rose to prominence with a
messaging service called QQ in the late 1990s and came to dominate China's
social networking market with WeChat a decade later, just as mobile Internet
took off. China has around 700 million Internet users, most of whom use
smartphones. WeChat has gained a foothold in some overseas markets. It has
become the messaging app of choice in Malaysia, but elsewhere users are
mainly ethnic Chinese. The spread of WeChat usually begins in the
overseas Chinese community and spreads to friends and colleagues, Ma said.
Last year, on a visit to University of Washington where there are 7,000
Chinese among nearly 40,000 students, Ma found many foreigners, not least the
university president, using WeChat. Off campus, WeChat is less popular
because the Chinese population is low. Ma remains interested in expanding
overseas and expects Tencent to achieve some success in fields other than
social networking, like gaming, payments and Internet of Things. In China,
WeChat is much more than a messaging app. People use it as a tool kit to shop
both on and offline, buy air and train tickets, hail taxis, read the news,
pay bills, book accommodation, and many other services. From
http://www.chinagate.cn/ 11/18/2016 Virtual Reality Industry Boost in SW
China Financial incentives and preferential policies
have been introduced to support the virtual reality (VR) industry in
southwest China's Guizhou Province, according to a VR summit on Saturday.
During the event, Gui'an New Area, an economic zone in the province and host
of the summit, announced 10 policies and a blueprint for developing the VR
industry. The area aims to attract 70 VR enterprises with a total production
value of 560 million yuan (84 million U.S. dollars) by 2017. The policies
include easier VR business registration, and preference in land approval,
government investment and government purchases. Financial subsidies from 1
million to 5 million yuan will be offered to top VR content creators and
business incubators, according to the policies. Gui'an will also set up an
investment fund for the VR industry and support VR enterprises listed on the
main stock exchange, according to the policies. "In the short term, the
Chinese VR market should focus on developing the VR industry chain and raise
customers' consumer awareness," said Lu Shan, head of CCID, a
Beijing-based think tank. In Q1, the total global investment in VR and
augmented reality reached over 1.7 billion dollars, with nearly 1 billion
coming from China.
From
http://www.news.cn/
10/08/2016 China Promotes Sci-tech Cooperation
Along Belt and Road The Chinese government has released a plan on
scientific and technological (S&T) cooperation between China and
countries along the Belt and Road. China plans to set up joint labs, research
centers, tech transfer centers and S&T parks with countries along the
Belt and Road in the next three to five years, according to a document issued
by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development and
Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of
Commerce. The government also aims to bring over 150,000 S&T personnel
from those countries to China for exchanges or training, and expects to
receive more than 5,000 young scientists during the same period. Basic
cooperation plans should be made with key countries, and memorandums or
agreements signed, the document read. According to a mid-term objective set
in the document, the government will expand S&T cooperation from
surrounding countries to a larger region in the next ten years, assisting
cooperation platforms and major projects to make progress. The Belt and Road
initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century
Maritime Silk Road, a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with
Europe and Africa along ancient trade routes. From
http://www.news.cn/
10/04/2016 China Developing Fastest
Supercomputer Again China has started to build a prototype
supercomputer system with an estimated peak performance of over 1,000 quadrillion
calculations per second, ten times that of the current fastest computer,
researchers said Wednesday. The exascale supercomputer is being developed by
the National Research Center of Parallel Computer Engineering &
Technology (NRCPC) and will be installed at the National Supercomputing
Center in Jinan. The project follows the announcement of China's
independently developed Sunway Taihulight as the world's fastest
supercomputer in June at the 2016 International Supercomputing Conference in
Germany. Challenges and uncertainties accompany the project, said Yang
Meihong, director of the National Supercomputing Center in Jinan. "It is
a test for the effectiveness of China's independently developed
technologies," Yang said. China has launched three projects for
developing exascale supercomputers, led respectively by the NRCPC, National
University of Defense Technology and Sugon Information Industry, Yang said.
Supercomputers can support various tasks, including oil exploration, high-end
equipment manufacturing, biological medicine and animation design. According
to the International Supercomputing Conference, China has 167 of the world's
top 500 supercomputers. From
http://www.news.cn/
11/02/2016 China Moves to Become an Internet
Power Cyberspace security, the Internet and information
technology have been key in China's development, and the country has been
striving to build itself into a major Internet power. At a study session
attended by China's top leaders, President Xi Jinping has
asked for more independent innovation in the Internet and information
technology, as well as enhanced cyberspace security, to secure China's future
as an Internet power. China, although a latecomer to the Internet, has made
remarkable achievements in the development of Internet networks and services
in the past two decades. In 2015, the total value of the electronic
information manufacturing industry in China reached 11.1 trillion yuan
(around 1.66 trillion U.S. dollars). The country is now the world's largest
e-commerce market, with online retail sales totalling 3.9 trillion yuan. In
the meantime, 700 million Chinese netizens use the Internet to study, work,
and access public services, making China home to the world's largest online
population. However, the country clearly knows that it lags
behind leading Internet powers in the world. Serving its end in constructing
a safe and controlled information technology system, China has vowed to seek
major breakthroughs in the fields of high-performance computing, mobile
communication, quantum communication, core chips and operating systems.
Keeping in mind that the Internet and information technology can be viewed as
a double-edged sword, China has been calling for better cyberspace
management, a positive and healthy cyber culture, as well as effective
fighting of cyber crime. The country is also determined to better harness the
Internet in a bid to promote scientific decision-making by governments,
improve social governance and create efficient public services. From
developing core technologies to utilizing the Internet to give a greater
voice to the public, there is much more the country can do to cope with the
opportunities and challenges that come with the Internet age. From
http://www.news.cn/
10/10/2016 Ceramic 3D Printing Technology
Unveiled at Ceramic Fair A ceramic 3D printing technology was unveiled at
the ongoing 2016 Jingdezhen Ceramic Fair. It only takes three hours to
produce a ceramic piece through the 3D printing method -- much faster than
traditional handcrafting. Zeng Shu, chief engineer at Jingdezhen Innov-Source
Industrial High-Tech Co. Ltd., said they spent 15 years developing the 3D
printing equipment. "Traditional porcelain clay cannot be used in 3D
printing. Therefore, we remixed the clay's components," Zeng said.
"The success rate for current 3D printing technology can reach about 70
percent." The technology allows ordinary people without ceramics
training to design and produce their own ceramic wares. "Technological
development has made ceramics more accessible for young people. More young people
will enjoy the craft," said Duan Zhenmin, a ceramics expert from
Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, known as China's ceramics capital. The
technology will also help spread traditional ceramic crafts and culture in
schools. From
http://www.news.cn/
10/19/2016 The Third World Internet Conference will start
Wednesday in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, east China. President Xi Jinping will
address the three-day conference via a live feed. Home to the world's largest
online community, 710 million as of June 2016, more than 95 percent of
China's cities, towns and villages are now covered by fixed broadband. Since
the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012,
China has been making efforts to build itself into an Internet power. -- In
November 2013, the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee
included Internet development in its mission to "comprehensively deepen
reform," calling for better management of cyberspace. -- In February
2014, the central Internet security and informatization leading group, headed
by Xi, was established to lead and coordinate Internet security and
digitalization, and draft national strategies, development plans and major
policies in this field. -- In October 2014, the fourth plenary session of
the 18th CPC Central Committee decided that the Internet should be
administered by law, and that legislation and regulations should follow. --
In April 2016 at a meeting on Internet security and digitalization, Xi, who
is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said China should
create a cleaner online environment and improve cyberspace security by
applying core systems, employing outstanding personnel and contracting
responsible Internet firms. -- In August 2016, the Cyberspace Administration
of China (CAC), the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection
and Quarantine and the Standardization Administration of China released the
criteria for the national development of Information technology. -- On Oct.
9, 2016, during a group meeting attended by senior leaders, Xi reiterated
that to successfully build China into an Internet power the country must
innovate information technology, boost digital economy, and improve both
online management and security. -- In late October of 2016, the CAC, the National
Development and Reform Commission and the State Council Leading Group Office
of Poverty Alleviation and Development released a plan on expanding online
services to rural areas. The plan featured articles on how to increase the
sale of agricultural products, better-quality education services and proposed
that a information service system for the poor be
established by 2020. -- On Nov. 7, 2016, the top legislature passed the
Cybersecurity Law, featuring articles on sovereignty in cyberspace, national
security and the rights of citizens. By adopting the law, the government will
begin to roll out measures to "monitor, defend and handle cybersecurity
risks and threats originating from within the country or overseas sources,
protecting key information infrastructure from attack, intrusion, disturbance
and damage." From
http://www.news.cn/
11/15/2016 Chinese Supercomputer Project Wins
Top Int'l Prize A Chinese team on Friday won the 2016 ACM Gordon Bell
prize, a top honor in high-performance computing, for an application running
on China's fastest supercomputer. It is the first time a Chinese team has won
the award. The project, named "10M-Core Scalable Fully-Implicit Solver
for Nonhydrostatic Atmospheric Dynamics," presents a method for
calculating atmospheric dynamics, according to the Association for Computing
Machinery, which presented the award at the International Supercomputing
Conference in Salt Lake City in the United States. "The application can
help improve global climate simulation and weather prediction," said
Yang Guangwen, director of the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi. The
center, also one of the application developers, is home to Sunway Taihulight,
the supercomputer that runs the application. The award shows that Taihulight not only excels
in terms of speed, but can also be a powerful platform for a wide range of
applications, said Yang. Since its launch on June 20, Sunway Taihulight has
helped research teams in both China and abroad make over 100 achievements in
19 different fields, including meteorology, oceanography, aerospace and
biology, Yang said. According to the International Supercomputing Conference,
China has 171 of the world's top 500 supercomputers, tied for first place
with the United States. Established in 1987, the Gordon Bell Prize is awarded
each year at the annual supercomputing conference. It recognizes outstanding
achievements in high-performance computing applications. From
http://www.news.cn/
11/18/2016 JAPAN:
Agriculture Ministry to Exploit ‘4th Industrial Revolution’ Technology The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry
intends to exploit emerging technologies of “the fourth industrial
revolution” such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things and
robots to improve the quality of agricultural products and efficiency of farm
work. The ministry plans to make agricultural businesses more “aggressive” by
utilizing these technologies to complement the aging farming population and
address the workforce shortage in the sector. It aims to cut costs and
improve quality. The ministry will include relevant expenses in the fiscal
2016 supplementary budgets and its budgetary requests for next fiscal year.
Robots are being considered for such work as mowing farmland. Operating farm
mowers is hard work that increases the physical burden on farmers. The
ministry aims to put robotic farm mowers into practical use by subsidizing
development costs of companies, research institutions and other entities. The
robots will have an autonomous cruise function that uses AI technology
similar to that used in robotic vacuum cleaners used in homes. The ministry will promote the spread of robots by
realizing low-cost production of them. A new learning system is being eyed
for new farmers in which a database would be compiled based on the
experiences and techniques of veteran farmers. The system could be designed
to help them learn the timing to harvest fruit through using visual images of
produce. Experienced farmers are
considered to possess valuable information about such things as judging the
proper time for harvesting fruits and vegetables. The ministry also will
analyze such weather information as air temperature and rainfall based on big
data to determine appropriate amounts of irrigation and fertilizer. The labor
shortage in the agricultural sector is serious. The domestic farming
population decreased to about 2.1 million in 2015 — which is about 80 percent
of the 2010 figure. The average age of farmers is 66, with those aged 65 or older
accounting for more than 60 percent of the farming population. As the
physical challenges of farm work are becoming more difficult for more and
more farmers, work-saving efforts and passing down farming techniques to new
farmers have become urgent tasks. From http://the-japan-news.com 09/13/2016 SOUTH
KOREA: Seoul Boasts World’s Fastest Mobile Internet Speed - Survey Seoul’s mobile Internet speeds are the fastest
among seven major cities around the globe. A recent report by U.S. mobile
network analyst RootMetrics showed Seoul has a download speed of
74-point-four Mbps(megabits per second) on the wireless network,
followed by Madrid with 44-point-six Mbps and Tokyo with 39 Mbps. London came
in fourth with 29-point-eight Mbps, trailed by Paris, Dublin and New
York. RootMetrics said that with its outstandingly fast Internet speed,
Seoul presents a new international standard for network performance. The
company obtained the findings after measuring the Internet speed in each of
the seven cities. In Seoul, more than 20-thousand tests were conducted from
May to June, using Samsung's Galaxy S6 Edge Plus smartphone. From http://world.kbs.co.kr
08/24/2016 BOK
to Use Automated Data Collection for Economic Forecasts The Bank of Korea will use an automated system to
collect, save and update raw data on exports, imports, output and other
economic indicators to help it better project how the nation's economy would
perform in coming months, a bank official said Monday. So far, BOK officials
have put raw data into the bank's database by hand. A computer-assisted data
collection system is expected to help the BOK save time in collecting and
saving data. On Monday, the BOK opened a bid to select a company to
devise the automated data collection system, which will be used from early
next year. "By reducing the burden of manual entry, it is expected to
improve the speed and process of calculating economic forecasts," the
bank official said. The BOK plans to make the computer-assisted data
collection system automatically update about 110 pieces of raw data used for
economic forecasts, according to the official. The BOK aims to complete development
of the new system by the end of this year. From http://www.koreaherald.com 09/05/2016 S.
Korea, US Agree to Seek ICT Cooperation South Korea and the United States have agreed to
seek comprehensive cooperation in ICT-based new industries. The Ministry
of Science, ICT and Future Planning said on Sunday that the two nations held
the third Korea-US ICT Policy Forum on Thursday and Friday in
Washington. The two nations adopted a joint statement announcing their
agreement to seek comprehensive cooperation in the ICT-related new industries
for their digital economic development. The two sides will seek
comprehensive cooperation in the areas of 5G wireless ecosystem, artificial
intelligence, Internet of Things and global smart cities, cloud computing and
cyber security. The ministry said that the two sides also concluded
terms of references to pursue joint research projects regarding cyber
security. From http://world.kbs.co.kr
09/11/2016 KT
Chairman Touts Intelligent Networks as Future of Mobile Era Hwang Chang-gyu, the chairman of telecom giant
KT, said Tuesday that ongoing innovation in network technology, or so-called
“intelligent networks,” will lead to a paradigm shift in industries overall
and bring a greater change in lifestyles than today’s mobile-focused
networks. In a speech delivered at Harvard, the chairman said intelligent
networks would create new value and new business opportunities, not just
because of its speed but also because of its enhanced connectivity and
capacity. In 2020, the speed of network services will be 10 times faster than
today and the level of network services will be improved by 10 times, he
said. Future networks will even be able to map out the spread of diseases to
effectively contain the spread of viruses, he added. The
engineer-turned-chairman was giving the speech for the second time at
Harvard, the company said. “Eleven years ago, I spoke about the coming of
(the) mobile era (and) every part of it has become reality,” he said in a
speech delivered in English. “I am most definite that this future will bring
a broader and greater change to our world than the mobile era.” From http://www.koreaherald.com 09/21/2016 Internet
Banking Users Up in Q3 South Korea's Internet banking service rose at a
fast clip in the third quarter with both the number of users and daily
transactions reaching record highs, central bank data showed Wednesday. In
the three months ended Sept. 30, the number of Internet and mobile banking
service users came to 120.7 million, up 1.4 percent from the previous
quarter, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The number is
the sum of all registered users of 16 Internet and mobile banking service
providers in South Korea, including commercial banks. The average number of
daily transactions processed via the Internet, mobile and smartphones came to
87.9 million in the third quarter, up 1.9 percent from the previous quarter,
while the average amount of money processed through such means dropped 1.7
percent to 41.65 trillion won ($35 billion). The number of daily transactions
processed via smartphones jumped 2 percent on-quarter to more than 53.8
million, with the amount of daily transactions also surging 4.3 percent to
3.17 trillion won over the cited period, according to the BOK. The number of
smartphone-based banking service users rose 3.2 percent from three months
earlier to 72 million as of end-September. South Korea has a population of 51
million, but some people have multiple smartphones. The BOK said 42.7 percent
of South Korea's Internet banking service is used for depositing, withdrawing
or remitting money. From http://www.koreaherald.com 11/17/2016 KEPCO
to Combine Drones with ICT The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. on
Monday announced its plans to raise a new industry by converging information
and communication technology with the drone industry. Kepco has signed an
agreement with South Jeolla Province and the Korea Drone Industry Promotion
Association involving various projects to raise a new industry as part of a
new drive for the future economy. Under the agreement, Kepco will
research and develop detective and defensive technology of drones and
establish a “drone road” that would provide air lines for the drones based on
the ICT. It will also gradually come up with plans to provide wireless drone
charging stations connected with electric car charging stations. The
provincial government will construct a “one-stop test bed” where the drone
industry can test, evaluate and certify drones, upon corporation with a
related industry. The KDIPA will work on standardizing local drones while
putting effort into establishing a cooperative system with China and Japan to
come up with an international standard, the company added. From http://www.koreaherald.com 11/14/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
SINGAPORE: Data Could Give a Competitive
Advantage SINGAPORE: Data must be seen as a new resource in
order for the Republic to become a key player in the global digital economy,
said Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Future Economy Chan Chun Sing on
Saturday (Sep 24). The Committee’s report, to be published in the first
quarter of 2017, will explore ways to help Singaporeans and businesses
navigate an increasingly digitised economic landscape, among other things.
According to a survey by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
(IDA), some 53,000 jobs will be created within the sector over the next three
years. Mr Chan said many of these can be found in areas concerning data.
"You can talk about data storage, you can talk about data processing,
you can talk about data analytics, data security," he said. "If we
can see data as a new resource compared to the traditional resources like
water, energy, oil and so forth - then we may be able to create new
competitive advantages for Singapore, leverage data to create new businesses
and new jobs for Singaporeans,” he said. “This is why we think that the
digital economy is the most pervasive aspect of the many new ideas that we
have." Mr Chan was speaking at the finals of the annual
Public Policy Challenge where he discussed issues facing Singapore's future economy
with about 110 students. Mr Chan added that Singapore's global reputation of
trustworthiness would set the country in good stead to be a leader in fields
like cybersecurity. The committee will also explore ways to help Singaporeans
of all ages be ready for the future economy. "If we take the digital economy -
how can we get our preschoolers, our very young, to be very comfortable to
use this new technology," he said. "How can we get our preschoolers
to be very comfortable using this new technology, how can we get students who
are choosing their courses to embark on things like analytics and cyber
security and so forth, how can we re-train and re-equip our people who are
already in the job market so that they can be smart users?" Mr Chan said
another question is on how to help the elderly leverage technology to have a
better quality of life. Besides the digital economy, the Committee's report
will focus on jobs and skills of the future, Singapore as a connected city,
innovation, and governance, or setting up a regulatory framework to protect
intellectual property. From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/ 09/25/2016 Singapore
to Explore Driverless Vehicles for Streets Cleaning Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) and
Ministry of Transport (MOT) on Monday asked for the design and development of
driverless vehicles for streets cleaning and rubbish clearing, local media
reported on Monday. The two governmental agencies hope to seek information
from the industry, institutes of higher learning and research institutes on
"how we could leverage new technology to improve the productivity of
public cleaning," the Straits Times reported. NEA and MOT said they are
looking for "multi-purpose utility vehicles" which are in line with
the Committee of Autonomous Road Transport for Singapore's vision for the
deployment of self-driving technology. The authorities added that boosting
productivity levels in the delivery of public services will bring about cost
and time savings and better deployment of manpower resources in the long
term. The Request for Information will close at the end of December. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 10/17/2016 VIETNAM:
Focus on Agricultural Machinery Automation and mechanisation in rice and
vegetable production in the Mekong Delta is expected to sharply reduce losses
and increase value, the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry has said.
The losses in rice production stand at 5-6 per cent (3 million tonnes a year
or US$760 million), according to the ministry’s Department of Processing and
Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products and Salt Production. “If the
proportion falls to around 3 per cent, farmers’ incomes could rise to VNĐ1
million ($45) per hectare,” a representative of the department said.
Automation and mechanisation in rice planting and harvesting remains low. The
Mekong Delta has more than 5,500 harvesters being used on 40 per cent of
farmland, while rice-planting machines cover only 30 per cent. Automation and
mechanisation in vegetable production is much lower than in rice production.
In general, the Mekong Delta has 1.6-horse power per hectare, while the
figure in Thailand is four, China eight and South Korea 10. “Automation and
mechanisation in agricultural production will increase labour productivity,
reduce costs and increase competitiveness for farmers,” Dr. Võ Hùng Dũng,
director of the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Cần Thơ branch,
told the Thời báo Kinh tế Việt Nam (Việt Nam Economic Times) newspaper. “The
potential for development of automation and mechanisation in Việt Nam’s
agricultural production is huge,” he added. Most agricultural machines are
based on production of small workshops with outdated technologies, design and
post-sale services. Preferential policies From 2004 to 2008, the Government allowed
provincial authorities to subsidies the interest rate for farmers who bought
machines for agricultural production. After five years of the programme, tens
of thousands of agri-motors and tractors are now in use. Since 2009, the
Prime Minister has released a series of decisions to subsidise interest rates
for farmers to buy machines equipment, and material for agricultural and
fisheries production as well as house construction in rural areas. The
Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have
developed strategies to promote investment for machine automation in
agricultural production with preferential policies on tax, credit and land. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
11/14/2016 Vietnamese
Banks Urged to Go Digital Digital banking has assumed crucial importance in
the development of Viet Nam’s banking system, Dao Minh Tu, deputy governor of
the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) stressed at a recent conference. The
conference themed “Digital bank - the future of banking?” was held in Ha Noi
last week. At the conference, experts discussed challenges to the security of
digital banking and the future of banking. Digital banking poses
opportunities and challenges to the Vietnamese banking system, said Tu.
Digital banking was different from traditional banking, forcing banks to
continuously learn and develop, he said. William Anthony Jennings, vice
chairman of the management board of the Institute of Manpower, Banking and
Finance said that the digital technology era for banks had arrived. Up to 50
per cent of customers would want to switch to digital banking soon, said the
vice chairman. He advised banks to consider the trend and plan accordingly.
At the workshop, Douglas Jackson, regional director in the Southeast Asia for
Boston Consulting Group (BCG), said that Vietnamese customers were still
dependant on cash transactions. Thus, it was necessary for customers to
change their thinking first before banks’ thinking changed, he said. Viet Nam is a young country, whose human
resources are in the golden population structure, which creates young human
resources using digital technology, according to Jackson. Dang Tuyet Dung,
deputy general director of Maritime Bank, said that the bank had implemented
digital banking. "Currently, the services we offer for our customers
include not only internet banking but also combo packages”. Recently, as
customers at big banks lost money due to online fraud, many blamed the lost
money on weak security of banks. "Investments to improve information
technology infrastructure and enhance security is crucial. Besides the
general principles of security applying to the entire commercial banking
system under the direction of the State Bank, banks also need to develop
their own security measures," said Phan Thai Dung, deputy director of
the Informatics Technology Department under The State Bank. At the
conference, the BCG revealed the findings of study of 200 clients, which are
financial institutions, to find their difficulties in digital banking. The
results showed that though banks have many routes they lack a common vision
for digital banking. Interfaces and systems are not integrated,
infrastructures are outdated and ability to access multi-channel data is
poor. However, according to Douglas Jackson, if banks can overcome these
obstacles, the benefits of digital banking are huge such as increasing
revenue and market share, improved performance and a competitive advantage
versus competitors which can not afford digital features. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/21/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
INDIA:
Maharashtra Grants Rs 250 Crores for ‘Smart City’ Aurangabad Maharashtra
Government has decided to contribute Rs.250 crores for the cash-strapped
civic body of Aurangabad which is to raise funds for Smart Cities Project.
Aurangabad is first city of in the state to receive such a funding for the
central government’s Smart Cities Project. The civic body will receive the
aid over a span of five years. Aurangabad was among the five cities from
Maharashtra included in the third list of Centre’s Smart Cities Project last
month. As per the norms of the Smart Cities scheme, the Centre has to
contribute Rs 500 crore; while the state government and the civic body
concerned have to chip in Rs 250 crore each over five years. The Aurangabad
Municipal Corporation will not have to contribute funds now, as the state
government will take care of the civic body’s share of funds. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/12/2016 Hyderabad Emerges as Hub
of Campaign Against Uniform Civil Code
Imams at mosques, in their sermons, are speaking
about what they see as a first step toward imposing the Uniform Civil Code by
the government at the Centre. They are exhorting Muslims to unite to defeat
the proposal. The Law Commission had recently sent a questionnaire
to all stakeholders, seeking their opinion on the desirability of a Uniform
Civil Code. On October 19, the Muslim United Forum is organising a protest
meeting at Darussalam, the headquarters of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul
Muslimeen (AIMIM) to show unity on the issue. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi
and leaders of other constituents of the forum representing various sects
will address the meeting. Owaisi has said he would respond to
the Law Commission's questionnaire, although he says a uniform code
for personal matters would not be good. The board has strongly opposed the
move to discuss the code, saying it would not respond to the questionnaire.
The Uniform Civil Code has been a hot potato for all the political parties,
although the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has compaigned on its
desirability several times. The Constitution of India has also urged its
enactment in the directive principles, which are not justiciable. The protest
against the code has been going on even before the Law Commission's
move, though in a muted fashion. Tehreek-e-Muslim Shabban is one of the
organisations that has been running a campaign for more than one-and-a-half
months. Shabban president Mushtaq Malik told IANS that they were carrying
along leaders of Muslim organisations belonging to all schools of Islamic
thought. It held different rounds of consultation to "evolve a
comprehensive plan for a united struggle".
From http://www.siliconindia.com/ 10/17/2016 Digital India
to Be Supported by Vayam Technologies In association
with ‘Digital India’ initiative, Vayam Technologies is all set to support
various government programs which requires effective monitoring and
evaluation of respective projects. Vayam Technologies played key role in
‘Health Management Information System (HMIS)i project of Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare, Government of India (MoHFW). The company’s management
stated that government programs which require real-time monitoring for
effective implementation and on-going management can be made more accountable
with Business Intelligence – Geographical Information System (BI-GIS)
augmentation. The Centre’s few initiatives in the sectors — smart cities,
agriculture, education, security and surveillance, water and sanitation
management, human resource development and skill development — can be
benefitted with BI and geospatial technology together. The Central Government
initiated National Health Mission (NHM) program to achieve the targets set by
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to make delivery system more
responsive towards the healthcare requirements of the people. Regarding
orders given to Vayam Technologies include, computerization of the legacy
database along with the analytical intelligence and reporting service on SAS
platform for analytics, alert generation, dashboards and reporting. Vayam
Technologies grab the HMIS augmentation project to further enhance the analytical
capabilities of HMIS by extending its analytical and reporting capabilities
to the State level users and to provide GIS capabilities and develop manpower
capabilities for using HMIS across the country. The first part of the project
became operational in February 2014 and the final phase of the project, GIS
augmentation was inaugurated on March 29, 2016. Ashok Tiwari, Chairman and
Managing Director, Vayam Technologies said, “This has made the
decision-making process more robust and effective. As we move forward, this
will further support the government not only in fund allocation and
monitoring the expenditure at all levels, but also in the resource
deployments in terms of availability of doctors, health workers and nursing
staffs and quality of health services.” “BI-GIS integrated decision support
system can be adopted by any government program for its success of its
monitoring and evaluation. This will give an overview of the individual
performance and pattern of performance and the spatial analysis provided by
this tool can give us a reason of non-performance which can be
infrastructural, socio-economic, governance etc. Adoption of such a tested
process will further bring transparency, resource optimization and
sustainable development in the country,” He added. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 10/19/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
AZERBAIJAN:
“Connecting to Alternative Future” Project Launched at BHOS A project entitled “Connecting to an Alternative
Future” is launched at Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS). It is implemented with
financial support from the Youth Foundation of Azerbaijan under the President
of the Azerbaijan Republic in partnership with the Ministry of Ecology and
Natural Resources, The State Agency for Alternative and Renewable Energy
Sources of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SAARES) and the Information Systems and
Technologies Centre “Multimedia” and with organizational support from BHOS.
Nurali Yusifbeily, Deputy Chairman of the State Agency for Alternative and
Renewable Energy Sources of the Azerbaijan Republic, Gulmali Suleymanov,
Director of the Centre on Ozone and Climate Changes of the Ministry of
Ecology and Natural Resources of the Azerbaijan Republic as well as other
project participants and representatives of mass media made speeches at the
project opening ceremony. Speaking at the opening ceremony, BHOS
Vice-Rector for Training, Science and International Relations Ramiz Humbatov
greeted the project’s participants on behalf of the BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov
and wished them every success in the project implementation. He told about
important projects implemented in our country for use of alternative and
renewable energy sources over the last years. Speaking about activity of the
Training and Research Center on Renewable Energy Engineering established at
BHOS, the Vice-Rector said in the future the Higher School would train
specialists in this field. Ramiz Humbatov pointed out the importance of the
“Connecting to an Alternative Future” project implementation at the Baku
Higher Oil School. He also said that workshops on renewable energy sources
are conducted at BHOS every month. In his speech chief of the Centre on Ozone
and Climate Changes of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources Gulmali
Suleymanov expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the “Connecting to
an Alternative Future” project is being implemented at the Baku Higher Oil
School and wished every success to the project participants. In the first day, Teymur Sadikhov, an Azerbaijani
scientist working at NASA, gave a report on Robotics and Knut Erlend,
Norwegian trainer and Head of “Provitaz” and “İnnovaz” Ltd., made a report on
renewable energy sources beneficial for people. Other attendants also
presented information about alternative energy sources. During three days of
the project implementation, Chief Advisor of the State Agency for Alternative
and Renewable Energy Sources of the Azerbaijan Republic Emil Veliyev will
present a report about SAARES’ activity; Chief Advisor of SAARES Jabrail
Veliyev will give a report on opportunities for alternative energy in
Azerbaijan; and advisor of SAARES Control and Monitoring Department Emin
Gashimov will present a report about projects on on energy sources
implemented by SAARES. It shall be noted that the project participants pay
on-the-spot visit to solar panels station located in Surakhani. It shall be
also reminded that the main goals of the “Connecting to an Alternative
Future” are to facilitate making decisions on transition of the economics,
study experience and future potential for further development of Azerbaijani
youth, and raise Azerbaijani civil society’s awareness about nanotechnology
and alternative energy sources by highlighting these topics in the press and
publishing articles on these topics including research articles. From http://en.trend.az/
09/30/2016 Investments in Azerbaijan’s IT Sector
Increases Volume of funds invested in the sector of
information and communication technologies and postal service of Azerbaijan
amounted to 209.8 million manats (1.6291 AZN/USD on Oct. 26) in
January-September 2016, said the country’s First Deputy Minister of
Communications and High Technologies Ali Abdullayev. He made the remarks
during the ministry board’s meeting dedicated to the results of the nine
months of 2016. Abdullayev said that during the period, the volume of
investments in the IT sector increased by 2.2 times compared to
January-September 2015 and accounted for 1.8 percent of the total volume of
investments in the country’s economy. “Investments through the ministry
amounted to 25.5 million manats. Meanwhile, revenues obtained by the ministry’s
structural units totaled 252 million manats during the period,” noted the
first deputy minister. Abdullayev also said that the projected tariff revenue
was executed with a deficit of 4.9 percent. During the nine months of 2016,
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Communications and High Technologies transferred 44
million manats to the state budget, 19 million manats – to the State Social
Protection Fund that is, respectively, by 48.8 and 33 percent more than in
the same period of 2015, he added. In January-September 2016, receivables on
the ministry increased by 18 million manats – to 142 million manats, while
accounts payable decreased by 44 million manats and amounted to 156 million
manats, added the first deputy minister. From http://en.trend.az/
10/26/2016 UZBEKISTAN:
ICTEXPO 2016 Underway As we reported earlier, Week of information and
communication technologies ICTWEEK Uzbekistan 2016 is underway in the
capital. National exhibition ICTEXPO 2016 has become another important event
of the week. It is held annually in Tashkent, as well as in one of the cities
of our republic. This year Namangan city has been chosen. The main goal of
the exhibition is to demonstrate achievements in the sphere of information
and communication technologies, "Electronic Government" system, the
formation of a professional platform of the expert community, the development
of competitive advantages of the national market’s players. It is expected
that within three days more than 35 thousand people will visit the
exhibition. During the opening ceremony of ICTEXPO 2016 it was pointed out
that the event is an effective platform, which gathers the expert community
and contributes to the development of competitive advantages of the national
market players. ICTEXPO 2016 is organized with the official support of the
The Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications
of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Committee on Information and
Communication Technologies of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, as
well as the Information and Analytical Department on Information Systems and
Telecommunications issues under the Cabinet Ministers of the Republic of
Uzbekistan. ICTEXPO Exhibition 2016 is located in the
territory of more than 1000 square meters. It runs on several thematic areas,
including mobile communications, the Internet, telecommunications, software
industry, e-government and e-commerce. The exhibition’s stands display many
modern technologies and solutions presented in the information services
market. "Electronic Government" technology is an important thematic
section of the exhibition. The exhibitors represent the best examples of
implemented projects of "electronic government". The Exhibition
promotes efficient solutions in the creation of a unified state databases and
the organization of interactive services’ provision to the population.
Considering the growing interest of youth in ICT, within the grameworks of
ICTWEEK robotics competition for children aged from 7 to 13 years has been
also organized. The first in Uzbekistan Robotics School RoboKidz and the
Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications of
the Republic of Uzbekistan are the organizers of this event. The team of
winners will travel to India to participate in the World Robot Olympiad.
Thus, a team of two people, which won the national stage of Robotic Olympiad,
will participate in the final stage of the World Robot Olympiad 2016 to be
held in New Delhi (India) from 25 to 27 November 2016. ICTEXPO 2016
contributes to the further development of mutually beneficial cooperation
between the companies in the field of information and communication
technologies and the establishment of strong business contacts. It will run
until 23 September. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
09/22/2016 Huawei Sets the Trend for Cloud Technologies
in Uzbekistan Huawei Tech Investment Tashkent LLC Foreign
Enterprise is organising the International Uzbekistan Cloud Summit 2016 on
November 10, 2016. As a foremost event, it brings together top specialists,
analysts, and potential users to exchange information, experience and
opinions about the most popular trend in ICT — Cloud Computing. The
participants will discuss how cloud technologies can help promote the
efficiency, productivity and innovation in Uzbekistan. Cloud computing, which
includes telecommunications, private, and public cloud systems, are seen as
revolutionary technologies capable of shaping business telecommunications,
the internet, and most of industry markets. Through the abstraction and
aggregation of computing, as well as cloud storage of data and network
resources, large computing capacity is available anywhere and anytime,
without much expenses or long hardware purchase and deployment time. This
makes cloud services more flexible and accessible compared to their conventional
equivalents. While the construction, development, and commission of a complex
network may take years of work, cloud computing ensures that such work is
done in minutes in a series of clicks. In another example, small local
companies can place their software in clouds, so as to enable Uzbek and
international users to access and use their services. “Based on open and
flexible cloud technologies, Huawei is willing to discuss with industry
partners the possibility of building an open cloud ecosystem. Through this
system, large telecom companies, local software developers and national
content providers (Media and OTT companies) could work together to provide
more localised and timely services for the population and to develop the
national ICT industry,” said Wang Peng, CEO of Huawei in Uzbekistan. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
11/10/2016 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
37% of IT Pros to Look for New Jobs in 2017 If your IT department isn’t already worried about
staff retention, some new stats might change that. A new poll finds 37% of IT
pros plan to begin searching for a new employer in 2017, and 26% plan to accept
a new job. Many factors are driving people’s desire for a job change,
according to Spiceworks’ 2017 Tech Career Outlook. The most frequently cited
reasons are: to advance my IT skills (cited by 69%); to get a more
competitive salary (64%); to work at a company that makes IT more of a
priority (40%); I’m burnt out at my current job (40%); to find a better
work-life balance (38%); to get better benefits (401k, healthcare) (33%); to
work with a more talented IT team (26%); to get better work-from-home options
(24%); to get a better job title (22%).More than half (59%) of respondents
believe they’re underpaid, yet only 24% expect a salary increase from their
current employer in excess of 5% in 2017, and only 12% expect a promotion.
Faith in the hiring climate is another driver: 70% of respondents expect the
IT job market to remain favorable in 2017, which is inspiring many IT pros to
seek out higher paying jobs with greater potential for advancement. “Many IT professionals believe they’re underpaid
and their department is underfunded,” said Peter Tsai, IT analyst at
Spiceworks, in a statement. “This is leading many tech professionals to take
advantage of the favorable job market expected next year and seek employers
that prioritize their IT department, invest in tech talent, and provide
adequate resources IT professionals need to be successful." On the flip
side, 61% of IT professionals feel appreciated by their current employer,
Spiceworks finds. Continuous skills development is a hallmark of IT, and respondents
to Spiceworks’ survey have plans in this area, too. When asked which skills
IT pros plan to improve in the coming year, IT pros prioritized
security/cybersecurity (cited by 62% of respondents), networking (56%), and
virtualization (45%) skills. When asked what IT tasks will be the most
challenging next year, most IT professionals said getting business leaders to
understand the importance of IT priorities and fund critical IT projects. IT
pros also expect to face challenges associated with keeping their
organization’s data secure, ensuring IT infrastructure is up to date, and
upgrading end-of-life software and operating systems on time. Spiceworks
makes free IT management software and has built a community of IT pros. Its
survey included 476 respondents from North America and EMEA. From http://www.computerworld.com.au 11/15/2016 NEW ZEALAND: Survey Finds Business Networks
Sub-Optimal A survey of 266 companies across Australia and
New Zealand, commissioned by Citrix and undertaken by Tech Research Asia,
found 55 percent of New Zealands believed their IT networks required
upgrading if they want to take advantage of emerging technologies such as
virtual and augmented reality, the Internet of Things, and wearables. For
Australia the figure was 52 percent. Anandh Maistry, senior director, Citrix
Australia and New Zealand, said: “Our study shows the expectations for
emerging technologies are high, with many businesses aware of the positive
impact they can have. However, the reality is investment in the majority of
solutions will first require investment in somewhat ‘mundane’ areas, one of
which is the networking environment.” Maistry said digital transformation
would place increasing demands on network infrastructure and services.
“Digital transformation is a priority for many businesses in Australia and
New Zealand, and to deliver it cloud infrastructures have become an integral
part of the business IT network. “With workloads and data increasingly being moved
to cloud environments – a trend the research shows will accelerate in the
coming months – it’s critical organisations in Australia and New Zealand act
now to ensure their networks can handle the growing demands being placed on
them.” Responses to the survey also suggest that poor network connectivity
costs New Zealand companies an average of 52 hours of lost productivity per
employee per year, the equivalent of $66,399 per year for a 50-person
organisation, according to Tech Research Asia. For Australia the figure was
72 hours. According to Tech Research Asia founder and managing director, Tim
Dillon, financial and productivity losses are far from the main problem with
poor network performance. “It can leave many businesses without the ability
to accurately capture data, and engage and collaborate with customers and
employees in a timely and meaningful manner,” he said. “Companies today are
more real-time, more analytical, and more demanding of their technology
investments. Yet the data tells us business goals are at significant risk
from sub-standard network performance.” From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 09/14/2016 Fixed
Broadband Services in Decline Statistics New Zealand has released the results
of its latest annual ISP survey saying it shows a five percent drop in the
total number of fixed broadband connections in New Zealand from June 2015 to
June 2016. It attributes the decline to customers accessing the Internet
through mobile phones and having the option to ‘tether’ other devices to
their phone. The survey showed almost half of all broadband connections had
unlimited data plans at 30 June. A year earlier, only about 30 percent were
unlimited. Statistics NZ also reported a 70 percent increase over the year,
to 143,000 terabytes, in the total volume of data downloaded by all consumer
and business broadband services. Mobile phone internet connections used a
total of 3,165 terabytes of data – an average of 900 megabytes per
connection. (The report does not break out other wireless connection such as
those form wireless dongles or portable WiFi access points). Statistics NZ
business performance senior manager, Jason Attewell, said residential
broadband connections used an average of 88 gigabytes each during the month
of June 2016, the equivalent to 85 hours of video or TV streaming. Statistics NZ said: “This increase in data usage
is likely to coincide with the increasing number of streaming services
available, and the continuing popularity of these. Additionally,
telecommunications services are 20 percent cheaper in June 2016 than in June
2011.” The survey found the number of fibre-optic broadband connections to
have more than doubled since June 2015. Over 220,000 broadband connections in
New Zealand are made through fibre, compared with 105,000 one year ago,” it
said. As at 30 June 2016, over 12 percent of all broadband connections were
through fibre-optic connections. Statistics NZ said: “International
comparisons reveal that New Zealand is still below the OECD average for
broadband connections through fibre, which was 19 percent as at December
2015). However, New Zealand has more fibre connections as a proportion of
total broadband connections than Australia, which had seven percent as at 30
June 2016.” The government aims to have 80 percent of New Zealanders able to
access the internet using fibre by 2022. Today 65 percent of services are
over DSL. From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 10/14/2016 NZ
Urged to More Aggressively Adopt Latest Technologies Fresh from a visit to IBM’s ‘World of Watson’
event in Las Vegas, the recently appointed deputy chair of the New Zealand
Technology Industry Association (NZTech), Rachel Kelly, has called for New Zealand
to accelerate its adoption of advanced technologies, or wave goodbye to the
“the great Kiwi Lifestyle.” Kelly - a director of director of business
consultancy SparkTank - said: “For such a relatively small and nimble
country, I believe New Zealand is underperforming in the adoption of specific
types of modern technologies. Part of this stems from our cultural aversion
to risk but if we aren’t open to fail, we will not grow.” She said she saw
“some advances in technology that are driving other countries to succeed and
putting New Zealand at risk of being left behind,” but gave no indication as
to what specifically she had seen or heard at World of Watson that had led to
her conclusions. She added: “We need to cultivate the idea that professional
collaboration and the use of smarter tools enhances the Kiwi lifestyle that
we all know and love. If New Zealand fails to realise this, there is no way
we can compete with markets that work much longer hours than we do with
subsequent sacrifices to the family unit.” She said she wanted to see the Waikato region
lead the way in applying large-scale smart city technologies. “This region
offers one of the best lifestyles in the country – to retain that and grow on
a worldwide stage, we need to work smarter than any other city.” She added
that achievement of these goals would require a shakeup at the top echelons
of New Zealand companies. “We also need a different kind of leader to step
up, using the latest technologies as tools to forge stronger paths for their
companies.” Kelly said she also had a role advising “a dedicated group of
technology advisor specialists funded by both Government and private
organisations where advisors in each major city work with the Ministry of
Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and NZ Trade and Enterprises (NZTE)
to offer a more aggressive tech exposure and execution strategy for New
Zealand.” From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 11/16/2016 |
|
||
|
|
Powered by UNPAN-AP Editorial Department |
|
||