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Spring 2017 Issue 57 |
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GLOBAL: 10 Tips to Share on Data Privacy
Day Online harassment and cyber bullying
are real. And, some groups, such as women, are targeted more than others.
Sadly, who you are affects how you are treated by others online, as well as
offline.A powerful way to counter online abuse, threats and violence is to
share our knowledge with each other. So, to mark this year’s International
Data Privacy Day, the Internet Society would like to share with you 10 tips
to protect yourself and others online:Know the terrain. The Internet is a
powerful tool for communication. Learn how to use the Internet, keep your
eyes open for good and bad actors, and make the most of what the Internet
offers.Keep your private life private. Keep your personal information
separate from your professional role. Use different personas for different
roles.Protect communications. Use end-to-end encryption and two-factor
authentication for confidential communications.Obscure your location. Remove
location data from images and videos before posting. Turn off application
access to location. Don’t disclose your location in public posts.Guard your
devices. They’re more precious than any jewels. Protect them from both
physical and digital tampering. Use encryption and strong access
credentials.Prepare for an attack. Find allies and prepare a plan for dealing
with online harassment, doxing and other forms of abuse. Don’t feed the
trolls! They don’t deserve your attention. Stand firm. Don’t let cyber bullies
undermine what you are doing. Show them you are not afraid. Others will stand
with you. Be willing to ask for help.Beware of Trojan horses. Look out for
spear-phishers. Check before connecting with someone new. If something seems
too good to be true, it probably isn’t!Lead. Share your experience with
others. Let people know that you are there to help.Protect others. If you
host user-generated content, prevent users from posting derogatory or other
abusive messages. Help remove personal information that has been exposed to
hurt someone. Report offendersShare these tips with someone close to you! And
don’t sit by when you see abuse on social media. Offer a helping hand. From http://www.i-policy.org/ 01/28/2017 More Than 50 Internet Shutdowns in
2016 Governments around the world shut
down the internet more than 50 times in 2016 – suppressing elections, slowing
economies and limiting free speech.In the worst cases internet shutdowns have
been associated with human rights violations, DejiOlukotun, Senior Global
Advocacy Manager at digital rights organisation Access Now told IPS.“What we
have found is that internet shutdowns go hand in hand with atrocities” said
Olukotun.“In Ethiopia there’s been consistent blocking this year of social
media and internet.” Dozens of people have died in protests in Ethiopia in
2016, “many of them during the kind of blackout where it’s difficult to
report on what’s happening,” he said.Several leaders used internet shutdowns
to affect democratic processes, including elections.“In Uganda in February
2016 there was a shutdown of social media networks by President Museveni and
that again happened in Gambia (in December) surrounding the election,”
Olukotun added.In other cases, three governments chose to shut down the
internet because they thought that it would stop students from cheating on
their exams, he said.“On the whole most governments want to expand internet
access,” -- DejiOlukotun, Access Now However governments do not seem to have
taken into account the potential repercussions of the shutdowns, beyond the
limits of free speech.According to a recent Brookings Institute paper
internet shutdowns cost countries 2.4 billion dollars in 2015.The biggest
losses were in India, $968 million, Saudi Arabia, $465 million and Morocco
which lost $320 million. According to Brookings these are conservative
estimates which only take into account reductions in economic activity and
not tax losses or drops in investor confidence.However while many governments
chose to limit internet access in 2016, many others invested billions in
expanding internet access.“On the whole most governments want to expand
internet access,” said Olukotun. “Many of them see it as an opportunity to
participate in the global economy and be competitive.”Olukotun noted that
there were many ways that internet access can be limited, beyond
state-sanctioned shutdowns.“It’s important that the internet that people do
get online to gives them access to the whole internet and it’s not just a
walled garden,” he said. Olukotun added that shutdowns were
happening more often and that governments were employing more sophisticated
methods to ensure that internet users could not get around the shutdowns.
While internet users in Uganda were able to use Virtual Private Networks to
get around shutdowns earlier this year, other governments have used more
sophisticated and targeted methods to disrupt the internet of certain
groups.In other cases governments banned specific social media networks.When
it comes to shutdowns, Olukotun said that one way to stop them is for
internet providers to resist government demands.“Telecommunications companies
can push back on government orders, or at least document them to show what’s
been happening, to at least have a paper trail,” he said.He also noted that
international organisations such as the International Telecommunications
Union – the UN agency for information and communication technologies – could
also do more by issuing statements in response to specific incidents. From http://www.ipsnews.net/ 01/06/2017 European
Commission Outlines Next Steps Towards a European Data Economy The European
Commission proposed today policy and legal solutions to unleash EU's data
economy, as part of its Digital Single Market strategy presented in May 2015.
The Commission is addressing this issue because the EU is currently not
making the most of its data potential. To change that, it is necessary to
address unjustified restrictions to the free movement of data across borders
as well as several legal uncertainties. The Communication presented today
outlines policy and legal solutions to unleash Europe's data economy. The
Commission also launched two public consultations and a debate with Member
States and stakeholders to define the next steps. Andrus Ansip,
Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said: "Data should be able
to flow freely between locations, across borders and within a single data
space. In Europe, data flow and data access are often held up by localisation
rules or other technical and legal barriers. If we want our data economy to
produce growth and jobs, data needs to be used. But to be used, it also needs
to be available and analysed. We need a coordinated and pan-European approach
to make the most of data opportunities, building on strong EU rules to
protect personal data and privacy." Elżbieta
Bieńkowska, Commissioner in charge of Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said: "Data is the fuel of the new economy.
To ensure that Europe is successful in the new era of the industrial economy,
we need a solid and predictable framework for data flow within the Single Market.
Clear data access, security and liability rules are key for European
companies, SMEs and start-ups to fully grasp the growth potential of the
Internet of Things. Instead of building digital borders we should focus on
building a European data economy that is fully integrated to and competitive
within the global data economy." In the Communication, the Commission
also proposed to interested Member States to get involved in cross-border
projects exploring emerging data issues in a real life situation. Some
projects on cooperative connected and automated mobility (CAD) that allow
vehicles to connect with each other and with roadside infrastructure are
already underway in some Member States. The Commission wants to build on
these projects and test out the regulatory implications of access to and
liability of data. The EU
data economy was estimated at �272
billion in 2015 (annual growth of 5.6%) and could employ 7.4 million people
by 2020. Data can be used to improve almost every aspect of daily life, from
business analysis to weather forecasting, from new era in medicine enabling
personalised care, to safer roads and fewer traffic jams. This is why the
Commission's Communication emphasises the role of free flow of data in the
EU. In addition, studies point to numerous legal or administrative
restrictions, mainly in the form requirements of national data localisation
that constrain the entire EU data market. Removing these restrictions could
generate up to �8
billion in GDP a year (study). All these initiatives are based on strong
rules to protect personal data (the General Data Protection regulation
adopted last year) and to ensure the confidentiality of electronic
communications (see today's proposal on ePrivacy), since trust is the
foundation on which the data economy must be built. The
General Data Protection regulation (GDPR) fully regulates the processing of
personal data in the EU, including machine generated or industrial data that
identifies or makes identifiable a natural person. By setting uniform high
standards of data protection, it ensures the free flow of personal data in
the EU. However, the GDPR does not cover non-personal data when they are
industrial or machine generated, or obstacles to the movement of personal
data based on other reasons than the protection of personal data, e.g. under
taxation or accounting laws. In
order to make the most of data for the European economy, the Commission will: Engage
in structured dialogues with Member States and stakeholders to discuss the
proportionality of data localisation restrictions. The goal is also to
collect further evidence on the nature of these restrictions and their impact
on businesses, especially SMEs and startups, and public sector organisations. Launch,
where needed and appropriate, enforcement actions and, if necessary, take
further initiatives to address unjustified or disproportionate data location
restrictions. The
Commission has also looked at legal uncertainties created by emerging issues
in the data economy and seeks views on possible policy and legal responses
regarding: Data
access and transfer. Wide use of non-personal machine-generated data can lead
to great innovations, startups and new business models born in the EU.
Liability related to data-based products and services. The current EU
liability rules are not adapted to today's digital, data-driven products and
services. Data portability. Portability of non-personal data is currently
complicated, for example, when a business wants to move large amounts of
company data from one cloud service provider to another. Background Today's
initiatives will contribute to removing remaining obstacles within the Single
Market, as called by the European Council in December 2016 (conclusions).
With the backing of the European Parliament and Member States, the Digital
Single Market should be completed as soon as possible. Today's initiatives
will help shaping the future policy agenda on the European data economy. The
consultation on building the European data economy will run until 26 April
2017 and feed into the Commission's possible future initiative on the
European Data Economy later in 2017. The consultation on evaluating Directive
on liability for defective products will run until 26 April 2017. They target
producers, collectors, and potential and actual users of non-personal data,
especially raw machine or sensor-generated data. This includes businesses of
all sizes, manufacturers and users of connected devices, operators and users
of online platforms, data brokers, public authorities, non-governmental
organisations, research organisations and consumers. From http://europa.eu/ 01/11/2017 LATIN AMERICA: Caribbean Turns to
Apps for E-Government Strategy The Government of Saint Kitts and
Nevis, in the Caribbeans will roll out five mobile apps as part of its
e-government thrust. The apps will provide information on consumer affairs;
crime prevention; information service; government-supported events; and include
listings of the government directory. These will be officially launched on
February 15. The Consumer Affairs app will provide information on where to
get the best food prices. “You go on that app and you can find every bit of
information you want in terms of prices and so on. So before you leave home
you could determine I’m going there or here because I get the best price here
on this particular item”, Ambassador Sydney Osborne – Chairman of the
Organising Committee for the Government’s second anniversary celebrations –
told Working For You, a weekly government radio talk show. The Crime Prevention app allows
residents to report potential and criminal activities, and get crime
prevention tips, while the Information Service app will publish “all the information
you want in terms of government publications”, he said. Saint Kitts and Nevis
ranked 94th place in the 2016 United Nations e-government survey. Other
Caribbean nations are also building mobile apps as a key part of their
digital strategy. Last year, the Jamaica Constabulary Force rolled out Stay
Alert, an app for users to send alerts to the police during emergencies, and
receive tips and news updates from the task force. Further afield, the
Bandung city government in Indonesia has set a similar approach – mandating
300 apps to be built each year. Officials believe that this is the more
effective way to reach out to its citizens as a majority of them use
smartphones. But the UK has banned the creation of mobile apps because they
are “very expensive to produce, and they’re very very expensive to maintain…
you have to keep updating them when there are software changes”, Ben Terrett
– former head of design at the UK Government Digital Service – told
GovInsider. The UK was ranked in first place in the 2016 UN e-government
rankings. From https://govinsider.asia/ 02/13/2017 CHINA: Announcing Cybersecurity
Strategy China's top Internet regulator
released a cyberspace security strategy on Tuesday, advocating peace,
security, openness, cooperation and order. The government will guarantee
cyberspace sovereignty and national security, protect information
infrastructure and act against cyber terror and crimes, according to the
15-page strategy released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).
Rules and their imposition will be improved and international cooperation
expanded. SOVEREIGNTY Cyberspace is a new frontier as
important as any other. "Cyberspace sovereignty is an important part of
state sovereignty," the strategy reads. All countries should be
respected in their Internet development and management, playing equal parts
in a cyberspace governance without hegemony or double standards. China will
use whatever means necessary -- scientific, technological, legal, diplomatic
or military -- to ensure cyberspace sovereignty. No attempt to use the
Internet to undermine or overturn China's national regime or sabotage
sovereignty will be tolerated. OPEN MARKET China is home to the world's largest
online population. About 700 million people in China use the Internet to
study, make purchases, work and access public services. In this context,
protecting critical information infrastructure and important data is crucial.
Products, services and companies used by government institutions will be
subject to security checks and vetting. Service producers and other
organizations will not be allowed to take advantage of privileged information
or technology to compete unfairly or harm users' interests. "This does
not mean that we will refuse foreign products or services," said Zhao
Zeliang, director of the CAC cybersecurity coordination bureau. "Our
requirements of security and controllability are not meant to raise barriers
to foreign enterprises," he told a press conference at the release of
the strategy. "The market will be open and transparent." INT'L COOPERATION China will participate in dialogues
and exchanges in cybersecurity; help establish international norms and anti-terror
pacts; and improve judicial collaboration. International cooperation will be
enshrined in policy, law, technology, standards, emergency response and
security infrastructure. Every assistance will be extended to developing
countries as they build information infrastructure. Lu Jianwen, in charge of
cybersecurity at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said
priority will be given to building Africa's information highway and
cooperation in communication technology. China will be pleased to provide
training in developing countries, he said. From http://www.news.cn/
12/27/2016 SOUTH KOREA: Science Ministry to
Promote Strategic Industries in 2017 South Korea's science ministry said
Friday it will nurture key strategic industries through helping aspiring
entrepreneurs and scientists cope with the fast-paced industrial
transformation, dubbed the "fourth industrial revolution." In a
policy plan briefing to Prime Minister and Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn on
its policy direction for 2017, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future
Planning said it will secure various intelligence information technologies
that characterize the fourth industrial revolution. The ministry designated
10 sectors, including the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence,
which are forecast to generate business opportunities and profits in the
future. "The ministry will push forward these ambitious policies with an
aim to lead the intelligence information society through innovation of
science technology," ICT Minister Choi Yang-hee told reporters. From http://www.koreaherald.com 01/06/2017 VIệT NAM: Top 10 ICT Milestones of
2016 The Viet Nam Information Technology
Press Club this week issued a list of the top ten domestic information and
communication technology (ICT) events of 2016. 1 Hackers attack Vietnamese airports
and Vietnam Airlines An alleged Chinese hacker group
carries out several cyberspace attacks on Viet Nam’s two biggest airports,
Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat International airports, and the official website of
the national flag-carrier Vietnam Airlines on July 29. The hackers also took
control of the speaker system at Noi Bai airport for a few minutes, during
which the speakers broadcast an English-speaking male voice distorting Viet
Nam’s claims over the East Sea. The hackers claimed to be the 1937CN from
China, which is one of the biggest hacker groups in the country. The official
website of Vietnam Airlines, vietnamairlines.com, was hacked by the 1937CN
group on the same day. The airline customer database was stolen and made
public on the internet. 2 4G officially licensed Minister of Information and
Communications Trương Minh Tuấn this year granted licences for VNPT, Viettel,
MobiFone and Gtel to provide 4G service on broadband 1,800 MHz. On November
3, VNPT officially launched its 4G service on Phú Quốc Island in the southern
coastal province of Kiên Giang. This is the first locality in the country
where VNPT is providing the 4G service. 3 PM approved scrapping Article 292 Article 292 of the Penal Code, which stipulates
penalties, including prison sentences, for providing unlicensed online or
telecom services, is inimical to IT start-ups. At the second session of the
National Assembly, with the authorisation of the Prime Minister, the Ministry
of Justice asks to revoke Article 292. Previously, a petition calling for the
scrapping of Article 292 was sent to officials, ministers and agencies and
collected nearly 6,000 signatures after only one week. 4 VN mobile phone users pickpocketed The Ha Noi Department of Information
uncovered a case involving Sam Media, a Hong Kong-based company, which
cooperated with four Vietnamese carriers to steal VND230 billion ($10
million) from 94,000 mobile users. These users received advertising messages
from Sam Media, which they thought were free. After the case was uncovered,
Sam Media was given a fine of VND55 million ($2,400). 5 Cyber attacks on major banks The Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock
Bank (TPBank) is almost cheated out of US$1.13 million by international
hackers in May. Fortunately, the bank detected the suspicious transactions in
time and promptly contacted relevant agencies to stop the hackers. In August,
a Vietcombank customer said she discovered that her account had notifications
of transfer of VND500 million. At a meeting between the customer and
Vietcombank, the bank found that she had browsed a scam website on her phone
and the site had stolen her banking information and password. The cases
indicats that hi-tech criminals are targeting banks and Vietnamese users who
do not have experiences in information security. 6 Clamp down on pre-activated SIMs Five mobile network providers -
including Viettel, VNPT (VinaPhone), MobiFone, Gtel Mobile and Vietnammobile
- sign a commitment on October 28 with the Ministry of Information and
Communications to intensify the confiscation of pre-activated SIM cards in
order to reduce spam text messages. More than 15 million pre-activated SIMs
have been locked and retrieved since. 7 Dialing code changes The dialing codes of all cities and
provinces will be changed early next year, according to a decision by the
Ministry of Information and Communications in November. The process will kick
off after the Tết (Lunar New
Year) holidays, on February 11. In the first phase, the calling codes of Sơn
La, Lai Châu, Lào Cai, Điện Biên, Yên Bái, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa
Thiên-Huế, Quảng Nam, Đà Nẵng, Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh will be changed. Another 23
localities will get new codes on April 15. The final phase will be initiated on
June 17 for the rest of the country. 8 2016 chosen to be National Startup
Year The Government chooses 2016 to be the
National Startup Year. Promoting entrepreneurship based on innovation and
building Viet Nam to become a startup nation is the fastest way to develop
enterpreneurial forces, especially high-tech enterprises, creating
breakthrough for the development of a digital economy. 9 Cyber-Information Security Law
takes effect The Law on Cyber Information Safety
takes effect on July 1. The law comprises eight chapters and 54 articles
prescribing the rights and responsibilities of offices, organisations and
individuals in ensuring cyber information safety and civilian encryption. 10 Three mobile network providers
cancel roaming charges At the 9th Summit of the
Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle Area (CLV 9), Prime Minister
Nguyen Xuan Phuc tasks Viettel with modernising the telecommunication
networks of the three countries with 4G technology. He also asks Viettel to
support the building of e-Government for the three countries and deploy phone
calls among subscribers in the
three countries at domestic rates, which means cancelling roaming fees for
subscribers in Việt Nam, Laos and Cambodia. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
12/31/2016 INDIA:
Uniquely Positioned to Benefit from Cloud in 2017
From http://www.siliconindia.com/ 02/06/2017 AUSTRALIA: Innovation and Science
Australia Calls for a More 'Urgent' Innovation Strategy The independent body has said more work
is needed to improve the country's innovation, science, and research
system.Innovation and Science Australia (ISA) has said Australia is lagging
behind international competitors and that there is a lot of work to be done
in order to break into the top tier of innovative nations.As a result, the
independent body charged with researching, planning, and advising the
government on all science, research, and innovation matters has called for an
increase in the sense of urgency around Australian innovation.The comments
come following a performance review into Australia's current system, which
highlighted that while it has points of strength, it is falling behind other
nations.In conducting the review, Performance Review of the Australian
Innovation, Science and Research System 2016, ISA determined the country's
performance on three areas: How well Australia creates knowledge; how well
the country transfers that knowledge to different parts of the system; and
how well businesses apply knowledge in developing new goods and services and
how it takes them to market."As a nation we're good at creating
knowledge but simply not good enough at transferring or applying it,"
chair of Innovation Australia Bill Ferris said. "In both our number of
researchers per capita and the proportion of highly-cited publications we
produce, we sit in the top 10 internationally."Despite sitting in the
top 10, Ferris said Australia is performing relatively poorly in terms of
transferring its knowledge and ultimately applying it. "It is these activities that
create the types of new goods and services that not only improve our lives --
think breakthrough medical technologies, environmentally friendly
productiontechniques, and new ways of growing and storing our food -- but
also provide economic growth and sustainable jobs," he said.ISA's review
suggested that Australia's poor performance in knowledge transfer and
application may be partially explained by the country's low rates of
collaboration and mobility among research institutions and businesses
compared to the more innovative nations."The challenge of getting
Australia into the top tier of innovation nations by 2030 must be seen as a
significant national priority," Ferris said, noting that Australia has a
predominantly incremental approach to innovation rather than a more radical
approach, and as a result it is holding the country back.Prime Minister
Malcolm Turnbull established ISA in November 2015, announcing Ferris, the
45-year veteran of private equity, as the chairman to lead the future
direction of the country's innovation.Former program director for the
University of Melbourne's Carlton Connect initiative Dr Charles Day joined
Ferris -- and Australia's Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel, who was announced
in March as deputy chair -- as ISA's CEO the following November. The ISA board also consists of Maile
Carnegie, ANZ group executive digital banking and former CEO of Google
Australia & New Zealand; Scott Farquhar, co-founder and CEO of Australian
startup darling Atlassian; Daniel Petre from AirTree capital ventures; Paul
Bassat, co-founder of SEEK and Square Peg Capital; Dr Chris Roberts from
ResMed; and Dr Michele Allan, chancellor of Charles Sturt University.ISA is
funded out of Turnbull's AU$1.1 billion National Innovation and Science
Agenda, which was unveiled in December 2015 to incentivise innovation and
entrepreneurship, reward risk taking, and promote science, maths, and
computing in schools."Australia is falling behind on measures of
commercialisation and collaboration, consistently ranking last or second last
among OECD countries for business-research collaboration," Turnbull
admitted at the time. "Our appetite for risk is lower than in comparable
countries, which means Australian startups and early stage businesses often
fail to attract capital to grow."Since the inception of the innovation
and science agenda, the minister responsible has changed three times, with
newly appointed Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Arthur
Sinodinos assuming his new role last month. From http://www.zdnet.com 02/07/2017 U.S.: IT Transformation Checklist -
10 Steps to Success When launching a IT transformation
project, there are some steps you definitely don't want to take, and 10 steps
that could lead to success. Here’s how not to set forth on a major IT
transformation project: First, make sure that the new
business strategy that’s triggering the transformation remains hazy, and not
backed up by a coherent business plan on which all business units agree.
Second, don’t clarify IT’s role in the project, or the technologies needed to
meet the needs of the business. Third, assign responsibility for different
aspects of the project to different groups, and allow them to proceed at
their own individual pace. Fourth, assume that funding for the project will
take care of itself at some point along the way. Then go ahead and begin the project. That’s how one company in our
experience began a top-to-bottom transformation of its business and
technology. The result, of course, was inevitable: After three years of
thrashing around, and many stops and starts, the project was killed, with a
dead loss of $55 million.As every CIO knows, all too many major projects turn
out like this one. Indeed, the statistics on the success rates of major IT
transformations are daunting. While outcomes have improved over the years,
just 10 percent meet all their project goals on time and within budget. The
rest either struggle or fail outright.Why? Companies downplay the complexity
of such programs and the extent of the organizational and cultural changes
required. So they underestimate the required investment in time, money, and
talent, the need for careful planning and a detailed roadmap, and the potential
risks involved. Yet they charge ahead anyway, with the inevitable poor
results. In reality, IT projects aren’t really
all that different from any other endeavor, large or small. Readiness is all.
So it’s critical for companies to conduct a reality check on just how
prepared they are to embark on their transformation effort. In our
experience, readiness is a matter of ensuring that the company has put in
place 10 key requirements needed to make sure their project reaches its
business and technology goals. These requirements should be set up as an
operational checklist to be punched as each one is fully accomplished: 1. Develop a clear vision of the
future state of IT. A coherent IT vision needs to be designed and mapped to
the overall business strategy, including detailed descriptions of the
business value to be achieved through the transformation. It is critical that
the vision include the input, sponsorship, and support of senior management. 2. Clarify the business-IT
relationship, governance policies, and structure. The relationship between IT
and the business should be formalized through clearly laid out business and
IT demand-management and decision-making mechanisms. The effort should be led
by a single, accountable senior IT leader. 3. Define foundational needs and
scope. The stability of existing foundational IT systems and competencies,
and the scope and scale of the transformation must be clear at the outset.
This clarity comes from a complete understanding of the work to be done, a
detailed map of the expected changes, a clear project timeline, and a
consistent approach to each of the elements, including infrastructure,
enterprise architecture, applications, and data. 4. Develop a structured
transformation approach and detailed plan. Companies should implement a
program management office to oversee the transformation and monitor execution
and ongoing results. It is the office’s job to develop a complete
transformation plan that includes all technologies, their business impacts,
dependencies, and known risks. 5. Ensure that the right leadership
and talent are in place. A single day-to-day leader must be assigned to the
transformation, who much ensure that the necessary project management and technology
skills are in place. UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENT A Year's Worth of Tech Insight &
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world-class education, compelling speakers, and unlimited networking
opportunities to help technology leaders keep up with the challenges and
drive their businesses forward. Registration is open! Will you be there? 6. Define the approach to partnering
and vendor management. Every transformation needs a strong vendor management
function, skilled at analyzing the performance of all vendors and partners,
and the quality of their deliverables. Organizations should make sure key
vendors are in place to fill gaps and bring in needed capacity and expertise. 7. Guarantee the smooth flow of
investment dollars. The funds needed to carry out the transformation must be
available at the outset and throughout the project lifecycle. Funding must be
available when needed to avoid any break in the momentum. 8. Develop a disciplined
implementation methodology. The methods for executing the transformation,
including enterprise architecture, application development, and data
governance procedures, should be formalized and followed closely and
consistently. Methods for conducting rapid test-and-learn cycles on new
technologies and processes should be at the ready, including proof-of-concept
exercises and pilots. 9. Prepare a sophisticated risk
management approach. This should include the ability to identify near-, mid-,
and long-term risks and their likelihood, through “what-if” scenario planning.
Procedures for mitigating risk should also be in place. 10. Manage motivation, morale and
change. Managing the motivation and morale of everyone affected by the
transformation is essential. A complete vision of the company’s future state
must be shared with all employees, while the IT-business team must be
committed to working together and communicating freely, and resolving
conflicts as they arise. Following our IT transformation
readiness checklist won’t guarantee success, but it will give you the
confidence to set forth knowing that you are as well prepared as you can
possibly be. When launching a IT transformation
project, there are some steps you definitely don't want to take, and 10 steps
that could lead to success. Here’s how not to set forth on a
major IT transformation project: First, make sure that the new
business strategy that’s triggering the transformation remains hazy, and not
backed up by a coherent business plan on which all business units agree.
Second, don’t clarify IT’s role in the project, or the technologies needed to
meet the needs of the business. Third, assign responsibility for different
aspects of the project to different groups, and allow them to proceed at
their own individual pace. Fourth, assume that funding for the project will
take care of itself at some point along the way. Then go ahead and begin the project. That’s how one company in our
experience began a top-to-bottom transformation of its business and
technology. The result, of course, was inevitable: After three years of
thrashing around, and many stops and starts, the project was killed, with a
dead loss of $55 million. SPONSOR VIDEO, MOUSEOVER FOR SOUND As every CIO knows, all too many
major projects turn out like this one. Indeed, the statistics on the success
rates of major IT transformations are daunting. While outcomes have improved
over the years, just 10 percent meet all their project goals on time and
within budget. The rest either struggle or fail outright.Why? Companies
downplay the complexity of such programs and the extent of the organizational
and cultural changes required. So they underestimate the required investment
in time, money, and talent, the need for careful planning and a detailed
roadmap, and the potential risks involved. Yet they charge ahead anyway, with
the inevitable poor results. In reality, IT projects aren’t really
all that different from any other endeavor, large or small. Readiness is all.
So it’s critical for companies to conduct a reality check on just how
prepared they are to embark on their transformation effort. In our
experience, readiness is a matter of ensuring that the company has put in
place 10 key requirements needed to make sure their project reaches its
business and technology goals. These requirements should be set up as an
operational checklist to be punched as each one is fully accomplished: 1. Develop a clear vision of the
future state of IT. A coherent IT vision needs to be designed and mapped to
the overall business strategy, including detailed descriptions of the
business value to be achieved through the transformation. It is critical that
the vision include the input, sponsorship, and support of senior management. 2. Clarify the business-IT relationship,
governance policies, and structure. The relationship between IT and the
business should be formalized through clearly laid out business and IT
demand-management and decision-making mechanisms. The effort should be led by
a single, accountable senior IT leader. 3. Define foundational needs and
scope. The stability of existing foundational IT systems and competencies,
and the scope and scale of the transformation must be clear at the outset.
This clarity comes from a complete understanding of the work to be done, a
detailed map of the expected changes, a clear project timeline, and a
consistent approach to each of the elements, including infrastructure,
enterprise architecture, applications, and data. 4. Develop a structured
transformation approach and detailed plan. Companies should implement a
program management office to oversee the transformation and monitor execution
and ongoing results. It is the office’s job to develop a complete
transformation plan that includes all technologies, their business impacts,
dependencies, and known risks. 5. Ensure that the right leadership
and talent are in place. A single day-to-day leader must be assigned to the
transformation, who much ensure that the necessary project management and
technology skills are in place. 6. Define the approach to partnering
and vendor management. Every transformation needs a strong vendor management
function, skilled at analyzing the performance of all vendors and partners,
and the quality of their deliverables. Organizations should make sure key
vendors are in place to fill gaps and bring in needed capacity and expertise. 7. Guarantee the smooth flow of
investment dollars. The funds needed to carry out the transformation must be
available at the outset and throughout the project lifecycle. Funding must be
available when needed to avoid any break in the momentum. 8. Develop a disciplined
implementation methodology. The methods for executing the transformation,
including enterprise architecture, application development, and data governance
procedures, should be formalized and followed closely and consistently.
Methods for conducting rapid test-and-learn cycles on new technologies and
processes should be at the ready, including proof-of-concept exercises and
pilots. 9. Prepare a sophisticated risk
management approach. This should include the ability to identify near-, mid-,
and long-term risks and their likelihood, through “what-if” scenario
planning. Procedures for mitigating risk should also be in place. 10. Manage motivation, morale and
change. Managing the motivation and morale of everyone affected by the
transformation is essential. A complete vision of the company’s future state
must be shared with all employees, while the IT-business team must be
committed to working together and communicating freely, and resolving
conflicts as they arise. Following our IT transformation
readiness checklist won’t guarantee success, but it will give you the
confidence to set forth knowing that you are as well prepared as you can
possibly be. From http://www.informationweek.com/ 02/07/2017 |
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OECD Launches Science, Technology and
Innovation Outlook 2016 The OECD, together with the European
Commission, will launch the OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook
2016 on Thursday 8 December at 9am CET. Journalists are welcome to attend a
presentation of the report by OECD Science, Technology and Innovation
Director Andrew Wyckoff at the Nowotny Auditorium. (Download the event agenda
here.) The flagship biannual report looks at how new trends in government
funding of science and technology research, emerging technologies and global
megatrends like climate change and ageing populations will affect innovation.
It also examines science, technology and innovation policy and performance in
50 countries. The STI Outlook 2016 along with 50 individual country profiles
and 40 policy profiles will be available to registered journalists on the
OECD's password-protected website at 09:00 CET on 8 December for immediate
release. Create your MyOECD account here. Requests to receive the STI Outlook
2016 under embargo ahead of release time should be sent to
Elvira.BERRUETA-IMAZ@oecd.org. Journalists requesting an electronic version
in advance of the release time agree to respect OECD embargo conditions. From http://www.oecd.org/ 12/07/2017 World Bank Will Help Improve the
National Statistical System for a Better Development Planning The World Bank’s Board of Executive
Directors approved an International Development Association (IDA) grant of $2.5
million to support the national statistical system of Comoros. Parallel
funding from the Government of Comoros and its development partners,
including the UNFPA, AfDB, AFD, UNICEF and GAVI is $1 million.From 2011, the
three-island state of 770,000 population started to undertake major reforms
to improve the statistics system and set up an autonomous and independent
National Institute of Statistics and Economic and Demographic Studies
(INSEED). However, the national statistical system of Comoros is still facing
many challenges in terms of data collection, processing and
dissemination.INSEED sets up the National Strategy for the Development of
Statistics for 2015-19 to significantly improve the statistical system. This
project will support the Strategy, and specifically the implementation,
analysis and dissemination of the fourth Population and Housing Census, the
implementation of the 2018-2019 Household Poverty and Living Standards Survey
and will focus on building human capacity, particularly in processing
National Accounts and price statistics, and upgrading the infrastructure in
terms of IT equipment and software. “Without recent and accurate data
about the social, economic and demographic situation of the country, we
cannot properly plan the development. Improving the national statistical
system is crucial to a low-income and fragile state such as Comoros that is
also facing limited resources and connection with the rest of the world. This
project is thus directly aligned with the Country Partnership Strategy for
2014-2017,” said Nadia BelhajHassineBelghith, Task Team Leader of this
project.The current available national accounts are based on the 1968 System
of National Accounts (SNA) and the consumer price index only covers the
capital city of Moroni. The national accounts do not properly capture the
large informal segment of the economy while GDP estimates are based on rough
assumptions and extrapolations. The Consumer Price Index measures are
inaccurate and the inflation rate does not reflect on-the-ground reality in
the different islands. The lack of quality and timely economic data not only
affects the accuracy of economic performance assessments, but also
compromises policy planning. This is further hampered by the lack of updated
and comparable socioeconomic, demographic and poverty statistics, which
adversely affects the targeting of social programs. From http://www.worldbank.org/ 01/10/2017 AFRICA: Kenya Electricity Expansion
Project - World Bank Board Approves Action Plan for Inspection Panel Case The World Bank’s Board of Executive
Directors met today to discuss and approve the Action Plan that Bank
management presented in response to the Inspection Panel investigation of the
Kenya Electricity Expansion Project (KEEP). KEEP was approved in May 2010 and
aims to increase the capacity and efficiency of electricity supply, and to
expand access to electricity in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas. The
project currently provides 280MW of low-cost green energy into Kenya’s
national grid system. In November 2014, the Inspection Panel registered the
Request for Inspection, submitted by members of the resettled Maasai
community. Following Board authorization, the Panel undertook its
investigation and issued its report outlining the findings. The Panel found
noncompliance with Bank policies related to indigenous peoples and
involuntary resettlement, and that some of the most vulnerable people
experienced harms during the resettlement process. On October 20, 2015, the
Board discussed the Panel’s Investigation Report and Management’s Report and
Recommendation. The Board authorized the Bank’s participation in a mediation
between the Requesters and the project implementing agency – Kenya Electricity
Generating Company Limited (KenGen). Further, the Board requested Bank
Management to return with an action plan for approval. [Oct 2015 press
release]. The mediation process was facilitated by the Complaints Mechanism
of the European Investment Bank, a co-financier of the project, and the
Bank’s Grievance Redress Service. The mediation was successfully completed
with a signed agreement between KenGen and the affected community in May
2016. The approved Action Plan was substantially informed by the mediation
agreement and addresses issues identified by the Inspection Panel report
[link]. The Action Plan also includes measures to verify affected individuals
who have been left out from the resettlement process, improvements in the
physical infrastructure of the resettlement site, and livelihood
restoration. From http://www.worldbank.org/ 02/16/2017 EUROPE: Parliament Marks Progress on
Digital Content Proposal November saw the Civil Liberties
Committee (LIBE) finalise its Opinion report on the digital content proposal.
The Opinion is non-binding and is meant to serve as an advisory document to
the lead Committees, namely the Internal Market (IMCO) and Legal Affairs
(JURI) Committees. It consists of a number of amendments to the original
proposal tabled by the European Commission in December last year. Some of the
more notable changes include removing recital language which specifically
exempts data collected through the use of cookies from being used as a form
of payment. The rules on 'reimbursing' data used instead of a monetary
payment were, however, made even narrower than before. If a consumer finds
that the supplier isn't in conformity with a contract concluded against a
counter-performance of data, the consumer can request that their data which
they have provided access to is returned to them, provided that the supplier
still retains such data. Under the LIBE Opinion's amendments, this would only
be a requirement if the consumer requests this. The joint lead Committees also
published their Draft Report on the digital content proposal on 7 November.
Notably absent from the report are amendments to the articles giving rise to
the so-called data reimbursement right. However, at this stage the Draft
Report only contains amendments tabled by the two co-rapporteurs, Axel Voss
(EPP, Germany) and Evelyne Gebhardt (S&D, Germany). Other Members of the
IMCO and JURI Committees can submit amendments until the 11th of January. The
most impactful suggested change by the co-rapporteurs is to increase the
scope of the proposal to any contracts for digital content concluded "in
exchange for payment of a price and/or personal data or other data provided
by the consumer or collected by the supplier or a third party in the interest
of a supplier" [emphasis added]. After MEPs from the Committees submit
their suggested amendments, the rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs will
debate on reaching compromise amendments. Once compromise has been reached
the Committees will vote on whether to approve the report, which is scheduled
for May 2017. If the Committees approve the Report, the European Parliament
will vote in Plenary and use the Report as its negotiating position with the
Council. From http://www.i-policy.org/ 12/01/2016 IAB Europe Press Release: Proposed
Eprivacy Regulation Fails to Improve Cookie Rules The Interactive Advertising Bureau
Europe (IAB Europe) is dismayed by the European Commission’s proposal for a
new ePrivacy Regulation, the next iteration of the infamous cookie law. “The
Commission had the perfect opportunity to prove it’s serious about better and
smarter regulation by repealing an outdated and unnecessary cookie law,” said
Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe. “But instead, DG Connect has rammed
through a proposal for yet more regulation before it was possible to
determine whether new rules are really needed, given that the new data
protection rules adopted only year ago addressing virtually the same subject
matter are yet to be applied in practice.” “While the Commission finally
acknowledged the important role of advertising for funding free content
online, it does so at the same time as presenting a law that as a practical
matter would undeniably damage the advertising business model – without
achieving any real benefits for users from a privacy and data protection
point of view” said Feehan. “People who thought cookie banners were annoying,
will be disappointed to hear that things won’t get better,” Feehan warned.
“Without significant improvements to the proposed text, users would have to
actively change the settings of every single device and app they use, and
more actively deal with constant requests for permission for the use of
harmless cookies when visiting websites and using other digital services.”
“We hope the co-legislators will assess this proposal on the merits and take
good account of constructive industry suggestions that would better protect
user privacy, while putting less of a burden on their time, attention and
patience,” concluded Feehan. From http://www.i-policy.org/ 01/10/2017 European
Commission Outlines Next Steps Towards a European Data Economy The
European Commission proposed today policy and legal solutions to unleash EU's
data economy, as part of its Digital Single Market strategy presented in May
2015. The Commission is addressing this issue because the EU is currently not
making the most of its data potential. To change that, it is necessary to
address unjustified restrictions to the free movement of data across borders
as well as several legal uncertainties. The Communication presented today
outlines policy and legal solutions to unleash Europe's data economy. The
Commission also launched two public consultations and a debate with Member
States and stakeholders to define the next steps. Andrus Ansip,
Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said: "Data should be able
to flow freely between locations, across borders and within a single data
space. In Europe, data flow and data access are often held up by localisation
rules or other technical and legal barriers. If we want our data economy to
produce growth and jobs, data needs to be used. But to be used, it also needs
to be available and analysed. We need a coordinated and pan-European approach
to make the most of data opportunities, building on strong EU rules to
protect personal data and privacy." Elżbieta
Bieńkowska, Commissioner in charge of Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said: "Data is the fuel of the new economy.
To ensure that Europe is successful in the new era of the industrial economy,
we need a solid and predictable framework for data flow within the Single
Market. Clear data access, security and liability rules are key for European
companies, SMEs and start-ups to fully grasp the growth potential of the
Internet of Things. Instead of building digital borders we should focus on
building a European data economy that is fully integrated to and competitive
within the global data economy." In the Communication, the Commission
also proposed to interested Member States to get involved in cross-border projects
exploring emerging data issues in a real life situation. Some projects on
cooperative connected and automated mobility (CAD) that allow vehicles to
connect with each other and with roadside infrastructure are already underway
in some Member States. The Commission wants to build on these projects and
test out the regulatory implications of access to and liability of data. The EU
data economy was estimated at �272
billion in 2015 (annual growth of 5.6%) and could employ 7.4 million people
by 2020. Data can be used to improve almost every aspect of daily life, from
business analysis to weather forecasting, from new era in medicine enabling
personalised care, to safer roads and fewer traffic jams. This is why the
Commission's Communication emphasises the role of free flow of data in the
EU. In addition, studies point to numerous legal or administrative
restrictions, mainly in the form requirements of national data localisation
that constrain the entire EU data market. Removing these restrictions could generate
up to �8 billion in GDP a year
(study). All these initiatives are based on strong rules to protect personal
data (the General Data Protection regulation adopted last year) and to ensure
the confidentiality of electronic communications (see today's proposal on
ePrivacy), since trust is the foundation on which the data economy must be
built. The
General Data Protection regulation (GDPR) fully regulates the processing of
personal data in the EU, including machine generated or industrial data that
identifies or makes identifiable a natural person. By setting uniform high
standards of data protection, it ensures the free flow of personal data in
the EU. However, the GDPR does not cover non-personal data when they are
industrial or machine generated, or obstacles to the movement of personal
data based on other reasons than the protection of personal data, e.g. under
taxation or accounting laws. In
order to make the most of data for the European economy, the Commission will: Engage
in structured dialogues with Member States and stakeholders to discuss the
proportionality of data localisation restrictions. The goal is also to
collect further evidence on the nature of these restrictions and their impact
on businesses, especially SMEs and startups, and public sector organisations. Launch,
where needed and appropriate, enforcement actions and, if necessary, take
further initiatives to address unjustified or disproportionate data location
restrictions. The
Commission has also looked at legal uncertainties created by emerging issues
in the data economy and seeks views on possible policy and legal responses
regarding: Data
access and transfer. Wide use of non-personal machine-generated data can lead
to great innovations, startups and new business models born in the EU.
Liability related to data-based products and services. The current EU
liability rules are not adapted to today's digital, data-driven products and
services. Data portability. Portability of non-personal data is currently
complicated, for example, when a business wants to move large amounts of
company data from one cloud service provider to another. Background Today's
initiatives will contribute to removing remaining obstacles within the Single
Market, as called by the European Council in December 2016 (conclusions).
With the backing of the European Parliament and Member States, the Digital
Single Market should be completed as soon as possible. Today's initiatives
will help shaping the future policy agenda on the European data economy. The
consultation on building the European data economy will run until 26 April
2017 and feed into the Commission's possible future initiative on the
European Data Economy later in 2017. The consultation on evaluating Directive
on liability for defective products will run until 26 April 2017. They target
producers, collectors, and potential and actual users of non-personal data,
especially raw machine or sensor-generated data. This includes businesses of
all sizes, manufacturers and users of connected devices, operators and users
of online platforms, data brokers, public authorities, non-governmental
organisations, research organisations and consumers. From http://europa.eu/
01/11/2017 GERMANY: 'Platform Pconomy' Unknown
to Most German CEOs A majority of German CEOs are
unfamiliar with digital platforms, including terms such as platform economy
and platform markets, a new study by digital association Bitkom has found.
The study asked 503 company leaders in different industries with at least 20
employees about their knowledge and use of platforms. Of those surveyed, 62
percent said they had never heard of the terms platform economy, platform
markets or digital platforms. Around 32 percent had heard of one or more of
the terms. However, this percentage varied by size and industry. In companies
with more than 500 employees, 48 percent of CEOs surveyed were unfamiliar
with digital platforms, compared with 66 percent at companies with fewer than
500 employees. In the industrial sector, 59 percent of CEOs had never heard
of platforms, compared with 66 percent of retailers and 68 percent of service
providers. Among CEOs who had heard of the platform economy, one in two
believed a relevant platform could exist for their own company. From https://www.telecompaper.com/ 02/10/2017 UKRAINE: Parliament Adopts Law on
Infrastructure Access The Ukrainian Parliament has adopted legislation
on improving conditions for the installation of telecommunications equipment,
reports BizLigaNet. The new law will enter into force three months after its
publication. The law defines legal and economic principles on access to
transport, construction and power supply infrastructure for the development
of telecommunications networks. Owners of buildings and other infrastructure
will no longer be able to set access rates on their own, nor to limit access.
From https://www.telecompaper.com/ 02/10/2017 Dutch Govt Plans Legislation to
Support Broadband Roll-out The Dutch Ministry of Economic
Affairs expects to introduce in Q2 legislation aimed at supporting the use of
existing infrastructure for the roll-out of new broadband networks. The
so-called Wibon law amends the Telecommunications Law and replaces the
existing Wion law. It focuses on the exchange of information about under- and
aboveground networks, to prevent damage during excavation work as well as
encourage infrastructure sharing. The ministry has already conducted an
inventory of underground cables, which include around 400,000 km of copper
and coax, 300,000 km of ducts (both empty and with fibre) and around 910,000
km of 'last mile' connections. Around 65 percent of the ducts are empty and
in many cases still usable. In local areas there is still a good share of
copper and coax cabling that is no longer economically viable. Local
residents are already using fibre, but the old cabling is still present. To
address this, the government is changing the obligation to remove old cables
in the Telecommunications Law. Under the current law, ground owners such as
municipalities can start charging for unused telecom cables after ten years.
Under the proposed changes, the levies could start as soon as the ground
owner requests the cables' removal. This would take effect from the start of
2018. The Wibon law is part of the implementation the EU directive of May
2014, on supporting broadband networks roll-out. From https://www.telecompaper.com/ 02/10/2017 POLAND: More Strategic Focus Would
Improve Impact of Foreign Aid Poland has built up a small but solid
presence in international development and should now focus its limited
resources on areas where it can make the most impact, allocating more funds
to bilateral aid in priority countries and sectors, according to a new OECD
Review. The first DAC Peer Review of Poland says Poland has been a valued
development partner for Eastern European neighbours like Ukraine, Moldova and
Georgia, sharing knowledge and experience from its own socio-economic
transformation, including reforming its public administration and growing its
private sector. Elsewhere in the world, Poland could do more to increase the
strategic focus and scale of its aid to countries and sectors most in need. Poland provided USD 528 million in
net official development assistance (ODA) in 2015 (expressed in constant 2014
prices), a rise of 16.8% in real terms from USD 452 million in 2014. ODA as a
share of gross national income (GNI) rose to 0.10% from 0.09% in 2014. Almost
80% of Poland’s aid is channelled through multilateral bodies, mainly in
assessed contributions to the European Union. Poland has committed to triple
its ODA to GNI ratio to 0.33% by 2030, bringing it closer to the Development
Assistance Committee (DAC) average of 0.30%. There is no plan for how to do
this, however. Changes in Poland’s aid flows are generally determined by new
loans or increases in the country’s EU contributions, which are indexed to
the size of the economy. “Political and public support will be vital to give
the government legitimacy to provide more foreign aid,” said DAC Chair
Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, presenting the Review in Warsaw. “Budgets aside,
Poland should develop clearer strategic guidance to ensure that it adds value
and targets poverty reduction in priority areas and countries, including
outside the Eastern Partnership region.” Poland has pledged to increase its
aid to least developed countries to 50% of its total ODA from 28.8% at
present, a pledge which surveys indicate would have public support. Achieving
that would require allocating more bilateral aid to these countries and
finding a niche for Polish development in Africa and Asia to ensure the aid
is well spent. Another priority should be to bring Polish aid into line with
the DAC Recommendation on untying ODA to least-developed countries. Poland’s
ODA loans are currently conditional on the purchase of Polish goods and
services. Poland joined the DAC in 2013, and the top five recipients of
Polish aid in 2013-14 were Angola, Belarus, Ukraine, China and Ethiopia. Each DAC member is reviewed every
five years in order to monitor its performance, hold it accountable for past
commitments and recommend improvements. Reviews use input from officials in
the country concerned and partner countries – Ukraine for this Review – as
well as civil society and the private sector. Read more on DAC Peer Reviews.
An embeddable version of the report is available, with information about
downloadable and print versions and an interactive data visualisation of
Polish aid compared with other donors. For further information, or to speak
to the report’s author, journalists are invited to contact Catherine Bremer
in the OECD Media Office (+33 1 45 24 97 00). Working with over 100
countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to
improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. From http://www.oecd.org/ 02/14/2017 LATIN AMERICA: Caribbean Turns to
Apps for E-Government Strategy The Government of Saint Kitts and
Nevis, in the Caribbeans will roll out five mobile apps as part of its
e-government thrust. The apps will provide information on consumer affairs;
crime prevention; information service; government-supported events; and include
listings of the government directory. These will be officially launched on
February 15. The Consumer Affairs app will provide information on where to
get the best food prices. “You go on that app and you can find every bit of
information you want in terms of prices and so on. So before you leave home
you could determine I’m going there or here because I get the best price here
on this particular item”, Ambassador Sydney Osborne – Chairman of the
Organising Committee for the Government’s second anniversary celebrations –
told Working For You, a weekly government radio talk show. The Crime Prevention app allows
residents to report potential and criminal activities, and get crime
prevention tips, while the Information Service app will publish “all the information
you want in terms of government publications”, he said. Saint Kitts and Nevis
ranked 94th place in the 2016 United Nations e-government survey. Other
Caribbean nations are also building mobile apps as a key part of their
digital strategy. Last year, the Jamaica Constabulary Force rolled out Stay
Alert, an app for users to send alerts to the police during emergencies, and
receive tips and news updates from the task force. Further afield, the
Bandung city government in Indonesia has set a similar approach – mandating
300 apps to be built each year. Officials believe that this is the more
effective way to reach out to its citizens as a majority of them use
smartphones. But the UK has banned the creation of mobile apps because they
are “very expensive to produce, and they’re very very expensive to maintain…
you have to keep updating them when there are software changes”, Ben Terrett
– former head of design at the UK Government Digital Service – told
GovInsider. The UK was ranked in first place in the 2016 UN e-government
rankings. From https://govinsider.asia/ 02/13/2017 MEXICO: Reforms Are Starting to Bear
Fruit, but Further Action Is Needed to Boost Productivity and Ensure More Inclusive
Growth, OECD Says Ambitious
structural reforms and sound macroeconomic policies have strengthened the
resilience of the Mexican economy despite a complex national scenario and
challenging global conditions, but more can be done to boost productivity and
ensure that growth is inclusive enough to achieve better living conditions
for all, according to a new report from the OECD. The
latest OECD Economic Survey of Mexico recognises that the Mexican economy
is facing strong external headwinds - including lower oil prices, weak world
trade, the depreciation of the peso following expectations of monetary policy
tightening in the United States and uncertainty linked to the forthcoming
change of US Administration – that will hold back growth over the 2017-18
period. The Survey, presented in Mexico City by OECD Secretary-General Angel
Gurría and Mexico’s Minister of Finance José Antonio Meade, suggests that the
country can ensure more growth and more inclusion by re-prioritising its
public spending towards infrastructure, training, health and poverty
reduction while pushing ahead with reforms in a range of areas. It also makes
a strong call for gender-based policies to better integrate women in the
labour market and take advantage of their skills.
From http://www.oecd.org/ 01/10/2017 NORTH AMERICA: U.S. - President
Trump's Tech Policy Is a Mystery We know President Trump has strong feelings
about Twitter (TWTR). But his thoughts on the rest of the tech industry
remain a guessing game five days after his inauguration, and more than a year
and a half after he announced his candidacy. Tech policy experts spent Monday
in Washington discussing what’s in store under the Trump administration at
the State of the Net Conference, and struggled to get past guesses and
hypotheticals. That’s not just a problem for the tech policy wonks at the
annual conference held by the Internet Education Foundation, either. See, the
Trump administration’s policies will shape everything from your choices of
internet providers, the market for streaming video, your online privacy and
security and more. “It’s difficult to predict whether the White House will
take a primary leadership, or whether Congress will, or whether these issues
will be on the front burner for any part of government,” R Street Institute
senior policy analyst Mike Godwin explained during an interview at the
conference. Net neutrality The Federal Communications
Commission’s net neutrality rules, which prohibit internet providers from
blocking, slowing or surcharging websites, something Sen. John Thune
(R.-S.D.) called an “aggressively activist and partisan agenda” during a
speech at State of the Net, have looked dead since Election Day. Trump’s
recent promotion of FCC commissioner Ajit Pai to chairman of the agency made
net neutrality’s death all but official. Pai has denounced net neutrality
regulations from the start. And now that Obama Democratic appointees Tom
Wheeler and Jessica Rosenworcel have left the commission, Pai can start
undoing those rules. But reversing an FCC rule happens no faster than
enacting a new one, and net neutrality remains a popular concept. Thune
suggested that the way forward was a bipartisan bill upholding narrower
open-internet rules. Another speaker, Sen. Brian Schatz (D.-Hi.), endorsed
that goal but said the timing was wrong: “It’s too polarized.” In the
meantime, don’t be surprised to see internet providers push the boundaries of
the current rules — picture things like exempting their own video services
from their wireless data caps, something AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ)
already do. Broadband Even Trump opponents have sounded
relatively optimistic in talking about the president’s desire to rebuild the
nation’s infrastructure — especially if they include extending broadband
internet access to more Americans. But will they? Great question! A panel
discussion about rethinking telecom policy had no answers. According to Larry
Downes, a fellow with Georgetown University’s Center for Business and Public
Policy, the core problem with Trump’s infrastructure plan is “We don’t know
anything about it.” Trump’s inaugural address only mentioned roads, tunnels,
bridges, railroads and airports, so counting on broadband might be a mistake.
But panelists suggested that having an infrastructure bill mandate that those
new projects include facilities for future broadband expansion — so-called
“dig once” rules — would represent a valuable improvement. Cybersecurity “The new administration takes cyber
very seriously and it’s a top priority,” said Technology CEO Council
executive director Bruce Mehlman in a panel titled “Stopping the Hacks.” “I
can’t tell you where it will end up.” Still, even with abundant evidence of
Russian attempts to hack into U.S. institutions, beyond just the Democratic
party, the same panel couldn’t agree if Trump would continue existing
sanctions against Russia. Speakers did seem confident that Trump would not
seek to compel tech companies to weaken encryption systems to allow access
for law enforcement. In the day’s opening panel, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (D.-Va.)
and Cybereason CEO Lior Div agreed that such a move would be, as Goodlatte
put it, “not a realistic way of looking at this problem.” Then again, the
written answers Trump’s attorney-general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R.-Ala.)
provided to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) include the assertion that it’s
“critical” that “national security and criminal investigators be able to
overcome encryption.” I sat down with Div after his panel to ask if he had
any insight about Trump’s cybersecurity agenda. The cybersecurity executive’s
answer? ”We don’t have any information about it.” From https://www.yahoo.com/ 01/25/2017 Open-Internet Rules Look Dead. Now
What? President Trump’s new head of the
Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, hasn’t been in office long, but
he’s has been quick to make his policy priorities clear. And diluting the
net-neutrality regulations adopted by his predecessor Tom Wheeler — if not
outright deleting them — looks high on his list. The rules currently remain
in force, and still bar internet providers from stopping or slowing down
legal websites and apps — or straight up charging them for faster delivery of
their data. But in his first two weeks as chairman, Pai has followed through
on his longstanding opposition to those regulations by taking early steps to
weaken them, which could mean your favorite sites and apps like Spotify will
load a lot slower or cost more. Opening moves One of Pai’s first moves as chairman
was to propose a five-year extension of an expired waiver that had let
smaller internet providers out of reporting requirements mandating disclosure
of “network management practices, performance and commercial terms,”
otherwise known as fees and surcharges you may owe them. Pai said that
exemption, limited to providers with 250,000 subscribers or less (the old
waiver set that ceiling at 100,000), would free them from “unnecessary,
onerous and ill-defined reporting obligations.” But it also liberates them
from the pressure to adopt last year’s FCC proposal for nutrition-label-style
disclosures. Days later, Pai terminated an investigation into whether
AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) were violating net-neutrality principles by
exempting their own video services from their wireless data caps. In a
statement, Pai defended those “free-data plans” by saying they are popular
with customers and boost competition among wireless providers. Neither move should have surprised
readers of Pai’s earlier statements. When the FCC adopted net-neutrality
rules in early 2015, his 67-page dissent denounced them as “intrusive
government regulations that won’t work to solve a problem that doesn’t exist
using legal authority the FCC doesn’t have.” In that and older writings —
see, for instance, his May 2014 statement on net-neutrality — Pai has
suggested that the FCC should defend basic freedoms to connect to and use
legal sites and apps while allowing ISPs to charge sites and apps for
better-than-basic delivery. In a live-streamed press conference held Tuesday,
Democratic senators lined up to defend the existing rules. “There is no
problem that needs to be fixed,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D.-Mass.). Sen. Patrick
Leahy (D.-Vt.) scorned Pai’s vision of the internet as “free and open if
you’ve got money.” Varying views from private industry A venture capitalist who has long backed
net-neutrality rules, Union Square Ventures partner Fred Wilson, wrote in a
blog post that “backing startups on a field tilted in the favor of the
incumbents is not fun and not particularly profitable either.” Another
veteran investor who had expressed fears in 2014 about the viability of
media-based startups, however, was more confident Monday. “I am not really
worried about this issue,” said John Backus, co-founder and managing partner
of the PROOF Fund. He pointed to increasingly fast and cheap bandwidth, much
of it from WiFi hotspots instead of cellular networks. Backus also rejected
the idea that startups would pay ISPs for premier treatment: “I have never
seen a startup want to use high-cost equity capital to prioritize delivery of
their bits.” Large content companies, meanwhile,
don’t seem afraid. Netflix (NFLX) has told shareholders that it’s now popular
enough with ISPs’ customers to discourage any bullying attempts. Young Turks
Network founder Cenk Uygur pointed to his two big content hosts as reason for
confidence that ISPs won’t bog down his news-and-talk shows. “If they come
for us, they’re coming for Google and Facebook,” he said in an interview
Saturday. “I at least have some pretty decent heavyweight partners.” Uygur, a
net-neutrality advocate, added that smaller video sites had more to fear.
What about internet providers themselves? Big ones like Comcast (CMCSA) have
made a point of saying they already follow open-internet principles.
Net-neutrality opponents suggest that dumping the current rules would let
smaller providers raise money by crafting their own deals, but will a Netflix
pick up the phone when they call? From https://www.yahoo.com/ 02/08/2017 A New Approach to Fighting Fraud in
Federal Benefits Programs Legislators may disagree over the
amount the country should spend on government benefits, but one fact will
always have bipartisan agreement -- the level of fraud, waste and abuse
plaguing benefit programs is too high. Although some progress has been made,
including a 50 percent decrease in the number of fraudulent tax returns
reported by the IRS this past year, the federal government still has a long
way to go. To illustrate the severity of the problem, the Government
Accountability Office recently reported that the estimated amount of improper
payments in fiscal 2015 across 121 government programs was $136.7 billion, up
$12 billion from the previous year. This negative trend is likely to continue
as criminals steal more and more identities and open new, more sophisticated
avenues of attack. Census data indicates 110 million Americans -- more than a
third of the population -- are currently receiving means-tested federal
assistance of some kind. Historically, more than half of all Americans have
received benefits from at least one of the top six federal entitlement
programs, according to the Pew Research Center. A lack of resources, the need
to ensure citizens receive benefit payments as quickly as possible, and an
increased transition to electronic platforms have combined to leave gaping
holes in agencies’ abilities to mitigate fraud. Meanwhile, fraudsters have
become more sophisticated in their approach, and are constantly evolving
their methods to stay ahead of preventive measures. We need a more
structured, formalized and governmentwide approach to combat fraudsters. In addition to policy and protocols,
such a framework would include analytical models for detecting, preventing
and managing fraud, waste and abuse. This includes making full use of all
relevant data spread across multiple, disparate government systems. Agencies
need a way to enhance data integrity, effectiveness and accessibility, as a
recent GAO report concluded. By adopting a formalized fraud framework,
agencies will be able to achieve a holistic view of the critical information
driving their programs. This will result in an increased ability to quickly
and effectively resolve identities and stop fraud before payments are made,
as well as: - Detect more fraudulent activity - Decrease losses associated with
fraud - Reduce costs associated with
detecting and investigating fraud activities - Provide a consolidated view of
fraud risk and losses - Foster improved transparency and
accountability An effective fraud framework focuses
on the data, using analytical capabilities to identify abnormalities,
networks and patterns that may indicate fraudulent activity and must be
applied throughout the entire benefits process -- from application through
payment. Many individual components must be considered when developing a
fraud framework, all of which work together as a unified whole for
preventing, detecting and recovering improper payments. An effective
framework should include: - Data collection, integration,
deployment, management and business rule creation capable of extracting
relevant data from different systems, external data sources, unstructured
text and other sources. - Advanced analytics and model
testing, deployment and management that enhance the value of existing
business rules by enabling the discovery of emerging suspicious activity that
would otherwise go undetected. - Detection and alert generation,
which enable the systematic detection of suspicious activity using a fraud
scoring engine that employs a combination of analytic techniques to determine
the likelihood of the presence of fraudulent actors or activity. - Alert management capabilities to
assemble alerts from multiple monitoring systems, associate them with
individuals and provide investigators with a more complete perspective on the
risk of a particular individual. - Social network analysis, an
invaluable method that helps investigators detect and prevent organized fraud
by going beyond individual transaction and account views to analyze all
related activities and relationships in a network. - Case management, which provides a
systematic means for facilitating the investigation and capturing and
displaying all information pertinent to a case. Fraud continues to cost taxpayers
billions of dollars every year. In order for the government to meaningfully
combat this trend and ensure benefits are finding their way to individuals
with a legitimate need, agencies require a more integrated, formal data
collection and analytical approach. While there have been promising advances
in capturing the low-hanging fruit, fraudsters are becoming bolder and more
sophisticated, with more fraud networks causing increasing losses. With the
greater sophistication and coordination that the more advanced networks have
displayed, it is possible for one big hit to wipe out an investigative team’s
effort for an entire year. To ensure the continued integrity of government
benefit programs and reduce the rising level of improper payments, more
advanced methods are needed to make a measurable and meaningful impact.
Agencies need to adopt a comprehensive fraud framework to have real,
sustainable success. And given
the fiscal survivability of our benefit system, we need these successes
sooner rather than later. From http://www.govexec.com/ 02/10/2017 |
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CHINA: Announcing Cybersecurity
Strategy China's top Internet regulator
released a cyberspace security strategy on Tuesday, advocating peace, security,
openness, cooperation and order. The government will guarantee cyberspace
sovereignty and national security, protect information infrastructure and act
against cyber terror and crimes, according to the 15-page strategy released
by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). Rules and their imposition
will be improved and international cooperation expanded. SOVEREIGNTY Cyberspace is a new frontier as
important as any other. "Cyberspace sovereignty is an important part of
state sovereignty," the strategy reads. All countries should be
respected in their Internet development and management, playing equal parts
in a cyberspace governance without hegemony or double standards. China will
use whatever means necessary -- scientific, technological, legal, diplomatic
or military -- to ensure cyberspace sovereignty. No attempt to use the
Internet to undermine or overturn China's national regime or sabotage
sovereignty will be tolerated. OPEN MARKET China is home to the world's largest
online population. About 700 million people in China use the Internet to
study, make purchases, work and access public services. In this context,
protecting critical information infrastructure and important data is crucial.
Products, services and companies used by government institutions will be
subject to security checks and vetting. Service producers and other
organizations will not be allowed to take advantage of privileged information
or technology to compete unfairly or harm users' interests. "This does
not mean that we will refuse foreign products or services," said Zhao
Zeliang, director of the CAC cybersecurity coordination bureau. "Our
requirements of security and controllability are not meant to raise barriers
to foreign enterprises," he told a press conference at the release of
the strategy. "The market will be open and transparent." INT'L COOPERATION China will participate in dialogues
and exchanges in cybersecurity; help establish international norms and
anti-terror pacts; and improve judicial collaboration. International
cooperation will be enshrined in policy, law, technology, standards,
emergency response and security infrastructure. Every assistance will be
extended to developing countries as they build information infrastructure. Lu
Jianwen, in charge of cybersecurity at the Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology, said priority will be given to building Africa's
information highway and cooperation in communication technology. China will
be pleased to provide training in developing countries, he said. From http://www.news.cn/
12/27/2016 White Paper Details Goals for More
Efficient Transport Network China aims to build a comprehensive transport
system, with a faster, greener and safer network to offer more efficient
services to the public by 2020, according to a white paper released on Dec
29. The white paper, titled “Development of China’s Transport,” reviewed the
sector’s tremendous changes in past decades and set goals for its further
expansion in coming years. The sector should quicken its pace of development,
and fully play its basic role as a vanguard for completing the building of a
moderately prosperous society in all respects in 2020, said the document
issued by the State Council Information Office. By 2020, China will increase
the length of high-speed railways in operation to 30,000 kilometers,
connecting more than 80 percent of its big cities. The country will also
renovate 30,000 km of expressways and provide tarmac and cement roads and
shuttle bus services for administrative villages with the necessary
conditions, while all villages will have access to mail service, it said.
Over the past decades, China’s transport network has undergone drastic
changes, especially the railway sector. When the People’s Republic of China
was founded in 1949, total railway length was only 21,800 km, half of which
was paralyzed. Thanks to a series of reforms since
then, total railway operation length reached 121,000 km by the end of 2015,
the world’s second longest, including 19,000-km high-speed railway, ranking
top of the world. While the vast network has enhanced connectivity in large
swathes of the country, disparity remained as construction has lagged behind
in the less developed western regions, and in recent years, the government is
seeking to narrow the gap. The white paper pledged to speed up the
construction of railways in the central and western areas. China on Dec 28
put into operation one of the world’s longest high-speed railways, linking
the country’s prosperous eastern coast to the least-developed southwestern
region. The Shanghai-Kunming line - 2,252 km in length - traverses five
provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan and cuts travel
time from Shanghai to Kunming from 35 to 11 hours, according to China Railway
Corporation. Also on Dec 28, another high-speed rail line linking Kunming and
Nanning, capital of southwest China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was
launched. From http://www.gov.cn/
12/29/2016 China Plans Social Credit System
Pilot From borrowing books from public
libraries to borrowing bank loans, personal and enterprise credit records have
been increasingly valued in China. The first demonstration zone of social
credit system in China, aimed to promote benefits of good credit, is planned
for the Yangtze River Delta region, encompassing Shanghai Municipality,
Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces. The national pilot plan approved by
the National Development and Reform Commission is expected to help nurture a
sound business and social environment in the region and regulate individual
behavior based on credit records. Under the system, trustworthy entrepreneurs
and individuals will be rewarded, while infringers will be discredited. The
Yangtze River Delta region has benefitted from growth in enterprise credit
and intellectual property rights (IPR) protection. Since 2015,
provincial-level governments have launched joint campaigns against
cross-region and cross-industry IPR infringement and counterfeits. By using
big data, public security departments in the region have been able to work
together on Internet business fraud. Cases of infringement and counterfeit
in the region are listed via the government website ipraction.gov.cn, with
detailed information open for examination. "A collaboration on cracking
down on fake and shoddy goods has helped mitigate barriers of local
protectionism," said Lin Haihan, who is in charge of the trademark
division in Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce. In the tourist
sector, an online tourist information center was launched on a test run in
November, to give updates of bad records of tourist agencies. Jin Xingming,
deputy secretary general of Shanghai municipal government, said the unified
credit system of the tourist market in the delta region is a
"breakthrough" in the linkage of the overall credit system.
"The credit system can deliver market-oriented penalties through
blacklisting discredited entrepreneurs. The system can join the efforts of
social, government and market supervision," said Jin. Zhao Qiang, an
entrepreneur from Anhui Province, had a taste of the benefits in 2016. The entrepreneur needed only three
days to borrow 7 million yuan (about 1 million U.S dollars) from the Lai'an
Rural Commercial Bank, when his stationery manufacturing company was in
urgent need of cash. The bank said the swift loan approval was due to Zhao's
credit rating. In Shanghai, citizens with good social credit now can get a
"credit card" in Shanghai Library and borrow books for free.
However, the phenomenon still lack regulation. Without a transparent social
credit system, rewards and penalties can not be given fairly. "The
social credit system pilot should break up small-scale credit reward and
punishment initiatives in different cities, and provide a systematic and
unified measure, which can be extended to a national practice," said
Wang Ningjiang, director of the Zhejiang Provincial Credit Center. He said
the pilot should prioritize blacklisting firms with bad records for causing
environmental damage or food safety problems. From http://www.chinagate.cn/
01/03/2017 China Aims for More Efficient,
Advanced Logistics Network China aims to build an efficient,
safe and technically advanced logistics network that covers the whole nation with
high-quality services by 2020, said the State Post Bureau (SPB) Wednesday.
The country wants to further expand its courier network and maintain the
domestic logistics market as the world's largest, and by 2020, logistics
service will reach every village and township in China, said the SPB, citing
a plan for the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) period. By 2020, all post and
deliveries shall be trackable, while customers will have a wider range of
choices in the type of services, according to the plan. China also plans to
better connect its logistics service to the global network and improve the
coverage and efficiency of international express deliveries in the five-year
period. The government will promote the logistics sector through the Internet
Plus action plan, enhance delivery security, and boost resource efficiency so
that the sector will develop in an environment-friendly way, said the plan.
Over 8 billion deliveries are expected to be made in the first quarter of
2017 with revenue likely to reach over 100 billion yuan (14.5 billion U.S.
dollars), according to SPB data. In the fourth quarter of 2016, 10.2 billion
deliveries were made, up 47.2 percent year on year, the SPB said. From http://www.chinagate.cn/
02/16/2017 JAPAN: Top Court’s Ruling Gives
Priority to Public Nature of Information The Supreme Court has clarified its
position that highly values the public’s “right to know.” This is an appropriate
ruling that fits socially accepted views. A plaintiff had filed a petition
for a court injunction to demand reports of his arrest be removed from an
internet search site. The Supreme Court decided the search results do not
need to be deleted. The necessity of providing search results widely is to be
weighed against the detriment caused by having the facts of the case made
public. Furthermore, search results will be deleted only in cases in which
the degree of detriment clearly exceeds the need to provide this information.
This was the Supreme Court’s decision. In Europe, courts have started to
accept a “right to be forgotten,” which allows a measure to be taken against
information about criminal histories and other details that remain online. The
Supreme Court did not use that specific language, but it did, in effect,
spell out that this right will be accepted in limited cases. It is
significant that the top court provided a uniform position on a matter over
which judicial rulings have previously been split. The man, who was arrested in 2011 for
violating the law banning child prostitution and child pornography, had filed
for a court injunction to demand major U.S. online search engine Google Inc.
delete reports of his arrest. This was because entering the man’s name and
the prefecture where he had lived into the search site continued to bring up
articles about his arrest. A district court ordered these articles be removed
from search results, in what was the first instance of a court in Japan accepting
the right to be forgotten. A high court reversed the order to remove the
stories, stating there were “no legal grounds” for the right to be forgotten.
The Supreme Court stated that search sites have an aspect that they are “an
act of expression by operators” and that search sites “fulfill a major role
as the foundation of distributing information on the internet.” The court
also listed several factors that should be considered in deciding the
appropriateness of having search results scrubbed, including “the nature and
content of the fact” and “the degree of concrete damage suffered by the
plaintiff and how broadly the information was conveyed.” These will
undoubtedly become indicators for future court rulings. At the time, the man received a
summary order for a fine of ¥500,000, which he paid. He has not committed any
crime since then, lives with his wife and child and works at a company.
Although the Supreme Court gave careful consideration to these circumstances,
it said that “child prostitution remains a target of strong opprobrium in
society” and recognized the public nature of information about the man’s
arrest. This also conforms with the strict public sentiment toward sex crimes
against minors. Of course, a criminal record is personal information that
requires careful consideration. Human rights issues will arise if records of
less-serious crimes such as negligence continue to be displayed online in
forums that can be searched by anyone. Public interest in some cases also may
change with the passage of time. Google and Yahoo Inc. have established their
own standards for dealing with requests to delete information. Rules also
will need to be drawn up in Japan based on the Supreme Court’s decision. From http://the-japan-news.com 02/02/2017 Science Ministry to Promote Strategic
Industries in 2017 South Korea's science ministry said
Friday it will nurture key strategic industries through helping aspiring entrepreneurs
and scientists cope with the fast-paced industrial transformation, dubbed the
"fourth industrial revolution." In a policy plan briefing to Prime
Minister and Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn on its policy direction for 2017,
the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said it will secure various
intelligence information technologies that characterize the fourth industrial
revolution. The ministry designated 10 sectors, including the Internet of
Things and artificial intelligence, which are forecast to generate business
opportunities and profits in the future. "The ministry will push forward
these ambitious policies with an aim to lead the intelligence information
society through innovation of science technology," ICT Minister Choi
Yang-hee told reporters. From http://www.koreaherald.com 01/06/2017 Korea to Increase Investment Related
to 4th Industrial Revolution South Korea will expand investments
to secure a new growth strategy to cope with the fast-paced industrial
transformation, dubbed the fourth industrial revolution, the science minister
said Monday. The remarks were made during a meeting between officials of the
Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, and executives of major tech
firms that participated in the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
"Science technologies that lead the fourth industrial revolution were
confirmed at the 2017 CES," ICT Minister Choi Yang-hee said. "The
ministry will expand investments into future engines of growth after
reflecting this trend." A record number of South Korean firms, such as
Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co., showcased a wide range of
advanced technologies and products at the annual trade show. The largest
Korean pavilion in the event's history, with 64 separate booths run by 55
small and medium-sized firms from the country, many of them startups, was set
up. Among the attendees at the meeting were ICT Minister Choi; Yoon Jong-rok,
head of the National IT Industry Promotion Agency; and Lee Min, a Samsung
Electronics executive. The participants agreed on the importance of
cooperation between the government and the local firms to boost the local
economy by securing intelligence information technologies that characterize
the fourth industrial revolution. The ministry said cutting-edge
technologies, such as the Internet of Things and artificial
intelligence, are forecast to generate business opportunities and profits
worth 560 trillion won ($470 billion) by 2030. From http://www.koreaherald.com 01/16/2017 SOUTH KOREA: To Increase 5G Network
Bandwidth South Korea will increase the
bandwidth allocated for the fifth-generation network by 2018 to accommodate
sharply increasing data traffic, the science ministry said Wednesday. The
Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said it will newly secure the
bandwidth up to 1,300 megahertz and allocate the parts to the country's three
mobile carriers. The plan was finalized during a government meeting presided
over by Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho, the ministry said. "The ministry
will form a team within this month to work on allocating 5G bandwidth and
come up with the detailed plan," said Choi Young-hae, a ministry
official in charge of the policy. The 5G network is expected to be 1,000
times faster than the existing long-term evolution service, allowing users to
download an 800-megabyte movie in one second, compared with 40 seconds on the
LTE-Advanced network, currently billed as the world's fastest. The ministry
had been in talks with the mobile carriers, as well as tech firms, including
Samsung and LG, to draw up the plan aimed at taking the lead in the mobile
network technology. From http://www.koreaherald.com 01/18/2017 |
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MYANMAR:
Legislators to Meet on Telecommunications Law MYANMAR’S
PARLIAMENT is expected to discuss Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law
on January 30, chairman Zaw Min of the Upper House’s bill committee said. on
Monday. “Laws are important. This time it’s interesting as the section was
suggested for discussion by the Commission for the Assessment of Legal
Affairs and Special Issues to discuss,” Zaw Min said on Monday. “It’s likely
to be discussed at the Parliament this time.” The Telecommunications Law has
been criticised for infringing freedom of expression on social media outlets,
following defamation lawsuits against bloggers, journalists and politicians
under the section. The Upper House has about 15 bills remaining to be
discussed; it has already discussed 33 bills. Out these, 16 have been signed
and approved by the president. “They include a gems law. It has attracted a
lot of attention. The country also needs it. Meetings were already made for
the law. Section 66(d) is also important,” he said. The fourth regular
session of the second union, lower house and upper house parliaments will
resume on January 30. According to MPs, the coming parliamentary session will
mainly focus on the National Planning Bill, Union Taxation Bill and Union
Budget Bill for fiscal 2018. “Currently, we will mainly discuss the BE budget
and other bills. We will have to deal with the 10 remaining bills, which have
yet to be finalised from the previous session. “We cannot discuss many things as
there are only a few days left due to the Thingyan (water) festival,” said
Kyaw Soe Lin, secretary of the Lower House Bill Committee. Speaker Mahn Win
Khaing Than said on the final day of the previous session, on December 20,
that the National Planning Bill, Union Taxation Bill, Union Budget Bill and
other bills would be approved at the next regular session of the union
parliament. From
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
01/18/2017 SINGAPORE: Court Rejects Govt's Appeal
to Invoke Anti-Harassment Law Against the Online Citizen SINGAPORE: The Court of Appeal on
Monday (Jan 16) ruled in a rare split decision that the Government cannot
invoke an anti-harassment law that allows people to stop the publication of
false statements against them. The case hinged on the legal question of
whether the Government can be considered a person under Section 15 of the
Protection from Harassment Act. The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) had sought
to invoke the law to get socio-political website The Online Citizen (TOC) to
take down statements made by inventor Dr Ting Choon Meng about a patent
rights dispute. The court ruled 2-1, with Judges of Appeal Chao Hick Tin and
Andrew Phang agreeing that the provision applied only to human beings and not
entities. The sole dissenting judge was Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, who
found that Section 15 did not distinguish between natural and non-natural
people, and therefore applied to the benefit of both human beings as well
corporations and the Government. TEXT AND CONTEXT In delivering their written
judgement, Judges Chao and Phang agreed that the provision applied only to
human beings and not entities. They acknowledged that, read on its own,
Section 15 would appear to be broad enough to encompass entities such as the
Government. However, they pointed to the context in which the law was
enacted. Drawing attention to the "original Parliamentary
intention" of the Act, the judges cited Law Minister K Shanmugam's
speech during the second reading of the Bill. "It is clear that the
minister’s focus was solely on human beings (as opposed to other
entities)," they said. However, CJ Menon argued that Section 15 refers
to falsehoods being made about "any person". He referred to the
Interpretation Act, which defines the term "person" to include any
company or body of people. "It does not seem to have been contentious
that this could notionally include the Government," he noted. CJ Menon
also cited Parliamentary debates to confirm his interpretation. When asked specifically
by a Member of Parliament whether the term "person" included
corporations, the Law Minister replied that the definition of
"person" in the Interpretation Act indeed applied to the Act, the
Chief Justice said. He added that Section 15 was enacted to deal with the
mischief of false statements. "I can see no reason, based on my
understanding of the purpose and object of the provision, to hold that …
(Section 15) should be confined in its application to natural persons,"
he said. MINDEF "ANYTHING BUT A HELPLESS
VICTIM": COURT However, Judges Phang and Chao added
that even if they were to accept that the provision applied to entities like
MINDEF, they would not have found it just or equitable to grant a Section 15
order. "MINDEF was anything but a helpless victim," they wrote.
"It is a Government agency possessed of significant resources and access
to media channels." MINDEF was able to put across its side of the story
through traditional media as well as online, on its Facebook page, the judges
said, adding that TOC had, in fact, published MINDEF’s statement in full and
provided a link to it from the offending article. "Given all this, it is
difficult to see what discernible impact the allegations and The Online
Citizen’s publication of the allegations could have had on MINDEF’s
reputation or public image." However, CJ Menon said that Dr Ting’s false
statement was a serious one, alleging that MINDEF had behaved dishonestly,
both in general and to the court. He added that the fact that TOC had published
MINDEF's account was insufficient to correct his false statement. In these
circumstances, the Chief Justice wrote that he considered it "just and
equitable" to order for a remedy under Section 15. From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/ 01/16/2017 THAILAND: Law Needs to Catch Up with
the Cloud Cloud computing services have become
a new requirement for the country’s digital economy in light of the “big data”
era of information overload. To facilitate e-commerce and e-payment services,
Charoen Pokphand Group’s True and Ascend companies have, for example, turned
to cloud services to store and manage the huge amount of data resulting from
new digital businesses. The Thai commerce ministry is also working closely
with China’s Alibaba group to help small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) sell
their products and services via Alibaba’s e-commerce and e-payment platforms,
which are currently among the world’s largest. This will be the new export
channel to tap Chinese and other foreign consumers shopping online. However,
critics have cautioned that the use of cloud services to store and manage
data outside the country should be regulated under a national data-protection
law, which is still pending in the National Legislative Assembly. For Asean
countries, including Thailand, cloud service providers such as Amazon Web
Services (AWS) use Singapore as a major data centre to serve the Southeast
Asian region. Due to the economies of scale, data
needs to be stored and managed overseas to benefit from cloud computing
technology, which allows businesses to avoid huge investment in IT
infrastructure for new e-commerce, e-payment and other digital services.
Users can pay as they use the cloud services, just like they pay for
electricity. This gives maximum flexibility and speed in launching new
digital services on the cloud. CP Group’s True and Ascend have adopted cloud
services to roll out new businesses in Thailand and Asean neighbours. For
example, e-commerce site Weloveshopping now uses a 100-per-cent cloud
platform, so it has no IT infrastructure at its own premises. Ant Financial
of Alibaba Group also owns a 20-per-cent stake in Ascend Money, which
provides e-payment and financial services in Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos
and Cambodia. Ascend Money is starting to tap the overseas business with a
money transfer service aimed at millions of Myanmar migrant workers in
Thailand who want to send money back home. There will be agents to collect
money from these migrant workers in Thailand for remittance via the
cross-border e-payment service, which works in conjunction with banks in
Myanmar. For e-commerce, a major weakness in
Asean markets is the absence of popular e-payment services, since many online
buyers use the cash-on-delivery method. To tap the huge potential of
e-commerce, as Alibaba has done successfully in China, Thai companies are
planning to introduce e-payment and mobile payment services to reduce
dependence on cash and progress along the digital economic growth path. Many
low-income customers in Thailand and the rest of Asean do not have bank
accounts, but they do have mobile phones which can act as payment devices. On
the other hand, Alibaba, which has been successful with its Ali Pay services
for e-commerce, aims to tap a new generation of Chinese tourists coming to
Thailand. This will open up new business opportunities for Thai SMEs and
other enterprises on the Alibaba platforms, as China has been Thailand’s biggest
source of foreign tourists for the past few years, accounting for about
one-third of the total 30 million yearly foreign arrivals. In the end, the
NLA needs to quickly enact a national data-protection bill to facilitate
adoption of cloud computing and other digital services. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 12/08/2016 Govt Threatens Action over Protests
Against New Cyber Law GOVERNMENT Spokesperson Lt-General Sansern
Kaewkamnerd warned yesterday that protests against the newly amended Computer
Crime Act could be deemed illegal and stir unnecessary conflicts in the
country. “Authorities have measures, should there be any actions, from video
recording to prosecuting following international rules,” Sansern said. “Any
tentative participants should think twice or stop such acts.” Meanwhile,
operators of the Facebook page “Single Gateway: Thailand Internet Firewall
#opsinglegateway”, which has attracted more than 120,000 likes, claimed to
have attacked several government websites to express anger at the
junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA)’s backing for the
contentious act last Friday. The amended bill has faced strong criticism for
being a tool for the junta to tighten its control of comments expressed over
the Internet via appointed officials. After a series of cyber attacks, the
group called on Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to use his sweeping
powers under the interim charter’s Article 44 to revoke the bill. It also
promoted an event calling for protests at Democracy Monument and the Bangkok
Art and Culture Centre in opposition to the new law. Sansern also criticised
the alleged hacking of state websites, saying the move went “beyond
boundaries”, adding that such actions were among the reasons why
computer-related laws needed to be reviewed. He also said some of the websites had
not been hacked contrary to reports. The Immigration Bureau database, for
instance, was not linked to the Internet, he said, adding that it could not
be hacked as a result. Sansern said the government was not planing to
initiate any policy in relation to a “single gateway”, which would involve
centralising government control of all Internet services in Thailand. The
term single gateway first gained attention last year when it was mentioned in
Cabinet resolutions as an issue for consideration by the Information and
Communications Technology Ministry, which has been renamed the Digital
Economy and Society Ministry. Prayut and his government denied having the
policy, saying the term was wrongly recorded by the person who took minutes.
The issue faded from public view although some Internet users have identified
similarities in the recently-passed Computer Crime Act. They said the new law
would reinforce authority over Internet |regulation without a balancing
power. Sansern said the government would only request to look at “online
traffic” in specific cases, which would not centralise power. A nine-member
committee and the courts would also take part in consideration for any
decisions, he said. He added that the concept of a single gateway would
hinder the government’s initiative to drive digital technology in line with
its Thailand 4.0 scheme. “Every
country has a universal rule of advising people about what websites are
deemed critical to national security,” he said. “It also depends on Internet
providers’ discretion on management over access to foreign websites.” From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 12/19/2016 Computer Crime Law Essential for
National Security and Won’t Damage People’s Rights THE HIGHLY controversial Computer
Crime bill draft needs to be in place to protect national security due to
global cyber threats, Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha insisted
yesterday. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the new bill does
not damage people’s rights as suggested by some organisations. The proposed
legislation will protect the public from various threats on cyber security,
including terrorism, personal data theft, fraud and online crimes against
children. During the weekly briefing, Prayut said: “If we have insufficient
measures, there could be conflicts in many aspects. We have seen terrorism
and transnational crimes. They also use [online] channels. Please understand
us.” Approved by the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly last
Friday, the draft bill, an amended version from its 2007 predecessor, faced
strong criticism on the grounds that it might infringe on people’s rights and
online privacy. Users of social media have expressed concern over Article 20
which requires the set-up of a nine-member committee to screen and remove
contents deemed “disrupting peace, order and good morality of people” with
court approval. They say the definition of “peace,
order and good morality” could be broadly interpreted by powers-that-be and
used as tools against people with different opinions than the junta.
Previously, the computer crime law has been used by the Prayut government
along with the lese majeste and sedition laws, to tackle online movements
such as sharing an |infographic accusing the junta of committing graft.
Prayut yesterday said the definition of “morality” should already be clear.
“We are a Buddhist country. Why don’t some people understand its meaning as
in [the law draft]?” he said. “Morality is about peace, order and national
security. If this doesn’t make sense, we can’t do anything else.” Regarding
the role of the online content screening committee, he said they will
prioritise the severity of the content deemed harmful to peace and order and
committee members will be appointed based on qualifications. “If we don’t
trust the committee members’ integrity, how are we going to enforce the law?”
he said. The NLA’s decision to pass the draft
law led to threats to disable government websites. Among the targets was the
Government House website, which was inaccessible for a few hours on Monday.
Prayut said authorities have taken measures to counter hackers and it is
normal for a website to go down for a while when it has too many visitors. “I
think many people understand reasons behind the bill. They just don’t speak
out loud,” he said. “Many who speak happen to be against it. I wonder if they
really understand it. Some may only press ‘like’ on [opposing posts] without
knowing what law drafters try to explain.” Interior Minister Anupong
Pao-chinda said the government could take legal action against those
responsible for hacking into government websites. “We have already put in place
defensive measures,” he said, adding that some government websites might be
vulnerable to cyber criminals. Pol General Srivara Ransibrah-manakul, the
deputy national police chief, said investigators are going after those who
have hacked government websites and wrongdoers can face up to five years in
jail and a fine of up to Bt100,000 or both. According to Srivara, hacking into
the computer systems of government agencies is a threat to national |security.
Meanwhile, General Udomdej Sitabut, the deputy defence minister, said the
defence ministry’s websites are not affected by hackers as threatened by
those opposing the new computer crime law due to precautionary measures taken
by computer security experts. On the upcoming cyber-security bill, he said,
there should be no problem and the government will have to create a good
understanding on this matter. Surapong Tovichakchaikul, a former foreign
minister of Pheu Thai party, said the government should listen to public
concerns on the new law which critics have said would restrict the people’s
freedom of expression and access to information. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 12/21/2016 VIETNAM: Gov’t Tightens Media Rules A digital copy of every news and
feature story published on online newspapers must be stored independently and
kept unchanged for at least one year for inspection purpose, the government
has said. This is part of the Government’s decision to store an electronic
depository for the press, which includes radio, television and online
newspapers. The decision aims to help the Government better assess the
quality of the media in its reporting on issues and events. It also permits
regular and unannounced inspections by authorised agencies. It will come into
effect on March 30. As per the decision, the Ministry of Information and
Communications will set up a data stockpile to keep electronic depositories
of stories and products in radio, television and online newspapers. The digital copies of stories and
products published on radio and television must be stored for at least six
months from the date of first broadcast, while that of online newspapers must
be maintained for at least a year from the first date of publication. The
electronic depository can be used as evidence while investigating violations
by the media, and the publishing of incorrect information. At a meeting held
late last year, information and communications minister Trương Minh Tuấn said
that Việt Nam’s media still published sensational stories to attract more
views. In some cases, they publicised such stories in the morning and removed
them by the afternoon. Such stories affect society negatively, he said,
adding that some newspapers used information provided on websites or social
media without verifying the information. In 2016, the ministry took drastic
action by punishing newspapers and reporters for violating laws and ethics,
Tuấn said. This year, the ministry would continue to take strong steps to
better manage the press, particularly websites, he said. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
02/09/2017 |
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INDIA:
PM to Launch Skill Development Initiatives
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AZERBAIJAN:
Road Map on ICT to Develop Internet Community Realization of the strategic road map
for development of information and communication technologies (ICT),
previously approved by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, contributes to
even better development of the internet community in the country, Sarkhan
Hashimov, head of Microsoft Azerbaijan, told Trend Dec. 7. Microsoft is ready
to support Azerbaijan as part of realization of long-term economic
development strategy, for the country to have greater achievements in ICT as
soon as possible, according to Hashimov. “We believe that preparation of a
road map in this direction will allow Azerbaijan to integrate even more to
the global innovation area. Digital revolution is already happening, and
developing a road map has once again proved that Azerbaijan declares its
willingness to move in this direction,” he said. From http://en.trend.az/
12/07/2016 Strategic
Road Map to Improve ICT Companies’ Profitability Strategic Road Map for Development of
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) will contribute to
improvement of profitability of ICT companies, said Elmir Velizadeh,
Azerbaijan’s deputy minister of communications and high technologies.He made
the remarks at a Caspian European Club meeting Dec. 14. From http://en.trend.az/
12/14/2016 TURKMENISTAN:
To Chair Int’l Energy Charter in 2017 President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly
Berdimuhamedov ordered to create an organizing committee to hold
international activities in the country and abroad related to the presidency
of Turkmenistan in the Energy Charter Conference in 2017, the Turkmen government
said in a message Dec. 24. Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry, together with the
International Energy Charter, was instructed to develop the concept of
Turkmenistan’s presidency in the Energy Charter Conference in 2017, as well
as the agenda and program of the upcoming international events. Turkmenistan
attaches great importance to the development of targeted mechanisms in the
issues of global energy strategy. Turkmenistan and the Energy Charter
Secretariat are already holding negotiations at the expert level to develop
an international legal document regulating the rights and obligations of
producers, transit countries and consumers of energy resources. From http://en.trend.az/
12/24/2016 UZBEKISTAN:
Proposals for Development of 2017 State Programme Under Preparation On 17 December, the President of the
Republic of Uzbekistan adopted the Decree "On organizational measures
for the development and implementation of the State Programme "Year of
dialogue with people and human interests". The most important priorities
of the State Programme include issues of improving the system of providing
the population with important state services through "one window"
principle, a broad introduction of modern information-communication
technologies to these processes and the activity of government bodies, the
formation of effective "e-government" system. At the moment, the
Ministry for development of information technologies and communications is
working on the proposals on this Programme. The data and proposals are
compiled by working groups organized for this purpose. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
12/21/2016 Tashkent
Plans to Build SEZ “Innovation Center ICT” Regulation.gov.uz portal has
published for discussion the draft decree of the President of the Republic of
Uzbekistan "On measures for the development and further promotion of
information and communication technologies and the domestic market of
software products". The purpose of the draft Decree is the creation of
favorable conditions for active introduction of ICT in sectors of the economy
and enhancing their competitiveness, creating a special organizational, economic
and social opportunities for export development of the industry,
concentration of personnel, scientific-production investment and the
financial potential The draft Decree stipulates the establishment of Special
Economic Zone "Innovation center of information and communication
technologies" (hereinafter – SEZ ICICT) within the territory of Inha
University in Tashkent for the period until 1 January, 2030, with the
possibility of expansion of its territory and extension of its terms. During
its operation, SEZ ICICT and its participants shall enjoy special customs,
currency and tax regimes. The draft establishes a simplified
procedure of taxation for SEZ ICICT participants, as well as their employees,
in terms of their activities within the SEZ ICICT, comprising: - Exemption from paying all types of
taxes and obligatory deductions to state funds, as well as the unified social
payment for the entire period of functioning of SEZ ICICT; - the establishment of the tax rate on
incomes of physical persons in the amount of 7.5 percent and the insurance
contributions of citizens to non-budgetary Pension Fund at a rate of 4.5
percent. At that, SEZ ICICT participants are
entitled to exercise calculations and payments in foreign currency within the
limits of their income from the export of goods (works, services) on the
territory of the Republic, including the payment of wages to employees in
cash or non-cash form and the payment of dividends. The adoption of the draft
decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan is aimed at creating
necessary environment to stimulate the development of domestic production of
software products, information systems and resources in priority areas of
socio-economic development of the country.The draft discussion will be held
until February 23, 2017. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
02/10/2017 |
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Australian Government Signs Research Treaty
with New Zealand Both governments will work together
on science, research, and innovation in response to the 'challenges' of
industry transition. The Australian government has announced the signing of a
treaty-level Science, Research, and Innovation Cooperation Agreement with the
New Zealand government. As part of the agreement, Australia and New Zealand
will work together to tackle chronic disease, advance general health care,
and improve the accuracy and availability of GPS signals, said recently appointed
Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Senator Arthur Sinodinos.
"This is the first treaty of its kind between our countries. It
formalises what has been a naturally close and enduring partnership,"
Sinodinos said. "More importantly, it recognises the immense economic
and social potential that merging our efforts and resources can bring to the
region." The minister said the signing of the agreement in Queenstown on
Friday with New Zealand Minister for Economic Development, Transport and Communications
Simon Bridges concludes a year of intense negotiations and that it recognises
the strength of the relationship between both countries, as well as the
advantages of sharing resources, assets, and knowledge. Pointing to
Australia's Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, Sinodinos said it is a
prime example of working together. The SKA has been slated to be the largest
and most capable radio telescope ever constructed, and has been called the
world's largest science project, covering over 1 million square metres of
collecting area. Sinodinos said the government is also
trailing the Satellite Base Augmentation System in both countries. The New
Zealand government, alongside the New Zealand research sector, allocated a
total of AU$4.5 million to support the Australian Synchrotron in February
last year. The AU$1.5 million to be donated
every year for three years sees the total investment into the Synchrotron
from Australia's trans-Tasman neighbours reach AU$13.5 million since it began
operations in 2007. The Australian government also signed a research
agreement with China last year, announcing the creation of six new Joint
Research Centres. At a cost of AU$5.95 million, the six virtual centres will
be funded for three years under the Australia-China Science and Research
Fund, which supports strategic science, technology, and innovation
collaboration considered of mutual benefit to both countries. It will work to
address challenges both countries face in the marine science, food and
agribusiness, and mining equipment technology and services sectors. The
federal government also chose China to host one of its five startup landing
pads, with former Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Christopher
Pyne saying previously that Shanghai was being positioned by the Chinese
government as a global centre for technology, innovation, and
entrepreneurship. The AU$11 million startup landing pad initiative is aimed
at helping Australian entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market in overseas
locations, with sites also set up in Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, Berlin, and
Singapore. From http://www.zdnet.com 02/17/2017 AUSTRALIA: Government to Trial New
Tool to Speed Up Netflix Content Classification The federal government is piloting a
new classification tool designed to streamline the process of classifying
Netflix content and to make it easier for programmes to become available to
Australian audiences. Communications Minister Mitch Fifield says the government
has been working with Netflix over the past year to create the tool, which
combines Netflix’s technology with Australia’s classification ratings and
consumer advisories. According to Fifield, the “innovative solution
represents the first time in the world that a self-regulatory tool will be
used to classify films and television series”. The pilot will be undertaken
over the next 12 months and will see Netflix applying the classification tool
to classify their content for Australian audiences. During the pilot, a broad
range of classification decisions will be reviewed by the Classification
Board to assess the integrity of the tool and ensure that ratings meet
Australian community standards. In a safeguard, if needed, the Board has the
power to revoke classifications made by the Netflix tool and replace them
with its own decisions. Fifield says the tool speeds up the classification
process and removes red tape for Netflix, while ensuring that all Netflix
content is classified and the community “continues to receive high quality
information to guide entertainment choices for themselves and their
children”. This is the second classification tool being tested by the
government to address the increasing volume of content readily available
online through new digital platforms. In the other trial, the government is
evaluating its pilot of the International Age Rating Coalition tool, which
Fifield says has produced more than half a million Australian classifications
for online and mobile games on Google Play, the Microsoft Windows Store and
the Nintendo eShop. From http://www.itwire.com 12/07/2016 Govt Drops Plans to Sell Off ASIC
Database The Australian government has bowed to
public pressure and announced it would drop its plans to sell off the ASIC
corporate database. The government was put under pressure by journalists and
the activist organisation GetUp. A public petition was also launched to
garner support for keeping the database. Daney Faddoul, economic fairness
campaigner at GetUp, welcomed the backdown, but warned that the government
had to go further and make ASIC’s data free if it was serious about exposing
shady corporate behaviour. Accessing just one set of company records costs
$38, among the highest access fees in the world. “Journalists, academics, and
the public at large opposed this sale. The database is used to hold dodgy
corporates to account and ensure that companies are paying their fair share
of tax," said Faddoul. “Business filings to ASIC shouldn’t be behind
closed doors. We all benefit when corporations are held to the highest level
of scrutiny. “A total of 80,306 GetUp members signed a petition calling out
the Turnbull government for their harebrained scheme to sell it off, 84
journalists from across print and electronic media wrote an open letter to
Malcolm Turnbull, and workers from the ASIC database warned of the
devastating impact a sale would have on corporate scrutiny." ASIC
workers had also joined the protest in order to defend local jobs. Faddoul said: “The hundreds of people
working at the ASIC corporate database in the struggling La Trobe valley now
know that their jobs are safe and so is the data that is integral to
investigating corporate affairs. “The government must now take the next step
in making corporate business behaviour transparent. Australia has some of the
highest fees in the world to access corporate data, and journalists regularly
run out of money when investigating corporate wrongdoing. “In countries like
New Zealand and the US, this data is free. At a whopping $38 a pop, the
government is still holding this information ransom to those that can afford
it. “Mr Turnbull, if there really is nothing to hide make the corporate data free
for us all to see. “With the sale DOA, it won’t be happy holidays for dodgy
corporate behaviour. This shows what can be won through people power – even
on an issue as wonky as the ASIC corporate database,” said Faddoul. From http://www.itwire.com 12/19/2016 Network Protection Laws 'May Have Opposite
Effect' Laws that have been proposed by the
Australian Government to guard communications networks and businesses from
cyber attack and sabotage may have the opposite effect from that intended, a
coalition of industry groups has warned. The warning came jointly from the
Australian Industry Group, the Australian Information Industry Association,
the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association and Communications
Alliance in a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence
and Security. These industry groups represent most of Australia's $100
billion ICT industry. In its submission, the groups pointed to issues in the
Telecommunication Sector Security Reform (TSSR) legislation, recently
introduced to Federal Parliament. Among these were vague drafting, regulatory
overreach, the risk that telecommunications service providers could be forced
by government to dismantle or retro-fit existing communications networks and
the risk to hamper innovation and to competitively disadvantage
businesses.The groups praised the government for a number of useful
amendments to earlier drafts of the legislation, after receiving advice from
industry.They also acknowledged that critical infrastructure, including
telecommunications services and networks, was at risk from espionage,
sabotage and foreign interference, and companies have a commercial motivation
to harden and protect their networks. The groups warned that onerous, one-way
notification requirements would affect responsiveness of service providers to
cyber threats and asked the government to consider more collaborative,
effective approaches, as adopted or contemplated in the US, UK and Canada.
The proposed TSSR regime “may in fact divert scarce resources away from
investing directly in addressing cyber security threats, to compliance
overhead arising from the regime. It may reduce the ability for the ICT
industry and its clients to proactively monitor and quickly respond to
threats and breaches”, the submission stated. From http://www.itwire.com 02/06/2017 Innovation and Science Australia Calls
for a More 'Urgent' Innovation Strategy The independent body has said more
work is needed to improve the country's innovation, science, and research
system. Innovation and Science Australia (ISA) has said Australia is lagging
behind international competitors and that there is a lot of work to be done
in order to break into the top tier of innovative nations. As a result, the
independent body charged with researching, planning, and advising the
government on all science, research, and innovation matters has called for an
increase in the sense of urgency around Australian innovation. The comments
come following a performance review into Australia's current system, which
highlighted that while it has points of strength, it is falling behind other
nations. In conducting the review, Performance Review of the Australian
Innovation, Science and Research System 2016, ISA determined the country's
performance on three areas: How well Australia creates knowledge; how well
the country transfers that knowledge to different parts of the system; and
how well businesses apply knowledge in developing new goods and services and
how it takes them to market. "As a nation we're good at creating
knowledge but simply not good enough at transferring or applying it,"
chair of Innovation Australia Bill Ferris said. "In both our number of
researchers per capita and the proportion of highly-cited publications we
produce, we sit in the top 10 internationally." Despite sitting in the
top 10, Ferris said Australia is performing relatively poorly in terms of
transferring its knowledge and ultimately applying it. "It is these activities that
create the types of new goods and services that not only improve our lives --
think breakthrough medical technologies, environmentally friendly production
techniques, and new ways of growing and storing our food -- but also provide
economic growth and sustainable jobs," he said. ISA's review suggested
that Australia's poor performance in knowledge transfer and application may
be partially explained by the country's low rates of collaboration and
mobility among research institutions and businesses compared to the more
innovative nations. "The challenge of getting Australia into the top
tier of innovation nations by 2030 must be seen as a significant national
priority," Ferris said, noting that Australia has a predominantly
incremental approach to innovation rather than a more radical approach, and
as a result it is holding the country back. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
established ISA in November 2015, announcing Ferris, the 45-year veteran of
private equity, as the chairman to lead the future direction of the country's
innovation. Former program director for the University of Melbourne's Carlton
Connect initiative Dr Charles Day joined Ferris -- and Australia's Chief
Scientist Dr Alan Finkel, who was announced in March as deputy chair -- as
ISA's CEO the following November. The ISA board also consists of Maile
Carnegie, ANZ group executive digital banking and former CEO of Google
Australia & New Zealand; Scott Farquhar, co-founder and CEO of Australian
startup darling Atlassian; Daniel Petre from AirTree capital ventures; Paul
Bassat, co-founder of SEEK and Square Peg Capital; Dr Chris Roberts from
ResMed; and Dr Michele Allan, chancellor of Charles Sturt University. ISA is
funded out of Turnbull's AU$1.1 billion National Innovation and Science
Agenda, which was unveiled in December 2015 to incentivise innovation and
entrepreneurship, reward risk taking, and promote science, maths, and
computing in schools. "Australia is falling behind on measures of
commercialisation and collaboration, consistently ranking last or second last
among OECD countries for business-research collaboration," Turnbull
admitted at the time. "Our appetite for risk is lower than in comparable
countries, which means Australian startups and early stage businesses often
fail to attract capital to grow." Since the inception of the innovation
and science agenda, the minister responsible has changed three times, with
newly appointed Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Arthur
Sinodinos assuming his new role last month. From http://www.zdnet.com 02/07/2017 Bill to Criminalise Data Re-Identification May Not
Pass Senate An amendment to the Privacy Act, in
order to criminalise the re-identification of anonymised released government
datasets, may fail to clear the Senate if the report of the committee
appointed to look into it is any indication. Attorney-General George Brandis
announced the amendment in September last year after researchers at Melbourne
University found that doctor details could be identified in a dataset made
available to the public by the federal Department of Health. The change in
law was to take effect from the date of its announcement. This data was extracted from the
Pharmaceutical Benefits and Medicare Benefits schemes. The panel appointed to
examine the amendment had six members: three Liberals, two Labor and one
Green. Additionally, Derryn Hinch, who represents his own party, participated
in the deliberations. The chair, Senator Ian Macdonald, recommended that the
amendment be passed. But the Labor and Greens members dissented, saying it
should not become law. When Brandis announced the amendment, he said the
government's ability to draft better policy and tackle many future challenges
depended on effective sharing and analysis of data. But, he said, in
accepting that there were benefits to releasing de-identified datasets, the
government recognised that citizens' privacy was important. Macdonald said
that while the committee recognised that people who had made submissions
about the amendment had valid points about its retrospective nature, reversed
burden of proof and the introduction of criminal offences, the amendment was
a "necessary and proportionate response" to the gap that had been
identified in privacy law. Regarding the fact that the amendment
was to come into force from the date of its announcement, Macdonald said
while there was a general reluctance to pass bills that took effect
retrospectively, the committee had noted that Brandis' announcement "was
in the current term of parliament, was very specific, and indicated clearly
that the legislation was to apply from the date of the announcement. There is
sufficient particularity in the announcement to alert would-be offenders of
the nature of the offence". The committee also took the view that
government researchers would not fall within the scope of this amendment.
Macdonald added that the bill had exemptions for agencies in order to ensure
only those with criminal intentions would be affected. He also pointed to the
fact that the attorney-general of the day could exempt people if they were
caught up under the amendment by mistake. The Labor and Greens members said
the amendment should not be passed as it was a disproportionate response to
the gap identified in the Privacy Act and failed to achieve its objectives.
"The bill fails to provide a holistic response and neglects to consider
the de-identification process and consequences for agencies for releasing
datasets that have been poorly de-identified," they said. Rather, the
amendment would result in a punitive approach towards information security
researchers and research conducted in the public interest, they argued,
adding that they also did not agree with the retrospective application of the
proposed amendment. The government will need either the support of Labor, or
else the Greens plus a few others in the Senate, to get the amendment passed.
Things have become a little more complicated with Tuesday's resignation of
Cory Bernardi from the government side in the Senate. A privacy expert has
expressed doubts to iTWire as to whether data can ever be de-identified to
the point where it cannot be re-identified and traced to its subjects. From http://www.itwire.com 02/08/2017 Australia Finally Gets Data Breach
Notification Laws at Third Attempt Twice-stranded laws have finally
succeeded in making passage through the Australian Parliament. At the third
time of asking, Australia will have data breach notification laws. The
passage of the Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2016 through
the Senate on Monday means Australians will in the near future begin to be
alerted of their data being inappropriately accessed. The legislation is
restricted to incidents involving personal information, credit card
information, credit eligibility, and tax file number information that would
put individuals at "real risk of serious harm". "It is not
intended that every data breach be subject to a notification requirement. 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 for the Bill states. Notification laws would only apply to
companies covered by the Privacy Act, and would exempt intelligence agencies,
small businesses with turnover of less than AU$3 million annually, and
political parties from needing to disclose breaches. E-health providers are
still subject to the mandatory data breach notification scheme under the My
Health Records Act. Upon a qualifying breach or on reasonable grounds to
believe that a serious data breach has occurred, the impacted entity would
need to notify the Australian Information Commissioner and affected
individuals. In cases where it is not certain a breach has occurred, the
entity has 30 days to investigate whether notification is needed. The new laws are set to come into
force either by a proclaimed date, or a year after they receive Royal Assent.
Speaking during the second reading of the Bill, Senator Penny Wong said many
Australians would be surprised that companies were not already legally
required to inform them when a serious breach occurred, and pointed to the
three-year delay that Catch of the Day took to inform its users as an example
of why notification is needed. Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam was
unsuccessful in moving a motion to have the notification requirements apply
to political parties and businesses with turnover of less than AU$3 million. A data breach notification scheme was
recommended by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security
in February 2015, prior to Australia's mandatory data-retention laws being
implemented. Under the data-retention laws, approved law-enforcement agencies
are able to warrantlessly access two years' worth of customers' call records,
location information, IP addresses, billing information, and other data
stored by telecommunication operators. Two Bills that would have had a
similar impact were stranded when Parliament rose for the 2013 and 2016
federal elections. From http://www.zdnet.com 02/13/2017 Data Breach Laws Finally Clear Senate The Australian Government has finally
put in place laws to govern data breaches, with legislation passing the
Senate on Monday. The bill applies to organisations that come under the
purview of the Privacy Act: government agencies, and businesses and non-profit
entities that have a yearly turnover of more than $3 million. The breach
legislation also applies to private health service providers, including gyms
and weight-loss clinics; child-care centres, private schools and tertiary
education institutions; businesses that deal in personal information and
credit reporting bodies. People who deal with personal information for a
living, including those who handle credit reporting information, tax file
numbers and health records are also covered. Failure to notify the Australian
Privacy Commissioner of a breach will incur penalties. The bill says: "A
civil penalty for serious or repeated interferences with the privacy of an
individual will only be issued by the Federal Court or Federal Circuit Court
of Australia following an application by the [Privacy] Commissioner. Serious
or repeated interferences with the privacy of an individual attract a maximum
penalty of $360,000 for individuals and $1,800,000 for bodies
corporate." The time for notification is "as soon as possible"
but stretches out to a maximum of 30 days. During the debate in Senate prior
to the passage of the bill, Greens Senator Scott Ludlam moved an amendment to
get this period down to three days but his amendment failed to obtain
support. He later tried to get it down to five days but failed again. Labor
did not support his proposed amendments. Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos
told the Senate that the 30-day period was not a hard and fast rule; in some
cases, organisations that suffered breaches would have to make a declaration
in less time. A reasonable effort had to be made to meet the 30-day deadline,
he said. From http://www.itwire.com 02/14/2017 Prevention Key Benefit of New Data Breach Laws:
ACS The Australian Computer Society (ACS)
believes the key benefits of new data breach laws to govern data breaches
will be preventative and the real impact will be to mobilise business and
government. As reported by iTWire, the Australian Government has finally put
in place laws to govern data breaches, with the legislation passing the
Senate on Monday. While welcoming the passage of the Privacy Amendment
(Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2016, the ACS says the impact on business and
government will lead to robust, responsive data protection and cybersecurity
frameworks and a “culture of best practice information sharing to combat
ever-evolving cyber threats”. ACS President Anthony Wong says this new
legislation marks a line in the sand, “after delays which have put Australia
behind jurisdictions like the US, EU and New Zealand”. “It is now incumbent
upon industry and government to build the cyber-resilience required by
Australia’s digital economy. “The ACS endorses the balanced, flexible approach
to data breach notification rules taken by this new legislation. Australia
can learn from the experiences of other jurisdictions, but it is equally
critical that we learn from the professional best practices that will arise
in Australia as the legislation begins operation, which in turn will
influence all levels of government and business.” Wong says effective data
protection and cybersecurity involves collaboration across organisations,
government agencies and internationally. “The ACS looks forward to working
with government, industry and our international colleagues on best practice
approaches to ICT security systems and protocols and the education and
training of ICT professionals to meet both the spirit and the letter of the
new legislative requirements.” From http://www.itwire.com 02/14/2017 NEW ZEALAND: Rocket Lab’s Launch
Hopes Rest on Upcoming Legislation New Zealand presently lacks any regulatory
regime covering rocket-launching activities. Rocket Lab, a US based company
founded by New Zealander, Peter Beck, is building what it claims will be the
world’s first private orbital launch complex on the North Island’s Mahia
Peninsula, but is waiting on legislation now under consideration by a
parliamentary committee that it hopes will give it the green light to fulfil
its plans. New Zealand presently lacks any regulatory regime covering
rocket-launching activities and to that end the Outer Space and High-altitude
Activities Bill was introduced into Parliament on 19 September 2016. This
bill establishes a regulatory regime to govern space launches, including both
launch vehicles and payloads (eg, satellites), from New Zealand and by New
Zealand nationals operating overseas. It also provides a legal framework for
high-altitude activities that originate from New Zealand. The Bill had its
first reading speech on 18 October and is now being considered by the Foreign
Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, which is due to report on 18 April.
Submissions to the committee closed on 1 December. However the bill’s web
site does not show any submissions having been made. Beck – who founded
Rocket Lab a decade ago – told the Wall Street Journal, in a report published
on 9 January, that no launch sites in the US had the capacity to cater for
Rocket Lab’s planned launch rate of as many as 3000 microsatellites over the
next several years. The paper reported him saying: “A small island nation in
the middle of nowhere,” was “pretty much exactly what you want.” The WSJ told
its readers that New Zealand was “earthquake-prone, dotted with volcanoes …
contain[s] six times as many sheep as people ... [and] doesn’t even have a
combat air force, having scrapped its warplanes about 15 years ago to save
money.” Rocket Lab backers include US venture capital firms Khosla Ventures
and Bessemer Venture Partners, US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin and K1W1, a
New Zealand investment company owned by Sir Stephen Tindall. From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 01/10/2017 Government Sets Out Its Preferred
Post-2020 Telecoms Regime Communications Minister Simon Bridges
has released a consultation paper setting out details of how the government
proposes to regulate access to the copper telephone network beyond 2020.
Communications Minister Simon Bridges has released a consultation paper
setting out details of how the government proposes to regulate access to the
copper telephone network beyond 2020. In areas where UFB or other fibre is
available, the Government is proposing to deregulate the copper network from
2020 and remove the TSO obligation. In areas where UFB or other fibre is not
available, the TSO obligation will be retained and Chorus will be required to
continue supplying copper services at prices capped at 2019 levels. The
Government says this regime will ensure consumers continue to have access to
basic services at competitive prices, even when alternative networks are not
available. The proposal was tentatively welcomed by InternetNZ. CEO Jordan
Carter said he thought it would deliver the fair broadband prices Kiwis
deserve. However, he added: “We will apply a magnifying glass to the details
to make sure that fair prices for broadband are a reality after 2020. We’ll
give feedback to the Government with that goal in mind Today’s announcement
shows that things are on the right track, but there’s still some important
points of detail to iron out. Carter said InternetNZ would spend the next few
days digesting the details and speaking with the sector, before responding to
the options paper. TUANZ also welcomed the new
proposals, and claimed some of the credit for their introduction. CEO, Craig
Young, said: “It’s encouraging that many of the options outlined in the paper
reflect our submissions and align with our objectives of ensuring New
Zealanders can access competitively priced, high quality connectivity. He
added: “It’s critical in this very technical review of regulation of
telecommunication services that the voice of the user is heard because we are
the ultimate consumer of the products, which are now critical to our
businesses and our everyday lives.” He said there were a number of aspects of
the proposed new regime that required further work, including the proposal to
deregulate copper pricing within the UFB footprint. “Having worked so hard as
an organisation to advocate for regulation to be applied to the copper access
network to ensure competition and fairer outcomes for users, it's critical
that we take time to ensure that the removal of this regulation will not be a
backwards step for New Zealanders.” Young said. The consultation paper
follows release of the July 2016 options paper which set out the details of
the new ‘utility-style’ regime for fixed line communications services
provided on the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) network and Chorus’ copper
network. In that paper the Government proposed
using a ‘building blocks’ pricing model, saying this would benefit end-users
through a competitive retail market; prevent monopoly profits and incentivise
ongoing efficient investment in high quality networks. However Bridges said the approach set
out the new consultation paper differed from that favoured in the options
paper as a result of feedback from industry and consumer groups about how the
proposed regime would work in practice. “Following further consideration and
analysis we have decided to take a different approach to the regulation of
copper services, and focus the new regulations primarily on New Zealand’s
fibre network,” Bridges said. “We’re seeking feedback on this proposal and on
changes to the Telecommunications Service Obligation (TSO) through the consultation
document released today.” Submissions on the consultation paper close on 3
March 2017. From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 02/10/2017 ADB, Vanuatu Sign Agreement to Help
Improve Urban Development The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has
approved an additional $2.87 million assistance for the Port Vila Urban
Development Project to further help Vanuatu achieve sustainable urban
development through improved access to sanitation, drainage facilities, and
roads. A grant agreement for the additional financing was signed in a
ceremony in Port Vila today, attended by Jean Pierre Nirua, Vanuatu's
Education Minister and Acting Minister of Finance and Economic Management,
and Nancy Wells, Senior Country Coordination Officer of ADB’s Extended
Mission in Vanuatu. The $2.87 million grant will be provided by the Global
Environment Facility. “The extra funds will help strengthen climate change
resilience and disaster preparedness in Port Vila,” said ADB’s Nancy Wells.
“Increasing the design standard for the project’s drainage and preparing
catchment management plans following sustainable urban drainage principles
are part of this plan.” Port Vila is the commercial and
tourist center of the country, generating almost two thirds of national GDP.
The poor state of the capital’s drainage, road, and sanitation infrastructure
are negatively impacting Vanuatu’s ability to attract and retain commercial
and tourist related investment. The infrastructure’s current deteriorating
condition is also raising concerns regarding public health, environmental
degradation, and poorer quality of life for Port Vila residents and visitors.
“The cofinanced project, managed by the Government of Vanuatu through the
Vanuatu Project Management Unit (VPMU) and funded by grants from the
Government of Australia and the Global Environment Facility — a loan from the
ADB and a grant contribution from the government — will help the country
achieve sustainable urban development through improved services in Port
Vila,” said Mr. Nirua at the ceremony. The project will help address the
increasing urbanization that is putting unprecedented pressure on
infrastructure in Port Vila. It will be in close coordination with other
major projects underway in the national capital including the Port Vila
Lapetasi International Multi-Purpose Wharf Development Project, the Vanuatu
Interisland Shipping Support Project, and the Vanuatu Tourism Infrastructure
Project — all of which will support Port Vila as a vibrant and attractive
economic hub of the Pacific. ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to
reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth,
environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in
1966, ADB is celebrating 50 years of development partnership in the region.
It is owned by 67 members—48 from the region. From https://www.adb.org/ 02/16/2017 |
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UN Internet Summit Run by Beijing
Pushes “Global Governance” Under the leadership of various
Communist Chinese agents within the United Nations, the UN's Internet
Governance Forum (IGF) met in Mexico last week and concluded with calls for
greater international controls and more “global governance” of the World Wide
Web. Another key item on the agenda was exploiting the Internet to promote
the UN's deeply controversial “Agenda 2030” Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), essentially a UN road-map toward global totalitarianism that Beijing
played a “crucial role” in developing.The controversial UN IGF gathering was
the first annual summit of governments, dictators, tax-funded “civil society”
outfits, academics, and tech companies since Obama surrendered U.S. oversight
over crucial components of the Internet's architecture such as ICANN. It was
also the first IGF summit since the mass-murdering dictatorship in China,
which censors the Web and savagely persecutes dissidents, boldly announced
last month its intent to subordinate the free and open Internet to its
draconian vision of “global governance.”Experts have warned for years that
blatant censorship and global Internet taxes will not be far behind if
Americans do not step up the pressure to protect Internet freedom. With Obama
having attempted to hand over U.S. oversight of the Internet's architecture
to a “global multi-stakeholder” regime in recent months, the effort to
re-take control of the Internet Americans helped create and pay for must
accelerate if First Amendment protections for speech and journalism online
are to survive. Indeed, among other troubling topics,
speakers and panelists at the UN's Internet governance confab explored topics
such as “dealing with radicalized expression,” according to an official
summary document of the confab. By “radicalized expression,” globalists and
the UN are referring to conservative viewpoints, anti-UN sentiment, support
for traditional values, nationalist or anti-globalist expression, and more.
Another subject discussed at the IGF was “the importance of addressing online
abuse,” an increasingly transparent ploy intended to justify online
censorship.Officially, the UN summit focused on “Internet and sustainable
development; access and diversity; youth and gender challenges pertaining to
the Internet; the protection and promotion of human rights online;
cybersecurity; the need to enhance multi-stakeholder cooperation; critical
Internet resources; Internet governance capacity building; and other emerging
issues that may affect the future of the open Internet.” All the PR-friendly rhetoric
sounded innocent enough — at first glance. Translating the UN's misleading
terminology, though, reveals a deeply controversial agenda to assault online
and offline freedom worldwide. Consider, for example, that by “sustainable
development,” the UN is referring to massive government controls over the
economy, reducing the human population, assaulting private property
ownership, redistributing wealth from what remains of the Western middle
class to Third World dictators, and more. This has been made clear even by
top UN officials. When the UN speaks of protecting
“human rights,” meanwhile, consider that the UN has a very different
definition than the God-given rights protected by the U.S. Constitution.
Under the guise “human rights,” for example, the UN has called for
criminalizing free speech, destroying gun rights, regulating private schools
to promote UN dogma, ignoring due-process protections, and many other
totalitarian schemes. The UN's pseudo-“human rights” Council is literally
dominated by mass-murdering dictators and unfree regimes that are among the
worst abusers of real rights on the planet. And in its Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, the UN explicitly claims in Article 29 that none of those
“rights” may be “used contrary to the purposes and principles of the United
Nations.” On at least one point, though, the UN used almost honest verbiage.
By “capacity-building” for “Internet governance,” the UN means exactly what
this sounds like it means: enhancing the ability of governments, dictators,
and the array of international outfits they create, such as the UN, to impose
rules, regulations, restrictions, censorship, and taxes on the Internet. That
has been the direction and the goal for many years now. Among the totalitarian dictatorships
that were allowed to organize “open forums” at the IGF summit were the
mass-murdering regimes enslaving China and Cuba, both of which operate
Orwellian censorship regimes to prevent their victims from accessing
information. Other such sessions for governments and globalist bureaucracies
were organized by the unelected, technocratic European Union Commission and
the African Union. The latter is a dictator-dominated, EU-style transnational
regime being imposed on Africans, with virtually all funding coming from the
EU, the U.S. government, and the Communist Chinese dictatorship. Various
scandal-plagued UN outfits such as UNESCO, WIPO, and more also organized
events. Despite attempting to conceal the true agenda in slick phraseology
calculated to sound harmless or even desirable, the globalist establishment
vowed openly to keep pursuing stronger global “governance” for the Internet
in fairly transparent terms. For example, delegates plotted the imposition of
new “cybersecurity measures” to be “implemented in cooperation with”
so-called “international expert bodies” such as the Beijing-dominated UN
organs hoping to oversee Internet regulation. And that is just the start. The plot to exploit the Internet to
advance the UN's totalitarian Agenda 2030 was made explicit throughout, too.
“Indeed, the Internet and information and communication technologies (ICTs)
can play an important, enabling role in our efforts to fulfill the great
promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” boasted UN Assistant
Secretary-General LenniMontiel, who comes from one of the many nations in the
world, Venezuela, destroyed by Agenda 2030-style Big Government policies.
Montiel received his Master of Science in economics from a communist
indoctrination center in Belarus, another nation destroyed and enslaved by a
socialist dictatorship dedicated to Agenda 2030-style schemes.Other speakers,
such as Miguel Ruiz Cabañas, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and
Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, boasted that the
global policies governing the use of the Internet would be used to fight
alleged man-made global warming. Seriously. While details were sketchy, one
of the many schemes pushed throughout the summit was the notion that
governments “bear a crucial responsibility” in terms of creating “content”
for the Internet — presumably a reference to pushing propaganda supporting
the UN, the man-made global-warming theory, and more. Another key agenda item was
discussion of how globalists can exploit the emerging so-called “Internet of
Things,” or IoT, to better oppress humanity. “The challenge is to foster this
continuous development and to enable the IoT to further grow into the
Internet and Internet governance processes,” the IGF summary document
explained, citing issues and challenges such as “standardization,
interoperability, and security.” Indeed, according to the document, these
issues offer “substantial opportunities” for “multi-stakeholder cooperation,”
with the stakeholders being the UN, governments, dictators, Big Business, and
“civil society” groups funded by governments and the establishment.As
Technocracy Rising author Patrick Wood explained in a recent column, though,
the UN's agenda in seeking to bring the Internet under its control goes far
beyond just censorship. “The real prize is completely overlooked: The
Internet of Things (IoT),” Wood explained, adding that within a decade IoT is
expected to generate upwards of $3 trillion. “If the UN can figure out a way
to tax this market, and they will, it will provide a windfall of income and
perhaps enough to make it self-perpetuating.” That is just the start of it. “But,
what is the IoT and who cares? IoT are the connections between inanimate
objects and the humans that depend upon them,” Wood continued, pointing to
Smart Meters on homes that communicate remotely with home appliances, which
can be controlled by external sources, and with the utility company. “Whoever
has control over and access to this data will literally be able to control
the entire world, down to the last minutiae – and that is the United Nations’
exact mission: inventory, monitor and control.”The IGF summit was organized
through the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, or UN DESA, a
powerful UN bureaucracy that is literally dominated by Communist Chinese
operatives dedicated to the Communist Party of China and its totalitarian
global agenda. UN DESA's chief, Wu Hongbo, was the “Assistant Foreign
Minister” for the brutal Chinese regime before taking his UN post. He
succeeded another Chinese Communist, ShaZukang, who openly proclaimed his
hatred of America and even gave an award to the Communist Chinese butcher
responsible for slaughtering peaceful protesters at Tiananmen Square. One of Wu's underlings, also a
Chinese Communist agent, boasted after the IGF of the growing role that Third
World dictatorships would play in governing the Internet. “Leading up to the
twelfth IGF next year, innovations in programming and intersessional
activities will continue to be implemented in a bottom-up manner, based on
feedback from the multistakeholder community and in line with our new mandate
which calls for greater participation from stakeholders from developing
countries,” said Juwang Zhu, director of the Division for Sustainable
Development in UN DESA, with developing countries being the term used by UN
bureaucrats to refer to Third World dictatorships that have impoverished
their victims for generations. Of course, the Communist Chinese celebrations
of “sustainable development” are not new, or surprising, as Beijing takes a
growing role in what it and Western globalists call the “New World Order.” UN
DESA's former Communist Chinese boss, Sha, was the chair of the UN Conference
on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 attended by this
reporter. And more recently, the regime in Beijing bragged publicly of its
“crucial role” in developing the UN Agenda 2030 for “Sustainable
Development,” which a Socialist ex-NATO boss ominously referred to as the
next “Great Leap Forward.” Another key UN bureaucracy seeking to
control the Internet, the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU), is
also led by a Communist Chinese agent — Houlin Zhao, who told the press that
censorship is really in the eye of the beholder and not everyone agrees on
what censorship is. Essentially, then, the Chinese dictatorship and many of
its key allies — from Moscow and Brasilia to Tehran and Havana — hope to
empower the little-known UN outfit Zhao leads with awesome powers over the
Internet. They have made this perfectly clear for years in official
declarations. Unsurprisingly, just weeks before the IGF confab in Mexico,
brutal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping called for stepped-up “global governance”
of the Internet. Speaking by video at the Communist Chinese regime-run “World
Internet Conference” in Wuzhen, China, Xi used standard globalist rhetoric to
promote UN control of the post-American Internet. “The development of the
Internet knows no international boundaries,” declared the tyrant, who leads
the government and political party responsible for murdering more people than
any other in human history. “The sound use, development and governance of the
internet thus calls for closer cooperation.” He also said his regime
would “promote equitable global
internet governance.” Like the Communist regime enslaving
mainland China, the UN and many of its totalitarian member regimes were
pleased with Obama's surrender of oversight to globalist “stakeholders” and
foreign governments. “The successful transition of the IANA functions to the
multi stakeholder community in October of 2016, only a few months prior to
the 11th IGF, marks an important milestone for the multi stakeholder Internet
governance community,” reads an official summary of the confab by the IGF
chair, boasting that new “community-based accountability mechanisms” would
now replace the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantees of free
speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and more. “At the IGF,
various workshops and sessions endeavored to learn from the successes and
challenges of this important multi stakeholder exercise.”The UN IGF event
took place in Jalisco, Mexico, between December 6 and December 9. Some 3,000
people — many of them representing mass-murdering dictatorships keen to
censor the Internet — were reportedly in attendance. At the summit, pictures
show the UN's blue flag flying high, alongside Mexico's green, white, and red
flag, as armed officials stand at attention. The scene, reproduced in UN
press releases, encapsulated well by outgoing UN boss Ban Ki Moon as he now
regularly refers to the lawless dictators club he leads as the “Parliament of
Humanity.” For Americans concerned about keeping
the Internet free and preventing its use by tyrants and globalists to oppress
humanity, time is running out. Congress and the Trump administration should
be encouraged to take urgent action aimed at stopping the UN and its member
regimes from hijacking control of the Internet. As it stands, online freedom
is waking people up by the millions around the world. It is also undermining
establishment control of humanity and public opinion in an unprecedented way.
But without urgent action by Americans to stop it, the UN, Beijing, and other
nefarious anti-freedom forces intend to stamp out that freedom forever. Alex
Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American, is normally based in
Europe. He can be reached at anewman@thenewamerican.com. Follow him on
Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU. From http://www.thenewamerican.com/ 12/15/2016 The Missing Stakeholder in Internet
Governance – The Media As an Internet policy researcher I
have closely followed the outcomes of the annual Internet Governance Forum
(IGF), but this year was the first time I had the opportunity to participate
in person when it was convened two weeks ago in Guadalajara, Mexico. I was
there to coordinate CIMA’s new initiative to facilitate the engagement of
journalists and media activists from traditionally underrepresented countries
in debates on Internet governance. This project emerged because in the past
critics, myself included, have noted how participants from developed
countries often dominate the IGF. If we want to make multistakeholder governance
truly function as intended, we need to have much broader input from people in
developing countries. Fortunately, this is an issue on which there is broad
consensus and there are a number of efforts, like CIMA’s, that seek to
address this issue of global representation. However, after just the first
day of the meeting, I noticed another glaring gap in IGF participation that
is equally concerning – the general lack of participation by news media
outlets. The general absence of the media is
problematic because some of the most-discussed issues this year will have
direct effects on how journalists and news media outlets operate in the
future. So while topics like the so-called “right to be forgotten,” the
increasing prevalence of Internet shutdowns, and zero-rating (a controversial
form of data sponsorship), were highly debated, there were only a small
number of individuals who could address these issues from the viewpoint of a
either a journalist or a news organization. This meant that when these topics
were talked about, important aspects were overlooked. For example,
discussions on the “right to be forgotten” largely neglected its impact on
press freedom in terms of how it might effectively censor specific news
article. Panels on zero-rating did not address how zero-rating and other
sponsored data arrangements might privilege large corporate media over
independent and oppositional news outlets. These are important concerns for
the media sector, and they are not adequately being addressed at IGF. The goal of the multistakeholder
Internet governance is to bring representatives from governments, the private
sector, and civil society together to discuss the complex global Internet
policies that impact them all in different ways. The IGF gathering is both a space
to identify points of conflict as well as an opportunity to begin mapping out
potential solutions. Yet, if a wide variety of sectors with different
interests and concerns do not show up, the policy solutions crafted at the
IGF will not be as effective and sustainable in the long-term. Given that the
barrier to participation is so low – registration is free and open to all –
it seems like media organizations should be excited about the opportunity to
promote mechanisms that foster the circulation of news. So why is the media so
underrepresented at the IGF? One reason might be that the so-called Fourth
Estate does not neatly fit into the current stakeholder categories
(government, private sector, and civil society). While some media
organizations are run as for-profit companies, and would fit in the private
sector stakeholder group, others operate as non-profits and might consider
themselves members of civil society. Furthermore, public service media, while
they are not government-run, do rely on taxpayer funding and might not feel
comfortable in the other two stakeholders groups. Yet, regardless of their
stakeholder designation, the issues that impact these outlets are often quite
similar. Indeed, it might make more sense for the media to be considered its
own stakeholder group? Given the common problems that cross-cut their
business models and their unique dependence on the Internet as a platform for
both collecting and transmitting information, a strong case can be made that
the media need to be present at all multistakeholder discussions about the
future of the Internet. There is a growing concern about the
lack of media participation at the IGF, at least from the media development
community. Representatives from DW Akademie and International Media Support
(IMS) who I met with in Guadalajara expressed an interest in finding ways to
help media outlets, particularly those from developing countries, become more
engaged. Now the task is to strategize the most effective ways to actually
make this happen. The next IGF will be convening in Geneva in December 2017.
Hopefully by then the unique perspective of the media will not be overlooked. From http://www.cima.ned.org/ 01/02/2017 UAE Shows Global Leadership in
E-Government The UAE is among the world’s top
countries in using e-government services to drive economic competitiveness
and citizen happiness, experts announced today ahead of the World Government
Summit.Already the UAE is making strong progress in its information
management, ranking in the Top 30 in the world in e-government effectiveness,
and the top in the Middle East and Africa in online service delivery,
according to a recent report by the United Nations.“At the World Government
Summit, the UAE will show global best practices in using e-government
services to become more efficient and more responsive to citizen demands. The
UAE demonstrates how information management can cut costs, drive sustainable
development, and enable happy engagement between citizens and government,”
said Andrew Calthorpe, CEO at the future government consultancy Condo
Protego. Demonstrating the potential for the
cost-saving measures of e-government services, Denmark, which has a similar
GDP and population to the UAE, used e-invoicing to save about $215 million,
the European Union said in a recent report.“Transitioning from paper-based
manual processes to a digital core with automated services requires long-term
planning, along with scalable and secure infrastructure. Taking an outside-in
approach to connected government is key, prioritizing simple and intuitive
interfaces that any citizen can use,” added Calthorpe.In the UAE, Condo
Protego is seeing strong public sector demand for a wide range of government-focused
information management solutions such as Dell-EMC unified storage, hybrid
cloud, and security safeguards from RSA. From http://tradearabia.com/ 02/13/2017 AFRICA: SA's E-Govt Strategy Showing
Strides Unlike its counterparts in
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there is evidence of growing progress in the
implementation of SA's e-government strategy. This is the sentiment shared by
analysts, who say although there is room for improvement, the South African
government's use of ICT to deliver basic services to its citizens shows
progress. Realising the key role of ICT in enabling modernised government
services and benefits for service delivery, the government developed its own
e-government policy framework. SA's e-government policy framework proposes
the use of ICT to improve government's efficiency and effectiveness, and make
it convenient for citizens to access government services. To date, some
notable e-government services the administration has introduced include
National Treasury's e-Tender Publication portal, a central supplier database,
e-HomeAffairs and the SA Revenue Services' eFiling system. See also Gauteng e-govt aims to develop ICT
entrepreneurs Gauteng establishes e-govt department E-government e-HomeAffairs Local government departments have
also introduced specifically catered initiatives such as Gauteng's
e-invoicing service, the City of Ekurhuleni's online system for paying rates,
and the City of Cape Town has digitised government information to enable easy
access for its citizens. ICT research analyst at Frost & Sullivan Africa,
Mauritz Venter, says SA fares relatively well when compared to its
counterparts in SSA. "Major e-government goals include reducing costs
whilst enhancing service delivery, expanding the national broadband rollout,
particularly to rural marginalised communities, and improving national
computer literacy and ICT skills. "Metropolitans like Cape Town,
Johannesburg and Tshwane have implemented local government e-strategies and
in doing so have allowed their constituents unparalleled access and
connectivity to the Internet economy and its inherent benefits." Richard Hurst, director of enterprise
research at Africa Analysis, says there are some high points as well as low
points in the overall progress of the e-government strategy, but overall
there has been some good progress. According to Gavin Holme, country manager
for Africa at Wipro, the first step on the journey to true e-government
services is to replace all legacy infrastructure. "Latest-generation
enterprise technologies have the potential to improve financial and
operational management within public sector entities, and enhance service
delivery to citizens. "By simplifying and standardising on certain
technology sets, government is able to create operational efficiencies and
more easily fulfil its various mandates." Gauteng shows the way Gauteng is taking the lead in being
one of SA's most modernised provinces and achieving major e-government
objectives. In 2015, the Gauteng provincial government established the
Department of e-Government, which is part of a restructuring process to
ensure departments in the province are able to talk to each other seamlessly.
Last year, Gauteng premier David Makhura said his administration will
continue to invest in ICT infrastructure as the province positions itself as
a driver of SA's digital economy, a hub of research and innovation in SSA.
Together with the local municipalities, the Gauteng provincial government
plays a key role in the deployment and use of ICT to deliver education,
healthcare, as well as other government services, he said. "Our goal
remains that of being a smart province and we will continue to invest
significantly in the ICT infrastructure and be a leader in e-government
services. "High-speed Internet connectivity is a critical foundational
infrastructure requirement for success of our government's modernisation
agenda." No skills, high costs While there is growing evidence that
SA is making strides in its e-government strategy, pundits note there are
factors that are hindering e-government. According to Hurst, the development
of e-government in SA is facing the same challenges seen by the private
sector, such as lack of an adequate skills pool to develop e-government
services and solutions, as well as a dearth of skills within organisations.
In addition, there is the challenge of infrastructure and access to services,
with one of the main barriers being the cost of access to these services, he
says. Laura Caetano, ICT research analyst at Frost & Sullivan Africa,
notes some of the primary factors hindering the efficient rollout of
e-government plans in SA are in part due to an inconsistent implementation
and view of technology development across municipal governments and
departments. She explains: "Different
government departments, and levels of government, pursue individual
strategies which results in an incompatibility of systems on a national
scale, potentially limiting growth in the future at a time when convergence
and alignment will be necessary. "Cost is another hindrance, as the
national budget does not allow for the expensive technologies required to
reach e-government objectives. A larger portion of the budget needs to be
allocated to ICT spend, as there are significant socio-economic benefits that
can be derived." However, it's not all doom and gloom, as there are
areas for improvement in ensuring government effectively implements the
e-government strategy. Fadzai Deda, an ICT research analyst at Frost &
Sullivan Africa, says strategic partnerships are critical in ensuring
government can adequately deliver on its e-government strategy.
"Essentially, creating an enabling environment through consistent policy
development and implementation, education of constituents to promote uptake
and ensuring adequate access to capital where necessary." Hurst
concludes that government has taken some bold steps but perhaps there is a
need to develop e-government champions within the public sector who can take
projects and nurture them, while increasing stakeholder participation or
buy-in. From http://www.itweb.co.za/ 01/22/2017 ZIMBABWE: Internet Governance Should Be
a Collective Effort The recent slam on the so-called
social media abuse by President Robert Mugabe should be taken seriously, as
his words are not mere words, but, a command to his ministers. The Zimbabweans
should bear in mind that this has a strong bearing to their freedoms of
access to information and expression respectively. While the introduction of
the Cyber Crimes Bill is welcome in the country, considerations should be
made in the revision of many of the definitions in the Bill to increase its
specificity and remove vagueness and ambiguity. When it becomes law after
being tabled (which is likely to be, because of the ZANU PF’s majority in
Parliament) it should be noted that to avoid it being used by the state to
target its perceived critics, it should have clear definitions spelt out. During a workshop hosted a few months
ago, by the Zimbabwe Information and Communication Technologies, it came out
that the bill, had a lot of irregularities, including giving too much powers
to the authorities to spy on the citizens. Most ICT experts also expressed
reservations on the Bill; some say they were never consulted to give their
input when the Bill was being drafted, despite them being key players in the
sector. According to them, this could render the task more to be more
complicated even for the government itself. Others claimed that the way the
Bill came out it shows that the recommendations given in some consultations
were not taken into account, when it was actually crafted. According to the Bill, even Internet
Service Providers (ISP) are vulnerable, this means, their input during the
drafting phase should have been sought so that they voice their concerns in
relation to the contents of the Bill. Therefore, there should be everyone’s
input, in most cases this could result in compromises that would make no one
too happy, while leaving no one in the cold either. The bill is defined as ‘A
Bill for An Act to criminalise offences against computers and network related
crime; to consolidate the criminal law on computer crime and network crime;
to provide for investigation and collection of evidence for computer and
network related crime; to provide for the admission of electronic evidence
for such offences, and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to
the foregoing.’ With some sections of it running
counter to the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, in the event that
it is passed as it stands, would see several cases taken to the Constitutional
Courts for interpretations and clarity. It has a number of contestable
clauses like sexually explicit conduct, computer crimes, cyber crimes, a
thing, a device, and the like. The Guidebook Internet Governance’s 2016 Media
freedom in a connected world states that internet governance shouldn’t be a
government monopoly, as a lot of stakeholders are set to be affected. It
states that even churches, journalists, corporate entities, civil societies,
governments, and the general citizenry are to be equally affected, hence the
need to balance the governance scope. From https://zwnews.com/ 01/02/2017 EUROPE: Switzerland - Online Platform
Aims to Boost Local Citizen Participation A special online platform has been
launched to promote political petitions in a bid to increase local citizen
participation. The scheme is aimed at the collection of signatures and enjoys
support from the media. Eight small local newspapers in German-speaking Switzerland
started a digital tool, petitio.ch at the beginning of this month, which
encourages citizens to have a greater say in local decisions. Anyone who is
pushing for specific changes in their local town or his municipality can use
the platform and try to build up support from others, according to the AZ
Medien group. Once a petition has collected enough signatures, it is sent to
the local authorities with a formal letter. The platform, which is part of
the Digital News Initiative by the American technology giant Google, involves
the local media. It covers a broad area between two of Switzerland’s biggest
cities, Zurich and Basel, and spans almost a fifth of Switzerland’s 2,300
municipalities. The project authors say the local media will assist the petitioners
to collect the signatures – the necessary numbers varying from one
municipality to the next. Each petition can be signed by supporters within 30
days of its launch in order to get an official response by the local
authorities. Wealth of proposals In the first week of the launch of
the platform, nearly 40 petitions were started on a wide range of issues.
They include a call for more public benches in the town of Brugg, more
attractive playgrounds in a suburb of Solothurn or the survival of an intercultural
library in Olten. Other proposals are aimed at reducing road traffic,
installing a free wireless network on a local train line as well as the
closure of monthly open-air market and the abolition of civil servant status.
In Aarau, petitioners successfully started collecting signatures for extended
opening hours of late-night bars and clubs. Political experts say it is too
early to say whether the new tool for e-democracy is here to stay or if it
might have a potential negative impact. Petitions have been a regular
political instrument also at a national level, often used by pressure groups.
However, they are not binding and do not lead to public votes as is the case
with people’s initiatives or referendums challenging a parliamentary
decision. From http://www.swissinfo.ch/ 12/18/2017 Swiss Venture Procivis Launches
Blockchain-Backed E-Government Platform Procivis, a Switzerland-based
startup, has announced that it is going to present its proof of concept for a
blockchain-backed e-government platform at today’s Microsoft public sector
digitization practice day in Bern. Founded in autumn 2016 by blockchain
entrepreneur Daniel Gasteiger, the company has come out of stealth mode.
Procivis is currently raising seed funding and said that it will collaborate
closely with Estonian e-government experts for designing its services. “I’ve
visited most of the emerging digital societies around the globe, and they all
experience similar struggles. Procivis has a unique opportunity to build a
solution that will help overcome these hurdles, boost the digitization of
entire countries and empower its citizens. It’s a bold ambition, and I’m
excited to be part of it”, Kaspar Korjus, strategic advisor to Procivis and
Managing Director of Estonia’s “e-Residency” program said. E-government services are a promising
example of blockchain application to areas beyond cryptocurrencies. Procivis
was launched with the aim to develop and offer an “e-government as a service”
solution that draws on Estonia’s leading experience in the field and combines
it with the strengths of blockchain technology and builds on Switzerland’s
trusted values. It aims to enable the digitization of societies and the
provision of online public services across the globe. “Learning about the
level of digitization of the public sector in Estonia left me deeply
impressed, especially when looking at the state of digitization in Western
Europe, including Switzerland. By bringing Estonia’s leading e-government
experts on board and adding our blockchain experience, our aim is to create a
platform that can serve as the future electronic backbone of democracies
across the globe”, Gasteiger said. At today’s event in Bern, Gasteiger
is presenting the proof of concept for a mobile phone-based e-voting
application running on the Procivis platform that allows tamper-proof voting
for citizens. While e-voting is being presented at today’s event as one
possible application to make use of Procivis’ secure digital identity
management, the platform will be designed to run a government-curated app
store that can offer the full range of public administration services,
including tax filings, land registry or commercial registry, the company
said. In addition, Procivis is presenting a study coordinated by Prof. Dr.
Alexander Trechsel of Zurich-based consulting firm Xupery, which draws a
comparison between the evolution of Switzerland and Estonia as digital
societies over the past twenty years. The report is co-authored by political
scientists Dr. Maarit Ströbele and Nele Leosk. The study highlights the necessary
elements for a successful implementation of e-government applications and
addresses issues often associated with low user adoption rates. According to the
report, the successful delivery of digital public services begins with full
political support for enabling technologies, relies on the fostering of
strong public-private partnerships to develop efficient and user centered
services in an iterative manner and, finally, requires a clear strategy and
timeline to introduce digital identities for every citizen. “The study has
revealed the particular strengths of Estonia’s approach, which made the
country a poster child for e-government. Our research also shows that,
despite having the reputation of being one of the most innovative countries,
Switzerland so far hasn’t sufficiently seized the opportunities of
digitization in the public sector”, Trechsel said. From http://www.econotimes.com/ 01/31/2017 IRELAND:
Using Data to Drive Policy in E-Government “How
might we use data to drive policy?” the government CIO Barry Lowry asked the attendees
of the Public Sector IT Conference 2016. Lowry said that currently, about a
quarter of the Irish population rents accommodation, but it is not known why
exactly that cohort do so, because, he asserts, we have never asked them. “It
would be wrong to make the assumption that everyone who rents does so because
they can’t buy a house,” he said. “We need to ask people what they want, what
they find useful and what they need.” Lowry made the comments in the context
of the National Data Infrastructure (NDI) initiative, emphasising its
importance in the overall Public Sector ICT Strategy. NDI The
NDI is of major importance, he said, to harness the power of individual’s
data for a better user experience, as well as harnessing the power of
collective data for better policy making. It will assist more open and
transparent government too, which is of increasing importance as more and
more services are made available. Furthermore, the NDI will facilitate
alignment to Digital Single Market, while helping to deliver modern
government, and improve data management and security, said Lowry. Lowry said
that the progress of the Public Sector ICT Strategy, combined with the NDI,
is “starting to create an environment where government is transparent and
pushing data out here”. Lowry cited several examples of good e-government,
and citizen services, from Estonia where there had been little, option
post-independence, but to go digital, and Denmark where the lifeindenmark.dk
provides information and service access for potential immigrants. Lowry
quoted Andrus Ansip, former prime minister of Estonia and now vice president
of the Digital Single Market for the European Commission, “The digital
transformation of government is key element to the success of the Single
Market”. “It is harder to create a digital single market than a physical
one,” said Ansip. Anazon
and government Lowry
posed another question, asking “How would Amazon do government?” Citing
Amazon’s level of trust with its users, as well as its usability and
acceptance, he gave the example of how an Amazon user can make a single
purchase with minimal information footprint, or they can create a profile for
a lasting relationship. With one, the transaction is a simple, one time
interaction from which minimal details are recorded, for the other, a profile
is created that allows a rich experience in future dealings. Lowry said this
should be a model for citizen engagement with eGovernment. This transparency
and level of service is achievable, said Lowry, on the basis of shared
services, with particular respect to information. He said, however, that this
would not necessarily mean moving everything to the cloud. “I don’t agree
with governments that put everything in the cloud, because it just kicks the
can down the road,” Lowry. He said the build to share element of the national
strategy was “not outsourcing or consolidation,” but rather a logical
rationalisation for both greater flexibility and access for all sections of
government. GDPR Seamus
Carroll, Department of Justice and Equality spoke about the upcoming General
Data Protection (GDPR) regulation, and emphasised points relevant to the
public sector. Carrol said there was a distinct need for “consistent
application of data protection law in digital single market,” in light of
data provisions being struck down, showing the need for updated and fit for
purpose instruments. There are benefits for business, said Carroll, despite
the breadth of the regulation and its likely burden of compliance. He said
that “benefits will arise from more streamlined and less burdensome
procedures”. But also, that the private sector will benefit from “more
harmonised application of data protection law across the EU digital market”. Absolute
right Carroll
pointed out that while the GDRP improves the rights of the individual in
terms of how their data is collected and used, data protection is not an
absolute right. Citing Article 85, and Recital 153, Carroll pointed out that
member states must “reconcile the right to the protection of personal data
pursuant to this Regulation with the right to freedom of expression and
information, including processing for journalistic purposes and the purposes
of academic, artistic or literary expression”. Another important aspect, for
the public sector said Carroll, will be data pseudonymisation. This the
action by which the most identifying fields within a data record are replaced
by one or more artificial identifiers, or pseudonyms. “Pseudonymisation,”
said Carroll, “will be important to make research, such as health research,
compatible with the legislation.” From http://www.techcentral.ie/ 12/13/2017 RUSSIA: Receiving Contract on
Development of Syrian e-Gov't Services Rusinformexport, a subsidiary of
Russia's state corporation Rostec, supported by the Russian Export Center
(REC), received a contract to create a system of e-government services in
Syria, the REC's press service said in a press release. Under the deal,
Rusinformexport is expected to create the infrastructure necessary for
electronic communications in the country, the press release added. "An
export contract on creation of e-government in Syria has been signed on the
premises of the Russian Ministry of Communications with the participation of
Russian Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov and Syrian Minister of
Communications and Technology Ali Zafir," the press release said on
Tuesday, adding that the signing ceremony took place on Thursday. According
to the press release, the Central Bank of Syria has guaranteed the funding of
the project, while the REC is set to consult the Rusinformexport in the
issues related to the contract risks. From https://sputniknews.com/ 12/18/2017 LATIN AMERICA: Better Management of
Tight Budgets Could Help Latin American and Caribbean Governments to Raise
Living Standards Governments in Latin America will
need to improve public sector management and capacity – including budget
allocation – to compensate for the pressure on public finances from sliding
commodity prices, according to a new report by the OECD and Inter-American
Development Bank covering more than 15 countries in the region. Government at
a Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean 2017 says that restoring stagnant
productivity, reducing income disparities and improving social safety nets
will require better managed government spending and overall public
governance. The report finds that public spending on public schools and
hospitals can ease income inequality – but governments in Latin America and
the Caribbean (LAC) mostly underinvest in such public services. In all, LAC
countries spend just 8.7% of GDP on average on social programmes like
education, health, unemployment benefits and pensions compared with 16.8% in
OECD countries. “A combination of stagnant productivity, high inequality and
low revenue collection is putting a pinch on LAC governments. There is very
limited room to expand public budgets, so LAC governments will need to better
target their public spending and improve policy design to ensure better
living standards for citizens,” said OECD Deputy Director of Public
Governance and Territorial Development Luiz de Mello, launching the report at
an International Ministerial Meeting on Productivity and Inclusive Growth in
Santiago, Chile. The second edition of Government at a
Glance: Latin America and the Caribbean covers Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador,
Haiti, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, El Salvador, Panama, Dominican Republic,
Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Jamaica and Peru. "In the last decade, Latin
America and the Caribbean combined growth with a better income distribution,
supported by favourable external conditions that facilitated the region’s growth
and fiscal management. With a less favourable international scenario,
governments must improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public spending.
That means better design and implementation of public programs so they can
ensure every penny spent can contribute to the reduction of social inequality
and poverty and increase productivity in order to improve people's quality of
life,” said Carlos Pimenta, IDB Fiscal and Municipal Principal Specialist. Key findings of the report include: The size of the state varies across
LAC countries but is generally relatively small. Government spending in the
LAC countries studied averages 31% of GDP compared with 41.5% in OECD
countries, although the gap is decreasing. Similarly, public employment as a
share of total employment averages 12.4% in LAC countries compared with 21.6%
in OECD countries. Despite recent progress, LAC remains a highly unequal
region in terms of household income, as demonstrated by an average Gini
coefficient after taxes and transfers of 0.49 in the region compared with
0.29 in OECD countries. LAC governments could contribute to economic
productivity in the region by lowering barriers to trade and investment,
which are much higher than for the OECD area. Product market regulations also
tend to be more restrictive in LAC countries. Leadership and co-ordination by
centres of government have increased, but they still focus more on procedures
than policy content. LAC governments also lack a culture of policy evaluation
that can lead to better design, budgeting and implementation. In terms of quality of public
services, most LAC countries now have a national citizen portal as a single
point of access to government services. However, to reap the full benefits of
these portals, new technologies should be adopted across governments.
Governments in the LAC region are making efforts to have their data openly
available to the public. However, they could do more to facilitate its use by
citizens and engage with them in designing solutions that will meet their
expectations and needs. Merit-based competitive hiring has been reinforced in
the LAC region over the last 10 years, mainly through the introduction of
public employment web portals and the strengthening of civil service
agencies. However there is still room to improve public sector performance. Download the report and summaries in
English, Spanish and Portuguese: http://www.oecd.org/governance/government-at-a-glance-latin-america-and-the-caribbean-2017-9789264265554-en.htm
For further information, or to speak to one of the report’s authors,
journalists should contact Catherine Bremer in the OECD Media Office (+33 1
45 24 97 00) or IDB Press Contact Mildred Rivera (+1 202 623 2319.) From http://www.oecd.org/ 12/06/2017 NORTH AMERICA: Canadian HR
Departments Unsure They Can Adapt to Technological Change Technology is advancing at an
accelerated rate, and organizations across Canada are feeling the pressure to
keep up. Approximately one in four Canadian human resource (HR) leaders are
concerned with their organization’s ability to respond to the pace of change,
according to the Conference Board of Canada’s (CBoC) fourth “Human Resources
Trends and Metrics” survey. The report, released on Feb. 6, found that 26 per
cent of HR leaders placed the impact of technological change as a top
organizational challenge, up from a minuscule four per cent in 2005. But they
have reason to worry: the survey warns that while technological advances are
expected to improve productivity, especially in the professional, scientific
and technical services fields, it will also disrupt jobs, most notably in the
low- to mid-level skilled positions. “Globalization, new technologies,
demographic shifts and a slack labour market are just some of the labour
force changes affecting employers and employees alike,” Shannon Jackson,
associate director of human resources transformation research at the CBoC,
said in a press release. “Ten years of benchmarking HR practices demonstrates
that organizations are significantly revamping their people practices to keep
up with the pace.” To address these challenges, HR representatives ranked
“developing managers and leaders, strategic workforce planning, and deepening
the succession planning pool beyond the executive level” as their top
priorities going forward in the next three to five years. Efforts to update
people practices, particularly employee engagement, are also key and seem to
be paying off so far. Retention of employees with critical skills is
“strong,” the report found, with an average annual loss rate of less than two
per cent. R&R: recruitment and retirement
issues The CBoC surveyed 150 Canadian HR
leaders between April and June 2016, and found that bringing people in with
the necessary critical skills remains a challenge for almost 60 per cent of
organizations interviewed. In an effort to combat this, approximately half of
respondents are making attempts to bring in more youth, as the report found
an increase of about 10 per cent in internships and co-op placements. But
these organizations are also leveraging technology to revamp the position of
the HR representative itself. Digital and web-based tools are being used more
frequently in the HR field, with LinkedIn becoming the “new standard” method
to find candidates, the survey says. Additionally, “platforms like Twitter
and Snapchat are emerging as viable recruiting avenues and highlight how
critical staying on top of data and trend analysis becomes for HR,” it adds. But as Canada’s population continues
to age and fewer people enter the workforce, retirement has become a big
issue for organizations in the country, especially at a time when many of
them are making the jump to a more digital economy. “Simply replacing the
skills and capacity of retirees with similar talent will not be the answer
for many organizations,” Jackson explains. “HR teams are trying to balance
meeting current talent requirements and quickly ramping up a future
workforce, while the requirements for that future remain unclear.” (By Mandy Kovacs) From http://www.itbusiness.ca/ 02/09/2017 U.S.: After Two Years, New York State
CIO Will Step Down, State Says Two years after being appointed by
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the state's Chief Information Officer Maggie Miller
will step down. Just more than two years after her appointment by Gov. Andrew
Cuomo, Maggie Miller, New York’s chief information officer, will be stepping
down. Miller tendered her resignation on Wednesday "in order to pursue
other opportunities," the Office of Information Technology Services
confirmed. She will stay on through March 31, and the agency will conduct a
search for her replacement, OITS said on Friday, Feb. 10, in a statement.
"We thank Maggie for the significant progress achieved during her tenure
and her service to the people of New York State," OITS said. The New
York state CIO’s Twitter feed, @NYStateCIO, made no indication of the
shake-up as of Friday morning, and Miller’s LinkedIn page still listed her as
state CIO. The reasons for Miller’s impending
departure are unclear. However, her two years leading information technology
in New York haven't been without controversy. Handed a mandate from the
governor to transform state IT and reinvent its programs, Miller, the former
CIO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, planned big changes following her
appointment in December 2014. By the summer of 2015, more than 3,000 agency
IT staff were transferred to New York’s central Office of Information
Technology Services. The state created eight new “cluster CIOs” to oversee
technology in related groups of agencies, then report to Miller. New York
also consolidated 50 data centers into a new facility in a partnership with
the State University of New York. But, as they have in virtually every
sector, generational retirements hit New York ITS hard and Miller found her
hands were tied. Almost exactly one year ago, Miller
warned of an impending staffing crisis in testimony to the state Legislature.
New York staffers, she said then, were locked into “skill silos,” and as
state ITS loses staff to retirement — an estimated 25 percent of its employee
base over the next few years — they can’t be directly replaced because union
rules forbid hiring anyone higher than entry level from outside state
government. Confronted with a projected drop in the experience level for
senior state technologists from 40 to 11 years, ITS responded by boosting its
number of third-party contractors steeply, from 164 to 849. That generated,
Miller and a legislative panel agreed, a significant cost of $245 million
annually — and was reportedly not a popular decision. From http://www.govtech.com/ 02/10/2017 |
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CHINA: Bilingual App Will Help Govt
Reach Out The State Council, China’s Cabinet
launched an updated version of its app on Jan 20, offering government
information in Chinese and English, with the English version providing an
easier way for foreigners and returning Chinese to handle their affairs in China.
The app is part of the Chinese government’s online presence and its effort to
promote information openness. In the 2.0 version of the State Council app,
State Council documents, government policies, ministries’ guidelines and
economic data can be found in English. The app is a portal for information
about the latest activities and initiatives of State Council leaders — the
Premier, vice-premiers and state councilors. It also serves as an online
government affairs service center. The State Council hopes the app will
better serve the growing population of foreigners who live in China or are
involved in affairs in China. Users’ ideas or suggestions for the Chinese
government, or questions about current issues and policies, will be noted via
the message function and might even be used by policymakers. Special sections
on State Council executive meetings, which address major issues, policies,
ministries’ responses to public concerns, and the Premier’s overseas trips,
will serve as a window into the world of government. The first version of the
State Council app was launched in February. The new one is now available for
download. From http://www.gov.cn/
01/20/2017 Beijing Issues First Online Ride-hailing
Platform License China’s car-hailing platform Shouqi
Limousine and Chauffeur on Feb 8 received the first online car-hailing
platform business license issued by Beijing transport authorities. According
to Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, Shouqi passed examinations in
such departments as transport, public security, communication, and taxation,
before being granted the license.
The commission has received license applications from over ten online
car-hailing platforms since December 2016, following the issuing of national
and municipal regulations for the industry. China unveiled its first
nationwide regulations for car-hailing services in July 2016, granting legal
status to the industry. Beijing issued a draft local regulation on the service
in October, which took effect in December. From http://www.gov.cn/
02/09/2017 Korea, Black Sea Countries Boost IT,
E-Gov't Cooperation Korea will ramp up cooperation on information
technology and online government services with four countries from the
Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC): Turkey, Serbia,
Albania and Azerbaijan. On Nov. 20, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
Ministry of the Interior dispatched a delegation of experts on e-government
services to visit these four governments. Its mission is to host the sixth
Korea-BSEC IT Cooperation Workshop in each of the four countries. The BSEC
was launched in 1992 at the instigation of Turkey, aiming to increase trade
and expand economic cooperation among countries in the region that border on
the Black Sea, as well as neighboring countries that don’t have direct access
to the waters of the Black Sea. The body’s 12 members are Turkey, Serbia, Albania,
Azerbaijan, Russia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Ukraine, Moldova and
Romania. Korea has served as a sectoral dialogue partner (SDP) at the
organization since 2011. The next forum, set to be held in
Serbia, will focus on an e-government project for 2017 being pushed forward
by the Serbian government. A memorandum of understanding on e-government was
signed between Korea and Serbia in March this year when former Serbian Deputy
Prime Minister Kori Udovicki visited Seoul. The upcoming Serbian forum will
introduce Korea’s national pension service, knowhow on the identification of
illegal pension claims, and on the analysis of financial quotas. Experts in
electronic taxation from the Korea Customs Service will also be part of the
discussion, covering ways to enhance Korea-Serbia customs cooperation under
the theme of “Modernization of Customs Administration in Serbia.” Finally,
e-government experts from Albania and Azerbaijan will have a chance to learn
more about the Korean government's range of e-government services, as well as
talk about cyber security, open data, big data and ways to further boost cooperation
on these sectors among industrial and academic bodies. From http://www.korea.net
11/23/2016 Sharing with the World, Part 5:
E-Procurement The Korean government has been concentrating
on establishing online government services since 1987 when it enacted laws
expanding the supply of desktops and promoting the use of computer networks
in order to more conveniently provide high-quality government services to its
citizens. Thanks to such ongoing efforts to develop related technologies,
Korea’s e-government systems are now receiving praise from around the world.
We would like to trace this journey from its initial footsteps through to
some of today's most successful cases, and take a look at future directions
in which the Korean government's online services and international
cooperation are likely to go. This is the fifth part in a series about the
Korean government sharing its e-government systems with the world. Today we
cover the Korean government’s online procurement systems. Public procurement is one of the most
important roles performed by a government. It determines the supplies
purchased by government organizations and the contracts for facilities and
amenities to be constructed by the public sector. Since its establishment in
2002, the Korean government's Public Procurement Service (PPS) has been
managing an online public procurement system, the Korea Online E-procurement
System (KONEPS), also known as “Nara Jangteo” (나라 장터), in order to deal with public
sector procurements in a digitalized manner. The KONEPS is the national
public e-procurement system that processes the entire procurement cycle
online, from tender notice and bidding through to contracting and payment.
All public entities publish tender notices through KONEPS, and suppliers may
participate in all public sector biddings after a one-time registration with
the KONEPS, except for procurement projects in the defense sector. KONEPS is
the single window of the e-procurement system for the public sector that
provides real-time information about online biddings for all government
organizations. All registered firms can take part in biddings from any
organizations without having to repeat the same procedures. KONEPS opens all procurement
procedures in real-time in order to boost transparency. This is a
cost-efficient system as it does not require too much paper work, such as
bidding documents. It also boosts efficiency as it standardized procurement
tasks in the public sector and interacts with data owned by public
organizations. A growing number of firms and public organizations use KONEPS.
According to procurement authorities, in 2015 about 50,000 public entities
and 320,000 firms registered with KONEPS. The accumulated transactions
through KONEPS amounted to KRW 74.56 trillion. This means KONEPS made more
than 60 percent of Korea's total public procurements of KRW 119 trillion, the
largest single cyber transaction market in the world. In 2014, approximately
48,000 public organizations and 290,000 firms registered with KONEPS, which
recorded KRW 67.32 trillion worth of accumulated transactions. In 2008,
accumulated KONEPS transactions stood at KRW 63.15 trillion, with 39,000
public organizations and 150,000 firms. Korea’s e-procurement system is
highly respected around the globe. In 2003, KONEPS received a U.N. Public
Service Award. The next year, the U.N. praised KONEPS for being one of the
“best-practice models for e-procurement” in the category of reform of
procurement operations. The world’s interest in the Korean
government's e-procurement systems is spreading around the globe, including
to African countries such as Ethiopia and Uganda, to countries in Central and
South America and to Asia. The Ethiopian government asked for the PPS to
conduct a feasibility test for the introduction of KONEPS there in March
2015. In the case of Tunisia, the Tunisian government hoped to expand
cooperation on e-government services with Korea after the joint establishment
of an e-procurement system with Korea. The two countries signed an MOU on
e-government cooperation in May 2016. Korea has been actively sharing its
experiences and knowhow with its partners around the world. According to
procurement authorities, about 30 countries and around 200 procurement
officials have visited Korea to take part in e-procurement education
programs. In 2016 alone, as of November, a total of 286 officials from 79
countries, including Uganda, Mongolia, Botswana and Afghanistan, have come to
Korea for e-procurement training programs. From http://www.korea.net
11/30/2016 Public Petitions for Park’s
Impeachment Online A website allowing citizens to submit
online petitions to lawmakers for President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment has
gone viral, with over 800,000 petitions submitted in less than four days
since it was created. As of 5:30 p.m. Monday, 804,823 people have called for
Park’s dismissal at “Park Geun-hack.com” (https://parkgeunhack.com).
Park is being investigated as a suspect in a corruption and
influence-peddling scandal involving her civilian friend Choi Soon-sil and
former aides. The civilian-run website’s name is a combination of the
embattled South Korean leader’s name and “tan-haek,” the Korean word for
impeachment. It was created last Friday to provide a platform for submitting
petitions and messages to lawmakers, ahead of the historic impeachment vote
on Friday. A person can submit a petition via the lawmaker’s official email
address along with a personal message. Rep. Kim Moo-sung, one of leaders of
the ruling Saenuri Party’s nonmainstream faction, has received most petitions
out of 300 lawmakers with 46,838 as of Monday morning. From http://www.koreaherald.com 12/05/2016 LG CNS Sees E-Government System
Exports Top $200m LG CNS, the IT solutions unit of LG
Group, said Tuesday that its cumulative export volume has surpassed $200
million, led by its success in deploying its flagship e-government system
technologies to countries around the world. E-government, which stands for
“electronic government,” refers to the use of information and communications
technologies to improve the activities of public sector organizations,
including those in the tax, real estate and administrative services. LG CNS
said that it has scored a new project worth 26 billion won ($22.2 million) to
build up a new tax revenue information system in Laos to help the government
better manage the country’s tax records. The latest deal — which stands as
one of 40 similar e-government system orders won by LG CNS over the past
decade — raised the LG unit’s cumulative export volume to $210 million, it
said. Some of its major past projects include a 74.4 billion won deal signed
in 2009 to build an integrated finance information system for the Indonesian
Ministry of Finance and a 13.4 billion won deal signed in October this year
to build an ICT-based digital library system in Uzbekistan. The string of
projects have raised the overseas portion of LG CNS’ annual revenue to 20
percent in 2016, a stark improvement from just 10 percent recorded in 2010,
the company said. “We will continue to build up the most fitting and
effective e-government systems for differing countries and hand down Korea’s
internet technology know-hows to them,” LG CNS CEO Kim Young-shub said in a
statement. From http://www.koreaherald.com 12/06/2016 Diplomats Show High Interest in
E-Government Cooperation The Korean e-Government Session for
Diplomatic Missions was held in Seoul on Dec. 20 amid high interest of
foreign envoys. The session aimed at introducing Korea’s e-government systems
and future direction of international cooperation. The gathering was attended
by 73 diplomatic envoys from 61 countries, including ambassadors from
Portugal and the South African Republic. The country of origin of attendees
was relatively evenly spread across the regions, not just focusing on certain
areas. Envoys from Southeast Asian countries attended the session which was
also attended by diplomats from African countries including Algeria and
Kenya. The session also involved European diplomats who were from the E.U.
and the U.K. Other attendees were from Central and South American regions
such as Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Envoys from the Middle Eastern
region such as Iraq and Jordan also attended the gathering. The session was
composed of two sessions designed to introduce Korea’s e-government and
international e-government cooperation programs such as invitational training
and cooperation forums. The first session informed the participants about the
key to Korea’s e-government success, and its future basic plan dubbed
“e-Government 2020” which aimed at realizing a vision under the motto “Enjoy
your e-Government.” In the second session, successful e-government cases were
presented. These cases included Smart City Policy of the Seoul Metropolitan
Government which aims at transforming Seoul into the city of “Internet of
Things,” the e-patent system of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, The
National Computing and Information Service of the Ministry of the Interior,
the e-Resident Registration Cards of the Korea Local Information Research
& Development Institute, and the Digital budget and Accounting System of
the Korea Public Finance Information Service. These are some of popular
e-government systems for which overseas countries have requested Korean
cooperation. Private firms that developed such e-government systems with the
government also participated in the session. Such firms included Sysone which
developed the immigration screening system and the KOMSCO which developed the
e-Resident Registration Cards. These firms demonstrated how the Korean
immigration screening system works, and displayed the actual Resident
Registration Cards, allowing the session attendees to experience firsthand
e-government systems. Korea has been actively broadening the horizons of
e-government cooperation. According to the Ministry of the Interior, Korea
has so far signed memorandums of understanding with 42 countries and four
international organizations to form cooperative relationships. For the last
five years, approximately 1,500 high-profile overseas officials have visited
Korea to share in the knowhow and expertise in e-government possessed by
Korea. Korea has been actively working together with Southeast Asian
countries, including Indonesia, where Korea built an e-government cooperation
center this May. Korea has been cooperating with countries in the Black Sea
region, including Turkey, Serbia. The country has been also working closely
with the Digital 5 countries -- the U.K., Estonia, Israel, New Zealand -- as
one a member. From http://www.korea.net
12/21/2016 LX Corp. Seeks to Enhance Citizens’
Lives Through Government 3.0 South Korea’s state-run land
information provider LX Corp. is operating a number of services to boost the
public’s access to information about land as part of a government-led
initiative, the company said Thursday. Government 3.0 refers to a
government-launched initiative aimed at improving people’s lives and
supporting small entrepreneurs by making available land-related data. The
most notable service is the LX basic land information map, which allows
citizens to access real estate information based on satellite images. The
firm said the service has been helpful for potential entrepreneurs looking to
start one-man businesses. The monthly view count of the map averages about
500,000 views, the firm said. LX Corp. has also been offering a “road name
address helper service” through its official website since last September.
The service was designed to help the public transit from the land
parcel-based address system to the new road name-based one, implemented in
2014. Other services include a mobile application, dubbed the Land Alert-e
app. It shows the location of drug stores, hospitals, shelters and other
safety-related venues in the region, alongside information related to land,
including ways to avoid real estate fraud. From http://www.koreaherald.com 12/22/2016 Sharing with the World, Part 6: E-People he Korean government has been
concentrating on establishing e-government services since 1987, when it
enacted laws in order to provide high-quality government services to citizens
in a more convenient manner. Thanks to such ongoing efforts, Korea’s
e-government systems are now being praised all around the world. This is the
sixth part of a series on the Korean government sharing its e-government
systems with the world. Today we will cover Korea’s e-People online petition
system. Case 1: Vacation-goers made an online petition using the e-People
petition system regarding the extortionate cancellation charges demanded by
low-budget airlines. Case 2: Citizens requested an audit through e-People
where they suspected that an organization concerned with wildlife protection
and the prevention of illegal hunting was receiving funds from both the
central and local governments for the same purpose, in a bid to prevent a
waste of public funds. Case 3: A growing number of drivers, concerned by the
need for safe driving, have used e-People to report illegal driving activity,
including illegal U-turns, by submitting videos taped using their black box
cameras. Case 4: A mother used e-People to report a good deed of a Marine
Corps sergeant who saved her and her little son locked inside a crashed car
despite the risk of possible engine explosion.
Korea has been actively working
together with its neighbors for the introduction of the e-People system. In
February this year, the commission signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)
with the Tunisian government for the cooperation and the introduction of the
e-People system to Tunisia. The commission also signed another MOU with the
Tunisian Ministry of Public Services, Good Governance, and Fighting
Corruption about information sharing. Under the MOU, the two sides agreed to
host expert exchanges in order to extend civil participation and bolster
capability for anti-corruption, and share system, laws and technology for the
introduction of the e-People system to Tunisia. The commission is also
consulting with Indonesia for the introduction of the e-People system. It has
been working closely with Indonesia since 2006 when the two governments
signed an MOU on anti-corruption cooperation. These days, the two sides have
been taking necessary steps since the Indonesian government called for Korea
to carry out a project for the introduction of the e-People system in
Indonesia. In May 2016, when Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Korea,
the two governments signed another MOU to extend the existing cooperation MOU
on anti-corruption. Both governments agreed to strengthen cooperation by
sharing excellent cases and policies in anti-corruption and prevention
measures, technology support, education and training, and hosting related
symposiums. From http://www.korea.net/
12/29/2016 Gov’t 3.0 Offers Information on
Taxes, Health, Finance In Korea, many people can issue their
civil affairs documents, such as resident registrations, through the internet
without having to visit a government office directly. They can also receive
various useful pieces of information, ranging from taxes and year-end tax
returns through to welfare policy and health benefits. These are all thanks
to “government 3.0" services that are centered on the citizens. In order
to better use such government 3.0 services, which intimately involve people’s
daily routines, the Ministry of the Interior introduced on Jan. 3 a list of
10 selected services at which people should take a closer look in the new
year. Among the 10 services is the Hometax website (홈택스) of
the National Tax Service (https://www.hometax.go.kr). This is a must-see
website this January for anyone who's doing economic activities here in
Korea. At this website, users can use a simplified service for year-end tax
settlements. They can also receive information about the four major insurance
payments, and medical treatment payments. Smartphone users can also use the
Hometax app to receive tax tips and to use an online tax calculator. If you want to learn more about
welfare policies scheduled to be introduced this year and other related
information, please visit the Bokjiro website (복지로) (www.bokjiro.go.kr). Visitors to
the website can learn more about the changes in welfare policies that start
this year. On this website, users can learn more about the increased support
voucher of KRW 900,000 for pregnant women with twins or triplets, which used
to be only KRW 700,000, the child rearing support voucher of KRW 120,000 for
single-parent households or low-income households, which used to be only KRW
100,000. They can also learn more about government’s support for families
with infants and toddlers, such as extended support for child care services,
and the extended number of hospitals that will operate late at night this
year. For people who are interested in
health, please visit the Food Safety Information Portal
(http://www.foodsafetykorea.go.kr) (식품안전정보포털) and the Geongang IN (건강인)
(http://hi.nhis.or.kr) site. Geongang means "health" in Korean, and
in means "people." The Food Safety Information Portal provides
information about food and related health information, information about
restaurants and schools near the user’s location, and information about
unsanitary food. The Geongang IN site offers information about weight
control, information about health examination schedules customized for the
individual, and information about infant health and growth. For those who are
interested in real estate, please visit the Onnara real estate information
portal (온나라) (http://www.onnara.go.kr). This website informs
users about the latest information about the actual purchase price of
property, and the latest trends and news in the industry. Visitors to this
website can also learn more about the new real estate policies. From http://www.korea.net
01/09/2017 Gov’t to Focus on Livelihoods, More
Jobs, E-Gov't Services The government will create more than
10,000 jobs in the public sector in order to revitalize the economy. It will
strive to boost the convenience of people's lives by achieving its goal of
creating future-forward online government services, and by achieving its goal
of fully realizing "Government 3.0" services as they become
embedded in people's day-to-day lives. The Ministry of the Interior announced
its annual policy plan at a government policy briefing on Jan. 11, and the
theme of the meeting was “safety of the people, law and order.” The ministry
will create more than 10,000 jobs in the public sector, which includes public
safety, education and welfare. To help workers manage both work and home more
easily, the ministry will also create on a large scale more part-time
positions. To this end, it will create 3,600 jobs in the field of security
and public safety, such as police officers, maritime police and firefighters.
It will also recruit 630 special education teachers in kindergartens, and
create 3,600 jobs in the social welfare sector. In the case of Terminal 1 at
Incheon International Airport, which needs a heightened level of security,
the ministry said it will create more jobs in the arrivals hall, customs, the
quarantine area, and at general employment and welfare centers, aiming to
create more than 100 part-time jobs. The ministry will also concentrate on
realizing its goal of developing "Government 3.0" online services
so as to make people's lives more convenient. One such service is the
so-called “one-stop moving service” that will be introduced this year. It
will help people update their home address automatically after moving. All
they need to do is to visit one local district office to register the new
address, and that will enable them to change their new address all at once.
The government will expand online "Government 3.0" services that
target multicultural families and non-Korean residents. The ministry will
establish a “multicultural migrants service center” where people can receive
all sorts of support services at one place. In the past, non-Korean residents
used to receive support services from different organizations, separately,
including multicultural family support centers, support centers for foreign
workers, social integration programs and foreigner support centers. Another area
of improvement will be e-government. To mark the 50th anniversary of the
introduction of online government services, the ministry will create a new,
intelligent e-government that is equipped with new technologies, such as
artificial intelligence, and which will make use of big data. It will
integrate and connect the existing 280 kinds of administrative e- government
services into the new system, and adopt a so-called “digital one pass” so
that users can use all government services by simply logging in with one
single ID. The government will also introduce various verification measures,
such as finger prints and iris scans, rather than the existing certificate
verification system. From http://www.korea.net
01/13/2017 SOUTH KOREA: Seoul to Support
IT-Based Public Services, E-Gov’t Starting this year, the Ministry of
the Interior will hold test runs of selected public services based on
advanced IT. It will also support a total of 32 intelligent e-government
projects that focus on making it easier for people to use public services.
The ministry and the National Information Society Agency will begin
test-operations of the four IT-based public services over two years, starting
in 2017. The four selected services are a healthcare service for seniors who
live by themselves in the remote countryside, a nationwide lifesaving search
and rescue system, a safety management system for exporting and importing
dangerous materials, and, finally, a so-called “u-sharing community service”
that is backed by local community-oriented smartphone apps. The healthcare
service for seniors is designed to share real-time information about the
patient's health condition. It's specifically for senior citizens who live alone
in the countryside. The service involves wearable devices that can conduct
radiocardiograms, check their blood pressure and function as a "digital
medicine cabinet." Concerning search and rescue, when a person is lost
in the mountains, a nationwide search and rescue system can locate the
missing person and send real-time information to rescue workers who will be
monitoring a map. It can help rescue workers decide which area to search and
how many rescue workers to dispatch for the rescue. From http://www.korea.net
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CAMBODIA: Premier Encourages the Official
to Build Up Smart Phone Technology Premier Hun Sen has asked government
officials to boost their technological capabilities in an attempt to make
Cambodia tech-friendly. Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen encouraged
yesterday to all the Royal Government’s officials to build up their capacity
on smart phone technology in order to speed up their work and responsibility.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the office of the Ministry of Post
and Telecommunication, premier Hun Sen called to stop the computer illiteracy
program, but strongly support the information technology and smart phone
apps. “We are not necessary to be professional one, just know how to use
social media apps on smart phones, such as whatsapp, line… on receive, copy,
and send enough”, he underlined. Even, social medias are not the official
sources, and cannot made any decisions, but they are very helpful to access
and receive information, therefore in the future, the promotion of the
official in the state’s public function may also need to check their smart
phone technology ability too, he said. Premer Hun Sen also reaffirmed his
wish to transform Cambodia to be e-government, e-commerce, and also e-people
too. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 12/18/2016 THAILAND: Govt Stakes Legacy on 4.0 WHILE the government says the
Thailand 4.0 national development blueprint will form an integral part of ongoing
national reconciliation and reform efforts that aim to reshape the country
over the next 20 years, according the PM’s Office, but many sectors – notably
education – do not appear to be keeping pace. Thailand 4.0 has been detailed
in multiple facets, with the education element of the policy meant to focus
on digital literacy and innovation based on a new stage of scientific
development. However, most students appear to be stuck in the outdated era of
1.2, and the most common way for them to learn is through Internet searches.
Supot Hannongbua, a lecturer at the Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of
Science, said if the government wanted to reach the 4.0 era, it would have to
integrate education into the plan by turning students into innovators. But PM’s
Office Minister Suvit Maesincee, who is in charge of implementing the
strategy, told The Nation that before the Thailand 4.0 blueprint was
activated the government had to put the reformist, reconciliatory and
long-term development agendas into a unified vision for more practical
measures that could be implemented simultaneously. “The previous political conflict and
divisiveness stemmed from social injustice and inequality in many areas,
including economic inequality,” he said. “Over the past two years, the degree
of this conflict and emotions have toned down. “However, national
reconciliation is not just about the two opposing political parties or an
amnesty for their previous offences. There are at least 10 major issues that
need to be focused on to achieve results. So Deputy Premier Prawit Wongsuwan
will be holding sessions with all stakeholders, including political parties,
to hear their opinions over the next three months.” Suvit said following that
process, the government planned to implement the new Thailand 4.0 blueprint.
He said it was hoped the blueprint was a “common ground” shared by the
majority of Thais, as the country had to “legitimise a common ground” to work
on achieving its goals over the next 20 years. “It’s a holistic approach, as
we believe the majority of Thai people want to have a good future in terms of
economic well-being,” he said. Recent polls suggested that people
are somewhat satisfied with the more peaceful domestic political situation
but are still unsatisfied about the economy. Suvit said most people also
wanted to see more social justice and equal opportunities for themselves and
their children in terms of employment, healthcare, education and other public
services. “I think it’s a form of economic democratisation, as democracy is
not just about political matters. On the economic front in this context, we
hope to turn this new vision into actions that lead to the creation of new
growth industries and enterprises, smart farmers, tech start-ups, etc,” he
said. “This should be a substitute for the traditional hand-outs or populist
policies. In fact, if some people are too poor and lack access to certain
public services, we should give them extra help.” Suvit said if the country
could achieve these development targets, national harmony would come
naturally. He said initial results could be expected within the next two to
three years, “if we can show the public that the efforts are transparent”. He
said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s leadership was also a crucial factor
in supporting the implementation of the Thailand 4.0 vision. “In my opinion, the Thai people,
especially the poor, have excessively depended on politicians in terms of
economic well-being, so we hope to help them to help themselves,” he said.
“After all, the road map for general elections for the return to democracy
remains intact, but we want to start the actions now and hand over the task
to the next government.” Suvit said overall the Thailand 4.0 vision aimed to
achieve a secure, wealthy and sustainable future for the country, as Thailand
aspired to leapfrog from its current middle-income-country status to become a
higher-income country. He said the country needed to address social and
economic inequalities and developmental imbalances, which result in environmental
issues and other problems. In other words, he added, “we have a motto that no
one should be left behind and the distribution of wealth should be widespread
when the economic pie is bigger”. He said the world had entered into the
fourth industrial revolution in which digital, bio and other technologies had
disrupted many industries. China has its “Made in China 2025” vision, while
South Korea’s vision is the “Creative Korean Economy”. “We also need to have
a long-term vision to adapt to global changes. In fact, our last major
national reform efforts happened during the reign of King Rama V, so we need
to take this opportunity,” Suvit said. “Due to many years of political
conflict and chronic corruption, our annual economic growth rate, which has
recovered to about 3 per cent per annum, remains significantly below our
potential of 6-7 per cent growth.” From http://www.nationmultimedia.com 01/23/2017 PM Orders Creation of National Water
Database Centre Prime Minister General Prayut
Chan-o-cha has instructed the Water Resources Department to upgrade its water
disaster prevention centre to become the country’s central water database
operation. In a move designed to boost water planning effectiveness and
natural disaster prevention, a central database operation at the 13-year-old
Mekhla Centre – which the premier inspected yesterday – will gather and
integrate all water-related data from concerned agencies. “The integrated
information will result in better water planning for various groups of water
users while preventing and mitigating water-related disasters,” Prayut said.
“The centre will be of importance to the country as we have various groups of
water users with different needs. We need to re-manage the whole system in
regards to the resources including our databases. It must result in
systematic water management from now on.” Thailand has faced massive losses
from flood and drought damages, particularly in 2011 when the country was hit
with its worst flooding in 100 years. Tens of thousands of people were
affected for months, especially those living in the Central Plains, and
damage was estimated at billions of baht. This year, major flooding in the
South affected thousands of residents and their properties. The National
Water Resources Committee in November assigned the Water Resources Department
to set up the national database centre to bring together scattered
information so that concerned agencies could create better databases for
planning. Worasart Apaipong, the department’s chief, said the centre was
ready to be upgraded as it had already linked data from 35 water-related
agencies. The models to run all 25 prime watersheds will be operational by
May next year, he added. The database at the centre will include water
forecasts, warnings, water planning and future strategies, he said. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 02/04/2017 VIETNAM: Online Tax Refund Soon in 13
Cities, Provinces The online tax refund pilot project
would be implemented in 13 municipal taxation departments this year and
expanded next year. The project is aimed at reducing negative phenomena in
the refund of value added tax (VAT). Nguyễn Đại Trí, deputy head of the General Department of
Taxation under the Finance Ministry, released the information at a press
briefing to introduce some e-tax services in Hà Nội last Friday. Trí added
that the 13 departments are Hà Nội, HCM City, Hải Phòng, and Đồng Nai, in addition to Bình Dương, Đà Nẵng, Cần Thơ, and Quảng Ninh. The
other departments are Kon Tum, Khánh Hòa, Vĩnh Phúc, and Bình Thuận, in addition to Thái
Nguyên. “The localities have a large number of tax refund businesses in the country
as well as numerous exporters that would be suitable for the pilot
implementation of online tax refunds,” he said. He affirmed that the refund
should be strictly and carefully reviewed as it uses the State budget. Lê Thị
Duyên Hải, deputy director of the Department for Tax Declaration and
Accounting, said taxpayers would fill the available forms on the sector’s
portal instead of directly submitting their documents. The tax departments
would receive and handle documents then promulgating tax refund decisions.
The decisions would be transferred into e-paper to send to taxpayers through
the portal. “The process would be published for
everyone’s convenience. Tax payers could access the portal at any time to see
their application status to supplement necessary documents,” Hải said, adding
that the service would surely reduce time and money for both taxpayers and
tax departments. The upcoming online tax refund would not be complicated for
people as they have been using online tax system for declarations and
payments, she added. The General Department of Taxation submitted the
application roadmap of online tax refunds to the Finance Ministry for
approval. The pilot implementation would be launched in the beginning of next
month if the proposal is approved. The current regulations stipulate that the
deadline for issuing a tax refund decision is less than six working days for
applications which are given refund before checks and 40 days for those given
refund after checks from the time documents are received from tax payers. In
recent years, the General Department of Taxation has focused on simplifying
administrative procedures and reducing documents by applying e-paper. It has
also applied Information Technology to improve transparency in tax
management. In addition, the implementation of an e-invoice is continuing
under Decision No 1134/QĐ-BTC promulgated by the Finance Ministry. There
are 225 businesses in Hà Nội and HCM City registered with the tax department to
issue certified e-invoices since the pilot implementation on September 11
2015. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
11/28/2016 Finance Ministry Steps Up Customs,
Tax Reforms The deputy minister of finance urged
the general departments of customs and taxation to further administrative
reform efforts to facilitate businesses, which still have several questions
about tax and customs procedures. “The Ministry of Finance is committed to
hasten reforms of tax and customs policies aimed at creating the best
business environment,” Vũ Thị Mai said at the dialogue held by the
ministry and the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) yesterday
in Hà Nội. The dialogue drew the participation of more than 400 companies and
industry associations. Mai said the ministries welcomed all comments from
businesses which would contribute significantly to improve policies. During
the past five years, the finance ministry has broadened dialogues with
businesses, aimed at providing them with updates to address their
difficulties. According to VCCI’s Deputy Chairman Hoàng Quang Phòng, slow tax
settlement and slow customs clearance were among the problems that businesses
faced. Phòng said dialogue and training of the updates to policies must be
promoted in addition to transparency in tax and customs procedures. Cao Anh Tuấn, deputy director of the
General Department of Taxation, said tax policies had been amended to ensure
they were appropriate with the global integration trend and the country’s
economic development, and would contribute to removing difficulties for
taxpayers, coupled with efforts for simplifying tax procedures. Accordingly,
tax procedures had already been reduced from 385 to 300. E-tax declaration
and payment were applied nationwide, which helped cut tax payment time from
537 hours in 2013 to current 117 hours. In addition, online tax refund was
under the pilot phase and would soon be applied widely. Vũ Ngọc Anh, deputy director of the
General Department of Customs, said customs reforms were made towards
facilitating import and export, implementing a national single window and
improving transparency. At the dialogue, tax and customs official answered
questions of businesses, related to special consumption tax, tax policies on
automobiles and regulations on temporary import. According to Mai, the
Ministry of Finance will work closely with relevant ministries and
organisations to implement measures to support businesses. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
11/29/2016 HCM City authorities plan to expand
e-government services this year, the vice chairman of the city’s People’s
Committee said during an online conference on administrative reform on
January 5. Trần Vĩnh
Tuyến said the city targeted having 40-50
per cent of public services online this year, with all state agencies from the
city to grassroots levels setting up a system to collect opinions from the
public. All city government offices will have to reduce the number of delayed
application files by 50 per cent, and offices that harass individuals or
enterprises will be strictly punished. The city’s Department of Information
and Communication will also be expected to use electronic signatures and
connect all city government offices’ websites, he said. The city provides
1,700 online level-2 public services, 426 level-3 services, and 46 level-4
services. Level-1 services are not provided online. The city expects all
online services to provide necessary information about administrative
procedures. Level-2 services allow people to download and fill out
application forms and send them directly via the internet or post office.
Level-3 services allow people to pay charges, if necessary, and receive
results via the internet, while level 4 receives results via the internet or
post office. Colonel Nguyễn Văn Anh, head of the city police’s
immigration division, said that initially 3,000 people had applied for
passports on peak days. He said that the division had issued passports via
the internet at level 3 since August 2015. However, after three months of
implementation of issuing passports via the internet, only 4-6 per cent of
people have applied online, he said. Since February of last year, the
immigration division has increased communications about the service to the
public, with the aim of increasing the number of online applications to 74
per cent. Twelve hours after application, the person will receive results,
thus saving time and transport costs. Last year, the immigration division
provided 153,000 passports. Anh said the procedures had helped to prevent
corruption and improve administrative procedures. Lê Hoài Trung, deputy head
of the city’s Department of Home Affairs, said that many departments and
people’s committees in districts had not updated administrative procedures or
had provided insufficient information. Several government offices and
people’s committees have carried out administrative procedures slowly via the
one-door online portal, Trung said. The rate of feedback on public
administration services has been rather high. From April to November last
year, 2,857 people evaluated the quality of administrative procedures via the
websites of city departments and postal services. Moreover, more than 30,000
attendees were surveyed by the city’s Institute for Development Studies via
telephone or directly interviewed, according to Trung. Of these, more than 94
per cent were satisfied about the city’s administrative procedures, with the
remaining 5.89 per cent dissatisfied. Tuyến said the city would improve its hotline quality
so that feedback from residents could be received in a timely fashion. The
committee has assigned the Department of Home Affairs to work with the Việt
Nam Fatherland Front to monitor city government offices’ activities. The city
will also organise conferences for enterprises to introduce their IT products
online, he said. In addition, leaders of city government offices will receive
commendations for providing quality online public services, and more online
meetings will be carried out, he added. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
01/07/2017 Ministries Urged to Move Online Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam called on ministries to review their databases
and means of information delivery to improve and offer more online public
services. Speaking at a conference on e-Government on Tuesday, Đam said according to the United
Nations’ e-government survey 2016, Việt Nam ranked 89th out of 193 countries
and territories in the e-government development index (EGDI), up ten places
compared to 2014. The survey also pointed out that Việt Nam’s online public
services ranked 74th, communication infrastructure 110th, and human resources
127th. Online public services directly affect people, businesses and national
competitiveness, he said, adding that achieving a high international rank
could help attract investors and make the country’s voice stronger on the
international stage, particularly in negotiations for international trade
pacts. In October 2015, Việt Nam’s Government issued a resolution - Resolution 36a/NQ-CP – that states
during the 2015-17 period, the country is focusing on administrative reform
combined with enhancing the application of information technology in State
management and e-public services to reduce the time and cost of completing
administrative procedures. The resolution also states that by
the end of 2016 all central State agencies and ministries are to have full
e-public services, where users can access online forms and then send their completed
forms and other documents to State agencies. All activities related to
processing such documents are to be conducted online. “Ministries and
agencies concentrated on analysing categories and criteria in the United
Nations’s e-government rating and then, taking responsibility for those that
relate to their work,” Đam said. “However, relevant ministries and
agencies failed to collect or update data that the UN uses to calculate the
e-government index,” he added. For example, the Ministry of Education and
Training did not have statistics about expected years of schooling of
children and average years of schooling of adults over 15 years old, while
the two figures are parts of human resource index. The Ministry of
Information and Communications failed to announce updated statistics about
the number of Internet users, number of landline telephone subscribers per
100 people, mobile phone subscribers per 100 people or the wireless gateway
rate. The shortcomings revealed that
actions were not strong enough and responsibilities must be tailored to
ministries and agencies more clearly, he said. He asked ministries to speed
up the implementation of online public services as part of administrative
reform – a move that last year pushed eight low-income countries into the top
65 countries with the highest e-government development index. He also
suggested two approaches to launch online public services. First, the
services should go online if they are time-consuming and complicated. Second,
the services are not too complicated and can be quickly performed online. Đam said that ministries should run
pilot programmes in some localities first and expand later. Minister of
Information and Communications, Trương Minh Tuấn, said that this year, the
ministry would issue criteria to assess the application of information
technology in State offices which provides important data of e-Government
development in Việt Nam. The Việt Nam Association for Information Processing
reported that until this month, Việt Nam had 130,000 administrative
procedures but the number would be halved if they were standardised in terms
of name, process, file and forms. Procedures may be the same but classified
under different names or forms. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
01/19/2017 Agriculture Administrative Procedures
to Go Online in Q1 Deputy Minister of Agriculture and
Rural Development Hà Công Tuấn on Wednesday asked relevant agencies to speed
up the ministry’s online public services, making all agriculture
administrative procedures available online by the end of next month. At a
meeting on online public services on Wednesday, Tuấn said the ministry wanted
to reduce at least 15 per cent of the cost for administration procedures.
“Agencies under the ministry must meet and talk to businesses and residents
about administrative procedures every six months,” he said. The deputy
minister also asked agencies to review administrative procedures under their
management and select services they could offer at online registration
service level 4, which allows people, businesses and management units to
perform administrative formalities, submit required forms, handle documents,
payments and receive results using only a computer connected to the internet.
He noted that online registration service level 4 basically involved
import/export procedures, and thus required careful preparation or Việt Nam
would become an uncontrolled market of farming products for the world.
“Quality of farming products must be top priority,” he said. Deputy head of the ministry’s Staff
Organisation Department Ngô Hồng Quang said the ministry had developed its
portal providing online information on administrative procedures at
dvc.mard.gov.vn. A few departments, including International Co-operation
Department and Business Management Department, had failed to complete their
review and update procedures on that page. Quang said the ministry’s portal
connected with a national single window mechanism and offered nine procedures
at level 3 and eight procedures at level 4. This year, the ministry would
speed up the selection of procedures to apply online public service
registration level 3 and 4 and develop a frame of its activities for
e-government development. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
02/09/2017 |
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INDIA: Demonetisation Will Move India Towards Digital Economy
From http://www.siliconindia.com 12/02/2016 Digital Governance Will Bring Efficiency, Says Modi
"India is bright spot in the global
economy. World Bank, IMF and other institutions have projected even better
growth in the coming days. In 2014-15, India contributed 12.5 per
cent of global growth. Its contribution to global growth is 68 per cent
higher, than its share of the world economy," Modi told delegates from
12 countries and industry captains present on the dais. According to the Gujarat government, investors
and office-bearers from over 100 countries were to attend the eighth edition
of the biennial event, being held here from January 10 to 13, with the
central focus of "Sustainable Economic and Social Development".
Over 74,000 people have said to have registered for the summit. Modi said
that in last two and a half years, his government "had worked
relentlessly to realize India's potential and to set rise in economy". "There is sufficient improvement in key
micro economic indicators, GDP growth, fiscal deficit, inflation, current
account deficit, foreign investment. India has become fastest
growing economy," he said. Modi said that India's food processing industry
is expected to increase almost five-fold in next 10 years, India is
now the emerging IT hub, it produces the world's second-largest number of
scientists and engineers, while the entertainment industry "is making
waves worldwide". Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that the
summit was not mere a summit but had become an identity. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 01/11/2017 Centre Launches App for Special Economic Zone Information
From http://www.siliconindia.com 01/17/2016 |
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UZBEKISTAN:
Single Portal Implements 52 New Services The Collegium of the Ministry for
development of information technologies and communications held a meeting on
21 January, as it summed up the development of information technologies and
communications in 2016. Based on the report of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev
at an enlarged meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results
of socio-economic development of the country in 2016 and the major priority
directions of the economic program for 2017, the meeting was held in the
spirit of comprehensive and critical analysis. It was noted that critical
analysis, strict discipline and personal responsibility should remain an
integral quality of each manager. The results achieved by enterprises of the
industry were under scrutiny at the meeting, the shortcomings were defined
and existing problems were discussed. The meeting reviewed the implementation
and development of information technologies in the regions of the country.
The work on the implementation of e-government in the regions was noted as
unsatisfactory. Several heads of territorial administrations of the Ministry
were fiercely criticized, including heads for the Republic of Karakalpakstan,
Andijan, Bukhara, Jizzakh, Ferghana regions. Drawbacks were noted in such
works as a lack of initiative, violation of terms of execution of orders,
lack of control over the progress of ICT implementation and development of
telecommunication services based on broadband technologies. The efficiency and effectiveness of
territorial administrations of the Ministry, as well as unitary enterprises
“Computerization centers”, which had been organized to implement ICT in
regions, as was said at the meeting, does not meet modern requirements for
ICT development. Instructions were given to develop proposals for radically improving
the work of the Centers for computerization. Separate attention was given to
the status of work with appeals of individuals and legal entities. A total of
3835 appeals were received in 2016, including 2760 through the Virtual
reception of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, 318 - through the
Virtual reception of the Minister, 367 - through the Single portal of state
interactive services, and 390 written appeals. The analysis shows that 15% of
appeals were received concerning postal services, 17% - networks, 13% -
internet, 11% - mobile services, as well as 23 complaints were lodged against
the leaders of various enterprises of the industry. If to consider the number
of appeals in terms of regions, the largest part was received from the city of
Tashkent (44% of all appeals), followed by Tashkent (14%) and Fergana (6%)
regions. In this regard, the meeting comprehensively and critically evaluated
the work of territorial administrations of the Ministry for the Tashkent
city, Tashkent and Ferghana regions. Disciplinary measures were announced
against the chief of territorial administration for Fergana region. Heads of
departments of the Ministry, operators and service providers were instructed
to strengthen the direct dialogue with citizens through the official website
and hotlines. In addition, the leadership of JSC
Uzbektelecom and its branches have been mandated to establish direct contact
with subscribers of the company by conducting regular outreach meetings in
order to quickly identify and resolve problems the subscribers are facing, as
well as to determine further priorities for the development of the whole
telecommunication networks and the provision of quality communication
services. Operators of fixed and mobile
communications, who have not fulfilled commitments to improve the quality of
telecommunication services in response to citizens ' appeals were strongly
criticized. The analysis of work with citizens in the activities of JSC
Uzbekiston pochtasi shows that appeals raised due to the fault of the
enterprise, involve such problems as late delivery of mail and periodicals,
as well as a violation of postal regulatory requirements. In this regard, the
management of JSC Uzbekiston pochtasi has been instructed to take
corresponding measures against the heads of the company branches in
Surkhandarya and Andijan regions. In order to improve the efficiency of the
system "Electronic government", instructions were given for the
immediate adoption of measures for the integration of information systems of
government agencies with the "Electronic government" system,
introduction of new complex information systems. Since the year's beginning,
the Single portal of state interactive services has implemented 52 new
services, with the total number of services reaching to 300. As a result, the
state bodies as of today provide more than 945 thousand services to the
population and legal entities. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
01/24/2017 Sherzod
Shermatov Appointed Interim Minister for Development of IT and Communications The Presidential Decree dated
February 2, 2017 has appointed Shermatov Sherzod interim Minister for the
development of information technologies and communications of the Republic of
Uzbekistan, therefore dismissing him from the post of First Deputy Minister.
Sherzod Shermatov was born in 1977 in Tashkent. Nationality — Uzbek. Higher
education. In 1998 he graduated from the Tashkent State Technical University,
in 2000 from Yale University (USA). From http://news.uzreport.uz/
02/03/2017 Murod
Rasulov Appointed Deputy Director of E-government Murod Rasulov appointed Deputy Director
of the “E-government” center. In 2014-2015, Murod Rasulov worked as Head of
Department for development of "E-government" system. In 2015, he
was appointed Head of Department for ICT analysis and assessment. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
02/16/2017 Deputy
IT Minister Kim Nam Seok Completes Mission in Uzbekistan Deputy Information Technology and
Communications Minister Kim Nam Seok and Vice Rector of the Tashkent
Information Technology University Lee Chul Soo, both ICT Consultants, are
ending their missions in Uzbekistan, as their contracts expire. The
ministry’s executive office organised a meeting on February 17, to mark the
occasion. Kim Nam Seok took office in 2013, as part of agreement reached
during the First President’s official visit to South Korea on September
19-21, 2012. It was noted Kim Nam Seok made a valuable contribution to
e-government and ICT in Uzbekistan. Drawing on Korea’s experience, Kim Nam
Seok assisted in drafting the National Information communication System
Development Programme 2013-2020 and consulted on ICT in Uzbekistan. He also
held ICT trainings for public officials across the republic. His
recommendations led to the foundation of the Centre for E-government System
Development and the Centre for Information Security, which he helped
structure. Kim Nam Seok helped to creat LG CNS Uzbekistan, an Uzbek-Korean
joint venture. He played his part in developing cooperation between
Uzbekistan and Korea and pulling Korean IT companies to Uzbekistan. In 2016,
Kim Nam Seok was awarded Mehnat Shuhrati, an order under the Presidential
Decree. Kim Nam Seok thanked First President Islam Karimov and the Uzbek
government for an opportunity to work in Uzbekistan. The ministry, in turn,
thanked Kim Nam Seok for his contribution to Uzbekistan’s e-government and
ICT development. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
02/18/2017 |
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AUSTRALIA: Best of 2016 - Digital
Identity ‘Alpha’ Launch by August - Digital Transformation Office Australians will see an ‘alpha’ version
prototype of a new, national opt-in digital identity credential for
government services as early as August this year; with a fuller version
likely to emerge in 2017 according to the new Head of Identity at the Digital
Transformation Office (DTO). That’s the take from Rachel Dixon, the woman
hand-picked to galvanise the agency’s efforts to develop a new user friendly,
multi-agency key to provide secure and easy online access to government
services and transactions for consumers. The recent appointment of Ms Dixon
is a critical step forward for the DTO as it attempts to dramatically improve
the public’s experience of dealing with government services by shifting to a
so-called ‘user centric’ development model – one that is based on catering to
the real world needs of citizens instead of forcing them conform to myriad of
disconnected portals, passwords, information requirements and standards. Not
everyone in the public service is happy with the DTO’s rapid and highly
delivery focused schedule. But fewer, most of all agency customers, are
satisfied with protracted waiting times and online services stuck a decade
behind that of the mainstream digital economy. Notably, the revelation of the
DTO’s big digital identity push comes hot on the heels of the disclosure that
the existing myGov online access facility – which has been copping plenty of
flak from users over recent months — is now be the subject of a formal audit
from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) to determine its
effectiveness. Few if any in government expect the latest ANAO probe into
myGov’s performance to deliver any good news, especially after the monumental
scale of dysfunction and chronic under-resourcing of welfare agency
Centrelink’s call centres was laid bare in an excoriating audit report last
year. Although the DTO’s big ramp-up on digital identity and the ANAO probe
into myGov are not formally linked, the timing of the two announcements is so
fortuitously close that it’s again rammed home the urgent need to arrest what
DTO chief Paul Shetler has previously labelled the unacceptably high “failure
cost” of poor and disconnected public services. Public Services, private products The announcement of the rapid,
ground-up development of a new national digital identity credential has far-reaching
implications for the private sector too. Apart from the clear necessity for
the federal government to urgently improve access to its services and
transactions online, the appointment of a digital identity project chief has
already aroused strong interest within the private sector, where online and
offline identity verification requirements remain a significant cost and a
major handbrake on rolling out integrated transaction services that can span
business lines. Elements of the private sector – particularly banks,
telecommunications carriers and other ‘identity regulated’ industries – have
for at least a decade been hoping Canberra will get its act together on the
digital identity front to replace costly paper and photographic based checks
originally based on the 100 points identity verification scheme. Crucially,
the DTO has confirmed it is actively evaluating the potential for a private
sector digital identity marketplace here in Australia, hiring consultancy
Deloitte to research and map the size of the opportunity. Getting business
inside the tent to try and sell the idea won’t hurt either, especially given
some banks have been more strident than others. Under a so-called ‘federated’
digital identity model such as that used in the UK, private sector
organisations that provided trusted online services can also feed into
customer verification mix – often using authorised private brokers – a model
that at face value offers major synergies and cost savings across both
government and private services and transactions. While the DTO’s Australian digital
identity project is still in ‘discovery’ – that’s developer speak for
researching and establishing core user and product requirements – Rachel
Dixon is refreshingly frank about the challenges that Australia’s
comparatively small population and complex system of government presents.
“The thing I would say is that the market here is different than some other
countries,” Ms Dixon told Government News. One of the key differences is that
the federal government in Australia is already a market participant in
identity verification services through the Document Verification Service
(DVS) which is run out of the Attorney General’s Department and processed 21
million transactions last year. Originally an internal government facility,
in 2014 the DVS was expanded substantially to offer checking services to the
private sector, a move that created a sought-after new source of revenue for
the government, especially the Attorney General’s Department. (In May 2014,
Attorney General George Brandis cited a “study by the Secure Identity
Alliance and Boston Consulting Group” that he said had estimated “that
e-Government services, enabled by trusted digital identities, are set to
yield an estimated $50 billion in annual global savings by 2020.”) While Ms Dixon flatly refused to
discuss DVS pricing, Government News has previously attended presentations
where the charge of an ID check – which is electronic – was outlined to be
around $1 per transaction. That kind of turnover, especially at scale, has
increasingly aroused the interest of private sector providers who are
authorised to use the DVS to provide commercial identity verification
services, a quagmire the DTO will soon have to navigate through. Although Ms
Dixon candidly admits that a lot of people are now using the DVS, she’s
equally unequivocal that commercial providers don’t always get it right when
it comes to estimating the size of a market or the level of competition in
it. “If you look at the experience in the UK, with that market, the original
identity providers that went there with Verify, all overestimated the share
of market they would get,” Ms Dixon said. “That is a risk in setting up a
private market; unless they get to a viable business case, the boards of
those companies are going to be unhappy with those business models. That’s a
risk because at a certain point one … of the providers that is less
successful may want to leave.” One of the problems for government is when a
private provider does exit the market, what happens to its customers. Dixon
makes no bones about the risk of taxpayers potentially propping up a
half-broken business. “The issue then becomes do you expose the government to
rent seeking at that point from a provider that wants to exit, but instead uses
it to negotiate a better deal in order to stay in the market,” Ms Dixon says.
“And that has happened where there has been monopoly providers. That’s
something that obviously we’d want to take into account in our [DTO’s]
commercial arrangements. If we were going to establish that market, that
would be a big consideration in our negotiations.” Opting in: what a Digital Identity
will – and won’t – do It’s no secret that Australia two
most recent attempts to launch a national, government issued identity credential
or document ended in failure thanks to the complex and often toxic politics
that surrounded them. Both Bob Hawke’s ‘Australia Card’ (essentially a
national photo ID card) and later Joe Hockey’s ‘Access Card’ (a multi-agency
government services smartcard also with a photo) died swiftly amid fears the
instruments could give government new and invasive powers to keep tabs on
citizens. Even the far less contested rollout of e-health has taken more than
a decade thanks to the fractious politics of federation, privacy and various
stakeholder groups. Although the debate around privacy in Australia has
arguably changed (partly thanks to people increasingly putting more and more
in the public domain through social media) two major problems that have endured
are frustration with access to government services and stubborn rates of
fraud and identity theft, also largely enabled by the internet. According to
the DTO, a force fit is off the cards and foisting digital identity onto
consumers is something Ms Dixon clearly doesn’t believe in. Rather she wants
consumers to first buy-in to the functionality and convenience that any new
credential can deliver, insisting it has to be designed to meet the public’s
actual needs rather than the government’s. “If the history of successful systems
tells us anything, it’s that just mandating something from on high –
especially in Australia – that the government mandating a digital identity is
not necessarily the path to success,” Ms Dixon says. “We have to give people
a reason to want to have a credential to interact with government. In order
for government to get the economic benefit of people doing things online,
that comes back to consumers … what is good for people who use the system
that are not in government.” That, Ms Dixon says, is why the DTO’s primary
concern in terms of its research requires an “unpacking” of “where the
problem points are in authentication and verification for consumers right
now.” There is also a need to start defining how what is commonly called ‘identity’
works in enabling real-life transactions. “If you try and talk to consumers
about identity it’s a difficult discussion because the question is ‘what is
identity for?’ What is it used for and what are they exposed to?” Ms Dixon
says, making a careful distinction. “Identity is better thought of as the
ability to have trust online. That’s the key piece. The ability for the
government to trust that you are who you say you are. And for you to trust
that the government will deal with you in a fair and protective way … that
they won’t spread your data around the universe or open you up to fraud.” Brokering Trust A big part of the implicit bargain
governments have to negotiate around trust, identity and online transactions
is just getting the balance right in terms of what data needs to be provided
to gain a credential for a service – or the number of hoops a customer has to
jump through – versus the relative value of that service to a customer. Ms
Dixon observes that while government services need a certain level of
technical assurance in terms of you being who you say you are, the potential
for friction starts in the trade-off between assurance and convenience.
“Where you fall down is if the amount of data, or the amount of steps the
government is asking people to go through – too much data or too many steps
of verification – relative to what’s at stake in the transaction,” Ms Dixon
says. “Different transactions need different levels of assurance,” she notes.
“Do you need to know absolutely what the person looks like for this
particular transaction?” Asked outright whether a photo will be part of a new
digital identity credential, her response is forthright. “I think that’s the
wrong question,” Ms Dixon says. “The first question is ‘what is the problem
we are trying to solve’? The second one is ‘what are the tools we will use to
do this?’” “There is a difference between the verification or the
authentication of an identity versus the authentication of a transaction.” Are Biometrics in the Digital
Identity Mix? Of all the identity security and
verification technologies that have climbed onto the digital bandwagon,
biometrics was one of the fastest. For decades police and security services
around the world have had access to electronic fingerprint matching, followed
more recently by biometric photos and algorithms being embedded into
passports and licenses. Despite being more and more pervasive, biometric
technologies still attract their fair share of controversy ranging from the
ability of surveillance cameras to spot and track faces in a crowd or mall to
insurance companies using the tone of a person’s voice to detect if they are
likely to be lying. What government agencies, as well as
businesses, are now confronting is at what point consumers might opt to use biometrics
as part of a digital identity mix or authentication ecosystem, especially if
it’s easier than entering a password. Again, Ms Dixon stresses the
distinction between authenticating a transaction and actually identifying a
person. Apple’s iPhone doesn’t really care if it’s actually you putting your
fingerprint on its scanner. “If you look at a thumbprint on an iPhone, that
doesn’t have anything to do with your identity, Ms Dixon says. “That’s just a
signal to a key that unlocks your phone. You don’t use the thumbprint for
assurance, you use it for authentication.” The argument really comes down to
what consumers are comfortable with and if it gets them into what they need
more easily and reliably, especially if passwords become so onerous they risk
locking you out of a service after multiple failed efforts (think iPhone and
FBI). Dixon is clearly cautious about the
implications of biometrics, but again defers to what consumers actually
prefer to use as the real test. Certain biometrics could be convenient for
people in authenticating access to something; that’s different than the
establishment of an identity in the first place, which is the assurance. “The
nice thing about thumbprints is that they get you over the hurdle of
passwords,” Ms Dixon says. “You use the technology that suits the use case.
The first thing to do is to map out what people want. Not the government
mandating [what people must use]. Base it on some actual research with actual
use cases.” One thing’s for sure. If the Digital Transformation Office’s
research actually manages to accurately map consumer needs and sentiment, and
then produces a working digital identity prototype that the public embraces
in less than a year, banks will be queuing up to buy it. That may not be a
bad thing. From http://www.governmentnews.com.au 12/20/2016 Unchartered Waters with Government
‘Radical’ Expansion of Data Retention Scheme, Says IA Internet Australia, the peak body representing
Internet users, has criticised a move by the Federal Government to call for
submissions over the Christmas period for what it describes as a “radical
expansion of its controversial data retention scheme”. Internet Australia
chief executive Laurie Patton says that, under the new proposal, what was
initially designed for criminal investigations could be used in civil cases.
According to Patton, IA is concerned about the privacy implications of such a
move. “This takes us into uncharted waters when it comes to using
communications technology and personal data in court cases involving private
individuals and which have nothing necessarily to do with criminality,” he
says. Patton reiterates IA’s previous comments describing the data retention
legislation as “fundamentally flawed” and called on the government to hold an
urgent review. “We’ve asked them to look at the mess we’re in now, not make
the problem worse. “The data retention law was passed nearly two years ago on
the grounds of an urgent need to combat terrorism and it hasn’t even come
into effect and yet the attorney-general’s department apparently wants to see
it extended to include civil litigation.” ISPs are required to have systems
in place by April 2017 to retain their customers’ metadata for a two-year
period. But, IA points out that only a minority of ISPs will be compliant and
Patton says this makes the whole scheme of “dubious benefit for its stated
purpose of combating terrorism”. “The attorney-general’s department
received applications from 210 ISPs seeking funding to help them meet the
costs of compliance, of which 180 were approved. However, industry estimates
of the total number of Australian ISPs ranges from 250 to more than 400. “So
there are potentially hundreds of ISPs not known to the attorney-general’s
department, and not all of them will necessarily be collecting and storing
the metadata they are required to keep. We really don’t know how many. It’s
extraordinary that the government didn’t ask the obvious question right upfront:
how many ISP’s are we talking about?” As Patton also reiterates, IA has
previously warned that the costs of the data retention scheme will inevitably
be passed onto consumers and he says PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated the
cost of compliance to the industry at $738 million over the first 10 years.
“IA believes that this underestimates the likely total given that the figure
was based on an incomplete list of ISPs. “Adding civil litigation to the uses
of the scheme can only increase the costs borne by ISPs in complying”.“The
government funding is already nowhere near enough. ISP’s are out of pocket
and they’re unhappy. This exercise has been a disaster from the start and by
the looks of it things are only going to become more controversial.” From http://www.itwire.com 12/20/2016 Govt Proposing Automation for Health
Dept The Australian Government is
proposing to extend the use of automation based on big data, to the health
department, even though its efforts to do the same with Centrelink have not
exactly been a success. An amendment proposed to the National Health Act of
1953 would, "enable the minister, the secretary or the Chief Executive
Medicare to arrange for the use of computer programs to make decisions and
determinations, exercise powers or comply with obligations and do anything
else related to those actions". It would also "enable approved
pharmacists whose premises have been affected by disaster or exceptional
circumstances to supply pharmaceutical benefits at alternative premises in
the same locality for a limited period and be paid for claims at the full
rate; and ensure that entitlements for concessional beneficiaries and their
dependants will apply for pharmaceutical benefits until midnight on the day
of a person’s death". The bill has completed a second reading in
Parliament and would, presumably, be taken up for processing once sittings
resume next month. The Australian Privacy Foundation described the proposal
as "The public service moving in the direction of robot-government,
abandoning human-managed business processes in favour of supposedly
Artificial Intelligent systems." APF chairperson Kat Lane said: "As
the Centrelink debacle has demonstrated, automated decision-making cannot be
trusted without direct human oversight. "It is vital that the public
stand up right now, and defeat these attempts by the bureaucracy to subject
people to decisions based on bad data and badly-designed computer
software." She said the public service and business alike must be under
legal obligations to: act responsibly; design business processes to reflect
the fact that all results of data matching, and all automated processes,
inherently involve errors of fact and judgement, and sometimes of law as
well; check the output from computer-based
systems before acting on it; ensure that there is sound evidence
supporting all actions taken; take no action harmful to the
individual until after notice has been given and an appropriate opportunity
has been provided for the individual to contest the matter; provide copies of the relevant
evidence, on request; where the individual contests the
matter, investigate the concerns and respond to the individual; take no action harmful to the
individual while the matter remains contested; and inform the individual about their
dispute rights and where to seek advice. "Government agencies must not be
permitted the freedom to be irresponsible," Lane added. From http://www.itwire.com 01/18/2017 Metadata Ruling 'An Analog Decision
in a Digital Age' The Australian Privacy Foundation has
described the Federal Court's judgment that key metadata is not personal information
as an effective gutting of the Privacy Act. A full bench of the court today
ruled that not all metadata generated by an individual was personal data and
a company, in this case Telstra, could refuse to hand it over to the
individual in question. In 2013, Ben Grubb, then a technology reporter with
Fairfax Media, sought metadata information regarding his mobile phone held by
Telstra Corporation. Telstra refused to provide it to him claiming it was not
personal information. He complained to the Privacy Commissioner who held that
the metadata was personal information. Telstra successfully appealed that
decision in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in 2015. In 2016, the Privacy
Commissioner appealed that decision to the Full Bench of the Federal Court
which rendered its verdict on Thursday. The APF said the judgment would be
"disastrous for ordinary Australians and misunderstands how a digital
footprint identifies a person". "This decision will severely impair
the Privacy Commissioner in regulating privacy online." APF board member
Dr Jake Goldenfein said: "The judgment means that a person's Internet
browsing history (URL addresses visited), assigned IP addresses, and
geo-location (mobile tower) data is not personal information because it does
not identify that person's name or telephone number. "The reality, however, is that
those pieces of information taken together do identify a person. The judgment
effectively introduces a new hurdle in determining whether personal
information is protected by requiring a person to be the subject matter of
each piece of information. This very narrow reading ignores how data matching
and data linking works, permitting a person to be identified from pieces of
information each of which does not necessarily specifically refer to him or
her." Dr Goldenfein added that the court's approach ignored the effect
of significant technological developments in data matching and linking.
"It is an analog decision for a digital age," he said. "The
decision leaves Australia with one of the weakest and least effective privacy
protections in the Western world. The court had ignored overseas court decisions which had
identified and recognised the reality of linking different items of digital information
which has the effect of identifying a person, he said. "Today's judgment
was a bad day for privacy protection in Australia. This data is very valuable
to security and law enforcement but there are now no protections for ordinary
citizens as to the use of such data," Dr Goldenfein said. "This
judgment has rendered Australia an outlier in the protection of privacy
online. It reduces the protections ordinary Australians should expect and
have. It is a boon for organisations to collect vast amounts of information
about individuals but not be accountable to the regulator for it." From http://www.itwire.com 01/19/2017 Accenture Assists Defence Department with New
Codification System US-based, global professionals firm
Accenture has worked with the Australian Department of Defence to develop and
deploy a new cloud-based NATO supply codification system to allow the
department to receive up-to-date NATO codification data and develop new
supply chain processes and procedures. The new system is the Department of
Defence’s first software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, delivering
codification which is crucial for defence organisations to accurately
identify, classify and number items of supply and to manage defence
logistics. Matt Gollings, managing director for Accenture’s Defence business
in Australia, says, working with multiple stakeholders across various
geographies, the integrated project team — led by Defence, working closely
with Accenture and AURA — introduced the codification capabilities and
integrated the new technology with internal systems to ensure unique
functional requirements. NATO compliance testing was undertaken to ensure the
technology was able to successfully communicate with the defence agencies of
other nations and the relevant NATO agencies. Gollings says, as systems
integrator on the 12-month project, Accenture established the system design,
undertook the data migration activity from the existing system testing
activities, and deployed the new solution. “Accenture is proud to have had
the opportunity to work alongside Defence and AURA to deliver this project
focused on achieving maximum effectiveness in logistics support. Critical to
project success was the skilled team of industry specialists and a highly
collaborative delivery approach between Defence and its multiple industry
partners.” From http://www.itwire.com 02/07/2017 More to Be Done to Rid Regions of Mobile
Blackspots, Says ACCAN The Australian Communications
Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) says not enough has been done to get rid of
mobile phone blackspots in rural and regional areas of the country and it
wants the government to allocate more funding to help alleviate the problems.
The ACCAN, the peak industry body looking after the interests of telecoms
consumers, has urged the federal government, in its pre-budget submissions
for the 2017-2018 budget, to allocate funding across all telecommunications
initiatives that will benefit consumers. As well as a call for more funding
of the blackspot programme, the ACCAN has recommended ongoing funding to
ensure that the Universal Service Obligation (USO) continues until “new
safeguards and programmes are in place and funding for a broadband
performance monitoring programme”. “The Mobile Black Spot Programme is
delivering new or improved coverage for many areas across the country,” said
ACCAN chief executive Teresa Corbin. “The first two rounds of the programme
will fund more than 750 new or upgraded mobile base stations, but there are
many more mobile black spots that need funding, which is why we’re calling
for ongoing funding for the programme in our pre-budget submission.” The
ACCAN has told the government that expansion of mobile coverage is critical
in regional and rural areas where there remain premises, vital community
areas and high traffic areas that have no mobile coverage. The Regional,
Rural and Remote Communications Coalition, of which ACCAN is a member, is also
calling for an ongoing funding commitment for mobile expansion in rural and
regional Australia. As reported by iTWire, last week the
ACCAN raised concerns around the Productivity Commission’s draft report on
the USO at a public hearing in Sydney. The ACCAN’s pre-budget submission
recommends continued allocation of Commonwealth funding of $100 million per
annum towards the existing USO until new safeguards and programs are in place
and a longer term commitment to a minimum of the same level of funding for
community telecommunications programmes. The ACCAN said last week that the
direction that the Productivity Commission has indicated the Universal
Service Obligation will take may put some consumers at risk of having reduced
services. "Unfortunately, the USO is stuck in the past and is not
relevant for all the services that consumers need these days, including
broadband – something which we are thankful the Productivity Commission has
recognised,” Corbin said. Corbin said the ACCAN agrees with the Productivity
Commission’s assessment that the USO must be modernised and reformed to
include both voice and data services. “However, access to these services
needs to be underpinned by comprehensive guarantees, standards and
performance levels,” Corbin said. In its pre-budget submission, ACCAN also
recommends funding be allocated to the Australian Competition and Consumer
Commission (ACCC) to conduct and report on independent broadband performance
monitoring on an ongoing basis, with Corbin pointing out that ACCAN has long
been calling for an independent broadband monitoring program to help
consumers more easily choose services that suit their needs. “Broadband plans are commonly
advertised on headline speed claims which may only be achievable in ideal
test conditions and are not what consumers should expect in real world
everyday use,” Corbin notes. “Consumers do not have access to information
about which providers and services will deliver consistent performance. As a
result, they may not be choosing the best services to suit their needs, or
they may struggle to identify and rectify poor performance issues whenthey
occur.” As the ACCAN also notes, the need for a performance monitoring
programme is reflected in the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman's 2015-
16 annual report which showed a 48% increase in complaints about slow data
speeds – and is also supported by an ACCAN survey from early 2016 which
showed confusion among consumers around broadband speed claims and
advertising.Corbin says ACCAN’s 2016 research with the South Australian
Council of Social Service (SACOSS) demonstrated a need for a review of the
Centrelink Telephone Allowance (CTA). The CTA is a quarterly allowance
designed to help consumers on income support payments to stay connected to
telecommunications services and in a survey of low-income consumers, 62%
reported difficulty paying, having to cut back, or having to stop using one
or more telecommunications services for financial reasons in the past 12
months. “Our pre-budget submission calls for the allocation of additional
funding for an updated Commonwealth Telecommunications Allowance with
baseline levels that reflect the real cost of contemporary telecommunications
services, and improved targeting to assist those who needit most,” Corbin
said.The ACCAN submission also calls for funding to be allocated to the ABC
to provide a minimum of 14 hours of audio-described content on its main
channel and a minimum of 14 hours of audio description a week on ABC iView. From http://www.itwire.com 02/07/2017 Australian Government to Review Its
AU$6.2b Annual IT Spend In the wake of technology-related
blunders experienced by Centrelink, the Australian Taxation Office, and the
Australian Bureau of Statistics, the federal government has announced a
review into all major IT projects. The federal government has announced it
will be reviewing all significant IT contracts in search of greater
transparency and oversight over its AU$6.2 billion annual technology spend.
It is expected the review will include all non-corporate Commonwealth
entities and all active projects over AU$10 million in value, or those that
engage a large number of Australians, the government said. The review will be
performed by a new investment management office that sits within the
government's newly formed Digital Transformation Agency (DTA), with the DTA
to report to the government by mid-2017 on the costs, benefits, risks, and
status of technology-related initiatives. "We need to make sure we're
delivering what the public needs, we're avoiding duplication, and we have the
right processes in place to minimise disruption to public services,"
Assistant Minister for Digital Transformation Angus Taylor said in a
statement. "The DTA will ensure we're investing in the right technology
projects, we can track their implementation, and know they will deliver on
the public policy benefits they promise. "This is more than a review,
it's ongoing oversight, and it will provide unprecedented visibility and
centralised management of IT projects." When touching on the initiative
in November, interim CEO of the DTA Nerida O'Loughlin explained that her team
would assume the responsibility of the IT policy and procurement functions of
the Australian government, which were previously managed by the Department of
Finance. At the time, O'Loughlin said a new
project the DTA was undertaking was the creation of a whole-of-government
program management office, which was slated to include overseeing all significant
IT and digital investments. The Digital Transformation Office (DTO) was
established early 2015 to unify government agencies and services online. The
Australian governor-general then signed an executive order to change the name
of the DTO to DTA in October. The DTO was overseen by Paul Shetler, who was
the office's CEO before moving to the DTA in the capacity of chief digital
officer. Shetler handed in his resignation within a month of moving into the
role. The government-initiated review comes amid calls from the federal
opposition and the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) to halt a
technology-driven project Centrelink currently has in place that has seen
some letters demanding money repayment sent in error to welfare recipients.
The error rate in the automated debt recovery system has been labelled as
unfathomably high by Shetler, who said it would be enough to send a
commercial enterprise out of business. Last week, the Senate passed a motion
to initiate an inquiry into the Centrelink system the Department of Human
Services implemented in July in a bid to improve the nation's Budget by
AU$2.1 billion over the next four years. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
also kicked off its own third-party review, after a hardware failure
announced on December 12, 2016 was still affecting its online systems in
early February. PwC will conduct the review into the
long-running incident that initially occurred when hardware supplied by
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) led to the ATO's worst unplanned system
outage in recent memory. In what was labelled as a confluence of failure, the
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) faced its own review last year, after
the 2016 Census ran anything but smoothly. On August 9, the ABS experienced a
series of denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, suffered a hardware router
failure, and baulked at a false positive report of data being exfiltrated,
which resulted in the Census website being shut down and citizens unable to
complete their online submissions. The ABS said in its submission to the
Census Inquiry by the Senate Standing Committee on Economics in September
that technology giant IBM failed to adequately address the risk posed to the
Census systems it was under contract to provide, and that IBM should have
been able to handle the DDoS attack. In December 2015, Prime Minister Malcolm
Turnbull unveiled Australia's National Innovation and Science Agenda, which
for a cost of AU$1.1 billion includes the government leading as an exemplar. From http://www.zdnet.com 02/16/2017 NEW ZEALAND: To Chair Digital Nation
Group and Host Leaders’ Summit New Zealand has been appointed to
chair of the Digital Five (D5) group of nations and will host the next
international leaders’ summit in New Zealand in early 2018. The announcement
was made by internal affairs minister, Peter Dunne following his return from
the 2016 D5 Summit in South Korea. At the conclusion of that event, Dunne
signed on behalf of New Zealand the ‘Busan Declaration’, “reaffirming the
efforts of the D5 countries to strengthen cooperation in the field of digital
government among members and with the international community,” according to
an announcement from the minister’s office. D5 is a group of five nations –
New Zealand, United Kingdom, South Korea, Estonia and Israel – considered
amongst the most advanced in the provision of online government services.
According to Wikipedia the D5 members “are bonded by the principle of
openness; they are focused on changing governments’ relationship with
technology by adopting open standards and open-source software as well as
making digital government more effective. They intend to bring in digital
skills in-house and encourage short-term contracts with small and medium
business suppliers.” The group held its first meeting in London in December
2014 with delegates from the five founding nations attending, as well as
delegates from the USA as observers. The group does not appear to have a
web site. However following that meeting the group published the D5 charter
setting out to its members' commitments to working towards a number of
principles of digital development. Announcing New Zealand’s new role as
host nation for the next summit, Dunne said: “We are seen as a leading nation
in terms of digital government and have a lot to offer other D5 nations.”
According to Dunne, although a small country, New Zealand is seen as an early
adopter of technology that can develop, test and innovate more quickly than
most. “Our digital journey is progressing well in New Zealand. I am really
proud of our partnerships with the private sector to deliver high quality and
cost effective solutions in an agile manner,” Dunne said. “We are
transforming government services so they are designed and delivered with the
citizen in mind, not around how government is structured. This means the
public sector will deliver integrated services that are based on what our
citizens need.” He said that, over the next year, New Zealand would lead a
digital identity work stream for the D5 nations that would help build on the
success of the RealMe identity verification service to order online birth,
death and marriage certificates, apply for and renew passports online, enrol
to vote, or apply for student allowances and loans. From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 12/12/2016 |
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The Biggest Busts from the World's
Most Renowned Gadget Show CES, formerly known as the Consumer
Electronics Show, is the stage that saw the debut of new technologies like the
DVD and HDTV. But it’s also often the Island of Misfit Toys. Companies that
put too much faith in marketing research, a CEO’s vision or assurances from
stressed-out engineers and developers, use the Las Vegas spotlight to
introduce products that should have stayed in the lab. Some meet meet their
fate in the consumer marketplace; some don’t even get that far. But on
reflection, these misbegotten gadgets at the Consumer Technology
Association’s annual convention also have some lessons for the electronics
industry, and for the customers who keep it in business. Microsoft-keynote debuts The company that for years was the
biggest name in computing had a lock on CES’s biggest stage: its opening-night
keynote. But for many Microsoft (MSFT) concepts, that was not an auspicious
launchpad. In 1998, Microsoft launched its Auto PC platform but then failed
to get any US-market vehicles rolling off assembly lines with Windows CE
computers in their dashboards. In 2002, its Smart Displays — touchscreen
devices you’d use to access your PC’s apps from around the home — proved to
be an expensive, sluggish mess. And in 2003, clunky “SPOT” semi-smart watches
that plucked updates off broadcasts on FM frequencies drew few takers,
leading the company to wind down the project in 2008. Microsoft’s 2010
keynote may have been the worst of all: It was delayed by a series of
electrical problems, and the “Slate” touchscreen Windows 7 computers featured
in this presentation never shipped and went unmentioned at the 2011 keynote.
The lesson of this at a time when we do wear computers on our wrists, carry
tablets around the house and rely on apps for navigation and entertainment
behind the wheel: Having the right ambitions and the right corporate backing
won’t help if you’re years ahead of what technology allows. 3D TV At CES 2010, the problem wasn’t that
a single tech company took a misguided leap into the future. Almost the
entire TV industry lined up behind 3D TV in the sure hope that people who had
flocked to movie theaters to watch “Avatar” in 3D would pay extra to bring
that experience home. Set vendors treated CES attendees to clips from that
sci-fi blockbuster as well as a variety of other highlight reels, but nobody
brought more starpower to the 3D project than Sony (SNE) — it had Taylor
Swift play a brief set at its press conference, which we could watch live in
3D on a screen behind the stage. But the whole 3D idea was not so … swift.
Sorry. The steep cost of the sets, the need to buy separate battery-powered
glasses for every viewer, and a lack of 3D fare on cable and satellite doomed
the venture. It’s not the first time the electronics industry has made the
mistake of trying to take a videophile technology mainstream. And to be fair,
often it succeeds, though mostly because the tech in question gets cheap
enough to become a standard feature. Come to think of it, that’s probably
explains why my Blu-ray player can play 3D movies. Non-Amazon e-book readers,
non-Apple tablets From https://www.yahoo.com/ 01/03/2017 ADB, ICC Academy Partner to Provide
Online Trade Finance Certification The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Academy recently signed an agreement
to offer online training courses and accreditation programs on global trade
and trade finance. The courses will be offered by ADB’s Trade Finance Program
(TFP) using ICC Academy’s international training model and digital platform.
The first course will be available this February and subsequent courses will
be rolled out during the first half of 2017. The initial phase will benefit
150 bank staff from approximately 80 TFP partner banks. The initial phase
will offer 2 online Certification Programs — the Global Trade Certificate
(GTC) and the Certified Trade Finance Professional (CTFP). Through this
capacity-building initiative, the TFP enables its partner banks to provide
better financial support to local export and import companies.“The ADB Trade
Finance Program is committed to providing partner banks with the knowledge
required to give companies the best possible support to reach their potential
through international trade,” said Steven Beck, head of trade finance at ADB.
The ICC Academy is the International
Chamber of Commerce’s ground-breaking e-learning platform. The ICC Academy
delivers online certification and professional development services to meet
the educational needs of banks, corporates, and other organizations at the
forefront of international trade. “ICC Academy is proud that with ADB, we
have taken a step forward to train and progress capabilities in developing
countries. We are committed to work with ADB to fill the ever-changing skill
gap,” said Daniel Kok, General Manager at ICC Academy. The ADB TFP, backed by
ADB's AAA credit rating, provides guarantees and loans to over 200 partner
banks to support trade, enabling more companies throughout Asia to engage in
import and export activities. With dedicated trade finance specialists and a
24-hour response time, the program has established itself as a key partner in
the international trade community, providing fast, reliable, and responsive
support to fill gaps in the region’s most challenging markets. TFP complements its financial support
with a regular series of workshops and seminars to increase knowledge and
expertise in trade finance products and operations, risk management, and
fraud prevention. Since 2009, TFP has supported more than 8,600 small and
medium-sized businesses across developing Asia — through over 13,000
transactions valued at over $25.5 billion — in sectors ranging from
commodities and capital goods, to medical supplies and consumer goods.For
more information, visit the TFP website: http://www.adb.org/tfpADB,
based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific
through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and
regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB is celebrating 50 years of
development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members—48 from the
region. From https://www.adb.org/ 01/10/2017 EUROPE: Alibaba Considers European
Logistics Center in Bulgaria Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba is
considering setting up a European logistics center in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian
government and Xinhua said on Wednesday. No comment was immediately available
from Alibaba. Representatives of Alibaba Group, GS-Solar Company and GoldPoly
Group met Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on Wednesday to explore
investment opportunities, the government said in a statement. Bulgaria has
yet to take advantage of China's plans to expand its presence in central and
Eastern Europe under its "One Belt, One Road" strategy to carve out
new export markets between Asia and Europe. "Alibaba Group's ideas for
investments are linked to setting up a logistics center to back up their
operations in Europe. The project will also include trading of Bulgarian
goods and foods in the international market," the government said. The
government has also said solar module producer GS-Solar is considering a
plant to produce solar panels, while GoldPoly Group was interested in buying
Bulgarian tobacco. From http://www.reuters.com/ 01/13/2017 ITALY: OECD Launches Economic Survey
of Italy in Rome The OECD’s latest Economic Survey of
Italy, to be published on Wednesday 15 February 2017, assesses current
reforms and looks at how to tackle such challenges as making growth stronger
and more inclusive, reducing the bad debts of banks and improving skills. The
Survey will be available to journalists in English with an overview in
Italian on the OECD's password-protected website from 12.30 Paris time (11.30
GMT). Create your MyOECD account here. The survey will be presented by OECD
Secretary-General Angel Gurría at a press conference at 11.30 on Wednesday at
the Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze, via XX Settembre 97, Rome. He
will be joined by Italy’s Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan. To register for
the press conference journalists are requested to contact:
portavoce@mef.gov.it before 10.00 on Wednesday 15 February. An Overview with the main conclusions
in English and Italian will be available on the OECD’s website at
www.oecd.org/italy/economic-survey-italy.htm. You are invited to include this
Internet link in media articles about the Survey. Journalists will be allowed
advance access to the electronic version of the OECD Economic Survey of
Italy, by e-mail and under embargo, the day before release. Requests to
receive the Survey by e-mail under embargo should be sent to:
embargo@oecd.org. In asking to receive the Survey under embargo, journalists
undertake to respect the OECD’s embargo procedures. For further information
on the Survey, contact the OECD Media Office (+33 1 4524 9700). Working with over
100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to
improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. From http://www.oecd.org/ 02/13/2017 RUSSIA: Requiring Apple and Google to
Remove LinkedIn from Local App Stores Smartphone users in Russia can no
longer download the LinkedIn app on iPhone or Android devices, following a
similar move in China to block The New York Times app on iPhones. The demand
by Russian authorities to remove LinkedIn in Apple and Google app stores
comes weeks after a court blocked the professional networking service for
flouting local laws that require internet firms to store data on Russian
citizens within the nation’s borders. The action is the equivalent of a
nation banning “Catcher in The Rye” and then forcing booksellers to remove
the title from their shelves. It puts Apple and Google in a difficult
position. The companies are strong proponents of open internet policies and
free speech but are now being asked to be agents for governments that censor
its citizens. When LinkedIn’s website was blocked,
the apps stopped functioning properly. Removing them from the Google Play
store and Apple’s App Store may not have cut off access to content, but it
sent a signal that countries can push the tech giants to remove the apps.
Direct blocking of websites has been done by China, Russia, Turkey and
several other nations for years, usually through their state-run internet service
providers. But civil rights groups say the pressure authoritarian governments
are now placing on Apple and Google is a new wrinkle. “Apps are the new choke
point of free expression,” said Rebecca MacKinnon, who leads a project on
open internet tracking at New America. Increasingly, United States tech
companies are complying with those demands. In the early 2000s, American
internet firms strongly pushed back on demands by China to comply with
censorship rules within the country’s internet controls, known as the Great
Firewall. Recently, Facebook has been working on a censorship tool to be able
to access China, where it is currently blocked along with Twitter and Google. LinkedIn, which is owned by
Microsoft, said it was “disappointed” with the decision by Russian regulators
to block the service, which the company confirmed was extended to apps in
Russian Apple and Google Play stores. “It denies access to our members in
Russia and the companies that use LinkedIn to grow their businesses,” said
Nicole Leverich, a spokeswoman for LinkedIn. Apple confirmed it was asked to
remove its LinkedIn app in Russia about a month ago. It has also confirmed it
was asked by China to block The New York Times app, but declined to comment
further on both events. Google would not confirm it has removed LinkedIn in
Russia but said it adheres to local laws in the countries in which it
operates. More nations have enforced their own internet laws in recent years.
Turkey intermittently blocks social media, such as during the attempted
government coup last summer. It has also forced YouTube to remove content it
considers disparaging of its modern-day founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
European nations have also drawn up their own privacy laws and in 2014 a
court declared its citizens could demand internet companies like Google
unlink information about users upon request. Tech companies and civil rights
advocates warn that the increasing push by nations to create their own
internet rules will Balkanize the internet and potentially lead to privacy
violations and the stifling of political dissent. Other countries, however,
criticize Silicon Valley and the United States government for setting the
norms and rules for the internet. “Internet free speech and internet freedom
are increasingly under attack all over the globe, and not just from
authoritarian regimes,” said Robert M. McDowell, a former member of the
Federal Communications Commission and partner at Cooley law firm. “It appears
to be a one-way ratchet with speech control getting tighter.” LinkedIn has several million users in
Russia, it said. In November, a Russian court ruled that the professional
networking site broke local laws that require foreign internet firms to keep
their servers holding information on Russian accounts within the nation. Most
American internet companies in Russia operate in violation of the law, but
without explanation, Russian regulators at a body known as Roskomnadzor took
the rare step of enforcing its rules. The Russian regulators could not be
immediately reached for comment. The action came at a tense moment in
Russian-United States relations related to cyber affairs. Russia has been
accused of hacking into American accounts, including the Democratic National
Committee, to try to influence the presidential election. American
intelligence officials concluded in a declassified report released on Friday
that the president of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, ordered the campaign. From http://www.nytimes.com/ 01/08/2017 LATIN AMERICA: MEXICO - OTT Market Up
40% to 6.7 Mln Subs in 2016 The Mexican OTT market remains the
most dynamic in Latin America, with the number of subscribers to video streaming
platforms soaring 39.6 percent year on year to 6.7 million at the end of
2016, according to data from The Competitive Intelligence Unit (CIU). In
total, over one in five Mexican homes (20.4 percent) subscribe to an OTT
service compared to 43.8 percent of households consuming content on broadcast
TV and 58.5 percent via pay-TV, said the report. From https://www.telecompaper.com/ 02/10/2017 NORTH AMERICA: U.S. - Oculus Could
Cost Facebook Up to $11 Billion, but It Might Be Worth It In 2014, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
spent $2 billion to purchase the virtual reality startup Oculus and its Rift
headset. The deal was huge, not just from a price standpoint, but because it
was proof of momentum behind the nascent VR industry. Nearly three years
later, though, it looks like that $2 billion was just a down payment for the
VR company, as Facebook will likely have to shell out billions more until the
social network can get the Oculus’ technology to a point where Zuckerberg and
co. are satisfied. The Facebook founder said as much while on the witness
stand for a lawsuit that accuses Oculus of stealing some of its VR technology
from video game company ZeniMax Media, according to The New York Times. From $2 billion to $11 billion That initial $2 billion payment for
Oculus wasn’t even the entire amount Facebook paid for the company. The
social networking giant also paid $700 million to keep certain Oculus
employees and promised an additional $300 million if the company met specific
milestones, according to the report. On top of that, Zuckerberg said Facebook
might have to dump an additional $3 billion into Oculus to shore up its
technology. Why commit to spending nearly $7 billion — plus an extra $2
billion if Oculus loses its lawsuit — on a technology that has yet to blow up
in the consumer market? Well, because Zuckerberg is looking beyond VR in the
traditional sense. See, where the Rift, HTC’s Vive and Sony’s PlayStation VR
are primarily designed as gaming systems, the Facebook founder has his sights
on making virtual reality a more social experience. During the Oculus Connect
3 conference in October, Zuckerberg took the stage to show off a kind of virtual/augmented
reality system the company was working on. In the demo Zuckerberg showed how
he, through a digital avatar, could interact with friends and family in real
time in a digital space as if they were all in the same room. Price is still a barrier It’s an interesting gambit, but it’s
still far from complete. What’s more, the cost of VR systems like the Rift is
still prohibitively high for many consumers. The company is working to bring
prices down, though. For instance, when Oculus launched the Rift in 2016, you
needed to purchase a $1,000 to $1,500 PC to run the headset, plus another
$600 for the device itself. Since then, the company has worked to ensure the
Rift can run on systems that cost as little as $500. Still, at $1,100 for the
whole setup, the Rift isn’t exactly cheap. HTC’s Vive costs $800 and still
requires a powerful PC, while Sony’s PSVR costs $400 and only works with that
company’s PlayStation 4 console. Sure, gaming enthusiasts might not have a
problem spending that kind of cash on a top-notch gaming experience, but none
of these headsets is quite there yet. There’s no “killer app” for high-end VR
systems. The most successful headsets, so far at least, have been Samsung’s
Gear VR, which costs $100 plus the price of a compatible Samsung smartphone,
and Google’s Cardboard, which costs $15 in addition to the cost of a
smartphone. Zuckerberg’s big bet Zuckerberg is obviously keenly aware
of the importance of mobile platforms — the majority of Facebook’s traffic
comes from mobile users and that will only continue to grow. Which is why
Facebook split Oculus into two divisions, one primarily focused on PC-style
VR and the other focused on mobile VR. From https://www.yahoo.com/ 01/20/2017 Why PC Companies Are Making Big Bets
on Gamers The PC market isn’t what it used to
be. As more people rely on their smartphones rather than desktops or laptops,
sales of PCs have fallen precipitously. In fact, last year marked the fifth
consecutive year of sales declines, according to Gartner Research. But PC
makers aren’t calling it quits. Instead, companies like Samsung, Lenovo, HP
and others are pushing out high-end laptops and desktops built for today’s PC
gamers. The reason? PC gaming is on the upswing. While PC sales as a whole
have certainly fallen, the more niche PC gaming market has been growing.
Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa says the firm expects to see the gaming
portion of the PC industry to see a 7% compounded annual growth rate, while
the overall market will decrease by 2%. “Generally, PCs have become less
important devices for many consumers due to the high usage of smartphones.
This is creating stagnation in the consumer PC market,” Kitagawa explained.
“However, PCs are very important devices for select consumer groups. Gaming
is one of the big drivers for these consumers to use PCs. They have shorter
life-cycles so that market grows faster than rest of the PC market.” So
what’s the deal with this growth? Well, it turns out PC gaming, which some
industry watchers were once ready to consign to the dustbin, is experiencing
a bit of a renaissance thanks to a number of factors ranging from the rise of
esports to a growing Chinese gaming market. And it’s only going to grow more
from here, as new technologies like virtual reality begin to mature. PC gaming is on the upswing Video game tournaments are nothing
new. Gamers have been facing off against each other in local arcade games like
“Street Fighter” and PC games like “Quake” for years. But the enormous,
stadium-filling professional esports tournaments you see today really took
off within the last decade with launch of the Twitch game streaming service
and similar offerings that drew in more players. The most popular esports
game in the world at the moment is Riot Games’ “League of Legends.” Known as
a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), “League of Legends” pits two teams
of players against each other with the goal of destroying each others’ bases.
With tournament series held everywhere from China and Germany to New York’s
iconic Madison Square Garden, the game is an absolute juggernaut. It’s such a
force that MLB Advanced Media recently made a $350 million deal with Riot
Games to help the company monetize “League of Legends.” Naturally, the interest in “League of
Legends” and esports in general has helped to draw more gamers to PCs. It
helps that “League of Legends” is only available on PC and Mac. Games like
Valve’s “Counter Strike: Global Offensive,” another huge esports title, and
Blizzard’s “World of Warcraft,” which is still going more than 12 years after
its initial release, have also drawn more gamers to PCs. The rise of China’s
middle class, coupled with the fact that the country held a 14-year ban on
game consoles like Sony’s PlayStation, Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s Wii
and Wii U, helped give rise to one of the largest PC gaming markets on Earth.
It’s not just the gaming titles, though. It’s the ease by which gamers can
access them. Valve’s Steam game distribution service, which is only available
on PC and Mac, allows players to purchase and download new and classic games
with the click of a mouse. From https://www.yahoo.com/ 01/24/2017 Amazon Is Now Worth More Than
America's 8 Largest Retailers Combined Sometimes, the mighty fall. In the case of Amazon
(AMZN), they simply grow even bigger and
more formidable. With a current market cap of $390 billion, the Seattle-based
retail giant is now worth more than the top eight traditional
brick-and-mortar retailers combined, as Credit Suisse analysts led by Eugene
Klerk mentioned in a recent note. For the record, that roster includes
Best Buy (BBY), Macy’s (M),
Target (TGT), JCPenney (JCP),
Nordstrom (JWN), Walmart (WMT),
Kohl’s (KSS) and Sears (SHLD). Amazon-8-retailers That’s an impressive, even astonishing feat, no
doubt, given Amazon was founded in chief executive Jeff Bezos’s garage in
1994. But it’s not exactly shocking, given the rapid transitionover the last 20 years away from shopping in
physical retail stores in lieu of online shopping, where retailers like
Amazon can offer lower pricing on products and services because they don’t
have to offset the costs of also paying for physical stores. It also helps
that Amazon has invested heavily in building out new warehouses to reduce
delivery time of items from weeks and days to hours, in some cases. In the
last 10 years, especially, it’s even less surprising given Amazon’s bold bets
in areas like cloud computing with Amazon Web Services — disparate-seeming
areas and verticals Bezos has neatly tied together to create an elaborate
digital empire. It’s no wonder the company’s stock price is up 36% in the
past 12 months. If the company has a growth ceiling, it hasn’t come anywhere
closet to hitting it — yet. From
https://www.yahoo.com/ 01/25/2017 T-Mobile Digits Frees Your Phone
Number from Your Phone T-Mobile, man. That company (TMUS) is
just determined to mess with the traditional cellphone-carrier model. This is
the company that eliminated the two-year contract. That lets you stream all
the music and video you want, without counting it against your data
allotment. That eliminated international roaming charges. And now, the
company wants to give you another phone number. It’s called T-Mobile Digits,
a new service, currently in free beta testing for T-Mobile customers. The
central idea is that Digits breaks the one-to-one bond between your phone
number and your phone. In so doing, Digits introduces all kinds of new
flexibility—and complexity—into your digital life. They fall into one of two
categories, which I’ll call “One to many” or “Many to one.” When you sign up
for the program, you can choose one of those categories, or both of them.
(Told you this was going to involve some complexity!) One to many When you sign up for this option,
your one T-Mobile number rings all your phones—even phones from Verizon (VZ),
Sprint (S), or AT&T (T), and even WiFi-only devices like tablets! The
idea is that you can now take and make calls, and send or receive messages,
from whichever phone you have with you. (If you’re hoping to include a
non-smartphone in your arsenal, T-Mobile will send you an SIM card for it.
Which means you’ll have to replace the phone’s existing SIM card. Which means
it will have only one phone number. Which means you won’t be able to use the
“many to one” feature described below. Did I mention that this all gets a
little complex?) When someone dials your one T-Mobile number, all of your
associated gadgets ring at once. When you pick up one to answer it (or
decline it), all the other devices stop ringing. All your phones ring
simultaneously—even non-T-Mobile ones. More So why is this useful? Well, if you
race out of the house and forget your phone, no problem! You can borrow a
phone, or you can use the Digits website. You can still get your calls and texts.
Or maybe you want to take a cheap ratty old feature phone with you running or
rowing, instead of carrying your precious $700 smartphone. No sweat; now that
ratty old feature phone can get (and send) your calls and texts. Heck, you
could now treat cellphones like multiple extensions of a landline. You can
keep one phone up by your bed, and another downstairs; pick up whichever one
is handiest when someone calls or texts. What’s cool is that you can access
your calls, texts, and voicemail from any device. From a watch. From a WiFi
tablet. From any computer, tablet, or phone in the world, via the Digits
website. Suddenly, any browser on earth is a cellphone you can use. Many to one The other Digits option is the
reverse: That is, you can also get a second phone number for your one phone.
You can give out Phone Number A to your personal contacts, and reserve Phone
Number B for business use. When people call your one phone, you’ll see on the
screen whether they’ve called Number A or Number B, so you’ll know which
voice to use when you answer it. (You wouldn’t want to pick up and say, “Hey
there, sugar lips” when it’s your boss, now, would you?) And what about
placing a call? How do you choose which “line” to use? Here’s where things start getting
complicated. If you have a recent Samsung model (Galaxy S6 or S7 family, or
Note 5), the dialer app includes a handy pop-up button that lets you choose
the outgoing line. From https://www.yahoo.com/ 01/28/2017 The One Thing Everyone Will Watch
During Apple's Earnings Apple (AAPL) will announce its Q1
2017 earnings on Tuesday afternoon, and everyone will look to see just how
many iPhones the technology giant sold during the all-important holiday
shopping season. The iPhone is Apple’s biggest moneymaker. It’s the lifeblood
of the Silicon Valley behemoth. And after declines in iPhone sales over the
last three quarters, the biggest news will be whether Apple managed to turn
those numbers around. Last quarter, Apple sold 5.2% fewer iPhones than in Q4
2015. Seeing an improvement in Q1 2017 could prove especially difficult, as
Q1 2016 was the company’s best quarter ever with all-time record iPhone
sales. It doesn’t help that Apple’s iPhone 7 and 7 Plus weren’t all that
different from the company’s iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in terms of design and
overall functionality. The biggest change was the iPhone 7 Plus’ new
dual-lens camera, which could have driven more users to opt for the pricier
handset versus its less expensive, and smaller, sibling. Outside of overall iPhone sales,
it’ll be important to watch the handset’s average selling price, or ASP. The
average selling price tells you exactly what it sounds like — the average
selling price for each iPhone that consumers purchased. If you see an
increase in iPhone sales, but a decrease in ASP, it means that consumers
purchased less expensive iPhones like the iPhone SE, iPhone 6s and 6s Plus or
iPhone 7. If you see a lower than expected number of iPhones sold, but a
higher ASP, it means more consumers were buying the pricier iPhones like the
7 Plus, or opting for iPhones with more expensive storage options. Of course,
if we end up seeing a higher number of iPhones sold than last quarter and a
higher ASP, well, then Apple had a great Q1. UBS’ Steven Milunovich says to
expect the iPhone’s ASP to be at about $693 compared to the Street’s estimate
of $685, based on increased interest in the iPhone 7 Plus. Credit Suisse’ Kulbinder Garcha and
William Chu, meanwhile, believe that Apple will report a slight
year-over-year increase in iPhone sales — 77 million units compared to Q1
2016’s 75 million units. The analysts also indicate there will be a positive
shift towards the iPhone 7 Plus, which should push the ASP a bit higher.
Apple could have also seen a small bump in iPhone 7 sales due to Samsung’s
Note7 exploding-battery fiasco. Barclays’ analysts Mark Moskowitz and Daniel
Gaide, however, believe that customers are shopping for less expensive
iPhones like the 6s versus the 7. The analysts point to data from IDC, which
indicates that 20% of iPhones sold cost less than $500 in the previous two
quarters. Such a trend could mean customers believe less expensive devices
are more than adequate for their needs. Naturally, it’ll be important to
watch for the iPhone’s performance in China, where it has had trouble
recently due to competition from local manufacturers that produce similarly
powerful devices at cheaper prices. From https://www.yahoo.com/ 01/31/2017 GoPro Shares Plummet After Ugly
Earnings Report GoPro (GPRO) announced its Q4 2016
results Thursday and it was ugly. The quarter saw the company pull in just
$540.6 million in revenue, which was far short of the $573 million analysts
were expecting. Earnings per share stood at $0.29, which was higher than
estimates of $0.22. GoPro reported that its full-year revenue fell 22% to
$1.2 billion in 2016 from $1.6 billion in 2015. For Q1 2017, management is expecting
sales of $190 to $210 million, which is below expectations for $267 million.
Shares are down over 10% in after-hours trading. GoPro closed out the
previous quarter with a rash of bad news. The company suffered from
production issues with its flagship Hero5 camera and Karma drone, and then
had to issue a recall for the small number of drones on the market when the
company discovered they were falling out of the sky. The Karma finally went
back on sale Wednesday, but wasn’t around for the crucial holiday shopping
season. After the company’s poor Q3, GoPro CEO Nick Woodman announced that he
was shuttering the action sports camera maker’s entertainment division, which
cost the company 15% of its work force, or 200 full-time jobs. GoPro is also
facing stiff competition from Chinese companyies like DJI in the drone
market, which GoPro is relying on as a new revenue stream. More generally,
GoPro may be facing an existential crisis as fewer consumers find the need to
upgrade their existing GoPro to a newer model every year. From https://www.yahoo.com/ 02/03/2017 |
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CHINA: Baidu Shares Its Latest AI
Technology China's largest search engine Baidu
has said it will make its latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology accessible
to developers and businesses as part of the company's latest move into AI,
big data and cloud computing. AI solution "Tianzhi" was launched at
a cloud-computing summit held in Beijing Wednesday. It includes services in
three fields: sensing technology, such as image and voice processing, machine
learning, and deep learning, an advanced form of machine learning, said Zhang
Yaqin, CEO of the Nasdaq-listed company, at the summit. Developers can access
facial or voice recognition, algorithms for data analysis and projections,
and deep learning applications, Zhang said, adding that the technology could
help users innovate in their sectors. "With more devices connected to
the cloud, enterprises will use cloud computing and AI more frequently,"
said Wu Hequan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering,
"Open AI technology can play a bigger role." The company also
revealed a plan to invest 10 billion yuan (1.45 billion U.S. dollars) in
cloud computing in the next five years and establish an innovation center,
which will serve 10 million enterprises. From http://www.news.cn/
12/01/2016 Chinese Firms Gain Lead in the Race
for 5G Edge Chinese telecom firms have scored a point
in the global race to set standards for 5G, the fifth-generation mobile
communication technology that will allow consumers to download an 8-gigabit
movie in seconds. China Mobile Communications Corp, the world’s largest
telecom carrier by subscribers－with
845 million subscribers by October, beat foreign competitors in late November
to lead the 5G System Architecture project, which will determine the
“structure of 5G networks”. The move came shortly after polar coding, a
technology backed by Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co
Ltd, was approved as part of the global standard for 5G.“The progress
highlights Chinese firms’ rising influence in the global telecommunication
arena. It is a recognition of both their technological prowess as well as
their brand influence,” said Xiang Ligang, CEO of the telecom industry
website cctime.com. China is evolving from a follower in the 3G era to an
active participant that seeks to outcompete foreign firms in the 5G era, he
added. The trend dovetails with the rise of Chinese telecom firms in the
international arena. Huawei emerged as the world’s leading telecom equipment
maker, whose products and services are exported to more than 170 countries
and regions, covering one-third of the global population. The country has also built the
world’s largest 4G networks within two years. As of October 2016, China
Mobile alone had 497 million 4G subscribers and its 4G base stations exceeded
1.43 million units, both the world’s largest. Dwelling on these achievements,
Chinese players are now seeking to grow their influence as the world is
migrating to the new 5G era, where unlike previous generations, there will be
only one global standard. In late November, Sun Tao of the China Mobile
Research Institute became the sole rapporteur for the 5G System Architecture
project at a meeting held by 3rd Generation Partnership Project, the
international mobile telecommunications standard organization in the United
States. “The rapporteur means the one who takes charge of the project.
Winning the title from a crowd of competitors proves that China Mobile’s
thinking on 5G system architecture design has been well-received among the
global community,” said Fu Liang, an independent analyst who has been
following the telecom industry for more than a decade.“The architecture
design of the 5G system is just like the structure of housing. It determines
the functionality of the whole building,” he added. Sun said in a statement
to China Daily that “China Mobile will be responsible for the whole project.
We will decide its timeline, organize discussions on technical specifications
and coordinate views of different parties.” According to him, the project
will release two documents in next December, which will form a global
standard for 5G system architecture. “The role will give us a leg up in
the 5G era, laying a sound foundation for our efforts in artificial
intelligence and the internet of things,” Li Zhengmao, vice-president of
China Mobile, said. Huawei is also expected to have an edge, after polar
coding was approved as part of the global standard for 5G at another meeting
held by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project in November. The technology
can help lower chip power consumption and improve reliability of wireless
communications, Huawei said. It will better support cloud computing,
high-definition movie streaming, augmented reality and other services that
demand superfast internet speed.“Though polar coding was developed by a
Turkish scientist, Huawei has played a big part in promoting it as part of
the 5G standard. It has already conducted a great deal of pioneering research
and tests on it. Huawei will have the first-mover advantage,” said Xiang, CEO
of the telecom industry website cctime.com. But that does not mean the
efforts to set a global 5G standard are a zero-sum game. Hu Houkun, Huawei’s
rotating chief executive, said in an interview with Financial Times: “I think
this is not a fight between different companies, let alone different
countries. Rather, it is a process of building consensus in the mobile
industry.” From http://www.gov.cn/
12/14/2016 China Moves to Regulate E-commerce Chinese top legislature is
deliberating a draft law that will regulate and facilitate e-commerce in the
country. The draft law was tabled for review by legislators at the bimonthly
session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, which
runs from Dec 19 to 25. It is the first reading of the draft by the top
legislature. Explaining the draft to lawmakers on the morning of Dec 19, Lyu
Zushan, deputy director with the NPC’s Financial and Economic Affairs
Committee, said booming e-commerce in recent years had served to reveal
loopholes in China’s legal system and commercial rules. The draft law will
facilitate e-commerce growth, help maintain market order and protect consumer
rights. The draft law said the nation should put online and offline
commercial activities on an equal footing, and protect the safety of
e-commerce transactions. All e-commerce operators have an
obligation to pay taxes and should acquire the necessary business
certificates, under the draft. Operators must also ensure personal
information security for consumers. Those that fail will face fines up to 500,000
yuan and could have their business certificates revoked. They must also work
to protect intellectual property, the draft said. The draft requires
third-party e-commerce platforms to offer technical support for “law
enforcement activities by relevant authorities.” China is the world’s largest
e-commerce market. According to Lyu, e-commerce trade amounted to over 20
trillion yuan (about $2.87 trillion) in 2015, with online retail sales
totaling 3.88 trillion yuan. Last month, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw
120.7 billion yuan in gross merchandise volume during its 24 hour Singles’
Day event, an annual online shopping spree on Nov 11. From http://www.gov.cn/
12/19/2016 Firms Focus on IoT Expansion in China In response to the increasing
development of technology related to the internet of things (IoT) in China,
Japanese firms have spied an opportunity to expand their IoT businesses in
the country. The firms believe IoT — which describes the interconnection of
different kinds of products via the internet — will generate business
opportunities, because the Chinese government has prioritized IoT development
to boost the competitiveness of domestic manufacturers on the international
stage. Given that companies from Europe and the United States also are laying
down business foundations in China’s vast market, Japanese firms face a
crucial challenge in demonstrating their ability. On Dec. 12, Hitachi Ltd.
unveiled to the media one of the world’s fastest elevators, capable of rising
at a speed of 72 kph in a 530-meter-high skyscraper in Guangzhou, China. The
elevator rises 440 meters from the first floor to the 95th floor in only 43
seconds. The high speed of the elevator is not
its only asset. IoT technology makes it possible to constantly monitor and
analyze data concerning the elevator’s operating conditions and other data.
Operators of the elevator can detect signs of a problem at an early stage:
“It costs less to repair [an elevator] at an early stage than fix it after it
has malfunctioned” a Hitachi source said. A Japanese electrical manufacturer
also focusing its IoT strategies on China is Mitsubishi Electric Corp., which
plans to form tie-ups with about 100 manufacturers in China by the end of
this fiscal year in an effort to promote manufacturing components, including
sensors. Sensors are key components in IoT because they are required for
operations such as process management. Fujitsu Ltd., which has formed a
tie-up with a major Chinese electronics manufacturer, hopes to sell a system
that can quickly detect a defect in a product to about 100 factories within
the next three years. In 2015, the Chinese government announced a domestic
strategy: “Made in China 2025.” One of the foundations of the strategy is IoT
technology. China previously strengthened the
global competitiveness of its manufacturing industry by mass-producing
low-cost products. The new strategy aims to transform the manufacturing
industry by producing value-added products in a more efficient way. The
Chinese government has become more receptive to the entry of foreign
companies with high technological capabilities. According to market research
company IDC Japan, the IoT market in China this year is worth $210 billion,
and is expected to grow by 70 percent to $360 billion by 2020. China’s IoT
market is attracting companies from other countries. For example, General
Electric Co. of the United States set up its global IoT research and
development center in Shanghai. Japanese firms, for their part, will need to
take advantage by promoting their assets. “The advantages of Japanese firms
are their sensor technology and efficient manufacturing methods,” said Mika
Ko of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). Hitachi President Toshiaki
Higashihara said the firm is to raise the forecast on sales from its Chinese
business to ¥1.5 trillion in fiscal 2021, up about 70 percent from the
forecast in fiscal 2016. During an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun in
Beijing, Higashihara said on Dec. 14 that Hitachi placed IoT at the core of
every business, from energy to railway, starting in fiscal 2016. “China is
the most important overseas market. IoT will probably spread faster in China
than in Japan or in the United States as the initiative is led by the central
government in China,” he said. In addition to infrastructure, Hitachi plans
to develop its IoT business in a wide range of areas such as medical care,
logistics and next-generation vehicles, he added. Regarding Hitachi’s
business development in China, Higashihara expressed expectations that the
company’s cooperation with local companies will get smoother. “Since
deregulation is in progress, it has become easier for us to obtain data from
local companies, such as factory production data,” he said. From http://the-japan-news.com 12/23/2016 E-commerce Set to Grow 15% by 2020 Chinese e-commerce is set to grow by
15 percent by 2020, cementing its position as the biggest e-commerce market
worldwide, according to a report issued by Worldpay, a leading payments
company with global reach. E-wallets were the most popular payment method in
China in 2016 with an overwhelming 56 percent of market share, followed by
debit cards and credit cards, both with 11 percent of the payments market,
the London-listed Worldpay said on Jan 5. Cash on delivery also held 8
percent of market share, with bank transfers taking the remaining 7 percent
of market share in 2016. The report predicted that as the e-commerce market
in China matures over the next five years, e-wallets are set to decline by 10
percentage points to a 46 percent market share as other payment methods start
to increase in popularity among Chinese consumers.“The growth of the Chinese
e-commerce market is highly significant and can be best exemplified by
China’s recent shopping spree, the Double 11, in which sales volumes achieved
a record,” said Tang Kok San, manager in charge of Worldpay’s business in China.
Tang added the Chinese e-commerce
market is maturing, as local consumers started to mirror the behavior of
western consumers, both in what they were shopping for and how they wished to
pay.“This could slightly dilute the huge market share e-wallets currently
hold, but the most popular payment method will still rule in Chinese
e-commerce in 2020,” Tang added. As e-commerce gradually penetrates different
aspects of people’s day-to-day lives, people are set to see a diversification
in the range of payment methods merchants offer to address these changing
preferences, the report found. Credit cards are expected to go up slightly
from 11 percent to 14 percent and debit cards should also increase from 11
percent to 13 percent by 2020. However, e-wallets are still likely to be king
in 2020, the report added. The report also showed the total e-commerce market
size of China is set to be worth $1.42 trillion by 2020, almost twice that of
the US at $779 billion and more than nine times that of Japan at $153 billion.
It also predicted that India will overtake the US to become the second
largest e-commerce market in the world by 2034. From http://www.gov.cn/
01/06/2017 Baidu, CITIC Approved to Set up China's
First Independent Direct Bank Chinese Internet giant Baidu has been
approved to open a direct bank, finally joining its tech counterparts in
offering banking services. The country's top banking regulator has approved
the establishment of Baixin Bank, which has joint investment from China CITIC
Bank and Baidu to offer direct banking services. This is the first time for
an independent legal entity in China to run a direct banking business. Direct
banks are those without any branch networks, offering services remotely via
online and telephone banking. China CITIC Bank, one of the country's largest
lenders by assets, will hold a controlling stake in the new bank, which will
combine cloud computing, artificial intelligence, mobile Internet and other
leading technologies to offer financial services. China started piloting
private banks in 2014, and Baidu's counterparts Alibaba and Tencent have
already successfully gained private banking licenses by forming similar
alliances with partners. Robin Li, Baidu's board chairman and CEO, expects
the new team will make full use of Baidu's leading technology, huge data and
expertise in online operations. From http://www.news.cn/
01/07/2016 Huawei Ushers in Era of Intelligent
Phone -- Business Head The world's third-largest smartphone
manufacturer Huawei, not satisfied with just making smartphones, is
presenting the concept of an intelligent phone, its business head told Xinhua
in an interview Friday. On the first day of the Consumer Electronics Show
(CES) held in the city of Las Vegas in the U.S. state of Nevada this week,
Richard Yu, head of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, delivered a keynote
speech to put forward Huawei's new concept called the "intelligent
phone." This was the second time the CES invited a representative of a
Chinese company to give a high-profile keynote speech. Yu told Xinhua that
smartphones which incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) abilities could be
considered as "intelligent phones," adding such cellphones could
provide computer vision, local decision-making, robotics, air sensors, taste
sensors and smart touch to communicate with the outside world. "These
AI-based devices provide a connection between the digital world and the
physical world," Yu said. "The future intelligent phone will be
like a high-performance robot without arms and legs, a smarter personal
assistant." In 2015, Huawei became the world's
third-largest smartphone brand, following Samsung and Apple, with the
shipment of 108 million devices. Huawei has also become the first Chinese
cellphone manufacturer to cross the 100 million shipment threshold. In the
last year, Huawei sold over 139 million smartphones, a remarkable 29-percent
increase compared with 2015. However, Huawei is not satisfied with third
place. "Now Huawei has sold almost 140 million devices a year, but
within two years, this number may increase to 200 million, taking over
Apple," Yu said. Huawei's fast growth was based on its long-term investments
in research and development (R&D). Yu said the company has invested 38
billion U.S. dollars in R&D in the last 10 years. In 2015 alone, Huawei
spent 9.2 billion dollars on R&D, making it rank 9th in the world
concerning R&D investment, surpassing Apple and Cisco. "Huawei's
R&D investment amount is still growing. In 2017, it may rise to 100
million dollars. With this speed, sooner or later, Huawei will become No. 1
on this," Yu said, adding he was very proud of Huawei's attaching so
much importance to R&D. Gary Shapiro, president of the U.S. Consumer
Technology Association, the organizer of the CES, said he was impressed by
China's innovation in the consumer technology industry. He said that China's importance in
the global consumer technology industry has been reflected not only by its
strong manufacturing ability, but also its increasing engagement in
innovation. "Huawei is such an important growing company, not only in
China but globally," said Shapiro. "The keynote platform of CES,
which is considered one of the most desirable in the world for any business
executive, is appropriate for such an important company to deliver the
message we look forward to hearing." While the intelligent phone remains
a concept, Huawei has been testing the idea in its collaboration with Amazon
and Google. Huawei has introduced Amazon's Alexa AI software to its Mate 9
smartphone, the world's first smartphone to be equipped with the intelligent
voice service of Alexa. Yu also announced at the CES 2017 that the Mate 9 phones
will be available in the United States starting Jan. 6 for 599 dollars
apiece. " In this industry we need
partnerships, we cannot do everything by ourselves ... and we want the best
partnerships to bring the best innovation together," Yu said. Besides the two tycoons
Amazon and Google, Huawei is also going to cooperate with Microsoft, Intel
and many other companies in different fields. "To Huawei, 2017 is a
pivotal year. We need time to win trust from consumers," Yu said, adding
Huawei will unveil more highly intelligent smartphones this year, such as its
P10 and P10 Plus with Amazon's Alexa technology and Google's service.
"In the past decades, we humans have witnessed great changes in
technology. It is our dream that innovation and the innovated products could
push us to move forward rapidly," he said. "Huawei is much more
like a long-distance runner. We focus more on the future instead of making a
great fortune overnight," Yu said. From http://www.news.cn/
01/07/2016 Payment Apps Fueling Surge in Mobile
Internet With smartphone apps now the answer
to more real-life demands, mobile internet use has surged in China, although the
advancing technology could pose a challenge for late adopters. As apps have
made it easier to hail taxis, order takeout and pay utility bills, people
have embraced the mobile internet as a way of life, according to a report
released on Jan 22 by the China Internet Network Information Center. China
had more than 695 million mobile internet users by the end of last year, a 12
percent year-on-year increase, accounting for 95 percent of the nation’s 731
million netizens, the report said. Liu Xin, director of the center’s internet
development research department, attributed the surge to mobile online
payment services. “In major cities, it’s common to see people go out to work
or go shopping without taking their wallets,” he said. “It seems everything
you need in daily life can be done using a smartphone app.” According to the
report, 469 million people used mobile apps for a range of payment services
last year, including paying credit card bills, buying movie tickets and
booking fitness services. This was a 31 percent increase on the
previous year. Wang Xuning, an employee at an IT company, said he does not
know how to pay his water and electricity bills offline.“I’m used to paying
the fees on Alipay and WeChat,” Wang said, referring to two major mobile payment
providers. “All I need to do is to transfer some money to my e-wallets on
these apps and just click on my cellphone.” However, some observers have
voiced concern that the fast-evolving technology will present a challenge to
the large number of people who do not use mobile internet. Last year, 642
million people in China, more than 60 percent of them from rural regions,
still had never accessed the internet. “There are still many people who
seldom use the internet because of poor resources and education,” said Yang
Xiaodong, a researcher at Peking University’s National Institute of Strategic
Communication.“Mobile device manufacturers and online service providers
should develop more low-entry and easy-to-operate products for these people,
while the government should also upgrade infrastructure and offer them better
education,” he added. From http://www.gov.cn/
01/23/2017 European Consumers Prefer to Buy
Online from China: Survey A survey released recently by the
International Post Corporation (IPC) indicated that purchases made through
Amazon, eBay and Alibaba occupy two-thirds of global cross-border e-commerce.
China leads as the most popular market for consumers around the world,
accounting for 26 percent of recent cross-border purchases, Beijing Business
Today reported on Feb 6. IPC sent questionnaires to over 24,000 consumers in
26 markets across North America, the Asia-Pacific and Europe. Statistics
shows that, compared with consumers in other countries, Chinese people are
more likely to shop online, with 36 percent buying something online at least
once a week. Free delivery and return policies are important elements driving
cross-border e-commerce. Chinese consumers enjoy the largest
number of free deliveries anywhere in the world, accounting for 78 percent of
the total. China is the most popular market for online consumers, followed by
the US, Germany and UK. The US and China are the main markets for
cross-border e-commerce in the Asia-Pacific and Canada. European consumers
buy most from the Chinese market. However, residents of Luxembourg, Belgium,
Austria and Switzerland mainly buy from neighboring countries, which share a
common language. The top four product categories purchased through
cross-border e-commerce are shoes, hats and clothes; consumer electronics;
books, music and media; and health and beauty. Most of the commodities are
relatively light and inexpensive. From http://www.gov.cn/
02/09/2017 Oppo Tops Chinese Market in 2016,
Overtakes Huawei China's smartphone vendor Oppo has
snatched China's smartphone sales crown in 2016, overtaking heavyweight
Huawei and other massive names, according to a latest IDC report on Feb. 6.
Against an overall beaming Y-o-Y growth of 8.7 percent, the country's
smartphone market reshuffles with Oppo leading in terms of both shipment and
market share, posted 122.2 percent growth last year. The obscure company
shipped 78.4 million smartphones in 2016 and took up 16.8 percent of the
market share, fractionally beating out Huawei and its sister company Vivo.
Apple and Xiaomi, two smartphone juggernauts, rounded out the top five, but
with a Y-o-Y decline of 23.2 percent and 36 percent, respectively.
Proportionally, Oppo, Huawei and Vivo occupied almost half of China's
smartphone market, while US-based Apple posted its first annual decline,
accounting less than 10% of the market share, and Xiaomi, which grabbed the
top spot in 2014 and 2015, only secured 8.9%. Observers say customers are not
only demanding cost-performance in their handsets but also fashionable smart
devices that can meet their daily use needs and represent their personal
taste and social position. The rise of "OV" model Oppo and Vivo, both owned by
Guangzhou-based BBK, have steadily developed a strong presence in China and
in markets like India and Southeast Asia. Amid a big online craze endorsed by
other local brands like Xiaomi to create an e-commerce footprint, Oppo and
Vivo have chosen the alternative path of adopting aggressive advertising
campaigns and offline sales channels to reach prospective customers in third
or four-tier cities, revealed Chen Mingyong, CEO of Oppo. In late 2014, Oppo
owned 140,000 retail outlets, and the number had grown to 200,000 by the end
of 2015. Its sister brand Vivo also boasted a staggering number of 250,000
offline stores and 430 after-sale service centers by the end of 2016. Other
competitors want to follow suit. Huawei said it expected to cover its offline
stores to nearly 20,000 Chinese counties in 2017; Xiaomi said it will beef up
its offline sales channel and has opened five authorized stores in the first
half month this year; ZTE even publicly endorsed the "OV" model and
has committed its main efforts to establishing outlets in 2016. Moreover, the
OV model puts more emphasis on advertising campaigns targeted on young
customers, roping in famous stars like Li Yifeng, Yang Mi and Soong Joong-ki
as its brand ambassadors. A premium on the supply chain After the reshuffle in market share
in 2016, the competition among smartphone vendors could be even stiffer. The
top three have already set their shipment goals for the new year, with Oppo
and Vivo targeting 160 million and 150 million, and Huawei targeting 170
million, revealed Kevin Wang of IHS Markit, a research firm. And companies on
their supply chain would be the beneficiaries. In the first three quarters of
last year, O-film, a mobile electronics component provider, registered a business
income of 19 billion yuan, up by 43.22% Y-o-Y, which is attributable to its
expansions in camera modules and fingerprint ID module production as well as
impressive shipment records of customers like Oppo, Huawei and Vivo. Good
supplier resources are more and more concentrated in a handful of companies
as major smartphone vendors have already seized their own reliable suppliers
with reasonable prices and big quantities, said Wang. With inflation, the
higher prices of raw materials and a stronger greenback, small cellphone
producers will be locked in an ever-difficult game, he added. From http://www.chinagate.cn/
02/09/2017 China's E-payment Service Provider
Eyes Shanghai Listing Lakala, a third-party payment
service, wants to go public on the Shanghai bourse, the company's board
chairman Sun Taoran, revealed. The company plans to improve its corporate
structure after it is listed, Sun was recently quoted by a Chinese media
outlet as saying. Third-party payment services have come along way since they
emerged more than ten years ago. It is natural that they are now exploring
the capital market, Sun said. Analysts expect the sector will see a wave of
new listings in 2017 and 2018. By the end of the third quarter of 2016,
China's top three third-party payment service providers, namely Alipay,
Tenpay and Lakala, accounted for more than 90 percent of market share,
according to Analysis International, a Beijing-based Internet information consulting
firm. From http://www.news.cn/
02/19/2017 Competition Heats Up for Online Malls Competition in the online shopping market
is intensifying. Amazon Japan, which is rapidly growing in the domestic
market, has since mid-November expanded the target areas of its Prime Now
delivery service, which delivers orders within an hour of receiving them.
Rakuten, Inc. and Yahoo Japan Corp. are offering point-increase campaigns
that provide more points in return for purchases, which can later be used to
buy goods. The Prime Now product lineup includes more than 65,000 items, such
as food, beverages, daily necessities and home electronic appliances.
Although the delivery service was previously limited to certain areas in the
23 wards of Tokyo, since Nov. 15 Amazon has expanded it to all 23 wards. The
expanded service also covers some areas of Yokohama. Amazon.com, Inc.
operates in 14 countries, including the United States. It has shown its
commitment to the Japanese market by making delivery services in the country
available later at night than in other countries. Rakuten, which runs e-commerce
platform Rakuten Ichiba, has amplified its sense of crisis against Amazon’s
offensive move. Rakuten has started a campaign to increase customer points by
up to seven times the usual number if shoppers use a credit card from one of
its group companies. Yahoo Japan, which runs the Yahoo! Shopping e-commerce
site, is also offering an increased points campaign to customers that pay a
membership fee. These companies are working to acquire customers, as they
expect the e-commerce market to grow further.According to the Economy, Trade
and Industry Ministry, the e-commerce market, including online shopping, was
worth ¥13.8 trillion in 2015. That is almost double what the market was worth
five years before. However, there are fears that profits will come under
pressure if companies go too far in strengthening delivery services and
increasing points. From http://the-japan-news.com 12/01/2016 JAPAN: Virtual Property - Mixed
Reality and Big Data Come of Age in 2017 Interacting with augmented reality
(AR) games such as Pokémon Go or virtual reality (VR) devices such as Oculus
Rift are for millions of people must-do activities. The same can be said of
streaming live 360-degree video and sharing 3D photos online and on smartphones.
But the new normal is not just in AR, VR, 3D, and live-streamed content.
Artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data analytics, and even unmanned aerial
vehicles (drones) are also coming of age and being widely adopted in 2017.
When used jointly in what experts call mixed reality (MR) content, these
tools may be ushering in a golden age of content creation. The property
development and management sector, including many in the hospitality, real
estate, and retail industries, are taking note of these shifting sands.
Pioneers are adopting such tools for their marketing and customer engagement
strategies under the banner of property technology — or PropTech. “A lot of
clients come to us with a problem like: ‘We hear about virtual reality and
augmented reality, but we don’t know what we should do about it.’ We work
with them to figure out what their needs are,” explained Ivan Lam, general
manager of Brand Karma. Established more than 10 years ago as
a provider of web-based data analytics, Brand Karma in recent years has
become a marketing agency with core expertise in immersive technology and new
media. That change was in part due to increasing consumer demand for such
services. “We made the decision to focus on and explore VR when, with the
acquisition of companies like Oculus Rift by Facebook around four years ago,
people started to realize what VR was and what potential it offered,” Lam
explained. At that time, “you could show someone a space using a VR headset
and have them navigate through it without them actually being there. As an
experience, that is much more immersive than just showing pictures.” Brand
Karma can film a space — such as a hotel bedroom — in a 360-degree video
format and import the image into a VR headset such as Oculus Rift or Microsoft
HoloLens. The client can then use this content for marketing to potential
guests or visitors who wish to investigate the hotel’s other provisions,
including properties in other cities. Brand Karma also creates “game-like
rendered spaces where the user can walk around and even interact with virtual
items within it,” Lam added. That said, the company still offers content
creation services for established media such as television commercials and
photography, which have maintained value even in fast-changing times. Brand
Karma’s clients in the hospitality, automobile, and property development and
management sectors use mixed-reality products for sales tours, corporate
events, and branding—either on websites or video sharing platforms. For
Kazuyoshi Shimojima, Big Data services are indispensable for enhancing a
company’s capacity to manage its online reputation and gain customer
insights. Shimojima is the Japan managing director of TrustYou, a data
analytics company that opened its Tokyo office in 2015. The company’s main
clients are hotels and online travel agents. TrustYou’s web-based analytics
tools crawl the Internet to monitor user feedback. Companies that use the
platform receive an alert every day someone writes a review, and these
reviews can be sent directly to property managers. Within the platform, a manager can
convert a review into a task that is added to a worker’s to-do list, thereby
allowing the hotel, for instance, to respond immediately to a complaint about
room cleanliness. Each hotel has an overall score, based on TrustYou’s own
algorithm, which can be compared against that of a competitor. The platform
also has an automated feature that analyzes the words used in a customer
review, thereby allowing the user to prioritize their response. “The words
highlighted in green are positive reviews; words in red are negative. For
example, this section in red says: ‘No free bottled water in the hotel,’ and
this one says, ‘The rooms were not clean.’” As comments are machine
translation-enabled, language barriers are reduced and reviews from around
the world can receive a response. Ratings provided by TrustYou can be found
on websites such as Kayak and Skyscanner, both global meta-search engines
that allow travelers to compare hotels, flights, and car rental services. Big Data is also the bread and butter
for Tokyo-based data analytics entrepreneur Sébastien Béal, CEO and founder
of Locarise Inc. “We use offline behavior to extract business insights for
companies in the real estate and retail industry,” Béal told The Journal.
Offline behavior can take many forms, he said, including the way we walk
around a shopping mall or the time we spend in a particular area of a store.
In a networked society, it is now possible to collect and analyze anonymous
data — especially that emitted by smartphones and shared on Wi-Fi or
Bluetooth networks, which leave a digital trace — and learn how people use
and experience spaces. How could this data be used? By measuring the traffic
inside and outside a store, or even at a specific shop display, you can learn
a lot about flow patterns in a building or location, Béal explained. But
there is more. Data can help retailers analyze the entire customer experience
by knowing where people go within the space and where they stop and spend
time. “We can look at point-of-sale data,
average basket sizes, customer loyalty, ‘dwell time,’ and conversation
rates,” Béal said. “It is a kind of analytics 2.0 for retail.” Understanding
market trends, even as they change from season to season or year to year, is
another benefit of analyzing customer behavior. “People in the real estate
industry need this information to determine the kind of tenant mix they want
for their premises,” Béal continued. “It also allows them to see whether
their current mix of users is working—not just for a specific unit, but for
an entire shopping mall.” Detailed data points can also optimize a realtor’s
ability to accurately value their units. “The data strengthens an estate
agent’s position when it comes to negotiating rents, as they can point to
footfall in front of a unit and say something like, ‘We can guarantee a
certain amount of traffic in this location.’” Locarise plans to expand its
analytics offerings to the marketing, advertising, and retargeting arenas,
where the efficiency of marketing strategies can be tracked, analyzed, and
used in follow-up efforts. While data analytics and mixed
reality are bringing new customer insights and engagement to users, arguably
the greatest stumbling block for corporate-client-customer relations is the
language barrier. Tokyo-based translation company Gengo, Inc. works to reduce
that barrier. Companies in the hospitality and real estate industries use
Gengo’s network of more than 20,000 translators to enhance their communications.
The company, for example, launched a joint service to assist travel agent JTB
Corporation’s network of traditional Japanese inns with translations for
signs and notices — such as ‘Please take off your shoes’ and ‘The bathroom is
to the left’ — into English, company co-founder and CEO Matthew Romaine
explained. “We also help hotel chains translate local events and activities
for their guests, descriptions of rooms and amenities for online listings,
and customer support exchanges,” Romaine added. A key benefit of using Gengo’s
translation service, he said, is that a company’s ability to understand the
needs of their customers is enhanced — regardless of where they come from or
what language they speak. “Every culture and traveler is different. Being
able to communicate in their language is a big step in showing your sincerity
in providing a valuable service. Allowing a customer to articulate themselves
better in their own language opens up greater honesty, giving the service
provider clearer direction in what issues to solve.” Thanks to the rise of
online travel agents, which have made travel easier, Gengo has seen a steady
increase in demand for its services since 2008. This is quite apart from the
record rise in 2016 of inbound tourism to Japan, which hit 24 million annual
visitors. Going forward, the company is training industry-specific
translators—in addition to its current focus on e-commerce, travel, and
media—and expanding its offerings further into Europe and Asia. When it comes to hitting clients with
the “wow factor,” the sky is the limit for Curtis Shaw and Kieran Jackson.
“Drone-based footage gives real estate agents an edge on their competition,
because clients can now see the entire neighborhood as a whole, as opposed to
the old days when all they could see was the property and its immediate
surroundings,” explained Shaw, an independent filmmaker, editor, and drone
operator. Jackson, a sales associate at Los Angeles-based real estate
brokerage Keller Williams Hollywood Hills, agrees. “Video, including images
from drones, is really important right now. When you’re an agent talking to a
client, you want to show them video of the property. It is the best way to
impress them; it adds that wow factor,” the realtor said. Shaw and Jackson
point to the prevalence of high-definition displays, smartphones, and other
mobile devices which, they say, have created an appetite for highly immersive
content—be it 360-degree images or drone footage. Some five years ago,
Jackson says, high-end realtors in the Hollywood area started using drone
footage as marketing collateral on platforms such as YouTube. “There are so many agents here that
now use drone footage; if you’re not using it, you should ask yourself, ‘What
are you doing?’,” he asks rhetorically, even while admitting that quality
photography still has its place in the industry. Shaw agrees, but added:
“Drones aren’t just about showcasing the property and its neighborhood from
new and interesting perspectives. You also want to enhance the amenities of
the property. “If you have a balcony on the second floor, for example, you
have the drone swoop up past the chandelier, face the balcony, and reach up
to the door. I shot something like this in a building in Yokohama, and the
effect on clients was very impressive.” In the United States, Shaw has filmed
large, high-end family homes and condos, while in Japan some of his clients
have hailed from the agricultural sector, where huge swathes of farmland can
be filmed. His goal going forward is to incorporate mixed-media content into
this work, including the capacity to stream drone images live. PropTech is clearly here to stay. But
as with any technological revolution, there will be lag between early
adopters and the rest, the experts told The Journal. A number of hurdles
still must be negotiated, not least of which are legislation, challenges due
to novelty, and questions over the best mix of such solutions in a company’s
branding or marketing strategies. Data protection and privacy laws or
regulations surrounding where and how to fly drones, for instance, are still
being ironed out around the world. That said, all the contributors are
excited about 2017 and the coming of age of mixed reality and data analytics.
And with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games just around the corner,
the general sentiment is that there will be greater demand for corporate
communications, branding, and analytics services not just in the property
development and management sectors, but across all areas of the economy. From https://www.japantoday.com 02/07/2017 Naver to Become Tech Platform for
Small Businesses, Creators The newly appointed CEO of South Korea’s
leading portal operator Naver pledged to make Naver a tech-savvy platform
that helps small businesses and local creators grow and flourish, at a
conference in Seoul on Tuesday. Han Seong-sook, the executive vice president
of Naver’s services division, is slated to become the company’s first female
chief executive, as the successor to CEO Kim Sang-hun, who recently resigned
from his post at the year’s end. Han reaffirmed Naver’s dedication to its
ongoing “Project Flower” — the company’s long-term project to provide
meaningful platform services that small enterprises and creators can utilize
to maximum benefits and reap success. “We would like to help creators easily
form and sustain new businesses, as well as venture out to global markets,”
Han said during the annual “Naver Connect 2017” conference. From http://www.koreaherald.com 11/22/2016 The use of mobile payment is on the
rise with 25.2 percent of South Koreans having used the service within the
past six months, the Bank of Korea said. The survey on 2,500 adults conducted
between June and July showed that the number of mobile payment users surged
by 9.4 percentage points from the same period last year. Mobile payment
refers to paying for merchandise at stores or online using one’s mobile phone
or other mobile devices. By age, 41.8 percent of those in their 30s said they
used mobile payment method within the past six months. Among those in their
40s, 35 percent used mobile devices for payment, while it was 33.6 percent
for those in their 20s, 17.3 percent for those in their 50s and 5.0 percent
for those aged 60 and over. Of the users, 37.3 percent paid via mobile service
once or twice a week, followed by 39.2 percent that said they used it one to
three times a month, and 23.5 percent that said once or less a month. From http://www.koreaherald.com/ 12/26/2016 Online Shopping Hits Record High in
November Online shopping in South Korea
reached a fresh record high in November, a government report showed Monday,
in the latest sign that a growing number of South Koreans are using computers
or mobile devices to buy goods. Total online transactions reached a record 6
trillion won ($4.9 billion) in November, up 23 percent from a year earlier,
according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea. Purchases made through
smartphones, tablets and other mobile gadgets also soared 40.5 percent
on-year to a record 3.4 trillion won, accounting for 56.4 percent of all
online sales in November. Demand for clothes jumped 31.6 percent on-year to
887.9 billion won and online sales of cosmetics surged 44.4 percent to 480.9
billion won, while online food delivery vaulted 37.1 percent to 573.1 billion
won. From http://www.koreaherald.com 01/02/2017 SK Telecom Pledges to Lead Industry
4.0 SK Telecom CEO Park Jung-ho, chief of
South Korea’s largest mobile carrier, pledged to make SKT the country’s
representative information and communication technology firm to lead the
fourth industrial revolution. “The fourth industrial revolution will eliminate
borders and divisions between business sectors, ushering in global
competition” Park said. “We must break out of the current paradigm and devise
a new business model so that we can achieve growth on a global scale,” he
said, vowing to expand partnerships with global information communication
technology companies as well as local startups. The SKT CEO asked the company
to offer customer-centered services and products in the mobile network
operating business, while driving its resources toward nurturing its Internet
of Things technologies ranging from connected cars and smart energy
management to smart homes. The network operator must also pursue bold
investments to secure global media content and new media solutions for the
home to boost its media platform business, among other strategic agendas,
said Park. From http://www.koreaherald.com 01/02/2017 SOUTH KOREA: Online Sales of
Insurance Products Surge in 2016 The sales of non-life insurance
products via the Internet soared last year, as local insurance firms rushed
to roll out cheap and online-only products to woo customers, data showed
Monday. According to the General Insurance Association of Korea, local
non-life insurance companies raised a total of 1.4 trillion won ($1.19
billion) in premiums by selling products through the Internet last year, up
34.3 percent from a year earlier. The growth rate is far higher than the 1.3
percent on-year rise in overall insurance premiums collected during the cited
period, the data showed. The 2016 tally also marks a sharp rise from 664
billion won at the end of September 2014, they showed. Online-only insurance
products are usually cheaper than those sold in face-to-face marketing, and
local insurance firms launched a unified online platform to sell their
products in November 2015, which facilitated the sales of such products. The
data showed that local insurance firms raised 51.2 trillion won in premiums
from off-line sales of insurance products last year, accounting for 89.5
percent of all premiums raised last year. From http://www.koreaherald.com 01/30/2017 Internet-Only K-Bank Joins Banking
Federation The internet-only K-Bank, which is
expected to launch operations in late February, has become a new member of
the Korea Federation of Banks as of Tuesday, the KFB said. It is the first
time that the KFB added a new bank member in 25 years since Pyeonghwa Bank
joined the association in 1992. The number of KFB members is now 21 with the
joining of K-Bank. Among nonbanking financial institutions, the Korea Housing
Finance Corp. and the Korea Finance Corp. joined the group in 2005 and 2009,
respectively. The number of KFB members peaked at 35 in 1997 and has declined
to 20 since, with merges and acquisitions of financial firms in the wake of
the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Before K-Bank launches, the KFB will link
its electronic system with the internet-only bank, the federation said. “The
KFB will actively support K-Bank to provide innovative financial services
such as big data-based mid-range interest rate loans. We hope these services
help the overall banking industry improve competitiveness,” the KFB said in a
statement. The KFB also urged lawmakers to pass
a revision bill to allow IT firms such as KT and Kakao to have higher share
in a bank to ensure stable management of internet-only banks. K-Bank is a
consortium led by telco giant KT and 20 other firms including Woori Bank and
NH Investment & Securities. Currently, conglomerates are banned from
owing a more than 10 percent stake in a bank. If their voting rights are
involved, their stake is limited to 4 percent. K-Bank’s rival Kakao Bank, a
consortium led by mobile messenger app operator Kakao Corp., is expected to
get a business license from the Financial Services Commission within the
first quarter and launch service in the second quarter. From http://www.koreaherald.com 02/01/2017 Samsung Pay Mini to Intensify Online
Payment Market Samsung Electronics’ plan to launch
Samsung Pay Mini in Korea is expected to intensify online payment competition
with local internet and mobile giants Naver and Kakao. Samsung said Thursday
it would “launch Samsung Pay Mini in March to enable Android users to pay
online with the app.” It allows users to conveniently pay online with their
credit card information saved via a smartphone running on Android 5.0
Lollipop and with a high definition display. Since the app does not support
magnetic secure transmission, it cannot be used at brick and mortar stores.
Samsung, which initially wanted to make Samsung Pay Mini available for both
Android and iPhone users, gave up the plan for iPhones as Apple refused to
adopt the service. Samsung Pay Mini will also be used only in Korea
initially. The company said it is unsure whether it will expand the service
overseas. The nation’s largest smartphone maker has already seen success in
the local mobile payment market with Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay, which was
launched in August, 2015, is a simple payment service allowing users to pay
at stores by simply hovering their smartphones over the card reader. Samsung,
as a sole provider of the mobile payment service here, has dominated the
market with more than 5 million users. From http://www.koreaherald.com 02/02/2017 Online Shopping in Korea Hits Record
High in Dec. Online shopping in South Korea
reached a fresh record high in December on the back of a steady upbeat trend
of buying goods through computers and mobile phones, government data showed
Friday. Total online transactions reached a record 6.2 trillion won ($5.4
billion) in December, up 15.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the
data compiled by Statistics Korea. It marked the highest monthly amount of
online purchases, breaking the earlier record of 6.1 trillion won set in the
previous month. Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile
gadgets also soared 30.2 percent on-year to a record 3.5 trillion won,
accounting for 56.3 percent of all online sales in December. Demand for
clothes rose 10 percent on-year to 703.9 billion won and online sales of
cosmetics surged 31.9 percent to 513.6 billion won, while online food
delivery vaulted 31.2 percent to 579.4 billion won. For all of 2016, online
shopping jumped 20.5 percent on-year to a record 64.9 trillion won, with
mobile transactions totaling 34.7 trillion won, up 41.9 percent from a year
earlier. Meanwhile, the amount of purchases from foreign online shopping
malls grew 12.1 percent on-year to 1.9 trillion won last year as a growing
number of South Korean people seek cheaper and exclusive overseas products.
Nearly 65 percent of the overseas purchases were made through US online
malls, followed by the those from the European Union and China. Purchases of
foodstuffs jumped 31.7 percent to 442.8 billion won and those of electronic devices
surged 37.2 percent to 192.1 billion won. From http://www.koreaherald.com 02/03/2017 1 in 5 Private Firms Use
Telecommuting About 1 in 5 private companies in
South Korea used telecommuting last year, allowing their employees to work
via mobile telecommunications technology, not at their office buildings, a
survey showed Thursday. According to the survey of 1,700 employees and 300
managers, 18.6 percent of the respondents said they worked from home and
other places without commuting to their offices last year, up 4.4 percentage
points from 2015. The survey was jointly conducted by the Ministry of
Science, ICT and Future Planning and the National Information Society Agency.
The so-called "smart" workplaces included mobile offices, flexible
work hours, teleconference and working from home. According to the survey,
98.5 percent of the managers responded that telecommuting had a positive
effect on improving work efficiency. The average satisfaction index of
employees who telecommute rose to 67.6 points last year, up by 2.1 points
from a year ago. In a statement, the ministry said it will make more effort
to help private companies adopt "smart" workplaces. From http://www.koreaherald.com 02/09/2017 |
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CAMBODIA: Postal Service to Launch
E-Commerce in March The state-owned Cambodia Post will
launch an online shopping platform in March in a move to tap the current rise
in e-commerce activity, local media reported on Thursday, citing the
enterprise's boss. Ork Bora, director-general of the Cambodia Post, said that
after a year of studying e-commerce, the enterprise decided to launch the
platform to allow all business owners to sell their products with the postal
service. "We plan to launch in the first quarter of the year, maybe in
March. I have been conducting a study and working on online shopping for
about a year, so now we decided to launch an online shopping platform and
businesspeople can sell their products with us," he was quoted as saying
by the Khmer Times. "You see that online shopping is getting popular
among our people now. If you look at the number of internet users with the
Telecom Regulator of Cambodia, there were some seven million," he said.
Bora said that the enterprise had already served as an agent for China's
biggest online shopping company Alibaba and has delivered their products to
customers in Cambodia for four months. He said that currently the Cambodia
Post has a nationwide delivery and transport service, so an online shopping
platform would be convenient for both sellers and customers. Bora said there
were many options for customers to complete their transactions including
paying online, through a mobile money transfer service or by giving money
directly to postal service staff. "We don't charge a service fee from
customers, but sellers on our online system," he said, adding that
starting from March, people can log in to the Cambodia Post website for
online shopping. Although online shopping is on the rise in Cambodia, the
Southeast Asian country has not yet passed its e-commerce law, which is
expected to be debated and passed by the National Assembly as early as the
middle of this year. The draft e-commerce law, designed to protect both
investors and consumers, has 12 chapters that are divided into 90 articles.
It has rules for trading companies to ensure the security of consumers when
making online payments. It also states punishment for those who abuse the
law. From http://news.xinhuanet.com 01/05/2017 MYANMAR: 4th Telecommunication
Operator Granted Myanmar's Ministry of Transportation
and Communication granted on Thursday the fourth telecommunication operator
to operate in the country. Myanmar National Tele & Communications Co.
Ltd, which is a joint venture between local companies and Vietnam's Defense
Ministry-owned Viettel, becomes the fourth operator with a 15-year license.
The operator has to pay the government 300 million U.S. dollars as license
fees and network fees. The Viettel is holding 49 percent of the stake of the
joint venture while 51 percent is owned by Myanmar National Telecom Holding
Public Limited and Star High Public Co. Ltd, said U Thant Sin Maung, Minister
for Transportation and Communications. Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public
Limited is a local consortium of 11 companies and Star High Public Co. Ltd is
a subsidiary of Myanmar Economic Corporation. The ministry formed Joint
Venture Formation and Tender Selection Work Committee and hired Roland Berger
Consultant as an adviser in order to select the foreign partner. "It
will take a year for the distribution of SIM cards. The company targets the
rural areas and will create about 6,000 job opportunities directly,"
said U Zaw Min Oo, Chief Financial Officer of Myanmar National Tele &
Communications Co. Ltd. At present, the three operators providing services in
the country are Norway-based Telenor, Qatar-based Ooredoo and
government-owned Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT). From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 01/12/2017 Myanmar to Adopt Full Online
Licensing System to Enhance Trade Myanmar's ministry of commerce will
adopt full online licensing system to boost export and import, said the ministry
on Thursday. The ministry started the online licensing system for some items
in June last year and the system was extended to allow import license for
cutting, making and packing (CMP) garment in late January this year. Seeking
advice from the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (UMFCCI), the ministry is planning to adopt full online licensing
system for more export and import items. Suffering constantly trade deficit
which is one vital problem for huge demand of foreign currency, the
government is planning to enhance export to solve the deficit. Local traders
complained the complicated rules and regulations as part of restrictions to
boost trade. The trade deficit in nearly 11 months of this fiscal year
2016-2017 as of Feb. 3 reached 4.021 billion U.S. dollars, according to
figures of the ministry. The total trade value amounted to 23.057 billion
U.S. dollars during the period, up over 170 million U.S. dollars from the
same period of the previous fiscal year. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 02/16/2017 MALAYSIA: Globalisation of Tech Icons WITH a stream of global uncertainties
coming into play, it is inevitably tough for companies here to have foreign
market access and grow market share. Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation’s
(MDEC) Global Acceleration and Innovation Network (GAIN) programme may be the
much needed impetus in times such as this, as it is designed to catalyse
Malaysian tech companies that have the potential to be global tech icons. It
is estimated that while about 88% of Malaysian information technology (IT)
firms reported an average yearly revenue of RM1.4mil, these companies have
not broken the start-up status ceiling. There are many reasons for this
including lack of appetite for regional expansion, access to scale-up capital
and most importantly, the lack of visibility to the global markets. As
Malaysia is located at the heart of Asean, making it an ideal gateway to
access the region’s population base of 600 million and a collective gross
domestic product of US$2 trillion (RM8.9 trillion), it makes sense for tech
firms to further extend their reach for better growth prospects. We spoke to
three local tech companies that are fast expanding in this region – S5
Systems, AIMS Group of Companies and Piktochart. These firms not only have
visionary leaders but own outstanding tech potential and encouraging revenue
and growth results via innovative business models and regional expansion plans. S5 Systems FOUNDED in 2006 by group chief
executive officer Datuk Seri Johann Young, S5 Systems is a software company
providing solutions that span across securing credentials and law
enforcement, customs, immigration and border protection, foreign worker
management, enterprise security and asset management, among others. The
national security solutions provider is also known for its patented and
award-winning forensic level (Level 3 Security) security solutions that
enables governments and companies manage identities and documents of
individuals via enforcement technologies operated securely over distributed
networks and workforces. S5 Systems has developed and patented its homegrown
security technologies and this is currently used in projects here and abroad.
S5 Systems has also attained patents from the United States, Africa, Asia and
Australia. Johann said S5 had been very fortunate to have gotten plenty of
Government support in terms of software testing and certification, to name a
few. “This should give us a distinct and wider market penetration as well as
the government-to-government validation that is beneficial in securing new
contracts in new markets. “Another facet of Government support
comes in the form of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation’s (MDEC) Global
Acceleration and Innovation Network (GAIN) programme, where we believe is
bringing great value in the assistance in technology acquisition and
connecting tech companies to viable foreign firms that have synergies and are
interested to collaborate technologically or commercially,” noted Johann,
adding that this had a two-fold effect of expediting the process of breaking
into new markets. Johann expects growth opportunities in 2017 and beyond and
this would be mainly supported by data on international tourist arrivals and
migrant volumes. He said international tourist arrivals were up 4.4% to 1.184
billion in 2015 from 1.134 billion in 2014, and this was estimated to reach
1.8 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, international migrant volumes have been growing
rapidly worldwide from 172.7 million in 2005 to 243.7 million in 2015. “The
demand for solutions and systems in the national security space will continue
to grow locally and abroad as governments and authorities face challenges in
population growth. “The current challenges faced in the global economy may
contribute to the escalating demand and government spending in the national
security space as well,” he said, adding that this left some governments
little choice but to continue to invest in new technology and projects to
address the challenges ahead. AIMS Group of Companies WITH a strong presence in Asean, AIMS
Group of Companies was acquired by TIME dotCom Bhd in 2011 and known for its
data centre that hosts all domestic and more than 80% of foreign telco
carriers, apart from local Internet and communication service providers. The
company currently supports more than 300 customers, owns and manages
approximately 60,000 sq ft of secure data centres, certified to international
standards. Recognised as a firm with high growth potential by an
international research house, CEO Chiew Kok Hin said the collaboration under
the GAIN programme benefitted AIMS in terms of facilitation and speed to
expand in the foreign markets, more networking opportunities, apart from
keeping abreast with the latest industry outlook. Through its flagship centre
in Menara AIMS located in Kuala Lumpur and other data centres strategically
located in Cyberjaya, Penang, Johor Baru and Kota Kinabalu, the firm’s data
storage facilities and ancillary services provide comprehensive
interconnectivity coverage and options in the region. Chiew said the company
had invested a substantial amount in expanding the data centre capacity to
10,000-sq-ft available capacity now. “About 90% of this will be sold out
soon due to high demand,” he noted, adding that the company’s other
affiliated data centres are located in Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong.
Amidst the challenging business landscape, Chiew said AIMS is on an
aggressive expansion mode, particularly focusing on Asean. By successfully
winning notable global contracts this year, he said AIMS is confident of
securing more prominent ones in years to come. “The market is tough now and
is expected to be even more challenging next year due to macroeconomic
factors. “Still, the industry is expected to grow as big data, Internet of
Things, Internet of Everything, automation software and other application
development, among others, expand vigorously,” said Chiew, adding that growth
of these areas contributed to the importance of data centres and managed
services. While AIMS is expected to grow above the industry’s compounded
annual growth rate, Chiew said in such a competitive industry, the company
had built a solid reputation and currently partnered with technology
providers such as IBM, Akamai Technologies (for security and content delivery
and SwiftServe (for media streaming). Piktochart PIKTOCHART, a web-based infographics
application, was co-founded by CEO Goh Ai Ching. Based in Penang, Goh said an
important feature of Piktochart is an easy-to-use infographic maker which
enables an ordinary user to create professionally designed visuals without
the need to hire professional. The programme also provides tools to add
interactive maps, charts, videos and hyperlinks. Piktochart is appreciative
to efforts made by relevant government agencies that are facilitating
industry support and talent development. “These include getting working visas
for expatriates, location of office space in Penang, among others. The
government agencies are also able to come up with policies that would benefit
technology firms,” she said, adding these are pertinent as entrepreneurs are
constantly looking for the most “fertile soil” to plant a business. As a
product-driven firm, Goh admitted that it is facing challenges in light of
the rather volatile economic climate. “Our challenges include recruitment and
scaling our processes. “With our efficient team of 50 people, we hope to take
the right direction by creating a product that will differentiate us from
competitors,” noted Goh. In the meantime, she said the company would ensure
that its core offering continued to be unique and different to attract two
main segments of users within the business and education environment. “We are
looking to branch out and create other product offerings that people are in
search of,” she added. With an easy-to-use editor that focuses on design and
presentation, Piktochart takes off the frustration from using complicated
design software or expensive designers. Apart from having global clients such
as Facebook, LinkedIn and Google, about 60% of Piktochart’s clients are based
out of United States and Canada, with the rest mostly in Europe and South
America. The company’s free version of application has over 600,000
registered users. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/30/2016 IE Singapore, UOB Sign MOU to Boost
Trade, Internationalization for Singapore Companies The International Enterprise (IE)
Singapore and the United Overseas Bank (UOB) signed a Memorandum of
Understanding on Thursday to help more Singapore companies in cross-border
trade and internationalization. This collaboration taps the rising potential
of ASEAN, especially in intra-regional trade, the two parties said in a joint
statement. The region's growing middle income class, increasing connectivity
and expansion of e-commerce are expected to create greater demand for goods
and services, driving cross-border and B2B transactions. In line with IE
Singapore's strategy to build and strengthen wholesale trade in Singapore,
UOB will provide advisory and solutions on trade financing for Singapore
companies expanding overseas. Both parties will also develop innovative
initiatives and financial tools to ease the internationalization process,
including piloting new FinTech solutions to raise cross-border trade
efficiency. Chua Taik Him, deputy CEO of IE Singapore, said this connectivity
collaboration helps IE Singapore and UOB to reach out to more Singapore
companies, offering them better market insights, business intelligence and a
more comprehensive choice of financial solutions. UOB's Managing Director and
head of group wholesale banking Frederick Chin noted the collaboration with
IE Singapore helps to deepen UOB's support of Singapore companies as they
spread their wings overseas. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 11/25/2016 THAILAND: PM Urges E-Payment
Development Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has
said there is a need for all ministries and relevant agencies to co-ordinate
and connect with specific policies to promote electronic payments. He said
there was a need to minimise cash payment, and make e-payments compulsory
while encouraging its use. Deputy PM Dam made the comment during a Viet Nam
E-payment Forum on Thursday in Ha Noi to discuss three major topics that
included combining efforts by Government departments to promote online tax collecting,
tax payments and encouraging online payment in e-commerce and retail,
promoting online payment in transport and the ability of connecting to other
payment activities in Viet Nam, and opportunities and challenges facing Viet
Nam’ banking sector brought by Fintech companies. The deputy PM said that
currently Viet Nam had about 125,000 public services provided by the
government and authorised agencies. Of these, only 1,200 services had
implemented e-technology in their services. The Government has approved a
master development plan of e-commerce from now until 2020. However, the
implementation of e-payment is still limited and the habit of making cash
payments was not easy to change, Dam told the forum. To promote e-payments, Bui Quang
Tien, Director of the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV)’s Payment System
Department said the central bank has made many important recommendations by
asking the Ministry of Finance to propose tax policies to encourage e-tax
payment and e-payment in e-commerce development in retail shops. The SBV will
complete a legal corridor and initiate policies to encourage e-payment via
the automated clearinghouse (ACH) and ask National Payment Corporation of
Vietnam (NAPAS) to build ACH system, and continue to complete financial
switching system to promote and improve the efficiency of e-payment in
e-commerce and e-tax payment. Lai Viet Anh, Deputy Head of Vietnam E-Commerce
and Information Technology Agency (VECITA) said that 7 per cent of payments
were made online in e-commerce. She said more efficient solutions should be
envisaged apart from incentives to exempt or refund tax for businesses who
use e-payment service. Instead of using administrative measures, the
participation of intermediaries such as companies who provide intermediate e-payment
services should be encouraged. When users recognised substantial benefits
from e-payment service, they would automatically begin e-payment. Also at the forum, Nguyen Manh Thang
Deputy Director of Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam, said that promoting
online payment in transport was a need and toll collection without asking
drivers to stop would benefit them in many ways. However, in Viet Nam, this
plan was encountering problems. He attributed the problems to obsolete
technology which was inconveniencing users and co-ordination between road
project investors and authorised bodies was still poor. Nguyen Hong Truong,
deputy minister of transport, said the transport sector had many services
relating to e-payment. The transport ministry had conducted a roadmap for
toll collection. It would make efforts to remove barriers at toll stations by
2019. The government recently has also asked his ministry to study post-paid
electronic toll collection. Vu Quang Lam, from VETC Vietnam Joint Stock
Company, said there were currently several types of e-payment smart cards for
toll collection. Drivers should only have only one type of smart card thus
making it easy for them. Truong said in time to come, there
will be only one kind of smart card for toll collection which would make it
convenient for users. At the forum, Truong Gia Binh CEO of FPT Corporation
proposed four solutions to the Government and relevant ministries to improve
e-payment in toll collection. He wanted the government to soon issue
regulations and a roadmap for users to implement compulsory e-payment in toll
collection and payment in public transport. The Ministry of Transport and
local authorities have been asked to work with the SBV to soon have a
standard e-payment solution with the ability of connecting to other payment
activities in the public sector to avoid wasting resources. The Ministry of
Transport has been requested to instruct relevant bodies to agree sharing
revenues from toll collection between Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) investors
and Build-Own-Operate (BOO) investors so as to spur the development of
automatic electronic toll collection nationwide. The SBV and Ministry of
Transport have been asked to offer incentives and enhance mass media to boost
e-payment in transport. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/27/2016 Thai E-Wallet Platform Provider Joins
Hands with Myanmar Retailer. T2P Deep Pocket, Thailand’s fastest-growing
e-wallet platform provider, has formed a joint venture with City Mart
Holding, the leading modern retail chain in Myanmar. A joint venture
agreement between them was signed during a Myanmar-Thailand cooperation
mission presided over by Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Deputy
Prime Minister of Thailand Dr Somkid Jatusripitak in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday.
The joint venture will leverage the strengths of both parties to launch
various innovative fintech services such as payment platform, loyalty, e-gift
platform and closed- and open-loop e-wallets for Myanmar’s population of 51
million. The joint venture is a key stepping stone for T2P to expand its
services beyond its home country Thailand and for City Mart to offer new
products through its existing retail platform From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 02/03/2017 SIPA Giving SMEs, OTOP Digital Lift THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY Promotion
Agency (SIPA) plans to promote 4,000 small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) and OTOP entrepreneurs to utilise digital technology to support their
businesses. It will also provide a channel management systems (CMS) to help
SMEs and OTOP entrepreneurs distribute their products online. Chainarong
Chatrattanawaree, business promotion measures manager at SIPA, said that the
agency had develop Entrepreneur Total Digital Services to allow SMEs and OTOP
entrepreneurs to utilise digital technology in terms of digital commerce,
enterprise resource planning software (ERP) for SMEs, training and
consultants to support their businesses. The agency will use CMS to support
the 4,000 OTOP entrepreneurs and SMEs in 10 provinces such as Chiang Mai and
Khon Kaen. CMS is a tool that allows SMEs and OTOP entrepreneurs to upload
their products and services by themselves, and the sales information of
products and services will automatically be shown via the e-marketplace
platform. As part of the CMS step, in March
this year the agency will allow SMEs and OTOP entrepreneurs who members of
the Entrepreneur Total Digital Services project to distribute their product
via CMS and connect to three e-market platforms – AIS marketplace,
www.tarad.com and www.thaimall.net. The project aims to
create added value for SMEs and OTOP entrepreneurs so that they will able to
create competitiveness and opportunities for community products and services.
The agency will develop “Thailand I Love U” to allow entrepreneurs to promote
their products and tourist destinations via the online channel and utilise
software, such as accounting software, to manage their business operations in
order to enhance their businesses. Customers will also able to utilise the
“Thailand I Love U” application. The agency will also develop a template
website for SMEs and OTOP entrepreneurs to use to promote their products and
services and connect with “Thailand I Love U” application, which aims to
create added value to those products and services. “We develop tools and a
digital platform to support and promote SMEs and OTOP entrepreneurs so that
they can promote their products and services easier to the market and be able
to create added value for their products and services,” said Chainarong. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 02/13/2017 VIETNAM: 4G Roll-Out Opens Up
Investment Opportunities in Telecoms Sector The deployment of 4G, combined with
increasing demand for advanced IT services, is set to drive growth in
Vietnam’s telecoms sector. Much of the demand is predicted to come from
Vietnam’s rising middle-income segment. It is estimated that at least 33m
people in the country – approximately one-third of the population – will fall
within the middle- and affluent-earnings brackets by 2020, according to a
study by Boston Consulting Group, deepening the potential client pool. New
products and services are also expected to pave the way for increasing
opportunities for foreign investors in a market where mobile phone
subscription levels are already at near-saturation point. Currently, Vietnam
has more than 120m mobile subscriptions, with a penetration rate of around
133%, according to the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT). 4G roll-out Four of Vietnam’s mobile telecoms
providers will begin rolling out 4G in 2017 – Viettel Group, MobiFone,
Vinaphone and Gtel Mobile – after the government granted them licences for
the advanced network service in October. The operators will hold the rights
to 4G services until the end of the third quarter of 2024. The country’s
three major telecoms companies – state-owned Viettel Group and MobiFone, and
VNPT subsidiary Vinaphone, which together account for 95% of the market –
have all run pilot 4G programmes. Vietnam’s fourth main carrier, FPT, has yet
to be given approval to take the step up from 3G. Days after awarding
licenses to the three telecoms operators, the government also gave the green
light to Gtel, a joint venture between state-run company Global
Telecommunications Corporation and Russia’s VimpelCom. The operators have
already moved to put the necessary infrastructure in place to carry-out 4G
services, according to press reports, with the service set to be offered on
the 1800 MHz band. The launch should also go some way to advancing the
government goal to have at least 95% of the population have access to 3G or
4G services by 2020. Market shift The introduction of 4G services is
expected to fuel a rise in new products and open opportunities for investors.
Currently, out of Vietnam’s 37m 3G subscribers, only 5% have devices, such as
phones and handsets, which are compatible with 4G services. While to date
there has been limited opportunities for foreign investment in Vietnam’s telecoms
sector, the shifting focus of the industry away from traditional services,
such as voice and messaging, towards digital and data products should open
doors for investors, according to Tran Manh Hung, chairman of the member
council of VNPT. “With the trend of convergence of telecoms with IT, content
sharing and value-added services are now playing increasingly important roles
in creating revenues for operators,” he told OBG. “The transformation to
digital services has created many opportunities for investors in Vietnam,
such as deploying platforms, cloud computing and big data services.” This
transformation means that foreign firms and investors with services that are
applicable to the Vietnam market may increasingly look to develop cooperative
ventures with local telecoms operators, Tran Manh Hung added. Opportunity on the horizon Another avenue for foreign investment
in Vietnam’s telecoms sector may be about to open, with the government
looking to privatise a partial stake in MobiFone, the country’s second-largest
operator. Under existing regulations, foreign investors can own up to a 49%
stake in MobiFone, while VNTP can hold up to a 20% share. Meanwhile, overseas
suitors have already expressed interest, with Singapore’s Singtel,
Australia’s Telstra, Malaysia’s Axiata and Norway’s Telenor submitting bids
for a stake in MobiFone, according to press reports. While the line may be
long, foreign investors will likely have to wait some time before the share
sale takes place, as the proposed MobiFone initial public offering has been
deferred a number of times since first mooted at the beginning of the decade.
Should the sale go through, investors would have to raise approximately
VND20trn ($895.8m) for a 49% stake in the firm, according to industry
estimates. This Vietnam economic update was produced by Oxford Business
Group. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com 12/02/2016 Vietnam's Biggest Online Shopping Day
Kicks Off, over 360,000 Products on Sale The biggest online shopping day of
Vietnam, or Online Friday 2016, kicked off on Friday with over 360,000
products on sale. According to Vietnam e-Commerce and Information Technology
Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the organizer, as many as
364,496 products by 3,530 companies are participating on the event. Among the
figure, there are 18,812 promotions with the biggest sale up to 50 percent,
said the ministry. The total revenue of Online Friday 2016 is expected to hit
1 trillion Vietnamese dong (44.84 million U.S. dollars), doubling the figure
of 2015 and six times as much as that of the first launch in 2014. The
website of this year's event is forecast to have five million clicks,
compared to 2.56 million clicks in 2015. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 12/02/2016 VN Retail E-Commerce to Earn $10
Billion by 2020 Việt Nam’s potential for e-commerce
development in the retail sector could achieve a US$10-billion revenue by
2020, accounting for half the country’s total retail sales. Data from the
Association of Việt Nam Retailers (AVR) indicates that in 2015, retail
e-commerce surpassed $4.07 billion, with a growth rate of 20 per cent. Hồ Thị
Kim Thoa, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, told a forum on e-commerce
and mobile phone technologies in Hà Nội yesterday that e-commerce was a vital
development trend in the retail sector. Thoa said last year, the growth rate
of the retail sector was 9.5 per cent. Traditional retail made up 80 per
cent, while modern retail including supermarkets, convenience stores and
e-commerce accounted for only 20 per cent. “Notably, in the modern retail
channels, the portion of e-commerce was at a low level of around 2.8 per
cent,” she added. The country had 217 e-commerce trading floors with total
revenues of VNĐ1.66
trillion in 2014, double the 2013 figure. “Vietnamese businesses have seen
positive changes in e-commerce by big firms. The number of small- and
medium-size enterprises (SMEs) participating in e-commerce was modest even
though 97 per cent of the country’s 600,000 firms are SMEs,” she said. The deputy minister noted that the
Prime Minister had promulgated a decision on master planning of e-commerce in
2016-20. She gave the recent Online Friday on December 2 as an optimistic
example of e-commerce development. The number of enterprises joining in the
event this year was 3,000, higher than last year. She urged businesses to
catch up with e-commerce trends and have plans to enhance e-commerce
development. Đinh Thị Mỹ Loan, AVR’s chairwoman,
said there were many factors promoting e-commerce development, including the
popularity of mobile devices. Nguyễn Thanh Hưng, chairman of Việt Nam
E-commerce Association (VECOM), agreed that the development of mobile phones
and applications had contributed to promoting purchasing activities. Hưng
said the country’s e-commerce had been developing at a growth rate of 30 per
cent a year. “Businesses have quickly shifted from offline to online retail.
Several are even totally doing business online,” he said. However, Phạm Thành
Công from Nielsen said the sector
should have solutions to meet demand in rural areas as there are 1.3 million
traditional shops, accounting for 85 per cent of the retail sector’s
revenue. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
12/09/2016 Digital Economy the Future for VN
Development A digital economy is an inevitable
step for development as the traditional economy is being saturated, said Nguyễn
Thành Hưng, deputy minister of information and communications at the 2016
Internet Day event in Hà Nội. The Việt Nam Internet Association yesterday
organised the event under the theme “How digital content contributes to an
Internet economy?” The wide application of information technology (IT) in all
activities of a digital economy would bring high profits, he said. “Many
countries have defined the digital economy as a new developmental driving
force for their socio-economic growth and development, as well as enhancing
the national competitive capacity on a global scale,” Hưng said. In recent
years, the digital content industry in Việt Nam has seen remarkable
development, playing a more important role in the country’s IT sector. The
revenue of the digital content industry increased from US$480 million to $1.4
billion in the 2008-2014 period with a yearly growth rate of about 20 per
cent. The country’s digital content industry attracted more than 4,500
enterprises, creating 70,000 jobs. Until now, Việt Nam has built a diverse
digital content industry, including online products for education,
entertainment and content for mobile devices, Hưng said. The deputy minister said that the
digital economy industry would create favourable conditions to boost and
develop the digital content industry to become a key sector of the country’s
IT industry. With advantages such as young human resources, competitive labor
costs, a sharp increase in smart phones and 3G subscriptions and a developing
Internet infrastructure, Việt Nam was evaluated as one of the potential
markets of the digital industry, said Hưng. “This is also an opportunity for
Vietnamese companies to join the global supply chain of the digital economy
in general and digital content supply chain in particular”, he added.
However, the deputy minister emphasised that the result was not proportional
with the country’s potential, digital content revenue remained modest
compared to the whole IT sector’s income. Therefore, Hưng asked
telecommunication enterprises to focus on developing infrastructure of
transmission and telecommunications, applying modern high-quality technology
to provide safe services to people. Sharing at the event, Lê Hồng Minh, VNG
CEO, said for those under 25 years old, Internet means smartphones rather
than PCs. “It is similar to the case of changing from black and white
television to colour television”, he explained. “The number of smartphone
users will increase 30 times by 2020 compared to 2010 and accounted for
nearly 60 per cent of the Vietnamese population. Therefore, the opportunities
for mobile Internet will be 40-100 times higher than PC Internet,” Minh said.
To illustrate the development of mobile Internet, Minh gave statistics of the
development of mobile games (40 per cent), m-commerce (60 per cent) and
mobile payments (80 per cent). Internet Day is an annual event initiated by
the Việt Nam Internet Association. It is an occasion for enterprises
operating in the Internet field, association members, domestic and
international technology companies, government representatives and state
management agencies to meet, exchange and share experiences to develop the
Internet, and accelerate application, content and technology services. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
12/22/2016 Domestic Telecom Providers See Big
Revenues in 2016 Representatives from four of Việt Nam’s
largest telecommunication companies reported very large revenues in 2016,
with significant improvements over 2015, at a conference held by the Ministry
of Information and Communications (MIC) in Hà Nội yesterday. The Vietnam
Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) announced a sharp rise in both
revenues and profits in 2016, compared to the same period in 2015, said Phạm Đức Long, VNPT’s Chief Executive
Officer at the conference. The company recorded revenues of VNĐ135 trillion (US$6.09 billion), up by
VNĐ46.1 trillion ($2.08 billion) or 7
per cent from 2015, whereas income rose by 20 per cent to VNĐ4.16 trillion ($187.7 million), VNĐ882 billion ($39.8 million) higher
than in 2015. This has been the third year in a row for VNPT to increase
revenues by more than 20 per cent, compared to the previous year, thus
tripling the company’s average productivity, with a total of 38.6 million
subscriptions at the end of 2016, up by 6.5 million subscriptions from 2015.
VNPT had experienced new growth in 2016, after its reengineering process was
completed, focusing on customer service and network management, to receive a
higher flow of income. However, Long said the 7 per cent
increase in revenue in 2016 for VNPT had not been high, due to a strong shift
in the development of traditional services, as mobile and broadband internet
experienced growth, while landline services declined sharply. Similarly, the
Vietnam Military Telecommunications Group (Viettel) saw an increase in
revenue of VNĐ256 trillion ($11.5 billion) in 2016,
with a rise of 7.4 million subscriptions, in total, said Hoàng Sơn, Viettel’s
Deputy General Director. As a newly separated division of VNPT, Vietnam
Mobile Telecom Services (MobiFone) also reported revenues of VND38.4 trillion
($1.7 billion), up 14.5 per cent from 2015 with 19 million subscriptions,
said Lê Nam Trà, Chairman of MobiFone. Vietnam Television Corporation (VTC)
surpassed their goal for 2016, with total revenues reaching VNĐ5.2 trillion ($234.7 million), up 39
per cent compared to 2015, said Lưu Vũ Hải, VTC’s Chairman of Member Council. The four
companies attributed their increases in revenues for 2016 to the MIC’s
reengineering plan, and expressed optimism for 2017. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
12/24/2016 Online Marketing Essential for
Enterprises in Digital Era Despite a large number of Internet
users, investment for online advertisement in Việt Nam remains modest, a
conference heard on Thursday. The Institute for Brand and Competitiveness
strategy co-ordinated with the Việt Nam Internet Association and Việt Nam
Digital Communication Association to organise a conference on building
enterprise branding in the digital era in Hà Nội. Over the past decade, the
Internet boom has had a significant impact on marketing activities, as well
as the building and positioning of brands in the market. Internet has also
created stronger brand awareness than ever before and increased the number of
people who know brands. According to the Institute for Brand and
Competitiveness strategy, Việt Nam ranks 16th among the top 20 countries with
the highest number of Internet users, with nearly 50 million people, of
which, 60 per cent are young. The Internet has become a popular source of advertising
to users who want to search for product information. Seventy-three per cent
of Vietnamese consumers seek out information on the Internet before making
purchase decisions. Most consumers in Việt Nam choose products and services
based on brand identities. Therefore, experts advised businesses to make
changes to their business operations, adjusting brand identity to avoid
falling behind compared to rivals. To build brands in the digital era,
businesses need to increase interaction in different environments, including
the online environment, said Nguyễn Quốc Thịnh, an advisor for the National
Trademark Programme. "Businesses should not skip electronic branding, a
strong interactive environment with low associated costs,” said Thịnh.
Enterprises need to rethink the way they build their brands, not just their
logos or advertising in the media, he said. Currently, the application of the
Internet in general, and digital technology in particular, to create and
develop brands is still limited. Data from Cimigo, a market research firm,
showed that investment for online advertising in Việt Nam was only US$15
million in the past year. Meanwhile, according to statistics from TNS Media
Vietnam, the cost of online advertising accounts for less than 5 per cent of the
total advertising costs, while 95 per cent of advertising spending is still
through television, newspapers, magazines, even though these forms are more
expensive. Vũ Xuân Trường from the Institute for
Brand and Competitiveness strategy said that many businesses were paying
attention to profits and business strategy, while their strategies for
branding remained "vague”. Therefore, businesses need a better strategy
in branding in the digital era. In particular, businesses should focus on
social networks due to their widespread use. Experts said that businesses
need to take advantage of opportunities afforded by the Internet to build
their brands. Enterprises also need to increase connections with consumers,
while ensuring the quality of goods and services. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
01/14/2017 VN E-Commerce Well Placed to Meet
Targets E-commerce is no longer an option that
Vietnamese enterprises can ignore. It has become an indispensable extension
for businesses as a rapidly growing country with growing Internet
connectivity deepens its global integration process. The development of
multi-channel businesses that combines physical stores with an online
presence has become an inevitable trend. Việt Nam has a gross domestic
product (GDP) growth rate of more than six per cent per year. Internet
connectivity is growing by 50 per cent plus every year. Online marketing
revenues in the country increased from US$26 million to nearly $330 million
in the 2010-2015 period. It is not surprising that with these advantages, the
nation’s e-commerce market has witnessed the entrance of large players in the
last few years. The Vingroup officially stepped into e-commerce in 2015 with
its Adayroi trading floor. Earlier, several savvy entrepreneurs had launched
online shopping websites that became popular, like sendo.vn, nguyenkim.com,
tiki.vn, zalora.vn and lazada.vn. The South Korean Lotte Group also entered
e-commerce market in Việt Nam last year with its lotte.vn website. It was
followed soon by Japan’s largest retailer Aeon, which launched aeoneshop.com
at the beginning of this month. Given their brand prominence and
their large story systems, aeoneshop.com and lotte.vn are expected to offer
stiff competition to sites like lazada.vn and tiki.vn that currently dominate
the domestic market. Trần Trọng Tuyến, general secretary of the Việt Nam E-commerce
Association, told the Hải Quan (Customs) online newspaper recently that in
the past, it was important for businesses to open their stores at a good
location, but the situation has changed with 40 million Internet users having
the option to buy things online. “If retail companies do not invest properly
in e-commerce, they will gradually lose customers,” Tuyến said. The newspaper also quoted Trịnh
Vân Hoa, director of the Nguyễn Kim E-commerce Centre, as saying that the
centre studied customer’s shopping habits and understood that they were
looking for multi-business shopping facilities. Its focus on providing the
most convenient shopping solutions for customers had seen the company grow
rapidly in recent years, she said. The growth of the company, accordingly,
also increased several times compared to the previous years, she said. Impressive figures E-commerce revenues in Việt Nam
reached $4.07 billion in 2015, a 37 per cent year-on-year increase. It also
accounted for about 2.8 per cent of total retail trade and services revenue.
Last year, e-commerce revenues increased to $5 billion, accounting for about
three per cent of the total retail trade and services revenue. The popularity
of Online Friday, a mega sales event held every December, has soared, with
last year’s sales of VNĐ664 billion, triple that of the previous year.
These figures show that the nation is well placed to meet its e-commerce
targets. The 2016-2020 e-commerce master plan envisages $10 billion in
business-to-consumner (B2C) turnover by 2020, accounting for five per cent of
the country’s total retail sales. Despite the rapid growth and enormous
potential, the e-commerce market share of Vietnamese enterprises was still
modest, Tuyến remarked. He said that even though
famous names like Tiki and Sendo had millions of users and tens of thousands
of orders per day, they were limited to the national scale, and although
e-commerce revenue in 2015 was five times that of 2012, the Vietnamese market
had yet to match world leaders. In the US, e-commerce transactions accounted
for five per cent of total retail sales, and it was 9-10 per cent in China,
and about three per cent in Việt Nam. Shopping trends Market research firm Nielsen recently
released the results of an online survey covering 63 countries. It found more
than six out of ten (64 per cent) Vietnamese consumers purchased fashion
products online. More than half the Vietnamese respondents said they
purchased books, music and stationery products (51 per cent) and 47 per cent
said they bought travel products or services online. Four in 10 respondents
(40 per cent) said they purchased personal-care and beauty products online.
About one-fourth (26 per cent) said they placed online orders for babies and
infants; an equal number ordered meal-kits or restaurant deliveries and
one-fifth ordered packaged groceries online. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
02/04/2017 |
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INDIA: Will Help Mobile-Driven Businesses NEW DELHI: At a time when mobile is transforming
the way people connect, Facebook is committed to help mobile-driven
businesses to grow in India, a top executive said on Wednesday. Speaking at
the "Mobile Moves Business" event here that brought together
businesses, industry experts and marketers on one platform, Umang Bedi,
Managing Director, Facebook India, reiterated the company's commitment to tap
the power of mobile to empower entrepreneurs in the country. "We are
committed to helping businesses grow. Whether it's brand building, generating
demand, driving leads or sales, we are focused on helping business unlock
growth opportunities and help them move their business through solutions that
drive results," Bedi said. As of the third quarter this year, Facebook
reported 166 million monthly active users, 159 million mobile active users,
85 million daily active users and 81 million mobile daily active users in
India. Facebook, which has 1.71 billion users globally, has a strategic
partnership with India's top 100 advertisers. There are over two million
small and medium businesses (SMB) pages on Facebook in India and more than 30
pct of active SMB pages on Facebook are owned by women entrepreneurs. Forty
one pct of people on Facebook are connected to at least one business in a
foreign country. Facebook is available in 12 languages in the country and
over 80 pct of top-grossing apps in India are integrated with the social
networking platform. Facebook's 'Mobile Moves Business' aims to shift
decision makers' perception about the impact of mobile on the consumers, the
company said. From http://www.siliconindia.com 11/30/2016 FreeCharge
Enables
Cashless
Transactions
on Yamuna Expressway
Digital payments platform FreeCharge has now made driving on
the Yamuna Expressway smoother by removing the challenge of managing cash at
four toll plazas on the 165-km route connecting national capital Delhi with
tourist hub Agra in Uttar Pradesh. “We are delighted to bring India’s fastest
wallet to India’s most modern expressway. When users can zip between Agra and
Delhi in just two hours, the toll payments too should be fast and seamless
and FreeCharge’s 10-second payments will ensure just that. FreeCharge is part
of India’s daily life and with this we become a part of many more journeys,”
said Govind Rajan, CEO of FreeCharge. To make a
payment, the customer has to scan the QR code displayed at the toll counter
using his app, enter the payment amount and the transaction will be
completed. The digital mobile wallet has also partnered with Indian
Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)
and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited BPCL) and will soon be available
at all petrol pumps managed by them. There are nearly 26,000 petrol pumps of IOCL,
13,500 petrol pumps of HPCL and nearly 13,800 petrol pumps of BPCL across the
country. In addition to more than 53,000 petrol pumps, FreeCharge
will also be accepted by nearly 17,000 LPG distributors across the country
and users will be able to pay for their LPG cylinder deliveries by using
FreeCharge at their doorsteps. From http://egov.eletsonline.com
12/05/2016 4 Indicators of India's Cashless Growth - and Hurdles to Future
Expansion
But, only 13 pct (108 million) of 833 million
Indians in rural areas have Internet access. Rural India has been
worst hit by "notebandi", as the withdrawal of 500 and 1,000 notes is colloquially called.
As many as 73 pct of Indians cannot access the Internet, IndiaSpend reported
on December 3, 2016; India has 342 million Internet users,
according to March 2016 Telecom Regulatory Authority
of India (TRAI) data. In urban India, 58 pct of the people have
access to the Internet. 2. ATMs and Point-of-sales (POS) terminals double,
2011-16: There were 1.4 million POS terminals and 200,000 ATMs in October 2016,
according to RBI data, a doubling of numbers over five years. From an ATM for
every 12,000 Indians, there is now one for every 6,500. The number of ATMs
rose from two for every 100,000 adults in 2005 to 18 by 2014, according to
World Bank data. The State Bank of India (SBI)
has opened more than 26,000 ATMs over the last four years, according to RBI
data, higher than the next four banks (HDFC, ICICI, Axis and Kotak) put
together. SBI, India's largest bank, has also deployed more PoS terminals
than any other bank. The government has announced plans to add an
additional 1 million PoS terminals. But, the world average for ATMs is 2.5
times India's, Brazil has 39 times as many PoS terminals per capita. The
world average of ATMs per 100,000 people was 44 in 2014, according to
World Bank data, nearly 2.5 times in India. In 2015, Brazil - with
a population 84 pct lower than India - had nearly 39 times as many
PoS terminals (32,995), according to a 2015 report from Ernst & Young.
The PoS machine rate was 4,000 per million people in China and Russia.
Advanced countries such as Japan, USA and UK had more than 100 ATMs per
100,000 people.
From
http://www.siliconindia.com/ 12/11/2016 Haryana Transport Department to
Launch e-Ticketing Haryana Transport Minister, Krishan Lal
Panwar, said that the Department would soon launch e-Ticketing system to
promote cashless transactions in the State. In the initial phase, this system
would be implemented for services operating along highway routes. The
Minister said that widespread use should be made of Information Technology to
put an end to corruption and bring in transparency in the system. He said
that work was being undertaken at a rapid pace to make all Departments,
including Transport Department, high-tech under the ‘Digital Haryana’
programme on the pattern of ‘Digital India’. Approval has been given for
purchasing a Rs 1.35-crore server for making the functioning of the Transport
Department online, he added. He said that option of e-Payment facility was
being offered to owners of transport vehicles through State Bank of India for
payment of road tax. This facility, launched in July, 2016, has been made
available through e-GRAS in the offices of all Secretaries, Regional
Transport Authorities and Registration Authority, he added. He said that
e-Soochna Centres would be established at all bus stands in the State, to
provide information regarding timetable of buses, routes and tourist
destinations. The first such Centre has been established at Kurukshetra ahead
of International Gita Mahotsav-2016, he added. From http://www.egovonline.net/ 12/12/2016 Cashless
Payments
to Industrial
Workers
to Be
Made
Compulsory
The Government of India is planning to make it mandatory to
make cashless payments to industrial workers either through cheque or
directly to the bank against the current practice of paying through cash. A cabinet note has been circulated for this initiative
because the government wants to ensure that the workers are paid the minimum
wages guaranteed by the Centre and State as soon as possible. Workers, whose wages do not exceed Rs 18,000 per month,
will be covered under the new rule. The idea is in line with the Modi
government’s efforts to promote a cashless economy. The government
will enforce the measure by amending Section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act,
1936, which will enable the government to specify the industrial or other
establishments in which payments are to be made through cheque or bank
accounts. The government is hopeful that the measure will be easy to
implement at the grassroots level since the opening of bank accounts has now
become hassle-free under the Jan Dhan Yojana which seeks to push ‘financial
inclusion’. A Bill – Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill, 2016 – has been
prepared which will be tabled after the Union Cabinet approves the measure. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 12/15/2016 E-transactions Cross Rs 1,000 cr Mark in India This Year
E-transactions in India have
crossed the mark of Rs 1, 000 crore this year, a 33 per cent increase from last
year’s 760 crore, according to the government web portal eTaal. The portal issues statistics of
national and state level e-transactions which it receives from web-based
applications periodically on near real-time basis and then presents quick
analysis of transaction counts in tabular and graphical form. “Based on the analysis by eTaal,
since 2014, there has been a mass increase in the number of e-transactions
undertaken by the e-governance projects. The total e-transactions were around
350 crore in 2014, and increased to 760 crore in 2015,” said a statement
issued by eTaal. The
portal takes into account all e-transactions delivering public services from
the government to citizens across categories such as agriculture, health,
transportation, telecommunication and MNREGA.
From http://egov.eletsonline.com 12/19/2016 BSNL to Lease 15,000 PoS to Push Digital Bill Payment
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AZERBAIJAN: Microsoft, IITKM ink Deal on Goods
Database Azerbaijani Center for Analysis of
Economic Reforms & Communications (IITKM) and Microsoft Azerbaijan signed
a memorandum of cooperation on Jan. 16. The document was signed by the
Center’s Executive Director Vusal Gasimli and Sarkhan Hashimov, head of Microsoft
Azerbaijan. The memorandum envisages cooperation in creating a unified
database of the goods produced in Azerbaijan, holding trainings in ICT,
assessment and analysis. The parties will also conduct joint research in the
application of ICT in the national economy, develop proposals on promotion of
e-commerce in Azerbaijan. The parties start to cooperate in order to
contribute to the realization of the Strategic Road Map for the development
of communication and information technologies in Azerbaijan, Gasimli said
commenting on the memorandum. From http://en.trend.az/
01/16/2017 UZBEKISTAN: Huawei 16 Years in the Uzbek Market
for the Development of the ICT Industry Director General of Huawei Tech
Investment Tashkent Wang Peng, in his interview "Huawei: 16 years in the
Uzbek market for the development of the ICT industry" has summarized the
year 2016 and outlined the prospects for the near future of technology
development in Uzbekistan. — Mr. Wang, could you please sum up
the passing year for Huawei in Uzbekistan? — If to speak in two words, I can
designate the 2016 as a dynamic, competitive, successful and fruitful for the
company Huawei. As for the details, I would like to mention the following
work that we have done this year. First and foremost, over the past 15 years
that our company has been operating in Uzbekistan, we have designated our
office with a Huawei logo. Now, walking through one of the central streets of
Tashkent, you will not pass without noticing the Huawei logo. As you know,
our company operates in three key business areas, such as the
"carrier" (mobile operator), "enterprise" (corporate
clients) and "consumer" (manufacture and sale of mobile phones and
smartphones). This year we managed to make contact with our partners, mobile
operators in the country, and start a new cooperation strategy in
strengthening our presence in the market of Uzbekistan. We held a series of
international and regional summits and forums with the participation of
representatives of mobile operators, where we invited the best international
experts from all over the world, so they could share their experiences and
knowledge. The "Mobile Broadband" summit (dedicated to the development
of mobile Internet) and "Cloud Summit" (dedicated to the
development of cloud technology) has aroused great interest among our
partners. Next year we want to continue this tradition and try to reach a
larger number of partners from different fields of information and
communication technologies. Speaking about the corporate segment,
I would like to emphasize that the decisions and technology that we provide
to large and medium corporations, including public companies, does not
concede to brands who have been working in this direction. In contrast, we
easily adapt to customer requirements and proceed from the desires and needs
of the customer. As for the prices, our offers could be more attractive than
others, but this does not mean that, if cheaper, then the quality is worse.
The quality of our services, products and solutions is improving year-by-year
and in some parts surpasses European and American brands. The main credo of
the company Huawei is to be customer-oriented and work with them to develop the
market of telecommunications. Terminal business, in other words — smartphones
and various mobile devices of users have drastically changed their face this
year. Our science laboratories have finally entered the world level, and our
devices are becoming increasingly attractive worldwide. Stars such as Lionel
Messi, Henry Cavil and Robert Lewandowski proud to become the faces of the
Huawei brand in various countries around the world. In Uzbekistan, we have
chosen a similar character, positive celebrity, who has reached not only
local but also global recognition — FIFA referee, best Asian Cup referee
Ravshan Irmatov. Our slogan "Make a Fair Choice" is associated with
a fair decision of the referee during a football match, which plays an
important role and makes any match colorful and more attractive. We have no
doubt on the justice of Mr. Irmatov, I think that the people of Uzbekistan
support our view. — Speaking about the development of
the ICT industry in Uzbekistan, how do you delineate the Company's role in
this sector? — Huawei always adheres to the idea
of long-term and trustful cooperation. We are always ready for open dialogue
and difficulties of the market, which we can overcome only by joint efforts.
In Uzbekistan, people say that the future belongs to the younger generation.
This phrase has a lot of sense and truth. Based on this, I want to note that
the company Huаwei pays special attention to the support and development of
young talents and professionals of the ICT sector. This year we signed a Memorandum
of understanding with two institutions: the TUIT and INHA. We have opened the
Academy Huawei called HAINA in the world. The goal is to prepare high-level
professionals and experts in important areas such as information security,
network development and information and communication technologies. We
actively promote the idea of cloud technology, the development of broadband
access, solutions for safe cities, the digitization of Uzbekistan and the
development of data centers. The development of these technologies and
solutions in the country will help to lift such areas as: E-education,
E-Commerce, E-health and, of course, E-government. The creation and
development of these platforms will be directly connected with the
development of economic potential of Uzbekistan and well-being of the
population, as the worldwide ICT development is directly linked to GDP
growth. We want the market economy of
Uzbekistan to develop, this will expand the market of information
technologies and communications, where such companies as Huawei, will be able
to invest more and grow with the growth trend of this sector. In addition, I
would like to mention the project "Media Tour" for journalists in
Uzbekistan. For the first time in the history of the company, and I think, in
the history of the media industry of the country, Huаwei was able to gather
representatives of all branches of the media in a single group. A group of 9
people was able to visit the headquarters of Huawei and to get acquainted
with the latest technologies and solutions of information technology. We were
able to invite journalists in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen,
where active scientific research centers of the company are engaged, where
they visually saw and tested the Huawei products. I think this experience has
helped the journalists, and us. We have proved and demonstrated how global
Huawei has become, and how openly and closely we communicate with the media. — Plans of Huawei for 2017. What
news, surprises or innovations do you prepare? — Usually we don't like to talk about
plans for the future, we better do them and show how we are committed to the
development of the ICT market and telecommunications in Uzbekistan. In 2016,
Huawei was recognized as the "most innovative", then in the new
year, we must comply with this vocation. In each of the three business areas
of the company we want to promote innovative solutions based on the
requirements of our customers and users. Many changes have happened in both
political and economic life in Uzbekistan over the past year. I think Huawei
will follow the specified course by the leadership of the country and will do
everything possible to help the development of information technologies,
which will contribute to improving the lives and well-being of the population
of this beautiful country as Uzbekistan. Our main motto is to make a more
interconnected world, including Uzbekistan. Seizing the moment, on behalf of
Huawei in Uzbekistan, I would like to congratulate all the people of this
country with the New 2017, to wish them good health, prosperity and spiritual
growth! From http://news.uzreport.uz/
12/31/2016 Uzbektelecom Dips Prices for Internet Services
for Providers Up to $91.5 Uzbektelecom reported a tariff
decrease for Internet services (external channel) for providers of Uzbekistan
to $91,50 per 1 Mbps, starting from 21 December 2016. In 2016, the tariffs
were reduced twelve times. From $156,24 on 13 January to $91,50 per 1 Mbps on
21 December. In 2015 the prices went down seventeen times. From $259.29 in
January to $157.60 per 1 Mbps in December. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
01/05/2017 Uzbektelecom Reduces Internet Provider Tariffs to
$80.94 Uzbektelecom announced it reduced on
February 16 its internet rates for Uzbek providers to $80.94 per 1 Mb/s. This
is the fifth tariff reduction this year. The rate first dropped on January 1
to $91.07, followed by a second cut on January 6 to $87.14, a third cut on
January 10 to $86.85, and a fourth dip on February 2 to $86.11. Last year,
the tariffs were reduced twelve times: from $156.24 in January to $91.50 in
December. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
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NZ Government Contributes AU$2m to Join
Geoscience Australia's Positioning Project The funding will be used to trial
Satellite Based Augmentation System technology to improve the accuracy of
positioning in Australasia. The New Zealand government has made a AU$2
million contribution to help Australia improve the accuracy of satellite
positioning technology in the region. It is expected that the AU$2 million
will be used to trial Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) technology
over two years, and will also see Land Information New Zealand; the New
Zealand Transport Agency; the Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment; the Ministry of Transport; and New Zealand Cooperative Research
Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI) work with Geoscience Australia, which
has been charged with overseeing the project on behalf of the Australian
government. The funding from New Zealand follows the AU$12 million injection
from the Australian government last month, awarded to help bolster the
technology that it expects will provide benefits for many industries in the
region, including transport, agriculture, construction, and resource
management. It was announced last week that United States defence giant
Lockheed Martin, alongside Inmarsat and GMV, will be partaking in trials of
the SBAS technology. The global giants will be testing two new satellite
positioning technologies -- "next generation" SBAS and Precise
Point Positioning -- which Geoscience Australia said provides positioning
accuracy of several decimetres and five centimetres, respectively. Currently, Australia relies on the
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) of other countries including the
United States' Global Positioning System (GPS); however, these international
systems typically give Australians positioning accuracy of five to 10 metres. The SBAS test bed will also utilise
existing national GNSS infrastructure developed by AuScope as part of the
National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. According to the
government, the widespread adoption of improved positioning technology has
the potential to generate upwards of AU$73 billion of value to Australia by
2030. "From using Google Maps on your smartphone to emergency management
and farming, most Australians use and benefit from positioning technology
every day without realising it," Minister for Infrastructure and
Transport Darren Chester and Minister for Resources and Northern Australia
Matthew Canavan said in a joint statement. In March, Geoscience Australia and
the CRCSI will call for organisations from a number of industries including
agriculture, aviation, construction, mining, maritime, road, spatial, and
utilities to participate in the test bed. The announcement comes after the
Australian and New Zealand governments signed a treaty-level Science,
Research, and Innovation Cooperation Agreement on Friday that will see both
countries work together to tackle chronic disease and advance general health
care, in addition to improving the accuracy and availability of GPS signals.
"This is the first treaty of its kind between our countries. It
formalises what has been a naturally close and enduring partnership,"
said recently appointed Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Senator
Arthur Sinodinos. "More importantly, it recognises the immense economic
and social potential that merging our efforts and resources can bring to the
region." From http://www.zdnet.com 02/19/2017 AUSTRALIA: Google Avoided US$3.6b in
Taxes in 2015: Report Google avoided paying US$3.6 billion
in taxes globally in 2015 by shifting US$15.5 billion (�14.9 billion) to a
company in Bermuda that is just a shell, according to regulatory filings made
in the Netherlands. The tax avoidance was reported by the Dutch newspaper Het
Financieele Dagblad, according to Bloomberg. Google shifted the money through
its Dutch subsidiary, Google Netherlands Holdings, and then on to the empty
Bermuda outfit. It was 40% more than the amount that was shifted in 2014,
Bloomberg said, citing filings that the search engine behemoth had made with
the Dutch Chamber of Commerce on 12 December and which were published online.
Google's parent company, Alphabet, moved most of its non-US profits through
the Dutch unit which has no employees, the report said, citing filings with
the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This enabled it to pay tax at the
rate of 6.4% outside the US, using what is called a "Double Irish"
and a "Dutch sandwich." According to Bloomberg, about �12 billion
of the money routed through the Dutch subsidiary came from Google Ireland
Limited, which collects most of Google’s international advertising revenues.
The remainder was from Google's Singapore subsidiary. The report said the
Dutch company then moved the money to Google Ireland Holdings Unlimited,
which owns licensing rights to Google's IP outside the US. The last named
firm is in Bermuda, where no corporate income tax is charged. The use of the
two Irish entities is why it is called "Double Irish". Last year,
Google, along with Microsoft and Apple, came under attack during an
Australian Senate hearing into tax avoidance. This year, Google announced
that it would restructure its Australian tax affairs to avoid being hit with
tougher penalties under Australian federal laws passed at the beginning of
the year From http://www.itwire.com 12/22/2016 Productivity Commission Report on IP,
Copyright Is ‘Anti-Innovation’, Says Patent Industry The Institute of Patent and Trade
Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA) has warned that recommendations by the
Productivity Commission on Intellectual Property Arrangements would
significantly weaken the Australian patent system, introduce uncertainty into
obtaining and enforcing patent rights, and make the system more expensive for
innovators. The IPTA comments come in the wake of the Commission’s call for
the Australian Government to make it clear that residents who get around
geoblocking to access any kind of material are not in violation of the
country's copyright laws. In its report released on Wednesday, the Commission
also recommended that it be made easier for consumers to access legitimate
copyrighted content. But in its response, the IPTA asserts that the PC makes
a number of “anti-patent” recommendations including abolishing the innovation
patent system, introducing an objects clause into the Patents Act, “virtually
removing the availability of extensions of patent term for pharmaceutical
patents, raising the threshold on inventive step and significantly raising
patent renewal fees”. The IPTA says it strongly disagrees with
recommendations by the PC on abolishing the innovation patent system and
"firmly believes that it should be retained and reforms considered that
may address any deficiencies". "Australia is not alone in having a
second-tier patent system, and second tier systems operate in around 60
countries including successful first world countries such as Germany, Japan
and Spain. "The second-tier patent systems
appear to work well in those countries and are considered particularly suited
for SMEs that, for example, make amendments to, and adaptations of, existing
products. The report ignores that fact that a second tier patent system can
work well." According to the IPTA, the PC report
adopts a unilateral view without evidence that “Australia’s intellectual
property arrangements fall short in many ways and improvement is needed
across the spectrum of IP rights”. “It also appears to agree, in a biased
manner, with certain 'participants', that the current patent system hinders
innovation and creativity, but there is a conspicuous lack of evidence to
support this view. In addition, it arbitrarily takes a position that the
current patent system results in a multitude of low-value patents without
clear and credible guidance on what constitutes a 'low-value patent',” the
IPTA notes. “Ironically, the recommendations of the report appear to be in
conflict with the Coalition Government’s Innovation Agenda, which prompted
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to say, in support of innovation, 'we’ve got
to be prepared to have a go and be more prepared to embrace risk and
experimentation',” IPTA spokesman Dr Grant Shoebridge points out. “Anathema
to the Prime Minister's sentiments is the report’s statement that the system
should provide incentives for IP to be created at the lowest cost to society,
a statement which underpins the recommendations that weaken existing IP
rights for innovators.” According to the IPTA, the PC report adopts a
unilateral view without evidence that “Australia’s intellectual property
arrangements fall short in many ways and improvement is needed across the
spectrum of IP rights”. “It also appears to agree, in a
biased manner, with certain ‘participants’ that the current patent system
hinders innovation and creativity, but there is a conspicuous lack of
evidence to support this view. In addition, it arbitrarily takes a position
that the current patent system results in a multitude of low-value patents
without clear and credible guidance on what constitutes a “low-value patent,”
Dr Shoebridge says. “More curious still, the report has a lofty and
unrealistic view that the patent system should only contribute to
socially-valuable innovation that otherwise would not occur. There is,
however, no direction on what socially-valuable innovation is and how to
determine whether such innovation will only occur as a result of the patent
system. It simplistically
considers innovation from an academic perspective and fails to understand, or
even consider, the necessary financial investment and risk that is required
to commercialise innovation for the benefit of the public; the very reasons
why the patent system needs to offer both rewards and a degree of certainty
to innovators and investors.“ Dr Shoebridge says IPTA believes that
Australian innovation policy, which encompasses the patent system, “should
provide a substantial incentive and compensate innovators for the risk and
financial investment necessary to bring innovation to the market for the
benefit of the general public”. “Australia’s current innovation
policy should not be weakened and made uncertain based on the academic views
of economists who have neither proximity to innovation nor expertise in relation
to commercialisation of innovation,” Dr Shoebridge concluded. The IPTA
criticises the PC report recommendations that the Australian Government, with
input from IP Australia, should explore the costs and benefits of using
higher and more pronounced renewal fees later in the life of a standard
patent, and make greater use of claim fees to limit the breadth of patent
protection and to reduce strategic use of patents. In response, the IPTA says
it disagrees with the negative premise of this recommendation. "Patent
system costs have not been shown, by evidence, to be undue either in
Australia or any other comparable country. IP Australia already takes care in
setting fees such that a higher economic hurdle must be passed later in a
patent’s life. Most patents expire by about the 11th year. "With the
exception of the PCT system, international co-operation on fee setting is
highly unlikely to be seen as necessary barring significant anomalies in
costs so the latter part of this recommendation is unrealistic," the
IPTA notes. From http://www.itwire.com 12/22/2016 ATO Systems Restoration Experiences
'Unforeseen Complexity' The tax office's systems remain down
as Hewlett Packard staff struggle to fix 'world-first' hardware shemozzle.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has suffered another setback to its
systems restoration, announcing on Friday afternoon that it is not expecting
service availability to its key applications before the weekend. "Due to
an unforeseen complexity in the system restoration process, our services are
unlikely to be available before close of business today," the ATO said.
"We fully acknowledge the significant impact this is having on our key
stakeholders, who rely heavily on the availability of our systems and
services. We apologise for the inconvenience and disruption this has
caused." On Friday morning, the tax office said both ATO and Hewlett
Packard Enterprise (HPE) technicians had worked through the night to restore
its systems and online services; however, its Tax Agent, Business and BAS
Portals, ATO online, the Australian Business Register, Standard Business
Reporting, and superannuation online services were still not operational by
Friday afternoon. "While there has been significant progress on their
restoration plan, the process is highly complex," the ATO said Friday.
"While everything is being done to restore our systems as quickly as
possible, we cannot make services available to the community until the integrity
of the system is confirmed." HPE upgraded the ATO's hardware back
in 2015, and it is "basically the same" hardware used by other
large clients of the IT giant. The ATO's website, tax agent, and business
portals initially crashed on December 12 and the outage continued through to
December 13, when the ATO first called in HPE to help it determine the
underlying cause of the problem that the ATO said was encountered for the
first time anywhere in the world. Three days later, Commissioner of Taxation
Chris Jordan announced an independent review into the "unprecedented
failure" and called it the ATO's worst unplanned system outage in recent
memory. At the same time, the ATO claimed almost everything was back up and
running, but did admit that "some" data corruption was experienced
as a result of the incident, and noted it was in the process of having the
data fully restored from a back-up. On December 20 -- more than a week after
the initial hardware failure -- the ATO said it was still experiencing
reduced functionality across some of its systems. "What compounded the problem
beyond the initial failure was the subsequent failure of our back-up
arrangements to work as planned," Jordan explained previously. "The
failure of our back-up arrangements meant that restoration and resumption of
data and services has been very complex and time-consuming." On
Thursday, the tax office's systems fell over again, with the outage affecting
all of its online services, including the ato.gov.au website. Last week, the
ATO appointed PwC to conduct an independent review into the long-running
incident. The tax office expected the consultancy firm's review to provide
insight into what actually happened and why, and what needs to be done to
ensure the same incident does not occur in the future. At the time, the ATO said it chose
PwC to conduct the independent review due to the firm's "specific
expertise" with the storage hardware at the centre of the incident. From http://www.zdnet.com 02/03/2017 Australian Cyber Roo Hops to San
Francisco Seeking Trade Austrade and the Australian Cyber
Security Growth Network have joined forces to promote quality Australian-made
cybers to the world -- along with their new mascot, the Cyber Roo. Craig Davies, chief executive officer
of the new Australian Cyber Security Growth Network (ACSGN), is pleased with
last week's trade mission to the RSA Cyber Security Conference in San Francisco.
This first collaboration between ACSGN and Austrade, the Australian Trade and
Investment Commission, saw 32 delegates [PDF] from 26 Australian
cybersecurity companies meet with security vendors and potential vendors from
the US and elsewhere. "We're really happy with the
week. Great sessions that helped our Aussie firms understand the opportunity
in the US market, and people here were very giving of their time and
knowledge," Davies told ZDNet. "We'll be tracking how the companies
that came take advantage of the week. We know a number had a great week with
meetings with key VCs and potential partners, as well a better understanding
of the road ahead if they should decide to expand in the US market." The
mission coincided with the launch of the government's Cyber Security Industry
Capability Report [PDF], essentially a promotional brochure for Australia's
cyber industries. The ACSGN is an industry-led
not-for-profit company that aims to position Australia as an attractive
location for cybersecurity research and innovation. It was first announced as
part of the National Innovation and Science Agenda in December 2015, and is a
key part of the Australian Cyber Security Strategy released in April 2016. Last week's delegation included
representatives from Australian cybersecurity firms archTIS, Cogito Group,
Covata, Cryptsoft, Datacom TSS, Enosys, Foresight, FunCaptcha, Haventec,
Huntsman Security, Ionize, JanusNET, PS&C, Randtronics, ResponSight, Salt
Group, SC8 Technologies, Secure Code Warrior, Sense of Security, Shearwater
Solutions, Shelde, Tesserent, and Triskele Labs, among others. They met with
US-based companies including Dell, Cisco, Google, Juniper Networks, Symantec,
Visa, Salesforce, and venture capital firm TAL Global Corporation, as well as
Amadeus Capital Ventures (UK) and others. A reception mid-week was
co-sponsored by Quintessence Labs, an Australian company that has partnered
with the University of New South Wales to commercialise some of Australia's
world-leading advances in quantum computing. Australian startups also met
with businesses already operating in the US market. "Hamish Hawthorn
from UpGuard, Casey Ellis from Bugcrowd, and Greg Clark from Symantec were
fantastic in their openness on the challenges they have faced being in the US.
These sessions were the most popular with the delegation, helping them get
some deep insights," Davies said. Last week's mission also saw the
launch of an Australian cyber mascot, the Cyber Roo ( @Cyber_Roo). A cyber
kangaroo security rating system had originally been proposed in December 2016
during the 360° Cyber Game conducted jointly by RAND Corporation and the
National Security College (NSC) at the Australian National University (ANU).
The ACSGN has adopted the mascot as its own, however, and the inflatable
beast accompanied the delegation as it toured Silicon Valley. "[Cyber Roo] is one way to spark
interest, then we follow up with the capabilities of Australian business and
education, but the Cyber Roo starts that conversation," Davies said. ACSGN is now working with Austrade to
partner on future events. From http://www.zdnet.com 02/21/2017 Gruden Secures AU$1.8m Contract with
Australian Government to Upgrade AusTender The Australian government, in
partnership with the NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation, has
contracted Gruden for further development of its procurement information and
tender system, AusTender. The Gruden Group (Gruden) has secured a AU$1.8
million contract to upgrade the technology behind the Australian government's
tender system, AusTender. Launched in 2003, AusTender provides a centralised
publication of government business opportunities, annual procurement plans,
and contracts awarded. The Australian government originally tasked Gruden to
build the AusTender platform back in 2005. The platform now processes around
AU$60 billion in government contracts per annum. The improvements Gruden has
been assigned to deliver will not alter the user journey, but will
"enhance the scalability and sustainability" of the existing
platform, according to Gruden. The contract awarded to the Australian
Securities Exchange-listed technology agency will generate revenues of AU$1.8
million, with AU$835,500 to be paid in fiscal 2017 and the balance in 2018.
In December 2016, Gruden was awarded a three-year, AU$3 million contract to
deliver and support a new system for the New South Wales Small Business
Commissioner. The agency was also selected by the Public Records Office of
Victoria (PROV) to digitise all the PROV records, making them searchable in
the cloud. The last 12 months has seen an increasing focus on improving the
experience of doing business with the Australian government using technology. The Gov.au Marketplace, inspired by
an initiative successfully executed in the UK, was launched in 2016 with the
aim of making it easier for the private sector to do business with the
government. On the marketplace, the government presents opportunities to
collaborate, describing what it is that it's looking to solve and what
datasets are available to help come up with a solution. At the end of 2016,
the NSW government launched the NSW Innovation Concierge (NIC), aimed at
being the "front door" for entrepreneurs, startups, and SMEs
looking to do business with the government. The NIC incorporates a
"Shark Tank" process where proposals for the government to be more
innovative are judged in consultation with industry experts. The progress of
proposals can be tracked via NIC the same way we are able to track parcels.
As part of the innovation strategy, the NSW government is also providing
businesses in the state the ability to test out new technologies within
sandboxes that are isolated from their regulatory obligations. Newly
appointed New South Wales Minister for Finance, Services and Property Victor
Dominello recently announced plans to reward government agencies with an
"innovation bonus" if they move away from a silo-ridden approach to
IT and service delivery. From http://www.zdnet.com 02/21/2017 VR Headset Sales in Australia
Surpassed 200k in 2016 Sales of virtual reality headsets in
Australia reached 216,000 units in 2016, surpassing Telsyte's previous
predictions. During the 2016 calendar year, 216,000 virtual reality (VR)
headsets were sold in Australia, technology analyst firm Telsyte has
reported. With mobile VR taking an approximate 70 percent share of units
sold, Telsyte claimed that nearly half of all device revenues were generated
by the Sony PlayStation VR, which the analyst firm said is experiencing
strong initial demand from video gamers. In compiling the Telsyte Australian
VR & AR Market Study 2017, the firm surveyed Australian consumers over
the age of 16, and found that almost half of those looking to purchase a VR
headset were planning on using the device for games, movies, or entertainment
purposes. In March last year, Telsyte predicted the popularity of VR in
Australia to accelerate in 2016, but drastically underestimated the number of
units that would in fact be sold, expecting the total to come in a little
over 100,000 units. At the time, the analyst firm said it
expected VR headset sales in Australia to grow by more than 500,000 units per
annum by 2020, and pointed to video game enthusiasts as those expected to
lead the trend. "Strong market growth will come in 2017 and 2018 as
manufacturers ramp up production and more 'must have' use cases emerge,"
Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi said at the time. "The strongest
pent-up demand is coming from gamers, who clearly see VR as the next frontier
in immersive entertainment." As a result of its latest survey,
Telsyte estimates that at least one VR device will be present in 25.5 percent
of households by 2021, based on attachment rates of headsets to VR-capable
smartphones, gaming consoles, and higher-end gaming PCs. According to
Telsyte, the key driver for the adoption of VR headsets will be supported by
content producers, but noted that many production houses are waiting for
broader adoption and a clear winner to emerge before making large-scale
investments. "We are entering a chicken and egg scenario with VR
adoption," Fadaghi said. "Developers are looking for a growing base
of users before making large investments; at the same time, mainstream
technology buyers are waiting for killer VR content or applications."
The wide range of VR products available is also impacting consumer and
developer uptake, Telsyte said, arguing that the choice of three main
platforms -- mobile, console, and PC -- and four main ecosystems -- Oculus,
PlayStation VR, HTC Vive/Stream VR, and Google Daydream -- are impacting
consumer purchase decisions. "This will be further exasperated with more
options in H2 2017," Telsyte said, noting that most early devices on the
market are in need of advancement to help the overall market grow.
"Notwithstanding the health and safety concerns, VR hardware needs to
become less visible, lighter, and untethered, while software and content
developers need to harness the technology better with less 'demo' orientated
releases." A recent study by Yeti LLC, a design
and development studio that helps customers improve their product development
processes, provided a look at the emerging VR market and noted that 85
percent of those surveyed for the report said they either already have VR
projects under way, or will within one to two years. The majority of the
respondents also already have at least one VR-capable developer, but recognise
that they are not yet staffed to handle large VR-related ambitions. When
asked to identify which primary industries where they think VR usage will
significantly accelerate in the next two years, 84 percent of respondents
cited entertainment, 74 percent said education, 63 percent said media, and 60
percent said medical and healthcare, while high-tech was cited by 56 percent,
travel by 54 percent, and real estate by 51 percent. Australian property site
realestate.com.au announced the launch of realestate VR in October, a virtual
reality property app for Android mobile devices; while Swedish retail giant
IKEA also took the leap into the world of VR, launching its Virtual Reality
Kitchen IKEA VR experience in a bid to transform the way people shop.
Similarly, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia recently completed a two-month
trial to determine whether storybook-based VR games played at home can
further the financial education that is being taught in schools. From http://www.zdnet.com 02/21/2017 NEW ZEALAND: Cloud Flexibility
Freeing Businesses from the Tyranny of Distance Microservice architectures boosting
reliability as NZ businesses tap into Australia-based cloud contact-centre
services A flood of Sydney-based data centre launches by public-cloud service
providers may have helped quell Australian companies' early concerns about
data sovereignty, but a relative lack of Auckland-based cloud services has
had no such effect as forecasts continue to predict breakneck growth in the
adoption of cloud services by New Zealand businesses. That growth – which
research firm IDC pegged at between 15 percent and 27 percent annually
through 2019 – has been correlated with a surge in IT budgets, with 19 percent
of companies suggesting they had increased ICT budgets in 2015. Cloud
data-centre migration was a key investment focus through 2017, as were
unified communication and collaboration, mobility and data analytics.
Research firm Frost & Sullivan saw particularly strong growth in the
cloud-based contact centre market, which it believes will grow by 35 percent
annually through 2021 as solutions mature and businesses push ahead with
accelerating digital-transformation plans. This will outpace overall growth
in the relatively mature contact centre market, which will grow at around 12
percent annually. Growing hunger for these capabilities has created
significant opportunities for Australia-based providers of cloud services,
who are recognising New Zealand as an important growth market that can be
accessed relatively easily using Australia-based infrastructure that offers
healthy performance and price competitiveness compared with conventional
service offerings. Contact-centre technology provider
Interactive Intelligence is one of many companies bulking up its cloud
capabilities, having launched a fully cloud-based version of its
well-established contact-centre tools in mid 2015. That system, PureCloud, is
delivered to New Zealand customers from the Amazon Web Services (AWS) data
centre in Sydney and is rapidly giving users a new way of thinking about
delivering customer care by modernising often ageing customer-care systems
that were implemented years before the advent of modern customer channels
like social media, live chats, and Web videoconferencing. “With old systems
many businesses have had different portals and clients that were inconsistent
with each other,” says Stephen Irecki, Head of Solutions Engineering- J/ANZ
with Interactive Intelligence. “This meant that their agent experience was
complex and confusing – and the management and maintenance of their system
was the same. And because they had different databases for their IVR,
recording system, PABX and other systems, it was very difficult to get a
holistic view of the customer journey.” By leveraging a cloud-based platform
that has been architected from the ground up for modular expandability,
however, the attainment of this single view is already paying dividends for
the many companies that are using it to track, analyse and improve their
critical customer handling capabilities. Many of the benefits of the new
platform have come from a cloud-based 'microservices' architecture that
assembles complete applications such as PureCloud's contact-centre, collaboration
and unified-communications tools out of an assemblage of small, independent
services that each deliver a specific capability. Microservices exchange operational
and customer information using common application programming interfaces
(APIs) that allow for tight interactions between loosely coupled application
components. Because they each act independently,
their self-healing design can detect any problems as they arise, terminate
the problematic process, and immediately relaunch another instance to ensure
optimal service availability. The architecture can also quickly scale up to
match demand during periods of peak activity. “This is a huge advantage,”
says Irecki. “The ability to have applications loosely coupled, the ability
to horizontally scale and to also have continuous delivery of features, is
massive in our world.” “The microservices architecture has given us the
ability to have continuous delivery of new features into the platform, and
there's no downtime or maintenance windows. When we release a new feature, we
push it out straight away and every single customer is on the latest version
of our software.” Just as the microarchitecture approach improves fault
tolerance and enables extensive flexibility in the delivery and upgrading of
services, its tightly integrated design also contributes to the overall
security of the platform – another key capability that is helping improve the
appeal of cloud services to organisations that face ever-stricter
requirements around privacy, transparency, data protection and governance. Recognising that these imperatives
are crucial in driving customer behaviour, providers like Interactive
Intelligence have worked carefully to ensure that their cloud services
protect customer data at every step of the way.“A lot of thought and
technology has gone into making sure the security of the cloud is top-notch,”
says Irecki. “A lot of the certifications are required by customers to handle
credit card information and take customer data, have all been implemented in
the cloud.” “It's all very easy to do that because the actual cloud
provider's [AWS's] platform is providing a lot of their underlying
certifications and we leverage those going forward.” Over time, freedom from
the need to worry about the underlying architecture is helping businesses
step back and transform their customer experiences. “When the underlying
platform, architecture and technology are all taken care of, customers can
then just focus on the business at hand and how to manage and improve their
own customer’s experience,” Irecki said. “It's also all about flexibility,
scalability, and the ability to be agile and turn on new features at a
moment's notice without having to engage a vendor or having a whole
maintenance window to upgrade a server.” Freedom from the need to have
on-premises systems is particularly valuable for New Zealand companies
because they allow the integration of services that are being launched in the
larger Australian market. This effectively expands the scope of services that
can be incorporated into local computing infrastructure, allowing New Zealand
based customer-service leaders to quickly progress to next-generation
contact-centre environments that are built on top of the reliability of
world-leading public-cloud providers. “By splitting the application from the
voice side of things, customers in New Zealand can still benefit from cloud
applications and everything they provide” in both technological and
cost-benefit terms, Irecki says. “They can pay for cloud services by the
month and have all of their voice calls terminating locally, all of their
voice recording locally, and all of the handsets locally. It's the best of
both worlds.” From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 01/22/2017 Government
Secures Another Major Agreement with Global Software Supplier The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has
secured a pan-government agreement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) New
Zealand – a significant global ICT supplier to New Zealand’s government
agencies. This builds on the previous pan-government agreements DIA has
negotiated with global ICT suppliers. Government Chief Technology Officer,
Tim Occleshaw, is pleased to achieve this milestone. “This agreement aligns
with our strategy of New Zealand Government acting as a single customer and
will support government agencies in embracing the move to the cloud. This
system-wide approach is key to government’s digital services transformation
as part of the shift to a digital economy and society.” The agreement will
result in substantial savings across the public sector over its initial
three-year term, as well as saving time and resources through a simplified
procurement process. It also means all public sector agencies are able to
access pricing that reflects the purchasing power of NZ government, as well
as products that are structured in a manner that aligns with how the
government wants to consume ICT services. “More widely,” he says, “this
agreement presents an exciting and important opportunity for New Zealand. It
demonstrates the collaboration and collective strength that agency chief
executives aspired to when we developed the Government ICT Strategy. Our
vision is to create a single, coherent government ICT system that enables a
radical transformation of public services. Our agreement with HPE is another
step towards achieving this goal.” From https://www.ict.govt.nz 02/01/2017 ISPs: Bigger Is Not Better, Consumer
NZ Survey Finds Consumer NZ has released the results
of its latest survey on consumers’ experience with telcos and internet
service providers, saying the two largest ISPs, Spark and Vodafone, trailed
the field in customer satisfaction. “Only 43 percent of Spark customers and
41 percent of Vodafone customers were very satisfied with their retailer.
Both companies scored comparatively poorly when it came to value for money,”
Consumer NZ said. “Of the seven internet companies in the survey, Flip rated
best for overall satisfaction: 64 percent of its customers were very
satisfied with the service they received. Slingshot and Orcon were the next
cabs off the rank. Overall, 58 percent of Slingshot customers and 53 percent
of Orcon customers were very satisfied.” Flip was better than most across all
performance measures, Consumer NZ reported. “Its major strength was value for
money: 77 percent of the company’s customers felt they got very good bang for
their buck compared with an industry average of 40 percent.” Flip’s customers
were also less likely than the average to encounter a billing dispute,
unhelpful customer service or long wait times to reach a customer service
representative. Among mobile service providers, Spark brand Skinny topped the
rankings with 69 percent of customers surveyed saying they were very
satisfied. Skinny did much better than Spark, which drew only a 53 percent
‘very satisfied’ response. 2degrees was runner-up in the satisfaction stakes
with 59 percent of customers very satisfied. Vodafone lagged behind the other
major mobile companies with a satisfaction rating of 50 percent. “Its
customers were more likely than average to strike unexpected charges and
inaccurate bills,” Consumer NZ said. The industry average was 54 percent. The survey, of 1050 New Zealanders
aged 18 and above, uncovered large scale problems with UFB services: a third
of respondents who had switched to UFB in the past year had encountered
problems. “The biggest bugbear was unmet timeframes for installation, an
issue for 23 percent,” Consumer NZ said. “Other problems included poorly
restored property following installation and damaged property during
installation.” Consumer NZ CEO, Sue Chetwin, said that, overall, the survey
showed both internet and mobile service providers struggling with the basics
of customer service, such as ensuring their customers’ bills were accurate.
“One out of every four consumers has encountered a billing dispute with their
internet company in the past year,” she said. “To make matters worse, ironing
out disputes can be incredibly frustrating. Nearly two-thirds of consumers
experienced lengthy delays to speak with a customer service rep.” From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 02/02/2017 |
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Greater Efforts Needed to Safeguard
Biodiversity The world must ramp up its efforts to
use natural resources more sustainably and conserve biological diversity and the
ecosystems on which we depend for human life, the OECD today told
participants at the COP13 Convention on Biological Diversity in Cancun,
Mexico. Countries are doing more to preserve biodiversity, including taxing
harmful activities, paying farmers and landowners to work in more
biodiversity friendly ways, and using biodiversity offsets to compensate for
damage from activities like farming, forestry and mining. Yet billions of
dollars are still spent each year subsidising fossil fuels and agriculture that
put pressure on natural services like water purification, climate regulation
and insect pollination. A new OECD report, Biodiversity Offsets: Effective
Design and Implementation, highlights that while at least 60 countries now
have laws or policies requiring biodiversity offsets or some form of
conservation programme to compensate for projects that damage nature, and
their value is growing by 10% a year, they still only amount to around USD 3
billion. While environment-related taxes
totalled USD 785 billion in OECD countries in 2014, mostly from energy and
transport taxes, only USD 6 billion were taxes related to biodiversity. In
total, the world spends approximately USD 50 billion a year, mainly from
general government budgets, on protecting biodiversity against nearly half a
trillion dollars spent a year subsidising fossil fuels and more than USD 100
billion a year on potentially harmful agricultural subsidies. “Governments
need to seriously scale up their efforts to conserve biodiversity,” said OECD
Environment Director Simon Upton. “That includes phasing out incentives
harmful to biodiversity and making more use of instruments like biodiversity
offsets positive incentives. It also means mainstreaming biodiversity
objectives into all national and sector policies including agriculture,
fishing, forestry and tourism.” The planet has already lost more than
a third of its terrestrial biodiversity and according to OECD research is on
course to lose another 10% of land species by 2050 from 2010 levels due to
changes in land use and management, pollution, climate change, and the loss
of wetlands, forests and other ecosystems. Around a fifth of mangroves and
coral is also dead or disappeared due to ocean pollution. Almost 100
biodiversity offset programmes are operating worldwide in countries including
Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Mexico,
New Zealand, South Africa and the USA. Typical examples are locally designed
conservation programmes set up near mining or oil extraction operations or
paper mills. The report notes that the environmental effectiveness of offset
programmes depends on ensuring projects are well designed, addressing risks
and putting in place monitoring and remedies against poor performance or
non-compliance. From http://www.oecd.org/ 12/07/2017 Five Resolutions to Simplify Your
Tech Life In 2017, why not try a new kind of New
Year's resolution? Instead of just hitting the gym and dropping some pounds,
consider changing some personal habits to simplify the tech in your life.If
you are like most people, there are things you do with tech that could use
some tweaking. Strengthening your password security, for one, would benefit
you tremendously in an era when hacks are rampant. For another, purging the
e-junk you have accumulated over the years would help the environment and
your sanity. While you're at it, start doing maintenance on your electronics
to make sure they work smoothly this year.Here are my top recommendations for
resolutions to abide by to make tech less frustrating in the new year. Clean up your password hygiene P.U. — what's that smell? It's your
bad password hygiene. You are probably using the same password across
multiple websites for banking, shopping, social media and email.That's
understandable: A person can only memorize so many passwords. But in 2016,
Yahoo reminded everybody that reusing passwords is a very bad idea, after it
revealed that 500 million Yahoo accounts were compromised in 2014, in
addition to 1 billion accounts that were hacked in 2013. If your Yahoo
account password was the same as ones you used elsewhere, those accounts were
vulnerable, too. More from The New York Times: Biggest tech failures and successes
of 2016 Choosing a child's first smartphone How to back up your social media
feeds Start off 2017 by spending a few
hours logging into each of your accounts and creating unique, strong passwords.
To make this easier, use applications like LastPass or 1Password, which are
password-managing apps that let you use one master password to unlock a vault
of passwords to log in to all of your internet accounts. They also
automatically generate strong passwords for you.Then add an extra layer of
protection by enabling two-factor verification on your accounts whenever the
option is available. When you enter your password, you will receive a message
(usually a text) with a one-time code that you must enter before logging
in.Taking these two simple steps will help safeguard you from the inevitable
hacks that arise this year. Maintain your devices After regular use, our smartphones
and computers start to feel sluggish and short-lived, but a bit of maintenance
can make them feel brand new.First, check the condition of your batteries.
With iPhone and iPads, you can hook the devices up to a Mac and run the app
coconutBattery, which reveals battery statistics. With Android devices, you
can use the app Battery by MacroPinch. If your battery is on its last legs,
it's time to order a new one or schedule an appointment at a repair shop to
replace it.If your devices feel sluggish, freeing up some storage can also
make a dramatic difference. Start by purging apps you never use anymore. Then
do something about those photos you never look at: back up all your photos to
the cloud using services like Google Photos and then delete them from your
device to start the new year with a fresh photo roll.Show your gadgets some physical
love, too. Give your screens a good wipe with a wetted cloth. If you own a
desktop computer, open it up and use compressed air to blow out the dust.Do
this basic maintenance every six months and your devices will run smoothly
for many years. Mind your infrastructure We don't hesitate to buy new
smartphones every two years — but that neglected, ugly Wi-Fi router tucked
away in the corner of the living room may be the most important tech product
to upgrade every few years. Among all tech headaches, there is nothing more
annoying than a sluggish, spotty internet connection.Start off each new year
by doing some checks on your internet infrastructure. If your router is more
than three years old, you probably need a new one that is compatible with
today's faster, smarter wireless standards. If you are relying on a router
provided by your broadband provider, you should probably buy a more powerful
stand-alone router.The Wirecutter, the product recommendations website owned
by The New York Times, recommends TP-Link's Archer C7 as the best router for
most people. (If you have less technical know-how, I recommend the Wi-Fi
system from Eero, which offers a smartphone app that holds your hand through
the network setup.) Be less wasteful Unused gadgets and power cables take
up lots of space in drawers and attics. This e-waste would be better off sold
or donated to someone in need, or recycled for their precious metals.During
spring cleaning season, make plans to get this unwanted junk out of your
life. Companies like Amazon and Gazelle offer headache-free trade-in services
for selling used electronics. Just punch in the gadget you are trying to
trade in, like a used iPhone or Samsung Galaxy device, and the sites offer a
quote for how much money or Amazon store credit you can get in exchange for
the gear. Then pack up the outdated hardware, slap on a shipping label, drop
it off at a shipping center and wait for the money to roll in.There is bound
to be unsellable e-junk in your pile. Fortunately, all Best Buy locations
will take your used electronics and recycle them for free. Just bag the items
up and drop them off at the store's customer-service counter, and the
retailer will take care of the rest. Be a smarter shopper To get great deals on electronics, there
is no need to wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Carefully research
high-quality, long-lasting items you want and buy them when their prices drop
a significant amount. This technique can be used when online shopping for
just about anything, but especially for tech products that decrease in price
as they age.Web tools like Camel CamelCamel and Keepa make price tracking on
Amazon.com easy. On their websites, just do a search on the name of the item,
and the sites will pull up a price history. From there, you can create a
tracker to alert you via email whenever a price drops to a desired
amount.Many deals that emerge throughout the year are as good, or better,
than the ones on Black Friday. You just have to know how to spot them.Another
way to save money is to consider buying used products whenever possible. Be
on the lookout for sales of used or refurbished electronics from reputable
brands like Apple, GameStop, Amazon and Gazelle. Before you buy a used item,
read about its condition carefully: Often, products sold as used were barely
touched before they were returned by a customer, or they were restored to
good-as-new condition by a refurbishing center. From http://www.cnbc.com/ 01/01/2017 Censorship on Social Media: 2016 in
Review Censorship comes in many forms. Most
often, when we talk about it at EFF, we’re talking about the measures that
governments take to restrict their citizens’ freedom of expression or access
to information. Online, that can mean blocking websites, restricting the
right to anonymity, or shutting down the Internet, among other things.But as
our speech increasingly takes place on social media platforms—like Facebook
or Twitter—so has our thinking about censorship. And while we still believe
that companies have a right to restrict content on their platforms, we also
believe that they have a moral obligation to consider the implications of
doing so. Companies should do their best to uphold the spirit of free expression
and minimize harms that their policies might have to innocent
users.Onlinecensorship.org—a joint project of EFF and Visualizing
Impact—launched at the end of 2015 to document social media censorship and
hold companies accountable for their actions. In the past year, we’ve learned
a great deal about how users perceive and are impacted by censorship on a
number of platforms, as well as what types of content are commonly taken
down. One of the more interesting things to
emerge from our research is just how seriously this kind of censorship can
affect social media users. Several years ago, when EFF was just beginning to
look at this issue, companies like Facebook were much smaller, making it
easier to suggest that users simply find another platform on which to express
themselves. Today, companies like Facebook and Google have integrated their
services across so much of the web that leaving isn’t so easy.In
Onlinecensorship.org’s most recent paper, we highlight some of the most
egregious examples of content takedowns on social media from 2016, including
the censorship of the iconic Terror of War image, and the bizarre account
deactivation that occurred as the result of sharing a cat photo.In addition
to these examples, 2016 saw the emergence of new trends, most notably the
censorship of live videos. In July, the police shooting of Philando Castile
in Minnesota hit national headlines, in part because Castile’s partner,
Diamond Reynolds, had managed to livestream the incident...until Facebook cut
her off. Although the company later apologized, similar censorship incidents
occurred throughout the year.As we move toward a new year, we will continue
to monitor content takedowns through Onlinecensorship.org (where we’ve
recently revamped our user survey to include more platforms) and keep you
informed.This article is part of our Year In Review series. Read other
articles about the fight for digital rights in 2016. From https://www.eff.org/ 01/02/2017 Meet the World’s Friendliest Home
Robot Kuri, developed by Mayfield Robotics,
is not only a home assistant — it was designed to be a companion as well.
Kuri responds to your voice, much as Amazon Echo or Google Home do, and it’s
able to carry out various tasks, including a nightly security patrol. But
Kuri also has a personality and will interact with you. It can wake you up,
play a podcast while it follows you around your home or even read your kids a
bedtime story. Kuri can also monitor your home when you’re not there, and you
can control it remotely via the included app. When Kuri’s battery gets low,
it simply returns to its dock to recharge. You can reserve your Kuri
beginning Jan. 3, but these $699 home assistants won’t ship until the 2017
holiday season. From https://www.yahoo.com/ 01/04/2017 Why 2017 Will Finally Be the Year of
the Smart Home: Consumers Figure It Out There are tons of high-tech gadgets
to make homes "smarter" today, but homeowners are not asking for
them as much as you might think. Full home automation is not high on the
average house hunter's priority list. That may be about to change. The
trouble so far has been the technology itself: Consumers aren't sure how to
integrate it into existing home systems. Plain and simple, they don't know
how to use it. "It's been a lot of fragmentation in the industry, a lot
of confusion among consumers as to which devices are the best to go with. Is
there longevity here? If they install a system tomorrow, will it be around in
the next year," said Blake Kozak, principal analyst at IHS Markit. In
2016, 80 million smart home devices were delivered worldwide, a 64 percent
increase from 2015, according to IHS Markit. That includes Nest thermostats
and smoke detectors, August smart locks, Ring video doorbells. A big chunk of
it was personal home assistants like Google Home, Bosch's Mykie and Amazon's
Alexa. Analysts say despite the growth last year, 2017 will be the year of the
smart home because the companies behind the technology will be smarter about
educating their consumers. "The consumers today are
incredibly confused as to what's the value that they're getting. A consumer
could be spending upwards of $1,000 if they go to the retail market and they
don't understand what's the value. Are they getting energy savings? Is it
simply fun and they're not going to want to use it in a couple weeks'
time?" said Kozak. Consolidation in the industry has brought smaller
home-tech companies under big umbrella home-service providers. That should
help consumers feel more comfortable with the new devices. "What the
large players in the market like a Comcast, AT&T, and security providers
like Vivint, what these companies can do is provide more marketing and
provide more opportunities for consumers to use these products first hand.
Get these products in front of them, because it's very difficult just
watching advertisements on TV, as to what the true value is," said
Kozak. Real estate agent Theresa Taylor said her buyers in Maryland are not
asking for home technology. They tend to expect it in new construction, but
not in existing homes, which are the vast majority of the market.
"They're not willing to pay a premium for it. If the house has it,
that's fine, but it's nothing that's on the top of their list," said
Taylor. Most buyers, she said, know that if
they want a smart doorbell or thermostat, they can simply buy it on their own
relatively inexpensively. The idea of a complete smart home is beyond their
grasp. "I think it's definitely an opportunity for the electronics
companies to educate them more that this could be a savings, not just
simplicity and making your life easier and being able to use your phone to do
everything," said Taylor. "I think if they knew the benefits about
how it could save them money, it would be a more attractive feature and
instead of being at the bottom of the list of what people want, it would
probably move up to the middle." To that end, CNET, a consumer
technology news and review website, is launching its Smart Home Matrix at the
Consumer Electronics Show this week. It is a new feature on the site designed
to walk consumers through the latest smart home technology. "We've seen
smart home technology increasingly take prominence at CES with more products
announced each year," said Mark Larkin, SVP and GM at CNET. "From
our own testing in the CNET Smart Home, we understand one of the largest
hurdles in adopting smart home technology is getting multiple devices to work
together. Our Smart Home Matrix helps consumers do just that by letting them
know what devices are compatible with each other." The year ahead will
likely bring more innovations, but the focus, according to analysts at IHS
Markit, will be lowering prices, educating consumers and enhancing security,
so that no one can hack your fridge. Voice assist will become much more
commonplace, and the smart home will integrate with the smart car — so as you
drive away, your home will know to turn the heat down. They predict at least
130 million smart home devices will be shipped worldwide this year. From http://www.cnbc.com/ 01/04/2017 Does Online Activism Work? Is Its
Impact Positive for Society? Online activism (a.k.a. Internet
activism, web activism or cyberactivism) emerged in the early 1990s in the
USA and later spread very quickly to all developed countries. It initially
consisted of mass email and E-bulletin board campaigns. Later, organisations
such as Avaaz, Change.org, MoveOn.org and 38 Degrees brought civic engagement
to a new level and put online activism at the center of political and
business decisions. This very platform, Netivist, aims at contributing to the
same goal. Online activism via petitions and campaigns has become an
effective way to raise awareness about about important political, economic,
cultural and social problems and challenges society is facing. Online activism
can be used for advocacy or awareness purposes, to collect donations, as a
means to foster coordination and mobilization of activists and supporters of
a cause, and as an expression of collective unrest and protest.Some
governments and parliaments are also creating online petition sites. Thanks
to them, citizens have a more direct way to influence policy-making.
Wikileaks and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists can
be considered different examples of online activism. By revealing thousands
of classified documents, these sites are contributing to transparency and
shaping public opinion and governance. Moreover, online political activism is
helping to tip the balance in some contested electoral campaigns. In many cases online petitions and
campaigns work, and satisfactory manage to raise awareness, funds or to push
governments or introduce regulation. However, most of the petitions and
collective initiatives launched on the Internet don't manage to fulfil the
expectations of the activists that created them. Moreover there are cases in
which cyberactivism produces mixed results. For instance, between the summer
of 2014 and start of 2015, social media users helped to make the amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis (ALS) ice bucket challenge viral. People were required to
douse themselves in a bucket of cold water before nominating others with the
same challenge. At its peak of popularity, a host of celebrities—including
Robert Downey Jr and Tom Cruise—carried out the same challenge. All social media
participants were required to do, was to share these videos, making them
viral. As noted by many commentators, these social media users lack any
awareness of the condition of ALS, nor displayed obvious empathy with those
suffering from ALS. Yet, a report by the Guardian noted that it managed to
fund important breakthrough in ALS research. What is "clicktivism"? And
"slacktivism"? While online activism is growing in
popularity, the rejection this type of activism generates among people also
increases. The informal and derogatory terms "clicktivism" and
"slacktivism" are increasingly used as synonyms of Internet
activism. "Clicktivism" refers to the use of social media and other
online methods to promote a specific cause by simply clicking on a
endorsement or signature button. Similary the term "slacktivism"
refers to a half-hearted form of activism, usually by posting links,
comments, images in support of a cause on social media, but without further
action. These terms capture a frequent critique by "traditional"
activists or advocates. They think that online activism is simply encouraging
people to passively click in support of a cause rather than take concrete
action, which may have a greater impact in bringing about change. Online activism pros and cons Before you make up your mind we have
summarized here some of the main advantages and limitations of Internet
activism. Pros of online activism: Online activism is cost efficient. It
requires low effort from the organizers and supporters of a cause.Digital
activism is democratizing activism. Previously, broadcasting a message was
costly so only relatively big organizations could afford to undertake big
campaigns and mobilize many people. Social media has made it much
easier.Online activism is demonstrating the transformational impact of
internet on society. There are many examples of online petitions that have
worked.As many viral campaigns can attest to, it is an extremely effective
means to raise funds if social media campaigns become viral. It generates significant
debate and awareness amongst people. "Clicktivists" and
"slacktivists" who are simply sharing a link or a post or clicking
on a button to endorse a petition, often learn about problems through this
process. Some of them will later on find out more about that issue or cause
and may end up becoming "fully-fledged activists." Cons of online activism: Clicktivists are usually passive
slacktivists rather than activists. They demonstrate poor understanding of
these causes, and usually get involved only because of the hype on social
media.Online activism can become a hypocritical way of getting peace of mind
when we know that we are not doing anything substantial to solve the problems
we may be indirectly contributing to.Online activism has transformed the way
social and political campaigners communicate their message. Often, messages
are being overly simplified and there is less room for public deliberation
and exchange of views than in traditional activism. Although the potential to transform
society is real, sometimes the impact of online activism is negative for
society. For instance, terrorist groups and xenophobic parties are also using
online activism to achieve their goals.Online activism can be misleading.
Despite having a large showing of force online, democratic movements often
falter. Clicks of supports and shares do not always translate into a large
force outside the Internet. Activism is being banalized and being transformed
into a sort of entertainment.Emerging questions: Are petition sites and
social media encouraging people to passively click in support of a cause
rather than taking action? Are "clicktivism" and
"slacktivism" undermining "real activism"? Do you think
clicktivism is positive or simply a means to have a clean conscience without
sacrificing much time or effort for a cause? From https://netivist.org/ 01/06/2016 Thirty-One Percent of Romanian Internet
Users Gave Personal Information Online in 2016, Says a Study Thirty one percent of Romanian
internet users gave personal information online in 2016, which is almost half
of the EU average, says a study.According to the Perceptum research, in 2016
only 15 percent of the Romanians who used the internet refused to give their
personal information to be used in advertising objectives, compared with an
average of 80 percent. The same percentage of Romanian internet users limited
the access to others to the personal profile or their own delivered content
compared with an EU average of 40 percent.The EU statistics shows that seven
in 10 Internet users with ages between 16 and 74 years are aware that via
cookies they are exposed to abuses.In Romania, only four in ten Romanians (38
percent) are aware of these files and to the offers to the site owners, a
valuable feedback regarding the users’ preferences in shopping, information
sources, holidays, etc.Twenty four percent of the users read the
confidentiality policies of the sites (37 percent EU average) and 70 percent
of those who were online used the mobile phones/smartphones and 26 percent
used the tablets.The used data for the research were issued to the European
Office of Statistics (Eurostat) during December 2016- February 2017. From http://www.business-review.eu/ 02/14/2017 Wireless Carriers Are Fighting for
Your Cash, and That’s Good News Over the past week, the four big US wireless
carriers have made two things clear: They’re easily spooked, and competition
works. From Feb. 12 through Feb. 17, a cascading series of rate cuts and
service-plan liberalizations have seen the price of unlimited data plans
tumble from a high of infinity to, at worst, $100. Unlimited-data domino theory The pricing battle started when
Verizon (VZ) made a surprise announcement on Feb. 12 saying the company would
start selling unlimited data plans for $80 for a single line without the kind
of video streaming and hotspot limits T-Mobile (TMUS) imposed on its $70
unlimited plan. T-Mobile then quickly responded by saying it would lift both
of those restrictions, adding a 10 GB tethering allowance and letting
subscribers stream high-def video. The next two dominoes fell when Sprint (S)
announced that it would also enable high-def video on its $60 unlimited plan
and double its Wi-Fi tethering allotment to 10 GB. Then AT&T (T) said it
would open its $100 unlimited plan to all subscribers instead of reserving it
only for those who also pay for its DirecTV or U-verse TV services. The carriers’ plans still have their
individual downsides, of course. AT&T, for example, bans tethering on its
“unlimited” plan, while Verizon’s offering requires that you give up any employee
or educational discounts and enable autopay from a checking account or debit
card to qualify for the lowest monthly price. And all four carriers reserve
the right to “deprioritize” your data — send it to the back of the digital
line behind other users’ — if you use too much. AT&T and Verizon set that
limit at 22 GB, while Sprint draws the line at 23 GB. T-Mobile starts to slow
things down at 28 GB should the company’s network becomes congested in your
vicinity. But overall, things are looking far more customer-friendly. And
that didn’t happen because AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon magically
supercharged their networks or anything. Wireless customers can walk One of the biggest reasons for the
changes came last month, when Verizon announced that its quarterly earnings
and wireless subscriber additions both fell below analyst predictions. One
big factor: growing competition from T-Mobile and, to a lesser extent,
Sprint. “All the signs for the complete return of unlimited were hiding in
plain sight,” said Recon Analytics founder Roger Entner, who pointed to the
increasing capacity of Verizon’s network, as well as the shrinking gap
between Verizon and T-Mobile’s coverage areas as evidence for the change.
AT&T, meanwhile, couldn’t just ignore Verizon’s moves considering Big Red
is the company’s closest competitor. “When one does something significant,
the other cannot fight the urge to respond in kind,” Entner said. “It just
highlights how vigorous and intense the competition is in wireless.” Don’t expect
these lower unlimited data costs to rubber band back to their highs, either.
In this four-company market, there’s too much competition for any one carrier
to expect others to follow suit if it raises rates. The market didn’t build that on its
own This isn’t entirely a triumph of
private enterprise, though. Imagine a wireless market in which you couldn’t
take your phone number from one carrier to another at will, something the
Federal Communications Commission only issued a directive on in late 2003, years
after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 mandated the move. Then imagine a
market in which AT&T had been allowed to purchase T-Mobile in 2011. If
the Feds didn’t quash that deal and free T-Mobile (armed with a $4 billion
merger-breakup fee from AT&T) to blow up business as usual, we might
still be stuck with two-year service contracts tying us to bloatware-riddled,
carrier-crippled phones. It’s worth thinking about that as
news circulates of Sprint’s corporate parent Softbank readying yet another
bid to get its carrier merged with T-Mobile — in the latest chapter of of a
story that’s been simmering since 2014, Softbank is now signaling its
willingness to have T-Mobile buy Sprint instead of the other way around. We
already know what a telecommunications market without sufficient competition
looks like. For many American households, residential broadband remains a
two-company proposition at best. In fact, in most cases, consumers have just
one option after subtracting the phone company’s sluggish digital-subscriber-line
service. From https://www.yahoo.com/ 02/19/2017 EUROPE: The Role of Social Media on
Influencing Elections Dominates a Meeting of the EU Media Literacy Working
Group The EU Media Literacy Expert Group
met in Brussels in November to discuss innovations in Media Literacy. IREX
Europe’s Deputy Director Flora Graioni was invited to attend. (@EU_MedLit,
@MediaEu, #EUML16). 90 participants from 28 Member States, 4 candidate countries,
UNESCO, the Council of Europe and 20 European media professional associations
and civil society networks attended. More information about the group can be
found here, as well as most of the presentations shown during the meeting.
One of the meeting’s highlights was when Facebook and Google representatives
were questioned on how they will react to allegations that their social media
sites are increasingly sources of misinformation with real potential to
affect the democratic future of States. The meeting was devoted to 4 topics:
1/. Media literacy: coordination and synergies with other EU policies within
the European Commission (prevention of radicalisation, fundamental rights and
citizenship, digital skills, school education, youth policy and film
literacy) 2/. Media literacy: building bridges between the media industry and
the education sector to develop and disseminate critical thinking tools. 3/.
Media literacy in the digital era: how to empower citizens who are active in
on-line platforms with critical thinking tools? 4/. Presentation of the
mapping of media literacy practices in EU-28 prepared by the European
Audiovisual Observatory. During the panel “Media literacy in the digital era:
how to empower citizens who are active in on-line platforms with critical
thinking tools”, the audience was particularly active and several questions
were put to Google and Facebook representatives. Although both reinforced the
fact they don’t want to be called media companies but rather “tech
companies”, they were challenged on where they stand regarding their
responsibility when it comes to public service, pluralism and their influence
on audiences, The debate was very timely with
regards to the current discussions on Facebook’s influence via “fake news” on
the US presidential elections. “Facebook will need to change its business
model if it does want to address these editorial challenges. Currently, the
truth of a piece of content is less important than whether it is shared,
liked and monetized. These “engagement” metrics distort the media landscape,
allowing clickbait, hyperbole and misinformation to proliferate. And on
Facebook’s voracious news feed, the emphasis is on the quantity of posts, not
spending time on powerful, authoritative, well-researched journalism.
”https://www.theguardian.com/technol... This is particularly relevant when we
consider that many users, particularly among the younger and more
technologically engaged prefer an algorithm to choose their news, rather than
an editor (“Brand and trust in a fragmented news”, research led byReuters
Institute. The new digital environment is dramatically changing the media’s
role and position in society, and Media and Information Literacy actors will
need to take a central role in finding technical, cognitive, social, civic
and creative solutions for citizens allowing them to access reliable
independent information and have a critical understanding of the media in all
its forms, and how to interact with it. From http://irex-europe.fr/ 11/28/2017 ITALY: Sustained Reforms Are
Essential to Reinforcing Inclusive Growth Italy is slowly emerging from a deep and lengthy
recession, helped by a range of structural reforms – such as the Jobs Act – and
accommodative monetary and fiscal policies, according to a new OECD report.
The Economic Survey of Italy says that to boost inclusive
growth, Italy needs to maintain a people-centred focus on enhancing
well-being, reducing labour market duality and the mismatch of skills with
jobs, while improving access to employment opportunities and vocational
education for disadvantaged groups.
The report also highlights that vital reforms to
create a more effective public administration and improve the business environment
must continue. A rapid and effective boost to infrastructure spending will be
essential to raise investment while ensuring the continuation of prudent
fiscal policies. The Jobs Act and temporary cuts in social
security contributions for new permanent contracts have contributed to rising
employment and higher consumer spending. But the recovery remains weak
because of low investment and a challenging international environment, says
the report. Productivity growth is low and the benefits are not shared
sufficiently across the country. Inefficiencies in the public administration
and judicial system, as well as weak competition in some sectors, still
hamper business dynamism. The rejection of constitutional reform in the
December 2016 referendum also risks slowing down reforms. Speaking
in Rome to launch the report alongside Italian Finance Minister Pier
Carlo Padoan, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said,
“The significant reforms of recent years are beginning to pay off. Growth is
recovering slowly, but complex challenges still remain. For the well-being of
all Italians, it is imperative that the reform process continues and that the
new measures are implemented fully and effectively.” Mr Gurría said the four main challenges are to
increase productivity and investment; return the banking system to health;
boost jobs and skills; and reduce poverty, particularly among the young who
have suffered the sharpest falls in income since the crisis. “By tackling
labour market duality, which protects insiders with secure jobs but excludes
outsiders such as the young and those with lower skills, and by introducing a
modern unemployment insurance system, the Jobs Act is an important economic
and social reform”, Mr Gurría said. “Full implementation of the new job
search and training policies together with the Buona Scuola education reform
will help improve the skills and talents of workers and students”, he added.
(read the full speech) Other OECD’s recommendations include: ·
Enhancing
tax compliance through greater investment in information technology and staff
resources; lowering the cash payment threshold; introducing property
taxes based on updated cadastral values, ·
Approving
and implementing the planned anti-poverty programme, targeted towards the
young and children, ·
Fostering
the development of a venture capital industry by raising private funds and
expertise, ·
Stepping
up vocational education and training through strong involvement with the
business sector. An Overview of the Economic Survey of Italy 2017
in English, French and Italian is available at: www.oecd.org/italy/economic-survey-italy.htm. An embeddable version of the report
is available, together with information about downloadable and print versions
of the report. For further information, journalists should contact the OECD’s Media
Office (+33 1 45
24 97 00). Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum
that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of
people around the world. From http://www.oecd.org/
02/15/2017 Portugal Should Build on Reforms to
Boost Job Creation Comprehensive reforms to Portugal’s
labour market between 2011 and 2015 have helped create jobs and reduce the country’s
high unemployment rate but important challenges remain, according to a new
OECD report. Labour Market Reforms in Portugal 2011-2015 – A Preliminary
Assessment says that, since economic growth turned positive in early 2013,
Portugal has seen major improvements in both employment and unemployment
rates that are better than expected given the pace of the recovery. But
joblessness remains high, particularly among youth, and this has driven an
increase in poverty and long-term unemployment. The labour market remains
highly divided between workers on permanent and temporary contracts.
Portugal’s reform of employment protection legislation was one of the most
substantial among OECD countries in recent years and has moved it closer to
the EU average. The report suggests a number of additional areas where
reforms might be needed and which would further encourage hiring on permanent
contracts, tackle labour market duality, and help reduce potential disputes
between employers and workers. The report also argues that the
unemployment safety net should be strengthened by extending benefit coverage
to more workers, but that further disincentives to work inherent in the
current system should be removed if long-term unemployment is to be tackled
effectively. This should go hand in hand with measures to reinforce
employment programmes to support the reintegration of jobseekers into
employment. A significant number of reforms during the crisis were aimed at
making the collective bargaining system more representative, decentralised
and dynamic – but with mixed success. Going forward, employment losses
associated with economic shocks could be contained if wages are allowed to
reflect productivity developments at the firm-level more closely. Further increases
in the minimum wage might help address in-work poverty but, to minimise any
potential job losses, reductions in employers’ social security contributions
on minimum-wage workers should be considered. More generally, further improvements
to Portugal’s job market performance will require tackling other economic
challenges. These include: the need to return to higher and more sustainable
levels of growth; further reforms of product market regulations; better
access to credit for firms; a reduction in employers’ non-wage labour costs;
and additional investments in skills. For further information or comment,
journalists should contact Stijn Broecke, Labour Market Economist at the
OECD’s Employment Division and main author of the report (tel. + 33 1 45 24
80 29). For a copy of the report, please contact the OECD’s Media Division
(+33 1 45 24 97 00). Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global
policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social
well-being of people around the world. From http://www.oecd.org/ 01/19/2017 Portugal: Successful Reforms Have
Underpinned Economic Recovery The
Portuguese economy is gradually recovering from a deep recession thanks to a
broad structural reform agenda that has led to rising economic growth,
falling unemployment and remarkable progress in export performance.
Maintaining momentum for further reforms is crucial to address remaining
challenges and bringing about stronger and more inclusive growth, according
to a new report from the OECD. The latest OECD Economic Survey of
Portugal also points
out the need to bring down high levels of public and private sector
indebtedness and address non-performing loans in the banking system, which
are hampering investment and holding back growth and productivity. The
Survey, presented in Lisbon by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría andPortugal’s Minister of Finance Mário Centeno,
identifies three priority areas for future action: reducing the
vulnerabilities of the Portuguese economy and making it more inclusive,
raising investment and boosting skills. “Reforms to product and labour
markets, tax policy, competition and the public sector have underpinned
Portugal’s recovery, and are now bearing fruit,” Mr Gurría said. “While
growth and exports are up and the fiscal outlook is encouraging, important
challenges remain to building a more prosperous and brighter future for all
the Portuguese people, so everyone benefits from the recovery. Further
reforms will be critical to reaching this objective.” (Read the full speech) The
Survey points out the need to address financial sector fragility,
highlighting the need to reduce the share of non-performing loans in the
banking sector, which represent more than 12% of total loans, one of the
highest levels among European countries. A comprehensive reform package
should include strengthening of current regulatory incentives for the
reduction of non-performing loans, the development of a market for distressed
corporate debt and streamlined insolvency rules. Improving the business
environment should help boost investment. The Survey proposes enhancing
judicial system capacity, lowering electricity costs and rents, easing entry
requirements in professional services, boosting port efficiency and revising
land use regulations and local government licensing procedures. Portugal
still has one of the most unequal distributions of income in Europe. Recent
efforts to step up the guaranteed minimum income scheme are welcome. Portugal
needs to overcome the legacy of a low-skilled labour force and improving the
skills of all Portuguese will bolster growth, and will be crucial in helping
to address inequalities, the Survey said. The OECD points out scope for
improvements in primary and secondary education, including better teacher
training, more evaluation and consolidation of vocational education and
training programmes, strengthening the links between the research and
business sector, through better incentives for academics to cooperate with
industry, raising managerial skills and increased life-long learning for
low-skilled workers. During his visit, the OECD Secretary-General also announced
the launch of the Action Phase of a project undertaken jointly by the OECD
and the Portuguese authorities as part of Portugal’s National Skills
Strategy. This effort builds on existing diagnostic work that has helped to
identify Portugal’s skills challenges. An
Overview of the Economic Survey, with the main conclusions, is accessible at: www.oecd.org/portugal/economic-survey-portugal.htm.
For further information, journalists can contact the OECD Media Division (+33 1 4524 9700). Working with over 100
countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to
improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. From http://www.oecd.org/ 02/06/2017 RUSSSIA: Radio Free Europe Launches
New Russian-Language TV Channel PRAGUE, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S.-funded
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty launched a new 24-hour Russian-language
channel on Tuesday to offer Russian speakers living home and abroad a new alternative
to government-run media. The channel, Current Time, is available on cable,
satellite and digital platforms and aimed at millions of Russian speakers in
Russia, the Baltics, Ukraine, the Caucasus, central Asia and elsewhere.
"We believe our objective and balanced channel will serve as an
alternative to disinformation and lies that sometimes we see coming from
Russian state-sponsored outlets," Kenan Aliyev, executive editor of
Current Time, told Reuters. "We are not counterpropaganda at all. We are
objective and balanced, verified news. We are an open platform for anyone who
wants to engage in a civilised discussion." The Russian Foreign Ministry
did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty broadcasts news and other programming in 26 languages to Russia,
Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iran, and a range of other countries. Current Time has
about 100 editorial staff at RFE headquarters in Prague and correspondents in
the field, Aliyev said, and will deliver news, debates and documentaries. The
network's name in Russian is "Nastoyashchee Vremya". In Russia, which has narrowed the
space for independent media in the past years, RFE/RL Vice President and
Editor-in-Chief Nenad Pejic said digital platforms were the key strategy to
win new audience and overcome distribution difficulties. "The only
platform we have is digital, and social networks," Pejic said, adding
some viewers would also have access via satellite. "Cable providers do
not want to put us on." RFE/RL said in a statement Current Time had 160
million views on social networks last year under a trial operation. Pejic
said he saw no changes to the RFE/RL operations under the new administration
of U.S. President Donald Trump who has said he wanted to improve ties with Russian
President Vladimir Putin. "This company has existed for 60
years and we have a firewall between us and the U.S. government," he
said. "Nobody in the U.S. government is allowed to tell us what to
do." Some officials in the State Department and the U.S. intelligence
community have said they were worried that Trump is not wary enough of Putin,
who considers RFE/RL's efforts "to promote democratic values" an
attempt to undermine his government. Officials in Moscow say Russia has a
free and independent media. They deny using state media as a tool for
political influence. They say some Russian state media outlets provide a
healthy counterpoint to powerful Western media which, they argue, often push
an anti-Russian agenda. From http://news.trust.org/ 02/08/2017 TURKEY: 'Worst Country' for Media
Freedom in 2016 Turkey jailed more journalists than
any other country this year. According to the Turkish Journalists'
Association, 148 journalists are currently imprisoned and many media outlets
have been shut down. "In the past journalists were killed in Turkey,”
said one journalist, who was not identified, in the Human Rights Watch report
on the freedom of press in Turkey. "This government is killing
journalism in its entirety." According to Reporters Without Borders
(RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Turkey was the worst
country for media freedom in 2016. "After two years, Turkey is once
again the world's biggest prison for journalists," said Erol Önderoglu,
RSF representative in Turkey. Turkey has now dropped two places in RSF's
Press Freedom Report, and is in 151st place out of 180 countries. Ahead of
Turkey are Tajikistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the
Turkish Journalists' Association (TGC), 148 journalists are currently in
prison and the number of journalists on trial are difficult to determine, as
hundreds of journalists are being tried on many charges including espionage,
aiding and abetting terrorist organizations, and insulting public officials.
RSF representative Önderoglu, awarded with the Turkish Journalists'
Association's Freedom of Press award, himself spent ten days in jail in June
2016, charged with spreading propaganda for a terrorist organization. Önderoglu was imprisoned earlier this
year amid massive protests Önderoglu told DW how he saw press
freedom from behind bars. "I think I went through the same paradox of
being awarded and then going to jail that my 'terrorist' -labeled colleagues
had been through all these years. The winds of false freedom blew me right
into a prison cell and I wasn't even surprised," he said. Purge on media As part of the state of emergency
declared after the failed coup attempt of July 15th, nearly 170 media outlets,
including newspapers, TV and radio channels, news agencies, magazines and
publishers were shut down. Justification for the shutdowns were given as
having ties to the Gülen Movement, the international opposition movement the
Turkish government says was a perpetrator of the coup attempt. But it wasn't
only Gülen-affiliated media organizations that were shut down: Kurdish,
Alavite and opposition media outlets were also closed. During the failed
putsch, rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and fighters jets, bombed
parliament and seized bridges in a bid to take over power. Gülen, who has
lived in self-imposed exile in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, has
denied involvement in the coup attempt. Turkey has sacked or suspended more
than 100,000 people and arrested 37,000 since the coup attempt in an
unprecedented crackdown. Nearly 2,500 media employees and journalists also
lost their jobs, hundreds more lost their press credentials, an unknown
number of journalists had their passports revoked and were forbidden from
leaving the country, and dozens had their properties confiscated. In
comparison, TGC numbers show that in the first five months of 2016, the
number of journalists dismissed due to government pressure was under 900.
Thousands of blocked websites and social media postings were not included in
the data, and according to a report by the Washington-based think tank
Freedom House, a year earlier Turkey had already fallen to the category of
the countries with "no internet freedom" from "partially free."
TGC chairman and seasoned journalist Turgan Olcayto described the state of
press freedom to DW as: "not bad - very, very bad." "We've
seen many coups in Turkey in the past but never has there been this much
pressure, targeting and the ambition to imprison journalists. Freedom of the
press doesn't exist in Turkey," he said. Gokhan Durmus, chairman of the
Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS), said that the media could only report
what the government wants them to hear. "Anyone who does the opposite is
either punished or shut down. That is why the people aren't aware of unlawful
or undemocratic practices." Bleak outlook for 2017 And Turkish journalists aren't
hopeful for the coming year either. There are concerns that pressure on the
media will increase with a referendum to be held next spring on
constitutional changes expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers.
"I don't remember a time in the past 20 years that I've been so hopeless
and have had such a bleak outlook for the days ahead," RSF representative
Onderoglu said. But TGS Chairman Durmus has some positive expectations for
the imprisoned journalists. Durmus said that legal proceedings for many
imprisoned journalists will begin in 2017. "We will see that the
journalists will have been imprisoned for nothing. We believe that most, if
not all, will be set free," he said. "But they will have been
punished anyway because they will have lost their freedom for months." From http://www.dw.com/ 01/02/2017 UKRAINE: EGA to Develop E-Services
for Administrative Service Centres Over the next two years, the
e-Governance Academy will assume a lead role in creating a data exchange and information
system in Ukraine, enabling up to 600 local service centres in Ukraine to
provide up-to-date public services to the people by exchanging information
with national central registries, BC informs eGA representative. The cost of
the data exchange and information system to be set up is 5.7 million euros
and the funding comes from the EU, the Swedish government and the Estonian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ukraine’s counterpart in this project is the
State Agency of e-Governance in Ukraine. According to Hannes Astok, Director
for Development and Strategy of the e-Governance Academy, the project is the
most ambitious yet undertaken by the e-Governance Academy in terms of its
financial volume as well as scope. “We will start the project by mapping
existing services and databases and procuring a data exchange system to
provide Ukraine with an efficient and secure method for cross-usage of data.
Developing e-services will help the Ukrainian government reduce red tape –
citizens will not have to submit the same data repeatedly. It will also
mitigate the risk of corruption – due to data processing and other actions of
the state becoming more transparent,” says Hannes Astok. Creating up to 600
service centres is part of Ukraine’s decentralisation effort, which involves
central authorities delegating duties to the local level. It is planned that
as many as 70 public services will be available in Ukraine in a fully
electronic format upon the project’s completion in 2020. The e-Governance Academy has
supported Ukraine’s efforts towards e-governance since 2012. Previously, the
Academy’s experts have helped Ukraine build the administrative and
communication capability of the State Agency of e-Governance in Ukraine,
prepare policy papers, support the development of a document exchange system
and create e-services for local governments in Western Ukraine. The
e-Governance Academy is a consultancy organisation and think tank founded for
the creation and transfer of knowledge and best practices concerning
e-governance, e-democracy, cyber security and open information societies.
Since 2002, the e-Governance Academy has trained more than 3,000 officials
from more than 50 countries and has led or participated in more than 60
international development projects on the national, local and organisational
levels. From http://www.baltic-course.com/ 12/08/2017 NORTH AMERICA: Canada - 6 Suggestion
to Ease Organizational Culture Changes Changing organizational culture is
difficult, to say the least. Whether you are implementing new technology or a
new initiative, culture changes are inevitable. Much of it has to do with how hard
people want to hold onto the past, and how much support we have from upper
management to make the shift. Introducing culture shifts require a lot of
patience and consistency. It is highly dependent on the people in the
organization and how well they adapt.
It is also dependent on the change being presented and at what levels
– organizational or behavioral. Being able to see the progression of an
organization from where it was before the shift and where it is now can be
fascinating. For example, performing data analytics is a major initiative
that a wide variety of organizations are beginning to implement. For
organizations where data collection, analysis and metrics are new, it may be
difficult to show and convince people that this is a good thing and how this
data provides information on the health of the organization and/or
operations. The following are
some suggestions on overcoming some of these challenges: 1. Get executive sponsorship – it is
important that executive and managerial staff believe and understand that the
change is needed. Otherwise, it creates unnecessary confusion and tension at
all levels in the organization. The first step in making a change is
acknowledging the need for it. That is half the battle. Having managerial and
executive staff communicate the relevant impact within a department shows
that they support it. This is
instrumental in making a change initiative successful. 2. Communicate long term goals with
follow through – As we all know, culture shifts take time. Make sure you are
clear and consistent in communication, and you have a long term outlook of
where you want the culture shift to lead. Follow through is also something
that goes hand in hand with this. If you say you are going to do something,
but there is no follow through, people will lose faith and are not going to
believe you. This results in staff not taking things seriously which can be
detrimental when trying to implement something new. 3. Have a plan – Make sure that you
have a solid plan in place with major milestones. Advertising this plan on a
global scale can increase visibility and importance. Measure and update your
progress against the major milestones on the plan so people know you are
keeping yourself accountable for the progress. This initiates trust with the
implementation. 4. Explain why – asking why is very common
– why now? Why us? Why in general? Providing these answers can reduce
confusion and uncertainty while creating trust among staff. This is
especially true if the answers relate to how staff will benefit from the
change. 5. Create inclusion and ownership – a
professor in one of my MBA class once said that inclusion gives someone a
positive feeling equivalent to a positive major life event. Exclusion gives
the opposite effect. Inclusion can be used at many levels – whether it’s
informational or being one of the key players in the shift. Inclusion creates
positive vibes through teamwork as well as promoting ownership. If people are
included and informed they are more likely to be willing to own a piece of
the change. 6. Get feedback – after implementing the
change, it becomes more important to always have a way to receive continuous
feedback and look for opportunities where things could have gone better.
Asking for feedback on how the change was implemented sheds light on how to
improve in the future. From https://www.govloop.com/ 02/09/2017 U.S.: Facebook Chief Tech Exec
Explains How AI Drives Your Experience on the Site For Facebook’s (FB) 1.7 billion monthly
users, artificial intelligence isn’t the stuff of sci-fi flicks. It’s already
heavily baked into the everyday Facebook experience — you just don’t realize
it. “In the early days, Facebook had no idea which photo was more interesting
to you: a photo of what one friend ate for breakfast or another photo of a
friend’s son taking their first step,” Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer told
Yahoo Finance at CES 2017 this week in Las Vegas. “Now, we have in product
this technology that can analyze basic traits and help make sure you see the
best stuff.” Where A.I. remains really early and rough, though, is in having
an actual back-and-forth conversation. Even with virtual assistants like
Amazon’s (AMZN) Alexa — a breakout star at this year’s CES with a slew of compatible
third-party devices — once you get beyond one or two exchanges, many systems
fall apart, simply because things get too complicated and open-ended for them
to follow and compute. That’s why Facebook’s experimental
virtual assistant, M, is still years away from being ready for the masses. As
Facebook CTO, Shroepfer directly oversees the company’s A.I. effort, one of
three pillars in the social network’s 10-year roadmap alongside virtual
reality and augmented reality, as well as bringing internet connectivity to
the 4.1 billion people in the world who lack it. In theory, Facebook wants M
to one day help Facebook users accomplish day-to-day tasks like booking
travel, ordering food and scheduling appointments. Ultimately, it will be
powered by a smart set of algorithms on the back end with very little human
intervention. But for now, the virtual assistant heavily relies on a team of
humans to complete many tasks. It’s Facebook’s hope that in the
not-so-distant future, A.I.-driven services like M will augment the human
experience, and not replace it and displace workers, as some critics worry
could happen. Indeed, the World Economic Forum estimates that as many as 5.1
million jobs may be displaced by 2020, due to the rise of A.I., machine
learning, robotics and other nascent technologies. “You need to take in the
full picture of all these things that are happening,” Schroepfer contended,
pointing out that 70,000 accidents are stopped every year in the US just from
auto-breaking systems, which literally just have a camera under your
rear-view mirror and hit the breaks so you don’t hit the car in front of you.
And while he did not deny AI will eliminate some jobs and change the kinds of
jobs people do, Schroepfer added new kinds of jobs will be created, as well.
“We just have to help the whole world manage through that transition and make
sure that there’s plenty of great work for everyone,” he said. In the interim, A.I. is already
transforming much of the way we engage with the world. Take, for instance,
virtual assistants. Walk the crowded floors of CES 2017 in Las Vegas, and
you’ll notice one of the largest trends is compatibility with Alexa, Amazon’s
popular voice-activated virtual assistant. There were voice-activated
self-driving cars, cellphones, even air purifiers. Facebook (FB), however,
isn’t in a rush to join those devices and services. “Speech recognition is
useful in environments where either your hands are already busy, so you can’t
type, or it’s just more convenient to do it, like at home where I don’t want
to have to pull out my phone and do things,” Schroepfer said. People spend
the majority of their time using Facebook when they’re, say, at Starbucks in
line, walking between appointments, or are on the subway. Those are typically
locations where you would text somebody instead of calling them, Schroepfer
pointed out. From https://www.yahoo.com/ 01/07/2017 Cutting the Federal Workforce Is
Harder Than It Sounds (This column was originally published
on Jeff Neal’s blog, ChiefHRO.com, and was republished here with permission
from the author.) The Trump administration and the Congress have been talking
about reducing the size of the federal workforce. Given that the President
and many members of Congress ran on a platform of doing just that, it should
not come as a surprise to anyone. Like many things in life, this one is
harder than it might appear to be. There are three reasons why I believe that
to be true. First, the “government” is unpopular with many folks, but
specific programs/agencies are not. An interesting 2013 Pew Research Center
report looked at how Americans view federal agencies. They found that wide
majorities had favorable views of the U.S. Postal Service, the Department of
Defense, the Centers for Disease Control, NASA, the Environmental Protection
Agency and several other agencies/programs. So, while there may be widespread
support for the abstract idea of cutting the size of the federal workforce, it
is likely that many of the cuts that could be made may not be popular.
There’s an old expression in Washington: “Don’t cut you, don’t cut me — cut
that fella behind the tree.” If cuts start to target specific (and popular)
agencies, we may see public pressure to protect investments in those agencies
and programs. Second, the desire to cut some
programs/agencies is coupled with an interest in growing others. Math still
works, so when the growing agencies and shrinking agencies are combined, the
numbers do not always move in the intended direction. The best example was
the Reagan administration. President Reagan came to office with a clear
message that he planned to shrink the government, and said, “A government
bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.” So
what happened during his administration? OPM data shows that the Executive
Branch (including the Postal Service) workforce numbered 2,821,000 in 1980.
After eight years of cutting civilian agencies and growing the Department of
Defense, at the end of 1988, the workforce had grown to 3,054,000. The growth
in Defense far outstripped cuts that were made to other agencies. President
Donald Trump has called for 15,000 new employees (5,000 Border Patrol agents
and 10,000 in ICE) in the Homeland Security Department. Secretary of Defense
James Mattis has called for growing the armed forces, while the Army and Navy
have expressed interest in focusing on military readiness. It is likely DoD
will find some areas to economize and work more efficiently, but historically
growth in uniformed personnel and attention to readiness have resulted in a
larger DoD civilian workforce. When we couple the potential for
growth in Defense and Homeland Security with other programs that are hard to
cut (such as veterans benefits and health care), large parts of the federal
workforce come off the table. DoD, DHS and VA represent 1,302,000 of the
current 1,923,000 federal employees. If we estimate growth in DHS at 5
percent (adding the 15,000 President Trump plans, while eliminating a big
chunk of overhead jobs), and 5 percent at DoD, while keeping VA at current
levels, the workforce would grow by almost 50,000. Cutting those 50,000 from
the other agencies would be an across-the-board cut of 8 percent. To get to a
reduction in the overall federal workforce, we have to add a much larger cut
than 8 percent. For example, a 10 percent cut of the total federal workforce
would require a 39 percent cut in agencies other than DoD, DHS and VA. If we
exempt other agencies (for example, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has
said he wants to increase the IRS workforce to improve revenue collection)
the cuts in remaining agencies become even larger. The final reason is jobs in
congressional districts. While it may be popular to bash Washington, the fact
is that the majority of federal jobs are not in the National Capital Region.
They are in Florida (73,000), California (131,000), Georgia (67,000),
Pennsylvania (52,000), Ohio (45,000) and other states. When political decisions
become hard facts and constituents start to lose their jobs, there is always
political pressure to protect the employment of constituents. It clearly is
not easy to make big reductions in the federal workforce. Perhaps the desire
to reduce the size of government will overcome the popularity of many
agencies and the interest in protecting the jobs of constituents. In
politics, almost anything is possible. From http://federalnewsradio.com/ 02/08/2017 White House Floats Federal Employee
Pay Reform, Privatization in Name of Innovation The White House this week promised to
“innovate and update government,” and has already started rolling out reform
ideas in the areas of federal pay and moving current government functions to
the private sector. The changes are part of an effort to bring a newfound
focus on spending taxpayer dollars efficiently, White House Press Secretary
Sean Spicer said Thursday. The administration, he said, is reviewing “all
aspects of government.” Spicer said further announcements are forthcoming on
the reforms President Trump will implement. One area ripe for change: federal
employees’ compensation. “The bottom line is that we should be paying people
a fair wage for their service to this country, but that we should doing it in
the most effective and efficient manner,” Spicer said. “But there’s going to
be a respect for taxpayers in this administration, so that whether it's
salaries or actual positions or programs, [Trump’s] going to have a very,
very tough look at how we’re operating government, how many positions they're
in, what people are getting paid.” Spicer added the Trump administration
will examine “how many people [we] are hiring, what they’re paid, what
programs we’re looking at, whether or not that program is duplicative.” The
review will not focus on one area or agency, but instead “at how government
as a whole operates.” Trump on Thursday floated one program he will evaluate
for potential overhaul, expressing an openness to privatizing the air traffic
control operations at the Federal Aviation Administration. The president met
with leaders in the aviation industry, who pitched Trump on the idea of
turning air traffic control over to a non-profit corporation run by a board
in which all stakeholders -- including the government -- would have a seat.
Trump said if that system had been in place, many current cost overruns and
outdated technologies currently inhibiting FAA would not have arisen. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., chairman
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, introduced last year a
bill to accomplish what the aviation industry presented to the president.
Shuster promoted his bill as a way to “remove 30,000 people from the federal government’s
payroll.” Under the legislation, the non-profit corporation would not make
any budget requests and would receive no taxpayer dollars. It would instead
operate on a “self-sustaining, cost-based user fee structure.” That structure
would break air traffic control “free from the bureaucratic inertia and
funding uncertainty that have plagued the FAA for decades,” Shuster wrote in
a description of the bill. Convincing Trump to follow that approach could
prove more difficult for the reform proponents. “The problem is, I don't like
raising fees or taxes, I'll be honest,” Trump said after one airline official
noted the airport fee had not been raised in 16 years. The president
suggested his administration would instead re-appropriate money the government
currently spends in the Middle East. “Don't worry about the money,” Trump
said. “I'll be able to get the money.” The National Air Traffic Controllers
Association backed Shuster’s bill last year, but pointed to “the status quo
of unstable, unpredictable funding” for FAA as the primary driver for its
endorsement. Other labor groups representing airport and FAA employees
rejected the proposal, saying it would lead to the implementation of agendas
that do not serve the public interest. From http://www.govexec.com/ 02/10/2017 These 6 Systems Will Get Rid of Wi-Fi
Dead Spots in Your House As history flows along, we find ways
to snuff out conditions that make us miserable. We invented plumbing so we
didn’t have to carry water. We invented tractors so we didn’t have to break
our backs in the fields. We invented air conditioning so we’re no longer
uncomfortable in the summer. And now, you are alive to see the snuffing out
of another source of misery: Wi-Fi dead spots. For years, we’ve tried to
solve this problem with various imperfect solutions like Wi-Fi
repeaters/extenders. But they all have downsides, like diminished speed and
having to change Wi-Fi network names when you move around the house. But now,
there’s mesh Wi-Fi. Instead of one Wi-Fi transmitter too
weak to fill your entire home with signal, a mesh system uses a set of them,
spaced evenly through your house. The result is a single “mesh network,” a
roaming network, that blankets the entire house in good, strong signal. The
revolution began a year ago with the introduction of the Eero. After I tested
it (my review’s here), I was so exhilarated that I actually bought a set for
myself, at the nosebleedy price of $500. Today, every networking company and
its sister now offers a similar system. And man, they are great. Because a
router out in plain sight offers better coverage than one in a closet,
they’re all great-looking. Because we’re human beings and not engineers, they
all include phone apps that make setup simple. And because many of us have
children, most offer either parental controls (to block iffy websites) or a
Pause button for specified offspring (so we can have dinner conversation face
to face). This week, I reviewed six of these systems: Eero, Plume, Luma,
Google WiFi, Netgear Orbi, LinkSys Velop, and Ubiquiti Amplifi HD. About Speed Measurements Each manufacturer touts its routers’
top speed in megabits per second (“867 mbps/sec!”, for example). But trust
me: You’ll get those speeds only on the moon. In the cluttered airwaves of a
community, among the walls and furniture obstacles of a home, your top speed
will probably be less than half the advertised maximum. Move 30 feet away,
and it drops by half again. In fact, any of these mesh systems can pass along
data faster than your Internet provider passes it into the average American
home (54 mbps/sec.). If your concern is transferring files between drives
within your home, or if you’re paying for much faster Internet, then consider
one of the beefier systems here: The Velop, Orbi, or Amplifi HD. I tested
each system by wandering through my house with a laptop running Netspot, an
app that builds a “heat map” of Wi-Fi strength. All of them totally blanketed
both floors of the house. (I even spot-checked the attic and basement. They
had Wi-Fi, too.) From https://www.yahoo.com/ 02/14/2017 |
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CHINA: In the Game for E-sports A giant creature - green skin, long
tentacles, crooked arms - battles a group of soldiers. Lightening bolts strike.
Weapons explode. Spells are cast. League of Legends (LoL), like many video
games on the Internet, sends players to a virtual world where they fight
against each other using keyboard and mouse clicks. Fighting in the virtual
world by professional LoL players is attracting more and more fans in China.
One day earlier this month, every attack and counterattack by two five-member
LoL teams received cheers from thousands of spectators at a stadium in
Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The
contestants were gunning for a piece of the 200 million yuan (28.8 million
U.S. dollars) prize money at the 3rd World Cyber Arena, which concluded
Sunday. More than 300 players from over 20 countries and regions joined this
year's competition final, attracting more than 200 million spectators on the
Internet and TV. PRIME TIME China's gaming industry is turning
its ambition to the lucrative business of professional video game
competitions, widely known as e-sports. As broadband Internet access and
free-to-play games increase, e-sports are on the rise. More than 2,000
organizations and agents in China held e-sports contests in 2016. VSPN, one
of China's famous e-sports contests operators, held more than 10 contests and
1,500 games this year. The number of professional e-sports teams totals 500,
and amateur teams joining online e-sports contests surpasses 10,000.
"The e-sports industry is blossoming in China," says Teng Linji,
CEO of VSPN. "With 100 million players, China is now the world's largest
game market. We should consider how to tap the huge market potential as the
industry is developing very fast," said Lai Chunlin, CEO of STNTS, an
Internet operating platform in China. In 2016, China's e-sports games sales
are expected to surpass 50 billion yuan, up 50 percent year on year,
according to a report released by data provider IDC. The total prize money of
global e-sports competitions in 2016 will reach 560 million yuan, with China
accounting for 54 percent. "China's e-sports industry is entering prime
time," the IDC report said. BIG PUSH FROM LIVE-STREAMING The widespread application of
live-streaming websites added momentum to the growth of the e-sports industry
in 2016. There are currently about 300 live-streaming platforms with 200 million
users in China, with half registered to watch live-streaming game programs
and contests. The number is expected to hit 180 million in 2018 after almost
doubling last year. To attract more viewers, many live-streaming platforms
spend big sums of money buying broadcast rights of major e-sports contests.
The sale of the rights for League of Legends, a popular multiplayer battle
arena game, is expected to reach 100 million yuan in 2017. Four years ago,
e-sports contests received almost no revenue from rights sales.
"Live-streaming sites offer a window to get to know e-sports players and
video game knowledge. E-sports players can also interact with their
fans," said Ma Zhe, a professional e-sports player. COMMERCIAL OPERATION When not competing in front of
thousands of fans, Ma sharpens his Crossfire skills with his teammates for
hours almost every day. The club Ma belongs to, Vici Gaming (VG), won almost
every Crossfire contest this year. "Our team has had a stable
performance this year. We were champions in almost all Crossfire contests and
each player in the team won hundreds of thousands of yuan in prize
money," Ma said. Founded in 2012, VG is one of the top Chinese
professional e-sports clubs, attracting top game players from across China.
The Republic of Korea leads the world in e-sports development such as
professional player training, tournament organization and e-sports commercial
operations. In China, most e-sports players and teams cannot focus on matches
and training as there is not a systematic commercial operation to guarantee
their income, said Shen Guoding, deputy president of the 9th Computer
Technology Consulting company, an online games developer. "China's
e-sports industry needs to learn from the Republic of Korea, and it needs
time and government support," Shen said. From http://www.news.cn/
12/22/2016 Over 1 Mln Chinese-character Domain
Names in Use A total of 1.037 million registered Chinese-character
domain names are in use, the China Internet Network Information Center said
Thursday. At present, Chinese-character domain names can be used in
mainstream browsers, search engines and input methods, which means, for
example, input of a Chinese-character domain name in a browser can direct
users to the corresponding website, like what a regular domain name can do,
according to the center. Since their creation in the 1980s, domain names had
long been formed with characters in the Roman alphabet. In a statement issued
on Thursday, the center called on Chinese Internet companies, especially
email service providers, to actively promote the use of Chinese-character
domain names. From http://www.news.cn/
01/05/2017 China's 4G Users Exceed 700 Mln:
Ministry China has a total of 734 million 4G
mobile users, and 5G commercial operations will be launched in 2020, the
Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) said Friday. Wen Ku, head of the
information and communication development department of the MOST, said the 4G
industrial chain has taken shape in China, with strengthened research and
development capabilities. Wen said the ministry will promote the formation of
a global unified 5G standard and push forward the use and innovation of
5G-based mobile Internet and the Internet of Things to lay a foundation for
5G commercial operations in 2020. From http://www.news.cn/
01/06/2017 Digital Economy to Create 400m Jobs
in China: Report China’s digital economy is predicted
to create over 400 million jobs by 2035, a new report has said.
Internet-based economy could be worth $16 trillion by then, according to a
Boston Consulting Group report, released at a new economy summit sponsored by
Alibaba Group on Jan 7. Alibaba, China’s biggest online trader, is expected
to generate over 100 million of those jobs, according to the report, with 30
million created last year. As jobs are created, digital technology like cloud
computing and artificial intelligence will replace more and more manpower,
the report said. Meanwhile, 20 percent of the world’s population will become
self-employed or freelance via the internet in the next decade, Alibaba’s
Vice President Gao Hongbing said at the summit. The digital economy will
surpass the manufacturing sector in scale and account for a quarter of the
world’s economy, Gao said. From http://www.gov.cn/ 01/08/2017 CreditEase Promotes 'Exercise for
Money' with Sports App China's leading inclusive financial
solution provider CreditEase and its partner Ledongli (joyful motivation), developer
of trendy mobile apps for personal fitness plans, on Wednesday jointly
launched their latest version of an app allowing users to "exercise for
money." Ledongbao (fitness treasure) 2.0 provides exercise or fitness
plans for users, urging them to keep up with own workout schedules, and also
contains a small collection of personal financing plans, whose return rates
are flexible according to the daily amount of exercise the users undertake.
In other words, the more exercises you do, the higher interest rate for a
deposit with CreditEase. The feature may seem novel and fanciful, but
Ledongbao 2.0, seen from the name itself, is already an upgrade from its
earlier version, which only featured "walk for money;" the new app
has expanded the sports activities to include rhythmic exercises and aerobic
dance, among others. It's not clear yet how exactly different amounts of the
newly added exercises will raise the interest rate. The earlier Ledongbao 1.0
version offered a benchmark deposit rate of 5.2 percent for users walking
under 4,000 steps (approximately 3 km) a day, rising to 5.6 percent for
between 4,000 and 10,000 steps a day. The rate goes up to 6 percent and 6.5
percent for those whose daily steps exceed 10,000 and 18,000. "The more
you exercise, the more you make," said Liu Chao, founder and CEO of
Ledongli, a sporting man himself. "Incorporating financial features in
our sports app has been a cross-industry innovation we managed to bring to
life." He continued: "The new Ledongbao app will help more people
grow their assets while encourage them to engage in sports and fitness
exercises more regularly." He said the team-up with CreditEase meant
more than unveiling a wealth management product in itself, as it also is
meant to provide more value-added services for its users. At the product
launch, Jiang Weihang, vice manager of CreditEase Big Data Innovation Center,
said that the app embodies "one-stop easy financing," a key for
popularity among entry-level users who seek personal financing plans. From http://www.chinagate.cn/
01/13/2017 China Encourages More Use of Mobile
Internet Service China's central authority has issued
a guideline on mobile Internet service management, calling for more efforts
to develop the sector in a healthy and orderly manner. The guideline calls
for increasing the use of mobile Internet service in sectors including
transport, tourism, education ,medical service, and public security, to
better serve the public. It says that mobile Internet service could play a
big role in poverty relief, as it provides an efficient means to connect
these regions with the outside world. The guideline, issued by the general
offices of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the
State Council, also urges cultivating an orderly environment for development
of mobile Internet service. "With the rapid evolvement of Internet
technology, threats and risks posed by mobile Internet service are prominent
and must be addressed," according to the guideline. China will
resolutely crack down on criminal activities such as instigating overthrowing
state power and inciting religious extremism through mobile Internet service,
it says, adding that promoting ethnic separatist ideology and instigating
violence and terrors will also be targeted. In addition, more efforts will be
made to investigate and punish those involved in defamation, telecom fraud,
infringement and illegal sale of personal information, it says. It urges
regulating the order of competition and optimizing the environment for the
development of the mobile Internet service to unleash energy for innovation
and market potential. It urges preventing and eliminating risks caused by the
development of mobile Internet service to ensure security of network data,
technology and apps. It says that market access rules of mobile Internet
service should be perfected and the upgrade of information infrastructure
should be accelerated, urging efforts to make breakthroughs on core
technologies. The guideline urges making more efforts to strengthen
intellectual property protection and boost international exchange and
cooperation in this sector.
From http://www.news.cn/
01/15/2017 Digital Economy Invents New Jobs Gong Xiaopei, 21, looks a lot like a
flight attendant, with a black suit, orange tie and a smile sweet enough to
clearly communicate that she is eager to help. But instead of flying, she spends
most of her time meeting arriving passengers at Beijing Capital International
Airport in her role as a “pickup worker” — a new job that has arisen along
with the demand for mobile ride-hailing.“Our job is to help car-hailers find
the rides they have booked as soon as they get off planes. Most of them are
first-time visitors to Beijing,” said Gong, one of over 170 people who have
landed this type of job. Their services are heavily used by Didi Chuxing,
China’s largest ride-hailing platform. As China steps up efforts to
restructure its economy, the country’s burgeoning digital sector is creating
new jobs for millions of people like Gong. Besides “pickup workers”, other
new titles include “cyber anchors” who rake in as much as 1,000 yuan ($145) a
day by live streaming advice on such subjects as playing electronic games,
map information collectors who drive around China to collect road data, and
purchasing agents who help Chinese buy products in foreign countries. Zhang
Dayi, 28, a former model, is one of the cyber celebrities who have hit it big
in the country’s booming digital marketplace. She opened a shop in 2014 on
Taobao, Alibaba Group’s online marketplace. By offering a range of online
advice to women on makeup, hairdos and wardrobes, she has accumulated over
4.5 million fans on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter. Her fans are
eager to mimic Zhang’s wardrobe, overwhelming her shop whenever new designs
are released. In November, 5,000 garments were sold within two seconds on
Zhang’s store, equivalent to the annual sales of a small brick-and-mortar
store. These new jobs are particularly
popular among young people who put a premium on freedom and flexibility when
considering careers, said Shen Meng, director of Chanson & Co, a boutique
investment bank in China.“Compared with previous generations, who prioritized
salaries, young people are increasingly in favor of positions that are
intertwined with their hobbies,” Shen said. Experts say that these jobs are
so new that many people know little about them or how to break into one of
the new fields. A survey by QQ browser, which is owned by Tencent Holdings,
showed that only about 3.8 percent of 13,000 university students born after
1995 indicated a preference for new jobs created by the digital economy. However,
among those interested, cyber anchors, voice actors and game testers were
among the jobs most desired by those interested in such careers. The push to
crack down on pornography on the internet also has given rise to a new
profession. Jiao Yi, CEO of iweiju, a Guangzhou-based startup that develops
social networking apps, said almost every internet content firm in China has
recruited people to delete inappropriate user-generated content, with some
firms recruiting as many as 50 so-called “porn-detectors”. Also, the digital economy is giving a
fresh breath to many traditional industries that have struggled with
declining growth. Thanks to the e-commerce boom, for instance, China’s
logistics industry has been creating 200,000 new jobs annually on average in
recent years, said Ma Junsheng, head of the State Postal Bureau, the industry
regulator. In 2015, about 113 million Chinese worked in businesses driven by
China’s digital economy, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group.“As
information technologies continue revolutionizing the retail, entertainment,
finance, manufacturing and other industries, China’s digital economy will
reach $16 trillion by 2035, with 415 million jobs created accumulatively,”
the report forecast. That’s up from $1.4 trillion in 2015.“If not for the
robust growth of the internet and the sharing economy, China would have been
under unprecedented employment pressure, weighed down by slowing GDP growth,”
said Zhang Yansheng, director of the National Development and Reform Commission’s
Institute for International Economics Research.“Digital businesses are not
taking jobs away from traditional sectors. They are creating new jobs,” he
added. From http://www.gov.cn/
01/16/2017 Shenzhen Traffic Police Cooperate
with Didi to Ensure Car-hailing Safety Traffic police in the southern
Chinese city of Shenzhen signed an agreement with Didi Chuxing, the country's
largest on-demand mobility (ODM) company, on Monday to ensure the safety of
passengers. According to the agreement, Didi will add a new function --
"share with traffic police" -- to its app. The function allows
passengers to share their journeys with the city's traffic police. Meanwhile,
Didi Chuxing will support police investigations into traffic accidents. Xia
Xukun, with the city's traffic police bureau, said that Shenzhen traffic
police will also cooperate with Didi and other companies to standardize the
industry. The cooperation between the two sides will cover the promotion of
high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane to encourage car sharing and combat drunk
driving, Xia said. China unveiled its nationwide regulations for ODM services
in July 2016, granting them legal status. Concerns have been raised over
safety and market disorder. The transport authorities in Beijing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the four most developed cities in China, separately
issued strict regulations for ODM services in October 2016. From http://www.news.cn/
01/16/2016 China to Promote Smartphone Breath
Monitoring for Asthma Children A Chinese health alliance on Sunday agreed
to promote the use of peak flow charts on both physical paper and smartphone
apps to monitor breath for children suffering from asthma. The alliance is
joined by the State Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Diseases,
Beijing Children's Hospital, Chinese Pediatric Society under Chinese Medical
Association. Prof. Shen Kunling, head of the State Clinical Research Center
for Respiratory Diseases, said parents' knowledge, compliance with medicine
instructions, and regular monitoring remain key to control childhood asthma.
Asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases for children.
China has more than 6 million children with asthma. Nearly 30 percent of them
do not seek treatment in time and more than two thirds have reported asthma attacks.
Some patients have benefited from regular peak expiratory flow (PEF)
monitoring but find the process a hassle -- they need to breath into a
device, take the reading, and put it down on a paper chart all the time. Shen
recommended using newly-developed smartphone apps that only require a patient
to breathe into an accessory connected to the phone. It automatically records
the reading and produces a chart. Better still, the results can be shared via
a smartphone with the family and your doctor, she said. According to the peak
flow reading, a three color zone action plan will guide patients and their
family on what to respond, Shen said. The color green means it is good;
yellow signals interventions needed, while red, which indicates danger, is to
be avoided. The three color zone system has been adopted by many developed
countries.
From http://www.news.cn/
02/19/2017 Chinese Surgeons Use 3D Printer in
Pediatric Heart Surgery Chinese surgeons in a central China
hospital have succeeded in performing two complex pediatric heart surgeries
using 3D printing technology. The first patient was a 13-year-old girl
suffering from hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, which causes her heart
muscle to grow abnormally thick. The second was a 3-year-old boy with severe
left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, said Yang Yifeng, a cardiologist
with the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in Hunan
province. Yang said the left ventricle is responsible for pumping oxygenated
blood to tissues all over the body. Symptoms of left ventricular outflow
tract obstruction include shortness of breath, sensation of rapid, fluttering
heartbeats during exercise, chest pain, and fainting. In either of the two
cases, because of the complexity involved, doctors decided to use a 3D
printer to produce a 1:1 replica of the patient’s heart. The model allows
doctors to carefully study the disease and plan their surgery, Yang said. It
is the first time 3D printing technology is used in Hunan for pediatric
cardiovascular surgery. It proves quite successful and the two patients are
recovering well, Yang added. 3D printing is being embraced by doctors in
China’s major hospitals for surgeries and training, as the technology greatly
improves surgery precision and helps doctors to discuss the ailment with
their colleagues and sometimes their patients. From http://www.gov.cn/
01/22/2017 Internet System Helps Find over 600
Missing Children in 2016 China's e-commerce giant Alibaba said
Monday that the system it developed for the Ministry of Public Security last
year had helped find more than 600 missing children in 2016. The system
called "Tuanyuan," or reunion, is a pop-up platform that has been
applied to multiple websites and apps, such as AutoNavi and Alipay. Since its
launch, over 70 billion pop-ups have been released, sharing the information
of 648 missing children, with 611 of them later found, said He Bin from
Alibaba's security department. "Most of the children were reported lost
or had run away from home, but 4.2 percent were rescued from child
traffickers," He said. Apart from updating child lost and found
information, the system also refutes fake information. According to He, major
Internet companies across the country will join the network this year. From http://www.news.cn/
01/23/2017 E-cigarettes Encouraging Youth to
Smoke: Study E-cigarettes, widely promoted as an
alternative to smoking, are actually attracting young people who might not
otherwise have smoked tobacco products, a new U.S. study suggested Monday.
E-cigarettes are thought by some to be responsible for a decline in American
youth cigarette smoking, but researchers from the University of California,
San Francisco (UCSF) indicated the reality is the opposite. The USCF
researchers concluded that many kids who went on to smoke regular cigarettes
may not have used nicotine at all if e-cigarettes did not exist. "We
didn't find any evidence that e-cigarettes are causing youth smoking to
decline," said lead author Lauren Dutra of the UCSF. "While some of
the kids using e-cigarettes were also smoking cigarettes, we found that kids
who were at low risk of starting nicotine with cigarettes were using
e-cigarettes," Dutra said. "Recent declines in youth smoking are
likely due to tobacco control efforts, not to e-cigarettes." The findings,
published in U.S. journal Pediatrics, built on a growing body of evidence
that adolescents who start with e-cigarettes are more likely to subsequently
smoke traditional cigarettes. For the study, researchers examined data from
more than 140,000 middle and high school students who completed a U.S.
government tobacco survey between 2004 and 2014. They found that cigarette smoking
among U.S. adolescents declined during that decade, but did not decline
faster after the advent of e-cigarettes in the U.S. between 2007 and 2009. In
fact, combined e-cigarette and cigarette use among adolescents in 2014 was
higher than total cigarette use in 2009, according to the study.
"E-cigarettes are encouraging -- not discouraging -- youth to smoke and
to consume nicotine, and are expanding the tobacco market," said senior
author Stanton Glantz, UCSF professor of medicine and director of the UCSF
Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. E-cigarettes are
battery-powered devices that look like cigarettes and deliver an aerosol of
nicotine and other chemicals. In August 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration restricted e-cigarette purchases to adults ages 18 and older.
The FDA will also require a warning label on e-cigarettes, starting August
2018, regarding the addictive nature of nicotine. However, the FDA's ruling
does not regulate advertising or flavors, and e-cigarettes continue to be
sold in flavors that appeal to youth, the UCSF researchers said. From http://www.chinagate.cn/
01/24/2017 75% of Chinese to Give Out Digital
'Red Envelopes' More and more Chinese people have
followed the fashion of giving out digital "red envelopes," cash gifts
exchanged through a smartphone app, to friends and relatives while
celebrating the Spring Festival, also known as Chinese lunar New Year. A
survey conducted by United Overseas Bank (UOB) showed that three quarters of
Chinese people plan to give out their "red envelopes" through their
smartphones during the Spring Festival holidays, China Youth Daily reported.
And the reason for the increasing popularity of the digital "red
envelope" over the traditional ones is because of the freshness, fun and
convenience it brings, the survey shows. Lately, updates to Tencent's QQ and
Alipay, two popular apps in China, have added to the fun people can
experience while giving out and grabbing the digital "red
envelope." With the introduction of Augmented Reality (AR) technology,
grabbing the digital "red envelope" through these two apps will be
similar to playing the game Pokemon Go. In the meantime, another survey by
Rong360, an online financing platform, has shown some worrying results. It said nearly 21 percent of the
people surveyed said they used to be at odds with their friends or relatives
because of digital "red envelopes." Nearly 20 percent of the people
surveyed said that the atmosphere of New Year celebrations was affected with
family members busily grabbing "red envelopes" through the phones.
The Rong360 survey also showed that 46 percent of those surveyed said they
had given out "red envelopes" just to get people to praise or
forward their postings on social media like WeChat or Weibo. But over 29
percent of people said that they will just ignore these digital "red
envelopes". The giving of red envelopes on occasions like Chinese New
Year is a tradition among the Chinese people. Typically, older members of the
family give the red envelopes to the children in the family to celebrate
lunar New Year. From http://www.chinagate.cn/
01/26/2017 WeChat Data Reveals Chinese Passion
with Monetary Gift Giving monetary gift through WeChat,
China's major instant messaging app, has become a popular holiday custom,
with people born in the 1980's being the most active group, according to
latest data of WeChat. On Friday alone, the eve of 2017 lunar new year, a
record of some 14.2 billion electronic hongbaos, or red packets containing
gift money, were given and received, according to WeChat, which is operated
by Tencent. Those who were born in the 1980s have sent and received the most
red packets last year compared to those born in the 1990s and 1970s. WeChat
data also showed that men tend to give out more hongbaos than women.
Geographically, people in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hunan lead in
giving and receiving red packets. It is a tradition of Chinese to give
hongbao to friends and relatives during Spring Festival. Nowadays,
Valentine's Day, Father's Day and other local festivals are also the peak
times for red packets. This year, new forms of red packets such as
"face-to-face and AR red packets" were adopted. Lin Yuwen, a
Beijing resident, said he distributed red packets totaling 1,200 yuan (175
U.S. dollars) on Friday, almost double the amount last year. Analysts say the
electronic red packets are used by Internet giants to expand their shares in
the mobile payment market. From http://www.news.cn/
01/29/2017 SOUTH KOREA: New Mobile Facial
Identification System Unveiled A South Korean tech solution company
unveiled a new facial biometric authentication service solution for
smartphones on Wednesday, offering mobile app developers and
interested companies a simpler and more cost-effective face
identification system. The new solution, called BioCA, was jointly developed
by the Korea Trade Network (KTNET), a subsidiary of the Korea International
Trade Association in partnership with global biometrics company Daon and the
Korea Smart Authentication Corp. This mobile biometric authentication
solution, based on Daon's IdentityX software, utilizes a smartphone’s
front camera to recognize and identify a person’s face. The information is
then transferred to a cloud run by KTNET’s data center, which completes
the authentication process, eliminating the need for companies to build and
manage their own servers and authentication capabilities. This
jointly-developed facial recognition service can be applied to most
smartphones equipped with a selfie camera. It holds a competitive edge over
high-end biometric technologies such as iris and fingerprint scanning found
only on premium smartphones, KTNET said. From http://www.koreaherald.com 11/24/2016 Korea’s Intellectual Property Data
Service Covers Patent Cases from 25 Countries The KIPRIS, an intellectual property
rights information service, has expanded the scope of its database on
international patent. Launched in 1996 by the Korean Intellectual Property
Office, the KIPRIS service, an acronym for “Korea Intellectual Property
Rights Information Service,” allows anyone to access information on
intellectual property, free-of-charge. The platform has so far provided
information on patents owned by 12 countries, including the U.S., China,
Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Australia, France and Germany. Starting Dec. 15, the
database has expanded its scope to 13 more countries -- Austria, Denmark,
Israel, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Colombia, the Philippines, Poland, Slovenia
and, Switzerland, as well as several countries in Eurasia. With this
addition, the service offers about 78.1 million cases of patent data from a
total of 25 countries. “With the latest update of patent data, we expect that
this will allow Korean companies better access to information on intellectual
property and help them to make inroads in other potential markets outside of
Korea,” said an official from the Korean Intellectual Property Office. “Given
that data is a crucial element in the upcoming era of the Fourth Industrial
Revolution, the Korean Intellectual Property Office will continue to work to
create easier and faster access to information on intellectual property,
information, in particular, which pertains to technological innovation. From http://www.korea.net
12/20/2016 Directory of Open Data Startups Goes
Online SNBSOFT is a firm that uses geospatial
data to provide multi-lingual maps. Using open data sourced from the Korea
Tourism Organization (KTO), the company launched Talkyple (토끼풀) in
2014, a digital map of Korea available in simplified Chinese. By the end of
2016, the map also became available in English and Japanese. Currently,
SNBSOFT's maps are used by over 20 firms in various sectors, and the company
has surpassed KRW 1 billion in total sales. On Dec. 28, the Ministry of
Culture, Sports and Tourism published its "2016 Directory of Open Data
Based Startups" (2016 문화데이터 활용 사례집), a list that spotlights firms like
SNBSOFT which have blossomed by making use of the government's publically
available open data. From http://www.korea.net
01/02/2017 KT Takes Global Lead in Fighting
Disease Using Big Data KT, a leading South Korean
telecommunication business, said Wednesday it joined the LEAD Company under
the United Nations Global Compact to help fight contagious diseases through
global partnership. The LEAD Company is an organization of about 40
companies. It calls for businesses leaders around the world to help achieve
the UN sustainable development goals. KT has proposed a project to
prevent the spread of infectious diseases by using its roaming big data
system. The plan is only possible on the condition of sharing roaming
information among mobile carriers across the globe as KT Chairman Hwang
Chang-gyu suggested last June at the UNGC Leaders Summit. It created a smart
quarantine information system for a state-run project last November by using
the mobile phone roaming information of travelers, which helps the country’s
health authorities prevent the spread of diseases. The company is currently
considering the establishment of a quarantine information system in
collaboration with Chinese and Japanese mobile carriers, it said. From http://www.koreaherald.com 01/11/2017 |
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Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand Cable
System at Vital Implementation Stage TELEKOM Malaysia Bhd (TM) on Dec 13
announced another important milestone for the development of Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand
(MCT) submarine cable system with the commencement of cable laying works in
Cherating, Pahang. The cable laying works from Malaysia to Cambodia and
Thailand, spanning 1,300 kilometres is expected to be completed and in
service by the first quarter of 2017. The establishment of this new submarine
cable system represents another major step towards enhancing the Asean
connectivity with the lowest round-trip delay and total diversity access with
end-to-end cost and price control. MCT submarine cable system will be
utilising the latest Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) 100Gbps
technology with an initial capacity of 1.5Tbps and could be upgraded to
support a maximum of 30Tbps. The cable system consists of three fibre pairs which
will link all three countries at their respective cable landing stations,
namely Cherating in Malaysia, Rayong in Thailand and Sihanoukville in
Cambodia. MCT submarine cable system also marks
a significant milestone for Cambodia as it will be Cambodia’s first ever
cable system. It will allow an open access for Cambodia’s licensed operators
in each of the participating countries. This leads to greater economic
efficiency and reduced tariffs for those in the region, making the submarine
cable system Asean’s latest business catalyst. TM had signed an agreement in
May 2015 (pic above) with Symphony Communication of Thailand and Telcotech of
Cambodia to form a consortium to build a Malaysia-Cambodia-Thailand (MCT)
submarine cable system. TM is a experienced investor in the domestic,
regional and global submarine cable development and investments. With more
than 20 submarine cable systems owned and leased spanning more than 200,000
fibre-route miles around the globe, TM provides connectivity via several routes
across the Asia-Pacific and the North American regions. Leveraging on its
global connectivity, network infrastructure and collective expertise, TM also
operates 24 strategic international Points-of-Presence (PoP) located across
16 countries worldwide. From https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/ 12/16/2016 Telemedicine System Connects
Cambodian, Vietnamese Hospitals A telemedicine system connecting
Preah Ket Mealea Hospital (Royal Cambodian Armed Forces General Hospital)
with Việt Nam’s 175 Military Hospital was launched on Wednesday to assist
Cambodian doctors in diagnosis and treatment. Ultrasound and CAT scan images
of patients with bladder stones and pleurisy tumours treated at the Preah Ket
Mealea Hospital were broadcast live on Wednesday to 175 Military Hospital
doctors. Vietnamese doctors can also view operations at the Preah Ket Mealea
Hospital and assist doctors in the surgery room. The Việt Nam Ministry of
Defence helps fund and provide technical assistance to the telemedicine
system. Major General Nguyễn Hồng Sơn, head of the 175 Military Hospital,
said that doctors in Việt Nam can assist with diagnosis and treatment of
patients with serious conditions at Preah Ket Mealea Hospital. “The 175
Military Hospital is ready to help Preah Ket Mealea Hospital to improve
quality in health examinations and treatment. The system has helped our
co-operation become even closer,” Sơn said. Major General Đỗ Năng Tĩnh,
deputy head of the General Department of Logistics under the Việt Nam
Ministry of Defence, said the establishment of the telemedicine system at the
Preah Ket Mealea Hospital had improved emergency aid and treatment of
patients as well as relations between the two countries. In Việt Nam, the 175
Military Hospital, one of the leading hospitals providing technical
assistance via telemedicine, has helped save dozens of patients living on the
country’s islands. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
02/10/2017 MYANMAR: Banking System Makes Gradual
Progress on a Long Journey MYANMAR’S banking industry has
demonstrated that it is making progress, little by little, but it still has a
long way to go before it can match the levels in other Asean countries, let
alone the rest of the world. According to the World Bank, there were 3.1 bank
branches for every 100,000 inhabitants in Myanmar in 2014. That’s up from 1.7
in 2004, but the figure lags the average 3.3 for all LDNs (least developed
nations) in 2014. The average in East Asia and the Pacific was 10.8. With so
few branches, Myanmar banks are limited in their reach. This has resulted in
low availability of bank credit. Bank credit to the Myanmar private sector
amounted to 17.4 per cent of gross domestic product in 2015. That was a big
improvement from less than 10 per cent a decade ago, but it remained well
below the average 135.4 per cent in East Asia and the Pacific. This is
despite a statutory interest spread that gives ample room for profit: the
lending rate is capped at 13 per cent per annum, while deposit rates must not
fall below 8 per cent. Across Myanmar, 1.56 automated teller machines were
available for every 100,000 adults in 2014, compared with none at all three
years earlier. That contrasts with an average of 4.33 for LDNs and 53.17
across East Asia and the Pacific. Despite the slow development, foreign
banks with a presence in the country are undeterred. After opening its Yangon
branch in 2015, Bangkok Bank (BBL) foresees a bright future. “We are
delighted with our part in opening up a country that shows huge
opportunities,” said BBL president Chartsiri Sophonpanich. BBL has taken a
leading role in supporting the Thai government’s Pracha Rath scheme to boost
Thai investment in Myanmar. A two-month workshop was hosted for 50
businesspeople seeking to establish a presence in the country. During the
workshop, they were familiarised with Myanmar in all aspects – from the
political and economic landscape to culture. BBL’s branch has struggled to
meet its lending target. According to Kanet Buranasin, the bank’s senior vice
president and Yangon branch manager, last year’s target will be met thanks to
an onshore loan syndication worth US$40.2 million (Bt1.43 billion) to Malaysia-based
OCK Group, which is contracted to build 920 telecommunication towers for
Telenor Myanmar. BBL is one of four foreign banks in the syndication. The
others are OCBC Bank, Malayan Banking and United Overseas Bank (UOB). For the months and years ahead, Kanet
expressed a wish to join local and foreign banks in providing more syndicated
loans in Myanmar, where a number of infrastructure projects are in the
pipeline. That would be well supported by the branch’s capital of $200
million, well above the Central Bank of Myanmar’s $75-million minimum
requirement. Kanet said that since foreign banks had begun opening branches
in Myanmar, new products and services were being introduced. Lauding
syndication as an innovative product, he said that among the new services was
the letter of credit. Bangkok Bank also pioneered the launch of a
currency-hedging instrument for clients doing business in Myanmar, after
sharp fluctuations in the US dollar/kyat exchange rate during the past two
years. Interbank settlement kicked off in early 2015. Improvements are under
way thanks to the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s 5.1-billion-yen
(Bt1.55 billion) grant for the development of an ICT (information and
communications technology) system for the central bank. The CBM-NET (Central Bank of Myanmar
financial network system) and CBM-OA (CBM office automation system) were
developed to provide a new payment infrastructure and prompt office functions
for CBM and to promote a payment environment and real-time gross settlement between
the central bank and financial institutions. The ICT system for interbank
fund settlement and T-bond/T-bill settlement is one of the top priorities, as
Myanmar needs to catch up with other Asean member states in financial sector
development. “The situation is a lot like Thailand about 20 years ago when it
took as many as seven days to clear a cheque. In Myanmar, electronic banking
is just in its infancy stage. It should take a long while,” Kanet said. Prioritising focus Ian Wong, managing director and head
of group strategy and international management at UOB, said his bank focused
on helping companies make strategic long-term investments in four key
sectors: energy, infrastructure, manufacturing and hospitality. “These are
industries that have been identified by the Myanmar government as
instrumental to the country’s long-term economic development,” he said. UOB’s
Yangon branch has facilitated several deals in these sectors, such as the
financing of a new power plant in Yangon with Singapore-based Royal GK and a
loan – the first onshore loan by a foreign bank in the country – to Rangoon
Excelsior Co, a French-Myanmar joint venture. UOB also signed loan agreements
with Cycle & Carriage Automobile Myanmar Co to fund the building of two
automobile showrooms and a servicing workshop in Yangon. Wong said most of
the companies it had done business with originated in Singapore. Though UOB has been operating in
Myanmar since 1993, he said the bank still needed to monitor market developments
closely. While Myanmar has made progress in its transformation, its financial
and commercial laws are still evolving. He added that to help clients invest
meaningfully in Myanmar, a strong grasp of the local business and regulatory
landscape was necessary. “As such, we continue to make it a priority to
understand the market operating environment as well as commercial and
financial laws [of the nation] … It takes time and patience to understand the
ground and to build a solid foundation in a new market. “Through prudence,
hard work and an entrepreneur’s sense of timing, UOB has built a strong
network and deep presence across Southeast Asia over the last few decades,”
Wong said. “For our customers and their businesses, we have also invested
time and resources to understand their needs and priorities. This is the
approach we are taking in building our business in Myanmar. We will continue
to strengthen our close ties with Myanmar’s banks and businesses in the years
to come.” Talent development is another key
area of focus for UOB. Most of its employees in the country are Myanmar
nationals who have gone through extensive training at UOB’s headquarters in
Singapore. UOB has also started a university scholarship programme to help
broaden the banking and finance talent pool. Launched in August 2014 in
partnership with two of Myanmar’s leading universities, the Yangon University
of Economics and the University of Yangon, the programme aims to help the top
students from all backgrounds to complete their studies. In addition to
funding, UOB helps to connect its clients with strategic business partners
and key government agencies in Myanmar through its FDI (foreign direct
investment) advisory unit. UOB was the first foreign bank to establish such a
unit in Myanmar, in 2013, to help businesses identify and to explore
opportunities in the country. UOB has nine such dedicated units in Asia,
which it says have helped more than 1,000 companies expand across the region.
Through the FDI advisory unit, UOB supports companies in their expansion
plans by quickly connecting them with the right people through its
relationships on the ground, Wong said. In Myanmar, one of the bank’s local
partners is the Myanmar Investment Commission. Local players’ handicaps At present, foreign bank branches are
allowed to provide a full range of financial services covering deposits,
business lending, trade services, fund transfers and foreign-exchange
services for foreign firms, joint ventures and domestic banks in both foreign
currencies and kyat. Besides providing loans to support foreign companies
expanding into Myanmar, UOB also offers trade facilities to support trade
flows into and out of Myanmar. Its non-credit services also include payments
and remittances, deposits, foreign exchange and FDI advisory. Altogether, 13
foreign banks have been awarded branch licences. They operate alongside four
state-owned banks and 23 private banks, including the largest, KBZ. It will
take a while before foreign banks can offer all of the products and services
that local banks can, Kanet admitted.
He acknowledged the handicaps that local banks have, saying KBZ,
though the largest private bank, is capitalised at only $198 million and
operates with just 410 branches. At KBZ, only 40 per cent of interbank
settlements are electronically executed. The smallest bank does not even have
any branches. In the next three years, UOB sees its
role as complementary with domestic banks and hope to work more closely with
them for onshore infrastructure projects and knowledge sharing. It says it
also looks forward to closer relationships with Myanmar businesses, along
with the main focus on investments that are directed at meeting the country’s
growing urbanisation and industrialisation needs. “We continue to be excited
about Myanmar’s economic prospects, as are our clients from across the
continents who have invested actively in the country,” Wong said. “Through
UOB’s network, connections and strong understanding of the local culture, we
continue to help our clients navigate the country’s evolving regulatory and
business landscape as they expand their business.” From http://www.nationmultimedia.com 01/09/2017 Myanmar President Calls for Best Use
of Press Freedom for Peace, Development Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw has
called on the people to make the best use of press freedom for peace and
development of the country. U Htin Kyaw made the call at the opening of 2017
Nobel-Myanmar Literary Festival at the National Theatre in Yangon Sunday,
Myanmar News Agency reported Monday. Noting that individual freedom, which
does not harm others, and freedom of all citizens together with freedom of
the press are being enjoyed in Myanmar, U Htin Kyaw urged every one to work
for the development and peace of the country and for the progress and
prosperity, peace of mind and well-being of every individual citizen. He also
called for emergence of good creative literature in the country. More than
140 book shops are participating in the festival that will last until
Tuesday. The opening of the festival, which was followed by a paper reading
session, was also attended by Speaker of the House of Nationalities (Upper
House) U Mann Win Khaing Than. It was the third year that the Nobel-Myanmar
Literary Festival was launched. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 01/23/2017 SINGAPORE: Workers to Get More Help with
Skills via E-Learning, Structured Training SINGAPORE: As companies innovate and
digitalise, workers here cannot be left behind, and Finance Minister Heng
Swee Keat in his Budget speech on Monday (Feb 20) outlined ways to help
people acquire and use skills to adapt to the changing environment. For
instance, to enhance training and make it more accessible to workers, Mr Heng
said that more short, modular courses will be offered and the use of
e-learning will be expanded. He noted that universities, polytechnics and
Institutes of Technical Education (ITEs) have started offering such courses.
In terms of funding, SkillsFuture will continue to be a primary source for
Singaporeans to take approved courses, he said. Additionally, union members
can get subsidies for selected courses through the NTUC-Education and
Training Fund, and the Government has set aside S$150 million to match
donations to the fund, he said. Besides picking up new skills, workers must
also apply and use these skills and this requires employers, trade
associations and chambers (TACs), unions and the Government to work together,
Mr Heng said. He said skilled workers must be
matched to where they can best use their skills, and the Government will make
the National Jobs Bank more useful for jobseekers and employers. It will also
work with private placement firms to deliver better job matching services for
professionals. The minister also called on employers, TACs and unions to play
an active role in structuring training for workers. He cited the Singapore
Hotel and Tourism Education Centre (SHATEC) as a successful example, noting
that it was set up by the Singapore Hotel Association more than 30 years ago
to provide hands-on training and certified courses. “It has since helped to
build up a skilled hospitality workforce, with its alumni winning accolades
worldwide,” Mr Heng said, adding that employers and TACs who develop training
programmes can receive funding support from SkillsFuture Singapore. BUILDING GLOBAL NETWORKS The Finance Minister also revealed
the setting up of a Global Innovation Alliance for Singaporeans to gain
overseas experience, build networks and collaborate with counterparts in
other innovative cities, and there will be three programmes in this
initiative. Plans for the alliance were part of the Committee on the Future
Economy's (CFE) recommendations announced earlier this month. Firstly, the
Innovators Academy will help tertiary students to build connections and
capabilities overseas, building on the National University of Singapore (NUS)
Overseas College programme that connects students to overseas startups, he
said. Students from other universities will be able to participate, and the
Government aims to grow the intake of students from 300 to 500 over the next
five years, he added. Secondly, Innovation Launchpads will be established in
selected overseas markets. These will create opportunities for entrepreneurs
and business owners to connect with mentors, investors and service providers,
Mr Heng said. Thirdly, there will be Welcome Centres – through which
innovative foreign companies can link up with Singapore partners to
co-innovate, test new products here and expand to the region, he said. The Government will launch the Alliance
in Beijing, San Francisco, and various Southeast Asian cities in the initial
phase, and the Ministers for Trade and Industry will share more during the
Committee of Supply debates, he said. Mr Heng also highlighted the
SkillsFuture Leadership Development Initiative, which will support companies
to groom Singaporean leaders by expanding leadership development programmes
including sending promising individuals on specialised courses and overseas
postings. The programme will target to develop 800 potential leaders over
three years for a start, the minister said, adding that the Government will
set aside more than S$100 million for the alliance and the Leadership
Development Initiative. From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/ 02/20/2017 THAILAND: Electronic Anklet for
Escape-Risk Defendants THE Court of Justice (CoJ) will adopt
a new risk-assessment procedure for inmates and electronic monitoring anklet
will be introduced for defendants under the scheme that takes effect on
February 1. The move is an attempt to reduce inequality in the pre-trial
release of defendants, its secretary-general said. The electronic anklet will have to be worn by detainees who
pass the assessment but were deemed a higher escape risk. Under the new
scheme, people charged with minor offences liable to punishment of no more
than five years in jail – but who cannot afford bail – will have an
opportunity to be released if they pass the risk assessment and get approval
from the judge, Athikom Intuputi told a press briefing. The scheme will be
adopted under a trial programme in five courts for one to three years. They
are Bangkok South Criminal Court and Chanthaburi, Chiang Mai, Kalasin and
Nakhon Si Thammarat provincial courts. Athikom said that while most courts
allowed pre-trial release, the latest statistics showed that almost 60,000
inmates – around 20 per cent of the total in prisons – were still awaiting
trial. He believed most had been charged with minor offences but could not
afford the bail, hence they remained locked up. On the contrary, the
better-off defendants could apply for bail and lead a normal life before
facing trial. Under the scheme, Athikom explained,
court officials would put inmates’ data on an assessment form and calculate
the risk of escape, which would then be submitted to the court for further
deliberation. If passed, the inmates would be released without bail, he said.
CoJ spokesman Suebpong Sripongkul said the risk assessment would be divided
into five levels, from most to least. It would take into account each
inmate’s criminal record, escape risk, repetition of offence risk, and the
threat the inmate might pose to society. The release would then be at the
discretion of the judges, he said. For those demonstrating higher risk of
escape, the court would use tracking devices such as electronic anklet or
smartphone applications, Suebpong said. Officials would face legal
consequences if they did not conduct the assessment fairly or abused their
authority to favour inmates, he said. Mookmethin Klannurak, chief judge of
the Office of the President of the Supreme Court, said that the court would
compare the number of escapes between those released on bail and those
released under the new risk-assessment scheme. The result would be used to
develop and improve the assessment to ensure the court did not release or
detain the wrong people. He said the scheme could help reduce the state
budget spent on inmates. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com 01/16/2017 Students to Be Given Access to
Electronic Bank of Past Exam AN ELECTRONIC bank of past O-NET
(Ordinary National Educational Test) exam papers and answers in all subjects
is to be created so students and teachers can access them for practice. “This
will be a true education reform measure that can boost students’ O-NET scores
visibly in five years,” Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said
yesterday, adding that the idea would also be developed into a smartphone
application in future. He said the Office of Basic Education Commission
(Obec) had been instructed to create the E-Testing Bank. Teerakiat was
speaking as he and Samphan Phanphruk, director of the National Institute of
Educational Testing Service (NIETS), along with Obec executives inspected an
O-NET exam site at Bangkok’s Rachawinij (Elementary) School. He praised NIETS
for best preparing the exams so that students, each given a different exam
paper version from those sitting next to them, could not cheat and said this
could be a model for government recruitment exams. This was also the first
year that Prathom 6 pupils must take the 20-per-cent subjective essay test in
Thai language, which is designed to assess if pupils can write answers and
read for main ideas, Teerakiat said. He added that the ratio would rise to 30
per cent in future. This year, NIETS trained 2,000 teachers to check the
essay test answer sheets, he added. This O-NET test round was also the
first time that the E-Testing system, implemented in a similar manner to a
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test, was conducted for
Mathayom 3 level on a pilot basis. A total of 648 students volunteered to do
the exam at four centres – Burapha University, Naresuan University, Khon Kaen
University and NIETS head office in Bangkok. Samphan said the O-NET test for
Prathom 6 level was held yesterday at 186 exam centres covering 4,182 exam
sites and 807,087 applicants. The O-NET test for Mathayom 3 level was held
yesterday and today at 227 exam centres covering 4,329 exam sites and 688,979
applicants. The O-NET test for Mathayom 6 level will be held on February 18
and 19 at 18 exam centres covering 405 exam sites and 394,343 applicants.
Samphan said that NIETS was willing to produce more subjective essay test
papers for all subjects – provided it was given enough funding, time and
manpower to produce questions and check answers. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 02/05/2017 VIETNAM: To Deactivate 12 Mln
Unregistered Cell Phone Cards Vietnam will deactivate 12 million
unregistered or improperly registered cell phone cards, the Ministry of Information
and Communications (MIC) said on Thursday. In Vietnam, a SIM card must be
properly registered at the time of activation with the owner's correct
information, including name, date of birth and identification number.
However, some SIM card dealerships have defied the law by self-registering
cards en masse with fake information and selling the ready-to-use cards at
cheap prices to customers, particularly foreigners who are unaware of the
registration process, local Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper reported on
Thursday. To combat the use of improperly registered cards, the MIC has
launched an extensive campaign aimed at deactivating improperly registered
SIMs. According to data gathered from local mobile carriers, some 12 million
SIM cards will be deactivated for violating the regulation unless their users
re-take the registration process with correct information within 15 days of
the notification. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 11/24/2016 Ha Noi Seeks Software Park Funds The People’s Committee of Ha Noi is
seeking financial support from the central budget to build a software park
project under the 2016-20 national target programme on information and technology.
The city wants a supporting budget to build the infrastructure of the
research and development (R&D) zone, which will be carried out in 2017
and 2018. The park aims to develop a knowledge-based economy and the
information and technology industry, especially the software sector of the
capital city. The park is also expected to create favorable opportunities for
investment activities in and outside the country; create a modern
international-standard working environment to attract high-quality employees;
enhance the competitive capacity of software companies and contribute to the
country’s economic growth. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 12/22/2016 Vietnamese Users Provided with Free
4G SIM Ahead of Official Launch Vietnam's military-run
telecommunication group Viettel will provide free 4G SIM cards to its users
ahead of the launch of its 4G network in the first quarter of 2017. From Jan. 1 to March 1, 2017, customers
are offered with free swapping of their current SIMs for 4G SIMs. Its infrastructure is in place for
the launch of 4G services, which will allow users to watch HD videos, do
video streaming as well as download and upload quickly. The 4G service will be
compatible with all types of mobile phones in the market, Viettel said on
Thursday. In
capital Hanoi, southern Ho Chi Minh City and other key cities, customers will
be able to enjoy the 4G service as soon as Viettel completes installing its base
transceiver stations. The
Ministry of Information and Communications has licensed some local telecoms
giants to provide 4G telecommunications services including Viettel, VinaPhone
and MobiFone, while considering to license the fourth company, GTel, in the
coming time. By
early September, Vietnam had signed up over 128.3 million mobile subscribers,
including nearly 63.6 million subscribers of Viettel, over 34.6 million
subscribers of MobiFone, more than 20.5 million subscribers of VinaPhone,
nearly 5.9 million subscribers of GTel, and over 3.7 million subscribers of
Vietnamobile, according to statistics from the ministry. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 12/29/2016 PM Emphasises Key Role of EVN in
National Grid Electricity of Việt Nam (EVN) should
continue promoting its key role as a State-run company in national power
supply, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc said at a conference in Hà Nội
yesterday. For that goal, the group needs to ensure the progress of power
projects currently underway, while carrying out new ones and working on
projects to develop renewable energy. It should work out mechanisms to
encourage all economic sectors to produce electricity and fine-tune financial
mechanisms, the PM said. The PM asked the group to push ahead with
restructuring to improve its operational efficiency and competitive edge as
well as complete the equitisation of its three power generation corporations
in 2017-18. EVN would keep operating six strategic, multi-target plants and
relevant ones, whilst equitising the retail and service sections, he
directed. The Government leader requested that EVN strengthen management,
especially financial administration, to prevent corruption in equitisation and
investment stages. He reminded the group to focus on environmental protection
and not to produce electricity at any cost. Regarding the nuclear power project
in the central province of Ninh Thuận, Phúc ordered EVN to arrange the
project’s human resources appropriately and utilise infrastructure
effectively to make up for the lost amount of electricity due to the
project’s delay. He pointed to shortcomings such as uneven distribution of
electricity in the southern region, economic losses of some fundamental
construction projects, and several projects harming local people’s living
environment. A shortage of electricity in the middle and long term is likely
to occur, he worried, adding that EVN should work out measures to meet the
country’s development targets such as economic growth of 6.5-7 per cent, one
million businesses by 2020, and an export surge of 8-10 per cent. EVN needs
to step up administrative reform and directly help the country enter the
leading group of competitiveness in ASEAN, he said, noting that Việt Nam was
ranked sixth in ASEAN in the index of electricity access. In 2016, EVN
generated and purchased 176.99 billion kWh of electricity, a yearly increase
of 10.8 per cent. Commercial electricity reached 159.45 billion kWh, a
year-on-year rise of 11 per cent, surpassing the annual target by 350 million
kWh. The group co-ordinated with the irrigation sector to provide over 3
billion cubic metres of water for the 2015-16 winter-spring crops in the
northern delta while ensuring sufficient water for drought-hit areas in the
central and Central Highland regions. At the end of 2016, 73 power plants
joined the power market, generating 17,929 MW of electricity. EVN fetched
over VNĐ264.6 trillion (over US$13 billion) in revenues last year, up 12.9
per cent against 2015. The group also put into operation the Lai Châu
hydropower project in the northern province of Lai Châu in 2016, one year
earlier than scheduled, saving VNĐ5 trillion and ensuring electricity for
flood-prone localities. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
01/04/2017 City Begins Programme to Trace
Vegetable Origins Consumers in HCM City can now use a
smartphone app to trace the origin of vegetables sold at Co.opmart, Lotte
Mart, Big C and AEON supermarkets under a programme run by the city
Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Digital Agriculture
Association. Huỳnh
Thị Kim Cúc, the department’s deputy director, said customers could use Zalo
on Android or QR code scanning apps to scan the labels on the packages. The information they contain includes
where and when the vegetables are grown, packaged and distributed and the
types of pesticides and fertilisers used, she said. The initiative followed growing
concerns about food safety, she said. The department and the association has surveyed
and collected data on vegetable farming models since May last year. Now only two co-operatives – Phước An
Co-operative in Bình Chánh District and Phú Lộc Co-operative in Củ Chi District
– are part of the programme, and they are supplying 18 items, including
cabbage, cucurbit, cucumber, bitter melon, broccoli, sweet potato buds, water
spinach, and amaranth. The programme would be piloted at
select supermarkets and VietGap-certificated vegetable co-operatives until
March before being expanded to all VietGap-certified co-operatives and more
retailers, Cúc said. She
said her department and other relevant agencies would closely monitor
vegetable quality, carrying out surprise tests and quick tests. Nguyễn Phước Trung, the department’s
director, said a million tonnes of vegetables are consumed in the city every
year, with 24 per cent supplied by farms in the city around and the rest by
those in other provinces. The
department said the city was paying more and more attention to the safety of
vegetables, resulting in plant protection drug residues decreasing year after
year. In
fact, last year authorities did not detect any plant protection drug residues
exceeding permissible levels in key growing areas, down from 1 per cent in
2015, it said. Last
month, the city launched a programme to enable consumers to trace pork
origins at nearly 350 modern outlets by downloading the QR Code decoding
application from www.te-food.com to their devices. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
01/19/2017 Police Mull Automatic Fine Collection
for Cars Police in the capital city have said they
are considering electronic (and automatic) charging of traffic fines to
offenders’ bank accounts. Police officers are mostly supportive of the idea,
while others, including car drivers and authority figures, are not so
impressed, urging careful study. The novel idea was recently put forward by
Brigadier Đào Thanh Hải, Deputy Director of the Hà Nội municipal Department
of Public Security, in a conference held last weekend announcing the
transport sector’s activity plan for 2017. Hải requested the Ministry of
Public Security (MoPS) to work on the proposal to submit to the Government
for consideration. According to this proposal, car owners would be required
to open a bank account and a certain amount of money is to be deposited in
that account. Should violations occur, by identifying car owners via images
captured by traffic cameras, fines will be automatically debited from the
offenders’ accounts. Part of the reason for this proposal is, as Hải said,
the police still face a number of difficulties in handling traffic
violations, especially in cases of offenders whose car ownership certificates
were not registered under their names. Those who do not have proper
ownership certificates for their vehicles will be forced to do so. Thus,
law-enforcement and authorities will have an easier time managing cars. More
importantly, Hải is convinced that when an amount of money is reserved in
bank accounts specifically for paying fines and the fines are automatically
deducted; car owners will have no choice but to pay more attention and obey
traffic laws, be it parking in designated zones or wearing seatbelts, or
speeding. Two birds with one stone, Hải added. Fully backing the measure,
Colonel Nguyễn Văn Quỹ, former handler of traffic violations at the Traffic
Police Unit No 1, said this will enhance drivers’ awareness to better follow
the rules. Better yet, Quỹ added that if the offenders happen to be working
in State agencies, the automatic fine collection will prevent the higher-ups
from being able to pull strings or exert their influence on police officers
to get out of trouble. This is something the public might appreciate, when
all drivers are treated fairly, Major Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, deputy head of the
Road and Railway Traffic Police under the Hà Nội Police, said in approval of
the measure. “Besides, the offender doesn’t have
to waste time [going to the State Treasury] to pay their fines,” Hùng
stressed. Currently, traffic offenders pay on-the-spot fines in cash to
police officers, which is more convenient for people, but not for the police
officers. Dr. Lương Thanh Cường, head of the Faculty of State and Law
Studies, from the National Academy of Public Administration, said allowing
offenders to pay fines via bank accounts would free up traffic police
officers from redundant tasks in order to focus on their primary role – to
direct traffic and ensure traffic safety. “Traffic police officers have to
carry with them all kinds of traffic ticket receipts. At the end of the
working day or the day after, they have to bring the collected money to the
State treasury. All the efforts devoted to calculating, counting, and keeping
the fine money, are really unnecessary and distracting them from what they
are supposed to do.” A more subtle advantage, Cường added, is that payment
via banks would help to end the unbecoming sight of arguing, ‘dealing’ and
exchanging money between traffic police officers and traffic offenders on the
streets. Concerns abound Drivers may appreciate the fairer
treatment as a result of automatic fine collection. However, car drivers
still have many concerns regarding the proposal. According to Nguyễn Xuân
Thông, 31, in Thanh Xuân District of Hà Nội, this is a very novel idea, and
he wanted to know if the two methods, fine payment via bank accounts and by
cash can be accepted simultaneously, or the former will be preferred. Thông
is also concerned with exactly how the method will be implemented. Will those
who commit traffic infringements suffer deductions immediately after being
identified by traffic cameras, or will the agency handling traffic violations
send offenders a notice, and only when the notice is accepted by the offender
will their bank account be charged? Bùi Danh Liên, Chairman of the Hà Nội
Transport Assocation, said even though he was in favour of setting up a bank
account for easier fine collection, valuing the fairness and transparency it
helps to create, requiring car owners to set up a bank account just to pay
fines is unreasonable. According to Liên, the trouble is Vietnamese people
still prefer dealing in cash rather than by debit or credit cards. Another thing that might be
problematic, he said, is that money deposited in the new bank account must be
equal or higher than the highest penalty – which hovers somewhere around
VNĐ20 million (US$890) as per Decree No 46, effective from August last year.
This amount might not be much of a problem for individual car owners, but for
an enterprise with hundreds of cars, it would be a significant financial
burden. Major General Trần Thế Quân, Deputy Chief of the MoPS’s Legal and
Judicial Administrative Reforms Department, while supporting the proposed
measure, said many potential issues must be resolved prior to implementation.
For example, will this measure be extended to motorbikes? Investment into modern
traffic camera systems that will produce convincing evidence of violations
will certainly be a considerable sum. The working partnership between police
authorities and the banks also needs to be figured out. Quân also said a
detailed roadmap must be released for feedback if the authorities decide to
proceed with the idea. Back in November 2015, in a bid to ease traffic
congestion in Hà Nội and HCM City, the then Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân
Phúc ordered the MoPS, Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Việt Nam to
immediately work on a plan to implement collecting fines via bank accounts.
It is not the first time that this idea has been floated by the city’s police
heads, but the plan remains in the proposal phase. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
01/19/2017 Hi-Tech Agriculture Needs More Easy
Credit: PM Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on
Thursday asked the State Bank of Việt Nam (SBV) to increase the preferential
credit package for hi-tech agricultural firms from VNĐ60 trillion (US$2.6
billion) to VNĐ100 trillion ($4.34 billion). Speaking at the launching
ceremony of VinEco farm, an investment by the VinGroup in the northern
province of Hà Nam, he said agriculture is a key pillar of the national
economy and the central bank should direct commercial banks to establish more
forms of support to raise the value of the package. He said the country’s
agriculture sector was still facing big challenges, including the adverse
effects of climate change, underdeveloped cultivation methods, and unsafe and
unhygienic agro-produce. The agriculture sector needs the involvement of
private enterprises and co-operatives to solve the problems that it is
facing. Start-ups in agriculture should be further encouraged, the PM said.
He wanted more attention paid to developing human resources geared towards
hi-tech agriculture, and to expanding markets, popularising trademarks and
improving packaging, thus ensuring stable consumption. The PM also emphasised the need to
develop organic and safe agriculture as well as smart farming that is
export-driven and meets the demand of markets and the people. The Government
will create favourable conditions for enterprises and co-operatives to engage
in hi-tech farming, Phúc said. “I myself will, together with related sectors,
directly introduce high-tech, high-quality and clean farm produce to the
world.” At the ceremony, Phúc pressed the button to launch production at the
VinEco farm. One of 14 VinEco farms invested in by VinGroup, the VNĐ300
billion ($13 million) project sprawls over 180ha, including a large-scale
model field of about 130ha, and a 5ha greenhouse area using Israeli
technology and manufacturing facilities. The Greenhouse No 1, using Israeli
drip technology, covers an area of 8,300sq.m and is capable of producing
around 150 tonnes of leafy vegetables per year. On the 130ha model field,
VinEco Hà Nam will develop nearly 15 kinds of key produce with a daily
capacity of 20-30 tonnes for domestic and foreign consumption. Earlier in the
morning, the PM visited Japan’s Sumi Việt Nam Wiring System Company in Đồng
Văn II Industrial Park in Duy Tiên District and the Hà Nam High-tech
Agriculture Investment and Development Company in Nhân Khang Commune, Lý Nhân
District. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
02/03/2017 Vietnamese Telecom Giants Prepare to
Launch 4G in Q1 Vietnamese telecom service providers are
scrambling to put up base transceiver stations and pilot 4G services to be
ready to officially offer them in the first quarter (Q1) of 2017. The Vietnam
Post and Telecommunication Group (VNPT-VinaPhone) has been providing 4G
services on Vietnam's southern Phu Quoc Island since November 2016 after a
year of preparation. The group plans to offer the services in capital Hanoi,
southern Ho Chi Minh City and 10 other cities and provinces in Q1. Around
21,000 4G base transceiver stations have been installed by VinaPhone to
provide the nationwide services this year, Luong Manh Hoang, deputy general
director of VNPT and chairman of VNPT VinaPhone, was quoted by local Vietnam
News online newspaper on Thursday. Meanwhile, the military-run Viettel Group
will provide 4G SIM cards to all its customers by March 1, 2017 after
beginning the task in late 2016. Viettel had planned to start 4G services in
early January, but was delayed by some technical problems. The launch of
services is expected no later than the end of March. Like Viettel, the
state-owned MobiFone Telecommunications Corporation (MobiFone) under
Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has already
started to issue 4G SIMs to customers, with the number already crossing a
million. MIC chief Truong Minh Tuan has recently called on all mobile phone
service providers to quickly and safely deploy 4G services country-wide,
reported Vietnam News. From http://news.xinhuanet.com/ 02/09/2017 HN’s Hospital Launches Online-Health
Advice Service The Hà Nội-based E Hospital announced
on Friday new services in the fields of online-health advice and at-home
patient sample testing. It is be the first State-owned hospital in the city and
the north to provide those services. Prof. Lê Ngọc Thành, director of E
Hospital – a central general hospital under the Ministry of Health – said an
increasing demand for health check-ups and treatment has caused overloads and
long-waiting situations at most hospitals and health centres. Therefore, the
paid-money services of online-health advice, health-check and sample-taking
at home are suitable to elderly, children and immobile patients. “Patients
don’t have to wait, suffer crowds or feel uncomfortably cramped, “ he said.
The hospital is reaching out to qualified facilities and human resources to
meet the demand, according to the director. The hospital has 900 doctors and
health workers. It was designed with 1,000 patient-beds and 11 function rooms
for health-checks and treatment, 27 clinical faculties and eight sub-clinical
faculties. The hospital has four key treatment centres: heart,
gastroenterology, musculoskeletal and skull. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
02/10/2017 HCM City Offers Online Registration
for Vehicles, Driver’s Licences HCM City is now offering online
registration for 15 administrative procedures managed by the city’s Transport
Department. Individuals and companies can apply for or renew their driver
licences, register vehicles, and apply for extension of permits for Laos – Việt
Nam cross-border transport. Online registration can be found at
http://dichvucong.hochiminhcity.gov.vn or http://sgtvt.hochiminhcity.gov.vn .
Of the procedures, three are considered level-4 online public services and
the rest are level 3 services. Level-3 services allow people to pay charges,
if necessary, and receive results via the internet. Level-4 public services,
the highest of the four administrative levels in the country, allow people to
pay online and the results can be sent via the internet and the post office.
The purpose of public online services is to improve administrative procedures
and services to residents and enterprises. For further information,
organisations, enterprises and individuals can call (84 8) 38237439 or (84 8)
38257062 from Monday to Friday 7:30 am-5:30 pm in HCM City during working
hours. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
02/11/2017 Lâm Đồng Farmers Yet to Grasp Hi-Tech
Concept Many farmers in the nation’s most
advanced province in hi-tech agricultural production have a limited
understanding what it actually means, experts say. This also limits the province’s
ability to fully tap the potential for hi-tech agriculture, they add. With
its considerable advantages in land and climate conditions, the Central
Highlands province of Lâm Đồng is leading the country in developing hi-tech
agricultural production. However the province lacks comprehensive “technology
planning,” leaving its potential for higher productivity and better product
quality untapped, says Nguyễn Trúc Bồng Sơn, director of the province’s
Agriculture Extension Centre. He said the “hi-tech agriculture” term has only
been understood properly by policy makers and researchers; most farmers are
still confused about it. “Many farmers think as long as they grow flowers in
a glass house they can call it hi-tech agriculture. No. Hi-tech agriculture requires
a lot more than that, be it quality seedlings, cultivation technology, or
human skills to attain high yielding, good quality produce,” he said. Sơn said that farmers in the province
were pursuing different hi-tech production models without any official
orientation from authorities or experts as long as they earned a good profit.
Phạm Thị Cúc, owner of the Bạch Cúc Farm, grows vegetables using
hydroculture, which she said she learnt from her peers. “I don’t know which
method gives higher quality, but my friends said customers like it better, so
I chose this model,” she said. Meanwhile, Nguyễn Văn Thành, chairman of the
An Phú Đà Lạt Company, has been planting his crops on nutritious soil,
applying fixed-bed technology. “My partners from Japan and Canada ask for
crops that are planted in the ground; they say these are better.” Nguyễn Văn
Sơn, director of Lâm Đồng Province’s Agriculture and Rural Development
Department, said that while farmers had their right to choose their
cultivation method in a market economy, the lack of proper oversight by the
State could prove damaging in the long run. “Relevant State agencies need to
properly analyse the pros and cons each cultivation model,” he said. Đoàn Văn Việt, Chairman of the
province’s People’s Committee, acknowledged at a recent meeting that a
weakness in the province’s agriculture sector was that it lacked proper
technology planning. He also said that after many years applying hi-tech
agriculture, Đà Lạt City still doesn’t have a post-harvest processing factory
or a trade and evaluation centre. “These are the biggest hindrances that keep
Đà Lạt from having agriculture products of higher quality,” he said. The city
needs to foster post-harvest technology in the coming time, he added. Phạm S,
Vice Chairman of Lâm Đồng, said the province had included technology planning
in its agriculture production planning. Lâm Đồng Province currently has more
than 43,000ha dedicated to hi-tech agriculture, equal to 16.4 per cent of
cultivable land. Of this, 11,900ha is for vegetables, 2,400ha for flowers,
11,300ha for coffee, 2,500ha for tea and 300ha for specialty trees. The province
recently started co-operating with the Japan International Co-operation
Agency (JICA) on a promising comprehensive agriculture development project
with multiple approaches. The overall aim of the project is to turn the
province and the Central Highlands region into a high-value agriculture hub
in Southeast Asia. JICA has sent experts to counsel and help Lâm Đồng access
new production and post harvest technologies, as well as achieve vertical and
horizontal integration for production, consumption and export. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
02/18/2017 |
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INDIA: 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 11/23/2016 Unlocking the Power of Big Data and
Analytics Big Data and Analytics has emerged as
the key buzzword in the IT business, as ignoring the data lying around can prove
a costly affair for any business. It has become critical to unlock the power
of data using effective analytics or big data tools. Governments, private
organisations, independent entities, and political parties, among others are
finally investing time and money in unlocking it, writes Priyanka Sharmaof
Elets News Network (ENN). With data turning the new currency, which can yield
dividend if adequately stored, and analysed, 100 Per cent tech-driven
companies have started using Big Data to take an early edge over the rest.
The new technology enables businesses to go through the vast amount of
information they own – from customer records to sensor data – cohesively, to
take note of trends that otherwise remain hard to explore and analyse. Big
Data is a collection of large and complex data set. The ‘traditional data’
(official statistics; survey data, etc.) continue to generate relevant
information. But the digital data revolution has created a big opportunity to
gain richer and deeper insights for individuals. It can complement the growth
indicators already collected. While companies are investing more into Big
Data and Analytics, the banking industry is already leveraging this
technology in a big way. It is being anticipated that Big Data and its
analysis will lead to a wave of investments between now and 2020. “All the
government, financial initiatives, smart cities-safe city initiatives, video
surveillance are driving data growth. Also the new banking providers, the
e-wallets are driving the need for data storage, analytics of data,” says
Amit Mehta, Director-Sales, Emerging Technology Storage Division at DELL EMC,
India and SAARC. “The entire e-commerce is driving the surge for data
storage.” The Indian government is also working
to take full advantage of Big Data and its analysis. e-Governance has
multiplied its benefits by sharing of Big Data. It only requires applying the
‘only once’ encoding principle, allowing beneficiaries to encode data only
once – those data being shared between different administrations at national
and regional level – using electronic online portal functionalities. At state
level, e-Governance means digital signature should be implemented effectively
by electronic portals at national and regional level and that electronic
storage features are made available in national systems used for dealing with
rural development projects. Centre has developed various digital platforms
and launched initiatives such as MyGov, DigiLocker, Digital India, National
Scholarship portal, Aadhar card, Jan Dhan Yojna to connect with people
through websites, mobiles and smartphones. From http://www.egovonline.net/ 12/08/2016 Banks to Make 38 Andhra Villages
Cashless by Next Year Nearly 30 banks of Srikakulam
district of Andhra Pradesh are going to adopt as many 38 villages to help
them go cashless by next year.Each bank will adopt a village and appoint a
dedicated banking correspondent to the adopted village. Since State Bank of India
and Andhra Bank have more branches in the district, they will adopt more
villages compared to private banks.Most of the villages selected have high
literacy rate and bank accounts. Other criterias include the major percentage
of the bank linkage of the Aadhar cards, internet facilities among other
parameters which are must for a hassle free cashless transaction.“We have
opened nearly 30,000 new bank accounts after selecting these 38 villages for
the pilot project in the last few days. There will be another 6,000 to 7,000
bank accounts to be opened. We are currently on the job of brining awareness
among the people about the cashless transactions and how to operate it,” said
P Lakshmi Narasimham, Srikakulam Collector.he district administration is
creating a platform wherein every transaction will be done using digital
platform from next year onwards.After the arrangements are made, bank swipe
cards will be used for every transaction in these 38 villages. The district
has 38 mandals and one village has been picked up from each mandal under the
project.Srikakulam is the first among all the 13 districts in Andhra Pradesh,
which has come up with such novel project on the lines of some villages in
Gujarat. From http://www.egovonline.net/ 12/12/2016 Estonia Launches E-Residency Programme in India
From http://www.siliconindia.com 01/17/2016 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 01/17/2017 TCS Says DigiGaon Initiative Will Empower Common Man
From
http://www.siliconindia.com/ 02/06 2017 Rs
2,351 Crore
Sanctioned
for Rural Digital Literacy Programme
Six crore rural households will be made digitally literate
by March 2019 at the cost of Rs.2,351.38 crore under the Pradhan Mantri
Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA). Under the scheme, 2.75 crore candidates will be trained in the
financial year 2017-18 and three crore in the financial year 2018-19. “To ensure equitable geographical reach, each of the
250,000 gram panchayats would be expected to register an average of 200-300
candidates,” said an official statement. Under the supervision
of Ministry of Electronics and IT, the implementation of the
scheme would be carried out in active collaboration with states and union
territories through their designated state Implementing agencies, District
e-Governance Society (DeGS), etc. As the government is promoting cashless
transactions through mobile phones, the course content would also emphasis on
Digital Wallets, Mobile Banking, Unified Payments Interface (UPI),
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and Aadhaar Enabled Payment
System (AEPS), etc. From http://egov.eletsonline.com
02/20/2017 SRI LANKA: To
Have 500 Public Wi-Fi Spots Before End 2016 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Digital Infrastructure
Ministry is expected to complete opening of 500 free public Wi-fi spots in
the island before the end of this year. The Ministry of Telecommunication and
Digital Infrastructure recently reactivated 405 hotspots that underwent an
upgrade. The ministry is to open 95 new public Wi-fi facilities before the
end of this year. Under the new system, anyone in a free Wi-fi area can
access the facility once entering the PIN number which they will receive
after providing the user’s NID number and phone number. Before the recent
upgrade there were about 25,600 members using the system with almost all the
telecommunication operators supporting the system. 1919 – Government
Information Center is prepared to help users any information regarding the
new facility. User manual for new users 1. Enable the Wi-Fi option from
settings and select “Public_Wifi” from the current Wifi List. From http://www.lankabusinessonline.com 11/20/2016 Pakistan: IT Park
to
Help Boost Exports
Minister of State for Information Technology and
Telecommunication Anusha Rehman Tuesday said the information technology
software park being set up in the federal capital would help boost exports
from the country. Approval for the software park, which would be established
by Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) in collaboration with Korea Exim
Bank, had already been obtained, she said while speaking at the IT Awards
2016 ceremony. She said the information technology (IT) sector was facing
many challenges. The government would help IT, telecom and software companies
to improve the volume of export, she added. Anusha said the Exim Bank was
investing $50 million for the IT park in the capital. The park spreading over
an area of 45 acres would help promote the IT industry, local software
experts, attract international companies to the local market, and increase IT
exports by an estimated $120 million, she added. Some 150 IT companies, she said,
would be accommodated in the software park. She said two IT parks would be
established in Lahore and Karachi also. She said the PSEB was doing valueable
work and the new IT park would only further add to their efforts in
strengthening Pakistan's IT industry. The main purpose of the IT park would
be to drive companies in developing more hardware and software solutions,
thus boosting the country's IT export, she added. Anusha said, "I am confident that with this
resolve and under the visionary guidance of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz
Sharif, we shall make Pakistan a digital Pakistan." The minister said
the Incubator in Islamabad was going to start work next month with the
efforts of PTA chairman in which 3000 interns would get IT training, 30 per cent
of them would be female. After Islamabad the incubators would be established
in Peshawar, Quetta, Karachi, Lahore and backward areas of Federally
Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan, she added. The minister said the
Google team had expressed its will to work with the youth of Pakistan as they
were very vibrant, intelligent and challenging. "Our main agenda is to
digitalize Pakistan. Over 60% of 200 million people of Pakistan comprise of
young people and they are the main strength and we are here to groom them and
convert them into entrepreneurs to make them productive citizens of the
country," she added. She said the actual volume of software extorts was
four time more than the amount recorded by the State Bank of Pakistan.
According to a survey, Pakistan's IT export revenue was Rs 2.7 billion while
as the SBP it was Rs 500 million, she added. Anusha said," With our USF
arm we are launching projects worth multi-billion to pass on the benefits of
telecommunication and broadband services to the underserved and unserved
masses." The awards were distributed among 10 IT exporters, including
NETSOL, Systems Limited, S&D Global Pakistan, Teradata,, TRG. MTBC, Ovex
Technologies, Global Payments Leader, LMKR and Mentor Graphics Pakistan.
Inbox at a glance, Infotech and NIFT were declared the top three IT domestic
businesses while top three `IT startups' were SYNERGY-IT, Venture dive and MD
Vision. From http://www.brecorder.com
12/30/2016 PR
Introduces E-ticketing System in KP Pakistan Railways (PR) has introduced Electronic
ticketing system in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to facilitate passengers travelling by
trains. Official sources while talking to Radio Pakistan said that the
facility has been made available for Khyber Mail, Awami Express and Khushhal
Khan Express. The sources said that the total number of trains providing
electronic ticketing facility in the country has reached to 44. From http://www.brecorder.com/ 02/06/2017 |
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AZERBAIJAN: Over 1,000 People Benefit from
Azercell’s Mobile Eye Clinic Last year Mobile Eye Clinic, the
social project supported by Azercell Telecom, served people with various eye diseases
and checked up hundreds of patients. Thus, 47 people in Youth Education
Center in the region of Agjabadi and 29 more in vocational rehabilitation
center No.1 for youth with disabilities in Yeni Ramana settlement, Sabunchu
district, passed the eye tests. Furthermore, the clinic personnel provided
service to 100 patients in the boarding school in the regions of Salyan and
Siyazan, as well as 120 children deprived of parental care, the elderly and
low-income families in the settlements of Amirjan, Zig and Hovsan. 35 people
in the association of people with disabilities in Salyan and 24 people in the
retirement home in Buzovna settlement were tested by the Mobile Eye Clinic.
As a result, some patients were assigned eyeglass prescription while others were
prescribed a course of treatment. In general, over 1000 people benefited from
the services provided under “Mobile Eye Clinic” project. All examination and treatment under
the project are conducted by Caspian Compassion Project public union with
Azercell's support. During 4 years of its operation, the clinic visited
several boarding schools and orphanages in Baku. The clinic personnel visited
almost all regions in the country and supported people in need for treatment.
The leader of the mobile communication industry of Azerbaijan and the biggest
investor in the non-oil sector Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With
48% share of Azerbaijan’s mobile market Azercell’s network covers 80% of the
territory and 99,8% of population of the country. Currently, 4,5 million
subscribers choose Azercell services. Azercell has pioneered an important
number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance
payment system, 24/7 Customer Care, online customer services, GPRS/EDGE, M2M,
MobilBank, one-stop- shop service offices Azercell Express, mobile e-service
“ASAN signature”, etc. Azercell deployed first 4G – LTE services in
Azerbaijan in 2012. According to the results of mobile network quality
surveys of Global Wireless Solutions company and international systems
specialized in wireless coverage mapping such as “Opensignal” and
“Testmy.net”, Azercell’s network demonstrated the best results among the
mobile operators of Azerbaijan. From http://en.trend.az/
01/18/2017 Nar Continues to Expand Its High-Speed 3G, 4G
Network Nar continues installation of new
base stations across the country in order to ensure comfortable and
uninterrupted communication and internet services to its customers. 2272 base
stations of 3G and 614 of 4G (LTE) have been installed in the country to meet
increasing demands related to use of internet of the customers. Thus, Nar
presents one of the country's largest mobile communications networks with
5916 base stations. Moreover, number of users of the enhanced and expanded 4G
(LTE) network of Nar continues to grow rapidly. At present, users of Nar LTE
network exceed 120k. With its expanded network, Nar offers different tariffs
and internet packages according to demands of each customer. Users may
benefit from range of mobile and internet services under more affordable
prices. Recently, the mobile operator has launched a completely new
"3-in-1" tariff. Switching to the tariff, subscribers get 300
minutes, 300 SMS and 900 MB of internet traffic in all directions across the
country. From http://en.trend.az/
01/26/2017 Mobile
Dental Clinic Continues to Provide Free Aid Mobile Dental Clinic of Azercell
Telecom LLC has released the results of 2016 and action plan for current
year. Last year the dentists of the clinic provided free services for
children deprived of parental care, low-income families and IDPs. 223
patients were examined and treated in November and December. Thus, 52
individuals in the settlements of Binagadi and Bilajari and 171 children of
boarding school No.10 in Pirshagi settlement benefited from professional
dental services during these months. Taking into account that most of the orphanages
in Azerbaijan have no dental cabinets, Azercell has equipped Mobile Dental
Clinics with advanced medical facilities. Aimed to serve children deprived of
parental care not only in Baku, but also in the regions, Mobile Dental
Clinics has provided services to children in boarding schools and orphanages
in Shaki, Guba, Gusar and Balakan, SOS Children’s village and boarding school
in Gandja, orphanage in Lankaran, boarding school in Lerik, IDP camp and
boarding school in Bilasuvar. Totally, over 4000 people have been examined
and treated as needed by the Mobile Dental Clinic’s staff during 6 years of
its operation. The leader of the mobile
communication industry of Azerbaijan and the biggest investor in the non-oil
sector Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 48% share of
Azerbaijan’s mobile market Azercell’s network covers 80% of the territory and
99,8% of population of the country. Currently, 4,5 million subscribers choose
Azercell services. Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations
in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, 24/7
Customer Care, online customer services, GPRS/EDGE, M2M, MobilBank, one-stop-
shop service offices Azercell Express, mobile e-service “ASAN signature”,
etc. Azercell deployed first 4G – LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012.
According to the results of mobile network quality surveys of Global Wireless
Solutions company and international systems specialized in wireless coverage
mapping such as “Opensignal” and “Testmy.net”, Azercell’s network
demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan. From http://en.trend.az/
02/02/2017 UZBEKISTAN:
Tashkent Launches First Buses with Free Wi-Fi Toshshahartranshizmat JSC has
recently launched a project to equip buses with Internet facilities,
including with wireless data transmission services via Wi-Fi. In the
framework of the program «Wi-Fi BUS», Toshshahartranshizmat together with
UZMOBILE are launching special buses equipped with Wi-Fi devices. Now
passengers of metropolitan public transport have an opportunity to access and
use the free high-speed 4G internet from UZMOBILE during their trip.
Toshshahartranshizmat plans to increase the number of buses equipped with
Wi-Fi by the end of this year, and will continue to pursue active
implementation of modern information systems to improve the quality of
municipal transport and the creation of favorable conditions for residents
and guests. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
02/13/2017 |
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AUSTRALIA: Post Extends Reach in South-East
Asia with More Branded Online Storefronts Australia Post has got in deeper with
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to give small and medium-sized Australian
companies access to millions of South-East Asian customers via online
storefronts. Post, which has been forced to make herculean efforts to find
new ways of making money since the letters side of its business went into
freefall, will extend its branded online storefronts in South East Asia and
beyond China to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia with Lazada, Alibaba’s
South East Asian online sales platform. The deal gives Australian retailers
access to more than 560 million potential customers across six countries and
covers a wide range of products, including consumer electronics; pet
supplies; fashion; health and beauty; and toys and games. Australia Post
Executive General Manager Parcels and StarTrack CEO, Bob Black said the
arrangement, which will eventually see the company open further online
storefronts on Lazada’s other sites in Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines,
was a positive one for Australian businesses. “International expansion can be
daunting for many businesses, particularly small and medium-sized
enterprises,” Mr Black said. “That’s why we are proud to have partnered with
Alibaba to help give Australian businesses access to the booming eCommerce
sector in China and now the lucrative South-East Asian market.” “We are
committed to supporting local Australian businesses and delivering eCommerce
solutions that make it easier to grow their businesses whether that be across
Australia or overseas,” he said. But while the partnership with the
world’s largest online retailer opens up new marketplaces for Australian
companies, it also gives Asian companies a direct supply route into Australian
markets, with Australia Post delivering the products. Executive Director of
the Australian Retailers Association Russell Zimmerman has voiced fears the
expansion could harm Australian businesses, who he said already copped higher
wages and rent and suffered under GST loopholes when customers bought imports
online. Alibaba, which is worth more than $200 billion, bought a controlling
interest in Singaporean firm Lazada back in April last year and set up its
first regional office in Melbourne last weekend. Alibaba founder Jack Ma, one
of the richest tech billionaires in the world and worth $22.7 billion
according to Forbes, is known to be keen to expand the group’s influence in
Australian and New Zealand, making the most of the appetite of the Chinese
middle class for clean and eco-friendly products at premium prices. Australia Post has been busy trying
to pull itself up by the bootstraps after posting a $222 million loss in
2015. The company managed to scrape into the black reporting $36 million
after-tax profit in August last year, after hiking stamp prices and
introducing a two-speed letter system, which appeared to pay off. Parcel
deliveries from the boom in online shopping also drove its recovery.
Australia Post’s relationship with Alibaba and its platforms Tmall Global,
Global TaoBao and 1688.com began in 2014. From http://www.governmentnews.com.au 02/07/2017 NEW ZEALAND: Network for Learning Now
Reaching All Schools Network for Learning (N4L) the
government company set up to provide a managed network for New Zealand’s
schools says it has completed its rollout, with 2431 schools now connected. The announcement comes two years
after rollout started and a year almost to the day after Computerworld
reported N4L achieving connectivity to 90 percent of New Zealand schools. Education Minister, Hekia Parata,
welcomed completion of the $211 million network saying: “This is about
providing schools and students across New Zealand with access to the vast
world of learning resources available online.With the rollout completed, more
than 789,000 students and teachers are using the N4L Managed Network for
learning.” She added: “This was a very successful project given it involved a
large-scale rollout that was completed ahead of schedule and within budget. …
N4L’s focus will now turn to enhancing services and developing new platforms
to help schools make the most of their digital connections.” N4L CEO John
Hanna said completion of the rollout to all schools was only “the end of the
beginning” and that there was “plenty of work to do in the coming years to
ensure that every school-aged New Zealand child continues to have equitable
access to the technologies they need for learning, regardless of where they
live or go to school.” According to Hanna, “The use of digital technologies
in schools is increasing, as is the complexity around providing anytime,
anywhere learning. Our job is to reduce this complexity for schools, making
sure teachers and students can get on with great learning.” N4L attributed
the success of its network rollout to its collaborative approach to doing
business. “The company works alongside schools, government and key technology
partners, especially Spark, to deliver its services in a way that caters to
the needs of individual schools, while planning for their growing use of
technology,” it said. “Feedback given to the company by its partners has been
overwhelmingly positive, with schools indicating their increased confidence
in implementing their school’s digital learning strategy since connecting to
N4L’s Managed Network.” N4L had its genesis in 2011 when then education
minister, Anne Tolley, announced plans for a dedicated nationwide online
network for New Zealand schools to be rolled out starting in 2013 at a cost
estimated to be between $300-$400 million over 10 years to provide
high-quality educational content and resources to schools and students. From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 12/07/2016 Bridges Buzzing over Switch to E-car Minister selling colleagues on merits
of plug-in hybrids after making move himself Transport Minister Simon Bridges has
made the switch to an electric car, saying they are not just for "new
age tofu eaters". Bridges recently purchased two plug-in hybrid vehicles
- a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV for himself and an Audi e-Tron for his wife
Natalie. His last car was a diesel-powered Hyundai Santa Fe. "Now that
I've done it I wouldn't go back," Bridges said. "To the
non-believers out there, I'd say try one." He is now preaching to his
National Party colleagues about going electric. "I won't name names, but
many of them have moved from sceptical to converts simply because they've
driven them." Bridges wants to raise the uptake of electric vehicles in
New Zealand, partly to reduce transport emissions and help the Government
reach its climate change goals. He has been honing his sales pitch.
"They are really fast, they've got great pep. So for anyone out there
who thinks that these are cars for new age tofu eaters, they are absolutely
wrong." The Outlander can reach speeds of around 170km/h, and when using
electricity only it has a range of around 50km - enough to drive around
Bridges' Tauranga electorate all day, but no further. One of the biggest
obstacles to increasing electric uptake in New Zealand is the up-front cost,
though that is expected to fall as battery technology develops. The Outlander
sells for $69,000 new and the E-Tron sells for $75,000. Bridges said his wife
got the flasher car because she "has a different aesthetic to me". The minister said savings could still
be made with an electric car because the running costs were 30c per litre of
fuel rather than $2 per litre at current petrol prices. His car costs uses
around $280 a year on fuel. There was one other advantage to an electric car,
Bridges said. "They are quiet. Some people find that a bit strange at
first. But I think it makes them incredibly modern. And it's a feature I
really like because it means I can hear myself singing when the radio's
on." "Not Abba, though," he adds. "Guns n Roses."
Despite initiatives such as an exemption from road user costs, the number of
electric cars on New Zealand roads is small - in the hundreds. The Government
has set a goal of doubling the number of electric cars every year to reach
64,000 by 2021. To do so, it is proposing incentives for electric car
drivers, such as possible exemption on fringe benefit taxes and ACC levies,
access to bus lanes and high occupancy lanes. From http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ 01/06/2017 UFB Phase 2 to Reach 85 Percent of
New Zealanders The Government has launched the second
phase of the UFB programme promising to provide fibre to the premises to a
further 151 towns and 43 suburban fringe areas of larger centres. The Government has launched the
second phase of the UFB programme promising to provide fibre to the premises
to a further 151 towns and 43 suburban fringe areas of larger centres. Following what it said were
“intensive commercial negotiations” Crown Fibre Holdings has awarded
contracts to the four companies rolling out phase one of the UFB: Northpower,
Ultrafast Fibre, Chorus and Enable. Communications minister, Simon Bridges,
said the $300 million project would provide around 423,000 New Zealanders in
rural and urban areas with fibre to their homes by 2024. “All towns
identified in the request for proposals (RFP) for the UFB extension will
receive access to fibre, plus additional areas that weren’t included in the
RFP,” he said. “By the end of 2024, approximately 85 percent of New
Zealanders will have access to fibre, far exceeding our original target of 80
percent by 2022. This will put New Zealand among the leaders in the OECD for
access to fibre.” TUANZ welcomed the news but said it would continues to push
for better quality connectivity for all New Zealander’s and would not let up
on representing users to ensure the remaining 15 percent of residents and
businesses got access to fibre-equivalent services in the same timeframe. CEO Craig Young said: “Rural New
Zealand deserves the same quality services as their urban cousins not only
for lifestyle reasons, but because a vast amount of New Zealand’s economic
innovation and prosperity comes from farms and businesses located within that
last 15 percent.” Internet NZ also issued a statement welcoming the news. It
made no comment on better broadband for the remaining 15 percent but said it
would be keeping an eye on developments and would continue pushing for better
and faster install processes to ensure that UFB2 was completed by the 2024
target. Chorus said it would roll out to a further 169 areas extending from
Taipa–Mangonui in Northland to Bluff in Southland, making fibre available to
an additional 200,000-plus homes and businesses beyond the 1.1 million
customers in its existing UFB rollout areas.It put the estimated cost at
between $370m and $410m. Northpower said it had secured contracts to build
UFB networks in 12 Kaipara and Whangarei towns — Kaiwaka, Mangawhai Village,
Mangawhai Heads, Maungaturoto, Paparoa, Ruawai, Dargaville, Waipu, Ruakaka,
One Tree Point, Waikaraka and Hikurangi — at a cost of around $30 million.
Company chair Nikki Davies-Colley said the expansion would take fibre to a
further 9000 premises – adding to the 20,000 UFB premises in Whangarei.
Ultrafast Fibre’s majority shareholder, WEL Networks, said it an its partners
Waipa Networks would invest approximately $60 million to build the UFB in 12
central North Island towns, bringing its total investment in fibre
infrastructure to almost $450 million by 2018. Christchurch fibre network provider,
Enable, said it would extend its fibre broadband coverage to reach four
additional high-density urban areas on the fringe of Christchurch. “Enable
will be extending its network by 482 premises, or around 600 additional
potential customers – and will absorb this extra network build into its Year
Seven deployment programme,” the company said. “This means these communities
will have access to fibre broadband by December 2018 or before.” The largest
new area is Kennedys Bush that accounts for approximately half of this
additional coverage. From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 01/30/2017 |
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Tackling the Need for Global
Standards to Protect Privacy and Combat Cybercrime: Council of Europe at the
2016 Internet Governance Forum The protection of privacy and
personal data continue to face unprecedented threats – linked to mass
surveillance and other risks. Cybercrime is increasing as the internet and
communication technology develop across borders.International co-operation
and the effective implementation of legally binding standards – such as the
Council of Europe’s conventions on cybercrime and personal data protection -
are more needed than ever. Ensuring that the existing rules are enforced and
that solutions are found to solve existing shortcomings are issues that
governments and other stakeholders need to address.Conveying these concerns and
sharing the organisation’s expertise in the fight against cybercrime and the
protection of privacy with governments, private companies, civil society and
academia will be the key priorities of the Council of Europe’s participation
in the 11th meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), to be held in
Zapopan (Jalisco, México) from 6 to 9 December. In a workshop jointly organised with
the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), the Council of
Europe will address the difficulties that law enforcement agencies face to
have access to criminal evidence stored online, often on private companies’
servers and abroad in another State’s jurisdiction, and will discuss possible
solutions. (Workshop on Law Enforcement, Cyberspace & Jurisdiction, 7 December,
12.00 - 13.30)Participants will examine approaches to enable governments to
meet their obligations to protect societies and individuals against
cybercrime while respecting rule of law and data protection requirements –
including cooperation with the private sector. Governments, international
institutions, the private sector and other stakeholders are considering new
frameworks for cooperation and for determining jurisdiction in cyberspace.The
members of the Council of Europe delegation will also participate as
panellists in a number of IGF sessions and workshops concerning social media
and youth radicalisation; economic, social and cultural rights; surveillance
and international human rights law, and multicultural and multi-stakeholder
capacity building. They will also take part in a youth internet governance
forum. Fifteen years after its adoption, the
Budapest Convention remains the most effective international treaty on
cybercrime and the rule of law in cyberspace. 68 countries have signed,
ratified or been invited to accede to the Convention. More than 120 countries
are cooperating with the Council of Europe to reinforce their legislation and
criminal justice capacities to address cybercrime.The Council of Europe data
protection convention, known as “Convention 108”, has become the backbone of
personal data protection legislation in Europe and in many other countries.
This treaty is open to any other country in the world. So far 53 countries
have ratified it, signed it or been invited to accede. An additional protocol
requires the establishment of an independent authority to ensure compliance
with data protection principles and lays down rules on trans-border data
flows. From http://www.i-policy.org/ 11/30/2016 Lower Public R&D Spending and
Protectionist Risks May Pose a Threat to Innovation A decline in government funding of science and
technology research in a number of countries could pose a threat to
innovation at a time when global challenges like climate change and ageing
populations demand solutions, according to a new OECD report.The OECD Science, Technology and
Innovation Outlook 2016 warns that a backlash against
globalisation and migration in some countries could also become a cause for
concern given that innovation is increasingly driven by cross-border
cooperation and the ability of scientists, students and entrepreneurs to move
about and work in different countries over their careers.Spending on research
and development in government and higher education institutions in OECD
countries fell in 2014 for the first time since the data were first collected
in 1981, the report says. R&D spending in government and higher education
labs, most of which is provided by governments, began flattening out in 2010
following three decades of growth. A separate indicator, total R&D spending by
governments – most of which is carried out by public entities but may also be
done by the private sector funded by public grants – is receding in many
countries as other policy priorities such as state pensions, health and
social care are absorbing a growing share of public resources. Data on
the percentage of government budgets dedicated to R&D for 2000 and 2015
show that while countries like Germany, Japan and Korea are spending more now
on R&D than in 2000 as a share of total expenses, others including
Australia, Finland, France, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US have reduced
their R&D efforts. Total government spending on R&D in the OECD area
has been declining since 2009, following the global financial
crisis.“Economic growth depends on innovation, and innovation will be vital
to solve the big global headaches of the 21st Century from ageing populations
and dementia to climate change and inequality,” said OECD Science, Technology
and Innovation Director Andrew Wyckoff. “Maintaining public funding of
R&D, open science and international mobility for researchers is
absolutely fundamental for the future of innovation and our future in
general.” The report says government funding of R&D is
likely to plateau at current levels or decline further given pressure on
public finances in many countries and sluggish economic growth. A tendency among
governments to focus more on offering R&D tax incentives to firms than
funding R&D in universities and public laboratories is also tilting the
balance towards the private sector. That can mean funds are allocated to
where new products or profits are most likely rather than to less directly
focused research which is often the source of unexpected breakthroughs.
Business R&D tends to favour development over pure research. Although
they carry out less than 30% of total R&D in the OECD area, universities
and public research institutes perform more than three-quarters of basic
research. They often undertake longer-term and higher-risk research, as well
as the kind of projects that have more potential to translate into tangible
societal benefits. Artificial intelligence and personalised medicine are two
examples of innovations that came about thanks to scientific and
technological developments enabled by public research. Key findings of the report include: ·
Over
a third of the research done globally in government and higher education
institutions takes place in non-OECD economies. China spent around twice as
much on public R&D as Japan in 2014. India, Russia, Chinese Taipei, Iran
and Argentina have some of the world’s biggest public science systems. ·
Five
countries – the US, China, Japan, Germany and India - accounted for 59% of
global public R&D in 2014, while 25 countries were behind 90% of the
total. This dominance by a few partly reflects their large size. In the
future, economies with fast-growing populations and GDP, as in Africa, may
become more important players. ·
Charities,
foundations and philanthropists have become increasingly prominent funders of
university research in recent years, particularly in the area of health where
they often fund research into rare or tropical diseases. This will have an
impact on future public research agendas. ·
Different
countries currently have different specialisations: for example health and
medical science takes up 24% of public R&D spending in the US, 22% in the
UK and 17% in Canada while energy R&D is 19% of the total in Mexico, 11%
in Japan and 9% in Korea. Country priorities are changing and increasingly
reflect the growing societal challenges mentioned above such as climate
change and demographics. From http://www.oecd.org/ 12/08/2016 ePrivacy: Consultations Show
Confidentiality of Communications and the Challenge of New Technologies Are
Key Questions The Commission today publishes the results
of a Eurobarometer and a public consultation on EU rules which govern the
processing of personal data and privacy in the electronic communications
sector – the ePrivacy Directive. Results show that Europeans consistently
call for strong protection of the confidentiality of their communications and
effective respect of their privacy. Industry and public authorities express
more diverse views, with industry in particular pleading for rules that would
not stifle new opportunities and innovation related to use of data. The review of the ePrivacy Directive
is one of the key initiatives proposed under the Digital Single Market
strategy in May 2015 and it aims at reinforcing trust and security in digital
services in the EU.New technological developments, including the spread of
internet-based communications services, call for a modernisation of the
ePrivacy rules, currently covering only traditional telecoms providers. In
particular, today's rules do not
apply to providers of the popular internet-based voice and messaging services
– also known as "over-the-top" services – which are used by
Europeans instead of, or in addition to, their mobile phones or fixed
connections. Eurobarometer: call for a high level
of privacy protection A large majority of the 27,000
respondents to the Eurobarometer survey say that the privacy of their
personal information, their online communications and their online behaviour
is very important. In particular:More than seven in ten (72%) state that it
is very important that the confidentiality of their e-mails and online
instant messaging is guaranteed.More than seven in ten respondents (71%)
think it is not acceptable for companies to share information about them
without their permission, even if it helps companies to provide new services
they might like.Almost eight in ten say (78%) it is very important that
personal information on their computer, smartphone or tablet can only be
accessed with their permission.Almost two thirds of respondents (64%) say it
is unacceptable to have their online activities monitored in exchange for
unrestricted access to a certain website, while four in ten (40%) avoid
certain websites because they are worried their online activities would be
monitored.Almost nine in ten respondents (89%) agree with the proposal that
the default settings of their browser should stop their information from
being shared.Nine in ten agree they should be able to encrypt their messages
and calls, so they can only be read by the recipient (90%).More than six in
ten (61%) say they receive too many unsolicited commercial calls. An almost
similar number (59%) would like commercial calls to be displayed with a
special prefix. Public consultation: a mixed picture The European Commission also ran a
public consultation between 12 April and 5 July on the review of the ePrivacy
Directive. 421 replies were received from citizens, consumer and civil
society associations, industry actors and public authorities – such as
government and national enforcement authorities of the ePrivacy Directive.
The key findings of the consultation are:83% of citizens, consumer and civil
society organisations responding to the consultation consider it relevant to
have specific ePrivacy rules for the electronic communications sector on
confidentiality, while 63% of industry respondents do not see this
added-value.76% of citizens, consumer and civil society organisations
consider that the ePrivacy Directive has been ineffective in achieving its
objective of ensuring full protection of privacy and confidentiality of
communications across the EU. One of the reasons cited is the limited scope
of application of the ePrivacy Directive, excluding over-the-top service
providers. On the other hand 57% of industry believes the Directive has
achieved this objective.76% of citizens, consumer and civil society
organisations and 93% of public authorities believe the rules should (in
part) be broadened to cover over-the-top service providers. On the contrary,
industry is more divided as 42% do not want the scope to be broadened while
36% do. Next steps The results of the Eurobarometer on
ePrivacy and of the public consultation will feed into the review of the
ePrivacy Directive which the Commission will unveil in the beginning of 2017.
The aim is to adapt current rules to the new General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) and to ensure a high level of privacy and confidentiality
for users. The intention is to broaden the possibilities for communications
providers to process communications data, but only with the agreement of users
in the spirit of the GDPR. While the scope of the Directive currently applies
to providers such as traditional telecoms companies, another key objective of
the review is to include internet-based voice and messaging services. The
proposal will also simplify the provisions for cookies giving more choice to
users. From https://ec.europa.eu/ 12/19/2016 ePrivacy Regulation Draft Leaked On Monday, 12 December, a leaked version
of the ePrivacy Regulation was published online. The most obvious change is
that the file is being proposed as a European Regulation, rather than a
Directive. This significantly affects the way that the law would apply -
Directives require national implementation and usually Member States have two
years to assess how to bring the European law within their national regimes.
As a Regulation, the law could apply immediately upon adoption, and would
apply directly in Member States. It would take precedence over the GDPR
because it is specified as a lexspecialis.In terms of substance, the ePrivacy
Directive has been commonly referred to as the "cookie directive".
The draft Regulation seeks to change the cookie provision only slightly -
adding a new exception to the consent rule for first party analytics - but
would introduce an overall higher standard of consent, taken from the GDPR.
Consent may also be given through browser settings (e.g. through DNT
settings), which the recitals elaborate to be binding and enforceable on
third parties, though the wording has been refined to specifically address
web browsers. This provision would now be included in the Articles of the
Regulation, as opposed to being in a recital. The most troublesome part of the
proposed Regulation is Article 10, which introduces far-reaching rules on
privacy by design. While the GDPR contains provisions on this concept, they
are aimed at promoting general good data protection practices. The draft
ePrivacy Regulation's privacy by design clause, on the other hand, requires
that software and hardware must be configured to prevent third parties from
storing or processing information on user's devices. This has the effect that
users have to enable third party cookies of their own volition, and also
specifically enable tracking cookies if they choose to do so.Sources have
informed IAB Europe that the leak represents an unfinished version of the
proposal, but that not much will change in terms of substance when the
Commission officially publishes its proposal on January 11, 2017. From http://www.i-policy.org/ 12/22/2016 10 Tips to Share on Data Privacy Day Online harassment and cyber bullying are
real. And, some groups, such as women, are targeted more than others. Sadly,
who you are affects how you are treated by others online, as well as
offline.A powerful way to counter online abuse, threats and violence is to
share our knowledge with each other. So, to mark this year’s International
Data Privacy Day, the Internet Society would like to share with you 10 tips
to protect yourself and others online:Know the terrain. The Internet is a
powerful tool for communication. Learn how to use the Internet, keep your
eyes open for good and bad actors, and make the most of what the Internet
offers.Keep your private life private. Keep your personal information
separate from your professional role. Use different personas for different
roles.Protect communications. Use end-to-end encryption and two-factor
authentication for confidential communications.Obscure your location. Remove
location data from images and videos before posting. Turn off application
access to location. Don’t disclose your location in public posts.Guard your
devices. They’re more precious than any jewels. Protect them from both
physical and digital tampering. Use encryption and strong access
credentials.Prepare for an attack. Find allies and prepare a plan for dealing
with online harassment, doxing and other forms of abuse. Don’t feed the
trolls! They don’t deserve your attention. Stand firm. Don’t let cyber bullies
undermine what you are doing. Show them you are not afraid. Others will stand
with you. Be willing to ask for help.Beware of Trojan horses. Look out for
spear-phishers. Check before connecting with someone new. If something seems
too good to be true, it probably isn’t!Lead. Share your experience with
others. Let people know that you are there to help.Protect others. If you
host user-generated content, prevent users from posting derogatory or other
abusive messages. Help remove personal information that has been exposed to
hurt someone. Report offendersShare these tips with someone close to you! And
don’t sit by when you see abuse on social media. Offer a helping hand. From http://www.i-policy.org/ 01/28/2017 EUROPE: Publishers Urge European
Commission to Recognise Importance of Digital Advertising in Review of the
Eprivacy Directive Brussels, 23 November 2016 – With media independence a hot topic
across Europe and around the world, European publishers today called on the
Juncker Commission to ensure that future “ePrivacy” rules do not needlessly
deprive them of a critical revenue stream as they manage the difficult
transitional to digital. The publishers are concerned that the current review
of the ePrivacy Directive (Directive 2002/58/EC, also known as the ‘Cookie
Directive’), may lead to new constraints on low-risk data processing for
advertising purposes, including rules that would in effect force them to
provide content for free. Over 90 European publishers, brought together by 26
European national Interactive Advertising Bureaus (IABs), IAB Europe and
leading European publisher associations EPC (European Publishers Council),
NME (News Media Europe), EMMA (European Magazine Media Association) and ENPA
(European Newspaper Publishers’ Association), co-signed a letter to
Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip and Commissioner Günther Oettinger
highlighting their concerns. The letter calls on the European
Commission to recognise the critical role that interest-based advertising
plays in the financing of online media. Media plurality, and ultimately
functioning democracies, depend on media having diverse revenue streams.
These must include advertising. “European digital media and services
overwhelmingly depend on data driven online advertising” said Townsend
Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe “76% of all online media revenues and more than 50%
of all mobile app revenues come from such advertising.[1] Moreover, data
driven interest-targeting of advertisements has been shown to increase the
value and effectiveness of online advertising by more than 200% on
average”.[2] “The Internet as we know it is
advertising-funded. Advertising enables billions of users worldwide to access
news, information, education, entertainment and other services online for
free or at low cost. Consumers have grown accustomed to, and expect, quality
content to be made available to them at no monetary cost. The new ePrivacy
instrument must therefore not require the provision of a subscription-based
alternative and it must be absolutely clear that online services and
publishers continue to have full control over the terms and conditions under
which users may access their offerings, including the condition that user
data is lawfully processed to deliver interest-based advertising in full
compliance with data protection laws.” Angela Mills Wade, Executive Director
of the European Publishers Council said: “Staying in touch with the news is as
important as ever for millions of European citizens and those of us lucky
enough to enjoy life under a democracy often take our press freedom for
granted. Yet it is that press
freedom and the provision of 24/7 news, entertainment, sports, political
enquiry and investigative journalism that underpins our democracy, much of
which is funded by data-driven advertising to ensure the widest possible
audience on the open web, free to the readers. Breaking news or in-depth
investigative reports, sports coverage or feature writing is not just popular
to read and share across social media, but expensive and risky to produce.
Data-driven, interest based advertising is highly effective and therefore the
most valuable form to those press publishers who rely on advertising to
support the production of professional, fact-based journalism. European
regulators need to make the link between what European citizens value and how
it is funded and ensure that legislation doesn’t cut off indispensable
revenues”. The group also asks the Commission to follow its own Better
Regulation Agenda[3] and encourage effective self- and co-regulatory
alternatives to legislation. The online advertising ecosystem has already set
up the flexible and adaptive multi-stakeholder OBA Self-Regulatory
Programme[4] to provide users with transparency, choice and control over
targeted online ads. From http://www.i-policy.org/ 11/23/2017 Data Protection Day: Council of
Europe Issues Guidelines to Protect the People Behind Big Data Ahead of Data Protection Day on 28
January, the Committee of the Council of Europe´s Data Protection Convention,
also known as “Convention 108”, adopted this week Guidelines on Big Data
aiming to assist policy makers and organisations processing personal data to
place people at the centre the digital economy. The nature of Big Data may
make very challenging the application of traditional principles of personal
data protection, such as purpose limitation or data minimisation. The
guidelines contain a set of recommendations such as: · Any Big Data processing of personal
data should comply with the requirement of free, specific, informed and
unambiguous consent, and the principles of purpose limitation, fairness and
transparency. · Data processors should provide easy
and user-friendly technical way for individuals to withdraw their consent. · Data controllers and processors
should assess the likely impact on human rights of Big Data processing, for
example, by establishing ethical committees. They should carry out risk
assessments, and develop solutions by-design and by-default to mitigate the
risks. · The technical anonymisation of data
could be combined with legal or contractual obligations to prevent possible
re-identification of the persons concerned. Alessandra Pierucci, Chairperson of
the Committee of “Convention 108” highlighted “the importance of providing
guidance on what has become in the past years an exponential source of
knowledge, and an exponential source of processing of personal data. This
first step of the Committee towards a stronger protection of persons in our
big data environment will have to lead to further steps, to follow the fast
pace evolution of big data related technologies”. A Council of Europe
delegation is participating today in a session on the Council of Europe’s
approach to Big Data at the 10th Edition of the “Computers, Privacy and Data
Protection” international conference (CDPC), which is held in Brussels from
25 to 27 January. Data Protection Day, created by the Council of Europe in
2006, is celebrated every year on 28 January, the date on which the Council
of Europe’s data protection convention, known as “Convention 108”, was opened
to signature. Data Protection Day is now celebrated globally and is called
Privacy Day outside Europe. The Council of Europe is now in the final phase
of the modernisation of “Convention 108”, the sole international legal
instrument in the field which already gathers 50 countries. From http://www.i-policy.org/ 01/30/2017 Safer Internet Day 2017: European
Commission Welcomes Alliance of Industry and NGOs for a Better Internet for
Minors On 7 February, millions of people in
120 countries were marking Safer Internet Day. The European Commission and
leading digital players have committed to work towards curbing harmful content,
conduct and contact in an Alliance to Better Protect Minors Online. On Safer
Internet Day millions of children, parents, educators and policy makers in
over 120 countries across six continents were exploring how to stay safe
online. The digital world offers endless opportunities, but it is also a
place where young people may be exposed to violent or disturbing content,
strong language or hate speech or become victims of cyber-bullying, or sexual
harassment. This is an issue of everyone's concern as one third of all
internet users worldwide are below the age of 18, and 68% of 9-16 year olds
have at least one profile on a social network. The motto of Safer Internet Day 2017
is "Be the change: unite for a better internet". In this spirit,
the European Commission, tech and telecoms companies, broadcasters, NGOs and
UNICEF (who form the Alliance to Better Protect Minors Online) unveiled a
major self-regulatory initiative to address harmful content, harmful conduct and
harmful contact online. This has been brokered by the European Commission in
line with its Better Internet for Kids strategy. Andrus Ansip, the
Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said: "Today, our children
are born into an increasingly digital society and start using the internet at
an ever younger age. This gives them a direct involvement and importance in
the Digital Single Market. While online activities stimulate their critical
thinking, they may face risks that can harm their well-being and development.
Creating a safe digital environment for children is a shared responsibility
and so I welcome this self-regulatory initiative from companies and NGOs. I
have high expectations of the Alliance's work to make the internet safer and
better for children." Statement of Purpose In the Statement of Purpose companies
agreed to curb harmful content, harmful conduct and harmful contact (such as
cyberbullying, sexual extortion and exposure to violent content), through
three strands of action: User-empowerment to promote enhanced
use of parental tools, content classification and other tools for online
safety. Reporting tools will be provided in a more accessible and
user-friendly way. Companies will also focus on improving follow-up measures
such as feedback and notifications. Companies commit to intensify cooperation
and sharing of best practices, also by taking account relevant input from
NGOs, civil society, European, national and local authorities and
international organisations. Members of the Alliance intend to scale up
awareness raising and also to promote and increase access to positive,
educational and diversified content online. This could prepare the ground for
more formal self-and co-regulatory mechanisms which the proposal for a
revised Audiovisual Media Service Directive seeks to promote. It complements
the Code of Conduct and commitments to combat the spread of illegal hate
speech online announced by the European Commission and IT companies last
year. Next Steps The companies who endorsed the
Statement of Purpose have responded to the European Commission's call for
action of May 2016. Many of them already have ongoing commitments to respect
and support children's rights online. Within the next three months, companies
will announce their individual commitments to improve online safety as part
of the Alliance to Better Protect Minors Online. Members of the Alliance (see
annex for full list) and the European Commission, have agreed to assess
implementation of this initiative through regular transparent and independent
monitoring and evaluation. As previous and ongoing industry cooperation has
shown, self-regulation can make the industry more responsive and flexible in
addressing safety challenges. The Alliance is a cooperative voluntary
initiative, building on existing work for child online safety and new members
will be welcome. The Commission expects that the actions announced today will
be embraced by a growing number of companies as the starting point of a new
process. Background Safer Internet Day, launched by the
European Commission in 2004, is celebrated in over 120 countries across six
continents. In 2016 alone it reached 2,8 million children, 2,5 million
parents, and up to 400 million people on social media. Safer Internet Day is
coordinated by the Insafe/INHOPE network thanks to funding from the through
the Connecting Europe Facility. The European Commission's Safer Internet
Programme(link), operating under the Connecting Europe Facility (link),
finances a network of Safer Internet Centres in 27 Member States, Norway and
Iceland. In the Digital Single Market Strategy, European Commission promotes
an inclusive digital society, where people have the necessary skills to go
online and do so safely. Through its Strategy for a Better Internet for
Children, the Commission coordinates initiatives to be undertaken by the
Commission, Member States and the whole industry value chain. From https://ec.europa.eu/ 02/13/2017 BELARUS: Relating to the Protection
of Internet Users' Personal Data January 28 is celebrated worldwide on
the International Data Protection Day. In October 2016 e-baltic.ORG / Baltic
Internet Policy Initiative conducted a study on the topic of Internet governance
in Belarus. Among the questions the study was the question of the importance
of various aspects of the use of the Internet. For the Belarusian Internet
users question on personal data protection has been one of the most important
issues - 87% of respondents believe that it is important or rather important. From http://www.infopolicy.biz/ 01/30/2017 NORTH AMERICA: Canada - Increasing Cyber
Incidents Could Mean ‘Tragedy’ for Online Trust - Industry Group Possibly as many as 82,000 cyber
incidents a day negatively impacted organizations around the world in 2016,
says an industry group that looked at threat intelligence from a number of sources.
And the Online Trust Alliance, which released the estimate Wednesday as part
of its annual Breach Readiness Guide, says that because most incidents aren’t
reported to regulators or law enforcement agencies the number could be as
much as 250,000. An “incident” includes breaches, ransomware, distributed
denial of service (DDoS) attacks and takover of infrastructure. As many of 91
per cent of reported breached were avoidable, adds the report – as the
alliance reported in 2015 – 13 per cent were due to lack of internal controls
resulting in employees’ accidental or malicious events and 53 per cent the
result of actual hacks. Consistently for the past several years, more than 90
per cent of incidents originate from a deceptive or malicious email. The leap
in enterprise ransomware incidents, which increased 35 per cent in 2016,
“points to a lack of employee training and protection from spearphishing
emails,” says the report. In one sense the confirmed or
estimated numbers don’t matter because of the almost daily global reports
last year of breaches big and small – 1 billion records exposed in the 2013
Yahoo breach only now coming to light, the breach at a U.S. political party,
the loss of some 45 million records from Toronto-based automotive forum site
VerticalScope – tells the story. Either way – through the mountain of news
reports or an attempt at reaching a respectable estimate – the situation
isn’t getting better. What the impact is isn’t clear. So far, online business
continues to grow. Still, the alliance quotes an Internet Society study that
online trust is at an all-time low with 59 per cent of users reporting they
would likely not do business with a company that had suffered a data breach.
“These metrics illustrate the need for all stakeholders, including industry,
policy makers and governments, to take decisive action,” says the alliance
report. “The recurring incidents have an additive, long-term effect on
society not unlike global warming and carbon emissions. We are facing the
tragedy of the trust commons which, left unaddressed, can and will have
significant impact to future generations.” That’s why of the alliance’s 10
tenants of cyber incidents, one is that organizations must make security a
priority; those that fail to adopt sound practices will be held accountable.
Others are that organizations need to look beyond the impact and cost of a
“traditional data breach” to the life safety and physical impact of an
incident, damage to an organization’s reputation and risks to users; and that
business incentives are needed to accelerate “security by design” along with
the need for annual security assessments of sites, applications services and
devices. From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 02/05/2017 U.S.: Symantec CEO - ‘It’s a New
Theater of War’ for Cybercriminals If you didn’t think the internet was
a wretched hive of scum and villainy before, Symantec (SYMC) CEO Greg Clark
might just change your mind. Clark, who sat down for an interview with David
Pogue at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit, explained how criminals on the
internet are not only incredibly active, but are almost always changing where
they live online and how they attack. “It’s a new theater of war. It’s serious
business,” Clark said. To put a finer point on it, Clark explained that about
60% of hostnames on the internet are open for just 24 hours or less, which
suggests they might exist solely for criminal activity. Hostnames are used to
point to specific sites on the internet. For instance, www.yahoofinance.com
is a hostname for Yahoofinance.com. Now, think about the millions of
hostnames on the internet at any given moment, and you begin to understand
how truly enormous that 60% figure really is. One of the most nefarious ways in
which cybercriminals attack is through email phishing or spear phishing
attacks. Phishing attacks come in the form of emails that trick users into
downloading malware-infected software or clicking links that take them to
malware-infected websites that automatically install malicious code on a
person’s computer. That software can then turn your PC, smartphone or tablet
into a zombie device for a botnet army that can be used to flood targeted
websites with requests for information until they can keep up and go offline.
Alternatively, phishing and spear phishing attacks can trick users to
download ransomware, which can lock down a person’s computer. The criminals
will then keep the computer locked down until the victim pays up, usually in
the form of Bitcoin. Both of these kinds of attacks are caused by people
unknowingly infecting their own computers. And as Pogue put it, “There is no
antivirus program for human stupidity.” Clark, however, pointed to Symantec’s
own Project Dolphin. The system sees Symantec scour the world’s websites to
determine if they appear similar to “known phishing” sites. The idea is to
identify phishing websites before they actually take off and prevent victims
from visiting them by accident. So there might just be an antivirus for human
stupidity after all. Sign me up. From https://www.yahoo.com/ 02/09/2017 Cybersecurity Is a Missing Piece of
the Smart City Puzzle (Industry Perspective) While the concern over smart city
security is broadly distributed, a survey of government IT professionals
reveals that actions to address these concerns are few and far between. The
term “smart city” is as broad as the successes that are frequently published
in industry journals and advocacy websites. It’s clear that the opportunities
for the industrial Internet of Things to automate city infrastructure are
expansive. From helping to manage waste removal in Seoul to more effective
flood mitigation in Calgary, the world is now applying connected technologies
to make our cities more efficient, greener and more livable. There is a cloud
behind that smart city silver lining, however. The security research
community has been clearly calling out the risks involved in smart city
technology, but cybersecurity remains a secondary consideration in planning
these initiatives. In part, the failure to adequately address cybersecurity
is a consequence of the breadth of these initiatives. There is no silver
bullet for securing smart cities because the term really refers to a wide
collection of technologies that could be deployed. There are, however, widely
accepted best practices for building cybersecurity into initiatives that can
and should apply to smart cities, starting with design and ending with
operations. In order to more fully understand the
reality and challenges of securing our smart cities, Tripwire conducted a
survey of more than 200 IT professionals working for state and local
government. Government IT workers are frequently on the front lines of smart
city technology in real-world deployments, providing the survey with a
valuable perspective on the topic. The results confirm that while the concern
over smart city security is broadly distributed, actions to address these
concerns are few and far between. To set the stage, the respondents
overwhelmingly agreed (74 percent) that smart city initiatives are “very
important.” At the same time, a majority (55 percent) said that cities do not
devote adequate resources to cybersecurity for smart city initiatives.
Clearly, while these initiatives are vital to the future of our cities,
cybersecurity is a missing piece of the smart city puzzle today. In order to
understand more about where these concerns come from, we asked respondents
about which smart city initiatives their jurisdictions had actually adopted.
The top four responses were public Wi-Fi, surveillance cameras, public
lighting and apps for city services. These top four initiatives only
partially map to where respondents thought there was the most risk from
cyberattacks. Public Wi-Fi is both the most common
and most risky of the identified smart city technologies. That conclusion
isn’t surprising. Public Wi-Fi systems are a service explicitly open to
connection from the community, including attackers. That No. 1 spot is where
the similarities between prevalence and risk end, however. The smart grid
ranks second in terms of perceived risk from our respondents, but eighth in
prevalence. Disruptions in the energy supply, whatever the source, are always
high visibility and they directly affect the average citizen. It’s telling,
however, that the respondents who ranked the smart grid second in terms of
risk from cyberattacks aren’t average citizens, but IT professionals working
in government. Their perspective on risk is ideally more informed for this
topic. Of course, there have been highly public incidents to drive concerns
around smart grid security as well. In late December 2015, about 230,000
residents in the Ukraine were left in the dark after a cyberattack. The
attack wasn’t simply opportunistic, or the result of a misconfiguration, but
a planned and executed multistep operation. It included a coordinated
cyberattack that resulted in disabled UPS systems, disabled substations and a
telephone denial of service to prevent Ukrainian customers from reporting
outages. While this incident occurred outside the U.S., experts have said
that the U.S. might not fare as well in such an attack. The Ukrainian power
grid was successfully attacked again, nearly a year later. In this case, the
result was smaller, about 20 percent of the capacity for the city of Kiev .
The tactic was different as well, starting with malware delivered via email
phishing that stole valid user credentials. If these incidents weren’t enough to
raise awareness and concern, don’t forget that Ted Koppel published a book in
late 2015 called Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving
the Aftermath, perhaps foreshadowing these kinds of attacks. How other countries would fare under
the same types of attacks is an open question, and while not explicitly
answered by the Tripwire survey, the level of concern is certainly clear. The
third place for risk from a cyberattack goes to transportation systems, which
ranked fifth for prevalence of initiatives. Transportation includes anything
from driverless buses to the much more common connected traffic lights. In
2015 a pair of security researchers demonstrated that they could remotely
infiltrate an unaltered passenger vehicle. Not only did they undertake simple
operations, like changing the radio station or turning on the windshield
wipers, they also remotely killed the vehicle. Researchers have also gained access
to traffic data and the ability to alter traffic signals in recent
years. While we haven’t seen a
serious, criminally motivated incident involving cyberattacks on smart city
transportation systems, it’s only a matter of time before these individual risks
are assembled into a coordinated attack. The evolution of smart cities means
that these attacks aren’t simply about stealing data, they now endanger human
life. SEEKING SOLUTIONS Dramatic, foreboding conclusions
never solved any problem alone. The survey respondents were also asked about
why cities don’t devote enough resources to cybersecurity for these
initiatives. The responses were uncharacteristically evenly split. Budget,
politics and a lack of understanding were all fairly close in terms of
response percentages. That’s a telling triad. The allocation of budget, the
ultimate fuel for any action within government, is directly affected by the
politics and the understanding of the risks involved. Phrased a little
differently, government officials don’t understand the risks well enough and
aren’t being pressured enough, to allocate sufficient budget to addressing
cybersecurity within smart city initiatives. That’s why the security research
outlined above is so important. If you’re not familiar with the
security research community, it may be tempting to see these researchers who
are discovering and publicizing risks as causing problems by making this type
of information public. While an understandable initial viewpoint, it’s
ultimately incorrect, unproductive and increases real risk. In most cases,
the research that gets publicly shared was conducted with the explicit
objective of increasing the security of these systems. History has
demonstrated that without this type of research from the security community,
these risks remain hidden and are ultimately exploited by criminals. In the
best cases, the security research community partners with affected technology
vendors to jointly disclose risks after a fix has been created. This type of
cooperation benefits the researcher, the vendor and the community of users.
It’s this type of cooperation and partnership that should be fostered around
cybersecurity for smart cities. Addressing cybersecurity for the
industrial Internet of Things that drive the smart city isn’t all about
finding and fixing risks that are already out there. In fact, addressing
risks in deployed technologies is the most expensive method available. In
order to make more meaningful progress in securing our smart cities, these
initiatives need to build cybersecurity in at the design phase. That means
addressing basic security best practices around authentication, encryption
and secure configuration of systems. It means monitoring the systems to
ensure that they’re not being changed or tampered with, either maliciously or
simply through human error. Securing complex, connected systems isn’t easy,
but it’s not rocket science either. Incorporating the basic, foundational
security principles at the planning stage, following through with adequate
monitoring of deployed systems, and partnering with security researchers can
deliver substantially more secure systems. There may be no silver bullet for
securing our smart cities, but there are some solid roadmaps. From http://www.govtech.com/ 02/10/2017 Homeland Security to Unveil 12 New
Tools at Cyber Conference The Homeland Security Department’s
science and technology division will be showing off a dozen new cyber tools developed
with DHS funds at next week's RSA cybersecurity conference in San Francisco.
The tools range from helping organizations join forces against malware
attacks to offering secure connections to Bluetooth devices. The division
described the tools as “mature cybersecurity technology solutions ready for
pilot deployment and commercialization.” Here’s a rundown, provided by DHS: AS-Rank: A tool that ranks autonomous
systems and organizations in support of internet security, stability,
situational awareness and resilience. CHARIOT: A tool that filters
open-source social media to eliminate topics irrelevant to cybersecurity
analysts. CodeDNA: A scalable, shareable
technology that facilitates community-based defense against malware attacks. DDNR: A set of machine-learning
algorithms designed to detect system patterns that deviate from normal
operation and to respond appropriately. ImmuneSoft: A hybrid static and
runtime approach to detecting and healing vulnerabilities in embedded
systems. Internet Atlas: A geographic
representation of the physical internet, including nodes, conduits/links and
relevant metadata. QUASAR: A threat intelligence and
decision support platform that provides cyber defense planners visualization
and quantitative analytics to determine the security impact of deploying
defenses. REDUCE: A toolset that allows
cybersecurity analysts to rapidly discover relationships between malware
samples, extract temporal threat intelligence and develop actionable
signatures for known and emerging threats. REnigma: A tool that
reverse-engineers malware. SilentAlarm: An inference-based
technology for detecting abnormal network traffic that depends on dynamic
network behavior knowledge. Virtual Mobile Infrastructure: A
secure platform that provides no data at rest on mobile devices, enabling
secure access from any device to applications and enterprise data running in
a data center or cloud environment. From http://www.nextgov.com/ 02/10/2017 |
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CHINA: To Require Real-name
Registration for Online Shows The Ministry of Culture is making it
compulsory for presenters of streamed online shows to register with their
real names. The rules oblige operators of online shows to identify presenters
via interviews or video calls, and apply for licenses from provincial
cultural authorities which will be filed with the ministry. The regulation
also states that operators should obtain a permit from the ministry before
offering channels to presenters from the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region (SAR), Macao SAR, Taiwan and foreign countries. Operators must carry
out real-time supervision of performances and keep records of all the shows.
A mechanism for handling emergencies should be established, and once they
detect content that violates laws and regulations in the shows, operators
must suspend services, preserve relevant data, and report the matter to
authorities. A blacklist will be created to strengthen management of online
performances and ensure the sector's healthy and orderly growth. The regulation
will come into effect on Jan.1. From http://www.news.cn/
12/13/2016 JAPAN: Cyber Security Training and
Simulation Center to Open in Tokyo Cyberbit, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems,
has won a contract from Ni Cybersecurity, a Japanese cyber security service
provider, to launch a cyber security training and simulation center in Tokyo
powered by the Cyberbit Range platform. Ni Cybersecurity will set up a
training facility in Toranomon, Tokyo that will address these challenges by
accelerating the certification of new cyber security experts and helping
organizations improve the skills of their existing staff, focusing on
government and finance organizations. The contract, in an amount that is not
material to Elbit Systems, will be performed during 2017. The new training
facility will be powered by the Cyberbit Range, a highly advanced and widely
deployed cyber security training and simulation platform. It enables trainees
to practice in real-life settings by accurately replicating their network
setup, using their actual security tools and simulating their typical network
traffic so trainees can receive the most effective and realistic training
available. The Cyberbit Range provides a rich and up-to-date selection of
simulated attack scenarios, including ransomware. It is the underlying
platform for multiple training centers in North America, Asia and Europe. Adi
Dar, Cyberbit’s General Manager, said, “When there is a need to certify tens
of thousands of new cyber security experts while improving the skills of
existing ones, all within a very short timeframe, enrollment in simulated
training programs is the best choice for finance, government and other
organizations in Japan. I am confident that the initiative, led by Ni
Cybersecurity, powered by our Range platform, will contribute to Japan’s
cyber readiness for the 2020 Olympic Games, and for years to follow.” From https://www.japantoday.com 02/11/2017 SOUTH KOREA: To Introduce AI to
Filter Out Financial Crimes To ramp up its contribution to global
fights against money laundering and terrorism financing, South Korea will
introduce an artificial intelligence-based system to better filter out
financial crimes, said the country’s financial intelligence chief. Yoo
Kwang-yeol, commissioner of the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit, said his
agency is currently working to upgrade the main system that stores and analyzes
information regarding hundreds of millions of financial transactions in order
to increase accuracy of capturing suspicious transactions out of normal
ones. “We are considering an uptake of the artificial intelligence
technology to improve the current intelligence system by benchmarking
advanced systems in countries like Australia and Canada,” Yoo said in an
interview with The Korea Herald. For this, a group of KOFIU experts paid a
trip to Australia earlier this month to learn from the Australian financial
intelligence system. From http://www.koreaherald.com 12/18/2016 KT Targets Small Businesses with
Budget Network Security Device South Korean mobile carrier KT is out
to target a niche market of small companies looking for an affordable network
security system with a new network protection device for computers called the
“Wiz Stick.” Priced at just 90,000 won ($75), KT’s Wiz Stick is a portable,
multifunctional security device offering comprehensive network protection capabilities
as well as “security token” technology used to authenticate a person’s
identity online. Designed for application to a single computer, the Wiz Stick
is classified as a “Unified Threat Management” device, which contains
multiple security-related applications within a single management console.
“Though UTM devices already exist in the global network security market, led
by big names such as Cisco and Fortinet, the cheapest models cost at least 1
million won (or around $830),” Cho Young-kyung, manager of KT’s Smart
Connectivity Business Department, told The Korea Herald. From http://www.koreaherald.com 01/09/2017 |
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INDONESIA: Preparing to Set Up
National Cyber Agency Indonesia is now preparing to set up
an agency aimed to tackle fake news and rumors that rampantly spread through
social media and internet messaging applications and protect state
institutions from being intruded by hackers. The setting up of the agency, namely
National Cyber Agency (BCN) was to address the president's aim to curb
discussions on sensitive issues and the circulation of fake news and rumors
that may split the society. Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Security
Politics and Legal Affairs Wiranto said that BCN would cooperate with the
existing cyber-watcher institutions run by defense ministry, national
intelligence agency and police cyber security. Wiranto said that
establishment of BCN was necessary to curb the sprawling untrue information,
slander, and spreading hate among the public that could jeopardize the
nation's unity and stability. "Democracy endorses freedom of speech, but
people must abide by the law," Wiranto said in his office on Thursday.
The senior minister, who is a former military commander, said that related
ministries and institutions were now preparing the formation of officials in
charge of BCN operation. BCN and other institutions will coordinate to
monitor news circulated online and information spreading through internet-based
communication mechanism. The idea to establish BCN initially came up in
January 2015 when President Joko Widodo attached the importance to establish
a supreme institution in strengthening the capabilities of vital state
institutions from being hacked by foreign parties. The plan was cancelled in
mid last year due to limitation of state budget to finance the institution's
operation. President Widodo raised up again the idea in a cabinet meeting
last month to address government's focuses in combating terrorism and fake
news and rumors among the society this year. Widespread of fake news and
rumors through the social media has entered a considerable degree as 130
million people are active internet users in Indonesia. From http://news.xinhuanet.com 01/06/2017 SINGAPORE: Budget 2017 - More Help
for SMEs to Go Digital, with Focus on Data and Cybersecurity SINGAPORE: There are common capabilities
that businesses will need to stay competitive and grow, Finance Minister Heng
Swee Keat said in his Budget 2017 speech on Monday (Feb 20), and these are
important as Singapore matures as an economy and competes on the quality and
novelty of ideas and ability to create value. Mr Heng identified the
capabilities as the ability to use digital technology and embrace innovation.
“Digital technology has unique potential to transform businesses, large and
small, across the economy,” he said. “The first way to strengthen our
enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is to help
them adopt digital solutions.” LEG UP TO GO DIGITAL To this end, he announced the SMEs Go
Digital Programme to help companies build digital capabilities, which the
Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) will work with SPRING
Singapore and other sector lead agencies on. One of the components of the
SMEs Go Digital Programme will see SMEs get step-by-step advice on the
technologies used at each stage of their growth through the sectoral Industry
Digital Plans, starting with sectors where digital technology can
significantly improve productivity. These include retail, food services,
wholesale trade, logistics, cleaning and security, Mr Heng said. These
companies can also get help in person at SME Centres and a new SME Technology
Hub to be set up by IMDA, while companies that are ready to pilot emerging
ICT solutions can receive advice and funding support, he added. There are
also plans to strengthen capabilities in data and cybersecurity. Mr Heng
said: “With increased digitalisation, data will become an important asset for
firms, and strong cybersecurity is needed for our networks to function
smoothly.” The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) will thus work with
professional bodies to train cybersecurity professionals. More than S$80
million will be made available for these programmes, and the Minister for
Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim will elaborate at the Committee
of Supply (COS) debates, he added. TAPPING ON INNOVATION The Finance Minister also expanded on
initiatives to help companies embrace innovation, noting that the Agency for
Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is currently working with companies
to create road maps for operation and technology. It will expand its efforts
to support 400 companies over the next four years, he said. As for companies
looking to get access to intellectual property (IP), SPRING affiliate
Intellectual Property Intermediary will match them with IP that meets their
needs, Mr Heng said. A*STAR also partners SMEs through the Headstart
programme, which allows SMEs that co-develop IP with the agency to enjoy
royalty-free and exclusive licenses for 18 months in the first instance – and
this will be extended to 36 months, the minister said. Additionally, the
Government will also support companies in the use of advanced machine tools
for prototyping and testing, which may require costly specialised equipment.
Mr Heng said. A*STAR will provide access to such equipment, user training and
advice under a new Tech Access Initiative, and these will be elaborated on by
the Ministers for Trade and Industry during COS, he added. From http://www.channelnewsasia.com/ 02/20/2017 THAILAND: NRSA Urges PM to Act Now on
Cyber Security THE NATIONAL Reform Steering Assembly
(NRSA) yesterday endorsed a report to modify the cyber-security draft bill
and proposed the prime minister exercise his special power in accordance the
Article 265 of the new charter to take action before the bill becomes law.
Pol Maj-General Pisit Pao-in, the first vice president of the Mass Media
Reform Committee and president of the NRSA’s social media reform subcommittee,
said the National Cyber Security Committee bill needs to be modified. The
bill is still being considered by the Council of State The Mass Media Reform
Committee proposed setting up an organisation to oversee cyber security in
normal and emergency situations and to assign police and military to manage
its policies and operations.
Cyber threats and attacks on websites always happen, resulting in
damage and possible harm to the government’s digital economy policy, Pisit
said. He suggested that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha exercise special
powers under the new referendum to take care of the matter before the law
comes into effect. The reform assembly also recommended
adjusting the definition of cyber security in Article 33 of the bill to cover
all cyber-security threats, according to Somya Pattana-woraphan, secretary of
the media reform committee. The private sector should also be included in the
law since it is most involved in cyber activities and Internet
communications, he said. Somya said that the National Cyber Security Agency
should be a state agency rather than a normal jurist entity, as detailed in
the bill, in order to enforce the law, he said. Competent officials who are
special in particular areas should get additional special income according to
government’s rules, he added. The committee proposed adding more areas to
cyber security, rather than only politics and commerce, such as Internet
services, telecommunications, and infrastructure as well as public services,
military security, the country’s internal security and economic
security. Kamnoon Sidhisamarn, an
NRSA member, said in the debate yesterday that he disagreed with the idea of
having a state agency with the power to control the private sector for the
benefit of cyber safety. ‘Providers may quit country’ Another member, Sompong Sakawee,
warned that the Computer Crime Bill and the Cyber-Security Bill will force
social media providers such as Line, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to move
out of Thailand, and that is in conflict with the government’s Thailand 4.0
scheme. Pisit said the Cyber-Security Bill is designed to protect the
Internet system, which is different from the Computer Crime Bill’s protection
of victims. The Cyber-Security Bill does not emphasise “content” but instead
focuses on “computer systems”, he added.
Pisit said that the websites of government organisations have been
attacked, causing millions of baht in damage and leading to credibility
issues. The standard the organisations will deploy for securing their systems
will be determined, he said. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 11/29/2016 PM Orders Tough Action Against
Website Hackers PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha has
urged law enforcement to take tough action against people carrying out
illegal activities in retaliation for the amendment to the Computer Crime Act
that was recently approved by the National Legislative Assembly. Several
government websites and computer systems have been hacked by an online group
opposing the new law, which opponents say violates people’s rights.
Meanwhile, national police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaichinda said the
police database of search and arrest warrants remained intact and people attempting
to break into the system could access only basic data that was already
available via the search engine Google. The database security of police
divisions including traffic police and immigration police was compromised
earlier, but no serious damage had been reported, authorities said. Hackers
associated with a group opposed to a single Internet gateway have claimed
responsibility for breaking into police and other government websites,
including those of Government House, the Defence Ministry and the National
Council for Peace and Order. Chakthip said police were investigating if
several suspects detained by authorities belonged to the same group that
opposed the new computer crime law. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 12/30/2016 VIETNAM: Network Attacks Get Smarter Network attacks in Việt Nam have
become more sophisticated with rises in scale, number and quality, especially
those targeting big businesses, said Nguyễn Thành Hưng, deputy minister of
Information and Communication. Speaking at the "New era of information
security” seminar held to mark the ninth annual Việt Nam Information Security
Day in Hà Nội yesterday, Hưng said the ministry had always supported associations
and businesses to build a safe and healthy information society. Information
security globally has seen complicated changes as many Internet of Things
(IoT) devices were attacked on a large scale, causing serious problems, he
said, adding that there was no international pact or law on network security.
In Việt Nam, a legal framework on network security is nearly completed. After
the Law on network security was approved by the National Assembly, the
Government promulgated Decree 02 guiding the implementation of the law. The
ministry has also co-operated with relevant ministries and agencies to
implement a plan to ensure information security under Decision No 898/QĐ-TTg dated May 27, 2016. “Information security was expected to
experience more complicated changes in the upcoming time. The situation is
also seen in Việt Nam. This was why State agencies, enterprises,
organisations and individuals in the ICT sector should quickly have suitable
solutions to respond to the issue,” he said. The Việt Nam Information
Security Association also announced the Việt Nam Information Security 2016
Index at the event. For the first time the index reached 59.9 per cent in
2016, increasing 13.5 per cent from last year. Vũ Quốc Khánh from VNISA said this was the ninth
year the association announced the survey on information security in
organisations and businesses and the fourth year for the index. The survey on
692 firms and organisations from September to November in Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng and HCM City showed that the
indices in 2015, 2014 and 2013 were 47.4 per cent, 39 per cent and 37.3 per
cent respectively. “The Information Security 2016 Index has seen sustainable
growth. This has shown increasing awareness of investment for information
security among organisations and companies,” Khánh said. Bùi Nguyễn Dũng, senior manager, cyber security
services, IT risks and assurance, EY Việt Nam said businesses could benefit
by complying with information security regulations. They could develop trust
and confidence with customers and stakeholders while controlling risks and
impacts. They could also strengthen relationships with regulators.
"Cyber security is a business risk. Managing cyber security requires a
risk-based and enterprise-wide approach. The first step in managing cyber
security risk is understanding your current state. Cyber security is the
responsibility of everyone in organisations," he said. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
12/03/2016 |
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NASSCOM,
DSCI Form
Roadmap
for India to Become
Cyber
Security
Global
Hub
The National Association of Software and Services Companies
(NASSCOM) and Data Security Council of India (DSCI) have launched a detailed
roadmap for India to become a global hub for cyber security-related
requirements in the next 10 years. Titled ‘Growing Cyber Security Industry,
Roadmap for India’, the report identifies Managed Security Service (MSS),
Security and Vulnerability Management (SVM) and network security emerging as
attractive opportunities globally. MSS is the key opportunity for India,
registering the highest growth of more than 12 per cent and largest market
size ($18 billion).
“For India to become a global cyber security hub, a list of
16 initiatives has been formulated by Nasscom-DSCI. Effective programme
roll-out and strategic vision realisation will require disciplined management
of the 16 key initiatives suggested by the report,” said R Chandrashekhar,
President, Nasscom.
Nasscom said the Indian IT industry is set to reach a size
of $350-$400 billion by 2025. With cyber security products constituting a $38
billion market in 2015, network security will emerge as the most attractive
product segment by size, while security and vulnerability management has the
highest growth prospects across various geographic regions. “India being a primary hub for growing smartphone
penetration and digitisation, it is imperative to build a robust cyber
security products and services industry in the country,” Nasscom said. “India
being a primary hub for growing smartphone penetration and digitisation, it
is imperative to build a robust cyber security products and services industry
in the country,” added the trade association of Indian Information Technology
and Business Process Outsourcing industry. “Cyber Security
Clusters, a recommendation of our report, can be a key enabler for growing
the ecosystem rapidly,” said Rama Vedashree, CEO, DSCI. Last year, Nasscom
and DSCI launched the Cyber Security Task Force (CSTF) initiative that aims
to create one million cyber security jobs and 1,000 cyber security startups
by 2025. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 12/16/2016 India, U.S. Sign MoU in Cyber Security Cooperation
From http://egov.eletsonline.com 01/12/2017 MORTH to
Launch e-Challan, m-Parivahan Apps During 28th Road Safety Week The Ministry of Road Transport &
Highways (MORTH) is organising 28th Road Safety Week from 9thto
15th January 2017 with the objective of spreading awareness
about the issue. The week will open with a Road Safety Walk from India Gate
in the capital on 9th January. Minister of Road Transport
& Highways Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Health & Family Welfare J P Nadda,
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Vijay Goel, MoS for Home Affairs Hansraj
Ahir and Delhi Transport Minister Satendra Jain will participate in the walk.
On 10th of January, Gadkari will also attend a conclave
being organised to involve Indian corporate houses and enlist their support
for the cause of promoting road safety. The National Road Safety Council will
also hold its 17th meeting on 10th. This will be
attended by Transport Ministers, DG Police and Transport Commissioners/
Secretaries of states . This will be followed by a meeting of NGOs on 11th January.
NGOs would be called upon to participate in the Ministry’s efforts to create
awareness about road safety. In addition to this, the Ministry will launch
two mobile apps – e-Challan and m-Parivahan – during the week. e-Challan
is a comprehensive digital solution for transport enforcement and traffic
police that is integrated with Vahan and Sarathi applications. It will
provide a number of user friendly features covering major functionalities of
the traffic enforcement system. It will provide improved transparency by
connecting all stakeholders through a common system and ensuring data
integrity; it will also provide ease of operations, efficient monitoring
through digitisation of records that will enhance the visibility of
offenders; and overall better traffic management. The Ministry will also organise
country-wide essay competitions for school children on the topic of road
safety. The entrees can be in Hindi, English or any language included in the
Indian Constitution. m-Parivahan is a citizen centric app that will
facilitate access to various transport related services. The app provides for
virtual driving license and registration certificate through back end
connection to Transport National Register. If a vehicle number is entered
into the app, it will give full details of the car and the owner including
his DL and RC. This will provide a way to check genuineness of a vehicle and
driver, help in passenger safety when hiring a driver or when buying a second
hand vehicle. However, the user has to be registered so that his credentials
can be established. One of the ways of doing this would be through an Aadhar
based OTP. The app will also facilitate good Samaritans through technology.
They can report accidents by clicking pictures and reporting to traffic
authorities in states and to RTOs, with the option of hiding their identity
if they so wish. They can also report traffic violations. States will be
asked to provide linkages to the 108 service for better response. The
Ministry also plans to extend the Highway Advisory System (HAS) that it had
launched last year as a pilot project on Delhi-Jaipur highway for 2400
km on 12 national highways covering 13 states viz. Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan,
Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat,
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal and Odisha. HAS is a free-to-air
information distribution system that uses radio to make the travelling
experience on National Highways safer, faster and hassle-free. HAS control
centre collects data, processes and analyses it , generates alerts and
sends it to be broadcast by All India Radio. In addition to all this, the Ministry
of Road Transport & Highways is also organising workshops in the states with
different stakeholders to sensitise about road safety. So far, workshops have
been organised in Bihar, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Assam, Rajasthan and Puducherry
and the participation has been very encouraging. Action Plan on Road
Safety, local road safety issues, State Road Safety Policy, etc are discussed
in the meeting. The Ministry will organise the workshop in each state by
March 2017. The Ministry will also run road safety campaigns through
social media such as twitter, facebook, etc. From http://www.siliconindia.com 01/19/2017 Need to
Simplify Ways for Online Safety
As part of this Web Rangers contest, young kids
were asked to create and run their own online safety campaigns in the form of
social campaigns, posters, videos and apps. "Google remains committed to
providing all users a safe online experience, and help make the broader web
of sites and apps more secure as well," said Sunita Mohanty, Director
(Trust and Safety) Google India. Google executives present on the occasion
suggested that users should take quick Security Checkup -- an easy way to
review and manage Google Account's security settings and keep the Google
Account more secure. From http://www.siliconindia.com 02/12/2017 |
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AZERBAIJAN: E-signature Used to Be Recognized in
EU Electronic signature used in
Azerbaijan will be recognized in the EU countries, Christian Rupp, spokesman
of the Digital Austria platform in the Austrian Federal Chancellery, told
reporters in Baku Jan. 14. A working group was established within the EU Eastern
Partnership program to deal with the issue of mutual recognition of
electronic signatures, according to him. Rupp said the main purpose of his
visit to Baku is to present the projects and solutions on the introduction of
e-signature, e-services, cyber security, and to explain how these
technologies can be used in Azerbaijan. He said it is also important to
improve the skills of employees of government agencies so they can educate
Azerbaijani citizens to use e-services. “We also intend to directly participate
in this work via technology transfer to your country,” Rupp added. From http://en.trend.az/
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AUSTRALIA: Best of 2016 - Centrelink,
the Tax Office and ASIO Could Use Census 2016 Data - Privacy Groups Plans to retain people’s names and
addresses for this year’s Census have sparked fear that the information could
be used by Centrelink, the Tax Office and ASIO and may lead to mass civil disobedience
or people lying on their forms, privacy groups believe. The Australian Bureau
of Statistics (ABS), which has been around since 1905, conducts a Census
every five years on the second Tuesday in August. While this has always
involved collecting names and addresses, the difference is that this time it
wants to hold on to all of this information. The Agency has said it wants to
be able to combine Census data with other datasets, such as health and
education statistics, to get a “richer and dynamic statistical picture of
Australia.” Statisticians argue this could provide insights into many areas,
for example, the employment outcomes of different educational programs or
designing mental health services, and result in better service planning and
delivery. Keeping names and addresses would also make surveys more efficient
and reduce the cost and burden on Australian households, said the ABS. But
Jon Lawrence from the Electronic Frontiers Australia said retaining such
information was unwarranted and intrusive and “an exceptionally bad idea.”
“At its very essence, it’s a massive invasion of the privacy of every
Australian,” Mr Lawrence said. He said it could be used by successive
governments to pursue Australians over Centrelink or tax misdemeanours or to
investigate suspicions of terrorism or other criminal activity. “Once it’s there, the scope of these
things tends to increase, data matching with the ATO and Centrelink. I don’t
see any justification as to why these changes have been made.” Mr Lawrence
said ASIO would love to get their hands on such a comprehensive dataset. For
example, they could use it to identify Muslims and pinpoint where they lived.
The most serious repercussions would be felt if people refuse to complete the
survey or lie on their forms, leading to a dramatic drop in the quality and
coverage of Census data, he said. “The biggest risk is that people will
actually write rubbish. We have seen quite a lot of angst already and we
haven’t really even started the campaign. This is just starting to get
mainstream coverage and I think there’s a genuine issue there.” ABS
statistician David Kalisch has insisted the Agency has never – and never will
– release identifiable Census data. He said names and addresses will be
stored securely and separately from other Census data. Despite these
assurances, Mr Lawrence believes Census data is so detailed that people could
be re-identified. “De-identification is a furphy,” Mr Lawrence said. “You can
still do it in many circumstances. The reality is that people will be able to
be identified by certain bits of Census data is very, very real (and) that
information can be used.” Anna Johnston from Salinger Privacy, who is also a
former NSW Deputy Privacy Commissioner, believes the ABS cannot give a
cast-iron assurance that the data won’t be misused. In her blog for Salinger Privacy, Ms
Johnston said opportunistic hackers, organised criminals, ABS staff or just
negligence and human error could leak damaging, highly personal information
and make fraud and identify theft a risk. “Seeking to justify the proposal by
saying that the ABS will never release identifiable information ignores the
point that they shouldn’t have it in the first place,” Ms Johnston said.
“And, as my mother taught me – you shouldn’t make promises you cannot keep.
“This is the greatest potential impact of the proposal – that the ABS becomes
the unwitting tool of a government intent on mass population surveillance.” Ms Johnston said the agency’s own
2006 privacy review had identified the danger of “function creep”, where
stored information is used more broadly than for the purpose it was
originally intended. “The statisticians must be living in fantasy land if
they think that once they hold identifiable data on all 24 million people in
Australia, that not a single government department, minister or police force
will be interested in tapping into that data for their own, non-research
purposes,” she said. “Just look at the agencies queueing up to get their
hands on the metadata that telecommunications companies must now keep by
law.” She said it would give the government
“a rich and deep picture of every Australian’s life, in an identifiable
form.” A backlash has already begun on the agency’s Facebook page. Andrew
Graham said: “Australian Bureau of Statistics … If you think I’m writing my
personal data on the 2016 census, you can kindly shove it.” Marc Zanin told
the ABS: No matter what the govt of the day’s says, they do NOT need this
identifying information. They can’t be given any chance of using it against
their population. This is a nightmare for the ABS!!! A disaster! “If you lose
the trust of the populace who can’t fill it out, because it’s just too scary,
then why not return to the previous model? Please? It’s a total and absolute
FAIL, FAIL, FAIL for the ABS.” For its part, the ABS has said data privacy is
a “fundamental pillar of an official statistical system” and that function
creep was highly unlikely: “In Australia these protections have existed since
the foundation of the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1905. This will not
change.” The Agency said that names and addresses will be removed from
personal and household Census information after data collection and
processing and stored separately. Statisticians will not be able to match
Census answers with the person they were from. Proposals were floated last
year to make the Census every decade, rather than every five years, as
already happens in countries such as the US, the UK and most European
countries. The Abbott government also had a discussion about abolishing the
Census entirely in favour of data sampling, which would be much cheaper. The
Census is an expensive undertaking. ABS statistician Mr Kalisch said the 2011
survey of every household cost $400 million to produce and employed 43,000
temporary workers. The Australian Bureau of Statistics was contacted for
comment. From http://www.governmentnews.com.au 12/20/2016 NEW ZEALAND: Privacy Commissioner
Recommends Australia's Data Re-Identification Criminalisation Lead The Commissioner wants to see harsher
penalties in place for data re-identification, such as a NZ$1 million fine
for breaching privacy-related laws. New Zealand Privacy Commissioner John
Edwards has recommended a new privacy principle be introduced that
criminalises the re-identification of de-identified datasets. The
criminalisation would be coupled with a penalty of up to NZ$100,000 for
individuals and up to NZ$1 million for public and private sector
organisations -- similar to what has been proposed in Australia. "A new
privacy principle would reassure people that they have a means of redress if
they suffer harm as a result of being re-identified from supposedly anonymous
data," Edwards said. "This would act as a necessary incentive to
data holders and users to maintain the integrity of the de-identified data
set." In his Report to the Minister of Justice Under Section 26 of The
Privacy Act: Six Recommendations for Privacy Act Reform, Edwards said that
public trust and confidence is a critical consideration in this context, and
that it is vital for all parties to ensure that when personal information is
anonymised, anonymity is preserved and maintained. "I am concerned any
significant loss of public trust could jeopardise the ability to sustain
social license in the widespread use of personal information along with the
various public benefits from that use," he said. In the report [PDF],
the commissioner explained that data sharing is more readily accepted where
personal information is anonymised and aggregated, and that an individual's
confidence in the use of de-identified information is in part determined by
their belief that they will not be able to be re-identified or singled out
from the crowd. In another recommendation, Edwards
suggests that the government provide an update to the Privacy Act that
protects individuals against the risk that they could be unexpectedly
identified from personally identifiable information that was meant to be anonymised.
Additionally, Edwards wants to introduce data portability as a consumer
right, with the report stating the right of portability would allow
individuals to request an agency to provide their personal information in a
suitable electronic format. "This will reduce the current friction in
transferring services to another provider," the report said, noting that
the concept would strengthen consumer choice and help to prevent provider
lock-in. Edwards also wants to make it a requirement in New Zealand that an
agency must demonstrate its ongoing compliance, while also narrowing the
defences available to agencies that obstruct the privacy commissioner, or
fail to comply with a lawful requirement of the commissioner. The sixth and
final recommendation made by Edwards is to reform the public register
principles in the Privacy Act and provide for the suppression of personal
information in public registers where there is a safety risk. The
recommendations were made in response to the government's intention to reform
New Zealand's Privacy Act, which has been on the cards since 1998, according
to Edwards, who also noted that a lot has changed since the Law Commission's
2011 review of the Act. "Important developments since 2011
that impact on the operation and adequacy of the privacy legislation include
developments in data science and information technology, and new business
models built on data-driven enterprise," the commissioner said in a
statement. He said that while the Privacy Act
had already been the subject of thorough review, in light of later rapid
changes in information technology and data science, and significant
developments in international frameworks, his recommendations would help to
ensure that New Zealand's privacy framework is "fit for purpose" in
the current environment and for foreseeable developments in the future. In
making his recommendations, Edwards referenced the laws introduced to the
Australian Senate in October that will see intentionally re-identifying a
de-identified dataset punishable by up to two years' imprisonment, with the
laws to be retrospectively applied from September 29, 2016. Those exempt from
the laws would include researchers at a university or other state government
body, or those who have a contract with the federal government that allows
such work to be conducted. When announcing the proposed legislation in
September, Australian Attorney-General George Brandis said open data was a
vital part of modern government, and claimed "privacy of citizens is of
paramount importance" to the government. Earlier this week, an
Australian Senate committee recommended the legislation be passed through
Parliament despite concerns about the scope of the law, its reversal of the
burden of proof, exemptions under it, and the retrospective nature of it. The
committee's report outlined several key issues with the Bill: The release of
de-identified information; the criminalisation of re-identifying data; the
scope of the offences; the scope of the minister's exemption powers; the
retrospective application of the laws; and the reversed burden of proof from
the prosecution to the defendant. From http://www.zdnet.com 02/09/2017 CEOs’ Biggest Worries: Security,
Skills, Technological Change PwC has released the results of its
20th annual NZ CEO survey saying it shows cyber threats, skills shortages and
the speed of technological change as CEOs main worries. Ninety one percent were
worried about cyber security, 84 percent about the availability of key skills
and 84 percent about the speed of technological change. Thirty eight percent
said they believed technology would completely reshape their industry in five
years. The figure from PwC’s global survey was 23 percent On a more positive
note, 97 percent said they were confident about their revenue growth
prospects for the next three years and 91 percent expected to hit their
growth targets for the next 12 months. PwC CEO and Senior Partner, Mark
Averill, said: “Technology has had a massive impact on the speed at which we
operate, especially when it comes to the global market. From our perspective
at PwC, our clients expect us to always be available and to have the ability
to access both people and information globally. It is transforming the way we
work.” According to PwC, the survey also paints a clear picture of where CEOs
see growth coming from within their organisations: People, Technology and
Businesses working together. Averill said a standout from this year’s
findings was where New Zealand CEOs saw growth coming from. “Almost
three-quarters said they saw new opportunities in partnering with other
organisations, a point where local CEOs are well ahead of their overseas
counterparts. It’s a hugely positive sign for the country that our business
leaders are thinking collaboratively about growth.” Seventy two percent saw
growth coming from joint ventures or a strategic alliance compared to 48
percent globally. Averill said concerns about cyber security had grown
rapidly, from 66 percent in 2015 to 77 percent in 2016. He said organisations
were responding to t threats by investing more in risk management tools.” The
New Zealand survey was part of a global survey of almost 1400 CEOs, released
at the World Economic Forum on 16 January. Thirty-two New Zealand CEOs
contributed to this year’s quantitative finding by completing an online
survey between September and December 2016. A further eight CEOs participated
through in-depth interviews. From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 02/17/2017 Experts at RSA Give Their Best
Cybersecurity Advice Users and businesses can protect
themselves with these tips. Come to the RSA show, and you’ll find plenty of
cybersecurity technology. The top vendors from across the industry are here,
showing products for fighting ransomware, preventing data breaches and more.
But even the best security software is useless if users and businesses aren’t
taking the right steps to protect themselves. So we asked experts at the show
for their best cybersecurity tips. Joe Stewart, director of malware
research at Dell SecureWorks He advises everyone to set up
two-factor authentication to protect their internet accounts, especially
email. It can be particularly useful when stopping hackers who are trying to
steal login passwords from users, whether through malware or email phishing
schemes. Even if the hacker manages to loot your passwords, two-factor
authentication ensures you’re still protected from all but the most
sophisticated attacks. Access to your account will require another form of
authentication, such as your fingerprint or a text message from your mobile
phone. “This would stop most of these fraudsters cold,” Stewart said.
“Because they are not operating on that level, with things like banking
malware that can manage to bypass two-factor authentication.” “This would cut
out most of the business email compromise right there,” he said. Mike Sentonas, vice president of
technology strategy at CrowdStrike Businesses need to first think about
what assets they’re trying to protect from cyber threats, as opposed to
blindly buying the latest security products, Sentonas said.Those assets might
be your staff, your intellectual property, your customer database, or
something else. “Everybody has something of value,” he said. “Understand what
you have that’s valuable. And then understand where it is, and who has access
to it.” “That’s going to generate conversations around: 'Do we need
education? Do we need people to come in to help us build a stronger
architecture?” Sentonas said. “It’s not always about buying the latest and
greatest widget. Sometimes, it ends up there. But it shouldn’t be the
starting point.” Mike Buratowski, vice president of
cybersecurity services at Fidelis Cybersecurity Many people still think hackers will
never target them. But that assumption is wrong, Buratowski said.
“Everybody’s information is valuable,” he said.Although people don’t need to
be paranoid, they do need a healthy sense of awareness that cyberattacks are
real and often involve hackers trying to exploit gullible victims, he said.
For example, employees are often quick to respond to email phishing schemes,
thinking the message came from a legitimate source. “The person on the other
end may not be who they say they are,” he said. Chris Wysopal, chief technology
officer at Veracode Don’t completely trust the technology.
That includes the software and internet services you use or buy. For all you
know, none of it is secure, and it may be easy to breach, Wysopal said. “Expect it to be compromised,” he
said. “Don’t put data out there, into Facebook or something, unless you
really want to share that out to the world.” Users and businesses need to be
skeptical. The security risks come not only from hackers, but from vendors
that haven’t done their due diligence in securing their products. “Make them
earn your trust,” he said. “Make them demonstrate why you should trust them.” Jeremiah Grossman, chief of security
strategy at SentinelOne He recommends businesses do an
inventory of every asset they own. This can help determine what company
resources are online and where they might be vulnerable. “When a company gets
hacked, it's largely because there's a computer, a box, a website that they
didn't know they owned,” he said. For a small business, an inventory may take
a day, while for a Fortune 500 company, it can take a few weeks, he said. It
can be done internally or outsourced to a consulting firm. His advice for a
company's IT security staff : “If I were to jump into a new company, what is
it that I’m protecting?” From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 02/17/2017 |
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UN’s Internet Governance Forum (IGF)
Tackles Online Extremism Today’s column is from the 11th annual
Internet Governance Forum (IGF), this year in Guadalajara, Mexico. IGF is a
United Nations-sponsored “multi-stakeholder” conference. Unlike many U.N.
events, it is open not just to representatives of member states, but also to
“civil society” (non-profits), academia and industry.To that end, there are
people here from numerous governments around the world as well as advocacy
groups and technology companies, including Google, Facebook and Microsoft.I’m
here speaking on three panels in my capacity with ConnectSafely.org.Countries
represented include the United States and most European nations, but also
much of Africa, Latin America and Asia — including some countries, such as
China, Russia and Iran, where online human rights activists have particular challenges.Just
about any topic about internet policy is fair game at this conference, and
there are workshops on inclusion and accessibility, net neutrality, online
protection of children, empowerment of women, safety, privacy and security
implications of “the internet of things,” as well as discussions about
censorship and free expression. I was asked to moderate a session
titled “Free Expression and Extremism: An Internet Governance Challenge.”
Another session, “Social Media and Youth Radicalization in the Digital Age,”
covered similar ground.Both sessions explored vexing issues for governments,
social media companies and advocacy groups hoping to curtail radicalization
and terrorism without limiting free speech. And, like many complex issues,
finding a consensus was impossible.At both sessions, there wasn’t even an
agreement that the terms “extremism” or “radicalization” are appropriate ways
to describe the problem. As the moderator of the social media radicalization
session put it, “The definitions itself of radicalization are very diverse.
They differ from country to country, context to context.”Indeed, I remember a
student group in Berkeley during the ’60s called “Radical Student Union,”
which was radical only in the literal sense that it sought to get to the
“root” of social problems like war and inequality.Even the word “extremism”
is subject to interpretation, sometimes depending on who’s in power. I was in
Russia a few years ago, when the government had just passed a law against
expressing extremist views online. In some cases, these “extremist views”
were nothing more than expressing opposition to Vladimir Putin’s policies. Yet, there is no question that there
are radicals and extremists engaged in dangerous acts that, too often, result
in the loss of human life. And there is also no question that some of these
groups successfully use the internet and social media to recruit, radicalize
and, in some cases, activate individuals to carry out atrocious acts.There
are numerous strategies that can be employed to combat what I think most
would agree to be dangerous online radicalization, but the most widely
discussed are censorship and so-called “counter speech.”Censorship, which
includes blocking or removing offensive content, has been shown to be “ineffective
in tackling extremism,” and “potentially counter-productive,” according to a
report from London-based Quilliam Foundation, which was represented on our
panel.Guy Berger, director of UNESCO’s Division of Freedom of Expression and
Media Development, agreed. “There is no clear evidence that censorship
actually reduces radicalization,” he said at the panel about youth
radicalization. Counter speech is the posting of
positive comments, video or other media to counter negative or harmful
postings. It’s a strategy often used not just to counter extremism, but also
cyberbullying and online harassment.While far from a panacea, counter speech
has been shown to be at least somewhat effective. “It drowns out the content
that is promoting violence, promoting hate or promoting fear,” said Indrajit
Banerjee, also of UNESCO.Indeed, a report from the London-based Institute for
Strategic Dialogue concluded, “The use of counter-narrative messaging with
measurable impact is replicable and scalable, though not without difficulty.”Facebook,
Twitter and Google have experimented with counter-speech efforts that “could
be effective in reaching target audiences and driving conversations among
them,” according to The Verge.One conversation during my workshop focused on
the line between legitimate free speech and expression, including protests
and non-violent civil disobedience on the one hand, and what could be
considered dangerous radical or extremist speech on the other. The closest we had to consensus was a
general agreement that speech which specifically advocates or encourages
violence fits that definition. But someone raised the example of “pizzagate,”
the fake news story that alleged a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., was
the center of an online child pornography ring sponsored by a close associate
of Hillary Clinton.The conspiracy theory reportedly convinced one individual
to take matters into his own hands by showing up at the pizza restaurant with
a rifle so that he could “self-investigate” the bogus theory. The weapon was
discharged, but it was a matter of luck that no one was hurt or killed as an
indirect result of this piece of fake news, which had been widely circulated
on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and other platforms.It would be a stretch to
claim that those who promulgated or shared this fake story intended to incite
violence, but that easily could have been a consequence of their online
actions.Michael Flynn, Jr., the son of Trump’s pick for national security
adviser, left the presidential transition team after tweeting, “Until
#Pizzagate proven to be false, it’ll remain a story. The left seems to forget
#PodestaEmails and the many ‘coincidences’ tied to it.” At least in this
case, there was a consequence to spreading fake news.Despite the general lack
of consensus, there was one point of agreement among all who spoke at my
workshop. Potentially dangerous extremism, radicalization, hate speech and
fake news are not limited to any single ethnicity, religion, nationality or
ideology. From http://www.mercurynews.com/ 12/09/2016 From Samsung to Apple: The 2016 Year
in Review in Tech The last 12 months have been full of
major technology stories from Samsung's exploding phone saga to the speculation
around and eventual end to the acquisition of Twitter.In between that, Tesla
and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has talked about going to Mars while Apple has been
grappling with how to get back to growth.CNBC's technology correspondent
Arjun Kharpal sat down with "Squawk Box Europe" producer Seamus
Conwell, to talk through the biggest technology stories of the year. From http://www.cnbc.com/ 01/03/2017 UN Internet Governance Forum Closes
with Call to Close ‘Digital Divide’ Underlining the urgency to close the
“digital divide” – socio-economic inequalities that impact access to or use
of information and communication technologies – the 11th annual United
Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) closed today with a call for
concerted actions to ensure that all people in all countries are able to reap
the benefits of the Internet.“Leading up to the twelfth IGF next year,
innovations in programming and intersessional activities will continue to be
implemented in a bottom-up manner, based on feedback from the
multistakeholder community and in line with our new mandate which calls for
greater participation from stakeholders from developing countries and
improved working modalities,” Juwang Zhu, Director of the Division for
Sustainable Development in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
(DESA) said in a news release today.Further, according to the release,
experts at the global event highlighted that in addition to the physical
challenges of getting people connected at affordable rates, many people do
not yet fully recognize the Internet’s value.Participants at the Forum also
noted that no one solution fits all problems.For instance, sub-Saharan Africa
accounts for the lowest levels of Internet usage in the world with less than
three per cent of the population using it in countries including Chad (2.7
per cent), Sierra Leone (2.5 per cent), Niger (2.2 per cent), Somalia (1.8
per cent) and Eritrea (1.1 per cent).Furthermore, while connectivity between
developed and developing countries, within regions and even within countries
continues to be an economic and infrastructural challenge, others barriers
also exist in digital literacy.Venue of the 11th annual United Nations
Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Jalisco, Mexico. Photo: IGF One of this is the “gender gap.”
There are 257 million more men online than women and it is particularly
concerning that women face a wider variety of online harassment and abuse
than men.“It is very important to bring women online because the part of the
population that is not online is missing out a lot. They need to enhance
their businesses, they need to enhance their lives, and part of that comes
with them being online,” said Evelyn Namara, Founder and CEO of !nnovate
Uganda, an organization that works toward sustainable technological
development.The IGF this year included some 150 sessions discussing a number
of issues such as human rights and freedom of expression online,
multi-stakeholder cooperation, and cybersecurity.The Forum also recognized
the “critical role” of the Internet in providing access to opportunities to
all people. Participants, including from governments, the technical
community, private sector and civil society also advocated for more capacity-building,
training as well as closer collaboration and partnerships.The release further
added that an emerging consensus has developed among the IGF community that
the Internet’s core values of openness, freedom, resilience, safety and
decentralisation are fundamental for enabling sustainable growth.Each year,
the UN convenes the IGF meeting to unify various stakeholders and discuss
Internet governance issues, as well as opportunities and challenges in an
open, inclusive and transparent forum. This year's theme was Enabling
Inclusive and Sustainable Growth. From http://www.un.org/ 12/13/2016 More Than 50 Internet Shutdowns in
2016 Governments around the world shut
down the internet more than 50 times in 2016 – suppressing elections, slowing
economies and limiting free speech.In the worst cases internet shutdowns have
been associated with human rights violations, DejiOlukotun, Senior Global
Advocacy Manager at digital rights organisation Access Now told IPS.“What we
have found is that internet shutdowns go hand in hand with atrocities” said
Olukotun.“In Ethiopia there’s been consistent blocking this year of social
media and internet.” Dozens of people have died in protests in Ethiopia in 2016,
“many of them during the kind of blackout where it’s difficult to report on
what’s happening,” he said.Several leaders used internet shutdowns to affect
democratic processes, including elections.“In Uganda in February 2016 there
was a shutdown of social media networks by President Museveni and that again
happened in Gambia (in December) surrounding the election,” Olukotun added.In
other cases, three governments chose to shut down the internet because they
thought that it would stop students from cheating on their exams, he said.“On
the whole most governments want to expand internet access,” -- DejiOlukotun,
Access Now However governments do not seem to
have taken into account the potential repercussions of the shutdowns, beyond
the limits of free speech.According to a recent Brookings Institute paper
internet shutdowns cost countries 2.4 billion dollars in 2015.The biggest
losses were in India, $968 million, Saudi Arabia, $465 million and Morocco
which lost $320 million. According to Brookings these are conservative
estimates which only take into account reductions in economic activity and
not tax losses or drops in investor confidence.However while many governments
chose to limit internet access in 2016, many others invested billions in
expanding internet access.“On the whole most governments want to expand
internet access,” said Olukotun. “Many of them see it as an opportunity to
participate in the global economy and be competitive.”Olukotun noted that
there were many ways that internet access can be limited, beyond
state-sanctioned shutdowns.“It’s important that the internet that people do
get online to gives them access to the whole internet and it’s not just a
walled garden,” he said. Olukotun added that shutdowns were
happening more often and that governments were employing more sophisticated
methods to ensure that internet users could not get around the shutdowns.
While internet users in Uganda were able to use Virtual Private Networks to
get around shutdowns earlier this year, other governments have used more
sophisticated and targeted methods to disrupt the internet of certain
groups.In other cases governments banned specific social media networks.When
it comes to shutdowns, Olukotun said that one way to stop them is for
internet providers to resist government demands.“Telecommunications companies
can push back on government orders, or at least document them to show what’s
been happening, to at least have a paper trail,” he said.He also noted that
international organisations such as the International Telecommunications
Union – the UN agency for information and communication technologies – could
also do more by issuing statements in response to specific incidents. From http://www.ipsnews.net/ 01/06/2017 Too Old? Not a Tech Geek? The ICT
Sector Welcomes You Amid the slowing economy and
uncertain job market, many Singaporeans have said they are unsure of where to
start looking for opportunities in several growth industries. To that end,
TODAY has launched an eight-part weekly series that looks at the openings
available, the prospects and how workers can equip themselves with the skills
for these positions. In the previous instalments, we looked at the logistics,
food manufacturing, hotel and early childhood industries.This week, in the
fifth part of the series, we focus on the fast-growing information and
communications technology (ICT) sector, which has generated numerous jobs and
seen many mid-career entrants — both young and old — successfully making the
switch, and proving that age and a lack of familiarity with ICT are no
significant barriers. SINGAPORE — In stark contrast to some
industries which are going through tough times, the booming information and
communications technology (ICT) sector is where the jobs are, with mid-career
workers making a beeline for courses in skills such as website development to
prepare themselves for new opportunities.However, for some older workers like
Mr Chong Hoi Ping, 56, who lost his job as a business manager in 2015 after
failing to meet the sales target, there may be self-doubt over whether they
are able to learn the necessary skills quickly enough to ride the wave.But as
Mr Chong has realised, his worry was unfounded. Having completed a five-day
Certified Information Systems Auditor course run by NTUC LearningHub, he is
preparing for an exam via self-study by global certification body Isaca in
June.Mr Chong, an electrical engineer by training, said deep technical
expertise was not a pre-requisite for auditing. The course, which covered
topics from evaluating project management to quality control, met his needs
with a “broad but not very in-depth” IT element, said Mr Chong, who hopes
that an Isaca certification would raise his chances of finding a job.
MrKhoong Chan Meng, director and chief executive of the Institute of Systems
Science (ISS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), reiterated that
age is not a huge barrier in learning ICT skills. The oldest trainee on its
Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) class for data analytics, for
instance, is 50. “It depends ultimately on the
attitude and work ethics of the individuals,” he said.Singapore’s ICT sector
is expanding at a rapid clip, fuelled by the Republic’s push to become a
Smart Nation. Technological advancements have created a multitude of
opportunities in the sector not only for those already in the field, but also
mid-career entrants.Another unlikely mid-career entrant is former business
consulting associate manager Christopher Khoo, 32. The Cambridge University
chemical engineering graduate joined online grocery retailer honestbee in
November last year as a software engineer.Driven by the desire to build more
“tech empathy”, he attended a three-month web development immersive course
last year at educational institution General Assembly, with subsidies from
the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). The course imparted basic technical
skills but much hinged on an individual’s levels of perseverance and
motivation to find out more. “You don’t even have time to stop and feel sorry
for yourself… you just have to go on,” he said. Plunging into a new sector
came with an 80-per-cent pay cut, but MrKhoo has bigger plans: He hopes to
develop his coding skills and move on to managing projects or teams in the
next few years. His company also provides room to those who want to start
their own business, he said. Indeed, having the right attitude is just as
important, if not more, than possessing the aptitude for ICT, those in the
industry said.Ms Carolyn Foo, 26, never saw herself as an IT geek. She is
currently a software engineer at gaming and e-commerce firm Garena. In a
fast-changing industry such as ICT, the key is to never stop learning. “If
you don’t learn, you can’t keep up with what the latest technologies are,”
she said. FAST-EXPANDING SECTOR The wave of digitisation rippling
through the economy has bolstered demand for ICT professionals over the
years. In June 2015, 172,000 ICT professionals were employed in Singapore,
with one in two working in the ICT sector and the remainder in sectors from
finance to healthcare. The number had spiked about 20 per cent within four
years, and it is set to increase at a faster rate: Another 53,200 — or about
31 per cent more — ICT jobs were expected to be added over three years,
between last year and 2018, based on government projections. Technical
specialists are most sought after in four areas: IT development (including software
developers and systems analysts), network and infrastructure (including IT
infrastructure managers and network engineers), data analytics, and
cyber-security.honestbee is looking to enlarge its existing pool of about 40
software engineers in Singapore by at least 10 this year, particularly senior
developers who specialise in back-end and mobile development, a company
spokesperson said. Software engineers in a technical
role develop systems, while those who choose the management path have
increased responsibility for mentoring or could even manage the product
roadmap. “With the advancement of online services, such as ours, the
utilisation of mobile applications, mobile web or web usage increases,” said
the honestbee spokesperson. “Therefore, there’s a consistent need for such
roles.”Likewise, at Garena, demand for software engineers is also rising. Mr
Lucas Jiang, vice-president and head of its people team, said the firm —
which has around 150 software engineers — is always on the lookout for
exceptional workers, especially software engineers. The 5,000-strong company has a
presence across South-east Asia and Taiwan. Mr Jiang said Singapore’s
strategic location afforded it an “incredible advantage”, where talent here
can be tapped to serve the needs of users beyond the Republic’s borders.
“With increasing median income, and Internet and smartphone penetration in
the region, we’re witnessing a growing demand for localised products,” he
said.Mr Luo Siao Ping, Singtel subsidiary NCS’ human resources director, said
the firm will hire about 200 to 300 more software engineers, as well as data
analytics and cybersecurity professionals in the next five years.Data
scientists, for instance, help make sense of large amounts of data and build
systems to analyse information, while software engineers build links between
different equipment, such as allowing mobile phones to control washing
machines.NCS is developing a career roadmap - set to be rolled out this year
- to give employees an idea of progression paths, said Mr Luo. Software
engineers can become senior and lead software engineers, or even cross over
to management as project or service delivery directors. DEMAND FOR CYBERSECURITY
PROFESSIONALS As cyberattacks become increasingly
sophisticated and deal severe blows to businesses, cybersecurity has also
emerged as a significant growth area in the ICT sector.Mr Goh EngChoon,
cybersecurity firm ST Electronics (Info-Security)’s senior vice-president and
general manager, pointed to Singapore’s Smart Nation effort, coupled with the
increasing impact of cyberthreats. In 2014, the company launched the ST
Electronics Cyber Security Centre to address a “quite significant gap” in the
skills of cybersecurity professionals, said Mr Goh.The 200-strong firm hopes
to double its staff in the next two years. Since the middle of last year, it
has committed to training 120 individuals over two years under the Cyber
Security Associates and Technologists (CSAT) programme, a joint initiative of
the IMDA and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore. Mr Alvin Koh, 54, is one
of those who have completed on-the-job training under the CSAT programme. He
joined ST Electronics (Info-Security) as a security consultant in July after
being laid off about three months earlier. The ICT veteran has worked in various
capacities before, from systems administration to technical support, but
cybersecurity was a new field to him.His work now includes assessing
applications or servers, both for clients and internally, for vulnerabilities
such as information leaks and the transmission of log-in credentials.He tries
to take advantage of the loopholes to gain access to the systems. Alongside
automated tools, professionals such as MrKoh help clients plug the gaps to
reduce the risk of cyberattacks.“When you’re doing the testing... you get an
‘aha’ moment... ‘aha, I’ve found this (vulnerability)’,” said MrKoh, on the
sense of excitement he derives from his work. TRAINING COURSES GALORE As new technological trends emerge,
the range of training courses open to those keen to join the sector is set to
widen.The ISS at NUS, for instance, will roll out 30 new courses over the
next three years, spanning topics from artificial intelligence to deep
machine learning and robotics, on top of its current stable of courses on
cybersecurity, data analytics and user experience.Last year alone, its
programmes in disciplines such as design thinking and cybersecurity trained
2,205 professionals, managers and executives, with 2,420 others undergoing
courses leading to international and national certification. Its
cyber-security courses, for example, saw enrolment jump by more than a third
last year, compared with 2015. At NTUC LearningHub, chief executive
KwekKokKwong said it works with industry players, such as Microsoft and Apple,
to offer the most up-to-date curriculum.While schools churn out more IT
professionals to address future needs, MrKwek said there is still a need to
convert some workers from other sectors to meet present demand.“This
conversion requires a mindset change and substantive learning efforts from
the individuals,” said MrKwek. “The other part of the challenge is for
companies to… accept these mid-career switchers with limited IT working
experience.”As many including Mr Chong and MrKhoo have shown, age, a lack of
experience or unfamiliarity with the sector are no insurmountable barriers —
as long as one possesses the hunger and desire to keep learning, qualities
that are required to thrive in the ICT sector in the first place. From http://www.todayonline.com/ 01/08/2017 APEC Seeks Material Innovators to
Improve Manufacturing, Lives APEC is on the lookout for young researchers
in the Asia-Pacific who are developing technologically advanced materials
that stand to radically boost next generation manufacturing and people’s
quality of life across the region. Nominations are now being accepted for the
2017 APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education, whose theme,
New Material Technologies, spotlights cross-border innovations led by
scientists from APEC economies under 40 years of age. Examples range from
ultra-light, durable fibers, to super adhesives and sealants, to
pollution-reducing and self-healing substances. Materials like these could
reinvigorate production and supply chains, including growing numbers of small
businesses that underpin them, and herald the arrival of new and improved
goods and services. Among others, they may include biosensors that enhance
medical monitoring; highly energy efficient homes and automobiles; brighter,
more reflective road signs, bicycles and clothing that make travel at night
easier and safer; and fast biodegrading packing material, trash bags and
diapers. The focus of the award program, also known as the ASPIRE Prize, was
announced by Viet Nam as Chair of APEC in 2017. “The introduction of advanced
materials is crucial to strengthening research capacity among Asia-Pacific
economies and the region’s 3 billion people,” explained Tran Quoc Khanh, Viet
Nam’s Deputy Minister of Science and Technology. “These new avenues for
scientific discovery provide scientists with building blocks to engineer
materials with unique and innovative properties.” Each APEC economy may
nominate one individual for the ASPIRE Prize. Nominees must be from the
region and under 40 years of age. The impact of their work will be screened
against scholarly publications and must involve cooperation with peers from
other APEC economies. Relevant academic disciplines in 2017 include materials
and biomaterials science; life sciences; polymer chemistry; biomedical,
chemical and mechanical engineering; solid-state physics; nanotechnology; and
novel materials and technologies. “Many scientific challenges such as energy
and food security, environmental protection and public health are perpetuated
by the limits of known materials,” noted Christin Kjelland, Chair of the APEC
Policy Partnership for Science, Technology, and Innovation, which administers
the annual ASPIRE Prize. “We want to learn from those who are making the
impossible possible to ensure economic and social progress in APEC and
beyond,” added Kjelland, who also serves in the Bureau of Oceans and International
Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the United States State Department. The ASPIRE Prize will be awarded in
Vietnam in 2017. Wiley and Elsevier, publishers of scholarly scientific
knowledge, are sponsors of the initiative. The winner will receive USD 25,000
in prize money. “The field of material sciences holds a rich range of
applications in various fields," said Mark J. Allin, Wiley’s CEO. “We
are excited to learn how early career researchers in the Asia-Pacific are
opening up new channels for scientific collaboration in the region and across
various sectors.” “Young scientists in the region are critical to tackling
the world’s most pressing challenges and most promising opportunities, which
are interdisciplinary issues that know no borders,” concluded YoungSuk “Y.S.”
Chi, Chairman of Elsevier. “Recognizing their work is one way that we can
help to encourage further breakthroughs that will be necessary for
sustainable human progress and global prosperity.” For more information
please visit: http://www.apec.org/aspire. From http://www.apec.org/ 01/18/2017 EUROPE: Russia Bans LinkedIn,
Furthering Concerns About Internet Freedom Russia banned LinkedIn on Thursday,
after Microsoft-owned social network failed to comply with the a 2014 law
regarding Russian user data collection. The ban was exacted by Roskomnadzor,
the government’s communications regulation agency.Roskomnazdor issued a statement,
in Russian, regarding the decision. It cited the original Moscow District
Court decision from August to block LinkedIn, as well as the decision made on
November 10 in a Moscow City Court, to uphold that decision, according to
TechCrunch.LinkedIn issued a statement to its 467 million users, 5 million of
whom reside in Russia, that it was blocked because it stores Russian users’
personal data on foreign servers.“We are disappointed with this decision,
which interferes with professional networking and the pursuit of economic
opportunity for many of our Russia-based members,” LinkedIn stated.
“Additionally, we believe we are in compliance with all applicable laws, and
we are currently evaluating the decision and our options.” LinkedIn claims its requests to meet
with Roskomnadzor to discuss data localization were repeatedly denied.
Matthew Kupfer of The Moscow Times reported that, while LinkedIn is breaking
a law regarding data storage, other social media sites like Facebook,
Twitter, and WhatsApp also fail to comply with the 2014 law. There is no
indication, however, on whether or not these other social media outlets will
soon be blocked as well.A spokesperson for LinkedIn further elaborated its
position in a statement to TechCrunch last week.“LinkedIn’s vision is to
create economic opportunity for the entire global workforce,” a spokesperson
told TechCrunch. “The Russian court’s decision has the potential to deny
access to LinkedIn for the millions of members we have in Russia and the
companies that use LinkedIn to grow their businesses. We have on Friday again
requested a meeting with Roskomnadzor to discuss their data localization
request and we understand they are reviewing this proposal at the present
time.”Maria Olson, spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, tweeted about
the “troubling precedent” of banning a social media network with Russian
data. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov
told Reuters on Thursday that the Kremlin was not concerned that the decision
would stir fears of broader censorship in Russia.“There are no such
concerns,” said Peskov.Across Twitter, Russians voiced their opinions
regarding the ban of the social media professional network. Most were
critical of the decision.This is not the first time the communications
regulatory agency has come under fire from international press freedom
advocates. In 2014, Russia enacted another law, known colloquially as “the
blogger law,” that requires blogs with more than 3,000 unique readers to
register with Roskomnadzor, a move that Human Rights Watch called
‘draconian.’ Earlier that year, Russia enacted a law that will allow the
Kremlin to block websites indiscriminately.Storing data in foreign countries
is common practice among U.S. tech companies. According to the New York
Times, Amazon Web Services has servers in France and Great Britain. Google,
which already operates servers in Finland and Belgium, is investing millions
in new servers in the Netherlands by the end of this year. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks
Russia 148th on its list of 180 countries on the Global Press Freedom index,
and says that Russia has “a stifling atmosphere for independent journalists.”
The organization also classifies President Vladimir Putin as a “predator of
press freedom.” According to RSF, there is currently less freedom of
expression in Russia than at any time since the fall of the Soviet
Union.Russia is just the latest in a list of countries with authoritarian
regimes that have cracked down on freedom of expression – including China,
Iran, and Vietnam – by banning social media sites. In China, for example,
Facebook and Twitter are banned, but Weibo, a social media site based in
China is accessible.Users are likely to continue to use VPNs, which can make
the user look like he or she is in another country, in order to access
LinkedIn or any other sites that are blocked. From http://www.mediafiledc.com/ 11/27/2016 SWEDEN: Economy Is Resilient and Growing
Strongly, but Must Address Rising Challenges The
Swedish economy is growing strongly, with unemployment trending downward and
living standards among the highest in the world. Maintaining today’s high levels
of well-being and addressing new challenges will require further actions to
ensure inclusive, resilient and green growth for all, according to a new
report from the OECD.The 2017 OECD Economic Survey of
Sweden commends the authorities for their sound
macroeconomic management and calls for a continuation of prudent fiscal
policy. The Survey,
presented in Stockholm by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría andSweden’s Minister of Finance Magdalena Andersson,
underlines four key policy priorities: comprehensive housing market reform;
absorbing the increasing supply of low-skilled workers and supporting the
integration of immigrants; tackling the rise in income inequality; and
promoting gender equality.“Sweden has enjoyed a solid economic performance in
recent years, with growth out-pacing both the major advanced economies and
its Nordic neighbours,” MrGurría said. “The high share of people with a good
job, combined with its strong system of social protection, makes Sweden a
model of inclusive growth. At the same time, reforms have allowed Sweden to
adapt swiftly to an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing world
economy. Notwithstanding these successes, new challenges will require
additional efforts to preserve the welfare model, protect the vulnerable and
foster greater social cohesion.” (Read full speech) The
Survey points out that housing prices have soared, and are now among the
highest in the 35-member OECD. Household indebtedness has risen in tandem,
while the lack of affordable housing has worsened both inequality and labour
mobility. A comprehensive reform package is therefore needed. This should
include efforts to limit household debt, such as a cap on household
debt-to-income ratios; reforms to the recurrent property tax, to better align
tax charges with property values, combined with a phase-out of the
deductibility of mortgage interest payments; enhanced co-operation between
central and local government in land-use planning and simplified land-use
procedures; and an easing of rental regulations to incentivise rental housing
supply, mobility and a better utilisation of the housing stock. While
income inequality in Sweden remains among the lowest in the OECD, it has been
rising since the 1990s. Decades of slow benefit increases were partly
intended to strengthen work incentives, but have also left recipients behind
the rest of the population. An annual analysis of the distributional
consequences of different revision scenarios would highlight the consequences
of inaction, but leave actual increases to political decision-making, so that
equity, fiscal cost and work incentives can be taken into account.Strong
immigration in recent years, including the inflow of asylum seekers, has
created both opportunities and challenges for Sweden. Continuing the
simplification of procedures that allow immigrants to obtain residence and
work permits is critical to harnessing their economic potential, but more can
be done to ensure better immigrant employment outcomes and ward against worsening
inequality. Consolidation
and simplification could increase uptake of wage subsidy schemes and help
bring more of the low-skilled into employment. Foreign-born women’s labour
participation is particularly low, and requires more targeted active labour
market policy measures.Further incentives to better split parental leave
between parents and policies to fight stereotypes in education and support
women entrepreneurship could boost women’s careers and reduce the gaps
between genders in pay and power.An Overview of the Economic Survey, with the
main conclusions, is accessible at www.oecd.org/sweden/economic-survey-sweden.htm.For
further information, journalists can contact the OECD Media Division (+33 1 4524 9700).Working with over 100
countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to
improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. From http://www.oecd.org/ 02/08/2017 LATIN AMERICA: Mexico - Summary
Report - Internet Governance Forum, 2016 (6 – 9 December; Jalisco, Mexico) The 11th annual Internet Governance Forum
(IGF) was held from 6th to 9th December, 2016 in Jalisco, Mexico, with the
overall theme of “Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth”. The mandate for
the IGF is contained in 2005′s Tunis Agenda of the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS), and the first IGF was convened in Athens in 2006
by the United Nations Secretary General. It is meant primarily as a
facilitating forum for dialogues amongst participants, to identify emerging
issues, bring them to the attention of the relevant bodies and the general
public, and where appropriate, make recommendations. IGF 2016 served as a platform for
discussions on how the Internet can support and help enable sustainable
growth as envisaged by the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development. More than 2000 delegates from 83 countries participated over the
course of four days in roughly 200 sessions addressing a broad range of
themes and issues. The sessions covered, among other topics, the Internet and
sustainable development; access and diversity; youth and gender challenges
pertaining to the Internet; the protection and promotion of human rights
online; cyber security; the need to enhance multi-stakeholder cooperation;
critical Internet resources; Internet governance capacity-building; and other
emerging issues that may affect the future of the open Internet. (The Chair’s
Summary of IGF 2016 is available here)SFLC.in was represented at IGF by
MishiChoudhary (Executive Director), and Arjun Jayakumar (Jr. Policy
Director). We organized two sessions at the meeting and participated as
speakers in five others. Sessions organized WS109 – Analyzing the Causes and
Impacts of Internet Shutdowns (December 9; 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM): This session,
styled as a panel discussion, sought to explore the causes and ground-level
impacts of Internet shutdowns with a view to uncovering the motivations
behind such measures, laws and policies that allow them to happen and ways to
prevent them. The panelists for the session were Brett Solomon (Executive
Director, Access Now), Nicolas Seidler (Senior Policy Advisor, ISOC), Amos
Toh (Legal Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur, David Kaye), Hibah
Kamal-Grayson (Senior Policy Analyst, Google), Rajan Mathews (Director
General, Cellular Operators Association of India), NanjiraSambuli (Digital
Equality Advocacy Manager, World Wide Web Foundation), Gisela Perez de Acha
(Public Policy Manager, Derechos Digitales), and Jan Ryzdak (Global Network
Initiative). The session was moderated by Arjun Jayakumar. It was said over the course of the
discussion that there needed to be better common understanding on the scope
of the term “Internet shutdowns”, and that it should be understood to cover
both blanket and surgical shutdowns of the Internet. It was felt that there
is a lot left to be done in terms of linking the rights-impact of Internet
shutdowns to its economic impact i.e. it needs to be demonstrated that
enabling free expression can lead to sustainable economic growth. It was also
acknowledged by the panel that national security is at times a real concern
and that thinking in bubbles will do little to arrive at workable solutions
that are acceptable to all involved and mindful of all relevant concerns.A
post-session report of this session is available here, and an official
transcript here.WS107 – Practical Challenges in Tackling Online Harassment
(December 9; 2:40 PM – 3:00 PM): Arjun Jayakumar delivered a 20 minute
lightning talk about the findings from SFLC.in’s conversations with 18 public
figures who routinely face online harassment. These findings are contained in
our report titled “Online Harassment: A Form of Censorship”, published in
November 2016. Arjun spoke about how relentless
online harassment caused some interviewees to substantially change their
usage of online speech platforms like social media websites and in some cases
stop using them altogether. The shortcomings of India’s law enforcement
machinery when it comes to addressing grievances related to online harassment
was covered, as many interviewees had pointed to how police officers are
often not equipped to handle such complaints. Arjun also spoke about the
interviewees’ views on existing content reporting mechanisms offered by
online speech platforms i.e. how many felt the turn-around times were far too
long, how the whole process seemed entirely non-personal, and how this made
them not utilize reporting mechanisms to the extent intended.Some members of
the attending crowd shared their insights into the legal responses to online
harassment in other jurisdictions, and the general undesirability of
emphasizing legal responses to online speech issues as this comes with the
danger of restricting legitimate free speech as well. Sessions participated in Operational Responses to Online
Harassment (December 5; 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM): This Day 0 session was organized
by International Media Support, and examined the effects of online harassment
especially on individuals with weak networks, its harmful effect on the
diversity of voices when journalists, bloggers and others are targeted,
community responses to online harassment, and ways to balance legal responses
to online harassment with the right to freedom of expression. MishiChoudhary
spoke on SFLC.in’s behalf at this session, and presented our report on the
topic along with some of its findings. She covered among other things, the
report’s findings on shortcomings with social media’s content reporting
mechanisms, under-preparedness of law enforcement in handling relevant
grievances, and how the effect of online harassment on particular individuals
was seen to be highly subjective. A post-session report of this session can
be accessed here and an official transcript is available here. IGF High-Level Meeting (December 5; 3:00
PM – 6:00 PM): 2016′s High-Level Meeting was held on Day 0 of IGF, and
focused on the opportunities that the multi-stakeholder model offers to
Internet Governance regarding social inclusion and digital abilities for the
future, emphasizing the necessary skills for an environment marked by the
contribution of the Internet to the development of citizens and nations in
diverse aspects, including the economic one. MishiChoudhary was a speaker at
the meeting, and spoke about how multi-stakeholderism has become all the more
relevant in light of the rising importance of the Internet, how the model
facilitates discussion around crucial issues like surveillance, how even
democratically elected governments can at times fail to reflect its people’s
values, and generally on the need to focus on freedom and liberty as much as
multi-stakeholderism in conversations around Internet governance. She also
addressed the need to promote the widespread use of encryption and Free and
Open Source Software, the need to guard against initiatives that inject discrimination
and surveillance into the Internet under the garb of charity, building
intelligent conversations around cyber security, and taking steps against
online harassment. WS14 – Asia and the Next Billion:
Challenges in Digital Inclusion (December 6; 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM): This
session was organized by the Internet Society, Trivandrum, and sought to take
stock of the challenges in enabling digital inclusion in a cross-section of
countries in the Asia-Pacific, including Pacific Islands, China, India, Pakistan,
New Zealand, Armenia and China, and propose a set of strategies to address
the issue of Digital Inclusion in the region, with the intention of
strengthening community action towards equitable inclusion. Arjun Jayakumar
spoke on SFLC.in’s behalf at the session. An official transcript is available
here. WS21 – Open Source: A Key Enabler on
the Path to the Next Billion (December 7; 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM): This session
was also organized by the Internet Society, Trivandrum, and focused on ways
in which communities can deploy Free and Open Source Software and build
capacity within the community to meet the challenges arising out of joining
the Internet. SFLC.in was represented by Arjun Jayakumar at the session. A
post-session report is available here, and an official transcript here.WS267
– Surveillance and International Human Rights Law (December 8, 3:00 PM – 4:00
PM): This session was organized by Red enDefensa de los Derechos Digitales.
It provided an overview of how electronic surveillance has been approached by
international human rights bodies, through a discussion on the trends,
challenges and opportunities for the development of standards in
international human rights law. Arjun Jayakumar spoke on SFLC.in’s behalf at
this session. A post-session report is available here, and an official
transcript here. FOSS IGF IGF 2016 Internet Governance
Forum Internet Shutdowns Online Harassment From http://www.legallyindia.com/ 01/08/2017 NORTH AMERICA: Canada - The Three C’s
of Digital Transformation -
Collaboration, Collaboration, Collaboration The idea of a 9-to-5,
cubicle-separated, punching-in-your-time-card work environment has become
more of a stereotype than a reality.
Instead, “work” is now more loosely defined where the creation of a
collaborative, connected and continually evolving workspace is not only
encouraged, but important for any business to survive. To drive efficiency
and foster innovation companies have to provide workers access to their
projects, their colleagues and the relevant company data from any location at
any time. Even when that means the front seat
of a big rig. The Tandet Group, one of the largest
diversified independent distribution companies in Ontario, has embraced
emerging technologies to help it thrive in the hyper-competitive trucking and
logistics sector and steer it into a leadership position in the digital age.
With Dell EMC-enabled technologies, Tandet’s fleet of trucks is connected,
providing the company with an always-on link to where their trucks are, when
a delivery has been made, and to the performance of each vehicle.For Corey
Cox, Vice-President of Information Systems at Tandet, connecting trucks,
tracking and mapping distribution routes and digitizing the maintenance
performance on vehicles is only the first wave of digital transformation that
has allowed the company to expand.“We recognized that we had the opportunity
to get ahead of the curve. Our choice was simple – drive the change ourselves
or be forced off the road by those coming up from behind,” he says. What does the future hold for Tandet
Group? Cox says, “The next big step for us is the technology change that’s
occurring in mobile systems. Our goal is to take our trucks and turn them
into an extension of our offices on the road. With sensors, telematics, and
the ability to put high-powered computing in the cab of the vehicle, our
efficiency soars.”The move to a digital transformative workspace isn’t
achieved overnight. To achieve a true state of digital transformation,
organizations need to reform their approach in how they network with their
customers, vendors and employees. They need to understand that digital
transformation isn’t a fad, it’s a way of life. More specifically, it’s the
new way of conducting business and integrating the latest technologies into
our everyday life for a more connected and productive workforce. From http://www.itworldcanada.com/ 02/06/2017 U.S.: IT Transformation Checklist -
10 Steps to Success When launching a IT transformation
project, there are some steps you definitely don't want to take, and 10 steps
that could lead to success. Here’s how not to set forth on a major IT
transformation project: First, make sure that the new
business strategy that’s triggering the transformation remains hazy, and not
backed up by a coherent business plan on which all business units agree.
Second, don’t clarify IT’s role in the project, or the technologies needed to
meet the needs of the business. Third, assign responsibility for different
aspects of the project to different groups, and allow them to proceed at
their own individual pace. Fourth, assume that funding for the project will
take care of itself at some point along the way. Then go ahead and begin the project. That’s how one company in our
experience began a top-to-bottom transformation of its business and
technology. The result, of course, was inevitable: After three years of
thrashing around, and many stops and starts, the project was killed, with a
dead loss of $55 million.As every CIO knows, all too many major projects turn
out like this one. Indeed, the statistics on the success rates of major IT
transformations are daunting. While outcomes have improved over the years,
just 10 percent meet all their project goals on time and within budget. The
rest either struggle or fail outright.Why? Companies downplay the complexity
of such programs and the extent of the organizational and cultural changes
required. So they underestimate the required investment in time, money, and
talent, the need for careful planning and a detailed roadmap, and the
potential risks involved. Yet they charge ahead anyway, with the inevitable poor
results. In reality, IT projects aren’t really
all that different from any other endeavor, large or small. Readiness is all.
So it’s critical for companies to conduct a reality check on just how
prepared they are to embark on their transformation effort. In our
experience, readiness is a matter of ensuring that the company has put in
place 10 key requirements needed to make sure their project reaches its
business and technology goals. These requirements should be set up as an
operational checklist to be punched as each one is fully accomplished: 1. Develop a clear vision of the
future state of IT. A coherent IT vision needs to be designed and mapped to
the overall business strategy, including detailed descriptions of the
business value to be achieved through the transformation. It is critical that
the vision include the input, sponsorship, and support of senior management. 2. Clarify the business-IT
relationship, governance policies, and structure. The relationship between IT
and the business should be formalized through clearly laid out business and
IT demand-management and decision-making mechanisms. The effort should be led
by a single, accountable senior IT leader. 3. Define foundational needs and
scope. The stability of existing foundational IT systems and competencies,
and the scope and scale of the transformation must be clear at the outset.
This clarity comes from a complete understanding of the work to be done, a
detailed map of the expected changes, a clear project timeline, and a
consistent approach to each of the elements, including infrastructure,
enterprise architecture, applications, and data. 4. Develop a structured
transformation approach and detailed plan. Companies should implement a
program management office to oversee the transformation and monitor execution
and ongoing results. It is the office’s job to develop a complete
transformation plan that includes all technologies, their business impacts,
dependencies, and known risks. 5. Ensure that the right leadership
and talent are in place. A single day-to-day leader must be assigned to the
transformation, who much ensure that the necessary project management and
technology skills are in place. UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENT A Year's Worth of Tech Insight &
Education in 5 Days Interop ITX offers five days of
world-class education, compelling speakers, and unlimited networking
opportunities to help technology leaders keep up with the challenges and
drive their businesses forward. Registration is open! Will you be there? 6. Define the approach to partnering
and vendor management. Every transformation needs a strong vendor management
function, skilled at analyzing the performance of all vendors and partners,
and the quality of their deliverables. Organizations should make sure key
vendors are in place to fill gaps and bring in needed capacity and expertise. 7. Guarantee the smooth flow of
investment dollars. The funds needed to carry out the transformation must be
available at the outset and throughout the project lifecycle. Funding must be
available when needed to avoid any break in the momentum. 8. Develop a disciplined
implementation methodology. The methods for executing the transformation,
including enterprise architecture, application development, and data
governance procedures, should be formalized and followed closely and
consistently. Methods for conducting rapid test-and-learn cycles on new
technologies and processes should be at the ready, including proof-of-concept
exercises and pilots. 9. Prepare a sophisticated risk
management approach. This should include the ability to identify near-, mid-,
and long-term risks and their likelihood, through “what-if” scenario
planning. Procedures for mitigating risk should also be in place. 10. Manage motivation, morale and
change. Managing the motivation and morale of everyone affected by the
transformation is essential. A complete vision of the company’s future state
must be shared with all employees, while the IT-business team must be
committed to working together and communicating freely, and resolving
conflicts as they arise. Following our IT transformation
readiness checklist won’t guarantee success, but it will give you the
confidence to set forth knowing that you are as well prepared as you can
possibly be. When launching a IT transformation
project, there are some steps you definitely don't want to take, and 10 steps
that could lead to success. Here’s how not to set forth on a
major IT transformation project: First, make sure that the new
business strategy that’s triggering the transformation remains hazy, and not
backed up by a coherent business plan on which all business units agree.
Second, don’t clarify IT’s role in the project, or the technologies needed to
meet the needs of the business. Third, assign responsibility for different aspects
of the project to different groups, and allow them to proceed at their own
individual pace. Fourth, assume that funding for the project will take care
of itself at some point along the way. Then go ahead and begin the project. That’s how one company in our
experience began a top-to-bottom transformation of its business and
technology. The result, of course, was inevitable: After three years of
thrashing around, and many stops and starts, the project was killed, with a
dead loss of $55 million. SPONSOR VIDEO, MOUSEOVER FOR SOUND As every CIO knows, all too many
major projects turn out like this one. Indeed, the statistics on the success
rates of major IT transformations are daunting. While outcomes have improved
over the years, just 10 percent meet all their project goals on time and
within budget. The rest either struggle or fail outright.Why? Companies
downplay the complexity of such programs and the extent of the organizational
and cultural changes required. So they underestimate the required investment
in time, money, and talent, the need for careful planning and a detailed
roadmap, and the potential risks involved. Yet they charge ahead anyway, with
the inevitable poor results. In reality, IT projects aren’t really
all that different from any other endeavor, large or small. Readiness is all.
So it’s critical for companies to conduct a reality check on just how
prepared they are to embark on their transformation effort. In our
experience, readiness is a matter of ensuring that the company has put in place
10 key requirements needed to make sure their project reaches its business
and technology goals. These requirements should be set up as an operational
checklist to be punched as each one is fully accomplished: 1. Develop a clear vision of the
future state of IT. A coherent IT vision needs to be designed and mapped to
the overall business strategy, including detailed descriptions of the
business value to be achieved through the transformation. It is critical that
the vision include the input, sponsorship, and support of senior management. 2. Clarify the business-IT
relationship, governance policies, and structure. The relationship between IT
and the business should be formalized through clearly laid out business and
IT demand-management and decision-making mechanisms. The effort should be led
by a single, accountable senior IT leader. 3. Define foundational needs and
scope. The stability of existing foundational IT systems and competencies,
and the scope and scale of the transformation must be clear at the outset.
This clarity comes from a complete understanding of the work to be done, a
detailed map of the expected changes, a clear project timeline, and a
consistent approach to each of the elements, including infrastructure,
enterprise architecture, applications, and data. 4. Develop a structured
transformation approach and detailed plan. Companies should implement a
program management office to oversee the transformation and monitor execution
and ongoing results. It is the office’s job to develop a complete
transformation plan that includes all technologies, their business impacts,
dependencies, and known risks. 5. Ensure that the right leadership
and talent are in place. A single day-to-day leader must be assigned to the
transformation, who much ensure that the necessary project management and
technology skills are in place. 6. Define the approach to partnering
and vendor management. Every transformation needs a strong vendor management
function, skilled at analyzing the performance of all vendors and partners,
and the quality of their deliverables. Organizations should make sure key
vendors are in place to fill gaps and bring in needed capacity and expertise. 7. Guarantee the smooth flow of
investment dollars. The funds needed to carry out the transformation must be
available at the outset and throughout the project lifecycle. Funding must be
available when needed to avoid any break in the momentum. 8. Develop a disciplined
implementation methodology. The methods for executing the transformation, including
enterprise architecture, application development, and data governance
procedures, should be formalized and followed closely and consistently.
Methods for conducting rapid test-and-learn cycles on new technologies and
processes should be at the ready, including proof-of-concept exercises and
pilots. 9. Prepare a sophisticated risk
management approach. This should include the ability to identify near-, mid-,
and long-term risks and their likelihood, through “what-if” scenario
planning. Procedures for mitigating risk should also be in place. 10. Manage motivation, morale and
change. Managing the motivation and morale of everyone affected by the
transformation is essential. A complete vision of the company’s future state
must be shared with all employees, while the IT-business team must be
committed to working together and communicating freely, and resolving
conflicts as they arise. Following our IT transformation
readiness checklist won’t guarantee success, but it will give you the
confidence to set forth knowing that you are as well prepared as you can
possibly be. From http://www.informationweek.com/ 02/07/2017 Benefits of Cloud Something New Agency
Faces Should Be Thinking About Civilian agencies for years have
debated cloud security services and how to best to use them to meet their
mission, and as new administration faces join the workforce ranks, there’s no
better time to take another look at their cloud approach.Speaking at a Feb. 9
Cloud Computing Caucus Advisory Group event in Washington, David Bray, CIO
for the Federal Communications Commission, said when it comes to helping new
agency heads or department secretaries understand the value of cloud
services, “it’s really about if you want to move with speed to transform how
your agency operates, to reform processes to get off legacy ones, and move
faster.”“The value proposition is by moving to cloud, at the same time you
can revisit how you do the business of your agency,” said Bray, whose agency
relies 100 percent on public cloud and commercial service providers. “That’s
the language we should be speaking.” Cloud can be useful for services like
email, said Marlon Andrews, the deputy chief information officer for the
National Archives and Records Administration, but moving everything to the
cloud “makes me a little leery.”“The end goal to me is not everything in the
cloud, the end goal is to have the best functioning product possible, and if
that’s the cloud that’s great, and if it’s something else that’s great as
well,” Andrews said. “I’m not saying it is or is not the cloud, I’m just
looking at each individual system and moving forward.”But moving forward in
whichever direction with cloud services can pose hurdles for agencies.Since
the cloud security effort known as the Federal Risk Authorization and
Management Program (FedRAMP), launched in 2012, price tags and timelines rose
for companies looking to get the approval from the Joint Authorization Board
agencies [Defense and Homeland Security departments, and the General Services
Administration] which gives a provisional go-ahead to operate for cloud
services. Bray said FedRAMP needs to be seen as
a fast lane, and not an obstacle, and if something is certified, the program
should be the ones to handle responsibility for security.“Why are we all
doing individual, continuous diagnostic and data monitoring on our systems,
when in fact — if something is
FedRAMP certified — they should take the responsibility for the
security. I can do it for things
I’ve customized, but part of the value proposition of FedRAMP is if you get a
[software as a service] solution, we will take care of the basic security and
making sure it’s up to date for you. Anything custom you have to do, but we
shouldn’t multiply that times 100 diff agencies each trying to do their own
thing.”FedRAMP Accelerated launched in late March 2016, with the goal of
cutting the current 6-12 month
authorization wait time down to 3-6 months. A FedRAMP dashboard also
launched last summer, which provides a way to see the status of a vendor’s
authorization. Improving FedRAMP is a bipartisan
issue, and one Reps. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.),
both members of the cloud caucus, brought up during the event.“A lot of
government information is sensitive and it’s gotta be secure, so we end up
with things like FedRAMP, that, though well-intentioned, really do slow
innovation,” Farenthold said. “The beauty of technology is it moves fast and
the government has got to find a way to keep up with the technology, whether
it’s patches for security or new features.”Connolly pointed out that the
program started with the goal of a one-stop-shop for certification, that
would be fast and not overly expensive, and if need be, Congress would take
the reigns to put that goal back on track.“That efficiency has turned into a
long, drawn, torturous process with a big backlog. It costs millions of
dollars on average. That’s not an efficiency, that’s actually government at
its worst. And we can’t say that’s OK, that’s not what it was designed to
do,” Connolly said. “So we have some work to do. If the government itself
can’t do this, then I fear … I’m happy to do it … but it’s not always the
ideal solution to put things in statute because Congress does not do nuance.” From http://federalnewsradio.com/ 02/09/2017 |
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CHINA: Weibo, UNDP Partner to Promote
Sustainable Development Chinese social media giant Sina Weibo
will leverage its platform strengths and connections to promote sustainable development.
At the company's annual gala Monday night, Weibo's Chairman Cao Guowei said
that the Twitter-like company would partner with the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) to promote sustainable development at the start
of a public welfare campaign for 2017. Weibo will allocate resources worth
over 20 million yuan (2.90 million U.S. dollars) to support UNDP work to
achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to Cao. Social
media is playing an increasing role in encouraging public participation in
public welfare causes, and Weibo's significant media and celebrity resources
and active user interaction can help make SDGs a public topic, according to
Patrick Haverman, UNDP deputy country director. Weibo's official public
welfare account became one of the country's first accredited online
fund-raising information platforms last year, and is used to motivate
influential users to promote public welfare causes using modern methods such
as live streaming. More than 16,000 public-welfare-related topics were
mentioned on Weibo in 2016, with about 1,100 celebrities and 8,500
enterprises spreading goodwill messages, attracting about seven million
people to donate. Weibo had about 300 million monthly active users and over
130 million daily active users by the end of September, according to the
company's Q3 financial report. From http://www.news.cn/
01/17/2017 China Plans to Develop New
Supercomputer China is planning to develop a
prototype of an exascale computer, considered the next frontier of
supercomputers, by the end of 2017, according to a developer on Jan 17.“A
complete computing system of the exascale supercomputer and its applications
can only be expected in 2020, and will be 200 times more powerful than the
country’s first petaflop computer Tianhe-1, recognized as the world’s fastest
in 2010,” said Zhang Ting, application engineer with the Tianjin-based
National Supercomputer Center, when attending the sixth session of the 16th
Tianjin Municipal People’s Congress on Jan 17. Exascale computers are capable
of at least 1 quintillion (a billion billion) calculations per second. Zhang
said that using the exascale computer for cloud computing and big data
applications, China could spur ahead with many key innovation and high-tech
programs. In June 2016, China revealed its fastest new supercomputer — the
Subway TaihuLight — with a peak performance of 124.5 petaflops, the world’s
first system to exceed 100 petaflops. China has been steadily building its
supercomputing capacity, and independently developed all key technology
including microprocessors. Zhang said the next-generation exascale computer
will not only lead in calculation speed, but also in data transmission efficiency. From http://www.gov.cn/
01/18/2017 There will be free public Wi-Fi
service at the top of the world, on Mount Everest, the Nepalese authorities have
announced. Digambar Jha, chairman of state-run Nepal Telecommunications
Authority (NTA), said they plan to install a number of free Wi-Fi hotspots
along Lukla-Everest Base Camp and Annapurna areas. Mountaineers can then post
their messages and photos on social media instantly after they have conquered
the peak, Hindustan Times reported. Wi-Fi service will be available on the
highest point as the Everest base camp is located 5,360 meters above sea
level and the signals will be available at even higher altitudes including
the peak. The Nepalese authorities will implement the plan in the next 6
months. Currently climbers can only receive Wi-Fi signals in certain areas up
to 5,200 meters above sea level. Many are using expensive satellite phones
for communication. After setting up Wi-Fi in the Everest and Annapurna
regions, the NTA also plan to expand Wi-Fi services in other areas of the
Himalayan regions as well, Jha said. "This will make communication
easier for mountaineering and it will also help in rescue efforts in case of
natural disaster and other disasters in these areas," he said. The
Everest Wi-Fi plan is part of the Nepalese government's general plan to
improve the free Wi-Fi coverage in the tourist areas of the country. Mount
Everest, also known as Qomolangma, the highest point on earth, is located at
the Sino-Nepalese border, with the north part and the peak in China and the
south part in Nepal. The mountain attracts thousands of tourists and
mountaineers every year. From http://www.chinagate.cn/
02/16/2017 China's 4G Users Double in 2016 China had 770 million 4G users as of
the end of 2016, double the number from a year earlier, data from the Ministry
of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) showed Friday. More than 58
percent of China's mobile phone users were 4G subscribers at the end of 2016,
according to Zhang Feng, spokesperson and chief engineer of MIIT, at a press
conference. The number of 4G users was 386 million at the end of 2015. China
has the world's largest 4G network and is aiming to add 2 million 4G base
stations, mainly for townships and villages, by 2018. The country is also
researching and testing 5G technology with a goal to commercialize it by
2020. The research and development work has entered the second phase,
according to Zhang, who noted that China will strengthen international
cooperation in the process. "Compared with 4G, 5G is much faster and
more reliable and can be used to support virtual reality technology,
ultra-high definition video transmission, autopilot and smart
manufacturing," Zhang said. From http://www.news.cn/
02/17/2017 Internet Plus Creates New Engines for
Economic Growth The Internet Plus strategy initiated
by the central government has helped promote the integration of innovation
achievements with economic and social sectors, advanced technological
progress, and formed new development engines for economic growth. After the
release of the action plan in 2015, governments at all levels and industry
circles have introduced many support policies and implementation plans. The
plans cover all key areas with specific targets and measures. Plans for
traditional industries are aimed at promoting digitalization, those for new
emerging industries focus on lowering costs and improving efficiency, while
plans for basic support fields emphasize building technological innovation
platforms. To support the development of Internet Plus, China has made many
efforts to improve its broadband infrastructure, and facilitate faster
internet connections while lowering costs. A negative list for the internet
market entry was also published to allow various players to enter the
internet market. The Internet Plus initiative has made positive achievements
in promoting transformation and upgrading in manufacturing, agriculture,
energy and other sectors. For instance, it has enabled a large machine factory
to connect every machine tool to the internet to conduct real-time monitoring
and improve efficiency, and a small agricultural machinery enterprise to
increase sales by expanding online selling channels. The Internet Plus strategy has
brought many new clients, demands, services and business models, usually
cultivated by small and medium enterprises. In addition to macro benefits, it
has also made lives easier. There are nearly 1.1 billion mobile users in
China, and they can use their cell phones to do nearly everything, from
seeking medical services to ordering food online. Although Internet Plus is
changing the ways of economic operation and people’s lives, many preparation
work projects have not been ready for the revolution. New challenges in information
infrastructure, key technologies, protection of personal information,
standards for smart manufacturing and building a social credit system need to
be addressed in practice. Supervision and reform also need to be further
improved to release the potential of the new development engines, as changes
brought by the internet on traditional industries, service models and
industry organizations all need new supervision and management methods. The
government should adjust the supervision models accordingly, allocate social
resources and integrate scattered resources to create a fair and favorable
market environment. From http://www.gov.cn/
02/17/2017 SOUTH KOREA: Leading World in
Penetration of Fast Broadband Internet South Korea ranked first worldwide in
terms of the penetration rate of fast broadband Internet, which transmits
data at a speed of over 100 Mbps (megabits per second), according to a report
by KT Corp. on Tuesday. About 14.9 percent of South Korea's total population,
or 7.58 million people, subscribed to the fast broadband Internet services,
KT said, citing a recent survey by market researcher Ovum. Singapore came in
second with 12.5 percent of its population, or 630,000 people, having the
fast broadband service. That was followed by Japan with 11.6 percent, or
14.69 million, and the United States with 3 percent, or 9.77 million,
according to the report. In South Korea, about 3.4 million people are
estimated to have subscribed to ultra-fast broadband Internet services, which
transmit data at a speed of 1 Gbps (gigabits per second), KT said. The
ultra-fast broadband Internet is using new fiber optic cables or
fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network. Last year, South Korea had the world's highest
penetration of FTTH at 28.2 percent, followed by Japan with 21.8 percent,
according to data by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development. The ultra-fast broadband Internet allows users to enjoy
high-definition video content and 3-D TVs. Park Cheol-hong, an analyst at
KT's economic research institute, said in the report that the strong
infrastructure of ultra-fast Internet services is expected to play a positive
role in boosting the media and content businesses. From http://www.koreaherald.com 11/22/2016 S. Korea Tops Global ICT Ranking for
2 Consecutive Years South Korea has come out on top of a global
ICT Development Index rankings for the second consecutive year. South Korea
ranked first among 175 countries with an ICT Development Index(IDI) of
eight-point-84 on the International Telecommunications Union(ITU)'s 2016
Measuring the Information Society Report. The rankings combine eleven
indicators on ICT including its access and use. Other high ranked countries
include the U.S., Australia, Denmark and Switzerland among others. With the
exception of 2014, Korea has ranked number one in the ranking six times since
2010. ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao noted the global digital divide and
said it is important to focus on reducing overall socioeconomic inequalities
to bring more people of the world online. From http://world.kbs.co.kr
11/23/2016 Competition Heats Up on 5G Technology Korean electronics and telecom
carriers are fiercely competing to take the leadership in 5th-generation mobile
networks, or 5G, viewing it as the next-generation technology. Transmitting
data 20 times faster than 4G, 5G is expected to be a platform enabling growth
in information technology, automobiles, entertainment and manufacturing
industries. LG Electronics said Sunday it demonstrated Full Duplex Radio, or
FDR, for the first time in the world in partnership with Yonsei University.
FDR is a strong candidate communication technology of 5G standard for
significantly raising data transmission speed. It is capable of raising the
frequency efficiency up to double the current Frequency Division Duplex, LG
Electronics said. “We will continue to strengthen 5G competitiveness through
leadership in FDR technology, which is expected to become a major standard
for 5G,” said Kwak Kook-yeon, a chief of LG Electronics’ next-generation
standard research division. From http://www.koreaherald.com/ 12/04/2016 Korea Boasts World's Fastest Internet
Speed for 11th Quarter South Korea has the world's fastest
Internet connection speed for the 11th consecutive quarter, a private survey
showed Friday. South Korea's average Internet connection speed stood at 26.3
Mbps during the third quarter, marking the only country with a speed of over
25 Mbps, according to the survey by online content delivery network firm
Akamai Korea. Hong Kong came in second with a speed of 20.1 Mbps, followed by
Norway with 20 Mbps. The world's average Internet connection speed stood at
6.3 Mbps for the third quarter, up 21 percent from the same quarter last
year. In terms of the penetration of broadband Internet with speeds of 10
Mbps, 15 Mbps and 25 Mbps, South Korea maintained its No. 1 spot with
penetration rates of 78 percent, 61 percent and 34 percent, respectively, the
survey showed. From http://www.koreaherald.com 12/16/2016 Salvation Army’s red Christmas kettles
and bell ringers landed here in 1928 and have withstood South Korea‘s harsh
winters ever since. It seems though, it won’t be long before they disappear
and are replaced with digital gadgets, as donors now tend to prefer
convenient digital charity over traditional paper money donations. In line
with the trend, fund organizers are rolling out easy and creative digital
methods to draw more tech-savvy donors. They range from applications to
digital gift certificates, mobile crowdfunding and e-commerce. Nowadays,
almost all organizations and businesses arranging social funding turn to
digital methods. The Salvation Army Korea, for one, offers a mobile
application designed to allow anyone with a smartphone to easily wire a
donation and to enhance transparency by providing an up-to-date amount of
total funds raised. Although the portion of funds raised through the mobile
app remains lower than the amount raised on the streets, the group believes
the app will help red kettles reach out to a wider range of potential donors.
E-donations have also risen as a welcome tool for the fund organizers in
Korea, as they are able to instantly approach large crowds through social
media. Accumulated snow is automatically
transferred to fund a cause of the user‘s choice. For instance, currently a
fundraiser with 2,453 people is trying to raise 4 million snow to donate
heated tents to four low-income households. App users can also create their
own fund to support causes that matter to them. According to data from Big
Walk, it ran 60 campaigns in 2015 and gathered some 680 million won, propped
up by snow donors who walked a total of 3.52 million kilometers, equivalent
to 87 full circles around Earth. “In 2013 we raised 180 million won and the
amount raised has grown significantly over the years. As of Dec. 19, the
figure for this year stands at a high of 912 million won, with 345 million
won more promised by the end of the year,” said Lee Yeon-jin of Big Walk’s
management department. Lee highlighted the app’s “easy” and “fun”
functionality as its biggest success factors. “I think most users found it
intriguing that they can be part of a good cause by walking. The app has
added meaning to an ordinary activity,” Lee said. From http://www.koreaherald.com 12/23/2016 New Tech to Drive Economic Growth New industries backed by
state-of-the-art technologies -- in particular, artificial intelligence (AI),
information technology (IT) and virtual reality (VR) -- will drive economic
growth in Korea throughout 2017. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism,
the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the Ministry of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and
the Korea Communications Commission outlined the series of policies that they
will all pursue in 2017, with the aim of securing economic growth. The
policies were announced as Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn presided over the
briefing session in Seoul on Jan. 6. The culture ministry laid out its yearly
policies, which focus on the successful hosting of the PyeongChang 2018
Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, as well as on the development of digital
content. First and foremost, the ministry will undertake a set of projects so
as to make the upcoming Olympic Games a cross-cultural platform. Performances
of various genres, like opera and ballet, and a “Trilateral Cultural
Olympics" between Korea, China and Japan will take place in the run-up to
the PyeongChang Games. From http://www.korea.net
01/09/2017 Scientists Develop Smarter MRI
Technology A group of South Korean scientists
discovered a new magnetic resonance imaging platform that selectively
finds diseased cells, the state-run research center said Tuesday, a
development that could overcome the limits of the current MRI technology. The
team led by Cheon Jin-woo at the Center for Nanomedicine under the Institute
for Basic Science developed the so-called "nano MRI lamp" which
activates MRI signals only in the presence of the disease target. "This
study can overcome the limitations of existing MRI contrast agents,"
Cheon said in a press release, adding that the discovery would open a new
gateway in non-invasive MRI technology in diagnosing various diseases. The
new technology consists of two magnetic materials. When the two materials are
at a critical distance such as further than 7 nanometers, the signal is on.
However, when the two are placed closer than 7 nanometers, the MRI signal is
off. The team said it has named this phenomenon as "Magnetic REsonance
Tuning." "The current contrast agent is like using a flashlight on
a sunny day and its effect is limited. This new technology, instead, is like
using a flash light at night and it is more useful," Cheon said. The
researchers said they have tested the nano MRI lamp for cancer diagnosis and
detected the presence of an enzyme that can induce tumors. The findings were
published in the journal "Nature Materials." From http://www.koreaherald.com 02/07/2017 |
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THAILAND: 4.0 to Ensure High-Speed
Internet Access THE MINISTRY of Digital Economy and
Society aims to support “Thailand 4.0” with various projects including high-speed
Internet access for all villages, develop the digital gateway to connect with
the outside world, and something called “Thailand Digital Big Bang” in the
middle of next year. Pichet Durongkaveroj, the first minister of digital
economy and society, said the ministry aimed for all of its agencies to work
as a single team to reduce the complexity of their operations. He said the
ministry was committed to making sure every village in the Kingdom was served
by high-speed broadband next year. To that end, it will sign memoranda of
understanding with all stakeholders in the project such as TOT and the
Provincial Electricity Authority next Monday. The ministry also aims to use
digital gateways to enhance connectivity with other countries in the Asean
region. This will engage people, businesses and governments involved in
digital content, digital services and logistics, which will add value and
advantages to the country and the region. “The digitisation of Thailand will
focus on developing digital communities so that people can run their
businesses online, which will create advantages for the people in
communities. “We will work with other ministries
to develop standards to create business channels in terms of
business-to-business, business-to-customer and business-to-government, to
create benefits for all people and communities so that they will be able to
utilise digital channels to gain knowledge and transfer information.”
Meanwhile, the ministry will partner with the Science and Technology Ministry
and the Industry Ministry to create a start-up ecosystem. Pichet said the
ministry would also conduct “Thailand Digital Big Bang” events and invite
executives and others from CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) and
Asean+3 (the 10-member grouping plus China, Japan and South Korea) to join.
As for the controversial amendments to the Computer Crime Act, he said his
ministry would review some sections before announcing the clarified draft to
the public in a couple of months. The ministry now has five screening
committees to oversee the draft and will appoint four more. “I think that around 90 per cent of
the draft is clear and 5-10 per cent is uncertain and unclear. Therefore, the
ministry will set up four new screening committees to review the draft to
create understanding, clarity and acceptability among the public,” Pichet
said. He reiterated that the amended act had nothing to do with the “single
gateway” proposal made earlier. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 12/22/2016 Importance of Fintech and IoT to Grow
Further in 2017 Information-technology trends this
year will see big changes for the business sector, leading to greater efficiency
and productivity through the use of fintech (financial technology) and
value-based systems – and driving the country further along the road towards
a digital economy under Thailand 4.0 development goals. The Internet of
Things (IoT) will also play an increasingly important role, experts predict.
Thanachart Numnonda, director of the IMC Institute, said 2017 would mark a
major milestone in the transition to digital – or digital transformation –
under which fintech will eventually drive industry as a whole, because every
business has to get paid. Fintech will affect all business sectors that
receive money from customers for their products and/or services, while
existing technology with familiar names is still as hot as ever, such as
cloud, big-data analytics and IoT, he said. However, further technological
changes are needed in order to bring a great deal of change to IT systems,
such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, which will demand that
most software systems and devices have intelligent systems embedded in them,
he added. Back-office IT systems will also
change, as they require Web system with the ability to support a large number
of users (Webscale IT), or a software-defined data centre, Thanachart said,
explaining that user interfaces will require the use of virtualisation –
virtual reality/augmented reality, or a conversation system – as well as the
entry of blockchain technology. The director said that with Thailand already
moving forwards the digital economy under Thailand 4.0, organisations “should
know that they can weave their dream of value creation, which is the main
model of this policy, provided they are ready in technology”. The trend for
the use of IT in enterprises in Thailand this year will be value creation and
value added, and productivity, he predicted. “This year will be the year of
value-based technology. This trend prompts the IT providers to change the way
they sell their products. Not only a unique product will be offered, but the
integrated system together with solutions that directly benefit their
business must also be made. “For instance, a Wi-Fi provider will offer the
system that will enhance businesses to see the opportunity to increase sales,
instead of making an offer solely for the performance of Wi-Fi in an
organisation,” he said. Nakrop Niamnamtham, managing director of nForce
Secure, said IoT technology would become increasingly relevant in daily life,
such as smart driving vehicles and other smart devices. This year will be the
real start of the IoT age in Thailand, with IT security increasingly being
the core element making devices safer to use and run efficiently. IT security
in future will change to adaptive security – or “genius security” – that can
automatically respond to or act to prevent cyber-crime, he said. From http://www.nationmultimedia.com/ 01/05/2017 Việt Nam, France Forge Stronger ICT
Co-Operation PARIS – Minister of Information and
Communication Trương Minh Tuấn has expressed hope that French businesses,
with their advantages in capital and information and experience in
international business, will continue investing in Việt Nam. At a meeting
with French Minister of State for Economy, Industry and Digital Technology
Bertrand Pailhes during his visit to France from November 26 to 29, Minister
Tuấn said that since the two countries set up their strategic partnership in
2013, bilateral co-operation had thrived in all fields, including information
and communication technology (ICT). France is the largest European provider
of official development assistance to Việt Nam for developing
telecommunications infrastructure, contributing to the growth of the ICT
sector and economic development. The two sides expressed delight at how state
management agencies of both sides had strengthened the exchange of
information on new service development, information safety, security
management of radio and television, telecommunication business restructuring
and ensured a healthy competitive environment. France has assisted Việt Nam in
organising conferences to share experiences and seek investment opportunities
in the field, they noted. The French side has also transferred technology and
supported human resource development in Việt Nam and the French government
has granted a number of scholarships to Vietnamese students in satellite
studies. Minister Tuấn also
attended a meeting of Vietnamese and French ICT firms, which featured more
than 20 French enterprises. Frederic Rossi, deputy general director for
export of Business France, lauded Việt Nam’s dynamism in ICT. He noted that
the sector has enjoyed annual growth of 20 per cent since 2000, accounting
for 7.5 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2015. He highlighted the high
potential of the Vietnamese ICT market, expressing delight that French Tech,
which groups some 120 French and Vietnamese ICT firms, was established in Việt
Nam in October this year. Vietnamese businesses, including Viettel and FPT,
have also entered the French market, he said. Minister Tuấn said Việt Nam’s
ICT sector is growing strongly with deep international integration, creating
opportunities for foreign investors in the field. He said he believed that
through the meeting, ICT firms of both sides would set up partnerships. The same day, the minister held talks
with French Minister of State for State Reform and Simplification
Jean-Vincent Place, during which he said the Vietnamese government considers
ICT a spearhead sector and important for the country’s growth. Việt Nam has
implemented several programmes and plans for the sector’s development,
focusing on spreading ICT to develop e-government and e-business, as well as
on the building of smart cities and smart transportation, he said.
Jean-Vincent Place pledged to support French firms who wish to invest in Việt
Nam’s ICT and digital technology. Following the talks, Tuấn and Jean-Vincent
Place signed a letter of intent on Việt Nam-France co-operation in
e-administration, which serves as the legal foundation for French ICT firms
to enter the Vietnamese market. During their stay, the Ministry of
Information and Communications delegation also met with heads of France
Medias Monde, the owner of several radio and television channels, including
the France 24 TV channel. France 24 channel director Marc Saikali thanked the
ministry for licensing the English version of France 24 to be aired in Việt
Nam, expressing hope that the French version will be allowed in the country
soon. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
12/01/2016 Việt Nam’s Top 10 ICT Milestones of
2016 The Viet Nam Information Technology
Press Club this week issued a list of the top ten domestic information and
communication technology (ICT) events of 2016. 1 Hackers attack Vietnamese airports
and Vietnam Airlines An alleged Chinese hacker group
carries out several cyberspace attacks on Viet Nam’s two biggest airports,
Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat International airports, and the official website of
the national flag-carrier Vietnam Airlines on July 29. The hackers also took
control of the speaker system at Noi Bai airport for a few minutes, during
which the speakers broadcast an English-speaking male voice distorting Viet
Nam’s claims over the East Sea. The hackers claimed to be the 1937CN from
China, which is one of the biggest hacker groups in the country. The official
website of Vietnam Airlines, vietnamairlines.com, was hacked by the 1937CN
group on the same day. The airline customer database was stolen and made
public on the internet. 2 4G officially licensed Minister of Information and
Communications Trương Minh Tuấn this year granted licences for VNPT, Viettel,
MobiFone and Gtel to provide 4G service on broadband 1,800 MHz. On November
3, VNPT officially launched its 4G service on Phú Quốc Island in the southern
coastal province of Kiên Giang. This is the first locality in the country
where VNPT is providing the 4G service. 3 PM approved scrapping Article 292 Article 292 of the Penal Code, which stipulates
penalties, including prison sentences, for providing unlicensed online or
telecom services, is inimical to IT start-ups. At the second session of the
National Assembly, with the authorisation of the Prime Minister, the Ministry
of Justice asks to revoke Article 292. Previously, a petition calling for the
scrapping of Article 292 was sent to officials, ministers and agencies and
collected nearly 6,000 signatures after only one week. 4 VN mobile phone users pickpocketed The Ha Noi Department of Information
uncovered a case involving Sam Media, a Hong Kong-based company, which
cooperated with four Vietnamese carriers to steal VND230 billion ($10
million) from 94,000 mobile users. These users received advertising messages
from Sam Media, which they thought were free. After the case was uncovered,
Sam Media was given a fine of VND55 million ($2,400). 5 Cyber attacks on major banks The Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock
Bank (TPBank) is almost cheated out of US$1.13 million by international
hackers in May. Fortunately, the bank detected the suspicious transactions in
time and promptly contacted relevant agencies to stop the hackers. In August,
a Vietcombank customer said she discovered that her account had notifications
of transfer of VND500 million. At a meeting between the customer and
Vietcombank, the bank found that she had browsed a scam website on her phone
and the site had stolen her banking information and password. The cases
indicats that hi-tech criminals are targeting banks and Vietnamese users who
do not have experiences in information security. 6 Clamp down on pre-activated SIMs Five mobile network providers -
including Viettel, VNPT (VinaPhone), MobiFone, Gtel Mobile and Vietnammobile
- sign a commitment on October 28 with the Ministry of Information and
Communications to intensify the confiscation of pre-activated SIM cards in
order to reduce spam text messages. More than 15 million pre-activated SIMs
have been locked and retrieved since. 7 Dialing code changes The dialing codes of all cities and
provinces will be changed early next year, according to a decision by the
Ministry of Information and Communications in November. The process will kick
off after the Tết (Lunar New Year) holidays, on February 11. In the first
phase, the calling codes of Sơn La, Lai Châu, Lào Cai, Điện Biên, Yên Bái, Quảng
Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, Quảng Nam, Đà Nẵng, Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh
will be changed. Another 23 localities will get new codes on April 15. The
final phase will be initiated on June 17 for the rest of the country. 8 2016 chosen to be National Startup
Year The Government chooses 2016 to be the
National Startup Year. Promoting entrepreneurship based on innovation and
building Viet Nam to become a startup nation is the fastest way to develop
enterpreneurial forces, especially high-tech enterprises, creating
breakthrough for the development of a digital economy. 9 Cyber-Information Security Law
takes effect The Law on Cyber Information Safety
takes effect on July 1. The law comprises eight chapters and 54 articles
prescribing the rights and responsibilities of offices, organisations and
individuals in ensuring cyber information safety and civilian encryption. 10 Three mobile network providers
cancel roaming charges At the 9th Summit of the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam
(CLV) Development Triangle Area (CLV 9), Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc
tasks Viettel with modernising the telecommunication networks of the three
countries with 4G technology. He also asks Viettel to support the building of
e-Government for the three countries and deploy phone calls among subscribers in the three
countries at domestic rates, which means cancelling roaming fees for
subscribers in Việt Nam, Laos and Cambodia. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
12/31/2016 Central City Should Be a World-Class
Smart City: PM The central city of Đà Nẵng should
develop as a unique smart city and a competitive global centre of tourism and
services, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc said at a meeting to mark the 20th
anniversary of Đà Nẵng’s autonomous status directly under the central
government. He applauded the achievements of the past 20 years in terms of
international integration and reform, the attraction of a high quality labour
force, and the city’s development as a draw for business start-ups and as a
driving force of economic growth in the central region. “Đà Nẵng will serve
as magnet for foreign direct investment, information technology and skilled
labour force. It should be a front-runner in business reform, education and
business start-ups,” he said, adding that the city should develop 45,000
enterprises by 2020. The PM also said Đà Nẵng, situated in central Việt Nam,
has to build links with other locales in the region and serve as a core of
the central region’s socio-economic development. He suggested the city focus
on the quality of its business environment in order to be competititce with
other urban centres in the world. Phúc rnoted that 2017 will present the city
of one million people with a great opportunity, as well as a challenge, when
it hosts the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit later this year
and other APEC events. The city’s party secretary, Nguyễn
Xuân Anh, said Đà Nẵng had turned from a third-class urban locale into a
first-class city under the central government between 1997 and 2017. He said
the city earned total revenues of VNĐ54 trillion (US$2.4 billion),
contributing VNĐ19 trillion ($840 million) to the State budget in 2016. “The
city has seen a rapid development in tourism and services, from 61 hotels
with more than 2,000 rooms in 1997 to 585 hotels with 21,000 rooms after 20
years,” Anh said. “Da Nang is now four times larger than in 1997, with a
total area of 21,300ha." Anh, who is also chairman of the city’s
People’s Council, said the city had been ranked on top of the Provincial
Competitiveness Index (CPI) every year since 2010, and was a leader in
administrative reform and information technology. He said the city’s
downtown, which was in the past connected with its beach destinations on Son
Tra peninsula by two downgraded bridges, is now accessible through nine
modern, attractively designed bridges. In 2012, it was selected for a
Low-Carbon Model Town Project at the 44th APEC energy meeting in Washington
DC. The city had been developing low-carbon model projects, including battery
powered bicycles, technologies to curb greenhouse gas emissions and renewable
energy sources, a metro system and Rapid Bus Transit (BRT). The city had already
cut 12,000 tonnes of carbon emissions during a pilot project between 2008-11.
The city hosted 5.6 million tourists, 1.65 million of them foreigners From http://vietnamnews.vn/
01/03/2017 Submarine Internet Link Completed The Asia Pacific Gateway (APG)
submarine fiber optic cable line has been put into operation after four years
under construction. The APG, funded by VNPT, Viettel, FPT and CMC, aims to
boost Vietnamese Internet speed. The operation of the network aims to reduce
dependence on the Asia-America Gateway (AAG) as the AAG faced incidents three
times last year, which affected not only individual users but also
enterprises. The APG boasts a capacity of 54 Tbps, the highest of any network
in Asia. With a total length of approximately 10,400km, the cable line
connects mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the Republic of Korea,
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Việt Nam. Initiated in 2009, the APG is a
partnership between Chunghwa Telecom (Taiwan-China), China Telecom (China),
China Unicom (China), KT Corporation (RoK), NTT Communications (Japan), PLDT
(the Philippines), Telekom Malaysia (Malaysia) and VNPT (Việt Nam). Viettel
has also been investing in an Asia Africa Euro-1 (AAE-1) cable system,
connecting countries in Asia, Africa and Europe, the news website Zing.vn
reports. The cable line is expected to operate this year. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
01/04/2017 Hi-Tech Agriculture Rides Strong Wave
of Domestic Investment The agriculture sector, especially
hi-tech agriculture, has caught the attention of domestic giant firms, such
as Vingroup, Hòa Phát and Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, creating a new wave of investment.
The presence of Trần Bá Dương, CEO of Trường Hải Auto, at an agricultural
conference where he shared his plan to invest in the agriculture sector,
surprised many. The automobile industry tycoon said Vietnamese agriculture
has little scope for development without industry, asserting that industrial
firms with strong capital should join the sector to create standardised
models in agricultural production. Dương reckoned that post-harvest
transportation and preservation are the weaknesses of agriculture. However,
the mechanisation of agriculture must suit the situation on the ground in Việt
Nam. He revealed that his firm is working with the An Giang-based Lộc Trời
Group to build a post-harvest industrial complex for rice in the northern
region, which will provide transportation, harvest and processing at
reasonable costs. Earlier, VinGroup invested over VNĐ2 trillion (US$88
million) in VinEco to grow safe fruits and vegetables. Steelmaker Hòa Phát
Group also announced plans to invest in the area of feed and livestock. However, Vũ Văn Tiến, CEO of
Geleximco Group, said the number of businesses engaging in agriculture sector
remains few. To succeed in agriculture, businesses need sufficient production
land and capital, he said, calling for support policies for the field.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, some 4,000
enterprises out of a total of 600,000 Vietnamese firms are investing in
agriculture. The interest of large investors in agriculture is hoped to open
up a new chapter for the sector’s development, but land and capital are still
major obstacles. At a recent conference on building an agricultural industry,
Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc asked ministries and sectors to submit
solutions for the problems facing agriculture to the government and
authorised agencies. The PM revealed that the government is considering
piloting a land bank and land use market, together with setting up some
insurance funds for agriculture to support farmers. The State Bank of Vietnam
(SBV) has devised a credit package worth VNĐ50 trillion for high-tech and
clean agriculture production, which has been assigned to the Bank for
Agriculture. The PM requested the SBV to create a favourable lending
mechanism and allow more commercial banks to disburse the package. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
01/05/2017 Bright Prospects Seen for Digital
Banking Nguyễn Thanh Trúc in District 1 has just
paid her monthly electricity bills via internet banking. “I have used the
service for more than one year. This is a very convenient service and helps
me save time from going to electricity bill collection points,” she said. In
fact, more and more Vietnamese consumers are turning to computers,
smartphones and tablets to do business with their banks. They have opted to
make deposits online or online payments of electricity and water bills and
even buy gold on their smartphones, according to experts. There is huge
potential to develop digital banking in Việt Nam. According to a report
discussed at a workshop held recently in HCM City, Việt Nam posts an internet
growth rate of 9 per cent a year, ranking 15th in the world. The number of
internet users accounts for 52 per cent of the country’s population. About 44
per cent of customers at commercial banks have used digital services. The
fourth industrial revolution and Government policy to encourage credit card
payment instead of cash have enlarged digital banking potential in the
country. In the past, along with growth in internet and mobile device use,
commercial banks in Việt Nam have been expanding and developing internet
banking on mobile devices to offer better services to customers. To attract customers to use the
Internet and mobile banking services, banks have launched promotions.
LienVietPostBank, for instance, discounts 30 per cent of the transaction
value to customers who pay bills for TV services or discounts VNĐ20,000 to
customers who pay electricity or water bills using Ví Việt app until January
31. Similarity, at Viet Capital Bank, customers using the Payoo app to pay
their TV bills of HanoiCab and MyTV Cần Thơ will be given back 30 per cent of
the transaction value until January 31. Many banks, including VietinBank and
VPBank, are offering bonus interest rates to customers who make online
deposits. Banking finance expert Cấn Văn Lực said technology is the key to
shorten the distance between banks and customers as well as help save big
costs compared to traditional transaction methods. "Banks themselves
also understand that if they do not invest in digital technology, they will
be left behind. Customers today can actively perform transactions anytime,
anywhere, via computer or smartphone with all types of products and services
that they can conduct at a traditional banking branch," Lực said. A general director of a joint stock
bank, who did not want to be named, said: “A digital banking project can cost
some millions of US dollars, but in the long-term, this investment is still
cheaper than expanding branch networks.” Faster, more convenient and more
secure electronic payment transactions were the targets that commercial banks
were aiming for in the digital banking competition, he said. Lực said digital
banking was certainly going to be a new way of banking for all banks.
Transactions using digital technology would contribute 40 per cent of banking
revenue in 2018, up 32 per cent compared to 2014, he said. "One of the
factors in developing digital banking is to build trust and confidence among
consumers about the security of online transactions," he added. Online shopping boom Online shopping has been popular
worldwide and Việt Nam is keeping up with the trend thanks to its active
Internet use, according to a recent KPMG International’s survey. Chong Kwang
Puay, managing partner and consumer markets lead of KPMG in Việt Nam and
Cambodia, said with its high Internet penetration rate, Việt Nam would see
online shopping surge soon. According to the survey, 18 per cent of consumers
in Việt Nam and Cambodia purchased goods from an online-only retailer, such
as Amazon, Lazada and Nhommua. Some 10 per cent purchased from the website of
a retail shop, and only 3 per cent purchased directly from a manufacturer or
brand’s website. The number one reason consumers gave for shopping online is
the convenience of shopping. This is followed by having the ability to
compare prices, or to find online sales or better deals. To gain consumer
trust, companies and brands are recommended to improve online security and
privacy protection. Most respondents (26.5 per cent) consider customer data
and information protection to be of utmost importance, and 20.4 per cent
consider food and product safety as the most important attributes. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
01/23/2017 First Mobile Banking for the Poor
Launched The Việt Nam Bank for Social Policies
(VBSP) on Thursday launched a mobile banking service designed to improve the
access of disadvantaged people. The project, which is supported by the
Australian Government’s Business Partnerships Platform, aims to increase
access to a full range of financial services for low-income households, especially
women-led micro-enterprises that lack access to traditional banking services.
The project will be implemented in co-operation between VBSP, Mastercard and
the Asian Foundation over three years. Improving access to financial services
is increasingly recognised as key to creating greater economic opportunities
for the poor. Unfortunately, in addition to credit, abour two-thirds of
Vietnamese people, particularly in rural areas, are disconnected from other
formal banking services. This is partly due to the high cost of operating
bank branches in remote areas where small frequent transactions are the norm.
Việt Nam has undergone a rapid evolution in information and communications
technology with telecommunications networks covering almost the entire country
and adults owning mobile phones. However, the use of mobile technology for
financial transactions is relatively rare and cash transactions remain
pervasive. “The project will help poor and
near-poor households and other social policy beneficiaries to access
sustainable and effective financial services, contributing to alleviating
poverty and connecting the poor with the economy,” said Hoàng Minh Tế, VBSP’s
deputy director. He said applying new technology is in line with the
Government’s socio-economic development strategy for the 2011-20 period. This
will also be one of tools to diversify the bank’s products and services as
well as increasing its efficiency in order to serve an increasing number of
customers. VBSP will send account-related information via SMS texts to
clients, thus improving transparency and reducing delinquency rates. The bank
will pilot mobile banking for customers to make its transaction procedures
automatic. “We want to make a real difference in reducing powerty and
ensuring that poor people have access to financial system. Lessons drawn from
other markets have shown that digital payments are cheaper, more efficient
and ultimately more sustainable,” said Arn Vogels, chief representative of
Mastercard Indochina. Being a specialised and the biggest State-owned
financial institution, the bank has provided financial services, especially
loans to help reduce poverty and achieve social targets effectively. VBSP’s
strength is a nationwide network of 63 branches, 629 transaction offices, nearly
200,000 savings and credit groups in more than 11,000 communes. It serves
nearly seven million customers with total outstanding loans of VNĐ157
trillion. Nearly 80 per cent of the debtors live in rural and remote areas. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
02/17/2017 Da Nang to Boost IT Training,
Manpower Đà Nẵng’s IT and communications
sector is facing a serious shortfall in manpower, as colleges and training
centres are only able to supply a fifth of the human resources needed for
businesses operating in the city. The pressing issue was discussed at a
seminar on human resources training in the IT sector on Wednesday. The
shortage also proves to be a major obstacle for efforts to lure large technology
investment. “Đà Nẵng has 700 IT businesses, of which 250 are software
companies, with human resources expansion of 25 to 30 per cent each year.
However, colleges and training centres in the city are only able to provide
20 per cent of the requirement, while the remaining staff have to be
recruited from other provinces and cities nationwide,” director of the city’s
Information and Communications department, Nguyễn Quang Thanh said. “The
city’s Technology college – a major source of IT manpower – enrolled 3,000
students, but only 300 trainees in the field of IT each year. This has been a
continuing issue since 2010,” Thanh said. He added that IT education centres
should focus on practical skills rather than just theoretical learning. According to Nguyễn Thanh Bình, head
of Đà Nẵng’s Technology college’s IT faculty, 80 per cent of IT students were
able to find jobs three months after graduation, and they almost all secured
stable jobs after one year. Nguyễn Tuấn Phương, director of Đà Nẵng FPT
Software company, said the company employed 500 people, of which 100 were
from Đà Nẵng, last year. “We need a huge amount of manpower for our big
projects every year, but the city’s education system has not yet supplied
enough for us. We had to compete against other companies in recruiting
post-graduate students from colleges,” Phương said. “We almost always
re-educate them [post-graduated students] for our current jobs,” he said. FPT
Software Đà Nẵng has a staff of 2,000, of which two thirds were from Đà Nẵng’s
Technology College, while a third was from Hà Nội-based Technology college.
According to Nguyễn Tất Khôi, deputy head of Đà Nẵng’s Technology College’s
IT faculty, here needs to be an exchange between businesses and human
resource training centres to provide eligible employees for the IT sector. He
said the IT curriculum at colleges should be developed in line with the
market and employment needs of enterprises. Fast-track model Phúc Chung Kiên, from FPT College,
said the college would introduce its own fast-track education model that
could provide qualified IT students with a four-term course in 16 or 20
months. “We aim to educate students with a quick course for the increasing
human resource demands of IT businesses. Students could enjoy a more practical
education and self-educated skills as well as studying at work places with
senior IT engineers,” Kiên said. “Students can easily choose the most
suitable education period from our nine-term course. We offer various
opportunities for students to improve their skills and knowledge so they can
be successfully recruited by employers,” he said. According to Hoàng Nam Tiến,
chairman of FPT Software company, the company employs 3,000 people each year
in order to provide enough manpower for domestic and international projects.
“Our company has 10,000 employees, of which 1,300 are working at subsidiaries
in 19 countries worldwide. We have a target of recruiting 30,000, with
revenue of US$1 billion in 2020,” Tiến said. “Almost all education centres in Việt
Nam have not yet caught up with global development trends as well as the
latest technology. That’s the reason that we ask for an efficient and
effective training course to meet the demand of human resources growth,” he
said. Nguyễn Thành Nam, deputy chairman of FPT College, said IT students
could find jobs at FPT Groups’ companies after a four-term training course
leading to an FPT College qualification. “They [students] could either work
for FPT Group or choose further education at FPT College. We are ready for
collaboration with other colleges in speeding up qualified education to fill
the IT human resource deficiency in Đà Nẵng and Việt Nam as well,” Nam said.
He added that there it would only take a small change at current colleges to
apply the FPT College’s fast-track education model. At the conference, FPT
College inked an agreement on IT human resource training for FPT Software Đà
Nẵng, and the enrolment will begin this April. Last year, FPT Software company
started its 10,000-Bridge Software Engineer (BrSE) programme in order to
boost its presence in the Japanese market by 2020. According to FPT Software,
23.3 per cent of Japanese businesses choose Việt Nam as the second outsourced
service provider in the world. Japan needs 60,000 IT engineers by 2020, of
which 10,000 will come from Việt Nam and India. FPT Software has opened
branches in the United States, France, Japan and Singapore, as well as
Malaysia, HCM City, Cần Thơ and Đà Nẵng. In 2015, FPT Software acquired RWE
IT Slovakia – a subsidiary of the RWE Group in Eastern Europe – to strengthen
its global delivery capabilities in Europe, as well as to turn RWE IT
Slovakia into a future FPT Slovakia, a member of the FPT family. Last year,
FPT Group also debuted the Information Technology (IT) Service Centre, FPT
Complex, in Đà Nẵng to provide office space for 3,200 IT employees in the
first stage and 10,000 engineers in the second stage. From http://vietnamnews.vn/
02/18/2017 |
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INDIA:
Internet Penetration - Making Sense of the Numbers Three different sets of data are available on
internet penetration and use in India – from TRAI, from the census and from
IAMAI-IMRB. But even read together the data fails to provide a comprehensive
picture of digital inclusion in India.The absence of meaningful data cannot be
overemphasized as we set out to achieve Digital India goals. The first four
headlines that the internet search engine Google spits out when you type
‘internet use India’ are ‘Internet users in India to cross 300 mn by Dec:
Report’, ‘India to have 213 million mobile Internet users by June: IAMAI-IMRB
report’, ‘India will have 40m new mobile internet users in 6 months’ and
‘India to have more internet users than US by December end: IAMAI’. When you
take a look at the datelines, they are November 19, 2014 and January 13 and
14, 2015. The source for all the stories is the same – a research jointly
conducted by an industry body, Internet and Mobile Association of India
(IAMAI), and a market research agency, IMRB International. The first pit
stop, in these days of internet-based research,for finding out just how many
people in India, or in any city in the country, are on the internet is, then,
this report. The additional benefit that this report offers is that, as an
annual exercise, it offers comparative data. But, before sharing the data it
delivers, let us understand how it arrives at this data. The report relies on sampling the population. It
samples the population in 35 cities and also has a separate section on rural
India. Since our interest is in the cities, primarily Pune and for some
comparative purposes the seven other large metros, we will try to understand
the data from these cities. Once the cities are selected, the sampling method
used is called quota sampling. A quota sample is, as any basic research
textbook will tell you, a nonprobability sample or one that is not
representative of the entire population. Such methods are not the best to
generalise to the population. However, by choosing randomly within each of
the sections (quotas), the validity can become more robust, which is what the
report says the researchers have done. The quotas used for this research were
households from SEC A, B, C, D, and E. Now SEC,or Socio-Economic
Classification, is a form of market segmentation that uses education of the
chief earner and ownership of 11 consumer durables to divide or segment the
population. This classification is primarily used as a yardstick by the media
industry when it tries to reach out to advertisers. The actual stretch is
from SEC A1 all the way to SEC E3 (A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, D2, E1, E2
and E3. It should be noted that while it is called Socio-Economic, it is
primarily an economic classification since the ownership of consumer durables
is the primary yardstick mapped to the education of the chief earner in the
household. The assumption behind the naming, presumably, is that possession
of consumer durables and the education of the chief earner are valid proxies
for social indicators.). So when we look at the data below, we need to remember
that the population is sampled in proportionto the spread of these segments
in the general population. Unlike the 2012 and 2013 reports, the 2014
Internet in India report does not tell us the actual sample size.
Understanding the method used is one part of understanding the research
report. The other important part that concerns us is what
the people were asked. So there are two labels that we need to understand:
Claimed Users and Active Users. Claimed Users, the report tells us, are those
who replied with a‘yes’ to the question: Have they used theinternet ever (on
a PC, mobile phone, tablet). The Active Internet User is one who answered
‘Yes’ to each of the following three questions: Have they used a PC?Have they
used the internet ever (on a PC, mobile phone, tablet)?Have they accessed the
internet in the last one month (on a PC, mobile phone, tablet)?One of the
challenges of doing research can be seen in how the active user is defined.
If you ask a young urban man or woman whether s/he is active on the internet
and then ask what the term ‘active’ means in this context, s/he might reply
that it means checking Facebook at least three times a day. For another
person, getting on the internet once a week to check email may be active. But
for this study, a person who has accessed the internet once in the last one
month is active. From http://www.infochangeindia.org 12/03/2016 First Successful Campaign Using Big
Data and Analytics in India It is believed Big Data Analytics
gained prominence in the country during main national opposition party
Bharatiya Janata Party’s parliamentary election campaign of 2014. It was one
of the most data-savvy campaigns that India witnessed in recent times. Using
Big Data, 144 million people were virtually connected to ‘Elect Modi
Campaign’. This campaign used social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter
and Google plus in a major way. BJP partnered with IT and analytics firms,
such as SAP, Oracle, InMobi, and PwC to get real-time updates and analysis
during the elections which enabled them to react faster to any controversies
in real time. Further, to drive their campaign, they planted cookies on all
computers that visited the BJP website. After that they extracted information
about their visitors’ further internet activity, for customised
advertisements. In addition, so as to get support of lower income group and
farmers the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s campaigning team
initiated programmes like ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ through live interactions. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi launched the Digital India programme to ensure
availability of government services to citizens electronically by improving
online infrastructure and increasing internet connectivity. Since then the
government has developed various digital platforms and launched many
initiatives such as MyGov, DigiLocker, Digital India, National Scholarship
portal, Aadhar card, and Jan Dhan Yojna to connect with the citizens through
websites, mobiles and smartphones and encourage citizens to be a part of
discussions, suggestions and volunteering for various causes. Some of these
portals such as MyGov also keeps them updated on the status of their
suggestions. Also, as a part of the ‘Digital India’ programme, common
Biometric Attendance System has been implemented in the government offices to
collect data on the attendance of the employees. “We developed PM Modi’s dream
application called ‘MyGov’, which is a crowdsourcing platform which creates a
direct connection between the Government and citizens, allows people to
contribute towards government decision-making, policies and good governance,”
said Amit Singha, Head of eGovernance Division, Indus Net Technologies.
Another example of the support of analytics is the Department of Science and
Technology initiated programme to promote Big Data Science, Technology and
Applications for fostering research. They grant financial support for research
and development projects, national level conferences, workshops, seminars and
for the establishment of Center for Excellence in Big Data Analytics,
predictive technologies, cyber security etc. Department of Science and
Technology has announced plans to take Big Data research forward in the
Indian context, including financial support for teams taking up such
projects. However, continuous effort is required for a long period before
some success stories of big data studies and their results can be prominently
visible in various spheres of life. “The government should go for setting up
two or three big data centers and ask the organisations under it to host
their data, leveraging cloud for more agile doing things,” said AS Rajgopal,
MD and CEO of NxtGen Datacenter and Cloud Technologies Pvt Ltd. “Any large
facility can be created in a few hundred crores. This way the government
would benefit more.” Big Data and analytics will play a predominant role in
transformation by way of cloud, mobile technology that gather data for the
purpose of ascertaining and accordingly addressing concerns of people. The
latest to join the analytics sector is the National Payments Corporation of
India with the launch of a unified payment interface that allows customers to
send and receive money through smart phones without revealing their bank
account details. Transactions can be done through Aadhaar number, mobile
number or virtual payment address. The DigiLocker, which is quite
fool-proof taking into account the insecurities regarding losing data, acts
as an important facility to store crucial documents in the cloud system. This
system can store documents like voter ID card, pan card, BPL card, driving
license, education certificates etc. The initiative is implemented to create
‘digital empowerment’ among the masses. The digital storage system acts as a
helping hand in providing data to government agencies, departments, and
applying for different jobs. The numerous physical documents can be a huge
administrative burden. The DigiLocker system helps in reducing the burden
both for the department and the citizen. Another major advantage of this
system is that one can e-sign the documents and have a monopoly over 10 MB
personal space which might be increased to 1 GB if need be. Since the data
will be a part of the personal account, it ensures privacy. Moreover, for
those who do not have a Unique Identification Number, e-Aadhaar can be
downloaded from the DigiLocker portal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Soil
Health Card is an initiative intended to provide valuable data, benefiting
the national food security. It looks similar schemes are required for other
national natural resources as well, such as monitoring (underground and
surface) water availability, usage, and its conservation in India, rainfall
harvesting activities and potential, land and its (current and possible)
usage across the country, forest areas monitoring, wildlife data, air quality
data from cities, wind farming potential, and so on. On the human development index front,
monitoring of diet and health data (including disease spread and control,
vaccinations, etc), levels and adequacy of nutrition intakes in society,
education (availability and usage), transport (needs, trends, and
consumption), electricity (generation, distribution, shortages, losses, etc),
provide scope for exploiting big data applications for big gains. The Central
and State Governments stand to gain a lot by joint planning, collection,
sharing, and analysis of Big Data to develop appropriate talent development
plans for future, planned farming to avoid over and under production in a
season leading to excess or shortage, and similar other schemes. The
Government of India is on a mission to develop 109 cities across the country
as citizen-friendly and sustainable. The Union Ministry of Urban Development
is responsible for implementing the mission in collaboration with the state
governments of the respective cities. The vision is to drive economic growth
and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local area development
and harnessing technology that leads to smart outcomes and smart solutions so
that the cities capitalise on information and data to transform operations
and the mechanism of service delivery. “Indus Net Technology was associated
with ‘New Town Rajarhat’ and created the most awaited Indian first smart city
mobile application (New Town Smart City Application) and brought New Town
Rajarhat into digital media with mass level audience reach with the help of
Digital Marketing,” said Amit Singha, Head of eGovernance division, Indus Net
Technologies. It looks Big Data and analytics will play a predominant role in
such a transformation by way of cloud, mobile technology and other social
technologies that gather data for the purpose of ascertaining and
accordingly, addressing concerns of people and increase the level of their
engagement to culminate these plans successfully. From http://www.egovonline.net/ 12/07/2016 Chhattisgarh Ranks First in Cashless Transaction Training
In the Digital Financial Literacy Programme organised in
Chhattisgarh, more than 4 lakh 70 thousand people have been provided training
in cashless transactions in last 10 days. CHiPS CEO Alex Paul Menon informed
that Central Government had given the target of providing training to three
lakh 89 thousand 360 people in 9734 Gram Panchayats of Chhattisgarh by
December 31, whereas more than 5 lakh 20 thousand people have been trained in
cashless transactions to date. Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh has praised and
congratulated the officials and employees of CHiPS as well as all the people
who have supported the training programme, for this achievement. Menon informed that in his address to the Master Trainer
Financial Literacy Training Workshop organised by CHiPS on December 9, 2016,
Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh had expressed the belief that Chhattisgarh will
become the leading state in providing training under Digital Financial
Literacy Programme. Dr Raman Singh has given the target of training more than
10 lakh people of State. To achieve this target, more 4 lakh 70 thousand
people are being trained in 10 days by Grameen Lok Sevak, appointed by CHiPS. It is noteworthy that Chhattisgarh has always been
pro-active in adopting new technology. When Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana
was launched, more than one crore people did not have bank accounts.
Chhattisgarh Government, with cooperation of public, has opened Jan-Dhan bank
accounts of nearly 90 lakh people. Aadhar cards have been issued to nearly 96
per cent people of state. According to the database of this website, Chhattisgarh has
provided training to maximum number of people, in comparison to other states.
After Chhattisgarh, more than one lakh 72 thousand have been trained in
cashless transactions in Uttar Pradesh and more than one lakh 55 thousand
people have been trained in Odisha. On this website, district-wise details of
trainings provided are also available. Visit the link below for cashless
transaction training related information of all the state Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh personally visited the
busiest Malviya Road market and made cashless payments in the capital to
promote Digital payment. Dr Raman Singh also dedicated ‘Smart Bazaar-Smart
Raipur’ at the Jaistambh Chowk Ravi Bhawan. There are 530 shops located
at the Ravi Bhawan and the consumers are provided with POS, UPIA and other
modes of cashless digital payments. The shopkeepers welcomed the Chief
Minister with warmth at the shopping centre. Dr Raman Singh
purchased a cover for his favourite mobile phone. He bought a pen and a
packet of ‘namkeen’ at the centre. He congratulated the shop-keepers for
joining the cashless mode of payments. Dr. Raman Singh added that after
several years he had the opportunity of purchasing items of his choice. Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh also dedicated Raipur
Municipal Corporation App ‘More Raipur’. The citizens can obtain details of
payments of municipal body via this App. He presented certificates – Digital
Army Ambassadors- to eight candidates. Dr Raman Singh
walked along the Malviya Road and called upon the citizens to adopt cashless
transactions. There is no need for cash anymore. MLA (Raipur-North) Sreechand
Sundrani, Chamber of Commerce Chairperson Amar Parwani, corporators,
office-bearers of business organisations, along with Chief Minister’s Joint
Secretary Rajat Kumar, Raipur Collector OP Chowdhary, Municipal Corporation
Commissioner Rajat Bansal and a large number of citizens were also present. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 12/20/2016 India to Host ‘Global
Conference on Cyber Space’ Next Year
India will host the fifth Global Conference on Cyber Space
(GCCS) next year.GCCS is one of the world’s largest conferences on cyber
security and related cyber space issues. The formal handing
over the GCCS was done by Alphonsus Stoelinga, Ambassador of Netherlands to
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Electronics and IT, India. Government
delegations, industry leaders, academia and civil society from over 100
countries will participate in this event. The invitation
to India for hosting the 2017 GCCS is a global recognition of the country as
an influential player in global cyber space. GCCS will
concentrate and deliberate on issues relating to promotion of cooperation in
cyberspace, norms for responsible behavior in cyberspace and to enhance cyber
capacity building. GCCS is a major international conference which was started
in 2011. The previous conferences were held in London, UK (2011),
Budapest, Hungary (2012), Seoul, South Korea (2013) and The Hague, The
Netherlands (2015). Nearly 100 countries and most major international
organizations participated in GCCS 2015. This conference
is an opportunity to showcase the “Digital India” programme as a positive,
sustainable and scalable model for use of ICTs for addressing developmental
challenges and growth opportunities. From http://egov.eletsonline.com 12/21/2016 IT
Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad Presents
Digital India Awards 2016
Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology
and Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad presented ‘Digital India Awards’ to
the distinguished winners here in New Delhi. The Government of India has
initiated the ambitious programme of Digital India on its axiom of ‘Minimum
Government and Maximum Governance’. To facilitate Government of India’s
effort to promote and uphold the use of World Wide Web for enhancing
efficiency and transparency of Government Machinery and encouraging its
speedy transition towards Digital India. National
Informatics Centre (NIC), under the ambit of India Portal
(http://india.gov.in) organised the first edition of Digital India Awards. Digital innovation along with E-Governance initiatives of
Government Ministries and Departments across India were evaluated under
various categories. Three awards Platinum, Gold and Silver were presented in
each category to the winners shortlisted from the nominations received under
each category. The categories included Exemplary Online Service, Open Data
Champion, Most Innovative Citizen Engagement, Outstanding Digital Initiative
by Local body, Best Mobile App, Web Ratna – Ministry/ Department, Web Ratna –
State/ UT, Web Ratna-District. In the Exemplary Online Service Category
Platinum Award was bagged by VYAS- VarnijYakar Automation System for
Department of Commercial Taxes, Uttar Pradesh, followed by E-permit,
Commercial tax department, Gujarat and One Stop Clearance System, Punjab
Bureau of Investment Promotion winning the Gold and Silver award
respectively. In the Open Data Champion Category Platinum Award was won
by Office of the Registrar General, India. The Health and Family Welfare and
Directorate of Marketing & Inspection won the Gold Award. The Silver award
was bagged by the Rajya Sabha and National Crime Records Bureau. For Most Innovative Citizen Engagement, MyGov won the
Platinum Award. Online Management, Monitoring and Accounting System (OMMAS)
for Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana (PMGSY) won the Gold Award. The Silver
Award was won by Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation. The Jury Choice was
given to IT Initiatives of SimhasthKumbh, Ujjain. In the Outstanding Digital Initiative by Local Body Platinum
Award was bagged by Surat Municipal Corporation, followed by Greater
Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and Web and Mobile based Integrated
Complaint Logging and Resolution Tracking System – Madurai Corporation
winning the Gold and Silver award respectively. The Jury Choice
was given e-NagarSewaUP – Electronic Workflow based Reform for ULBs in Uttar
Pradesh. For Best Mobile App, Citizen Cop Mobile App Chhattisgarh
won the Platinum Award. Mid-Day Meal Mobile App, Himachal Pradesh won the
Gold Award. The Silver Award was won by GARV – GrameenVidyutikaran App
Ministry of Power.
For Web Ratna – Ministry / Department category, the
Platinum was bagged by Ministry of Human Resource Development, Gold by
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and Silver by Ministry of External
Affairs. For Web Ratna – State/ UT category the Platinum award has
been won by Rajasthan followed by Tamil Nadu and Haryana in the Gold and
Silver section respectively. For Web Ratna – District category the Platinum
award has been won by Website of Collectorate, North Goa, followed by
e-Governance friendly website & Initiatives of District Kupwara, J&K
and district administration Udham Singh Nagar website, Uttarakhand in the
Gold and Silver section respectively. A Compendium for Digital India Awards 2016 was also
released on this occasion. A comprehensive government services portal was
also launched by the PP Chaudhary on this occasion. The Minister of
State for Communications and Information Technology and Law and Justice PP
Chaudhary; Aruna Sundarrajan, Secretary,Ministry of Electronics &
Information Technology (MeitY); Principal Scientific Advisor R Chidambaram;
Ajay Kumar, Addl. Secretary, MeitY; Neeta Verma, DG, NIC; Alka Mishra, STD
and Senior officials from (MeitY), NIC, state and Central Senior dignitaries
were also present.
Digital India Awards plays a major role in recognising the
noteworthy and sustainable initiatives in the realm of e-Governance for
better delivery of information and services. At the same time Digital India
Awards have re-established itself as an important platform to disseminate
information about such path breaking initiatives, encouraging others to
customise and replicate the successful solutions. The Awards through its
unique initiative has contributed to the overall increase in quality and
quantity of web presence of various government departments across the
country. Most importantly, it has created an atmosphere for further
innovation in the web based services sphere promoting and encouraging
Government Departments/Ministries and States to come out with their best. From http://egov.eletsonline.com
12/21/2016 Digital
Economy
Is
Taking
India to a New Era “Digital economy is taking India to a new era”, said
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh while inaugurating the “Digi-Dhan”
mela organised at the Agricultural University here in Raipur. He further
added that Demonetisation is a great initiative taken by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to eradicate black money and corruption from the country’s
economy and demonetisation will show positive economic results in the New
Year. Both customers and shopkeepers are enthusiastic about using digital
modes of payment.
Chief Minister said that compensations under MNREGA and
under other social welfare schemes would be revolutionised. Also, the use of
Aadhar Card and Fingerprint will curtail any possibility of leakages in the
payments. Dr Singh also announced that PDS shops in five districts,
Raipur, Balod, Dhamtari, Rajnandgaon and Raigarh would be completely cashless
by 31st March 2017. He further added that more than 11 lakh farmers
holding Kisan Credit Card would be provided with a RuPay card. Cashless
transaction facilitation will be provided at 5000 locations via Lok Seva
Guaruntee Kendras and Common Service Centers. Fifty people in every panchayat
will be trained on Cashless transactions. For this, a “Digital Army” is being
created in the state. The Chief Minister said that a new environment
is evident in the country with Prime Minister promoting cashless
transactions. This will surely show positive results in the economy and in
the lives of villagers, farmers and laborers. The enthusiasm with which the
Govt., Banks, telecom operators and public are promoting Digital
transactions, soon Chhattisgarh will be a hub of Digital payments. Dr Singh also added that Chhattisgarh has successfully
compensated 11 lakh farmers in a speedy and transparent manner using Digital
payment methods. Most people are now using smartcards and swipe machines for
health treatments under Mukhyamantri Swastha Bima Yojana. The Chief Minister
said that robust planning has been done to enable digital payments in the
state and Seva Kendras at Panchayat level are being equipped for digital
transactions. These measures have been successfully implemented and tested in
Balrampur District. The Chief Minister also praised the enthusiasm and
excitement with which the trade unions and Chhattisgarh Chamber of Commerce
members have been promoting. The Union Minister for Panchayat and Rural
Development Narendra Singh Tomar talked about the exponential growth in
Digital trade in coming years, in his address. Very soon, India will reach
its destination to become a cashless economy. Tomar talked about the
demonetisation of 86 per cent of country´s currency and preparations to solve
the technical challenges in the implementation. Tomar said that the historic
Demonisation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi would put an end to Black
Economy, Naxalism and Terrorism financing and make India self-dependent on
many things. Indian budget is close to Rs 25 Lakh Crore rupees and every year
a huge sum has to be loaned to keep the country going. Demonetisation will
help increasing tax revenue and the banks will be stronger. This will
directly benefit the citizens of this country. Union Minister of Steel Vishnu Dev Sai said that
businessmen, customers and public, all would be benefited by the historic
decision. In the “Digi-Dhan” Mela, the Chief Minister, Union Minister
and other dignitaries drew a lucky draw from Lucky Grahak Yojana, Digidhan
Vyapar Yojana and RuPay card yojana to promote digital transactions. Chief Minister also launched “Mor Khisa” app in this event.
This app is a single platform for various digital payments. 5 Kisan Credit
cardholder farmers were given RuPay cards. Two of the winners (out of 25),
Manoj Agrawal and Arvind Nayar, were made Brand Ambassadors. To encourage
digital payments, Poster, Slogan and Jingle competition were organised and
winners were given prizes. Dignitaries present at the function were Water
Resources Minister Brijmohan Agrawal, Women and Child Development Minister
Ramshila Sahu, Aarang MLA Navin Markandey. CG State Sahkari Bank (Apex Bank)
President Ashok Bajaj, Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand, IT and Electronics Deptt.
Principal Secretary Aman Singh, CG Ranji Team Captain Mohammed Kaif, IT
Secretary Sanjay Shukla, Raipur Collector O P Chaudhary, CHIPS CEO Alex Paul
Menon and many representatives of Trade Unions and Chamber of Commerce. From http://egov.eletsonline.com
01/03/2017 India Uniquely Positioned to Benefit from Cloud in 2017
From http://www.siliconindia.com/ 02/06/2017 Embracing Cloud Can Help India Master Digital Era India is poised to become the
world's leading market for Cloud, and for US software major Oracle, Cloud is
a force-multiplier that the country must embrace to leapfrog into the digital
era, a top company executive has said.India is uniquely positioned to benefit
from Cloud-based solutions for three reasons. First, there are more than 200
million connected mobile users -- with 100 million on social media -- in the
country; this is an essential building block for a shift to
Cloud."Secondly, the e-commerce willingness in this market. Lastly,
India has the largest IT service businesses in the world across SIs (systems
integrators) and they are now looking at adjacent revenue streams like the
Cloud to take cost out," Shailender Kumar, Managing Director, Oracle
India, told IANS.
To alleviate data security fears, the
company recently announced the "Oracle Cloud at Customer"
solution."The announcement strengthens our play in the market because companies
(including those bound by regulatory pressures), can now leverage the Cloud
and speed up their business transformation with complete control over their
data," Kumar said."Oracle Cloud at Customer" equips
organisations to reap all of the benefits of the Cloud -- agility, simplicity
and subscription pricing -- at their data centres and behind their firewall,
providing access to the latest Cloud innovations."While there are
concerns around data security in the country, a lot of the technologists in the
country are quite skilled and are aware of what needs to be done. By
following practices such as segregation of duties, on-disk encryption, data
redaction and robust identity management, India can tackle security
constraints," Kumar pointed out.The real security issue is when
customers take older products that were not built for the internet, rack them
and put them on the Internet. This makes those products vulnerable."But
sometimes, security is also used as a reason to avoid change because shifting
to the Cloud involves change. Though worrying, companies that adopt the Cloud
can emerge as winners," Kumar added. From http://news.siliconindia.com 02/10/2017 PAKISTAN: 3G/4G Can Transform Insurance
Sector
There is a vast potential for insurers to cater to
evolving customer demands, as rising 3G/4G penetration in the country has
paved the way fro insurance companies to offer services through mobile
applications, said Arshad Iqbal, deputy general manger, head of life
operations at EFU Life Assurance Limited. In
Pakistan, with the advent of 3G/4G technology, the number of mobile Internet
users has risen sharply over the past couple of years, while out of the total
broadband subscribers; a majority of them use Internet services on their cell
phones. "I feel that the most useful utilisation of this
technology (3G/4G) is an app that can provide clients with handy access to
all relevant pieces of information relating to their policies. The app should
ensure that they (users) can immediately access all policy related
information any time anywhere on live basis", he said. Making suggestions and recommendations in the latest
annual report of the Federal Insurance Ombudsman Pakistan, Iqbal stated that
the concept of up-selling and cross-selling via online mediums should be
adopted by insurance companies to ensure that the concept of insurance
penetrates well into the market, and that individuals find it easy and quick
to buy insurance policies. He said that ease
of paying premium could be provided by introducing new payment solutions that
should aim at easing the process of premium collection via credit cards by
accepting the payment anywhere - even at clients' doorstep. Despite a large
number of mobile users in the country, only 12 to 15 percent avail
conventional banking options, which means that a large chunk of people are
out of the financial net. "This situation creates a huge market for
branchless banking or mobile banking," he added. "Introduction of payment via easypaisa provides easy
means of transferring and receiving money without availing conventional
banking options and can be utilised by insurance industry for transfer of
premiums. Point of Sale (PoS) is yet another development that could be
capitalised by the insurance companies. The POS will allow insurance
companies to issue policies right away. Introduction of the POS will save
time for all parties involved." He continued:
"In this regard, the National Database and Registration Authority
(NADRA)'s biometric access control system will allow the insurance industry
to have a high level of security and quick respond to likely frauds at the
time of claim settlement." "Further,
insurance companies can also take benefit from big data analytics to uncover
market trends, customer preferences and other useful business information.
This will in turn provide us the opportunity to carry out more effective and
targeted marketing. Social media can also be utilised to gather customer-related
information and their feedback to improve services." "To ensure that everyone in the country has the
benefit of life insurance, micro-insurance can be our future. Keeping in mind
the economic situation of our country, micro-insurance will aid low-income
class by offering insurance plants tailored to their needs," concluded
Iqbal. From http://dailytimes.com.pk
12/26/2016 |
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AZERBAIJAN: Bakutel 2016 Int’l ICT Exhibition
Kicks Off in Baku Bakutel 2016, the 22nd Azerbaijan
International Exhibition and Conference on Telecommunications and Information
Technologies kicked off Nov. 29 in Baku. Every year for over 20 years,
Bakutel, the largest exhibition in the region, has been bringing together
leading players of the communications market. As the main arena for
presenting IT products and services, Bakutel has acquired status as the main
business platform where contacts are made and new businesses are created.
Official support to the Bakutel 2016 exhibition is provided by the Ministry
of Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The
National Confederation of Entrepreneurs’ (Employers') Organizations of the
Azerbaijan Republic and the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion
Foundation (AZPROMO) are also among the local establishments that support
this exhibition in Azerbaijan. The international prestige of Bakutel is well
proved by the support of the international industry institutions, including
the United Nations (UN), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU),
Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC), as well as by the
quality mark from the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI). This year Austria, Belarus, Iran,
Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Turkey, Croatia and France are showcasing
the leading companies, innovation projects, and organize the presentation of
ICT products and services at their national stands. More than 200 companies
from Azerbaijan, Germany, Israel, Russia, Turkey and other countries have
been brought together for Bakutel 2016. Forty percent of exhibitors are
regular exhibitors. There are leading ICT companies, mobile operators,
communications operators, internet providers, system integrators, and
distributors of well-known brands among exhibitors. The exhibition features
national stands from a number of countries, actively supported by the
Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of
Azerbaijan. Thus, the pavilion of the Ministry of Communication will present
the innovations in post, communication and “e-government”. Presentations of
such projects as “Audio library for visually impaired children” and
“Digitalization of museums” “Google Art Project” and also start-up projects
will be made at the event. At the same time, a number of conferences and
forums will be held on the side-lines of the exhibition. Thus, Bakutel, as
the main industry event, is long awaited in Azerbaijan’s ICT industry. In
addition to business meetings and talks, all visitors and exhibitors will be
able to participate in competitions and quizzes, and get various surprises. From http://en.trend.az/
11/29/2016 KAZAKHSTAN: To Focus on Development of Digital
Technologies Kazakhstan will focus on development of
the industrial sectors that are connected to the use of digital technologies,
President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in his annual address to the country’s
people. "It is necessary to develop such promising spheres as 3D
printing, online commerce, mobile banking, digital services, including in
healthcare, education and so on," Nazarbayev said. The president ordered
the government to work out and adopt a program titled "Digital
Kazakhstan". “The development of the digital industry will give an
impetus to all other sectors,” the president said. “Therefore, the government
must keep the development of IT under special control.” He also instructed
the government to establish the International IT Start-Up Technopark. “The
Technopark must become a platform for attracting entrepreneurs and investors
from various countries,” Nazarbayev said. “Appropriate infrastructure and
favorable conditions are needed for it.” From http://en.trend.az/
01/31/2017 Uzbekistan and South Korea to Cooperate in
Broadcasting The information technology ministry
received Korea Communication Commission Vice Chair Kim Jae-hong on February
14. The guest was told about conventional and digital broadcasting in
Uzbekistan. During the meeting, the sides discussed cooperation in various
spheres. The Korea Communication Committee is a state body regulating
broadcasting and communications and protecting consumers and media
independence. From http://news.uzreport.uz/
02/15/2017 |
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AUSTRALIA: ATO Says Long Way to Go
Before IT Systems Stable As it works with its hardware vendor
Hewlett Packard Enterprise to fix the problems, it has also warned the public
that as traffic returns to the site, the increased traffic may cause issues
for customers. "We appreciate the community's patience today as there
will be increased traffic through our systems as people start to use them
again," the ATO said this morning. In a media release, the ATO said it
had done what it could to restore priority services "and acknowledge
there is a significant amount of work to stabilise our IT environment and
bring remaining applications back online". It said that it had restored
access to its tax agent portal, BAS portal and business agent portal.
"We are also working to restore system and application related data that
was affected by the outage. Once again, no taxpayer data has been lost.
"Our priority focus today is on restoring systems that process refunds,
and we will fast-track refunds where we can in the lead-up to
Christmas." Monday's events led to a total outage and though the ATO
claimed on Tuesday evening that the site was back online, this did not
reflect the reality. From http://www.itwire.com 12/15/2016 Magnets Could Be 'Smaller, Cheaper,
More Agile' Than Fibre Optics A new discovery made by researchers
at the Australian National University could shape the future of
communications technology. The future of communications could lie in magnets
and liquid crystals with properties modified by light, according to a
discovery made by researchers at the Australian National University (ANU). A
team at the ANU Research School of Physics and Engineering (RSPE) was able to
use a magnetic field to stimulate nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) and control
the angular steering of light beams carrying data. "Through
reorientation, the molecular distribution of NLCs can be modified by the
electric field of light, permitting functional operations and supporting
self-localized light beams or spatial optical solitons," it states in a
research paper published in Nature Communications. This new data processing
method promises to be "smaller, cheaper and more agile than fibre
optics", according to ANU. Existing communication technologies
require the ability to precisely direct information channels and use
electronic components for signal processing such as switching, which is not
as fast as light-based technology including fibre optics. Co-researcher Dr
Vladlen Shvedov from RSPE said the team's "touch-free magneto-optical
system" has the flexibility to remotely transfer a tiny optical signal
in any direction in real-time. "In the liquid crystal the light creates
a temporary channel to guide itself along, called a soliton, which is about
one-tenth the diameter of a human hair. That's about 25 times thinner than
fibre optics," added co-researcher Dr Yana Izdebskaya. "Developing
efficient strategies to achieve the robust control and steering of solitons
is one of the major challenges in light-based technologies." Izdebskaya
said that controlling solitons in liquid crystals had only been achieved by
applying voltage from inflexible electrodes. "Such systems have been
restricted by the configuration of electrodes in a thin liquid crystal layer.
Our new approach doesn't have this limitation and opens a way to full 3D
manipulations of light signals carried by solitons," Izdebskaya said.
Professor Wieslaw Krolikowski, who leads the research group, said the
technology will likely be applicable in sensors, data storage, and liquid
crystal displays. "Our discovery could lead to communications technology
that could power a new generation of efficient devices such as compact and
fast optical switches, routers and modulators," Krolikowski said. From http://www.zdnet.com 02/16/2017 NEW ZEALAND: Digital Divide Is Alive
and Well, Survey Finds InternetNZ has seized on the findings
of a comprehensive, long-term study of Internet usage in New Zealand to call
for more to be done to close the country’s digital divide. InternetNZ has
seized on the findings of a comprehensive, long-term study of Internet usage
in New Zealand to call for more to be done to close the country’s digital
divide. InternetNZ CEO, Jordan Carter said the study — which has tracked
Internet usage since 2007 — “Highlights positive steps but also indicates
areas that we still need to improve in order to get more people online. … We
are still concerned about the digital divides relating to household income,
location and ethnicity groups." The report, Internet Trends in New
Zealand 2007-2015, was prepared by Auckland University of Technology’s AUT
Institute of Culture, Discourse and Communication (ICDC). It compares
findings from the five World Internet Project New Zealand surveys, which were
compiled from more than 7000 questionnaires. According to ICDC, “[The study]
tracks key trends in how our online behaviour has altered over the past eight
years, across all major social groupings, and reveals how our daily
communication, consumer interactions and sources of news and information have
changed; in some cases, dramatically.” The study found many - but not all -
of the digital divides that exist on various demographic dimensions have
decreased somewhat between 2007 and 2015. “Divides within groups relating to
household income, area and ethnicity still exist, indicating the difficulty
in establishing a level playing field for all internet users,” ICDC said.
“The risk of people ‘missing out’ because they lack access and accessibility
to the Internet for a variety of reasons is still of concern, particularly
for basic activities such as banking, finding information or communicating
with others.” The executive director of the
project, AUT senior lecturer Dr Philippa Smith, said: “A noticeable divide
still remains in comparing the highest and lowest household income groups
with 31 percent fewer people in low income households using the internet than
high income houses.” According to InternetNZ, “The report
paints obvious gaps where people of low income, of Pasifika ethnicity or
those living in rural areas, are not using the Internet.” Carter said: “With
the statistics showing a rapid increase of people stating the Internet is
important as a source of information - this divide is more important than
ever to improve.” He said InternetNZ was working to gain more precise
information on the digital divide. “We are working on a project that maps the
divides over the country and will allow us to draw related statistics on how
the digital divide is affecting areas such as economic well-being and
education. We hope this new information will be useful for the technology
sector and the Government in trying to close the gap." InternetNZ helped
to fund the study and Jordan said the statistics produced were very valuable.
"From the reports we can determine where we sit on the world stage and
also monitor New Zealand Internet stats over time.” From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 12/16/2016 Hyland Opens Data Centres for OnBase
Support Hyland said the new centres would add
to its “expanding list of strategic sites located across seven countries that
support more than 700 hosted customers throughout the world”. US company
Hyland, provider of the OnBase cloud-based content and process management
system, has announced the opening of two data centres in New Zealand — in
co-location facilities in Auckland and Wellington — saying the move will
support the growing global demand for solutions hosted in the Hyland Cloud.
Hyland said the new centres would add to its “expanding list of strategic
sites located across seven countries that support more than 700 hosted
customers throughout the world.” It said the new centres met “the rigorous
standards for data sovereignty and encryption required by the New Zealand
government, ensuring customer data is protected by the highest levels of digital
and physical security protocols.” OnBase is described as “a single enterprise
information platform for managing content, processes and cases deployed via
mobile, on-premises or in the Hyland Cloud.” According to Hyland it provides
“enterprise content management, case management, business process
management), records management and capture all on a single platform.” It is
complemented by Hyland’s ShareBase offering, billed as “a cloud-based
enterprise file sync and share (EFSS) application for securely sharing
content inside and outside of an organisation.” Hyland announced a
partnership with New Zealand IT services company Techtonics in late 2015
saying Techtonics would support OnBase with “a range of consulting,
implementation and enablement services and will offer OnBase to both
customers and prospects satisfying market demand being fuelled by IT
department adoption in New Zealand for cloud, mobile, capture and case
management technologies.” Auckland based ECM360 also claims to
be a Platinum Partner and “the leading provider of Hyland Software's
enterprise content management solution” in New Zealand. Hyland entered the
Australian market in 2013 with a locally hosted instance of OnBase. In mid
2014 it announced an, unspecified, expansion of its presence there “due to
continued growth in the Australian market for reliable and scalable ECM
solutions and Cloud hosting capabilities for industries including healthcare,
insurance, government, and manufacturing.” A year later, in August 2015 it
named Bob Dunn as its first country manager for Australia to help expand its
Asia-Pacific business. Then in February 2016 it announced a partnership with
Australian Fusion information management services company Fusion Information
Management. From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 01/24/2017 Pushpay Scores $5m Callaghan
Innovations R&D Grant CEO Chris Heaslip said the funding would
provide additional resources to deliver scale and growth in the Pushpay
platform. Mobile commerce company, Pushpay Holdings (NZX: PPH) has scored a
Research and Development (R&D) Growth Grant from Government R&D
agency Callaghan Innovation worth up to $15 million over three years. It
follows the company gaining a $960,000 R&D grant from Callaghan in June
2015. Pushpay’s CEO, Chris Heaslip, said the funding would provide additional
resources to deliver scale and growth in the Pushpay platform through the
development of new features, new markets, and scalable engineering processes
and practices. “Pushpay will continue to drive innovation and focus on
features that offer simpler, faster and more intuitive ways to increase
engagement and make secure payments within an organisation’s community,” he
said. According to Pushpay, Callaghan’s R&D Growth Grants support firms
to scale and increase flexibility for greater market impact and maximum
return, typically providing support of 20 percent of eligible R&D costs
of up a maximum of $5 million per annum. Pushpay claims to provide mobile
commerce tools that “facilitate fast, secure and easy non-point of sale
payments between consumers and merchants. The company says it targets
merchants that are looking to offer convenient, personalised and intuitive
payment solutions to their consumers. It serves three target markets: the
faith sector; non-profit organisations and enterprises (both small medium
enterprises and corporate organisations). From http://www.computerworld.co.nz 02/16/2017 |
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