Protecting the Internet from Dictators: Technical and Policy Solutions to Ensure Online Freedoms

Bowman, Warigia Margaret and L. Jean Camp."Protecting the Internet from Dictators: Technical and Policy Solutions to Ensure Online Freedoms." July 5, 2012

From the abstract: "In this paper we explore the interaction between of Internet communications, activists, and the state in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Uganda and northern Sudan. This paper addresses the following problem: Under what conditions are authoritarian regimes able to disrupt Internet traffic in situations of a popular uprising, and what can be done to prevent it? We illustrate that there are three critical variables in this interaction: redundancy in communications, distribution of power across organizations and individuals, and state regulation. We argue for a more resilient, redundant network. We propose policies that can be implemented in more open states with greater influence on the development of the network. We illustrate that the same investments that will empower dissidents strengthen the Internet for commerce and government, and against unauthorized attacks." Read more

Science As An open Enterprise Final Report

Science As An open Enterprise Final Report, a report prepared by The Royal Society, London, June 2012.

 

From the report: "The Science as an open enterprise report highlights the need to grapple with the huge deluge of data created by modern technologies in order to preserve the principle of openness and to exploit data in ways that have the potential to create a second open science revolution.

Exploring massive amounts of data using modern digital technologies has enormous potential for science and its application in public policy and business. The report maps out the changes that are required by scientists, their institutions and those that fund and support science if this potential is to be realised." Read more

U.N. Affirms Internet Freedom as a Basic Right

Sengupta, Somini."U.N. Affirms Internet Freedom as a Basic Right." The New York Times, July 6, 2012.

From the article: "… the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a landmark resolution supporting freedom of expression on the Internet. Even China, which filters online content through a firewall, backed the resolution. It affirmed that “the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, in particular freedom of expression, which is applicable regardless of frontiers and through any media of one’s choice.”

The ball, in some ways, is now in the court of the technology companies that produce the tools that countries use to monitor and circumscribe their citizens on the Internet." Read more
 

See also

Human Rights Council Twentieth session Agenda item 3, Promotion and Protection of all Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Including the Right to Development. United Nations, June 29, 2012.

Privacy Trumps Cybersecurity, Poll Shows

Smith, Josh. "Privacy Trumps Cybersecurity, Poll Shows." National Journal, July 10, 2012.

From the article: "Proposals to increase cybersecurity by allowing businesses and government to share information may enjoy bipartisan support in Washington, but Americans aren’t sold on the idea, the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll finds.

Almost two-thirds of respondents—63 percent—said government and businesses should not be allowed to share information because it would hurt privacy and civil liberties. But 29 percent of those surveyed said information-sharing should be allowed to better protect computer networks." Read more

The Power of the Unlicensed Economy

Thanki, Richard. "The Power of the Unlicensed Economy." All ThingsD.com, July 10, 2012.

From the blog: "In 1985, the Federal Communications Commission permitted, for the first time, low-powered wireless communications equipment to be used without the need for a license. The prospects for this experiment were not entirely promising. The bands of radio spectrum assigned for unlicensed use were full of powerful and polluting industrial uses and were thus widely considered “junk spectrum,” unsuitable for communications.

However, the potential rewards offered by this new, unlicensed spectrum were also great: Citizens and businesses might have the freedom to deploy their own wireless networks without the need for costly and bureaucratic spectrum licences, encouraging a deluge of technological and business model innovation, transforming this onetime “junk spectrum” into the most economically productive radio spectrum in the world, and becoming home to an incredible diversity of coexisting uses. Unsurprisingly, the unlicensed bands have been adopted worldwide." Read more

The Pros and Cons of New Media and Media Freedom

Kaul, Vineet. "The Pros and Cons of New Media and Media Freedom." Mass Communication and Journalism,  2012, 2:5.

From the abstract: "In Asian Countries media freedom is a controversial issue, on one side right to information and freedom of expression is provided on other side media regulations and Press laws are ready to curb the media freedom.

New media often get involved in struggles for new freedoms. This article is to discuss issues of new media in the governance of freedom of press. The Internet is an indispensable source of information today. At the same time, the freedom of new media - like other media - is dynamically related to the overall societal context as regards press freedom dispensations. Old and new media realms do have different issues, and there are particular matters for developing countries. But there is also much in common between old and new media, and between developing and developed countries, and all have interdependent interests in a free environment for journalism. With the creation of various types of new media, the Internet has become the broadest gateway and platform of spatial knowledge to interaction, and even turns to be the formation of a far and wide public field. The emergence of new media which breaks the original concept and rules of traditional media communication makes expression of freedom of the press more influential. There are brand new challenges to media freedom. The Internet, social media and blog posts -- these are among the tools being used so creatively, especially by the vanguard of young people, to help spur change in their societies." Read  more

The Future of Corporate Responsibility

Anderson, Janna and Lee Rainie. "The Future of Corporate Responsibility." Pew Research Center, July 5, 2012.

From the summary: "Corporate responsibility: How far will tech firms go in helping repressive regimes?

Experts are divided about the role Western technology companies will play in helping monitor and thwart dissident activity in the future. Some hope the open Internet and the prospect of consumer backlash will minimize businesses’ cooperation with authoritarian governments; others believe the urge for profits and for global reach across all cultures will compel firms to allow their digital tools to be used against critics of the status quo." Read more

The Reuters Institute Digital Report 2012 Reveals New Insights About Digital News Consumption Across Europe and the United States

"The Reuters Institute Digital Report 2012 reveals new insights about digital news consumption across Europe and the United States…Key international findings." Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 2012.

From the report:

• "There are significant differences in how regularly people keep up with the news across our surveyed countries. More than 9 in 10 Germans access the news at least once a day compared with only 3 in 4 people in the United Kingdom.
• The rapid switch from print to digital in the United States is not being replicated exactly in European countries. Germany is showing the strongest allegiance to traditional viewing and reading habits and has the lowest levels of internet news use.
• In the UK, news about politics is perceived to be less important – and celebrity news more important – compared to the other countries surveyed.
• There is more interest in business and especially economic news in the UK and the US than in the European countries surveyed." Read more

Cyber Command Chief Urges Action on Information-Sharing Legislation

Martinez, Jennifer. "Cyber Command Chief Urges Action on Information-Sharing Legislation." The Hill, July 9, 2012.

From the blog: "The head of U.S. Cyber Command argued on Monday that cybersecurity legislation focused on improving information-sharing about cyber threats between the private and public sectors would not encourage the government to read through Americans’ personal emails.

Gen. Keith Alexander tackled claims made by privacy and civil liberties groups in recent months that information-sharing measures pending in Congress would widen the flow of people’s personal emails to the government. The four-star general argued that this legislation is needed to ensure critical infrastructure operators have the ability to share information about incoming cyber threats and attacks with the government “at network speed” and get the help needed to thwart potential damage."  Read more

Eric Schmidt: The Great Firewall of China Will Fall

Rogan, Josh. "Eric Schmidt: The Great Firewall of China Will Fall." Foreign Policy, July 9, 2012.

From the  blog: "Technology and information penetration in China will eventually force the Great Firewall of China to crumble and even lead to the political opening of the Chinese system, according to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.

"I believe that ultimately censorship fails," said Schmidt, when asked about whether the Chinese government's censorship of the Internet can be sustained. "China's the only government that's engaged in active, dynamic censorship. They're not shy about it."

When the Chinese Internet censorship regime fails, the penetration of information throughout China will also cause political and social liberalization that will fundamentally change the nature of the Chinese government's relationship to its citizenry, Schmidt believes." Read more

Information Technology Spending to Hit $3.6 Trillion in 2012, Report Says

Hardy, Quentin. "Information Technology Spending to Hit $3.6 Trillion in 2012, Report Says." The New York Times, July 9, 2012.

From the article: "Fueled by an accelerating move to cloud computing, and by a boom in associated telecommunications services, worldwide information technology spending is increasing somewhat faster than expected, according to industry analysts at Gartner.

Over all, people will spend $3.6 trillion on information technology in 2012, the research firm said. This represents a 3 percent increase from 2011, when $3.5 trillion was spent, Gartner said, and is up from the 2.5 percent increase projected three months ago.

The increase, while modest, is notable because it is happening in the face of a financial crisis in Europe, slow growth in the United States, and a slowdown in China’s economic growth." Read more

The Top Ten Similarities Between Playing Hockey and Building a Better Internet

Arlitt, Martin. "The Top Ten Similarities Between Playing Hockey and Building a Better Internet." Hewlett-Packard Development Company, January 21, 2012.

From the abstract: "Time tends to pass more quickly than we would like. Sometimes it is helpful to reflect on what you have accomplished, and to derive what you have learned from the experiences. These "lessons learned" may then be leveraged by yourself or others in the future. Occasionally, an external event will motivate this self reflection. For me, it was the 50th anniversary reunion of the St. Walburg Eagles, held in July 2011.

The Eagles are a full-contact (ice) hockey team I played with between 1988 and 1996, while attending university. What would I tell my friends and former teammates that I had been doing for the past 15 years? After some thought, I realized that my time as an Eagle had prepared me for a research career, in ways I would never have imagined. This article shares some of these similarities, to motivate others to reflect on their own careers and achievements, and perhaps make proactive changes as a result." Read more

UnitedHealthcare Adds Its Own Blue Button

Miliard, Mike. "UnitedHealthcare Adds Its Own Blue Button." Government Health IT, July 6, 2012.

From the article: "Taking a cue from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, UnitedHealthcare has launched its own Blue Button program, enabling its plan participants to access and print their personal health records (PHRs) with the click of a mouse…. For years, nearly 20 million people who log on to UnitedHealthcare’s health and wellness site (myuhc.com) have had access to a PHR. But officials say the addition of Blue Button to the site will make that access easier, promoting the importance of a PHR and offering users the ability to print their records in either PDF or text formats…. “By the end of 2012, we think as many as 75 million people will have access to their medical information through Blue Button,” …" Read more

How Connected Health, Public-Private Cooperation, And Big Data Can Revolutionize Health Care

Ranck, Jody."How Connected Health, Public-Private Cooperation, And Big Data Can Revolutionize Health Care." Forbes, July 6, 2012.

From the blog: "There is hope and promising signs that these tools can be mobilized to make a dent in some of the major challenges we face such as obesity, diabetes, environmental health, and a host of other areas if we can bring politics, technology, and both the public and private sectors into the right relationship in the coming years. Technology can’t do it alone. Nor will antiquated political hubris of “death panels” and market fundamentalism fix health care. In my new book, “Connected Health: How Mobiles, Cloud and Big Data Will Reinvent Healthcare”, I explore how this might happen if we can think more strategically and engage in more grassroots efforts to engage with the “Algorithmic Revolution” in healthcare." Read more

More Demands on Cell Carriers in Surveillance

Lightblau, Eric. "More Demands on Cell Carriers in Surveillance." The New York Times, July 8, 2012.

From the article: "In the first public accounting of its kind, cellphone carriers reported that they responded to a daunting 1.3 million demands for subscriber data last year from law enforcement agencies seeking text messages, caller locations and other information in the course of investigations.The data, which comes in response to a congressional inquiry, documents an explosion in cellphone surveillance in the last five years, with the wireless carriers turning over records thousands of times a day in response to police emergencies, court orders, law enforcement subpoenas and other requests. The cell carriers’ reports also reveal a sometimes uneasy partnership with law enforcement agencies, with the carriers frequently rejecting demands they considered legally questionable or unjustified. Carriers even referred some inappropriate requests to the F.B.I." Read more

Big Data Privacy Issues in Public Social Media

Smith, Matthew, Christian Szongott, Benjamin Henne and Gabriele von Voigt. "Big Data Privacy Issues in Public Social Media." Digital Ecosystems Technologies, 2012 6th IEEE International Conference, June 18-20, 2012.

From the abstract: "Big Data is a new label given to a diverse field of data intensive informatics in which the datasets are so large that they become hard to work with effectively. The term has been mainly used in two contexts, firstly as a technological challenge when dealing with dataintensive domains such as high energy physics, astronomy or internet search, and secondly as a sociological problem when data about us is collected and mined by companies such as Facebook, Google, mobile phone companies, retail chains and governments. In this paper we look at this second issue from a new perspective, namely how can the user gain awareness of the personally relevant part Big Data that is publicly available in the social web. The amount of user-generated media uploaded to the web is expanding rapidly and it is beyond the capabilities of any human to sift through it all to see which media impacts our privacy. Based on an analysis of social media in Flickr, Locr, Facebook and Google+, we discuss privacy implications and potential of the emerging trend of geo-tagged social media. We then present a concept with which users can stay informed about which parts of the social Big Data deluge is relevant to them." Read more

Maybe We Should Stop Calling Smartphones 'Phones'

Garber, Megan. "Maybe We Should Stop Calling Smartphones 'Phones'. The Atlantic, July 2, 2012.

From the article: "Every day, the average smartphone user spends 128 minutes actively using the device. That's just over two hours. The average user is spending those 128 minutes surfing the Internet (for nearly 25 minutes), engaging in social networking (for more than 17), listening to music (more than 15), and playing games (more than 14). 

What the average user is doing relatively little of, however, is talking -- using the smartphone as, you know, a phone. The average user is spending around 12 minutes doing that -- making talking with friends a less popular activity than playing, say, "Words with Friends."" Read more