From the article: "Should we worry about ads aimed specifically at us
everywhere we go on the Web and, increasingly, on our mobile devices too? Yes,
and not just because the ads can be invasive and annoying. Real-time bidding
also makes the online marketplace less of an even playing field, allowing
companies to send loyalty points or discounts — or price increases — to
individuals based on their perceived spending power." Read more
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Verizon Attack on Internet Misguided
From the article: "Verizon takes the prize for most outrageous claim of a First Amendment
right. Its challenge to the 2010 Federal Communications Commission
rule that requires an open Internet - effectively preventing the companies that
provide online connections from censoring or favoring content - as an
abridgement of Verizon's free speech.
If Verizon's argument as presented to a federal appeals court holds, then
the constitutional guarantee of "free speech" suddenly would include
the right to suppress someone else's ability to transmit or
receive information." Read more
Governing the Web (and Everything Else)
Tapscott, Dan. "Governing the Web (and Everything Else)." The Globe and Mail, December 3, 2012.
From the article: "The successful governance of the Internet to date suggests a completely
different form of global co-operation to supplement or even succeed those based
on the nation-state, just as the nation-state itself was built on the
foundations of earlier forms of government.
The Internet radically drops collaboration costs on a global basis, enabling
new models of problem-solving. It’s increasingly clear that governance will be
co-owned by a variety of stakeholders, including NGOs, transnational
corporations, emerging countries and traditional government entities. Even
individuals have an unprecedented ability to participate in global activities." Read more
The Information Economy Report 2012
From the report: "The Information Economy Report 2012 finds that, because
software is increasingly permeating societies at all levels of development and
activity, it is becoming more important for countries to develop the
technological capabilities needed to adopt and adapt existing software
solutions, and eventually to innovate. Software and service activities
represent an opportunity for developing countries, thanks to the low capital
entry requirements, the sector's high-value, high-growth nature and
knowledge-rich profile. Due to changes in the ICT landscape, even small-scale
developers in developing countries can now participate in software development
and production, for example in the area of mobile applications. The Report
suggests that there is considerable room for developing countries to make
better use of the software potential.
The Report introduces the concept of the national software system. It
emphasizes that domestic software producers and users are greatly influenced by
the quality and affordability of ICT infrastructure, access to relevant human
resources and capital, the legal framework, an enabling business
infrastructure, as well as by the links with software networks in the rest of
the world." Read more
Thursday, November 29, 2012
The Five Forces Shaping the 21st Century
Ranadive, Vivek. "The Five Forces Shaping the 21st Century." Forbes, November 27, 2012.
The 21st century didn’t start in the year 2000. It started in 2010, the same way the 20th century began in 1908 with the advent of the automobile. It became the century of highways and freeways, the century of the auto—the American century. Similarly, if you look at what happened a couple of years ago, there were all kinds of crossover points that happened around the same time: more cell phones than landlines, more laptops than desktops, more debit cards than credit cards, more farmed fish than wild fish, more girls in college than boys.
I am dedicated to the belief that if you get the right information to the right place at the right time and in the right context, you can make the world a better place. This is something I call the two-second advantage. In order to achieve that, you need to understand five forces shaping the 21st century.
The 21st century didn’t start in the year 2000. It started in 2010, the same way the 20th century began in 1908 with the advent of the automobile. It became the century of highways and freeways, the century of the auto—the American century. Similarly, if you look at what happened a couple of years ago, there were all kinds of crossover points that happened around the same time: more cell phones than landlines, more laptops than desktops, more debit cards than credit cards, more farmed fish than wild fish, more girls in college than boys.
I am dedicated to the belief that if you get the right information to the right place at the right time and in the right context, you can make the world a better place. This is something I call the two-second advantage. In order to achieve that, you need to understand five forces shaping the 21st century.
Building an Iconography for Digital Privacy
Sengupta, Somini. "Building an Iconography for Digital Privacy." The New York Times, November 19, 2012.
Web site privacy policies are usually long, vague and notoriously neglected by most of us. Or as Alex Fowler, chief privacy officer at Mozilla, put it, “We have long upheld that privacy policies suck.”
Now, an experiment is under way to make those privacy policies somewhat more palatable. The idea is to have lawyers and coders muddle through thousands of words of legalese and distill their meaning into a set of graphic icons. In effect, the pros will read those notoriously unreadable policies, so the rest of us don’t have to.
Web site privacy policies are usually long, vague and notoriously neglected by most of us. Or as Alex Fowler, chief privacy officer at Mozilla, put it, “We have long upheld that privacy policies suck.”
Now, an experiment is under way to make those privacy policies somewhat more palatable. The idea is to have lawyers and coders muddle through thousands of words of legalese and distill their meaning into a set of graphic icons. In effect, the pros will read those notoriously unreadable policies, so the rest of us don’t have to.
You Got a Better Idea?
Koppell, Jonathan. "You Got a Better Idea?". Slate, November 28, 2012.
There’s an old saw about the weather: “Everyone complains about it, but no one ever does anything about it.” The same might be said about the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.
The U.S. government created ICANN in 1998 to oversee the coordination and management of the Domain Name System, which basically means that it coordinates the unique identifiers of every Web-connected device on the planet. Today, ICANN is most well-known for its rulemaking around website names. For the past 14 years, it has weathered volley after volley of criticisms (not to mention lawsuits) by an eclectic group of individuals, nation states, NGOs, companies, and global governance bodies for a laundry list of perceived ills, shortcomings, and outright failures. It has been criticized for imposing U.S. values, lacking foresight, and being the catspaw of special interest groups. At the same time, it has been criticized in the halls of the U.S.Congress, its ostensible master, for pursuing paths that were at odds with American interests. It has been taken to task by its own directors, critical of the changing rules by which the organization runs and a lack of transparency in its activities.
There’s an old saw about the weather: “Everyone complains about it, but no one ever does anything about it.” The same might be said about the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.
The U.S. government created ICANN in 1998 to oversee the coordination and management of the Domain Name System, which basically means that it coordinates the unique identifiers of every Web-connected device on the planet. Today, ICANN is most well-known for its rulemaking around website names. For the past 14 years, it has weathered volley after volley of criticisms (not to mention lawsuits) by an eclectic group of individuals, nation states, NGOs, companies, and global governance bodies for a laundry list of perceived ills, shortcomings, and outright failures. It has been criticized for imposing U.S. values, lacking foresight, and being the catspaw of special interest groups. At the same time, it has been criticized in the halls of the U.S.Congress, its ostensible master, for pursuing paths that were at odds with American interests. It has been taken to task by its own directors, critical of the changing rules by which the organization runs and a lack of transparency in its activities.
ICANN, Make a Difference
Meinrath, Sarah and Elliot Noss. "ICANN, Make a Difference." Slate, November 27, 2012.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is little known, but it wields a tremendous amount of power: It controls all of the Web’s top-level domains (those letters after the “dot,” like .com and .org). Currently, ICANN is in the midst of creating hundreds (and possibly thousands) of new, generic top-level domains (gTLDs) that span a host of different ideas, from .web to .cars to .anything_else_you_can_imagine. These new gTLDs have the potential to dramatically affect the future of Internet browsing, and they’re already stirring up some serious discussion. (Saudi Arabia, for one, doesn’t want .gay, .bible, or other dozens of other proposed domains to be approved.) But the auction process to distribute them also has the potential for even greater impact than currently envisioned.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is little known, but it wields a tremendous amount of power: It controls all of the Web’s top-level domains (those letters after the “dot,” like .com and .org). Currently, ICANN is in the midst of creating hundreds (and possibly thousands) of new, generic top-level domains (gTLDs) that span a host of different ideas, from .web to .cars to .anything_else_you_can_imagine. These new gTLDs have the potential to dramatically affect the future of Internet browsing, and they’re already stirring up some serious discussion. (Saudi Arabia, for one, doesn’t want .gay, .bible, or other dozens of other proposed domains to be approved.) But the auction process to distribute them also has the potential for even greater impact than currently envisioned.
‘Do Not Track’ Internet privacy initiative struggles to keep momentum
Timberg, Craig. "‘Do Not Track’ Internet privacy initiative struggles to keep momentum." The Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2012.
The two-year-old drive to give consumers a simple way to block companies from tracking their behavior as they move across the Internet has faltered, say participants in the process who are struggling to reconcile privacy concerns with an advertising model that pays for many free Internet services…
Industry groups voluntarily adopted a version last year giving consumers the ability to block advertising based on their Web browsing history. Officials from the Digital Advertising Alliance, which organized the effort, said that nearly 20 million users have visited the site at youradchoices.com and that more than 1 million have chosen to opt out of ad tracking.
But privacy advocates have called this system hard to use and too permissive in the information it allows marketers to collect.
The two-year-old drive to give consumers a simple way to block companies from tracking their behavior as they move across the Internet has faltered, say participants in the process who are struggling to reconcile privacy concerns with an advertising model that pays for many free Internet services…
Industry groups voluntarily adopted a version last year giving consumers the ability to block advertising based on their Web browsing history. Officials from the Digital Advertising Alliance, which organized the effort, said that nearly 20 million users have visited the site at youradchoices.com and that more than 1 million have chosen to opt out of ad tracking.
But privacy advocates have called this system hard to use and too permissive in the information it allows marketers to collect.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
HHS Publishes Guidance on How to De-Identify Protected Health Information
From the article: "On November 26, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of
Civil Rights (“OCR”) published guidance on the
two methods for de-identifying protected health information (“PHI”) in
accordance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The guidance, which was required by the
Health Information Technology for Clinical and Economic Health (“HITECH”) Act,
has been developed over several years by OCR in collaboration with healthcare
entities and other industry experts and builds upon the discussions from a
workshop on de-identification that took place in March 2010.
The guidance covers three main topics: (1) key terms in the HIPAA Privacy
Rule, (2) the statistical expert method for de-identifying PHI, and (3) the
safe harbor method for de-identifying PHI." Read more
See also
Integrity of Internet Is Crux of Global Conference
From the article: "A commercial and ideological clash is set for next week,
when representatives of more than 190 governments, along with
telecommunications companies and Internet groups, gather in Dubai for
a once-in-a-generation meeting. The subject: Control of the
Internet, politically and commercially.
More energy is expected to be spent on how companies make
money off the Internet. In one submission to the conference, the European
Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association, a lobbying group based in
Brussels that represents companies like France Télécom, Deutsche Telekom and
Telecom Italia, proposed that network operators be permitted to assess charges
for content providers like Internet video companies that use a lot of
bandwidth.
Analysts say the proposal is an acknowledgment by
European telecommunications companies that they cannot hope to provide digital
content. “The telecoms realize that they have lost the battle,” said Paul
Budde, an independent telecommunications analyst in Australia. “They are
saying, ‘We can’t beat the Googles and the Facebooks, so let’s try to charge
them.’” Read more
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Patients Want Granular Privacy Control Over Health Information in Electronic Medical Records
Cell Phone Activities 2012
From the report: "Fully 85% of American adults own a cell phone and now use the
devices to do much more than make phone calls. Cell phones have become a portal
for an ever-growing list of activities. In nationally representative phone
surveys in the spring and summer, the Pew Research Center’s Internet &
American Life Project obtained readings on some of the most popular activities
including: 1) Taking pictures (82%), 2) Sending/receiving texts (80%), 3)
Accessing the Internet (56%), and 4) Sending/receiving e-mail (50%)." Read more
The Gathering Storm: WCIT and the Global Regulation of the Internet
From the report: "At the upcoming International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai, to be
held from December 3-14, delegates will consider proposals to amend the
International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs,) binding rules that govern
telecommunications network practices around the world…. If any change needs to
be made at all in the ITRs with respect to the Internet, it should be limited
to creating a firewall between the authority of ITU and the operation of the
Internet. The Internet’s organic governance system has proved to be quite
effective, in no small part due to its close proximity to the Internet’s
technical standards and business practices.
Technologies that enable rapid
rates of change need the ability to adapt to changing conditions quickly; an
international treaty organization that convenes once every fifteen years does
not fit the bill. The ITU is facing obsolescence as we begin to retire the
telephone networks that have been its sole focus since the phase-out of the
telegraph, but this existential crisis does not justify a wholesale
restructuring of Internet governance." Read more
Health Care System To Benefit From Recent HIE Progress
From the article: "The stars
seem to be aligned for rapid progress in health information exchange. We are
fast approaching a point in the development of the Health Internet where ubiquitous exchange of health data to improve care coordination and
health care quality and ultimately lower costs might be possible. We still face
some problems, and standards and policies must be aligned, but there is some
great synergy in play that will help drive this vision forward. There are a
variety of different initiatives which are coalescing, but there is also a
great deal of work still left to do." Read more
Monday, November 26, 2012
Global Internet User Survey Reveals Attitudes, Usage, and Behavior
From the report: "A worldwide survey of more than 10,000 Internet users in 20
countries conducted by the Internet Society revealed attitudes towards the
Internet and user behavior online. The Global Internet User Survey is one of
the broadest surveys of Internet user attitudes on key issues facing the
Internet. This year's survey covered areas such as how users manage personal
information online, attitudes toward the Internet and human rights, censorship,
and the potential for the Internet to address issues such as economic
development and education.
Key findings
from this year's survey cover a broad range of topics.
The Internet and Human Rights:
- Eighty-three percent of respondents
agreed or agreed strongly that access to the Internet should be considered
a basic human right.
- Eighty-nine percent agreed or
agreed strongly that Internet access allows freedom of expression on all
subjects, and 86 percent agreed or agreed strongly that freedom of
expression should be guaranteed.
- Sixty percent of respondents agreed
or agreed strongly that Internet access has contributed significantly to
civil action and political awareness in their country." Read more
The Impact of Electronic Patient Portals on Patient Care: A Systematic Review of Controlled Trials
From the report: "Modern information technology is
changing and provides new challenges to health care. The emergence of the
Internet and the electronic health record (EHR) has brought new opportunities
for patients to play a more active role in his/her care. Although in many
countries patients have the right to access their clinical information, access
to clinical records electronically is not common. Patient portals consist of
provider-tethered applications that allow patients to electronically access
health information that are documented and managed by a health care
institution. Although patient portals are already being implemented, it is still
unclear in which ways these technologies can influence patient care." Read more
Avoiding a Data Divide Between the US and the EU
The US and the EU ultimately share the same goals – to protect privacy and facilitate trade and economic growth." Read more
The U.N.'s Internet Sneak Attack
From the article: "Who runs the Internet? For now, the answer remains no one, or at least no
government, which explains the Web's success as a new technology. But as of
next week, unless the U.S. gets serious, the answer could be the United
Nations.
Many of the U.N.'s 193 member states oppose the open, uncontrolled nature of
the Internet. Its interconnected global networks ignore national boundaries,
making it hard for governments to censor or tax. And so, to send the
freewheeling digital world back to the state control of the analog era, China,
Russia, Iran and Arab countries are trying to hijack a U.N. agency that has
nothing to do with the Internet." Read more
Mobile Phones—Especially 3G Ones—Make Economies Grow Faster
Snow, Jackie. "Mobile Phones—Especially 3G Ones—Make Economies Grow Faster." Quartz, November 25, 2012.
From the article: "Now there is evidence that improving mobile Internet access
helps economies too. A recent study
examined the effect of faster 3G wireless data connections replacing slower 2G
ones. The study by the GSM Association mobile trade group, Deloitte and Cisco,
looked at 96 developed and developing markets from 2008 to 2011. When a market
experienced a 10% shift from 2G to 3G, GDP per capita growth increased by an
average of 0.15 percentage points. A separate look into 14 countries between
2005 to 2010 found that a doubling of mobile data use led to an increase of 0.5
percentage points in per capita growth." Read more
See also
European Parliament Warns Against UN Internet Control
"European Parliament Warns Against UN Internet Control." BBC, November 22, 2012.
From the article: "Members of the European Parliament backed a resolution which urged
member states to reject changes to the International Telecommunication
Regulations (ITR) which would "negatively impact the internet, its
architecture, operations, content and security, business relations, internet
governance and the free flow of information online"…. The European
Parliament's objection follows loud opposition from search giant Google, which
has invited concerned internet users to sign a petition.
"The International Telecommunication Union is bringing together regulators from around the world to renegotiate a decades-old communications treaty," the company wrote." Read more
"The International Telecommunication Union is bringing together regulators from around the world to renegotiate a decades-old communications treaty," the company wrote." Read more
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Why Big Data Could Sink Europe’s ‘Right To Be Forgotten'
Meyer, David. "Why Big Data Could Sink Europe’s ‘Right To Be Forgotten.'" GigaOm, November 20, 2012.
From the article: "Europe’s proposed ‘right to be forgotten’
has been the subject of intense debate, with many people arguing it’s simply
not practical in the age of the internet for any data to be reliably expunged from
history.
Well, add another voice to that mix. The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has published its assessment of the proposals, and the tone is sceptical to say the least. And, interestingly, one of the biggest problems ENISA has found has to do with big data." Read more
Well, add another voice to that mix. The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has published its assessment of the proposals, and the tone is sceptical to say the least. And, interestingly, one of the biggest problems ENISA has found has to do with big data." Read more
See also
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Willing to Pay for Quality Personalization? Trade-Off between Quality and Privacy
From the report: "Online
personalization presents recommendations of products and services based on
customers’ past online purchases or browsing behavior. Personalization
applications reduce information overload and provide value-added services.
However, their adoption is hindered by customers’ concerns about information
privacy. This paper reports on research undertaken to determine whether a
high-quality recommendation service will encourage customers to use online
personalization. We collected data through a series of online experiments to
examine the impacts of privacy and quality on personalization usage and on
users’ willingness to pay and to disclose information when using news and
financial services." Read more
Who Are the Doctors Most Trusted by Doctors? Big Data Can Tell You.
Privacy and Security Aspects of Social Media: Institutional and Technological Environment
From the report: "Legitimate
as well as illegitimate organizations and entities are gaining access to
information about social media (SM) users through illegal, extralegal, and
quasi-legal means. Worse still, many organizations and individuals using SM
have become targets and victims of cybercrimes. SM have also led to an exposure
of unethical and illegal conducts within some organizations. One estimate
suggested that 36% of social networking users have reported experiencing
malware attacks through their profiles. Another study suggested that one in
four companies have become cybercrime victims via social networking sites.
Likewise, about a quarter of employers surveyed by the Society of Corporate
Compliance and Ethics in 2009 had disciplined an employee for improper activities
on social networking sites. Organizations that fail to take appropriate
technological and behavioral measures related to SM are likely to suffer
reputation damages, loss of customers' confidence, and other types of economic
losses. The goal of this paper is to develop a framework that provides a
simple, explicit mechanism for understanding privacy and security issues
associated with SM." Read more