Unleashing the Potential of Euro-Cloud Computing

EUROPA - Press Releases - Unleashing the Potential of Cloud Computing in Europe - What is it and what does it mean for me?:
"Standards, certification and contracts - Why can't you write the necessary standards yourself, why do you rely on the industry to make this happen? Standardisation works best as an industry-led process. The industry is already putting a lot of effort into creating standards that increase interoperability of the clouds. Standards are emerging but at the moment there is no common agreement as to which standards would guarantee the required interoperability, data portability and reversibility. The Commission wants to identify coherent sets of useful standards to make it easier for the demand and supply sides to organise themselves.
When you do you hope to launch the certification scheme? The Commission will work with the support of ENISA and other relevant bodies to assist the development of an EU-wide voluntary certification schemes in the area of cloud computing (including data protection) and establish a list of such schemes by 2014.
If it is voluntary, what will you do if companies simply decide not to join? We will keep working with companies to increase the attractiveness of the scheme." 'via Blog this'

New Zealand intelligence agency illegally spied on Megaupload

New Zealand intelligence agency illegally spied on Megaupload | TechCentral.ie: "US Department of Justice alleges Megaupload collected US$175 million (€135 million) in criminal proceeds, rewarding users for uploading and sharing content without the permission of copyright holders.
One of Dotcom's attorneys, William Akel said Monday he had just been informed of the Crown Law Office's memorandum to the High Court and could not comment. On Twitter, Dotcom wrote: "Copyright is now officially a matter of national security in New Zealand."
Key's announcement marked another unexpected twist in Megaupload's legal battle. In June, New Zealand's High Court found the raid conducted against Dotcom's mansion was illegal since it used invalid warrants that were overly broad." 'via Blog this'

Copyright and innovation in the Creative Industries The 2012 Intellectual Property and Innovation Summit, The Lisbon Council Brussels, 10 September 2012

EUROPA - Press Releases - Neelie Kroes Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda Copyright and innovation in the Creative Industries The 2012 Intellectual Property and Innovation Summit, The Lisbon Council Brussels, 10 September 2012: "Back then, creation and distribution were in the hands of the few. Now they are in the hands of everyone: democratising innovation, empowering people to generate and exchange ideas, supporting and stimulating huge creativity.
And now let's remind ourselves what our objectives as policymakers should be for the creative sector.
We should help artists live from their art. Stimulate creativity and innovation. Improve consumer choice. Promote our cultural heritage. And help the sector drive economic growth.
We can' t look at copyright in isolation: you have to look at how it fits into the real world. So let's ask ourselves: how well is the current system achieving those objectives, in the world we live in today?" 'via Blog this'

LightSquared redux: idiot lawmakers admit lack of expertise, but blame FCC

LightSquared redux: Lawmakers admit lack of expertise, but blame FCC | Ars Technica: "US Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX) criticized the FCC officials for the timing of the comment period before it issued LightSquared’s conditional waiver on Jan. 26, 2011. "Bear in mind, I’m just a simple country doctor, I'm not an engineer," Burgess said. "But it seems like you drop it between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it looks like Harry Reid's health care bill to me. That's not a time when a lot of people are paying attention."" 'via Blog this'

'OpenStand' Underscores Commitment to Voluntary Internet Standards

'OpenStand' Underscores Commitment to Voluntary Internet Standards | Center for Democracy & Technology: "OpenStand is the product of five of the world's leading technical Internet organizations -- IEEE, the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Society, and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).  These organizations have produced many of the most fundamental standards on which all Internet communications rely, including Internet Protocol (IP), HTTP, and HTML. OpenStand is a set of principles built on a model of open processes that supports transparency, consensus, and the participation of all interested parties.
While the standards organizations making today's announcement have been operating under these principles for many years, OpenStand demonstrates a continued commitment by these groups to the voluntary, bottom-up processes that have made existing standards the foundation of the Internet's success as a platform for communications and commerce.
Unfortunately, the OpenStand paradigm is under serious threat. In December, the ITU will convene the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), a meeting of the world's governments to decide whether and how the ITU should regulate the Internet." 'via Blog this'

Competition Policy Statement on Microsoft non-compliance with browser choice commitments

EUROPA - Press Releases - Joaquin ALMUNIA Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Competition Policy Statement on Microsoft non-compliance with the browser choice commitments. Midday press briefing, Berlaymont press room, Brussels 17 July 2012:
"December 2009, the Commission made legally binding on Microsoft a commitment to make available a "choice screen" enabling users of Windows in the EU to easily choose their preferred browser. This decision therefore put Microsoft under an obligation to provide the choice screen to European Windows users until 2014. This has proved very effective when implemented: it gave consumers a real choice to use the product that most suited their needs.
Although Microsoft submitted in a report to the Commission in December last year that the choice screen was still present, we have received indications from third parties that Microsoft has not complied with its commitments in the period from February 2011 until today.
Microsoft has recognised these facts. More precisely, it appears that since the launch of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 in February 2011, the choice screen has no longer been displayed. As a result, about 28 million users may not have seen the choice screen at all." 'via Blog this'

Feds Charge Activist with 13 Felonies for Rogue Downloading of Academic Articles | Threat Level | Wired.com

Feds Charge Activist with 13 Felonies for Rogue Downloading of Academic Articles | Threat Level | Wired.com: "The case tests the reach of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which was passed in 1984 to enhance the government’s ability to prosecute hackers who accessed computers to steal information or to disrupt or destroy computer functionality.
The government, however, has interpreted the anti-hacking provisions to include activities such as violating a website’s terms of service or a company’s computer usage policy, a position a federal appeals court in April said means “millions of unsuspecting individuals would find that they are engaging in criminal conduct.” The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in limiting reach of the CFAA, said that violations of employee contract agreements and websites’ terms of service were better left to civil lawsuits." 'via Blog this'

Why government will not release evidence of vast e-snooping programme

Jim Killock 23216: "Considerations in favour of withholding the information: To release the breakdown requested would give valuable insight to individuals who may wish to undermine or circumvent the operational benefits that are expected as a result of the Bill. This would aid those who would wish to carry out terrorism or crime against the UK and its population.  The information withheld includes details of who the Home Office worked with. Release would highlight assets and give further insight to operational capability. Giving this level of insight would limit the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies to prevent and detect crime and protect national security. National security and law enforcement are of paramount importance to protecting the UK. There is significant public interest in protecting anything that could, or would, prejudice the Government’s abilities to protect the public against crime or terrorism."
So they haven't just made it all up then? No, I don't have any idea either.... 'via Blog this'

Regulating Code: Good Governance and Better Regulation in the Information Age (MIT Press, February 2013)

Internet use has become ubiquitous in the past two decades, but governments, legislators and their regulatory agencies are falling further behind rapidly changing Internet technologies and uses. In a ground-breaking collaboration, regulatory lawyer Marsden and computer scientist Brown analyze the regulatory shaping of "code"--the technological environment of the Internet--to achieve more economically efficient and socially just regulation. They examine five hard cases that illustrate the regulatory crisis: privacy and data protection, copyright and creativity incentives, censorship, social networks and user-generated content, and net neutrality. The authors describe the increasing "multistakeholderisation" of Internet governance, in which user groups are arguing for representation in the closed business-government dialogue, to bring in both rights-based and technologically expert perspectives. They draw out lessons for better future regulation from the regulatory and interoperability failures illustrated by the five cases. They conclude that governments, users and better functioning markets need a smarter "prosumer law" approach. Prosumer law would be designed to enhance the competitive production of public goods, including innovation, public safety, and fundamental democratic rights.

Ian Brown is Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University's Oxford Internet Institute. He is the editor of the 'Research Handbook on Internet Governance' (Elgar 2013). Christopher T. Marsden is Professor in Law at the University of Essex School of Law. He is the author of Net Neutrality: Towardsa Co-Regulatory Solution (2010), Internet Co-regulation (2011) and three otherbooks.