Facebook, Gmail, and other ad-supported online services would need to start charging users if proposed changes to EU data protection laws go ahead, a legal expert has warned. Substantial restrictions on how companies handle personal data have been put forward under the draft European Data Protection Regulation, read more
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China has endorsed a set of new rules requiring global network users to register on the Internet under their real names. The new law aims to protect private information and public interests and envisages punishment for info security offenders by confiscation of illegally earned income, revocation …
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement can no longer come back from the grave in Europe, after the European Commission dropped its bid to have the copyright treaty’s legality confirmed by the union’s top court. Parliamentarians roundly rejected ACTA back in July. They had many reasons for doing so, primarily the large physical demonstrations taking place across …
ICANN directors Mike Silber and Chris Disspain have updated their official statements of interest — used to identify potential conflicts on the board — after a complaint from a .africa applicant. The new SOI statement more clearly specifies the relationship between South African ccTLD policymaker ZADNA — for which Silber acts as treasurer — and …
THE International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has always prided itself on being one of the most pragmatic organisations of the United Nations. Engineers, after all, speak a similar language, regardless where they come from. Even during the digital cold war they managed to overcome their differences and negotiate the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR), a binding global …
“The United States has announced today that it cannot sign” the treaty’s provisions “in their current form,” said Terry Kramer, the U.S. ambassador to the World Conference on International Telecommunications, on Thursday as the 12-day conference draws to a close this week. Representatives of several other of the world’s largest economies also spoke out against …
The World Conference on International Telecommunications (#WCIT-12) currently taking place in Dubai is now in full swing. A number of high ranking officials and dignitaries are in attendance at the conference, including Mohamed Nasser Al-Ghanim, Director-General of the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and Chairman of the Conference; Fadi Chehadé, President and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and …
Are ICANN and the International Telecommunications Union going to start playing nicely? That’s the message coming out of the ITU’s World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai this morning, when ITU secretary general Hamadoun Toure said the two organizations are “complementary”. Read More
Rival visions over governance of the internet have emerged at a UN conference in Dubai. Russia, the UAE and others are proposing that 193 countries have “equal rights to manage the internet” including its technical specifications. They want this stated in an international communications treaty. Read More
Companies and organizations that are convinced the International Telecommunication Union will try to take over the Internet during next week’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) don’t understand what the meeting can decide on, said representatives of the UN body. Read more