Saturday, January 21, 2006
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Thursday, January 12, 2006
FOIA for Morocco...
Morocco wants a freedom of information law...Upon the invitation by NDI and the Parliamentary Caucus, I attended in a Seminar on FOI in Rabat on November 6, 2005... The goal was to help support efforts by interested parties in beginning or advocating for the drafting of freedom of information legislation. As the representative of www.BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org , I tried to share what we experienced here in Turkey within the first two years of the Turkish FOIA...
Picture: Tansug and David Banisar, the Director, FOI Project, Privacy International...
John Palfrey Appointed Harvard Law School Clinical Professor of Law
At the end of last semester the Faculty of Harvard Law School voted to appoint John Palfrey as a Clinical Professor of Law. This appointment recognizes the enormous contributions John has made since becoming the Berkman Center’'s Executive Director in 2002. Everyone at Berkman - its faculty, fellows, staff, and friends - is extremely proud of John'’s extraordinary achievements and wish their intrepid leader, known for his equal measures of brilliance, commitment, kindness, and modesty, the best in this exciting new phase of his career.
Keep reading:
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/home?wid=10&func=viewSubmission&sid=883
Keep reading:
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/home?wid=10&func=viewSubmission&sid=883
Monday, November 21, 2005
ANTI-CORRUPTION CONFERENCE & FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT in AZERBAIJAN
ABA/CEELI and OSCE co-sponsored the "National Integrity Conference: Best Practices for Ministries" on October 14, 2005 in Baku, Azerbaijan. ABA/CEELI and OSCE have invited www.Bilgiedinmehakki.Org, to take part in this conference. Avniye Tansug attended and presented Turkish FOIA experiences in the Conference...
TUNIS AGENDA FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
Document: WSIS-05/TUNIS/DOC/6 (Rev. 1)-E
Date: 15 November 2005
Original: English
http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/6rev1.html
COMBATING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (“International Centre”), in collaboration with the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE), held its first focus group titled, "Combating Child Pornography: Greece, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria", in Athens, Greece on 18 October 2005.The event was very successful as it was well?attended, issue?focused and resulted in clear action itemsfor each country and for the region in general. The next two focus groups will be held in the Baltics and Eastern Europe in 2006. Representing "Cyber-Rights Cyber Liberties" A. Tansug attended in the Seminar & Focus group and presented the situation as follows:
The issue of child pornography is largely unknown in Turkey for cultural reasons. There is low internet penetration. In 2005, there was 263% growth in internet use however, only 9.9% of the population of Turkey is online. Mobile phones are more favorable to computers for accessing theInternet. Therefore, there is little e?readiness in Turkey.
The first child pornography investigation by Turkish law enforcement was an international case called “Operation Landmark” which was started by Interpol and the National Crime Squad of the UK. TheTurkish suspect was a teacher who had four local victims. This has been the only case with extensive publicity in Turkey.
In Turkey, there were thirteen child pornography cases in 2004 and seven cases in the first ten months of 2005, all of which were international cases and initiated by Interpol. The new criminal code for child pornography came into effect in December 2004 and includes computer crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. There is a new child pornography unit of the national police in Turkey but there is no reporting hotline.
There has been no research in Turkey on the issue of child pornography.
The key issues in Turkey were discussed and included:
• Lack of public knowledge about the issue;
• Unwillingness to call attention to child sexual exploitation;
• Lack of precise definition of child pornography in the penal code;
• Lack of research on the makeup and extent of the problem;
• Lack of an official police or government hotline for reporting complaints.
Some possible action items discussed to improve in this area included:
• Create an official police or government hotline for reporting complaints;
• Engage the ISP industry to get involved in co?regulation;
• Educate public on the issue and on technology.
TUNIS AGENDA FOR THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
Document: WSIS-05/TUNIS/DOC/6 (Rev. 1)-E
Date: 15 November 2005
Original: English
http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs2/tunis/off/6rev1.html
COMBATING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (“International Centre”), in collaboration with the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE), held its first focus group titled, "Combating Child Pornography: Greece, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria", in Athens, Greece on 18 October 2005.The event was very successful as it was well?attended, issue?focused and resulted in clear action itemsfor each country and for the region in general. The next two focus groups will be held in the Baltics and Eastern Europe in 2006. Representing "Cyber-Rights Cyber Liberties" A. Tansug attended in the Seminar & Focus group and presented the situation as follows:The issue of child pornography is largely unknown in Turkey for cultural reasons. There is low internet penetration. In 2005, there was 263% growth in internet use however, only 9.9% of the population of Turkey is online. Mobile phones are more favorable to computers for accessing theInternet. Therefore, there is little e?readiness in Turkey.
The first child pornography investigation by Turkish law enforcement was an international case called “Operation Landmark” which was started by Interpol and the National Crime Squad of the UK. TheTurkish suspect was a teacher who had four local victims. This has been the only case with extensive publicity in Turkey.
In Turkey, there were thirteen child pornography cases in 2004 and seven cases in the first ten months of 2005, all of which were international cases and initiated by Interpol. The new criminal code for child pornography came into effect in December 2004 and includes computer crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. There is a new child pornography unit of the national police in Turkey but there is no reporting hotline.
There has been no research in Turkey on the issue of child pornography.
The key issues in Turkey were discussed and included:
• Lack of public knowledge about the issue;
• Unwillingness to call attention to child sexual exploitation;
• Lack of precise definition of child pornography in the penal code;
• Lack of research on the makeup and extent of the problem;
• Lack of an official police or government hotline for reporting complaints.
Some possible action items discussed to improve in this area included:
• Create an official police or government hotline for reporting complaints;
• Engage the ISP industry to get involved in co?regulation;
• Educate public on the issue and on technology.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Friday, October 07, 2005
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Subject: new open standards initiative - three more links/stories
The report on open technology standards released today at the World Bank, was the result of a meeting convened by the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School, with participants from 13 countries and a collaboration with IBM and Oracle.
The report itself is here: Roadmap for Open ICT Ecosystemshttp://cyber.law.harvard.edu/epolicy/roadmap.pdf and the web site for the project is here: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/epolicyand a story from InfoWorld:http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/09/09/HNworldbank_1.htmlGroup urges IT open standards in World Bank report Participants claim open standards are critical to economic growth and innovation By Nancy Weil, IDG News ServiceSeptember 09, 2005
A road map aimed at guiding governments and companies in the development of open information and communication technologies is being presented Friday at a World Bank meeting in New York by a group comprised of academics, government officials and industry representatives. The Open ePolicy Group contends that the adoption of open standards is vital to global economic growth and innovation.
"Almost by necessity, a new openness, fueled by a wave of information and communication technologies (ICT), is evolving and unlocking the efficiencies, standardization and flexibility needed to propel the transformation of governments and businesses," says the report, which included input from representatives of 13 nations and is spearheaded by the Berkman Center of Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. IBM Corp. and Oracle Corp. have also been involved in the project leading to the report.
Open standards are defined by the group as those that are not proprietary, or owned by any one company, and that are published and freely available for use by developers. However, the road map does not focus on any one aspect of what the group calls an open "ICT ecosystem," but covers various components. Such an ecosystem "encompasses the policies, strategies, processes, information, technologies, applications and stakeholders that together make up a technology environment for a country, government or an enterprise. Most importantly, and ICT ecosystem includes people -- diverse individuals who create, buy, sell, regulate, manage and use technology."
An open ICT system allows for interoperability across "diverse architectures," is user-centric, collaborative, sustainable and flexible, according to the report, which emerged out of a meeting arranged last February by the Berkman Center and which has led to ongoing work by meeting participants. Open standards are not the same as open-source software, the road map says. Both open-source software and proprietary software are components of an open-standards approach, according to the report.
A standard is open when it has six elements, the report says. Such a standard "cannot be controlled by any single person or entity with any vested interests" and further evolves and is managed is a "transparent process." Such systems also are "platform independent, vendor neutral and usable for multiple implementations," as well as being "openly published," and "available royalty free or at minimal cost." The standard also is open if it is "approved through due process by rough consensus among participants."
Though the report says proprietary software can be part of an open-standards systems, the ePolicy Group's road map comes out at a time when Microsoft Corp.'s Windows is under increasing pressure from open-source advocates worldwide. In an effort to lower costs, enhance open systems, enhance security and promote local developers, national and municipal governments around the world have started drafting policies that call for adoption of open-source software.
The ePolicy Group report says that governments should be among the participants in the process that leads to open standards and "play a critical role in the adoption and endorsement of open standards," and contends that government policy should mandate choice in technology.
Bolstering the role of government, the report outlines specific open ICT ecosystems employed by various nations, including Denmark's eBusiness initiative, aimed at creating a centralized ordering and invoicing process that is expected to save the country €160 million (US$198 million).
Denmark's initiative uses work by the OASIS Universal Business Language Technical Committee and the open standard UBL specification. The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, or OASIS, is a nonprofit international consortium focused on e-business standards. The group includes more than 4,000 participants that represent over 600 organizations and other members, including Sun Microsystems Inc., Oracle, IBM, SAP AG, Nokia Corp., General Motors Corp. and Microsoft.
"For many governments, open ICT ecosystems are becoming a key element of their economic development strategy. They see a virtuous cycle of openness increasing access to technology and market opportunities for local industries," the report says. Open systems also foster competition, which is good for users as well as to drive economic growth, and the same is said for innovation and efficiency. "Open technologies lower barriers in the marketplace and in the community," the report says. "Open standards, in particular, allow any company or person to build on existing protocols and procedures, and to innovate on top of them."
Such systems evolve over time, says the report, which offers examples showing how open ICT systems can be developed.
Interestingly, the 33-page report opens with a recounting of last December's tsunami that sounds eerily akin to similar issues that arose after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast not quite two weeks ago. "Responding agencies and nongovernmental groups are unable to share information vital to the rescue effort," the report recalls of the government in Thailand in the tsunami's immediate aftermath. "Each uses different data and document formats. Relief is slowed; coordination is complicated. The need for common, open standards for disaster management was never more stark or compelling."
The government in Thailand created a common Web site for registering missing persons and also made open file formats "an immediate national priority," the report says.
The road map is meant to be a starting point for consideration and "a catalyst for changing mental models globally about ICT ecosystems and pathways to innovation," wrote Jeff Kaplan, director of the Berkman center and founder of the Open ePolicy Group, in an introduction to the report. The group's Web site is http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/epolicy.
The report itself is here: Roadmap for Open ICT Ecosystemshttp://cyber.law.harvard.edu/epolicy/roadmap.pdf and the web site for the project is here: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/epolicyand a story from InfoWorld:http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/09/09/HNworldbank_1.htmlGroup urges IT open standards in World Bank report Participants claim open standards are critical to economic growth and innovation By Nancy Weil, IDG News ServiceSeptember 09, 2005
A road map aimed at guiding governments and companies in the development of open information and communication technologies is being presented Friday at a World Bank meeting in New York by a group comprised of academics, government officials and industry representatives. The Open ePolicy Group contends that the adoption of open standards is vital to global economic growth and innovation.
"Almost by necessity, a new openness, fueled by a wave of information and communication technologies (ICT), is evolving and unlocking the efficiencies, standardization and flexibility needed to propel the transformation of governments and businesses," says the report, which included input from representatives of 13 nations and is spearheaded by the Berkman Center of Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. IBM Corp. and Oracle Corp. have also been involved in the project leading to the report.
Open standards are defined by the group as those that are not proprietary, or owned by any one company, and that are published and freely available for use by developers. However, the road map does not focus on any one aspect of what the group calls an open "ICT ecosystem," but covers various components. Such an ecosystem "encompasses the policies, strategies, processes, information, technologies, applications and stakeholders that together make up a technology environment for a country, government or an enterprise. Most importantly, and ICT ecosystem includes people -- diverse individuals who create, buy, sell, regulate, manage and use technology."
An open ICT system allows for interoperability across "diverse architectures," is user-centric, collaborative, sustainable and flexible, according to the report, which emerged out of a meeting arranged last February by the Berkman Center and which has led to ongoing work by meeting participants. Open standards are not the same as open-source software, the road map says. Both open-source software and proprietary software are components of an open-standards approach, according to the report.
A standard is open when it has six elements, the report says. Such a standard "cannot be controlled by any single person or entity with any vested interests" and further evolves and is managed is a "transparent process." Such systems also are "platform independent, vendor neutral and usable for multiple implementations," as well as being "openly published," and "available royalty free or at minimal cost." The standard also is open if it is "approved through due process by rough consensus among participants."
Though the report says proprietary software can be part of an open-standards systems, the ePolicy Group's road map comes out at a time when Microsoft Corp.'s Windows is under increasing pressure from open-source advocates worldwide. In an effort to lower costs, enhance open systems, enhance security and promote local developers, national and municipal governments around the world have started drafting policies that call for adoption of open-source software.
The ePolicy Group report says that governments should be among the participants in the process that leads to open standards and "play a critical role in the adoption and endorsement of open standards," and contends that government policy should mandate choice in technology.
Bolstering the role of government, the report outlines specific open ICT ecosystems employed by various nations, including Denmark's eBusiness initiative, aimed at creating a centralized ordering and invoicing process that is expected to save the country €160 million (US$198 million).
Denmark's initiative uses work by the OASIS Universal Business Language Technical Committee and the open standard UBL specification. The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, or OASIS, is a nonprofit international consortium focused on e-business standards. The group includes more than 4,000 participants that represent over 600 organizations and other members, including Sun Microsystems Inc., Oracle, IBM, SAP AG, Nokia Corp., General Motors Corp. and Microsoft.
"For many governments, open ICT ecosystems are becoming a key element of their economic development strategy. They see a virtuous cycle of openness increasing access to technology and market opportunities for local industries," the report says. Open systems also foster competition, which is good for users as well as to drive economic growth, and the same is said for innovation and efficiency. "Open technologies lower barriers in the marketplace and in the community," the report says. "Open standards, in particular, allow any company or person to build on existing protocols and procedures, and to innovate on top of them."
Such systems evolve over time, says the report, which offers examples showing how open ICT systems can be developed.
Interestingly, the 33-page report opens with a recounting of last December's tsunami that sounds eerily akin to similar issues that arose after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast not quite two weeks ago. "Responding agencies and nongovernmental groups are unable to share information vital to the rescue effort," the report recalls of the government in Thailand in the tsunami's immediate aftermath. "Each uses different data and document formats. Relief is slowed; coordination is complicated. The need for common, open standards for disaster management was never more stark or compelling."
The government in Thailand created a common Web site for registering missing persons and also made open file formats "an immediate national priority," the report says.
The road map is meant to be a starting point for consideration and "a catalyst for changing mental models globally about ICT ecosystems and pathways to innovation," wrote Jeff Kaplan, director of the Berkman center and founder of the Open ePolicy Group, in an introduction to the report. The group's Web site is http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/epolicy.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Canada-Australia Comparative IP & Cyberlaw Conference
Join us this fall in Ottawa for a bilateral conference between Canadian and Australian IP, Privacy and IT legal experts.
Conference Programme and Registration Form (pdf)
Canada-Australia Comparative IP & Cyberlaw Conference will be held at the University of Ottawa on Friday, September 30th and Saturday, October 1st, 2005. Bringing together leading academics from Canada and Australia, the conference will explore comparative approaches to intellectual property and discuss privacy, information technology and other cyberlaw issues.
A Techlaw Student Summit will be held on the afternoon of Thursday September 29, 2005 for technology law students clubs across the country. Students are invited to a networking lunch held at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. The afternoon will feature presentations by local and visiting students on current technology law issues and contemporary research. Interested students are asked to contact UO’s Information Technology Law Society (ITLS) for further details at: exec@itls.ca
Speakers
Jane Bailey, University of Ottawa (CANADA)
Carys Craig, Osgoode Hall Law School (CANADA)
Michael Deturbide, Dalhousie University (CANADA)
Peter Drahos, Australian National University (AUSTRALIA)
Brian Fitzgerald, Queensland University of Technology (AUSTRALIA)
Graham Greenleaf, University of New South Wales (AUSTRALIA)
Dan Hunter, University of Pennsylvania (AUSTRALIA)
Elizabeth Judge, University of Ottawa (CANADA)
Ian Kerr, University of Ottawa (CANADA)
David Lametti, McGill University (CANADA)
David Lindsay, Monash University (AUSTRALIA)
Carolyn Penfold, University of New South Wales (AUSTRALIA)
Matthew Rimmer, Australian National University (AUSTRALIA)
Myra Tawfik, University of Windsor (CANADA)
Sam Trosow, University of Western Ontario (CANADA)
Kim Weatherall, University of Melbourne (AUSTRALIA)
Conference Programme and Registration Form (pdf)
Canada-Australia Comparative IP & Cyberlaw Conference will be held at the University of Ottawa on Friday, September 30th and Saturday, October 1st, 2005. Bringing together leading academics from Canada and Australia, the conference will explore comparative approaches to intellectual property and discuss privacy, information technology and other cyberlaw issues.
A Techlaw Student Summit will be held on the afternoon of Thursday September 29, 2005 for technology law students clubs across the country. Students are invited to a networking lunch held at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. The afternoon will feature presentations by local and visiting students on current technology law issues and contemporary research. Interested students are asked to contact UO’s Information Technology Law Society (ITLS) for further details at: exec@itls.ca
Speakers
Jane Bailey, University of Ottawa (CANADA)
Carys Craig, Osgoode Hall Law School (CANADA)
Michael Deturbide, Dalhousie University (CANADA)
Peter Drahos, Australian National University (AUSTRALIA)
Brian Fitzgerald, Queensland University of Technology (AUSTRALIA)
Graham Greenleaf, University of New South Wales (AUSTRALIA)
Dan Hunter, University of Pennsylvania (AUSTRALIA)
Elizabeth Judge, University of Ottawa (CANADA)
Ian Kerr, University of Ottawa (CANADA)
David Lametti, McGill University (CANADA)
David Lindsay, Monash University (AUSTRALIA)
Carolyn Penfold, University of New South Wales (AUSTRALIA)
Matthew Rimmer, Australian National University (AUSTRALIA)
Myra Tawfik, University of Windsor (CANADA)
Sam Trosow, University of Western Ontario (CANADA)
Kim Weatherall, University of Melbourne (AUSTRALIA)
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Thursday, July 07, 2005
No software patents in Europe
Free Software Foundation Europe:
No software patents in Europe, requests EPO review instrument
After years of struggle, the European Parliament finally rejected the
software patent directive with 648 of 680 votes: A strong signal
against patents on software logic, a sign of lost faith in the
European Union and a clear request for the European Patent Office
(EPO) to change its policy: the EPO must stop issuing software patents
today.
"This outcome does not affect patents on high-tech inventions in any
way," explains Stefano Maffulli, Italian representative of FSFE:
"High-tech innovation has always been patentable, and even if the
directive had been passed with all proposed amendmends, it would have
remained patentable. It is important to point this out because the
proponents of software logic patents have tried to confuse people
about high-tech inventions being subject of this directive."
FSFE's president, Georg Greve adds: "The parliament understood this
when it amended the directive in the first reading to keep high-tech
innovation inside and software outside the patent system."
"Unfortunately, the council of the European Union ignored this
decision of the Parliament and removed those amendments. Many MEPs
were appalled at this obvious corruption of democratic process that
day and seem to have lost faith in seeing their amendments treated
with more respect this time."
"Rejection of the directive became the very last option to send a
clear and strong signal against software patents in Europe," Greve
continues. "The Free Software Foundation Europe commends the European
Parliament on this decision: in the interest of harmonisation we would
have preferred a directive along the lines of the first reading, but
we understand that rejection became the last realistic option to avoid
doing irreparable harm to European economy."
Jonas Öberg, vice-president of FSFE: "This reaffirms the 1973 European
Patent Convention (EPC), which excludes software from patentability.
The European Patent Office (EPO) has largely ignored this central
convention and granted approximately 30.000 software patents in the
past years: this must stop today! The EPO should not be allowed to
further ignore European policies!"
Georg Greve explains the proposal of FSFE: "Much trouble was caused by
the inability of the European Union to hold the European Patent Office
responsible for acting against agreed-upon policies: unlike other
parts of a democratic executive, the EPO is not liable for the
decision it takes. We propose to establish an EPO supervision
instrument that holds the EPO management liable for its decisions and
prevents further patent system degradation."
About the Free Software Foundation Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a charitable
non-governmental organisation dedicated to all aspects of Free
Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may
participate in a digital society. Therefore the Freedoms to use,
copy, modify and redistribute software - as described in the Free
Software definition- allow equal participation in the information
age. Creating awareness for these issues, securing Free Software
politically and legally, and giving people Freedom by supporting
development of Free Software are central issues of the FSFE. The
FSFE was founded in 2001 as the European sister organisation of the
Free Software Foundation in the United States.
Further information: http://www.fsfeurope.org
Monday, June 27, 2005
Sunday, June 12, 2005
=================================================
CALL FOR PAPERS
=================================================
First International Conference on Information and Communication
Technologies and Development (ICTD 2006)
May 25-26, 2006
Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
http://sims.berkeley.edu/ictd2006
The past decade has witnessed an explosion in projects that apply
information and communication technologies (ICT) to support socio-economic development.
Every sector is involved - governments, academia, small start-ups, large corporations, inter-governmental organizations, and non-profits and non-
governmental organizations. In spite of the tremendous energy and
resources behind these projects, scientifically sound research in this space is
just beginning to emerge. What is the actual impact of ICT projects? What novel technology is required to meet development needs? What methodologies lead to success or failure of a project?
The goal of the ICTD conference is to provide a forum for academic
researchers working with ICT applied to development. The conference will be
scientifically rigorous and multi-disciplinary - papers reporting high-quality original research are solicited. Submitted papers will be subjected to double-blind peer review, and a full proceedings will be published at the time of the conference. (Best papers, as selected by a subset of the program committee, will be published in a special edition of the journal, Information Technologies and International Development.)
The conference will bring together researchers in both the social and
technical sciences, with anticipated representation from anthropology,
sociology, economics, political science, computer science, electrical engineering, industrial design, and so on.
We expect this to be the first of an ongoing series of conferences to occur every
one or two years, and moving from country to country.
For the purposes of this conference, the term "ICT" will comprise
computing devices (e.g., PCs, PDAs, sensor networks), technologies for voice and data connectivity, the Internet, and related technologies. Application
domains include, but are not restricted to, education, agriculture, healthcare, poverty alleviation, general communication, and governance. Papers considering novel design, new technology, project assessment, policy impact, content, social issues around ICT for development, and so forth will be considered. Well-presented negative results from which generalizable conclusions can be drawn are also sought.
Important Dates (exact dates to be updated on website):
* Deadline for abstracts and intent to submit: October 21, 2005
* Deadline for full paper submissions: December, 2005
* Notification to authors: January, 2006
* Deadline for camera-ready copy: March, 2006
* Conference dates: May 25-26, 2006
Only original, unpublished papers in English will be considered. Reviews will be double blind. Abstracts will facilitate the review process, and should be 200-400 words in length.
For further information, please see the conference website at
http://sims.berkeley.edu/ictd2006. Inquiries should be sent to
ictd2006@yahoo.com.
Organizers:
Honorary Chairs: VS Arunachalam (Tamil Nadu Planning Commission) and
Ken Keniston (MIT)
Chairs: Raj Reddy (CMU) and AnnaLee Saxenian (UC Berkeley)
Organizing Committee: Joyojeet Pal (UC Berkeley), Balaji Parthasarathy
(IIIT- Bangalore), Rahul Tongia (CMU), Kentaro Toyama (MSR India)
Sponsors: MSR India, SIMS UC Berkeley. We are seeking additional
sponsors, primarily for travel grants.
CALL FOR PAPERS
=================================================
First International Conference on Information and Communication
Technologies and Development (ICTD 2006)
May 25-26, 2006
Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
http://sims.berkeley.edu/ictd2006
The past decade has witnessed an explosion in projects that apply
information and communication technologies (ICT) to support socio-economic development.
Every sector is involved - governments, academia, small start-ups, large corporations, inter-governmental organizations, and non-profits and non-
governmental organizations. In spite of the tremendous energy and
resources behind these projects, scientifically sound research in this space is
just beginning to emerge. What is the actual impact of ICT projects? What novel technology is required to meet development needs? What methodologies lead to success or failure of a project?
The goal of the ICTD conference is to provide a forum for academic
researchers working with ICT applied to development. The conference will be
scientifically rigorous and multi-disciplinary - papers reporting high-quality original research are solicited. Submitted papers will be subjected to double-blind peer review, and a full proceedings will be published at the time of the conference. (Best papers, as selected by a subset of the program committee, will be published in a special edition of the journal, Information Technologies and International Development.)
The conference will bring together researchers in both the social and
technical sciences, with anticipated representation from anthropology,
sociology, economics, political science, computer science, electrical engineering, industrial design, and so on.
We expect this to be the first of an ongoing series of conferences to occur every
one or two years, and moving from country to country.
For the purposes of this conference, the term "ICT" will comprise
computing devices (e.g., PCs, PDAs, sensor networks), technologies for voice and data connectivity, the Internet, and related technologies. Application
domains include, but are not restricted to, education, agriculture, healthcare, poverty alleviation, general communication, and governance. Papers considering novel design, new technology, project assessment, policy impact, content, social issues around ICT for development, and so forth will be considered. Well-presented negative results from which generalizable conclusions can be drawn are also sought.
Important Dates (exact dates to be updated on website):
* Deadline for abstracts and intent to submit: October 21, 2005
* Deadline for full paper submissions: December, 2005
* Notification to authors: January, 2006
* Deadline for camera-ready copy: March, 2006
* Conference dates: May 25-26, 2006
Only original, unpublished papers in English will be considered. Reviews will be double blind. Abstracts will facilitate the review process, and should be 200-400 words in length.
For further information, please see the conference website at
http://sims.berkeley.edu/ictd2006. Inquiries should be sent to
ictd2006@yahoo.com.
Organizers:
Honorary Chairs: VS Arunachalam (Tamil Nadu Planning Commission) and
Ken Keniston (MIT)
Chairs: Raj Reddy (CMU) and AnnaLee Saxenian (UC Berkeley)
Organizing Committee: Joyojeet Pal (UC Berkeley), Balaji Parthasarathy
(IIIT- Bangalore), Rahul Tongia (CMU), Kentaro Toyama (MSR India)
Sponsors: MSR India, SIMS UC Berkeley. We are seeking additional
sponsors, primarily for travel grants.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Policy Loundering
http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-185519
Privacy International Announces Project to Stop "Policy Laundering"13/04/2005Privacy International, in concert with its partners the American Civil Liberties Union and Statewatch, today announced the formation of a new international "Policy Laundering Project". This international project will monitor and influence the increasingly common formation of civil liberties-sensitive security policies through international organizations. "Governments are increasingly pushing the illiberal policies through international treaty organizations, then bringing them back home", says Dr. Gus Hosein, Senior Fellow with Privacy International.
"This is the strategy we call policy laundering. The UK has recently laundered communications surveillance policies through the European Union and ID cards through the United Nations. The Government returns home to Parliament, holding their hands up saying 'We are obliged to act becauseof international obligations' and gets what they want with little debate."[...] the website for the project is http://www.policylaundering.org/
Privacy International Announces Project to Stop "Policy Laundering"13/04/2005Privacy International, in concert with its partners the American Civil Liberties Union and Statewatch, today announced the formation of a new international "Policy Laundering Project". This international project will monitor and influence the increasingly common formation of civil liberties-sensitive security policies through international organizations. "Governments are increasingly pushing the illiberal policies through international treaty organizations, then bringing them back home", says Dr. Gus Hosein, Senior Fellow with Privacy International.
"This is the strategy we call policy laundering. The UK has recently laundered communications surveillance policies through the European Union and ID cards through the United Nations. The Government returns home to Parliament, holding their hands up saying 'We are obliged to act becauseof international obligations' and gets what they want with little debate."[...] the website for the project is http://www.policylaundering.org/
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Our friend Schneider is currently a Research Fellow at the Berkman Center, Harvard Law School...
Our friend Henrick Schneider from the ICT 2003 Training Program in Budapest, Hungary, goes to The Berkman Center for Internet & Society as a Research Fellow. Beside The Berkman Center, you can also meet him in April 2005 at the “Seeing, Understanding, Learning in the Mobile Age” conference, where he will introduce his research findings. (Here is a UsabilityNews.com article about the conference, discussing it as an example of a working private-academic partnership.)
For his personal page, recent works and e-mail address at the Berkman Center just click on his photo!
Congratulations and good luck Henrik!
Our friend Henrick Schneider from the ICT 2003 Training Program in Budapest, Hungary, goes to The Berkman Center for Internet & Society as a Research Fellow. Beside The Berkman Center, you can also meet him in April 2005 at the “Seeing, Understanding, Learning in the Mobile Age” conference, where he will introduce his research findings. (Here is a UsabilityNews.com article about the conference, discussing it as an example of a working private-academic partnership.)For his personal page, recent works and e-mail address at the Berkman Center just click on his photo!
Congratulations and good luck Henrik!
Thursday, April 14, 2005
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