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The Europe roundup: A public consultation on net neutrality

BY Antonella Napolitano | Friday, July 9 2010

  • EU | EU Commission launches public consultation on net neutrality

    The debate on net neutrality has grown in intensity over recent months – we will respond with a Commission communication after hearing your perspectives and hosting a summit with the European Parliament.

    The process will be as open as the internet! As already made clear, I will not support any public policy that may threaten freedom of expression. I am committed to an open and efficient internet where freedom can flourish. And I have also underlined that I am keen to promote transparency, innovation, fair competition and investment in new efficient and open networks.

    This is how Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes has announced the public consultation on net neutrality and traffic management, launched by the European Commission.
    As reported by CIO: "The Commission wants feedback on possible technical and economic problems linked to the use of traffic management, which can be used by operators to prioritize one type of data traffic over others. It also wants to know whether the new regulatory framework can handle those problems, or if more regulation is needed."
    Service and content providers, consumers, businesses and researchers are all invited to respond to the consultation by September 30th.

  • UK | A Facebook spending challenge
    Mark Zuckerberg discussing with British Prime Minister David Cameron about the budget deficit? Something like that in this video:

    Facebook founder is bringing its own creature alongside the government in the Spending Challenge, the government initiative that asks citizen to give ideas to cut public spending. Looks like a start for an initiative aimed at saving money, says Cameron playfully.

  • UK | Building relations in public healthcare
    Patient Opinion, the British website that enables patients to share their experiences about health care,  has set up a new service for MPs, allowing them to be part of the process: "MPs will be able to sign up for alerts when comments are made from postcodes within their constituency or about hospitals and services they are interested in. They will also be able to post responses on the site, something that, until now, only health organisations have been able to do". Citizens will be enabled to create conversations with elected representatives and officials will have the chance to work with them focusing on the issues, an example of the new government’s Big Society approach, according to Paul Hodgkin, CEO and founder of Patient Opinion.
  • EU | The PEP-NET summit
    The PEP-NET Summit will take place in Hamburg next 23rd September 2010 bringing together public servants, politicians, grass-roots organisations and academics to share ideas and initiatives.
    Participation is free and tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis... so, you'd better rush!

News Briefs

RSS Feed yesterday >

This Isn't What Political Air Time Usually Means

MoveOn.org is asking supporters for $150,000 in donations to fly a plane above high-dollar fundraisers for Mitt Romney with "a message that reminds voters how he represents his corporate and 1% donors." MoveOn previously hired a plane to fly over Romney's Liberty University graduation speech with the message "GOP = HIGHER SCHOOL DEBT." GO

There's a New $200 Million Fund for Super-High-Speed Broadband Projects

An initiative to build and test gigabit-speed broadband networks is set to fund up to six next-generation Internet access projects across the country, fueled by a new $200 million broadband development funding program, Gigabit Squared and Gig.U announced this morning. GO

New Rice University Paper Chronicles Impact of the Internet On U.S. Foreign Policy

We all know that the Internet has transformed the way that the United States conducts diplomacy, and the way that it views national security, but where should we look to find evidence of this? This is the wide-ranging subject matter of a new paper published on Tuesday by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. The paper provides a round-up of some of the major turns of events between 2005 and 2011 in the realms of Internet governance, the development of online public diplomacy at the State Department, the evolution of the Internet-fueled Arab Spring, and the establishment of the shadowy U.S. Cyber Command in Fort Meade, Maryland, among other things. GO

Messin' with Lamar Smith, Revisited

Remember that grassroots fundraising campaign to put a "Don't Mess with the Internet" billboard in the home district of Rep. Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas and sponsor of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act? All of the money required came in, and Fight for the Future, the advocacy group opposing more stringent copyright protections online, writes that the billboard went up. GO

Republican National Convention Organizers Sever Ties With Becki Donatelli's Campaign Solutions

After eight years producing online content for the Republican National Convention, GOP web consultant Becki Donatelli's Campaign Solutions is off of the project. "Campaign Solutions was retained to help develop our convention website and digital strategy, but they are no longer involved in convention planning," James Davis, the convention's communications director, told techPresident Tuesday. It's unclear what precipitated the of the relationship between the convention organizers and Campaign Solutions, which has been producing the online component of the event since 2004. But Donatelli's name surfaced in a controversial anti-Obama ad pitch sent to a Super PAC backed by TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, which appeared in its entirety in the Times last week. Ricketts has since disavowed the proposal and Donatelli has denied any involvement. GO

PD+ This Thurs 1pm: Thriving Online With Howard Rheingold

I'm really looking forward to talking with author Howard Rheingold this Thursday on the next PD+ teleconference. His new book, Net Smart, is a concise and thoughtful guide to understanding and making the most of the hyper-networked, always-on, firehose of information and distraction that is the contemporary experience of anyone who uses ... GO

City of Joplin, Mo. Launches New Online Center Ahead of Tornado's Anniversary

The city of Joplin, Missouri launched its new web site over the week-end ahead of the May 22 anniversary of the massive tornado that devastated the city and killed 161 people. The new site enables Joplin citizens to sign up for emergency alerts via text message, e-mail and RSS. In addition to those alerts, individuals can also sign up for ... GO

In Virginia, City Council Debates to Include Questions Posed Online

The Alexandria Democratic Party in Alexandria, Virginia has partnered with online civic engagement platform ACTion Alexandria to include questions solicited in an online forum in the final Democratic primary debate for a City Council election there on June 4, ahead of the June 12 election, according to a statement released by the group. ACTion Alexandria hopes to work with both parties during the general election.

Participants in the project can add questions to the forum, or vote on questions that have already been posed, although each user is only given three votes to distribute. Users are also encouraged to use their real names. Questions submitted so far hit on topics ranging from broadband access to a ban on food trucks in the city.

GO

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