Category: BUSINESS

Evidence is growing of Open Data’s potential economic benefit

Staff Writer

One of the key policy drivers for Open Data has been to drive economic growth and business innovation. There’s a growing amount of evidence and analysis not only for the total potential economic benefit but also for some of the ways in which this is coming about. This evidence is summarised and reviewed in a new World Bank paper published today. There’s a range of studies that suggest that the potential prize from Open Data could be enormous – including an estimate of $3-5 trillion a year globally from McKinsey…

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Understanding the Copyright’s Volition Requirement After Aereo

Staff Writer

Jonathan’s post continues DisCo’s ongoing coverage of the Aereo case.  Last week, Prof. Michael Carrier wrote a post for DisCo on the possible effect of Aereo on investment.  Previously, DisCo writer Matt Schruers guest-posted on SCOTUSblog about how Aereo creates uncertainty for the cloud. One of the great attractions (or frustrations) of copyright law is that it is based on metaphysical distinctions. The most obvious of these is the idea/expression dichotomy. The Second Circuit in Computer Associates v. Altai observed that “drawing the line between idea and expression is a tricky business.”…

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Big IT vs SME IT in government – it’s really about changing IT suppliers’ behaviour

Staff Writer
Compulynx

The Cabinet Office plan to bring in more SME IT suppliers and reduce dependence on the old “oligopoly” of big systems integrators (SIs) was always going to come under greater scrutiny once some of those SIs saw their lucrative outsourcing deals come to an end. The Financial Times ran a strange article recently featuring unattributed claims that ministers including business secretary Vince Cable were telling David Cameron that the pro-SME IT policy was wrong, after his department suffered email problems soon after it transitioned away from a Fujitsu mega-outsourcing deal.…

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Tim Wu,The Father of Net Neutrality Returns to Do Battle With Comcast

Staff Writer

Tim Wu saw firsthand how people can mess with the internet. Fifteen years ago, he landed a marketing job with a network equipment maker called Riverstone Networks. Riverstone made network routers, among other things, and it sold many of these to Chinese internet service providers who then used them to block traffic on their networks. After about a year, he left Riverstone, disillusioned but wiser. And today, Wu says that the time he spent there helped cement the idea that has made him famous: net neutrality. First proposed in a…

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Right to Be Forgotten: Google must block a group of websites worldwide Rules Canadian Court

On the heels of Europe’s “Right to Be Forgotten” ruling, a British Columbia court in Canada has ruled Google must block a group of websites worldwide. The case was opened by industrial networking devices manufacturer Equustek Solutions, Inc. to block a network of websites it claims are owned by former associates who stole trade secrets to illegally manufacture and sell competing products. According to a report from the The Globe and Mail, a temporary injunction against Google was issued last Friday in spite of Google’s protests that Canadian courts had no…

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CentralNic contracts to acquire Internet.BS

CentralNic has contracted to acquire the business and certain of the assets of Internet.BS Corp, a leading retailer of domain names registered in The Bahamas, for a maximum consideration of $7.5m. CentralNic says Internet.BS is one of the world’s top 30 domain name retailers, and it serves a global customer base from 199 countries. It has been trading for eleven years and it is accredited by the global regulator ICANN as well as the numerous operators of country codes including .eu for Europe and .in for India. Internet.BS is a…

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New Multistakeholder Initiative: “My Data Belongs To Me”

Staff Writer

A new initiative by the World Summit Award (WSA) initiative seeks to use its global multistakeholder network to push forward personal data ownership and big data issues at UN discussions. At an open discussion, the WSA invited participants to share views on issues with the current system of data use, the need for permission-based access, and steps for further action. The workshop on “Data citizen rights, my data belongs to me” was organised by the WSA on 9 June, parallel to the United Nations World Summit of the Information Society…

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New York Forum AFRICA 2014: Bekele Moderates a High Level Panel on US/Africa

Sophia Bekele moderated a high level panel from Washington DC, on the upcoming President Obama US-Africa Leader Summit and weighs in on “How does Africa see the United States” at the New York Forum AFRICA 2014 in Gabon. Picture: Sophia Bekele at the NYF Africa forum with Robert Wolf & Dante Paradiso The forum focused on transformation: unlocking the competitiveness of the African economy through building value chains around the transformation of the continent’s natural resources, including its human capital. In knowledge economies, such as those in the western world,…

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House of Representatives vote threatens Obama Administration planned internet giveaway

For years, conservative activists have prodded the House of Representatives to use their unique Constitutional power of the purse to rein in Obama Administration excesses. This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is doing just that through a series of amendments that will be considered to the bill that appropriates money for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, along with other science related agencies. One particularly important rider is being offered by Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI). The Duffy amendment prohibits the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) from using any…

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Historic eBay password database hack, Change your password!

eBay revealed that attackers “compromised a database containing encrypted passwords and other non-financial data” between late February and early March. The database included names, e-mail addresses, home addresses, phone numbers, and dates of birth. While there is “no evidence of the compromise resulting in unauthorized activity for eBay users,” the company is recommending that users change their passwords. The attackers were able to log in to eBay employee accounts.”Cyberattackers compromised a small number of employee log-in credentials, allowing unauthorized access to eBay’s corporate network,” the eBay announcement said. “Working with law…

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