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IT Security is critically underfinanced by business

September 30, 2013September 30, 2013 Staff Writer

53% of South African based IT decision makers feel that not enough time or money is available to develop IT security policies. As a result, barely half of the companies feel that they have highly-organised, systematic processes to deal with threats. These findings emerged from the recent Global Corporate IT Security Risks 2013 survey conducted by B2B International for Kaspersky Lab in 2013 among business representatives around the world. The situation is especially poor in the global educational industry, where only 28% of organisations are confident that they have sufficient investment in…

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Alcoa, Hewlett-Packard and Bank of America to Be Dropped from Dow Industrials

September 10, 2013 Staff Writer

Alcoa Inc., AA +1.98% Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ +0.38% and Bank of America Corp. BAC +0.83% will be dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average next week, in the biggest shake-up of the 30-stock index in almost a decade. Alcoa, a Dow component for 54 years, will be replaced by athletic gear maker Nike Inc. NKE +0.64% Payments company Visa Inc. V +1.05% will replace H-P, which joined the index in 1997, and securities firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS +1.77% will supplant Bank of America, which spent five years in the blue-chip benchmark. The changes, which…

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A delayed evaluation “pass” score for .Africa competition

September 4, 2013 Staff Writer

– DotConnectAfrica refuses to withdraw before Accountability Hearing The fight for .africa web domain continues as ICANN evaluation scores emerge. Sophia Bekele, whose Company, DotConnectAfrica (DCA) Trust was one of the contenders for the .africa gTLD web address name, said: “A lot of progress has been registered during the past six years, especially managing a global promotional campaign to raise awareness about .africa and new gTLDs and the work of ICANN in general; and to also explain to people and different organizations how Africa and Africans would benefit from the…

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Deal Is Easy Part for Microsoft and Nokia

September 4, 2013 Staff Writer

Microsoft Corp. MSFT -4.55% struck a $7 billion bargain with Nokia Corp. NOK1V.HE +1.15% to bolster a mobile future for the software giant. But the odds are long that a deal can reverse the fortunes of two laggards in a cutthroat market. Microsoft Corp. MSFT -4.55% struck a $7 billion bargain with Nokia Corp. NOK1V.HE +1.01% to bolster a mobile future for the software giant. But the odds are long that a deal can reverse the fortunes of two laggards in a cutthroat market. Microsoft is wagering a purchase of Nokia’s phone business will…

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Microsoft to acquire Nokia’s device and services division

September 3, 2013September 3, 2013 Staff Writer

Microsoft will acquire Nokia’s devices and services unit and license the company’s mapping services in a deal worth $7.2 billion in a bid to bolster the company’s position in the smartphone market. The software giant will pay $5 billion for “substantially all” of Nokia’s phone unit and another $2.2 billion to license its patents, the companies announced late Sunday. As part of the deal, Stephen Elop will step down as Nokia chief executive to become the executive vice president of the devices and services division. Elop, a former Microsoft executive,…

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U.S. Backs Private-Sector-Led Sustainable Growth – Trade Rep Froman

August 14, 2013 Staff Writer

Washington, DC — Since 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which allows eligible countries to export products duty-free to the United States) has defined American trade relations with sub-Saharan Africa. The annual ministerial-level U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum mandated under the law is taking place in Addis Ababa on August 12-13. Leading the U.S. delegation is Michael Froman, who accompanied President Obama to Africa soon after being confirmed as U.S.Trade Representative, a Cabinet-level position. Previously he served in the White House as deputy national security advisor…

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Comments and Questions by DCA Trust on .Africa at the ICANN-47 Public Forum, Durban SA

July 22, 2013 Staff Writer

This is a complete unabridged version of the comment/questions raised by Ms. Sophia Bekele, Executive Director and CEO of DotConnectAfrica Trust, at the ICANN-47 Public Forum Meeting in Durban, Republic of South Africa on 18th July 2013. A shorter version was read out at the ICANN Public Forum Meeting on Thursday, July 18, 2013 due to constraint of time. * * * Background DotConnectAfrica Trust’s application for the .Africa generic Top-Level Domain name (Application ID: 1-1165-42560) received a GAC Objection Advice at the ICANN-46 Beijing Meeting in April 2013. According…

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Ad group blasts cookie-privacy project from Mozilla, Stanford

June 26, 2013 Staff Writer

Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO Randall Rothenberg calls the effort to determine which cookies should be blocked or allowed a “Kangaroo Cookie Court” that will hurt small Internet publishers. The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is working with Mozilla on a project called the Cookie Clearinghouse to try to improve Internet privacy controls. The Interactive Advertising Bureau, a group that represents hundreds of Internet advertisers, has attacked Mozilla’s involvement in a Stanford Law School privacy project to judge whether individual Web sites can be trusted to set…

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Government IT Can’t Pass The Buck On Open Data

June 4, 2013 Staff Writer

Without automated open data, some delay is inevitable, because every record request is treated as a unique event, requiring assessment, redaction of non-public data, double-checking, etc. Automation and providing for self-service not only connect the spirit of the law to the letter of it, but they also save staff time and, over the long haul, keep costs down. Yes, open data can get political when city staffers release data sets without a plan. My advice: Focus on pragmatics: Where’s the biggest bang for your efforts? Where will you save a…

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