UK may disrupt social networks during unrest

(Reuters) - Britain is considering disrupting online social networking such as Blackberry Messenger and Twitter during civil unrest, Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday, a move widely condemned as repressive when used by other countries.
Egyptian authorities shut down mobile and Internet services in January during mass protests against then-President Hosni Mubarak, while China is quick to shut down online communication it sees as subversive.
Police and politicians have said online social networks, in particular Research in Motion's popular Blackberry Messager (BBM), were used by rioters and looters to coordinate during four days of disorder across England this week.
"We are working with police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality," Cameron told parliament during an emergency session prompted by the riots.
Many of the rioters favored Canadian firm RIM's BBM over Twitter and other social media because its messages are encrypted and private.
The company said Monday that it cooperates with all telecommunications, law enforcement and regulatory authorities, but it declined to say whether it would hand over chat logs or user details to police.
RIM's encrypted services have been blamed for aiding militant attacks in India and for allowing unrelated men and women to communicate in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In August last year, a source close to talks between RIM and Saudi authorities said the company had agreed to hand over information that would allow monitoring of BBM.
Online social media was also widely used by members of the British public in recent days to help others avoid troublespots and to coordinate a clean up after the rioting had ended.
BBM has more than 45 million active users worldwide, 70 percent of whom use it daily, sending billions of messages, pictures and other files in total every month.
Authorities grappling with violent unrest should avoid heavy-handed clampdowns on social media and instead try to enlist the help of the public against the rioters, said John Bassett, a former senior official at British signals intelligence agency GCHQ and now a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.
"The use of social media in the unrest looks like a game-changer. But any attempt to exert state control over social media looks likely to fail," he told Reuters.
"A much better approach would be to encourage and support individuals and community groups in identifying alarming developments on social media and even speaking out on the internet against extremists and criminals, and ensuring that the police have the skills and technical support to get pre-emptive and operational intelligence from social media when necessary."

Author: Mohammed Abbas
From: REUTERS

Information Technology for Development

Aims & Scope

Information Technology for Development, with an established record for publishing quality research and influencing practice for over 20 years, is the first journal to have explicitly addressed global information technology issues and opportunities. It publishes social and technical research on the effects of Information Technology (IT) on economic, social and human development.

In addition to being a valuable publication in the field of information systems, Information Technology for Development is also cited in fields such as public administration, economics, and international development and business, and has a particularly large readership in international agencies connected to the Commonwealth Secretariat, United Nations, and World Bank.

Information Technology for Development endeavors to advance research and practice in the development of scalable Information Technology (IT) infrastructures in global development, and considers IT, policy and commerce infrastructures, and the effects of online communities and research methods for measuring the effects of IT.

The journal appeals to engineers, scientists, strategists, practitioners in the field, academics, international leaders, and policy-makers who recognize the importance of IT as an economic driver and make decisions with respect to investments in technical, legal and human infrastructures.

The objective of Information Technology for Development is to provide a forum for policy-makers, practitioners, and academics to discuss strategies and best practices for working in developing countries, tools and techniques for ascertaining the effects of IT infrastructures in government, civil societies and the private sector, and theories and frameworks that explain the effects of IT on development.

The journal helps address how to achieve significant, measurable improvements in addressing the Millennium Development Goals through Information and Communication Technology (ICT): Strategies for sourcing goods in the less developed countries and marketing services to the more developed countries; Best practices for working in the different countries; Theories and frameworks that explain the effects of IT on development; and Tools and techniques for ascertaining the effects of IT infrastructures in government, civil society and the private sector.

Information Technology for Development accepts both qualitative and quantitative research on subjects such as:

Development Issues

• IT ethics and development
• International legal frameworks
• IT and the global community
• Effect of mobile infrastructures on development
• IT and the emergence of the knowledge society
• International ICT dialogues and discourses: Implications for developed and transition economies
• Consultation and collaboration across the digital differences
• Adoption and diffusion of IT, and rate of uptake
• Security of network infrastructures, public key infrastructure
• Scalable infrastructures for development
• Sustainable development in developing and transition economies
• Attaining Millennium Development Goals through ICT
• Official development assistance

IT Policy

• eGovernment
• IT infrastructure for public administration and reform [legal framework, human resource development (HRD) frameworks]
• eGovernance for good government (eGovernment, eDemocracy and eBusiness)
• International commerce and development
• Public policy for the IT industry
• Innovations in capacity building for ICT development (education in IT, skills for ICT development)
• Debt financing strategies and developments
• IT strategies for development (national and sectoral)
• ICT and political development in transitional economies
• ICT standards and dependency
• Cyber-security

IT Business

• Procurement: public procurement information systems
• Metropolitan growth and Global Information Systems (GIS)
• Sourcing strategies: netsourcing
• Outsourcing web enabled strategies
• Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) access to public procurement systems
• Open sourcing, online communities
• eCommerce Security
• Uptake of ICTs on micro-enterprises and their effect on the economy

Health Informatics

• Innovations in bioinformatics
• Information for action in healthcare
• Health information systems
• Rural health infrastructures 

Published by: Routledge From: Taylor & Francis Group

Global Information Technology

Sweden and Singapore continue to top the rankings of The Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011, Transformations 2.0, confirming the leadership of the Nordic countries and the Asian Tiger economies in adopting and implementing ICT advances for increased growth and development. Finland jumps to third place, while Switzerland and the United States are steady in fourth and fifth place respectively. The 10th anniversary edition of the report focuses on ICT’s power to transform society in the next decade through modernization and innovation.

The Nordic countries lead the way in leveraging ICT. With Denmark in 7th and Norway in 9th place, all are in the top 10, except for Iceland, which is ranked in 16th position. Led by Singapore in second place, the other Asian Tiger economies continue to make progress in the ranking, with both Taiwan, China, and Korea improving five places to 6th and 10th respectively, and Hong Kong SAR following closely at 12th.

With a record coverage of 138 economies worldwide, the report remains the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative international assessment of the impact of ICT on the development process and the competitiveness of nations. The Networked Readiness Index (NRI) featured in the report examines how prepared countries are to use ICT effectively on three dimensions: the general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; the readiness of the three key societal actors ? individuals, businesses and governments ? to use and benefit from ICT; and their actual usage of available ICT.

Under the theme Transformations 2.0, this 10th anniversary edition explores the coming transformations powered by ICT, with a focus on the impact they will have on individuals, businesses and governments over the next few years. Since the beginning of the report, the sheer amount of information generated by today’s digital society has increased at an astounding rate. In order to measure impact of ICT and this new data revolution, a new data sharing platform is also launched on the occasion of the report’s 10th anniversary to provide users with a set of tools to explore the impact of information and data technology on a range of socio-economic areas. The platform uses DevInfo’s database system and features a unique data visualization tool developed by public relations agency RuderFinn.

The Networked Readiness Index uses a combination of data from publicly available sources, as well as the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum with its network of partner institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries included in the report. This survey of over 15,000 executives provides unique data on many qualitative dimensions important to assess national networked readiness.

Published by: World Economic Forum

Google's Schmidt sees room for several social networks

(Reuters) - Google Inc is leaving open the door to more co-operation with social-media giants Facebook and Twitter, and believes there is room for multiple social networks as it rolls out its own, executive chairman Eric Schmidt said.
He also said the company will cooperate fully with U.S. antitrust regulators but will not let the formal probe launched last month distract or disrupt its strategy. He was speaking to journalists at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Schmidt, who vacated his CEO seat to co-founder Larry Page in April and now oversees government affairs, said it was too early to say how its new social network, Google Plus, was faring -- but one key indication of success is the number of people clamoring to be part of the limited group currently using Plus, which launched in trial mode last week.
One of the more popular features on Plus, especially with younger users, was online video chat, he said.
Singling out two services where Google Plus can now be viewed as a competitor, Schmidt said he would "love to have deeper integration with Twitter and Facebook."
Google's search deal with Twitter recently expired, and despite "a substantive and lengthy discussion," the companies couldn't agree on terms, he said.
And Google's overtures to Facebook to discuss letting Plus users import Facebook friends also went nowhere, Schmidt said.
Schmidt laid out a future with multiple sources of online identity and multiple social networks, even as detractors say Facebook's service, with millions of users around the world, is too entrenched to allow for serious competition.
Schmidt also said Google executives -- though not he himself -- had discussed the recent hacking of email accounts with Chinese officials.
Google last month revealed a major hacker attack that it said originated within China. It said hackers tried to steal the passwords of hundreds of Google email account-holders, including those of senior government officials, Chinese activists and journalists.
"We tell the Chinese what we know ... and then they publicly deny their role. That's all I have to say about that," Schmidt said.
Closer to home, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has started a formal review of Google's business, raising concerns among investors about a lengthy, distracting probe and potential legal action.
The FTC is expected to address complaints from Google's rivals that its search results favor the company's own services. Google, which runs an estimated 69 percent of Web searches worldwide, can make or break a company depending on its search ranking.
Some worry that Google's desire to stand firm against government intrusion -- as with its protests against Chinese censorship of search results -- will trigger a long battle that ultimately does more damage than a quick settlement.
"We've had some meetings internally, (but) we haven't changed anything," Schmidt said.

(Reporting by Sarah McBride; Editing by Gary Hill and Lincoln Feast)

from (CLICK HERE): REUTERS

Information technology and international trade: resources for the modern exporter

Bryan D. Larson is an International Trade Specialist at the Trade Information Center, located in the Office of Export Promotion Coordination at the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Trade Information Center is a central access point for information on all federal export assistance programs. Bryan can be reached at 1-800-872-8723 (1-800-USA-TRADE) or through the Internet at Bryan_Larson@ita. doc.gov

Information technology is rapidly changing the nature of international trade. Today, technological innovation is required to satisfy customers' demands for lower prices, faster delivery, and higher quality products and services. These demands, coupled with a globally competitive environment, place a great deal of pressure on the profit margins of manufacturers, service providers, and export trading companies alike. To survive in this environment, businesses must effectively use technology to ensure that they can tap into the right information and act on it quickly.

This article focuses on a handful of the many information and communication technologies that can increase your export potential. International Trade Specialists at the Trade Information Center (TIC) can provide more comprehensive information on these and other public- and private-sector electronic resources. You can reach the TIC at 1-800-872-8723 (1-800-USA-TRADE).

Internet

According to Mark Baker, an Internet homepage designer at the International Trade Administration (ITA), "While there is a wide gulf between the hype and reality of what the Internet can deliver, it is rapidly becoming a useful tool in international trade." Through the Internet, businesses are now able to find suppliers and buyers, conduct valuable market research, and post information on their products and services. At an even more sophisticated level, exporters can now use the Internet to do everything from submitting documentation to booking a container on a ship. So many businesses are using the Internet that the TIC publishes an Internet Resource Guide of international trade sites. Call the TIC to get a free copy.

For sources of international market research, you can take advantage of many government and private-sector Internet sites. For example, STAT-USA Internet@ (http://wwwstatusa.gov) is the most comprehensive source of international trade information available from the U.S. Government. STAT-USA Internet includes access to market research reports, Country Commercial Guides, Trade Opportunity Leads, the Export Yellow Pages, import and export statistics, and literally hundreds of other programs. The subscription cost is a bargain at $50 per quarter or $150 per year. In addition, the International Trade Administration homepage (http:hwww.ita.doc.gov) provides a wealth of information and links to other international trade sites through its Tradebase section.

Another useful Internet site is Trade Point USA's I-TRADE (http://www.tpusa.com) homepage. A member of the United Nations' Global Trade Point Network, Trade Point USA brings together trade information from public and private sources, much of which is not available elsewhere on the Internet. Businesses can also use I-TRADE to find directories and referral services to help them obtain trade finance and other trade-related services. While some of I-TRADE's services are fee-based, many are available for no charge.

A notable private-sector Internet site is Trade Compass (http://www.tradecompass.com). Operated by Horizons Trading, Trade Compass is one of the most innovative international trade sites on the Internet. Registration is free, and the offerings include trade leads, international business news, trade show listings, a searchable directory of freight forwarders, conferences, links to other international trade homepages, and much more. One particularly interesting feature of Trade Compass is its Logistics Management System, through which you can search shipping schedules, submit export documentation, and soon book a container and retrieve tariff information.

Electronic Bulletin Boards And Closed Systems

The openness and semi-chaotic structure of the Internet can be overwhelming. Fortunately, businesses can take advantage of more controlled closed systems. For example, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Bulletin Board (EBB) allows users to search through Trade Opportunity Leads released every business day. The EBB is also a source for statistical releases from a variety of government agencies such as the Bureau of Census, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Federal Reserve Board. The subscription fee for the EBB is $45 per year plus on-line connect charges.

In addition, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is now marketing the International Business Exchange Network (IBEX), a new system to help exporters find, qualify, and negotiate with business partners worldwide via personal computers. IBEX also gives users access to a wide range of services and market research from both the private and public sectors. Registration for IBEX costs $250. Call 1-800-537-IBEX for more information.

On-line services such as Compuserve, America Online, and Prodigy also offer access to a wide range of business databases and professional forums. On Compuserve, for example, members can join the International Trade Forum to conduct research in the trade library, ask for and contribute advice, and post and retrieve trade opportunities. The TIC also offers on-line export counseling on the International Trade Forum as part of a trial to increase access to U.S. Government information. Call the TIC for more information.

Software and Data Products

Hundreds of export-related software products and databases are on the market. Some categories include tariff information, export accounting software, documentation software, duty drawback software, contact directories, trade' statistics, market information, and export control software. While there are far too many products to list in this article, specialists at the TIC can provide advice and contact information.

For international market information and trade statistics, the National Trade Data Bank[R] on CD-ROM is the most comprehensive source. The cost is $59 per month or $575 per year. Other excellent resources include the Export and Import Trade Database, which includes very detailed export and import statistics, and the International Data Base, which includes up-to-date global demographic and social information. Both CD-ROMs available from the Bureau of the Census. Finally, the United Nations Statistical Division can provide import and export data from more than 100 countries. Call the TIC for more information on any of these products. While few software products are on the market to help you determine duty rates, this situation is rapidly changing. For example, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Tariff Database Pilot provides tariff-related information from the 18 APEC member countries. This useful CD-ROM is available from STAT-LFSA for $250. Call the TIC for more information on this and other tariff software products.

Fax Retrieval Systems

If your business hasn't fully entered the information age, all is not lost if you have a fax machine. By calling the TIC's free 24-hour fax retrieval system, the Global Export Information Service, you can order information on export programs, federal and state trade contacts, and the GATT and Uruguay Round agreements. In addition, you can retrieve country-specific information provided by regional offices at the ITA. Simply dial 1-800-872-8723 (1-800-USA-TRADE) and select option one to enter the fax retrieval system. Businesses can receive the U.S. Department of Commerce's Trade Opportunity Leads through STAT-USA Fax. The system also includes access to a variety of other useful documents. Guests can call (202) 482-0005 from their fax machine and order document number 800 for instructions on using the systems and a menu. The subscription fee is $29.95 per quarter.

For financing information, the Ex-Im Bank operates the Export Financing Hotline. The fax retrieval system can be reached at 1-800-565-EXIM. It includes information on Ex-Im Bank program policies, fees, and press releases.

Another useful source of information is the U.S. Department of State's Overseas Business Services fax retrieval and bulletin board system. It contains very useful information on travel advisories, visas, medical facilities abroad, currency activity, customs regulations, and embassy locations. Call 202-647-3000 to use the system. There is no better time than the present to use information technology to increase your international competitiveness. In the information age, those who fail to move swiftly to harness the powerful technological tools at their disposal risk losing customers to more innovative competitors.

The Trade Information Center is here to provide expert export assistance on this and a wide range of other topics.

COPYRIGHT 1996 U.S. Government Printing Office

COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning 

from (CLICK BNET): BNET

author: BRYAN D. LARSON