Germany, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Portugal, France and recently The Netherlands and the UK have all allocated new spectrum in the 800 MegaHertz (MHz) band to providers of mobile broadband service, especially LTE (Long Term Evolution). Despite this new development, EU Commission Vice-President and Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes is not satisfied. Is her dissatisfaction justified?
In an April press release, Deutsche Telekom announced it would throttle IP traffic flows of its DSL customers once they cross certain data limits and to privilege their own and "partner" content at the same time. "Managed services will be delivered at a higher and guaranteed quality at an extra cost," a spokesman explained. This article looks at what's hidden behind "managed services".
With the growing tension between the cross-border internet and the patchwork of national jurisdictions, it becomes crucial to keep track of key global trends that drive the debate on appropriate frameworks. Based on the 2012 monitoring work of the Internet & Jurisdiction Project, twelve high-level patterns can be identified. Paul Fehlinger of the I&J project reports.
In Europe, education and free knowledge are subject to political restrictions that can only be effectively changed on the EU level. Wikimedia, the not-for-profit organisation behind the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, believes this. The organisation could therefore soon open an office in Brussels to participate in the future debates about a European knowledge society. Nikolas Becker is a member of the board of Wikimedia Germany. Using three concise examples, he explains why and where he sees need for action.
Over the last few years, privacy has become a trending topic when it comes to the mobile internet. Mobile app developers and providers of app stores have increasingly been put under pressure by privacy advocates.
The multiplication of car-on-demand services points to a new trend: Mobility on-demand. These services attract customers and in turn, their user data lurs the industry.
What does politics have to take into account when ever more objects are connect to the internet? EU experts publish their report on the “internet of things”.
People who deal with draft bills are in for the long haul. Uta Meier-Hahn explains how far the reform of EU’s data protection laws has progressed.
Internet service provider Free and content provider Google on the brink of war.
In early December 2012, the European Commission released a study on collaborative eGovernment. Drawing on case studies, the 150-page report makes policy recommendations to foster citizen participation in eGov. But how can companies do their share in ‘participatory eGov’?