On May 13 2011 The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) launched DigitalLiteracy.gov. The site’s goal, in partnership with nine Federal agencies, is to function as an online hub for librarians, educators, and other digital literacy practitioners to share content and best practices. Additional content is expected from recipients of Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grants who are developing and implementing digital literacy training programs in their communities.
The site contains web 2.0 features that will support evolutionary improvement of its content.
On 8 June, 2011, the Internet Society will present World IPv6 Day. Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai and Limelight Networks will be amongst some of the major organisations that will offer their content over IPv6 for a 24-hour “test flight”. The goal of the Test Flight Day is to motivate organizations across the industry – Internet service providers, hardware makers, operating system vendors and web companies – to prepare their services for IPv6 to ensure a successful transition as IPv4 addresses run out.
Since the day is based on UTC it will conclude at 8pm EDT. ISOC-NY will present an informal wrap up meetup at NYU starting at 7pm EDT. Among those who have promised to attend will be Sagi Brody of Webair who will give a brief talk on that company’s IPv6 implementation efforts. (More …)
A short video Cory Doctorow recorded for The Guardian called “Every Pirate Wants to Be an Admiral,” in which he lays out the case for a less-restrictive copyright as better for culture.
The report [pdf] “explores key trends and challenges to the right of all individuals to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through the Internet”. It covers both content and access, and also examines what “exceptional circumstances under which the dissemination of certain types of information may be restricted”.
The report states:
States restrict, control, manipulate and censor content disseminated via the Internet without any legal basis, or on the basis of broad and ambiguous laws, without justifying the purpose of such actions; and/or in a manner that is clearly unnecessary and/or disproportionate to achieving the intended aim
and
The Special Rapporteur is of the view that the arbitrary use of criminal law to sanction legitimate expression constitutes one of the gravest forms of restriction to the right, as it not only creates a “chilling effect”, but also leads to other human rights violations, such as arbitrary detention and torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Noting recent cases of imprisonment of bloggers, the report suggests that defamation be decriminalized globally and that only incitements to violence can be legitimately blocked. Additionally
the Special Rapporteur reiterates that the right to freedom of expression includes expression of views and opinions that offend, shock or disturb.
The report criticizes heavy-handed copyright protection schemes while noting that the most recent drafts of the ACTA agreement have dropped the ‘3 strike’ disconnection provisions.
It calls for universal access noting that a BBC global poll in March 2010 “79% of those interviewed
in 26 countries believe that Internet access is a fundamental human right”
The Internet Society has issued a press release in advance of the eg8 Forum in Paris. The release, issued in conjunction with the Number Resource Organization, the Internet Society France Chapter, ICANN, and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) calls on world leaders and governments to recognize the multistakeholder approach that has built the Internet, and to honor their commitment at the WSIS Summit in Tunis in 2005 to continue that process.
The release states:
A multistakeholder approach has helped to encourage the global Internet’s tremendous growth and is key to its continued development as a platform for innovation and economic progress in the developed and developing world. Without the full involvement of the organizations charged with the development, management and operation of the Internet, the future stability, growth and development of the Internet could be compromised. The same approach has proven to be the most effective when it comes to Internet policy development. Organizations representing civil society can also provide crucial guidance about to ensure the Internet supports social progress.
The ‘Internet Ecosystem’ of organizations and communities that guide the operation and development of the technologies and infrastructure that comprise the global Internet are currently leading the way on the deployment of technologies that will ensure the Internet continues to be a platform for innovation, economic development and social progress.
The Broadband Bridge is a community based wireless mesh network program in the Bloomingdale & Eckington neighborhoods of Washington DC, supported by the Internet Society Community Grants Programme, to provide underserved people with free broadband wireless, computers, and digital literacy training.
David Vyorst of the DC Chapter has produced a brief explanatory video:
As revealed by the Level 3/Comcast contretemps late in 2011 the rules of peering are being upended as video becomes prevalent on the web and delivery networks own increasing degrees of backbone infrastructure. Peering itself is an esoteric subject. Here is a helpful primer – Unravel the Mystery of Peering – from Fred Cannone, Sales and Marketing Director, TELEHOUSE America.
Mapping the Hood is conceived as a mapping initiative to define and empower New York City neighborhoods. It seeks to generate neighborhood maps by piggybacking on Transportation Alternatives’ 2011 Bikemonth. The maps will initially be displayed on NYCwiki.org, a dotNeighborhood’s development site. Later, with the activation of the .nyc TLD, they will be used in support of the city’s neighborhoods in sites such as Astoria.nyc, BrooklynHeights.nyc, Chelsea.nyc…
This Saturday May 21 2011 participating bikers will activate the My Tracks app on their Android phones, slip the phone in their pocket or backpack, circumnavigate their neighborhood (perhaps adding some ID pins), then email the My Tracks file to ConnectingNYC. Contributors will receive an invite to a ‘Mapaganzza’ event later that day.
The Internet Society, in collaboration with the ISOC Sri Lanka Chapter, will hold a regional conference in Colombo on 23-24 May, 2011. The conference, part of the Internet Society’s INET series of regional conferences, will be focused on the evolution of the Internet with the theme “Internet for All”.
Thank you very much for giving us publicity… we are so keen to explore opportunities and collaborations to deliver better internet experience for the people who are living in this region..
We will be webcasting it live.. I’ll share the link in couple of days
On May 13 2011 The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) launched DigitalLiteracy.gov. The site’s goal, in partnership with nine Federal agencies, is to function as an online hub for librarians, educators, and other digital literacy practitioners to share content and best practices. Additional content is expected from recipients of Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grants who are developing and implementing digital literacy training programs in their communities.
Reply