Techno :: Global Policy Weekly

CYBERSECURITY
EU: A proposal to strengthen and extend the lifespan of the European Networking and Information Security Agency (Enisa) got a green light from the European Parliament's Industry, Research and Energy Committee earlier this week. The proposal, if ultimately passed by the European Parliament, would allow Enisa to play a more central, coordinating role with respect to cybersecurity.

UK: The UK Home Affairs Committee has issued a report titled "The Roots of Violent Radicalisation." In the report the Committee "recommends that internet service providers themselves should be more active in monitoring the material they host, with appropriate guidance, advice and support from the Government." It also calls on the British government to "work with internet providers to develop a code of practice for the removal of material which promotes violent extremism."

Brazil: The government of Brazil has filed suit against Twitter, demanding that it remove accounts that are being used to notify citizens of police speed traps and checkpoints. The lawsuit further orders Twitter to pay $290,000 for each day that the accounts stay up.

China: In an effort to clamp down on dissent, the Chinese government has announced that all microblog posters must associate their profiles with their real names by March 16. Users will still be able to display pseudonyms publicly, but will be required register their real names with their microblog platform of choice before they are allowed to post on the site.


GRAB BAG
Mexico: The OECD released a review of Telecommunication Policy and Regulation in Mexico, finding in part that "ineffective competition and impaired regulation . . . have resulted in the incumbent operator having 80% of fixed and 70% of mobile telephony market share."

OECD: The OECD's Science, Technology, and Industry Directorate released a report entitled Machine-to-Machine Communication: Connecting Billions of Devices (see also accompanying blog post)on the Internet of Things).  The report "examines the future of machine-to-machine communication (M2M), with a particular focus on mobile wireless networks." The OECD's quarterly Information and Communication Policy News newsletter was published.  It includes links to meetings and reports from the OECD over the past quarter.

OECD: The OECD held a workshop in the end of January on Benchmarking of Information and Communication Technologies in Health Systems.  The workshop examined how OECD countries are implementing health-related ICT, and how effective government action has been in promoting the use of health-related ICT.