Broadband strategy and cyber security
Lord Inglewood criticised the government’s broadband roll-out plans, citing the focus on speed and the super-connected cities fund as policies the government should look at again. Also, Communications Minister Ed Vaizey revealed there has been no broadband funding allocated after 2015.
The government and wider internet industry have announced a partnership to help tackle cyber-threats. The ‘Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership (CSISP)' is a new initiative to share information and intelligence on new threats and how to deal with them. The launch of CSISP follows a successful trial in key areas of UK industry, like financial services and utilities.
Leveson and media convergence
This month saw the Royal Charter for press regulation unveiled after late night talks between the main political parties and the Hacked Off campaign group. Royal Charter is ambiguous about the powers it has over online publications, with DCMS saying courts should decide whether a website is like a newspaper or not. ISPA will be monitoring the situation.
The House of Lords also published a report on media convergence in the UK. The report said self-regulation works in the online sphere, but Ofcom needs to monitor how this is implemented.
Spamhaus Attack
ISPA has been in contact with members about last week’s widely reported cyber-attack on Spamhaus. The attack targeted DNS servers and peaked at 300 gb/s, which possibly makes it the world’s biggest recorded cyber-attack.
Reports of the ‘slow down’ were largely blown out of proportion, with on-going ISPA awards testing showing hardly any unexpected fluctuations in speeds. However, some high bandwidth users in the UK reported some lag in their connections
Online Safety event
ISPA is organising a free half day conference in Central London on the afternoon of May 23. The subject will be online child safety and will feature speakers from government, industry and charities.
The conference will consist of two panel discussions and we will confirm the full line up and send invitations out in the next two weeks.
Curry for members
We are also planning a networking dinner in London on May 9. Full details will be sent round to members later this week or next, so please save the date.
ISPA Awards
The deadline has passed for all written entry forms the awards, with the judging session taking place at the end of May. Best of luck to all entrants, and we will announce the shortlist in early June. Testing is still under way for the broadband and hosting categories.
There are other ways to get involved in the awards. Sponsorship of individual awards is still available, and our updated sponsorship pack is here.
To learn more about the awards, please go to www.ispaawards.org.uk or find us on twitter here.
Event offers
ISPA secures free and discounted places for members at external events and conference. Please click here to view our events calendar with full details of upcoming events.
New members
We'd like to welcome Keycom PLC, Pulse8broadband, Talkstraight & Wifinity to ISPA.
Membership renewal offer
The 9% discount for membership renewal expires on the 30th April.
To claim this, please get in touch with Michaela on 0203 397 3304 or admin@ispa.org.uk.
ISPA in the news
ISPA has been busy this month, with comments and pieces in the Guardian, Reuters as well as contributing to various Radio 4 and 5Live programmes (links no longer available). ISPA also provided offline comments to the Metro and Evening Standard.
Full coverage can be seen here.