ISPA Addresses Members’ Issues in the Digital Economy Bill -
The Digital Economy Bill, which contains crucial clauses on reducing online copyright infringement, has been progressing through the House of Lords and is now at Report Stage. ISPA has been meeting peers from all three major parties to discuss amendments to the Bill on issues of concern to members.
A significant concern for ISPA members was the power that the Secretary of State would have to impose technical sanctions on specific users. The wording of the Bill now means that this power will be dependent upon an Ofcom report. Further amendments should also mean that technical sanctions cannot now be imposed before 12 months of the initial obligation.
The amendments tabled by the Government reflect considerable concessions on a number of issues raised following pressure from ISPA and others.
Outstanding issues of concern for ISPA members are those around clause 17 and exemptions for WiFi and businesses. Other groups, including the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, have agreed with ISPA that the powers in this clause are too wide to be proportionate.
ISPA will continue to meet with Lords and other groups to update them on ISPA's position about the Bill.
Deadline for ISPA Awards Written Entries March 30th
The testing for the ISPA Awards is underway. ISPA's technical partners Epitiro have helped entrants’ users to install software in order to assess the services in each category.
It's not all down to the results of the testing though as ISPA Awards judges will be examining the written entry forms due to be submitted by the 30th March. These will be compared with the technical results to decide who the winners will be.
The ISPA Awards is taking place at the Grosvenor Marriott Hotel in London on the 8th July. ISPA will be releasing news about how to purchase tickets for the evening as well as information about the entertainment shortly.
ISPA also has a new sponsor, PlusNet, in the Digital Inclusion category and they join Magrathea, Eclipse Internet and F-Secure as sponsors of the ISPA Awards.
If you are interested in sponsoring a category please email awards@ispa.org.uk or have a look at the awards website at www.ispaawards.org.uk
UKCCIS Launches "Click Clever Click Safe" Campaign
UKCCIS launched its ‘Click Clever Click Safe’ campaign to promote Internet safety amongst children and parents this month.
The campaign is designed to encourage parents and young people to remember the digital code ‘Zip It, Block It, Flag It.’ With more young people than ever accessing the internet, and at a younger age, the campaign and code aims to give parents practical, simple and easy to remember tips so they can help their children keep themselves safe.
By following the digital code ‘Zip it, Block it, Flag it’, UKCCIS hopes that parents and children can adopt a few simple strategies to help them stay safe online, while continuing to enjoy the Internet. The code highlights three things that parents can encourage their children to do:
Zip It: Get your children to keep their passwords private
Block It: Make sure your children know how to block people that upset them
Flag It: Ask your kids regularly if they have seen or done anything online that has upset them
These three behaviours cover a range of tips under each element of the code and parents can go to http://direct.gov.uk/clickcleverclicksafe to find out a bit more about each aspect of the code.
For more information go to the UKCCIS website -http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/ukccis/
Discount for ISPA members at Forthcoming Events
ISPA has secured discount for members at the following events
ISPA members are entitled to a 10 per cent discount to the IPTV World Forum from 23-25th March at the Olympia National Hall, London. There is also members discount to Enterprise Social Media, Social TV Forum 2010 and Cloud Computing Congress Europe all in March.
To register or for more information about these events go tohttp://www.ispa.org.uk/events/page_23.html.
ISPA In the News
ISPA was quoted in the news this month on issues including dispute resolution and unlawful filesharing.