Final ISPA Awards Tickets Available

The last remaining tickets are available for the 15th ISPA Awards here.

Taking place on July 11th at the Park Lane Sheraton, the awards will celebrate the best of the internet industry in the past year, with 300 industry, government, media and political representatives. The     evening includes champagne reception, entertainment and a three course meal.

The 2013 Awards are the 15th ISPAs and are an excellent chance to make new contacts and celebrate the success the sector has had in the last year. A full shortlist of the 40 finalists can be seen here.

To learn more about the awards, please go to www.ispaawards.org.uk.

Internet Hero & Villain finalists unveiled

Communications Data and state surveillance dominates the shortlist for both the Internet Hero and Internet Villain awards at the 2013 ISPAs. You can read the full release here.

Chosen by ISPA Council, the finalists are for those who have been deemed to boost or harm the internet industry. Two Cabinet Ministers make the list with Nick Clegg nominated for Hero and Theresa May up for Villain. The PRISM project is also represented, with whistleblower Edward Snowden nominated for Hero.

Internet Hero finalists

  • Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP – For preventing the Communications Data Bill.
  • Julian Huppert MP- For leading political opposition against the Communications Data Bill.
  • Edward Snowdon – For exposing the PRISM surveillance project being run by the US government and calling for a debate around surveillance transparency in the digital age.
  • Spamhaus – For fending off a significant global cyber-attack in the spring in its fifteenth year.

Internet Villain finalists

  • Bluecoat et al- For selling surveillance technologies and equipment to unfavourable regimes.
  • Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Erdogan-  For condemning social media as a ‘menace to society’, when he should recognise the value of the internet in a democracy.
  • Home Secretary Rt Hon Theresa May MP- For pushing ahead with the Communications Data Bill, despite criticism from industry.
  • The PRISM Project – For running a surveillance programme that appears to have operated without proper safeguards and little transparency.

The winners, decided by ISPA Council, will be revealed at the awards ceremony on 11th July.

Keynotes confirmed for the ISPA Awards

ISPA is delighted to confirm that technology critic and broadcaster Bill Thompson will give the keynote     speech. We are also pleased to confirm the host of the awards will be Sean Collins.

Online safety summit

The Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, organised a summit attended by a variety of ISPA members on internet safety.

ISPA and the wider internet industry shares government’s aims of making the internet safer and has taken several steps to bring this about. The summit was a chance to explain this to government as they need to fully understand and appreciate what is already being done by industry to get the right policies in place.

Net Lynk Delivering Technology for the Internet Industry

The Net Lynk Group has grown to become one of the UK’s leading bespoke fulfilment and distribution solution providers. This achievement is based on hard work, innovation and proactive development, and has led to us working with some of the worlds largest organisations.

As technology and our marketplace develops we at Net Lynk have made it our business to stay ahead of the game by constantly investing in our IT infrastructure, warehousing and staff. Flexibility is essential to our development.

Our customers are at the heart of every decision we make, above all we want their service to benefit from what we do. Thereby enhancing reputations and developing business.

We are now looking forward to our next stage of growth. The investment continues and our dedication to provide the very best service remains.

If you think that we can help you, or you would like to find out more, contact us today and we will happily discuss your requirements.

Level Playing Field Needed for NGNs

ISPA Awards sponsor Magrathea argue that a level playing field is needed for NGNs:

In a time where the industry is working towards a technology neutral model to embrace Next Generation Networks, we have to be disappointed to see that once again an Ofcom review (Narrowband Services) appears to miss an opportunity to level the playing field.  NGN Operators are penalised because investing into legacy interconnect points does not make commercial sense in the long term and with Tandem to Local Exchange conveyance not being regulated on NGN principles, combined with the expected very rapid introduction of the new FTRs, we anticipate a tough few months ahead while NGN Operators adjust and attempt to minimise any negative impact for the consumer as a result.

Magrathea are sponsoring the Internet Telephony Award at this year's ISPA Awards. For more information go to - www.magrathea-telecom.co.uk or on 0845 004 0040 or look out for us at the ISPA Awards.

ISPA events

There are a variety of events that ISPA secure free and discounted places for throughout July.  Please click here to see our full calendar.

New members

We’d like to welcome Village Networks and Univercell to ISPA.

ISPA in the news

Online safety and the Hero and Villain shortlists were the main drivers of ISPA's media coverage in June.

The DCMS summit and ISPA's involvement was featured in BBC News, The Telegraph, The Register, Digital Spy, The Next Web, TechWeek Europe, ITPro, politics.co.uk

The Hero and Villain shortlist was covered in The Inquirer, uSwitch, ISPreview, Lib Dem Voice and thinkbroadband.

BBC News also featured ISPA in a story about the Digital Economy Act.

Full coverage can be seen here.