Latest ISPA Awards Deadline Passes -

Today marks the next step in the rigorous process of choosing the winners of the 2011 ISPA Awards with the deadline for written entry forms.

Those entering a technically tested category are having their services monitored at the moment by out technical testing partners, thinkbroadband and Malden Electronics, for a further month, making it 3 months' worth of data.

Judges will use the written entry forms to choose the shortlist and winners for the non-tested categories and the winners of the tested categories.

ISPA has built on the expertise on the judging panel this year and is pleased to welcome three new judges: Daniel Booth, Editor at Web User; Annelise Berendt, Senior Analyst at Point Topic; and Malcolm Hutty, Head of Public Affairs at LINX. The full list of judges can be found here  -http://www.ispaawards.org.uk/page/judges.

This year the ISPA Awards will be held at the Lancaster London Hotel on July 7th. Tickets will be announced in May.

The ISPA Awards 2011 is sponsored by Magrathea, Plusnet, UKFast, BE Wholesale, Geo and Virtual Internet - www.ispaawards.org.uk.

Legal Forum on Internet Defamation reform

ISPA held its first Legal Forum event of the year in March on Internet Defamation, hosted by legal forum members Preiskel & CO.

An excellent line up of speakers included: Richard Allan, Director of Policy at Facebook; Professor Jonathan Harris, Lecturer at Birmingham Law School and Barrister at Serle Court; and David Allen Green, Head of Media at Preiskel and Co LLP.

The forum discussed the issue of libel law reform and the speakers delivered insights into the online aspects of libel law and highlighted issues that should be addressed by the reform. The timely session coincided with the launch of the defamation bill in parliament.

David Allen Green spoke about the historical roots of the UK libel system and Jonathan Harris provided a European perspective and argued that it may be more important to look at what is being done in Brussels rather than in Whitehall. Richard Allan gave an insight into how a service provider is affected by the Libel system.

The next Legal Forum will take place in the summer to discuss online privacy. ISPA members are welcome to attend the event.

A list of ISPA's Legal Forum members and information on becoming a legal forum member can be found here -http://www.ispa.org.uk/ispa_legal_forum/page_30.html.

Geo and Virtual Internet Sponsor Categories at the ISPA Awards 

ISPA is pleased to announce that Geo is sponsoring the Best Business Customer Service category and Virtual Internet is sponsoring the Internet Safety and Security category this year.

Geo is focused on the designing and building of bespoke dedicated fibre network solutions - http://www.geo-uk.net/.

Virtual Internet provide cloud hosting, cloud computing, managed server hosting and dedicated server hosting solutions - http://www.vi.net/.

Geo and Virtual Internet join sponsors Magrathea, Plusnet, UKFast and BE Wholesale who you can meet at their stands on July 7th.

Companies interested in marketing opportunities at the ISPA Awards can check out the website
http://www.ispaawards.org.uk/page/sponsorship, emailawards@ispa.org.uk or call us on 020 7340 8741.

CableCom Networking and Mr Site join in March

ISPA would like to welcome two new members in March, internet and telephony provider CableCom Networking -
www.cablecomnetworking.co.uk and web design software and hosting company Mr Site - www.mrsite.co.uk.

A full list of ISPA members can be found here - http://www.ispa.org.uk/cgi-bin/member_list.cgi and you can phone or email ISPA for information about membership benefits at admin@ispa.org.uk or 020 7340 8741.

ISPA Member Discounts at Forthcoming Events

ISPA members have discount to Apps World and 3DTV World Forum.

ISPA in the News

ISPA was quoted in the news this month on issues including libel law, net neutrality, blocking, privacy, piracy and complaints.

You can get regular updates from ISPA by following us on Twitter -twitter.com/ISPAUK