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TechnologyDaily Mobile
Rwandan President Touts Tech Advances
by Winter Casey
In the past 10 years, the use of mobile telephones in Africa has evolved from a gadget of the rich and privileged to a basic necessity in urban and rural areas, Rwandan President Paul Kagame told government and business leaders on Monday.
"Formal and informal sector operators, as well as consumers throughout the continent, use their mobile phones to access a range of services," Kagame said at the launch of Connect Africa in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. "Farmers and traders in rural Africa receive market information through this medium."
Connect Africa is a global partnership aimed at bridging the gaps in information and communications technology across the region. A number of players -- including the International Telecommunication Union, United Nations and World Bank -- are involved in the partnership.
Technology also has enabled health data to be transmitted from remote rural corners to centrally located authorities, Kagame said.
Still, he said, "Africa remains the world's least connected continent -- which means that we are effectively foregoing enormous socioeconomic benefits that accrue from ICTs, a proven and powerful engine for growth and development."
"Beyond the powers of ICT associated with the mobile phone and data services, we have stalled when it comes to building the required communications infrastructure for more ambitious applications, product development and greater diffusion of these tools."
Kagame said more relationships need to be formed between government and business to encourage technological development. "The role of government is to ensure a fair, transparent and, above all, competitive marketplace for ICT infrastructure," he said.
African governments should increase "our respective regulatory cohesion" and "harmonize across the continent in order to become more attractive to domestic and foreign investment," the Rwandan leader said.
Kagame also said African countries should invest in ICT-related training and work to improve the continent's record of retaining professionals.
Finally, he noted that more work is needed to help bring high-speed Internet connectivity to Africa. "This obstacle to Africa's economic competitiveness can only be overcome by building cable connections undersea and overland directly to the backbone of the global information superhighway," Kagame said.
"With a modern ICT infrastructure, we can strengthen our major cities as hubs of dynamic services-led economic activity, attracting good quality and knowledge-based jobs," he said. "This will keep our best and brightest in Africa, where they can build a more prosperous future for themselves and for our continent."
Europe's Research Directive Unheeded By Some
The European Commission has warned member nations that they may be punished for failing to enact a 2005 European Union directive into national law.
The directive is designed to allow third-country nationals into the European Union to conduct scientific research by permitting the fast-tracking of visa procedures for researchers. Under the directive, accredited research organizations must certify the status of the visa applicant and verify the existence of a genuine research project, among other tasks.
The commission said Monday that only six EU nations -- Austria, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Portugal and Romania -- enacted implementing legislation by the Oct. 12 deadline. The commission said France, Latvia, Lithuania and the Slovak Republic have notified the commission that they have partially implemented the directive.
"The commission is now entitled to take steps to open infringement proceedings against those member states that have not yet notified the commission of the directive's implementation, as well as those who have given notification of partial implementation only," the commission said.
In other European news, the EU commission said last week that German plans to finance part of the fees that commercial broadcasters pay for the transmission of their programs on the digital terrestrial television network do not comply with the commission's aid rules.
The "proposed measures fail to identify properly the problem that requires state aid, and to choose appropriate and non-discriminatory means of funding," the commission said.
"State support must target specific issues where the market does not provide solutions and must not be discriminatory, in particular between terrestrial, cable and satellite transmission," Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement.
Italian Bloggers May Have To Register
Italian bloggers may have to register in a national database, according to news reports. Both The Register and The Inquirer report that the law was initially approved in mid-October as part of a package of measures focused on Italy's publishing-related regulations.
The outcry from the blogosphere, however, could result in the government revising the draft law, The Register reported.
"According to many legal experts, the murky text of the law can be construed to include non-professional, not-for-profit blogs and Web sites among 'editorial products,' giving them the same duties and liabilities as magazines and newspapers," according to The Register.
The Inquirer wrote that the law requires anyone with a blog or a Web site "to register it with [the] communications authority, produce certificates, pay a tax, even if they provide information without any intention to make money."
"If you must blog, you must form a publishing company and have a registered journalist on your board of directors running things," The Inquirer continues.
Analysis Details Burma's Control Of Net
Burma's government, the second country after Nepal to completely cut Internet connections for its population, has close to complete control over the content of broadcast and print media, according to an analysis released this month from the OpenNet Initiative.
The military-controlled Burmese government completely halted Internet access Sept. 29 and reportedly terminated most cell-phone services to "immobilize and disarm the essential communication tools used by citizen journalists," the report said. The move came in the wake of pro-democracy demonstrations last month led by Buddhist monks.
The protests were violently suppressed by Burma's military junta, which also tried to block citizens from publicizing the demonstrations. Even before the protests, the government had increased the number of Web sites it filtered.
"Along with Internet-related services such as travel and Web sites, Internet cafes are still being closed and their computers confiscated, with the government claiming that they illegally used 'freedom' software," according to the OpenNet Initiative.
"Many Burmese citizens who helped to document the uprising could be implicated by the electronic footprints left behind, while others will remain anonymous by virtue of the numerous existing holes in the Burmese surveillance network," the report said. "It is not difficult to envision increasingly tighter controls over the Internet and communication infrastructure in Burma, with the rapid deployment of additional surveillance tools, reinforced filtering, and stronger policies to link all Internet-based communication with real identification."
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