Bridging digital divide: Efforts in India

The fruits of Information Technology sector such as the Internet blue chips, online shopping and nanosecond email have failed to cure century-old malaises like illiteracy, poverty and unemployment in India. The paper presents few facts about digital divide based on global and the USA perspective, its definition and types as global, regional and national, and societal implications. It highlights India in the context of digital divide by discussing its infrastructural bottleneck that includes electricity, IT penetration, teledensity and Internet industry, and its enabling policies to transform India as a knowledge society. It discusses various technology options for connectivity, viz. terrestrial wireless, satellite, wireline, etc. and presents snap shots of select successful projects that made an impact in helping to bridge digital divide in India, viz. passenger reservation system, Akashganga, Akshaya e-centres, Bhoomi, etc. It concludes that creation of Information and Communication Technologies infrastructure and content are the core methodologies, and a national agenda on a C-8 thrust towards: connectivity provision, content creation, capacity augmentation, core technologies creation and exploitation, cost reduction, competence building, community participation and commitment to the deprived and disadvantaged would definitely help in bridging digital divide.     

Prospectus of mobile TV: Another bubble or killer application?

This paper investigates the prospectus of digital multimedia broadcasting from the technical, economic and regulatory issues and whether the market is evolving equitable, open, and competitive environment. Applying concepts of open access policy to the emerging technology of DMB, this paper attempts to gain a better understanding of how DMB will evolve and stabilize in next generation network environments. Three research questions guide this study: (1) How does DMB trigger a change in policy, market and industry structure? (2) What are the driving forces of the rapid DMB development in Korea? (3) Does DMB haul new generation network environment by disrupting the current network environment? As these questions involve socio-technical issues, this study uses a socio-technical perspective to investigate the complex relations between social and technical aspects of DMB by highlighting the co-evolving nature, diversity, and interface, which constitute the next generation network environment. The implication of next generation networks involves the dynamics of industry, regulation, and technology. Finally, this paper provides the DMB prospectus in reference to the next generation network environment.     

2020数字冷战元年:网络空间全球治理的两种路线之争

网络空间正在走向数字共同体,还是走向数字冷战?2020年美国推出清洁网络计划,中国提出《全球数据安全倡议》,欧洲进一步推动落实一系列数据立法,这些动作将数字议题进一步纳入到大国博弈的范围.支持数字共同体路线的行为主体从全球视角出发寻求全球解决方案,但有许多行为主体正在推动这个领域走向数字冷战,这两条路线的互动将决定互联...     

Connectivity in emerging regions: the need for improved technology and business models

The digital divide is a pressing challenge for both technology and policy professionals. Connectivity is one aspect of the divide, albeit an important one. Availability and affordability remain important issues, but these depend on not only technology choices, but also business and regulatory models. While mobile phones have achieved spectacular growth in emerging regions, Internet access, especially broadband, lags far behind. A generalized model of costing broadband indicates that limited uplinking (interconnection) is a significant barrier to widespread and affordable connectivity, but last mile access also remains a challenge. In addition, policy distortions and regulations raise costs dramatically. Because of these, new technologies, business models, and regulations may be required to make connectivity available and affordable in emerging economies. These include advanced wireless technologies, greater fiber utilization, and open access networking     

经济学视野下的隐私问题简析

随着数字经济时代的到来,隐私保护问题越来越受到社会的关注.经济学是探讨隐私和个人数据问题的有力工具.从20世纪60年代开始,经济学家就对隐私问题进行了很多的探讨.围绕着隐私的概念、隐私保护的性质、针对隐私保护的政策等问题开展了激烈争论.从20世纪90年代开始,经济学对于隐私的讨论逐渐转移到数字经济领域,聚焦分析数字经济...     

GII public policy issues

National information infrastructure (NII) public policy issues apply to the development of the global information infrastructure (GII) as well. Individual privacy rights; prevention of malicious behavior by irresponsible individuals; protecting the interests of computer system owners, operators, users, and the general public from computer crime; excluding unauthorized access; and preventing destruction of national computer systems (e.g.. interbank transaction systems) are issues that can be endemic to GII operations. More recent issues, such as the need for high-definition television standards, expand the global challenges. Hence, the body of work performed by the Committee on Communications and Information Policy (CCIP) for the IEEE-USA. Which focused on public policy issues of the NII, can serve as a set of lessons learned that should be considered by the GII community. The article identifies the NII issues and concerns to the CCIP, outlines the recommendations already made, and indicates how they relate to the GII     

Evolution of telecommunication in eastern Europe

New global trends in telecommunications technology and liberalization will force dramatic changes in the national telecommunications of the East European countries. Some of them are described in this article. Mainly the technical issues of shaping telecommunication systems evolution in the region are considered. The major trends in regional telecommunication networks evolution-deregulation, new end user demands, and technological innovations are described first . Next, we deal with today's network structure. Finally, we describe the possible transformation of the network infrastructure in the near future.     

基于PKI技术的安全数字签章服务平台的设计与实现

公用密钥设施(PKI)提供数字证书、数字签名和加密技术,能够保证数据的身份认证、保密性、完整性和不可 抵赖性。数字水印具有安全性、鲁棒性、不可见性的基本特性,在签章域中加入数字水印,使文档经过PS过程后,仍 可以验证其真实性。本文提出了一个基于PKI技术的具有打印扫描(PS)水印防伪功能的数字签章应用服务平台的设计模 型,并对实现方法中的若干问题进行了探讨。     

Maintaining Privacy in Pervasive Computing — Enabling Acceptance of Sensor-Based Services

In the near future, everyday objects like cars and home appliances will connect the living environment to information networks. Pervasive computing devices will allow applications to gather and share a large amount of information. This may then open up a market for a large range of new services and applications. With a world densely populated by smart dust sensor devices, no single part of our life will be able to escape from digitisation. Soon, sensor networks will be able to track everything from our feelings to our behaviour. Besides the enormous potential value, we can foresee many undesirable uses. In a worst-case scenario, privacy implications, particularly the bad publicity around invasions of privacy, could block the incredible potential of pervasive computing. In this paper, we introduce the privacy issues found in the field of pervasive computing in two parts. The first part provides a brief look at the understanding of privacy, factors that can be used to control privacy, and the development of fair information practices and how they relate to the world of pervasive computing. The second part introduces technology that can provide a tool-set to support these fair information practices, and maintain the role of the data subject in the management of their private information.     

区块链在数字金融技术体系中的发展与挑战

数字金融是国家数字经济战略中的核心内容,持续创新是数字金融技术体系的本质属性.区块链作为数字金融技术体系中的核心技术之一,是我国数字金融领域重点应用和关注的技术方向.从数字金融的需求和问题导向出发,未来需要重点关注和突破区块链技术7个方面的挑战,包括区块链体系架构、隐私保护、监管和审计、信息安全、核心模块和技术、标准、...     

Africa and the digital divide

The digital divide is a phenomenon linked not only to the topic of access to the Internet, but also to the one of usage and usage benefit. In this paper we take a look at the global digital divide concerning Africa, we analyze the situation with the help of macro-data and by discussing specific examples (Ghana, South Africa). We also address suggestions that have been made for closing the global digital divide and point out that such solutions require more fundamental changes of society and cannot be achieved by technology alone.     

Toward the development of a standard e‐readiness assessment policy

Information networking for digital integration is becoming of increasing importance for national and international organizations concerned with development. E‐Readiness assessments, for various countries, are associated with the investigation of their state of readiness for such integration. They help in understanding the problems that need to be resolved in order to avoid digital divide, or even digital isolation, from world development. Such assessments lack standard policies, which provide unified measures that ease evaluations, support analysis and comparisons, and help in diagnosing problems and deriving solutions. This paper is concerned with the development of a standard e‐readiness assessment policy. It provides a base for the development of such a policy, and hopes that this base will contribute to a future standard international policy. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nuclear Waste Disposal Issues

The generation of electric power based on nuclear fission is a major element of our national energy policy. It is vital to the public welfare and national security. Resolution of nuclear waste disposal issues is necessary to the continuation and growth of this energy source. A national policy and commitment to achieve a technically, politically, and socially acceptable solution is urgently needed. The technology capability is adequate as a base for national policy. It will require extensions of existing knowledge but no scientific breakthrough. Institutional and political issues are as important and more intractable than technical problems. They must be resolved to achieve an effective national program. Specific technical, political, and institutional issues are discussed in this paper. Key recommendations for a national policy are proposed together with an action program which will require comprehensive supportive legislation.     

Biometrics: privacy's foe or privacy's friend?

From the INS to ATM's, both the public and private sectors are making extensive use of biometrics for human recognition. As this technology becomes more economically viable and technically perfected, and thus more commonplace, the field of biometrics will spark legal and policy concerns. Critics inevitably compare biometrics to Big Brother and the loss of individual privacy. The probiometric lobby generally stresses the greater security and improved service that the technology provides. Is biometrics privacy's friend or privacy's foe? This paper explores the various arguments for and against biometrics and contends that while biometrics may pose legitimate privacy concerns, these issues can be adequately addressed. In the final analysis, biometrics emerges as privacy's friend     

基于内积谓词的属性基隐私保护加密方案

隐私保护是信息安全中的热点话题,其中属性基加密(ABE)中的隐私问题可分为数据内容隐私、策略隐私及属性隐私。针对数据内容、策略和属性3方面隐私保护需求,该文提出基于内积谓词的属性基隐私保护加密方案(PPES)。所提方案利用加密算法的机密性保障数据内容隐私,并通过向量承诺协议构造策略属性及用户属性盲化方法,实现策略隐私及属性隐私。基于混合论证技术,该文证明了所提方案满足标准模型下适应性选择明文安全,且具备承诺不可伪造性。性能分析结果显示,与现有方法相比,所提方案具有更优的运行效率。     

区块链技术在数字身份验证中的可行性研究

文中探讨了区块链技术在数字身份验证中的应用及其可行性。随着数字化进程的加速,传统的身份验证机制面临着日益严峻的挑战,包括数据安全、隐私保护、用户体验等。区块链技术以其独特的去中心化特性、不可篡改的数据记录以及高度的透明性和安全性,为解决这些问题提供了新的途径。     

Power and energy

Unnaturally splendid weather in Northern Europe and Britain and a stupendous stretch of dry, sunny days in much of the United States were last summer's pointers to the year's weightiest technical development for the electric power sector: the growing confidence among atmospheric scientists in their computer models' warnings that the Earth will warm up markedly over the next century. This paper presents an overview of the power generation-based global warming argument and highlights how: global warming scenarios have gained credibility; international rivalry has quickened in power supply; combined-cycle power plants have attained record efficiencies; and how technical gains have strengthened the renewable energy sector     

Commercial, legal, and international aspects of packet communications

Packet switching technology emerged rapidly in the 1970's as another viable mode of communications switching, along with circuit and message switching. Since packet switching offers economical and versatile data communication capabilities in a multiuser environment, it is particularly well suited for furnishing public data communication network services. Public packet networks are now established or being developed in most industrialized countries, and the introduction of these networks has raised policy issues relating to the structure and regulation of the national networks, and the interconnection of national networks into an international packet switching system. This paper reviews these issues and concludes that public packet switching network services will continue to be regulated in all cases; that competitive packet networks will coexist in the U.S. and in Canada, but that only one national packet network will exist in each of most other countries; that packet networks will aggravate the problem of distinguishing nonregulated data processing services from regulated data communication services; that international interconnection of public packet networks based upon CCITT standanh will occur rapidly over the next several years; and that a unified international packet switching system will eventually emerge similar to today's international telephone and telex systems.     

Capturing climate change

Though for decades arguments have raged over whether human activities cause changes in climate, these battles may be nearing an end. It is hard to dispute that the earths climate is getting warmer. The apparent reason is a measurable increase in greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide, but also methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and ozone. Some do disagree. And this group, while not large, is vocal. Some accept the evidence for a warming planet, but not that it is due to human activities. Others think a negative feedback effect will kick in or that the effects will be minor or even positive. But many scientists say global warming is real and will have serious effects. They also believe that nothing we do now can immediately stop it. Our best efforts, though important, will only slow it down. The questions of today are how well the effects can be predicted and how to cope with them. This paper discusses the evidence for global warming and climate models to test the theory. The possible effects of global warming are described. The political action being taken regarding global warming are discussed