Electricity restructuring in Britain: not a model to follow

The model on which US electric industry deregulation was based is, after 10 years, a failure. The system, established in Britain in 1989, was designed and created through a nondemocratic process-without public participation or transparent information about the cost data underlying prices. Although world oil and natural gas prices plummeted, and electricity employment was reduced by 50 percent, generating prices in the UK remained so far above the cost of production that the power companies literally did not know what to do with all their profits. Unfortunately, Britain's market-based electricity pricing system became the model for restructuring around the world, including the United States. The model has spread despite its failure to do what it was supposed to do: namely, reduce prices for consumers. Even as the United States has moved to deregulate wholesale electricity prices and taken steps in some states toward market pricing of retail sales, one major difference between the restructured electric systems in Britain and the United States remains: in the United States, stakeholders participate fully in the process. Another difference is that, instead of being allowed to claim that cost data are confidential and not to be shared, US electric companies must provide information to the regulators and to the public that will allow “just and reasonable” rates to be determined. The hope for restoration of reasonable pricing lies in the fact that the people affected by the outcomes are participating in the decisions being made: through litigation, negotiation, and legislation     

Design-manufacturing practice in the US and Sweden

In a comparative study of 208 US and 109 Swedish durable goods firms, and their practices for promoting design-manufacturing integration, greatest convergence was found for the adoption of manufacturing sign-off of product plans. Sign-off was also the most widespread practice, currently being used by about 75% of all companies in both countries. The US and Swedish firms were also similar, but not identical, in their promotion of mobility among engineers across functions. Permanent moves occur in about half these firms in both countries, but the details, such as which positions are involved, were not available. New structures to promote design-manufacturing integration mere adopted by about 60-65% of all Swedish firms and the larger US companies (1991), but 46% for small US firms (1993). Both countries report the widespread use of teams. There appears to be considerable difference between the two countries in adoption of design training. In 1992 the Swedish adoption rate of DFM (Design for Manufacturing) training was about 20% which is nearly the same as the US large firm adoption rate of 18% in 1987. The larger firm US adoption rate was nearly 56% in 1991 (41% for smaller firms in 1993) but institutional factors such as engineering education have not been controlled. The widest divergence between Swedish and US policies and practices for design-manufacturing integration concerns job rotation. Correlation results indicate convergence of adoption practices in the area of DFM training and manufacturing sign-off for Sweden and the US     

Pan European R&D: a perspective

New goals for Europe-wide technology policy are emerging, perhaps rather late in the day. In the early 1980s, Europe's leadership was seeking ways to help its large electronics producers hold their own against stiff US and Japanese competition. Now, nearly two decades later, many European companies still lack a competitive edge, and worry about unemployment has deepened. Yet, because of maturing views about the world economy, the focus of the policies of the European Union (EU) has changed. Large companies are seen as fighting for shares of intensely competitive global markets, in which uncertainty and innovation have become a way of life. While retaining a base in their home country, they conduct business around the world. Thus, most multinationals collaborate on the one hand at the regional and local levels, with many firms both large and small, and on the other hand at the global level, with other multinationals. Why, then, adopt technology policies that pay them to collaborate in conducting R&D, which they all do anyway. It would seem far more sensible to encourage the diffusion of new technologies and promote the health of smaller, under-capitalized companies. European technology policies have already influenced tendencies in this direction. They have encouraged collaboration among firms and research institutions across the European Community. Thanks to the Brussels-based R&D programs, companies have learned to work with firms beyond their national borders as a matter of routine, to seek new opportunities beyond their traditional home markets, and generally to think in European terms     

Penetration of broadband services – The role of policies

Penetration of broadband services is seen as a key for developing Europe into an information society. This paper provides an overview of broadband policies in the EU, South Korea, Japan and US. On this background, the paper discusses how active policy can stimulate the demand for broadband services.     

Functional separation within the European Union: Debates and challenges

Since rising to prominence in the UK, functional separation has been widely discussed as a way to address the tensions that exist between incumbent fixed-wire telecommunications operators and new entrants that use their networks. The suggestion that functional separation could be employed by national regulatory authorities to achieve structural objectives has sparked considerable discussion across the European Union (EU). Through surveying the attitudes of Member States, this paper highlights that support varies across the EU with debates being influenced by the broader political and commercial contexts within which the telecommunications industry is located. It is also shown that a key debate across the EU is the extent to which functional separation will affect the willingness of incumbent operators to invest in infrastructure.     

An Empirical Study of Consumer Perceptions and Comprehension of Web Site Privacy Policies

The U.S. legislation at both the federal and state levels mandates certain organizations to inform customers about information uses and disclosures. Such disclosures are typically accomplished through privacy policies, both online and offline. Unfortunately, the policies are not easy to comprehend, and, as a result, online consumers frequently do not read the policies provided at healthcare Web sites. Because these policies are often required by law, they should be clear so that consumers are likely to read them and to ensure that consumers can comprehend these policies. This, in turn, may increase consumer trust and encourage consumers to feel more comfortable when interacting with online organizations. In this paper, we present results of an empirical study, involving 993 Internet users, which compared various ways to present privacy policy information to online consumers. Our findings suggest that users perceive typical, paragraph-form policies to be more secure than other forms of policy representation, yet user comprehension of such paragraph-form policies is poor as compared to other policy representations. The results of this study can help managers create more trustworthy policies, aid compliance officers in detecting deceptive organizations, and serve legislative bodies by providing tangible evidence as to the ineffectiveness of current privacy policies.      

A navigator's guide to EMC

Surveys show that, although there is generally high awareness of the legal requirement to conform with the EMC Directive, confusion and uncertainty remain with regard to both the legal and technical issues. The EMC Directive will be fully implemented in all member states of the EU from 1 January 1996. It is imperative to recognise that after this date it will be a criminal offence to market electrical/electronic products that do not conform with its protection requirements. The precise details of how enforcement will be carried out in each member state are unclear. The guidance given to the; enforcement bodies from the DTI is to help companies to conform rather than to prosecute. The overriding issue is that, whatever the level of enforcement, manufacturers have a duty in law to demonstrate conformance for their products. The process of demonstrating conformance also requires clarification. It is how to demonstrate that products conform that is the stumbling block for many companies. The author discusses the routes to compliance and planning for it. Case studies are briefly outlined and the growth areas in EMC compliance are discussed. A sample showing suggested contents for a technical construction file is also given     

解析数字税:美欧博弈的新战场

近年来,以数据为关键生产要素的数字经济蓬勃发展,商业模式发生了显著的变化。互联网企业可以在不设置物理实体的情况下,轻易地突破国家的边界开展业务,传统的税收规则难以应对这样的挑战。在这样的背景下,欧盟出于维护自身利益的需要,出台了数字税提案。该提案对美国企业影响最大,因此美国对欧盟采取了强硬的反制措施。但数字税仍然得到了印度、韩国、墨西哥、东盟等的积极响应。对我国而言,数字税潜在的负面影响不容小觑,应持续开展跟踪研究,在把握国际国内最新形势的基础上,妥善采取应对策略。     

IN rollout in the United States

Individual perspectives on advanced intelligent network (AIN) implementation are presented from four regional companies in the Unites States: Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, Ameritech, and US WEST. These perspectives range from trial to deployment activities and address a range of capabilities supported by the AIN architecture. AIN participation by all regional companies in the United States is summarized     

SLIMming down the EMC Directive

Brussels decided to submit the EMC Directive to the Simpler Legislation in the Internal Market (SLIM) process, a procedure which is being applied across a range of Euro-legislation. The first phase of SLIM was a review of the Directive by a panel comprising five legislators, including one from the UK Department of Trade and Industry, plus five experts drawn from European industry. An initial report published in September 1998 was finally adopted by DGIII in January 1999 with 20 recommendations. This was followed in February by a meeting of all the member states that determined a draft policy for a SLIM Working Party to follow. The most significant conclusion reached by the panel was the need to proceed with a revision of the Directive, work which should be completed by May 2000. After a subsequent approval and consultation process lasting around two years and involving the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and Member States, a revised Directive will become European legislation which all 15 EU Member States will be required to incorporate into their national legislation within two years of its publication in the Official Journal scheduled for Autumn 2002     

Collaborating with suppliers in product development: a US and Japancomparative study

Despite its risks, an increasing number of buyers share design work with their suppliers. However, the outsourcing of design work has been relatively neglected in the literature. Based on mail survey data from 174 US and 122 Japanese automotive component suppliers with product design capability, this study investigates the degree of supplier involvement in design and the factors leading to supplier involvement. The two strongest predictors of the degree of early supplier involvement in design in both Japan and the United States are the degree of technological uncertainty and supplier technical capabilities. Automotive companies are more likely to outsource designs of high uncertainty and select suppliers of high technical capability for design outsourcing. Technological uncertainty also has interaction effects-in the United States, high uncertainty makes customers want to give greater design responsibility to highly technically capable suppliers and those who are most dependent on them as a percent of supplier sales. Overall, the study supports notions of convergence between the US and Japanese supplier management practices in joint product development     

The new joint R&D

During the 1980s, a new form of collaborative research and development emerged in Europe, the US, and Japan. In this new form of joint R&D, companies that compete against one another join together for the purpose of creating new process technology in specified domains. This collaboration among competitors is justified for the development of technologies that many companies will ultimately use in a common manner. Such leaky technology typically cannot be effectively protected by patent or other means, and thus will not be developed except through collaborative means, in which those who benefit jointly incur the R&D expense. In Europe and Japan, governments typically provide 50-70% of the cost of such a joint project, while in the United States, government support for joint R&D is just now beginning to become available. The R&D collaboratives are described as being of two types: the secretariat, which is a coordinative body, and the operating entity, which operates its own R&D laboratory facilities. The conditions under which each organizational form appears, as well as the kinds of effort each form typically undertakes, are described     

基于RBAC的隐私保护模型设计与实现

对于日益增长的互联网应用,隐私保护越来越重要。目前,用于隐私保护的框架主要有P3P（Platform for Privacy Preferences）,EPAL（Enterprise Privacy Authorization Language）,XACML（eXtensible Access Control Mark...     

A compliance office for heavily regulated enterprises — a best practice approach to meeting US FDA requirements

In order to thrive in today’s world of connectivity, convergence of services, and globalisation, heavily regulated companies must partner with their service providers to ensure both high quality service and regulatory compliance. Service providers must support clients from an environment that satisfies the regulatory needs, including that the service providers’ software tools are validated to the standards required by the US Food and Drug Administration. This paper describes the unique approach BT has taken to meeting these requirements, in particular for our pharmaceutical clients.     

Unintended Consequences of Electronic Monitoring of Instant Messaging

Legislative requirements like those in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have sharply increased the incidence of monitoring of electronic communications, but the consequences of this trend are little understood. This study examines the impact of organizational monitoring of sensitive instant message (IM) discussions with a designed experiment. When their IMs are known to be monitored, individuals are found to sharply curtail their discussion of personally incriminating information and to increase their spontaneous denials of knowledge of sensitive topics. Surprisingly, perhaps, they also increase their discussion of relayed information that may incriminate others or the organization. Qualitative analysis suggests that people are not aware they make these adjustments to their IM communication content when monitored. Given the legislative compliance motivations for some of the monitoring activity in companies, it is ironic that study findings suggest organizations may communicate less firsthand information about potentially curtailable legal liabilities and other sensitive incidents requiring corrective action when communication is monitored. Organizations enacting monitoring of IM should pay heed to the requirements as well as the discretion available to them within those requirements to enact monitoring in a way that suits their organizational goals.      

Compliance to personal data protection principles: A study of how organizations frame privacy policy notices

This study examines how organizations in Malaysia frame their privacy policy notice to comply with the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA, 2010) and if these organizations differ in their level of compliance and the readability of their privacy notices. We collected the online privacy polices of 306 organizations from 12 sectors to assess their readability and compliance with PDPA requirements. The results show that private-owned organizations have higher compliance level compared to public-owned organizations. Sectors that hold more personal sensitive data obtain higher compliance scores. Non-governmental organizations demonstrate higher compliance level compared to government-owned organizations. Despite differences in the compliance scores, most organizations fail to meet the requirements of the PDPA. Our study also reveals that readability has a negative correlation with the compliance score because simple and shorter version of the privacy policies often lack detailed information. Our findings provide valuable insights into organizations’ privacy policy compliance across different sectors in Malaysia. Specifically, the Malaysian authority should implement more effective mechanisms to enforce the compliance of the PDPA. Organizations should also take corrective actions to improve the compliance scores of their online privacy policies.     

Multinational data-privacy laws: an introduction for IT managers

Information-technology managers at United States companies are likely to be affected by recent legislation in the European Union and in Canada that restricts the transfer of citizens' personal information to countries that do not protect that information adequately. We argue that, from both ethical and pragmatic perspectives, USA businesses should reject the voluntary, self-certifying approach to data protection currently in favor in the United States. USA businesses should advocate instead for a European approach that mandates stronger data protection and establishes a government agency charged with enforcing it. If the USA adopted a European approach to data privacy, USA businesses would attract more customers and avoid the legal problems that are likely to result when European and Canadian data-privacy authorities begin to enforce their new laws vigorously.     

IEC推出《电子产品中限用物质浓度的测定程序》(草案)

欧盟的RoHS指令(电子电气产品中有害物质限用指令)、中国的<预防和控制电信产品污染的管理办法>草案和美国(加利福尼亚)电子废弃物回收法令等均限制使用铅、汞、镉、六价铬、溴化阻燃剂(如多溴联苯和多溴联苯醚).业界也认识到制定统一的针对电子产品中限用物质的测定方法的重要性.尽管已存在特定的确定限制材料的测试程序,但是绝大部分并不适用于电子产品的测试,并且这些方法也未得到国际性的认可.现在还没有各国普遍接受的可以遵循或强制性的测试程序,且业界协会和学术界讨论的检测这些禁用物质的存在和级别的测试程序还存在很大的差异.IEC(国际电工委员会)ACEA(环境问题顾问委员会)的特别工作小组2005年3月推出了对电子技术产品中含有的铅、汞、镉、六价铬和多溴联苯、多溴联苯醚进行测定的检测程序--<电子产品限用物质浓度的测定程序>(草案).     

The digital signature dilemma

The last ten years have seen an enormous amount of legal, regulatory, and technological activity aimed at designing a proper electronic equivalent to handwritten signatures. One such design, that of cryptology-based (or digital) signatures, has succeeded over other solutions to the point where, in certain legal systems, such as those of the Member States of the European Union, electronic signatures are almost exclusively understood to be based on public-key cryptography. Yet, several archival institutions (including the National Archives of Canada, Australia and the US) have expressed ambivalence at the prospect of preserving digitally signed records. This paper argues that discrepancies between technical, legal and archival responses to the problem of long-term preservation of digitally signed documents are founded on diverging understandings — physical vs. contextual — of electronic authenticity.