2853 Europe’s Information Society, Newsroom Update

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Europe’s Information Society
Newsroom Update
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http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/newsbytheme.cfm

PRESS RELEASE
EU Commissioner Reding calls for preventive action to make
the EU resilient against cyber attacks (27 April 2009)In a video posted on her website this morning, Viviane Reding, the European Union’s Commissioner for Information Society and Media, called on Member States to act to ensure that Europe’s electronic communication networks are well protected. While being the backbone of most other crucial services, such as energy and water distribution, air and road traffic control or banking, European critical information infrastructures are themselves under constant threat of technical breakdowns and cyber attacks.

NEWS ARTICLE
Commission comments on proposal of Slovak telecoms
regulator concerning mobile termination rates (30 April 2009)In a letter to the Slovak telecoms regulator, while welcoming the regulator’s intentions, the Commission stressed that there was an urgent need to implement cost-oriented termination rates.

Text of the letter to the Slovak regulator: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ecomm/implementation_enforcement/article_7/commission_decisions/index_en.htm

NEWS ARTICLE
Draft final report on Indicators for media pluralism now
available (30 April 2009)Undertaken by a consortium headed by K.U Leuven, the study is the second stage of the approach on media pluralism announced by Commissioner Reding and V-P Wallstroem in 2007. Over 50 researchers have worked for 15 months on the project, which has a novel, multi-disciplinary approach combining indicators drawn from law, economics and social science, matched to different risks identified during the course of the work. This approach – much wider than merely examining the ownership of the media – is especially adapted to the structural transformations that the media are currently undergoing as a result of new technologies and convergence. Registration is now open for the workshop to be held on 8 June.

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT
Hearing on Internet Governance arrangements
6 May 2009 Brussels, BelgiumWho should decide on the principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet? How should Governments, the private sector and civil society develop and apply these? The European Commission is hosting a hearing on Internet Governance arrangements to discuss topics such as «Progress since the World Summit on Information Society», «Security and Stability», «The role of public authorities», «Accountability and legitimacy», «Internationalisation of Internet Governance» and «Digital Divide».

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT
2nd TransAtlantic Symposium on the Societal Benefits of RFID
5 May 2009 – 6 May 2009 Brussels, BelgiumThis event is a follow-up to the Symposium organised last year in Washington DC (USA).
At the EU-US summit in April 2007 the leaders of the EU and the US made the statement that deeper transatlantic economic integration will benefit citizens and the competitiveness of both economies. A small set of lighthouse projects that could advance this integration have been defined and the RFID lighthouse project is one.
The objective of the Symposium is to exchange experiences and best practices on applications or concepts that The Symposium will be preceded by a networking day on May 5th. The objective of the networking day is to discuss possible RFID pilot projects and to invite stakeholders to actively engage in this process. A few tangible EU/US RFID lighthouse project ideas will be presented.

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http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/newsbytheme.cfm?displayType=library

REPORTS AND STUDIES
Report from the expert meeting on web accessibility in
Europe and the implementation of Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
The recent adoption of WCAG 2.0, the ongoing work with the standardization mandate 376 on incorporating accessibility in public ICT procurements provide a new momentum for web accessibility. Expert meetings like the one which took place on 23 March 2009, where representatives of users and industry presented their views of what is required to achieve progress, are intended to provide the European Commission with advice on how to boost web accessibility in the EU Member States.

REPORTS AND STUDIES
Analysing and federating the European assistive technology
ICT industry – final report
This report represents the final report of the study, «Analysis of the Assistive Technologies Information and Communication Technologies (AT ICT) industry in Europe» for the European Commission. The global objective of the study has been to gain information as to the state of the EU AT ICT industry and to develop conclusions and recommendations to what steps can be taken to improve the competitiveness of the companies which form this industry.

eInclusion website: http://ec.europa.eu/einclusion
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