NetIDme Latest News & Views
6 November 2008
International Data Protection Authorities Call for Action to Protect Children’s Online Privacy
International data protection authorities (DPAs) concluded their annual meeting in Strasbourg, France by endorsing a resolution brought forward by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada that called for an international effort to protect the privacy of children online.
“Young people today are sophisticated users of the Internet, and they use this medium with ease and enthusiasm,” says Jennifer Stoddart, Canada’s Privacy Commissioner. While the opportunities are tremendous, we must ensure that they understand the impact that these technologies can have on their privacy, and provide them with the tools and information they need to make smart decisions.”
The resolution, which was cosponsored by DPAs from New Zealand, France, Ireland, Berlin, and the United Kingdom, acknowledges that while many young people recognize the risks associated with their online activities, they often lack the experience, technical knowledge and tools to mitigate those risks. In addition, they are sometimes unaware of their own legal rights.
The DPAs found that a global commitment to education and increasing awareness is needed to ensure that children and young people around the world have access to a safe online environment respectful of their privacy. They are also calling on industry to take greater responsibility for protecting user privacy in the online environments they create for children.
4 November 2008
Video games sales to top CDs and DVDs
Video games are predicted to become the UK's most popular form of entertainment this year, it was reported today.
UK consumers are expected to spend £4.64bn on video games in 2008 - an increase of 42% - with music and video sales accounting for a total of £4.46bn, analysts from Verdict Research told the BBC.
According to research, the video games market has more than doubled in value in the last five years, with the popularity of new titles such as Grand Theft Auto IV and FIFA 08 and the Nintendo Wii contributing to the massive growth.
However, the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) told the BBC the figures may prove misleading because they include sales of games hardware as well as software.
Steve Redmond, of the ERA, said: "There is no doubt that the games sector is having a fantastic year. But these figures overstate that by including games hardware.
"Our prediction is that games will overtake video by the end of this year, but not music and video combined."
The ERA's 2007 figures put games software sales at £1.7bn, and revenues for music at £1.4bn and video at £2.2bn.
But a shift in consumer behaviour towards buying CDs and DVDs online means high street retailers are in for tough times, Verdict Research said.
Digital downloads only make up around 4% of music and video sales.
Malcolm Pinkerton of Verdict Research told the BBC: "The music and video market is not just suffering from a slowing of growth but a massive transfer of spend to online."
He said high street music retailers such as HMV and Zavvi were having to adapt to a difficult climate.
"They're cutting back on space in music and re-allocating it to more lucrative areas such as MP3 players, books, clothing and video games."
3 November 2008
International Gaming Expo, 27 - 29 January 2009, Earl's Court, London
The new International Gaming Expo will take place from 27 - 29 January 2009. The Expo incorporates both the International Casino Exhibition (ICE) and ICEi and features the latest land-based and remote gaming products and services; however the expanded proposition means manufacturers and suppliers of low-stake gaming equipment, including providers of ancillary gaming services, will now feature their latest innovations.
2 November 2008
Family Online Safety Institute Launches New Website
The Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) today launched a new interactive, user-friendly website on www.fosi.org to further promote the mission of protecting kids online. The new website will be the place to gather information on Internet safety from thought leaders, industry, nonprofits and government to promote best practices and offer tools to families around the world.
The new website brings a wealth of new features including news updates, policy initiatives, parental resources, broadcasts and an exclusive login for FOSI members. It also showcases upcoming events including FOSI's Annual Conference on December 11, 2008.
"Staying safe online is a difficult issue because kids are constantly two steps ahead with new technology and parents are two steps behind," said Stephen Balkam, CEO of FOSI. "Our new website will serve as a forum where FOSI will gather and distribute information as quickly and as easily as kids do, to keep parents better informed. We will use this medium to provide tools, host videos and display news stories and information to aid families and other interested groups on how to keep kids safe online."
Visit the Family Online Safety Institute website
Second Annual Family Online Safety Institute Conference and Exhibition:
Safe at Any Speed: Rules, Tools & Public Policies to Keep Kids Safe Online
Thursday 11th December 2008, Washington, DC
Attendees will include internet industry executives and leaders from global corporations, internet safety advocates, non-profits, academia, the media, trade bodies & associations, effective educators, think tanks, parents, teachers, policymakers, regulators, legislators and government. Find out more
1 November 2008
Full steam ahead for OpenID following announcements from Google & Microsoft
The two tech giants have unveiled plans that will sign-up their users into the Open ID scheme. The move means the scheme will soon be able to add more than 400 million users to the initiative. The two firms join others, such as Yahoo and AOL, as backers of the single sign-on scheme.
OpenID was dreamed up as a way to ease the mental and administrative burden of having a different login identity and password for almost every website.
The idea should mean that anyone with an OpenID identifier can use it to log in to, and use, any and every other site that has signed up to the scheme.
Microsoft and Google were early adopters of the scheme, and took seats on the board of the Open ID Foundation in 2007. However, both are only now releasing the tools and technology to work with the scheme.
On 28 October, Microsoft announced that it was starting technical trials that would lead to all the users of its Windows Live service being enrolled in OpenID in 2009.
The trials are for those running websites to see how Microsoft is working with the OpenID standards, and how to go about accepting that version as a login identifier.
Google has taken a similar route and announced plans to test its implementation of the OpenID technology. This will allow other websites to use logins for Gmail and other Google services alongside their own ID systems.
When both trials by Google and Microsoft are completed, more than 750 million user accounts will be enrolled in the system.
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