Friday 30 October 2009

International Domains Get ICANN Thumbs Up

PC World reports that starting in mid-November, countries and territories will be able to apply to show domain names in their native language, a major technical tweak to the Internet designed to increase language accessibility.

On Friday, the Internet's addressing authority approved a Fast-Track Process for applying for an IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) and will begin accepting applications on Nov. 16.
The move comes after years of technical testing and policy development, said the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which held a meeting in Seoul this week.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/181052/international_domains_get_icann_thumbs_up.html

Friday 23 October 2009

EU opens historical archives to public

Euractiv.com reports that thousands of EU publications were made available to the public for free last week (16 October) following the launch in Frankfurt of a new digital library, the 'EU Bookshop'.

The EU Bookshop website hosts an electronic library containing 12 million scanned pages from over 110,000 historical publications. A further two million pages from more recent ones are also included.

The site, launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair, features all publications edited by the EU's Publications Office on behalf of the European institutions, agencies and other associated bodies since 1952.

New publications will be added every day at a rate of up to 1,600 per year.
"With the digital library, we have total transparency" of EU legislative and cultural publications, Multilingualism Commissioner Leonard Orban told AFP on Sunday, adding: "No-one can complain now of problems consulting legislative texts and associated documents."

Read the entire article here: http://www.euractiv.com/en/culture/eu-opens-historical-archives-public/article-186546

EU to tackle digital book copyright in 2010

According to Eurocativ.com, the European Commission will establish "simple and cost-efficient rights clearance systems" on the digitisation of published works and their availability on the Internet, it announced this week (19 October).

The legal implications of digitisation en masse and the potential costs for rights clearance are the two main issues that emerged from a consultation with libraries, publishers and other stakeholders.

The Commission says it will deal with the copyright aspects of digital publishing in the context of a new strategy on intellectual property rights in 2010.

Read the entire article here: http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/eu-tackle-digital-book-copyright-2010/article-186586

ECB joins chorus attacking EU hedge fund plans

EOObserver.com reports that the European Central Bank has added its name to the extensive list of critics of EU plans to clamp down on the hedge fund sector, saying over-regulation could drive the industry out of Europe.

The European Commission came forward with a draft directive before the summer to improve regulation of the hedge fund and private equity sectors, with the proposals currently being studied by the European Parliament and member states.

The commission plans call for the registration and regulation of all "alternative investment funds".

The funds would be obliged to disclose information on the types of assets it invests in as well as provide details on their use of short selling, one of the tactics blamed for exacerbating the financial crisis.

Non-EU fund managers would also be obliged to comply with the rules if they wished to sell their products within the bloc.

But consensus is growing amongst bankers and EU officials that the commission's one-size-fits-all' approach for all types of funds is too simplistic and needs alteration.

Read the entire article here: http://euobserver.com/9/28875/?rk=1

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Anti-fraud body not eager to cut loose from EU commission

EUObserver reports that leading politicians and civil servants on Monday expressed serious reservations at making EU's anti-fraud body fully independent from the European Commission, an idea floated by its newly reappointed chief Jose Manuel Barroso.

Ten years since its creation, the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf, to use its French acronym) is still fighting some "childhood diseases", its head, Franz Hermann Bruner, told an anniversary conference on Monday (12 October) in Brussels. He admitted that there were still gaps, that the statute of its staff was somewhat unclear, but rejected the idea of cutting the institution completely off from the European Commission.

Friday 9 October 2009

ARMA European Regional Board Elections

To all European ARMA members:

On behalf of the Steering Committee of the European Region, I am writing to invite nominations for the upcoming elections of the 2010 European Region's first Board Members.
The following positions will be elected, and then supplemented with appointees (made by the elected officers) for specific functions such as Membership, Education, Public Relations and Strategic Partnerships:

Region Director:
The role of the European Region Director will be to represent the best interests of the voting members of the European Region of ARMA International. Duties include:

  • To provide leadership, and overall direction for all regional activities and initiatives.
  • To be accountable to the Region's members, and to represent the wishes of the majority.
  • To be accountable to the ARMA Board [Note: this may change under the new Two-Committee structure that took effect on 1 July 2009]
  • To ensure that the Region complies with ARMA International accounting and other rules.
  • To adhere to the Bylaws and established Policies and Procedures of ARMA International.
  • To serve as the link between the Region and the ARMA European Office; Member Services at ARMA Headquarters; and the International Region.
  • To submit an Activity Report to the Director of Member Services, at least one month prior to each regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Directors.
  • To attend (at ARMA's expense) ARMA International's Region and Chapter Leadership session(s), including those held in conjunction with ARMA's annual Conference.
  • To delegate responsibility for regional operational functions (e.g: Website, newsletter, blog).
  • To appoint Task Forces [Working Groups] including, for example:
    -Membership Task Force.
    -Strategic Alliance Task Force.
    -Marketing and Public Relations Task Force.
    - Education and Professional Development Task Force.
    - Regional Conference(s) Task Force.
  • To sanction and charter new Chapters within the European Region, whenever deemed appropriate. [Note: The European Region's Board to take account of the wishes of the local membership in determining whether Chapters should be based on Country, City or other entity]

Deputy Region Director:
To support the Region Director in his/her tasks listed above and replace him/her when required.


Secretary:
To maintain the minutes of the Board meetings and of the annual business meeting and submit them within ten (10) days of said meeting to the Board members for approval.

  • To coordinate, and take ownership of, all official communications - internal and external - with relevant Task Forces, Committees and Staff.
  • To establish standardised procedures and processes for managing the life-cycle of the Region' business records in accordance with Records and Archives Management best practice.
  • To establish processes for managing the Region's Archives (relating to the establishment, structure and administration of the Region) and memorabilia, in appropriate repositories.

Treasurer:

  • To be accountable to the Region's Board and members, for the Region's financial matters.
  • To work with the Region Director to create and manage the budget for the fiscal year.
  • To ensure that the Region fully complies with ARMA's approved accounting procedures.
  • To collect and deposit all revenues (eg: from membership dues, meeting attendance fees, sales of publications, or fees from special events, etc.) in a secure place.
  • To submit a report to the Region's Board meetings, itemizing the revenues and expenditures.
  • To submit all proposed expenditures to the Region's Board for its approval (if an immediate approval is required, then the Director may approve).
  • To submit financial and other reports as required by ARMA International.

To nominate yourself, may I kindly ask you to submit to me a short bio (max 300 words), a picture, and a short motivation (max 300 words) supporting your nomination, for example outlining a vision of where you would like to take ARMA Europe, and why you would like to be elected.

Please note that the deadline for nominations is 19 October. Only self-nominations will be accepted. Voting will be carried-out electronically, between 20 October and 3 November 2009 and will be anonymous. All European ARMA members will receive an e-mail on or around 20 October with a link to the voting survey. The results will be announced shortly after voting ends.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions. We look forward to receiving your nomination.

Kind regards,

Michiel Gen
European Representative
----------------------------------------------
ARMA International - European Office
287 Avenue Louise
1050 Brussels, Belgium
tel +32 2 627 0161
fax + 32 2 645 2671
michiel.gen (at) armaintl.org
www.arma.org


ARMA International is a not-for-profit professional association and global authority on managing records and information. Make us your first stop for education, standards, and other information management-related resources!

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Future of internet has dangers for privacy, Brussels warns

EUObserver.com reports that according to the European Commission, the future of the internet contains pitfalls as well as possibilities

There is a dark side to some of the impressive new online technologies that are appearing, from social networking to behavioural advertising to RFID smart chips, the European Commission's internet chief has warned.

While such technologies offer great vistas of opportunity, the commission is monitoring their development "closely" for the very real potential threats to privacy they contain, information society commissioner Viviane Reding said on Monday at a debate on the future of the internet in Brussels.

Read the article on EUObserver.com here: http://euobserver.com/9/28792/?rk=1#