EU Public consultation on the open internet and net neutrality

European Commission DG Information Society and Media has launched a public consultation on key questions arising from the issue of net neutrality. European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, announced in April 2010 her intention to launch this consultation in order to take forward Europe's net neutrality debate. The consultation is part of the Commission's follow-up to its commitment – one of the prerequisites for the successful conclusion of the 2009 EU telecoms reform package – to scrutinise closely the open and neutral nature of the internet and to report on the state of play to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

The consultation covers such issues as whether internet providers should be allowed to adopt certain traffic management practices, prioritising one kind of internet traffic over another; whether such traffic management practices may create problems and have unfair effects for users; whether the level of competition between different internet service providers and the transparency requirements of the new telecom framework may be sufficient to avoid potential problems by allowing consumers' choice; and whether the EU needs to act further to ensure fairness in the internet market, or whether industry should take the lead. All interested parties – service and content providers, consumers, businesses and researchers – are invited to respond to the consultation by 30 September 2010. The consultation will feed into a Commission report on net neutrality, which should be presented by the end of this year.

Click here for more

EU, US sign SWIFT terror finance deal

Deutsche Welle writes that the European Union and the US on Monday signed a revised agreement on sharing banking data to investigate suspected terrorist financing, moving the long-running negotiations over the deal a step closer to completion.


Under the revised deal, an EU official would be posted in the US treasury in Washington to scrutinize the transfer of the European banking data to investigators.

Information requests are also to be "tailored as narrowly as possible" and will be checked by Europol, the EU's police coordination agency.

The agreement still needs the green light from the European Parliament, which in February rejected an earlier proposal for US access to the so-called SWIFT database - a European consortium which records financial transactions.

Read more here

ARMA International Opens Registration for 55th Annual Conference & Expo

ARMA International has opened registration for its 55th Annual Conference & Expo to be held November 7-10, 2010, at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco, Calif.


“In today’s business environment, records and information management is crucial for business function and helps keep organizations competitive and compliant,” said Marilyn Bier, executive director at ARMA International. “The goal of ARMA 2010 is to put the right resources and vendors at the fingertips of the professional community that is in need of their services.”

The conference will feature more than 80 education programs presented by experts in the legal, IT, and records and information professions, as well as an Expo Hall filled with more than 200 exhibiters that service the records and information management community. Back by popular demand are more educational sessions in the Expo Hall, including the ever-popular Solutions Showcase, featuring compelling education around important industry products and services and Industry Intelligence Sessions, where attendees can find answers to the most difficult technology questions.

“If you want solutions to the challenges the records and information management profession faces today, this conference is a must,” said Bier. “You will be able to see the industry’s emerging technologies and understand how to apply them to your business strategies.”

The ARMA International Conference & Expo is the premier educational event for the records and information industry. This year at ARMA 2010 more than 4,000 information management professionals from around the world will come together for unparalleled education, networking, and to discover top of the line products.

This year’s conference features:
· Industry-focused discussion sessions
· Hands-on workshops
· Additional sessions on Generally Accepted Recordkeeping Principles®
· SharePoint and e-discovery pre-conference sessions
· IT, legal, and RIM focused education
· Timely answers to your most pressing questions

For more information about ARMA International’s 55th Annual Conference & Expo and to register, visit www.arma.org/conference!

Iceland creates data haven as WikiLeaks comes under fire

neurope.eu writes that one effect of the Icelandic banking crisis has been to persuade Icelandic lawmakers to vote for a "new media haven" in Iceland, with the world's strongest press and whistle-blower protection laws, and a "Nobel" prize for Freedom of Expression. The Althing, which is often described as the world's oldest parliament, founded in 930, voted unanimously in favour of the legislation with only one member abstaining. One of the inspirations for the proposal was the dramatic August 2009 gagging of of Iceland's national broadcaster, RUV by Iceland's then largest bank, Kaupthing. The broadcaster had received leaked documents showing the precarious position and unusual practices at the Reykjavik based bank.

Read the article here

ARMA Europe - member update

Dear ARMA colleagues,

As it has been a while since I wrote to you I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on a couple of exciting developments.

Sister agreement with Greater Washington DC Chapter
Today, we have signed an agreement with the Greater Washington DC Chapter of ARMA International (GWDC Chapter), establishing a Sister Chapter relationship with the aim to engage in mutually beneficial activities and to promote the exchange of ideas and friendship. This highly significant agreement connects the two regulatory capitals of the world: Washington DC, the home of the GWDC Chapter and ARMA Europe, with it’s secretariat in Brussels. In addition, it will allow our young organisation to benefit from the vast experience of the GWDC chapter. You can visit the GWDC chapter website here: http://www.armamar.org/GWDC/ . As DC will be the host of next year’s annual conference there will also be many opportunities for our members to get involved.

ARMA Europe joins DLM Forum

I am also happy to announce that ARMA Europe has joined the DLM Forum as a member. First established in 1996 by an initiative of the European Commission the DLM Forum is Europe’s foremost group in the field of archives, document, records and information lifecycle management. Members of the DLM Forum include national archives and many other government bodies and agencies; industry associations and regulators; private corporations, consultants and industry experts; academic and research institutions; suppliers, consumers and compliance bodies.

In 2010 the DLM Forum incorporated to become a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to furthering the aims and supporting the activities of a broad and expanding community drawn from many different disciplines, countries and sectors. The DLM Forum is the group behind Moreq. Please contact me directly if you would like to get involved in the activities of the DLM Forum on behalf of ARMA Europe. For more on the DLM forum, visit http://www.dlmforum.eu/ .


I attended the DLM Forum meeting in Madrid in May; the main topic for the meeting was moving forward with Moreq 2010 as well as much discussion on standards including the work of ICA and ISO. The DLM Forum meets twice a year (next meeting in Brussels in Autumn 2010) with a conference held every three years. I would strongly urge you to try to attend, the DLM serves as a thought leadership organisation on topics directly relevant to all of us. We are working closely with the DLM to get a webinar update on Moreq 2010 for our members ahead of the public consultation phase scheduled to start in a few weeks. For more information see http://moreq2.eu/component/content/article/31-faq/171-what-is-moreq2010 .


ARMA Europe Website
We are hoping to launch the ARMA Europe website very soon. This website will be hosted on www.arma.org. We would like to understand what you'd like to see on it - it is after all your resource so the content should reflect your needs as records professionals in Europe. There are already many chapter and region sites out there - you can get to these through http://www.arma.org/about/chapters/chapters.aspx. Take a look around and let us know what you would like on your site. Either post suggestions back on the ARMA Europe LinkedIn group (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=893797) so we can all discuss or send direct to me (gavin.siggers@healdan.co.uk).

We will also need some help in running the site - feel free to volunteer.


Membership recruitment

We are always looking for new members and would like to ask for your help to help ARMA Europe grow. We know that if you are satisfied with your membership in ARMA International, you will encourage other Records and Information Management professionals to join (after all, it is one of the best professional decisions they can make for their careers).

Recruiting a new member is easy when you find yourself interacting with colleagues or clients at meetings, online, on the job, or while networking. Simply tell them how you have benefited from your ARMA membership and suggest that they visit http://www.arma.org/join/benefits.cfm to learn more about membership and to join. Membership of ARMA only costs USD 175 and membership of ARMA Europe is free for now.

Other events

Following the successful co-operation between ARMA Europe and IQPC in arranging member discounts to their events we have now established a similar relationship with Informa for the Records Management Compliance event for Financial Services:

As a unique benefit related to your membership of ARMA Europe, we are happy to announce that you are entitled to a 15% discount on Record Management Compliance held in London on 15 July.

In just one day, find out how to leverage reporting, training & competence and risk management to raise the positive profile of records management:

Examine the latest developments in:
• FSA Expectations and Intentions
• Key Regulatory and Legal Document Risks
• Taping and Recording Mobile Phone Calls

Benchmark your approach to:
• Defining a Retention / Destruction policy
• Structuring and embedding a Comprehensive Control Framework
• Effectively Communicating the Records Management Message
• The Importance of Networks in records management

Gain practical insights into:
• Legal Requirements Across Key Jurisdictions
• Selective E-mail Risk Management and Compliance
• Challenges of Electronic Document Regulatory Compliance

To view the latest agenda or register please visit:
http://www.informaglobalevents.com/RecordsManagementAR

Please use the discount code KM6491AREM

We would really like to hear about other events that are relevant to you where you feel that we could perhaps leverage our membership power in negotiating savings.

Remember as a region, the more members we have the powerful the incentive is for organizations like IQPC and Informa to extend favourable member discounts to us.

Kind Regards

Gavin

Gavin Siggers

Director, ARMA Europe
(M) +44 7833 558075
(O) +44 1730 265 455
skype: gsiggers
mailto:gavin.siggers@healdan.co.uk

MEPs threaten second veto on EU-US bank data deal

Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals in the European Parliament on Tuesday expressed their dissatisfaction at the newly negotiated EU-US bank data transfer deal for anti-terrorism purposes, threatening to veto it again after having rejected an earlier version in February.

http://euobserver.com/9/30294/?rk=1

EU and US seal agreement on bank data transfers

EUobserver.com writes that the EU commission has finalised a draft agreement on transferring European banking data to the US as part of anti-terrorist investigations. The deal still needs approval of member states and the European Parliament.

Read more here

Kroes presses ahead with open IT standards

Euractiv.com reports that dominant players in Europe's IT industry will face an EU drive for open standards, starting with services in the public sector, Neelie Kroes, the EU's commissioner for the Digital Agenda, told a conference yesterday (10 June).

Kroes is planning to overhaul the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) to make ICT standard-setting more transparent and make sure public administrations use open source formats to prevent a build up of monopolies in the sector.

Read the entire article here

MoReq2010 Public Consultation Announcement

The MoReq2010 work programme was officially launched at the DLM Forum spring meeting in Madrid on 25th and 26th May 2010. Jon Garde of Journal IT, the selected contractor for the MoReq2010 programme, set out his vision for the work programme to be completed this calendar year and discussed future MoReq developments.

Following the announcement in Madrid, the first meeting of the MoReq2010 project team took place in London on 2nd June 2010. The team is made up of DLM members who are leading experts from both the public and private sector. The project manager is Martin Waldron of Weathervane Consult, co-author of the first MoReq project. The meeting included a demonstration of the consultation portal that will be used for the two public consultation phases of MoReq2010, before and after the summer. The consultation portal is web-based, easy to use, and utilises Objective Corporation’s uEngage software. uEngage is a well established vehicle for hosting public consultation and widely used as a public communication and consultation platform in the UK government sector.

The first MoReq2010 consultation period of four weeks, styled the “concept
collaboration stage” of the programme, will begin in two to three weeks time. If you would like notification of the launch date please email the DLM Forum secretariat at secretariat@dlmforum.eu stating “Alert MoReq2010 Public Consultation 1”. You do not need to be a member of the DLM Forum to take part in the public consultation.

DLM Secretariat
Weathervane House
Old Shire Lane
Chorleywood
WD3 5PW
United Kingdom
Martin Waldron
Tel: +44 1923 285505
Mob: +44 7976 359161
eMail: secretariat@dlmforum.eu

Records Management Compliance, 15th July 2010, London

As a unique benefit related to your membership of ARMA Europe, we are happy to announce that you are entitled to a 15% discount on Record Management Compliance held in London on 15 July.

In just one day, find out how to leverage reporting, training & competence and risk management to raise the positive profile of records management:

Examine the latest developments in:
• FSA Expectations and Intentions
• Key Regulatory and Legal Document Risks
• Taping and Recording Mobile Phone Calls

Benchmark your approach to:
• Defining a Retention / Destruction policy
• Structuring and embedding a Comprehensive Control Framework
• Effectively Communicating the Records Management Message
• The Importance of Networks in records management
Gain practical insights into:
• Legal Requirements Across Key Jurisdictions
• Selective E-mail Risk Management and Compliance
• Challenges of Electronic Document Regulatory Compliance

To view the latest agenda or register please visit:
http://www.informaglobalevents.com/RecordsManagementAL
Hear practical case studies from leading experts including;
• BARCLAYS, Louis Pinto, Business Analyst, Information Management GRCB. Louis will be looking at Effectively Communicating the Records Management Message
• RBS GLOBAL BANKING & MARKETS, Caroline Venamore & Janet Inglis will be illustrating the Importance of Networks in Making Records Management Work

Other expert speakers include:
Stephen Mason, Barrister, CHAMBERS OF STEPHEN MASON
Graham Woolley, Financial Services Account Manager, BUSINESS SYSTEMS (UK)
Paul Henshaw, Compliance Director, 2GETHER CONSULTING
Hazel Grant, Partner, BRISTOWS
Jacqui Huston, Director, 2GETHER CONSULTING
Peter Heywood, Development Consultant, STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE AGENTS

To view the latest agenda or register please visit:
http://www.informaglobalevents.com/RecordsManagementBL

Plus, don’t miss out on the highly practical workshop:
Records Management Compliant Environment
16th July 2010

Register by Friday 11 June 2010 and SAVE up to £600!

QUOTE THE VIP CODE KM6491ARBL and claim a 15% discount in addition to the early bird discount!

Email custserv@infoline.org.uk or call us on +44 (0)20 7017 7702, quoting VIP code: KM6491ARBL

Europeans to Have Online Access to Medical Records by 2015

The European Commission has set a goal to give all Europeans "secure, online access to their medical health data by 2015," Government Health IT reported. According to the article, "The European Commission is proposing ambitious, wide-ranging public investments in digital technologies that will allow it to tackle looming challenges, including the support of an aging population and limiting health care costs." The EC is also "proposing that a minimum, common set of patient data be defined that will allow patient records to be accessed or exchanged electronically across all of the EU's 27 member states by 2012."

One potential roadblock to this vision, however, is that over "30% of Europeans have never used the Internet."

Source: www.arma.org