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mercredi 21 janvier 2009

SECURITE INTERNET (USA)

Source: US Embassy


Securing Cyberspace for the 44th Presidency
CSIS Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). December 2008. 96 pages.

Inadequate cybersecurity and loss of information has inflicted unacceptable damage to U.S. national and economic security. America’s failure to protect cyberspace is one of the most urgent national security problems facing the new administration that will take office in January 2009. This report lays out a series of recommendations for a comprehensive national approach to securing cyberspace.

Critical Infrastructure Protection: DHS Needs to Fully Address Lessons Learned from Its First Cyber Storm Exercise
Government Accountability Office (GAO). Report to Congressional Requesters. September 2008. 39 pages.

Federal policies establish the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as the focal point for the security of cyberspace. As part of its responsibilities, DHS is required to coordinate cyber attack exercises to strengthen public and private incident response capabilities. One major exercise program, called Cyber Storm, is a large-scale simulation of multiple concurrent cyber attacks involving the federal government, states, foreign governments, and private industry. To date, DHS has conducted Cyber Storm exercises in 2006 and 2008. GAO agreed to identify the lessons that DHS learned from the first Cyber Storm exercise, assess DHS's efforts to address the lessons learned from this exercise, and identify key participants' views of their experiences during the second Cyber Storm exercise.


The President's Identity Theft Task Force Report
Federal Trade Commission (FTC). September 2008. 70 pages.

Two years ago, the President launched a new era in the fight against identity theft by issuing an executive order establishing the Identity Theft Task Force. The executive order charged 15 federal departments and agencies with crafting a comprehensive national strategy to combat more effectively this pernicious crime, which afflicts millions of Americans each year and, in some cases, causes devastating damage to its victims. One year later, on April 11, 2007, the Task Force submitted its Strategic Plan to the President. The Strategic Plan examined the nature and scope of identity theft and offered a far-reaching series of recommendations to reduce its incidence and impact. This report documents the Task Force’s efforts to implement the Strategic Plan’s recommendations.


Building Cyber Security Leadership for the 21st Century
James Jay Carafano and Eric Sayers. The Heritage Foundation. Backgrounder No. 2218. December 16, 2008. 7 pages.

The issue of cyber security, cyber competitiveness, and cyberwarfare has weighed heavily on the minds of policymakers as the severity and complexity of mali­cious cyber attacks have intensified over the past decade. These attacks, directed against both the public and private sectors, are the product of a heterogeneous network of state and non-state actors whose actions are motivated by a host of factors. Helping to ensure that the federal government achieves a high level of competency on cyber security issues is an imperative for the next Congress.

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ECONOMIE DES NTIC aux USA


Sources: US Embassy

Obama’s Online Opportunities
John B. Horrigan. The Pew Internet & American Life Project. Data Memo. December 4, 2008. 3 pages.
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Obama.and.Tech.pdf
There is no shortage of suggestions to the incoming Obama administration about what to do about communications policy in the United States. America’s middling standing in world rankings on broadband adoption has served as a call to arms for the new administration to develop a national broadband strategy to boost the economy, aid the environment and improve delivery of health care and government services.

Radio Communications: Congressional Action Needed to Ensure Agencies Collaborate to Develop a Joint Solution
Government Accountability Office (GAO). Report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate. December 2008. 59 pages.

The Integrated Wireless Network (IWN) was intended to be a collaborative effort among the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Homeland Security (DHS), and the Treasury to provide secure, seamless, interoperable, and reliable nationwide wireless communications in support of federal agents and officers engaged in law enforcement, protective services, homeland defense, and disaster response missions. GAO was asked to determine the extent to which the three departments are developing a joint radio communications solution.

Telecommunications Task Group Final Report
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). October 28, 2008. 23 pages.
http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/081028_telecomm_task_group.pdf
The Telecommunications Infrastructure of the United States is arguably one of the fundamental enablers of virtually all other critical infrastructures on which the nation depends. This paper describes the current status of cyber security within the telecommunications infrastructure, defines the interdependencies between the telecommunications infrastructure and the other critical infrastructures, and develops recommendations for expanding and enhancing the cyber security of the collective telecommunications infrastructure.


SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: PLAN TO IDENTIFY AND IMPLEMENT INCENTIVES THAT PROMOTE MORE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE USE OF SPECTRUM
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). U.S. Department of Commerce. November 2008. 21 pages.

In May 2003, the President committed the Administration to the development of a United States Spectrum Policy that promotes economic prosperity and national security through the 21st century. Since then, the Executive Branch has worked to implement the President’s Spectrum Policy Initiative. Pursuant to the President’s directive, NTIA has developed this plan to expand on existing policies that identify and implement incentives that are appropriate to Federal Government users; and address incentives more broadly and develop possible legislative recommendations to increase the FCC’s incentive authority.

Lowering the Cost of Play: Improving Energy Efficiency of Video Game Consoles
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Issue Paper. November 2008. 29 pages.

More than 40 percent of all homes in the United States contain at least one video game console. Video game consoles consumed an estimated 16 billion kilowatt-hours per year -- roughly equal to the annual electricity use of the city of San Diego. This issue paper provides recommendations for users, video game console manufacturers, component suppliers and the software companies that design games for improving the efficiency of video game consoles already in homes as well as future generations of machines.

PREPAID PHONES IN THE U.S.: MYTHS, LACK OF CONSUMER KNOWLEDGE BLOCKING WIDER USE
New Millennium Research Council. December 4, 2008. 34 pages.

A combination of consumer uncertainty and myths about prepaid phones may account for the lower level of use in the U.S.: although about four out of five Americans (79 percent) own a cell phone, fewer than one in five (16 percent) of Americans with cell phones have a prepaid phone. Of the balance, 85 percent have “postpaid”/contract-based service where they pay a monthly fee.


Distance Isn’t Quite Dead: Recent Trade Patterns and Modes of Supply in Computer and Information Services in the United States and NAFTA Partners
Jacob Funk Kirkegaard. Peterson Institute for International Economics. Working Paper No. 08-10. October 2008. 73 pages.

This paper describes developments in US and regional NAFTA trade patterns in computer and information services (C&IS) in recent years, with particular emphasis on the relative importance of and trends in different modes of supply of C&IS. The study of C&IS trade warrants attention due to C&IS’s general characteristics as an enabling technology, which, as input to other sectors and products, have been found to positively affect productivity in the United States. Secondly, C&IS trade is intuitively among the most digitizable of commercial services and accordingly can be expected to be perhaps the most internationally tradable among commercial service categories. Investigating C&IS trade trends might therefore reveal early results also relevant for other, less immediately digitizable commercial services.

Homes with Tails: WHAT IF YOU COULD OWN YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION?
Derek Slater and Tim Wu. New America Foundation. Wireless Future Program. Working Paper #23. November 2008. 17 pages.

For the vast majority of homes, copper wires remain the principal means of getting broadband services. The deployment of fiber optic connections to the home would enable exponentially faster connections, and few dispute that upgrading to more robust infrastructure is essential to America’s economic growth. The costs of such an upgrade, however, are daunting for private sector firms and even for governments. These facts add up to a public policy challenge. In this paper, the authors propose and describe a new way to encourage broadband deployment.


The Durable Internet: Preserving Network Neutrality without Regulation
Timothy B. Lee. Cato Institute. Policy Analysis No. 626. November 12, 2008. 44 pages.

An important reason for the Internet’s remarkable growth over the last quarter century is the “end-to-end” principle that networks should confine themselves to transmitting generic packets without worrying about their contents. Not only has this made deployment of Internet infrastructure cheap and efficient, but it has created fertile ground for entrepreneurship. On a network that respects the end-to-end principle, prior approval from network owners is not needed to launch new applications, services, or content. In recent years, self-styled “network neutrality” activists have pushed for legislation to prevent network owners from undermining the end-to end principle. Although the concern is understandable, such legislation would be premature. Physical ownership of Internet infrastructure does not translate into a practical ability to control its use. Regulations are unnecessary because even in the absence of robust broadband competition, network owners are likely to find deviations from the end-to-end principle unprofitable.

http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-626.pdf

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Internet sur Internet

INFORMATION NUMERIQUE

Source: france.usembassy

A Policymaker's Guide to Network Management
George Ou. Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). December 2008. 58 pages.

In this report, the author explains how advanced networks actually work and documents how, if Internet service providers (ISPs) are to provide customers a good Internet service and operate their networks efficiently, they must be able to allocate bandwidth between users and apply network management tools to shape traffic from multiple applications. He argues, however, that ISPs can and should do this in a fair and non-discriminatory manner.


News and information as digital media come of age
Persephone Miel and Robert Faris. Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. December 2008. 52 pages.

Every day, more people turn to the Internet as a primary source of news: reading blogs, visiting aggregators and online news sites, watching video clips, listening to podcasts, and opening links in emails from friends. Members of this growing audience are not only consumers of the news -- many are shaping the news agenda for themselves and others: selecting, combining, and commenting on stories as well as creating their own. The United States is now several years into what promises to be a transformation of the media. It is driven by the rapid expansion of the number of people and organizations newly engaged as authors, editors, and publishers. In the United States and other developed countries, this expansion is occurring in tandem with serious contractions in the traditional news media. This paper explores the impact of the remarkable array of new media structures that have arisen to take advantage of these new opportunities and evaluates the problems and limitations associated with these changes.

The Future of the Internet III
Janna Quitney Anderson and Lee Rainie. The Pew Internet & American Life Project. Report. December 14, 2008. 138 pages.

Experts expect major tech advances as the phone becomes a primary device for online access, voice-recognition improves, and the structure of the Internet itself improves. They disagree however about whether this will lead to more social tolerance, more forgiving human relations, or better home lives.


Adults and video games
Amanda Lenhart, Sydney Jones and Alexandra Rankin Macgill. The Pew Internet & American Life Project. Data Memo. December 7, 2008. 9 pages.
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Adult_gaming_memo.pdf
More than half -- 53% -- of all American adults play video games of some kind, whether on a computer, on a gaming console, on a cell phone or other handheld device, on a portable gaming device, or online. About one in five adults (21%) play everyday or almost everyday. While the number of video gamers among adults is substantial, it is still well under the number of teens who play, as fully 97% of teens play video games.


Internet Overtakes Newspapers As News Source
Andrew Kohut and Michael Remez. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. December 23, 2008. 7 pages.
http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/479.pdf
The Internet, which emerged this year as a leading source for campaign news, has now surpassed all other media except television as a main source for national and international news. Currently, 40% say they get most of their news about national and international issues from the internet, up from just 24% in September 2007. For the first time, more people say they rely mostly on the Internet for news than cite newspapers (35%). Television continues to be cited most frequently as a main source for national and international news, at 70%.


FIVE GUIDEPOSTS FOR THE FUTURE OF MUNICIPAL WIRELESS
Sascha D. Meinrath. New America Foundation. Wireless Future Program. Issue Brief #24. December 2008. 4 pages.

As municipalities rethink their broadband strategies, they should be looking to implement five best practices to support liberation and avoid lock-in: build hybrid infrastructures, utilize open technology, prioritize competition, think holistically, and Embrace change as the new status quo.

When Technology Fails

John B. Horrigan and Sydney Jones. The Pew Internet & American Life Project. Data Memo. November 16, 2008. 14 pages.

Modern information and communication technologies open doors to a wealth of information. But many users find it difficult to set up these devices and frustrating when they break. Half (48%) of adults who use the Internet or have a cell phone say they usually need someone else to set up a new device for them or show them how to use it. And many users of various devices and services encounter breakdowns from time to time. Coping with these failures helps to distance users from technology use.

From "Dinosaurs" to Digital: An Examination of Ongoing Innovations in Copyright Industries
Andrea Siwek. The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Progress on Point # 15.19. December 2008. 10 pages.

Cynics often argue that in the digital age “old media” has become obsolete. Despite such hyperbole, “old media” remains viable in the digital age. Various business model and technology innovations across a broad range of mediums are ensuring that these industries do not get bypassed as a result of new technologies. The Internet has changed two fundamental aspects for copyright industries and creators: the cost of distributing content and the means by which it is distributed. This paper explores how the traditional media industries are working innovatively to adapt to these changes to have not only a presence but a purpose in the digital age.

Staying the Course: Online Education in the United States, 2008
Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman. The Sloan Consortium. November 2008. 28 pages.
http://www.sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/pdf/staying_the_course.pdf

The number of students taking at least one online course continues to expand at a rate far in excess of the growth of overall higher education enrollments. The most recent estimate, for fall 2007, places this number at 3.94 million online students, an increase of 12.9 percent over fall 2006. This study is aimed at answering some of the fundamental questions about the nature and extent of online education.


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