OUR CONTRIBUTION TO "BETTER LIVES"

Producing accurate statistics and drafting robust policies is satisfying in itself but even better when we can see the direct impact of our work on people's lives. In recent months:

•    An OECD report on the comparative costs of sending and receiving wireless data while ‘roaming’ has prompted Telus, one of Canada’s biggest carriers, to announce dramatic price cuts
•    Australia has launched a National Digital Economy Strategy that will use OECD indicators as the measure of success in the roll-out of their national broadband network
•    The Mexican Supreme Court has used OECD evidence to challenge anti-competitive telecoms practices costing consumers USD 6 billion a year
•    The new government in Egypt has used OECD figures as the basis for the fine levied on former ministers, representing the cost of their 5-day suspension of telecom access.

UPCOMING EVENTS

High-Level meeting on "The Internet Economy: Generating Innovation and Growth" in Paris, OECD on 28-29 June 2011

The ICCP Committee will be holding a High Level Meeting on “The Internet Economy: Generating Innovation and Growth” in Paris on 28-29 June 2011. The aim of the meeting is to reach a consensus on how best to ensure the continued growth and innovation of the Internet economy. The agenda includes sessions on: broadband access; the role of broadband in innovation, economic growth and social development; balancing policy goals to strengthen growth;and policy making principles for an open Internet.

Three new reports have been released as background documents for the High Level Meeting on “The Internet Economy: Generating Innovation and Growth”.

The first report examines national broadband plans across the OECD area, providing an overview of common elements and goals in those plans.

The second report, “Next Generation Access and Market Structures” focuses on developments in broadband market structures emerging from the deployment of high-speed broadband services and the policy and regulatory implications. The aim is to underline good practices for policy and regulation. A separate annex to the report contains selected country descriptions and background information drawn on for this report

The third report “Fibre Access – Network Developments in the OECD Area”, examines the use of fibre to provide local access networks for the provision of broadband access. Countries across the OECD are adopting different approaches to stimulate investment and to define the terms of competition to end-users in a fibre to the home or building world.

NEW RELEASES

Implementation of the OECD Recommendation on Cross-border Co-operation in the Enforcement of Laws protecting privacy

This report highlights a number of important initiatives under the Recommendation including the launch of a new global network (GPEN), the collection of national contact points, and domestic improvements for privacy authorities, while also noting a number of continuing challenges.

Protecting Children Online

As increasing numbers of children worldwide enjoy the benefits of the Internet, they also face a spectrum of risks to which they are more vulnerable than adults. This reports examines these risks as well as the policy responses of governments and other stakeholders to improve the protection of children online.

The Role of Internet Intermediaries in Advancing Public Policy Objectives (forthcoming publication).

Virtual Worlds: Immersive online platforms for collaboration, creativity and learning

This report provides an overview of the potential benefits but also limitations of virtual worlds for enhancing collaboration, creativity, and learning across society. It analyses to what extent virtual worlds provide platforms for new and experimental interactions and can thus be considered a catalyst behind the changing nature of innovation, as discussed in particular in the OECD Innovation Strategy. The report also examines the main drivers as well as barriers and challenges for the diffusion of virtual worlds

Roundtable on the Economics of Personal Data and Privacy: Summary of Proceedings

This paper reports on a roundtable held on 1 December 2010 that explored the recent transformation in the ways that personal data is gathered and used to generate economic and social value, along with parallel growth in a privacy profession to protect it.

The Evolving Privacy Landscape: 30 years after the OECD Privacy Guidelines

This paper recalls the Guidelines' influence and describes a number of trends in the processing of personal data and the privacy risks in this evolving environment. It identifies current challenges for protecting privacy and highlights current initiatives and innovative approaches to privacy, with a primary focus on economic activities.

National Strategies and Policies for Digitial Identity Management in OECD Countries

This paper analyses and compares national strategies for digital identity management in OECD countries. These strategies aim to drive innovation for e-government and for the broader Internet economy while remaining consistent with current national identity practices.

Workshop on consumer protection in online and mobile payments

Innovative online payments services has increasingly been offered to consumers in recent years. Financial and non-financial institutions are now working towards the commercialisation of new and easy-to-use mobile payment systems. Despite the benefits and convenience these systems may bring, a number of issues need to be resolved. An OECD workshop will serve to discuss emerging challenges in the payments area and ways to address them effectively. The event is organised within the framework of the review of the 1999 E-commerce Guidelines.

International Mobile Data Roaming

A new OECD report on mobile data roaming has been released in June 2011. It provides an analysis of pricing plans of 68 operators in the 34 OECD countries.