Mar 12
It’s rare to see architects working on security and human rights issues—but that’s exactly what’s happening right now, as a group of designers collaborate with the UN to document drone strikes in the Middle East.
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Dec 05
The United Nations now has its own drone program. Its first unmanned aircraft took off earlier this week in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Joining some 87 countries with the capability, the organization says it’s just keeping up with the world’s technological advances.
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Oct 22
Disposing of the world’s chemical weapon stockpiles is far easier said than done. It’s not like the good old days prior to WWII when we could just dump extraneous supplies of mustard gas and other chemical weapons into the open ocean or under Delaware roadways or just big pits at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama—no, no, now we have to dispose of it in a responsible manner. That’s why Army crews now rely on an ingenious explosive vacuum chamber to burn these deadly weapons to harmless ash.
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Sep 29
On Friday the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put its collective foot down
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Sep 26
The United Nations is gigantic bureaucracy in which different tribes fight each other for power and dollars, incidentally helping the world from time to time. But they have awesome headquarters in New York City’s East River, designed by Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. Now it’s available in Lego form.
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Jul 02
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Nov 23
The United Nations is set to conduct a review over regulations that govern the Internet. Google has waded into the debate over whether or not the UN has any business trying to make decisions about the future of the Internet around the world. Google says that the UN is “the wrong place” to make decisions that affect the future of the Internet.
The UN is set to host a meeting of the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in December. Google says that the meeting of the ITU comes amid “a growing backlash on Internet freedom.” The ITU is hosting its World Conference on International Communications and plans to update global telecom rules for the first time since 1988.
Apparently, some countries see this as a chance to set up new rules that govern the Internet. The problem for officials from the United States and other lawmakers as well as activists around the world is that proposals from countries known for stifling the freedom of speech online can give the UN a greater role in policing the Internet globally. Specifically, the US and others have problems with proposals offered by China, Russia, and other nations.
Google’s problem with the UN setting rules that govern the Internet is that only the voice of the government is heard in the UN. Google also points out that some of the governments who will be heard during the rulemaking, talks “do not support a free and open Internet.”
According to Google, some of the changes proposed in UN could increase censorship and could threaten innovation. The proposed changes would require websites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Skype to pay money to reach people across the borders of some nations. A proposal put forth by Russia would significantly reduce the role of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which currently manages the global Internet address system, replacing it with more control by the UN.
“The Russian federation’s proposal … would in specific substantially if not completely change the role of ICANN in overseeing domain names and IP addresses,” Bell Mason Group analyst Larry Downes said in a blog post.
“Of course the Russian Federation, along with other repressive governments, uses every opportunity to gain control over the free flow of information, and sees the internet as its most formidable enemy,” he continued.
[via SMH.com.au]
Google wades into UN telecom regulations review debate is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Oct 12
International Telecommunication Union: worldwide mobile subscriptions hit six billion in 2011
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Last year, the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) told us there were five billion mobile subscriptions worldwide at the close of 2010, and now it’s reporting that at the end of 2011, that figure hit a staggering six billion.
Interestingly, the number of global mobile broadband subscriptions now outnumbers fixed ones by two to one, and mobile internet services showed the biggest growth rates in 2011: 40% worldwide and 78% in developing markets. The ITU attributes the latter figure to the relatively high price of fixed access in these countries, and the increasing availability of mobile alternatives. The CTIA also commented on mobile broadband use, reporting that from July 2011 to June this year, Americans consumed 104 percent more data — no doubt due, in part, to people taking advantage of expanding 4G coverage. As usual, we’ve given you the cheat sheet, so if you’d like the full reports and have got a thing for statistics, there’s plenty more in the source links below.
[Image credit: Chris Jordan]
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Wireless, Internet, Mobile
International Telecommunication Union: worldwide mobile subscriptions hit six billion in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Oct 10
ITU roundtable narrows scope of debate around standard-essential patents, doesn’t create world peace
Posted in: Today's Chili 
The ITU’s roundtable discussing the controversy over standard-essential patents has wrapped up its first day, and surprise — there wasn’t immediate harmony. While strict press rules prevent discussing exactly which companies said what in the Geneva meeting, the UN’s telecom agency mentioned that the initial, partly publicized discussions saw a “heated debate” that mostly followed party lines. Certain companies kept to their view that bans over standard-essential patents hurt innovation, while others were adamant that bans were harmless and potentially necessary — you can probably guess who’s on each side. The meeting mostly helped whittle down the subjects for the closed meetings, which should focus on how much of a curb there should be on injunctions as well as the definition of just what the “reasonable” in Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory (RAND) patent licensing terms should mean.
ITU officials remain ever the budding optimists, however. They felt that it was tough to leave injunctions “completely unchecked” and that their institution could shape policies, even if it wouldn’t get involved with ongoing talks. Legal Officer Antoine Dore also explained to Engadget that his organization wasn’t surprised at the uncompromising stances early on and expected the companies involved to open up “a lot more” once they weren’t under the watchful eyes of cameras and reporters. If they don’t, we suspect other international organizations could exert their own pressure.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Nokia, Google
ITU roundtable narrows scope of debate around standard-essential patents, doesn’t create world peace originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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