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On Friday December 9, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will participate in the conference 'Freedom Online: Joint Action for Free Expression on the Internet’ organized by Minister Rosenthal.

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The conference’s aim is to set up an alliance of countries to promote internet freedom. The participating countries and technology businesses work together on measures to protect internet freedom, especially in countries where internet freedom is under pressure. In addition, the partnership is dedicated to help cyber-dissidents and bloggers.

Considerati is currently writing the conference papers.

The conference can be followed live via Facebook (ifreedom2011) and Twitter (@ ifreedom_2011) and you can join the discussion online.

Considerati will keep you informed on developments during the conference.

From September 27 to September 30, Considerati took part in the Internet Governance Forum of the United Nations in Nairobi, Kenya. By participating in the IGF annually, Considerati follows recent international policy developments in the digital domain closely. The pleasant and relatively informal setting of the event allowed for much contact between participants. Among those present were many international politicians and captains of industry, including European Commissioner Neelie Kroes, the British Minister of Culture, Communications and Creative Industries Ed Vaizey and Frank La Rue, the UN rapporteur for freedom of expression. "Even high level guests and keynote speakers were very approachable during the event, due to the very relaxed atmosphere. This was made possible by the excellent work of the Kenyan delegation." said Ton Wagemans, partner at Considerati.

European Commissioner Kroes hinted that trust and safety will be priority issues in the coming years with regard to exploiting the full potential of the internet and electronic services. To achieve this, an active attitude by companies is required. Neelie Kroes stressed at the conference that "What we were used to talking about as innovation is a completely different issue than what we are facing now. Productivity improvement and economic growth, yet new forces of fragmentation, repression, and disregard for fundamental rights of property, security, privacy, and human rights are challenging the future of the Internet. So the current landscape demands more than ever striking the correct balance between, on one hand, openness and security and privacy. It is a triangle that is really changing, and all of them are understood as essential factors that will help us create an environment of trust."

Participants actively engaged in discussions on a broad range of topics based on this year's main themes. Considerati had a booth at the fair, which also served as a promotional stand for Dutch best practices, such as the Digivaardig & Digibewust campaigns of ECP-EPN and CleanIT project of the Netherlands Ministry of Justice. "Together with our Kenyan hostess, who also speaks Swahili, we could easily connect with the African community. This led to very interesting discussions, insights and inspiring new thoughts," said Ton Wagemans. "The fact that Dutch companies and governments are willing to share their knowledge, is greatly appreciated and in my opinion this is something Dutch businesses should do a lot more, so that we could develop into a lead position in the international community on future issues like internet freedom. Next year we will definitely be back at IGF and we already invite all Dutch participants and other interested parties to present their best practices in our Considerati stand next year."

For more information on the Dutch contribution to the IGF, click here and here.

On September 5, 2011 the second symposium 'e-Commerce for Copyright' will take place, organized by ECP-EPN in collaboration with the NVPI.

Three years ago, during the symposium, the economic and legal aspects of the digital distribution of music, film and games were debated. Now, after the publication of the report 'Facts to Share' by Considerati, ECP-EPN and NVPI organize a sequel.

The report "Facts to Share" provides an overview of the market for legal and illegal content on offer, consumer behavior, the impact of filesharing and downloading from illegal sources on the legal sales and the broader economic and social consequences. The findings provide sufficient material for discussion and leads for government policy. In light of the Priorities Letter Copyright Law 20@20 that will be discussed in the Parliament this autumn, the discussion is very current.
 
During the symposium on September 5 at Sociëteit De Witte in The Hague different speakers from the field of science, government and industry discuss on various topics and issues in the report. Also Robert Levine, author of the recently published book 'Free Ride', will explain his ideas.

View the full program here.

Participation in the symposium is free. You can register for the symposium through the online registration form.

On August 23, Dutch privacy expert Bart Schermer was guest in the Dutch radio program "On the Move" of Business News Radio (BNR). Topic of discussion was the plan of Dutch major airline carrier KLM to perform preventive screenings of all passengers for security risks. Schermer is not necessarily unfavorable about preventive security screenings, but warns that its design should take into account the protection of privacy and the right to equal treatment.

Listen to a clip of the radio interview here.