18 August 2016

The following is a summary of the most recent IEEE Global Internet Governance Monitor report, a weekly synopsis covering global-wide ICT and Internet Governance news from around the world. To access and download the full report containing additional details and other news items, click here.

In Europe this week computer scientists from the University of Birmingham have uncovered a potential security flaw that effects Volkswagen cars. The Scientists believe a limitation in the locking system means that all vehicles manufactured by the Volkswagen Group since 1995 are easily opened by a simple hack.

The EU Agency for Network and Information Security has this week stated that whilst levels of Cyber-crime have increased in recent years there is no way of knowing the true cost to Europe's Governments and businesses.

A market analysis survey this week has found that the EU has seen an increase of 45% for data scientist roles in the first six months of 2016. The increase is believed to be a result of maturing big data and IoT companies across the region.

The major global news story of this week the comes from the US Commerce Department agency NTIA, which has confirmed that oversight for internet infrastructure will be passed onto ICANN by October.

Following the FCCs net neutrality ruling earlier this year, a recent market study has found that investment in network growth amongst Americas largest internet providers has fallen by $2.7 Billion.

Elsewhere in the US this week, a District Judge has ruled that a class action privacy lawsuit against Google will be allowed to continue having rejected Googles argument. The case focuses on Googles scanning of Gmail accounts in order to create personalized adverts for users, potentially in contravention of US wiretapping laws.

In Asia this week Indonesia's stat owned telecoms operator may be forced to share its network with competitors in order to liberalize the country's telecoms sector and to improve net neutrality.

China has this week refuted concerns from foreign investors regarding the country's pending cybersecurity bill. The concerned companies had previously written to the government to protest at measures that would see additional cybersecurity powers for the government to investigate foreign businesses.

A new study has found that only four Asian nations can be categorized as safe nations for data storage according to Artmotion. Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea were identified as the safest nations, all coming ahead of the USA.

Elsewhere in the world Canada has announced a new public consultation into the country's cyber security. The consultation will be open until the 15th October.

In global institutional news this week ICANN have made several significant announcements in the lead up to their 4th Quarterly Stakeholder call. Amongst these announcements is the launch of a new consultation into IANA IPR agreements alongside the ITEF and the wider operational community. ICANN have also created two new committees as part of the IANA transition process. The Customer Standing Committee (CSC) and the Root ZoneEvolution Review Committee (RZERC) will allow for the transition of IANA stewardship on schedule. Finally ICANN has conducted their stakeholder call for quarter four of financial year 16. A summary of this call is included at the end of this monitoring report.