Policy Watch

Two influential documents – the Rio+20 negotiating text and the recommendations of the U.N. secretary general’s High Level Panel on Global Sustainability – both propose tighter sustainability reporting requirements for businesses, according to Chatham House fellow Paul Hohnen, writing in the Guardian. Read More

Read more: Growing the EU’s Online Economy

The EU plans sweeping changes to its dated data rotection law, including the "right to be forgotten" and 24-hour breach notification. The changes could have far-reaching implications for the Net industry. Tougher rules on data protection are coming to the European Union with far-reaching implications for Web giants like Google and Facebook. On Wednesday, the European Commission will propose sweeping changes to its 1995 Data Protection Directive, including the "right to be forgotten" and 24-hour breach notification. Read More

While many organizations see the clear advantages of establishing and using geospatial data standards, obtaining compliance from constituents continues to be a frustrating, and costly, problem.  Users are frequently reluctant to adopt a new standard given the potential cost of modifying applications that use an existing, custom schema or simply having a 'not invented here' mentality.  This was true within the Department of Defense (DoD) Installation Geospatial Information and Services (IGI&S) community, even though a standard had existed from more than 10 years.  As a part of 2006 Spatial Data Standards for Facilities, Infrastructure, and Environment (SDSFIE) initiative, Zekiah developed a data standardization concept intended to provide flexibility in schema naming conventions and organization without compromising ease of data sharing, conversion, and information understanding. Read More