Magic moments in Egypt’s parliamentary elections, thanks to the web

Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog

Today more than 50 million Egyptians started heading to the polls to cast their votes for an independent Parliament, many for the first time in their lives. The revolution in Egypt, which captured the attention of the world beginning in Tahrir Square on January 25, 2011, made this possible by opening the floodgates of political participation.

With the free flow of information online, people can connect and engage in a open dialogue about the future of Egypt. The web is enabling many new voters to become better informed on their choice of candidates, and letting politicians reach electors in new and exciting ways.

Getting information about the new rules and the new players is no small feat for Egyptians: there are nearly 11,000 candidates vying for 498 seats across 27 governorates nationwide during a multi-stage election that started today and lasts until March 2012. We’re doing our best to organize information to make it easier for voters to find everything they need in one place. For example, millions of Egyptians have learned where they can vote through our landing page, www.google.com.eg/elections.

We’ve also worked to give a voice to thousands of candidates to reach voters through interactive video. The YouTube Townhall includes nearly 400 videos posted by candidates and political parties explaining where they stand on issues from education and the economy to health care and political reform, sparking vibrant conversations in cafés from Alexandria to Aswan.

We’re helping voters and politicians connect not just in Egypt, but throughout the entire Middle East and the world. For Tunisia’s recent parliamentary elections, we partnered with startup news portal Tunisia Live to offer a training workshop in Tunis on Google tools and social media for politicians. In France, we set up a special YouTube site for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The Internet is playing an increasingly significant role in Egypt. It’s bolstering civic engagement and becoming a powerful mechanism for information sharing—crucial to helping the nation make the tough transition to democracy.

Posted by Samir ElBahaie, Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs for Google Middle East North Africa

Celebrating innovation in digital journalism

Cross-posted with the Official Google Blog

Journalism is changing fast as media businesses adapt and experiment with ways of gathering and reporting the news in the digital age. Here’s news of two contests we’re sponsoring to help stimulate innovation in digital reporting.

IPI News Innovation Contest
We’re pleased to congratulate the first three winners selected by the Vienna-based International Press Institute in its News Innovation Contest. The prizes are part of a $5 million global contest launched by Google last year.

Today’s winners, who will receive grants totalling $600,000, are:

• World Wide Web Foundation for its Voice-based Citizen Journalism project in France, the Netherlands and Mali. The project will enable voice-based citizen journalists to gather and deliver news in rural areas through community radio and mobile phones.

• Internews Europe for its crowd-sourced journalism project in five African countries. The project aims to promote expertise in crowd-sourced journalism techniques to contribute to press freedom.

• Journalism Leaders Programme at the University of Central Lancashire, for its digital media training programme for the U.K. and Turkey. The project will focus on training in data journalism skills and the fundamentals of digital business aimed at disseminating learning to the wider news industry.

This is just the first round of the contest. In 2012, the IPI will consider a new set of proposals and award the remainder of the grant. More details are available at www.ipinewscontest.org.

GEN Data Journalism Awards
In Hong Kong, at the News World Summit hosted by the Global Editors Network, we're announcing a partnership on a new data journalism contest.

GEN’s Data Journalism Awards will celebrate the best examples of this new form of journalism from established news organisations and newcomers.

The winners will be chosen by an international jury and prizes awarded at the next GEN conference in Paris next year. Details on how to take part are at globaleditorsnetwork.org.

We look forward to seeing the impact these initiatives will have on digital journalism and hope they will encourage continued experimentation at every level of the media.

Posted by Peter Barron, Director, External Relations, Europe, Middle East and Africa

New frontiers in Lyon

French socialist presidential candidate Francois Hollande created a rose. Former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin sketched a proud rooster. French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand designed a palm-tree framed fantasy. And famed writer Umberto Eco drew a clown. The graffiti sketch-up wall provided a touch of whimsy at this year's high profile Forum de Liberation in Lyon - an event which Google was proud to help sponsor.



This year’s Forum theme was “New Frontiers” and we emphasized three of our key messages: the Internet is an engine for economic growth, for democratizing culture and for promoting freedom of expression. Google France President Jean-Marc Tassetto discussed how the Internet has created 700,000 jobs in France over the past 15 years. Strange as it might sound, given all the buzz about the digital economy, many portrayed the Internet (at worst) as a negative force, killing jobs, or (at best) as marginal to a country’s economic success. But according to a recent McKinsey report we sponsored, the net contributed to 3.2% (EUR60 billion) to French GDP in 2009 (more than energy, transports or agriculture).

In another debate on the future of books, our publisher partnership chief Philippe Colombet described how the Internet, far from destroying books and copyright, actually is making democratizing access to them. We recently signed an agreement with the publisher Hachette Livre under which tens of thousands of French-language books will be provided with a digital afterlife. This means thousands of authors who have not profited from their books in years could finally see them become available once again. We also have forged partnerships with public European libraries, such as the Bavarian State Library or the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and the Lyon library, making public-domain books so that their entire text is available for free to readers around the world.

Our third contribution was on freedom of expression. The Internet has allowed every one of us the amazing ability to broadcast our opinions to the world. But governments around the world - including many in Europe - are cracking down. According to the Open Net Forum, some 40 governments censor the net in one form fashion, up from only two a decade ago. Google’s services are disrupted in about 25 of the 150 countries we serve.

It was a stimulating weekend. Most of the debates were packed with enthusiastic audiences. The high-profile speakers, as well as their listeners, enjoyed the discussions – and the opportunity to visit the colorful Google stand, learn about our efforts to promote the net economy, net culture, net freedom – and have some fun.

Posted by William Echikson, External Relations, Head of Free Expression Europe

DatenDialog - Big Tent goes to Berlin

In May, we held our first Big Tent conference near London, where we debated some of the hot issues relating to the Internet and society with policy-makers, academics and NGOs. The term "big tent” not only described the marquee venue but also our aim to include diverse points of view.

After the UK success, we decided to export the concept. Yesterday we welcomed more than 200 guests in Berlin, Germany to the second Big Tent event, entitled DatenDialog.

This dialogue about data tackled the issue of online privacy from a variety of angles. It was appropriate to hold it in Germany, which is a pacesetter both in its concern about privacy and its ideas for safeguarding personal data. During the one-day event, we debated questions such as: what does responsible collaboration between the tech industry and the data protection authorities look like? Do we need new regulation to manage the Internet and the large amount of data produced in the online world? Who is responsible for educating users and how does the tech industry make sure it builds privacy controls into its products?

Speakers included the German State Secretary for the Interior Cornelia Rogall-Grothe and the Federal Data Protection Commissioner Peter Schaar, alongside international authors and bloggers Cory Doctorow and Jeff Jarvis who appeared via live video chat from the US.



The debate was always lively, sometimes polarised - Cory likened amalgamated data to nuclear waste while Jeff appealed to governments not to regulate for the worst case - but all seemed to agree that it was a worthwhile and timely exercise to explore these important issues.

You can watch the highlights soon on our Big Tent YouTube channel, and stay tuned for more Big Tents on a range of topics around the world in the coming months.

Posted by Wieland Holfelder, Engineering Director, Germany

Advocating Internet freedom at the European Parliament

Street View comes to to the heart of the European Union

Belgium today becomes the 17th European country launched on Street View. From now on, anyone with a computer will be able to visit the country’s 300 castles, 40 UNESCO World Heritage sites, 200 museums, and more than 2000 chocolate shops. In the the capital, Brussels, users can now take a virtual stroll around the famous Grand Place.


View Larger Map


Every day millions of Europeans use Street View to find their destination, make travel plans or get a helping hand with geography homework. Businesses also benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their site, helping them to promote a chain of hotels or increase awareness of a local store or restaurant. From the historic ruins of Pompei to the majestic Swiss Alps, Street View helps preserve and promotes some Europe's most significant heritage sites for future generations.

As we roll out Street View, we have gone to great lengths to safeguard privacy. Street View only contains imagery that is already visible from public roads and features technology that blurs both faces and licence plates. In addition, any user can flag images for removal that he or she considers inappropriate by clicking on "Report a problem." When developing these safeguards, we have consulted extensively with many privacy and community groups. In Belgium, for example, we worked closely with the Belgian Privacy Commission, which published a press release of its findings. More information about Street View privacy policies is available at this web site.

In the heart of Europe, policymakers now will be able to get a first hand look of Street View. Belgium was one of the founding members of the European Union and Brussels is home to many European Union and international headquarters. Users can now explore the area around the European Parliament and the European Commission.


View Larger Map

Beyond Brussels is a world of landscapes, castles and stone-built villages. From the scenic town centre of Bruges to the castles of Bouillon, Belgium’s magnificent sites are now available for all on Street View. The historic battlefield of Waterloo is also now live.


View Larger Map

We’re thrilled to be launching the imagery of this fascinating country. As we continue to expand Street View, we look forward to making more of Europe available for users to explore.

Posted by Michael Valvo, Street View manager

Joining Liberation in Lyon

Celebrating culture in Avignon

During the 14th and 15th century, the French city of Avignon became the capital of catholicism, home of popes (and antipopes). Today, it has become a center for culture. Each summer, it hosts a well-regarded theater festival, and each fall it plays hosts to a prestigious conference for artists, publishers, politicians, students, academics and others who gather at the Forum d’Avignon for debate and discssion.

For Google, this is an important rendez-vous. Rather than threatening local culture, we believe that the Internet represents a giant opportunity to promote it. Over the past few years, we have worked hard, particularly in France, to unlock opportunity on the Web for artists. We have signed four deals with French collecting societies, enabling French musicians, screenwriters and other creators to be remunerated for their content appearing on YouTube. Our partnerships with French publishers, including the country's largest Hachette, are allowing out-of-print works to be brought back to life, bringing commercial opportunities to authors whose works might otherwise languish. And we’ve worked with the Chateau de Versailles to make its grandeur available to the entire world in 3-D.

All these activities, not just in France but throughout the world, will be coordinated by our newly launched Culture Center in Paris. The International Herald Tribune and New York Times featured the center in today’s edition.

Several Googlers were in Avignon to discuss our approach to cultural issues. David Drummond, our Chief Legal Officer, sat on a panel called “Intellectual property, beyond the commitments of principle.” He underlined the power of technology to increase access to our shared cultural heritage; and to produce opportunity for creators.



Later in the day, Googlers Steve Crossan and Amit Sood outlined the work of the Paris Culture Center and demonstrated ongoing projects for the preservation of culture: The Art Project, which brings some of the world’s finest museums to your living room with super-high resolution scans and Street View technology.

Concerns remain, for example regarding piracy, and how best to fund creativity in the modern age. However Google is confident that the Internet can help usher in a golden age for arts and culture. Our strong presence in Avignon demonstrates our determination to continue working hand in hand with the culture industries to create new products and new opportunities.

Posted by Simon Morrison, Public Policy and Communications Manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa

A new YouTube melody for European musicians

If you are of my generation and love Jacques Brel, it's a great day. For my kids, who adore Selah Sue and fantasy character Mega Mindy, it's also a great day. From now on, videos of these Belgian artists will become easier to find on YouTube. For the first time, these Belgian artists and their estates will receive payments for allowing music lovers to listen to their music on YouTube.



This breakthrough stems from the licensing agreement signed today between collecting society SABAM and YouTube. SABAM was founded in 1922; it represents 36,000 composers, lyricists, publishers, and music video makers.

Throughout Europe over the past two years, YouTube has secured similar agreements with associations representing artists and authors in countries shown in blue: the UK, France (SACEM, SACD, SCAM, ADAGP), Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Ireland, the Czech Republic, and Poland.



These agreements end old arguments about copyright, replacing them with win-win arrangements. For Europe’s musicians, YouTube has become an indispensable tool in reaching audiences. Artists are compensated when advertisements are displayed against YouTube partner’s videos.

The deals demonstrate our commitment to to promoting local European cultural creation. YouTube is innovating to help artists protect and manage their rights. Our state-of-the-art Content ID technologies let rights owners identify user-uploaded videos that contain their work and choose, in advance, what they want to happen when those videos are found. They can block them from YouTube altogether, or keep them up. The vast majority of right owners agree to keep their material online - and share in the revenue generated by advertising displayed against it.

Until now, when Belgians visited YouTube, they were taken to our global site. The launch of YouTube in Belgium means Belgians will see a home page featuring a wealth of content from their home country. Partners are welcome to join us and we’re happy to learn that large Belgian media companies such as broadcaster RTBF are interested in having parts of their archives appear. For my part, I plan to catch up on Jacques Brel videos.

Posted by Julien Blanchez, Marketing Manager, Belgium

Celebrating LEO, the world’s first business computer

(Cross posted on Official Google Blog)

This year marks the 60th anniversary of LEO, the world’s first business computer—built by J.Lyons & Co, a leading British food manufacturer at the time that also ran a famous chain of tea shops.

Lyons management had long been keen to streamline their back-office operations. In 1947, two Lyons managers visited the U.S. to learn about the latest business processes, including whether the electronic computers they’d heard about during their wartime service, like ENIAC, might be useful. (At the time, the closer-to-home advances at Bletchley Park were still a well-kept military secret.)

They returned inspired by the possibilities and keen to build a machine of their own. After several years of development, LEO, a.k.a. Lyons Electronic Office, took on its first office job on November 17, 1951—weekly valuations for the bakery division, calculating margins on Lyon’s output of bread, cakes and pies.



Until LEO, computing in a work setting was treated like a specialist bit of kit on a factory production line. Each machine was dedicated to a single task. In essence, they were narrowly defined calculating machines. The vision for LEO, in contrast, was bravely broad. LEO was a single computer capable of handling a whole swathe of accounting and bookkeeping tasks, as well as producing daily management reports.

LEO was such a success that Lyons set up a commercial subsidiary to sell spare time on LEO to other businesses, including the Ford Motor Company, which used it to process the payroll for the thousands of workers at its U.K. plant. Later, Lyons also built entirely new LEOs and sold them to other blue-chip companies of the era. In total, more than 70 LEO’s were built, with the last remaining in service until the 1980’s (not bad for a computer that took up an entire room!).

Today we view IT as critical to any enterprise, but in the 1950s, this was by no means a given, as evidenced by a quote from a 1954 issue of The Economist: “There are those who do not believe in the desirability of introducing anything as esoteric as electronics into business routine.” Things certainly have changed, and in a sense, all modern day businesses owe a debt to the LEO team.

Last week at the Science Museum in London, we were delighted to sponsor a small gathering of early LEO programmers  to celebrate their accomplishments and reminisce about their pioneering work. Today, on this 60th anniversary, we invite you to have a cup of tea and join us in toasting LEO—a remarkable ancestor in IT’s family tree.



Posted by Lynette Webb, Senior Manager, External Relations

Greater choice for wireless access point owners

(Cross posted on Official Google Blog)

From tagging a post with your location, to checking in to a restaurant, to simply finding out where you are, location-based services have become some of the most popular features of today’s Internet. One of the key ways technology companies are able to determine a location for these services is through a location database, which matches publicly broadcast information about local wireless networks with their approximate geographic location. By looking for wireless access points that are close to a user’s phone, location providers can return the approximate location you need. In addition, this method is a good alternative to other approaches, like GPS, because it’s faster, it works indoors, and it’s more battery-efficient.

The wireless access point information we use in our location database, the Google Location Server, doesn’t identify people. But as first mentioned in September, we can do more to address privacy concerns.

We’re introducing a method that lets you opt out of having your wireless access point included in the Google Location Server. To opt out, visit your access point’s settings and change the wireless network name (or SSID) so that it ends with “_nomap”.  For example, if your SSID is “Network”, you‘d need to change it to “Network_nomap”.

To get started, visit this Help Center article to learn more about the process and to find links with specific instructions on how to change an access point’s SSID for various wireless access point manufacturers.

As we explored different approaches for opting-out access points from the Google Location Server, we found that a method based on wireless network names provides the right balance of simplicity as well as protection against abuse. Specifically, this approach helps protect against others opting out your access point without your permission.

Finally, because other location providers will also be able to observe these opt-outs, we hope that over time the “_nomap” string will be adopted universally. This would help benefit all users by providing everyone with a unified opt-out process regardless of location provider.

Update Nov 21: Edited punctuation to clarify the "_nomap" tag.

Posted by Peter Fleischer, Global Privacy Counsel

Boosting Italy's digital economy

The Internet represents a great opportunity to boost growth and employment in Italy. A new McKinsey report confirms that the digital economy contributes 2% of the Italian GDP and has created 700,000 jobs in the past 15 years. By next year, McKinsey concludes, the digital economy could generate 3.5% of Italian GDP.

Yet much more can be done. Italy still remains far behind Internet leaders such as the UK, where the Net’s contribution to GDP is estimated at 7%.

More than 30 companies now have joined together in an effort to help Italy achieve its true Internet potential.These include private and public companies as well as universities, that came together under the name of “Digital Advisory Group.” Google is playing an important part in this initiative as a founding member.

The Digital Advisory Group has identified 12 concrete areas for boosting Italy’s digital economy. In order to encourage venture capital to invest in Internet start-ups, the VC industry needs to benefit from a similar tax scheme used to encourage filmmaking in Italy - and a fund-matching system should be established managed by the a fund-matching mechanism managed by the public Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. Another plan is to launch region road shows to help Italian small and medium-size business get online. For details on all the recommendations, please look here. Please feel free to suggest your own ideas and solutions in this interactive tool.

In many ways, it is no surprise that so many important Italian businesses and institutions are gathering together to embrace the Internet. Italy’s relative digital backwardness signals a giant opportunity. If the country embraces the Net, it could benefit from catch-up growth – an alluring prospect in these difficult economic days. It’s time for all of us to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Posted by Giorgia Abeltino, Policy Counsel, Italy

Speaking out at the Brandenburg Gate

The speakers were of all ages. Two nursing home roommates arrived Wednesday at the Brandenburg Gate to join us for our celebration of freedom of expression. Both were in a wheelchair. They rolled up to our Hyde Park-style Speaker’s Corner and said, "We want a haircut or a pedicure. We cannot afford more at these prices.”



The audience applauded.


On the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we sponsored two organizations dedicated to free speech - Speaker’s Corner Trust and the delightfully named Centre for Political Beauty - to produce an event celebrating free speech. On a perch resembling the Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park, speaker after speaker rose to raise their opinion. Most of the speakers's interventions can be watched on this YouTube channel.


While the topics ranged from “last wishes” seniors we brought from old people homes, genital mutilation and elimination of freedom of speech in Russia, Syria and Tibet, many evoked, naturally enough, the Berlin Wall. Philipp Ruch of the Center for Political Beauty called the the anniversary of its a "symbol of change and a triumph for freedom of speech and expression of our democracy." The Director of the Speakers' Corner Trust, Peter Bradley, said: "The wall was not alone, there were the people they have torn down." And Gesine Schwan, President of the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance, appeared before the audience to say "Democracy is a culture of co-speech.”


Some pictures from this exciting event are posted. We’ll update with videos as soon as they become available.

Posted by Max Senges, Public Affairs and Internet Policy, Berlin

Hack4Transparency in the EU Parliament

A hackathon is not about breaking into IT systems. It’s about bringing together the talent and creativity of coders in one place to solve tough problems in a short time – in this case 24 hours.

The EU Hack4Transparency brought together 54 participants representing 17 nationalities with the goal increasing transparency on the Internet. A Google team led by engineer Brian Fitzpatrick travelled from the United States to participate.

The Hackathon was launched at the European Parliament - perhaps the first time hackers ever had been officially invited into a legislative institutiion. Christian Democrat MEP Petru Luhan wished participants well and European Commission Vice President and Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes offered support with a taped message.



Hackers then retired to Google’s Brussels office and worked overnight and through the following day. (Transparency: our sponsorship also included food, drinks and some of the awards. Skype and some 18 NGOs also sponsored the event. )

The coders worked on one of two challenges. First, they aimed to give consumers greater knowledge about the quality and speed of their Internet connections by updating M-Lab code. M-Lab, short for Measurement Lab, is an open platform for researchers. Second, the coders promoted transparency by attempting to improve our Transparency Report by visualizing the number of times governments have asked to remove content from Google servers.

After 23 hours of intense (and for some teams – all-night) coding during which Google’s Chief Internet evangelist Vint Cerf joined the fun through a Google+ Hangout.



The jury chose the following winners:

For the Internet Quality Track measuring network speeds:

• First Prize: Team Ferioli (Federica Cau, Pasquale De Luna and Nicola Ferioli) – Italy
• Second Prize: Team Maggi (Federico Maggi, Roman Kochanek, Francesco Roveta, Alessandro Frossi, Alberto Volpato) – Italy
• Third Prize: Team Artimon (Alexandru Artimon, Ionut Dobre, Florin Barhala, Walter Schneider) – Romania

For the Global Transparency Track:

• First Prize: UN-Team (Sven Clement, Hauke Gierow, Stefan Wehrmeyer) – Luxembourg And Germany - with their game: ‘Beat the Censor‘
• Second Prize: Niels Rasmussen – Denmark
• Third Prize: Team Indigeni Digitali (Giuliano Iacobelli, Alessandro Manfredi, Claudio Squarcella, David Funaro, Matteo Collina) – Italy

Congratulations!

Posted by Marco Pancini, Senior Policy Counsel, Brussels

Transparency team travels to Europe

Transparency is a core value at Google and we’ve created a Transparency Report to inform our users in a candid way about the requests for information that we receive from governments around the world. We believe this information represents an essential building block for user trust online.

We are keen to see transparency take off around the world, and for this reason, the Google Transparency team is making its first trip ever this month to Europe. Europe has longer traditions of open, democratic governments than almost anywhere in the world, so we knew it would be useful to meet with officials from both national governments and European Union. During our trip, which started in Amsterdam last week, we’re also talking non-profit groups and think tanks, and evangelizing with the press. Our goal is to invite governments and companies to join us in providing more data about when and why information is suppressed or subpoenaed.

We’re showing our European interlocateurs our Government Requests tool, which records the number of government inquiries for information about users and requests to remove content from our services. Our interactive Traffic graphs also provide information about traffic to Google services from around the world. By illustrating outages, this tool visualizes disruptions in the free flow of information, whether it's a government blocking information or a cable being cut.

In Brussels, we joined the EU Hackathon. This project is designed is to encourage European participation in initiatives such as the OpenNet Transparency Project. It also demonstrate show different sources of data can be used collectively to give a picture of how governments affect access to information.

Our next stop is Stockholm, followed by Warsaw and London. We’re huge fans of Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and we often look to his advocacy on behalf of the open Internet for inspiration as we keep working toward greater transparency.

Posted by Dorothy Chou, Senior Policy Analyst and Transparency Policy Lead

Speaker's Corner celebrates fall of Berlin Wall

November 9 is an important moment for freedom - the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

For Google, this moment demands celebration. We are working with two organizations dedicated to free speech - Speaker’s Corner Trust and the delightfully named Centre for Political Beauty - to host an event at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.This was once the site of the German capital’s division. Now it is the place where East and West come together in harmony. In the morning of November 9, we will build a replica at the Brandenburg Gate of the Speaker’s Corner from Hyde Park in London.

From 11 a.m., speakers take the stage. Uwe Lehmann-Brauns, former Vice President of the Berlin Parliament, Peter Bradley, director of Speaker’s Corner Trust, Gesine Schwan, political science professor, and myself will speak about the importance of freedom of expression.

We’ll then open the floor to the audience. All comers are encouraged to express their opinion on the Berlin Wall and freedom. When we’re done, we’ll post the videos to our Freedom of Expression channel on YouTube.

This isn’t the first time we’ve celebrated the fall of the Wall. Two years ago, we sponsored and participated in a conference entitled Breaking Borders, politicians, policy makers, netizens and journalists all agreed on the importance of freedom of expression for a functioning democracy. The web is providing once unimaginable possibilities for political participation, free exchange of information and democratic movements around the world.

Come and express your opinion on this year’s anniversary. Hope to see you all on November 9.

Posted by Max Senges, Public Afairs and Internet Policy, Berlin

A thoughtful, constructive "cyberconference" in London

When the UK first proposed a high level event on the Internet, the initial agenda emphased cybercrime. Instead, the London Conference on Cyberspace in the Queen Elizabeth Conference Hall over the past two days focused on the net’s liberating power.

Representatives of 60 nations gathered. The guest list included many champions of freedom of expression - both government officials and on-the-ground activists. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Yemeni blogger Atiaf Al-Wazir, and Estonian President Toomas Ilves stressed how the Internet promotes freedom, allowing the individual to speak out in new, powerful ways.

The Estonian President recounted how his country suffered a massive cyberattack in 2007. Instead of responding by shutting down the net, he encouraged his country to strengthen its embrace of the digital world. Estonians last year used the Internet to cast their ballots in parliamentary elections.

Much of the talk at the conference centered on the Net’s economic benefits. On the screens in the main hall, slides showed figures from the Boston Consulting Group’s Internet impact study showing that the digital economy now accounts for 7% of the UK’s GDP and is predicted to rise to 10% by 2015. Full disclosure: Google sponsored these reports. Separately, McKinsey presented a new report on the impact of the Internet on economic growth.

Of course, the conference also discussed the challenges of Internet security. A day before the conference opened, the intelligence agency GCHQ warned that cyberattacks on the UK were at "disturbing" levels.

But UK Foreign Minister William Hague spoke out foremost about freedom. “Nothing would be more fatal or self-defeating than the heavy hand of state control on the Internet, which only thrives because of the talent of individuals and of industry within an open market for ideas and innovation," he said. Hague warned against “state-imposed barriers to trade, commerce and the free flow of information and ideas”.

The UK conference organisers plan to hold follow-up meetings. “We will develop into the 'London Agenda' - an inclusive and focused approach to help us realise the enormous potential cyberspace offers for a more prosperous, safe and open networked world," the UK Foreign Minister concluded. At Google, we are hopeful that supporters of a free and open Internet will continue to speak out.

Posted by William Echikson, Head of Free Expression, Europe, Middle East and Africa

Getting business online in Liverpool

The UK's digital champion Martha Lane Fox is working to get online the nine million Brits who have never used the Internet. We joined her in Liverpool this week to explain our Getting British Business Online programme to get companies to embrace the web.

In September, we kicked off three months of free events in Liverpool, aimed at helping small businesses get online or boost their presence online. We’ve never done anything like this before in one city, and we’re partnering with organisations like the Chamber of Commerce and Liverpool Vision to help it make a real impact.




















Britain's digital champion Martha Lane Fox

The centrepiece of our initiative in Liverpool is a travelling Juice Bar. It is currently at the beautifully restored Toxteth Library. At the bar, advisers in tee-shirts are offering one to one consultations to help businesses set up a free website, or to imporve their e-skills.

During our visit to Liverpool, we met John and Alison, who are about to launch their first website to spread the word about their Korean martial arts business.More than 500 businesses already have been offered free consultations across Merseyside and aim to help 1,500 by December. To register for the Juice Bar, set up a free website, or find our free guides, businesses can visit this website.



Google's Peter Barron watches a Google Juice Bar digital expert consult with martial arts entrepreneurs John and Alison

Posted by Peter Barron, Director, External Relations