A testing time for trust
There are many barriers to extending digital adoption. Most of the debates, including those at IIC events, address the challenges of infrastructure, technologies, affordability and education. These apply to different degrees in different countries but one of the common threads is a lack of trust in the internet generally and in digital services in particular. More significantly, as an Ipsos Mori survey showed last year, trust is declining. It’s at a level that should cause concern if not yet alarm. In their article in this issue, Chris Taylor and Johnathan Charles argue that regulatory reforms represent an opportunity to tackle the barriers of trust that hinder the uptake of many important digital services. Consumers expect protection, but we should be under no illusion that rebuilding trust is anything other than a long term project.
Regulatory reforms are also the focus of an informative guide to competition law, in which Anthony Rosen and Tenisha Burslem Rotheroe summarise upcoming UK legislation in the context of the EU’s Digital Markets Act. Policymakers may find the table of comparison especially handy.
The Future Leaders Competition is one of the jewels in the IIC crown. This year’s subject was ‘Cybersecurity on the Edge’ and I’m pleased to say that we had both a record number and a very high standard of entries. Congratulations to Nicole Darabian for winning the top prize. Her entry is published in this issue of InterMedia. For a more light hearted look at cybersecurity, albeit with a dark side, Jean Paul Simon considers the evolution of the phishing email, aided by some research all of his own.
Autonomous vehicles have been discussed at IIC events on a number of occasions, but arguably even more significant is the potential presented by autonomous shipping. It could transform world trade, but remains some way off. Val Jervis and Eirik Bliksrud explore what’s needed to turn it into reality, including describing some of the current trials under way.
Finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention the wonderful forum event the IIC organised in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – the first such meeting to be held there. We were made to feel very welcome by the CRC and Chairman Chinzorig. Our Director General, Lynn Robinson, records her thoughts in a short diary piece. Meetings like this are a sign of the increasing reach of the IIC, and I know Lynn and the team hope to be organising similar ‘event firsts’ in the future.
I hope you enjoy the new, fully digital, open access InterMedia. Please let us know if you have any comments – feedback is always welcome.
As always, I need to point out that I recently became a director of ICANN. The commentary above is made solely in my capacity as president of the IIC and should not be construed as a view expressed on behalf of ICANN or as an ICANN director.
