CECUA Euro News Flash
Newborn
babies with their own free websites.
Everybody should have .EU first and last name Internet address.
Newborn
California Babies get Their own free websites. California is stealing the
march on Europe and the EU. CECUA is challenging the EU to fight back and
give every citizen, private and corporate, a personalized .EU Internet address,
an address like the person's own first and family name and just as easy
to remember.
The
historical opportunity is NOW with the .EU registration starting soon and
it will translate EUs commitment and determination of an Information Society
for ALL into action.
The
technology is there, the infrastructure is there. However, the political
initiative and leadership is still missing. Europe will not get another
historical chance like this again.
CECUA has received
a lot of attention and positive comments on the proposal for a .EU for all
European Citizens both private and corporate ones. Comments like: "this
is great", "let us do it" and also "let us do something different from the
Americans" are being made increasingly. However, that may prove easier said
than done, because the Americans are catching on to the fact that the information
is more than technology - it is societal.
As reported in the
Daily Telegraph, Newborn California Babies get Their own free websites.
Namezero, a US internet
company, is offering all babies born at the Sequoia hospital in Redwood
City, California, a free website address, known as a domain name, with accompanying
e-mail address for life. In trendy techy Silicon Valley, the craze is sure
to catch on.
Bruce Keiser, chief
executive of Namezero, said:
"As our society's communications structure becomes increasingly centred
around the Internet, the domain name is becoming an important form of identity;
in today's transient world, it is more important than a telephone number
or postal address.
"By registering a
child's name at birth, parents are ensuring that the child will have it
throughout their lifetime.
" So far, the first
candidate has yet to arrive to take advantage of their first free offer
in life, which begins tomorrow. Sequoia on average has 1,400 births at the
hospital every year.
Linda Kresge, chief
nurse executive at Sequoia hospital, said: "Parents in Silicon Valley enjoy
progressive ways of keeping in touch with friends and families.
"Free websites and
e-mail addresses are a fun way to welcome new babies to the 21st century."
California is one
of the so-called US trend setting states. What starts out in California
other States will catch on to it sooner than later.
CECUA is challenging
the EU take the initiative NOW. The EU should take the initiative and offer
every citizen, not only newborn babies, an Internet address. Having your
own Internet address is just as important as having your own address and
telephone. It is becoming just as important as having your own name.
And CECUA wants the
EU to go further than California and make the Internet address a personal
one. What does that mean? It means that the Internet address should look
like the person's first and family name. CECUA wants to personalize a person's
Internet address and which will stay the same throughout his or her entire
life. This Internet address should be just as easy to remember as the person's
name.
Receiving the personalized
Internet address and starting to use it is an important step toward joining
the Information Society for All, an issue being raised by CECUA in conjunction
with the new .EU Top Level Domain. Wouldn't it be nice for Europe to lead
the world for once by providing every citizen with own personal name Internet
address? 400 million people with a personal name .EU Internet address! Would
that not be the ultimate proof of an Information Society for all?
This is a political
issue. The technology is there. The infrastructure is there. What is missing?
Political leadership from the EU. The introduction of the .EU Top Level
Domain is a historical opportunity for putting such a leadership into action.
This moment will not come again. For the EU it is "to be or not to be".
Dear reader, do you
have an opinion? Do you want to comment on this issue? Do you want to debate
this issue? Please tell us what you think. CECUA provides just the platform
for your debate or your comments. Please contact us at jon.thorhallsson@cecua.org
or stuart.goold@cecua.org