Confederation of European Computer User Associations

 

CECUA President's Message

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to report to you that thanks to the hard work by your Executive and Members in 2001 CECUA has been able to achieve the turnaround we have all been waiting for.

CECUA has won recognition as the one and only European organisation actively pursuing the case for the computer users, citizens and consumers. This is among other things evidenced by the number of CECUA invitations and speaking engagements.

With the concept of the User Dimension CECUA has found an important niche for itself and its members to become accepted and sought after partners in EU projects. The SCOFI project is a good example of this. More projects will follow with new opportunities for our members to participate in.

To pursue this course of action we need your continued support. The revenue from member subscriptions is the major source of income for CECUA to maintain its status and credibility as a totally independent organisation. Also CECUA needs more human resources from the national fellow organisations to participate in projects and affairs. We need to maintain the interest and support of our dedicated colleagues and also recruit new ones. If we manage both successfully we will be able to sustain and continue to develop a truly unique organisation that CECUA is.

Unfortunately we still lack the resources to organise member meetings where we can meet and discuss and debate issues and formulate strategies and actions. CECUA is a virtual organisation relying heavily on the Internet for all communications putting into practice what we preach.

And I would like this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the CECUA Executive, Board Members and Members for their continued co-operation and support.

Any comments and suggestions as always are more than welcome.

Kind regards,

Dr. Jon Thorhallsson,
CECUA President.

CECUA Report for the year 2001

Since the successful CECUA and Partners conference "The Citizen and the Global Information Society", CECUA has focused attention on Citizen issues particularly in Europe, as the ONLY European User association which is truly independent and does not rely on finance from commercial sources in any way.

During 2001, many issues affecting Internet Users were addressed by CECUA by insisting that there must be an independent user voice thereby establishing a European User voice in Europe and in the International scene.

CECUA has made progress in the following areas during 2001:

1. ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the international body responsible for the worldwide control of the naming system used by Registrars to issue names to Internet users and websites. This organisation has very wide powers over users of the Internet and is governed by a Council dominated by the supply side of the industry and government. Following representations by CECUA, Prof. Dr. Jon Thorhallsson has now a place on their Government Advisory Committee having been appointed by his national government as their representative. This is a major step forward for CECUA in that there is now an independent user voice on this top level policy making
body for the first time.

2. Alain Moscowitz (INFOREP France) has been representing CECUA at the EC-POP (EC-POP - EC Panel of Participants in Internet Organisation and Management) meetings run by the European Commission in Brussels, promoting the rights of users and formulating the CECUA position on the .eu domain.

3. The CECUA President, Dr. Jon Thorhallsson was invited to participate in a Program Consultation Meeting in Brussels on the 25/26 April in preparation of the 6th Framework Program where he stressed the importance of user involvement in FP6. The theme of this Consultation was "Multisensorial, Multilingual Interfaces and Virtual Environments".

4. Tom Jacobsen (DD Denmark) represented CECUA at the ICANN meeting held in Stockholm on June 1 & 2 at which discussions about the European Union proposal to persuade ICANN to accept the .eu domain took place.

5. Alain Moscowitz was the CECUA representative to the MEDEF conference held in Paris on June 27 where he presented CECUA's position on European Citizens' Rights in the GIS, and the proposed .eu domain.

6. Stuart Goold, CECUA Secretary General, presented a paper on "User Requirements for the .eu domain" at the joint meeting of CANeu and EC-POP in Brussels held on July 13. CAN eu is a group of organisations trying to bid for the rights to set up the .eu domain in Europe in accordance with the legislation now being processed by the European Parliament. CECUA was the only user organisation to make a presentation at this important meeting.

7. Prof. Dr. Jon Thorhallsson CECUA President presented the CECUA position paper on users and citizens rights in the Global Information Society (GIS) at the September 27 EC-POP meeting in Brussels.

8. Alain Moscowitz was the user Candidate for a seat on the ICANN Board. Whilst his application stimulated much discussion, he was unsuccessful on this occasion.

9. Dr. Jon Thorhallsson, CECUA President, was an invited guest speaker at the YES for Europe 11th Annual Forum held in Istanbul November 15 to 17. YES was CECUA Partner for the "Citizens in the Global Information Society Conference" in Brussels 1998. Dr. Jon Thorhallsson spoke in the session about young entrepreneurs as users and their needs for a highly efficient and effective IT supported working environment focusing on the user perspective.

10. CECUA President Dr. Jon Thorhallsson spoke at a meeting organized by DG INFSO & ISOC in Brussels on December 7th on the subject of Information Society for all - Everybody on the Internet and why more than half of all citizens of EU are still missing out. He spoke of the digital divide in Europe and the challenges presented by the European lingual and cultural diversity and outlined the CECUA European Internet Region of Trust and
Confidence concept.

11. CECUA was invited to become a member of the EC SCOFI Safer Internet Action Plan project being run by omp of Germany, and is the only independent user organisation involved in this two year project to develop and trial the use of Smart Cards for the protection of young people in schools from unsuitable material on the Internet. The trials will take place in Germany (two schools under the direction of Tilo Steinbrinck, ADI Germany and Prof. Franz Stuchlik DE, Magdeburg University), Greece (Prof. George Pangalos, PEXI), Iceland (Prof. Dr. Jon Thorhallsson (SITF) and United Kingdom (Stuart Goold, CECUA). In this project CECUA is introducing the User Dimension to the project by writing the User Requirement, monitoring the tests at the schools and writing the User Evaluation Report. CECUA is in discussions about other projects where the User Dimension could provide an important contribution and add value to the project.

12. Friedrich Dittmer, CECUA Public Relations & Press Officer, has been very active throughout the year publicising the work of CECUA. Not only is he establishing CECUA as the only truly independent European organisation representing citizen issues but he is also stimulating a large number of invitations for CECUA to make presentations at major European conferences.

13. CECUA has developed the Web site (www.cecua.org ) and regularly updates it with the latest news so as to keep you and your members informed about our activities. Last year the following Newsflashes and positions papers were published:

a. CECUA Discussion Paper: "Issues concerning the proposed Dot eu TLD"
b. CECUA Position Paper on "The Implementation of eSpace, The Dot eu Citizens' Space"
c. CECUA puts user dimension into practice
d. Dr. Jon Thorhallsson representation to ICANN
e. DG INFSO & ISOC - Brussels 7.12.01
f. YES for Europe 11th Forum in Istanbul
g. Hackers - heroes or criminals?
h. CECUA wants .EU as space of Trust and Confidence
i. MEDEF Paris CECUA President's address June 27
j. ICANN/GAC Stockholm CECUA President's address June 2, 2001
k. Newborn Babies with their own free Websites
l. The Information Society and family budget!
m. Is Your personal name a commodity in cyberspace?
n. The Peoples Internet
o. The Global Internet Society: Freedom or Anarchy?
p. Citizenship and consumerism - what's it to you?
q. US President gets democracy on the Internet!
r. Millennium and Information Technology
s. Hot Legal Internet issues
t. Who needs a watchdog?
u. Reaching out to the non-converted
v. The over 50 year olds surf the Net

I hope that you all agree with me that very considerable progress has been made by the President Dr. Thorhallsson and his team and many of our members.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Goold
Secretary General