Transparency from Governments and Telecommunications Companies

The human rights obligations of telecommunications companies are in the global spotlight in the wake of recent reports about national security-related communications surveillance. Companies committed to respecting free expression and privacy rights should take this opportunity to work with governments to increase transparency according to a new report released today by the Global Network Initiative.

The report, “Opening the Lines: A Call for Transparency from Governments and Telecommunications Companies,” illustrates the types of requirements telecommunications companies face and explores how they can respond to them in ways that respect human rights. Informed by case study review of the laws and regulations governing telecommunications companies in the European Union, and at the national level in Russia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, the report shows that the risks to free expression and privacy in the sector are not limited to the United States.

“Governments pursuing legitimate responsibilities for national security and law enforcement face real challenges, but as the worldwide reaction to communications surveillance by the U.S. government makes clear, the necessity and proportionality of surveillance measures are far from resolved,” said GNI Executive Director Susan Morgan. “It’s time for telecommunications companies to demonstrate their commitments to the rights of their users wherever they operate.”

The report, authored by Chris Tuppen, senior partner of Advancing Sustainability LLP and the former Chief Sustainability Officer at BT, makes specific recommendations around how to increase transparency. “Telecommunications companies seeking to mitigate their human rights risks have an opportunity to work with governments and other stakeholders to increase transparency in a number of areas, particularly volume of requests made and complied with,” says Tuppen.

The report was commissioned prior to GNI entering into a two-year collaboration with eight global companies in the Telecommunications Industry Dialogue on Privacy and Freedom of Expression, and is not endorsed by the Industry Dialogue companies.

Responding to the report Patrik Hiselius, Senior Advisor at TeliaSonera and current Chair of the Industry Dialogue, said: “The Industry Dialogue welcomes GNI’s first report on telecommunications and freedom of expression. The report will help different stakeholders understand the complex operating environment of telecommunications companies and sheds light on some of the challenges in defining the boundaries of responsibility regarding freedom of expression within our sector. We look forward to working together, and with the GNI and its members, to further promoting informed debate and practical solutions to these challenges.”

View the original article here

Telecommunications in Germany: An Economic Perspective

This book describes the German telecommunications market and its regulatory environment and contains four case studies showing how firms in Germany employ telecommunications in their corporate strategies. The book describes in detail the recent regulatory reform in Germany and compares the new environment with the old. It also presents a systematic analysis of the corporate uses of telecommunications and shows how regulation has influenced telecommunications usage in Germany. The book is based on work done for an international research project organized by the OECD and the University of California, Berkeley.

Price: $99.00

Click here to buy from Amazon

First telecommunications Announces Allworx version 7.5 mobility, security and improving the management of calls

With the support of Allworx Reach ™, System Software 7.5 provides customers a new way to communicate. Now you can bring all the features of your phone to IP Allworx on your Apple smartphone or tablet with scope of Allworx. Connect any where there is a signal, free Wi - Fi or cellular. Make and receive multiple calls at the same time, Conference, manage voice messages and have a direct view of your contacts, local on the device or on the server. New Customer Management Options improve flexibility more and more, customers want to manage their own activities of the day programming agenda.

To meet this need, user authorization levels allow control and delegation of programming features. Users can now be designated a system administrator with full access to all administrative functions, or a phone administrator to manage the phone system settings every day including handsets, users, extensions and all records of the system. Network administrator privileges allow access and management of the network settings and VoIP as well as exterior doors entry SIP proxy andSIP. Finally, Technical Support technicians have access to run backups of the system, restart the commands and manage logging functions.

Call handling devices improve productivity shared call appearance allows one or more appearances to be shared between several handsets. It is perfect for ofphones groups requiring appearances even call on their phone, or apply for coverage of appeal between a boss and a wizard.Incoming calls ring appearances shared and can be answered by anyone. When calls are queued, they can be recovered by anyone. If confidentiality is required, the call can be placed pending where only you or the intercom part you can retrieve it. Call Park progress that greatly enhance the ease to identify callers on an orbit of Park.

Any phone Allworx, any user can see a list of each call parked. This includes the number of the orbit where the call is parked, time parked, parked position number calling, and ID of the caller and number name. Stronger passwords for greater security system 7.5 allows users to have a stronger separate to access my Allworx Manager password pagesand Allworx Administration Reach. Passwords can be made stronger when used for authenticated access to features through a keyboard interface. The password can be made safer with rules of minimum length, requiring upper/lower case characters, numbers and/or special characters.

Joe Donahue, principal conductor, USN (Ret.) and Senior Account Executive at first telecommunications said, "Allworx 7.5 release is a game changer. Companies can migrate to VoIP at their own speed and always keep a complete set of mobility, security features and management within their organization. Not need expensive licenses or equipment."

Telecommunicatons first offer communications services and business solutions VoIP in Chicago since 1993. For 20 years, we have helped Chicago businesses region Select, service and maintain their telephone systems and business services. We provide telephone systems and business Voip services based on your business needs and we never compromise reliability. For more information, visit: http://www.primetelecommunications.com/

View the original article here

Telecommunications Engineer's Reference Book

The pace of change within telecommunications, measured in terms of technology and the opening up of markets to competition, has continued steadily since the highly acclaimed first edition of the Telecommunications Engineer's Reference Book was published. To keep up with all these changes this second edition has been extensively revised, and seven completely new chapters added.

The book maintains a balance between new developments and established technologies since telecommunications systems, once in the network, represent a substantial investment which tends to be mainted for a relatively long time. New operators have the advantage of being able to use the latest technologies when building their new networks.

The book is structured in five parts. Part 1 introduces mathematical techniques which are required for the analysis of telecommunications systems. Part 2 deals with the physical environment of telecommunications. Part 3 describes various components used within telecommunication systems, both wireline and wireless. Part 4 covers fundamental telecommunication topics. Part 5 describes telecommunication applications and represents the largest section of the book. The topics have been selected and grouped in order to cover all the major areas within telecommunications, spanning the field of transmission and switching, the transmission media being copper, fibre optic or wireless.

The 75 International authors who have contributed to the book are all specialists in their own field, working in organisations that are in the forefront of the technology concerned in Europe, Japan, Canada and the USA. Fraidoon Mazda has done an excellent job in pulling all these contributions together to create an ongoing reference work which will be invaluable to anyone working in the growing field of telecommunications.

New sections are now included on the following subjects:
Trigonometric and General Formulae
Calculus
Series and Transforms
Matrices and Determinants
Fibre Optic Communications
Cable Television and Telelphony
The Internet

Price: $255.00

Click here to buy from Amazon