Tag Archives | China

Private Lives on Show – The privacy debate is strategic

The issue of privacy is a little schizophrenic. In any event, it is capital and worldwide in scope. We all say we want privacy, and yet we do not want to be treated as a number. For businesses to provide us with customized and relevant offers that make us feel like VIP customers, they need to know our data. At its core, the issue of privacy is one of trust.

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Government as Guarantor of Privacy?

(Update July 28) With the massive leak of over 91,000 documents from the US Army operations in Afghanistan to wikileaks, the notions of security, confidentiality, privacy and piracy have hit the front pages of mass media around the world.  The role of the internet and the oversight of governments on issues of privacy, in particular, is [...]

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Top Countries sending Spam

State of the Spam Business: Spam Pollution

State of the Spam BusinessHow many legitimate (non junk or spam) emails do you receive in your inbox? It may come as a surprise to you that only 3% of the world’s supply of emails are legitimate, at least that’s what a recent Microsoft survey says. On a personal level, I know that I have [...]

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Barack & Michelle Obama

Obamania Worldwide – The Dreams & The Reality

OBAMANIA & OTHER REFLECTIONS ON A SUNDAY MORNING The effect of the Obama victory overseas has been impressive. Much like the initial outpouring after September 11th, 2001, since November 5th, 2008, I have come across a newfound sense of support for the US from many different corners of the world, and the support is quite [...]

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Great or Worst Teachers NYC

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly Educational Systems

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Teachers – How to get rid of the bad apples? As much as I would love to continue praising the great teachers in my life, it occurs to me that many countries feel that their educational systems are in dire straits. With my Franco- Anglo- American educational upbringing, [...]

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China Going Green?

China steps up efforts on Ecology

China bans free bags! In a second post (“Getting rid of Plastic Bags” May 2007) on the topic, I read in the Herald Tribune with a mixture of satisfaction and curiosity about China’s intended policy to ban the giving out of free plastic bags in shops (effective June 1 2008). What caught my eye in [...]

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China Global Power Ranking

Global Power Rankings China versus ROW

China is making progress up the Global Power Ranking if you count market caps. Chinese publicly traded companies are now dominating the top 10 list of biggest market capitalizations worldwide. This Figaro article of 30 October highlighted that 5 out of the top 10 largest market caps are Chinese, including world #2 PetroChina at $446 [...]

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Rice: Climate change a problem

Was quite interested to see that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has openly stated that “climate change is a real problem.” A statement that has taken a long time to come. At a meeting, held in DC, of the 16 most polluting countries, the BBC reports that Rice “challenged leaders to reduce their dependence on [...]

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Google my rights – privacy beats piracy

In preparations for the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés) meeting 24 September, in Montréal, Google’s Keeper of the Data, Peter Fleischer, has been on the bandwagon for a worldwide protocol for the protection of private data on the net. Fleischer spoke, on 14 September, at a conference in Strasbourg, organised by UNESCO, [...]

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Wind turbines ahoy

Looking for windy cities With the number of wind turbines worldwide projected to hit a capacity of 90,000 megawatts/MW (or 90 gigawatts/GW) of electricity, I am proud to say that I have at last come right up close to the base of one of these (at least) 30 metre tall constructions. On our family trip, [...]

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