Information Society Industry :: Communications :: Internet

Internet Communications

The internet is one of the most important innovations of our time, bringing substantial benefits to economies and societies, but also driving change in the way we live and work. As the Internet is not confined to national borders, these changes need to be managed at European and global levels.

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Internet: Bringing substantial benefits to economies and societies
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Overview ¦ Example Projects

While the digital revolution is influencing more and more aspects of our lives, its reach is still uneven - fewer than 50% of EU households access the internet, while broadband internet access, critical to getting the most out of advanced online services, is still difficult to find in many remote regions. Ensuring the Information Society benefits all Europeans, therefore, is still an important social goal for Europe (see the broadband and eInclusion themes).

The Internet also offers enormous possibilities to European companies, particularly SMEs, which can for the first time realistically grow inside Europe's single market through the use of eBusiness technologies. There is still a lot of work to do - while 64% of EU businesses have a website, only a minority are using it to offer innovative services to their business partners (see the eBusiness and SME themes).

While the internet is both a driving source of innovation and an important tool to combat social exclusion, finally, it is also an important economic sector in its own right: in 2006, for example, the software and IT services markets were worth 11% and 20% respectively of the total ICT market by value.

"Over 50% of global e-mail traffic is estimated to be spam"

Along with its benefits, however, the Internet also brings new challenges, such as the illegal copying of digital content, cybercrime, spam and the invasion of privacy. Action on European and even global level is necessary to meet these challenges.

Further Details and Quicklinks

Policies
Activities
See Also

Relevant Policies

i2010: the 'Single European Information Space' pillar combines regulatory and other instruments to create a modern, market-oriented regulatory framework, including:
- "Bridging the Broadband Gap", a Communication (March 2006), followed by a Conference and Exhibition (May 2007), aiming to ensure that all regions have access to broadband. See also the Regions theme.
- Electronic Communications: Europe's rules governing all electronic communications includes safeguarding your Privacy and Fighting Spam.
- Trust, privacy and security are critical to continuing growth in Internet use - hence the strategy for a secure European Information Society
.EU: A Top Level Internet Domain for Europe: This new top level domain gives European business and citizens the possibility to create a pan-European Internet identity, useful especially for organisations operating at a European level.
Fighting Cybercrime is one of the initiatives to make the internet a safer place to communicate and do business. To this end a Cybercrime Forum was established.
Internet governance: The EC is involved in the international discussions on Internet governance - how the Internet is managed internationally. See also the UN World Summit on the Information Society.

Relevant Activities

Browse some relevant Example Projects or jump straight to the following sites:

Research: see the Research & Innovation theme for an introduction, or visit:
- Pervasive and Trusted Network and Service Infrastructures is one of the seven main challenges for ICT research during the 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7, 2007-2013);
- Another FP7 Challenge - Digital libraries and content - is focusing on the next-generation tools and systems that will enable cutting-edge online content and services;
- Grid technologies: a ‘Strategic Objective’ within Information Society Technologies (IST) research, funded under the EU’s sixth Framework Programme (2002 - 2006).
- The Software and Services priority within the IST programme (2002 - 2006) - supporting the competitive position of European software industry in more globalised and service-oriented markets.
eContentplus: making digital content in Europe more accessible, usable and exploitable;
Safer Internet: promoting safer use of online technologies, particularly by children, and fighting illegal content and content unwanted by the end-user;
eGovernment: aims to the make high quality online public service available to every citizen in Europe.
Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs): While innovative information and communication services are constantly improving people's lives, they can also create new risks. PETs can minimise them by helping people protect their privacy online.

See Also

From the Internet Newsroom and Library:

Factsheet 8: Strategy for a secure Information Society (June 2006)
Factsheet 55: Open for all – 7 April 2006: yourname.eu (April 2006)
Factsheet 18: Safer Internet and Safer Internetplus: Making the Internet a Safer Place (October 2005)
Factsheet 19: Making digital content more accessible and user friendly (June 2006)
Factsheet 24: Protecting Privacy and Fighting Spam (January 2006)
Factsheet 25: An International Perspective for a Global Information Society (November 2005)

For the latest relevant news, publications and more from the Newsroom & Library, see right hand column, or select IS Industry when you subscribe to the Portal Newsroom Update.

Last Updated May 2007