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Have you heard of TIM? The Trustworthy Internet Movement is a new initiative launched a few weeks ago at the 2012 RSA Security Conference. The goal of TIM is to bring together experts, industry stakeholders, and others in an effort to build a safer and more secure Internet.

TIM was founded by Philippe Courtot, chairman and CEO of Qualys. But, TIM is a non-profit organization that is entirely independent of Qualys.

TIM seeks to pool resources and find collaborative solutions for a more secure Internet.I spoke with Courtot a few days before the official unveiling of TIM at RSA. He described to me how TIM was borne over time from countless conversations hed had with other security professionals. Courtot believes that there are fundamental issues with Internet security that can not be resolved by any single tool, or even any single company.

Courtot is dedicated to ensuring the reliability, privacy, and security of the Internet, and he feels that the best way to meet that goal is to create an environment where security experts, cloud providers, and other Internet stakeholders can cooperate to find innovative solutions to defend against the rising tide of threats on the Internet. Courtot believes strongly enough in this initiative that he pledged $500,000 of his own money to get the project off the ground.

There is definitely something to be said for this approach. In the wake of the attacks against Google and others in China, various affected parties worked together collaboratively with Internet security providers and law enforcement agencies. The key lesson from that effort was that sharing information cooperatively lets all involved see the bigger picture and helps to identify issues and develop resolutions faster.

Various companies and security experts are already hard at work on different solutions to address problems with privacy, reliability, and security on the Internet, and many of those solutions will succeed on some level. But, rather than developing competing or conflicting approaches to the same problem, TIM might be able to harness those efforts to develop innovative solutions that are greater than the sum of the individual parts.

Obviously, the companies or individuals involved in a collaborative effort like TIM all have a vested interest in their own success and profit. But, the Internet is essential to business, news, entertainment, and mainstream culture in general, and there is something to be said for working together for the greater good.

If youre interested in learning more about TIM, or youd like to join the cause and contribute your skills and resources, visit the site.

You can follow Tony on his Facebook page, his Google+ profile, or contact him by email at tony_bradley@pcworld.com. He also tweets as @TheTonyBradley.

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Searching for a More Secure Internet

Friday, March 16, 2012

UNILAB Ideas Positive, the only social marketing congress and competition for college students in the country today, is expanding this year from Metro Manila to the entire Philippines, tapping students from the Mindanao region to join and become part of this campaign.

The nationwide expansion is a result of the encouraging response from universities and college students to the program, which was first launched in 2010 to serve as venue for Filipino youth to improve the health and wellness of their communities with their social marketing ideas.

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The increasing number of positive ideas we receive every year and the passion the youth have shown in helping their communities have inspired us to open the venue to more youth in the Philippines, said Unilab Ideas Positive program lead Barry Barrientos. By partnering with more youth on this cause, we believe that well also be able to help more communities become healthier and more productive.

Fifteen communities all over the country will benefit from this expansion through the social marketing programs by 15 youth teams that will all receive P100, 000 seed money for the implementation of their ideas.

The groups will also be flown to Manila, with free hotel accommodation, meals, and transportation, to attend a three-day boot camp where they can learn social marketing approaches from a pool of experts through workshops and case studies.

Last year, the participants were trained by reputable leaders and experts that included social marketing guru Dr. Ned Roberto, CNN 2009 Hero of the Year Efren Penaflorida, and RockEd Founder Gang Badoy, among others.

One of the participants to the boot camp, Jhanette Co, of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, thanked the program for giving young people like her the opportunity to be heard and make a difference.

Unilab Ideas Positive is a game changer by providing us with a venue to learn social marketing from experts, and more importantly, giving us the opportunity to make meaningful change in communities by bringing our ideas to life, she shared. Its refreshing to see how a big company like Unilab demonstrates belief in the youth of today.

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Mindanao youth asked to team up for healthier Philippines

Leading Internet marketing company, Vertical Measures, has partnered with the Online Marketing Institute for the Social, Mobile & Digital Marketing Boot Camp being held on March 29, 2012 in Phoenix, AZ.

Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) March 16, 2012

At these flexible, in-person workshops, attendees will get in-depth training on the disciplines that make up a marketing mix. Further instruction will be provided on tactics that drive revenue for organizations today, and how you can successfully apply those techniques to your own campaigns.

The boot camp is a full day of learning, and will be held at the Scottsdale Marriott Suites Old Town. The agenda will center around the following topics:

To save 15% off of the registration fee, visit the official Online Marketing Institute site and use promo code VERTICAL15.

About Vertical Measures

Vertical Measures provides search, social, and content marketing services in order to drive more traffic, more leads and more business through our clients websites. Specializing in Internet marketing and SEO, the company employs individuals skilled in marketing, social media, and web design. It serves clients ranging from major ecommerce websites to universities, fortune 500 companies, and SEO agencies. For more information, please visit http://www.verticalmeasures.com.

About OMI

The Online Marketing Institute is the only member-based organization built by online marketers for online marketers with the mission to promote the industry and advance the careers and professional capabilities of marketers worldwide. OMI Educational Programs are designed to serve both the individual marketer as well as corporate marketing departments and include live workshops, webcasts, elearning-based training as well as full-fledged professional certification programs. For more information, please visit http://www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org.

Ann-Marie Jancovich Vertical Measures 602-3143460 Email Information

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Vertical Measures Partners with OMI for Social, Mobile and Digital Marketing Boot Camp

Web users in many countries across the globe experience censorship to some degree. China is a much heralded example of internet censorship as the country banned many sites including Facebook and YouTube. Pakistan's 20 million internet users already experience a degree of restricted web access; however, present censorship is less restrictive than in many other countries in Asia and the Arab world. Of the most concern to government regulators are sites that display adult content, those that display material offensive to Islam, websites supporting separatist activities, and sites offering criticisms of the government's army. However, the Pakistani government is now running advertisements for companies to configure and filtering system for the internet in the country that would block a reported 50 million sites. This has raised concerns from activists of free speech in the country.

The extent to which the new proposed regulations would restrict free speech in internet use is seemingly up for debate. Activists clearly feel this could be an indication of more and deeper censorship to come. This feeling is only supported by other proposals set forth by a media regulatory entity that that would bring television under tighter government oversight. On the other side, the government's Information Minister dismisses these claims and the director of Pakistan's ISP association contended that future restrictions would not equate to more censorship.

The impact on SEO would most likely be minimal, that is, for the non-blocked sites as searches of non-sensitive material would still function in the same way. As a result, an SEO company serving the Pakistani market will still be able to offer their services and assist a business to rank higher in SERPs and drive more traffic to their website. What is disconcerting however is the potential state of the internet in Pakistan if more censoring follows. Further, if more censorship discourages general internet use, then this could potentially impact the viability of internet businesses in the country. It is unclear what direction the country will head in relating to internet restrictions, but future decisions are sure to follow and have implications on the industry.

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Potential Deeper Filtering of Pakistan's Internet on Horizon

TORONTO (Reuters) - Bell Canada's parent has agreed to buy Astral Media, its largest content provider, in a C$3 billion ($3.02 billion) deal to lock up more of the programming carried over its media platforms and expand its presence in French-speaking Quebec.

Complementing BCE Inc's C$1.3 billion acquisition of CTV last year, the deal announced on Friday highlights the company's drive to control the costs of the content distributed through its cable, internet and telecom properties.

BCE's strategy is part of a global trend - the growing popularity of tablet computers and smartphones as platforms to view content has blurred the lines separating telecom carriers, media and cable companies. That has forced providers to venture outside their traditional domains to boost revenues and win a competitive edge.

"All telephone companies are trying to reinvent themselves," said Macquarie analyst Greg MacDonald. "Carriers, cable and telephone companies are buying content providers, and even going so far as to buy the content itself."

BCE, already Canada's largest telecom provider, will acquire more than 20 television services operated by Astral, including HBO Canada, the Movie Network, Canal Vie and Disney Junior. In radio, the deal gives BCE 80 stations, including Virgin Radio, EZ Rock and Boom.

In an important aspect of the deal, Astral positions BCE to compete more effectively against Quebecor Inc, which owns a rich array of French-language content and rival telecom company Videotron that operates in the province of Quebec.

Astral - based in Montreal along with Quebecor - has a strong presence in Quebec, Canada's francophone heartland. Its assets will enable BCE to raise its profile in one of Canada's biggest media markets and broaden out its national footprint.

"Bell's acquisition of Astral firmly establishes our company as Qubec's media leader," said BCE Chief Executive George Cope. "The acquisition also represents content cost certainty for Bell, as Astral represents Bell's single largest content cost in our TV business today."

Astral also owns digital media assets and nearly 10,000 outdoor advertising signage locations spread across Qubec, Ontario and British Columbia. It employs about 2,800 people across Canada, with about half of them located in Qubec.

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Canada's BCE to acquire Astral Media for C$3 billion