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Contents of today's ICOMP newsletter: 
At the Congress on 10 September, ICOMP Director Auke Haagsma will provide insight into competition issues facing the online search market from a European and American perspective. Other speakers in this forum on internet pluralism include Francois Bourdoncle, CEO of Paris-based Exalead, and Andreas Bogen, CEO of Munich-based job search engine Opportuno.de. The Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Access to Information, Dr. Alexander Dix, will also participate in the event.
He has been an active campaigner for more effective protection of intellectual property rights both within Germany and at the European level.
The EU's Digital Competitiveness report: Europe is "the world's first truly mobile continent". On 4 August, the Commission published its annual report on Europe's Digital Competitiveness. It argues that the digital sector has made strong progress since 2005: 56% of Europeans now regularly use the internet, 80% of whom via a high-speed connection (compared to only one third in 2004), making Europe the world leader in broadband internet and the world's first truly mobile continent with more mobile subscribers than citizens (a take up rate of 119%). It paints a bright future by concluding that Europe can progress even further as a new generation of "digitally savvy" young Europeans becomes a strong market driver for growth and innovation. "Europe's digital economy has tremendous potential to generate huge revenues across all sectors, but to turn this advantage into sustainable growth and new jobs, governments must show leadership by adopting coordinated policies that dismantle existing barriers to new services," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. The Commission has now invited stakeholders and the general public to have their say as to what digital strategy the EU should adopt to make the digital economy run at full speed in the future. The public consultation is open until 9 October 2009. It is seen as the first step towards a new European ICT strategy which the Commission aims to present in 2010 as part of the next wave of the Lisbon Agenda on Growth and Jobs. Commission recommendation on media literacy in the digital environment This month the Commission also adopted policy guidelines on 'media literacy in the digital environment for a more competitive audiovisual and content industry and an inclusive knowledge society'. It calls upon EU countries and industry to promote media literacy across Europe allowing people to access, understand and critically evaluate the different media they are exposed to, the traditional, such as print or TV, as well as the new online and digital media. The recommendation did not stop short of warning that people using media need to be aware of the risks connected to the spread of their personal data. The more skilled they are in using these technologies, and the more savvy they are about how online advertising works, the better they can protect their privacy, the text argues.
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