Glossary of Platform Law and Policy Terms
Vittorio Bertola is the Head of Policy & Innovation at Open-Xchange, a leading provider of open source email and DNS solutions, where he develops and promotes new technical standards and advocates an open Internet based on user choice, privacy and federation. In the last twenty years he was involved with several Internet startups, including the early pan-European digital music platform Vitaminic, and he served in many positions in national and international Internetgovernance organizations, including as ICANN Board liaison and Chairman of the At-Large Advisory Committee, and as a member of the United Nations’ Working Group on Internet Governance.
Author: Vittorio Bertola An open standard is a standard that is developed through open processes and can be used and implemented by every interested party under non-discriminating conditions, and if possible for free. Different standardization organizations adopt different definitions for the term, which generally agree about the fact that the standard must have been developed… Continue reading Open Standard
Author: Vittorio Bertola An online identity is a collection of personal information about a person, associated with credentials that allow the owner of the identity to control the information and to assert their identity towards other parties over the Internet. The identity may represent an actual person (real-world identity), a fictitious person (pseudonymous identity), or an unknown… Continue reading Open Identity
Authors: Vittorio Bertola and Nicolo Zingales Interoperability is the ability to transfer and render useful data and other information across systems, applications, or components. The combination of transmission and analysis involves several layers of the so-called Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI model), requiring the achievement of various levels of interoperability. At a minimum, one should… Continue reading Interoperability
Author: Vittorio Bertola This entry (i) introduces the concept and classification of Internet filters, (ii) provides a more detailed (but very general) analysis of network filters, and (iii) provides a similar analysis of endpoint filters. (i) An introduction to Internet filters An Internet (content) filter is a piece of software (and, sometimes, of specialized hardware)… Continue reading Filter
Authors: Vittorio Bertola, Nicolo Zingales and Luca Belli The current debate on (data) portability finds its predecessor in the discussions on Mobile Number Portability (MNP), which emerged towards the end of the 1990s. MNP requires that, when switching from one provider to another, mobile telephone users must be able to keep their telephone number(s). The world’s… Continue reading Data Portability