[LINK] Digital Quality of Life

[Roger Clarke]

 > Global Research: 65 Countries’ Digital Quality of Life
 > ... https://surfshark.com/dql-report.pdf ...
 > Highest  DIGITAL QUALITY OF LIFE
 > 1. Australia
 > We indexed Digital Quality of Life (DQL) based on the internet speed 
& affordability (broadband and mobile), the presence of personal data 
protection laws, the state of e-government, the variety & availability 
of e-entertainment, and the advancement of

Starting with an obvious issue, the criterion of "the presence of 
personal data protection laws" is laughable.

Firstly, it's a completely inadequate proxy for the real need, which is 
for comprehensive data protection laws, effective enforcement 
mechanisms, enforcement resources and actual enforcement.

Secondly, Australia has what are arguably the world's weakest data 
protection laws, 3 of 8 subsidiary jurisdictions that have either no 
laws or no laws of consequence, the world's weakest enforcement 
mechanisms, and the world's weakest data protection commissioners, both 
in terms of the powers at their disposal and their exercise of such 
powers as they have.

Assessing "internet speed & affordability" is a complex matter, but a 
great many people, consumers and policy-watchers alike, would be 
flabbergasted by what appears to be a remarkably high score.

The "advancement of cybersecurity" is also hilariously off the beam, 
given the ongoing failure of almost all government agencies to comply 
with the requirements of cybersecurity agencies, the abject failure of 
data protection commissioners to define baseline security requirements, 
the ongoing flood of data breaches, and the abject failure of data 
protection commissioners to take firm action against *any* organisations 
within their field of view.

And then there's the small matter of such things as "the variety & 
availability of e-entertainment", and the vulnerability of consumer 
devices, being largely international rather than national phenomena.

The quality of the PDF is pretty good.  But the quality of the design 
and the results is ridiculously low.


The company gives its address as Tortola, BVI.  I had a client there 
quite some years ago.  It's a funny little corner of the world, and a 
tax haven, sorry, 'a low-documentation jurisdiction' (their own term).

__________________


On 14/8/19 1:36 am, Stephen Loosley wrote:
> 
> Global Research: 65 Countries’ Digital Quality of Life
> 
> Digital experience varies wildly around the world. That’s why, together with an expert panel, Surfshark analyzed and ranked 65 countries which represent over 70% of global population, or around 5.5 billion people.
> 
> Highest  DIGITAL QUALITY OF LIFE
> 
> 1. Australia
> 2. France
> 3. Singapore
> 4. Norway
> 5. Japan
> 6. Canada
> 7. Denmark
> 8. South Korea
> 9. Italy
> 10. Sweden
> 
> We indexed Digital Quality of Life (DQL) based on the internet speed & affordability (broadband and mobile), the presence of personal data protection laws, the state of e-government, the variety & availability of e-entertainment, and the advancement of cybersecurity.
> 
> Ref: https://surfshark.com/dql
> Ref: https://www.pcmag.com/news/370133/us-comes-in-11th-place-worldwide-for-digital-quality-of-life
> 
> Cheers,
> Stephen
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
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> 


-- 
Roger Clarke                            mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
T: +61 2 6288 6916   http://www.xamax.com.au  http://www.rogerclarke.com

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA 

Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University