On the occasion of ISPA’s General Assembly on 12 June 2014, President Henri-Jean Pollet looks back on 2013 and outlines challenges and opportunities that await the internet sector during the coming years.
‘An ever growing connectivity of people and objects requires us to keep on deploying faster, cheaper and better internet infrastructures. High degrees of connectivity more and more determine the development of countries, economies, companies and individuals. Huge flows of information and growing amounts of “big data” must be taken into account, both in terms of threats a0nd opportunities, as they require finding the right balance between privacy protection, commercial exploitation and lawful needs of access for governments in order to combat crime.
This year’s revelations on mass surveillance capabilities, together with the growing threats of malware proliferation, have affected corporate and private users and created a demand for better data protection and security. Both at European and at Belgian level initiatives are being taken to address all of these trends. In this context ISPA continues to offer the needed forum of dialogue and involvement with all concerned parties, as the only Belgian sector association that defends the interests of all types of Internet players.’
Henri-Jean Pollet
President of ISPA Belgium