Dutch snippits of the week

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Dutch tidbits

The Dutch internet company 357hosting is under investigation by the state attorney at the request of the Swiss ministry of justice. The company would facilitate Islamic website and in this way support terrorism.

The Dutch broadcasting production company NOB Cross Media will make use of the private glass fibre ring in Hilversum in order to exchange video- and sound files between broadcast companies and production companies. The speed of the network in the Dutch broadcasting city Hilversum is up to 1 Gigabit per second.
The growth of broadband in The Netherlands is levelling off. Incumbent telco KPN is the fastest grower in ADSL; it has now 1,5 million DSL lines. Casema is the fastest grower in the cable sector; the company has now 248.000 internet subscriptions. Versatel, who wants to be the first integrated triple player, lags behind.
The Dutch telecom watch dog OPTA is starting a survey into the costs of the infrastructure for television cable networks. It has branded the companies UPC, Essent, Casema, Multikabel and Delta NV, which cover the majority of 92 per cent of the cable subscription in The Netherlands, as monopolists.

Dutch habits

The Netherlands belong to the 20 countries with the lowest degree of software piracy in the world. Of all used software 30 per cent is illegal, a slump of 3 per cent since 2003, the Business Software Alliance reports on the basis of an IDC survey in 87 countries.

Three out of ten Dutch employees occasionally installs software from its employer. That is a rise of 22 per cent since 2003.

In the fifth e-mail survey of Dutch municipalities it becomes clear that more than 20 per cent of the municipalities do not react to a simple question sent by e-mail.

Internet has made Dutch cultural heritage more accessible than ever. Yeti t does not have any influence on the number of visitors to museums, monuments and archives. In fact the numbers of visitors has almost stayed stable between 1983 and 2003. Downloadable SCP report.

European news

The European Commission has published the IST Call 5 in the framework of the 6 FP. With an indicative budget of 638 million Euros, this electronic Call for Proposals covers the strategic Objectives listed in the IST 2005-06 Work Programme in the Call 5 section. It comes under the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration: 'Integrating and strengthening the European Research Area'. Deadline for proposals: 21/09/2005.