18 December 2007 - New data retention rules in Lithuania (implementation of the Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC).
Today the Seimas (Parliament of Lithuania), following the lines of the EU Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC, enacted amendments of the 2004 Law on Electronic Communications, which specifically require communication service providers to retain communications data for the period of 12 months. The data shall be retained and disclosed free of charge to competent authorities. The new rules apply to fixed line, mobile and internet communications.
These amendments are complete departure from previous data retention rules, which allowed the service provider to retain only data required for direct business purposes (e.g. accounting) and only for as long as it was required for such business purposes.

16 December 2007 - OLPC for the EU countries? OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) initiative, along with the Classmate PC and even purely commercial products (like e.g. Asus EEE PC) is making major splash with educational institutions worldwide. Governments of many developing countries seem to realize that this is their bet to catch up with the widening digital divide between the developed world and third world. What is most interesting that although these programs were originally aimed exclusively at developing countries, some developed countries are giving it a try as well, including just some 150 miles away from the Silicon Valley. In couple of years the internet universe might be swarming with the kids, whose first window to the digital world was OLPC. There is little doubt that OLPC will empower a lot of people and businesses, it will also contribute global welfare and democracy just by giving access to knowledge. All of a sudden the digital behemoths of the developed world may face new businesses and social media from the developing world. The challenge may even be bigger for countries like Lithuania, which continue to struggle with the lack of ICT infrastructure and proper internet access (see the EU i2010 Annual Report 2007). We are left to wonder where the under-funded and under-equipped education systems in Lithuania and other EU newcomers are leading us, and when we will find ourselves trailing Peru or even Nigeria?

11 December 2007 - Any progress with Lisbon Strategy implementation in 2007? According to the EU 2007 Lisbon Strategy Assessment Report, there is progress in Lithuania, however it seems rather paper based. Despite some legislative and research effort, Lithuania struggles with main factors of innovative knowledge economy, namely - increasing and improving the efficiency of investment in R&D and support for innovation, as well as reform of the education and training systems to ensure quality and labour market relevance. Additional challenges in the form of macroeconomic threats and growing legislative burden are also emerging rapidly. When judging from a purely local perspective the progress seems rather marginal, and the key achievement - approval of priority areas for R&D development seems questionable, if not all together disappointing. Adoption of the Vocational Training Law may also tick the Brussels boxes, but hardly anything else.