FEED issue 28 Newsletter

7 NEWSFEED Updates & Upgrades

NEW TAKE ON GREEN SCREEN

Albert, the Bafta-backed screen industries environmentalist group, has launched a new initiative designed to help actors, agents and casting directors support the industry as it transitions to a carbon-neutral future. Through an actor ’s contract, the Green Rider enables requests such as plant-based catering, low-energy lighting and a “zero to landfill” policy. “Actors and their agents, alongside casting directors, have a huge amount of influence, and they all want help to

and guidance for how to do this. We’re really excited to see how this is adopted by the industry and the positive changes it will bring about.” This year saw the Bafta awards ceremony go carbon neutral – and receive a mark of certification from Albert – for the first time. Following the launch on 5 May, the Green Rider will be made freely available on Albert’s website, plus a series of webinars to highlight how it can be used.

do more to make our carbon-intensive industry more sustainable,” said Richard Wilson, CEO of Spotlight, which helped create the Green Rider with Albert. “The Green Rider gives them a framework

.ORG IS SAVED RISE MENTORING PROGRAMME

Rise, the membership group for gender diversity within the broadcast technology sector, has announced the pairings of mentees and mentors for its third annual mentoring scheme in the UK, and its first mentoring scheme in the APAC region. Thirty mentees have been placed on the scheme and each will receive 12 hours of one-to-one time with their mentor, the opportunity to meet the mentee group on a monthly basis, as well as attend networking events, workshops and seminars throughout the six-month programme, all of which will be delivered digitally until the lockdown lifts. Also, this year, Sports Video Group (SVG) Europe Women is supporting two women from the programme by offering specific sports industry advice, sessions, events and guidance. Carrie Wootten, director of Rise, said: “We know that the support provided through the programme is needed now more than ever and are delighted to be working in partnership with SVG Europe Women this year and supporting 30 women from across the sector.” She added: “I would like to thank our incredible sponsors and partners, and of course, the mentors, for all of their continued support of Rise and enabling us to bring the scheme to women in the industry. Because of your generosity, we have been able to launch an APAC mentoring scheme this year based in Singapore, run by Nancy Diaz Curiel.”

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the not-for-profit organisation that coordinates the internet’s domain name system, has rejected the proposed $1.1bn sale of the .org Public Interest Registry (PIR) to a private equity firm called Ethos Capital. In a blog post, ICANN’s board said that the transfer would have given up the current focus of PIR in favour of “an entity that is bound to serve the interests of its corporate stakeholders, and which has no meaningful plan to protect or serve the .org community”. It also cited that the sale would leave PIR with a $360m debt that could threaten future operations. PIR was founded by the Internet Society (ISOC) to handle the .org domain in 2004, but it was announced later last year that the ISOC would be transferring control of the domain to Ethos Capital in exchange for a $1.1bn endowment. The change of hands immediately raised concern about censorship and how internet infrastructure affects free speech. Websites using .org can be

registered by anybody, but over the past decade it has become the go-to domain term for not-for- profits and charities. The transfer of control of .org domains would mean a new owner could raise the price of addresses, making it expensive for not-for-profits that have come to rely on its name recognition. Mitch Stoltz, senior staff attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote to ICANN urging it to stop the sale: “Essentially, it means selling censorship. It could mean suspending domain names, causing websites to go dark when some powerful interest wants them gone.” Ethos and ISOC criticised the decision. Ethos stated that it “opens the door for ICANN to unilaterally reject future transfer requests based on agenda-driven pressure by outside parties”. And ISOC wrote: “Although we respect ICANN’s role in supporting the internet’s technical coordination functions, we are disappointed that ICANN has acted as a regulatory body it was never meant to be. Despite ICANN’s decision, our work to connect the unconnected and strengthen the internet will continue.”

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