Reding voted 'internet villain'

Viviane Reding, commissioner for Information Society and Media, and the European Commission beat off stiff competition at the end of last week to steal the award for ‘internet villain of the year’.

The commissioner and her employer were awarded the title by the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) at the ninth annual UK Internet Industry Awards held at the London Marriott Hotel late last week.

Reding and the EC saw off competition from marketing firm e360 insight, which attempted to have anti spam outfit Spamhaus shut down; Peter Black, executive chairman of Next Generation Networks UK, for making the organisation too elitist; the British Phonographic Industry; and the US government.

An ISPA spokesperson said, “Commissioner Vivianne Reding and the European Commission received the award for foisting the most arcane set of rules yet seen for prior registration of .eu domains, requiring UK registered companies to submit legal affidavits to justify the authenticity of their business.”

On the flipside, Vodafone’s Annie Mullins won the ‘internet hero’ award for her work with the Home Office Task Force on Protection of Children on the Internet and the European Union’s Safer Internet Programme.

NTL Telewest won the award for best consumer ISP and Claranet was voted best business ISP.