Tag Archive for: 17th

Israel’s digital quality of life plummets to 17th place globally, no longer world lea

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The collapse in internet affordability in Israel has seen it not only lose its spot as a leader in digital quality of life, but fall a whopping 16 places to settle as 17th globally, according to Surfshark’s 5th annual Digital Quality of Life Index (DQL). The index is scored by taking into account five core pillars – Internet Quality, E-Security, E-Government, Internet Affordability, and E-Infrastruure.

The fall in ranking can be misleading as four of the five pillars either kept or improved their ranking from last year – it is Israel’s collapse in Internet Affordability (from 1st to 21st) that most affected the country’s overall score. Its worst performing pillar, E-Security (32nd), which measures how well a country is prepared to counter cybercrime and the quality of a country’s data protection laws, remained the same. Its Electronic Govenment ranking jumped from 33rd to 18th, its Electronic Infrastrure score rose from 28th to 21st, and its overall Internet Quality jumped from 21st to 17th.

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Israel’s collapse can be credited to its plummet in Internet affordability compared to other countries.

(Credit: Shutterstock )


Globally, fixed internet and mobile internet are 11% and 26% more affordable than 2022, and Israel’s unallginment with global rates is likely the cause for its drop in this pillar – contributing to its overall collapse.

“In many nations, ‘digital quality of life’ has merged into the broader concept of overall ‘quality of life’. There’s no other way to look at it now that so many daily activities, including work, education, and leisure, are done online,” said Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, Surfshark’s spokeswoman. “That’s why it’s crucial to pinpoint the areas in which a nation’s digital quality of life thrives and where attention is needed, which is the precise purpose of the DQL Index.”


In 2023, Israel remains above Turkey (55th) and Saudi Arabia (45th) in Digital Quality of Life, and its Internet Quality remains 34% higher than the global average. Compared to other countries in this pillar, Israel is prepared to fight against cybercrime relatively well, and the country has good data protection laws compared to other nations…

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This Week In Techdirt History: October 11th – 17th

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Five Years Ago

This week in 2015, while one judge was calling everyone’s bluffs about encryption, James Comey was insisting that “dozens” of terrorists have eluded the FBI because of it and Chuck Grassley was telling the DOJ to get back to the fight, and some were noting how just because the administration had said it wouldn’t pursue backdoors didn’t mean the next one wouldn’t change course. Plus, we noted that the lack of fervor from the NSA on the issue simply suggested that they already had a way into people’s phones. Meanwhile, the appeals court handed a clear fair use win to Google over book scanning, while the battle over the Happy Birthday copyright was gearing up for its next phase.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2010, we looked at the rapid rise of copyright shakedown operations in the US — in fact, there were so many that they were starting to fight with each other over trademarks on their very similar names and copy ceach others’ websites. Meanwhile, more countries were reacting to ACTA and Ron Wyden was seeking answers on whether it would impact US law (which independent analysis suggested it absolutely would) — but though all this was leading to some growing reluctance among US officials, we doubted that they would ever really decide not to sign the agreement.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2005, the instant messaging wars were in full swing and Microsoft and Yahoo were finally managing to provide some basic interoperability. RealNetworks and Microsoft settled their antitrust fight, more and more people were speaking up about patent trolls, and we looked at how it was the recording industry’s obsession with DRM that helped make Apple so powerful, to the industry’s chagrin.

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This Week In Techdirt History: November 17th – 23rd

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Five Years Ago

This week in 2014, the incoming head of the House Intelligence Committee was… Devin Nunes, talking about how surveillance reform is unnecessary — though former CIA/NSA Director Michael Hayden was saying that only ISIS would benefit from the proposed USA Freedom Act, and a defense official was telling the intelligence community to grow up and stop blaming Ed Snowden, and a former NSA executive was claiming he challenged bulk phone records collection but was rebuffed. The USA Freedom Act did fail to pass the Senate this week, but for stupid reasons.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2009, old-school journalists were busy getting mad about the internet, while clinging to things like optimistic studies where people say they’d pay for online news. The MPAA and Sony Pictures were backing down after shutting down a town’s wifi over a single movie download the previous week, but the MPAA was still waging war on DVRs and being joined by the cable industry, while Sony Pictures announced its best box office year ever only a month after the CEO was moaning about piracy killing the movie business. Really, what holds back online entertainment business models was mainly legacy entertainment companies making it impossible for them to survive. But the copyright maximalists were pleased about how things were going in the UK, with Peter Mandelson proposing sweeping powers in the much-anticipated Digital Economy Bill aka copyright industry wish-list.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2004, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy emerged as an early example of a musician who understood the internet, and we took a bigger look at why user generated content should change how we view copyright. The MPAA officially moved ahead with its plan to follow in the RIAA’s footsteps by suing a bunch of John Doe file-sharers, and Hollywood was just getting started on the anti-DVR war that would continue for years by trying to have commercial skipping deemed illegal (and of all people, it was John McCain who recognized just how ridiculous this was). Meanwhile, Steve Ballmer made some FUD waves with his claim that anyone who uses Linux will be sued for patent infringement — which was quickly rebuffed by the author of the study he said the idea was based on.

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This Week In Techdirt History: March 11th – 17th

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Five Years Ago

This week in 2013, the Prenda situation positively exploded. As we awaited Monday’s hearing, we learned more about Allan Mooney and saw Verizon get involved. Then, of course, the Prenda team itself didn’t show up in court, meaning they escaped (at great cost) an absolutely crazy hearing with a very unhappy judge (written up for us by Ken White of Popehat fame). The judge ordered a second hearing and made it clear Prenda was expected to actually show up, while transcripts of John Steele’s intimidating phone calls to Alan Cooper hit the docket, and Paul Duffy was scrambling to do some too-little-too-late damage control.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2008, following the death of HD-DVD, the next question was whether Blu-Ray would actually catch on in a big way. We now know it did, though early price hikes didn’t help. But it certainly had nothing to fear from an ill-advised late entrant into the format wars. Meanwhile, having expressed displeasure with the agency’s approach, EMI decided it wouldn’t quit the IFPI, but would stop paying so much for its lawsuits against fans, while the IFPI was turning its sites on ISPs instead (and unsurprisingly triggering the Streisand effect when trying to block websites).

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2003, we watched the steady emergence of video game development courses at colleges, had an early discussion about Americans using the internet to find alternative news sources, and perhaps didn’t realize just quite how revolutionary Amazon’s focus on web services would be. There were still five big record labels but they were looking to merge (while betting a tad too heavily on enhanced CDs), McDonald’s became the second huge chain to start offering free wi-fi, and we looked at the debunking of a hoax story about a cyberwar virus targeting Iraq (though that idea wouldn’t seem so crazy seven years later when we all learned about Stuxnet in Iran). Also, Techdirt got chosen by Forbes as one of the five best tech blogs.

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