Wikileaks and private Internet censorship

Links to the analysis here.

Internet users 1998-2010

Use this global graphic to trace development of subscribers - and how dominant the US was in 1998.

Keep up to date on net neutrality and co-regulation via blogs

Hello from the wintry wonderland of Essex - snow for the last four days! Do keep watching the subject blogs on e-commerce and freedom of expression, as well as net neutrality policy (with video links to my European Parliament speech) and co-regulation (with a link to my next book).

Blocking Facebook (S.Arabia) and YouTube (Turkey)

Keep up to date with the blocking of these ubiquitous social networking sites (SNS) by following the ONI map. With a billion YouTube accounts and 700million Facebook users, they are now as big as China or India in user numbers (but only as prevalent as governments which permit or deny them market access).

Check current news: Marsden speaks at European institutions' hearing

Keep up to date by following this link - and you'll notice the blog roll for the Internet Law courses keeps being updated??!!

University of Essex at 50! Happy birthday

Its nice to celebrate a half-century (founded 1961, first students 1964) with a film - as Internet law teaching is a decade old in 2011-12!, we can wish each other happy birthday

Essex YouTube site

Its well worth having a virtual tour via our YouTube channel.

Guest speaker schedule 2011-12

Students are always welcome to suggest guest speakers - we regularly attract Internet regulation experts such as Dr Ian Brown from Oxford, Professor Chris Reed from QMUL and an Ofcom speaker.
We also have our external examiner, Professor Lillian Edwards, speaking in December 2010.
This is the 2008-9 schedule for reference.

Essex Internet law on location

Warsaw 2004 - presenting the results of the Internet self-regulation project to European legislators and civil society organisations. Here at the Royal Palace.

All together now! With Jon Sallet, Dave Clark (MIT) and Hal Varian (University of California at Berkeley and Google) in Rueschlikon 2003 - demonstrating co-ordinated action on the Internet? 

Royal Society 2004 with Monica Arino (Ofcom), who has given guest speeches to previous years of the programme, Markus Kummer who runs the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, Prof. Howard Williams who runs the International Telecommunications Union Forum, Dr Mark Laternero of the University of California, Jean-Jacques Sahel of Skype, and Kenn Cukier of The Economist.

Rueschlikon conference discussion 2004

With Chinese regional regulators whom I trained in telecommunications law and regulation at Oxford 2004-5. The Shanghai regulator taught me quite a lot about WiMAX!

Korea 2008 - discussions at Seoul University Law School about Internet co-regulation

Creative Commons UK visits Creative Commons Japan - British Academy visit to GLOCOM 2005 with Pro Tsiavos

Westminster, House of Commons - most of European Internet law is made in Brussels, but our local parliament still meets and still occasionally makes waves - as with the Digital Economy Act 2010. I visit here to speak much less than I visit Brussels.

Eurostar en route for Brussels - 2007 and one of the last journeys out of London Waterloo before the trains transferred to the faster 116-minute trip from St Pancras.

Tokyo Christmas 2007 - Marsden is a proud fellow of both Keio University and the Japanese International University.

Explaining the 'good degree' requirement for LL.M. entry

Note that statistics on both Essex and wider UK university grades for law - Essex in 2007 had 63% first/2:1 marks, while many of the better (Russell Group/1994 Group) had even higher proportions, and good degree proportions have generally doubled since 1987 (up 70% at the University of London).
Though professional experience will be taken into account for those with non-law or lower marked degrees, 2:1/first class seems a sensible baseline?

Law of blogs

US law prof Eric Johnson has a blog about law and blogs-  latest items on net neutrality and Malaysian bloggers forced to leave the country due to defamation law.

Turkey, Attaturk and Google

Interesting and passionate defence of free speech by Andres Guadamuz (aka Technollama) here.

Thailand web censorship increases

After declaring a State of Emergency in early April, Thailand has increased its attempts to censor political opposition - continuing its authoritarian development of censorship since 2005.
Its an interesting example of the tension in emerging (and vanishing) democracies between free speech and traditional control.

Google Map: government requests for data and removal of material

This data sadly only covers more-or-less democracies and does not cover blocking entirely (e.g. China, Turkey, much of the Middle East). Still, good to see the UK ranked so highly on censorship requests.

UK government plans to reduce online copyright infringement

The timetable is to produce a draft Code by next month, a Statement by September after consultation (which must also be submitted to the EC), and the full working code by end-2010. Fast work!

Digital Economy Act published

The 2010 DEAct is now available.

Intercepting email - and authorized readers - US law firm divorce case

The facts of this case in the DC Court of Appeals are extraordinary and extremely interesting points of law are thrown up.

Short history of international copyright

From a study by a Cambridge professor in a CUP book: she explains how fights over international copyright in the 19-20th centuries provide a template to study today's digital copyright controversies.

Regulating NRAs - which is best?

There's some interesting literature on the formation of UK super-regulator, Ofcom - though most of it in the 2005 internal report designed to forestall any National Audit Office critique in 2006. 
Obviously the United States NRA, the FCC is not the only NRA game in town, even if it is the biggest. The awesomely large FCC International Bureau does have a small sub-function which almost seems an afterthought on how international regulation can affect the FCC-US markets (as opposed to vice versa!). To me, the function that works better is OPP in its international dimension, and it's here that good work is produced.
Internationally, ITU have been contributing to a Promoting Broadband initiative.

Methodology and law

Interesting blog with good links to basic books on academic legal research (which might be useful in May when beginning your research topic).

ITME Facebook page

Its now time to unveil the shiny new privacy-friendly (inasmuch as you can do that on Facebook) ITME Facebook page. Come one, come all, and join...