Sunday 6 November 2016

Lost in the splinternet | The Economist

Lost in the splinternet | The Economist: "The court will hear the case on December 2nd and may hand down a verdict by January.

The spread of the right to be forgotten is part of a wider trend towards the fragmentation of the internet. Courts and governments have embarked on what some call a “legal arms race” to impose a maze of national or regional rules, often conflicting, in the digital realm. Left unchecked, the trend towards a “splinternet” will cause economic damage, hamper digital innovation, restrict free speech—and, according to a recent report for the World Economic Forum, a conference organiser-cum-think-tank, ruin the “internet’s enormous capacity to facilitate human progress”.

The internet has always been something of a subversive undertaking. As a ubiquitous, cross-border commons, it often defies notions of state sovereignty. A country might decide to outlaw a certain kind of service—a porn site or digital currency, say—only to see it continue to operate from other, more tolerant jurisdictions." 'via Blog this'

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