Tuesday 31 October 2017

Week 6: Internet surveillance, regulation, and chilling effects online: a comparative case study | Internet Policy Review

Internet surveillance, regulation, and chilling effects online: a comparative case study | Internet Policy Review: "The results show that for respondents, personally receiving a legal threat from a third party about some online activities had the greatest chilling effect, with 75% of respondents being “much less likely” (40%) or “somewhat less likely” (35%) to “speak or write about certain topics online” as a result. The next most “chilling” was government surveillance, with 62% of respondents “much less likely” (22%) or “somewhat less likely” (40%) “speak or write about certain topics online” due to such online monitoring. Interestingly, the vague anti-cyberbullying statute did have some chilling effect (39% much less or somewhat less likely) but a near majority (47%) indicated the law would “have no impact” on their online speech." 'via Blog this'

Week 8: What to Do About Google?

What to Do About Google? | September 2013 | Communications of the ACM: "Calling Google an advisor cuts both ways: it gives Google both rights and duties. It gives a powerful argument against search neutrality: a law that puts Le Snoot back on top makes it more difficult for the user who wants a grilled cheese sandwich to get a decent meal. But just as readers would rightly be furious to discover the hotel concierge only recommended Le Snoot because the head chef slipped him an envelope stuffed with cash, search users would also have cause to complain if payola determined search rankings.

More than a decade ago, the FTC strongly warned search engines against displaying undisclosed paid listings.

All three theories capture something important about how search engines work. Each of them celebrates the contributions of one of the essential parties to a search. The conduit theory is all about websites with something to say, the advisor theory is all about the users who are interested in listening, and the editor theory is all about the search engine that connects them.

 But when it comes to crafting sensible law for search engines, our sympathies should lie with users. The Internet has made it easier to speak to worldwide audiences than ever before, but at the cost of massively increasing the cacophony confronting those audiences. Since users' interests are as diverse as human thought, they need highly personalized help in picking through the treasures in the Internet's vast but utterly disorganized storehouse.

The search engine is the only technology known to humanity capable of solving this problem at Internet scale.

Some familiar controversies about Google look rather different from this point of view. Take search bias. If Google is a conduit, bias is a serious problem; Google is setting up orange cones to block the highway and divert Internet users to the Google exit. If Google is an editor, bias is just as much a non-issue as when the front page of the Daily News promotes its own sports coverage rather than the Post's." 'via Blog this'

Week 11: Affording Fundamental Rights by Julie E. Cohen

Affording Fundamental Rights by Julie E. Cohen :: SSRN4:1 Critical Analysis of Law (2017)

"Mireille Hildebrandt’s Smart Technologies and the End(s) of Law (2015) raises questions for law that are best characterized as meta-institutional. This review essay considers the implications of Hildebrandt’s work for the conceptualization of fundamental rights. One consequence of the shift to a world in which smart digital technologies continually, immanently mediate and preempt our beliefs and choices is that legal discourses about fundamental rights are revealed to be incomplete along a dimension that we have simply failed to recognize. To remain effective in the digital age, rights discourse requires extension into the register of affordances." 'via Blog this'

Monday 30 October 2017

Tech for Tech Lawyers 3: Networking Fundamentals - excellent video introduction

Tech for Tech Lawyers 3: Networking Fundamentals - YouTube: "LAN, WAN, VPN, IPv6 and more explained with the help of Neil Brown from decoded:Legal and Alex Bloor of Andrews & Arnold" 'via Blog this'

Sandvig v. Sessions | Social Media Collective

Heading to the Courthouse for Sandvig v. Sessions | Social Media Collective: "As things stand, the misguided US anti-hacking law, called the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), makes it a crime if a computer user “exceeds authorized access.”

What is authorized access to a Web site? Previous court decisions and the federal government have defined it as violating the site’s own stated “Terms of Service,” (ToS) but that’s ridiculous. The ToS is a wish-list of what corporate lawyers dream about, written by corporate lawyers. (Crazy example, example, example.) ToS sometimes prohibit people from using Web sites for research, they prohibit users from saying bad things about the corporation that runs the Web site, they prohibit users from writing things down. They should not be made into criminal violations of the law.

 In the latest developments of our case, the government has argued that Web servers are private property, and that anyone who exceeds authorized access is trespassing “on” them. (“In” them? “With” them? It’s a difficult metaphor.)

In other cases the CFAA was used to say that because Web servers are private, users are also wasting capacity on these servers, effectively stealing a server’s processing cycles that the owner would rather use for other things." 'via Blog this'

Government proposes changes to make Britain safer online

Government proposes changes to make Britain safer online: "The Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced the government’s Internet Safety Strategy, which aims to reduce dangers online while ensuring British people can still benefit from being online.

 The strategy involves implementing a social media code of practice, which will aim to stop bullying, intimidating or humiliating online content.

It also calls for a levy to be paid by social media companies and communications service providers, which will be used to help raise awareness and reduce dangerous content.

 DCMS added that it will create an annual report to demonstrate progress, and that startups will be supported to ensure safety is a top priority when they are developing online services." 'via Blog this'

Article 13 Open letter – Monitoring and Filtering of Internet Content is Unacceptable

Article 13 Open letter – Monitoring and Filtering of Internet Content is Unacceptable :: Civil Liberties Union for Europe: "Article 13 would force these companies to actively monitor their users‘ content, which contradicts the ‘no general obligation to monitor‘ rules in the Electronic Commerce Directive. The requirement to install a system for filtering electronic communications has twice been rejected by the Court of Justice, in the cases Scarlet Extended (C 70/10) and Netlog/Sabam (C 360/10).

Therefore, a legislative provision that requires internet companies to install a filtering system would almost certainly be rejected by the Court of Justice because it would contravene the requirement that a fair balance be struck between the right to intellectual property on the one hand, and the freedom to conduct business and the right to freedom of expression, such as to receive or impart information, on the other.

 In particular, the requirement to filter content in this way would violate the freedom of expression set out in Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. " 'via Blog this'

Thursday 26 October 2017

Draper Lecture and Law Networking, London: Free entry + Free travel for 15 LPS students

Draper Lecture and Law Networking, London : Broadcast: Events : University of Sussex:

"Draper Lecture and Law Networking, London
Thursday 9 November 18:30 until 20:00
The Law Society, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL

Speaker: Martha Spurrier, Director of Liberty - Human Rights charity

Annual lecture held in memory of the late University of Sussex law academic and Nuremberg prosecutor, Professor Colonel Gerald Draper.

 Human Rights and the politics of compassion

The last year has seen a rise in hate crime, a creeping extension of discriminatory immigration enforcement and the enactment of the democratic world’s most intrusive mass surveillance regime. As political rhetoric stokes fear and division and we embark on the biggest constitutional shake-up since the Glorious Revolution, where do we look for a vision of the future that is principled and positive? In this lecture, Martha Spurrier discusses the role of human rights in building post-Brexit Britain and the importance of activism in demanding a fair, compassionate politics.

Date/ time: Thursday 9 November, 6.30pm" 'via Blog this'

Monday 23 October 2017

“What Have I Done”: Early Facebook Employees Regret the Monster They Created | Vanity Fair

“What Have I Done”: Early Facebook Employees Regret the Monster They Created | Vanity Fair: "Some internally argue there’s not much the social giant could do to stop propaganda being shared on the site (even Sandberg’s “we’re not a media company” argument is a version of this refrain); others say that the ads only affected a small number of people out of billions who use the site. “They have their head in the sand like Mark,” one person said, before noting what we all know about Russia’s influence through the site: “Of course it was impactful.”

Another Valley insider who personally knows Zuckerberg noted that while Facebook has been historically successful financially, the company is fundamentally “immature” with respect to its mission and the comprehension of its impact. And then there are those who point out that while the ads may have only reached a small group of people, Trump won the electoral college by a small number of votes, too." 'via Blog this'

Week 4 Comparative Online Intermediaries: Observations from National Case Studies

Governance of Online Intermediaries: Observations from a Series of National Case Studies by Urs Gasser, Wolfgang Schulz :: SSRN: "Analyzing online intermediary governance issues from multiple perspectives, and in the context of different cultures and regulatory frameworks, immediately creates basic problems of semantic interoperability. Lacking a universally agreed-upon definition, the synthesis paper and its’ underlying case studies are based on a broad and phenomenon-oriented notion of online intermediaries, as further described below.

In methodological terms, the observations shared in the synthesis paper offer a selective reading and interpretation by the authors of the broader take-ways of a diverse set of case studies examining online intermediary governance frameworks and issues in:

Brazil, the European Union, India, South Korea, the United States, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam." 'via Blog this'

How Facebook Tries to Regulate Postings Made by Two Billion People

How Facebook Tries to Regulate Postings Made by Two Billion People: "The “policy” in Bickert’s title refers to Facebook’s policies or rules defining what material Facebook prohibits (including hate speech, certain kinds of graphically violent images, and terrorist content).

The exact means by which the company judges content have not been made publicly available, but some internal training documents detailing past policies leaked to The Guardian. And the company has issued Community Standards that broadly describes its process, and Bickert responded to the leak with a public editorial of her own.
If a user or an automated system flags content as violating policies, the content is sent to a human reviewer for a final decision.

Facebook says it is in the process of hiring 3,000 new reviewers, which will bring the total number of content reviewers to 7,500. These employees by reviewing them against Facebook’s internal policies.

Bickert called the policies reported by The Guardian a “snapshot in time” because “our policies are always changing.”

She added that: “We have a mini ‘legislative session’… every two weeks where we discuss proposed policy changes” with legal, engineering, and company public policy team members present." 'via Blog this'

Friday 20 October 2017

Margrethe Vestager: The new age of corporate monopolies | TED Talk | TED.com

Margrethe Vestager: The new age of corporate monopolies | TED Talk | TED.com: "Margrethe Vestager wants to keep European markets competitive -- which is why, on behalf of the EU, she's fined Google $2.8 billion for breaching antitrust rules, asked Apple for $15.3 billion in back taxes and investigated a range of companies, from Gazprom to Fiat, for anti-competitive practices. In an important talk about the state of the global business, she explains why markets need clear rules -- and how even the most innovative companies can become a problem when they become too dominant.

"Real and fair competition has a vital role to play in building the trust we need to get the best of our societies," Vestager says. "And that starts with enforcing our rules."" 'via Blog this'

Digital debate will be first test of Tusk's new policy crowbar

Digital debate will be first test of Tusk's new policy crowbar: "In an earlier draft, leaders had said negotiations should finish before the end of 2017 on the free flow of non-personal data, and on the electronic communications code, but in the end the text gave negotiators of these two files until June 2018.

The electronic communications code deals with rules for telecommunication companies.

 They also gave the European Commission, in the final version, slightly more time to come up with "a European approach to artificial intelligence" – by early 2018, instead of by January 2018." 'via Blog this'

Wednesday 18 October 2017

Sussex InfoLaw Research Seminars: Autumn 2017

The programme of autumn seminars (1.30pm, bring your lunch):
8 Nov Freeman G16: Dr. Andres Guadamuz, Do Androids dream of electric copyright?
15 Nov Ashdown AH106: Dr. Nicolo Zingales, The rise of Infomediaries and the marketization of data protection law
6 December Freeman G16 1.15PM: Prof. Chris Marsden, Net Neutrality and Zero Rating

Monday 16 October 2017

41 percent of Android phones are vulnerable to 'devastating' Wi-Fi attack - The Verge

41 percent of Android phones are vulnerable to 'devastating' Wi-Fi attack - The Verge: "Android 6.0 and above contains a vulnerability that researchers claim “makes it trivial to intercept and manipulate traffic sent by these Linux and Android devices.”

41 percent of Android devices are vulnerable to an “exceptionally devastating” variant of the Wi-Fi attack that involves manipulating traffic. Attackers might be able to inject ransomware or malware into websites thanks to the attack, and Android devices will require security patches to protect against this.

Google says the company is “aware of the issue, and we will be patching any affected devices in the coming weeks.”" 'via Blog this'

SCL Junior Lawyers' Group event: GDPR in Practice - 6 Nov 2017, Baker/McKenzie London

SCL: SCL Junior Lawyers' Group event: The GDPR in Practice - Monday 6 November 2017, London: "With the GDPR fully effective in just six months' time, how are preparations progressing?
Our speakers are drawn from in-house, private practice and the Bar, and will offer their differing perspectives of implementing and advising on the GDPR.
Matthew Berridge will discuss the HR aspects of GDPR preparation, with a focus on privacy notices and consent, HR input to records of processing, and employee monitoring.
Gideon Shirazi will discuss hacking, data breaches and what happens when things go wrong. Our speakers are drawn from in-house, private practice and the Bar, and will offer their differing perspectives of implementing and advising on the GDPR.
The cost of attending this event is £10 + VAT (£12) for students and academics in full-time education. " 'via Blog this'

Saturday 14 October 2017

OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2017 - en - OECD

OECD Digital Economy Outlook 2017 - en - OECD: "The biennial OECD Digital Economy Outlook examines and documents evolutions and emerging opportunities and challenges in the digital economy. It highlights how OECD countries and partner economies are taking advantage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the Internet to meet their public policy objectives. Through comparative evidence, it informs policy makers of regulatory practices and policy options to help maximise the potential of the digital economy as a driver for innovation and inclusive growth." 'via Blog this'

Friday 13 October 2017

The crooked timber of humanity | 1843

The crooked timber of humanity | 1843: "The world’s first national data network was constructed in France during the 1790s. It was a mechanical telegraph system, consisting of chains of towers, each of which had a system of movable wooden arms on top. Different configurations of these arms corresponded to letters, numbers and other characters. Operators in each tower would adjust the arms to match the configuration of an adjacent tower, observed through a telescope, causing sequences of characters to ripple along the line. Messages could now be sent much faster than letters, whizzing from one end of France to the other in minutes. The network was reserved for government use but in 1834 two bankers, François and Joseph Blanc, devised a way to subvert it to their own ends." 'via Blog this'

SCL: Is Europe Moving Away from Protecting Online Platforms? C&L

SCL: Is Europe Moving Away from Protecting Online Platforms?: "The combination of proposed Article 13 of the draft Copyright Directive and the Commission's latest Communication will lead some to conclude that Europe is indeed moving away from protecting online platforms. It certainly appears that the two developments would place a much greater onus on platforms than is currently the case.

A fuller picture will be known in May 2018, when the Commission says the work of ensuring ‘swift and proactive detection and removal of illegal content online’ will be complete, and the Copyright Directive will be in final form.

But the direction in which European policy makers are heading is already evident.     

Nick Aries is a partner in Bird & Bird's IP Group. " 'via Blog this'

7th International Conference 'Law in Digital Era' — National Research University Higher School of Economics

7th International Conference 'Law in Digital Era' — National Research University Higher School of Economics: "The conference is organised by the International Laboratory for the Law for Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law at the Faculty of Law, Higher School of Economics
The aim of the conference is to elaborate proposals for further development of legislation in the digital economy.
The programme comprises a plenary session and sectional sessions at which presentations by leading Russian experts, researchers and practicing lawyers, as well as foreign specialists are planned." 'via Blog this'

Wednesday 11 October 2017

Google CEO Sundar Pichai: 'I don't know whether humans want change that fast'

Google CEO Sundar Pichai: 'I don't know whether humans want change that fast' | Technology | The Guardian: "Another frequently raised concern is Google’s seemingly unstoppable growth: a year ago, it unveiled an initiative to reach “the next billion” smartphone users, targeting India with a handful of tools designed for mobiles with slow internet connections, including a version of YouTube.

 Isn’t this a kind of technological imperialism, bulldozing a way into the developing world? Pichai is prepared for this argument. “I want this to be a global company,” he argues. “But it is also important that we are a local company… We don’t build only Google products and services – we build an underlying platform, too, so that when you enable smartphones to work well in a country, you also bootstrap the entrepreneurial system there. The two go hand in hand.”

 His ambition is to make Android so cheap that it can be used as part of a $30 smartphone; Pichai has said before that he can see “a clear path” to five billion users." 'via Blog this'

Sunday 8 October 2017

Thin underwater cables hold the internet. See a map of them all. -Vox

Thin underwater cables hold the internet. See a map of them all. - YouTube: "The internet is known to pulse through fiber optic cables and cell phone towers, but 99% of high-speed international information is transferred under the sea. How long has this been happening? Underwater cables delivering information isn't a novel idea — the first Transatlantic cable was laid in 1858—undersea cables have been around since the telegraph." 'via Blog this'

How Does the Internet Actually Work? - Cisco video arguing against strict net neutrality

How Does the Internet Actually Work? - YouTube: "Video describing how the Internet works and the role scheduling of Internet traffic plays in moving data to its final destination." 'via Blog this'

What is the World Wide Web? - The internet, explained - Vox

What is the World Wide Web? - The internet, explained - Vox: Useful basics explanation! 'via Blog this'

Wednesday 4 October 2017

Brighton tech sector - Tech Nation 2017 - Tech City UK

Brighton tech sector - Tech Nation 2017 - Tech City UK:

"Brighton is where the arts fuse with technology. This seaside city is home to a plethora of digital advertising and marketing agencies, design studios and gaming studios.

Its strengths, however, are developing across the digital tech spectrum, supported by talent from the University of Sussex as well as Wired Sussex, a membership organisation which acts as a hub and initiator for the digital tech community.

What’s more, Brighton is awash with tech events with hackathons, skills swaps and Meetups taking place every day across the city." 'via Blog this'

Tuesday 3 October 2017

CoRe: Online Gatekeeping and the Google Shopping Antitrust Decision:

CoRe - European Competition and Regulatory Law Review: Symposium on Google Search (Shopping) Decision ∙ Online Gatekeeping and the Google Shopping Antitrust Decision:: "Online Gatekeeping and the Google Shopping Antitrust Decision:
The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning?" 'via Blog this'

Europe 'to bill Amazon for Luxembourg back taxes' - BBC News

Europe 'to bill Amazon for Luxembourg back taxes' - BBC News: "The tax deal between Luxembourg and Amazon was struck in 2003.

At the time, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission's president, was the prime minister of Luxembourg.  The European Commission declined to comment. Amazon was unavailable for comment.

Previously the EC has said that its "preliminary view is that the tax ruling... by Luxembourg in favour of Amazon constitutes state aid."" 'via Blog this'

Tackling ‘Illegal’ Content Online: The EC Continues Push for Privatised Law Enforcement | Center for Democracy & Technology

Tackling ‘Illegal’ Content Online: The EC Continues Push for Privatised Law Enforcement | Center for Democracy & Technology: "This may be read as a warning to online platforms to duly follow the Commission’s guidelines or else face legislation. In practice, this seems likely to mean: installation of filtering technologies, and demonstrable ‘progress’ in removal or prevention of content that public authorities and flaggers – trusted or not – allege could be hate speech or terrorist content.

Whether the content that is removed or prevented from appearing actually breaks the law is impossible to tell, and nothing in the Communication suggests that the question interests the Commission. There is no indication that the Commission intends to ensure transparency, accountability, due process and – most importantly – judicial oversight. Neither the IRU or the CoC maintains a public record of content that is flagged and removed, and no judge is ever consulted on the merits of the notifications. We and other organisations and policy-makers have raised these points repeatedly.

The European Commission and Member State policy makers should ensure that the many policy initiatives designed to sanitise online content scrupulously track the limits of the law. The legal and technical systems we put in place today to handle illegal and problematic content will shape access to information and opportunities to speak for years to come." 'via Blog this'

Amber Rudd accuses tech giants of 'sneering' at politicians - BBC News

Amber Rudd accuses tech giants of 'sneering' at politicians - BBC News: "Asked by an audience member if she understood how end-to-end encryption actually worked, she said: "It's so easy to be patronised in this business. We will do our best to understand it. We will take advice from other people but I do feel that there is a sea of criticism for any of us who try and legislate in new areas, who will automatically be sneered at and laughed at for not getting it right. I don't need to understand how encryption works to understand how it's helping - end-to-end encryption - the criminals. I will engage with the security services to find the best way to combat that."

Michael Beckerman, chief executive of the Internet Association, which represents Google, Microsoft, Amazon and other US tech giants, said it was an "understandable goal" for the home secretary to "want to remove it from end-to-end".
But, he went on, "since it is just math and it has been invented it can't uninvented"." 'via Blog this'