Week 10: 20 Years of Internet Policy - YouTube (first 7mins only)

After The Tornado 03 - Panel: 20 Years of Internet Policy - YouTube: "Christopher Marsden, University of Sussex (UK)
Gigi Sohn, Open Society Foundations, Georgetown, and Mozilla
Sally Wentworth, The Internet Society

ABOUT AFTER THE TORNADO
Twenty years ago, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission issued Kevin Werbach’s working paper, Digital Tornado, one of the first examinations by a government agency of the transformative potential of the internet. Today we find ourselves in a world where little remains untouched by the wave of digital connectivity. Yet fundamental questions remain unresolved, and even more serious new questions have emerged." 'via Blog this'

Week 7: Uber: under suspicion

Uber: under suspicion: "Yet the latest admission — that Uber covered up the theft by hackers of data from 50m passengers and 7m drivers — is so bad it is increasingly hard to see an unimpaired initial public offering in that timeframe.

Financial effects already exist from Uber’s serial moral failings: it has bled market share to rival Lyft.

But the handling of the data breach puts it in another tier of jeopardy. From May next year a tough EU rule, the General Data Protection Regulation will allow Brussels to levy fines of up to 4 per cent of turnover if data are leaked. If Uber maintains its current growth rate, its annual net revenues should be $9bn — and the potential fine $360m. Gross bookings would make it five times higher.

That is real money, even to the largest private tech company.

That is hypothetical. But the severity of the punishments reflects the vengeful public mood.

Real liabilities exist in the US from the breach, from the Federal Trade Commission, state attorneys-general and in lawsuits.

The bigger problem is that estimating the scope of Uber’s myriad wrongdoing and the scale of potential punishments is impossible." 'via Blog this'

Russia to act against Google if Sputnik, RT get lower search rankings: official

Russia to act against Google if Sputnik, RT get lower search rankings: official: "Russia’s Zharov said he would monitor “how discriminating this measure will be in its practical embodiment,” Sputnik reported Tuesday. “It is obvious that we will defend our media,” he said.

 RT had received guaranteed ad revenue from YouTube until September, when the Google unit removed it as preferred partner.

 “We didn’t see this a few years ago,” Schmidt told the Halifax gathering about the propaganda. “We didn’t realize this could be so pervasive.”" 'via Blog this'

CDA 230 Then and Now: Does Intermediary Immunity Keep the Rest of Us Healthy? | The Recorder

CDA 230 Then and Now: Does Intermediary Immunity Keep the Rest of Us Healthy? | The Recorder: "The internet’s development over the past twenty years has benefited immeasurably from the immunities conferred by §230. We’ve been lucky to have it.

But any honest account must acknowledge the collateral damage it has permitted to be visited upon real people whose reputations, privacy, and dignity have been hurt in ways that defy redress. Especially as that damage becomes more systematized—now part of organized campaigns to shame people into silence online for expressing opinions that don’t fit an aggressor’s propaganda aims—platforms’ failures to moderate become more costly, both to targets of harassment and to everyone else denied exposure to honestly-held ideas.

As our technologies for sifting and disseminating content evolve, and our content intermediaries trend towards increasing power and centralization, there are narrow circumstances where a path to accountability for those intermediaries for the behavior of their users might be explored." 'via Blog this'

Week 5: Lords push for new regulations to protect children online

Lords push for new regulations to protect children online | Society | The Guardian: "“Earlier this year we legislated for a new code of practice for social media companies, and are consulting on our internet safety strategy which will put it into practice,” he said. “We want to keep children safe online, but this particular amendment risks creating confusion about data protection responsibilities.”

A Whitehall source said a code of conduct had already been introduced in other legislation.

But Kidron said the code was restricted to social media companies and concerned with bullying and abuse.

“It is voluntary, and the government have gone on record to confirm this,” she said, arguing that her amendment would be enforceable." 'via Blog this'

Week 5/6 + Copyright: Julia Reda – New EU law prescribes website blocking in the name of “consumer protection”

Julia Reda – New EU law prescribes website blocking in the name of “consumer protection”: "European Parliament passed the Consumer Protection Cooperation regulation. Unfortunately, it contains an overreaching general website blocking provision. Additionally, consumer protection improvements were watered down or removed completely in last-minute trilogue negotiations with the Council." 'via Blog this'

Week 7: Contracts for the supply of digital content and personal data protection | European Parliamentary Research Service Blog

Contracts for the supply of digital content and personal data protection | European Parliamentary Research Service Blog: "The interplay between this proposed private law instrument and the existing public law rules on data protection (notably the recently adopted General Data Protection Regulation) have been the subject of some debate. The European Data Protection Supervisor’s recent opinion was critical of the proposal, arguing that, in the EU, personal data ‘cannot be conceived as a mere economic asset’ and cannot therefore be treated as the consumer’s contractual counter-performance in lieu of money.

 The draft report prepared by the co-rapporteurs in Parliament includes those contracts in which consumers do not pay a price (but potentially provide data) within the scope of the proposal. It eliminates however the notion of personal data as a form of contractual ‘counter-performance’." 'via Blog this'