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Digital technologies are becoming increasingly important for environmental defenders. Such technologies offer them possibilities to speak out and/or take action, but also increase the (digital) risks they face as a result of their (online) involvement. Recently, significant concerns have been raised about the use of various forms of online and technology-facilitated forms of harassment or 'digital intimidation' against environmental defenders. This raises the question of whether environmental defenders are adequately protected by the current legal framework. To assess this, it is essential to first understand the phenomenon of digital intimidation. This paper therefore aims to identify the 'core' components and characteristics relevant to digital intimidation to enable further legal qualification and analysis. As such, we propose a digital intimidation navigation tool that can facilitate a more sophisticated understanding of the different tactics used, as well as a fine-grained analysis of the existing legal framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has published its much-awaited General Comment No. 25 on children's rights in the digital environment in 2021. Much of the conversations since its adoption have centred on how General Comment No. 25 influences State behaviours in the western world or globally. Little attention has been given as to what General Comment No. 25 means for children's right to privacy in Africa. This article seeks to explore the role of General Comment No. 25 in clarifying States' obligations in respect of children's rights to privacy and data protection in the digital era on the African continent. In doing so, this article first contextualises General Comment No. 25 in the broader context of the United Nations human rights system and analyses its recommendations on children's right to privacy. Second, the article examines children's right to privacy in Africa and analyses the specific features of the African human rights system that influence the understanding of this right. Finally, the article illuminates certain child-specific privacy and data protection measures that are being or have been included or discussed in the law-making processes and policy debates in a selection of African countries and links them to both General Comment No. 25 and the socio-cultural context of the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arms race dynamics are a common outcome of host–parasite coevolution. While they can theoretically be maintained indefinitely, realistic arms races are expected to be finite. Once an arms race has ended, for example due to the evolution of a generalist-resistant host, the system may transition into coevolutionary dynamics that favour long-term diversity. In microbial experiments, host–parasite arms races often transition into a stable coexistence of generalist-resistant hosts, (semi-)susceptible hosts, and parasites. While long-term host diversity is implicit in these cases, parasite diversity is usually overlooked. In this study, we examined parasite diversity after the end of an experimental arms race between a unicellular alga (Chlorella variabilis) and its lytic virus (PBCV-1). First, we isolated virus genotypes from multiple time points from two replicate microcosms. A time-shift experiment confirmed that the virus isolates had escalating host ranges, i.e., that arms races had occurred. We then examined the phenotypic and genetic diversity of virus isolates from the post-arms race phase. Post-arms race virus isolates had diverse host ranges, survival probabilities, and growth rates; they also clustered into distinct genetic groups. Importantly, host range diversity was maintained throughout the post-arms race phase, and the frequency of host range phenotypes fluctuated over time. We hypothesize that this dynamic polymorphism was maintained by a combination of fluctuating selection and demographic stochasticity. Together with previous work in prokaryotic systems, our results link experimental observations of arms races to natural observations of long-term host and parasite diversity. Graphical Abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of strong legislative frameworks to guarantee children's privacy, agency and safety in the digital environment has been emphasised by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its most recent general comment. Both the EU and China, who(se Member States) are Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, have adopted their own legislative frameworks for protecting children's rights to privacy and data protection in recent years. This article compares how these two distinct legislative frameworks safeguard these rights. The analysis focuses on the constitutional protection as well as on a comparison of the legislation that is currently in place, such as the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU and the Personal Information Protection Law, the Provisions on Online Protection of Children's Personal Data and other relevant regulations in China. More specifically, the article zooms in on the responsibilities emerging from these regulatory frameworks for private companies and platforms that process children's personal data. It ultimately aims to draw conclusions as to whether and how the child's rights to privacy and data protection are protected in different parts of the world where children use similar commercial apps and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although viral life history traits—the traits that determine reproductive and survival success—are critical to understanding the population dynamics and impact of viruses, they are understudied compared to molecular traits. This discrepancy is partly due to the challenge of phenotyping viral life histories. We developed improved methods to quantify the life cycles of chloroviruses, which are lytic double-stranded DNA viruses that infect unicellular “chlorella-like” algae. We modified classical one-step growth and survival assays by including flow cytometry and kinetic modeling, and applied these to four chlorovirus strains. Together, the modified assays quantified the full life cycle, including adsorption rate, probability of depolarizing the host cell, probability of releasing progeny virions, time until lysis, burst size, specific infectivity, and mortality rate of infectious virions. We also discovered that biphasic or “tailing” decay can occur in chloroviruses, and measured the fraction of infectious virions that resisted decay. The modified assays are more efficient than existing techniques, quantify more traits, and are applicable to other lytic viruses with quantifiable virions. The modified one-step growth assay is suitable for viruses with mutual exclusion, superinfection exclusion, or superinfection immunity; the modified survival assay can be applied to any lytic virus with quantifiable virions. IMPORTANCE Viruses play a crucial role in microbial ecosystems by liberating nutrients and regulating the growth of their hosts. These effects are governed by viral life history traits, i.e., by the traits determining viral reproduction and survival. Understanding these traits is essential to predicting viral effects, but measuring them is generally labor intensive. In this study, we present efficient methods to quantify the full life cycle of lytic viruses. We developed these methods for viruses infecting unicellular Chlorella algae but expect them to be applicable to other lytic viruses that can be quantified by flow cytometry. By making viral phenotypes accessible, our methods will support research into the diversity and ecological effects of microbial viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children are keen consumers of audiovisual media content. Video-sharing platforms (VSPs), such as YouTube and TikTok, offer a wealth of child-friendly or child-appropriate content but also content which--depending on the age of the child-- might be considered inappropriate or potentially harmful. Moreover, such VSPs often deploy algorithmic recommender systems to personalise the content that children are exposed to (e.g., through auto-play features), leading to concerns about diversity of content or spirals of content related to, for instance, eating disorders or self-harm. This article explores the responsibilities of VSPs with respect to children that are imposed by existing, recently adopted, and proposed EU legislation. Instruments that we investigate include the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the General Data Protection Regulation, the Digital Services Act, and the proposal for an Artificial Intelligence Act. Based on a legal study of policy documents, legislation, and scholarship, this contribution investigates to what extent this legislative framework sets obligations for VSPs to safeguard children's rights and discusses how these obligations align across different legislative instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The climate is currently warming fast, threatening biodiversity all over the globe. Populations often adapt rapidly to environmental change, but for climate warming very little evidence is available. Here, we investigate the pattern of adaptation to an extreme +10°C climate change in the wild, following the introduction of brine shrimp Artemia franciscana from San Francisco Bay, USA, to Vinh Chau saltern in Vietnam. We use a resurrection ecology approach, hatching diapause eggs from the ancestral population and the introduced population after 13 and 24 years (∼54 and ∼100 generations, respectively). In a series of coordinated experiments, we determined whether the introduced Artemia show increased tolerance to higher temperatures, and the extent to which genetic adaptation, developmental plasticity, transgenerational effects, and local microbiome differences contributed to this tolerance. We find that introduced brine shrimp do show increased phenotypic tolerance to warming. Yet strikingly, these changes do not have a detectable additive genetic component, are not caused by mitochondrial genetic variation, and do not seem to be caused by epigenetic marks set by adult parents exposed to warming. Further, we do not find any developmental plasticity that would help cope with warming, nor any protective effect of heat‐tolerant local microbiota. The evolved thermal tolerance might therefore be entirely due to transgenerational (great)grandparental effects, possibly epigenetic marks set by parents who were exposed to high temperatures as juveniles. This study is a striking example of "missing heritability," where a large adaptive phenotypic change is not accompanied by additive genetic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Latin American Law Review is the property of Universidad de los Andes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

It is often difficult to determine why parasites do not evolve broader niches, especially when there are closely related and ecologically similar hosts available. We used an experimental evolution approach to test whether source–sink demography or trade‐offs drive specialization, and its underlying traits, in two microsporidian parasites infecting two brine shrimp species. In the field, both parasites regularly infect both hosts, but experiments have shown that they are partially specialized. We serially passaged the parasites on one, the other, or an alternation of the two hosts; after 10 passages, we assayed the infectivity, virulence, and spore production of the evolved lines. Our results indicated a weak between‐host trade‐off acting on infectivity, but a strong trade‐off acting on spore production. Consequently, spore production maintained both parasites' overall pattern of specialization. This study highlights that when trade‐off shapes differ among traits, one key trait can prevent the evolution of generalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vast amounts of personal data of children are collected and processed in today's increasingly digital, connected society by public and private actors. Children do have a right to the protection of their personal data and, according to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), even merit specific protection. Children should be clearly informed of and understand what happens with their data when it is collected, processed, stored and transferred. To that end, specific transparency standards require the provision of information in a clear and plain language that the child can easily understand. In this article, after having mapped these existing requirements, the privacy policies of Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok — services which are very popular with children — are evaluated. The findings suggest that such policies are still complex, long and primarily text based. In order to improve this, possible practical ways of enhancing transparency for children such as legal visualization, co-design, co-creation techniques and participatory design methods which focus on presenting legal information in a transparent and clear manner are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children are engaging with technology to establish and maintain intimate relationships and explore their sexual identity. Sexting is one of the ways in which this exploration occurs, often on a consensual basis. In a first stage, this article reflects on the concepts of trust, control and privacy as prerequisites to engage in sexting. In a second stage, the authors explore the extent to which legislative instruments enable the legitimate exploration and expression of one's sexual identity, and aim to minimise adverse consequences thereof. To that end, the fundamental right to privacy, data protection frameworks and criminal legislation on the non-consensual dissemination of sexual images were identified as potentially harnessing the concepts of trust, control and privacy. Questions were examined regarding the potential undermining thereof through the application of child sexual abuse material legislation to instances of (consensual) sexting between children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The ecological specialization of parasites–whether they can obtain high fitness on very few or very many different host species–is a determining feature of their ecology. In order to properly assess specialization, it is imperative to measure parasite fitness across host species; to understand its origins, fitness must be decomposed into the underlying traits. Despite the omnipresence of parasites with multiple hosts, very few studies assess and decompose their specialization in this way. To bridge this gap, we quantified the infectivity, virulence, and transmission rate of two parasites, the horizontally transmitted microsporidians Anostracospora rigaudi and Enterocytospora artemiae, in their natural hosts, the brine shrimp Artemia parthenogenetica and Artemia franciscana. Our results demonstrate that each parasite performs well on one of the two host species (A. rigaudi on A. parthenogenetica, and E. artemiae on A. franciscana), and poorly on the other. This partial specialization is driven by high infectivity and transmission rates in the preferred host, and is associated with maladaptive virulence and large costs of resistance in the other. Our study represents a rare empirical contribution to the study of parasite evolution in multihost systems, highlighting the negative effects of under‐ and overexploitation when adapting to multiple hosts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2011, the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Combating the Sexual Abuse, Sexual Exploitation of Children and Child Pornography was adopted, repealing and updating the 2004 Framework Decision on this topic. The much debated Article 25 of this proposal requires Member States to ensure the prompt removal of child pornography websites hosted in their territory and to endeavor to obtain the removal of such websites hosted outside their territory. It also leaves the option for Member States, subject to several safeguards, to block access to such websites to users within their territory. Both these policy choices are highly controversial and much debated, both at the level of the European Union and within Member States. This article analyzes both mechanisms, describing them from a technical as well as a legal point of view, in order to provide more clarity as to the advantages and drawbacks of these policy options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the challenges raised by hybrid advertising strategies for principles of identification and separation, included in various regulatory instruments, and the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) in particular. Design/methodology/approach – First, this paper describes two examples of hybrid (television) advertising formats, with a potential interconnection between editorial and commercial content, such as advertorials and commercial overlays. This section is followed by an analysis of the origins and key elements of the identification and separation principle. Next, the implementation in legislation of Belgium (Flanders region), The Netherlands and the UK, and decisions of media regulators in those countries are explored to assess how the principles are interpreted in practice. Finally, the authors identify the concrete challenges that these formats raise and frame those against the background of European policy developments. Findings – The analysis shows that the current interpretation of the identification and separation principles conflicts with the inherently integrated features of hybrid advertising formats, especially commercial overlays. To remedy this, the authors propose strengthening the identification principle, for instance, by developing cross-media labels and framing this within a co-regulatory framework where advertisers and media service providers take up their responsibility to respect fundamental principles and protect less cognitively skilled consumers, such as children. Originality/value – This paper aims to contribute to the current re-thinking of the legal framework with regard to new commercial communication techniques, convergence and public interest goals. This can be framed against the background of the revision of the AVMSD and the Digital Single Market Strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- It is the aim of this article to reflect on possible ways to optimize current ways to deliver information provision in order to make it more transparent to users In particular, we will refer to the benefits (and challenges) of employing more user-centred approaches to inform users in a more transparent way. Design/methodology/approach -- In this paper we analyse individual as well as contextual factors (e.g. cognitive differences, time constraints, specific features of SNS platforms) which may have an impact on the way users deal with Terms of Use, privacy policies and other types of information provision typically made available on SNS platforms. In addition, we discuss possible ways of improving current practices in the field. In particular, we refer to the benefits (and challenges) of a user-centred approach when it comes to informing users in a way that is more meaningful to them. Finally, we discuss how user-centred approaches can act as mechanisms to increase transparency in SNS environments and how (alternative) forms of regulation could benefit from such an approach. Findings -- We believe that it is necessary to start focusing on users/consumers' needs, expectations and values in order to develop visualisation tools that can help make law (more) meaningful to users/consumers by giving them a better insight into their rights and obligations and by guiding them in making truly informed decisions regarding their online choices and behaviour Originality/value -By looking at different techniques such as visual design and the timing of information, the article contributes to the discussion on how we can make people more aware of legal documents and actually read them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'Terms of Use' of Social Networking Sites (SNS) increasingly attract attention from policymakers and civil society. It is argued that these terms are rarely read by users and that, consequently, users cannot correctly assess their implications. This article attempts to evaluate the validity of SNS Terms of Use based on the requirements that are imposed in existing legal instruments. Firstly, we look at the phenomenon of standard contracts in the offline world. Secondly, we try to identify whether the SNS environment adds additional elements to the manner in which consumers approach standard Terms of Use. Thirdly, as a case study, we examine the Terms of Use of Facebook and assess whether the clauses could be found invalid on the basis of several law requirements. Finally, we try to put forward a number of remedies for the imbalance of the rights and responsibilities that can currently be found in SNS Terms of Use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grouping behaviours ( e.g. schooling, shoaling and swarming) are commonly explicated through adaptive hypotheses such as protection against predation, access to mates or improved foraging. However, the hypothesis that aggregation can result from manipulation by parasites to increase their transmission has never been demonstrated. We investigated this hypothesis using natural populations of two crustacean hosts ( Artemia franciscana and Artemia parthenogenetica) infected with one cestode and two microsporidian parasites. We found that swarming propensity increased in cestode-infected hosts and that red colour intensity was higher in swarming compared with non-swarming infected hosts. These effects likely result in increased cestode transmission to its final avian host. Furthermore, we found that microsporidian-infected hosts had both increased swarming propensity and surfacing behaviour. Finally, we demonstrated using experimental infections that these concurrent manipulations result in increased spore transmission to new hosts. Hence, this study suggests that parasites can play a prominent role in host grouping behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1990s, it has become increasingly clear that legislation, used to protect minors against harmful content in traditional media, is not suitable to regulate the drastically transformed digital media landscape in an efficient manner. In response to this situation, alternative regulatory instruments (ARIs), such as self- and co-regulation, have been incorporated in regulatory strategies to protect minors against harmful digital content. Notwithstanding the common misconception that ARIs function within a legal vacuum, the use of such instruments should comply with the broader legalframework, and more importantly, must respect a number of fundamental rights, such as the rights to freedom of expression, privacy, a fair trial and an effective remedy. This article focuses on the right to freedom of expression and aims to assess with which freedom of expression safeguards the ARIs must comply in order to guarantee the protection that this right entails. To achieve this, the article examines, on the one hand, the applicability of Article 10 ECHR with respect to ARIs, and, on the other hand, the fundamental rights issues that may arise both with respect to the involvement of private actors and the incorporation of technological tools in ARIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we analyse how the European legislator is currently responding to some of the recent changes in the media and communications environment with the adoption of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. What is the European approach to address the challenges brought about by the technological changes in the audiovisual sector? How is the EU devising a future model for content regulation? The article also puts forward a number of critical remarks that should be taken into account in the framework of the debate on future content regulation, indicating where the AVMS Directive falls short. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The protection of minors against harmful content in the converging media environment has been a matter of regulatory concern for quite a considerable period. The risk of children stumbling upon potentially harmful material has increased proportionally to the speed of technological developments, such as the availability of broadband access to the Internet. Due to the decentralised, border-crossing and permanently available nature of the new information and communication networks, increasing attention has been brought to the intricacies of efficiently protecting minors against harmful information and images, which were not as easily accessible before. Thus far, no conclusive legal answer or regulatory approach has been identified to tackle the challenge that is posed by this new media environment in an efficient way. Different regulatory approaches and strategies are being considered: legislative proposals, co-regulatory instruments, self-regulatory mechanisms and technological solutions all belong to the spectrum of possible policy choices. The analysis of four regulatory initiatives – the US Communications Decency Act and Child Online Protection Act, the UK mobile operators’ code of conduct with respect to harmful mobile content, the Australian approach to Internet content co-regulation and the Belgian initiative to use the e-ID to protect children in chatrooms – indicates that the use of co-regulatory schemes, preferably with the aid of technical tools, might be the most desirable option at the moment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on the regulatory steps for media in the European Union. Harmful contents were always a matter of regulatory concerns since the evolution of media. But regulatory actions are lagging behind with the breakneck speed of evolution of media landscape. Two regulatory initiatives are in the process at the European level. These two initiations are the Audiovisual Media Services Draft Directive and the update of the 1998 Recommendation on the protection of minors and human dignity. A first proposal for an Audiovisual Media Services Directive was presented by the European Commission in December 2005 after an intensive preparation and consultation phase. In 2004 the revision of 1998 Recommendation was started as this regulation was focused primarily on self-regulation.

A socio-legal analysis of the UK governance regime for data collected from children at school for teaching and learning contrasts the government-mandated data collection by schools to inform educational policy and planning with data processed and shared with third parties by commercial EdTech providers. We find the former is effectively governed by the government's 'Five Safes Framework' with some problematic exceptions. By contrast, EdTech providers process a growing volume of personal data under the DPA 2018/UK GDPR with a looser enforcement regime. While schools have few mechanisms and insufficient expertise or resources to hold EdTech providers accountable for processing children's data, EdTech providers have considerable latitude in interpreting the law. Consequently, and paradoxically, regulations governing (mostly) deidentified data used for public purposes are more systematically enforced than those governing personal (identifiable) data used for public and commercial purposes. We conclude with recommendations so that education data can serve children's best interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many educational presentations continue to straightforwardly frame both consensual and nonconsensual intimate image distribution among youth as child pornography. This continues despite the availability of a purpose-built offence for nonconsensual intimate image distribution (NCIID) that was designed, in part, to avoid the use of child pornography offences in NCIID cases and the existence of a "private use exception" that limits the applicability of child pornography offences in cases of consensual "sexting" among youth. This sometimes inaccurate and, I argue, inappropriate focus on child pornography offences is especially common in presentations by police and public safety personnel. Through a discursive analysis of Canadian case law and a case study of educational approaches provided by the CyberScan unit, I find that the continued dominance of a child pornography framing is based on both genuine misconceptions of how these offences apply to intimate image distribution and intentional misrepresentations of the legal context. Résumé: De nombreuses présentations éducatives continuent d'assimiler à la fois la distribution consensuelle et non consensuelle d'images intimes chez les jeunes à de la pornographie juvénile. Une qualification qui continue malgré l'existence d'une infraction spécialement désignée pour la distribution non consensuelle d'images intimes (DNCII) ayant été conçue, en partie, pour éviter le recours à des infractions de pornographie juvénile dans les affaires de DNCII, et malgré également une « exception d'usage privé » limitant l'applicabilité des infractions de pornographie juvénile dans les cas de « sexting » consensuel entre jeunes. Ce recours aux infractions de pornographie juvénile est parfois inexact, et même inapproprié selon moi, mais s'avère pourtant particulièrement courant dans les présentations des policiers et des acteurs de la sécurité publique. Grâce à une analyse discursive de la jurisprudence canadienne et à une étude de cas sur les approches pédagogiques fournies par l'unité CyberScan, je conclus que cette tendance à appréhender de telles actions à travers la lunette de la pornographie juvénile est fondée à la fois sur des incompréhensions quant à la façon dont ces infractions s'appliquent à la distribution d'images intimes et sur des représentations erronées intentionnelles du contexte juridique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online harassment has become a growing menace worldwide for which every nation is trying to find a solution. Existing literature demonstrates that online harassment is widespread in diverse forms and so is its impact on the victims. Despite the lack of any comprehensive studies in this area, there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate the prevalence of online harassment in Sri Lanka and the need to find effective solutions to it. In such circumstances, this study aims to understand the nature of online harassment in the Sri Lankan context using qualitative research methodology. To that end, the study uses thematic analysis for analysing the data collected through semi-structured interviews. The thematic analysis was employed for the study as it assists in classifying complex qualitative data into different and simplified themes for better understanding and interpretation of such data. Among other findings, the analysis revealed three global themes, namely the motives of the perpetrators, the impact on victims, and remedies. Under each global theme, the study revealed various organising and basic themes, also indicating that the motives of the perpetrators and the impact on the victims are closely connected. It further reveals that impacts could be extremely serious, ranging from helplessness to suicidal thoughts, humiliation to broken relationships, and even having adverse impacts on the careers of victims. The study also found that the available remedies are not systematic or strong enough to meet the expectations of the victims. Thus, we conclude that the threat from online harassment in Sri Lanka is similar to that in any other country, requiring immediate and well-planned legal and policy responses, as exposed by the key themes identified in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The protection of human privacy is one of the most disputable topics of European human rights law. That is why the judicial practice of the European Supranational Courts is rich in numerous decisions in this area, since human privacy is one of the most violated human rights, especially in the context of the development of digital technologies. Trying to find protection of their rights through institutional mechanisms of human rights (in particular, through the CJEU and the ECtHR), the applicant often finds himself/herself in a more difficult position: he/she becomes even more an object of public discussion. This phenomenon is especially vividly illustrated by the judicial practice of the European Supranational Courts in the field of protection of the right to be forgotten, which will be paid attention to in this research. At the same time, some suggestions will also be put forward to strengthen the effectiveness of protecting the confidentiality of applicants in the judicial decisions of the Courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews how children's rights can be considered a driver of internet governance based on general comment No. 25 (2021) on children's rights in relation to the digital environment. This instrument translates the rights derived from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child from the pre-digital era to the application of children's rights to current issues of digitization. In the introduction, I explain how this general comment was drawn up and what its legal significance is. This article briefly summarizes the content of the general comment and then goes on to discuss the main impacts of this instrument on internet governance, namely, substantial shifts, children's rights by design, the law's binding nature, and participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Catalana de Dret Públic is the property of Revista Catalana de Dret Public and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of El Profesional de la Información is the property of EPI SCP and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of El Profesional de la Información is the property of EPI SCP and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The objective of this article is to shed light on a question that has considerable policy significance for the child as a data subject under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 ('Regulation 2016/679') – how can we better integrate the best interests of the child principle, including the emphasis placed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on respecting a child's autonomy and development in a datafied environment? This article lays the foundation to an answer in three steps. First, it questions whether the political act of integrating the lifeworlds of children into digital infrastructures of the personal data economy and structuring of responsibilities to be owed by data controllers through data protection rules and principles is truly empowering. Second, it uses the dialectical relationship between critical infrastructures in the datafied environment and data protection rules to explain the ramifications of the analytical shift from children's rights to information rights, for conceptions and understandings of autonomy, agency and best interests. Third, CRC provisions will be used to expose the incompatibility of the ontological turn initiated by data protection rules and platform infrastructures with received understandings of the best interests of the child principle. The article concludes with an account of how the present gulf that exists in the understanding of the role of CRC and their application in data protection policymaking in a datafied environment could be bridged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern society's ever-increasing reliance on technology raises complex legal challenges. In the search for an efficient and effective regulatory response, more and more authorities – in particular the European Union – are relying on alternative regulatory instruments (ARIs) when engaging big tech companies. Materially, this is a natural fit: the tech industry is a complex and rapidly-evolving sector and – unlike the rigid classic legislative process – ARIs allow for meaningful ex ante anticipatory constructions and ex post enforcement due to their unique flexibility. However, from a territorial point of view several complications arise. Although the use of codes of conduct to regulate transnational private actors has a rich history, the way in which such codes are set out under articles 40 and 41 of the EU's GDPR implies a 'hardening' of these soft law instruments that has repercussions for their relationship to the principles of territorial jurisdiction. This contribution serves as a first step for further research into the relationship between codes of conduct, the regulation of the tech industry and the territorial aspects related thereto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important domain in which children's rights are reconfigured by internet use, is digital advertising. New advertising formats such as advergames, personalised and integrated advertising have permeated the online environments in which children play, communicate and search for information. The often immersive, interactive and increasingly personalised nature of these advertising formats makes it difficult for children to recognise and make informed and well-balanced commercial decisions. This raises particular issues from a children's rights perspective, including, inter alia , their rights to development (Article 6, UNCRC), privacy (Article 16, UNCRC), protection against economic exploitation (Article 32, UNCRC), freedom of thought (Article 17, UNCRC) and education (Article 28, UNCRC). The paper addresses this reconfiguration by translating the general principles and the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into the specific context of digital advertising. Moreover, it considers the different dimensions of the rights (i.e. protection, participation and provision) and how the commercialisation affects children and how their rights are exercised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Which legal instrument can effectively address current challenges in social media governance and how do companies take their share, shifting away from opaque enforcement of terms of services and increasingly copying governmental structures? In a first step, this article describes and analyzes the way that states address hate speech and misinformation in their respective regulatory projects. Secondly, it examines how social media platforms sanction unwanted content and integrate (or plan on integrating) procedural rules such as appeal and due process principles in their moderation policies. Large social media platforms tend to adopt new structures that resemble administrative law--an uncommon development for non-state actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]