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Professor Susan Crawford has just published a thought-provoking book on the future of high-speed Internet access in the United States. At the risk of oversimplifying, Crawford's argument can be summarized in three sentences. Americans need really fast Internet. The market has failed to supply this Internet. Government needs to introduce a 'utility model,' where high-speed fiber is made available to everyone at reasonable prices. While Crawford highlights some problems with the current market structure for high-speed Internet services, including important problems with the merger approval process, we feel that she does not provide a fair and balanced view of Internet competition in the United States; in particular, she does not take into account appropriate economic considerations, nor does her policy proposal represent the only reasonable response to the alleged problem. This review article explains that why broadband should not be considered a public good, and why the provision of broadband should not be characterized as a natural monopoly. It also presents some alternative approaches to the policy issues raised in Crawford's book; in contrast to her support of net neutrality, we explain why quality-of-service contracts between access providers and websites should be presumptively procompetitive, and that complaining websites should be compelled to reverse that presumption with strong evidence of discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International observers and critics often attack China's Internet policy on the basis of liberal values. If China's Internet is designed and built on Confucian values that are distinct from, and sometimes incompatible to, liberal values, then the liberalist critique ought to be reconsidered. In this respect, Mary Bockover's 'Confucian Values and the Internet: A Potential Conflict' appears to be the most direct attempt to address this issue. Yet, in light of developments since its publication in 2003, it is time to re-examine this issue. In this paper, I revisit Bockover's argument and show why it fails. Using social media as an example, I offer an alternative argument to show why the Internet remains largely incompatible with Confucian values. I end this paper by suggesting how to recontextualise the Confucian way of life and to redesign social media in accordance to Confucian values in the information society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study is to examine digital inclusion as a field of State activity and public policies. We first examine some of the meanings attributed to digital inclusion and the public policy dilemmas that arise from them. We do this by referring to the discussions present in human rights literature, understanding the right to communication as one aspect of the issue. We subsequently defend the importance of approaching digital inclusion as a social right through the establishment of a dialogue with the field of education. We then present the concept of digital literacy, which looks far beyond access to ICTs, requiring that the social skills and practices necessary for society's current technological juncture be defined in order for them to become the focus of new public policies. Finally, we defend that the digital literacy approach stands out as the most essential among multiple approaches to digital inclusion, as its features tend to make a stronger contribution both towards overcoming obstacles to social development and towards attaining the emancipation of individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological development provides new opportunities for the progress of humanity as well as for the realization of human rights, although, at the same time, it also creates new risks for these rights. In recent years, public-private initiatives have advanced the need to promote and preserve freedom on the Internet as an essential assumption for the progress towards the realization of human rights and the functioning of a democratic society. One of these is called Internet Freedom. In this article, the author maintains that the focus of Internet Freedom is, however, limited, because it provides a skewed view of the relevance of human rights in the online environment. After noting these limitations, the author suggests elements that should be integrated in an Internet approach sustained by a comprehensive focus on human rights for the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sécurité Globale is the property of Editions ESKA 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 Sécurité Globale is the property of Editions ESKA 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.)

Histories of information systems are inseparable from the histories of their governance. In the case of the Internet, governance structures informally developed during its early design were substantially different from the typical mechanisms resulting from public policy decision-making. Traditionally, global information systems, such as telecommunication systems, were governed through state-centric mechanisms that would set treaty-based framework for non-state actors to operate within. Legitimate participation in these traditional governance structures was the prerogative of states that possessed sole decision-making authority. In the case of the Internet, non-state-actor-driven governance frameworks were developed outside of those traditional mechanisms. They relied on a different conception of legitimacy and authority. This paper discusses how the state and non-state actors were forced to cooperate around the creation of institutions that could accommodate the variety of views on authority, legitimacy, and decision-making processes in Internet governance. It tracks the creation of the Internet Governance Forum as a case where notions of legitimacy and authority were redefined for policy deliberations of complex information systems. The paper concludes with whether those changes lead to the emergence of new institutions that contribute to the sustainability of the network by enabling coexistence of competing political interests and values; and what this could mean for the future of the network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the book "Uprising: The Internet's Unintended Consequences," by Marcus Breen, focusing on the unintended effects of the Internet. Topics include the deregulation and proletarianisation of Internet speech, protection and self-conscious democratisation of the speech, and the transformations of complex social relations.

The article discusses the central discourses regarding the digital hysterias of decentralisation, entrepreneurship and open community and discourses that have made the Internet as a democratic and public environment separated from state and corporate control. It explores the early interpretations and understandings of networked communication, the emergence of two virtual communities and their claims for free speech, online democracy, and self-regulation.

The article discusses the naturalisation of the concept of privatism by the Internet, focusing on how it generates new knowledge of the self and history of U.S. priorities and American individualism associated with the Internet. Topics include self-interest and self-realization, philosopher Louis Althusser and the critical analysis of his cumulative internalisation, and the association between ideology and the Internet.

We offer the first large scale, multiple source analysis of the outcome of what may be the most extensive effort to selectively censor human expression ever implemented. To do this, we have devised a system to locate, download, and analyze the content of millions of social media posts originating from nearly 1,400 different social media services all over China before the Chinese government is able to find, evaluate, and censor (i.e., remove from the Internet) the subset they deem objectionable. Using modern computer-assisted text analytic methods that we adapt to and validate in the Chinese language, we compare the substantive content of posts censored to those not censored over time in each of 85 topic areas. Contrary to previous understandings, posts with negative, even vitriolic, criticism of the state, its leaders, and its policies are not more likely to be censored. Instead, we show that the censorship program is aimed at curtailing collective action by silencing comments that represent, reinforce, or spur social mobilization, regardless of content. Censorship is oriented toward attempting to forestall collective activities that are occurring now or may occur in the future—and, as such, seem to clearly expose government intent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The authors investigated censorship practices and the use of microblogs—or weibos, in Chinese—using 111 million microblogs collected between 1 January and 30 June 2012. To better control for alternative explanations for censorship decisions attributable to an individual's characteristics and choices, they used a matched case-control study design to determine a list of Chinese terms that discriminate censored and uncensored posts written by the same microbloggers. This list includes homophones and puns created by Chinese microbloggers to circumvent the censors successfully. The study's design also made it possible to evaluate the real-name registration system's impact on microbloggers' posting activities. Findings suggest that the new policy might have stopped some microbloggers from writing about social and political subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Internet governance once took place through a social contract: good behavior from all parties produced a ripe environment for invention and innovation, and generated tremendous worldwide benefits. Over time, an influx of money and power began to break the Internet's utopia, leading to crime, censorship, and fights over control. Internet governance now requires a complex system of checks and balances among users, businesses, and governments—and too great a power imbalance among these groups could undermine some policy goals in favor of others. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper asks whether the Internet's heavy reliance on nonhierarchical, networked forms of governance is compatible with growing concerns about cyber-security from traditional state actors. Networked governance is defined as a semipermanent, voluntary negotiation system that allows interdependent actors to opt for collaboration or unilateral action in the absence of an overarching authority. Two case studies-Internet routing security and the response to a large-scale botnet known as Conficker-show the prevalence of networked governance on the Internet and provide insight into its strengths and limitations. The paper concludes that both cases raise doubts about the claim that introducing security concerns into Internet governance necessarily leads to more hierarchy and/or a greater role for governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section offers news briefs related to the computer industry. Delegates of the 2013 World Conference on International Telecommunications in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, failed to reach an agreement on the issue whether governments should have more control over the Internet. The world's first flexible, transparent image sensor was developed by two Austrian researchers. A secure operating system for the industrial control systems is being developed by security vendor Kaspersky Lab.

This research investigated communication policy and its application to Thailand's management of Internet resources – a battle between a national security ideology and a rationale for freedom of communication in the public's interest. Three topics were explored: the use of regulations to control the public's use of online media; the consequences of government's strict control of the Internet; and communication policy theories that could help explain the genesis of Thailand's online regulatory doctrines. Based on news reports on Internet censorship in Thailand, the findings revealed that the government policy increasing control over the public's use of Internet resources was clearly evident in the Computer Crime Act andlèse majestélaws. During the phase of Internet's initial development, laws and regulations were imposed to legitimize the government's control over the new information technologies. Later it was found that the more widespread the Internet, the stricter the policy used to control it became. Lastly, heavy censorship of the Internet following the 2006 coup demonstrated again how political considerations could inhibit public channels of communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key area of debate over cybersecurity policy concerns whether the President should have authority to shut down all or part of the Internet in the event of a cyber-emergency or cyber-war. The proposed Cybersecurity Act of 2009, for example, contained what critics derided as an Internet "kill switch." The current iteration of a comprehensive cybersecurity reform bill, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, opts for a soft public-private contingency plan model instead of a kill switch. But the kill switch may yet live. Sponsors of the present legislation have argued that Section 606 of the Communications Act of 1934 already gives the U.S. President plenary powers over the Internet in times of emergency or war. If this claim is correct, it should be particularly troubling to network neutrality advocates who have argued for expansive FCC jurisdiction over the Internet, since the Executive powers under Section 606 are tied to the FCC's authority over communications policy. This paper evaluates the language, history, and application of Section 606, and argues that instead of implicitly relying on the vague and antiquated provisions of a statute crafted long before the Internet was born, cybersecurity reform should include explicit executive emergency powers with clear and appropriate limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El modelo mexicano de comunicación política tiene pocas fortalezas y significativas debilidades. La regulación y las presiones a las que está sometida la esfera pública aumentan las distorsiones comunicativas y se suman a la compleja tarea de hacer comunicación electoral y de gobierno. Estos factores limitan los alcances de la libertad de expresión y debilitan su práctica y su aprecio social, a lo cual se suma el impacto de Intemet, que rebasa con mucho la arena electoral. No obstante, puesto en perspectiva histórica, el activismo de los intemautas durante la elección de 2012 representa un punto de quiebre en las reglas del juego de la comunicación política y en el acomodo de sus actores. Si pensamos que Intemet es un actor legitimado para hablar de política, el diálogo social con los políticos potencialmente puede tener un carácter más horizontal y menos afectado por la mediación perversa de los medios y las encuestas, siempre y cuando la red no sucumba a los intentos regulatorios que la acechan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the U.S. government's approach of establishing internet technical standards. Topics discussed include proposal for a high-level Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights (CPBR) reflecting fair information principles (FIPs) to develop code of conduct for governing corporate behavior, multistakeholder-driven privacy solutions for U.S. government and other U.S. industries and techno-policy standard development processes at the organization World Wide Web Consortium.

The article discusses quarter-life crisis of the digital revolution and highlights the use of Internet as an important resource system. Topics discussed include institutional analysis on resource systems, social responsibilities of resource systems and government institutions for digital revolution. Also mentioned are resource system challenges from the socio-ecological setting, need for good Internet governance and scope of adaptations in latest resource network system.

This article, via framing analysis and textual analysis, examines the rhetoric of U.S. officials and political commentators toward Internet usage in other countries versus Internet policy in the United States. The article will argue that Internet freedom has been defined differently based on who frames the discussion, and what the strategic and political implications might be. This in turn leads to different perceptions of who the victims are when Internet access is threatened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Internet policies of China and how they conform to the international standards as perceived by the participants in the World Summits on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005. The Internet structure, as well as the regulatory and censorship policies of China, is presented. The author concludes that both the U.S. and China are viewed correct by the world community in their regulation of the Internet although their approaches differ.

After the birth of the Internet, the rise of Web 2.0, here comes the Internet of Things. Internet has led us to adopt special law, digital economy law…Web 2.0 has urged us to rethink core legal concepts such as liability and ownership and introduce notions such as sharing and availability. The Internet of Things -- which no one doubts will be the next technological revolution -- will be a legal tsunami, the intensity and magnitude of which are unknown to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the Internet and the crucial conflict in expectations as regards common convictions which emphasize the social view of the Web. Such views are very popular and as a result they bring the great vision of the Internet as a new public space which demands democratic civil rights for example. In this situation inevitably a conflict emerges between this vision and the business which treats the Internet as its natural environment. The article describes the very beginnings of the Internet and the early phase of this conflict, which has existed from the very beginning mostly due to the counterculture of the sixties in USA. The article also describes the commercial sources of the Web which allowed its voluminous progress and the role of the third player in this game - the Government of the USA which has seen the Internet as a chance for potential economic growth. The article also emphasizes the great significance of the macroeconomic environment in the eighties, which also considerably enhanced the development of the Web. The article documents the predominance of the economic aspect of the Internet, which has become a fact already at the beginning of the nineties and describes incidents which confirm this situation, for example the rebellion of Jon Postel in 1998. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the findings of an analysis of ‘e-safety’ education material currently made available to UK schools, and currently being delivered to children and young people between the ages of five and 18. E-safety refers to the way that young people are taught about risks online, how they can protect themselves, and to whom they should report worrying activity. The article is grounded in a political understanding of education as a political strategy, and one that is conducted by multiple actors, including policing agencies. The article therefore relates e-safety education to a broader politics of surveillance, crime prevention and governmental rationalities and techniques. Formal education does not determine, but likely influences the perceptions of young people towards the digitally mediated environment – including roles of authority, appropriate behavioural norms and risk perception (currently dominated by the threat of child sexual abuse). The most commonly used and disseminated e-safety education material is that produced by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. This article examines the role of a policing agency in delivering education, one that also functions as an agent of digitally mediated surveillance in its law enforcement functions. Education is an explicit strategy of political actors involved in the politics of digitally mediated surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

States are moving to assert their interests more forcefully in cyberspace and associated governance regimes. Traditionally, transnational networks of engineers, based primarily in the United States and Europe, have been the primary architects of cyberspace governance, with the users and private sector shaping cyberspace itself. However, governments are becoming increasingly influential across a number of governance forums and are deliberating on how to exercise power in and through cyberspace. Particularly noteworthy are how nondemocratic states outside of Europe, North America, and parts of Asia have begun to forcefully assert their interests in cyberspace governance regimes, including some, like the International Telecommunications Union, that were previously marginalized in the Internet space. Western liberal democracies are also moving away from laissez-faire and market-oriented approaches to more state-directed controls and regulations. Drawing from international relations theory literature, and in particular constructivist approaches, this article examines international and global mechanisms and dynamics that explain the growth and spread of cyberspace controls. It also provides a study of "norm regression" in global governance: the growth and spread of practices that undercut cyberspace as an open commons of information and communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the following question: Is it possible to transfer human rights like the freedom of expression - or at least to preserve the formal protections guarding speech acts from arbitrary suppression - in a post-national setting? The question arises as an urgent matter in the context of our global system of connected markets and distributed telecommunications networks - the Internet - since, as many academics and policy makers have noted, the two tend to undermine nationals boundaries, putting into question the power of individual states to continue function as the traditional legal and identity-generating entities of last resort. If this analysis is reliable the dialectical union between the autonomous individual citizen and the legally regulated nation state is broken. In this paper I will draw the consequences of that supposed break, exploring the question of the extent to which it makes sense to accord "rights" - freedom of expression - to entities that are not classical autonomous humans, and to confer them by entities that no longer bear the marks of nation-state sovereignty. The question thus is: Is it possible to transfer the normative approach of the classic liberal nation states into a global system? The paper explores this question through an elaboration of problems for the preservation of the human right to freedom of expression: On the one hand communication on the Internet is regulated by an immense legal body, but on the other hand, the machinery for enforcement controlled by this legal body is dependent on various agencies that don't necessarily recognize its legitimacy. I will then explore whether a more technologically oriented approach could be a more fruitful approach in defining the actual limitations to freedom of expression in the new global system. My answer is that ultimately the control paradigm fails, because it is too clumsy at incorporating self-correcting measures. Thirdly, I suggest that the best solution to the challenges to freedom of expression in the global system must be a Global Government of the Internet, a government that is defined by democratic elections, a constitutional body, and deliberative institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Brazil, the agitation of public anxieties about child pornography has become pivotal for recent legal initiatives to control Internet traffic, which affect Internet users" privacy and freedom of expression. However, cyber activist protests against those measures and alternative regulation proposals have not reverberated to feminist and LGBT interests in the Internet. Sonia Corrêa, Horacio Sfvori and Bruno Zilli argue that evidence of sexual community building on social networking platforms calls for new approaches to the exercise of sexual freedom online and off-line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In their effort to enforce a regulation system on the internet, several countries introduced the graduated response system (otherwise known as 'three strikes and you're disconnected'). Since then, it started gaining popularity all over the world whether in a legislated form or in a form of private agreements between major copyright holders and internet service providers. On an international level, the final version of the Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was published on 3 December 2010. Although it does not directly suggest the application of a graduated response system, it establishes a legal ground on which member states can justify the instauration of such a system. This paper will discuss the role of the internet service providers in regulating the internet as it is designated by the graduated response system. The tasks entrusted to the providers will then be examined for their accordance with the principle of proportionality. The article will not focus in a particular national legislation, but it will rather provide an analysis of the problematic aspects of the graduated response system using examples of national legislations or accords. The central question is whether fundamental rights are respected by these enforcement measures. Since illegal file sharing has turned from a mere habit to an ideology, the paper will ultimately propose that it would be wise to take a step back not only from the incessant legislation process but also from the war declared against internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Futuribles is the property of Futuribles SARL 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 article discusses the impact of social networking services in national and international security. It explores the policy of Russian government on the use of internet technologies and its application to strengthen the security of the country. It states that social networks do not play significant role in Arab Spring community mentioning that protesters and other opposition forces relied on other forms of communication. It examines the association of identification of users with security.

The article discusses the application of the multi-stakeholder framework in policy making, particularly by the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama on Internet use and practices. It explains the rationale of the Obama administration in promoting multi-stakeholderism, as well as the basic concepts of the so-called Complexity Theory. An overview on how to attain trust in policy making through the multi-stakeholder approach is also discussed.

The article focuses on U.S. communications law in 2011. Topics include the U.S. Communications Act of 1934, the fairness doctrine in relation to the telecommunications policy in the U.S., and the U.S. Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications (ORBIT) Act. Information is provided on Inmarsat and Intelsat, which are intergovernmental satellite operators.

Abstract: We propose in this paper a new approach to achieve highly adaptable Web services through context-adaptable Web service policies. A Web service policy is a set of rules that defines the capabilities and requirements of a Web service as well as governs the runtime behavior, quality and result of the Web service. Our Web service policies are superbly adaptable in the sense that we specify context for both policies and rules to make the policies contextadaptable at both policy and rule levels. The main contributions of our approach include: i) an innovative WSPL (Web Service Policy Language) extension to allow context specification at both policy and rule levels; and ii) a tool that supports the development of aspect oriented policies, including an option to translate WSPL policies into aspect oriented policies. These policies can then be statically woven into compositeWeb services (e.g. a BPEL process). The synergy between context, policies and aspects allows to increase the level of adaptability of Web services at different levels of applications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although the Internet is largely decentralized in its communication and social patterns, its technical and regulatory apparatuses are highly centralized and hierarchical. Consequently, digital communications are vulnerable to a degree of surveillance and censorship that would be unthinkable in traditional social arenas, threatening “Internet freedom” and cyberliberties in both democratic and politically repressed societies. We believe a new architecture is required in order to protect the continuance of civil liberties in networked society. In this article, we propose 10 “social specifications” describing the requirements of such a network, and outline an architecture called MondoNet that meets these specifications using ad hoc, wireless mesh networking technologies. We also address the legal and technical challenges facing the MondoNet project, and anticipate future developments in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telecommunications policy issues rarely make news, much less mobilize thousands of people. Yet this has been occurring in the United States around efforts to introduce “Net neutrality” regulation. A similar grassroots mobilization has not developed in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in Europe. We develop a comparative analysis of U.S. and UK Net neutrality debates with an eye toward identifying the arguments for and against regulation, how those arguments differ between the countries, and what the implications of those differences are for the Internet. Drawing on mass media, advocacy, and regulatory discourses, we find that local regulatory precedents as well as cultural factors contribute to both agenda setting and framing of Net neutrality. The differences between national discourses provide a way to understand both the structural differences between regulatory cultures and the substantive differences between policy interpretations, both of which must be reconciled for the Internet to continue to thrive as a global medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses efforts to promote access to broadband Internet service and to train individuals and communities to use it. It examines several initiatives and efforts sponsored by the U.S. Broad Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), including the Community Media Access Project (CMAP) in San Benito County, California, a nonprofit organization that is part of the coalition ZeroDivide, formerly called the Community Technology Foundation of California. The author comments on the digital divide and the need to provide access to information and technology, particularly in low-income communities and among youth.

The article discusses government engagement with technology and Web 2.0 in the U.S., focusing on transparency, participation, and collaboration. It examines several projects that use the Internet and communication technologies to provide government data and information to the public. The author comments on an iPhone application (app) that provides transit information for California's San Francisco Bay Area called Routesy, a social network for U.S. government employees called Govloop, and a website providing data from the U.S. government called Data.gov, led by White House Chief Information Officer (CIO) Vivek Kundra.

This article examines the use of digital media in the 2011 Egyptian revolution (25 January-11 February), termed by many analysts and commentators a 'Facebook revolution', 'Twitter revolution', 'digital revolution' or 'electronic revolution'. Such appellations highlight the role of the youth who organized and mobilized for the revolution and the essential role played by digital media. Disengaging from the controversial debate over whether Egypt's revolution was instigated by social media or simply used them for its purposes, the article demonstrates the uncontestable role that social networks, text messages, and satellite news channels played as a tool of control and manipulation, on the one hand, and a mode of resistance, on the other. Delineating some key reasons why the Egyptian revolution came to be associated with digital media, the article shows the government's reaction to the threat posed by such media through analysis of a key moment on the night of 27 and 28 January 2011, when the Egyptian government decided to cut off all Internet and smart phone connections. Through a detailed chronology of the development of events during that period of blockage, the article analyzes the government's decision along two axes: manipulation through blockage and manipulation through propaganda and brainwashing. It concludes by showing how the government's attempts to sabotage the revolution came in the end to be used subversively by the protestors as means of resistance. It injected the revolution with more momentum, and in fact inadvertently led to its success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Disagreements over how to craft Internet policy have become more and more contentious and political. Beyond the technical and engineering aspects are economic questions, and the points of view of various stakeholders and participants on such network policy issues stem from differing economic philosophies. This paper postulates and describes four competing economic doctrines: conservative neoclassical, liberal neoclassical, neo-Keynesian, and innovation economics. It explains how each doctrine leads to different views of appropriate network policy and explores the influence of doctrine on four controversial network policy issues: broadband competition, net neutrality, copyright, and privacy. Understanding this doctrine based source of differences over network policy should help policy makers better understand core issues and make more informed policy decisions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses the different Internet policy battles that would help shape the future of the fundamental structures of the Internet in the U.S. It explores the problems confronting the country's Internet industry including the decline in broadband penetration and the lack of choice and competition. Moreover, it analyzes some threats to communications in a democratic society and the policy provisions needed to keep the Internet from feudalization.

The study examines the Internet usage and regulations in Niger Delta University Libraries. The descriptive research design was used for this study. 404 Internet users were randomly selected from the libraries on three campuses of Niger Delta University. The questionnaire method of data collection was employed and complemented by interviews. Findings of the study are: the Internet services in the library are functional and accessible to all users. There are no Internet regulations in the libraries. The Internet services in the library are not geared only toward educational purpose but patrons use it for other personal activities and visiting other websites as well. It is recommended that there should be an Internet regulation policy in the library. These regulations will guide students on the use of the Internet. Students should be given passwords in order to gain access to the Internet so that its usage can be monitored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the online privacy concern of users and the ineffectiveness of website privacy policies. It describes enforcement framework applied to privacy policies in terms of both legal and non legal enforcement mechanism for electronic contracting. It highlights the exploitation of private information, the failure of protecting user information, and the need of non-legal sanctions and enforcements.

Abstract: The educated and affluent Internet users in China have posed great threats to the stability and legitimacy of Chinese communist’s regime where the access of non-government dominated information become a possibility. To restrain Chinese citizens’ access to any Internet contents that are considered to undermine state control, China has developed and implemented one of the most sophisticated multi-layered Internet filtering systems in the world. These projects include the Golden Shield (or Jin Dun) and the Great Fire Walls of China that were implemented in the infrastructure to deter any undesirable or politically sensitive information. The case study collected discussions and discourses from newspapers, websites, and blogs in Mainland China and Hong-Kong, SAR. A thematic analysis method was used to identify recurrent themes (i.e., arguments, points of contention, and concerns) that Chinese Internet users have about the Green Dam censor-ware project. These themes were interpreted from theoretical framework that helps understand the evolution of technology and its role in Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) political control over China. Data demonstrate the dynamics among the roles of government institutions, Internet regulatory regimes, the Internet technology, and a rapidly emerging civil society in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst the global governance architecture of the Internet has evolved at pace in the last 10 years, the European Union's (EU) role and influence in its development has been relatively understudied. This article contributes to closing this gap in the literature through an exposition of how the EU has sought to shape the emerging environment for Internet governance in the context of its quest for 'effective multilateralism'. It identifies the type of multilateral governance that the EU has projected for the Internet globally and analyses how it has sought to do this through its interaction with key global Internet fora. It argues that the EU's own self-defined role as a leader with a clear, preferred model for Internet governance contrasts with several constraints and contradictions faced in becoming an effective multilateral actor in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines corporate interests in the evolution of the Internet, arguing that the Internet is not a neutral configuration of technologies. In reviewing the state's role in regulating the Internet, the paradoxical alliance between the neoliberal economic and political agenda and advocacy of an open unregulated Internet is highlighted. Evidence of neoliberal strategies in telecommunication, broadcasting and the Internet is considered alongside private sector interests in exploiting labour power, in managing information diversity and in creating new choke points on the Internet. In the cases of infrastructure investment, content production and radio spectrum policy the continuing primacy of market valuation suggests that the neoliberal paradigm is influencing whether the state seeks to regulate indicating that there is a need for pro-active policy and regulatory intervention to secure the Internet as a communicative space for an engaged citizenry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Regardless of the technological advances achieved so far and the often techno-deterministic approaches to the information society, inequalities in the access to, distribution and use of ICTs such as the Internet still highlight the importance of digital divides. The complex nature and continuing importance of the unequal rates of use of ICTs such as the Internet invite research to examine their drivers. Ordinary people’s everyday life and their awareness and evaluation of policy and regulation are influential factors in how Internet use takes shape today. This is the argument made by this article and supported by a survey of 1001 Internet users and non-users in Greece. Particular attention is paid to how aspects of everyday life and culture, such as resistance to ICTs, and people’s awareness and evaluation of Internet policy and regulation in areas such as online security and privacy can explain Internet use. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The mass demonstrations that led to the Jasmine Revolution in late 2010 and early 2011 have radically changed the media and communications landscape in Tunisia. All forms of information technology were until recently either heavily regulated by the Tunisian state or were owned by individuals with close links to then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. This analysis looks at regulatory regimes across three media and communications technologies during the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia-Internet, television and mobile phones-and shows that the regulatory regimes of media and communications technologies co-evolved with the protests. As expression about public protests became increasingly pervasive within these media, efforts to control them became increasingly restrictive. Thus changes in the media and communications landscape are discussed in the context of the co-evolution of regulatory regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European institutions such as the European Parliament and the European Council have repeatedly asserted the importance for public service broadcasters (PSBs) to develop online media services. The crucial necessity for PSBs to expand their new media activities has been emphasized by the Council of Europe in numerous Recommendations. The European Commission reaffirmed the opportunity for PSBs to expand online in the 2001 Communication on the application of state aid to public service broadcasters. However, the place and the weight of each European PSB in the online context differ from country to country since the determination of a PSB’s remit is still a prerogative of the member states. This article investigates how the public service broadcasting ethos has been applied to online media in three different European countries: Spain, Italy and Britain. It investigates the main policies adopted by the governments of these three nations to regulate the evolution of PSBs on the internet and the policies and practices adopted by the broadcasters: TVE (Spain), RAI (Italy) and the BBC (UK). It concludes by arguing that a new policy toolkit (PSB 2.0) is needed to infuse the online world with the same public service ethos that has characterized traditional broadcasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the views of the Chinese young adults regarding the move by Google Inc. to leave the Chinese market, as well as their response on the Chinese government's Internet policy. The study conducted an online survey of 286 participants in which they were asked to indicate their agreement on eight topics including economic forces, nationalism, and hacker's attacks. Results show that those who had a high level of nationalism supported the decision by Google.