News and Research articles on Amazon

Geopolitics, jurisdiction and surveillance

Monique Mann, Deakin University
Angela Daly, University of Strathclyde
PUBLISHED ON: 16 Sep 2020 DOI: 10.14763/2020.3.1501

The internet is a forum for geopolitical struggle as states wield power beyond their terrestrial territorial borders through the extraterritorial geographies of data flows. This exertion of power across multiple jurisdictions, and via the infrastructure of transnational technology companies, creates new challenges for traditional forms of regulatory governance and the protection of human rights.

Going global: Comparing Chinese mobile applications’ data and user privacy governance at home and abroad

Lianrui Jia, University of Toronto
Lotus Ruan, University of Toronto
PUBLISHED ON: 16 Sep 2020 DOI: 10.14763/2020.3.1502

This paper examines data and privacy governance by four China-based mobile applications and their international versions - including the role of the state. It also highlights the role of platforms in gatekeeping mobile app privacy standards.

Reframing platform power

José van Dijck, Utrecht University
David Nieborg, University of Toronto
Thomas Poell, University of Amsterdam
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Jun 2019 DOI: 10.14763/2019.2.1414

This paper is part of Transnational materialities, a special issue of Internet Policy Review guest-edited by José van Dijck and Bernhard Rieder. Introduction In March 2019, the European Commission fined Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. 1.5 billion euro for antitrust violations in the online advertising market—the third fine in three years. In July 2018, European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager had levied a record fine of 4.3 billion euro on Google for breaching European competition rules by forcing cell phone manufacturers to pre-install a dozen of the firms’ apps when using Android—Google’s mobile operating system. And in 2016, the company was punished for unlawfully favouring Google …

Online stores can offer each customer a different price. This study analyses why most people find such online price discrimination unfair and unacceptable, and why they think it should be banned.

Beyond “Points of Control”: logics of digital governmentality

Romain Badouard, Université de Cergy-Pontoise
Clément Mabi, Université de Technologie de Compiègne
Guillaume Sire, Université Paris II (Panthéon-Assas)
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2016 DOI: 10.14763/2016.3.433

This paper demonstrates the benefit of using the concept of governmentality to understand how online behaviours are directed, constrained and framed through the management of technical resources that enact logics of power and control.

Rebalancing interests and power structures on crowdworking platforms

Ayad Al-Ani, Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG)
Stefan Stumpp, Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG)
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Jun 2016 DOI: 10.14763/2016.2.415

This paper is part of Regulating the sharing economy, a special issue of Internet Policy Review guest-edited by Kristofer Erickson and Inge Sørensen. Disclaimer: This study was completed with the support of the German service sector union ver.di. We would like to thank the participating platforms and their communities for the opportunity to conduct a survey. We would also like to thank the jovoto platform for the implementation of an idea contest. Thanks also go to Prof. Dr. Christian Fieseler, BI Norwegian Business School and Prof. Dr. Wrona, TU Hamburg-Harburg, for their comments and reviews. Any errors remain the responsibility of the authors. Introduction and objectives Working on …