News and Research articles on European Union

Anchoring the need to revise cross-border access to e-evidence

Sergi Vazquez Maymir, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
PUBLISHED ON: 16 Sep 2020 DOI: 10.14763/2020.3.1495

The percentages and figures used in the impact assessment accompanying the European Commission’s e-evidence package strongly influence the analysis of the problem and limit the assessment of the problem of cross-border access to e-evidence to technical and efficiency considerations.

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.

Back up: can users sue platforms to reinstate deleted content?

Matthias C. Kettemann, Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut
Anna Sophia Tiedeke, Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut
PUBLISHED ON: 4 Jun 2020 DOI: 10.14763/2020.2.1484

Can platforms delete whatever content they want? Not everywhere, say the authors of this paper, which shows why certain social networks ‘must carry’ some content – and how users in some jurisdictions can force the companies to allow them into their communicative space.

Transparency in artificial intelligence

Stefan Larsson, Lund University
Fredrik Heintz, Linköping University
PUBLISHED ON: 5 May 2020 DOI: 10.14763/2020.2.1469

Introduction: transparency in AI Transparency is indeed a multifaceted concept used by various disciplines (Margetts, 2011; Hood, 2006). Recently, it has gone through a resurgence with regards to contemporary discourses around artificial intelligence (AI). For example, the ethical guidelines published by the EU Commission’s High-Level Expert Group on AI (AI HLEG) in April 2019 states transparency as one of seven key requirements for the realisation of ‘trustworthy AI’, which also has made its clear mark in the Commission’s white paper on AI, published in February 2020. In fact, “transparency” is the single most common, and one of the key five principles emphasised in the vast number – a …

Management of the internet by the principle of the multistakeholder governance model has survived attempts of replacing it with inter-government management. What additional principles are useful to guide global internet governance and enhance ICANN’s legitimacy, seen in light of recent challenges? Are the disagreements over global internet governance also about diverging understandings of the goals in internet governance?

Platform ad archives: promises and pitfalls

Paddy Leerssen, University of Amsterdam
Jef Ausloos, University of Amsterdam
Brahim Zarouali, University of Amsterdam
Natali Helberger, University of Amsterdam
Claes de Vreese, University of Amsterdam
PUBLISHED ON: 9 Oct 2019 DOI: 10.14763/2019.4.1421

Ad archives are a novel tool in online advertising governance. They promise significant benefits, but only if their operators address key criticisms.

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 …

Citizen or consumer? Contrasting Australia and Europe’s data protection policies

James Meese, University of Technology Sydney
Punit Jagasia, University of Technology Sydney
James Arvanitakis, Western Sydney University
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Jun 2019 DOI: 10.14763/2019.2.1409

This paper examines data protection policies in Australia and Europe and outlines how both frameworks evoke different notions of citizenship.

Reading between the lines and the numbers: an analysis of the first NetzDG reports

Amélie Heldt, Hans-Bredow-Institut
PUBLISHED ON: 12 Jun 2019 DOI: 10.14763/2019.2.1398

The German Network Enforcement Act is an attempt to counteract the effects of hate speech on social media platforms. This paper analyses and evaluates the reports on the handling of complaints about unlawful content after its coming into force.

Data and digital rights: recent Australian developments

Gerard Goggin, University of Sydney
Ariadne Vromen, University of Sydney
Kimberlee Weatherall, University of Sydney
Fiona Martin, University of Sydney
Lucy Sunman, University of Sydney
PUBLISHED ON: 31 Mar 2019 DOI: 10.14763/2019.1.1390

How do we construct and deliver data privacy rights? We discuss two recent Australian initiatives on regulation of digital platforms and a new consumer data right.