This paper is part of Geopolitics, jurisdiction and surveillance, a special issue of Internet Policy Review guest-edited by Monique Mann and Angela Daly. Introduction Since the Snowden revelations in 2013 (see e.g., Lyon, 2014; Lyon, 2015) an ongoing policy issue has been the legitimate scope of surveillance, and the extent to which individuals and groups can assert their fundamental rights, including privacy. There has been a renewed focus on policies regarding access to encrypted communications, which are part of a longer history of the ‘cryptowars’ of the 1990s (see e.g., Koops, 1999). We examine these provisions in the Anglophone ‘Five Eyes’ (FVEY) The FVEY partnership is a comprehensive …
News and Research articles on United Kingdom
This commentary is part of Digital inclusion and data literacy, a special issue of Internet Policy Review guest-edited by Elinor Carmi and Simeon J. Yates.
In a future where digital touch has become a normal part of society, who has access to my body and my data?
This paper is part of Transnational materialities, a special issue of Internet Policy Review guest-edited by José van Dijck and Bernhard Rieder. Introduction Questions about how data is generated, collected and used have taken hold of public imagination in recent years, not least in relation to government. While the collection of data about populations has always been central to practices of governance, the digital era has placed increased emphasis on the politics of data in state-citizen relations and contemporary power dynamics. In part a continuation of long-standing processes of bureaucratisation, the turn to data-centric practices in government across Western democracies emerges out of …
This paper compares two controversies in social media governance and argues that social media companies’ actions indicate an expanded role for marketing and advertising as arbiters of the public interest in media content delivery.
How has policy reacted to the post-Snowden surveillance discourse in the UK? This paper identifies eight dynamics.
Agribusinesses are buying into big data for its predictive powers, bypassing farmers and aggregating previously proprietary farming data. Given this power asymmetry, what are the ethics of the use of big data in big agriculture?
Re-assessing jurisdictional issues, the author examines the 'monkey selfie case' from a UK and European perspective and finds that the photographer could be subject to copyright protection in Europe.
This paper examines how various stakeholders in the 2014 EC consultation on copyright attempted to shape the definition of user-generated content and what this means for the reform of copyright in Europe.
Recognising the concept of constitutionalisation of virtual worlds (such as Second Life or World of Warcraft), this paper argues for a more nuanced approach towards the recognition of virtual assets of users.
The way we handle digital assets post-mortem is a young field of inquiry and it is researcher Edina Harbinja's sandbox. Journalist Philippa Warr takes a look at the issues.
A picture taken by a money has erupted into a transatlantic copyright row and brought focus on the world’s largest database of public domain images.
The UN High Commissioner explains to Member States that privacy is a fundamental human right. But surveillance practices and legislation have yet to change.
Chief Policy Officer of the US Patent and Trademark Office addresses UK Intellectual Property Office
As the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) prepares to consult interest groups on copyright policy during the course of 2015, Elena Cooper takes stock on the current US approach, as presented in a briefing by USPTO’s Chief Policy Officer, Shira Perlmutter.
Let's Play is a video showing someone playing a videogame. This, we know. What is less known, is that game developers are not all amused by the growing phenomenon. The copyright bell is ringing.
Germany’s largest telecommunications operator for the first time on 5 May 2014 published a ‘transparency report’ on surveillance requests by German authorities. Kirsten Gollatz reveals how this new statitical input fits into the larger picture.
Flappy Bird, Threes, Ridiculous Fishing - three mobile games and three high profile examples of the games industry's relationship with ‘clones’.
Bloggers' and online journalists’ experiences of defamation and privacy law suggest that new approaches to legal policy are needed in a digital media environment. This paper by Judith Townend draws on empirical research to analyse chilling effects in the UK.
There are significant dangers in surveilling online communications unless the mechanisms and policies of surveillance are subject to strict and legally enforceable standards of transparency, oversight, and control.
KEYWORDS:
Surveillance, Intelligence services, Base rate fallacy, Interception, Fundamental principles, Predictive algorithms, Privacy, Security, Content data, Communications data, Bundestrojaner, National Security Agency (NSA), PRISM, Tempora, Encryption, Liability, Transparency, Cyber security, Content, Censorship, Filtering
In early December 2012, the European Commission released a study on collaborative eGovernment. Drawing on case studies, the 150-page report makes policy recommendations to foster citizen participation in eGov. But how can companies do their share in ‘participatory eGov’?