News and Research articles on Business

The privacy role of information intermediaries through self-regulation

Tatevik Sargsyan, American University
PUBLISHED ON: 16 Dec 2016 DOI: 10.14763/2016.4.438

This paper provides qualitative analysis of Google’s and Microsoft’s policies and examines case studies to enhance understanding about the privacy role of information intermediaries in self-regulatory arrangements.

The invisible politics of Bitcoin: governance crisis of a decentralised infrastructure

Primavera De Filippi, Harvard University
Benjamin Loveluck, Télécom ParisTech (Université Paris-Saclay) and CERSA (CNRS-Paris 2)
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2016 DOI: 10.14763/2016.3.427

A trustless technology, Bitcoin tries to solve issues of social coordination and economic exchange by relying exclusively on technological means. Is technology alone able to resolve the social and political concerns affecting the Bitcoin network?

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.

Doing internet governance: practices, controversies, infrastructures, and institutions Doing internet governance

Dmitry Epstein, University of Illinois at Chicago
Christian Katzenbach, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG)
Francesca Musiani, Université Paris-Sorbonne
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Sep 2016 DOI: 10.14763/2016.3.435

This special issue calls to rethink how we conceptualise both internet and governance.

Regulating the sharing economy Regulating the sharing economy

Kristofer Erickson, University of Glasgow / CREATe
Inge Sørensen, University of Glasgow
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Jun 2016 DOI: 10.14763/2016.2.414

This special issue on 'Regulating the sharing economy' includes five papers and an editorial which each contribute to knowledge by linking the social and economic aspects of sharing economy practices to regulatory norms and mechanisms.

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 …

Sharing without laws: an exploration of social practices and ad hoc labeling standards in online movie piracy

Roberto Tietzmann, Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)
Liana Gross Furini, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Jun 2016 DOI: 10.14763/2016.2.416

This paper discusses self-labelling standards as sharing mediators in pirated versions of movies available online.

Defining the relevant market in the sharing economy

Francesco Russo, University of Amsterdam
Maria Luisa Stasi, European University Institute
PUBLISHED ON: 30 Jun 2016 DOI: 10.14763/2016.2.418

Sharing economy businesses open up new markets and bring about new regulatory challenges. These could be solved with traditional competition instruments, although adapted to the peculiar features of the sharing economy, including, among others, multi-sidedness and the presence of different externalities.

The convergence of media markets and the emergence of video-sharing platforms may make the existing regulative tradition obsolete. This essay demonstrates an emergent need for regulatory convergence on European Union’s Audiovisual Media Service Directive (AVMSD).

Big data: big power shifts? Big data: big power shifts?

Lena Ulbricht, Berlin Social Science Center (WZB)
Maximilian von Grafenstein, Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG)
PUBLISHED ON: 31 Mar 2016 DOI: 10.14763/2016.1.406

This special issue looks at studies that scrutinise big data and power in concrete fields of application. It brings together scholars from different disciplines shedding light on the fields of agriculture, education, border control and consumer policy.