[kictanet] internet news, research papers - international

Wed Mar 7 23:20:40 EAT 2007

makes good bachground material/.....incase of interest...

The rise of technology addiction
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/6411495.stm

Mobile Content Usage is Higher in Developing Countries
http://clickz.com/stats/sectors/wireless/article.php/3625143

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RESEARCH PAPERS
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Mobile Commerce – consumer issues and policy challenges for a promising market (OECD)
Mobile commerce is a promising market both for consumers and businesses. However, consumer troubles and complaints are increasing and can sometimes become serious, including issues for minors. Member countries’ experiences show that we should ensure that consumers benefit. In particular, countries may review their instruments with regard to a more effective scheme for information disclosure, liability protection over SIM and RFID cards, effective notice to excessive consumption, and the importance of consumer education. Businesses may also consider more effective consumer protection schemes.
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/52/38077227.pdf

The 'agreement' that sparked a storm
At a recent legal presentation attended by prominent intellectual property lawyers and law professors, a loaded question was posed to the audience: "By a show of hands — and be honest, now — how many of you read the terms and conditions presented in an end-user license agreement?" Of the nearly 100 people in the auditorium, not a single hand was raised. Shocking? Only if such an admission is unexpected. It really isn't.
http://www.abanet.org/buslaw/blt/2007-01-02/kahana.shtml

The Net Neutrality Debate: Twenty Five Years After United States v. AT&T and 120 Years After the Act to Regulate Commerce by BRUCE OWEN (Stanford Law and Economics Oline Working Paper)
Abstract: Net neutrality policies could only be implemented through detailed price regulation, an approach that has often failed, in the past, to improve consumer welfare relative to what might have been expected under an unregulated monopoly. Regulatory agencies often settle into a well-established pattern of subservience to politically influential economic interests. Consumers, would-be entrants and innovators are not likely to be among these influential groups. History thus counsels against adoption of most versions of net neutrality, at least in the absence of refractory monopoly power and strong evidence of anticompetitive behavior - extreme cases justifying dangerous, long shot remedies.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=963623

Helping Hands: Design for Member-Maintained Online Communities
This thesis studies the design of member-maintained online communities, systems where many members help perform upkeep. A key design challenge is motivating members to contribute toward maintenance. Social science theories help to explain why people contribute to groups. We use these theories to design two general mechanisms for increasing people’s motivation to contribute.
http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~cosley/thesis/final.pdf

Where Antitrust Ends and IP Begins by Katarzyna A. Czapracka (Yale Journal of Law and Technology)
U.S. antitrust enforcers see little scope for antitrust policy to mitigate the consequences of imperfect IP policies. They are reluctant to intervene in what is perceived to be the sphere of IP policy and take the view that any competitive concerns are better remedied by changes in the IP policy. This trend corresponds with shielding antitrust policy away from fields occupied by other forms of regulation. Exactly the opposite tendencies are present in EU competition law. Both the European Commission and the ECJ seem to see a role for competition law to correct improvidently defined IPRs, even if it entails adjusting competition principles. It may seem reasonable, as unlike competition policy, most issues relating to IP policy within the European Union are still decided at the national level. Yet, there is an inherent danger in this approach. It may lead antitrust authorities to adopt analytically questionable approaches that undermine the coherence of antitrust law.
 Competition agencies must be particularly cautious in adopting the measures to curb IP laws, as they may discourage private R&D investment. The views of the Commission on application of Article 82 to interoperability information, as expressed in the Microsoft Decision and the Article 82 Paper, confirm that these reservations are valid.
http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/yjolt/files/20062007Issue/fall06-czapracka.pdf

The Race
Robert Kuttner learns that newspapers have a bright future as print-digital hybrids after all-- but they'd better hurry.
http://cjr.org/issues/2007/2/Kuttner.asp

Does information beget information? by Dennis S. Karjala (Duke L. & Tech. Rev)
Using the language of mathematics, Professor Polk Wagner has recently argued that the impossibility of fully appropriating the value of information in a rightsholder leads to the surprising conclusion that expanding the degree of control of intellectual property rights will, in the long run, increase the sum total of information not subject to ownership claims and therefore available as part of the cultural and technological base on which new growth and development can occur. Indeed, he claims that open information will grow according to the formula for compound interest, where the interest rate is 100% plus or minus a factor z supposedly related to creation incentives. This article demonstrates that Professor Wagner's mathematical analysis is simply wrong and does not lead to any of the conclusions he reaches concerning the growth of open information. It also shows both the difficulties and the dangers of the lay use of the language of mathematics in resolving complex
 social problems even if one does the math correctly.
http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/dltr/articles/2007dltr0001.html

Internet 3.0: Identifying Problems and Solutions to the Network Neutrality Debate by ROB FRIEDEN (Pennsylvania State University)
This paper examines the network neutrality debate with an eye toward refuting and dismissing the many false and misleading claims and concentrating on the real problems occasioned by the Internet's third evolution. The paper accepts as necessary and proper many types of price and quality of service discrimination. However the paper identifies other types of hidden and harmful discrimination. The paper concludes with an identification of best practices in “good” discrimination that should satisfy most network neutrality goals without creating disincentives that might dissuade ISPs from building the infrastructure needed for Internet 3.0 services.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=962181

The Internet and the Project of Communications Law by SUSAN P. CRAWFORD (Cardozo Law School)
Abstract: The internet offers the potential for economic growth stemming from online human communications, but recent industry and government actions have disfavored these possibilities by treating the internet like a content-delivery supply chain. I recommend that the internet be at the center of communications policy and that laws affecting internet access be evaluated in terms of whether they further U.S. economic growth by facilitating increased emergent online diversity. The article criticizes the nearly exclusive focus of communications policy on the private economic success of infrastructure and “application” providers, and suggests that communications policy be focused on facilitating communications themselves.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=962594

Internet Think by SUSAN P. CRAWFORD (Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law)
Abstract: This essay suggests that how "the internet" is understood has substantial legal, social, and cultural consequences. Beginning in the 1940s, Netheads adopted an understanding of man-computer symbiosis that continues to be attractive to internet futurists. Later on, in the 1970s, Engineers addressed the architectural needs of the future in a concrete way, seeking to interconnect diverse networks. In recent years, the Telcos have increasingly taken the position that "the Internet" is no more than the sum of their privately-owned pipes and wires. These three different approaches to "the Internet" are now informing a complex and important public policy debate about "network neutrality."
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=962596

Rebooting Cybertort Law by MICHAEL L. RUSTAD & THOMAS KOENIG (Washington Law Review)
Abstract: Cyberspace provides an ideal legal environment for tortfeasors and online criminals because Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have no duty to mitigate harms caused by ongoing torts, crimes, and infringing acts. Courts have stretched Congress's express language in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act from the narrow purpose of immunizing ISPs as publishers to the expanded purpose of shielding them from all tort liability. This Article proposes imposing a limited duty of crae on ISPs to remove or block ongoing tortious activities on their srvices when they have been given actual notice. This reform will harmonize American ISP liability law with the European union's Electronic Commerce Directive, which imposes an affirmative duty on ISPs to take down objectionable materials. It also will unify U.S. law by creating procedures consistent with the takedown policy mandated by the Digital Copyright Act.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=961885

Authors v. Archivers: The Copyright Infringement Battle Over Web Pages by KINARI PATEL
Abstract: Archiving Internet content by storing old versions of Web pages is currently a growing trend because of the educational, cultural, and evidentiary value it provides. Google and the Internet Archive are two examples of Internet archives that provide this service. However, by storing old versions of Web pages without first obtaining the permission of authors, Internet archives infringe on the copyrights of authors. Under the fair use exception to copyright infringement, Internet archives may be legally authorized to archive old versions of Web pages without first obtaining the permission of authors in certain situations. However, this paper argues that, in all cases, the burden should be placed on authors to notify Internet archives that they wish for their Web pages to be excluded from the archive, rather than placing the burden on Internet archives to contact authors before they archive Web pages. By not overburdening Internet archives, the current opt-out policy
 is more advantageous than an opt-in policy because it allows Internet archives to continue to provide the benefits of archiving old Web pages to the public.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=965199

Corporate Complicity in Internet Censorship in China: Who Cares for the Global Compact or the Global Online Freedom Act? by SURYA DEVA (George Washington International Law Review)
This article critically evaluates the efficacy of two regulatory initiatives - the UN Global Compact and the US Global Online Freedom Act - in dealing with the specific challenges posed by doing business with or within China. In considering how much promise these two initiatives offer in ensuring that corporations take their human rights responsibilities seriously, two specific claims are advanced. First, that the Global Compact has failed not only in convincing US corporations to embrace, support and enact its ten principles, but also in ensuring that participant corporations seriously fulfill their undertaken commitments. Such a US-specific inquiry is especially relevant because many MNCs that have been sued for human rights abuses have a presence in the US. The second claim is that although home state extraterritorial regulation is a potential option to tame MNCs' abusive activities, it is unlikely that the Freedom Act, even if enacted, will achieve its goal of promoting
 Internet freedom globally by combating censorship by authoritarian foreign governments.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=964478

The Structure of Search Engine Law by JAMES GRIMMELMANN (Yale Law School Information Society Project)
Abstract: This article will provide a road map to the legal issues posed by Internet search engines. It will indicate what questions we must consider when thinking about search engines, and it will detail the interconnections among those questions. It will not endorse any particular normative framework for search. Nor will it recommend who should regulate search. Instead, it will provide the necessary foundation for informed decision-making, by whatever regulator and whatever its normative approach. Part I will explain how modern search engines function and describe the business environment within which they operate. Part II, the heart of the article, will present a descriptive analysis of the legal struggles over search, showing how questions of search policy, many of which have long been latent in different fields of Internet law, are increasingly confronting lawyers, courts, and regulators. Part III will then show, with five examples, how taking a broad view of search
 yields otherwise unavailable insights into pressing controversies. This is not to say that the end result must be a body of search-specific law, only to note that failing to consider the larger forces at work in search is antithetical to sensible policy-making.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=963118

Internet Jurisdiction: A Comparative Analysis (Harvard Law Review)
The difficult jurisdictional issues raised by the Internet have captured significant attention, prompting one federal judge to comment that, “[t]o paraphrase Gertrude Stein, as far as the Internet is concerned, not only is there perhaps ‘no there there,’ the ‘there’ is everywhere where there is Internet access.” This lack of clear borders creates tension between different interests. The media desire certainty regarding when online content creates a basis for personal jurisdiction so that they can avoid defamation lawsuits in distant places. Sovereign nations want to ensure that the ubiquitous nature of the Internet does not undermine their ability to enforce substantive laws balancing speech and reputation rights. This Part’s comparison of U.S. and Commonwealth cases reveals differing approaches to determining when to exercise jurisdiction over media defendants based on Internet content. U.S. courts have adopted a targeting test that requires purposefully
 directing activity at a forum as opposed to merely providing content accessible there. Courts in Commonwealth countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada, have based jurisdiction on foreseeability, exercising jurisdiction over any online media content that could harm a plaintiff’s reputation in the forum. Although these inconsistent jurisdictional tests are a matter of procedure, they stem from different substantive laws and from Commonwealth courts’ underlying unfriendliness to U.S. free speech protections. Media defendants have argued for special jurisdictional rules applicable to the Internet alone; however, any such call for reform must recognize that the procedural divergence results from entrenched substantive differences. Thus, this Part argues that absent an international agreement harmonizing the jurisdictional analysis, courts are not likely to adopt special Internet rules, and media groups will instead be compelled to turn to technological
 solutions.
http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/120/feb07/DEVO/DEVO_intro07.pdf

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CENSORSHIP
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au: Industry closes anti-coal website
THE mining industry has used copyright laws to close an anti-mining website launched by a small protest group in Newcastle.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/03/04/1172943275688.html

Egypt's bloggers test state media control (Reuters)
Egyptian bloggers have come into the spotlight, on the one hand as an important forum for political debate, on the other as the target of government attempts to limit their freedom of expression.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2870055620070304

Movement to free Kareem looks to UN
We've learned all too well by now that many parts of the globe won't tolerate any perceived insult to Islam, however unintentional. Invite cartoonists to draw Muhammad, as Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten did in 2005, or be one of the dozens of other publications that reprinted the caricatures in solidarity with Jyllands-Posten, and watch the death threats pour in and lethal rioting start as some Muslim organizations try to get the government to levy criminal charges.
http://hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1172877013129

Egyptian Blogger Appeals Prison Sentence (AP)
Lawyers filed an appeal Monday on behalf of a blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and Egypt's president.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/27/AR2007022700065.html
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DIGITAL DIVIDE
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ca: The Digital Divide: Is There A Solution?
Definition of the Digital Divide: The difference in opportunities available to people who have access to modern information technology and those who do not. Traditionally the working poor and homeless have been at a big disadvantage by not having access to the latest technology available. The disadvantages are many. Lack of access to information and being less competitive in the job market are two of the most significant.
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/03/04/064418.php

ie: ComReg report reveals a growing digital divide
The latest Trends Series survey, which was conducted by Amarach Consulting during November and December 2006, indicates that 45 percent of home internet users now have broadband subscriptions. This compares to 48 percent of home internet users who still access the web via dial-up.
http://www.enn.ie/frontpage/news-9943682.html

FastWeb founder turns his attention to Internet television and video-on-demand
In seven and a half years, Silvio Scaglia transformed FastWeb from a start-up with a plan to bring fiber-optic cables into houses from Milan to Palermo into a company with €1.3 billion in annual sales and 1.1 million clients.
http://iht.com/articles/2007/03/04/business/nettv05.php

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VoIP
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us: FCC: Local telephone carriers must connect to VOIP
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has ruled that incumbent local exchange carriers must connect to VoIP services, overruling two state public service commission opinions.
http://infoworld.com/article/07/03/02/HNlocalphonevoip_1.html

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