IIC discussions explore ways to combine a respect for privacy and protection of personal data and critical information infrastructures, whilst enabling government authorities to protect national security interests. The NSA-Snowden revelations have had a major impact on discussions of privacy. Whereas before the focus was on the relative validity of different security approaches adopted by USA and Europe. In the post-PRISM debate the need to re-build trust towards providers and governments emerges strongly.
The US House Judiciary Committee has launched an investigation into the market dominance of Silicon Valley’s biggest names, starting with a look at the impact of the tech giants’ platforms on news content, the media and the spread of misinformation online, reports Courthouse News.
A proposal by the UK’s security agency, GCHQ, that would enable eavesdropping on encrypted chat services has been condemned as a “serious threat” to digital security and human rights, reports the Guardian. “In an open letter signed by more than 50 companies, civil society organisations and security experts – including Apple, WhatsApp, Liberty and Privacy International – GCHQ was called on to abandon its so-called ‘ghost protocol’, and instead focus on ‘protecting privacy rights, cybersecurity, public confidence, and transparency’.
Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been billed as the biggest shake-up of data privacy laws since the birth of the web, notes Reuters.
Privacy, safety, security and etiquette in an era of big data and disruptive technology.
Google is under investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the country’s Privacy Commissioner following claims that it collects data from millions of Android smartphone users, who unwittingly pay their telecoms service providers for gigabytes consumed by the activity, reports Reuters.
The Australian attorney-general’s department (AGD) has argued in favour of extending Australia's telecoms interception laws from telcos to over the top providers, reports ZDNet.
Governments in Asia can expand the region’s digital economy and unlock further socio-economic benefits for their citizens by removing unnecessary restrictions on the movement of data internationally, according to a report by the GSMA.
A survey commissioned by the NSPCC, a UK child protection charity, reveals that 9 out of 10 parents support the regulation of social networks to make them legally responsible for protecting children, and 6 out of 10 adults do not think social networks protect children from sexual grooming and inappropriate content like self-harm and suicide.
On 3 April 2018, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), along with 93 civil society organisations from across the globe, sent a letter to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, requesting transparency and meaningful civil society participation in the Council of Europe’s negotiations of the draft Second Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime...
Jurisdictional issues, infrastructure and investment.
What policy and regulatory strategies are needed across Europe to drive roll-out, manage security risks and build trust?
As the pressure for a regulatory response to platform power grows, report raises questions over the role of a new regulatory body
There has been much discussion recently about the obligations of major internet players, particularly social media networks, to make more strenuous efforts to monitor the activity on their platforms. Welcome as they are, however many moderators the social networks hire, the idea that they can provide full protection for children is no more realistic than suggesting that we place police officers on the corner of every street.
One of the buzz-phrases in the current privacy debate is “privacy by design” or even, “privacy as a design experience”. The essence of this, logically enough, is that privacy should be “designed-in” to a service or product from the outset, rather than have to be bolted on afterwards once the implications have become clear.
Applying a ‘duty of care’ provides flexibility as well as protection
Professor Madeleine de Cock Buning Chairs the High Level Expert Group advising the EU Commission on Fake News and online disinformation and is Chair of The Regulatory Authority to the Media in the Netherlands.
In a recent seminar on smart vehicles, one delegate raised his hand and asked the OEMs on the panel, “I want a connected vehicle with all the benefits, but I don’t want you to know where I am”. To which came the reply, “buy a ‘67 Mustang”.
IIC Thailand Chapter is committed to facilitate discussions on digital ecosystem and digital transformation to the country and Southeast Asian region.
Seeking drastic fixes raises the spectre of unintended consequences.
We are moving from a hierarchical structure to a connected and networked society – from ‘Command-and-Control’ to ‘Connect-and-Collaborate’.
The right kind of regulation can result in the right kind of change.
As the world absorbs the impact of Europe’s GDPR, SONIA LIVINGSTONE asks if data protection can work for children’s privacy – or if a wider view is needed for all ages of user
July 2018, Volume 46 Issue 2
Protecting the online rights of children in the commercial sphere has become a pressing issue for policymakers, as UNICEF’s PATRICK GEARY explains.
April 2018, Volume 46 Issue 1
Illicit streaming devices have become the latest mainstream content piracy threat. CASBAA’s JOHN MEDEIROS says that policymakers need to act now
January 2018, Volume 45 Issue 4
The EU legislator has proposed banning mandatory non-personal data localisation to help unlock the data economy. While facilitating the free flow of such data within the EU is laudable, the proposal has a number of shortcomings, writes CATHAL FLYNN.
January 2018, Volume 45 Issue 4
The latest ransomware attacks should be a catalyst for a more strategic approach to cybersecurity, argues MALCOLM TAYLOR.
July 2017, Volume 45 Issue 2
Canada’s CRTC and the IIC kicked off discussion on international efforts to combat unwanted communications, as STEVEN HARROUN explains.
April 2017, Volume 45 Issue 1
Two major planks of US privacy regulation, including controversial new broadband rules, are discussed by AARON BURSTEIN and JOSHUA BERCU.
January 2017, Volume 44 Issue 4
There are few issues more fraught than how to deal with over the top services. ANDREAS GRÜNWALD and CHRISTOPH NÜSSING examine Europe’s draft code.
January 2017, Volume 44 Issue 4
As more people, especially the less well off, have only a smartphone to access the internet, there are signs that a new type of digital divide could develop. Ofcom’s Alison Preston describes new research carried out in the UK.
July 2016, Volume 44 Issue 02
With ulf pehrsson, Ericsson's head of government and industry relations
April 2016, Volume 44 Issue 01
Jean-Pierre Blais reports from Canada on 'discoverability' and the paradox of finding good television content in an age of seeming abundance
April 2016, Volume 44 Issue 01
A long overdue reform in European data protection law has finally taken shape, as Maurizio Mensi explains.
January 2016, Volume 43 Issue 04
Matt Hatton reviews the main regulatory trends in the world of M2M and the internet of things.
March 2015, Volume 43 Issue 01
With pressure mounting for new personal data privacy rules, Nancy Libin and Joshua Bercu assess the current state of play in the US and EU.
June 2015, Volume 43 Issue 02
With fake news - or rather, misinformation – running rife, there is an urgent need to establish trust and accountability in the media. The LSE’s ROS TAYLOR continues the discussion of this key issue.
April 2019, Volume 47 Issue 1
Views and new studies about privacy from researchers at Aalborg University, Denmark
June 2015, Volume 43 Issue 02
Amid the concern about the impact of fake news, echo chambers and filter bubbles, WILLIAM DUTTON and LALEAH FERNANDEZ find there is not such a big problem – and a solution lies in ‘nudge’ theory.
December/January 2019, Volume 46 Issue 4
Data privacy is rightly among the biggest concerns in the digital age but, as DANIEL SEPULVEDA argues from the industry perspective, a regulatory balance is needed between protection and the success of a data-driven economy.
October 2018, Volume 46 Issue 3
The major digital platforms face a crisis in trust from authorities and the public. TERRY FLEW takes a tour around the options for granting them probation
July 2018, Volume 46 Issue 2
On 13 June 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU“) published its ruling on the classification of Gmail in the EU following a request for a preliminary ruling from the German Courts. Gmail is a web-based email service, and is a type of “Over-The-Top” (“OTT”) service.
A proposal by the UK’s security agency, GCHQ, that would enable eavesdropping on encrypted chat services has been condemned as a “serious threat” to digital security and human rights, reports the Guardian. “In an open letter signed by more than 50 companies, civil society organisations and security experts – including Apple, WhatsApp, Liberty and Privacy International – GCHQ was called on to abandon its so-called ‘ghost protocol’, and instead focus on ‘protecting privacy rights, cybersecurity, public confidence, and transparency’.
Hadopi, the France’s copyright agency, and Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA), France’s media regulator, have conducted a joint study on the connected speaker market, which is an issue for both institutions. These issues are also of interest to other regulatory authorities, including telecoms regulator, ARCEP, the competition authority, and CNIL, the data privacy agency, which contributed to the work.
The US House Judiciary Committee has launched an investigation into the market dominance of Silicon Valley’s biggest names, starting with a look at the impact of the tech giants’ platforms on news content, the media and the spread of misinformation online, reports Courthouse News.
Top artificial-intelligence researchers are racing to defuse an extraordinary political weapon: computer-generated fake videos that could undermine candidates and mislead voters during the 2020 presidential campaign, reports the Washington Post.
“95% of parents want more information about online safety,” says Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, who has conducted research on parenting in the digital age. The first government agency in the world dedicated to online safety, eSafety produced the report ‘Parenting in the digital age’ to explore the experience of parents and carers raising children in a fast-paced connected world.
On 5 June 2019, the Court of Justice of the EU ("CJEU") published its ruling on the classification of SkypeOut in the EU following a request for a preliminary ruling from the Belgian Courts. Skype is a Voice over IP service ("VoIP") whereas the SkypeOut component is an interconnected VoIP service that allows the service to dial out to landline and mobile numbers.
San Francisco officials have voted to ban the use of facial recognition technology by city personnel, in a move to regulate tools that local Silicon Valley companies helped develop, reports Reuters.
Rwanda’s government is aiming to regulate social media content, a move which is intended to curb the spread of misinformation, according to the minister for ICT and innovation, Paula Ingabire, as AllAfrica reports.
Sharon White, chief executive of Ofcom, the UK regulator, has said that the small number of equipment suppliers has created systemic risks to the country’s networks that may need to be addressed with regulation. She made the remarks amid tensions with the US over whether Britain will permit equipment from Chinese vendor Huawei to be used for next-generation 5G telecom services, reports Bloomberg.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the primary privacy and data security enforcer in the US, has released its annual report highlighting its privacy and data security work for 2018.
Russian lawmakers have established “digital rights” in domestic law as the basis for the digital economy, and have also introduced a package of bills to tackle fake news, reports the Global Legal Post.
The UK’s House of Lords has called for the creation of a digital super-regulator to oversee the different bodies charged with safeguarding the internet and replace the “clearly failing” system of self-regulation by big technology companies, reports the Guardian.
A survey commissioned by the NSPCC, a UK child protection charity, reveals that 9 out of 10 parents support the regulation of social networks to make them legally responsible for protecting children, and 6 out of 10 adults do not think social networks protect children from sexual grooming and inappropriate content like self-harm and suicide.
The final report in the UK of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee’s 18-month investigation into disinformation and fake news has accused Facebook of purposefully obstructing its inquiry and failing to tackle attempts by Russia to manipulate elections, reports the Guardian.
Germany’s interior minister, Horst Seehofer, “has thrown his weight behind a proposal to reform Germany’s telecoms law to toughen security requirements on foreign network vendors”, reports Reuters, citing reports from the country.
A review by Dame Frances Cairncross into the sustainability of high-quality journalism in the UK has been published, making proposals “designed to encourage new models to emerge, with the help of innovation not just in technology but in business systems and journalistic techniques”.
The advocate general of the European Court of Justice has given his opinion on the “right to be forgotten” conflict between France and Google, and the opinion is relatively simple: France does not have the right to impose its own considerations on a company which operates outside its jurisdiction, notes Telecoms.com.
A recent paper by British academics from Southampton University claims that the internet is splitting into four distinct governance entities. They say that the internet is a fragile construction of hardware, software, standards and databases and is run by an ever-expanding range of private and public actors constrained only by voluntary protocols and subject to political pressure.
A test by noyb, a European non-profit organisation for privacy enforcement, shows violations of privacy law by most streaming services. In more than 10 test cases was able to identify violations of Article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by companies including Amazon, Apple, DAZN, Spotify and Netflix, and it has filed 10 strategic complaints against 8 companies.
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) has passed a record number of resolutions relevant for internet policy at its latest session, notes the Association for Progressive Communications (APC).
As of Dec. 21, 2020, the obligations of the current ePrivacy Directive will apply to instant messaging applications, email, internet phone calls and personal messaging provided through social media — collectively, over-the-top services — in addition to traditional telecom providers.
Wireless operators got what they were asking for when the FCC voted 3:1 to deny requests from Twilio and others to classify text messaging services as “telecommunications services”, which would subject them to harsher regulation, reports FierceWireless.
The 2018 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) held in Paris recently saw the first appearance at the annual event of a UN secretary general, and also a speech by Emmanuel Macron, in which he said the internet is “profoundly threatened” by cyber attacks, hate speech and disinformation, and by the internet giants.
The LSE Truth, Trust and Technology Commission at the London School of Economics has published a report, “Tackling the information crisis”, in which the key proposal is for an independent platform agency for the UK that would be a watchdog – rather than a regulator...
French president Emmanuel Macron has insisted that new laws are needed to limit and protect online content and the internet itself, reports the Register. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Paris, Macron made repeated calls for additional regulation, and complained about the “false alternative” of self-regulation or government control.
Giovanni Buttarelli, the European Data Protection Supervisor, has written that a “swarm of misinformation and misunderstanding surrounds the case for revising our rules on the confidentiality of electronic communications, otherwise known as e-privacy.
Nearly half of all cellphone calls in the US next year will come from scammers, according to First Orion, a company that provides phone carriers and their customers caller ID and call blocking technology. The Washington Post reports that the company “projects an explosion of incoming spam calls, marking a leap from 3.7% of total calls in 2017 to more than 29% this year, to a projected 45% by early 2019”
Governments in Asia can expand the region’s digital economy and unlock further socio-economic benefits for their citizens by removing unnecessary restrictions on the movement of data internationally, according to a report by the GSMA.
UK ministers have started drafting proposals for new laws to regulate social media and the internet, according to the Daily Telegraph. “The move has been prompted by widespread consumer concerns over a range of online harms including child abuse, bullying, fake news and internet addiction.
The “right to be forgotten” online is in danger of being transformed into a tool of global censorship through a test case at the European court of justice (ECJ), free speech organisations are warning.
Members of the Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) and the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) met on 3 Sep 2018 in Hong Kong to discuss the HK Securities and Financial Commission (FSC's) request for information around cloud and data storage.
TRAI, India’s telecoms regulator, has said the existing framework for protection of personal data by companies and service providers is insufficient and has recommended stricter rules to tackle data breaches, notes Reuters.
The US is losing ground as the internet’s standard-bearer in the face of aggressive European privacy standards and China’s draconian vision for a tightly controlled web, reports Politico. “The weakening of the American position comes after years of US lawmakers and presidents, including both Donald Trump and Barack Obama, backing the tech industry’s aversion to new regulations.
Amid concerns about increasingly sophisticated online threats, Singapore and France have pledged to beef up cooperation on cybersecurity and exchange ideas on regulatory approaches to safeguarding user data in the digital sphere.
European data regulators have torn up the latest proposal by internet overseer ICANN over its Whois data service, sending the organisation back to the drawing board for a third time, notes the Register.
A human rights campaigner has urged the Malaysian government to form a taskforce of officials and concerned citizens for discussions on changes to the Communications and Multimedia Act, reports Free Malaysia Today.
Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, has called for regulation of facial recognition software in the US, reports VentureBeat. “In a democratic republic, there is no substitute for decision making by our elected representatives regarding the issues that require the balancing of public safety with the essence of our democratic freedoms.
Germany’s top telecoms regulator has set its sights on US technology groups such as Google and Facebook, insisting that providers of messaging and email services should be regulated just like ordinary telecoms companies, reports the Financial Times.
On the heels of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Europe is gearing up for its next big privacy push, this time taking aim at data collection within messaging apps. But critics contend the proposed law goes too far, potentially stifling innovation and hurting profits, according to an article in OWI Insight.
EU negotiators have sealed an agreement to allow non-personal data to move freely across the bloc and ban national laws that require companies to store data within a country’s borders, reports EurActiv.
In a 5-4 ruling, the US Supreme Court has decided that the government generally needs a warrant in order to access cell site location information, which is automatically generated whenever a mobile phone connects to a cell tower and is stored by wireless carriers for years, reports Wired.
The European Data Protection Supervisor, Giovanni Buttarelli, has set an agenda to tackle the “unbalanced ecosystem” being created in the digital economy. In a blog post, he has strong words for the big platform players: “The digital information ecosystem farms people for their attention, ideas and data in exchange for so called ‘free’ services.
Google is under investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the country’s Privacy Commissioner following claims that it collects data from millions of Android smartphone users, who unwittingly pay their telecoms service providers for gigabytes consumed by the activity, reports Reuters.
The Australian attorney-general’s department (AGD) has argued in favour of extending Australia's telecoms interception laws from telcos to over the top providers, reports ZDNet.
Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been billed as the biggest shake-up of data privacy laws since the birth of the web, notes Reuters.
On 3 April 2018, the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), along with 93 civil society organisations from across the globe, sent a letter to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, requesting transparency and meaningful civil society participation in the Council of Europe’s negotiations of the draft Second Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime...
The UK House of Lords Communications Committee has invited contributions to an inquiry on the regulation of the internet, under which the Committee will explore how the regulation of the internet should be improved, and whether specific regulation is required or whether the existing law is adequate.
Working Party 29 (WP29), the group that unites European data protection authorities, has announced “its full support” for investigations by national privacy authorities into the collection and use of personal data by and through social media.
A paper published by Brookings looks at the importance of cross-border data flows, taking Asia as a model, and why they need regulating to stimulate the digital economy.
The European Commission is proposing “a three-pronged approach to increase public and private investment in artificial intelligence (AI), prepare for socioeconomic changes, and ensure an appropriate ethical and legal framework.”
On 25 May the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force for the 28 member states, but the impact is already far wider as the regulation affects any organisation that keeps data on an EU citizen, which includes all the global internet giants.
An item in the law blog, Out-Law.com, notes that EU law makers are scrutinising the issue of metadata processing in the context of new EU laws on privacy and electronic communications (the e-privacy regulation). The Bulgarian presidency of the Council of Ministers has published a document that has highlighted that there are different views across national governments in the EU on the rules that should apply to metadata processing.
The European Commission’s high-level expert group on fake news and disinformation spread online has produced a report that suggests a definition of the phenomenon and makes a series of recommendations.
The digitisation of the power supply will make it vulnerable due to the increasing risk of error in the software, and not only as a result of cyberattacks, reports Telecom Paper, noting a report by the Dutch Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli).
A US federal appeals court has rolled back rules intended to deter irritating telemarketing robocalls, saying they were too broad, notes the Washington Post.
The French government has proposed legislation on cybersecurity that requires telecoms operators and online service providers to play a more active role in protecting the country's communications, reports Telecompaper.
The European Commission says social media companies need to do more to respond to the requests, made last March by the Commission and member states’ consumer authorities, to comply with EU consumer rules.
Telecoms and law professor Rob Frieden has written about a US National Security Council initiative that identifies the security and public safety benefits in having a government owned 5G wireless network leased by commercial ventures.
Experts on the security implications of emerging technologies have written a report that sounds the alarm about the potential malicious use of artificial intelligence (AI) by rogue states, criminals, and terrorists.
Australian agencies and organisations will be obligated by law to report data breaches under the Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme from 22 February 2018.
The Dutch government says it will come out this year with a strategy to help entrepreneurs and people in the Netherlands to benefit from the digital economy, notes Telecompaper. Secretary of State Mona Keijzer stated in an opinion that digitisation is not only about economics, but also touches on relationships in society, on safety and on accessibility.
The UAE's telecoms regulator has clarified that there is no change in its policy towards voice over internet protocol (VoIP) applications, following complaints by users that phone and video service Skype had been disrupted, reports The National.
Experts in information and communication technology say enforcing data protection laws will boost growth in Africa’s digital economy, reports The Cable.
As expected, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted on party lines “to restore the longstanding, bipartisan light-touch regulatory framework that has fostered rapid internet growth, openness, and freedom for nearly 20 years”.
Bulgaria will focus its attention on speeding up negotiations on the European Communications Code when it takes over the 6 month rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers in January, notes EurActiv.
China is willing to deepen global cooperation in the digital economy to gain new momentum and expand global economic growth, the head of the country’s internet regulatory body has said.
Certain smartwatches for children can no longer be sold in Germany as some of these models are equipped with a “wiretapping” function, reports Deutsche Welle. Germany’s Federal Network Agency, or Bundesnetzagentur, announced the ban saying that these watches can be classed as ‘unauthorised transmitters’.
The federal parliament of Somalia has passed a communications act that seeks to streamline the country's telecoms sector and tackle the growing cybercrimes in the country, reports the Horn Observer.
A review by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) evidence group, made up of researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Middlesex University and the University of Central Lancashire, has highlighted the major risks, opportunities and emerging trends for children online.
The European Commission is seeking to give police greater powers to decrypt private messages as part of a wider proposal to crackdown on criminals and terrorists, reports EUobserver.
Nine months after the UK government commissioned an independent review into artificial intelligence (AI), the authors have revealed their findings, reports Wired.
Companies must tell employees in advance if their work email accounts are being monitored without unduly infringing their privacy, the European Court of Human Rights said in a ruling on defining the scope of corporate email snooping, reports Reuters.
US tech giants are back in Europe’s spotlight, reports the Financial Times. Facebook and Google are both in the headlines over sanctions from European authorities, with Google kicking off its fight against a €2.4bn EU fine for abusing its market dominant position.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US says it cannot stop computer makers from selling computers that inject ads into webpages to US consumers, notes Ars Technica.
Startups hoping to sell health tracking devices and software to corporate customers are worried European regulators will torpedo their business model, reports Bloomberg.
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