The term “ghost protocol” might remind you of a famous blockbuster starring Tom Cruise, but here it applies to a new proposal by the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the United Kingdom. Read the rest of this entry »
Putting children at the centre: is re-designing the digital environment possible? – Mariya Stoilova and Sonia Livingstone
23 06 2019
Children (and adults alike) seem to be ‘playing tag’ with a sophisticated and fast-changing digital environment whose privacy parameters are hard to define and consequences even harder to predict. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Children's Rights, ICO, LSE Media Policy Project Blog, Mariya Stoilova, Sonia Livingstone
Categories : Data Protection, Government and Policy
Data Protection: ICO reports on Adtech and Real Time Bidding, finds that data protection laws are being ignored
22 06 2019
On 20 June 2019 the Information Commissioner’s Office published its Update Report into Adtech and Real Time Bidding [pdf] dealing with the use of personal data the real time bidding (“RTB”) process in online advertising. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Adtech, ICO, Surveillance Capitalism
Categories : Data Protection, Government and Policy
Australia: Four laws that need urgent reform to protect both national security and press freedom – Denis Muller
21 06 2019
In a perfect world, Australia would introduce constitutional protections for freedom of the press. But since the chances of that are next to zero, it might be more productive to look instead at what might be done to make the existing web of secrecy laws less repressive. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Denis Muller, The Conversation
Categories : Australia, Freedom of expression, Government and Policy, Journalism
The surprising post-election debate around online freedom of expression in Germany – Nora Kroeger
5 06 2019
One week before the EU elections, the German YouTuber Rezo published an almost hour-long video titled “The destruction of the CDU”. In the video, the influencer – who usually posts light-hearted apolitical content such as YouTube challenges – sets out a broad range of arguments why the disregard of scientific evidence and resulting incompetent policy-making by the German parties CDU, SPD (and also far-right AFD) should convince citizens to vote for other parties. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: LSE. Media Policy Project, Nora Kroeger
Categories : Freedom of expression, Germany, Government and Policy, Media Regulation, Social Media
Consultations on Online Harms and Corporate Transparency: Reminder to Readers
31 05 2019
There are, at present, two open Government consultations of particular interest to readers of Inforrm. These deal with “Online Harms” and with “Corporate Transparency”. Responses must be lodged before the consultation deadlines. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Consultation, Online Harms White Paper
Categories : Government and Policy, Legal
What we know about how political parties use Facebook advertising and what we don’t – Katharine Dommett and Sam Power
29 05 2019
Over the past five years, Facebook has exploded as a site for political advertising and election campaigning. Donald Trump, Jeremy Corbyn and Angela Merkel have all used it to promote their ideas. Yet despite the increasing prominence of Facebook, we currently know very little about how much political parties actually spend on the platform. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Facebook, Katharine Dommett, Political Advertising, Sam Power, The Conversation
Categories : Government and Policy, Social Media
Case Law: R (Privacy International) v Investigatory Powers Tribunal, Parliament’s “ouster” of High Court judicial review powers is not binding – Omar Qureshi, Dan Tench and Cathryn Hopkins
23 05 2019
On 15 May 2019, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the case of R (on the application of Privacy International) v Investigatory Powers Tribunal ([2019] UKSC 22), deciding by a slim majority of 4:3 that an “ouster clause” in section 67(8) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (“RIPA”) that purports to exclude from challenge or appeal any decision of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (“IPT”), does not prevent a judicial review challenge based on an error of law. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Cathryn Hopkins, Dan Tench, IPT, Omar Qureshi, Privacy International
Categories : Caselaw, Government and Policy, Legal
The ‘Christchurch Call’ is just a start. Now we need to push for systemic change – Kevin Veale
17 05 2019
The “Christchurch Call” summit has made specific progress, with tech companies and world leaders signing an agreement to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. The question now is how we collectively follow up on its promise. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Christchurch, Kevin Veale, The Conversation
Categories : Government and Policy, Internet, Social Media
What the UK’s Online Harms white paper teaches us about internet regulation – Richard Haggart and Natasha Tusikov
22 04 2019
Amidst a growing consensus that social media and online platforms must be subject to public regulation, the United Kingdom has stepped up to do just that. In doing so, it has made a lot of people very angry. Read the rest of this entry »
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Online Harms White Paper, Richard Haggart and Natasha Tusikov
Categories : Canada, Government and Policy, Internet, Media Regulation, Social Media
