I could be fabulously wealthy right now. When I first wrote about Bitcoin, the price was $14.65 USD, and as of writing, the price is hovering just above $12,500 after undergoing a few ups and downs since December. If I had bought 10 BTC that day for a $146.50 USD Read more
Digital colonialism describes the domination of Western companies in the provision of digital services in developing countries. These tend to be overwhelmingly US-based, and can be found in messaging, social media, search, music, storage, hosting, and domain names. While other names have been used to describe the phenomenon, the term Read more
I have just listened to the latest episode of the excellent podcast “This American Life”, which dealt with the story of a monkey that took a selfie in the jungles of Indonesia, and David Slater, the photographer who made the portrait famous around the world. The podcast recounts the story Read more
Where do things happen online? This is the eternal question of Internet regulation. While we like to think of the Internet as a global medium, increasingly we are faced with a regulatory clampdown and real-world solutions to online incidents. The latest decision dealing with online jurisdiction comes in the shape Read more
I’ve just finished reading “Kill All Normies” by Angela Nagle, a thoroughly enjoyable experience for anyone who is interested in Internet culture wars and how politics is shaping and being shaped by various online tribes. The title comes from the name given to normal people in some online chatrooms, particularly Read more
So, the long-running legal saga starring a photographer, a monkey and an animal rights organisation has finally come to an end when both parties (not the monkey) have reached a settlement. While it is not common to learn the particulars of such an agreement, lawyers for PETA have said that Read more
One of the most over-used (yet true) legal comparisons in Internet regulation studies is to contrast the European and US approaches to freedom of speech when it comes to cyberspace. The United States favours an almost unlimited view of freedom of speech, while Europe has put in place large caveats Read more
This may seem like an odd title given the fact that I write a blog and I also have an active social media presence. But the question of public engagement is one that does come up often in academic circles, where we are increasingly encouraged to generate impact and communicate Read more
Amongst one of the most archaic legal arguments one can engage in, the question of whether free software licences are contracts or mere licences is up there with similar arcane questions about monkeys having rights. Thankfully I seem to be a specialist in those exact types of questions. A few Read more
This question is as old as the Internet itself. It is often remarkable just how people behave differently when they are online, often under the guise of anonymity. The Internet allows us to become different people, to behave in ways that we cannot often behave in everyday lives. This can Read more