There has been a lot of soul-searching in mainstream media in the past week, following Shane Smith‘s scathing health check at this year’s MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh international TV festival. The lecture should be obligatory viewing for anyone interested in media in general, but also for those of us […]
John Perry Barlow’s A Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace was published 20 years ago. While it is something that tends to concern mostly Internet regulation theorists, it is surprising just how relevant it continues to be. The text usually deserves a mention in some of the most cited works on […]
I like telling stories, and today I bring you a story in space and time, involving knitting, 3D printing, over-blown intellectual property claims, and sharks. I hope that it will all make sense. The story begins in 2008 during the reign of David Tennant as the 10th Doctor. An episode […]
It has been a bad week for sharing economy app Uber. First the city of Delhi banned Uber because of a rape allegation, and now a judge in Spain has also banned the service. A judge in Madrid has allowed a cease and desist injunction from the Madrid Taxi Association. […]
Costa Rica, like so many other countries, heavily regulates taxi services; this means that the government gives out a limited number of taxi certifications and licence plates and requires the use of a taxi meter. These requirements are designed to ensure a certain level of protection to consumers, as well […]
For many of us interested in Internet Regulation, cyber-libertarianism is that wacky and archaic theory that is described at the start of a presentation, sort of like Geocities pages and Myspace profiles. “Look at what those naïve early Internet theorists believed, and isn’t that animated dancing baby hideous?” The cyber-libertarian […]
Turkey declared war on the Internet this week when its regime decided that it did not like the portrayal of its leader in social media. Accusing them of bias, the Telecommunication’s Department issued a directive ordering the immediate blocking of Twitter across its territory. The reason for the ban was […]
I’ve been reading and watching with interest a UK Channel 4 report on the popular virtual world Habbo Hotel. For those unfamiliar with the story, Channel 4 News got a female producer to pose as an 11-year old girl for 2 months, who complains that she was subjected to extreme […]
Back in November 2011 the US Department of Justice announced its continuing program of domain name seizures under the authority of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. At the same time, ICE removed the domain from 150 sites allegedly infringing copyright. Back then, I felt that this would be […]
Imagine that you are employed by Twitter, and decide to go to Thailand for your vacations. You are really looking forward to your trip, so you obviously tweet about it in advance. When leaving, you engage in typical Twitter banter about delayed flights, airport lounges and the indignities of modern […]