One of my favourite phrases from Gabriel García Márquez can be found in The Autumn of the Patriarch, and reads: “El día que la mierda tenga algún valor, los pobres nacerán sin culo.” (The day shit has any value, the poor will be born without an ass”. I was reminded Read more…
The events of last week require no introduction. The world looked in shock as the QAnon-MAGA mob stormed the US Capitol, disrupting the certification process for the US election. Disbelief, anger, sadness, in some circles. In others glee at the decay of a once great democracy. For me it felt Read more…
During my university years in Costa Rica, I used to be quite involved in student politics. You know, the usual stuff, marches, protesting, political parties, advocacy, but mostly sitting around talking about politics at the Law School’s cafeteria. I used to have quite a good collection of t-shirts, some with Read more…
For many of us who are interested in network architecture and Internet Regulation, the question of decentralization always tends to come up. The Internet was designed as a decentralized network, this means, a system where there is no central decision-making point of how information is shared. A decentralized system tends Read more…
It’s been an eventful couple of weeks for YouTube specifically, and for Internet moderation in general. It all started with YouTube’s controversial decision not to ban a famous content creator for instigating anti-gay and racist abuse. Then they were applauded in some circles for banning a number of neo-Nazi and Read more…
It’s no secret that many of the organisations involved in governing the Internet have had a strong involvement with US interests, both public and private. The Internet started as a US military project, and that country remained influential in key decision-making bodies, but most importantly, the Internet grew out of Read more…
There is an overwhelming narrative at the heart of the current push for Internet regulation, and it is that the Internet is like the Wild West, and unregulated anarchic cesspit filled with filth, terrorism, abuse, and Nazis. At every corner teenagers are presented with self-abuse images prompting them to commit Read more…
The UK government has now released its awaited Online Harms White Paper., detailing some potential changes to the law regulating intermediaries to try to curb damaging material found on the Internet. To say that the white paper has been controversial would be an understatement. While there are specific problems with Read more…
It would be fair to say that the Christchurch terrorist attack has been one of the most shocking events in recent history, not only because of the heinous act itself, but because the perpetrator live-streamed the attack on Facebook, and the video has then been shared countless times online. After Read more…
The Internet was built on a series of relatively simple ideas. Decentralisation, resilience, content and transport neutrality. But from the start, one of the most important elements was that all content would be similarly available everywhere, because there would be no way to stop it. An open and free internet Read more…