The Internet has been abuzz with the arrest in France of Telegram’s creator Pavel Durov. Details are still sketchy, but French judiciary authorities have issued a press release with some of the charges, these include administering an online platform used to conduct illegal activities such as money laundering, organised crime, Read more…
People involved in the Internet Regulation area have a recurring joke that the field is like being stuck in some form of digital Groundhog Day, in which we are re-living 1997 all over again. This is usually because we get to re-litigate some of the early debates regarding internet regulation Read more…
Elon Musk is buying Twitter for $44 billion USD. Surely. Certainly. Maybe. It’s complicated. Regardless, the news have exploded in tech and mainstream news, everyone has a take. Musk announced that he would be a champion of free speech, prompting cheers from the right (who think that this means that Read more…
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…