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…
This is the text for my presentation at re:publica 18. The slides can be found here. I have presented at re:publica for the last couple of years, and usually I try to do so with a work in progress paper at the early stages of research, and this is no 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…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
Last Sunday night Citizenfour, the Laura Poitras documentary about Edward Snowden, won the Oscar for best documentary. This is a great development for those of us who believe that the Snowden revelations constitute one of the most important events of our time, and hopefully it will prompt a wider examination Read more…
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. Read more…
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has held its 50th meeting in London this week. ICANN is one of the bodies that play an important role in running that decentralised, disconnected mishmash of networks that we call the Internet. ICANN is in charge of some of the Read more…