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Iptegrity.com is the PhD website of Monica Horten.
I started my PhD in February 2007 and I am now completing my thesis. I am at the University of Westminster. I belong to the Communications and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) within the School of Media, Arts and Design (otherwise known as MAD!). My supervisors are Dr. Maria Michalis and Professor Jean Seaton.* I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Australian National University (ANU), a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Masters Degree with Distinction in Communications Policy from the University of Westminster. *While Maria Michalis was on maternity leave, my supervisory team temporarily changed to Professor Jean Seaton and Professor Steven Barnett. |
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The working title for my doctoral research is 'The Political Battle for Online Content in the European Union'. In very simple terms, it is about the content - news, pictures, TV programmes, movies, music - that we get over the Internet - or indeed, that we put there ourselves. And it looks at how companies and governments are arguing over what we are - and are not - allowed to do with it. I am interested in how we deal with the Internet at a political level in Europe. |
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Will EU net neutrality policy throw away civil rights? |
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 Limiting conditions from SFR in the small print How serious is the European Commission in getting to grips with net neutrality? Does the net neutrality consultation mean that the EU will take on the citizens' concerns for civil rights and freedom of expression, as they were expressed in the Telecoms Package debate of 2009? Earlier this month, the European Commission launched a consultation on net neutrality. The fact that this consultation exists at all is due to the power of citizen lobbying during the progress of the Telecoms Package through the EU legislature in 2009. That is when the issue of net neutrality became ‘hot' in policy terms. There was a lobbyists' fight over amendments to the Telecoms Package which arguably eroded net neutrality. The outcome of 4 November 2009 produced a demand from the European Parliament to the Commission to address the net neutrality formally in policy terms. The Commission has acknowledged this in its consultation document. The upshot is that EU policy-makers have been forced to drop their old mantra which used to sound something like this: " because there is competition in European telecoms, therefore we do not need to address net neutrality". Competitive markets do indeed put European policy on a different footing from US policy. However, EU policy-makers appear now to recognise that net neutrality issues do arise even in a competitive telecoms marketplace, such as the EU (theoretically at least) is. The end-to-end principle and open architecture on which the Internet is based, can break down in a competitive environment, and it can do so in a variety of different, unpredictable, ways. The European Commission's consultation on net neutrality begins with the premise that Write Comment (0 comments) |
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DE Act: could the UK Parliament revisit it? |
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The Digital Economy Act, and the issues raised by it, will be addressed by a new Committee of the UK Parliament. At its first meeting yesterday, it was rights-holders v citizens. But where were the telcos? The first meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Digital Economy (APPG - Digital Economy) was held yesterday in the ancient and hallowed halls of the Palace of Westminster. As befits this primordial fight waged by the rights-holders, the poised and practiced music industry lobbyists squared up to the largely volunteer citizens' representatives across the room. The rights-holders were for once not the dominant group, finding their presence matched by an equally strong citizen presence consisting of Write Comment (0 comments) |
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ACTA will stall till Autumn, says European Commissioner |
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In spite of the cloak and dagger secrecy with which the European Commission is trying to shroud its ACTA negotiators, Trade Commissioner Karel de Grucht let slip a few nuggets of information on Tuesday afternoon - including comments on 3-strikes measures. Speaking in a hearing with the European Parliament's Civil Liberties committee, which was public, Commissioner De Grucht said that he did not expect much progress at the next round of the ACTA (Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement) negotiations - which will be in Washington in late July. And he further predicted that there was unlikely to be movement on ACTA before September. The reason for the stalling is a difference of Write Comment (0 comments) |
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ACTA Transparency: EU Commission draws the curtains |
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Is it "transparency" when a confidential briefing is given behind closed doors? In a post-Lisbon era, can the Commission continue to bully the Parliament in this way? The European Parliament was briefed on ACTA (formally known as the Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement) yesterday. That is the official position anyway. But it wasn't a briefing that would generally be recognised as being part of a democratic process. The briefing was given by the European Commission's ACTA negotiators, including the infamous Luc Devigne from DG Trade. It was given to the Parliament's INTA (Trade) Committee. However, if MEPs wanted to hear what the Commission had to say, they had to go behind closed doors to hear it. And they had to first agree that they would maintain confidentiality and not release the information publicly. It is understood that the Write Comment (0 comments) |
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EU gets wires crossed over ACTA transparency |
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A renewed call from Green MEPs for ACTA transparency crosses with a reply from the Commission that maintains its old, discredited line that ACTA will remain within the EU acquis. Last week, the Green group in the European Parliament issued a call for the European Commission to suspend all negotiation on the Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) until there is a proper agreement in place for full transparency. By ‘transparency' the Greens mean that the negotiating documents can be made public. The Greens stress their concerns that ACTA will infringe citizens' fundamental rights and freedoms and that it will impose some form of graduated response measures. But is the Commission listening? Also last week, a written answer from the Trade Commissioner Karel de Grucht, crossed with the transparency call. The Commission's answer arguably dodged Write Comment (0 comments) |
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Ofcom: net neutrality or net destruction? |
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The UK telecoms regulator has opened a consultation entitled "Traffic management and ‘net neutrality'" which provides eerie echoes of the EU Telecoms Package debate from 18 months ago. The Ofcom consultation makes no pretence at preserving the neutrality of the Internet, and pushes away any debate on the interests of citizens - saying that this is a matter for government and not the regulator. Ofcom's focus is on the network operators' right to use traffic management technology to block, throttle, shape, prioritise and degrade users' communications. Reading the consultation closely, Ofcom is not consulting on whether we should permit traffic management, or even whether any limits should be put on it. Rather, the consultation concerns Write Comment (0 comments) |
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UK ISPs demand judicial review of 3-strikes law |
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Two of the six largest Internet Service Providers in the UK are mounting a legal challenge the 3-strikes law known as the Digital Economy Act (DE Act for short). TalkTalk, which has been consistent in its opposition to the DE Act, and BT, which has previously not taken action, have combined forces to file papers in the High court. They are asking for a judicial review of the DE Act, which they claim failed to follow the correct legal procedures in respect of EU law. They do not specify the names of the directives, but they would appear to be referring to Write Comment (0 comments) |
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European Parliament report on IPR Enforcement stalled |
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A report that attempts to force the hand of the European Parliament on IPR enforcement - including a possible weakening of the Telecoms Package outcome - has been temporarily stalled. The Gallo report dealing with copyright and IPR enforcement has been stalled following a vote today in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The Parliament voted 140 to 135 in favour of postponing it until September, which will allow more time for scrutiny of the text. The Gallo report, named after the rapporteur, Marielle Gallo, is not a legislative proposal, and will not create any new laws. But it is important because it acts as a lever in the political processes which will establish the European Parliament's position on IPR enforcement. It may be used to guide MEPs in future votes on copyright and IPR enforcement matters, including the Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) . The Gallo report sets out a position which broadly favours stronger enforcement measures for IPR, including trademarks and counterfeit, and for copyright on the Internet. 'Enforcement' means measures such as 3-strikes, website blocking, and other restrictions on Internet usage against allegations of copyright infringement. The report is written in the obscure language which is now becoming a familiar pattern, and it deals with Write Comment (0 comments) |
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Europe's telcos oppose 'outside - in' ACTA threat |
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The Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) that was discussed this week in a secret meeting in Switzerland, threatens fundamental principles of European telecoms law, in particular the ‘mere conduit' provision, according to Europe's leading telecommunications companies. It's an ‘outside-in' change to EU law by international treaty, they say. An alliance of European telecoms groups has taken an unusually strong stand against ACTA. The alliance is led by the economically powerful ETNO, whose members include Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom and BT, and ETNO is joined by European associations of ISPs, mobile operators, e-commerce and Internet companies, and cable companies. In a joint statement, they say that ACTA could jeopardise key provisions in the acquis communitaire including the important mere conduit principle which underpins the Internet in Europe. They advise that ACTA contains a series of provisions which contradict the EU acquis, and which would also hinder Write Comment (0 comments) |
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Give us State subsidies, say UK film-makers |
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UK film-makers want to retain their government subsidies - and not pay back. Given that they get massive tax breaks too, and they want Internet companies to contribute to the cost of censorship of copyrighted content, should they get so much public funding? In these austere times, a group of UK film producers is pleading with the government to subsidise film production. The film industry already gets government funding which is effectively a loan, as it has to be re-paid out of revenues. The film producers are now asking to be able to keep the money. A letter to the Daily Telegraph, from the film producers club known as PACT, suggests "that the public sector should leave any returns with the production companies" and not ask for any money to be returned to the public purse. But their pleadings hide the real problem in the film industry, which emerged through a Write Comment (0 comments) |
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European Parliament duped over sex offences Declaration |
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MEPS are being deceived into signing a Written Declaration which they believe is a statement on child abuse and sexual violence against women. In fact, it is a Trojan Horse for extending the Data Retention Directive. It reflects gutter-lobbying of the worst kind. The Declaration from two EPP members, Tiziano Motti (Italy) and Anna Záborská (Slovakia) purports to be a call for setting up a European Early Warning System for sex offenders. It is not a policy proposal but is trying to get the European Parliament to establish a policy position, which could be used to pressure the Commission into drafting policy. However, what it actually wants is for Directive 2006/24 EC to be extended. But it does not provide the full name of this Directive. If it did provide the name, the objective of the Written Declaration would be revealed. Apparently, 324 MEPs have already signed without bothering to check. Directive 2006/24 EC is the Data Retention Directive which mandates ISPs and telephone companies to collect and retain communications traffic data for Write Comment (0 comments) |
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DE Act: does the UK qualify for a 2-tier copyright regime? |
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A qualifying copyright holder is a new concept under the Digital Economy Act. But what is it? And is Ofcom introducing a two-tier copyright regime, where those with the valuable rights get privileges and individual authors get side-lined? Ofcom's Initial Obligations Code, the euphemistically obscure title for the UK's 3-strikes policy, includes something called a Qualifying Copyright Holder. The definition is as obtuse and incoherent as everything in the Ofcom document, which outlines the implementation of the Digital Economy Act. The draft order defines a "qualifying Copyright Owner" as one who has "has given an estimate of the number of copyright infringement reports it intends to make in a notification period to a qualifying internet service provider". And it adds that the qualifying copyright owner has to meet other obligations for paying towards the costs of the 3-strikes measures. What it means is that the only rights-holders who will ‘benefit' under the 3-strikes measures are those who have a Write Comment (0 comments) |
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"Any competent authority in charge of making restrictions on users' Internet access, will have to give users the opportunity to take part in a prior, fair procedure, where the principle of presumption of innocence and right to privacy are fully respected. Alejo Vidal Quadras, MEP | |
La Quadrature du Net |
Don't disconnect us!
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AK Zensur |
Open Rights Group
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Exgae |
GetUp Action for Australia |
...AK Vorrat - against data retention
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