Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten. 

I write bespoke briefs and reports. Please get in touch if you'd like to know more.

 I am  a published author and independent tech policy analyst. My published works include 'The Closing of the Net' (Polity 2016) and other books on the politics of the Internet. I holds a PhD in EU communications policy from the University of Westminster, where I investigated legal changes around the enforcement of copyright on the Internet in the EU.  I continue to specialise in the field of content online, focussing on human rights issues. I have recently investigated Facebook shadow bans, and am currently looking into the UK's Online Safety Bill. From 2012-2020,  I was a Visiting Fellow at LSE. I have  presented my research in the European Parliament and at conferences around Europe. I served as an independent expert on the Council of Europe Committee on Internet Freedoms, where I participated in the drafting of two legal instruments. From 2015-2018, I worked on capacity building programmes in the field of Internet and human rights, funded by the Council of Europe, EU and UNDP, in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

For many years before began my academic research, I was a telecoms journalist, writing for the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph, among others. I was an early adopter of the Internet and followed the introduction of the EU Single Market in the telecoms sector.

I am currently on the Advisory Council of the Open Rights Group. 

 This website Iptegrity.com, began as an online cv with a blog, but the blog grew exponentially through my research on copyright enforcement online and related issues about content filtering. Since that time these issues have entered the mainstream of policy-making. What we're seeing now has its roots back 10-15 years ago. My academic research addresses the back-story for today's policy debates.  I bring that knowledge to bear when I look at contemporary legislative proposals. My research methods are able to link the text to the power battles, and map the policy changes.

 In a nutshell, Iptegrity offers analysis of  European tech policy.  IP is Internet Protocol and IP is Intellectual Property - hence the name. Integrity is, of course, a quality we would like to see in politics. Using an innovative, cross-disciplinary approach,  Iptegrity provides insights into online content  and  copyright policies and  related issues such as platform accountability, net neutrality, IPR enforcement, and Internet blocking.  Iptegrity has  a core readership among the Brussels policy community.  Its fans include  lawyers, academics, policy-makers and citizens, and it has been  is cited in the  media (see Media Quotes for examples).

Since  2017, Iptegrity  has also discussed  aspects of Britain's exit from the European Union (Brexit). It  focussed on the process. In 2022, Brexit is far from done. In fact, we are only just about to see its true effects this year, as the UK begins to implement full border controls and in other places, seeks to finallly rip us away from EU law. My research methodology analyses policy changes through the lens of the political processes, and seeks to understand the influencing factors by analysing the actors and shapers operating in policy venues and initiatives. It is transferrable from the topics I have previously researched, into the Brexit sphere. 

My book A Copyright Masquerade: How Corporate Lobbying Threatens Online Freedoms was published by Zed Books in 2013. My first book The Copyright Enforcement Enigma - Internet politics and the 'Telecoms Package'  was published in December 2011  by Palgrave Macmillan.  I  have been an invited speaker  at  conferences around Europe.

My  PhD thesis was  entitled The Political Battle for Online Content in the European Union . I   researched it at  the University of Westminster and defended my thesis in September 2010.  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.

My academic papers, as well as the papers which published here on Iptegrity.com, have been cited by scholars worldwide.  I have presented a number of conferences on Net Neutrality and  Copyright - see My Presentations for examples. I am a journalist by training, and have written on telecoms, Internet and computing for many years. My  portfolio of published work goes back a long way and includes The Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times, The Australian, and a large number of IT and telecoms trade publications.  See my Published Work (via menu) for examples.

Iptegrity.com  does not receive funding from any organisations and is entirely produced by me. It is released under a Creative Commons non-commercial  licence.  I am grateful to those who have referenced it, and would respectfully ask you to acknowledge me with the correct citation. If you would like to use any of my articles commercially,  please contact me. 

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