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Policy matters

Policy does matter. We may think that the Internet is a free digital environment, where no laws apply but there are many cases which contradict this notion.

In this section of Iptegrity.com, I  report on EU policy related to the Internet and online content, in particular, where policy intiatives affect   access to film, music and television, and I highlight issues for the  policy debate in relation to the Internet.  For 2008-2009, copyright enforcement has been the hot topic, with net neutrality emerging as well, in 2009.   My focus is on the European Union and  its member states - for example,  I am currently covering Internet  policy - specifically copyright enforcement intiatives - in France and the UK.

I am most interested in the citizen's perspective. However, the issues I cover will affect the Internet and telecoms industries, as well as the media and entertainment industries.  

Iptegrity.com offers  original reporting from the EU, as well as comment and opinion on issues raised in other media, including non-English language media in Europe. Iptegrity.com is the main English-language news source for the Telecoms Package review of EU telecoms law.

Queues of trucks, shortages of carrots, but what about our data? We take it for granted to run our lives. It is the invisible agent that enables everything from sending a photo to a friend, to the vast industrial logistics support for those very trucks that deliver the carrots and other vegetables to our supermarkets.

Data-driven activity is so much a part of daily life in 2019 that we don't even contemplate it not functioning. If it didn't function, we wouldn't either.

The effects of Brexit on the data world are also invisible, lurking under the surface in a quagmire that will make itself felt tangibly if Brexit is in any way allowed to happen ( uncertain and subject to Parliamentary battles at the time of writing).

How can we identify these effects? Here goes.

Read more: Data and Brexit - a mis-calculation?

Culture Committee of the European Parliament in session 2019

Will they dump the upload filter? Moves are afoot in the European Parliament to protect free speech and reject the imposition of upload filters in two key pieces of legislation before the current sitting of the European Parliament. The Copyright Directive has been stalled by the Council, with a scheduled trilogue cancelled. Meanshlie, amendments to delete requirements for proactive monitoring in the Terrorism Directive are being tabled in two committees.

Read more: EU lawmakers seek to protect free speech in online content rules

As we saw in part 1, the ways that Brexit rips through business models are quite complex. Travelling back in time to a simpler era in 1973 before the UK joined the EEC, does not seem like a practical option for business. Cross-border trade, which was the exception back then, is now the norm. People get on planes for one-day conferences and business meetings. The simple email that was conceived inthe early 1970s has itself been outgunned by the smartphone app. Rules are needed to govern these new practices that in themselves generate unforeseen legal complexities. Being outside the EU will not suddenly drop the UK back into a simple system where it can pull up drawbridge and act as an island. There will be too many wires left dangling.

In part 1 of How Brexit Rips Up Business Models, we considered the effects of a post-Brexit dual compliance regime. Here, in Part 2, we look at some specific aspects of Brexit-imposed changes to cross-border trade and trade in services.

Read more: How Brexit rips up business models Part 2: visas for money and music

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About Iptegrity

Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten. I am an  independent policy advisor, with expertise in online safety, technology and human rights. I am a published author, and post-doctoral scholar. I hold a PhD from the University of Westminster, and a DipM from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. I cover the UK and EU. I'm a former tech journalist, and an experienced panelist and Chair. My media credits include the BBC, iNews, Times, Guardian and Politico.

Iptegrity.com is made available free of charge for non-commercial use. Please link back and attribute Dr Monica Horten.  Contact me to use any of my content for commercial purposes.