Big tech accountability? Read the backstory to today's policy debates here on Iptegrity.

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.

Brexit negotiations - Dominic Raab and Michel Barnier - 2018 - and CE mark robot

We cannot just draw a line around these islands and go back to a time past. In 1973 when Britain voted to join what was then the EEC, the email had only just been invented and the Internet wasn't even conceived. In 1992, the Single Market was established and the Internet went commercial. From the mid-1990s, low-cost flights came in and little bags of salad leaves became the norm in our supermarkets. Since then, business has changed to an inter-connected model, underpinned by electronic communications and laws designed to support cross-border trade. Standards matter, not just within State borders, but across borders. The rupture from the Single Market created by Brexit in any form will have massive consequences for industries, both manufacturing and services, that have based their business model on the EU legal framework.

This article - part 1 of 2 - explores the how withdrawing from the EU Single Market will result in a dual-compliance regime. It draws on EU Preparedness Notifications and UK government 'no deal' notices, as well as announcements, media reports and statements from a range of British-based businesses.

Read more: How Brexit rips up business models Part 1: putting back barriers

Giant parrot by tower bridge

How does an obscure article in the Lisbon Treaty obfuscate Britain's efforts to formulate a post-Brexit relationship with the European Union? And what does this have to do with dead parrots?

It was Margaret Thatcher who famously replayed Monty Python's 'dead parrot' sketch at the Tory party conference 28 years ago in 1990. This week, as the Conservative Party gathered in Birmingham for its annual get-together, it would seem a dead parrot is once again at the centre of the debate.

Read more: Norwegian Blue or Super-Canada - is there any life in this parrot?

EuropeanParliament.04072018

Social media companies and content sharing apps could have to foot the bill for a vast automated copyright protection scheme under the most recent EU proposal to update copyright law. For those who remember, this is Hadopi on steroids. It's a proposal that, history tells us, is unlikely to be workable.

The battle over social media content sharing is moving up a gear as the the European Parliament goes for a major vote on new copyright legislation this September. A single, controversial provision in the propoosed EU Copyright Directive has brought the matter to a head in this latest round of the Hollywood vs Silicon Valley conflict. As currently drafted, it could mean that social media platforms and apps would have to restrict content via an automated copyright protection system - dubbed the "upload filter" - and they could be asked to fund the entire system.

Read more: EU Copyright Directive - who pays the bill for the upload filter?

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About Iptegrity

Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten.

I am a tech policy specialist, published author, post-doctoral scholar. I hold a PhD from the University of Westminster, and a DipM from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Currently working on UK Online Safety Bill.

Recent media quotes: BBC, iNews, Times, Guardian, Politico.  Panelist: IAPP,  CybersecuritySummit. Parliament and Internet. June 2022-July 2023 w/ Open Rights Group.

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.