— 10 min read — A hot tech policy topic this year is whether internet services should pay news media companies for the news stories they carry on their platforms. A number of countries have previously passed laws with the intent of moving money from internet services to content publishers, but a new legislative proposal…
2 CommentsCategory: regulation
— 9 min read — Summary :- a reflection on sovereignty as a driver for internet regulation, even at the expense of convenience. I suggest it is more useful to look at the potential break-up of the global internet as a function of ‘Brexitisation’ rather than ‘Balkanization’.
Leave a Comment— 10 min read — Today is the 10th anniversary of the start of massive protests in Egypt that led to the removal of their autocratic leader, Hosni Mubarak. These protests came hot on the heels of demonstrations in Tunisia that had forced their President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power on January 14th…
Leave a Comment— 13 min read — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has attracted a lot of (mostly favourable) attention for criticising the recent removal of Donald Trump’s social media accounts. As it is well known that she has strong political disagreements with the outgoing US President, her comments have been interpreted by some as a powerful argument…
8 Comments— 10 min read — Summary :- I explore the power of platforms to ‘eject’ people from their services following recent decisions about President Trump’s accounts.
Leave a Comment— 9 min read — Summary:- I look at new UK rules on collecting sales tax as an example of regulation driving businesses to use platforms. Regulators prefer to deal with a small number of large intermediaries rather than enforce against many individuals.
1 Comment— 14 min read — Summary :- this post describes a model for ‘Harm Reduction Plans’. Platforms would create these documents to explain how they are responding to specific harms. They would be provided to regulators and form part of any new oversight mechanism.
Leave a Comment— 6 min read — If you live in the UK you will likely have been amused by a video produced by the comedian Matt Lucas sending up the Government’s advice on what people need to do in response to Covid-19. The phrase ‘go to work, don’t go to work’ has become a zeitgeist response…
1 Comment— 20 min read — Summary :- I explore why people feel that tech company taxation is unfair, look at how current structures work, and describe possible alternative models for taxing digital services.
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