Research
05 September 2010
Is There a Relationship Between Online Safety Concerns and Broadband Uptake? by Adam D. Thierer [The Progress & Freedom Foundation] Social Science Research Network
Abstract: Child safety concerns are probably not a factor in broadband adoption. In my research, I have never unearthed any substantive empirical evidence suggesting a correlation between parental concerns about online activity and overall household broadband uptake.
03 September 2010
Mobile phones and America's adults who text more, but voice calls the main reason Pew Internet and American Life Project
Overview: Texting by American adults has increased substantially over the past year, but still does not approach the magnitude of text messages exchanged by adolescents. Some 72% of adult cell phone users send and receive text messages now, up from 65% in September 2009. Fully 87% of teen cell users text. Teens text 50 messages a day on average, five times more than the typical 10 text messages sent and received by adults per day.
28 August 2010
Older Adults and Social Media: Pew Study Finds Use of Social Networking Sites Doubles Pew Internet and American Life Project
Overview: While social media use has grown dramatically across all age groups, older users have been especially enthusiastic over the past year about embracing new networking tools. Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled -- from 22% in April 2009 to 42% in May 2010.
26 August 2010
Internet Use and Depression Among the Elderly by George S. Ford & Sherry G. Ford [Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Paper] Social Science Research Network
Abstract: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 directs over $7 billion to expand broadband Internet availability and adoption in the United States. One target of such funding is the elderly population, a group of Americans for which broadband adoption is relatively low. An interesting question is what benefits do such efforts afford?
21 August 2010
The Politics of Internet Control and Delegated Censorship by Wendy Seltzer [American Society of International Law] Social Science Research Network
Abstract: Against the myth that the Internet breaks traditional political boundaries, we find that the Internet itself looks different depending on our vantage point. The "politics of the Internet" includes that of Internet control, identifying chokepoints and the power that can be exerted upon and through them.
19 August 2010
The impact of the crisis on ICT and ICT-related employment OECD
This paper provides an overview of short-term and long-term developments in ICT employment trends. Preliminary analysis of available indicators shows that employment is dropping in the ICT sector - notably in ICT goods sectors and mostly remaining flat in ICT services. The paper also highlights some niche ICT activities where ICT employment is increasing despite the crisis.
15 August 2010
Piracy on the Internet: Accomodate it or Fight it? A Dynamic Approach by Ronald Peeters, Michael Yang & P. Jean-Jacques Herings Social Science Research Network
Abstract: This paper uses a dynamic stochastic model to solve for the optimal pricing policy of the music recording companies in the presence of P2P file-sharing networks eroding their CD sales. We employ a policy iteration algorithm on a discretized state space to numerically compute the optimal price policy. The realistically calibrated model reflects the real-world figures we observe and provides estimates of figures we can not observe, such as changes in total welfare.
12 August 2010
The Impact of the Commercial World on Children's Wellbeing: Report of an Independent Assessment Department for Education [UK]
In The Children's Plan the DCSF gave a commitment to commission an independent review of the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing. That assessment, conducted by Professor David Buckingham and a panel of experts, is now complete and this report presents their findings.
Home Broadband 2010: US Growth Slows Dramatically Pew Internet and American Life Project
Overview: The adoption of broadband internet access slowed dramatically over the last year. Two-thirds of American adults (66%) now have a broadband internet connection at home, a figure that is little changed from the 63% with a high-speed home connection at a similar point in 2009.
11 August 2010
McAfee, Inc. Q2 Threat Report Reveals Malware at All Time High with 6 Million Malicious Files Found This Quarter, While Spam Hits a Plateau McAfee
McAfee, Inc. today unveiled its McAfee Threats Report: Second Quarter 2010, which uncovered that malware has reached its highest levels, making the first six months of 2010 the most active half-year ever for total malware production. At the same time, spam leveled out with only 2.5 percent growth from Q1 2010.
07 August 2010
Bad Faith in Cyberspace: Grounding Domain Name Theory in Trademark, Property and Restitution by Jacqueline D. Lipton [Harvard Journal of Law and Technology] Social Science Research Network
Abstract: The year 2009 marks the tenth anniversary of domain name regulation under the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) and the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). Adopted to combat cybersquatting, these rules left a confused picture of domain name theory in their wake. Early cybersquatters registered Internet domain names corresponding with others' trademarks to sell them for a profit.
01 August 2010
Cyberdeterrence and Cyberwar by Martin C. Libicki Rand Corporation
The protection of cyberspace, the information medium, has become a vital national interest because of its importance both to the economy and to military power. An attacker may tamper with networks to steal information for the money or to disrupt operations. Future wars are likely to be carried out, in part or perhaps entirely, in cyberspace.
29 July 2010
OECD: Rethinking e-Government Services - User-Centred Approaches OECD
Expecting substantial savings and improved public services - a trend further accentuated by the financial and economic crisis beginning in 2008 - OECD countries have invested in the development of e-government services over the past 10-15 years. However, despite the initial exceptional take-up, governments later saw low adoption and low use of e-government services which are still far from satisfactory today.
24 July 2010
New Technologies and the Need of a Uniform Legal System by Joanna Kulesza Social Science Research Network
Abstract: The paper presents the grounds for a creation of a legitimate international regime to govern the World Wide Web. It derives from the propositions and experiences of the WSIS and the WGIG. The controversies surrounding ICANN are thoroughly discussed and the most urging problems of international law, emanating from its mandate, are presented.
18 July 2010
Internet Governance and the Jurisdiction of States: Justification of the Need for an International Regulation of Cyberspace by Joanna Kulesza [III GigaNet Symposium Working Paper] Social Science Research Network
Abstract: The issue of Internet governance is taking a forever more important place in the debate on the future shape of international society. Regarding the fact that national governments have decided to regulate the international cyberspace with state laws, it seems quite certain that the starting point for all considerations of Internet governance should be the analysis of the existing rules upon which the regulating states base their competences - the rules of international jurisdiction.
09 July 2010
OECD examines the future of news and the internet OECD
Summary: This study provides an in-depth treatment of the global newspaper publishing market and its evolution, with a particular view on the development of online news and related challenges.
08 July 2010
Mobile Access 2010: America's Mobile and Wireless Access Jump Dramatically - Pew Study Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project
Overview: Cell phone and wireless laptop internet use have each grown more prevalent over the last year. Nearly half of all adults (47%) go online with a laptop using a Wi-Fi connection or mobile broadband card (up from the 39% who did so as of April 2009) while 40% of adults use the internet, email or instant messaging on a mobile phone (up from the 32% of Americans who did this in 2009). This means that 59% of adults now access the internet wirelessly using a laptop or cell phone -- that is, they answered "yes" to at least one of these wireless access pathways. That adds up to an increase from the 51% who used a laptop or cell phone wirelessly in April 2009.
07 July 2010
The future of social relations: supports information sharing, but make us shallow: Pew study Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project
Overview: The social benefits of internet use will far outweigh the negatives over the next decade, according to experts who responded to a survey about the future of the internet. They say this is because email, social networks, and other online tools offer 'low-friction' opportunities to create, enhance, and rediscover social ties that make a difference in people's lives. The internet lowers traditional communications constraints of cost, geography, and time; and it supports the type of open information sharing that brings people together.
05 July 2010
Building Broadband Strategies and Policies for Development World Bank Information for Development Program
Executive summary: A growing number of countries are seeking to spur broadband development. This report offers policymakers and regulators an analysis of approaches that leading countries have taken in expanding their broadband markets, with a focus on the Republic of Korea. In addition, case studies cover Finland, France, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The analysis suggests policies and regulations that developing countries could consider to support the growth of broadband.
27 June 2010
The National ccTLD Disputes: Between State Actors and Non-State Actors by Y.J. Park International Journal of Communications Law and Policy
Since 1985, non-state actors under Jon Postel's leadership have experimented creating virtual national spaces on the Internet through so-called "ccTLDs. There are 251 ccTLDs on the Internet. In 1998, ICANN - the newly established coordination body for Internet addresses including ccTLDs - stressed out the principle of private sector leadership instead of public sector administration of Internet identifiers. ICANN's coordination of ccTLDs required state actors to comply with the principle of private sector leadership in a top-down manner.
20 June 2010
The International Experience in Regard to Procedures for Settling Conflicts Relating to Copyright in the Digital Environment by Karim Benyekhlef & Fabien Gelinas [Copyright Bulletin] Social Science Research Network
Abstract: This piece is the abridged version of a report to UNESCO Member States prepared at the request of the Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Copyright Committee. The piece outlines the early experiments and the legal challenges of online dispute resolution after placing them in the historical context of transnational regulation. It is one of the very first attempts to explore the similarities between today's normative digital environments and the borderless trade environments that prevailed before the concept of the nation-state had gained ascendancy.
14 June 2010
OECD broadband data for December 2009 just released OECD
There were 283 million broadband subscriptions in the OECD area in December 2009. The average penetration rate across the OECD has grown to 23.3 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants up from 22.8 in June 2009. New data on broadband subscriptions and penetration rates are available on the OECD broadband portal.
13 June 2010
New Technologies and the Need of a Uniform Legal System by Joanna Kulesza Social Science Research Network
Abstract: The paper presents the grounds for a creation of a legitimate international regime to govern the World Wide Web. It derives from the propositions and experiences of the WSIS and the WGIG. The controversies surrounding ICANN are thoroughly discussed and the most urging problems of international law, emanating from its mandate, are presented.
05 June 2010
ICANN, Cultural Imperialism, and Democratization of Internet Governance by Brian Gailey, Bryant University Bryant University
Dissertation Abstract: Internet Governance has largely been managed by the United States government since its burgeoning in the 1990's. The government has since entrusted and charged internet technical tasks and functions to ICANN. The organization along with the United States government has been the subject of heavy criticism for its inadequate international representation. Many interpret US hegemony over the internet as culturally imperialistic.
30 May 2010
Accountability in Internet Governance by Rolf H. Weber International Journal of Communications Law and Policy
Internet governance and Internet-related decision-making processes are gaining importance due to the increased use of new technological possibilities. Since a fundamental change of the present self-regulatory regime with ICANN as main organizational body is not likely to be realized in the near future, means of improvement of the present mechanisms need to be tackled. A key issue is accountability, apart from transparency. Accountability is the assumption of responsibility for actions, decisions, and policies within the scope of the designated role.
