Category: Commerce
November 23rd, 2009
Internet: A threat to government or the other way around? (Part 4)
Justice systems around the world had their entire world turned upside down over the past several years because of the Internet. The basic sets of laws, often founded on a nation’s constitution are being used in ways that many forefathers never anticipated or envisioned. Republic, Dominion and Socialist government institutions around the world are all facing the same issues - often without any clear path of legal precedent.
One of the challenges facing courts is jurisdiction. Because of the very nature of the Internet, legal systems are now faced with new roadblocks that did not exist 10 years ago. Traditional methods of law enforcement and legal treaties do work and continue to be the basis of process and dealing with prosecution and trials. Interpretation of existing laws and applying them to Internet-related cases has not been a significant challenge in many cases. But there are some new aspects of what is admitted into court.
Evidence
What has shocked the system is how Internet-based materials are now used in the courts as evidence. Everything from ISP logs, website blogs, and social media sites (among others) are now being used in ways that prosecutors and jurists have never had to deal with in the past. It is also becoming a battle ground for several areas of law, particularly the integrity of evidence. This has many in the legal world concerned. It’s becoming clear that this will be an area of significant debate and will have far-reaching consequences. Internet evidence does not have look and feel of traditional evidence and, in many cases, has yet to be challenged as to its validity. Prosecutors are faced with a dilemma that impacts how and what they prosecute. This in turn has created a new source of political initiatives that are not only questionable, but in some parts of the world viewed as extreme.
Don’t have a Law yet? We’ll make one
The evolution of law and how it is created has traditionally been a slow and low priority part of the political system. No longer is that the case. Government ministers and cabinet officials appear to be fast-tracking new laws, specifically because of the Internet at a rapid pace of late. Politicians are practically tripping over themselves drafting new bills that claim that they know how to fix the problems of cybercrime and abuse. These ideas are moving at such a rapid pace that often few people actually have read the fine print. What concerns many is the advice politicians are getting on how Internet law should be created. Governments all over the world will have significant impact on such issues as free speech, Net neutrality, news, crime and governance of institutions.
Prosecution
There is not much sympathy for the courts in many parts of the world. That may soon change as news travels across the multimedia world of the Internet. Attorneys general throughout the United States are political and create their own priorities and thus control what is heard before the courts. This may have significant consequences as to the timing of how the Internet evolves and impact the economics of the service that potentially influences it’s usage for decades. In the United Kingdom, the courts will have to take into account European treaties and the European Parliament. Canada’s magistrates may strike down or uphold newly created laws that may wind up creating in-balance that could take years to reverse.
Rules await the Internet
Regulators such as the CRTC, FCC, OfCom are charting new territory in communication rules and regulations. Lawmakers are beginning to micro-manage this process. No one yet knows what the impact these new elements will have on the judicial system. It will take years before this is known and goes through several rigorous tests of the court system. Case law may take a decade or more before any true outcomes are known. By that time, a nation will have changed political administration and have new agendas that reset the cycle before some true outcomes are known. Net Neutrality will be debated and wind up before the courts in jurisdictions around the world. The results will vary like your bandwidth speed and access to content.
Global perspective
Laws of a nation are now being combined in many parts of the world. The very essence of a sovereign nation set of laws is slowly being merged into a single set by which it will adhere to. This is particularly true in Europe where the European Parliament is attempting to create laws specifically surrounding the Internet. This has the potential to create political and legal challenges for courts in how they make decisions. The consequences have significant long term impacts on how courts operate and what order of Appeals and jurisdiction as they enter cyber space with profound outcomes yet to be decided.
The Supreme Court
Supreme Court decisions have not had an impact on the Internet - but likely will. Major court decisions at local, state, and provincial levels are being appealed and many will eventually be argued before the Supreme Court. That draws concern because of how many governments nominate and select jurists to be a part of the Supreme Court framework. In general terms, the institution is politically driven and has the potential to create decisions that may in fact be contrary to the very principles that many of us take for granted. It also works in the other direction. Many a government has had policies and laws overturned by the courts. Key segments will be privacy, Internet access and tracking - along with content management tangled with identity security. It could be argued that elected government officials are not a threat to the Internet, the courts are. The counter point is that will force parliamentarians to change the law, a task far easier said than done. Compounding the problem is that the highest courts around the world have (almost) unlimited tenure until death. Jurists that will have profound impacts on the stance of governments surrounding Internet issues are in China, Pakistan, India, Russia, and the Middle East. China is unique in that it will have to eventually deal with treaties in which it is a signatory to, but no one has yet to appeal any government policies. It may soon have to. If WTO treaties are before their court system, the Internet could be next.
The court system in most democratic nations has dynamics rarely resulting in quick decisions. It may take years before government’s leaders and the lawmakers truly understand what they are dealing with. Some will fail in creating new laws that are considered extreme by many; others may actually pass the litmus test of a Supreme Court decision. History awaits the outcome.
Epilogue - it will never have an ending
So here we are; some of the files are out in the open, more need further decryption, understanding and updating. The pace of the discussion is increasing and appears to be moving along with few delays. 2010 promises to be the start of a new decade that has a few fundamental issues to resolve. The debate has begun and could be a pivotal point in how society uses and government manages the Internet.
November 20th, 2009
Friday's Throw out the trash day and Polls for the week of Nov 20th
This week wasn’t a slow one for news, but it certainly had some bizarre stories. Some headlines for you and all the polls that I’ve posted throughout the week are listed here for those of you who haven’t (yet) read all my postings.
Senate Hearing hears testimony that 80% of cyber attacks are preventable. Really?
According to the British Government, they are leading the world in the use of technology. If that’s so then why are they losing so much data? Perhaps they should have senate hearings too….
To prove my point, a doctor in England claims over 100,000 X-Rays went unchecked and were stuck in closet…
But hey if you can’t get a country to create laws to ensure peace and democracy, pay them instead. The EU is giving Nigeria a BILLION Dollars to end corruption. How does this work again?
Polls of the week:
Loading ... Loading ... Loading ... Loading ... Loading ... Loading ...Website of the Week: Vancouver Winter 2010 Olympic Games Website
November 16th, 2009
Tickets.com services for Vancouver Winter 2010 Olympic Games crashes during first release of tickets
Vancouver Olympic organizers must be getting nervous as the entire year has been plagued with challenges beyond its control. People looking to buy tickets for the Vancouver Winter 2010 Olympics wound up shutting down the system Saturday morning (14th) after the system crashed with high volumes of ticket requests. Complicating the system’s capability, are the limits on how many tickets one person can buy online. The system is now back up and running smoothly later in the day.
November 17th - Correction: The shutdown was on November 7th, ONE WEEK PRIOR, delaying the official launch date and rescheduled to Nov 14th. During the relaunch, the site operated without any outages. In an telephone interview with Chaeli Walker, Marketing Manager for Tickets.com, states that the problem was not caused by Tickets.com but by a partner that creates the virtual waiting room portion of the ticket site web portal. Their official statement reads as follows;
“Tickets.com is very disappointed that the on-sale for the remaining tickets for the Vancouver Olympics was delayed a week due to technical issues. These issues were not a result of a Tickets.com system failure but of a configuration error by an upstream partner who provides our Virtual Waiting Room services.”
End Correction
The Olympic Games have been controversial in Vancouver as many of the projects have gone over budget with many of the projects requiring government guarantees due to the credit crisis last year. Two of the official suppliers went through bankruptcy (Nortel and General Motors) and the last thing the Vancouver Olympic Organizers (VANOC) needed was any more glitches - and then it happened. According to a CBC report, some ticket buyers tried for up to 40 minutes - just to log onto the website just to register to get tickets - without success. Over 100,000 tickets were released for sale, including the hottest event, the Gold Medal hockey game.
Tickets.com was awarded the contract for the system in January 2008. It’s not known if Sun Microsystems, the official server system for the games, which is being acquired by Oracle, is the hardware supplier for the Ticket.com solution. Bell Canada supplies all internet and internal network connectivity for the website servers and VANOC operations.
November 10th, 2009
U.K. minister wants enhanced monitoring of Internet usage
U.K. Home Office Minister David Hanson is pushing for further data archiving of information by Communications Service Providers, including such web portals as Facebook. In a BBC published article, the Minister responsible for Privacy, Christopher Graham, (along with several other un-named ministers) has some serious concerns with the proposal.
Home Office Ministry - United Kingdom
Not only does Minister Hanson suggest that records be accessible at the source, but also tracked by internet service providers. Such a system would require immense capital and infrastructure. Based on what the Minister desires, it would appear that he wants investigative agencies to have broader mandates in observing people and creating dossiers on anyone in the world. This suggests that the British are gearing up to have a significant electronic intelligence community, similar to the U.S. variant, the National Security Agency. While most G-8 nations have extensive archives and records, it has never been required by local internet service providers or other telecommunications companies to maintain the records to the extent the Home office is suggesting. Such systems have never been within the budget of local police agencies. Minister Hanson is possibly suggesting that these costs should be passed on to the user of the internet services through cost sharing mechanisms of the communications provider and the government through direct subsidy, using tax dollars to implement the initial construction of the platforms required. Read the rest of this entry »
November 9th, 2009
Wireless users may be shut off if sharing copyrighted files
Internet services have created explosive growth in distribution of copyright materials. Some people are distributing it and don’t even know it, some argue. Reaction, regardless whether a consumer knows it or not, is to push for extensive reform and new enforcement capabilities to prevent further erosion and protect their content. The U.K. government responded (Oct. 28) with proposed enforcement options for OFCom to use at its discretion. Among them is the ability to shut off a user’s wireless WiFi service if user is found to be transmitting internet traffic such as file transfer of copyright material. Singling out wireless access to the internet is just the start. Read the rest of this entry »
November 5th, 2009
FCC Chairman testifies on driving while texting
Last week I posted that the Government of Ontario has implemented a ban on driving while using a mobile phone or CB radio. U.S. Congress is now holding hearings on the issue.
Chairman Julius Genachowski of the Federal Communications Commission testified before the Subcommittees on Communications, Technology and the Internet, Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, Committee on Energy and Commerce on the topic of Technological Devices and Vehicle Safety. Chairman Genachowski’s testimony brought out some interesting facts.
1995: approximately 34 million people had subscribed to a mobile phone.
2009: 276 million
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported in 2008 that driver distraction is the cause of 16% of all fatal crashes - 5,800 people killed - and 21% of crashes resulting in an injury - 515,000 people wounded.
I posted last week that 6 U.S. states have banned driving while talking on a cell phone. 18 states now have some kind of law, primarily aimed at texting while driving.
President Obama signed an Executive Order banning all Federal employees (except in an emergency) from texting while driving any government vehicle or driving while on the job.
According to the Automobile Association of America (AAA), nearly 50% of teens admit to texting while driving.
Bluetooth and speech-to-text technology sales are likely to skyrocket, along with civilian versions of Heads Up Displays (HUD) in rear view mirrors.
October 27th, 2009
Banks and auto sector got bailed out, are telecom providers next?
U.S. Senator John McCain came out with statements against government interference or the creation of regulations by the FCC. Instead he came out proposing a new law to prevent law. The Senator stated that Net Neutrality would stifle profitability, innovation, commerce and that jobs would not be created with such regulation. Telecom and Internet Service providers are not hiring and with current debt levels some are barely profitable. But for how long? The FCC’s proposed Net Neutrality rulesare probably the least of the worries that are on the horizon for the Internet. Worldwide the industry has been turned upside down and none of the industry players got bailouts like the banks or auto sector did. Debt at many of the main telecom players are at unbelievable levels;
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France Telecom: 34.7 Billion Euros
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British Telecom: 16.1 Billion Euros
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Cable & Wireless: 922 million Pounds
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Italia Telecom: 35.8 Billion Euros
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Telstra : 16.1 Billion Au
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New Zealand Telecom: 2.8 Billion NZ
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NT&T : 639 Billion Yet
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Bell Canada: 14 Billion Cdn
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Telus: 7.5 Billion Cdn
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AT&T: 60.8 Billion US
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Sprint: 21.6 Billion US
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Comcast: 30.0 Billion US
These levels are sustainable for most, providing the economy doesn’t get any worse and credit facilities do not collapse any farther. Nortel collapsed under debt, Alcatel and Lucent merged and is heavily leveraged, leaving Cisco as the only healthy one. Job creation and innovation will have to come from companies that have little or no debt burden. Most of ones listed above have made significant cuts in employment. Government regulates providers already, and does offer some incentives, grants and loans for internet innovations, and they are in debt in the trillions of dollars already. The private sector will be the innovator and career opportunities engine for internet services and applications that create healthy profit. Companies like RIM, Microsoft, Cisco and Google have significant advantages in growth capabilities. But it will be small and medium business (SMB) sized companies that will likely be responsible, and are rarely given credit for doing so around the world. Many wonder if they can bail out the industry before government has to.
October 22nd, 2009
Net Neutrality: Why the Internet will never be free. For anything. So get used to it
Call it Net Neutrality if you want, but it doesn’t exist, nor is it required when you already have antitrust, regulatory and other local and state, and international law in place. Choice, innovation and open access are the principles in a free enterprise competitive market, not the halls of government.
Before I start, I wish to make clear that ’Law’ is what makes our society what it is today. Without, we would have anarchy and society as we know it today would not exist. Also this is not your typical blog story, what follows is an medium depth look at the problems and challenges Net Neutrality would have on providers, users and government policy if implemented. It doesn’t ask all the questions or give solutions to every aspect in fine detail but does give the reader a general knowledge and sense of issues.
Overview - Net Neutrality - a philosophy or set of regulations?
Your government will ensure Net neutrality with whatever they believe it is. You may not like it, but it is coming. I just don’t know if the lawmakers know what they are getting themselves into. The world believes the Internet is open to everyone. Some are arguing and even demanding we need Law and the RIGHT to eliminate censorship and have choice in all its forms. The Internet is the People’s network and everyone owns it. Thus Net Neutrality would enable and ensure innovation, freedom, choice and access. Read the rest of this entry »
October 21st, 2009
Antitrust: Time to break apart the phone companies -- again?
In the global meltdown of the economy, corporate earnings are the bellwether of survival. The old adage that the strong get stronger and the weak…. they just collapse. But some corporations now control significant market share that some believe borders on antitrust violations in the U.S. In Australia, Canada and Japan, corporate consolidation has risen significantly over the past several years. There’s no indications of policy direction or change at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the U.S, CRTC (Canada) or OFCom (U.K.). which would trigger antitrust or anti-competition hearings.
There are very few industries collecting guaranteed revenue. Utilities and financial institutions are the two biggest. Within utilities, telecommunications has had a unique blend of service ‘delivery’ since the beginning. Initially, a single entity that provided everyone the services, is what created instant monopolies. Fast forward 80 years, and antitrust had its second big challenge (after Standard Oil) with AT&T, which was broken up in the United States in 1984 and the Canadian “group” of telecommunications known as Stentor self-destructed in 1999 because regulator tariffs choked their ability to compete with new entrance into the market. Read the rest of this entry »
October 19th, 2009
FCC and court save the cable companies again
Access to infrastructure networks is neither free nor equal. Not everyone has the same privileges, quality or agreements in place. There are different products and services that are often bundled, sold as individual items, etc. And there are always capacity issues, so you’re not always guaranteed what you paid for. For the past several years, the same is true for companies that want access to the cable companies’ networks to broadcast their television station(s). Some are doing very well and have very good mutual agreements. But when a new player enters the field and wants in, there are a number of ways to complain if they hit a road block as Herring Broadcasting found out two years ago. They filed a lawsuit and began the process of blaming everyone else, except themselves.
In September of 2007, Herring Broadcasting, which operates Wealth TV, filed a complaint against Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications alleging discrimination that Herring were not allowed access to their cable networks to broadcast their television station. The cable companies denied the allegations and presented evidence that the primary reasons were for low demand for their type of programming and limited HD space on their networks — Wealth TV being supplied in HD signal only. In a decision released on Oct. 15 by Judge Richard L. Sippel, the complaint by Herring Broadcasting was denied.
Herring Broadcasting argued that both cable companies had infringed on their rights to equal access to their networks and because they already carried similar a programmed television station, MOJO that they partially either owned or had rights to, was also one of the reasons Time Warner discriminated against Herring Broadcasting’s station Wealth TV. Read the rest of this entry »
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