New Global Media and
the Role of the State
Book review of “ The handbook of
new media”
Qiong Tang
Course: Internet and New Media
Overview
This chapter addresses some of the challenges faced by nationstates in devising communication policies for the new global ICTs.
The authors examined three key areas of legal and policy conflict
over computer networks: intellectual property, privacy and freedom
of expression. And they concludes by examining some policy
principles and new models of regulation proposed by scholars to
adapt national governance mechanisms for the effective regulation
of global media.
Outline
About intellectual property
About privacy
About freedom of expression
About policy principles and models of gobal media
regulation
* Market based regulation
* National public service regulation
* International and multinational regimes
* International policy principles
Conclusion
Discussion & Question
Authors
Laura Stein
an Associate Professor in the Radio-Television-Film
Department, the University of Texas at Austin.
She researches and writes about communication law and
policy, political communication, and alternative and public
media.
Her RTF courses include: Communication, Law and Power;
Media and Communication Law; The Social Documentary;
Alternative Media; and Communication Technology and
Society.
Nikhil Sinha
an internationally recognized expert on the global
information technology and former Associate Dean in the
College of Communication at The University of Texas at
Austin.
About intellectual property
Computer networks intensify the conflict between expression as a
commodity and as a collective good.
Intellectual property law grants copyright holders exclusive rights
to control copying and other uses of creative works for a limited
period of time.
General accepted:
Computer network technology can facilitate the extension of
copyright controls or the free exchange of information and
communication.
Whether computer networks will underprotect or
overprotect intellectual property?
Majority
• Computer networks enable non-copyright holders to engage
in the widespread duplication and dissemination of
copyrighted material
Minority
• Computer technology may increase copyright holder control
over intellectual property and override collective fair use
principles for the sake of private profits.
Three main problems
* There are no ‘international copyrights that
enable individuals to protect work throughout the
world.
* Many developing countries are reluctant to
uphold intellectual property laws or agreements
that make access to information more costly,
impede technology transfer and increase the
monopoly power of multinational corporations.
* Tensions over intellectual property law both
within and between countries revolve largely
around where to draw the line between information
control and the free flow of information.
Privacy
Privacy is the claim of individuals, groups and institutions
to determine for themselves, when, how and to what extent
information about them is communicated to others.
Who controls personal information ?
Governments must determine whether privacy policies are
necessary to limit the collection and use of personal
information by both governmental and private parties.
Opponents of
government
regulation
• Privacy rights are bad for
commerce, technologically
unenforceable, and antithetical
to free speech
proponents of
government
regulation
• Privacy is a social value that
governments must affirmatively
protect.
Governmental attempts to regulate data privacy can be
assessed according to the degree of protection offered to
citizens in four general categories
Consent: deals with the right of individuals to decide
when, how and what kinds of info others collect about
them over a computer network.
Disclosure: terms, conditions and circumstances
Security and accuracy: the obligation of info collecting
agencies to ensure that the collected info is securely
stored and accurately maintained.
Enforcement: effectiveness of privacy and data
protection laws depends on their mechanisms for
enforcement.
Freedom of expression
Freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas in
all media regardless of geographical frontiers.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
* Computer networks open up new and significant
opportunities to engage in expression.
* Government attempts to control political and cultural
content on computer networks raise questions of how speech
rights will be configured in there forums and what content
government can legitimately regulate.
Three primary concerns that relate to the conditions
prohibiting or promoting freedom of expression.
* Analysts identify potential methods of government control
of info.
* Scholars examine the efforts of authoritarian of nondemocratic governments to control political speech.
* Scholars examine the jurisdictional questions raised when
the social and cultural restrictions on speech in one country
clash with those of another.
Market-based regulation
* Marketplace regulation of computer networks, through
code and contracts, limits the sovereign powers of nations
by reducing their role to enforcing market structures.
* Market regulation also referred to as private sector or
self regulation, allows private actors operating within
competitive markets to settle social conflicts over
communication.
* Private sector regulations may be implemented through
voluntary standards and codes, contracts between service
or access providers and consumers, and the conscious
design of network architecture.
* Regulation of behavior over computer networks can also
be achieved through the use of private contracts.
Problem
Private sector regulations are often non-transparent
National public service regulation
National politically determined, public service regulation of
communication policy can be set through national laws,
legislation and rule making bodies.
Advantage :
allows countries to systematically consider different policy
options and to collectively choose the values animating their
communication systems.
Civil society
International interactions and transactions are increasingly
being seen as part of the emergence of a global or transnational
civil society.
Weak points
If fail to set national policy in a comprehensive ore
coordinated way, conflicting rules can hinder
electronic commerce and create uncertainty for
network users.
National regulation alone cannot solve problems
that arise when communication crosses numerous
jurisdictions with conflicting policies.
First
Second
Finally
•If not kept in check by a strong conception of public
rights, governments may go beyond maintaining the
structures that protect rights and instead become a
prime violator of these rights.
•f fail to set national policy in a comprehensive ore
coordinated way, conflicting rules can hinder
electronic commerce and create uncertainty for
network users
National regulation alone cannot solve problems
that arise when communication crosses
numerous jurisdictions with conflicting policies.
Conclusion
Many governments fear the loss of political and economic
sovereignty, others the loss of cultural identity.
New media highlight a gap that now exists between life
and governance.
Social conflicts in each of these areas demand policy
responses that demarcate public rights, set behavioral
standards and curtail abusive practices.
Discussion & Question
What terms can represent the world’s nations and
citizenry legitimately under which national and
international governance mechanisms?
Thank
You!