Banding together for bandwidth: An analysis of survey results from wireless community network participants

First Monday ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwen Shaffer

Using a resource mobilization framework, this study attempts to better understand the factors motivating people to join wireless community networks that enable members to share bandwidth. In addition, the research illuminates ties between this kind of peer-to-peer networking and civic engagement at a broader level. An in depth survey completed by 43 respondents from throughout Europe and North America found that participants in this movement felt a stronger sense of community, as well as were more likely to help elect local politicians and to work on local issue campaigns, after joining WiFi sharing initiatives. The study concludes with proposed policy recommendations—geared toward regulators, legislators and Internet service providers in the United States.

Author(s):  
Pamela Samuelson

For more than two decades, internet service providers (ISPs) in the United States, the European Union (EU), and many other countries have been shielded from copyright liability under “safe harbor” rules. These rules apply to ISPs who did not know about or participate in user-uploaded infringements and who take infringing content down after receiving notice from rights holders. Major copyright industry groups were never satisfied with these safe harbors, and their dissatisfaction has become more strident over time as online infringements have grown to scale. Responding to copyright industry complaints, the EU in 2019 adopted its Directive on Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market. In particular, the Directive’s Article 17 places much stricter obligations on for-profit ISPs that host large amounts of user contents. Article 17 is internally contradictory, deeply ambiguous, and harmful to small and medium-sized companies as well as to user freedoms of expression. Moreover, Article 17 may well violate the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. In the United States, Congress commenced a series of hearings in 2020 on the safe harbor rules now codified as 17 U.S.C. § 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In May 2020, the U.S. Copyright Office issued its long-awaited study on Section 512, which recommended several significant changes to existing safe harbor rules. The Study’s almost exclusively pro–copyright industry stances on reform of virtually every aspect of the rules notably shortchanges other stakeholder interests. Congress should take a balanced approach in considering any changes to the DMCA safe harbor rules. Any meaningful reform of ISP liability rules should consider the interests of a wide range of stakeholders. This includes U.S.-based Internet platforms, smaller and medium-sized ISPs, startups, and the hundreds of millions of Internet users who create and enjoy user-generated content (UGC) uploaded to these platforms, as well as the interests of major copyright industries and individual creators who have been dissatisfied with the DMCA safe harbor rules.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 369
Author(s):  
Suzi Fadhilah Bt Ismail ◽  
Ida Madieha Abdul Ghani Azmi ◽  
Mahyuddin Daud

Ideally, internet service providers (ISP) should not be burdened with policing contents that pass through their services as they have no editorial control over them. The United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998 (DMCA) changes the ball game by making it mandatory on ISPs to take down infringing copyright materials if they received a notice and takedown request from a copyright holder. In exchange, the ISPs enjoy safe harbour from any liabilities that might arise from their user's action. Serious efforts are needed to transpose a similar system via negotiations and multilateral treaties and agreements involving a number of countries such as through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. Despite the withdrawal of the United States’ (US) from the TPP, and in view of the global initiatives of harmonization of intellectual property (IP) laws, this article aims to explore the different system of ISPs’ obligations and liabilities in the twelve TPP member countries. It also examines some of the strengths and weaknesses of each system. It concludes with an argument that whilst some form of safe harbour should be created to assist IP right owners in policing their right, the US private notice and takedown system is not without its flaws and hence, other existing systems which are adopted in some of the TPP member countries are equally feasible and serve a common purpose in tackling the issue of copyright infringement vis-à-vis ISP liability. Eventually, there is no compelling reason to impose one single system on all the TPP member countries to police the internet via ISP liability.


Laws ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Olivia Cullen ◽  
Keri Zug Ernst ◽  
Natalie Dawes ◽  
Warren Binford ◽  
Gina Dimitropoulos

With technological advances, the creation and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) has become one of the fastest growing illicit online industries in the United States. Perpetrators are becoming increasingly sophisticated and exploit cutting-edge technology, making it difficult for law enforcement to investigate and prosecute these crimes. There is limited research on best practices for investigating cases of CSAM. The aim of this research was to understand challenges and facilitators for investigating and prosecuting cases of CSAM as a foundation to develop best practices in this area. To meet these objectives, qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with participants throughout the western United States. Two major themes arose from this research: Theme 1: Challenges to investigating and prosecuting CSAM; and Theme 2: Facilitators to investigating and prosecuting CSAM. Within Theme 1, subthemes included technology and internet service providers, laws, lack of resources, and service provider mental health and well-being. Within Theme 2, subthemes included multidisciplinary teams and training. This research is a first step in understanding the experiences of law enforcement and prosecutors in addressing CSAM. Findings from this study can be used to support the development of best practices for those in the justice system investigating and prosecuting CSAM.


1963 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald B. Cooper

The United States occupation of Haiti — despite benevolent intentions — was a thinly-disguised military dictatorship. The official view of the Department of State that the numerous U. S. officials there were merely advisers to the legitimate Haitian government, acting in accordance with limitations prescribed by treaty, was a polite fiction. It deceived no one, particularly the large number of Haitians who resented foreign experiments in benevolent despotism in their land.The real ruler of Haiti, as the system had evolved by the pivotal year of 1928 — the last “normal” year before the political crisis which precipitated withdrawal — was General John H. Russell, United States Marine Corps, the U. S. High Commissioner. The nominal ruler, President Louis Borno, generally relied upon his U. S. advisers. In Russell's own words “[Borno] has never taken a step without first consulting me.” When differences arose, usually as a result of pressures exerted on Borno by local politicians, General Russell was free to make appropriate concessions. But his will prevailed in any showdown conflict. The General was noted for his fairness, however, and his relations with Haitian officials were usually harmonious. Yet his military background, combined with his devotion to efficiency and economy, was not well-suited to preparing a dependent people for enlightened self-rule.


2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-88
Author(s):  
Larry W. Bowman ◽  
Diana T. Cohen

The sample frame was constructed over several months through the combined efforts of three graduate students and Prof. Larry W. Bowman. Using the Internet whenever possible, and backed by the assistance of colleagues from many institutions, we constructed a sample frame of 1,793 U.S.-based Africanists. Our sample frame includes 46 percent more Africanists than the 1,229 individual U.S. members of the African Studies Association (ASA) in 2001 (1,112 individual members and 117 lifetime members). In all cases we allowed institutions to self-define who they considered their African studies faculty to be. By assembling this broad sample frame of African studies faculty, we probe more deeply into the national world of African studies than can be done even through a membership survey of our largest and most established national African studies organization. The sample frame for this study approximates a full enumeration of the Africanist population in the United States. Therefore, data collected from samples drawn from this frame can with some confidence be generalized to all Africanists in the United States, with minimal coverage error.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Anastasia ◽  
Dwi Sekar Ningrum ◽  
William Marthianus ◽  
Willis Patrick Onggo

Negative Option Method is a bidding method that requires confirmation from consumers in accepting or rejecting an offer. If the customer doesn’t provide confirmation, the business actor assumes that the consumer agrees and will be charged a fee for the offer given. The Negative Option method originating from the United States has actually developed in Indonesia, especially in the provision of telecommunications services. It is not uncommon for Telecommunications Service Providers in Indonesia to offer a particular feature that requires confirmation of rejection or cancellation from consumers via message, such as "unreg". If the consumer does not provide confirmation, the business actor will unilaterally assume that the Customer has accepted the offer, thus often resulting in the consumer experiencing financial losses due to the imposition of costs for goods and / or services without the consent of the consumer. This encourages the author to conduct legal research on consumer legal protection of the Negative Option bidding method using the normative juridical method. This legal research concludes that the Negative Option bidding method is contrary to the Minister of Communications Regulation Article 2 paragraph (3) and Article 4 paragraph (1) letter a which specifies that each Telecommunications Service Provider must obtain written and/or message approval from the Customer to activate a paid feature. If the Telecommunications Service Provider has not received approval from the Customer, then the paid feature must be stopped.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarethe Kusenbach

<p>In the United States, residents of mobile homes and mobile home communities are faced with cultural stigmatization regarding their places of living. While common, the “trailer trash” stigma, an example of both housing and neighborhood/territorial stigma, has been understudied in contemporary research. Through a range of discursive strategies, many subgroups within this larger population manage to successfully distance themselves from the stigma and thereby render it inconsequential (Kusenbach, 2009). But what about those residents—typically white, poor, and occasionally lacking in stability—who do not have the necessary resources to accomplish this? This article examines three typical responses by low-income mobile home residents—here called resisting, downplaying, and perpetuating—leading to different outcomes regarding residents’ sense of community belonging. The article is based on the analysis of over 150 qualitative interviews with mobile home park residents conducted in West Central Florida between 2005 and 2010.</p>


2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
K. A. Fenton ◽  
C McGarrigle

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States has published a report containing revised guidelines for HIV counselling, testing, and referral (CTR), and revised recommendations for HIV screening of pregnant women (1). The CTR guidelines replace the existing 1994 guidelines (2) and contain recommendations for policy-makers and service providers of HIV CTR. The revised recommendations for HIV screening for pregnant women replace the 1995 guidelines (3). The revision was prompted by recent advances in both HIV CTR and HIV treatment and prevention and clinical advances in preventing perinatally acquired HIV.


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