This volume presents analyses of data protection systems and of 26 jurisdictions with data protection legislation in Africa, as well as additional selected countries without comprehensive data protection laws. In addition, it covers all sub-regional and regional data privacy policies in Africa. Apart from analysing data protection law, the book focuses on the socio-economic contexts, political settings and legal culture in which such laws developed and operate. It bases its analyses on the African legal culture and comparative international data privacy law. In Africa protection of personal data, the central preoccupation of data privacy laws, is on the policy agenda. The recently adopted African Union Cyber Security and Data Protection Convention 2014, which is the first and currently the only single treaty across the globe to address data protection outside Europe, serves as an illustration of such interest. In addition, there are data protection frameworks at sub-regional levels for West Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa. Similarly, laws on protection of personal data are increasingly being adopted at national plane. Yet despite these data privacy law reforms there is very little literature about data privacy law in Africa and its recent developments. This book fills that gap.

Written by a specialist team of academics, judges and practising lawyers from the UK and abroad under the editorial direction of Dr Nicole Moreham and Sir Mark Warby, The Law of Privacy and the Media gives expert guidance for practitioners working on cases relating to privacy and the media, and will be of value to academics with an interest in this field. The first two editions of this book quickly established themselves as the leading reference works on the rapidly developing law of privacy in England and Wales. They have been frequently referred to in argument in privacy cases, and extracts have been cited with approval in judgments of the High Court and Courts of Appeal. Following the Leveson Inquiry, the laws and regulations governing the English media have come under intense scrutiny. This work has been revised and updated to incorporate discussion of both those debates and the continually changing landscape of privacy protection. The book offers an overview of English media privacy law, outlining key legislation and legal rules. It includes comparative perspectives and addresses current debates about the form and scope of modern privacy protection. The Law of Privacy and the Media provides detailed but accessible chapters on the various forms of wrongful publication of personal information, as well as intrusion into physical privacy, before considering justifications and defences, remedies and the procedure to be followed in such cases. This edition includes new chapters giving separate consideration to new media and harassment by publication. The Law of Privacy and the Media is essential reading for all those who act for or against the media or who have a general interest in the subject.

A PDF version of this book is available for free in open access via www.tandfebooks.com as well as the OAPEN Library platform, www.oapen.org. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license and is part of the OAPEN-UK research project.

E-commerce offers immense challenges to traditional dispute resolution methods, as it entails parties often located in different parts of the world making contracts with each other at the click of a mouse. The use of traditional litigation for disputes arising in this forum is often inconvenient, impractical, time-consuming and expensive due to the low value of the transactions and the physical distance between the parties. Thus modern legal systems face a crucial choice: either to adopt traditional dispute resolution methods that have served the legal systems well for hundreds of years or to find new methods which are better suited to a world not anchored in territorial borders.

Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), originally an off-shoot of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), takes advantage of the speed and convenience of the Internet, becoming the best, and often the only option for enhancing consumer redress and strengthening their trust in e-commerce. This book provides an in-depth account of the potential of ODR for European consumers, offering a comprehensive and up to date analysis of the development of ODR. It considers the current expansion of ODR and evaluates the challenges posed in its growth. The book proposes the creation of legal standards to close the gap between the potential of ODR services and their actual use, arguing that ODR, if it is to realise its full potential in the resolution of e-commerce disputes and in the enforcement of consumer rights, must be grounded firmly on a European regulatory model.

Customary Law of the Internet is the first book that deals comprehensively with the emergence of a new kind of law on the Internet that could be utilized by governments and private arbitrators to settle disputes and make better laws. This new kind of law is what once used to be the only source of legal rights and obligations: customary law. The author first addresses issues posed by the emergence of the Internet and analyses relevant international treaties, in particular the Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracting. He then comes to the emerging customary norms developed by the Internet community, the importance of custom from an historical perspective and the nature of international custom. The concept of Internet custom is introduced, followed by a detailed methodology for evidencing customary norms in judicial proceedings. The last part of the book is devoted to the novel concept of autonomous Internet law, based on customary norms of the Internet community, arbitral and judicial awards, general principles of law, conventions, model laws, commonly used contract terms and technical standards. Several Internet customs are discussed in the area of intellectual property, electronic contracting, online advertising and transaction security. This book is addressed both to national and international governments, judges and arbitrators as well as to online traders, researchers and the Internet community as a whole. It is an important tool for academics and practitioners interested and active in cyberspace regulation and the Information Technology community. Dr Paul Przemyslaw Polanski (BBus, magister prawa) is presently a senior researcher at the Department of European Law, Faculty of Law, University of Warsaw, and Department of Information Systems, Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management (LKAEM), Warsaw. Previously, he worked as a computer programmer in the Australian IT industry and as a researcher at the University of Melbourne and Monash University. He also worked for legal offices in Poland, specializing in information technology law, contracts, property and EU law. Currently, he administers the e-learning platform www.elaw.pl. This is Volume 13 in the Information Technology and Law (IT&Law) Series

In this book Konstantinos Komaitis identifies a tripartite problem - intellectual, institutional and ethical - inherent in the domain name regulation culture. Using the theory of property, Komaitis discusses domain names as sui generis 'e-property' rights and analyses the experience of the past ten years, through the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). The institutional deficit he identifies, generates a further discussion on the ethical dimensions in the regulation of domain names and prompts Komaitis to suggest the creation of an environment based on justice.

The relationship between trademarks and domain names has always been contentious and the existing institutions of the UDRP and ACPA have not assisted in alleviating the tension between the two identifiers. Over the past ten years, the trademark community has been systematic in encouraging and promoting a culture that indiscriminately considers domain names as secondclass citizens, suggesting that trademark rights should have priority over the registration in the domain name space.

Komaitis disputes this assertion and brings to light the injustices and the trademark-oriented nature of the UDRP and ACPA. He queries what the appropriate legal source to protect registrants when not seeking to promote trademark interests is. He also delineates a legal hypothesis on their nature as well as the steps of their institutionalisation process that we need to reverse, seeking to create a just framework for the regulation of domain names. Finally he explores how the current policies contribute to the philosophy of domain names as second-class citizens.

With these questions in mind, Komaitis suggests some recommendations concerning the reconfiguration of the regulation of domain names.

This topical book critically examines the regulatory framework for generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) on the Internet. The regulation drawn up by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) applies at a global level, complementing national and international law. These rules form part of a growing body of transnational private regulation. Generic Top-Level Domains offers a clear and engaging analysis of how ICANN has tackled a diverse set of regulatory issues related to the introduction of new gTLDs, such as property rights, competition and consumer protection. Studying recent case law, the book argues for a stronger focus on procedural fairness for future introductions of new gTLDs. It also highlights how ICANN's contractual framework regulates the registration and use of domain names and argues that ICANN's regulatory authority ought to be clarified in order to avoid regulatory overreach. Uniquely comprehensive, this book will appeal to students and scholars with an interest in Internet governance, domain name law and transnational private regulation. Practitioners working in the domain name industry will also find this a valuable resource.

Blockchain Technology and the Law: Opportunities and Risks is one of the first texts to offer a critical analysis of Blockchain and the legal and economic challenges faced by this new technology. This book will offer those who are unfamiliar with Blockchain an introduction as to how the technology works and will demonstrate how a legal framework that governs it can be used to ensure that it can be successfully deployed. Discussions included in this book: - an introduction to smart contracts, and their potential, from a commercial and consumer law perspective, to change the nature of transactions between parties; - the impact that Blockchain has already had on financial services, and the possible consumer risks and macro-economic issues that may arise in the future; - the challenges that are facing global securities regulators with the development of Initial Coin Offerings and the ongoing risks that they pose to the investing public; - the risk of significant privacy breaches due to the online public nature of Blockchain; and - the future of Blockchain technology. Of interest to academics, policy-makers, technology developers and legal practitioners, this book will provide a thorough examination of Blockchain technology in relation to the law from a comparative perspective with a focus on the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

Cybersecurity is a vital issue for all countries, but those in the developing world face unique concerns. This innovative book evaluates the experience of cyberspace policies and strategies and their relation to cyber laws and regulations in developing and emerging economies, using economic, political and social bases as well as resource-based theory perspectives. This work is inspired by a number of factors including the burgeoning importance of cybersecurity in an interconnected world and the fact that cyber risk is now at the top of the global agenda, as high-profile breaches increase worries that cybersecurity attacks might compromise the world economy. Its unique and innovative look at radical changes in the use of governmental resources to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of cybersecurity policies and strategies, and its insight into the effects of these changes on the economic structure of a country, make this book useful to many disciplines. Scholars, students and policy makers will all find this vivid book of great value in understanding the vital issues in cybersecurity.

This Research Handbook provides a scholarly and comprehensive account of the multiple converging challenges that digital technologies present for intellectual property (IP) rights, from the perspectives of international, EU and US law. Despite the fast-moving nature of digital technology, this Handbook provides profound reflections on the underlying normative legal dilemmas, identifying future problems and suggesting how digital IP issues should be dealt with in the future. Written by leading international academics, commentators and practitioners, the Handbook is organised into clear thematic parts that address the most prominent types of IP rights: copyrights and related rights; patents and trade secrets; and trade mark law and designs. Chapters analyse a range of key technologies and their impacts within these areas, including big data, artificial intelligence, streaming, software, databases, user-generated content, mass digitisation, metatags, keywords and 3D printing. The Handbook concludes by exploring issues of competition and enforcement that cut across all of these technologies, particularly in the light of online exploitation and infringement. Scholars and doctoral students of law will find this Handbook an invaluable introduction and guide to the field of digital IP. Practitioners will also find its thoughtful coverage practically relevant. Contributors include: R. Abbott, B. Allgrove, R. Arnold, R. Burrell, T. Cook, M. Davison, M. Fisher, S. Ghosh, J. Ginsburg, J. Groom, M. Handler, Y. Harn Lee, T.R. Holbrook, M. Iljadica, S. Karapapa, I. Lee, J. Lipton, D. Llewelyn, M.F. Makeen, M.P. McKenna, D. Mendis, F. Mostert, L.S. Osborn, T.P. Reddy, E. Rosati, S.K. Sandeen, M. Senftleben, N. Shemtov, A. Strowel, T.E. Synodinou, K. Weatherall

This book brings together leading counterterrorism experts, from academia and practice, to form an interdisciplinary assessment of the terrorist threat facing the United Kingdom and the European Union, focusing on how terrorists and terrorist organisations communicate in the digital age. Perspectives drawn from criminological, legalistic, and political sciences, allow the book to highlight the problems faced by the state and law enforcement agencies in monitoring, accessing, and gathering intelligence from the terrorist use of electronic communications, and how such powers are used proportionately and balanced with human rights law. The book will be a valuable resource for scholars and students of terrorism and security, policing and human rights. With contributions from the fields of both academia and practice, it will also be of interest to professionals and practitioners working in the areas of criminal law, human rights and terrorism.

The fusion between virtuality and reality has created a new quality of experience establishing metaverses and virtual worlds. Second Life, Twinity, Entropia Universe or Fregger have experienced rapid growth in recent years and show no signs of slowing down. Not only have countless companies discovered these "virtureal worlds" as marketplaces, but so have fraudsters and other criminals. In this book, European experts from different academic disciplines show how to meet the new challenges arising from virtual worlds. They discuss the reasons for and the impacts of these new forms of criminality as well as the necessity and means of combating them. Moreover, other fundamental issues are examined, such as the addictive potential of virtual-world use, media violence, and conflict resolution problems arising in the context of virtual worlds.

As the distributed architecture underpinning the initial Bitcoin anarcho-capitalist, libertarian project, 'blockchain' entered wider public imagination and vocabulary only very recently. Yet in a short space of time it has become more mainstream and synonymous with a spectacular variety of commercial and civic 'problem'/'solution' concepts and ideals. From commodity provenance, to electoral fraud prevention, to a wholesale decentralisation of power and the banishing of the exploitative practices of 'middlemen', blockchain stakeholders are nothing short of evangelical in their belief that it is a force for good. For these reasons and more the technology has captured the attention of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, global corporations and governments the world over. Blockchain may indeed offer a unique technical opportunity to change cultures of transparency and trust within cyberspace, and as 'revolutionary' and 'disruptive' has the potential to shift global socioeconomic and political conventions. But as a yet largely unregulated, solutionist-driven phenomenon, blockchain exists squarely within the boundaries of capitalist logic and reason, fast becoming central to the business models of many sources of financial and political power the technology was specifically designed to undo, and increasingly allied to neoliberal strategies with scant regard for collective, political or democratic accountability in the public interest. Regulating Blockchain casts a critical eye over the technology, its 'ecosystem' of stakeholders, and offers a challenge to the prevailing discourse proclaiming it to be the great techno-social enabler of our times.

This supplemental text on PR law is intended to be used with other mass communication textbooks. It is intended for the mass communication law course, which is a mainstay in all accredited programs in mass communication, journalism, broadcasting, telecommunications, public relations, mass media, and related curricula.

Billions of minutes a month are spent globally on social media. This raises not only serious legal issues, but also has a clear impact on everyday commercial activity. This book considers the significant legal developments that have arisen due to social media. It provides an expert explanation of the issues that practitioners and businesses need to consider, as well as the special measures that are required in order to minimise their exposure to risk. The content is highly practical, and not only explores the law related to social media, but also includes useful aids for the reader, such as flow charts, checklists and case studies. Various categories and channels of social media are covered in this book, alongside the legal classification of different social networks. Social media is also considered in the context of human rights law by evaluating the implications this has had upon the development of civil and criminal law when pursuing a civil remedy or criminal prosecution in relation to online speech. As part of these discussions the book deals specifically with the Defamation Act 2013, the Communications Act 2003, the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the Contempt of Court Act 1988 among other key issues such as seeking Injunctions and the resulting privacy implications. Finally, the author also pays careful consideration to the commercial aspects raised by social media. The reader will find reference to key cases and regulatory guidance notes and statutes including, the Data Protection Act 1998 (including the draft Data Protection Regulation), user privacy, human rights, trading and advertising standards, special rules for FCA regulated bodies and social media insurance. This book is an invaluable guide for private practice and in-house practitioners, business professionals, academics and post-graduate students involved in the law surrounding social media.

"The data economy" is a term used by many, but properly understood by few. Even more so the concept of "big data". Both terms embody the notion of a digital world in which many transactions and data flows animate a virtual space. This is the unseen world in which technology has become the master, with the hand of the human less visible. In fact, however, it is human interaction in and around technology that makes data so pervasive and important - the ability of the human mind to extract, manipulate and shape data that gives meaning to it. This book outlines the findings and conclusions of a multidisciplinary team of data scientists, lawyers, and economists tasked with studying both the possibilities of exploiting the rich data sets made available from many human-technology interactions and the practical and legal limitations of trying to do so. It revolves around a core case study of Singapore's public transport system, using data from both the private company operating the contactless payment system (EZ-Link) and the government agency responsible for public transport infrastructure (Land Transport Authority). In analysing both the possibilities and the limitations of these data sets, the authors propose policy recommendations in terms of both the uses of large data sets and the legislation necessary to enable these uses while protecting the privacy of users.

Cellular technology has always been a surveillance technology, but "cellular convergence" - the growing trend for all forms of communication to consolidate onto the cellular handset - has dramatically increased the impact of that surveillance. In Cellular Convergence and the Death of Privacy, Stephen Wicker explores this unprecedented threat to privacy from three distinct but overlapping perspectives: the technical, the legal, and the social. Professor Wicker first describes cellular technology and cellular surveillance using language accessible to non-specialists. He then examines current legislation and Supreme Court jurisprudence that form the framework for discussions about rights in the context of cellular surveillance. Lastly, he addresses the social impact of surveillance on individual users. The story he tells is one of a technology that is changing the face of politics and economics, but in ways that remain highly uncertain.

This book analyses emerging constitutional principles addressing the regulation of the internet at both the national and the supranational level. These principles have arisen from cases involving the protection of fundamental rights. This is the reason why the book explores the topic thorough the lens of constitutional adjudication, developing an analysis of Courts' argumentation. The volume examines the gradual consolidation of a "constitutional core" of internet law at the supranational level. It addresses the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union case law, before going on to explore Constitutional or Supreme Courts' decisions in individual jurisdictions in Europe and the US. The contributions to the volume discuss the possibility of the "constitutionalization" of internet law, calling into question the thesis of the so-called anarchic nature of the internet.

Examining the development and design of regulatory structures in the online environment, The Regulation of Cyberspace considers current practices and suggests a regulatory model that acknowledges its complexity and how it can be used by regulators to provide a more comprehensive regulatory structure for cyberspace. Drawing on the work of cyber-regulatory theorists, such as Yochai Benkler, Andrew Shapiro and Lawrence Lessig, Murray explores and analyzes how all forms of control, including design and market controls, as well as traditional command and control regulation, are applied within the complex and flexible environment of cyberspace. It includes chapters on: the role of the cyberlawyer environmental design and control online communities cyber laws and cyber law-making. This book is an essential read for anyone interested in law and information technology.

Examining the development and design of regulatory structures in the online environment, The Regulation of Cyberspace considers current practices and suggests a regulatory model that acknowledges its complexity and how it can be used by regulators to provide a more comprehensive regulatory structure for cyberspace.

Drawing on the work of cyber-regulatory theorists, such as Yochai Benkler, Andrew Shapiro and Lawrence Lessig, Murray explores and analyzes how all forms of control, including design and market controls, as well as traditional command and control regulation, are applied within the complex and flexible environment of cyberspace. It includes chapters on:

• the role of the cyberlawyer
• environmental design and control
• online communities
• cyber laws and cyber law-making.

This book is an essential read for anyone interested in law and information technology.

The regulation of pornography has always been a contentious issue, which has sparked wide-ranging debates surrounding the acceptability and place of pornography in society. The use of the internet to distribute and access pornography has magnified this debate and has presented a number of challenges for the law in terms of effective and proportionate regulation. Following unsuccessful attempts by states to transpose traditional laws to cyberspace, a new and radical regulatory framework eventually evolved for regulating internet pornography. In this process, the focus of the law has changed from merely controlling the publication and distribution of obscene material to a model that aims to deter private consumption of illegal content. In addition, various self- and co-regulatory initiatives have been introduced with the involvement of non-state actors, imposing a certain degree of de facto liability on intermediaries, all of which raise interesting issues. This book examines the relevant regulatory responses to internet pornography, with particular reference to the UK, but also drawing comparisons with other countries where relevant. It argues that the internet has fundamentally, and in many ways irreversibly, changed the regulation of pornography. Classifying internet pornography into three broad categories - child pornography, extreme pornography, and adult pornography - the book provides an in-depth analysis of the legal issues involved in regulating internet pornography, and argues that the notions of obscenity and indecency on their own will not provide an adequate basis for regulating online pornography. The book identifies the legitimising factors that will lend credibility and normative force to the law in order to successfully regulate pornography in cyberspace. It is the only comprehensive text that rigorously addresses the regulation of internet pornography as a whole, and offers valuable insights that will appeal to academics, students, policy makers, and those working in the areas of broader internet governance and online child protection.

"Communication and Law" brings together scholars from law and communication to talk both generally and specifically about the theoretical and methodological approaches one can use to study the First Amendment and general communication law issues. The volume is intended to help graduate students and scholars at all skill levels think about new approaches to questions about communication law by offering a survey of the multidisciplinary work that is now available. It is designed to challenge the conventional notion that traditional legal research and social science methodological approaches are mutually exclusive enterprises.
This book has been developed for researchers working in mass communication and law and will be appropriate for graduate students and scholars. It will also appeal to those in psychology, political science, and other areas who are interested in exploring questions of law in their research.

This book includes detailed coverage of intellectual property, contract, encryption and liability issues, including allocation of domain names, use of metatags and other forms of search engine optimization, digital signatures and the position of ISPs and other intermediaries. There are case studies on electronic conveyancing and e-taxation.

Though the book is written from a UK perspective, comparative material is included from other jurisdictions, including America and Singapore in particular.

This book considers a new approach to online copyright infringement. Rather than looking at the subject within a purely technological context, it provides legal analysis from a human perspective. This book highlights that there are three key instances in which the capacity of a human mind intersects with the development of copyright regulation: (1) the development of copyright statutory law; (2) the interpretation of the copyright statutory law the judiciary; and (3) human interaction with new technology. Using a novel framework for constructing digital perspectives, the author, Dr Hayleigh Bosher, analyses the laws relating to online copyright infringement. She provides insights into why the law appears as it does, shedding light on the circumstances of how it came to pass and demonstrates a clear malfunction in the interpretation and application of copyright law to online activities that derives from the disconnect between the technological and the human perspectives. The book proposes putting the human element back into copyright analysis to enable the return of reason where it has been lost, and provide a clearer, more consistent and fair legal regulation of online copyright infringement. Law, Technology and Cognition: The Human Element in Online Copyright Infringement will be of interest to students, academics, researchers, as well as practitioners.

There have been significant changes in public attitudes towards surveillance in the last few years as a consequence of the Snowden disclosures and the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This book re-evaluates competing arguments between national security and personal privacy. The increased assimilation between the investigatory powers of the intelligence services and the police and revelations of unauthorised surveillance have resulted in increased demands for transparency in information gathering and for greater control of personal data. Recent legal reforms have attempted to limit the risks to freedom of association and expression associated with electronic surveillance. This book looks at the background to recent reforms and explains how courts and the legislature are attempting to effect a balance between security and personal liberty within a social contract. It asks what drives public concern when other aspects seem to be less contentious. In view of our apparent willingness to post on social media and engage in online commerce, it considers if we are truly consenting to a loss of privacy and how this reconciles with concerns about state surveillance.

This clearly written and well-focused volume combines concise decisions of the primary areas of communication law with the foundational case decisions in those domains. Thus, in one volume, students of communication law, constitutional law, political science, and related fields find both the key rulings that define each area of law and a detailed summary of the legal concepts, doctrines, and policies so vital to understanding the rulings within their legal context. The text forgoes the tendency to provide encyclopedic treatment of all the relevant cases and focuses instead on the two or three cases most vital to an accurate and informed understanding of the current state of each field of communication law. The chapters provide readers with the most salient concepts and the necessary depth to understand the law while permitting most reading time to be directed to the law itself. Full-text rulings allow readers to immerse themselves in the law itself--to develop a feel for its complexity, its flexibility, and its language. Useful as a quick reference to the landmark rulings and the jurisprudence of communication law, this book also serves well as the primary text in related undergraduate courses or as a supplemental text in graduate classes in the field.