Pornography as Pollution

Pornography is often compared to pollution. But little effort has been made to consider what it means to describe pornography as a pollution problem, even as many legal scholars have concluded that the law has failed to control internet pornography. Opponents of pornography maintain passionate convictions about how sexually-explicit materials harm both those who are exposed to them and the broader cultural environment. Viewers of pornography may generally hold less fervent beliefs, but champions of free speech and of a free internet object to anti-pornography regulations with strong convictions of their own. The challenge is how to address the widespread concern about pornography while recognizing the limits of government regulation. This article responds to the law’s failures by framing pornography as a pollution problem. It begins by explaining how pornography is like pollution, and how it is not. It then considers the obstacles to relying on regulation to combat pornography, and conversely, the difficulty with simply instructing internet users to tolerate pornography. The goal of the article is to show how viewing pornography as a problem of pollution may assist in devising new ways of responding to the widespread concerns about internet pornography. Generally, environmental law seeks to prevent some pollution from occurring at all, controls other pollution so that does not enter the environment, facilitates the separation of pollution that does reach the environment from those it could harm, and tolerates the presence of some pollution. The experience of environmental law suggests that the victims of pollution should not be burdened with avoiding it, and that filtering and zoning strategies can play in a role in helping people avoid exposure to the effects that pornography has on the internet environment

An Overview of Internet Regulation in China

The content that is allowed on the Internet in China has always been strictly regulated; unsuitable content is organized under twelve general categories. As a result, guerrilla-style digital warfare is waged between the Chinese government and high-tech libertarians. The goal of Internet regulation for the authorities is to provide a “healthy” environment for both political and economic development.preprin

Cybersecurity and Development

While scholars and policymakers have realized the importance of information and communication technologies in economic development, relatively less attention has been given to the role of cybersecurity. This research sheds light on issues associated with the "dark side" of digitization in the Global South. We examine the hollowness in the Global South’s digitization initiatives that is associated with a poor cybersecurity. The article also advances our understanding of how institutional and structural characteristics of the Global South influence cybersecurity

Cybersecurity and Development

While scholars and policymakers have realized the importance of information and communication technologies in economic development, relatively less attention has been given to the role of cybersecurity. This research sheds light on issues associated with the dark side of digitization in the Global South. We examine the hollowness in the Global South’s digitization initiatives that is associated with a poor cybersecurity. The article also advances our understanding of how institutional and structural characteristics of the Global South influence cybersecurity

Analysing Geo-linguistic Dynamics of the World Wide Web: The Use of Cartograms and Network Analysis to Understand Linguistic Development in Wikipedia

This article discusses the usefulness of geo-linguistic analysis for Internet studies by presenting two techniques to frame and visualize the linguistic development of the World Wide Web, in particular the geo-linguistic development amongst different language versions of Wikipedia. An emergent research agenda has been set to explore the multilingual aspects of the Internet using, for example, a global perspective on Wikipedia research. And yet, there is a lack of theoretical and methodological tools for understanding the distribution and diffusion of linguistic materials online. The idea of geo-linguistic factors is introduced in this article to address these shortcomings and to respond to the study of a wide range of issues such as linguistic pluralism on the Internet or, more generally, the diffusion of innovation. Cartograms and network analysis are presented as two techniques that showcase the potential uses of geo-linguistic analysis. These two techniques of measurement and visualization indicate certain geographic and linguistic affiliations among languages. It is argued that although certain more developed language versions such as English and German may have central positions in connecting all languages, there exists another pattern that can best be explained by geo-linguistic factors. Finally, the limitations and implications of such findings and techniques are discussed, not only for research on Wikipedia but for Internet studies in general

'I don't want anyone to know': Experiences of obtaining access to HIV testing by Eastern European, non-European Union sex workers in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Historically, the Netherlands has hosted a large number of migrant sex workers. Since sex work is considered a legal profession it might serve as an example of better access to health services, including HIV testing, at least for those working within the legal framework. However, migrant sex workers, especially non-European Union (EU) nationals, might not be eligible to register for official employment and thus face obstacles in obtaining access to health services, becoming essentially invisible. This study examined context-specific vulnerabilities of migrant female sex workers (FSWs) from Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, whether and how they have access to HIV testing compared to other EE, non-EU migrant FSWs in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We conducted a multi-stakeholder perspective study from November 2015 to September 2017 in Amsterdam. The study comprised 1) semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders (N = 19); 2) in-depth interviews with Eastern European, non-EU migrant FSWs (N = 5) and field observations of the escort agency working with them; and 3) in-depth interviews with key stakeholders (N = 12). We found six key barriers to HIV testing: 1) migration and sex-work policies; 2) stigma, including self-stigmatization; 3) lack of trust in healthcare providers or social workers; 4) low levels of Dutch or English languages; 5) negative experience in accessing healthcare services in the home country; and 6) low perceived risk and HIV-related knowledge. Having a family and children, social support and working at the licensed sex-work venues might facilitate HIV testing. However, Internet-based sex workers remain invisible in the sex-work industry. Our findings indicate the importance of addressing women's diverse experiences, shaped by intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, network and policy-level factors, with stigma being at the core. We call for the scaling up of outreach interventions focusing on FSWs and, in particular, migrant FSWs working onlin

Cybercrime and Cyber-security Issues Associated with China: Some Economic and Institutional Considerations

China is linked to cybercrimes of diverse types, scales, motivations and objectives. The Chinese cyberspace thus provides an interesting setting for the study of cybercrimes. In this paper, we first develop typology, classification and characterization of cybercrimes associated with China, which would help us understand modus operandi, structures, profiles and personal characteristics of cybercrime organizations and potential perpetrators, the signature aspects and goals of cybercrimes, the nature and backgrounds of the criminal groups involved, characteristics of potential targets for criminal activities, the nature and extent of the damage inflicted on the victims and the implications to and responses elicited from various actors. We then examine this issue from developmental and international political economy angles. Specifically, we delineate salient features of China’s politics, culture, human capital and technological issues from the standpoint of cyber-security and analyze emerging international relations and international trade issues associated with this phenomenon. Our analysis indicates that China’s global ambition, the shift in the base of regime legitimacy from MarxLeninism to economic growth, the strong state and weak civil society explain the distinctive pattern of the country’s cyber-attack and cyber-security landscapes

Spartan Daily, September 20, 1990

Volume 95, Issue 15https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/8015/thumbnail.jp