Behavioural compliance and law enforcement in online hate speech

This research was partially funded by the Data to Decisions Cooperative Research Centre (D2D CRC, Australia) 2, and Meta-Rule of Law (DER2016-78108-P, Spain).It is usually said that technical solutions should operate ethically, in compliance with the law and subject to good governance principles. In this position paper we face the problem of behavioural compliance and law enforcement in the case of hate and fear speech online. Law enforcement and behavioural compliance are ways of coping with the objective of stopping hate online. We contend that a combination of regulatory instruments, incentives, training, proactive selfawareness and education can be effective to create legal ecosystems to improve the present situation

AI in Content Curation and Media Pluralism

This part focuses on the use of AI in content curation, addressing the impact of data-driven content recommender systems on diversity and media pluralism. This part and the next one highlighting shortcomings of AI-based content curation and targeted advertising provide human rights-centred recommendations to prevent the negative impact of AI tools in content curation on the right to freedom of opinion and expression

Improving Civilian Protection during War through Conflict-Specific Behavioural Regulation of Combatants

This thesis advances the claim that there is a gap between the regulation of behaviour for the protection of individuals in peace and the regulations needed to protect civilians from combatant violence during war. Social psychology and criminology theories can help to develop the necessary conflict-specific behavioural regulations. This is because social psychology and criminology theories can explain how combatant deviance is adversely affected by psychological processes that reframe combatants’ conceptions of right and wrong and, in so doing, fundamentally alter the way in which combatants view the IHL rules intended to protect civilians. This thesis uses legal doctrinal methodology to establish the current status of IHL application to armed groups and existing IHL protections for civilians, which are based largely on peacetime protections for individuals (e.g., prohibitions on assault, murder, rape, etc.). It demonstrates the need and utility of turning to academic disciplines beyond law, specifically social psychology and criminology, to understand combatant violence toward civilians. Through the use of case studies focusing on the Sierra Leone civil war and the numerous ongoing conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this thesis identifies two common combatant behaviours that contribute to the perpetration of IHL violations against civilians, but are currently unregulated by IHL: (1) combatant use of demeaning, degrading, or dehumanizing language toward civilians and (2) combatant use of nicknames, particularly violent or heroic nicknames. The thesis proposes two new IHL regulations to address these behaviours and to inhibit the ability of these behaviours to contribute to violence toward civilians during armed conflict. Ultimately, the thesis demonstrates how combatant psychology can be used to develop the substantive content of IHL for the protection of civilians

Social Media’s impact on Intellectual Property Rights

This is a draft chapter. The final version is available in Handbook of Research on Counterfeiting and Illicit Trade, edited by Peggy E. Chaudhry, published in 2017 by Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785366451. This material is for private use only, and cannot be used for any other purpose without further permission of the publisher.Peer reviewe

Online Abuse, Chilling Effects, and Human Rights

Online harassment, cyberbullying, hate, and other forms of online abuse pose a significant threat to human rights in Canada. Now, the country is at a crossroads: it will face American pressure to adopt a broad immunity model similar to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) or, at long last, take more robust action to address cyberharassment and other online abuse, beyond the piecemeal approach used today. Central to this regulatory debate are concerns and claims about “chilling effects”—that is, the idea that certain regulatory actions may “chill” or deter people from exercising their rights online and in other digital contexts. Such claims, and in particular claims about speech chill, have long been raised to oppose measures addressing online abuse. In this chapter, I argue that such chilling-effect claims, which are advanced to oppose measures taken to curb online harassment and abuse, neglect other kinds of chilling effects. I argue that such abuse chills the rights of victims. And, drawing on new empirical research on this point, I argue that such legal interventions—like cyberharassment laws—rather than having a chilling effect, can also have a salutary impact on the speech and engagement of victims whose voices have been typically marginalized. I will also discuss the important implications these findings have for Canadian law and policy

Regulating terrorist content on tech platforms: A proposed framework based on social regulation

Scholars have been arguing for years that responses to terrorist content on tech platforms have, to-date, been inadequate. Past responses have been reactive and fragmented with tech platforms self-regulating. Over the last few years, many governments began to decide that the self-regulatory approach was not working. As a result, a number of regulatory frameworks have been proposed and/or implemented. However, they have been highly criticised. The purpose of this thesis is to propose a new regulatory framework to counter terrorist content on tech platforms and overcome many of these criticisms. Scholars have argued that it is vital that future regulation be informed by past experience and supported by evidence from prior research. Therefore, a number of steps were taken. First, this thesis examines a review of literature into what platforms are exploited by terrorist organisations. Next, a content analysis was undertaken on blogposts that tech platforms publish in order to investigate the efforts that tech platforms report making to counter terrorist content on their services and the challenges that they face. Third, a sample of existing or currently proposed regulatory frameworks were examined in order to learn what was done well and what gaps, limitations and challenges exist that require addressing in future regulation. Finally, social regulation theory was identified as applicable in this regulatory context. Social regulation strategies were examined in three other regulatory contexts in order to examine whether they could be used in this regulatory context. The findings from the above analyses were used to inform a new regulatory framework that is proposed in this thesis. In addition to proposing a new regulatory framework, this thesis also identified three compliance issues that tech platforms may face. These compliance issues are addressed alongside the proposal of the framework. Overall, it is argued that previous regulatory attempts failed to consider the diverse array of challenges that are faced by different platforms when countering terrorist content. The regulatory framework proposed in this thesis researched these challenges and identified strategies from a social regulation approach, learning lessons from how they were applied elsewhere to overcome some of the key criticisms and limitations of existing regulatory practice

Responding to Deficiencies in the Architecture of Privacy: Co-Regulation as the Path Forward for Data Protection on Social Networking Sites

Social Networking Sites like Facebook, Twitter and the like are a ubiquitous part of contemporary culture. Yet, as exemplified on numerous occasions, most recently in the Cambridge Analytica scandal that shook Facebook in 2018, these sites pose major concerns for personal data protection. Whereas self-regulation has characterized the general regulatory mindset since the early days of the Internet, it is no longer viable given the threat social media poses to user privacy. This article notes the deficiencies of self-regulatory models of privacy and contends jurisdictions like Canada should ensure they have strong data protection regulations to adequately protect the public. However, while underscoring the economic value of Big Data technologies, it posits regulation does not necessarily need to come at the cost of economic prosperity. By adopting a co-regulatory model based on regulatory negotiation, various stakeholders can come together and draft robust and flexible data protection regulations, including both tailored rules and oversight mechanisms. Beginning with a survey of the challenges and opportunities of Big Data and social networking sites (I), this article then canvasses the data protection framework of three jurisdictions, namely the United States, Canada, and the European Union (II). Finally, it shows the clear advantages of co-regulation as a regulatory paradigm and offers an outline for the regulation of social networking sites using regulatory negotiation (III)

Tackling food marketing to children in a digital world: trans-disciplinary perspectives. Children’s rights, evidence of impact, methodological challenges, regulatory options and policy implications for the WHO European Region

There is unequivocal evidence that childhood obesity is influenced by marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages high in saturated fat, salt and/or free sugars (HFSS), and a core recommendation of the WHO Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity is to reduce children’s exposure to all such marketing. As a result, WHO has called on Member States to introduce restrictions on marketing of HFSS foods to children, covering all media, including digital, and to close any regulatory loopholes. This publication provides up-to-date information on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children and the changes that have occurred in recent years, focusing in particular on the major shift to digital marketing. It examines trends in media use among children, marketing methods in the new digital media landscape and children’s engagement with such marketing. It also considers the impact on children and their ability to counter marketing as well as the implications for children’s rights and digital privacy. Finally the report discusses the policy implications and some of the recent policy action by WHO European Member States

Hate crimes against the LGBT community in the Commonwealth: a situational analysis

This report outlines the nature and extent of anti-LGBT hate crime and its impact on individuals and societies in the Commonwealth. Section 1 outlines the methodology and approach of this report, and sets out the legal and social context in which hate crimes are committed against LGBT people. Section 2 assesses the extent and nature of anti-LGBT hate crimes, exploring trends across the Commonwealth and surveying regional and country-specific case examples. Information on the perpetrators of anti-LGBT victimisation is also outlined. Section 3 examines the impacts that anti-LGBT hate crimes have on individuals, communities and society. Commonalities and differences in experiences across different sectors of LGBT communities are described. Section 4 of the report concludes with recommendations on how Commonwealth states should legislate against anti-LGBT hate crime, and why statutory agencies must implement monitoring tools to ensure that anti-LGBT victimisation becomes visible and is measured