The End of Net Neutrality

In 2005, the FCC changed the competitive landscape of the high-speed Internet access industry by classifying both DSL and cable modem service as information services. While many hail this move as a victory for competition and free markets, others fear the ruling could jeopardize the future of the Internet. This iBrief examines the potential end of net neutrality and concludes that new federal regulations are unnecessary because antitrust laws and a competitive marketplace will provide consumers with sufficient protection

It's written in the cloud: The hype and promise of cloud computing

Purpose of paper: This viewpoint discusses the emerging IT platform of Cloud Computing and discusses where and how this has developed in terms of the collision between internet and enterprise computing paradigms – and hence why cloud computing will be driven not by computing architectures but more fundamental ICT consumption behaviours. Design/methodology/approach: The approach has been based upon the discussion and recent developments of Software as a Service (SaaS) and associated ICT computing metaphors and is largely based upon the contemporary discussion at the moment of the impact of social, open source and configurable technology services. Findings: It is suggested that whilst cloud computing and SaaS are indeed innovations within ICT, the real innovation will come when such platforms allow new industries, sectors, ways of doing business, connecting with and engaging with people to emerge. Thus looking beyond the technology itself. Research limitations/applications: Author viewpoint only, not research based. Practical applications: Brings together some of the recent discussions within the popular as well as business and computing press on social networking, open source and utility computing. Social implications: Suggests that cloud computing can potentially transform and change the way in which IS and IT are accessed, consumed, configured and used in daily life. Originality / value of paper: Author viewpoint on a contemporary subject

Network Rules

Crawford compares the debate between the telcos and the online companies over broadband access regimes often called the network neutrality debate to the ongoing tussle between intellectual property maximalists and free culture advocates which are strikingly parallel sets of arguments. The maximalists claim that creativity comes from lone genuises (the romantic author) who must be given legal incentives to works but intellectual property scholars have carefully examined the incentives of their arguments and have pointed out that granting overly strong property rights to copyright holders might not be socially appropriate. Moreover, the network providers claim that they (the romantic builders) must be allowed by law to price-discriminate vis-a-vis content sources in order to be encouraged to build the network

Plan Now for Managing Electronic Data and Avoid Tomorrow’s Legal Risks

[Excerpt] In a world where the use of electronic data is rapidly increasing, companies must find ways to manage data now so that they effectively control compliance risks. The proliferation of electronic data is both astonishing and overwhelming. Given the storage power of average computers today, even the most modest mom-and-pop business may have electronic storage capacity equivalent to 2,000 four-drawer file cabinets. The task of managing electronic data is further compounded by the fact that the data is no longer just tangible pieces of paper, but rather are bytes of information that are constantly being edited, changed, and updated from different people and sources. Proper archiving, retention, monitoring, filtering, and encryption of electronic data are no longer optional: they are imperative

The Political Economy of Cable - "Open Access."

Advocates of "open access" claim that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should be able to use a cable TV system's bandwidth on the same terms offered to ISPs owned by the cable system. On that view, "open access" mitigates a monopoly bottleneck and encourages the growth of broadband. This paper shows that cable operators do enjoy market power, and do seek to leverage a dominant position in video into the broadband access market by allocating too little bandwidth for Internet access. Yet, rather than protect cable operators from cannibalizing their cable TV revenue, this strategy defends against imposition of common carrier regulation, which would allow system capacity to be appropriated by regulators and rival broadband networks. Ironically, the push for "open access" limits Internet access by encouraging this under-allocation of broadband spectrum, and by introducing coordination problems slowing technology deployment. These effects are empirically evident in the competitive superiority of cable's "closed" platform vis-a-vis "open" DSL networks, and in financial market reactions to key regulatory events and mergers in broadband.

Click Here for Change: Your Guide to the E-Advocacy Revolution

Describes how organizations are using state-of-the-art technology to engage supporters and improve their advocacy efforts. Includes case studies and lessons on how to incorporate electronic approaches in campaign strategies

SOFTWARE: FROM PRODUCT TO SERVICE THE EVOLUTION OF A MODEL

Among the consequences of the Enterprise 2.0 family technologies’ growingpopularity, we can observe the rise of a set of new business models for the use and employment ofsoftware applications, some of them also applicable for infrastructure components. The mostpopular of these models is by far Software as a Service (also called SaaS). SaaS is a softwaredistribution model assuming the software applications are hosted and maintained by the vendor orthe distributor, the user access being granted exclusively by means of the Internet. The paper athand is a literature review and also an action research, meant to provide an objective and unbiasedcomparison of the two major software distribution models, and also to identify the strengths, theweaknesses and the favorite areas of applicability for each model. The paper is a part of a largerresearch performed by the author in the field of Enterprise 2.0 technologies.Organizational knowledge, Enterprise 2.0, Software as a Service, Web 2.0, Semantic Web

Text Data Mining from the Author's Perspective: Whose Text, Whose Mining, and to Whose Benefit?

Given the many technical, social, and policy shifts in access to scholarly content since the early days of text data mining, it is time to expand the conversation about text data mining from concerns of the researcher wishing to mine data to include concerns of researcher-authors about how their data are mined, by whom, for what purposes, and to whose benefits.Comment: Forum Statement: Data Mining with Limited Access Text: National Forum. April 5-6, 2018. https://publish.illinois.edu/limitedaccess-tdm