Seguridad en redes sociales: problemas, tendencias y retos futuros

Proceeding of: VII Congreso Iberoamericano en Seguridad Informática (CIBSI), Panamá, 29 al 31 de octubre de 2013El abrumador crecimiento de las Redes Sociales (RSs) junto con su gran utilización, estimulan su constante investigación y mejora. Sin embargo, el uso de las RSs no está exento de problemas de seguridad y, en concreto, de privacidad. De hecho, es aquí donde este trabajo contribuye. En base a las recientes investigaciones y tendencias, se presentan un total de diez problemas asociados con la privacidad en las RSs. Además, cada problema es acompañado de directrices que pretenden ser la base de futuras investigaciones y desarrollos. Finalmente, se analiza de forma global la dificultad técnica de abordar estos problemas, así como su alcance en las RS.No publicad

Social media, bedroom cultures and femininity: exploring the intersection of culture, politics and identity in the digital media practices of girls and young women in England

In recent years, the position of (post-)millennial girls and young women within the digital landscape of social media has proven to be a topic of much interest to a number of feminists, journalists and cultural commentators. On the one hand, girls’ (social) media practices are presented as a key site of concern, wherein new digital technologies are said to have produced an intensification of individualized, neoliberal and post-feminist identities. At the same time, others have championed access to social media for young people as a revolutionary political tool, wherein previously marginalised political subjects (such as girls) can access and participate within new and exciting political cultures. This thesis offers an original contribution to these debates by locating itself at the intersection of these two approaches and examining the role of social media in the production of girls’ cultural and political identities. I present my findings from focus groups carried out with girls (aged 12-18) in three urban locations in England. This data is organised around the three overriding themes of space, surveillance and visibility. Ultimately, the thesis argues that social media should be conceptualised as an important terrain upon which neoliberal and postfeminist subjectivities can be both reproduced and subverted

The Production, Practice and Potential of ‘Community’ in Edinburgh’s Transition Town Network

‘Community’ is increasingly seen as a solution to the environmental challenge faced in the UK. This original work critically evaluates schemes utilising ‘community’, focusing on those adopting the Transition Town Network (TTN) name, and those funded through the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF). It is based on qualitative, participative, empirical research with three of Edinburgh’s Transition Town Network groups and eighteen of their initiatives. This thesis charts the production of ‘community’ within these groups, set against the background of ‘community’ rhetoric both within TTN in general, and increasingly UK environmental policy more widely, specifically in the CCF. It then assesses what ‘community’ means – and has come to mean – in this context. ‘Community’ as a term for government capture of innovative political collectives, or as a progressive mobilising force, uniting diverse actors through small-scale belonging, are critically assessed in turn. The thesis argues that the concept of zuhanden – ‘ready-to-hand’, drawn from phenomenology – offers a fruitful way to understand ‘community’. Doing so emphasises and captures the hitherto neglected way in which ‘community’ is acquired, rather than sought. Building on this analysis the thesis then interrogates how ‘community’ as acquired rather than sought is envisioned and enacted in three of Edinburgh’s TTN groups. The thesis argues that this is closely intertwined with the way in which time is understood by such groups; the notion of ‘possible futures’ which are posited by ‘transition’. This is inherently connected to the groups’ view of space, and has implications for how they view and achieve success, and the tensions this creates with surrounding actors. It concludes with an assessment of the barriers or opportunities remaining for such ‘community’ initiatives. Through these issues, the thesis addresses the potentially irreconcilable tensions that exist between the CCF and TTN, and offers valuable lessons for ‘community’ groups in future

Towards a re-composition of democratic participation in regions: the role of consultative forums

Following the decentralisation of governmental processes in many European countries, a number of political decisions are now being made by regional instances of government. As they gain more political autonomy, regions also take on a renewed significance as places in which to convene a number of democratic debates between a number of actors. At the same time, the democratic trends in regions have also been characterised by the introduction of participatory elements which complement the more traditional channels of representative democracy. Modern democracies are often "hybrid democracies" in which citizens and groups delegate power by electing representatives, but simultaneously retain the possibility to raise issues or participating in decision-making between elections. This thesis is specifically concerned with the contribution of the various particularistic groups in regional decision-making processes. Within this broad area of research, my project focuses on the involvement of particularistic groups through "consultative forums". Consultative forums are relatively formal participatory structures which aspire to deepen the ways in which people and groups can effectively participate in and influence the policy-processes prior to legislation being considered. They are purposely designed to help groups get their message across to government by nurturing their voices, organising a level of interaction between the various groups, and channelling the groups' message across to government. The thesis provides an in-depth exploration of the functioning of two such consultative forums: the Scottish Civic Forum and the French Regional Economic and Social Council. Based on observations collected during thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, the thesis critically examines the extent to which these two organisations can promote the sort of dialogue and democratic debate which could lead to an effective re-composition of political action in devolved democratic processes. Theoretically, the thesis draws from a number of contemporary debates relative to the participation of particularistic groups in modem liberal democratic processes. These debates address the commonly accepted prevalence of representative democracy, the quality of regional public spheres and the in-house functioning of participatory organisations such as the consultative forums. The thesis concludes that, while the consultative forums might not necessarily be the primary means of democratic expression in the regions, each of them fulfils a very important function. One model seeks primarily to empower smaller, vulnerable groups within policy processes. The second model foments an intensive level of interaction between key regional stakeholders. I argue that both these objectives are eminently worthwhile and that the consultative forums are able to fulfil important functions in regional public spheres

Eco-nuclear publicity : a comparative study in Florida and Scotland

ABSTRACT This comparative study of the corporate public relations strategies of the nuclear industry in the U.S. and Britain, specifically of Florida Power & Light (FP&L) in Florida and Scottish Nuclear Limited (SNL) in Scotland, examines the use of visitor centres and environmental messages as key components of advocational campaigns designed to influence public opinion and shape public policy in favour of a pro-nuclear agenda. The study would seem to confirm other research that draws a direct relationship between the function of public relations in an organisation and the degree of input by public relations into corporate policy-making. Moreover, the data also suggest that, given a prominent role within an organisation, public relations can and does develop strategies and programmes to pro-actively manage emerging strategic public policy issues in direct support of organisational objectives Such programmes, as the study reveals, have been designed specifically around visitor centres as communication vehicles for corporate pronuclear messages, carried directly to key publics without gatekeeping by the mass media. Moreover, it would appear that the nuclear industry has been intentionally 'greening' its corporate messages so as to capitalise upon the public's growing concern about the environment. The study also suggests that the nuclear industry is using such centres, as well as newer, emerging advocational initiatives, in a fully promotional sense to circulate and thereby enhance the reputation of the industry. A comparative analysis of corporate nuclear public relations in the U.S. and Britain suggests a 'cross-national' exchange of intelligence, and in some respects, an outright collusion of efforts. Moreover, it would seem that there exists a further government-industry alliance both within the U.S. and Britain as well as trans-Atlantically. This alliance represents a convergence of government and industry interests in the development of nuclear energy for military and civilian purposes, and further illustrates earlier research of collusion among politicaleconomic elites and the over representation of corporate interests at the expense of unorganised public interests in the government decision-making process. Finally, the study argues that upcoming public policy decisions on the future of nuclear power in each country will be a measure of the effectiveness of pro-nuclear campaigning in achieving its objectives. The public debate on nuclear power will represent a genuine test of the relative health of democracy in both the U.S. and Britain, nation-states in which, military-industry-government interests mostly have had their way as it has concerne

Public space or public sphere? An examination of Facebook as a new space for political talk through online ethnographic study of citizen engagement during a UK general election

This thesis considers the place of Facebook within the public sphere by focusing on whether the social network provides new, distinct spaces for political discussion. In doing so, the study makes an original contribution to knowledge by assessing the role of Facebook in enabling or limiting political debate. It considers whether the corporate cultural development of Facebook’s architecture influences such debate, set against broader interpersonal political communication and social capital theory. While other studies have considered Facebook’s contribution to the public sphere by studying the role of the internet generally or of social media more broadly, this research focuses on Facebook itself, arguing that the scale, reach and corporate ecology of Facebook necessitates studying it as a political actor in its own right. The research hypothesised that Facebook’s corporate ambition and its global scale and dominance of online social debate potentially created a new form of social public sphere - one that is the product of today’s more horizontal networked society (Castells, 2010). The thesis argues that it is this social aspect of using Facebook, coupled to the company’s commercial focus on what an individual may be (or should be) interested in, that has the potential to affect public opinion and thus political actions. The study used data collected during the 2015 UK General Election, supplemented by additional material gathered during 2017’s “snap” UK General Election, to look at how citizens engage in political talk on Facebook. The mixed methods research includes quantitative surveys alongside qualitative online ethnographic study and direct intervention via a case study to test theory. By focusing on particular online spaces (political candidates’ public Facebook pages) and a particular time period (the month preceding a general election) when political debate might be expected to happen, this research assesses whether Facebook’s architecture encourages or discourages such debate. The thesis explores whether these online spaces – political candidate’s public Facebook pages - offer a 21st century version of Habermas’s 18th century coffee houses and salons as a place where debate among peers is expected and encouraged. However, the study finds that, even in these favourable circumstances, debate is less likely to happen, with Facebook’s architecture having a chilling effect on political talk. Users are more likely to avoid debate than to engage in it via Facebook and, while the scale and connectedness of Facebook has enabled protest or para-political movements from Occupy to The 48% group to quickly gather momentum, the commercial ecology of its architecture is not able to sustain debate leading to broader civic action, within the context of a Habermasian public sphere. Further, Facebook’s architecture may undermine the public or civic sphere, not only by discouraging reasoned debate but by making it less likely that users will be exposed to opposing views or new ideas with which they might want to engage. None-the-less, the thesis hypothesises that the presence of particular users on a candidate’s page (the “right” people - defined as visible leaders, supportive policers, aware producers and engaged openers) can counter the negative effects of Facebook’s architecture to enable political talk, albeit within limited parameters. Finally, the thesis concludes that Facebook is not part of the Habermasian public sphere, rather it has undermined or disintermediated the public sphere as it is largely understood

The Politics of Scottish Government Policy on Unconventional Oil and Gas

The UK government is responsible for UK energy policy and has signalled a firm commitment to hydraulic fracturing for shale gas as part of its energy strategy. Yet, the Scottish Government imposed an indefinite moratorium on fracking in 2017. To explain this puzzling outcome, this thesis uses the Advocacy Coalition Framework to examine the Scottish unconventional oil and gas debates and demonstrate that Scotland possesses an analytically separate fracking subsystem, with its own actors and coalitions, ‘nested’ in a UK subsystem. The study identifies key actors, their stated beliefs, and drivers of policy change. In this thesis, I combine qualitative content analysis with the case study approach to capture the dynamic unconventional oil and gas policy process in Scotland and explain this major shift. I provide an in-depth examination of the Scottish hydraulic fracturing debates between 2011 and 2019. The timespan of eight years was enough for advocacy coalitions to emerge with relatively well-formed belief systems, and for policy learning to occur. The findings showed that the Scottish hydraulic fracturing subsystem was conditioned by multiple external events and instances of policy-learning that not only influenced the Scottish Government’s final decision, but also its ability to make that decision. This study makes an original contribution to knowledge in the field of public policy by providing a longitudinal analysis of hydraulic fracturing policy development in Scotland. It also contributes to further development of the Advocacy Coalition Framework as a public policy theory by applying it in a multi-level governance context and expanding the concept of ‘nestedness’