Is Google the next Microsoft? Competition, Welfare and Regulation in Internet Search

Internet search (or perhaps more accurately `web-search') has grown exponentially over the last decade at an even more rapid rate than the Internet itself. Starting from nothing in the 1990s, today search is a multi-billion dollar business. Search engine providers such as Google and Yahoo! have become household names, and the use of a search engine, like use of the Web, is now a part of everyday life. The rapid growth of online search and its growing centrality to the ecology of the Internet raise a variety of questions for economists to answer. Why is the search engine market so concentrated and will it evolve towards monopoly? What are the implications of this concentration for different `participants' (consumers, search engines, advertisers)? Does the fact that search engines act as `information gatekeepers', determining, in effect, what can be found on the web, mean that search deserves particularly close attention from policy-makers? This paper supplies empirical and theoretical material with which to examine many of these questions. In particular, we (a) show that the already large levels of concentration are likely to continue (b) identify the consequences, negative and positive, of this outcome (c) discuss the possible regulatory interventions that policy-makers could utilize to address these

Combining behavioural types with security analysis

Today's software systems are highly distributed and interconnected, and they increasingly rely on communication to achieve their goals; due to their societal importance, security and trustworthiness are crucial aspects for the correctness of these systems. Behavioural types, which extend data types by describing also the structured behaviour of programs, are a widely studied approach to the enforcement of correctness properties in communicating systems. This paper offers a unified overview of proposals based on behavioural types which are aimed at the analysis of security properties

SPECIFICITY OF PROOF IN CASES OF INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ON SITES ON THE INTERNET

In recent years, the rapid development of both technical progress and activities on the Internet, including the economic one, could not but affect the improvement of existing and the emergence of new mechanisms for violating the rights of intellectual property subjects, gives rise to various disputes between participants in the relevant relations, and such disputes is no exception, since each category of court cases has its own peculiarities of consideration. However, analyzing the judicial practice, a number of procedural problems related to evidence and proving in the field of intellectual property rights protection on Internet sites were identified. – Object of Research: What is the key of proof? – Where? and Who? need to collect evidence? – What is meant by belonging and admissibility of evidence? – What are the ways of securing facts as means of proof on the Internet? Investigated problem: to give a legal assessment not only to the norms of national and international legislation, but also to the practical experience of using the institution of proof in the protection of intellectual property rights raised on sites on the Internet. The main scientific results: the procedural nuances of proving the violation of intellectual property rights on sites on the Internet are highlighted, problematic points are identified, and the proposed optimal ways to overcome them, both in pre-trial and in court. The area of practical use of the research results: fixation, preservation of the evidence itself, their assessment, both in pre-trial and in court. Innovative technological product: an algorithm (technical and legal) securing factual data from the Internet site for submitting them to court. Scope of application of the innovative technological product: the application of the algorithm for securing factual data from the Internet site when protecting intellectual property rights should be carried out in accordance with the rules of the current Economic Procedure Code of Ukraine, namely Chapter 5 "Evidence" of Section 1

Systematizing Decentralization and Privacy: Lessons from 15 Years of Research and Deployments

Decentralized systems are a subset of distributed systems where multiple authorities control different components and no authority is fully trusted by all. This implies that any component in a decentralized system is potentially adversarial. We revise fifteen years of research on decentralization and privacy, and provide an overview of key systems, as well as key insights for designers of future systems. We show that decentralized designs can enhance privacy, integrity, and availability but also require careful trade-offs in terms of system complexity, properties provided, and degree of decentralization. These trade-offs need to be understood and navigated by designers. We argue that a combination of insights from cryptography, distributed systems, and mechanism design, aligned with the development of adequate incentives, are necessary to build scalable and successful privacy-preserving decentralized systems

Jó szomszédi (v)iszonyok? A jobboldali (nemzeti) radikalizmus és a hazai "gárdák" kapcsolathálózati elemzése = Scratching each other's back. An Analysis of the Network of Relations between the Radical (National) Right and the Hungarian “Guards”

Disszertációmban a magyarországi jobboldali (nemzeti) radikalizmus és a 2007 óta megalakult gárdák kapcsolathálózatának feltérképezésére vállalkozom, illetve igyekszem bemutatni a jobboldali radikalizmusok „keleti” és „nyugati” változatainak azonosságait és különbözőségeit. Ez az okfejtés talán magyarázata lehet annak, hogy az előbbi reláció természetéhez miért tartoznak hozzá a gárdaalapítások. Dolgozatomban elsősorban primer kvantitatív kutatásom adataira támaszkodva a hazai politikatudományban kevéssé alkalmazott elemzési módszerrel igyekeztem bizonyítani a jobboldali (nemzeti) radikálisok és a szélsőjobboldal, valamint a gárdák közötti kapcsolatháló létét és működését. Az adatok forrása elsősorban az internet, a világháló volt, a felvázolt hipotéziseket az ott talált információk empirikus elemzésével teszteltem. Az elemzési mód, a társadalmi kapcsolathálózati elemzés (Social Networks Analysis) ma elsősorban a szociológiában kedvelt, ám a magyar politikatudományi vizsgálatok között még újszerű megközelítésnek számít

Digital Afterlife : A General Overview

In this age of information, the means and mediums of exchanging information are adapting digital technologies that are developing at very rapid pace. Digital Afterlife can be understood as maintaining or transforming digital content of users present in the web-space according to users will in case of users deceased or incapability of operating their personal accounts which are considered to be a virtual representation of users in the web platforms. The user generated content can be termed as digital footprints in the cyberspace, the process also generates mass of internet users and wide range of issues of legalizing and transforming content right of users under social medias and web-based services. The thesis conceptualizes Digital Afterlife by stating Social Media and Web-based Services in the web space and their importance, legal issues concerning user, service providers and governing bodies and to seeking any alternative solution on the legal base to regulate Digital Afterlife. The scope of social media and web-based platform widens with increasing users population. The way of finding any alternative solution is done through a comparison of service providers applied terms and conditions for its usage and governing acts and policies related with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the region like United States and Europe. To produce more relevant output the thesis is conducted on recent publication regarding the thesis topic, studies and findings made on internet and professionals and intellectuals published materials. Since the Digital Afterlife is still in primitive stage a definite solution towards managing Digital Afterlife could not be obtained although a mutual initiative of all parties involved can implement the possibilities. Establishment of Digital Data Bank reforming the acts and regulations of ICT in co-operation of governing institutions was one of the alternatives that can be practiced in future to meet the objective of managing Digital Afterlife

The Fate of Napster: Digital Downloading Faces an Uphill Battle

First Diamond Multimedia, then MP3.com, now Napster. The recording industry, in a flurry to protect its copyrighted material, has waged an all-out battle against the dot-coms for the future of copyrighted music on the Internet. Since A&M Records, along with several other labels which comprise the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), filed suit against Napster, emotions have run high in the online community. Some have heralded this technology as a much-needed alternative to the strangling grasp of the major record labels; others view it as blatant theft of property. Students, musicians, computer programmers, trade organizations, and even the US government have voiced their opinions - all perhaps sensing that the outcome of the Napster litigation will have far-reaching consequences. Not only does the current battle over the fate of peer-to-peer technology promise to reshape the face of copyright law, it will also mark the future of the music industry, emerging technologies, and business models for years to come.The following iBrief describes the emergence of Napster\u27s peer-to-peer technology, the legal proceedings to date, and Napster\u27s defensive strategy, as well as the potential technological and cultural ramifications of the Napster cause celebr