Identifying the limits of governmental interference with on-line privacy

This thesis addresses the issue of on-line privacy, in an effort to identify the limits of governmental interference with this kind of right. Traditional privacy has been a well accepted and legally recognized human right for many years now. However, the exposure of privacy to the Internet has created new threats that mould the nature of 'on-line privacy': a user is less aware of the dangers faced in cyberspace, due to the instinctive feeling of being alone when in front of a computer; the distinction between private and public places is blurred, cyberspace looks like a public space, but is actually an aggregation of privately owned digital spaces, open to public access. Taking this as a basis, the thesis explores the route to be followed in order for a well-balanced interference with on-line privacy to be designed. First, an analysis of computer-related crime, the major reason (or excuse) on which governments base the need to interfere and delimit privacy in the on-line environment. On¬ line delinquency may be a serious problem, but it has to be examined closer than it has been up to present if it is to choose effective measures to combat it. Second, the thesis analyses the legal reasons justifying governmental interference with on-line privacy. National security, public safety and the economic well being of a country are the most popular reasons appearing in laws regulating interference with an otherwise protected right, and they will play a prominent role in justifying interference with privacy in cyberspace; an approach on the meaning, use and difficulties met in their application can be a starting point in an effort to avoid the same problems in the on-line environment. The European Convention of Human Rights, being one of the most complete and effective legal forums for human rights protection, is then used to show how the legally acceptable justifications for interference with privacy are being implemented. The thesis goes on to examine cryptography: being one of the most valuable tools for the protection of on-line privacy, regulating its use and dissemination is a way of governmental interference. An approach of the efforts made to limit the use and dissemination of strong encryption shows how on-line privacy has been affected. It is further suggested that restrictions in the use of strong encryption have a much more detrimental effect for legitimate users than for those using it to conceal illegal activity. The effectiveness of these measures is, therefore, under question. Next, the UK Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 is analysed, mainly those parts that affect on-line privacy. RIPA regulates the use of investigatory powers in the on-line environment such as interception of communications, acquisition of communications data and governmental access to keys. Being one of the few examples of such legislation, a lot can be learnt from the mistakes made. Last, the thesis explores the threat posed to on-line privacy by systems of covert governmental surveillance. The Echelon and other major international surveillance systems is probably the most real threat for privacy in the on-line environment

The relationships that bind? Power and alter-globalisation networks

Many scholars celebrate the emancipatory potential of alter-globalisation networks. This thesis tests this claim, using a case study of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), and analysing what the powers which constitute this network reveal about the powers of it. GCAP is one of the largest networks of its type, mobilising nearly 175 million people on a single day in 2009 via national coalitions of civil society organisations in 115 countries. The PhD research focuses on two of these national coalitions in India and Malawi, as well as GCAP's broad governance structures, and utilises semi-structured and ethnographic interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis. The data was analysed through a methodological frame of governmentality and post-governmentality literatures, to analyse the full range of discourses and agencies which construct GCAP. The thesis interrogates the agency of GCAP through an exploration of three power-related themes, namely: the relationships GCAP enacts with processes of statist and neo-liberal hegemony; how GCAP develops relations of solidarity across distance; and the manner in which GCAP constructs subjects of legitimation. The thesis finds that GCAP embodies a monitored subjectivity vis-A-vis statist and neo-liberal hegemonic power, yet also retains a monitory agency on those powers. It furthermore finds that relations of solidarity developed in GCAP between areas of structural advantage and disadvantage are imbued with both colonial and postcolonial discourses, which simultaneously buttress and contest neoliberal discourses of managerialism, resource-dependency and the fetishisation of 'the poor'. These different sets of relations construct GCAP with a contingent, contradictory, yet at times emancipatory and transcendent subjectivity. By creating a snapshot of an alter-globalisation network in diverse social contexts, this thesis reveals the ways in which the power of such networks is uneven and immanent, dependent upon confluences of the various internal and external powers which constitute them

Turing-Completeness as Medium: Art, Computers and Intentionality

This PhD is a practice-based study of how the computer functions in art practice, which takes on the notion of a fine art computing “medium”. Current research, while sometimes referencing the computer as a potential art medium, mostly defines it non-explicitly as a type of “hybrid” media device or some sort of “multimedia” machine. These terms leave the existence of a specific computing medium in art practice undefined and have historically led the analysis of artworks that employ computers to rely on critical frameworks that were either developed for earlier physical media, or have no structural similarities to computers. Such approaches can fail to examine unique ontological issues that arise - especially at a structural level - when using a computer to produce art. To achieve a formal description of a hitherto loosely defined (or non-defined) art medium, the research employs a range of critical and theoretical material from fields outside art practice, chiefly among them Alan Turing’s definition of a "a(utomatic)-machine", (nowadays called a “Turing machine”) from his 1936 paper "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem". Turing described a machine which can “simulate” any other computing machine including all modern computers. His machine is here used to propose a ‘Turing-complete medium’ of art, of which every computer is a computationally equivalent member. Using this perspective/definition, the research undertook an investigation of a ‘Turing-complete medium’ by developing creative practice in the form of individual works that explored specific aspects of computing systems. The research then engaged in a written analysis of the practice, again employing the concept of a ‘Turing-complete medium’, working towards the development of medium-specific critique of any art made with any computer. In foregrounding the nature and functions of computing machines, the research explores how these elements can be made intrinsic to our interpretations of computer-based art while also being aware of the limitations of medium-specific critique as exposed within the modernist tradition

Images and realities of rural life : Wageningen perspectives on rural transformations

Publicatie ter gelegenheid van 50 jaar sociologie in Wageninge

Courting Disputes: The Materialisation and Flexibility of a Dispute Forum Network in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea

This thesis examines how relationships and ethical practices and judgements are made explicit in the dispute forums of Papua New Guinea (PNG). It also explores what the outcomes of this explication can mean for methods of local conflict resolution. My findings are based on twelve months of fieldwork conducted in the province of West New Britain, with particular focus on the region of Bialla and the dispute forums therein. There are a large number of dispute forums used in Bialla that emerge outside the purview of the state government. With such a large number of different venues in the region, it is worth asking what they are used for and how they might connect with, and work alongside, a relatively more state recognised venue - the village court. Without more extensive consideration of how these forums work in relation to one another, can current discussions surrounding the uses and outcomes of the village courts accurately reflect what these forums do? To answer these questions my research explores the significance of actor-networks and conceptions of place in the production of authority and conflict resolution. By mobilising theories of emplacement and actor-oriented anthropology my findings are able to challenge the prevailing understanding that law sits at the heart of the courts and can be used as bar against which the use and outcomes of a dispute forum can be measured. By removing law from this central position, other facets that are significant to the usage of dispute forums in Bialla can be revealed. My discussion revolves around the examination of a number of Bialla's dispute forums including: the content of the disputes overseen there, details of the way in which disputes are treated in each instance, and the way in which each forum materialises physically on each occasion. In this way, my research considers factors that contribute to the use of these dispute forums and what that may mean for local communities. I explore how extensive group dynamics and long established conflicts are represented and addressed in each. Those venues that are unable to address certain disputes also provide a revealing aspect of my discussion. Limitations go some way to explain why such a wide range of forums are required to oversee the variety of disputes in Bialla. Ultimately, I argue that dispute forums are flexible venues that materialise as a result of actor-networks in order to address the wide variety of disputes arising in the area