The fallout from the McAlpine saga threatens the role of Twitter in public life

The fallout from the McAlpine saga has led to increasing fears that legal action will have a ‘chilling effect’ on the microblogging platform. Paul Bernal argues that Twitter provides something quite special for the media and that it should be nurtured. It’s possible a defence may develop naturally from the legal processes McAlpine’s team bring about but, if not, we ought to work to develop it

Collaborative Consent: harnessing the strengths of the Internet for consent in the online environment

Consent in the online environment is a crucial issue at this stage of the development of the Internet, and at the same time, in practice it is generally dealt with only on a superficial level. However, while the Internet offers significant challenges in terms of consent, it also provides unparalleled opportunities, which, if grasped, could enable a new level of consent, particularly where consent is required for services such as behavioural advertising systems. Through an examination of the failure of Phorm, the paper introduces a new concept, 'collaborative consent', treating consent not as a discrete, one-off decision but as a collaborative and communicative process, an ongoing relationship between the individual and the enterprise. The Internet provides a medium for immediate and interactive communication that could allow information to be given and choices to be made in real time - a first step to real, informed consent in the online world

Fakebook: why Facebook makes the fake news problem inevitable

The current ‘fake news’ phenomenon is a modern manifestation of something that has existed throughout history. The difference between what happens now and what has happened before is driven by the nature of the internet and social media – and Facebook in particular. Three key strands of Facebook’s business model – invading privacy to profile individuals, analysing mass data to profile groups, then algorithmically curating content and targeting individuals and groups for advertising – create a perfect environment for fake news. Proposals to ‘deal’ with fake news either focus on symptoms or embed us further in the algorithms that create the problem. Whilst we embrace social media, particularly as a route to news, there is little that can be done to reduce the impact of fake news and misinformation. The question is whether the benefits to freedom of expression that social media brings mean that this is a price worth paying

The Right to Be Forgotten in the Post-Snowden Era

The revelations of Edward Snowden of at least part of the true extent of the gathering and processing of communications data by the intelligence services of many nations, most notably the US and the UK, sent shockwaves through the Internet, not least amongst those concerned with privacy. Though the information revealed relates primarily to government surveillance, the ramifications are far wider and far greater than that. It is hard to find a privacy- related issue that has not been affected by them. The behaviour and actions of people, businesses, governments and courts have all seen changes, and those changes have an impact. The right to be forgotten is one of those issues: it may seem to have nothing to do with government surveillance but there are both direct and indirect connections between the two. The Snowden revelations have had an impact on how we understand the right to be forgotten, how the right to be forgotten is being implemented, and how we might find an appropriate future for it

Liberty and others vs. GCHQ and others

In February 2015, the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruled that data sharing systems between the US and UK intelligence services had been unlawful from their inception until December 2014, when key disclosures about them were made. The deceptively simple ruling revealed a great deal about the processes and systems that govern surveillance in the UK, about the strength of the oversight systems, and about the need for reform of both the law and the enforcement of that law. This piece analyses the case in the context of a new atmosphere and environment surrounding surveillance law in the UK: fitting it within a bigger pattern where more transparency is being demanded and more accountability is required

Corbyn’s digital meh-nifesto is too rooted in the past to offer much for the future

Paul Bernal is a Lecturer in Information Technology, Intellectual Property and Media Law in the University of East Anglia School of Law. Here he raises questions about the implications of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s new Digital democracy manifesto

You can’t deny message encryption to some individuals without denying it to all

The UK's IP bill is not clear, but if it denies this, then it does seek to undermine end-to-end encryption, argues Paul Berna

Self-regulation of internet intermediaries: public duty versus private responsibility

Internet intermediaries – the social media companies, search engines and internet service providers who supply ways for audiences to find and access online content – are under scrutiny regarding their crucial role in the flow of digital information. Google and Facebook attracted one fifth of global advertising spend in 2016, and concerns have been raised about these companies’ increasing dominance. An event earlier this month hosted by the LSE Media Policy Project addressed the issue of intermediary liability for content and how policy makers should respond. Paul Bernal of the University of East Anglia spoke about the concept of public duty in relation to intermediaries; the following post is based on his remarks