Regulating Search Engines: Taking Stock And Looking Ahead

Since the creation of the first pre-Web Internet search engines in the early 1990s, search engines have become almost as important as email as a primary online activity. Arguably, search engines are among the most important gatekeepers in today's digitally networked environment. Thus, it does not come as a surprise that the evolution of search technology and the diffusion of search engines have been accompanied by a series of conflicts among stakeholders such as search operators, content creators, consumers/users, activists, and governments. While few tussles existed in the initial phase of innovation where Internet search engines were mainly used by 'techies' and academics, substantial conflicts emerged once the technology got out of the universities and entered the commercial space. When search technology advanced and search services gained commercial significance, these conflicts became more severe and made their way into the legal arena. At the core of most of these disputes were controversies over intellectual property, particularly trademark and copyright issues

REGULATING SEARCH ENGINES: TAKING STOCK AND LOOKING AHEAD

Since the creation of the first pre-Web Internet search engines in the early 1990s, search engines have become almost as important as email as a primary online activity. Arguably, search engines are among the most important gatekeepers in today\u27s digitally networked environment. Thus, it does not come as a surprise that the evolution of search technology and the diffusion of search engines have been accompanied by a series of conflicts among stakeholders such as search operators, content creators, consumers/users, activists, and governments. While few tussles existed in the initial phase of innovation where Internet search engines were mainly used by \u27techies\u27 and academics, substantial conflicts emerged once the technology got out of the universities and entered the commercial space. When search technology advanced and search services gained commercial significance, these conflicts became more severe and made their way into the legal arena. At the core of most of these disputes were controversies over intellectual property, particularly trademark and copyright issues

Parents, teens, and online privacy

This report looks at some steps parents are taking to observe, discuss, and check up on their children’s digital footprints. Most parents of teenagers are concerned about what their teenage children do online and how their behavior could be monitored by others.  81% of parents of online teens say they are concerned about how much information advertisers can learn about their child’s online behavior, with some 46% being “very” concerned. 72% of parents of online teens are concerned about how their child interacts online with people they do not know, with some 53% of parents being “very” concerned

Youth and Digital Media: From Credibility to Information Quality

Building upon a process-and context-oriented information quality framework, this paper seeks to map and explore what we know about the ways in which young users of age 18 and under search for information online, how they evaluate information, and how their related practices of content creation, levels of new literacies, general digital media usage, and social patterns affect these activities. A review of selected literature at the intersection of digital media, youth, and information quality -- primarily works from library and information science, sociology, education, and selected ethnographic studies -- reveals patterns in youth's information-seeking behavior, but also highlights the importance of contextual and demographic factors both for search and evaluation. Looking at the phenomenon from an information-learning and educational perspective, the literature shows that youth develop competencies for personal goals that sometimes do not transfer to school, and are sometimes not appropriate for school. Thus far, educational initiatives to educate youth about search, evaluation, or creation have depended greatly on the local circumstances for their success or failure

Case Study: DRM-protected Music Interoperability and e-Innovation

This report – representing one of three case studies that are part of a transatlantic research project aimed at exploring the potential relation between ICT Interoperability and eInnovation – examines issues surrounding DRM interoperability within the context of music content. Recognizing that interoperability will likely be defined differently by different stakeholders, we begin by establishing a rough, holistic working definition of interoperability and then assess the implementation of DRM in the music content market and associated problems with regard to interoperability. We then go on to explore the technological, market, and legal environments in their relation to and impact upon the achievement of interoperable DRM systems. In part 2, we analyze potential benefits and drawbacks of an interoperable DRM environment for the music content market. We then evaluate both private and public-initiated approaches towards the accomplishment of interoperability using a series of qualitative benchmarks. Lastly, we conclude by summing up the merits and demerits of the various approaches. Our findings lead us to surmise that normative considerations weigh in favor of greater interoperability in general. The challenge of determining the optimal level of interoperability and the best approach for attaining it, however, points toward consideration of a number of complex factors. We conclude that the best way to determine the optimal level of interoperability and means of accomplishing it is to rely upon economic-based assessments on a case-by-case basis

Digital Identity Interoperability and eInnovation

This paper, one of three case studies in a transatlantic research project exploring the connection between Information and Communication Technology interoperability and eInnovation, considers the current state and possible evolution of Digital Identity. While consumers would undoubtedly reap convenience benefits from an ubiquitous single sign-on (SSO) technology, the potential for privacy and security issues makes Digital ID a complex issue. The user-centric, federated, and centralized models of Digital ID each have their advantages and drawbacks. While a few companies have previously attempted to establish a single Digital ID standard that they would control, the failure of those efforts has led to a situation where most players in the industry seem to see interoperability as essential to build up the market in the face of frequent ambivalence from consumers, e-commerce merchants, and other potential users. Broadly, Digital ID could enable a wide range of new Web-based applications, increasing consumers' flexibility and reducing transactions costs. However, having Digital ID be too ubiquitous could threaten the continued viability of anonymous speech in some contexts. It could also lead to more entities having greater access to personal data of consumers, raising the stakes of potential data breaches. The paper concludes that the route to interoperability most likely to lead to innovation would include continued collaboration among industry players to settle on one or a few consolidated efforts. Except in special areas, governments can best play a peripheral role, encouraging coordination through soft regulatory approaches like bringing stakeholders together and using their market power as major data holders and users. If privacy and security issues are addressed (and current stakeholders seem acutely aware of them), Digital ID interoperability has the potential to be extremely generative, creating new markets and enabling interoperability among other applications and services. If, however, coordination breaks down among market leaders and rival technologies emerge, it seems likely that user adoption will remain low and the benefits will be limited

Online Security in the Middle East and North Africa: A Survey of Perceptions, Knowledge, and Practice

Digital communication has become a more perilous activity, particularly for activists, political dissidents, and independent media. The recent surge in digital activism that has helped to shape the Arab spring has been met with stiff resistance by governments in the region intent on reducing the impact of digital organizing and independent media. No longer content with Internet filtering, many governments in the Middle East and around the world are using a variety of technological and offline strategies to go after online media and digital activists. In Tunisia, before and during the January 2011 protest movement that led to a change in government there, Internet service providers were apparently logging usernames and passwords to hack into and dismantle online organizing and information sharing among protesters. In early June 2011, Google reported a phishing attack targeted at military and human rights activists to gain access to their Gmail accounts. In Syria, a well organized effort known as the Syrian Electronic Army has been carrying out attacks to disable and compromise web sites that are critical of the Syrian regime. These stories are only a few selected from the set that have become public, and an unknown number of attacks go unnoticed and unreported. Many of these attacks are impossible to attribute to specific actors and may involve a mix of private sector and governmental actors, blurring the lines between cyber attacks and government surveillance. In such an environment, maintaining online security is a growing challenge.In this report we describe the results of a survey of 98 bloggers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) carried out in May 2011 in order to study bloggers' perceptions of online risk and the actions they take to address digital communications security, including both Internet and cell phone use. The survey was implemented in the wake of the Arab spring and documents a proliferation of online security problems among the respondents. In the survey, we address the respondents' perceptions of online risk, their knowledge of digital security practices, and their reported online security practices. The survey results indicate that there is much room for improving online security practices, even among this sample of respondents who are likely to have relatively high technical knowledge and experience