Information Society Watch

December 11, 2007, Center for Democracy and Technology

This report by the Center for Democracy and Technology looks at the United States E-Government act of 2002 and its effectiveness in making government available to citizens. It aims to highlight the lack of accessible government information to encourage federal agencies to consider their information policies.

December 31, 2007, Phil Mercer, BBC News

The article reports on the recent move by the Australian government to force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to have mandatory filters in place to block content deemed inappropriate for children. The plan in its current form has its critics, who regard it as an infringement on freedom of speech.

November 12, 2007, Mure Dickie, Financial Times

This article reports on the the double-edged of growing Internet use in China. As China first got online, some heralded the Internet as a breakthrough to toppling China's regime of government censorship, but instead the state has proven very effective at using state and commercial resources to prevent citizens from using the Internet as a tool for political dissent.

2007, Stephanie Wang & Shishir Nagaraja, OpenNet Initiative

This bulletin examines the emerging role of ICTs in Burma and presents a technical analysis of the Burmese military junta's complete shutdown of Internet access between September and October 2007. Using the example of Burma, it concludes that ICTs can have a major impact on global coverage of events and on the events themselves, but the effectiveness of ICTs can also be severely limited by factors such as state control.

September 24, 2007, East African Business Week

This article builds a case in favour of lax Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) laws for promoting innovations in ICTs, leading to development in the South. Lax IPRs in the context of ICTs refer to adoption of IP regimes that promote technological development and integrate ICT into an indigenous development programme to meet existing technological challenges.

February 28, 2007, BBC News Service

In this article, Michael Geist, who is an Internet law professor analyses the changes in the dissemination of research information to the general public. In the current model, researchers in government funded projects publish their findings in research journals which can be accessed only by purchasing them. However, a new stand has been taken based on the open access principle which argues that results from research funded by taxpayer money should be available free of cost.

August 2007, South Centre

New international legal requirements for the protection of technological measures used by copyright owners to control access and use of their works can hinder the ability of developing countries to promote access to knowledge for development. This policy brief explains the current international legal framework for protection of copyright and national experiences in the implementation of these laws.

August 2007, Dalindyebo Shabalala, South Centre

This research paper analyses the implications of digital and Internet content policy for access to knowledge in developing countries and makes some initial recommendations. The paper recommends that the emerging digital content presents tremendous opportunities and the chance for developing countries to shape and implement development oriented copyright regimes. The paper also warns of extending protecting regimes which would only serve to benefit major rights-holder industries and would be of little or no benefit to developing countries.

September 4, 2007, BBC News Service

This article talks about the legal implications of unlocking phones which are locked in to a specific service provider specially citing the instance of the 'iPhone' which is a case in point. Consumer groups point out that this practice of forcing customers to stick to a certain service provider is extremely negative as it not only limits the choice of consumers to move to other providers, thus controlling free market forces; but it also means that the consumer has to forgo the freedom where she would have the option of switching over to local networks and avoid paying roaming fees while travelling, which is offered in unlocked phones.

July 2007, CIO

In what could be a significant way in which the Internet is governed, a court in Belgium has ruled that responsibility for blocking of illegal file sharing falls on Internet Service Providers (ISP). In a first of it's kind ruling, the court has given six months to ISPs to install technology to prevent its customers from sharing pirated music and video files.