Tech policy with Integrity
Big tech accountability? Read the backstory to today's policy debates here on Iptegrity.
I wrote an Op-Ed for The New Statesman published in November 2023.
I am sharing the opening paragraphs here. The full article can be accessed via this link.
The Online Safety Bill will make life harder for victims
In seeking to address harms to children, the Online Safety Bill proposes remedies that will create new harms. Internet services used every day by British consumers would be obligated to scan all public posts and private chats against government-specified criteria. It’s a serious interference with free speech and privacy rights.
If these services don’t want to do it, they could pack up and leave the UK. If they do comply, it would open the floodgates to scanning requests from governments seeking to undermine democratic debate around the world. Who then would be the loser?
Internet companies will be required by the government to police social media posts for criminal offences across 11 areas of law. These offences include assisting illegal immigration and public order offences, as well as terrorism and child sexual abuse material. It is not clear why public order and immigration offences are in a bill to protect children. [...]
To read the full article, please use the link above.
IPtegrity commentary
- UK bulk intercept surveillance - court ruling calls for tighter safeguards
- UK border safety alert - mind the capability gap
- What? Will UK government ignore security as it walks away from EU?
- Britain unplugged: the security risk of no-deal
- Betting on a costly space race: MPs probe OneWeb satellite deal
- Disrupting supply chains: how leaving the Single Market means systemic breakdown
- Big tech and anti-trust: an ill-fitting suit?
- Schrems ruling puts a spoke in UK data flows from 2021
- Digital rights - why they matter in a time of coronavirus
- EU upload filter - Germany's crucial deciding vote
- Copyright Directive upload filter - why EU Council should block it
- Data and Brexit - a mis-calculation?
- EU lawmakers seek to protect free speech in online content rules
- How Brexit rips up business models Part 2: visas for money and music
- How Brexit rips up business models Part 1: putting back barriers
- Norwegian Blue or Super-Canada - is there any life in this parrot?
- EU Copyright Directive - who pays the bill for the upload filter?
Published work
- Algorithms Patrolling Content: Where's the Harm?
- Content responsibility: The looming cloud of uncertainty for Internet intermediaries
- Freedom of Expression, Human Rights Standards and Private Online Censorship
- The Policy Challenge Of Content Restrictions: How Private Actors Engage The Duties Of States
- Internet Policy Review - The Aereo dilemma and copyright in the cloud
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About Iptegrity
Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten.
I am a tech policy specialist, published author, post-doctoral scholar. I hold a PhD from the University of Westminster, and a DipM from the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Currently working on UK Online Safety Bill.
Recent media quotes: BBC, iNews, Times, Guardian, Politico. Panelist: IAPP, CybersecuritySummit. Parliament and Internet. June 2022-July 2023 w/ Open Rights Group.
Iptegrity.com is made available free of charge for non-commercial use. Please link back and attribute Dr Monica Horten. Contact me to use any of my content for commercial purposes.