{"title":"Personal information management systems: a user-centric privacy utopia?","authors":"H. Janssen, Jennifer Cobbe, Jatinder Singh","doi":"10.14763/2020.4.1536","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1536","url":null,"abstract":"Personal information management systems (PIMS) aka personal data stores (PDSs) represent an emerging class of technology that seeks to empower individuals regarding their data. Presented as an alternative to current ‘centralised’ data processing approaches, whereby user data is (rather opaquely) collected and processed by organisations, PDSs provide users with technical mechanisms for aggregating and managing their own data, determining when and with whom their data is shared, and the computation that may occur over that data. Though arguments for decentralisation may be appealing, there are questions regarding the extent to which PDSs actually address data processing concerns. This paper explores these questions from the perspective of PDS users. Specifically, we focus on data protection, including how PDSs relate to rights and the legal bases for processing, as well as how PDSs affect the information asymmetries and surveillance practices inherent online. We show that, despite the purported benefits of PDSs, many of the systemic issues of online/data ecosystems remain.","PeriodicalId":219999,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Rev.","volume":"59 3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123185616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"VPNs as boundary objects of the internet: (mis)trust in the translation(s)","authors":"Luke Heemsbergen, Adam Molnar","doi":"10.14763/2020.4.1513","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1513","url":null,"abstract":"How do we come to trust, use and govern virtual private networks (VPNs)? How do these objects of the internet tack back and forth between metaphor and technical processes as they garner usership and critique? This paper aims to answer these questions by considering VPNs as boundary objects. We follow Susan Leigh Star’s (2010) call to further explore the ‘tacking’ back and forth of boundary objects as both symbolic and technical objects. This is applied within internetspace and governance-space through empirical methods that walkthrough a typical user experience for acquiring VPN services, while also offering a systemic account of the discourse that such a user would experience in coming to understand VPNs and their function. Issue 4 This paper is part of Trust in the system, a special issue of Internet Policy Review guestedited by Péter Mezei and Andreea Verteş-Olteanu.","PeriodicalId":219999,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Rev.","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121743485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Trusted commons: why 'old' social media matter","authors":"P. Maxigas, Guillaume Latzko-Toth","doi":"10.14763/2020.4.1517","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1517","url":null,"abstract":"The term social media is problematic. As Papacharissi puts it, “all media are social” and “invite [their] own form of sociality” (2015: 1). As a category, the term lacks a clear boundary. Further, using the phrase “social media” as a way to categorise a bound set of digital communication devices may be seen as a negation of the sociality fostered by other technological artifacts that existed prior to them. It pertains to the rhetoric of periodisation that has become commonplace in studies of digital media as the notion of newness has been instrumental in structuring the research agenda (Gitelman 2006; Park, Jankowski, and Jones 2011). Drawing attention to the most recent technologies contributes to framing already existing technologies as “old” in the derogatory sense of “obsolete” and “irrelevant”. It obscures (and denies) the possibility for users of technologies that are not in the spotlight of the largest public’s attention to contribute to a social critique of dominant technologies, overlooking their political and subversive potential.","PeriodicalId":219999,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Rev.","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122306826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. Kyza, C. Varda, Dionysis Panos, M. Karageorgiou, N. Komendantova, S. Perfumi, Syed Iftikhar Husain Shah, A. Hosseini
{"title":"Combating misinformation online: re-imagining social media for policy-making","authors":"E. Kyza, C. Varda, Dionysis Panos, M. Karageorgiou, N. Komendantova, S. Perfumi, Syed Iftikhar Husain Shah, A. Hosseini","doi":"10.14763/2020.4.1514","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1514","url":null,"abstract":"Social media have created communication channels between citizens and policymakers but are also susceptible to rampant misinformation. This new context demands new social media policies that can aid policymakers in making evidence-based decisions for combating misinformation online. This paper reports on data collected from policymakers in Austria, Greece, and Sweden, using focus groups and in-depth interviews. Analyses provide insights into challenges and identify four important themes for supporting policy-making for combating misinformation: a) creating a trusted network of experts and collaborators, b) facilitating the validation of online information, c) providing access to visualisations of data at different levels of granularity, and d) increasing the transparency and explainability of flagged misinformative content. These recommendations have implications for rethinking how revised social media policies can contribute to evidence-based decision-making.","PeriodicalId":219999,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Rev.","volume":"56 12","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131472083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reddit quarantined: can changing platform affordances reduce hateful material online?","authors":"Simon Copland","doi":"10.14763/2020.4.1516","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1516","url":null,"abstract":": This paper studies the efficacy of the Reddit’s quarantine, increasingly implemented in the platform as a means of restricting and reducing misogynistic and other hateful material. Using the case studies of r/TheRedPill and r/Braincels, the paper argues the quarantine successfully cordoned off affected subreddits and associated hateful material from the rest of the platform. It did not, however, reduce the levels of hateful material within the affected spaces. Instead many users reacted by leaving Reddit for less regulated spaces, with Reddit making this hateful material someone else’s problem. The paper argues therefore that the success of the quarantine as a policy response is mixed.","PeriodicalId":219999,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Rev.","volume":"115 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117089889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aleena Chia, B. Keogh, Dale Leorke, Benjamin Nicoll
{"title":"Platformisation in game development","authors":"Aleena Chia, B. Keogh, Dale Leorke, Benjamin Nicoll","doi":"10.14763/2020.4.1515","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1515","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines how the process of platformisation is manifesting in videogame development. Rather than reinforcing a top-down perspective of platformisation centred on distribution platforms like app stores, we focus on often overlooked game-making tools and the independent, entrepreneurial, and fringe communities that govern and use them. We draw on case studies of Unity and Twine, two such tools that have transformed videogame creation and distribution. By considering how they complicate existing understandings and definitions of both ‘platform’ and ‘platformisation’, we move beyond reductive narratives that frame platformisation as a fixed, hegemonic process. Instead, we reveal a much more ambiguous and complex relationship between game makers and the platforms they use.","PeriodicalId":219999,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Rev.","volume":"98 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127098229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tarleton Gillespie, P. Aufderheide, Elinor Carmi, Y. Gerrard, Robert Gorwa, Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández, Sarah T. Roberts, Aram Sinnreich, S. West
{"title":"Expanding the debate about content moderation: Scholarly research agendas for the coming policy debates","authors":"Tarleton Gillespie, P. Aufderheide, Elinor Carmi, Y. Gerrard, Robert Gorwa, Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández, Sarah T. Roberts, Aram Sinnreich, S. West","doi":"10.14763/2020.4.1512","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1512","url":null,"abstract":"Content moderation has exploded as a policy, advocacy, and public concern. But these debates still tend to be driven by high-profile incidents and to focus on the largest, US based platforms. In order to contribute to informed policymaking, scholarship in this area needs to recognise that moderation is an expansive socio-technical phenomenon, which functions in many contexts and takes many forms. Expanding the discussion also changes how we assess the array of proposed policy solutions meant to improve content moderation. Here, nine content moderation scholars working in critical internet studies propose how to expand research on content moderation, with implications for policy.","PeriodicalId":219999,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Rev.","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130608504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cryptoparties: empowerment in internet security","authors":"L. Monsees","doi":"10.14763/2020.4.1508","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1508","url":null,"abstract":": Cryptoparties (CPs) are a global movement of forums where citizens can come to learn how to improve their digital privacy and security. The present paper is one of the few empirical studies on CPs and is based on participant observation of three CPs. I demonstrate that the organisers of CPs strive for an egalitarian space for teaching and learning. Even though this goal is not always achieved, CPs might still serve as an example of citizen education in a technological society where every citizen needs to deal with complex technological issues. In addition, this paper contributes to the emerging debate on ‘doing internet governance’, broadening our focus to include user-based and decentred practices. I argue for the political relevance of CPs showing how they enact decentred threat-scenarios to a non-expert public.","PeriodicalId":219999,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Rev.","volume":"91 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128960655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mariella Bastian, M. Makhortykh, Jaron Harambam, M. V. Drunen
{"title":"Explanations of news personalisation across countries and media types","authors":"Mariella Bastian, M. Makhortykh, Jaron Harambam, M. V. Drunen","doi":"10.14763/2020.4.1504","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1504","url":null,"abstract":"News outlets worldwide increasingly adopt user- and system-driven personalisation to individualise their news delivery. Yet, the technical implementation of news personalisation systems, in particular the one relying on algorithmic news recommenders (ANRs) and tailoring individual news suggestions with the help of user data, often remains opaque. In our article, we examine how news personalisation is used by quality and popular media in three countries with different media accountability infrastructures - Brazil, the Netherlands, and Russia - and investigate how information about personalisation usage is communicated to the news readers via privacy policies. Our findings point out that news personalisation systems are predominantly treated as black boxes that indicate a significant gap between practice and theory of algorithmic transparency, in particular in the non-EU context.","PeriodicalId":219999,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Rev.","volume":"197 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132197296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Anchoring the need to revise cross-border access to e-evidence","authors":"Sergi Vazquez Maymir","doi":"10.14763/2020.3.1495","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.3.1495","url":null,"abstract":": In April 2018 the European Commission presented an e-evidence package including a Proposal for a Regulation on a European Production and Preservation Orders for electronic evidence in criminal matters and a Proposal for a Directive on the appointment of legal representatives. The e-evidence package was accompanied by an impact assessment. This assessment asserts that e-evidence is requested in half of all investigations (first premise), that the mutual legal assistance treaties (MLAT) system is an inefficient channel for that purpose (second premise), and that as a result, two thirds of crimes cannot be effectively investigated (third premise). I challenge the empirical soundness of these three findings and argue that the percentages and figures used frame the problem fundamentally on technical and efficiency grounds. There is no reference to the political and economic motivations behind the promotion of a policy shift from MLAT to direct cooperation, which in my view, is the fourth and lost premise.","PeriodicalId":219999,"journal":{"name":"Internet Policy Rev.","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116159137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}