'Rethinking Relations and Regimes of Power in Online Social Networking Sites: Tales of Control, Strife, and Negotiations in Facebook and Youtube.'

For those of you who are interested in my doctoral thesis, I have included the abstract below: 

This doctoral thesis investigates the potentially complex power effects generated in Online Social Networking Sites (‘OSNS’), such as YouTube and Facebook, when legal values, such as copyright and personal data, are protected and/or violated. In order to develop this analysis, in Chapter Two, I critically analyse key academic writings on internet regulation and argue that I need to move away from the dominant ‘regulatory’ lens to my Actor-Network Theory-Foucauldian Power Lens (‘ANT-Foucauldian Power Lens’) in order to be able to capture the potentially complex web of power effects generated in YouTube and Facebook when copyright and personal data are protected and/or violated. In Chapter Three, I develop my ANT-Foucauldian Power Lens and explore how key ANT ideas such as translation can be used in conjunction with Foucauldian ideas such as governmentality. I utilise my ANT-Foucauldian Power Lens in Chapters Four to Seven to analyse how YouTube and Facebook are constructed as heterogeneous, contingent and precarious ‘actor-networks’ and I map in detail the complex power effects generated from specific local connections. I argue five key points. Firstly, I suggest that complex, multiple, and contingent power effects are generated when key social, legal, and technological actants are locally, contingently, and precariously ‘fitted together’ in YouTube and Facebook when copyright and personal data are protected and/or violated. Secondly, I argue that ‘materialities’ play key roles in maintaining the power effects generated by specific local connections. Thirdly, I argue that there are close links between power and ‘spatialities’ through my analysis of the Privacy Settings and Tagging in Facebook. Fourthly, I argue that my relational understandings of YouTube and Facebook generate a more comprehensive view of the power effects of specific legal elements such as how specific territorial laws in YouTube gain their authority by virtue of their durable and heterogeneous connections. Finally, I argue that we can extrapolate from my empirical findings to build a small-scale theory about the power effects generated in OSNS when legal values are protected and/or violated. Here I also consider the contributions made by my research to three distinct fields, namely, internet regulation, socio-legal studies, and actor-network theory.

Weekly Cyber-Law News Round-Up

What a week it has been!! Here are my personal picks of the highlights of last week`s news which relate to internet law. As always privacy and intellectual property issues are dominating the legal landscape of cyber-law news!

Google

Intellectual Property · Google clarifies AdWords policy to satisfy French competition regulator http://bit.ly/atAR6g · Google's 'copied Java code' disowned by Apache #androidlawsuit http://ow.ly/32pPL · Great and thorough analysis of Viacom v YouTube and impact of safe harbour #copyright #DMCA #Viacom= #YouTube #in http://ow.ly/30Jtk · Google Goes After YouTubeSocial For #Trademark Infringement Streetview · UK MPs question Google over Street View data breaches #privacy #in http://ow.ly/32pV7 · MPs accuse Google on wi-fi data http://bbc.in/aOjlTC · FTC sends letter to Google - drops Google WiFi case, but tells Google its privacy processes are inadequate #privacy http://bit.ly/aPEQcL · Google says its cars grabbed e-mails, passwords http://ow.ly/2Zpnj #privacy · Italy Orders #Google To Clearly Label Street View Cars, Advertise Routes http://ow.ly/2Zpjn · Regulators closing in on Google http://ow.ly/2ZsLf #StreetView #privacy · Google investigated over household data privacy breaches by ICO http://ow.ly/2YLpq YouTube · Turkey lifts two-year ban on YouTube #censorship #regionalblocking http://ow.ly/32pVY · Great and thorough analysis of Viacom v YouTube and impact of safe harbour #copyright #DMCA #Viacom= #YouTube #in http://ow.ly/30Jtk · Google Goes After YouTubeSocial For #Trademark Infringement

Facebook

Privacy · Facebook app developers sold user info http://ow.ly/32q21 #privacy #in · Facebook locks down private user data after app controversy #privacy #in http://ow.ly/32pSA · Court Orders Disclosure of Facebook and MySpace Passwords in Personal Injury Case · Facebook Allows Users To Turn Off Group Chat http://ow.ly/2ZpvT · Firesheep Exposes Flaw In #Facebook Log-In Security http://ow.ly/2Zptw #security Intellectual Property · Facebook Files for #Patent on Inferential Ad Targeting http://ow.ly/30Jm8 · Facebook comes down hard on Faceporn for #trademark infringement http://ow.ly/2YLk2

Limewire

· As LimeWire Shuts Its Doors, Other P2P Clients See a Surge in Usage #copyright #in #filesharing http://ow.ly/32pWO · Limewire shuts down after receiving permanent injunction #copyright http://ow.ly/308HB

Other Intellectual Property News

· Twitter Issues New Guidelines for the Tweet Trademark http://ow.ly/32pXh #trademark #in · Apple sues Motorola over smartphone #patents http://ow.ly/32pQH · Taiwanese company threatens Apple with legal action over iPad name #trademark http://ow.ly/30J6r

Other Privacy News

· Berlin Privacy Commissioner Dix proposes principle of Anonymization and Pseudonymization. #OECD30 #privacy · #EFF Urges EU Data Protection Authorities to Call for the Repeal of the EU Data Retention Directive http://ow.ly/2ZpfB #dataretention

Personal Jurisdiction

· Email and phone contacts help to establish personal jurisdiction in US case VEDICSOFT v. MILLENNIUM CONSULTING http://bit.ly/9lTaZ6

Defamation

· Hoteliers Look to Shield Themselves From Dishonest Online Reviews http://ow.ly/2Zpq4

Cyber-Warfare

· Emergency Powers in Cyberspace http://ow.ly/32pRE #cyber-warfare · US Air Force #cyberwarfare manual goes public http://ow.ly/2ZpiB

The dancing baby and Prince

The courts in the US today have delivered the ruling in the case of Lenz v. Universal. The facts of the case are quite simple. The Plaintiff posted a home movie of a toddler dancing in a kitchen to a song by Prince entitled 'Let`s Go Crazy' on YouTube with the aim of sharing the video with her friends and relatives. Universal Music Corporation ('Universal'), the owner of the copyright in the song, sent a DMCA takedown notice to the user in question. The user contended that the use amounted to fair use and sued Universal on the grounds of misrepresentation under s. 512 the Digital Millenium Copyright Act ('DMCA') and tortious interference with her contract with YouTube.

Universal`s defence was that it had no obligation to consider whether or not the use by the use amounted to 'fair use' before sending the notice.

The main question which the Courts had to answer was whether 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(3)(A)(v) required a copyright owner to consider the fair use doctrine in formulating a good faith belief that 'use of the material in the manner complained of, is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.'

The courts rejected the defence of Universal and ruled that copyright owners need to determine whether or not the use in question is fair use, before sending a take down notice. This is because the DMCA requires copyright owners to act in 'good faith belief that the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.' Hence to do this, the owner must evaluate whether the material makes fair use of the copyright.

This ruling is one that is grounded in logic and correct application of the legal principles as otherwise copyright owners can send takedown notices even in cases where the use in question does not infringe their copyright.

Proposals for the Child Internet Safety Council.

The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has been reviewing safety online and has criticised video websites as YouTube for the lack of adequate control over the published content. The Select Committee has called for a new industry body (Child Internet Safety Council) whose role would be to protect minors from harmful content. In addition, it has recommended the proactive review of content by the platform, reclassification of video games and speedier removal of illegal content by the platform. C

Currently, platforms as YouTube remove child
abuse images within 24 hours which the Committee has tagged as a"lax" approach.

CyperPanda is glad that the Committee has remarked that the current trend of removing the offending images after posting is not actually an adequate measure. It is ovbious that a more appropriate approach would be for the infringing activity not to take place in the first instance. These recommendations should be used as an impetus to rethink seriously how such activities can be stopped by a consistent, fair and transparent regulatory framework and put an end to the current approach of passive reaction from platforms.

Is the silver lining in the cloud hanging over YouTube no more than a silver thread actually?

It appears from the website of the Electronic Frontier Foundation that Viacom has formally responded to the concerns of the EFF in relation to the nature of the silver lining reported in the last post.

The EFF was concerned that the agreement between YouTube and Viacom in relation to the disclosure of the data of users of YouTube was not backed up by a court order. The obvious danger with that is that both parties can alter the agreement at a later date.

Viacom has now informed the EFF that the latter will be notified in advance if the agreement is to be amended so that the EFF can either discuss its concerns with YouTube and Viacom or raise more formal objections in Court.

Viacom has also forwarded a draft Protective Order to the EFF. CyberPanda agrees with the EFF that it is crucial that the scope and nature of the disclosure of the data should be formally defined by a court order. It is undeniable that Viacom has shown a lot of goodwill in this matter. Nonetheless, it will be in the best interests of the data subjects if the disclosure was more formally regulated by a Court order. That will breach the gap between the silver thread and the silver lining.

The silver lining in the cloud hanging over YouTube.

Users of YouTube and indeed YouTube itself will, no doubt, be relieved that Viacom has now agreed for YouTube to handover the viewing history of its users without handing over any data that might enable Viacom to actually identify the specific user.

This is a welcome development which will no doubt be applauded by privacy activitists and users of YouTube as well since the original demand would have undoubtedly raised serious privacy concerns.

This is however a very tiny silver lining in the big cloud hanging over YouTube as the copyright infringement lawsuit is all but over.