IGE105 – Communication Technology in a Changing World Dr. Ken Cosh Week 10

Recap…  Last Week We talked about the future of ICT Ubiquitous Computing  Technology blends into the environment  Technology is pervasive with touchpoints throughout Augmented / Virtual Reality

This Week  Originally the plan was: Politics  And how ICT is impacting on politics But… So instead, Regulation  Regulation in Cyberspace

But First  Briefly, How has ICT affected Politics?  Electronic Voting Machines  Censorship  Connection between politicians and population Tweeting  What else?

Regulation  Lawrence Lessig Professor of Law and Harvard Law School (previously at Stanford) Author of  Free Culture  The Future of Ideas  Code and the other Laws of Cyberspace

The Laws of Cyberspace  Lessig argues… The world is regulated by four constraints  Law  Social Norm  Market  Architecture

Law  Law regulates by sanctions ex-post Don’t pay tax -> Go to jail Steal my car -> Go to jail  But while Law is an obvious regulator, it is not the only regulator. You don’t always go to jail for not paying taxes.

Social Norms  Regulate behaviour by “what I ought to do” I ought to wear a shirt (& tie), rather than a dress You ought to sit and listen to me for a while

The Market  Markets through the mechanism of ‘price’ regulates opportunities Price dictates what I can afford The price also dictates what I can charge for various abilities  People would spend less on “The greatest hits of Dr. Ken” than they would on “Madonna’s greatest hits”

Architecture  The architecture of the world regulates our abilities We can’t see through walls We can’t come to class if we are in a wheelchair We can’t fly…

4 Regulators  The ‘real world’ is regulated by a combination of these 4 regulators  As we consider regulating the cyberspace world, the same 4 regulators have an impact

Laws in Cyberspace  Laws exist in cyberspace, and are punishable Copyright law Defamation law Sexual harrassment law  Behaviour is constrained by law, just as in the real world.

Social Norms in Cyberspace  Social norms also constrain cyberspace Forum rules Banning / Kicking from chat rooms

Market in Cyberspace  Prices in cyberspace also constrain that world. We can access a wider market, but the price still constrains us.

Architecture in Cyberspace  It exists, but is different from the architecture of the real world Hardware / Software Protocols Password to gain access Encryption Tracking transactions  We can’t choose whether to obey the architecture (just as in the real world) Unless we are a hacker…

Regulating Cyberspace  Cyberspace then is regulated with the same 4 regulators Law Social Norm Market Architecture

Lets think about ‘Porn’  A lot of people have raised a lot of concerns about the amount of porn available on the web. And how easy it is to access it Moreover how easy it is for minors to access it  But there is plenty of porn in the ‘real world’ too How is it regulated?

Real World Porn  Law: It is against the law for distributors to sell porn to minors.  Social Norm: Generally society looks down on distributing porn to minors.  Market: Porn is priced such that minors can’t really afford it.  All of these also apply to the cyberspace world. So what about architecture?

Architecture  In the real world. Fake moustache? Stilts? Deep voice?  In Cyberspace Default anonymity

The Architecture  Because the architecture of cyberspace is different from the real world, regulation of cyberspace is different But there is no one single architecture of the web Organisations / Governments have choices about what architecture to use

Choice of Architecture  What happens when you try to surf the web at Payap? How is it different from my old university?  If I encrypt a message, is it truly encrypted? Or could the government read it anyway?  What happens if I go to a website considered ‘detrimental to society’ in Thailand?

Choice of Architecture  Can I host my porn site in the US? Or my gambling site?  Can anyone see my drunken tagged photos on facebook? Can I control who can see them?

Control vs Freedom  Traditionally the web is considered a free space  But there is a choice of architectures allowing control over that space Controlling Access Controlling Use Controlling Privacy

The Constitution  A nation’s constitution then often guides the architecture Architecture of Control Architecture of Freedom  Consider the architecture used in the US vs Burma vs China…

Encryption Software  We’ll come back to discuss encryption again later, but The ability to (or not to) be completely anonymous in cyberspace is a big issue.  It affects the regulability of cyberspace The ability for governments to regulate our activities online.  It also affects basic human rights Freedom of Speech Right to Privacy

Back to the “Real World”  We have passports Travel is restricted based on passports Movements are tracked by passports Criminals are identified by passports  In some countries the burden of passports is greater than others Government policies to stop peasants from flooding cities during famines

Cyberworld ID  Consider having online passports  Great! Catch the criminals with minimal burden on the innocent  Awful! Loss of freedom – complete government control  What do you think?