We speak endlessly of the value of "data" in the digital economy, and the platforms' alleged "extraction" of value from it. But this emphasis on data, data, data can be misleading. Platforms compete for users, for larger "audiences," not for "data." I say "audiences" for lack of a better word....
December 15, 2022 US-EU Data Privacy Framework Moves Forward The European Commission published a “draft adequacy decision,” about the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. In a largely unheralded but highly consequential decision, the US committed itself to privacy protections for European citizens in an October Executive Order from the Biden administration....
These are the thoughts I had after participating in the UN Internet Governance Forum last week. The 2022 IGF's big themes turned out to be "fragmentation" and "digital sovereignty." This was encouraging, because it shows the IGF is focusing on real problems and not inoffensive, forgettable slogans like "Resilient Internet...
UN IGF meets in Addis Ababa The UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) convened this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, using a fully hybrid format. Avoiding Internet fragmentation and digital sovereignty are two of the most popular topics, along with a somewhat contradictory combination of calls for controlling & regulating AI...
We are gearing up to participate in the meeting of the 17th Annual Internet Governance Forum, which will be held online and in Ethiopia from 28 November to 2 December 2022. IGP was present at the creation of the IGF in 2005 and has participated in all 17 of them....
At first, there was a reason to feel optimistic about Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. Mr Musk seemed to be interested in disrupting a cross-firm, collusive, and overly restrictive equilibrium on the standards and norms of social media content moderation. While I understand that the scope and value of “free...
For those of you who prefer text to videos, and the enhanced possibilities of editing for clarity and conciseness, we now make available edited transcripts of two riveting discussions on the definition of the field from our conference in The Hague. This includes the initial panel discussion featuring Tatiana Tropina,...
November 1, 2022 The Twitter Acquisition Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, by threatening to upset the social media status quo, has kicked off a rambunctious but mostly healthy controversy in the US about the role of content moderation in the ”public square.” In a separate blog post, Milton Mueller explains...
Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter last week. This process was accompanied by a fascinating public process, which reveals how politicized and polarized American social media have become. We have two factions competing for power; one has captured the Democratic party, the other has captured the Republican Party. The...
So, is it still “Internet governance” that we do, or is it going to be re-framed as “digital political economy”? IG or DPE? Our conference in The Hague hosted fascinating discussions on this question. The answer to the re-framing question can be summarized as “Yes, but...” Yes, re-framing IG issues around...
“In characteristically rigorous fashion, Mueller’s outstanding book punctures the alarmist myth of Internet fragmentation and helps us to understand what is really at stake as nations and other groups vie for power over the Internet.”
