ICTlogy

Research seminar by professor Miquel Peguera at UOC headquarters about cyberlaw, focussing on ISP liability related to Intellectual Property Rights (mainly under the Spanish law).

Webs with links to P2P files

The case of Sharemula.com: main entertainment firms claim IP violation, because the site links (eD2k links) to files protected by copyright, shared in P2P networks. As Sharemula does not host itself the files, the site is not liable for copyright infringement.

Google Cache

The case of Megakini.com: quoting text in the search results is fair use; forbidding caching would be extending authors’ rights beyond its purpose.

(Surface) links

The case of Iura Rech: linking a web site is not a crime, but the link should be removed under petition.

Adwords

The conflict between organic searches in Google and Google Adwords: a trademark can be bought as search term (a Google adword) by an institution that does not own that trademark. For instance: adidas.

Two claims: to Google for selling that trademark; to third parties, for inducing mistakes or appropriation of other’s trademarks.

Law is not clear and it really depends on the country, the claiming and defendand parties, etc.

Video Hosting

The case of Viacom, the case of Tele5 vs. YouTube: in principle, ISPs are not liable for hosting third parties’ content. But e.g. YouTube goes beyond just hosting third parties’ content. So, what’s the solution?

The case of Io vs. Veoh: Veoh has not been found liable.

Auctions

Is eBay liable for publicising sales of pirate products?

Blogs: comments and data protection

Personal data appearing in blog comments is not liable for infringing both (Spanish) LOPD and LSSI, as it is assumed that the blog is like an ISP, whose liability beings when it is noticed about the illegal/infringing content.

More info

Miquel Peguera (forthcoming) When the Cached Link is the Weakest Link: Search Engine Caches under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA

A couple of months ago we already announced the course Network Society: Social changes, organizations and citizens.

Finally, we have been able to set up the definitive programme for the course and all the details concerning its organization. The making of both the programme and the sponsorships has been quite an issue, but we believe that we, at last, succeeded in creating a valuable proposal for all those interested in the analysis of the changes that our society faces and the role of technology and culture in the whole set.

There are circa 200 people attending the course and we hope it will become an opportunity to create (and shift towards the Net) an open and critical conversation about the so-called “network society”. Registration closes on Monday October 6th.

The sessions will take place at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), c/ Montalegre 5. We’ve uploaded a wiki (multilingual) where the attendees can introduce themselves, share information and coordinate things like accommodation (the organization has not any agreement with any hotel) transportation or possible parallel activities that anyone might be willing to promote.

The programme is, hence, as follows:

NETWORK SOCIETY:
SOCIAL CHANGES, ORGANIZATIONS AND CITIZENS

Day 1 – Wednesday 15 October

Introduction
09h00 – 09h30 : Opening
09h30 – 10h30 : Juan Freire – Presentation of the course

State of development of the Network Society
Chairs: Ismael Peña-López
11h00 – 12h30 : Irene Mia

Organizations in the Network Society
Chairs: Genís Roca
12h30 – 14h00 : Enrique Dans
16h00 – 17h00 : Santiago Ortiz

Citizenship in the Network Society (I)
Chairs: Marc López
17h30 – 19h00 : Carol Darr

Day 2 – Thursday 16 October

09h00 – 09h30 : Juan Freire – Presentation of the day

Citizenship in the Network Society (II)
Chairs: Marc López
09h30 – 11h00 : Tom Steinberg

Communication in the Network Society
Chairs: Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí
11h30 – 13h30 : Diálogo Josu Jon Imaz y Miquel Iceta
16h00 – 17h30 : Andrew Rasiej
17h30 – 19h00 : Gumersindo Lafuente

Day 3 – Viernes 17 October

Innovation in the Network Society
Chairs: Ismael Peña-López
09h00 – 10h30 : Carlos Domingo
10h30 – 12h00 : Ethan Zuckerman

Closing
Chairs: Juan Freire
12h30 – 14h30 : Round Table
14h30 – 15h00 : Closing

Some more info about the course:

• Website of the course, with more information about the speakers, fees, registration, etc.
• Facebook Event
• There will be translation to and from Spanish and English

HIVOS is currently undertaking a survey to get a better understanding on how existing or new technologies (ICT) can support citizens at scale to be an active, involved participant of society. I was invited by Marc Lepage to take part in it, which I appreciate as it is always good to be reminded to think once in a while. Here come the questions and the short answers I gave to the survey, in part because it was a requisite, in part because of lack of time to do it better.

In 5 years time, what do you think will be the technology most used by citizens in developing countries to get information and to interact with others (including government)? Please, elaborate on your answer.

Personally, I find it reasonable to think that mobile phones will still be the most used technology. On one hand, due to its actual and growing pervasiveness above other devices and platforms. On the other hand, because more effort is being put in improving the flexibility and applicability of such devices by developing more and more applications for them while, at the same time, reducing their cost and simplifying their use thus shortening the learning curve.

Notwithstanding, the late generation of ultraportable devices or 4P Computers (e.g. the Acer Aspire One) – cheaper than other laptops, containing the most usual features (Internet browsers, desktop office applications, etc.), low power consumption, etc. – make us think of the possibility of seeing these devices as substitutes of not nowadays laptops but also desktops, maybe not at the household level, but yes at the SME and the local administration levels. As said, their lower cost compared with other devices, the features, added to the possibility to gain from VoIP where affordable connectivity is available make of such devices a most likely next step from mobile telephony towards a higher Internet use.

Worldwide we can see many successful small scale ICT/NGO projects. In your opinion, what blocks implementation at scale? Please, where possible refer to examples from the field.

First of all, I’d would be more sceptic at the fact of being “many” successful projects at all. I agree there are some of them, but I would not count them as many, at least in the long run, where the project ended being a pilot and became part of the daily life of the community, and sustainability left to be an issue and became just part of a more comprehensive business plan / daily costs of life.

That said, I see the following points as possible barriers to a major implementation scale:

• the project, even being successful, was tailored without the active participation/knowledge of the government bodies, thus making it more difficult to be considered as a self-owned project
• the project has not returns of scale, or is not scalable at a reasonable cost/benefit ratio. So, it is affordable at small levels (maybe because of a defective design regarding sustainability that only shows at greater scales) but is prohibitive for bigger shares of the population
• the project requires skilled human capital that is available at small scales, but not at bigger ones
• political situation swings or instabilities
• loss of interest of the promoting institution (NGO, government, international aid agency, etc.) of going the long path of widespread implementation once the fancy and newish part of the pilot project has ended, proven successful and reported the major share of personal/institutional satisfaction and/or media timespan and/or published in peer reviewed journal.

What examples from the field do you know are strong in enabling citizens through new technologies to make their voices heard and/or influence the societies they are part of (e.g. monitoring election, accessing media, monitoring the quality of local service delivery)? And what do you expect to see in 5 years?

Some real examples: Global Voices, Mobile Monitors, Fix My Street, My Society…

I find many more examples can be found in personal and institutional blogs and websites, and social networking sites in general. Mobile (SMS) powered mobs should also be taken into account.

I would expect not many different things, but (hopefully) a higher degree of adoption I would not dub as pervasive. Web 2.0 and SMS based initiatives are still part of either the geek realm or absolute frontline early adopters.

Indeed, a chasm has been growing between those early adopters and the late comers, as it happened with the ones that have access to affordable and quality ICTs and those who have not. This chasm is being created by both the cost of being continually up-to-date and the message of geekery/elitism that these digerati (wanted or not) send to the non-initiated.

I’ve been recently asked to give some advice on what topics and what issues should be included in a literature review introducing an e-Readiness assessment on Ethiopia. Here comes what my thoughts are:

Starting point and References

To begin with, the next categories from my own bibliographic manager are one possible place where to start digging about such works, being the former the more relevant:

• e-Readiness
• Digital Divide
• ICT4D

Yes, this produces hundreds of references that are all of them (or almost) worth having a look at. To make it easier, one can then look for some other literature reviews and/or comprehensive approaches to the topic, so that we are pointed to the main references in the field. In the case of e-Readiness and Ethiopia, I believe the next ones are musts:

• All the whole work published by Bridges.org is, undoubtedly, the best way to picture oneself a map of what is e-Readiness and what has been done in this field. Is is now a little bit outdated, but it still is a reference.
• George Sciadas‘s work implied a break in the field, clearly separating a before and an after eras in the measurement of the Information Society and the Digital Divide. The reflections that led to the Infostate model are, to my understanding, a fundamental knowledge for anyone interested in how to measure or assess digital progress.
• Concerning Africa specifically, the unavoidable reference is the Research ICT Africa team and their work, whose main authors/editors are Alison Gillwald, Steve Esselaar and Christoph Stork, among many others.

After these comprehensive approaches and main references about the subject, other references would be ITU, The World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the Economist Intelligence Unit, UNCTAd. A cross-search between these authors and the categories mentioned above will show up most interesting documents.

Besides, a look at the ICT Data category in the wiki will also list some of the main existing indices and data sets.

Topics and Scheme

There are, at least, three things that I’d like to see included in an e-Readiness assessment on any country:

• A general overview and context about this country, and not only about its development of the Information Society or Digital Economy, but as a whole: economy, society, etc.
• Then, the necessary shift towards the state of their Information Society, with a special focus in what is understood by ‘access’ in this specific country. This is, by far, the most important thing — to me — in any e-Readiness assessment. The definitions of access (and the lack of it: the digital divide) are many and do not necessarily coincident across countries. Is access ownership of infrastructures? Is access the possibility to communicate, from wherever and using whatever? Is access the capability to use available devices? Our understanding of access will determine both the literature we choose and the analysis we made of what our eyes will be seeing.
• Last, and according to the previous two points, some real data providing an empiric evidence and measure of what we stated before. Maybe this is not exactly literature review… but maybe it is: what have been looking at and what they did came up with the ones that preceded us. Most of this information will be found at the same references we talked about in the References section.

So, summing up: what is my reality — both in terms of discipline and social context — and what have others said about it.

Notes from the IPID ICT4D PG symposium 2008, Mekrijärvi Research Station, Joensuu University, Finland. 8 and 9 September, 2008.

Gudrun Wicander, Karlstadt University:
The Use of Mobile Telephones as a Tool for Capture Statistical Data

A need for efficient management of primary education, based on an education management information system (EMIS) in developing countries (Tanzania). But how do we collect data in these communities? Can mobile phones help in this?

First, a mapping of the information flow in primary education administration and the data flow within EMIS was drawn. Second step will be mapping mobile phone ownership and use.

Background: rise in enrolment rates in Tanzania, with retention and drop out problems due to overcrowding, financing and inefficiency problems, etc. Timely and accurate school data is necessary to allocate per-capita funding for the school and provide a central government with appropriate management information to support planning. Existing pilot study in Kenya run by John Traxler, University of Wolverhampton in 2006, showing many benefits from using SMS and mobile phones for data transmission: speed, (low) cost, etc.

Instead, if done by paper, a lot of data are not processed, as it has to run through (bureaucratic) many levels.

The idea would be how to use the mobile phones that everybody has — and not handhelds that almost nobody has — to make a more flexible structure of data collecting, sending and processing.

Ugo Vallauri, University of London: The Landscape of e-agriculture in the Kenyan context

e-Agriculture: is an emerging field in the intersection of agricultural informatics, agricultural development and entrepreneurship, referring to agricultural services, technology dissemination, and information exchanged or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies. More specifically, it involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of new (innovative) ways to use existing or emerging information and communication technologies (ICT) (FAO).

Some critiques:

• In Kenya there is a focus on (agriculture) market information through several devices and conduits… but who does it benefit? It involves empowerment of dealers.
• e-Agriculture also focus on information on crops, on exportation, on higher sales. But the scheme can collapse if market behaviours are unreliable.
• And third, most times projects are “technology hungry”, where relevance of content is let aside

Guiding lines in research:

• work with communities choosing to integrate ICTs in their lives/works
• participate, not impose a point of view
• choose partners building on existing infrastructure, simple solutions

Teemu Laine, University of Joensuu: Contextual Mathematics Through Pervasive M-Learning Technologies for Developing Countries

Plenty of “smart” objects, connected through wireless networks, and with pervasive penetration.

What about: learning facilitated by a (smart) mobile device in a context-aware environment, providing contextualized content depending on your location.

The experience of SciMyst, a pervasive mobile adventure game with multi-player characteristics for supporting social interaction among the players. SciMyst system can be perfectly adapted for education.

MathMyst: ethnomathematics with pervasive m-learning. Should work with usual, cheap end-user mobile phones.

Joseph Kizito Bada, Makerere University/University of Joensuu: The Potential of Web 2.0 for building HIV/AIDS Preventive Knowledge network among students and teachers in Uganda

Strong commitment of the government of Uganda to fight HIV/AIDS. Lots of projects run by several and different institutions to do so by using ICTs to inform and raise awareness: discussion lists, websites, mobile games, etc.

The purpose of the research is to design, develop and evaluate educational web software to fight HIV/AIDS. What are the best practices, what has to be taken into account when designing such software, etc.

The pedagogical methodology followed is constructivism.

The development research approach is twofold: practical and innovative ways of solving real problems, by relying in problem solving; and proposing general design principles to inform future decisions.

Features: social networking, video on real life experiences, preventive educational content with online assessment, open source software.

More info

Joseph Kizito Bada (2006) An Empirical Study on Education Strategy to E-learning in a Developing Country .

Notes from the IPID ICT4D PG symposium 2008, Mekrijärvi Research Station, Joensuu University, Finland. 8 and 9 September, 2008.

Andrew Mollel, University of Joensuu: The legal and regulatory framework for ICT in developing countries

ICT Regulation at the international level: no distinct international ICT body of laws, but a gathering of different related issues: WIPO, UNCITRAL, ITU, WTO, UNDP, etc.

But the changes that the Information Society brings in, they affect the national regulation of Tanzania, e.g. Tanzania Evidence Act, 1967; documentary evidence, electronic signature…

So, national rules are affected, but there is not such a thing as an international agreement or framework to have a common legal framework.

More info

Andrew L. Mollel & Zakayo N. Lukumay (2007) Electronic Transactions and the Law of Evidence in Tanzania

Temtim Assefa, Clint Rogers, University of Joensuu: Integration of ICT in Education

• What assumptions do you have?
• What are the questions you put?
• What is your point of view?
• Is there some inherent good/benefit in the ICT?
• In the context of limited resources (time, money, brainpower), does the enhanced benefit of ______ justify the cost?

Recommendations

• Implementation should be participatory
• Solutions should be prioritizided
• Monitoring a mujst
• Projects implemented though pilonting
• Change attitudes that see ICT4D as magic solutions

More info

William Easterly (2006) The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good

David Hollow, University of London: Working collaboratively with private-sector partners in the evaluation of ICT for education initiatives: reflections on challenges encountered in the field

Partnerships to enhance ICT based education for development. The goal of the research is mainly focused at monitoring and evaluating ICT4D projects that the private sector was carrying about in the field of education (e.g. providing content for $100 laptop projects) in partnership, either with other private sector institutions (e.g. nonprofits) or with the government).

Challenges, dilemmas and lessons from working with a partnership: parameters, mindset, time, language, ethics.

Conclusions:

• Compromise is vital but decide what is non-negotiable
• Conflict will occur
• Critical analysis is the foundation

Jinchul Choi, Ajou University: Smart Environments using Wireless Sensor Networks in Developing Countries

Use of ubiquitous sensor networks (USN) combined with RFID technology in developing countries:

• USN could suit the low-labour cost locations of developing counties
• Environmental monitoring
• Natural disasters prevention
• Landmine clearance
• Agricultural management
• Surveillance and tracking at supply chain management

Case studies: bridge health, to test the conservation state of a (big) brigde; blood & anti-cancer drug monitoring system; earthquake and volcano monitoring system; flood warning & water quality monitoring system; u-Health monitoring systems