The following speech was given by Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, The Hon Paul Fletcher MP at the IIC’s event; The Harmonised Framework – Digital Platforms & the Media. Read the speech here.
News
Zuckerberg’s stance on regulation
Mark Zuckerberg says that ‘good regulation may hurt Facebook’s business in the near term, but it will be better for everyone, including us, over the long’. Writing in the Financial Times, the Facebook founder and CEO points out that ‘without clear rules on portability, strict privacy laws encourage companies to lock down data, refusing to… [Read More]
Coronavirus reminds us of the seriousness of fake news
Dangerous disinformation should be treated as another online harm Late last year, to not much fanfare, four countries in Europe lost their ‘measles elimination’ status, as cases surged. The US is also now in danger of losing the same status. Although symptoms are unpleasant, and can have long term effects, most people recover. However, around… [Read More]
First dynamic spectrum sharing on 5G phone
The website telecoms.com, reports that Vodafone, in collaboration with Ericsson, Qualcomm and Huawei, successfully demonstrated what is thought to be the simultaneous use of two bands on a 5G NSA device. By allowing 4G and 5G to share the same spectrum, the transition between the technologies should be much smoother. Read more here.
Will 2020 Be the Year Regulation Catches Up With Social Media?
Just after Christmas, The Times ran a front page story on online harms regulation: “Tech bosses face court if they fail to protect users”. Beneath the attention-grabbling headline was a restatement of the intent set out by the UK Government in its April 2019 Online Harms White Paper. Since then, Brexit upheaval, a change in Prime Minister, a… [Read More]
Australian Human Rights Commission publishes discussion paper on human rights and technology
The Australian Human Rights Commission has published a discussion paper on Human Rights and Technology – Responses are invited to the proposals and questions set out in the Discussion Paper (PDF). The deadline for receiving submissions is Tuesday 10 March, 2020. See further details here.