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030dcfd8b53661e98094af7c03e561d6 | Critical analysis of Big Data challenges and analytical methods | [
{
"docid": "03d5c8627ec09e4332edfa6842b6fe44",
"text": "In the same way businesses use big data to pursue profits, governments use it to promote the public good.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "01d8f6e022099977bdcf92ee5735e11d",
"text": "We present a novel deep learning based image inpainting system to complete images with free-form masks and inputs. e system is based on gated convolutions learned from millions of images without additional labelling efforts. e proposed gated convolution solves the issue of vanilla convolution that treats all input pixels as valid ones, generalizes partial convolution by providing a learnable dynamic feature selection mechanism for each channel at each spatial location across all layers. Moreover, as free-form masks may appear anywhere in images with any shapes, global and local GANs designed for a single rectangular mask are not suitable. To this end, we also present a novel GAN loss, named SN-PatchGAN, by applying spectral-normalized discriminators on dense image patches. It is simple in formulation, fast and stable in training. Results on automatic image inpainting and user-guided extension demonstrate that our system generates higher-quality and more exible results than previous methods. We show that our system helps users quickly remove distracting objects, modify image layouts, clear watermarks, edit faces and interactively create novel objects in images. Furthermore, visualization of learned feature representations reveals the eectiveness of gated convolution and provides an interpretation of how the proposed neural network lls in missing regions. More high-resolution results and video materials are available at hp://jiahuiyu.com/deepll2.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "541545bc30c887560541ba456cdfc595",
"text": "Since their inception, captchas have been widely used for preventing fraudsters from performing illicit actions. Nevertheless, economic incentives have resulted in an arms race, where fraudsters develop automated solvers and, in turn, captcha services tweak their design to break the solvers. Recent work, however, presented a generic attack that can be applied to any text-based captcha scheme. Fittingly, Google recently unveiled the latest version of reCaptcha. The goal of their new system is twofold, to minimize the effort for legitimate users, while requiring tasks that are more challenging to computers than text recognition. ReCaptcha is driven by an \"advanced risk analysis system\" that evaluates requests and selects the difficulty of the captcha that will be returned. Users may be required to click in a checkbox, or solve a challenge by identifying images with similar content. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive study of reCaptcha, and explore how the risk analysis process is influenced by each aspect of the request. Through extensive experimentation, we identify flaws that allow adversaries to effortlessly influence the risk analysis, bypass restrictions, and deploy large-scale attacks. Subsequently, we design a novel low-cost attack that leverages deep learning technologies for the semantic annotation of images. Our system is extremely effective, automatically solving 70.78% of the image reCaptcha challenges, while requiring only 19 seconds per challenge. We also apply our attack to the Facebook image captcha and achieve an accuracy of 83.5%. Based on our experimental findings, we propose a series of safeguards and modifications for impacting the scalability and accuracy of our attacks. Overall, while our study focuses on reCaptcha, our findings have wide implications, as the semantic information conveyed via images is increasingly within the realm of automated reasoning, the future of captchas relies on the exploration of novel directions.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b15b88a31cc1762618ca976bdf895d57",
"text": "How can we build agents that keep learning from experience, quickly and efficiently, after their initial training? Here we take inspiration from the main mechanism of learning in biological brains: synaptic plasticity, carefully tuned by evolution to produce efficient lifelong learning. We show that plasticity, just like connection weights, can be optimized by gradient descent in large (millions of parameters) recurrent networks with Hebbian plastic connections. First, recurrent plastic networks with more than two million parameters can be trained to memorize and reconstruct sets of novel, high-dimensional (1,000+ pixels) natural images not seen during training. Crucially, traditional non-plastic recurrent networks fail to solve this task. Furthermore, trained plastic networks can also solve generic meta-learning tasks such as the Omniglot task, with competitive results and little parameter overhead. Finally, in reinforcement learning settings, plastic networks outperform a non-plastic equivalent in a maze exploration task. We conclude that differentiable plasticity may provide a powerful novel approach to the learning-to-learn problem.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "22b2eda49d67e83a1aa526abf9074734",
"text": "A new member of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) family, namely, a terpolyester abbreviated as PHBVHHx consisting of 3-hydroxybutyrate (HB), 3-hydroxyvalerate (HV) and 3-hydroxyhexanoate (HHx) that can be produced by recombinant microorganisms, was found to have proper thermo- and mechanical properties for possible skin tissue engineering, as demonstrated by its strong ability to support the growth of human keratinocyte cell line HaCaT. In this study, HaCaT cells showed the strongest viability and the highest growth activity on PHBVHHx film compared with PLA, PHB, PHBV, PHBHHx and P3HB4HB, even the tissue culture plates were grown with less HaCaT cells compared with that on PHBVHHx. To understand its superior biocompatibility, PHBVHHx nanoparticles ranging from 200 to 350nm were prepared. It was found that the nanoparticles could increase the cellular activities by stimulating a rapid increase of cytosolic calcium influx in HaCaT cells, leading to enhanced cell growth. At the same time, 3-hydroxybutyrate (HB), a degradation product and the main component of PHBVHHx, was also shown to promote HaCaT proliferation. Morphologically, under the same preparation conditions, PHBVHHx film showed the most obvious surface roughness under atomic force microscopy (AFM), accompanied by the lowest surface energy compared with all other well studied biopolymers tested above. These results explained the superior ability for PHBVHHx to grow skin HaCaT cells. Therefore, PHBVHHx possesses the suitability to be developed into a skin tissue-engineered material.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8f13fbf6de0fb0685b4a39ee5f3bb415",
"text": "This review presents one of the eight theories of the quality of life (QOL) used for making the SEQOL (self-evaluation of quality of life) questionnaire or the quality of life as realizing life potential. This theory is strongly inspired by Maslow and the review furthermore serves as an example on how to fulfill the demand for an overall theory of life (or philosophy of life), which we believe is necessary for global and generic quality-of-life research. Whereas traditional medical science has often been inspired by mechanical models in its attempts to understand human beings, this theory takes an explicitly biological starting point. The purpose is to take a close view of life as a unique entity, which mechanical models are unable to do. This means that things considered to be beyond the individual's purely biological nature, notably the quality of life, meaning in life, and aspirations in life, are included under this wider, biological treatise. Our interpretation of the nature of all living matter is intended as an alternative to medical mechanism, which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. New ideas such as the notions of the human being as nestled in an evolutionary and ecological context, the spontaneous tendency of self-organizing systems for realization and concord, and the central role of consciousness in interpreting, planning, and expressing human reality are unavoidable today in attempts to scientifically understand all living matter, including human life.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2bf619a1af1bab48b4b6f57df8f29598",
"text": "Alcoholism and drug addiction have marked impacts on the ability of families to function. Much of the literature has been focused on adult members of a family who present with substance dependency. There is limited research into the effects of adolescent substance dependence on parenting and family functioning; little attention has been paid to the parents' experience. This qualitative study looks at the parental perspective as they attempted to adapt and cope with substance dependency in their teenage children. The research looks into family life and adds to family functioning knowledge when the identified client is a youth as opposed to an adult family member. Thirty-one adult caregivers of 21 teenagers were interviewed, resulting in eight significant themes: (1) finding out about the substance dependence problem; (2) experiences as the problems escalated; (3) looking for explanations other than substance dependence; (4) connecting to the parent's own history; (5) trying to cope; (6) challenges of getting help; (7) impact on siblings; and (8) choosing long-term rehabilitation. Implications of this research for clinical practice are discussed.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9901be4dddeb825f6443d75a6566f2d0",
"text": "In this paper a new approach to gas leakage detection in high pressure natural gas transportation networks is proposed. The pipeline is modelled as a Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) System driven by the source node massflow with the gas inventory variation in the pipe (linepack variation, proportional to the pressure variation) as the scheduling parameter. The massflow at the offtake node is taken as the system output. The system is identified by the Successive Approximations LPV System Subspace Identification Algorithm which is also described in this paper. The leakage is detected using a Kalman filter where the fault is treated as an augmented state. Given that the gas linepack can be estimated from the massflow balance equation, a differential method is proposed to improve the leakage detector effectiveness. A small section of a gas pipeline crossing Portugal in the direction South to North is used as a case study. LPV models are identified from normal operational data and their accuracy is analyzed. The proposed LPV Kalman filter based methods are compared with a standard mass balance method in a simulated 10% leakage detection scenario. The Differential Kalman Filter method proved to be highly efficient.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "32c17e821ba1311be2b18d0303b2d1a3",
"text": "We consider the problem of improving the efficiency of random ized Fourier feature maps to accelerate training and testing speed of kernel methods on large dat asets. These approximate feature maps arise as Monte Carlo approximations to integral representations of shift-invariant kernel functions (e.g., Gaussian kernel). In this paper, we propose to use Quasi-Monte Carlo(QMC) approximations instead, where the relevant integrands are evaluated on a low-discrepancy sequence of points as opposed to random point sets as in the Monte Carlo approach. We derive a new disc repancy measure called box discrepancy based on theoretical characterizations of the integration error with respect to a given sequence. We then propose to learn QMC sequences adapted to our setting based o n explicit box discrepancy minimization. Our theoretical analyses are complemented with empirical r esults that demonstrate the effectiveness of classical and adaptive QMC techniques for this problem.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cde6d84d22ca9d8cd851f3067bc9b41e",
"text": "The purpose of the present study was to examine the reciprocal relationships between authenticity and measures of life satisfaction and distress using a 2-wave panel study design. Data were collected from 232 college students attending 2 public universities. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results of the cross-lagged panel analysis indicated that after controlling for temporal stability, initial authenticity (Time 1) predicted later distress and life satisfaction (Time 2). Specifically, higher levels of authenticity at Time 1 were associated with increased life satisfaction and decreased distress at Time 2. Neither distress nor life satisfaction at Time 1 significantly predicted authenticity at Time 2. However, the relationship between Time 1 distress and Time 2 authenticity was not significantly different from the relationship between Time 1 authenticity and Time 2 distress. Results are discussed in light of humanistic-existential theories and the empirical research on well-being.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8f65f1971405e0c225e3625bb682a2d4",
"text": "We address the problem of 3D shape completion from sparse and noisy point clouds, a fundamental problem in computer vision and robotics. Recent approaches are either data-driven or learning-based: Data-driven approaches rely on a shape model whose parameters are optimized to fit the observations; Learning-based approaches, in contrast, avoid the expensive optimization step by learning to directly predict complete shapes from incomplete observations in a fully-supervised setting. However, full supervision is often not available in practice. In this work, we propose a weakly-supervised learning-based approach to 3D shape completion which neither requires slow optimization nor direct supervision. While we also learn a shape prior on synthetic data, we amortize, i.e., learn, maximum likelihood fitting using deep neural networks resulting in efficient shape completion without sacrificing accuracy. On synthetic benchmarks based on ShapeNet (Chang et al. Shapenet: an information-rich 3d model repository, 2015. arXiv:1512.03012) and ModelNet (Wu et al., in: Proceedings of IEEE conference on computer vision and pattern recognition (CVPR), 2015) as well as on real robotics data from KITTI (Geiger et al., in: Proceedings of IEEE conference on computer vision and pattern recognition (CVPR), 2012) and Kinect (Yang et al., 3d object dense reconstruction from a single depth view, 2018. arXiv:1802.00411), we demonstrate that the proposed amortized maximum likelihood approach is able to compete with the fully supervised baseline of Dai et al. (in: Proceedings of IEEE conference on computer vision and pattern recognition (CVPR), 2017) and outperforms the data-driven approach of Engelmann et al. (in: Proceedings of the German conference on pattern recognition (GCPR), 2016), while requiring less supervision and being significantly faster.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e96f7ed55a54b19fe983130b3dd16f7d",
"text": "In this paper, we present an alternative approach to neuromorphic systems based on multilevel resistive memory synapses and deterministic learning rules. We demonstrate an original methodology to use conductive-bridge RAM (CBRAM) devices as, easy to program and low-power, binary synapses with stochastic learning rules. New circuit architecture, programming strategy, and probabilistic spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) learning rule for two different CBRAM configurations with-selector (1T-1R) and without-selector (1R) are proposed. We show two methods (intrinsic and extrinsic) for implementing probabilistic STDP rules. Fully unsupervised learning with binary synapses is illustrated through two example applications: 1) real-time auditory pattern extraction (inspired from a 64-channel silicon cochlea emulator); and 2) visual pattern extraction (inspired from the processing inside visual cortex). High accuracy (audio pattern sensitivity > 2, video detection rate > 95%) and low synaptic-power dissipation (audio 0.55 μW, video 74.2 μW) are shown. The robustness and impact of synaptic parameter variability on system performance are also analyzed.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cbed500143b9d37049329b4f26f4833e",
"text": "In this paper, we study the problem of robust feature extraction based on l2,1 regularized correntropy in both theoretical and algorithmic manner. In theoretical part, we point out that an l2,1-norm minimization can be justified from the viewpoint of half-quadratic (HQ) optimization, which facilitates convergence study and algorithmic development. In particular, a general formulation is accordingly proposed to unify l1-norm and l2,1-norm minimization within a common framework. In algorithmic part, we propose an l2,1 regularized correntropy algorithm to extract informative features meanwhile to remove outliers from training data. A new alternate minimization algorithm is also developed to optimize the non-convex correntropy objective. In terms of face recognition, we apply the proposed method to obtain an appearance-based model, called Sparse-Fisherfaces. Extensive experiments show that our method can select robust and sparse features, and outperforms several state-of-the-art subspace methods on largescale and open face recognition datasets.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "06f8f9cd1ac428008332dba85ec326b8",
"text": "This paper proposes a method for high-quality omnidirectional 3D reconstruction of augmented Manhattan worlds from catadioptric stereo video sequences. In contrast to existing works we do not rely on constructing virtual perspective views, but instead propose to optimize depth jointly in a unified omnidirectional space. Furthermore, we show that plane-based prior models can be applied even though planes in 3D do not project to planes in the omnidirectional domain. Towards this goal, we propose an omnidirectional slanted-plane Markov random field model which relies on plane hypotheses extracted using a novel voting scheme for 3D planes in omnidirectional space. To quantitatively evaluate our method we introduce a dataset which we have captured using our autonomous driving platform AnnieWAY which we equipped with two horizontally aligned catadioptric cameras and a Velodyne HDL-64E laser scanner for precise ground truth depth measurements. As evidenced by our experiments, the proposed method clearly benefits from the unified view and significantly outperforms existing stereo matching techniques both quantitatively and qualitatively. Furthermore, our method is able to reduce noise and the obtained depth maps can be represented very compactly by a small number of image segments and plane parameters.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "479089fb59b5b810f95272d04743f571",
"text": "We address offensive tactic recognition in broadcast basketball videos. As a crucial component towards basketball video content understanding, tactic recognition is quite challenging because it involves multiple independent players, each of which has respective spatial and temporal variations. Motivated by the observation that most intra-class variations are caused by non-key players, we present an approach that integrates key player detection into tactic recognition. To save the annotation cost, our approach can work on training data with only video-level tactic annotation, instead of key players labeling. Specifically, this task is formulated as an MIL (multiple instance learning) problem where a video is treated as a bag with its instances corresponding to subsets of the five players. We also propose a representation to encode the spatio-temporal interaction among multiple players. It turns out that our approach not only effectively recognizes the tactics but also precisely detects the key players.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "fbeb296bbe9862b3679956cacc3cf2f2",
"text": "Events are central in human history and thus also in Web queries, in particular if they relate to history or news. However, ambiguity issues arise as queries may refer to ambiguous events differing in time, geography, or participating entities. Thus, users would greatly benefit if search results were presented along different events. In this paper, we present EventMiner, an algorithm that mines events from top-k pseudo-relevant documents for a given query. It is a probabilistic framework that leverages semantic annotations in the form of temporal expressions, geographic locations, and named entities to analyze natural language text and determine important events. Using a large news corpus, we show that using semantic annotations, EventMiner detects important events and presents documents covering the identified events in the order of their importance.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d72070a7c0b75d3019d3b900fa248b4a",
"text": "Flow-based DDoS attack detection is typically performed by analysis applications that are installed on or close to a flow collector. Although this approach allows for easy deployment, it makes detection far from real-time and susceptible to DDoS attacks for the following reasons. First, the fact that the flow export process is timeout-based and that flow collectors typically provide data to analysis applications in chunks, can result in detection delays in the order of several minutes. Second, by the nature of flow export, attack traffic may be amplified by the flow export process if the original packets are small enough and are part of small flows. We have shown in a previous work how to perform DDoS attack detection on a flow exporter instead of a flow collector, i.e., close to the data source and in a real-time fashion, which however required access to a fully-extendible flow monitoring infrastructure. In this work, we investigate whether it is possible to operate the same detection system on a widely deployed networking platform: Cisco IOS. Since our ultimate goal is to identify besides the presence of an attack also attackers and targets, we rely on NetFlow. In this context, we present our DDoS attack detection prototype that has shown to generate a constant load on the underlying platform - even under attacks - underlining that DDoS attack detection can be performed on a Cisco Catalyst 6500 in production networks, if enough spare capacity is available.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3d14fb9884827c13207c135a297bc147",
"text": "Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis is a Gram-positive bacterial pathogen causing bacterial wilt and canker of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), producing economic losses worldwide. In this study, gene expression analysis was conducted using several resistant tomato-related wild species, including Solanum peruvianum LA2157, S. peruvianum LA2172, and Solanum habrochaites LA2128, and a tomato susceptible species, to identify genes involved in disease response. Using cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), 403 differentially expressed transcripts were identified. Among those, several genes showed contrasting expression patterns among resistant and susceptible species, including genes involved in the ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation pathway and secretory peroxidase. These genes were up-regulated in resistant species, but down-regulated in susceptible species, suggesting their likely involvement in early plant defense responses following C. michiganensis subsp. michiganensis infection. These identified genes would serve as new candidate bacterial wilt disease resistance genes and should be subjected to further functional analyses to determine the molecular basis of incompatibility between wild species of tomato and C. michiganensis subsp. michiganensis. This would then contribute to the development of more effective and sustainable C. michiganensis subsp. michiganensis control methods.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "11d1a8d8cd9fdabfbdc77d4a0accf007",
"text": "Blockchain technology like Bitcoin is a rapidly growing field of research which has found a wide array of applications. However, the power consumption of the mining process in the Bitcoin blockchain alone is estimated to be at least as high as the electricity consumption of Ireland which constitutes a serious liability to the widespread adoption of blockchain technology. We propose a novel instantiation of a proof of human-work which is a cryptographic proof that an amount of human work has been exercised, and show its use in the mining process of a blockchain. Next to our instantiation there is only one other instantiation known which relies on indistinguishability obfuscation, a cryptographic primitive whose existence is only conjectured. In contrast, our construction is based on the cryptographic principle of multiparty computation (which we use in a black box manner) and thus is the first known feasible proof of human-work scheme. Our blockchain mining algorithm called uMine, can be regarded as an alternative energy-efficient approach to mining.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a0850b5f8b2d994b50bb912d6fca3dfb",
"text": "In this paper we describe the development of an accurate, smallfootprint, large vocabulary speech recognizer for mobile devices. To achieve the best recognition accuracy, state-of-the-art deep neural networks (DNNs) are adopted as acoustic models. A variety of speedup techniques for DNN score computation are used to enable real-time operation on mobile devices. To reduce the memory and disk usage, on-the-fly language model (LM) rescoring is performed with a compressed n-gram LM. We were able to build an accurate and compact system that runs well below real-time on a Nexus 4 Android phone.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
df2b77908620cce77951271e6cdccdfb | Queriosity: Automated Data Exploration | [
{
"docid": "65c38bb314856c1b5b79ad6473ec9121",
"text": "Despite its importance, choosing the structural form of the kernel in nonparametric regression remains a black art. We define a space of kernel structures which are built compositionally by adding and multiplying a small number of base kernels. We present a method for searching over this space of structures which mirrors the scientific discovery process. The learned structures can often decompose functions into interpretable components and enable long-range extrapolation on time-series datasets. Our structure search method outperforms many widely used kernels and kernel combination methods on a variety of prediction tasks.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "03d5c8627ec09e4332edfa6842b6fe44",
"text": "In the same way businesses use big data to pursue profits, governments use it to promote the public good.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "b4cc3716abcb57b45a12c31daab8a89f",
"text": "The original ImageNet dataset is a popular large-scale benchmark for training Deep Neural Networks. Since the cost of performing experiments (e.g, algorithm design, architecture search, and hyperparameter tuning) on the original dataset might be prohibitive, we propose to consider a downsampled version of ImageNet. In contrast to the CIFAR datasets and earlier downsampled versions of ImageNet, our proposed ImageNet32x32 (and its variants ImageNet64x64 and ImageNet16x16) contains exactly the same number of classes and images as ImageNet, with the only difference that the images are downsampled to 32×32 pixels per image (64×64 and 16×16 pixels for the variants, respectively). Experiments on these downsampled variants are dramatically faster than on the original ImageNet and the characteristics of the downsampled datasets with respect to optimal hyperparameters appear to remain similar. The proposed datasets and scripts to reproduce our results are available at http://image-net.org/download-images and https://github.com/PatrykChrabaszcz/Imagenet32_Scripts",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d071c70b85b10a62538d73c7272f5d99",
"text": "The Amaryllidaceae alkaloids represent a large (over 300 alkaloids have been isolated) and still expanding group of biogenetically related isoquinoline alkaloids that are found exclusively in plants belonging to this family. In spite of their great variety of pharmacological and/or biological properties, only galanthamine is used therapeutically. First isolated from Galanthus species, this alkaloid is a long-acting, selective, reversible and competitive inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase, and is used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Other Amaryllidaceae alkaloids of pharmacological interest will also be described in this chapter.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d25a34b3208ee28f9cdcddb9adf46eb4",
"text": "1 Umeå University, Department of Computing Science, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden, {jubo,thomasj,marie}@cs.umu.se Abstract The transition to object-oriented programming is more than just a matter of programming language. Traditional syllabi fail to teach students the “big picture” and students have difficulties taking advantage of objectoriented concepts. In this paper we present a holistic approach to a CS1 course in Java favouring general objectoriented concepts over the syntactical details of the language. We present goals for designing such a course and a case study showing interesting results.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "da5c56f30c9c162eb80c418ba9dbc31a",
"text": "Text detection and recognition in a natural environment are key components of many applications, ranging from business card digitization to shop indexation in a street. This competition aims at assessing the ability of state-of-the-art methods to detect Multi-Lingual Text (MLT) in scene images, such as in contents gathered from the Internet media and in modern cities where multiple cultures live and communicate together. This competition is an extension of the Robust Reading Competition (RRC) which has been held since 2003 both in ICDAR and in an online context. The proposed competition is presented as a new challenge of the RRC. The dataset built for this challenge largely extends the previous RRC editions in many aspects: the multi-lingual text, the size of the dataset, the multi-oriented text, the wide variety of scenes. The dataset is comprised of 18,000 images which contain text belonging to 9 languages. The challenge is comprised of three tasks related to text detection and script classification. We have received a total of 16 participations from the research and industrial communities. This paper presents the dataset, the tasks and the findings of this RRC-MLT challenge.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3c095599120cdc1e4c170c886f94f449",
"text": "Wikipedia has been a resounding success story as a collaborative system with a low cost of online participation. However, it is an open question whether the success of Wikipedia results from a “wisdom of crowds” type of effect in which a large number of people each make a small number of edits, or whether it is driven by a core group of “elite” users who do the lion’s share of the work. In this study we examined how the influence of “elite” vs. “common” users changed over time in Wikipedia. The results suggest that although Wikipedia was driven by the influence of “elite” users early on, more recently there has been a dramatic shift in workload to the “common” user. We also show the same shift in del.icio.us, a very different type of social collaborative knowledge system. We discuss how these results mirror the dynamics found in more traditional social collectives, and how they can influence the design of new collaborative knowledge systems. Author",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "61b89a2be8b2acc34342dfcc0249f4d5",
"text": "Transfer-learning and meta-learning are two effective methods to apply knowledge learned from large data sources to new tasks. In few-class, few-shot target task settings (i.e. when there are only a few classes and training examples available in the target task), meta-learning approaches that optimize for future task learning have outperformed the typical transfer approach of initializing model weights from a pre-trained starting point. But as we experimentally show, meta-learning algorithms that work well in the few-class setting do not generalize well in many-shot and many-class cases. In this paper, we propose a joint training approach that combines both transfer-learning and meta-learning. Benefiting from the advantages of each, our method obtains improved generalization performance on unseen target tasks in both fewand many-class and fewand manyshot scenarios.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b863ab617b5c800fe570f579b2b12b11",
"text": "Bourdieu and Education: How Useful is Bourdieu's Theory for Researchers?",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4d585dd4d56dda31c2fb929a61aba5f8",
"text": "Growing greenhouse vegetables is one of the most exacting and intense forms of all agricultural enterprises. In combination with greenhouses, hydroponics is becoming increasingly popular, especially in the United States, Canada, western Europe, and Japan. It is high technology and capital intensive. It is highly productive, conservative of water and land and protective of the environment. For production of leafy vegetables and herbs, deep flow hydroponics is common. For growing row crops such as tomato, cucumber, and pepper, the two most popular artificial growing media are rockwool and perlite. Computers today operate hundreds of devices within a greenhouse by utilizing dozens of input parameters, to maintain the most desired growing environment. The technology of greenhouse food production is changing rapidly with systems today producing yields never before realized. The future for hydroponic/soilless cultured systems appears more positive today than any time over the last 50 years.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8b94a3040ee23fa3d4403b14b0f550e2",
"text": "Reactive programming has recently gained popularity as a paradigm that is well-suited for developing event-driven and interactive applications. It facilitates the development of such applications by providing abstractions to express time-varying values and automatically managing dependencies between such values. A number of approaches have been recently proposed embedded in various languages such as Haskell, Scheme, JavaScript, Java, .NET, etc. This survey describes and provides a taxonomy of existing reactive programming approaches along six axes: representation of time-varying values, evaluation model, lifting operations, multidirectionality, glitch avoidance, and support for distribution. From this taxonomy, we observe that there are still open challenges in the field of reactive programming. For instance, multidirectionality is supported only by a small number of languages, which do not automatically track dependencies between time-varying values. Similarly, glitch avoidance, which is subtle in reactive programs, cannot be ensured in distributed reactive programs using the current techniques.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "325bbe7b00513793a1daacdc627f1974",
"text": "Perioperative coagulation management is a complex task that has a significant impact on the perioperative journey of patients. Anaesthesia providers play a critical role in the decision-making on transfusion and/or haemostatic therapy in the surgical setting. Various tests are available in identifying coagulation abnormalities in the perioperative period. While the rapidly available bedside haemoglobin measurements can guide the transfusion of red blood cells, blood product administration is guided by many in vivo and in vitro tests. The introduction of newer anticoagulant medications and the implementation of the modified in vivo coagulation cascade have given a new dimension to the field of perioperative transfusion medicine. A proper understanding of the application and interpretation of the coagulation tests is vital for a good perioperative outcome.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "447f7e2ddc5607019cd53716abbbb4d4",
"text": "In recent years, massive amounts of identified and unidentified facial data have become available—often publicly so—through Web 2.0 applications. So have also the infrastructure and technologies necessary to navigate through those data in real time, matching individuals across online services, independently of their knowledge or consent. In the literature on statistical re-identification [5, 6], an identified database is pinned against an unidentified database in order to recognize individuals in the latter and associate them with information from the former. Many online services make available to visitors identified facial images: social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn, online services such as Amazon.com profiles, or organizational rosters. Consider Facebook, for example. Most active Facebook users (currently estimated at 1.35 billion monthly active users worldwide [7], with over 250 billion photos uploaded photos [8]) use photos of themselves as their primary profile image. These photos are often identifiable: Facebook has pursued a ‘real identity’ policy, under which members are expected to appear on the network under their real names under penalty of account cancellation [9]. Using tagging features and login security questions, Facebook has encouraged users to associate their and their friends’ names to uploaded photos. Facebook photos are also frequently publicly available. Primary profile photos must be shared with strangers un-",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "942bd6a469b4f33ae08d26ed8983cbfe",
"text": "In this paper, we present a novel parallel coordinates design integrated with points (scattering points in parallel coordinates, SPPC), by taking advantage of both parallel coordinates and scatterplots. Different from most multiple views visualization frameworks involving parallel coordinates where each visualization type occupies an individual window, we convert two selected neighboring coordinate axes into a scatterplot directly. Multidimensional scaling is adopted to allow converting multiple axes into a single subplot. The transition between two visual types is designed in a seamless way. In our work, a series of interaction tools has been developed. Uniform brushing functionality is implemented to allow the user to perform data selection on both points and parallel coordinate polylines without explicitly switching tools. A GPU accelerated dimensional incremental multidimensional scaling (DIMDS) has been developed to significantly improve the system performance. Our case study shows that our scheme is more efficient than traditional multi-view methods in performing visual analysis tasks.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ac8c48688c0dfa60c2b268bfc7aab74a",
"text": "management in software defined environments A. Alba G. Alatorre C. Bolik A. Corrao T. Clark S. Gopisetty R. Haas R. I. Kat B. S. Langston N. S. Mandagere D. Noll S. Padbidri R. Routray Y. Song C.-H. Tan A. Traeger The IT industry is experiencing a disruptive trend for which the entire data center infrastructure is becoming software defined and programmable. IT resources are provisioned and optimized continuously according to a declarative and expressive specification of the workload requirements. The software defined environments facilitate agile IT deployment and responsive data center configurations that enable rapid creation and optimization of value-added services for clients. However, this fundamental shift introduces new challenges to existing data center management solutions. In this paper, we focus on the storage aspect of the IT infrastructure and investigate its unique challenges as well as opportunities in the emerging software defined environments. Current state-of-the-art software defined storage (SDS) solutions are discussed, followed by our novel framework to advance the existing SDS solutions. In addition, we study the interactions among SDS, software defined compute (SDC), and software defined networking (SDN) to demonstrate the necessity of a holistic orchestration and to show that joint optimization can significantly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the overall software defined environments.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "06991ed314e4b5cbde8d09d137f69144",
"text": "In this paper, we study the problem of controlling chaos in a memristor-based Chua's circuit, which can be represented as a linear switched system. A linear switched controller is obtained by solving a set of LMIs based on a common Lyapunov function. Finally, a numerical simulation is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e3b92d76bb139d0601c85416e8afaca4",
"text": "Conventional supervised object recognition methods have been investigated for many years. Despite their successes, there are still two suffering limitations: (1) various information of an object is represented by artificial features only derived from RGB images, (2) lots of manually labeled data is required by supervised learning. To address those limitations, we propose a new semi-supervised learning framework based on RGB and depth (RGB-D) images to improve object recognition. In particular, our framework has two modules: (1) RGB and depth images are represented by convolutional-recursive neural networks to construct high level features, respectively, (2) co-training is exploited to make full use of unlabeled RGB-D instances due to the existing two independent views. Experiments on the standard RGB-D object dataset demonstrate that our method can compete against with other state-of-the-art methods with only 20% labeled data.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a27ffbf7428fb863c30612342c61d757",
"text": "Social media provide a platform for users to express their opinions and share information. Understanding public health opinions on social media, such as Twitter, offers a unique approach to characterizing common health issues such as diabetes, diet, exercise, and obesity (DDEO); however, collecting and analyzing a large scale conversational public health data set is a challenging research task. The goal of this research is to analyze the characteristics of the general public’s opinions in regard to diabetes, diet, exercise and obesity (DDEO) as expressed on Twitter. A multi-component semantic and linguistic framework was developed to collect Twitter data, discover topics of interest about DDEO, and analyze the topics. From the extracted 4.5 million tweets, 8% of tweets discussed diabetes, 23.7% diet, 16.6% exercise, and 51.7% obesity. The strongest correlation among the topics was determined between exercise and obesity (p < .0002). Other notable correlations were: diabetes and obesity (p < .0005), and diet and obesity (p < .001). DDEO terms were also identified as subtopics of each of the DDEO topics. The frequent subtopics discussed along with “Diabetes”, excluding the DDEO terms themselves, were blood pressure, heart attack, yoga, and Alzheimer. The non-DDEO subtopics for “Diet” included vegetarian, pregnancy, celebrities, weight loss, religious, and mental health, while subtopics for “Exercise” included computer games, brain, fitness, and daily plan. Non-DDEO subtopics for “Obesity” included Alzheimer, cancer, and children. With 2.67 billion social media users in 2016, publicly available data such as Twitter posts can be utilized to support clinical providers, public health experts, and social scientists in better understanding common public opinions in regard to diabetes, diet, exercise, and obesity.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "502cae1daa2459ed0f826ed3e20c44e4",
"text": "Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) have drawn interest from machine learning researchers because of their effectiveness at preserving past inputs for time-varying data processing tasks. To understand the success and limitations of RNNs, it is critical that we advance our analysis of their fundamental memory properties. We focus on echo state networks (ESNs), which are RNNs with simple memoryless nodes and random connectivity. In most existing analyses, the short-term memory (STM) capacity results conclude that the ESN network size must scale linearly with the input size for unstructured inputs. The main contribution of this paper is to provide general results characterizing the STM capacity for linear ESNs with multidimensional input streams when the inputs have common low-dimensional structure: sparsity in a basis or significant statistical dependence between inputs. In both cases, we show that the number of nodes in the network must scale linearly with the information rate and poly-logarithmically with the input dimension. The analysis relies on advanced applications of random matrix theory and results in explicit non-asymptotic bounds on the recovery error. Taken together, this analysis provides a significant step forward in our understanding of the STM properties in RNNs.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4c877ad8e2f8393526514b12ff992ca0",
"text": "The squared-field-derivative method for calculating eddy-current (proximity-effect) losses in round-wire or litz-wire transformer and inductor windings is derived. The method is capable of analyzing losses due to two-dimensional and three-dimensional field effects in multiple windings with arbitrary waveforms in each winding. It uses a simple set of numerical magnetostatic field calculations, which require orders of magnitude less computation time than numerical eddy-current solutions, to derive a frequency-independent matrix describing the transformer or inductor. This is combined with a second, independently calculated matrix, based on derivatives of winding currents, to compute total ac loss. Experiments confirm the accuracy of the method.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e88f3371cdfa8256e95a3635e6e2f57c",
"text": "The main goal of this paper is to provide an overview of a variety of methods for synthesis of eroded terrain for use in computer games, VR worlds and the like. Traditionally, such software uses either predefined terrains or runtime generated data based on simple fractal noise techniques. In recent years, the advances in processing power of average home computers have made it possible to simulate erosion processes near-realtime by putting emphasis on speed at the expense of physical correctness. This paper presents a fast method to synthesize natural looking fractal terrain and then proceeds to evaluate and suggest optimizations for two of the most commonly used erosion algorithms [1, 2]. With some criteria for applicability in computer games in mind, a new and much faster algorithm is then proposed. Finally, a few issues regarding terrain modifications for maximum playability are discussed. Figure 1: A rendered view of a synthesized, eroded terrain created with the techniques discussed in this paper. Definitions",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
bfec60f41e2452be477e241a45a68e5b | Analysis of road accidents in India using data mining classification algorithms | [
{
"docid": "5d679f76b7e5058d234a125ec48e7ea9",
"text": "Road traffic accidents are a major public health concern, resulting in an estimated 1.2 million deaths and 50 million injuries worldwide each year. In the developing world, road traffic accidents are among the leading cause of death and injury. The objective of this study is to evaluate a set of variable that contribute to the degree of accident severity in traffic crashes. The issue of traffic safety has raised great concerns across the sustainable development of modern traffic and transportation. The study on road traffic accident cause can identify the key factors rapidly, efficiently and provide instructional methods to the traffic accident prevention and road traffic accident reduction, which could greatly reduce personal casualty by road traffic accidents. Using the methods of traffic data analysis, can improve the road traffic safety management level effectively.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f7c7e00e3a2b07cd5845b26d6522d16e",
"text": "This work employed Artificial Neural Networks and Decision Trees data analysis techniques to discover new knowledge from historical data about accidents in one of Nigeria’s busiest roads in order to reduce carnage on our highways. Data of accidents records on the first 40 kilometres from Ibadan to Lagos were collected from Nigeria Road Safety Corps. The data were organized into continuous and categorical data. The continuous data were analysed using Artificial Neural Networks technique and the categorical data were also analysed using Decision Trees technique .Sensitivity analysis was performed and irrelevant inputs were eliminated. The performance measures used to determine the performance of the techniques include Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Confusion Matrix, Accuracy Rate, True Positive, False Positive and Percentage correctly classified instances. Experimental results reveal that, between the machines learning paradigms considered, Decision Tree approach outperformed the Artificial Neural Network with a lower error rate and higher accuracy rate. Our research analysis also shows that, the three most important causes of accident are Tyre burst, loss of control and over speeding.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "002c7b0c2eec1bcef6efd149d241616e",
"text": "Despite all that has been done to promote Road Safety in India so far, there are always regions that fall prey to the vulnerabilities that linger on in every corner. The heterogeneity of these vulnerability-inducing causes leads to the need for an effective analysis so as to subdue the alarming figures by a significant amount. The objective of this paper is to have data mining to come to aid to create a model that not only smooths out the heterogeneity of the data by grouping similar objects together to find the accident prone areas in the country with respect to different accident-factors but also helps determine the association between these factors and casualties.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "bf2c7b1d93b6dee024336506fb5a2b32",
"text": "In this paper we present the first public, online demonstration of MaxTract; a tool that converts PDF files containing mathematics into multiple formats including LTEX, HTML with embedded MathML, and plain text. Using a bespoke PDF parser and image analyser, we directly extract character and font information to use as input for a linear grammar which, in conjunction with specialised drivers, can accurately recognise and reproduce both the two dimensional relationships between symbols in mathematical formulae and the one dimensional relationships present in standard text. The main goals of MaxTract are to provide translation services into standard mathematical markup languages and to add accessibility to mathematical documents on multiple levels. This includes both accessibility in the narrow sense of providing access to content for print impaired users, such as those with visual impairments, dyslexia or dyspraxia, as well as more generally to enable any user access to the mathematical content at more re-usable levels than merely visual. MaxTract produces output compatible with web browsers, screen readers, and tools such as copy and paste, which is achieved by enriching the regular text with mathematical markup. The output can also be used directly, within the limits of the presentation MathML produced, as machine readable mathematical input to software systems such as Mathematica or Maple.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d60cbf76534621768c1a5101abae5537",
"text": "AbstrAct Achieving IT-business alignment has been a long-standing, critical, information management issue. A theoretical framework of the maturity levels of management practices and strategic IT choices that facilitate alignment was empirically tested and validated. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) validated 6 factors and identified 22 indices to measure strategic alignment maturity. A mixed model repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) obtained significant results for both the main effect and interaction effect of differences for the 6 maturity factors across the 11 business units. Regression analysis found a positive association between overall strategic alignment maturity and respondents' self-rated maturity. These exploratory findings show promise for the assessment instrument to be used as a diagnostic tool for organizations to improve their IT-business alignment maturity levels.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "70d7c838e7b5c4318e8764edb5a70555",
"text": "This research developed and tested a model of turnover contagion in which the job embeddedness and job search behaviors of coworkers influence employees’ decisions to quit. In a sample of 45 branches of a regional bank and 1,038 departments of a national hospitality firm, multilevel analysis revealed that coworkers’ job embeddedness and job search behaviors explain variance in individual “voluntary turnover” over and above that explained by other individual and group-level predictors. Broadly speaking, these results suggest that coworkers’ job embeddedness and job search behaviors play critical roles in explaining why people quit their jobs. Implications are discussed.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "729fac8328b57376a954f2e7fc10405e",
"text": "Generative Adversarial Networks are proved to be efficient on various kinds of image generation tasks. However, it is still a challenge if we want to generate images precisely. Many researchers focus on how to generate images with one attribute. But image generation under multiple attributes is still a tough work. In this paper, we try to generate a variety of face images under multiple constraints using a pipeline process. The Pip-GAN (Pipeline Generative Adversarial Network) we present employs a pipeline network structure which can generate a complex facial image step by step using a neutral face image. We applied our method on two face image databases and demonstrate its ability to generate convincing novel images of unseen identities under multiple conditions previously.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1a1268ef30c225740b35ac123650ceb0",
"text": "Support Vector Machines, one of the new techniques for pattern classification, have been widely used in many application areas. The kernel parameters setting for SVM in a training process impacts on the classification accuracy. Feature selection is another factor that impacts classification accuracy. The objective of this research is to simultaneously optimize the parameters and feature subset without degrading the SVM classification accuracy. We present a genetic algorithm approach for feature selection and parameters optimization to solve this kind of problem. We tried several real-world datasets using the proposed GA-based approach and the Grid algorithm, a traditional method of performing parameters searching. Compared with the Grid algorithm, our proposed GA-based approach significantly improves the classification accuracy and has fewer input features for support vector machines. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "43b18a9fe6c1c67109ea7ee27285714b",
"text": "Nonlinear dimensionality reduction methods have demonstrated top-notch performance in many pattern recognition and image classification tasks. Despite their popularity, they suffer from highly expensive time and memory requirements, which render them inapplicable to large-scale datasets. To leverage such cases we propose a new method called “Path-Based Isomap”. Similar to Isomap, we exploit geodesic paths to find the low-dimensional embedding. However, instead of preserving pairwise geodesic distances, the low-dimensional embedding is computed via a path-mapping algorithm. Due to the much fewer number of paths compared to number of data points, a significant improvement in time and memory complexity with a comparable performance is achieved. The method demonstrates state-of-the-art performance on well-known synthetic and real-world datasets, as well as in the presence of noise.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e3bfb2cfb2f22288231cc6fd438f4af1",
"text": "Environmental flow assessment frameworks have begun to consider changes to flow regimes resulting from land-use change. Urban stormwater runoff, which degrades streams through altered volume, pattern and quality of flow, presents a problem that challenges dominant approaches to stormwater and water resource management, and to environmental flow assessment. We used evidence of ecological response to different stormwater drainage systems to develop methods for input to environmental flow assessment. We identified the nature of hydrologic change resulting from conventional urban stormwater runoff, and the mechanisms by which such hydrologic change is prevented in streams where ecological condition has been protected. We also quantified the increase in total volume resulting from urban stormwater runoff, by comparing annual streamflow volumes from undeveloped catchments with the volumes that would run off impervious surfaces under the same rainfall regimes. In catchments with as little as 5-10% total imperviousness, conventional stormwater drainage, associated with poor in-stream ecological condition, reduces contributions to baseflows and increases the frequency and magnitude of storm flows, but in similarly impervious catchments in which streams retain good ecological condition, informal drainage to forested hillslopes, without a direct piped discharge to the stream, results in little such hydrologic change. In urbanized catchments, dispersed urban stormwater retention measures can potentially protect urban stream ecosystems by mimicking the hydrologic effects of informal drainage, if sufficient water is harvested and kept out of the stream, and if discharged water is treated to a suitable quality. Urban stormwater is a new class of environmental flow problem: one that requires reduction of a large excess volume of water to maintain riverine ecological integrity. It is the best type of problem, because solving it provides an opportunity to solve other problems such as the provision of water for human use.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e1008ecca5798a7c5c6048a945b2d25d",
"text": "In this paper, we show for the first time how gradient TD (GTD) reinforcement learning methods can be formally derived as true stochastic gradient algorithms, not with respect to their original objective functions as previously attempted, but rather using derived primal-dual saddle-point objective functions. We then conduct a saddle-point error analysis to obtain finite-sample bounds on their performance. Previous analyses of this class of algorithms use stochastic approximation techniques to prove asymptotic convergence, and no finite-sample analysis had been attempted. Two novel GTD algorithms are also proposed, namely projected GTD2 and GTD2-MP, which use proximal “mirror maps” to yield improved convergence guarantees and acceleration, respectively. The results of our theoretical analysis imply that the GTD family of algorithms are comparable and may indeed be preferred over existing least squares TD methods for off-policy learning, due to their linear complexity. We provide experimental results showing the improved performance of our accelerated gradient TD methods.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ed14f03b87e7b1fa2b7d08f586631c45",
"text": "Patents are widely regarded as a proxy for inventive output which is valuable and can be commercialized by various means. Individual patent information such as technology field, classification, claims, application jurisdictions are increasingly available as released by different venues. This work has relied on a long-standing hypothesis that the citation received by a patent is a proxy for knowledge flows or impacts of the patent thus is directly related to patent value. This paper does not fall into the line of intensive existing work that test or apply this hypothesis, rather we aim to address the limitation of using so-far received citations for patent valuation. By devising a point process based patent citation type aware (self-citation and non-self-citation) prediction model which incorporates the various information of a patent, we open up the possibility for performing predictive patent valuation which can be especially useful for newly granted patents with emerging technology. Study on real-world data corroborates the efficacy of our approach. Our initiative may also have policy implications for technology markets, patent systems and all other stakeholders. The code and curated data will be available to the research community.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7208a2b257c7ba7122fd2e278dd1bf4a",
"text": "Abstract—This paper shows in detail the mathematical model of direct and inverse kinematics for a robot manipulator (welding type) with four degrees of freedom. Using the D-H parameters, screw theory, numerical, geometric and interpolation methods, the theoretical and practical values of the position of robot were determined using an optimized algorithm for inverse kinematics obtaining the values of the particular joints in order to determine the virtual paths in a relatively short time.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3caa8fc1ea07fcf8442705c3b0f775c5",
"text": "Recent research in the field of computational social science have shown how data resulting from the widespread adoption and use of social media channels such as twitter can be used to predict outcomes such as movie revenues, election winners, localized moods, and epidemic outbreaks. Underlying assumptions for this research stream on predictive analytics are that social media actions such as tweeting, liking, commenting and rating are proxies for user/consumer's attention to a particular object/product and that the shared digital artefact that is persistent can create social influence. In this paper, we demonstrate how social media data from twitter can be used to predict the sales of iPhones. Based on a conceptual model of social data consisting of social graph (actors, actions, activities, and artefacts) and social text (topics, keywords, pronouns, and sentiments), we develop and evaluate a linear regression model that transforms iPhone tweets into a prediction of the quarterly iPhone sales with an average error close to the established prediction models from investment banks. This strong correlation between iPhone tweets and iPhone sales becomes marginally stronger after incorporating sentiments of tweets. We discuss the findings and conclude with implications for predictive analytics with big social data.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "353761bae5088e8ee33025fc04695297",
"text": " Land use can exert a powerful influence on ecological systems, yet our understanding of the natural and social factors that influence land use and land-cover change is incomplete. We studied land-cover change in an area of about 8800 km2 along the lower part of the Wisconsin River, a landscape largely dominated by agriculture. Our goals were (a) to quantify changes in land cover between 1938 and 1992, (b) to evaluate the influence of abiotic and socioeconomic variables on land cover in 1938 and 1992, and (c) to characterize the major processes of land-cover change between these two points in time. The results showed a general shift from agricultural land to forest. Cropland declined from covering 44% to 32% of the study area, while forests and grassland both increased (from 32% to 38% and from 10% to 14% respectively). Multiple linear regressions using three abiotic and two socioeconomic variables captured 6% to 36% of the variation in land-cover categories in 1938 and 9% to 46% of the variation in 1992. Including socioeconomic variables always increased model performance. Agricultural abandonment and a general decline in farming intensity were the most important processes of land-cover change among the processes considered. Areas characterized by the different processes of land-cover change differed in the abiotic and socioeconomic variables that had explanatory power and can be distinguished spatially. Understanding the dynamics of landscapes dominated by human impacts requires methods to incorporate socioeconomic variables and anthropogenic processes in the analyses. Our method of hypothesizing and testing major anthropogenic processes may be a useful tool for studying the dynamics of cultural landscapes.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "85a541f5d83b3de1695a5c994a2be21f",
"text": "1Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 2Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, 3Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Baqiyatollah University of Medical Sciences, and 4Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Reprint requests and correspondence to: Dr. Leila Dehghan, Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Piche Shemiran, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: ldehghan@tums.ac.ir EFFECT OF THE BOBATH TECHNIQUE, CONDUCTIVE EDUCATION AND EDUCATION TO PARENTS IN ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING IN CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY IN IRAN",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9c183992492880d8b6e1a644e014a72f",
"text": "Repeated measures analyses of variance are the method of choice in many studies from experimental psychology and the neurosciences. Data from these fields are often characterized by small sample sizes, high numbers of factor levels of the within-subjects factor(s), and nonnormally distributed response variables such as response times. For a design with a single within-subjects factor, we investigated Type I error control in univariate tests with corrected degrees of freedom, the multivariate approach, and a mixed-model (multilevel) approach (SAS PROC MIXED) with Kenward-Roger's adjusted degrees of freedom. We simulated multivariate normal and nonnormal distributions with varied population variance-covariance structures (spherical and nonspherical), sample sizes (N), and numbers of factor levels (K). For normally distributed data, as expected, the univariate approach with Huynh-Feldt correction controlled the Type I error rate with only very few exceptions, even if samples sizes as low as three were combined with high numbers of factor levels. The multivariate approach also controlled the Type I error rate, but it requires N ≥ K. PROC MIXED often showed acceptable control of the Type I error rate for normal data, but it also produced several liberal or conservative results. For nonnormal data, all of the procedures showed clear deviations from the nominal Type I error rate in many conditions, even for sample sizes greater than 50. Thus, none of these approaches can be considered robust if the response variable is nonnormally distributed. The results indicate that both the variance heterogeneity and covariance heterogeneity of the population covariance matrices affect the error rates.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "255de21131ccf74c3269cc5e7c21820b",
"text": "This paper discusses the effect of driving current on frequency response of the two types of light emitting diodes (LEDs), namely, phosphor-based LED and single color LED. The experiments show that the influence of the change of driving current on frequency response of phosphor-based LED is not obvious compared with the single color LED(blue, red and green). The experiments also find that the bandwidth of the white LED was expanded from 1MHz to 32MHz by the pre-equalization strategy and 26Mbit/s transmission speed was taken under Bit Error Ratio of 7.55×10-6 within 3m by non-return-to-zero on-off-keying modulation. Especially, the frequency response intensity of the phosphor-based LED is little influenced by the fluctuation of the driving current, which meets the requirements that the indoor light source needs to be adjusted in real-time by driving current. As the bandwidth of the single color LED is changed by the driving current obviously, the LED modulation bandwidth should be calculated according to the minimum driving current while we consider the requirement of the VLC transmission speed.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f20204533ade658723cc56b429d5792",
"text": "ILQUA first participated in TREC QA main task in 2003. This year we have made modifications to the system by removing some components with poor performance and enhanced the system with new methods and new components. The newly built ILQUA is an IE-driven QA system. To answer “Factoid” and “List” questions, we apply our answer extraction methods on NE-tagged passages. The answer extraction methods adopted here are surface text pattern matching, n-gram proximity search and syntactic dependency matching. Surface text pattern matching has been applied in some previous TREC QA systems. However, the patterns used in ILQUA are automatically generated by a supervised learning system and represented in a format of regular expressions which can handle up to 4 question terms. N-gram proximity search and syntactic dependency matching are two steps of one component. N-grams of question terms are matched around every named entity in the candidate passages and a list of named entities are generated as answer candidate. These named entities go through a multi-level syntactic dependency matching until a final answer is generated. To answer “Other” questions, we parse the answer sentences of “Other” questions in 2004 main task and built syntactic patterns combined with semantic features. These patterns are applied to the parsed candidate sentences to extract answers of “Other” questions. The evaluation results showed ILQUA has reached an accuracy of 30.9% for factoid questions. ILQUA is an IE-driven QA system without any pre-compiled knowledge base of facts and it doesn’t get reference from any other external search engine such as Google. The disadvantage of an IE-driven QA system is that there are some types of questions that can’t be answered because the answer in the passages can’t be tagged as appropriate NE types. Figure 1 shows the diagram of the ILQUA architecture.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0c7221ffca357ba80401551333e1080d",
"text": "The effects of temperature and current on the resistance of small geometry silicided contact structures have been characterized and modeled for the first time. Both, temperature and high current induced self heating have been shown to cause contact resistance lowering which can be significant in the performance of advanced ICs. It is demonstrated that contact-resistance sensitivity to temperature and current is controlled by the silicide thickness which influences the interface doping concentration, N. Behavior of W-plug and force-fill (FF) Al plug contacts have been investigated in detail. A simple model has been formulated which directly correlates contact resistance to temperature and N. Furthermore, thermal impedance of these contact structures have been extracted and a critical failure temperature demonstrated that can be used to design robust contact structures.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a8ff7afc96f0bf65ce80131617d5e156",
"text": "This paper presents a new algorithm for force directed graph layout on the GPU. The algorithm, whose goal is to compute layouts accurately and quickly, has two contributions. The first contribution is proposing a general multi-level scheme, which is based on spectral partitioning. The second contribution is computing the layout on the GPU. Since the GPU requires a data parallel programming model, the challenge is devising a mapping of a naturally unstructured graph into a well-partitioned structured one. This is done by computing a balanced partitioning of a general graph. This algorithm provides a general multi-level scheme, which has the potential to be used not only for computation on the GPU, but also on emerging multi-core architectures. The algorithm manages to compute high quality layouts of large graphs in a fraction of the time required by existing algorithms of similar quality. An application for visualization of the topologies of ISP (Internet service provider) networks is presented.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f98b1b9808b3eb41f3d60f207854ec79",
"text": "The newly emerging event-based social networks (EBSNs) connect online and offline social interactions, offering a great opportunity to understand behaviors in the cyber-physical space. While existing efforts have mainly focused on investigating user behaviors in traditional social network services (SNS), this paper aims to exploit individual behaviors in EBSNs, which remains an unsolved problem. In particular, our method predicts activity attendance by discovering a set of factors that connect the physical and cyber spaces and influence individual's attendance of activities in EBSNs. These factors, including content preference, context (spatial and temporal) and social influence, are extracted using different models and techniques. We further propose a novel Singular Value Decomposition with Multi-Factor Neighborhood (SVD-MFN) algorithm to predict activity attendance by integrating the discovered heterogeneous factors into a single framework, in which these factors are fused through a neighborhood set. Experiments based on real-world data from Douban Events demonstrate that the proposed SVD-MFN algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art prediction methods.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
02f972c42d4f655d1bdb7d7b319c3d4e | A Logical Approach to Discrete Math | [
{
"docid": "de8f5656f17151c43e2454aa7b8f929f",
"text": "No wonder you activities are, reading will be always needed. It is not only to fulfil the duties that you need to finish in deadline time. Reading will encourage your mind and thoughts. Of course, reading will greatly develop your experiences about everything. Reading concrete mathematics a foundation for computer science is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages. The advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "28bd24c54b3e2ab2fc4902965fe9ebc6",
"text": "With Android application packing technology evolving, there are more and more ways to harden APPs. Manually unpacking APPs becomes more difficult as the time needed for analyzing increase exponentially. At the beginning, the packing technology is designed to prevent APPs from being easily decompiled, tampered and re-packed. But unfortunately, many malicious APPs start to use packing service to protect themselves. At present, most of the antivirus software focus on APPs that are unpacked, which means if malicious APPs apply the packing service, they can easily escape from a lot of antivirus software. Therefore, we should not only emphasize the importance of packing, but also concentrate on the unpacking technology. Only by doing this can we protect the normal APPs, and not miss any harmful APPs at the same time. In this paper, we first systematically study a lot of DEX packing and unpacking technologies, then propose and develop a universal unpacking system, named CrackDex, which is capable of extracting the original DEX file from the packed APP. We propose three core technologies: simulation execution, DEX reassembling, and DEX restoration, to get the unpacked DEX file. CrackDex is a part of the Dalvik virtual machine, and it monitors the execution of functions to locate the unpacking point in the portable interpreter, then launches the simulation execution, collects the data of original DEX file through corresponding structure pointer, finally fulfills the unpacking process by reassembling the data collected. The results of our experiments show that CrackDex can be used to effectively unpack APPs that are packed by packing service in a universal approach without any other knowledge of packing service.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "16d1ade9aa0c9966905441752c9ea90c",
"text": "Many agricultural studies rely on infrared sensors for remote measurement of surface temperatures for crop status monitoring and estimating sensible and latent heat fluxes. Historically, applications for these non-contact thermometers employed the use of hand-held or stationary industrial infrared thermometers (IRTs) wired to data loggers. Wireless sensors in agricultural applications are a practical alternative, but the availability of low cost wireless IRTs is limited. In this study, we designed prototype narrow (10◦) field of view wireless infrared sensor modules and evaluated the performance of the IRT sensor by comparing temperature readings of an object (Tobj) against a blackbody calibrator in a controlled temperature room at ambient temperatures of 15 ◦C, 25 ◦C, 35 ◦C, and 45 ◦C. Additional comparative readings were taken over plant and soil samples alongside a hand-held IRT and over an isothermal target in the outdoors next to a wired IRT. The average root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) between the collected IRT object temperature readings and the blackbody target ranged between 0.10 and 0.79 ◦C. The wireless IRT readings also compared well with the hand-held IRT and wired industrial IRT. Additional tests performed to investigate the influence of direct radiation on IRT measurements indicated that housing the sensor in white polyvinyl chloride provided ample shielding for the self-compensating circuitry of the IR detector. The relatively low cost of the wireless IRT modules and repeatable measurements against a blackbody calibrator and commercial IR thermometers demonstrated that these wireless prototypes have the potential to provide accurate surface radiometric temperature readings in outdoor applications. Further studies are needed to thoroughly test radio frequency communication and power consumption characteristics in an outdoor setting. Published by Elsevier B.V.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "153ae44f23ae9ddce7070d5e2a07070e",
"text": "Learning a matching function between two text sequences is a long standing problem in NLP research. This task enables many potential applications such as question answering and paraphrase identification. This paper proposes Co-Stack Residual Affinity Networks (CSRAN), a new and universal neural architecture for this problem. CSRAN is a deep architecture, involving stacked (multi-layered) recurrent encoders. Stacked/Deep architectures are traditionally difficult to train, due to the inherent weaknesses such as difficulty with feature propagation and vanishing gradients. CSRAN incorporates two novel components to take advantage of the stacked architecture. Firstly, it introduces a new bidirectional alignment mechanism that learns affinity weights by fusing sequence pairs across stacked hierarchies. Secondly, it leverages a multi-level attention refinement component between stacked recurrent layers. The key intuition is that, by leveraging information across all network hierarchies, we can not only improve gradient flow but also improve overall performance. We conduct extensive experiments on six well-studied text sequence matching datasets, achieving state-of-the-art performance on all.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6fb416991c80cb94ad09bc1bb09f81c7",
"text": "Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder often require therapeutic interventions to support engagement in effective social interactions. In this paper, we present the results of a study conducted in three public schools that use an educational and behavioral intervention for the instruction of social skills in changing situational contexts. The results of this study led to the concept of interaction immediacy to help children maintain appropriate spatial boundaries, reply to conversation initiators, disengage appropriately at the end of an interaction, and identify potential communication partners. We describe design principles for Ubicomp technologies to support interaction immediacy and present an example design. The contribution of this work is twofold. First, we present an understanding of social skills in mobile and dynamic contexts. Second, we introduce the concept of interaction immediacy and show its effectiveness as a guiding principle for the design of Ubicomp applications.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ae26e1aef8f0ed5bf7cd6673839f5561",
"text": "Plague, one of the most devastating infectious diseases in human history, is caused by the bacterial species Yersinia pestis. A live attenuated Y. pestis strain (EV76) has been widely used as a plague vaccine in various countries around the world. Here we compared the whole genome sequence of an EV76 strain used in China (EV76-CN) with the genomes of Y. pestis wild isolates to identify genetic variations specific to the EV76 lineage. We identified 6 SNPs and 6 Indels (insertions and deletions) differentiating EV76-CN from its counterparts. Then, we screened these polymorphic sites in 28 other strains of EV76 lineage that were stored in different countries. Based on the profiles of SNPs and Indels, we reconstructed the parsimonious dissemination history of EV76 lineage. This analysis revealed that there have been at least three independent imports of EV76 strains into China. Additionally, we observed that the pyrE gene is a mutation hotspot in EV76 lineages. The fine comparison results based on whole genome sequence in this study provide better understanding of the effects of laboratory passages on the accumulation of genetic polymorphisms in plague vaccine strains. These variations identified here will also be helpful in discriminating different EV76 derivatives.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "64e99944158284edb4474a2d0481f67b",
"text": "Synthesizing face sketches from real photos and its inverse have many applications. However, photo/sketch synthesis remains a challenging problem due to the fact that photo and sketch have different characteristics. In this work, we consider this task as an image-to-image translation problem and explore the recently popular generative models (GANs) to generate high-quality realistic photos from sketches and sketches from photos. Recent GAN-based methods have shown promising results on image-to-image translation problems and photo-to-sketch synthesis in particular, however, they are known to have limited abilities in generating high-resolution realistic images. To this end, we propose a novel synthesis framework called Photo-Sketch Synthesis using Multi-Adversarial Networks, (PS2-MAN) that iteratively generates low resolution to high resolution images in an adversarial way. The hidden layers of the generator are supervised to first generate lower resolution images followed by implicit refinement in the network to generate higher resolution images. Furthermore, since photo-sketch synthesis is a coupled/paired translation problem, we leverage the pair information using CycleGAN framework. Both Image Quality Assessment (IQA) and Photo-Sketch Matching experiments are conducted to demonstrate the superior performance of our framework in comparison to existing state-of-the-art solutions. Code available at: https://github.com/lidan1/PhotoSketchMAN.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "299242a092512f0e9419ab6be13f9b93",
"text": "In this paper, we present ForeCache, a general-purpose tool for exploratory browsing of large datasets. ForeCache utilizes a client-server architecture, where the user interacts with a lightweight client-side interface to browse datasets, and the data to be browsed is retrieved from a DBMS running on a back-end server. We assume a detail-on-demand browsing paradigm, and optimize the back-end support for this paradigm by inserting a separate middleware layer in front of the DBMS. To improve response times, the middleware layer fetches data ahead of the user as she explores a dataset.\n We consider two different mechanisms for prefetching: (a) learning what to fetch from the user's recent movements, and (b) using data characteristics (e.g., histograms) to find data similar to what the user has viewed in the past. We incorporate these mechanisms into a single prediction engine that adjusts its prediction strategies over time, based on changes in the user's behavior. We evaluated our prediction engine with a user study, and found that our dynamic prefetching strategy provides: (1) significant improvements in overall latency when compared with non-prefetching systems (430% improvement); and (2) substantial improvements in both prediction accuracy (25% improvement) and latency (88% improvement) relative to existing prefetching techniques.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "519bf48d380d483ee847d3ae2960eae6",
"text": "The banks are motivated to leverage their m-banking activities with the advancement of mobile technologies and the high mobile penetration rate. Despite the availability of the mbanking services, many consumers still posses the attitude of ‘wait-and-see’ which resulted to unsatisfactory adoption rate. Hence, this paper aims to extend the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to better understand what drives Malaysian consumers to adopt m-banking services. The conceptual model also provide better strategic insights for commercial banks, service developers, mobile manufacturers, and others to yield higher acceptance of m-banking.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c73d635d686c73cdd702c54cdf7da82b",
"text": "Eliminating disparities in health is a primary goal of the federal government and many states. Our overarching objective should be to improve population health for all groups to the maximum extent. Ironically, enhancing population health and even the health of the disadvantaged can conflict with efforts to reduce disparities. This paper presents data showing that interventions that offer some of the largest possible gains for the disadvantaged may also increase disparities, and it examines policies that offer the potential to decrease disparities while improving population health. Enhancement of educational attainment and access to health services and income support for those in greatest need appear to be particularly important pathways to improved population health.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "271faf6ddbd7ade4fb602609fddfb53c",
"text": "Most of the existing approaches for RGB-D indoor scene labeling employ hand-crafted features for each modality independently and combine them in a heuristic manner. There has been some attempt on directly learning features from raw RGB-D data, but the performance is not satisfactory. In this paper, we adapt the unsupervised feature learning technique for RGB-D labeling as a multi-modality learning problem. Our learning framework performs feature learning and feature encoding simultaneously which significantly boosts the performance. By stacking basic learning structure, higher-level features are derived and combined with lower-level features for better representing RGB-D data. Experimental results on the benchmark NYU depth dataset show that our method achieves competitive performance, compared with state-of-theart.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b80b3633520313415cc454fdefc5d022",
"text": "The current study aimed to explore men’s experience of the UK Criminal Justice System (CJS) following female-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV). Unstructured face-to-face and Skype interviews were conducted with six men aged between 40–65 years. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Due to the method of analysis and the sensitive nature of the research, the researcher engaged in a process of reflexivity. Four main themes were identified, including ‘Guilty until Proven Innocent: Victim Cast as Perpetrator;’ ‘Masculine Identity;’ ‘Psychological Impact’ and ‘Light at the End of the Tunnel.’ Themes were discussed and illustrated with direct quotes drawn from the transcripts. Directions for future research, criminal justice interventions, and therapeutic interventions were discussed.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a431c8c717fd4452a9654e59c6974031",
"text": "While advances in genome sequencing technology make population-scale genomics a possibility, current approaches for analysis of these data rely upon parallelization strategies that have limited scalability, complex implementation and lack reproducibility. Churchill, a balanced regional parallelization strategy, overcomes these challenges, fully automating the multiple steps required to go from raw sequencing reads to variant discovery. Through implementation of novel deterministic parallelization techniques, Churchill allows computationally efficient analysis of a high-depth whole genome sample in less than two hours. The method is highly scalable, enabling full analysis of the 1000 Genomes raw sequence dataset in a week using cloud resources. http://churchill.nchri.org/ .",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "aff08e12e131749f90dac656c3f40853",
"text": "These days, there are more than a million recipes on the Web. When you search for a recipe with one query such as “nikujaga,” the name of a typical Japanese food, you can find thousands of “nikujaga” recipes as the result. Even if you focus on only the top ten results, it is still difficult to find out the characteristic feature of each recipe because a cooking is a work-flow including parallel procedures. According to our survey, people place the most importance on the differences of cooking procedures when they compare the recipes. However, such differences are difficult to be extracted just by comparing the recipe texts as existing methods. Therefore, our system extracts (i) a general way to cook as a summary of cooking procedures and (ii) the characteristic features of each recipe by analyzing the work-flows of the top ten results. In the experiments, our method succeeded in extracting 54% of manually extracted features while the previous research addressed 37% of them.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d9a22d66618371128078056f34a363a7",
"text": "Vector embedding is a foundational building block of many deep learning models, especially in natural language processing. In this paper, we present a theoretical framework for understanding the effect of dimensionality on vector embeddings. We observe that the distributional hypothesis, a governing principle of statistical semantics, requires a natural unitary-invariance for vector embeddings. Motivated by the unitary-invariance observation, we propose the Pairwise Inner Product (PIP) loss, a unitary-invariant metric on the similarity between two embeddings. We demonstrate that the PIP loss captures the difference in functionality between embeddings, and that the PIP loss is tightly connect with two basic properties of vector embeddings, namely similarity and compositionality. By formulating the embedding training process as matrix factorization with noise, we reveal a fundamental bias-variance trade-off between the signal spectrum and noise power in the dimensionality selection process. This bias-variance trade-off sheds light on many empirical observations which have not been thoroughly explained, for example the existence of an optimal dimensionality. Moreover, we discover two new results about vector embeddings, namely their robustness against over-parametrization and their forward stability. The bias-variance trade-off of the PIP loss explicitly answers the fundamental open problem of dimensionality selection for vector embeddings.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6a04b4da4e77decf5f783e2edcc81d5b",
"text": "Document-level sentiment classification is an important NLP task. The state of the art shows that attention mechanism is particularly effective on document-level sentiment classification. Despite the success of previous attention mechanism, it neglects the correlations among inputs (e.g., words in a sentence), which can be useful for improving the classification result. In this paper, we propose a novel Adaptive Attention Network (AAN) to explicitly model the correlations among inputs. Our AAN has a two-layer attention hierarchy. It first learns an attention score for each input. Given each input’s embedding and attention score, it then computes a weighted sum over all the words’ embeddings. This weighted sum is seen as a “context” embedding, aggregating all the inputs. Finally, to model the correlations among inputs, it computes another attention score for each input, based on the input embedding and the context embedding. These new attention scores are our final output of AAN. In document-level sentiment classification, we apply AAN to model words in a sentence and sentences in a review. We evaluate AAN on three public data sets, and show that it outperforms state-of-the-art baselines.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c1e9f5759c7dfb8db3dfda60360acaa3",
"text": "What we know is less important than our capacity to continue to learn more until e-learning appeared. While e-learning technology has matured considerably since its inception, there are still many problems that practitioners find when come to implementing e-learning. Today's knowledge society of the 21st century requires a flexible learning environment which is capable to adapt according to teaching and learning objectives, students' profiles and preferences for information and communication technologies and services. Advances in technology offer new opportunities in enhancing teaching and learning. Many advances in learning technologies are taking place throughout the world. The new technologies enable individuals to personalize the environment in which they work or learn, utilizing a range of tools to meet their interests and needs. Research community has believed that an e-learning ecosystem is the next generation e-learning but has faced challenges in optimizing resource allocations, dealing with dynamic demands on getting information and knowledge anywhere and anytime, handling rapid storage growth requirements, cost controlling and greater flexibility. Additionally, e-learning ecosystems need to improve its infrastructure, which can devote the required computation and storage resources for e-learning ecosystems. So, we need flourish, growing, up-to-date and strong infrastructure e-learning ecosystems in a productive and cost-effective way to be able to face rapidly-changing environments. In this paper, an e-learning ecosystem (ELES) which supports modern technologies is introduced and implemented. An integration between cloud computing and Web 2.0 technologies and services will be used to support the development of e-learning ecosystems; cloud computing as an adoptable technology for many of the organizations with its dynamic scalability and usage of virtualized resources as a service through the Internet. Web 2.0 brings new instruments help building dynamic e-learning ecosystem on the web.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6fb8b461530af2c56ec0fac36dd85d3a",
"text": "Psoriatic arthritis is one of the spondyloarthritis. It is a disease of clinical heterogenicity, which may affect peripheral joints, as well as axial spine, with presence of inflammatory lesions in soft tissue, in a form of dactylitis and enthesopathy. Plain radiography remains the basic imaging modality for PsA diagnosis, although early inflammatory changes affecting soft tissue and bone marrow cannot be detected with its use, or the image is indistinctive. Typical radiographic features of PsA occur in an advanced disease, mainly within the synovial joints, but also in fibrocartilaginous joints, such as sacroiliac joints, and additionally in entheses of tendons and ligaments. Moll and Wright classified PsA into 5 subtypes: asymmetric oligoarthritis, symmetric polyarthritis, arthritis mutilans, distal interphalangeal arthritis of the hands and feet and spinal column involvement. In this part of the paper we discuss radiographic features of the disease. The next one will address magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "91f390e8ea6c931dff1e1d171cede590",
"text": "Deep neural networks are state of the art methods for many learning tasks due to their ability to extract increasingly better features at each network layer. However, the improved performance of additional layers in a deep network comes at the cost of added latency and energy usage in feedforward inference. As networks continue to get deeper and larger, these costs become more prohibitive for real-time and energy-sensitive applications. To address this issue, we present BranchyNet, a novel deep network architecture that is augmented with additional side branch classifiers. The architecture allows prediction results for a large portion of test samples to exit the network early via these branches when samples can already be inferred with high confidence. BranchyNet exploits the observation that features learned at an early layer of a network may often be sufficient for the classification of many data points. For more difficult samples, which are expected less frequently, BranchyNet will use further or all network layers to provide the best likelihood of correct prediction. We study the BranchyNet architecture using several well-known networks (LeNet, AlexNet, ResNet) and datasets (MNIST, CIFAR10) and show that it can both improve accuracy and significantly reduce the inference time of the network.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "33e1dad6c4f163c0d69bd3f58ecf9058",
"text": "Resistive random access memory (RRAM) has gained significant attentions because of its excellent characteristics which are suitable for next-generation non-volatile memory applications. It is also very attractive to build neuromorphic computing chip based on RRAM cells due to non-volatile and analog properties. Neuromorphic computing hardware technologies using analog weight storage allow the scaling-up of the system size to complete cognitive tasks such as face classification much faster while consuming much lower energy. In this paper, RRAM technology development from material selection to device structure, from small array to full chip will be discussed in detail. Neuromorphic computing using RRAM devices is demonstrated, and speed & energy consumption are compared with Xeon Phi processor.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "32a0944d7722090860cf3868a50c4ba1",
"text": "This paper addresses a cost-effective, flexible solution of underground mine workers' safety. A module of MEMS based sensors are used for underground environment monitoring and automating progression of measurement data through digital wireless communication technique is proposed with high accuracy, smooth control and reliability. A microcontroller is used for collecting data and making decision, based on which the mine worker is informed through alarm as well as voice system. The voice system with both microphone and speaker, transforms into digital signal and effectively communicate wirelessly with the ground control centre computer. ZigBee, based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard is used for this short distance transmission between the hardware fitted with the mine worker and the ground control centre.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
6dc2240d9bf9f2784e095fd7e26befea | Health-CPS: Healthcare Cyber-Physical System Assisted by Cloud and Big Data | [
{
"docid": "c42d1ee7a6b947e94eeb6c772e2b638f",
"text": "As mobile devices are equipped with more memory and computational capability, a novel peer-to-peer communication model for mobile cloud computing is proposed to interconnect nearby mobile devices through various short range radio communication technologies to form mobile cloudlets, where every mobile device works as either a computational service provider or a client of a service requester. Though this kind of computation offloading benefits compute-intensive applications, the corresponding service models and analytics tools are remaining open issues. In this paper we categorize computation offloading into three modes: remote cloud service mode, connected ad hoc cloudlet service mode, and opportunistic ad hoc cloudlet service mode. We also conduct a detailed analytic study for the proposed three modes of computation offloading at ad hoc cloudlet.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "03d5c8627ec09e4332edfa6842b6fe44",
"text": "In the same way businesses use big data to pursue profits, governments use it to promote the public good.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4a5d4db892145324597bd8d6b98c009f",
"text": "Advances in wireless communication technologies, such as wearable and implantable biosensors, along with recent developments in the embedded computing area are enabling the design, development, and implementation of body area networks. This class of networks is paving the way for the deployment of innovative healthcare monitoring applications. In the past few years, much of the research in the area of body area networks has focused on issues related to wireless sensor designs, sensor miniaturization, low-power sensor circuitry, signal processing, and communications protocols. In this paper, we present an overview of body area networks, and a discussion of BAN communications types and their related issues. We provide a detailed investigation of sensor devices, physical layer, data link layer, and radio technology aspects of BAN research. We also present a taxonomy of BAN projects that have been introduced/proposed to date. Finally, we highlight some of the design challenges and open issues that still need to be addressed to make BANs truly ubiquitous for a wide range of applications. M. Chen · S. Gonzalez · H. Cao · V. C. M. Leung Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada M. Chen School of Computer Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea A. Vasilakos (B) Department of Computer and Telecommunications Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, Macedonia, Greece e-mail: vasilako@ath.forthnet.gr",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "5a8d4bfb89468d432b7482062a0cbf2d",
"text": "While “no one size fits all” is a sound philosophy for system designers to follow, it poses multiple challenges for application developers and system administrators. It can be hard for an application developer to pick one system when the needs of her application match the features of multiple “one size” systems. The choice becomes considerably harder when different components of an application fit the features of different “one size” systems. Considerable manual effort goes into creating and tuning such multi-system applications. An application’s data and workload properties may change over time, often in unpredictable and bursty ways. Consequently, the “one size” system that is best for an application can change over time. Adapting to change can be hard when application development is coupled tightly with any individual “one size” system. In this paper, we make the case for developing a new breed of Database Management Systems that we term DBMS. A DBMS contains multiple “one size” systems internally. An application specifies its execution requirements on aspects like performance, availability, consistency, change, and cost to the DBMS declaratively. For all requests (e.g., queries) made by the application, the DBMS will select the execution plan that meets the application’s requirements best. A unique aspect of the execution plan in a DBMS is that the plan includes the selection of one or more “one size” systems. The plan is then deployed and managed automatically on the selected system(s). If application requirements change beyond what was planned for originally by the DBMS, then the application can be reoptimized and redeployed; usually with no additional effort required from the application developer. The DBMS approach has the potential to address the challenges that application developers and system administrators face from the vast and growing number of “one size” systems today. However, this approach poses many research challenges that we discuss in this paper. We are taking the DBMS approach in a platform, called Cyclops, that we are building for continuous query execution. We will use Cyclops throughout the paper to give concrete illustrations of the benefits and challenges of the DBMS approach. This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits distribution and reproduction in any medium as well allowing derivative works, provided that you attribute the original work to the author(s) and CIDR 2013. 6 Biennial Conference on Innovative Data Systems Research (CIDR ’13) January 6-9, 2013, Asilomar, California, USA.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3fd2f7e4d0d0460fda7f7e947e45d9d9",
"text": "Because of the complexity of the hospital environment, there exist a lot of medical information systems from different vendors with incompatible structures. In order to establish an enterprise hospital information system, the integration among these heterogeneous systems must be considered. Complete integration should cover three aspects: data integration, function integration and workflow integration. However most of the previous design of architecture did not accomplish such a complete integration. This article offers an architecture design of the enterprise hospital information system based on the concept of digital neural network system in hospital. It covers all three aspects of integration, and eventually achieves the target of one virtual data center with Enterprise Viewer for users of different roles. The initial implementation of the architecture in the 5-year Digital Hospital Project in Huzhou Central hospital of Zhejiang Province is also described",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c9fc426722df72b247093779ad6e2c0e",
"text": "Biped robots have better mobility than conventional wheeled robots, but they tend to tip over easily. To be able to walk stably in various environments, such as on rough terrain, up and down slopes, or in regions containing obstacles, it is necessary for the robot to adapt to the ground conditions with a foot motion, and maintain its stability with a torso motion. When the ground conditions and stability constraint are satisfied, it is desirable to select a walking pattern that requires small torque and velocity of the joint actuators. In this paper, we first formulate the constraints of the foot motion parameters. By varying the values of the constraint parameters, we can produce different types of foot motion to adapt to ground conditions. We then propose a method for formulating the problem of the smooth hip motion with the largest stability margin using only two parameters, and derive the hip trajectory by iterative computation. Finally, the correlation between the actuator specifications and the walking patterns is described through simulation studies, and the effectiveness of the proposed methods is confirmed by simulation examples and experimental results.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "18bfed285e1e6fbc21da440ec689737f",
"text": "We perform a survey into the scope and utility of opinion mining in legal Weblogs (a.k.a. blawgs). The number of 'blogs' in the legal domain is growing at a rapid pace and many potential applications for opinion detection and monitoring are arising as a result. We summarize current approaches to opinion mining before describing different categories of blawgs and their potential impact on the law and the legal profession. In addition to educating the community on recent developments in the legal blog space, we also conduct some introductory opinion mining trials. We first construct a Weblog test collection containing blog entries that discuss legal search tools. We subsequently examine the performance of a language modeling approach deployed for both subjectivity analysis (i.e., is the text subjective or objective?) and polarity analysis (i.e., is the text affirmative or negative towards its subject?). This work may thus help establish early baselines for these core opinion mining tasks.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b241b428f2012437b32b755f8ed53b7b",
"text": "Mobile cloud computing presents an effective solution to overcome smartphone constraints, such as limited computational power, storage, and energy. As the traditional mobile application development models do not support computation offloading, mobile cloud computing requires novel application development models that can facilitate the development of cloud enabled mobile applications. This paper presents a mobile cloud application development model, named MobiByte, to enhance mobile device applications’ performance, energy efficiency, and execution support. MobiByte is a context-aware application model that uses multiple data offloading techniques to support a wide range of applications. The proposed model is validated using prototype applications and detailed results are presented. Moreover, MobiByte is compared with the most recent application models with a conclusion that it outperforms the existing application models in many aspects like energy efficiency, performance, generality, context awareness, and privacy.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "99cf50b0ebcc97b5ddaec5a2934df240",
"text": "In this paper, we design, implement and evaluate RF-Beep - a high-accuracy, one-way sensing, energy efficient and light-weight ranging scheme for smart devices. RF-Beep is based on the well known Time-Difference-of-Arrival (TDoA) scheme that utilizes the different propagation speeds of both the acoustic and the radio-frequency (RF) signals. Unlike the previous works, RF-Beep utilizes both the audio interface (i.e., microphone, speaker and sound driver) and the RF interface (i.e., WiFi) at the kernel-level of commercial-off-the-shelf smart devices. Implementing the scheme at lower levels enables us to understand and address the challenges related to the timing uncertainties in transmitting and receiving the acoustic signal. Moreover, RF-Beep does not require any special hardware or infrastructure support. In this paper, we describe the complete implementation of RF-Beep at the kernel space of Linux OS. We evaluate RF-Beep under different indoor and outdoor real scenarios. Results show that the error in the estimated range is less than 50cm for more than 93% of the time.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "61d29b80bcea073665f454444a3b0262",
"text": "Nitric oxide (NO) is the principal mediator of penile erection. NO is synthesized by nitric oxide synthase (NOS). It has been well documented that the major causative factor contributing to erectile dysfunction in diabetic patients is the reduction in the amount of NO synthesis in the corpora cavernosa of the penis resulting in alterations of normal penile homeostasis. Arginase is an enzyme that shares a common substrate with NOS, thus arginase may downregulate NO production by competing with NOS for this substrate, l-arginine. The purpose of the present study was to compare arginase gene expression, protein levels, and enzyme activity in diabetic human cavernosal tissue. When compared to normal human cavernosal tissue, diabetic corpus cavernosum from humans with erectile dysfunction had higher levels of arginase II protein, gene expression, and enzyme activity. In contrast, gene expression and protein levels of arginase I were not significantly different in diabetic cavernosal tissue when compared to control tissue. The reduced ability of diabetic tissue to convert l-arginine to l-citrulline via nitric oxide synthase was reversed by the selective inhibition of arginase by 2(S)-amino-6-boronohexanoic acid (ABH). These data suggest that the increased expression of arginase II in diabetic cavernosal tissue may contribute to the erectile dysfunction associated with this common disease process and may play a role in other manifestations of diabetic disease in which nitric oxide production is decreased.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e389aec1a2cbd7373452915703eddbc2",
"text": "Information-centric networking (ICN) proposes to redesign the Internet by replacing its host centric design wit h an information centric one, by establishing communication at the naming level, with the receiver side acting as the driving force beh ind content delivery. Such design promises great advantages for the del ivery of content to and from mobile hosts. This, however, is at the exp ense of increased networking overhead, specifically in the case o f Nameddata Networking (NDN) due to use of flooding for path recovery. In this paper, we propose a mobility centric solution to address the overhead and scalability problems in NDN by introducing a novel forwarding architecture that leverages decentralized serverassisted routing over flooding based strategies. We present an indepth study of the proposed architecture and provide demons trative results on its throughput and overhead performance at different levels of mobility proving its scalability and effectiveness, when compared to the current NDN based forwarding strategies.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a037986af265203341286983c434f6f8",
"text": "We create a new cryptocurrency scheme based on the mini-blockchain scheme and homomorphic commitments. The aim is to improve the miniblockchain by making it more private. We also make a comparison of Bitcoin and our scheme regarding their ability to resist blockchain analysis.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6c7284ca77809210601c213ee8a685bb",
"text": "Patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) require careful staging at the time of diagnosis to determine prognosis and guide treatment recommendations. The seventh edition of the TNM Classification of Malignant Tumors is scheduled to be published in 2009 and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) created the Lung Cancer Staging Project (LCSP) to guide revisions to the current lung cancer staging system. These recommendations will be submitted to the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and to the Union Internationale Contre le Cancer (UICC) for consideration in the upcoming edition of the staging manual. Data from over 100,000 patients with lung cancer were submitted for analysis and several modifications were suggested for the T descriptors and the M descriptors although the current N descriptors remain unchanged. These recommendations will further define homogeneous patient subsets with similar survival rates. More importantly, these revisions will help guide clinicians in making optimal, stage-specific, treatment recommendations.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "10eb62505b2bd18aeb28512eb1afa967",
"text": "Ontology research has embarked in knowledge base community, spread over the web technology community by semantic web movement. Ontological engineering is the discipline that deals with development and maintenance of ontologies. It was introduced in computer science in early nineties; as a result immense content of this discipline is available in literature. But, because of its huge extent and specialization, an exhaustive effort should be made to understand the said area. Some studies are available that are for comparative reasons or for review of the state of the art, but these address one or other aspect like comparison of methodologies or evaluation approaches. So the current study, after a comprehensive review and analysis, presents the compilation, as theory of ontological engineering that addresses all aspects from definition to evaluation, but in a concise manner with all-inclusive contents.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2e770177ea9c68a8259f9f620c08abe0",
"text": "Several defenses have increased the cost of traditional, low-level attacks that corrupt control data, e.g. return addresses saved on the stack, to compromise program execution. In response, creative adversaries have begun circumventing these defenses by exploiting programming errors to manipulate pointers to virtual tables, or vtables, of C++ objects. These attacks can hijack program control flow whenever a virtual method of a corrupted object is called, potentially allowing the attacker to gain complete control of the underlying system. In this paper we present SAFEDISPATCH, a novel defense to prevent such vtable hijacking by statically analyzing C++ programs and inserting sufficient runtime checks to ensure that control flow at virtual method call sites cannot be arbitrarily influenced by an attacker. We implemented SAFEDISPATCH as a Clang++/LLVM extension, used our enhanced compiler to build a vtable-safe version of the Google Chromium browser, and measured the performance overhead of our approach on popular browser benchmark suites. By carefully crafting a handful of optimizations, we were able to reduce average runtime overhead to just 2.1%.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "292981db9a4f16e4ba7e02303cbee6c1",
"text": "The millimeter wave frequency spectrum offers unprecedented bandwidths for future broadband cellular networks. This paper presents the world's first empirical measurements for 28 GHz outdoor cellular propagation in New York City. Measurements were made in Manhattan for three different base station locations and 75 receiver locations over distances up to 500 meters. A 400 megachip-per-second channel sounder and directional horn antennas were used to measure propagation characteristics for future mm-wave cellular systems in urban environments. This paper presents measured path loss as a function of the transmitter - receiver separation distance, the angular distribution of received power using directional 24.5 dBi antennas, and power delay profiles observed in New York City. The measured data show that a large number of resolvable multipath components exist in both non line of sight and line of sight environments, with observed multipath excess delay spreads (20 dB) as great as 1388.4 ns and 753.5 ns, respectively. The widely diverse spatial channels observed at any particular location suggest that millimeter wave mobile communication systems with electrically steerable antennas could exploit resolvable multipath components to create viable links for cell sizes on the order of 200 m.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7804d1c4ec379ed47d45917786946b2f",
"text": "Data mining technology has been applied to library management. In this paper, Boustead College Library Information Management System in the history of circulation records, the reader information and collections as a data source, using the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 as a data mining tool, applying data mining algorithm as cluster, association rules and time series to identify characteristics of the reader to borrow in order to achieve individual service.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "338a998da4a1d3cd8b491c893f51bd18",
"text": "Class imbalance (i.e., scenarios in which classes are unequally represented in the training data) occurs in many real-world learning tasks. Yet despite its practical importance, there is no established theory of class imbalance, and existing methods for handling it are therefore not well motivated. In this work, we approach the problem of imbalance from a probabilistic perspective, and from this vantage identify dataset characteristics (such as dimensionality, sparsity, etc.) that exacerbate the problem. Motivated by this theory, we advocate the approach of bagging an ensemble of classifiers induced over balanced bootstrap training samples, arguing that this strategy will often succeed where others fail. Thus in addition to providing a theoretical understanding of class imbalance, corroborated by our experiments on both simulated and real datasets, we provide practical guidance for the data mining practitioner working with imbalanced data.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c25b4015787e56f241cabf5e76cb3cc6",
"text": "Clients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) received either (a) applied relaxation and self-control desensitization, (b) cognitive therapy, or (c) a combination of these methods. Treatment resulted in significant improvement in anxiety and depression that was maintained for 2 years. The large majority no longer met diagnostic criteria; a minority sought further treatment during follow-up. No differences in outcome were found between conditions; review of the GAD therapy literature suggested that this may have been due to strong effects generated by each component condition. Finally, interpersonal difficulties remaining at posttherapy, measured by the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Circumplex Scales (L. E. Alden, J. S. Wiggins, & A. L. Pincus, 1990) in a subset of clients, were negatively associated with posttherapy and follow-up improvement, suggesting the possible utility of adding interpersonal treatment to cognitive-behavioral therapy to increase therapeutic effectiveness.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3422237504daed461a86defc3bfbe8ca",
"text": "As one of the fundamental features, color provides useful information and plays an important role for face recognition. Generally, the choice of a color space is different for different visual tasks. How can a color space be sought for the specific face recognition problem? To address this problem, we propose a sparse tensor discriminant color space (STDCS) model that represents a color image as a third-order tensor in this paper. The model cannot only keep the underlying spatial structure of color images but also enhance robustness and give intuitionistic or semantic interpretation. STDCS transforms the eigenvalue problem to a series of regression problems. Then one spare color space transformation matrix and two sparse discriminant projection matrices are obtained by applying lasso or elastic net on the regression problems. The experiments on three color face databases, AR, Georgia Tech, and Labeled Faces in the Wild face databases, show that both the performance and the robustness of the proposed method outperform those of the state-of-the-art TDCS model.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f8a5fb5f323f036d38959f97815337a5",
"text": "OBJECTIVE\nEarly screening of autism increases the chance of receiving timely intervention. Using the Parent Report Questionnaires is effective in screening autism. The Q-CHAT is a new instrument that has shown several advantages than other screening tools. Because there is no adequate tool for the early screening of autistic traits in Iranian children, we aimed to investigate the adequacy of the Persian translation of Q-CHAT.\n\n\nMETHOD\nAt first, we prepared the Persian translation of the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT). After that, an appropriate sample was selected and the check list was administered. Our sample included 100 children in two groups (typically developing and autistic children) who had been selected conveniently. Pearson's r was used to determine test-retest reliability, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to explore the internal consistency of Q-CHAT. We used the receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC) to investigate whether Q-CHAT can adequately discriminate between typically developing and ASD children or not. Data analysis was carried out by SPSS 19.\n\n\nRESULT\nThe typically developing group consisted of 50 children with the mean age of 27.14 months, and the ASD group included50 children with the mean age of 29.62 months. The mean of the total score for the typically developing group was 22.4 (SD=6.26) on Q-CHAT and it was 50.94 (SD=12.35) for the ASD group, which was significantly different (p=0.00).The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the checklist was 0.886, and test-retest reliability was calculated as 0.997 (p<0.01). The estimated area under the curve (AUC) was 0.971. It seems that the total score equal to 30 can be a good cut point to identify toddlers who are at risk of autism (sensitivity= 0.96 and specificity= 0.90).\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nThe Persian translation of Q-CHAT has good reliability and predictive validity and can be used as a screening tool to detect 18 to 24 months old children who are at risk of autism.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "670d389bf2250bc8d0f10235495e755e",
"text": "This study suggests narcissism as an important psychological factor that predicts one’s behavioral intention to control information privacy on SNS. Particularly, we approach narcissism as a two-dimensional construct—vulnerable and grandiose narcissism—to provide a better understanding of the role of narcissism in SNS usage. As one of the first studies to apply a two-dimensional approach to narcissism in computer-mediated communication, our results show that vulnerable narcissism has a significant positive effect on behavioral intention to control privacy on SNS, while grandiose narcissism has no effect. This effect was found when considering other personality traits, including self-esteem, computer anxiety, and concern for information privacy. The results indicate that unidimensional approaches to narcissism cannot solely predict SNS behaviors, and the construct of narcissism should be broken down into two orthogonal constructs. 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
7c8850c73b450407880561bb07b7d449 | Locality-aware Partitioning in Parallel Database Systems | [
{
"docid": "322f452b95b257c2b95001bfbf5b5063",
"text": "We present Schism, a novel workload-aware approach for database partitioning and replication designed to improve scalability of sharednothing distributed databases. Because distributed transactions are expensive in OLTP settings (a fact we demonstrate through a series of experiments), our partitioner attempts to minimize the number of distributed transactions, while producing balanced partitions. Schism consists of two phases: i) a workload-driven, graph-based replication/partitioning phase and ii) an explanation and validation phase. The first phase creates a graph with a node per tuple (or group of tuples) and edges between nodes accessed by the same transaction, and then uses a graph partitioner to split the graph into k balanced partitions that minimize the number of cross-partition transactions. The second phase exploits machine learning techniques to find a predicate-based explanation of the partitioning strategy (i.e., a set of range predicates that represent the same replication/partitioning scheme produced by the partitioner). The strengths of Schism are: i) independence from the schema layout, ii) effectiveness on n-to-n relations, typical in social network databases, iii) a unified and fine-grained approach to replication and partitioning. We implemented and tested a prototype of Schism on a wide spectrum of test cases, ranging from classical OLTP workloads (e.g., TPC-C and TPC-E), to more complex scenarios derived from social network websites (e.g., Epinions.com), whose schema contains multiple n-to-n relationships, which are known to be hard to partition. Schism consistently outperforms simple partitioning schemes, and in some cases proves superior to the best known manual partitioning, reducing the cost of distributed transactions up to 30%.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "de8f5656f17151c43e2454aa7b8f929f",
"text": "No wonder you activities are, reading will be always needed. It is not only to fulfil the duties that you need to finish in deadline time. Reading will encourage your mind and thoughts. Of course, reading will greatly develop your experiences about everything. Reading concrete mathematics a foundation for computer science is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages. The advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f2b3f12251d636fe0ac92a2965826525",
"text": "Today, not only Internet companies such as Google, Facebook or Twitter do have Big Data but also Enterprise Information Systems store an ever growing amount of data (called Big Enterprise Data in this paper). In a classical SAP system landscape a central data warehouse (SAP BW) is used to integrate and analyze all enterprise data. In SAP BW most of the business logic required for complex analytical tasks (e.g., a complex currency conversion) is implemented in the application layer on top of a standard relational database. While being independent from the underlying database when using such an architecture, this architecture has two major drawbacks when analyzing Big Enterprise Data: (1) algorithms in ABAP do not scale with the amount of data and (2) data shipping is required. To this end, we present a novel programming language called SQLScript to efficiently support complex and scalable analytical tasks inside SAP’s new main-memory database HANA. SQLScript provides two major extensions to the SQL dialect of SAP HANA: A functional and a procedural extension. While the functional extension allows the definition of scalable analytical tasks on Big Enterprise Data, the procedural extension provides imperative constructs to orchestrate the analytical tasks. The major contributions of this paper are two novel functional extensions: First, an extended version of the MapReduce programming model for supporting parallelizable user-defined functions (UDFs). Second, compared to recursion in the SQL standard, a generalized version of recursion to support graph analytics as well as machine learning tasks.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "36e0647ec5ade6b82fbacdf023614480",
"text": "The future airborne network (AN) is envisioned as an IP-based hierarchical network with heterogeneous nodes and waveforms. Due to its highly dynamic nature and bandwidth constraints, new AN technologies are needed to provide reliable network operations with similar levels of mission support as that in terrestrial networks. This paper identifies challenges in designing and evaluating AN technologies and also describes an on-going effort on developing a realistic wireless testing and performance evaluation framework for AN testing and evaluation. A set of use cases are presented to illustrate how the framework can be used to evaluate new architecture and protocols in AN environments.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d768504fea8b0951a3c26edb26ce7f15",
"text": "Software quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or a service that bears on its ability to satisfy the given needs. Poor quality of the software product in sensitive systems may lead to loss of human life, permanent injury, mission failure, or financial loss. So the quality of the project should be maintained at appropriate label. To maintain the quality, there are different quality models. ″A high quality product is one which has associated with it a number of quality factors. These could be described in the requirements specification; they could be cultured, in that they are normally associated with the artifact through familiarity of use and through the shared experience of users. In this paper, we will discuss all the quality models: McCall's quality model, Boehm's quality model, Dromey's quality model, and FURPS quality model and focus on a comparison between these models, and find the key differences between them.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "924495d6723bb0aeaf22611ed022316c",
"text": "User authentication in computer systems has been a cornerstone of computer security for decades. However, the existing user authentication schemes either require human cognitive ability to remember numerous complex id and password, or rely on a trusted third party which could fail due to technical failure or denial-of-service attacks. In this paper, we design a fully distributed user authentication framework with the blockchain technology. In our scheme, a user stores her identity in the blockchain, stores her encrypted personal information in a off-blockchain storage, and attaches a smart contract which grants different permissions to each website/application. When a user logs in a website/application, the service provider employs a challenge-response protocol to verify the identity of the user, and then retrieve the user's personal information from the off-blockchain storage.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "deccc7ba3b930a9c56a377053699a46b",
"text": "Preview: Some traditional measurements of forecast accuracy are unsuitable for intermittent-demand data because they can give infinite or undefined values. Rob Hyndman summarizes these forecast accuracy metrics and explains their potential failings. He also introduces a new metric—the mean absolute scaled error (MASE)—which is more appropriate for intermittent-demand data. More generally, he believes that the MASE should become the standard metric for comparing forecast accuracy across multiple time series.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1fc58f0ed6c2fbd05f190b3d3da2d319",
"text": "Seismology is the scientific study of earthquakes & the propagation of seismic waves through the earth. The large improvement has been seen in seismology from around hundreds of years. The seismic data plays important role in the seismic data acquisition. This data can be used for analysis which helps to locate the correct location of the earthquake. The more efficient systems are used now a day to locate the earthquakes as large improvements has been done in this field. In older days analog systems are used for data acquisition. The analog systems record seismic signals in a permanent way. These systems are large in size, costly and are incompatible with computer. Due to these drawbacks these analog systems are replaced by digital systems so that data can be recorded digitally. Using different sensor to indentify the natural disaster, MEMS, VIBRATION sensor is used to monitor the earth condition , the different values of the different sensor is given to the ADC to convert the values in digital format, if any changes occurs or in abnormality condition BUZZER will ring.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a63bfd773444b0ac70700a840a844743",
"text": "The utility of thermal inkjet (TIJ) technology for preparing solid dosage forms of drugs was examined. Solutions of prednisolone in a solvent mixture of ethanol, water, and glycerol (80/17/3 by volume) were dispensed onto poly(tetrafluoroethylene)-coated fiberglass films using TIJ cartridges and a personal printer and using a micropipette for comparison. The post-dried, TIJ-dispensed samples were shown to contain a mixture of prednisolone Forms I and III based on PXRD analyses that were confirmed by Raman analyses. The starting commercial material was determined to be Form I. Samples prepared by dispensing the solution from a micropipette initially showed only Form I; subsequent Raman mapping of these samples revealed the presence of two polymorphs. Raman mapping of the TIJ-dispensed samples also showed both polymorphs. The results indicate that the solvent mixture used in the dispensing solution combined with the thermal treatment of the samples after dispensing were likely the primary reason for the generation of the two polymorphs. The advantages of using a multidisciplinary approach to characterize drug delivery systems are demonstrated using solid state mapping techniques. Both PXRD and Raman spectroscopy were needed to fully characterize the samples. Finally, this report clarifies prednisolone's polymorphic nomenclature existent in the scientific literature.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0d97c1df6e4868ce06ff185d8aacc3f5",
"text": "Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the elementary constituents of matter and radiation, and the interactions between them. Particle physicists have described the fundamental structure of matter using the fundamental forces of physics in the form of an elegant series of equations. However, fundamental particle of physics often faces problems from a shortage of specialists. The knowledge base in the field of fundamental particles is also very large and widely dispersed, which makes it difficult for humans to achieve expertise. This is clearly proved from the smaller number of research studies in fundamental particle of physics. The specific knowledge of particle physics is not widespread, so techniques to manage and share knowledge are necessary. This work proposes an ontology-based approach for describing networking physics domains related to fundamental particles of physics. This networking ontology is employed to implement the recommender web service system to help users to recommend fundamental particles related to the networking physics domain. The experiments on the system are conducted with particle physics specialists. Moreover, ontologies are developed using the HOZO tool in OWL format which can be easily integrated with any other ontology in computer science and engineering.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "313ded9d63967fd0c8bc6ca164ce064a",
"text": "This paper presents a 0.35-mum SiGe BiCMOS VCO IC exhibiting a linear VCO gain (Kvco) for 5-GHz band application. To realize a linear Kvco, a novel resonant circuit is proposed. The measured Kvco changes from 224 MHz/V to 341 MHz/V. The ratio of the maximum Kvco to the minimum one is 1.5 which is less than one-half of that of a conventional VCO. The VCO oscillation frequency range is from 5.45 GHz to 5.95 GHz, the tuning range is 8.8 %, and the dc current consumption is 3.4 mA at a supply voltage of 3.0 V. The measured phase noise is -116 dBc/Hz at 1MHz offset, which is similar to the conventional VCO",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "06107b781329d004deb228e100d33d2d",
"text": "This manuscript examines the measurement instrument developed from the ability model of EI (Mayer and Salovey, 1997), the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; Mayer, Salovey and Caruso, 2002). The four subtests, scoring methods, psychometric properties, reliability, and factor structure of the MSCEIT are discussed, with a special focus on the discriminant, convergent, predictive, and incremental validity of the test. The authors review associations between MSCEIT scores and important outcomes such as academic performance, cognitive processes, psychological well-being, depression, anxiety, prosocial and maladaptive behavior, and leadership and organizational behavior. Findings regarding the low correlations between MSCEIT scores and self-report measures of EI also are presented. In the conclusion the authors' provide potential directions for future research on emotional intelligence.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e7616fbe9853bf8e1c89441287baf30c",
"text": "The objective of the current study is to compare the use of a nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) to a high-flow humidified nasal cannula (HFNC) in infants with acute bronchiolitis, who were admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) during two consecutive seasons. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all infants admitted to a PICU at a tertiary care French hospital during the bronchiolitis seasons of 2010/11 and 2011/12. Infants admitted to the PICU, who required noninvasive respiratory support, were included. The first noninvasive respiratory support modality was nCPAP during the 2010/11 season, while HFNC was used during the 2011/2012 season. We compared the length of stay (LOS) in the PICU; the daily measure of PCO2 and pH; and the mean of the five higher values of heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), FiO2, and SpO2 each day, during the first 5 days. Thirty-four children met the inclusion criteria: 19 during the first period (nCPAP group) and 15 during the second period (HFNC group). Parameters such as LOS in PICU and oxygenation were similar in the two groups. Oxygen weaning occurred during the same time for the two groups. There were no differences between the two groups for RR, HR, FiO2, and CO2 evolution. HFNC therapy failed in three patients, two of whom required invasive mechanical ventilation, versus one in the nCPAP group. Conclusion: We did not find a difference between HFNC and nCPAP in the management of severe bronchiolitis in our PICU. Larger prospective studies are required to confirm these findings.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "89513d2cf137e60bf7f341362de2ba84",
"text": "In this paper, we present a visual analytics approach that provides decision makers with a proactive and predictive environment in order to assist them in making effective resource allocation and deployment decisions. The challenges involved with such predictive analytics processes include end-users' understanding, and the application of the underlying statistical algorithms at the right spatiotemporal granularity levels so that good prediction estimates can be established. In our approach, we provide analysts with a suite of natural scale templates and methods that enable them to focus and drill down to appropriate geospatial and temporal resolution levels. Our forecasting technique is based on the Seasonal Trend decomposition based on Loess (STL) method, which we apply in a spatiotemporal visual analytics context to provide analysts with predicted levels of future activity. We also present a novel kernel density estimation technique we have developed, in which the prediction process is influenced by the spatial correlation of recent incidents at nearby locations. We demonstrate our techniques by applying our methodology to Criminal, Traffic and Civil (CTC) incident datasets.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "14827ea435d82e4bfe481713af45afed",
"text": "This paper introduces a model-based approach to estimating longitudinal wheel slip and detecting immobilized conditions of autonomous mobile robots operating on outdoor terrain. A novel tire traction/braking model is presented and used to calculate vehicle dynamic forces in an extended Kalman filter framework. Estimates of external forces and robot velocity are derived using measurements from wheel encoders, inertial measurement unit, and GPS. Weak constraints are used to constrain the evolution of the resistive force estimate based upon physical reasoning. Experimental results show the technique accurately and rapidly detects robot immobilization conditions while providing estimates of the robot's velocity during normal driving. Immobilization detection is shown to be robust to uncertainty in tire model parameters. Accurate immobilization detection is demonstrated in the absence of GPS, indicating the algorithm is applicable for both terrestrial applications and space robotics.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c95c46d75c2ff3c783437100ba06b366",
"text": "Co-references are traditionally used when integrating data from different datasets. This approach has various benefits such as fault tolerance, ease of integration and traceability of provenance; however, it often results in the problem of entity consolidation, i.e., of objectively stating whether all the co-references do really refer to the same entity; and, when this is the case, whether they all convey the same intended meaning. Relying on the sole presence of a single equivalence (owl:sameAs) statement is often problematic and sometimes may even cause serious troubles. It has been observed that to indicate the likelihood of an equivalence one could use a numerically weighted measure, but the real hard questions of where precisely will these values come from arises. To answer this question we propose a methodology based on a graph clustering algorithm.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c4b0d93105e434d4d407575157a005a4",
"text": "Online Judge is widespread for the undergraduate to study programming. The users usually feel confused while locating the problems they prefer from the massive ones. This paper proposes a specialized recommendation model for the online judge systems in order to present the alternative problems to the users which they may be interested in potentially. In this model, a three-level collaborative filtering recommendation method is referred to and redesigned catering for the specific interaction mode of Online Judge. This method is described in detail in this paper and implemented in our demo system which demonstrates its availability.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e0b836a04a3af68270b6ba77cdcccacc",
"text": "The large-scale utilization of cloud computing services for hosting industrial/enterprise applications has led to the emergence of cloud service reliability as an important issue for both cloud service providers and users. To enhance cloud service reliability, two types of fault tolerance schemes, reactive and proactive, have been proposed. Existing schemes rarely consider the problem of coordination among multiple virtual machines (VMs) that jointly complete a parallel application. Without VM coordination, the parallel application execution results will be incorrect. To overcome this problem, we first propose an initial virtual cluster allocation algorithm according to the VM characteristics to reduce the total network resource consumption and total energy consumption in the data center. Then, we model CPU temperature to anticipate a deteriorating physical machine (PM). We migrate VMs from a detected deteriorating PM to some optimal PMs. Finally, the selection of the optimal target PMs is modeled as an optimization problem that is solved using an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm. We evaluate our approach against five related approaches in terms of the overall transmission overhead, overall network resource consumption, and total execution time while executing a set of parallel applications. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our approach.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e32db5353519de574b70e33a3498b695",
"text": "Reinforcement Learning (RL) provides a promising new approach to systems performance management that differs radically from standard queuing-theoretic approaches making use of explicit system performance models. In principle, RL can automatically learn high-quality management policies without an explicit performance model or traffic model and with little or no built-in system specific knowledge. In our original work [1], [2], [3] we showed the feasibility of using online RL to learn resource valuation estimates (in lookup table form) which can be used to make high-quality server allocation decisions in a multi-application prototype Data Center scenario. The present work shows how to combine the strengths of both RL and queuing models in a hybrid approach in which RL trains offline on data collected while a queuing model policy controls the system. By training offline we avoid suffering potentially poor performance in live online training. We also now use RL to train nonlinear function approximators (e.g. multi-layer perceptrons) instead of lookup tables; this enables scaling to substantially larger state spaces. Our results now show that in both open-loop and closed-loop traffic, hybrid RL training can achieve significant performance improvements over a variety of initial model-based policies. We also find that, as expected, RL can deal effectively with both transients and switching delays, which lie outside the scope of traditional steady-state queuing theory.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bfd879313c1dbb641798f1c8b56248d2",
"text": "In this paper, we propose an attention-aware deep reinforcement learning (ADRL) method for video face recognition, which aims to discard the misleading and confounding frames and find the focuses of attentions in face videos for person recognition. We formulate the process of finding the attentions of videos as a Markov decision process and train the attention model through a deep reinforcement learning framework without using extra labels. Unlike existing attention models, our method takes information from both the image space and the feature space as the input to make better use of face information that is discarded in the feature learning process. Besides, our approach is attention-aware, which seeks different attentions of videos for the recognition of different pairs of videos. Our approach achieves very competitive video face recognition performance on three widely used video face datasets.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1db6155cd879d7fe5836c72a7462f6a9",
"text": "Direct device-to-device (D2D) communications is regarded as a promising technology to provide low-power, high-data rate and low-latency services between end-users in the future 5G networks. However, it may not always be feasible to provide low-latency reliable communication between end-users due to the nature of mobility. For instance, the latency could be increased when several controlling nodes have to exchange D2D related information among each other. Moreover, the introduced signaling overhead due to D2D operation need to be minimized. Therefore, in this paper, we propose several mobility management solutions with their technical challenges and expected gains under the assumptions of 5G small cell networks.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6d8f579907739cabcedc9f3021dad4ff",
"text": "Code smells are characteristics of software that indicate that code may have a design problem. Code smells have been proposed as a way for programmers to recognize the need for restructuring their software. Because code smells can go unnoticed while programmers are working, tools called smell detectors have been developed to alert programmers to the presence of smells in their code, and to help them understand the cause of those smells. In this paper, we propose a novel smell detector called Stench Blossom that provides an interactive ambient visualization designed to first give programmers a quick, high-level overview of the smells in their code, and then, if they wish, to help in understanding the sources of those code smells. We also describe a laboratory experiment with 12 programmers that tests several hypotheses about our tool. Our findings suggest that programmers can use our tool effectively to identify smells and to make refactoring judgements. This is partly because the tool serves as a memory aid, and partly because it is more reliable and easier to use than heuristics for analyzing smells.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
4749f12aac36246e180fc39b5972f075 | Scripts, Plans and Knowledge | [
{
"docid": "485cda7203863d2ff0b2070ca61b1126",
"text": "Interestingly, understanding natural language that you really wait for now is coming. It's significant to wait for the representative and beneficial books to read. Every book that is provided in better way and utterance will be expected by many peoples. Even you are a good reader or not, feeling to read this book will always appear when you find it. But, when you feel hard to find it as yours, what to do? Borrow to your friends and don't know when to give back it to her or him.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "48303e0519f6fe8e2106318329b84b46",
"text": "Endowing an intelligent agent with an episodic memory affords it a multitude of cognitive capabilities. However, providing efficient storage and retrieval in a task-independent episodic memory presents considerable theoretical and practical challenges. We characterize the computational issues bounding an episodic memory. We explore whether even with intractable asymptotic growth, it is possible to develop efficient algorithms and data structures for episodic memory systems that are practical for real-world tasks. We present and evaluate formal and empirical results using Soar-EpMem: a task-independent integration of episodic memory with Soar 9, providing a baseline for graph-based, taskindependent episodic memory systems.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ccac2236f232222a832bfd1a63927cac",
"text": "Visualization of textual data may reveal interesting properties regarding the information conveyed in a group of documents. In this paper, we study whether the structure revealed by a visualization method can be used as inputs for improved classifiers. In particular, we study whether the locations of news items on a concept map could be used as inputs for improving the prediction of stock price movements from the news. We propose a method based on information visualization and text classification for achieving this. We apply the proposed approach to the prediction of the stock price movements of companies within the oil and natural gas sector. In a case study, we show that our proposed approach performs better than a naive approach and a bag-of-words approach",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2e6d9b7d514463caf66f7adf35868d1d",
"text": "Unlike simpler organisms, C. elegans possesses several distinct chemosensory pathways and chemotactic mechanisms. These mechanisms and pathways are individually capable of driving chemotaxis in a chemical concentration gradient. However, it is not understood if they are redundant or co-operate in more sophisticated ways. Here we examine the specialisation of different chemotactic mechanisms in a model of chemotaxis to NaCl. We explore the performance of different chemotactic mechanisms in a range of chemical gradients and show that, in the model, far from being redundant, the mechanisms are specialised both for different environments and for distinct features within those environments. We also show that the chemotactic drive mediated by the ASE pathway is not robust to the presence of noise in the chemical gradient. This problem cannot be solved along the ASE pathway without destroying its ability to drive chemotaxis. Instead, we show that robustness to noise can be achieved by introducing a second, much slower NaCl-sensing pathway. This secondary pathway is simpler than the ASE pathway, in the sense that it can respond to either up-steps or down-steps in NaCl but not both, and could correspond to one of several candidates in the literature which we identify and evaluate. This work provides one possible explanation of why there are multiple NaCl sensing pathways and chemotactic mechanisms in C. elegans: rather than being redundant the different pathways and mechanism are specialised both for the characteristics of different environments and for distinct features within a single environment.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "331f0702515e1705a5ac02375f1979ac",
"text": "Pavement management systems require detailed information of the current state of the roads to take appropriate actions to optimize expenditure on maintenance and rehabilitation. In particular, the presence of cracks is a cardinal aspect to be considered. This article presents a solution based on an instrumented vehicle equipped with an imaging system, two Inertial Profilers, a Differential Global Positioning System, and a webcam. Information about the state of the road is acquired at normal road speed. A method based on the use of Gabor filters is used to detect the longitudinal and transverse cracks. The methodologies used to create Gabor filter banks and the use of the filtered images as descriptors for subsequent classifiers are discussed in detail. Three different methodologies for setting the threshold of the classifiers are also evaluated. Finally, an AdaBoost algorithm is used for selecting and combining the classifiers, thus improving the results provided by a single classifier. A large database has been acquired and used to train and test the proposed system and methods, and suitable results have been obtained in comparison with other refer-",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c64b13db5a4c35861b06ec53c5c73946",
"text": "In this paper, we address the problem of searching for semantically similar images from a large database. We present a compact coding approach, supervised quantization. Our approach simultaneously learns feature selection that linearly transforms the database points into a low-dimensional discriminative subspace, and quantizes the data points in the transformed space. The optimization criterion is that the quantized points not only approximate the transformed points accurately, but also are semantically separable: the points belonging to a class lie in a cluster that is not overlapped with other clusters corresponding to other classes, which is formulated as a classification problem. The experiments on several standard datasets show the superiority of our approach over the state-of-the art supervised hashing and unsupervised quantization algorithms.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "646f6456904a6ffe968c0f79a5286f65",
"text": "Both ray tracing and point-based representations provide means to efficiently display very complex 3D models. Computational efficiency has been the main focus of previous work on ray tracing point-sampled surfaces. For very complex models efficient storage in the form of compression becomes necessary in order to avoid costly disk access. However, as ray tracing requires neighborhood queries, existing compression schemes cannot be applied because of their sequential nature. This paper introduces a novel acceleration structure called the quantized kd-tree, which offers both efficient traversal and storage. The gist of our new representation lies in quantizing the kd-tree splitting plane coordinates. We show that the quantized kd-tree reduces the memory footprint up to 18 times, not compromising performance. Moreover, the technique can also be employed to provide LOD (level-of-detail) to reduce aliasing problems, with little additional storage cost",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "49ff711b6c91c9ec42e16ce2f3bb435b",
"text": "In this letter, a wideband three-section branch-line hybrid with harmonic suppression is designed using a novel transmission line model. The proposed topology is constructed using a coupled line, two series transmission lines, and open-ended stubs. The required design equations are obtained by applying even- and odd-mode analysis. To support these equations, a three-section branch-line hybrid working at 0.9 GHz is fabricated and tested. The physical area of the prototype is reduced by 87.7% of the conventional hybrid and the fractional bandwidth is greater than 52%. In addition, the proposed technique can eliminate second harmonic by a level better than 15 dB.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a1dec377f2f17a508604d5101a5b0e44",
"text": "The goal of this work is to develop a soft robotic manipulation system that is capable of autonomous, dynamic, and safe interactions with humans and its environment. First, we develop a dynamic model for a multi-body fluidic elastomer manipulator that is composed entirely from soft rubber and subject to the self-loading effects of gravity. Then, we present a strategy for independently identifying all unknown components of the system: the soft manipulator, its distributed fluidic elastomer actuators, as well as drive cylinders that supply fluid energy. Next, using this model and trajectory optimization techniques we find locally optimal open-loop policies that allow the system to perform dynamic maneuvers we call grabs. In 37 experimental trials with a physical prototype, we successfully perform a grab 92% of the time. By studying such an extreme example of a soft robot, we can begin to solve hard problems inhibiting the mainstream use of soft machines.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "58f505558cda55abf70b143d52030a2d",
"text": "Given a finite set of points P ⊆ R, we would like to find a small subset S ⊆ P such that the convex hull of S approximately contains P . More formally, every point in P is within distance from the convex hull of S. Such a subset S is called an -hull. Computing an -hull is an important problem in computational geometry, machine learning, and approximation algorithms. In many applications, the set P is too large to fit in memory. We consider the streaming model where the algorithm receives the points of P sequentially and strives to use a minimal amount of memory. Existing streaming algorithms for computing an -hull require O( (1−d)/2) space, which is optimal for a worst-case input. However, this ignores the structure of the data. The minimal size of an -hull of P , which we denote by OPT, can be much smaller. A natural question is whether a streaming algorithm can compute an -hull using only O(OPT) space. We begin with lower bounds that show, under a reasonable streaming model, that it is not possible to have a single-pass streaming algorithm that computes an -hull with O(OPT) space. We instead propose three relaxations of the problem for which we can compute -hulls using space near-linear to the optimal size. Our first algorithm for points in R2 that arrive in random-order uses O(logn ·OPT) space. Our second algorithm for points in R2 makes O(log( −1)) passes before outputting the -hull and requires O(OPT) space. Our third algorithm, for points in R for any fixed dimension d, outputs, with high probability, an -hull for all but δ-fraction of directions and requires O(OPT · log OPT) space. 1 This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant CCF-1525971. Work was done while the author was at Carnegie Mellon University. 2 This material is based upon work supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. 1447639, 1650041 and 1652257, Cisco faculty award, and by the ONR Award N00014-18-1-2364. 3 Now at DeepMind. 4 This research was supported by the Franco-American Fulbright Commission and supported in part by National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1447639, 1650041 and 1652257. The author thanks INRIA (l’Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique) for hosting him during the writing of this paper. 5 This material is based upon work supported in part by National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1447639, 1650041 and 1652257. Work was done while the author was at Johns Hopkins University. EA T C S © Avrim Blum, Vladimir Braverman, Ananya Kumar, Harry Lang, and Lin F. Yang; licensed under Creative Commons License CC-BY 45th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2018). Editors: Ioannis Chatzigiannakis, Christos Kaklamanis, Dániel Marx, and Donald Sannella; Article No. 21; pp. 21:1–21:13 Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik, Dagstuhl Publishing, Germany 21:2 Approximate Convex Hull of Data Streams 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Computational geometry, Theory of computation → Sketching and sampling, Theory of computation → Streaming models",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0660dc780eda869aabc1f856ec3f193f",
"text": "This paper provides a study of the smart grid projects realised in Europe and presents their technological solutions with a focus on smart metering Low Voltage (LV) applications. Special attention is given to the telecommunications technologies used. For this purpose, we present the telecommunication technologies chosen by several European utilities for the accomplishment of their smart meter national roll-outs. Further on, a study is performed based on the European Smart Grid Projects, highlighting their technological options. The range of the projects analysed covers the ones including smart metering implementation as well as those in which smart metering applications play a significant role in the overall project success. The survey reveals that various topics are directly or indirectly linked to smart metering applications, like smart home/building, energy management, grid monitoring and integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Therefore, the technological options that lie behind such projects are pointed out. For reasons of completeness, we also present the main characteristics of the telecommunication technologies that are found to be used in practice for the LV grid.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4bfe3c9ef353b84e761e954de53497bb",
"text": "Modern smartphone apps tend to contain and use vast amounts of data that can be broadly classified as structured and unstructured. Structured data, such as an user’s geolocation, has predefined semantics that can be retrieved by well-defined platform APIs. Unstructured data, on the other hand, relies on the context of the apps to reflect its meaning and value, and is typically provided by the user directly into an app’s interface. Recent research has shown that third-party apps are leaking highly-sensitive unstructured data, including user’s banking credentials. Unfortunately, none of the current solutions focus on the protection of",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "682fe9a6e4e30a38ce5c05ee1f809bd1",
"text": "3 chapter This chapter examines the effects of fiscal consolidation —tax hikes and government spending cuts—on economic activity. Based on a historical analysis of fiscal consolidation in advanced economies, and on simulations of the IMF's Global Integrated Monetary and Fiscal Model (GIMF), it finds that fiscal consolidation typically reduces output and raises unemployment in the short term. At the same time, interest rate cuts, a fall in the value of the currency, and a rise in net exports usually soften the contractionary impact. Consolidation is more painful when it relies primarily on tax hikes; this occurs largely because central banks typically provide less monetary stimulus during such episodes, particularly when they involve indirect tax hikes that raise inflation. Also, fiscal consolidation is more costly when the perceived risk of sovereign default is low. These findings suggest that budget deficit cuts are likely to be more painful if they occur simultaneously across many countries, and if monetary policy is not in a position to offset them. Over the long term, reducing government debt is likely to raise output, as real interest rates decline and the lighter burden of interest payments permits cuts to distortionary taxes. Budget deficits and government debt soared during the Great Recession. In 2009, the budget deficit averaged about 9 percent of GDP in advanced economies, up from only 1 percent of GDP in 2007. 1 By the end of 2010, government debt is expected to reach about 100 percent of GDP—its highest level in 50 years. Looking ahead, population aging could create even more serious problems for public finances. In response to these worrisome developments, virtually all advanced economies will face the challenge of fiscal consolidation. Indeed, many governments are already undertaking or planning The main authors of this chapter are Daniel Leigh (team leader), Advanced economies are defined as the 33 economies so designated based on the World Economic Outlook classification described in the Statistical Appendix. large spending cuts and tax hikes. An important and timely question is, therefore, whether fiscal retrenchment will hurt economic performance. Although there is widespread agreement that reducing debt has important long-term benefits, there is no consensus regarding the short-term effects of fiscal austerity. On the one hand, the conventional Keynesian view is that cutting spending or raising taxes reduces economic activity in the short term. On the other hand, a number of studies present evidence that cutting budget deficits can …",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "99cb4f69fb7b6ff16c9bffacd7a42f4d",
"text": "Single cell segmentation is critical and challenging in live cell imaging data analysis. Traditional image processing methods and tools require time-consuming and labor-intensive efforts of manually fine-tuning parameters. Slight variations of image setting may lead to poor segmentation results. Recent development of deep convolutional neural networks(CNN) provides a potentially efficient, general and robust method for segmentation. Most existing CNN-based methods treat segmentation as a pixel-wise classification problem. However, three unique problems of cell images adversely affect segmentation accuracy: lack of established training dataset, few pixels on cell boundaries, and ubiquitous blurry features. The problem becomes especially severe with densely packed cells, where a pixel-wise classification method tends to identify two neighboring cells with blurry shared boundary as one cell, leading to poor cell count accuracy and affecting subsequent analysis. Here we developed a different learning strategy that combines strengths of CNN and watershed algorithm. The method first trains a CNN to learn Euclidean distance transform of binary masks corresponding to the input images. Then another CNN is trained to detect individual cells in the Euclidean distance transform. In the third step, the watershed algorithm takes the outputs from the previous steps as inputs and performs the segmentation. We tested the combined method and various forms of the pixel-wise classification algorithm on segmenting fluorescence and transmitted light images. The new method achieves similar pixel accuracy but significant higher cell count accuracy than pixel-wise classification methods do, and the advantage is most obvious when applying on noisy images of densely packed cells.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e700afa9064ef35f7d7de40779326cb0",
"text": "Human activity recognition is important for many applications. This paper describes a human activity recognition framework based on feature selection techniques. The objective is to identify the most important features to recognize human activities. We first design a set of new features (called physical features) based on the physical parameters of human motion to augment the commonly used statistical features. To systematically analyze the impact of the physical features on the performance of the recognition system, a single-layer feature selection framework is developed. Experimental results indicate that physical features are always among the top features selected by different feature selection methods and the recognition accuracy is generally improved to 90%, or 8% better than when only statistical features are used. Moreover, we show that the performance is further improved by 3.8% by extending the single-layer framework to a multi-layer framework which takes advantage of the inherent structure of human activities and performs feature selection and classification in a hierarchical manner.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "abdf1edfb2b93b3991d04d5f6d3d63d3",
"text": "With the rapid growing of internet and networks applications, data security becomes more important than ever before. Encryption algorithms play a crucial role in information security systems. In this paper, we have a study of the two popular encryption algorithms: DES and Blowfish. We overviewed the base functions and analyzed the security for both algorithms. We also evaluated performance in execution speed based on different memory sizes and compared them. The experimental results show the relationship between function run speed and memory size.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "19ae7c50f4393f5a1b39e1160c78f76c",
"text": "Building bilingual lexica from non-parallel data is a longstanding natural language processing research problem that could benefit thousands of resource-scarce languages which lack parallel data. Recent advances of continuous word representations have opened up new possibilities for this task, e.g. by establishing cross-lingual mapping between word embeddings via a seed lexicon. The method is however unreliable when there are only a limited number of seeds, which is a reasonable setting for resource-scarce languages. We tackle the limitation by introducing a novel matching mechanism into bilingual word representation learning. It captures extra translation pairs exposed by the seeds to incrementally improve the bilingual word embeddings. In our experiments, we find the matching mechanism to substantially improve the quality of the bilingual vector space, which in turn allows us to induce better bilingual lexica with seeds as few as 10.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dca8b7f7022a139fc14bddd1af2fea49",
"text": "In this study, we investigated the discrimination power of short-term heart rate variability (HRV) for discriminating normal subjects versus chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. We analyzed 1914.40 h of ECG of 83 patients of which 54 are normal and 29 are suffering from CHF with New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification I, II, and III, extracted by public databases. Following guidelines, we performed time and frequency analysis in order to measure HRV features. To assess the discrimination power of HRV features, we designed a classifier based on the classification and regression tree (CART) method, which is a nonparametric statistical technique, strongly effective on nonnormal medical data mining. The best subset of features for subject classification includes square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent NN intervals (RMSSD), total power, high-frequencies power, and the ratio between low- and high-frequencies power (LF/HF). The classifier we developed achieved sensitivity and specificity values of 79.3% and 100 %, respectively. Moreover, we demonstrated that it is possible to achieve sensitivity and specificity of 89.7% and 100 %, respectively, by introducing two nonstandard features ΔAVNN and ΔLF/HF, which account, respectively, for variation over the 24 h of the average of consecutive normal intervals (AVNN) and LF/HF. Our results are comparable with other similar studies, but the method we used is particularly valuable because it allows a fully human-understandable description of classification procedures, in terms of intelligible “if ... then ...” rules.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26db4ecbc2ad4b8db0805b06b55fe27d",
"text": "The advent of high voltage (HV) wide band-gap power semiconductor devices has enabled the medium voltage (MV) grid tied operation of non-cascaded neutral point clamped (NPC) converters. This results in increased power density, efficiency as well as lesser control complexity. The multi-chip 15 kV/40 A SiC IGBT and 15 kV/20 A SiC MOSFET are two such devices which have gained attention for MV grid interface applications. Such converters based on these devices find application in active power filters, STATCOM or as active front end converters for solid state transformers. This paper presents an experimental comparative evaluation of these two SiC devices for 3-phase grid connected applications using a 3-level NPC converter as reference. The IGBTs are generally used for high power applications due to their lower conduction loss while MOSFETs are used for high frequency applications due to their lower switching loss. The thermal performance of these devices are compared based on device loss characteristics, device heat-run tests, 3-level pole heat-run tests, PLECS thermal simulation based loss comparison and MV experiments on developed hardware prototypes. The impact of switching frequency on the harmonic control of the grid connected converter is also discussed and suitable device is selected for better grid current THD.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "80581d6a3419b18212c4977ba0837629",
"text": "In recent years, advances in digital sensors, communication, computation and storage have created huge collections of data. Many real applications in various fields require efficient and effective management of these large-scale, graph-structured data, demanding the design of new techniques and platforms for analyzing, processing and mining these large-scale graphs. There are distributed graph processing platforms running on a cluster of machines as well as non-distributed platforms working on a single machine. Most of the platforms use homogeneous processors such as multi-core CPUs while several platforms utilize both multi-core CPUs and many-core GPUs. The diversities of the available graphs, the processing algorithms, and the graph-processing platforms make the selection of a platform a difficult task. In this paper, we provide a comparative study on a selection of open-source graph processing platforms. We evaluate their performance, scalability and energy efficiency and discuss the reasons behind for designers or users of graph processing platforms.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "319285416d58c9b2da618bb6f0c8021c",
"text": "Facial expression analysis is one of the popular fields of research in human computer interaction (HCI). It has several applications in next generation user interfaces, human emotion analysis, behavior and cognitive modeling. In this paper, a facial expression classification algorithm is proposed which uses Haar classifier for face detection purpose, Local Binary Patterns(LBP) histogram of different block sizes of a face image as feature vectors and classifies various facial expressions using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The algorithm is implemented in real time for expression classification since the computational complexity of the algorithm is small. A customizable approach is proposed for facial expression analysis, since the various expressions and intensity of expressions vary from person to person. The system uses grayscale frontal face images of a person to classify six basic emotions namely happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise and anger.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
a2c810ce7b0e79bc7338c8841c5847e4 | A Comparison of Software Architectural Styles Using Aspects | [
{
"docid": "5ae890862d844ce03359624c3cb2012b",
"text": "Spend your time even for only few minutes to read a book. Reading a book will never reduce and waste your time to be useless. Reading, for some people become a need that is to do every day such as spending time for eating. Now, what about you? Do you like to read a book? Now, we will show you a new book enPDFd software architecture in practice second edition that can be a new way to explore the knowledge. When reading this book, you can get one thing to always remember in every reading time, even step by step.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "b10a0f8d888d4ecfc0e0d154ae7416dc",
"text": "The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in the viscoelastic properties of human tendon structures (tendon and aponeurosis) in the medial gastrocnemius muscle between men (n=16) and women (n=13). The elongation of the tendon and aponeurosis of the medial gastrocnemius muscle was measured directly by ultrasonography, while the subjects performed ramp isometric plantar flexion up to the voluntary maximum, followed by a ramp relaxation. The relationship between the estimated muscle force (Fm) and tendon elongation (L) during the ascending phase was fitted to a linear regression, the slope of which was defined as stiffness. The percentage of the area within the Fm-L loop to the area beneath the curve during the ascending phase was calculated as hysteresis. The L values at force production levels beyond 50 N were significantly greater for women than for men. The maximum strain (100×ΔL/initial tendon length) was significantly greater in women [9.5 (1.1)%] than in men [8.1 (1.6)%]. The stiffness and Young's modulus were significantly lower in women [16.5 (3.4) N/mm, 277 (25) MPa] than in men [25.9 (7.0) N/mm, 356 (32) MPa]. Furthermore, the hysteresis was significantly lower in women [11.1 (5.9)%] than in men [18.7 (8.5)%, P=0.048]. These results suggest that there are gender differences in the viscoelastic properties of tendon structures and that these might in part account for previously observed performance differences between the genders.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a1b91f78786d44cdadc6da0c2ecc2d1f",
"text": "Availability of an explainable deep learning model that can be applied to practical real world scenarios and in turn, can consistently, rapidly and accurately identify specific and minute traits in applicable fields of biological sciences, is scarce. Here we consider one such real world example viz., accurate identification, classification and quantification of biotic and abiotic stresses in crop research and production. Up until now, this has been predominantly done manually by visual inspection and require specialized training. However, such techniques are hindered by subjectivity resulting from interand intra-rater cognitive variability. Here, we demonstrate the ability of a machine learning framework to identify and classify a diverse set of foliar stresses in the soybean plant with remarkable accuracy. We also present an explanation mechanism using gradientweighted class activation mapping that isolates the visual symptoms used by the model to make predictions. This unsupervised identification of unique visual symptoms for each stress provides a quantitative measure of stress severity, allowing for identification, classification and quantification in one framework. The learnt model appears to be agnostic to species and make good predictions for other (non-soybean) species, demonstrating an ability of transfer learning. Disciplines Agriculture | Agronomy and Crop Sciences | Computer-Aided Engineering and Design Comments This is a pre-print made available through arxiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.08619. Authors Sambuddha Ghosal, David Blystone, Asheesh K. Singh, Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Arti Singh, and Soumik Sarkar This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/agron_pubs/540 Interpretable Deep Learning applied to Plant Stress Phenotyping Sambuddha Ghosal Department of Mechanical Engineering Iowa State University sghosal@iastate.edu David Blystone Department of Agronomy Iowa State University blystone@iastate.edu Asheesh K. Singh Department of Agronomy Iowa State University singhak@iastate.edu Baskar Ganapathysubramanian Department of Mechanical Engineering Iowa State University baskarg@iastate.edu Arti Singh Department of Agronomy Iowa State University arti@iastate.edu Soumik Sarkar Department of Mechanical Engineering Iowa State University soumiks@iastate.edu",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e5643580e07810f0aaaa29cb7b262d76",
"text": "Modern computer vision algorithms often rely on very large training datasets. However, it is conceivable that a carefully selected subsample of the dataset is sufficient for training. In this paper, we propose a gradient-based importance measure that we use to empirically analyze relative importance of training images in four datasets of varying complexity. We find that in some cases, a small subsample is indeed sufficient for training. For other datasets, however, the relative differences in importance are negligible. These results have important implications for active learning on deep networks. Additionally, our analysis method can be used as a general tool to better understand diversity of training examples in datasets.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bb5cca7f3d3a7ddcfb6455f3e2cc94a6",
"text": "Many organizations have adopted an Enterprise Architecture (EA) approach because of the potential benefits resulting from a more standardized and coordinated approach to systems development and management, and because of the tighter alignment of business and information technology in support of business strategy execution. At the same time, experience shows that having an effective EA practice is easier said than done and the coordination and implementation efforts can be daunting. While nobody disputes the potential benefits of well architected systems, there is no empirical evidence showing whether the organizational benefits of EA outweigh the coordination and management costs associated with the architecting process. Furthermore, most practitioners we have interviewed can provide technical metrics for internal EA efficiency and effectiveness, but none of our participants were able to provide concrete metrics or evidence about the bottom line impact that EA has on the organization as a whole. In this article we raise key issues associated with the evaluation of the organizational impact of EA and propose a framework for empirical research in this area.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6168a7860ffb49b28e2055e30314b120",
"text": "A forensic investigation of digital evidence is commonly employed as a post-event response to a serious information security incident. In fact, there are many circumstances where an organisation may benefit from an ability to gather and preserve digital evidence before an incident occurs. Forensic readiness is defined as the ability of an organisation to maximise its potential to use digital evidence whilst minimising the costs of an investigation. The costs and benefits of such an approach are outlined. Preparation to use digital evidence may involve enhanced system and staff monitoring, technical, physical and procedural means to secure data to evidential standards of admissibility, processes and procedures to ensure that staff recognise the importance and legal sensitivities of evidence, and appropriate legal advice and interfacing with law enforcement. This paper proposes a ten step process for an organisation to implement forensic readiness.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "865306ad6f5288cf62a4082769e8068a",
"text": "The rapid growth of the Internet has brought with it an exponential increase in the type and frequency of cyber attacks. Many well-known cybersecurity solutions are in place to counteract these attacks. However, the generation of Big Data over computer networks is rapidly rendering these traditional solutions obsolete. To cater for this problem, corporate research is now focusing on Security Analytics, i.e., the application of Big Data Analytics techniques to cybersecurity. Analytics can assist network managers particularly in the monitoring and surveillance of real-time network streams and real-time detection of both malicious and suspicious (outlying) patterns. Such a behavior is envisioned to encompass and enhance all traditional security techniques. This paper presents a comprehensive survey on the state of the art of Security Analytics, i.e., its description, technology, trends, and tools. It hence aims to convince the reader of the imminent application of analytics as an unparalleled cybersecurity solution in the near future.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "757cb3e9b279f71cb0a9ff5b80c5f4ba",
"text": "When it comes to workplace preferences, Generation Y workers closely resemble Baby Boomers. Because these two huge cohorts now coexist in the workforce, their shared values will hold sway in the companies that hire them. The authors, from the Center for Work-Life Policy, conducted two large-scale surveys that reveal those values. Gen Ys and Boomers are eager to contribute to positive social change, and they seek out workplaces where they can do that. They expect flexibility and the option to work remotely, but they also want to connect deeply with colleagues. They believe in employer loyalty but desire to embark on learning odysseys. Innovative firms are responding by crafting reward packages that benefit both generations of workers--and their employers.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "fcc81dd8a3de04a1ccc7af7302653400",
"text": "Wireless power technology offers the promise of cutting the last cord, allowing users to seamlessly recharge mobile devices as easily as data are transmitted through the air. Initial work on the use of magnetically coupled resonators for this purpose has shown promising results. We present new analysis that yields critical insight into the design of practical systems, including the introduction of key figures of merit that can be used to compare systems with vastly different geometries and operating conditions. A circuit model is presented along with a derivation of key system concepts, such as frequency splitting, the maximum operating distance (critical coupling), and the behavior of the system as it becomes undercoupled. This theoretical model is validated against measured data and shows an excellent average coefficient of determination of 0.9875. An adaptive frequency tuning technique is demonstrated, which compensates for efficiency variations encountered when the transmitter-to-receiver distance and/or orientation are varied. The method demonstrated in this paper allows a fixed-load receiver to be moved to nearly any position and/or orientation within the range of the transmitter and still achieve a near-constant efficiency of over 70% for a range of 0-70 cm.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e54bf7ae1235031c3d62f3206d62a89a",
"text": "The purpose of the study is to explore the factors influencing customer buying decision through Intern et shopping. Several factors such as information quali ty, firm’s reputation, perceived ease of payment, s ites design, benefit of online shopping, and trust that influence customer decision to purchase from e-comm erce sites were analyzed. Factors such as those mention d above, which are commonly considered influencing purhasing decision through online shopping in other countries were hypothesized to be true in the case of Indonesia. A random sample comprised of 171 Indone sia people who have been buying goods/services through e-commerce sites at least once, were collec ted via online questionnaires. To test the hypothes is, the data were examined using Structural Equations Model ing (SEM) which is basically a combination of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and linear Regr ession. The results suggest that information qualit y, perceived ease of payment, benefits of online shopp ing, and trust affect online purchase decision significantly. Close attention need to be placed on these factors to increase online sales. The most significant influence comes from trust. Indonesian people still lack of trust toward online commerce, so it is very important to gain customer trust to increase s al s. E-commerce’s business owners are encouraged t o develop sites that can meet the expectation of pote ntial customer, provides ease of payment system, pr ovide detailed and actual information and responsible for customer personal information and transaction reco rds. This paper outlined the key factors influencing onl ine shopping intention in Indonesia and pioneered t he building of an integrated research framework to und erstand how consumers make purchase decision toward online shopping; a relatively new way of shopping i the country.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36347412c7d30ae6fde3742bbc4f21b9",
"text": "iii",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "39b072a5adb75eb43561017d53ab6f44",
"text": "The Internet of Things (IoT) is converting the agriculture industry and solving the immense problems or the major challenges faced by the farmers todays in the field. India is one of the 13th countries in the world having scarcity of water resources. Due to ever increasing of world population, we are facing difficulties in the shortage of water resources, limited availability of land, difficult to manage the costs while meeting the demands of increasing consumption needs of a global population that is expected to grow by 70% by the year 2050. The influence of population growth on agriculture leads to a miserable impact on the farmers livelihood. To overcome the problems we design a low cost system for monitoring the agriculture farm which continuously measure the level of soil moisture of the plants and alert the farmers if the moisture content of particular plants is low via sms or an email. This system uses an esp8266 microcontroller and a moisture sensor using Losant platform. Losant is a simple and most powerful IoT cloud platform for the development of coming generation. It offers the real time data visualization of sensors data which can be operate from any part of the world irrespective of the position of field.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4b84b6936669a2496e5172de0023c965",
"text": "We present a patient with partial monosomy of the short arm of chromosome 18 caused by de novo translocation t(Y;18) and a generalized form of keratosis pilaris (keratosis pilaris affecting the skin follicles of the trunk, limbs and face-ulerythema ophryogenes). Two-color FISH with centromere-specific Y and 18 DNA probes identified the derivative chromosome 18 as a dicentric with breakpoints in p11.2 on both involved chromosomes. The patient had another normal Y chromosome. This is a third report the presence of a chromosome 18p deletion (and first case of a translocation involving 18p and a sex chromosome) with this genodermatosis. Our data suggest that the short arm of chromosome 18 is a candidate region for a gene causing keratosis pilaris. Unmasking of a recessive mutation at the disease locus by deletion of the wild type allele could be the cause of the recessive genodermatosis.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8e52cdff14dddd82a4ad8fc5b967c1b2",
"text": "Learning-based binary hashing has become a powerful paradigm for fast search and retrieval in massive databases. However, due to the requirement of discrete outputs for the hash functions, learning such functions is known to be very challenging. In addition, the objective functions adopted by existing hashing techniques are mostly chosen heuristically. In this paper, we propose a novel generative approach to learn hash functions through Minimum Description Length principle such that the learned hash codes maximally compress the dataset and can also be used to regenerate the inputs. We also develop an efficient learning algorithm based on the stochastic distributional gradient, which avoids the notorious difficulty caused by binary output constraints, to jointly optimize the parameters of the hash function and the associated generative model. Extensive experiments on a variety of large-scale datasets show that the proposed method achieves better retrieval results than the existing state-of-the-art methods.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2982c7f57f3efa82a07ec3e6f8e34f03",
"text": "The aim of this study is to assess whether the effect of gender on the excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is influenced by two confounders (age and hours of sleep per night). A cross-sectional study was conducted at King Abdulaziz Medical City-Riyadh (KAMC-R). A total of 2095 respondents answered a questionnaire that included questions regarding gender, age, hours of sleep per night, and daytime sleepiness using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). The prevalence of EDS was 20.5% (females 22.2%, males 19.5%, p-value=0.136). The EDS did not differ between genders, age groups, or hours of sleep per night (<6 vs. ⩾6h). However, stratified statistical analysis shows that the prevalence of EDS did differ according to gender (25.3% in females, 19.0% in males, p-value=0.036) in respondents with shorter hours of sleep per night. EDS was strongly related to female gender and young age (ages⩽29years) in respondents with short hours of sleep. This study reveals that one out of five of the general Saudi population has EDS. The effect of gender on EDS appeared to be influenced by hours of sleep per night. High EDS strongly related to female gender with short hours of sleep.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3b6797a212eadcaf13d1f46064735190",
"text": "In this paper, the reconfigurable annular ring slot antenna with circular polarization diversity is proposed for SDMB(satellite digital multimedia broadcasting) system. The proposed antenna consists of a ring slot with tuning stubs. Four PIN diodes are attached to achieve circular polarization diversity. By switching the diodes on or off, the proposed antenna can be operated either RHCP(right hand circular polarization) mode or LHCP(left hand circular polarization) mode. The experimental result shows that the proposed antenna has an impedance bandwidth( VSWR les 2 ) of 2.47~3.04 GHz(570 MHz) at LHCP mode, an impedance bandwidth( VSWR les 2 ) of 2.45~3.01GHz(560 MHz) at RHCP mode, a maximum gain of 3.1dBi at RHCP mode, 4.76dBi at LHCP mode. The 3dB CP bandwidth of about 100 MHz at both RHCP and LHCP mode is achieved at the center frequency 2.63 GHz. The proposed antenna is suitable for application such as mobile satellite communications, WLAN(wireless local area networks), and broadband wireless communication systems.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6f709e89edaa619f41335b1a06eb713a",
"text": "Graphene patch microstrip antenna has been investigated for 600 GHz applications. The graphene material introduces a reconfigurable surface conductivity in terahertz frequency band. The input impedance is calculated using the finite integral technique. A five-lumped elements equivalent circuit for graphene patch microstrip antenna has been investigated. The values of the lumped elements equivalent circuit are optimized using the particle swarm optimization techniques. The optimization is performed to minimize the mean square error between the input impedance of the finite integral technique and that calculated by the equivalent circuit model. The effect of varying the graphene material chemical potential and relaxation time on the radiation characteristics of the graphene patch microstrip antenna has been investigated. An improved new equivalent circuit model has been introduced to best fitting the input impedance using a rational function and PSO. The Cauer's realization method is used to synthesize a new lumped-elements equivalent circuits.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8e0ac2ad99b819f0c1c36cfa4f20b0ef",
"text": "As a new distributed computing model, crowdsourcing lets people leverage the crowd's intelligence and wisdom toward solving problems. This article proposes a framework for characterizing various dimensions of quality control in crowdsourcing systems, a critical issue. The authors briefly review existing quality-control approaches, identify open issues, and look to future research directions. In the Web extra, the authors discuss both design-time and runtime approaches in more detail.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "95310634132ddca70bc1683931a71e42",
"text": "The early detection of applications associated with TCP flows is an essential step for network security and traffic engineering. The classic way to identify flows, i.e. looking at port numbers, is not effective anymore. On the other hand, state-of-the-art techniques cannot determine the application before the end of the TCP flow. In this editorial, we propose a technique that relies on the observation of the first five packets of a TCP connection to identify the application. This result opens a range of new possibilities for online traffic classification.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d4b98b3872a94da9c8f7f93ff4f09cf5",
"text": "Hadapt is a start-up company currently commercializing the Yale University research project called HadoopDB. The company focuses on building a platform for Big Data analytics in the cloud by introducing a storage layer optimized for structured data and by providing a framework for executing SQL queries efficiently. This work considers processing data warehousing queries over very large datasets. Our goal is to maximize perfor mance while, at the same time, not giving up fault tolerance and scalability. We analyze the complexity of this problem in the split execution environment of HadoopDB. Here, incoming queries are examined; parts of the query are pushed down and executed inside the higher performing database layer; and the rest of the query is processed in a more generic MapReduce framework.\n In this paper, we discuss in detail performance-oriented query execution strategies for data warehouse queries in split execution environments, with particular focus on join and aggregation operations. The efficiency of our techniques is demonstrated by running experiments using the TPC-H benchmark with 3TB of data. In these experiments we compare our results with a standard commercial parallel database and an open-source MapReduce implementation featuring a SQL interface (Hive). We show that HadoopDB successfully competes with other systems.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9c44488f9af6ac04c0379c015bb1769b",
"text": "Cookie stuffing is an activity which allows unscrupulous actors online to defraud affiliate marketing programs by causing themselves to receive credit for purchases made by web users, even if the affiliate marketer did not actively perform any marketing for the affiliate program. Using two months of HTTP request logs from a large public university, we present an empirical study of fraud in affiliate marketing programs. First, we develop an efficient, decision-tree based technique for detecting cookie-stuffing in HTTP request logs. Our technique replicates domain-informed human labeling of the same data with 93.3% accuracy. Second, we find that over one-third of publishers in affiliate marketing programs use fraudulent cookie-stuffing techniques in an attempt to claim credit from online retailers for illicit referrals. However, most realized conversions are credited to honest publishers. Finally, we present a stake holder analysis of affiliate marketing fraud and find that the costs and rewards of affiliate marketing programs are spread across all parties involved. Biography Peter Snyder is pursuing a Ph.D. in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his B.A. in political science at Lawrence University, with a focus on economics. His current research focuses on the security and privacy of web browsing. His current projects include measuring the popularity, desirability and security costs of browser complexity, and investigating alternative web systems that prioritize client security and code predictability at minimal cost to web-author expressivity. ** ALL ARE WELCOME ** Host: Professor Kehuan Zhang (Tel: 3943-8391, Email: khzhang@ie.cuhk.edu.hk) Enquiries: Information Engineering Dept., CUHK (Tel.: 3943-8385)",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
80d6fdb2fcfe083e8bad07ad17b4e929 | Personality and intelligence as predictors of academic achievement : A cross-sectional study from elementary to secondary school | [
{
"docid": "346bedcddf74d56db8b2d5e8b565efef",
"text": "Ulric Neisser (Chair) Gwyneth Boodoo Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr. A. Wade Boykin Nathan Brody Stephen J. Ceci Diane E Halpern John C. Loehlin Robert Perloff Robert J. Sternberg Susana Urbina Emory University Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Howard University Wesleyan University Cornell University California State University, San Bernardino University of Texas, Austin University of Pittsburgh Yale University University of North Florida",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "102ad264e4a9a4a43a943f0895b61e96",
"text": "Power quality disturbance (PQD) monitoring has become an important issue due to the growing number of disturbing loads connected to the power line and to the susceptibility of certain loads to their presence. In any real power system, there are multiple sources of several disturbances which can have different magnitudes and appear at different times. In order to avoid equipment damage and estimate the damage severity, they have to be detected, classified, and quantified. In this work, a smart sensor for detection, classification, and quantification of PQD is proposed. First, the Hilbert transform (HT) is used as detection technique; then, the classification of the envelope of a PQD obtained through HT is carried out by a feed forward neural network (FFNN). Finally, the root mean square voltage (Vrms), peak voltage (Vpeak), crest factor (CF), and total harmonic distortion (THD) indices calculated through HT and Parseval's theorem as well as an instantaneous exponential time constant quantify the PQD according to the disturbance presented. The aforementioned methodology is processed online using digital hardware signal processing based on field programmable gate array (FPGA). Besides, the proposed smart sensor performance is validated and tested through synthetic signals and under real operating conditions, respectively.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d2e8e679581fd430b2523aea67eeca89",
"text": "Depth maps captured with time-of-flight cameras have very low data quality: the image resolution is rather limited and the level of random noise contained in the depth maps is very high. Therefore, such flash lidars cannot be used out of the box for high-quality 3D object scanning. To solve this problem, we present LidarBoost, a 3D depth superresolution method that combines several low resolution noisy depth images of a static scene from slightly displaced viewpoints, and merges them into a high-resolution depth image. We have developed an optimization framework that uses a data fidelity term and a geometry prior term that is tailored to the specific characteristics of flash lidars. We demonstrate both visually and quantitatively that LidarBoost produces better results than previous methods from the literature.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a6df2f269603c26d72431e52e242384a",
"text": "To achieve denser 3D ear model from less controlled 2D image, we explore a 3D Ear Morphable Model (3DEMM) for 3D ear reconstruction using a single 2D ear image. Considering the unique structure of ear, we propose a novel dense corresponding method. The proposed method can overcome the shortcoming of optical flow based method and achieve pixel level dense correspondences based on physiological features of ear without choosing a reference ear. Novel 3D ear shape can be recovered from a single ear image based on the proposed 3D ear morphable model. Extensive experimental results have shown that our proposed method can obtain denser 3D ear model with lower cost and higher efficiency than existing methods.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ca1aeb2730eb11844d0dde46cf15de4e",
"text": "Knowledge of the bio-impedance and its equivalent circuit model at the electrode-electrolyte/tissue interface is important in the application of functional electrical stimulation. Impedance can be used as a merit to evaluate the proximity between electrodes and targeted tissues. Understanding the equivalent circuit parameters of the electrode can further be leveraged to set a safe boundary for stimulus parameters in order not to exceed the water window of electrodes. In this paper, we present an impedance characterization technique and implement a proof-of-concept system using an implantable neural stimulator and an off-the-shelf microcontroller. The proposed technique yields the parameters of the equivalent circuit of an electrode through large signal analysis by injecting a single low-intensity biphasic current stimulus with deliberately inserted inter-pulse delay and by acquiring the transient electrode voltage at three well-specified timings. Using low-intensity stimulus allows the derivation of electrode double layer capacitance since capacitive charge-injection dominates when electrode overpotential is small. Insertion of the inter-pulse delay creates a controlled discharge time to estimate the Faradic resistance. The proposed method has been validated by measuring the impedance of a) an emulated Randles cells made of discrete circuit components and b) a custom-made platinum electrode array in-vitro, and comparing estimated parameters with the results derived from an impedance analyzer. The proposed technique can be integrated into implantable or commercial neural stimulator system at low extra power consumption, low extra-hardware cost, and light computation.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b46cf9aa63423485f4f48d635cb8f5c",
"text": "It sounds good when knowing the multiple criteria decision analysis an integrated approach in this website. This is one of the books that many people looking for. In the past, many people ask about this book as their favourite book to read and collect. And now, we present hat you need quickly. It seems to be so happy to offer you this famous book. It will not become a unity of the way for you to get amazing benefits at all. But, it will serve something that will let you get the best time and moment to spend for reading the book.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5a071ee0aec4cc4d2f67384695a43df8",
"text": "The emerging field of soft robotics makes use of many classes of materials including metals, low glass transition temperature (Tg) plastics, andhighTgelastomers.Dependent on the specific design, all of these materials may result in extrinsically soft robots. Organic elastomers, however, have elastic moduli ranging from tens ofmegapascals down to kilopascals; robots composed of suchmaterials are intrinsically soft they are always compliant independent of their shape. This class of soft machines has been used to reduce control complexity and manufacturing cost of robots, while enabling sophisticated and novel functionalities often in direct contact with humans. This review focuses on a particular type of intrinsically soft, elastomeric robot those powered via fluidic pressurization.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bb98b9a825a4c7d0f3d4b06fafb8ff37",
"text": "The tremendous evolution of programmable graphics hardware has made high-quality real-time volume graphics a reality. In addition to the traditional application of rendering volume data in scientific visualization, the interest in applying these techniques for real-time rendering of atmospheric phenomena and participating media such as fire, smoke, and clouds is growing rapidly. This course covers both applications in scientific visualization, e.g., medical volume data, and real-time rendering, such as advanced effects and illumination in computer games, in detail. Course participants will learn techniques for harnessing the power of consumer graphics hardware and high-level shading languages for real-time rendering of volumetric data and effects. Beginning with basic texture-based approaches including hardware ray casting, the algorithms are improved and expanded incrementally, covering local and global illumination, scattering, pre-integration, implicit surfaces and non-polygonal isosurfaces, transfer function design, volume animation and deformation, dealing with large volumes, high-quality volume clipping, rendering segmented volumes, higher-order filtering, and non-photorealistic volume rendering. Course participants are provided with documented source code covering details usually omitted in publications.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b4bc5ccbe0929261856d18272c47a3de",
"text": "ROC analysis is increasingly being recognised as an important tool for evaluation and comparison of classifiers when the operating characteristics (i.e. class distribution and cost parameters) are not known at training time. Usually, each classifier is characterised by its estimated true and false positive rates and is represented by a single point in the ROC diagram. In this paper, we show how a single decision tree can represent a set of classifiers by choosing different labellings of its leaves, or equivalently, an ordering on the leaves. In this setting, rather than estimating the accuracy of a single tree, it makes more sense to use the area under the ROC curve (AUC) as a quality metric. We also propose a novel splitting criterion which chooses the split with the highest local AUC. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first probabilistic splitting criterion that is not based on weighted average impurity. We present experiments suggesting that the AUC splitting criterion leads to trees with equal or better AUC value, without sacrificing accuracy if a single labelling is chosen.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e2a1c8dfae27d56faf2fee494ffbae28",
"text": "Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modeling pertains to the construction of predictive models of biological activities as a function of structural and molecular information of a compound library. The concept of QSAR has typically been used for drug discovery and development and has gained wide applicability for correlating molecular information with not only biological activities but also with other physicochemical properties, which has therefore been termed quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR). Typical molecular parameters that are used to account for electronic properties, hydrophobicity, steric effects, and topology can be determined empirically through experimentation or theoretically via computational chemistry. A given compilation of data sets is then subjected to data pre-processing and data modeling through the use of statistical and/or machine learning techniques. This review aims to cover the essential concepts and techniques that are relevant for performing QSAR/QSPR studies through the use of selected examples from our previous work.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "afe44962393bf0d250571f7cd7e82677",
"text": "Analytics is a field of research and practice that aims to reveal new patterns of information through the collection of large sets of data held in previously distinct sources. Growing interest in data and analytics in education, teaching, and learning raises the priority for increased, high-quality research into the models, methods, technologies, and impact of analytics. The challenges of applying analytics on academic and ethical reliability to control over data. The other challenge is that the educational landscape is extremely turbulent at present, and key challenge is the appropriate collection, protection and use of large data sets. This paper brings out challenges of multi various pertaining to the domain by offering a big data model for higher education system.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2aaafa2da0ff13d91c37c5fd3c1c9ccc",
"text": "The development of pharmacotherapies for cocaine addiction has been disappointingly slow. However, new neurobiological knowledge of how the brain is changed by chronic pharmacological insult with cocaine is revealing novel targets for drug development. Certain drugs currently being tested in clinical trials tap into the underlying cocaine-induced neuroplasticity, including drugs promoting GABA or inhibiting glutamate transmission. Armed with rationales derived from a neurobiological perspective that cocaine addiction is a pharmacologically induced disease of neuroplasticity in brain circuits mediating normal reward learning, one can expect novel pharmacotherapies to emerge that directly target the biological pathology of addiction.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9c562763cac968ce38359635d1826ff9",
"text": "This paper proposes a novel multi-layered gesture recognition method with Kinect. We explore the essential linguistic characters of gestures: the components concurrent character and the sequential organization character, in a multi-layered framework, which extracts features from both the segmented semantic units and the whole gesture sequence and then sequentially classifies the motion, location and shape components. In the first layer, an improved principle motion is applied to model the motion component. In the second layer, a particle-based descriptor and a weighted dynamic time warping are proposed for the location component classification. In the last layer, the spatial path warping is further proposed to classify the shape component represented by unclosed shape context. The proposed method can obtain relatively high performance for one-shot learning gesture recognition on the ChaLearn Gesture Dataset comprising more than 50, 000 gesture sequences recorded with Kinect.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "58cfc1f2f7c56794cdf0d81133253c00",
"text": "Machine reading comprehension with unanswerable questions aims to abstain from answering when no answer can be inferred. In addition to extract answers, previous works usually predict an additional “no-answer” probability to detect unanswerable cases. However, they fail to validate the answerability of the question by verifying the legitimacy of the predicted answer. To address this problem, we propose a novel read-then-verify system, which not only utilizes a neural reader to extract candidate answers and produce noanswer probabilities, but also leverages an answer verifier to decide whether the predicted answer is entailed by the input snippets. Moreover, we introduce two auxiliary losses to help the reader better handle answer extraction as well as noanswer detection, and investigate three different architectures for the answer verifier. Our experiments on the SQuAD 2.0 dataset show that our system obtains a score of 74.2 F1 on test set, achieving state-of-the-art results at the time of submission (Aug. 28th, 2018).",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3b778d25b51f444d5cdc327251e72999",
"text": "must create the e-business information systems. This article presents a conceptual modeling approach to e-business—called e3-value—that is designed to help define how economic value is created and exchanged within a network of actors. Doing e-business well requires the formulation of an e-business model that will serve as the first step in requirements analysis for e-business information systems. The industry currently lacks adequate methods for formulating these kinds of requirements. Methods from the IT systems analysis domain generally have a strong technology bias and typically do not reflect business considerations very well. Meanwhile, approaches from the business sciences often lack the rigor needed for information systems development. A tighter integration of business and IT modeling would most certainly benefit the industry, because the integration of business and IT systems is already a distinct feature of e-business. This article shows some ways to achieve this kind of modeling integration. Our e3-value method is based on an economic valueoriented ontology that specifies what an e-business model is made of. In particular, it entails defining, deriving, and analyzing multi-enterprise relationships, e-business scenarios, and operations requirements in both qualitative and quantitative ways. Our e3-value approach offers distinct advantages over traditional nonintegrated modeling techniques. These advantages include better communication about the essentials of an e-business model and a more complete understanding of e-business operations and systems requirements through scenario analysis and quantification.1 The value viewpoint Requirements engineering entails information systems analysis from several distinct perspectives. Figure 1 shows what requirements perspectives are relevant to e-business design: the articulation of the economic value proposition (the e-business model), the layout of business processes that “operationalize” the e-business model, and the IT systems architecture that enables and supports the e-business processes. These perspectives provide a separation of concerns and help manage the complexity of requirements and design. Our emphasis on “the value viewpoint” is a distinguishing feature of our approach. There are already several good ways to represent business process and IT architectural models, but the industry lacks effective techniques to express and analyze the value viewpoint. We illustrate the use of the e3-value methodology with one of the e-business projects where we successfully applied our approach: provisioning a valueadded news service. A newspaper, which we call the Amsterdam Times for the sake of the example, wants to offer to all its subscribers the ability to read articles online. But the newspaper does not want to pass on any additional costs to its customers. The idea is to finance the expense by telephone connection revenues, which the reader must pay to set up a telephone connection for Internet connectivity. This can be achieved by two very different ebusiness models: the terminating model and the originating model. Figures 2 and 3 illustrate these modThis article presents",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0d382cf8e63e65521e600f6f91920eb1",
"text": "Bioactive plant secondary products are frequently the drivers of complex rhizosphere interactions, including those with other plants, herbivores and microbiota. These chemically diverse molecules typically accumulate in a highly regulated manner in specialized plant tissues and organelles. We studied the production and localization of bioactive naphthoquinones (NQs) in the roots of Echium plantagineum, an invasive endemic weed in Australia. Roots of E. plantagineum produced red-coloured NQs in the periderm of primary and secondary roots, while seedling root hairs exuded NQs in copious quantities. Confocal imaging and microspectrofluorimetry confirmed that bioactive NQs were deposited in the outer layer of periderm cells in mature roots, resulting in red colouration. Intracellular examination revealed that periderm cells contained numerous small red vesicles for storage and intracellular transport of shikonins, followed by subsequent extracellular deposition. Periderm and root hair extracts of field- and phytotron-grown plants were analysed by UHPLC/Q-ToF MS (ultra high pressure liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry) and contained more than nine individual NQs, with dimethylacrylshikonin, and phytotoxic shikonin, deoxyshikonin and acetylshikonin predominating. In seedlings, shikonins were first found 48h following germination in the root-hypocotyl junction, as well as in root hair exudates. In contrast, the root cortices of both seedling and mature root tissues were devoid of NQs. SPRE (solid phase root zone extraction) microprobes strategically placed in soil surrounding living E. plantagineum plants successfully extracted significant levels of bioactive shikonins from living roots, rhizosphere and bulk soil surrounding roots. These findings suggest important roles for accumulation of shikonins in the root periderm and subsequent rhizodeposition in plant defence, interference, and invasion success.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d2836880ac69bf35e53f5bc6de8bc5dc",
"text": "There is currently significant interest in freeform, curve-based authoring of graphic images. In particular, \"diffusion curves\" facilitate graphic image creation by allowing an image designer to specify naturalistic images by drawing curves and setting colour values along either side of those curves. Recently, extensions to diffusion curves based on the biharmonic equation have been proposed which provide smooth interpolation through specified colour values and allow image designers to specify colour gradient constraints at curves. We present a Boundary Element Method (BEM) for rendering diffusion curve images with smooth interpolation and gradient constraints, which generates a solved boundary element image representation. The diffusion curve image can be evaluated from the solved representation using a novel and efficient line-by-line approach. We also describe \"curve-aware\" upsampling, in which a full resolution diffusion curve image can be upsampled from a lower resolution image using formula evaluated orrections near curves. The BEM solved image representation is compact. It therefore offers advantages in scenarios where solved image representations are transmitted to devices for rendering and where PDE solving at the device is undesirable due to time or processing constraints.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "caf5b727bfc59efc9f60697321796920",
"text": "As humans start to spend more time in collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) it becomes important to study their interactions in such environments. One aspect of such interactions is personal space. To begin to address this, we have conducted empirical investigations in a non immersive virtual environment: an experiment to investigate the influence on personal space of avatar gender, and an observational study to further explore the existence of personal space. Experimental results give some evidence to suggest that avatar gender has an influence on personal space although the participants did not register high personal space invasion anxiety, contrary to what one might expect from personal space invasion in the physical world. The observational study suggests that personal space does exist in CVEs, as the users tend to maintain, in a similar way to the physical world, a distance when they are interacting with each other. Our studies provide an improved understanding of personal space in CVEs and the results can be used to further enhance the usability of these environments.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
0b7d8f2f129d1fb8463eecef3ca8050d | Measuring and Comparing Effectiveness of Data Quality Techniques | [
{
"docid": "14682892d663cb1d351f54f3534c44b2",
"text": "Feel lonely? What about reading books? Book is one of the greatest friends to accompany while in your lonely time. When you have no friends and activities somewhere and sometimes, reading book can be a great choice. This is not only for spending the time, it will increase the knowledge. Of course the b=benefits to take will relate to what kind of book that you are reading. And now, we will concern you to try reading data quality concepts methodologies and techniques as one of the reading material to finish quickly.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "4834d8ed2d60cb419b8dc9256911ba09",
"text": "In this paper we present a complete measurement study that compares YouTube traffic generated by mobile devices (smart-phones,tablets) with traffic generated by common PCs (desktops, notebooks, netbooks). We investigate the users' behavior and correlate it with the system performance. Our measurements are performed using unique data sets which are collected from vantage points in nation-wide ISPs and University campuses from two countries in Europe and the U.S.\n Our results show that the user access patterns are similar across a wide range of user locations, access technologies and user devices. Users stick with default player configurations, e.g., not changing video resolution or rarely enabling full screen playback. Furthermore it is very common that users abort video playback, with 60% of videos watched for no more than 20% of their duration.\n We show that the YouTube system is highly optimized for PC access and leverages aggressive buffering policies to guarantee excellent video playback. This however causes 25%-39% of data to be unnecessarily transferred, since users abort the playback very early. This waste of data transferred is even higher when mobile devices are considered. The limited storage offered by those devices makes the video download more complicated and overall less efficient, so that clients typically download more data than the actual video size. Overall, this result calls for better system optimization for both, PC and mobile accesses.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2e9786cfe8e7a759ed1e1481d59624ba",
"text": "Global path planning for mobile robot using genetic algorithm and A* algorithm is investigated in this paper. The proposed algorithm includes three steps: the MAKLINK graph theory is adopted to establish the free space model of mobile robots firstly, then Dijkstra algorithm is utilized for finding a feasible collision-free path, finally the global optimal path of mobile robots is obtained based on the hybrid algorithm of A* algorithm and genetic algorithm. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm has better performance than Dijkstra algorithm in term of both solution quality and computational time, and thus it is a viable approach to mobile robot global path planning.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a05d1bfa5fb61c68c27605423b81c523",
"text": "This paper emphasis on hiding the information with all its probabilities in the Cloud Computing. We proposed the execution of steganography through clustering and implemented through K Strange Point clustering algorithm. There is a comparison done between the K Means Clustering Algorithm and our obtained result of K Strange Point Clustering Algorithm. We asset that our proposed methodology proved that it works better with the K Strange Points Clustering Algorithm. To hide data within the covering medium we use LSB algorithm. We finally proposed an enhanced scheme for best hiding capacity.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5878d3cdbf74928fa002ab21cc62612f",
"text": "We focus on the multi-label categorization task for short texts and explore the use of a hierarchical structure (HS) of categories. In contrast to the existing work using non-hierarchical flat model, the method leverages the hierarchical relations between the categories to tackle the data sparsity problem. The lower the HS level, the worse the categorization performance. Because lower categories are fine-grained and the amount of training data per category is much smaller than that in an upper level. We propose an approach which can effectively utilize the data in the upper levels to contribute categorization in the lower levels by applying a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) with a finetuning technique. The results using two benchmark datasets show that the proposed method, Hierarchical Fine-Tuning based CNN (HFTCNN) is competitive with the state-of-the-art CNN based methods.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5279cdaa1656b7f788093aadb3068585",
"text": "Recent advances in deep learning, like 3D fully convolutional networks (FCNs), have improved the state-of-the-art in dense semantic segmentation of medical images. However, most network architectures require severely downsampling or cropping the images to meet the memory limitations of today’s GPU cards while still considering enough context in the images for accurate segmentation. In this work, we propose a novel approach that utilizes auto-context to perform semantic segmentation at higher resolutions in a multi-scale pyramid of stacked 3D FCNs. We train and validate our models on a dataset of manually annotated abdominal organs and vessels from 377 clinical CT images used in gastric surgery, and achieve promising results with close to 90% Dice score on average. For additional evaluation, we perform separate testing on datasets from different sources and achieve competitive results, illustrating the robustness of the model and approach.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a679d37b88485cf71569f9aeefefbac5",
"text": "Incrementality is ubiquitous in human-human interaction and beneficial for human-computer interaction. It has been a topic of research in different parts of the NLP community, mostly with focus on the specific topic at hand even though incremental systems have to deal with similar challenges regardless of domain. In this survey, I consolidate and categorize the approaches, identifying similarities and differences in the computation and data, and show trade-offs that have to be considered. A focus lies on evaluating incremental systems because the standard metrics often fail to capture the incremental properties of a system and coming up with a suitable evaluation scheme is non-trivial. Title and Abstract in German Inkrementelle Sprachverarbeitung: Herausforderungen, Strategien und Evaluation Inkrementalität ist allgegenwärtig in Mensch-Mensch-Interaktiton und hilfreich für MenschComputer-Interaktion. In verschiedenen Teilen der NLP-Community wird an Inkrementalität geforscht, zumeist fokussiert auf eine konkrete Aufgabe, obwohl sich inkrementellen Systemen domänenübergreifend ähnliche Herausforderungen stellen. In diesem Überblick trage ich Ansätze zusammen, kategorisiere sie und stelle Ähnlichkeiten und Unterschiede in Berechnung und Daten sowie nötige Abwägungen vor. Ein Fokus liegt auf der Evaluierung inkrementeller Systeme, da Standardmetriken of nicht in der Lage sind, die inkrementellen Eigenschaften eines Systems einzufangen und passende Evaluationsschemata zu entwickeln nicht einfach ist.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a57f502c09c92a26a8d418cb782eda52",
"text": "Bounding boxes are commonly used in computer graphics and other fields to improve the performance of algorithms that should process only the intersecting objects. A bounding-box-based heuristic avoids unnecessary intersection processing by eliminating the pairs whose bounding boxes are disjoint. Empirical evidence suggests that the heuristic works well in many practical applications, although its worst-case performance can be bad for certain pathological inputs. What is a pathological input, however, is not well understood, and consequently there is no guarantee that the heuristic will always work well in a specific application. In this paper, we analyze the performance of bounding box heuristic in terms of two natural shape parameters, aspect ratio and scale factor. These parameters can be used to realistically measure the degree to which the objects are pathologically shaped. We derive tight worst-case bounds on the performance for bounding box heuristic. One of the significant contributions of our paper is that we only require that objects be well shaped on average. Somewhat surprisingly, the bounds are significantly different from the case when all objects are well shaped.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "117242011595e9c7de501a2360199a48",
"text": "This paper proposes a supervised learning approach to jointly perform facial Action Unit (AU) localisation and intensity estimation. Contrary to previous works that try to learn an unsupervised representation of the Action Unit regions, we propose to directly and jointly estimate all AU intensities through heatmap regression, along with the location in the face where they cause visible changes. Our approach aims to learn a pixel-wise regression function returning a score per AU, which indicates an AU intensity at a given spatial location. Heatmap regression then generates an image, or channel, per AU, in which each pixel indicates the corresponding AU intensity. To generate the ground-truth heatmaps for a target AU, the facial landmarks are first estimated, and a 2D Gaussian is drawn around the points where the AU is known to cause changes. The amplitude and size of the Gaussian is determined by the intensity of the AU. We show that using a single Hourglass network suffices to attain new state of the art results, demonstrating the effectiveness of such a simple approach. The use of heatmap regression allows learning of a shared representation between AUs without the need to rely on latent representations, as these are implicitly learned from the data. We validate the proposed approach on the BP4D dataset, showing a modest improvement on recent, complex, techniques, as well as robustness against misalignment errors. Code for testing and models will be available to download from https://github.com/ESanchezLozano/ Action-Units-Heatmaps.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "40b6fb4a9e84ff7e1d886abaf66c52d4",
"text": "An aboundant literature on vehicle routing problems is available. However, most of the work deals with static problems, where all data are known in advance, i.e. before the optimization has started. The technological advances of the last few years give rise to a new class of problems, namely the dynamic vehicle routing problems, where new orders are received as time progresses and must be dynamically incorporated into an evolving schedule. In this paper a dynamic vehicle routing problem is examined and a solving strategy, based on the Ant Colony System paradigm, is proposed. Some new public domain benchmark problems are defined, and the algorithm we propose is tested on them. Finally, the method we present is applied to a realistic case study, set up in the city of Lugano (Switzerland).",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "65901a189e87983dfd01db0161106a86",
"text": "The presence of bias in existing object recognition datasets is now well-known in the computer vision community. While it remains in question whether creating an unbiased dataset is possible given limited resources, in this work we propose a discriminative framework that directly exploits dataset bias during training. In particular, our model learns two sets of weights: (1) bias vectors associated with each individual dataset, and (2) visual world weights that are common to all datasets, which are learned by undoing the associated bias from each dataset. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our model by applying the learned weights to a novel, unseen dataset. We find that it is beneficial to explicitly account for bias when combining multiple datasets. (For more details refer to [3] and http://undoingbias.csail.mit.edu)",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e410fd16817c25bcc31935d6380fe3e0",
"text": "State-of-the-art super-resolution (SR) algorithms require significant computational resources to achieve real-time throughput (e.g., 60Mpixels/s for HD video). This paper introduces FAST (Free Adaptive Super-resolution via Transfer), a framework to accelerate any SR algorithm applied to compressed videos. FAST exploits the temporal correlation between adjacent frames such that SR is only applied to a subset of frames; SR pixels are then transferred to the other frames. The transferring process has negligible computation cost as it uses information already embedded in the compressed video (e.g., motion vectors and residual). Adaptive processing is used to retain accuracy when the temporal correlation is not present (e.g., occlusions). FAST accelerates state-of-the-art SR algorithms by up to 15× with a visual quality loss of 0.2dB. FAST is an important step towards real-time SR algorithms for ultra- HD displays and energy constrained devices (e.g., phones and tablets).",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4d857311f86baca70700bb78c8771f22",
"text": "Randomization is a key element in sequential and distributed computing. Reasoning about randomized algorithms is highly non-trivial. In the 1980s, this initiated first proof methods, logics, and model-checking algorithms. The field of probabilistic verification has developed considerably since then. This paper surveys the algorithmic verification of probabilistic models, in particular probabilistic model checking. We provide an informal account of the main models, the underlying algorithms, applications from reliability and dependability analysis---and beyond---and describe recent developments towards automated parameter synthesis.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0ac2926f57bbe02e193a65388640b3b9",
"text": "Non-biological experimental variation or \"batch effects\" are commonly observed across multiple batches of microarray experiments, often rendering the task of combining data from these batches difficult. The ability to combine microarray data sets is advantageous to researchers to increase statistical power to detect biological phenomena from studies where logistical considerations restrict sample size or in studies that require the sequential hybridization of arrays. In general, it is inappropriate to combine data sets without adjusting for batch effects. Methods have been proposed to filter batch effects from data, but these are often complicated and require large batch sizes ( > 25) to implement. Because the majority of microarray studies are conducted using much smaller sample sizes, existing methods are not sufficient. We propose parametric and non-parametric empirical Bayes frameworks for adjusting data for batch effects that is robust to outliers in small sample sizes and performs comparable to existing methods for large samples. We illustrate our methods using two example data sets and show that our methods are justifiable, easy to apply, and useful in practice. Software for our method is freely available at: http://biosun1.harvard.edu/complab/batch/.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7c553806cc7c2aadaedd7ff0b04d3630",
"text": "Although many of the concepts included in cyber security awareness training are universal, such training often must be tailored to address the policies and requirements of a particular organization. In addition, many forms of training fail because they are rote and do not require users to think about and apply security concepts. A flexible, highly interactive video game, CyberCIEGE, is described as a security awareness tool that can support organizational security training objectives while engaging typical users in an engaging security adventure. The game is now being successfully utilized for information assurance education and training by a variety of organizations. Preliminary results indicate the game can also be an effective addition to basic information awareness training programs for general computer users (e.g., annual awareness training.) a 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5d519c0107838f73fabd48426bc895d5",
"text": "We propose new methods to speed up convergence of the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM), a common optimization tool in the context of large scale and distributed learning. The proposed method accelerates the speed of convergence by automatically deciding the constraint penalty needed for parameter consensus in each iteration. In addition, we also propose an extension of the method that adaptively determines the maximum number of iterations to update the penalty. We show that this approach effectively leads to an adaptive, dynamic network topology underlying the distributed optimization. The utility of the new penalty update schemes is demonstrated on both synthetic and real data, including an instance of the probabilistic matrix factorization task known as the structurefrom-motion problem.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7e28a4ea35421851da6f9ffb356c8b72",
"text": "INTRODUCTION: Suturing is an essential skill across specialties. The most common method of teaching basic suturing is workshop format with a faculty instructor. However, many medical students do not reach proficiency due to lack of exposure. It can be expensive and time-consuming to supply these sessions with a sufficient number of faculty-experts, thus there has been increased interest in self-directed learning. This often entails the use of computer-based video instruction. A video-tutorial based curriculum for suturing training has been shown to be effective for training to proficiency. Furthermore, augmented reality is an emerging tool for effective medical education. This involves the projection of virtual instructional material in the user’s real environment. The usage of a voice-commanded headset with projected virtual content can help trainee’s maintain their flow of practice when interacting with instructional content. Our aim was to combine augmented reality with video-based instruction using Microsoft HoloLens to determine if the two methods combined would be accepted as an educational tool and if it is an effective method of training. METHODS: Suture Tutor was developed using Unity for use on the HoloLens. This module includes four videos, outlining the steps of the running locking suturing skill. Voice commands are used to play, pause, skip, and slow videos. Thirty six participants in their second year of medicine were split into two groups, the HoloLens group or the control group. The HoloLens group practiced the suturing technique using the Suture Tutor module while the control group used the same four videos on a laptop (Figure 1). Each participant’s first and final attempts at the technique were video recorded and assessed by experts using a previously validated global rating scale. The participants were given seven minutes to practice between the first and last attempts. The time spent interacting with the video during practice was recorded. At the end of the session, the HoloLens group was given a survey evaluating the usability and realism of Suture Tutor. RESULTS: 85% of the participants who used Suture Tutor agreed or strongly agreed that it is useful in the training of medical students. Furthermore, 95% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the instructional material used was realistic. We were unable to determine the effectiveness of Suture Tutor. However, the HoloLens group watched the instructional videos significantly more than the control group (7 [5.75 – 9.25] views vs 4.5 [3.75 – 6] views, P = 0.0175). CONCLUSION: Participants found the Suture Tutor to be a user friendly and helpful adjunct. The study suggests that Suture Tutor improved accessibility of training material.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b2ef4e81c8827389eeb025ae686210e",
"text": "This paper presents a novel framework for generating texture mosaics with convolutional neural networks. Our method is called GANosaic and performs optimization in the latent noise space of a generative texture model, which allows the transformation of a content image into a mosaic exhibiting the visual properties of the underlying texture manifold. To represent that manifold, we use a state-of-the-art generative adversarial method for texture synthesis [1], which can learn expressive texture representations from data and produce mosaic images with very high resolution. This fully convolutional model generates smooth (without any visible borders) mosaic images which morph and blend different textures locally. In addition, we develop a new type of differentiable statistical regularization appropriate for optimization over the prior noise space of the PSGAN model.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f1681e1c8eef93f15adb5a4d7313c94c",
"text": "The paper investigates techniques for extracting data from HTML sites through the use of automatically generated wrappers. To automate the wrapper generation and the data extraction process, the paper develops a novel technique to compare HTML pages and generate a wrapper based on their similarities and differences. Experimental results on real-life data-intensive Web sites confirm the feasibility of the approach.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5fbdb9d5af553b5b2cb2ad54856cca9c",
"text": "A promising way to improve the programming process is increasing the declarativeness of programming, approximation to natural language on the base of accumulating and actively using knowledge. The essence of the proposed approach is representing the semantics of a program in the form of a set of concepts about actions, participants, resources and relations between them, accumulation and classification of machine-readable knowledge of computer programs in order to increase the degree of automation of programming. The novelty of the presented work is retrieving relevant precedents by the given description of resources and actions under them. The paper describes the ontological model of a program, considers the technology of programming using ontologies, gives an example of definition of the semantics of a problem, and discusses the positive aspects of the proposed approach.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
d8bcae751b170e26eaf1b2e863de0fc3 | Toward the Human-Robot Co-Existence Society: On Safety Intelligence for Next Generation Robots | [
{
"docid": "346bedcddf74d56db8b2d5e8b565efef",
"text": "Ulric Neisser (Chair) Gwyneth Boodoo Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr. A. Wade Boykin Nathan Brody Stephen J. Ceci Diane E Halpern John C. Loehlin Robert Perloff Robert J. Sternberg Susana Urbina Emory University Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Howard University Wesleyan University Cornell University California State University, San Bernardino University of Texas, Austin University of Pittsburgh Yale University University of North Florida",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "9853f157525548a35bcbe118fdefaf33",
"text": "We address the task of 6D pose estimation of known rigid objects from single input images in scenarios where the objects are partly occluded. Recent RGB-D-based methods are robust to moderate degrees of occlusion. For RGB inputs, no previous method works well for partly occluded objects. Our main contribution is to present the first deep learning-based system that estimates accurate poses for partly occluded objects from RGB-D and RGB input. We achieve this with a new instance-aware pipeline that decomposes 6D object pose estimation into a sequence of simpler steps, where each step removes specific aspects of the problem. The first step localizes all known objects in the image using an instance segmentation network, and hence eliminates surrounding clutter and occluders. The second step densely maps pixels to 3D object surface positions, so called object coordinates, using an encoder-decoder network, and hence eliminates object appearance. The third, and final, step predicts the 6D pose using geometric optimization. We demonstrate that we significantly outperform the state-of-the-art for pose estimation of partly occluded objects for both RGB and RGB-D input.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "93a7bfbeb1fe75c08cf5e792dab6f4e7",
"text": "Once the person's identity is established, the most important aspects of ubiquitous healthcare monitoring of elderly and chronic patients are location, activity, physiological and psychological parameters. Since smartphones have become the most pervasive computing platform today, it is only a logical extension to use the same in healthcare domain for bringing ubiquity. Besides smartphone, skeleton based activity detection and localization using depth sensor like Kinect make ubiquitous monitoring effective without compromising privacy to a large extent. Finally sensing mental condition is made possible by analysis of the subject's social network feed. This paper presents an end-to-end healthcare monitoring system code named UbiHeld (Ubiquitous Healthcare for Elderly) using the techniques mentioned above and an IoT (Internet of Things) based back-end platform.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8f2fe2747f77c95150ff9134b57c5027",
"text": "To investigate structural changes in the retina by histologic evaluation and in vivo spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) following selective retina therapy (SRT) controlled by optical feedback techniques (OFT). SRT was applied to 12 eyes of Dutch Belted rabbits. Retinal changes were assessed based on fundus photography, fluorescein angiography (FAG), SD-OCT, light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at each of the following time points: 1 h, and 1, 3, 7, 14 and 28 days after SRT. BrdU (5’-bromo-2’-deoxy-uridine) incorporation assay was also conducted to evaluate potential proliferation of RPE cells. SRT lesions at1 h after SRT were ophthalmoscopically invisible. FAG showed leakage in areas corresponding to SRT lesions, and hyperfluorescence disappeared after 7 days. SD-OCT showed that decreased reflectivity corresponding to RPE damage was restored to normal over time in SRT lesions. Histologic analysis revealed that the damage in SRT lesions was primarily limited to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the outer segments of the photoreceptors. SEM and TEM showed RPE cell migration by day 3 after SRT, and restoration of the RPE monolayer with microvilli by 1 week after SRT. At 14 and 28 days, ultrastructures of the RPE, including the microvilli and tight junctions, were completely restored. The outer segments of the photoreceptors also recovered without sequelae. Interdigitation between the RPE and photoreceptors was observed. BrdU incorporation assay revealed proliferation of RPE on day 3 after SRT, and peak proliferation was observed on day 7 after SRT. Based on multimodal imaging and histologic assessment, our findings demonstrate that SRT with OFT could selectively target the RPE without damaging the neurosensory retina. Therefore, the use of SRT with OFT opens the door to the possibility of clinical trials of well-defined invisible and nondestructive retina therapy, especially for macular disease.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5eb0e47a15f1f97270747f1243e0e1fe",
"text": "This literature review covers AI techniques used for real-time strategy video games, focusing specifically on StarCraft. It finds that the main areas of current academic research are in tactical and strategic decision-making, plan recognition, and learning, and it outlines the research contributions in each of these areas. The paper then contrasts the use of game AI in academia and industry, finding the academic research heavily focused on creating game-winning agents, while the industry aims to maximise player enjoyment. It finds the industry adoption of academic research is low because it is either inapplicable or too time-consuming and risky to implement in a new game, which highlights an area for potential investigation: bridging the gap between academia and industry. Finally, the areas of spatial reasoning, multi-scale AI, and cooperation are found to require future work, and standardised evaluation methods are proposed to produce comparable results between studies.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "eea4f0555cdf4050bdb4681c7a50c01d",
"text": "In this paper, a review on condition monitoring of induction motors is first presented. Then, an ensemble of hybrid intelligent models that is useful for condition monitoring of induction motors is proposed. The review covers two parts, i.e., (i) a total of nine commonly used condition monitoring methods of induction motors; and (ii) intelligent learning models for condition monitoring of induction motors subject to single and multiple input signals. Based on the review findings, the Motor Current Signature Analysis (MCSA) method is selected for this study owing to its online, non-invasive properties and its requirement of only single input source; therefore leading to a cost-effective condition monitoring method. A hybrid intelligent model that consists of the Fuzzy Min-Max (FMM) neural network and the Random Forest (RF) model comprising an ensemble of Classification and Regression Trees is developed. The majority voting scheme is used to combine the predictions produced by the resulting FMM-RF ensemble (or FMM-RFE) members. A benchmark problem is first deployed to evaluate the usefulness of the FMM-RFE model. Then, the model is applied to condition monitoring of induction motors using a set of real data samples. Specifically, the stator current signals of induction motors are obtained using the MCSA method. The signals are processed to produce a set of harmonic-based features for classification using the FMM-RFE model. The experimental results show good performances in both noise-free and noisy environments. More importantly, a set of explanatory rules in the form of a decision tree can be extracted from the FMM-RFE model to justify its predictions. The outcomes ascertain the effectiveness of the proposed FMM-RFE model in undertaking condition monitoring tasks, especially for induction motors, under different environments.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "eb29f281b0237bea84ae26829f5545bd",
"text": "Using formal concept analysis, we propose a method for engineering ontology from MongoDB to effectively represent unstructured data. Our method consists of three main phases: (1) generating formal context from a MongoDB, (2) applying formal concept analysis to derive a concept lattice from that formal context, and (3) converting the obtained concept lattice to the first prototype of an ontology. We apply our method on NorthWind database and demonstrate how the proposed mapping rules can be used for learning an ontology from such database. At the end, we discuss about suggestions by which we can improve and generalize the method for more complex database examples.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "987c22f071f91b09b4e4e698c454f16a",
"text": "There is much current debate about the existence of mirror neurons in humans. To identify mirror neurons in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) of humans, we used a repetition suppression paradigm while measuring neural activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjects either executed or observed a series of actions. Here we show that in the IFG, responses were suppressed both when an executed action was followed by the same rather than a different observed action and when an observed action was followed by the same rather than a different executed action. This pattern of responses is consistent with that predicted by mirror neurons and is evidence of mirror neurons in the human IFG.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f3a8fa7b4c6ac7a6218a0b8aa5a8f4b2",
"text": "Give us 5 minutes and we will show you the best book to read today. This is it, the uncertainty quantification theory implementation and applications that will be your best choice for better reading book. Your five times will not spend wasted by reading this website. You can take the book as a source to make better concept. Referring the books that can be situated with your needs is sometime difficult. But here, this is so easy. You can find the best thing of book that you can read.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bd60d22618da150fab8f769dbd0a7bca",
"text": "All induction heating applied systems are developed using electromagnetic induction. Electromagnetic induction refers to the phenomenon by which electric current is generated in a closed circuit by the fluctuation of current in another circuit placed next to it. The basic principle of induction heating is that AC current flowing through a primarily circuit induces a current in the load (the secondary circuit) located near it and heating the load. The intent of this presentation is to present the details of half-bridge power inverter via a comprehensive analysis with operation equations of the circuit and their solving using specific sotware. An alternative to the use of circuit-oriented simulators for study of these circuits operating is to describe the circuit and the controller by means of differential and algebraic equations. We must develop the equations for all possible states in which the circuit may operate. These algebraic/differential equations can be solved by using of software packages specifically designed for this purpose that provide a choice of integration routines, graphical output, and so on.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3a7c0ab68349e502d3803e7dd77bd69d",
"text": "Clickbait has become a nuisance on social media. To address the urging task of clickbait detection, we constructed a new corpus of 38,517 annotated Twitter tweets, the Webis Clickbait Corpus 2017. To avoid biases in terms of publisher and topic, tweets were sampled from the top 27 most retweeted news publishers, covering a period of 150 days. Each tweet has been annotated on 4-point scale by five annotators recruited at Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. The corpus has been employed to evaluate 12 clickbait detectors submitted to the Clickbait Challenge 2017. Download: https://webis.de/data/webis-clickbait-17.html Challenge: https://clickbait-challenge.org",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3e25a228d10922b68e860026a2b383af",
"text": "Public opinion is the people's response for social phenomena, issues, hot topics, attitudes, emotions, and so on. It reflects the focus problems of the current time of the society. By analyzing the public opinion, we can infer what will happen in the next time, and give better decision support for governments and businesses. Big Data technology is becoming a powerful data analyzing tools for massive data in recent years. Hadoop is an open source massive data processing platform based on Big Data. Mahout is a data mining algorithms' set based on Hadoop, which is designed for processing large-scale and complex data. In most instances, the public opinion information contains many text messages. For many traditional text mining algorithms, it is almost impossible to handle high dimensional data concerns large-volume and complex data sets. Hence, this paper uses Mahout text mining algorithms to process public opinion information.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a88e8fac39e0bef4746381930455be6d",
"text": "Predicating macroscopic influences of drugs on human body, like efficacy and toxicity, is a central problem of smallmolecule based drug discovery. Molecules can be represented as an undirected graph, and we can utilize graph convolution networks to predication molecular properties. However, graph convolutional networks and other graph neural networks all focus on learning node-level representation rather than graph-level representation. Previous works simply sum all feature vectors for all nodes in the graph to obtain the graph feature vector for drug predication. In this paper, we introduce a dummy super node that is connected with all nodes in the graph by a directed edge as the representation of the graph and modify the graph operation to help the dummy super node learn graph-level feature. Thus, we can handle graph-level classification and regression in the same way as node-level classification and regression. In addition, we apply focal loss to address class imbalance in drug datasets. The experiments on MoleculeNet show that our method can effectively improve the performance of molecular properties predication.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0bd981ea6d38817b560383f48fdfb729",
"text": "Lightweight wheelchairs are characterized by their low cost and limited range of adjustment. Our study evaluated three different folding lightweight wheelchair models using the American National Standards Institute/Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America (ANSI/RESNA) standards to see whether quality had improved since the previous data were reported. On the basis of reports of increasing breakdown rates in the community, we hypothesized that the quality of these wheelchairs had declined. Seven of the nine wheelchairs tested failed to pass the multidrum test durability requirements. An average of 194,502 +/- 172,668 equivalent cycles was completed, which is similar to the previous test results and far below the 400,000 minimum required to pass the ANSI/RESNA requirements. This was also significantly worse than the test results for aluminum ultralight folding wheelchairs. Overall, our results uncovered some disturbing issues with these wheelchairs and suggest that manufacturers should put more effort into this category to improve quality. To improve the durability of lightweight wheelchairs, we suggested that stronger regulations be developed that require wheelchairs to be tested by independent and certified test laboratories. We also proposed a wheelchair rating system based on the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration vehicle crash ratings to assist clinicians and end users when comparing the durability of different wheelchairs.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "df0e5312af0a8d59ba209ec263f60be9",
"text": "In this letter we propose a modified substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) zigzag filter topology, which allows the flexible introduction of extra cross-couplings between non adjacent resonators. This novel topology permits to control the location of the transmission zeros, thus improving the resulting filter selectivity. Therefore, it has been used to design filters in compliance with the restrictive ultra-wideband European mask. In order to validate the new proposed topology, two filter prototypes have been designed, manufactured and measured, showing very good agreement with simulation data.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "eb3a07c2295ba09c819c7a998b2fb337",
"text": "Recent advances have demonstrated the potential of network MIMO (netMIMO), which combines a practical number of distributed antennas as a virtual netMIMO AP (nAP) to improve spatial multiplexing of an WLAN. Existing solutions, however, either simply cluster nearby antennas as static nAPs, or dynamically cluster antennas on a per-packet basis so as to maximize the sum rate of the scheduled clients. To strike the balance between the above two extremes, in this paper, we present the design, implementation and evaluation of FlexNEMO, a practical two-phase netMIMO clustering system. Unlike previous per-packet clustering approaches, FlexNEMO only clusters antennas when client distribution and traffic pattern change, as a result being more practical to be implemented. A medium access control protocol is then designed to allow the clients at the center of nAPs to have a higher probability to gain access opportunities, but still ensure long-term fairness among clients. By combining on-demand clustering and priority-based access control, FlexNEMO not only improves antenna utilization, but also optimizes the channel condition for every individual client. We evaluated our design via both testbed experiments on USRPs and trace-driven emulations. The results demonstrate that FlexNEMO can deliver 94.7% and 93.7% throughput gains over static antenna clustering in a 4-antenna testbed and 16-antenna emulation, respectively.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "765b524fe24c51360a921957333b2bb1",
"text": "A number of ontology repositories provide access to the growing collection of ontologies on the Semantic Web. Some repositories collect ontologies automatically by crawling the Web; in other repositories, users submit ontologies themselves. In addition to providing search across multiple ontologies, the added value of ontology repositories lies in the metadata that they may contain. This metadata may include information provided by ontology authors, such as ontologies’ scope and intended use; feedback provided by users such as their experiences in using the ontologies or reviews of the content; and mapping metadata that relates concepts from different ontologies. In this paper, we focus on the ontology-mapping metadata and on community-based method to collect ontology mappings. More specifically, we develop a model for representing mappings collected from the user community and the metadata associated with the mapping. We use the model to bring together more than 30,000 mappings from 7 sources. We also validate the model by extending BioPortal—a repository of biomedical ontologies that we have developed—to enable users to create single concept-toconcept mappings in its graphical user interface, to upload and download mappings created with other tools, to comment on the mappings and to discuss them, and to visualize the mappings and the corresponding metadata. 1 Ontology Mapping and the Wisdom of the Crowds As the number of ontologies available for Semantic Web applications grows, so does the number of ontology repositories that index and organize the ontologies. Some repositories crawl the Web to collect ontologies (e.g., Swoogle [4], Watson [3] and OntoSelect [2]). In other repositories, users submit their ontologies themselves (e.g., the DAML ontology library1 and SchemaWeb2). These repositories provide a gateway for users and application developers who need to find ontologies to use in their work. In our laboratory, we have developed BioPortal3—an open repository of biomedical ontologies. Researchers in biomedical informatics submit their ontologies to BioPortal and others can access the ontologies through the BioPortal user interface or through web services. The BioPortal users can browse and search the ontologies, update the ontologies in the repository by uploading new versions, comment on any ontology (or portion of an ontology) in the repository, evaluate it, describe their experience in using the ontology, 1 http://www.daml.org/ontologies/ 2 http://www.schemaweb.info/ 3 http://alpha.bioontology.org or make suggestions to ontology developers. At the time of this writing, BioPortal has 72 biomedical ontologies with more than 300,000 classes. While the BioPortal content focuses on the biomedical domain, the BioPortal technology is domain-independent. Ontologies in BioPortal, as in almost any ontology repository, overlap in coverage. Thus, mappings among ontologies in a repository constitute a key component that enables the use of the ontologies for data and information integration. For example, researchers can use the mappings to relate their data, which had been annotated with concepts from one ontology, to concepts in another ontology. We view ontology mappings as an essential part of the ontology repository: Mappings between ontology concepts are first-class objects in the BioPortal repository. Users can browse the mappings, create new mappings, upload the mappings created with other tools, download mappings that BioPortal has, or comment on the mappings and discuss them. The mapping repository in BioPortal address two key problems in ontology mapping. First, our implementation enables and encourages community participation in mapping creation. We enable users to add as many or as few mappings as they like or feel qualified to do. Users can use the discussion facilities that we integrated in the repository to reach consensus on controversial mappings or to understand the differences between their points of view. Most researchers agree that, even though there has been steady progress in the performance of the automatic alignment tools [5], experts will need to be involved in the mapping task for the foreseeable future. Enabling community participation in mapping creation, we hope to have more people contributing mappings and, hence, to get closer to the critical mass of users that we need to create and verify the mappings. Second, the integration of an ontology repository with a mapping repository provides users with a one-stop shopping for ontology resources. The BioPortal system integrates ontologies, ontology metadata, peer reviews of ontologies, resources annotated with ontology terms, and ontology mappings, adding value to each of the individual components. The services that use one of the resources can rely on the other resources in the system. For instance, we can use mappings when searching through OBR. Alternatively, we can use the OBR data to suggest new mappings. The BioPortal mapping repository contains not only the mappings created by the BioPortal users, but also (and, at the time of this writing, mostly) mappings created elsewhere and by other tools, and uploaded in bulk to BioPortal. In recent years, Semantic Web researchers explored community-based approaches to creating various ontology-based resources [16]. For example, SOBOLEO [26] uses an approach that is similar to collaborative tagging to have users create a simple ontology. Collaborative Protégé [15] enables users to create OWL ontologies collaboratively, discussing their design decisions, putting forward proposals, and reaching consensus. BioPortal harnesses collective intelligence to provide peer reviews of ontologies and to have users comment on ontologies and ontology components [21]. Researchers have also proposed using community-based approaches to create mappings [14]. For example, McCann and colleagues[12] asked users to identify mappings between database schemas as a “payment” for accessing some services on their web site. The authors then used these mappings to improve the performance of their mapping algorithms. They analyzed different characteristics of the user community and",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e541be7c81576fdef564fd7eba5d67dd",
"text": "As the cost of massively broadband® semiconductors continue to be driven down at millimeter wave (mm-wave) frequencies, there is great potential to use LMDS spectrum (in the 28-38 GHz bands) and the 60 GHz band for cellular/mobile and peer-to-peer wireless networks. This work presents urban cellular and peer-to-peer RF wideband channel measurements using a broadband sliding correlator channel sounder and steerable antennas at carrier frequencies of 38 GHz and 60 GHz, and presents measurements showing the propagation time delay spread and path loss as a function of separation distance and antenna pointing angles for many types of real-world environments. The data presented here show that at 38 GHz, unobstructed Line of Site (LOS) channels obey free space propagation path loss while non-LOS (NLOS) channels have large multipath delay spreads and can exploit many different pointing angles to provide propagation links. At 60 GHz, there is notably more path loss, smaller delay spreads, and fewer unique antenna angles for creating a link. For both 38 GHz and 60 GHz, we demonstrate empirical relationships between the RMS delay spread and antenna pointing angles, and observe that excess path loss (above free space) has an inverse relationship with transmitter-to-receiver separation distance.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f6ae47c4b53a3d5493405e8c2095d928",
"text": "Bipartite networks are currently regarded as providing amajor insight into the organization ofmany real-world systems, unveiling themechanisms driving the interactions occurring between distinct groups of nodes. One of themost important issues encounteredwhenmodeling bipartite networks is devising away to obtain a (monopartite) projection on the layer of interest, which preserves asmuch as possible the information encoded into the original bipartite structure. In the present paper we propose an algorithm to obtain statistically-validated projections of bipartite networks, according to which any twonodes sharing a statistically-significant number of neighbors are linked. Since assessing the statistical significance of nodes similarity requires a proper statistical benchmark, herewe consider a set of four nullmodels, definedwithin the exponential randomgraph framework. Our algorithm outputs amatrix of link-specific p-values, fromwhich a validated projection is straightforwardly obtainable, upon running amultiple hypothesis testing procedure. Finally, we test ourmethod on an economic network (i.e. the countries-productsWorld TradeWeb representation) and a social network (i.e.MovieLens, collecting the users’ ratings of a list ofmovies). In both cases non-trivial communities are detected: while projecting theWorld TradeWeb on the countries layer reveals modules of similarly-industrialized nations, projecting it on the products layer allows communities characterized by an increasing level of complexity to be detected; in the second case, projecting MovieLens on thefilms layer allows clusters ofmovies whose affinity cannot be fully accounted for by genre similarity to be individuated.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6cfedfc45ea1b3db23d022b06c46743a",
"text": "This study examined the relationship between financial knowledge and credit card behavior of college students. The widespread availability of credit cards has raised concerns over how college students might use those cards given the negative consequences (both immediate and long-term) associated with credit abuse and mismanagement. Using a sample of 1,354 students from a major southeastern university, results suggest that financial knowledge is a significant factor in the credit card decisions of college students. Students with higher scores on a measure of personal financial knowledge are more likely to engage in more responsible credit card use. Specific behaviors chosen have been associated with greater costs of borrowing and adverse economic consequences in the past.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ada79ede490e8427f542d85a2ea5266b",
"text": "We present QUINT, a live system for question answering over knowledge bases. QUINT automatically learns role-aligned utterance-query templates from user questions paired with their answers. When QUINT answers a question, it visualizes the complete derivation sequence from the natural language utterance to the final answer. The derivation provides an explanation of how the syntactic structure of the question was used to derive the structure of a SPARQL query, and how the phrases in the question were used to instantiate different parts of the query. When an answer seems unsatisfactory, the derivation provides valuable insights towards reformulating the question.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
54c6832a1b2d0e2906e57a3995509f47 | K-Means Hashing: An Affinity-Preserving Quantization Method for Learning Binary Compact Codes | [
{
"docid": "727a97b993098aa1386e5bfb11a99d4b",
"text": "Inevitably, reading is one of the requirements to be undergone. To improve the performance and quality, someone needs to have something new every day. It will suggest you to have more inspirations, then. However, the needs of inspirations will make you searching for some sources. Even from the other people experience, internet, and many books. Books and internet are the recommended media to help you improving your quality and performance.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "8523ce2e7067dead20b9efc85d76112d",
"text": "Using analytical approach and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, we study the elastic behavior of the intrinsically twisted elastic ribbons with bending anisotropy, such as double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), in two-dimensional (2D) confinement. We show that, due to the bending anisotropy, the persistence length of dsDNA in 2D conformations is always greater than three-dimensional (3D) conformations. This result is in consistence with the measured values for DNA persistence length in 2D and 3D in equal biological conditions. We also show that in two dimensions, an anisotropic, intrinsically twisted polymer exhibits an implicit twist-bend coupling, which leads to the transient curvature increasing with a half helical turn periodicity along the bent polymer.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "97f058025a32926262b3c141b9b63da1",
"text": "In this paper, a Stacked Sparse Autoencoder (SSAE) based framework is presented for nuclei classification on breast cancer histopathology. SSAE works very well in learning useful high-level feature for better representation of input raw data. To show the effectiveness of proposed framework, SSAE+Softmax is compared with conventional Softmax classifier, PCA+Softmax, and single layer Sparse Autoencoder (SAE)+Softmax in classifying the nuclei and non-nuclei patches extracted from breast cancer histopathology. The SSAE+Softmax for nuclei patch classification yields an accuracy of 83.7%, F1 score of 82%, and AUC of 0.8992, which outperform Softmax classifier, PCA+Softmax, and SAE+Softmax.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2f0eb4a361ff9f09bda4689a1f106ff2",
"text": "The growth of Quranic digital publishing increases the need to develop a better framework to authenticate Quranic quotes with the original source automatically. This paper aims to demonstrate the significance of the quote authentication approach. We propose an approach to verify the e-citation of the Quranic quote as compared with original texts from the Quran. In this paper, we will concentrate mainly on discussing the Algorithm to verify the fundamental text for Quranic quotes.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "45f75c8d642be90e45abff69b4c6fbcf",
"text": "We describe a method for identifying the speakers of quoted speech in natural-language textual stories. We have assembled a corpus of more than 3,000 quotations, whose speakers (if any) are manually identified, from a collection of 19th and 20th century literature by six authors. Using rule-based and statistical learning, our method identifies candidate characters, determines their genders, and attributes each quote to the most likely speaker. We divide the quotes into syntactic classes in order to leverage common discourse patterns, which enable rapid attribution for many quotes. We apply learning algorithms to the remainder and achieve an overall accuracy of 83%.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0ae66dc78a35f3800fff811551d030d8",
"text": "As the rapid growth of the World Wide Web, electronic commerce has become a new way for businesses on online markets. Du to its facilities, many people are willing to shop online. Although business-to-consumer e-commerce has created new businesses opportunities, questions about consumer shopping motivations toward online shopping versus conventional shopping continue to persist. The purpose of this study is to investigate factors which affect online purchase intention. In this regard, providing a conceptual framework, the effect of some factors including subjective norms, behavioral control, attitude, friends role (social influence) and perceived credibility on online purchase intention are investigated. This is a descriptivesurvival study. Data collection is cross-field due to using questionnaire as well as library resources. Statistical population includes Isfahan University’s students. Using Cochran formula, sample volume is equal to 260 people. Descriptive and inferential statistics and structural equations are used to analyze data and test hypothesis. The results of the research suggest that all mentioned factors, i.e. subjective norms, behavioral control, attitude, social influence, and credibility affect online shopping directly. We hope that the findings of this research have potential benefits for online retailers, and all those looking to make more virtual sales, also it could reveal researchers in future research.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "205880d3205cb0f4844c20dcf51c4890",
"text": "Recently, deep networks were proved to be more effective than shallow architectures to face complex real–world applications. However, theoretical results supporting this claim are still few and incomplete. In this paper, we propose a new topological measure to study how the depth of feedforward networks impacts on their ability of implementing high complexity functions. Upper and lower bounds on network complexity are established, based on the number of hidden units and on their activation functions, showing that deep architectures are able, with the same number of resources, to address more difficult classification problems.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0fe28fd558f53f8fbc69660198d6c704",
"text": "This contribution proposes an extension of the classic dynamic programming algorithm for detecting jumps in noisily observed piecewise-constant signals. The proposed algorithm operates (virtually) in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space through the use of an arbitrary kernel mapping. The resulting approach provides a computationally efficient an versatile tool for segmenting complex signals whose structure is not appropriately captured by standard parametric models.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1e929868d6d36aa6399d6fa79bd98d7f",
"text": "The Prolog programmer’s needs have always been the focus for guiding the development of the SWI-Prolog system. This article accompanies an invited talk about how the SWI-Prolog environment helps the Prolog programmer solve common problems. It describes the central parts of the graphical development environment as well as the command line tools which we see as vital to the success of the system. We hope this comprehensive overview of particularly useful features will both inspire other Prolog developers, and help SWI-Prolog users to make more productive use of the system.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "117242011595e9c7de501a2360199a48",
"text": "This paper proposes a supervised learning approach to jointly perform facial Action Unit (AU) localisation and intensity estimation. Contrary to previous works that try to learn an unsupervised representation of the Action Unit regions, we propose to directly and jointly estimate all AU intensities through heatmap regression, along with the location in the face where they cause visible changes. Our approach aims to learn a pixel-wise regression function returning a score per AU, which indicates an AU intensity at a given spatial location. Heatmap regression then generates an image, or channel, per AU, in which each pixel indicates the corresponding AU intensity. To generate the ground-truth heatmaps for a target AU, the facial landmarks are first estimated, and a 2D Gaussian is drawn around the points where the AU is known to cause changes. The amplitude and size of the Gaussian is determined by the intensity of the AU. We show that using a single Hourglass network suffices to attain new state of the art results, demonstrating the effectiveness of such a simple approach. The use of heatmap regression allows learning of a shared representation between AUs without the need to rely on latent representations, as these are implicitly learned from the data. We validate the proposed approach on the BP4D dataset, showing a modest improvement on recent, complex, techniques, as well as robustness against misalignment errors. Code for testing and models will be available to download from https://github.com/ESanchezLozano/ Action-Units-Heatmaps.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c881aee86484ecd82abe54ee4f70a13b",
"text": "Automatic speech recognition, translating of spoken words into text, is still a challenging task due to the high viability in speech signals. Deep learning, sometimes referred as representation learning or unsupervised feature learning, is a new area of machine learning. Deep learning is becoming a mainstream technology for speech recognition and has successfully replaced Gaussian mixtures for speech recognition and feature coding at an increasingly larger scale. The main target of this course project is to applying typical deep learning algorithms, including deep neural networks (DNN) and deep belief networks (DBN), for automatic continuous speech recognition.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "436f402638746661fabf3723287ae699",
"text": "This essay, written in 1998 by an active participant in both virtual reality development and the virtual reality definition debate, discusses the definition of the phrase “Virtual Reality” (VR). I start with history from a personal perspective, concentrating on the debate between the “Virtual Reality” and “Virtual Environment” labels in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Definitions of VR based on specific technologies are shown to be unsatisfactory. I propose the following definition of VR, based on the striking effects of a good VR system: “Virtual Reality is the use of computer technology to create the effect of an interactive three-dimensional world in which the objects have a sense of spatial presence.” The justification for this definition is discussed in detail, and is favorably compared with the dictionary definitions of “virtual” and “reality”. The implications of this definition for virtual reality technology are briefly examined. Subject headings: Virtual Reality",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7d6c441d745adf8a7f6d833da9e46716",
"text": "X-ray computed tomography is a widely used method for nondestructive visualization of the interior of different samples - also of wooden material. Different to usual applications very high resolution is needed to use such CT images in dendrochronology and to evaluate wood species. In dendrochronology big samples (up to 50 cm) are necessary to scan. The needed resolution is - depending on the species - about 20 mum. In wood identification usually very small samples have to be scanned, but wood anatomical characters of less than 1 mum in width have to be visualized. This paper deals with four examples of X-ray CT scanned images to be used for dendrochronology and wood identification.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "673af61761bb63219d3fb1be958560dd",
"text": "The Common Scrambling Algorithm (CSA) is used to encrypt streams of video data in the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) system. The algorithm cascades a stream and a block cipher, apparently for a larger security margin. In this paper we set out to analyze the block cipher and the stream cipher separately and give an overview of how they interact with each other. We present a practical attack on the stream cipher. Research on the block cipher so far indicates it to be resistant against linear and algebraic cryptanalysis as well as simple slide attacks.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "feabda74915bd452c8d7b386147ff03e",
"text": "A novel uni-planar dual-band monopole antenna capable of generating two wide bands for 2.4/5 GHz WLAN operation is presented. The antenna has a simple structure consisting of a driven strip and a coupled shorted strip. The antenna occupies a small area of 6 times 20 mm2 on an FR4 substrate. The small area allows the antenna to be easily employed in the narrow space between the top edge of the display panel and the casing of the laptop computer to operate as an internal antenna. It is believed that the size of the antenna is about the smallest among the existing uni-planar internal laptop antennas for 2.4/5 GHz WLAN operation.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ec04a026adeba4e75155e2b8e9eb6e7b",
"text": "Research on next-generation 5G wireless networks is currently attracting a lot of attention in both academia and industry. While 5G development and standardization activities are still at their early stage, it is widely acknowledged that 5G systems are going to extensively rely on dense small cell deployments, which would exploit infrastructure and network functions virtualization (NFV), and push the network intelligence towards network edges by embracing the concept of mobile edge computing (MEC). As security will be a fundamental enabling factor of small cell as a service (SCaaS) in 5G networks, we present the most prominent threats and vulnerabilities against a broad range of targets. As far as the related work is concerned, to the best of our knowledge, this paper is the rst to investigate security challenges at the intersection of SCaaS, NFV, and MEC. It is also the rst paper that proposes a set of criteria to facilitate a clear and e ective taxonomy of security challenges of main elements of 5G networks. Our analysis can serve as a staring point towards the development of appropriate 5G security solutions. These will have crucial e ect on legal and regulatory frameworks as well as on decisions of businesses, governments, and end-users.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "95b0ad5e4898cb1610f2a48c3828eb92",
"text": "Talent management is found to be important for modern organizations because of the advent of the Modern economy, new generations entering the human resource and the need for businesses to become more strategic and competitive, which implies new ways of managing resource and human capital. In this research, the relationship between Talent management, employee Retention and organizational trust is investigated. The aim of the article is to examine the effect of Talent management on employee Retention through organizational trust among staffs of Isfahan University in Iran. The research method is a descriptive survey. The statistical population consists of staffs of Isfahan University in Iran. The sample included 280 employees, which were selected randomly. Data have been collected by a researcher-developed questionnaire and sampling has been done through census and analyzed using SPSS and AMOS software. The validity of the instrument was achieved through content validity and the reliability through Cronbach Alpha. The results of hypothesis testing indicate that there is a significant relationship between Talent management, employee Retention and organizational trust. The study is significant in that it draws attention to the effects of talent management on organizational trust and employees Retention in organization.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e2807120a8a04a9c5f5f221e413aec4d",
"text": "Background A military aircraft in a hostile environment may need to use radar jamming in order to avoid being detected or engaged by the enemy. Effective jamming can require knowledge of the number and type of enemy radars; however, the radar receiver on the aircraft will observe a single stream of pulses from all radar emitters combined. It is advantageous to separate this collection of pulses into individual streams each corresponding to a particular emitter in the environment; this process is known as pulse deinterleaving. Pulse deinterleaving is critical for effective electronic warfare (EW) signal processing such as electronic attack (EA) and electronic protection (EP) because it not only aids in the identification of enemy radars but also permits the intelligent allocation of processing resources.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d9c4bdd95507ef497db65fc80d3508c5",
"text": "3D content creation is referred to as one of the most fundamental tasks of computer graphics. And many 3D modeling algorithms from 2D images or curves have been developed over the past several decades. Designers are allowed to align some conceptual images or sketch some suggestive curves, from front, side, and top views, and then use them as references in constructing a 3D model automatically or manually. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have investigated on 3D human body reconstruction in a similar manner. In this paper, we propose a deep learning based reconstruction of 3D human body shape from 2D orthographic views. A novel CNN-based regression network, with two branches corresponding to frontal and lateral views respectively, is designed for estimating 3D human body shape from 2D mask images. We train our networks separately to decouple the feature descriptors which encode the body parameters from different views, and fuse them to estimate an accurate human body shape. In addition, to overcome the shortage of training data required for this purpose, we propose some significantly data augmentation schemes for 3D human body shapes, which can be used to promote further research on this topic. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that visually realistic and accurate reconstructions can be achieved effectively using our algorithm. Requiring only binary mask images, our method can help users create their own digital avatars quickly, and also make it easy to create digital human body for 3D game, virtual reality, online fashion shopping.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7f9c5b3cfda27862cccd93f513c68c76",
"text": "The development of complex information systems calls for conceptual models that describe aspects beyond entities and activities. In particular, recent research has pointed out that conceptual models need to model goals, in order to capture the intentions which underlie complex situations within an organisational context. This paper focuses on one class of goals, namely nonfunctional requirements (NFR), which need to be captured and analysed from the very early phases of the software development process. The paper presents a framework for integrating NFRs into the ER and OO models. This framework has been validated by two case studies, one of which is very large. The results of the case studies suggest that goal modelling during early phases can lead to a more productive and complete modelling activity.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
b10df8968e9b15a82ea22a14af93b43e | Self-confidence and sports performance. | [
{
"docid": "2a1f1576ab73e190dce400dedf80df36",
"text": "No wonder you activities are, reading will be always needed. It is not only to fulfil the duties that you need to finish in deadline time. Reading will encourage your mind and thoughts. Of course, reading will greatly develop your experiences about everything. Reading motivation reconsidered the concept of competence is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages. The advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "964deb65d393564f62b9df68fa1b00d9",
"text": "Inferring abnormal glucose events such as hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia is crucial for the health of both diabetic patients and non-diabetic people. However, regular blood glucose monitoring can be invasive and inconvenient in everyday life. We present SugarMate, a first smartphone-based blood glucose inference system as a temporary alternative to continuous blood glucose monitors (CGM) when they are uncomfortable or inconvenient to wear. In addition to the records of food, drug and insulin intake, it leverages smartphone sensors to measure physical activities and sleep quality automatically. Provided with the imbalanced and often limited measurements, a challenge of SugarMate is the inference of blood glucose levels at a fine-grained time resolution. We propose Md3RNN, an efficient learning paradigm to make full use of the available blood glucose information. Specifically, the newly designed grouped input layers, together with the adoption of a deep RNN model, offer an opportunity to build blood glucose models for the general public based on limited personal measurements from single-user and grouped-users perspectives. Evaluations on 112 users demonstrate that Md3RNN yields an average accuracy of 82.14%, significantly outperforming previous learning methods those are either shallow, generically structured, or oblivious to grouped behaviors. Also, a user study with the 112 participants shows that SugarMate is acceptable for practical usage.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "534a3885c710bc9a65fa2d66e2937dd4",
"text": "This paper examines the concept of culture, and the potential impact of intercultural dynamics of software development. Many of the difficulties confronting today's global software development (GSD) environment have little to do with technical issues; rather, they are \"human\" issues that occur when extensive collaboration and communication among developers with distinct cultural backgrounds are required. Although project managers are reporting that intercultural factors are impacting software practices and artifacts and deserve more detailed study, little analytical research has been conducted in this area other than anecdotal testimonials by software professionals. This paper presents an introductory analysis of the effect that intercultural factors have on global software development. The paper first establishes a framework for intercultural variations by introducing several models commonly used to define culture. Cross-cultural issues that often arise in software development are then identified. The paper continues by explaining the importance of taking intercultural issues seriously and proposes some ideas for future research in the area",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f93c47dae193e00ca9fc052028b6167f",
"text": "© International Association for Applied Psychology, 2005. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. Oxford, UK APPS pplied Psychology: an International Review 0269-994X © Int rnational Association for Applied Psychology, 2005 ri 2005 54 2 riginal Arti le SELF-REGULATION IN THE CLASS OOM OEKA RTS and CORNO Self-Regulation in the Classroom: A Perspective on Assessment and Intervention",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7c5a80b0fef3e0e1fe5ce314b6e5aaf4",
"text": "OBJECTIVES\nGiven the large-scale adoption and deployment of mobile phones by health services and frontline health workers (FHW), we aimed to review and synthesise the evidence on the feasibility and effectiveness of mobile-based services for healthcare delivery.\n\n\nMETHODS\nFive databases - MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Google Scholar and Scopus - were systematically searched for relevant peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2013. Data were extracted and synthesised across three themes as follows: feasibility of use of mobile tools by FHWs, training required for adoption of mobile tools and effectiveness of such interventions.\n\n\nRESULTS\nForty-two studies were included in this review. With adequate training, FHWs were able to use mobile phones to enhance various aspects of their work activities. Training of FHWs to use mobile phones for healthcare delivery ranged from a few hours to about 1 week. Five key thematic areas for the use of mobile phones by FHWs were identified as follows: data collection and reporting, training and decision support, emergency referrals, work planning through alerts and reminders, and improved supervision of and communication between healthcare workers. Findings suggest that mobile based data collection improves promptness of data collection, reduces error rates and improves data completeness. Two methodologically robust studies suggest that regular access to health information via SMS or mobile-based decision-support systems may improve the adherence of the FHWs to treatment algorithms. The evidence on the effectiveness of the other approaches was largely descriptive and inconclusive.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nUse of mHealth strategies by FHWs might offer some promising approaches to improving healthcare delivery; however, the evidence on the effectiveness of such strategies on healthcare outcomes is insufficient.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c08a06592c7ffa4764824a11be904517",
"text": "Work breaks can play an important role in the mental and physical well-being of workers and contribute positively to productivity. In this paper we explore the use of activity-, physiological-, and indoor-location sensing to promote mobility during work-breaks. While the popularity of devices and applications to promote physical activity is growing, prior research highlights important constraints when designing for the workplace. With these constraints in mind, we developed BreakSense, a mobile application that uses a Bluetooth beacon infrastructure, a smartphone and a smartwatch to encourage mobility during breaks with a game-like design. We discuss constraints imposed by design for work and the workplace, and highlight challenges associated with the use of noisy sensors and methods to overcome them. We then describe a short deployment of BreakSense within our lab that examined bound vs. unbound augmented breaks and how they affect users' sense of completion and readiness to work.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "14c4e051a23576b33507c453d7e0fe84",
"text": "There is a growing interest in subspace learning techniques for face recognition; however, the excessive dimension of the data space often brings the algorithms into the curse of dimensionality dilemma. In this paper, we present a novel approach to solve the supervised dimensionality reduction problem by encoding an image object as a general tensor of second or even higher order. First, we propose a discriminant tensor criterion, whereby multiple interrelated lower dimensional discriminative subspaces are derived for feature extraction. Then, a novel approach, called k-mode optimization, is presented to iteratively learn these subspaces by unfolding the tensor along different tensor directions. We call this algorithm multilinear discriminant analysis (MDA), which has the following characteristics: 1) multiple interrelated subspaces can collaborate to discriminate different classes, 2) for classification problems involving higher order tensors, the MDA algorithm can avoid the curse of dimensionality dilemma and alleviate the small sample size problem, and 3) the computational cost in the learning stage is reduced to a large extent owing to the reduced data dimensions in k-mode optimization. We provide extensive experiments on ORL, CMU PIE, and FERET databases by encoding face images as second- or third-order tensors to demonstrate that the proposed MDA algorithm based on higher order tensors has the potential to outperform the traditional vector-based subspace learning algorithms, especially in the cases with small sample sizes",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9ce2aaa0ad3bfe383099782c46746819",
"text": "To achieve high production of rosmarinic acid and derivatives in Escherichia coli which are important phenolic acids found in plants, and display diverse biological activities. The synthesis of rosmarinic acid was achieved by feeding caffeic acid and constructing an artificial pathway for 3,4-dihydroxyphenyllactic acid. Genes encoding the following enzymes: rosmarinic acid synthase from Coleus blumei, 4-coumarate: CoA ligase from Arabidopsis thaliana, 4-hydroxyphenyllactate 3-hydroxylase from E. coli and d-lactate dehydrogenase from Lactobacillus pentosus, were overexpressed in an l-tyrosine over-producing E. coli strain. The yield of rosmarinic acid reached ~130 mg l−1 in the recombinant strain. In addition, a new intermediate, caffeoyl-phenyllactate (~55 mg l−1), was also produced by the engineered E. coli strain. This work not only leads to high yield production of rosmarinic acid and analogues, but also sheds new light on the construction of the pathway of rosmarinic acid in E. coli.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a6a9376f6205d5c2bc48964d482b6443",
"text": "Enrollment in online courses is rapidly increasing and attrition rates remain high. This paper presents a literature review addressing the role of interactivity in student satisfaction and persistence in online learning. Empirical literature was reviewed through the lens of Bandura's social cognitive theory, Anderson's interaction equivalency theorem, and Tinto's social integration theory. Findings suggest that interactivity is an important component of satisfaction and persistence for online learners, and that preferences for types of online interactivity vary according to type of learner. Student–instructor interaction was also noted to be a primary variable in online student satisfaction and persistence.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "415d4bdd83d5dc96c8f8417696943c57",
"text": "Many hypothesized applications of mobile robotics require multiple robots. Multiple robots substantially increase the complexity of the operator’s task because attention must be continually shifted among robots. One approach to increasing human capacity for control is to remove the independence among robots by allowing them to cooperate. This paper presents an initial experiment using multiagent teamwork proxies to help control robots performing a search and rescue task. .",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "44a1c6ebc90e57398ee92a137a5a54f8",
"text": "Most of human actions consist of complex temporal compositions of more simple actions. Action recognition tasks usually relies on complex handcrafted structures as features to represent the human action model. Convolutional Neural Nets (CNN) have shown to be a powerful tool that eliminate the need for designing handcrafted features. Usually, the output of the last layer in CNN (a layer before the classification layer -known as fc7) is used as a generic feature for images. In this paper, we show that fc7 features, per se, can not get a good performance for the task of action recognition, when the network is trained only on images. We present a feature structure on top of fc7 features, which can capture the temporal variation in a video. To represent the temporal components, which is needed to capture motion information, we introduced a hierarchical structure. The hierarchical model enables to capture sub-actions from a complex action. At the higher levels of the hierarchy, it represents a coarse capture of action sequence and lower levels represent fine action elements. Furthermore, we introduce a method for extracting key-frames using binary coding of each frame in a video, which helps to improve the performance of our hierarchical model. We experimented our method on several action datasets and show that our method achieves superior results compared to other stateof-the-arts methods.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "00cf565cc59b8d006ed56bf668f76232",
"text": "Azadeh Yektaseresht1*, Amin Gholamhosseini2 , Ali Janparvar3 1*Department of Pathobiology; School of Veterinary Medicine; Shiraz University, Shiraz; Iran. *Corresponding author: Azadeh Yektaseresht, Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran 2Department of Aquatic Animal Health and Diseases; School of Veterinary Medicine; Shiraz University; Shiraz; Iran.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6379ddf52f418861e4f95ddc861a58c9",
"text": "BACKGROUND\nFluoroquinolones and second-line injectable drugs are the backbone of treatment regimens for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, and resistance to these drugs defines extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. We assessed the accuracy of an automated, cartridge-based molecular assay for the detection, directly from sputum specimens, of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with resistance to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, and isoniazid.\n\n\nMETHODS\nWe conducted a prospective diagnostic accuracy study to compare the investigational assay against phenotypic drug-susceptibility testing and DNA sequencing among adults in China and South Korea who had symptoms of tuberculosis. The Xpert MTB/RIF assay and sputum culture were performed. M. tuberculosis isolates underwent phenotypic drug-susceptibility testing and DNA sequencing of the genes katG, gyrA, gyrB, and rrs and of the eis and inhA promoter regions.\n\n\nRESULTS\nAmong the 308 participants who were culture-positive for M. tuberculosis, when phenotypic drug-susceptibility testing was used as the reference standard, the sensitivities of the investigational assay for detecting resistance were 83.3% for isoniazid (95% confidence interval [CI], 77.1 to 88.5), 88.4% for ofloxacin (95% CI, 80.2 to 94.1), 87.6% for moxifloxacin at a critical concentration of 0.5 μg per milliliter (95% CI, 79.0 to 93.7), 96.2% for moxifloxacin at a critical concentration of 2.0 μg per milliliter (95% CI, 87.0 to 99.5), 71.4% for kanamycin (95% CI, 56.7 to 83.4), and 70.7% for amikacin (95% CI, 54.5 to 83.9). The specificity of the assay for the detection of phenotypic resistance was 94.3% or greater for all drugs except moxifloxacin at a critical concentration of 2.0 μg per milliliter (specificity, 84.0% [95% CI, 78.9 to 88.3]). When DNA sequencing was used as the reference standard, the sensitivities of the investigational assay for detecting mutations associated with resistance were 98.1% for isoniazid (95% CI, 94.4 to 99.6), 95.8% for fluoroquinolones (95% CI, 89.6 to 98.8), 92.7% for kanamycin (95% CI, 80.1 to 98.5), and 96.8% for amikacin (95% CI, 83.3 to 99.9), and the specificity for all drugs was 99.6% (95% CI, 97.9 to 100) or greater.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThis investigational assay accurately detected M. tuberculosis mutations associated with resistance to isoniazid, fluoroquinolones, and aminoglycosides and holds promise as a rapid point-of-care test to guide therapeutic decisions for patients with tuberculosis. (Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02251327 .).",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2c5750e6498bd97fdbbbd5b141819a86",
"text": "The ultimate goal of work in cognitive architecture is to provide the foundation for a system capable of general intelligent behavior. That is, the goal is to provide the underlying structure that would enable a system to perform the full range of cognitive tasks, employ the full range of problem-solving methods and representations appropriate for the tasks, and learn about all aspects of the tasks and its performance on them. In this article we present Soar, an implemented proposal for such an architecture. We describe its organizational principles, the system as currently implemented, and demonstrations of its capabilities. This research was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DOD), ARPA Order No. 3597, monitored by the Air Force Avionics Laboratory under contracts F33615-81-K-1539 and N00039-83C-0136, and by the Personnel and Training Research Programs, Psychological Sciences Division, Office of Naval Research, under contract number N00014-82C-0067, contract authority identification number NR667-477. Additional partial support was provided by the Sloan Foundation and some computing support was supplied by the SUMEX-AIM facility (NIH grant number RR-00785). The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research, the Sloan Foundation, the National Institute of Health, or the US Government.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "51da5294d196e876ea2535dc13f8c1c5",
"text": "Leaders who express an ethical identity are proposed to affect followers’ attitudes and work behaviors. In two multi-source studies, we first test a model suggesting that work engagement acts as a mediator in the relationships between ethical leadership and employee initiative (a form of organizational citizenship behavior) as well as counterproductive work behavior. Next, we focus on whether ethical leadership always forms an authentic expression of an ethical identity, thus in the second study, we add leader Machiavellianism to the model. For Machiavellian leaders, the publicly expressed identity of ethical leadership is inconsistent with the privately held unethical Machiavellian norms. Literature on surface acting suggests people can at least to some extent pick up on such inauthentic displays, making the effects less strong. We thus argue that the positive effects of ethical leader behavior are likely to be suppressed when leaders are highly Machiavellian. Support for this moderated mediation model was found: The effects of ethical leader behavior on engagement are less strong when ethical leaders are high as opposed to low on Machiavellianism.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a7747c3329f26833e01ade020b45eaeb",
"text": "The objective of this paper is to present the role of Ontology Learning Process in supporting an ontology engineer for creating and maintaining ontologies from textual resources. The knowledge structures that interest us are legal domain-specific ontologies. We will use these ontologies to build legal domain ontology for a Lebanese legal knowledge based system. The domain application of this work is the Lebanese criminal system. Ontologies can be learnt from various sources, such as databases, structured and unstructured documents. Here, the focus is on the acquisition of ontologies from unstructured text, provided as input. In this work, the Ontology Learning Process represents a knowledge extraction phase using Natural Language Processing techniques. The resulted ontology is considered as inexpressive ontology. There is a need to reengineer it in order to build a complete, correct and more expressive domain-specific ontology.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "557da3544fd738ecfc3edf812b92720b",
"text": "OBJECTIVES\nTo describe the sonographic appearance of the structures of the posterior cranial fossa in fetuses at 11 + 3 to 13 + 6 weeks of pregnancy and to determine whether abnormal findings of the brain and spine can be detected by sonography at this time.\n\n\nMETHODS\nThis was a prospective study including 692 fetuses whose mothers attended Innsbruck Medical University Hospital for first-trimester sonography. In 3% (n = 21) of cases, measurement was prevented by fetal position. Of the remaining 671 cases, in 604 there was either a normal anomaly scan at 20 weeks or delivery of a healthy child and in these cases the transcerebellar diameter (TCD) and the anteroposterior diameter of the cisterna magna (CM), measured at 11 + 3 to 13 + 6 weeks, were analyzed. In 502 fetuses, the anteroposterior diameter of the fourth ventricle (4V) was also measured. In 25 fetuses, intra- and interobserver repeatability was calculated.\n\n\nRESULTS\nWe observed a linear correlation between crown-rump length (CRL) and CM (CM = 0.0536 × CRL - 1.4701; R2 = 0.688), TCD (TCD = 0.1482 × CRL - 1.2083; R2 = 0.701) and 4V (4V = 0.0181 × CRL + 0.9186; R2 = 0.118). In three patients with posterior fossa cysts, measurements significantly exceeded the reference values. One fetus with spina bifida had an obliterated CM and the posterior border of the 4V could not be visualized.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nTransabdominal sonographic assessment of the posterior fossa is feasible in the first trimester. Measurements of the 4V, the CM and the TCD performed at this time are reliable. The established reference values assist in detecting fetal anomalies. However, findings must be interpreted carefully, as some supposed malformations might be merely delayed development of brain structures.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ecade87386366ab7b1631b8a47c7c32",
"text": "We introduce an efficient computational framework for hashing data belonging to multiple modalities into a single representation space where they become mutually comparable. The proposed approach is based on a novel coupled siamese neural network architecture and allows unified treatment of intra- and inter-modality similarity learning. Unlike existing cross-modality similarity learning approaches, our hashing functions are not limited to binarized linear projections and can assume arbitrarily complex forms. We show experimentally that our method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art hashing approaches on multimedia retrieval tasks.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9b220cb4c3883cb959d1665abefa5406",
"text": "Time domain synchronous OFDM (TDS-OFDM) has a higher spectrum and energy efficiency than standard cyclic prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM) by replacing the unknown CP with a known pseudorandom noise (PN) sequence. However, due to mutual interference between the PN sequence and the OFDM data block, TDS-OFDM cannot support high-order modulation schemes such as 256QAM in realistic static channels with large delay spread or high-definition television (HDTV) delivery in fast fading channels. To solve these problems, we propose the idea of using multiple inter-block-interference (IBI)-free regions of small size to realize simultaneous multi-channel reconstruction under the framework of structured compressive sensing (SCS). This is enabled by jointly exploiting the sparsity of wireless channels as well as the characteristic that path delays vary much slower than path gains. In this way, the mutually conditional time-domain channel estimation and frequency-domain data demodulation in TDS-OFDM can be decoupled without the use of iterative interference removal. The Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of the proposed estimation scheme is also derived. Moreover, the guard interval amplitude in TDS-OFDM can be reduced to improve the energy efficiency, which is infeasible for CP-OFDM. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed SCS-aided TDS-OFDM scheme has a higher spectrum and energy efficiency than CP-OFDM by more than 10% and 20% respectively in typical applications.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d8f21e77a60852ea83f4ebf74da3bcd0",
"text": "In recent years different lines of evidence have led to the idea that motor actions and movements in both vertebrates and invertebrates are composed of elementary building blocks. The entire motor repertoire can be spanned by applying a well-defined set of operations and transformations to these primitives and by combining them in many different ways according to well-defined syntactic rules. Motor and movement primitives and modules might exist at the neural, dynamic and kinematic levels with complicated mapping among the elementary building blocks subserving these different levels of representation. Hence, while considerable progress has been made in recent years in unravelling the nature of these primitives, new experimental, computational and conceptual approaches are needed to further advance our understanding of motor compositionality.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
3c414fefa65ef79cdc2b065c7bae6f4a | A 'random steady-state' model for the pyruvate dehydrogenase and alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase enzyme complexes. | [
{
"docid": "de8f5656f17151c43e2454aa7b8f929f",
"text": "No wonder you activities are, reading will be always needed. It is not only to fulfil the duties that you need to finish in deadline time. Reading will encourage your mind and thoughts. Of course, reading will greatly develop your experiences about everything. Reading concrete mathematics a foundation for computer science is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages. The advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "d7076d77ef8f6cc318fed80e6403948b",
"text": "OBJECTIVES\nThe objective of this study is to develop a Ti fibre knit block without sintering, and to evaluate its deformability and new bone formation in vivo.\n\n\nMATERIAL AND METHODS\nA Ti fibre with a diameter of 150 μm was knitted to fabricate a Ti mesh tube. The mesh tube was compressed in a metal mould to fabricate porous Ti fibre knit blocks with three different porosities of 88%, 69%, and 50%. The elastic modulus and deformability were evaluated using a compression test. The knit block was implanted into bone defects of a rabbit's hind limb, and new bone formation was evaluated using micro computed tomography (micro-CT) analysis and histological analysis.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe knit blocks with 88% porosity showed excellent deformability, indicating potential appropriateness for bone defect filling. Although the porosities of the knit block were different, they indicated similar elastic modulus smaller than 1 GPa. The elastic modulus after deformation increased linearly as the applied compression stress increased. The micro-CT analysis indicated that in the block with 50% porosity new bone filled nearly all of the pore volume four weeks after implantation. In contrast, in the block with 88% porosity, new bone filled less than half of the pore volume even 12 weeks after implantation. The histological analysis also indicated new bone formation in the block.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe titanium fibre knit block with high porosity is potentially appropriate for bone defect filling, indicating good bone ingrowth after porosity reduction with applied compression.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4d1f647de69615ebc3c6816a4574ae77",
"text": "Recent work on fairness in machine learning has focused on various statistical discrimination criteria and how they trade off. Most of these criteria are observational: They depend only on the joint distribution of predictor, protected attribute, features, and outcome. While convenient to work with, observational criteria have severe inherent limitations that prevent them from resolving matters of fairness conclusively. Going beyond observational criteria, we frame the problem of discrimination based on protected attributes in the language of causal reasoning. This viewpoint shifts attention from “What is the right fairness criterion?” to “What do we want to assume about our model of the causal data generating process?” Through the lens of causality, we make several contributions. First, we crisply articulate why and when observational criteria fail, thus formalizing what was before a matter of opinion. Second, our approach exposes previously ignored subtleties and why they are fundamental to the problem. Finally, we put forward natural causal non-discrimination criteria and develop algorithms that satisfy them.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f23a396989dcee34cec40ef7707a636d",
"text": "Android is the most widespread mobile operating system in the world. Due to its popularity, malware has been increasing every year steadily, which causes lots of problems to users, such as using the device's resources and transmitting private information without user's awareness. As malware has increased, anti-malware solutions have as well. Current anti-malware solutions often have very serious limitations and malware is becoming more apt to take advantage of them. In this paper, we present DDefender, a user-friendly application that detects Android malicious applications on device. DDefender is a comprehensive solution that utilizes static and dynamic analysis techniques to extract features from the user's device, then applies deep learning algorithm to detect malicious applications. At first, we use dynamic analysis to extract system calls, system information, network traffics, and requested permissions of an inspected application. Then we use static analysis to extract significant features from the inspected application such as application's components. By utilizing neural network and a large feature set of 1007 features, we evaluated our system with 4208 applications (2104 benign applications and 2104 malicious applications) and we achieved up to 95% accuracy.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d7793313ab21020e79e41817b8372ee8",
"text": "We present a new approach to referring expression generation, casting it as a density estimation problem where the goal is to learn distributions over logical expressions identifying sets of objects in the world. Despite an extremely large space of possible expressions, we demonstrate effective learning of a globally normalized log-linear distribution. This learning is enabled by a new, multi-stage approximate inference technique that uses a pruning model to construct only the most likely logical forms. We train and evaluate the approach on a new corpus of references to sets of visual objects. Experiments show the approach is able to learn accurate models, which generate over 87% of the expressions people used. Additionally, on the previously studied special case of single object reference, we show a 35% relative error reduction over previous state of the art.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5c0dea7721a5f63a11fe4df28c60d64f",
"text": "INTRODUCTION\nReducing postoperative opioid consumption is a priority given its impact upon recovery, and the efficacy of ketamine as an opioid-sparing agent in children is debated. The goal of this study was to update a previous meta-analysis on the postoperative opioid-sparing effect of ketamine, adding trial sequential analysis (TSA) and four new studies.\n\n\nMATERIALS AND METHODS\nA comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify clinical trials that examined ketamine as a perioperative opioid-sparing agent in children and infants. Outcomes measured were postoperative opioid consumption to 48 h (primary outcome: postoperative opioid consumption to 24 h), postoperative pain intensity, postoperative nausea and vomiting and psychotomimetic symptoms. The data were combined to calculate the pooled mean difference, odds ratios or standard mean differences. In addition to this classical meta-analysis approach, a TSA was performed.\n\n\nRESULTS\nEleven articles were identified, with four added to seven from the previous meta-analysis. Ketamine did not exhibit a global postoperative opioid-sparing effect to 48 postoperative hours, nor did it decrease postoperative pain intensity. This result was confirmed using TSA, which found a lack of power to draw any conclusion regarding the primary outcome of this meta-analysis (postoperative opioid consumption to 24 h). Ketamine did not increase the prevalence of either postoperative nausea and vomiting or psychotomimetic complications.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThis meta-analysis did not find a postoperative opioid-sparing effect of ketamine. According to the TSA, this negative result might involve a lack of power of this meta-analysis. Further studies are needed in order to assess the postoperative opioid-sparing effects of ketamine in children.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ac3f855e898d1abe170d0cc5d99851b2",
"text": "OBJECTIVE\nTo evaluate the effectiveness of intervention programs at the workplace or elsewhere aimed at preventing burnout, a leading cause of work related mental health impairment.\n\n\nMETHODS\nA systematic search of burnout intervention studies was conducted in the databases Medline, PsycINFO and PSYNDEX from 1995 to 2007. Data was also extracted from papers found through a hand search.\n\n\nRESULTS\nA total of 25 primary intervention studies were reviewed. Seventeen (68%) were person-directed interventions, 2 (8%) were organization-directed and 6 (24%) were a combination of both interventions types. Eighty percent of all programs led to a reduction in burnout. Person-directed interventions reduced burnout in the short term (6 months or less), while a combination of both person- and organization-directed interventions had longer lasting positive effects (12 months and over). In all cases, positive intervention effects diminished in the course of time.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nIntervention programs against burnout are beneficial and can be enhanced with refresher courses. Better implemented programs including both person- and organization-directed measures should be offered and evaluated.\n\n\nPRACTICE IMPLICATIONS\nA combination of both intervention types should be further investigated, optimized and practiced. Institutions should recognize the need for and make burnout intervention programs available to employees.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "338324ca3b3d89dc5e0d340cffd069d9",
"text": "Selected hedge funds employ trend-following strategies in an attempt to achieve superior risk adjusted returns. We employ a lookback straddle approach for evaluating the return characteristics of a trend following strategy. The strategies can improve investor performance in the context of a multi-period dynamic portfolio model. The gains are achieved by taking advantage of the funds’ high level of volatility. A set of empirical results confirms the advantages of the lookback straddle for investors at the top end of the multi-period efficient frontier.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "efc7adc3963e7ccb0e2f1297a81005b2",
"text": "data types Reasoning Englis guitarists Academic degrees Companies establishe... Cubes Internet radio Loc l authorities ad... Figure 5: Topic coverage of LAK data graph for the individual resources. 5. RELATED WORK Cobo et al.[3] presents an analysis of student participation in online discussion forums using an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm, and explore the profiles to find relevant activity patterns and detect different student profiles. Barber et al. [1] uses a predictive analytic model to prevent students from failing in courses. They analyze several variables, such as grades, age, attendance and others, that can impede the student learning.Kahn et al. [7] present a long-term study using hierarchical cluster analysis, t-tests and Pearson correlation that identified seven behavior patterns of learners in online discussion forums based on their access. García-Solórzano et al. [6] introduce a new educational monitoring tool that helps tutors to monitor the development of the students. Unlike traditional monitoring systems, they propose a faceted browser visualization tool to facilitate the analysis of the student progress. Glass [8] provides a versatile visualization tool to enable the creation of additional visualizations of data collections. Essa et al. [4] utilize predictive models to identify learners academically at-risk. They present the problem with an interesting analogy to the patient-doctor workflow, where first they identify the problem, analyze the situation and then prescribe courses that are indicated to help the student to succeed. Siadaty et al.[13] present the Learn-B environment, a hub system that captures information about the users usage in different softwares and learning activities in their workplace and present to the user feedback to support future decisions, planning and accompanies them in the learning process. In the same way, McAuley et al. [9] propose a visual analytics to support organizational learning in online communities. They present their analysis through an adjacency matrix and an adjustable timeline that show the communication-actions of the users and is able to organize it into temporal patterns. Bramucci et al. [2] presents Sherpa an academic recommendation system to support students on making decisions. For instance, using the learner profiles they recommend courses or make interventions in case that students are at-risk. In the related work, we showed how different perspectives and the necessity of new tools and methods to make data available and help decision-makers. 6. CONCLUSION In this paper we presented the main features of the Cite4Me Web application. Cite4Me makes use of several data sources to provide information for users interested on scientific publications and its applications. Additionally, we provided a general framework on data discovery and correlated resources based on a constructed feature set, consisting of items extracted from reference datasets. It made possible for users, to search and relate resources from a dataset with other resources offered as Linked Data. For more information about the Cite4Me Web application refer to http://www.cite4me.com. 7. REFERENCES [1] R. Barber and M. Sharkey. Course correction: using analytics to predict course success. In Proc. of the 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, LAK ’12, pages 259–262, New York, NY, USA, 2012. ACM. [2] R. Bramucci and J. Gaston. Sherpa: increasing student success with a recommendation engine. In Proc. of the 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, LAK ’12, pages 82–83, New York, NY, USA, 2012. ACM. [3] G. Cobo, D. García-Solórzano, J. A. Morán, E. Santamaría, C. Monzo, and J. Melenchón. Using agglomerative hierarchical clustering to model learner participation profiles in online discussion forums. In Proc. of the 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, LAK ’12, pages 248–251, New York, NY, USA, 2012. ACM. [4] A. Essa and H. Ayad. Student success system: risk analytics and data visualization using ensembles of predictive models. In Proc. of the 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, LAK ’12, pages 158–161, New York, NY, USA, 2012. ACM. [5] E. Gabrilovich and S. Markovitch. Computing semantic relatedness using wikipedia-based explicit semantic analysis. In Proc. of the 20th international joint conference on Artifical intelligence, IJCAI’07, pages 1606–1611, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2007. Morgan Kaufmann Pub. Inc. [6] D. García-Solórzano, G. Cobo, E. Santamaría, J. A. Morán, C. Monzo, and J. Melenchón. Educational monitoring tool based on faceted browsing and data portraits. In Proc. of the 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, LAK ’12, pages 170–178, New York, NY, USA, 2012. ACM. [7] T. M. Khan, F. Clear, and S. S. Sajadi. The relationship between educational performance and online access routines: analysis of students’ access to an online discussion forum. In Proc. of the 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, LAK ’12, pages 226–229, New York, NY, USA, 2012. ACM. [8] D. Leony, A. Pardo, L. de la Fuente Valentín, D. S. de Castro, and C. D. Kloos. Glass: a learning analytics visualization tool. In Proc. of the 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, LAK ’12, pages 162–163, New York, NY, USA, 2012. ACM. [9] J. McAuley, A. O’Connor, and D. Lewis. Exploring reflection in online communities. In Proc. of the 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, LAK ’12, pages 102–110, New York, NY, USA, 2012. ACM. [10] P. N. Mendes, M. Jakob, A. García-Silva, and C. Bizer. Dbpedia spotlight: shedding light on the web of documents. In Proc. of the 7th International Conference on Semantic Systems, I-Semantics ’11, pages 1–8, New York, NY, USA, 2011. ACM. [11] B. Pereira Nunes, S. Dietze, M. A. Casanova, R. Kawase, B. Fetahu, and W. Nejdl. Combining a co-occurrence-based and a semantic measure for entity linking. In ESWC, 2013 (to appear). [12] B. Pereira Nunes, R. Kawase, S. Dietze, D. Taibi, M. A. Casanova, and W. Nejdl. Can entities be friends? In G. Rizzo, P. Mendes, E. Charton, S. Hellmann, and A. Kalyanpur, editors, Proc. of the Web of Linked Entities Workshop in conjuction with the 11th International Semantic Web Conference, volume 906 of CEUR-WS.org, pages 45–57, Nov. 2012. [13] M. Siadaty, D. Gašević, J. Jovanović, N. Milikić, Z. Jeremić, L. Ali, A. Giljanović, and M. Hatala. Learn-b: a social analytics-enabled tool for self-regulated workplace learning. In Proc. of the 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, LAK ’12, pages 115–119, New York, NY, USA, 2012. ACM. [14] C. van Rijsbergen, S. Robertson, and M. Porter. New models in probabilistic information retrieval. 1980.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2cd2a85598c0c10176a34c0bd768e533",
"text": "BACKGROUND\nApart from skills, and knowledge, self-efficacy is an important factor in the students' preparation for clinical work. The Physiotherapist Self-Efficacy (PSE) questionnaire was developed to measure physical therapy (TP) students' self-efficacy in the cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neurological clinical areas. The aim of this study was to establish the measurement properties of the Dutch PSE questionnaire, and to explore whether self-efficacy beliefs in students are clinical area specific.\n\n\nMETHODS\nMethodological quality of the PSE was studied using COSMIN guidelines. Item analysis, structural validity, and internal consistency of the PSE were determined in 207 students. Test-retest reliability was established in another sample of 60 students completing the PSE twice. Responsiveness of the scales was determined in 80 students completing the PSE at the start and the end of the second year. Hypothesis testing was used to determine construct validity of the PSE.\n\n\nRESULTS\nExploratory factor analysis resulted in three meaningful components explaining similar proportions of variance (25%, 21%, and 20%), reflecting the three clinical areas. Internal consistency of each of the three subscales was excellent (Cronbach's alpha > .90). Intra Class Correlation Coefficient was good (.80). Hypothesis testing confirmed construct validity of the PSE.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nThe PSE shows excellent measurement properties. The component structure of the PSE suggests that self-efficacy about physiotherapy in PT students is not generic, but specific for a clinical area. As self-efficacy is considered a predictor of performance in clinical settings, enhancing self-efficacy is an explicit goal of educational interventions. Further research is needed to determine if the scale is specific enough to assess the effect of educational interventions on student self-efficacy.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "50970d5eccdccba4e8c7e364944c5fbc",
"text": "Most of the existing works on person re-identification have focused on improving matching rate at top ranks. Few efforts are devoted to address the problem of efficient storage and fast search for person re-identification. In this paper, we investigate the prevailing hashing method, originally designed for large scale image retrieval, for fast person re-identification with efficient storage. We propose a novel hashing approach, namely Distance Metric Learning to Discrete Hashing (DMLDH), which jointly learns a discriminative projection via metric learning to alleviate cross-view variations, and a hashing function for discriminative binary coding by minimizing inner-class Hamming distances and maximizing inter-class Hamming distances. To deal with the formulated non-convex optimization problem, we develop an alternative iteration algorithm by solving several subproblems with analytical solutions. Experimental results on benchmarks demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art hashing approaches.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "59681da45f9e3e466eb38c266ff1e0b8",
"text": "Emotional suppression has been associated with generally negative social consequences (Butler et al., 2003; Gross & John, 2003). A cultural perspective suggests, however, that these consequences may be moderated by cultural values. We tested this hypothesis in a two-part study, and found that, for Americans holding Western-European values, habitual suppression was associated with self-protective goals and negative emotion. In addition, experimentally elicited suppression resulted in reduced interpersonal responsiveness during face-to-face interaction, along with negative partner-perceptions and hostile behavior. These deleterious effects were reduced when individuals with more Asian values suppressed, and these reductions were mediated by cultural differences in the responsiveness of the suppressors. These findings suggest that many of suppression's negative social impacts may be moderated by cultural values.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b08023089abd684d26fabefb038cc9fa",
"text": "IMSI catching is a problem on all generations of mobile telecommunication networks, i.e., 2G (GSM, GPRS), 3G (HDSPA, EDGE, UMTS) and 4G (LTE, LTE+). Currently, the SIM card of a mobile phone has to reveal its identity over an insecure plaintext transmission, before encryption is enabled. This identifier (the IMSI) can be intercepted by adversaries that mount a passive or active attack. Such identity exposure attacks are commonly referred to as 'IMSI catching'. Since the IMSI is uniquely identifying, unauthorized exposure can lead to various location privacy attacks. We propose a solution, which essentially replaces the IMSIs with changing pseudonyms that are only identifiable by the home network of the SIM's own network provider. Consequently, these pseudonyms are unlinkable by intermediate network providers and malicious adversaries, and therefore mitigate both passive and active attacks, which we also formally verified using ProVerif. Our solution is compatible with the current specifications of the mobile standards and therefore requires no change in the infrastructure or any of the already massively deployed network equipment. The proposed method only requires limited changes to the SIM and the authentication server, both of which are under control of the user's network provider. Therefore, any individual (virtual) provider that distributes SIM cards and controls its own authentication server can deploy a more privacy friendly mobile network that is resilient against IMSI catching attacks.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "af6cd7f5448acab7cf569b88eb5b3859",
"text": "Advances in wireless sensor network (WSN) technology has provided the availability of small and low-cost sensor nodes with capability of sensing various types of physical and environmental conditions, data processing, and wireless communication. Variety of sensing capabilities results in profusion of application areas. However, the characteristics of wireless sensor networks require more effective methods for data forwarding and processing. In WSN, the sensor nodes have a limited transmission range, and their processing and storage capabilities as well as their energy resources are also limited. Routing protocols for wireless sensor networks are responsible for maintaining the routes in the network and have to ensure reliable multi-hop communication under these conditions. In this paper, we give a survey of routing protocols for Wireless Sensor Network and compare their strengths and limitations.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "095fa44019b071dc842779a7f22a2f8a",
"text": "The high-voltage gain converter is widely employed in many industry applications, such as photovoltaic systems, fuel cell systems, electric vehicles, and high-intensity discharge lamps. This paper presents a novel single-switch high step-up nonisolated dc-dc converter integrating coupled inductor with extended voltage doubler cell and diode-capacitor techniques. The proposed converter achieves extremely large voltage conversion ratio with appropriate duty cycle and reduction of voltage stress on the power devices. Moreover, the energy stored in leakage inductance of coupled inductor is efficiently recycled to the output, and the voltage doubler cell also operates as a regenerative clamping circuit, alleviating the problem of potential resonance between the leakage inductance and the junction capacitor of output diode. These characteristics make it possible to design a compact circuit with high static gain and high efficiency for industry applications. In addition, the unexpected high-pulsed input current in the converter with coupled inductor is decreased. The operating principles and the steady-state analyses of the proposed converter are discussed in detail. Finally, a prototype circuit is implemented in the laboratory to verify the performance of the proposed converter.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a6099b515198a9c09e5a7b772bcef412",
"text": "The foundation, accomplishments, and proliferation of behavior therapy have been fueled largely by the movement's grounding in behavioral principles and theories. Ivan P. Pavlov's discovery of conditioning principles was essential to the founding of behavior therapy in the 1950s and continues to be central to modern behavior therapy. Pavlov's major legacy to behavior therapy was his discovery of \"experimental neuroses\", shown by his students M.N. Eroféeva and N.R. Shenger-Krestovnikova to be produced and eliminated through the principles of conditioning and counterconditioning. In this article, the Pavlovian origins of behavior therapy are assessed, and the relevance of conditioning principles to modern behavior therapy are analyzed. It is shown that Pavlovian conditioning represents far more than a systematic basic learning paradigm. It is also an essential theoretical foundation for the theory and practice of behavior therapy.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "eec819447de1d6482f9ff4a04fb73782",
"text": "Estimating the travel time of any path (denoted by a sequence of connected road segments) in a city is of great importance to traffic monitoring, route planning, ridesharing, taxi/Uber dispatching, etc. However, it is a very challenging problem, affected by diverse complex factors, including spatial correlations, temporal dependencies, external conditions (e.g. weather, traffic lights). Prior work usually focuses on estimating the travel times of individual road segments or sub-paths and then summing up these times, which leads to an inaccurate estimation because such approaches do not consider road intersections/traffic lights, and local errors may accumulate. To address these issues, we propose an end-to-end Deep learning framework for Travel Time Estimation (called DeepTTE) that estimates the travel time of the whole path directly. More specifically, we present a geo-convolution operation by integrating the geographic information into the classical convolution, capable of capturing spatial correlations. By stacking recurrent unit on the geo-convoluton layer, our DeepTTE can capture the temporal dependencies as well. A multi-task learning component is given on the top of DeepTTE, that learns to estimate the travel time of both the entire path and each local path simultaneously during the training phase. Extensive experiments on two trajectory datasets show our DeepTTE significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6973231128048ac2ca5bce0121bf6d95",
"text": "PURPOSE\nThe aim of this study is to analyse the grip force distribution for different prosthetic hand designs and the human hand fulfilling a functional task.\n\n\nMETHOD\nA cylindrical object is held with a power grasp and the contact forces are measured at 20 defined positions. The distributions of contact forces in standard electric prostheses, in a experimental prosthesis with an adaptive grasp, and in human hands as a reference are analysed and compared. Additionally, the joint torques are calculated and compared.\n\n\nRESULTS\nContact forces of up to 24.7 N are applied by the middle and distal phalanges of the index finger, middle finger, and thumb of standard prosthetic hands, whereas forces of up to 3.8 N are measured for human hands. The maximum contact forces measured in a prosthetic hand with an adaptive grasp are 4.7 N. The joint torques of human hands and the adaptive prosthesis are comparable.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe analysis of grip force distribution is proposed as an additional parameter to rate the performance of different prosthetic hand designs.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "94aeb6dad00f174f89b709feab3db21f",
"text": "We present a novel approach to the automatic acquisition of taxonomies or concept hierarchies from a text corpus. The approach is based on Formal Concept Analysis (FCA), a method mainly used for the analysis of data, i.e. for investigating and processing explicitly given information. We follow Harris’ distributional hypothesis and model the context of a certain term as a vector representing syntactic dependencies which are automatically acquired from the text corpus with a linguistic parser. On the basis of this context information, FCA produces a lattice that we convert into a special kind of partial order constituting a concept hierarchy. The approach is evaluated by comparing the resulting concept hierarchies with hand-crafted taxonomies for two domains: tourism and finance. We also directly compare our approach with hierarchical agglomerative clustering as well as with Bi-Section-KMeans as an instance of a divisive clustering algorithm. Furthermore, we investigate the impact of using different measures weighting the contribution of each attribute as well as of applying a particular smoothing technique to cope with data sparseness.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36af986f61252f221a8135e80fe6432d",
"text": "This chapter considers a set of questions at the interface of the study of intuitive theories, causal knowledge, and problems of inductive inference. By an intuitive theory, we mean a cognitive structure that in some important ways is analogous to a scientific theory. It is becoming broadly recognized that intuitive theories play essential roles in organizing our most basic knowledge of the world, particularly for causal structures in physical, biological, psychological or social domains (Atran, 1995; Carey, 1985a; Kelley, 1973; McCloskey, 1983; Murphy & Medin, 1985; Nichols & Stich, 2003). A principal function of intuitive theories in these domains is to support the learning of new causal knowledge: generating and constraining people’s hypotheses about possible causal relations, highlighting variables, actions and observations likely to be informative about those hypotheses, and guiding people’s interpretation of the data they observe (Ahn & Kalish, 2000; Pazzani, 1987; Pazzani, Dyer & Flowers, 1986; Waldmann, 1996). Leading accounts of cognitive development argue for the importance of intuitive theories in children’s mental lives and frame the major transitions of cognitive development as instances of theory change (Carey, 1985a; Gopnik & Meltzoff, 1997; Inagaki & Hatano 2002; Wellman & Gelman, 1992). Here we attempt to lay out some prospects for understanding the structure, function, and acquisition of intuitive theories from a rational computational perspective. From this viewpoint, theory-like representations are not just a convenient way of summarizing certain aspects of human knowledge. They provide crucial foundations for successful learning and reasoning, and we want to understand how they do so. With this goal in mind, we focus on",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f11ff738aaf7a528302e6ec5ed99c43c",
"text": "Vehicles equipped with GPS localizers are an important sensory device for examining people’s movements and activities. Taxis equipped with GPS localizers serve the transportation needs of a large number of people driven by diverse needs; their traces can tell us where passengers were picked up and dropped off, which route was taken, and what steps the driver took to find a new passenger. In this article, we provide an exhaustive survey of the work on mining these traces. We first provide a formalization of the data sets, along with an overview of different mechanisms for preprocessing the data. We then classify the existing work into three main categories: social dynamics, traffic dynamics and operational dynamics. Social dynamics refers to the study of the collective behaviour of a city’s population, based on their observed movements; Traffic dynamics studies the resulting flow of the movement through the road network; Operational dynamics refers to the study and analysis of taxi driver’s modus operandi. We discuss the different problems currently being researched, the various approaches proposed, and suggest new avenues of research. Finally, we present a historical overview of the research work in this field and discuss which areas hold most promise for future research.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
0d0520a502cb90e90a39c1046a61623b | NLP for answer extraction in technical domains | [
{
"docid": "485cda7203863d2ff0b2070ca61b1126",
"text": "Interestingly, understanding natural language that you really wait for now is coming. It's significant to wait for the representative and beneficial books to read. Every book that is provided in better way and utterance will be expected by many peoples. Even you are a good reader or not, feeling to read this book will always appear when you find it. But, when you feel hard to find it as yours, what to do? Borrow to your friends and don't know when to give back it to her or him.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "7411ae149016be794566261d7362f7d3",
"text": "BACKGROUND\nProcrastination, to voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse-off for the delay, is a persistent behavior pattern that can cause major psychological suffering. Approximately half of the student population and 15%-20% of the adult population are presumed having substantial difficulties due to chronic and recurrent procrastination in their everyday life. However, preconceptions and a lack of knowledge restrict the availability of adequate care. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is often considered treatment of choice, although no clinical trials have previously been carried out.\n\n\nOBJECTIVE\nThe aim of this study will be to test the effects of CBT for procrastination, and to investigate whether it can be delivered via the Internet.\n\n\nMETHODS\nParticipants will be recruited through advertisements in newspapers, other media, and the Internet. Only people residing in Sweden with access to the Internet and suffering from procrastination will be included in the study. A randomized controlled trial with a sample size of 150 participants divided into three groups will be utilized. The treatment group will consist of 50 participants receiving a 10-week CBT intervention with weekly therapist contact. A second treatment group with 50 participants receiving the same treatment, but without therapist contact, will also be employed. The intervention being used for the current study is derived from a self-help book for procrastination written by one of the authors (AR). It includes several CBT techniques commonly used for the treatment of procrastination (eg, behavioral activation, behavioral experiments, stimulus control, and psychoeducation on motivation and different work methods). A control group consisting of 50 participants on a wait-list control will be used to evaluate the effects of the CBT intervention. For ethical reasons, the participants in the control group will gain access to the same intervention following the 10-week treatment period, albeit without therapist contact.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe current study is believed to result in three important findings. First, a CBT intervention is assumed to be beneficial for people suffering from problems caused by procrastination. Second, the degree of therapist contact will have a positive effect on treatment outcome as procrastination can be partially explained as a self-regulatory failure. Third, an Internet based CBT intervention is presumed to be an effective way to administer treatment for procrastination, which is considered highly important, as the availability of adequate care is limited. The current study is therefore believed to render significant knowledge on the treatment of procrastination, as well as providing support for the use of Internet based CBT for difficulties due to delayed tasks and commitments.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nTo our knowledge, the current study is the first clinical trial to examine the effects of CBT for procrastination, and is assumed to render significant knowledge on the treatment of procrastination, as well as investigating whether it can be delivered via the Internet.\n\n\nTRIAL REGISTRATION\nClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01842945; http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01842945 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6KSmaXewC).",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "162823edcbd50579a1d386f88931d59d",
"text": "Elevated liver enzymes are a common scenario encountered by physicians in clinical practice. For many physicians, however, evaluation of such a problem in patients presenting with no symptoms can be challenging. Evidence supporting a standardized approach to evaluation is lacking. Although alterations of liver enzymes could be a normal physiological phenomenon in certain cases, it may also reflect potential liver injury in others, necessitating its further assessment and management. In this article, we provide a guide to primary care clinicians to interpret abnormal elevation of liver enzymes in asymptomatic patients using a step-wise algorithm. Adopting a schematic approach that classifies enzyme alterations on the basis of pattern (hepatocellular, cholestatic and isolated hyperbilirubinemia), we review an approach to abnormal alteration of liver enzymes within each section, the most common causes of enzyme alteration, and suggest initial investigations.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "68257960bdbc6c4f326108ee7ba3e756",
"text": "In computer vision pixelwise dense prediction is the task of predicting a label for each pixel in the image. Convolutional neural networks achieve good performance on this task, while being computationally efficient. In this paper we carry these ideas over to the problem of assigning a sequence of labels to a set of speech frames, a task commonly known as framewise classification. We show that dense prediction view of framewise classification offers several advantages and insights, including computational efficiency and the ability to apply batch normalization. When doing dense prediction we pay specific attention to strided pooling in time and introduce an asymmetric dilated convolution, called time-dilated convolution, that allows for efficient and elegant implementation of pooling in time. We show that by using time-dilated convolutions with a very deep VGG-style CNN with batch normalization, we achieve best published single model accuracy result on the switchboard-2000 benchmark dataset.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "945b2067076bd47485b39c33fb062ec1",
"text": "Computation of floating-point transcendental functions has a relevant importance in a wide variety of scientific applications, where the area cost, error and latency are important requirements to be attended. This paper describes a flexible FPGA implementation of a parameterizable floating-point library for computing sine, cosine, arctangent and exponential functions using the CORDIC algorithm. The novelty of the proposed architecture is that by sharing the same resources the CORDIC algorithm can be used in two operation modes, allowing it to compute the sine, cosine or arctangent functions. Additionally, in case of the exponential function, the architectures change automatically between the CORDIC or a Taylor approach, which helps to improve the precision characteristics of the circuit, specifically for small input values after the argument reduction. Synthesis of the circuits and an experimental analysis of the errors have demonstrated the correctness and effectiveness of the implemented cores and allow the designer to choose, for general-purpose applications, a suitable bit-width representation and number of iterations of the CORDIC algorithm.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c6514a40f1c4ef55cb34336be9b968a",
"text": "This survey (N1⁄4 224) found that characteristics collectively known as the Dark Triad (i.e. narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism) were correlated with various dimensions of short-term mating but not long-term mating. The link between the Dark Triad and shortterm mating was stronger for men than for women. The Dark Triad partially mediated the sex difference in short-term mating behaviour. Findings are consistent with a view that the Dark Triad facilitates an exploitative, short-term mating strategy in men. Possible implications, including that Dark Triad traits represent a bundle of individual differences that promote a reproductively adaptive strategy are discussed. Findings are discussed in the broad context of how an evolutionary approach to personality psychology can enhance our understanding of individual differences. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8de601698db75c865bb84f69e48b399c",
"text": "Increasingly, software systems should self-adapt to satisfy new requirements and environmental conditions that may arise after deployment. Due to their high complexity, adaptive programs are difficult to specify, design, verify, and validate. Moreover, the current lack of reusable design expertise that can be leveraged from one adaptive system to another further exacerbates the problem. We studied over thirty adaptation-related research and project implementations available from the literature and open sources to harvest adaptation-oriented design patterns that support the development of adaptive systems. These adaptation-oriented patterns facilitate the separate development of the functional and adaptive logic. In order to support the assurance of adaptive systems, each design pattern includes templates that formally specify invariant properties of adaptive systems. To demonstrate their usefulness, we have applied a subset of our adaptation-oriented patterns to the design and implementation of ZAP.com, an adaptive news web server.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "764b13c0c5c8134edad4fac65af356d6",
"text": "This thesis introduces new methods for statistically modelling text using topic models. Topic models have seen many successes in recent years, and are used in a variety of applications, including analysis of news articles, topic-based search interfaces and navigation tools for digital libraries. Despite these recent successes, the field of topic modelling is still relatively new and there remains much to be explored. One noticeable absence from most of the previous work on topic modelling is consideration of language and document structure—from low-level structures, including word order and syntax, to higher-level structures, such as relationships between documents. The focus of this thesis is therefore structured topic models—models that combine latent topics with information about document structure, ranging from local sentence structure to inter-document relationships. These models draw on techniques from Bayesian statistics, including hierarchical Dirichlet distributions and processes, Pitman-Yor processes, and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. Several methods for estimating the parameters of Dirichlet-multinomial distributions are also compared. The main contribution of this thesis is the introduction of three structured topic models. The first is a topic-based language model. This model captures both word order and latent topics by extending a Bayesian topic model to incorporate n-gram statistics. A bigram version of the new model does better at predicting future words than either a topic model or a trigram language model. It also provides interpretable topics. The second model arises from a Bayesian reinterpretation of a classic generative dependency parsing model. The new model demonstrates that parsing performance can be substantially improved by a careful choice of prior and by sampling hyperparameters. Additionally, the generative nature of the model facilitates the inclusion of latent state variables, which act as specialised part-of-speech tags or “syntactic topics”. The third is a model that captures high-level relationships between documents. This model uses nonparametric Bayesian priors and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to infer topic-based document clusters. The model assigns a higher probability to unseen test documents than either a clustering model without topics or a Bayesian topic model without document clusters. The model can be extended to incorporate author information, resulting in finer-grained clusters and better predictive performance.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a68a865a8a1a41573fd668b80f3a96a2",
"text": "The corpus callosum is the largest commissural white matter pathway that connects the hemispheres of the human brain. In this study, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed on subject groups with high-functioning autism and controls matched for age, handedness, IQ, and head size. DTI and volumetric measurements of the total corpus callosum and subregions (genu, body and splenium) were made and compared between groups. The results showed that there were significant differences in volume, fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, and radial diffusivity between groups. These group differences appeared to be driven by a subgroup of the autism group that had small corpus callosum volumes, high mean diffusivity, low anisotropy, and increased radial diffusivity. This subgroup had significantly lower performance IQ measures than either the other individuals with autism or the control subjects. Measurements of radial diffusivity also appeared to be correlated with processing speed measured during the performance IQ tests. The subgroup of autism subjects with high mean diffusivity and low fractional anisotropy appeared to cluster with the highest radial diffusivities and slowest processing speeds. These results suggest that the microstructure of the corpus callosum is affected in autism, which may be related to nonverbal cognitive performance.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cefb8cd5d5e934ccebfeb7691db916bd",
"text": "Visual speech recognition remains a challenging topic due to various speaking characteristics. This paper proposes a new approach for lipreading to recognize isolated speech segments (words, digits, phrases, etc.) using both of 2D image and depth data. The process of the proposed system is divided into three consecutive steps, namely, mouth region tracking and extraction, motion and appearance descriptors (HOG and MBH) computing, and classification using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) method. To evaluate the proposed approach, three public databases (MIRACL-VC, Ouluvs, and CUAVE) were used. Speaker dependent and speaker independent settings were considered in the evaluation experiments. The obtained recognition results demonstrate that lipreading can be performed effectively, and the proposed approach outperforms recent works in the literature for the speaker dependent setting while being competitive for the speaker independent setting.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "87e44334828cd8fd1447ab5c1b125ab3",
"text": "the guidance system. The types of steering commands vary depending on the phase of flight and the type of interceptor. For example, in the boost phase the flight control system may be designed to force the missile to track a desired flight-path angle or attitude. In the midcourse and terminal phases the system may be designed to track acceleration commands to effect an intercept of the target. This article explores several aspects of the missile flight control system, including its role in the overall missile system, its subsystems, types of flight control systems, design objectives, and design challenges. Also discussed are some of APL’s contributions to the field, which have come primarily through our role as Technical Direction Agent on a variety of Navy missile programs. he flight control system is a key element that allows the missile to meet its system performance requirements. The objective of the flight control system is to force the missile to achieve the steering commands developed by",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0ae071bc719fdaac34a59991e66ab2b8",
"text": "It has recently been shown in a brain-computer interface experiment that motor cortical neurons change their tuning properties selectively to compensate for errors induced by displaced decoding parameters. In particular, it was shown that the three-dimensional tuning curves of neurons whose decoding parameters were reassigned changed more than those of neurons whose decoding parameters had not been reassigned. In this article, we propose a simple learning rule that can reproduce this effect. Our learning rule uses Hebbian weight updates driven by a global reward signal and neuronal noise. In contrast to most previously proposed learning rules, this approach does not require extrinsic information to separate noise from signal. The learning rule is able to optimize the performance of a model system within biologically realistic periods of time under high noise levels. Furthermore, when the model parameters are matched to data recorded during the brain-computer interface learning experiments described above, the model produces learning effects strikingly similar to those found in the experiments.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4595c3661cdf3b38df430de48792af91",
"text": "Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) consists in an alternative to the static game balancing performed in game design. DDA is done during execution, tracking the player's performance and adjusting the game to present proper challenges to the player. This approach seems appropriate to increase the player entertainment, since it provides balanced challenges, avoiding boredom or frustration during the gameplay. This paper presents a mechanism to perform the dynamic difficulty adjustment during a game match. The idea is to dynamically change the game AI, adapting it to the player skills. We implemented three different AIs to match player behaviors: beginner, regular and experienced in the game Defense of the Ancient (DotA), a modification (MOD) of the game Warcraft III. We performed a series of experiments and, after comparing all results, the presented mechanism was able to keep up with the player's abilities on 85% of all experiments. The remaining 15% failed to suit the player's need because the adjustment did not occur on the right moment.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "550ac6565bf42f42ec35d63f8c3b1e01",
"text": "A fully planar ultrawideband phased array with wide scan and low cross-polarization performance is introduced. The array is based on Munk's implementation of the current sheet concept, but it employs a novel feeding scheme for the tightly coupled horizontal dipoles that enables simple PCB fabrication. This feeding eliminates the need for “cable organizers” and external baluns, and when combined with dual-offset dual-polarized lattice arrangements the array can be implemented in a modular, tile-based fashion. Simple physical explanations and circuit models are derived to explain the array's operation and guide the design process. The theory and insights are subsequently used to design an exemplary dual-polarized infinite array with 5:1 bandwidth and VSWR <; 2.1 at broadside, and cross-polarization ≈ -15 dB out to θ = 45° in the D- plane.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "12ab6cd295655942813812ac78c034d5",
"text": "While the question of whether the Arthropoda represent more than one phylum of animals is debatable, the jointed exoskeleton, a fundamental feature of arthropods, evolved independently in two groups that shared a worm-like common ancestor. The two major branches of Arthropoda, the primitively marine TCC and the primitively terrestrial (with one exception) Uniramia, independently arrived at arthropodization as the solution to the same problems of adaptation of the body mechanical system. New discoveries on trilobite anatomy show the unity of TCC as a group that shared a trilobite-like ancestor near the beginning of the Cambrian. With change in the constituency of Arthropoda through geologic time, the ways in which it would be categorized as a taxonomic group have also changed. The seeming isolation of the major modern arthropod groups is in large part an artifact of extinction of primitive intermediate forms such as trilobites which, in the Early Paleozoic, made the Arthropoda more diverse in basic modes of body organization than the group is at present. The appearance of fossilizable hard parts in arthropods resulted from shift in supporting function from the body cavity, primitively a hydrostatic skeleton, to the cuticle, which came to be strengthened in becoming an exoskeleton. Energetic efficiency, more than protection from predators or evolutionary size increase in itself, was probably the impetus behind the transition. On the scale provided by the general evolutionary trend toward progressive specialization of segments, TCC became arthropodized at earlier stages than did Uniramia. Among TCC, the shift may have been driven by the evolution of locomotory and feeding mechanisms that were exclusively geared to an aqueous medium.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ba964bfa07eba81cbc9cdff1dbdac675",
"text": "We present drawing on air, a haptic-aided input technique for drawing controlled 3D curves through space. Drawing on air addresses a control problem with current 3D modeling approaches based on sweeping movement of the hands through the air. Although artists praise the immediacy and intuitiveness of these systems, a lack of control makes it nearly impossible to create 3D forms beyond quick design sketches or gesture drawings. Drawing on air introduces two new strategies for more controlled 3D drawing: one-handed drag drawing and two-handed tape drawing. Both approaches have advantages for drawing certain types of curves. We describe a tangent preserving method for transitioning between the two techniques while drawing. Haptic-aided redrawing and line weight adjustment while drawing are also supported in both approaches. In a quantitative user study evaluation by illustrators, the one and two-handed techniques performed at roughly the same level and both significantly outperformed freehand drawing and freehand drawing augmented with a haptic friction effect. We present the design and results of this experiment, as well as user feedback from artists and 3D models created in a style of line illustration for challenging artistic and scientific subjects.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "304f4e48ac5d5698f559ae504fc825d9",
"text": "How the circadian clock regulates the timing of sleep is poorly understood. Here, we identify a Drosophila mutant, wide awake (wake), that exhibits a marked delay in sleep onset at dusk. Loss of WAKE in a set of arousal-promoting clock neurons, the large ventrolateral neurons (l-LNvs), impairs sleep onset. WAKE levels cycle, peaking near dusk, and the expression of WAKE in l-LNvs is Clock dependent. Strikingly, Clock and cycle mutants also exhibit a profound delay in sleep onset, which can be rescued by restoring WAKE expression in LNvs. WAKE interacts with the GABAA receptor Resistant to Dieldrin (RDL), upregulating its levels and promoting its localization to the plasma membrane. In wake mutant l-LNvs, GABA sensitivity is decreased and excitability is increased at dusk. We propose that WAKE acts as a clock output molecule specifically for sleep, inhibiting LNvs at dusk to promote the transition from wake to sleep.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a0cba009ac41ab57bdea75c1676715a6",
"text": "These notes provide a brief introduction to the theory of noncooperative differential games. After the Introduction, Section 2 reviews the theory of static games. Different concepts of solution are discussed, including Pareto optima, Nash and Stackelberg equilibria, and the co-co (cooperative-competitive) solutions. Section 3 introduces the basic framework of differential games for two players. Open-loop solutions, where the controls implemented by the players depend only on time, are considered in Section 4. It is shown that Nash and Stackelberg solutions can be computed by solving a two-point boundary value problem for a system of ODEs, derived from the Pontryagin maximum principle. Section 5 deals with solutions in feedback form, where the controls are allowed to depend on time and also on the current state of the system. In this case, the search for Nash equilibrium solutions usually leads to a highly nonlinear system of HamiltonJacobi PDEs. In dimension higher than one, this system is generically not hyperbolic and the Cauchy problem is thus ill posed. Due to this instability, closed-loop solutions to differential games are mainly considered in the special case with linear dynamics and quadratic costs. In Section 6, a game in continuous time is approximated by a finite sequence of static games, by a time discretization. Depending of the type of solution adopted in each static game, one obtains different concept of solutions for the original differential game. Section 7 deals with differential games in infinite time horizon, with exponentially discounted payoffs. In this case, the search for Nash solutions in feedback form leads to a system of time-independent H-J equations. Section 8 contains a simple example of a game with infinitely many players. This is intended to convey a flavor of the newly emerging theory of mean field games. Modeling issues, and directions of current research, are briefly discussed in Section 9. Finally, the Appendix collects background material on multivalued functions, selections and fixed point theorems, optimal control theory, and hyperbolic PDEs.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2e2960942966d92ac636fa0be2e9410e",
"text": "Clustering is a powerful technique for large-scale topic discovery from text. It involves two phases: first, feature extraction maps each document or record to a point in high-dimensional space, then clustering algorithms automatically group the points into a hierarchy of clusters. We describe an unsupervised, near-linear time text clustering system that offers a number of algorithm choices for each phase. We introduce a methodology for measuring the quality of a cluster hierarchy in terms of FMeasure, and present the results of experiments comparing different algorithms. The evaluation considers some feature selection parameters (tfidfand feature vector length) but focuses on the clustering algorithms, namely techniques from Scatter/Gather (buckshot, fractionation, and split/join) and kmeans. Our experiments suggest that continuous center adjustment contributes more to cluster quality than seed selection does. It follows that using a simpler seed selection algorithm gives a better time/quality tradeoff. We describe a refinement to center adjustment, “vector average damping,” that further improves cluster quality. We also compare the near-linear time algorithms to a group average greedy agglomerative clustering algorithm to demonstrate the time/quality tradeoff quantitatively.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "697ed30a5d663c1dda8be0183fa4a314",
"text": "Due to the Web expansion, the prediction of online news popularity is becoming a trendy research topic. In this paper, we propose a novel and proactive Intelligent Decision Support System (IDSS) that analyzes articles prior to their publication. Using a broad set of extracted features (e.g., keywords, digital media content, earlier popularity of news referenced in the article) the IDSS first predicts if an article will become popular. Then, it optimizes a subset of the articles features that can more easily be changed by authors, searching for an enhancement of the predicted popularity probability. Using a large and recently collected dataset, with 39,000 articles from the Mashable website, we performed a robust rolling windows evaluation of five state of the art models. The best result was provided by a Random Forest with a discrimination power of 73%. Moreover, several stochastic hill climbing local searches were explored. When optimizing 1000 articles, the best optimization method obtained a mean gain improvement of 15 percentage points in terms of the estimated popularity probability. These results attest the proposed IDSS as a valuable tool for online news authors.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "840c74cc9f558b3b246ae36502b6f315",
"text": "Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) have gained a lot of popularity from their introduction in 2014 till present. Research on GAN is rapidly growing and there are many variants of the original GAN focusing on various aspects of deep learning. GAN are perceived as the most impactful direction of machine learning in the last decade. This paper focuses on the application of GAN in autonomous driving including topics such as advanced data augmentation, loss function learning, semi-supervised learning, etc. We formalize and review key applications of adversarial techniques and discuss challenges and open problems to be addressed.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
942640a459894d40b213fec8b9802e38 | Traffic Light Control System Based on FPGA | [
{
"docid": "047884840541c826458e48cb8ef3995a",
"text": "— Traffic lights are the signaling devices used to manage traffic on multi-way road. These are positioned to control the competing flow of the traffic at the road intersections to avoid collisions. By displaying lights (red, yellow and green), they alternate the way of multi-road users.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4a3328f1220a9e0a732e959337253600",
"text": "In order to manage the traffic at the intersection, the traffic lights are often used. These lights are turned on and off at the predetermined time. Intelligent traffic control systems are designed to dynamically treat the problem of traffic and reduce traffic, pollution and transit time of vehicles at the intersection. In this paper we present a design of intelligent traffic control based on fuzzy logic. The input parameters for intelligent controller are selected with the various modes of intersections to be a true simulation of the intersection environment. In order to facilitate the hardware implementation and increasing the computational speed decision algorithm state machine in this system is written in Verilog language and has capability to implement in the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The simulation results show that the proposed traffic signal controller system (that has been) designed with fuzzy logic has better performance than other designed systems.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e53b56da0d9221528a8020bf422522ce",
"text": "This paper proposed a design of a modern FPGA-based Traffic Light Control (TLC) System to manage the road traffic. The approach is by controlling the access to areas shared among multiple intersections and allocating effective time between various users; during peak and off-peak hours. The implementation is based on real location in a city in Malaysia where the existing traffic light controller is a basic fixed-time method. This method is inefficient and almost always leads to traffic congestion during peak hours while drivers are given unnecessary waiting time during off-peak hours. The proposed design is a more universal and intelligent approach to the situation and has been implemented using FPGA. The system is implemented on ALTERA FLEX10K chip and simulation results are proven to be successful. Theoretically the waiting time for drivers during off-peak hours has been reduced further, therefore making the system better than the one being used at the moment. Future improvements include addition of other functions to the proposed design to suit various traffic conditions at different locations.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "9cc524d3b55c9522c6e9e89b2caeb787",
"text": "Operative and nonoperative treatment methods of burst fractures were compared regarding canal remodeling. The entire series consisted of 18 patients, with seven in the operative treatment group and 11 in the nonoperative treatment group. All fractures were studied with computed tomography (CT) at the postoperative (operative treatment group) or postinjury (nonoperative treatment group) and the latest follow-up. All patients were followed up for > or = 18 months. There was no statistical difference between postoperative and postinjury canal areas (p = 0.0859). However, a significant difference was found between the rates of remodeling (p = 0.0059). Although spinal canal remodeling occurred in both groups, the resorption of retropulsed fragments was less favorable in nonoperative treatment group.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c33b378e7a1088e2cc1d80449e64df6d",
"text": "This course will explore the various means that an intruder has available to gain access to computer resources. We will investigate weaknesses by discussing the theoretical background, and whenever possible, actually performing the attack. We will then discuss methods to prevent/reduce the vulnerabilities. This course is targeted specifically for Certified Ethical Hacking (CEH) exam candidates, matching the CEH exam objectives with the effective and popular Cert Guide method of study.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "75f838c394011d9aba30ab082d83a581",
"text": "A large number of enzyme inhibitors are used as drugs to treat several diseases such as gout, diabetes, AIDS, depression, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Electrochemical biosensors based on enzyme inhibition are useful devices for an easy, fast and environment friendly monitoring of inhibitors like drugs. In the last decades, electrochemical biosensors have shown great potentials in the detection of different drugs like neostigmine, ketoconazole, donepezil, allopurinol and many others. They attracted increasing attention due to the advantage of being high sensitive and accurate analytical tools, able to reach low detection limits and the possibility to be performed on real samples. This review will spotlight the research conducted in the past 10 years (2007-2017) on inhibition based enzymatic electrochemical biosensors for the analysis of different drugs. New assays based on novel bio-devices will be debated. Moreover, the exploration of the recent graphical approach in diagnosis of reversible and irreversible inhibition mechanism will be discussed. The accurate and the fast diagnosis of inhibition type will help researchers in further drug design improvements and the identification of new molecules that will serve as new enzyme targets.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a51f6eb6d2f52e94642467a3a65cd7ed",
"text": "Agriculture plays vital role in the development of agricultural country like India. Issues concerning agriculture have been always hindering the development of the country. The only solution to this problem is smart agriculture by modernizing the current traditional methods of agriculture. Hence the proposed method aims at making agriculture smart using automation and IoT technologies. Internet of Things (IoT) enables various applications crop growth monitoring and selection, irrigation decision support, etc. A Raspberry Pi based automatic irrigation IOT system is proposed to modernization and improves productivity of the crop. main aim of this work to crop development at low quantity water consumption, In order to focus on water available to the plants at the required time, for that purpose most of the farmers waste lot time in the fields. An efficient management of water should be developed and the system circuit complexity to be reduced. The proposed system developed on the information sent from the sensors and estimate the quantity of water needed. A two sensors are used to get the data to the base station the humidity and the temperature of the soil, the humidity, the temperature, and the duration of sunshine per day. The proposed systems based on these values and calculate the water quantity for irrigation is required. The major advantage the system is implementing of Precision Agriculture (PA) with cloud computing, that will optimize the usage of water fertilizers while maximizing the yield of the crops and also will help in analyzing the weather conditions of the field.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7413b87b42f71bba294f060c5a7fdfee",
"text": "Phase change memory (PCM) is one of the most promising technology among emerging non-volatile random access memory technologies. Implementing a cache memory using PCM provides many benefits such as high density, non-volatility, low leakage power, and high immunity to soft error. However, its disadvantages such as high write latency, high write energy, and limited write endurance prevent it from being used as a drop-in replacement of an SRAM cache. In this paper, we study a set of techniques to design an energy- and endurance-aware PCM cache. We also modeled the timing, energy, endurance, and area of PCM caches and integrated them into a PCM cache simulator to evaluate the techniques. Experiments show that our PCM cache design can achieve 8% of energy saving and 3.8 years of lifetime compared with a baseline PCM cache having less than a hour of lifetime.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "509731f3ae004c797c25add85faf6939",
"text": "Based on the real data of a Chinese commercial bank’s credit card, in this paper, we classify the credit card customers into four classifications by K-means. Then we built forecasting models separately based on four data mining methods such as C5.0, neural network, chi-squared automatic interaction detector, and classification and regression tree according to the background information of the credit cards holders. Conclusively, we obtain some useful information of decision tree regulation by the best model among the four. The information is not only helpful for the bank to understand related characteristics of different customers, but also marketing representatives to find potential customers and to implement target marketing.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "07c185c21c9ce3be5754294a73ab5e3c",
"text": "In order to support efficient workflow design, recent commercial workflow systems are providing templates of common business processes. These templates, called cases, can be modified individually or collectively into a new workflow to meet the business specification. However, little research has been done on how to manage workflow models, including issues such as model storage, model retrieval, model reuse and assembly. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to support workflow modeling and design by adapting workflow cases from a repository of process models. Our approach to workflow model management is based on a structured workflow lifecycle and leverages recent advances in model management and case-based reasoning techniques. Our contributions include a conceptual model of workflow cases, a similarity flooding algorithm for workflow case retrieval, and a domain-independent AI planning approach to workflow case composition. We illustrate the workflow model management framework with a prototype system called Case-Oriented Design Assistant for Workflow Modeling (CODAW). 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3ef70894ab9f80eeb7e5172eca3d4066",
"text": "BACKGROUND\nWhile physical activity has been shown to improve cognitive performance and well-being, office workers are essentially sedentary. We compared the effects of physical activity performed as (i) one bout in the morning or (ii) as microbouts spread out across the day to (iii) a day spent sitting, on mood and energy levels and cognitive function.\n\n\nMETHODS\nIn a randomized crossover trial, 30 sedentary adults completed each of three conditions: 6 h of uninterrupted sitting (SIT), SIT plus 30 min of moderate-intensity treadmill walking in the morning (ONE), and SIT plus six hourly 5-min microbouts of moderate-intensity treadmill walking (MICRO). Self-perceived energy, mood, and appetite were assessed with visual analog scales. Vigor and fatigue were assessed with the Profile of Mood State questionnaire. Cognitive function was measured using a flanker task and the Comprehensive Trail Making Test. Intervention effects were tested using linear mixed models.\n\n\nRESULTS\nBoth ONE and MICRO increased self-perceived energy and vigor compared to SIT (p < 0.05 for all). MICRO, but not ONE, improved mood, decreased levels of fatigue and reduced food cravings at the end of the day compared to SIT (p < 0.05 for all). Cognitive function was not significantly affected by condition.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nIn addition to the beneficial impact of physical activity on levels of energy and vigor, spreading out physical activity throughout the day improved mood, decreased feelings of fatigue and affected appetite. Introducing short bouts of activity during the workday of sedentary office workers is a promising approach to improve overall well-being at work without negatively impacting cognitive performance.\n\n\nTRIAL REGISTRATION\nNCT02717377 , registered 22 March 2016.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a03761cb260e132b4041d40b5a11137d",
"text": "Policy gradient is an efficient technique for improving a policy in a reinforcement learning setting. However, vanilla online variants are on-policy only and not able to take advantage of off-policy data. In this paper we describe a new technique that combines policy gradient with off-policy Q-learning, drawing experience from a replay buffer. This is motivated by making a connection between the fixed points of the regularized policy gradient algorithm and the Q-values. This connection allows us to estimate the Q-values from the action preferences of the policy, to which we apply Q-learning updates. We refer to the new technique as ‘PGQL’, for policy gradient and Q-learning. We also establish an equivalency between action-value fitting techniques and actor-critic algorithms, showing that regularized policy gradient techniques can be interpreted as advantage function learning algorithms. We conclude with some numerical examples that demonstrate improved data efficiency and stability of PGQL. In particular, we tested PGQL on the full suite of Atari games and achieved performance exceeding that of both asynchronous advantage actor-critic (A3C) and Q-learning.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "84aacf4b56891e70063e438b0dc35040",
"text": "The increasing availability and maturity of both scalable computing architectures and deep syntactic parsers is opening up new possibilities for Relation Extraction (RE) on large corpora of natural language text. In this paper, we present FREEPAL, a resource designed to assist with the creation of relation extractors for more than 5,000 relations defined in the FREEBASE knowledge base (KB). The resource consists of over 10 million distinct lexico-syntactic patterns extracted from dependency trees, each of which is assigned to one or more FREEBASE relations with different confidence strengths. We generate the resource by executing a large-scale distant supervision approach on the CLUEWEB09 corpus to extract and parse over 260 million sentences labeled with FREEBASE entities and relations. We make FREEPAL freely available to the research community, and present a web demonstrator to the dataset, accessible from free-pal.appspot.com.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f3b0bace6028b3d607618e2e53294704",
"text": "State-of-the art spoken language understanding models that automatically capture user intents in human to machine dialogs are trained with manually annotated data, which is cumbersome and time-consuming to prepare. For bootstrapping the learning algorithm that detects relations in natural language queries to a conversational system, one can rely on publicly available knowledge graphs, such as Freebase, and mine corresponding data from the web. In this paper, we present an unsupervised approach to discover new user intents using a novel Bayesian hierarchical graphical model. Our model employs search query click logs to enrich the information extracted from bootstrapped models. We use the clicked URLs as implicit supervision and extend the knowledge graph based on the relational information discovered from this model. The posteriors from the graphical model relate the newly discovered intents with the search queries. These queries are then used as additional training examples to complement the bootstrapped relation detection models. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, showing extended coverage to new intents without impacting the known intents.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4628128d1c5cf97fa538a8b750905632",
"text": "A large body of recent work on object detection has focused on exploiting 3D CAD model databases to improve detection performance. Many of these approaches work by aligning exact 3D models to images using templates generated from renderings of the 3D models at a set of discrete viewpoints. However, the training procedures for these approaches are computationally expensive and require gigabytes of memory and storage, while the viewpoint discretization hampers pose estimation performance. We propose an efficient method for synthesizing templates from 3D models that runs on the fly - that is, it quickly produces detectors for an arbitrary viewpoint of a 3D model without expensive dataset-dependent training or template storage. Given a 3D model and an arbitrary continuous detection viewpoint, our method synthesizes a discriminative template by extracting features from a rendered view of the object and decorrelating spatial dependences among the features. Our decorrelation procedure relies on a gradient-based algorithm that is more numerically stable than standard decomposition-based procedures, and we efficiently search for candidate detections by computing FFT-based template convolutions. Due to the speed of our template synthesis procedure, we are able to perform joint optimization of scale, translation, continuous rotation, and focal length using Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. We provide an efficient GPU implementation of our algorithm, and we validate its performance on 3D Object Classes and PASCAL3D+ datasets.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "11c319a0428d6180c42c15aa5fce5dbc",
"text": "Human image generation is a very challenging task since it is affected by many factors. Many human image generation methods focus on generating human images conditioned on a given pose, while the generated backgrounds are often blurred. In this paper, we propose a novel Partition-Controlled GAN to generate human images according to target pose and background. Firstly, human poses in the given images are extracted, and foreground/background are partitioned for further use. Secondly, we extract and fuse appearance features, pose features and background features to generate the desired images. Experiments on Market-1501 and DeepFashion datasets show that our model not only generates realistic human images but also produce the human pose and background as we want. Extensive experiments on COCO and LIP datasets indicate the potential of our method.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "33c6a2c96fcb8236c9ce40b2f1770d04",
"text": "Intelligent Personal Assistant (IPA) agents are software agents which assist users in performing specific tasks. They should be able to communicate, cooperate, discuss, and guide people. This paper presents a proposal to add Semantic Web Knowledge to IPA agents. In our solution, the IPA agent has a modular knowledge organization composed by four differentiated areas: (i) the rational area, which adds semantic web knowledge, (ii) the association area, which simplifies building appropriate responses, (iii) the commonsense area, which provides commonsense responses, and (iv) the behavioral area, which allows IPA agents to show empathy. Our main objective is to create more intelligent and more human alike IPA agents, enhancing the current abilities that these software agents provide.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f160dd844c54dafc8c5265ff0e4d4a05",
"text": "The increasing number of smart phones presents a significant opportunity for the development of m-payment services. Despite the predicted success of m-payment, the market remains immature in most countries. This can be explained by the lack of agreement on standards and business models for all stakeholders in m-payment ecosystem. In this paper, the STOF business model framework is employed to analyze m-payment services from the point of view of one of the key players in the ecosystem i.e., banks. We apply Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to analyze the critical design issues for four domains of the STOF model. The results of the analysis show that service domain is the most important, followed by technology, organization and finance domains. Security related issues are found to be the most important by bank representatives. The future research can be extended to the m-payment ecosystem by collecting data from different actors from the ecosystem.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f888c3a6c29735c04550522f1c384866",
"text": "Unpredictable node mobility, low node density, and lack of global information make it challenging to achieve effective data forwarding in Delay-Tolerant Networks (DTNs). Most of the current data forwarding schemes choose the nodes with the best cumulative capability of contacting others as relays to carry and forward data, but these nodes may not be the best relay choices within a short time period due to the heterogeneity of transient node contact characteristics. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to improve the performance of data forwarding with a short time constraint in DTNs by exploiting the transient social contact patterns. These patterns represent the transient characteristics of contact distribution, network connectivity and social community structure in DTNs, and we provide analytical formulations on these patterns based on experimental studies of realistic DTN traces. We then propose appropriate forwarding metrics based on these patterns to improve the effectiveness of data forwarding. When applied to various data forwarding strategies, our proposed forwarding metrics achieve much better performance compared to existing schemes with similar forwarding cost.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ea8d9c2b1f2285c17082dedda550afe",
"text": "Background: Medical profession has been always a noble and prestigious path but the endeavour behind it has been truly known by the persons who undergone the training of becoming a doctor. Medical students face many stresses in their academic life. This study is carried out to provide data and re-establish the effect of academic examination stress on the plasma cortisol levels. Methods: A longitudinal follow up study was carried out on the first MBBS medical students who were appearing for their first credit examination by measuring their plasma cortisol levels in pre-examination and post-examination stage in fasting condition. Serum Cortisol was estimated by using Byer’s Advia Centuse advanced Chemiluminescence’s technique with inbuilt calibrators and controls; the results obtained were statistically analysed using paired ‘t’ test. Results: On statistically analysing the results of our study we found that medical students in stage – I had significantly higher values of plasma cortisol than when they were in stage – II. Conclusion: The results cover a significant correlation of examination stress factors to changes in plasma cortisol values. It is important for medical students to use stress reducing measures, or reduce them as much as possible in order to avoid factors that can affect themselves and their patients in stressful way.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "be7a33cc59e8fb297c994d046c6874d9",
"text": "Purpose: Compressed sensing MRI (CS-MRI) from single and parallel coils is one of the powerful ways to reduce the scan time of MR imaging with performance guarantee. However, the computational costs are usually expensive. This paper aims to propose a computationally fast and accurate deep learning algorithm for the reconstruction of MR images from highly down-sampled k-space data. Theory: Based on the topological analysis, we show that the data manifold of the aliasing artifact is easier to learn from a uniform subsampling pattern with additional low-frequency k-space data. Thus, we develop deep aliasing artifact learning networks for the magnitude and phase images to estimate and remove the aliasing artifacts from highly accelerated MR acquisition. Methods: The aliasing artifacts are directly estimated from the distorted magnitude and phase images reconstructed from subsampled k-space data so that we can get an aliasing-free images by subtracting the estimated aliasing artifact from corrupted inputs. Moreover, to deal with the globally distributed aliasing artifact, we develop a multi-scale deep neural network with a large receptive field. Results: The experimental results confirm that the proposed deep artifact learning network effectively estimates and removes the aliasing artifacts. Compared to existing CS methods from single and multi-coli data, the proposed network shows minimal errors by removing the coherent aliasing artifacts. Furthermore, the computational time is by order of magnitude faster. Conclusion: As the proposed deep artifact learning network immediately generates accurate reconstruction, it has great potential for clinical applications.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2e597c8e4ff156eaa72a4981b81df8d",
"text": "OBJECTIVE\nAggregation and deposition of amyloid beta (Abeta) in the brain is thought to be central to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent studies suggest that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Abeta levels are strongly correlated with AD status and progression, and may be a meaningful endophenotype for AD. Mutations in presenilin 1 (PSEN1) are known to cause AD and change Abeta levels. In this study, we have investigated DNA sequence variation in the presenilin (PSEN1) gene using CSF Abeta levels as an endophenotype for AD.\n\n\nMETHODS\nWe sequenced the exons and flanking intronic regions of PSEN1 in clinically characterized research subjects with extreme values of CSF Abeta levels.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThis novel approach led directly to the identification of a disease-causing mutation in a family with late-onset AD.\n\n\nINTERPRETATION\nThis finding suggests that CSF Abeta may be a useful endophenotype for genetic studies of AD. Our results also suggest that PSEN1 mutations can cause AD with a large range in age of onset, spanning both early- and late-onset AD.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ef9a51b5b3a4bcab7867819070801e8a",
"text": "For any given research area, one cannot tell how many studies have been conducted but never reported. The extreme view of the \"file drawer problem\" is that journals are filled with the 5% of the studies that show Type I errors, while the file drawers are filled with the 95% of the studies that show nonsignificant results. Quantitative procedures for computing the tolerance for filed and future null results are reported and illustrated, and the implications are discussed.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
d5ad5f250b98106971163a3f6a576fac | A Blackboard Architecture for Control | [
{
"docid": "9049805c56c9b7fc212fdb4c7f85dfe1",
"text": "Intentions (6) Do all the important errands",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "d42ed4f231d51cacaf1f42de1c723c31",
"text": "A stepped circular waveguide dual-mode (SCWDM) filter is fully investigated in this paper, from its basic characteristic to design formula. As compared to a conventional circular waveguide dual-mode (CWDM) filter, it provides more freedoms for shifting and suppressing the spurious modes in a wide frequency band. This useful attribute can be used for a broadband waveguide contiguous output multiplexer (OMUX) in satellite payloads. The scaling factor for relating coupling value M to its corresponding impedance inverter K in a stepped cavity is derived for full-wave EM design. To validate the design technique, four design examples are presented. One challenging example is a wideband 17-channel Ku-band contiguous multiplexer with two SCWDM channel filters. A triplexer hardware covering the same included bandwidth is also designed and measured. The measurement results show excellent agreement with those of the theoretical EM designs, justifying the effectiveness of full-wave EM modal analysis. Comparing to the best possible design of conventional CWDM filters, at least 30% more spurious-free range in both Ku-band and C-band can be achieved by using SCWDM filters.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f24bb842dacf71c9cde6ab66abd1de8",
"text": "An appropriate aging description from face image is the prime influential factor in human age recognition, but still there is an absence of a specially engineered aging descriptor, which can characterize discernible facial aging cues (e.g., craniofacial growth, skin aging) from a detailed and more finer point of view. To address this issue, we propose a local face descriptor, directional age-primitive pattern (DAPP), which inherits discernible aging cue information and is functionally more robust and discriminative than existing local descriptors. We introduce three attributes for coding the DAPP description. First, we introduce Age-Primitives encoding aging related to the most crucial texture primitives, yielding a reasonable and clear aging definition. Second, we introduce an encoding concept dubbed as Latent Secondary Direction, which preserves compact structural information in the code avoiding uncertain codes. Third, a globally adaptive thresholding mechanism is initiated to facilitate more discrimination in a flat and textured region. We apply DAPP on separate age group recognition and age estimation tasks. Applying the same approach to both of these tasks is seldom explored in the literature. Carefully conducted experiments show that the proposed DAPP description outperforms the existing approaches by an acceptable margin.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bae1f44165387e086868efecf318ecd2",
"text": "Clustering graphs under the Stochastic Block Model (SBM) and extensions are well studied. Guarantees of correctness exist under the assumption that the data is sampled from a model. In this paper, we propose a framework, in which we obtain “correctness” guarantees without assuming the data comes from a model. The guarantees we obtain depend instead on the statistics of the data that can be checked. We also show that this framework ties in with the existing model-based framework, and that we can exploit results in model-based recovery, as well as strengthen the results existing in that area of research.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "561c41873eeb64ec13a5745f235d4fb4",
"text": "There are many studies that look into the relationship between public debt and economic growth. It is hard to find, however, research addressing the role of corruption between these two variables. Noticing this vacancy in current literature, we strive to investigate the effect of corruption on the relationship between public debt and economic growth. For this purpose, the pooled ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effects models and the dynamic panel generalized method of moments (GMM) models (Arellano-Bond, 1991) are estimated with data of 77 countries from 1990 to 2014. The empirical results show that the interaction term between public debt and corruption is statistically significant. This confirms the hypothesis that the effect of public debt on economic growth is a function of corruption. The sign of the marginal effect is negative in corrupt countries, but public debt enhances economic growth within countries that are not corrupt, i.e., highly transparent.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "65dd1979ebdcbeab073adfb2f4bfde77",
"text": "This review summarizes the current state of polymer composites used as dielectric materials for energy storage. The particular focus is on materials: polymers serving as the matrix, inorganic fillers used to increase the effective dielectric constant, and various recent investigations of functionalization of metal oxide fillers to improve compatibility with polymers. We review the recent literature focused on the dielectric characterization of composites, specifically the measurement of dielectric permittivity and breakdown field strength. Special attention is given to the analysis of the energy density of polymer composite materials and how the functionalization of the inorganic filler affects the energy density of polymer composite dielectric materials. OPEN ACCESS Materials 2009, 2 1698",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "447c5b2db5b1d7555cba2430c6d73a35",
"text": "Recent years have seen a proliferation of complex Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), in particular, for use in autonomous cars. These systems consist of sensors and cameras as well as image processing and decision support software components. They are meant to help drivers by providing proper warnings or by preventing dangerous situations. In this paper, we focus on the problem of design time testing of ADAS in a simulated environment. We provide a testing approach for ADAS by combining multi-objective search with surrogate models developed based on neural networks. We use multi-objective search to guide testing towards the most critical behaviors of ADAS. Surrogate modeling enables our testing approach to explore a larger part of the input search space within limited computational resources. We characterize the condition under which the multi-objective search algorithm behaves the same with and without surrogate modeling, thus showing the accuracy of our approach. We evaluate our approach by applying it to an industrial ADAS system. Our experiment shows that our approach automatically identifies test cases indicating critical ADAS behaviors. Further, we show that combining our search algorithm with surrogate modeling improves the quality of the generated test cases, especially under tight and realistic computational resources.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "42eca5d49ef3e27c76b65f8feccd8499",
"text": "Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have shown to yield very strong results in several Computer Vision tasks. Their application to language has received much less attention, and it has mainly focused on static classification tasks, such as sentence classification for Sentiment Analysis or relation extraction. In this work, we study the application of CNNs to language modeling, a dynamic, sequential prediction task that needs models to capture local as well as long-range dependency information. Our contribution is twofold. First, we show that CNNs achieve 11-26% better absolute performance than feed-forward neural language models, demonstrating their potential for language representation even in sequential tasks. As for recurrent models, our model outperforms RNNs but is below state of the art LSTM models. Second, we gain some understanding of the behavior of the model, showing that CNNs in language act as feature detectors at a high level of abstraction, like in Computer Vision, and that the model can profitably use information from as far as 16 words before the target.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "18fbfb8d1026de163d50c073c48fc5d3",
"text": "Empirical studies have identified significant links between religion and spirituality and health. The reasons for these associations, however, are unclear. Typically, religion and spirituality have been measured by global indices (e.g., frequency of church attendance, self-rated religiousness and spirituality) that do not specify how or why religion and spirituality affect health. The authors highlight recent advances in the delineation of religion and spirituality concepts and measures theoretically and functionally connected to health. They also point to areas for areas for growth in religion and spirituality conceptualization and measurement. Through measures of religion and spirituality more conceptually related to physical and mental health (e.g., closeness to God, religious orientation and motivation, religious support, religious struggle), psychologists are discovering more about the distinctive contributions of religiousness and spirituality to health and well-being.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3fb5c0f43a918fb0a579879131e26b65",
"text": "Neuronal circuits in the brain are shaped by experience during 'critical periods' in early postnatal life. In the primary visual cortex, this activity-dependent development is triggered by the functional maturation of local inhibitory connections and driven by a specific, late-developing subset of interneurons. Ultimately, the structural consolidation of competing sensory inputs is mediated by a proteolytic reorganization of the extracellular matrix that occurs only during the critical period. The reactivation of this process, and subsequent recovery of function in conditions such as amblyopia, can now be studied with realistic circuit models that might generalize across systems.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dc3495ec93462e68f606246205a8416d",
"text": "State-of-the-art methods for zero-shot visual recognition formulate learning as a joint embedding problem of images and side information. In these formulations the current best complement to visual features are attributes: manually-encoded vectors describing shared characteristics among categories. Despite good performance, attributes have limitations: (1) finer-grained recognition requires commensurately more attributes, and (2) attributes do not provide a natural language interface. We propose to overcome these limitations by training neural language models from scratch, i.e. without pre-training and only consuming words and characters. Our proposed models train end-to-end to align with the fine-grained and category-specific content of images. Natural language provides a flexible and compact way of encoding only the salient visual aspects for distinguishing categories. By training on raw text, our model can do inference on raw text as well, providing humans a familiar mode both for annotation and retrieval. Our model achieves strong performance on zero-shot text-based image retrieval and significantly outperforms the attribute-based state-of-the-art for zero-shot classification on the Caltech-UCSD Birds 200-2011 dataset.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8075a20a706397e448ce19e4c3fa6ec2",
"text": "BACKGROUND\nA single cycle of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) may not meet researchers' analytical needs. This article presents methods of combining CCHS cycles and discusses issues to consider if these data are to be combined. An empirical example illustrates the proposed methods.\n\n\nDATA AND METHODS\nTwo methods can be used to combine CCHS cycles: the separate approach and the pooled approach. With the separate approach, estimates are calculated for each cycle separately and then combined. The pooled approach combines data at the micro-data level, and the resulting dataset is treated as if it is a sample from one population.\n\n\nRESULTS\nFor the separate approach, it is recommended that the simple average of the estimates be used. For the pooled approach, it is recommended that weights be scaled by a constant factor where a period estimate covering the time periods of the individual cycles can be created. The choice of method depends on the aim of the analysis and the availability of data.\n\n\nINTERPRETATION\nCombining cycles should be considered only if the most current period estimates do not suffice. Both methods will obscure cycle-to-cycle trends and will not reveal changing behaviours related to public health initiatives.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1b31c4eca6d124b57ad0bcee2797a230",
"text": "The problem of spectrum scarcity and inefficiency in spectrum usage will be addressed by the newly emerging cognitive radio paradigm that allows radios to opportunistically transmit in the vacant portions of the spectrum already assigned to licensed users. For this, the ability for spectrum sensing, spectrum sharing, choosing the best spectrum among the available options, and dynamically adapting transmission parameters based on the activity of the licensed spectrum owners must be integrated within cognitive radio users. Specifically in cognitive radio ad hoc networks, distributed multihop architecture, node mobility, and spatio-temporal variance in spectrum availability are some of the key distinguishing factors. In this article the important features of CRAHNs are presented, along with the design approaches and research challenges that must be addressed. Spectrum management in CRAHNs comprises spectrum sensing, sharing, decision, and mobility. In this article each of these functions are described in detail from the viewpoint of multihop infra-structureless networks requiring cooperation among users.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dfa51004b99bce29e644fbcca4b833a5",
"text": "This paper presents Latent Sampling-based Motion Planning (L-SBMP), a methodology towards computing motion plans for complex robotic systems by learning a plannable latent representation. Recent works in control of robotic systems have effectively leveraged local, low-dimensional embeddings of high-dimensional dynamics. In this paper we combine these recent advances with techniques from samplingbased motion planning (SBMP) in order to design a methodology capable of planning for high-dimensional robotic systems beyond the reach of traditional approaches (e.g., humanoids, or even systems where planning occurs in the visual space). Specifically, the learned latent space is constructed through an autoencoding network, a dynamics network, and a collision checking network, which mirror the three main algorithmic primitives of SBMP, namely state sampling, local steering, and collision checking. Notably, these networks can be trained through only raw data of the system’s states and actions along with a supervising collision checker. Building upon these networks, an RRT-based algorithm is used to plan motions directly in the latent space – we refer to this exploration algorithm as Learned Latent RRT (L2RRT). This algorithm globally explores the latent space and is capable of generalizing to new environments. The overall methodology is demonstrated on two planning problems, namely a visual planning problem, whereby planning happens in the visual (pixel) space, and a humanoid robot planning problem.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "eea86b8c7d332edb903c213c5df89a53",
"text": "We introduce the syntactic scaffold, an approach to incorporating syntactic information into semantic tasks. Syntactic scaffolds avoid expensive syntactic processing at runtime, only making use of a treebank during training, through a multitask objective. We improve over strong baselines on PropBank semantics, frame semantics, and coreference resolution, achieving competitive performance on all three tasks.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3cd565192b29593550032f695b61087c",
"text": "Forcing occurs when a magician influences the audience's decisions without their awareness. To investigate the mechanisms behind this effect, we examined several stimulus and personality predictors. In Study 1, a magician flipped through a deck of playing cards while participants were asked to choose one. Although the magician could influence the choice almost every time (98%), relatively few (9%) noticed this influence. In Study 2, participants observed rapid series of cards on a computer, with one target card shown longer than the rest. We expected people would tend to choose this card without noticing that it was shown longest. Both stimulus and personality factors predicted the choice of card, depending on whether the influence was noticed. These results show that combining real-world and laboratory research can be a powerful way to study magic and can provide new methods to study the feeling of free will.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a5643b43ac72594500ac1232303946d1",
"text": "Biodegradable plastics are those that can be completely degraded in landfills, composters or sewage treatment plants by the action of naturally occurring micro-organisms. Truly biodegradable plastics leave no toxic, visible or distinguishable residues following degradation. Their biodegradability contrasts sharply with most petroleum-based plastics, which are essentially indestructible in a biological context. Because of the ubiquitous use of petroleum-based plastics, their persistence in the environment and their fossil-fuel derivation, alternatives to these traditional plastics are being explored. Issues surrounding waste management of traditional and biodegradable polymers are discussed in the context of reducing environmental pressures and carbon footprints. The main thrust of the present review addresses the development of plant-based biodegradable polymers. Plants naturally produce numerous polymers, including rubber, starch, cellulose and storage proteins, all of which have been exploited for biodegradable plastic production. Bacterial bioreactors fed with renewable resources from plants--so-called 'white biotechnology'--have also been successful in producing biodegradable polymers. In addition to these methods of exploiting plant materials for biodegradable polymer production, the present review also addresses the advances in synthesizing novel polymers within transgenic plants, especially those in the polyhydroxyalkanoate class. Although there is a stigma associated with transgenic plants, especially food crops, plant-based biodegradable polymers, produced as value-added co-products, or, from marginal land (non-food), crops such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), have the potential to become viable alternatives to petroleum-based plastics and an environmentally benign and carbon-neutral source of polymers.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ac09e4a989bb4a9b247aa0ba346f1d71",
"text": "Many applications in information extraction, natural language understanding, information retrieval require an understanding of the semantic relations between entities. We present a comprehensive review of various aspects of the entity relation extraction task. Some of the most important supervised and semi-supervised classification approaches to the relation extraction task are covered in sufficient detail along with critical analyses. We also discuss extensions to higher-order relations. Evaluation methodologies for both supervised and semi-supervised methods are described along with pointers to the commonly used performance evaluation datasets. Finally, we also give short descriptions of two important applications of relation extraction, namely question answering and biotext mining.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "758bc9b5e633d59afb155650239591a9",
"text": "A growing body of works address automated mining of biochemical knowledge from digital repositories of scientific literature, such as MEDLINE. Some of these works use abstracts as the unit of text from which to extract facts. Others use sentences for this purpose, while still others use phrases. Here we compare abstracts, sentences, and phrases in MEDLINE using the standard information retrieval performance measures of recall, precision, and effectiveness, for the task of mining interactions among biochemical terms based on term co-occurrence. Results show statistically significant differences that can impact the choice of text unit.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8037baf544198ca8d5d9bfae60505681",
"text": "Bounding volume hierarchies (BVH) are a commonly used method for speeding up ray tracing. Even though the memory footprint of a BVH is relatively low compared to other acceleration data structures, they still can consume a large amount of memory for complex scenes and exceed the memory bounds of the host system. This can lead to a tremendous performance decrease on the order of several magnitudes. In this paper we present a novel scheme for construction and storage of BVHs that can reduce the memory consumption to less than 1% of a standard BVH. We show that our representation, which uses only 2 bits per node, is the smallest possible representation on a per node basis that does not produce empty space deadlocks. Our data structure, called the Minimal Bounding Volume Hierarchy (MVH) reduces the memory requirements in two important ways: using implicit indexing and preset surface reduction factors. Obviously, this scheme has a non-negligible computational overhead, but this overhead can be compensated to a large degree by shooting larger ray bundles instead of single rays, using a simpler intersection scheme and a two-level representation of the hierarchy. These measure enable interactive ray tracing performance without the necessity to rely on out-of-core techniques that would be inevitable for a standard BVH. This is the author version of the paper. The definitive version is available at diglib.eg.org.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0b6ce2e4f3ef7f747f38068adef3da54",
"text": "Network throughput can be increased by allowing multipath, adaptive routing. Adaptive routing allows more freedom in the paths taken by messages, spreading load over physical channels more evenly. The flexibility of adaptive routing introduces new possibilities of deadlock. Previous deadlock avoidance schemes in k-ary n-cubes require an exponential number of virtual channels, independent of network size and dimension. Planar adaptive routing algorithms reduce the complexity of deadlock prevention by reducing the number of choices at each routing step. In the fault-free case, planar-adaptive networks are guaranteed to be deadlock-free. In the presence of network faults, the planar-adaptive router can be extended with misrouting to produce a working network which remains provably deadlock free and is provably livelock free. In addition, planar adaptive networks can simultaneously support both in-order and adaptive, out-of-order packet delivery.\nPlanar-adaptive routing is of practical significance. It provides the simplest known support for deadlock-free adaptive routing in k-ary n-cubes of more than two dimensions (with k > 2). Restricting adaptivity reduces the hardware complexity, improving router speed or allowing additional performance-enhancing network features. The structure of planar-adaptive routers is amenable to efficient implementation.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
494f73aff5e32deaeaf5490e4c2f55a7 | Adaptive Synthetic-Nominal (ADASYN-N) and Adaptive Synthetic-KNN (ADASYN-KNN) for Multiclass Imbalance Learning on Laboratory Test Data | [
{
"docid": "c76d8583d805b61a8210c4e5f8854c80",
"text": "BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES\nThe present study proposes an intelligent system for automatic categorization of Pap smear images to detect cervical dysplasia, which has been an open problem ongoing for last five decades.\n\n\nMETHODS\nThe classification technique is based on shape, texture and color features. It classifies the cervical dysplasia into two-level (normal and abnormal) and three-level (Negative for Intraepithelial Lesion or Malignancy, Low-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion and High-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion) classes reflecting the established Bethesda system of classification used for diagnosis of cancerous or precancerous lesion of cervix. The system is evaluated on two generated databases obtained from two diagnostic centers, one containing 1610 single cervical cells and the other 1320 complete smear level images. The main objective of this database generation is to categorize the images according to the Bethesda system of classification both of which require lots of training and expertise. The system is also trained and tested on the benchmark Herlev University database which is publicly available. In this contribution a new segmentation technique has also been proposed for extracting shape features. Ripplet Type I transform, Histogram first order statistics and Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix have been used for color and texture features respectively. To improve classification results, ensemble method is used, which integrates the decision of three classifiers. Assessments are performed using 5 fold cross validation.\n\n\nRESULTS\nExtended experiments reveal that the proposed system can successfully classify Pap smear images performing significantly better when compared with other existing methods.\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nThis type of automated cancer classifier will be of particular help in early detection of cancer.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1657df28bba01b18fb26bb8c823ad4b4",
"text": "Come with us to read a new book that is coming recently. Yeah, this is a new coming book that many people really want to read will you be one of them? Of course, you should be. It will not make you feel so hard to enjoy your life. Even some people think that reading is a hard to do, you must be sure that you can do it. Hard will be felt when you have no ideas about what kind of book to read. Or sometimes, your reading material is not interesting enough.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "48c3152cb78e1bb755966d15f43d6f5a",
"text": "0950-7051/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. A doi:10.1016/j.knosys.2011.06.013 ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: jimenezv@uji.es (V. García), s mollined@uji.es (R.A. Mollineda). The present paper investigates the influence of both the imbalance ratio and the classifier on the performance of several resampling strategies to deal with imbalanced data sets. The study focuses on evaluating how learning is affected when different resampling algorithms transform the originally imbalanced data into artificially balanced class distributions. Experiments over 17 real data sets using eight different classifiers, four resampling algorithms and four performance evaluation measures show that over-sampling the minority class consistently outperforms under-sampling the majority class when data sets are strongly imbalanced, whereas there are not significant differences for databases with a low imbalance. Results also indicate that the classifier has a very poor influence on the effectiveness of the resampling strategies. 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f44d3512cd8658f824b0ba0ea5a69e4a",
"text": "Customer retention is a major issue for various service-based organizations particularly telecom industry, wherein predictive models for observing the behavior of customers are one of the great instruments in customer retention process and inferring the future behavior of the customers. However, the performances of predictive models are greatly affected when the real-world data set is highly imbalanced. A data set is called imbalanced if the samples size from one class is very much smaller or larger than the other classes. The most commonly used technique is over/under sampling for handling the class-imbalance problem (CIP) in various domains. In this paper, we survey six well-known sampling techniques and compare the performances of these key techniques, i.e., mega-trend diffusion function (MTDF), synthetic minority oversampling technique, adaptive synthetic sampling approach, couples top-N reverse k-nearest neighbor, majority weighted minority oversampling technique, and immune centroids oversampling technique. Moreover, this paper also reveals the evaluation of four rules-generation algorithms (the learning from example module, version 2 (LEM2), covering, exhaustive, and genetic algorithms) using publicly available data sets. The empirical results demonstrate that the overall predictive performance of MTDF and rules-generation based on genetic algorithms performed the best as compared with the rest of the evaluated oversampling methods and rule-generation algorithms.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "ecb6f74de68ad0dd71c3a4de10a34b9f",
"text": "We have developed a hydraulic McKibben artificial muscle which realizes great force density approximately ten times larger than the other conventional actuators. In this paper, we have applied this muscle to a power robot hand. The hand finger consists of metal links and the muscles. The contraction of the muscles generates the bending motion of the fingers. This hand has large holding capacity and shape adaptability to grasp objects. The experiments show that maximum holding force of the hand is 5000N. It can hold three types of different shaped objects; cylindrical objects of ø 267mm and ø165mm in diameter and a square cross section of width 200mm in side. This hand can be applied to various applications, for example rescue robots in disaster area and forestry industry.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dec458753778c3e10de8403ed11d08d0",
"text": "The blockchain emerges as an innovative tool which proves to be useful in a number of application scenarios. A number of large industrial players, such as IBM, Microsoft, Intel, and NEC, are currently investing in exploiting the blockchain in order to enrich their portfolio of products. A number of researchers and practitioners speculate that the blockchain technology can change the way we see a number of online applications today. Although it is still early to tell for sure, it is expected that the blockchain will stimulate considerable changes to a large number of products and will positively impact the digital experience of many individuals around the globe. In this tutorial, we overview, detail, and analyze the security provisions of Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain-effectively capturing recently reported attacks and threats in the system. Our contributions go beyond the mere analysis of reported vulnerabilities of Bitcoin; namely, we describe and evaluate a number of countermeasures to deter threats on the system-some of which have already been incorporated in the system. Recall that Bitcoin has been forked multiple times in order to fine-tune the consensus (i.e., the block generation time and the hash function), and the network parameters (e.g., the size of blocks). As such, the results reported in this tutorial are not only restricted to Bitcoin, but equally apply to a number of \"altcoins\" which are basically clones/forks of the Bitcoin source code. Given the increasing number of alternative blockchain proposals, this tutorial extracts the basic security lessons learnt from the Bitcoin system with the aim to foster better designs and analysis of next-generation secure blockchain currencies and technologies.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "22a39638b0c780fce60b7decca4beb19",
"text": "We investigate the use of data analytics internally by companies’ finance and accounting functions to prepare the financial statements and to detect fraud, as well as external auditors’ use of data analytics during the financial statement audit. Relying on Socio-technical theory, we examine how each of these groups use data analytics, how that usage affects their interactions with each other (i.e., client-auditor interactions), and the effect of rules and regulations on their use of data analytics. As such, we conducted 58 semi-structured interviews with prominent professionals from 15 companies, eight public accounting firms, and six standard-setters/regulators. Our sample also includes 12 client-auditor pairs (i.e., CFOs and their respective audit partners). Our findings suggest that most companies and their auditors have made changes to the financial reporting and audit processes to incorporate data analytics, with each group most often noting improved financial reporting quality or audit quality as a key benefit. Despite the benefits, both groups reported challenges that come with using data analytics, including finding employees with the right skillset, overcoming the financial cost, dealing with the lack of regulation/standards, and obtaining the data needed for analytics. Further, we leverage our client-auditor pairs to examine the effects of data analytics on the client-auditor relationship. Both parties believe the use of analytics has strengthened their relationship. However, we identify potential future conflicts regarding the audit fee model, as well as regulator concern over the increased business insights auditors are providing their clients as a result of analytics. Our study makes several important contributions to practice and theory, as we are among the first to empirically examine companies’ and audit firms’ recent and significant investment in developing data analytic tools.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e26071b494ce28c3d9ec0c9f1209cc61",
"text": "Now, we come to offer you the right catalogues of book to open. heuristics intelligent search strategies for computer problem solving is one of the literary work in this world in suitable to be reading material. That's not only this book gives reference, but also it will show you the amazing benefits of reading a book. Developing your countless minds is needed; moreover you are kind of people with great curiosity. So, the book is very appropriate for you.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5454fbb1a924f3360a338c11a88bea89",
"text": "PURPOSE OF REVIEW\nThis review describes the most common motor neuron disease, ALS. It discusses the diagnosis and evaluation of ALS and the current understanding of its pathophysiology, including new genetic underpinnings of the disease. This article also covers other motor neuron diseases, reviews how to distinguish them from ALS, and discusses their pathophysiology.\n\n\nRECENT FINDINGS\nIn this article, the spectrum of cognitive involvement in ALS, new concepts about protein synthesis pathology in the etiology of ALS, and new genetic associations will be covered. This concept has changed over the past 3 to 4 years with the discovery of new genes and genetic processes that may trigger the disease. As of 2014, two-thirds of familial ALS and 10% of sporadic ALS can be explained by genetics. TAR DNA binding protein 43 kDa (TDP-43), for instance, has been shown to cause frontotemporal dementia as well as some cases of familial ALS, and is associated with frontotemporal dysfunction in ALS.\n\n\nSUMMARY\nThe anterior horn cells control all voluntary movement: motor activity, respiratory, speech, and swallowing functions are dependent upon signals from the anterior horn cells. Diseases that damage the anterior horn cells, therefore, have a profound impact. Symptoms of anterior horn cell loss (weakness, falling, choking) lead patients to seek medical attention. Neurologists are the most likely practitioners to recognize and diagnose damage or loss of anterior horn cells. ALS, the prototypical motor neuron disease, demonstrates the impact of this class of disorders. ALS and other motor neuron diseases can represent diagnostic challenges. Neurologists are often called upon to serve as a \"medical home\" for these patients: coordinating care, arranging for durable medical equipment, and leading discussions about end-of-life care with patients and caregivers. It is important for neurologists to be able to identify motor neuron diseases and to evaluate and treat patients affected by them.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c09448b80effbde3ec159c2c3e04ecb0",
"text": "It is easy for today's students and researchers to believe that modern bioinformatics emerged recently to assist next-generation sequencing data analysis. However, the very beginnings of bioinformatics occurred more than 50 years ago, when desktop computers were still a hypothesis and DNA could not yet be sequenced. The foundations of bioinformatics were laid in the early 1960s with the application of computational methods to protein sequence analysis (notably, de novo sequence assembly, biological sequence databases and substitution models). Later on, DNA analysis also emerged due to parallel advances in (i) molecular biology methods, which allowed easier manipulation of DNA, as well as its sequencing, and (ii) computer science, which saw the rise of increasingly miniaturized and more powerful computers, as well as novel software better suited to handle bioinformatics tasks. In the 1990s through the 2000s, major improvements in sequencing technology, along with reduced costs, gave rise to an exponential increase of data. The arrival of 'Big Data' has laid out new challenges in terms of data mining and management, calling for more expertise from computer science into the field. Coupled with an ever-increasing amount of bioinformatics tools, biological Big Data had (and continues to have) profound implications on the predictive power and reproducibility of bioinformatics results. To overcome this issue, universities are now fully integrating this discipline into the curriculum of biology students. Recent subdisciplines such as synthetic biology, systems biology and whole-cell modeling have emerged from the ever-increasing complementarity between computer science and biology.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "47da8e784e87ecaea71a1a04166b8a31",
"text": "Fast-fashion retailers such as Zara offer continuously changing assortments and use minimal in-season promotions. Their clearance pricing problem is thus challenging because it involves comparatively more different articles of unsold inventory with less historical price data points. Until 2007, Zara used a manual and informal decision-making process for determining price markdowns. In collaboration with their pricing team, we designed and implemented since an alternative process relying on a formal forecasting model feeding a price optimization model. As part of a controlled field experiment conducted in all Belgian and Irish stores during the 2008 Fall-Winter season, this new process increased clearance revenues by approximately 6%. Zara is currently using this process worldwide for its markdown decisions during clearance sales.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7c5d9777de76a895c628e0dc171781da",
"text": "The influence of temporal and spatial variations on the microbial community composition was assessed in the unique coastal mangrove of Sundarbans using parallel 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. The total sediment DNA was extracted and subjected to the 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing, which resulted in 117 Mbp of data from three experimental stations. The taxonomic analysis of the pyrosequencing data was grouped into 24 different phyla. In general, Proteobacteria were the most dominant phyla with predominance of Deltaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria within the sediments. Besides Proteobacteria, there are a number of sequences affiliated to the following major phyla detected in all three stations in both the sampling seasons: Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Planctomycetes, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Cyanobacteria, Nitrospira, and Firmicutes. Further taxonomic analysis revealed abundance of micro-aerophilic and anaerobic microbial population in the surface layers, suggesting anaerobic nature of the sediments in Sundarbans. The results of this study add valuable information about the composition of microbial communities in Sundarbans mangrove and shed light on possible transformations promoted by bacterial communities in the sediments.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d3b501c19b65d276ec6f349b35f4da1f",
"text": "The design of a macroscope constructed with photography lenses is described and several applications are demonstrated. The macroscope incorporates epi-illumination, a 0.4 numerical aperture, and a 40 mm working distance for imaging wide fields in the range of 1.5-20 mm in diameter. At magnifications of 1X to 2.5X, fluorescence images acquired with the macroscope were 100-700 times brighter than those obtained with commercial microscope objectives at similar magnifications. In several biological applications, the improved light collection efficiency (20-fold, typical) not only minimized bleaching effects, but, in concert with improved illumination throughput (15-fold, typical), significantly enhanced object visibility as well. Reduced phototoxicity and increased signal-to-noise ratios were observed in the in vivo real-time optical imaging of cortical activity using voltage-sensitive dyes. Furthermore, the macroscope has a depth of field which is 5-10 times thinner than that of a conventional low-power microscope. This shallow depth of field has facilitated the imaging of cortical architecture based on activity-dependent intrinsic cortical signals in the living primate brain. In these reflection measurements large artifacts from the surface blood vessels, which were observed with conventional lenses, were eliminated with the macroscope.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ebb827b9baf3307bc20de78538d23e7",
"text": "0747-5632/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.07.003 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: University of North Texas, College of Business, 1155 Union Circle #311160, Denton, TX 76203-5017, USA. E-mail addresses: mohammad.salehan@unt.edu (M. Salehan), arash.negah ban@unt.edu (A. Negahban). 1 These authors contributed equally to the work. Mohammad Salehan 1,⇑, Arash Negahban 1",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6604a90f21796895300d37cefed5b6fa",
"text": "Distributed power system network is going to be complex, and it will require high-speed, reliable and secure communication systems for managing intermittent generation with coordination of centralised power generation, including load control. Cognitive Radio (CR) is highly favourable for providing communications in Smart Grid by using spectrum resources opportunistically. The IEEE 802.22 Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN) having the capabilities of CR use vacant channels opportunistically in the frequency range of 54 MHz to 862 MHz occupied by TV band. A comprehensive review of using IEEE 802.22 for Field Area Network in power system network using spectrum sensing (CR based communication) is provided in this paper. The spectrum sensing technique(s) at Base Station (BS) and Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) for detecting the presence of incumbent in order to mitigate interferences is also studied. The availability of backup and candidate channels are updated during “Quite Period” for further use (spectrum switching and management) with geolocation capabilities. The use of IEEE 802.22 for (a) radio-scene analysis, (b) channel identification, and (c) dynamic spectrum management are examined for applications in power management.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d03e30cae524d544cd9231ef16c018ed",
"text": "False information can be created and spread easily through the web and social media platforms, resulting in widespread real-world impact. Characterizing how false information proliferates on social platforms and why it succeeds in deceiving readers are critical to develop efficient detection algorithms and tools for early detection. A recent surge of research in this area has aimed to address the key issues using methods based on feature engineering, graph mining, and information modeling. Majority of the research has primarily focused on two broad categories of false information: opinion-based (e.g., fake reviews), and fact-based (e.g., false news and hoaxes). Therefore, in this work, we present a comprehensive survey spanning diverse aspects of false information, namely (i) the actors involved in spreading false information, (ii) rationale behind successfully deceiving readers, (iii) quantifying the impact of false information, (iv) measuring its characteristics across different dimensions, and finally, (iv) algorithms developed to detect false information. In doing so, we create a unified framework to describe these recent methods and highlight a number of important directions for future research.1",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "68a90df0f3de170d64d3245c8b316460",
"text": "In this paper, we propose a new framework for training vision-based agent for First-Person Shooter (FPS) Game, in particular Doom. Our framework combines the state-of-the-art reinforcement learning approach (Asynchronous Advantage Actor-Critic (A3C) model [Mnih et al. (2016)]) with curriculum learning. Our model is simple in design and only uses game states from the AI side, rather than using opponents’ information [Lample & Chaplot (2016)]. On a known map, our agent won 10 out of the 11 attended games and the champion of Track1 in ViZDoom AI Competition 2016 by a large margin, 35% higher score than the second place.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "be8e1e4fd9b8ddb0fc7e1364455999e8",
"text": "In this paper, we describe the development and exploitation of a corpus-based tool for the identification of metaphorical patterns in large datasets. The analysis of metaphor as a cognitive and cultural, rather than solely linguistic, phenomenon has become central as metaphor researchers working within ‘Cognitive Metaphor Theory’ have drawn attention to the presence of systematic and pervasive conventional metaphorical patterns in ‘ordinary’ language (e.g. I’m at a crossroads in my life). Cognitive Metaphor Theory suggests that these linguistic patterns reflect the existence of conventional conceptual metaphors, namely systematic cross-domain correspondences in conceptual structure (e.g. LIFE IS A JOURNEY). This theoretical approach, described further in section 2, has led to considerable advances in our understanding of metaphor both as a linguistic device and a cognitive model, and to our awareness of its role in many different genres and discourses. Although some recent research has incorporated corpus linguistic techniques into this framework for the analysis of metaphor, to date, such analyses have primarily involved the concordancing of pre-selected search strings (e.g. Deignan 2005). The method described in this paper represents an attempt to extend the limits of this form of analysis. In our approach, we have applied an existing semantic field annotation tool (USAS) developed at Lancaster University to aid metaphor researchers in searching corpora. We are able to filter all possible candidate semantic fields proposed by USAS to assist in finding possible ‘source’ (e.g. JOURNEY) and ‘target’ (e.g. LIFE) domains, and we can then go on to consider the potential metaphoricity of the expressions included under each possible source domain. This method thus enables us to identify open-ended sets of metaphorical expressions, which are not limited to predetermined search strings. In section 3, we present this emerging methodology for the computer-assisted analysis of metaphorical patterns in discourse. The semantic fields automatically annotated by USAS can be seen as roughly corresponding to the domains of metaphor theory. We have used USAS in combination with key word and domain techniques in Wmatrix (Rayson, 2003) to replicate earlier manual analyses, e.g. machine metaphors in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Semino and Swindlehurst, 1996) and war, machine and organism metaphors in business magazines (Koller, 2004a). These studies are described in section 4.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a5fae52eeb8ca38d99091d72c91e1153",
"text": "Machine learning is a popular approach to signatureless malware detection because it can generalize to never-beforeseen malware families and polymorphic strains. This has resulted in its practical use for either primary detection engines or supplementary heuristic detections by anti-malware vendors. Recent work in adversarial machine learning has shown that models are susceptible to gradient-based and other attacks. In this whitepaper, we summarize the various attacks that have been proposed for machine learning models in information security, each which require the adversary to have some degree of knowledge about the model under attack. Importantly, even when applied to attacking machine learning malware classifier based on static features for Windows portable executable (PE) files, these attacks, previous attack methodologies may break the format or functionality of the malware. We investigate a more general framework for attacking static PE anti-malware engines based on reinforcement learning, which models more realistic attacker conditions, and subsequently has provides much more modest evasion rates. A reinforcement learning (RL) agent is equipped with a set of functionality-preserving operations that it may perform on the PE file. It learns through a series of games played against the anti-malware engine which sequence of operations is most likely to result in evasion for a given malware sample. Given the general framework, it is not surprising that the evasion rates are modest. However, the resulting RL agent can succinctly summarize blind spots of the anti-malware model. Additionally, evasive variants generated by the agent may be used to harden machine learning anti-malware engine via adversarial training.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "028be19d9b8baab4f5982688e41bfec8",
"text": "The activation function for neurons is a prominent element in the deep learning architecture for obtaining high performance. Inspired by neuroscience findings, we introduce and define two types of neurons with different activation functions for artificial neural networks: excitatory and inhibitory neurons, which can be adaptively selected by selflearning. Based on the definition of neurons, in the paper we not only unify the mainstream activation functions, but also discuss the complementariness among these types of neurons. In addition, through the cooperation of excitatory and inhibitory neurons, we present a compositional activation function that leads to new state-of-the-art performance comparing to rectifier linear units. Finally, we hope that our framework not only gives a basic unified framework of the existing activation neurons to provide guidance for future design, but also contributes neurobiological explanations which can be treated as a window to bridge the gap between biology and computer science.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b731f1e128e0fd5cbda58bb2dbf6ba9",
"text": "An electromagnetic (EM) wave with orbital angular momentum (OAM) has a helical wave front, which is different from that of the plane wave. The phase gradient can be found perpendicular to the direction of propagation and proportional to the number of OAM modes. Herein, we study the backscattering property of the EM wave with different OAM modes, i.e., the radar cross section (RCS) of the target is measured and evaluated with different OAM waves. As indicated by the experimental results, different OAM waves have the same RCS fluctuation for the simple target, e.g., a small metal ball as the target. However, for complicated targets, e.g., two transverse-deployed small metal balls, different RCSs can be identified from the same incident angle. This valuable fact helps to obtain RCS diversity, e.g., equal gain or selective combining of different OAM wave scattering. The majority of the targets are complicated targets or expanded targets; the RCS diversity can be utilized to detect a weak target traditionally measured by the plane wave, which is very helpful for anti-stealth radar to detect the traditional stealth target by increasing the RCS with OAM waves.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a9a22c9c57e9ba8c3deefbea689258d5",
"text": "Functional neuroimaging studies have shown that romantic love and maternal love are mediated by regions specific to each, as well as overlapping regions in the brain's reward system. Nothing is known yet regarding the neural underpinnings of unconditional love. The main goal of this functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to identify the brain regions supporting this form of love. Participants were scanned during a control condition and an experimental condition. In the control condition, participants were instructed to simply look at a series of pictures depicting individuals with intellectual disabilities. In the experimental condition, participants were instructed to feel unconditional love towards the individuals depicted in a series of similar pictures. Significant loci of activation were found, in the experimental condition compared with the control condition, in the middle insula, superior parietal lobule, right periaqueductal gray, right globus pallidus (medial), right caudate nucleus (dorsal head), left ventral tegmental area and left rostro-dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. These results suggest that unconditional love is mediated by a distinct neural network relative to that mediating other emotions. This network contains cerebral structures known to be involved in romantic love or maternal love. Some of these structures represent key components of the brain's reward system.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "17deb6c21da616a73a6daedf971765c3",
"text": "Recent approaches to causal discovery based on Boolean satisfiability solvers have opened new opportunities to consider search spaces for causal models with both feedback cycles and unmeasured confounders. However, the available methods have so far not been able to provide a principled account of how to handle conflicting constraints that arise from statistical variability. Here we present a new approach that preserves the versatility of Boolean constraint solving and attains a high accuracy despite the presence of statistical errors. We develop a new logical encoding of (in)dependence constraints that is both well suited for the domain and allows for faster solving. We represent this encoding in Answer Set Programming (ASP), and apply a state-of-theart ASP solver for the optimization task. Based on different theoretical motivations, we explore a variety of methods to handle statistical errors. Our approach currently scales to cyclic latent variable models with up to seven observed variables and outperforms the available constraintbased methods in accuracy.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "502a948fbf73036a4a1546cdd4a04833",
"text": "The literature review is an established research genre in many academic disciplines, including the IS discipline. Although many scholars agree that systematic literature reviews should be rigorous, few instructional texts for compiling a solid literature review, at least with regard to the IS discipline, exist. In response to this shortage, in this tutorial, I provide practical guidance for both students and researchers in the IS community who want to methodologically conduct qualitative literature reviews. The tutorial differs from other instructional texts in two regards. First, in contrast to most textbooks, I cover not only searching and synthesizing the literature but also the challenging tasks of framing the literature review, interpreting research findings, and proposing research paths. Second, I draw on other texts that provide guidelines for writing literature reviews in the IS discipline but use many examples of published literature reviews. I use an integrated example of a literature review, which guides the reader through the overall process of compiling a literature review.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
9f56b445d1ffbe80bff30fa66d6a9f53 | CONSTRAINT PROGRAMMING APPROACH TO THE TAEMS SCHEDULING PROBLEM By | [
{
"docid": "9049805c56c9b7fc212fdb4c7f85dfe1",
"text": "Intentions (6) Do all the important errands",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "c1e1e9db4f6abaffe421b0e2ca4cec2f",
"text": "One can't deny the effectiveness of video arcade games in reachipg users! Just loop at the number of quarters pushed into the slots, the time spent by people of widely differing abilities, and the number of repeat encounters with the systems. At least part of the success is due to the ease of getting started (the first play of the game gets one comfortable with the procedures), the high degree of visualization of controls and results, and the responsiveness overall. Other factors will be taken up by the panelists.Review of the home computer market shows what can be accomplished by an easy-to-use accounting aid through advertising store demonstrations, and word of mouth. Visicalc has sold over a million dollars! Attendees will have an opportunity to try some of these impressive applications before and after the session.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "338efe667e608779f4f41d1cdb1839bb",
"text": "In ASP.NET, Programmers maybe use POST or GET to pass parameter's value. Two methods are easy to come true. But In ASP.NET, It is not easy to pass parameter's value. In ASP.NET, Programmers maybe use many methods to pass parameter's value, such as using Application, Session, Querying, Cookies, and Forms variables. In this paper, by way of pass value from WebForm1.aspx to WebForm2.aspx and show out the value on WebForm2. We can give and explain actually examples in ASP.NET language to introduce these methods.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2f5ccd63b8f23300c090cb00b6bbe045",
"text": "Computing has revolutionized the biological sciences over the past several decades, such that virtually all contemporary research in molecular biology, biochemistry, and other biosciences utilizes computer programs. The computational advances have come on many fronts, spurred by fundamental developments in hardware, software, and algorithms. These advances have influenced, and even engendered, a phenomenal array of bioscience fields, including molecular evolution and bioinformatics; genome-, proteome-, transcriptome- and metabolome-wide experimental studies; structural genomics; and atomistic simulations of cellular-scale molecular assemblies as large as ribosomes and intact viruses. In short, much of post-genomic biology is increasingly becoming a form of computational biology. The ability to design and write computer programs is among the most indispensable skills that a modern researcher can cultivate. Python has become a popular programming language in the biosciences, largely because (i) its straightforward semantics and clean syntax make it a readily accessible first language; (ii) it is expressive and well-suited to object-oriented programming, as well as other modern paradigms; and (iii) the many available libraries and third-party toolkits extend the functionality of the core language into virtually every biological domain (sequence and structure analyses, phylogenomics, workflow management systems, etc.). This primer offers a basic introduction to coding, via Python, and it includes concrete examples and exercises to illustrate the language's usage and capabilities; the main text culminates with a final project in structural bioinformatics. A suite of Supplemental Chapters is also provided. Starting with basic concepts, such as that of a \"variable,\" the Chapters methodically advance the reader to the point of writing a graphical user interface to compute the Hamming distance between two DNA sequences.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7069ff567b10a5a64861feb5db0971ff",
"text": "The relationship between two independent binomial proportions is commonly estimated and presented using the difference between proportions, the number needed to treat, the ratio of proportions or the odds ratio. Several different confidence intervals are available, but they can produce markedly different results. Some of the traditional approaches, such as the Wald interval for the difference between proportions and the Katz log interval for the ratio of proportions, do not perform well unless the sample size is large. Better intervals are available. This article describes and compares approximate and exact confidence intervals that are - with one exception - easy to calculate or available in common software packages. We illustrate the performances of the intervals and make recommendations for both small and moderate-to-large sample sizes.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "19d2c60e0c293d8104c0e6b4005c996e",
"text": "An electronic scanning antenna (ESA) that uses a beam former, such as a Rotman lens, has the ability to form multiple beams for shared-aperture applications. This characteristic makes the antenna suitable for integration into systems exploiting the multi-function radio frequency (MFRF) concept, meeting the needs for a future combat system (FCS) RF sensor. An antenna which electronically scans 45/spl deg/ in azimuth has been built and successfully tested at ARL to demonstrate this multiple-beam, shared-aperture approach at K/sub a/ band. Subsequent efforts are focused on reducing the component size and weight while extending the scanning ability of the antenna to a full hemisphere with both azimuth and elevation scanning. Primary emphasis has been on the beamformer, a Rotman lens or similar device, and the switches used to select the beams. Approaches described include replacing the cavity Rotman lens used in the prototype MFRF system with a dielectrically loaded Rotman lens having a waveguide-fed cavity, a microstrip-fed parallel plate, or a surface-wave configuration in order to reduce the overall size. The paper discusses the challenges and progress in the development of Rotman lens beam formers to support such an antenna.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8213f9488af8e1492d7a4ac2eec3a573",
"text": "The loss surface of deep neural networks has recently attracted interest in the optimization and machine learning communities as a prime example of highdimensional non-convex problem. Some insights were recently gained using spin glass models and mean-field approximations, but at the expense of strongly simplifying the nonlinear nature of the model. In this work, we do not make any such assumption and study conditions on the data distribution and model architecture that prevent the existence of bad local minima. Our theoretical work quantifies and formalizes two important folklore facts: (i) the landscape of deep linear networks has a radically different topology from that of deep half-rectified ones, and (ii) that the energy landscape in the non-linear case is fundamentally controlled by the interplay between the smoothness of the data distribution and model over-parametrization. Our main theoretical contribution is to prove that half-rectified single layer networks are asymptotically connected, and we provide explicit bounds that reveal the aforementioned interplay. The conditioning of gradient descent is the next challenge we address. We study this question through the geometry of the level sets, and we introduce an algorithm to efficiently estimate the regularity of such sets on large-scale networks. Our empirical results show that these level sets remain connected throughout all the learning phase, suggesting a near convex behavior, but they become exponentially more curvy as the energy level decays, in accordance to what is observed in practice with very low curvature attractors.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "226bdf9c36a13900cf11f37bef816f04",
"text": "We describe a new class of subsampling techniques for CNNs, termed multisampling, that significantly increases the amount of information kept by feature maps through subsampling layers. One version of our method, which we call checkered subsampling, significantly improves the accuracy of state-of-the-art architectures such as DenseNet and ResNet without any additional parameters and, remarkably, improves the accuracy of certain pretrained ImageNet models without any training or fine-tuning. We glean new insight into the nature of data augmentations and demonstrate, for the first time, that coarse feature maps are significantly bottlenecking the performance of neural networks in image classification.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ee15c7152a2e2b9f372ca97283a3c114",
"text": "Essential oil (EO) of the leaves of Eugenia uniflora L. (Brazilian cherry tree) was evaluated for its antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal properties. The acute toxicity of the EO administered by oral route was also evaluated in mice. The EO exhibited antioxidant activity in the DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assays and reduced lipid peroxidation in the kidney of mice. The EO also showed antimicrobial activity against two important pathogenic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes, and against two fungi of the Candida species, C. lipolytica and C. guilliermondii. Acute administration of the EO by the oral route did not cause lethality or toxicological effects in mice. These findings suggest that the EO of the leaves of E. uniflora may have the potential for use in the pharmaceutical industry.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6933e944e88307c85f0b398b5abbb48f",
"text": "The main problem in many model-building situations is to choose from a large set of covariates those that should be included in the \"best\" model. A decision to keep a variable in the model might be based on the clinical or statistical significance. There are several variable selection algorithms in existence. Those methods are mechanical and as such carry some limitations. Hosmer and Lemeshow describe a purposeful selection of covariates within which an analyst makes a variable selection decision at each step of the modeling process. In this paper we introduce an algorithm which automates that process. We conduct a simulation study to compare the performance of this algorithm with three well documented variable selection procedures in SAS PROC LOGISTIC: FORWARD, BACKWARD, and STEPWISE. We show that the advantage of this approach is when the analyst is interested in risk factor modeling and not just prediction. In addition to significant covariates, this variable selection procedure has the capability of retaining important confounding variables, resulting potentially in a slightly richer model. Application of the macro is further illustrated with the Hosmer and Lemeshow Worchester Heart Attack Study (WHAS) data. If an analyst is in need of an algorithm that will help guide the retention of significant covariates as well as confounding ones they should consider this macro as an alternative tool.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2732b8453269834e481428f054ff4992",
"text": "Otsu reference proposed a criterion for maximizing the between-class variance of pixel intensity to perform picture thresholding. However, Otsu’s method for image segmentation is very time-consuming because of the inefficient formulation of the between-class variance. In this paper, a faster version of Otsu’s method is proposed for improving the efficiency of computation for the optimal thresholds of an image. First, a criterion for maximizing a modified between-class variance that is equivalent to the criterion of maximizing the usual between-class variance is proposed for image segmentation. Next, in accordance with the new criterion, a recursive algorithm is designed to efficiently find the optimal threshold. This procedure yields the same set of thresholds as the original method. In addition, the modified between-class variance can be pre-computed and stored in a look-up table. Our analysis of the new criterion clearly shows that it takes less computation to compute both the cumulative probability (zeroth order moment) and the mean (first order moment) of a class, and that determining the modified between-class variance by accessing a look-up table is quicker than that by performing mathematical arithmetic operations. For example, the experimental results of a five-level threshold selection show that our proposed method can reduce down the processing time from more than one hour by the conventional Otsu’s method to less than 107 seconds.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "323af03ab037428c16cac7374257118a",
"text": "An impairment of attentional control in the face of threat-related distracters is well established for high-anxious individuals. Beyond that, it has been hypothesized that high trait anxiety more generally impairs the neural efficiency of cognitive processes requiring attentional control—even in the absence of threat-related stimuli. Here, we use fMRI to show that trait anxiety indeed modulates brain activation and functional connectivities between task-relevant brain regions in an affectively neutral Stroop task. In high-anxious individuals, dorsolateral pFC showed stronger task-related activation and reduced coupling with posterior lateral frontal regions, dorsal ACC, and a word-sensitive area in the left fusiform gyrus. These results support the assumption that a general (i.e., not threat-specific) impairment of attentional control leads to reduced neural processing efficiency in anxious individuals. The increased dorsolateral pFC activation is interpreted as an attempt to compensate for suboptimal connectivity within the cortical network subserving task performance.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "eae6688a21cdfc2a39d14486b2c9e8eb",
"text": "Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major public health concern with rising prevalence. In this study we consider 24 predictive parameters and create a machine learning classifier to detect CKD. We evaluate our approach on a dataset of 400 individuals, where 250 of them have CKD. Using our approach we achieve a detection accuracy of 0.993 according to the F1-measure with 0.1084 root mean square error. This is a 56% reduction of mean square error compared to the state of the art (i.e., the CKD-EPI equation: a glomerular filtration rate estimator). We also perform feature selection to determine the most relevant attributes for detecting CKD and rank them according to their predictability. We identify new predictive attributes which have not been used by any previous GFR estimator equations. Finally, we perform a cost-accuracy tradeoff analysis to identify a new CKD detection approach with high accuracy and low cost.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "472f5def60d3cb1be23f63a78f84080e",
"text": "In financial terms, a business strategy is much more like a series of options than like a single projected cash flow. Executing a strategy almost always involves making a sequence of major decisions. Some actions are taken immediately while others are deliberately deferred so that managers can optimize their choices as circumstances evolve. While executives readily grasp the analogy between strategy and real options, until recently the mechanics of option pricing was so complex that few companies found it practical to use when formulating strategy. But advances in both computing power and our understanding of option pricing over the last 20 years now make it feasible to apply real-options thinking to strategic decision making. To analyze a strategy as a portfolio of related real options, this article exploits a framework presented by the author in \"Investment Opportunities as Real Options: Getting Started on the Numbers\" (HBR July-August 1998). That article explained how to get from discounted-cash-flow value to option value for a typical project; in other words, it was about reaching a number. This article extends that framework, exploring how, once you've worked out the numbers, you can use option pricing to improve decision making about the sequence and timing of a portfolio of strategic investments. Timothy Luehrman shows executives how to plot their strategies in two-dimensional \"option space,\" giving them a way to \"draw\" a strategy in terms that are neither wholly strategic nor wholly financial, but some of both. Such pictures inject financial discipline and new insight into how a company's future opportunities can be actively cultivated and harvested.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "76498da43cc81fed8f4b3f9350147e62",
"text": "Lifted inference algorithms exploit repeated structure in probabilistic models to answer queries efficiently. Previous work such as de Salvo Braz et al.’s first-order variable elimination (FOVE) has focused on the sharing of potentials across interchangeable random variables. In this paper, we also exploit interchangeability within individual potentials by introducing counting formulas, which indicate how many of the random variables in a set have each possible value. We present a new lifted inference algorithm, C-FOVE, that not only handles counting formulas in its input, but also creates counting formulas for use in intermediate potentials. C-FOVE can be described succinctly in terms of six operators, along with heuristics for when to apply them. Because counting formulas capture dependencies among large numbers of variables compactly, C-FOVE achieves asymptotic speed improvements compared to FOVE.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3f6f1d7059786d4804074cfb57367aa7",
"text": "Context: Since the introduction of evidence-based software engineering in 2004, systematic literature review (SLR) has been increasingly used as a method for conducting secondary studies in software engineering. Two tertiary studies, published in 2009 and 2010, identified and analysed 54 SLRs published in journals and conferences in the period between 1st January 2004 and 30th June 2008. Objective: In this article, our goal was to extend and update the two previous tertiary studies to cover the period between 1st July 2008 and 31st December 2009. We analysed the quality, coverage of software engineering topics, and potential impact of published SLRs for education and practice. Method: We performed automatic and manual searches for SLRs published in journals and conference proceedings, analysed the relevant studies, and compared and integrated our findings with the two previous tertiary studies. Results: We found 67 new SLRs addressing 24 software engineering topics. Among these studies, 15 were considered relevant to the undergraduate educational curriculum, and 40 appeared of possible interest to practitioners. We found that the number of SLRs in software engineering is increasing, the overall quality of the studies is improving, and the number of researchers and research organisations worldwide that are conducting SLRs is also increasing and spreading. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the software engineering research community is starting to adopt SLRs consistently as a research method. However, the majority of the SLRs did not evaluate the quality of primary studies and fail to provide guidelines for practitioners, thus decreasing their potential impact on software engineering practice. 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "339272fd85679c9a24796386a46efd0c",
"text": "Augmented reality entails the use of models and their associated renderings to supplement information in a real scene. In order for this information to be relevant or meaningful, the models must be positioned and displayed in such a way that they blend into the real world in terms of alignments, perspectives, illuminations, etc. For practical reasons the information necessary to obtain this realistic blending cannot be known a priori, and cannot be hard-wired into a system. Instead a number of calibration procedures are necessary so that the location and parameters of each of the system components are known. In this paper we identify the calibration steps necessary to build a computer model of the real world and then, using the monitor-based augmented reality system developed at ECRC (Grasp) as an example, we describe each of the calibration processes. These processes determine the internal parameters of our imaging devices (scan converter, frame grabber, and video camera), as well as the geometric transformations that relate all of the physical objects of the system to a known world coordinate system.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5275389fa8d15d5652cfda4e2afe389a",
"text": "In this article we develop a semantic typology of gradable predicates, with special emphasis on deverbal adjectives. We argue for the linguistic relevance of this typology by demonstrating that the distribution and interpretation of degreemodifiers is sensitive to its twomajor classificatory parameters: (1) whether a gradable predicate is associated with what we call an open or closed scale, and (2) whether the standard of comparison for the applicability of the predicate is absolute or relative to a context. We further show that the classification of an important subclass of adjectives within the typology is largely predictable. Specifically, the scale structure of a deverbal gradable adjective correlates either with the algebraic part structure of the event denoted by its source verb or with the part structure of the entities to which the adjective applies. These correlations underscore the fact that gradability is characteristic not only of adjectives but also of verbs and nouns, and that scalar properties are shared by categorially distinct but derivationally related expressions.*",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ed888adc25f012b9550fc53f30a9332d",
"text": "BACKGROUND\nThe PedsQL Measurement Model was designed to measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children and adolescents. The PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales were developed to be integrated with the PedsQL Disease-Specific Modules. The newly developed PedsQL Family Impact Module was designed to measure the impact of pediatric chronic health conditions on parents and the family. The PedsQL Family Impact Module measures parent self-reported physical, emotional, social, and cognitive functioning, communication, and worry. The Module also measures parent-reported family daily activities and family relationships.\n\n\nMETHODS\nThe 36-item PedsQL Family Impact Module was administered to 23 families of medically fragile children with complex chronic health conditions who either resided in a long-term care convalescent hospital or resided at home with their families.\n\n\nRESULTS\nInternal consistency reliability was demonstrated for the PedsQL Family Impact Module Total Scale Score (alpha = 0.97), Parent HRQOL Summary Score (alpha = 0.96), Family Functioning Summary Score (alpha = 0.90), and Module Scales (average alpha = 0.90, range = 0.82 - 0.97). The PedsQL Family Impact Module distinguished between families with children in a long-term care facility and families whose children resided at home.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe results demonstrate the preliminary reliability and validity of the PedsQL Family Impact Module in families with children with complex chronic health conditions. The PedsQL Family Impact Module will be further field tested to determine the measurement properties of this new instrument with other pediatric chronic health conditions.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ff5f7772a0a578cfe1dd08816af8e2e7",
"text": "Moisture-associated skin damage (MASD) occurs when there is prolonged exposure of the skin to excessive amounts of moisture from incontinence, wound exudate or perspiration. Incontinenceassociated dermatitis (IAD) relates specifically to skin breakdown from faecal and/or urinary incontinence (Beeckman et al, 2009), and has been defined as erythema and oedema of the skin surface, which may be accompanied by bullae with serous exudate, erosion or secondary cutaneous infection (Gray et al, 2012). IAD may also be referred to as a moisture lesion, moisture ulcer, perineal dermatitis or diaper dermatitis (Ousey, 2012). The effects of ageing on the skin are known to affect skin integrity, as is the underdeveloped nature of very young skin; as such, elderly patients and neonates are particularly vulnerable to damage from moisture (Voegeli, 2007). The increase in moisture resulting from episodes of incontinence is exacerbated due to bacterial and enzymatic activity associated with urine and faeces, particularly when both are present, which leads to an increase in skin pH alongside over-hydration of the skin surface. This damages the natural protection of the acid mantle, the skin’s naturally acidic pH, which is an important defence mechanism against external irritants and microorganisms. This damage leads to the breakdown of vulnerable skin and increased susceptibility to secondary infection (Beeckman et al, 2009). It has become well recognised that presence of IAD greatly increases the likelihood of pressure ulcer development, since over-hydrated skin is much more susceptible to damage by extrinsic factors such as pressure, friction and shear as compared with normal skin (Clarke et al, 2010). While it is important to firstly understand that pressure and moisture damage are separate aetiologies and, secondly, be able to recognise the clinical differences in presentation, one of the factors to consider for prevention of pressure ulcers is minimising exposure to moisture/ incontinence. Another important consideration with IAD is the effect on the patient. IAD can be painful and debilitating, and has been associated with reduced quality of life. It can also be time-consuming and expensive to treat, which has an impact on clinical resources and financial implications (Doughty et al, 2012). IAD is known to impact on direct Incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) relates to skin breakdown from exposure to urine or faeces, and its management involves implementation of structured skin care regimens that incorporate use of appropriate skin barrier products to protect the skin from exposure to moisture and irritants. Medi Derma-Pro Foam & Spray Cleanser and Medi Derma-Pro Skin Protectant Ointment are recent additions to the Total Barrier ProtectionTM (Medicareplus International) range indicated for management of moderateto-severe IAD and other moisture-associated skin damage. This article discusses a series of case studies and product evaluations performed to determine clinical outcomes and clinician feedback based on use of the Medi Derma-Pro skin barrier products to manage IAD. Results showed improvements to patients’ skin condition following use of Medi Derma-Pro, and the cleanser and skin protectant ointment were considered better than or the same as the most equivalent products on the market.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
0f9308f3886928237fa9837f5f1e2293 | Scenario-Based Analysis of Software Architecture | [
{
"docid": "85180ac475de8437bde80a7dbbfc9759",
"text": "Excellent book is always being the best friend for spending little time in your office, night time, bus, and everywhere. It will be a good way to just look, open, and read the book while in that time. As known, experience and skill don't always come with the much money to acquire them. Reading this book with the PDF object oriented software engineering a use case driven approach will let you know more things.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "4fe25c65a4fd1886018482aceb82ad6f",
"text": "Article history: Received 21 March 2011 Revised 28 February 2012 Accepted 5 March 2012 Available online 26 March 2012 The purpose of this paper is (1) to identify critical issues in the current literature on ethical leadership — i.e., the conceptual vagueness of the construct itself and the focus on a Western-based perspective; and (2) to address these issues and recent calls for more collaboration between normative and empirical-descriptive inquiry of ethical phenomena by developing an interdisciplinary integrative approach to ethical leadership. Based on the analysis of similarities between Western and Eastern moral philosophy and ethics principles of the world religions, the present approach identifies four essential normative reference points of ethical leadership— the four central ethical orientations: (1) humane orientation, (2) justice orientation, (3) responsibility and sustainability orientation, and (4) moderation orientation. Research propositions on predictors and consequences of leader expressions of the four central orientations are offered. Real cases of ethical leadership choices, derived from in-depth interviews with international leaders, illustrate how the central orientations play out in managerial practice. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d8a194a88ccf20b8160b75d930969c85",
"text": "We describe the design and hardware implementation of our walking and manipulation controllers that are based on a cascade of online optimizations. A virtual force acting at the robot's center of mass (CoM) is estimated and used to compensated for modeling errors of the CoM and unplanned external forces. The proposed controllers have been implemented on the Atlas robot, a full size humanoid robot built by Boston Dynamics, and used in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals, which consisted of a wide variety of locomotion and manipulation tasks.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1a0d0b0b38e6d6434448cee8959c58a8",
"text": "This paper reports the first results of an investigation into solutions to problems of security in computer systems; it establishes the basis for rigorous investigation by providing a general descriptive model of a computer system. Borrowing basic concepts and constructs from general systems theory, we present a basic result concerning security in computer systems, using precise notions of \"security\" and \"compromise\". We also demonstrate how a change in requirements can be reflected in the resulting mathematical model. A lengthy introductory section is included in order to bridge the gap between general systems theory and practical problem solving. ii PREFACE General systems theory is a relatively new and rapidly growing mathematical discipline which shows great promise for application in the computer sciences. The discipline includes both \"general systems-theory\" and \"general-systems-theory\": that is, one may properly read the phrase \"general systems theory\" in both ways. In this paper, we have borrowed from the works of general systems theorists, principally from the basic work of Mesarovic´, to formulate a mathematical framework within which to deal with the problems of secure computer systems. At the present time we feel that the mathematical representation developed herein is adequate to deal with most if not all of the security problems one may wish to pose. In Section III we have given a result which deals with the most trivial of the secure computer systems one might find viable in actual use. In the concluding section we review the application of our mathematical methodology and suggest major areas of concern in the design of a secure system. The results reported in this paper lay the groundwork for further, more specific investigation into secure computer systems. The investigation will proceed by specializing the elements of the model to represent particular aspects of system design and operation. Such an investigation will be reported in the second volume of this series where we assume a system with centralized access control. A preliminary investigation of distributed access is just beginning; the results of that investigation would be reported in a third volume of the series.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ad61c6474832ecbe671040dfcb64e6aa",
"text": "This paper provides a brief overview on the recent advances of small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from the perspective of platforms, key elements, and scientific research. The survey starts with an introduction of the recent advances of small-scale UAV platforms, based on the information summarized from 132 models available worldwide. Next, the evolvement of the key elements, including onboard processing units, navigation sensors, mission-oriented sensors, communication modules, and ground control station, is presented and analyzed. Third, achievements of small-scale UAV research, particularly on platform design and construction, dynamics modeling, and flight control, are introduced. Finally, the future of small-scale UAVs' research, civil applications, and military applications are forecasted.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8f13fbf6de0fb0685b4a39ee5f3bb415",
"text": "This review presents one of the eight theories of the quality of life (QOL) used for making the SEQOL (self-evaluation of quality of life) questionnaire or the quality of life as realizing life potential. This theory is strongly inspired by Maslow and the review furthermore serves as an example on how to fulfill the demand for an overall theory of life (or philosophy of life), which we believe is necessary for global and generic quality-of-life research. Whereas traditional medical science has often been inspired by mechanical models in its attempts to understand human beings, this theory takes an explicitly biological starting point. The purpose is to take a close view of life as a unique entity, which mechanical models are unable to do. This means that things considered to be beyond the individual's purely biological nature, notably the quality of life, meaning in life, and aspirations in life, are included under this wider, biological treatise. Our interpretation of the nature of all living matter is intended as an alternative to medical mechanism, which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. New ideas such as the notions of the human being as nestled in an evolutionary and ecological context, the spontaneous tendency of self-organizing systems for realization and concord, and the central role of consciousness in interpreting, planning, and expressing human reality are unavoidable today in attempts to scientifically understand all living matter, including human life.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf51f466c72108d5933d070b307e5d6d",
"text": "The study reported here follows the suggestion by Caplan et al. (Justice Q, 2010) that risk terrain modeling (RTM) be developed by doing more work to elaborate, operationalize, and test variables that would provide added value to its application in police operations. Building on the ideas presented by Caplan et al., we address three important issues related to RTM that sets it apart from current approaches to spatial crime analysis. First, we address the selection criteria used in determining which risk layers to include in risk terrain models. Second, we compare the ‘‘best model’’ risk terrain derived from our analysis to the traditional hotspot density mapping technique by considering both the statistical power and overall usefulness of each approach. Third, we test for ‘‘risk clusters’’ in risk terrain maps to determine how they can be used to target police resources in a way that improves upon the current practice of using density maps of past crime in determining future locations of crime occurrence. This paper concludes with an in depth exploration of how one might develop strategies for incorporating risk terrains into police decisionmaking. RTM can be developed to the point where it may be more readily adopted by police crime analysts and enable police to be more effectively proactive and identify areas with the greatest probability of becoming locations for crime in the future. The targeting of police interventions that emerges would be based on a sound understanding of geographic attributes and qualities of space that connect to crime outcomes and would not be the result of identifying individuals from specific groups or characteristics of people as likely candidates for crime, a tactic that has led police agencies to be accused of profiling. In addition, place-based interventions may offer a more efficient method of impacting crime than efforts focused on individuals.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "91f5c7b130a7eadef8df1b596cda1eaf",
"text": "It is well-established that within crisis-related communications, rumors are likely to emerge. False rumors, i.e. misinformation, can be detrimental to crisis communication and response; it is therefore important not only to be able to identify messages that propagate rumors, but also corrections or denials of rumor content. In this work, we explore the task of automatically classifying rumor stances expressed in crisisrelated content posted on social media. Utilizing a dataset of over 4,300 manually coded tweets, we build a supervised machine learning model for this task, achieving an accuracy over 88% across a diverse set of rumors of different types.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a25e2540e97918b954acbb6fdee57eb7",
"text": "Tweet streams provide a variety of real-life and real-time information on social events that dynamically change over time. Although social event detection has been actively studied, how to efficiently monitor evolving events from continuous tweet streams remains open and challenging. One common approach for event detection from text streams is to use single-pass incremental clustering. However, this approach does not track the evolution of events, nor does it address the issue of efficient monitoring in the presence of a large number of events. In this paper, we capture the dynamics of events using four event operations (create, absorb, split, and merge), which can be effectively used to monitor evolving events. Moreover, we propose a novel event indexing structure, called Multi-layer Inverted List (MIL), to manage dynamic event databases for the acceleration of large-scale event search and update. We thoroughly study the problem of nearest neighbour search using MIL based on upper bound pruning, along with incremental index maintenance. Extensive experiments have been conducted on a large-scale real-life tweet dataset. The results demonstrate the promising performance of our event indexing and monitoring methods on both efficiency and effectiveness.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b7ff78bc563c351642e5f316a6d895b",
"text": "OBJECTIVE\nTo determine an albino population's expectations from an outreach albino clinic, understanding of skin cancer risk, and attitudes toward sun protection behavior.\n\n\nDESIGN\nSurvey, June 1, 1997, to September 30, 1997.\n\n\nSETTING\nOutreach albino clinics in Tanzania.\n\n\nPARTICIPANTS\nAll albinos 13 years and older and accompanying adults of younger children attending clinics. Unaccompanied children younger than 13 years and those too sick to answer questions were excluded. Ninety-four questionnaires were completed in 5 villages, with a 100% response rate.\n\n\nINTERVENTIONS\nInterview-based questionnaire with scoring system for pictures depicting poorly sun-protected albinos.\n\n\nRESULTS\nThe most common reasons for attending the clinic were health education and skin examination. Thirteen respondents (14%) believed albinism was inherited; it was more common to believe in superstitious causes of albinism than inheritance. Seventy-three respondents (78%) believed skin cancer was preventable, and 60 (63%) believed skin cancer was related to the sun. Seventy-two subjects (77%) thought sunscreen provided protection from the sun; 9 (10%) also applied it at night. Reasons for not wearing sun-protective clothing included fashion, culture, and heat. The hats provided were thought to have too soft a brim, to shrink, and to be ridiculed. Suggestions for additional clinic services centered on education and employment. Albinos who had read the educational booklet had no better understanding of sun avoidance than those who had not (P =.49).\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThere was a reasonable understanding of risks of skin cancer and sun-avoidance methods. Clinical advice was often not followed for cultural reasons. The hats provided were unsuitable, and there was some confusion about the use of sunscreen. A lack of understanding of the cause of albinism led to many superstitions.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e2af17b368fef36187c895ad5fd20a58",
"text": "We study in this paper the problem of jointly clustering and learning representations. As several previous studies have shown, learning representations that are both faithful to the data to be clustered and adapted to the clustering algorithm can lead to better clustering performance, all the more so that the two tasks are performed jointly. We propose here such an approach for k-Means clustering based on a continuous reparametrization of the objective function that leads to a truly joint solution. The behavior of our approach is illustrated on various datasets showing its efficacy in learning representations for objects while clustering them.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a9fae3b86b21e40e71b99e5374cd3d4d",
"text": "Motor vehicle collisions are an important cause of blunt abdominal trauma in pregnant woman. Among the possible outcomes of blunt abdominal trauma, placental abruption, direct fetal trauma, and rupture of the gravid uterus are described. An interesting case of complete fetal decapitation with uterine rupture due to a high-velocity motor vehicle collision is described. The external examination of the fetus showed a disconnection between the cervical vertebrae C3 and C4. The autopsy examination showed hematic infiltration of the epicranic soft tissues, an overlap of the parietal bones, and a subarachnoid hemorrhage in the posterior part of interparietal area. Histological analysis was carried out showing a lack of epithelium and hemorrhages in the subcutaneous tissue, a hematic infiltration between the muscular fibers of the neck and between the collagen and deep muscular fibers of the tracheal wall. Specimens collected from the placenta and from the uterus showed a hematic infiltration with hypotrophy of the placental villi, fibrosis of the mesenchymal villi with ischemic phenomena of the membrane. The convergence of circumstantial data, autopsy results, and histological data led us to conclude that the neck lesion was vital and the cause of death was attributed to the motor vehicle collision.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7e61b5f63d325505209c3284c8a444a1",
"text": "A method to design low-pass filters (LPF) having a defected ground structure (DGS) and broadened transmission-line elements is proposed. The previously presented technique for obtaining a three-stage LPF using DGS by Lim et al. is generalized to propose a method that can be applied in design N-pole LPFs for N/spl les/5. As an example, a five-pole LPF having a DGS is designed and measured. Accurate curve-fitting results and the successive design process to determine the required size of the DGS corresponding to the LPF prototype elements are described. The proposed LPF having a DGS, called a DGS-LPF, includes transmission-line elements with very low impedance instead of open stubs in realizing the required shunt capacitance. Therefore, open stubs, teeor cross-junction elements, and high-impedance line sections are not required for the proposed LPF, while they all have been essential in conventional LPFs. Due to the widely broadened transmission-line elements, the size of the DGS-LPF is compact.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "001d2da1fbdaf2c49311f6e68b245076",
"text": "Lack of physical activity is a serious health concern for individuals who are visually impaired as they have fewer opportunities and incentives to engage in physical activities that provide the amounts and kinds of stimulation sufficient to maintain adequate fitness and to support a healthy standard of living. Exergames are video games that use physical activity as input and which have the potential to change sedentary lifestyles and associated health problems such as obesity. We identify that exergames have a number properties that could overcome the barriers to physical activity that individuals with visual impairments face. However, exergames rely upon being able to perceive visual cues that indicate to the player what input to provide. This paper presents VI Tennis, a modified version of a popular motion sensing exergame that explores the use of vibrotactile and audio cues. The effectiveness of providing multimodal (tactile/audio) versus unimodal (audio) cues was evaluated with a user study with 13 children who are blind. Children achieved moderate to vigorous levels of physical activity- the amount required to yield health benefits. No significant difference in active energy expenditure was found between both versions, though children scored significantly better with the tactile/audio version and also enjoyed playing this version more, which emphasizes the potential of tactile/audio feedback for engaging players for longer periods of time.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "32e92e1be00613e06a7bc03d457704ac",
"text": "Computer systems often fail due to many factors such as software bugs or administrator errors. Diagnosing such production run failures is an important but challenging task since it is difficult to reproduce them in house due to various reasons: (1) unavailability of users' inputs and file content due to privacy concerns; (2) difficulty in building the exact same execution environment; and (3) non-determinism of concurrent executions on multi-processors.\n Therefore, programmers often have to diagnose a production run failure based on logs collected back from customers and the corresponding source code. Such diagnosis requires expert knowledge and is also too time-consuming, tedious to narrow down root causes. To address this problem, we propose a tool, called SherLog, that analyzes source code by leveraging information provided by run-time logs to infer what must or may have happened during the failed production run. It requires neither re-execution of the program nor knowledge on the log's semantics. It infers both control and data value information regarding to the failed execution.\n We evaluate SherLog with 8 representative real world software failures (6 software bugs and 2 configuration errors) from 7 applications including 3 servers. Information inferred by SherLog are very useful for programmers to diagnose these evaluated failures. Our results also show that SherLog can analyze large server applications such as Apache with thousands of logging messages within only 40 minutes.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f794d4a807a4d69727989254c557d2d1",
"text": "The purpose of this study was to describe the operative procedures and clinical outcomes of a new three-column internal fixation system with anatomical locking plates on the tibial plateau to treat complex three-column fractures of the tibial plateau. From June 2011 to May 2015, 14 patients with complex three-column fractures of the tibial plateau were treated with reduction and internal fixation through an anterolateral approach combined with a posteromedial approach. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: a control group which included seven cases using common locking plates, and an experimental group which included seven cases with a new three-column internal fixation system with anatomical locking plates. The mean operation time of the control group was 280.7 ± 53.7 minutes, which was 215.0 ± 49.1 minutes in the experimental group. The mean intra-operative blood loss of the control group was 692.8 ± 183.5 ml, which was 471.4 ± 138.0 ml in the experimental group. The difference was statistically significant between the two groups above. The differences were not statistically significant between the following mean numbers of the two groups: Rasmussen score immediately after operation; active extension–flexion degrees of knee joint at three and 12 months post-operatively; tibial plateau varus angle (TPA) and posterior slope angle (PA) immediately after operation, at three and at 12 months post-operatively; HSS (The Hospital for Special Surgery) knee-rating score at 12 months post-operatively. All fractures healed. A three-column internal fixation system with anatomical locking plates on tibial plateau is an effective and safe tool to treat complex three-column fractures of the tibial plateau and it is more convenient than the common plate.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1b581e17dad529b3452d3fbdcb1b3dd1",
"text": "Authorship attribution is the task of identifying the author of a given text. The main concern of this task is to define an appropriate characterization of documents that captures the writing style of authors. This paper proposes a new method for authorship attribution supported on the idea that a proper identification of authors must consider both stylistic and topic features of texts. This method characterizes documents by a set of word sequences that combine functional and content words. The experimental results on poem classification demonstrated that this method outperforms most current state-of-the-art approaches, and that it is appropriate to handle the attribution of short documents.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "063389c654f44f34418292818fc781e7",
"text": "In a cross-disciplinary study, we carried out an extensive literature review to increase understanding of vulnerability indicators used in the disciplines of earthquakeand flood vulnerability assessments. We provide insights into potential improvements in both fields by identifying and comparing quantitative vulnerability indicators grouped into physical and social categories. Next, a selection of indexand curve-based vulnerability models that use these indicators are described, comparing several characteristics such as temporal and spatial aspects. Earthquake vulnerability methods traditionally have a strong focus on object-based physical attributes used in vulnerability curve-based models, while flood vulnerability studies focus more on indicators applied to aggregated land-use classes in curve-based models. In assessing the differences and similarities between indicators used in earthquake and flood vulnerability models, we only include models that separately assess either of the two hazard types. Flood vulnerability studies could be improved using approaches from earthquake studies, such as developing object-based physical vulnerability curve assessments and incorporating time-of-the-day-based building occupation patterns. Likewise, earthquake assessments could learn from flood studies by refining their selection of social vulnerability indicators. Based on the lessons obtained in this study, we recommend future studies for exploring risk assessment methodologies across different hazard types.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "08b2de5f1c6356c988ac9d6f09ca9a31",
"text": "Novel conditions are derived that guarantee convergence of the sum-product algorithm (also known as loopy belief propagation or simply belief propagation (BP)) to a unique fixed point, irrespective of the initial messages, for parallel (synchronous) updates. The computational complexity of the conditions is polynomial in the number of variables. In contrast with previously existing conditions, our results are directly applicable to arbitrary factor graphs (with discrete variables) and are shown to be valid also in the case of factors containing zeros, under some additional conditions. The conditions are compared with existing ones, numerically and, if possible, analytically. For binary variables with pairwise interactions, sufficient conditions are derived that take into account local evidence (i.e., single-variable factors) and the type of pair interactions (attractive or repulsive). It is shown empirically that this bound outperforms existing bounds.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cbe37cbe2234797a0e3625dbc5c98b68",
"text": "This paper investigates a visual interaction system for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) platform, called V3I. Our system employs common visual cameras that are mounted on connected vehicles to perceive the existence of isolated vehicles in the same roadway, and provides human drivers with imagery situational awareness. This allows effective interactions between vehicles even with a low permeation rate of V2V devices. The underlying research problem for V3I includes two aspects: i) tracking isolated vehicles of interest over time through local cameras; ii) at each time-step fusing the results of local visual perceptions to obtain a global location map that involves both isolated and connected vehicles. In this paper, we introduce a unified probabilistic approach to solve the above two problems, i.e., tracking and localization, in a joint fashion. Our approach will explore both the visual features of individual vehicles in images and the pair-wise spatial relationships between vehicles. We develop a fast Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm to search the joint solution space efficiently, which enables real-time application. To evaluate the performance of the proposed approach, we collect and annotate a set of video sequences captured with a group of vehicle-resident cameras. Extensive experiments with comparisons clearly demonstrate that the proposed V3I approach can precisely recover the dynamic location map of the surrounding and thus enable direct visual interactions between vehicles .",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "eb59f239621dde59a13854c5e6fa9f54",
"text": "This paper presents a novel application of grammatical inference techniques to the synthesis of behavior models of software systems. This synthesis is used for the elicitation of software requirements. This problem is formulated as a deterministic finite-state automaton induction problem from positive and negative scenarios provided by an end-user of the software-to-be. A query-driven state merging algorithm (QSM) is proposed. It extends the RPNI and Blue-Fringe algorithms by allowing membership queries to be submitted to the end-user. State merging operations can be further constrained by some prior domain knowledge formulated as fluents, goals, domain properties, and models of external software components. The incorporation of domain knowledge both reduces the number of queries and guarantees that the induced model is consistent with such knowledge. The proposed techniques are implemented in the ISIS tool and practical evaluations on standard requirements engineering test cases and synthetic data illustrate the interest of this approach. Contact author: Pierre Dupont Department of Computing Science and Engineering (INGI) Université catholique de Louvain Place Sainte Barbe, 2. B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve Belgium Email: Pierre.Dupont@uclouvain.be Phone: +32 10 47 91 14 Fax: +32 10 45 03 45",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
fdc696b24e0e5e14853186cd23f84f10 | Hybrid Recommender Systems: A Systematic Literature Review | [
{
"docid": "e870f2fe9a26b241bdeca882b6186169",
"text": "Some people may be laughing when looking at you reading in your spare time. Some may be admired of you. And some may want be like you who have reading hobby. What about your own feel? Have you felt right? Reading is a need and a hobby at once. This condition is the on that will make you feel that you must read. If you know are looking for the book enPDFd recommender systems handbook as the choice of reading, you can find here.",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "8c308305b4a04934126c4746c8333b52",
"text": "The authors report on the development of the Cancer Tissue Information Extraction System (caTIES)--an application that supports collaborative tissue banking and text mining by leveraging existing natural language processing methods and algorithms, grid communication and security frameworks, and query visualization methods. The system fills an important need for text-derived clinical data in translational research such as tissue-banking and clinical trials. The design of caTIES addresses three critical issues for informatics support of translational research: (1) federation of research data sources derived from clinical systems; (2) expressive graphical interfaces for concept-based text mining; and (3) regulatory and security model for supporting multi-center collaborative research. Implementation of the system at several Cancer Centers across the country is creating a potential network of caTIES repositories that could provide millions of de-identified clinical reports to users. The system provides an end-to-end application of medical natural language processing to support multi-institutional translational research programs.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8f025fda5bbf9468dc65c16539d0aa0d",
"text": "Image compression is one of the key image processing techniques in signal processing and communication systems. Compression of images leads to reduction of storage space and reduces transmission bandwidth and hence also the cost. Advances in VLSI technology are rapidly changing the technological needs of common man. One of the major technological domains that are directly related to mankind is image compression. Neural networks can be used for image compression. Neural network architectures have proven to be more reliable, robust, and programmable and offer better performance when compared with classical techniques. In this work the main focus is on development of new architectures for hardware implementation of 3-D neural network based image compression optimizing area, power and speed as specific to ASIC implementation, and comparison with FPGA.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f3345e524ff05bcd6c8a13bbb5e2aa6d",
"text": "Permission-induced attacks, i.e., security breaches enabled by permission misuse, are among the most critical and frequent issues threatening the security of Android devices. By ignoring the temporal aspects of an attack during the analysis and enforcement, the state-of-the-art approaches aimed at protecting the users against such attacks are prone to have low-coverage in detection and high-disruption in prevention of permission-induced attacks. To address this shortcomings, we present Terminator, a temporal permission analysis and enforcement framework for Android. Leveraging temporal logic model checking,Terminator's analyzer identifies permission-induced threats with respect to dynamic permission states of the apps. At runtime, Terminator's enforcer selectively leases (i.e., temporarily grants) permissions to apps when the system is in a safe state, and revokes the permissions when the system moves to an unsafe state realizing the identified threats. The results of our experiments, conducted over thousands of apps, indicate that Terminator is able to provide an effective, yet non-disruptive defense against permission-induced attacks. We also show that our approach, which does not require modification to the Android framework or apps' implementation logic, is highly reliable and widely applicable.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6087e066b04b9c3ac874f3c58979f89a",
"text": "What does it mean for a machine learning model to be ‘fair’, in terms which can be operationalised? Should fairness consist of ensuring everyone has an equal probability of obtaining some benefit, or should we aim instead to minimise the harms to the least advantaged? Can the relevant ideal be determined by reference to some alternative state of affairs in which a particular social pattern of discrimination does not exist? Various definitions proposed in recent literature make different assumptions about what terms like discrimination and fairness mean and how they can be defined in mathematical terms. Questions of discrimination, egalitarianism and justice are of significant interest to moral and political philosophers, who have expended significant efforts in formalising and defending these central concepts. It is therefore unsurprising that attempts to formalise ‘fairness’ in machine learning contain echoes of these old philosophical debates. This paper draws on existing work in moral and political philosophy in order to elucidate emerging debates about fair machine learning.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5e51b4363a156f4c3fde12da345e9438",
"text": "In this work we present an annotation framework to capture causality between events, inspired by TimeML, and a language resource covering both temporal and causal relations. This data set is then used to build an automatic extraction system for causal signals and causal links between given event pairs. The evaluation and analysis of the system’s performance provides an insight into explicit causality in text and the connection between temporal and causal relations.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "57ffea840501c5e9a77a2c7e0d609d07",
"text": "Datasets power computer vison research and drive breakthroughs. Larger and larger datasets are needed to better utilize the exponentially increasing computing power. However, datasets generation is both time consuming and expensive as human beings are required for image labelling. Human labelling cannot scale well. How can we generate larger image datasets easier and faster? In this paper, we provide a new approach for large scale datasets generation. We generate images from 3D object models directly. The large volume of freely available 3D CAD models and mature computer graphics techniques make generating large scale image datasets from 3D models very efficient. As little human effort involved in this process, it can scale very well. Rather than releasing a static dataset, we will also provide a software library for dataset generation so that the computer vision community can easily extend or modify the datasets accordingly.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bd8ae67f959a7b840eff7e8c400a41e0",
"text": "Enabling a humanoid robot to drive a car, requires the development of a set of basic primitive actions. These include: walking to the vehicle, manually controlling its commands (e.g., ignition, gas pedal and steering), and moving with the whole-body, to ingress/egress the car. In this paper, we present a sensorbased reactive framework for realizing the central part of the complete task, consisting in driving the car along unknown roads. The proposed framework provides three driving strategies by which a human supervisor can teleoperate the car, ask for assistive driving, or give the robot full control of the car. A visual servoing scheme uses features of the road image to provide the reference angle for the steering wheel to drive the car at the center of the road. Simultaneously, a Kalman filter merges optical flow and accelerometer measurements, to estimate the car linear velocity and correspondingly compute the gas pedal command for driving at a desired speed. The steering wheel and gas pedal reference are sent to the robot control to achieve the driving task with the humanoid. We present results from a driving experience with a real car and the humanoid robot HRP-2Kai. Part of the framework has been used to perform the driving task at the DARPA Robotics Challenge.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0e2b885774f69342ade2b9ad1bc84835",
"text": "History repeatedly demonstrates that rural communities have unique technological needs. Yet, we know little about how rural communities use modern technologies, so we lack knowledge on how to design for them. To address this gap, our empirical paper investigates behavioral differences between more than 3,000 rural and urban social media users. Using a dataset collected from a broadly popular social network site, we analyze users' profiles, 340,000 online friendships and 200,000 interpersonal messages. Using social capital theory, we predict differences between rural and urban users and find strong evidence supporting our hypotheses. Namely, rural people articulate far fewer friends online, and those friends live much closer to home. Our results also indicate that the groups have substantially different gender distributions and use privacy features differently. We conclude by discussing design implications drawn from our findings; most importantly, designers should reconsider the binary friend-or-not model to allow for incremental trust-building.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "94f1de78a229dc542a67ea564a0b259f",
"text": "Voice enabled personal assistants like Microsoft Cortana are becoming better every day. As a result more users are relying on such software to accomplish more tasks. While these applications are significantly improving due to great advancements in the underlying technologies, there are still shortcomings in their performance resulting in a class of user queries that such assistants cannot yet handle with satisfactory results. We analyze the data from millions of user queries, and build a machine learning system capable of classifying user queries into two classes; a class of queries that are addressable by Cortana with high user satisfaction, and a class of queries that are not. We then use unsupervised learning to cluster similar queries and assign them to human assistants who can complement Cortana functionality.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ff5fb2a555c9bcdfad666406b94ebc71",
"text": "Driven by profits, spam reviews for product promotion or suppression become increasingly rampant in online shopping platforms. This paper focuses on detecting hidden spam users based on product reviews. In the literature, there have been tremendous studies suggesting diversified methods for spammer detection, but whether these methods can be combined effectively for higher performance remains unclear. Along this line, a hybrid PU-learning-based Spammer Detection (hPSD) model is proposed in this paper. On one hand, hPSD can detect multi-type spammers by injecting or recognizing only a small portion of positive samples, which meets particularly real-world application scenarios. More importantly, hPSD can leverage both user features and user relations to build a spammer classifier via a semi-supervised hybrid learning framework. Experimental results on movie data sets with shilling injection show that hPSD outperforms several state-of-the-art baseline methods. In particular, hPSD shows great potential in detecting hidden spammers as well as their underlying employers from a real-life Amazon data set. These demonstrate the effectiveness and practical value of hPSD for real-life applications.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "128de222f033bc2c50b5af44db8f6f6f",
"text": "Copyright & reuse City University London has developed City Research Online so that its users may access the research outputs of City University London's staff. Copyright © and Moral Rights for this paper are retained by the individual author(s) and/ or other copyright holders. All material in City Research Online is checked for eligibility for copyright before being made available in the live archive. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to from other web pages.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bf156a97587b55e8afe255fe1b1a8ac0",
"text": "In recent years researches are focused towards mining infrequent patterns rather than frequent patterns. Mining infrequent pattern plays vital role in detecting any abnormal event. In this paper, an algorithm named Infrequent Pattern Miner for Data Streams (IPM-DS) is proposed for mining nonzero infrequent patterns from data streams. The proposed algorithm adopts the FP-growth based approach for generating all infrequent patterns. The proposed algorithm (IPM-DS) is evaluated using health data set collected from wearable physiological sensors that measure vital parameters such as Heart Rate (HR), Breathing Rate (BR), Oxygen Saturation (SPO2) and Blood pressure (BP) and also with two publically available data sets such as e-coli and Wine from UCI repository. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm generates all possible infrequent patterns in less time.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1657df28bba01b18fb26bb8c823ad4b4",
"text": "Come with us to read a new book that is coming recently. Yeah, this is a new coming book that many people really want to read will you be one of them? Of course, you should be. It will not make you feel so hard to enjoy your life. Even some people think that reading is a hard to do, you must be sure that you can do it. Hard will be felt when you have no ideas about what kind of book to read. Or sometimes, your reading material is not interesting enough.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2117e3c0cf7854c8878417b7d84491ce",
"text": "We designed a new annotation scheme for formalising relation structures in research papers, through the investigation of computer science papers. The annotation scheme is based on the hypothesis that identifying the role of entities and events that are described in a paper is useful for intelligent information retrieval in academic literature, and the role can be determined by the relationship between the author and the described entities or events, and relationships among them. Using the scheme, we have annotated research abstracts from the IPSJ Journal published in Japanese by the Information Processing Society of Japan. On the basis of the annotated corpus, we have developed a prototype information extraction system which has the facility to classify sentences according to the relationship between entities mentioned, to help find the role of the entity in which the searcher is interested.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "43b0358c4d3fec1dd58600847bf0c1b8",
"text": "The transformative promises and potential of Big and Open Data are substantial for e-government services, openness and transparency, governments, and the interaction between governments, citizens, and the business sector. From “smart” government to transformational government, Big and Open Data can foster collaboration; create real-time solutions to challenges in agriculture, health, transportation, and more; promote greater openness; and usher in a new era of policyand decision-making. There are, however, a range of policy challenges to address regarding Big and Open Data, including access and dissemination; digital asset management, archiving and preservation; privacy; and security. After presenting a discussion of the open data policies that serve as a foundation for Big Data initiatives, this paper examines the ways in which the current information policy framework fails to address a number of these policy challenges. It then offers recommendations intended to serve as a beginning point for a revised policy framework to address significant issues raised by the U.S. government’s engagement in Big Data efforts.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "db5ff75a7966ec6c1503764d7e510108",
"text": "Qualitative content analysis as described in published literature shows conflicting opinions and unsolved issues regarding meaning and use of concepts, procedures and interpretation. This paper provides an overview of important concepts (manifest and latent content, unit of analysis, meaning unit, condensation, abstraction, content area, code, category and theme) related to qualitative content analysis; illustrates the use of concepts related to the research procedure; and proposes measures to achieve trustworthiness (credibility, dependability and transferability) throughout the steps of the research procedure. Interpretation in qualitative content analysis is discussed in light of Watzlawick et al.'s [Pragmatics of Human Communication. A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, London] theory of communication.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "39007be7d6b2f296e8dff368d49ac0fe",
"text": "Neural oscillations at low- and high-frequency ranges are a fundamental feature of large-scale networks. Recent evidence has indicated that schizophrenia is associated with abnormal amplitude and synchrony of oscillatory activity, in particular, at high (beta/gamma) frequencies. These abnormalities are observed during task-related and spontaneous neuronal activity which may be important for understanding the pathophysiology of the syndrome. In this paper, we shall review the current evidence for impaired beta/gamma-band oscillations and their involvement in cognitive functions and certain symptoms of the disorder. In the first part, we will provide an update on neural oscillations during normal brain functions and discuss underlying mechanisms. This will be followed by a review of studies that have examined high-frequency oscillatory activity in schizophrenia and discuss evidence that relates abnormalities of oscillatory activity to disturbed excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) balance. Finally, we shall identify critical issues for future research in this area.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9270af032d1adbf9829e7d723ff76849",
"text": "To detect illegal copies of copyrighted images, recent copy detection methods mostly rely on the bag-of-visual-words (BOW) model, in which local features are quantized into visual words for image matching. However, both the limited discriminability of local features and the BOW quantization errors will lead to many false local matches, which make it hard to distinguish similar images from copies. Geometric consistency verification is a popular technology for reducing the false matches, but it neglects global context information of local features and thus cannot solve this problem well. To address this problem, this paper proposes a global context verification scheme to filter false matches for copy detection. More specifically, after obtaining initial scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) matches between images based on the BOW quantization, the overlapping region-based global context descriptor (OR-GCD) is proposed for the verification of these matches to filter false matches. The OR-GCD not only encodes relatively rich global context information of SIFT features but also has good robustness and efficiency. Thus, it allows an effective and efficient verification. Furthermore, a fast image similarity measurement based on random verification is proposed to efficiently implement copy detection. In addition, we also extend the proposed method for partial-duplicate image detection. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method achieves higher accuracy than the state-of-the-art methods, and has comparable efficiency to the baseline method based on the BOW quantization.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b9c40aa4c8ac9d4b6cbfb2411c542998",
"text": "This review will summarize molecular and genetic analyses aimed at identifying the mechanisms underlying the sequence of events during plant zygotic embryogenesis. These events are being studied in parallel with the histological and morphological analyses of somatic embryogenesis. The strength and limitations of somatic embryogenesis as a model system will be discussed briefly. The formation of the zygotic embryo has been described in some detail, but the molecular mechanisms controlling the differentiation of the various cell types are not understood. In recent years plant molecular and genetic studies have led to the identification and characterization of genes controlling the establishment of polarity, tissue differentiation and elaboration of patterns during embryo development. An investigation of the developmental basis of a number of mutant phenotypes has enabled the identification of gene activities promoting (1) asymmetric cell division and polarization leading to heterogeneous partitioning of the cytoplasmic determinants necessary for the initiation of embryogenesis (e.g. GNOM), (2) the determination of the apical-basal organization which is established independently of the differentiation of the tissues of the radial pattern elements (e.g. KNOLLE, FACKEL, ZWILLE), (3) the differentiation of meristems (e.g. SHOOT-MERISTEMLESS), and (4) the formation of a mature embryo characterized by the accumulation of LEA and storage proteins. The accumulation of these two types of proteins is controlled by ABA-dependent regulatory mechanisms as shown using both ABA-deficient and ABA-insensitive mutants (e.g. ABA, ABI3). Both types of embryogenesis have been studied by different techniques and common features have been identified between them. In spite of the relative difficulty of identifying the original cells involved in the developmental processes of somatic embryogenesis, common regulatory mechanisms are probably involved in the first stages up to the globular form. Signal molecules, such as growth regulators, have been shown to play a role during development of both types of embryos. The most promising method for identifying regulatory mechanisms responsible for the key events of embryogenesis will come from molecular and genetic analyses. The mutations already identified will shed light on the nature of the genes that affect developmental processes as well as elucidating the role of the various regulatory genes that control plant embryogenesis.",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2130cc3df3443c912d9a38f83a51ab14",
"text": "Event cameras, such as dynamic vision sensors (DVS), and dynamic and activepixel vision sensors (DAVIS) can supplement other autonomous driving sensors by providing a concurrent stream of standard active pixel sensor (APS) images and DVS temporal contrast events. The APS stream is a sequence of standard grayscale global-shutter image sensor frames. The DVS events represent brightness changes occurring at a particular moment, with a jitter of about a millisecond under most lighting conditions. They have a dynamic range of >120 dB and effective frame rates >1 kHz at data rates comparable to 30 fps (frames/second) image sensors. To overcome some of the limitations of current image acquisition technology, we investigate in this work the use of the combined DVS and APS streams in endto-end driving applications. The dataset DDD17 accompanying this paper is the first open dataset of annotated DAVIS driving recordings. DDD17 has over 12 h of a 346x260 pixel DAVIS sensor recording highway and city driving in daytime, evening, night, dry and wet weather conditions, along with vehicle speed, GPS position, driver steering, throttle, and brake captured from the car’s on-board diagnostics interface. As an example application, we performed a preliminary end-toend learning study of using a convolutional neural network that is trained to predict the instantaneous steering angle from DVS and APS visual data.",
"title": ""
}
] | scidocsrr |
7e8480c3eaf49cdfbf3f0fb5dc107c19 | Government only objects to online gambling because they dont benefit
Governments are hypocritical about gambling. They say they don’t like it but they often use it for their own purposes. Sometimes they only allow gambling in certain places in order to boost a local economy. Sometimes they profit themselves by running the only legal gambling business, such as a National Lottery [15] or public racecourse betting. This is bad for the public who want to gamble. Online gambling firms can break through government control by offering better odds and attractive new games.
| [
{
"docid": "46ba8fc99d8acbdf158083b449f6ec85",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Because people will gamble anyway, the best that governments can do is make sure that their people gamble in safe circumstances. This means real world that casinos and other betting places that can easily be monitored.\n\nThe examples of government using gambling for their own purposes are really the government turning gambling into a benefit for the country. Physical casinos benefit the economy and encourage investment, and lotteries can be used to raise money for good causes. Online gambling undermines all this, as it can be sited anywhere in the world but can still compete with, and undercut organised national betting operations.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "e51474dedeecb206ba3e9c94942ea744",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression People are not free to do whatever they want whenever they want. When their activities harm society it is the government’s role to step in to prevent that harm. Online gambling simply provides the freedom for more people to get into debt, not a freedom that should be encouraged.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4c6d1733c619690dbf76333b473b9f45",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Gambling is quite different from buying stocks and shares. With the stock market investors are buying a stake in an actual company. This share may rise or fall in value, but so can a house or artwork. In each case there is a real asset that is likely to hold its value in the long term, which isn’t the case with gambling. Company shares and bonds can even produce a regular income through dividend and interest payments. It is true that some forms of financial speculation are more like gambling – for example the derivatives market or short-selling, where the investor does not actually own the asset being traded. But these are not types of investment that ordinary people have much to do with. They are also the kinds of financial activity most to blame for the financial crisis, which suggests we need more government control, not less.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "72f61b1a779f57be5a7ea0e8aa7707e5",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression It is only in the interests of big gambling sites that aim to create a long term business to go along with tough regulation. Online gambling sites can get around government regulations that limit the dangers of betting. Because they can be legally sited anywhere in the world, they can pick countries with no rules to protect customers. In the real world governments can ban bets being taken from children and drunks. They can make sure that the odds are not changed to suit the House. And they can check that people running betting operations don’t have criminal records. In online gambling on the other hand 50% of players believe that internet casino’s cheat [14].\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "81f981d884a7ebc9c66aa0dd772a5c05",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Governments have the power to ban online gambling in their own country. Even if citizens could use foreign websites, most will not choose to break the law. When the United States introduced its Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 gambling among those of college-age fell from 5.8% to 1.5% [12]. Blocking the leading websites will also be effective, as it makes it very hard for them to build a trusted brand. And governments can stop their banks handling payments to foreign gambling companies, cutting off their business.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "de909a7b7e21de332a4bbce9a6430cfa",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression There is no evidence that gambling prevents people from caring for their family. The vast majority who gamble do so responsibly. It isn’t right to ban something that millions of people enjoy just because a few cause problems. And banning gambling, whether online or in the real world will not stop these problems. Sadly, even if it is illegal, people with problems will still find a way to hurt those around them – just look at drugs.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2e08f5bb359b2c9caf5ce492a01912f0",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Criminals will always try to exploit any system, but if governments allow legal online gambling they can regulate it. It is in the interest of gambling companies to build trustworthy brands and cooperate with the authorities on stopping any crime. Cheats in several sports have been caught because legal websites reported strange betting patterns. Betfair for example provides the authorities with an early warning system ‘BetMon’ to watch betting patterns.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "154ad68e18b3c20384a606614b4ee484",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Unlike drugs, gambling is not physically or metabolically addictive. Most gamblers are not addicts, simply ordinary people who enjoy the excitement of a bet on a sporting event or card game. The large majority of people who gamble online keep to clear limits and stop when they reach them. The few people with a problem with being addicted will still find ways to gamble if gambling is illegal either through a casino, or else still online but in a black market that offers no help and that may use criminal violence to enforce payment.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ce1d9b6ed0d3b41e470e2807c037972",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Every leisure industry attracts a few troubled individuals who take the activity to harmful extremes. For every thousand drinkers there are a few alcoholics. Similarly some sports fans are hooligans. Those who gamble enough to harm themselves would be those who would gamble in casinos if the internet option was not available.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bcf30ccecd8726747480c24d543ef251",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Cant enforce an online gambling ban\n\nGovernments can’t actually do anything to enforce a ban on the world wide web. Domestic laws can only stop internet companies using servers and offices in their own country. They cannot stop their citizens going online to gamble using sites based elsewhere. Governments can try to block sites they disapprove of, but new ones will keep springing up and their citizens will find ways around the ban. So practically there is little the government can do to stop people gambling online. Despite it being illegal the American Gambling Association has found that 4% of Americans already engage in online gambling [11].\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4da6f98c448e1b1d7fc1482abcb0da32",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Other forms of online gambling\n\nWhat is the difference between gambling and playing the stock market? In each case people are putting money at risk in the hope of a particular outcome. Gambling on horse-racing or games involves knowledge and expertise that can improve your chances of success. In the same way, trading in bonds, shares, currency or derivatives is a bet that your understanding of the economy is better than that of other investors. Why should one kind of online risk-taking be legal and the other not?\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ed53c9c164b2ca80fedcc4f767bbf27a",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Personal freedom\n\nGambling is a leisure activity enjoyed by many millions of people. Governments should not tell people what they can do with their own money. Those who don’t like gambling should be free to buy adverts warning people against it, but they should not be able to use the law to impose their own beliefs. Online gambling has got rid of the rules that in the past made it hard to gamble for pleasure and allowed many more ordinary people to enjoy a bet from time to time. It provides the freedom to gamble, whenever and wherever and with whatever method the individual prefers.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f026abdff01f2a90b1308cbeeb08af16",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Only regulation can mitigate harms\n\nIt is where the sites operate, not where they are set up that matters for regulation. It is in gambling sites interest to run a trustworthy, responsible business. Whatever they are looking for online, internet users choose trusted brands that have been around for a while. If a gambling site acts badly, for example by changing its odds unfairly, word will soon get around and no one will want to use it. Regulation will mean that sites will have to verify the age of their users and prevent problem gamblers from accessing their site. When there is regulation consumers will go to the sites that are verified by their government and are providing a legal, safe service [13].\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d75df3012dd41644ccfcc97c5b9b7a79",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Online gambling affects families\n\nA parent who gambles can quickly lose the money their family depends on for food and rent. It is a common cause of family break-up and homelessness, so governments should get involved to protect innocent children from getting hurt [5]. Each problem gambler harmfully impacts 10-15 other people [6]. The internet makes it easy for gamblers to bet secretly, without even leaving the house, so people become addicted to gambling without their families realising what is going on until too late.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "eaab866fdf1b9283debf296a7cdf07be",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Gambling is addictive.\n\nHumans get a buzz from taking a risk and the hope that this time their luck will be in, this is similar to drug addicts [7]. The more people bet, the more they want to bet, so they become hooked on gambling which can wreck their lives. Internet gambling is worse because it is not a social activity. Unlike a casino or race track, you don’t have to go anywhere to do it, which can put a brake on the activity. The websites never shut. There won’t be people around you to talk you out of risky bets. There is nothing to stop you gambling your savings away while drunk.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "73f1009aced88d08400ec728176354d6",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Gambling is bad for you.\n\nGamblers may win money from time to time, but in the long run, the House always wins. Why should governments allow an activity that helps their citizens lose the money they have worked so hard to earn? The harm is not just the loss of money and possible bankruptcy; it causes depression, insomnia, and other stress related disorders [4]. The internet has made gambling so much easier to do and encouraged lots of new people to place bets so dramatically multiplying the harm.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "14be38e43a7e16f44a2871a450dccbe5",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Online gambling encourages crime\n\nHuman trafficking, forced prostitution and drugs provide $2.1 billion a year for the Mafia but they need some way through which to put this money into circulation. Online gambling is that way in. They put dirty money in and win clean money back [8]. Because it is so international and outside normal laws, it makes criminal cash hard to track. There is a whole array of other crime associated with online gambling; hacking, phishing, extortion, and identity fraud, all of which can occur on a large scale unconstrained by physical proximity [9]. Online gambling also encourages corruption in sport. By allowing huge sums of money to be bet internationally on the outcome of a game or race, it draws in criminals who can try to bribe or threaten sportsmen.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
9e3df00e8633e44f875e383d925c771d | Other forms of online gambling
What is the difference between gambling and playing the stock market? In each case people are putting money at risk in the hope of a particular outcome. Gambling on horse-racing or games involves knowledge and expertise that can improve your chances of success. In the same way, trading in bonds, shares, currency or derivatives is a bet that your understanding of the economy is better than that of other investors. Why should one kind of online risk-taking be legal and the other not?
| [
{
"docid": "4c6d1733c619690dbf76333b473b9f45",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Gambling is quite different from buying stocks and shares. With the stock market investors are buying a stake in an actual company. This share may rise or fall in value, but so can a house or artwork. In each case there is a real asset that is likely to hold its value in the long term, which isn’t the case with gambling. Company shares and bonds can even produce a regular income through dividend and interest payments. It is true that some forms of financial speculation are more like gambling – for example the derivatives market or short-selling, where the investor does not actually own the asset being traded. But these are not types of investment that ordinary people have much to do with. They are also the kinds of financial activity most to blame for the financial crisis, which suggests we need more government control, not less.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "e51474dedeecb206ba3e9c94942ea744",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression People are not free to do whatever they want whenever they want. When their activities harm society it is the government’s role to step in to prevent that harm. Online gambling simply provides the freedom for more people to get into debt, not a freedom that should be encouraged.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "72f61b1a779f57be5a7ea0e8aa7707e5",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression It is only in the interests of big gambling sites that aim to create a long term business to go along with tough regulation. Online gambling sites can get around government regulations that limit the dangers of betting. Because they can be legally sited anywhere in the world, they can pick countries with no rules to protect customers. In the real world governments can ban bets being taken from children and drunks. They can make sure that the odds are not changed to suit the House. And they can check that people running betting operations don’t have criminal records. In online gambling on the other hand 50% of players believe that internet casino’s cheat [14].\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "81f981d884a7ebc9c66aa0dd772a5c05",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Governments have the power to ban online gambling in their own country. Even if citizens could use foreign websites, most will not choose to break the law. When the United States introduced its Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 gambling among those of college-age fell from 5.8% to 1.5% [12]. Blocking the leading websites will also be effective, as it makes it very hard for them to build a trusted brand. And governments can stop their banks handling payments to foreign gambling companies, cutting off their business.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "46ba8fc99d8acbdf158083b449f6ec85",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Because people will gamble anyway, the best that governments can do is make sure that their people gamble in safe circumstances. This means real world that casinos and other betting places that can easily be monitored.\n\nThe examples of government using gambling for their own purposes are really the government turning gambling into a benefit for the country. Physical casinos benefit the economy and encourage investment, and lotteries can be used to raise money for good causes. Online gambling undermines all this, as it can be sited anywhere in the world but can still compete with, and undercut organised national betting operations.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "de909a7b7e21de332a4bbce9a6430cfa",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression There is no evidence that gambling prevents people from caring for their family. The vast majority who gamble do so responsibly. It isn’t right to ban something that millions of people enjoy just because a few cause problems. And banning gambling, whether online or in the real world will not stop these problems. Sadly, even if it is illegal, people with problems will still find a way to hurt those around them – just look at drugs.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2e08f5bb359b2c9caf5ce492a01912f0",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Criminals will always try to exploit any system, but if governments allow legal online gambling they can regulate it. It is in the interest of gambling companies to build trustworthy brands and cooperate with the authorities on stopping any crime. Cheats in several sports have been caught because legal websites reported strange betting patterns. Betfair for example provides the authorities with an early warning system ‘BetMon’ to watch betting patterns.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "154ad68e18b3c20384a606614b4ee484",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Unlike drugs, gambling is not physically or metabolically addictive. Most gamblers are not addicts, simply ordinary people who enjoy the excitement of a bet on a sporting event or card game. The large majority of people who gamble online keep to clear limits and stop when they reach them. The few people with a problem with being addicted will still find ways to gamble if gambling is illegal either through a casino, or else still online but in a black market that offers no help and that may use criminal violence to enforce payment.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ce1d9b6ed0d3b41e470e2807c037972",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Every leisure industry attracts a few troubled individuals who take the activity to harmful extremes. For every thousand drinkers there are a few alcoholics. Similarly some sports fans are hooligans. Those who gamble enough to harm themselves would be those who would gamble in casinos if the internet option was not available.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f1a2f9aaec6eb4fa051fe97e1a9952e2",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Government only objects to online gambling because they dont benefit\n\nGovernments are hypocritical about gambling. They say they don’t like it but they often use it for their own purposes. Sometimes they only allow gambling in certain places in order to boost a local economy. Sometimes they profit themselves by running the only legal gambling business, such as a National Lottery [15] or public racecourse betting. This is bad for the public who want to gamble. Online gambling firms can break through government control by offering better odds and attractive new games.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bcf30ccecd8726747480c24d543ef251",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Cant enforce an online gambling ban\n\nGovernments can’t actually do anything to enforce a ban on the world wide web. Domestic laws can only stop internet companies using servers and offices in their own country. They cannot stop their citizens going online to gamble using sites based elsewhere. Governments can try to block sites they disapprove of, but new ones will keep springing up and their citizens will find ways around the ban. So practically there is little the government can do to stop people gambling online. Despite it being illegal the American Gambling Association has found that 4% of Americans already engage in online gambling [11].\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ed53c9c164b2ca80fedcc4f767bbf27a",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Personal freedom\n\nGambling is a leisure activity enjoyed by many millions of people. Governments should not tell people what they can do with their own money. Those who don’t like gambling should be free to buy adverts warning people against it, but they should not be able to use the law to impose their own beliefs. Online gambling has got rid of the rules that in the past made it hard to gamble for pleasure and allowed many more ordinary people to enjoy a bet from time to time. It provides the freedom to gamble, whenever and wherever and with whatever method the individual prefers.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f026abdff01f2a90b1308cbeeb08af16",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Only regulation can mitigate harms\n\nIt is where the sites operate, not where they are set up that matters for regulation. It is in gambling sites interest to run a trustworthy, responsible business. Whatever they are looking for online, internet users choose trusted brands that have been around for a while. If a gambling site acts badly, for example by changing its odds unfairly, word will soon get around and no one will want to use it. Regulation will mean that sites will have to verify the age of their users and prevent problem gamblers from accessing their site. When there is regulation consumers will go to the sites that are verified by their government and are providing a legal, safe service [13].\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d75df3012dd41644ccfcc97c5b9b7a79",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Online gambling affects families\n\nA parent who gambles can quickly lose the money their family depends on for food and rent. It is a common cause of family break-up and homelessness, so governments should get involved to protect innocent children from getting hurt [5]. Each problem gambler harmfully impacts 10-15 other people [6]. The internet makes it easy for gamblers to bet secretly, without even leaving the house, so people become addicted to gambling without their families realising what is going on until too late.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "eaab866fdf1b9283debf296a7cdf07be",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Gambling is addictive.\n\nHumans get a buzz from taking a risk and the hope that this time their luck will be in, this is similar to drug addicts [7]. The more people bet, the more they want to bet, so they become hooked on gambling which can wreck their lives. Internet gambling is worse because it is not a social activity. Unlike a casino or race track, you don’t have to go anywhere to do it, which can put a brake on the activity. The websites never shut. There won’t be people around you to talk you out of risky bets. There is nothing to stop you gambling your savings away while drunk.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "73f1009aced88d08400ec728176354d6",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Gambling is bad for you.\n\nGamblers may win money from time to time, but in the long run, the House always wins. Why should governments allow an activity that helps their citizens lose the money they have worked so hard to earn? The harm is not just the loss of money and possible bankruptcy; it causes depression, insomnia, and other stress related disorders [4]. The internet has made gambling so much easier to do and encouraged lots of new people to place bets so dramatically multiplying the harm.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "14be38e43a7e16f44a2871a450dccbe5",
"text": "economic policy law crime policing digital freedoms freedom expression Online gambling encourages crime\n\nHuman trafficking, forced prostitution and drugs provide $2.1 billion a year for the Mafia but they need some way through which to put this money into circulation. Online gambling is that way in. They put dirty money in and win clean money back [8]. Because it is so international and outside normal laws, it makes criminal cash hard to track. There is a whole array of other crime associated with online gambling; hacking, phishing, extortion, and identity fraud, all of which can occur on a large scale unconstrained by physical proximity [9]. Online gambling also encourages corruption in sport. By allowing huge sums of money to be bet internationally on the outcome of a game or race, it draws in criminals who can try to bribe or threaten sportsmen.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
e810fa205f991db403678f65bf73636c | Websites can strengthen democratic institutions.
The promotion of democracy is not only about forming new democracies; strengthening existing democratic institutions around the globe. To do so, transparency and government-citizen communication is necessary. Britain has set up two websites that achieve exactly that. Writetothem.com is a website where people can figure out who their parliamentary representatives are, and write to them about their problems in an effort to create a stronger relationship, and channels of communication between MPs and their constituents1. 130,000 people were using the website in 2009. Theyworkforyou.com is another website where people can find out who their representatives are, and then read about their recent actions in parliament. This site receives between 200,000 and 300,000 hits per month2. Elections are also strengthened by the internet. Voting can be conducted online which makes the process easier and can reduce intimidation at the polls. Now that politicians have websites, their policy platforms can be more easily accessed and understood by voters. Increasing information and communication between leaders and their constituents contributes to a more transparent system and therefore a healthier democracy. The internet is not only useful for promoting movements for democratic reforms in authoritarian countries, but also for making democracy more effective in democratic countries.
What about civil society and alternative media action sites within ‘official’ democracies that aim to bring about greater democratization through their protests and information for example- http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/ .
1. Escher, Tobias, Analysis of users and usage for UK Citizens Online Democracy, mysociety.org, May 2011
2. Escher, Tobias, WriteToThem.com, mysociety.org, May 2011
| [
{
"docid": "2ee3916cc3f6846f11abc493f300cb95",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy To use such websites governments already need to be committed to democracy. Promoting democracy in already-democratic countries is irrelevant. Countries that are not democratic, and seek to maintain autocratic rule will not be impacted by the availability of those resources and harness the internet only for continued repression 1.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "aa9e39962c46b030838120eef2ca1d44",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy For many countries, communication with outside actors does not make any difference. Iran has some internet freedom and access to outside information, yet president Ahmadinejad casts the West as a great evil trying to destroy Iran's culture1 . The government remains a theocracy and while there have been some protests, there are many that still support the system of governance2 . Additionally, China may have made reforms, but it is not a democracy even though they have extensive contact with the West3 . Therefore, contact does not necessarily indicate that values will be adopted. When it comes to information flowing out of oppressive countries, the international community might make matters worse. When the West gets involved in local movements, often it can make leaders hold a tighter grip on their power, and turn the blame for the situation on the West leading to violence, and hindering democratic development. This is similar to the situation in Libya4.\n\n1 CNN Wire Staff, 'The West is to blame for regional unrest, Ahmadinejad says', CNN Worl, 18 April 2011\n\n2 Wolverson, Roya, 'How Iran Sees Egypt's Protests', Council on Foreign Relations, 10 February 2010\n\n3 Kurlantzick, Joshua, 'Beijing has bought itself a respite from middle class revolt', The National, 7 March 2011\n\n4 Zenko, Micah, 'Think Again: Libya', Foreign Policy, 28 April 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f2bf0e64ea8220bba950dd2c6f95487",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet is only a place for coordination and cannot replace real-life action so if people are not willing to take to the streets, then the internet is not going to help—and even without the internet, disgruntled masses can still make their points known, as in the French Revolution1. Egypt shut down internet and phone service during part of the revolution, yet it continued indicating that this movement is not based online2. Therefore the internet is not necessarily the force that propels people towards change. SMS has been a very important part of the organization of these protests, which is entirely separate from the internet3. Close to 5 billion people use cell phones and SMS, therefore the impact of the cell phone cannot be distinguished from the internet so it is inaccurate to say that the internet is contributing to democratization when it is very possibly thanks to mobile phones4.\n\n1. Wikipedia, French Revolution\n\n2. BBC, “Egypt’s opposition pushes demands as protests continue”, 2011\n\n3. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n4. Melanson, David, “UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscribers top five billion”, 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0e9a010ae94d1cee93bede80a024f882",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy overnments still successfully censor information. Take China for example. Often the government shuts down Facebook and Twitter, arrests bloggers, and takes down content. Terms like ‘Tiananmen Square’ and ‘Inner Mongolia’ provide no search results because of the protests that have gone on there1 Governments’ ability to censor information is advancing. Therefore the idea that the internet promotes the flow of unbiased information is not necessarily true, which counters the claim that the internet promotes democracy. Further, the internet is not always used for access to Western news sources, but instead, over 500 million sites in the indexes of search engines are pornographic. In 2003 25% of internet use was for accessing porn. Five of the twenty most visited internet sites are download sites for video games and porn 2. The internet is not largely used for access to information, but instead other forbidden resources, and therefore cannot be directly linked to democratic development.\n\n1. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n\n2. Change.org, \"Petition to Unsubscribe America from Internet Porn\", 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6a6d523e79f1684bbd8cae5059a3d7c2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The quantity of information on the internet, and the number of talented computer users makes it very difficult for the government to fully censor information. The more information there is, the harder it becomes for the government to control it. The US is investing $19 million into researching how to break the firewalls of China and Iran1. There is plenty of easy to use software to evade firewalls2. Internet censorship can be evaded. Therefore, regimes cannot entirely maintain control over information, and any external information can be considered good information.\n\nFurthermore, regimes like China and Iran are not the only countries to “watching” their populations. Many democracies including the US and most of Western European use digital surveillance to safeguard their population- watch out for possible activity that may be harmful to the state.\n\n1. Gaouette, Nicole, 'U.S. Launches New Effort to Evade China's Internet Firewalls', Bloomberg.com, 11 May 2011\n\n2. Irish Times, 'Bunnies Hop the Great Firewall', 2 February 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6526be9f5964c2a0b9ffc51761b890c9",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Governments cannot always get away with the targeting of internet dissidents. Bloggers are often famous and followed intently by many people. If a popular blogger all of a sudden disappears it is more likely to generate increased support for the blogger and the cause than lead supporters to defect to the government1. Further, the government cannot arrest everyone, and the internet provides a tool for social movements to be poly-centric2—they have many leaders and anyone can step in.\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2672b9af4afd8eaf058c2207dc0d2ba0",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy With any tool there are going to be people who misuse it, yet cases of misuse do not outweigh times when the internet has proven to be an important force for democracy. Internet and SMS have helped to organize almost every uprising in the Middle East and the Orange Revolution in Georgia1. Cases of citizen misuse are few and far between in comparison to the change that has been made partially thanks to the internet. Further, the internet provides tools to successfully catch the abusers and prevent continued undemocratic actions through tracking IP addresses and other tactics. The same goes for targeting terrorist networks.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4dde8cdbcc48b030d9e15969791555a8",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy There are ways to make the internet affordable. Internet cafes and purchasing multiple SIM cards and pay as you go plans for cell phones can address the need to have a computer and therefore decrease the cost of internet use1. Further, the internet is a jumping off point. Not every low-income person needs to have internet access but if a handful do, then they can be part of the organization of protests and movements by taking the information available online and disseminating it through networks of people through SMS, calls, and word of mouth. Tunisia was not a rich country; in fact, people were protesting the pervasive poverty. Even so, they were able to successfully organize a revolution, with the help of the internet2.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n2. Jerome, Deborah, 'Understanding Tunisia's Tremors', Council on Foreign Relations, 14 January 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "20713b8ac7526561b141e94c7f43f652",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet allows political dissidents to communicate, organize, and grow a grassroots movement.\n\nAnother extremely important requirement for successful opposition movements advocating democratic reform is the ability to organize mass numbers of people. It is one thing if you hate your government, but don’t think anyone else does. It is entirely different if you can access the thoughts of thousands of others and realize that you are in fact not alone 1. Proportionally the number of people benefiting from repressive authoritative regimes is very small in comparison to the people who are suffering. Therefore, if the people who are hurt by the regimes realize the numbers that they have, it spells trouble for the governments. The internet has 2 billion users, and 950 million people have mobile broadband 2. Mobile phones with pay-as-you-go access plans are more available and affordable than ever before. Protesters do not need to own a computer: they can access social networking and news sites from their phones. The internet means that opposition groups don’t have to be organized under a particular leader, as there can now be many leaders and various causes that fit under the same umbrella and band together. These loose connections, as in Egypt, strengthen the movement 3. The internet also reduces the cost of organization, which can be the difference between success and failure 4. In the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia which called for democracy, the internet was first used to create events on Facebook to increase the number of people aware of and attending protests 5. Then the videos, photographs, and twitter posts that became available on the internet increased the support for the movement as citizens became aware of the violence the government was subjecting the country to. The internet allows users to communicate, then organize demonstrations, and then grow the movement. All of these functions of the internet are essential factors of a grassroots push for democratic reforms.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010, pp. 101-118\n\n2. Melanson, Donald, 'UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscriptions top five billion', engadget, 28 January 2011\n\n3. BBC, \"Egypt's opposition pushes demands as protests continue\", 2011\n\n4. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n\n5. Alexander, Anne (2011), \"Internet Role in Egypt Protests\", British Broadcasting Company,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a9c367355845250726149b08465e4d8c",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet promotes the free flow of information both in and out of a country, which is essential for a truly free democracy.\n\nMedia can be one of the most important factors in democratic development. If governments successfully control the media, they can direct information towards their constituents that casts the regime in an undeniably good light. They can prevent news of faked elections, protests, violence, repression, and arrest from ever reaching the people subject to those violations 1. Without external sources of information people do not question government propaganda, which decreases the likelihood that they advocate for their civil liberties and democracy. The internet promotes the free flow of information that leads to social consciousness and enhances democracy. News of political corruption and scandal in China can go viral in a matter of minutes among its 540 million internet users 2. Even when the government blocks certain websites, and makes avid use of firewalls for censorship, uploading videos to Facebook and YouTube, and posts to Twitter can allow information to be disseminated within the country. Once information is accessible it is almost impossible for the government to continue to censor the internet. For example, in the most recent Egyptian protests, as information leaked out of the country via social networking sites, cell phone pictures and videos were shown on international news broadcasts, making it difficult for the government to spin the situation in a positive light 3. The internet provides a place to find information, and also a place to discuss and debate it with others. The latter is the essential step to truly shifting views. The internet promotes free media which is essential to both creating and maintaining a functioning democracy as it promotes government transparency.\n\n1. Reporters Without Borders, \"Press Freedom Index 2010\" 2010,\n\n2. Economy, Elizabeth and Mondschein, Jared, \"China: The New Virtual Political System\", Council on Foreign Relations 2011\n\n3. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4cdb4c98-37b1-11e0-b91a-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=... \">Richard Waters. \"Web firms aim to benefit from role in uprising\" Financial Times, February 13, 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e2baa654de47b58c92327e2c83dd5e08",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet enhances communication between countries.\n\nThe internet does not only make information available to oppressed people within a country, but also communicates that situation to the rest of the world. People also learn about other authoritarian—and democratic—governments around the world. For example, the internet allowed information about Tunisia’s revolution to reach Egypt, which made it clear that overthrowing a government was entirely possible1. Information about the actions of other countries, and their governments can lead to a push for democratic reforms around the world. In addition, as information flows out of a country it becomes more difficult for the globe’s powers to ignore the events that are ensuing, and makes it more likely that they will take action. This action can create the internal and external pressure necessary for democratic reform as was seen in both the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia2. Contact between countries can also have a more subtle impact as well. It enhances communication between open and closed societies particularly in the form of business, which can bring about an exchange of values. Thanks in part to the internet; Western firms increasingly own large shares of Middle Eastern and East Asian businesses, putting pressure on governments to remove their economic protectionism measures and to allow greater transparency. For example, while China is not a democracy it has made some government and economic reforms that are on the right track3.\n\n1. Jerome, Deborah (2011), “Understand Tunisia’s Tremors”, Council on Foreign Relations, [Accessed June 22, 2011].\n\n2. Wikipedia, “International reactions to the revolution in Egypt”, [Accessed June 24, 2011].\n\n3. Wikipedia, “Chinese Economic Reforms”, [Accessed June 24, 2011]\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3d116a6f7c16f9766ee17c776ccd1ccd",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The digital divide leaves the same people in places of influence and power.\n\nThe internet doesn’t necessarily put power in the hands of the vulnerable; in many places it strengthens the influence of the traditional elite. In low-income countries the cost of broadband is 900% of average monthly income1. Most people simply cannot afford to have internet access. Internet penetration is not up to par in low income, developing, and traditionally non-democratic countries. For example, Africa has 15% of the world’s population and only 5% of its internet users. There are only about 100 million internet users on the continent, which accounts for only 11% of its population2. As the lower income members of society remain unable to afford internet access, the power that the internet boasts remains with those who can afford it. The traditional elites are the ones that maintain the ability to access the internet, and they can use it for their own purposes and to strengthen their position and power – i.e. the internet may actually increase inequalities on the ground, against democracy. The internet could play a positive role in society, but until it is affordable, the oppressed who long for democracy will not have the tools to advocate for it.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n\n2. Internet World Stats. “Internet Usage in Africa\", 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f31e654408a3cacb47e00cc2b02f001",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be used to quash democratic movements.\n\nThe internet makes it much easier for states to target and locate dissidents. They can be located by their IP addresses or records kept by internet cafes. It is almost impossible by today’s standards to remain anonymous on the internet1. Surveillance used to be the only technique for governments to track down dissidents, however the internet has made governments’ task of quashing opposition easier. Since 2003, 202 bloggers have been arrested around the world and 162 of the arrests were for political reasons. The government doesn’t need a true reason because only 37 of the cases were tried in the judicial system. Political parties, ethnic and religious groups, civil rights movements, and leaders can all be targeted through government internet surveillance2. When the government can find the names of political dissidents and arrest them, it makes it more difficult for successful movements to occur, because they lack leaders and potential participants are intimidated. The internet can also be used to reverse democratic momentum\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26f72cdd2a6db619a60a67bc5de8dcc3",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be successfully censored so that it only promotes pro-regime propaganda.\n\nThe internet is said to promote democracy based on the claim that it leads to the free flow of information. Unfortunately, this is false in many parts of the world. 40 countries around the globe actively censor the internet, and 25 have blocked Google over the past few years1. This gives their governments a false legitimacy by removing material critical of anti-democratic policies and as acting as a psychological bulwark against discontent and dissent. The government retains the ability to control the information that its citizens have access to and can use this power to promote pro-regime information and prevent anti-regime, pro-democratic content from ever seeing the light of day. The internet is a new tool, but governments can become more sophisticated as well and harness the internet to repress dissent2. For example, China has almost no internet freedom and the terms “Tiananmen Square” and “Inner-Mongolia” provides no search results because protests occurred there3. Google in 2010 refused to uphold their firewalls and were therefore no longer allowed to operate in the country. The internet can be used by authoritarian government for enhanced media repression.\n\nEven more concerning is corporate surveillance for marketing purposes, which means that people are pushed certain information from certain sources, meaning that not all voices are equally heard online. Democracy in the online world is not about having your voice published, but about it being seen and heard. As a result some players can gain a lot more attention than other, even if everyone with access can publish.\n\n1. Hernandez, Javier C., 'Google Calls for Action on Web Limits', The New York Times , 24 March 2010\n\n2. Joyce, Mary (Editor). “Digital Activism Decoded: New Mechanics of Change”. International Debate Education Association, New York: 2010.\n\n3. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6fa70164e5b05c6b53cc3989d16e2e76",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Citizens often use the internet in ways that detract from democracy.\n\nThe idea that the internet promotes democracy also operates under the assumption that the people with internet access will use the tool for ‘good’. Yet, this is also not the case. The internet is the primary medium of coordination for Jihadist groups looking to undermine the few Middle-Eastern states which are in the process of transition to democracy. In April 2007, groups of hackers (allegedly backed by the Russian government) attacked the websites of key politicians, ministries and utilities in Estonia in retaliation for the removal of a Soviet war memorial. Hackers can block access, destroy content, and organize in malicious activity as in the case of terrorism and the Estonian ‘hactivists’ 1. Information can also be misused.In the US, neo-Nazism has always been an issue of contention and use the internet to further promote their viewpoints.For example, UK animal rights activists post information about people they feel to be targets, which can lead to intimidation. The internet can often be hijacked for less-than-ideal purposes and therefore does not directly promote democracy, but can be used by the people to counter reform 2.\n\nMoreover, there are questions over the limits on democratic freedoms due to the ‘corporate colonization’ o f the internet. For a start, a lot of the ‘trusted’ news sites that users frequent for their information simply reproduce the views of Western media corporations. And corporate social network platforms like Facebook claim to provide for democratic interaction while undertaking surveillance of their user information so as to produce profiles to sell advertising, profiles that could also be used by governments.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Double Edged Sword of Digital Tactics. 2010\n\n2. Ibid\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
a0c089eb897c790da83d3f1b39fe2f1d | The internet allows political dissidents to communicate, organize, and grow a grassroots movement.
Another extremely important requirement for successful opposition movements advocating democratic reform is the ability to organize mass numbers of people. It is one thing if you hate your government, but don’t think anyone else does. It is entirely different if you can access the thoughts of thousands of others and realize that you are in fact not alone 1. Proportionally the number of people benefiting from repressive authoritative regimes is very small in comparison to the people who are suffering. Therefore, if the people who are hurt by the regimes realize the numbers that they have, it spells trouble for the governments. The internet has 2 billion users, and 950 million people have mobile broadband 2. Mobile phones with pay-as-you-go access plans are more available and affordable than ever before. Protesters do not need to own a computer: they can access social networking and news sites from their phones. The internet means that opposition groups don’t have to be organized under a particular leader, as there can now be many leaders and various causes that fit under the same umbrella and band together. These loose connections, as in Egypt, strengthen the movement 3. The internet also reduces the cost of organization, which can be the difference between success and failure 4. In the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia which called for democracy, the internet was first used to create events on Facebook to increase the number of people aware of and attending protests 5. Then the videos, photographs, and twitter posts that became available on the internet increased the support for the movement as citizens became aware of the violence the government was subjecting the country to. The internet allows users to communicate, then organize demonstrations, and then grow the movement. All of these functions of the internet are essential factors of a grassroots push for democratic reforms.
1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010, pp. 101-118
2. Melanson, Donald, 'UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscriptions top five billion', engadget, 28 January 2011
3. BBC, "Egypt's opposition pushes demands as protests continue", 2011
4. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010
5. Alexander, Anne (2011), "Internet Role in Egypt Protests", British Broadcasting Company,
| [
{
"docid": "9f2bf0e64ea8220bba950dd2c6f95487",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet is only a place for coordination and cannot replace real-life action so if people are not willing to take to the streets, then the internet is not going to help—and even without the internet, disgruntled masses can still make their points known, as in the French Revolution1. Egypt shut down internet and phone service during part of the revolution, yet it continued indicating that this movement is not based online2. Therefore the internet is not necessarily the force that propels people towards change. SMS has been a very important part of the organization of these protests, which is entirely separate from the internet3. Close to 5 billion people use cell phones and SMS, therefore the impact of the cell phone cannot be distinguished from the internet so it is inaccurate to say that the internet is contributing to democratization when it is very possibly thanks to mobile phones4.\n\n1. Wikipedia, French Revolution\n\n2. BBC, “Egypt’s opposition pushes demands as protests continue”, 2011\n\n3. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n4. Melanson, David, “UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscribers top five billion”, 2011.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "2ee3916cc3f6846f11abc493f300cb95",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy To use such websites governments already need to be committed to democracy. Promoting democracy in already-democratic countries is irrelevant. Countries that are not democratic, and seek to maintain autocratic rule will not be impacted by the availability of those resources and harness the internet only for continued repression 1.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "aa9e39962c46b030838120eef2ca1d44",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy For many countries, communication with outside actors does not make any difference. Iran has some internet freedom and access to outside information, yet president Ahmadinejad casts the West as a great evil trying to destroy Iran's culture1 . The government remains a theocracy and while there have been some protests, there are many that still support the system of governance2 . Additionally, China may have made reforms, but it is not a democracy even though they have extensive contact with the West3 . Therefore, contact does not necessarily indicate that values will be adopted. When it comes to information flowing out of oppressive countries, the international community might make matters worse. When the West gets involved in local movements, often it can make leaders hold a tighter grip on their power, and turn the blame for the situation on the West leading to violence, and hindering democratic development. This is similar to the situation in Libya4.\n\n1 CNN Wire Staff, 'The West is to blame for regional unrest, Ahmadinejad says', CNN Worl, 18 April 2011\n\n2 Wolverson, Roya, 'How Iran Sees Egypt's Protests', Council on Foreign Relations, 10 February 2010\n\n3 Kurlantzick, Joshua, 'Beijing has bought itself a respite from middle class revolt', The National, 7 March 2011\n\n4 Zenko, Micah, 'Think Again: Libya', Foreign Policy, 28 April 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0e9a010ae94d1cee93bede80a024f882",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy overnments still successfully censor information. Take China for example. Often the government shuts down Facebook and Twitter, arrests bloggers, and takes down content. Terms like ‘Tiananmen Square’ and ‘Inner Mongolia’ provide no search results because of the protests that have gone on there1 Governments’ ability to censor information is advancing. Therefore the idea that the internet promotes the flow of unbiased information is not necessarily true, which counters the claim that the internet promotes democracy. Further, the internet is not always used for access to Western news sources, but instead, over 500 million sites in the indexes of search engines are pornographic. In 2003 25% of internet use was for accessing porn. Five of the twenty most visited internet sites are download sites for video games and porn 2. The internet is not largely used for access to information, but instead other forbidden resources, and therefore cannot be directly linked to democratic development.\n\n1. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n\n2. Change.org, \"Petition to Unsubscribe America from Internet Porn\", 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6a6d523e79f1684bbd8cae5059a3d7c2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The quantity of information on the internet, and the number of talented computer users makes it very difficult for the government to fully censor information. The more information there is, the harder it becomes for the government to control it. The US is investing $19 million into researching how to break the firewalls of China and Iran1. There is plenty of easy to use software to evade firewalls2. Internet censorship can be evaded. Therefore, regimes cannot entirely maintain control over information, and any external information can be considered good information.\n\nFurthermore, regimes like China and Iran are not the only countries to “watching” their populations. Many democracies including the US and most of Western European use digital surveillance to safeguard their population- watch out for possible activity that may be harmful to the state.\n\n1. Gaouette, Nicole, 'U.S. Launches New Effort to Evade China's Internet Firewalls', Bloomberg.com, 11 May 2011\n\n2. Irish Times, 'Bunnies Hop the Great Firewall', 2 February 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6526be9f5964c2a0b9ffc51761b890c9",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Governments cannot always get away with the targeting of internet dissidents. Bloggers are often famous and followed intently by many people. If a popular blogger all of a sudden disappears it is more likely to generate increased support for the blogger and the cause than lead supporters to defect to the government1. Further, the government cannot arrest everyone, and the internet provides a tool for social movements to be poly-centric2—they have many leaders and anyone can step in.\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2672b9af4afd8eaf058c2207dc0d2ba0",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy With any tool there are going to be people who misuse it, yet cases of misuse do not outweigh times when the internet has proven to be an important force for democracy. Internet and SMS have helped to organize almost every uprising in the Middle East and the Orange Revolution in Georgia1. Cases of citizen misuse are few and far between in comparison to the change that has been made partially thanks to the internet. Further, the internet provides tools to successfully catch the abusers and prevent continued undemocratic actions through tracking IP addresses and other tactics. The same goes for targeting terrorist networks.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4dde8cdbcc48b030d9e15969791555a8",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy There are ways to make the internet affordable. Internet cafes and purchasing multiple SIM cards and pay as you go plans for cell phones can address the need to have a computer and therefore decrease the cost of internet use1. Further, the internet is a jumping off point. Not every low-income person needs to have internet access but if a handful do, then they can be part of the organization of protests and movements by taking the information available online and disseminating it through networks of people through SMS, calls, and word of mouth. Tunisia was not a rich country; in fact, people were protesting the pervasive poverty. Even so, they were able to successfully organize a revolution, with the help of the internet2.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n2. Jerome, Deborah, 'Understanding Tunisia's Tremors', Council on Foreign Relations, 14 January 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c9e84444e3ceb82ffc717b3027206da2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Websites can strengthen democratic institutions.\n\nThe promotion of democracy is not only about forming new democracies; strengthening existing democratic institutions around the globe. To do so, transparency and government-citizen communication is necessary. Britain has set up two websites that achieve exactly that. Writetothem.com is a website where people can figure out who their parliamentary representatives are, and write to them about their problems in an effort to create a stronger relationship, and channels of communication between MPs and their constituents1. 130,000 people were using the website in 2009. Theyworkforyou.com is another website where people can find out who their representatives are, and then read about their recent actions in parliament. This site receives between 200,000 and 300,000 hits per month2. Elections are also strengthened by the internet. Voting can be conducted online which makes the process easier and can reduce intimidation at the polls. Now that politicians have websites, their policy platforms can be more easily accessed and understood by voters. Increasing information and communication between leaders and their constituents contributes to a more transparent system and therefore a healthier democracy. The internet is not only useful for promoting movements for democratic reforms in authoritarian countries, but also for making democracy more effective in democratic countries.\n\nWhat about civil society and alternative media action sites within ‘official’ democracies that aim to bring about greater democratization through their protests and information for example- http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/ .\n\n1. Escher, Tobias, Analysis of users and usage for UK Citizens Online Democracy, mysociety.org, May 2011\n\n2. Escher, Tobias, WriteToThem.com, mysociety.org, May 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a9c367355845250726149b08465e4d8c",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet promotes the free flow of information both in and out of a country, which is essential for a truly free democracy.\n\nMedia can be one of the most important factors in democratic development. If governments successfully control the media, they can direct information towards their constituents that casts the regime in an undeniably good light. They can prevent news of faked elections, protests, violence, repression, and arrest from ever reaching the people subject to those violations 1. Without external sources of information people do not question government propaganda, which decreases the likelihood that they advocate for their civil liberties and democracy. The internet promotes the free flow of information that leads to social consciousness and enhances democracy. News of political corruption and scandal in China can go viral in a matter of minutes among its 540 million internet users 2. Even when the government blocks certain websites, and makes avid use of firewalls for censorship, uploading videos to Facebook and YouTube, and posts to Twitter can allow information to be disseminated within the country. Once information is accessible it is almost impossible for the government to continue to censor the internet. For example, in the most recent Egyptian protests, as information leaked out of the country via social networking sites, cell phone pictures and videos were shown on international news broadcasts, making it difficult for the government to spin the situation in a positive light 3. The internet provides a place to find information, and also a place to discuss and debate it with others. The latter is the essential step to truly shifting views. The internet promotes free media which is essential to both creating and maintaining a functioning democracy as it promotes government transparency.\n\n1. Reporters Without Borders, \"Press Freedom Index 2010\" 2010,\n\n2. Economy, Elizabeth and Mondschein, Jared, \"China: The New Virtual Political System\", Council on Foreign Relations 2011\n\n3. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4cdb4c98-37b1-11e0-b91a-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=... \">Richard Waters. \"Web firms aim to benefit from role in uprising\" Financial Times, February 13, 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e2baa654de47b58c92327e2c83dd5e08",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet enhances communication between countries.\n\nThe internet does not only make information available to oppressed people within a country, but also communicates that situation to the rest of the world. People also learn about other authoritarian—and democratic—governments around the world. For example, the internet allowed information about Tunisia’s revolution to reach Egypt, which made it clear that overthrowing a government was entirely possible1. Information about the actions of other countries, and their governments can lead to a push for democratic reforms around the world. In addition, as information flows out of a country it becomes more difficult for the globe’s powers to ignore the events that are ensuing, and makes it more likely that they will take action. This action can create the internal and external pressure necessary for democratic reform as was seen in both the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia2. Contact between countries can also have a more subtle impact as well. It enhances communication between open and closed societies particularly in the form of business, which can bring about an exchange of values. Thanks in part to the internet; Western firms increasingly own large shares of Middle Eastern and East Asian businesses, putting pressure on governments to remove their economic protectionism measures and to allow greater transparency. For example, while China is not a democracy it has made some government and economic reforms that are on the right track3.\n\n1. Jerome, Deborah (2011), “Understand Tunisia’s Tremors”, Council on Foreign Relations, [Accessed June 22, 2011].\n\n2. Wikipedia, “International reactions to the revolution in Egypt”, [Accessed June 24, 2011].\n\n3. Wikipedia, “Chinese Economic Reforms”, [Accessed June 24, 2011]\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3d116a6f7c16f9766ee17c776ccd1ccd",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The digital divide leaves the same people in places of influence and power.\n\nThe internet doesn’t necessarily put power in the hands of the vulnerable; in many places it strengthens the influence of the traditional elite. In low-income countries the cost of broadband is 900% of average monthly income1. Most people simply cannot afford to have internet access. Internet penetration is not up to par in low income, developing, and traditionally non-democratic countries. For example, Africa has 15% of the world’s population and only 5% of its internet users. There are only about 100 million internet users on the continent, which accounts for only 11% of its population2. As the lower income members of society remain unable to afford internet access, the power that the internet boasts remains with those who can afford it. The traditional elites are the ones that maintain the ability to access the internet, and they can use it for their own purposes and to strengthen their position and power – i.e. the internet may actually increase inequalities on the ground, against democracy. The internet could play a positive role in society, but until it is affordable, the oppressed who long for democracy will not have the tools to advocate for it.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n\n2. Internet World Stats. “Internet Usage in Africa\", 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f31e654408a3cacb47e00cc2b02f001",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be used to quash democratic movements.\n\nThe internet makes it much easier for states to target and locate dissidents. They can be located by their IP addresses or records kept by internet cafes. It is almost impossible by today’s standards to remain anonymous on the internet1. Surveillance used to be the only technique for governments to track down dissidents, however the internet has made governments’ task of quashing opposition easier. Since 2003, 202 bloggers have been arrested around the world and 162 of the arrests were for political reasons. The government doesn’t need a true reason because only 37 of the cases were tried in the judicial system. Political parties, ethnic and religious groups, civil rights movements, and leaders can all be targeted through government internet surveillance2. When the government can find the names of political dissidents and arrest them, it makes it more difficult for successful movements to occur, because they lack leaders and potential participants are intimidated. The internet can also be used to reverse democratic momentum\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26f72cdd2a6db619a60a67bc5de8dcc3",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be successfully censored so that it only promotes pro-regime propaganda.\n\nThe internet is said to promote democracy based on the claim that it leads to the free flow of information. Unfortunately, this is false in many parts of the world. 40 countries around the globe actively censor the internet, and 25 have blocked Google over the past few years1. This gives their governments a false legitimacy by removing material critical of anti-democratic policies and as acting as a psychological bulwark against discontent and dissent. The government retains the ability to control the information that its citizens have access to and can use this power to promote pro-regime information and prevent anti-regime, pro-democratic content from ever seeing the light of day. The internet is a new tool, but governments can become more sophisticated as well and harness the internet to repress dissent2. For example, China has almost no internet freedom and the terms “Tiananmen Square” and “Inner-Mongolia” provides no search results because protests occurred there3. Google in 2010 refused to uphold their firewalls and were therefore no longer allowed to operate in the country. The internet can be used by authoritarian government for enhanced media repression.\n\nEven more concerning is corporate surveillance for marketing purposes, which means that people are pushed certain information from certain sources, meaning that not all voices are equally heard online. Democracy in the online world is not about having your voice published, but about it being seen and heard. As a result some players can gain a lot more attention than other, even if everyone with access can publish.\n\n1. Hernandez, Javier C., 'Google Calls for Action on Web Limits', The New York Times , 24 March 2010\n\n2. Joyce, Mary (Editor). “Digital Activism Decoded: New Mechanics of Change”. International Debate Education Association, New York: 2010.\n\n3. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6fa70164e5b05c6b53cc3989d16e2e76",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Citizens often use the internet in ways that detract from democracy.\n\nThe idea that the internet promotes democracy also operates under the assumption that the people with internet access will use the tool for ‘good’. Yet, this is also not the case. The internet is the primary medium of coordination for Jihadist groups looking to undermine the few Middle-Eastern states which are in the process of transition to democracy. In April 2007, groups of hackers (allegedly backed by the Russian government) attacked the websites of key politicians, ministries and utilities in Estonia in retaliation for the removal of a Soviet war memorial. Hackers can block access, destroy content, and organize in malicious activity as in the case of terrorism and the Estonian ‘hactivists’ 1. Information can also be misused.In the US, neo-Nazism has always been an issue of contention and use the internet to further promote their viewpoints.For example, UK animal rights activists post information about people they feel to be targets, which can lead to intimidation. The internet can often be hijacked for less-than-ideal purposes and therefore does not directly promote democracy, but can be used by the people to counter reform 2.\n\nMoreover, there are questions over the limits on democratic freedoms due to the ‘corporate colonization’ o f the internet. For a start, a lot of the ‘trusted’ news sites that users frequent for their information simply reproduce the views of Western media corporations. And corporate social network platforms like Facebook claim to provide for democratic interaction while undertaking surveillance of their user information so as to produce profiles to sell advertising, profiles that could also be used by governments.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Double Edged Sword of Digital Tactics. 2010\n\n2. Ibid\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
d25fc37bd84803f6f32df536ac1baace | The internet promotes the free flow of information both in and out of a country, which is essential for a truly free democracy.
Media can be one of the most important factors in democratic development. If governments successfully control the media, they can direct information towards their constituents that casts the regime in an undeniably good light. They can prevent news of faked elections, protests, violence, repression, and arrest from ever reaching the people subject to those violations 1. Without external sources of information people do not question government propaganda, which decreases the likelihood that they advocate for their civil liberties and democracy. The internet promotes the free flow of information that leads to social consciousness and enhances democracy. News of political corruption and scandal in China can go viral in a matter of minutes among its 540 million internet users 2. Even when the government blocks certain websites, and makes avid use of firewalls for censorship, uploading videos to Facebook and YouTube, and posts to Twitter can allow information to be disseminated within the country. Once information is accessible it is almost impossible for the government to continue to censor the internet. For example, in the most recent Egyptian protests, as information leaked out of the country via social networking sites, cell phone pictures and videos were shown on international news broadcasts, making it difficult for the government to spin the situation in a positive light 3. The internet provides a place to find information, and also a place to discuss and debate it with others. The latter is the essential step to truly shifting views. The internet promotes free media which is essential to both creating and maintaining a functioning democracy as it promotes government transparency.
1. Reporters Without Borders, "Press Freedom Index 2010" 2010,
2. Economy, Elizabeth and Mondschein, Jared, "China: The New Virtual Political System", Council on Foreign Relations 2011
3. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4cdb4c98-37b1-11e0-b91a-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=... ">Richard Waters. "Web firms aim to benefit from role in uprising" Financial Times, February 13, 2011,
| [
{
"docid": "0e9a010ae94d1cee93bede80a024f882",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy overnments still successfully censor information. Take China for example. Often the government shuts down Facebook and Twitter, arrests bloggers, and takes down content. Terms like ‘Tiananmen Square’ and ‘Inner Mongolia’ provide no search results because of the protests that have gone on there1 Governments’ ability to censor information is advancing. Therefore the idea that the internet promotes the flow of unbiased information is not necessarily true, which counters the claim that the internet promotes democracy. Further, the internet is not always used for access to Western news sources, but instead, over 500 million sites in the indexes of search engines are pornographic. In 2003 25% of internet use was for accessing porn. Five of the twenty most visited internet sites are download sites for video games and porn 2. The internet is not largely used for access to information, but instead other forbidden resources, and therefore cannot be directly linked to democratic development.\n\n1. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n\n2. Change.org, \"Petition to Unsubscribe America from Internet Porn\", 2011,\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "2ee3916cc3f6846f11abc493f300cb95",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy To use such websites governments already need to be committed to democracy. Promoting democracy in already-democratic countries is irrelevant. Countries that are not democratic, and seek to maintain autocratic rule will not be impacted by the availability of those resources and harness the internet only for continued repression 1.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "aa9e39962c46b030838120eef2ca1d44",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy For many countries, communication with outside actors does not make any difference. Iran has some internet freedom and access to outside information, yet president Ahmadinejad casts the West as a great evil trying to destroy Iran's culture1 . The government remains a theocracy and while there have been some protests, there are many that still support the system of governance2 . Additionally, China may have made reforms, but it is not a democracy even though they have extensive contact with the West3 . Therefore, contact does not necessarily indicate that values will be adopted. When it comes to information flowing out of oppressive countries, the international community might make matters worse. When the West gets involved in local movements, often it can make leaders hold a tighter grip on their power, and turn the blame for the situation on the West leading to violence, and hindering democratic development. This is similar to the situation in Libya4.\n\n1 CNN Wire Staff, 'The West is to blame for regional unrest, Ahmadinejad says', CNN Worl, 18 April 2011\n\n2 Wolverson, Roya, 'How Iran Sees Egypt's Protests', Council on Foreign Relations, 10 February 2010\n\n3 Kurlantzick, Joshua, 'Beijing has bought itself a respite from middle class revolt', The National, 7 March 2011\n\n4 Zenko, Micah, 'Think Again: Libya', Foreign Policy, 28 April 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f2bf0e64ea8220bba950dd2c6f95487",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet is only a place for coordination and cannot replace real-life action so if people are not willing to take to the streets, then the internet is not going to help—and even without the internet, disgruntled masses can still make their points known, as in the French Revolution1. Egypt shut down internet and phone service during part of the revolution, yet it continued indicating that this movement is not based online2. Therefore the internet is not necessarily the force that propels people towards change. SMS has been a very important part of the organization of these protests, which is entirely separate from the internet3. Close to 5 billion people use cell phones and SMS, therefore the impact of the cell phone cannot be distinguished from the internet so it is inaccurate to say that the internet is contributing to democratization when it is very possibly thanks to mobile phones4.\n\n1. Wikipedia, French Revolution\n\n2. BBC, “Egypt’s opposition pushes demands as protests continue”, 2011\n\n3. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n4. Melanson, David, “UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscribers top five billion”, 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6a6d523e79f1684bbd8cae5059a3d7c2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The quantity of information on the internet, and the number of talented computer users makes it very difficult for the government to fully censor information. The more information there is, the harder it becomes for the government to control it. The US is investing $19 million into researching how to break the firewalls of China and Iran1. There is plenty of easy to use software to evade firewalls2. Internet censorship can be evaded. Therefore, regimes cannot entirely maintain control over information, and any external information can be considered good information.\n\nFurthermore, regimes like China and Iran are not the only countries to “watching” their populations. Many democracies including the US and most of Western European use digital surveillance to safeguard their population- watch out for possible activity that may be harmful to the state.\n\n1. Gaouette, Nicole, 'U.S. Launches New Effort to Evade China's Internet Firewalls', Bloomberg.com, 11 May 2011\n\n2. Irish Times, 'Bunnies Hop the Great Firewall', 2 February 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6526be9f5964c2a0b9ffc51761b890c9",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Governments cannot always get away with the targeting of internet dissidents. Bloggers are often famous and followed intently by many people. If a popular blogger all of a sudden disappears it is more likely to generate increased support for the blogger and the cause than lead supporters to defect to the government1. Further, the government cannot arrest everyone, and the internet provides a tool for social movements to be poly-centric2—they have many leaders and anyone can step in.\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2672b9af4afd8eaf058c2207dc0d2ba0",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy With any tool there are going to be people who misuse it, yet cases of misuse do not outweigh times when the internet has proven to be an important force for democracy. Internet and SMS have helped to organize almost every uprising in the Middle East and the Orange Revolution in Georgia1. Cases of citizen misuse are few and far between in comparison to the change that has been made partially thanks to the internet. Further, the internet provides tools to successfully catch the abusers and prevent continued undemocratic actions through tracking IP addresses and other tactics. The same goes for targeting terrorist networks.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4dde8cdbcc48b030d9e15969791555a8",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy There are ways to make the internet affordable. Internet cafes and purchasing multiple SIM cards and pay as you go plans for cell phones can address the need to have a computer and therefore decrease the cost of internet use1. Further, the internet is a jumping off point. Not every low-income person needs to have internet access but if a handful do, then they can be part of the organization of protests and movements by taking the information available online and disseminating it through networks of people through SMS, calls, and word of mouth. Tunisia was not a rich country; in fact, people were protesting the pervasive poverty. Even so, they were able to successfully organize a revolution, with the help of the internet2.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n2. Jerome, Deborah, 'Understanding Tunisia's Tremors', Council on Foreign Relations, 14 January 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c9e84444e3ceb82ffc717b3027206da2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Websites can strengthen democratic institutions.\n\nThe promotion of democracy is not only about forming new democracies; strengthening existing democratic institutions around the globe. To do so, transparency and government-citizen communication is necessary. Britain has set up two websites that achieve exactly that. Writetothem.com is a website where people can figure out who their parliamentary representatives are, and write to them about their problems in an effort to create a stronger relationship, and channels of communication between MPs and their constituents1. 130,000 people were using the website in 2009. Theyworkforyou.com is another website where people can find out who their representatives are, and then read about their recent actions in parliament. This site receives between 200,000 and 300,000 hits per month2. Elections are also strengthened by the internet. Voting can be conducted online which makes the process easier and can reduce intimidation at the polls. Now that politicians have websites, their policy platforms can be more easily accessed and understood by voters. Increasing information and communication between leaders and their constituents contributes to a more transparent system and therefore a healthier democracy. The internet is not only useful for promoting movements for democratic reforms in authoritarian countries, but also for making democracy more effective in democratic countries.\n\nWhat about civil society and alternative media action sites within ‘official’ democracies that aim to bring about greater democratization through their protests and information for example- http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/ .\n\n1. Escher, Tobias, Analysis of users and usage for UK Citizens Online Democracy, mysociety.org, May 2011\n\n2. Escher, Tobias, WriteToThem.com, mysociety.org, May 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "20713b8ac7526561b141e94c7f43f652",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet allows political dissidents to communicate, organize, and grow a grassroots movement.\n\nAnother extremely important requirement for successful opposition movements advocating democratic reform is the ability to organize mass numbers of people. It is one thing if you hate your government, but don’t think anyone else does. It is entirely different if you can access the thoughts of thousands of others and realize that you are in fact not alone 1. Proportionally the number of people benefiting from repressive authoritative regimes is very small in comparison to the people who are suffering. Therefore, if the people who are hurt by the regimes realize the numbers that they have, it spells trouble for the governments. The internet has 2 billion users, and 950 million people have mobile broadband 2. Mobile phones with pay-as-you-go access plans are more available and affordable than ever before. Protesters do not need to own a computer: they can access social networking and news sites from their phones. The internet means that opposition groups don’t have to be organized under a particular leader, as there can now be many leaders and various causes that fit under the same umbrella and band together. These loose connections, as in Egypt, strengthen the movement 3. The internet also reduces the cost of organization, which can be the difference between success and failure 4. In the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia which called for democracy, the internet was first used to create events on Facebook to increase the number of people aware of and attending protests 5. Then the videos, photographs, and twitter posts that became available on the internet increased the support for the movement as citizens became aware of the violence the government was subjecting the country to. The internet allows users to communicate, then organize demonstrations, and then grow the movement. All of these functions of the internet are essential factors of a grassroots push for democratic reforms.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010, pp. 101-118\n\n2. Melanson, Donald, 'UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscriptions top five billion', engadget, 28 January 2011\n\n3. BBC, \"Egypt's opposition pushes demands as protests continue\", 2011\n\n4. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n\n5. Alexander, Anne (2011), \"Internet Role in Egypt Protests\", British Broadcasting Company,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e2baa654de47b58c92327e2c83dd5e08",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet enhances communication between countries.\n\nThe internet does not only make information available to oppressed people within a country, but also communicates that situation to the rest of the world. People also learn about other authoritarian—and democratic—governments around the world. For example, the internet allowed information about Tunisia’s revolution to reach Egypt, which made it clear that overthrowing a government was entirely possible1. Information about the actions of other countries, and their governments can lead to a push for democratic reforms around the world. In addition, as information flows out of a country it becomes more difficult for the globe’s powers to ignore the events that are ensuing, and makes it more likely that they will take action. This action can create the internal and external pressure necessary for democratic reform as was seen in both the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia2. Contact between countries can also have a more subtle impact as well. It enhances communication between open and closed societies particularly in the form of business, which can bring about an exchange of values. Thanks in part to the internet; Western firms increasingly own large shares of Middle Eastern and East Asian businesses, putting pressure on governments to remove their economic protectionism measures and to allow greater transparency. For example, while China is not a democracy it has made some government and economic reforms that are on the right track3.\n\n1. Jerome, Deborah (2011), “Understand Tunisia’s Tremors”, Council on Foreign Relations, [Accessed June 22, 2011].\n\n2. Wikipedia, “International reactions to the revolution in Egypt”, [Accessed June 24, 2011].\n\n3. Wikipedia, “Chinese Economic Reforms”, [Accessed June 24, 2011]\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3d116a6f7c16f9766ee17c776ccd1ccd",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The digital divide leaves the same people in places of influence and power.\n\nThe internet doesn’t necessarily put power in the hands of the vulnerable; in many places it strengthens the influence of the traditional elite. In low-income countries the cost of broadband is 900% of average monthly income1. Most people simply cannot afford to have internet access. Internet penetration is not up to par in low income, developing, and traditionally non-democratic countries. For example, Africa has 15% of the world’s population and only 5% of its internet users. There are only about 100 million internet users on the continent, which accounts for only 11% of its population2. As the lower income members of society remain unable to afford internet access, the power that the internet boasts remains with those who can afford it. The traditional elites are the ones that maintain the ability to access the internet, and they can use it for their own purposes and to strengthen their position and power – i.e. the internet may actually increase inequalities on the ground, against democracy. The internet could play a positive role in society, but until it is affordable, the oppressed who long for democracy will not have the tools to advocate for it.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n\n2. Internet World Stats. “Internet Usage in Africa\", 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f31e654408a3cacb47e00cc2b02f001",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be used to quash democratic movements.\n\nThe internet makes it much easier for states to target and locate dissidents. They can be located by their IP addresses or records kept by internet cafes. It is almost impossible by today’s standards to remain anonymous on the internet1. Surveillance used to be the only technique for governments to track down dissidents, however the internet has made governments’ task of quashing opposition easier. Since 2003, 202 bloggers have been arrested around the world and 162 of the arrests were for political reasons. The government doesn’t need a true reason because only 37 of the cases were tried in the judicial system. Political parties, ethnic and religious groups, civil rights movements, and leaders can all be targeted through government internet surveillance2. When the government can find the names of political dissidents and arrest them, it makes it more difficult for successful movements to occur, because they lack leaders and potential participants are intimidated. The internet can also be used to reverse democratic momentum\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26f72cdd2a6db619a60a67bc5de8dcc3",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be successfully censored so that it only promotes pro-regime propaganda.\n\nThe internet is said to promote democracy based on the claim that it leads to the free flow of information. Unfortunately, this is false in many parts of the world. 40 countries around the globe actively censor the internet, and 25 have blocked Google over the past few years1. This gives their governments a false legitimacy by removing material critical of anti-democratic policies and as acting as a psychological bulwark against discontent and dissent. The government retains the ability to control the information that its citizens have access to and can use this power to promote pro-regime information and prevent anti-regime, pro-democratic content from ever seeing the light of day. The internet is a new tool, but governments can become more sophisticated as well and harness the internet to repress dissent2. For example, China has almost no internet freedom and the terms “Tiananmen Square” and “Inner-Mongolia” provides no search results because protests occurred there3. Google in 2010 refused to uphold their firewalls and were therefore no longer allowed to operate in the country. The internet can be used by authoritarian government for enhanced media repression.\n\nEven more concerning is corporate surveillance for marketing purposes, which means that people are pushed certain information from certain sources, meaning that not all voices are equally heard online. Democracy in the online world is not about having your voice published, but about it being seen and heard. As a result some players can gain a lot more attention than other, even if everyone with access can publish.\n\n1. Hernandez, Javier C., 'Google Calls for Action on Web Limits', The New York Times , 24 March 2010\n\n2. Joyce, Mary (Editor). “Digital Activism Decoded: New Mechanics of Change”. International Debate Education Association, New York: 2010.\n\n3. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6fa70164e5b05c6b53cc3989d16e2e76",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Citizens often use the internet in ways that detract from democracy.\n\nThe idea that the internet promotes democracy also operates under the assumption that the people with internet access will use the tool for ‘good’. Yet, this is also not the case. The internet is the primary medium of coordination for Jihadist groups looking to undermine the few Middle-Eastern states which are in the process of transition to democracy. In April 2007, groups of hackers (allegedly backed by the Russian government) attacked the websites of key politicians, ministries and utilities in Estonia in retaliation for the removal of a Soviet war memorial. Hackers can block access, destroy content, and organize in malicious activity as in the case of terrorism and the Estonian ‘hactivists’ 1. Information can also be misused.In the US, neo-Nazism has always been an issue of contention and use the internet to further promote their viewpoints.For example, UK animal rights activists post information about people they feel to be targets, which can lead to intimidation. The internet can often be hijacked for less-than-ideal purposes and therefore does not directly promote democracy, but can be used by the people to counter reform 2.\n\nMoreover, there are questions over the limits on democratic freedoms due to the ‘corporate colonization’ o f the internet. For a start, a lot of the ‘trusted’ news sites that users frequent for their information simply reproduce the views of Western media corporations. And corporate social network platforms like Facebook claim to provide for democratic interaction while undertaking surveillance of their user information so as to produce profiles to sell advertising, profiles that could also be used by governments.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Double Edged Sword of Digital Tactics. 2010\n\n2. Ibid\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
6af360c67772fcd84f3a7c38eee9d82d | The internet enhances communication between countries.
The internet does not only make information available to oppressed people within a country, but also communicates that situation to the rest of the world. People also learn about other authoritarian—and democratic—governments around the world. For example, the internet allowed information about Tunisia’s revolution to reach Egypt, which made it clear that overthrowing a government was entirely possible1. Information about the actions of other countries, and their governments can lead to a push for democratic reforms around the world. In addition, as information flows out of a country it becomes more difficult for the globe’s powers to ignore the events that are ensuing, and makes it more likely that they will take action. This action can create the internal and external pressure necessary for democratic reform as was seen in both the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia2. Contact between countries can also have a more subtle impact as well. It enhances communication between open and closed societies particularly in the form of business, which can bring about an exchange of values. Thanks in part to the internet; Western firms increasingly own large shares of Middle Eastern and East Asian businesses, putting pressure on governments to remove their economic protectionism measures and to allow greater transparency. For example, while China is not a democracy it has made some government and economic reforms that are on the right track3.
1. Jerome, Deborah (2011), “Understand Tunisia’s Tremors”, Council on Foreign Relations, [Accessed June 22, 2011].
2. Wikipedia, “International reactions to the revolution in Egypt”, [Accessed June 24, 2011].
3. Wikipedia, “Chinese Economic Reforms”, [Accessed June 24, 2011]
| [
{
"docid": "aa9e39962c46b030838120eef2ca1d44",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy For many countries, communication with outside actors does not make any difference. Iran has some internet freedom and access to outside information, yet president Ahmadinejad casts the West as a great evil trying to destroy Iran's culture1 . The government remains a theocracy and while there have been some protests, there are many that still support the system of governance2 . Additionally, China may have made reforms, but it is not a democracy even though they have extensive contact with the West3 . Therefore, contact does not necessarily indicate that values will be adopted. When it comes to information flowing out of oppressive countries, the international community might make matters worse. When the West gets involved in local movements, often it can make leaders hold a tighter grip on their power, and turn the blame for the situation on the West leading to violence, and hindering democratic development. This is similar to the situation in Libya4.\n\n1 CNN Wire Staff, 'The West is to blame for regional unrest, Ahmadinejad says', CNN Worl, 18 April 2011\n\n2 Wolverson, Roya, 'How Iran Sees Egypt's Protests', Council on Foreign Relations, 10 February 2010\n\n3 Kurlantzick, Joshua, 'Beijing has bought itself a respite from middle class revolt', The National, 7 March 2011\n\n4 Zenko, Micah, 'Think Again: Libya', Foreign Policy, 28 April 2011\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "2ee3916cc3f6846f11abc493f300cb95",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy To use such websites governments already need to be committed to democracy. Promoting democracy in already-democratic countries is irrelevant. Countries that are not democratic, and seek to maintain autocratic rule will not be impacted by the availability of those resources and harness the internet only for continued repression 1.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f2bf0e64ea8220bba950dd2c6f95487",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet is only a place for coordination and cannot replace real-life action so if people are not willing to take to the streets, then the internet is not going to help—and even without the internet, disgruntled masses can still make their points known, as in the French Revolution1. Egypt shut down internet and phone service during part of the revolution, yet it continued indicating that this movement is not based online2. Therefore the internet is not necessarily the force that propels people towards change. SMS has been a very important part of the organization of these protests, which is entirely separate from the internet3. Close to 5 billion people use cell phones and SMS, therefore the impact of the cell phone cannot be distinguished from the internet so it is inaccurate to say that the internet is contributing to democratization when it is very possibly thanks to mobile phones4.\n\n1. Wikipedia, French Revolution\n\n2. BBC, “Egypt’s opposition pushes demands as protests continue”, 2011\n\n3. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n4. Melanson, David, “UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscribers top five billion”, 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0e9a010ae94d1cee93bede80a024f882",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy overnments still successfully censor information. Take China for example. Often the government shuts down Facebook and Twitter, arrests bloggers, and takes down content. Terms like ‘Tiananmen Square’ and ‘Inner Mongolia’ provide no search results because of the protests that have gone on there1 Governments’ ability to censor information is advancing. Therefore the idea that the internet promotes the flow of unbiased information is not necessarily true, which counters the claim that the internet promotes democracy. Further, the internet is not always used for access to Western news sources, but instead, over 500 million sites in the indexes of search engines are pornographic. In 2003 25% of internet use was for accessing porn. Five of the twenty most visited internet sites are download sites for video games and porn 2. The internet is not largely used for access to information, but instead other forbidden resources, and therefore cannot be directly linked to democratic development.\n\n1. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n\n2. Change.org, \"Petition to Unsubscribe America from Internet Porn\", 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6a6d523e79f1684bbd8cae5059a3d7c2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The quantity of information on the internet, and the number of talented computer users makes it very difficult for the government to fully censor information. The more information there is, the harder it becomes for the government to control it. The US is investing $19 million into researching how to break the firewalls of China and Iran1. There is plenty of easy to use software to evade firewalls2. Internet censorship can be evaded. Therefore, regimes cannot entirely maintain control over information, and any external information can be considered good information.\n\nFurthermore, regimes like China and Iran are not the only countries to “watching” their populations. Many democracies including the US and most of Western European use digital surveillance to safeguard their population- watch out for possible activity that may be harmful to the state.\n\n1. Gaouette, Nicole, 'U.S. Launches New Effort to Evade China's Internet Firewalls', Bloomberg.com, 11 May 2011\n\n2. Irish Times, 'Bunnies Hop the Great Firewall', 2 February 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6526be9f5964c2a0b9ffc51761b890c9",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Governments cannot always get away with the targeting of internet dissidents. Bloggers are often famous and followed intently by many people. If a popular blogger all of a sudden disappears it is more likely to generate increased support for the blogger and the cause than lead supporters to defect to the government1. Further, the government cannot arrest everyone, and the internet provides a tool for social movements to be poly-centric2—they have many leaders and anyone can step in.\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2672b9af4afd8eaf058c2207dc0d2ba0",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy With any tool there are going to be people who misuse it, yet cases of misuse do not outweigh times when the internet has proven to be an important force for democracy. Internet and SMS have helped to organize almost every uprising in the Middle East and the Orange Revolution in Georgia1. Cases of citizen misuse are few and far between in comparison to the change that has been made partially thanks to the internet. Further, the internet provides tools to successfully catch the abusers and prevent continued undemocratic actions through tracking IP addresses and other tactics. The same goes for targeting terrorist networks.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4dde8cdbcc48b030d9e15969791555a8",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy There are ways to make the internet affordable. Internet cafes and purchasing multiple SIM cards and pay as you go plans for cell phones can address the need to have a computer and therefore decrease the cost of internet use1. Further, the internet is a jumping off point. Not every low-income person needs to have internet access but if a handful do, then they can be part of the organization of protests and movements by taking the information available online and disseminating it through networks of people through SMS, calls, and word of mouth. Tunisia was not a rich country; in fact, people were protesting the pervasive poverty. Even so, they were able to successfully organize a revolution, with the help of the internet2.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n2. Jerome, Deborah, 'Understanding Tunisia's Tremors', Council on Foreign Relations, 14 January 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c9e84444e3ceb82ffc717b3027206da2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Websites can strengthen democratic institutions.\n\nThe promotion of democracy is not only about forming new democracies; strengthening existing democratic institutions around the globe. To do so, transparency and government-citizen communication is necessary. Britain has set up two websites that achieve exactly that. Writetothem.com is a website where people can figure out who their parliamentary representatives are, and write to them about their problems in an effort to create a stronger relationship, and channels of communication between MPs and their constituents1. 130,000 people were using the website in 2009. Theyworkforyou.com is another website where people can find out who their representatives are, and then read about their recent actions in parliament. This site receives between 200,000 and 300,000 hits per month2. Elections are also strengthened by the internet. Voting can be conducted online which makes the process easier and can reduce intimidation at the polls. Now that politicians have websites, their policy platforms can be more easily accessed and understood by voters. Increasing information and communication between leaders and their constituents contributes to a more transparent system and therefore a healthier democracy. The internet is not only useful for promoting movements for democratic reforms in authoritarian countries, but also for making democracy more effective in democratic countries.\n\nWhat about civil society and alternative media action sites within ‘official’ democracies that aim to bring about greater democratization through their protests and information for example- http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/ .\n\n1. Escher, Tobias, Analysis of users and usage for UK Citizens Online Democracy, mysociety.org, May 2011\n\n2. Escher, Tobias, WriteToThem.com, mysociety.org, May 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "20713b8ac7526561b141e94c7f43f652",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet allows political dissidents to communicate, organize, and grow a grassroots movement.\n\nAnother extremely important requirement for successful opposition movements advocating democratic reform is the ability to organize mass numbers of people. It is one thing if you hate your government, but don’t think anyone else does. It is entirely different if you can access the thoughts of thousands of others and realize that you are in fact not alone 1. Proportionally the number of people benefiting from repressive authoritative regimes is very small in comparison to the people who are suffering. Therefore, if the people who are hurt by the regimes realize the numbers that they have, it spells trouble for the governments. The internet has 2 billion users, and 950 million people have mobile broadband 2. Mobile phones with pay-as-you-go access plans are more available and affordable than ever before. Protesters do not need to own a computer: they can access social networking and news sites from their phones. The internet means that opposition groups don’t have to be organized under a particular leader, as there can now be many leaders and various causes that fit under the same umbrella and band together. These loose connections, as in Egypt, strengthen the movement 3. The internet also reduces the cost of organization, which can be the difference between success and failure 4. In the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia which called for democracy, the internet was first used to create events on Facebook to increase the number of people aware of and attending protests 5. Then the videos, photographs, and twitter posts that became available on the internet increased the support for the movement as citizens became aware of the violence the government was subjecting the country to. The internet allows users to communicate, then organize demonstrations, and then grow the movement. All of these functions of the internet are essential factors of a grassroots push for democratic reforms.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010, pp. 101-118\n\n2. Melanson, Donald, 'UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscriptions top five billion', engadget, 28 January 2011\n\n3. BBC, \"Egypt's opposition pushes demands as protests continue\", 2011\n\n4. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n\n5. Alexander, Anne (2011), \"Internet Role in Egypt Protests\", British Broadcasting Company,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a9c367355845250726149b08465e4d8c",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet promotes the free flow of information both in and out of a country, which is essential for a truly free democracy.\n\nMedia can be one of the most important factors in democratic development. If governments successfully control the media, they can direct information towards their constituents that casts the regime in an undeniably good light. They can prevent news of faked elections, protests, violence, repression, and arrest from ever reaching the people subject to those violations 1. Without external sources of information people do not question government propaganda, which decreases the likelihood that they advocate for their civil liberties and democracy. The internet promotes the free flow of information that leads to social consciousness and enhances democracy. News of political corruption and scandal in China can go viral in a matter of minutes among its 540 million internet users 2. Even when the government blocks certain websites, and makes avid use of firewalls for censorship, uploading videos to Facebook and YouTube, and posts to Twitter can allow information to be disseminated within the country. Once information is accessible it is almost impossible for the government to continue to censor the internet. For example, in the most recent Egyptian protests, as information leaked out of the country via social networking sites, cell phone pictures and videos were shown on international news broadcasts, making it difficult for the government to spin the situation in a positive light 3. The internet provides a place to find information, and also a place to discuss and debate it with others. The latter is the essential step to truly shifting views. The internet promotes free media which is essential to both creating and maintaining a functioning democracy as it promotes government transparency.\n\n1. Reporters Without Borders, \"Press Freedom Index 2010\" 2010,\n\n2. Economy, Elizabeth and Mondschein, Jared, \"China: The New Virtual Political System\", Council on Foreign Relations 2011\n\n3. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4cdb4c98-37b1-11e0-b91a-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=... \">Richard Waters. \"Web firms aim to benefit from role in uprising\" Financial Times, February 13, 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3d116a6f7c16f9766ee17c776ccd1ccd",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The digital divide leaves the same people in places of influence and power.\n\nThe internet doesn’t necessarily put power in the hands of the vulnerable; in many places it strengthens the influence of the traditional elite. In low-income countries the cost of broadband is 900% of average monthly income1. Most people simply cannot afford to have internet access. Internet penetration is not up to par in low income, developing, and traditionally non-democratic countries. For example, Africa has 15% of the world’s population and only 5% of its internet users. There are only about 100 million internet users on the continent, which accounts for only 11% of its population2. As the lower income members of society remain unable to afford internet access, the power that the internet boasts remains with those who can afford it. The traditional elites are the ones that maintain the ability to access the internet, and they can use it for their own purposes and to strengthen their position and power – i.e. the internet may actually increase inequalities on the ground, against democracy. The internet could play a positive role in society, but until it is affordable, the oppressed who long for democracy will not have the tools to advocate for it.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n\n2. Internet World Stats. “Internet Usage in Africa\", 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f31e654408a3cacb47e00cc2b02f001",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be used to quash democratic movements.\n\nThe internet makes it much easier for states to target and locate dissidents. They can be located by their IP addresses or records kept by internet cafes. It is almost impossible by today’s standards to remain anonymous on the internet1. Surveillance used to be the only technique for governments to track down dissidents, however the internet has made governments’ task of quashing opposition easier. Since 2003, 202 bloggers have been arrested around the world and 162 of the arrests were for political reasons. The government doesn’t need a true reason because only 37 of the cases were tried in the judicial system. Political parties, ethnic and religious groups, civil rights movements, and leaders can all be targeted through government internet surveillance2. When the government can find the names of political dissidents and arrest them, it makes it more difficult for successful movements to occur, because they lack leaders and potential participants are intimidated. The internet can also be used to reverse democratic momentum\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26f72cdd2a6db619a60a67bc5de8dcc3",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be successfully censored so that it only promotes pro-regime propaganda.\n\nThe internet is said to promote democracy based on the claim that it leads to the free flow of information. Unfortunately, this is false in many parts of the world. 40 countries around the globe actively censor the internet, and 25 have blocked Google over the past few years1. This gives their governments a false legitimacy by removing material critical of anti-democratic policies and as acting as a psychological bulwark against discontent and dissent. The government retains the ability to control the information that its citizens have access to and can use this power to promote pro-regime information and prevent anti-regime, pro-democratic content from ever seeing the light of day. The internet is a new tool, but governments can become more sophisticated as well and harness the internet to repress dissent2. For example, China has almost no internet freedom and the terms “Tiananmen Square” and “Inner-Mongolia” provides no search results because protests occurred there3. Google in 2010 refused to uphold their firewalls and were therefore no longer allowed to operate in the country. The internet can be used by authoritarian government for enhanced media repression.\n\nEven more concerning is corporate surveillance for marketing purposes, which means that people are pushed certain information from certain sources, meaning that not all voices are equally heard online. Democracy in the online world is not about having your voice published, but about it being seen and heard. As a result some players can gain a lot more attention than other, even if everyone with access can publish.\n\n1. Hernandez, Javier C., 'Google Calls for Action on Web Limits', The New York Times , 24 March 2010\n\n2. Joyce, Mary (Editor). “Digital Activism Decoded: New Mechanics of Change”. International Debate Education Association, New York: 2010.\n\n3. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6fa70164e5b05c6b53cc3989d16e2e76",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Citizens often use the internet in ways that detract from democracy.\n\nThe idea that the internet promotes democracy also operates under the assumption that the people with internet access will use the tool for ‘good’. Yet, this is also not the case. The internet is the primary medium of coordination for Jihadist groups looking to undermine the few Middle-Eastern states which are in the process of transition to democracy. In April 2007, groups of hackers (allegedly backed by the Russian government) attacked the websites of key politicians, ministries and utilities in Estonia in retaliation for the removal of a Soviet war memorial. Hackers can block access, destroy content, and organize in malicious activity as in the case of terrorism and the Estonian ‘hactivists’ 1. Information can also be misused.In the US, neo-Nazism has always been an issue of contention and use the internet to further promote their viewpoints.For example, UK animal rights activists post information about people they feel to be targets, which can lead to intimidation. The internet can often be hijacked for less-than-ideal purposes and therefore does not directly promote democracy, but can be used by the people to counter reform 2.\n\nMoreover, there are questions over the limits on democratic freedoms due to the ‘corporate colonization’ o f the internet. For a start, a lot of the ‘trusted’ news sites that users frequent for their information simply reproduce the views of Western media corporations. And corporate social network platforms like Facebook claim to provide for democratic interaction while undertaking surveillance of their user information so as to produce profiles to sell advertising, profiles that could also be used by governments.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Double Edged Sword of Digital Tactics. 2010\n\n2. Ibid\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
4daf26ed882d42b139a54b7f3fb8b618 | The digital divide leaves the same people in places of influence and power.
The internet doesn’t necessarily put power in the hands of the vulnerable; in many places it strengthens the influence of the traditional elite. In low-income countries the cost of broadband is 900% of average monthly income1. Most people simply cannot afford to have internet access. Internet penetration is not up to par in low income, developing, and traditionally non-democratic countries. For example, Africa has 15% of the world’s population and only 5% of its internet users. There are only about 100 million internet users on the continent, which accounts for only 11% of its population2. As the lower income members of society remain unable to afford internet access, the power that the internet boasts remains with those who can afford it. The traditional elites are the ones that maintain the ability to access the internet, and they can use it for their own purposes and to strengthen their position and power – i.e. the internet may actually increase inequalities on the ground, against democracy. The internet could play a positive role in society, but until it is affordable, the oppressed who long for democracy will not have the tools to advocate for it.
1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010
2. Internet World Stats. “Internet Usage in Africa", 2011
| [
{
"docid": "4dde8cdbcc48b030d9e15969791555a8",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy There are ways to make the internet affordable. Internet cafes and purchasing multiple SIM cards and pay as you go plans for cell phones can address the need to have a computer and therefore decrease the cost of internet use1. Further, the internet is a jumping off point. Not every low-income person needs to have internet access but if a handful do, then they can be part of the organization of protests and movements by taking the information available online and disseminating it through networks of people through SMS, calls, and word of mouth. Tunisia was not a rich country; in fact, people were protesting the pervasive poverty. Even so, they were able to successfully organize a revolution, with the help of the internet2.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n2. Jerome, Deborah, 'Understanding Tunisia's Tremors', Council on Foreign Relations, 14 January 2011\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "6a6d523e79f1684bbd8cae5059a3d7c2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The quantity of information on the internet, and the number of talented computer users makes it very difficult for the government to fully censor information. The more information there is, the harder it becomes for the government to control it. The US is investing $19 million into researching how to break the firewalls of China and Iran1. There is plenty of easy to use software to evade firewalls2. Internet censorship can be evaded. Therefore, regimes cannot entirely maintain control over information, and any external information can be considered good information.\n\nFurthermore, regimes like China and Iran are not the only countries to “watching” their populations. Many democracies including the US and most of Western European use digital surveillance to safeguard their population- watch out for possible activity that may be harmful to the state.\n\n1. Gaouette, Nicole, 'U.S. Launches New Effort to Evade China's Internet Firewalls', Bloomberg.com, 11 May 2011\n\n2. Irish Times, 'Bunnies Hop the Great Firewall', 2 February 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6526be9f5964c2a0b9ffc51761b890c9",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Governments cannot always get away with the targeting of internet dissidents. Bloggers are often famous and followed intently by many people. If a popular blogger all of a sudden disappears it is more likely to generate increased support for the blogger and the cause than lead supporters to defect to the government1. Further, the government cannot arrest everyone, and the internet provides a tool for social movements to be poly-centric2—they have many leaders and anyone can step in.\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2672b9af4afd8eaf058c2207dc0d2ba0",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy With any tool there are going to be people who misuse it, yet cases of misuse do not outweigh times when the internet has proven to be an important force for democracy. Internet and SMS have helped to organize almost every uprising in the Middle East and the Orange Revolution in Georgia1. Cases of citizen misuse are few and far between in comparison to the change that has been made partially thanks to the internet. Further, the internet provides tools to successfully catch the abusers and prevent continued undemocratic actions through tracking IP addresses and other tactics. The same goes for targeting terrorist networks.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2ee3916cc3f6846f11abc493f300cb95",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy To use such websites governments already need to be committed to democracy. Promoting democracy in already-democratic countries is irrelevant. Countries that are not democratic, and seek to maintain autocratic rule will not be impacted by the availability of those resources and harness the internet only for continued repression 1.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "aa9e39962c46b030838120eef2ca1d44",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy For many countries, communication with outside actors does not make any difference. Iran has some internet freedom and access to outside information, yet president Ahmadinejad casts the West as a great evil trying to destroy Iran's culture1 . The government remains a theocracy and while there have been some protests, there are many that still support the system of governance2 . Additionally, China may have made reforms, but it is not a democracy even though they have extensive contact with the West3 . Therefore, contact does not necessarily indicate that values will be adopted. When it comes to information flowing out of oppressive countries, the international community might make matters worse. When the West gets involved in local movements, often it can make leaders hold a tighter grip on their power, and turn the blame for the situation on the West leading to violence, and hindering democratic development. This is similar to the situation in Libya4.\n\n1 CNN Wire Staff, 'The West is to blame for regional unrest, Ahmadinejad says', CNN Worl, 18 April 2011\n\n2 Wolverson, Roya, 'How Iran Sees Egypt's Protests', Council on Foreign Relations, 10 February 2010\n\n3 Kurlantzick, Joshua, 'Beijing has bought itself a respite from middle class revolt', The National, 7 March 2011\n\n4 Zenko, Micah, 'Think Again: Libya', Foreign Policy, 28 April 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f2bf0e64ea8220bba950dd2c6f95487",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet is only a place for coordination and cannot replace real-life action so if people are not willing to take to the streets, then the internet is not going to help—and even without the internet, disgruntled masses can still make their points known, as in the French Revolution1. Egypt shut down internet and phone service during part of the revolution, yet it continued indicating that this movement is not based online2. Therefore the internet is not necessarily the force that propels people towards change. SMS has been a very important part of the organization of these protests, which is entirely separate from the internet3. Close to 5 billion people use cell phones and SMS, therefore the impact of the cell phone cannot be distinguished from the internet so it is inaccurate to say that the internet is contributing to democratization when it is very possibly thanks to mobile phones4.\n\n1. Wikipedia, French Revolution\n\n2. BBC, “Egypt’s opposition pushes demands as protests continue”, 2011\n\n3. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n4. Melanson, David, “UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscribers top five billion”, 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0e9a010ae94d1cee93bede80a024f882",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy overnments still successfully censor information. Take China for example. Often the government shuts down Facebook and Twitter, arrests bloggers, and takes down content. Terms like ‘Tiananmen Square’ and ‘Inner Mongolia’ provide no search results because of the protests that have gone on there1 Governments’ ability to censor information is advancing. Therefore the idea that the internet promotes the flow of unbiased information is not necessarily true, which counters the claim that the internet promotes democracy. Further, the internet is not always used for access to Western news sources, but instead, over 500 million sites in the indexes of search engines are pornographic. In 2003 25% of internet use was for accessing porn. Five of the twenty most visited internet sites are download sites for video games and porn 2. The internet is not largely used for access to information, but instead other forbidden resources, and therefore cannot be directly linked to democratic development.\n\n1. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n\n2. Change.org, \"Petition to Unsubscribe America from Internet Porn\", 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f31e654408a3cacb47e00cc2b02f001",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be used to quash democratic movements.\n\nThe internet makes it much easier for states to target and locate dissidents. They can be located by their IP addresses or records kept by internet cafes. It is almost impossible by today’s standards to remain anonymous on the internet1. Surveillance used to be the only technique for governments to track down dissidents, however the internet has made governments’ task of quashing opposition easier. Since 2003, 202 bloggers have been arrested around the world and 162 of the arrests were for political reasons. The government doesn’t need a true reason because only 37 of the cases were tried in the judicial system. Political parties, ethnic and religious groups, civil rights movements, and leaders can all be targeted through government internet surveillance2. When the government can find the names of political dissidents and arrest them, it makes it more difficult for successful movements to occur, because they lack leaders and potential participants are intimidated. The internet can also be used to reverse democratic momentum\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26f72cdd2a6db619a60a67bc5de8dcc3",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be successfully censored so that it only promotes pro-regime propaganda.\n\nThe internet is said to promote democracy based on the claim that it leads to the free flow of information. Unfortunately, this is false in many parts of the world. 40 countries around the globe actively censor the internet, and 25 have blocked Google over the past few years1. This gives their governments a false legitimacy by removing material critical of anti-democratic policies and as acting as a psychological bulwark against discontent and dissent. The government retains the ability to control the information that its citizens have access to and can use this power to promote pro-regime information and prevent anti-regime, pro-democratic content from ever seeing the light of day. The internet is a new tool, but governments can become more sophisticated as well and harness the internet to repress dissent2. For example, China has almost no internet freedom and the terms “Tiananmen Square” and “Inner-Mongolia” provides no search results because protests occurred there3. Google in 2010 refused to uphold their firewalls and were therefore no longer allowed to operate in the country. The internet can be used by authoritarian government for enhanced media repression.\n\nEven more concerning is corporate surveillance for marketing purposes, which means that people are pushed certain information from certain sources, meaning that not all voices are equally heard online. Democracy in the online world is not about having your voice published, but about it being seen and heard. As a result some players can gain a lot more attention than other, even if everyone with access can publish.\n\n1. Hernandez, Javier C., 'Google Calls for Action on Web Limits', The New York Times , 24 March 2010\n\n2. Joyce, Mary (Editor). “Digital Activism Decoded: New Mechanics of Change”. International Debate Education Association, New York: 2010.\n\n3. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6fa70164e5b05c6b53cc3989d16e2e76",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Citizens often use the internet in ways that detract from democracy.\n\nThe idea that the internet promotes democracy also operates under the assumption that the people with internet access will use the tool for ‘good’. Yet, this is also not the case. The internet is the primary medium of coordination for Jihadist groups looking to undermine the few Middle-Eastern states which are in the process of transition to democracy. In April 2007, groups of hackers (allegedly backed by the Russian government) attacked the websites of key politicians, ministries and utilities in Estonia in retaliation for the removal of a Soviet war memorial. Hackers can block access, destroy content, and organize in malicious activity as in the case of terrorism and the Estonian ‘hactivists’ 1. Information can also be misused.In the US, neo-Nazism has always been an issue of contention and use the internet to further promote their viewpoints.For example, UK animal rights activists post information about people they feel to be targets, which can lead to intimidation. The internet can often be hijacked for less-than-ideal purposes and therefore does not directly promote democracy, but can be used by the people to counter reform 2.\n\nMoreover, there are questions over the limits on democratic freedoms due to the ‘corporate colonization’ o f the internet. For a start, a lot of the ‘trusted’ news sites that users frequent for their information simply reproduce the views of Western media corporations. And corporate social network platforms like Facebook claim to provide for democratic interaction while undertaking surveillance of their user information so as to produce profiles to sell advertising, profiles that could also be used by governments.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Double Edged Sword of Digital Tactics. 2010\n\n2. Ibid\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c9e84444e3ceb82ffc717b3027206da2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Websites can strengthen democratic institutions.\n\nThe promotion of democracy is not only about forming new democracies; strengthening existing democratic institutions around the globe. To do so, transparency and government-citizen communication is necessary. Britain has set up two websites that achieve exactly that. Writetothem.com is a website where people can figure out who their parliamentary representatives are, and write to them about their problems in an effort to create a stronger relationship, and channels of communication between MPs and their constituents1. 130,000 people were using the website in 2009. Theyworkforyou.com is another website where people can find out who their representatives are, and then read about their recent actions in parliament. This site receives between 200,000 and 300,000 hits per month2. Elections are also strengthened by the internet. Voting can be conducted online which makes the process easier and can reduce intimidation at the polls. Now that politicians have websites, their policy platforms can be more easily accessed and understood by voters. Increasing information and communication between leaders and their constituents contributes to a more transparent system and therefore a healthier democracy. The internet is not only useful for promoting movements for democratic reforms in authoritarian countries, but also for making democracy more effective in democratic countries.\n\nWhat about civil society and alternative media action sites within ‘official’ democracies that aim to bring about greater democratization through their protests and information for example- http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/ .\n\n1. Escher, Tobias, Analysis of users and usage for UK Citizens Online Democracy, mysociety.org, May 2011\n\n2. Escher, Tobias, WriteToThem.com, mysociety.org, May 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "20713b8ac7526561b141e94c7f43f652",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet allows political dissidents to communicate, organize, and grow a grassroots movement.\n\nAnother extremely important requirement for successful opposition movements advocating democratic reform is the ability to organize mass numbers of people. It is one thing if you hate your government, but don’t think anyone else does. It is entirely different if you can access the thoughts of thousands of others and realize that you are in fact not alone 1. Proportionally the number of people benefiting from repressive authoritative regimes is very small in comparison to the people who are suffering. Therefore, if the people who are hurt by the regimes realize the numbers that they have, it spells trouble for the governments. The internet has 2 billion users, and 950 million people have mobile broadband 2. Mobile phones with pay-as-you-go access plans are more available and affordable than ever before. Protesters do not need to own a computer: they can access social networking and news sites from their phones. The internet means that opposition groups don’t have to be organized under a particular leader, as there can now be many leaders and various causes that fit under the same umbrella and band together. These loose connections, as in Egypt, strengthen the movement 3. The internet also reduces the cost of organization, which can be the difference between success and failure 4. In the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia which called for democracy, the internet was first used to create events on Facebook to increase the number of people aware of and attending protests 5. Then the videos, photographs, and twitter posts that became available on the internet increased the support for the movement as citizens became aware of the violence the government was subjecting the country to. The internet allows users to communicate, then organize demonstrations, and then grow the movement. All of these functions of the internet are essential factors of a grassroots push for democratic reforms.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010, pp. 101-118\n\n2. Melanson, Donald, 'UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscriptions top five billion', engadget, 28 January 2011\n\n3. BBC, \"Egypt's opposition pushes demands as protests continue\", 2011\n\n4. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n\n5. Alexander, Anne (2011), \"Internet Role in Egypt Protests\", British Broadcasting Company,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a9c367355845250726149b08465e4d8c",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet promotes the free flow of information both in and out of a country, which is essential for a truly free democracy.\n\nMedia can be one of the most important factors in democratic development. If governments successfully control the media, they can direct information towards their constituents that casts the regime in an undeniably good light. They can prevent news of faked elections, protests, violence, repression, and arrest from ever reaching the people subject to those violations 1. Without external sources of information people do not question government propaganda, which decreases the likelihood that they advocate for their civil liberties and democracy. The internet promotes the free flow of information that leads to social consciousness and enhances democracy. News of political corruption and scandal in China can go viral in a matter of minutes among its 540 million internet users 2. Even when the government blocks certain websites, and makes avid use of firewalls for censorship, uploading videos to Facebook and YouTube, and posts to Twitter can allow information to be disseminated within the country. Once information is accessible it is almost impossible for the government to continue to censor the internet. For example, in the most recent Egyptian protests, as information leaked out of the country via social networking sites, cell phone pictures and videos were shown on international news broadcasts, making it difficult for the government to spin the situation in a positive light 3. The internet provides a place to find information, and also a place to discuss and debate it with others. The latter is the essential step to truly shifting views. The internet promotes free media which is essential to both creating and maintaining a functioning democracy as it promotes government transparency.\n\n1. Reporters Without Borders, \"Press Freedom Index 2010\" 2010,\n\n2. Economy, Elizabeth and Mondschein, Jared, \"China: The New Virtual Political System\", Council on Foreign Relations 2011\n\n3. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4cdb4c98-37b1-11e0-b91a-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=... \">Richard Waters. \"Web firms aim to benefit from role in uprising\" Financial Times, February 13, 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e2baa654de47b58c92327e2c83dd5e08",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet enhances communication between countries.\n\nThe internet does not only make information available to oppressed people within a country, but also communicates that situation to the rest of the world. People also learn about other authoritarian—and democratic—governments around the world. For example, the internet allowed information about Tunisia’s revolution to reach Egypt, which made it clear that overthrowing a government was entirely possible1. Information about the actions of other countries, and their governments can lead to a push for democratic reforms around the world. In addition, as information flows out of a country it becomes more difficult for the globe’s powers to ignore the events that are ensuing, and makes it more likely that they will take action. This action can create the internal and external pressure necessary for democratic reform as was seen in both the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia2. Contact between countries can also have a more subtle impact as well. It enhances communication between open and closed societies particularly in the form of business, which can bring about an exchange of values. Thanks in part to the internet; Western firms increasingly own large shares of Middle Eastern and East Asian businesses, putting pressure on governments to remove their economic protectionism measures and to allow greater transparency. For example, while China is not a democracy it has made some government and economic reforms that are on the right track3.\n\n1. Jerome, Deborah (2011), “Understand Tunisia’s Tremors”, Council on Foreign Relations, [Accessed June 22, 2011].\n\n2. Wikipedia, “International reactions to the revolution in Egypt”, [Accessed June 24, 2011].\n\n3. Wikipedia, “Chinese Economic Reforms”, [Accessed June 24, 2011]\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
6f0f54363b335105e57144116418515a | The internet can be used to quash democratic movements.
The internet makes it much easier for states to target and locate dissidents. They can be located by their IP addresses or records kept by internet cafes. It is almost impossible by today’s standards to remain anonymous on the internet1. Surveillance used to be the only technique for governments to track down dissidents, however the internet has made governments’ task of quashing opposition easier. Since 2003, 202 bloggers have been arrested around the world and 162 of the arrests were for political reasons. The government doesn’t need a true reason because only 37 of the cases were tried in the judicial system. Political parties, ethnic and religious groups, civil rights movements, and leaders can all be targeted through government internet surveillance2. When the government can find the names of political dissidents and arrest them, it makes it more difficult for successful movements to occur, because they lack leaders and potential participants are intimidated. The internet can also be used to reverse democratic momentum
1. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.
2. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.
| [
{
"docid": "6526be9f5964c2a0b9ffc51761b890c9",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Governments cannot always get away with the targeting of internet dissidents. Bloggers are often famous and followed intently by many people. If a popular blogger all of a sudden disappears it is more likely to generate increased support for the blogger and the cause than lead supporters to defect to the government1. Further, the government cannot arrest everyone, and the internet provides a tool for social movements to be poly-centric2—they have many leaders and anyone can step in.\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "6a6d523e79f1684bbd8cae5059a3d7c2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The quantity of information on the internet, and the number of talented computer users makes it very difficult for the government to fully censor information. The more information there is, the harder it becomes for the government to control it. The US is investing $19 million into researching how to break the firewalls of China and Iran1. There is plenty of easy to use software to evade firewalls2. Internet censorship can be evaded. Therefore, regimes cannot entirely maintain control over information, and any external information can be considered good information.\n\nFurthermore, regimes like China and Iran are not the only countries to “watching” their populations. Many democracies including the US and most of Western European use digital surveillance to safeguard their population- watch out for possible activity that may be harmful to the state.\n\n1. Gaouette, Nicole, 'U.S. Launches New Effort to Evade China's Internet Firewalls', Bloomberg.com, 11 May 2011\n\n2. Irish Times, 'Bunnies Hop the Great Firewall', 2 February 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2672b9af4afd8eaf058c2207dc0d2ba0",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy With any tool there are going to be people who misuse it, yet cases of misuse do not outweigh times when the internet has proven to be an important force for democracy. Internet and SMS have helped to organize almost every uprising in the Middle East and the Orange Revolution in Georgia1. Cases of citizen misuse are few and far between in comparison to the change that has been made partially thanks to the internet. Further, the internet provides tools to successfully catch the abusers and prevent continued undemocratic actions through tracking IP addresses and other tactics. The same goes for targeting terrorist networks.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4dde8cdbcc48b030d9e15969791555a8",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy There are ways to make the internet affordable. Internet cafes and purchasing multiple SIM cards and pay as you go plans for cell phones can address the need to have a computer and therefore decrease the cost of internet use1. Further, the internet is a jumping off point. Not every low-income person needs to have internet access but if a handful do, then they can be part of the organization of protests and movements by taking the information available online and disseminating it through networks of people through SMS, calls, and word of mouth. Tunisia was not a rich country; in fact, people were protesting the pervasive poverty. Even so, they were able to successfully organize a revolution, with the help of the internet2.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n2. Jerome, Deborah, 'Understanding Tunisia's Tremors', Council on Foreign Relations, 14 January 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2ee3916cc3f6846f11abc493f300cb95",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy To use such websites governments already need to be committed to democracy. Promoting democracy in already-democratic countries is irrelevant. Countries that are not democratic, and seek to maintain autocratic rule will not be impacted by the availability of those resources and harness the internet only for continued repression 1.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "aa9e39962c46b030838120eef2ca1d44",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy For many countries, communication with outside actors does not make any difference. Iran has some internet freedom and access to outside information, yet president Ahmadinejad casts the West as a great evil trying to destroy Iran's culture1 . The government remains a theocracy and while there have been some protests, there are many that still support the system of governance2 . Additionally, China may have made reforms, but it is not a democracy even though they have extensive contact with the West3 . Therefore, contact does not necessarily indicate that values will be adopted. When it comes to information flowing out of oppressive countries, the international community might make matters worse. When the West gets involved in local movements, often it can make leaders hold a tighter grip on their power, and turn the blame for the situation on the West leading to violence, and hindering democratic development. This is similar to the situation in Libya4.\n\n1 CNN Wire Staff, 'The West is to blame for regional unrest, Ahmadinejad says', CNN Worl, 18 April 2011\n\n2 Wolverson, Roya, 'How Iran Sees Egypt's Protests', Council on Foreign Relations, 10 February 2010\n\n3 Kurlantzick, Joshua, 'Beijing has bought itself a respite from middle class revolt', The National, 7 March 2011\n\n4 Zenko, Micah, 'Think Again: Libya', Foreign Policy, 28 April 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f2bf0e64ea8220bba950dd2c6f95487",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet is only a place for coordination and cannot replace real-life action so if people are not willing to take to the streets, then the internet is not going to help—and even without the internet, disgruntled masses can still make their points known, as in the French Revolution1. Egypt shut down internet and phone service during part of the revolution, yet it continued indicating that this movement is not based online2. Therefore the internet is not necessarily the force that propels people towards change. SMS has been a very important part of the organization of these protests, which is entirely separate from the internet3. Close to 5 billion people use cell phones and SMS, therefore the impact of the cell phone cannot be distinguished from the internet so it is inaccurate to say that the internet is contributing to democratization when it is very possibly thanks to mobile phones4.\n\n1. Wikipedia, French Revolution\n\n2. BBC, “Egypt’s opposition pushes demands as protests continue”, 2011\n\n3. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n4. Melanson, David, “UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscribers top five billion”, 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0e9a010ae94d1cee93bede80a024f882",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy overnments still successfully censor information. Take China for example. Often the government shuts down Facebook and Twitter, arrests bloggers, and takes down content. Terms like ‘Tiananmen Square’ and ‘Inner Mongolia’ provide no search results because of the protests that have gone on there1 Governments’ ability to censor information is advancing. Therefore the idea that the internet promotes the flow of unbiased information is not necessarily true, which counters the claim that the internet promotes democracy. Further, the internet is not always used for access to Western news sources, but instead, over 500 million sites in the indexes of search engines are pornographic. In 2003 25% of internet use was for accessing porn. Five of the twenty most visited internet sites are download sites for video games and porn 2. The internet is not largely used for access to information, but instead other forbidden resources, and therefore cannot be directly linked to democratic development.\n\n1. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n\n2. Change.org, \"Petition to Unsubscribe America from Internet Porn\", 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3d116a6f7c16f9766ee17c776ccd1ccd",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The digital divide leaves the same people in places of influence and power.\n\nThe internet doesn’t necessarily put power in the hands of the vulnerable; in many places it strengthens the influence of the traditional elite. In low-income countries the cost of broadband is 900% of average monthly income1. Most people simply cannot afford to have internet access. Internet penetration is not up to par in low income, developing, and traditionally non-democratic countries. For example, Africa has 15% of the world’s population and only 5% of its internet users. There are only about 100 million internet users on the continent, which accounts for only 11% of its population2. As the lower income members of society remain unable to afford internet access, the power that the internet boasts remains with those who can afford it. The traditional elites are the ones that maintain the ability to access the internet, and they can use it for their own purposes and to strengthen their position and power – i.e. the internet may actually increase inequalities on the ground, against democracy. The internet could play a positive role in society, but until it is affordable, the oppressed who long for democracy will not have the tools to advocate for it.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n\n2. Internet World Stats. “Internet Usage in Africa\", 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26f72cdd2a6db619a60a67bc5de8dcc3",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be successfully censored so that it only promotes pro-regime propaganda.\n\nThe internet is said to promote democracy based on the claim that it leads to the free flow of information. Unfortunately, this is false in many parts of the world. 40 countries around the globe actively censor the internet, and 25 have blocked Google over the past few years1. This gives their governments a false legitimacy by removing material critical of anti-democratic policies and as acting as a psychological bulwark against discontent and dissent. The government retains the ability to control the information that its citizens have access to and can use this power to promote pro-regime information and prevent anti-regime, pro-democratic content from ever seeing the light of day. The internet is a new tool, but governments can become more sophisticated as well and harness the internet to repress dissent2. For example, China has almost no internet freedom and the terms “Tiananmen Square” and “Inner-Mongolia” provides no search results because protests occurred there3. Google in 2010 refused to uphold their firewalls and were therefore no longer allowed to operate in the country. The internet can be used by authoritarian government for enhanced media repression.\n\nEven more concerning is corporate surveillance for marketing purposes, which means that people are pushed certain information from certain sources, meaning that not all voices are equally heard online. Democracy in the online world is not about having your voice published, but about it being seen and heard. As a result some players can gain a lot more attention than other, even if everyone with access can publish.\n\n1. Hernandez, Javier C., 'Google Calls for Action on Web Limits', The New York Times , 24 March 2010\n\n2. Joyce, Mary (Editor). “Digital Activism Decoded: New Mechanics of Change”. International Debate Education Association, New York: 2010.\n\n3. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6fa70164e5b05c6b53cc3989d16e2e76",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Citizens often use the internet in ways that detract from democracy.\n\nThe idea that the internet promotes democracy also operates under the assumption that the people with internet access will use the tool for ‘good’. Yet, this is also not the case. The internet is the primary medium of coordination for Jihadist groups looking to undermine the few Middle-Eastern states which are in the process of transition to democracy. In April 2007, groups of hackers (allegedly backed by the Russian government) attacked the websites of key politicians, ministries and utilities in Estonia in retaliation for the removal of a Soviet war memorial. Hackers can block access, destroy content, and organize in malicious activity as in the case of terrorism and the Estonian ‘hactivists’ 1. Information can also be misused.In the US, neo-Nazism has always been an issue of contention and use the internet to further promote their viewpoints.For example, UK animal rights activists post information about people they feel to be targets, which can lead to intimidation. The internet can often be hijacked for less-than-ideal purposes and therefore does not directly promote democracy, but can be used by the people to counter reform 2.\n\nMoreover, there are questions over the limits on democratic freedoms due to the ‘corporate colonization’ o f the internet. For a start, a lot of the ‘trusted’ news sites that users frequent for their information simply reproduce the views of Western media corporations. And corporate social network platforms like Facebook claim to provide for democratic interaction while undertaking surveillance of their user information so as to produce profiles to sell advertising, profiles that could also be used by governments.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Double Edged Sword of Digital Tactics. 2010\n\n2. Ibid\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c9e84444e3ceb82ffc717b3027206da2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Websites can strengthen democratic institutions.\n\nThe promotion of democracy is not only about forming new democracies; strengthening existing democratic institutions around the globe. To do so, transparency and government-citizen communication is necessary. Britain has set up two websites that achieve exactly that. Writetothem.com is a website where people can figure out who their parliamentary representatives are, and write to them about their problems in an effort to create a stronger relationship, and channels of communication between MPs and their constituents1. 130,000 people were using the website in 2009. Theyworkforyou.com is another website where people can find out who their representatives are, and then read about their recent actions in parliament. This site receives between 200,000 and 300,000 hits per month2. Elections are also strengthened by the internet. Voting can be conducted online which makes the process easier and can reduce intimidation at the polls. Now that politicians have websites, their policy platforms can be more easily accessed and understood by voters. Increasing information and communication between leaders and their constituents contributes to a more transparent system and therefore a healthier democracy. The internet is not only useful for promoting movements for democratic reforms in authoritarian countries, but also for making democracy more effective in democratic countries.\n\nWhat about civil society and alternative media action sites within ‘official’ democracies that aim to bring about greater democratization through their protests and information for example- http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/ .\n\n1. Escher, Tobias, Analysis of users and usage for UK Citizens Online Democracy, mysociety.org, May 2011\n\n2. Escher, Tobias, WriteToThem.com, mysociety.org, May 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "20713b8ac7526561b141e94c7f43f652",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet allows political dissidents to communicate, organize, and grow a grassroots movement.\n\nAnother extremely important requirement for successful opposition movements advocating democratic reform is the ability to organize mass numbers of people. It is one thing if you hate your government, but don’t think anyone else does. It is entirely different if you can access the thoughts of thousands of others and realize that you are in fact not alone 1. Proportionally the number of people benefiting from repressive authoritative regimes is very small in comparison to the people who are suffering. Therefore, if the people who are hurt by the regimes realize the numbers that they have, it spells trouble for the governments. The internet has 2 billion users, and 950 million people have mobile broadband 2. Mobile phones with pay-as-you-go access plans are more available and affordable than ever before. Protesters do not need to own a computer: they can access social networking and news sites from their phones. The internet means that opposition groups don’t have to be organized under a particular leader, as there can now be many leaders and various causes that fit under the same umbrella and band together. These loose connections, as in Egypt, strengthen the movement 3. The internet also reduces the cost of organization, which can be the difference between success and failure 4. In the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia which called for democracy, the internet was first used to create events on Facebook to increase the number of people aware of and attending protests 5. Then the videos, photographs, and twitter posts that became available on the internet increased the support for the movement as citizens became aware of the violence the government was subjecting the country to. The internet allows users to communicate, then organize demonstrations, and then grow the movement. All of these functions of the internet are essential factors of a grassroots push for democratic reforms.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010, pp. 101-118\n\n2. Melanson, Donald, 'UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscriptions top five billion', engadget, 28 January 2011\n\n3. BBC, \"Egypt's opposition pushes demands as protests continue\", 2011\n\n4. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n\n5. Alexander, Anne (2011), \"Internet Role in Egypt Protests\", British Broadcasting Company,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a9c367355845250726149b08465e4d8c",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet promotes the free flow of information both in and out of a country, which is essential for a truly free democracy.\n\nMedia can be one of the most important factors in democratic development. If governments successfully control the media, they can direct information towards their constituents that casts the regime in an undeniably good light. They can prevent news of faked elections, protests, violence, repression, and arrest from ever reaching the people subject to those violations 1. Without external sources of information people do not question government propaganda, which decreases the likelihood that they advocate for their civil liberties and democracy. The internet promotes the free flow of information that leads to social consciousness and enhances democracy. News of political corruption and scandal in China can go viral in a matter of minutes among its 540 million internet users 2. Even when the government blocks certain websites, and makes avid use of firewalls for censorship, uploading videos to Facebook and YouTube, and posts to Twitter can allow information to be disseminated within the country. Once information is accessible it is almost impossible for the government to continue to censor the internet. For example, in the most recent Egyptian protests, as information leaked out of the country via social networking sites, cell phone pictures and videos were shown on international news broadcasts, making it difficult for the government to spin the situation in a positive light 3. The internet provides a place to find information, and also a place to discuss and debate it with others. The latter is the essential step to truly shifting views. The internet promotes free media which is essential to both creating and maintaining a functioning democracy as it promotes government transparency.\n\n1. Reporters Without Borders, \"Press Freedom Index 2010\" 2010,\n\n2. Economy, Elizabeth and Mondschein, Jared, \"China: The New Virtual Political System\", Council on Foreign Relations 2011\n\n3. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4cdb4c98-37b1-11e0-b91a-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=... \">Richard Waters. \"Web firms aim to benefit from role in uprising\" Financial Times, February 13, 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e2baa654de47b58c92327e2c83dd5e08",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet enhances communication between countries.\n\nThe internet does not only make information available to oppressed people within a country, but also communicates that situation to the rest of the world. People also learn about other authoritarian—and democratic—governments around the world. For example, the internet allowed information about Tunisia’s revolution to reach Egypt, which made it clear that overthrowing a government was entirely possible1. Information about the actions of other countries, and their governments can lead to a push for democratic reforms around the world. In addition, as information flows out of a country it becomes more difficult for the globe’s powers to ignore the events that are ensuing, and makes it more likely that they will take action. This action can create the internal and external pressure necessary for democratic reform as was seen in both the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia2. Contact between countries can also have a more subtle impact as well. It enhances communication between open and closed societies particularly in the form of business, which can bring about an exchange of values. Thanks in part to the internet; Western firms increasingly own large shares of Middle Eastern and East Asian businesses, putting pressure on governments to remove their economic protectionism measures and to allow greater transparency. For example, while China is not a democracy it has made some government and economic reforms that are on the right track3.\n\n1. Jerome, Deborah (2011), “Understand Tunisia’s Tremors”, Council on Foreign Relations, [Accessed June 22, 2011].\n\n2. Wikipedia, “International reactions to the revolution in Egypt”, [Accessed June 24, 2011].\n\n3. Wikipedia, “Chinese Economic Reforms”, [Accessed June 24, 2011]\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
35ca304bd0d318d4b61093bbfde3ac21 | The internet can be successfully censored so that it only promotes pro-regime propaganda.
The internet is said to promote democracy based on the claim that it leads to the free flow of information. Unfortunately, this is false in many parts of the world. 40 countries around the globe actively censor the internet, and 25 have blocked Google over the past few years1. This gives their governments a false legitimacy by removing material critical of anti-democratic policies and as acting as a psychological bulwark against discontent and dissent. The government retains the ability to control the information that its citizens have access to and can use this power to promote pro-regime information and prevent anti-regime, pro-democratic content from ever seeing the light of day. The internet is a new tool, but governments can become more sophisticated as well and harness the internet to repress dissent2. For example, China has almost no internet freedom and the terms “Tiananmen Square” and “Inner-Mongolia” provides no search results because protests occurred there3. Google in 2010 refused to uphold their firewalls and were therefore no longer allowed to operate in the country. The internet can be used by authoritarian government for enhanced media repression.
Even more concerning is corporate surveillance for marketing purposes, which means that people are pushed certain information from certain sources, meaning that not all voices are equally heard online. Democracy in the online world is not about having your voice published, but about it being seen and heard. As a result some players can gain a lot more attention than other, even if everyone with access can publish.
1. Hernandez, Javier C., 'Google Calls for Action on Web Limits', The New York Times , 24 March 2010
2. Joyce, Mary (Editor). “Digital Activism Decoded: New Mechanics of Change”. International Debate Education Association, New York: 2010.
3. Shirong, Chen, "China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls", BBC, 2011
| [
{
"docid": "6a6d523e79f1684bbd8cae5059a3d7c2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The quantity of information on the internet, and the number of talented computer users makes it very difficult for the government to fully censor information. The more information there is, the harder it becomes for the government to control it. The US is investing $19 million into researching how to break the firewalls of China and Iran1. There is plenty of easy to use software to evade firewalls2. Internet censorship can be evaded. Therefore, regimes cannot entirely maintain control over information, and any external information can be considered good information.\n\nFurthermore, regimes like China and Iran are not the only countries to “watching” their populations. Many democracies including the US and most of Western European use digital surveillance to safeguard their population- watch out for possible activity that may be harmful to the state.\n\n1. Gaouette, Nicole, 'U.S. Launches New Effort to Evade China's Internet Firewalls', Bloomberg.com, 11 May 2011\n\n2. Irish Times, 'Bunnies Hop the Great Firewall', 2 February 2011\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "6526be9f5964c2a0b9ffc51761b890c9",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Governments cannot always get away with the targeting of internet dissidents. Bloggers are often famous and followed intently by many people. If a popular blogger all of a sudden disappears it is more likely to generate increased support for the blogger and the cause than lead supporters to defect to the government1. Further, the government cannot arrest everyone, and the internet provides a tool for social movements to be poly-centric2—they have many leaders and anyone can step in.\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2672b9af4afd8eaf058c2207dc0d2ba0",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy With any tool there are going to be people who misuse it, yet cases of misuse do not outweigh times when the internet has proven to be an important force for democracy. Internet and SMS have helped to organize almost every uprising in the Middle East and the Orange Revolution in Georgia1. Cases of citizen misuse are few and far between in comparison to the change that has been made partially thanks to the internet. Further, the internet provides tools to successfully catch the abusers and prevent continued undemocratic actions through tracking IP addresses and other tactics. The same goes for targeting terrorist networks.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4dde8cdbcc48b030d9e15969791555a8",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy There are ways to make the internet affordable. Internet cafes and purchasing multiple SIM cards and pay as you go plans for cell phones can address the need to have a computer and therefore decrease the cost of internet use1. Further, the internet is a jumping off point. Not every low-income person needs to have internet access but if a handful do, then they can be part of the organization of protests and movements by taking the information available online and disseminating it through networks of people through SMS, calls, and word of mouth. Tunisia was not a rich country; in fact, people were protesting the pervasive poverty. Even so, they were able to successfully organize a revolution, with the help of the internet2.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n2. Jerome, Deborah, 'Understanding Tunisia's Tremors', Council on Foreign Relations, 14 January 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2ee3916cc3f6846f11abc493f300cb95",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy To use such websites governments already need to be committed to democracy. Promoting democracy in already-democratic countries is irrelevant. Countries that are not democratic, and seek to maintain autocratic rule will not be impacted by the availability of those resources and harness the internet only for continued repression 1.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "aa9e39962c46b030838120eef2ca1d44",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy For many countries, communication with outside actors does not make any difference. Iran has some internet freedom and access to outside information, yet president Ahmadinejad casts the West as a great evil trying to destroy Iran's culture1 . The government remains a theocracy and while there have been some protests, there are many that still support the system of governance2 . Additionally, China may have made reforms, but it is not a democracy even though they have extensive contact with the West3 . Therefore, contact does not necessarily indicate that values will be adopted. When it comes to information flowing out of oppressive countries, the international community might make matters worse. When the West gets involved in local movements, often it can make leaders hold a tighter grip on their power, and turn the blame for the situation on the West leading to violence, and hindering democratic development. This is similar to the situation in Libya4.\n\n1 CNN Wire Staff, 'The West is to blame for regional unrest, Ahmadinejad says', CNN Worl, 18 April 2011\n\n2 Wolverson, Roya, 'How Iran Sees Egypt's Protests', Council on Foreign Relations, 10 February 2010\n\n3 Kurlantzick, Joshua, 'Beijing has bought itself a respite from middle class revolt', The National, 7 March 2011\n\n4 Zenko, Micah, 'Think Again: Libya', Foreign Policy, 28 April 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f2bf0e64ea8220bba950dd2c6f95487",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet is only a place for coordination and cannot replace real-life action so if people are not willing to take to the streets, then the internet is not going to help—and even without the internet, disgruntled masses can still make their points known, as in the French Revolution1. Egypt shut down internet and phone service during part of the revolution, yet it continued indicating that this movement is not based online2. Therefore the internet is not necessarily the force that propels people towards change. SMS has been a very important part of the organization of these protests, which is entirely separate from the internet3. Close to 5 billion people use cell phones and SMS, therefore the impact of the cell phone cannot be distinguished from the internet so it is inaccurate to say that the internet is contributing to democratization when it is very possibly thanks to mobile phones4.\n\n1. Wikipedia, French Revolution\n\n2. BBC, “Egypt’s opposition pushes demands as protests continue”, 2011\n\n3. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n4. Melanson, David, “UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscribers top five billion”, 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0e9a010ae94d1cee93bede80a024f882",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy overnments still successfully censor information. Take China for example. Often the government shuts down Facebook and Twitter, arrests bloggers, and takes down content. Terms like ‘Tiananmen Square’ and ‘Inner Mongolia’ provide no search results because of the protests that have gone on there1 Governments’ ability to censor information is advancing. Therefore the idea that the internet promotes the flow of unbiased information is not necessarily true, which counters the claim that the internet promotes democracy. Further, the internet is not always used for access to Western news sources, but instead, over 500 million sites in the indexes of search engines are pornographic. In 2003 25% of internet use was for accessing porn. Five of the twenty most visited internet sites are download sites for video games and porn 2. The internet is not largely used for access to information, but instead other forbidden resources, and therefore cannot be directly linked to democratic development.\n\n1. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n\n2. Change.org, \"Petition to Unsubscribe America from Internet Porn\", 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3d116a6f7c16f9766ee17c776ccd1ccd",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The digital divide leaves the same people in places of influence and power.\n\nThe internet doesn’t necessarily put power in the hands of the vulnerable; in many places it strengthens the influence of the traditional elite. In low-income countries the cost of broadband is 900% of average monthly income1. Most people simply cannot afford to have internet access. Internet penetration is not up to par in low income, developing, and traditionally non-democratic countries. For example, Africa has 15% of the world’s population and only 5% of its internet users. There are only about 100 million internet users on the continent, which accounts for only 11% of its population2. As the lower income members of society remain unable to afford internet access, the power that the internet boasts remains with those who can afford it. The traditional elites are the ones that maintain the ability to access the internet, and they can use it for their own purposes and to strengthen their position and power – i.e. the internet may actually increase inequalities on the ground, against democracy. The internet could play a positive role in society, but until it is affordable, the oppressed who long for democracy will not have the tools to advocate for it.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n\n2. Internet World Stats. “Internet Usage in Africa\", 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f31e654408a3cacb47e00cc2b02f001",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be used to quash democratic movements.\n\nThe internet makes it much easier for states to target and locate dissidents. They can be located by their IP addresses or records kept by internet cafes. It is almost impossible by today’s standards to remain anonymous on the internet1. Surveillance used to be the only technique for governments to track down dissidents, however the internet has made governments’ task of quashing opposition easier. Since 2003, 202 bloggers have been arrested around the world and 162 of the arrests were for political reasons. The government doesn’t need a true reason because only 37 of the cases were tried in the judicial system. Political parties, ethnic and religious groups, civil rights movements, and leaders can all be targeted through government internet surveillance2. When the government can find the names of political dissidents and arrest them, it makes it more difficult for successful movements to occur, because they lack leaders and potential participants are intimidated. The internet can also be used to reverse democratic momentum\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6fa70164e5b05c6b53cc3989d16e2e76",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Citizens often use the internet in ways that detract from democracy.\n\nThe idea that the internet promotes democracy also operates under the assumption that the people with internet access will use the tool for ‘good’. Yet, this is also not the case. The internet is the primary medium of coordination for Jihadist groups looking to undermine the few Middle-Eastern states which are in the process of transition to democracy. In April 2007, groups of hackers (allegedly backed by the Russian government) attacked the websites of key politicians, ministries and utilities in Estonia in retaliation for the removal of a Soviet war memorial. Hackers can block access, destroy content, and organize in malicious activity as in the case of terrorism and the Estonian ‘hactivists’ 1. Information can also be misused.In the US, neo-Nazism has always been an issue of contention and use the internet to further promote their viewpoints.For example, UK animal rights activists post information about people they feel to be targets, which can lead to intimidation. The internet can often be hijacked for less-than-ideal purposes and therefore does not directly promote democracy, but can be used by the people to counter reform 2.\n\nMoreover, there are questions over the limits on democratic freedoms due to the ‘corporate colonization’ o f the internet. For a start, a lot of the ‘trusted’ news sites that users frequent for their information simply reproduce the views of Western media corporations. And corporate social network platforms like Facebook claim to provide for democratic interaction while undertaking surveillance of their user information so as to produce profiles to sell advertising, profiles that could also be used by governments.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Double Edged Sword of Digital Tactics. 2010\n\n2. Ibid\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c9e84444e3ceb82ffc717b3027206da2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Websites can strengthen democratic institutions.\n\nThe promotion of democracy is not only about forming new democracies; strengthening existing democratic institutions around the globe. To do so, transparency and government-citizen communication is necessary. Britain has set up two websites that achieve exactly that. Writetothem.com is a website where people can figure out who their parliamentary representatives are, and write to them about their problems in an effort to create a stronger relationship, and channels of communication between MPs and their constituents1. 130,000 people were using the website in 2009. Theyworkforyou.com is another website where people can find out who their representatives are, and then read about their recent actions in parliament. This site receives between 200,000 and 300,000 hits per month2. Elections are also strengthened by the internet. Voting can be conducted online which makes the process easier and can reduce intimidation at the polls. Now that politicians have websites, their policy platforms can be more easily accessed and understood by voters. Increasing information and communication between leaders and their constituents contributes to a more transparent system and therefore a healthier democracy. The internet is not only useful for promoting movements for democratic reforms in authoritarian countries, but also for making democracy more effective in democratic countries.\n\nWhat about civil society and alternative media action sites within ‘official’ democracies that aim to bring about greater democratization through their protests and information for example- http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/ .\n\n1. Escher, Tobias, Analysis of users and usage for UK Citizens Online Democracy, mysociety.org, May 2011\n\n2. Escher, Tobias, WriteToThem.com, mysociety.org, May 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "20713b8ac7526561b141e94c7f43f652",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet allows political dissidents to communicate, organize, and grow a grassroots movement.\n\nAnother extremely important requirement for successful opposition movements advocating democratic reform is the ability to organize mass numbers of people. It is one thing if you hate your government, but don’t think anyone else does. It is entirely different if you can access the thoughts of thousands of others and realize that you are in fact not alone 1. Proportionally the number of people benefiting from repressive authoritative regimes is very small in comparison to the people who are suffering. Therefore, if the people who are hurt by the regimes realize the numbers that they have, it spells trouble for the governments. The internet has 2 billion users, and 950 million people have mobile broadband 2. Mobile phones with pay-as-you-go access plans are more available and affordable than ever before. Protesters do not need to own a computer: they can access social networking and news sites from their phones. The internet means that opposition groups don’t have to be organized under a particular leader, as there can now be many leaders and various causes that fit under the same umbrella and band together. These loose connections, as in Egypt, strengthen the movement 3. The internet also reduces the cost of organization, which can be the difference between success and failure 4. In the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia which called for democracy, the internet was first used to create events on Facebook to increase the number of people aware of and attending protests 5. Then the videos, photographs, and twitter posts that became available on the internet increased the support for the movement as citizens became aware of the violence the government was subjecting the country to. The internet allows users to communicate, then organize demonstrations, and then grow the movement. All of these functions of the internet are essential factors of a grassroots push for democratic reforms.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010, pp. 101-118\n\n2. Melanson, Donald, 'UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscriptions top five billion', engadget, 28 January 2011\n\n3. BBC, \"Egypt's opposition pushes demands as protests continue\", 2011\n\n4. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n\n5. Alexander, Anne (2011), \"Internet Role in Egypt Protests\", British Broadcasting Company,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a9c367355845250726149b08465e4d8c",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet promotes the free flow of information both in and out of a country, which is essential for a truly free democracy.\n\nMedia can be one of the most important factors in democratic development. If governments successfully control the media, they can direct information towards their constituents that casts the regime in an undeniably good light. They can prevent news of faked elections, protests, violence, repression, and arrest from ever reaching the people subject to those violations 1. Without external sources of information people do not question government propaganda, which decreases the likelihood that they advocate for their civil liberties and democracy. The internet promotes the free flow of information that leads to social consciousness and enhances democracy. News of political corruption and scandal in China can go viral in a matter of minutes among its 540 million internet users 2. Even when the government blocks certain websites, and makes avid use of firewalls for censorship, uploading videos to Facebook and YouTube, and posts to Twitter can allow information to be disseminated within the country. Once information is accessible it is almost impossible for the government to continue to censor the internet. For example, in the most recent Egyptian protests, as information leaked out of the country via social networking sites, cell phone pictures and videos were shown on international news broadcasts, making it difficult for the government to spin the situation in a positive light 3. The internet provides a place to find information, and also a place to discuss and debate it with others. The latter is the essential step to truly shifting views. The internet promotes free media which is essential to both creating and maintaining a functioning democracy as it promotes government transparency.\n\n1. Reporters Without Borders, \"Press Freedom Index 2010\" 2010,\n\n2. Economy, Elizabeth and Mondschein, Jared, \"China: The New Virtual Political System\", Council on Foreign Relations 2011\n\n3. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4cdb4c98-37b1-11e0-b91a-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=... \">Richard Waters. \"Web firms aim to benefit from role in uprising\" Financial Times, February 13, 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e2baa654de47b58c92327e2c83dd5e08",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet enhances communication between countries.\n\nThe internet does not only make information available to oppressed people within a country, but also communicates that situation to the rest of the world. People also learn about other authoritarian—and democratic—governments around the world. For example, the internet allowed information about Tunisia’s revolution to reach Egypt, which made it clear that overthrowing a government was entirely possible1. Information about the actions of other countries, and their governments can lead to a push for democratic reforms around the world. In addition, as information flows out of a country it becomes more difficult for the globe’s powers to ignore the events that are ensuing, and makes it more likely that they will take action. This action can create the internal and external pressure necessary for democratic reform as was seen in both the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia2. Contact between countries can also have a more subtle impact as well. It enhances communication between open and closed societies particularly in the form of business, which can bring about an exchange of values. Thanks in part to the internet; Western firms increasingly own large shares of Middle Eastern and East Asian businesses, putting pressure on governments to remove their economic protectionism measures and to allow greater transparency. For example, while China is not a democracy it has made some government and economic reforms that are on the right track3.\n\n1. Jerome, Deborah (2011), “Understand Tunisia’s Tremors”, Council on Foreign Relations, [Accessed June 22, 2011].\n\n2. Wikipedia, “International reactions to the revolution in Egypt”, [Accessed June 24, 2011].\n\n3. Wikipedia, “Chinese Economic Reforms”, [Accessed June 24, 2011]\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
7215380283ed5cd5e0ec7a0de8a4259f | Citizens often use the internet in ways that detract from democracy.
The idea that the internet promotes democracy also operates under the assumption that the people with internet access will use the tool for ‘good’. Yet, this is also not the case. The internet is the primary medium of coordination for Jihadist groups looking to undermine the few Middle-Eastern states which are in the process of transition to democracy. In April 2007, groups of hackers (allegedly backed by the Russian government) attacked the websites of key politicians, ministries and utilities in Estonia in retaliation for the removal of a Soviet war memorial. Hackers can block access, destroy content, and organize in malicious activity as in the case of terrorism and the Estonian ‘hactivists’ 1. Information can also be misused.In the US, neo-Nazism has always been an issue of contention and use the internet to further promote their viewpoints.For example, UK animal rights activists post information about people they feel to be targets, which can lead to intimidation. The internet can often be hijacked for less-than-ideal purposes and therefore does not directly promote democracy, but can be used by the people to counter reform 2.
Moreover, there are questions over the limits on democratic freedoms due to the ‘corporate colonization’ o f the internet. For a start, a lot of the ‘trusted’ news sites that users frequent for their information simply reproduce the views of Western media corporations. And corporate social network platforms like Facebook claim to provide for democratic interaction while undertaking surveillance of their user information so as to produce profiles to sell advertising, profiles that could also be used by governments.
1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Double Edged Sword of Digital Tactics. 2010
2. Ibid
| [
{
"docid": "2672b9af4afd8eaf058c2207dc0d2ba0",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy With any tool there are going to be people who misuse it, yet cases of misuse do not outweigh times when the internet has proven to be an important force for democracy. Internet and SMS have helped to organize almost every uprising in the Middle East and the Orange Revolution in Georgia1. Cases of citizen misuse are few and far between in comparison to the change that has been made partially thanks to the internet. Further, the internet provides tools to successfully catch the abusers and prevent continued undemocratic actions through tracking IP addresses and other tactics. The same goes for targeting terrorist networks.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "6a6d523e79f1684bbd8cae5059a3d7c2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The quantity of information on the internet, and the number of talented computer users makes it very difficult for the government to fully censor information. The more information there is, the harder it becomes for the government to control it. The US is investing $19 million into researching how to break the firewalls of China and Iran1. There is plenty of easy to use software to evade firewalls2. Internet censorship can be evaded. Therefore, regimes cannot entirely maintain control over information, and any external information can be considered good information.\n\nFurthermore, regimes like China and Iran are not the only countries to “watching” their populations. Many democracies including the US and most of Western European use digital surveillance to safeguard their population- watch out for possible activity that may be harmful to the state.\n\n1. Gaouette, Nicole, 'U.S. Launches New Effort to Evade China's Internet Firewalls', Bloomberg.com, 11 May 2011\n\n2. Irish Times, 'Bunnies Hop the Great Firewall', 2 February 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6526be9f5964c2a0b9ffc51761b890c9",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Governments cannot always get away with the targeting of internet dissidents. Bloggers are often famous and followed intently by many people. If a popular blogger all of a sudden disappears it is more likely to generate increased support for the blogger and the cause than lead supporters to defect to the government1. Further, the government cannot arrest everyone, and the internet provides a tool for social movements to be poly-centric2—they have many leaders and anyone can step in.\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4dde8cdbcc48b030d9e15969791555a8",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy There are ways to make the internet affordable. Internet cafes and purchasing multiple SIM cards and pay as you go plans for cell phones can address the need to have a computer and therefore decrease the cost of internet use1. Further, the internet is a jumping off point. Not every low-income person needs to have internet access but if a handful do, then they can be part of the organization of protests and movements by taking the information available online and disseminating it through networks of people through SMS, calls, and word of mouth. Tunisia was not a rich country; in fact, people were protesting the pervasive poverty. Even so, they were able to successfully organize a revolution, with the help of the internet2.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n2. Jerome, Deborah, 'Understanding Tunisia's Tremors', Council on Foreign Relations, 14 January 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2ee3916cc3f6846f11abc493f300cb95",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy To use such websites governments already need to be committed to democracy. Promoting democracy in already-democratic countries is irrelevant. Countries that are not democratic, and seek to maintain autocratic rule will not be impacted by the availability of those resources and harness the internet only for continued repression 1.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "aa9e39962c46b030838120eef2ca1d44",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy For many countries, communication with outside actors does not make any difference. Iran has some internet freedom and access to outside information, yet president Ahmadinejad casts the West as a great evil trying to destroy Iran's culture1 . The government remains a theocracy and while there have been some protests, there are many that still support the system of governance2 . Additionally, China may have made reforms, but it is not a democracy even though they have extensive contact with the West3 . Therefore, contact does not necessarily indicate that values will be adopted. When it comes to information flowing out of oppressive countries, the international community might make matters worse. When the West gets involved in local movements, often it can make leaders hold a tighter grip on their power, and turn the blame for the situation on the West leading to violence, and hindering democratic development. This is similar to the situation in Libya4.\n\n1 CNN Wire Staff, 'The West is to blame for regional unrest, Ahmadinejad says', CNN Worl, 18 April 2011\n\n2 Wolverson, Roya, 'How Iran Sees Egypt's Protests', Council on Foreign Relations, 10 February 2010\n\n3 Kurlantzick, Joshua, 'Beijing has bought itself a respite from middle class revolt', The National, 7 March 2011\n\n4 Zenko, Micah, 'Think Again: Libya', Foreign Policy, 28 April 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f2bf0e64ea8220bba950dd2c6f95487",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet is only a place for coordination and cannot replace real-life action so if people are not willing to take to the streets, then the internet is not going to help—and even without the internet, disgruntled masses can still make their points known, as in the French Revolution1. Egypt shut down internet and phone service during part of the revolution, yet it continued indicating that this movement is not based online2. Therefore the internet is not necessarily the force that propels people towards change. SMS has been a very important part of the organization of these protests, which is entirely separate from the internet3. Close to 5 billion people use cell phones and SMS, therefore the impact of the cell phone cannot be distinguished from the internet so it is inaccurate to say that the internet is contributing to democratization when it is very possibly thanks to mobile phones4.\n\n1. Wikipedia, French Revolution\n\n2. BBC, “Egypt’s opposition pushes demands as protests continue”, 2011\n\n3. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The Power of Mobile Phones, 2010\n\n4. Melanson, David, “UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscribers top five billion”, 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0e9a010ae94d1cee93bede80a024f882",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy overnments still successfully censor information. Take China for example. Often the government shuts down Facebook and Twitter, arrests bloggers, and takes down content. Terms like ‘Tiananmen Square’ and ‘Inner Mongolia’ provide no search results because of the protests that have gone on there1 Governments’ ability to censor information is advancing. Therefore the idea that the internet promotes the flow of unbiased information is not necessarily true, which counters the claim that the internet promotes democracy. Further, the internet is not always used for access to Western news sources, but instead, over 500 million sites in the indexes of search engines are pornographic. In 2003 25% of internet use was for accessing porn. Five of the twenty most visited internet sites are download sites for video games and porn 2. The internet is not largely used for access to information, but instead other forbidden resources, and therefore cannot be directly linked to democratic development.\n\n1. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n\n2. Change.org, \"Petition to Unsubscribe America from Internet Porn\", 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3d116a6f7c16f9766ee17c776ccd1ccd",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The digital divide leaves the same people in places of influence and power.\n\nThe internet doesn’t necessarily put power in the hands of the vulnerable; in many places it strengthens the influence of the traditional elite. In low-income countries the cost of broadband is 900% of average monthly income1. Most people simply cannot afford to have internet access. Internet penetration is not up to par in low income, developing, and traditionally non-democratic countries. For example, Africa has 15% of the world’s population and only 5% of its internet users. There are only about 100 million internet users on the continent, which accounts for only 11% of its population2. As the lower income members of society remain unable to afford internet access, the power that the internet boasts remains with those who can afford it. The traditional elites are the ones that maintain the ability to access the internet, and they can use it for their own purposes and to strengthen their position and power – i.e. the internet may actually increase inequalities on the ground, against democracy. The internet could play a positive role in society, but until it is affordable, the oppressed who long for democracy will not have the tools to advocate for it.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010\n\n2. Internet World Stats. “Internet Usage in Africa\", 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9f31e654408a3cacb47e00cc2b02f001",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be used to quash democratic movements.\n\nThe internet makes it much easier for states to target and locate dissidents. They can be located by their IP addresses or records kept by internet cafes. It is almost impossible by today’s standards to remain anonymous on the internet1. Surveillance used to be the only technique for governments to track down dissidents, however the internet has made governments’ task of quashing opposition easier. Since 2003, 202 bloggers have been arrested around the world and 162 of the arrests were for political reasons. The government doesn’t need a true reason because only 37 of the cases were tried in the judicial system. Political parties, ethnic and religious groups, civil rights movements, and leaders can all be targeted through government internet surveillance2. When the government can find the names of political dissidents and arrest them, it makes it more difficult for successful movements to occur, because they lack leaders and potential participants are intimidated. The internet can also be used to reverse democratic momentum\n\n1. Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies.\n\n2. Digital Activism Decoded: New Casualties: Prisons and Persecution.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26f72cdd2a6db619a60a67bc5de8dcc3",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet can be successfully censored so that it only promotes pro-regime propaganda.\n\nThe internet is said to promote democracy based on the claim that it leads to the free flow of information. Unfortunately, this is false in many parts of the world. 40 countries around the globe actively censor the internet, and 25 have blocked Google over the past few years1. This gives their governments a false legitimacy by removing material critical of anti-democratic policies and as acting as a psychological bulwark against discontent and dissent. The government retains the ability to control the information that its citizens have access to and can use this power to promote pro-regime information and prevent anti-regime, pro-democratic content from ever seeing the light of day. The internet is a new tool, but governments can become more sophisticated as well and harness the internet to repress dissent2. For example, China has almost no internet freedom and the terms “Tiananmen Square” and “Inner-Mongolia” provides no search results because protests occurred there3. Google in 2010 refused to uphold their firewalls and were therefore no longer allowed to operate in the country. The internet can be used by authoritarian government for enhanced media repression.\n\nEven more concerning is corporate surveillance for marketing purposes, which means that people are pushed certain information from certain sources, meaning that not all voices are equally heard online. Democracy in the online world is not about having your voice published, but about it being seen and heard. As a result some players can gain a lot more attention than other, even if everyone with access can publish.\n\n1. Hernandez, Javier C., 'Google Calls for Action on Web Limits', The New York Times , 24 March 2010\n\n2. Joyce, Mary (Editor). “Digital Activism Decoded: New Mechanics of Change”. International Debate Education Association, New York: 2010.\n\n3. Shirong, Chen, \"China Tightens Internet Censorship Controls\", BBC, 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c9e84444e3ceb82ffc717b3027206da2",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy Websites can strengthen democratic institutions.\n\nThe promotion of democracy is not only about forming new democracies; strengthening existing democratic institutions around the globe. To do so, transparency and government-citizen communication is necessary. Britain has set up two websites that achieve exactly that. Writetothem.com is a website where people can figure out who their parliamentary representatives are, and write to them about their problems in an effort to create a stronger relationship, and channels of communication between MPs and their constituents1. 130,000 people were using the website in 2009. Theyworkforyou.com is another website where people can find out who their representatives are, and then read about their recent actions in parliament. This site receives between 200,000 and 300,000 hits per month2. Elections are also strengthened by the internet. Voting can be conducted online which makes the process easier and can reduce intimidation at the polls. Now that politicians have websites, their policy platforms can be more easily accessed and understood by voters. Increasing information and communication between leaders and their constituents contributes to a more transparent system and therefore a healthier democracy. The internet is not only useful for promoting movements for democratic reforms in authoritarian countries, but also for making democracy more effective in democratic countries.\n\nWhat about civil society and alternative media action sites within ‘official’ democracies that aim to bring about greater democratization through their protests and information for example- http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/ .\n\n1. Escher, Tobias, Analysis of users and usage for UK Citizens Online Democracy, mysociety.org, May 2011\n\n2. Escher, Tobias, WriteToThem.com, mysociety.org, May 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "20713b8ac7526561b141e94c7f43f652",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet allows political dissidents to communicate, organize, and grow a grassroots movement.\n\nAnother extremely important requirement for successful opposition movements advocating democratic reform is the ability to organize mass numbers of people. It is one thing if you hate your government, but don’t think anyone else does. It is entirely different if you can access the thoughts of thousands of others and realize that you are in fact not alone 1. Proportionally the number of people benefiting from repressive authoritative regimes is very small in comparison to the people who are suffering. Therefore, if the people who are hurt by the regimes realize the numbers that they have, it spells trouble for the governments. The internet has 2 billion users, and 950 million people have mobile broadband 2. Mobile phones with pay-as-you-go access plans are more available and affordable than ever before. Protesters do not need to own a computer: they can access social networking and news sites from their phones. The internet means that opposition groups don’t have to be organized under a particular leader, as there can now be many leaders and various causes that fit under the same umbrella and band together. These loose connections, as in Egypt, strengthen the movement 3. The internet also reduces the cost of organization, which can be the difference between success and failure 4. In the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia which called for democracy, the internet was first used to create events on Facebook to increase the number of people aware of and attending protests 5. Then the videos, photographs, and twitter posts that became available on the internet increased the support for the movement as citizens became aware of the violence the government was subjecting the country to. The internet allows users to communicate, then organize demonstrations, and then grow the movement. All of these functions of the internet are essential factors of a grassroots push for democratic reforms.\n\n1. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded, 2010, pp. 101-118\n\n2. Melanson, Donald, 'UN: worldwide internet users hit two billion, cellphone subscriptions top five billion', engadget, 28 January 2011\n\n3. BBC, \"Egypt's opposition pushes demands as protests continue\", 2011\n\n4. Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: Digital Activism in Closed and Open Societies. 2010\n\n5. Alexander, Anne (2011), \"Internet Role in Egypt Protests\", British Broadcasting Company,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a9c367355845250726149b08465e4d8c",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet promotes the free flow of information both in and out of a country, which is essential for a truly free democracy.\n\nMedia can be one of the most important factors in democratic development. If governments successfully control the media, they can direct information towards their constituents that casts the regime in an undeniably good light. They can prevent news of faked elections, protests, violence, repression, and arrest from ever reaching the people subject to those violations 1. Without external sources of information people do not question government propaganda, which decreases the likelihood that they advocate for their civil liberties and democracy. The internet promotes the free flow of information that leads to social consciousness and enhances democracy. News of political corruption and scandal in China can go viral in a matter of minutes among its 540 million internet users 2. Even when the government blocks certain websites, and makes avid use of firewalls for censorship, uploading videos to Facebook and YouTube, and posts to Twitter can allow information to be disseminated within the country. Once information is accessible it is almost impossible for the government to continue to censor the internet. For example, in the most recent Egyptian protests, as information leaked out of the country via social networking sites, cell phone pictures and videos were shown on international news broadcasts, making it difficult for the government to spin the situation in a positive light 3. The internet provides a place to find information, and also a place to discuss and debate it with others. The latter is the essential step to truly shifting views. The internet promotes free media which is essential to both creating and maintaining a functioning democracy as it promotes government transparency.\n\n1. Reporters Without Borders, \"Press Freedom Index 2010\" 2010,\n\n2. Economy, Elizabeth and Mondschein, Jared, \"China: The New Virtual Political System\", Council on Foreign Relations 2011\n\n3. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4cdb4c98-37b1-11e0-b91a-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=... \">Richard Waters. \"Web firms aim to benefit from role in uprising\" Financial Times, February 13, 2011,\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e2baa654de47b58c92327e2c83dd5e08",
"text": "access information house believes internet encourages democracy The internet enhances communication between countries.\n\nThe internet does not only make information available to oppressed people within a country, but also communicates that situation to the rest of the world. People also learn about other authoritarian—and democratic—governments around the world. For example, the internet allowed information about Tunisia’s revolution to reach Egypt, which made it clear that overthrowing a government was entirely possible1. Information about the actions of other countries, and their governments can lead to a push for democratic reforms around the world. In addition, as information flows out of a country it becomes more difficult for the globe’s powers to ignore the events that are ensuing, and makes it more likely that they will take action. This action can create the internal and external pressure necessary for democratic reform as was seen in both the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia2. Contact between countries can also have a more subtle impact as well. It enhances communication between open and closed societies particularly in the form of business, which can bring about an exchange of values. Thanks in part to the internet; Western firms increasingly own large shares of Middle Eastern and East Asian businesses, putting pressure on governments to remove their economic protectionism measures and to allow greater transparency. For example, while China is not a democracy it has made some government and economic reforms that are on the right track3.\n\n1. Jerome, Deborah (2011), “Understand Tunisia’s Tremors”, Council on Foreign Relations, [Accessed June 22, 2011].\n\n2. Wikipedia, “International reactions to the revolution in Egypt”, [Accessed June 24, 2011].\n\n3. Wikipedia, “Chinese Economic Reforms”, [Accessed June 24, 2011]\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
266ed88a8baa82b4b669d2e699f13054 | Historical precedent.
Historically, governments have always controlled the access to information and placed restriction on media during times of war. This is an entirely reasonable policy and is done for a number of reasons: to sustain morale and prevent predominantly negative stories from the battlefield reaching the general public, and to intercept propaganda from the enemy, which might endanger the war effort [1] . For example, both Bush administrations imposed media blackouts during wartime over the return of the bodies of dead American soldiers at Dover airport [2] . The internet is simply a new medium of transmitting information, and the same principles can be applied to its regulation, especially when the threat to national security is imminent, like in the case of disseminating information for the organization of a violent protest.
[1] Payne, Kenneth. 2005. “The Media as an Instrument of War”. Parameters, Spring 2005, pp. 81-93.
[2] BBC, 2009. “US War Dead Media Blackout Lifted”.
| [
{
"docid": "ceef1f7e5b30d1ba0b21509db0e696da",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Historical precedent does not apply to the internet. It is very different to media reporting during times of unrest; the internet is not just a means of disseminating information but also for many people their main form of communication; the U.S. government has never tried to ban people from using telephones. There are severe downsides to the censorship of information during times of war or civil unrest, the most notable one being that it is used to hide the real cost and consequences of war from the population which is expected to support it. Conversely, in a world where every mobile phone is now connected to a global network, people all around the world can have access to an unparalleled amount of information from the field. Curtailing such internet access is to their detriment.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "5f1aef8d29eafd3f70f7c92067f6339b",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Other means can be employed to ensure the safety of the population without disrupting access to the internet, like deploying security forces to make sure protests don’t get out of hand or turn violent. In fact, being able to monitor online activity through social media like Facebook and Twitter might actually aid, rather than hinder law enforcement in ensuring the safety of the public. London’s police force, the Metropolitan Police, in the wake of the riots has are using software to monitor social media to predict where social disorder may take place. [1]\n\n[1] Adams, Lucy, 2012. “Police develop technology to monitor social neworks”. Heraldscotland, 6 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "432d37713306c981c63f858686094fc4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should In July 2012, The United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed a resolution upholding the principle of freedom of expression and information on the internet. In a special report, it also “called upon all states to ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest” [1] . While access to the internet has not yet had time to establish itself legally as a human right, there are compelling reasons to change its legal status, and the UN is leading the charge. Even before internet access is recognized as a human right the idea that national security should take precedence over ‘lesser rights’ is wrong; states should not survive at the expense of the rights of their citizens. States exist to protect their citizens not harm them.\n\n[1] Kravets, David, 2011. “UN Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right”. Wired.com, 6 November 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ea123c1aaad9989c7b7cfaf3f5f308b7",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Freedom of expression, assembly, and information are important rights, but restrictions can be placed on all of them if a greater good, like public safety, is at stake. For example, one cannot use her freedom of expression to incite violence towards others and many countries regard hate speech as a crime. [1] Therefore, if the internet is being used for such abuses of ones rights, the disruption of service, even to a large number of people, can be entirely warranted.\n\n[1] Waldron, Jeremy, The Harm in Hate Speech, Harvard University Press, 8 June 2012, p.8.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "55f34c7e064bd48c7274695b7a81afb4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Being able to witness atrocities from the field in real time does not change the international community’s capacity or political willingness to intervene in such situations. If anything, it has had the unfortunate side effect of desensitizing international public opinion to the horrors of war and conflicts, like the one in Syria where there have been thousands of videos showing the actions of the Syrian government but this has not resulted in action from the international community. [1] The onslaught of gruesome, graphic imagery has made people more used to witnessing such scenes from afar and less likely to be outraged and to ask their governments to intervene.\n\n[1] Harding, Luke, 2012. “Syria’s video activists give revolution the upper hand in media war”. Guardian.co.uk, 1 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f4dd344282c44b8d35ea262291f484c4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Democratic change can come about in a variety of ways. Violent public protests are only one such way, and probably the least desirable one. And now, with access to social media nearly universally available, such protests can be organized faster, on a larger, more dangerous scale than ever before. It encourages opposition movements and leaders in such countries to turn away from incremental, but peaceful changes through political negotiations, and to appeal to mass protests instead, thus endangering the life or their supporters and that of the general public. Governments that respond to violence by cutting off access are not responding with repression but simply trying to reduce the violence. Cutting internet access is a peaceful means of preventing organized violence that potentially saves lives by preventing confrontation between violent groups and riot police.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8a89fc13e9fd39fe304ec49b0a276003",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The internet as a threat to public safety.\n\nThe internet can be used as a tool to create an imminent threat to the public. If public officials had information that a massive protest is being organized, which could spiral into violence and endanger the safety of the public, it would be irresponsible for the government not to try to prevent such a protest. Governments are entrusted with protecting public safety and security, and not preventing such a treat would constitute a failure in the performance of their duties [1] . An example of this happening was the use first of Facebook and twitter and then of Blackberry messenger to organise and share information on the riots in London in the summer of 2011. [2]\n\n[1] Wyatt, Edward, 2012. “FCC Asks for Guidance on Whether, and When to Cut Off Cellphone Service.” New York Times, 2 March 2012.\n\n[2] Halliday, Josh, 2011. “London riots: how BlackBerry Messenger played a key role”. Guardian.co.uk, 8 August 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d94f0651ec750205a84309e1ff377d1b",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should National security takes precedence.\n\nInternet access is not a fundamental right as recognized by any major human rights convention, if it can be called a right at all. [1] Even if we accept that people should have a right to internet access, in times of war or civil unrest the government should be able to abridge lesser rights for the sake of something that is critical to the survival of the state, like national security. After all, in a war zone few rights survive or can be upheld at all. Preventing such an outcome at the expense of the temporary curtailment of some lesser rights is entirely justified. Under current law, in most states, only the most fundamental of rights, like the right to life, prohibition against torture, slavery, and the right to a fair trial are regarded as inalienable [2] .\n\n[1] For more see the debatabase debate on internet access as a human right.\n\n[2] Article 15 of the European Convention on Human rights: “In time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation any High Contracting Party may take measures derogating from its obligations under this Convention to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with its other obligations under international law.” http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf47f900746702d040833d9df8416bee",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Disrupting internet service is a form of repression.\n\nThe organization of public protests is an invaluable right for citizens living under the rule of oppressive regimes. Like in the case of the Arab Spring, internet access gives them the tools to mobilize, make their message heard, and demand greater freedoms. In such cases, under the guise of concern for public safety, these governments disrupt internet service in an attempt to stamp out legitimate democratic protests and stamp out the dissatisfied voices of their citizens [1] They are concerned not for the safety of the public, but to preserve their own grasp on power. A good example of this are the actions of the government of Myanmar when in 2007 in response to large scale protests the government cut internet access to the whole country in order to prevent reports of the government’s crackdown getting out. [2] Establishing internet access as a fundamental right at international level would make it clear to such governments that they cannot simply cut access as a tactic to prevent legitimate protests against them.\n\n[1] The Telegraph. “Egypt. Internet Service Disrupted Before Large Rally”. 28 January 2011.\n\n[2] Tran, Mark, 2007. “Internet access cut off in Burma”. Guardian.co.uk, 28 September 2007.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2c322b6919bed304eaa50dba196afc8f",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The right to internet access as a fundamental right.\n\nInternet access is a “facilitative right”, in that it facilitates access to the exercise of many other rights: like freedom of expression, information, and assembly. It is a “gateway right”. Possessing a right is only as valuable as your capacity to exercise it. A government cannot claim to protect freedom of speech or expression, and freedom of information, if it is taking away from its citizens the tools to access them. And that is exactly what the disruption of internet service does. Internet access needs to be a protected right so that all other rights which flow from it. [1]\n\nThe Internet is a tool of communication so it is important not just to individuals but also to communities. The internet becomes an outlet that can help to preserve groups’ culture or language [2] and so as an enabler of this groups’ culture access to the internet may also be seen as a group right – one which would be being infringed when the state cuts off access to large numbers of individuals.\n\n[1] BBC, 2010. “Internet Access is ‘a Fundamental Right’\".\n\n[2] Jones, Peter, 2008. \"Group Rights\", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f2c5216ff441d8762a97ccff560d6a0c",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The prevention of atrocities during war and unrest.\n\nIn the past, horrific crimes could be committed in war zones without anyone ever knowing about it, or with news of it reaching the international community with a significant time lag, when it was too late to intervene. But with the presence of internet connected mobile devices everywhere, capable of uploading live footage within seconds of an event occurring, the entire world can monitor and find out what is happening on the scene, in real time. It lets repressive regimes know the entire world is watching them, that they cannot simply massacre their people with impunity, and it creates evidence for potential prosecutions if they do. It, therefore, puts pressure on them to respect the rights of their citizens during such precarious times. To prevent governments from violently stamping out public political dissent without evidence, internet access must be preserved, especially in times of war or political unrest. [1]\n\n[1] Bildt, Carl, 2012. “A Victory for The Internet”. New York Times. 5 July 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
c1905847956ecea36f9af1fe5f1d3179 | The internet as a threat to public safety.
The internet can be used as a tool to create an imminent threat to the public. If public officials had information that a massive protest is being organized, which could spiral into violence and endanger the safety of the public, it would be irresponsible for the government not to try to prevent such a protest. Governments are entrusted with protecting public safety and security, and not preventing such a treat would constitute a failure in the performance of their duties [1] . An example of this happening was the use first of Facebook and twitter and then of Blackberry messenger to organise and share information on the riots in London in the summer of 2011. [2]
[1] Wyatt, Edward, 2012. “FCC Asks for Guidance on Whether, and When to Cut Off Cellphone Service.” New York Times, 2 March 2012.
[2] Halliday, Josh, 2011. “London riots: how BlackBerry Messenger played a key role”. Guardian.co.uk, 8 August 2011.
| [
{
"docid": "5f1aef8d29eafd3f70f7c92067f6339b",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Other means can be employed to ensure the safety of the population without disrupting access to the internet, like deploying security forces to make sure protests don’t get out of hand or turn violent. In fact, being able to monitor online activity through social media like Facebook and Twitter might actually aid, rather than hinder law enforcement in ensuring the safety of the public. London’s police force, the Metropolitan Police, in the wake of the riots has are using software to monitor social media to predict where social disorder may take place. [1]\n\n[1] Adams, Lucy, 2012. “Police develop technology to monitor social neworks”. Heraldscotland, 6 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "ceef1f7e5b30d1ba0b21509db0e696da",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Historical precedent does not apply to the internet. It is very different to media reporting during times of unrest; the internet is not just a means of disseminating information but also for many people their main form of communication; the U.S. government has never tried to ban people from using telephones. There are severe downsides to the censorship of information during times of war or civil unrest, the most notable one being that it is used to hide the real cost and consequences of war from the population which is expected to support it. Conversely, in a world where every mobile phone is now connected to a global network, people all around the world can have access to an unparalleled amount of information from the field. Curtailing such internet access is to their detriment.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "432d37713306c981c63f858686094fc4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should In July 2012, The United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed a resolution upholding the principle of freedom of expression and information on the internet. In a special report, it also “called upon all states to ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest” [1] . While access to the internet has not yet had time to establish itself legally as a human right, there are compelling reasons to change its legal status, and the UN is leading the charge. Even before internet access is recognized as a human right the idea that national security should take precedence over ‘lesser rights’ is wrong; states should not survive at the expense of the rights of their citizens. States exist to protect their citizens not harm them.\n\n[1] Kravets, David, 2011. “UN Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right”. Wired.com, 6 November 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ea123c1aaad9989c7b7cfaf3f5f308b7",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Freedom of expression, assembly, and information are important rights, but restrictions can be placed on all of them if a greater good, like public safety, is at stake. For example, one cannot use her freedom of expression to incite violence towards others and many countries regard hate speech as a crime. [1] Therefore, if the internet is being used for such abuses of ones rights, the disruption of service, even to a large number of people, can be entirely warranted.\n\n[1] Waldron, Jeremy, The Harm in Hate Speech, Harvard University Press, 8 June 2012, p.8.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "55f34c7e064bd48c7274695b7a81afb4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Being able to witness atrocities from the field in real time does not change the international community’s capacity or political willingness to intervene in such situations. If anything, it has had the unfortunate side effect of desensitizing international public opinion to the horrors of war and conflicts, like the one in Syria where there have been thousands of videos showing the actions of the Syrian government but this has not resulted in action from the international community. [1] The onslaught of gruesome, graphic imagery has made people more used to witnessing such scenes from afar and less likely to be outraged and to ask their governments to intervene.\n\n[1] Harding, Luke, 2012. “Syria’s video activists give revolution the upper hand in media war”. Guardian.co.uk, 1 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f4dd344282c44b8d35ea262291f484c4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Democratic change can come about in a variety of ways. Violent public protests are only one such way, and probably the least desirable one. And now, with access to social media nearly universally available, such protests can be organized faster, on a larger, more dangerous scale than ever before. It encourages opposition movements and leaders in such countries to turn away from incremental, but peaceful changes through political negotiations, and to appeal to mass protests instead, thus endangering the life or their supporters and that of the general public. Governments that respond to violence by cutting off access are not responding with repression but simply trying to reduce the violence. Cutting internet access is a peaceful means of preventing organized violence that potentially saves lives by preventing confrontation between violent groups and riot police.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b174a22c6e88b863f97d61570a80dd8c",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Historical precedent.\n\nHistorically, governments have always controlled the access to information and placed restriction on media during times of war. This is an entirely reasonable policy and is done for a number of reasons: to sustain morale and prevent predominantly negative stories from the battlefield reaching the general public, and to intercept propaganda from the enemy, which might endanger the war effort [1] . For example, both Bush administrations imposed media blackouts during wartime over the return of the bodies of dead American soldiers at Dover airport [2] . The internet is simply a new medium of transmitting information, and the same principles can be applied to its regulation, especially when the threat to national security is imminent, like in the case of disseminating information for the organization of a violent protest.\n\n[1] Payne, Kenneth. 2005. “The Media as an Instrument of War”. Parameters, Spring 2005, pp. 81-93.\n\n[2] BBC, 2009. “US War Dead Media Blackout Lifted”.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d94f0651ec750205a84309e1ff377d1b",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should National security takes precedence.\n\nInternet access is not a fundamental right as recognized by any major human rights convention, if it can be called a right at all. [1] Even if we accept that people should have a right to internet access, in times of war or civil unrest the government should be able to abridge lesser rights for the sake of something that is critical to the survival of the state, like national security. After all, in a war zone few rights survive or can be upheld at all. Preventing such an outcome at the expense of the temporary curtailment of some lesser rights is entirely justified. Under current law, in most states, only the most fundamental of rights, like the right to life, prohibition against torture, slavery, and the right to a fair trial are regarded as inalienable [2] .\n\n[1] For more see the debatabase debate on internet access as a human right.\n\n[2] Article 15 of the European Convention on Human rights: “In time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation any High Contracting Party may take measures derogating from its obligations under this Convention to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with its other obligations under international law.” http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf47f900746702d040833d9df8416bee",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Disrupting internet service is a form of repression.\n\nThe organization of public protests is an invaluable right for citizens living under the rule of oppressive regimes. Like in the case of the Arab Spring, internet access gives them the tools to mobilize, make their message heard, and demand greater freedoms. In such cases, under the guise of concern for public safety, these governments disrupt internet service in an attempt to stamp out legitimate democratic protests and stamp out the dissatisfied voices of their citizens [1] They are concerned not for the safety of the public, but to preserve their own grasp on power. A good example of this are the actions of the government of Myanmar when in 2007 in response to large scale protests the government cut internet access to the whole country in order to prevent reports of the government’s crackdown getting out. [2] Establishing internet access as a fundamental right at international level would make it clear to such governments that they cannot simply cut access as a tactic to prevent legitimate protests against them.\n\n[1] The Telegraph. “Egypt. Internet Service Disrupted Before Large Rally”. 28 January 2011.\n\n[2] Tran, Mark, 2007. “Internet access cut off in Burma”. Guardian.co.uk, 28 September 2007.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2c322b6919bed304eaa50dba196afc8f",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The right to internet access as a fundamental right.\n\nInternet access is a “facilitative right”, in that it facilitates access to the exercise of many other rights: like freedom of expression, information, and assembly. It is a “gateway right”. Possessing a right is only as valuable as your capacity to exercise it. A government cannot claim to protect freedom of speech or expression, and freedom of information, if it is taking away from its citizens the tools to access them. And that is exactly what the disruption of internet service does. Internet access needs to be a protected right so that all other rights which flow from it. [1]\n\nThe Internet is a tool of communication so it is important not just to individuals but also to communities. The internet becomes an outlet that can help to preserve groups’ culture or language [2] and so as an enabler of this groups’ culture access to the internet may also be seen as a group right – one which would be being infringed when the state cuts off access to large numbers of individuals.\n\n[1] BBC, 2010. “Internet Access is ‘a Fundamental Right’\".\n\n[2] Jones, Peter, 2008. \"Group Rights\", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f2c5216ff441d8762a97ccff560d6a0c",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The prevention of atrocities during war and unrest.\n\nIn the past, horrific crimes could be committed in war zones without anyone ever knowing about it, or with news of it reaching the international community with a significant time lag, when it was too late to intervene. But with the presence of internet connected mobile devices everywhere, capable of uploading live footage within seconds of an event occurring, the entire world can monitor and find out what is happening on the scene, in real time. It lets repressive regimes know the entire world is watching them, that they cannot simply massacre their people with impunity, and it creates evidence for potential prosecutions if they do. It, therefore, puts pressure on them to respect the rights of their citizens during such precarious times. To prevent governments from violently stamping out public political dissent without evidence, internet access must be preserved, especially in times of war or political unrest. [1]\n\n[1] Bildt, Carl, 2012. “A Victory for The Internet”. New York Times. 5 July 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
a5f4bfabedba21d506eefe847e92df06 | National security takes precedence.
Internet access is not a fundamental right as recognized by any major human rights convention, if it can be called a right at all. [1] Even if we accept that people should have a right to internet access, in times of war or civil unrest the government should be able to abridge lesser rights for the sake of something that is critical to the survival of the state, like national security. After all, in a war zone few rights survive or can be upheld at all. Preventing such an outcome at the expense of the temporary curtailment of some lesser rights is entirely justified. Under current law, in most states, only the most fundamental of rights, like the right to life, prohibition against torture, slavery, and the right to a fair trial are regarded as inalienable [2] .
[1] For more see the debatabase debate on internet access as a human right.
[2] Article 15 of the European Convention on Human rights: “In time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation any High Contracting Party may take measures derogating from its obligations under this Convention to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with its other obligations under international law.” http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html
| [
{
"docid": "432d37713306c981c63f858686094fc4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should In July 2012, The United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed a resolution upholding the principle of freedom of expression and information on the internet. In a special report, it also “called upon all states to ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest” [1] . While access to the internet has not yet had time to establish itself legally as a human right, there are compelling reasons to change its legal status, and the UN is leading the charge. Even before internet access is recognized as a human right the idea that national security should take precedence over ‘lesser rights’ is wrong; states should not survive at the expense of the rights of their citizens. States exist to protect their citizens not harm them.\n\n[1] Kravets, David, 2011. “UN Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right”. Wired.com, 6 November 2011.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "ceef1f7e5b30d1ba0b21509db0e696da",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Historical precedent does not apply to the internet. It is very different to media reporting during times of unrest; the internet is not just a means of disseminating information but also for many people their main form of communication; the U.S. government has never tried to ban people from using telephones. There are severe downsides to the censorship of information during times of war or civil unrest, the most notable one being that it is used to hide the real cost and consequences of war from the population which is expected to support it. Conversely, in a world where every mobile phone is now connected to a global network, people all around the world can have access to an unparalleled amount of information from the field. Curtailing such internet access is to their detriment.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5f1aef8d29eafd3f70f7c92067f6339b",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Other means can be employed to ensure the safety of the population without disrupting access to the internet, like deploying security forces to make sure protests don’t get out of hand or turn violent. In fact, being able to monitor online activity through social media like Facebook and Twitter might actually aid, rather than hinder law enforcement in ensuring the safety of the public. London’s police force, the Metropolitan Police, in the wake of the riots has are using software to monitor social media to predict where social disorder may take place. [1]\n\n[1] Adams, Lucy, 2012. “Police develop technology to monitor social neworks”. Heraldscotland, 6 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ea123c1aaad9989c7b7cfaf3f5f308b7",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Freedom of expression, assembly, and information are important rights, but restrictions can be placed on all of them if a greater good, like public safety, is at stake. For example, one cannot use her freedom of expression to incite violence towards others and many countries regard hate speech as a crime. [1] Therefore, if the internet is being used for such abuses of ones rights, the disruption of service, even to a large number of people, can be entirely warranted.\n\n[1] Waldron, Jeremy, The Harm in Hate Speech, Harvard University Press, 8 June 2012, p.8.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "55f34c7e064bd48c7274695b7a81afb4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Being able to witness atrocities from the field in real time does not change the international community’s capacity or political willingness to intervene in such situations. If anything, it has had the unfortunate side effect of desensitizing international public opinion to the horrors of war and conflicts, like the one in Syria where there have been thousands of videos showing the actions of the Syrian government but this has not resulted in action from the international community. [1] The onslaught of gruesome, graphic imagery has made people more used to witnessing such scenes from afar and less likely to be outraged and to ask their governments to intervene.\n\n[1] Harding, Luke, 2012. “Syria’s video activists give revolution the upper hand in media war”. Guardian.co.uk, 1 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f4dd344282c44b8d35ea262291f484c4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Democratic change can come about in a variety of ways. Violent public protests are only one such way, and probably the least desirable one. And now, with access to social media nearly universally available, such protests can be organized faster, on a larger, more dangerous scale than ever before. It encourages opposition movements and leaders in such countries to turn away from incremental, but peaceful changes through political negotiations, and to appeal to mass protests instead, thus endangering the life or their supporters and that of the general public. Governments that respond to violence by cutting off access are not responding with repression but simply trying to reduce the violence. Cutting internet access is a peaceful means of preventing organized violence that potentially saves lives by preventing confrontation between violent groups and riot police.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b174a22c6e88b863f97d61570a80dd8c",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Historical precedent.\n\nHistorically, governments have always controlled the access to information and placed restriction on media during times of war. This is an entirely reasonable policy and is done for a number of reasons: to sustain morale and prevent predominantly negative stories from the battlefield reaching the general public, and to intercept propaganda from the enemy, which might endanger the war effort [1] . For example, both Bush administrations imposed media blackouts during wartime over the return of the bodies of dead American soldiers at Dover airport [2] . The internet is simply a new medium of transmitting information, and the same principles can be applied to its regulation, especially when the threat to national security is imminent, like in the case of disseminating information for the organization of a violent protest.\n\n[1] Payne, Kenneth. 2005. “The Media as an Instrument of War”. Parameters, Spring 2005, pp. 81-93.\n\n[2] BBC, 2009. “US War Dead Media Blackout Lifted”.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8a89fc13e9fd39fe304ec49b0a276003",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The internet as a threat to public safety.\n\nThe internet can be used as a tool to create an imminent threat to the public. If public officials had information that a massive protest is being organized, which could spiral into violence and endanger the safety of the public, it would be irresponsible for the government not to try to prevent such a protest. Governments are entrusted with protecting public safety and security, and not preventing such a treat would constitute a failure in the performance of their duties [1] . An example of this happening was the use first of Facebook and twitter and then of Blackberry messenger to organise and share information on the riots in London in the summer of 2011. [2]\n\n[1] Wyatt, Edward, 2012. “FCC Asks for Guidance on Whether, and When to Cut Off Cellphone Service.” New York Times, 2 March 2012.\n\n[2] Halliday, Josh, 2011. “London riots: how BlackBerry Messenger played a key role”. Guardian.co.uk, 8 August 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf47f900746702d040833d9df8416bee",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Disrupting internet service is a form of repression.\n\nThe organization of public protests is an invaluable right for citizens living under the rule of oppressive regimes. Like in the case of the Arab Spring, internet access gives them the tools to mobilize, make their message heard, and demand greater freedoms. In such cases, under the guise of concern for public safety, these governments disrupt internet service in an attempt to stamp out legitimate democratic protests and stamp out the dissatisfied voices of their citizens [1] They are concerned not for the safety of the public, but to preserve their own grasp on power. A good example of this are the actions of the government of Myanmar when in 2007 in response to large scale protests the government cut internet access to the whole country in order to prevent reports of the government’s crackdown getting out. [2] Establishing internet access as a fundamental right at international level would make it clear to such governments that they cannot simply cut access as a tactic to prevent legitimate protests against them.\n\n[1] The Telegraph. “Egypt. Internet Service Disrupted Before Large Rally”. 28 January 2011.\n\n[2] Tran, Mark, 2007. “Internet access cut off in Burma”. Guardian.co.uk, 28 September 2007.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2c322b6919bed304eaa50dba196afc8f",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The right to internet access as a fundamental right.\n\nInternet access is a “facilitative right”, in that it facilitates access to the exercise of many other rights: like freedom of expression, information, and assembly. It is a “gateway right”. Possessing a right is only as valuable as your capacity to exercise it. A government cannot claim to protect freedom of speech or expression, and freedom of information, if it is taking away from its citizens the tools to access them. And that is exactly what the disruption of internet service does. Internet access needs to be a protected right so that all other rights which flow from it. [1]\n\nThe Internet is a tool of communication so it is important not just to individuals but also to communities. The internet becomes an outlet that can help to preserve groups’ culture or language [2] and so as an enabler of this groups’ culture access to the internet may also be seen as a group right – one which would be being infringed when the state cuts off access to large numbers of individuals.\n\n[1] BBC, 2010. “Internet Access is ‘a Fundamental Right’\".\n\n[2] Jones, Peter, 2008. \"Group Rights\", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f2c5216ff441d8762a97ccff560d6a0c",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The prevention of atrocities during war and unrest.\n\nIn the past, horrific crimes could be committed in war zones without anyone ever knowing about it, or with news of it reaching the international community with a significant time lag, when it was too late to intervene. But with the presence of internet connected mobile devices everywhere, capable of uploading live footage within seconds of an event occurring, the entire world can monitor and find out what is happening on the scene, in real time. It lets repressive regimes know the entire world is watching them, that they cannot simply massacre their people with impunity, and it creates evidence for potential prosecutions if they do. It, therefore, puts pressure on them to respect the rights of their citizens during such precarious times. To prevent governments from violently stamping out public political dissent without evidence, internet access must be preserved, especially in times of war or political unrest. [1]\n\n[1] Bildt, Carl, 2012. “A Victory for The Internet”. New York Times. 5 July 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
ab02f92cc3b26299c19d84b3f05f1fe9 | Disrupting internet service is a form of repression.
The organization of public protests is an invaluable right for citizens living under the rule of oppressive regimes. Like in the case of the Arab Spring, internet access gives them the tools to mobilize, make their message heard, and demand greater freedoms. In such cases, under the guise of concern for public safety, these governments disrupt internet service in an attempt to stamp out legitimate democratic protests and stamp out the dissatisfied voices of their citizens [1] They are concerned not for the safety of the public, but to preserve their own grasp on power. A good example of this are the actions of the government of Myanmar when in 2007 in response to large scale protests the government cut internet access to the whole country in order to prevent reports of the government’s crackdown getting out. [2] Establishing internet access as a fundamental right at international level would make it clear to such governments that they cannot simply cut access as a tactic to prevent legitimate protests against them.
[1] The Telegraph. “Egypt. Internet Service Disrupted Before Large Rally”. 28 January 2011.
[2] Tran, Mark, 2007. “Internet access cut off in Burma”. Guardian.co.uk, 28 September 2007.
| [
{
"docid": "f4dd344282c44b8d35ea262291f484c4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Democratic change can come about in a variety of ways. Violent public protests are only one such way, and probably the least desirable one. And now, with access to social media nearly universally available, such protests can be organized faster, on a larger, more dangerous scale than ever before. It encourages opposition movements and leaders in such countries to turn away from incremental, but peaceful changes through political negotiations, and to appeal to mass protests instead, thus endangering the life or their supporters and that of the general public. Governments that respond to violence by cutting off access are not responding with repression but simply trying to reduce the violence. Cutting internet access is a peaceful means of preventing organized violence that potentially saves lives by preventing confrontation between violent groups and riot police.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "ea123c1aaad9989c7b7cfaf3f5f308b7",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Freedom of expression, assembly, and information are important rights, but restrictions can be placed on all of them if a greater good, like public safety, is at stake. For example, one cannot use her freedom of expression to incite violence towards others and many countries regard hate speech as a crime. [1] Therefore, if the internet is being used for such abuses of ones rights, the disruption of service, even to a large number of people, can be entirely warranted.\n\n[1] Waldron, Jeremy, The Harm in Hate Speech, Harvard University Press, 8 June 2012, p.8.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "55f34c7e064bd48c7274695b7a81afb4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Being able to witness atrocities from the field in real time does not change the international community’s capacity or political willingness to intervene in such situations. If anything, it has had the unfortunate side effect of desensitizing international public opinion to the horrors of war and conflicts, like the one in Syria where there have been thousands of videos showing the actions of the Syrian government but this has not resulted in action from the international community. [1] The onslaught of gruesome, graphic imagery has made people more used to witnessing such scenes from afar and less likely to be outraged and to ask their governments to intervene.\n\n[1] Harding, Luke, 2012. “Syria’s video activists give revolution the upper hand in media war”. Guardian.co.uk, 1 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ceef1f7e5b30d1ba0b21509db0e696da",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Historical precedent does not apply to the internet. It is very different to media reporting during times of unrest; the internet is not just a means of disseminating information but also for many people their main form of communication; the U.S. government has never tried to ban people from using telephones. There are severe downsides to the censorship of information during times of war or civil unrest, the most notable one being that it is used to hide the real cost and consequences of war from the population which is expected to support it. Conversely, in a world where every mobile phone is now connected to a global network, people all around the world can have access to an unparalleled amount of information from the field. Curtailing such internet access is to their detriment.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5f1aef8d29eafd3f70f7c92067f6339b",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Other means can be employed to ensure the safety of the population without disrupting access to the internet, like deploying security forces to make sure protests don’t get out of hand or turn violent. In fact, being able to monitor online activity through social media like Facebook and Twitter might actually aid, rather than hinder law enforcement in ensuring the safety of the public. London’s police force, the Metropolitan Police, in the wake of the riots has are using software to monitor social media to predict where social disorder may take place. [1]\n\n[1] Adams, Lucy, 2012. “Police develop technology to monitor social neworks”. Heraldscotland, 6 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "432d37713306c981c63f858686094fc4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should In July 2012, The United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed a resolution upholding the principle of freedom of expression and information on the internet. In a special report, it also “called upon all states to ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest” [1] . While access to the internet has not yet had time to establish itself legally as a human right, there are compelling reasons to change its legal status, and the UN is leading the charge. Even before internet access is recognized as a human right the idea that national security should take precedence over ‘lesser rights’ is wrong; states should not survive at the expense of the rights of their citizens. States exist to protect their citizens not harm them.\n\n[1] Kravets, David, 2011. “UN Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right”. Wired.com, 6 November 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2c322b6919bed304eaa50dba196afc8f",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The right to internet access as a fundamental right.\n\nInternet access is a “facilitative right”, in that it facilitates access to the exercise of many other rights: like freedom of expression, information, and assembly. It is a “gateway right”. Possessing a right is only as valuable as your capacity to exercise it. A government cannot claim to protect freedom of speech or expression, and freedom of information, if it is taking away from its citizens the tools to access them. And that is exactly what the disruption of internet service does. Internet access needs to be a protected right so that all other rights which flow from it. [1]\n\nThe Internet is a tool of communication so it is important not just to individuals but also to communities. The internet becomes an outlet that can help to preserve groups’ culture or language [2] and so as an enabler of this groups’ culture access to the internet may also be seen as a group right – one which would be being infringed when the state cuts off access to large numbers of individuals.\n\n[1] BBC, 2010. “Internet Access is ‘a Fundamental Right’\".\n\n[2] Jones, Peter, 2008. \"Group Rights\", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f2c5216ff441d8762a97ccff560d6a0c",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The prevention of atrocities during war and unrest.\n\nIn the past, horrific crimes could be committed in war zones without anyone ever knowing about it, or with news of it reaching the international community with a significant time lag, when it was too late to intervene. But with the presence of internet connected mobile devices everywhere, capable of uploading live footage within seconds of an event occurring, the entire world can monitor and find out what is happening on the scene, in real time. It lets repressive regimes know the entire world is watching them, that they cannot simply massacre their people with impunity, and it creates evidence for potential prosecutions if they do. It, therefore, puts pressure on them to respect the rights of their citizens during such precarious times. To prevent governments from violently stamping out public political dissent without evidence, internet access must be preserved, especially in times of war or political unrest. [1]\n\n[1] Bildt, Carl, 2012. “A Victory for The Internet”. New York Times. 5 July 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b174a22c6e88b863f97d61570a80dd8c",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Historical precedent.\n\nHistorically, governments have always controlled the access to information and placed restriction on media during times of war. This is an entirely reasonable policy and is done for a number of reasons: to sustain morale and prevent predominantly negative stories from the battlefield reaching the general public, and to intercept propaganda from the enemy, which might endanger the war effort [1] . For example, both Bush administrations imposed media blackouts during wartime over the return of the bodies of dead American soldiers at Dover airport [2] . The internet is simply a new medium of transmitting information, and the same principles can be applied to its regulation, especially when the threat to national security is imminent, like in the case of disseminating information for the organization of a violent protest.\n\n[1] Payne, Kenneth. 2005. “The Media as an Instrument of War”. Parameters, Spring 2005, pp. 81-93.\n\n[2] BBC, 2009. “US War Dead Media Blackout Lifted”.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8a89fc13e9fd39fe304ec49b0a276003",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The internet as a threat to public safety.\n\nThe internet can be used as a tool to create an imminent threat to the public. If public officials had information that a massive protest is being organized, which could spiral into violence and endanger the safety of the public, it would be irresponsible for the government not to try to prevent such a protest. Governments are entrusted with protecting public safety and security, and not preventing such a treat would constitute a failure in the performance of their duties [1] . An example of this happening was the use first of Facebook and twitter and then of Blackberry messenger to organise and share information on the riots in London in the summer of 2011. [2]\n\n[1] Wyatt, Edward, 2012. “FCC Asks for Guidance on Whether, and When to Cut Off Cellphone Service.” New York Times, 2 March 2012.\n\n[2] Halliday, Josh, 2011. “London riots: how BlackBerry Messenger played a key role”. Guardian.co.uk, 8 August 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d94f0651ec750205a84309e1ff377d1b",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should National security takes precedence.\n\nInternet access is not a fundamental right as recognized by any major human rights convention, if it can be called a right at all. [1] Even if we accept that people should have a right to internet access, in times of war or civil unrest the government should be able to abridge lesser rights for the sake of something that is critical to the survival of the state, like national security. After all, in a war zone few rights survive or can be upheld at all. Preventing such an outcome at the expense of the temporary curtailment of some lesser rights is entirely justified. Under current law, in most states, only the most fundamental of rights, like the right to life, prohibition against torture, slavery, and the right to a fair trial are regarded as inalienable [2] .\n\n[1] For more see the debatabase debate on internet access as a human right.\n\n[2] Article 15 of the European Convention on Human rights: “In time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation any High Contracting Party may take measures derogating from its obligations under this Convention to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with its other obligations under international law.” http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
63e74b6dd806e0b667409e65e662bd8e | The right to internet access as a fundamental right.
Internet access is a “facilitative right”, in that it facilitates access to the exercise of many other rights: like freedom of expression, information, and assembly. It is a “gateway right”. Possessing a right is only as valuable as your capacity to exercise it. A government cannot claim to protect freedom of speech or expression, and freedom of information, if it is taking away from its citizens the tools to access them. And that is exactly what the disruption of internet service does. Internet access needs to be a protected right so that all other rights which flow from it. [1]
The Internet is a tool of communication so it is important not just to individuals but also to communities. The internet becomes an outlet that can help to preserve groups’ culture or language [2] and so as an enabler of this groups’ culture access to the internet may also be seen as a group right – one which would be being infringed when the state cuts off access to large numbers of individuals.
[1] BBC, 2010. “Internet Access is ‘a Fundamental Right’".
[2] Jones, Peter, 2008. "Group Rights", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
| [
{
"docid": "ea123c1aaad9989c7b7cfaf3f5f308b7",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Freedom of expression, assembly, and information are important rights, but restrictions can be placed on all of them if a greater good, like public safety, is at stake. For example, one cannot use her freedom of expression to incite violence towards others and many countries regard hate speech as a crime. [1] Therefore, if the internet is being used for such abuses of ones rights, the disruption of service, even to a large number of people, can be entirely warranted.\n\n[1] Waldron, Jeremy, The Harm in Hate Speech, Harvard University Press, 8 June 2012, p.8.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "55f34c7e064bd48c7274695b7a81afb4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Being able to witness atrocities from the field in real time does not change the international community’s capacity or political willingness to intervene in such situations. If anything, it has had the unfortunate side effect of desensitizing international public opinion to the horrors of war and conflicts, like the one in Syria where there have been thousands of videos showing the actions of the Syrian government but this has not resulted in action from the international community. [1] The onslaught of gruesome, graphic imagery has made people more used to witnessing such scenes from afar and less likely to be outraged and to ask their governments to intervene.\n\n[1] Harding, Luke, 2012. “Syria’s video activists give revolution the upper hand in media war”. Guardian.co.uk, 1 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f4dd344282c44b8d35ea262291f484c4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Democratic change can come about in a variety of ways. Violent public protests are only one such way, and probably the least desirable one. And now, with access to social media nearly universally available, such protests can be organized faster, on a larger, more dangerous scale than ever before. It encourages opposition movements and leaders in such countries to turn away from incremental, but peaceful changes through political negotiations, and to appeal to mass protests instead, thus endangering the life or their supporters and that of the general public. Governments that respond to violence by cutting off access are not responding with repression but simply trying to reduce the violence. Cutting internet access is a peaceful means of preventing organized violence that potentially saves lives by preventing confrontation between violent groups and riot police.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ceef1f7e5b30d1ba0b21509db0e696da",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Historical precedent does not apply to the internet. It is very different to media reporting during times of unrest; the internet is not just a means of disseminating information but also for many people their main form of communication; the U.S. government has never tried to ban people from using telephones. There are severe downsides to the censorship of information during times of war or civil unrest, the most notable one being that it is used to hide the real cost and consequences of war from the population which is expected to support it. Conversely, in a world where every mobile phone is now connected to a global network, people all around the world can have access to an unparalleled amount of information from the field. Curtailing such internet access is to their detriment.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5f1aef8d29eafd3f70f7c92067f6339b",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Other means can be employed to ensure the safety of the population without disrupting access to the internet, like deploying security forces to make sure protests don’t get out of hand or turn violent. In fact, being able to monitor online activity through social media like Facebook and Twitter might actually aid, rather than hinder law enforcement in ensuring the safety of the public. London’s police force, the Metropolitan Police, in the wake of the riots has are using software to monitor social media to predict where social disorder may take place. [1]\n\n[1] Adams, Lucy, 2012. “Police develop technology to monitor social neworks”. Heraldscotland, 6 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "432d37713306c981c63f858686094fc4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should In July 2012, The United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed a resolution upholding the principle of freedom of expression and information on the internet. In a special report, it also “called upon all states to ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest” [1] . While access to the internet has not yet had time to establish itself legally as a human right, there are compelling reasons to change its legal status, and the UN is leading the charge. Even before internet access is recognized as a human right the idea that national security should take precedence over ‘lesser rights’ is wrong; states should not survive at the expense of the rights of their citizens. States exist to protect their citizens not harm them.\n\n[1] Kravets, David, 2011. “UN Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right”. Wired.com, 6 November 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf47f900746702d040833d9df8416bee",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Disrupting internet service is a form of repression.\n\nThe organization of public protests is an invaluable right for citizens living under the rule of oppressive regimes. Like in the case of the Arab Spring, internet access gives them the tools to mobilize, make their message heard, and demand greater freedoms. In such cases, under the guise of concern for public safety, these governments disrupt internet service in an attempt to stamp out legitimate democratic protests and stamp out the dissatisfied voices of their citizens [1] They are concerned not for the safety of the public, but to preserve their own grasp on power. A good example of this are the actions of the government of Myanmar when in 2007 in response to large scale protests the government cut internet access to the whole country in order to prevent reports of the government’s crackdown getting out. [2] Establishing internet access as a fundamental right at international level would make it clear to such governments that they cannot simply cut access as a tactic to prevent legitimate protests against them.\n\n[1] The Telegraph. “Egypt. Internet Service Disrupted Before Large Rally”. 28 January 2011.\n\n[2] Tran, Mark, 2007. “Internet access cut off in Burma”. Guardian.co.uk, 28 September 2007.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f2c5216ff441d8762a97ccff560d6a0c",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The prevention of atrocities during war and unrest.\n\nIn the past, horrific crimes could be committed in war zones without anyone ever knowing about it, or with news of it reaching the international community with a significant time lag, when it was too late to intervene. But with the presence of internet connected mobile devices everywhere, capable of uploading live footage within seconds of an event occurring, the entire world can monitor and find out what is happening on the scene, in real time. It lets repressive regimes know the entire world is watching them, that they cannot simply massacre their people with impunity, and it creates evidence for potential prosecutions if they do. It, therefore, puts pressure on them to respect the rights of their citizens during such precarious times. To prevent governments from violently stamping out public political dissent without evidence, internet access must be preserved, especially in times of war or political unrest. [1]\n\n[1] Bildt, Carl, 2012. “A Victory for The Internet”. New York Times. 5 July 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b174a22c6e88b863f97d61570a80dd8c",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Historical precedent.\n\nHistorically, governments have always controlled the access to information and placed restriction on media during times of war. This is an entirely reasonable policy and is done for a number of reasons: to sustain morale and prevent predominantly negative stories from the battlefield reaching the general public, and to intercept propaganda from the enemy, which might endanger the war effort [1] . For example, both Bush administrations imposed media blackouts during wartime over the return of the bodies of dead American soldiers at Dover airport [2] . The internet is simply a new medium of transmitting information, and the same principles can be applied to its regulation, especially when the threat to national security is imminent, like in the case of disseminating information for the organization of a violent protest.\n\n[1] Payne, Kenneth. 2005. “The Media as an Instrument of War”. Parameters, Spring 2005, pp. 81-93.\n\n[2] BBC, 2009. “US War Dead Media Blackout Lifted”.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8a89fc13e9fd39fe304ec49b0a276003",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The internet as a threat to public safety.\n\nThe internet can be used as a tool to create an imminent threat to the public. If public officials had information that a massive protest is being organized, which could spiral into violence and endanger the safety of the public, it would be irresponsible for the government not to try to prevent such a protest. Governments are entrusted with protecting public safety and security, and not preventing such a treat would constitute a failure in the performance of their duties [1] . An example of this happening was the use first of Facebook and twitter and then of Blackberry messenger to organise and share information on the riots in London in the summer of 2011. [2]\n\n[1] Wyatt, Edward, 2012. “FCC Asks for Guidance on Whether, and When to Cut Off Cellphone Service.” New York Times, 2 March 2012.\n\n[2] Halliday, Josh, 2011. “London riots: how BlackBerry Messenger played a key role”. Guardian.co.uk, 8 August 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d94f0651ec750205a84309e1ff377d1b",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should National security takes precedence.\n\nInternet access is not a fundamental right as recognized by any major human rights convention, if it can be called a right at all. [1] Even if we accept that people should have a right to internet access, in times of war or civil unrest the government should be able to abridge lesser rights for the sake of something that is critical to the survival of the state, like national security. After all, in a war zone few rights survive or can be upheld at all. Preventing such an outcome at the expense of the temporary curtailment of some lesser rights is entirely justified. Under current law, in most states, only the most fundamental of rights, like the right to life, prohibition against torture, slavery, and the right to a fair trial are regarded as inalienable [2] .\n\n[1] For more see the debatabase debate on internet access as a human right.\n\n[2] Article 15 of the European Convention on Human rights: “In time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation any High Contracting Party may take measures derogating from its obligations under this Convention to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with its other obligations under international law.” http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
461eeab1e14bf2bb3cd7386712861f12 | The prevention of atrocities during war and unrest.
In the past, horrific crimes could be committed in war zones without anyone ever knowing about it, or with news of it reaching the international community with a significant time lag, when it was too late to intervene. But with the presence of internet connected mobile devices everywhere, capable of uploading live footage within seconds of an event occurring, the entire world can monitor and find out what is happening on the scene, in real time. It lets repressive regimes know the entire world is watching them, that they cannot simply massacre their people with impunity, and it creates evidence for potential prosecutions if they do. It, therefore, puts pressure on them to respect the rights of their citizens during such precarious times. To prevent governments from violently stamping out public political dissent without evidence, internet access must be preserved, especially in times of war or political unrest. [1]
[1] Bildt, Carl, 2012. “A Victory for The Internet”. New York Times. 5 July 2012.
| [
{
"docid": "55f34c7e064bd48c7274695b7a81afb4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Being able to witness atrocities from the field in real time does not change the international community’s capacity or political willingness to intervene in such situations. If anything, it has had the unfortunate side effect of desensitizing international public opinion to the horrors of war and conflicts, like the one in Syria where there have been thousands of videos showing the actions of the Syrian government but this has not resulted in action from the international community. [1] The onslaught of gruesome, graphic imagery has made people more used to witnessing such scenes from afar and less likely to be outraged and to ask their governments to intervene.\n\n[1] Harding, Luke, 2012. “Syria’s video activists give revolution the upper hand in media war”. Guardian.co.uk, 1 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "ea123c1aaad9989c7b7cfaf3f5f308b7",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Freedom of expression, assembly, and information are important rights, but restrictions can be placed on all of them if a greater good, like public safety, is at stake. For example, one cannot use her freedom of expression to incite violence towards others and many countries regard hate speech as a crime. [1] Therefore, if the internet is being used for such abuses of ones rights, the disruption of service, even to a large number of people, can be entirely warranted.\n\n[1] Waldron, Jeremy, The Harm in Hate Speech, Harvard University Press, 8 June 2012, p.8.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f4dd344282c44b8d35ea262291f484c4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Democratic change can come about in a variety of ways. Violent public protests are only one such way, and probably the least desirable one. And now, with access to social media nearly universally available, such protests can be organized faster, on a larger, more dangerous scale than ever before. It encourages opposition movements and leaders in such countries to turn away from incremental, but peaceful changes through political negotiations, and to appeal to mass protests instead, thus endangering the life or their supporters and that of the general public. Governments that respond to violence by cutting off access are not responding with repression but simply trying to reduce the violence. Cutting internet access is a peaceful means of preventing organized violence that potentially saves lives by preventing confrontation between violent groups and riot police.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ceef1f7e5b30d1ba0b21509db0e696da",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Historical precedent does not apply to the internet. It is very different to media reporting during times of unrest; the internet is not just a means of disseminating information but also for many people their main form of communication; the U.S. government has never tried to ban people from using telephones. There are severe downsides to the censorship of information during times of war or civil unrest, the most notable one being that it is used to hide the real cost and consequences of war from the population which is expected to support it. Conversely, in a world where every mobile phone is now connected to a global network, people all around the world can have access to an unparalleled amount of information from the field. Curtailing such internet access is to their detriment.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5f1aef8d29eafd3f70f7c92067f6339b",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Other means can be employed to ensure the safety of the population without disrupting access to the internet, like deploying security forces to make sure protests don’t get out of hand or turn violent. In fact, being able to monitor online activity through social media like Facebook and Twitter might actually aid, rather than hinder law enforcement in ensuring the safety of the public. London’s police force, the Metropolitan Police, in the wake of the riots has are using software to monitor social media to predict where social disorder may take place. [1]\n\n[1] Adams, Lucy, 2012. “Police develop technology to monitor social neworks”. Heraldscotland, 6 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "432d37713306c981c63f858686094fc4",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should In July 2012, The United Nations Human Rights Council endorsed a resolution upholding the principle of freedom of expression and information on the internet. In a special report, it also “called upon all states to ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest” [1] . While access to the internet has not yet had time to establish itself legally as a human right, there are compelling reasons to change its legal status, and the UN is leading the charge. Even before internet access is recognized as a human right the idea that national security should take precedence over ‘lesser rights’ is wrong; states should not survive at the expense of the rights of their citizens. States exist to protect their citizens not harm them.\n\n[1] Kravets, David, 2011. “UN Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right”. Wired.com, 6 November 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf47f900746702d040833d9df8416bee",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Disrupting internet service is a form of repression.\n\nThe organization of public protests is an invaluable right for citizens living under the rule of oppressive regimes. Like in the case of the Arab Spring, internet access gives them the tools to mobilize, make their message heard, and demand greater freedoms. In such cases, under the guise of concern for public safety, these governments disrupt internet service in an attempt to stamp out legitimate democratic protests and stamp out the dissatisfied voices of their citizens [1] They are concerned not for the safety of the public, but to preserve their own grasp on power. A good example of this are the actions of the government of Myanmar when in 2007 in response to large scale protests the government cut internet access to the whole country in order to prevent reports of the government’s crackdown getting out. [2] Establishing internet access as a fundamental right at international level would make it clear to such governments that they cannot simply cut access as a tactic to prevent legitimate protests against them.\n\n[1] The Telegraph. “Egypt. Internet Service Disrupted Before Large Rally”. 28 January 2011.\n\n[2] Tran, Mark, 2007. “Internet access cut off in Burma”. Guardian.co.uk, 28 September 2007.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2c322b6919bed304eaa50dba196afc8f",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The right to internet access as a fundamental right.\n\nInternet access is a “facilitative right”, in that it facilitates access to the exercise of many other rights: like freedom of expression, information, and assembly. It is a “gateway right”. Possessing a right is only as valuable as your capacity to exercise it. A government cannot claim to protect freedom of speech or expression, and freedom of information, if it is taking away from its citizens the tools to access them. And that is exactly what the disruption of internet service does. Internet access needs to be a protected right so that all other rights which flow from it. [1]\n\nThe Internet is a tool of communication so it is important not just to individuals but also to communities. The internet becomes an outlet that can help to preserve groups’ culture or language [2] and so as an enabler of this groups’ culture access to the internet may also be seen as a group right – one which would be being infringed when the state cuts off access to large numbers of individuals.\n\n[1] BBC, 2010. “Internet Access is ‘a Fundamental Right’\".\n\n[2] Jones, Peter, 2008. \"Group Rights\", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b174a22c6e88b863f97d61570a80dd8c",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should Historical precedent.\n\nHistorically, governments have always controlled the access to information and placed restriction on media during times of war. This is an entirely reasonable policy and is done for a number of reasons: to sustain morale and prevent predominantly negative stories from the battlefield reaching the general public, and to intercept propaganda from the enemy, which might endanger the war effort [1] . For example, both Bush administrations imposed media blackouts during wartime over the return of the bodies of dead American soldiers at Dover airport [2] . The internet is simply a new medium of transmitting information, and the same principles can be applied to its regulation, especially when the threat to national security is imminent, like in the case of disseminating information for the organization of a violent protest.\n\n[1] Payne, Kenneth. 2005. “The Media as an Instrument of War”. Parameters, Spring 2005, pp. 81-93.\n\n[2] BBC, 2009. “US War Dead Media Blackout Lifted”.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8a89fc13e9fd39fe304ec49b0a276003",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should The internet as a threat to public safety.\n\nThe internet can be used as a tool to create an imminent threat to the public. If public officials had information that a massive protest is being organized, which could spiral into violence and endanger the safety of the public, it would be irresponsible for the government not to try to prevent such a protest. Governments are entrusted with protecting public safety and security, and not preventing such a treat would constitute a failure in the performance of their duties [1] . An example of this happening was the use first of Facebook and twitter and then of Blackberry messenger to organise and share information on the riots in London in the summer of 2011. [2]\n\n[1] Wyatt, Edward, 2012. “FCC Asks for Guidance on Whether, and When to Cut Off Cellphone Service.” New York Times, 2 March 2012.\n\n[2] Halliday, Josh, 2011. “London riots: how BlackBerry Messenger played a key role”. Guardian.co.uk, 8 August 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d94f0651ec750205a84309e1ff377d1b",
"text": "government terrorism digital freedoms access information should National security takes precedence.\n\nInternet access is not a fundamental right as recognized by any major human rights convention, if it can be called a right at all. [1] Even if we accept that people should have a right to internet access, in times of war or civil unrest the government should be able to abridge lesser rights for the sake of something that is critical to the survival of the state, like national security. After all, in a war zone few rights survive or can be upheld at all. Preventing such an outcome at the expense of the temporary curtailment of some lesser rights is entirely justified. Under current law, in most states, only the most fundamental of rights, like the right to life, prohibition against torture, slavery, and the right to a fair trial are regarded as inalienable [2] .\n\n[1] For more see the debatabase debate on internet access as a human right.\n\n[2] Article 15 of the European Convention on Human rights: “In time of war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation any High Contracting Party may take measures derogating from its obligations under this Convention to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with its other obligations under international law.” http://www.hri.org/docs/ECHR50.html\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
8a0ad08edbe74eb0c888df27c6d9c795 | Compelling public bodies to publish information ensures that non-citizens, minors, foreign nationals and others have access to information that affects them.
Genuine transparency and accountability of government action is not only in the interests of those who also have the right to vote for that government or who support it through the payment of taxes. The functioning of immigration services would seem to be a prime example. Maximising access to information relating to government decisions by dint of its automatic publication of information relating to those decisions ensures that all those affected will have recourse to the facts behind any decision.
If, for example, a nation’s aid budget is cut or redirected, why should the citizens of the affected nation not have a right to know why [i] ? If, as is frequently the case, it has happened because of an action or inaction by their own government, then it is important that they know. Equally if such a decision were taken for electoral gain, they at least have the right to know that there is nothing they or their government could do about it.
[i] Publish What You Fund: The Global Campaign For Aid Transparency. Website Introduction.
| [
{
"docid": "d4f713d94dccc069709e797e465a937a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Governments have, prima facie, a different relationship with their own citizens than they have with those of other countries. In addition, as with the previous argument, extending the right of access does not, per se, require total access. The approach is also simply impractical as it would require every nation on the planet to take the same approach and to have comparable standards in terms of record keeping and data management. At present most states publish some data but the upper and lower thresholds of what is made public vary between them. To abolish the upper limit (ministerial briefing, security briefings, military contractors, etc.) would require everyone to do it, otherwise it would be deeply unsafe for any one state to act alone. The likelihood of persuading some of the world’s more unsavory or corrupt regimes to play ball seems pretty unlikely. The first of those is improbable, the latter is impossible.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "4fea4045c8b6854771a433c1d46fd29a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It seems unlikely that total publication would save much in the way of time or money. If the data was not indexed in some way it would be absurdly difficult to navigate - and that takes time and money.\n\nThere are advantages to building a delay into systems such as this, if a piece of information genuinely justifies a news story, then it will do so at any time. If it’s only of interest in the middle of a media feeding frenzy, then it seems unlikely that it was all that important.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b3bcfa525c738e042848d9dcc690876",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption The idea that, presented with a vast mass of frequently complex data, everyone would be able to access, process and act on it in the same way is fantasy. Equally the issue of ‘who guards the guards’ that Proposition raises is a misnomer; exactly the groups mentioned are already those with the primary role of scrutinizing government actions because they have the time, interest and skills to do so. Giving a right to access would give them greater opportunities to continue with that in a way that deluging them with information would not.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "11d2f7bac64bf74b4df42e19dfe53fa5",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Relying on a right of access would also have addressed the concerns set out by Proposition but would do so in a way that would not endanger actual concerns of national security by allowing citizens the right to challenge such decisions. An independent review could determine where the motivation is genuinely one of national security and those where it is really political expediency. The right to information for citizens is important but should not jeopardize the right to life of combat troops.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "232325d4d20cc6e83e9a56d494081b9c",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Although it would be time-consuming to approach so much information, it is not impossible to manage it effectively. As Wikileaks has demonstrated, given access to large quantities of information, it is a relatively straightforward process to start with records that are likely to prove interesting and then follow particular routes from there. In addition, governments, like all organisations, have information management systems, there would be no reason not to use the same model.\n\nAdditionally, the very skill of journalism is going beyond the executive summary to find the embarrassing fact buried away in appendix nineteen. That would still be the case under this model, it would just be easier.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a193d58b0d74ee2c66795b06f88ee150",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption There are, of course some costs to having a truly open and accountable government, but an effective right of access would allow much of that information to be made available. After all what the public sector bodies are paying in commercial transactions is of great interest to the public. If public bodies are getting a particularly good rate from suppliers, it might well raise the question of “Why?” For example, are they failing to enforce regulations on a particular supplier in return for a good price. In that instance, their other customers and their competitors would seem to have every right to know.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "db65e38d3bc772a6d4d1e7dd8071fe5e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is frequently useful to see the general approach of a public organisation as reflected in routine discussions. Opposition is wrong to suggest that such information would only cast a light on ideas that were never pursued anyway so they don’t matter. It would also highlight ideas that agencies wanted to pursue but felt they couldn’t because of the likely impact of public opinion, knowing such information gives useful insight into the intentions of the public agency in question.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "49a5860842c98055000dd5751d43f596",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Even the most liberal FoI regime tends to pander to certain groups in society full disclosure levels that playing field\n\nPeople have many different interests in the accountability of governments; different areas of concern, differing levels of skill in pursuing those interests and so on. They deserve, however, an equal degree of transparency from governments in relation to those decisions that affect them. Relying on a right to access is almost certainly most likely to favour those who already have the greatest access either through their profession, their skills or their social capital. The use of freedom of information requests in those countries where they are available shows this to be the case, as they have overwhelmingly been used by journalists, with a smattering of representation from researchers, other politicians and lawyers and so on. In the UK between 2005 and 2010 the total number registered by all ‘ordinary’ members of the public is just ahead of journalists, the next largest group. The public are overwhelmingly outnumbered by the listed professional groups [i] .\n\nRequired publication, by contrast, presents an even playing field to all parties. Rather than allowing legislators to determine how and to whom – and for what – they should be accountable, a presumption in favour of publication makes them accountable to all. As a result, it is the only truly effective way of ensuring one of the key aims set out in favour of any freedom of information process.\n\n[i] Who Makes FOI Requests? BBC Open Secrets Website. 14 January 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5374802042af0cfbda4884a42493e865",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption If public bodies do not have an obligation to publish information, there will always be a temptation to find any available excuses to avoid transparency.\n\nThe primary advantage of putting the duty on government to publish, rather than on citizens to enquire is that it does not require the citizen to know what they need to know before they know it. Publication en masse allows researchers to investigate areas they think are likely to produce results, specialists to follow decisions relevant to their field and, also, raises the possibility of discovering things by chance. The experience of Wikipedia suggests that even very large quantities of data are relatively easy to mine as long as all the related documentation is available to the researcher – the frustration, by contrast, comes when one has only a single datum with no way of contextualising it. Any other situation, at the very least, panders to the interests of government to find any available excuse for not publishing anything that it is likely to find embarrassing and, virtually by definition, would be of most interest to the active citizen.\n\nKnowing that accounts of discussions, records of payments, agreements with commercial bodies or other areas that might be of interest to citizens will be published with no recourse to ‘national security’ or ‘commercial sensitivity’ is likely to prevent abuses before they happen but will certainly ensure that they are discovered after the event [i] .\n\nThe publication of documents, in both Washington and London, relating to the build-up to war in Iraq is a prime example of where both governments used every available excuse to cover up the fact that that the advice they had been given showed that either they were misguided or had been deliberately lying [ii] . A presumption of publication would have prevented either of those from determining a matter of vital interest to the peoples of the UK, the US and, of course, Iraq. All three of those groups would have had access to the information were there a presumption of publication.\n\n[i] The Public’s Right To Know. Article 19 Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression.\n\n[ii] Whatreallyhappened.com has an overview of this an example of how politicians were misguided – wilfully or otherwise can be found in: Defector admits to lies that triggered the Iraq War. Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd. The Guardian. 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c4c0fdbffcf784e055898595f30aa52",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption A faster, cheaper and simpler process\n\nThere are cost concerned with processing FoI requests both in terms of time and cash terms. [i] To take one example Britain’s largest local authority, Birmingham, spends £800,000 a year dealing with FoI requests. [ii] There is also a delay from the point of view of the applicant. Such a delay is more than an irritant in the case of, for example, immigration appeals or journalistic investigations. Governments know that journalists usually have to operate within a window of time while a story is still ‘hot’. As a result all they have to do is wait it out until the attention of the media turns elsewhere to ensure that if evidence of misconduct or culpability were found, it would probably be buried as a minor story if not lost altogether. As journalism remains the primary method most societies have of holding government to account, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that the methodology for releasing data should, at least in part, reflect the reality of how journalism works as an industry.\n\n[i] Independent Review of the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act. Frontier Economics. October 2006.\n\n[ii] Dunton, Jim, ‘Cost of FoI requests rises to £34m’, Local Government Chronicle, 16 September 2010, http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/corporate-core/legal/cost-of-foi-requests-rises-to-34m/5019109.article\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9d7a80e90b11471fe5dc3a768893fe57",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Public bodies require the ability to discuss proposals freely away from public scrutiny\n\nKnowing that everything is likely to be recorded and then published is likely to be counter-productive. It seems probable that anything sensitive – such as advice given to ministers by senior officials – would either not be recorded or it would be done in a way so opaque as to make it effectively meaningless [i] .\n\nBy contrast knowing that such conversations, to focus on one particularly example, are recorded and can be subjected to public scrutiny when there is a proven need to do so ensures that genuine accountability – rather than prurience or curiosity, is likely to be both the goal and the outcome.\n\nNone of us would like the process of how we reached decisions made public as it often involves getting things wrong a few times first. However, there are some instances where it is important to know how a particular decision was reached and whether those responsible for that decision were aware of certain facts at the time – notably when public figures are claiming that they were not aware of something and others are insisting that they were. In such an instance the right to access is useful and relevant; having records of every brainstorming session in every public body is not. As the Leveson inquiry is discovering, an extraordinary amount of decisions in government seem to be made informally, by text message or chats at parties. Presumably that would become evermore the case if every formal discussion were to be published [ii] .\n\n[i] The Pitfalls of Britain’s Confidential Civil Service. Samuel Brittan. Financial Time 5 March 2010.\n\n[ii] This is nothing very new, see: Downing Street: Informal Style. BBC website. 14 July 2004.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "80e542c82e023c64f73b6a865739240e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Considering the amount of data governments produce, compelling them to publish all of it would be counterproductive as citizens would be swamped.\n\nIt is a misnomer in many things that more is necessarily better but that is, perhaps, more true of information than of most things. Public bodies produce vast quantities of data and are often have a greater tendency to maintain copious records than their private sector equivalents. US government agencies will create data that would require “20 million four-drawer filing cabinets filled with text,” over the next two years. [i] Simply dumping this en masse would be a fairly effective way of masking any information that a public body wanted kept hidden. Deliberately poor referencing would achieve the same result. This ‘burying’ of bad news at a time when everyone is looking somewhere else is one of the oldest tricks in press management. For example Jo Moore, an aide to then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers suggested that September 11 2001 was “a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.” Suggesting burying a u turn on councillors’ expenses. [ii]\n\nFor it to genuinely help with the transparency and accountability of public agencies it would require inordinately detailed and precise cataloguing and indexing – a process that would be likely to be both time consuming and expensive. The choice would, therefore, be between a mostly useless set of data that would require complex mining by those citizens who were keen to use it or the great expense of effectively cataloguing it in advance. Even this latter option would defeat the objective of greater accountability because whoever had responsibility for the cataloguing would have far greater control of what would be likely to come to light.\n\nInstead ensuring a right of access for citizens ensures that they can have a reasonable access to exactly the piece of information they are seeking [iii] .\n\n[i] Eddy, Nathan, ‘Big Data Still a Big Challenge for Government IT’, eweek, 8th May 2012, http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Big-Data-Still-a-Big-Challenge-fo...\n\n[ii] Sparrow, Andrew, ‘September 11: ‘a good day to bury bad news’’, The Telegraph, 10 October 2001, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1358985/Sept-11-a-good-day-to-bury-bad-news.html\n\n[iii] Freedom of Information as an Internationally Protected Human Right. Toby Mendel, Head of Law at Article 19.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36e797eb873255c50c67625bc900fb12",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is reasonable that people have access to information that effects them personally but not information that relates to their neighbours’, employers’, former-partners’ or other citizens who maythose who work for public bodies.\n\nThe right to access allows people to see information that affects them personally or where there is reasonable suspicion of harm or nefarious practices. It doesn’t allow them to invade the privacy of other citizens who just happen to work for public bodies or have some other association [i] .\n\nUnless there is reason to suspect corruption, why should law-abiding citizens who sell goods and services to public bodies have the full details of their negotiations made public for their other buyers, who may have got a worse deal, to see? Why should the memo sent by an otherwise competent official on a bad day be made available for her neighbours to read over? A presumption in favour of publication would ensure that all of these things, and others, would be made a reality with the force of law behind them.\n\nThis would place additional burdens on government in terms of recruitment and negotiations with private firms – not to mention negotiations with other governments with less transparent systems. Let’s assume for the moment that the British government introduced a system, it is quite easy imagine a sense of “For God’s sake don’t tell the British” spreading around the capitals of the world fairly quickly.\n\n[i] Section 40 0(A) od the FOIA. See also Freedom of Information Act Environmental Information Regulations. When Should Salaries be Disclosed? Information Commissioner’s Office.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
5b776aab45357da037378f8abdd186aa | Even the most liberal FoI regime tends to pander to certain groups in society full disclosure levels that playing field
People have many different interests in the accountability of governments; different areas of concern, differing levels of skill in pursuing those interests and so on. They deserve, however, an equal degree of transparency from governments in relation to those decisions that affect them. Relying on a right to access is almost certainly most likely to favour those who already have the greatest access either through their profession, their skills or their social capital. The use of freedom of information requests in those countries where they are available shows this to be the case, as they have overwhelmingly been used by journalists, with a smattering of representation from researchers, other politicians and lawyers and so on. In the UK between 2005 and 2010 the total number registered by all ‘ordinary’ members of the public is just ahead of journalists, the next largest group. The public are overwhelmingly outnumbered by the listed professional groups [i] .
Required publication, by contrast, presents an even playing field to all parties. Rather than allowing legislators to determine how and to whom – and for what – they should be accountable, a presumption in favour of publication makes them accountable to all. As a result, it is the only truly effective way of ensuring one of the key aims set out in favour of any freedom of information process.
[i] Who Makes FOI Requests? BBC Open Secrets Website. 14 January 2011.
| [
{
"docid": "7b3bcfa525c738e042848d9dcc690876",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption The idea that, presented with a vast mass of frequently complex data, everyone would be able to access, process and act on it in the same way is fantasy. Equally the issue of ‘who guards the guards’ that Proposition raises is a misnomer; exactly the groups mentioned are already those with the primary role of scrutinizing government actions because they have the time, interest and skills to do so. Giving a right to access would give them greater opportunities to continue with that in a way that deluging them with information would not.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "d4f713d94dccc069709e797e465a937a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Governments have, prima facie, a different relationship with their own citizens than they have with those of other countries. In addition, as with the previous argument, extending the right of access does not, per se, require total access. The approach is also simply impractical as it would require every nation on the planet to take the same approach and to have comparable standards in terms of record keeping and data management. At present most states publish some data but the upper and lower thresholds of what is made public vary between them. To abolish the upper limit (ministerial briefing, security briefings, military contractors, etc.) would require everyone to do it, otherwise it would be deeply unsafe for any one state to act alone. The likelihood of persuading some of the world’s more unsavory or corrupt regimes to play ball seems pretty unlikely. The first of those is improbable, the latter is impossible.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4fea4045c8b6854771a433c1d46fd29a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It seems unlikely that total publication would save much in the way of time or money. If the data was not indexed in some way it would be absurdly difficult to navigate - and that takes time and money.\n\nThere are advantages to building a delay into systems such as this, if a piece of information genuinely justifies a news story, then it will do so at any time. If it’s only of interest in the middle of a media feeding frenzy, then it seems unlikely that it was all that important.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "11d2f7bac64bf74b4df42e19dfe53fa5",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Relying on a right of access would also have addressed the concerns set out by Proposition but would do so in a way that would not endanger actual concerns of national security by allowing citizens the right to challenge such decisions. An independent review could determine where the motivation is genuinely one of national security and those where it is really political expediency. The right to information for citizens is important but should not jeopardize the right to life of combat troops.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "232325d4d20cc6e83e9a56d494081b9c",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Although it would be time-consuming to approach so much information, it is not impossible to manage it effectively. As Wikileaks has demonstrated, given access to large quantities of information, it is a relatively straightforward process to start with records that are likely to prove interesting and then follow particular routes from there. In addition, governments, like all organisations, have information management systems, there would be no reason not to use the same model.\n\nAdditionally, the very skill of journalism is going beyond the executive summary to find the embarrassing fact buried away in appendix nineteen. That would still be the case under this model, it would just be easier.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a193d58b0d74ee2c66795b06f88ee150",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption There are, of course some costs to having a truly open and accountable government, but an effective right of access would allow much of that information to be made available. After all what the public sector bodies are paying in commercial transactions is of great interest to the public. If public bodies are getting a particularly good rate from suppliers, it might well raise the question of “Why?” For example, are they failing to enforce regulations on a particular supplier in return for a good price. In that instance, their other customers and their competitors would seem to have every right to know.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "db65e38d3bc772a6d4d1e7dd8071fe5e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is frequently useful to see the general approach of a public organisation as reflected in routine discussions. Opposition is wrong to suggest that such information would only cast a light on ideas that were never pursued anyway so they don’t matter. It would also highlight ideas that agencies wanted to pursue but felt they couldn’t because of the likely impact of public opinion, knowing such information gives useful insight into the intentions of the public agency in question.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dee8cac711700d293b9218914332fecb",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Compelling public bodies to publish information ensures that non-citizens, minors, foreign nationals and others have access to information that affects them.\n\nGenuine transparency and accountability of government action is not only in the interests of those who also have the right to vote for that government or who support it through the payment of taxes. The functioning of immigration services would seem to be a prime example. Maximising access to information relating to government decisions by dint of its automatic publication of information relating to those decisions ensures that all those affected will have recourse to the facts behind any decision.\n\nIf, for example, a nation’s aid budget is cut or redirected, why should the citizens of the affected nation not have a right to know why [i] ? If, as is frequently the case, it has happened because of an action or inaction by their own government, then it is important that they know. Equally if such a decision were taken for electoral gain, they at least have the right to know that there is nothing they or their government could do about it.\n\n[i] Publish What You Fund: The Global Campaign For Aid Transparency. Website Introduction.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5374802042af0cfbda4884a42493e865",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption If public bodies do not have an obligation to publish information, there will always be a temptation to find any available excuses to avoid transparency.\n\nThe primary advantage of putting the duty on government to publish, rather than on citizens to enquire is that it does not require the citizen to know what they need to know before they know it. Publication en masse allows researchers to investigate areas they think are likely to produce results, specialists to follow decisions relevant to their field and, also, raises the possibility of discovering things by chance. The experience of Wikipedia suggests that even very large quantities of data are relatively easy to mine as long as all the related documentation is available to the researcher – the frustration, by contrast, comes when one has only a single datum with no way of contextualising it. Any other situation, at the very least, panders to the interests of government to find any available excuse for not publishing anything that it is likely to find embarrassing and, virtually by definition, would be of most interest to the active citizen.\n\nKnowing that accounts of discussions, records of payments, agreements with commercial bodies or other areas that might be of interest to citizens will be published with no recourse to ‘national security’ or ‘commercial sensitivity’ is likely to prevent abuses before they happen but will certainly ensure that they are discovered after the event [i] .\n\nThe publication of documents, in both Washington and London, relating to the build-up to war in Iraq is a prime example of where both governments used every available excuse to cover up the fact that that the advice they had been given showed that either they were misguided or had been deliberately lying [ii] . A presumption of publication would have prevented either of those from determining a matter of vital interest to the peoples of the UK, the US and, of course, Iraq. All three of those groups would have had access to the information were there a presumption of publication.\n\n[i] The Public’s Right To Know. Article 19 Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression.\n\n[ii] Whatreallyhappened.com has an overview of this an example of how politicians were misguided – wilfully or otherwise can be found in: Defector admits to lies that triggered the Iraq War. Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd. The Guardian. 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c4c0fdbffcf784e055898595f30aa52",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption A faster, cheaper and simpler process\n\nThere are cost concerned with processing FoI requests both in terms of time and cash terms. [i] To take one example Britain’s largest local authority, Birmingham, spends £800,000 a year dealing with FoI requests. [ii] There is also a delay from the point of view of the applicant. Such a delay is more than an irritant in the case of, for example, immigration appeals or journalistic investigations. Governments know that journalists usually have to operate within a window of time while a story is still ‘hot’. As a result all they have to do is wait it out until the attention of the media turns elsewhere to ensure that if evidence of misconduct or culpability were found, it would probably be buried as a minor story if not lost altogether. As journalism remains the primary method most societies have of holding government to account, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that the methodology for releasing data should, at least in part, reflect the reality of how journalism works as an industry.\n\n[i] Independent Review of the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act. Frontier Economics. October 2006.\n\n[ii] Dunton, Jim, ‘Cost of FoI requests rises to £34m’, Local Government Chronicle, 16 September 2010, http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/corporate-core/legal/cost-of-foi-requests-rises-to-34m/5019109.article\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9d7a80e90b11471fe5dc3a768893fe57",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Public bodies require the ability to discuss proposals freely away from public scrutiny\n\nKnowing that everything is likely to be recorded and then published is likely to be counter-productive. It seems probable that anything sensitive – such as advice given to ministers by senior officials – would either not be recorded or it would be done in a way so opaque as to make it effectively meaningless [i] .\n\nBy contrast knowing that such conversations, to focus on one particularly example, are recorded and can be subjected to public scrutiny when there is a proven need to do so ensures that genuine accountability – rather than prurience or curiosity, is likely to be both the goal and the outcome.\n\nNone of us would like the process of how we reached decisions made public as it often involves getting things wrong a few times first. However, there are some instances where it is important to know how a particular decision was reached and whether those responsible for that decision were aware of certain facts at the time – notably when public figures are claiming that they were not aware of something and others are insisting that they were. In such an instance the right to access is useful and relevant; having records of every brainstorming session in every public body is not. As the Leveson inquiry is discovering, an extraordinary amount of decisions in government seem to be made informally, by text message or chats at parties. Presumably that would become evermore the case if every formal discussion were to be published [ii] .\n\n[i] The Pitfalls of Britain’s Confidential Civil Service. Samuel Brittan. Financial Time 5 March 2010.\n\n[ii] This is nothing very new, see: Downing Street: Informal Style. BBC website. 14 July 2004.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "80e542c82e023c64f73b6a865739240e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Considering the amount of data governments produce, compelling them to publish all of it would be counterproductive as citizens would be swamped.\n\nIt is a misnomer in many things that more is necessarily better but that is, perhaps, more true of information than of most things. Public bodies produce vast quantities of data and are often have a greater tendency to maintain copious records than their private sector equivalents. US government agencies will create data that would require “20 million four-drawer filing cabinets filled with text,” over the next two years. [i] Simply dumping this en masse would be a fairly effective way of masking any information that a public body wanted kept hidden. Deliberately poor referencing would achieve the same result. This ‘burying’ of bad news at a time when everyone is looking somewhere else is one of the oldest tricks in press management. For example Jo Moore, an aide to then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers suggested that September 11 2001 was “a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.” Suggesting burying a u turn on councillors’ expenses. [ii]\n\nFor it to genuinely help with the transparency and accountability of public agencies it would require inordinately detailed and precise cataloguing and indexing – a process that would be likely to be both time consuming and expensive. The choice would, therefore, be between a mostly useless set of data that would require complex mining by those citizens who were keen to use it or the great expense of effectively cataloguing it in advance. Even this latter option would defeat the objective of greater accountability because whoever had responsibility for the cataloguing would have far greater control of what would be likely to come to light.\n\nInstead ensuring a right of access for citizens ensures that they can have a reasonable access to exactly the piece of information they are seeking [iii] .\n\n[i] Eddy, Nathan, ‘Big Data Still a Big Challenge for Government IT’, eweek, 8th May 2012, http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Big-Data-Still-a-Big-Challenge-fo...\n\n[ii] Sparrow, Andrew, ‘September 11: ‘a good day to bury bad news’’, The Telegraph, 10 October 2001, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1358985/Sept-11-a-good-day-to-bury-bad-news.html\n\n[iii] Freedom of Information as an Internationally Protected Human Right. Toby Mendel, Head of Law at Article 19.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36e797eb873255c50c67625bc900fb12",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is reasonable that people have access to information that effects them personally but not information that relates to their neighbours’, employers’, former-partners’ or other citizens who maythose who work for public bodies.\n\nThe right to access allows people to see information that affects them personally or where there is reasonable suspicion of harm or nefarious practices. It doesn’t allow them to invade the privacy of other citizens who just happen to work for public bodies or have some other association [i] .\n\nUnless there is reason to suspect corruption, why should law-abiding citizens who sell goods and services to public bodies have the full details of their negotiations made public for their other buyers, who may have got a worse deal, to see? Why should the memo sent by an otherwise competent official on a bad day be made available for her neighbours to read over? A presumption in favour of publication would ensure that all of these things, and others, would be made a reality with the force of law behind them.\n\nThis would place additional burdens on government in terms of recruitment and negotiations with private firms – not to mention negotiations with other governments with less transparent systems. Let’s assume for the moment that the British government introduced a system, it is quite easy imagine a sense of “For God’s sake don’t tell the British” spreading around the capitals of the world fairly quickly.\n\n[i] Section 40 0(A) od the FOIA. See also Freedom of Information Act Environmental Information Regulations. When Should Salaries be Disclosed? Information Commissioner’s Office.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
ed1f8a0fe199f98dabdda519308e4791 | If public bodies do not have an obligation to publish information, there will always be a temptation to find any available excuses to avoid transparency.
The primary advantage of putting the duty on government to publish, rather than on citizens to enquire is that it does not require the citizen to know what they need to know before they know it. Publication en masse allows researchers to investigate areas they think are likely to produce results, specialists to follow decisions relevant to their field and, also, raises the possibility of discovering things by chance. The experience of Wikipedia suggests that even very large quantities of data are relatively easy to mine as long as all the related documentation is available to the researcher – the frustration, by contrast, comes when one has only a single datum with no way of contextualising it. Any other situation, at the very least, panders to the interests of government to find any available excuse for not publishing anything that it is likely to find embarrassing and, virtually by definition, would be of most interest to the active citizen.
Knowing that accounts of discussions, records of payments, agreements with commercial bodies or other areas that might be of interest to citizens will be published with no recourse to ‘national security’ or ‘commercial sensitivity’ is likely to prevent abuses before they happen but will certainly ensure that they are discovered after the event [i] .
The publication of documents, in both Washington and London, relating to the build-up to war in Iraq is a prime example of where both governments used every available excuse to cover up the fact that that the advice they had been given showed that either they were misguided or had been deliberately lying [ii] . A presumption of publication would have prevented either of those from determining a matter of vital interest to the peoples of the UK, the US and, of course, Iraq. All three of those groups would have had access to the information were there a presumption of publication.
[i] The Public’s Right To Know. Article 19 Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression.
[ii] Whatreallyhappened.com has an overview of this an example of how politicians were misguided – wilfully or otherwise can be found in: Defector admits to lies that triggered the Iraq War. Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd. The Guardian. 15 February 2011.
| [
{
"docid": "11d2f7bac64bf74b4df42e19dfe53fa5",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Relying on a right of access would also have addressed the concerns set out by Proposition but would do so in a way that would not endanger actual concerns of national security by allowing citizens the right to challenge such decisions. An independent review could determine where the motivation is genuinely one of national security and those where it is really political expediency. The right to information for citizens is important but should not jeopardize the right to life of combat troops.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "d4f713d94dccc069709e797e465a937a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Governments have, prima facie, a different relationship with their own citizens than they have with those of other countries. In addition, as with the previous argument, extending the right of access does not, per se, require total access. The approach is also simply impractical as it would require every nation on the planet to take the same approach and to have comparable standards in terms of record keeping and data management. At present most states publish some data but the upper and lower thresholds of what is made public vary between them. To abolish the upper limit (ministerial briefing, security briefings, military contractors, etc.) would require everyone to do it, otherwise it would be deeply unsafe for any one state to act alone. The likelihood of persuading some of the world’s more unsavory or corrupt regimes to play ball seems pretty unlikely. The first of those is improbable, the latter is impossible.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4fea4045c8b6854771a433c1d46fd29a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It seems unlikely that total publication would save much in the way of time or money. If the data was not indexed in some way it would be absurdly difficult to navigate - and that takes time and money.\n\nThere are advantages to building a delay into systems such as this, if a piece of information genuinely justifies a news story, then it will do so at any time. If it’s only of interest in the middle of a media feeding frenzy, then it seems unlikely that it was all that important.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b3bcfa525c738e042848d9dcc690876",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption The idea that, presented with a vast mass of frequently complex data, everyone would be able to access, process and act on it in the same way is fantasy. Equally the issue of ‘who guards the guards’ that Proposition raises is a misnomer; exactly the groups mentioned are already those with the primary role of scrutinizing government actions because they have the time, interest and skills to do so. Giving a right to access would give them greater opportunities to continue with that in a way that deluging them with information would not.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "232325d4d20cc6e83e9a56d494081b9c",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Although it would be time-consuming to approach so much information, it is not impossible to manage it effectively. As Wikileaks has demonstrated, given access to large quantities of information, it is a relatively straightforward process to start with records that are likely to prove interesting and then follow particular routes from there. In addition, governments, like all organisations, have information management systems, there would be no reason not to use the same model.\n\nAdditionally, the very skill of journalism is going beyond the executive summary to find the embarrassing fact buried away in appendix nineteen. That would still be the case under this model, it would just be easier.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a193d58b0d74ee2c66795b06f88ee150",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption There are, of course some costs to having a truly open and accountable government, but an effective right of access would allow much of that information to be made available. After all what the public sector bodies are paying in commercial transactions is of great interest to the public. If public bodies are getting a particularly good rate from suppliers, it might well raise the question of “Why?” For example, are they failing to enforce regulations on a particular supplier in return for a good price. In that instance, their other customers and their competitors would seem to have every right to know.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "db65e38d3bc772a6d4d1e7dd8071fe5e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is frequently useful to see the general approach of a public organisation as reflected in routine discussions. Opposition is wrong to suggest that such information would only cast a light on ideas that were never pursued anyway so they don’t matter. It would also highlight ideas that agencies wanted to pursue but felt they couldn’t because of the likely impact of public opinion, knowing such information gives useful insight into the intentions of the public agency in question.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dee8cac711700d293b9218914332fecb",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Compelling public bodies to publish information ensures that non-citizens, minors, foreign nationals and others have access to information that affects them.\n\nGenuine transparency and accountability of government action is not only in the interests of those who also have the right to vote for that government or who support it through the payment of taxes. The functioning of immigration services would seem to be a prime example. Maximising access to information relating to government decisions by dint of its automatic publication of information relating to those decisions ensures that all those affected will have recourse to the facts behind any decision.\n\nIf, for example, a nation’s aid budget is cut or redirected, why should the citizens of the affected nation not have a right to know why [i] ? If, as is frequently the case, it has happened because of an action or inaction by their own government, then it is important that they know. Equally if such a decision were taken for electoral gain, they at least have the right to know that there is nothing they or their government could do about it.\n\n[i] Publish What You Fund: The Global Campaign For Aid Transparency. Website Introduction.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "49a5860842c98055000dd5751d43f596",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Even the most liberal FoI regime tends to pander to certain groups in society full disclosure levels that playing field\n\nPeople have many different interests in the accountability of governments; different areas of concern, differing levels of skill in pursuing those interests and so on. They deserve, however, an equal degree of transparency from governments in relation to those decisions that affect them. Relying on a right to access is almost certainly most likely to favour those who already have the greatest access either through their profession, their skills or their social capital. The use of freedom of information requests in those countries where they are available shows this to be the case, as they have overwhelmingly been used by journalists, with a smattering of representation from researchers, other politicians and lawyers and so on. In the UK between 2005 and 2010 the total number registered by all ‘ordinary’ members of the public is just ahead of journalists, the next largest group. The public are overwhelmingly outnumbered by the listed professional groups [i] .\n\nRequired publication, by contrast, presents an even playing field to all parties. Rather than allowing legislators to determine how and to whom – and for what – they should be accountable, a presumption in favour of publication makes them accountable to all. As a result, it is the only truly effective way of ensuring one of the key aims set out in favour of any freedom of information process.\n\n[i] Who Makes FOI Requests? BBC Open Secrets Website. 14 January 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c4c0fdbffcf784e055898595f30aa52",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption A faster, cheaper and simpler process\n\nThere are cost concerned with processing FoI requests both in terms of time and cash terms. [i] To take one example Britain’s largest local authority, Birmingham, spends £800,000 a year dealing with FoI requests. [ii] There is also a delay from the point of view of the applicant. Such a delay is more than an irritant in the case of, for example, immigration appeals or journalistic investigations. Governments know that journalists usually have to operate within a window of time while a story is still ‘hot’. As a result all they have to do is wait it out until the attention of the media turns elsewhere to ensure that if evidence of misconduct or culpability were found, it would probably be buried as a minor story if not lost altogether. As journalism remains the primary method most societies have of holding government to account, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that the methodology for releasing data should, at least in part, reflect the reality of how journalism works as an industry.\n\n[i] Independent Review of the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act. Frontier Economics. October 2006.\n\n[ii] Dunton, Jim, ‘Cost of FoI requests rises to £34m’, Local Government Chronicle, 16 September 2010, http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/corporate-core/legal/cost-of-foi-requests-rises-to-34m/5019109.article\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9d7a80e90b11471fe5dc3a768893fe57",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Public bodies require the ability to discuss proposals freely away from public scrutiny\n\nKnowing that everything is likely to be recorded and then published is likely to be counter-productive. It seems probable that anything sensitive – such as advice given to ministers by senior officials – would either not be recorded or it would be done in a way so opaque as to make it effectively meaningless [i] .\n\nBy contrast knowing that such conversations, to focus on one particularly example, are recorded and can be subjected to public scrutiny when there is a proven need to do so ensures that genuine accountability – rather than prurience or curiosity, is likely to be both the goal and the outcome.\n\nNone of us would like the process of how we reached decisions made public as it often involves getting things wrong a few times first. However, there are some instances where it is important to know how a particular decision was reached and whether those responsible for that decision were aware of certain facts at the time – notably when public figures are claiming that they were not aware of something and others are insisting that they were. In such an instance the right to access is useful and relevant; having records of every brainstorming session in every public body is not. As the Leveson inquiry is discovering, an extraordinary amount of decisions in government seem to be made informally, by text message or chats at parties. Presumably that would become evermore the case if every formal discussion were to be published [ii] .\n\n[i] The Pitfalls of Britain’s Confidential Civil Service. Samuel Brittan. Financial Time 5 March 2010.\n\n[ii] This is nothing very new, see: Downing Street: Informal Style. BBC website. 14 July 2004.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "80e542c82e023c64f73b6a865739240e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Considering the amount of data governments produce, compelling them to publish all of it would be counterproductive as citizens would be swamped.\n\nIt is a misnomer in many things that more is necessarily better but that is, perhaps, more true of information than of most things. Public bodies produce vast quantities of data and are often have a greater tendency to maintain copious records than their private sector equivalents. US government agencies will create data that would require “20 million four-drawer filing cabinets filled with text,” over the next two years. [i] Simply dumping this en masse would be a fairly effective way of masking any information that a public body wanted kept hidden. Deliberately poor referencing would achieve the same result. This ‘burying’ of bad news at a time when everyone is looking somewhere else is one of the oldest tricks in press management. For example Jo Moore, an aide to then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers suggested that September 11 2001 was “a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.” Suggesting burying a u turn on councillors’ expenses. [ii]\n\nFor it to genuinely help with the transparency and accountability of public agencies it would require inordinately detailed and precise cataloguing and indexing – a process that would be likely to be both time consuming and expensive. The choice would, therefore, be between a mostly useless set of data that would require complex mining by those citizens who were keen to use it or the great expense of effectively cataloguing it in advance. Even this latter option would defeat the objective of greater accountability because whoever had responsibility for the cataloguing would have far greater control of what would be likely to come to light.\n\nInstead ensuring a right of access for citizens ensures that they can have a reasonable access to exactly the piece of information they are seeking [iii] .\n\n[i] Eddy, Nathan, ‘Big Data Still a Big Challenge for Government IT’, eweek, 8th May 2012, http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Big-Data-Still-a-Big-Challenge-fo...\n\n[ii] Sparrow, Andrew, ‘September 11: ‘a good day to bury bad news’’, The Telegraph, 10 October 2001, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1358985/Sept-11-a-good-day-to-bury-bad-news.html\n\n[iii] Freedom of Information as an Internationally Protected Human Right. Toby Mendel, Head of Law at Article 19.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36e797eb873255c50c67625bc900fb12",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is reasonable that people have access to information that effects them personally but not information that relates to their neighbours’, employers’, former-partners’ or other citizens who maythose who work for public bodies.\n\nThe right to access allows people to see information that affects them personally or where there is reasonable suspicion of harm or nefarious practices. It doesn’t allow them to invade the privacy of other citizens who just happen to work for public bodies or have some other association [i] .\n\nUnless there is reason to suspect corruption, why should law-abiding citizens who sell goods and services to public bodies have the full details of their negotiations made public for their other buyers, who may have got a worse deal, to see? Why should the memo sent by an otherwise competent official on a bad day be made available for her neighbours to read over? A presumption in favour of publication would ensure that all of these things, and others, would be made a reality with the force of law behind them.\n\nThis would place additional burdens on government in terms of recruitment and negotiations with private firms – not to mention negotiations with other governments with less transparent systems. Let’s assume for the moment that the British government introduced a system, it is quite easy imagine a sense of “For God’s sake don’t tell the British” spreading around the capitals of the world fairly quickly.\n\n[i] Section 40 0(A) od the FOIA. See also Freedom of Information Act Environmental Information Regulations. When Should Salaries be Disclosed? Information Commissioner’s Office.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
b5d40c3d1bc438ab15c4c678cf152091 | A faster, cheaper and simpler process
There are cost concerned with processing FoI requests both in terms of time and cash terms. [i] To take one example Britain’s largest local authority, Birmingham, spends £800,000 a year dealing with FoI requests. [ii] There is also a delay from the point of view of the applicant. Such a delay is more than an irritant in the case of, for example, immigration appeals or journalistic investigations. Governments know that journalists usually have to operate within a window of time while a story is still ‘hot’. As a result all they have to do is wait it out until the attention of the media turns elsewhere to ensure that if evidence of misconduct or culpability were found, it would probably be buried as a minor story if not lost altogether. As journalism remains the primary method most societies have of holding government to account, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that the methodology for releasing data should, at least in part, reflect the reality of how journalism works as an industry.
[i] Independent Review of the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act. Frontier Economics. October 2006.
[ii] Dunton, Jim, ‘Cost of FoI requests rises to £34m’, Local Government Chronicle, 16 September 2010, http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/corporate-core/legal/cost-of-foi-requests-rises-to-34m/5019109.article
| [
{
"docid": "4fea4045c8b6854771a433c1d46fd29a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It seems unlikely that total publication would save much in the way of time or money. If the data was not indexed in some way it would be absurdly difficult to navigate - and that takes time and money.\n\nThere are advantages to building a delay into systems such as this, if a piece of information genuinely justifies a news story, then it will do so at any time. If it’s only of interest in the middle of a media feeding frenzy, then it seems unlikely that it was all that important.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "d4f713d94dccc069709e797e465a937a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Governments have, prima facie, a different relationship with their own citizens than they have with those of other countries. In addition, as with the previous argument, extending the right of access does not, per se, require total access. The approach is also simply impractical as it would require every nation on the planet to take the same approach and to have comparable standards in terms of record keeping and data management. At present most states publish some data but the upper and lower thresholds of what is made public vary between them. To abolish the upper limit (ministerial briefing, security briefings, military contractors, etc.) would require everyone to do it, otherwise it would be deeply unsafe for any one state to act alone. The likelihood of persuading some of the world’s more unsavory or corrupt regimes to play ball seems pretty unlikely. The first of those is improbable, the latter is impossible.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b3bcfa525c738e042848d9dcc690876",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption The idea that, presented with a vast mass of frequently complex data, everyone would be able to access, process and act on it in the same way is fantasy. Equally the issue of ‘who guards the guards’ that Proposition raises is a misnomer; exactly the groups mentioned are already those with the primary role of scrutinizing government actions because they have the time, interest and skills to do so. Giving a right to access would give them greater opportunities to continue with that in a way that deluging them with information would not.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "11d2f7bac64bf74b4df42e19dfe53fa5",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Relying on a right of access would also have addressed the concerns set out by Proposition but would do so in a way that would not endanger actual concerns of national security by allowing citizens the right to challenge such decisions. An independent review could determine where the motivation is genuinely one of national security and those where it is really political expediency. The right to information for citizens is important but should not jeopardize the right to life of combat troops.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "232325d4d20cc6e83e9a56d494081b9c",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Although it would be time-consuming to approach so much information, it is not impossible to manage it effectively. As Wikileaks has demonstrated, given access to large quantities of information, it is a relatively straightforward process to start with records that are likely to prove interesting and then follow particular routes from there. In addition, governments, like all organisations, have information management systems, there would be no reason not to use the same model.\n\nAdditionally, the very skill of journalism is going beyond the executive summary to find the embarrassing fact buried away in appendix nineteen. That would still be the case under this model, it would just be easier.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a193d58b0d74ee2c66795b06f88ee150",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption There are, of course some costs to having a truly open and accountable government, but an effective right of access would allow much of that information to be made available. After all what the public sector bodies are paying in commercial transactions is of great interest to the public. If public bodies are getting a particularly good rate from suppliers, it might well raise the question of “Why?” For example, are they failing to enforce regulations on a particular supplier in return for a good price. In that instance, their other customers and their competitors would seem to have every right to know.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "db65e38d3bc772a6d4d1e7dd8071fe5e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is frequently useful to see the general approach of a public organisation as reflected in routine discussions. Opposition is wrong to suggest that such information would only cast a light on ideas that were never pursued anyway so they don’t matter. It would also highlight ideas that agencies wanted to pursue but felt they couldn’t because of the likely impact of public opinion, knowing such information gives useful insight into the intentions of the public agency in question.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dee8cac711700d293b9218914332fecb",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Compelling public bodies to publish information ensures that non-citizens, minors, foreign nationals and others have access to information that affects them.\n\nGenuine transparency and accountability of government action is not only in the interests of those who also have the right to vote for that government or who support it through the payment of taxes. The functioning of immigration services would seem to be a prime example. Maximising access to information relating to government decisions by dint of its automatic publication of information relating to those decisions ensures that all those affected will have recourse to the facts behind any decision.\n\nIf, for example, a nation’s aid budget is cut or redirected, why should the citizens of the affected nation not have a right to know why [i] ? If, as is frequently the case, it has happened because of an action or inaction by their own government, then it is important that they know. Equally if such a decision were taken for electoral gain, they at least have the right to know that there is nothing they or their government could do about it.\n\n[i] Publish What You Fund: The Global Campaign For Aid Transparency. Website Introduction.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "49a5860842c98055000dd5751d43f596",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Even the most liberal FoI regime tends to pander to certain groups in society full disclosure levels that playing field\n\nPeople have many different interests in the accountability of governments; different areas of concern, differing levels of skill in pursuing those interests and so on. They deserve, however, an equal degree of transparency from governments in relation to those decisions that affect them. Relying on a right to access is almost certainly most likely to favour those who already have the greatest access either through their profession, their skills or their social capital. The use of freedom of information requests in those countries where they are available shows this to be the case, as they have overwhelmingly been used by journalists, with a smattering of representation from researchers, other politicians and lawyers and so on. In the UK between 2005 and 2010 the total number registered by all ‘ordinary’ members of the public is just ahead of journalists, the next largest group. The public are overwhelmingly outnumbered by the listed professional groups [i] .\n\nRequired publication, by contrast, presents an even playing field to all parties. Rather than allowing legislators to determine how and to whom – and for what – they should be accountable, a presumption in favour of publication makes them accountable to all. As a result, it is the only truly effective way of ensuring one of the key aims set out in favour of any freedom of information process.\n\n[i] Who Makes FOI Requests? BBC Open Secrets Website. 14 January 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5374802042af0cfbda4884a42493e865",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption If public bodies do not have an obligation to publish information, there will always be a temptation to find any available excuses to avoid transparency.\n\nThe primary advantage of putting the duty on government to publish, rather than on citizens to enquire is that it does not require the citizen to know what they need to know before they know it. Publication en masse allows researchers to investigate areas they think are likely to produce results, specialists to follow decisions relevant to their field and, also, raises the possibility of discovering things by chance. The experience of Wikipedia suggests that even very large quantities of data are relatively easy to mine as long as all the related documentation is available to the researcher – the frustration, by contrast, comes when one has only a single datum with no way of contextualising it. Any other situation, at the very least, panders to the interests of government to find any available excuse for not publishing anything that it is likely to find embarrassing and, virtually by definition, would be of most interest to the active citizen.\n\nKnowing that accounts of discussions, records of payments, agreements with commercial bodies or other areas that might be of interest to citizens will be published with no recourse to ‘national security’ or ‘commercial sensitivity’ is likely to prevent abuses before they happen but will certainly ensure that they are discovered after the event [i] .\n\nThe publication of documents, in both Washington and London, relating to the build-up to war in Iraq is a prime example of where both governments used every available excuse to cover up the fact that that the advice they had been given showed that either they were misguided or had been deliberately lying [ii] . A presumption of publication would have prevented either of those from determining a matter of vital interest to the peoples of the UK, the US and, of course, Iraq. All three of those groups would have had access to the information were there a presumption of publication.\n\n[i] The Public’s Right To Know. Article 19 Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression.\n\n[ii] Whatreallyhappened.com has an overview of this an example of how politicians were misguided – wilfully or otherwise can be found in: Defector admits to lies that triggered the Iraq War. Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd. The Guardian. 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9d7a80e90b11471fe5dc3a768893fe57",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Public bodies require the ability to discuss proposals freely away from public scrutiny\n\nKnowing that everything is likely to be recorded and then published is likely to be counter-productive. It seems probable that anything sensitive – such as advice given to ministers by senior officials – would either not be recorded or it would be done in a way so opaque as to make it effectively meaningless [i] .\n\nBy contrast knowing that such conversations, to focus on one particularly example, are recorded and can be subjected to public scrutiny when there is a proven need to do so ensures that genuine accountability – rather than prurience or curiosity, is likely to be both the goal and the outcome.\n\nNone of us would like the process of how we reached decisions made public as it often involves getting things wrong a few times first. However, there are some instances where it is important to know how a particular decision was reached and whether those responsible for that decision were aware of certain facts at the time – notably when public figures are claiming that they were not aware of something and others are insisting that they were. In such an instance the right to access is useful and relevant; having records of every brainstorming session in every public body is not. As the Leveson inquiry is discovering, an extraordinary amount of decisions in government seem to be made informally, by text message or chats at parties. Presumably that would become evermore the case if every formal discussion were to be published [ii] .\n\n[i] The Pitfalls of Britain’s Confidential Civil Service. Samuel Brittan. Financial Time 5 March 2010.\n\n[ii] This is nothing very new, see: Downing Street: Informal Style. BBC website. 14 July 2004.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "80e542c82e023c64f73b6a865739240e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Considering the amount of data governments produce, compelling them to publish all of it would be counterproductive as citizens would be swamped.\n\nIt is a misnomer in many things that more is necessarily better but that is, perhaps, more true of information than of most things. Public bodies produce vast quantities of data and are often have a greater tendency to maintain copious records than their private sector equivalents. US government agencies will create data that would require “20 million four-drawer filing cabinets filled with text,” over the next two years. [i] Simply dumping this en masse would be a fairly effective way of masking any information that a public body wanted kept hidden. Deliberately poor referencing would achieve the same result. This ‘burying’ of bad news at a time when everyone is looking somewhere else is one of the oldest tricks in press management. For example Jo Moore, an aide to then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers suggested that September 11 2001 was “a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.” Suggesting burying a u turn on councillors’ expenses. [ii]\n\nFor it to genuinely help with the transparency and accountability of public agencies it would require inordinately detailed and precise cataloguing and indexing – a process that would be likely to be both time consuming and expensive. The choice would, therefore, be between a mostly useless set of data that would require complex mining by those citizens who were keen to use it or the great expense of effectively cataloguing it in advance. Even this latter option would defeat the objective of greater accountability because whoever had responsibility for the cataloguing would have far greater control of what would be likely to come to light.\n\nInstead ensuring a right of access for citizens ensures that they can have a reasonable access to exactly the piece of information they are seeking [iii] .\n\n[i] Eddy, Nathan, ‘Big Data Still a Big Challenge for Government IT’, eweek, 8th May 2012, http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Big-Data-Still-a-Big-Challenge-fo...\n\n[ii] Sparrow, Andrew, ‘September 11: ‘a good day to bury bad news’’, The Telegraph, 10 October 2001, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1358985/Sept-11-a-good-day-to-bury-bad-news.html\n\n[iii] Freedom of Information as an Internationally Protected Human Right. Toby Mendel, Head of Law at Article 19.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36e797eb873255c50c67625bc900fb12",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is reasonable that people have access to information that effects them personally but not information that relates to their neighbours’, employers’, former-partners’ or other citizens who maythose who work for public bodies.\n\nThe right to access allows people to see information that affects them personally or where there is reasonable suspicion of harm or nefarious practices. It doesn’t allow them to invade the privacy of other citizens who just happen to work for public bodies or have some other association [i] .\n\nUnless there is reason to suspect corruption, why should law-abiding citizens who sell goods and services to public bodies have the full details of their negotiations made public for their other buyers, who may have got a worse deal, to see? Why should the memo sent by an otherwise competent official on a bad day be made available for her neighbours to read over? A presumption in favour of publication would ensure that all of these things, and others, would be made a reality with the force of law behind them.\n\nThis would place additional burdens on government in terms of recruitment and negotiations with private firms – not to mention negotiations with other governments with less transparent systems. Let’s assume for the moment that the British government introduced a system, it is quite easy imagine a sense of “For God’s sake don’t tell the British” spreading around the capitals of the world fairly quickly.\n\n[i] Section 40 0(A) od the FOIA. See also Freedom of Information Act Environmental Information Regulations. When Should Salaries be Disclosed? Information Commissioner’s Office.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
11bc7ef9aa36bb5b1e528c77971708a7 | Public bodies require the ability to discuss proposals freely away from public scrutiny
Knowing that everything is likely to be recorded and then published is likely to be counter-productive. It seems probable that anything sensitive – such as advice given to ministers by senior officials – would either not be recorded or it would be done in a way so opaque as to make it effectively meaningless [i] .
By contrast knowing that such conversations, to focus on one particularly example, are recorded and can be subjected to public scrutiny when there is a proven need to do so ensures that genuine accountability – rather than prurience or curiosity, is likely to be both the goal and the outcome.
None of us would like the process of how we reached decisions made public as it often involves getting things wrong a few times first. However, there are some instances where it is important to know how a particular decision was reached and whether those responsible for that decision were aware of certain facts at the time – notably when public figures are claiming that they were not aware of something and others are insisting that they were. In such an instance the right to access is useful and relevant; having records of every brainstorming session in every public body is not. As the Leveson inquiry is discovering, an extraordinary amount of decisions in government seem to be made informally, by text message or chats at parties. Presumably that would become evermore the case if every formal discussion were to be published [ii] .
[i] The Pitfalls of Britain’s Confidential Civil Service. Samuel Brittan. Financial Time 5 March 2010.
[ii] This is nothing very new, see: Downing Street: Informal Style. BBC website. 14 July 2004.
| [
{
"docid": "db65e38d3bc772a6d4d1e7dd8071fe5e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is frequently useful to see the general approach of a public organisation as reflected in routine discussions. Opposition is wrong to suggest that such information would only cast a light on ideas that were never pursued anyway so they don’t matter. It would also highlight ideas that agencies wanted to pursue but felt they couldn’t because of the likely impact of public opinion, knowing such information gives useful insight into the intentions of the public agency in question.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "232325d4d20cc6e83e9a56d494081b9c",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Although it would be time-consuming to approach so much information, it is not impossible to manage it effectively. As Wikileaks has demonstrated, given access to large quantities of information, it is a relatively straightforward process to start with records that are likely to prove interesting and then follow particular routes from there. In addition, governments, like all organisations, have information management systems, there would be no reason not to use the same model.\n\nAdditionally, the very skill of journalism is going beyond the executive summary to find the embarrassing fact buried away in appendix nineteen. That would still be the case under this model, it would just be easier.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a193d58b0d74ee2c66795b06f88ee150",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption There are, of course some costs to having a truly open and accountable government, but an effective right of access would allow much of that information to be made available. After all what the public sector bodies are paying in commercial transactions is of great interest to the public. If public bodies are getting a particularly good rate from suppliers, it might well raise the question of “Why?” For example, are they failing to enforce regulations on a particular supplier in return for a good price. In that instance, their other customers and their competitors would seem to have every right to know.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d4f713d94dccc069709e797e465a937a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Governments have, prima facie, a different relationship with their own citizens than they have with those of other countries. In addition, as with the previous argument, extending the right of access does not, per se, require total access. The approach is also simply impractical as it would require every nation on the planet to take the same approach and to have comparable standards in terms of record keeping and data management. At present most states publish some data but the upper and lower thresholds of what is made public vary between them. To abolish the upper limit (ministerial briefing, security briefings, military contractors, etc.) would require everyone to do it, otherwise it would be deeply unsafe for any one state to act alone. The likelihood of persuading some of the world’s more unsavory or corrupt regimes to play ball seems pretty unlikely. The first of those is improbable, the latter is impossible.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4fea4045c8b6854771a433c1d46fd29a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It seems unlikely that total publication would save much in the way of time or money. If the data was not indexed in some way it would be absurdly difficult to navigate - and that takes time and money.\n\nThere are advantages to building a delay into systems such as this, if a piece of information genuinely justifies a news story, then it will do so at any time. If it’s only of interest in the middle of a media feeding frenzy, then it seems unlikely that it was all that important.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b3bcfa525c738e042848d9dcc690876",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption The idea that, presented with a vast mass of frequently complex data, everyone would be able to access, process and act on it in the same way is fantasy. Equally the issue of ‘who guards the guards’ that Proposition raises is a misnomer; exactly the groups mentioned are already those with the primary role of scrutinizing government actions because they have the time, interest and skills to do so. Giving a right to access would give them greater opportunities to continue with that in a way that deluging them with information would not.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "11d2f7bac64bf74b4df42e19dfe53fa5",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Relying on a right of access would also have addressed the concerns set out by Proposition but would do so in a way that would not endanger actual concerns of national security by allowing citizens the right to challenge such decisions. An independent review could determine where the motivation is genuinely one of national security and those where it is really political expediency. The right to information for citizens is important but should not jeopardize the right to life of combat troops.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "80e542c82e023c64f73b6a865739240e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Considering the amount of data governments produce, compelling them to publish all of it would be counterproductive as citizens would be swamped.\n\nIt is a misnomer in many things that more is necessarily better but that is, perhaps, more true of information than of most things. Public bodies produce vast quantities of data and are often have a greater tendency to maintain copious records than their private sector equivalents. US government agencies will create data that would require “20 million four-drawer filing cabinets filled with text,” over the next two years. [i] Simply dumping this en masse would be a fairly effective way of masking any information that a public body wanted kept hidden. Deliberately poor referencing would achieve the same result. This ‘burying’ of bad news at a time when everyone is looking somewhere else is one of the oldest tricks in press management. For example Jo Moore, an aide to then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers suggested that September 11 2001 was “a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.” Suggesting burying a u turn on councillors’ expenses. [ii]\n\nFor it to genuinely help with the transparency and accountability of public agencies it would require inordinately detailed and precise cataloguing and indexing – a process that would be likely to be both time consuming and expensive. The choice would, therefore, be between a mostly useless set of data that would require complex mining by those citizens who were keen to use it or the great expense of effectively cataloguing it in advance. Even this latter option would defeat the objective of greater accountability because whoever had responsibility for the cataloguing would have far greater control of what would be likely to come to light.\n\nInstead ensuring a right of access for citizens ensures that they can have a reasonable access to exactly the piece of information they are seeking [iii] .\n\n[i] Eddy, Nathan, ‘Big Data Still a Big Challenge for Government IT’, eweek, 8th May 2012, http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Big-Data-Still-a-Big-Challenge-fo...\n\n[ii] Sparrow, Andrew, ‘September 11: ‘a good day to bury bad news’’, The Telegraph, 10 October 2001, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1358985/Sept-11-a-good-day-to-bury-bad-news.html\n\n[iii] Freedom of Information as an Internationally Protected Human Right. Toby Mendel, Head of Law at Article 19.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36e797eb873255c50c67625bc900fb12",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is reasonable that people have access to information that effects them personally but not information that relates to their neighbours’, employers’, former-partners’ or other citizens who maythose who work for public bodies.\n\nThe right to access allows people to see information that affects them personally or where there is reasonable suspicion of harm or nefarious practices. It doesn’t allow them to invade the privacy of other citizens who just happen to work for public bodies or have some other association [i] .\n\nUnless there is reason to suspect corruption, why should law-abiding citizens who sell goods and services to public bodies have the full details of their negotiations made public for their other buyers, who may have got a worse deal, to see? Why should the memo sent by an otherwise competent official on a bad day be made available for her neighbours to read over? A presumption in favour of publication would ensure that all of these things, and others, would be made a reality with the force of law behind them.\n\nThis would place additional burdens on government in terms of recruitment and negotiations with private firms – not to mention negotiations with other governments with less transparent systems. Let’s assume for the moment that the British government introduced a system, it is quite easy imagine a sense of “For God’s sake don’t tell the British” spreading around the capitals of the world fairly quickly.\n\n[i] Section 40 0(A) od the FOIA. See also Freedom of Information Act Environmental Information Regulations. When Should Salaries be Disclosed? Information Commissioner’s Office.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dee8cac711700d293b9218914332fecb",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Compelling public bodies to publish information ensures that non-citizens, minors, foreign nationals and others have access to information that affects them.\n\nGenuine transparency and accountability of government action is not only in the interests of those who also have the right to vote for that government or who support it through the payment of taxes. The functioning of immigration services would seem to be a prime example. Maximising access to information relating to government decisions by dint of its automatic publication of information relating to those decisions ensures that all those affected will have recourse to the facts behind any decision.\n\nIf, for example, a nation’s aid budget is cut or redirected, why should the citizens of the affected nation not have a right to know why [i] ? If, as is frequently the case, it has happened because of an action or inaction by their own government, then it is important that they know. Equally if such a decision were taken for electoral gain, they at least have the right to know that there is nothing they or their government could do about it.\n\n[i] Publish What You Fund: The Global Campaign For Aid Transparency. Website Introduction.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "49a5860842c98055000dd5751d43f596",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Even the most liberal FoI regime tends to pander to certain groups in society full disclosure levels that playing field\n\nPeople have many different interests in the accountability of governments; different areas of concern, differing levels of skill in pursuing those interests and so on. They deserve, however, an equal degree of transparency from governments in relation to those decisions that affect them. Relying on a right to access is almost certainly most likely to favour those who already have the greatest access either through their profession, their skills or their social capital. The use of freedom of information requests in those countries where they are available shows this to be the case, as they have overwhelmingly been used by journalists, with a smattering of representation from researchers, other politicians and lawyers and so on. In the UK between 2005 and 2010 the total number registered by all ‘ordinary’ members of the public is just ahead of journalists, the next largest group. The public are overwhelmingly outnumbered by the listed professional groups [i] .\n\nRequired publication, by contrast, presents an even playing field to all parties. Rather than allowing legislators to determine how and to whom – and for what – they should be accountable, a presumption in favour of publication makes them accountable to all. As a result, it is the only truly effective way of ensuring one of the key aims set out in favour of any freedom of information process.\n\n[i] Who Makes FOI Requests? BBC Open Secrets Website. 14 January 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5374802042af0cfbda4884a42493e865",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption If public bodies do not have an obligation to publish information, there will always be a temptation to find any available excuses to avoid transparency.\n\nThe primary advantage of putting the duty on government to publish, rather than on citizens to enquire is that it does not require the citizen to know what they need to know before they know it. Publication en masse allows researchers to investigate areas they think are likely to produce results, specialists to follow decisions relevant to their field and, also, raises the possibility of discovering things by chance. The experience of Wikipedia suggests that even very large quantities of data are relatively easy to mine as long as all the related documentation is available to the researcher – the frustration, by contrast, comes when one has only a single datum with no way of contextualising it. Any other situation, at the very least, panders to the interests of government to find any available excuse for not publishing anything that it is likely to find embarrassing and, virtually by definition, would be of most interest to the active citizen.\n\nKnowing that accounts of discussions, records of payments, agreements with commercial bodies or other areas that might be of interest to citizens will be published with no recourse to ‘national security’ or ‘commercial sensitivity’ is likely to prevent abuses before they happen but will certainly ensure that they are discovered after the event [i] .\n\nThe publication of documents, in both Washington and London, relating to the build-up to war in Iraq is a prime example of where both governments used every available excuse to cover up the fact that that the advice they had been given showed that either they were misguided or had been deliberately lying [ii] . A presumption of publication would have prevented either of those from determining a matter of vital interest to the peoples of the UK, the US and, of course, Iraq. All three of those groups would have had access to the information were there a presumption of publication.\n\n[i] The Public’s Right To Know. Article 19 Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression.\n\n[ii] Whatreallyhappened.com has an overview of this an example of how politicians were misguided – wilfully or otherwise can be found in: Defector admits to lies that triggered the Iraq War. Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd. The Guardian. 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c4c0fdbffcf784e055898595f30aa52",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption A faster, cheaper and simpler process\n\nThere are cost concerned with processing FoI requests both in terms of time and cash terms. [i] To take one example Britain’s largest local authority, Birmingham, spends £800,000 a year dealing with FoI requests. [ii] There is also a delay from the point of view of the applicant. Such a delay is more than an irritant in the case of, for example, immigration appeals or journalistic investigations. Governments know that journalists usually have to operate within a window of time while a story is still ‘hot’. As a result all they have to do is wait it out until the attention of the media turns elsewhere to ensure that if evidence of misconduct or culpability were found, it would probably be buried as a minor story if not lost altogether. As journalism remains the primary method most societies have of holding government to account, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that the methodology for releasing data should, at least in part, reflect the reality of how journalism works as an industry.\n\n[i] Independent Review of the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act. Frontier Economics. October 2006.\n\n[ii] Dunton, Jim, ‘Cost of FoI requests rises to £34m’, Local Government Chronicle, 16 September 2010, http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/corporate-core/legal/cost-of-foi-requests-rises-to-34m/5019109.article\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
fa9e4d8093001f3701a25ffc30859e68 | Considering the amount of data governments produce, compelling them to publish all of it would be counterproductive as citizens would be swamped.
It is a misnomer in many things that more is necessarily better but that is, perhaps, more true of information than of most things. Public bodies produce vast quantities of data and are often have a greater tendency to maintain copious records than their private sector equivalents. US government agencies will create data that would require “20 million four-drawer filing cabinets filled with text,” over the next two years. [i] Simply dumping this en masse would be a fairly effective way of masking any information that a public body wanted kept hidden. Deliberately poor referencing would achieve the same result. This ‘burying’ of bad news at a time when everyone is looking somewhere else is one of the oldest tricks in press management. For example Jo Moore, an aide to then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers suggested that September 11 2001 was “a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.” Suggesting burying a u turn on councillors’ expenses. [ii]
For it to genuinely help with the transparency and accountability of public agencies it would require inordinately detailed and precise cataloguing and indexing – a process that would be likely to be both time consuming and expensive. The choice would, therefore, be between a mostly useless set of data that would require complex mining by those citizens who were keen to use it or the great expense of effectively cataloguing it in advance. Even this latter option would defeat the objective of greater accountability because whoever had responsibility for the cataloguing would have far greater control of what would be likely to come to light.
Instead ensuring a right of access for citizens ensures that they can have a reasonable access to exactly the piece of information they are seeking [iii] .
[i] Eddy, Nathan, ‘Big Data Still a Big Challenge for Government IT’, eweek, 8th May 2012, http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Big-Data-Still-a-Big-Challenge-fo...
[ii] Sparrow, Andrew, ‘September 11: ‘a good day to bury bad news’’, The Telegraph, 10 October 2001, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1358985/Sept-11-a-good-day-to-bury-bad-news.html
[iii] Freedom of Information as an Internationally Protected Human Right. Toby Mendel, Head of Law at Article 19.
| [
{
"docid": "232325d4d20cc6e83e9a56d494081b9c",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Although it would be time-consuming to approach so much information, it is not impossible to manage it effectively. As Wikileaks has demonstrated, given access to large quantities of information, it is a relatively straightforward process to start with records that are likely to prove interesting and then follow particular routes from there. In addition, governments, like all organisations, have information management systems, there would be no reason not to use the same model.\n\nAdditionally, the very skill of journalism is going beyond the executive summary to find the embarrassing fact buried away in appendix nineteen. That would still be the case under this model, it would just be easier.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "a193d58b0d74ee2c66795b06f88ee150",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption There are, of course some costs to having a truly open and accountable government, but an effective right of access would allow much of that information to be made available. After all what the public sector bodies are paying in commercial transactions is of great interest to the public. If public bodies are getting a particularly good rate from suppliers, it might well raise the question of “Why?” For example, are they failing to enforce regulations on a particular supplier in return for a good price. In that instance, their other customers and their competitors would seem to have every right to know.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "db65e38d3bc772a6d4d1e7dd8071fe5e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is frequently useful to see the general approach of a public organisation as reflected in routine discussions. Opposition is wrong to suggest that such information would only cast a light on ideas that were never pursued anyway so they don’t matter. It would also highlight ideas that agencies wanted to pursue but felt they couldn’t because of the likely impact of public opinion, knowing such information gives useful insight into the intentions of the public agency in question.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d4f713d94dccc069709e797e465a937a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Governments have, prima facie, a different relationship with their own citizens than they have with those of other countries. In addition, as with the previous argument, extending the right of access does not, per se, require total access. The approach is also simply impractical as it would require every nation on the planet to take the same approach and to have comparable standards in terms of record keeping and data management. At present most states publish some data but the upper and lower thresholds of what is made public vary between them. To abolish the upper limit (ministerial briefing, security briefings, military contractors, etc.) would require everyone to do it, otherwise it would be deeply unsafe for any one state to act alone. The likelihood of persuading some of the world’s more unsavory or corrupt regimes to play ball seems pretty unlikely. The first of those is improbable, the latter is impossible.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4fea4045c8b6854771a433c1d46fd29a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It seems unlikely that total publication would save much in the way of time or money. If the data was not indexed in some way it would be absurdly difficult to navigate - and that takes time and money.\n\nThere are advantages to building a delay into systems such as this, if a piece of information genuinely justifies a news story, then it will do so at any time. If it’s only of interest in the middle of a media feeding frenzy, then it seems unlikely that it was all that important.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b3bcfa525c738e042848d9dcc690876",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption The idea that, presented with a vast mass of frequently complex data, everyone would be able to access, process and act on it in the same way is fantasy. Equally the issue of ‘who guards the guards’ that Proposition raises is a misnomer; exactly the groups mentioned are already those with the primary role of scrutinizing government actions because they have the time, interest and skills to do so. Giving a right to access would give them greater opportunities to continue with that in a way that deluging them with information would not.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "11d2f7bac64bf74b4df42e19dfe53fa5",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Relying on a right of access would also have addressed the concerns set out by Proposition but would do so in a way that would not endanger actual concerns of national security by allowing citizens the right to challenge such decisions. An independent review could determine where the motivation is genuinely one of national security and those where it is really political expediency. The right to information for citizens is important but should not jeopardize the right to life of combat troops.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9d7a80e90b11471fe5dc3a768893fe57",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Public bodies require the ability to discuss proposals freely away from public scrutiny\n\nKnowing that everything is likely to be recorded and then published is likely to be counter-productive. It seems probable that anything sensitive – such as advice given to ministers by senior officials – would either not be recorded or it would be done in a way so opaque as to make it effectively meaningless [i] .\n\nBy contrast knowing that such conversations, to focus on one particularly example, are recorded and can be subjected to public scrutiny when there is a proven need to do so ensures that genuine accountability – rather than prurience or curiosity, is likely to be both the goal and the outcome.\n\nNone of us would like the process of how we reached decisions made public as it often involves getting things wrong a few times first. However, there are some instances where it is important to know how a particular decision was reached and whether those responsible for that decision were aware of certain facts at the time – notably when public figures are claiming that they were not aware of something and others are insisting that they were. In such an instance the right to access is useful and relevant; having records of every brainstorming session in every public body is not. As the Leveson inquiry is discovering, an extraordinary amount of decisions in government seem to be made informally, by text message or chats at parties. Presumably that would become evermore the case if every formal discussion were to be published [ii] .\n\n[i] The Pitfalls of Britain’s Confidential Civil Service. Samuel Brittan. Financial Time 5 March 2010.\n\n[ii] This is nothing very new, see: Downing Street: Informal Style. BBC website. 14 July 2004.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36e797eb873255c50c67625bc900fb12",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is reasonable that people have access to information that effects them personally but not information that relates to their neighbours’, employers’, former-partners’ or other citizens who maythose who work for public bodies.\n\nThe right to access allows people to see information that affects them personally or where there is reasonable suspicion of harm or nefarious practices. It doesn’t allow them to invade the privacy of other citizens who just happen to work for public bodies or have some other association [i] .\n\nUnless there is reason to suspect corruption, why should law-abiding citizens who sell goods and services to public bodies have the full details of their negotiations made public for their other buyers, who may have got a worse deal, to see? Why should the memo sent by an otherwise competent official on a bad day be made available for her neighbours to read over? A presumption in favour of publication would ensure that all of these things, and others, would be made a reality with the force of law behind them.\n\nThis would place additional burdens on government in terms of recruitment and negotiations with private firms – not to mention negotiations with other governments with less transparent systems. Let’s assume for the moment that the British government introduced a system, it is quite easy imagine a sense of “For God’s sake don’t tell the British” spreading around the capitals of the world fairly quickly.\n\n[i] Section 40 0(A) od the FOIA. See also Freedom of Information Act Environmental Information Regulations. When Should Salaries be Disclosed? Information Commissioner’s Office.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dee8cac711700d293b9218914332fecb",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Compelling public bodies to publish information ensures that non-citizens, minors, foreign nationals and others have access to information that affects them.\n\nGenuine transparency and accountability of government action is not only in the interests of those who also have the right to vote for that government or who support it through the payment of taxes. The functioning of immigration services would seem to be a prime example. Maximising access to information relating to government decisions by dint of its automatic publication of information relating to those decisions ensures that all those affected will have recourse to the facts behind any decision.\n\nIf, for example, a nation’s aid budget is cut or redirected, why should the citizens of the affected nation not have a right to know why [i] ? If, as is frequently the case, it has happened because of an action or inaction by their own government, then it is important that they know. Equally if such a decision were taken for electoral gain, they at least have the right to know that there is nothing they or their government could do about it.\n\n[i] Publish What You Fund: The Global Campaign For Aid Transparency. Website Introduction.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "49a5860842c98055000dd5751d43f596",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Even the most liberal FoI regime tends to pander to certain groups in society full disclosure levels that playing field\n\nPeople have many different interests in the accountability of governments; different areas of concern, differing levels of skill in pursuing those interests and so on. They deserve, however, an equal degree of transparency from governments in relation to those decisions that affect them. Relying on a right to access is almost certainly most likely to favour those who already have the greatest access either through their profession, their skills or their social capital. The use of freedom of information requests in those countries where they are available shows this to be the case, as they have overwhelmingly been used by journalists, with a smattering of representation from researchers, other politicians and lawyers and so on. In the UK between 2005 and 2010 the total number registered by all ‘ordinary’ members of the public is just ahead of journalists, the next largest group. The public are overwhelmingly outnumbered by the listed professional groups [i] .\n\nRequired publication, by contrast, presents an even playing field to all parties. Rather than allowing legislators to determine how and to whom – and for what – they should be accountable, a presumption in favour of publication makes them accountable to all. As a result, it is the only truly effective way of ensuring one of the key aims set out in favour of any freedom of information process.\n\n[i] Who Makes FOI Requests? BBC Open Secrets Website. 14 January 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5374802042af0cfbda4884a42493e865",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption If public bodies do not have an obligation to publish information, there will always be a temptation to find any available excuses to avoid transparency.\n\nThe primary advantage of putting the duty on government to publish, rather than on citizens to enquire is that it does not require the citizen to know what they need to know before they know it. Publication en masse allows researchers to investigate areas they think are likely to produce results, specialists to follow decisions relevant to their field and, also, raises the possibility of discovering things by chance. The experience of Wikipedia suggests that even very large quantities of data are relatively easy to mine as long as all the related documentation is available to the researcher – the frustration, by contrast, comes when one has only a single datum with no way of contextualising it. Any other situation, at the very least, panders to the interests of government to find any available excuse for not publishing anything that it is likely to find embarrassing and, virtually by definition, would be of most interest to the active citizen.\n\nKnowing that accounts of discussions, records of payments, agreements with commercial bodies or other areas that might be of interest to citizens will be published with no recourse to ‘national security’ or ‘commercial sensitivity’ is likely to prevent abuses before they happen but will certainly ensure that they are discovered after the event [i] .\n\nThe publication of documents, in both Washington and London, relating to the build-up to war in Iraq is a prime example of where both governments used every available excuse to cover up the fact that that the advice they had been given showed that either they were misguided or had been deliberately lying [ii] . A presumption of publication would have prevented either of those from determining a matter of vital interest to the peoples of the UK, the US and, of course, Iraq. All three of those groups would have had access to the information were there a presumption of publication.\n\n[i] The Public’s Right To Know. Article 19 Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression.\n\n[ii] Whatreallyhappened.com has an overview of this an example of how politicians were misguided – wilfully or otherwise can be found in: Defector admits to lies that triggered the Iraq War. Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd. The Guardian. 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c4c0fdbffcf784e055898595f30aa52",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption A faster, cheaper and simpler process\n\nThere are cost concerned with processing FoI requests both in terms of time and cash terms. [i] To take one example Britain’s largest local authority, Birmingham, spends £800,000 a year dealing with FoI requests. [ii] There is also a delay from the point of view of the applicant. Such a delay is more than an irritant in the case of, for example, immigration appeals or journalistic investigations. Governments know that journalists usually have to operate within a window of time while a story is still ‘hot’. As a result all they have to do is wait it out until the attention of the media turns elsewhere to ensure that if evidence of misconduct or culpability were found, it would probably be buried as a minor story if not lost altogether. As journalism remains the primary method most societies have of holding government to account, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that the methodology for releasing data should, at least in part, reflect the reality of how journalism works as an industry.\n\n[i] Independent Review of the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act. Frontier Economics. October 2006.\n\n[ii] Dunton, Jim, ‘Cost of FoI requests rises to £34m’, Local Government Chronicle, 16 September 2010, http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/corporate-core/legal/cost-of-foi-requests-rises-to-34m/5019109.article\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
3c9285980203cb19289cae2bc9166838 | It is reasonable that people have access to information that effects them personally but not information that relates to their neighbours’, employers’, former-partners’ or other citizens who maythose who work for public bodies.
The right to access allows people to see information that affects them personally or where there is reasonable suspicion of harm or nefarious practices. It doesn’t allow them to invade the privacy of other citizens who just happen to work for public bodies or have some other association [i] .
Unless there is reason to suspect corruption, why should law-abiding citizens who sell goods and services to public bodies have the full details of their negotiations made public for their other buyers, who may have got a worse deal, to see? Why should the memo sent by an otherwise competent official on a bad day be made available for her neighbours to read over? A presumption in favour of publication would ensure that all of these things, and others, would be made a reality with the force of law behind them.
This would place additional burdens on government in terms of recruitment and negotiations with private firms – not to mention negotiations with other governments with less transparent systems. Let’s assume for the moment that the British government introduced a system, it is quite easy imagine a sense of “For God’s sake don’t tell the British” spreading around the capitals of the world fairly quickly.
[i] Section 40 0(A) od the FOIA. See also Freedom of Information Act Environmental Information Regulations. When Should Salaries be Disclosed? Information Commissioner’s Office.
| [
{
"docid": "a193d58b0d74ee2c66795b06f88ee150",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption There are, of course some costs to having a truly open and accountable government, but an effective right of access would allow much of that information to be made available. After all what the public sector bodies are paying in commercial transactions is of great interest to the public. If public bodies are getting a particularly good rate from suppliers, it might well raise the question of “Why?” For example, are they failing to enforce regulations on a particular supplier in return for a good price. In that instance, their other customers and their competitors would seem to have every right to know.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "232325d4d20cc6e83e9a56d494081b9c",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Although it would be time-consuming to approach so much information, it is not impossible to manage it effectively. As Wikileaks has demonstrated, given access to large quantities of information, it is a relatively straightforward process to start with records that are likely to prove interesting and then follow particular routes from there. In addition, governments, like all organisations, have information management systems, there would be no reason not to use the same model.\n\nAdditionally, the very skill of journalism is going beyond the executive summary to find the embarrassing fact buried away in appendix nineteen. That would still be the case under this model, it would just be easier.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "db65e38d3bc772a6d4d1e7dd8071fe5e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It is frequently useful to see the general approach of a public organisation as reflected in routine discussions. Opposition is wrong to suggest that such information would only cast a light on ideas that were never pursued anyway so they don’t matter. It would also highlight ideas that agencies wanted to pursue but felt they couldn’t because of the likely impact of public opinion, knowing such information gives useful insight into the intentions of the public agency in question.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d4f713d94dccc069709e797e465a937a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Governments have, prima facie, a different relationship with their own citizens than they have with those of other countries. In addition, as with the previous argument, extending the right of access does not, per se, require total access. The approach is also simply impractical as it would require every nation on the planet to take the same approach and to have comparable standards in terms of record keeping and data management. At present most states publish some data but the upper and lower thresholds of what is made public vary between them. To abolish the upper limit (ministerial briefing, security briefings, military contractors, etc.) would require everyone to do it, otherwise it would be deeply unsafe for any one state to act alone. The likelihood of persuading some of the world’s more unsavory or corrupt regimes to play ball seems pretty unlikely. The first of those is improbable, the latter is impossible.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4fea4045c8b6854771a433c1d46fd29a",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption It seems unlikely that total publication would save much in the way of time or money. If the data was not indexed in some way it would be absurdly difficult to navigate - and that takes time and money.\n\nThere are advantages to building a delay into systems such as this, if a piece of information genuinely justifies a news story, then it will do so at any time. If it’s only of interest in the middle of a media feeding frenzy, then it seems unlikely that it was all that important.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b3bcfa525c738e042848d9dcc690876",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption The idea that, presented with a vast mass of frequently complex data, everyone would be able to access, process and act on it in the same way is fantasy. Equally the issue of ‘who guards the guards’ that Proposition raises is a misnomer; exactly the groups mentioned are already those with the primary role of scrutinizing government actions because they have the time, interest and skills to do so. Giving a right to access would give them greater opportunities to continue with that in a way that deluging them with information would not.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "11d2f7bac64bf74b4df42e19dfe53fa5",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Relying on a right of access would also have addressed the concerns set out by Proposition but would do so in a way that would not endanger actual concerns of national security by allowing citizens the right to challenge such decisions. An independent review could determine where the motivation is genuinely one of national security and those where it is really political expediency. The right to information for citizens is important but should not jeopardize the right to life of combat troops.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9d7a80e90b11471fe5dc3a768893fe57",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Public bodies require the ability to discuss proposals freely away from public scrutiny\n\nKnowing that everything is likely to be recorded and then published is likely to be counter-productive. It seems probable that anything sensitive – such as advice given to ministers by senior officials – would either not be recorded or it would be done in a way so opaque as to make it effectively meaningless [i] .\n\nBy contrast knowing that such conversations, to focus on one particularly example, are recorded and can be subjected to public scrutiny when there is a proven need to do so ensures that genuine accountability – rather than prurience or curiosity, is likely to be both the goal and the outcome.\n\nNone of us would like the process of how we reached decisions made public as it often involves getting things wrong a few times first. However, there are some instances where it is important to know how a particular decision was reached and whether those responsible for that decision were aware of certain facts at the time – notably when public figures are claiming that they were not aware of something and others are insisting that they were. In such an instance the right to access is useful and relevant; having records of every brainstorming session in every public body is not. As the Leveson inquiry is discovering, an extraordinary amount of decisions in government seem to be made informally, by text message or chats at parties. Presumably that would become evermore the case if every formal discussion were to be published [ii] .\n\n[i] The Pitfalls of Britain’s Confidential Civil Service. Samuel Brittan. Financial Time 5 March 2010.\n\n[ii] This is nothing very new, see: Downing Street: Informal Style. BBC website. 14 July 2004.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "80e542c82e023c64f73b6a865739240e",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Considering the amount of data governments produce, compelling them to publish all of it would be counterproductive as citizens would be swamped.\n\nIt is a misnomer in many things that more is necessarily better but that is, perhaps, more true of information than of most things. Public bodies produce vast quantities of data and are often have a greater tendency to maintain copious records than their private sector equivalents. US government agencies will create data that would require “20 million four-drawer filing cabinets filled with text,” over the next two years. [i] Simply dumping this en masse would be a fairly effective way of masking any information that a public body wanted kept hidden. Deliberately poor referencing would achieve the same result. This ‘burying’ of bad news at a time when everyone is looking somewhere else is one of the oldest tricks in press management. For example Jo Moore, an aide to then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers suggested that September 11 2001 was “a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.” Suggesting burying a u turn on councillors’ expenses. [ii]\n\nFor it to genuinely help with the transparency and accountability of public agencies it would require inordinately detailed and precise cataloguing and indexing – a process that would be likely to be both time consuming and expensive. The choice would, therefore, be between a mostly useless set of data that would require complex mining by those citizens who were keen to use it or the great expense of effectively cataloguing it in advance. Even this latter option would defeat the objective of greater accountability because whoever had responsibility for the cataloguing would have far greater control of what would be likely to come to light.\n\nInstead ensuring a right of access for citizens ensures that they can have a reasonable access to exactly the piece of information they are seeking [iii] .\n\n[i] Eddy, Nathan, ‘Big Data Still a Big Challenge for Government IT’, eweek, 8th May 2012, http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Big-Data-Still-a-Big-Challenge-fo...\n\n[ii] Sparrow, Andrew, ‘September 11: ‘a good day to bury bad news’’, The Telegraph, 10 October 2001, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1358985/Sept-11-a-good-day-to-bury-bad-news.html\n\n[iii] Freedom of Information as an Internationally Protected Human Right. Toby Mendel, Head of Law at Article 19.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dee8cac711700d293b9218914332fecb",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Compelling public bodies to publish information ensures that non-citizens, minors, foreign nationals and others have access to information that affects them.\n\nGenuine transparency and accountability of government action is not only in the interests of those who also have the right to vote for that government or who support it through the payment of taxes. The functioning of immigration services would seem to be a prime example. Maximising access to information relating to government decisions by dint of its automatic publication of information relating to those decisions ensures that all those affected will have recourse to the facts behind any decision.\n\nIf, for example, a nation’s aid budget is cut or redirected, why should the citizens of the affected nation not have a right to know why [i] ? If, as is frequently the case, it has happened because of an action or inaction by their own government, then it is important that they know. Equally if such a decision were taken for electoral gain, they at least have the right to know that there is nothing they or their government could do about it.\n\n[i] Publish What You Fund: The Global Campaign For Aid Transparency. Website Introduction.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "49a5860842c98055000dd5751d43f596",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption Even the most liberal FoI regime tends to pander to certain groups in society full disclosure levels that playing field\n\nPeople have many different interests in the accountability of governments; different areas of concern, differing levels of skill in pursuing those interests and so on. They deserve, however, an equal degree of transparency from governments in relation to those decisions that affect them. Relying on a right to access is almost certainly most likely to favour those who already have the greatest access either through their profession, their skills or their social capital. The use of freedom of information requests in those countries where they are available shows this to be the case, as they have overwhelmingly been used by journalists, with a smattering of representation from researchers, other politicians and lawyers and so on. In the UK between 2005 and 2010 the total number registered by all ‘ordinary’ members of the public is just ahead of journalists, the next largest group. The public are overwhelmingly outnumbered by the listed professional groups [i] .\n\nRequired publication, by contrast, presents an even playing field to all parties. Rather than allowing legislators to determine how and to whom – and for what – they should be accountable, a presumption in favour of publication makes them accountable to all. As a result, it is the only truly effective way of ensuring one of the key aims set out in favour of any freedom of information process.\n\n[i] Who Makes FOI Requests? BBC Open Secrets Website. 14 January 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5374802042af0cfbda4884a42493e865",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption If public bodies do not have an obligation to publish information, there will always be a temptation to find any available excuses to avoid transparency.\n\nThe primary advantage of putting the duty on government to publish, rather than on citizens to enquire is that it does not require the citizen to know what they need to know before they know it. Publication en masse allows researchers to investigate areas they think are likely to produce results, specialists to follow decisions relevant to their field and, also, raises the possibility of discovering things by chance. The experience of Wikipedia suggests that even very large quantities of data are relatively easy to mine as long as all the related documentation is available to the researcher – the frustration, by contrast, comes when one has only a single datum with no way of contextualising it. Any other situation, at the very least, panders to the interests of government to find any available excuse for not publishing anything that it is likely to find embarrassing and, virtually by definition, would be of most interest to the active citizen.\n\nKnowing that accounts of discussions, records of payments, agreements with commercial bodies or other areas that might be of interest to citizens will be published with no recourse to ‘national security’ or ‘commercial sensitivity’ is likely to prevent abuses before they happen but will certainly ensure that they are discovered after the event [i] .\n\nThe publication of documents, in both Washington and London, relating to the build-up to war in Iraq is a prime example of where both governments used every available excuse to cover up the fact that that the advice they had been given showed that either they were misguided or had been deliberately lying [ii] . A presumption of publication would have prevented either of those from determining a matter of vital interest to the peoples of the UK, the US and, of course, Iraq. All three of those groups would have had access to the information were there a presumption of publication.\n\n[i] The Public’s Right To Know. Article 19 Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression.\n\n[ii] Whatreallyhappened.com has an overview of this an example of how politicians were misguided – wilfully or otherwise can be found in: Defector admits to lies that triggered the Iraq War. Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd. The Guardian. 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c4c0fdbffcf784e055898595f30aa52",
"text": "governmental transparency house believes there should be presumption A faster, cheaper and simpler process\n\nThere are cost concerned with processing FoI requests both in terms of time and cash terms. [i] To take one example Britain’s largest local authority, Birmingham, spends £800,000 a year dealing with FoI requests. [ii] There is also a delay from the point of view of the applicant. Such a delay is more than an irritant in the case of, for example, immigration appeals or journalistic investigations. Governments know that journalists usually have to operate within a window of time while a story is still ‘hot’. As a result all they have to do is wait it out until the attention of the media turns elsewhere to ensure that if evidence of misconduct or culpability were found, it would probably be buried as a minor story if not lost altogether. As journalism remains the primary method most societies have of holding government to account, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that the methodology for releasing data should, at least in part, reflect the reality of how journalism works as an industry.\n\n[i] Independent Review of the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act. Frontier Economics. October 2006.\n\n[ii] Dunton, Jim, ‘Cost of FoI requests rises to £34m’, Local Government Chronicle, 16 September 2010, http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/corporate-core/legal/cost-of-foi-requests-rises-to-34m/5019109.article\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
16fb056388e91a06f708ec10237dcf51 | Translation gives access to students to learn valuable information and develop their human capital and to become academically and economically competitive
The ability to access the wealth of knowledge being generated in the developed world would greatly impact the ability of students and budding academics in the developing world to develop their human capital and keep abreast of the most recent developments in the various fields of academic research. Lag is a serious problem in an academic world where the knowledge base is constantly developing and expanding. In many of the sciences, particularly those focused on high technology, information rapidly becomes obsolete as new developments supplant the old. The lag that occurs because developing countries' academics and professionals cannot readily access this new information results in their always being behind the curve. [1] Coupled with the fact that they possess fewer resources than their developed world counterparts, developing world institutions are locked in a constant game of catch-up they have found difficult, if not impossible, to break free of. By subsidizing this translation effort, students in these countries are able to learn with the most up-to-date information, academics are able to work with and build upon the most relevant areas of research, and professionals can keep with the curve of knowledge to remain competitive in an ever more global marketplace. An example of what can happen to a country cut off from the global stream of knowledge can be found in the Soviet Union. For decades Soviet academics were cut off from the rest of the world, and the result was a significant stunting of their academic development. [2] This translation would be a major boon for all the academic and professional bodies in developing countries.
[1] Hide, W., ‘I Can No Longer Work for a System that Puts Profit Over Access to Research’, The Guardian. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/may/16/system-profit-access-research
[2] Shuster, S. “Putin’s PhD: Can a Plagiarism Probe Upend Russian Politics?”. Time. 28 February 2013, http://world.time.com/2013/02/28/putins-phd-can-a-plagiarism-probe-upend-russian-politics/
| [
{
"docid": "4c846cdea0bf59e97a545be2d0ab3d84",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation While the world is globalizing, it is still in the interest of states to retain their relative competitive advantages. After all, the first duty of a state is to its own citizens. By translating these works and offering them to academics, students, and professionals, the developed world serves to erode one of its only advantages over the cheaper labour and industrial production markets of the developing world. The developed world relies on its advantage in technology particularly to maintain its position in the world and to have a competitive edge. Giving that edge up, which giving access to their information more readily does, is to increase the pace at which the developed world will be outmatched.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "0c49889ce8ba7f23e6ff1dfea5ef7595",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation This translation effort does not pave the future with gold. Intellectual property law still persists and these countries would still be forced to deal with the technologies' originators in the developed world. By instead striving to engage on an even footing without special provisions and charity of translation, developing countries' academics can more effectively win the respect and cooperation of their developed world counterparts. In so doing they gain greater access to, and participation in, the developments of the more technologically advanced countries. They should strive to do so as equals, not supplicants.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1b1b7d55f5bc79eb8a1818c31b02aae1",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translating academic work for the developed world will not succeed in creating a dialogue between developed and developing world because the effort is inherently unidirectional. The developing world academics will be able to use the translated work, but will lack the ability to respond in a way that could be readily understood or accepted by their developed world counterparts. The only way to become a truly respected academic community is to engage with the global academic world on an even footing, even if that means devoting more resources to learning the dominant global academic languages, particularly English. This is what is currently happening and is what should be the trend for the future. [1] So long as they rely on subsidized work, the academics of the developing world remain subject and subordinate to those of the developed world.\n\n[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "956c98f5c9ec565db9ece90cf7f6f3a8",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation If it is true that people cannot easily get jobs in the developed world for lack of language skills then there will surely still be a pressure to learn the language or languages of international discourse. What this policy offers is access by a much wider audience to the various benefits that expanded academic knowledge can offer. It will expand the developing world's knowledge base and not in any way diminish the desire to learn English and other dominant languages. It should be remembered that it is not just academics that use academic papers; students do as well, as do professionals in everyday life. Clearly there cannot be an expectation that everyone learns English to be able to access research. While there may be fewer languages in academic use there is not such a narrowing of language for everyone else.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "16efcd00866bb8d1e7950c0d22bc72c9",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation In the status quo there is already some translation, due largely to current demands and academic relationships. Even if translation of all academic work the world over could not be translated into every conceivable language, expanding the number of articles and number of languages is certainly a good thing. While cost will limit the extent of the policy, it is still worth pursuing to further open the world of academic discourse.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26ac54ae6e3e0873301df13a93158c4d",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Wealthy states do feel an obligation to less fortunate countries, as is demonstrated through their frequent use of aid and loans to poorer governments. This is a way to help countries stop being dependent on aid and hand-outs and instead develop their own human capital and livelihood by being able to engage with the cutting edge of technology and research.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4fbddd53be7724179ec85ac7b682cb04",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation expands the knowledge base of citizens to help solve local problems\n\nIt is often the case that science and technology produced in the developed world finds its greatest application in the developing world. Sometimes new developments are meant for such use, as was the case with Norman Borlaug's engineering of dwarf wheat in order to end the Indian food crisis. Other times it is serendipitous, as academic work not meant of practical use, or tools that could not be best applied in developed world economies find ready application elsewhere, as citizens of the developing world turn the technologies to their needs. [1] By translating academic journals into the languages of developing countries, academics and governments can open a gold mine of ideas and innovation. The developing world still mostly lacks the infrastructure for large scale research and relies heavily on research produced in the developed world for its sustenance. Having access to the body of academic literature makes these countries less dependent on the academic mainstream, or to the few who can translate the work themselves. Having access to this research allows developing countries to study work done in the developed world and look at how the advances may be applicable to them. The more people are able to engage in this study the more likely it is that other uses for the research will be found.\n\n[1] Global Health Innovation Blog. ‘The East Meets West Foundation: Expanding Organizational Capacity”. Stanford Graduate School of Business. 18 October 2012, http://stanfordglobalhealth.com/2012/10/18/the-east-meets-west-foundation-expanding-organizational-capacity/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1c87c3daff7292c3926b96a3a55d8958",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation allows greater participation by academics in global academia and global marketplace of ideas\n\nCommunication in academia is necessary to effectively engage with the work of their colleagues elsewhere in the world, and in sciences in particular there has become a lingua franca in English. [1] Any academic without the language is at a severe disadvantage. Institutions and governments of the Global North have the resources and wherewithal to translate any research that might strike their fancy. The same is not true for states and universities in the Global South which have far more limited financial and human capital resources. By subsidizing the translation of academic literature into the languages of developing countries the developed world can expand the reach and impact of its institutions' research. Enabling access to all the best academic research in multiple languages will mean greater cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge. Newton is supposed to have said we “stand upon the shoulders of giants” as all ideas are ultimately built upon a foundation of past work. [2] Language is often a barrier to understanding so translation helps to broaden the shoulders upon which academics stand.\n\nBy subsidizing the publication of their work into other significant languages, institutions can have a powerful impact on improving their own reputation and academic impact. Academic rankings such as the rankings by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, [3] and the Times Higher Education magazine [4] include research and paper citations as part of the criteria. Just as importantly it opens the door to an improved free flowing dialogue between academics around the world. This is particularly important today as the developing world becomes a centre of economic and scientific development. [5] This translation project will serve to aid in the development of relations between research institutes, such as in the case of American institutions developing partnerships with Chinese and Indian universities.\n\n[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/\n\n[2] Yong, Ed, ‘Why humans stand on giant shoulders, but chimps and monkeys don’t’, Discover, 1 March 2012, http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/03/01/why-humans-stand-on-giant-shoulders-but-chimps-and-monkeys-dont/#.UaYm_7XVB8E\n\n[3] ‘Ranking Methodology’, Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2012, http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU-Methodology-2012.html\n\n[4] Baty, Phil, ‘World University Rankings subject tables: Robust, transparent and sophisticated’, Times Higher Education, 16 September 2010, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-11/world-ranking/analysis/methodology\n\n[5] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2ca0142ea8d81268f61339a60767249c",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation The West has no particular obligation to undergo such a sweeping policy\n\nGovernments and academic institutions have no special duty to give full access to all information that they generate and publish in academic journals to anyone who might want it. If they want to make their research public that is their prerogative, but it does not follow that they should then be expected to translate that work into an endless stream of different languages. If there is a desire by governments and institutions to aid in the academic development of the developing world, there are other ways to go about it than indiscriminately publishing their results and research into developing world languages. Taking on promising students through scholarships, or developing strategic partnerships with institutions in the global south are more targeted, less piecemeal means of sharing the body of global knowledge for example the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences funds junior scientists from the developing world working in their labs. [1] States owe their first duty to their own citizens, and when the research they produce is not only made available to citizens of other countries but translated at some expense, they are not serving that duty well. It will prove to be a fairly ineffective education policy.\n\n[1] ‘Building Research Capacity in Developing Nations’, Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol 114, No. 10, October 2006, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1626416/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a1253927c30c0be8e596c6ee039274bc",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation It is better to have fewer languages in common use in global academic and economic interrelations\n\nA proliferation of languages in academia will serve to fracture the interrelations of academics, not unify them. As more and more academics and innovators interested in new academic developments find it possible to obtain information wholly in their native languages, then the impetus toward unification in a primary language of academia and commerce will be slowed or entirely thwarted. Through history there have been movements toward this sort of linguistic unity, because it reduces the physical and temporal costs of information exchange; for example scholars throughout Early Modern Europe communicated in Latin. [1] This policy serves only to dampen this movement, which will, even if helpful to people in the short-run, serve to limit the capacity of developing world academics to engage with the developed world. Today English has become the definitive language of both international academic discourse and commerce. In France for example, a country known for its protective stance towards its language, journals have been changing to publishing in English rather than French; the journal Research in Virology changed in 1989 as almost 100% of their articles were submitted in English compared to only 15% in 1973. [2]\n\nThe trend towards one language is a positive one, because it has meant more movers and shakers in various countries have all been able to better and more quickly understand one another's desires and actions leading to more profitable and peaceful outcomes generally. [3] Also important is the fact that while academics and other interested parties in the developing world may be able to grapple with academic work more effectively once translated for them, they now have a greater disadvantage due to the enervating effects this translation produces. Without the positive impetus to learn the major language or languages of international discourse, developing world academics will never be able to get posts and lectureships at institutions in the developed world, or to take part in joint research in real time. The convergence of language ultimately serves to promote common understanding, which means people from the developing world can more effectively move between their home country and others. It also helps build a common lexicon of terms that will be more robust for international use, as opposed to translations, which are often imperfect due to divergences of linguistic concepts and thus susceptible to mistake.\n\n[1] Koenigsberger, H. G., Mosse, George L., and Bowler, G. Q., Europe in the Sixteenth Century, London, 2nd Edn, 1989, p.377\n\n[2] Garfield, Eugene, ‘The English Language: The Lingua Franca Of International Science’, The Ceisntist, 15 May 1989, http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/10374/title/The-English-Language--The-Lingua-Franca-Of-International-Science/\n\n[3] Bakopoulos, D. ‘English as Universal Academic Language: Good or Bad?’. The University Record, 1997, Available: http://www.ur.umich.edu/9697/Jan28_97/artcl18.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d764921b59e71f2071d62c9b43679996",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation It is prohibitively expensive to translate everything and difficult to prioritize what to translate\n\nUltimately any policy of translation of academic work must rely on a degree of prioritization on the part of the translators since there is no way that all academic work of any kind could be translated into other major languages, let alone into all the multitude of languages extant in the world today. In 2009, for example, the number of published research papers on science and technology exceeded 700,000. [1] That is a gigantic amount of research. Translating all of these articles seems to be an obvious waste of time and resources for any government or institution to pursue and increasingly so when one considers the more than 30,000 languages in current use today. Translations today currently exist for articles and research that is considered useful. Any blanket policy is infeasible. The end result will be only a small number of articles translated into a finite number of languages. This is the status quo. Expanding it only serves to further confuse the academic community and to divert useful energies away from positive research to the quixotic task of translation.\n\n[1] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
caba553454c22a8b84dea4a0ae902186 | Translation expands the knowledge base of citizens to help solve local problems
It is often the case that science and technology produced in the developed world finds its greatest application in the developing world. Sometimes new developments are meant for such use, as was the case with Norman Borlaug's engineering of dwarf wheat in order to end the Indian food crisis. Other times it is serendipitous, as academic work not meant of practical use, or tools that could not be best applied in developed world economies find ready application elsewhere, as citizens of the developing world turn the technologies to their needs. [1] By translating academic journals into the languages of developing countries, academics and governments can open a gold mine of ideas and innovation. The developing world still mostly lacks the infrastructure for large scale research and relies heavily on research produced in the developed world for its sustenance. Having access to the body of academic literature makes these countries less dependent on the academic mainstream, or to the few who can translate the work themselves. Having access to this research allows developing countries to study work done in the developed world and look at how the advances may be applicable to them. The more people are able to engage in this study the more likely it is that other uses for the research will be found.
[1] Global Health Innovation Blog. ‘The East Meets West Foundation: Expanding Organizational Capacity”. Stanford Graduate School of Business. 18 October 2012, http://stanfordglobalhealth.com/2012/10/18/the-east-meets-west-foundation-expanding-organizational-capacity/
| [
{
"docid": "0c49889ce8ba7f23e6ff1dfea5ef7595",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation This translation effort does not pave the future with gold. Intellectual property law still persists and these countries would still be forced to deal with the technologies' originators in the developed world. By instead striving to engage on an even footing without special provisions and charity of translation, developing countries' academics can more effectively win the respect and cooperation of their developed world counterparts. In so doing they gain greater access to, and participation in, the developments of the more technologically advanced countries. They should strive to do so as equals, not supplicants.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "4c846cdea0bf59e97a545be2d0ab3d84",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation While the world is globalizing, it is still in the interest of states to retain their relative competitive advantages. After all, the first duty of a state is to its own citizens. By translating these works and offering them to academics, students, and professionals, the developed world serves to erode one of its only advantages over the cheaper labour and industrial production markets of the developing world. The developed world relies on its advantage in technology particularly to maintain its position in the world and to have a competitive edge. Giving that edge up, which giving access to their information more readily does, is to increase the pace at which the developed world will be outmatched.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1b1b7d55f5bc79eb8a1818c31b02aae1",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translating academic work for the developed world will not succeed in creating a dialogue between developed and developing world because the effort is inherently unidirectional. The developing world academics will be able to use the translated work, but will lack the ability to respond in a way that could be readily understood or accepted by their developed world counterparts. The only way to become a truly respected academic community is to engage with the global academic world on an even footing, even if that means devoting more resources to learning the dominant global academic languages, particularly English. This is what is currently happening and is what should be the trend for the future. [1] So long as they rely on subsidized work, the academics of the developing world remain subject and subordinate to those of the developed world.\n\n[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "956c98f5c9ec565db9ece90cf7f6f3a8",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation If it is true that people cannot easily get jobs in the developed world for lack of language skills then there will surely still be a pressure to learn the language or languages of international discourse. What this policy offers is access by a much wider audience to the various benefits that expanded academic knowledge can offer. It will expand the developing world's knowledge base and not in any way diminish the desire to learn English and other dominant languages. It should be remembered that it is not just academics that use academic papers; students do as well, as do professionals in everyday life. Clearly there cannot be an expectation that everyone learns English to be able to access research. While there may be fewer languages in academic use there is not such a narrowing of language for everyone else.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "16efcd00866bb8d1e7950c0d22bc72c9",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation In the status quo there is already some translation, due largely to current demands and academic relationships. Even if translation of all academic work the world over could not be translated into every conceivable language, expanding the number of articles and number of languages is certainly a good thing. While cost will limit the extent of the policy, it is still worth pursuing to further open the world of academic discourse.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26ac54ae6e3e0873301df13a93158c4d",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Wealthy states do feel an obligation to less fortunate countries, as is demonstrated through their frequent use of aid and loans to poorer governments. This is a way to help countries stop being dependent on aid and hand-outs and instead develop their own human capital and livelihood by being able to engage with the cutting edge of technology and research.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b742e8e3be110f480f76583c8e45ac70",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation gives access to students to learn valuable information and develop their human capital and to become academically and economically competitive\n\nThe ability to access the wealth of knowledge being generated in the developed world would greatly impact the ability of students and budding academics in the developing world to develop their human capital and keep abreast of the most recent developments in the various fields of academic research. Lag is a serious problem in an academic world where the knowledge base is constantly developing and expanding. In many of the sciences, particularly those focused on high technology, information rapidly becomes obsolete as new developments supplant the old. The lag that occurs because developing countries' academics and professionals cannot readily access this new information results in their always being behind the curve. [1] Coupled with the fact that they possess fewer resources than their developed world counterparts, developing world institutions are locked in a constant game of catch-up they have found difficult, if not impossible, to break free of. By subsidizing this translation effort, students in these countries are able to learn with the most up-to-date information, academics are able to work with and build upon the most relevant areas of research, and professionals can keep with the curve of knowledge to remain competitive in an ever more global marketplace. An example of what can happen to a country cut off from the global stream of knowledge can be found in the Soviet Union. For decades Soviet academics were cut off from the rest of the world, and the result was a significant stunting of their academic development. [2] This translation would be a major boon for all the academic and professional bodies in developing countries.\n\n[1] Hide, W., ‘I Can No Longer Work for a System that Puts Profit Over Access to Research’, The Guardian. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/may/16/system-profit-access-research\n\n[2] Shuster, S. “Putin’s PhD: Can a Plagiarism Probe Upend Russian Politics?”. Time. 28 February 2013, http://world.time.com/2013/02/28/putins-phd-can-a-plagiarism-probe-upend-russian-politics/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1c87c3daff7292c3926b96a3a55d8958",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation allows greater participation by academics in global academia and global marketplace of ideas\n\nCommunication in academia is necessary to effectively engage with the work of their colleagues elsewhere in the world, and in sciences in particular there has become a lingua franca in English. [1] Any academic without the language is at a severe disadvantage. Institutions and governments of the Global North have the resources and wherewithal to translate any research that might strike their fancy. The same is not true for states and universities in the Global South which have far more limited financial and human capital resources. By subsidizing the translation of academic literature into the languages of developing countries the developed world can expand the reach and impact of its institutions' research. Enabling access to all the best academic research in multiple languages will mean greater cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge. Newton is supposed to have said we “stand upon the shoulders of giants” as all ideas are ultimately built upon a foundation of past work. [2] Language is often a barrier to understanding so translation helps to broaden the shoulders upon which academics stand.\n\nBy subsidizing the publication of their work into other significant languages, institutions can have a powerful impact on improving their own reputation and academic impact. Academic rankings such as the rankings by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, [3] and the Times Higher Education magazine [4] include research and paper citations as part of the criteria. Just as importantly it opens the door to an improved free flowing dialogue between academics around the world. This is particularly important today as the developing world becomes a centre of economic and scientific development. [5] This translation project will serve to aid in the development of relations between research institutes, such as in the case of American institutions developing partnerships with Chinese and Indian universities.\n\n[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/\n\n[2] Yong, Ed, ‘Why humans stand on giant shoulders, but chimps and monkeys don’t’, Discover, 1 March 2012, http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/03/01/why-humans-stand-on-giant-shoulders-but-chimps-and-monkeys-dont/#.UaYm_7XVB8E\n\n[3] ‘Ranking Methodology’, Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2012, http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU-Methodology-2012.html\n\n[4] Baty, Phil, ‘World University Rankings subject tables: Robust, transparent and sophisticated’, Times Higher Education, 16 September 2010, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-11/world-ranking/analysis/methodology\n\n[5] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2ca0142ea8d81268f61339a60767249c",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation The West has no particular obligation to undergo such a sweeping policy\n\nGovernments and academic institutions have no special duty to give full access to all information that they generate and publish in academic journals to anyone who might want it. If they want to make their research public that is their prerogative, but it does not follow that they should then be expected to translate that work into an endless stream of different languages. If there is a desire by governments and institutions to aid in the academic development of the developing world, there are other ways to go about it than indiscriminately publishing their results and research into developing world languages. Taking on promising students through scholarships, or developing strategic partnerships with institutions in the global south are more targeted, less piecemeal means of sharing the body of global knowledge for example the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences funds junior scientists from the developing world working in their labs. [1] States owe their first duty to their own citizens, and when the research they produce is not only made available to citizens of other countries but translated at some expense, they are not serving that duty well. It will prove to be a fairly ineffective education policy.\n\n[1] ‘Building Research Capacity in Developing Nations’, Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol 114, No. 10, October 2006, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1626416/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a1253927c30c0be8e596c6ee039274bc",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation It is better to have fewer languages in common use in global academic and economic interrelations\n\nA proliferation of languages in academia will serve to fracture the interrelations of academics, not unify them. As more and more academics and innovators interested in new academic developments find it possible to obtain information wholly in their native languages, then the impetus toward unification in a primary language of academia and commerce will be slowed or entirely thwarted. Through history there have been movements toward this sort of linguistic unity, because it reduces the physical and temporal costs of information exchange; for example scholars throughout Early Modern Europe communicated in Latin. [1] This policy serves only to dampen this movement, which will, even if helpful to people in the short-run, serve to limit the capacity of developing world academics to engage with the developed world. Today English has become the definitive language of both international academic discourse and commerce. In France for example, a country known for its protective stance towards its language, journals have been changing to publishing in English rather than French; the journal Research in Virology changed in 1989 as almost 100% of their articles were submitted in English compared to only 15% in 1973. [2]\n\nThe trend towards one language is a positive one, because it has meant more movers and shakers in various countries have all been able to better and more quickly understand one another's desires and actions leading to more profitable and peaceful outcomes generally. [3] Also important is the fact that while academics and other interested parties in the developing world may be able to grapple with academic work more effectively once translated for them, they now have a greater disadvantage due to the enervating effects this translation produces. Without the positive impetus to learn the major language or languages of international discourse, developing world academics will never be able to get posts and lectureships at institutions in the developed world, or to take part in joint research in real time. The convergence of language ultimately serves to promote common understanding, which means people from the developing world can more effectively move between their home country and others. It also helps build a common lexicon of terms that will be more robust for international use, as opposed to translations, which are often imperfect due to divergences of linguistic concepts and thus susceptible to mistake.\n\n[1] Koenigsberger, H. G., Mosse, George L., and Bowler, G. Q., Europe in the Sixteenth Century, London, 2nd Edn, 1989, p.377\n\n[2] Garfield, Eugene, ‘The English Language: The Lingua Franca Of International Science’, The Ceisntist, 15 May 1989, http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/10374/title/The-English-Language--The-Lingua-Franca-Of-International-Science/\n\n[3] Bakopoulos, D. ‘English as Universal Academic Language: Good or Bad?’. The University Record, 1997, Available: http://www.ur.umich.edu/9697/Jan28_97/artcl18.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d764921b59e71f2071d62c9b43679996",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation It is prohibitively expensive to translate everything and difficult to prioritize what to translate\n\nUltimately any policy of translation of academic work must rely on a degree of prioritization on the part of the translators since there is no way that all academic work of any kind could be translated into other major languages, let alone into all the multitude of languages extant in the world today. In 2009, for example, the number of published research papers on science and technology exceeded 700,000. [1] That is a gigantic amount of research. Translating all of these articles seems to be an obvious waste of time and resources for any government or institution to pursue and increasingly so when one considers the more than 30,000 languages in current use today. Translations today currently exist for articles and research that is considered useful. Any blanket policy is infeasible. The end result will be only a small number of articles translated into a finite number of languages. This is the status quo. Expanding it only serves to further confuse the academic community and to divert useful energies away from positive research to the quixotic task of translation.\n\n[1] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
f526b9570c8adaa8e50f460497363960 | Translation allows greater participation by academics in global academia and global marketplace of ideas
Communication in academia is necessary to effectively engage with the work of their colleagues elsewhere in the world, and in sciences in particular there has become a lingua franca in English. [1] Any academic without the language is at a severe disadvantage. Institutions and governments of the Global North have the resources and wherewithal to translate any research that might strike their fancy. The same is not true for states and universities in the Global South which have far more limited financial and human capital resources. By subsidizing the translation of academic literature into the languages of developing countries the developed world can expand the reach and impact of its institutions' research. Enabling access to all the best academic research in multiple languages will mean greater cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge. Newton is supposed to have said we “stand upon the shoulders of giants” as all ideas are ultimately built upon a foundation of past work. [2] Language is often a barrier to understanding so translation helps to broaden the shoulders upon which academics stand.
By subsidizing the publication of their work into other significant languages, institutions can have a powerful impact on improving their own reputation and academic impact. Academic rankings such as the rankings by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, [3] and the Times Higher Education magazine [4] include research and paper citations as part of the criteria. Just as importantly it opens the door to an improved free flowing dialogue between academics around the world. This is particularly important today as the developing world becomes a centre of economic and scientific development. [5] This translation project will serve to aid in the development of relations between research institutes, such as in the case of American institutions developing partnerships with Chinese and Indian universities.
[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/
[2] Yong, Ed, ‘Why humans stand on giant shoulders, but chimps and monkeys don’t’, Discover, 1 March 2012, http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/03/01/why-humans-stand-on-giant-shoulders-but-chimps-and-monkeys-dont/#.UaYm_7XVB8E
[3] ‘Ranking Methodology’, Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2012, http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU-Methodology-2012.html
[4] Baty, Phil, ‘World University Rankings subject tables: Robust, transparent and sophisticated’, Times Higher Education, 16 September 2010, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-11/world-ranking/analysis/methodology
[5] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm
| [
{
"docid": "1b1b7d55f5bc79eb8a1818c31b02aae1",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translating academic work for the developed world will not succeed in creating a dialogue between developed and developing world because the effort is inherently unidirectional. The developing world academics will be able to use the translated work, but will lack the ability to respond in a way that could be readily understood or accepted by their developed world counterparts. The only way to become a truly respected academic community is to engage with the global academic world on an even footing, even if that means devoting more resources to learning the dominant global academic languages, particularly English. This is what is currently happening and is what should be the trend for the future. [1] So long as they rely on subsidized work, the academics of the developing world remain subject and subordinate to those of the developed world.\n\n[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "4c846cdea0bf59e97a545be2d0ab3d84",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation While the world is globalizing, it is still in the interest of states to retain their relative competitive advantages. After all, the first duty of a state is to its own citizens. By translating these works and offering them to academics, students, and professionals, the developed world serves to erode one of its only advantages over the cheaper labour and industrial production markets of the developing world. The developed world relies on its advantage in technology particularly to maintain its position in the world and to have a competitive edge. Giving that edge up, which giving access to their information more readily does, is to increase the pace at which the developed world will be outmatched.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0c49889ce8ba7f23e6ff1dfea5ef7595",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation This translation effort does not pave the future with gold. Intellectual property law still persists and these countries would still be forced to deal with the technologies' originators in the developed world. By instead striving to engage on an even footing without special provisions and charity of translation, developing countries' academics can more effectively win the respect and cooperation of their developed world counterparts. In so doing they gain greater access to, and participation in, the developments of the more technologically advanced countries. They should strive to do so as equals, not supplicants.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "956c98f5c9ec565db9ece90cf7f6f3a8",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation If it is true that people cannot easily get jobs in the developed world for lack of language skills then there will surely still be a pressure to learn the language or languages of international discourse. What this policy offers is access by a much wider audience to the various benefits that expanded academic knowledge can offer. It will expand the developing world's knowledge base and not in any way diminish the desire to learn English and other dominant languages. It should be remembered that it is not just academics that use academic papers; students do as well, as do professionals in everyday life. Clearly there cannot be an expectation that everyone learns English to be able to access research. While there may be fewer languages in academic use there is not such a narrowing of language for everyone else.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "16efcd00866bb8d1e7950c0d22bc72c9",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation In the status quo there is already some translation, due largely to current demands and academic relationships. Even if translation of all academic work the world over could not be translated into every conceivable language, expanding the number of articles and number of languages is certainly a good thing. While cost will limit the extent of the policy, it is still worth pursuing to further open the world of academic discourse.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26ac54ae6e3e0873301df13a93158c4d",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Wealthy states do feel an obligation to less fortunate countries, as is demonstrated through their frequent use of aid and loans to poorer governments. This is a way to help countries stop being dependent on aid and hand-outs and instead develop their own human capital and livelihood by being able to engage with the cutting edge of technology and research.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b742e8e3be110f480f76583c8e45ac70",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation gives access to students to learn valuable information and develop their human capital and to become academically and economically competitive\n\nThe ability to access the wealth of knowledge being generated in the developed world would greatly impact the ability of students and budding academics in the developing world to develop their human capital and keep abreast of the most recent developments in the various fields of academic research. Lag is a serious problem in an academic world where the knowledge base is constantly developing and expanding. In many of the sciences, particularly those focused on high technology, information rapidly becomes obsolete as new developments supplant the old. The lag that occurs because developing countries' academics and professionals cannot readily access this new information results in their always being behind the curve. [1] Coupled with the fact that they possess fewer resources than their developed world counterparts, developing world institutions are locked in a constant game of catch-up they have found difficult, if not impossible, to break free of. By subsidizing this translation effort, students in these countries are able to learn with the most up-to-date information, academics are able to work with and build upon the most relevant areas of research, and professionals can keep with the curve of knowledge to remain competitive in an ever more global marketplace. An example of what can happen to a country cut off from the global stream of knowledge can be found in the Soviet Union. For decades Soviet academics were cut off from the rest of the world, and the result was a significant stunting of their academic development. [2] This translation would be a major boon for all the academic and professional bodies in developing countries.\n\n[1] Hide, W., ‘I Can No Longer Work for a System that Puts Profit Over Access to Research’, The Guardian. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/may/16/system-profit-access-research\n\n[2] Shuster, S. “Putin’s PhD: Can a Plagiarism Probe Upend Russian Politics?”. Time. 28 February 2013, http://world.time.com/2013/02/28/putins-phd-can-a-plagiarism-probe-upend-russian-politics/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4fbddd53be7724179ec85ac7b682cb04",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation expands the knowledge base of citizens to help solve local problems\n\nIt is often the case that science and technology produced in the developed world finds its greatest application in the developing world. Sometimes new developments are meant for such use, as was the case with Norman Borlaug's engineering of dwarf wheat in order to end the Indian food crisis. Other times it is serendipitous, as academic work not meant of practical use, or tools that could not be best applied in developed world economies find ready application elsewhere, as citizens of the developing world turn the technologies to their needs. [1] By translating academic journals into the languages of developing countries, academics and governments can open a gold mine of ideas and innovation. The developing world still mostly lacks the infrastructure for large scale research and relies heavily on research produced in the developed world for its sustenance. Having access to the body of academic literature makes these countries less dependent on the academic mainstream, or to the few who can translate the work themselves. Having access to this research allows developing countries to study work done in the developed world and look at how the advances may be applicable to them. The more people are able to engage in this study the more likely it is that other uses for the research will be found.\n\n[1] Global Health Innovation Blog. ‘The East Meets West Foundation: Expanding Organizational Capacity”. Stanford Graduate School of Business. 18 October 2012, http://stanfordglobalhealth.com/2012/10/18/the-east-meets-west-foundation-expanding-organizational-capacity/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2ca0142ea8d81268f61339a60767249c",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation The West has no particular obligation to undergo such a sweeping policy\n\nGovernments and academic institutions have no special duty to give full access to all information that they generate and publish in academic journals to anyone who might want it. If they want to make their research public that is their prerogative, but it does not follow that they should then be expected to translate that work into an endless stream of different languages. If there is a desire by governments and institutions to aid in the academic development of the developing world, there are other ways to go about it than indiscriminately publishing their results and research into developing world languages. Taking on promising students through scholarships, or developing strategic partnerships with institutions in the global south are more targeted, less piecemeal means of sharing the body of global knowledge for example the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences funds junior scientists from the developing world working in their labs. [1] States owe their first duty to their own citizens, and when the research they produce is not only made available to citizens of other countries but translated at some expense, they are not serving that duty well. It will prove to be a fairly ineffective education policy.\n\n[1] ‘Building Research Capacity in Developing Nations’, Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol 114, No. 10, October 2006, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1626416/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a1253927c30c0be8e596c6ee039274bc",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation It is better to have fewer languages in common use in global academic and economic interrelations\n\nA proliferation of languages in academia will serve to fracture the interrelations of academics, not unify them. As more and more academics and innovators interested in new academic developments find it possible to obtain information wholly in their native languages, then the impetus toward unification in a primary language of academia and commerce will be slowed or entirely thwarted. Through history there have been movements toward this sort of linguistic unity, because it reduces the physical and temporal costs of information exchange; for example scholars throughout Early Modern Europe communicated in Latin. [1] This policy serves only to dampen this movement, which will, even if helpful to people in the short-run, serve to limit the capacity of developing world academics to engage with the developed world. Today English has become the definitive language of both international academic discourse and commerce. In France for example, a country known for its protective stance towards its language, journals have been changing to publishing in English rather than French; the journal Research in Virology changed in 1989 as almost 100% of their articles were submitted in English compared to only 15% in 1973. [2]\n\nThe trend towards one language is a positive one, because it has meant more movers and shakers in various countries have all been able to better and more quickly understand one another's desires and actions leading to more profitable and peaceful outcomes generally. [3] Also important is the fact that while academics and other interested parties in the developing world may be able to grapple with academic work more effectively once translated for them, they now have a greater disadvantage due to the enervating effects this translation produces. Without the positive impetus to learn the major language or languages of international discourse, developing world academics will never be able to get posts and lectureships at institutions in the developed world, or to take part in joint research in real time. The convergence of language ultimately serves to promote common understanding, which means people from the developing world can more effectively move between their home country and others. It also helps build a common lexicon of terms that will be more robust for international use, as opposed to translations, which are often imperfect due to divergences of linguistic concepts and thus susceptible to mistake.\n\n[1] Koenigsberger, H. G., Mosse, George L., and Bowler, G. Q., Europe in the Sixteenth Century, London, 2nd Edn, 1989, p.377\n\n[2] Garfield, Eugene, ‘The English Language: The Lingua Franca Of International Science’, The Ceisntist, 15 May 1989, http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/10374/title/The-English-Language--The-Lingua-Franca-Of-International-Science/\n\n[3] Bakopoulos, D. ‘English as Universal Academic Language: Good or Bad?’. The University Record, 1997, Available: http://www.ur.umich.edu/9697/Jan28_97/artcl18.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d764921b59e71f2071d62c9b43679996",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation It is prohibitively expensive to translate everything and difficult to prioritize what to translate\n\nUltimately any policy of translation of academic work must rely on a degree of prioritization on the part of the translators since there is no way that all academic work of any kind could be translated into other major languages, let alone into all the multitude of languages extant in the world today. In 2009, for example, the number of published research papers on science and technology exceeded 700,000. [1] That is a gigantic amount of research. Translating all of these articles seems to be an obvious waste of time and resources for any government or institution to pursue and increasingly so when one considers the more than 30,000 languages in current use today. Translations today currently exist for articles and research that is considered useful. Any blanket policy is infeasible. The end result will be only a small number of articles translated into a finite number of languages. This is the status quo. Expanding it only serves to further confuse the academic community and to divert useful energies away from positive research to the quixotic task of translation.\n\n[1] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
9b9f7607a6617d8ed078608f0b9e2337 | The West has no particular obligation to undergo such a sweeping policy
Governments and academic institutions have no special duty to give full access to all information that they generate and publish in academic journals to anyone who might want it. If they want to make their research public that is their prerogative, but it does not follow that they should then be expected to translate that work into an endless stream of different languages. If there is a desire by governments and institutions to aid in the academic development of the developing world, there are other ways to go about it than indiscriminately publishing their results and research into developing world languages. Taking on promising students through scholarships, or developing strategic partnerships with institutions in the global south are more targeted, less piecemeal means of sharing the body of global knowledge for example the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences funds junior scientists from the developing world working in their labs. [1] States owe their first duty to their own citizens, and when the research they produce is not only made available to citizens of other countries but translated at some expense, they are not serving that duty well. It will prove to be a fairly ineffective education policy.
[1] ‘Building Research Capacity in Developing Nations’, Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol 114, No. 10, October 2006, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1626416/
| [
{
"docid": "26ac54ae6e3e0873301df13a93158c4d",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Wealthy states do feel an obligation to less fortunate countries, as is demonstrated through their frequent use of aid and loans to poorer governments. This is a way to help countries stop being dependent on aid and hand-outs and instead develop their own human capital and livelihood by being able to engage with the cutting edge of technology and research.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "956c98f5c9ec565db9ece90cf7f6f3a8",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation If it is true that people cannot easily get jobs in the developed world for lack of language skills then there will surely still be a pressure to learn the language or languages of international discourse. What this policy offers is access by a much wider audience to the various benefits that expanded academic knowledge can offer. It will expand the developing world's knowledge base and not in any way diminish the desire to learn English and other dominant languages. It should be remembered that it is not just academics that use academic papers; students do as well, as do professionals in everyday life. Clearly there cannot be an expectation that everyone learns English to be able to access research. While there may be fewer languages in academic use there is not such a narrowing of language for everyone else.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "16efcd00866bb8d1e7950c0d22bc72c9",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation In the status quo there is already some translation, due largely to current demands and academic relationships. Even if translation of all academic work the world over could not be translated into every conceivable language, expanding the number of articles and number of languages is certainly a good thing. While cost will limit the extent of the policy, it is still worth pursuing to further open the world of academic discourse.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4c846cdea0bf59e97a545be2d0ab3d84",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation While the world is globalizing, it is still in the interest of states to retain their relative competitive advantages. After all, the first duty of a state is to its own citizens. By translating these works and offering them to academics, students, and professionals, the developed world serves to erode one of its only advantages over the cheaper labour and industrial production markets of the developing world. The developed world relies on its advantage in technology particularly to maintain its position in the world and to have a competitive edge. Giving that edge up, which giving access to their information more readily does, is to increase the pace at which the developed world will be outmatched.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0c49889ce8ba7f23e6ff1dfea5ef7595",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation This translation effort does not pave the future with gold. Intellectual property law still persists and these countries would still be forced to deal with the technologies' originators in the developed world. By instead striving to engage on an even footing without special provisions and charity of translation, developing countries' academics can more effectively win the respect and cooperation of their developed world counterparts. In so doing they gain greater access to, and participation in, the developments of the more technologically advanced countries. They should strive to do so as equals, not supplicants.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1b1b7d55f5bc79eb8a1818c31b02aae1",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translating academic work for the developed world will not succeed in creating a dialogue between developed and developing world because the effort is inherently unidirectional. The developing world academics will be able to use the translated work, but will lack the ability to respond in a way that could be readily understood or accepted by their developed world counterparts. The only way to become a truly respected academic community is to engage with the global academic world on an even footing, even if that means devoting more resources to learning the dominant global academic languages, particularly English. This is what is currently happening and is what should be the trend for the future. [1] So long as they rely on subsidized work, the academics of the developing world remain subject and subordinate to those of the developed world.\n\n[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a1253927c30c0be8e596c6ee039274bc",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation It is better to have fewer languages in common use in global academic and economic interrelations\n\nA proliferation of languages in academia will serve to fracture the interrelations of academics, not unify them. As more and more academics and innovators interested in new academic developments find it possible to obtain information wholly in their native languages, then the impetus toward unification in a primary language of academia and commerce will be slowed or entirely thwarted. Through history there have been movements toward this sort of linguistic unity, because it reduces the physical and temporal costs of information exchange; for example scholars throughout Early Modern Europe communicated in Latin. [1] This policy serves only to dampen this movement, which will, even if helpful to people in the short-run, serve to limit the capacity of developing world academics to engage with the developed world. Today English has become the definitive language of both international academic discourse and commerce. In France for example, a country known for its protective stance towards its language, journals have been changing to publishing in English rather than French; the journal Research in Virology changed in 1989 as almost 100% of their articles were submitted in English compared to only 15% in 1973. [2]\n\nThe trend towards one language is a positive one, because it has meant more movers and shakers in various countries have all been able to better and more quickly understand one another's desires and actions leading to more profitable and peaceful outcomes generally. [3] Also important is the fact that while academics and other interested parties in the developing world may be able to grapple with academic work more effectively once translated for them, they now have a greater disadvantage due to the enervating effects this translation produces. Without the positive impetus to learn the major language or languages of international discourse, developing world academics will never be able to get posts and lectureships at institutions in the developed world, or to take part in joint research in real time. The convergence of language ultimately serves to promote common understanding, which means people from the developing world can more effectively move between their home country and others. It also helps build a common lexicon of terms that will be more robust for international use, as opposed to translations, which are often imperfect due to divergences of linguistic concepts and thus susceptible to mistake.\n\n[1] Koenigsberger, H. G., Mosse, George L., and Bowler, G. Q., Europe in the Sixteenth Century, London, 2nd Edn, 1989, p.377\n\n[2] Garfield, Eugene, ‘The English Language: The Lingua Franca Of International Science’, The Ceisntist, 15 May 1989, http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/10374/title/The-English-Language--The-Lingua-Franca-Of-International-Science/\n\n[3] Bakopoulos, D. ‘English as Universal Academic Language: Good or Bad?’. The University Record, 1997, Available: http://www.ur.umich.edu/9697/Jan28_97/artcl18.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d764921b59e71f2071d62c9b43679996",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation It is prohibitively expensive to translate everything and difficult to prioritize what to translate\n\nUltimately any policy of translation of academic work must rely on a degree of prioritization on the part of the translators since there is no way that all academic work of any kind could be translated into other major languages, let alone into all the multitude of languages extant in the world today. In 2009, for example, the number of published research papers on science and technology exceeded 700,000. [1] That is a gigantic amount of research. Translating all of these articles seems to be an obvious waste of time and resources for any government or institution to pursue and increasingly so when one considers the more than 30,000 languages in current use today. Translations today currently exist for articles and research that is considered useful. Any blanket policy is infeasible. The end result will be only a small number of articles translated into a finite number of languages. This is the status quo. Expanding it only serves to further confuse the academic community and to divert useful energies away from positive research to the quixotic task of translation.\n\n[1] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b742e8e3be110f480f76583c8e45ac70",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation gives access to students to learn valuable information and develop their human capital and to become academically and economically competitive\n\nThe ability to access the wealth of knowledge being generated in the developed world would greatly impact the ability of students and budding academics in the developing world to develop their human capital and keep abreast of the most recent developments in the various fields of academic research. Lag is a serious problem in an academic world where the knowledge base is constantly developing and expanding. In many of the sciences, particularly those focused on high technology, information rapidly becomes obsolete as new developments supplant the old. The lag that occurs because developing countries' academics and professionals cannot readily access this new information results in their always being behind the curve. [1] Coupled with the fact that they possess fewer resources than their developed world counterparts, developing world institutions are locked in a constant game of catch-up they have found difficult, if not impossible, to break free of. By subsidizing this translation effort, students in these countries are able to learn with the most up-to-date information, academics are able to work with and build upon the most relevant areas of research, and professionals can keep with the curve of knowledge to remain competitive in an ever more global marketplace. An example of what can happen to a country cut off from the global stream of knowledge can be found in the Soviet Union. For decades Soviet academics were cut off from the rest of the world, and the result was a significant stunting of their academic development. [2] This translation would be a major boon for all the academic and professional bodies in developing countries.\n\n[1] Hide, W., ‘I Can No Longer Work for a System that Puts Profit Over Access to Research’, The Guardian. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/may/16/system-profit-access-research\n\n[2] Shuster, S. “Putin’s PhD: Can a Plagiarism Probe Upend Russian Politics?”. Time. 28 February 2013, http://world.time.com/2013/02/28/putins-phd-can-a-plagiarism-probe-upend-russian-politics/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4fbddd53be7724179ec85ac7b682cb04",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation expands the knowledge base of citizens to help solve local problems\n\nIt is often the case that science and technology produced in the developed world finds its greatest application in the developing world. Sometimes new developments are meant for such use, as was the case with Norman Borlaug's engineering of dwarf wheat in order to end the Indian food crisis. Other times it is serendipitous, as academic work not meant of practical use, or tools that could not be best applied in developed world economies find ready application elsewhere, as citizens of the developing world turn the technologies to their needs. [1] By translating academic journals into the languages of developing countries, academics and governments can open a gold mine of ideas and innovation. The developing world still mostly lacks the infrastructure for large scale research and relies heavily on research produced in the developed world for its sustenance. Having access to the body of academic literature makes these countries less dependent on the academic mainstream, or to the few who can translate the work themselves. Having access to this research allows developing countries to study work done in the developed world and look at how the advances may be applicable to them. The more people are able to engage in this study the more likely it is that other uses for the research will be found.\n\n[1] Global Health Innovation Blog. ‘The East Meets West Foundation: Expanding Organizational Capacity”. Stanford Graduate School of Business. 18 October 2012, http://stanfordglobalhealth.com/2012/10/18/the-east-meets-west-foundation-expanding-organizational-capacity/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1c87c3daff7292c3926b96a3a55d8958",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation allows greater participation by academics in global academia and global marketplace of ideas\n\nCommunication in academia is necessary to effectively engage with the work of their colleagues elsewhere in the world, and in sciences in particular there has become a lingua franca in English. [1] Any academic without the language is at a severe disadvantage. Institutions and governments of the Global North have the resources and wherewithal to translate any research that might strike their fancy. The same is not true for states and universities in the Global South which have far more limited financial and human capital resources. By subsidizing the translation of academic literature into the languages of developing countries the developed world can expand the reach and impact of its institutions' research. Enabling access to all the best academic research in multiple languages will mean greater cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge. Newton is supposed to have said we “stand upon the shoulders of giants” as all ideas are ultimately built upon a foundation of past work. [2] Language is often a barrier to understanding so translation helps to broaden the shoulders upon which academics stand.\n\nBy subsidizing the publication of their work into other significant languages, institutions can have a powerful impact on improving their own reputation and academic impact. Academic rankings such as the rankings by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, [3] and the Times Higher Education magazine [4] include research and paper citations as part of the criteria. Just as importantly it opens the door to an improved free flowing dialogue between academics around the world. This is particularly important today as the developing world becomes a centre of economic and scientific development. [5] This translation project will serve to aid in the development of relations between research institutes, such as in the case of American institutions developing partnerships with Chinese and Indian universities.\n\n[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/\n\n[2] Yong, Ed, ‘Why humans stand on giant shoulders, but chimps and monkeys don’t’, Discover, 1 March 2012, http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/03/01/why-humans-stand-on-giant-shoulders-but-chimps-and-monkeys-dont/#.UaYm_7XVB8E\n\n[3] ‘Ranking Methodology’, Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2012, http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU-Methodology-2012.html\n\n[4] Baty, Phil, ‘World University Rankings subject tables: Robust, transparent and sophisticated’, Times Higher Education, 16 September 2010, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-11/world-ranking/analysis/methodology\n\n[5] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
b90999de972a3dfd32893d026f01c18d | It is better to have fewer languages in common use in global academic and economic interrelations
A proliferation of languages in academia will serve to fracture the interrelations of academics, not unify them. As more and more academics and innovators interested in new academic developments find it possible to obtain information wholly in their native languages, then the impetus toward unification in a primary language of academia and commerce will be slowed or entirely thwarted. Through history there have been movements toward this sort of linguistic unity, because it reduces the physical and temporal costs of information exchange; for example scholars throughout Early Modern Europe communicated in Latin. [1] This policy serves only to dampen this movement, which will, even if helpful to people in the short-run, serve to limit the capacity of developing world academics to engage with the developed world. Today English has become the definitive language of both international academic discourse and commerce. In France for example, a country known for its protective stance towards its language, journals have been changing to publishing in English rather than French; the journal Research in Virology changed in 1989 as almost 100% of their articles were submitted in English compared to only 15% in 1973. [2]
The trend towards one language is a positive one, because it has meant more movers and shakers in various countries have all been able to better and more quickly understand one another's desires and actions leading to more profitable and peaceful outcomes generally. [3] Also important is the fact that while academics and other interested parties in the developing world may be able to grapple with academic work more effectively once translated for them, they now have a greater disadvantage due to the enervating effects this translation produces. Without the positive impetus to learn the major language or languages of international discourse, developing world academics will never be able to get posts and lectureships at institutions in the developed world, or to take part in joint research in real time. The convergence of language ultimately serves to promote common understanding, which means people from the developing world can more effectively move between their home country and others. It also helps build a common lexicon of terms that will be more robust for international use, as opposed to translations, which are often imperfect due to divergences of linguistic concepts and thus susceptible to mistake.
[1] Koenigsberger, H. G., Mosse, George L., and Bowler, G. Q., Europe in the Sixteenth Century, London, 2nd Edn, 1989, p.377
[2] Garfield, Eugene, ‘The English Language: The Lingua Franca Of International Science’, The Ceisntist, 15 May 1989, http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/10374/title/The-English-Language--The-Lingua-Franca-Of-International-Science/
[3] Bakopoulos, D. ‘English as Universal Academic Language: Good or Bad?’. The University Record, 1997, Available: http://www.ur.umich.edu/9697/Jan28_97/artcl18.htm
| [
{
"docid": "956c98f5c9ec565db9ece90cf7f6f3a8",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation If it is true that people cannot easily get jobs in the developed world for lack of language skills then there will surely still be a pressure to learn the language or languages of international discourse. What this policy offers is access by a much wider audience to the various benefits that expanded academic knowledge can offer. It will expand the developing world's knowledge base and not in any way diminish the desire to learn English and other dominant languages. It should be remembered that it is not just academics that use academic papers; students do as well, as do professionals in everyday life. Clearly there cannot be an expectation that everyone learns English to be able to access research. While there may be fewer languages in academic use there is not such a narrowing of language for everyone else.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "16efcd00866bb8d1e7950c0d22bc72c9",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation In the status quo there is already some translation, due largely to current demands and academic relationships. Even if translation of all academic work the world over could not be translated into every conceivable language, expanding the number of articles and number of languages is certainly a good thing. While cost will limit the extent of the policy, it is still worth pursuing to further open the world of academic discourse.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26ac54ae6e3e0873301df13a93158c4d",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Wealthy states do feel an obligation to less fortunate countries, as is demonstrated through their frequent use of aid and loans to poorer governments. This is a way to help countries stop being dependent on aid and hand-outs and instead develop their own human capital and livelihood by being able to engage with the cutting edge of technology and research.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4c846cdea0bf59e97a545be2d0ab3d84",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation While the world is globalizing, it is still in the interest of states to retain their relative competitive advantages. After all, the first duty of a state is to its own citizens. By translating these works and offering them to academics, students, and professionals, the developed world serves to erode one of its only advantages over the cheaper labour and industrial production markets of the developing world. The developed world relies on its advantage in technology particularly to maintain its position in the world and to have a competitive edge. Giving that edge up, which giving access to their information more readily does, is to increase the pace at which the developed world will be outmatched.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0c49889ce8ba7f23e6ff1dfea5ef7595",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation This translation effort does not pave the future with gold. Intellectual property law still persists and these countries would still be forced to deal with the technologies' originators in the developed world. By instead striving to engage on an even footing without special provisions and charity of translation, developing countries' academics can more effectively win the respect and cooperation of their developed world counterparts. In so doing they gain greater access to, and participation in, the developments of the more technologically advanced countries. They should strive to do so as equals, not supplicants.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1b1b7d55f5bc79eb8a1818c31b02aae1",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translating academic work for the developed world will not succeed in creating a dialogue between developed and developing world because the effort is inherently unidirectional. The developing world academics will be able to use the translated work, but will lack the ability to respond in a way that could be readily understood or accepted by their developed world counterparts. The only way to become a truly respected academic community is to engage with the global academic world on an even footing, even if that means devoting more resources to learning the dominant global academic languages, particularly English. This is what is currently happening and is what should be the trend for the future. [1] So long as they rely on subsidized work, the academics of the developing world remain subject and subordinate to those of the developed world.\n\n[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2ca0142ea8d81268f61339a60767249c",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation The West has no particular obligation to undergo such a sweeping policy\n\nGovernments and academic institutions have no special duty to give full access to all information that they generate and publish in academic journals to anyone who might want it. If they want to make their research public that is their prerogative, but it does not follow that they should then be expected to translate that work into an endless stream of different languages. If there is a desire by governments and institutions to aid in the academic development of the developing world, there are other ways to go about it than indiscriminately publishing their results and research into developing world languages. Taking on promising students through scholarships, or developing strategic partnerships with institutions in the global south are more targeted, less piecemeal means of sharing the body of global knowledge for example the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences funds junior scientists from the developing world working in their labs. [1] States owe their first duty to their own citizens, and when the research they produce is not only made available to citizens of other countries but translated at some expense, they are not serving that duty well. It will prove to be a fairly ineffective education policy.\n\n[1] ‘Building Research Capacity in Developing Nations’, Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol 114, No. 10, October 2006, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1626416/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d764921b59e71f2071d62c9b43679996",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation It is prohibitively expensive to translate everything and difficult to prioritize what to translate\n\nUltimately any policy of translation of academic work must rely on a degree of prioritization on the part of the translators since there is no way that all academic work of any kind could be translated into other major languages, let alone into all the multitude of languages extant in the world today. In 2009, for example, the number of published research papers on science and technology exceeded 700,000. [1] That is a gigantic amount of research. Translating all of these articles seems to be an obvious waste of time and resources for any government or institution to pursue and increasingly so when one considers the more than 30,000 languages in current use today. Translations today currently exist for articles and research that is considered useful. Any blanket policy is infeasible. The end result will be only a small number of articles translated into a finite number of languages. This is the status quo. Expanding it only serves to further confuse the academic community and to divert useful energies away from positive research to the quixotic task of translation.\n\n[1] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b742e8e3be110f480f76583c8e45ac70",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation gives access to students to learn valuable information and develop their human capital and to become academically and economically competitive\n\nThe ability to access the wealth of knowledge being generated in the developed world would greatly impact the ability of students and budding academics in the developing world to develop their human capital and keep abreast of the most recent developments in the various fields of academic research. Lag is a serious problem in an academic world where the knowledge base is constantly developing and expanding. In many of the sciences, particularly those focused on high technology, information rapidly becomes obsolete as new developments supplant the old. The lag that occurs because developing countries' academics and professionals cannot readily access this new information results in their always being behind the curve. [1] Coupled with the fact that they possess fewer resources than their developed world counterparts, developing world institutions are locked in a constant game of catch-up they have found difficult, if not impossible, to break free of. By subsidizing this translation effort, students in these countries are able to learn with the most up-to-date information, academics are able to work with and build upon the most relevant areas of research, and professionals can keep with the curve of knowledge to remain competitive in an ever more global marketplace. An example of what can happen to a country cut off from the global stream of knowledge can be found in the Soviet Union. For decades Soviet academics were cut off from the rest of the world, and the result was a significant stunting of their academic development. [2] This translation would be a major boon for all the academic and professional bodies in developing countries.\n\n[1] Hide, W., ‘I Can No Longer Work for a System that Puts Profit Over Access to Research’, The Guardian. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/may/16/system-profit-access-research\n\n[2] Shuster, S. “Putin’s PhD: Can a Plagiarism Probe Upend Russian Politics?”. Time. 28 February 2013, http://world.time.com/2013/02/28/putins-phd-can-a-plagiarism-probe-upend-russian-politics/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4fbddd53be7724179ec85ac7b682cb04",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation expands the knowledge base of citizens to help solve local problems\n\nIt is often the case that science and technology produced in the developed world finds its greatest application in the developing world. Sometimes new developments are meant for such use, as was the case with Norman Borlaug's engineering of dwarf wheat in order to end the Indian food crisis. Other times it is serendipitous, as academic work not meant of practical use, or tools that could not be best applied in developed world economies find ready application elsewhere, as citizens of the developing world turn the technologies to their needs. [1] By translating academic journals into the languages of developing countries, academics and governments can open a gold mine of ideas and innovation. The developing world still mostly lacks the infrastructure for large scale research and relies heavily on research produced in the developed world for its sustenance. Having access to the body of academic literature makes these countries less dependent on the academic mainstream, or to the few who can translate the work themselves. Having access to this research allows developing countries to study work done in the developed world and look at how the advances may be applicable to them. The more people are able to engage in this study the more likely it is that other uses for the research will be found.\n\n[1] Global Health Innovation Blog. ‘The East Meets West Foundation: Expanding Organizational Capacity”. Stanford Graduate School of Business. 18 October 2012, http://stanfordglobalhealth.com/2012/10/18/the-east-meets-west-foundation-expanding-organizational-capacity/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1c87c3daff7292c3926b96a3a55d8958",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation allows greater participation by academics in global academia and global marketplace of ideas\n\nCommunication in academia is necessary to effectively engage with the work of their colleagues elsewhere in the world, and in sciences in particular there has become a lingua franca in English. [1] Any academic without the language is at a severe disadvantage. Institutions and governments of the Global North have the resources and wherewithal to translate any research that might strike their fancy. The same is not true for states and universities in the Global South which have far more limited financial and human capital resources. By subsidizing the translation of academic literature into the languages of developing countries the developed world can expand the reach and impact of its institutions' research. Enabling access to all the best academic research in multiple languages will mean greater cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge. Newton is supposed to have said we “stand upon the shoulders of giants” as all ideas are ultimately built upon a foundation of past work. [2] Language is often a barrier to understanding so translation helps to broaden the shoulders upon which academics stand.\n\nBy subsidizing the publication of their work into other significant languages, institutions can have a powerful impact on improving their own reputation and academic impact. Academic rankings such as the rankings by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, [3] and the Times Higher Education magazine [4] include research and paper citations as part of the criteria. Just as importantly it opens the door to an improved free flowing dialogue between academics around the world. This is particularly important today as the developing world becomes a centre of economic and scientific development. [5] This translation project will serve to aid in the development of relations between research institutes, such as in the case of American institutions developing partnerships with Chinese and Indian universities.\n\n[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/\n\n[2] Yong, Ed, ‘Why humans stand on giant shoulders, but chimps and monkeys don’t’, Discover, 1 March 2012, http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/03/01/why-humans-stand-on-giant-shoulders-but-chimps-and-monkeys-dont/#.UaYm_7XVB8E\n\n[3] ‘Ranking Methodology’, Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2012, http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU-Methodology-2012.html\n\n[4] Baty, Phil, ‘World University Rankings subject tables: Robust, transparent and sophisticated’, Times Higher Education, 16 September 2010, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-11/world-ranking/analysis/methodology\n\n[5] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
a9e1b41ae81ad7e6b26a425700222b41 | It is prohibitively expensive to translate everything and difficult to prioritize what to translate
Ultimately any policy of translation of academic work must rely on a degree of prioritization on the part of the translators since there is no way that all academic work of any kind could be translated into other major languages, let alone into all the multitude of languages extant in the world today. In 2009, for example, the number of published research papers on science and technology exceeded 700,000. [1] That is a gigantic amount of research. Translating all of these articles seems to be an obvious waste of time and resources for any government or institution to pursue and increasingly so when one considers the more than 30,000 languages in current use today. Translations today currently exist for articles and research that is considered useful. Any blanket policy is infeasible. The end result will be only a small number of articles translated into a finite number of languages. This is the status quo. Expanding it only serves to further confuse the academic community and to divert useful energies away from positive research to the quixotic task of translation.
[1] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm
| [
{
"docid": "16efcd00866bb8d1e7950c0d22bc72c9",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation In the status quo there is already some translation, due largely to current demands and academic relationships. Even if translation of all academic work the world over could not be translated into every conceivable language, expanding the number of articles and number of languages is certainly a good thing. While cost will limit the extent of the policy, it is still worth pursuing to further open the world of academic discourse.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "956c98f5c9ec565db9ece90cf7f6f3a8",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation If it is true that people cannot easily get jobs in the developed world for lack of language skills then there will surely still be a pressure to learn the language or languages of international discourse. What this policy offers is access by a much wider audience to the various benefits that expanded academic knowledge can offer. It will expand the developing world's knowledge base and not in any way diminish the desire to learn English and other dominant languages. It should be remembered that it is not just academics that use academic papers; students do as well, as do professionals in everyday life. Clearly there cannot be an expectation that everyone learns English to be able to access research. While there may be fewer languages in academic use there is not such a narrowing of language for everyone else.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "26ac54ae6e3e0873301df13a93158c4d",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Wealthy states do feel an obligation to less fortunate countries, as is demonstrated through their frequent use of aid and loans to poorer governments. This is a way to help countries stop being dependent on aid and hand-outs and instead develop their own human capital and livelihood by being able to engage with the cutting edge of technology and research.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4c846cdea0bf59e97a545be2d0ab3d84",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation While the world is globalizing, it is still in the interest of states to retain their relative competitive advantages. After all, the first duty of a state is to its own citizens. By translating these works and offering them to academics, students, and professionals, the developed world serves to erode one of its only advantages over the cheaper labour and industrial production markets of the developing world. The developed world relies on its advantage in technology particularly to maintain its position in the world and to have a competitive edge. Giving that edge up, which giving access to their information more readily does, is to increase the pace at which the developed world will be outmatched.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0c49889ce8ba7f23e6ff1dfea5ef7595",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation This translation effort does not pave the future with gold. Intellectual property law still persists and these countries would still be forced to deal with the technologies' originators in the developed world. By instead striving to engage on an even footing without special provisions and charity of translation, developing countries' academics can more effectively win the respect and cooperation of their developed world counterparts. In so doing they gain greater access to, and participation in, the developments of the more technologically advanced countries. They should strive to do so as equals, not supplicants.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1b1b7d55f5bc79eb8a1818c31b02aae1",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translating academic work for the developed world will not succeed in creating a dialogue between developed and developing world because the effort is inherently unidirectional. The developing world academics will be able to use the translated work, but will lack the ability to respond in a way that could be readily understood or accepted by their developed world counterparts. The only way to become a truly respected academic community is to engage with the global academic world on an even footing, even if that means devoting more resources to learning the dominant global academic languages, particularly English. This is what is currently happening and is what should be the trend for the future. [1] So long as they rely on subsidized work, the academics of the developing world remain subject and subordinate to those of the developed world.\n\n[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2ca0142ea8d81268f61339a60767249c",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation The West has no particular obligation to undergo such a sweeping policy\n\nGovernments and academic institutions have no special duty to give full access to all information that they generate and publish in academic journals to anyone who might want it. If they want to make their research public that is their prerogative, but it does not follow that they should then be expected to translate that work into an endless stream of different languages. If there is a desire by governments and institutions to aid in the academic development of the developing world, there are other ways to go about it than indiscriminately publishing their results and research into developing world languages. Taking on promising students through scholarships, or developing strategic partnerships with institutions in the global south are more targeted, less piecemeal means of sharing the body of global knowledge for example the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences funds junior scientists from the developing world working in their labs. [1] States owe their first duty to their own citizens, and when the research they produce is not only made available to citizens of other countries but translated at some expense, they are not serving that duty well. It will prove to be a fairly ineffective education policy.\n\n[1] ‘Building Research Capacity in Developing Nations’, Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol 114, No. 10, October 2006, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1626416/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a1253927c30c0be8e596c6ee039274bc",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation It is better to have fewer languages in common use in global academic and economic interrelations\n\nA proliferation of languages in academia will serve to fracture the interrelations of academics, not unify them. As more and more academics and innovators interested in new academic developments find it possible to obtain information wholly in their native languages, then the impetus toward unification in a primary language of academia and commerce will be slowed or entirely thwarted. Through history there have been movements toward this sort of linguistic unity, because it reduces the physical and temporal costs of information exchange; for example scholars throughout Early Modern Europe communicated in Latin. [1] This policy serves only to dampen this movement, which will, even if helpful to people in the short-run, serve to limit the capacity of developing world academics to engage with the developed world. Today English has become the definitive language of both international academic discourse and commerce. In France for example, a country known for its protective stance towards its language, journals have been changing to publishing in English rather than French; the journal Research in Virology changed in 1989 as almost 100% of their articles were submitted in English compared to only 15% in 1973. [2]\n\nThe trend towards one language is a positive one, because it has meant more movers and shakers in various countries have all been able to better and more quickly understand one another's desires and actions leading to more profitable and peaceful outcomes generally. [3] Also important is the fact that while academics and other interested parties in the developing world may be able to grapple with academic work more effectively once translated for them, they now have a greater disadvantage due to the enervating effects this translation produces. Without the positive impetus to learn the major language or languages of international discourse, developing world academics will never be able to get posts and lectureships at institutions in the developed world, or to take part in joint research in real time. The convergence of language ultimately serves to promote common understanding, which means people from the developing world can more effectively move between their home country and others. It also helps build a common lexicon of terms that will be more robust for international use, as opposed to translations, which are often imperfect due to divergences of linguistic concepts and thus susceptible to mistake.\n\n[1] Koenigsberger, H. G., Mosse, George L., and Bowler, G. Q., Europe in the Sixteenth Century, London, 2nd Edn, 1989, p.377\n\n[2] Garfield, Eugene, ‘The English Language: The Lingua Franca Of International Science’, The Ceisntist, 15 May 1989, http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/10374/title/The-English-Language--The-Lingua-Franca-Of-International-Science/\n\n[3] Bakopoulos, D. ‘English as Universal Academic Language: Good or Bad?’. The University Record, 1997, Available: http://www.ur.umich.edu/9697/Jan28_97/artcl18.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b742e8e3be110f480f76583c8e45ac70",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation gives access to students to learn valuable information and develop their human capital and to become academically and economically competitive\n\nThe ability to access the wealth of knowledge being generated in the developed world would greatly impact the ability of students and budding academics in the developing world to develop their human capital and keep abreast of the most recent developments in the various fields of academic research. Lag is a serious problem in an academic world where the knowledge base is constantly developing and expanding. In many of the sciences, particularly those focused on high technology, information rapidly becomes obsolete as new developments supplant the old. The lag that occurs because developing countries' academics and professionals cannot readily access this new information results in their always being behind the curve. [1] Coupled with the fact that they possess fewer resources than their developed world counterparts, developing world institutions are locked in a constant game of catch-up they have found difficult, if not impossible, to break free of. By subsidizing this translation effort, students in these countries are able to learn with the most up-to-date information, academics are able to work with and build upon the most relevant areas of research, and professionals can keep with the curve of knowledge to remain competitive in an ever more global marketplace. An example of what can happen to a country cut off from the global stream of knowledge can be found in the Soviet Union. For decades Soviet academics were cut off from the rest of the world, and the result was a significant stunting of their academic development. [2] This translation would be a major boon for all the academic and professional bodies in developing countries.\n\n[1] Hide, W., ‘I Can No Longer Work for a System that Puts Profit Over Access to Research’, The Guardian. 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/may/16/system-profit-access-research\n\n[2] Shuster, S. “Putin’s PhD: Can a Plagiarism Probe Upend Russian Politics?”. Time. 28 February 2013, http://world.time.com/2013/02/28/putins-phd-can-a-plagiarism-probe-upend-russian-politics/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4fbddd53be7724179ec85ac7b682cb04",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation expands the knowledge base of citizens to help solve local problems\n\nIt is often the case that science and technology produced in the developed world finds its greatest application in the developing world. Sometimes new developments are meant for such use, as was the case with Norman Borlaug's engineering of dwarf wheat in order to end the Indian food crisis. Other times it is serendipitous, as academic work not meant of practical use, or tools that could not be best applied in developed world economies find ready application elsewhere, as citizens of the developing world turn the technologies to their needs. [1] By translating academic journals into the languages of developing countries, academics and governments can open a gold mine of ideas and innovation. The developing world still mostly lacks the infrastructure for large scale research and relies heavily on research produced in the developed world for its sustenance. Having access to the body of academic literature makes these countries less dependent on the academic mainstream, or to the few who can translate the work themselves. Having access to this research allows developing countries to study work done in the developed world and look at how the advances may be applicable to them. The more people are able to engage in this study the more likely it is that other uses for the research will be found.\n\n[1] Global Health Innovation Blog. ‘The East Meets West Foundation: Expanding Organizational Capacity”. Stanford Graduate School of Business. 18 October 2012, http://stanfordglobalhealth.com/2012/10/18/the-east-meets-west-foundation-expanding-organizational-capacity/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1c87c3daff7292c3926b96a3a55d8958",
"text": "ity digital freedoms access knowledge house would subsidise translation Translation allows greater participation by academics in global academia and global marketplace of ideas\n\nCommunication in academia is necessary to effectively engage with the work of their colleagues elsewhere in the world, and in sciences in particular there has become a lingua franca in English. [1] Any academic without the language is at a severe disadvantage. Institutions and governments of the Global North have the resources and wherewithal to translate any research that might strike their fancy. The same is not true for states and universities in the Global South which have far more limited financial and human capital resources. By subsidizing the translation of academic literature into the languages of developing countries the developed world can expand the reach and impact of its institutions' research. Enabling access to all the best academic research in multiple languages will mean greater cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge. Newton is supposed to have said we “stand upon the shoulders of giants” as all ideas are ultimately built upon a foundation of past work. [2] Language is often a barrier to understanding so translation helps to broaden the shoulders upon which academics stand.\n\nBy subsidizing the publication of their work into other significant languages, institutions can have a powerful impact on improving their own reputation and academic impact. Academic rankings such as the rankings by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, [3] and the Times Higher Education magazine [4] include research and paper citations as part of the criteria. Just as importantly it opens the door to an improved free flowing dialogue between academics around the world. This is particularly important today as the developing world becomes a centre of economic and scientific development. [5] This translation project will serve to aid in the development of relations between research institutes, such as in the case of American institutions developing partnerships with Chinese and Indian universities.\n\n[1] Meneghini, Rogerio, and Packer, Abel L., ‘Is there science beyond English? Initiatives to increase the quality and visibility of non-English publications might help to break down language barriers in scientific communication’, EMBO Report, February 2007, Vol.8 No.2, pp.112-116, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1796769/\n\n[2] Yong, Ed, ‘Why humans stand on giant shoulders, but chimps and monkeys don’t’, Discover, 1 March 2012, http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2012/03/01/why-humans-stand-on-giant-shoulders-but-chimps-and-monkeys-dont/#.UaYm_7XVB8E\n\n[3] ‘Ranking Methodology’, Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2012, http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU-Methodology-2012.html\n\n[4] Baty, Phil, ‘World University Rankings subject tables: Robust, transparent and sophisticated’, Times Higher Education, 16 September 2010, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-11/world-ranking/analysis/methodology\n\n[5] ‘Science and Engineering Indicators, 2012’. National Science Foundation. 2012, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5h.htm\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
1ce0ec60af2a29476bbb6e10c6c5e6ec | Governments not ‘civil society’ must be in control of internet governance
It is governments who are in charge of setting public policy within countries so it makes sense that these same governments should set public policy in the international sphere; [1] this is why international organisations have been set up and why it is governments that are represented in them. Internet governance should also be the purview of governments on account of the wide range of issues it covers. These include who gets access to the technical resources of the internet, intellectual property, participation in the online economy (which now has an immense impact on the physical economy as well - just consider how the financial markets around the world are interconnected in part as a result of the internet), freedom of expression, and security which ultimately can affect national security and the high politics if balance of power. [2] Private companies and civil society will inevitably only represent a minority of opinions within these countries and cannot be said to truly represent their country, the right place for them is in providing advice to their governments rather than through direct control such as that currently held by ICANN.
[1] Al-Darrab, Abdullah A., ‘The Need for International Internet Governance Oversight’, Internet Governance Forum.
[2] ‘About’, Internet Governance Project Syracuse University.
| [
{
"docid": "73c802416585faf3e388897abacf14e0",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee It is wrong that civil society should have reduced influence over the governance of the internet with governments making all the key decisions. Many governments around the world are not democratic and so cannot be said to represent their people while even those that are democratic are prone to advancing the interests of minorities of their constituents as shown by treaties and legislation such as SOPA and ACTA. Governments of all stripes whether authoritarian or democratic do not have a good record of transparency; ICANN on the other hand does. [1] ICANN works on a \"bottom-up, consensus-driven, multi-stakeholder model\" meaning that ICANN is very inclusive bringing together governments, experts, private companies and ngos, potentially even individuals can get involved and have their say. [2]\n\n[1] ‘ICANN Accountability & Transparency’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.\n\n[2] ‘About Us’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers .\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "a8d07baeb97f1ad68cf053ce4fce6063",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The United States is unlikely to give up control and no one can force it to do, the ITU itself has accepted that it could not do so, [1] so creating CIRP would really be a pointless increase in bureaucracy. There is already government involvement in ICANN through the Governmental Advisory Committee [2] so there is little need for another body giving governments more control over the internet. If the United States does not give up control voluntarily then there is likely to be added problems arising from conflicts between the ICANN and CIRP.\n\n[1] Kelion, Leo, ‘US resists control of internet passing to UN agency’, BBC News, 3 August 2012.\n\n[2] ‘About the GAC’, ICANN GAC.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "05f469cb8e1a18a8a3efee548eaa8616",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While the US government may have more influence over ICANN than other governments it does not control ICANN. This lack of control is demonstrated by the organisation being willing to do things that the United States is opposed to. For example ICANN the rolled out of the new top level domain names which both the United States and European Union were opposed to, and was incidentally were supported by developing countries. [1]\n\n[1] Mackinnon, Rebecca, ‘The United Nations and the Internet: It’s Complicated’, Foreign Policy, 8 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b2fabc69e2f3674bc53a19646d0c27b",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While this might be a valid argument if the United Nations Committee for Internet Related Policies means handing over governance to an individual state it is difficult to question that collectively through the United Nations system states have generally worked to improve citizens quality of life and human rights. CIRP will be just such a multilateral institution so will not be a threat to freedom on the internet. It is even suggested that the mandate for the new organisation include “the promotion and protection of all human rights, namely, civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights, including the Right to Development”. Even those who don’t want governmental control accept that there is a need for some form of constitution with a bill of rights and some kind of board for review [1] – thus showing that under ICANN the internet is not governed in the interests of the users.\n\n[1] ‘ A plaything of powerful nations’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6789316c5c8ffaae35c6fda3c73b4b3e",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee ICANN has not been very supportive of growth in the developing world, as is to be expected of a body that is dominated by rich world governments and corporations. Sub-Saharan Africa for example only has three accredited registrars that provision domain names compared to the four that Denmark alone has. [1] Changing to CIRP would help rebalance the control of the internet to the global south where the majority of future growth is bound to occur. Even if ICANN has been successful in managing the growth of the internet as it spread through the developed world it is not in a good position to be as successful in the future.\n\nMoreover as the internet becomes more ubiquitous politics will inevitably intrude regardless of whether those controlling the internet want it to or not. Creating new top level domain names is inherently political. Saudi Arabia for example objected to a number of proposed domain names such as .gay, .bar, .islam, and .baby, [2] it is clear that in cases like this governments need to decide in order to avoid there being domain names that are offensive to some users of the internet.\n\n[1] ‘The Accredited Registrar Directory’, InterNIC .\n\n[2] Kelly, Heather, ‘Saudi Arabia objects to .gay and .islam domain names’, CNN, 15 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "10caab7c39f0cfa2c7cf1cbe4e0dd136",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee CIRP would give some influence to authoritarian governments; among 50 governments represented some are bound to be from non-democracies. This influence would however be counterbalanced by the democracies that are represented. The United Nations have a good track record of including as many as possible through the tradition of making decisions by consensus [1] which will prevent states that might wish to use CIRP in ways that other states would not agree with from succeeding.\n\n[1] Kurup, Deepa, ‘Who controls the World Wide Web’, The Hindu, 27 May 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c5400bf20403aae93468512ca3fbb7b8",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Simplicity\n\nOne of the best things about the proposal to create CIRP is that it simply brings the internet into line with other areas of international communication and the global economy by bringing the internet into the United Nations system. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for example is the body that allocates radio spectrums and satellite orbits, in other words it does for telecommunications what ICANN does for the internet, and it is a United Nations agency. [1] The ITU has 193 countries as members but is also open to the private sector and academia, just as CIRP would be. [2] Having internet governance working through the United Nations would therefore mean using a tried and tested method of governance.\n\n[1] ‘About ITU’, International Telecommunication Union.\n\n[2] ‘Membership’, International Telecommunication Union\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6ca9c5d265e836dfe10f474eedde7e0d",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Internet governance must be multinational\n\nThe internet is global, things on the internet do not just affect one country, indeed they often don’t just affect a small group of countries but affect every country. This is especially true of issues of internet governance as setting the rules for the internet and the architecture has to be for the whole internet not isolated bits of it. The function that ICANN currently performs is one that should rightfully be done internationally in the interests of all the nations. This is not the case at the moment as the United States has essentially has a monopoly on internet governance. While ICANN is an independent non-profit body it is under contract from the U.S. department of Commerce and is subject to U.S. laws. [1]\n\nThe United States already abuses its control over the internet. It has become commonplace for the U.S. to seize domains, as it did with Bodog.com, regardless of where their domain name registrar, or the owner of the website, is based. It can do this easily because the companies that have the contract to manage the generic top level names such as .com and .org are based within the United States. As it is U.S. based the company with these top level domains has to comply with U.S. law so when it is asked to shut down a site even if it is a foreign site with a foreign registrar it will do so. [2] Actions like this show that the United States is only interested in its own power over the internet. It is not interested in the rights of other countries and owners of websites that are registered in those countries highlighting a need to a change to a more multinational system.\n\n[1] Singh, Parminder Jeet, ‘India’s proposal will help take the web out of U.S. control’, The Hindu, 17 May 2012.\n\n[2] Kravets, David, ‘Uncle Sam: If It Ends in .Com, It’s .Seizable’, Wired, 6th March 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "63259cd2aaebfd95d97ea2aa67d22481",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee CIRP would place power in the hands of authoritarian governments\n\nThe intention for the creation of CIRP is to give more power to governments, and particularly to authoritarian governments that wish much greater control over the internet. If CIRP is meant to enable “enhanced cooperation to enable governments, on an equal footing, to carry out their roles and responsibilities in international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet” [1] this may result in CIRP becoming an international organisation that would impose censorship on the internet. This is practically an inevitable result as the main tool of government is regulation. In the case of the internet such regulation will mean more controls on what users can and cannot do online.\n\nThe result is likely to be similar to the U.N. Human Rights Council where many of the world’s biggest human rights abusers are regularly elected and Israel and the U.S. are constantly investigated while a blind eye is turned to many abuses. [2] At the very least such control will provide an enabler that will allow countries that want to censor the internet to shelter behind the international organisation. India’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal has said the solution to this problem of objectionable content online should be permanent \"That will only happen when we talk to all the stakeholders and form such a mechanism under which any objectionable content is removed,\" [3]\n\n[1] ‘Full text: India’s United Nations proposal to control the Internet’, IBNLive, 21 May 2012.\n\n[2] Ayalon, Danny, ‘Theater of the Absurd’, Foreign Policy, 30 March 2012.\n\n[3] Julka, Harsomran, ‘Internet censorship: India to push for internet regulation at United Nations’, The Economic Times, 24 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e9261c769b3f7e37a6bf50c1032dfb79",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The internet should be governed in the interests of freedom\n\nThe internet is used by everyone and so should be governed in such a way as reflects the desires of the users of the internet; and this is somewhere where internet users are often at odds with their governments. Where the freedom of individuals are concerned it is undoubtedly the bottom up system of ICANN which will be less restrictive than the option of top down control through an international organisation in which governments have the lion’s share of the power. While governments are meant to be protecting the interests of their people and their rights it is rare that this is actually the case. More usually it is states that are violating the rights of their citizens both online and offline as is shown by the human rights records of countries like Iran and China. On the internet government involvement equally regularly means attempts by states to create restrictions and prevent the internet from being a place where citizens have freedom of expression. This can even be the case in democracies, for example in South Korea a critic of the government who called the president names found his twitter account blocked as a result. [1]\n\n[1] Sang-Hun, Choe, ‘Korea Policing the Net. Twist? It’s South Korea.”, The New York Times, 12 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5e5bb144e436e319dd51ae05baf4f8c8",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The status quo has been very successful; don’t fix something that is not broken.\n\nThe current system for control of the internet has been successful in managing phenomenal growth in the internet with very few problems. ICANN has been a success precisely because it does not focus on politics but on making the internet as efficient as possible, in contrast the telecommunications sector remained static and costly for a long time as a result of government interference. [1] Experts such as Rajnesh Singh argue ICANN’s “multi-stakeholder approach has proven to be nimble and effective in ensuring the stability, security, and availability of the global infrastructure, while still giving sovereign nations the flexibility to enact and enforce relevant Internet legislation within their borders… This model has been a key contributor to the breathtaking evolution and expansion of the Internet worldwide.” [2] It is this openness that has contributed to the internet generating 10% of GDP growth in the rich world over the last fifteen years. [3]\n\nThe change to CIRP would cause a lot of disruption; it would mean changing the current bottom up model of regulation to a top down model such as that used by the ITU. [4] The White House has highlighted the likely effect this would have on the internet; “Centralized control over the Internet through a top-down government approach would put political dealmakers, rather than innovators and experts, in charge of the future of the Internet. This would slow the pace of innovation, hamper global economic development, and lead to an era of unprecedented control over what people can say and do online.” [5]\n\n[1] ‘America rules OK’, The Economist, 6th October 2005.\n\n[2] Kwang, Kevin, ‘’Multi-stakeholder’ management of Internet should stay’, ZDNet, 15 June 2012.\n\n[3] ‘In praise of chaos’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.\n\n[4] ‘OECD input to the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance’, OECD.\n\n[5] Strickling, Lawrence, Verveer, Philip, and Weitzner, Daniel, ‘Ensuring an Open Internet’, Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2 May 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
979385b7b1241d19ff73228c3e73c0ee | Simplicity
One of the best things about the proposal to create CIRP is that it simply brings the internet into line with other areas of international communication and the global economy by bringing the internet into the United Nations system. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for example is the body that allocates radio spectrums and satellite orbits, in other words it does for telecommunications what ICANN does for the internet, and it is a United Nations agency. [1] The ITU has 193 countries as members but is also open to the private sector and academia, just as CIRP would be. [2] Having internet governance working through the United Nations would therefore mean using a tried and tested method of governance.
[1] ‘About ITU’, International Telecommunication Union.
[2] ‘Membership’, International Telecommunication Union
| [
{
"docid": "a8d07baeb97f1ad68cf053ce4fce6063",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The United States is unlikely to give up control and no one can force it to do, the ITU itself has accepted that it could not do so, [1] so creating CIRP would really be a pointless increase in bureaucracy. There is already government involvement in ICANN through the Governmental Advisory Committee [2] so there is little need for another body giving governments more control over the internet. If the United States does not give up control voluntarily then there is likely to be added problems arising from conflicts between the ICANN and CIRP.\n\n[1] Kelion, Leo, ‘US resists control of internet passing to UN agency’, BBC News, 3 August 2012.\n\n[2] ‘About the GAC’, ICANN GAC.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "73c802416585faf3e388897abacf14e0",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee It is wrong that civil society should have reduced influence over the governance of the internet with governments making all the key decisions. Many governments around the world are not democratic and so cannot be said to represent their people while even those that are democratic are prone to advancing the interests of minorities of their constituents as shown by treaties and legislation such as SOPA and ACTA. Governments of all stripes whether authoritarian or democratic do not have a good record of transparency; ICANN on the other hand does. [1] ICANN works on a \"bottom-up, consensus-driven, multi-stakeholder model\" meaning that ICANN is very inclusive bringing together governments, experts, private companies and ngos, potentially even individuals can get involved and have their say. [2]\n\n[1] ‘ICANN Accountability & Transparency’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.\n\n[2] ‘About Us’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers .\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "05f469cb8e1a18a8a3efee548eaa8616",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While the US government may have more influence over ICANN than other governments it does not control ICANN. This lack of control is demonstrated by the organisation being willing to do things that the United States is opposed to. For example ICANN the rolled out of the new top level domain names which both the United States and European Union were opposed to, and was incidentally were supported by developing countries. [1]\n\n[1] Mackinnon, Rebecca, ‘The United Nations and the Internet: It’s Complicated’, Foreign Policy, 8 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b2fabc69e2f3674bc53a19646d0c27b",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While this might be a valid argument if the United Nations Committee for Internet Related Policies means handing over governance to an individual state it is difficult to question that collectively through the United Nations system states have generally worked to improve citizens quality of life and human rights. CIRP will be just such a multilateral institution so will not be a threat to freedom on the internet. It is even suggested that the mandate for the new organisation include “the promotion and protection of all human rights, namely, civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights, including the Right to Development”. Even those who don’t want governmental control accept that there is a need for some form of constitution with a bill of rights and some kind of board for review [1] – thus showing that under ICANN the internet is not governed in the interests of the users.\n\n[1] ‘ A plaything of powerful nations’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6789316c5c8ffaae35c6fda3c73b4b3e",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee ICANN has not been very supportive of growth in the developing world, as is to be expected of a body that is dominated by rich world governments and corporations. Sub-Saharan Africa for example only has three accredited registrars that provision domain names compared to the four that Denmark alone has. [1] Changing to CIRP would help rebalance the control of the internet to the global south where the majority of future growth is bound to occur. Even if ICANN has been successful in managing the growth of the internet as it spread through the developed world it is not in a good position to be as successful in the future.\n\nMoreover as the internet becomes more ubiquitous politics will inevitably intrude regardless of whether those controlling the internet want it to or not. Creating new top level domain names is inherently political. Saudi Arabia for example objected to a number of proposed domain names such as .gay, .bar, .islam, and .baby, [2] it is clear that in cases like this governments need to decide in order to avoid there being domain names that are offensive to some users of the internet.\n\n[1] ‘The Accredited Registrar Directory’, InterNIC .\n\n[2] Kelly, Heather, ‘Saudi Arabia objects to .gay and .islam domain names’, CNN, 15 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "10caab7c39f0cfa2c7cf1cbe4e0dd136",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee CIRP would give some influence to authoritarian governments; among 50 governments represented some are bound to be from non-democracies. This influence would however be counterbalanced by the democracies that are represented. The United Nations have a good track record of including as many as possible through the tradition of making decisions by consensus [1] which will prevent states that might wish to use CIRP in ways that other states would not agree with from succeeding.\n\n[1] Kurup, Deepa, ‘Who controls the World Wide Web’, The Hindu, 27 May 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3e361b5aa8f6c462162c41ef1dcd3347",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Governments not ‘civil society’ must be in control of internet governance\n\nIt is governments who are in charge of setting public policy within countries so it makes sense that these same governments should set public policy in the international sphere; [1] this is why international organisations have been set up and why it is governments that are represented in them. Internet governance should also be the purview of governments on account of the wide range of issues it covers. These include who gets access to the technical resources of the internet, intellectual property, participation in the online economy (which now has an immense impact on the physical economy as well - just consider how the financial markets around the world are interconnected in part as a result of the internet), freedom of expression, and security which ultimately can affect national security and the high politics if balance of power. [2] Private companies and civil society will inevitably only represent a minority of opinions within these countries and cannot be said to truly represent their country, the right place for them is in providing advice to their governments rather than through direct control such as that currently held by ICANN.\n\n[1] Al-Darrab, Abdullah A., ‘The Need for International Internet Governance Oversight’, Internet Governance Forum.\n\n[2] ‘About’, Internet Governance Project Syracuse University.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6ca9c5d265e836dfe10f474eedde7e0d",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Internet governance must be multinational\n\nThe internet is global, things on the internet do not just affect one country, indeed they often don’t just affect a small group of countries but affect every country. This is especially true of issues of internet governance as setting the rules for the internet and the architecture has to be for the whole internet not isolated bits of it. The function that ICANN currently performs is one that should rightfully be done internationally in the interests of all the nations. This is not the case at the moment as the United States has essentially has a monopoly on internet governance. While ICANN is an independent non-profit body it is under contract from the U.S. department of Commerce and is subject to U.S. laws. [1]\n\nThe United States already abuses its control over the internet. It has become commonplace for the U.S. to seize domains, as it did with Bodog.com, regardless of where their domain name registrar, or the owner of the website, is based. It can do this easily because the companies that have the contract to manage the generic top level names such as .com and .org are based within the United States. As it is U.S. based the company with these top level domains has to comply with U.S. law so when it is asked to shut down a site even if it is a foreign site with a foreign registrar it will do so. [2] Actions like this show that the United States is only interested in its own power over the internet. It is not interested in the rights of other countries and owners of websites that are registered in those countries highlighting a need to a change to a more multinational system.\n\n[1] Singh, Parminder Jeet, ‘India’s proposal will help take the web out of U.S. control’, The Hindu, 17 May 2012.\n\n[2] Kravets, David, ‘Uncle Sam: If It Ends in .Com, It’s .Seizable’, Wired, 6th March 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "63259cd2aaebfd95d97ea2aa67d22481",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee CIRP would place power in the hands of authoritarian governments\n\nThe intention for the creation of CIRP is to give more power to governments, and particularly to authoritarian governments that wish much greater control over the internet. If CIRP is meant to enable “enhanced cooperation to enable governments, on an equal footing, to carry out their roles and responsibilities in international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet” [1] this may result in CIRP becoming an international organisation that would impose censorship on the internet. This is practically an inevitable result as the main tool of government is regulation. In the case of the internet such regulation will mean more controls on what users can and cannot do online.\n\nThe result is likely to be similar to the U.N. Human Rights Council where many of the world’s biggest human rights abusers are regularly elected and Israel and the U.S. are constantly investigated while a blind eye is turned to many abuses. [2] At the very least such control will provide an enabler that will allow countries that want to censor the internet to shelter behind the international organisation. India’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal has said the solution to this problem of objectionable content online should be permanent \"That will only happen when we talk to all the stakeholders and form such a mechanism under which any objectionable content is removed,\" [3]\n\n[1] ‘Full text: India’s United Nations proposal to control the Internet’, IBNLive, 21 May 2012.\n\n[2] Ayalon, Danny, ‘Theater of the Absurd’, Foreign Policy, 30 March 2012.\n\n[3] Julka, Harsomran, ‘Internet censorship: India to push for internet regulation at United Nations’, The Economic Times, 24 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e9261c769b3f7e37a6bf50c1032dfb79",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The internet should be governed in the interests of freedom\n\nThe internet is used by everyone and so should be governed in such a way as reflects the desires of the users of the internet; and this is somewhere where internet users are often at odds with their governments. Where the freedom of individuals are concerned it is undoubtedly the bottom up system of ICANN which will be less restrictive than the option of top down control through an international organisation in which governments have the lion’s share of the power. While governments are meant to be protecting the interests of their people and their rights it is rare that this is actually the case. More usually it is states that are violating the rights of their citizens both online and offline as is shown by the human rights records of countries like Iran and China. On the internet government involvement equally regularly means attempts by states to create restrictions and prevent the internet from being a place where citizens have freedom of expression. This can even be the case in democracies, for example in South Korea a critic of the government who called the president names found his twitter account blocked as a result. [1]\n\n[1] Sang-Hun, Choe, ‘Korea Policing the Net. Twist? It’s South Korea.”, The New York Times, 12 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5e5bb144e436e319dd51ae05baf4f8c8",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The status quo has been very successful; don’t fix something that is not broken.\n\nThe current system for control of the internet has been successful in managing phenomenal growth in the internet with very few problems. ICANN has been a success precisely because it does not focus on politics but on making the internet as efficient as possible, in contrast the telecommunications sector remained static and costly for a long time as a result of government interference. [1] Experts such as Rajnesh Singh argue ICANN’s “multi-stakeholder approach has proven to be nimble and effective in ensuring the stability, security, and availability of the global infrastructure, while still giving sovereign nations the flexibility to enact and enforce relevant Internet legislation within their borders… This model has been a key contributor to the breathtaking evolution and expansion of the Internet worldwide.” [2] It is this openness that has contributed to the internet generating 10% of GDP growth in the rich world over the last fifteen years. [3]\n\nThe change to CIRP would cause a lot of disruption; it would mean changing the current bottom up model of regulation to a top down model such as that used by the ITU. [4] The White House has highlighted the likely effect this would have on the internet; “Centralized control over the Internet through a top-down government approach would put political dealmakers, rather than innovators and experts, in charge of the future of the Internet. This would slow the pace of innovation, hamper global economic development, and lead to an era of unprecedented control over what people can say and do online.” [5]\n\n[1] ‘America rules OK’, The Economist, 6th October 2005.\n\n[2] Kwang, Kevin, ‘’Multi-stakeholder’ management of Internet should stay’, ZDNet, 15 June 2012.\n\n[3] ‘In praise of chaos’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.\n\n[4] ‘OECD input to the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance’, OECD.\n\n[5] Strickling, Lawrence, Verveer, Philip, and Weitzner, Daniel, ‘Ensuring an Open Internet’, Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2 May 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
5f47c6cd915da91e0343566f6fe77a92 | Internet governance must be multinational
The internet is global, things on the internet do not just affect one country, indeed they often don’t just affect a small group of countries but affect every country. This is especially true of issues of internet governance as setting the rules for the internet and the architecture has to be for the whole internet not isolated bits of it. The function that ICANN currently performs is one that should rightfully be done internationally in the interests of all the nations. This is not the case at the moment as the United States has essentially has a monopoly on internet governance. While ICANN is an independent non-profit body it is under contract from the U.S. department of Commerce and is subject to U.S. laws. [1]
The United States already abuses its control over the internet. It has become commonplace for the U.S. to seize domains, as it did with Bodog.com, regardless of where their domain name registrar, or the owner of the website, is based. It can do this easily because the companies that have the contract to manage the generic top level names such as .com and .org are based within the United States. As it is U.S. based the company with these top level domains has to comply with U.S. law so when it is asked to shut down a site even if it is a foreign site with a foreign registrar it will do so. [2] Actions like this show that the United States is only interested in its own power over the internet. It is not interested in the rights of other countries and owners of websites that are registered in those countries highlighting a need to a change to a more multinational system.
[1] Singh, Parminder Jeet, ‘India’s proposal will help take the web out of U.S. control’, The Hindu, 17 May 2012.
[2] Kravets, David, ‘Uncle Sam: If It Ends in .Com, It’s .Seizable’, Wired, 6th March 2012.
| [
{
"docid": "05f469cb8e1a18a8a3efee548eaa8616",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While the US government may have more influence over ICANN than other governments it does not control ICANN. This lack of control is demonstrated by the organisation being willing to do things that the United States is opposed to. For example ICANN the rolled out of the new top level domain names which both the United States and European Union were opposed to, and was incidentally were supported by developing countries. [1]\n\n[1] Mackinnon, Rebecca, ‘The United Nations and the Internet: It’s Complicated’, Foreign Policy, 8 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "73c802416585faf3e388897abacf14e0",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee It is wrong that civil society should have reduced influence over the governance of the internet with governments making all the key decisions. Many governments around the world are not democratic and so cannot be said to represent their people while even those that are democratic are prone to advancing the interests of minorities of their constituents as shown by treaties and legislation such as SOPA and ACTA. Governments of all stripes whether authoritarian or democratic do not have a good record of transparency; ICANN on the other hand does. [1] ICANN works on a \"bottom-up, consensus-driven, multi-stakeholder model\" meaning that ICANN is very inclusive bringing together governments, experts, private companies and ngos, potentially even individuals can get involved and have their say. [2]\n\n[1] ‘ICANN Accountability & Transparency’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.\n\n[2] ‘About Us’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers .\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a8d07baeb97f1ad68cf053ce4fce6063",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The United States is unlikely to give up control and no one can force it to do, the ITU itself has accepted that it could not do so, [1] so creating CIRP would really be a pointless increase in bureaucracy. There is already government involvement in ICANN through the Governmental Advisory Committee [2] so there is little need for another body giving governments more control over the internet. If the United States does not give up control voluntarily then there is likely to be added problems arising from conflicts between the ICANN and CIRP.\n\n[1] Kelion, Leo, ‘US resists control of internet passing to UN agency’, BBC News, 3 August 2012.\n\n[2] ‘About the GAC’, ICANN GAC.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b2fabc69e2f3674bc53a19646d0c27b",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While this might be a valid argument if the United Nations Committee for Internet Related Policies means handing over governance to an individual state it is difficult to question that collectively through the United Nations system states have generally worked to improve citizens quality of life and human rights. CIRP will be just such a multilateral institution so will not be a threat to freedom on the internet. It is even suggested that the mandate for the new organisation include “the promotion and protection of all human rights, namely, civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights, including the Right to Development”. Even those who don’t want governmental control accept that there is a need for some form of constitution with a bill of rights and some kind of board for review [1] – thus showing that under ICANN the internet is not governed in the interests of the users.\n\n[1] ‘ A plaything of powerful nations’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6789316c5c8ffaae35c6fda3c73b4b3e",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee ICANN has not been very supportive of growth in the developing world, as is to be expected of a body that is dominated by rich world governments and corporations. Sub-Saharan Africa for example only has three accredited registrars that provision domain names compared to the four that Denmark alone has. [1] Changing to CIRP would help rebalance the control of the internet to the global south where the majority of future growth is bound to occur. Even if ICANN has been successful in managing the growth of the internet as it spread through the developed world it is not in a good position to be as successful in the future.\n\nMoreover as the internet becomes more ubiquitous politics will inevitably intrude regardless of whether those controlling the internet want it to or not. Creating new top level domain names is inherently political. Saudi Arabia for example objected to a number of proposed domain names such as .gay, .bar, .islam, and .baby, [2] it is clear that in cases like this governments need to decide in order to avoid there being domain names that are offensive to some users of the internet.\n\n[1] ‘The Accredited Registrar Directory’, InterNIC .\n\n[2] Kelly, Heather, ‘Saudi Arabia objects to .gay and .islam domain names’, CNN, 15 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "10caab7c39f0cfa2c7cf1cbe4e0dd136",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee CIRP would give some influence to authoritarian governments; among 50 governments represented some are bound to be from non-democracies. This influence would however be counterbalanced by the democracies that are represented. The United Nations have a good track record of including as many as possible through the tradition of making decisions by consensus [1] which will prevent states that might wish to use CIRP in ways that other states would not agree with from succeeding.\n\n[1] Kurup, Deepa, ‘Who controls the World Wide Web’, The Hindu, 27 May 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3e361b5aa8f6c462162c41ef1dcd3347",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Governments not ‘civil society’ must be in control of internet governance\n\nIt is governments who are in charge of setting public policy within countries so it makes sense that these same governments should set public policy in the international sphere; [1] this is why international organisations have been set up and why it is governments that are represented in them. Internet governance should also be the purview of governments on account of the wide range of issues it covers. These include who gets access to the technical resources of the internet, intellectual property, participation in the online economy (which now has an immense impact on the physical economy as well - just consider how the financial markets around the world are interconnected in part as a result of the internet), freedom of expression, and security which ultimately can affect national security and the high politics if balance of power. [2] Private companies and civil society will inevitably only represent a minority of opinions within these countries and cannot be said to truly represent their country, the right place for them is in providing advice to their governments rather than through direct control such as that currently held by ICANN.\n\n[1] Al-Darrab, Abdullah A., ‘The Need for International Internet Governance Oversight’, Internet Governance Forum.\n\n[2] ‘About’, Internet Governance Project Syracuse University.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c5400bf20403aae93468512ca3fbb7b8",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Simplicity\n\nOne of the best things about the proposal to create CIRP is that it simply brings the internet into line with other areas of international communication and the global economy by bringing the internet into the United Nations system. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for example is the body that allocates radio spectrums and satellite orbits, in other words it does for telecommunications what ICANN does for the internet, and it is a United Nations agency. [1] The ITU has 193 countries as members but is also open to the private sector and academia, just as CIRP would be. [2] Having internet governance working through the United Nations would therefore mean using a tried and tested method of governance.\n\n[1] ‘About ITU’, International Telecommunication Union.\n\n[2] ‘Membership’, International Telecommunication Union\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "63259cd2aaebfd95d97ea2aa67d22481",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee CIRP would place power in the hands of authoritarian governments\n\nThe intention for the creation of CIRP is to give more power to governments, and particularly to authoritarian governments that wish much greater control over the internet. If CIRP is meant to enable “enhanced cooperation to enable governments, on an equal footing, to carry out their roles and responsibilities in international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet” [1] this may result in CIRP becoming an international organisation that would impose censorship on the internet. This is practically an inevitable result as the main tool of government is regulation. In the case of the internet such regulation will mean more controls on what users can and cannot do online.\n\nThe result is likely to be similar to the U.N. Human Rights Council where many of the world’s biggest human rights abusers are regularly elected and Israel and the U.S. are constantly investigated while a blind eye is turned to many abuses. [2] At the very least such control will provide an enabler that will allow countries that want to censor the internet to shelter behind the international organisation. India’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal has said the solution to this problem of objectionable content online should be permanent \"That will only happen when we talk to all the stakeholders and form such a mechanism under which any objectionable content is removed,\" [3]\n\n[1] ‘Full text: India’s United Nations proposal to control the Internet’, IBNLive, 21 May 2012.\n\n[2] Ayalon, Danny, ‘Theater of the Absurd’, Foreign Policy, 30 March 2012.\n\n[3] Julka, Harsomran, ‘Internet censorship: India to push for internet regulation at United Nations’, The Economic Times, 24 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e9261c769b3f7e37a6bf50c1032dfb79",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The internet should be governed in the interests of freedom\n\nThe internet is used by everyone and so should be governed in such a way as reflects the desires of the users of the internet; and this is somewhere where internet users are often at odds with their governments. Where the freedom of individuals are concerned it is undoubtedly the bottom up system of ICANN which will be less restrictive than the option of top down control through an international organisation in which governments have the lion’s share of the power. While governments are meant to be protecting the interests of their people and their rights it is rare that this is actually the case. More usually it is states that are violating the rights of their citizens both online and offline as is shown by the human rights records of countries like Iran and China. On the internet government involvement equally regularly means attempts by states to create restrictions and prevent the internet from being a place where citizens have freedom of expression. This can even be the case in democracies, for example in South Korea a critic of the government who called the president names found his twitter account blocked as a result. [1]\n\n[1] Sang-Hun, Choe, ‘Korea Policing the Net. Twist? It’s South Korea.”, The New York Times, 12 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5e5bb144e436e319dd51ae05baf4f8c8",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The status quo has been very successful; don’t fix something that is not broken.\n\nThe current system for control of the internet has been successful in managing phenomenal growth in the internet with very few problems. ICANN has been a success precisely because it does not focus on politics but on making the internet as efficient as possible, in contrast the telecommunications sector remained static and costly for a long time as a result of government interference. [1] Experts such as Rajnesh Singh argue ICANN’s “multi-stakeholder approach has proven to be nimble and effective in ensuring the stability, security, and availability of the global infrastructure, while still giving sovereign nations the flexibility to enact and enforce relevant Internet legislation within their borders… This model has been a key contributor to the breathtaking evolution and expansion of the Internet worldwide.” [2] It is this openness that has contributed to the internet generating 10% of GDP growth in the rich world over the last fifteen years. [3]\n\nThe change to CIRP would cause a lot of disruption; it would mean changing the current bottom up model of regulation to a top down model such as that used by the ITU. [4] The White House has highlighted the likely effect this would have on the internet; “Centralized control over the Internet through a top-down government approach would put political dealmakers, rather than innovators and experts, in charge of the future of the Internet. This would slow the pace of innovation, hamper global economic development, and lead to an era of unprecedented control over what people can say and do online.” [5]\n\n[1] ‘America rules OK’, The Economist, 6th October 2005.\n\n[2] Kwang, Kevin, ‘’Multi-stakeholder’ management of Internet should stay’, ZDNet, 15 June 2012.\n\n[3] ‘In praise of chaos’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.\n\n[4] ‘OECD input to the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance’, OECD.\n\n[5] Strickling, Lawrence, Verveer, Philip, and Weitzner, Daniel, ‘Ensuring an Open Internet’, Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2 May 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
d02304bbeb0e00549c1bcbe6f01f4aeb | CIRP would place power in the hands of authoritarian governments
The intention for the creation of CIRP is to give more power to governments, and particularly to authoritarian governments that wish much greater control over the internet. If CIRP is meant to enable “enhanced cooperation to enable governments, on an equal footing, to carry out their roles and responsibilities in international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet” [1] this may result in CIRP becoming an international organisation that would impose censorship on the internet. This is practically an inevitable result as the main tool of government is regulation. In the case of the internet such regulation will mean more controls on what users can and cannot do online.
The result is likely to be similar to the U.N. Human Rights Council where many of the world’s biggest human rights abusers are regularly elected and Israel and the U.S. are constantly investigated while a blind eye is turned to many abuses. [2] At the very least such control will provide an enabler that will allow countries that want to censor the internet to shelter behind the international organisation. India’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal has said the solution to this problem of objectionable content online should be permanent "That will only happen when we talk to all the stakeholders and form such a mechanism under which any objectionable content is removed," [3]
[1] ‘Full text: India’s United Nations proposal to control the Internet’, IBNLive, 21 May 2012.
[2] Ayalon, Danny, ‘Theater of the Absurd’, Foreign Policy, 30 March 2012.
[3] Julka, Harsomran, ‘Internet censorship: India to push for internet regulation at United Nations’, The Economic Times, 24 August 2012.
| [
{
"docid": "10caab7c39f0cfa2c7cf1cbe4e0dd136",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee CIRP would give some influence to authoritarian governments; among 50 governments represented some are bound to be from non-democracies. This influence would however be counterbalanced by the democracies that are represented. The United Nations have a good track record of including as many as possible through the tradition of making decisions by consensus [1] which will prevent states that might wish to use CIRP in ways that other states would not agree with from succeeding.\n\n[1] Kurup, Deepa, ‘Who controls the World Wide Web’, The Hindu, 27 May 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "5b2fabc69e2f3674bc53a19646d0c27b",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While this might be a valid argument if the United Nations Committee for Internet Related Policies means handing over governance to an individual state it is difficult to question that collectively through the United Nations system states have generally worked to improve citizens quality of life and human rights. CIRP will be just such a multilateral institution so will not be a threat to freedom on the internet. It is even suggested that the mandate for the new organisation include “the promotion and protection of all human rights, namely, civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights, including the Right to Development”. Even those who don’t want governmental control accept that there is a need for some form of constitution with a bill of rights and some kind of board for review [1] – thus showing that under ICANN the internet is not governed in the interests of the users.\n\n[1] ‘ A plaything of powerful nations’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6789316c5c8ffaae35c6fda3c73b4b3e",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee ICANN has not been very supportive of growth in the developing world, as is to be expected of a body that is dominated by rich world governments and corporations. Sub-Saharan Africa for example only has three accredited registrars that provision domain names compared to the four that Denmark alone has. [1] Changing to CIRP would help rebalance the control of the internet to the global south where the majority of future growth is bound to occur. Even if ICANN has been successful in managing the growth of the internet as it spread through the developed world it is not in a good position to be as successful in the future.\n\nMoreover as the internet becomes more ubiquitous politics will inevitably intrude regardless of whether those controlling the internet want it to or not. Creating new top level domain names is inherently political. Saudi Arabia for example objected to a number of proposed domain names such as .gay, .bar, .islam, and .baby, [2] it is clear that in cases like this governments need to decide in order to avoid there being domain names that are offensive to some users of the internet.\n\n[1] ‘The Accredited Registrar Directory’, InterNIC .\n\n[2] Kelly, Heather, ‘Saudi Arabia objects to .gay and .islam domain names’, CNN, 15 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "73c802416585faf3e388897abacf14e0",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee It is wrong that civil society should have reduced influence over the governance of the internet with governments making all the key decisions. Many governments around the world are not democratic and so cannot be said to represent their people while even those that are democratic are prone to advancing the interests of minorities of their constituents as shown by treaties and legislation such as SOPA and ACTA. Governments of all stripes whether authoritarian or democratic do not have a good record of transparency; ICANN on the other hand does. [1] ICANN works on a \"bottom-up, consensus-driven, multi-stakeholder model\" meaning that ICANN is very inclusive bringing together governments, experts, private companies and ngos, potentially even individuals can get involved and have their say. [2]\n\n[1] ‘ICANN Accountability & Transparency’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.\n\n[2] ‘About Us’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers .\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a8d07baeb97f1ad68cf053ce4fce6063",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The United States is unlikely to give up control and no one can force it to do, the ITU itself has accepted that it could not do so, [1] so creating CIRP would really be a pointless increase in bureaucracy. There is already government involvement in ICANN through the Governmental Advisory Committee [2] so there is little need for another body giving governments more control over the internet. If the United States does not give up control voluntarily then there is likely to be added problems arising from conflicts between the ICANN and CIRP.\n\n[1] Kelion, Leo, ‘US resists control of internet passing to UN agency’, BBC News, 3 August 2012.\n\n[2] ‘About the GAC’, ICANN GAC.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "05f469cb8e1a18a8a3efee548eaa8616",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While the US government may have more influence over ICANN than other governments it does not control ICANN. This lack of control is demonstrated by the organisation being willing to do things that the United States is opposed to. For example ICANN the rolled out of the new top level domain names which both the United States and European Union were opposed to, and was incidentally were supported by developing countries. [1]\n\n[1] Mackinnon, Rebecca, ‘The United Nations and the Internet: It’s Complicated’, Foreign Policy, 8 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e9261c769b3f7e37a6bf50c1032dfb79",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The internet should be governed in the interests of freedom\n\nThe internet is used by everyone and so should be governed in such a way as reflects the desires of the users of the internet; and this is somewhere where internet users are often at odds with their governments. Where the freedom of individuals are concerned it is undoubtedly the bottom up system of ICANN which will be less restrictive than the option of top down control through an international organisation in which governments have the lion’s share of the power. While governments are meant to be protecting the interests of their people and their rights it is rare that this is actually the case. More usually it is states that are violating the rights of their citizens both online and offline as is shown by the human rights records of countries like Iran and China. On the internet government involvement equally regularly means attempts by states to create restrictions and prevent the internet from being a place where citizens have freedom of expression. This can even be the case in democracies, for example in South Korea a critic of the government who called the president names found his twitter account blocked as a result. [1]\n\n[1] Sang-Hun, Choe, ‘Korea Policing the Net. Twist? It’s South Korea.”, The New York Times, 12 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5e5bb144e436e319dd51ae05baf4f8c8",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The status quo has been very successful; don’t fix something that is not broken.\n\nThe current system for control of the internet has been successful in managing phenomenal growth in the internet with very few problems. ICANN has been a success precisely because it does not focus on politics but on making the internet as efficient as possible, in contrast the telecommunications sector remained static and costly for a long time as a result of government interference. [1] Experts such as Rajnesh Singh argue ICANN’s “multi-stakeholder approach has proven to be nimble and effective in ensuring the stability, security, and availability of the global infrastructure, while still giving sovereign nations the flexibility to enact and enforce relevant Internet legislation within their borders… This model has been a key contributor to the breathtaking evolution and expansion of the Internet worldwide.” [2] It is this openness that has contributed to the internet generating 10% of GDP growth in the rich world over the last fifteen years. [3]\n\nThe change to CIRP would cause a lot of disruption; it would mean changing the current bottom up model of regulation to a top down model such as that used by the ITU. [4] The White House has highlighted the likely effect this would have on the internet; “Centralized control over the Internet through a top-down government approach would put political dealmakers, rather than innovators and experts, in charge of the future of the Internet. This would slow the pace of innovation, hamper global economic development, and lead to an era of unprecedented control over what people can say and do online.” [5]\n\n[1] ‘America rules OK’, The Economist, 6th October 2005.\n\n[2] Kwang, Kevin, ‘’Multi-stakeholder’ management of Internet should stay’, ZDNet, 15 June 2012.\n\n[3] ‘In praise of chaos’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.\n\n[4] ‘OECD input to the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance’, OECD.\n\n[5] Strickling, Lawrence, Verveer, Philip, and Weitzner, Daniel, ‘Ensuring an Open Internet’, Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2 May 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3e361b5aa8f6c462162c41ef1dcd3347",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Governments not ‘civil society’ must be in control of internet governance\n\nIt is governments who are in charge of setting public policy within countries so it makes sense that these same governments should set public policy in the international sphere; [1] this is why international organisations have been set up and why it is governments that are represented in them. Internet governance should also be the purview of governments on account of the wide range of issues it covers. These include who gets access to the technical resources of the internet, intellectual property, participation in the online economy (which now has an immense impact on the physical economy as well - just consider how the financial markets around the world are interconnected in part as a result of the internet), freedom of expression, and security which ultimately can affect national security and the high politics if balance of power. [2] Private companies and civil society will inevitably only represent a minority of opinions within these countries and cannot be said to truly represent their country, the right place for them is in providing advice to their governments rather than through direct control such as that currently held by ICANN.\n\n[1] Al-Darrab, Abdullah A., ‘The Need for International Internet Governance Oversight’, Internet Governance Forum.\n\n[2] ‘About’, Internet Governance Project Syracuse University.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c5400bf20403aae93468512ca3fbb7b8",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Simplicity\n\nOne of the best things about the proposal to create CIRP is that it simply brings the internet into line with other areas of international communication and the global economy by bringing the internet into the United Nations system. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for example is the body that allocates radio spectrums and satellite orbits, in other words it does for telecommunications what ICANN does for the internet, and it is a United Nations agency. [1] The ITU has 193 countries as members but is also open to the private sector and academia, just as CIRP would be. [2] Having internet governance working through the United Nations would therefore mean using a tried and tested method of governance.\n\n[1] ‘About ITU’, International Telecommunication Union.\n\n[2] ‘Membership’, International Telecommunication Union\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6ca9c5d265e836dfe10f474eedde7e0d",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Internet governance must be multinational\n\nThe internet is global, things on the internet do not just affect one country, indeed they often don’t just affect a small group of countries but affect every country. This is especially true of issues of internet governance as setting the rules for the internet and the architecture has to be for the whole internet not isolated bits of it. The function that ICANN currently performs is one that should rightfully be done internationally in the interests of all the nations. This is not the case at the moment as the United States has essentially has a monopoly on internet governance. While ICANN is an independent non-profit body it is under contract from the U.S. department of Commerce and is subject to U.S. laws. [1]\n\nThe United States already abuses its control over the internet. It has become commonplace for the U.S. to seize domains, as it did with Bodog.com, regardless of where their domain name registrar, or the owner of the website, is based. It can do this easily because the companies that have the contract to manage the generic top level names such as .com and .org are based within the United States. As it is U.S. based the company with these top level domains has to comply with U.S. law so when it is asked to shut down a site even if it is a foreign site with a foreign registrar it will do so. [2] Actions like this show that the United States is only interested in its own power over the internet. It is not interested in the rights of other countries and owners of websites that are registered in those countries highlighting a need to a change to a more multinational system.\n\n[1] Singh, Parminder Jeet, ‘India’s proposal will help take the web out of U.S. control’, The Hindu, 17 May 2012.\n\n[2] Kravets, David, ‘Uncle Sam: If It Ends in .Com, It’s .Seizable’, Wired, 6th March 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
6f4f13399435612be6d30cb2417956fc | The internet should be governed in the interests of freedom
The internet is used by everyone and so should be governed in such a way as reflects the desires of the users of the internet; and this is somewhere where internet users are often at odds with their governments. Where the freedom of individuals are concerned it is undoubtedly the bottom up system of ICANN which will be less restrictive than the option of top down control through an international organisation in which governments have the lion’s share of the power. While governments are meant to be protecting the interests of their people and their rights it is rare that this is actually the case. More usually it is states that are violating the rights of their citizens both online and offline as is shown by the human rights records of countries like Iran and China. On the internet government involvement equally regularly means attempts by states to create restrictions and prevent the internet from being a place where citizens have freedom of expression. This can even be the case in democracies, for example in South Korea a critic of the government who called the president names found his twitter account blocked as a result. [1]
[1] Sang-Hun, Choe, ‘Korea Policing the Net. Twist? It’s South Korea.”, The New York Times, 12 August 2012.
| [
{
"docid": "5b2fabc69e2f3674bc53a19646d0c27b",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While this might be a valid argument if the United Nations Committee for Internet Related Policies means handing over governance to an individual state it is difficult to question that collectively through the United Nations system states have generally worked to improve citizens quality of life and human rights. CIRP will be just such a multilateral institution so will not be a threat to freedom on the internet. It is even suggested that the mandate for the new organisation include “the promotion and protection of all human rights, namely, civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights, including the Right to Development”. Even those who don’t want governmental control accept that there is a need for some form of constitution with a bill of rights and some kind of board for review [1] – thus showing that under ICANN the internet is not governed in the interests of the users.\n\n[1] ‘ A plaything of powerful nations’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "6789316c5c8ffaae35c6fda3c73b4b3e",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee ICANN has not been very supportive of growth in the developing world, as is to be expected of a body that is dominated by rich world governments and corporations. Sub-Saharan Africa for example only has three accredited registrars that provision domain names compared to the four that Denmark alone has. [1] Changing to CIRP would help rebalance the control of the internet to the global south where the majority of future growth is bound to occur. Even if ICANN has been successful in managing the growth of the internet as it spread through the developed world it is not in a good position to be as successful in the future.\n\nMoreover as the internet becomes more ubiquitous politics will inevitably intrude regardless of whether those controlling the internet want it to or not. Creating new top level domain names is inherently political. Saudi Arabia for example objected to a number of proposed domain names such as .gay, .bar, .islam, and .baby, [2] it is clear that in cases like this governments need to decide in order to avoid there being domain names that are offensive to some users of the internet.\n\n[1] ‘The Accredited Registrar Directory’, InterNIC .\n\n[2] Kelly, Heather, ‘Saudi Arabia objects to .gay and .islam domain names’, CNN, 15 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "10caab7c39f0cfa2c7cf1cbe4e0dd136",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee CIRP would give some influence to authoritarian governments; among 50 governments represented some are bound to be from non-democracies. This influence would however be counterbalanced by the democracies that are represented. The United Nations have a good track record of including as many as possible through the tradition of making decisions by consensus [1] which will prevent states that might wish to use CIRP in ways that other states would not agree with from succeeding.\n\n[1] Kurup, Deepa, ‘Who controls the World Wide Web’, The Hindu, 27 May 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "73c802416585faf3e388897abacf14e0",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee It is wrong that civil society should have reduced influence over the governance of the internet with governments making all the key decisions. Many governments around the world are not democratic and so cannot be said to represent their people while even those that are democratic are prone to advancing the interests of minorities of their constituents as shown by treaties and legislation such as SOPA and ACTA. Governments of all stripes whether authoritarian or democratic do not have a good record of transparency; ICANN on the other hand does. [1] ICANN works on a \"bottom-up, consensus-driven, multi-stakeholder model\" meaning that ICANN is very inclusive bringing together governments, experts, private companies and ngos, potentially even individuals can get involved and have their say. [2]\n\n[1] ‘ICANN Accountability & Transparency’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.\n\n[2] ‘About Us’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers .\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a8d07baeb97f1ad68cf053ce4fce6063",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The United States is unlikely to give up control and no one can force it to do, the ITU itself has accepted that it could not do so, [1] so creating CIRP would really be a pointless increase in bureaucracy. There is already government involvement in ICANN through the Governmental Advisory Committee [2] so there is little need for another body giving governments more control over the internet. If the United States does not give up control voluntarily then there is likely to be added problems arising from conflicts between the ICANN and CIRP.\n\n[1] Kelion, Leo, ‘US resists control of internet passing to UN agency’, BBC News, 3 August 2012.\n\n[2] ‘About the GAC’, ICANN GAC.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "05f469cb8e1a18a8a3efee548eaa8616",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While the US government may have more influence over ICANN than other governments it does not control ICANN. This lack of control is demonstrated by the organisation being willing to do things that the United States is opposed to. For example ICANN the rolled out of the new top level domain names which both the United States and European Union were opposed to, and was incidentally were supported by developing countries. [1]\n\n[1] Mackinnon, Rebecca, ‘The United Nations and the Internet: It’s Complicated’, Foreign Policy, 8 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "63259cd2aaebfd95d97ea2aa67d22481",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee CIRP would place power in the hands of authoritarian governments\n\nThe intention for the creation of CIRP is to give more power to governments, and particularly to authoritarian governments that wish much greater control over the internet. If CIRP is meant to enable “enhanced cooperation to enable governments, on an equal footing, to carry out their roles and responsibilities in international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet” [1] this may result in CIRP becoming an international organisation that would impose censorship on the internet. This is practically an inevitable result as the main tool of government is regulation. In the case of the internet such regulation will mean more controls on what users can and cannot do online.\n\nThe result is likely to be similar to the U.N. Human Rights Council where many of the world’s biggest human rights abusers are regularly elected and Israel and the U.S. are constantly investigated while a blind eye is turned to many abuses. [2] At the very least such control will provide an enabler that will allow countries that want to censor the internet to shelter behind the international organisation. India’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal has said the solution to this problem of objectionable content online should be permanent \"That will only happen when we talk to all the stakeholders and form such a mechanism under which any objectionable content is removed,\" [3]\n\n[1] ‘Full text: India’s United Nations proposal to control the Internet’, IBNLive, 21 May 2012.\n\n[2] Ayalon, Danny, ‘Theater of the Absurd’, Foreign Policy, 30 March 2012.\n\n[3] Julka, Harsomran, ‘Internet censorship: India to push for internet regulation at United Nations’, The Economic Times, 24 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5e5bb144e436e319dd51ae05baf4f8c8",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The status quo has been very successful; don’t fix something that is not broken.\n\nThe current system for control of the internet has been successful in managing phenomenal growth in the internet with very few problems. ICANN has been a success precisely because it does not focus on politics but on making the internet as efficient as possible, in contrast the telecommunications sector remained static and costly for a long time as a result of government interference. [1] Experts such as Rajnesh Singh argue ICANN’s “multi-stakeholder approach has proven to be nimble and effective in ensuring the stability, security, and availability of the global infrastructure, while still giving sovereign nations the flexibility to enact and enforce relevant Internet legislation within their borders… This model has been a key contributor to the breathtaking evolution and expansion of the Internet worldwide.” [2] It is this openness that has contributed to the internet generating 10% of GDP growth in the rich world over the last fifteen years. [3]\n\nThe change to CIRP would cause a lot of disruption; it would mean changing the current bottom up model of regulation to a top down model such as that used by the ITU. [4] The White House has highlighted the likely effect this would have on the internet; “Centralized control over the Internet through a top-down government approach would put political dealmakers, rather than innovators and experts, in charge of the future of the Internet. This would slow the pace of innovation, hamper global economic development, and lead to an era of unprecedented control over what people can say and do online.” [5]\n\n[1] ‘America rules OK’, The Economist, 6th October 2005.\n\n[2] Kwang, Kevin, ‘’Multi-stakeholder’ management of Internet should stay’, ZDNet, 15 June 2012.\n\n[3] ‘In praise of chaos’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.\n\n[4] ‘OECD input to the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance’, OECD.\n\n[5] Strickling, Lawrence, Verveer, Philip, and Weitzner, Daniel, ‘Ensuring an Open Internet’, Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2 May 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3e361b5aa8f6c462162c41ef1dcd3347",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Governments not ‘civil society’ must be in control of internet governance\n\nIt is governments who are in charge of setting public policy within countries so it makes sense that these same governments should set public policy in the international sphere; [1] this is why international organisations have been set up and why it is governments that are represented in them. Internet governance should also be the purview of governments on account of the wide range of issues it covers. These include who gets access to the technical resources of the internet, intellectual property, participation in the online economy (which now has an immense impact on the physical economy as well - just consider how the financial markets around the world are interconnected in part as a result of the internet), freedom of expression, and security which ultimately can affect national security and the high politics if balance of power. [2] Private companies and civil society will inevitably only represent a minority of opinions within these countries and cannot be said to truly represent their country, the right place for them is in providing advice to their governments rather than through direct control such as that currently held by ICANN.\n\n[1] Al-Darrab, Abdullah A., ‘The Need for International Internet Governance Oversight’, Internet Governance Forum.\n\n[2] ‘About’, Internet Governance Project Syracuse University.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c5400bf20403aae93468512ca3fbb7b8",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Simplicity\n\nOne of the best things about the proposal to create CIRP is that it simply brings the internet into line with other areas of international communication and the global economy by bringing the internet into the United Nations system. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for example is the body that allocates radio spectrums and satellite orbits, in other words it does for telecommunications what ICANN does for the internet, and it is a United Nations agency. [1] The ITU has 193 countries as members but is also open to the private sector and academia, just as CIRP would be. [2] Having internet governance working through the United Nations would therefore mean using a tried and tested method of governance.\n\n[1] ‘About ITU’, International Telecommunication Union.\n\n[2] ‘Membership’, International Telecommunication Union\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6ca9c5d265e836dfe10f474eedde7e0d",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Internet governance must be multinational\n\nThe internet is global, things on the internet do not just affect one country, indeed they often don’t just affect a small group of countries but affect every country. This is especially true of issues of internet governance as setting the rules for the internet and the architecture has to be for the whole internet not isolated bits of it. The function that ICANN currently performs is one that should rightfully be done internationally in the interests of all the nations. This is not the case at the moment as the United States has essentially has a monopoly on internet governance. While ICANN is an independent non-profit body it is under contract from the U.S. department of Commerce and is subject to U.S. laws. [1]\n\nThe United States already abuses its control over the internet. It has become commonplace for the U.S. to seize domains, as it did with Bodog.com, regardless of where their domain name registrar, or the owner of the website, is based. It can do this easily because the companies that have the contract to manage the generic top level names such as .com and .org are based within the United States. As it is U.S. based the company with these top level domains has to comply with U.S. law so when it is asked to shut down a site even if it is a foreign site with a foreign registrar it will do so. [2] Actions like this show that the United States is only interested in its own power over the internet. It is not interested in the rights of other countries and owners of websites that are registered in those countries highlighting a need to a change to a more multinational system.\n\n[1] Singh, Parminder Jeet, ‘India’s proposal will help take the web out of U.S. control’, The Hindu, 17 May 2012.\n\n[2] Kravets, David, ‘Uncle Sam: If It Ends in .Com, It’s .Seizable’, Wired, 6th March 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
8f30ee3dfe8ba0420080a0e9e44276e7 | The status quo has been very successful; don’t fix something that is not broken.
The current system for control of the internet has been successful in managing phenomenal growth in the internet with very few problems. ICANN has been a success precisely because it does not focus on politics but on making the internet as efficient as possible, in contrast the telecommunications sector remained static and costly for a long time as a result of government interference. [1] Experts such as Rajnesh Singh argue ICANN’s “multi-stakeholder approach has proven to be nimble and effective in ensuring the stability, security, and availability of the global infrastructure, while still giving sovereign nations the flexibility to enact and enforce relevant Internet legislation within their borders… This model has been a key contributor to the breathtaking evolution and expansion of the Internet worldwide.” [2] It is this openness that has contributed to the internet generating 10% of GDP growth in the rich world over the last fifteen years. [3]
The change to CIRP would cause a lot of disruption; it would mean changing the current bottom up model of regulation to a top down model such as that used by the ITU. [4] The White House has highlighted the likely effect this would have on the internet; “Centralized control over the Internet through a top-down government approach would put political dealmakers, rather than innovators and experts, in charge of the future of the Internet. This would slow the pace of innovation, hamper global economic development, and lead to an era of unprecedented control over what people can say and do online.” [5]
[1] ‘America rules OK’, The Economist, 6th October 2005.
[2] Kwang, Kevin, ‘’Multi-stakeholder’ management of Internet should stay’, ZDNet, 15 June 2012.
[3] ‘In praise of chaos’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.
[4] ‘OECD input to the United Nations Working Group on Internet Governance’, OECD.
[5] Strickling, Lawrence, Verveer, Philip, and Weitzner, Daniel, ‘Ensuring an Open Internet’, Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2 May 2012.
| [
{
"docid": "6789316c5c8ffaae35c6fda3c73b4b3e",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee ICANN has not been very supportive of growth in the developing world, as is to be expected of a body that is dominated by rich world governments and corporations. Sub-Saharan Africa for example only has three accredited registrars that provision domain names compared to the four that Denmark alone has. [1] Changing to CIRP would help rebalance the control of the internet to the global south where the majority of future growth is bound to occur. Even if ICANN has been successful in managing the growth of the internet as it spread through the developed world it is not in a good position to be as successful in the future.\n\nMoreover as the internet becomes more ubiquitous politics will inevitably intrude regardless of whether those controlling the internet want it to or not. Creating new top level domain names is inherently political. Saudi Arabia for example objected to a number of proposed domain names such as .gay, .bar, .islam, and .baby, [2] it is clear that in cases like this governments need to decide in order to avoid there being domain names that are offensive to some users of the internet.\n\n[1] ‘The Accredited Registrar Directory’, InterNIC .\n\n[2] Kelly, Heather, ‘Saudi Arabia objects to .gay and .islam domain names’, CNN, 15 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "5b2fabc69e2f3674bc53a19646d0c27b",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While this might be a valid argument if the United Nations Committee for Internet Related Policies means handing over governance to an individual state it is difficult to question that collectively through the United Nations system states have generally worked to improve citizens quality of life and human rights. CIRP will be just such a multilateral institution so will not be a threat to freedom on the internet. It is even suggested that the mandate for the new organisation include “the promotion and protection of all human rights, namely, civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights, including the Right to Development”. Even those who don’t want governmental control accept that there is a need for some form of constitution with a bill of rights and some kind of board for review [1] – thus showing that under ICANN the internet is not governed in the interests of the users.\n\n[1] ‘ A plaything of powerful nations’, The Economist, 1 October 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "10caab7c39f0cfa2c7cf1cbe4e0dd136",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee CIRP would give some influence to authoritarian governments; among 50 governments represented some are bound to be from non-democracies. This influence would however be counterbalanced by the democracies that are represented. The United Nations have a good track record of including as many as possible through the tradition of making decisions by consensus [1] which will prevent states that might wish to use CIRP in ways that other states would not agree with from succeeding.\n\n[1] Kurup, Deepa, ‘Who controls the World Wide Web’, The Hindu, 27 May 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "73c802416585faf3e388897abacf14e0",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee It is wrong that civil society should have reduced influence over the governance of the internet with governments making all the key decisions. Many governments around the world are not democratic and so cannot be said to represent their people while even those that are democratic are prone to advancing the interests of minorities of their constituents as shown by treaties and legislation such as SOPA and ACTA. Governments of all stripes whether authoritarian or democratic do not have a good record of transparency; ICANN on the other hand does. [1] ICANN works on a \"bottom-up, consensus-driven, multi-stakeholder model\" meaning that ICANN is very inclusive bringing together governments, experts, private companies and ngos, potentially even individuals can get involved and have their say. [2]\n\n[1] ‘ICANN Accountability & Transparency’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.\n\n[2] ‘About Us’, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers .\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a8d07baeb97f1ad68cf053ce4fce6063",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The United States is unlikely to give up control and no one can force it to do, the ITU itself has accepted that it could not do so, [1] so creating CIRP would really be a pointless increase in bureaucracy. There is already government involvement in ICANN through the Governmental Advisory Committee [2] so there is little need for another body giving governments more control over the internet. If the United States does not give up control voluntarily then there is likely to be added problems arising from conflicts between the ICANN and CIRP.\n\n[1] Kelion, Leo, ‘US resists control of internet passing to UN agency’, BBC News, 3 August 2012.\n\n[2] ‘About the GAC’, ICANN GAC.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "05f469cb8e1a18a8a3efee548eaa8616",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee While the US government may have more influence over ICANN than other governments it does not control ICANN. This lack of control is demonstrated by the organisation being willing to do things that the United States is opposed to. For example ICANN the rolled out of the new top level domain names which both the United States and European Union were opposed to, and was incidentally were supported by developing countries. [1]\n\n[1] Mackinnon, Rebecca, ‘The United Nations and the Internet: It’s Complicated’, Foreign Policy, 8 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "63259cd2aaebfd95d97ea2aa67d22481",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee CIRP would place power in the hands of authoritarian governments\n\nThe intention for the creation of CIRP is to give more power to governments, and particularly to authoritarian governments that wish much greater control over the internet. If CIRP is meant to enable “enhanced cooperation to enable governments, on an equal footing, to carry out their roles and responsibilities in international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet” [1] this may result in CIRP becoming an international organisation that would impose censorship on the internet. This is practically an inevitable result as the main tool of government is regulation. In the case of the internet such regulation will mean more controls on what users can and cannot do online.\n\nThe result is likely to be similar to the U.N. Human Rights Council where many of the world’s biggest human rights abusers are regularly elected and Israel and the U.S. are constantly investigated while a blind eye is turned to many abuses. [2] At the very least such control will provide an enabler that will allow countries that want to censor the internet to shelter behind the international organisation. India’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal has said the solution to this problem of objectionable content online should be permanent \"That will only happen when we talk to all the stakeholders and form such a mechanism under which any objectionable content is removed,\" [3]\n\n[1] ‘Full text: India’s United Nations proposal to control the Internet’, IBNLive, 21 May 2012.\n\n[2] Ayalon, Danny, ‘Theater of the Absurd’, Foreign Policy, 30 March 2012.\n\n[3] Julka, Harsomran, ‘Internet censorship: India to push for internet regulation at United Nations’, The Economic Times, 24 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e9261c769b3f7e37a6bf50c1032dfb79",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee The internet should be governed in the interests of freedom\n\nThe internet is used by everyone and so should be governed in such a way as reflects the desires of the users of the internet; and this is somewhere where internet users are often at odds with their governments. Where the freedom of individuals are concerned it is undoubtedly the bottom up system of ICANN which will be less restrictive than the option of top down control through an international organisation in which governments have the lion’s share of the power. While governments are meant to be protecting the interests of their people and their rights it is rare that this is actually the case. More usually it is states that are violating the rights of their citizens both online and offline as is shown by the human rights records of countries like Iran and China. On the internet government involvement equally regularly means attempts by states to create restrictions and prevent the internet from being a place where citizens have freedom of expression. This can even be the case in democracies, for example in South Korea a critic of the government who called the president names found his twitter account blocked as a result. [1]\n\n[1] Sang-Hun, Choe, ‘Korea Policing the Net. Twist? It’s South Korea.”, The New York Times, 12 August 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3e361b5aa8f6c462162c41ef1dcd3347",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Governments not ‘civil society’ must be in control of internet governance\n\nIt is governments who are in charge of setting public policy within countries so it makes sense that these same governments should set public policy in the international sphere; [1] this is why international organisations have been set up and why it is governments that are represented in them. Internet governance should also be the purview of governments on account of the wide range of issues it covers. These include who gets access to the technical resources of the internet, intellectual property, participation in the online economy (which now has an immense impact on the physical economy as well - just consider how the financial markets around the world are interconnected in part as a result of the internet), freedom of expression, and security which ultimately can affect national security and the high politics if balance of power. [2] Private companies and civil society will inevitably only represent a minority of opinions within these countries and cannot be said to truly represent their country, the right place for them is in providing advice to their governments rather than through direct control such as that currently held by ICANN.\n\n[1] Al-Darrab, Abdullah A., ‘The Need for International Internet Governance Oversight’, Internet Governance Forum.\n\n[2] ‘About’, Internet Governance Project Syracuse University.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c5400bf20403aae93468512ca3fbb7b8",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Simplicity\n\nOne of the best things about the proposal to create CIRP is that it simply brings the internet into line with other areas of international communication and the global economy by bringing the internet into the United Nations system. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for example is the body that allocates radio spectrums and satellite orbits, in other words it does for telecommunications what ICANN does for the internet, and it is a United Nations agency. [1] The ITU has 193 countries as members but is also open to the private sector and academia, just as CIRP would be. [2] Having internet governance working through the United Nations would therefore mean using a tried and tested method of governance.\n\n[1] ‘About ITU’, International Telecommunication Union.\n\n[2] ‘Membership’, International Telecommunication Union\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6ca9c5d265e836dfe10f474eedde7e0d",
"text": "freedom expression should new global body united nations committee Internet governance must be multinational\n\nThe internet is global, things on the internet do not just affect one country, indeed they often don’t just affect a small group of countries but affect every country. This is especially true of issues of internet governance as setting the rules for the internet and the architecture has to be for the whole internet not isolated bits of it. The function that ICANN currently performs is one that should rightfully be done internationally in the interests of all the nations. This is not the case at the moment as the United States has essentially has a monopoly on internet governance. While ICANN is an independent non-profit body it is under contract from the U.S. department of Commerce and is subject to U.S. laws. [1]\n\nThe United States already abuses its control over the internet. It has become commonplace for the U.S. to seize domains, as it did with Bodog.com, regardless of where their domain name registrar, or the owner of the website, is based. It can do this easily because the companies that have the contract to manage the generic top level names such as .com and .org are based within the United States. As it is U.S. based the company with these top level domains has to comply with U.S. law so when it is asked to shut down a site even if it is a foreign site with a foreign registrar it will do so. [2] Actions like this show that the United States is only interested in its own power over the internet. It is not interested in the rights of other countries and owners of websites that are registered in those countries highlighting a need to a change to a more multinational system.\n\n[1] Singh, Parminder Jeet, ‘India’s proposal will help take the web out of U.S. control’, The Hindu, 17 May 2012.\n\n[2] Kravets, David, ‘Uncle Sam: If It Ends in .Com, It’s .Seizable’, Wired, 6th March 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
0560286557101ef5f553d6f0c4f0388c | Financial dealings can indicate candidates’ willingness to circumvent the system/play by the rules
A lot of politicians come from positions of prestige and power before seeking public office. Many politicians have wealth in their own right, or a base of wealthy supporters. Understanding where that wealth came from and how they used their privileged position is very important to citizens when choosing their leaders. Access to candidates’ financial information allows good candidates to show their honesty and financial uprightness, and sometimes even to display their talent and acumen that allowed them to succeed. More importantly, it allows people to scrutinize the dealings of politicians who used their often privileged position to avoid paying high taxes and to shield their wealth from the public taking its legal due. What these insights provide is a valuable snapshot of what candidates are willing to do to promote their own interests versus those of the state and society. It shows if there is a propensity to engage in morally dubious practices, and such behavior could well be extrapolated to be a potential incentive to corrupt practice. While tax avoidance is not illegal, it can well be considered unjust when rigorously applied, especially considered that the special knowledge necessary to profit from it belongs only to those of wealth and privilege. The value of this knowledge was made particularly clear in the case of Mitt Romney’s presidential bid. When Romney released his tax returns it became painfully clear that he was using the system to his advantage, at the expense of the taxpayer. [1] Citizens deserve to know to what lengths, if any, those who wish to represent them are willing to game the system they would be elected to lead.
[1] Drucker, J. “Romney Avoids Taxes Via Loophole Cutting Mormon Donations”. Bloomberg. 29 October 2012, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html
| [
{
"docid": "63efb1514e77cb20193c8505f85a7d61",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Tax avoidance is not illegal, and it should not be treated as if it were by the prying media and would-be class-warriors. Even if one might think it unpleasant to look for loopholes to protect private wealth, it is really only natural for people to wish to pay no more than they have to in tax. Mitt Romney was simply using the skills that allowed him to be a great business success to keep his costs as low as possible. Trying to make a political issue out of these sorts of dealings only serves to obscure from the real policy issues, and to focus the debate on divisive and unhelpful issues of class war.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "36a1c30a2282d36b3b3c118960f47af4",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Personal finances mean little when it comes to financial policy. Trying to glean any sort of financial acumen on the macro scale from private dealings is extremely misguided. Successful business leaders often make poor political leaders, as the world of business is very different from the horse-trading of politics. [1] In terms of leading others as one leads one’s own life, there is no reason to assume that a candidate who has used the system to his or her advantage would use the additional power of office to enrich themselves or their friends further. Mitt Romney was an effective governor of Massachusetts, and was willing to increase taxes that were personally costly to him.\n\n[1] Jenkins, H. “Good Businessman, Bad President?”. Wall Street Journal. 23 October 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203406404578074620655476826.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f1eca959a37ef498c4cf6b0994c5088",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all So long as politicians do their duty by representing the interests of those that elected them, they are fulfilling their end of the covenant with the people. To demand the financial records of candidates will not offer more than crude snapshot of one aspect of their lives, not giving the desired insight into their character, while massively intruding on the politician’s personal life. As is often the case here the right to know conflicts with the candidates right to privacy. Of course it is right to know if a candidate pays his taxes, but do they need to know every expense he has incurred over the last few years or how much a candidate earned years ago?\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "af85a817a65c9a0f5fd93b2d7d826187",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Privacy is a right but it is not sacrosanct, and certainly should not be for people who serve the public. Freedom of speech is considered sacred in a free society, but anyone reasonable would agree that shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre is not given such protection, showing that even the most treasured rights are curtailed in the public interest. Both the special position of politicians as the effective embodiment of the people’s will, and the special power they wield, which is far vaster than that of any private agent, demands a higher level of scrutiny into their backgrounds, which means looking into their financial records, which can divulge much about their competence and character.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d7e4aea5d0fc48db8dc64babb9ef35b7",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all While elections should of course focus a great deal of attention on policy, it is also critical that voters understand who exactly it is they are voting for. That means looking beyond the manifesto and getting an understanding of the candidate’s character and private dealings. Having access to their private financial records can go a long way toward revealing this information, as they provide valuable insight into both the candidate’s financial abilities, and his or her attitude toward the state.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "177950691279f0f2083826f2f446c2ef",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Firstly, personal wealth may not be indicative of political belief. Wealthy people can be advocates for higher taxes and workers’ rights. Secondly, maybe creating class awareness is not such a bad thing. The revelation of candidates’ personal finances will help show average voters what their leaders are actually like, that they have acquired great wealth and seek to protect it. Consciousness about these things can only help to galvanize political participation and to stoke real discourse about things like the proper distribution of wealth, issues that often fall foul of the political mainstream of party politics.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0c524c9343b2953472074622a29e458e",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all This information offers valuable texture to the financial proposals candidates offer as potential policy\n\nWhen candidates make proposals for public spending they often seek to use their own financial stories as evidence of their credibility. Without public knowledge of their actual financial record, besides what can be gleaned from secondary sources and their words, these claims cannot be evaluated fully by the voting public. Publishing their financial records allows the citizens to get a genuine grasp of their –would-be representatives abilities. More importantly, the proposals of candidates can be scrutinized in relation to how the candidate, and those of the same financial stratum as the candidate, would benefit from them. When Mitt Romney proposed new tax and spending reforms in the last US presidential election, it was clear that his policies inordinately favored the rich and increased the tax burden of the middle class. [1] Understanding Romney’s personal position of great wealth served confirm to the public their suspicions that his policies were designed to favor the financial elite of which he was a part. It is in the public’s interest to elect representatives who serve their interests, not those of moneyed elites.\n\n[1] Dwyer, P. “Surprise! Romney Tax Plan Favors the Rich”. Bloomberg. 1 August 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/surprise-romney-tax-plan-favors-the-rich.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d8bb4edf897a615ae307b9e1bb609976",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Voters have a right to know the background of their would-be representatives, including financial background\n\nIn any society, no matter how liberal, rights of every kind have limitations. Rights are general statements of principles that are then caveated and curtailed to fit the public interest across a range of circumstances. When an individual seeks elevation to public office, he or she must accept that the role they are applying for requires extra transparency. As the representative of the people, the politician is more than just the holder of a job appointed by the people, but is the elected servant, whose duty is to lead, including by example. It is a strange relationship, and it is one that demands the utmost confidence in the holder. This political power will often involve power over the public purse so it is essential for the public to know if the candidate is financially honest and not going to use his election for corrupt purposes. [1] Thus, when citizens place their political power in the hands of an elected representative, they gain the reciprocal right over that representative to have his or her life and character laid bare for their approval. This is done generally through political campaigns that focus on candidates’ character and life story. But often candidates prove reticent to share some details, particularly financial details. But if citizens are to make a good decision about what sort of person they wish to lead them, they require information about the financial background of their representatives, to see that they comport themselves in business in a way that is fitting to the character of a leader.\n\n[1] Rossi, I., and Blackburn, T., “Why do financial disclosure systems matter for corruption?” blogs.worldbank.org, 8 November 2012, http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/why-do-financial-disclosure-systems-matter-for-corruption\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d90135699517a334e6f230c847042a43",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Fixating on candidates’ financial records fuels the fire of class war\n\nMore and more the financial dealings of candidates are used against them in politics. In past decades, politicians in many countries were proud to run on the basis of their successes in the private sector. Today, however, that success has often become a liability. One only need look at the paradigmatic example of this occurrence, Mitt Romney. When running for governor in Massachusetts, his strong record in business was touted as a quality favoring him. Yet in the presidential election, Romney’s wealth was touted as an example of capitalist excess, of often ill-gotten gains. [1] The change in rhetoric has indicated marked shift in politics in a number of countries, most visibly the United States, but also places like France, where the development of wealth and success are deemed to be the marks of greed and unfairness. These trends would only be compounded with the release of candidates’ financial records. People with records of wealth and financial ability will be further demonized as being anti-poor. These sorts of political tactics obscure from the realities of politics and seeks to separate people along class, rather than political ideological, lines. Such divisions are exceptionally dangerous to the functioning of a democratic society, which demands buy-in and willing participation from all classes and groups in order to function.\n\n[1] Erb, K. “Why Romney’s ‘Tax Avoidance’ Strategies Don’t Deserve Criticism”. Forbes. 30 October 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/10/30/why-romneys-tax-avoidance-strategies-dont-deserve-criticism/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f2b810b7036920b5b385ddb8d1a2ac20",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Individuals have a right to privacy, including to their own financial records\n\nPrivacy is a fundamental human right, one that should be defended for all citizens, including those who govern us. [1] What people do with their own finances is their own business. People generally speaking have a basic respect for privacy. Politicians don’t owe the electorate any special privileges like their financial history. A politician is effectively an employee of his constituents and the citizens of the polity. His or her duty is not so special as to demand the handing over of all information on one of the most critical aspects of their private life. Financial affairs like income and taxes are a private matter, and should be treated as such by voters and governments. This is even more the case when it comes to financial history, much of which may have happened long before the individual decided to become a politician. Making politicians’ financial affairs fair game for reporters and others who would exploit the information only serves to undermine the rights that all citizens rightly enjoy.\n\n[1] Privacy International. 2010. “Privacy as a Political Right”. Index on Censorship 39(1): 58-68. https://www.privacyinternational.org/reports/privacy-as-a-political-right\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b64292a92bc691d17d8797e56f9ad6ca",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all The focus of elections should be on policy, not personal issues like financial records\n\nDiscussion of candidates’ personal finances serves only to obscure the real issues facing society. When the focus becomes on how much tax Candidate X paid and what loopholes he or she exploited, the media tends to latch onto it. It sells more newspapers and gets more hits online to make a salacious story about the financial “misdeeds” of a candidate than to actually discuss what he or she stands for. It fuels the growing tendency of the media to attach itself to petty commentary rather than real investigation and analysis. Ultimately, an examination of the personal finances of a candidate tells voters little about what he or she stands for on the issue of state finances. Throughout history, personal financial success has been shown to not necessarily correlate with political acumen. For example, William Pitt became the young, and one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, yet he was in extreme debt when he died. [1] Narrow attention paid to personal finances takes up people’s limited time available to consume useful information to direct their voting, and the news media have limited air time to discuss issues. It is best that both use their time to maximum effect, and not be sidetracked by distractions.\n\n[1] Reilly, Robin (1978). Pitt the Younger 1759–1806. Cassell Publishers.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
dc09596780144cd35034c62f5a429345 | This information offers valuable texture to the financial proposals candidates offer as potential policy
When candidates make proposals for public spending they often seek to use their own financial stories as evidence of their credibility. Without public knowledge of their actual financial record, besides what can be gleaned from secondary sources and their words, these claims cannot be evaluated fully by the voting public. Publishing their financial records allows the citizens to get a genuine grasp of their –would-be representatives abilities. More importantly, the proposals of candidates can be scrutinized in relation to how the candidate, and those of the same financial stratum as the candidate, would benefit from them. When Mitt Romney proposed new tax and spending reforms in the last US presidential election, it was clear that his policies inordinately favored the rich and increased the tax burden of the middle class. [1] Understanding Romney’s personal position of great wealth served confirm to the public their suspicions that his policies were designed to favor the financial elite of which he was a part. It is in the public’s interest to elect representatives who serve their interests, not those of moneyed elites.
[1] Dwyer, P. “Surprise! Romney Tax Plan Favors the Rich”. Bloomberg. 1 August 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/surprise-romney-tax-plan-favors-the-rich.html
| [
{
"docid": "36a1c30a2282d36b3b3c118960f47af4",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Personal finances mean little when it comes to financial policy. Trying to glean any sort of financial acumen on the macro scale from private dealings is extremely misguided. Successful business leaders often make poor political leaders, as the world of business is very different from the horse-trading of politics. [1] In terms of leading others as one leads one’s own life, there is no reason to assume that a candidate who has used the system to his or her advantage would use the additional power of office to enrich themselves or their friends further. Mitt Romney was an effective governor of Massachusetts, and was willing to increase taxes that were personally costly to him.\n\n[1] Jenkins, H. “Good Businessman, Bad President?”. Wall Street Journal. 23 October 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203406404578074620655476826.html\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "63efb1514e77cb20193c8505f85a7d61",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Tax avoidance is not illegal, and it should not be treated as if it were by the prying media and would-be class-warriors. Even if one might think it unpleasant to look for loopholes to protect private wealth, it is really only natural for people to wish to pay no more than they have to in tax. Mitt Romney was simply using the skills that allowed him to be a great business success to keep his costs as low as possible. Trying to make a political issue out of these sorts of dealings only serves to obscure from the real policy issues, and to focus the debate on divisive and unhelpful issues of class war.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f1eca959a37ef498c4cf6b0994c5088",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all So long as politicians do their duty by representing the interests of those that elected them, they are fulfilling their end of the covenant with the people. To demand the financial records of candidates will not offer more than crude snapshot of one aspect of their lives, not giving the desired insight into their character, while massively intruding on the politician’s personal life. As is often the case here the right to know conflicts with the candidates right to privacy. Of course it is right to know if a candidate pays his taxes, but do they need to know every expense he has incurred over the last few years or how much a candidate earned years ago?\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "af85a817a65c9a0f5fd93b2d7d826187",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Privacy is a right but it is not sacrosanct, and certainly should not be for people who serve the public. Freedom of speech is considered sacred in a free society, but anyone reasonable would agree that shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre is not given such protection, showing that even the most treasured rights are curtailed in the public interest. Both the special position of politicians as the effective embodiment of the people’s will, and the special power they wield, which is far vaster than that of any private agent, demands a higher level of scrutiny into their backgrounds, which means looking into their financial records, which can divulge much about their competence and character.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d7e4aea5d0fc48db8dc64babb9ef35b7",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all While elections should of course focus a great deal of attention on policy, it is also critical that voters understand who exactly it is they are voting for. That means looking beyond the manifesto and getting an understanding of the candidate’s character and private dealings. Having access to their private financial records can go a long way toward revealing this information, as they provide valuable insight into both the candidate’s financial abilities, and his or her attitude toward the state.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "177950691279f0f2083826f2f446c2ef",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Firstly, personal wealth may not be indicative of political belief. Wealthy people can be advocates for higher taxes and workers’ rights. Secondly, maybe creating class awareness is not such a bad thing. The revelation of candidates’ personal finances will help show average voters what their leaders are actually like, that they have acquired great wealth and seek to protect it. Consciousness about these things can only help to galvanize political participation and to stoke real discourse about things like the proper distribution of wealth, issues that often fall foul of the political mainstream of party politics.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "581fab83cf06a54ba2cea6f6b4ae29ee",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Financial dealings can indicate candidates’ willingness to circumvent the system/play by the rules\n\nA lot of politicians come from positions of prestige and power before seeking public office. Many politicians have wealth in their own right, or a base of wealthy supporters. Understanding where that wealth came from and how they used their privileged position is very important to citizens when choosing their leaders. Access to candidates’ financial information allows good candidates to show their honesty and financial uprightness, and sometimes even to display their talent and acumen that allowed them to succeed. More importantly, it allows people to scrutinize the dealings of politicians who used their often privileged position to avoid paying high taxes and to shield their wealth from the public taking its legal due. What these insights provide is a valuable snapshot of what candidates are willing to do to promote their own interests versus those of the state and society. It shows if there is a propensity to engage in morally dubious practices, and such behavior could well be extrapolated to be a potential incentive to corrupt practice. While tax avoidance is not illegal, it can well be considered unjust when rigorously applied, especially considered that the special knowledge necessary to profit from it belongs only to those of wealth and privilege. The value of this knowledge was made particularly clear in the case of Mitt Romney’s presidential bid. When Romney released his tax returns it became painfully clear that he was using the system to his advantage, at the expense of the taxpayer. [1] Citizens deserve to know to what lengths, if any, those who wish to represent them are willing to game the system they would be elected to lead.\n\n[1] Drucker, J. “Romney Avoids Taxes Via Loophole Cutting Mormon Donations”. Bloomberg. 29 October 2012, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d8bb4edf897a615ae307b9e1bb609976",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Voters have a right to know the background of their would-be representatives, including financial background\n\nIn any society, no matter how liberal, rights of every kind have limitations. Rights are general statements of principles that are then caveated and curtailed to fit the public interest across a range of circumstances. When an individual seeks elevation to public office, he or she must accept that the role they are applying for requires extra transparency. As the representative of the people, the politician is more than just the holder of a job appointed by the people, but is the elected servant, whose duty is to lead, including by example. It is a strange relationship, and it is one that demands the utmost confidence in the holder. This political power will often involve power over the public purse so it is essential for the public to know if the candidate is financially honest and not going to use his election for corrupt purposes. [1] Thus, when citizens place their political power in the hands of an elected representative, they gain the reciprocal right over that representative to have his or her life and character laid bare for their approval. This is done generally through political campaigns that focus on candidates’ character and life story. But often candidates prove reticent to share some details, particularly financial details. But if citizens are to make a good decision about what sort of person they wish to lead them, they require information about the financial background of their representatives, to see that they comport themselves in business in a way that is fitting to the character of a leader.\n\n[1] Rossi, I., and Blackburn, T., “Why do financial disclosure systems matter for corruption?” blogs.worldbank.org, 8 November 2012, http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/why-do-financial-disclosure-systems-matter-for-corruption\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d90135699517a334e6f230c847042a43",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Fixating on candidates’ financial records fuels the fire of class war\n\nMore and more the financial dealings of candidates are used against them in politics. In past decades, politicians in many countries were proud to run on the basis of their successes in the private sector. Today, however, that success has often become a liability. One only need look at the paradigmatic example of this occurrence, Mitt Romney. When running for governor in Massachusetts, his strong record in business was touted as a quality favoring him. Yet in the presidential election, Romney’s wealth was touted as an example of capitalist excess, of often ill-gotten gains. [1] The change in rhetoric has indicated marked shift in politics in a number of countries, most visibly the United States, but also places like France, where the development of wealth and success are deemed to be the marks of greed and unfairness. These trends would only be compounded with the release of candidates’ financial records. People with records of wealth and financial ability will be further demonized as being anti-poor. These sorts of political tactics obscure from the realities of politics and seeks to separate people along class, rather than political ideological, lines. Such divisions are exceptionally dangerous to the functioning of a democratic society, which demands buy-in and willing participation from all classes and groups in order to function.\n\n[1] Erb, K. “Why Romney’s ‘Tax Avoidance’ Strategies Don’t Deserve Criticism”. Forbes. 30 October 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/10/30/why-romneys-tax-avoidance-strategies-dont-deserve-criticism/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f2b810b7036920b5b385ddb8d1a2ac20",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Individuals have a right to privacy, including to their own financial records\n\nPrivacy is a fundamental human right, one that should be defended for all citizens, including those who govern us. [1] What people do with their own finances is their own business. People generally speaking have a basic respect for privacy. Politicians don’t owe the electorate any special privileges like their financial history. A politician is effectively an employee of his constituents and the citizens of the polity. His or her duty is not so special as to demand the handing over of all information on one of the most critical aspects of their private life. Financial affairs like income and taxes are a private matter, and should be treated as such by voters and governments. This is even more the case when it comes to financial history, much of which may have happened long before the individual decided to become a politician. Making politicians’ financial affairs fair game for reporters and others who would exploit the information only serves to undermine the rights that all citizens rightly enjoy.\n\n[1] Privacy International. 2010. “Privacy as a Political Right”. Index on Censorship 39(1): 58-68. https://www.privacyinternational.org/reports/privacy-as-a-political-right\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b64292a92bc691d17d8797e56f9ad6ca",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all The focus of elections should be on policy, not personal issues like financial records\n\nDiscussion of candidates’ personal finances serves only to obscure the real issues facing society. When the focus becomes on how much tax Candidate X paid and what loopholes he or she exploited, the media tends to latch onto it. It sells more newspapers and gets more hits online to make a salacious story about the financial “misdeeds” of a candidate than to actually discuss what he or she stands for. It fuels the growing tendency of the media to attach itself to petty commentary rather than real investigation and analysis. Ultimately, an examination of the personal finances of a candidate tells voters little about what he or she stands for on the issue of state finances. Throughout history, personal financial success has been shown to not necessarily correlate with political acumen. For example, William Pitt became the young, and one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, yet he was in extreme debt when he died. [1] Narrow attention paid to personal finances takes up people’s limited time available to consume useful information to direct their voting, and the news media have limited air time to discuss issues. It is best that both use their time to maximum effect, and not be sidetracked by distractions.\n\n[1] Reilly, Robin (1978). Pitt the Younger 1759–1806. Cassell Publishers.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
5addc565152a80d4544f3a9f340926ff | Voters have a right to know the background of their would-be representatives, including financial background
In any society, no matter how liberal, rights of every kind have limitations. Rights are general statements of principles that are then caveated and curtailed to fit the public interest across a range of circumstances. When an individual seeks elevation to public office, he or she must accept that the role they are applying for requires extra transparency. As the representative of the people, the politician is more than just the holder of a job appointed by the people, but is the elected servant, whose duty is to lead, including by example. It is a strange relationship, and it is one that demands the utmost confidence in the holder. This political power will often involve power over the public purse so it is essential for the public to know if the candidate is financially honest and not going to use his election for corrupt purposes. [1] Thus, when citizens place their political power in the hands of an elected representative, they gain the reciprocal right over that representative to have his or her life and character laid bare for their approval. This is done generally through political campaigns that focus on candidates’ character and life story. But often candidates prove reticent to share some details, particularly financial details. But if citizens are to make a good decision about what sort of person they wish to lead them, they require information about the financial background of their representatives, to see that they comport themselves in business in a way that is fitting to the character of a leader.
[1] Rossi, I., and Blackburn, T., “Why do financial disclosure systems matter for corruption?” blogs.worldbank.org, 8 November 2012, http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/why-do-financial-disclosure-systems-matter-for-corruption
| [
{
"docid": "1f1eca959a37ef498c4cf6b0994c5088",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all So long as politicians do their duty by representing the interests of those that elected them, they are fulfilling their end of the covenant with the people. To demand the financial records of candidates will not offer more than crude snapshot of one aspect of their lives, not giving the desired insight into their character, while massively intruding on the politician’s personal life. As is often the case here the right to know conflicts with the candidates right to privacy. Of course it is right to know if a candidate pays his taxes, but do they need to know every expense he has incurred over the last few years or how much a candidate earned years ago?\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "63efb1514e77cb20193c8505f85a7d61",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Tax avoidance is not illegal, and it should not be treated as if it were by the prying media and would-be class-warriors. Even if one might think it unpleasant to look for loopholes to protect private wealth, it is really only natural for people to wish to pay no more than they have to in tax. Mitt Romney was simply using the skills that allowed him to be a great business success to keep his costs as low as possible. Trying to make a political issue out of these sorts of dealings only serves to obscure from the real policy issues, and to focus the debate on divisive and unhelpful issues of class war.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36a1c30a2282d36b3b3c118960f47af4",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Personal finances mean little when it comes to financial policy. Trying to glean any sort of financial acumen on the macro scale from private dealings is extremely misguided. Successful business leaders often make poor political leaders, as the world of business is very different from the horse-trading of politics. [1] In terms of leading others as one leads one’s own life, there is no reason to assume that a candidate who has used the system to his or her advantage would use the additional power of office to enrich themselves or their friends further. Mitt Romney was an effective governor of Massachusetts, and was willing to increase taxes that were personally costly to him.\n\n[1] Jenkins, H. “Good Businessman, Bad President?”. Wall Street Journal. 23 October 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203406404578074620655476826.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "af85a817a65c9a0f5fd93b2d7d826187",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Privacy is a right but it is not sacrosanct, and certainly should not be for people who serve the public. Freedom of speech is considered sacred in a free society, but anyone reasonable would agree that shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre is not given such protection, showing that even the most treasured rights are curtailed in the public interest. Both the special position of politicians as the effective embodiment of the people’s will, and the special power they wield, which is far vaster than that of any private agent, demands a higher level of scrutiny into their backgrounds, which means looking into their financial records, which can divulge much about their competence and character.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d7e4aea5d0fc48db8dc64babb9ef35b7",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all While elections should of course focus a great deal of attention on policy, it is also critical that voters understand who exactly it is they are voting for. That means looking beyond the manifesto and getting an understanding of the candidate’s character and private dealings. Having access to their private financial records can go a long way toward revealing this information, as they provide valuable insight into both the candidate’s financial abilities, and his or her attitude toward the state.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "177950691279f0f2083826f2f446c2ef",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Firstly, personal wealth may not be indicative of political belief. Wealthy people can be advocates for higher taxes and workers’ rights. Secondly, maybe creating class awareness is not such a bad thing. The revelation of candidates’ personal finances will help show average voters what their leaders are actually like, that they have acquired great wealth and seek to protect it. Consciousness about these things can only help to galvanize political participation and to stoke real discourse about things like the proper distribution of wealth, issues that often fall foul of the political mainstream of party politics.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "581fab83cf06a54ba2cea6f6b4ae29ee",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Financial dealings can indicate candidates’ willingness to circumvent the system/play by the rules\n\nA lot of politicians come from positions of prestige and power before seeking public office. Many politicians have wealth in their own right, or a base of wealthy supporters. Understanding where that wealth came from and how they used their privileged position is very important to citizens when choosing their leaders. Access to candidates’ financial information allows good candidates to show their honesty and financial uprightness, and sometimes even to display their talent and acumen that allowed them to succeed. More importantly, it allows people to scrutinize the dealings of politicians who used their often privileged position to avoid paying high taxes and to shield their wealth from the public taking its legal due. What these insights provide is a valuable snapshot of what candidates are willing to do to promote their own interests versus those of the state and society. It shows if there is a propensity to engage in morally dubious practices, and such behavior could well be extrapolated to be a potential incentive to corrupt practice. While tax avoidance is not illegal, it can well be considered unjust when rigorously applied, especially considered that the special knowledge necessary to profit from it belongs only to those of wealth and privilege. The value of this knowledge was made particularly clear in the case of Mitt Romney’s presidential bid. When Romney released his tax returns it became painfully clear that he was using the system to his advantage, at the expense of the taxpayer. [1] Citizens deserve to know to what lengths, if any, those who wish to represent them are willing to game the system they would be elected to lead.\n\n[1] Drucker, J. “Romney Avoids Taxes Via Loophole Cutting Mormon Donations”. Bloomberg. 29 October 2012, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0c524c9343b2953472074622a29e458e",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all This information offers valuable texture to the financial proposals candidates offer as potential policy\n\nWhen candidates make proposals for public spending they often seek to use their own financial stories as evidence of their credibility. Without public knowledge of their actual financial record, besides what can be gleaned from secondary sources and their words, these claims cannot be evaluated fully by the voting public. Publishing their financial records allows the citizens to get a genuine grasp of their –would-be representatives abilities. More importantly, the proposals of candidates can be scrutinized in relation to how the candidate, and those of the same financial stratum as the candidate, would benefit from them. When Mitt Romney proposed new tax and spending reforms in the last US presidential election, it was clear that his policies inordinately favored the rich and increased the tax burden of the middle class. [1] Understanding Romney’s personal position of great wealth served confirm to the public their suspicions that his policies were designed to favor the financial elite of which he was a part. It is in the public’s interest to elect representatives who serve their interests, not those of moneyed elites.\n\n[1] Dwyer, P. “Surprise! Romney Tax Plan Favors the Rich”. Bloomberg. 1 August 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/surprise-romney-tax-plan-favors-the-rich.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d90135699517a334e6f230c847042a43",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Fixating on candidates’ financial records fuels the fire of class war\n\nMore and more the financial dealings of candidates are used against them in politics. In past decades, politicians in many countries were proud to run on the basis of their successes in the private sector. Today, however, that success has often become a liability. One only need look at the paradigmatic example of this occurrence, Mitt Romney. When running for governor in Massachusetts, his strong record in business was touted as a quality favoring him. Yet in the presidential election, Romney’s wealth was touted as an example of capitalist excess, of often ill-gotten gains. [1] The change in rhetoric has indicated marked shift in politics in a number of countries, most visibly the United States, but also places like France, where the development of wealth and success are deemed to be the marks of greed and unfairness. These trends would only be compounded with the release of candidates’ financial records. People with records of wealth and financial ability will be further demonized as being anti-poor. These sorts of political tactics obscure from the realities of politics and seeks to separate people along class, rather than political ideological, lines. Such divisions are exceptionally dangerous to the functioning of a democratic society, which demands buy-in and willing participation from all classes and groups in order to function.\n\n[1] Erb, K. “Why Romney’s ‘Tax Avoidance’ Strategies Don’t Deserve Criticism”. Forbes. 30 October 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/10/30/why-romneys-tax-avoidance-strategies-dont-deserve-criticism/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f2b810b7036920b5b385ddb8d1a2ac20",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Individuals have a right to privacy, including to their own financial records\n\nPrivacy is a fundamental human right, one that should be defended for all citizens, including those who govern us. [1] What people do with their own finances is their own business. People generally speaking have a basic respect for privacy. Politicians don’t owe the electorate any special privileges like their financial history. A politician is effectively an employee of his constituents and the citizens of the polity. His or her duty is not so special as to demand the handing over of all information on one of the most critical aspects of their private life. Financial affairs like income and taxes are a private matter, and should be treated as such by voters and governments. This is even more the case when it comes to financial history, much of which may have happened long before the individual decided to become a politician. Making politicians’ financial affairs fair game for reporters and others who would exploit the information only serves to undermine the rights that all citizens rightly enjoy.\n\n[1] Privacy International. 2010. “Privacy as a Political Right”. Index on Censorship 39(1): 58-68. https://www.privacyinternational.org/reports/privacy-as-a-political-right\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b64292a92bc691d17d8797e56f9ad6ca",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all The focus of elections should be on policy, not personal issues like financial records\n\nDiscussion of candidates’ personal finances serves only to obscure the real issues facing society. When the focus becomes on how much tax Candidate X paid and what loopholes he or she exploited, the media tends to latch onto it. It sells more newspapers and gets more hits online to make a salacious story about the financial “misdeeds” of a candidate than to actually discuss what he or she stands for. It fuels the growing tendency of the media to attach itself to petty commentary rather than real investigation and analysis. Ultimately, an examination of the personal finances of a candidate tells voters little about what he or she stands for on the issue of state finances. Throughout history, personal financial success has been shown to not necessarily correlate with political acumen. For example, William Pitt became the young, and one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, yet he was in extreme debt when he died. [1] Narrow attention paid to personal finances takes up people’s limited time available to consume useful information to direct their voting, and the news media have limited air time to discuss issues. It is best that both use their time to maximum effect, and not be sidetracked by distractions.\n\n[1] Reilly, Robin (1978). Pitt the Younger 1759–1806. Cassell Publishers.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
2dc0703174fa912f70a80627f75921a8 | Fixating on candidates’ financial records fuels the fire of class war
More and more the financial dealings of candidates are used against them in politics. In past decades, politicians in many countries were proud to run on the basis of their successes in the private sector. Today, however, that success has often become a liability. One only need look at the paradigmatic example of this occurrence, Mitt Romney. When running for governor in Massachusetts, his strong record in business was touted as a quality favoring him. Yet in the presidential election, Romney’s wealth was touted as an example of capitalist excess, of often ill-gotten gains. [1] The change in rhetoric has indicated marked shift in politics in a number of countries, most visibly the United States, but also places like France, where the development of wealth and success are deemed to be the marks of greed and unfairness. These trends would only be compounded with the release of candidates’ financial records. People with records of wealth and financial ability will be further demonized as being anti-poor. These sorts of political tactics obscure from the realities of politics and seeks to separate people along class, rather than political ideological, lines. Such divisions are exceptionally dangerous to the functioning of a democratic society, which demands buy-in and willing participation from all classes and groups in order to function.
[1] Erb, K. “Why Romney’s ‘Tax Avoidance’ Strategies Don’t Deserve Criticism”. Forbes. 30 October 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/10/30/why-romneys-tax-avoidance-strategies-dont-deserve-criticism/
| [
{
"docid": "177950691279f0f2083826f2f446c2ef",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Firstly, personal wealth may not be indicative of political belief. Wealthy people can be advocates for higher taxes and workers’ rights. Secondly, maybe creating class awareness is not such a bad thing. The revelation of candidates’ personal finances will help show average voters what their leaders are actually like, that they have acquired great wealth and seek to protect it. Consciousness about these things can only help to galvanize political participation and to stoke real discourse about things like the proper distribution of wealth, issues that often fall foul of the political mainstream of party politics.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "af85a817a65c9a0f5fd93b2d7d826187",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Privacy is a right but it is not sacrosanct, and certainly should not be for people who serve the public. Freedom of speech is considered sacred in a free society, but anyone reasonable would agree that shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre is not given such protection, showing that even the most treasured rights are curtailed in the public interest. Both the special position of politicians as the effective embodiment of the people’s will, and the special power they wield, which is far vaster than that of any private agent, demands a higher level of scrutiny into their backgrounds, which means looking into their financial records, which can divulge much about their competence and character.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d7e4aea5d0fc48db8dc64babb9ef35b7",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all While elections should of course focus a great deal of attention on policy, it is also critical that voters understand who exactly it is they are voting for. That means looking beyond the manifesto and getting an understanding of the candidate’s character and private dealings. Having access to their private financial records can go a long way toward revealing this information, as they provide valuable insight into both the candidate’s financial abilities, and his or her attitude toward the state.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "63efb1514e77cb20193c8505f85a7d61",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Tax avoidance is not illegal, and it should not be treated as if it were by the prying media and would-be class-warriors. Even if one might think it unpleasant to look for loopholes to protect private wealth, it is really only natural for people to wish to pay no more than they have to in tax. Mitt Romney was simply using the skills that allowed him to be a great business success to keep his costs as low as possible. Trying to make a political issue out of these sorts of dealings only serves to obscure from the real policy issues, and to focus the debate on divisive and unhelpful issues of class war.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36a1c30a2282d36b3b3c118960f47af4",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Personal finances mean little when it comes to financial policy. Trying to glean any sort of financial acumen on the macro scale from private dealings is extremely misguided. Successful business leaders often make poor political leaders, as the world of business is very different from the horse-trading of politics. [1] In terms of leading others as one leads one’s own life, there is no reason to assume that a candidate who has used the system to his or her advantage would use the additional power of office to enrich themselves or their friends further. Mitt Romney was an effective governor of Massachusetts, and was willing to increase taxes that were personally costly to him.\n\n[1] Jenkins, H. “Good Businessman, Bad President?”. Wall Street Journal. 23 October 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203406404578074620655476826.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f1eca959a37ef498c4cf6b0994c5088",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all So long as politicians do their duty by representing the interests of those that elected them, they are fulfilling their end of the covenant with the people. To demand the financial records of candidates will not offer more than crude snapshot of one aspect of their lives, not giving the desired insight into their character, while massively intruding on the politician’s personal life. As is often the case here the right to know conflicts with the candidates right to privacy. Of course it is right to know if a candidate pays his taxes, but do they need to know every expense he has incurred over the last few years or how much a candidate earned years ago?\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f2b810b7036920b5b385ddb8d1a2ac20",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Individuals have a right to privacy, including to their own financial records\n\nPrivacy is a fundamental human right, one that should be defended for all citizens, including those who govern us. [1] What people do with their own finances is their own business. People generally speaking have a basic respect for privacy. Politicians don’t owe the electorate any special privileges like their financial history. A politician is effectively an employee of his constituents and the citizens of the polity. His or her duty is not so special as to demand the handing over of all information on one of the most critical aspects of their private life. Financial affairs like income and taxes are a private matter, and should be treated as such by voters and governments. This is even more the case when it comes to financial history, much of which may have happened long before the individual decided to become a politician. Making politicians’ financial affairs fair game for reporters and others who would exploit the information only serves to undermine the rights that all citizens rightly enjoy.\n\n[1] Privacy International. 2010. “Privacy as a Political Right”. Index on Censorship 39(1): 58-68. https://www.privacyinternational.org/reports/privacy-as-a-political-right\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b64292a92bc691d17d8797e56f9ad6ca",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all The focus of elections should be on policy, not personal issues like financial records\n\nDiscussion of candidates’ personal finances serves only to obscure the real issues facing society. When the focus becomes on how much tax Candidate X paid and what loopholes he or she exploited, the media tends to latch onto it. It sells more newspapers and gets more hits online to make a salacious story about the financial “misdeeds” of a candidate than to actually discuss what he or she stands for. It fuels the growing tendency of the media to attach itself to petty commentary rather than real investigation and analysis. Ultimately, an examination of the personal finances of a candidate tells voters little about what he or she stands for on the issue of state finances. Throughout history, personal financial success has been shown to not necessarily correlate with political acumen. For example, William Pitt became the young, and one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, yet he was in extreme debt when he died. [1] Narrow attention paid to personal finances takes up people’s limited time available to consume useful information to direct their voting, and the news media have limited air time to discuss issues. It is best that both use their time to maximum effect, and not be sidetracked by distractions.\n\n[1] Reilly, Robin (1978). Pitt the Younger 1759–1806. Cassell Publishers.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "581fab83cf06a54ba2cea6f6b4ae29ee",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Financial dealings can indicate candidates’ willingness to circumvent the system/play by the rules\n\nA lot of politicians come from positions of prestige and power before seeking public office. Many politicians have wealth in their own right, or a base of wealthy supporters. Understanding where that wealth came from and how they used their privileged position is very important to citizens when choosing their leaders. Access to candidates’ financial information allows good candidates to show their honesty and financial uprightness, and sometimes even to display their talent and acumen that allowed them to succeed. More importantly, it allows people to scrutinize the dealings of politicians who used their often privileged position to avoid paying high taxes and to shield their wealth from the public taking its legal due. What these insights provide is a valuable snapshot of what candidates are willing to do to promote their own interests versus those of the state and society. It shows if there is a propensity to engage in morally dubious practices, and such behavior could well be extrapolated to be a potential incentive to corrupt practice. While tax avoidance is not illegal, it can well be considered unjust when rigorously applied, especially considered that the special knowledge necessary to profit from it belongs only to those of wealth and privilege. The value of this knowledge was made particularly clear in the case of Mitt Romney’s presidential bid. When Romney released his tax returns it became painfully clear that he was using the system to his advantage, at the expense of the taxpayer. [1] Citizens deserve to know to what lengths, if any, those who wish to represent them are willing to game the system they would be elected to lead.\n\n[1] Drucker, J. “Romney Avoids Taxes Via Loophole Cutting Mormon Donations”. Bloomberg. 29 October 2012, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0c524c9343b2953472074622a29e458e",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all This information offers valuable texture to the financial proposals candidates offer as potential policy\n\nWhen candidates make proposals for public spending they often seek to use their own financial stories as evidence of their credibility. Without public knowledge of their actual financial record, besides what can be gleaned from secondary sources and their words, these claims cannot be evaluated fully by the voting public. Publishing their financial records allows the citizens to get a genuine grasp of their –would-be representatives abilities. More importantly, the proposals of candidates can be scrutinized in relation to how the candidate, and those of the same financial stratum as the candidate, would benefit from them. When Mitt Romney proposed new tax and spending reforms in the last US presidential election, it was clear that his policies inordinately favored the rich and increased the tax burden of the middle class. [1] Understanding Romney’s personal position of great wealth served confirm to the public their suspicions that his policies were designed to favor the financial elite of which he was a part. It is in the public’s interest to elect representatives who serve their interests, not those of moneyed elites.\n\n[1] Dwyer, P. “Surprise! Romney Tax Plan Favors the Rich”. Bloomberg. 1 August 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/surprise-romney-tax-plan-favors-the-rich.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d8bb4edf897a615ae307b9e1bb609976",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Voters have a right to know the background of their would-be representatives, including financial background\n\nIn any society, no matter how liberal, rights of every kind have limitations. Rights are general statements of principles that are then caveated and curtailed to fit the public interest across a range of circumstances. When an individual seeks elevation to public office, he or she must accept that the role they are applying for requires extra transparency. As the representative of the people, the politician is more than just the holder of a job appointed by the people, but is the elected servant, whose duty is to lead, including by example. It is a strange relationship, and it is one that demands the utmost confidence in the holder. This political power will often involve power over the public purse so it is essential for the public to know if the candidate is financially honest and not going to use his election for corrupt purposes. [1] Thus, when citizens place their political power in the hands of an elected representative, they gain the reciprocal right over that representative to have his or her life and character laid bare for their approval. This is done generally through political campaigns that focus on candidates’ character and life story. But often candidates prove reticent to share some details, particularly financial details. But if citizens are to make a good decision about what sort of person they wish to lead them, they require information about the financial background of their representatives, to see that they comport themselves in business in a way that is fitting to the character of a leader.\n\n[1] Rossi, I., and Blackburn, T., “Why do financial disclosure systems matter for corruption?” blogs.worldbank.org, 8 November 2012, http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/why-do-financial-disclosure-systems-matter-for-corruption\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
e3a274819b3dc3e01d597cbf27a8bf71 | Individuals have a right to privacy, including to their own financial records
Privacy is a fundamental human right, one that should be defended for all citizens, including those who govern us. [1] What people do with their own finances is their own business. People generally speaking have a basic respect for privacy. Politicians don’t owe the electorate any special privileges like their financial history. A politician is effectively an employee of his constituents and the citizens of the polity. His or her duty is not so special as to demand the handing over of all information on one of the most critical aspects of their private life. Financial affairs like income and taxes are a private matter, and should be treated as such by voters and governments. This is even more the case when it comes to financial history, much of which may have happened long before the individual decided to become a politician. Making politicians’ financial affairs fair game for reporters and others who would exploit the information only serves to undermine the rights that all citizens rightly enjoy.
[1] Privacy International. 2010. “Privacy as a Political Right”. Index on Censorship 39(1): 58-68. https://www.privacyinternational.org/reports/privacy-as-a-political-right
| [
{
"docid": "af85a817a65c9a0f5fd93b2d7d826187",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Privacy is a right but it is not sacrosanct, and certainly should not be for people who serve the public. Freedom of speech is considered sacred in a free society, but anyone reasonable would agree that shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre is not given such protection, showing that even the most treasured rights are curtailed in the public interest. Both the special position of politicians as the effective embodiment of the people’s will, and the special power they wield, which is far vaster than that of any private agent, demands a higher level of scrutiny into their backgrounds, which means looking into their financial records, which can divulge much about their competence and character.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "d7e4aea5d0fc48db8dc64babb9ef35b7",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all While elections should of course focus a great deal of attention on policy, it is also critical that voters understand who exactly it is they are voting for. That means looking beyond the manifesto and getting an understanding of the candidate’s character and private dealings. Having access to their private financial records can go a long way toward revealing this information, as they provide valuable insight into both the candidate’s financial abilities, and his or her attitude toward the state.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "177950691279f0f2083826f2f446c2ef",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Firstly, personal wealth may not be indicative of political belief. Wealthy people can be advocates for higher taxes and workers’ rights. Secondly, maybe creating class awareness is not such a bad thing. The revelation of candidates’ personal finances will help show average voters what their leaders are actually like, that they have acquired great wealth and seek to protect it. Consciousness about these things can only help to galvanize political participation and to stoke real discourse about things like the proper distribution of wealth, issues that often fall foul of the political mainstream of party politics.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "63efb1514e77cb20193c8505f85a7d61",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Tax avoidance is not illegal, and it should not be treated as if it were by the prying media and would-be class-warriors. Even if one might think it unpleasant to look for loopholes to protect private wealth, it is really only natural for people to wish to pay no more than they have to in tax. Mitt Romney was simply using the skills that allowed him to be a great business success to keep his costs as low as possible. Trying to make a political issue out of these sorts of dealings only serves to obscure from the real policy issues, and to focus the debate on divisive and unhelpful issues of class war.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36a1c30a2282d36b3b3c118960f47af4",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Personal finances mean little when it comes to financial policy. Trying to glean any sort of financial acumen on the macro scale from private dealings is extremely misguided. Successful business leaders often make poor political leaders, as the world of business is very different from the horse-trading of politics. [1] In terms of leading others as one leads one’s own life, there is no reason to assume that a candidate who has used the system to his or her advantage would use the additional power of office to enrich themselves or their friends further. Mitt Romney was an effective governor of Massachusetts, and was willing to increase taxes that were personally costly to him.\n\n[1] Jenkins, H. “Good Businessman, Bad President?”. Wall Street Journal. 23 October 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203406404578074620655476826.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f1eca959a37ef498c4cf6b0994c5088",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all So long as politicians do their duty by representing the interests of those that elected them, they are fulfilling their end of the covenant with the people. To demand the financial records of candidates will not offer more than crude snapshot of one aspect of their lives, not giving the desired insight into their character, while massively intruding on the politician’s personal life. As is often the case here the right to know conflicts with the candidates right to privacy. Of course it is right to know if a candidate pays his taxes, but do they need to know every expense he has incurred over the last few years or how much a candidate earned years ago?\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d90135699517a334e6f230c847042a43",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Fixating on candidates’ financial records fuels the fire of class war\n\nMore and more the financial dealings of candidates are used against them in politics. In past decades, politicians in many countries were proud to run on the basis of their successes in the private sector. Today, however, that success has often become a liability. One only need look at the paradigmatic example of this occurrence, Mitt Romney. When running for governor in Massachusetts, his strong record in business was touted as a quality favoring him. Yet in the presidential election, Romney’s wealth was touted as an example of capitalist excess, of often ill-gotten gains. [1] The change in rhetoric has indicated marked shift in politics in a number of countries, most visibly the United States, but also places like France, where the development of wealth and success are deemed to be the marks of greed and unfairness. These trends would only be compounded with the release of candidates’ financial records. People with records of wealth and financial ability will be further demonized as being anti-poor. These sorts of political tactics obscure from the realities of politics and seeks to separate people along class, rather than political ideological, lines. Such divisions are exceptionally dangerous to the functioning of a democratic society, which demands buy-in and willing participation from all classes and groups in order to function.\n\n[1] Erb, K. “Why Romney’s ‘Tax Avoidance’ Strategies Don’t Deserve Criticism”. Forbes. 30 October 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/10/30/why-romneys-tax-avoidance-strategies-dont-deserve-criticism/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b64292a92bc691d17d8797e56f9ad6ca",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all The focus of elections should be on policy, not personal issues like financial records\n\nDiscussion of candidates’ personal finances serves only to obscure the real issues facing society. When the focus becomes on how much tax Candidate X paid and what loopholes he or she exploited, the media tends to latch onto it. It sells more newspapers and gets more hits online to make a salacious story about the financial “misdeeds” of a candidate than to actually discuss what he or she stands for. It fuels the growing tendency of the media to attach itself to petty commentary rather than real investigation and analysis. Ultimately, an examination of the personal finances of a candidate tells voters little about what he or she stands for on the issue of state finances. Throughout history, personal financial success has been shown to not necessarily correlate with political acumen. For example, William Pitt became the young, and one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, yet he was in extreme debt when he died. [1] Narrow attention paid to personal finances takes up people’s limited time available to consume useful information to direct their voting, and the news media have limited air time to discuss issues. It is best that both use their time to maximum effect, and not be sidetracked by distractions.\n\n[1] Reilly, Robin (1978). Pitt the Younger 1759–1806. Cassell Publishers.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "581fab83cf06a54ba2cea6f6b4ae29ee",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Financial dealings can indicate candidates’ willingness to circumvent the system/play by the rules\n\nA lot of politicians come from positions of prestige and power before seeking public office. Many politicians have wealth in their own right, or a base of wealthy supporters. Understanding where that wealth came from and how they used their privileged position is very important to citizens when choosing their leaders. Access to candidates’ financial information allows good candidates to show their honesty and financial uprightness, and sometimes even to display their talent and acumen that allowed them to succeed. More importantly, it allows people to scrutinize the dealings of politicians who used their often privileged position to avoid paying high taxes and to shield their wealth from the public taking its legal due. What these insights provide is a valuable snapshot of what candidates are willing to do to promote their own interests versus those of the state and society. It shows if there is a propensity to engage in morally dubious practices, and such behavior could well be extrapolated to be a potential incentive to corrupt practice. While tax avoidance is not illegal, it can well be considered unjust when rigorously applied, especially considered that the special knowledge necessary to profit from it belongs only to those of wealth and privilege. The value of this knowledge was made particularly clear in the case of Mitt Romney’s presidential bid. When Romney released his tax returns it became painfully clear that he was using the system to his advantage, at the expense of the taxpayer. [1] Citizens deserve to know to what lengths, if any, those who wish to represent them are willing to game the system they would be elected to lead.\n\n[1] Drucker, J. “Romney Avoids Taxes Via Loophole Cutting Mormon Donations”. Bloomberg. 29 October 2012, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0c524c9343b2953472074622a29e458e",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all This information offers valuable texture to the financial proposals candidates offer as potential policy\n\nWhen candidates make proposals for public spending they often seek to use their own financial stories as evidence of their credibility. Without public knowledge of their actual financial record, besides what can be gleaned from secondary sources and their words, these claims cannot be evaluated fully by the voting public. Publishing their financial records allows the citizens to get a genuine grasp of their –would-be representatives abilities. More importantly, the proposals of candidates can be scrutinized in relation to how the candidate, and those of the same financial stratum as the candidate, would benefit from them. When Mitt Romney proposed new tax and spending reforms in the last US presidential election, it was clear that his policies inordinately favored the rich and increased the tax burden of the middle class. [1] Understanding Romney’s personal position of great wealth served confirm to the public their suspicions that his policies were designed to favor the financial elite of which he was a part. It is in the public’s interest to elect representatives who serve their interests, not those of moneyed elites.\n\n[1] Dwyer, P. “Surprise! Romney Tax Plan Favors the Rich”. Bloomberg. 1 August 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/surprise-romney-tax-plan-favors-the-rich.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d8bb4edf897a615ae307b9e1bb609976",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Voters have a right to know the background of their would-be representatives, including financial background\n\nIn any society, no matter how liberal, rights of every kind have limitations. Rights are general statements of principles that are then caveated and curtailed to fit the public interest across a range of circumstances. When an individual seeks elevation to public office, he or she must accept that the role they are applying for requires extra transparency. As the representative of the people, the politician is more than just the holder of a job appointed by the people, but is the elected servant, whose duty is to lead, including by example. It is a strange relationship, and it is one that demands the utmost confidence in the holder. This political power will often involve power over the public purse so it is essential for the public to know if the candidate is financially honest and not going to use his election for corrupt purposes. [1] Thus, when citizens place their political power in the hands of an elected representative, they gain the reciprocal right over that representative to have his or her life and character laid bare for their approval. This is done generally through political campaigns that focus on candidates’ character and life story. But often candidates prove reticent to share some details, particularly financial details. But if citizens are to make a good decision about what sort of person they wish to lead them, they require information about the financial background of their representatives, to see that they comport themselves in business in a way that is fitting to the character of a leader.\n\n[1] Rossi, I., and Blackburn, T., “Why do financial disclosure systems matter for corruption?” blogs.worldbank.org, 8 November 2012, http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/why-do-financial-disclosure-systems-matter-for-corruption\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
b9140227569d7aeb65d91cf20d56526b | The focus of elections should be on policy, not personal issues like financial records
Discussion of candidates’ personal finances serves only to obscure the real issues facing society. When the focus becomes on how much tax Candidate X paid and what loopholes he or she exploited, the media tends to latch onto it. It sells more newspapers and gets more hits online to make a salacious story about the financial “misdeeds” of a candidate than to actually discuss what he or she stands for. It fuels the growing tendency of the media to attach itself to petty commentary rather than real investigation and analysis. Ultimately, an examination of the personal finances of a candidate tells voters little about what he or she stands for on the issue of state finances. Throughout history, personal financial success has been shown to not necessarily correlate with political acumen. For example, William Pitt became the young, and one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, yet he was in extreme debt when he died. [1] Narrow attention paid to personal finances takes up people’s limited time available to consume useful information to direct their voting, and the news media have limited air time to discuss issues. It is best that both use their time to maximum effect, and not be sidetracked by distractions.
[1] Reilly, Robin (1978). Pitt the Younger 1759–1806. Cassell Publishers.
| [
{
"docid": "d7e4aea5d0fc48db8dc64babb9ef35b7",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all While elections should of course focus a great deal of attention on policy, it is also critical that voters understand who exactly it is they are voting for. That means looking beyond the manifesto and getting an understanding of the candidate’s character and private dealings. Having access to their private financial records can go a long way toward revealing this information, as they provide valuable insight into both the candidate’s financial abilities, and his or her attitude toward the state.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "af85a817a65c9a0f5fd93b2d7d826187",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Privacy is a right but it is not sacrosanct, and certainly should not be for people who serve the public. Freedom of speech is considered sacred in a free society, but anyone reasonable would agree that shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre is not given such protection, showing that even the most treasured rights are curtailed in the public interest. Both the special position of politicians as the effective embodiment of the people’s will, and the special power they wield, which is far vaster than that of any private agent, demands a higher level of scrutiny into their backgrounds, which means looking into their financial records, which can divulge much about their competence and character.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "177950691279f0f2083826f2f446c2ef",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Firstly, personal wealth may not be indicative of political belief. Wealthy people can be advocates for higher taxes and workers’ rights. Secondly, maybe creating class awareness is not such a bad thing. The revelation of candidates’ personal finances will help show average voters what their leaders are actually like, that they have acquired great wealth and seek to protect it. Consciousness about these things can only help to galvanize political participation and to stoke real discourse about things like the proper distribution of wealth, issues that often fall foul of the political mainstream of party politics.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "63efb1514e77cb20193c8505f85a7d61",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Tax avoidance is not illegal, and it should not be treated as if it were by the prying media and would-be class-warriors. Even if one might think it unpleasant to look for loopholes to protect private wealth, it is really only natural for people to wish to pay no more than they have to in tax. Mitt Romney was simply using the skills that allowed him to be a great business success to keep his costs as low as possible. Trying to make a political issue out of these sorts of dealings only serves to obscure from the real policy issues, and to focus the debate on divisive and unhelpful issues of class war.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "36a1c30a2282d36b3b3c118960f47af4",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Personal finances mean little when it comes to financial policy. Trying to glean any sort of financial acumen on the macro scale from private dealings is extremely misguided. Successful business leaders often make poor political leaders, as the world of business is very different from the horse-trading of politics. [1] In terms of leading others as one leads one’s own life, there is no reason to assume that a candidate who has used the system to his or her advantage would use the additional power of office to enrich themselves or their friends further. Mitt Romney was an effective governor of Massachusetts, and was willing to increase taxes that were personally costly to him.\n\n[1] Jenkins, H. “Good Businessman, Bad President?”. Wall Street Journal. 23 October 2012, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203406404578074620655476826.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f1eca959a37ef498c4cf6b0994c5088",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all So long as politicians do their duty by representing the interests of those that elected them, they are fulfilling their end of the covenant with the people. To demand the financial records of candidates will not offer more than crude snapshot of one aspect of their lives, not giving the desired insight into their character, while massively intruding on the politician’s personal life. As is often the case here the right to know conflicts with the candidates right to privacy. Of course it is right to know if a candidate pays his taxes, but do they need to know every expense he has incurred over the last few years or how much a candidate earned years ago?\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d90135699517a334e6f230c847042a43",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Fixating on candidates’ financial records fuels the fire of class war\n\nMore and more the financial dealings of candidates are used against them in politics. In past decades, politicians in many countries were proud to run on the basis of their successes in the private sector. Today, however, that success has often become a liability. One only need look at the paradigmatic example of this occurrence, Mitt Romney. When running for governor in Massachusetts, his strong record in business was touted as a quality favoring him. Yet in the presidential election, Romney’s wealth was touted as an example of capitalist excess, of often ill-gotten gains. [1] The change in rhetoric has indicated marked shift in politics in a number of countries, most visibly the United States, but also places like France, where the development of wealth and success are deemed to be the marks of greed and unfairness. These trends would only be compounded with the release of candidates’ financial records. People with records of wealth and financial ability will be further demonized as being anti-poor. These sorts of political tactics obscure from the realities of politics and seeks to separate people along class, rather than political ideological, lines. Such divisions are exceptionally dangerous to the functioning of a democratic society, which demands buy-in and willing participation from all classes and groups in order to function.\n\n[1] Erb, K. “Why Romney’s ‘Tax Avoidance’ Strategies Don’t Deserve Criticism”. Forbes. 30 October 2012. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/10/30/why-romneys-tax-avoidance-strategies-dont-deserve-criticism/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f2b810b7036920b5b385ddb8d1a2ac20",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Individuals have a right to privacy, including to their own financial records\n\nPrivacy is a fundamental human right, one that should be defended for all citizens, including those who govern us. [1] What people do with their own finances is their own business. People generally speaking have a basic respect for privacy. Politicians don’t owe the electorate any special privileges like their financial history. A politician is effectively an employee of his constituents and the citizens of the polity. His or her duty is not so special as to demand the handing over of all information on one of the most critical aspects of their private life. Financial affairs like income and taxes are a private matter, and should be treated as such by voters and governments. This is even more the case when it comes to financial history, much of which may have happened long before the individual decided to become a politician. Making politicians’ financial affairs fair game for reporters and others who would exploit the information only serves to undermine the rights that all citizens rightly enjoy.\n\n[1] Privacy International. 2010. “Privacy as a Political Right”. Index on Censorship 39(1): 58-68. https://www.privacyinternational.org/reports/privacy-as-a-political-right\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "581fab83cf06a54ba2cea6f6b4ae29ee",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Financial dealings can indicate candidates’ willingness to circumvent the system/play by the rules\n\nA lot of politicians come from positions of prestige and power before seeking public office. Many politicians have wealth in their own right, or a base of wealthy supporters. Understanding where that wealth came from and how they used their privileged position is very important to citizens when choosing their leaders. Access to candidates’ financial information allows good candidates to show their honesty and financial uprightness, and sometimes even to display their talent and acumen that allowed them to succeed. More importantly, it allows people to scrutinize the dealings of politicians who used their often privileged position to avoid paying high taxes and to shield their wealth from the public taking its legal due. What these insights provide is a valuable snapshot of what candidates are willing to do to promote their own interests versus those of the state and society. It shows if there is a propensity to engage in morally dubious practices, and such behavior could well be extrapolated to be a potential incentive to corrupt practice. While tax avoidance is not illegal, it can well be considered unjust when rigorously applied, especially considered that the special knowledge necessary to profit from it belongs only to those of wealth and privilege. The value of this knowledge was made particularly clear in the case of Mitt Romney’s presidential bid. When Romney released his tax returns it became painfully clear that he was using the system to his advantage, at the expense of the taxpayer. [1] Citizens deserve to know to what lengths, if any, those who wish to represent them are willing to game the system they would be elected to lead.\n\n[1] Drucker, J. “Romney Avoids Taxes Via Loophole Cutting Mormon Donations”. Bloomberg. 29 October 2012, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0c524c9343b2953472074622a29e458e",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all This information offers valuable texture to the financial proposals candidates offer as potential policy\n\nWhen candidates make proposals for public spending they often seek to use their own financial stories as evidence of their credibility. Without public knowledge of their actual financial record, besides what can be gleaned from secondary sources and their words, these claims cannot be evaluated fully by the voting public. Publishing their financial records allows the citizens to get a genuine grasp of their –would-be representatives abilities. More importantly, the proposals of candidates can be scrutinized in relation to how the candidate, and those of the same financial stratum as the candidate, would benefit from them. When Mitt Romney proposed new tax and spending reforms in the last US presidential election, it was clear that his policies inordinately favored the rich and increased the tax burden of the middle class. [1] Understanding Romney’s personal position of great wealth served confirm to the public their suspicions that his policies were designed to favor the financial elite of which he was a part. It is in the public’s interest to elect representatives who serve their interests, not those of moneyed elites.\n\n[1] Dwyer, P. “Surprise! Romney Tax Plan Favors the Rich”. Bloomberg. 1 August 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/surprise-romney-tax-plan-favors-the-rich.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d8bb4edf897a615ae307b9e1bb609976",
"text": "governmental transparency house would post full financial history all Voters have a right to know the background of their would-be representatives, including financial background\n\nIn any society, no matter how liberal, rights of every kind have limitations. Rights are general statements of principles that are then caveated and curtailed to fit the public interest across a range of circumstances. When an individual seeks elevation to public office, he or she must accept that the role they are applying for requires extra transparency. As the representative of the people, the politician is more than just the holder of a job appointed by the people, but is the elected servant, whose duty is to lead, including by example. It is a strange relationship, and it is one that demands the utmost confidence in the holder. This political power will often involve power over the public purse so it is essential for the public to know if the candidate is financially honest and not going to use his election for corrupt purposes. [1] Thus, when citizens place their political power in the hands of an elected representative, they gain the reciprocal right over that representative to have his or her life and character laid bare for their approval. This is done generally through political campaigns that focus on candidates’ character and life story. But often candidates prove reticent to share some details, particularly financial details. But if citizens are to make a good decision about what sort of person they wish to lead them, they require information about the financial background of their representatives, to see that they comport themselves in business in a way that is fitting to the character of a leader.\n\n[1] Rossi, I., and Blackburn, T., “Why do financial disclosure systems matter for corruption?” blogs.worldbank.org, 8 November 2012, http://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/why-do-financial-disclosure-systems-matter-for-corruption\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
3a6c4c77d5e856fed56cfbc5102541b4 | The creative commons is a more effective means for artists to build and expand their reach and markets than traditional copyright licensing arrangements
The nature of the internet and mass media on the 21st century is such that many artists can benefit from the freedom and flexibility that creative commons licenses furnish to them. Wider use by other artists and laymen alike helps artistic works “go viral” and to gain major impact that allow the artist to generate a name for his or herself and to attain the levels of earnings conventional copyrights are meant to help artists generate but that ultimately hamstring them. A major example of this is the band Nine Inch Nails, which opted in 2008 to begin releasing its albums through the creative commons. [1] Creative commons licenses are so remarkable because they can be deployed by artists to expand their markets, and to profit even more from their greater recognition. After all, the artists still retain control of the commercial uses of their work and are guaranteed under creative commons licensing regulations to be credited by users of their content. [2] Giving undue artistic and distribution control to the artists through constricting and outmoded copyright may mean less significant reach and impact of the work. The state should thus facilitate the sharing by mandating the distribution of art of all kinds under creative commons licenses.
[1] Anderson, N., “Free Nine Inch Nails albums top 2008 Amazon MP3 sales charts”, arstechnica, 7 January 2009, http://arstechnica.com/business/2009/01/free-nine-inch-nails-albums-top-2008-amazon-mp3-sales-charts/
[2] Creative Commons. “About the Licenses”. 2010. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
| [
{
"docid": "945423723f612ecd6adf2fa6a5707046",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Choosing to release one’s work into the viral market may be a shrewd business and artistic move, or it might not. All of this depends on the individual artist and the individual work. Nine Inch Nails both has the money that they can afford to take the risk and the name recognition that means they can be sure some fans will purchase the music, this is not the case with most artists. Thus the decision can really only be made effectively and fairly by the artists themselves. Trying to usurp that choice through a state mandate only serves to undermine the artist’s creative vision of how he or she wishes to portray and distribute their work to the world.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "46f8a65099cac948468921edfd3a1331",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all There are many ways to correct for the dearth of some works on the market such as orphan works. By simplifying copyright law, reducing lengths of copyright and more robust searches for legal provenance can all help correct for the shortfalls without eroding an important part of law and material rights. Or indeed the law might be revised simply to free works that have unclear ownership from copyright by default. Creators should retain, no matter how annoying it may be to would-be enjoyers of their work, control over their artistic output. Artists’ creations are fundamentally their own, not the property of the state or society.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "23e73deb121179a75add5c1f775bf926",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all It may be costly and sometimes ineffective to police copyright, but that does not make them any less of a right worth protecting. If artists or firms feel that they might benefit from fighting infringers of their rights, they should have the right to do so, not simply be expected to roll over and give in to the pirates and law breakers. The state likewise, has an obligation to protect the rights, physical and intangible, of its citizens and cannot give up on them simply because they prove difficult and costly to enforce. Furthermore, the ensuring health of the economy is a primary duty of the state and this means aiding its domestic businesses and one of the ways it does that is by acting to enforce copyright both internally and if possible externally.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2d26756a6f9ed921bff0e056b7864ddc",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Although ideas are not tangible intellectual property generally, and copyright in particular, is far from a fiction. Rather it is a realization of the hard work and demiurgic force that sparks the generation and fulfilment of artistic endeavour. The property right assigned over these things to their creators is a very real one that recognizes their fundamental right over these works as owners, and the right to profit from them. The artist must have the right to prevent even non-commercial use of the idea if it is to maintain its value and so retain for the creator the ability to commercialise it. These protections are critical to the moral understanding of all property and must be rigorously protected, not eroded for the benefit of some nebulous notion of social good.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b790abe0a63efaa833b07d5676ae2cbb",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all People deserve recompense for their work, but the stifling force of current copyright prevents the proper sharing and expansion of the artistic canon, to the intellectual and spiritual impoverishment of all. Creative commons licenses strike an important balance, by leaving artists with the power over commercial uses of their work, including selling it themselves, while permitting it to permeate the public sphere through non-commercial channels. This is the best way to weigh these competing needs in a complex society. It is not preventing the creator from profiting from his work. It is not a total abrogation of people’s rights, but a giving over of some rights for the benefit of all.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5608b684220fa4d17e36395a4172edfc",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists rarely make all that much money in the first place, and a great many only work as an artist part time. More importantly, they can still profit from their art, since they retain exclusive commercial rights to their work. Oftentimes they will actually benefit from operation under a creative commons license because it provides wider dispersal of their work, which builds a broader name and market for their work.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8120f7741c5de38d6de6a1ce4b9673d9",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Few artists ever see much profit from their work anyway, many choosing the life of bohemian squalor in order to keep producing art rather than taking up more profitable pursuits. Vincent van Gogh sold almost nothing, but his drive to create never abated. No doubt the true artists will continue to feel the urge to create under this policy, and the loss of a few marginal cases must be weighed against the massive losses to art in general, such as the huge curtailment of exploration of and response to existing works, which are often artistically meritorious in their own right, and also the rendering unavailable of much of the artistic output of the world.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c61fcf06b35a825108d5cd82e415ca4e",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Upon entering the public arena works of art take on characters of their own, often far different than their original creators did, or could have, imagined. The art is consumed, absorbed, and reimagined and takes on its own identity that the artist cannot claim full ownership over. It is important that art as a whole be able to thrive in society, but this is only possible when artists are able to make use of, and actively reinterpret and utilize existing works. That art does, due to its origination belong more to the people, who should have access, even if the artist, like Beckett has bizarrely rigorous feelings about the work.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "15866ec0a1b263e14947064d7bfff078",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all The default of total copyright is harmful to the spreading of information and experience\n\nCurrent copyright law assigns too many rights, automatically, to the creator. Law gives the generator of a work full copyright protection that is extremely restrictive of that works reuse, except when strictly agreed in contracts and agreements. Making Creative Commons licenses the standard for publicly-funded works generates a powerful normalizing force toward a general alteration of people’s defaults on what copyright and creator protections should actually be like. The creative commons guarantees attribution to the creator and they retain the power to set up other for-profit deals with distributors. [1] At base the default setting of somehow having absolute control means creators of work often do not even consider the reuse by others in the commons. The result is creation and then stagnation, as others do not expend the time and energy to seek special permissions from the creator. Mandating that art in all its forms be released under a creative commons licensing scheme means greater access to more works, for the enrichment of all. This is particular true in the case of “orphan works”, works of unknown ownership. Fears over copyright infringement has led these works, which by some estimates account for 40% of all books, have led to huge amounts of knowledge and creative output languishing beyond anyone’s reach. A mix of confusion over copyright ownership and unwillingness of owners to release their works, often because it would not be commercially viable to do so, means that only 2% of all works currently protected by copyright are commercially available. [2] Releasing these works under creative commons licenses will spawn a deluge of enriching knowledge and creative output spilling onto the market of ideas. It would mark a critical advancement in the democratization and globalization of knowledge akin to the invention of the printing press.\n\n[1] Creative Commons. “About the Licenses”. 2010. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/\n\n[2] Keegan, V. “Shorter Copyright Would Free Creativity”. The Guardian. 7 October 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/07/shorter-copyright-term\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c286c72df1c770697be9c616ea76399c",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Intellectual property is a legal fiction created for convenience in some instances, but copyright should cease to be protected under this doctrine\n\nAn individual’s idea only truly belongs solely to them so long as it rests in their mind alone. When they disseminate their ideas to the world they put them in the public domain, and should become the purview of everyone to use. Artists and creators more generally, should not expect some sort of ownership to inhere in an idea they happen to have, since no such ownership right exists in reality. [1] No one can own an idea. Thus recognizing something like a property right over intangible assets is contrary to reason, since doing so gives monopoly power to individuals who may not make efficient or equitable use of their inventions or products. Physical property is a tangible asset, and thus can be protected by tangible safeguards. Ideas do not share the same order of protection even now because they exist in a different order to physical reality. However, some intellectual property is useful in encouraging investment and invention, allowing people to engage their profit motives to the betterment of society as a whole. To an extent one can also sympathize with the notion that creators deserve to accrue some additional profit for the labour of the creative process, but this can be catered for through Creative Commons non-commercial licenses which reserve commercial rights. [2] These protections should not extend to non-commercial use of the various forms of arts. This is because art is a social good of a unique order, with its purpose not purely functional, but creative. It only has value in being experienced, and thus releasing these works through creative commons licenses allows the process of artistic experience and sharing proceeds unhindered by outmoded notions of copyright. The right to reap some financial gain still remains for the artists, as their rights still hold over all commercial use of their work. This seems like a fair compromise of the artist’s right to profit from their work and society right to experience and grow from those works.\n\n[1] Fitzgerald, Brian and Anne Fitzgerald. Intellectual Property: In Principle. Melbourne: Lawbook Company. 2004.\n\n[2] Walsh, K., “Commercial Rights Reserved proposal outcome: no change”, Creative Commons, 14 February 2013, http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36725\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f7119a14f4c77a1bd9a921b8b288d42d",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all The costs of monitoring copyright by states, artists, and lawyers far outweigh the benefits, and is often simply ineffective\n\nThe state incurs huge costs in monitoring for copyright infringement, in arresting suspected perpetrators, in imprisonment of those found guilty, even though in reality nothing was stolen but an idea that, once released to it, belonged to the public domain more or less. [1] Furthermore, the deterrent effect to copyright piracy generated by all the efforts of the state and firms has proven generally minimal. In fact, the level of internet piracy of books, music, and films has increased dramatically year on year for several years, increasing by 30% in 2011 alone. [2] This is because in many cases copyright laws are next to unenforceable, as the music and movie industries have learned to their annoyance in recent years, for example ninety percent of DVDs sold in China are bootlegs while even western consumers are increasingly bypassing copyright by using peer to peer networks. [3] Only a tiny fraction of perpetrators are ever caught, and though they are often punished severely in an attempt to deter future crime, it has done little to stop their incidence. Copyright, in many cases, does not work in practice plain and simple. Releasing works under a creative commons licensing scheme does a great deal to cope with these pressures. In the first instance it is a less draconian regime, so individuals are more willing to buy into it as a legitimate claim by artists rather than an onerous stranglehold on work. This increases compliance with the relaxed law. Secondly, the compliance means that artists are given the vocal crediting under the license rules that gives them more public exposure than clandestine copying could not. Ultimately this adaptation of current copyright law would benefit the artist and the consumer mutually.\n\n[1] World Intellectual Property Organization. “Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property”. 2011 http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/studies/\n\n[2] Hartopo, A. “The Past, Present and Future of Internet Piracy”. Jakarta Globe. 26 July 2011. http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/bytethis/the-past-present-and-future-of-internet-piracy/455291\n\n[3] Quirk, M., “The Movie Pirates”, The Atlantic, 19 November 2009, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/06/the-movie-pirates/305886/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ba36f56bd51f387bfa69f1d3fd5da45b",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists should retain the right to control their work’s interaction with the public space even if their work is publicly funded\n\nArt is the expression of its creator’s sense of understanding of the world, and thus that expression will always have special meaning to him or her that no amount of reinterpretation or external appreciation can override. How a work is used once released into the public sphere, whether expanded, revised, responded to, or simply shown without their direct consent, thus remains an active issue for the artist, because those alternative experiences are all using a piece of the artist in its efforts. Artists deserve to have that piece of them treated in a way they see as reasonable. It is a simple matter of justice that artists be permitted to maintain the level of control they desire, and it is a justice that is best furnished through the conventional copyright mechanism that provides for the maximum protection of works for their creators, and allows them to contract away uses and rights to those works on their own terms. Many artists care about their legacies and the future of their artistic works, and should thus have this protection furnished by the state through the protection of copyright, not cast aside by the unwashed users of the creative commons. Samuel Beckett is a great example of this need. Beckett had exacting standards about the fashion in which in his plays could be performed. [1] For him the meaning of the art demanded an appreciation for the strict performance without the adulteration of reinterpretation. He would lack that power under this policy, meaning either the world would have been impoverished for want of his plays, or he would have been impoverished for want of his rights to his work. These rights are best balanced through the aegis of copyright as it is, not under the free-for-all of the creative commons license.\n\n[1] Catron, L. “Copyright Laws for Theatre People”. 2003. http://lecatr.people.wm.edu/copy.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0cdb450e63b26c052455504e8d49d47e",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists often rely on copyright protection to financially support themselves and their families\n\nArtists as they are often not paid for anything else may rely on their creative output to support themselves. This is certainly no crime, and existing copyright laws recognize this fact. Artists often rely wholly on their ability to sell and profit from their work. This policy serves to drain them of that potential revenue, as their work is shunted into creative commons, and available to all. Artists often also have families to support, and putting the added financial burden on them of stripping them of their copyright only serves to further those problems as they exist. A robust system of copyright is a much better protection to struggling and successful artists alike who like all talented individuals seek to assuage their material wants. Artists cannot live on appreciation alone. With much less secure copyright many would have to find other work.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e130390a1d4289977812e76e9a581d4c",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists have a fundamental property right over their creative output\n\nWhatever the end product, be it music, film, sculpture, or painting, artistic works are the creations of individuals and a property right inheres within them belonging to their creators. An idea is just an idea so long as it remains locked in someone’s mind or is left as an unfinished sketch, etc. But when the art is allowed to bloom in full, it is due to the artist and the artist only. The obsession, the time, the raw talent needed to truly create art is an incredible business, requiring huge investment in energy, time, and effort. It is a matter of the most basic, and one would have hoped self-evident, principle that the person who sacrificed so much to bring forth a piece of art should retain all the rights to it and in particular have the right to profit from it. [1] To argue otherwise would be to condone outright theft. The ethereal work of the artist is every bit as real as the hard work of a machine. Mandating that all forms of art be released under a creative commons license is an absolute slap in the face to artists and to the artistic endeavour as a whole. It implies that somehow the work is not entirely the artist’s own, that because it is art it is somehow so different as to be worthy of being shunted into the public sphere without the real consent of the artist. This is a gross robbing of the artist’s right over his or her own work. If property rights are to have any meaning, they must have a universal protection. This policy represents a fundamental erosion of the right to property, and attacks one sector of productive life that is essential for the giving of colour to the human experience. This policy serves only to devalue that contribution.\n\n[1] Greenberg, M. “Reason or Madness: A Defense of Copyright’s Growing Pains”. John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law. 2007. http://www.jmripl.com/Publications/Vol7/Issue1/Greenberg.pdf\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "18d52dfc28e8ca625ad94456b6e3ec4d",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all The lack of control over, and profit from, art will serve as a serious disincentive to artistic output\n\nProfit is as much a factor in artists’ decision to produce work, if not more so, than the primordial urge to create. Without the guarantee of ownership over one’s artistic work, the incentive to invest in its creation is certainly diminished. Within a strong copyright system, individuals feel free to invest time in their pursuits because they have full knowledge that the final product of their labours will be theirs to enjoy. [1] Without copyright protections the marginal cases, like people afraid to put time into actually building an installation art piece rather than doing more hours at their job, will not opt to create. If their work were to immediately leave their control, they would most certainly be less inclined to do so. Furthermore, the inability of others to simply duplicate existing works as their own means they too will be galvanized to break ground on new ideas, rather than simply re-tread over current ideas and to adapt existing works to markets. Art thrives by being new and original. Copyright protections shield against artistic laziness and drive the creative urges of the artistically inclined to ever more interesting fields.\n\n[1] Greenberg, M. “Reason or Madness: A Defense of Copyright’s Growing Pains”. John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law. 2007. http://www.jmripl.com/Publications/Vol7/Issue1/Greenberg.pdf\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
8b7aa4f129f9a71f10b3d765d0f78515 | The costs of monitoring copyright by states, artists, and lawyers far outweigh the benefits, and is often simply ineffective
The state incurs huge costs in monitoring for copyright infringement, in arresting suspected perpetrators, in imprisonment of those found guilty, even though in reality nothing was stolen but an idea that, once released to it, belonged to the public domain more or less. [1] Furthermore, the deterrent effect to copyright piracy generated by all the efforts of the state and firms has proven generally minimal. In fact, the level of internet piracy of books, music, and films has increased dramatically year on year for several years, increasing by 30% in 2011 alone. [2] This is because in many cases copyright laws are next to unenforceable, as the music and movie industries have learned to their annoyance in recent years, for example ninety percent of DVDs sold in China are bootlegs while even western consumers are increasingly bypassing copyright by using peer to peer networks. [3] Only a tiny fraction of perpetrators are ever caught, and though they are often punished severely in an attempt to deter future crime, it has done little to stop their incidence. Copyright, in many cases, does not work in practice plain and simple. Releasing works under a creative commons licensing scheme does a great deal to cope with these pressures. In the first instance it is a less draconian regime, so individuals are more willing to buy into it as a legitimate claim by artists rather than an onerous stranglehold on work. This increases compliance with the relaxed law. Secondly, the compliance means that artists are given the vocal crediting under the license rules that gives them more public exposure than clandestine copying could not. Ultimately this adaptation of current copyright law would benefit the artist and the consumer mutually.
[1] World Intellectual Property Organization. “Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property”. 2011 http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/studies/
[2] Hartopo, A. “The Past, Present and Future of Internet Piracy”. Jakarta Globe. 26 July 2011. http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/bytethis/the-past-present-and-future-of-internet-piracy/455291
[3] Quirk, M., “The Movie Pirates”, The Atlantic, 19 November 2009, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/06/the-movie-pirates/305886/
| [
{
"docid": "23e73deb121179a75add5c1f775bf926",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all It may be costly and sometimes ineffective to police copyright, but that does not make them any less of a right worth protecting. If artists or firms feel that they might benefit from fighting infringers of their rights, they should have the right to do so, not simply be expected to roll over and give in to the pirates and law breakers. The state likewise, has an obligation to protect the rights, physical and intangible, of its citizens and cannot give up on them simply because they prove difficult and costly to enforce. Furthermore, the ensuring health of the economy is a primary duty of the state and this means aiding its domestic businesses and one of the ways it does that is by acting to enforce copyright both internally and if possible externally.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "46f8a65099cac948468921edfd3a1331",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all There are many ways to correct for the dearth of some works on the market such as orphan works. By simplifying copyright law, reducing lengths of copyright and more robust searches for legal provenance can all help correct for the shortfalls without eroding an important part of law and material rights. Or indeed the law might be revised simply to free works that have unclear ownership from copyright by default. Creators should retain, no matter how annoying it may be to would-be enjoyers of their work, control over their artistic output. Artists’ creations are fundamentally their own, not the property of the state or society.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "945423723f612ecd6adf2fa6a5707046",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Choosing to release one’s work into the viral market may be a shrewd business and artistic move, or it might not. All of this depends on the individual artist and the individual work. Nine Inch Nails both has the money that they can afford to take the risk and the name recognition that means they can be sure some fans will purchase the music, this is not the case with most artists. Thus the decision can really only be made effectively and fairly by the artists themselves. Trying to usurp that choice through a state mandate only serves to undermine the artist’s creative vision of how he or she wishes to portray and distribute their work to the world.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2d26756a6f9ed921bff0e056b7864ddc",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Although ideas are not tangible intellectual property generally, and copyright in particular, is far from a fiction. Rather it is a realization of the hard work and demiurgic force that sparks the generation and fulfilment of artistic endeavour. The property right assigned over these things to their creators is a very real one that recognizes their fundamental right over these works as owners, and the right to profit from them. The artist must have the right to prevent even non-commercial use of the idea if it is to maintain its value and so retain for the creator the ability to commercialise it. These protections are critical to the moral understanding of all property and must be rigorously protected, not eroded for the benefit of some nebulous notion of social good.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b790abe0a63efaa833b07d5676ae2cbb",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all People deserve recompense for their work, but the stifling force of current copyright prevents the proper sharing and expansion of the artistic canon, to the intellectual and spiritual impoverishment of all. Creative commons licenses strike an important balance, by leaving artists with the power over commercial uses of their work, including selling it themselves, while permitting it to permeate the public sphere through non-commercial channels. This is the best way to weigh these competing needs in a complex society. It is not preventing the creator from profiting from his work. It is not a total abrogation of people’s rights, but a giving over of some rights for the benefit of all.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5608b684220fa4d17e36395a4172edfc",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists rarely make all that much money in the first place, and a great many only work as an artist part time. More importantly, they can still profit from their art, since they retain exclusive commercial rights to their work. Oftentimes they will actually benefit from operation under a creative commons license because it provides wider dispersal of their work, which builds a broader name and market for their work.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8120f7741c5de38d6de6a1ce4b9673d9",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Few artists ever see much profit from their work anyway, many choosing the life of bohemian squalor in order to keep producing art rather than taking up more profitable pursuits. Vincent van Gogh sold almost nothing, but his drive to create never abated. No doubt the true artists will continue to feel the urge to create under this policy, and the loss of a few marginal cases must be weighed against the massive losses to art in general, such as the huge curtailment of exploration of and response to existing works, which are often artistically meritorious in their own right, and also the rendering unavailable of much of the artistic output of the world.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c61fcf06b35a825108d5cd82e415ca4e",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Upon entering the public arena works of art take on characters of their own, often far different than their original creators did, or could have, imagined. The art is consumed, absorbed, and reimagined and takes on its own identity that the artist cannot claim full ownership over. It is important that art as a whole be able to thrive in society, but this is only possible when artists are able to make use of, and actively reinterpret and utilize existing works. That art does, due to its origination belong more to the people, who should have access, even if the artist, like Beckett has bizarrely rigorous feelings about the work.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "15866ec0a1b263e14947064d7bfff078",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all The default of total copyright is harmful to the spreading of information and experience\n\nCurrent copyright law assigns too many rights, automatically, to the creator. Law gives the generator of a work full copyright protection that is extremely restrictive of that works reuse, except when strictly agreed in contracts and agreements. Making Creative Commons licenses the standard for publicly-funded works generates a powerful normalizing force toward a general alteration of people’s defaults on what copyright and creator protections should actually be like. The creative commons guarantees attribution to the creator and they retain the power to set up other for-profit deals with distributors. [1] At base the default setting of somehow having absolute control means creators of work often do not even consider the reuse by others in the commons. The result is creation and then stagnation, as others do not expend the time and energy to seek special permissions from the creator. Mandating that art in all its forms be released under a creative commons licensing scheme means greater access to more works, for the enrichment of all. This is particular true in the case of “orphan works”, works of unknown ownership. Fears over copyright infringement has led these works, which by some estimates account for 40% of all books, have led to huge amounts of knowledge and creative output languishing beyond anyone’s reach. A mix of confusion over copyright ownership and unwillingness of owners to release their works, often because it would not be commercially viable to do so, means that only 2% of all works currently protected by copyright are commercially available. [2] Releasing these works under creative commons licenses will spawn a deluge of enriching knowledge and creative output spilling onto the market of ideas. It would mark a critical advancement in the democratization and globalization of knowledge akin to the invention of the printing press.\n\n[1] Creative Commons. “About the Licenses”. 2010. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/\n\n[2] Keegan, V. “Shorter Copyright Would Free Creativity”. The Guardian. 7 October 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/07/shorter-copyright-term\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dbd7251471ba6b36eec33f4b6ce4ffb3",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all The creative commons is a more effective means for artists to build and expand their reach and markets than traditional copyright licensing arrangements\n\nThe nature of the internet and mass media on the 21st century is such that many artists can benefit from the freedom and flexibility that creative commons licenses furnish to them. Wider use by other artists and laymen alike helps artistic works “go viral” and to gain major impact that allow the artist to generate a name for his or herself and to attain the levels of earnings conventional copyrights are meant to help artists generate but that ultimately hamstring them. A major example of this is the band Nine Inch Nails, which opted in 2008 to begin releasing its albums through the creative commons. [1] Creative commons licenses are so remarkable because they can be deployed by artists to expand their markets, and to profit even more from their greater recognition. After all, the artists still retain control of the commercial uses of their work and are guaranteed under creative commons licensing regulations to be credited by users of their content. [2] Giving undue artistic and distribution control to the artists through constricting and outmoded copyright may mean less significant reach and impact of the work. The state should thus facilitate the sharing by mandating the distribution of art of all kinds under creative commons licenses.\n\n[1] Anderson, N., “Free Nine Inch Nails albums top 2008 Amazon MP3 sales charts”, arstechnica, 7 January 2009, http://arstechnica.com/business/2009/01/free-nine-inch-nails-albums-top-2008-amazon-mp3-sales-charts/\n\n[2] Creative Commons. “About the Licenses”. 2010. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c286c72df1c770697be9c616ea76399c",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Intellectual property is a legal fiction created for convenience in some instances, but copyright should cease to be protected under this doctrine\n\nAn individual’s idea only truly belongs solely to them so long as it rests in their mind alone. When they disseminate their ideas to the world they put them in the public domain, and should become the purview of everyone to use. Artists and creators more generally, should not expect some sort of ownership to inhere in an idea they happen to have, since no such ownership right exists in reality. [1] No one can own an idea. Thus recognizing something like a property right over intangible assets is contrary to reason, since doing so gives monopoly power to individuals who may not make efficient or equitable use of their inventions or products. Physical property is a tangible asset, and thus can be protected by tangible safeguards. Ideas do not share the same order of protection even now because they exist in a different order to physical reality. However, some intellectual property is useful in encouraging investment and invention, allowing people to engage their profit motives to the betterment of society as a whole. To an extent one can also sympathize with the notion that creators deserve to accrue some additional profit for the labour of the creative process, but this can be catered for through Creative Commons non-commercial licenses which reserve commercial rights. [2] These protections should not extend to non-commercial use of the various forms of arts. This is because art is a social good of a unique order, with its purpose not purely functional, but creative. It only has value in being experienced, and thus releasing these works through creative commons licenses allows the process of artistic experience and sharing proceeds unhindered by outmoded notions of copyright. The right to reap some financial gain still remains for the artists, as their rights still hold over all commercial use of their work. This seems like a fair compromise of the artist’s right to profit from their work and society right to experience and grow from those works.\n\n[1] Fitzgerald, Brian and Anne Fitzgerald. Intellectual Property: In Principle. Melbourne: Lawbook Company. 2004.\n\n[2] Walsh, K., “Commercial Rights Reserved proposal outcome: no change”, Creative Commons, 14 February 2013, http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36725\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ba36f56bd51f387bfa69f1d3fd5da45b",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists should retain the right to control their work’s interaction with the public space even if their work is publicly funded\n\nArt is the expression of its creator’s sense of understanding of the world, and thus that expression will always have special meaning to him or her that no amount of reinterpretation or external appreciation can override. How a work is used once released into the public sphere, whether expanded, revised, responded to, or simply shown without their direct consent, thus remains an active issue for the artist, because those alternative experiences are all using a piece of the artist in its efforts. Artists deserve to have that piece of them treated in a way they see as reasonable. It is a simple matter of justice that artists be permitted to maintain the level of control they desire, and it is a justice that is best furnished through the conventional copyright mechanism that provides for the maximum protection of works for their creators, and allows them to contract away uses and rights to those works on their own terms. Many artists care about their legacies and the future of their artistic works, and should thus have this protection furnished by the state through the protection of copyright, not cast aside by the unwashed users of the creative commons. Samuel Beckett is a great example of this need. Beckett had exacting standards about the fashion in which in his plays could be performed. [1] For him the meaning of the art demanded an appreciation for the strict performance without the adulteration of reinterpretation. He would lack that power under this policy, meaning either the world would have been impoverished for want of his plays, or he would have been impoverished for want of his rights to his work. These rights are best balanced through the aegis of copyright as it is, not under the free-for-all of the creative commons license.\n\n[1] Catron, L. “Copyright Laws for Theatre People”. 2003. http://lecatr.people.wm.edu/copy.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0cdb450e63b26c052455504e8d49d47e",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists often rely on copyright protection to financially support themselves and their families\n\nArtists as they are often not paid for anything else may rely on their creative output to support themselves. This is certainly no crime, and existing copyright laws recognize this fact. Artists often rely wholly on their ability to sell and profit from their work. This policy serves to drain them of that potential revenue, as their work is shunted into creative commons, and available to all. Artists often also have families to support, and putting the added financial burden on them of stripping them of their copyright only serves to further those problems as they exist. A robust system of copyright is a much better protection to struggling and successful artists alike who like all talented individuals seek to assuage their material wants. Artists cannot live on appreciation alone. With much less secure copyright many would have to find other work.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e130390a1d4289977812e76e9a581d4c",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists have a fundamental property right over their creative output\n\nWhatever the end product, be it music, film, sculpture, or painting, artistic works are the creations of individuals and a property right inheres within them belonging to their creators. An idea is just an idea so long as it remains locked in someone’s mind or is left as an unfinished sketch, etc. But when the art is allowed to bloom in full, it is due to the artist and the artist only. The obsession, the time, the raw talent needed to truly create art is an incredible business, requiring huge investment in energy, time, and effort. It is a matter of the most basic, and one would have hoped self-evident, principle that the person who sacrificed so much to bring forth a piece of art should retain all the rights to it and in particular have the right to profit from it. [1] To argue otherwise would be to condone outright theft. The ethereal work of the artist is every bit as real as the hard work of a machine. Mandating that all forms of art be released under a creative commons license is an absolute slap in the face to artists and to the artistic endeavour as a whole. It implies that somehow the work is not entirely the artist’s own, that because it is art it is somehow so different as to be worthy of being shunted into the public sphere without the real consent of the artist. This is a gross robbing of the artist’s right over his or her own work. If property rights are to have any meaning, they must have a universal protection. This policy represents a fundamental erosion of the right to property, and attacks one sector of productive life that is essential for the giving of colour to the human experience. This policy serves only to devalue that contribution.\n\n[1] Greenberg, M. “Reason or Madness: A Defense of Copyright’s Growing Pains”. John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law. 2007. http://www.jmripl.com/Publications/Vol7/Issue1/Greenberg.pdf\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "18d52dfc28e8ca625ad94456b6e3ec4d",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all The lack of control over, and profit from, art will serve as a serious disincentive to artistic output\n\nProfit is as much a factor in artists’ decision to produce work, if not more so, than the primordial urge to create. Without the guarantee of ownership over one’s artistic work, the incentive to invest in its creation is certainly diminished. Within a strong copyright system, individuals feel free to invest time in their pursuits because they have full knowledge that the final product of their labours will be theirs to enjoy. [1] Without copyright protections the marginal cases, like people afraid to put time into actually building an installation art piece rather than doing more hours at their job, will not opt to create. If their work were to immediately leave their control, they would most certainly be less inclined to do so. Furthermore, the inability of others to simply duplicate existing works as their own means they too will be galvanized to break ground on new ideas, rather than simply re-tread over current ideas and to adapt existing works to markets. Art thrives by being new and original. Copyright protections shield against artistic laziness and drive the creative urges of the artistically inclined to ever more interesting fields.\n\n[1] Greenberg, M. “Reason or Madness: A Defense of Copyright’s Growing Pains”. John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law. 2007. http://www.jmripl.com/Publications/Vol7/Issue1/Greenberg.pdf\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
8733b96ec9039ab30a248b10e26e4b31 | The lack of control over, and profit from, art will serve as a serious disincentive to artistic output
Profit is as much a factor in artists’ decision to produce work, if not more so, than the primordial urge to create. Without the guarantee of ownership over one’s artistic work, the incentive to invest in its creation is certainly diminished. Within a strong copyright system, individuals feel free to invest time in their pursuits because they have full knowledge that the final product of their labours will be theirs to enjoy. [1] Without copyright protections the marginal cases, like people afraid to put time into actually building an installation art piece rather than doing more hours at their job, will not opt to create. If their work were to immediately leave their control, they would most certainly be less inclined to do so. Furthermore, the inability of others to simply duplicate existing works as their own means they too will be galvanized to break ground on new ideas, rather than simply re-tread over current ideas and to adapt existing works to markets. Art thrives by being new and original. Copyright protections shield against artistic laziness and drive the creative urges of the artistically inclined to ever more interesting fields.
[1] Greenberg, M. “Reason or Madness: A Defense of Copyright’s Growing Pains”. John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law. 2007. http://www.jmripl.com/Publications/Vol7/Issue1/Greenberg.pdf
| [
{
"docid": "8120f7741c5de38d6de6a1ce4b9673d9",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Few artists ever see much profit from their work anyway, many choosing the life of bohemian squalor in order to keep producing art rather than taking up more profitable pursuits. Vincent van Gogh sold almost nothing, but his drive to create never abated. No doubt the true artists will continue to feel the urge to create under this policy, and the loss of a few marginal cases must be weighed against the massive losses to art in general, such as the huge curtailment of exploration of and response to existing works, which are often artistically meritorious in their own right, and also the rendering unavailable of much of the artistic output of the world.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "b790abe0a63efaa833b07d5676ae2cbb",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all People deserve recompense for their work, but the stifling force of current copyright prevents the proper sharing and expansion of the artistic canon, to the intellectual and spiritual impoverishment of all. Creative commons licenses strike an important balance, by leaving artists with the power over commercial uses of their work, including selling it themselves, while permitting it to permeate the public sphere through non-commercial channels. This is the best way to weigh these competing needs in a complex society. It is not preventing the creator from profiting from his work. It is not a total abrogation of people’s rights, but a giving over of some rights for the benefit of all.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5608b684220fa4d17e36395a4172edfc",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists rarely make all that much money in the first place, and a great many only work as an artist part time. More importantly, they can still profit from their art, since they retain exclusive commercial rights to their work. Oftentimes they will actually benefit from operation under a creative commons license because it provides wider dispersal of their work, which builds a broader name and market for their work.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c61fcf06b35a825108d5cd82e415ca4e",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Upon entering the public arena works of art take on characters of their own, often far different than their original creators did, or could have, imagined. The art is consumed, absorbed, and reimagined and takes on its own identity that the artist cannot claim full ownership over. It is important that art as a whole be able to thrive in society, but this is only possible when artists are able to make use of, and actively reinterpret and utilize existing works. That art does, due to its origination belong more to the people, who should have access, even if the artist, like Beckett has bizarrely rigorous feelings about the work.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "46f8a65099cac948468921edfd3a1331",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all There are many ways to correct for the dearth of some works on the market such as orphan works. By simplifying copyright law, reducing lengths of copyright and more robust searches for legal provenance can all help correct for the shortfalls without eroding an important part of law and material rights. Or indeed the law might be revised simply to free works that have unclear ownership from copyright by default. Creators should retain, no matter how annoying it may be to would-be enjoyers of their work, control over their artistic output. Artists’ creations are fundamentally their own, not the property of the state or society.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "23e73deb121179a75add5c1f775bf926",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all It may be costly and sometimes ineffective to police copyright, but that does not make them any less of a right worth protecting. If artists or firms feel that they might benefit from fighting infringers of their rights, they should have the right to do so, not simply be expected to roll over and give in to the pirates and law breakers. The state likewise, has an obligation to protect the rights, physical and intangible, of its citizens and cannot give up on them simply because they prove difficult and costly to enforce. Furthermore, the ensuring health of the economy is a primary duty of the state and this means aiding its domestic businesses and one of the ways it does that is by acting to enforce copyright both internally and if possible externally.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "945423723f612ecd6adf2fa6a5707046",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Choosing to release one’s work into the viral market may be a shrewd business and artistic move, or it might not. All of this depends on the individual artist and the individual work. Nine Inch Nails both has the money that they can afford to take the risk and the name recognition that means they can be sure some fans will purchase the music, this is not the case with most artists. Thus the decision can really only be made effectively and fairly by the artists themselves. Trying to usurp that choice through a state mandate only serves to undermine the artist’s creative vision of how he or she wishes to portray and distribute their work to the world.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2d26756a6f9ed921bff0e056b7864ddc",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Although ideas are not tangible intellectual property generally, and copyright in particular, is far from a fiction. Rather it is a realization of the hard work and demiurgic force that sparks the generation and fulfilment of artistic endeavour. The property right assigned over these things to their creators is a very real one that recognizes their fundamental right over these works as owners, and the right to profit from them. The artist must have the right to prevent even non-commercial use of the idea if it is to maintain its value and so retain for the creator the ability to commercialise it. These protections are critical to the moral understanding of all property and must be rigorously protected, not eroded for the benefit of some nebulous notion of social good.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ba36f56bd51f387bfa69f1d3fd5da45b",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists should retain the right to control their work’s interaction with the public space even if their work is publicly funded\n\nArt is the expression of its creator’s sense of understanding of the world, and thus that expression will always have special meaning to him or her that no amount of reinterpretation or external appreciation can override. How a work is used once released into the public sphere, whether expanded, revised, responded to, or simply shown without their direct consent, thus remains an active issue for the artist, because those alternative experiences are all using a piece of the artist in its efforts. Artists deserve to have that piece of them treated in a way they see as reasonable. It is a simple matter of justice that artists be permitted to maintain the level of control they desire, and it is a justice that is best furnished through the conventional copyright mechanism that provides for the maximum protection of works for their creators, and allows them to contract away uses and rights to those works on their own terms. Many artists care about their legacies and the future of their artistic works, and should thus have this protection furnished by the state through the protection of copyright, not cast aside by the unwashed users of the creative commons. Samuel Beckett is a great example of this need. Beckett had exacting standards about the fashion in which in his plays could be performed. [1] For him the meaning of the art demanded an appreciation for the strict performance without the adulteration of reinterpretation. He would lack that power under this policy, meaning either the world would have been impoverished for want of his plays, or he would have been impoverished for want of his rights to his work. These rights are best balanced through the aegis of copyright as it is, not under the free-for-all of the creative commons license.\n\n[1] Catron, L. “Copyright Laws for Theatre People”. 2003. http://lecatr.people.wm.edu/copy.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "0cdb450e63b26c052455504e8d49d47e",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists often rely on copyright protection to financially support themselves and their families\n\nArtists as they are often not paid for anything else may rely on their creative output to support themselves. This is certainly no crime, and existing copyright laws recognize this fact. Artists often rely wholly on their ability to sell and profit from their work. This policy serves to drain them of that potential revenue, as their work is shunted into creative commons, and available to all. Artists often also have families to support, and putting the added financial burden on them of stripping them of their copyright only serves to further those problems as they exist. A robust system of copyright is a much better protection to struggling and successful artists alike who like all talented individuals seek to assuage their material wants. Artists cannot live on appreciation alone. With much less secure copyright many would have to find other work.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e130390a1d4289977812e76e9a581d4c",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Artists have a fundamental property right over their creative output\n\nWhatever the end product, be it music, film, sculpture, or painting, artistic works are the creations of individuals and a property right inheres within them belonging to their creators. An idea is just an idea so long as it remains locked in someone’s mind or is left as an unfinished sketch, etc. But when the art is allowed to bloom in full, it is due to the artist and the artist only. The obsession, the time, the raw talent needed to truly create art is an incredible business, requiring huge investment in energy, time, and effort. It is a matter of the most basic, and one would have hoped self-evident, principle that the person who sacrificed so much to bring forth a piece of art should retain all the rights to it and in particular have the right to profit from it. [1] To argue otherwise would be to condone outright theft. The ethereal work of the artist is every bit as real as the hard work of a machine. Mandating that all forms of art be released under a creative commons license is an absolute slap in the face to artists and to the artistic endeavour as a whole. It implies that somehow the work is not entirely the artist’s own, that because it is art it is somehow so different as to be worthy of being shunted into the public sphere without the real consent of the artist. This is a gross robbing of the artist’s right over his or her own work. If property rights are to have any meaning, they must have a universal protection. This policy represents a fundamental erosion of the right to property, and attacks one sector of productive life that is essential for the giving of colour to the human experience. This policy serves only to devalue that contribution.\n\n[1] Greenberg, M. “Reason or Madness: A Defense of Copyright’s Growing Pains”. John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law. 2007. http://www.jmripl.com/Publications/Vol7/Issue1/Greenberg.pdf\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "15866ec0a1b263e14947064d7bfff078",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all The default of total copyright is harmful to the spreading of information and experience\n\nCurrent copyright law assigns too many rights, automatically, to the creator. Law gives the generator of a work full copyright protection that is extremely restrictive of that works reuse, except when strictly agreed in contracts and agreements. Making Creative Commons licenses the standard for publicly-funded works generates a powerful normalizing force toward a general alteration of people’s defaults on what copyright and creator protections should actually be like. The creative commons guarantees attribution to the creator and they retain the power to set up other for-profit deals with distributors. [1] At base the default setting of somehow having absolute control means creators of work often do not even consider the reuse by others in the commons. The result is creation and then stagnation, as others do not expend the time and energy to seek special permissions from the creator. Mandating that art in all its forms be released under a creative commons licensing scheme means greater access to more works, for the enrichment of all. This is particular true in the case of “orphan works”, works of unknown ownership. Fears over copyright infringement has led these works, which by some estimates account for 40% of all books, have led to huge amounts of knowledge and creative output languishing beyond anyone’s reach. A mix of confusion over copyright ownership and unwillingness of owners to release their works, often because it would not be commercially viable to do so, means that only 2% of all works currently protected by copyright are commercially available. [2] Releasing these works under creative commons licenses will spawn a deluge of enriching knowledge and creative output spilling onto the market of ideas. It would mark a critical advancement in the democratization and globalization of knowledge akin to the invention of the printing press.\n\n[1] Creative Commons. “About the Licenses”. 2010. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/\n\n[2] Keegan, V. “Shorter Copyright Would Free Creativity”. The Guardian. 7 October 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/oct/07/shorter-copyright-term\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dbd7251471ba6b36eec33f4b6ce4ffb3",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all The creative commons is a more effective means for artists to build and expand their reach and markets than traditional copyright licensing arrangements\n\nThe nature of the internet and mass media on the 21st century is such that many artists can benefit from the freedom and flexibility that creative commons licenses furnish to them. Wider use by other artists and laymen alike helps artistic works “go viral” and to gain major impact that allow the artist to generate a name for his or herself and to attain the levels of earnings conventional copyrights are meant to help artists generate but that ultimately hamstring them. A major example of this is the band Nine Inch Nails, which opted in 2008 to begin releasing its albums through the creative commons. [1] Creative commons licenses are so remarkable because they can be deployed by artists to expand their markets, and to profit even more from their greater recognition. After all, the artists still retain control of the commercial uses of their work and are guaranteed under creative commons licensing regulations to be credited by users of their content. [2] Giving undue artistic and distribution control to the artists through constricting and outmoded copyright may mean less significant reach and impact of the work. The state should thus facilitate the sharing by mandating the distribution of art of all kinds under creative commons licenses.\n\n[1] Anderson, N., “Free Nine Inch Nails albums top 2008 Amazon MP3 sales charts”, arstechnica, 7 January 2009, http://arstechnica.com/business/2009/01/free-nine-inch-nails-albums-top-2008-amazon-mp3-sales-charts/\n\n[2] Creative Commons. “About the Licenses”. 2010. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c286c72df1c770697be9c616ea76399c",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all Intellectual property is a legal fiction created for convenience in some instances, but copyright should cease to be protected under this doctrine\n\nAn individual’s idea only truly belongs solely to them so long as it rests in their mind alone. When they disseminate their ideas to the world they put them in the public domain, and should become the purview of everyone to use. Artists and creators more generally, should not expect some sort of ownership to inhere in an idea they happen to have, since no such ownership right exists in reality. [1] No one can own an idea. Thus recognizing something like a property right over intangible assets is contrary to reason, since doing so gives monopoly power to individuals who may not make efficient or equitable use of their inventions or products. Physical property is a tangible asset, and thus can be protected by tangible safeguards. Ideas do not share the same order of protection even now because they exist in a different order to physical reality. However, some intellectual property is useful in encouraging investment and invention, allowing people to engage their profit motives to the betterment of society as a whole. To an extent one can also sympathize with the notion that creators deserve to accrue some additional profit for the labour of the creative process, but this can be catered for through Creative Commons non-commercial licenses which reserve commercial rights. [2] These protections should not extend to non-commercial use of the various forms of arts. This is because art is a social good of a unique order, with its purpose not purely functional, but creative. It only has value in being experienced, and thus releasing these works through creative commons licenses allows the process of artistic experience and sharing proceeds unhindered by outmoded notions of copyright. The right to reap some financial gain still remains for the artists, as their rights still hold over all commercial use of their work. This seems like a fair compromise of the artist’s right to profit from their work and society right to experience and grow from those works.\n\n[1] Fitzgerald, Brian and Anne Fitzgerald. Intellectual Property: In Principle. Melbourne: Lawbook Company. 2004.\n\n[2] Walsh, K., “Commercial Rights Reserved proposal outcome: no change”, Creative Commons, 14 February 2013, http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/36725\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f7119a14f4c77a1bd9a921b8b288d42d",
"text": "nce censorship ip digital freedoms access knowledge house believes all The costs of monitoring copyright by states, artists, and lawyers far outweigh the benefits, and is often simply ineffective\n\nThe state incurs huge costs in monitoring for copyright infringement, in arresting suspected perpetrators, in imprisonment of those found guilty, even though in reality nothing was stolen but an idea that, once released to it, belonged to the public domain more or less. [1] Furthermore, the deterrent effect to copyright piracy generated by all the efforts of the state and firms has proven generally minimal. In fact, the level of internet piracy of books, music, and films has increased dramatically year on year for several years, increasing by 30% in 2011 alone. [2] This is because in many cases copyright laws are next to unenforceable, as the music and movie industries have learned to their annoyance in recent years, for example ninety percent of DVDs sold in China are bootlegs while even western consumers are increasingly bypassing copyright by using peer to peer networks. [3] Only a tiny fraction of perpetrators are ever caught, and though they are often punished severely in an attempt to deter future crime, it has done little to stop their incidence. Copyright, in many cases, does not work in practice plain and simple. Releasing works under a creative commons licensing scheme does a great deal to cope with these pressures. In the first instance it is a less draconian regime, so individuals are more willing to buy into it as a legitimate claim by artists rather than an onerous stranglehold on work. This increases compliance with the relaxed law. Secondly, the compliance means that artists are given the vocal crediting under the license rules that gives them more public exposure than clandestine copying could not. Ultimately this adaptation of current copyright law would benefit the artist and the consumer mutually.\n\n[1] World Intellectual Property Organization. “Emerging Issues in Intellectual Property”. 2011 http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/studies/\n\n[2] Hartopo, A. “The Past, Present and Future of Internet Piracy”. Jakarta Globe. 26 July 2011. http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/bytethis/the-past-present-and-future-of-internet-piracy/455291\n\n[3] Quirk, M., “The Movie Pirates”, The Atlantic, 19 November 2009, http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/06/the-movie-pirates/305886/\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
5aa63cf1ec965eb09c142ea9ddf50815 | Democratic states have an obligation to not bolster repression abroad
It is common for Western democracies to make sweeping statements about the universality of certain rights, and that their system of government is the one that should be most sought after in the world, that democracy is the only legitimate form of government. As when Obama in Cairo proclaimed “These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere.” [1] They claim to work in the United Nations and other organizations toward the improvement of rights in other countries and clamour about the need for building governments accountability around the world, using their liberal-democratic paradigm as the model. Yet at the same time democratic governments and companies sell technologies to non-democratic allies that are used to systematically abuse the rights of citizens and to entrench the power of those avowedly illegitimate regimes. These hypocrisies read as a litany of shame. A telling example is the Blair government in the United Kingdom selling weapons to an oppressive regime in Indonesia for the sake of political expediency even after proclaiming an ‘ethical foreign policy’. [2]
Even if democracies do not feel it is a defensible position to actively seek to subvert all non-democratic states, and that non-democracies should be considered semi-legitimate on the basis of nations’ right to self-determination, they should still feel morally obliged not to abet those regimes by providing the very tools of oppression on which they rely. [3] To continue dealing in these technologies serves only to make democratic countries’ statements hollow, and the rights they claim to uphold seem less absolute, a risk in itself to freedoms within democracies. Respect for rights begins at home, and actively eroding them elsewhere reduces respect for them by home governments.
[1] Obama, Barack, “Remarks by the President on a new beginning”, Office of the Press Secretary, 4 June 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09
[2] Burrows, G. “No-Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade”. New Internationalist. 2002, http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Weapons/Arms_Trade.html
[3] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillance-gear-sales-by-american-firms.html
| [
{
"docid": "a723961d8bb4da9bfc12bf3149c59cae",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression A democracy, like any state, owes its first duty to its citizens, and its national interest is therefore in selling this equipment to help business at home. While it is convenient, perhaps even morally right at times, to stand publicly for the universality of democratic principles, such stands should not be taken at the expense of national security or influence. It should certainly not be considered an obligation. Sweeping policies like this will alienate valuable allies and make it more difficult for democracies to deal with the undemocratic world. With regard to domestic freedoms, states have long held different standards of action when dealing with their own citizens than those of other states, and that has never served to erode domestic freedoms.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "1087f1b4b53db48bb2437f5e1abd4939",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Is a minor ban really a good signal? The chances are the government will ignore it and those who it is meant to encourage will never hear about it. In the event that the regimes it is aimed at do take not far from weakening them, this policy serves only to alienate them. The lack of respect the policy is clearly aimed to show will galvanize the leaderships in undemocratic regimes to cut off various ties with democratic states, limiting the flow of ideas and democratic principles that natural adhere to activities like international trade. The result is non-democracies will be less willing to talk about reform in the international community because they see their very form of government as under threat by foreign agents seeking to discredit them. Ultimately, a boost in Western moral does little to promote democracy and human rights while a negative signal will result in regimes being more suspicious and obstinate.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6d138e82e04b5e860f47352fa58f1291",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Corporations are bound to obey the laws of the societies in which they are based, but they are not so constrained in their foreign dealings, in which they are bound instead by foreign laws that are often much more lax. The nature of the international landscape, with its many incompatible and overlapping forms of government and regulatory frameworks, demands that corporations be flexible in order to survive. The constraints put upon the manufacturers of surveillance equipment put forward by this policy will make them less competitive in the international market, which is often the primary market for these businesses. Furthermore, if they feel constrained they may pull up stakes and move their operations abroad to a more accommodating jurisdiction. This would serve to harm domestic jobs and undermine the ability of democratic states to maintain their edge over others in essential surveillance technology development.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e062a0403ea1b07d8405ea2d44812e01",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Security services have managed to watch over and infiltrate the efforts of dissidents all through history. The visibility and tactics is all that has changed. The internet was never going to just be an arena that helps dissidents in authoritarian regimes but as with other technological advances, such as the telephone both increases communication and provides methods of monitoring that communication. If non-democratic states were to lose access to Western technology, they would either procure comparable replacements from other non-democracies, or they would pursue more traditional forms of surveillance, ones that tend to be more invasive and physically threatening.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "090435bb2cfa2d7bd3814fac42249ad1",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Real politick is not the only consideration democracies should entertain when they engage in international relations. Indeed, the Western powers have sought since World War II to develop a system of international justice that recognizes the primacy of peoples’ rights irrespective of where they are born. This principle is constantly compromised as democracies jockey for influence with undemocratic regimes, bolstering those regimes and their repressive norms in the process. In order to be consistent, and to serve the true interests of justice, democracies must not aid undemocratic governments in the repression of their people.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cc217ebdf39b31af7fa3a6185f0fa628",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Oppressive regimes have turned to the use of advanced surveillance technology in response to activists’ learning to evade more conventional methods of surveillance, and by moving their organizations online. Western surveillance technology has filled a niche that was once open for dissidents. By placing this ban, even if the regimes turn back to old methods, they will still be hampered in the crushing of dissent. Furthermore, no regime has the resources or power to have physical surveillance as pervasive as the technology denied them would allow. Electronic surveillance therefore can cast a much broader net that would allow the government to repress many more people who would not be subject to more labour intensive physical surveillance.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "62da6385db9e8eb249e509733ffbb2cc",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Banning the sale of surveillance technology does not mean democracies are declaring all undemocratic regimes illegitimate. Rather, they are simply not allowing their technology to aid in the repression of people, which is the only use to which that technology is put in practice. Reform sometimes demands a firm hand, and while some regimes will be riled by what they perceive as an insult, the greater chance for dissidents to develop networks and voices is worth the cost.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d4b4d2e32b8aa3779a0672ce9fd32c22",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression While Western states are willing to use surveillance technology to restrict their citizens, they do so always with a democratic mandate. That is the key difference. Democracies use surveillance technology to provide their people with the safety and security they demand, a security over which the people always have the veto of the ballot box. The non-democracy is not checked by any such power, and thus its use of surveillance technology faces no constraint.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bb03bea5afcf959744f445d63fd22c9e",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The right of Western businesses to sell their services abroad can be curtailed when their actions stand counter to the interests of their home governments\n\nCorporations are private entities that have the right to sell their services and to deal with agents foreign and domestic, including governments. However, this right can be limited when those actions are oppositional to the aims of the home state in which they are incorporated. The sale of surveillance technology to undemocratic regimes stands against the avowed aims of democracies and against their strategic interests in bolstering democracy abroad and maintaining a reputation for fair dealing. For this reason it is perfectly legitimate for governments to ban the corporations within their borders from selling dangerous technologies to foreign governments. Such is already the case with many kinds of strategic technology, especially weapons technology. [1] The EU, for example, bans a range of arms sales to various oppressive states on these grounds, [2] China in particular is an example where it would potentially be very lucrative to overturn the ban. [3] Corporations benefit from the protection of democratic states, as they provide bases of operations that shield their right to property and ensure stability and the rule of law. If corporations wish to benefit from these provisions they must be willing to accept the instructions of the states that house them regarding what can and cannot be sold to foreign powers.\n\n[1] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillan...\n\n[2] Banks, M. “Senior MEP Calls for Freeze on Arms Sale to North Africa”. The Parliament.com. 7 July 2011. http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/senior-mep-calls-for-freeze-on-arms-sale-to-north-africa/\n\n[3] See the debatabase debate ‘This House believes the European Union should lift its ban on member states selling arms to China’ http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international-affairs/european-union/house-believes-lift-arms-sales-ban-china\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9b10d302a8fd8413c0103e3ae405e72b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Advanced surveillance technology prevents dissidents from being able to organize and sue for freedom\n\nHigh-tech surveillance technology has given repressive governments and police states a new lease on life. Now more than ever they can intrude into every aspect of people’s lives, ensuring that dissent is cowed for fear of the ever present threat of the security services. The vision of Orwell’s 1984 has become a living nightmare for people all over the world. Their power has made it extremely difficult for movements for reform, government accountability, and democracy, which have foundered when faced with these sophisticated security apparatuses (Valentino-Devries, 2011). [1] By dominating the flow of information states have the power to keep their people in check and prevent them from ever posing a threat to their repressive status quo. Thus China blocks access to the internet and to other forms of communications in Tibet to “ensure the absolute security of Tibet’s ideological and cultural realm”. It cuts the Tibetan people off from outside world so as to prevent any rerun of the instability that occurred in 2008, which China blamed on the influence of the Dalai Lama from outside. [2]\n\nOnly external help in alleviating this censorship could allow activists to organize effectively and perhaps to one day bring about genuine reform and justice to their societies. The surveillance equipment on which these regimes rely is often only available from firms and governments in the democratic world where, by and large, technology is generally far more advanced than in the non-democratic world. Without access to these technologies, the regimes would be far more hard-pressed to keep rigid tabs on their citizens, allowing for the seeds of dissent to take root. Only then can the forces clamouring for democracy hope to be able to organise networks of activists, and to have their views considered by the state.\n\n[1] Valentino-Devries, J. “US Firm Acknowledges Syria Uses its Gear to Block Web”. Wall Street Journal. 29 October 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504577001911398596328.html\n\n[2] Human Rights Watch, “China: Attempts to Seal Off Tibet from Outside Information”, 13 July 2012, http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/13/china-attempts-seal-tibet-outside-information\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d46941aee69281e11a33b6d88fee72d4",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban would have a powerful signalling effect expressing disapproval of non-democracies' system of government\n\nA ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies serves ultimately as a statement of disapproval. It shows that the undemocratic regimes cannot be trusted with the ability to spy on their people. This signal has several effects. An example of this international shaming affecting is the international bans on the use of landmines. Various states created a framework, the Ottawa Convention, [1] in which their condemnation pressured nearly every other state, including authoritarian regimes, to follow suit. [2] Domestically it serves to bolster people’s faith in the system of rights they value highly and enshrine in law. They can point to this ban as an example of their government’s desire to make a better world and not to increase repression for the sake of power or profit. In the undemocratic states themselves, the regime leaders will be faced with a significant public relations blow as they come under criticism. This serves to embolden and empower holders of dissenting opinions and to spark pro-democratic discourse. In the international community it makes an emphatic value judgement on the merit of certain systems of government, namely the superiority of democracy and government accountability to the people, principles most non-democracies still pay some form of lip-service to. Overall, this policy boosts the credibility of democracy, while undermining the influence of undemocratic states.\n\n[1] See the debatabase debate ‘This House (as the USA) would sign the Ottawa convention banning landmines’, http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international/house-usa-would-sign-ottawa-convention-banning-landmines\n\n[2] Wexler, L. “The International Deployment of Shame, Second-Best Responses, And Norm Entrepreneurship: The Campaign to Ban Landmine and the landmine Ban Treaty”. Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. 2003. http://www.ajicl.org/AJICL2003/vol203/wexlerarticle.pdf\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2969e6b98bf4dac7dee3c1f7450ebe0b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression It is hypocritical for democratic governments to utilize surveillance technology to watch their own people while denying that technology to others\n\nIt is a fatal conceit to consider democracies somehow above the influence of using their surveillance technology to curtail the freedoms of their own citizens. The biggest customers of Western surveillance technology companies are wealthy democracies. The United Kingdom, for example, has one of the most-watched populations in the world, with a saturation of CCTV cameras far in excess of any dictatorship. [1] The PATRIOT Act in America, also, has given the federal government enormous scope for domestic spying. These powers are no less simply because the government is composed in part of elected officials. The security establishment is appointed, not elected, and their servicemen are promoted from within. It is base hypocrisy to pretend that the security systems are inherently more just when employed in democratic states than in undemocratic ones. They are used for the same purpose, to ensure that the state is protected and the status quo maintained. Democracies have no moral basis on which to base this policy.\n\n[1] BBC News. “Britain is ‘Surveillance Society’”. 2 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6108496.stm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3f6eb20625d74476d58496da8f16f521",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The inability to use advanced technologies merely forces non-democracies to utilize more unsavoury methods to achieve their aims\n\nIf it is the aim of an undemocratic regime to use advanced surveillance technology to gather intelligence on, and ultimately crush, dissent it will find other means of doing so. Their calculus of survival is not changed, only their available methods. Their first port of call will be the more advanced non-democracies that might be able to supply comparable surveillance equipment. China’s military and surveillance technology is fast catching up to that of the West, and makes an appealing alternative source for equipment. [1] The only difference is that the Chinese have no compunction at all about how the technology is used, meaning worse outcomes for pro-democracy groups who run afoul of them. When this strategy fails regimes can turn to the tried and tested models of past decades, using physical force and other less technological modes of coercion to cow dissent. Again, this form of repression is quite effective, but it is also much more painful to those on the receiving end. Given the options, democracies supplying surveillance technology may be the best option for dissidents in undemocratic countries.\n\n[1] Walton, G. “China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People’s Republic of China”. International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. 2001.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "510b4d4cf9fb455d53b617b4e7466225",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Presuming democracy is the only legitimate or worthwhile form of government is both inaccurate and unproductive\n\nAs much as the more liberal citizenry of many of the world’s democracies wish to believe otherwise, democracy as a system of government is not the only game in town. In fact, the growth of the strong-state/state-capitalism approach to government has gained much traction in developing countries that witness the incredible rise of China, which will before long be the world’s largest economy, flourish under an undemocratic model. [1] Chinas ruling communist party have legitimacy as a result of its performance and its historical role reunifying the country. [2] Democracies pretending they are the only meaningful or legitimate states only serve to antagonize their non-democratic neighbours. Such antagonism is doubly damaging, considering that all states, democracies included, rely on alliances and deals with other states to guarantee their security and prosperity. This has meant that through history democracies have had to deal with non-democracies as equal partners on the international stage, and this fact is no different today. States cannot always pick and choose their allies, and democracies best serve their citizens by furthering their genuine interests on the world stage. This policy serves as a wedge between democracies and their undemocratic allies that will only weaken their relations to the detriment of both. When the matter comes to surveillance technology, Western states’ unwillingness to share an important technology they are willing to use themselves causes tension between these states. Non-democracies have just as much right to security that surveillance technology can provide as the more advanced states that develop those technologies.\n\n[1] Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. “Is State Capitalism Winning?”. Project Syndicate. 31 December 2012. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/why-china-s-growth-model-will-fail-by-daron-acemoglu-and-james-a--robinson\n\n[2] Li, Eric X, “The Life of the Party”, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2013, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138476/eric-x-li/the-life-of-the-party?page=4\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dcebf8561dec8f8993379002195010e0",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban will alienate non-democracies from discourse and stifle reform efforts\n\nWhen a state is declared illegitimate in the eyes of a large part of the international community, its natural reaction is one of upset and anger. A ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies would be seen as a brutal slap in the face to many regimes that consider themselves, and are often considered by their people, to be the legitimate government of their country. The ban will result in further tension between non-democracies and democracies, breaking down communication channels. Democracies are best able to effect change in regimes when they seek to engage them constructively, to galvanize them to make gradual connections to the development of civil society and to loosen restrictions on freedoms, such as reducing domestic spying. The ban makes it clear that the ultimate aim of democracies is to effectively overthrow the existing governments of non-democracies in favour of systems more like their own. The outcome of this conclusion is far less willingness on the part of these regimes to discuss reform, and makes it more likely that they will demonize pro-democracy activists within their borders as agents of foreign powers seeking to subvert and conquer them. This particular narrative has been used to great effect by many regimes throughout history, including North Korea and Zimbabwe, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for example denounced a travel and arms sales ban as attempting to “undermine the inclusive government”. [1] By treating non-democracies as responsible actors democracies do much more in effectively furthering their own aims.\n\n[1] BBC News, “Zimbabwean minister denounces EU”, 14 September 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8254367.stm\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
ce07151022df86043fdb1c8290a75321 | The right of Western businesses to sell their services abroad can be curtailed when their actions stand counter to the interests of their home governments
Corporations are private entities that have the right to sell their services and to deal with agents foreign and domestic, including governments. However, this right can be limited when those actions are oppositional to the aims of the home state in which they are incorporated. The sale of surveillance technology to undemocratic regimes stands against the avowed aims of democracies and against their strategic interests in bolstering democracy abroad and maintaining a reputation for fair dealing. For this reason it is perfectly legitimate for governments to ban the corporations within their borders from selling dangerous technologies to foreign governments. Such is already the case with many kinds of strategic technology, especially weapons technology. [1] The EU, for example, bans a range of arms sales to various oppressive states on these grounds, [2] China in particular is an example where it would potentially be very lucrative to overturn the ban. [3] Corporations benefit from the protection of democratic states, as they provide bases of operations that shield their right to property and ensure stability and the rule of law. If corporations wish to benefit from these provisions they must be willing to accept the instructions of the states that house them regarding what can and cannot be sold to foreign powers.
[1] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillan...
[2] Banks, M. “Senior MEP Calls for Freeze on Arms Sale to North Africa”. The Parliament.com. 7 July 2011. http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/senior-mep-calls-for-freeze-on-arms-sale-to-north-africa/
[3] See the debatabase debate ‘This House believes the European Union should lift its ban on member states selling arms to China’ http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international-affairs/european-union/house-believes-lift-arms-sales-ban-china
| [
{
"docid": "6d138e82e04b5e860f47352fa58f1291",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Corporations are bound to obey the laws of the societies in which they are based, but they are not so constrained in their foreign dealings, in which they are bound instead by foreign laws that are often much more lax. The nature of the international landscape, with its many incompatible and overlapping forms of government and regulatory frameworks, demands that corporations be flexible in order to survive. The constraints put upon the manufacturers of surveillance equipment put forward by this policy will make them less competitive in the international market, which is often the primary market for these businesses. Furthermore, if they feel constrained they may pull up stakes and move their operations abroad to a more accommodating jurisdiction. This would serve to harm domestic jobs and undermine the ability of democratic states to maintain their edge over others in essential surveillance technology development.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "a723961d8bb4da9bfc12bf3149c59cae",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression A democracy, like any state, owes its first duty to its citizens, and its national interest is therefore in selling this equipment to help business at home. While it is convenient, perhaps even morally right at times, to stand publicly for the universality of democratic principles, such stands should not be taken at the expense of national security or influence. It should certainly not be considered an obligation. Sweeping policies like this will alienate valuable allies and make it more difficult for democracies to deal with the undemocratic world. With regard to domestic freedoms, states have long held different standards of action when dealing with their own citizens than those of other states, and that has never served to erode domestic freedoms.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1087f1b4b53db48bb2437f5e1abd4939",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Is a minor ban really a good signal? The chances are the government will ignore it and those who it is meant to encourage will never hear about it. In the event that the regimes it is aimed at do take not far from weakening them, this policy serves only to alienate them. The lack of respect the policy is clearly aimed to show will galvanize the leaderships in undemocratic regimes to cut off various ties with democratic states, limiting the flow of ideas and democratic principles that natural adhere to activities like international trade. The result is non-democracies will be less willing to talk about reform in the international community because they see their very form of government as under threat by foreign agents seeking to discredit them. Ultimately, a boost in Western moral does little to promote democracy and human rights while a negative signal will result in regimes being more suspicious and obstinate.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e062a0403ea1b07d8405ea2d44812e01",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Security services have managed to watch over and infiltrate the efforts of dissidents all through history. The visibility and tactics is all that has changed. The internet was never going to just be an arena that helps dissidents in authoritarian regimes but as with other technological advances, such as the telephone both increases communication and provides methods of monitoring that communication. If non-democratic states were to lose access to Western technology, they would either procure comparable replacements from other non-democracies, or they would pursue more traditional forms of surveillance, ones that tend to be more invasive and physically threatening.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "090435bb2cfa2d7bd3814fac42249ad1",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Real politick is not the only consideration democracies should entertain when they engage in international relations. Indeed, the Western powers have sought since World War II to develop a system of international justice that recognizes the primacy of peoples’ rights irrespective of where they are born. This principle is constantly compromised as democracies jockey for influence with undemocratic regimes, bolstering those regimes and their repressive norms in the process. In order to be consistent, and to serve the true interests of justice, democracies must not aid undemocratic governments in the repression of their people.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cc217ebdf39b31af7fa3a6185f0fa628",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Oppressive regimes have turned to the use of advanced surveillance technology in response to activists’ learning to evade more conventional methods of surveillance, and by moving their organizations online. Western surveillance technology has filled a niche that was once open for dissidents. By placing this ban, even if the regimes turn back to old methods, they will still be hampered in the crushing of dissent. Furthermore, no regime has the resources or power to have physical surveillance as pervasive as the technology denied them would allow. Electronic surveillance therefore can cast a much broader net that would allow the government to repress many more people who would not be subject to more labour intensive physical surveillance.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "62da6385db9e8eb249e509733ffbb2cc",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Banning the sale of surveillance technology does not mean democracies are declaring all undemocratic regimes illegitimate. Rather, they are simply not allowing their technology to aid in the repression of people, which is the only use to which that technology is put in practice. Reform sometimes demands a firm hand, and while some regimes will be riled by what they perceive as an insult, the greater chance for dissidents to develop networks and voices is worth the cost.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d4b4d2e32b8aa3779a0672ce9fd32c22",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression While Western states are willing to use surveillance technology to restrict their citizens, they do so always with a democratic mandate. That is the key difference. Democracies use surveillance technology to provide their people with the safety and security they demand, a security over which the people always have the veto of the ballot box. The non-democracy is not checked by any such power, and thus its use of surveillance technology faces no constraint.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "44c41a8a577ea15775614d3acfefdf0c",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Democratic states have an obligation to not bolster repression abroad\n\nIt is common for Western democracies to make sweeping statements about the universality of certain rights, and that their system of government is the one that should be most sought after in the world, that democracy is the only legitimate form of government. As when Obama in Cairo proclaimed “These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere.” [1] They claim to work in the United Nations and other organizations toward the improvement of rights in other countries and clamour about the need for building governments accountability around the world, using their liberal-democratic paradigm as the model. Yet at the same time democratic governments and companies sell technologies to non-democratic allies that are used to systematically abuse the rights of citizens and to entrench the power of those avowedly illegitimate regimes. These hypocrisies read as a litany of shame. A telling example is the Blair government in the United Kingdom selling weapons to an oppressive regime in Indonesia for the sake of political expediency even after proclaiming an ‘ethical foreign policy’. [2]\n\nEven if democracies do not feel it is a defensible position to actively seek to subvert all non-democratic states, and that non-democracies should be considered semi-legitimate on the basis of nations’ right to self-determination, they should still feel morally obliged not to abet those regimes by providing the very tools of oppression on which they rely. [3] To continue dealing in these technologies serves only to make democratic countries’ statements hollow, and the rights they claim to uphold seem less absolute, a risk in itself to freedoms within democracies. Respect for rights begins at home, and actively eroding them elsewhere reduces respect for them by home governments.\n\n[1] Obama, Barack, “Remarks by the President on a new beginning”, Office of the Press Secretary, 4 June 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09\n\n[2] Burrows, G. “No-Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade”. New Internationalist. 2002, http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Weapons/Arms_Trade.html\n\n[3] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillance-gear-sales-by-american-firms.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9b10d302a8fd8413c0103e3ae405e72b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Advanced surveillance technology prevents dissidents from being able to organize and sue for freedom\n\nHigh-tech surveillance technology has given repressive governments and police states a new lease on life. Now more than ever they can intrude into every aspect of people’s lives, ensuring that dissent is cowed for fear of the ever present threat of the security services. The vision of Orwell’s 1984 has become a living nightmare for people all over the world. Their power has made it extremely difficult for movements for reform, government accountability, and democracy, which have foundered when faced with these sophisticated security apparatuses (Valentino-Devries, 2011). [1] By dominating the flow of information states have the power to keep their people in check and prevent them from ever posing a threat to their repressive status quo. Thus China blocks access to the internet and to other forms of communications in Tibet to “ensure the absolute security of Tibet’s ideological and cultural realm”. It cuts the Tibetan people off from outside world so as to prevent any rerun of the instability that occurred in 2008, which China blamed on the influence of the Dalai Lama from outside. [2]\n\nOnly external help in alleviating this censorship could allow activists to organize effectively and perhaps to one day bring about genuine reform and justice to their societies. The surveillance equipment on which these regimes rely is often only available from firms and governments in the democratic world where, by and large, technology is generally far more advanced than in the non-democratic world. Without access to these technologies, the regimes would be far more hard-pressed to keep rigid tabs on their citizens, allowing for the seeds of dissent to take root. Only then can the forces clamouring for democracy hope to be able to organise networks of activists, and to have their views considered by the state.\n\n[1] Valentino-Devries, J. “US Firm Acknowledges Syria Uses its Gear to Block Web”. Wall Street Journal. 29 October 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504577001911398596328.html\n\n[2] Human Rights Watch, “China: Attempts to Seal Off Tibet from Outside Information”, 13 July 2012, http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/13/china-attempts-seal-tibet-outside-information\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d46941aee69281e11a33b6d88fee72d4",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban would have a powerful signalling effect expressing disapproval of non-democracies' system of government\n\nA ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies serves ultimately as a statement of disapproval. It shows that the undemocratic regimes cannot be trusted with the ability to spy on their people. This signal has several effects. An example of this international shaming affecting is the international bans on the use of landmines. Various states created a framework, the Ottawa Convention, [1] in which their condemnation pressured nearly every other state, including authoritarian regimes, to follow suit. [2] Domestically it serves to bolster people’s faith in the system of rights they value highly and enshrine in law. They can point to this ban as an example of their government’s desire to make a better world and not to increase repression for the sake of power or profit. In the undemocratic states themselves, the regime leaders will be faced with a significant public relations blow as they come under criticism. This serves to embolden and empower holders of dissenting opinions and to spark pro-democratic discourse. In the international community it makes an emphatic value judgement on the merit of certain systems of government, namely the superiority of democracy and government accountability to the people, principles most non-democracies still pay some form of lip-service to. Overall, this policy boosts the credibility of democracy, while undermining the influence of undemocratic states.\n\n[1] See the debatabase debate ‘This House (as the USA) would sign the Ottawa convention banning landmines’, http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international/house-usa-would-sign-ottawa-convention-banning-landmines\n\n[2] Wexler, L. “The International Deployment of Shame, Second-Best Responses, And Norm Entrepreneurship: The Campaign to Ban Landmine and the landmine Ban Treaty”. Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. 2003. http://www.ajicl.org/AJICL2003/vol203/wexlerarticle.pdf\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2969e6b98bf4dac7dee3c1f7450ebe0b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression It is hypocritical for democratic governments to utilize surveillance technology to watch their own people while denying that technology to others\n\nIt is a fatal conceit to consider democracies somehow above the influence of using their surveillance technology to curtail the freedoms of their own citizens. The biggest customers of Western surveillance technology companies are wealthy democracies. The United Kingdom, for example, has one of the most-watched populations in the world, with a saturation of CCTV cameras far in excess of any dictatorship. [1] The PATRIOT Act in America, also, has given the federal government enormous scope for domestic spying. These powers are no less simply because the government is composed in part of elected officials. The security establishment is appointed, not elected, and their servicemen are promoted from within. It is base hypocrisy to pretend that the security systems are inherently more just when employed in democratic states than in undemocratic ones. They are used for the same purpose, to ensure that the state is protected and the status quo maintained. Democracies have no moral basis on which to base this policy.\n\n[1] BBC News. “Britain is ‘Surveillance Society’”. 2 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6108496.stm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3f6eb20625d74476d58496da8f16f521",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The inability to use advanced technologies merely forces non-democracies to utilize more unsavoury methods to achieve their aims\n\nIf it is the aim of an undemocratic regime to use advanced surveillance technology to gather intelligence on, and ultimately crush, dissent it will find other means of doing so. Their calculus of survival is not changed, only their available methods. Their first port of call will be the more advanced non-democracies that might be able to supply comparable surveillance equipment. China’s military and surveillance technology is fast catching up to that of the West, and makes an appealing alternative source for equipment. [1] The only difference is that the Chinese have no compunction at all about how the technology is used, meaning worse outcomes for pro-democracy groups who run afoul of them. When this strategy fails regimes can turn to the tried and tested models of past decades, using physical force and other less technological modes of coercion to cow dissent. Again, this form of repression is quite effective, but it is also much more painful to those on the receiving end. Given the options, democracies supplying surveillance technology may be the best option for dissidents in undemocratic countries.\n\n[1] Walton, G. “China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People’s Republic of China”. International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. 2001.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "510b4d4cf9fb455d53b617b4e7466225",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Presuming democracy is the only legitimate or worthwhile form of government is both inaccurate and unproductive\n\nAs much as the more liberal citizenry of many of the world’s democracies wish to believe otherwise, democracy as a system of government is not the only game in town. In fact, the growth of the strong-state/state-capitalism approach to government has gained much traction in developing countries that witness the incredible rise of China, which will before long be the world’s largest economy, flourish under an undemocratic model. [1] Chinas ruling communist party have legitimacy as a result of its performance and its historical role reunifying the country. [2] Democracies pretending they are the only meaningful or legitimate states only serve to antagonize their non-democratic neighbours. Such antagonism is doubly damaging, considering that all states, democracies included, rely on alliances and deals with other states to guarantee their security and prosperity. This has meant that through history democracies have had to deal with non-democracies as equal partners on the international stage, and this fact is no different today. States cannot always pick and choose their allies, and democracies best serve their citizens by furthering their genuine interests on the world stage. This policy serves as a wedge between democracies and their undemocratic allies that will only weaken their relations to the detriment of both. When the matter comes to surveillance technology, Western states’ unwillingness to share an important technology they are willing to use themselves causes tension between these states. Non-democracies have just as much right to security that surveillance technology can provide as the more advanced states that develop those technologies.\n\n[1] Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. “Is State Capitalism Winning?”. Project Syndicate. 31 December 2012. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/why-china-s-growth-model-will-fail-by-daron-acemoglu-and-james-a--robinson\n\n[2] Li, Eric X, “The Life of the Party”, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2013, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138476/eric-x-li/the-life-of-the-party?page=4\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dcebf8561dec8f8993379002195010e0",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban will alienate non-democracies from discourse and stifle reform efforts\n\nWhen a state is declared illegitimate in the eyes of a large part of the international community, its natural reaction is one of upset and anger. A ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies would be seen as a brutal slap in the face to many regimes that consider themselves, and are often considered by their people, to be the legitimate government of their country. The ban will result in further tension between non-democracies and democracies, breaking down communication channels. Democracies are best able to effect change in regimes when they seek to engage them constructively, to galvanize them to make gradual connections to the development of civil society and to loosen restrictions on freedoms, such as reducing domestic spying. The ban makes it clear that the ultimate aim of democracies is to effectively overthrow the existing governments of non-democracies in favour of systems more like their own. The outcome of this conclusion is far less willingness on the part of these regimes to discuss reform, and makes it more likely that they will demonize pro-democracy activists within their borders as agents of foreign powers seeking to subvert and conquer them. This particular narrative has been used to great effect by many regimes throughout history, including North Korea and Zimbabwe, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for example denounced a travel and arms sales ban as attempting to “undermine the inclusive government”. [1] By treating non-democracies as responsible actors democracies do much more in effectively furthering their own aims.\n\n[1] BBC News, “Zimbabwean minister denounces EU”, 14 September 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8254367.stm\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
29cb04adf13df22f891bf00731c429fc | Advanced surveillance technology prevents dissidents from being able to organize and sue for freedom
High-tech surveillance technology has given repressive governments and police states a new lease on life. Now more than ever they can intrude into every aspect of people’s lives, ensuring that dissent is cowed for fear of the ever present threat of the security services. The vision of Orwell’s 1984 has become a living nightmare for people all over the world. Their power has made it extremely difficult for movements for reform, government accountability, and democracy, which have foundered when faced with these sophisticated security apparatuses (Valentino-Devries, 2011). [1] By dominating the flow of information states have the power to keep their people in check and prevent them from ever posing a threat to their repressive status quo. Thus China blocks access to the internet and to other forms of communications in Tibet to “ensure the absolute security of Tibet’s ideological and cultural realm”. It cuts the Tibetan people off from outside world so as to prevent any rerun of the instability that occurred in 2008, which China blamed on the influence of the Dalai Lama from outside. [2]
Only external help in alleviating this censorship could allow activists to organize effectively and perhaps to one day bring about genuine reform and justice to their societies. The surveillance equipment on which these regimes rely is often only available from firms and governments in the democratic world where, by and large, technology is generally far more advanced than in the non-democratic world. Without access to these technologies, the regimes would be far more hard-pressed to keep rigid tabs on their citizens, allowing for the seeds of dissent to take root. Only then can the forces clamouring for democracy hope to be able to organise networks of activists, and to have their views considered by the state.
[1] Valentino-Devries, J. “US Firm Acknowledges Syria Uses its Gear to Block Web”. Wall Street Journal. 29 October 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504577001911398596328.html
[2] Human Rights Watch, “China: Attempts to Seal Off Tibet from Outside Information”, 13 July 2012, http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/13/china-attempts-seal-tibet-outside-information
| [
{
"docid": "e062a0403ea1b07d8405ea2d44812e01",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Security services have managed to watch over and infiltrate the efforts of dissidents all through history. The visibility and tactics is all that has changed. The internet was never going to just be an arena that helps dissidents in authoritarian regimes but as with other technological advances, such as the telephone both increases communication and provides methods of monitoring that communication. If non-democratic states were to lose access to Western technology, they would either procure comparable replacements from other non-democracies, or they would pursue more traditional forms of surveillance, ones that tend to be more invasive and physically threatening.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "a723961d8bb4da9bfc12bf3149c59cae",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression A democracy, like any state, owes its first duty to its citizens, and its national interest is therefore in selling this equipment to help business at home. While it is convenient, perhaps even morally right at times, to stand publicly for the universality of democratic principles, such stands should not be taken at the expense of national security or influence. It should certainly not be considered an obligation. Sweeping policies like this will alienate valuable allies and make it more difficult for democracies to deal with the undemocratic world. With regard to domestic freedoms, states have long held different standards of action when dealing with their own citizens than those of other states, and that has never served to erode domestic freedoms.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1087f1b4b53db48bb2437f5e1abd4939",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Is a minor ban really a good signal? The chances are the government will ignore it and those who it is meant to encourage will never hear about it. In the event that the regimes it is aimed at do take not far from weakening them, this policy serves only to alienate them. The lack of respect the policy is clearly aimed to show will galvanize the leaderships in undemocratic regimes to cut off various ties with democratic states, limiting the flow of ideas and democratic principles that natural adhere to activities like international trade. The result is non-democracies will be less willing to talk about reform in the international community because they see their very form of government as under threat by foreign agents seeking to discredit them. Ultimately, a boost in Western moral does little to promote democracy and human rights while a negative signal will result in regimes being more suspicious and obstinate.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6d138e82e04b5e860f47352fa58f1291",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Corporations are bound to obey the laws of the societies in which they are based, but they are not so constrained in their foreign dealings, in which they are bound instead by foreign laws that are often much more lax. The nature of the international landscape, with its many incompatible and overlapping forms of government and regulatory frameworks, demands that corporations be flexible in order to survive. The constraints put upon the manufacturers of surveillance equipment put forward by this policy will make them less competitive in the international market, which is often the primary market for these businesses. Furthermore, if they feel constrained they may pull up stakes and move their operations abroad to a more accommodating jurisdiction. This would serve to harm domestic jobs and undermine the ability of democratic states to maintain their edge over others in essential surveillance technology development.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "090435bb2cfa2d7bd3814fac42249ad1",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Real politick is not the only consideration democracies should entertain when they engage in international relations. Indeed, the Western powers have sought since World War II to develop a system of international justice that recognizes the primacy of peoples’ rights irrespective of where they are born. This principle is constantly compromised as democracies jockey for influence with undemocratic regimes, bolstering those regimes and their repressive norms in the process. In order to be consistent, and to serve the true interests of justice, democracies must not aid undemocratic governments in the repression of their people.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cc217ebdf39b31af7fa3a6185f0fa628",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Oppressive regimes have turned to the use of advanced surveillance technology in response to activists’ learning to evade more conventional methods of surveillance, and by moving their organizations online. Western surveillance technology has filled a niche that was once open for dissidents. By placing this ban, even if the regimes turn back to old methods, they will still be hampered in the crushing of dissent. Furthermore, no regime has the resources or power to have physical surveillance as pervasive as the technology denied them would allow. Electronic surveillance therefore can cast a much broader net that would allow the government to repress many more people who would not be subject to more labour intensive physical surveillance.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "62da6385db9e8eb249e509733ffbb2cc",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Banning the sale of surveillance technology does not mean democracies are declaring all undemocratic regimes illegitimate. Rather, they are simply not allowing their technology to aid in the repression of people, which is the only use to which that technology is put in practice. Reform sometimes demands a firm hand, and while some regimes will be riled by what they perceive as an insult, the greater chance for dissidents to develop networks and voices is worth the cost.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d4b4d2e32b8aa3779a0672ce9fd32c22",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression While Western states are willing to use surveillance technology to restrict their citizens, they do so always with a democratic mandate. That is the key difference. Democracies use surveillance technology to provide their people with the safety and security they demand, a security over which the people always have the veto of the ballot box. The non-democracy is not checked by any such power, and thus its use of surveillance technology faces no constraint.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "44c41a8a577ea15775614d3acfefdf0c",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Democratic states have an obligation to not bolster repression abroad\n\nIt is common for Western democracies to make sweeping statements about the universality of certain rights, and that their system of government is the one that should be most sought after in the world, that democracy is the only legitimate form of government. As when Obama in Cairo proclaimed “These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere.” [1] They claim to work in the United Nations and other organizations toward the improvement of rights in other countries and clamour about the need for building governments accountability around the world, using their liberal-democratic paradigm as the model. Yet at the same time democratic governments and companies sell technologies to non-democratic allies that are used to systematically abuse the rights of citizens and to entrench the power of those avowedly illegitimate regimes. These hypocrisies read as a litany of shame. A telling example is the Blair government in the United Kingdom selling weapons to an oppressive regime in Indonesia for the sake of political expediency even after proclaiming an ‘ethical foreign policy’. [2]\n\nEven if democracies do not feel it is a defensible position to actively seek to subvert all non-democratic states, and that non-democracies should be considered semi-legitimate on the basis of nations’ right to self-determination, they should still feel morally obliged not to abet those regimes by providing the very tools of oppression on which they rely. [3] To continue dealing in these technologies serves only to make democratic countries’ statements hollow, and the rights they claim to uphold seem less absolute, a risk in itself to freedoms within democracies. Respect for rights begins at home, and actively eroding them elsewhere reduces respect for them by home governments.\n\n[1] Obama, Barack, “Remarks by the President on a new beginning”, Office of the Press Secretary, 4 June 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09\n\n[2] Burrows, G. “No-Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade”. New Internationalist. 2002, http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Weapons/Arms_Trade.html\n\n[3] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillance-gear-sales-by-american-firms.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bb03bea5afcf959744f445d63fd22c9e",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The right of Western businesses to sell their services abroad can be curtailed when their actions stand counter to the interests of their home governments\n\nCorporations are private entities that have the right to sell their services and to deal with agents foreign and domestic, including governments. However, this right can be limited when those actions are oppositional to the aims of the home state in which they are incorporated. The sale of surveillance technology to undemocratic regimes stands against the avowed aims of democracies and against their strategic interests in bolstering democracy abroad and maintaining a reputation for fair dealing. For this reason it is perfectly legitimate for governments to ban the corporations within their borders from selling dangerous technologies to foreign governments. Such is already the case with many kinds of strategic technology, especially weapons technology. [1] The EU, for example, bans a range of arms sales to various oppressive states on these grounds, [2] China in particular is an example where it would potentially be very lucrative to overturn the ban. [3] Corporations benefit from the protection of democratic states, as they provide bases of operations that shield their right to property and ensure stability and the rule of law. If corporations wish to benefit from these provisions they must be willing to accept the instructions of the states that house them regarding what can and cannot be sold to foreign powers.\n\n[1] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillan...\n\n[2] Banks, M. “Senior MEP Calls for Freeze on Arms Sale to North Africa”. The Parliament.com. 7 July 2011. http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/senior-mep-calls-for-freeze-on-arms-sale-to-north-africa/\n\n[3] See the debatabase debate ‘This House believes the European Union should lift its ban on member states selling arms to China’ http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international-affairs/european-union/house-believes-lift-arms-sales-ban-china\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d46941aee69281e11a33b6d88fee72d4",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban would have a powerful signalling effect expressing disapproval of non-democracies' system of government\n\nA ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies serves ultimately as a statement of disapproval. It shows that the undemocratic regimes cannot be trusted with the ability to spy on their people. This signal has several effects. An example of this international shaming affecting is the international bans on the use of landmines. Various states created a framework, the Ottawa Convention, [1] in which their condemnation pressured nearly every other state, including authoritarian regimes, to follow suit. [2] Domestically it serves to bolster people’s faith in the system of rights they value highly and enshrine in law. They can point to this ban as an example of their government’s desire to make a better world and not to increase repression for the sake of power or profit. In the undemocratic states themselves, the regime leaders will be faced with a significant public relations blow as they come under criticism. This serves to embolden and empower holders of dissenting opinions and to spark pro-democratic discourse. In the international community it makes an emphatic value judgement on the merit of certain systems of government, namely the superiority of democracy and government accountability to the people, principles most non-democracies still pay some form of lip-service to. Overall, this policy boosts the credibility of democracy, while undermining the influence of undemocratic states.\n\n[1] See the debatabase debate ‘This House (as the USA) would sign the Ottawa convention banning landmines’, http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international/house-usa-would-sign-ottawa-convention-banning-landmines\n\n[2] Wexler, L. “The International Deployment of Shame, Second-Best Responses, And Norm Entrepreneurship: The Campaign to Ban Landmine and the landmine Ban Treaty”. Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. 2003. http://www.ajicl.org/AJICL2003/vol203/wexlerarticle.pdf\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2969e6b98bf4dac7dee3c1f7450ebe0b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression It is hypocritical for democratic governments to utilize surveillance technology to watch their own people while denying that technology to others\n\nIt is a fatal conceit to consider democracies somehow above the influence of using their surveillance technology to curtail the freedoms of their own citizens. The biggest customers of Western surveillance technology companies are wealthy democracies. The United Kingdom, for example, has one of the most-watched populations in the world, with a saturation of CCTV cameras far in excess of any dictatorship. [1] The PATRIOT Act in America, also, has given the federal government enormous scope for domestic spying. These powers are no less simply because the government is composed in part of elected officials. The security establishment is appointed, not elected, and their servicemen are promoted from within. It is base hypocrisy to pretend that the security systems are inherently more just when employed in democratic states than in undemocratic ones. They are used for the same purpose, to ensure that the state is protected and the status quo maintained. Democracies have no moral basis on which to base this policy.\n\n[1] BBC News. “Britain is ‘Surveillance Society’”. 2 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6108496.stm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3f6eb20625d74476d58496da8f16f521",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The inability to use advanced technologies merely forces non-democracies to utilize more unsavoury methods to achieve their aims\n\nIf it is the aim of an undemocratic regime to use advanced surveillance technology to gather intelligence on, and ultimately crush, dissent it will find other means of doing so. Their calculus of survival is not changed, only their available methods. Their first port of call will be the more advanced non-democracies that might be able to supply comparable surveillance equipment. China’s military and surveillance technology is fast catching up to that of the West, and makes an appealing alternative source for equipment. [1] The only difference is that the Chinese have no compunction at all about how the technology is used, meaning worse outcomes for pro-democracy groups who run afoul of them. When this strategy fails regimes can turn to the tried and tested models of past decades, using physical force and other less technological modes of coercion to cow dissent. Again, this form of repression is quite effective, but it is also much more painful to those on the receiving end. Given the options, democracies supplying surveillance technology may be the best option for dissidents in undemocratic countries.\n\n[1] Walton, G. “China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People’s Republic of China”. International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. 2001.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "510b4d4cf9fb455d53b617b4e7466225",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Presuming democracy is the only legitimate or worthwhile form of government is both inaccurate and unproductive\n\nAs much as the more liberal citizenry of many of the world’s democracies wish to believe otherwise, democracy as a system of government is not the only game in town. In fact, the growth of the strong-state/state-capitalism approach to government has gained much traction in developing countries that witness the incredible rise of China, which will before long be the world’s largest economy, flourish under an undemocratic model. [1] Chinas ruling communist party have legitimacy as a result of its performance and its historical role reunifying the country. [2] Democracies pretending they are the only meaningful or legitimate states only serve to antagonize their non-democratic neighbours. Such antagonism is doubly damaging, considering that all states, democracies included, rely on alliances and deals with other states to guarantee their security and prosperity. This has meant that through history democracies have had to deal with non-democracies as equal partners on the international stage, and this fact is no different today. States cannot always pick and choose their allies, and democracies best serve their citizens by furthering their genuine interests on the world stage. This policy serves as a wedge between democracies and their undemocratic allies that will only weaken their relations to the detriment of both. When the matter comes to surveillance technology, Western states’ unwillingness to share an important technology they are willing to use themselves causes tension between these states. Non-democracies have just as much right to security that surveillance technology can provide as the more advanced states that develop those technologies.\n\n[1] Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. “Is State Capitalism Winning?”. Project Syndicate. 31 December 2012. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/why-china-s-growth-model-will-fail-by-daron-acemoglu-and-james-a--robinson\n\n[2] Li, Eric X, “The Life of the Party”, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2013, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138476/eric-x-li/the-life-of-the-party?page=4\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dcebf8561dec8f8993379002195010e0",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban will alienate non-democracies from discourse and stifle reform efforts\n\nWhen a state is declared illegitimate in the eyes of a large part of the international community, its natural reaction is one of upset and anger. A ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies would be seen as a brutal slap in the face to many regimes that consider themselves, and are often considered by their people, to be the legitimate government of their country. The ban will result in further tension between non-democracies and democracies, breaking down communication channels. Democracies are best able to effect change in regimes when they seek to engage them constructively, to galvanize them to make gradual connections to the development of civil society and to loosen restrictions on freedoms, such as reducing domestic spying. The ban makes it clear that the ultimate aim of democracies is to effectively overthrow the existing governments of non-democracies in favour of systems more like their own. The outcome of this conclusion is far less willingness on the part of these regimes to discuss reform, and makes it more likely that they will demonize pro-democracy activists within their borders as agents of foreign powers seeking to subvert and conquer them. This particular narrative has been used to great effect by many regimes throughout history, including North Korea and Zimbabwe, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for example denounced a travel and arms sales ban as attempting to “undermine the inclusive government”. [1] By treating non-democracies as responsible actors democracies do much more in effectively furthering their own aims.\n\n[1] BBC News, “Zimbabwean minister denounces EU”, 14 September 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8254367.stm\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
03512783e2549e38fa52cbf5c53842df | This ban would have a powerful signalling effect expressing disapproval of non-democracies' system of government
A ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies serves ultimately as a statement of disapproval. It shows that the undemocratic regimes cannot be trusted with the ability to spy on their people. This signal has several effects. An example of this international shaming affecting is the international bans on the use of landmines. Various states created a framework, the Ottawa Convention, [1] in which their condemnation pressured nearly every other state, including authoritarian regimes, to follow suit. [2] Domestically it serves to bolster people’s faith in the system of rights they value highly and enshrine in law. They can point to this ban as an example of their government’s desire to make a better world and not to increase repression for the sake of power or profit. In the undemocratic states themselves, the regime leaders will be faced with a significant public relations blow as they come under criticism. This serves to embolden and empower holders of dissenting opinions and to spark pro-democratic discourse. In the international community it makes an emphatic value judgement on the merit of certain systems of government, namely the superiority of democracy and government accountability to the people, principles most non-democracies still pay some form of lip-service to. Overall, this policy boosts the credibility of democracy, while undermining the influence of undemocratic states.
[1] See the debatabase debate ‘This House (as the USA) would sign the Ottawa convention banning landmines’, http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international/house-usa-would-sign-ottawa-convention-banning-landmines
[2] Wexler, L. “The International Deployment of Shame, Second-Best Responses, And Norm Entrepreneurship: The Campaign to Ban Landmine and the landmine Ban Treaty”. Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. 2003. http://www.ajicl.org/AJICL2003/vol203/wexlerarticle.pdf
| [
{
"docid": "1087f1b4b53db48bb2437f5e1abd4939",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Is a minor ban really a good signal? The chances are the government will ignore it and those who it is meant to encourage will never hear about it. In the event that the regimes it is aimed at do take not far from weakening them, this policy serves only to alienate them. The lack of respect the policy is clearly aimed to show will galvanize the leaderships in undemocratic regimes to cut off various ties with democratic states, limiting the flow of ideas and democratic principles that natural adhere to activities like international trade. The result is non-democracies will be less willing to talk about reform in the international community because they see their very form of government as under threat by foreign agents seeking to discredit them. Ultimately, a boost in Western moral does little to promote democracy and human rights while a negative signal will result in regimes being more suspicious and obstinate.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "a723961d8bb4da9bfc12bf3149c59cae",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression A democracy, like any state, owes its first duty to its citizens, and its national interest is therefore in selling this equipment to help business at home. While it is convenient, perhaps even morally right at times, to stand publicly for the universality of democratic principles, such stands should not be taken at the expense of national security or influence. It should certainly not be considered an obligation. Sweeping policies like this will alienate valuable allies and make it more difficult for democracies to deal with the undemocratic world. With regard to domestic freedoms, states have long held different standards of action when dealing with their own citizens than those of other states, and that has never served to erode domestic freedoms.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6d138e82e04b5e860f47352fa58f1291",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Corporations are bound to obey the laws of the societies in which they are based, but they are not so constrained in their foreign dealings, in which they are bound instead by foreign laws that are often much more lax. The nature of the international landscape, with its many incompatible and overlapping forms of government and regulatory frameworks, demands that corporations be flexible in order to survive. The constraints put upon the manufacturers of surveillance equipment put forward by this policy will make them less competitive in the international market, which is often the primary market for these businesses. Furthermore, if they feel constrained they may pull up stakes and move their operations abroad to a more accommodating jurisdiction. This would serve to harm domestic jobs and undermine the ability of democratic states to maintain their edge over others in essential surveillance technology development.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e062a0403ea1b07d8405ea2d44812e01",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Security services have managed to watch over and infiltrate the efforts of dissidents all through history. The visibility and tactics is all that has changed. The internet was never going to just be an arena that helps dissidents in authoritarian regimes but as with other technological advances, such as the telephone both increases communication and provides methods of monitoring that communication. If non-democratic states were to lose access to Western technology, they would either procure comparable replacements from other non-democracies, or they would pursue more traditional forms of surveillance, ones that tend to be more invasive and physically threatening.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "090435bb2cfa2d7bd3814fac42249ad1",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Real politick is not the only consideration democracies should entertain when they engage in international relations. Indeed, the Western powers have sought since World War II to develop a system of international justice that recognizes the primacy of peoples’ rights irrespective of where they are born. This principle is constantly compromised as democracies jockey for influence with undemocratic regimes, bolstering those regimes and their repressive norms in the process. In order to be consistent, and to serve the true interests of justice, democracies must not aid undemocratic governments in the repression of their people.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cc217ebdf39b31af7fa3a6185f0fa628",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Oppressive regimes have turned to the use of advanced surveillance technology in response to activists’ learning to evade more conventional methods of surveillance, and by moving their organizations online. Western surveillance technology has filled a niche that was once open for dissidents. By placing this ban, even if the regimes turn back to old methods, they will still be hampered in the crushing of dissent. Furthermore, no regime has the resources or power to have physical surveillance as pervasive as the technology denied them would allow. Electronic surveillance therefore can cast a much broader net that would allow the government to repress many more people who would not be subject to more labour intensive physical surveillance.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "62da6385db9e8eb249e509733ffbb2cc",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Banning the sale of surveillance technology does not mean democracies are declaring all undemocratic regimes illegitimate. Rather, they are simply not allowing their technology to aid in the repression of people, which is the only use to which that technology is put in practice. Reform sometimes demands a firm hand, and while some regimes will be riled by what they perceive as an insult, the greater chance for dissidents to develop networks and voices is worth the cost.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d4b4d2e32b8aa3779a0672ce9fd32c22",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression While Western states are willing to use surveillance technology to restrict their citizens, they do so always with a democratic mandate. That is the key difference. Democracies use surveillance technology to provide their people with the safety and security they demand, a security over which the people always have the veto of the ballot box. The non-democracy is not checked by any such power, and thus its use of surveillance technology faces no constraint.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "44c41a8a577ea15775614d3acfefdf0c",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Democratic states have an obligation to not bolster repression abroad\n\nIt is common for Western democracies to make sweeping statements about the universality of certain rights, and that their system of government is the one that should be most sought after in the world, that democracy is the only legitimate form of government. As when Obama in Cairo proclaimed “These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere.” [1] They claim to work in the United Nations and other organizations toward the improvement of rights in other countries and clamour about the need for building governments accountability around the world, using their liberal-democratic paradigm as the model. Yet at the same time democratic governments and companies sell technologies to non-democratic allies that are used to systematically abuse the rights of citizens and to entrench the power of those avowedly illegitimate regimes. These hypocrisies read as a litany of shame. A telling example is the Blair government in the United Kingdom selling weapons to an oppressive regime in Indonesia for the sake of political expediency even after proclaiming an ‘ethical foreign policy’. [2]\n\nEven if democracies do not feel it is a defensible position to actively seek to subvert all non-democratic states, and that non-democracies should be considered semi-legitimate on the basis of nations’ right to self-determination, they should still feel morally obliged not to abet those regimes by providing the very tools of oppression on which they rely. [3] To continue dealing in these technologies serves only to make democratic countries’ statements hollow, and the rights they claim to uphold seem less absolute, a risk in itself to freedoms within democracies. Respect for rights begins at home, and actively eroding them elsewhere reduces respect for them by home governments.\n\n[1] Obama, Barack, “Remarks by the President on a new beginning”, Office of the Press Secretary, 4 June 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09\n\n[2] Burrows, G. “No-Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade”. New Internationalist. 2002, http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Weapons/Arms_Trade.html\n\n[3] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillance-gear-sales-by-american-firms.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bb03bea5afcf959744f445d63fd22c9e",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The right of Western businesses to sell their services abroad can be curtailed when their actions stand counter to the interests of their home governments\n\nCorporations are private entities that have the right to sell their services and to deal with agents foreign and domestic, including governments. However, this right can be limited when those actions are oppositional to the aims of the home state in which they are incorporated. The sale of surveillance technology to undemocratic regimes stands against the avowed aims of democracies and against their strategic interests in bolstering democracy abroad and maintaining a reputation for fair dealing. For this reason it is perfectly legitimate for governments to ban the corporations within their borders from selling dangerous technologies to foreign governments. Such is already the case with many kinds of strategic technology, especially weapons technology. [1] The EU, for example, bans a range of arms sales to various oppressive states on these grounds, [2] China in particular is an example where it would potentially be very lucrative to overturn the ban. [3] Corporations benefit from the protection of democratic states, as they provide bases of operations that shield their right to property and ensure stability and the rule of law. If corporations wish to benefit from these provisions they must be willing to accept the instructions of the states that house them regarding what can and cannot be sold to foreign powers.\n\n[1] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillan...\n\n[2] Banks, M. “Senior MEP Calls for Freeze on Arms Sale to North Africa”. The Parliament.com. 7 July 2011. http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/senior-mep-calls-for-freeze-on-arms-sale-to-north-africa/\n\n[3] See the debatabase debate ‘This House believes the European Union should lift its ban on member states selling arms to China’ http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international-affairs/european-union/house-believes-lift-arms-sales-ban-china\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9b10d302a8fd8413c0103e3ae405e72b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Advanced surveillance technology prevents dissidents from being able to organize and sue for freedom\n\nHigh-tech surveillance technology has given repressive governments and police states a new lease on life. Now more than ever they can intrude into every aspect of people’s lives, ensuring that dissent is cowed for fear of the ever present threat of the security services. The vision of Orwell’s 1984 has become a living nightmare for people all over the world. Their power has made it extremely difficult for movements for reform, government accountability, and democracy, which have foundered when faced with these sophisticated security apparatuses (Valentino-Devries, 2011). [1] By dominating the flow of information states have the power to keep their people in check and prevent them from ever posing a threat to their repressive status quo. Thus China blocks access to the internet and to other forms of communications in Tibet to “ensure the absolute security of Tibet’s ideological and cultural realm”. It cuts the Tibetan people off from outside world so as to prevent any rerun of the instability that occurred in 2008, which China blamed on the influence of the Dalai Lama from outside. [2]\n\nOnly external help in alleviating this censorship could allow activists to organize effectively and perhaps to one day bring about genuine reform and justice to their societies. The surveillance equipment on which these regimes rely is often only available from firms and governments in the democratic world where, by and large, technology is generally far more advanced than in the non-democratic world. Without access to these technologies, the regimes would be far more hard-pressed to keep rigid tabs on their citizens, allowing for the seeds of dissent to take root. Only then can the forces clamouring for democracy hope to be able to organise networks of activists, and to have their views considered by the state.\n\n[1] Valentino-Devries, J. “US Firm Acknowledges Syria Uses its Gear to Block Web”. Wall Street Journal. 29 October 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504577001911398596328.html\n\n[2] Human Rights Watch, “China: Attempts to Seal Off Tibet from Outside Information”, 13 July 2012, http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/13/china-attempts-seal-tibet-outside-information\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2969e6b98bf4dac7dee3c1f7450ebe0b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression It is hypocritical for democratic governments to utilize surveillance technology to watch their own people while denying that technology to others\n\nIt is a fatal conceit to consider democracies somehow above the influence of using their surveillance technology to curtail the freedoms of their own citizens. The biggest customers of Western surveillance technology companies are wealthy democracies. The United Kingdom, for example, has one of the most-watched populations in the world, with a saturation of CCTV cameras far in excess of any dictatorship. [1] The PATRIOT Act in America, also, has given the federal government enormous scope for domestic spying. These powers are no less simply because the government is composed in part of elected officials. The security establishment is appointed, not elected, and their servicemen are promoted from within. It is base hypocrisy to pretend that the security systems are inherently more just when employed in democratic states than in undemocratic ones. They are used for the same purpose, to ensure that the state is protected and the status quo maintained. Democracies have no moral basis on which to base this policy.\n\n[1] BBC News. “Britain is ‘Surveillance Society’”. 2 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6108496.stm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3f6eb20625d74476d58496da8f16f521",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The inability to use advanced technologies merely forces non-democracies to utilize more unsavoury methods to achieve their aims\n\nIf it is the aim of an undemocratic regime to use advanced surveillance technology to gather intelligence on, and ultimately crush, dissent it will find other means of doing so. Their calculus of survival is not changed, only their available methods. Their first port of call will be the more advanced non-democracies that might be able to supply comparable surveillance equipment. China’s military and surveillance technology is fast catching up to that of the West, and makes an appealing alternative source for equipment. [1] The only difference is that the Chinese have no compunction at all about how the technology is used, meaning worse outcomes for pro-democracy groups who run afoul of them. When this strategy fails regimes can turn to the tried and tested models of past decades, using physical force and other less technological modes of coercion to cow dissent. Again, this form of repression is quite effective, but it is also much more painful to those on the receiving end. Given the options, democracies supplying surveillance technology may be the best option for dissidents in undemocratic countries.\n\n[1] Walton, G. “China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People’s Republic of China”. International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. 2001.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "510b4d4cf9fb455d53b617b4e7466225",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Presuming democracy is the only legitimate or worthwhile form of government is both inaccurate and unproductive\n\nAs much as the more liberal citizenry of many of the world’s democracies wish to believe otherwise, democracy as a system of government is not the only game in town. In fact, the growth of the strong-state/state-capitalism approach to government has gained much traction in developing countries that witness the incredible rise of China, which will before long be the world’s largest economy, flourish under an undemocratic model. [1] Chinas ruling communist party have legitimacy as a result of its performance and its historical role reunifying the country. [2] Democracies pretending they are the only meaningful or legitimate states only serve to antagonize their non-democratic neighbours. Such antagonism is doubly damaging, considering that all states, democracies included, rely on alliances and deals with other states to guarantee their security and prosperity. This has meant that through history democracies have had to deal with non-democracies as equal partners on the international stage, and this fact is no different today. States cannot always pick and choose their allies, and democracies best serve their citizens by furthering their genuine interests on the world stage. This policy serves as a wedge between democracies and their undemocratic allies that will only weaken their relations to the detriment of both. When the matter comes to surveillance technology, Western states’ unwillingness to share an important technology they are willing to use themselves causes tension between these states. Non-democracies have just as much right to security that surveillance technology can provide as the more advanced states that develop those technologies.\n\n[1] Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. “Is State Capitalism Winning?”. Project Syndicate. 31 December 2012. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/why-china-s-growth-model-will-fail-by-daron-acemoglu-and-james-a--robinson\n\n[2] Li, Eric X, “The Life of the Party”, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2013, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138476/eric-x-li/the-life-of-the-party?page=4\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dcebf8561dec8f8993379002195010e0",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban will alienate non-democracies from discourse and stifle reform efforts\n\nWhen a state is declared illegitimate in the eyes of a large part of the international community, its natural reaction is one of upset and anger. A ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies would be seen as a brutal slap in the face to many regimes that consider themselves, and are often considered by their people, to be the legitimate government of their country. The ban will result in further tension between non-democracies and democracies, breaking down communication channels. Democracies are best able to effect change in regimes when they seek to engage them constructively, to galvanize them to make gradual connections to the development of civil society and to loosen restrictions on freedoms, such as reducing domestic spying. The ban makes it clear that the ultimate aim of democracies is to effectively overthrow the existing governments of non-democracies in favour of systems more like their own. The outcome of this conclusion is far less willingness on the part of these regimes to discuss reform, and makes it more likely that they will demonize pro-democracy activists within their borders as agents of foreign powers seeking to subvert and conquer them. This particular narrative has been used to great effect by many regimes throughout history, including North Korea and Zimbabwe, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for example denounced a travel and arms sales ban as attempting to “undermine the inclusive government”. [1] By treating non-democracies as responsible actors democracies do much more in effectively furthering their own aims.\n\n[1] BBC News, “Zimbabwean minister denounces EU”, 14 September 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8254367.stm\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
f40a917aac729919ec596f5284d26523 | It is hypocritical for democratic governments to utilize surveillance technology to watch their own people while denying that technology to others
It is a fatal conceit to consider democracies somehow above the influence of using their surveillance technology to curtail the freedoms of their own citizens. The biggest customers of Western surveillance technology companies are wealthy democracies. The United Kingdom, for example, has one of the most-watched populations in the world, with a saturation of CCTV cameras far in excess of any dictatorship. [1] The PATRIOT Act in America, also, has given the federal government enormous scope for domestic spying. These powers are no less simply because the government is composed in part of elected officials. The security establishment is appointed, not elected, and their servicemen are promoted from within. It is base hypocrisy to pretend that the security systems are inherently more just when employed in democratic states than in undemocratic ones. They are used for the same purpose, to ensure that the state is protected and the status quo maintained. Democracies have no moral basis on which to base this policy.
[1] BBC News. “Britain is ‘Surveillance Society’”. 2 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6108496.stm
| [
{
"docid": "d4b4d2e32b8aa3779a0672ce9fd32c22",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression While Western states are willing to use surveillance technology to restrict their citizens, they do so always with a democratic mandate. That is the key difference. Democracies use surveillance technology to provide their people with the safety and security they demand, a security over which the people always have the veto of the ballot box. The non-democracy is not checked by any such power, and thus its use of surveillance technology faces no constraint.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "090435bb2cfa2d7bd3814fac42249ad1",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Real politick is not the only consideration democracies should entertain when they engage in international relations. Indeed, the Western powers have sought since World War II to develop a system of international justice that recognizes the primacy of peoples’ rights irrespective of where they are born. This principle is constantly compromised as democracies jockey for influence with undemocratic regimes, bolstering those regimes and their repressive norms in the process. In order to be consistent, and to serve the true interests of justice, democracies must not aid undemocratic governments in the repression of their people.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cc217ebdf39b31af7fa3a6185f0fa628",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Oppressive regimes have turned to the use of advanced surveillance technology in response to activists’ learning to evade more conventional methods of surveillance, and by moving their organizations online. Western surveillance technology has filled a niche that was once open for dissidents. By placing this ban, even if the regimes turn back to old methods, they will still be hampered in the crushing of dissent. Furthermore, no regime has the resources or power to have physical surveillance as pervasive as the technology denied them would allow. Electronic surveillance therefore can cast a much broader net that would allow the government to repress many more people who would not be subject to more labour intensive physical surveillance.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "62da6385db9e8eb249e509733ffbb2cc",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Banning the sale of surveillance technology does not mean democracies are declaring all undemocratic regimes illegitimate. Rather, they are simply not allowing their technology to aid in the repression of people, which is the only use to which that technology is put in practice. Reform sometimes demands a firm hand, and while some regimes will be riled by what they perceive as an insult, the greater chance for dissidents to develop networks and voices is worth the cost.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a723961d8bb4da9bfc12bf3149c59cae",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression A democracy, like any state, owes its first duty to its citizens, and its national interest is therefore in selling this equipment to help business at home. While it is convenient, perhaps even morally right at times, to stand publicly for the universality of democratic principles, such stands should not be taken at the expense of national security or influence. It should certainly not be considered an obligation. Sweeping policies like this will alienate valuable allies and make it more difficult for democracies to deal with the undemocratic world. With regard to domestic freedoms, states have long held different standards of action when dealing with their own citizens than those of other states, and that has never served to erode domestic freedoms.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1087f1b4b53db48bb2437f5e1abd4939",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Is a minor ban really a good signal? The chances are the government will ignore it and those who it is meant to encourage will never hear about it. In the event that the regimes it is aimed at do take not far from weakening them, this policy serves only to alienate them. The lack of respect the policy is clearly aimed to show will galvanize the leaderships in undemocratic regimes to cut off various ties with democratic states, limiting the flow of ideas and democratic principles that natural adhere to activities like international trade. The result is non-democracies will be less willing to talk about reform in the international community because they see their very form of government as under threat by foreign agents seeking to discredit them. Ultimately, a boost in Western moral does little to promote democracy and human rights while a negative signal will result in regimes being more suspicious and obstinate.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6d138e82e04b5e860f47352fa58f1291",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Corporations are bound to obey the laws of the societies in which they are based, but they are not so constrained in their foreign dealings, in which they are bound instead by foreign laws that are often much more lax. The nature of the international landscape, with its many incompatible and overlapping forms of government and regulatory frameworks, demands that corporations be flexible in order to survive. The constraints put upon the manufacturers of surveillance equipment put forward by this policy will make them less competitive in the international market, which is often the primary market for these businesses. Furthermore, if they feel constrained they may pull up stakes and move their operations abroad to a more accommodating jurisdiction. This would serve to harm domestic jobs and undermine the ability of democratic states to maintain their edge over others in essential surveillance technology development.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e062a0403ea1b07d8405ea2d44812e01",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Security services have managed to watch over and infiltrate the efforts of dissidents all through history. The visibility and tactics is all that has changed. The internet was never going to just be an arena that helps dissidents in authoritarian regimes but as with other technological advances, such as the telephone both increases communication and provides methods of monitoring that communication. If non-democratic states were to lose access to Western technology, they would either procure comparable replacements from other non-democracies, or they would pursue more traditional forms of surveillance, ones that tend to be more invasive and physically threatening.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3f6eb20625d74476d58496da8f16f521",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The inability to use advanced technologies merely forces non-democracies to utilize more unsavoury methods to achieve their aims\n\nIf it is the aim of an undemocratic regime to use advanced surveillance technology to gather intelligence on, and ultimately crush, dissent it will find other means of doing so. Their calculus of survival is not changed, only their available methods. Their first port of call will be the more advanced non-democracies that might be able to supply comparable surveillance equipment. China’s military and surveillance technology is fast catching up to that of the West, and makes an appealing alternative source for equipment. [1] The only difference is that the Chinese have no compunction at all about how the technology is used, meaning worse outcomes for pro-democracy groups who run afoul of them. When this strategy fails regimes can turn to the tried and tested models of past decades, using physical force and other less technological modes of coercion to cow dissent. Again, this form of repression is quite effective, but it is also much more painful to those on the receiving end. Given the options, democracies supplying surveillance technology may be the best option for dissidents in undemocratic countries.\n\n[1] Walton, G. “China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People’s Republic of China”. International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. 2001.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "510b4d4cf9fb455d53b617b4e7466225",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Presuming democracy is the only legitimate or worthwhile form of government is both inaccurate and unproductive\n\nAs much as the more liberal citizenry of many of the world’s democracies wish to believe otherwise, democracy as a system of government is not the only game in town. In fact, the growth of the strong-state/state-capitalism approach to government has gained much traction in developing countries that witness the incredible rise of China, which will before long be the world’s largest economy, flourish under an undemocratic model. [1] Chinas ruling communist party have legitimacy as a result of its performance and its historical role reunifying the country. [2] Democracies pretending they are the only meaningful or legitimate states only serve to antagonize their non-democratic neighbours. Such antagonism is doubly damaging, considering that all states, democracies included, rely on alliances and deals with other states to guarantee their security and prosperity. This has meant that through history democracies have had to deal with non-democracies as equal partners on the international stage, and this fact is no different today. States cannot always pick and choose their allies, and democracies best serve their citizens by furthering their genuine interests on the world stage. This policy serves as a wedge between democracies and their undemocratic allies that will only weaken their relations to the detriment of both. When the matter comes to surveillance technology, Western states’ unwillingness to share an important technology they are willing to use themselves causes tension between these states. Non-democracies have just as much right to security that surveillance technology can provide as the more advanced states that develop those technologies.\n\n[1] Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. “Is State Capitalism Winning?”. Project Syndicate. 31 December 2012. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/why-china-s-growth-model-will-fail-by-daron-acemoglu-and-james-a--robinson\n\n[2] Li, Eric X, “The Life of the Party”, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2013, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138476/eric-x-li/the-life-of-the-party?page=4\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dcebf8561dec8f8993379002195010e0",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban will alienate non-democracies from discourse and stifle reform efforts\n\nWhen a state is declared illegitimate in the eyes of a large part of the international community, its natural reaction is one of upset and anger. A ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies would be seen as a brutal slap in the face to many regimes that consider themselves, and are often considered by their people, to be the legitimate government of their country. The ban will result in further tension between non-democracies and democracies, breaking down communication channels. Democracies are best able to effect change in regimes when they seek to engage them constructively, to galvanize them to make gradual connections to the development of civil society and to loosen restrictions on freedoms, such as reducing domestic spying. The ban makes it clear that the ultimate aim of democracies is to effectively overthrow the existing governments of non-democracies in favour of systems more like their own. The outcome of this conclusion is far less willingness on the part of these regimes to discuss reform, and makes it more likely that they will demonize pro-democracy activists within their borders as agents of foreign powers seeking to subvert and conquer them. This particular narrative has been used to great effect by many regimes throughout history, including North Korea and Zimbabwe, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for example denounced a travel and arms sales ban as attempting to “undermine the inclusive government”. [1] By treating non-democracies as responsible actors democracies do much more in effectively furthering their own aims.\n\n[1] BBC News, “Zimbabwean minister denounces EU”, 14 September 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8254367.stm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "44c41a8a577ea15775614d3acfefdf0c",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Democratic states have an obligation to not bolster repression abroad\n\nIt is common for Western democracies to make sweeping statements about the universality of certain rights, and that their system of government is the one that should be most sought after in the world, that democracy is the only legitimate form of government. As when Obama in Cairo proclaimed “These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere.” [1] They claim to work in the United Nations and other organizations toward the improvement of rights in other countries and clamour about the need for building governments accountability around the world, using their liberal-democratic paradigm as the model. Yet at the same time democratic governments and companies sell technologies to non-democratic allies that are used to systematically abuse the rights of citizens and to entrench the power of those avowedly illegitimate regimes. These hypocrisies read as a litany of shame. A telling example is the Blair government in the United Kingdom selling weapons to an oppressive regime in Indonesia for the sake of political expediency even after proclaiming an ‘ethical foreign policy’. [2]\n\nEven if democracies do not feel it is a defensible position to actively seek to subvert all non-democratic states, and that non-democracies should be considered semi-legitimate on the basis of nations’ right to self-determination, they should still feel morally obliged not to abet those regimes by providing the very tools of oppression on which they rely. [3] To continue dealing in these technologies serves only to make democratic countries’ statements hollow, and the rights they claim to uphold seem less absolute, a risk in itself to freedoms within democracies. Respect for rights begins at home, and actively eroding them elsewhere reduces respect for them by home governments.\n\n[1] Obama, Barack, “Remarks by the President on a new beginning”, Office of the Press Secretary, 4 June 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09\n\n[2] Burrows, G. “No-Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade”. New Internationalist. 2002, http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Weapons/Arms_Trade.html\n\n[3] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillance-gear-sales-by-american-firms.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bb03bea5afcf959744f445d63fd22c9e",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The right of Western businesses to sell their services abroad can be curtailed when their actions stand counter to the interests of their home governments\n\nCorporations are private entities that have the right to sell their services and to deal with agents foreign and domestic, including governments. However, this right can be limited when those actions are oppositional to the aims of the home state in which they are incorporated. The sale of surveillance technology to undemocratic regimes stands against the avowed aims of democracies and against their strategic interests in bolstering democracy abroad and maintaining a reputation for fair dealing. For this reason it is perfectly legitimate for governments to ban the corporations within their borders from selling dangerous technologies to foreign governments. Such is already the case with many kinds of strategic technology, especially weapons technology. [1] The EU, for example, bans a range of arms sales to various oppressive states on these grounds, [2] China in particular is an example where it would potentially be very lucrative to overturn the ban. [3] Corporations benefit from the protection of democratic states, as they provide bases of operations that shield their right to property and ensure stability and the rule of law. If corporations wish to benefit from these provisions they must be willing to accept the instructions of the states that house them regarding what can and cannot be sold to foreign powers.\n\n[1] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillan...\n\n[2] Banks, M. “Senior MEP Calls for Freeze on Arms Sale to North Africa”. The Parliament.com. 7 July 2011. http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/senior-mep-calls-for-freeze-on-arms-sale-to-north-africa/\n\n[3] See the debatabase debate ‘This House believes the European Union should lift its ban on member states selling arms to China’ http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international-affairs/european-union/house-believes-lift-arms-sales-ban-china\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9b10d302a8fd8413c0103e3ae405e72b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Advanced surveillance technology prevents dissidents from being able to organize and sue for freedom\n\nHigh-tech surveillance technology has given repressive governments and police states a new lease on life. Now more than ever they can intrude into every aspect of people’s lives, ensuring that dissent is cowed for fear of the ever present threat of the security services. The vision of Orwell’s 1984 has become a living nightmare for people all over the world. Their power has made it extremely difficult for movements for reform, government accountability, and democracy, which have foundered when faced with these sophisticated security apparatuses (Valentino-Devries, 2011). [1] By dominating the flow of information states have the power to keep their people in check and prevent them from ever posing a threat to their repressive status quo. Thus China blocks access to the internet and to other forms of communications in Tibet to “ensure the absolute security of Tibet’s ideological and cultural realm”. It cuts the Tibetan people off from outside world so as to prevent any rerun of the instability that occurred in 2008, which China blamed on the influence of the Dalai Lama from outside. [2]\n\nOnly external help in alleviating this censorship could allow activists to organize effectively and perhaps to one day bring about genuine reform and justice to their societies. The surveillance equipment on which these regimes rely is often only available from firms and governments in the democratic world where, by and large, technology is generally far more advanced than in the non-democratic world. Without access to these technologies, the regimes would be far more hard-pressed to keep rigid tabs on their citizens, allowing for the seeds of dissent to take root. Only then can the forces clamouring for democracy hope to be able to organise networks of activists, and to have their views considered by the state.\n\n[1] Valentino-Devries, J. “US Firm Acknowledges Syria Uses its Gear to Block Web”. Wall Street Journal. 29 October 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504577001911398596328.html\n\n[2] Human Rights Watch, “China: Attempts to Seal Off Tibet from Outside Information”, 13 July 2012, http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/13/china-attempts-seal-tibet-outside-information\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d46941aee69281e11a33b6d88fee72d4",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban would have a powerful signalling effect expressing disapproval of non-democracies' system of government\n\nA ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies serves ultimately as a statement of disapproval. It shows that the undemocratic regimes cannot be trusted with the ability to spy on their people. This signal has several effects. An example of this international shaming affecting is the international bans on the use of landmines. Various states created a framework, the Ottawa Convention, [1] in which their condemnation pressured nearly every other state, including authoritarian regimes, to follow suit. [2] Domestically it serves to bolster people’s faith in the system of rights they value highly and enshrine in law. They can point to this ban as an example of their government’s desire to make a better world and not to increase repression for the sake of power or profit. In the undemocratic states themselves, the regime leaders will be faced with a significant public relations blow as they come under criticism. This serves to embolden and empower holders of dissenting opinions and to spark pro-democratic discourse. In the international community it makes an emphatic value judgement on the merit of certain systems of government, namely the superiority of democracy and government accountability to the people, principles most non-democracies still pay some form of lip-service to. Overall, this policy boosts the credibility of democracy, while undermining the influence of undemocratic states.\n\n[1] See the debatabase debate ‘This House (as the USA) would sign the Ottawa convention banning landmines’, http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international/house-usa-would-sign-ottawa-convention-banning-landmines\n\n[2] Wexler, L. “The International Deployment of Shame, Second-Best Responses, And Norm Entrepreneurship: The Campaign to Ban Landmine and the landmine Ban Treaty”. Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. 2003. http://www.ajicl.org/AJICL2003/vol203/wexlerarticle.pdf\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
4e5d7e5cc063936e91cbf43946b29f91 | The inability to use advanced technologies merely forces non-democracies to utilize more unsavoury methods to achieve their aims
If it is the aim of an undemocratic regime to use advanced surveillance technology to gather intelligence on, and ultimately crush, dissent it will find other means of doing so. Their calculus of survival is not changed, only their available methods. Their first port of call will be the more advanced non-democracies that might be able to supply comparable surveillance equipment. China’s military and surveillance technology is fast catching up to that of the West, and makes an appealing alternative source for equipment. [1] The only difference is that the Chinese have no compunction at all about how the technology is used, meaning worse outcomes for pro-democracy groups who run afoul of them. When this strategy fails regimes can turn to the tried and tested models of past decades, using physical force and other less technological modes of coercion to cow dissent. Again, this form of repression is quite effective, but it is also much more painful to those on the receiving end. Given the options, democracies supplying surveillance technology may be the best option for dissidents in undemocratic countries.
[1] Walton, G. “China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People’s Republic of China”. International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. 2001.
| [
{
"docid": "cc217ebdf39b31af7fa3a6185f0fa628",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Oppressive regimes have turned to the use of advanced surveillance technology in response to activists’ learning to evade more conventional methods of surveillance, and by moving their organizations online. Western surveillance technology has filled a niche that was once open for dissidents. By placing this ban, even if the regimes turn back to old methods, they will still be hampered in the crushing of dissent. Furthermore, no regime has the resources or power to have physical surveillance as pervasive as the technology denied them would allow. Electronic surveillance therefore can cast a much broader net that would allow the government to repress many more people who would not be subject to more labour intensive physical surveillance.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "090435bb2cfa2d7bd3814fac42249ad1",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Real politick is not the only consideration democracies should entertain when they engage in international relations. Indeed, the Western powers have sought since World War II to develop a system of international justice that recognizes the primacy of peoples’ rights irrespective of where they are born. This principle is constantly compromised as democracies jockey for influence with undemocratic regimes, bolstering those regimes and their repressive norms in the process. In order to be consistent, and to serve the true interests of justice, democracies must not aid undemocratic governments in the repression of their people.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "62da6385db9e8eb249e509733ffbb2cc",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Banning the sale of surveillance technology does not mean democracies are declaring all undemocratic regimes illegitimate. Rather, they are simply not allowing their technology to aid in the repression of people, which is the only use to which that technology is put in practice. Reform sometimes demands a firm hand, and while some regimes will be riled by what they perceive as an insult, the greater chance for dissidents to develop networks and voices is worth the cost.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d4b4d2e32b8aa3779a0672ce9fd32c22",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression While Western states are willing to use surveillance technology to restrict their citizens, they do so always with a democratic mandate. That is the key difference. Democracies use surveillance technology to provide their people with the safety and security they demand, a security over which the people always have the veto of the ballot box. The non-democracy is not checked by any such power, and thus its use of surveillance technology faces no constraint.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a723961d8bb4da9bfc12bf3149c59cae",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression A democracy, like any state, owes its first duty to its citizens, and its national interest is therefore in selling this equipment to help business at home. While it is convenient, perhaps even morally right at times, to stand publicly for the universality of democratic principles, such stands should not be taken at the expense of national security or influence. It should certainly not be considered an obligation. Sweeping policies like this will alienate valuable allies and make it more difficult for democracies to deal with the undemocratic world. With regard to domestic freedoms, states have long held different standards of action when dealing with their own citizens than those of other states, and that has never served to erode domestic freedoms.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1087f1b4b53db48bb2437f5e1abd4939",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Is a minor ban really a good signal? The chances are the government will ignore it and those who it is meant to encourage will never hear about it. In the event that the regimes it is aimed at do take not far from weakening them, this policy serves only to alienate them. The lack of respect the policy is clearly aimed to show will galvanize the leaderships in undemocratic regimes to cut off various ties with democratic states, limiting the flow of ideas and democratic principles that natural adhere to activities like international trade. The result is non-democracies will be less willing to talk about reform in the international community because they see their very form of government as under threat by foreign agents seeking to discredit them. Ultimately, a boost in Western moral does little to promote democracy and human rights while a negative signal will result in regimes being more suspicious and obstinate.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6d138e82e04b5e860f47352fa58f1291",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Corporations are bound to obey the laws of the societies in which they are based, but they are not so constrained in their foreign dealings, in which they are bound instead by foreign laws that are often much more lax. The nature of the international landscape, with its many incompatible and overlapping forms of government and regulatory frameworks, demands that corporations be flexible in order to survive. The constraints put upon the manufacturers of surveillance equipment put forward by this policy will make them less competitive in the international market, which is often the primary market for these businesses. Furthermore, if they feel constrained they may pull up stakes and move their operations abroad to a more accommodating jurisdiction. This would serve to harm domestic jobs and undermine the ability of democratic states to maintain their edge over others in essential surveillance technology development.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e062a0403ea1b07d8405ea2d44812e01",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Security services have managed to watch over and infiltrate the efforts of dissidents all through history. The visibility and tactics is all that has changed. The internet was never going to just be an arena that helps dissidents in authoritarian regimes but as with other technological advances, such as the telephone both increases communication and provides methods of monitoring that communication. If non-democratic states were to lose access to Western technology, they would either procure comparable replacements from other non-democracies, or they would pursue more traditional forms of surveillance, ones that tend to be more invasive and physically threatening.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2969e6b98bf4dac7dee3c1f7450ebe0b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression It is hypocritical for democratic governments to utilize surveillance technology to watch their own people while denying that technology to others\n\nIt is a fatal conceit to consider democracies somehow above the influence of using their surveillance technology to curtail the freedoms of their own citizens. The biggest customers of Western surveillance technology companies are wealthy democracies. The United Kingdom, for example, has one of the most-watched populations in the world, with a saturation of CCTV cameras far in excess of any dictatorship. [1] The PATRIOT Act in America, also, has given the federal government enormous scope for domestic spying. These powers are no less simply because the government is composed in part of elected officials. The security establishment is appointed, not elected, and their servicemen are promoted from within. It is base hypocrisy to pretend that the security systems are inherently more just when employed in democratic states than in undemocratic ones. They are used for the same purpose, to ensure that the state is protected and the status quo maintained. Democracies have no moral basis on which to base this policy.\n\n[1] BBC News. “Britain is ‘Surveillance Society’”. 2 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6108496.stm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "510b4d4cf9fb455d53b617b4e7466225",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Presuming democracy is the only legitimate or worthwhile form of government is both inaccurate and unproductive\n\nAs much as the more liberal citizenry of many of the world’s democracies wish to believe otherwise, democracy as a system of government is not the only game in town. In fact, the growth of the strong-state/state-capitalism approach to government has gained much traction in developing countries that witness the incredible rise of China, which will before long be the world’s largest economy, flourish under an undemocratic model. [1] Chinas ruling communist party have legitimacy as a result of its performance and its historical role reunifying the country. [2] Democracies pretending they are the only meaningful or legitimate states only serve to antagonize their non-democratic neighbours. Such antagonism is doubly damaging, considering that all states, democracies included, rely on alliances and deals with other states to guarantee their security and prosperity. This has meant that through history democracies have had to deal with non-democracies as equal partners on the international stage, and this fact is no different today. States cannot always pick and choose their allies, and democracies best serve their citizens by furthering their genuine interests on the world stage. This policy serves as a wedge between democracies and their undemocratic allies that will only weaken their relations to the detriment of both. When the matter comes to surveillance technology, Western states’ unwillingness to share an important technology they are willing to use themselves causes tension between these states. Non-democracies have just as much right to security that surveillance technology can provide as the more advanced states that develop those technologies.\n\n[1] Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. “Is State Capitalism Winning?”. Project Syndicate. 31 December 2012. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/why-china-s-growth-model-will-fail-by-daron-acemoglu-and-james-a--robinson\n\n[2] Li, Eric X, “The Life of the Party”, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2013, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138476/eric-x-li/the-life-of-the-party?page=4\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dcebf8561dec8f8993379002195010e0",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban will alienate non-democracies from discourse and stifle reform efforts\n\nWhen a state is declared illegitimate in the eyes of a large part of the international community, its natural reaction is one of upset and anger. A ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies would be seen as a brutal slap in the face to many regimes that consider themselves, and are often considered by their people, to be the legitimate government of their country. The ban will result in further tension between non-democracies and democracies, breaking down communication channels. Democracies are best able to effect change in regimes when they seek to engage them constructively, to galvanize them to make gradual connections to the development of civil society and to loosen restrictions on freedoms, such as reducing domestic spying. The ban makes it clear that the ultimate aim of democracies is to effectively overthrow the existing governments of non-democracies in favour of systems more like their own. The outcome of this conclusion is far less willingness on the part of these regimes to discuss reform, and makes it more likely that they will demonize pro-democracy activists within their borders as agents of foreign powers seeking to subvert and conquer them. This particular narrative has been used to great effect by many regimes throughout history, including North Korea and Zimbabwe, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for example denounced a travel and arms sales ban as attempting to “undermine the inclusive government”. [1] By treating non-democracies as responsible actors democracies do much more in effectively furthering their own aims.\n\n[1] BBC News, “Zimbabwean minister denounces EU”, 14 September 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8254367.stm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "44c41a8a577ea15775614d3acfefdf0c",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Democratic states have an obligation to not bolster repression abroad\n\nIt is common for Western democracies to make sweeping statements about the universality of certain rights, and that their system of government is the one that should be most sought after in the world, that democracy is the only legitimate form of government. As when Obama in Cairo proclaimed “These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere.” [1] They claim to work in the United Nations and other organizations toward the improvement of rights in other countries and clamour about the need for building governments accountability around the world, using their liberal-democratic paradigm as the model. Yet at the same time democratic governments and companies sell technologies to non-democratic allies that are used to systematically abuse the rights of citizens and to entrench the power of those avowedly illegitimate regimes. These hypocrisies read as a litany of shame. A telling example is the Blair government in the United Kingdom selling weapons to an oppressive regime in Indonesia for the sake of political expediency even after proclaiming an ‘ethical foreign policy’. [2]\n\nEven if democracies do not feel it is a defensible position to actively seek to subvert all non-democratic states, and that non-democracies should be considered semi-legitimate on the basis of nations’ right to self-determination, they should still feel morally obliged not to abet those regimes by providing the very tools of oppression on which they rely. [3] To continue dealing in these technologies serves only to make democratic countries’ statements hollow, and the rights they claim to uphold seem less absolute, a risk in itself to freedoms within democracies. Respect for rights begins at home, and actively eroding them elsewhere reduces respect for them by home governments.\n\n[1] Obama, Barack, “Remarks by the President on a new beginning”, Office of the Press Secretary, 4 June 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09\n\n[2] Burrows, G. “No-Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade”. New Internationalist. 2002, http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Weapons/Arms_Trade.html\n\n[3] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillance-gear-sales-by-american-firms.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bb03bea5afcf959744f445d63fd22c9e",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The right of Western businesses to sell their services abroad can be curtailed when their actions stand counter to the interests of their home governments\n\nCorporations are private entities that have the right to sell their services and to deal with agents foreign and domestic, including governments. However, this right can be limited when those actions are oppositional to the aims of the home state in which they are incorporated. The sale of surveillance technology to undemocratic regimes stands against the avowed aims of democracies and against their strategic interests in bolstering democracy abroad and maintaining a reputation for fair dealing. For this reason it is perfectly legitimate for governments to ban the corporations within their borders from selling dangerous technologies to foreign governments. Such is already the case with many kinds of strategic technology, especially weapons technology. [1] The EU, for example, bans a range of arms sales to various oppressive states on these grounds, [2] China in particular is an example where it would potentially be very lucrative to overturn the ban. [3] Corporations benefit from the protection of democratic states, as they provide bases of operations that shield their right to property and ensure stability and the rule of law. If corporations wish to benefit from these provisions they must be willing to accept the instructions of the states that house them regarding what can and cannot be sold to foreign powers.\n\n[1] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillan...\n\n[2] Banks, M. “Senior MEP Calls for Freeze on Arms Sale to North Africa”. The Parliament.com. 7 July 2011. http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/senior-mep-calls-for-freeze-on-arms-sale-to-north-africa/\n\n[3] See the debatabase debate ‘This House believes the European Union should lift its ban on member states selling arms to China’ http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international-affairs/european-union/house-believes-lift-arms-sales-ban-china\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9b10d302a8fd8413c0103e3ae405e72b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Advanced surveillance technology prevents dissidents from being able to organize and sue for freedom\n\nHigh-tech surveillance technology has given repressive governments and police states a new lease on life. Now more than ever they can intrude into every aspect of people’s lives, ensuring that dissent is cowed for fear of the ever present threat of the security services. The vision of Orwell’s 1984 has become a living nightmare for people all over the world. Their power has made it extremely difficult for movements for reform, government accountability, and democracy, which have foundered when faced with these sophisticated security apparatuses (Valentino-Devries, 2011). [1] By dominating the flow of information states have the power to keep their people in check and prevent them from ever posing a threat to their repressive status quo. Thus China blocks access to the internet and to other forms of communications in Tibet to “ensure the absolute security of Tibet’s ideological and cultural realm”. It cuts the Tibetan people off from outside world so as to prevent any rerun of the instability that occurred in 2008, which China blamed on the influence of the Dalai Lama from outside. [2]\n\nOnly external help in alleviating this censorship could allow activists to organize effectively and perhaps to one day bring about genuine reform and justice to their societies. The surveillance equipment on which these regimes rely is often only available from firms and governments in the democratic world where, by and large, technology is generally far more advanced than in the non-democratic world. Without access to these technologies, the regimes would be far more hard-pressed to keep rigid tabs on their citizens, allowing for the seeds of dissent to take root. Only then can the forces clamouring for democracy hope to be able to organise networks of activists, and to have their views considered by the state.\n\n[1] Valentino-Devries, J. “US Firm Acknowledges Syria Uses its Gear to Block Web”. Wall Street Journal. 29 October 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504577001911398596328.html\n\n[2] Human Rights Watch, “China: Attempts to Seal Off Tibet from Outside Information”, 13 July 2012, http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/13/china-attempts-seal-tibet-outside-information\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d46941aee69281e11a33b6d88fee72d4",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban would have a powerful signalling effect expressing disapproval of non-democracies' system of government\n\nA ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies serves ultimately as a statement of disapproval. It shows that the undemocratic regimes cannot be trusted with the ability to spy on their people. This signal has several effects. An example of this international shaming affecting is the international bans on the use of landmines. Various states created a framework, the Ottawa Convention, [1] in which their condemnation pressured nearly every other state, including authoritarian regimes, to follow suit. [2] Domestically it serves to bolster people’s faith in the system of rights they value highly and enshrine in law. They can point to this ban as an example of their government’s desire to make a better world and not to increase repression for the sake of power or profit. In the undemocratic states themselves, the regime leaders will be faced with a significant public relations blow as they come under criticism. This serves to embolden and empower holders of dissenting opinions and to spark pro-democratic discourse. In the international community it makes an emphatic value judgement on the merit of certain systems of government, namely the superiority of democracy and government accountability to the people, principles most non-democracies still pay some form of lip-service to. Overall, this policy boosts the credibility of democracy, while undermining the influence of undemocratic states.\n\n[1] See the debatabase debate ‘This House (as the USA) would sign the Ottawa convention banning landmines’, http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international/house-usa-would-sign-ottawa-convention-banning-landmines\n\n[2] Wexler, L. “The International Deployment of Shame, Second-Best Responses, And Norm Entrepreneurship: The Campaign to Ban Landmine and the landmine Ban Treaty”. Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. 2003. http://www.ajicl.org/AJICL2003/vol203/wexlerarticle.pdf\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
bcffca3fbbad443830a2f733b092f798 | Presuming democracy is the only legitimate or worthwhile form of government is both inaccurate and unproductive
As much as the more liberal citizenry of many of the world’s democracies wish to believe otherwise, democracy as a system of government is not the only game in town. In fact, the growth of the strong-state/state-capitalism approach to government has gained much traction in developing countries that witness the incredible rise of China, which will before long be the world’s largest economy, flourish under an undemocratic model. [1] Chinas ruling communist party have legitimacy as a result of its performance and its historical role reunifying the country. [2] Democracies pretending they are the only meaningful or legitimate states only serve to antagonize their non-democratic neighbours. Such antagonism is doubly damaging, considering that all states, democracies included, rely on alliances and deals with other states to guarantee their security and prosperity. This has meant that through history democracies have had to deal with non-democracies as equal partners on the international stage, and this fact is no different today. States cannot always pick and choose their allies, and democracies best serve their citizens by furthering their genuine interests on the world stage. This policy serves as a wedge between democracies and their undemocratic allies that will only weaken their relations to the detriment of both. When the matter comes to surveillance technology, Western states’ unwillingness to share an important technology they are willing to use themselves causes tension between these states. Non-democracies have just as much right to security that surveillance technology can provide as the more advanced states that develop those technologies.
[1] Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. “Is State Capitalism Winning?”. Project Syndicate. 31 December 2012. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/why-china-s-growth-model-will-fail-by-daron-acemoglu-and-james-a--robinson
[2] Li, Eric X, “The Life of the Party”, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2013, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138476/eric-x-li/the-life-of-the-party?page=4
| [
{
"docid": "090435bb2cfa2d7bd3814fac42249ad1",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Real politick is not the only consideration democracies should entertain when they engage in international relations. Indeed, the Western powers have sought since World War II to develop a system of international justice that recognizes the primacy of peoples’ rights irrespective of where they are born. This principle is constantly compromised as democracies jockey for influence with undemocratic regimes, bolstering those regimes and their repressive norms in the process. In order to be consistent, and to serve the true interests of justice, democracies must not aid undemocratic governments in the repression of their people.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "cc217ebdf39b31af7fa3a6185f0fa628",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Oppressive regimes have turned to the use of advanced surveillance technology in response to activists’ learning to evade more conventional methods of surveillance, and by moving their organizations online. Western surveillance technology has filled a niche that was once open for dissidents. By placing this ban, even if the regimes turn back to old methods, they will still be hampered in the crushing of dissent. Furthermore, no regime has the resources or power to have physical surveillance as pervasive as the technology denied them would allow. Electronic surveillance therefore can cast a much broader net that would allow the government to repress many more people who would not be subject to more labour intensive physical surveillance.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "62da6385db9e8eb249e509733ffbb2cc",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Banning the sale of surveillance technology does not mean democracies are declaring all undemocratic regimes illegitimate. Rather, they are simply not allowing their technology to aid in the repression of people, which is the only use to which that technology is put in practice. Reform sometimes demands a firm hand, and while some regimes will be riled by what they perceive as an insult, the greater chance for dissidents to develop networks and voices is worth the cost.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d4b4d2e32b8aa3779a0672ce9fd32c22",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression While Western states are willing to use surveillance technology to restrict their citizens, they do so always with a democratic mandate. That is the key difference. Democracies use surveillance technology to provide their people with the safety and security they demand, a security over which the people always have the veto of the ballot box. The non-democracy is not checked by any such power, and thus its use of surveillance technology faces no constraint.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a723961d8bb4da9bfc12bf3149c59cae",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression A democracy, like any state, owes its first duty to its citizens, and its national interest is therefore in selling this equipment to help business at home. While it is convenient, perhaps even morally right at times, to stand publicly for the universality of democratic principles, such stands should not be taken at the expense of national security or influence. It should certainly not be considered an obligation. Sweeping policies like this will alienate valuable allies and make it more difficult for democracies to deal with the undemocratic world. With regard to domestic freedoms, states have long held different standards of action when dealing with their own citizens than those of other states, and that has never served to erode domestic freedoms.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1087f1b4b53db48bb2437f5e1abd4939",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Is a minor ban really a good signal? The chances are the government will ignore it and those who it is meant to encourage will never hear about it. In the event that the regimes it is aimed at do take not far from weakening them, this policy serves only to alienate them. The lack of respect the policy is clearly aimed to show will galvanize the leaderships in undemocratic regimes to cut off various ties with democratic states, limiting the flow of ideas and democratic principles that natural adhere to activities like international trade. The result is non-democracies will be less willing to talk about reform in the international community because they see their very form of government as under threat by foreign agents seeking to discredit them. Ultimately, a boost in Western moral does little to promote democracy and human rights while a negative signal will result in regimes being more suspicious and obstinate.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6d138e82e04b5e860f47352fa58f1291",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Corporations are bound to obey the laws of the societies in which they are based, but they are not so constrained in their foreign dealings, in which they are bound instead by foreign laws that are often much more lax. The nature of the international landscape, with its many incompatible and overlapping forms of government and regulatory frameworks, demands that corporations be flexible in order to survive. The constraints put upon the manufacturers of surveillance equipment put forward by this policy will make them less competitive in the international market, which is often the primary market for these businesses. Furthermore, if they feel constrained they may pull up stakes and move their operations abroad to a more accommodating jurisdiction. This would serve to harm domestic jobs and undermine the ability of democratic states to maintain their edge over others in essential surveillance technology development.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e062a0403ea1b07d8405ea2d44812e01",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Security services have managed to watch over and infiltrate the efforts of dissidents all through history. The visibility and tactics is all that has changed. The internet was never going to just be an arena that helps dissidents in authoritarian regimes but as with other technological advances, such as the telephone both increases communication and provides methods of monitoring that communication. If non-democratic states were to lose access to Western technology, they would either procure comparable replacements from other non-democracies, or they would pursue more traditional forms of surveillance, ones that tend to be more invasive and physically threatening.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2969e6b98bf4dac7dee3c1f7450ebe0b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression It is hypocritical for democratic governments to utilize surveillance technology to watch their own people while denying that technology to others\n\nIt is a fatal conceit to consider democracies somehow above the influence of using their surveillance technology to curtail the freedoms of their own citizens. The biggest customers of Western surveillance technology companies are wealthy democracies. The United Kingdom, for example, has one of the most-watched populations in the world, with a saturation of CCTV cameras far in excess of any dictatorship. [1] The PATRIOT Act in America, also, has given the federal government enormous scope for domestic spying. These powers are no less simply because the government is composed in part of elected officials. The security establishment is appointed, not elected, and their servicemen are promoted from within. It is base hypocrisy to pretend that the security systems are inherently more just when employed in democratic states than in undemocratic ones. They are used for the same purpose, to ensure that the state is protected and the status quo maintained. Democracies have no moral basis on which to base this policy.\n\n[1] BBC News. “Britain is ‘Surveillance Society’”. 2 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6108496.stm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3f6eb20625d74476d58496da8f16f521",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The inability to use advanced technologies merely forces non-democracies to utilize more unsavoury methods to achieve their aims\n\nIf it is the aim of an undemocratic regime to use advanced surveillance technology to gather intelligence on, and ultimately crush, dissent it will find other means of doing so. Their calculus of survival is not changed, only their available methods. Their first port of call will be the more advanced non-democracies that might be able to supply comparable surveillance equipment. China’s military and surveillance technology is fast catching up to that of the West, and makes an appealing alternative source for equipment. [1] The only difference is that the Chinese have no compunction at all about how the technology is used, meaning worse outcomes for pro-democracy groups who run afoul of them. When this strategy fails regimes can turn to the tried and tested models of past decades, using physical force and other less technological modes of coercion to cow dissent. Again, this form of repression is quite effective, but it is also much more painful to those on the receiving end. Given the options, democracies supplying surveillance technology may be the best option for dissidents in undemocratic countries.\n\n[1] Walton, G. “China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People’s Republic of China”. International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. 2001.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "dcebf8561dec8f8993379002195010e0",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban will alienate non-democracies from discourse and stifle reform efforts\n\nWhen a state is declared illegitimate in the eyes of a large part of the international community, its natural reaction is one of upset and anger. A ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies would be seen as a brutal slap in the face to many regimes that consider themselves, and are often considered by their people, to be the legitimate government of their country. The ban will result in further tension between non-democracies and democracies, breaking down communication channels. Democracies are best able to effect change in regimes when they seek to engage them constructively, to galvanize them to make gradual connections to the development of civil society and to loosen restrictions on freedoms, such as reducing domestic spying. The ban makes it clear that the ultimate aim of democracies is to effectively overthrow the existing governments of non-democracies in favour of systems more like their own. The outcome of this conclusion is far less willingness on the part of these regimes to discuss reform, and makes it more likely that they will demonize pro-democracy activists within their borders as agents of foreign powers seeking to subvert and conquer them. This particular narrative has been used to great effect by many regimes throughout history, including North Korea and Zimbabwe, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for example denounced a travel and arms sales ban as attempting to “undermine the inclusive government”. [1] By treating non-democracies as responsible actors democracies do much more in effectively furthering their own aims.\n\n[1] BBC News, “Zimbabwean minister denounces EU”, 14 September 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8254367.stm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "44c41a8a577ea15775614d3acfefdf0c",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Democratic states have an obligation to not bolster repression abroad\n\nIt is common for Western democracies to make sweeping statements about the universality of certain rights, and that their system of government is the one that should be most sought after in the world, that democracy is the only legitimate form of government. As when Obama in Cairo proclaimed “These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere.” [1] They claim to work in the United Nations and other organizations toward the improvement of rights in other countries and clamour about the need for building governments accountability around the world, using their liberal-democratic paradigm as the model. Yet at the same time democratic governments and companies sell technologies to non-democratic allies that are used to systematically abuse the rights of citizens and to entrench the power of those avowedly illegitimate regimes. These hypocrisies read as a litany of shame. A telling example is the Blair government in the United Kingdom selling weapons to an oppressive regime in Indonesia for the sake of political expediency even after proclaiming an ‘ethical foreign policy’. [2]\n\nEven if democracies do not feel it is a defensible position to actively seek to subvert all non-democratic states, and that non-democracies should be considered semi-legitimate on the basis of nations’ right to self-determination, they should still feel morally obliged not to abet those regimes by providing the very tools of oppression on which they rely. [3] To continue dealing in these technologies serves only to make democratic countries’ statements hollow, and the rights they claim to uphold seem less absolute, a risk in itself to freedoms within democracies. Respect for rights begins at home, and actively eroding them elsewhere reduces respect for them by home governments.\n\n[1] Obama, Barack, “Remarks by the President on a new beginning”, Office of the Press Secretary, 4 June 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09\n\n[2] Burrows, G. “No-Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade”. New Internationalist. 2002, http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Weapons/Arms_Trade.html\n\n[3] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillance-gear-sales-by-american-firms.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bb03bea5afcf959744f445d63fd22c9e",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The right of Western businesses to sell their services abroad can be curtailed when their actions stand counter to the interests of their home governments\n\nCorporations are private entities that have the right to sell their services and to deal with agents foreign and domestic, including governments. However, this right can be limited when those actions are oppositional to the aims of the home state in which they are incorporated. The sale of surveillance technology to undemocratic regimes stands against the avowed aims of democracies and against their strategic interests in bolstering democracy abroad and maintaining a reputation for fair dealing. For this reason it is perfectly legitimate for governments to ban the corporations within their borders from selling dangerous technologies to foreign governments. Such is already the case with many kinds of strategic technology, especially weapons technology. [1] The EU, for example, bans a range of arms sales to various oppressive states on these grounds, [2] China in particular is an example where it would potentially be very lucrative to overturn the ban. [3] Corporations benefit from the protection of democratic states, as they provide bases of operations that shield their right to property and ensure stability and the rule of law. If corporations wish to benefit from these provisions they must be willing to accept the instructions of the states that house them regarding what can and cannot be sold to foreign powers.\n\n[1] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillan...\n\n[2] Banks, M. “Senior MEP Calls for Freeze on Arms Sale to North Africa”. The Parliament.com. 7 July 2011. http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/senior-mep-calls-for-freeze-on-arms-sale-to-north-africa/\n\n[3] See the debatabase debate ‘This House believes the European Union should lift its ban on member states selling arms to China’ http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international-affairs/european-union/house-believes-lift-arms-sales-ban-china\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9b10d302a8fd8413c0103e3ae405e72b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Advanced surveillance technology prevents dissidents from being able to organize and sue for freedom\n\nHigh-tech surveillance technology has given repressive governments and police states a new lease on life. Now more than ever they can intrude into every aspect of people’s lives, ensuring that dissent is cowed for fear of the ever present threat of the security services. The vision of Orwell’s 1984 has become a living nightmare for people all over the world. Their power has made it extremely difficult for movements for reform, government accountability, and democracy, which have foundered when faced with these sophisticated security apparatuses (Valentino-Devries, 2011). [1] By dominating the flow of information states have the power to keep their people in check and prevent them from ever posing a threat to their repressive status quo. Thus China blocks access to the internet and to other forms of communications in Tibet to “ensure the absolute security of Tibet’s ideological and cultural realm”. It cuts the Tibetan people off from outside world so as to prevent any rerun of the instability that occurred in 2008, which China blamed on the influence of the Dalai Lama from outside. [2]\n\nOnly external help in alleviating this censorship could allow activists to organize effectively and perhaps to one day bring about genuine reform and justice to their societies. The surveillance equipment on which these regimes rely is often only available from firms and governments in the democratic world where, by and large, technology is generally far more advanced than in the non-democratic world. Without access to these technologies, the regimes would be far more hard-pressed to keep rigid tabs on their citizens, allowing for the seeds of dissent to take root. Only then can the forces clamouring for democracy hope to be able to organise networks of activists, and to have their views considered by the state.\n\n[1] Valentino-Devries, J. “US Firm Acknowledges Syria Uses its Gear to Block Web”. Wall Street Journal. 29 October 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504577001911398596328.html\n\n[2] Human Rights Watch, “China: Attempts to Seal Off Tibet from Outside Information”, 13 July 2012, http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/13/china-attempts-seal-tibet-outside-information\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d46941aee69281e11a33b6d88fee72d4",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban would have a powerful signalling effect expressing disapproval of non-democracies' system of government\n\nA ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies serves ultimately as a statement of disapproval. It shows that the undemocratic regimes cannot be trusted with the ability to spy on their people. This signal has several effects. An example of this international shaming affecting is the international bans on the use of landmines. Various states created a framework, the Ottawa Convention, [1] in which their condemnation pressured nearly every other state, including authoritarian regimes, to follow suit. [2] Domestically it serves to bolster people’s faith in the system of rights they value highly and enshrine in law. They can point to this ban as an example of their government’s desire to make a better world and not to increase repression for the sake of power or profit. In the undemocratic states themselves, the regime leaders will be faced with a significant public relations blow as they come under criticism. This serves to embolden and empower holders of dissenting opinions and to spark pro-democratic discourse. In the international community it makes an emphatic value judgement on the merit of certain systems of government, namely the superiority of democracy and government accountability to the people, principles most non-democracies still pay some form of lip-service to. Overall, this policy boosts the credibility of democracy, while undermining the influence of undemocratic states.\n\n[1] See the debatabase debate ‘This House (as the USA) would sign the Ottawa convention banning landmines’, http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international/house-usa-would-sign-ottawa-convention-banning-landmines\n\n[2] Wexler, L. “The International Deployment of Shame, Second-Best Responses, And Norm Entrepreneurship: The Campaign to Ban Landmine and the landmine Ban Treaty”. Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. 2003. http://www.ajicl.org/AJICL2003/vol203/wexlerarticle.pdf\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
205264bf6723d64baea36ffa188c9d7d | This ban will alienate non-democracies from discourse and stifle reform efforts
When a state is declared illegitimate in the eyes of a large part of the international community, its natural reaction is one of upset and anger. A ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies would be seen as a brutal slap in the face to many regimes that consider themselves, and are often considered by their people, to be the legitimate government of their country. The ban will result in further tension between non-democracies and democracies, breaking down communication channels. Democracies are best able to effect change in regimes when they seek to engage them constructively, to galvanize them to make gradual connections to the development of civil society and to loosen restrictions on freedoms, such as reducing domestic spying. The ban makes it clear that the ultimate aim of democracies is to effectively overthrow the existing governments of non-democracies in favour of systems more like their own. The outcome of this conclusion is far less willingness on the part of these regimes to discuss reform, and makes it more likely that they will demonize pro-democracy activists within their borders as agents of foreign powers seeking to subvert and conquer them. This particular narrative has been used to great effect by many regimes throughout history, including North Korea and Zimbabwe, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for example denounced a travel and arms sales ban as attempting to “undermine the inclusive government”. [1] By treating non-democracies as responsible actors democracies do much more in effectively furthering their own aims.
[1] BBC News, “Zimbabwean minister denounces EU”, 14 September 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8254367.stm
| [
{
"docid": "62da6385db9e8eb249e509733ffbb2cc",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Banning the sale of surveillance technology does not mean democracies are declaring all undemocratic regimes illegitimate. Rather, they are simply not allowing their technology to aid in the repression of people, which is the only use to which that technology is put in practice. Reform sometimes demands a firm hand, and while some regimes will be riled by what they perceive as an insult, the greater chance for dissidents to develop networks and voices is worth the cost.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "090435bb2cfa2d7bd3814fac42249ad1",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Real politick is not the only consideration democracies should entertain when they engage in international relations. Indeed, the Western powers have sought since World War II to develop a system of international justice that recognizes the primacy of peoples’ rights irrespective of where they are born. This principle is constantly compromised as democracies jockey for influence with undemocratic regimes, bolstering those regimes and their repressive norms in the process. In order to be consistent, and to serve the true interests of justice, democracies must not aid undemocratic governments in the repression of their people.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cc217ebdf39b31af7fa3a6185f0fa628",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Oppressive regimes have turned to the use of advanced surveillance technology in response to activists’ learning to evade more conventional methods of surveillance, and by moving their organizations online. Western surveillance technology has filled a niche that was once open for dissidents. By placing this ban, even if the regimes turn back to old methods, they will still be hampered in the crushing of dissent. Furthermore, no regime has the resources or power to have physical surveillance as pervasive as the technology denied them would allow. Electronic surveillance therefore can cast a much broader net that would allow the government to repress many more people who would not be subject to more labour intensive physical surveillance.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d4b4d2e32b8aa3779a0672ce9fd32c22",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression While Western states are willing to use surveillance technology to restrict their citizens, they do so always with a democratic mandate. That is the key difference. Democracies use surveillance technology to provide their people with the safety and security they demand, a security over which the people always have the veto of the ballot box. The non-democracy is not checked by any such power, and thus its use of surveillance technology faces no constraint.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a723961d8bb4da9bfc12bf3149c59cae",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression A democracy, like any state, owes its first duty to its citizens, and its national interest is therefore in selling this equipment to help business at home. While it is convenient, perhaps even morally right at times, to stand publicly for the universality of democratic principles, such stands should not be taken at the expense of national security or influence. It should certainly not be considered an obligation. Sweeping policies like this will alienate valuable allies and make it more difficult for democracies to deal with the undemocratic world. With regard to domestic freedoms, states have long held different standards of action when dealing with their own citizens than those of other states, and that has never served to erode domestic freedoms.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1087f1b4b53db48bb2437f5e1abd4939",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Is a minor ban really a good signal? The chances are the government will ignore it and those who it is meant to encourage will never hear about it. In the event that the regimes it is aimed at do take not far from weakening them, this policy serves only to alienate them. The lack of respect the policy is clearly aimed to show will galvanize the leaderships in undemocratic regimes to cut off various ties with democratic states, limiting the flow of ideas and democratic principles that natural adhere to activities like international trade. The result is non-democracies will be less willing to talk about reform in the international community because they see their very form of government as under threat by foreign agents seeking to discredit them. Ultimately, a boost in Western moral does little to promote democracy and human rights while a negative signal will result in regimes being more suspicious and obstinate.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "6d138e82e04b5e860f47352fa58f1291",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Corporations are bound to obey the laws of the societies in which they are based, but they are not so constrained in their foreign dealings, in which they are bound instead by foreign laws that are often much more lax. The nature of the international landscape, with its many incompatible and overlapping forms of government and regulatory frameworks, demands that corporations be flexible in order to survive. The constraints put upon the manufacturers of surveillance equipment put forward by this policy will make them less competitive in the international market, which is often the primary market for these businesses. Furthermore, if they feel constrained they may pull up stakes and move their operations abroad to a more accommodating jurisdiction. This would serve to harm domestic jobs and undermine the ability of democratic states to maintain their edge over others in essential surveillance technology development.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e062a0403ea1b07d8405ea2d44812e01",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Security services have managed to watch over and infiltrate the efforts of dissidents all through history. The visibility and tactics is all that has changed. The internet was never going to just be an arena that helps dissidents in authoritarian regimes but as with other technological advances, such as the telephone both increases communication and provides methods of monitoring that communication. If non-democratic states were to lose access to Western technology, they would either procure comparable replacements from other non-democracies, or they would pursue more traditional forms of surveillance, ones that tend to be more invasive and physically threatening.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2969e6b98bf4dac7dee3c1f7450ebe0b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression It is hypocritical for democratic governments to utilize surveillance technology to watch their own people while denying that technology to others\n\nIt is a fatal conceit to consider democracies somehow above the influence of using their surveillance technology to curtail the freedoms of their own citizens. The biggest customers of Western surveillance technology companies are wealthy democracies. The United Kingdom, for example, has one of the most-watched populations in the world, with a saturation of CCTV cameras far in excess of any dictatorship. [1] The PATRIOT Act in America, also, has given the federal government enormous scope for domestic spying. These powers are no less simply because the government is composed in part of elected officials. The security establishment is appointed, not elected, and their servicemen are promoted from within. It is base hypocrisy to pretend that the security systems are inherently more just when employed in democratic states than in undemocratic ones. They are used for the same purpose, to ensure that the state is protected and the status quo maintained. Democracies have no moral basis on which to base this policy.\n\n[1] BBC News. “Britain is ‘Surveillance Society’”. 2 November 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6108496.stm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3f6eb20625d74476d58496da8f16f521",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The inability to use advanced technologies merely forces non-democracies to utilize more unsavoury methods to achieve their aims\n\nIf it is the aim of an undemocratic regime to use advanced surveillance technology to gather intelligence on, and ultimately crush, dissent it will find other means of doing so. Their calculus of survival is not changed, only their available methods. Their first port of call will be the more advanced non-democracies that might be able to supply comparable surveillance equipment. China’s military and surveillance technology is fast catching up to that of the West, and makes an appealing alternative source for equipment. [1] The only difference is that the Chinese have no compunction at all about how the technology is used, meaning worse outcomes for pro-democracy groups who run afoul of them. When this strategy fails regimes can turn to the tried and tested models of past decades, using physical force and other less technological modes of coercion to cow dissent. Again, this form of repression is quite effective, but it is also much more painful to those on the receiving end. Given the options, democracies supplying surveillance technology may be the best option for dissidents in undemocratic countries.\n\n[1] Walton, G. “China’s Golden Shield: Corporations and the Development of Surveillance Technology in the People’s Republic of China”. International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. 2001.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "510b4d4cf9fb455d53b617b4e7466225",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Presuming democracy is the only legitimate or worthwhile form of government is both inaccurate and unproductive\n\nAs much as the more liberal citizenry of many of the world’s democracies wish to believe otherwise, democracy as a system of government is not the only game in town. In fact, the growth of the strong-state/state-capitalism approach to government has gained much traction in developing countries that witness the incredible rise of China, which will before long be the world’s largest economy, flourish under an undemocratic model. [1] Chinas ruling communist party have legitimacy as a result of its performance and its historical role reunifying the country. [2] Democracies pretending they are the only meaningful or legitimate states only serve to antagonize their non-democratic neighbours. Such antagonism is doubly damaging, considering that all states, democracies included, rely on alliances and deals with other states to guarantee their security and prosperity. This has meant that through history democracies have had to deal with non-democracies as equal partners on the international stage, and this fact is no different today. States cannot always pick and choose their allies, and democracies best serve their citizens by furthering their genuine interests on the world stage. This policy serves as a wedge between democracies and their undemocratic allies that will only weaken their relations to the detriment of both. When the matter comes to surveillance technology, Western states’ unwillingness to share an important technology they are willing to use themselves causes tension between these states. Non-democracies have just as much right to security that surveillance technology can provide as the more advanced states that develop those technologies.\n\n[1] Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. “Is State Capitalism Winning?”. Project Syndicate. 31 December 2012. http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/why-china-s-growth-model-will-fail-by-daron-acemoglu-and-james-a--robinson\n\n[2] Li, Eric X, “The Life of the Party”, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2013, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138476/eric-x-li/the-life-of-the-party?page=4\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "44c41a8a577ea15775614d3acfefdf0c",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Democratic states have an obligation to not bolster repression abroad\n\nIt is common for Western democracies to make sweeping statements about the universality of certain rights, and that their system of government is the one that should be most sought after in the world, that democracy is the only legitimate form of government. As when Obama in Cairo proclaimed “These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere.” [1] They claim to work in the United Nations and other organizations toward the improvement of rights in other countries and clamour about the need for building governments accountability around the world, using their liberal-democratic paradigm as the model. Yet at the same time democratic governments and companies sell technologies to non-democratic allies that are used to systematically abuse the rights of citizens and to entrench the power of those avowedly illegitimate regimes. These hypocrisies read as a litany of shame. A telling example is the Blair government in the United Kingdom selling weapons to an oppressive regime in Indonesia for the sake of political expediency even after proclaiming an ‘ethical foreign policy’. [2]\n\nEven if democracies do not feel it is a defensible position to actively seek to subvert all non-democratic states, and that non-democracies should be considered semi-legitimate on the basis of nations’ right to self-determination, they should still feel morally obliged not to abet those regimes by providing the very tools of oppression on which they rely. [3] To continue dealing in these technologies serves only to make democratic countries’ statements hollow, and the rights they claim to uphold seem less absolute, a risk in itself to freedoms within democracies. Respect for rights begins at home, and actively eroding them elsewhere reduces respect for them by home governments.\n\n[1] Obama, Barack, “Remarks by the President on a new beginning”, Office of the Press Secretary, 4 June 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09\n\n[2] Burrows, G. “No-Nonsense Guide to the Arms Trade”. New Internationalist. 2002, http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Weapons/Arms_Trade.html\n\n[3] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillance-gear-sales-by-american-firms.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "bb03bea5afcf959744f445d63fd22c9e",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression The right of Western businesses to sell their services abroad can be curtailed when their actions stand counter to the interests of their home governments\n\nCorporations are private entities that have the right to sell their services and to deal with agents foreign and domestic, including governments. However, this right can be limited when those actions are oppositional to the aims of the home state in which they are incorporated. The sale of surveillance technology to undemocratic regimes stands against the avowed aims of democracies and against their strategic interests in bolstering democracy abroad and maintaining a reputation for fair dealing. For this reason it is perfectly legitimate for governments to ban the corporations within their borders from selling dangerous technologies to foreign governments. Such is already the case with many kinds of strategic technology, especially weapons technology. [1] The EU, for example, bans a range of arms sales to various oppressive states on these grounds, [2] China in particular is an example where it would potentially be very lucrative to overturn the ban. [3] Corporations benefit from the protection of democratic states, as they provide bases of operations that shield their right to property and ensure stability and the rule of law. If corporations wish to benefit from these provisions they must be willing to accept the instructions of the states that house them regarding what can and cannot be sold to foreign powers.\n\n[1] Elgin, B. “House Bill May Ban US Surveillance Gear Sales”. Bloomberg. 9 December 2012. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-09/house-bill-would-ban-surveillan...\n\n[2] Banks, M. “Senior MEP Calls for Freeze on Arms Sale to North Africa”. The Parliament.com. 7 July 2011. http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/senior-mep-calls-for-freeze-on-arms-sale-to-north-africa/\n\n[3] See the debatabase debate ‘This House believes the European Union should lift its ban on member states selling arms to China’ http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international-affairs/european-union/house-believes-lift-arms-sales-ban-china\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9b10d302a8fd8413c0103e3ae405e72b",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression Advanced surveillance technology prevents dissidents from being able to organize and sue for freedom\n\nHigh-tech surveillance technology has given repressive governments and police states a new lease on life. Now more than ever they can intrude into every aspect of people’s lives, ensuring that dissent is cowed for fear of the ever present threat of the security services. The vision of Orwell’s 1984 has become a living nightmare for people all over the world. Their power has made it extremely difficult for movements for reform, government accountability, and democracy, which have foundered when faced with these sophisticated security apparatuses (Valentino-Devries, 2011). [1] By dominating the flow of information states have the power to keep their people in check and prevent them from ever posing a threat to their repressive status quo. Thus China blocks access to the internet and to other forms of communications in Tibet to “ensure the absolute security of Tibet’s ideological and cultural realm”. It cuts the Tibetan people off from outside world so as to prevent any rerun of the instability that occurred in 2008, which China blamed on the influence of the Dalai Lama from outside. [2]\n\nOnly external help in alleviating this censorship could allow activists to organize effectively and perhaps to one day bring about genuine reform and justice to their societies. The surveillance equipment on which these regimes rely is often only available from firms and governments in the democratic world where, by and large, technology is generally far more advanced than in the non-democratic world. Without access to these technologies, the regimes would be far more hard-pressed to keep rigid tabs on their citizens, allowing for the seeds of dissent to take root. Only then can the forces clamouring for democracy hope to be able to organise networks of activists, and to have their views considered by the state.\n\n[1] Valentino-Devries, J. “US Firm Acknowledges Syria Uses its Gear to Block Web”. Wall Street Journal. 29 October 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504577001911398596328.html\n\n[2] Human Rights Watch, “China: Attempts to Seal Off Tibet from Outside Information”, 13 July 2012, http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/07/13/china-attempts-seal-tibet-outside-information\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d46941aee69281e11a33b6d88fee72d4",
"text": "e internet freedom censorship ip digital freedoms freedom expression This ban would have a powerful signalling effect expressing disapproval of non-democracies' system of government\n\nA ban on the sale of surveillance technology to non-democracies serves ultimately as a statement of disapproval. It shows that the undemocratic regimes cannot be trusted with the ability to spy on their people. This signal has several effects. An example of this international shaming affecting is the international bans on the use of landmines. Various states created a framework, the Ottawa Convention, [1] in which their condemnation pressured nearly every other state, including authoritarian regimes, to follow suit. [2] Domestically it serves to bolster people’s faith in the system of rights they value highly and enshrine in law. They can point to this ban as an example of their government’s desire to make a better world and not to increase repression for the sake of power or profit. In the undemocratic states themselves, the regime leaders will be faced with a significant public relations blow as they come under criticism. This serves to embolden and empower holders of dissenting opinions and to spark pro-democratic discourse. In the international community it makes an emphatic value judgement on the merit of certain systems of government, namely the superiority of democracy and government accountability to the people, principles most non-democracies still pay some form of lip-service to. Overall, this policy boosts the credibility of democracy, while undermining the influence of undemocratic states.\n\n[1] See the debatabase debate ‘This House (as the USA) would sign the Ottawa convention banning landmines’, http://idebate.org/debatabase/debates/international/house-usa-would-sign-ottawa-convention-banning-landmines\n\n[2] Wexler, L. “The International Deployment of Shame, Second-Best Responses, And Norm Entrepreneurship: The Campaign to Ban Landmine and the landmine Ban Treaty”. Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. 2003. http://www.ajicl.org/AJICL2003/vol203/wexlerarticle.pdf\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
3d042236d7b91448b8ac9c46a126499c | Providing secure channels is the easiest way to help dissidents and democracy activists
If democracies are to provide money to help dissidents then this option of funding research into and distributing software to defeat censors is the easiest way in which to help these dissidents. Those who are trying to exercise their freedom of speech do not want help in the form of military intervention or diplomatic representations rather they want to have the space and capacity to exercise those freedoms. The internet means that for the first time it is possible for external actors to provide that platform for freedom of speech without having to take those who wish to exercise these freedoms outside of the country that is violating those freedoms.
The internet is very important in the economies of many authoritarian regimes. In China for example there are 145 million online shoppers and the e-commerce market is worth almost $100 billion and could be worth over $300 billion by 2015. [1] As a result authoritarian regimes can’t easily just turn off the internet and ignore it so long as they want their economy to operate. As a result except in extreme cases such as North Korea or for particularly prominent dissidents who are locked up physical access to the internet is unlikely to be denied.
So long as there is physical access to the internet it will be possible to help by providing ways to avoid firewalls so that they can access information their state has banned and express opinions to both the outside world and their compatriots. It is equally important to provide ways for these people to avoid being tracked by the authorities so as to prevent retaliation against them for evading censorship. While Haystack was a failure there have been other projects that are receiving state department funding that may be more successful such as ‘InTheClear’ which provides a “panic button” app for smart phones allowing contents to be quickly erased and prewritten texts sent so having the dual effect of making it more difficult for those making the arrest to find out what the user was doing and raising the alarm that this person has been arrested. [2] This technology helps meet a clear need; Egyptian democracy activists when asked what kind of technology they needed most said they wanted safer cellphones. [3]
[1] The Economist, ‘An internet with Chinese characteristics’, 20 July 2011.
[2] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.
[3] McManus, Doyle, ‘Technology that protects protesters’, Los Angeles Times, 18 September 2011.
| [
{
"docid": "12681af4a6df8a8365154bbbb106c573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing such mechanisms does not help activists and can even harm them. These activists will have few guarantees that the technology will work. Previous technologies meant to give anonymity have often not worked or else the governments will come up with ways to break them. Haystack is a good example of a technology meant to help dissidents that could have ended up causing more harm than the good it did.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "be201a1317d830c1cae6b5de3b6cb4ca",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding such technologies is unlikely to result in large benefits or will result in escalating costs. China has billions invested in its online censorship activities. Any attempt to fund ways to counter this censorship would likely become involved in an online arms race if it wanted to do more than temporary good. This could end up being a costly on-going operation with very few benefits. The money would be better spent helping the truly needy from hunger than allowing the global middle classes to exercise their freedom of speech.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f34507513600a662a551e919dc382ffd",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and That there is a right to freedom of speech does not mean that we have an obligation to make sure that everyone around the world has freedom of speech. Freedom of speech and expression is indeed a human right in the universal declaration of human rights however this is something that it is obligated for governments to uphold for their own people rather than for other countries to enforce. If governments are infringing on the freedoms of their people the correct way to counter this is through international diplomacy rather than seeking to undermine that state.\n\nThe responsibility to protect, itself controversial, was only ever meant to apply to the very worst human rights violations - such as the genocide in Rwanda. If there are massacres of civilians and all other options have failed then there may be a need to intervene to prevent more killing. However violations of freedom of speech are not something that is time dependent. Diplomacy may often take a long time but can eventually work, as is being shown in Burma's opening up\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "05617aea8791dd68e418461666c881d1",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Far from being a violation of sovereignty it should be considered that the internet is a global commons that needs to be defended against the encroachment of sovereignty. As Hillary Clinton has argued “The internet has become the public space of the 21st century – the world’s town square, classroom, marketplace, coffeehouse, and nightclub. We all shape and are shaped by what happens there, all 2 billion of us and counting.” [1] This means that national sovereignty cannot be considered to apply to the internet. If one part of the internet becomes fenced off then it affects the rest of the internet as well.\n\n[1] Clinton, Hillary, ‘Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Speech on Internet Freedom *updated*’, Secretaryclinton, 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cd29e7a001dc8117c717cb37ca3d7f85",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This implies that without efforts by democracies to ‘undermine’ non democratic regimes the internet would be nice and peaceful and everyone could get on with what they like doing on the internet. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is already a significant amount of conflict on the internet both in the form of insulting each other on forums and criminal activity. There have been numerous attempts, particularly originating from authoritarian countries, to attack the internet presence of other countries firms or governments or to hack and steal state secrets. This kind of behaviour is much more likely to cause conflict than any funding of research towards bypassing censors.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a011dfb488e8379eed3aa4246ba5800c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and While most of the population may not be enraged enough by censorship to attempt to get around it this does not mean they would not benefit from having the capability to do so. Governments often intrude into social discussion, music and even games by banning them and taking down discussions. These people would be much freer if they had complete freedom of choice rather than a government controlled set of boundaries on the internet.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ffd747406dbd773c6d45972b3410c33",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Money will be spent on development anyway. However trade is often the best way to encourage growth and reductions in poverty. These technologies by making communication easier will make doing business in that country easier. Breaking through communication barriers on the internet could have much more impact than 'development' aid.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f38ae509cfdfd867fc489b3161320573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding technologies to evade censorship could have immense benefits for very little cost\n\nMost government aid budgets are small and have numerous other important calls on their resources such as development aid. Between 2008 and 2011 the United States Congress funded the effort against internet censorship with $76 million. [1] While this may sound like a lot compared to the $168 million of aid to Liberia and $152 million to UNICEF in 2011 it is not a large commitment. [2] Yet due to the nature of the internet small investments can have immense benefits. Money spent on food aid will buy enough food to feed a limited amount of people yet if a technology is developed that allows internet users to get around censors and not be tracked then hundreds of millions would benefit. It would at the same time have the incalculable benefit of making it more difficult for authorities to track and crack down on those who are breaking the authorities’ censorship.\n\n[1] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[2] USAID, ‘Where does USAID’s Money Go?’ 30 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "54e6a4634f20e84013c4c52c8466118c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and We all have an obligation to help maintain freedom of speech.\n\nArticle 19 of the universal declaration of human rights defines freedom of speech as “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” [1] It is something innate in humans to have opinions and to want to express them to others and within a few limits governments have a duty to allow this freedom of expression. Where governments are not allowing this freedom of information this affects not only those whose opinions are being suppressed but those who cannot hear their opinions. The right to the freedom to receive and seek this information is just as important as the right to voice these opinions. Moreover as stated in Article 19 this is “regardless of frontiers”; those outside a country have just as much right to hear these opinions as those inside.\n\nGovernment aid programs from democracies in Western Europe and America are already concerned with promoting human rights including freedom of speech. Australia’s aid program for example has a Human Rights Fund of $6.5 million per year that provides grants to among other things “educate and/or train human rights victims, workers or defenders”. [2] Enabling victims of human rights abuse to get around their government’s censorship is the obvious next step.\n\nThe concept of the ‘responsibility to protect’ introduced by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty in 2001 provided that when governments were unable or unwilling to protect their own citizens then that responsibility devolves to the international community and may ultimately lead to military action for particularly gross violations. This responsibility to react should be “with appropriate measures” [3] and for the breach of the human right of freedom of expression providing a method to enable those whose freedom of expression/speech is being violated to exercise this right is the most appropriate and proportional response.\n\n[1] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘Article 19’, 1946.\n\n[2] AusAID, ‘Human rights and Australia’s aid program’, Australian Government, 22 February 2012.\n\n[3] Evans, Garath and Mohamed Sahnoun Chair’s, ‘The Responsibility to Protect’, International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, International Development Research Center, December 2001, p.XI.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f4b3b9671bc2e5a41e5b091ab09dd415",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funds could be better spent on helping development\n\nAccess to the internet is not the most pressing concern that foreign aid should be used to solve. Instead aid should help the 1.4billion who live on less than a dollar a day, [1] the 216 million people infected with malaria every year, [2] or the 42 million people who have been uprooted by conflict and natural disaster. [3] Internet access while it has expanded immensely is still something that only the relatively rich have access to, not the kind of people that aid money should be spent on.\n\nFinally if money is to be spent on the internet it should not be on the issue of evading censorship but focusing on the potential economic benefits of increasing internet penetration to the poorest.\n\n[1] World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing world’, World Bank, 26 August 2008.\n\n[2] Malaria, World Health Organisation, Fact Sheet no. 94, April 2012.\n\n[3] ‘UNHCR annual report shows 42 million people uprooted worldwide’, UNHCR, 16 June 2009.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d50894fd9517e3a0dcdd725ccc24e9cc",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This will needlessly antagonise non-democratic countries\n\nThe relationships which democratic countries have with non-democratic countries are much too important to jeopradise with such interference. Democracies and non-democracies need to be able to live peacefully with each other and engage in economic contact. Having democracies supporting segments in a non-democracy’s population that is seen to be undermining the state not only sours relations but provides a direct point of contention that could potentially lead to conflict.\n\nDemocracies already show that they are aware of the conflict they create through their promotion of human rights by toning down their rhetoric in relation to the most powerful non-democratic countries. The British Council has for example invited Liu Binjie, China’s censor in chief, to lead a delegation to the London Book Fair which is celebrating Chinese Literature. [1] It is double standards to be lauding autocrats in public and yet seeking to undermine their countries through helping dissidents.\n\n[1] Jian, Ma, ‘Britain’s Cultural Kowtow’, Project Syndicate, 12 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b456551462c36a0577684c1006fc4f5",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Violation of Sovereignty\n\nSovereignty is the exercise of the fullest possible rights over a piece of territory; the state is ‘supreme authority within a territory’. [1] The sovereignty of nations has been recognised by all nations in article 2 of the UN charter. [2] Funding attempts by citizens of a nation to avoid its own government’s censorship efforts is clearly infringing upon matters that are within the domestic jurisdiction of individual states and is as such a violation of sovereignty. It is also clear that when it comes to enforcement of human rights there is a general rule should be followed that states should have the chance to solve their own internal problems domestically before there is international interference. [3]\n\nCensorship by governments can be there for the good of society; for example South Korea censors information about North Korea and forces internet users to use id cards and real names when posting on forums and blogs making them easy to trace. [4] This does not however mean that democracies should be helping South Koreans to bypass this system, South Korea as a nation has decided to place some restrictions on the use of the internet and that should be respected by other nations.\n\nIt is simply unfair and unequal to apply one set of standards to one set of nations and different standards to another. If democracies have the right to decide how their internet should operate so should non democracies. The fundamental principle of non-interference should apply to all states.\n\n[1] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.333\n\n[2] Charter of the United Nations, ‘Chapter 1: Purposes and Principles’, 1945.\n\n[3] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.202\n\n[4] The Economist, ‘Game over: A liberal, free-market democracy has some curious rules and regulations’, 14 April 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09d49a6cfc6ecabc3e30273e2045bab4",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Evading censorship is already possible and censorship does not prevent the use of the internet.\n\nProposition itself concedes that authoritarian states in the vast majority of cases are unlikely to cut off access to the internet for their population entirely. For many people the internet is not about free speech but about economic benefits. Most don’t want to protest but rather carry on inane social discussions, play computer games and listen to music. Things that even authoritarian governments are happy to occur. This money is therefore not aimed at addressing the concerns of the vast majority of netizens.\n\nThose few who are concerned are already able to find ways around censorship for example proxies can be used to access external sites. China’s censorship system may be vast but it is only 40,000 attempting to watch hundreds of millions. Even China’s censors sometimes work at cross purposes as for example where weibo censored the official Xinhua news bulletin that Bo Xilai, former party chief in Chongqing, had been stripped of his party posts. [1] During this same event for the first time the weight of discussion has shown that the censors can fail to keep up and where the mass of the public really is interested in discussing something they can. [2]\n\n[1] MacKinnon, Rebecca, ‘The Not-So-Great Firewall of China’, ForeignPolicy, 17 April 2012.\n\n[2] Pei, Minxin, ‘The Paranoid Style in Chinese Politics’, Project Syndicate, 17 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
a2422e451089054989e974dfcd89e37f | Funding technologies to evade censorship could have immense benefits for very little cost
Most government aid budgets are small and have numerous other important calls on their resources such as development aid. Between 2008 and 2011 the United States Congress funded the effort against internet censorship with $76 million. [1] While this may sound like a lot compared to the $168 million of aid to Liberia and $152 million to UNICEF in 2011 it is not a large commitment. [2] Yet due to the nature of the internet small investments can have immense benefits. Money spent on food aid will buy enough food to feed a limited amount of people yet if a technology is developed that allows internet users to get around censors and not be tracked then hundreds of millions would benefit. It would at the same time have the incalculable benefit of making it more difficult for authorities to track and crack down on those who are breaking the authorities’ censorship.
[1] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.
[2] USAID, ‘Where does USAID’s Money Go?’ 30 September 2011.
| [
{
"docid": "be201a1317d830c1cae6b5de3b6cb4ca",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding such technologies is unlikely to result in large benefits or will result in escalating costs. China has billions invested in its online censorship activities. Any attempt to fund ways to counter this censorship would likely become involved in an online arms race if it wanted to do more than temporary good. This could end up being a costly on-going operation with very few benefits. The money would be better spent helping the truly needy from hunger than allowing the global middle classes to exercise their freedom of speech.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "12681af4a6df8a8365154bbbb106c573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing such mechanisms does not help activists and can even harm them. These activists will have few guarantees that the technology will work. Previous technologies meant to give anonymity have often not worked or else the governments will come up with ways to break them. Haystack is a good example of a technology meant to help dissidents that could have ended up causing more harm than the good it did.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f34507513600a662a551e919dc382ffd",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and That there is a right to freedom of speech does not mean that we have an obligation to make sure that everyone around the world has freedom of speech. Freedom of speech and expression is indeed a human right in the universal declaration of human rights however this is something that it is obligated for governments to uphold for their own people rather than for other countries to enforce. If governments are infringing on the freedoms of their people the correct way to counter this is through international diplomacy rather than seeking to undermine that state.\n\nThe responsibility to protect, itself controversial, was only ever meant to apply to the very worst human rights violations - such as the genocide in Rwanda. If there are massacres of civilians and all other options have failed then there may be a need to intervene to prevent more killing. However violations of freedom of speech are not something that is time dependent. Diplomacy may often take a long time but can eventually work, as is being shown in Burma's opening up\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "05617aea8791dd68e418461666c881d1",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Far from being a violation of sovereignty it should be considered that the internet is a global commons that needs to be defended against the encroachment of sovereignty. As Hillary Clinton has argued “The internet has become the public space of the 21st century – the world’s town square, classroom, marketplace, coffeehouse, and nightclub. We all shape and are shaped by what happens there, all 2 billion of us and counting.” [1] This means that national sovereignty cannot be considered to apply to the internet. If one part of the internet becomes fenced off then it affects the rest of the internet as well.\n\n[1] Clinton, Hillary, ‘Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Speech on Internet Freedom *updated*’, Secretaryclinton, 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cd29e7a001dc8117c717cb37ca3d7f85",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This implies that without efforts by democracies to ‘undermine’ non democratic regimes the internet would be nice and peaceful and everyone could get on with what they like doing on the internet. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is already a significant amount of conflict on the internet both in the form of insulting each other on forums and criminal activity. There have been numerous attempts, particularly originating from authoritarian countries, to attack the internet presence of other countries firms or governments or to hack and steal state secrets. This kind of behaviour is much more likely to cause conflict than any funding of research towards bypassing censors.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a011dfb488e8379eed3aa4246ba5800c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and While most of the population may not be enraged enough by censorship to attempt to get around it this does not mean they would not benefit from having the capability to do so. Governments often intrude into social discussion, music and even games by banning them and taking down discussions. These people would be much freer if they had complete freedom of choice rather than a government controlled set of boundaries on the internet.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ffd747406dbd773c6d45972b3410c33",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Money will be spent on development anyway. However trade is often the best way to encourage growth and reductions in poverty. These technologies by making communication easier will make doing business in that country easier. Breaking through communication barriers on the internet could have much more impact than 'development' aid.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3620e24d62d7ff938a68763ce856fad3",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing secure channels is the easiest way to help dissidents and democracy activists\n\nIf democracies are to provide money to help dissidents then this option of funding research into and distributing software to defeat censors is the easiest way in which to help these dissidents. Those who are trying to exercise their freedom of speech do not want help in the form of military intervention or diplomatic representations rather they want to have the space and capacity to exercise those freedoms. The internet means that for the first time it is possible for external actors to provide that platform for freedom of speech without having to take those who wish to exercise these freedoms outside of the country that is violating those freedoms.\n\nThe internet is very important in the economies of many authoritarian regimes. In China for example there are 145 million online shoppers and the e-commerce market is worth almost $100 billion and could be worth over $300 billion by 2015. [1] As a result authoritarian regimes can’t easily just turn off the internet and ignore it so long as they want their economy to operate. As a result except in extreme cases such as North Korea or for particularly prominent dissidents who are locked up physical access to the internet is unlikely to be denied.\n\nSo long as there is physical access to the internet it will be possible to help by providing ways to avoid firewalls so that they can access information their state has banned and express opinions to both the outside world and their compatriots. It is equally important to provide ways for these people to avoid being tracked by the authorities so as to prevent retaliation against them for evading censorship. While Haystack was a failure there have been other projects that are receiving state department funding that may be more successful such as ‘InTheClear’ which provides a “panic button” app for smart phones allowing contents to be quickly erased and prewritten texts sent so having the dual effect of making it more difficult for those making the arrest to find out what the user was doing and raising the alarm that this person has been arrested. [2] This technology helps meet a clear need; Egyptian democracy activists when asked what kind of technology they needed most said they wanted safer cellphones. [3]\n\n[1] The Economist, ‘An internet with Chinese characteristics’, 20 July 2011.\n\n[2] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[3] McManus, Doyle, ‘Technology that protects protesters’, Los Angeles Times, 18 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "54e6a4634f20e84013c4c52c8466118c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and We all have an obligation to help maintain freedom of speech.\n\nArticle 19 of the universal declaration of human rights defines freedom of speech as “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” [1] It is something innate in humans to have opinions and to want to express them to others and within a few limits governments have a duty to allow this freedom of expression. Where governments are not allowing this freedom of information this affects not only those whose opinions are being suppressed but those who cannot hear their opinions. The right to the freedom to receive and seek this information is just as important as the right to voice these opinions. Moreover as stated in Article 19 this is “regardless of frontiers”; those outside a country have just as much right to hear these opinions as those inside.\n\nGovernment aid programs from democracies in Western Europe and America are already concerned with promoting human rights including freedom of speech. Australia’s aid program for example has a Human Rights Fund of $6.5 million per year that provides grants to among other things “educate and/or train human rights victims, workers or defenders”. [2] Enabling victims of human rights abuse to get around their government’s censorship is the obvious next step.\n\nThe concept of the ‘responsibility to protect’ introduced by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty in 2001 provided that when governments were unable or unwilling to protect their own citizens then that responsibility devolves to the international community and may ultimately lead to military action for particularly gross violations. This responsibility to react should be “with appropriate measures” [3] and for the breach of the human right of freedom of expression providing a method to enable those whose freedom of expression/speech is being violated to exercise this right is the most appropriate and proportional response.\n\n[1] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘Article 19’, 1946.\n\n[2] AusAID, ‘Human rights and Australia’s aid program’, Australian Government, 22 February 2012.\n\n[3] Evans, Garath and Mohamed Sahnoun Chair’s, ‘The Responsibility to Protect’, International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, International Development Research Center, December 2001, p.XI.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f4b3b9671bc2e5a41e5b091ab09dd415",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funds could be better spent on helping development\n\nAccess to the internet is not the most pressing concern that foreign aid should be used to solve. Instead aid should help the 1.4billion who live on less than a dollar a day, [1] the 216 million people infected with malaria every year, [2] or the 42 million people who have been uprooted by conflict and natural disaster. [3] Internet access while it has expanded immensely is still something that only the relatively rich have access to, not the kind of people that aid money should be spent on.\n\nFinally if money is to be spent on the internet it should not be on the issue of evading censorship but focusing on the potential economic benefits of increasing internet penetration to the poorest.\n\n[1] World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing world’, World Bank, 26 August 2008.\n\n[2] Malaria, World Health Organisation, Fact Sheet no. 94, April 2012.\n\n[3] ‘UNHCR annual report shows 42 million people uprooted worldwide’, UNHCR, 16 June 2009.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d50894fd9517e3a0dcdd725ccc24e9cc",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This will needlessly antagonise non-democratic countries\n\nThe relationships which democratic countries have with non-democratic countries are much too important to jeopradise with such interference. Democracies and non-democracies need to be able to live peacefully with each other and engage in economic contact. Having democracies supporting segments in a non-democracy’s population that is seen to be undermining the state not only sours relations but provides a direct point of contention that could potentially lead to conflict.\n\nDemocracies already show that they are aware of the conflict they create through their promotion of human rights by toning down their rhetoric in relation to the most powerful non-democratic countries. The British Council has for example invited Liu Binjie, China’s censor in chief, to lead a delegation to the London Book Fair which is celebrating Chinese Literature. [1] It is double standards to be lauding autocrats in public and yet seeking to undermine their countries through helping dissidents.\n\n[1] Jian, Ma, ‘Britain’s Cultural Kowtow’, Project Syndicate, 12 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b456551462c36a0577684c1006fc4f5",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Violation of Sovereignty\n\nSovereignty is the exercise of the fullest possible rights over a piece of territory; the state is ‘supreme authority within a territory’. [1] The sovereignty of nations has been recognised by all nations in article 2 of the UN charter. [2] Funding attempts by citizens of a nation to avoid its own government’s censorship efforts is clearly infringing upon matters that are within the domestic jurisdiction of individual states and is as such a violation of sovereignty. It is also clear that when it comes to enforcement of human rights there is a general rule should be followed that states should have the chance to solve their own internal problems domestically before there is international interference. [3]\n\nCensorship by governments can be there for the good of society; for example South Korea censors information about North Korea and forces internet users to use id cards and real names when posting on forums and blogs making them easy to trace. [4] This does not however mean that democracies should be helping South Koreans to bypass this system, South Korea as a nation has decided to place some restrictions on the use of the internet and that should be respected by other nations.\n\nIt is simply unfair and unequal to apply one set of standards to one set of nations and different standards to another. If democracies have the right to decide how their internet should operate so should non democracies. The fundamental principle of non-interference should apply to all states.\n\n[1] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.333\n\n[2] Charter of the United Nations, ‘Chapter 1: Purposes and Principles’, 1945.\n\n[3] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.202\n\n[4] The Economist, ‘Game over: A liberal, free-market democracy has some curious rules and regulations’, 14 April 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09d49a6cfc6ecabc3e30273e2045bab4",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Evading censorship is already possible and censorship does not prevent the use of the internet.\n\nProposition itself concedes that authoritarian states in the vast majority of cases are unlikely to cut off access to the internet for their population entirely. For many people the internet is not about free speech but about economic benefits. Most don’t want to protest but rather carry on inane social discussions, play computer games and listen to music. Things that even authoritarian governments are happy to occur. This money is therefore not aimed at addressing the concerns of the vast majority of netizens.\n\nThose few who are concerned are already able to find ways around censorship for example proxies can be used to access external sites. China’s censorship system may be vast but it is only 40,000 attempting to watch hundreds of millions. Even China’s censors sometimes work at cross purposes as for example where weibo censored the official Xinhua news bulletin that Bo Xilai, former party chief in Chongqing, had been stripped of his party posts. [1] During this same event for the first time the weight of discussion has shown that the censors can fail to keep up and where the mass of the public really is interested in discussing something they can. [2]\n\n[1] MacKinnon, Rebecca, ‘The Not-So-Great Firewall of China’, ForeignPolicy, 17 April 2012.\n\n[2] Pei, Minxin, ‘The Paranoid Style in Chinese Politics’, Project Syndicate, 17 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
a1f8706521462dca4cbc1f3736bb7d1c | We all have an obligation to help maintain freedom of speech.
Article 19 of the universal declaration of human rights defines freedom of speech as “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” [1] It is something innate in humans to have opinions and to want to express them to others and within a few limits governments have a duty to allow this freedom of expression. Where governments are not allowing this freedom of information this affects not only those whose opinions are being suppressed but those who cannot hear their opinions. The right to the freedom to receive and seek this information is just as important as the right to voice these opinions. Moreover as stated in Article 19 this is “regardless of frontiers”; those outside a country have just as much right to hear these opinions as those inside.
Government aid programs from democracies in Western Europe and America are already concerned with promoting human rights including freedom of speech. Australia’s aid program for example has a Human Rights Fund of $6.5 million per year that provides grants to among other things “educate and/or train human rights victims, workers or defenders”. [2] Enabling victims of human rights abuse to get around their government’s censorship is the obvious next step.
The concept of the ‘responsibility to protect’ introduced by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty in 2001 provided that when governments were unable or unwilling to protect their own citizens then that responsibility devolves to the international community and may ultimately lead to military action for particularly gross violations. This responsibility to react should be “with appropriate measures” [3] and for the breach of the human right of freedom of expression providing a method to enable those whose freedom of expression/speech is being violated to exercise this right is the most appropriate and proportional response.
[1] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘Article 19’, 1946.
[2] AusAID, ‘Human rights and Australia’s aid program’, Australian Government, 22 February 2012.
[3] Evans, Garath and Mohamed Sahnoun Chair’s, ‘The Responsibility to Protect’, International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, International Development Research Center, December 2001, p.XI.
| [
{
"docid": "f34507513600a662a551e919dc382ffd",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and That there is a right to freedom of speech does not mean that we have an obligation to make sure that everyone around the world has freedom of speech. Freedom of speech and expression is indeed a human right in the universal declaration of human rights however this is something that it is obligated for governments to uphold for their own people rather than for other countries to enforce. If governments are infringing on the freedoms of their people the correct way to counter this is through international diplomacy rather than seeking to undermine that state.\n\nThe responsibility to protect, itself controversial, was only ever meant to apply to the very worst human rights violations - such as the genocide in Rwanda. If there are massacres of civilians and all other options have failed then there may be a need to intervene to prevent more killing. However violations of freedom of speech are not something that is time dependent. Diplomacy may often take a long time but can eventually work, as is being shown in Burma's opening up\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "12681af4a6df8a8365154bbbb106c573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing such mechanisms does not help activists and can even harm them. These activists will have few guarantees that the technology will work. Previous technologies meant to give anonymity have often not worked or else the governments will come up with ways to break them. Haystack is a good example of a technology meant to help dissidents that could have ended up causing more harm than the good it did.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "be201a1317d830c1cae6b5de3b6cb4ca",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding such technologies is unlikely to result in large benefits or will result in escalating costs. China has billions invested in its online censorship activities. Any attempt to fund ways to counter this censorship would likely become involved in an online arms race if it wanted to do more than temporary good. This could end up being a costly on-going operation with very few benefits. The money would be better spent helping the truly needy from hunger than allowing the global middle classes to exercise their freedom of speech.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "05617aea8791dd68e418461666c881d1",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Far from being a violation of sovereignty it should be considered that the internet is a global commons that needs to be defended against the encroachment of sovereignty. As Hillary Clinton has argued “The internet has become the public space of the 21st century – the world’s town square, classroom, marketplace, coffeehouse, and nightclub. We all shape and are shaped by what happens there, all 2 billion of us and counting.” [1] This means that national sovereignty cannot be considered to apply to the internet. If one part of the internet becomes fenced off then it affects the rest of the internet as well.\n\n[1] Clinton, Hillary, ‘Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Speech on Internet Freedom *updated*’, Secretaryclinton, 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cd29e7a001dc8117c717cb37ca3d7f85",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This implies that without efforts by democracies to ‘undermine’ non democratic regimes the internet would be nice and peaceful and everyone could get on with what they like doing on the internet. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is already a significant amount of conflict on the internet both in the form of insulting each other on forums and criminal activity. There have been numerous attempts, particularly originating from authoritarian countries, to attack the internet presence of other countries firms or governments or to hack and steal state secrets. This kind of behaviour is much more likely to cause conflict than any funding of research towards bypassing censors.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a011dfb488e8379eed3aa4246ba5800c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and While most of the population may not be enraged enough by censorship to attempt to get around it this does not mean they would not benefit from having the capability to do so. Governments often intrude into social discussion, music and even games by banning them and taking down discussions. These people would be much freer if they had complete freedom of choice rather than a government controlled set of boundaries on the internet.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ffd747406dbd773c6d45972b3410c33",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Money will be spent on development anyway. However trade is often the best way to encourage growth and reductions in poverty. These technologies by making communication easier will make doing business in that country easier. Breaking through communication barriers on the internet could have much more impact than 'development' aid.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3620e24d62d7ff938a68763ce856fad3",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing secure channels is the easiest way to help dissidents and democracy activists\n\nIf democracies are to provide money to help dissidents then this option of funding research into and distributing software to defeat censors is the easiest way in which to help these dissidents. Those who are trying to exercise their freedom of speech do not want help in the form of military intervention or diplomatic representations rather they want to have the space and capacity to exercise those freedoms. The internet means that for the first time it is possible for external actors to provide that platform for freedom of speech without having to take those who wish to exercise these freedoms outside of the country that is violating those freedoms.\n\nThe internet is very important in the economies of many authoritarian regimes. In China for example there are 145 million online shoppers and the e-commerce market is worth almost $100 billion and could be worth over $300 billion by 2015. [1] As a result authoritarian regimes can’t easily just turn off the internet and ignore it so long as they want their economy to operate. As a result except in extreme cases such as North Korea or for particularly prominent dissidents who are locked up physical access to the internet is unlikely to be denied.\n\nSo long as there is physical access to the internet it will be possible to help by providing ways to avoid firewalls so that they can access information their state has banned and express opinions to both the outside world and their compatriots. It is equally important to provide ways for these people to avoid being tracked by the authorities so as to prevent retaliation against them for evading censorship. While Haystack was a failure there have been other projects that are receiving state department funding that may be more successful such as ‘InTheClear’ which provides a “panic button” app for smart phones allowing contents to be quickly erased and prewritten texts sent so having the dual effect of making it more difficult for those making the arrest to find out what the user was doing and raising the alarm that this person has been arrested. [2] This technology helps meet a clear need; Egyptian democracy activists when asked what kind of technology they needed most said they wanted safer cellphones. [3]\n\n[1] The Economist, ‘An internet with Chinese characteristics’, 20 July 2011.\n\n[2] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[3] McManus, Doyle, ‘Technology that protects protesters’, Los Angeles Times, 18 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f38ae509cfdfd867fc489b3161320573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding technologies to evade censorship could have immense benefits for very little cost\n\nMost government aid budgets are small and have numerous other important calls on their resources such as development aid. Between 2008 and 2011 the United States Congress funded the effort against internet censorship with $76 million. [1] While this may sound like a lot compared to the $168 million of aid to Liberia and $152 million to UNICEF in 2011 it is not a large commitment. [2] Yet due to the nature of the internet small investments can have immense benefits. Money spent on food aid will buy enough food to feed a limited amount of people yet if a technology is developed that allows internet users to get around censors and not be tracked then hundreds of millions would benefit. It would at the same time have the incalculable benefit of making it more difficult for authorities to track and crack down on those who are breaking the authorities’ censorship.\n\n[1] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[2] USAID, ‘Where does USAID’s Money Go?’ 30 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f4b3b9671bc2e5a41e5b091ab09dd415",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funds could be better spent on helping development\n\nAccess to the internet is not the most pressing concern that foreign aid should be used to solve. Instead aid should help the 1.4billion who live on less than a dollar a day, [1] the 216 million people infected with malaria every year, [2] or the 42 million people who have been uprooted by conflict and natural disaster. [3] Internet access while it has expanded immensely is still something that only the relatively rich have access to, not the kind of people that aid money should be spent on.\n\nFinally if money is to be spent on the internet it should not be on the issue of evading censorship but focusing on the potential economic benefits of increasing internet penetration to the poorest.\n\n[1] World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing world’, World Bank, 26 August 2008.\n\n[2] Malaria, World Health Organisation, Fact Sheet no. 94, April 2012.\n\n[3] ‘UNHCR annual report shows 42 million people uprooted worldwide’, UNHCR, 16 June 2009.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d50894fd9517e3a0dcdd725ccc24e9cc",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This will needlessly antagonise non-democratic countries\n\nThe relationships which democratic countries have with non-democratic countries are much too important to jeopradise with such interference. Democracies and non-democracies need to be able to live peacefully with each other and engage in economic contact. Having democracies supporting segments in a non-democracy’s population that is seen to be undermining the state not only sours relations but provides a direct point of contention that could potentially lead to conflict.\n\nDemocracies already show that they are aware of the conflict they create through their promotion of human rights by toning down their rhetoric in relation to the most powerful non-democratic countries. The British Council has for example invited Liu Binjie, China’s censor in chief, to lead a delegation to the London Book Fair which is celebrating Chinese Literature. [1] It is double standards to be lauding autocrats in public and yet seeking to undermine their countries through helping dissidents.\n\n[1] Jian, Ma, ‘Britain’s Cultural Kowtow’, Project Syndicate, 12 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b456551462c36a0577684c1006fc4f5",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Violation of Sovereignty\n\nSovereignty is the exercise of the fullest possible rights over a piece of territory; the state is ‘supreme authority within a territory’. [1] The sovereignty of nations has been recognised by all nations in article 2 of the UN charter. [2] Funding attempts by citizens of a nation to avoid its own government’s censorship efforts is clearly infringing upon matters that are within the domestic jurisdiction of individual states and is as such a violation of sovereignty. It is also clear that when it comes to enforcement of human rights there is a general rule should be followed that states should have the chance to solve their own internal problems domestically before there is international interference. [3]\n\nCensorship by governments can be there for the good of society; for example South Korea censors information about North Korea and forces internet users to use id cards and real names when posting on forums and blogs making them easy to trace. [4] This does not however mean that democracies should be helping South Koreans to bypass this system, South Korea as a nation has decided to place some restrictions on the use of the internet and that should be respected by other nations.\n\nIt is simply unfair and unequal to apply one set of standards to one set of nations and different standards to another. If democracies have the right to decide how their internet should operate so should non democracies. The fundamental principle of non-interference should apply to all states.\n\n[1] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.333\n\n[2] Charter of the United Nations, ‘Chapter 1: Purposes and Principles’, 1945.\n\n[3] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.202\n\n[4] The Economist, ‘Game over: A liberal, free-market democracy has some curious rules and regulations’, 14 April 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09d49a6cfc6ecabc3e30273e2045bab4",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Evading censorship is already possible and censorship does not prevent the use of the internet.\n\nProposition itself concedes that authoritarian states in the vast majority of cases are unlikely to cut off access to the internet for their population entirely. For many people the internet is not about free speech but about economic benefits. Most don’t want to protest but rather carry on inane social discussions, play computer games and listen to music. Things that even authoritarian governments are happy to occur. This money is therefore not aimed at addressing the concerns of the vast majority of netizens.\n\nThose few who are concerned are already able to find ways around censorship for example proxies can be used to access external sites. China’s censorship system may be vast but it is only 40,000 attempting to watch hundreds of millions. Even China’s censors sometimes work at cross purposes as for example where weibo censored the official Xinhua news bulletin that Bo Xilai, former party chief in Chongqing, had been stripped of his party posts. [1] During this same event for the first time the weight of discussion has shown that the censors can fail to keep up and where the mass of the public really is interested in discussing something they can. [2]\n\n[1] MacKinnon, Rebecca, ‘The Not-So-Great Firewall of China’, ForeignPolicy, 17 April 2012.\n\n[2] Pei, Minxin, ‘The Paranoid Style in Chinese Politics’, Project Syndicate, 17 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
97a31790f4c7a152f4ce09645b639919 | Funds could be better spent on helping development
Access to the internet is not the most pressing concern that foreign aid should be used to solve. Instead aid should help the 1.4billion who live on less than a dollar a day, [1] the 216 million people infected with malaria every year, [2] or the 42 million people who have been uprooted by conflict and natural disaster. [3] Internet access while it has expanded immensely is still something that only the relatively rich have access to, not the kind of people that aid money should be spent on.
Finally if money is to be spent on the internet it should not be on the issue of evading censorship but focusing on the potential economic benefits of increasing internet penetration to the poorest.
[1] World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing world’, World Bank, 26 August 2008.
[2] Malaria, World Health Organisation, Fact Sheet no. 94, April 2012.
[3] ‘UNHCR annual report shows 42 million people uprooted worldwide’, UNHCR, 16 June 2009.
| [
{
"docid": "5ffd747406dbd773c6d45972b3410c33",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Money will be spent on development anyway. However trade is often the best way to encourage growth and reductions in poverty. These technologies by making communication easier will make doing business in that country easier. Breaking through communication barriers on the internet could have much more impact than 'development' aid.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "05617aea8791dd68e418461666c881d1",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Far from being a violation of sovereignty it should be considered that the internet is a global commons that needs to be defended against the encroachment of sovereignty. As Hillary Clinton has argued “The internet has become the public space of the 21st century – the world’s town square, classroom, marketplace, coffeehouse, and nightclub. We all shape and are shaped by what happens there, all 2 billion of us and counting.” [1] This means that national sovereignty cannot be considered to apply to the internet. If one part of the internet becomes fenced off then it affects the rest of the internet as well.\n\n[1] Clinton, Hillary, ‘Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Speech on Internet Freedom *updated*’, Secretaryclinton, 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cd29e7a001dc8117c717cb37ca3d7f85",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This implies that without efforts by democracies to ‘undermine’ non democratic regimes the internet would be nice and peaceful and everyone could get on with what they like doing on the internet. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is already a significant amount of conflict on the internet both in the form of insulting each other on forums and criminal activity. There have been numerous attempts, particularly originating from authoritarian countries, to attack the internet presence of other countries firms or governments or to hack and steal state secrets. This kind of behaviour is much more likely to cause conflict than any funding of research towards bypassing censors.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a011dfb488e8379eed3aa4246ba5800c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and While most of the population may not be enraged enough by censorship to attempt to get around it this does not mean they would not benefit from having the capability to do so. Governments often intrude into social discussion, music and even games by banning them and taking down discussions. These people would be much freer if they had complete freedom of choice rather than a government controlled set of boundaries on the internet.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "12681af4a6df8a8365154bbbb106c573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing such mechanisms does not help activists and can even harm them. These activists will have few guarantees that the technology will work. Previous technologies meant to give anonymity have often not worked or else the governments will come up with ways to break them. Haystack is a good example of a technology meant to help dissidents that could have ended up causing more harm than the good it did.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "be201a1317d830c1cae6b5de3b6cb4ca",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding such technologies is unlikely to result in large benefits or will result in escalating costs. China has billions invested in its online censorship activities. Any attempt to fund ways to counter this censorship would likely become involved in an online arms race if it wanted to do more than temporary good. This could end up being a costly on-going operation with very few benefits. The money would be better spent helping the truly needy from hunger than allowing the global middle classes to exercise their freedom of speech.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f34507513600a662a551e919dc382ffd",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and That there is a right to freedom of speech does not mean that we have an obligation to make sure that everyone around the world has freedom of speech. Freedom of speech and expression is indeed a human right in the universal declaration of human rights however this is something that it is obligated for governments to uphold for their own people rather than for other countries to enforce. If governments are infringing on the freedoms of their people the correct way to counter this is through international diplomacy rather than seeking to undermine that state.\n\nThe responsibility to protect, itself controversial, was only ever meant to apply to the very worst human rights violations - such as the genocide in Rwanda. If there are massacres of civilians and all other options have failed then there may be a need to intervene to prevent more killing. However violations of freedom of speech are not something that is time dependent. Diplomacy may often take a long time but can eventually work, as is being shown in Burma's opening up\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d50894fd9517e3a0dcdd725ccc24e9cc",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This will needlessly antagonise non-democratic countries\n\nThe relationships which democratic countries have with non-democratic countries are much too important to jeopradise with such interference. Democracies and non-democracies need to be able to live peacefully with each other and engage in economic contact. Having democracies supporting segments in a non-democracy’s population that is seen to be undermining the state not only sours relations but provides a direct point of contention that could potentially lead to conflict.\n\nDemocracies already show that they are aware of the conflict they create through their promotion of human rights by toning down their rhetoric in relation to the most powerful non-democratic countries. The British Council has for example invited Liu Binjie, China’s censor in chief, to lead a delegation to the London Book Fair which is celebrating Chinese Literature. [1] It is double standards to be lauding autocrats in public and yet seeking to undermine their countries through helping dissidents.\n\n[1] Jian, Ma, ‘Britain’s Cultural Kowtow’, Project Syndicate, 12 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b456551462c36a0577684c1006fc4f5",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Violation of Sovereignty\n\nSovereignty is the exercise of the fullest possible rights over a piece of territory; the state is ‘supreme authority within a territory’. [1] The sovereignty of nations has been recognised by all nations in article 2 of the UN charter. [2] Funding attempts by citizens of a nation to avoid its own government’s censorship efforts is clearly infringing upon matters that are within the domestic jurisdiction of individual states and is as such a violation of sovereignty. It is also clear that when it comes to enforcement of human rights there is a general rule should be followed that states should have the chance to solve their own internal problems domestically before there is international interference. [3]\n\nCensorship by governments can be there for the good of society; for example South Korea censors information about North Korea and forces internet users to use id cards and real names when posting on forums and blogs making them easy to trace. [4] This does not however mean that democracies should be helping South Koreans to bypass this system, South Korea as a nation has decided to place some restrictions on the use of the internet and that should be respected by other nations.\n\nIt is simply unfair and unequal to apply one set of standards to one set of nations and different standards to another. If democracies have the right to decide how their internet should operate so should non democracies. The fundamental principle of non-interference should apply to all states.\n\n[1] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.333\n\n[2] Charter of the United Nations, ‘Chapter 1: Purposes and Principles’, 1945.\n\n[3] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.202\n\n[4] The Economist, ‘Game over: A liberal, free-market democracy has some curious rules and regulations’, 14 April 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09d49a6cfc6ecabc3e30273e2045bab4",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Evading censorship is already possible and censorship does not prevent the use of the internet.\n\nProposition itself concedes that authoritarian states in the vast majority of cases are unlikely to cut off access to the internet for their population entirely. For many people the internet is not about free speech but about economic benefits. Most don’t want to protest but rather carry on inane social discussions, play computer games and listen to music. Things that even authoritarian governments are happy to occur. This money is therefore not aimed at addressing the concerns of the vast majority of netizens.\n\nThose few who are concerned are already able to find ways around censorship for example proxies can be used to access external sites. China’s censorship system may be vast but it is only 40,000 attempting to watch hundreds of millions. Even China’s censors sometimes work at cross purposes as for example where weibo censored the official Xinhua news bulletin that Bo Xilai, former party chief in Chongqing, had been stripped of his party posts. [1] During this same event for the first time the weight of discussion has shown that the censors can fail to keep up and where the mass of the public really is interested in discussing something they can. [2]\n\n[1] MacKinnon, Rebecca, ‘The Not-So-Great Firewall of China’, ForeignPolicy, 17 April 2012.\n\n[2] Pei, Minxin, ‘The Paranoid Style in Chinese Politics’, Project Syndicate, 17 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3620e24d62d7ff938a68763ce856fad3",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing secure channels is the easiest way to help dissidents and democracy activists\n\nIf democracies are to provide money to help dissidents then this option of funding research into and distributing software to defeat censors is the easiest way in which to help these dissidents. Those who are trying to exercise their freedom of speech do not want help in the form of military intervention or diplomatic representations rather they want to have the space and capacity to exercise those freedoms. The internet means that for the first time it is possible for external actors to provide that platform for freedom of speech without having to take those who wish to exercise these freedoms outside of the country that is violating those freedoms.\n\nThe internet is very important in the economies of many authoritarian regimes. In China for example there are 145 million online shoppers and the e-commerce market is worth almost $100 billion and could be worth over $300 billion by 2015. [1] As a result authoritarian regimes can’t easily just turn off the internet and ignore it so long as they want their economy to operate. As a result except in extreme cases such as North Korea or for particularly prominent dissidents who are locked up physical access to the internet is unlikely to be denied.\n\nSo long as there is physical access to the internet it will be possible to help by providing ways to avoid firewalls so that they can access information their state has banned and express opinions to both the outside world and their compatriots. It is equally important to provide ways for these people to avoid being tracked by the authorities so as to prevent retaliation against them for evading censorship. While Haystack was a failure there have been other projects that are receiving state department funding that may be more successful such as ‘InTheClear’ which provides a “panic button” app for smart phones allowing contents to be quickly erased and prewritten texts sent so having the dual effect of making it more difficult for those making the arrest to find out what the user was doing and raising the alarm that this person has been arrested. [2] This technology helps meet a clear need; Egyptian democracy activists when asked what kind of technology they needed most said they wanted safer cellphones. [3]\n\n[1] The Economist, ‘An internet with Chinese characteristics’, 20 July 2011.\n\n[2] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[3] McManus, Doyle, ‘Technology that protects protesters’, Los Angeles Times, 18 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f38ae509cfdfd867fc489b3161320573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding technologies to evade censorship could have immense benefits for very little cost\n\nMost government aid budgets are small and have numerous other important calls on their resources such as development aid. Between 2008 and 2011 the United States Congress funded the effort against internet censorship with $76 million. [1] While this may sound like a lot compared to the $168 million of aid to Liberia and $152 million to UNICEF in 2011 it is not a large commitment. [2] Yet due to the nature of the internet small investments can have immense benefits. Money spent on food aid will buy enough food to feed a limited amount of people yet if a technology is developed that allows internet users to get around censors and not be tracked then hundreds of millions would benefit. It would at the same time have the incalculable benefit of making it more difficult for authorities to track and crack down on those who are breaking the authorities’ censorship.\n\n[1] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[2] USAID, ‘Where does USAID’s Money Go?’ 30 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "54e6a4634f20e84013c4c52c8466118c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and We all have an obligation to help maintain freedom of speech.\n\nArticle 19 of the universal declaration of human rights defines freedom of speech as “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” [1] It is something innate in humans to have opinions and to want to express them to others and within a few limits governments have a duty to allow this freedom of expression. Where governments are not allowing this freedom of information this affects not only those whose opinions are being suppressed but those who cannot hear their opinions. The right to the freedom to receive and seek this information is just as important as the right to voice these opinions. Moreover as stated in Article 19 this is “regardless of frontiers”; those outside a country have just as much right to hear these opinions as those inside.\n\nGovernment aid programs from democracies in Western Europe and America are already concerned with promoting human rights including freedom of speech. Australia’s aid program for example has a Human Rights Fund of $6.5 million per year that provides grants to among other things “educate and/or train human rights victims, workers or defenders”. [2] Enabling victims of human rights abuse to get around their government’s censorship is the obvious next step.\n\nThe concept of the ‘responsibility to protect’ introduced by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty in 2001 provided that when governments were unable or unwilling to protect their own citizens then that responsibility devolves to the international community and may ultimately lead to military action for particularly gross violations. This responsibility to react should be “with appropriate measures” [3] and for the breach of the human right of freedom of expression providing a method to enable those whose freedom of expression/speech is being violated to exercise this right is the most appropriate and proportional response.\n\n[1] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘Article 19’, 1946.\n\n[2] AusAID, ‘Human rights and Australia’s aid program’, Australian Government, 22 February 2012.\n\n[3] Evans, Garath and Mohamed Sahnoun Chair’s, ‘The Responsibility to Protect’, International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, International Development Research Center, December 2001, p.XI.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
2cf2a80c762184b07defbbea77137802 | This will needlessly antagonise non-democratic countries
The relationships which democratic countries have with non-democratic countries are much too important to jeopradise with such interference. Democracies and non-democracies need to be able to live peacefully with each other and engage in economic contact. Having democracies supporting segments in a non-democracy’s population that is seen to be undermining the state not only sours relations but provides a direct point of contention that could potentially lead to conflict.
Democracies already show that they are aware of the conflict they create through their promotion of human rights by toning down their rhetoric in relation to the most powerful non-democratic countries. The British Council has for example invited Liu Binjie, China’s censor in chief, to lead a delegation to the London Book Fair which is celebrating Chinese Literature. [1] It is double standards to be lauding autocrats in public and yet seeking to undermine their countries through helping dissidents.
[1] Jian, Ma, ‘Britain’s Cultural Kowtow’, Project Syndicate, 12 April 2012.
| [
{
"docid": "cd29e7a001dc8117c717cb37ca3d7f85",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This implies that without efforts by democracies to ‘undermine’ non democratic regimes the internet would be nice and peaceful and everyone could get on with what they like doing on the internet. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is already a significant amount of conflict on the internet both in the form of insulting each other on forums and criminal activity. There have been numerous attempts, particularly originating from authoritarian countries, to attack the internet presence of other countries firms or governments or to hack and steal state secrets. This kind of behaviour is much more likely to cause conflict than any funding of research towards bypassing censors.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "05617aea8791dd68e418461666c881d1",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Far from being a violation of sovereignty it should be considered that the internet is a global commons that needs to be defended against the encroachment of sovereignty. As Hillary Clinton has argued “The internet has become the public space of the 21st century – the world’s town square, classroom, marketplace, coffeehouse, and nightclub. We all shape and are shaped by what happens there, all 2 billion of us and counting.” [1] This means that national sovereignty cannot be considered to apply to the internet. If one part of the internet becomes fenced off then it affects the rest of the internet as well.\n\n[1] Clinton, Hillary, ‘Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Speech on Internet Freedom *updated*’, Secretaryclinton, 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a011dfb488e8379eed3aa4246ba5800c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and While most of the population may not be enraged enough by censorship to attempt to get around it this does not mean they would not benefit from having the capability to do so. Governments often intrude into social discussion, music and even games by banning them and taking down discussions. These people would be much freer if they had complete freedom of choice rather than a government controlled set of boundaries on the internet.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ffd747406dbd773c6d45972b3410c33",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Money will be spent on development anyway. However trade is often the best way to encourage growth and reductions in poverty. These technologies by making communication easier will make doing business in that country easier. Breaking through communication barriers on the internet could have much more impact than 'development' aid.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "12681af4a6df8a8365154bbbb106c573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing such mechanisms does not help activists and can even harm them. These activists will have few guarantees that the technology will work. Previous technologies meant to give anonymity have often not worked or else the governments will come up with ways to break them. Haystack is a good example of a technology meant to help dissidents that could have ended up causing more harm than the good it did.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "be201a1317d830c1cae6b5de3b6cb4ca",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding such technologies is unlikely to result in large benefits or will result in escalating costs. China has billions invested in its online censorship activities. Any attempt to fund ways to counter this censorship would likely become involved in an online arms race if it wanted to do more than temporary good. This could end up being a costly on-going operation with very few benefits. The money would be better spent helping the truly needy from hunger than allowing the global middle classes to exercise their freedom of speech.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f34507513600a662a551e919dc382ffd",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and That there is a right to freedom of speech does not mean that we have an obligation to make sure that everyone around the world has freedom of speech. Freedom of speech and expression is indeed a human right in the universal declaration of human rights however this is something that it is obligated for governments to uphold for their own people rather than for other countries to enforce. If governments are infringing on the freedoms of their people the correct way to counter this is through international diplomacy rather than seeking to undermine that state.\n\nThe responsibility to protect, itself controversial, was only ever meant to apply to the very worst human rights violations - such as the genocide in Rwanda. If there are massacres of civilians and all other options have failed then there may be a need to intervene to prevent more killing. However violations of freedom of speech are not something that is time dependent. Diplomacy may often take a long time but can eventually work, as is being shown in Burma's opening up\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f4b3b9671bc2e5a41e5b091ab09dd415",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funds could be better spent on helping development\n\nAccess to the internet is not the most pressing concern that foreign aid should be used to solve. Instead aid should help the 1.4billion who live on less than a dollar a day, [1] the 216 million people infected with malaria every year, [2] or the 42 million people who have been uprooted by conflict and natural disaster. [3] Internet access while it has expanded immensely is still something that only the relatively rich have access to, not the kind of people that aid money should be spent on.\n\nFinally if money is to be spent on the internet it should not be on the issue of evading censorship but focusing on the potential economic benefits of increasing internet penetration to the poorest.\n\n[1] World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing world’, World Bank, 26 August 2008.\n\n[2] Malaria, World Health Organisation, Fact Sheet no. 94, April 2012.\n\n[3] ‘UNHCR annual report shows 42 million people uprooted worldwide’, UNHCR, 16 June 2009.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b456551462c36a0577684c1006fc4f5",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Violation of Sovereignty\n\nSovereignty is the exercise of the fullest possible rights over a piece of territory; the state is ‘supreme authority within a territory’. [1] The sovereignty of nations has been recognised by all nations in article 2 of the UN charter. [2] Funding attempts by citizens of a nation to avoid its own government’s censorship efforts is clearly infringing upon matters that are within the domestic jurisdiction of individual states and is as such a violation of sovereignty. It is also clear that when it comes to enforcement of human rights there is a general rule should be followed that states should have the chance to solve their own internal problems domestically before there is international interference. [3]\n\nCensorship by governments can be there for the good of society; for example South Korea censors information about North Korea and forces internet users to use id cards and real names when posting on forums and blogs making them easy to trace. [4] This does not however mean that democracies should be helping South Koreans to bypass this system, South Korea as a nation has decided to place some restrictions on the use of the internet and that should be respected by other nations.\n\nIt is simply unfair and unequal to apply one set of standards to one set of nations and different standards to another. If democracies have the right to decide how their internet should operate so should non democracies. The fundamental principle of non-interference should apply to all states.\n\n[1] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.333\n\n[2] Charter of the United Nations, ‘Chapter 1: Purposes and Principles’, 1945.\n\n[3] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.202\n\n[4] The Economist, ‘Game over: A liberal, free-market democracy has some curious rules and regulations’, 14 April 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09d49a6cfc6ecabc3e30273e2045bab4",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Evading censorship is already possible and censorship does not prevent the use of the internet.\n\nProposition itself concedes that authoritarian states in the vast majority of cases are unlikely to cut off access to the internet for their population entirely. For many people the internet is not about free speech but about economic benefits. Most don’t want to protest but rather carry on inane social discussions, play computer games and listen to music. Things that even authoritarian governments are happy to occur. This money is therefore not aimed at addressing the concerns of the vast majority of netizens.\n\nThose few who are concerned are already able to find ways around censorship for example proxies can be used to access external sites. China’s censorship system may be vast but it is only 40,000 attempting to watch hundreds of millions. Even China’s censors sometimes work at cross purposes as for example where weibo censored the official Xinhua news bulletin that Bo Xilai, former party chief in Chongqing, had been stripped of his party posts. [1] During this same event for the first time the weight of discussion has shown that the censors can fail to keep up and where the mass of the public really is interested in discussing something they can. [2]\n\n[1] MacKinnon, Rebecca, ‘The Not-So-Great Firewall of China’, ForeignPolicy, 17 April 2012.\n\n[2] Pei, Minxin, ‘The Paranoid Style in Chinese Politics’, Project Syndicate, 17 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3620e24d62d7ff938a68763ce856fad3",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing secure channels is the easiest way to help dissidents and democracy activists\n\nIf democracies are to provide money to help dissidents then this option of funding research into and distributing software to defeat censors is the easiest way in which to help these dissidents. Those who are trying to exercise their freedom of speech do not want help in the form of military intervention or diplomatic representations rather they want to have the space and capacity to exercise those freedoms. The internet means that for the first time it is possible for external actors to provide that platform for freedom of speech without having to take those who wish to exercise these freedoms outside of the country that is violating those freedoms.\n\nThe internet is very important in the economies of many authoritarian regimes. In China for example there are 145 million online shoppers and the e-commerce market is worth almost $100 billion and could be worth over $300 billion by 2015. [1] As a result authoritarian regimes can’t easily just turn off the internet and ignore it so long as they want their economy to operate. As a result except in extreme cases such as North Korea or for particularly prominent dissidents who are locked up physical access to the internet is unlikely to be denied.\n\nSo long as there is physical access to the internet it will be possible to help by providing ways to avoid firewalls so that they can access information their state has banned and express opinions to both the outside world and their compatriots. It is equally important to provide ways for these people to avoid being tracked by the authorities so as to prevent retaliation against them for evading censorship. While Haystack was a failure there have been other projects that are receiving state department funding that may be more successful such as ‘InTheClear’ which provides a “panic button” app for smart phones allowing contents to be quickly erased and prewritten texts sent so having the dual effect of making it more difficult for those making the arrest to find out what the user was doing and raising the alarm that this person has been arrested. [2] This technology helps meet a clear need; Egyptian democracy activists when asked what kind of technology they needed most said they wanted safer cellphones. [3]\n\n[1] The Economist, ‘An internet with Chinese characteristics’, 20 July 2011.\n\n[2] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[3] McManus, Doyle, ‘Technology that protects protesters’, Los Angeles Times, 18 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f38ae509cfdfd867fc489b3161320573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding technologies to evade censorship could have immense benefits for very little cost\n\nMost government aid budgets are small and have numerous other important calls on their resources such as development aid. Between 2008 and 2011 the United States Congress funded the effort against internet censorship with $76 million. [1] While this may sound like a lot compared to the $168 million of aid to Liberia and $152 million to UNICEF in 2011 it is not a large commitment. [2] Yet due to the nature of the internet small investments can have immense benefits. Money spent on food aid will buy enough food to feed a limited amount of people yet if a technology is developed that allows internet users to get around censors and not be tracked then hundreds of millions would benefit. It would at the same time have the incalculable benefit of making it more difficult for authorities to track and crack down on those who are breaking the authorities’ censorship.\n\n[1] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[2] USAID, ‘Where does USAID’s Money Go?’ 30 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "54e6a4634f20e84013c4c52c8466118c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and We all have an obligation to help maintain freedom of speech.\n\nArticle 19 of the universal declaration of human rights defines freedom of speech as “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” [1] It is something innate in humans to have opinions and to want to express them to others and within a few limits governments have a duty to allow this freedom of expression. Where governments are not allowing this freedom of information this affects not only those whose opinions are being suppressed but those who cannot hear their opinions. The right to the freedom to receive and seek this information is just as important as the right to voice these opinions. Moreover as stated in Article 19 this is “regardless of frontiers”; those outside a country have just as much right to hear these opinions as those inside.\n\nGovernment aid programs from democracies in Western Europe and America are already concerned with promoting human rights including freedom of speech. Australia’s aid program for example has a Human Rights Fund of $6.5 million per year that provides grants to among other things “educate and/or train human rights victims, workers or defenders”. [2] Enabling victims of human rights abuse to get around their government’s censorship is the obvious next step.\n\nThe concept of the ‘responsibility to protect’ introduced by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty in 2001 provided that when governments were unable or unwilling to protect their own citizens then that responsibility devolves to the international community and may ultimately lead to military action for particularly gross violations. This responsibility to react should be “with appropriate measures” [3] and for the breach of the human right of freedom of expression providing a method to enable those whose freedom of expression/speech is being violated to exercise this right is the most appropriate and proportional response.\n\n[1] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘Article 19’, 1946.\n\n[2] AusAID, ‘Human rights and Australia’s aid program’, Australian Government, 22 February 2012.\n\n[3] Evans, Garath and Mohamed Sahnoun Chair’s, ‘The Responsibility to Protect’, International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, International Development Research Center, December 2001, p.XI.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
2462d383cc7f030a6b24920bb9aec5e4 | Violation of Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the exercise of the fullest possible rights over a piece of territory; the state is ‘supreme authority within a territory’. [1] The sovereignty of nations has been recognised by all nations in article 2 of the UN charter. [2] Funding attempts by citizens of a nation to avoid its own government’s censorship efforts is clearly infringing upon matters that are within the domestic jurisdiction of individual states and is as such a violation of sovereignty. It is also clear that when it comes to enforcement of human rights there is a general rule should be followed that states should have the chance to solve their own internal problems domestically before there is international interference. [3]
Censorship by governments can be there for the good of society; for example South Korea censors information about North Korea and forces internet users to use id cards and real names when posting on forums and blogs making them easy to trace. [4] This does not however mean that democracies should be helping South Koreans to bypass this system, South Korea as a nation has decided to place some restrictions on the use of the internet and that should be respected by other nations.
It is simply unfair and unequal to apply one set of standards to one set of nations and different standards to another. If democracies have the right to decide how their internet should operate so should non democracies. The fundamental principle of non-interference should apply to all states.
[1] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.333
[2] Charter of the United Nations, ‘Chapter 1: Purposes and Principles’, 1945.
[3] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.202
[4] The Economist, ‘Game over: A liberal, free-market democracy has some curious rules and regulations’, 14 April 2011.
| [
{
"docid": "05617aea8791dd68e418461666c881d1",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Far from being a violation of sovereignty it should be considered that the internet is a global commons that needs to be defended against the encroachment of sovereignty. As Hillary Clinton has argued “The internet has become the public space of the 21st century – the world’s town square, classroom, marketplace, coffeehouse, and nightclub. We all shape and are shaped by what happens there, all 2 billion of us and counting.” [1] This means that national sovereignty cannot be considered to apply to the internet. If one part of the internet becomes fenced off then it affects the rest of the internet as well.\n\n[1] Clinton, Hillary, ‘Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Speech on Internet Freedom *updated*’, Secretaryclinton, 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "cd29e7a001dc8117c717cb37ca3d7f85",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This implies that without efforts by democracies to ‘undermine’ non democratic regimes the internet would be nice and peaceful and everyone could get on with what they like doing on the internet. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is already a significant amount of conflict on the internet both in the form of insulting each other on forums and criminal activity. There have been numerous attempts, particularly originating from authoritarian countries, to attack the internet presence of other countries firms or governments or to hack and steal state secrets. This kind of behaviour is much more likely to cause conflict than any funding of research towards bypassing censors.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a011dfb488e8379eed3aa4246ba5800c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and While most of the population may not be enraged enough by censorship to attempt to get around it this does not mean they would not benefit from having the capability to do so. Governments often intrude into social discussion, music and even games by banning them and taking down discussions. These people would be much freer if they had complete freedom of choice rather than a government controlled set of boundaries on the internet.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ffd747406dbd773c6d45972b3410c33",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Money will be spent on development anyway. However trade is often the best way to encourage growth and reductions in poverty. These technologies by making communication easier will make doing business in that country easier. Breaking through communication barriers on the internet could have much more impact than 'development' aid.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "12681af4a6df8a8365154bbbb106c573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing such mechanisms does not help activists and can even harm them. These activists will have few guarantees that the technology will work. Previous technologies meant to give anonymity have often not worked or else the governments will come up with ways to break them. Haystack is a good example of a technology meant to help dissidents that could have ended up causing more harm than the good it did.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "be201a1317d830c1cae6b5de3b6cb4ca",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding such technologies is unlikely to result in large benefits or will result in escalating costs. China has billions invested in its online censorship activities. Any attempt to fund ways to counter this censorship would likely become involved in an online arms race if it wanted to do more than temporary good. This could end up being a costly on-going operation with very few benefits. The money would be better spent helping the truly needy from hunger than allowing the global middle classes to exercise their freedom of speech.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f34507513600a662a551e919dc382ffd",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and That there is a right to freedom of speech does not mean that we have an obligation to make sure that everyone around the world has freedom of speech. Freedom of speech and expression is indeed a human right in the universal declaration of human rights however this is something that it is obligated for governments to uphold for their own people rather than for other countries to enforce. If governments are infringing on the freedoms of their people the correct way to counter this is through international diplomacy rather than seeking to undermine that state.\n\nThe responsibility to protect, itself controversial, was only ever meant to apply to the very worst human rights violations - such as the genocide in Rwanda. If there are massacres of civilians and all other options have failed then there may be a need to intervene to prevent more killing. However violations of freedom of speech are not something that is time dependent. Diplomacy may often take a long time but can eventually work, as is being shown in Burma's opening up\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f4b3b9671bc2e5a41e5b091ab09dd415",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funds could be better spent on helping development\n\nAccess to the internet is not the most pressing concern that foreign aid should be used to solve. Instead aid should help the 1.4billion who live on less than a dollar a day, [1] the 216 million people infected with malaria every year, [2] or the 42 million people who have been uprooted by conflict and natural disaster. [3] Internet access while it has expanded immensely is still something that only the relatively rich have access to, not the kind of people that aid money should be spent on.\n\nFinally if money is to be spent on the internet it should not be on the issue of evading censorship but focusing on the potential economic benefits of increasing internet penetration to the poorest.\n\n[1] World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing world’, World Bank, 26 August 2008.\n\n[2] Malaria, World Health Organisation, Fact Sheet no. 94, April 2012.\n\n[3] ‘UNHCR annual report shows 42 million people uprooted worldwide’, UNHCR, 16 June 2009.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d50894fd9517e3a0dcdd725ccc24e9cc",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This will needlessly antagonise non-democratic countries\n\nThe relationships which democratic countries have with non-democratic countries are much too important to jeopradise with such interference. Democracies and non-democracies need to be able to live peacefully with each other and engage in economic contact. Having democracies supporting segments in a non-democracy’s population that is seen to be undermining the state not only sours relations but provides a direct point of contention that could potentially lead to conflict.\n\nDemocracies already show that they are aware of the conflict they create through their promotion of human rights by toning down their rhetoric in relation to the most powerful non-democratic countries. The British Council has for example invited Liu Binjie, China’s censor in chief, to lead a delegation to the London Book Fair which is celebrating Chinese Literature. [1] It is double standards to be lauding autocrats in public and yet seeking to undermine their countries through helping dissidents.\n\n[1] Jian, Ma, ‘Britain’s Cultural Kowtow’, Project Syndicate, 12 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09d49a6cfc6ecabc3e30273e2045bab4",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Evading censorship is already possible and censorship does not prevent the use of the internet.\n\nProposition itself concedes that authoritarian states in the vast majority of cases are unlikely to cut off access to the internet for their population entirely. For many people the internet is not about free speech but about economic benefits. Most don’t want to protest but rather carry on inane social discussions, play computer games and listen to music. Things that even authoritarian governments are happy to occur. This money is therefore not aimed at addressing the concerns of the vast majority of netizens.\n\nThose few who are concerned are already able to find ways around censorship for example proxies can be used to access external sites. China’s censorship system may be vast but it is only 40,000 attempting to watch hundreds of millions. Even China’s censors sometimes work at cross purposes as for example where weibo censored the official Xinhua news bulletin that Bo Xilai, former party chief in Chongqing, had been stripped of his party posts. [1] During this same event for the first time the weight of discussion has shown that the censors can fail to keep up and where the mass of the public really is interested in discussing something they can. [2]\n\n[1] MacKinnon, Rebecca, ‘The Not-So-Great Firewall of China’, ForeignPolicy, 17 April 2012.\n\n[2] Pei, Minxin, ‘The Paranoid Style in Chinese Politics’, Project Syndicate, 17 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3620e24d62d7ff938a68763ce856fad3",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing secure channels is the easiest way to help dissidents and democracy activists\n\nIf democracies are to provide money to help dissidents then this option of funding research into and distributing software to defeat censors is the easiest way in which to help these dissidents. Those who are trying to exercise their freedom of speech do not want help in the form of military intervention or diplomatic representations rather they want to have the space and capacity to exercise those freedoms. The internet means that for the first time it is possible for external actors to provide that platform for freedom of speech without having to take those who wish to exercise these freedoms outside of the country that is violating those freedoms.\n\nThe internet is very important in the economies of many authoritarian regimes. In China for example there are 145 million online shoppers and the e-commerce market is worth almost $100 billion and could be worth over $300 billion by 2015. [1] As a result authoritarian regimes can’t easily just turn off the internet and ignore it so long as they want their economy to operate. As a result except in extreme cases such as North Korea or for particularly prominent dissidents who are locked up physical access to the internet is unlikely to be denied.\n\nSo long as there is physical access to the internet it will be possible to help by providing ways to avoid firewalls so that they can access information their state has banned and express opinions to both the outside world and their compatriots. It is equally important to provide ways for these people to avoid being tracked by the authorities so as to prevent retaliation against them for evading censorship. While Haystack was a failure there have been other projects that are receiving state department funding that may be more successful such as ‘InTheClear’ which provides a “panic button” app for smart phones allowing contents to be quickly erased and prewritten texts sent so having the dual effect of making it more difficult for those making the arrest to find out what the user was doing and raising the alarm that this person has been arrested. [2] This technology helps meet a clear need; Egyptian democracy activists when asked what kind of technology they needed most said they wanted safer cellphones. [3]\n\n[1] The Economist, ‘An internet with Chinese characteristics’, 20 July 2011.\n\n[2] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[3] McManus, Doyle, ‘Technology that protects protesters’, Los Angeles Times, 18 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f38ae509cfdfd867fc489b3161320573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding technologies to evade censorship could have immense benefits for very little cost\n\nMost government aid budgets are small and have numerous other important calls on their resources such as development aid. Between 2008 and 2011 the United States Congress funded the effort against internet censorship with $76 million. [1] While this may sound like a lot compared to the $168 million of aid to Liberia and $152 million to UNICEF in 2011 it is not a large commitment. [2] Yet due to the nature of the internet small investments can have immense benefits. Money spent on food aid will buy enough food to feed a limited amount of people yet if a technology is developed that allows internet users to get around censors and not be tracked then hundreds of millions would benefit. It would at the same time have the incalculable benefit of making it more difficult for authorities to track and crack down on those who are breaking the authorities’ censorship.\n\n[1] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[2] USAID, ‘Where does USAID’s Money Go?’ 30 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "54e6a4634f20e84013c4c52c8466118c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and We all have an obligation to help maintain freedom of speech.\n\nArticle 19 of the universal declaration of human rights defines freedom of speech as “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” [1] It is something innate in humans to have opinions and to want to express them to others and within a few limits governments have a duty to allow this freedom of expression. Where governments are not allowing this freedom of information this affects not only those whose opinions are being suppressed but those who cannot hear their opinions. The right to the freedom to receive and seek this information is just as important as the right to voice these opinions. Moreover as stated in Article 19 this is “regardless of frontiers”; those outside a country have just as much right to hear these opinions as those inside.\n\nGovernment aid programs from democracies in Western Europe and America are already concerned with promoting human rights including freedom of speech. Australia’s aid program for example has a Human Rights Fund of $6.5 million per year that provides grants to among other things “educate and/or train human rights victims, workers or defenders”. [2] Enabling victims of human rights abuse to get around their government’s censorship is the obvious next step.\n\nThe concept of the ‘responsibility to protect’ introduced by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty in 2001 provided that when governments were unable or unwilling to protect their own citizens then that responsibility devolves to the international community and may ultimately lead to military action for particularly gross violations. This responsibility to react should be “with appropriate measures” [3] and for the breach of the human right of freedom of expression providing a method to enable those whose freedom of expression/speech is being violated to exercise this right is the most appropriate and proportional response.\n\n[1] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘Article 19’, 1946.\n\n[2] AusAID, ‘Human rights and Australia’s aid program’, Australian Government, 22 February 2012.\n\n[3] Evans, Garath and Mohamed Sahnoun Chair’s, ‘The Responsibility to Protect’, International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, International Development Research Center, December 2001, p.XI.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
6e92eac9ed18e3ec4c0fc98696f19b2f | Evading censorship is already possible and censorship does not prevent the use of the internet.
Proposition itself concedes that authoritarian states in the vast majority of cases are unlikely to cut off access to the internet for their population entirely. For many people the internet is not about free speech but about economic benefits. Most don’t want to protest but rather carry on inane social discussions, play computer games and listen to music. Things that even authoritarian governments are happy to occur. This money is therefore not aimed at addressing the concerns of the vast majority of netizens.
Those few who are concerned are already able to find ways around censorship for example proxies can be used to access external sites. China’s censorship system may be vast but it is only 40,000 attempting to watch hundreds of millions. Even China’s censors sometimes work at cross purposes as for example where weibo censored the official Xinhua news bulletin that Bo Xilai, former party chief in Chongqing, had been stripped of his party posts. [1] During this same event for the first time the weight of discussion has shown that the censors can fail to keep up and where the mass of the public really is interested in discussing something they can. [2]
[1] MacKinnon, Rebecca, ‘The Not-So-Great Firewall of China’, ForeignPolicy, 17 April 2012.
[2] Pei, Minxin, ‘The Paranoid Style in Chinese Politics’, Project Syndicate, 17 April 2012.
| [
{
"docid": "a011dfb488e8379eed3aa4246ba5800c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and While most of the population may not be enraged enough by censorship to attempt to get around it this does not mean they would not benefit from having the capability to do so. Governments often intrude into social discussion, music and even games by banning them and taking down discussions. These people would be much freer if they had complete freedom of choice rather than a government controlled set of boundaries on the internet.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "05617aea8791dd68e418461666c881d1",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Far from being a violation of sovereignty it should be considered that the internet is a global commons that needs to be defended against the encroachment of sovereignty. As Hillary Clinton has argued “The internet has become the public space of the 21st century – the world’s town square, classroom, marketplace, coffeehouse, and nightclub. We all shape and are shaped by what happens there, all 2 billion of us and counting.” [1] This means that national sovereignty cannot be considered to apply to the internet. If one part of the internet becomes fenced off then it affects the rest of the internet as well.\n\n[1] Clinton, Hillary, ‘Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Speech on Internet Freedom *updated*’, Secretaryclinton, 15 February 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cd29e7a001dc8117c717cb37ca3d7f85",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This implies that without efforts by democracies to ‘undermine’ non democratic regimes the internet would be nice and peaceful and everyone could get on with what they like doing on the internet. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is already a significant amount of conflict on the internet both in the form of insulting each other on forums and criminal activity. There have been numerous attempts, particularly originating from authoritarian countries, to attack the internet presence of other countries firms or governments or to hack and steal state secrets. This kind of behaviour is much more likely to cause conflict than any funding of research towards bypassing censors.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ffd747406dbd773c6d45972b3410c33",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Money will be spent on development anyway. However trade is often the best way to encourage growth and reductions in poverty. These technologies by making communication easier will make doing business in that country easier. Breaking through communication barriers on the internet could have much more impact than 'development' aid.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "12681af4a6df8a8365154bbbb106c573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing such mechanisms does not help activists and can even harm them. These activists will have few guarantees that the technology will work. Previous technologies meant to give anonymity have often not worked or else the governments will come up with ways to break them. Haystack is a good example of a technology meant to help dissidents that could have ended up causing more harm than the good it did.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "be201a1317d830c1cae6b5de3b6cb4ca",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding such technologies is unlikely to result in large benefits or will result in escalating costs. China has billions invested in its online censorship activities. Any attempt to fund ways to counter this censorship would likely become involved in an online arms race if it wanted to do more than temporary good. This could end up being a costly on-going operation with very few benefits. The money would be better spent helping the truly needy from hunger than allowing the global middle classes to exercise their freedom of speech.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f34507513600a662a551e919dc382ffd",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and That there is a right to freedom of speech does not mean that we have an obligation to make sure that everyone around the world has freedom of speech. Freedom of speech and expression is indeed a human right in the universal declaration of human rights however this is something that it is obligated for governments to uphold for their own people rather than for other countries to enforce. If governments are infringing on the freedoms of their people the correct way to counter this is through international diplomacy rather than seeking to undermine that state.\n\nThe responsibility to protect, itself controversial, was only ever meant to apply to the very worst human rights violations - such as the genocide in Rwanda. If there are massacres of civilians and all other options have failed then there may be a need to intervene to prevent more killing. However violations of freedom of speech are not something that is time dependent. Diplomacy may often take a long time but can eventually work, as is being shown in Burma's opening up\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f4b3b9671bc2e5a41e5b091ab09dd415",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funds could be better spent on helping development\n\nAccess to the internet is not the most pressing concern that foreign aid should be used to solve. Instead aid should help the 1.4billion who live on less than a dollar a day, [1] the 216 million people infected with malaria every year, [2] or the 42 million people who have been uprooted by conflict and natural disaster. [3] Internet access while it has expanded immensely is still something that only the relatively rich have access to, not the kind of people that aid money should be spent on.\n\nFinally if money is to be spent on the internet it should not be on the issue of evading censorship but focusing on the potential economic benefits of increasing internet penetration to the poorest.\n\n[1] World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing world’, World Bank, 26 August 2008.\n\n[2] Malaria, World Health Organisation, Fact Sheet no. 94, April 2012.\n\n[3] ‘UNHCR annual report shows 42 million people uprooted worldwide’, UNHCR, 16 June 2009.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "d50894fd9517e3a0dcdd725ccc24e9cc",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and This will needlessly antagonise non-democratic countries\n\nThe relationships which democratic countries have with non-democratic countries are much too important to jeopradise with such interference. Democracies and non-democracies need to be able to live peacefully with each other and engage in economic contact. Having democracies supporting segments in a non-democracy’s population that is seen to be undermining the state not only sours relations but provides a direct point of contention that could potentially lead to conflict.\n\nDemocracies already show that they are aware of the conflict they create through their promotion of human rights by toning down their rhetoric in relation to the most powerful non-democratic countries. The British Council has for example invited Liu Binjie, China’s censor in chief, to lead a delegation to the London Book Fair which is celebrating Chinese Literature. [1] It is double standards to be lauding autocrats in public and yet seeking to undermine their countries through helping dissidents.\n\n[1] Jian, Ma, ‘Britain’s Cultural Kowtow’, Project Syndicate, 12 April 2012.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7b456551462c36a0577684c1006fc4f5",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Violation of Sovereignty\n\nSovereignty is the exercise of the fullest possible rights over a piece of territory; the state is ‘supreme authority within a territory’. [1] The sovereignty of nations has been recognised by all nations in article 2 of the UN charter. [2] Funding attempts by citizens of a nation to avoid its own government’s censorship efforts is clearly infringing upon matters that are within the domestic jurisdiction of individual states and is as such a violation of sovereignty. It is also clear that when it comes to enforcement of human rights there is a general rule should be followed that states should have the chance to solve their own internal problems domestically before there is international interference. [3]\n\nCensorship by governments can be there for the good of society; for example South Korea censors information about North Korea and forces internet users to use id cards and real names when posting on forums and blogs making them easy to trace. [4] This does not however mean that democracies should be helping South Koreans to bypass this system, South Korea as a nation has decided to place some restrictions on the use of the internet and that should be respected by other nations.\n\nIt is simply unfair and unequal to apply one set of standards to one set of nations and different standards to another. If democracies have the right to decide how their internet should operate so should non democracies. The fundamental principle of non-interference should apply to all states.\n\n[1] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.333\n\n[2] Charter of the United Nations, ‘Chapter 1: Purposes and Principles’, 1945.\n\n[3] Shaw, Malcolm N., International Law 4th ed., Cambridge University press, 1997, p.202\n\n[4] The Economist, ‘Game over: A liberal, free-market democracy has some curious rules and regulations’, 14 April 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "3620e24d62d7ff938a68763ce856fad3",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Providing secure channels is the easiest way to help dissidents and democracy activists\n\nIf democracies are to provide money to help dissidents then this option of funding research into and distributing software to defeat censors is the easiest way in which to help these dissidents. Those who are trying to exercise their freedom of speech do not want help in the form of military intervention or diplomatic representations rather they want to have the space and capacity to exercise those freedoms. The internet means that for the first time it is possible for external actors to provide that platform for freedom of speech without having to take those who wish to exercise these freedoms outside of the country that is violating those freedoms.\n\nThe internet is very important in the economies of many authoritarian regimes. In China for example there are 145 million online shoppers and the e-commerce market is worth almost $100 billion and could be worth over $300 billion by 2015. [1] As a result authoritarian regimes can’t easily just turn off the internet and ignore it so long as they want their economy to operate. As a result except in extreme cases such as North Korea or for particularly prominent dissidents who are locked up physical access to the internet is unlikely to be denied.\n\nSo long as there is physical access to the internet it will be possible to help by providing ways to avoid firewalls so that they can access information their state has banned and express opinions to both the outside world and their compatriots. It is equally important to provide ways for these people to avoid being tracked by the authorities so as to prevent retaliation against them for evading censorship. While Haystack was a failure there have been other projects that are receiving state department funding that may be more successful such as ‘InTheClear’ which provides a “panic button” app for smart phones allowing contents to be quickly erased and prewritten texts sent so having the dual effect of making it more difficult for those making the arrest to find out what the user was doing and raising the alarm that this person has been arrested. [2] This technology helps meet a clear need; Egyptian democracy activists when asked what kind of technology they needed most said they wanted safer cellphones. [3]\n\n[1] The Economist, ‘An internet with Chinese characteristics’, 20 July 2011.\n\n[2] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[3] McManus, Doyle, ‘Technology that protects protesters’, Los Angeles Times, 18 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f38ae509cfdfd867fc489b3161320573",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and Funding technologies to evade censorship could have immense benefits for very little cost\n\nMost government aid budgets are small and have numerous other important calls on their resources such as development aid. Between 2008 and 2011 the United States Congress funded the effort against internet censorship with $76 million. [1] While this may sound like a lot compared to the $168 million of aid to Liberia and $152 million to UNICEF in 2011 it is not a large commitment. [2] Yet due to the nature of the internet small investments can have immense benefits. Money spent on food aid will buy enough food to feed a limited amount of people yet if a technology is developed that allows internet users to get around censors and not be tracked then hundreds of millions would benefit. It would at the same time have the incalculable benefit of making it more difficult for authorities to track and crack down on those who are breaking the authorities’ censorship.\n\n[1] Burkeman, Oliver, ‘Inside Washington’s high risk mission to beat web censors’, guardian.co.uk, 15 April 2012.\n\n[2] USAID, ‘Where does USAID’s Money Go?’ 30 September 2011.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "54e6a4634f20e84013c4c52c8466118c",
"text": "freedom expression house would use foreign aid funds research and We all have an obligation to help maintain freedom of speech.\n\nArticle 19 of the universal declaration of human rights defines freedom of speech as “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” [1] It is something innate in humans to have opinions and to want to express them to others and within a few limits governments have a duty to allow this freedom of expression. Where governments are not allowing this freedom of information this affects not only those whose opinions are being suppressed but those who cannot hear their opinions. The right to the freedom to receive and seek this information is just as important as the right to voice these opinions. Moreover as stated in Article 19 this is “regardless of frontiers”; those outside a country have just as much right to hear these opinions as those inside.\n\nGovernment aid programs from democracies in Western Europe and America are already concerned with promoting human rights including freedom of speech. Australia’s aid program for example has a Human Rights Fund of $6.5 million per year that provides grants to among other things “educate and/or train human rights victims, workers or defenders”. [2] Enabling victims of human rights abuse to get around their government’s censorship is the obvious next step.\n\nThe concept of the ‘responsibility to protect’ introduced by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty in 2001 provided that when governments were unable or unwilling to protect their own citizens then that responsibility devolves to the international community and may ultimately lead to military action for particularly gross violations. This responsibility to react should be “with appropriate measures” [3] and for the breach of the human right of freedom of expression providing a method to enable those whose freedom of expression/speech is being violated to exercise this right is the most appropriate and proportional response.\n\n[1] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘Article 19’, 1946.\n\n[2] AusAID, ‘Human rights and Australia’s aid program’, Australian Government, 22 February 2012.\n\n[3] Evans, Garath and Mohamed Sahnoun Chair’s, ‘The Responsibility to Protect’, International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, International Development Research Center, December 2001, p.XI.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
185dde2d7f09260f019b61c4fb4c8fc9 | The government here may legitimately limit ‘free speech’.
We already set boundaries on what constitutes ‘free speech’ within our society. For example, we often endorse a ‘balancing act’ [1] an individual may express their beliefs or opinions, but only up to the point where it does not impede the ‘protection of other human rights’ [2] – other peoples’ right not to be abused. In this case, if an individual expresses abuse towards another – especially racism - they may be deemed to be outside of the boundaries or free speech and can be punished for it. This motion is simply an extension of this principle; the kinds of sites which would be banned are those which perpetuate hatred or attack other groups in society, an so already fall outside of the protection of free speech. The harms that stem from these kinds of sites outweigh any potential harm from limiting speech in a small number of cases.
[1] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11
[2] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11
| [
{
"docid": "63701d7fd42ab82224d5ca73ffa55d62",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Outright banning this kind of prejudice does not directly tackle it – it ignores it. A better way for the government to tackle derogatory and prejudicial speech is to engage with it in a public forum and reasonably point out the flaws and ignorance that it embodies, rather than desperately trying to hide it from public view. In this way, those who are being attacked by these websites would feel as if the government is actively protecting them and their rights and punishing those who have violated them, rather than simply closing a few websites and allowing their authors to continue in other ways. This motion does not solve the problem of prejudice in the way it claims to.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "9642012fabf69edc21605dffe53c6546",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Any information from television or newspapers has already been regulated, so it is not a problem that it may now appear somewhere on the internet. It is exactly because the internet is a forum for free information and expression that so many people engage with it; removing this is a dictatorial move against ordinary citizens who seek information without bias and undue censorship.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e0d72292dbef7f359432250daa48e270",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Given the number of people who actually use Facebook [1] and other social networking sites, these occurrences were remarkably small [2] . These riots cannot be attributed to Facebook; it was the mindset of the rioters rather than Facebook itself which provided the raw determination for these riots to occur. If Facebook had been censored, they may have simply used mobile phones to co-ordinate their actions instead. Censoring these sites would not prevent such events, and would anger those who use Facebook to communicate with friends [3] and share photos [4] innocently.\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Facebook hits 500m user milestone’, 21 July 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10713199 09/09/11.\n\n[2] BBC News, ‘UK Riots: Trouble erupts in English cities’, 10 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14460554 on 09/09/11.\n\n[3] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n\n[4] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a7e2cb25b88f1db89a49535ba3783453",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor While in a tiny minority of cases, such social networking sites can be used malevolently, they can also be a powerful force for good. For example, many social networking pages campaign for the end to issues such as domestic abuse [1] and racism [2] , and Facebook and Twitter were even used to bring citizens together to clean the streets after the riots in the UK in 2011. [3] Furthermore, this motion entails a broader move to blanket-ban areas of the internet without outlining a clear divide between what would be banned and what would not. For example, at what point would a website which discusses minority religious views be considered undesirable? Would it be at the expression of hatred for nationals of that country, in which case it might constitute hate speech, or not until it tended towards promoting action i.e. attacking other groups? Allowing censorship in these areas could feasibly be construed as obstructing the free speech of specified groups, which might in fact only increase militancy against a government or culture who are perceived as oppressing their right to an opinion of belief [4] .\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Teenagers’ poem to aid domestic abuse Facebook campaign’, 4 February 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12367525 on 16/09/11\n\n[2] Unframing Migrants, ‘meeting for CAMPAIGN AGAINST RACISM’, facebook, 19 October 2010, http://www.facebook.com/events/168254109852708/ on 16/09/2011.\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Twitter and Facebook users plan clean-up.’ 9 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14456857 on 16/09/11.\n\n[4] Marisol, ‘Nigeria: Boko Haram Jihadists say UN a partner in “oppression of believers”’, JihadWatch, 1 September 2011, http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/nigeria-boko-haram-jihadists-say-un-a-partner-in-oppression-of-believers.html on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7e30a92905e9c1f2c7de5ec464b9ee5d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor We already frown upon certain forms of speech [1] as we recognise that it is important to protect groups form prejudice and hatred. Allowing the expression of hatred does not automatically mean that ordinary people will denounce it as evil; rather, it normalises hatred and is more likely to be acceptable in the public domain. It also appears to show implicit acceptance or even support from the government when we take no steps to prevent this kind of damaging expression; as such, the government fails in its duty to ordinary citizens to protect them and represent their best interests.\n\n[1] Tatchell, Peter, ‘Hate speech v free speech’, guardian.co.uk, 10 October 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/10/hatespeechvfreespeech on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "89b7d4d043ab16bc40e86ed7f6fad440",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Governments are often obliged to do things that the population doesn’t like – raising taxes is an obvious example. However, it is also recognised that sometimes the government has to do these things in order to represent the long-term, best interest of its people – whether or not it is a popular measure at the time.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4b84b7f37087aba0f6512443c23e66f5",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The Internet may be a global resource, but if information on it is have a detrimental effect upon a particular country, it certainly is that government’s responsibility and right to tackle it. If it affects their society and the citizens within it, it affects the government and the means by which they can govern, particularly in relation to social policy. Moreover these websites, and specifically religious opinion websites, often seek to ‘recruit’ others to their school of thought or even to action; their purpose is often to gather support and followers [1] . Therefore there certainly is a risk that these people, who are often very intelligent and persuasive [2] , might lure others to them without protection by the government. It is a very real danger, and needs real protection.\n\n[1] Kiley, Sam, ‘Terrorists ‘May Recruit On Social Networks’’, SkyNews, 12 July 2011, http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16028962 on 09/09/11.\n\n[2] Ali, Iftakhar, ‘Terrorism – The Global Menace’, Universal Journal The Association of Young Journalists and Writers, http://www.ayjw.org/articles.php?id=944449 on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8657f8f86a3bd7342178eed2024a749e",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Even sites that appeared innocent have had a devastating effect on society.\n\nSome governments, such as the Vietnamese government [1] , have already seen sufficient cause to ban social networking sites such as Facebook. Recently in the UK, many major cities witnessed devastation and destruction as social networking sites were used to co-ordinate wide-scale riots which rampaged over London, Manchester, Birmingham, Worcestershire, Gloucester, Croydon, Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham [2] . Rioters contacted each other through Facebook and blackberry instant messenger to ensure that they could cause maximum damage [3] , which resulted in the destruction of property [4] , physical violence towards others [5] , and even the deaths of three young men [6] . These events prove that seemingly innocent Internet sites can be used by anybody, even apparently normal citizens, to a devastating effect which has caused harm to thousands [7] . To protect the population and maintain order, it is essential that the government is able to act to censor sites that can be used as a forum and a tool for this kind of behaviour when such disruption is occurring.\n\n[1] AsiaNews.it, ‘Internet censorship tightening in Vietnam’, 22 June 2010, http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Internet-censorship-tightening-in-Vietnam... 09/09/11\n\n[2] BBC News, ‘England Riots’, 8 February 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14452097 on 09/09/11\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 09/09/11\n\n[4] Hawkes, Alex, Garside, Juliette and Kollewe, Julia, ‘UK riots could cost taxpayer £100m’, guardian.co.uk, 9 August 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-cost-taxpayer-100-million on 09/09/11.\n\n[5] Allen, Emily, ‘We will use water cannons on them: At last Cameron orders police to come down hard on the looters (some aged as young as NINE)’, Mail Online, 11 August 2011, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024203/UK-RIOTS-2011-David-Came... on 09/09/11.\n\n[6] Orr, James, ‘Birmingham riots: three men killed ‘protecting homes’’, The Telegraph, 10 August 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8693095/Birmingham-riots-th... on 09/09/11.\n\n[7] Huffington Post, ‘UK Riots: What Long-Term Effects Could They Have?’, 10 August 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/08/10/uk-riots-cleanup-could-co_n_9... on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf8f3e67464b8672986a3e15122f5419",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Governments have a moral duty to protect its citizens from harmful sites.\n\nIn recent years, supposedly innocent sites such as social networking sites have been purposely used to harm others. Victims of cyber bullying have even led victims to commit suicide in extreme cases [1] [2] . Given that both physical [3] and psychological [4] damage have occurred through the use of social networking sites, such sites represent a danger to society as a whole. They have become a medium through which others express prejudice, including racism, towards groups and towards individuals [5] . Similarly, if a particularly country has a clear religious or cultural majority, it is fair to censor those sites which seek to undermine these principles and can be damaging to a large portion of the population. If we fail to take the measures required to remove these sites, which would be achieved through censorship, the government essentially fails to act on its principles by allowing such sites to exist. The government has a duty of care to its citizens [6] and must ensure their safety; censoring such sites is the best way to achieve this.\n\n[1] Moore, Victoria, ‘The fake world of Facebook and Bebo: How suicide and cyber bullying lurk behind the facade of “harmless fun”’, MailOnline, 4 August 2009, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1204062/The-fake-world-Facebook-Bebo-How-suicide-cyber-bullying-lurk-facade-harmless-fun.html on 16/09/11\n\n[2] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 16/09/11.\n\n[4] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11\n\n[5] Counihan, Bella, ‘White power likes this – racist Facebook groups’, The Age, 3 February 2010, http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/white-power-likes-t... on 16/09/11\n\n[6] Brownejacobson, ‘Councils owe vulnerable citizens duty of care’, 18 June 2008, http://www.brownejacobson.com/press_office/press_releases/councils_owe_v... 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5dbd3fbcfe478b4f36a815490fc0f1a2",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor As an extensive form of media, the Internet should be subject to regulation just as other forms of media are.\n\nUnder the status quo, states already regulate other forms of media that could be used malevolently. Newspapers and books are subject to censorship [1] , and mediums such as television, film and video receive a higher degree of regulation [2] because it is widely recognised that moving pictures and sound can be more emotive and powerful than text and photographs or illustrations. The internet has many means of portraying information and opinion, including film clips and sound, and almost all the information found on television or in newspapers can be found somewhere on the internet [3] , alongside the millions of uploads from internet users themselves [4] .\n\n[1] Foerstel, Herbert N., ‘Banned in the Media’, Publishing Central, http://publishingcentral.com/articles/20030215-85-f98b.html?si=1 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] CityTVweb.com, ‘Television censorship’, 27 August 2007, http://www.citytvweb.com/television-censorship/ on 09/09/11.\n\n[3] Online Newspapers Directory for the World, ‘Thousands of Newspapers Listed by Country & Region’, http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/ on 09/09/11\n\n[4] Boris, Cynthia, ’17 Percent of Photobucket Users Upload Video’s Once a Day’, Marketing Pilgrim, 9 September 2011, http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/09/17-percent-of-photobucket-users-upload-video-once-a-day.html on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e1d192514b54c85a12e0192a2964e9d2",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The Internet is a free domain and cannot becontrolled by the government.\n\nGiven that the Internet is used as an international [1] and public space [2] , the government has no right over the information which may be presented via the Internet. In Western liberal democracies, governments are elected on the basis by which they can serve their own country – how they will create or maintain laws that pertain specifically to that nation, and how they will govern the population. The Internet is not country-specific, but international and free. As such, no individual government should have a right to the information on it. Asserting false authority over the internet would paint the government as dictatorial and a ‘nanny state’ [3] , demonstrating a lack of respect for its citizens by assuming that they cannot protect themselves or recognise the nature of extremist or potentially harmful sites and take the individual decision to distance themselves from such sites.\n\n[1] Babel, ‘Towards communicating on the Internet in any language’, http://alis.isoc.org/index.en.html\n\n[2] Papacharissi, Zizi, ‘The virtual sphere’, New Media & Society, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp 9-27, February 2002, http://nms.sagepub.com/content/4/1/9.short on 09/09/11\n\n[3] BBC. ‘A Point of View: In defence of the nanny state’. Published 04/02/2011. Accessed from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12360045 on\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f5a17eaf9a8e63f50bf2d302da0440d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Censorship is fundamentally incompatible with the notion of free speech.\n\nCensoring particular material essentially blinds the public to a complete world view by asserting the patronising view that ordinary citizens simply cannot read extreme material without recognising the flaws in it. This motion assumes that those who have access to material such as religious opinion sites will be influenced by it, rather than realising that it is morally dubious and denouncing it. The best way to combat prejudice is to expose it as a farce; this cannot be done if it is automatically and unthinkingly censored. Meanwhile, it is paradoxical for a government to assert the general benefits of free speech and then act in a contradictory and hypocritical manner by banning certain areas of the Internet. Free speech should not be limited; even if it is an expression of negativity, it should be publicly debated and logically criticised, rather than hidden altogether.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "872edd7325b5ec9e694e4693990fa90b",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor People often react poorly to being censored by their governments.\n\nIn countries that do currently practice censorship of Internet information, their citizens often interpret this as suspicious and dictatorial behaviour. For example, in China growing discontent with the government’s constant censorship has led to public outrage [1] , and political satire which heavily criticises the government [2] . Censorship can easily be used malevolently and is not always in public interest; this motion supports the ignorance of the population by hiding information and the reality of the situation. Therefore the cost of suspicion by the population of the state makes censorship of any kind less than worthwhile and it is better to allow individuals to make their own choices.\n\n[1] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
b64c0628fbb906e5f9a33a6181120c0a | Even sites that appeared innocent have had a devastating effect on society.
Some governments, such as the Vietnamese government [1] , have already seen sufficient cause to ban social networking sites such as Facebook. Recently in the UK, many major cities witnessed devastation and destruction as social networking sites were used to co-ordinate wide-scale riots which rampaged over London, Manchester, Birmingham, Worcestershire, Gloucester, Croydon, Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham [2] . Rioters contacted each other through Facebook and blackberry instant messenger to ensure that they could cause maximum damage [3] , which resulted in the destruction of property [4] , physical violence towards others [5] , and even the deaths of three young men [6] . These events prove that seemingly innocent Internet sites can be used by anybody, even apparently normal citizens, to a devastating effect which has caused harm to thousands [7] . To protect the population and maintain order, it is essential that the government is able to act to censor sites that can be used as a forum and a tool for this kind of behaviour when such disruption is occurring.
[1] AsiaNews.it, ‘Internet censorship tightening in Vietnam’, 22 June 2010, http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Internet-censorship-tightening-in-Vietnam... 09/09/11
[2] BBC News, ‘England Riots’, 8 February 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14452097 on 09/09/11
[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 09/09/11
[4] Hawkes, Alex, Garside, Juliette and Kollewe, Julia, ‘UK riots could cost taxpayer £100m’, guardian.co.uk, 9 August 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-cost-taxpayer-100-million on 09/09/11.
[5] Allen, Emily, ‘We will use water cannons on them: At last Cameron orders police to come down hard on the looters (some aged as young as NINE)’, Mail Online, 11 August 2011, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024203/UK-RIOTS-2011-David-Came... on 09/09/11.
[6] Orr, James, ‘Birmingham riots: three men killed ‘protecting homes’’, The Telegraph, 10 August 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8693095/Birmingham-riots-th... on 09/09/11.
[7] Huffington Post, ‘UK Riots: What Long-Term Effects Could They Have?’, 10 August 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/08/10/uk-riots-cleanup-could-co_n_9... on 09/09/11.
| [
{
"docid": "e0d72292dbef7f359432250daa48e270",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Given the number of people who actually use Facebook [1] and other social networking sites, these occurrences were remarkably small [2] . These riots cannot be attributed to Facebook; it was the mindset of the rioters rather than Facebook itself which provided the raw determination for these riots to occur. If Facebook had been censored, they may have simply used mobile phones to co-ordinate their actions instead. Censoring these sites would not prevent such events, and would anger those who use Facebook to communicate with friends [3] and share photos [4] innocently.\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Facebook hits 500m user milestone’, 21 July 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10713199 09/09/11.\n\n[2] BBC News, ‘UK Riots: Trouble erupts in English cities’, 10 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14460554 on 09/09/11.\n\n[3] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n\n[4] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "63701d7fd42ab82224d5ca73ffa55d62",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Outright banning this kind of prejudice does not directly tackle it – it ignores it. A better way for the government to tackle derogatory and prejudicial speech is to engage with it in a public forum and reasonably point out the flaws and ignorance that it embodies, rather than desperately trying to hide it from public view. In this way, those who are being attacked by these websites would feel as if the government is actively protecting them and their rights and punishing those who have violated them, rather than simply closing a few websites and allowing their authors to continue in other ways. This motion does not solve the problem of prejudice in the way it claims to.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9642012fabf69edc21605dffe53c6546",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Any information from television or newspapers has already been regulated, so it is not a problem that it may now appear somewhere on the internet. It is exactly because the internet is a forum for free information and expression that so many people engage with it; removing this is a dictatorial move against ordinary citizens who seek information without bias and undue censorship.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a7e2cb25b88f1db89a49535ba3783453",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor While in a tiny minority of cases, such social networking sites can be used malevolently, they can also be a powerful force for good. For example, many social networking pages campaign for the end to issues such as domestic abuse [1] and racism [2] , and Facebook and Twitter were even used to bring citizens together to clean the streets after the riots in the UK in 2011. [3] Furthermore, this motion entails a broader move to blanket-ban areas of the internet without outlining a clear divide between what would be banned and what would not. For example, at what point would a website which discusses minority religious views be considered undesirable? Would it be at the expression of hatred for nationals of that country, in which case it might constitute hate speech, or not until it tended towards promoting action i.e. attacking other groups? Allowing censorship in these areas could feasibly be construed as obstructing the free speech of specified groups, which might in fact only increase militancy against a government or culture who are perceived as oppressing their right to an opinion of belief [4] .\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Teenagers’ poem to aid domestic abuse Facebook campaign’, 4 February 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12367525 on 16/09/11\n\n[2] Unframing Migrants, ‘meeting for CAMPAIGN AGAINST RACISM’, facebook, 19 October 2010, http://www.facebook.com/events/168254109852708/ on 16/09/2011.\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Twitter and Facebook users plan clean-up.’ 9 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14456857 on 16/09/11.\n\n[4] Marisol, ‘Nigeria: Boko Haram Jihadists say UN a partner in “oppression of believers”’, JihadWatch, 1 September 2011, http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/nigeria-boko-haram-jihadists-say-un-a-partner-in-oppression-of-believers.html on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7e30a92905e9c1f2c7de5ec464b9ee5d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor We already frown upon certain forms of speech [1] as we recognise that it is important to protect groups form prejudice and hatred. Allowing the expression of hatred does not automatically mean that ordinary people will denounce it as evil; rather, it normalises hatred and is more likely to be acceptable in the public domain. It also appears to show implicit acceptance or even support from the government when we take no steps to prevent this kind of damaging expression; as such, the government fails in its duty to ordinary citizens to protect them and represent their best interests.\n\n[1] Tatchell, Peter, ‘Hate speech v free speech’, guardian.co.uk, 10 October 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/10/hatespeechvfreespeech on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "89b7d4d043ab16bc40e86ed7f6fad440",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Governments are often obliged to do things that the population doesn’t like – raising taxes is an obvious example. However, it is also recognised that sometimes the government has to do these things in order to represent the long-term, best interest of its people – whether or not it is a popular measure at the time.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4b84b7f37087aba0f6512443c23e66f5",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The Internet may be a global resource, but if information on it is have a detrimental effect upon a particular country, it certainly is that government’s responsibility and right to tackle it. If it affects their society and the citizens within it, it affects the government and the means by which they can govern, particularly in relation to social policy. Moreover these websites, and specifically religious opinion websites, often seek to ‘recruit’ others to their school of thought or even to action; their purpose is often to gather support and followers [1] . Therefore there certainly is a risk that these people, who are often very intelligent and persuasive [2] , might lure others to them without protection by the government. It is a very real danger, and needs real protection.\n\n[1] Kiley, Sam, ‘Terrorists ‘May Recruit On Social Networks’’, SkyNews, 12 July 2011, http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16028962 on 09/09/11.\n\n[2] Ali, Iftakhar, ‘Terrorism – The Global Menace’, Universal Journal The Association of Young Journalists and Writers, http://www.ayjw.org/articles.php?id=944449 on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "43b70cff98ab1bb72d63411d74c1cb2f",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The government here may legitimately limit ‘free speech’.\n\nWe already set boundaries on what constitutes ‘free speech’ within our society. For example, we often endorse a ‘balancing act’ [1] an individual may express their beliefs or opinions, but only up to the point where it does not impede the ‘protection of other human rights’ [2] – other peoples’ right not to be abused. In this case, if an individual expresses abuse towards another – especially racism - they may be deemed to be outside of the boundaries or free speech and can be punished for it. This motion is simply an extension of this principle; the kinds of sites which would be banned are those which perpetuate hatred or attack other groups in society, an so already fall outside of the protection of free speech. The harms that stem from these kinds of sites outweigh any potential harm from limiting speech in a small number of cases.\n\n[1] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf8f3e67464b8672986a3e15122f5419",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Governments have a moral duty to protect its citizens from harmful sites.\n\nIn recent years, supposedly innocent sites such as social networking sites have been purposely used to harm others. Victims of cyber bullying have even led victims to commit suicide in extreme cases [1] [2] . Given that both physical [3] and psychological [4] damage have occurred through the use of social networking sites, such sites represent a danger to society as a whole. They have become a medium through which others express prejudice, including racism, towards groups and towards individuals [5] . Similarly, if a particularly country has a clear religious or cultural majority, it is fair to censor those sites which seek to undermine these principles and can be damaging to a large portion of the population. If we fail to take the measures required to remove these sites, which would be achieved through censorship, the government essentially fails to act on its principles by allowing such sites to exist. The government has a duty of care to its citizens [6] and must ensure their safety; censoring such sites is the best way to achieve this.\n\n[1] Moore, Victoria, ‘The fake world of Facebook and Bebo: How suicide and cyber bullying lurk behind the facade of “harmless fun”’, MailOnline, 4 August 2009, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1204062/The-fake-world-Facebook-Bebo-How-suicide-cyber-bullying-lurk-facade-harmless-fun.html on 16/09/11\n\n[2] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 16/09/11.\n\n[4] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11\n\n[5] Counihan, Bella, ‘White power likes this – racist Facebook groups’, The Age, 3 February 2010, http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/white-power-likes-t... on 16/09/11\n\n[6] Brownejacobson, ‘Councils owe vulnerable citizens duty of care’, 18 June 2008, http://www.brownejacobson.com/press_office/press_releases/councils_owe_v... 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5dbd3fbcfe478b4f36a815490fc0f1a2",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor As an extensive form of media, the Internet should be subject to regulation just as other forms of media are.\n\nUnder the status quo, states already regulate other forms of media that could be used malevolently. Newspapers and books are subject to censorship [1] , and mediums such as television, film and video receive a higher degree of regulation [2] because it is widely recognised that moving pictures and sound can be more emotive and powerful than text and photographs or illustrations. The internet has many means of portraying information and opinion, including film clips and sound, and almost all the information found on television or in newspapers can be found somewhere on the internet [3] , alongside the millions of uploads from internet users themselves [4] .\n\n[1] Foerstel, Herbert N., ‘Banned in the Media’, Publishing Central, http://publishingcentral.com/articles/20030215-85-f98b.html?si=1 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] CityTVweb.com, ‘Television censorship’, 27 August 2007, http://www.citytvweb.com/television-censorship/ on 09/09/11.\n\n[3] Online Newspapers Directory for the World, ‘Thousands of Newspapers Listed by Country & Region’, http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/ on 09/09/11\n\n[4] Boris, Cynthia, ’17 Percent of Photobucket Users Upload Video’s Once a Day’, Marketing Pilgrim, 9 September 2011, http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/09/17-percent-of-photobucket-users-upload-video-once-a-day.html on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e1d192514b54c85a12e0192a2964e9d2",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The Internet is a free domain and cannot becontrolled by the government.\n\nGiven that the Internet is used as an international [1] and public space [2] , the government has no right over the information which may be presented via the Internet. In Western liberal democracies, governments are elected on the basis by which they can serve their own country – how they will create or maintain laws that pertain specifically to that nation, and how they will govern the population. The Internet is not country-specific, but international and free. As such, no individual government should have a right to the information on it. Asserting false authority over the internet would paint the government as dictatorial and a ‘nanny state’ [3] , demonstrating a lack of respect for its citizens by assuming that they cannot protect themselves or recognise the nature of extremist or potentially harmful sites and take the individual decision to distance themselves from such sites.\n\n[1] Babel, ‘Towards communicating on the Internet in any language’, http://alis.isoc.org/index.en.html\n\n[2] Papacharissi, Zizi, ‘The virtual sphere’, New Media & Society, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp 9-27, February 2002, http://nms.sagepub.com/content/4/1/9.short on 09/09/11\n\n[3] BBC. ‘A Point of View: In defence of the nanny state’. Published 04/02/2011. Accessed from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12360045 on\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f5a17eaf9a8e63f50bf2d302da0440d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Censorship is fundamentally incompatible with the notion of free speech.\n\nCensoring particular material essentially blinds the public to a complete world view by asserting the patronising view that ordinary citizens simply cannot read extreme material without recognising the flaws in it. This motion assumes that those who have access to material such as religious opinion sites will be influenced by it, rather than realising that it is morally dubious and denouncing it. The best way to combat prejudice is to expose it as a farce; this cannot be done if it is automatically and unthinkingly censored. Meanwhile, it is paradoxical for a government to assert the general benefits of free speech and then act in a contradictory and hypocritical manner by banning certain areas of the Internet. Free speech should not be limited; even if it is an expression of negativity, it should be publicly debated and logically criticised, rather than hidden altogether.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "872edd7325b5ec9e694e4693990fa90b",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor People often react poorly to being censored by their governments.\n\nIn countries that do currently practice censorship of Internet information, their citizens often interpret this as suspicious and dictatorial behaviour. For example, in China growing discontent with the government’s constant censorship has led to public outrage [1] , and political satire which heavily criticises the government [2] . Censorship can easily be used malevolently and is not always in public interest; this motion supports the ignorance of the population by hiding information and the reality of the situation. Therefore the cost of suspicion by the population of the state makes censorship of any kind less than worthwhile and it is better to allow individuals to make their own choices.\n\n[1] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
74296f027a38a3e69bfd863eff12990f | Governments have a moral duty to protect its citizens from harmful sites.
In recent years, supposedly innocent sites such as social networking sites have been purposely used to harm others. Victims of cyber bullying have even led victims to commit suicide in extreme cases [1] [2] . Given that both physical [3] and psychological [4] damage have occurred through the use of social networking sites, such sites represent a danger to society as a whole. They have become a medium through which others express prejudice, including racism, towards groups and towards individuals [5] . Similarly, if a particularly country has a clear religious or cultural majority, it is fair to censor those sites which seek to undermine these principles and can be damaging to a large portion of the population. If we fail to take the measures required to remove these sites, which would be achieved through censorship, the government essentially fails to act on its principles by allowing such sites to exist. The government has a duty of care to its citizens [6] and must ensure their safety; censoring such sites is the best way to achieve this.
[1] Moore, Victoria, ‘The fake world of Facebook and Bebo: How suicide and cyber bullying lurk behind the facade of “harmless fun”’, MailOnline, 4 August 2009, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1204062/The-fake-world-Facebook-Bebo-How-suicide-cyber-bullying-lurk-facade-harmless-fun.html on 16/09/11
[2] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11
[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 16/09/11.
[4] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11
[5] Counihan, Bella, ‘White power likes this – racist Facebook groups’, The Age, 3 February 2010, http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/white-power-likes-t... on 16/09/11
[6] Brownejacobson, ‘Councils owe vulnerable citizens duty of care’, 18 June 2008, http://www.brownejacobson.com/press_office/press_releases/councils_owe_v... 09/09/11
| [
{
"docid": "a7e2cb25b88f1db89a49535ba3783453",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor While in a tiny minority of cases, such social networking sites can be used malevolently, they can also be a powerful force for good. For example, many social networking pages campaign for the end to issues such as domestic abuse [1] and racism [2] , and Facebook and Twitter were even used to bring citizens together to clean the streets after the riots in the UK in 2011. [3] Furthermore, this motion entails a broader move to blanket-ban areas of the internet without outlining a clear divide between what would be banned and what would not. For example, at what point would a website which discusses minority religious views be considered undesirable? Would it be at the expression of hatred for nationals of that country, in which case it might constitute hate speech, or not until it tended towards promoting action i.e. attacking other groups? Allowing censorship in these areas could feasibly be construed as obstructing the free speech of specified groups, which might in fact only increase militancy against a government or culture who are perceived as oppressing their right to an opinion of belief [4] .\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Teenagers’ poem to aid domestic abuse Facebook campaign’, 4 February 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12367525 on 16/09/11\n\n[2] Unframing Migrants, ‘meeting for CAMPAIGN AGAINST RACISM’, facebook, 19 October 2010, http://www.facebook.com/events/168254109852708/ on 16/09/2011.\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Twitter and Facebook users plan clean-up.’ 9 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14456857 on 16/09/11.\n\n[4] Marisol, ‘Nigeria: Boko Haram Jihadists say UN a partner in “oppression of believers”’, JihadWatch, 1 September 2011, http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/nigeria-boko-haram-jihadists-say-un-a-partner-in-oppression-of-believers.html on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "63701d7fd42ab82224d5ca73ffa55d62",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Outright banning this kind of prejudice does not directly tackle it – it ignores it. A better way for the government to tackle derogatory and prejudicial speech is to engage with it in a public forum and reasonably point out the flaws and ignorance that it embodies, rather than desperately trying to hide it from public view. In this way, those who are being attacked by these websites would feel as if the government is actively protecting them and their rights and punishing those who have violated them, rather than simply closing a few websites and allowing their authors to continue in other ways. This motion does not solve the problem of prejudice in the way it claims to.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9642012fabf69edc21605dffe53c6546",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Any information from television or newspapers has already been regulated, so it is not a problem that it may now appear somewhere on the internet. It is exactly because the internet is a forum for free information and expression that so many people engage with it; removing this is a dictatorial move against ordinary citizens who seek information without bias and undue censorship.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e0d72292dbef7f359432250daa48e270",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Given the number of people who actually use Facebook [1] and other social networking sites, these occurrences were remarkably small [2] . These riots cannot be attributed to Facebook; it was the mindset of the rioters rather than Facebook itself which provided the raw determination for these riots to occur. If Facebook had been censored, they may have simply used mobile phones to co-ordinate their actions instead. Censoring these sites would not prevent such events, and would anger those who use Facebook to communicate with friends [3] and share photos [4] innocently.\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Facebook hits 500m user milestone’, 21 July 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10713199 09/09/11.\n\n[2] BBC News, ‘UK Riots: Trouble erupts in English cities’, 10 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14460554 on 09/09/11.\n\n[3] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n\n[4] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7e30a92905e9c1f2c7de5ec464b9ee5d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor We already frown upon certain forms of speech [1] as we recognise that it is important to protect groups form prejudice and hatred. Allowing the expression of hatred does not automatically mean that ordinary people will denounce it as evil; rather, it normalises hatred and is more likely to be acceptable in the public domain. It also appears to show implicit acceptance or even support from the government when we take no steps to prevent this kind of damaging expression; as such, the government fails in its duty to ordinary citizens to protect them and represent their best interests.\n\n[1] Tatchell, Peter, ‘Hate speech v free speech’, guardian.co.uk, 10 October 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/10/hatespeechvfreespeech on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "89b7d4d043ab16bc40e86ed7f6fad440",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Governments are often obliged to do things that the population doesn’t like – raising taxes is an obvious example. However, it is also recognised that sometimes the government has to do these things in order to represent the long-term, best interest of its people – whether or not it is a popular measure at the time.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4b84b7f37087aba0f6512443c23e66f5",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The Internet may be a global resource, but if information on it is have a detrimental effect upon a particular country, it certainly is that government’s responsibility and right to tackle it. If it affects their society and the citizens within it, it affects the government and the means by which they can govern, particularly in relation to social policy. Moreover these websites, and specifically religious opinion websites, often seek to ‘recruit’ others to their school of thought or even to action; their purpose is often to gather support and followers [1] . Therefore there certainly is a risk that these people, who are often very intelligent and persuasive [2] , might lure others to them without protection by the government. It is a very real danger, and needs real protection.\n\n[1] Kiley, Sam, ‘Terrorists ‘May Recruit On Social Networks’’, SkyNews, 12 July 2011, http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16028962 on 09/09/11.\n\n[2] Ali, Iftakhar, ‘Terrorism – The Global Menace’, Universal Journal The Association of Young Journalists and Writers, http://www.ayjw.org/articles.php?id=944449 on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "43b70cff98ab1bb72d63411d74c1cb2f",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The government here may legitimately limit ‘free speech’.\n\nWe already set boundaries on what constitutes ‘free speech’ within our society. For example, we often endorse a ‘balancing act’ [1] an individual may express their beliefs or opinions, but only up to the point where it does not impede the ‘protection of other human rights’ [2] – other peoples’ right not to be abused. In this case, if an individual expresses abuse towards another – especially racism - they may be deemed to be outside of the boundaries or free speech and can be punished for it. This motion is simply an extension of this principle; the kinds of sites which would be banned are those which perpetuate hatred or attack other groups in society, an so already fall outside of the protection of free speech. The harms that stem from these kinds of sites outweigh any potential harm from limiting speech in a small number of cases.\n\n[1] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8657f8f86a3bd7342178eed2024a749e",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Even sites that appeared innocent have had a devastating effect on society.\n\nSome governments, such as the Vietnamese government [1] , have already seen sufficient cause to ban social networking sites such as Facebook. Recently in the UK, many major cities witnessed devastation and destruction as social networking sites were used to co-ordinate wide-scale riots which rampaged over London, Manchester, Birmingham, Worcestershire, Gloucester, Croydon, Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham [2] . Rioters contacted each other through Facebook and blackberry instant messenger to ensure that they could cause maximum damage [3] , which resulted in the destruction of property [4] , physical violence towards others [5] , and even the deaths of three young men [6] . These events prove that seemingly innocent Internet sites can be used by anybody, even apparently normal citizens, to a devastating effect which has caused harm to thousands [7] . To protect the population and maintain order, it is essential that the government is able to act to censor sites that can be used as a forum and a tool for this kind of behaviour when such disruption is occurring.\n\n[1] AsiaNews.it, ‘Internet censorship tightening in Vietnam’, 22 June 2010, http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Internet-censorship-tightening-in-Vietnam... 09/09/11\n\n[2] BBC News, ‘England Riots’, 8 February 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14452097 on 09/09/11\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 09/09/11\n\n[4] Hawkes, Alex, Garside, Juliette and Kollewe, Julia, ‘UK riots could cost taxpayer £100m’, guardian.co.uk, 9 August 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-cost-taxpayer-100-million on 09/09/11.\n\n[5] Allen, Emily, ‘We will use water cannons on them: At last Cameron orders police to come down hard on the looters (some aged as young as NINE)’, Mail Online, 11 August 2011, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024203/UK-RIOTS-2011-David-Came... on 09/09/11.\n\n[6] Orr, James, ‘Birmingham riots: three men killed ‘protecting homes’’, The Telegraph, 10 August 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8693095/Birmingham-riots-th... on 09/09/11.\n\n[7] Huffington Post, ‘UK Riots: What Long-Term Effects Could They Have?’, 10 August 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/08/10/uk-riots-cleanup-could-co_n_9... on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5dbd3fbcfe478b4f36a815490fc0f1a2",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor As an extensive form of media, the Internet should be subject to regulation just as other forms of media are.\n\nUnder the status quo, states already regulate other forms of media that could be used malevolently. Newspapers and books are subject to censorship [1] , and mediums such as television, film and video receive a higher degree of regulation [2] because it is widely recognised that moving pictures and sound can be more emotive and powerful than text and photographs or illustrations. The internet has many means of portraying information and opinion, including film clips and sound, and almost all the information found on television or in newspapers can be found somewhere on the internet [3] , alongside the millions of uploads from internet users themselves [4] .\n\n[1] Foerstel, Herbert N., ‘Banned in the Media’, Publishing Central, http://publishingcentral.com/articles/20030215-85-f98b.html?si=1 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] CityTVweb.com, ‘Television censorship’, 27 August 2007, http://www.citytvweb.com/television-censorship/ on 09/09/11.\n\n[3] Online Newspapers Directory for the World, ‘Thousands of Newspapers Listed by Country & Region’, http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/ on 09/09/11\n\n[4] Boris, Cynthia, ’17 Percent of Photobucket Users Upload Video’s Once a Day’, Marketing Pilgrim, 9 September 2011, http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/09/17-percent-of-photobucket-users-upload-video-once-a-day.html on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e1d192514b54c85a12e0192a2964e9d2",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The Internet is a free domain and cannot becontrolled by the government.\n\nGiven that the Internet is used as an international [1] and public space [2] , the government has no right over the information which may be presented via the Internet. In Western liberal democracies, governments are elected on the basis by which they can serve their own country – how they will create or maintain laws that pertain specifically to that nation, and how they will govern the population. The Internet is not country-specific, but international and free. As such, no individual government should have a right to the information on it. Asserting false authority over the internet would paint the government as dictatorial and a ‘nanny state’ [3] , demonstrating a lack of respect for its citizens by assuming that they cannot protect themselves or recognise the nature of extremist or potentially harmful sites and take the individual decision to distance themselves from such sites.\n\n[1] Babel, ‘Towards communicating on the Internet in any language’, http://alis.isoc.org/index.en.html\n\n[2] Papacharissi, Zizi, ‘The virtual sphere’, New Media & Society, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp 9-27, February 2002, http://nms.sagepub.com/content/4/1/9.short on 09/09/11\n\n[3] BBC. ‘A Point of View: In defence of the nanny state’. Published 04/02/2011. Accessed from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12360045 on\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f5a17eaf9a8e63f50bf2d302da0440d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Censorship is fundamentally incompatible with the notion of free speech.\n\nCensoring particular material essentially blinds the public to a complete world view by asserting the patronising view that ordinary citizens simply cannot read extreme material without recognising the flaws in it. This motion assumes that those who have access to material such as religious opinion sites will be influenced by it, rather than realising that it is morally dubious and denouncing it. The best way to combat prejudice is to expose it as a farce; this cannot be done if it is automatically and unthinkingly censored. Meanwhile, it is paradoxical for a government to assert the general benefits of free speech and then act in a contradictory and hypocritical manner by banning certain areas of the Internet. Free speech should not be limited; even if it is an expression of negativity, it should be publicly debated and logically criticised, rather than hidden altogether.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "872edd7325b5ec9e694e4693990fa90b",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor People often react poorly to being censored by their governments.\n\nIn countries that do currently practice censorship of Internet information, their citizens often interpret this as suspicious and dictatorial behaviour. For example, in China growing discontent with the government’s constant censorship has led to public outrage [1] , and political satire which heavily criticises the government [2] . Censorship can easily be used malevolently and is not always in public interest; this motion supports the ignorance of the population by hiding information and the reality of the situation. Therefore the cost of suspicion by the population of the state makes censorship of any kind less than worthwhile and it is better to allow individuals to make their own choices.\n\n[1] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
787e085474e3df6d38fd7d6fdce07b24 | As an extensive form of media, the Internet should be subject to regulation just as other forms of media are.
Under the status quo, states already regulate other forms of media that could be used malevolently. Newspapers and books are subject to censorship [1] , and mediums such as television, film and video receive a higher degree of regulation [2] because it is widely recognised that moving pictures and sound can be more emotive and powerful than text and photographs or illustrations. The internet has many means of portraying information and opinion, including film clips and sound, and almost all the information found on television or in newspapers can be found somewhere on the internet [3] , alongside the millions of uploads from internet users themselves [4] .
[1] Foerstel, Herbert N., ‘Banned in the Media’, Publishing Central, http://publishingcentral.com/articles/20030215-85-f98b.html?si=1 on 09/09/11
[2] CityTVweb.com, ‘Television censorship’, 27 August 2007, http://www.citytvweb.com/television-censorship/ on 09/09/11.
[3] Online Newspapers Directory for the World, ‘Thousands of Newspapers Listed by Country & Region’, http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/ on 09/09/11
[4] Boris, Cynthia, ’17 Percent of Photobucket Users Upload Video’s Once a Day’, Marketing Pilgrim, 9 September 2011, http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/09/17-percent-of-photobucket-users-upload-video-once-a-day.html on 09/09/11
| [
{
"docid": "9642012fabf69edc21605dffe53c6546",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Any information from television or newspapers has already been regulated, so it is not a problem that it may now appear somewhere on the internet. It is exactly because the internet is a forum for free information and expression that so many people engage with it; removing this is a dictatorial move against ordinary citizens who seek information without bias and undue censorship.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "63701d7fd42ab82224d5ca73ffa55d62",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Outright banning this kind of prejudice does not directly tackle it – it ignores it. A better way for the government to tackle derogatory and prejudicial speech is to engage with it in a public forum and reasonably point out the flaws and ignorance that it embodies, rather than desperately trying to hide it from public view. In this way, those who are being attacked by these websites would feel as if the government is actively protecting them and their rights and punishing those who have violated them, rather than simply closing a few websites and allowing their authors to continue in other ways. This motion does not solve the problem of prejudice in the way it claims to.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e0d72292dbef7f359432250daa48e270",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Given the number of people who actually use Facebook [1] and other social networking sites, these occurrences were remarkably small [2] . These riots cannot be attributed to Facebook; it was the mindset of the rioters rather than Facebook itself which provided the raw determination for these riots to occur. If Facebook had been censored, they may have simply used mobile phones to co-ordinate their actions instead. Censoring these sites would not prevent such events, and would anger those who use Facebook to communicate with friends [3] and share photos [4] innocently.\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Facebook hits 500m user milestone’, 21 July 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10713199 09/09/11.\n\n[2] BBC News, ‘UK Riots: Trouble erupts in English cities’, 10 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14460554 on 09/09/11.\n\n[3] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n\n[4] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a7e2cb25b88f1db89a49535ba3783453",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor While in a tiny minority of cases, such social networking sites can be used malevolently, they can also be a powerful force for good. For example, many social networking pages campaign for the end to issues such as domestic abuse [1] and racism [2] , and Facebook and Twitter were even used to bring citizens together to clean the streets after the riots in the UK in 2011. [3] Furthermore, this motion entails a broader move to blanket-ban areas of the internet without outlining a clear divide between what would be banned and what would not. For example, at what point would a website which discusses minority religious views be considered undesirable? Would it be at the expression of hatred for nationals of that country, in which case it might constitute hate speech, or not until it tended towards promoting action i.e. attacking other groups? Allowing censorship in these areas could feasibly be construed as obstructing the free speech of specified groups, which might in fact only increase militancy against a government or culture who are perceived as oppressing their right to an opinion of belief [4] .\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Teenagers’ poem to aid domestic abuse Facebook campaign’, 4 February 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12367525 on 16/09/11\n\n[2] Unframing Migrants, ‘meeting for CAMPAIGN AGAINST RACISM’, facebook, 19 October 2010, http://www.facebook.com/events/168254109852708/ on 16/09/2011.\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Twitter and Facebook users plan clean-up.’ 9 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14456857 on 16/09/11.\n\n[4] Marisol, ‘Nigeria: Boko Haram Jihadists say UN a partner in “oppression of believers”’, JihadWatch, 1 September 2011, http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/nigeria-boko-haram-jihadists-say-un-a-partner-in-oppression-of-believers.html on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "7e30a92905e9c1f2c7de5ec464b9ee5d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor We already frown upon certain forms of speech [1] as we recognise that it is important to protect groups form prejudice and hatred. Allowing the expression of hatred does not automatically mean that ordinary people will denounce it as evil; rather, it normalises hatred and is more likely to be acceptable in the public domain. It also appears to show implicit acceptance or even support from the government when we take no steps to prevent this kind of damaging expression; as such, the government fails in its duty to ordinary citizens to protect them and represent their best interests.\n\n[1] Tatchell, Peter, ‘Hate speech v free speech’, guardian.co.uk, 10 October 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/10/hatespeechvfreespeech on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "89b7d4d043ab16bc40e86ed7f6fad440",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Governments are often obliged to do things that the population doesn’t like – raising taxes is an obvious example. However, it is also recognised that sometimes the government has to do these things in order to represent the long-term, best interest of its people – whether or not it is a popular measure at the time.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4b84b7f37087aba0f6512443c23e66f5",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The Internet may be a global resource, but if information on it is have a detrimental effect upon a particular country, it certainly is that government’s responsibility and right to tackle it. If it affects their society and the citizens within it, it affects the government and the means by which they can govern, particularly in relation to social policy. Moreover these websites, and specifically religious opinion websites, often seek to ‘recruit’ others to their school of thought or even to action; their purpose is often to gather support and followers [1] . Therefore there certainly is a risk that these people, who are often very intelligent and persuasive [2] , might lure others to them without protection by the government. It is a very real danger, and needs real protection.\n\n[1] Kiley, Sam, ‘Terrorists ‘May Recruit On Social Networks’’, SkyNews, 12 July 2011, http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16028962 on 09/09/11.\n\n[2] Ali, Iftakhar, ‘Terrorism – The Global Menace’, Universal Journal The Association of Young Journalists and Writers, http://www.ayjw.org/articles.php?id=944449 on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "43b70cff98ab1bb72d63411d74c1cb2f",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The government here may legitimately limit ‘free speech’.\n\nWe already set boundaries on what constitutes ‘free speech’ within our society. For example, we often endorse a ‘balancing act’ [1] an individual may express their beliefs or opinions, but only up to the point where it does not impede the ‘protection of other human rights’ [2] – other peoples’ right not to be abused. In this case, if an individual expresses abuse towards another – especially racism - they may be deemed to be outside of the boundaries or free speech and can be punished for it. This motion is simply an extension of this principle; the kinds of sites which would be banned are those which perpetuate hatred or attack other groups in society, an so already fall outside of the protection of free speech. The harms that stem from these kinds of sites outweigh any potential harm from limiting speech in a small number of cases.\n\n[1] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8657f8f86a3bd7342178eed2024a749e",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Even sites that appeared innocent have had a devastating effect on society.\n\nSome governments, such as the Vietnamese government [1] , have already seen sufficient cause to ban social networking sites such as Facebook. Recently in the UK, many major cities witnessed devastation and destruction as social networking sites were used to co-ordinate wide-scale riots which rampaged over London, Manchester, Birmingham, Worcestershire, Gloucester, Croydon, Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham [2] . Rioters contacted each other through Facebook and blackberry instant messenger to ensure that they could cause maximum damage [3] , which resulted in the destruction of property [4] , physical violence towards others [5] , and even the deaths of three young men [6] . These events prove that seemingly innocent Internet sites can be used by anybody, even apparently normal citizens, to a devastating effect which has caused harm to thousands [7] . To protect the population and maintain order, it is essential that the government is able to act to censor sites that can be used as a forum and a tool for this kind of behaviour when such disruption is occurring.\n\n[1] AsiaNews.it, ‘Internet censorship tightening in Vietnam’, 22 June 2010, http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Internet-censorship-tightening-in-Vietnam... 09/09/11\n\n[2] BBC News, ‘England Riots’, 8 February 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14452097 on 09/09/11\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 09/09/11\n\n[4] Hawkes, Alex, Garside, Juliette and Kollewe, Julia, ‘UK riots could cost taxpayer £100m’, guardian.co.uk, 9 August 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-cost-taxpayer-100-million on 09/09/11.\n\n[5] Allen, Emily, ‘We will use water cannons on them: At last Cameron orders police to come down hard on the looters (some aged as young as NINE)’, Mail Online, 11 August 2011, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024203/UK-RIOTS-2011-David-Came... on 09/09/11.\n\n[6] Orr, James, ‘Birmingham riots: three men killed ‘protecting homes’’, The Telegraph, 10 August 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8693095/Birmingham-riots-th... on 09/09/11.\n\n[7] Huffington Post, ‘UK Riots: What Long-Term Effects Could They Have?’, 10 August 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/08/10/uk-riots-cleanup-could-co_n_9... on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf8f3e67464b8672986a3e15122f5419",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Governments have a moral duty to protect its citizens from harmful sites.\n\nIn recent years, supposedly innocent sites such as social networking sites have been purposely used to harm others. Victims of cyber bullying have even led victims to commit suicide in extreme cases [1] [2] . Given that both physical [3] and psychological [4] damage have occurred through the use of social networking sites, such sites represent a danger to society as a whole. They have become a medium through which others express prejudice, including racism, towards groups and towards individuals [5] . Similarly, if a particularly country has a clear religious or cultural majority, it is fair to censor those sites which seek to undermine these principles and can be damaging to a large portion of the population. If we fail to take the measures required to remove these sites, which would be achieved through censorship, the government essentially fails to act on its principles by allowing such sites to exist. The government has a duty of care to its citizens [6] and must ensure their safety; censoring such sites is the best way to achieve this.\n\n[1] Moore, Victoria, ‘The fake world of Facebook and Bebo: How suicide and cyber bullying lurk behind the facade of “harmless fun”’, MailOnline, 4 August 2009, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1204062/The-fake-world-Facebook-Bebo-How-suicide-cyber-bullying-lurk-facade-harmless-fun.html on 16/09/11\n\n[2] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 16/09/11.\n\n[4] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11\n\n[5] Counihan, Bella, ‘White power likes this – racist Facebook groups’, The Age, 3 February 2010, http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/white-power-likes-t... on 16/09/11\n\n[6] Brownejacobson, ‘Councils owe vulnerable citizens duty of care’, 18 June 2008, http://www.brownejacobson.com/press_office/press_releases/councils_owe_v... 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e1d192514b54c85a12e0192a2964e9d2",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The Internet is a free domain and cannot becontrolled by the government.\n\nGiven that the Internet is used as an international [1] and public space [2] , the government has no right over the information which may be presented via the Internet. In Western liberal democracies, governments are elected on the basis by which they can serve their own country – how they will create or maintain laws that pertain specifically to that nation, and how they will govern the population. The Internet is not country-specific, but international and free. As such, no individual government should have a right to the information on it. Asserting false authority over the internet would paint the government as dictatorial and a ‘nanny state’ [3] , demonstrating a lack of respect for its citizens by assuming that they cannot protect themselves or recognise the nature of extremist or potentially harmful sites and take the individual decision to distance themselves from such sites.\n\n[1] Babel, ‘Towards communicating on the Internet in any language’, http://alis.isoc.org/index.en.html\n\n[2] Papacharissi, Zizi, ‘The virtual sphere’, New Media & Society, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp 9-27, February 2002, http://nms.sagepub.com/content/4/1/9.short on 09/09/11\n\n[3] BBC. ‘A Point of View: In defence of the nanny state’. Published 04/02/2011. Accessed from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12360045 on\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f5a17eaf9a8e63f50bf2d302da0440d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Censorship is fundamentally incompatible with the notion of free speech.\n\nCensoring particular material essentially blinds the public to a complete world view by asserting the patronising view that ordinary citizens simply cannot read extreme material without recognising the flaws in it. This motion assumes that those who have access to material such as religious opinion sites will be influenced by it, rather than realising that it is morally dubious and denouncing it. The best way to combat prejudice is to expose it as a farce; this cannot be done if it is automatically and unthinkingly censored. Meanwhile, it is paradoxical for a government to assert the general benefits of free speech and then act in a contradictory and hypocritical manner by banning certain areas of the Internet. Free speech should not be limited; even if it is an expression of negativity, it should be publicly debated and logically criticised, rather than hidden altogether.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "872edd7325b5ec9e694e4693990fa90b",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor People often react poorly to being censored by their governments.\n\nIn countries that do currently practice censorship of Internet information, their citizens often interpret this as suspicious and dictatorial behaviour. For example, in China growing discontent with the government’s constant censorship has led to public outrage [1] , and political satire which heavily criticises the government [2] . Censorship can easily be used malevolently and is not always in public interest; this motion supports the ignorance of the population by hiding information and the reality of the situation. Therefore the cost of suspicion by the population of the state makes censorship of any kind less than worthwhile and it is better to allow individuals to make their own choices.\n\n[1] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
6672511faa7c86551282fd4ad9d924f9 | The Internet is a free domain and cannot becontrolled by the government.
Given that the Internet is used as an international [1] and public space [2] , the government has no right over the information which may be presented via the Internet. In Western liberal democracies, governments are elected on the basis by which they can serve their own country – how they will create or maintain laws that pertain specifically to that nation, and how they will govern the population. The Internet is not country-specific, but international and free. As such, no individual government should have a right to the information on it. Asserting false authority over the internet would paint the government as dictatorial and a ‘nanny state’ [3] , demonstrating a lack of respect for its citizens by assuming that they cannot protect themselves or recognise the nature of extremist or potentially harmful sites and take the individual decision to distance themselves from such sites.
[1] Babel, ‘Towards communicating on the Internet in any language’, http://alis.isoc.org/index.en.html
[2] Papacharissi, Zizi, ‘The virtual sphere’, New Media & Society, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp 9-27, February 2002, http://nms.sagepub.com/content/4/1/9.short on 09/09/11
[3] BBC. ‘A Point of View: In defence of the nanny state’. Published 04/02/2011. Accessed from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12360045 on
| [
{
"docid": "4b84b7f37087aba0f6512443c23e66f5",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The Internet may be a global resource, but if information on it is have a detrimental effect upon a particular country, it certainly is that government’s responsibility and right to tackle it. If it affects their society and the citizens within it, it affects the government and the means by which they can govern, particularly in relation to social policy. Moreover these websites, and specifically religious opinion websites, often seek to ‘recruit’ others to their school of thought or even to action; their purpose is often to gather support and followers [1] . Therefore there certainly is a risk that these people, who are often very intelligent and persuasive [2] , might lure others to them without protection by the government. It is a very real danger, and needs real protection.\n\n[1] Kiley, Sam, ‘Terrorists ‘May Recruit On Social Networks’’, SkyNews, 12 July 2011, http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16028962 on 09/09/11.\n\n[2] Ali, Iftakhar, ‘Terrorism – The Global Menace’, Universal Journal The Association of Young Journalists and Writers, http://www.ayjw.org/articles.php?id=944449 on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "7e30a92905e9c1f2c7de5ec464b9ee5d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor We already frown upon certain forms of speech [1] as we recognise that it is important to protect groups form prejudice and hatred. Allowing the expression of hatred does not automatically mean that ordinary people will denounce it as evil; rather, it normalises hatred and is more likely to be acceptable in the public domain. It also appears to show implicit acceptance or even support from the government when we take no steps to prevent this kind of damaging expression; as such, the government fails in its duty to ordinary citizens to protect them and represent their best interests.\n\n[1] Tatchell, Peter, ‘Hate speech v free speech’, guardian.co.uk, 10 October 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/10/hatespeechvfreespeech on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "89b7d4d043ab16bc40e86ed7f6fad440",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Governments are often obliged to do things that the population doesn’t like – raising taxes is an obvious example. However, it is also recognised that sometimes the government has to do these things in order to represent the long-term, best interest of its people – whether or not it is a popular measure at the time.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "63701d7fd42ab82224d5ca73ffa55d62",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Outright banning this kind of prejudice does not directly tackle it – it ignores it. A better way for the government to tackle derogatory and prejudicial speech is to engage with it in a public forum and reasonably point out the flaws and ignorance that it embodies, rather than desperately trying to hide it from public view. In this way, those who are being attacked by these websites would feel as if the government is actively protecting them and their rights and punishing those who have violated them, rather than simply closing a few websites and allowing their authors to continue in other ways. This motion does not solve the problem of prejudice in the way it claims to.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9642012fabf69edc21605dffe53c6546",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Any information from television or newspapers has already been regulated, so it is not a problem that it may now appear somewhere on the internet. It is exactly because the internet is a forum for free information and expression that so many people engage with it; removing this is a dictatorial move against ordinary citizens who seek information without bias and undue censorship.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e0d72292dbef7f359432250daa48e270",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Given the number of people who actually use Facebook [1] and other social networking sites, these occurrences were remarkably small [2] . These riots cannot be attributed to Facebook; it was the mindset of the rioters rather than Facebook itself which provided the raw determination for these riots to occur. If Facebook had been censored, they may have simply used mobile phones to co-ordinate their actions instead. Censoring these sites would not prevent such events, and would anger those who use Facebook to communicate with friends [3] and share photos [4] innocently.\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Facebook hits 500m user milestone’, 21 July 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10713199 09/09/11.\n\n[2] BBC News, ‘UK Riots: Trouble erupts in English cities’, 10 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14460554 on 09/09/11.\n\n[3] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n\n[4] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a7e2cb25b88f1db89a49535ba3783453",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor While in a tiny minority of cases, such social networking sites can be used malevolently, they can also be a powerful force for good. For example, many social networking pages campaign for the end to issues such as domestic abuse [1] and racism [2] , and Facebook and Twitter were even used to bring citizens together to clean the streets after the riots in the UK in 2011. [3] Furthermore, this motion entails a broader move to blanket-ban areas of the internet without outlining a clear divide between what would be banned and what would not. For example, at what point would a website which discusses minority religious views be considered undesirable? Would it be at the expression of hatred for nationals of that country, in which case it might constitute hate speech, or not until it tended towards promoting action i.e. attacking other groups? Allowing censorship in these areas could feasibly be construed as obstructing the free speech of specified groups, which might in fact only increase militancy against a government or culture who are perceived as oppressing their right to an opinion of belief [4] .\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Teenagers’ poem to aid domestic abuse Facebook campaign’, 4 February 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12367525 on 16/09/11\n\n[2] Unframing Migrants, ‘meeting for CAMPAIGN AGAINST RACISM’, facebook, 19 October 2010, http://www.facebook.com/events/168254109852708/ on 16/09/2011.\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Twitter and Facebook users plan clean-up.’ 9 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14456857 on 16/09/11.\n\n[4] Marisol, ‘Nigeria: Boko Haram Jihadists say UN a partner in “oppression of believers”’, JihadWatch, 1 September 2011, http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/nigeria-boko-haram-jihadists-say-un-a-partner-in-oppression-of-believers.html on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f5a17eaf9a8e63f50bf2d302da0440d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Censorship is fundamentally incompatible with the notion of free speech.\n\nCensoring particular material essentially blinds the public to a complete world view by asserting the patronising view that ordinary citizens simply cannot read extreme material without recognising the flaws in it. This motion assumes that those who have access to material such as religious opinion sites will be influenced by it, rather than realising that it is morally dubious and denouncing it. The best way to combat prejudice is to expose it as a farce; this cannot be done if it is automatically and unthinkingly censored. Meanwhile, it is paradoxical for a government to assert the general benefits of free speech and then act in a contradictory and hypocritical manner by banning certain areas of the Internet. Free speech should not be limited; even if it is an expression of negativity, it should be publicly debated and logically criticised, rather than hidden altogether.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "872edd7325b5ec9e694e4693990fa90b",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor People often react poorly to being censored by their governments.\n\nIn countries that do currently practice censorship of Internet information, their citizens often interpret this as suspicious and dictatorial behaviour. For example, in China growing discontent with the government’s constant censorship has led to public outrage [1] , and political satire which heavily criticises the government [2] . Censorship can easily be used malevolently and is not always in public interest; this motion supports the ignorance of the population by hiding information and the reality of the situation. Therefore the cost of suspicion by the population of the state makes censorship of any kind less than worthwhile and it is better to allow individuals to make their own choices.\n\n[1] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "43b70cff98ab1bb72d63411d74c1cb2f",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The government here may legitimately limit ‘free speech’.\n\nWe already set boundaries on what constitutes ‘free speech’ within our society. For example, we often endorse a ‘balancing act’ [1] an individual may express their beliefs or opinions, but only up to the point where it does not impede the ‘protection of other human rights’ [2] – other peoples’ right not to be abused. In this case, if an individual expresses abuse towards another – especially racism - they may be deemed to be outside of the boundaries or free speech and can be punished for it. This motion is simply an extension of this principle; the kinds of sites which would be banned are those which perpetuate hatred or attack other groups in society, an so already fall outside of the protection of free speech. The harms that stem from these kinds of sites outweigh any potential harm from limiting speech in a small number of cases.\n\n[1] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8657f8f86a3bd7342178eed2024a749e",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Even sites that appeared innocent have had a devastating effect on society.\n\nSome governments, such as the Vietnamese government [1] , have already seen sufficient cause to ban social networking sites such as Facebook. Recently in the UK, many major cities witnessed devastation and destruction as social networking sites were used to co-ordinate wide-scale riots which rampaged over London, Manchester, Birmingham, Worcestershire, Gloucester, Croydon, Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham [2] . Rioters contacted each other through Facebook and blackberry instant messenger to ensure that they could cause maximum damage [3] , which resulted in the destruction of property [4] , physical violence towards others [5] , and even the deaths of three young men [6] . These events prove that seemingly innocent Internet sites can be used by anybody, even apparently normal citizens, to a devastating effect which has caused harm to thousands [7] . To protect the population and maintain order, it is essential that the government is able to act to censor sites that can be used as a forum and a tool for this kind of behaviour when such disruption is occurring.\n\n[1] AsiaNews.it, ‘Internet censorship tightening in Vietnam’, 22 June 2010, http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Internet-censorship-tightening-in-Vietnam... 09/09/11\n\n[2] BBC News, ‘England Riots’, 8 February 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14452097 on 09/09/11\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 09/09/11\n\n[4] Hawkes, Alex, Garside, Juliette and Kollewe, Julia, ‘UK riots could cost taxpayer £100m’, guardian.co.uk, 9 August 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-cost-taxpayer-100-million on 09/09/11.\n\n[5] Allen, Emily, ‘We will use water cannons on them: At last Cameron orders police to come down hard on the looters (some aged as young as NINE)’, Mail Online, 11 August 2011, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024203/UK-RIOTS-2011-David-Came... on 09/09/11.\n\n[6] Orr, James, ‘Birmingham riots: three men killed ‘protecting homes’’, The Telegraph, 10 August 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8693095/Birmingham-riots-th... on 09/09/11.\n\n[7] Huffington Post, ‘UK Riots: What Long-Term Effects Could They Have?’, 10 August 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/08/10/uk-riots-cleanup-could-co_n_9... on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf8f3e67464b8672986a3e15122f5419",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Governments have a moral duty to protect its citizens from harmful sites.\n\nIn recent years, supposedly innocent sites such as social networking sites have been purposely used to harm others. Victims of cyber bullying have even led victims to commit suicide in extreme cases [1] [2] . Given that both physical [3] and psychological [4] damage have occurred through the use of social networking sites, such sites represent a danger to society as a whole. They have become a medium through which others express prejudice, including racism, towards groups and towards individuals [5] . Similarly, if a particularly country has a clear religious or cultural majority, it is fair to censor those sites which seek to undermine these principles and can be damaging to a large portion of the population. If we fail to take the measures required to remove these sites, which would be achieved through censorship, the government essentially fails to act on its principles by allowing such sites to exist. The government has a duty of care to its citizens [6] and must ensure their safety; censoring such sites is the best way to achieve this.\n\n[1] Moore, Victoria, ‘The fake world of Facebook and Bebo: How suicide and cyber bullying lurk behind the facade of “harmless fun”’, MailOnline, 4 August 2009, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1204062/The-fake-world-Facebook-Bebo-How-suicide-cyber-bullying-lurk-facade-harmless-fun.html on 16/09/11\n\n[2] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 16/09/11.\n\n[4] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11\n\n[5] Counihan, Bella, ‘White power likes this – racist Facebook groups’, The Age, 3 February 2010, http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/white-power-likes-t... on 16/09/11\n\n[6] Brownejacobson, ‘Councils owe vulnerable citizens duty of care’, 18 June 2008, http://www.brownejacobson.com/press_office/press_releases/councils_owe_v... 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5dbd3fbcfe478b4f36a815490fc0f1a2",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor As an extensive form of media, the Internet should be subject to regulation just as other forms of media are.\n\nUnder the status quo, states already regulate other forms of media that could be used malevolently. Newspapers and books are subject to censorship [1] , and mediums such as television, film and video receive a higher degree of regulation [2] because it is widely recognised that moving pictures and sound can be more emotive and powerful than text and photographs or illustrations. The internet has many means of portraying information and opinion, including film clips and sound, and almost all the information found on television or in newspapers can be found somewhere on the internet [3] , alongside the millions of uploads from internet users themselves [4] .\n\n[1] Foerstel, Herbert N., ‘Banned in the Media’, Publishing Central, http://publishingcentral.com/articles/20030215-85-f98b.html?si=1 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] CityTVweb.com, ‘Television censorship’, 27 August 2007, http://www.citytvweb.com/television-censorship/ on 09/09/11.\n\n[3] Online Newspapers Directory for the World, ‘Thousands of Newspapers Listed by Country & Region’, http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/ on 09/09/11\n\n[4] Boris, Cynthia, ’17 Percent of Photobucket Users Upload Video’s Once a Day’, Marketing Pilgrim, 9 September 2011, http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/09/17-percent-of-photobucket-users-upload-video-once-a-day.html on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
ea4cbca8b93f0962838c6cab3294fb28 | People often react poorly to being censored by their governments.
In countries that do currently practice censorship of Internet information, their citizens often interpret this as suspicious and dictatorial behaviour. For example, in China growing discontent with the government’s constant censorship has led to public outrage [1] , and political satire which heavily criticises the government [2] . Censorship can easily be used malevolently and is not always in public interest; this motion supports the ignorance of the population by hiding information and the reality of the situation. Therefore the cost of suspicion by the population of the state makes censorship of any kind less than worthwhile and it is better to allow individuals to make their own choices.
[1] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11
[2] Bennett, Isabella, ‘Media Censorship in China’, Council on Foreign Relations, 7 March 2011, http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 on 09/09/11.
| [
{
"docid": "89b7d4d043ab16bc40e86ed7f6fad440",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Governments are often obliged to do things that the population doesn’t like – raising taxes is an obvious example. However, it is also recognised that sometimes the government has to do these things in order to represent the long-term, best interest of its people – whether or not it is a popular measure at the time.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "7e30a92905e9c1f2c7de5ec464b9ee5d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor We already frown upon certain forms of speech [1] as we recognise that it is important to protect groups form prejudice and hatred. Allowing the expression of hatred does not automatically mean that ordinary people will denounce it as evil; rather, it normalises hatred and is more likely to be acceptable in the public domain. It also appears to show implicit acceptance or even support from the government when we take no steps to prevent this kind of damaging expression; as such, the government fails in its duty to ordinary citizens to protect them and represent their best interests.\n\n[1] Tatchell, Peter, ‘Hate speech v free speech’, guardian.co.uk, 10 October 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/10/hatespeechvfreespeech on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "4b84b7f37087aba0f6512443c23e66f5",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The Internet may be a global resource, but if information on it is have a detrimental effect upon a particular country, it certainly is that government’s responsibility and right to tackle it. If it affects their society and the citizens within it, it affects the government and the means by which they can govern, particularly in relation to social policy. Moreover these websites, and specifically religious opinion websites, often seek to ‘recruit’ others to their school of thought or even to action; their purpose is often to gather support and followers [1] . Therefore there certainly is a risk that these people, who are often very intelligent and persuasive [2] , might lure others to them without protection by the government. It is a very real danger, and needs real protection.\n\n[1] Kiley, Sam, ‘Terrorists ‘May Recruit On Social Networks’’, SkyNews, 12 July 2011, http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16028962 on 09/09/11.\n\n[2] Ali, Iftakhar, ‘Terrorism – The Global Menace’, Universal Journal The Association of Young Journalists and Writers, http://www.ayjw.org/articles.php?id=944449 on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "63701d7fd42ab82224d5ca73ffa55d62",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Outright banning this kind of prejudice does not directly tackle it – it ignores it. A better way for the government to tackle derogatory and prejudicial speech is to engage with it in a public forum and reasonably point out the flaws and ignorance that it embodies, rather than desperately trying to hide it from public view. In this way, those who are being attacked by these websites would feel as if the government is actively protecting them and their rights and punishing those who have violated them, rather than simply closing a few websites and allowing their authors to continue in other ways. This motion does not solve the problem of prejudice in the way it claims to.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "9642012fabf69edc21605dffe53c6546",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Any information from television or newspapers has already been regulated, so it is not a problem that it may now appear somewhere on the internet. It is exactly because the internet is a forum for free information and expression that so many people engage with it; removing this is a dictatorial move against ordinary citizens who seek information without bias and undue censorship.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e0d72292dbef7f359432250daa48e270",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Given the number of people who actually use Facebook [1] and other social networking sites, these occurrences were remarkably small [2] . These riots cannot be attributed to Facebook; it was the mindset of the rioters rather than Facebook itself which provided the raw determination for these riots to occur. If Facebook had been censored, they may have simply used mobile phones to co-ordinate their actions instead. Censoring these sites would not prevent such events, and would anger those who use Facebook to communicate with friends [3] and share photos [4] innocently.\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Facebook hits 500m user milestone’, 21 July 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10713199 09/09/11.\n\n[2] BBC News, ‘UK Riots: Trouble erupts in English cities’, 10 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14460554 on 09/09/11.\n\n[3] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n\n[4] Santos, Elena, “The ultimate social network”, softonic, http://facebook.en.softonic.com/web-apps on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a7e2cb25b88f1db89a49535ba3783453",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor While in a tiny minority of cases, such social networking sites can be used malevolently, they can also be a powerful force for good. For example, many social networking pages campaign for the end to issues such as domestic abuse [1] and racism [2] , and Facebook and Twitter were even used to bring citizens together to clean the streets after the riots in the UK in 2011. [3] Furthermore, this motion entails a broader move to blanket-ban areas of the internet without outlining a clear divide between what would be banned and what would not. For example, at what point would a website which discusses minority religious views be considered undesirable? Would it be at the expression of hatred for nationals of that country, in which case it might constitute hate speech, or not until it tended towards promoting action i.e. attacking other groups? Allowing censorship in these areas could feasibly be construed as obstructing the free speech of specified groups, which might in fact only increase militancy against a government or culture who are perceived as oppressing their right to an opinion of belief [4] .\n\n[1] BBC News, ‘Teenagers’ poem to aid domestic abuse Facebook campaign’, 4 February 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12367525 on 16/09/11\n\n[2] Unframing Migrants, ‘meeting for CAMPAIGN AGAINST RACISM’, facebook, 19 October 2010, http://www.facebook.com/events/168254109852708/ on 16/09/2011.\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Twitter and Facebook users plan clean-up.’ 9 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14456857 on 16/09/11.\n\n[4] Marisol, ‘Nigeria: Boko Haram Jihadists say UN a partner in “oppression of believers”’, JihadWatch, 1 September 2011, http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/nigeria-boko-haram-jihadists-say-un-a-partner-in-oppression-of-believers.html on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "e1d192514b54c85a12e0192a2964e9d2",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The Internet is a free domain and cannot becontrolled by the government.\n\nGiven that the Internet is used as an international [1] and public space [2] , the government has no right over the information which may be presented via the Internet. In Western liberal democracies, governments are elected on the basis by which they can serve their own country – how they will create or maintain laws that pertain specifically to that nation, and how they will govern the population. The Internet is not country-specific, but international and free. As such, no individual government should have a right to the information on it. Asserting false authority over the internet would paint the government as dictatorial and a ‘nanny state’ [3] , demonstrating a lack of respect for its citizens by assuming that they cannot protect themselves or recognise the nature of extremist or potentially harmful sites and take the individual decision to distance themselves from such sites.\n\n[1] Babel, ‘Towards communicating on the Internet in any language’, http://alis.isoc.org/index.en.html\n\n[2] Papacharissi, Zizi, ‘The virtual sphere’, New Media & Society, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp 9-27, February 2002, http://nms.sagepub.com/content/4/1/9.short on 09/09/11\n\n[3] BBC. ‘A Point of View: In defence of the nanny state’. Published 04/02/2011. Accessed from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12360045 on\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1f5a17eaf9a8e63f50bf2d302da0440d",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Censorship is fundamentally incompatible with the notion of free speech.\n\nCensoring particular material essentially blinds the public to a complete world view by asserting the patronising view that ordinary citizens simply cannot read extreme material without recognising the flaws in it. This motion assumes that those who have access to material such as religious opinion sites will be influenced by it, rather than realising that it is morally dubious and denouncing it. The best way to combat prejudice is to expose it as a farce; this cannot be done if it is automatically and unthinkingly censored. Meanwhile, it is paradoxical for a government to assert the general benefits of free speech and then act in a contradictory and hypocritical manner by banning certain areas of the Internet. Free speech should not be limited; even if it is an expression of negativity, it should be publicly debated and logically criticised, rather than hidden altogether.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "43b70cff98ab1bb72d63411d74c1cb2f",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor The government here may legitimately limit ‘free speech’.\n\nWe already set boundaries on what constitutes ‘free speech’ within our society. For example, we often endorse a ‘balancing act’ [1] an individual may express their beliefs or opinions, but only up to the point where it does not impede the ‘protection of other human rights’ [2] – other peoples’ right not to be abused. In this case, if an individual expresses abuse towards another – especially racism - they may be deemed to be outside of the boundaries or free speech and can be punished for it. This motion is simply an extension of this principle; the kinds of sites which would be banned are those which perpetuate hatred or attack other groups in society, an so already fall outside of the protection of free speech. The harms that stem from these kinds of sites outweigh any potential harm from limiting speech in a small number of cases.\n\n[1] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] Hera.org, ‘Freedom of Expression’, Human Rights Education Association, http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=408 on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8657f8f86a3bd7342178eed2024a749e",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Even sites that appeared innocent have had a devastating effect on society.\n\nSome governments, such as the Vietnamese government [1] , have already seen sufficient cause to ban social networking sites such as Facebook. Recently in the UK, many major cities witnessed devastation and destruction as social networking sites were used to co-ordinate wide-scale riots which rampaged over London, Manchester, Birmingham, Worcestershire, Gloucester, Croydon, Bristol, Liverpool and Nottingham [2] . Rioters contacted each other through Facebook and blackberry instant messenger to ensure that they could cause maximum damage [3] , which resulted in the destruction of property [4] , physical violence towards others [5] , and even the deaths of three young men [6] . These events prove that seemingly innocent Internet sites can be used by anybody, even apparently normal citizens, to a devastating effect which has caused harm to thousands [7] . To protect the population and maintain order, it is essential that the government is able to act to censor sites that can be used as a forum and a tool for this kind of behaviour when such disruption is occurring.\n\n[1] AsiaNews.it, ‘Internet censorship tightening in Vietnam’, 22 June 2010, http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Internet-censorship-tightening-in-Vietnam... 09/09/11\n\n[2] BBC News, ‘England Riots’, 8 February 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14452097 on 09/09/11\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 09/09/11\n\n[4] Hawkes, Alex, Garside, Juliette and Kollewe, Julia, ‘UK riots could cost taxpayer £100m’, guardian.co.uk, 9 August 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-cost-taxpayer-100-million on 09/09/11.\n\n[5] Allen, Emily, ‘We will use water cannons on them: At last Cameron orders police to come down hard on the looters (some aged as young as NINE)’, Mail Online, 11 August 2011, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024203/UK-RIOTS-2011-David-Came... on 09/09/11.\n\n[6] Orr, James, ‘Birmingham riots: three men killed ‘protecting homes’’, The Telegraph, 10 August 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8693095/Birmingham-riots-th... on 09/09/11.\n\n[7] Huffington Post, ‘UK Riots: What Long-Term Effects Could They Have?’, 10 August 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/08/10/uk-riots-cleanup-could-co_n_9... on 09/09/11.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf8f3e67464b8672986a3e15122f5419",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor Governments have a moral duty to protect its citizens from harmful sites.\n\nIn recent years, supposedly innocent sites such as social networking sites have been purposely used to harm others. Victims of cyber bullying have even led victims to commit suicide in extreme cases [1] [2] . Given that both physical [3] and psychological [4] damage have occurred through the use of social networking sites, such sites represent a danger to society as a whole. They have become a medium through which others express prejudice, including racism, towards groups and towards individuals [5] . Similarly, if a particularly country has a clear religious or cultural majority, it is fair to censor those sites which seek to undermine these principles and can be damaging to a large portion of the population. If we fail to take the measures required to remove these sites, which would be achieved through censorship, the government essentially fails to act on its principles by allowing such sites to exist. The government has a duty of care to its citizens [6] and must ensure their safety; censoring such sites is the best way to achieve this.\n\n[1] Moore, Victoria, ‘The fake world of Facebook and Bebo: How suicide and cyber bullying lurk behind the facade of “harmless fun”’, MailOnline, 4 August 2009, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1204062/The-fake-world-Facebook-Bebo-How-suicide-cyber-bullying-lurk-facade-harmless-fun.html on 16/09/11\n\n[2] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11\n\n[3] BBC News, ‘England riots: Two jailed for using Facebook to incite disorder’, 16 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-14551582 on 16/09/11.\n\n[4] Good Morning America, ‘Parents: Cyber Bullying Led to Teen’s Suicide’, ABC News, 19 November 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1#.T0N_1fFmIQo on 16/09/11\n\n[5] Counihan, Bella, ‘White power likes this – racist Facebook groups’, The Age, 3 February 2010, http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/white-power-likes-t... on 16/09/11\n\n[6] Brownejacobson, ‘Councils owe vulnerable citizens duty of care’, 18 June 2008, http://www.brownejacobson.com/press_office/press_releases/councils_owe_v... 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5dbd3fbcfe478b4f36a815490fc0f1a2",
"text": "p ip internet digital freedoms access information house would censor As an extensive form of media, the Internet should be subject to regulation just as other forms of media are.\n\nUnder the status quo, states already regulate other forms of media that could be used malevolently. Newspapers and books are subject to censorship [1] , and mediums such as television, film and video receive a higher degree of regulation [2] because it is widely recognised that moving pictures and sound can be more emotive and powerful than text and photographs or illustrations. The internet has many means of portraying information and opinion, including film clips and sound, and almost all the information found on television or in newspapers can be found somewhere on the internet [3] , alongside the millions of uploads from internet users themselves [4] .\n\n[1] Foerstel, Herbert N., ‘Banned in the Media’, Publishing Central, http://publishingcentral.com/articles/20030215-85-f98b.html?si=1 on 09/09/11\n\n[2] CityTVweb.com, ‘Television censorship’, 27 August 2007, http://www.citytvweb.com/television-censorship/ on 09/09/11.\n\n[3] Online Newspapers Directory for the World, ‘Thousands of Newspapers Listed by Country & Region’, http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/ on 09/09/11\n\n[4] Boris, Cynthia, ’17 Percent of Photobucket Users Upload Video’s Once a Day’, Marketing Pilgrim, 9 September 2011, http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/09/17-percent-of-photobucket-users-upload-video-once-a-day.html on 09/09/11\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
3693634f97a8b7c18d8234ec916f32f5 | Citizens have a right to know what is done in their name
The nation exits for its citizens; it depends on their consent to maintain order and to raise finances. The main purpose of the state is law and order, and national defence, both of which are covered by security. As an area that is so central to the role of the government it is vital that the stakeholders in that government, its citizens, know what it is the state is doing in their name for their security.
The Obama administration for example refuses to acknowledge that it is carrying out a campaign using drones while at the same time saying it is “the only game in town in terms of confronting and trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership.” [1] If the US government is bombing another country then the US people have a right to know with much less ambiguity what exactly is being done, who is being hit, when and where. They also need to be informed of any possible consequences.
[1] Kaufman, Brett, ‘In Court Today: Fighting the CIA’s Secrecy Claims on Drones’, ACLU, 20 September 2012
| [
{
"docid": "8414e4254b854a82f39dea1f7c7e4b12",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Being a citizen does not come with a right to know everything that the state does. In much the same way being a shareholder does not mean you get to know absolutely everything every person in a business does. Instead you get the headlines and a summary, most of the time the how the business goes about getting the results is left to the management. Ultimately the state’s purpose is to protect its citizens and this comes before letting them know everything about how that is done.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "ea1bf901b9c016e50b93d6b38fdfb10d",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms This is clearly not always the case. Often transparency means that the public becomes aware when there is little need for them to know. There had been previous nuclear accidents that had caused no damage, and had not been noticed, such as in Goldsboro, N.C. in 1961. [1] If there had been a media frenzy fuelled by released information there would clearly have been much more of a public relations disaster than there was with no one noticing. Since there’re was no harm done there is little reason why such a media circus should have been encouraged. And even without media attention the incident lead to increase safeguards.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.51\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "669b66c5254b042f7fdf8e3dafcb8a0b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency may mean that mistakes or problems are found faster, but it does not mean they are going to be corrected faster. Waste in the defense budget has been known about for years yet it still keeps coming up. Transparency shines a light on the problem but that is not helpful if it does not result in action to solve the problem.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "111d28308056b7bde04aa9dfb31ed7ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency in situations of international tension is tricky; with complete transparency how do you engage in bluffing? The state that is completely transparent is tying one hand behind its back in international negotiations.\n\nIt is also wrong to assume that transparency will always reduce tensions. Sometimes two countries just have completely incompatible interests. In such instances complete transparency is simply going to set them on a collision course. It is then much better for there to be a bit less transparency so that both sides can fudge the issue and sign up to an agreement while interpreting it in different ways.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8222066b85109d2a33c55a3163c44a4a",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Trust goes two ways; the people have to trust that on some issues, such as security, the government is doing the right thing to protect them even when it cannot release all relevant information. But even if the military and security services do claim to be completely transparent then how is everyone to know that it really is being as transparent as they say? Unfortunately there are information asymmetry’s between members of the public and the government; the member of the public is unlikely to have the capability to find out if the government if hiding something from them. [1] Other countries too are likely to be suspicious of ‘complete transparency’ and simply believe that this is cover for doing something more nefarious. Trust then cannot only about being transparent in everything.\n\n[1] Stiglitz, Joseph, ‘Transparency in Government’, in Roumeen Islam, The right to tell: the roll of the mass media in economic development, World Bank Publications, 2002, p.28\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2eafb3797f068beb299caa9d706002d4",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Drones are an unusual example (though not unique) because they are a new form of warfare over which there are few clear rules and norms. This means that making it transparent will create new norms. However in the vast majority of covert operations if made public they would clearly be illegal and would have to be ended. Drones are also unusual in that the public sees few downsides to the killing, this means there would be less public pressure than in most such operations.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09379b5481b93d163504bdcf5b12e9c9",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Coalitions can form behind expansionist policies regardless of whether there is transparency. If there is no transparency then it is simply an invitation for these groups to overestimate the strength of their own state compared to their opponents. Where there is transparency the figures will at least be available to counter their arguments. It should not be surprising that interest groups do not have as much influence in creating expansionist policy in democracies. [1]\n\nTransparency showing when a state is to be eclipsed is a greater concern but a lack of transparency in such a case is just as bad. No transparency will simply encourage the fears of the state that is to be eclipsed that the rising state is hostile and not to be trusted.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.18\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ee863b175d8bc7f083fcb10f9f8e6b7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms The public is rational and can make its own assessment of risk. The best course in such cases is transparency and education. If all relevant information is released, along with analysis as to the risk presented by the threat, then the public can be best informed about what kind of threats they need to be prepared for. Terrorism has been blown out of proportion because they are single deadly incidents that are simple to report and have a good narrative to provide 24/7 coverage that the public will lap up. [1] As a result there has been much more media coverage than other threats. It can then be no surprise that the public overestimate the threat posed by terrorism as the public are told what risks are relevant by the amount of media coverage. [2]\n\n[1] Engelhardt, Tom, ‘Casualties from Terrorism Are Minor Compared to Other Threats’, Gale Opposing Viewpoints, 2011\n\n[2] Singer, Eleanor, and Endreny, Phyllis Mildred, Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters and Other Hazards, Russell Sage Foundation, 1993\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ee9b4226c39f4e02bd155a90b722c72c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency clearly does not have to extend to things like technical specifications of weapons. Such information would be a clear benefit to a competitor allowing them to build their own while being of little help in terms of transparency as most people could not understand it. On the other hand knowing what a weapons system does simply prevents misunderstanding and misjudgement.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b60c17aa62dd87a3c11971948e3c787",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Clearly transparency in real time might cause some problems allowing the disruption of ongoing operations. However most of the time information could be released very shortly afterwards rather than being considered secret for 25-30 years. [1] A much shorter timeframe is needed if the transparency is to have any meaning or impact upon policy. In the case of WikiLeaks most of the information was already a couple of years old and WikiLeaks said it made sure that there was no information that could endanger lives released.\n\nWe should also remember that a lack of transparency can also endanger lives; this might be the case if it leads to purchases of equipment of shoddy equipment without the proper oversight to ensure everything works as it should. For example many countries purchased bomb detectors that are made out of novelty golf ball finders, just plastic, that do not work from a Briton looking to make a fast buck. It has for example been used to attempt to find car bombs in Iraq. A little transparency in testing and procurement could have gone a long way in protecting those who have to use the equipment. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.8\n\n[2] AFP, ‘Iraq still using phony bomb detectors at checkpoints’, globalpost, 3 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "04ab403cbe5fefe3364b36e9f3d654bf",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents public relations disasters\n\nTransparency is necessary to avoid public relations disasters; particularly in countries where the media has some freedom to investigate for themselves. It is clearly the best policy for the military to make sure all the information is released along with the reasons behind actions rather than having the media finding individual pieces of a whole and speculating to fill the gaps.\n\nA good example would be a collision on 16th January 1966 between a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanker while attempting to refuel that destroyed both planes. Accidents happen, and this one cost 11 lives, but could have been much worse as the B-52 had four nuclear bombs on board were not armed and did not detonate. In this case an initial lack of information rapidly turned into a public relations disaster that was stemmed by much more openness by the military and the US Ambassador in Spain. The release of the information reduces the room for the press to fill in the gaps with harmful speculation. [1] In this case there was never much chance of national security implications or a break with Spain as the country was ruled by the dictator Franco, someone who would hardly pay attention to public opinion. But in a democracy a slow and closed response could seriously damage relations.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.65\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c971b2f19f8dfd929bf86c54c4978ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency helps reduce international tension\n\nTransparency is necessary in international relations. States need to know what each other are doing to assess their actions. Without any transparency the hole is filled by suspicion and threat inflation that can easily lead to miscalculation and even war.\n\nThe Cuban missile crisis is a clear example where a lack of transparency on either side about what they were willing to accept and what they were doing almost lead to nuclear war. [1] It is notable that one of the responses to prevent a similar crisis was to install a hotline between the White House and Kremlin. A very small, but vital, step in terms of openness.\n\nToday this is still a problem; China currently worries about the US ‘pivot’ towards Asia complaining it “has aroused a great deal of suspicion in China.” “A huge deficit of strategic trust lies at the bottom of all problems between China and the United States.” The result would be an inevitable arms race and possible conflict. [2]\n\n[1] Frohwein, Ashley, ‘Embassy Moscow: A Diplomatic Perspective of the Cuban Missile Crisis’, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 7 May 2013\n\n[2] Yafei, He, ‘The Trust Deficit’, Foreign Policy, 13 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ca11382acfc6861183dfdf775423f0c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency is a good in and of itself\n\nThe most essential commodity within a state is trust. Trust is essential in all sorts of aspect of our lives; we trust that the paper money we have is actually worth more than a scrap of paper, that doctors performing surgery know what they are doing, that we won't be attacked in the street, and that the government is looking after our interests. In order to create that trust there needs to be transparency so that we know that our institutions are trustworthy. It is the ability to check the facts and the accountability that comes with transparency that creates trust. And this in turn is what makes them legitimate. [1]\n\nThe need for trust applies just as much to security as any other walk of life. Citizens need to trust that the security services really are keeping them safe, are spending taxpayers’ money wisely, and are acting in a fashion that is a credit to the country. Unfortunately if there is not transparency there is no way of knowing if this is the case and so often the intelligence services have turned out to be an embarrassment. As has been the case with the CIA and it’s the use of torture following 9/11, for which there are still calls for transparency on past actions. [2]\n\n[1] Ankersmit, Laurens, ‘The Irony of the international relations exception in the transparency regulation’, European Law Blog, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Traub, James, ‘Out With It’, Foreign Policy, 10 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2494278a88bfb0294a3cda5ace3a9ba3",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents, or corrects, mistakes\n\nTransparency is fundamental in making sure that mistakes don’t happen, or when they do that they are found and corrected quickly with appropriate accountability. This applies as much, if not more, to the security apparatus than other walks of life. In security mistakes are much more likely to be a matter of life and death than in most other walks of life. They are also likely to be costly; something the military and national security apparatus is particularly known for. [1] An audit of the Pentagon in 2011 found that the US Department of Defense wasted $70 billion over two years. [2] This kind of waste can only be corrected if it is found out about, and for that transparency is necessary.\n\n[1] Schneier, Bruce, ‘Transparency and Accountability Don’t Hurt Security – They’re Crucial to It’, The Atlantic, 8 May 2012\n\n[2] Schweizer, Peter, ‘Crony Capitalism Creeps Into the Defense Budget’, The Daily Beast, 22 May 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2c61e7d5a261b887f7baffa69e21599",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms In security too much transparency endangers lives\n\nTransparency is all very well when it comes to how much is being spent on a new tank, aircraft, or generals houses, but it is very different when it comes to operations. Transparency in operations can endanger lives. With intelligence services transparency would risk the lives of informants; it is similar with the case of interpreters for US forces in Iraq who were targeted after they were told they could not wear masks because they are considered to be traitors. [1]\n\nIn military operations being open about almost anything could be a benefit to the opposition. Most obviously things like the timing and numbers involved in operations need to be kept under wraps but all sorts of information could be damaging in one way or another. Simply because a state is not involved in a full scale war does not mean it can open up on these operations. This is why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen in response to WikiLeaks said “Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing… But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.” [2]\n\n[1] Londoño, Ernesto, ‘U.S. Ban on Masks Upsets Iraqui Interpreters’, Washington Post, 17 November 2008\n\n[2] Jaffe, Greg, and Partlow, Joshua, ‘Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: WikiLeaks release endangers troops, Afghans’, Washington Post, 30 July 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c68405c453794f19c4fdf3ceffc8e00b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Provides information to competitors\n\nWhere there is international competition transparency can be a problem if there is not transparency on both sides as one side is essentially giving its opponent an advantage. This is ultimately why countries keep national security secrets; they are in competition with other nations and the best way to ensure an advantage over those states is to keep capabilities secret. One side having information while the other does not allows the actor that has the information to act differently in response to that knowledge. Keeping things secret can therefore provide an advantage when making a decision, as the one with most information is most likely to react best. [1] Currently there is information asymmetry between the United States and China to the point where some analysts consider that the United States provides more authoritative information on China’s military than China itself does. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.7\n\n[2] Erickson, Andrew S., ‘Pentagon Report Reveals Chinese Military Developments’, The Diplomat, 8 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "fde44dfde57e4fe7ac171eb412494d22",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can lead to conflict\n\nThe idea that transparency is good assumes that the people watching the government be transparent are likely to provide a moderating influence on policy. This is not always the case. Instead transparency can lead to more conflict.\n\nFirst a nationalist population may force the government into taking more action than it wants. One obvious way to quiet such sentiment is to show that the country is not ready for war; something that may not be possible if being transparent. Instead if it is transparent that the military could win then there is nothing to stop a march to war. It then becomes possible for multiple interest groups to form into coalitions each with differing reasons for conflict trading off with each other resulting in overstretch and conflict. [1]\n\nSecondly when there is a rapidly changing balance of power then transparency for the rising power may not be a good thing. Instead as Deng Xiaoping advised they should “Hide your strength, bide your time”. [2] Showing in the open how your military is expanding may simply force action from the current dominant power. Transparency, combined with domestic media worrying about the other’s build up can make the other side seem more and more of a threat that must be dealt with before it can get any more powerful. It is quite a common international relations theory that one way or another relative power and the quest for hegemony is the cause for war, [3] transparency simply encourages this. William C. Wohlforth points out when studying the cause of the First World War that it is perception of relative power that matters. Germany’s leaders believed it had to strike before it out of time as a result of Russia rapidly industrialising. [4] Transparency unfortunately reduces the ability of the government to manage perception.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.17\n\n[2] Allison, Graham, and Blackwill, Robert D., ‘Will China Ever Be No.1?’, YakeGlobal, 20 February 2013\n\n[3] Kaplan, Robert D., ‘Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things)’, The Atlantic, 20 December 2011\n\n[4] Wohlforth, William C., ‘The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance’, World Politics, Vol.39, No.3, (April 1987), pp.353-381, p.362\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "57d978c0658ee5b8e228d32d58bc1ad7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can result in normalisation\n\nWhile something is secret it is clearly not a normal every day part of government, it is deniable and the assumption is that when it comes to light it has probably been wound up long ago. However making something transparent without winding it up can be a bad thing as it makes it normal which ultimately makes a bad policy much harder to end.\n\nThe use of drones by the CIA may turn out to be an example of this. At the moment we are told almost nothing about drones, not even how many strikes there are or how many are killed. There have however been recent suggestions that the drone program could be transferred to the Department of Defence. This would then make the targeted killing that is carried out seem a normal part of military conflict, somehting it clearly is not. [1] And the public reacts differently to covert and military action; already more Americans support military drones doing targeted killing (75%) than CIA ones (65%). [2]\n\n[1] Waxman, Matthew, ‘Going Clear’, Foreign Policy, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Zenko, Micah, ‘U.S. Public Opinion on Drone Strikes’, Council on Foreign Relations, 18 March 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f98bb4959d33dea7830b3fa122bec2e0",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Don’t panic!\n\nThe role of the security services is in part to deal with some very dangerous ideas and events. But the point is to deal with them in such a way that does not cause public disorder or even panic. We clearly don’t want every report detailing specific threats to be made public, especially if it is reporting something that could be devastating but there is a low risk of it actually occurring. If such information is taken the wrong way it can potentially cause panic, either over nothing, or else in such a way that it damages any possible response to the crisis. Unfortunately the media and the public often misunderstand risk. For example preventing terrorism has been regularly cited in polls as being the Americans top foreign policy goal with more than 80% thinking it very important in Gallup polls for over a decade [1] even when the chance of being killed by terrorism in Western countries is very low. If the public misunderstands the risk the response is unlikely to be proportionate and can be akin to yelling fire in a packed theatre.\n\nWhile it is not (usually) a security, but rather a public health issue, pandemics make a good example. The question of how much information to release is only slightly different than in security; officials want to release enough information that everyone is informed, but not so much that there is panic whenever there is an unusual death. [2] In 2009 the WHO declared swine flu to be a pandemic despite it being a relatively mild virus that did not cause many deaths, so causing an unnecessary scare and stockpiling of drugs. [3]\n\n[1] Jones, Jeffrey M., ‘Americans Say Preventing Terrorism Top Foreign Policy Goal’, Gallup Politics, 20 February 2013\n\n[2] Honigsbaum, Mark, ‘The coronavirus conundrum: when to press the panic button’, guardian.co.uk, 14 February 2013\n\n[3] Cheng, Maria, ‘WHO’s response to swine flu pandemic flawed’, Phys.org, 10 May 2011\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
214b34aa103063a14bfabda82d4fc4b3 | Transparency prevents public relations disasters
Transparency is necessary to avoid public relations disasters; particularly in countries where the media has some freedom to investigate for themselves. It is clearly the best policy for the military to make sure all the information is released along with the reasons behind actions rather than having the media finding individual pieces of a whole and speculating to fill the gaps.
A good example would be a collision on 16th January 1966 between a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanker while attempting to refuel that destroyed both planes. Accidents happen, and this one cost 11 lives, but could have been much worse as the B-52 had four nuclear bombs on board were not armed and did not detonate. In this case an initial lack of information rapidly turned into a public relations disaster that was stemmed by much more openness by the military and the US Ambassador in Spain. The release of the information reduces the room for the press to fill in the gaps with harmful speculation. [1] In this case there was never much chance of national security implications or a break with Spain as the country was ruled by the dictator Franco, someone who would hardly pay attention to public opinion. But in a democracy a slow and closed response could seriously damage relations.
[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.65
| [
{
"docid": "ea1bf901b9c016e50b93d6b38fdfb10d",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms This is clearly not always the case. Often transparency means that the public becomes aware when there is little need for them to know. There had been previous nuclear accidents that had caused no damage, and had not been noticed, such as in Goldsboro, N.C. in 1961. [1] If there had been a media frenzy fuelled by released information there would clearly have been much more of a public relations disaster than there was with no one noticing. Since there’re was no harm done there is little reason why such a media circus should have been encouraged. And even without media attention the incident lead to increase safeguards.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.51\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "8414e4254b854a82f39dea1f7c7e4b12",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Being a citizen does not come with a right to know everything that the state does. In much the same way being a shareholder does not mean you get to know absolutely everything every person in a business does. Instead you get the headlines and a summary, most of the time the how the business goes about getting the results is left to the management. Ultimately the state’s purpose is to protect its citizens and this comes before letting them know everything about how that is done.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "669b66c5254b042f7fdf8e3dafcb8a0b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency may mean that mistakes or problems are found faster, but it does not mean they are going to be corrected faster. Waste in the defense budget has been known about for years yet it still keeps coming up. Transparency shines a light on the problem but that is not helpful if it does not result in action to solve the problem.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "111d28308056b7bde04aa9dfb31ed7ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency in situations of international tension is tricky; with complete transparency how do you engage in bluffing? The state that is completely transparent is tying one hand behind its back in international negotiations.\n\nIt is also wrong to assume that transparency will always reduce tensions. Sometimes two countries just have completely incompatible interests. In such instances complete transparency is simply going to set them on a collision course. It is then much better for there to be a bit less transparency so that both sides can fudge the issue and sign up to an agreement while interpreting it in different ways.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8222066b85109d2a33c55a3163c44a4a",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Trust goes two ways; the people have to trust that on some issues, such as security, the government is doing the right thing to protect them even when it cannot release all relevant information. But even if the military and security services do claim to be completely transparent then how is everyone to know that it really is being as transparent as they say? Unfortunately there are information asymmetry’s between members of the public and the government; the member of the public is unlikely to have the capability to find out if the government if hiding something from them. [1] Other countries too are likely to be suspicious of ‘complete transparency’ and simply believe that this is cover for doing something more nefarious. Trust then cannot only about being transparent in everything.\n\n[1] Stiglitz, Joseph, ‘Transparency in Government’, in Roumeen Islam, The right to tell: the roll of the mass media in economic development, World Bank Publications, 2002, p.28\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2eafb3797f068beb299caa9d706002d4",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Drones are an unusual example (though not unique) because they are a new form of warfare over which there are few clear rules and norms. This means that making it transparent will create new norms. However in the vast majority of covert operations if made public they would clearly be illegal and would have to be ended. Drones are also unusual in that the public sees few downsides to the killing, this means there would be less public pressure than in most such operations.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09379b5481b93d163504bdcf5b12e9c9",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Coalitions can form behind expansionist policies regardless of whether there is transparency. If there is no transparency then it is simply an invitation for these groups to overestimate the strength of their own state compared to their opponents. Where there is transparency the figures will at least be available to counter their arguments. It should not be surprising that interest groups do not have as much influence in creating expansionist policy in democracies. [1]\n\nTransparency showing when a state is to be eclipsed is a greater concern but a lack of transparency in such a case is just as bad. No transparency will simply encourage the fears of the state that is to be eclipsed that the rising state is hostile and not to be trusted.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.18\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ee863b175d8bc7f083fcb10f9f8e6b7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms The public is rational and can make its own assessment of risk. The best course in such cases is transparency and education. If all relevant information is released, along with analysis as to the risk presented by the threat, then the public can be best informed about what kind of threats they need to be prepared for. Terrorism has been blown out of proportion because they are single deadly incidents that are simple to report and have a good narrative to provide 24/7 coverage that the public will lap up. [1] As a result there has been much more media coverage than other threats. It can then be no surprise that the public overestimate the threat posed by terrorism as the public are told what risks are relevant by the amount of media coverage. [2]\n\n[1] Engelhardt, Tom, ‘Casualties from Terrorism Are Minor Compared to Other Threats’, Gale Opposing Viewpoints, 2011\n\n[2] Singer, Eleanor, and Endreny, Phyllis Mildred, Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters and Other Hazards, Russell Sage Foundation, 1993\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ee9b4226c39f4e02bd155a90b722c72c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency clearly does not have to extend to things like technical specifications of weapons. Such information would be a clear benefit to a competitor allowing them to build their own while being of little help in terms of transparency as most people could not understand it. On the other hand knowing what a weapons system does simply prevents misunderstanding and misjudgement.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b60c17aa62dd87a3c11971948e3c787",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Clearly transparency in real time might cause some problems allowing the disruption of ongoing operations. However most of the time information could be released very shortly afterwards rather than being considered secret for 25-30 years. [1] A much shorter timeframe is needed if the transparency is to have any meaning or impact upon policy. In the case of WikiLeaks most of the information was already a couple of years old and WikiLeaks said it made sure that there was no information that could endanger lives released.\n\nWe should also remember that a lack of transparency can also endanger lives; this might be the case if it leads to purchases of equipment of shoddy equipment without the proper oversight to ensure everything works as it should. For example many countries purchased bomb detectors that are made out of novelty golf ball finders, just plastic, that do not work from a Briton looking to make a fast buck. It has for example been used to attempt to find car bombs in Iraq. A little transparency in testing and procurement could have gone a long way in protecting those who have to use the equipment. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.8\n\n[2] AFP, ‘Iraq still using phony bomb detectors at checkpoints’, globalpost, 3 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "557898b82fdb4fc4ca3bdcb7096ac0bb",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Citizens have a right to know what is done in their name\n\nThe nation exits for its citizens; it depends on their consent to maintain order and to raise finances. The main purpose of the state is law and order, and national defence, both of which are covered by security. As an area that is so central to the role of the government it is vital that the stakeholders in that government, its citizens, know what it is the state is doing in their name for their security.\n\nThe Obama administration for example refuses to acknowledge that it is carrying out a campaign using drones while at the same time saying it is “the only game in town in terms of confronting and trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership.” [1] If the US government is bombing another country then the US people have a right to know with much less ambiguity what exactly is being done, who is being hit, when and where. They also need to be informed of any possible consequences.\n\n[1] Kaufman, Brett, ‘In Court Today: Fighting the CIA’s Secrecy Claims on Drones’, ACLU, 20 September 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c971b2f19f8dfd929bf86c54c4978ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency helps reduce international tension\n\nTransparency is necessary in international relations. States need to know what each other are doing to assess their actions. Without any transparency the hole is filled by suspicion and threat inflation that can easily lead to miscalculation and even war.\n\nThe Cuban missile crisis is a clear example where a lack of transparency on either side about what they were willing to accept and what they were doing almost lead to nuclear war. [1] It is notable that one of the responses to prevent a similar crisis was to install a hotline between the White House and Kremlin. A very small, but vital, step in terms of openness.\n\nToday this is still a problem; China currently worries about the US ‘pivot’ towards Asia complaining it “has aroused a great deal of suspicion in China.” “A huge deficit of strategic trust lies at the bottom of all problems between China and the United States.” The result would be an inevitable arms race and possible conflict. [2]\n\n[1] Frohwein, Ashley, ‘Embassy Moscow: A Diplomatic Perspective of the Cuban Missile Crisis’, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 7 May 2013\n\n[2] Yafei, He, ‘The Trust Deficit’, Foreign Policy, 13 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ca11382acfc6861183dfdf775423f0c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency is a good in and of itself\n\nThe most essential commodity within a state is trust. Trust is essential in all sorts of aspect of our lives; we trust that the paper money we have is actually worth more than a scrap of paper, that doctors performing surgery know what they are doing, that we won't be attacked in the street, and that the government is looking after our interests. In order to create that trust there needs to be transparency so that we know that our institutions are trustworthy. It is the ability to check the facts and the accountability that comes with transparency that creates trust. And this in turn is what makes them legitimate. [1]\n\nThe need for trust applies just as much to security as any other walk of life. Citizens need to trust that the security services really are keeping them safe, are spending taxpayers’ money wisely, and are acting in a fashion that is a credit to the country. Unfortunately if there is not transparency there is no way of knowing if this is the case and so often the intelligence services have turned out to be an embarrassment. As has been the case with the CIA and it’s the use of torture following 9/11, for which there are still calls for transparency on past actions. [2]\n\n[1] Ankersmit, Laurens, ‘The Irony of the international relations exception in the transparency regulation’, European Law Blog, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Traub, James, ‘Out With It’, Foreign Policy, 10 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2494278a88bfb0294a3cda5ace3a9ba3",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents, or corrects, mistakes\n\nTransparency is fundamental in making sure that mistakes don’t happen, or when they do that they are found and corrected quickly with appropriate accountability. This applies as much, if not more, to the security apparatus than other walks of life. In security mistakes are much more likely to be a matter of life and death than in most other walks of life. They are also likely to be costly; something the military and national security apparatus is particularly known for. [1] An audit of the Pentagon in 2011 found that the US Department of Defense wasted $70 billion over two years. [2] This kind of waste can only be corrected if it is found out about, and for that transparency is necessary.\n\n[1] Schneier, Bruce, ‘Transparency and Accountability Don’t Hurt Security – They’re Crucial to It’, The Atlantic, 8 May 2012\n\n[2] Schweizer, Peter, ‘Crony Capitalism Creeps Into the Defense Budget’, The Daily Beast, 22 May 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2c61e7d5a261b887f7baffa69e21599",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms In security too much transparency endangers lives\n\nTransparency is all very well when it comes to how much is being spent on a new tank, aircraft, or generals houses, but it is very different when it comes to operations. Transparency in operations can endanger lives. With intelligence services transparency would risk the lives of informants; it is similar with the case of interpreters for US forces in Iraq who were targeted after they were told they could not wear masks because they are considered to be traitors. [1]\n\nIn military operations being open about almost anything could be a benefit to the opposition. Most obviously things like the timing and numbers involved in operations need to be kept under wraps but all sorts of information could be damaging in one way or another. Simply because a state is not involved in a full scale war does not mean it can open up on these operations. This is why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen in response to WikiLeaks said “Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing… But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.” [2]\n\n[1] Londoño, Ernesto, ‘U.S. Ban on Masks Upsets Iraqui Interpreters’, Washington Post, 17 November 2008\n\n[2] Jaffe, Greg, and Partlow, Joshua, ‘Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: WikiLeaks release endangers troops, Afghans’, Washington Post, 30 July 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c68405c453794f19c4fdf3ceffc8e00b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Provides information to competitors\n\nWhere there is international competition transparency can be a problem if there is not transparency on both sides as one side is essentially giving its opponent an advantage. This is ultimately why countries keep national security secrets; they are in competition with other nations and the best way to ensure an advantage over those states is to keep capabilities secret. One side having information while the other does not allows the actor that has the information to act differently in response to that knowledge. Keeping things secret can therefore provide an advantage when making a decision, as the one with most information is most likely to react best. [1] Currently there is information asymmetry between the United States and China to the point where some analysts consider that the United States provides more authoritative information on China’s military than China itself does. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.7\n\n[2] Erickson, Andrew S., ‘Pentagon Report Reveals Chinese Military Developments’, The Diplomat, 8 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "fde44dfde57e4fe7ac171eb412494d22",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can lead to conflict\n\nThe idea that transparency is good assumes that the people watching the government be transparent are likely to provide a moderating influence on policy. This is not always the case. Instead transparency can lead to more conflict.\n\nFirst a nationalist population may force the government into taking more action than it wants. One obvious way to quiet such sentiment is to show that the country is not ready for war; something that may not be possible if being transparent. Instead if it is transparent that the military could win then there is nothing to stop a march to war. It then becomes possible for multiple interest groups to form into coalitions each with differing reasons for conflict trading off with each other resulting in overstretch and conflict. [1]\n\nSecondly when there is a rapidly changing balance of power then transparency for the rising power may not be a good thing. Instead as Deng Xiaoping advised they should “Hide your strength, bide your time”. [2] Showing in the open how your military is expanding may simply force action from the current dominant power. Transparency, combined with domestic media worrying about the other’s build up can make the other side seem more and more of a threat that must be dealt with before it can get any more powerful. It is quite a common international relations theory that one way or another relative power and the quest for hegemony is the cause for war, [3] transparency simply encourages this. William C. Wohlforth points out when studying the cause of the First World War that it is perception of relative power that matters. Germany’s leaders believed it had to strike before it out of time as a result of Russia rapidly industrialising. [4] Transparency unfortunately reduces the ability of the government to manage perception.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.17\n\n[2] Allison, Graham, and Blackwill, Robert D., ‘Will China Ever Be No.1?’, YakeGlobal, 20 February 2013\n\n[3] Kaplan, Robert D., ‘Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things)’, The Atlantic, 20 December 2011\n\n[4] Wohlforth, William C., ‘The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance’, World Politics, Vol.39, No.3, (April 1987), pp.353-381, p.362\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "57d978c0658ee5b8e228d32d58bc1ad7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can result in normalisation\n\nWhile something is secret it is clearly not a normal every day part of government, it is deniable and the assumption is that when it comes to light it has probably been wound up long ago. However making something transparent without winding it up can be a bad thing as it makes it normal which ultimately makes a bad policy much harder to end.\n\nThe use of drones by the CIA may turn out to be an example of this. At the moment we are told almost nothing about drones, not even how many strikes there are or how many are killed. There have however been recent suggestions that the drone program could be transferred to the Department of Defence. This would then make the targeted killing that is carried out seem a normal part of military conflict, somehting it clearly is not. [1] And the public reacts differently to covert and military action; already more Americans support military drones doing targeted killing (75%) than CIA ones (65%). [2]\n\n[1] Waxman, Matthew, ‘Going Clear’, Foreign Policy, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Zenko, Micah, ‘U.S. Public Opinion on Drone Strikes’, Council on Foreign Relations, 18 March 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f98bb4959d33dea7830b3fa122bec2e0",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Don’t panic!\n\nThe role of the security services is in part to deal with some very dangerous ideas and events. But the point is to deal with them in such a way that does not cause public disorder or even panic. We clearly don’t want every report detailing specific threats to be made public, especially if it is reporting something that could be devastating but there is a low risk of it actually occurring. If such information is taken the wrong way it can potentially cause panic, either over nothing, or else in such a way that it damages any possible response to the crisis. Unfortunately the media and the public often misunderstand risk. For example preventing terrorism has been regularly cited in polls as being the Americans top foreign policy goal with more than 80% thinking it very important in Gallup polls for over a decade [1] even when the chance of being killed by terrorism in Western countries is very low. If the public misunderstands the risk the response is unlikely to be proportionate and can be akin to yelling fire in a packed theatre.\n\nWhile it is not (usually) a security, but rather a public health issue, pandemics make a good example. The question of how much information to release is only slightly different than in security; officials want to release enough information that everyone is informed, but not so much that there is panic whenever there is an unusual death. [2] In 2009 the WHO declared swine flu to be a pandemic despite it being a relatively mild virus that did not cause many deaths, so causing an unnecessary scare and stockpiling of drugs. [3]\n\n[1] Jones, Jeffrey M., ‘Americans Say Preventing Terrorism Top Foreign Policy Goal’, Gallup Politics, 20 February 2013\n\n[2] Honigsbaum, Mark, ‘The coronavirus conundrum: when to press the panic button’, guardian.co.uk, 14 February 2013\n\n[3] Cheng, Maria, ‘WHO’s response to swine flu pandemic flawed’, Phys.org, 10 May 2011\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
870b0a7413268c94d60f9b9c5f3820d4 | Transparency helps reduce international tension
Transparency is necessary in international relations. States need to know what each other are doing to assess their actions. Without any transparency the hole is filled by suspicion and threat inflation that can easily lead to miscalculation and even war.
The Cuban missile crisis is a clear example where a lack of transparency on either side about what they were willing to accept and what they were doing almost lead to nuclear war. [1] It is notable that one of the responses to prevent a similar crisis was to install a hotline between the White House and Kremlin. A very small, but vital, step in terms of openness.
Today this is still a problem; China currently worries about the US ‘pivot’ towards Asia complaining it “has aroused a great deal of suspicion in China.” “A huge deficit of strategic trust lies at the bottom of all problems between China and the United States.” The result would be an inevitable arms race and possible conflict. [2]
[1] Frohwein, Ashley, ‘Embassy Moscow: A Diplomatic Perspective of the Cuban Missile Crisis’, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 7 May 2013
[2] Yafei, He, ‘The Trust Deficit’, Foreign Policy, 13 May 2013
| [
{
"docid": "111d28308056b7bde04aa9dfb31ed7ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency in situations of international tension is tricky; with complete transparency how do you engage in bluffing? The state that is completely transparent is tying one hand behind its back in international negotiations.\n\nIt is also wrong to assume that transparency will always reduce tensions. Sometimes two countries just have completely incompatible interests. In such instances complete transparency is simply going to set them on a collision course. It is then much better for there to be a bit less transparency so that both sides can fudge the issue and sign up to an agreement while interpreting it in different ways.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "8414e4254b854a82f39dea1f7c7e4b12",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Being a citizen does not come with a right to know everything that the state does. In much the same way being a shareholder does not mean you get to know absolutely everything every person in a business does. Instead you get the headlines and a summary, most of the time the how the business goes about getting the results is left to the management. Ultimately the state’s purpose is to protect its citizens and this comes before letting them know everything about how that is done.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ea1bf901b9c016e50b93d6b38fdfb10d",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms This is clearly not always the case. Often transparency means that the public becomes aware when there is little need for them to know. There had been previous nuclear accidents that had caused no damage, and had not been noticed, such as in Goldsboro, N.C. in 1961. [1] If there had been a media frenzy fuelled by released information there would clearly have been much more of a public relations disaster than there was with no one noticing. Since there’re was no harm done there is little reason why such a media circus should have been encouraged. And even without media attention the incident lead to increase safeguards.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.51\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "669b66c5254b042f7fdf8e3dafcb8a0b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency may mean that mistakes or problems are found faster, but it does not mean they are going to be corrected faster. Waste in the defense budget has been known about for years yet it still keeps coming up. Transparency shines a light on the problem but that is not helpful if it does not result in action to solve the problem.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8222066b85109d2a33c55a3163c44a4a",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Trust goes two ways; the people have to trust that on some issues, such as security, the government is doing the right thing to protect them even when it cannot release all relevant information. But even if the military and security services do claim to be completely transparent then how is everyone to know that it really is being as transparent as they say? Unfortunately there are information asymmetry’s between members of the public and the government; the member of the public is unlikely to have the capability to find out if the government if hiding something from them. [1] Other countries too are likely to be suspicious of ‘complete transparency’ and simply believe that this is cover for doing something more nefarious. Trust then cannot only about being transparent in everything.\n\n[1] Stiglitz, Joseph, ‘Transparency in Government’, in Roumeen Islam, The right to tell: the roll of the mass media in economic development, World Bank Publications, 2002, p.28\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2eafb3797f068beb299caa9d706002d4",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Drones are an unusual example (though not unique) because they are a new form of warfare over which there are few clear rules and norms. This means that making it transparent will create new norms. However in the vast majority of covert operations if made public they would clearly be illegal and would have to be ended. Drones are also unusual in that the public sees few downsides to the killing, this means there would be less public pressure than in most such operations.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09379b5481b93d163504bdcf5b12e9c9",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Coalitions can form behind expansionist policies regardless of whether there is transparency. If there is no transparency then it is simply an invitation for these groups to overestimate the strength of their own state compared to their opponents. Where there is transparency the figures will at least be available to counter their arguments. It should not be surprising that interest groups do not have as much influence in creating expansionist policy in democracies. [1]\n\nTransparency showing when a state is to be eclipsed is a greater concern but a lack of transparency in such a case is just as bad. No transparency will simply encourage the fears of the state that is to be eclipsed that the rising state is hostile and not to be trusted.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.18\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ee863b175d8bc7f083fcb10f9f8e6b7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms The public is rational and can make its own assessment of risk. The best course in such cases is transparency and education. If all relevant information is released, along with analysis as to the risk presented by the threat, then the public can be best informed about what kind of threats they need to be prepared for. Terrorism has been blown out of proportion because they are single deadly incidents that are simple to report and have a good narrative to provide 24/7 coverage that the public will lap up. [1] As a result there has been much more media coverage than other threats. It can then be no surprise that the public overestimate the threat posed by terrorism as the public are told what risks are relevant by the amount of media coverage. [2]\n\n[1] Engelhardt, Tom, ‘Casualties from Terrorism Are Minor Compared to Other Threats’, Gale Opposing Viewpoints, 2011\n\n[2] Singer, Eleanor, and Endreny, Phyllis Mildred, Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters and Other Hazards, Russell Sage Foundation, 1993\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ee9b4226c39f4e02bd155a90b722c72c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency clearly does not have to extend to things like technical specifications of weapons. Such information would be a clear benefit to a competitor allowing them to build their own while being of little help in terms of transparency as most people could not understand it. On the other hand knowing what a weapons system does simply prevents misunderstanding and misjudgement.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b60c17aa62dd87a3c11971948e3c787",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Clearly transparency in real time might cause some problems allowing the disruption of ongoing operations. However most of the time information could be released very shortly afterwards rather than being considered secret for 25-30 years. [1] A much shorter timeframe is needed if the transparency is to have any meaning or impact upon policy. In the case of WikiLeaks most of the information was already a couple of years old and WikiLeaks said it made sure that there was no information that could endanger lives released.\n\nWe should also remember that a lack of transparency can also endanger lives; this might be the case if it leads to purchases of equipment of shoddy equipment without the proper oversight to ensure everything works as it should. For example many countries purchased bomb detectors that are made out of novelty golf ball finders, just plastic, that do not work from a Briton looking to make a fast buck. It has for example been used to attempt to find car bombs in Iraq. A little transparency in testing and procurement could have gone a long way in protecting those who have to use the equipment. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.8\n\n[2] AFP, ‘Iraq still using phony bomb detectors at checkpoints’, globalpost, 3 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "557898b82fdb4fc4ca3bdcb7096ac0bb",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Citizens have a right to know what is done in their name\n\nThe nation exits for its citizens; it depends on their consent to maintain order and to raise finances. The main purpose of the state is law and order, and national defence, both of which are covered by security. As an area that is so central to the role of the government it is vital that the stakeholders in that government, its citizens, know what it is the state is doing in their name for their security.\n\nThe Obama administration for example refuses to acknowledge that it is carrying out a campaign using drones while at the same time saying it is “the only game in town in terms of confronting and trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership.” [1] If the US government is bombing another country then the US people have a right to know with much less ambiguity what exactly is being done, who is being hit, when and where. They also need to be informed of any possible consequences.\n\n[1] Kaufman, Brett, ‘In Court Today: Fighting the CIA’s Secrecy Claims on Drones’, ACLU, 20 September 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "04ab403cbe5fefe3364b36e9f3d654bf",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents public relations disasters\n\nTransparency is necessary to avoid public relations disasters; particularly in countries where the media has some freedom to investigate for themselves. It is clearly the best policy for the military to make sure all the information is released along with the reasons behind actions rather than having the media finding individual pieces of a whole and speculating to fill the gaps.\n\nA good example would be a collision on 16th January 1966 between a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanker while attempting to refuel that destroyed both planes. Accidents happen, and this one cost 11 lives, but could have been much worse as the B-52 had four nuclear bombs on board were not armed and did not detonate. In this case an initial lack of information rapidly turned into a public relations disaster that was stemmed by much more openness by the military and the US Ambassador in Spain. The release of the information reduces the room for the press to fill in the gaps with harmful speculation. [1] In this case there was never much chance of national security implications or a break with Spain as the country was ruled by the dictator Franco, someone who would hardly pay attention to public opinion. But in a democracy a slow and closed response could seriously damage relations.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.65\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ca11382acfc6861183dfdf775423f0c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency is a good in and of itself\n\nThe most essential commodity within a state is trust. Trust is essential in all sorts of aspect of our lives; we trust that the paper money we have is actually worth more than a scrap of paper, that doctors performing surgery know what they are doing, that we won't be attacked in the street, and that the government is looking after our interests. In order to create that trust there needs to be transparency so that we know that our institutions are trustworthy. It is the ability to check the facts and the accountability that comes with transparency that creates trust. And this in turn is what makes them legitimate. [1]\n\nThe need for trust applies just as much to security as any other walk of life. Citizens need to trust that the security services really are keeping them safe, are spending taxpayers’ money wisely, and are acting in a fashion that is a credit to the country. Unfortunately if there is not transparency there is no way of knowing if this is the case and so often the intelligence services have turned out to be an embarrassment. As has been the case with the CIA and it’s the use of torture following 9/11, for which there are still calls for transparency on past actions. [2]\n\n[1] Ankersmit, Laurens, ‘The Irony of the international relations exception in the transparency regulation’, European Law Blog, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Traub, James, ‘Out With It’, Foreign Policy, 10 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2494278a88bfb0294a3cda5ace3a9ba3",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents, or corrects, mistakes\n\nTransparency is fundamental in making sure that mistakes don’t happen, or when they do that they are found and corrected quickly with appropriate accountability. This applies as much, if not more, to the security apparatus than other walks of life. In security mistakes are much more likely to be a matter of life and death than in most other walks of life. They are also likely to be costly; something the military and national security apparatus is particularly known for. [1] An audit of the Pentagon in 2011 found that the US Department of Defense wasted $70 billion over two years. [2] This kind of waste can only be corrected if it is found out about, and for that transparency is necessary.\n\n[1] Schneier, Bruce, ‘Transparency and Accountability Don’t Hurt Security – They’re Crucial to It’, The Atlantic, 8 May 2012\n\n[2] Schweizer, Peter, ‘Crony Capitalism Creeps Into the Defense Budget’, The Daily Beast, 22 May 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2c61e7d5a261b887f7baffa69e21599",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms In security too much transparency endangers lives\n\nTransparency is all very well when it comes to how much is being spent on a new tank, aircraft, or generals houses, but it is very different when it comes to operations. Transparency in operations can endanger lives. With intelligence services transparency would risk the lives of informants; it is similar with the case of interpreters for US forces in Iraq who were targeted after they were told they could not wear masks because they are considered to be traitors. [1]\n\nIn military operations being open about almost anything could be a benefit to the opposition. Most obviously things like the timing and numbers involved in operations need to be kept under wraps but all sorts of information could be damaging in one way or another. Simply because a state is not involved in a full scale war does not mean it can open up on these operations. This is why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen in response to WikiLeaks said “Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing… But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.” [2]\n\n[1] Londoño, Ernesto, ‘U.S. Ban on Masks Upsets Iraqui Interpreters’, Washington Post, 17 November 2008\n\n[2] Jaffe, Greg, and Partlow, Joshua, ‘Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: WikiLeaks release endangers troops, Afghans’, Washington Post, 30 July 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c68405c453794f19c4fdf3ceffc8e00b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Provides information to competitors\n\nWhere there is international competition transparency can be a problem if there is not transparency on both sides as one side is essentially giving its opponent an advantage. This is ultimately why countries keep national security secrets; they are in competition with other nations and the best way to ensure an advantage over those states is to keep capabilities secret. One side having information while the other does not allows the actor that has the information to act differently in response to that knowledge. Keeping things secret can therefore provide an advantage when making a decision, as the one with most information is most likely to react best. [1] Currently there is information asymmetry between the United States and China to the point where some analysts consider that the United States provides more authoritative information on China’s military than China itself does. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.7\n\n[2] Erickson, Andrew S., ‘Pentagon Report Reveals Chinese Military Developments’, The Diplomat, 8 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "fde44dfde57e4fe7ac171eb412494d22",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can lead to conflict\n\nThe idea that transparency is good assumes that the people watching the government be transparent are likely to provide a moderating influence on policy. This is not always the case. Instead transparency can lead to more conflict.\n\nFirst a nationalist population may force the government into taking more action than it wants. One obvious way to quiet such sentiment is to show that the country is not ready for war; something that may not be possible if being transparent. Instead if it is transparent that the military could win then there is nothing to stop a march to war. It then becomes possible for multiple interest groups to form into coalitions each with differing reasons for conflict trading off with each other resulting in overstretch and conflict. [1]\n\nSecondly when there is a rapidly changing balance of power then transparency for the rising power may not be a good thing. Instead as Deng Xiaoping advised they should “Hide your strength, bide your time”. [2] Showing in the open how your military is expanding may simply force action from the current dominant power. Transparency, combined with domestic media worrying about the other’s build up can make the other side seem more and more of a threat that must be dealt with before it can get any more powerful. It is quite a common international relations theory that one way or another relative power and the quest for hegemony is the cause for war, [3] transparency simply encourages this. William C. Wohlforth points out when studying the cause of the First World War that it is perception of relative power that matters. Germany’s leaders believed it had to strike before it out of time as a result of Russia rapidly industrialising. [4] Transparency unfortunately reduces the ability of the government to manage perception.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.17\n\n[2] Allison, Graham, and Blackwill, Robert D., ‘Will China Ever Be No.1?’, YakeGlobal, 20 February 2013\n\n[3] Kaplan, Robert D., ‘Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things)’, The Atlantic, 20 December 2011\n\n[4] Wohlforth, William C., ‘The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance’, World Politics, Vol.39, No.3, (April 1987), pp.353-381, p.362\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "57d978c0658ee5b8e228d32d58bc1ad7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can result in normalisation\n\nWhile something is secret it is clearly not a normal every day part of government, it is deniable and the assumption is that when it comes to light it has probably been wound up long ago. However making something transparent without winding it up can be a bad thing as it makes it normal which ultimately makes a bad policy much harder to end.\n\nThe use of drones by the CIA may turn out to be an example of this. At the moment we are told almost nothing about drones, not even how many strikes there are or how many are killed. There have however been recent suggestions that the drone program could be transferred to the Department of Defence. This would then make the targeted killing that is carried out seem a normal part of military conflict, somehting it clearly is not. [1] And the public reacts differently to covert and military action; already more Americans support military drones doing targeted killing (75%) than CIA ones (65%). [2]\n\n[1] Waxman, Matthew, ‘Going Clear’, Foreign Policy, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Zenko, Micah, ‘U.S. Public Opinion on Drone Strikes’, Council on Foreign Relations, 18 March 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f98bb4959d33dea7830b3fa122bec2e0",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Don’t panic!\n\nThe role of the security services is in part to deal with some very dangerous ideas and events. But the point is to deal with them in such a way that does not cause public disorder or even panic. We clearly don’t want every report detailing specific threats to be made public, especially if it is reporting something that could be devastating but there is a low risk of it actually occurring. If such information is taken the wrong way it can potentially cause panic, either over nothing, or else in such a way that it damages any possible response to the crisis. Unfortunately the media and the public often misunderstand risk. For example preventing terrorism has been regularly cited in polls as being the Americans top foreign policy goal with more than 80% thinking it very important in Gallup polls for over a decade [1] even when the chance of being killed by terrorism in Western countries is very low. If the public misunderstands the risk the response is unlikely to be proportionate and can be akin to yelling fire in a packed theatre.\n\nWhile it is not (usually) a security, but rather a public health issue, pandemics make a good example. The question of how much information to release is only slightly different than in security; officials want to release enough information that everyone is informed, but not so much that there is panic whenever there is an unusual death. [2] In 2009 the WHO declared swine flu to be a pandemic despite it being a relatively mild virus that did not cause many deaths, so causing an unnecessary scare and stockpiling of drugs. [3]\n\n[1] Jones, Jeffrey M., ‘Americans Say Preventing Terrorism Top Foreign Policy Goal’, Gallup Politics, 20 February 2013\n\n[2] Honigsbaum, Mark, ‘The coronavirus conundrum: when to press the panic button’, guardian.co.uk, 14 February 2013\n\n[3] Cheng, Maria, ‘WHO’s response to swine flu pandemic flawed’, Phys.org, 10 May 2011\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
d320ba2e276b4c37a66c60604cb039b2 | Transparency is a good in and of itself
The most essential commodity within a state is trust. Trust is essential in all sorts of aspect of our lives; we trust that the paper money we have is actually worth more than a scrap of paper, that doctors performing surgery know what they are doing, that we won't be attacked in the street, and that the government is looking after our interests. In order to create that trust there needs to be transparency so that we know that our institutions are trustworthy. It is the ability to check the facts and the accountability that comes with transparency that creates trust. And this in turn is what makes them legitimate. [1]
The need for trust applies just as much to security as any other walk of life. Citizens need to trust that the security services really are keeping them safe, are spending taxpayers’ money wisely, and are acting in a fashion that is a credit to the country. Unfortunately if there is not transparency there is no way of knowing if this is the case and so often the intelligence services have turned out to be an embarrassment. As has been the case with the CIA and it’s the use of torture following 9/11, for which there are still calls for transparency on past actions. [2]
[1] Ankersmit, Laurens, ‘The Irony of the international relations exception in the transparency regulation’, European Law Blog, 20 March 2013
[2] Traub, James, ‘Out With It’, Foreign Policy, 10 May 2013
| [
{
"docid": "8222066b85109d2a33c55a3163c44a4a",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Trust goes two ways; the people have to trust that on some issues, such as security, the government is doing the right thing to protect them even when it cannot release all relevant information. But even if the military and security services do claim to be completely transparent then how is everyone to know that it really is being as transparent as they say? Unfortunately there are information asymmetry’s between members of the public and the government; the member of the public is unlikely to have the capability to find out if the government if hiding something from them. [1] Other countries too are likely to be suspicious of ‘complete transparency’ and simply believe that this is cover for doing something more nefarious. Trust then cannot only about being transparent in everything.\n\n[1] Stiglitz, Joseph, ‘Transparency in Government’, in Roumeen Islam, The right to tell: the roll of the mass media in economic development, World Bank Publications, 2002, p.28\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "8414e4254b854a82f39dea1f7c7e4b12",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Being a citizen does not come with a right to know everything that the state does. In much the same way being a shareholder does not mean you get to know absolutely everything every person in a business does. Instead you get the headlines and a summary, most of the time the how the business goes about getting the results is left to the management. Ultimately the state’s purpose is to protect its citizens and this comes before letting them know everything about how that is done.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ea1bf901b9c016e50b93d6b38fdfb10d",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms This is clearly not always the case. Often transparency means that the public becomes aware when there is little need for them to know. There had been previous nuclear accidents that had caused no damage, and had not been noticed, such as in Goldsboro, N.C. in 1961. [1] If there had been a media frenzy fuelled by released information there would clearly have been much more of a public relations disaster than there was with no one noticing. Since there’re was no harm done there is little reason why such a media circus should have been encouraged. And even without media attention the incident lead to increase safeguards.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.51\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "669b66c5254b042f7fdf8e3dafcb8a0b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency may mean that mistakes or problems are found faster, but it does not mean they are going to be corrected faster. Waste in the defense budget has been known about for years yet it still keeps coming up. Transparency shines a light on the problem but that is not helpful if it does not result in action to solve the problem.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "111d28308056b7bde04aa9dfb31ed7ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency in situations of international tension is tricky; with complete transparency how do you engage in bluffing? The state that is completely transparent is tying one hand behind its back in international negotiations.\n\nIt is also wrong to assume that transparency will always reduce tensions. Sometimes two countries just have completely incompatible interests. In such instances complete transparency is simply going to set them on a collision course. It is then much better for there to be a bit less transparency so that both sides can fudge the issue and sign up to an agreement while interpreting it in different ways.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2eafb3797f068beb299caa9d706002d4",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Drones are an unusual example (though not unique) because they are a new form of warfare over which there are few clear rules and norms. This means that making it transparent will create new norms. However in the vast majority of covert operations if made public they would clearly be illegal and would have to be ended. Drones are also unusual in that the public sees few downsides to the killing, this means there would be less public pressure than in most such operations.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09379b5481b93d163504bdcf5b12e9c9",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Coalitions can form behind expansionist policies regardless of whether there is transparency. If there is no transparency then it is simply an invitation for these groups to overestimate the strength of their own state compared to their opponents. Where there is transparency the figures will at least be available to counter their arguments. It should not be surprising that interest groups do not have as much influence in creating expansionist policy in democracies. [1]\n\nTransparency showing when a state is to be eclipsed is a greater concern but a lack of transparency in such a case is just as bad. No transparency will simply encourage the fears of the state that is to be eclipsed that the rising state is hostile and not to be trusted.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.18\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ee863b175d8bc7f083fcb10f9f8e6b7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms The public is rational and can make its own assessment of risk. The best course in such cases is transparency and education. If all relevant information is released, along with analysis as to the risk presented by the threat, then the public can be best informed about what kind of threats they need to be prepared for. Terrorism has been blown out of proportion because they are single deadly incidents that are simple to report and have a good narrative to provide 24/7 coverage that the public will lap up. [1] As a result there has been much more media coverage than other threats. It can then be no surprise that the public overestimate the threat posed by terrorism as the public are told what risks are relevant by the amount of media coverage. [2]\n\n[1] Engelhardt, Tom, ‘Casualties from Terrorism Are Minor Compared to Other Threats’, Gale Opposing Viewpoints, 2011\n\n[2] Singer, Eleanor, and Endreny, Phyllis Mildred, Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters and Other Hazards, Russell Sage Foundation, 1993\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ee9b4226c39f4e02bd155a90b722c72c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency clearly does not have to extend to things like technical specifications of weapons. Such information would be a clear benefit to a competitor allowing them to build their own while being of little help in terms of transparency as most people could not understand it. On the other hand knowing what a weapons system does simply prevents misunderstanding and misjudgement.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b60c17aa62dd87a3c11971948e3c787",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Clearly transparency in real time might cause some problems allowing the disruption of ongoing operations. However most of the time information could be released very shortly afterwards rather than being considered secret for 25-30 years. [1] A much shorter timeframe is needed if the transparency is to have any meaning or impact upon policy. In the case of WikiLeaks most of the information was already a couple of years old and WikiLeaks said it made sure that there was no information that could endanger lives released.\n\nWe should also remember that a lack of transparency can also endanger lives; this might be the case if it leads to purchases of equipment of shoddy equipment without the proper oversight to ensure everything works as it should. For example many countries purchased bomb detectors that are made out of novelty golf ball finders, just plastic, that do not work from a Briton looking to make a fast buck. It has for example been used to attempt to find car bombs in Iraq. A little transparency in testing and procurement could have gone a long way in protecting those who have to use the equipment. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.8\n\n[2] AFP, ‘Iraq still using phony bomb detectors at checkpoints’, globalpost, 3 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "557898b82fdb4fc4ca3bdcb7096ac0bb",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Citizens have a right to know what is done in their name\n\nThe nation exits for its citizens; it depends on their consent to maintain order and to raise finances. The main purpose of the state is law and order, and national defence, both of which are covered by security. As an area that is so central to the role of the government it is vital that the stakeholders in that government, its citizens, know what it is the state is doing in their name for their security.\n\nThe Obama administration for example refuses to acknowledge that it is carrying out a campaign using drones while at the same time saying it is “the only game in town in terms of confronting and trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership.” [1] If the US government is bombing another country then the US people have a right to know with much less ambiguity what exactly is being done, who is being hit, when and where. They also need to be informed of any possible consequences.\n\n[1] Kaufman, Brett, ‘In Court Today: Fighting the CIA’s Secrecy Claims on Drones’, ACLU, 20 September 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "04ab403cbe5fefe3364b36e9f3d654bf",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents public relations disasters\n\nTransparency is necessary to avoid public relations disasters; particularly in countries where the media has some freedom to investigate for themselves. It is clearly the best policy for the military to make sure all the information is released along with the reasons behind actions rather than having the media finding individual pieces of a whole and speculating to fill the gaps.\n\nA good example would be a collision on 16th January 1966 between a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanker while attempting to refuel that destroyed both planes. Accidents happen, and this one cost 11 lives, but could have been much worse as the B-52 had four nuclear bombs on board were not armed and did not detonate. In this case an initial lack of information rapidly turned into a public relations disaster that was stemmed by much more openness by the military and the US Ambassador in Spain. The release of the information reduces the room for the press to fill in the gaps with harmful speculation. [1] In this case there was never much chance of national security implications or a break with Spain as the country was ruled by the dictator Franco, someone who would hardly pay attention to public opinion. But in a democracy a slow and closed response could seriously damage relations.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.65\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c971b2f19f8dfd929bf86c54c4978ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency helps reduce international tension\n\nTransparency is necessary in international relations. States need to know what each other are doing to assess their actions. Without any transparency the hole is filled by suspicion and threat inflation that can easily lead to miscalculation and even war.\n\nThe Cuban missile crisis is a clear example where a lack of transparency on either side about what they were willing to accept and what they were doing almost lead to nuclear war. [1] It is notable that one of the responses to prevent a similar crisis was to install a hotline between the White House and Kremlin. A very small, but vital, step in terms of openness.\n\nToday this is still a problem; China currently worries about the US ‘pivot’ towards Asia complaining it “has aroused a great deal of suspicion in China.” “A huge deficit of strategic trust lies at the bottom of all problems between China and the United States.” The result would be an inevitable arms race and possible conflict. [2]\n\n[1] Frohwein, Ashley, ‘Embassy Moscow: A Diplomatic Perspective of the Cuban Missile Crisis’, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 7 May 2013\n\n[2] Yafei, He, ‘The Trust Deficit’, Foreign Policy, 13 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2494278a88bfb0294a3cda5ace3a9ba3",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents, or corrects, mistakes\n\nTransparency is fundamental in making sure that mistakes don’t happen, or when they do that they are found and corrected quickly with appropriate accountability. This applies as much, if not more, to the security apparatus than other walks of life. In security mistakes are much more likely to be a matter of life and death than in most other walks of life. They are also likely to be costly; something the military and national security apparatus is particularly known for. [1] An audit of the Pentagon in 2011 found that the US Department of Defense wasted $70 billion over two years. [2] This kind of waste can only be corrected if it is found out about, and for that transparency is necessary.\n\n[1] Schneier, Bruce, ‘Transparency and Accountability Don’t Hurt Security – They’re Crucial to It’, The Atlantic, 8 May 2012\n\n[2] Schweizer, Peter, ‘Crony Capitalism Creeps Into the Defense Budget’, The Daily Beast, 22 May 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2c61e7d5a261b887f7baffa69e21599",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms In security too much transparency endangers lives\n\nTransparency is all very well when it comes to how much is being spent on a new tank, aircraft, or generals houses, but it is very different when it comes to operations. Transparency in operations can endanger lives. With intelligence services transparency would risk the lives of informants; it is similar with the case of interpreters for US forces in Iraq who were targeted after they were told they could not wear masks because they are considered to be traitors. [1]\n\nIn military operations being open about almost anything could be a benefit to the opposition. Most obviously things like the timing and numbers involved in operations need to be kept under wraps but all sorts of information could be damaging in one way or another. Simply because a state is not involved in a full scale war does not mean it can open up on these operations. This is why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen in response to WikiLeaks said “Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing… But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.” [2]\n\n[1] Londoño, Ernesto, ‘U.S. Ban on Masks Upsets Iraqui Interpreters’, Washington Post, 17 November 2008\n\n[2] Jaffe, Greg, and Partlow, Joshua, ‘Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: WikiLeaks release endangers troops, Afghans’, Washington Post, 30 July 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c68405c453794f19c4fdf3ceffc8e00b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Provides information to competitors\n\nWhere there is international competition transparency can be a problem if there is not transparency on both sides as one side is essentially giving its opponent an advantage. This is ultimately why countries keep national security secrets; they are in competition with other nations and the best way to ensure an advantage over those states is to keep capabilities secret. One side having information while the other does not allows the actor that has the information to act differently in response to that knowledge. Keeping things secret can therefore provide an advantage when making a decision, as the one with most information is most likely to react best. [1] Currently there is information asymmetry between the United States and China to the point where some analysts consider that the United States provides more authoritative information on China’s military than China itself does. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.7\n\n[2] Erickson, Andrew S., ‘Pentagon Report Reveals Chinese Military Developments’, The Diplomat, 8 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "fde44dfde57e4fe7ac171eb412494d22",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can lead to conflict\n\nThe idea that transparency is good assumes that the people watching the government be transparent are likely to provide a moderating influence on policy. This is not always the case. Instead transparency can lead to more conflict.\n\nFirst a nationalist population may force the government into taking more action than it wants. One obvious way to quiet such sentiment is to show that the country is not ready for war; something that may not be possible if being transparent. Instead if it is transparent that the military could win then there is nothing to stop a march to war. It then becomes possible for multiple interest groups to form into coalitions each with differing reasons for conflict trading off with each other resulting in overstretch and conflict. [1]\n\nSecondly when there is a rapidly changing balance of power then transparency for the rising power may not be a good thing. Instead as Deng Xiaoping advised they should “Hide your strength, bide your time”. [2] Showing in the open how your military is expanding may simply force action from the current dominant power. Transparency, combined with domestic media worrying about the other’s build up can make the other side seem more and more of a threat that must be dealt with before it can get any more powerful. It is quite a common international relations theory that one way or another relative power and the quest for hegemony is the cause for war, [3] transparency simply encourages this. William C. Wohlforth points out when studying the cause of the First World War that it is perception of relative power that matters. Germany’s leaders believed it had to strike before it out of time as a result of Russia rapidly industrialising. [4] Transparency unfortunately reduces the ability of the government to manage perception.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.17\n\n[2] Allison, Graham, and Blackwill, Robert D., ‘Will China Ever Be No.1?’, YakeGlobal, 20 February 2013\n\n[3] Kaplan, Robert D., ‘Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things)’, The Atlantic, 20 December 2011\n\n[4] Wohlforth, William C., ‘The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance’, World Politics, Vol.39, No.3, (April 1987), pp.353-381, p.362\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "57d978c0658ee5b8e228d32d58bc1ad7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can result in normalisation\n\nWhile something is secret it is clearly not a normal every day part of government, it is deniable and the assumption is that when it comes to light it has probably been wound up long ago. However making something transparent without winding it up can be a bad thing as it makes it normal which ultimately makes a bad policy much harder to end.\n\nThe use of drones by the CIA may turn out to be an example of this. At the moment we are told almost nothing about drones, not even how many strikes there are or how many are killed. There have however been recent suggestions that the drone program could be transferred to the Department of Defence. This would then make the targeted killing that is carried out seem a normal part of military conflict, somehting it clearly is not. [1] And the public reacts differently to covert and military action; already more Americans support military drones doing targeted killing (75%) than CIA ones (65%). [2]\n\n[1] Waxman, Matthew, ‘Going Clear’, Foreign Policy, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Zenko, Micah, ‘U.S. Public Opinion on Drone Strikes’, Council on Foreign Relations, 18 March 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f98bb4959d33dea7830b3fa122bec2e0",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Don’t panic!\n\nThe role of the security services is in part to deal with some very dangerous ideas and events. But the point is to deal with them in such a way that does not cause public disorder or even panic. We clearly don’t want every report detailing specific threats to be made public, especially if it is reporting something that could be devastating but there is a low risk of it actually occurring. If such information is taken the wrong way it can potentially cause panic, either over nothing, or else in such a way that it damages any possible response to the crisis. Unfortunately the media and the public often misunderstand risk. For example preventing terrorism has been regularly cited in polls as being the Americans top foreign policy goal with more than 80% thinking it very important in Gallup polls for over a decade [1] even when the chance of being killed by terrorism in Western countries is very low. If the public misunderstands the risk the response is unlikely to be proportionate and can be akin to yelling fire in a packed theatre.\n\nWhile it is not (usually) a security, but rather a public health issue, pandemics make a good example. The question of how much information to release is only slightly different than in security; officials want to release enough information that everyone is informed, but not so much that there is panic whenever there is an unusual death. [2] In 2009 the WHO declared swine flu to be a pandemic despite it being a relatively mild virus that did not cause many deaths, so causing an unnecessary scare and stockpiling of drugs. [3]\n\n[1] Jones, Jeffrey M., ‘Americans Say Preventing Terrorism Top Foreign Policy Goal’, Gallup Politics, 20 February 2013\n\n[2] Honigsbaum, Mark, ‘The coronavirus conundrum: when to press the panic button’, guardian.co.uk, 14 February 2013\n\n[3] Cheng, Maria, ‘WHO’s response to swine flu pandemic flawed’, Phys.org, 10 May 2011\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
4745c205e7c311773e7d69e3fdad9d8c | Transparency prevents, or corrects, mistakes
Transparency is fundamental in making sure that mistakes don’t happen, or when they do that they are found and corrected quickly with appropriate accountability. This applies as much, if not more, to the security apparatus than other walks of life. In security mistakes are much more likely to be a matter of life and death than in most other walks of life. They are also likely to be costly; something the military and national security apparatus is particularly known for. [1] An audit of the Pentagon in 2011 found that the US Department of Defense wasted $70 billion over two years. [2] This kind of waste can only be corrected if it is found out about, and for that transparency is necessary.
[1] Schneier, Bruce, ‘Transparency and Accountability Don’t Hurt Security – They’re Crucial to It’, The Atlantic, 8 May 2012
[2] Schweizer, Peter, ‘Crony Capitalism Creeps Into the Defense Budget’, The Daily Beast, 22 May 2012
| [
{
"docid": "669b66c5254b042f7fdf8e3dafcb8a0b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency may mean that mistakes or problems are found faster, but it does not mean they are going to be corrected faster. Waste in the defense budget has been known about for years yet it still keeps coming up. Transparency shines a light on the problem but that is not helpful if it does not result in action to solve the problem.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "8414e4254b854a82f39dea1f7c7e4b12",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Being a citizen does not come with a right to know everything that the state does. In much the same way being a shareholder does not mean you get to know absolutely everything every person in a business does. Instead you get the headlines and a summary, most of the time the how the business goes about getting the results is left to the management. Ultimately the state’s purpose is to protect its citizens and this comes before letting them know everything about how that is done.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ea1bf901b9c016e50b93d6b38fdfb10d",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms This is clearly not always the case. Often transparency means that the public becomes aware when there is little need for them to know. There had been previous nuclear accidents that had caused no damage, and had not been noticed, such as in Goldsboro, N.C. in 1961. [1] If there had been a media frenzy fuelled by released information there would clearly have been much more of a public relations disaster than there was with no one noticing. Since there’re was no harm done there is little reason why such a media circus should have been encouraged. And even without media attention the incident lead to increase safeguards.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.51\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "111d28308056b7bde04aa9dfb31ed7ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency in situations of international tension is tricky; with complete transparency how do you engage in bluffing? The state that is completely transparent is tying one hand behind its back in international negotiations.\n\nIt is also wrong to assume that transparency will always reduce tensions. Sometimes two countries just have completely incompatible interests. In such instances complete transparency is simply going to set them on a collision course. It is then much better for there to be a bit less transparency so that both sides can fudge the issue and sign up to an agreement while interpreting it in different ways.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8222066b85109d2a33c55a3163c44a4a",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Trust goes two ways; the people have to trust that on some issues, such as security, the government is doing the right thing to protect them even when it cannot release all relevant information. But even if the military and security services do claim to be completely transparent then how is everyone to know that it really is being as transparent as they say? Unfortunately there are information asymmetry’s between members of the public and the government; the member of the public is unlikely to have the capability to find out if the government if hiding something from them. [1] Other countries too are likely to be suspicious of ‘complete transparency’ and simply believe that this is cover for doing something more nefarious. Trust then cannot only about being transparent in everything.\n\n[1] Stiglitz, Joseph, ‘Transparency in Government’, in Roumeen Islam, The right to tell: the roll of the mass media in economic development, World Bank Publications, 2002, p.28\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2eafb3797f068beb299caa9d706002d4",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Drones are an unusual example (though not unique) because they are a new form of warfare over which there are few clear rules and norms. This means that making it transparent will create new norms. However in the vast majority of covert operations if made public they would clearly be illegal and would have to be ended. Drones are also unusual in that the public sees few downsides to the killing, this means there would be less public pressure than in most such operations.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09379b5481b93d163504bdcf5b12e9c9",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Coalitions can form behind expansionist policies regardless of whether there is transparency. If there is no transparency then it is simply an invitation for these groups to overestimate the strength of their own state compared to their opponents. Where there is transparency the figures will at least be available to counter their arguments. It should not be surprising that interest groups do not have as much influence in creating expansionist policy in democracies. [1]\n\nTransparency showing when a state is to be eclipsed is a greater concern but a lack of transparency in such a case is just as bad. No transparency will simply encourage the fears of the state that is to be eclipsed that the rising state is hostile and not to be trusted.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.18\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ee863b175d8bc7f083fcb10f9f8e6b7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms The public is rational and can make its own assessment of risk. The best course in such cases is transparency and education. If all relevant information is released, along with analysis as to the risk presented by the threat, then the public can be best informed about what kind of threats they need to be prepared for. Terrorism has been blown out of proportion because they are single deadly incidents that are simple to report and have a good narrative to provide 24/7 coverage that the public will lap up. [1] As a result there has been much more media coverage than other threats. It can then be no surprise that the public overestimate the threat posed by terrorism as the public are told what risks are relevant by the amount of media coverage. [2]\n\n[1] Engelhardt, Tom, ‘Casualties from Terrorism Are Minor Compared to Other Threats’, Gale Opposing Viewpoints, 2011\n\n[2] Singer, Eleanor, and Endreny, Phyllis Mildred, Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters and Other Hazards, Russell Sage Foundation, 1993\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ee9b4226c39f4e02bd155a90b722c72c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency clearly does not have to extend to things like technical specifications of weapons. Such information would be a clear benefit to a competitor allowing them to build their own while being of little help in terms of transparency as most people could not understand it. On the other hand knowing what a weapons system does simply prevents misunderstanding and misjudgement.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b60c17aa62dd87a3c11971948e3c787",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Clearly transparency in real time might cause some problems allowing the disruption of ongoing operations. However most of the time information could be released very shortly afterwards rather than being considered secret for 25-30 years. [1] A much shorter timeframe is needed if the transparency is to have any meaning or impact upon policy. In the case of WikiLeaks most of the information was already a couple of years old and WikiLeaks said it made sure that there was no information that could endanger lives released.\n\nWe should also remember that a lack of transparency can also endanger lives; this might be the case if it leads to purchases of equipment of shoddy equipment without the proper oversight to ensure everything works as it should. For example many countries purchased bomb detectors that are made out of novelty golf ball finders, just plastic, that do not work from a Briton looking to make a fast buck. It has for example been used to attempt to find car bombs in Iraq. A little transparency in testing and procurement could have gone a long way in protecting those who have to use the equipment. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.8\n\n[2] AFP, ‘Iraq still using phony bomb detectors at checkpoints’, globalpost, 3 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "557898b82fdb4fc4ca3bdcb7096ac0bb",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Citizens have a right to know what is done in their name\n\nThe nation exits for its citizens; it depends on their consent to maintain order and to raise finances. The main purpose of the state is law and order, and national defence, both of which are covered by security. As an area that is so central to the role of the government it is vital that the stakeholders in that government, its citizens, know what it is the state is doing in their name for their security.\n\nThe Obama administration for example refuses to acknowledge that it is carrying out a campaign using drones while at the same time saying it is “the only game in town in terms of confronting and trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership.” [1] If the US government is bombing another country then the US people have a right to know with much less ambiguity what exactly is being done, who is being hit, when and where. They also need to be informed of any possible consequences.\n\n[1] Kaufman, Brett, ‘In Court Today: Fighting the CIA’s Secrecy Claims on Drones’, ACLU, 20 September 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "04ab403cbe5fefe3364b36e9f3d654bf",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents public relations disasters\n\nTransparency is necessary to avoid public relations disasters; particularly in countries where the media has some freedom to investigate for themselves. It is clearly the best policy for the military to make sure all the information is released along with the reasons behind actions rather than having the media finding individual pieces of a whole and speculating to fill the gaps.\n\nA good example would be a collision on 16th January 1966 between a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanker while attempting to refuel that destroyed both planes. Accidents happen, and this one cost 11 lives, but could have been much worse as the B-52 had four nuclear bombs on board were not armed and did not detonate. In this case an initial lack of information rapidly turned into a public relations disaster that was stemmed by much more openness by the military and the US Ambassador in Spain. The release of the information reduces the room for the press to fill in the gaps with harmful speculation. [1] In this case there was never much chance of national security implications or a break with Spain as the country was ruled by the dictator Franco, someone who would hardly pay attention to public opinion. But in a democracy a slow and closed response could seriously damage relations.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.65\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c971b2f19f8dfd929bf86c54c4978ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency helps reduce international tension\n\nTransparency is necessary in international relations. States need to know what each other are doing to assess their actions. Without any transparency the hole is filled by suspicion and threat inflation that can easily lead to miscalculation and even war.\n\nThe Cuban missile crisis is a clear example where a lack of transparency on either side about what they were willing to accept and what they were doing almost lead to nuclear war. [1] It is notable that one of the responses to prevent a similar crisis was to install a hotline between the White House and Kremlin. A very small, but vital, step in terms of openness.\n\nToday this is still a problem; China currently worries about the US ‘pivot’ towards Asia complaining it “has aroused a great deal of suspicion in China.” “A huge deficit of strategic trust lies at the bottom of all problems between China and the United States.” The result would be an inevitable arms race and possible conflict. [2]\n\n[1] Frohwein, Ashley, ‘Embassy Moscow: A Diplomatic Perspective of the Cuban Missile Crisis’, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 7 May 2013\n\n[2] Yafei, He, ‘The Trust Deficit’, Foreign Policy, 13 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ca11382acfc6861183dfdf775423f0c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency is a good in and of itself\n\nThe most essential commodity within a state is trust. Trust is essential in all sorts of aspect of our lives; we trust that the paper money we have is actually worth more than a scrap of paper, that doctors performing surgery know what they are doing, that we won't be attacked in the street, and that the government is looking after our interests. In order to create that trust there needs to be transparency so that we know that our institutions are trustworthy. It is the ability to check the facts and the accountability that comes with transparency that creates trust. And this in turn is what makes them legitimate. [1]\n\nThe need for trust applies just as much to security as any other walk of life. Citizens need to trust that the security services really are keeping them safe, are spending taxpayers’ money wisely, and are acting in a fashion that is a credit to the country. Unfortunately if there is not transparency there is no way of knowing if this is the case and so often the intelligence services have turned out to be an embarrassment. As has been the case with the CIA and it’s the use of torture following 9/11, for which there are still calls for transparency on past actions. [2]\n\n[1] Ankersmit, Laurens, ‘The Irony of the international relations exception in the transparency regulation’, European Law Blog, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Traub, James, ‘Out With It’, Foreign Policy, 10 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2c61e7d5a261b887f7baffa69e21599",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms In security too much transparency endangers lives\n\nTransparency is all very well when it comes to how much is being spent on a new tank, aircraft, or generals houses, but it is very different when it comes to operations. Transparency in operations can endanger lives. With intelligence services transparency would risk the lives of informants; it is similar with the case of interpreters for US forces in Iraq who were targeted after they were told they could not wear masks because they are considered to be traitors. [1]\n\nIn military operations being open about almost anything could be a benefit to the opposition. Most obviously things like the timing and numbers involved in operations need to be kept under wraps but all sorts of information could be damaging in one way or another. Simply because a state is not involved in a full scale war does not mean it can open up on these operations. This is why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen in response to WikiLeaks said “Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing… But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.” [2]\n\n[1] Londoño, Ernesto, ‘U.S. Ban on Masks Upsets Iraqui Interpreters’, Washington Post, 17 November 2008\n\n[2] Jaffe, Greg, and Partlow, Joshua, ‘Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: WikiLeaks release endangers troops, Afghans’, Washington Post, 30 July 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c68405c453794f19c4fdf3ceffc8e00b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Provides information to competitors\n\nWhere there is international competition transparency can be a problem if there is not transparency on both sides as one side is essentially giving its opponent an advantage. This is ultimately why countries keep national security secrets; they are in competition with other nations and the best way to ensure an advantage over those states is to keep capabilities secret. One side having information while the other does not allows the actor that has the information to act differently in response to that knowledge. Keeping things secret can therefore provide an advantage when making a decision, as the one with most information is most likely to react best. [1] Currently there is information asymmetry between the United States and China to the point where some analysts consider that the United States provides more authoritative information on China’s military than China itself does. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.7\n\n[2] Erickson, Andrew S., ‘Pentagon Report Reveals Chinese Military Developments’, The Diplomat, 8 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "fde44dfde57e4fe7ac171eb412494d22",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can lead to conflict\n\nThe idea that transparency is good assumes that the people watching the government be transparent are likely to provide a moderating influence on policy. This is not always the case. Instead transparency can lead to more conflict.\n\nFirst a nationalist population may force the government into taking more action than it wants. One obvious way to quiet such sentiment is to show that the country is not ready for war; something that may not be possible if being transparent. Instead if it is transparent that the military could win then there is nothing to stop a march to war. It then becomes possible for multiple interest groups to form into coalitions each with differing reasons for conflict trading off with each other resulting in overstretch and conflict. [1]\n\nSecondly when there is a rapidly changing balance of power then transparency for the rising power may not be a good thing. Instead as Deng Xiaoping advised they should “Hide your strength, bide your time”. [2] Showing in the open how your military is expanding may simply force action from the current dominant power. Transparency, combined with domestic media worrying about the other’s build up can make the other side seem more and more of a threat that must be dealt with before it can get any more powerful. It is quite a common international relations theory that one way or another relative power and the quest for hegemony is the cause for war, [3] transparency simply encourages this. William C. Wohlforth points out when studying the cause of the First World War that it is perception of relative power that matters. Germany’s leaders believed it had to strike before it out of time as a result of Russia rapidly industrialising. [4] Transparency unfortunately reduces the ability of the government to manage perception.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.17\n\n[2] Allison, Graham, and Blackwill, Robert D., ‘Will China Ever Be No.1?’, YakeGlobal, 20 February 2013\n\n[3] Kaplan, Robert D., ‘Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things)’, The Atlantic, 20 December 2011\n\n[4] Wohlforth, William C., ‘The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance’, World Politics, Vol.39, No.3, (April 1987), pp.353-381, p.362\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "57d978c0658ee5b8e228d32d58bc1ad7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can result in normalisation\n\nWhile something is secret it is clearly not a normal every day part of government, it is deniable and the assumption is that when it comes to light it has probably been wound up long ago. However making something transparent without winding it up can be a bad thing as it makes it normal which ultimately makes a bad policy much harder to end.\n\nThe use of drones by the CIA may turn out to be an example of this. At the moment we are told almost nothing about drones, not even how many strikes there are or how many are killed. There have however been recent suggestions that the drone program could be transferred to the Department of Defence. This would then make the targeted killing that is carried out seem a normal part of military conflict, somehting it clearly is not. [1] And the public reacts differently to covert and military action; already more Americans support military drones doing targeted killing (75%) than CIA ones (65%). [2]\n\n[1] Waxman, Matthew, ‘Going Clear’, Foreign Policy, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Zenko, Micah, ‘U.S. Public Opinion on Drone Strikes’, Council on Foreign Relations, 18 March 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f98bb4959d33dea7830b3fa122bec2e0",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Don’t panic!\n\nThe role of the security services is in part to deal with some very dangerous ideas and events. But the point is to deal with them in such a way that does not cause public disorder or even panic. We clearly don’t want every report detailing specific threats to be made public, especially if it is reporting something that could be devastating but there is a low risk of it actually occurring. If such information is taken the wrong way it can potentially cause panic, either over nothing, or else in such a way that it damages any possible response to the crisis. Unfortunately the media and the public often misunderstand risk. For example preventing terrorism has been regularly cited in polls as being the Americans top foreign policy goal with more than 80% thinking it very important in Gallup polls for over a decade [1] even when the chance of being killed by terrorism in Western countries is very low. If the public misunderstands the risk the response is unlikely to be proportionate and can be akin to yelling fire in a packed theatre.\n\nWhile it is not (usually) a security, but rather a public health issue, pandemics make a good example. The question of how much information to release is only slightly different than in security; officials want to release enough information that everyone is informed, but not so much that there is panic whenever there is an unusual death. [2] In 2009 the WHO declared swine flu to be a pandemic despite it being a relatively mild virus that did not cause many deaths, so causing an unnecessary scare and stockpiling of drugs. [3]\n\n[1] Jones, Jeffrey M., ‘Americans Say Preventing Terrorism Top Foreign Policy Goal’, Gallup Politics, 20 February 2013\n\n[2] Honigsbaum, Mark, ‘The coronavirus conundrum: when to press the panic button’, guardian.co.uk, 14 February 2013\n\n[3] Cheng, Maria, ‘WHO’s response to swine flu pandemic flawed’, Phys.org, 10 May 2011\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
05c33a5137e59c396e9adc0675cd6ccb | In security too much transparency endangers lives
Transparency is all very well when it comes to how much is being spent on a new tank, aircraft, or generals houses, but it is very different when it comes to operations. Transparency in operations can endanger lives. With intelligence services transparency would risk the lives of informants; it is similar with the case of interpreters for US forces in Iraq who were targeted after they were told they could not wear masks because they are considered to be traitors. [1]
In military operations being open about almost anything could be a benefit to the opposition. Most obviously things like the timing and numbers involved in operations need to be kept under wraps but all sorts of information could be damaging in one way or another. Simply because a state is not involved in a full scale war does not mean it can open up on these operations. This is why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen in response to WikiLeaks said “Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing… But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.” [2]
[1] Londoño, Ernesto, ‘U.S. Ban on Masks Upsets Iraqui Interpreters’, Washington Post, 17 November 2008
[2] Jaffe, Greg, and Partlow, Joshua, ‘Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: WikiLeaks release endangers troops, Afghans’, Washington Post, 30 July 2010
| [
{
"docid": "5b60c17aa62dd87a3c11971948e3c787",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Clearly transparency in real time might cause some problems allowing the disruption of ongoing operations. However most of the time information could be released very shortly afterwards rather than being considered secret for 25-30 years. [1] A much shorter timeframe is needed if the transparency is to have any meaning or impact upon policy. In the case of WikiLeaks most of the information was already a couple of years old and WikiLeaks said it made sure that there was no information that could endanger lives released.\n\nWe should also remember that a lack of transparency can also endanger lives; this might be the case if it leads to purchases of equipment of shoddy equipment without the proper oversight to ensure everything works as it should. For example many countries purchased bomb detectors that are made out of novelty golf ball finders, just plastic, that do not work from a Briton looking to make a fast buck. It has for example been used to attempt to find car bombs in Iraq. A little transparency in testing and procurement could have gone a long way in protecting those who have to use the equipment. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.8\n\n[2] AFP, ‘Iraq still using phony bomb detectors at checkpoints’, globalpost, 3 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "2eafb3797f068beb299caa9d706002d4",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Drones are an unusual example (though not unique) because they are a new form of warfare over which there are few clear rules and norms. This means that making it transparent will create new norms. However in the vast majority of covert operations if made public they would clearly be illegal and would have to be ended. Drones are also unusual in that the public sees few downsides to the killing, this means there would be less public pressure than in most such operations.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09379b5481b93d163504bdcf5b12e9c9",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Coalitions can form behind expansionist policies regardless of whether there is transparency. If there is no transparency then it is simply an invitation for these groups to overestimate the strength of their own state compared to their opponents. Where there is transparency the figures will at least be available to counter their arguments. It should not be surprising that interest groups do not have as much influence in creating expansionist policy in democracies. [1]\n\nTransparency showing when a state is to be eclipsed is a greater concern but a lack of transparency in such a case is just as bad. No transparency will simply encourage the fears of the state that is to be eclipsed that the rising state is hostile and not to be trusted.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.18\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ee863b175d8bc7f083fcb10f9f8e6b7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms The public is rational and can make its own assessment of risk. The best course in such cases is transparency and education. If all relevant information is released, along with analysis as to the risk presented by the threat, then the public can be best informed about what kind of threats they need to be prepared for. Terrorism has been blown out of proportion because they are single deadly incidents that are simple to report and have a good narrative to provide 24/7 coverage that the public will lap up. [1] As a result there has been much more media coverage than other threats. It can then be no surprise that the public overestimate the threat posed by terrorism as the public are told what risks are relevant by the amount of media coverage. [2]\n\n[1] Engelhardt, Tom, ‘Casualties from Terrorism Are Minor Compared to Other Threats’, Gale Opposing Viewpoints, 2011\n\n[2] Singer, Eleanor, and Endreny, Phyllis Mildred, Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters and Other Hazards, Russell Sage Foundation, 1993\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ee9b4226c39f4e02bd155a90b722c72c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency clearly does not have to extend to things like technical specifications of weapons. Such information would be a clear benefit to a competitor allowing them to build their own while being of little help in terms of transparency as most people could not understand it. On the other hand knowing what a weapons system does simply prevents misunderstanding and misjudgement.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8414e4254b854a82f39dea1f7c7e4b12",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Being a citizen does not come with a right to know everything that the state does. In much the same way being a shareholder does not mean you get to know absolutely everything every person in a business does. Instead you get the headlines and a summary, most of the time the how the business goes about getting the results is left to the management. Ultimately the state’s purpose is to protect its citizens and this comes before letting them know everything about how that is done.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ea1bf901b9c016e50b93d6b38fdfb10d",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms This is clearly not always the case. Often transparency means that the public becomes aware when there is little need for them to know. There had been previous nuclear accidents that had caused no damage, and had not been noticed, such as in Goldsboro, N.C. in 1961. [1] If there had been a media frenzy fuelled by released information there would clearly have been much more of a public relations disaster than there was with no one noticing. Since there’re was no harm done there is little reason why such a media circus should have been encouraged. And even without media attention the incident lead to increase safeguards.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.51\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "669b66c5254b042f7fdf8e3dafcb8a0b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency may mean that mistakes or problems are found faster, but it does not mean they are going to be corrected faster. Waste in the defense budget has been known about for years yet it still keeps coming up. Transparency shines a light on the problem but that is not helpful if it does not result in action to solve the problem.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "111d28308056b7bde04aa9dfb31ed7ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency in situations of international tension is tricky; with complete transparency how do you engage in bluffing? The state that is completely transparent is tying one hand behind its back in international negotiations.\n\nIt is also wrong to assume that transparency will always reduce tensions. Sometimes two countries just have completely incompatible interests. In such instances complete transparency is simply going to set them on a collision course. It is then much better for there to be a bit less transparency so that both sides can fudge the issue and sign up to an agreement while interpreting it in different ways.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8222066b85109d2a33c55a3163c44a4a",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Trust goes two ways; the people have to trust that on some issues, such as security, the government is doing the right thing to protect them even when it cannot release all relevant information. But even if the military and security services do claim to be completely transparent then how is everyone to know that it really is being as transparent as they say? Unfortunately there are information asymmetry’s between members of the public and the government; the member of the public is unlikely to have the capability to find out if the government if hiding something from them. [1] Other countries too are likely to be suspicious of ‘complete transparency’ and simply believe that this is cover for doing something more nefarious. Trust then cannot only about being transparent in everything.\n\n[1] Stiglitz, Joseph, ‘Transparency in Government’, in Roumeen Islam, The right to tell: the roll of the mass media in economic development, World Bank Publications, 2002, p.28\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c68405c453794f19c4fdf3ceffc8e00b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Provides information to competitors\n\nWhere there is international competition transparency can be a problem if there is not transparency on both sides as one side is essentially giving its opponent an advantage. This is ultimately why countries keep national security secrets; they are in competition with other nations and the best way to ensure an advantage over those states is to keep capabilities secret. One side having information while the other does not allows the actor that has the information to act differently in response to that knowledge. Keeping things secret can therefore provide an advantage when making a decision, as the one with most information is most likely to react best. [1] Currently there is information asymmetry between the United States and China to the point where some analysts consider that the United States provides more authoritative information on China’s military than China itself does. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.7\n\n[2] Erickson, Andrew S., ‘Pentagon Report Reveals Chinese Military Developments’, The Diplomat, 8 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "fde44dfde57e4fe7ac171eb412494d22",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can lead to conflict\n\nThe idea that transparency is good assumes that the people watching the government be transparent are likely to provide a moderating influence on policy. This is not always the case. Instead transparency can lead to more conflict.\n\nFirst a nationalist population may force the government into taking more action than it wants. One obvious way to quiet such sentiment is to show that the country is not ready for war; something that may not be possible if being transparent. Instead if it is transparent that the military could win then there is nothing to stop a march to war. It then becomes possible for multiple interest groups to form into coalitions each with differing reasons for conflict trading off with each other resulting in overstretch and conflict. [1]\n\nSecondly when there is a rapidly changing balance of power then transparency for the rising power may not be a good thing. Instead as Deng Xiaoping advised they should “Hide your strength, bide your time”. [2] Showing in the open how your military is expanding may simply force action from the current dominant power. Transparency, combined with domestic media worrying about the other’s build up can make the other side seem more and more of a threat that must be dealt with before it can get any more powerful. It is quite a common international relations theory that one way or another relative power and the quest for hegemony is the cause for war, [3] transparency simply encourages this. William C. Wohlforth points out when studying the cause of the First World War that it is perception of relative power that matters. Germany’s leaders believed it had to strike before it out of time as a result of Russia rapidly industrialising. [4] Transparency unfortunately reduces the ability of the government to manage perception.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.17\n\n[2] Allison, Graham, and Blackwill, Robert D., ‘Will China Ever Be No.1?’, YakeGlobal, 20 February 2013\n\n[3] Kaplan, Robert D., ‘Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things)’, The Atlantic, 20 December 2011\n\n[4] Wohlforth, William C., ‘The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance’, World Politics, Vol.39, No.3, (April 1987), pp.353-381, p.362\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "57d978c0658ee5b8e228d32d58bc1ad7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can result in normalisation\n\nWhile something is secret it is clearly not a normal every day part of government, it is deniable and the assumption is that when it comes to light it has probably been wound up long ago. However making something transparent without winding it up can be a bad thing as it makes it normal which ultimately makes a bad policy much harder to end.\n\nThe use of drones by the CIA may turn out to be an example of this. At the moment we are told almost nothing about drones, not even how many strikes there are or how many are killed. There have however been recent suggestions that the drone program could be transferred to the Department of Defence. This would then make the targeted killing that is carried out seem a normal part of military conflict, somehting it clearly is not. [1] And the public reacts differently to covert and military action; already more Americans support military drones doing targeted killing (75%) than CIA ones (65%). [2]\n\n[1] Waxman, Matthew, ‘Going Clear’, Foreign Policy, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Zenko, Micah, ‘U.S. Public Opinion on Drone Strikes’, Council on Foreign Relations, 18 March 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f98bb4959d33dea7830b3fa122bec2e0",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Don’t panic!\n\nThe role of the security services is in part to deal with some very dangerous ideas and events. But the point is to deal with them in such a way that does not cause public disorder or even panic. We clearly don’t want every report detailing specific threats to be made public, especially if it is reporting something that could be devastating but there is a low risk of it actually occurring. If such information is taken the wrong way it can potentially cause panic, either over nothing, or else in such a way that it damages any possible response to the crisis. Unfortunately the media and the public often misunderstand risk. For example preventing terrorism has been regularly cited in polls as being the Americans top foreign policy goal with more than 80% thinking it very important in Gallup polls for over a decade [1] even when the chance of being killed by terrorism in Western countries is very low. If the public misunderstands the risk the response is unlikely to be proportionate and can be akin to yelling fire in a packed theatre.\n\nWhile it is not (usually) a security, but rather a public health issue, pandemics make a good example. The question of how much information to release is only slightly different than in security; officials want to release enough information that everyone is informed, but not so much that there is panic whenever there is an unusual death. [2] In 2009 the WHO declared swine flu to be a pandemic despite it being a relatively mild virus that did not cause many deaths, so causing an unnecessary scare and stockpiling of drugs. [3]\n\n[1] Jones, Jeffrey M., ‘Americans Say Preventing Terrorism Top Foreign Policy Goal’, Gallup Politics, 20 February 2013\n\n[2] Honigsbaum, Mark, ‘The coronavirus conundrum: when to press the panic button’, guardian.co.uk, 14 February 2013\n\n[3] Cheng, Maria, ‘WHO’s response to swine flu pandemic flawed’, Phys.org, 10 May 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "557898b82fdb4fc4ca3bdcb7096ac0bb",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Citizens have a right to know what is done in their name\n\nThe nation exits for its citizens; it depends on their consent to maintain order and to raise finances. The main purpose of the state is law and order, and national defence, both of which are covered by security. As an area that is so central to the role of the government it is vital that the stakeholders in that government, its citizens, know what it is the state is doing in their name for their security.\n\nThe Obama administration for example refuses to acknowledge that it is carrying out a campaign using drones while at the same time saying it is “the only game in town in terms of confronting and trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership.” [1] If the US government is bombing another country then the US people have a right to know with much less ambiguity what exactly is being done, who is being hit, when and where. They also need to be informed of any possible consequences.\n\n[1] Kaufman, Brett, ‘In Court Today: Fighting the CIA’s Secrecy Claims on Drones’, ACLU, 20 September 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "04ab403cbe5fefe3364b36e9f3d654bf",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents public relations disasters\n\nTransparency is necessary to avoid public relations disasters; particularly in countries where the media has some freedom to investigate for themselves. It is clearly the best policy for the military to make sure all the information is released along with the reasons behind actions rather than having the media finding individual pieces of a whole and speculating to fill the gaps.\n\nA good example would be a collision on 16th January 1966 between a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanker while attempting to refuel that destroyed both planes. Accidents happen, and this one cost 11 lives, but could have been much worse as the B-52 had four nuclear bombs on board were not armed and did not detonate. In this case an initial lack of information rapidly turned into a public relations disaster that was stemmed by much more openness by the military and the US Ambassador in Spain. The release of the information reduces the room for the press to fill in the gaps with harmful speculation. [1] In this case there was never much chance of national security implications or a break with Spain as the country was ruled by the dictator Franco, someone who would hardly pay attention to public opinion. But in a democracy a slow and closed response could seriously damage relations.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.65\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c971b2f19f8dfd929bf86c54c4978ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency helps reduce international tension\n\nTransparency is necessary in international relations. States need to know what each other are doing to assess their actions. Without any transparency the hole is filled by suspicion and threat inflation that can easily lead to miscalculation and even war.\n\nThe Cuban missile crisis is a clear example where a lack of transparency on either side about what they were willing to accept and what they were doing almost lead to nuclear war. [1] It is notable that one of the responses to prevent a similar crisis was to install a hotline between the White House and Kremlin. A very small, but vital, step in terms of openness.\n\nToday this is still a problem; China currently worries about the US ‘pivot’ towards Asia complaining it “has aroused a great deal of suspicion in China.” “A huge deficit of strategic trust lies at the bottom of all problems between China and the United States.” The result would be an inevitable arms race and possible conflict. [2]\n\n[1] Frohwein, Ashley, ‘Embassy Moscow: A Diplomatic Perspective of the Cuban Missile Crisis’, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 7 May 2013\n\n[2] Yafei, He, ‘The Trust Deficit’, Foreign Policy, 13 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ca11382acfc6861183dfdf775423f0c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency is a good in and of itself\n\nThe most essential commodity within a state is trust. Trust is essential in all sorts of aspect of our lives; we trust that the paper money we have is actually worth more than a scrap of paper, that doctors performing surgery know what they are doing, that we won't be attacked in the street, and that the government is looking after our interests. In order to create that trust there needs to be transparency so that we know that our institutions are trustworthy. It is the ability to check the facts and the accountability that comes with transparency that creates trust. And this in turn is what makes them legitimate. [1]\n\nThe need for trust applies just as much to security as any other walk of life. Citizens need to trust that the security services really are keeping them safe, are spending taxpayers’ money wisely, and are acting in a fashion that is a credit to the country. Unfortunately if there is not transparency there is no way of knowing if this is the case and so often the intelligence services have turned out to be an embarrassment. As has been the case with the CIA and it’s the use of torture following 9/11, for which there are still calls for transparency on past actions. [2]\n\n[1] Ankersmit, Laurens, ‘The Irony of the international relations exception in the transparency regulation’, European Law Blog, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Traub, James, ‘Out With It’, Foreign Policy, 10 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2494278a88bfb0294a3cda5ace3a9ba3",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents, or corrects, mistakes\n\nTransparency is fundamental in making sure that mistakes don’t happen, or when they do that they are found and corrected quickly with appropriate accountability. This applies as much, if not more, to the security apparatus than other walks of life. In security mistakes are much more likely to be a matter of life and death than in most other walks of life. They are also likely to be costly; something the military and national security apparatus is particularly known for. [1] An audit of the Pentagon in 2011 found that the US Department of Defense wasted $70 billion over two years. [2] This kind of waste can only be corrected if it is found out about, and for that transparency is necessary.\n\n[1] Schneier, Bruce, ‘Transparency and Accountability Don’t Hurt Security – They’re Crucial to It’, The Atlantic, 8 May 2012\n\n[2] Schweizer, Peter, ‘Crony Capitalism Creeps Into the Defense Budget’, The Daily Beast, 22 May 2012\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
955e5e852a0c8ed88731efbd01361ed4 | Provides information to competitors
Where there is international competition transparency can be a problem if there is not transparency on both sides as one side is essentially giving its opponent an advantage. This is ultimately why countries keep national security secrets; they are in competition with other nations and the best way to ensure an advantage over those states is to keep capabilities secret. One side having information while the other does not allows the actor that has the information to act differently in response to that knowledge. Keeping things secret can therefore provide an advantage when making a decision, as the one with most information is most likely to react best. [1] Currently there is information asymmetry between the United States and China to the point where some analysts consider that the United States provides more authoritative information on China’s military than China itself does. [2]
[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.7
[2] Erickson, Andrew S., ‘Pentagon Report Reveals Chinese Military Developments’, The Diplomat, 8 May 2013
| [
{
"docid": "ee9b4226c39f4e02bd155a90b722c72c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency clearly does not have to extend to things like technical specifications of weapons. Such information would be a clear benefit to a competitor allowing them to build their own while being of little help in terms of transparency as most people could not understand it. On the other hand knowing what a weapons system does simply prevents misunderstanding and misjudgement.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "2eafb3797f068beb299caa9d706002d4",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Drones are an unusual example (though not unique) because they are a new form of warfare over which there are few clear rules and norms. This means that making it transparent will create new norms. However in the vast majority of covert operations if made public they would clearly be illegal and would have to be ended. Drones are also unusual in that the public sees few downsides to the killing, this means there would be less public pressure than in most such operations.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09379b5481b93d163504bdcf5b12e9c9",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Coalitions can form behind expansionist policies regardless of whether there is transparency. If there is no transparency then it is simply an invitation for these groups to overestimate the strength of their own state compared to their opponents. Where there is transparency the figures will at least be available to counter their arguments. It should not be surprising that interest groups do not have as much influence in creating expansionist policy in democracies. [1]\n\nTransparency showing when a state is to be eclipsed is a greater concern but a lack of transparency in such a case is just as bad. No transparency will simply encourage the fears of the state that is to be eclipsed that the rising state is hostile and not to be trusted.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.18\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ee863b175d8bc7f083fcb10f9f8e6b7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms The public is rational and can make its own assessment of risk. The best course in such cases is transparency and education. If all relevant information is released, along with analysis as to the risk presented by the threat, then the public can be best informed about what kind of threats they need to be prepared for. Terrorism has been blown out of proportion because they are single deadly incidents that are simple to report and have a good narrative to provide 24/7 coverage that the public will lap up. [1] As a result there has been much more media coverage than other threats. It can then be no surprise that the public overestimate the threat posed by terrorism as the public are told what risks are relevant by the amount of media coverage. [2]\n\n[1] Engelhardt, Tom, ‘Casualties from Terrorism Are Minor Compared to Other Threats’, Gale Opposing Viewpoints, 2011\n\n[2] Singer, Eleanor, and Endreny, Phyllis Mildred, Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters and Other Hazards, Russell Sage Foundation, 1993\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b60c17aa62dd87a3c11971948e3c787",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Clearly transparency in real time might cause some problems allowing the disruption of ongoing operations. However most of the time information could be released very shortly afterwards rather than being considered secret for 25-30 years. [1] A much shorter timeframe is needed if the transparency is to have any meaning or impact upon policy. In the case of WikiLeaks most of the information was already a couple of years old and WikiLeaks said it made sure that there was no information that could endanger lives released.\n\nWe should also remember that a lack of transparency can also endanger lives; this might be the case if it leads to purchases of equipment of shoddy equipment without the proper oversight to ensure everything works as it should. For example many countries purchased bomb detectors that are made out of novelty golf ball finders, just plastic, that do not work from a Briton looking to make a fast buck. It has for example been used to attempt to find car bombs in Iraq. A little transparency in testing and procurement could have gone a long way in protecting those who have to use the equipment. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.8\n\n[2] AFP, ‘Iraq still using phony bomb detectors at checkpoints’, globalpost, 3 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8414e4254b854a82f39dea1f7c7e4b12",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Being a citizen does not come with a right to know everything that the state does. In much the same way being a shareholder does not mean you get to know absolutely everything every person in a business does. Instead you get the headlines and a summary, most of the time the how the business goes about getting the results is left to the management. Ultimately the state’s purpose is to protect its citizens and this comes before letting them know everything about how that is done.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ea1bf901b9c016e50b93d6b38fdfb10d",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms This is clearly not always the case. Often transparency means that the public becomes aware when there is little need for them to know. There had been previous nuclear accidents that had caused no damage, and had not been noticed, such as in Goldsboro, N.C. in 1961. [1] If there had been a media frenzy fuelled by released information there would clearly have been much more of a public relations disaster than there was with no one noticing. Since there’re was no harm done there is little reason why such a media circus should have been encouraged. And even without media attention the incident lead to increase safeguards.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.51\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "669b66c5254b042f7fdf8e3dafcb8a0b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency may mean that mistakes or problems are found faster, but it does not mean they are going to be corrected faster. Waste in the defense budget has been known about for years yet it still keeps coming up. Transparency shines a light on the problem but that is not helpful if it does not result in action to solve the problem.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "111d28308056b7bde04aa9dfb31ed7ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency in situations of international tension is tricky; with complete transparency how do you engage in bluffing? The state that is completely transparent is tying one hand behind its back in international negotiations.\n\nIt is also wrong to assume that transparency will always reduce tensions. Sometimes two countries just have completely incompatible interests. In such instances complete transparency is simply going to set them on a collision course. It is then much better for there to be a bit less transparency so that both sides can fudge the issue and sign up to an agreement while interpreting it in different ways.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8222066b85109d2a33c55a3163c44a4a",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Trust goes two ways; the people have to trust that on some issues, such as security, the government is doing the right thing to protect them even when it cannot release all relevant information. But even if the military and security services do claim to be completely transparent then how is everyone to know that it really is being as transparent as they say? Unfortunately there are information asymmetry’s between members of the public and the government; the member of the public is unlikely to have the capability to find out if the government if hiding something from them. [1] Other countries too are likely to be suspicious of ‘complete transparency’ and simply believe that this is cover for doing something more nefarious. Trust then cannot only about being transparent in everything.\n\n[1] Stiglitz, Joseph, ‘Transparency in Government’, in Roumeen Islam, The right to tell: the roll of the mass media in economic development, World Bank Publications, 2002, p.28\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2c61e7d5a261b887f7baffa69e21599",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms In security too much transparency endangers lives\n\nTransparency is all very well when it comes to how much is being spent on a new tank, aircraft, or generals houses, but it is very different when it comes to operations. Transparency in operations can endanger lives. With intelligence services transparency would risk the lives of informants; it is similar with the case of interpreters for US forces in Iraq who were targeted after they were told they could not wear masks because they are considered to be traitors. [1]\n\nIn military operations being open about almost anything could be a benefit to the opposition. Most obviously things like the timing and numbers involved in operations need to be kept under wraps but all sorts of information could be damaging in one way or another. Simply because a state is not involved in a full scale war does not mean it can open up on these operations. This is why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen in response to WikiLeaks said “Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing… But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.” [2]\n\n[1] Londoño, Ernesto, ‘U.S. Ban on Masks Upsets Iraqui Interpreters’, Washington Post, 17 November 2008\n\n[2] Jaffe, Greg, and Partlow, Joshua, ‘Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: WikiLeaks release endangers troops, Afghans’, Washington Post, 30 July 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "fde44dfde57e4fe7ac171eb412494d22",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can lead to conflict\n\nThe idea that transparency is good assumes that the people watching the government be transparent are likely to provide a moderating influence on policy. This is not always the case. Instead transparency can lead to more conflict.\n\nFirst a nationalist population may force the government into taking more action than it wants. One obvious way to quiet such sentiment is to show that the country is not ready for war; something that may not be possible if being transparent. Instead if it is transparent that the military could win then there is nothing to stop a march to war. It then becomes possible for multiple interest groups to form into coalitions each with differing reasons for conflict trading off with each other resulting in overstretch and conflict. [1]\n\nSecondly when there is a rapidly changing balance of power then transparency for the rising power may not be a good thing. Instead as Deng Xiaoping advised they should “Hide your strength, bide your time”. [2] Showing in the open how your military is expanding may simply force action from the current dominant power. Transparency, combined with domestic media worrying about the other’s build up can make the other side seem more and more of a threat that must be dealt with before it can get any more powerful. It is quite a common international relations theory that one way or another relative power and the quest for hegemony is the cause for war, [3] transparency simply encourages this. William C. Wohlforth points out when studying the cause of the First World War that it is perception of relative power that matters. Germany’s leaders believed it had to strike before it out of time as a result of Russia rapidly industrialising. [4] Transparency unfortunately reduces the ability of the government to manage perception.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.17\n\n[2] Allison, Graham, and Blackwill, Robert D., ‘Will China Ever Be No.1?’, YakeGlobal, 20 February 2013\n\n[3] Kaplan, Robert D., ‘Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things)’, The Atlantic, 20 December 2011\n\n[4] Wohlforth, William C., ‘The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance’, World Politics, Vol.39, No.3, (April 1987), pp.353-381, p.362\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "57d978c0658ee5b8e228d32d58bc1ad7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can result in normalisation\n\nWhile something is secret it is clearly not a normal every day part of government, it is deniable and the assumption is that when it comes to light it has probably been wound up long ago. However making something transparent without winding it up can be a bad thing as it makes it normal which ultimately makes a bad policy much harder to end.\n\nThe use of drones by the CIA may turn out to be an example of this. At the moment we are told almost nothing about drones, not even how many strikes there are or how many are killed. There have however been recent suggestions that the drone program could be transferred to the Department of Defence. This would then make the targeted killing that is carried out seem a normal part of military conflict, somehting it clearly is not. [1] And the public reacts differently to covert and military action; already more Americans support military drones doing targeted killing (75%) than CIA ones (65%). [2]\n\n[1] Waxman, Matthew, ‘Going Clear’, Foreign Policy, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Zenko, Micah, ‘U.S. Public Opinion on Drone Strikes’, Council on Foreign Relations, 18 March 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f98bb4959d33dea7830b3fa122bec2e0",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Don’t panic!\n\nThe role of the security services is in part to deal with some very dangerous ideas and events. But the point is to deal with them in such a way that does not cause public disorder or even panic. We clearly don’t want every report detailing specific threats to be made public, especially if it is reporting something that could be devastating but there is a low risk of it actually occurring. If such information is taken the wrong way it can potentially cause panic, either over nothing, or else in such a way that it damages any possible response to the crisis. Unfortunately the media and the public often misunderstand risk. For example preventing terrorism has been regularly cited in polls as being the Americans top foreign policy goal with more than 80% thinking it very important in Gallup polls for over a decade [1] even when the chance of being killed by terrorism in Western countries is very low. If the public misunderstands the risk the response is unlikely to be proportionate and can be akin to yelling fire in a packed theatre.\n\nWhile it is not (usually) a security, but rather a public health issue, pandemics make a good example. The question of how much information to release is only slightly different than in security; officials want to release enough information that everyone is informed, but not so much that there is panic whenever there is an unusual death. [2] In 2009 the WHO declared swine flu to be a pandemic despite it being a relatively mild virus that did not cause many deaths, so causing an unnecessary scare and stockpiling of drugs. [3]\n\n[1] Jones, Jeffrey M., ‘Americans Say Preventing Terrorism Top Foreign Policy Goal’, Gallup Politics, 20 February 2013\n\n[2] Honigsbaum, Mark, ‘The coronavirus conundrum: when to press the panic button’, guardian.co.uk, 14 February 2013\n\n[3] Cheng, Maria, ‘WHO’s response to swine flu pandemic flawed’, Phys.org, 10 May 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "557898b82fdb4fc4ca3bdcb7096ac0bb",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Citizens have a right to know what is done in their name\n\nThe nation exits for its citizens; it depends on their consent to maintain order and to raise finances. The main purpose of the state is law and order, and national defence, both of which are covered by security. As an area that is so central to the role of the government it is vital that the stakeholders in that government, its citizens, know what it is the state is doing in their name for their security.\n\nThe Obama administration for example refuses to acknowledge that it is carrying out a campaign using drones while at the same time saying it is “the only game in town in terms of confronting and trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership.” [1] If the US government is bombing another country then the US people have a right to know with much less ambiguity what exactly is being done, who is being hit, when and where. They also need to be informed of any possible consequences.\n\n[1] Kaufman, Brett, ‘In Court Today: Fighting the CIA’s Secrecy Claims on Drones’, ACLU, 20 September 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "04ab403cbe5fefe3364b36e9f3d654bf",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents public relations disasters\n\nTransparency is necessary to avoid public relations disasters; particularly in countries where the media has some freedom to investigate for themselves. It is clearly the best policy for the military to make sure all the information is released along with the reasons behind actions rather than having the media finding individual pieces of a whole and speculating to fill the gaps.\n\nA good example would be a collision on 16th January 1966 between a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanker while attempting to refuel that destroyed both planes. Accidents happen, and this one cost 11 lives, but could have been much worse as the B-52 had four nuclear bombs on board were not armed and did not detonate. In this case an initial lack of information rapidly turned into a public relations disaster that was stemmed by much more openness by the military and the US Ambassador in Spain. The release of the information reduces the room for the press to fill in the gaps with harmful speculation. [1] In this case there was never much chance of national security implications or a break with Spain as the country was ruled by the dictator Franco, someone who would hardly pay attention to public opinion. But in a democracy a slow and closed response could seriously damage relations.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.65\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c971b2f19f8dfd929bf86c54c4978ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency helps reduce international tension\n\nTransparency is necessary in international relations. States need to know what each other are doing to assess their actions. Without any transparency the hole is filled by suspicion and threat inflation that can easily lead to miscalculation and even war.\n\nThe Cuban missile crisis is a clear example where a lack of transparency on either side about what they were willing to accept and what they were doing almost lead to nuclear war. [1] It is notable that one of the responses to prevent a similar crisis was to install a hotline between the White House and Kremlin. A very small, but vital, step in terms of openness.\n\nToday this is still a problem; China currently worries about the US ‘pivot’ towards Asia complaining it “has aroused a great deal of suspicion in China.” “A huge deficit of strategic trust lies at the bottom of all problems between China and the United States.” The result would be an inevitable arms race and possible conflict. [2]\n\n[1] Frohwein, Ashley, ‘Embassy Moscow: A Diplomatic Perspective of the Cuban Missile Crisis’, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 7 May 2013\n\n[2] Yafei, He, ‘The Trust Deficit’, Foreign Policy, 13 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ca11382acfc6861183dfdf775423f0c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency is a good in and of itself\n\nThe most essential commodity within a state is trust. Trust is essential in all sorts of aspect of our lives; we trust that the paper money we have is actually worth more than a scrap of paper, that doctors performing surgery know what they are doing, that we won't be attacked in the street, and that the government is looking after our interests. In order to create that trust there needs to be transparency so that we know that our institutions are trustworthy. It is the ability to check the facts and the accountability that comes with transparency that creates trust. And this in turn is what makes them legitimate. [1]\n\nThe need for trust applies just as much to security as any other walk of life. Citizens need to trust that the security services really are keeping them safe, are spending taxpayers’ money wisely, and are acting in a fashion that is a credit to the country. Unfortunately if there is not transparency there is no way of knowing if this is the case and so often the intelligence services have turned out to be an embarrassment. As has been the case with the CIA and it’s the use of torture following 9/11, for which there are still calls for transparency on past actions. [2]\n\n[1] Ankersmit, Laurens, ‘The Irony of the international relations exception in the transparency regulation’, European Law Blog, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Traub, James, ‘Out With It’, Foreign Policy, 10 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2494278a88bfb0294a3cda5ace3a9ba3",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents, or corrects, mistakes\n\nTransparency is fundamental in making sure that mistakes don’t happen, or when they do that they are found and corrected quickly with appropriate accountability. This applies as much, if not more, to the security apparatus than other walks of life. In security mistakes are much more likely to be a matter of life and death than in most other walks of life. They are also likely to be costly; something the military and national security apparatus is particularly known for. [1] An audit of the Pentagon in 2011 found that the US Department of Defense wasted $70 billion over two years. [2] This kind of waste can only be corrected if it is found out about, and for that transparency is necessary.\n\n[1] Schneier, Bruce, ‘Transparency and Accountability Don’t Hurt Security – They’re Crucial to It’, The Atlantic, 8 May 2012\n\n[2] Schweizer, Peter, ‘Crony Capitalism Creeps Into the Defense Budget’, The Daily Beast, 22 May 2012\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
920a2637b58444c3bb8f10350072e221 | Transparency can lead to conflict
The idea that transparency is good assumes that the people watching the government be transparent are likely to provide a moderating influence on policy. This is not always the case. Instead transparency can lead to more conflict.
First a nationalist population may force the government into taking more action than it wants. One obvious way to quiet such sentiment is to show that the country is not ready for war; something that may not be possible if being transparent. Instead if it is transparent that the military could win then there is nothing to stop a march to war. It then becomes possible for multiple interest groups to form into coalitions each with differing reasons for conflict trading off with each other resulting in overstretch and conflict. [1]
Secondly when there is a rapidly changing balance of power then transparency for the rising power may not be a good thing. Instead as Deng Xiaoping advised they should “Hide your strength, bide your time”. [2] Showing in the open how your military is expanding may simply force action from the current dominant power. Transparency, combined with domestic media worrying about the other’s build up can make the other side seem more and more of a threat that must be dealt with before it can get any more powerful. It is quite a common international relations theory that one way or another relative power and the quest for hegemony is the cause for war, [3] transparency simply encourages this. William C. Wohlforth points out when studying the cause of the First World War that it is perception of relative power that matters. Germany’s leaders believed it had to strike before it out of time as a result of Russia rapidly industrialising. [4] Transparency unfortunately reduces the ability of the government to manage perception.
[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.17
[2] Allison, Graham, and Blackwill, Robert D., ‘Will China Ever Be No.1?’, YakeGlobal, 20 February 2013
[3] Kaplan, Robert D., ‘Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things)’, The Atlantic, 20 December 2011
[4] Wohlforth, William C., ‘The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance’, World Politics, Vol.39, No.3, (April 1987), pp.353-381, p.362
| [
{
"docid": "09379b5481b93d163504bdcf5b12e9c9",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Coalitions can form behind expansionist policies regardless of whether there is transparency. If there is no transparency then it is simply an invitation for these groups to overestimate the strength of their own state compared to their opponents. Where there is transparency the figures will at least be available to counter their arguments. It should not be surprising that interest groups do not have as much influence in creating expansionist policy in democracies. [1]\n\nTransparency showing when a state is to be eclipsed is a greater concern but a lack of transparency in such a case is just as bad. No transparency will simply encourage the fears of the state that is to be eclipsed that the rising state is hostile and not to be trusted.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.18\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "2eafb3797f068beb299caa9d706002d4",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Drones are an unusual example (though not unique) because they are a new form of warfare over which there are few clear rules and norms. This means that making it transparent will create new norms. However in the vast majority of covert operations if made public they would clearly be illegal and would have to be ended. Drones are also unusual in that the public sees few downsides to the killing, this means there would be less public pressure than in most such operations.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ee863b175d8bc7f083fcb10f9f8e6b7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms The public is rational and can make its own assessment of risk. The best course in such cases is transparency and education. If all relevant information is released, along with analysis as to the risk presented by the threat, then the public can be best informed about what kind of threats they need to be prepared for. Terrorism has been blown out of proportion because they are single deadly incidents that are simple to report and have a good narrative to provide 24/7 coverage that the public will lap up. [1] As a result there has been much more media coverage than other threats. It can then be no surprise that the public overestimate the threat posed by terrorism as the public are told what risks are relevant by the amount of media coverage. [2]\n\n[1] Engelhardt, Tom, ‘Casualties from Terrorism Are Minor Compared to Other Threats’, Gale Opposing Viewpoints, 2011\n\n[2] Singer, Eleanor, and Endreny, Phyllis Mildred, Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters and Other Hazards, Russell Sage Foundation, 1993\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ee9b4226c39f4e02bd155a90b722c72c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency clearly does not have to extend to things like technical specifications of weapons. Such information would be a clear benefit to a competitor allowing them to build their own while being of little help in terms of transparency as most people could not understand it. On the other hand knowing what a weapons system does simply prevents misunderstanding and misjudgement.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b60c17aa62dd87a3c11971948e3c787",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Clearly transparency in real time might cause some problems allowing the disruption of ongoing operations. However most of the time information could be released very shortly afterwards rather than being considered secret for 25-30 years. [1] A much shorter timeframe is needed if the transparency is to have any meaning or impact upon policy. In the case of WikiLeaks most of the information was already a couple of years old and WikiLeaks said it made sure that there was no information that could endanger lives released.\n\nWe should also remember that a lack of transparency can also endanger lives; this might be the case if it leads to purchases of equipment of shoddy equipment without the proper oversight to ensure everything works as it should. For example many countries purchased bomb detectors that are made out of novelty golf ball finders, just plastic, that do not work from a Briton looking to make a fast buck. It has for example been used to attempt to find car bombs in Iraq. A little transparency in testing and procurement could have gone a long way in protecting those who have to use the equipment. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.8\n\n[2] AFP, ‘Iraq still using phony bomb detectors at checkpoints’, globalpost, 3 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8414e4254b854a82f39dea1f7c7e4b12",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Being a citizen does not come with a right to know everything that the state does. In much the same way being a shareholder does not mean you get to know absolutely everything every person in a business does. Instead you get the headlines and a summary, most of the time the how the business goes about getting the results is left to the management. Ultimately the state’s purpose is to protect its citizens and this comes before letting them know everything about how that is done.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ea1bf901b9c016e50b93d6b38fdfb10d",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms This is clearly not always the case. Often transparency means that the public becomes aware when there is little need for them to know. There had been previous nuclear accidents that had caused no damage, and had not been noticed, such as in Goldsboro, N.C. in 1961. [1] If there had been a media frenzy fuelled by released information there would clearly have been much more of a public relations disaster than there was with no one noticing. Since there’re was no harm done there is little reason why such a media circus should have been encouraged. And even without media attention the incident lead to increase safeguards.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.51\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "669b66c5254b042f7fdf8e3dafcb8a0b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency may mean that mistakes or problems are found faster, but it does not mean they are going to be corrected faster. Waste in the defense budget has been known about for years yet it still keeps coming up. Transparency shines a light on the problem but that is not helpful if it does not result in action to solve the problem.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "111d28308056b7bde04aa9dfb31ed7ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency in situations of international tension is tricky; with complete transparency how do you engage in bluffing? The state that is completely transparent is tying one hand behind its back in international negotiations.\n\nIt is also wrong to assume that transparency will always reduce tensions. Sometimes two countries just have completely incompatible interests. In such instances complete transparency is simply going to set them on a collision course. It is then much better for there to be a bit less transparency so that both sides can fudge the issue and sign up to an agreement while interpreting it in different ways.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8222066b85109d2a33c55a3163c44a4a",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Trust goes two ways; the people have to trust that on some issues, such as security, the government is doing the right thing to protect them even when it cannot release all relevant information. But even if the military and security services do claim to be completely transparent then how is everyone to know that it really is being as transparent as they say? Unfortunately there are information asymmetry’s between members of the public and the government; the member of the public is unlikely to have the capability to find out if the government if hiding something from them. [1] Other countries too are likely to be suspicious of ‘complete transparency’ and simply believe that this is cover for doing something more nefarious. Trust then cannot only about being transparent in everything.\n\n[1] Stiglitz, Joseph, ‘Transparency in Government’, in Roumeen Islam, The right to tell: the roll of the mass media in economic development, World Bank Publications, 2002, p.28\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2c61e7d5a261b887f7baffa69e21599",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms In security too much transparency endangers lives\n\nTransparency is all very well when it comes to how much is being spent on a new tank, aircraft, or generals houses, but it is very different when it comes to operations. Transparency in operations can endanger lives. With intelligence services transparency would risk the lives of informants; it is similar with the case of interpreters for US forces in Iraq who were targeted after they were told they could not wear masks because they are considered to be traitors. [1]\n\nIn military operations being open about almost anything could be a benefit to the opposition. Most obviously things like the timing and numbers involved in operations need to be kept under wraps but all sorts of information could be damaging in one way or another. Simply because a state is not involved in a full scale war does not mean it can open up on these operations. This is why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen in response to WikiLeaks said “Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing… But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.” [2]\n\n[1] Londoño, Ernesto, ‘U.S. Ban on Masks Upsets Iraqui Interpreters’, Washington Post, 17 November 2008\n\n[2] Jaffe, Greg, and Partlow, Joshua, ‘Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: WikiLeaks release endangers troops, Afghans’, Washington Post, 30 July 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c68405c453794f19c4fdf3ceffc8e00b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Provides information to competitors\n\nWhere there is international competition transparency can be a problem if there is not transparency on both sides as one side is essentially giving its opponent an advantage. This is ultimately why countries keep national security secrets; they are in competition with other nations and the best way to ensure an advantage over those states is to keep capabilities secret. One side having information while the other does not allows the actor that has the information to act differently in response to that knowledge. Keeping things secret can therefore provide an advantage when making a decision, as the one with most information is most likely to react best. [1] Currently there is information asymmetry between the United States and China to the point where some analysts consider that the United States provides more authoritative information on China’s military than China itself does. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.7\n\n[2] Erickson, Andrew S., ‘Pentagon Report Reveals Chinese Military Developments’, The Diplomat, 8 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "57d978c0658ee5b8e228d32d58bc1ad7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can result in normalisation\n\nWhile something is secret it is clearly not a normal every day part of government, it is deniable and the assumption is that when it comes to light it has probably been wound up long ago. However making something transparent without winding it up can be a bad thing as it makes it normal which ultimately makes a bad policy much harder to end.\n\nThe use of drones by the CIA may turn out to be an example of this. At the moment we are told almost nothing about drones, not even how many strikes there are or how many are killed. There have however been recent suggestions that the drone program could be transferred to the Department of Defence. This would then make the targeted killing that is carried out seem a normal part of military conflict, somehting it clearly is not. [1] And the public reacts differently to covert and military action; already more Americans support military drones doing targeted killing (75%) than CIA ones (65%). [2]\n\n[1] Waxman, Matthew, ‘Going Clear’, Foreign Policy, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Zenko, Micah, ‘U.S. Public Opinion on Drone Strikes’, Council on Foreign Relations, 18 March 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f98bb4959d33dea7830b3fa122bec2e0",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Don’t panic!\n\nThe role of the security services is in part to deal with some very dangerous ideas and events. But the point is to deal with them in such a way that does not cause public disorder or even panic. We clearly don’t want every report detailing specific threats to be made public, especially if it is reporting something that could be devastating but there is a low risk of it actually occurring. If such information is taken the wrong way it can potentially cause panic, either over nothing, or else in such a way that it damages any possible response to the crisis. Unfortunately the media and the public often misunderstand risk. For example preventing terrorism has been regularly cited in polls as being the Americans top foreign policy goal with more than 80% thinking it very important in Gallup polls for over a decade [1] even when the chance of being killed by terrorism in Western countries is very low. If the public misunderstands the risk the response is unlikely to be proportionate and can be akin to yelling fire in a packed theatre.\n\nWhile it is not (usually) a security, but rather a public health issue, pandemics make a good example. The question of how much information to release is only slightly different than in security; officials want to release enough information that everyone is informed, but not so much that there is panic whenever there is an unusual death. [2] In 2009 the WHO declared swine flu to be a pandemic despite it being a relatively mild virus that did not cause many deaths, so causing an unnecessary scare and stockpiling of drugs. [3]\n\n[1] Jones, Jeffrey M., ‘Americans Say Preventing Terrorism Top Foreign Policy Goal’, Gallup Politics, 20 February 2013\n\n[2] Honigsbaum, Mark, ‘The coronavirus conundrum: when to press the panic button’, guardian.co.uk, 14 February 2013\n\n[3] Cheng, Maria, ‘WHO’s response to swine flu pandemic flawed’, Phys.org, 10 May 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "557898b82fdb4fc4ca3bdcb7096ac0bb",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Citizens have a right to know what is done in their name\n\nThe nation exits for its citizens; it depends on their consent to maintain order and to raise finances. The main purpose of the state is law and order, and national defence, both of which are covered by security. As an area that is so central to the role of the government it is vital that the stakeholders in that government, its citizens, know what it is the state is doing in their name for their security.\n\nThe Obama administration for example refuses to acknowledge that it is carrying out a campaign using drones while at the same time saying it is “the only game in town in terms of confronting and trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership.” [1] If the US government is bombing another country then the US people have a right to know with much less ambiguity what exactly is being done, who is being hit, when and where. They also need to be informed of any possible consequences.\n\n[1] Kaufman, Brett, ‘In Court Today: Fighting the CIA’s Secrecy Claims on Drones’, ACLU, 20 September 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "04ab403cbe5fefe3364b36e9f3d654bf",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents public relations disasters\n\nTransparency is necessary to avoid public relations disasters; particularly in countries where the media has some freedom to investigate for themselves. It is clearly the best policy for the military to make sure all the information is released along with the reasons behind actions rather than having the media finding individual pieces of a whole and speculating to fill the gaps.\n\nA good example would be a collision on 16th January 1966 between a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanker while attempting to refuel that destroyed both planes. Accidents happen, and this one cost 11 lives, but could have been much worse as the B-52 had four nuclear bombs on board were not armed and did not detonate. In this case an initial lack of information rapidly turned into a public relations disaster that was stemmed by much more openness by the military and the US Ambassador in Spain. The release of the information reduces the room for the press to fill in the gaps with harmful speculation. [1] In this case there was never much chance of national security implications or a break with Spain as the country was ruled by the dictator Franco, someone who would hardly pay attention to public opinion. But in a democracy a slow and closed response could seriously damage relations.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.65\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c971b2f19f8dfd929bf86c54c4978ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency helps reduce international tension\n\nTransparency is necessary in international relations. States need to know what each other are doing to assess their actions. Without any transparency the hole is filled by suspicion and threat inflation that can easily lead to miscalculation and even war.\n\nThe Cuban missile crisis is a clear example where a lack of transparency on either side about what they were willing to accept and what they were doing almost lead to nuclear war. [1] It is notable that one of the responses to prevent a similar crisis was to install a hotline between the White House and Kremlin. A very small, but vital, step in terms of openness.\n\nToday this is still a problem; China currently worries about the US ‘pivot’ towards Asia complaining it “has aroused a great deal of suspicion in China.” “A huge deficit of strategic trust lies at the bottom of all problems between China and the United States.” The result would be an inevitable arms race and possible conflict. [2]\n\n[1] Frohwein, Ashley, ‘Embassy Moscow: A Diplomatic Perspective of the Cuban Missile Crisis’, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 7 May 2013\n\n[2] Yafei, He, ‘The Trust Deficit’, Foreign Policy, 13 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ca11382acfc6861183dfdf775423f0c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency is a good in and of itself\n\nThe most essential commodity within a state is trust. Trust is essential in all sorts of aspect of our lives; we trust that the paper money we have is actually worth more than a scrap of paper, that doctors performing surgery know what they are doing, that we won't be attacked in the street, and that the government is looking after our interests. In order to create that trust there needs to be transparency so that we know that our institutions are trustworthy. It is the ability to check the facts and the accountability that comes with transparency that creates trust. And this in turn is what makes them legitimate. [1]\n\nThe need for trust applies just as much to security as any other walk of life. Citizens need to trust that the security services really are keeping them safe, are spending taxpayers’ money wisely, and are acting in a fashion that is a credit to the country. Unfortunately if there is not transparency there is no way of knowing if this is the case and so often the intelligence services have turned out to be an embarrassment. As has been the case with the CIA and it’s the use of torture following 9/11, for which there are still calls for transparency on past actions. [2]\n\n[1] Ankersmit, Laurens, ‘The Irony of the international relations exception in the transparency regulation’, European Law Blog, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Traub, James, ‘Out With It’, Foreign Policy, 10 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2494278a88bfb0294a3cda5ace3a9ba3",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents, or corrects, mistakes\n\nTransparency is fundamental in making sure that mistakes don’t happen, or when they do that they are found and corrected quickly with appropriate accountability. This applies as much, if not more, to the security apparatus than other walks of life. In security mistakes are much more likely to be a matter of life and death than in most other walks of life. They are also likely to be costly; something the military and national security apparatus is particularly known for. [1] An audit of the Pentagon in 2011 found that the US Department of Defense wasted $70 billion over two years. [2] This kind of waste can only be corrected if it is found out about, and for that transparency is necessary.\n\n[1] Schneier, Bruce, ‘Transparency and Accountability Don’t Hurt Security – They’re Crucial to It’, The Atlantic, 8 May 2012\n\n[2] Schweizer, Peter, ‘Crony Capitalism Creeps Into the Defense Budget’, The Daily Beast, 22 May 2012\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
4af98899946725eb527c016112df7754 | Transparency can result in normalisation
While something is secret it is clearly not a normal every day part of government, it is deniable and the assumption is that when it comes to light it has probably been wound up long ago. However making something transparent without winding it up can be a bad thing as it makes it normal which ultimately makes a bad policy much harder to end.
The use of drones by the CIA may turn out to be an example of this. At the moment we are told almost nothing about drones, not even how many strikes there are or how many are killed. There have however been recent suggestions that the drone program could be transferred to the Department of Defence. This would then make the targeted killing that is carried out seem a normal part of military conflict, somehting it clearly is not. [1] And the public reacts differently to covert and military action; already more Americans support military drones doing targeted killing (75%) than CIA ones (65%). [2]
[1] Waxman, Matthew, ‘Going Clear’, Foreign Policy, 20 March 2013
[2] Zenko, Micah, ‘U.S. Public Opinion on Drone Strikes’, Council on Foreign Relations, 18 March 2013
| [
{
"docid": "2eafb3797f068beb299caa9d706002d4",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Drones are an unusual example (though not unique) because they are a new form of warfare over which there are few clear rules and norms. This means that making it transparent will create new norms. However in the vast majority of covert operations if made public they would clearly be illegal and would have to be ended. Drones are also unusual in that the public sees few downsides to the killing, this means there would be less public pressure than in most such operations.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "09379b5481b93d163504bdcf5b12e9c9",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Coalitions can form behind expansionist policies regardless of whether there is transparency. If there is no transparency then it is simply an invitation for these groups to overestimate the strength of their own state compared to their opponents. Where there is transparency the figures will at least be available to counter their arguments. It should not be surprising that interest groups do not have as much influence in creating expansionist policy in democracies. [1]\n\nTransparency showing when a state is to be eclipsed is a greater concern but a lack of transparency in such a case is just as bad. No transparency will simply encourage the fears of the state that is to be eclipsed that the rising state is hostile and not to be trusted.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.18\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5ee863b175d8bc7f083fcb10f9f8e6b7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms The public is rational and can make its own assessment of risk. The best course in such cases is transparency and education. If all relevant information is released, along with analysis as to the risk presented by the threat, then the public can be best informed about what kind of threats they need to be prepared for. Terrorism has been blown out of proportion because they are single deadly incidents that are simple to report and have a good narrative to provide 24/7 coverage that the public will lap up. [1] As a result there has been much more media coverage than other threats. It can then be no surprise that the public overestimate the threat posed by terrorism as the public are told what risks are relevant by the amount of media coverage. [2]\n\n[1] Engelhardt, Tom, ‘Casualties from Terrorism Are Minor Compared to Other Threats’, Gale Opposing Viewpoints, 2011\n\n[2] Singer, Eleanor, and Endreny, Phyllis Mildred, Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters and Other Hazards, Russell Sage Foundation, 1993\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ee9b4226c39f4e02bd155a90b722c72c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency clearly does not have to extend to things like technical specifications of weapons. Such information would be a clear benefit to a competitor allowing them to build their own while being of little help in terms of transparency as most people could not understand it. On the other hand knowing what a weapons system does simply prevents misunderstanding and misjudgement.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b60c17aa62dd87a3c11971948e3c787",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Clearly transparency in real time might cause some problems allowing the disruption of ongoing operations. However most of the time information could be released very shortly afterwards rather than being considered secret for 25-30 years. [1] A much shorter timeframe is needed if the transparency is to have any meaning or impact upon policy. In the case of WikiLeaks most of the information was already a couple of years old and WikiLeaks said it made sure that there was no information that could endanger lives released.\n\nWe should also remember that a lack of transparency can also endanger lives; this might be the case if it leads to purchases of equipment of shoddy equipment without the proper oversight to ensure everything works as it should. For example many countries purchased bomb detectors that are made out of novelty golf ball finders, just plastic, that do not work from a Briton looking to make a fast buck. It has for example been used to attempt to find car bombs in Iraq. A little transparency in testing and procurement could have gone a long way in protecting those who have to use the equipment. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.8\n\n[2] AFP, ‘Iraq still using phony bomb detectors at checkpoints’, globalpost, 3 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8414e4254b854a82f39dea1f7c7e4b12",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Being a citizen does not come with a right to know everything that the state does. In much the same way being a shareholder does not mean you get to know absolutely everything every person in a business does. Instead you get the headlines and a summary, most of the time the how the business goes about getting the results is left to the management. Ultimately the state’s purpose is to protect its citizens and this comes before letting them know everything about how that is done.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ea1bf901b9c016e50b93d6b38fdfb10d",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms This is clearly not always the case. Often transparency means that the public becomes aware when there is little need for them to know. There had been previous nuclear accidents that had caused no damage, and had not been noticed, such as in Goldsboro, N.C. in 1961. [1] If there had been a media frenzy fuelled by released information there would clearly have been much more of a public relations disaster than there was with no one noticing. Since there’re was no harm done there is little reason why such a media circus should have been encouraged. And even without media attention the incident lead to increase safeguards.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.51\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "669b66c5254b042f7fdf8e3dafcb8a0b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency may mean that mistakes or problems are found faster, but it does not mean they are going to be corrected faster. Waste in the defense budget has been known about for years yet it still keeps coming up. Transparency shines a light on the problem but that is not helpful if it does not result in action to solve the problem.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "111d28308056b7bde04aa9dfb31ed7ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency in situations of international tension is tricky; with complete transparency how do you engage in bluffing? The state that is completely transparent is tying one hand behind its back in international negotiations.\n\nIt is also wrong to assume that transparency will always reduce tensions. Sometimes two countries just have completely incompatible interests. In such instances complete transparency is simply going to set them on a collision course. It is then much better for there to be a bit less transparency so that both sides can fudge the issue and sign up to an agreement while interpreting it in different ways.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8222066b85109d2a33c55a3163c44a4a",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Trust goes two ways; the people have to trust that on some issues, such as security, the government is doing the right thing to protect them even when it cannot release all relevant information. But even if the military and security services do claim to be completely transparent then how is everyone to know that it really is being as transparent as they say? Unfortunately there are information asymmetry’s between members of the public and the government; the member of the public is unlikely to have the capability to find out if the government if hiding something from them. [1] Other countries too are likely to be suspicious of ‘complete transparency’ and simply believe that this is cover for doing something more nefarious. Trust then cannot only about being transparent in everything.\n\n[1] Stiglitz, Joseph, ‘Transparency in Government’, in Roumeen Islam, The right to tell: the roll of the mass media in economic development, World Bank Publications, 2002, p.28\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2c61e7d5a261b887f7baffa69e21599",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms In security too much transparency endangers lives\n\nTransparency is all very well when it comes to how much is being spent on a new tank, aircraft, or generals houses, but it is very different when it comes to operations. Transparency in operations can endanger lives. With intelligence services transparency would risk the lives of informants; it is similar with the case of interpreters for US forces in Iraq who were targeted after they were told they could not wear masks because they are considered to be traitors. [1]\n\nIn military operations being open about almost anything could be a benefit to the opposition. Most obviously things like the timing and numbers involved in operations need to be kept under wraps but all sorts of information could be damaging in one way or another. Simply because a state is not involved in a full scale war does not mean it can open up on these operations. This is why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen in response to WikiLeaks said “Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing… But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.” [2]\n\n[1] Londoño, Ernesto, ‘U.S. Ban on Masks Upsets Iraqui Interpreters’, Washington Post, 17 November 2008\n\n[2] Jaffe, Greg, and Partlow, Joshua, ‘Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: WikiLeaks release endangers troops, Afghans’, Washington Post, 30 July 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c68405c453794f19c4fdf3ceffc8e00b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Provides information to competitors\n\nWhere there is international competition transparency can be a problem if there is not transparency on both sides as one side is essentially giving its opponent an advantage. This is ultimately why countries keep national security secrets; they are in competition with other nations and the best way to ensure an advantage over those states is to keep capabilities secret. One side having information while the other does not allows the actor that has the information to act differently in response to that knowledge. Keeping things secret can therefore provide an advantage when making a decision, as the one with most information is most likely to react best. [1] Currently there is information asymmetry between the United States and China to the point where some analysts consider that the United States provides more authoritative information on China’s military than China itself does. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.7\n\n[2] Erickson, Andrew S., ‘Pentagon Report Reveals Chinese Military Developments’, The Diplomat, 8 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "fde44dfde57e4fe7ac171eb412494d22",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can lead to conflict\n\nThe idea that transparency is good assumes that the people watching the government be transparent are likely to provide a moderating influence on policy. This is not always the case. Instead transparency can lead to more conflict.\n\nFirst a nationalist population may force the government into taking more action than it wants. One obvious way to quiet such sentiment is to show that the country is not ready for war; something that may not be possible if being transparent. Instead if it is transparent that the military could win then there is nothing to stop a march to war. It then becomes possible for multiple interest groups to form into coalitions each with differing reasons for conflict trading off with each other resulting in overstretch and conflict. [1]\n\nSecondly when there is a rapidly changing balance of power then transparency for the rising power may not be a good thing. Instead as Deng Xiaoping advised they should “Hide your strength, bide your time”. [2] Showing in the open how your military is expanding may simply force action from the current dominant power. Transparency, combined with domestic media worrying about the other’s build up can make the other side seem more and more of a threat that must be dealt with before it can get any more powerful. It is quite a common international relations theory that one way or another relative power and the quest for hegemony is the cause for war, [3] transparency simply encourages this. William C. Wohlforth points out when studying the cause of the First World War that it is perception of relative power that matters. Germany’s leaders believed it had to strike before it out of time as a result of Russia rapidly industrialising. [4] Transparency unfortunately reduces the ability of the government to manage perception.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.17\n\n[2] Allison, Graham, and Blackwill, Robert D., ‘Will China Ever Be No.1?’, YakeGlobal, 20 February 2013\n\n[3] Kaplan, Robert D., ‘Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things)’, The Atlantic, 20 December 2011\n\n[4] Wohlforth, William C., ‘The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance’, World Politics, Vol.39, No.3, (April 1987), pp.353-381, p.362\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "f98bb4959d33dea7830b3fa122bec2e0",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Don’t panic!\n\nThe role of the security services is in part to deal with some very dangerous ideas and events. But the point is to deal with them in such a way that does not cause public disorder or even panic. We clearly don’t want every report detailing specific threats to be made public, especially if it is reporting something that could be devastating but there is a low risk of it actually occurring. If such information is taken the wrong way it can potentially cause panic, either over nothing, or else in such a way that it damages any possible response to the crisis. Unfortunately the media and the public often misunderstand risk. For example preventing terrorism has been regularly cited in polls as being the Americans top foreign policy goal with more than 80% thinking it very important in Gallup polls for over a decade [1] even when the chance of being killed by terrorism in Western countries is very low. If the public misunderstands the risk the response is unlikely to be proportionate and can be akin to yelling fire in a packed theatre.\n\nWhile it is not (usually) a security, but rather a public health issue, pandemics make a good example. The question of how much information to release is only slightly different than in security; officials want to release enough information that everyone is informed, but not so much that there is panic whenever there is an unusual death. [2] In 2009 the WHO declared swine flu to be a pandemic despite it being a relatively mild virus that did not cause many deaths, so causing an unnecessary scare and stockpiling of drugs. [3]\n\n[1] Jones, Jeffrey M., ‘Americans Say Preventing Terrorism Top Foreign Policy Goal’, Gallup Politics, 20 February 2013\n\n[2] Honigsbaum, Mark, ‘The coronavirus conundrum: when to press the panic button’, guardian.co.uk, 14 February 2013\n\n[3] Cheng, Maria, ‘WHO’s response to swine flu pandemic flawed’, Phys.org, 10 May 2011\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "557898b82fdb4fc4ca3bdcb7096ac0bb",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Citizens have a right to know what is done in their name\n\nThe nation exits for its citizens; it depends on their consent to maintain order and to raise finances. The main purpose of the state is law and order, and national defence, both of which are covered by security. As an area that is so central to the role of the government it is vital that the stakeholders in that government, its citizens, know what it is the state is doing in their name for their security.\n\nThe Obama administration for example refuses to acknowledge that it is carrying out a campaign using drones while at the same time saying it is “the only game in town in terms of confronting and trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership.” [1] If the US government is bombing another country then the US people have a right to know with much less ambiguity what exactly is being done, who is being hit, when and where. They also need to be informed of any possible consequences.\n\n[1] Kaufman, Brett, ‘In Court Today: Fighting the CIA’s Secrecy Claims on Drones’, ACLU, 20 September 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "04ab403cbe5fefe3364b36e9f3d654bf",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents public relations disasters\n\nTransparency is necessary to avoid public relations disasters; particularly in countries where the media has some freedom to investigate for themselves. It is clearly the best policy for the military to make sure all the information is released along with the reasons behind actions rather than having the media finding individual pieces of a whole and speculating to fill the gaps.\n\nA good example would be a collision on 16th January 1966 between a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanker while attempting to refuel that destroyed both planes. Accidents happen, and this one cost 11 lives, but could have been much worse as the B-52 had four nuclear bombs on board were not armed and did not detonate. In this case an initial lack of information rapidly turned into a public relations disaster that was stemmed by much more openness by the military and the US Ambassador in Spain. The release of the information reduces the room for the press to fill in the gaps with harmful speculation. [1] In this case there was never much chance of national security implications or a break with Spain as the country was ruled by the dictator Franco, someone who would hardly pay attention to public opinion. But in a democracy a slow and closed response could seriously damage relations.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.65\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c971b2f19f8dfd929bf86c54c4978ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency helps reduce international tension\n\nTransparency is necessary in international relations. States need to know what each other are doing to assess their actions. Without any transparency the hole is filled by suspicion and threat inflation that can easily lead to miscalculation and even war.\n\nThe Cuban missile crisis is a clear example where a lack of transparency on either side about what they were willing to accept and what they were doing almost lead to nuclear war. [1] It is notable that one of the responses to prevent a similar crisis was to install a hotline between the White House and Kremlin. A very small, but vital, step in terms of openness.\n\nToday this is still a problem; China currently worries about the US ‘pivot’ towards Asia complaining it “has aroused a great deal of suspicion in China.” “A huge deficit of strategic trust lies at the bottom of all problems between China and the United States.” The result would be an inevitable arms race and possible conflict. [2]\n\n[1] Frohwein, Ashley, ‘Embassy Moscow: A Diplomatic Perspective of the Cuban Missile Crisis’, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 7 May 2013\n\n[2] Yafei, He, ‘The Trust Deficit’, Foreign Policy, 13 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ca11382acfc6861183dfdf775423f0c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency is a good in and of itself\n\nThe most essential commodity within a state is trust. Trust is essential in all sorts of aspect of our lives; we trust that the paper money we have is actually worth more than a scrap of paper, that doctors performing surgery know what they are doing, that we won't be attacked in the street, and that the government is looking after our interests. In order to create that trust there needs to be transparency so that we know that our institutions are trustworthy. It is the ability to check the facts and the accountability that comes with transparency that creates trust. And this in turn is what makes them legitimate. [1]\n\nThe need for trust applies just as much to security as any other walk of life. Citizens need to trust that the security services really are keeping them safe, are spending taxpayers’ money wisely, and are acting in a fashion that is a credit to the country. Unfortunately if there is not transparency there is no way of knowing if this is the case and so often the intelligence services have turned out to be an embarrassment. As has been the case with the CIA and it’s the use of torture following 9/11, for which there are still calls for transparency on past actions. [2]\n\n[1] Ankersmit, Laurens, ‘The Irony of the international relations exception in the transparency regulation’, European Law Blog, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Traub, James, ‘Out With It’, Foreign Policy, 10 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2494278a88bfb0294a3cda5ace3a9ba3",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents, or corrects, mistakes\n\nTransparency is fundamental in making sure that mistakes don’t happen, or when they do that they are found and corrected quickly with appropriate accountability. This applies as much, if not more, to the security apparatus than other walks of life. In security mistakes are much more likely to be a matter of life and death than in most other walks of life. They are also likely to be costly; something the military and national security apparatus is particularly known for. [1] An audit of the Pentagon in 2011 found that the US Department of Defense wasted $70 billion over two years. [2] This kind of waste can only be corrected if it is found out about, and for that transparency is necessary.\n\n[1] Schneier, Bruce, ‘Transparency and Accountability Don’t Hurt Security – They’re Crucial to It’, The Atlantic, 8 May 2012\n\n[2] Schweizer, Peter, ‘Crony Capitalism Creeps Into the Defense Budget’, The Daily Beast, 22 May 2012\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
9be1eebfbc4f7598a2305270585e33ae | Don’t panic!
The role of the security services is in part to deal with some very dangerous ideas and events. But the point is to deal with them in such a way that does not cause public disorder or even panic. We clearly don’t want every report detailing specific threats to be made public, especially if it is reporting something that could be devastating but there is a low risk of it actually occurring. If such information is taken the wrong way it can potentially cause panic, either over nothing, or else in such a way that it damages any possible response to the crisis. Unfortunately the media and the public often misunderstand risk. For example preventing terrorism has been regularly cited in polls as being the Americans top foreign policy goal with more than 80% thinking it very important in Gallup polls for over a decade [1] even when the chance of being killed by terrorism in Western countries is very low. If the public misunderstands the risk the response is unlikely to be proportionate and can be akin to yelling fire in a packed theatre.
While it is not (usually) a security, but rather a public health issue, pandemics make a good example. The question of how much information to release is only slightly different than in security; officials want to release enough information that everyone is informed, but not so much that there is panic whenever there is an unusual death. [2] In 2009 the WHO declared swine flu to be a pandemic despite it being a relatively mild virus that did not cause many deaths, so causing an unnecessary scare and stockpiling of drugs. [3]
[1] Jones, Jeffrey M., ‘Americans Say Preventing Terrorism Top Foreign Policy Goal’, Gallup Politics, 20 February 2013
[2] Honigsbaum, Mark, ‘The coronavirus conundrum: when to press the panic button’, guardian.co.uk, 14 February 2013
[3] Cheng, Maria, ‘WHO’s response to swine flu pandemic flawed’, Phys.org, 10 May 2011
| [
{
"docid": "5ee863b175d8bc7f083fcb10f9f8e6b7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms The public is rational and can make its own assessment of risk. The best course in such cases is transparency and education. If all relevant information is released, along with analysis as to the risk presented by the threat, then the public can be best informed about what kind of threats they need to be prepared for. Terrorism has been blown out of proportion because they are single deadly incidents that are simple to report and have a good narrative to provide 24/7 coverage that the public will lap up. [1] As a result there has been much more media coverage than other threats. It can then be no surprise that the public overestimate the threat posed by terrorism as the public are told what risks are relevant by the amount of media coverage. [2]\n\n[1] Engelhardt, Tom, ‘Casualties from Terrorism Are Minor Compared to Other Threats’, Gale Opposing Viewpoints, 2011\n\n[2] Singer, Eleanor, and Endreny, Phyllis Mildred, Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters and Other Hazards, Russell Sage Foundation, 1993\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "2eafb3797f068beb299caa9d706002d4",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Drones are an unusual example (though not unique) because they are a new form of warfare over which there are few clear rules and norms. This means that making it transparent will create new norms. However in the vast majority of covert operations if made public they would clearly be illegal and would have to be ended. Drones are also unusual in that the public sees few downsides to the killing, this means there would be less public pressure than in most such operations.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "09379b5481b93d163504bdcf5b12e9c9",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Coalitions can form behind expansionist policies regardless of whether there is transparency. If there is no transparency then it is simply an invitation for these groups to overestimate the strength of their own state compared to their opponents. Where there is transparency the figures will at least be available to counter their arguments. It should not be surprising that interest groups do not have as much influence in creating expansionist policy in democracies. [1]\n\nTransparency showing when a state is to be eclipsed is a greater concern but a lack of transparency in such a case is just as bad. No transparency will simply encourage the fears of the state that is to be eclipsed that the rising state is hostile and not to be trusted.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.18\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ee9b4226c39f4e02bd155a90b722c72c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency clearly does not have to extend to things like technical specifications of weapons. Such information would be a clear benefit to a competitor allowing them to build their own while being of little help in terms of transparency as most people could not understand it. On the other hand knowing what a weapons system does simply prevents misunderstanding and misjudgement.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "5b60c17aa62dd87a3c11971948e3c787",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Clearly transparency in real time might cause some problems allowing the disruption of ongoing operations. However most of the time information could be released very shortly afterwards rather than being considered secret for 25-30 years. [1] A much shorter timeframe is needed if the transparency is to have any meaning or impact upon policy. In the case of WikiLeaks most of the information was already a couple of years old and WikiLeaks said it made sure that there was no information that could endanger lives released.\n\nWe should also remember that a lack of transparency can also endanger lives; this might be the case if it leads to purchases of equipment of shoddy equipment without the proper oversight to ensure everything works as it should. For example many countries purchased bomb detectors that are made out of novelty golf ball finders, just plastic, that do not work from a Briton looking to make a fast buck. It has for example been used to attempt to find car bombs in Iraq. A little transparency in testing and procurement could have gone a long way in protecting those who have to use the equipment. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.8\n\n[2] AFP, ‘Iraq still using phony bomb detectors at checkpoints’, globalpost, 3 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8414e4254b854a82f39dea1f7c7e4b12",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Being a citizen does not come with a right to know everything that the state does. In much the same way being a shareholder does not mean you get to know absolutely everything every person in a business does. Instead you get the headlines and a summary, most of the time the how the business goes about getting the results is left to the management. Ultimately the state’s purpose is to protect its citizens and this comes before letting them know everything about how that is done.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "ea1bf901b9c016e50b93d6b38fdfb10d",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms This is clearly not always the case. Often transparency means that the public becomes aware when there is little need for them to know. There had been previous nuclear accidents that had caused no damage, and had not been noticed, such as in Goldsboro, N.C. in 1961. [1] If there had been a media frenzy fuelled by released information there would clearly have been much more of a public relations disaster than there was with no one noticing. Since there’re was no harm done there is little reason why such a media circus should have been encouraged. And even without media attention the incident lead to increase safeguards.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.51\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "669b66c5254b042f7fdf8e3dafcb8a0b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency may mean that mistakes or problems are found faster, but it does not mean they are going to be corrected faster. Waste in the defense budget has been known about for years yet it still keeps coming up. Transparency shines a light on the problem but that is not helpful if it does not result in action to solve the problem.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "111d28308056b7bde04aa9dfb31ed7ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency in situations of international tension is tricky; with complete transparency how do you engage in bluffing? The state that is completely transparent is tying one hand behind its back in international negotiations.\n\nIt is also wrong to assume that transparency will always reduce tensions. Sometimes two countries just have completely incompatible interests. In such instances complete transparency is simply going to set them on a collision course. It is then much better for there to be a bit less transparency so that both sides can fudge the issue and sign up to an agreement while interpreting it in different ways.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8222066b85109d2a33c55a3163c44a4a",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Trust goes two ways; the people have to trust that on some issues, such as security, the government is doing the right thing to protect them even when it cannot release all relevant information. But even if the military and security services do claim to be completely transparent then how is everyone to know that it really is being as transparent as they say? Unfortunately there are information asymmetry’s between members of the public and the government; the member of the public is unlikely to have the capability to find out if the government if hiding something from them. [1] Other countries too are likely to be suspicious of ‘complete transparency’ and simply believe that this is cover for doing something more nefarious. Trust then cannot only about being transparent in everything.\n\n[1] Stiglitz, Joseph, ‘Transparency in Government’, in Roumeen Islam, The right to tell: the roll of the mass media in economic development, World Bank Publications, 2002, p.28\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2c61e7d5a261b887f7baffa69e21599",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms In security too much transparency endangers lives\n\nTransparency is all very well when it comes to how much is being spent on a new tank, aircraft, or generals houses, but it is very different when it comes to operations. Transparency in operations can endanger lives. With intelligence services transparency would risk the lives of informants; it is similar with the case of interpreters for US forces in Iraq who were targeted after they were told they could not wear masks because they are considered to be traitors. [1]\n\nIn military operations being open about almost anything could be a benefit to the opposition. Most obviously things like the timing and numbers involved in operations need to be kept under wraps but all sorts of information could be damaging in one way or another. Simply because a state is not involved in a full scale war does not mean it can open up on these operations. This is why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen in response to WikiLeaks said “Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing… But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family.” [2]\n\n[1] Londoño, Ernesto, ‘U.S. Ban on Masks Upsets Iraqui Interpreters’, Washington Post, 17 November 2008\n\n[2] Jaffe, Greg, and Partlow, Joshua, ‘Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen: WikiLeaks release endangers troops, Afghans’, Washington Post, 30 July 2010\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c68405c453794f19c4fdf3ceffc8e00b",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Provides information to competitors\n\nWhere there is international competition transparency can be a problem if there is not transparency on both sides as one side is essentially giving its opponent an advantage. This is ultimately why countries keep national security secrets; they are in competition with other nations and the best way to ensure an advantage over those states is to keep capabilities secret. One side having information while the other does not allows the actor that has the information to act differently in response to that knowledge. Keeping things secret can therefore provide an advantage when making a decision, as the one with most information is most likely to react best. [1] Currently there is information asymmetry between the United States and China to the point where some analysts consider that the United States provides more authoritative information on China’s military than China itself does. [2]\n\n[1] National Security Forum, No More Secrets, American Bar Association, March 2011, p.7\n\n[2] Erickson, Andrew S., ‘Pentagon Report Reveals Chinese Military Developments’, The Diplomat, 8 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "fde44dfde57e4fe7ac171eb412494d22",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can lead to conflict\n\nThe idea that transparency is good assumes that the people watching the government be transparent are likely to provide a moderating influence on policy. This is not always the case. Instead transparency can lead to more conflict.\n\nFirst a nationalist population may force the government into taking more action than it wants. One obvious way to quiet such sentiment is to show that the country is not ready for war; something that may not be possible if being transparent. Instead if it is transparent that the military could win then there is nothing to stop a march to war. It then becomes possible for multiple interest groups to form into coalitions each with differing reasons for conflict trading off with each other resulting in overstretch and conflict. [1]\n\nSecondly when there is a rapidly changing balance of power then transparency for the rising power may not be a good thing. Instead as Deng Xiaoping advised they should “Hide your strength, bide your time”. [2] Showing in the open how your military is expanding may simply force action from the current dominant power. Transparency, combined with domestic media worrying about the other’s build up can make the other side seem more and more of a threat that must be dealt with before it can get any more powerful. It is quite a common international relations theory that one way or another relative power and the quest for hegemony is the cause for war, [3] transparency simply encourages this. William C. Wohlforth points out when studying the cause of the First World War that it is perception of relative power that matters. Germany’s leaders believed it had to strike before it out of time as a result of Russia rapidly industrialising. [4] Transparency unfortunately reduces the ability of the government to manage perception.\n\n[1] Snyder, Jack, Myths of Empire, Cornell University Press, 1991, p.17\n\n[2] Allison, Graham, and Blackwill, Robert D., ‘Will China Ever Be No.1?’, YakeGlobal, 20 February 2013\n\n[3] Kaplan, Robert D., ‘Why John J. Mearsheimer Is Right (About Some Things)’, The Atlantic, 20 December 2011\n\n[4] Wohlforth, William C., ‘The Perception of Power: Russia in the Pre-1914 Balance’, World Politics, Vol.39, No.3, (April 1987), pp.353-381, p.362\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "57d978c0658ee5b8e228d32d58bc1ad7",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency can result in normalisation\n\nWhile something is secret it is clearly not a normal every day part of government, it is deniable and the assumption is that when it comes to light it has probably been wound up long ago. However making something transparent without winding it up can be a bad thing as it makes it normal which ultimately makes a bad policy much harder to end.\n\nThe use of drones by the CIA may turn out to be an example of this. At the moment we are told almost nothing about drones, not even how many strikes there are or how many are killed. There have however been recent suggestions that the drone program could be transferred to the Department of Defence. This would then make the targeted killing that is carried out seem a normal part of military conflict, somehting it clearly is not. [1] And the public reacts differently to covert and military action; already more Americans support military drones doing targeted killing (75%) than CIA ones (65%). [2]\n\n[1] Waxman, Matthew, ‘Going Clear’, Foreign Policy, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Zenko, Micah, ‘U.S. Public Opinion on Drone Strikes’, Council on Foreign Relations, 18 March 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "557898b82fdb4fc4ca3bdcb7096ac0bb",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Citizens have a right to know what is done in their name\n\nThe nation exits for its citizens; it depends on their consent to maintain order and to raise finances. The main purpose of the state is law and order, and national defence, both of which are covered by security. As an area that is so central to the role of the government it is vital that the stakeholders in that government, its citizens, know what it is the state is doing in their name for their security.\n\nThe Obama administration for example refuses to acknowledge that it is carrying out a campaign using drones while at the same time saying it is “the only game in town in terms of confronting and trying to disrupt the al-Qaeda leadership.” [1] If the US government is bombing another country then the US people have a right to know with much less ambiguity what exactly is being done, who is being hit, when and where. They also need to be informed of any possible consequences.\n\n[1] Kaufman, Brett, ‘In Court Today: Fighting the CIA’s Secrecy Claims on Drones’, ACLU, 20 September 2012\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "04ab403cbe5fefe3364b36e9f3d654bf",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents public relations disasters\n\nTransparency is necessary to avoid public relations disasters; particularly in countries where the media has some freedom to investigate for themselves. It is clearly the best policy for the military to make sure all the information is released along with the reasons behind actions rather than having the media finding individual pieces of a whole and speculating to fill the gaps.\n\nA good example would be a collision on 16th January 1966 between a B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanker while attempting to refuel that destroyed both planes. Accidents happen, and this one cost 11 lives, but could have been much worse as the B-52 had four nuclear bombs on board were not armed and did not detonate. In this case an initial lack of information rapidly turned into a public relations disaster that was stemmed by much more openness by the military and the US Ambassador in Spain. The release of the information reduces the room for the press to fill in the gaps with harmful speculation. [1] In this case there was never much chance of national security implications or a break with Spain as the country was ruled by the dictator Franco, someone who would hardly pay attention to public opinion. But in a democracy a slow and closed response could seriously damage relations.\n\n[1] Stiles, David, ‘A Fusion Bomb over Andalucia: U.S. Information Policy and the 1966 Palomares Incident’, Journal of War Studies, Vol.8, No.1, Winter 2006, pp.49-67, p.65\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8c971b2f19f8dfd929bf86c54c4978ef",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency helps reduce international tension\n\nTransparency is necessary in international relations. States need to know what each other are doing to assess their actions. Without any transparency the hole is filled by suspicion and threat inflation that can easily lead to miscalculation and even war.\n\nThe Cuban missile crisis is a clear example where a lack of transparency on either side about what they were willing to accept and what they were doing almost lead to nuclear war. [1] It is notable that one of the responses to prevent a similar crisis was to install a hotline between the White House and Kremlin. A very small, but vital, step in terms of openness.\n\nToday this is still a problem; China currently worries about the US ‘pivot’ towards Asia complaining it “has aroused a great deal of suspicion in China.” “A huge deficit of strategic trust lies at the bottom of all problems between China and the United States.” The result would be an inevitable arms race and possible conflict. [2]\n\n[1] Frohwein, Ashley, ‘Embassy Moscow: A Diplomatic Perspective of the Cuban Missile Crisis’, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 7 May 2013\n\n[2] Yafei, He, ‘The Trust Deficit’, Foreign Policy, 13 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1ca11382acfc6861183dfdf775423f0c",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency is a good in and of itself\n\nThe most essential commodity within a state is trust. Trust is essential in all sorts of aspect of our lives; we trust that the paper money we have is actually worth more than a scrap of paper, that doctors performing surgery know what they are doing, that we won't be attacked in the street, and that the government is looking after our interests. In order to create that trust there needs to be transparency so that we know that our institutions are trustworthy. It is the ability to check the facts and the accountability that comes with transparency that creates trust. And this in turn is what makes them legitimate. [1]\n\nThe need for trust applies just as much to security as any other walk of life. Citizens need to trust that the security services really are keeping them safe, are spending taxpayers’ money wisely, and are acting in a fashion that is a credit to the country. Unfortunately if there is not transparency there is no way of knowing if this is the case and so often the intelligence services have turned out to be an embarrassment. As has been the case with the CIA and it’s the use of torture following 9/11, for which there are still calls for transparency on past actions. [2]\n\n[1] Ankersmit, Laurens, ‘The Irony of the international relations exception in the transparency regulation’, European Law Blog, 20 March 2013\n\n[2] Traub, James, ‘Out With It’, Foreign Policy, 10 May 2013\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2494278a88bfb0294a3cda5ace3a9ba3",
"text": "e media and good government politics defence government digital freedoms Transparency prevents, or corrects, mistakes\n\nTransparency is fundamental in making sure that mistakes don’t happen, or when they do that they are found and corrected quickly with appropriate accountability. This applies as much, if not more, to the security apparatus than other walks of life. In security mistakes are much more likely to be a matter of life and death than in most other walks of life. They are also likely to be costly; something the military and national security apparatus is particularly known for. [1] An audit of the Pentagon in 2011 found that the US Department of Defense wasted $70 billion over two years. [2] This kind of waste can only be corrected if it is found out about, and for that transparency is necessary.\n\n[1] Schneier, Bruce, ‘Transparency and Accountability Don’t Hurt Security – They’re Crucial to It’, The Atlantic, 8 May 2012\n\n[2] Schweizer, Peter, ‘Crony Capitalism Creeps Into the Defense Budget’, The Daily Beast, 22 May 2012\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
1abc6c80c2f75982893d3ae618930e8c | Consumers tend to find these strategies alienating
Internet users have come to understand the nature of demographic and personal marketing, and have generally rejected it. This is because they consider the whole process invasive, with their personal details exploited to the profit of third party businesses seeking to peddle their wares. This has resulted in a substantial backlash against these forms of marketing, and built up prejudicial attitudes toward the companies that use these schemes, and the internet services that facilitate them. The facts of these attitudes have been borne out in a number of research studies, showing that as much as 66% of Americans do not want their personal information used to tailor advertising to them. [1] This has led to less than the desired outcome for marketers who rather than experiencing their sales increased efficiently through more targeted marketing alienate their potential customers. More than just invasive, this form of marketing tends toward stereotypes, using programmes that favour broad brushstrokes in their marketing, resulting in stereotyped services on the basis of apparent gender and race. A recent example of this sort of racial profiling took place in 2013 when it was revealed that having a stereotypical “black” name brought up ads for criminal records checks 25% more often than for users with other names. [2] This was, to say the least, considered exceptionally alienating by many users. This and other incidents have compounded the sense of alienation from these forms of marketing among consumers.
[1] Pinsent Masons. “US Web Users Reject Behavioural Advertising, Study Finds”. Out-Law. 30 September 2009. http://www.out-law.com/page-10410
[2] Gayle, D. “Google Accused of Racism After Black Names are 25% More Likely to Bring Up Adverts for Criminal Records Checks”. The Daily Mail.5 February 2013. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2273741/Google-accused-racism-black-names-25-likely-bring-adverts-criminal-records-checks.html
| [
{
"docid": "260eee2b2888cf137514b62f3f582a0a",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The marketing programmes and collations have over time become far more sophisticated and textured in allocating ad space. While some people feel it a bit disconcerting that their computer seems to know what might interest them, many others have found that the targeted advertising has made the seeking out of desired goods and services far easier. And even if people feel it is a bit alienating, it does not necessarily stop them from availing of the marketed services. Nor does some people disliking it provide a good reason for banning the practice.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "8057cfcc10335b2173114d07cd5961a9",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The extent to which the online experience is altered by targeted marketing is extremely limited. Certainly they are less influential on how people interact with the internet than are search engines’ own choices in search priorities. The user of Bing has a much more differentiated experience from the Google user, than do individuals targeted by demographic-based marketing strategies. Ultimately, it does not matter overmuch if people have somewhat differentiated experiences anyway as long as those different experiences make the online experience better.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2b642dc14d3bbf13916cb56679494b0",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The data that is used in targeted marketing is freely available online and can be protected in many ways. The programmes that target marketing often do not ever gain real access to individuals’ identities, but rather collate their search details. It is highly unlikely that any of this information could be used to identify actual individuals. Furthermore, the information in question is put into the public sphere by individuals availing of online services and not guaranteed any form of special protection. They exist and are revealed in the public sphere, and belong there. It is therefore wrong to say that privacy is being undermined by targeted advertising.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "980fe7e1d40967f6bed3462cc9de60ff",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles Even if the services advertised are effective in providing services that may interest them, the fundamental violation of privacy entailed in compiling personal search data is too serious a danger to people than the fleeting benefits that this sort of advertising might furnish. But this form of advertising is often not as effective, since its reliance on programmes that stereotype demographics can often result in misallocation of advertising. Furthermore, the discomfort people feel at this advertising means they do not like experiencing it, useful or not.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b4a886f4d5b4632114c343c3b53488b4",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The benefit to small firms is far outweighed by the loss of privacy, something that the size of firms involved potentially makes worse. Smaller companies are unlikely to have the sophisticated data security that larger businesses do making it more likely that the information will fall into the hands of individuals who wish to misuse it. Moreover if targeted advertising alienates consumers then those small firms who are able to use such advertising may not be getting the full benefit. While individuals may well enjoy the various smaller or niche services being offered, they often do not like having it shoved in their faces. Being put off can detract customers from these markets, preventing the flourishing of niche market businesses desired. The strategy is just too invasive and disconcerting. Furthermore, far from successfully hitting their markets all the time, the programmes used to collate data rely on stereotypes and broad characterizations of users to try to reach their markets. This lack of sophistication leads to further alienation by users.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf84fd1a0d0b2c91c19415e079c14a5c",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The anonymity of this information is far from guaranteed and firms’ data collection can indeed serve as a serious threat to people’s privacy and identity on the internet. The technology in use is extremely difficult to police, and the data, once collected, can wander off to less reputable places. It is not enough to claim this as a natural evolution of advertising when it is accepted that there are personal boundaries advertisers cannot cross, such as into the home. This advertising strategy carries too many risks to be permitted.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2c5a56d4a622fab7eef867585652810b",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles Demographic/profile-based advertising fundamentally alters the experience of the internet for people of different backgrounds\n\nWhen the experience of the internet differs between people because of their backgrounds and past activities, the position of the online experience as one free of informational prejudice is undermined. It is important that the internet and the sites and services that float around it be as free from external prejudicing that contemporary targeted marketing creates. This marketing shapes at the most basic level the internet experience people interact with, and as it differs between people the quality of the universal service is diminished in a way. [1] This is particularly problematic when that internet experience is designed to differentiate between people of differing demographic backgrounds, which serve only to heighten divisions between these groups. The internet should remain a neutral space.\n\n[1] Cartagena, R. “Online Tracking, Profiling and Targeting – Behavioural Advertisers Beware”. eCommerce Times. 19 December 2011, http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/73966.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "40db583c8a75dd867200f8db0df19556",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles This advertising strategy undermines people’s right to personal privacy\n\nTargeted advertising based on profiles and demographic details is the product of information acquired in a fashion that is fundamentally invasive of individuals’ privacy. When individuals go online they act as private parties, often enjoying anonymity in their personal activities. Yet online services collate information and seek to use it to market products and services that are specifically tailored to those individuals. This means that individuals’ activities online are in fact susceptible to someone else’s interference and oversight, stealing from them the privacy and security the internet has striven to provide. At the most basic level, the invasion of privacy that collating and using private data gleaned from online behaviour is unacceptable. [1] There is a very real risk of the information being misused, as the data can be held, Facebook for example keeps all information ever entered to the social network, [2] and even resold to third parties that the internet users might not want to come into possession of their personal details. People should always be given the option of consent to the use of their data by any party, as is the case in many jurisdictions, such as the European Union has done in implementing its 'cookie law'. [3] This can lead to serious abuses of individuals’ private information by corporations, or indeed other agents that might have less savoury uses for the information.\n\n[1] The Canadian Press. “Academics Want Watchdog to Probe Online Profiling”. CTV News. 28 July 2008. http://www.ctvnews.ca/academics-want-watchdog-to-probe-online-profiling-1.311784\n\n[2] Lewis, J., “Facebook faces EU curbs on selling users’ interests to advertisers”, The Telegraph, 26 November 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8917836/Facebook-faces-EU-curbs-on-selling-users-interests-to-advertisers.html\n\n[3] European Union, “Directive 2009/136/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council”, Official Journal of the European Union, L 337/11, 18 December 2009, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:337:0011:0036:En:PDF\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "96b9176173433e2acf3a1ab5aed619be",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The sort of information being used in this advertising is legitimate for firms to utilize\n\nThe information trail left online through cookies etc. is a public statement, put into the public sphere. Provided the individual's identity is not revealed the information is usable through the impermeable intermediary of security settings, etc. Thus firms get information about users without ever being able to ascertain the actual identity of those individuals, protecting their individual privacy. [1] For this reason it cannot be said that there is any true violation of privacy. Furthermore, this sort of targeted advertising, while focusing on general demographics and programmes, does succeed in hitting its mark most of the time. Thus there is a value in having the programming, and it is absent stereotype. All of this advertising is simply the continuation of firms’ age-old effort to better understand their clients and to cater for their needs and should not be considered any differently to adverts being placed as a result of working out what programs are watched by what demographic. TV is also moving towards targeting ads to individuals through information such as household income and purchasing history, this is information that is not private and online usage should be considered the same way. [2] Advertising is difficult business, given media saturation, and it is only right that this system exist to better serve the customers, given it is the natural outgrowth of past efforts.\n\n[1] Story, L. “AOL Brings Out the Penguins to Explain Ad Targeting”. New York Times. 9 March 2008. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/aol-brings-out-the-penguins-to-explain-ad-targeting-ok-saul-and-louise-post-with-article/\n\n[2] Deloitte, “Targeted television advertisements miss the point”, 2012, http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_GX/global/industries/technology-media-telecommunications/tmt-predictions-2012/media-2012/18c9068df67a4310VgnVCM1000001a56f00aRCRD.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1031a17f8b1cb6edab66dac0ab514893",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles This form of marketing makes for better advertising that benefits consumers\n\nBy targeting demographics and personal profiles, businesses are able to put forward the services that are statistically likely to pique their target’s interest. In the past, because advertisers had limited budgets and no sophisticated means of reaching their target audience, they had to settle for broad demographics and to cater to majority tastes and interests. This led to a reduction in the breadth of goods and services to niche markets. Targeted advertising helps to alleviate this issue by allowing customers of eclectic tastes to actually find services they are interested in outside the mainstream, enriching their own lives in the process. The internet is vast, and it is often difficult to sift out things that might be interesting to the individual consumer from all the information available. Targeted advertising is one of the most effective ways of providing this information to people. [1] The data compiled to create an individual profile is easily able to divine a broad brushstrokes outline of a person’s likely interests. This creates a better experience for internet users because it provides a far easier means of finding goods and services that would interest them, often from sources they might not have otherwise been aware. When Facebook furnishes this service to advertisers, users are shown ads that fit their profiles, ones they might find interesting. [2] Given that there is only finite ad space, it is far better for the consumer to see ads for things they care about while using the service rather than just ignoring pointless things.\n\n[1] Columbus Metropolitan Library. “Using Demographics to Target Your Market”. 2012. http://www.columbuslibrary.org/research/tutorials/using-demographic\n\n[2] Lewis, J., “Facebook faces EU curbs on selling users’ interests to advertisers”, The Telegraph, 26 November 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8917836/Facebook-faces-EU-curbs-on-selling-users-interests-to-advertisers.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a3f08121702e1ee00cb12967371a3ed1",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles This advertising strategy benefits companies by making marketing more efficient and allows smaller markets to develop\n\nTargeted advertising using the wealth of personal information left for collection and collation online makes business far more efficient for advertisers. Until recently advertisers were forced to use ads that went into the world basically at random, hitting everyone and not necessarily reaching the desired audience. This meant that producers could rarely target small markets, and thus advertising and mass media products all focused on large groups. [1] Thus small producers have been crowded out from the mainstream. With the advent of targeted marketing, producers can now afford to compete for business and to advertise their services to the groups that actually want what they have to sell. Thus businesses have been able to flourish that once would have languished without access to a proper market. An example of this is the targeting by niche fashion boutiques targeting the diffuse but expansive “hipster” market. [2] This has led to a more efficient business world, with lots of producers that can compete with the larger mainstream quite effectively.\n\n[1] Columbus Metropolitan Library. “Using Demographics to Target Your Market”. 2012. http://www.columbuslibrary.org/research/tutorials/using-demographic\n\n[2] Fleur, B. “New Meaning for the Term ‘Niche Market’”. New York Times. 29 September 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/style/29iht-Rshop.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
5a926a7bc7168409ee48d557e1c3cebd | Demographic/profile-based advertising fundamentally alters the experience of the internet for people of different backgrounds
When the experience of the internet differs between people because of their backgrounds and past activities, the position of the online experience as one free of informational prejudice is undermined. It is important that the internet and the sites and services that float around it be as free from external prejudicing that contemporary targeted marketing creates. This marketing shapes at the most basic level the internet experience people interact with, and as it differs between people the quality of the universal service is diminished in a way. [1] This is particularly problematic when that internet experience is designed to differentiate between people of differing demographic backgrounds, which serve only to heighten divisions between these groups. The internet should remain a neutral space.
[1] Cartagena, R. “Online Tracking, Profiling and Targeting – Behavioural Advertisers Beware”. eCommerce Times. 19 December 2011, http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/73966.html
| [
{
"docid": "8057cfcc10335b2173114d07cd5961a9",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The extent to which the online experience is altered by targeted marketing is extremely limited. Certainly they are less influential on how people interact with the internet than are search engines’ own choices in search priorities. The user of Bing has a much more differentiated experience from the Google user, than do individuals targeted by demographic-based marketing strategies. Ultimately, it does not matter overmuch if people have somewhat differentiated experiences anyway as long as those different experiences make the online experience better.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "260eee2b2888cf137514b62f3f582a0a",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The marketing programmes and collations have over time become far more sophisticated and textured in allocating ad space. While some people feel it a bit disconcerting that their computer seems to know what might interest them, many others have found that the targeted advertising has made the seeking out of desired goods and services far easier. And even if people feel it is a bit alienating, it does not necessarily stop them from availing of the marketed services. Nor does some people disliking it provide a good reason for banning the practice.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2b642dc14d3bbf13916cb56679494b0",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The data that is used in targeted marketing is freely available online and can be protected in many ways. The programmes that target marketing often do not ever gain real access to individuals’ identities, but rather collate their search details. It is highly unlikely that any of this information could be used to identify actual individuals. Furthermore, the information in question is put into the public sphere by individuals availing of online services and not guaranteed any form of special protection. They exist and are revealed in the public sphere, and belong there. It is therefore wrong to say that privacy is being undermined by targeted advertising.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "980fe7e1d40967f6bed3462cc9de60ff",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles Even if the services advertised are effective in providing services that may interest them, the fundamental violation of privacy entailed in compiling personal search data is too serious a danger to people than the fleeting benefits that this sort of advertising might furnish. But this form of advertising is often not as effective, since its reliance on programmes that stereotype demographics can often result in misallocation of advertising. Furthermore, the discomfort people feel at this advertising means they do not like experiencing it, useful or not.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b4a886f4d5b4632114c343c3b53488b4",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The benefit to small firms is far outweighed by the loss of privacy, something that the size of firms involved potentially makes worse. Smaller companies are unlikely to have the sophisticated data security that larger businesses do making it more likely that the information will fall into the hands of individuals who wish to misuse it. Moreover if targeted advertising alienates consumers then those small firms who are able to use such advertising may not be getting the full benefit. While individuals may well enjoy the various smaller or niche services being offered, they often do not like having it shoved in their faces. Being put off can detract customers from these markets, preventing the flourishing of niche market businesses desired. The strategy is just too invasive and disconcerting. Furthermore, far from successfully hitting their markets all the time, the programmes used to collate data rely on stereotypes and broad characterizations of users to try to reach their markets. This lack of sophistication leads to further alienation by users.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf84fd1a0d0b2c91c19415e079c14a5c",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The anonymity of this information is far from guaranteed and firms’ data collection can indeed serve as a serious threat to people’s privacy and identity on the internet. The technology in use is extremely difficult to police, and the data, once collected, can wander off to less reputable places. It is not enough to claim this as a natural evolution of advertising when it is accepted that there are personal boundaries advertisers cannot cross, such as into the home. This advertising strategy carries too many risks to be permitted.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c6c9327551a6d08b87cab2be15c11dd6",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles Consumers tend to find these strategies alienating\n\nInternet users have come to understand the nature of demographic and personal marketing, and have generally rejected it. This is because they consider the whole process invasive, with their personal details exploited to the profit of third party businesses seeking to peddle their wares. This has resulted in a substantial backlash against these forms of marketing, and built up prejudicial attitudes toward the companies that use these schemes, and the internet services that facilitate them. The facts of these attitudes have been borne out in a number of research studies, showing that as much as 66% of Americans do not want their personal information used to tailor advertising to them. [1] This has led to less than the desired outcome for marketers who rather than experiencing their sales increased efficiently through more targeted marketing alienate their potential customers. More than just invasive, this form of marketing tends toward stereotypes, using programmes that favour broad brushstrokes in their marketing, resulting in stereotyped services on the basis of apparent gender and race. A recent example of this sort of racial profiling took place in 2013 when it was revealed that having a stereotypical “black” name brought up ads for criminal records checks 25% more often than for users with other names. [2] This was, to say the least, considered exceptionally alienating by many users. This and other incidents have compounded the sense of alienation from these forms of marketing among consumers.\n\n[1] Pinsent Masons. “US Web Users Reject Behavioural Advertising, Study Finds”. Out-Law. 30 September 2009. http://www.out-law.com/page-10410\n\n[2] Gayle, D. “Google Accused of Racism After Black Names are 25% More Likely to Bring Up Adverts for Criminal Records Checks”. The Daily Mail.5 February 2013. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2273741/Google-accused-racism-black-names-25-likely-bring-adverts-criminal-records-checks.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "40db583c8a75dd867200f8db0df19556",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles This advertising strategy undermines people’s right to personal privacy\n\nTargeted advertising based on profiles and demographic details is the product of information acquired in a fashion that is fundamentally invasive of individuals’ privacy. When individuals go online they act as private parties, often enjoying anonymity in their personal activities. Yet online services collate information and seek to use it to market products and services that are specifically tailored to those individuals. This means that individuals’ activities online are in fact susceptible to someone else’s interference and oversight, stealing from them the privacy and security the internet has striven to provide. At the most basic level, the invasion of privacy that collating and using private data gleaned from online behaviour is unacceptable. [1] There is a very real risk of the information being misused, as the data can be held, Facebook for example keeps all information ever entered to the social network, [2] and even resold to third parties that the internet users might not want to come into possession of their personal details. People should always be given the option of consent to the use of their data by any party, as is the case in many jurisdictions, such as the European Union has done in implementing its 'cookie law'. [3] This can lead to serious abuses of individuals’ private information by corporations, or indeed other agents that might have less savoury uses for the information.\n\n[1] The Canadian Press. “Academics Want Watchdog to Probe Online Profiling”. CTV News. 28 July 2008. http://www.ctvnews.ca/academics-want-watchdog-to-probe-online-profiling-1.311784\n\n[2] Lewis, J., “Facebook faces EU curbs on selling users’ interests to advertisers”, The Telegraph, 26 November 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8917836/Facebook-faces-EU-curbs-on-selling-users-interests-to-advertisers.html\n\n[3] European Union, “Directive 2009/136/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council”, Official Journal of the European Union, L 337/11, 18 December 2009, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:337:0011:0036:En:PDF\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "96b9176173433e2acf3a1ab5aed619be",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The sort of information being used in this advertising is legitimate for firms to utilize\n\nThe information trail left online through cookies etc. is a public statement, put into the public sphere. Provided the individual's identity is not revealed the information is usable through the impermeable intermediary of security settings, etc. Thus firms get information about users without ever being able to ascertain the actual identity of those individuals, protecting their individual privacy. [1] For this reason it cannot be said that there is any true violation of privacy. Furthermore, this sort of targeted advertising, while focusing on general demographics and programmes, does succeed in hitting its mark most of the time. Thus there is a value in having the programming, and it is absent stereotype. All of this advertising is simply the continuation of firms’ age-old effort to better understand their clients and to cater for their needs and should not be considered any differently to adverts being placed as a result of working out what programs are watched by what demographic. TV is also moving towards targeting ads to individuals through information such as household income and purchasing history, this is information that is not private and online usage should be considered the same way. [2] Advertising is difficult business, given media saturation, and it is only right that this system exist to better serve the customers, given it is the natural outgrowth of past efforts.\n\n[1] Story, L. “AOL Brings Out the Penguins to Explain Ad Targeting”. New York Times. 9 March 2008. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/aol-brings-out-the-penguins-to-explain-ad-targeting-ok-saul-and-louise-post-with-article/\n\n[2] Deloitte, “Targeted television advertisements miss the point”, 2012, http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_GX/global/industries/technology-media-telecommunications/tmt-predictions-2012/media-2012/18c9068df67a4310VgnVCM1000001a56f00aRCRD.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1031a17f8b1cb6edab66dac0ab514893",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles This form of marketing makes for better advertising that benefits consumers\n\nBy targeting demographics and personal profiles, businesses are able to put forward the services that are statistically likely to pique their target’s interest. In the past, because advertisers had limited budgets and no sophisticated means of reaching their target audience, they had to settle for broad demographics and to cater to majority tastes and interests. This led to a reduction in the breadth of goods and services to niche markets. Targeted advertising helps to alleviate this issue by allowing customers of eclectic tastes to actually find services they are interested in outside the mainstream, enriching their own lives in the process. The internet is vast, and it is often difficult to sift out things that might be interesting to the individual consumer from all the information available. Targeted advertising is one of the most effective ways of providing this information to people. [1] The data compiled to create an individual profile is easily able to divine a broad brushstrokes outline of a person’s likely interests. This creates a better experience for internet users because it provides a far easier means of finding goods and services that would interest them, often from sources they might not have otherwise been aware. When Facebook furnishes this service to advertisers, users are shown ads that fit their profiles, ones they might find interesting. [2] Given that there is only finite ad space, it is far better for the consumer to see ads for things they care about while using the service rather than just ignoring pointless things.\n\n[1] Columbus Metropolitan Library. “Using Demographics to Target Your Market”. 2012. http://www.columbuslibrary.org/research/tutorials/using-demographic\n\n[2] Lewis, J., “Facebook faces EU curbs on selling users’ interests to advertisers”, The Telegraph, 26 November 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8917836/Facebook-faces-EU-curbs-on-selling-users-interests-to-advertisers.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a3f08121702e1ee00cb12967371a3ed1",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles This advertising strategy benefits companies by making marketing more efficient and allows smaller markets to develop\n\nTargeted advertising using the wealth of personal information left for collection and collation online makes business far more efficient for advertisers. Until recently advertisers were forced to use ads that went into the world basically at random, hitting everyone and not necessarily reaching the desired audience. This meant that producers could rarely target small markets, and thus advertising and mass media products all focused on large groups. [1] Thus small producers have been crowded out from the mainstream. With the advent of targeted marketing, producers can now afford to compete for business and to advertise their services to the groups that actually want what they have to sell. Thus businesses have been able to flourish that once would have languished without access to a proper market. An example of this is the targeting by niche fashion boutiques targeting the diffuse but expansive “hipster” market. [2] This has led to a more efficient business world, with lots of producers that can compete with the larger mainstream quite effectively.\n\n[1] Columbus Metropolitan Library. “Using Demographics to Target Your Market”. 2012. http://www.columbuslibrary.org/research/tutorials/using-demographic\n\n[2] Fleur, B. “New Meaning for the Term ‘Niche Market’”. New York Times. 29 September 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/style/29iht-Rshop.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
4c82339d504468ddc3ad2f2658dac982 | This advertising strategy undermines people’s right to personal privacy
Targeted advertising based on profiles and demographic details is the product of information acquired in a fashion that is fundamentally invasive of individuals’ privacy. When individuals go online they act as private parties, often enjoying anonymity in their personal activities. Yet online services collate information and seek to use it to market products and services that are specifically tailored to those individuals. This means that individuals’ activities online are in fact susceptible to someone else’s interference and oversight, stealing from them the privacy and security the internet has striven to provide. At the most basic level, the invasion of privacy that collating and using private data gleaned from online behaviour is unacceptable. [1] There is a very real risk of the information being misused, as the data can be held, Facebook for example keeps all information ever entered to the social network, [2] and even resold to third parties that the internet users might not want to come into possession of their personal details. People should always be given the option of consent to the use of their data by any party, as is the case in many jurisdictions, such as the European Union has done in implementing its 'cookie law'. [3] This can lead to serious abuses of individuals’ private information by corporations, or indeed other agents that might have less savoury uses for the information.
[1] The Canadian Press. “Academics Want Watchdog to Probe Online Profiling”. CTV News. 28 July 2008. http://www.ctvnews.ca/academics-want-watchdog-to-probe-online-profiling-1.311784
[2] Lewis, J., “Facebook faces EU curbs on selling users’ interests to advertisers”, The Telegraph, 26 November 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8917836/Facebook-faces-EU-curbs-on-selling-users-interests-to-advertisers.html
[3] European Union, “Directive 2009/136/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council”, Official Journal of the European Union, L 337/11, 18 December 2009, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:337:0011:0036:En:PDF
| [
{
"docid": "a2b642dc14d3bbf13916cb56679494b0",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The data that is used in targeted marketing is freely available online and can be protected in many ways. The programmes that target marketing often do not ever gain real access to individuals’ identities, but rather collate their search details. It is highly unlikely that any of this information could be used to identify actual individuals. Furthermore, the information in question is put into the public sphere by individuals availing of online services and not guaranteed any form of special protection. They exist and are revealed in the public sphere, and belong there. It is therefore wrong to say that privacy is being undermined by targeted advertising.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "260eee2b2888cf137514b62f3f582a0a",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The marketing programmes and collations have over time become far more sophisticated and textured in allocating ad space. While some people feel it a bit disconcerting that their computer seems to know what might interest them, many others have found that the targeted advertising has made the seeking out of desired goods and services far easier. And even if people feel it is a bit alienating, it does not necessarily stop them from availing of the marketed services. Nor does some people disliking it provide a good reason for banning the practice.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8057cfcc10335b2173114d07cd5961a9",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The extent to which the online experience is altered by targeted marketing is extremely limited. Certainly they are less influential on how people interact with the internet than are search engines’ own choices in search priorities. The user of Bing has a much more differentiated experience from the Google user, than do individuals targeted by demographic-based marketing strategies. Ultimately, it does not matter overmuch if people have somewhat differentiated experiences anyway as long as those different experiences make the online experience better.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "980fe7e1d40967f6bed3462cc9de60ff",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles Even if the services advertised are effective in providing services that may interest them, the fundamental violation of privacy entailed in compiling personal search data is too serious a danger to people than the fleeting benefits that this sort of advertising might furnish. But this form of advertising is often not as effective, since its reliance on programmes that stereotype demographics can often result in misallocation of advertising. Furthermore, the discomfort people feel at this advertising means they do not like experiencing it, useful or not.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "b4a886f4d5b4632114c343c3b53488b4",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The benefit to small firms is far outweighed by the loss of privacy, something that the size of firms involved potentially makes worse. Smaller companies are unlikely to have the sophisticated data security that larger businesses do making it more likely that the information will fall into the hands of individuals who wish to misuse it. Moreover if targeted advertising alienates consumers then those small firms who are able to use such advertising may not be getting the full benefit. While individuals may well enjoy the various smaller or niche services being offered, they often do not like having it shoved in their faces. Being put off can detract customers from these markets, preventing the flourishing of niche market businesses desired. The strategy is just too invasive and disconcerting. Furthermore, far from successfully hitting their markets all the time, the programmes used to collate data rely on stereotypes and broad characterizations of users to try to reach their markets. This lack of sophistication leads to further alienation by users.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf84fd1a0d0b2c91c19415e079c14a5c",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The anonymity of this information is far from guaranteed and firms’ data collection can indeed serve as a serious threat to people’s privacy and identity on the internet. The technology in use is extremely difficult to police, and the data, once collected, can wander off to less reputable places. It is not enough to claim this as a natural evolution of advertising when it is accepted that there are personal boundaries advertisers cannot cross, such as into the home. This advertising strategy carries too many risks to be permitted.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c6c9327551a6d08b87cab2be15c11dd6",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles Consumers tend to find these strategies alienating\n\nInternet users have come to understand the nature of demographic and personal marketing, and have generally rejected it. This is because they consider the whole process invasive, with their personal details exploited to the profit of third party businesses seeking to peddle their wares. This has resulted in a substantial backlash against these forms of marketing, and built up prejudicial attitudes toward the companies that use these schemes, and the internet services that facilitate them. The facts of these attitudes have been borne out in a number of research studies, showing that as much as 66% of Americans do not want their personal information used to tailor advertising to them. [1] This has led to less than the desired outcome for marketers who rather than experiencing their sales increased efficiently through more targeted marketing alienate their potential customers. More than just invasive, this form of marketing tends toward stereotypes, using programmes that favour broad brushstrokes in their marketing, resulting in stereotyped services on the basis of apparent gender and race. A recent example of this sort of racial profiling took place in 2013 when it was revealed that having a stereotypical “black” name brought up ads for criminal records checks 25% more often than for users with other names. [2] This was, to say the least, considered exceptionally alienating by many users. This and other incidents have compounded the sense of alienation from these forms of marketing among consumers.\n\n[1] Pinsent Masons. “US Web Users Reject Behavioural Advertising, Study Finds”. Out-Law. 30 September 2009. http://www.out-law.com/page-10410\n\n[2] Gayle, D. “Google Accused of Racism After Black Names are 25% More Likely to Bring Up Adverts for Criminal Records Checks”. The Daily Mail.5 February 2013. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2273741/Google-accused-racism-black-names-25-likely-bring-adverts-criminal-records-checks.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2c5a56d4a622fab7eef867585652810b",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles Demographic/profile-based advertising fundamentally alters the experience of the internet for people of different backgrounds\n\nWhen the experience of the internet differs between people because of their backgrounds and past activities, the position of the online experience as one free of informational prejudice is undermined. It is important that the internet and the sites and services that float around it be as free from external prejudicing that contemporary targeted marketing creates. This marketing shapes at the most basic level the internet experience people interact with, and as it differs between people the quality of the universal service is diminished in a way. [1] This is particularly problematic when that internet experience is designed to differentiate between people of differing demographic backgrounds, which serve only to heighten divisions between these groups. The internet should remain a neutral space.\n\n[1] Cartagena, R. “Online Tracking, Profiling and Targeting – Behavioural Advertisers Beware”. eCommerce Times. 19 December 2011, http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/73966.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "96b9176173433e2acf3a1ab5aed619be",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The sort of information being used in this advertising is legitimate for firms to utilize\n\nThe information trail left online through cookies etc. is a public statement, put into the public sphere. Provided the individual's identity is not revealed the information is usable through the impermeable intermediary of security settings, etc. Thus firms get information about users without ever being able to ascertain the actual identity of those individuals, protecting their individual privacy. [1] For this reason it cannot be said that there is any true violation of privacy. Furthermore, this sort of targeted advertising, while focusing on general demographics and programmes, does succeed in hitting its mark most of the time. Thus there is a value in having the programming, and it is absent stereotype. All of this advertising is simply the continuation of firms’ age-old effort to better understand their clients and to cater for their needs and should not be considered any differently to adverts being placed as a result of working out what programs are watched by what demographic. TV is also moving towards targeting ads to individuals through information such as household income and purchasing history, this is information that is not private and online usage should be considered the same way. [2] Advertising is difficult business, given media saturation, and it is only right that this system exist to better serve the customers, given it is the natural outgrowth of past efforts.\n\n[1] Story, L. “AOL Brings Out the Penguins to Explain Ad Targeting”. New York Times. 9 March 2008. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/aol-brings-out-the-penguins-to-explain-ad-targeting-ok-saul-and-louise-post-with-article/\n\n[2] Deloitte, “Targeted television advertisements miss the point”, 2012, http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_GX/global/industries/technology-media-telecommunications/tmt-predictions-2012/media-2012/18c9068df67a4310VgnVCM1000001a56f00aRCRD.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1031a17f8b1cb6edab66dac0ab514893",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles This form of marketing makes for better advertising that benefits consumers\n\nBy targeting demographics and personal profiles, businesses are able to put forward the services that are statistically likely to pique their target’s interest. In the past, because advertisers had limited budgets and no sophisticated means of reaching their target audience, they had to settle for broad demographics and to cater to majority tastes and interests. This led to a reduction in the breadth of goods and services to niche markets. Targeted advertising helps to alleviate this issue by allowing customers of eclectic tastes to actually find services they are interested in outside the mainstream, enriching their own lives in the process. The internet is vast, and it is often difficult to sift out things that might be interesting to the individual consumer from all the information available. Targeted advertising is one of the most effective ways of providing this information to people. [1] The data compiled to create an individual profile is easily able to divine a broad brushstrokes outline of a person’s likely interests. This creates a better experience for internet users because it provides a far easier means of finding goods and services that would interest them, often from sources they might not have otherwise been aware. When Facebook furnishes this service to advertisers, users are shown ads that fit their profiles, ones they might find interesting. [2] Given that there is only finite ad space, it is far better for the consumer to see ads for things they care about while using the service rather than just ignoring pointless things.\n\n[1] Columbus Metropolitan Library. “Using Demographics to Target Your Market”. 2012. http://www.columbuslibrary.org/research/tutorials/using-demographic\n\n[2] Lewis, J., “Facebook faces EU curbs on selling users’ interests to advertisers”, The Telegraph, 26 November 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8917836/Facebook-faces-EU-curbs-on-selling-users-interests-to-advertisers.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a3f08121702e1ee00cb12967371a3ed1",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles This advertising strategy benefits companies by making marketing more efficient and allows smaller markets to develop\n\nTargeted advertising using the wealth of personal information left for collection and collation online makes business far more efficient for advertisers. Until recently advertisers were forced to use ads that went into the world basically at random, hitting everyone and not necessarily reaching the desired audience. This meant that producers could rarely target small markets, and thus advertising and mass media products all focused on large groups. [1] Thus small producers have been crowded out from the mainstream. With the advent of targeted marketing, producers can now afford to compete for business and to advertise their services to the groups that actually want what they have to sell. Thus businesses have been able to flourish that once would have languished without access to a proper market. An example of this is the targeting by niche fashion boutiques targeting the diffuse but expansive “hipster” market. [2] This has led to a more efficient business world, with lots of producers that can compete with the larger mainstream quite effectively.\n\n[1] Columbus Metropolitan Library. “Using Demographics to Target Your Market”. 2012. http://www.columbuslibrary.org/research/tutorials/using-demographic\n\n[2] Fleur, B. “New Meaning for the Term ‘Niche Market’”. New York Times. 29 September 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/style/29iht-Rshop.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
fde046d4f45067378fbc4167db74e40b | This advertising strategy benefits companies by making marketing more efficient and allows smaller markets to develop
Targeted advertising using the wealth of personal information left for collection and collation online makes business far more efficient for advertisers. Until recently advertisers were forced to use ads that went into the world basically at random, hitting everyone and not necessarily reaching the desired audience. This meant that producers could rarely target small markets, and thus advertising and mass media products all focused on large groups. [1] Thus small producers have been crowded out from the mainstream. With the advent of targeted marketing, producers can now afford to compete for business and to advertise their services to the groups that actually want what they have to sell. Thus businesses have been able to flourish that once would have languished without access to a proper market. An example of this is the targeting by niche fashion boutiques targeting the diffuse but expansive “hipster” market. [2] This has led to a more efficient business world, with lots of producers that can compete with the larger mainstream quite effectively.
[1] Columbus Metropolitan Library. “Using Demographics to Target Your Market”. 2012. http://www.columbuslibrary.org/research/tutorials/using-demographic
[2] Fleur, B. “New Meaning for the Term ‘Niche Market’”. New York Times. 29 September 2006, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/29/style/29iht-Rshop.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
| [
{
"docid": "b4a886f4d5b4632114c343c3b53488b4",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The benefit to small firms is far outweighed by the loss of privacy, something that the size of firms involved potentially makes worse. Smaller companies are unlikely to have the sophisticated data security that larger businesses do making it more likely that the information will fall into the hands of individuals who wish to misuse it. Moreover if targeted advertising alienates consumers then those small firms who are able to use such advertising may not be getting the full benefit. While individuals may well enjoy the various smaller or niche services being offered, they often do not like having it shoved in their faces. Being put off can detract customers from these markets, preventing the flourishing of niche market businesses desired. The strategy is just too invasive and disconcerting. Furthermore, far from successfully hitting their markets all the time, the programmes used to collate data rely on stereotypes and broad characterizations of users to try to reach their markets. This lack of sophistication leads to further alienation by users.\n",
"title": ""
}
] | [
{
"docid": "980fe7e1d40967f6bed3462cc9de60ff",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles Even if the services advertised are effective in providing services that may interest them, the fundamental violation of privacy entailed in compiling personal search data is too serious a danger to people than the fleeting benefits that this sort of advertising might furnish. But this form of advertising is often not as effective, since its reliance on programmes that stereotype demographics can often result in misallocation of advertising. Furthermore, the discomfort people feel at this advertising means they do not like experiencing it, useful or not.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "cf84fd1a0d0b2c91c19415e079c14a5c",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The anonymity of this information is far from guaranteed and firms’ data collection can indeed serve as a serious threat to people’s privacy and identity on the internet. The technology in use is extremely difficult to police, and the data, once collected, can wander off to less reputable places. It is not enough to claim this as a natural evolution of advertising when it is accepted that there are personal boundaries advertisers cannot cross, such as into the home. This advertising strategy carries too many risks to be permitted.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "260eee2b2888cf137514b62f3f582a0a",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The marketing programmes and collations have over time become far more sophisticated and textured in allocating ad space. While some people feel it a bit disconcerting that their computer seems to know what might interest them, many others have found that the targeted advertising has made the seeking out of desired goods and services far easier. And even if people feel it is a bit alienating, it does not necessarily stop them from availing of the marketed services. Nor does some people disliking it provide a good reason for banning the practice.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "8057cfcc10335b2173114d07cd5961a9",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The extent to which the online experience is altered by targeted marketing is extremely limited. Certainly they are less influential on how people interact with the internet than are search engines’ own choices in search priorities. The user of Bing has a much more differentiated experience from the Google user, than do individuals targeted by demographic-based marketing strategies. Ultimately, it does not matter overmuch if people have somewhat differentiated experiences anyway as long as those different experiences make the online experience better.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "a2b642dc14d3bbf13916cb56679494b0",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The data that is used in targeted marketing is freely available online and can be protected in many ways. The programmes that target marketing often do not ever gain real access to individuals’ identities, but rather collate their search details. It is highly unlikely that any of this information could be used to identify actual individuals. Furthermore, the information in question is put into the public sphere by individuals availing of online services and not guaranteed any form of special protection. They exist and are revealed in the public sphere, and belong there. It is therefore wrong to say that privacy is being undermined by targeted advertising.\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "96b9176173433e2acf3a1ab5aed619be",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles The sort of information being used in this advertising is legitimate for firms to utilize\n\nThe information trail left online through cookies etc. is a public statement, put into the public sphere. Provided the individual's identity is not revealed the information is usable through the impermeable intermediary of security settings, etc. Thus firms get information about users without ever being able to ascertain the actual identity of those individuals, protecting their individual privacy. [1] For this reason it cannot be said that there is any true violation of privacy. Furthermore, this sort of targeted advertising, while focusing on general demographics and programmes, does succeed in hitting its mark most of the time. Thus there is a value in having the programming, and it is absent stereotype. All of this advertising is simply the continuation of firms’ age-old effort to better understand their clients and to cater for their needs and should not be considered any differently to adverts being placed as a result of working out what programs are watched by what demographic. TV is also moving towards targeting ads to individuals through information such as household income and purchasing history, this is information that is not private and online usage should be considered the same way. [2] Advertising is difficult business, given media saturation, and it is only right that this system exist to better serve the customers, given it is the natural outgrowth of past efforts.\n\n[1] Story, L. “AOL Brings Out the Penguins to Explain Ad Targeting”. New York Times. 9 March 2008. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/aol-brings-out-the-penguins-to-explain-ad-targeting-ok-saul-and-louise-post-with-article/\n\n[2] Deloitte, “Targeted television advertisements miss the point”, 2012, http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_GX/global/industries/technology-media-telecommunications/tmt-predictions-2012/media-2012/18c9068df67a4310VgnVCM1000001a56f00aRCRD.htm\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "1031a17f8b1cb6edab66dac0ab514893",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles This form of marketing makes for better advertising that benefits consumers\n\nBy targeting demographics and personal profiles, businesses are able to put forward the services that are statistically likely to pique their target’s interest. In the past, because advertisers had limited budgets and no sophisticated means of reaching their target audience, they had to settle for broad demographics and to cater to majority tastes and interests. This led to a reduction in the breadth of goods and services to niche markets. Targeted advertising helps to alleviate this issue by allowing customers of eclectic tastes to actually find services they are interested in outside the mainstream, enriching their own lives in the process. The internet is vast, and it is often difficult to sift out things that might be interesting to the individual consumer from all the information available. Targeted advertising is one of the most effective ways of providing this information to people. [1] The data compiled to create an individual profile is easily able to divine a broad brushstrokes outline of a person’s likely interests. This creates a better experience for internet users because it provides a far easier means of finding goods and services that would interest them, often from sources they might not have otherwise been aware. When Facebook furnishes this service to advertisers, users are shown ads that fit their profiles, ones they might find interesting. [2] Given that there is only finite ad space, it is far better for the consumer to see ads for things they care about while using the service rather than just ignoring pointless things.\n\n[1] Columbus Metropolitan Library. “Using Demographics to Target Your Market”. 2012. http://www.columbuslibrary.org/research/tutorials/using-demographic\n\n[2] Lewis, J., “Facebook faces EU curbs on selling users’ interests to advertisers”, The Telegraph, 26 November 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8917836/Facebook-faces-EU-curbs-on-selling-users-interests-to-advertisers.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "c6c9327551a6d08b87cab2be15c11dd6",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles Consumers tend to find these strategies alienating\n\nInternet users have come to understand the nature of demographic and personal marketing, and have generally rejected it. This is because they consider the whole process invasive, with their personal details exploited to the profit of third party businesses seeking to peddle their wares. This has resulted in a substantial backlash against these forms of marketing, and built up prejudicial attitudes toward the companies that use these schemes, and the internet services that facilitate them. The facts of these attitudes have been borne out in a number of research studies, showing that as much as 66% of Americans do not want their personal information used to tailor advertising to them. [1] This has led to less than the desired outcome for marketers who rather than experiencing their sales increased efficiently through more targeted marketing alienate their potential customers. More than just invasive, this form of marketing tends toward stereotypes, using programmes that favour broad brushstrokes in their marketing, resulting in stereotyped services on the basis of apparent gender and race. A recent example of this sort of racial profiling took place in 2013 when it was revealed that having a stereotypical “black” name brought up ads for criminal records checks 25% more often than for users with other names. [2] This was, to say the least, considered exceptionally alienating by many users. This and other incidents have compounded the sense of alienation from these forms of marketing among consumers.\n\n[1] Pinsent Masons. “US Web Users Reject Behavioural Advertising, Study Finds”. Out-Law. 30 September 2009. http://www.out-law.com/page-10410\n\n[2] Gayle, D. “Google Accused of Racism After Black Names are 25% More Likely to Bring Up Adverts for Criminal Records Checks”. The Daily Mail.5 February 2013. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2273741/Google-accused-racism-black-names-25-likely-bring-adverts-criminal-records-checks.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "2c5a56d4a622fab7eef867585652810b",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles Demographic/profile-based advertising fundamentally alters the experience of the internet for people of different backgrounds\n\nWhen the experience of the internet differs between people because of their backgrounds and past activities, the position of the online experience as one free of informational prejudice is undermined. It is important that the internet and the sites and services that float around it be as free from external prejudicing that contemporary targeted marketing creates. This marketing shapes at the most basic level the internet experience people interact with, and as it differs between people the quality of the universal service is diminished in a way. [1] This is particularly problematic when that internet experience is designed to differentiate between people of differing demographic backgrounds, which serve only to heighten divisions between these groups. The internet should remain a neutral space.\n\n[1] Cartagena, R. “Online Tracking, Profiling and Targeting – Behavioural Advertisers Beware”. eCommerce Times. 19 December 2011, http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/73966.html\n",
"title": ""
},
{
"docid": "40db583c8a75dd867200f8db0df19556",
"text": "privacy house would ban targeted online advertising basis user profiles This advertising strategy undermines people’s right to personal privacy\n\nTargeted advertising based on profiles and demographic details is the product of information acquired in a fashion that is fundamentally invasive of individuals’ privacy. When individuals go online they act as private parties, often enjoying anonymity in their personal activities. Yet online services collate information and seek to use it to market products and services that are specifically tailored to those individuals. This means that individuals’ activities online are in fact susceptible to someone else’s interference and oversight, stealing from them the privacy and security the internet has striven to provide. At the most basic level, the invasion of privacy that collating and using private data gleaned from online behaviour is unacceptable. [1] There is a very real risk of the information being misused, as the data can be held, Facebook for example keeps all information ever entered to the social network, [2] and even resold to third parties that the internet users might not want to come into possession of their personal details. People should always be given the option of consent to the use of their data by any party, as is the case in many jurisdictions, such as the European Union has done in implementing its 'cookie law'. [3] This can lead to serious abuses of individuals’ private information by corporations, or indeed other agents that might have less savoury uses for the information.\n\n[1] The Canadian Press. “Academics Want Watchdog to Probe Online Profiling”. CTV News. 28 July 2008. http://www.ctvnews.ca/academics-want-watchdog-to-probe-online-profiling-1.311784\n\n[2] Lewis, J., “Facebook faces EU curbs on selling users’ interests to advertisers”, The Telegraph, 26 November 2011, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8917836/Facebook-faces-EU-curbs-on-selling-users-interests-to-advertisers.html\n\n[3] European Union, “Directive 2009/136/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council”, Official Journal of the European Union, L 337/11, 18 December 2009, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:337:0011:0036:En:PDF\n",
"title": ""
}
] | arguana |
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