Internet Governance after Snowden
The Snowden affair could bring about major changes in the structure of the Internet and its governance. Technologies should now a priori integrate standards which give citizens the capacity to keep a check on what data is available.
The Internet and the Flaws of Multistakeholderism
The Internet Governance debate opposes multilateral thinking, favoring the role of State and interstate bodies, with a multistakeholder model, which aims to unite all concerned actors: states, business, experts, academics and internet groups, among others.
The Digital Tsunami. Natural Disasters Management in the Age of Social Media
Social media enable new means of natural disasters management. It is now easier to locate victims, to find shelters, or to coordinate humanitarian aid. Prevention has also become more efficient. From now on, this tool will be more and more present in the field of natural disasters management; however, it also poses some risks because of its open nature, which makes control more difficult.
Isolating, Not Taming: What's Behind the Impetus to "Digital Sovereignty" in Russia?
April 2014 was a particularly bitter month for Russian internet users and the local internet industry. President Vladimir Putin unsurprisingly made headlines when, at the Media Forum in St. Petersburg, he publicly labeled the internet as a “CIA project” and launched an attack against Russian internet businesses. Putin particularly expressed reservations about the successful Russian search engine Yandex, as it is registered in the Netherlands for, as Putin stated, “not only… taxation purposes but for other reasons, as well.” A week earlier, during his annual call-in TV show, Putin also referenced the internet when, responding to a question from Edward Snowden, he rejected any mass surveillance of the network by Russian law enforcement agencies.
Governing the Geostationary Orbit: Orbital Slots and Spectrum Use in an Era of Interference
Outer space, particularly in the telecommunication sector, is benefiting and becoming accessible to more and more actors. But with this trend comes also a reality that is every day more compelling: no meaningful development can be achieved without a clear, stable and predictable interference-free environment for the use and control of all satellites that depend upon ready access to radio frequencies and appropriate geostationary orbital slots to function properly.
Edward Snowden and democratization through the web
Why did Edward Snowden decide to disclose information related to U.S. secret services?
- Edward Snowden belongs to that generation of militants who do believe in the web as a tool for democratization, and do think that, to some extent, intelligence services of big states intend to monitor and to control the web at the expense of civil societies. This generation of militants believes in democratization through the web, and they want to fight against the "raison d'Etat". In that sense, there will be certainly other people like Snowden who will be ready to defend that cause of transparency. We'll see what is going to happen, but I definitely think he will become more and more a sort of a symbol of this cause, as Julian Assange is.
The Russian Internet Economy
The Russian Internet economy is demonstrating a substantial rate of growth, one that is significantly outperforming the rest of the domestic economy. According to joint research by the Higher School of Economics and the Russian Association of Electronic Communications, while in 2011 the Internet economy accounted for just 1% of Russia’s GDP, it was expected to grow at a rate of about 30% in 2012. According to BCG reports, the Internet contributed to 1.9% of Russian GDP in 2010, and is expected to grow by up to 2.8% by 2016. E-commerce, which combines retail and electronic payment systems, accounts for the large majority of the Internet economy, but other segments are also growing. Advertising is the fastest growing part of the Russian Internet economy, growing at a rate of 50% annually.
Internet, accélérateur des transformations de la Russie
La crise économique mondiale survenue en 2008, qui s’est durement répercutée en Russie, a cristallisé le mécontentement de la population, en particulier des classes moyennes et supérieures. Ce ressentiment, les réseaux sociaux et les blogs permettent de l’exposer sur la « place publique » en obtenant une résonance significative. Cette évolution n’est pas propre à la Russie ; elle est générationnelle.
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