Mediating Surveillance: The Developing Landscape of European Online Copyright Enforcement
After a period of relative laissez faire, governments around the world are beginning to attempt to regulate online life, for a variety of reasons, through various mechanisms of surveillance and control. The drive to enforce the respect of copyright is at the forefront of these attempts, a highly con...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
UACES
2013-02-01
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| Series: | Journal of Contemporary European Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/446/391 |
| _version_ | 1819028548272259072 |
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| author | Jon Bright José R. Agustina |
| author_facet | Jon Bright José R. Agustina |
| author_sort | Jon Bright |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | After a period of relative laissez faire, governments around the world are beginning to attempt to regulate online life, for a variety of reasons, through various mechanisms of surveillance and control. The drive to enforce the respect of copyright is at the forefront of these attempts, a highly controversial topic which pits proponents of the rights of the creative industry against advocates of freedom of speech.
Apart from their inflammatory nature, one distinguishing characteristic of most of these schemes is that they are mediated: that is, they are conducted with the help of third parties, most often internet service providers. The mediation of surveillance is something as yet relatively underexplored by the field of surveillance studies, whose theoretical tools are by and large focussed on a two way relationship between watcher and watched. This article seeks to remedy this deficit, by examining the dynamics of mediation in the context of online copyright enforcement. We argue that, far from being a neutral process, the displacement of surveillance to third parties has a crucial impact on the way in which it is conducted. In particular, the expanding capacity of mediators becomes a reason for justifying surveillance in and of itself. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T06:00:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a7403e58a535475eb13334223f192c22 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1815-347X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T06:00:07Z |
| publishDate | 2013-02-01 |
| publisher | UACES |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Contemporary European Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-a7403e58a535475eb13334223f192c222022-12-21T19:13:47ZengUACESJournal of Contemporary European Research1815-347X2013-02-0191120137Mediating Surveillance: The Developing Landscape of European Online Copyright EnforcementJon Bright0José R. Agustina1European University InstituteUniversitat Internacional de CatalunyaAfter a period of relative laissez faire, governments around the world are beginning to attempt to regulate online life, for a variety of reasons, through various mechanisms of surveillance and control. The drive to enforce the respect of copyright is at the forefront of these attempts, a highly controversial topic which pits proponents of the rights of the creative industry against advocates of freedom of speech. Apart from their inflammatory nature, one distinguishing characteristic of most of these schemes is that they are mediated: that is, they are conducted with the help of third parties, most often internet service providers. The mediation of surveillance is something as yet relatively underexplored by the field of surveillance studies, whose theoretical tools are by and large focussed on a two way relationship between watcher and watched. This article seeks to remedy this deficit, by examining the dynamics of mediation in the context of online copyright enforcement. We argue that, far from being a neutral process, the displacement of surveillance to third parties has a crucial impact on the way in which it is conducted. In particular, the expanding capacity of mediators becomes a reason for justifying surveillance in and of itself.http://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/446/391copyrightinformation societyinternet |
| spellingShingle | Jon Bright José R. Agustina Mediating Surveillance: The Developing Landscape of European Online Copyright Enforcement Journal of Contemporary European Research copyright information society internet |
| title | Mediating Surveillance: The Developing Landscape of European Online Copyright Enforcement |
| title_full | Mediating Surveillance: The Developing Landscape of European Online Copyright Enforcement |
| title_fullStr | Mediating Surveillance: The Developing Landscape of European Online Copyright Enforcement |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mediating Surveillance: The Developing Landscape of European Online Copyright Enforcement |
| title_short | Mediating Surveillance: The Developing Landscape of European Online Copyright Enforcement |
| title_sort | mediating surveillance the developing landscape of european online copyright enforcement |
| topic | copyright information society internet |
| url | http://jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/446/391 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jonbright mediatingsurveillancethedevelopinglandscapeofeuropeanonlinecopyrightenforcement AT joseragustina mediatingsurveillancethedevelopinglandscapeofeuropeanonlinecopyrightenforcement |