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- ttp://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/2013/12/13/bitcoin-regulation/
- The fact that unsavory websites choose to deal in virtual currency, exclusively, should not be the
- impetus for Bitcoin regulation. The knee-jerk reaction to place Bitcoin as the villain in these
- instances is convenient propaganda cloaking a larger issue. How are these sites allowed to be
- accessed in the first place?
- As Harvard Law School's, John Palfrey, eloquently states in his research paper, Four Phases of
- Internet Regulation, internet regulation is still in a fluid state. Here are a few excerpts from the
- paper which I implore all to read:
- -"Cross-cultural understanding could flourish as never before, now that
- these digital networks connect people from all around the world in new and important
- ways at very low cost. Communications across diaspora populations can thrive in
- meaningful ways."
- -"The individual has greater autonomy in a networked public sphere."
- -"The great power of the Internet as a force for democratization is in collective action."
- "Any careful examination of a blogosphere will demonstrate, too, that there are also problems
- associated with what people do in these spaces. This is true whether the context is the Unites States
- or Myanmar. There are sound reasons for any state to seek to restrict online speech and to practice
- increased surveillance, from child protection to routine law enforcement, with which few would
- argue."
- -"We ought to see information and communications technologies as connected to the rest of life in
- virtually every respect.
- One of the primary reasons for Internet regulation is child safety, not new concerns but topics
- that are of universal interest to parents, teachers, and policy-makers around the world
- Nearly all of the problems that arise in offline space find their way into the online
- environment, and in turn give rise to control strategies."
- -"The thinking was that certain acts of speech and organizing onlineneeded to be regulated like any
- other. The initial reaction, by states such as China and Saudi Arabia in the first instance, was to
- erect filters or other means to block people from accessing certain information."
- -"The question about Internet regulation, looking forward, needs to be inverted. Instead ofasking
- whether the Internet can be regulated, the question should be whether it will beregulated in
- precisely the same way, or more extensively, than the offline world as thestakes rise in the Access
- Contested era."
- Bitcoin is simply a new technology that will further enable the most remote corners of the
- world to be brought into the Worldwide financial marketplace.
- Imagine, for a moment, the aggregate total of missed opportunities because the talent can not
- resource the investment required to establish their craft.
- A world changing technology may exist in the mind of a woman in Zimbabwe, but because of
- existing technology, she may never be able to resource the required capital to build her craft.
- With Bitcoin, she will be able to immediately monetize her blog that educates the world of her
- idea. Micro-donations via Bitcoin will replace "likes", "retweets" and "favorites" commonly
- used to vote on an idea.
- These donations will enable her to continue operating, while in beta phase of her presentation to the
- world.
- Another paradigm is clear to see. If the controls are placed at the internet level, the global banking
- infrastructure can be used as a safe medium to transfer wealth from real world assets to virtual and
- vice-versa. Brokers, such as Coinbase, act as solid intermediaries of safe transfer. If you want
- unfettered access to each market, you should be willing to accept AML and KYC procedures.
- These intermediary institutions are another point where control strategies can be employed.
- Unfortunately the black market will never be stamped out of existence. This is a human condition
- conversation more than it is a regulatory one.
- Why throw away all of the opportunity that Bitcoin will unlock, when there exists fully accepted
- control strategies that can be written to embrace this technology. The opportunity for global
- advancement with proper use of Bitcoin, infinitely outweighs any bad, with proper management.
- We afforded the internet our collective "go ahead". We must allow Bitcoin the same opportunity.
- Internet and regulation
- http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/faculty-workshops/palfrey.faculty.workshop.summer.2010.pdf
- John Palfrey
- Harvard Law School
- 1545 Massachusetts Avenue
- Cambridge, MA 02138
- The four phases of Internet regulation are the
- "open Internet" period,
- Phase 1: The Open Internet (the 1960s to 2000).
- During this initial period of the network's
- development,was the dominant theory to the extent that anyone was thinking seriously
- about regulation at all was that the Internet itself was a separate space, often called
- "cyberspace."
- from the network's
- formation through about 2000; "access denied,"
- Phase 2: Access Denied (2000 to 2005).
- Saudi Arabia(Türkei oder China etc.)
- in the first instance, was to erect filters or other means to block people from
- accessing certain information.
- The fact that extensive Internet filtering occurs at a
- national level around the world is clearly documented. (Deibert et al. 2008 and 2010)
- through about 2005; "access controlled,"
- through the present day (2010);
- Phase 3: Access Controlled (2005 to 2010).
- These controls
- can change over time to respond to changing political and cultural environments that
- arise online and offline.
- The image of the
- "Great Firewall of China"
- is evocative and, to some extent, accurate as a descriptive
- matter. But it is misleading insofar as it tells only a small part of the story of control
- online, in China and elsewhere
- and "access contested,"
- the phase into which we are
- entering.
- http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/76/66
- International Journal of Communication 1 (2007),
- Book Review 89-92 1932-8036/2007BKR0089
- Copyright © 2007 (Lauren B. Movius, [email protected]).
- Licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd).
- Available at http://ijoc.org.
- Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu,
- Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World
- Oxford University Press, 2006, 226 pp., $18.50 (hardcover).
- Reviewed by
- Lauren B. Movius
- University of Southern California
- They are skeptical that recent technological changes
- "have had a lasting effect on how nations, and their peoples, govern themselves"
- (180). They suggest communication technologies
- "did not displace the central role of territorial government in human governance,"
- and neither will the Internet.
- Goldsmith and Wu also caricature theories in discussing globalization which
- predicts the
- "inevitable homogenization of everything."
- Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World
- appeals to graduate and undergraduate students, as well as
- anyone interested in Internet regulation, politics of global governance,
- international law, and the intersection of globalization and technology.
- It is extremely well written in a clear and engaging style.
- The authors, who are both lawyers, avoid legal jargon and do a remarkable job
- of explaining complicated legal cases and concepts to readers. The book opens up important debates and
- raises serious questions.
- The authors have slowed down the rush to pronounce the end of governments
- and corporations, as they repeatedly demonstrate the continuing power and importance of these
- institutions.
- This moment in the Internet's evolving history allows scholars and practitioners an
- opportunity to debate, discuss, and consider these issues.
- The Internet can be seen as an entry into the
- entire communication system,
- and its regulation and control will have far-reaching effects on society.
- References
- Abbate, Janet, (1999), Inventing the Internet, MIT Press.
- Barlow, John Perry, Declaration of Cyberspace Independence,
- (http://homes.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html)
- Naughton, John, (1999), A Brief History of the Future: The Origins of the Internet, Diane Publishing Co.
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