Promoting Openness by “Patching” European Directives: Internet-Based Campaigning during the EU Telecoms Package Reform

Breindl, Yana

doi:10.1080/19331681.2011.595326

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…• First stage: after intense lobbying by interest groups including the telecoms industry, 18 the aforementioned revised Telecoms package explicitly left net neutrality decisions to the market. If too many consumers refuse to enter into a contract with KPN, another provider will offer a better deal or KPN will change their offering.…”

Section: B Consumer Participation Options For Privacy Contractsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Big Data and Consumer Participation in Privacy Contracts: Deciding who Decides on Privacy

Rhoen

2015

Utrecht Journal of International and European Law

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Big data puts data protection to the test. Consumers granting permission to process their personal data are increasingly opening up their personal lives, thanks to the "datafication" of everyday life, indefinite data retention and the increasing sophistication of algorithms for analysis. The privacy implications of big data call for serious consideration of consumers' opportunities to participate in decision-making processes about their contracts. If these opportunities are insufficient, the resulting rules may represent special interests rather than consumers' needs. This may undermine the legitimacy of big data applications. This article argues that providing sufficient consumer participation in privacy matters requires choosing the best available decision making mechanism. Is a consumer to negotiate his own privacy terms in the market, will lawmakers step in on his behalf, or is he to seek protection through courts? Furthermore is this a matter of national law or European law? These choices will affect the opportunities for achieving different policy goals associated with the possible benefits of the "big data revolution".

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Section: B Consumer Participation Options For Privacy Contractsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Big Data and Consumer Participation in Privacy Contracts: Deciding who Decides on Privacy

Rhoen

2015

Utrecht Journal of International and European Law

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“…The unusual success of their efforts to oppose harsher intellectual property enforcement standards partly relies on European and national legal requisites, which effectively curbed the (admittedly extravagant) ambitions of the entertainment industry in that domain. However, part of their success also came from the skill set that free software supporters brought to the political arena by remixing “old‐fashioned” party politics with a novel form of “Internet politics” that fed on digital technology, online activism, and the wider “Internet culture” (see, e.g., Breindl, ; Coleman, )—the result of which was the development of largely original repertoires of collective action.…”

Section: Case Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Protest Skills and Online Activism Against Copyright Reform in France and the European Union

Breindl¹,

Briatte²

2013

Policy & Internet

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International audienceIn the past decade, parliaments in industrialized countries have been pressured to adopt more restrictive legislation to prevent unauthorized file sharing and enforce higher standards of digital copyright enforcement over entertainment media and computer software. A complex process of supranational and national lawmaking has resulted in several legislatures adopting such measures, with wide variations in content and implementation. These policy developments offer an interesting research puzzle, given their high political salience and the amount of controversy they have generated. Specifically, the introduction of harsher intellectual property regulations has resulted in intense 'online' and 'offline' collective action by skilled activists who have significantly altered the digital copyright policy field over the years. In France, grassroots movements have turned the passing of digital copyright infringement laws through Parliament into highly controversial episodes. Similarly, at the European level, the Telecoms Package Reform has given rise to an intense protest effort, carried by an ad hoc coalition of European activists. In both cases, online mobilization was an essential element of political contention against these legislative initiatives. In both cases, our analysis shows that online mobilization and contention can substantially affect policy making by disrupting the course of parliamentary lawmaking at both the national and European levels. We provide an analytical framework to study these processes, as well as an analysis of the frames and digital network repertoires involved in the two cases under scrutiny, with reference to the nascent research agenda formed by the politics of intellectual property

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“…In Europe, the movement took shape in opposition to a proposal of the European Commission to introduce software patents into EU law (Breindl 2011). Through discussion channels and mailing lists, free and open source software supporters mobilized a broad constituency, finally leading to the rejection of the directive by the European Parliament in July 2005.…”

Section: Digital Rights Campaigningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is a collection of organisations, movement entrepreneurs and supporters that engage in collective action in order to pursue change-oriented goals in extra-or noninstitutional settings with some degree of temporal continuity (Snow et al 2004). What distinguishes digital rights activism is the combination of hacker culture (Thomas 2002) and free and open source software principles with political activism (Breindl 2011). Hacking is not necessarily disruptive or radical as is often claimed.…”

Section: Digital Rights Campaigningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Technology was considered as a means to open up the political process, by tinkering and creative uses of the internet. Activists engaged in political coding, creating their own applications to assist the complex reform of the Telecoms package and keep track of MEPs' voting and positions (Breindl 2011). The distribution of work within and among groups went according to competences.…”

Section: The Telecoms Package Campaignmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing Success in Internet Campaigning

Breindl¹

2013

Information, Communication & Society

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CAMPAIGNINGThe case of digital rights advocacy in the European UnionInternet-based campaigning is regularly questioned or disqualified as 'clicktivism' on the premises that the internet facilitates low input action. This article focuses on the distributed campaign of an ad hoc coalition of digital rights activists intervening in the European Union's Telecoms package Reform from 2007 to 2009. It examines how technically skilled actors take advantage of networked collaboration and information production, as they discover, learn about and challenge European policymaking. Activists question the status quo and advance alternatives and models built on innovative distribution systems of knowledge goods, such as free software and open access initiatives. The analysis is based on empirical evidence collected through indepth interviews with activists and political representatives, document analysis and observations. The campaign's effectiveness is then assessed through policy-makers perception in the analysis of three interrelated questions: (a) Did the campaign generate awareness among representatives? (b) Were protest actors perceived as credible and legitimate interlocutors? (c) Did the campaign trigger concrete political or legal changes?The evaluation of the campaign's effectiveness allows for nuanced conclusions as to the concrete impact of internet-based campaigning targeting EU institutions. The analysis shows that resource-poor actors can use the internet to substantially affect policymaking by intervening in the course of parliamentary law-making. This article provides an analytical framework to study these processes, and carry out a detailed confrontation between oppositional strategies and actual legislative and political outputs. The campaign was praised as very successful by all interviewees, especially in gaining awareness for the issues at stake. However, achieving concrete policy changes remains challenging notably due to the EU's particular conception of civil society input.

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Promoting Openness by “Patching” European Directives: Internet-Based Campaigning during the EU Telecoms Package Reform

Cited by 8 publications

References 32 publications

Big Data and Consumer Participation in Privacy Contracts: Deciding who Decides on Privacy

Big Data and Consumer Participation in Privacy Contracts: Deciding who Decides on Privacy

Digital Protest Skills and Online Activism Against Copyright Reform in France and the European Union

Assessing Success in Internet Campaigning

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