Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) are crucial to the operation and development of the Internet. However, through the performance of their basic functions, they faced the great risk of civil and criminal liability for unlawful content posted by third parties. As this risk threatened the potential of the Internet, various jurisdictions opted to promulgate legislation that granted ISP’s safe harbours from liability. The South African (RSA) response is Chapter XI of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA). The protection it provides is however not absolute. It is limited to ISP’s that are members of an Industry Representative Body (IRB) and those ISP’s must perform particular functions in relation to third party content in a certain manner to obtain limited liability. Due to the ECTA’s limited application and a lack of authority, the question is raised as to what is the liability of ISP’s for unlawful content posted by third parties? This dissertation pays particular attention to ISP liability for third party defamatory statements, hate speech, and obscene and indecent material. The role and characteristics of ISP’s in the functioning of the Internet is described. It is determined that a wide legal definition would be required to encompass the many roles they perform. The definition provided by the ECTA is wide and many different types of ISP can fall underneath it. This may have unintended consequences as entities may receive protection that the legislature did not intend. The appropriate laws in the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom are surveyed and suggestions as to the extent of ISP liability in circumstances where the ECTA does not apply are made. It is established that their position is uncertain due to difficulties in applying the law to the Internet. This could result in the law being applied incorrectly and ISP’s erroneously found liable. The ECTA’s threshold requirements limit the availability of the safe harbor provisions to ISP’s that are members of a recognised IRB. The IRB must comply with an extensive set of requirements to obtain recognition. The purpose of these requirements is to ensure that only responsible ISP’s obtain the protection provided by the act. After an examination of these requirements, their necessity is questioned as their purpose appears to be contrary to the logic of the safe harbours provided by the ECTA. The safe harbours are analysed and comparisons made to similar legislation that exists in the USA and the European Union (EU). It was established that the ECTA is a hybrid of the USA and EU legislation, and to a certain extent improves on them. It was suggested that the extent of ISP liability in relation to certain unlawful content is clearer under the ECTA. However, exceptions may exist in relation to hate speech and obscene and indecent content as a result of legislation that does not properly take the technology of the Internet into account. It was recommended that certain action be taken to correct this position to prevent any negative effects on the Internet industry and conflict with the objectives of the ECTA. The provision of limited liability contained in the ECTA is balanced with a notice and takedown procedure, which provides relief to victims of unlawful content. This procedure is analysed and it appears to be effective in providing relief. However, through an examination of concerns raised in relation to this type of procedure as it exists in the USA and the EU, it is suggested that certain flaws exist. The take-down procedure negatively effects the freedom of expression and the third party’s rights to due process. Further, the threshold requirements result in not all the users of the Internet being provided with the same remedies. It is recommended that certain action be taken to correct these flaws. The solution provided by the ECTA should be favoured over the uncertainty that existed before it promulgation. It may be necessary to correct particular flaws that exist. Certain recommendations are suggested in this regard and the concluding chapter.

This thesis deals with specialized information systems for internet service providers. The aim of thesis is to compare specific information system of company Dupeto s.r.o. with an-other external systems. The first part of the thesis deals with the theoretical foundations, which is followed by the analysis of a market of this systems. After making choice of which systems are the propriet ones, the thesis gives a detailed description of these sys-tems. In conclusion there is a recommendation for Dupeto s.r.o. which system is the best for this company. This recommendation was achieved by the means of a multi-criteria de-cision making. This thesis is so helpful mainly for this company but it is helpful for other internet service providers too because it contains the analysis of the systems from various point of views.

Die wêreld soos dit vandag bestaan, is gebaseer op die Internasionaalregtelike konsep van soewereiniteit. State het die bevoegdheid om hulle eie sake te reël, maar die ontwikkeling van die Internet as ’n netwerk wat globaal verspreid is, het hierdie beginsel verontagsaam. Dit wou voorkom asof die Internet die einde van soewereiniteit en staatskap sou beteken. ’n Geskiedkundige oorsig toon dat reguleerders aanvanklik onseker was oor hoe hierdie nuwe medium hanteer moes word. Dit het geblyk dat nuwe tegnologieë wat fragmentasie van die Internet bewerkstellig, gebruik kon word om staatsgebonde regsreëls af te dwing. Verskeie state van die wêreld het uiteenlopende metodologieë gevolg om die Internet op staatsvlak te probeer reguleer, en dit het tot die lukraak-wyse waarop die Internet tans gereguleer word, aanleiding gegee. Hierdie studie bespreek verskeie aspekte van regsbeheer in die konteks van die Internet, en bepaal daardeur hoe die Internet tans gereguleer word. Toepaslike wetgewing van verskeie state word regdeur die studie bespreek. Vier prominente state, wat verskeie belangrike ingrepe ten aansien van Internetregulering gemaak het, word verder uitgelig. Dit is die Verenigde State van Amerika, die Volksrepubliek van Sjina, die Europese Unie as verteenwoordiger van Europese state, en Suid-Afrika. Aspekte wat op Internasionaalregtelike vlak aangespreek moet word, soos internasionale organisasies en internasionale regsteorieë ten aansien van die regulering van die Internet, word ook onder die loep geneem. Die bevindings wat uit die studie volg, word gebruik om verskeie aanbevelings te maak, en die aanbevelings word uiteindelik in ’n nuwe model saamgevoegom’n sinvoller wyse van regulering van die Internet voor te stel. Aangesien die huidige studie in die konteks van die Internasionale reg onderneem word, word die studie afgesluit met ’n bespreking van kubersoewereiniteit, wat ’n uiteensetting is van hoe soewereiniteit ten aansien van die Internet toegepas behoort te word. Die gevolgtrekking is insiggewend — die ontwikkeling van die Internet het nie die einde van soewereiniteit beteken nie, maar het dit juis bevestig. / The world is currently structured in different states, and this is premised on the International law concept of sovereignty. States have the capacity to structure their own affairs, but the development of the Internet as a globally distributed network has violated this principle. It would seem that the development of the Internet would mean the end of sovereignty and statehood. A historical overview shows that regulators were initially unsure of how this new medium should be dealt with. It appeared that new technologies that could fragment the Internet, could be used to enforce state bound law. Several states of the world have used different methodologies trying to regulate the Internet at state level, and this led to the random way in which the Internet is currently regulated. This study examines various aspects of legal regulation in the context of the Internet, and determines how the Internet is currently regulated. Appropriate legislation of several states are discussed throughout the study. Four prominent states, which made several important interventions regarding the regulation of the Internet, are highlighted further. It is the United States, the People’s Republic of China, the European Union as the representative of European countries, and South Africa. Aspects that need to be addressed on International law level, such as international organizations and international legal theories regarding the regulation of the Internet, are also discussed. The findings that follow from this study are used to make several recommendations, which in turn are used to construct a new model for a more meaningful way in which the Internet could be regulated. Since the present study is undertaken in the context of the International law, the study is concluded with a discussion of cyber sovereignty, which is a discussion of how sovereignty should be applied with regards to the Internet. The conclusion is enlightening—the development of the Internet does not indicate the end of sovereignty, but rather confirms it. / Criminal and Procedural Law / LLD

The following study about the economic performance of the Johannesburg’s small Internet service providers investigates the economic performance of the small Internet providers against the backdrop of regulatory conditions. The study departs from the view point that reports about previous studies have not given particular attention to the economic performance of the small Internet service providers and other impacting factors. The study employed the qualitative research approach with an aim of obtaining deeper understanding and internal view as reiterated by the respondents. The analysis presented follows a guide by Neuman (2006) which departs from the premises of themes or concepts. The results of this study provide a perspective of respondents and the conclusions drawn by the researcher. The study ends by providing suggestions and recommendations for future studies. Suggestions and recommendations provided at the end have been prompted by the results and experiences encountered during the study. / M.A. (Communication Science)

My thesis examines how metaphors of globalization shape the global governance of the Internet. I consider how, in a short span of time, discussions of the Internet’s globalizing potential have gone from the optimism of the global village to the penchant of the global marketplace to the anxiety of the global war on terror. Building upon Rorty’s theory of metaphors and Foucault’s notion of productive power, I investigate how the shifts in these prevailing metaphors have produced and legitimated different frameworks of global governance. In considering how these patterns of governance have been shaped in the context of a familiar example of globalization, I demonstrate that globalization has an important discursive dimension that works as a constitutive force – not only in Internet governance, but in global governance more generally. By illuminating globalization’s discursive dimensions, this thesis makes an original theoretical contribution to the study of globalization and global governance. It demonstrates that globalization is more than a set of empirical flows: equally important, globalization exists as a set of discourses that reconstitute political legitimacy in more ‘global’ terms. This recasts the conventional understanding of global governance: rather than a response to the challenges posed by the empirical transcendence of territorial borders or the visible proliferation of non-state actors, the aims, institutions and policies of global governance are shaped and enabled by discourses of globalization, and evolve as these discourses change. In short, this thesis provides further insight into globalization’s transformations of state-based political order. It links these transformations to the discursive processes by which systems of global governance are produced and legitimated as sites of power and authority.

Internet intermediaries facilitate a wide range of conduct using services supplied over the layered architecture of modern communications networks. Members of this class include search engines, social networks, internet service providers, website operators, hosts, and payment gateways, which together exert a critical and growing influence upon national and global economies, governments and cultures. This research examines who should face legal responsibility when wrongdoers utilise these services tortiously to cause harm to others. It has three parts. Part 1 seeks to understand the nature of an intermediary and how its liability differs from the liability of primary defendants. It classifies intermediaries according to a new layered, functional taxonomy and argues that many instances of secondary liability in English private law reflect shared features and underlying policies, including optimal loss-avoidance and derivative liability premised on an assumption of responsibility. Part 2 analyses intermediaries’ monetary liability for secondary wrongdoing in two areas of English law: defamation and copyright. It traces the historical evolution of these doctrines at successive junctures in communications technology, before identifying and defending limits on that liability which derive from three main sources: (i) in-built limits contained in definitions of secondary wrongdoing; (ii) European safe harbours and general limits on remedies; and (iii) statutory defences and exceptions. Part 3 examines intermediaries’ non-monetary liability, in particular their obligations to disclose information about alleged primary wrongdoers and to cease facilitating wrongdoing where it is necessary and proportionate to do so. It proposes a new suite of non-facilitation remedies designed to restrict access to tortious internet materials, remove such materials from search engines, and reduce the profitability of wrongdoing. It concludes with several recommendations to improve the effectiveness and proportionality of remedies by reference to considerations of architecture, anonymity, efficient procedures, and fundamental rights.

Submitted by Marlene Aparecida de Souza Cardozo (mcardozo@pucsp.br) on 2018-08-27T13:02:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Pinheiro Rotundo.pdf: 1597987 bytes, checksum: 7b8b65232863955c234a658ad3b688de (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T13:02:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rafael Pinheiro Rotundo.pdf: 1597987 bytes, checksum: 7b8b65232863955c234a658ad3b688de (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-02-23 / The technological advancement provided by the global computer network has revolutionized human activities, communications have become easier, territorial boundaries between countries do not exist in the virtual world, and trade has been driven on a global scale. In this revolutionary network context, problems of high complexity arise that threaten the safety of users and the system itself. The lack of control and anonymity created a false impression that the internet would be an environment without rules, in which the wrong would not be grieved. In this context, civil liability for damages on the Internet is a subject that the law can’t refrain from dealing with, since its dynamism must be careful to protect and protect any offense that causes imbalance. At a first moment the work will address the characteristics of the information society, how the interpersonal relationships were affected by the digital age, and then to address the technical issues of the Internet, its operation, what services are available, its operators and other agencies. In a second moment, it will be approached to the civil responsibility of its evolution in counterpart to the society of the information, developing its study, as well as the elements that integrate it, with the action or omission, damage and causal link. Therefore its repercussions before entering the legal world of the Internet Civil Law, Law 12.965/2014, its interpretation by the STJ and the treatment of the subject in other countries / O avanço tecnológico proporcionado pela rede mundial de computadores revolucionou as atividades desenvolvidas pelo ser humano; as comunicações tornaram-se mais fáceis, as fronteiras territoriais entre os países desapareceram no mundo virtual e o comércio foi impulsionado em escala global. Neste contexto revolucionário de rede, surgiram problemas de alta complexidade que ameaçam a segurança dos usuários e do próprio sistema. A ausência de controle e o anonimato fizeram crescer uma falsa impressão de que a internet seria um ambiente sem regras, em que o ilícito não seria apenado. Nesse contexto, a responsabilidade civil pelo dano na internet é um tema sobre o qual o Direito não pode se abster, pois seu dinamismo deve ficar atento para proteger e resguardar qualquer ofensa que cause desequilíbrio. Em um primeiro momento a pesquisa abordará as características da sociedade de informação, a maneira como os relacionamentos interpessoais foram afetados pela era digital para, em seguida, abordar as questões técnicas da internet, seu funcionamento, serviços disponíveis, operadores e demais órgãos de atuação. Em um segundo momento será abordada a responsabilidade civil tendo em vista sua evolução em contrapartida à sociedade da informação. Serão estudados os elementos que a integram, a ação ou omissão, o dano e o nexo de causalidade. Por conseguinte, e ao final, suas repercussões ante o ingresso no mundo jurídico da Lei n.12.965/14, conhecida como Marco Civil da Internet, sua interpretação pelo Superior Tribunal de Justiça e o tratamento dedicado ao tema por outros países

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

My thesis examines how metaphors of globalization shape the global governance of the Internet. I consider how, in a short span of time, discussions of the Internet’s globalizing potential have gone from the optimism of the global village to the penchant of the global marketplace to the anxiety of the global war on terror. Building upon Rorty’s theory of metaphors and Foucault’s notion of productive power, I investigate how the shifts in these prevailing metaphors have produced and legitimated different frameworks of global governance. In considering how these patterns of governance have been shaped in the context of a familiar example of globalization, I demonstrate that globalization has an important discursive dimension that works as a constitutive force – not only in Internet governance, but in global governance more generally. By illuminating globalization’s discursive dimensions, this thesis makes an original theoretical contribution to the study of globalization and global governance. It demonstrates that globalization is more than a set of empirical flows: equally important, globalization exists as a set of discourses that reconstitute political legitimacy in more ‘global’ terms. This recasts the conventional understanding of global governance: rather than a response to the challenges posed by the empirical transcendence of territorial borders or the visible proliferation of non-state actors, the aims, institutions and policies of global governance are shaped and enabled by discourses of globalization, and evolve as these discourses change. In short, this thesis provides further insight into globalization’s transformations of state-based political order. It links these transformations to the discursive processes by which systems of global governance are produced and legitimated as sites of power and authority.

The following study about the economic performance of the Johannesburg’s small Internet service providers investigates the economic performance of the small Internet providers against the backdrop of regulatory conditions. The study departs from the view point that reports about previous studies have not given particular attention to the economic performance of the small Internet service providers and other impacting factors. The study employed the qualitative research approach with an aim of obtaining deeper understanding and internal view as reiterated by the respondents. The analysis presented follows a guide by Neuman (2006) which departs from the premises of themes or concepts. The results of this study provide a perspective of respondents and the conclusions drawn by the researcher. The study ends by providing suggestions and recommendations for future studies. Suggestions and recommendations provided at the end have been prompted by the results and experiences encountered during the study. / M.A. (Communication Science)