The moral of the story in my previous post about cars being preceded by men carrying red flags is that fear of the new often leads to unnecessary regulation. For this reason, in the context of the internet, we need to be careful about over-reaction and over-regulation. In particular, we now have, in Ireland, a multiplicity of red-flags around the internet, and I wonder whether they are all really necessary.

In November 1999 – arising out of the public debates surrounding the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act, 1998 (also here) and the publication of the Report of the Working Group on the Illegal and Harmful Use of the Internet in July 1998 – the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland (ISPAI) established the Internet Child Pornography Hotline. It is now part of InHope (the International Association of Internet Hotlines) and of InS@fe, a europe-wide network of internet safety awareness bodies funded by the EU, which organises for example an annual Safer Internet Day (this year, it was 12 February last).

Soon thereafter, the Internet Advisory Board (IAB) was established by the Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform in February 2000, with a general remit to supervise a system of self regulation by the Irish ISP industry and to pomote awareness of internet safety, particularly with regard to children.…

Read More »

It is human nature to fear the new. And for many of us, the internet is still new. I have pointed out before that Lilian Edwards observes (in “The internet and security: do we need a man with a red flag walking in front of every computer?” (2007) 4 (1) SCRIPT-ed 1 (March 2007)), rather like those who feared cars so much that early models had to be preceded by a man walking ahead with a red flag to warn people of the approach of the new-fangled invention, there are now those who would red-flag everything about the internet. Sometimes, these fears are well-founded; on other occasions, they are exaggerated and misplaced. But the usual response – and in particular, the usual political response – is to do something to soothe those fears, whether or not well-founded. The cry goes up: “Something must be done”; and something is indeed done, whether it is necessary or not. This is particularly so when the cry that goes up is “Won’t someone please think of the children?“; hence, when the something is being done, it is often justified as being done in the best interests of children, again whether it is necessary or not.…

Read More »

Blawg Review describes itself as the blog carnival for everyone interested in law:

A peer-reviewed blog carnival, the host of each Blawg Review decides which of the submissions and recommended posts are suitable for inclusion in the presentation. And the host is encouraged to source another dozen or so interesting posts to fit with any special theme of that issue of Blawg Review.

In celebration of St Patrick’s Day, this week’s carnival (as opposed to this one), Blawg Review #151, is ably hosted by Daithí Mac Síthigh on Lex Ferenda. He begins:

Raise a glass (or the Legal Antiquarian’s Lawyer Stein) to the Irish! Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Dublin and from the legal blogosphere and welcome to this week’s Blawg Review, back at Lex Ferenda after a not-too-unsuccessful tryout for the team in Blawg Review #128. Of course it’s not just the week or month of that most famous of Welshmen, Patrick; the Ides of March are commemorated by What About Clients? and David Giacalone at ethical, esq. St. Patrick’s Day is a public holiday in Ireland and in Northern Ireland; Life at Work (in New Zealand) weighs in with some amusing observations on holidays from work.

Read More »