The vast, free and increasingly accessible world of communications Internet has been providing so far might undergo a number of changes in the months or first few years to come.

Copyright issues, for one, have been around for a while and need to be addressed; however, governments, various authorities and stakeholders have a number of additional concerns regarding the Internet they wish to address through regulatory change.

In an article titled A crusade against the Internet’s “regulatory uncertainty” , ArsTechnica.com summarizes the situation in a nutshell.

It may be said that regulators do not feel comfortable with uncertainty arising from powerful unregulated entities, even informal* ones such as the Internet.

On the other hand, is this a case where powerful media, such as the Internet, will attract the attention of regulators if they fail to properly regulate themselves?

Highly recommended reading!

*PS: Actually, one might wonder whether or not the Internet is ’informal’. Simply consider the rise, over the years, of secure log-in procedures and online transactions, as well as the ability for lawyers to quote legal material lifted from the Internet, to name but a few formalized features of the Internet. Briefly stated, the Internet can only be as informal as the information and data it gives access to, or allows to pass on. Agree?

Vendée Globe 2008-2009 - Surfing with South Pacific Swell

These crazy yachtsmen in their awesome round-the-world racing 60 footers gathered recently to fine-tune the standards applicable to off-shore sailboat racing in the IMOCA class.

The last edition of the Vendée Globe race took its toll, as in the past VG races.

Remember Gerry Roufs from Montreal (Quebec) who vanished without a trace, somewhere between Cap Horn and Antarctica in the 1997-98 edition of the Vendée Gobe?  (more…)

An article in the Ottawa Citizen today by Kevin Lynch, the outgoing clerk of the Privy Council, indicates that political expediency, or to put it in more neutral terms, quick responses to the need for new public policies is an increasing trend in the last decades that does not serve the public interest all that well.

This issue has been raised previously in this blog as one of the emerging trends in the way modern governments set the framework for new regulatory initiatives. This is certainly not a novel issue. However the article by Kevin Lynch comes as a timely reminder that for governments to develop both quick and quality policies in response to pressing issues is, more than ever, a risky balancing act. (more…)

It is often thought that regulatory material is made of requirements, prohibitions and commands issued, and most often published, by governments and their regulatory agencies under Acts (statutes) passed by their respective legislators.  Such material is often referred to as ‘delegated legislation’ or ’subordinate legislation’, or more broadly speaking, ‘regulations’, be it orders, regulations, standards or specifications or even –  yes! - verbal or sign commands by police, air traffic controllers, to mention but a few.

Free market theories and regulatory environments cannot be reduced to such simplistic views of public administration fiats, or absence thereof, as the recent global financial turmoil unfortunately demonstrates. (more…)

As long as the public at large, the regulated industries, industry analysts and public authorities confine the meaning of regulatory system and regulatory framework to government-backed regulations and various regulatory documents and processes, the big picture of what goes on in both small and wide regulatory systems or frameworks, and how to approach them, won’t emerge clearly and completely.

There is still a strong tendency, mainly on the part of government, public regulators and the regulated public, to perceive regulatory systems as necessarily government-run, or at least as conduct monitoring systems, based on delegation processes and mandatory reporting requirements stemming from government or government agencies.  Mandatory legislative or adjudicative functions, supervisory role, reporting requirements and audits are usually the hallmarks of such regulatory systems.

However these systems and frameworks don’t account for all regulatory systems and frameworks worthy of interest. On the contrary!  (more…)

As abstract and remote from daily life as standards may appear to most people, they are almost living organisms, whether static or continuously evolving and undergoing mutations. They are approached, used and manipulated differently by standard makers in both the public and private sectors according to the concerned parties’ own interests and aims.

Here is how one reputable high-tech world reporting agency puts it:

“No matter how much the [computer] industry talks about compatibility, new formats and languages appear routinely. The standards makers are always trying to cast a standard in concrete, while the innovators are trying to create a new one. Even when standards are created, they are violated as soon as one vendor adds a proprietary extension.”  (ZDnet.com)

“Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world.  Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”  Margaret Mead

A peek by TechNewsWorld into future mutations of the rule-making process.

Today’s daring ideas can be tomorrow’s routine way of handling the legislative/regulatory process.  More specifically, open legislation could could bolster participatory democracy.

The idea of open legislation is attractive at face value, but then one is left to wonder about the effects of open legislation on the role of interest groups and lobbyists, if any person is allowed to put directly their two-cent’s worth in regulatory proposals.  Sure, it’s empowering for individuals,  (more…)