Communications
Introduction
Modern means of communications connect all corners of the earth. Internationally the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is in place to regulate Telecommunications. ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology issues, and the global focal point for governments and the private sector in developing networks and services. This Research Guide covers telecommunications law (satellites, radio and broadcasting), communications law, internet law and governance, information and communication technology (ICT) and media law.
This Research Guide is intended as a starting point for research on Communications. It provides the basic legal materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Handbooks, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Selective Bibliography section. Links to the PPL Catalogue are inserted. The Library's systematic classification → Communications and subject heading (keyword) Telecommunications are instrumental for searching through the Catalogue. Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, this Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.
New titles
[collect_newtitles code="033"]Bibliography
Reference works
- Garzaniti , L., Telecommunications, broadcasting and the internet : E.U. competition law and regulation, 2000.
- Kennedy, C. and Pastor, M. An Introduction to International Telecommunications Law, Boston, MA etc. : Artech House, 1996.
- Tegge, A. , Die Internationale Telekommunikations-Union : Organisation und Funktion einer Weltorganisation im Wandel, 1994.
- Steinfield, C., Bauer, J., Caby, L., Telecommunications in transition : policies, services and technologies in the European Community, 1994
Books & Articles
- Bernal, P., Internet Privacy Rights : Rights to Protect Autonomy, Cambridge, UK, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2014.
- Bernik, I., Cybercrime and Cyberwarfare, London, Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley and Sons, Inc, 2014.
- Borges, G., Schwenk, J., Daten- und Identitätsschutz in Cloud Computing, E-Government und E-Commerce, Heidelberg, Springer, 2012.
- Colomo, P.I., European Communications Law and Technological Convergence: Deregulation, Re-regulation and Regulatory Convergence in Television and Telecommunications, Alphen aan den Rijn, Kluwer Law International, 2012.
- Cugia di Sant'Orsola, F. (eds.), Communications and Competition law : Key Issues in the Telecoms, Media and Technology Sectors, Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands, Kluwer Law International, 2015.
- DeNardis, L., The Global War for Internet Governance, London, Yale University Press, 2014.
- De La Brosse, R., Me´dias et de´mocratie en Afrique : l'enjeu de la re´gulation, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 2013.
- Fidler, D., Internet governance and international law: the controversy concerning revision of the International Telecommunication Regulations, Washington, American Society of International Law, 2013.
- Gutwirth, S., Reforming European Data Protection Law, Dordrecht, Springer, 2015.
- Heickerö, R. and M. Peterson, The Dark Sides of the Internet: On Cyber Threats and Information Warfare, Frankfurt am Main, Lang, 2013.
- Hill, R., The New International Telecommunication Regulations : a Commentary and Legislative History, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London, Springer, 2014.
- Hofmann, M., Dispute Settlement in the Area of Space Communication : 2nd Luxembourg Workshop on Space and Satellite Communication Law, Baden-Baden, Nomos, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2015.
- Kostopoulos, G., Cyberspace and Cybersecurity, Boca Raton, CRC, 2013.
- McCormick, P. and M. Mechanick, The Transformation of Intergovernmental Satellite Organisations: Policy and Legal Perspectives, Leiden, Nijhoff, 2013.
- Packard, A., Digital Media Law, Chichester, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
- Prasad, R., Resolving Disputes in Telecommunications: Global Practices and Challenges, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2012.
- Radu, R., The Evolution of Global Internet Governance : Principles and Policies in the Making, Berlin, Springer, 2014.
- Spinello, R., Cyberethics: Morality and Law in Cyberspace, Chestnut Hill, Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2013.
- Springer, P.J., Cyber Warfare : a Reference Handbook, Santa Barbara, California, ABC-CLIO, 2015.
- Trzaskowski, J., Introduction to EU Internet law, Copenhagen, Ex Tuto Publishing, 2015.
- Walden, I., Telecommunications law and regulation, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012.
- Weiße, G.K., Informationsoperationen weltweit : die Nachrichtendienste und ihre Fähigkeiten zur globalen Kommunikationsüberwachung, digitalen Datenerfassung und elektronischen Kriegsführung, Stuttgart, Ibidem-Verlag, 2015.
Documents
Periodicals, serial publications
Bibliographies
New titles
Librarian's choice
Ilčev, S.D., Global Mobile Satellite Communications Theory : for Maritime, Land and Aeronautical Applications, Cham, Springer, 2017.
View this title in our discovery serviceThis book discusses current theory regarding global mobile satellite communications (GMSC) for maritime, land (road and rail), and aeronautical applications. It covers how these can enable connections between moving objects such as ships, road and rail vehicles and aircrafts on one hand, and on the other ground telecommunications subscribers through the medium of communications satellites, ground earth stations, Terrestrial Telecommunication Networks (TTN), Internet Service Providers (ISP) and other wireless and landline telecommunications providers. This new edition covers new developments and initiatives that have resulted in land and aeronautical applications and the introduction of new satellite constellations in non-geostationary orbits and projects of new hybrid satellite constellations. The book presents current GMSC trends, mobile system concepts and network architecture using a simple mode of style with understandable technical information, characteristics, graphics, illustrations and mathematics equations. The first edition of Global Mobile Satellite Communications (Springer, 2005) was split into two books for the second edition—one on applications and one on theory. This book presents global mobile satellite communications theory.
Krzysztofek, M., Post-reform Personal Data Protection in the European Union : General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Alphen aan den Rijn, Wolters Kluwer, 2017.
View this title in our discovery servicePost-Reform Personal Data Protection in the European Union, the first in English and in the market on this area, offers a comprehensive discussion of all principles of personal data processing, obligations of data controllers, and rights of data subjects in the context of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, i.e., Regulation (EU) 2016/679). Personal data protection has become one of the central issues in the understanding of the current world system. In this connection, the European Union (EU) has created the most sophisticated regime currently in force with the GDPR of 2016. GDPR will become applicable directly in all the Member States, providing for a unification of data protection rules within the EU. It, however, also poses a problem of enabling international trade and data transfers outside the EU between economies which have different data protection models in place. This book forms the core of the personal data protection regime.
Katsh, E. and O. Rabinovich-Einy, Digital Justice : Technology and the Internet of Disputes, New York, NY, Oxford University Press, 2017.
View this title in our discovery serviceImproving access to justice has been an ongoing process, and on-demand justice should be a natural part of our increasingly on-demand society. What can we do for example when Facebook blocks our account, we're harassed on Twitter, discover that our credit report contains errors, or receive a negative review on Airbnb? How do we effectively resolve these and other such issues? Digital Justice introduces the reader to new technological tools to resolve and prevent disputes bringing dispute resolution to cyberspace, where those who would never look to a court for assistance can find help for instance via a smartphone. The authors focus particular attention on five areas that have seen great innovation as well as large volumes of disputes: ecommerce, healthcare, social media, labor, and the courts. As conflicts escalate with the increase in innovation, the authors emphasize the need for new dispute resolution processes and new ways to avoid disputes, something that has been ignored by those seeking to improve access to justice in the past.
Database
Blogs
Faking it to the Next Level: Are Deep Fakes Threatening Our Democratic Society?
On 31st July 2018, Facebook has posted an article in its Newsroom explaining how the platform is being used to manipulate the Facebook-community. 32 pages have been removed by Facebook and Instagram because they were found to be “involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior.” The manipulation of digital video and audio files, has become increasingly sophisticated and accessible. While the world is more or less accustomed to the idea of image manipulation through ‘photoshopping’, video or audio files that present people saying of doing things they never did nor said, pose a new kind of challenge to democracies and national security. Audio and video manipulation then enter a realm that is generally described as ‘deep fake’.
Read moreMay We Have Your Consent?
On May 25th, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into effect. One of the major areas of change, is that companies will need the customer’s consent for having their personal data and sending emails about newsletters. The GDPR requires that consent should be “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous”. The Peace Palace Library like to be in accordance with the GDPR. We are keen to continue informing you and inviting you to our lectures and events in the future, but require your permission to do so. You will receive an email for your consent. Without your permission the Peace Palace Library will not be able to send you any emails with latest news, events of lectures. So if you like us to continue informing you about our services, new titles, our latest news, lectures and events, please give us your consent!
Read moreInternational Data Privacy Day 2018
People’s personal data are being processed every second; at work, in their relations with public authorities, in the health field, when they buy goods or services, travel or surf the Internet. Individuals are generally unfamiliar with the risks related to the protection of their personal data and of their rights in this respect. “Respecting Privacy, Safeguarding Data and Enabling Trust” is the theme for Data Privacy Day 2018, an international effort held annually on January 28 to create awareness about the importance of privacy and protecting personal information. We have created a bibliographic overview on this topic intended as a starting point for research. It provides materials available in the Peace Palace Library catalogue, both in print and electronic format.
Read moreSatellite Data in International Law
The use of data acquired through earth observation satellites has become commonplace. The use of satellite data has even expanded as an extremely useful tool to implement international law since it provides factual, relevant and up-to-date information. Further technological developments will steadily increase the range of data which can be collected through Earth Observation and further enhance its accuracy. Therefore, satellite data can be used to monitor compliance with obligations contained within international agreements or to resolve disputes before an international court.
Read moreEU General Data Protection Regulation: Privacy and Data Protection revisted!
On May 25 2018, the 1995 Data Protection Directive will be replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This new regulation will have impact on the whole of the EU Zone which currently spans 28 member countries and half a billion citizens. The new regulation aims to harmonise how data is handled across the whole of the EU, but will affect organisations inside or outside the EU Zone. The data protection world has changed radically over the past 20 years. This new regulation will bring crucial changes. This blog is an introduction to this important new General Data Protection Regulation.
Read moreUniverse of Nonsense
In today’s malleable world of Big Data, wherein modern people use Google to know more but understand less, we risk forgetting how knowledge is created and how we can verify a fact. The internet would give us a more democratic and open media environment, but the opposite is true: we live in closed communities online, echo well show us what’s right, bubbles created algorithms which make us encounter only the news that confirms our worldview.This electronic world could lead to a feasible reality based on emotions, opinions, prejudices and places the truth based on objective facts more and more in the shade. All the battles for human rights and the call to freedom and justice will turn out meaningless.
Read moreVessel-Source Air Pollution Remains Global 'Blindspot'
Shipping is considered to be a significant source of global air pollution, both for conventional pollutants and greenhouse gases. Sulphur and black carbon, also called soot, are released in the air in large quantities because large (container and cruise) ships use heavy bunker oil. This is oil from the waste well of the oil industry, the cheapest and dirtiest thing you can get. Seventeen containerships emit as much sulfur as all the cars on the planet in one year. And one cruise ship emits a day as much soot as one million cars.
Read moreVictory for Privacy in Europe again? ECJ 'torpedoes' Safe Harbor
Last Tuesday, October 6, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has declared the Safe Harbour Decision invalid. Mr Schrems, a frequent Facebook-user, lodged a complaint with the Irish supervisory authority because in his view leaks from Edward J. Snowden, the former contractor for the National Security Agency, made it clear that American intelligence agencies had almost unfettered access to the data, infringing on Europeans’ rights to privacy.
Read morePeace Weekend Celebrations – International Rule of Law?
This weekend The Hague will celebrate the International Day of Peace, September 21st, with a designated ‘Peace Weekend’.
The celebrations vary from a peace run (with a Peace Palace team) to The Hague Open Doors Event, where the Peace Palace Library, together with the other international organizations of The Hague, will open their doors to the public.
Read moreThe Data Retention Saga: Dutch Court Declared National Data Retention Law Invalid!
On March 11, 2015, the district court of The Hague in the Netherlands declared the country’s 2009 Telecommunications Data Retention Act invalid. This decision was a foreseeable effect because of a previous judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning the annulment of the European Directive on data retention on April 8, 2014. It seems now that European Member States are starting to face the consequences of that annulment. The cause of this is the fact that the European judgement did not automatically make national data retention legislation invalid. I will briefly discuss the case of the Dutch national data retention law.
Read moreExit Data Retention Directive: a Victory for Privacy in Europe!
Last Tuesday, April 8, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has declared the Data Retention Directive (Directive 2006/24/EC, 15 March 2006) invalid from the date on which the directive entered into force. In the view of the Court, the requirement in the Data Retention Directive for mobile operators and internet service providers to retain data interfered in a “particularly serious manner with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data”.
Read moreProtecting Children from Cybercrime: Online Child Grooming
In the Netherlands a massive case of internet child abuse has been reveiled this week. A 48 year old man has been arrested and is suspected of online child grooming and sexually abusing hundreds of girls. At least 11 girls stated they have had a meeting with the man and were sexually abused by him. The Dutch police has found 26.000 videos and 144.000 photographs during a raid on his house. The man has been active for eight years. What is online child grooming and what is the International and European policy on combating this form of cyber crime and internet abuse?
Read moreEducation at a Distance : Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
Dutch universities have discovered the opportunities of Massive Open Online Course too. Recently, Leiden University prof. dr. Stefaan van den Bogaert has launched a MOOC about The Law of the European Union – an Introduction. Where the capacity of the largest courseroom in Leiden gets close to 1000 students, prof. Van den Bogaert has been able to reach and teach about 50.000 students all over the world!!
Read moreInternet governance 2012: Who should control the Internet?
In the last twenty years, the Internet has had a tremendous impact on society and the term “Internet governance” was introduced. At first it was mainly used to describe the technical management of the Internet such as domain names and internet protocols. Nowadays governance refers to questions like “Do we all accept our responsibilities to safeguard the continued development of the Internet as a global, open and safe virtual environment? and Who sets the rules? In this blog I will give a few highlights of the current developments of internet governance on an International and (as well as on) an European level.
Read morePicture this! The margins of media coverage of celebrities private lives, a balance between privacy and public interest
If you are a public figure and a celebrity, how much privacy can you expect? How far can a journalist probe into a celebrity’s private life to get news in order to fulfill ‘the right to know’ factor for the public interest?
Read more
In recent years the balance between the media’s right to expression and an individual’s right to privacy has always been tricky and has therefore given rise to much debate. This blog will discuss two judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Februari 7th 2012,….
Links
- Communications Law Research Guide (Georgetown Law Library)
- European Commission - Communication
- The European Telecommunications law Blog, by Laurent De Muyter
- International ICT Policy
- International Institute of Communications
- International Telecommunication Union
- Telecommunication Law - Guide to telecommunications law