Author: Richard Wingfield NB: While the term ‘child pornography’ has been used traditionally and continues to be used on occasion, it is increasingly understood to be inappropriate since it suggests a degree of complicity or consent on the part of the child. Instead, the term ‘child sexual abuse material’ (CSAM), or sometimes ‘child sexual abuse… Continue reading Child Pornography/Child Sexual Abuse Material
Glossary of Platform Law and Policy Terms
Timeline
Bot
Authors: Luã Fergus and Laila Lorenzon ‘Bot’ is a tech slang for ‘robot’. In this sense, they share the same conceptual core: a reprogrammable machine built to perform a variety of tasks (RIA, n.d.). In the specific case of online bots, they are labeled as automatic or semi-automatic computer programs that run over the Internet… Continue reading Bot
Automated Decision Making
Author: Rossana Ducato Automated decision-making (ADM) generally refers to a process or a system where the human decision is supported by or handed over to an algorithm. ADM is increasingly used in several sectors of our society and by different actors (both private and public). For instance, ADM can be embedded in a standalone software that… Continue reading Automated Decision Making
Arbitration
Authors: Luã Fergus and Laila Lorenzon The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, 2020a) defines ‘arbitration’ as a “procedure in which a dispute is submitted, by agreement of the parties, to one or more arbitrators who make a binding decision on the dispute. In choosing arbitration, the parties opt for a private dispute resolution procedure instead of… Continue reading Arbitration
Application Program Interface
Author: Nicolo Zingales An Application Program Interface (also known as API, or ‘middleware’) is any well-defined interface which identifies the service that one component, module, or application provides to other software elements (de Souza et al., 2004). APIs can be grouped into two types: those which are more intensively computational, based on an execution engine, and those which… Continue reading Application Program Interface
Appeal
Author: Luca Belli This entry: (i) provides an understanding of the notion of appeal in legal doctrine; (ii) elucidates the basic functions of an appeal mechanism; (iii) offers examples of when an appeal mechanism may be needed; (iv) and highlights the recommendations put forward by the IGF Coalition on Platform Responsibility regarding appeal mechanisms. (i)… Continue reading Appeal
Amplification
Author: Paddy Leerssen In the context of platform governance, ‘amplification’ refers to actions (typically by platforms) that magnify the visibility or reach of certain information. The phrase is most commonly used to refer to platform content recommendations and other algorithmic rankings, in cases where particular content is seen to be given an unfair or otherwise unwarranted… Continue reading Amplification
Aggregator
Author: Clara Almeida The term ‘aggregators’ refers to digital platforms that have as aneconomic activity the matching of providers with consumers. Tobe considered an aggregator, a digital platform must present threedefining characteristics: (1) direct relationship with users; (2) zeromarginal cost for serving users; and (3) demand-driven multi-sidednetworks with decreasing acquisition costs (Thompson, 2017). The term… Continue reading Aggregator
Accountability
Author: Nicolo Zingales Accountability refers, in the simplest conception of the term, to the condition of subjecting oneself to external oversight and control. This is a general concept that has widely different implications depending on the context in which it is used (e.g., governmental organizations, private companies, and even computer algorithms). However, as it can… Continue reading Accountability
(Digital) Access
Author: Chris Wiersma In the words of Ribble (2011, p. 16), ‘digital access’ is defined as “full electronic participation in society”. In this context, the digital divide means inequality of access. For Carpentier (2007), digital access includes: (1) access to media technology;(2) access to skills to use the technology;(3) access to content that is considered… Continue reading (Digital) Access