legal challenge of information technology

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What is cloud computing? Everything you need to know about the cloud, explained | ZDNet

Updated: An introduction to cloud computing right from the basics up to IaaS and PaaS, hybrid, public, and private cloud.

Cloud computing is a system that combines a large number of computer resources and high-level services. It relies on the sharing of different resources.

the appearance of cloud computing may rise some concerns about the privacy protection. Cloud computing is based on an existing distributed network, where every computer can be considered as a node. When a computer is connected to the Internet, it becomes part of the Internet. Without effective security protection, every computer in the "cloud" can access other nodes through certain means. For example, some commercial companies use coolies to spy on the activities and web pages when users surf the Internet. Also, by using the “Trojan horse program”, the hackers can control  other computers and in doing so, they can know what services users are using in the cloud, etc. It can be said that any operation of the user will leave traces on his computer, and can be obtained through a certain way.

Privacy protection is a great challenge for the development of cloud computing. In fact, it is far from enough to protect the right of privacy by a single means. A complete system is needed, involving multiple levels.

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The privacy problems of smart home

Smart homes like Alexa are popular nowadays in many countries, the appearance of such artificial intelligence has gradually changed people’s daily life. They not only bring convenience to the users, but also bring some problems related to the online privacy.

In the application of the smart home, family is a unit and it is a private area, on the contrary, the internet is a relatively public, trustless area. The smart home links these two areas together, if there are no effective safeguarding measures, the privacy will be leak unconsciously.

The privacy problems related to the smart home can be divided into four categories.

The first one is that, the transmission of the data does not have a code, or the code is too easy to be cracked. For example, if the password of such activity is easy to be cracked, then during the process of transmitting the data to the cloud, these data will be intercepted or copied by the hacker.

The second category is that the client APP is not detected safely, and the relevant code is flawed. In such case, the hacker will take advantage of the flaw and get the users’ account and passwords for their illegal purpose such as stealing the money in the users’ account.

The third one is hardware devices have debugging interfaces or using operating systems or third-party libraries with security vulnerabilities. Under such circumstance, there is a high possibility that the hacker will intrude devices, or hijack device applications.

The last one is that the remote-control command lacks the authorization of reinforcement and has the risk of illegal invasion and hijacking of the application. An example is that the camera on the smart home can be used by the crackers through invading into the system.

In order to facilitate people's use of smart home and let people monitor and control the intelligent products in their home at any time, most smart home products have remote control commands sent from the cloud. And it is due to this kind of convenient means, if the product itself lacks safe defense means, it will bring huge risks related to the leaking of privacy to the users.

So, in order to prevent such problem, the managers and designers of smart home products should enhance their safety awareness, and in the process of developing smart products, they should not only focus on product functions and user experience, but also add security prevention measures to consider users' privacy risks. Also, consumers shall raise such awareness as well. only in this way, can the online privacy of the users be protected well.

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A new eMarketer report analyzes why more major brand marketers are turning to the Web to advertise to and target their increasingly fragmented audiences.

With the continuous expansion of the influence of the Internet, it is more and more common for people to acquire information, share information and purchase products on the Internet. Therefore, advertising on the Internet has a unique attraction compared with traditional media. However, just as the Internet is not a shelter, advertising on the Internet also requires the application of laws and regulations related to advertising, subject to content and procedural controls. There is also the risk of violating the advertising regulations of other countries by placing online advertisements abroad. It is necessary to understand the relevant regulations of Internet advertisements in advance and prevent infringement from happening in the future.

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Content Liability of the Internet Content Provider

The development and maturity of Internet not only induces the revolution of information communication mode, but also leads to the occurrence of many network infringement. Infringement of Internet content providers is the one of the special infringement behaviors in modern society, in the Internet age how to regulate the content on the internet, how to establish a set of constraints related to each parties’ rights and obligations and balance the interests of all parties in the legal system, is very important. Also, make effective sanctions for the infringement of Internet content providers, and ensure the healthy development of the Internet industry is of vital significance.

(from:https://image.baidu.com/search/detail?ct=503316480&z=0&ipn=d&word=网络内容责任&step_word=&hs=0&pn=3&spn=0&di=123050876850&pi=0&rn=1&tn=baiduimagedetail&is=0%2C0&istype=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&in=&cl=2&lm=-1&st=undefined&cs=3118217837%2C3070529435&os=1811184980%2C470784229&simid=16773467%2C590473083&adpicid=0&lpn=0&ln=1591&fr=&fmq=1541515198809_R&fm=&ic=undefined&s=undefined&se=&sme=&tab=0&width=undefined&height=undefined&face=undefined&ist=&jit=&cg=&bdtype=0&oriquery=&objurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpic50.nipic.com%2Ffile%2F20141016%2F1369025_200603778000_2.jpg&fromurl=ippr_z2C%24qAzdH3FAzdH3Fhw5ywg_z%26e3Bx7jmn_z%26e3Bv54AzdH3Fojg1wg2h7AzdH3FzjfAzdH3Fujv2AzdH3F3wnadw8u0jveAzdH3Fh9wujacw81ucas_z%26e3Bip4s&gsm=0&rpstart=0&rpnum=0&islist=&querylist=)

Internet content providers (hereinafter referred to ICP), refer to people who have their own homepage and provide information services to Internet users on a regular or irregular basis (websites). The ICP usually selects and edits works created by itself or others and logs them on the Internet or sends them to users on the Internet for public viewing, reading, using or downloading. They are the main subject who shall be liable for the content they provide on the internet.

In order to specify the liability of the ICPs, there are some requirements that shall be met. The first one is the content provided by the ICPs shall be illegal according to domestic law and also international law. How to define illegal content? There are two aspects in my opinion, one is infringing others rights, for example, using someone's portrait as a picture of the website or as a commercial promotion without consent; using others' data and personal information illegally for the purpose of making profits, or publicizing and publicizing others' privacy on the Internet without authorizations and so on, another is the content violating the laws and regulations either in domestic level or in international level.

The second element is that such content causing damage to the rights and interests of the right owners or detriment to social interests. For example, the right holder's right to reproduce, disseminate information on the Internet, or obtain the right to remuneration, may be damaged if the content provider has not paid compensation for reproducing the work which the right holder has declared not to reprint without permission, such content has infringed the right holder’s copyright.

The last but not least element is that such damage and loss shall be connected with the illegal content. If the publication of such content can bring the loss or damage to the society, group of people or even specific one, whether it is the only reason or there are reasons combined together to cause such losses and damage, whether such link is direct or indirect, they shall all be defined that they have causal relationship.

To conclude, with the appearance of different websites, everyone can be an ICP. We shall pay attention to the content we upload, so that we can create a harmonious online environment.

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We focus on website blocking injunctions, as one measure that has been used or introduced to tackle online copyright infringement.

in order to avoid the inconvenience brought from website-blocking injunctions, there is a new technology called VPN, and the website-blocking injunction is one of the main reasons why VPN appears. People sometimes use VPN to listen to music from other countries because the copyright restrictions. Such phenomena can reflect a problem of copyright infringement.

Although sometimes the website-blocking injunctions can prevent users from infringe the arthur’s copyright, the existence of VPN make such regulation useless.So, the conflict between copyright protection and  infringement still exists. there are countries establishing regulations to prevent the use of VPN,  However, such regulation can influence other rights of the citizens, for example the right to express their ideas and get in touch with people from other part of the world. Also, such regulation can cause a negative effect on people’s emotion, that they will feel unfree. So, It is urgent for the government to keep pace with the technology development and make laws and regulations to deal with the copyright problem. At the same time, its important to keep a balance between copyright protection and people’s right to do things they like.

It is a difficult problem worldwide. Joint effort shall be made in order to protect the online environment both for the authors and for the users..

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Grand Theft Auto 'cheats' homes raided

A court grants search warrants and freezes the assets of five people accused of making cheat software.

Recently, there is a piece of news about making cheating software, which is a kind of infringing the network copyright of the owner.

it is a common phenomenon of such infringement nowadays, and it is due to the lack of related laws and regulations. The cost of safeguarding the network copyright can sometimes be very high due to the internet involved.

Fortunately, the owner of the game software in this piece of news got his compensation and succeeded in preventing other from making cheating software, however, it is not so fortunate for other owner. In my hometown, due to the lack of legal awareness and rapid development of the internet, there are a lot of cases about infringement of copyright online.

From my point of view, in order to protect the author’s copyright online, first, it is important for the government to establish related system to regulate such infringement, and also make such system up-to-date is of equal significance because of the rapid development of the internet. Second, people shall raise awareness of such illegal act and be brave to safeguard their rights online. This needs some lectures or NGO to promote such information.

There is a long way to go to protect the network copyright. Only making joint effects can we create a harmonious online environment for the content producer and users.

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MEPs reject controversial copyright law

Legislation aiming to bring copyright in line with the digital age is rejected in its current form.

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The Internet has been widely used, and people's life, study and work have also changed. The scope of copyright is wider and deeper, but with the increasing number of copyright infringement cases related to the internet, it directly harms the author's legitimate rights and interests, and with the increasing call for intellectual property protection.

However, it is considered that the protection of copyright of information technology can sometimes stifle creativity. At the same time, it is difficult to have a clear boundary between online copyright infringement and fair use.

there is no wonder the MEPs reject the new copyright law. Just as Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said in the article:” Don't think about filtering everything everyone uploads to the internet. That's a pipe dream but you are never going to get that.” it is true that the internet can be sometimes hard to supervise and also the existence of the internet is the symbol of freedom. We do need to pay attention to the protection of the copyright on the internet, however, it can not just forbid people from uploading or downloading things in the cyberspace, and there needs negotiation. Both the owner and the user shall meet each other in the halfway.

Meanwhile, such limitation mentioned in the article can cause monopoly, which means, it is hard and expensive for the latecomers to recreate and remix the works. In the long run, it makes the rich richer and makes the poor poorer. 

Although the decision of MEPs can be controversial, i agree with the rejections in the perspective of authors and users. It is a universal problem, not only for the EU, but also for the world. Joint efforts shall be made by both parties to solve the problems brought by quick-changing information technology.

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The relationship between Intellectual Property and Innovation

Innovation refers to the production or adoption, assimilation and development of a value-added new product in the economic and social fields; while, intellectual property means that the owner has the property right to the result created by his intellectual work. When innovation meets intellectual property protection, different ideas about their relationship emerge.

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Some people holds the view that, intellectual property actually system has actually impeded competition to such an extent that it is often seen as playing a disintegrative role in innovation. Just as professor Lachlan Urquhart said, the existence of intellectual property makes posterity “standing in the giants shoulder”, which means, it makes some enterprises and countries lacking capital and strong innovation ability no longer use others' advanced scientific research achievements at a small price, and the unaffordable license fee will restrict the popularization and application of patent technology to some extent.

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However, others argue that, intellectual property encourages innovative development. Innovation needs a lot of manpower, material resources and capital; and also, it consumes a lot of time and creative labor, in order to achieve the possibility of success. By giving inventors the right to monopolize the market for a certain period of time, the intellectual property system enables them to receive appropriate returns, recover the investment made in research and development, which in turn makes them continue to carry out new invention activities to promote product upgrading.

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From my point of view, the positive and negative effects made by intellectual property on innovation are both relative and interchangeable. For example, in the field of public health, the economic profits brought by intellectual property protection can stimulate and promote the emergence of more and better medicines and medical devices. Although such right may prevent others from using existing technologies to innovate, the huge benefits brought by the intellectual property can push people to create updating products in order to compete with competitors. In front of human life, such disadvantage can be ignored and it is worth the price.

Overall consideration, when we talk about the relationship between intellectual property and innovation, we need to look at it in a dialectical way. If there is conflict between them, as the saying goes, one shall not give up eating for fear of choking, so, we need to pursue a balance of interests between the two by perfecting legislation related to this area or using other measures.