Designing a Fair Internet Regulation System

Taking into consideration the IRSs, older surveys, and authors' surveys results discussed in previous chapters, this chapter presents a fair internet regulation system (FIRS) designed by the authors. Their aim is to be highly adaptable to each country's special political needs in order to be accepted by the general public. In that context, they propose that a blueprint should be used in the development of an effective, fast, and low cost system that will encourage internet users to participate in the whole procedure, giving them the opportunity to enrich and correct its “behaviour.” At the same time, the proposed FIRS has to be able to handle specific kinds of online illegal content with “discretion.”

Research in Cyprus

This chapter presents data gathered by a Cyprus-related survey that was conducted by the authors with the aid of many professional Cypriot journalists. The survey was conducted between 6th of September and 13th of November 2012 and managed to gather 62 responses. The participants came from a different social and educational background as they were gathered thanks to online media coverage. The authors present statistical graphics in order to visualise the quantitative data. Additionally, statistical analysis is being conducted (using one by one variable analysis) in order to identify trends and associations between different groups in the same country.

Research in Germany

This chapter presents data gathered by a Germany-related survey that was conducted by the authors between 29th of November and 18th of December 2011, with the aid of Johannes Fritz (Research Assistant at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg). The sample was limited but highly educated, consisting mainly of students and teaching staff of the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. The authors present statistical graphics in order to visualise the quantitative data. Additionally, statistical analysis is being conducted (using one by one variable analysis) in order to identify trends and associations between different groups in the same country.

Research in Greece

This chapter presents data gathered by Greece related to an initial survey that was conducted by the authors during June 2010 at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. This survey was based on a limited but highly educated sample consisting mainly of MA and PhD students, along with teaching staff of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications. The authors present statistical graphics in order to visualise the quantitative data.

The Survey

There are very few surveys conducted worldwide regarding internet users' opinions about internet regulation. What's more, the authors have already discussed the importance of measuring public opinion around the world in their endeavour to design and propose a fair IRS that will be accepted by the internet users at a national level. In this chapter, the authors discuss the design of their questionnaire and how it was evolved from the initial 2007 UK questionnaire to the current one that was used for conducting surveys in six different countries. This chapter presents the procedure that was used for collecting responses and what kinds of “safeguard” measures were taken in order to avoid deterioration of the gathered survey data. What's more, the analysis procedure of the gathered data is being presented, and the authors discuss the possibility of biased questionnaires and how the latter can be tackled further in future research.

Research in India

This chapter presents data gathered by an India-related survey that was conducted by the authors with the aid of Anshul Tewari and Astik Sinha, both professional journalists. The survey ran between 3rd of February and 20th of April 2012. The sample was limited, with 57 respondents, coming from different social and educational backgrounds. The authors present statistical graphics in order to visualise the quantitative data. Additionally, statistical analysis is being conducted (using one by one variable analysis) in order to identify trends and associations between different groups in the same country.

Concluding Remarks and Future Work

In this book, the authors examined the need for a fair internet regulation system (FIRS) to be developed and the possibility to implement it in different countries with the acceptance of the general public. The issue was examined with three different research methods: literature review, technical analysis of current IRSs, and surveys around the world. In this chapter, the authors present their concluding remarks along with their thoughts about future work regarding the need for a fair internet regulation system (FIRS) to be developed and implemented in different countries with the acceptance of the general public.

How an IRS Works

In this chapter, the authors describe in detail the UK's CleanFeed design and the blocking mechanisms that it is using. The description presented is based mainly on two papers by Dr. Clayton of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, while many figures are presented in order for CleanFeed's design to be more understandable to a broader public. The only IT expert (with an academic background) who conducted research on CleanFeed software in technical terms is Dr. Clayton.

Putting a FIRS to the Test

In this chapter, the authors implement their fair internet regulation system (FIRS) blueprint using Greece as a country example. They discuss the results of Greece initial survey, and they present all the improvements that were implemented in the initial questionnaire. The improved questionnaire was then used for Greece's mass survey that was conducted in October 2013, gathering 446 responses, the results of which are being presented here. Taking the results of Greece's mass survey into account, the authors proceed with choosing the content and categorisation that FIRS will target and the technical aspects based on the aims and the budget. Furthermore, the blacklists of Greek FIRS are being presented, along with its interface and interaction with the internet users. Last, the authors present their conclusions and discuss possible improvements of the Greek FIRS in the future based on different financial and technical potentials.

Internet Users and Internet Regulation

In this chapter, the authors examine if internet users are against any kind of internet regulation policy or not. In their endeavour, they begin with a literature review of older related surveys, and then proceed by presenting their UK-related survey that was conducted in 2007-2008, focusing on the UK's IRS (i.e., BT's CleanFeed). The United Kingdom CleanFeed is an ideal case study as it was the first time that an internet regulation system had been implemented to such an extent in a Western democracy. The authors' UK survey managed to collect initial valuable data that formed their further survey-based research in Greece, Germany, Russia, India, Kosovo, and Cyprus. Last, the authors discuss the need for regularly measuring internet users' opinions about the subject.