George Cho

The Malaysian economy : spatial perspectives

1.Malaysia: The Socio-Economic Background 2. Planning Development (1950-90) 3. Rural Content of Regional Planning 4. Cities at the Crossroads: Growth and Transformation 5. Promoting Industrial Growth 6. Perspectives on Problems, Policies and Prospects

Online Dispute Resolution: Present Realities, Pressing Problems and Future Prospects

This article provides an overview of recent developments in the use of technology in dispute resolution processes, especially when dispute resolution is provided online. It discusses the nature of new technologies, the advantages and disadvantages involved with the use of such technology and the policy and regulatory issues arising from such processes. The article also describes current uses of information communication technologies to provide dispute resolution services from negotiation to online courts. A concluding section suggests that, while online dispute resolution is both a tool and a process, its development is still in its infancy. Various government and industry bodies have been struggling to develop a policy and practice framework governing ODR . However, it is clear that more research is required, especially from an interdisciplinary perspective, before we can be confident that such practices and guidelines take advantage of the new technologies while avoiding their disadvantages.

Some legal concerns with the use of crowd-sourced Geospatial Information

Volunteered geographic Information (VGI), citizens as sensors, crowd-sourcing and Wikipedia of maps have been used to describe activity facilitated by the Internet and the dynamic Web 2.0 environment to collect geographic information (GI). Legal concerns raised in the creation, assembly and dissemination of GI by produsers include: quality, ownership and liability. In detail, accuracy and authoritativeness of the crowd-sourced GI; the ownership and moral rights to the information, and contractual and tort liability are key concerns. A legal framework and governance structure may be necessary whereby technology, networked governance and provision of legal protections may be combined to mitigate geo-liability as a chilling factor in VGI development.

Privacy and EO: An Overview of Legal Issues

The chapter presents an overview of the legal issues pertaining to privacy and high resolution imaging obtained from Earth observation (EO) platforms. There is a great deal of uncertainty about the parameters and boundaries of privacy law generated by images from EO satellites. EO refers specifically to the active monitoring of the Earth from an orbit in space using satellites. Von der Dunk raises several important issues, including territorial jurisdiction and space activities, space law responsibility and state liability, and looming practical problems. The literature identifies the legal issues including liability, the regulation of private entities, international regulation and national customary law, intellectual property rights (IPR) and jurisdiction. The need for a legal framework to govern EO and privacy has been hastened by the rapid developments in the application of geospatial technology. The protection of privacy in the European civil law tradition is marked by differences in approach and philosophy. Keywords:Earth observation (EO) satellites; legal issues; privacy law; space law

Electronic funds transfer: new legal issues?

Electronic funds transfer (EFT) payments promise a cashless society in electronic commerce (e-commerce). Whilst technical issues have overcome the legal and practical logistics are being addressed. A background to legal problems is given including liability, certainty of payments and the requirements of mobile commerce (m-commerce). Cybercrime threats such as fraud and abuse of access to automatic teller machines (ATM) are also outlined. Issues with the disenfranchised young, older persons and indigenous populations in outback Australia who use EFT are discussed. Litigation from various common and civil law jurisdictions are described as relevant legislation pertaining to EFT. New technological innovations in mobile banking (m-banking) have introduced new problems that challenge the law. Policy and legislative instruments provide a critical means by which issues may be overcome to ensure that EFT as a generic payments system may yet endure as a sound business model.