Warren B. Chik

The Lion, the Dragon and the Wardrobe Guarding the Doorway to Information and Communications Privacy on the Internet: A Comparative Case Study of Hong Kong and Singapore: Two Differing Asian Approaches

Almost a decade ago, the electronic commerce revolution began, led by such companies as Amazon.com and Ebay.com. These companies have grown into the internet business giants they are today, diversifying in the products they sell, the services they provide and the jurisdictions they conduct business in. However, aside from these rare examples, most medium and small internet-based business enterprises have grown with the dot.com bubble and dissolved when it burst mid-way through the decade. Now, at the 10th Anniversary of Electronic Commerce, after we have seen the dot.com way of doing business launch like a rocket and plunge like a comet, subsequently emerging into a more cautious, but no less potential, avenue of doing business, other challenges now face the industry as a whole to retain and obtain customers. Internet users are becoming increasingly wary of online transactions. The irony is that as internet users become technologically savvy, they also become more aware of the dangers which connectivity entails and this inhibits their online behaviour. Chief among these concerns, and second only to cybercrimes, is the maintenance of privacy in the context of the protection of personal information, particularly from the unsavory elements trawling the cyberworld. For cyber-trade and the e-commerce market to grow, and for the continued efficiency and utility of the internet for G2C and B2C transactions, governments and industries must re-instill the trust and confidence of internet users both in commercial and non-commercial interaction.

Whither the Future of Internet Streaming and Time-Shifting? Revisiting the Rights of Reproduction and Communication to the Public in Copyright Law after Aereo

New forms of communication technology often pose challenges to the copyright regime and have necessitated the rewriting of the scope of the exclusive rights and exceptions by the legislature, and, in some cases, by the courts in common law countries (as well as the Court of Justice of the European Union). These issues have arisen in different categories of digital technology, albeit with the same objective of streamlining and simplifying the delivery of copyright works to consumers. These categories include file storage and transfer operations offered by Peer-to-Peer technology, the space- and time-shifting functions of the early video and audio recording products, user-generated and industry content deliverable via new media streaming platforms, the ‘live’ streaming and time-shifting services offered by remote and wireless digital recording systems, file storage and sharing digital lockers and cloud technology. This article will examine the legality of Internet streaming and time-shifting technologies under copyright law, specifically in relation to the rights of ‘reproduction’ and ‘communication to the public’, through a comparative analysis of the jurisprudence in leading jurisdictions in recent times. Although the decisions are not always consistent, they do provide some helpful guidance in our assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the various arguments made on both sides of the divide as well as of the prevailing judicial sentiment towards new technologies. In light of the continuing legal uncertainty faced by such technologies, the authors also offer suggestions as regards legislative amendments and alternative business models to ensure their continued existence in this harsh and highly competitive digital environment.