Codifying Cyberspace: Communications Self-Regulation in the Age of Internet Convergence

Can the Internet regulate itself? Faced with a range of 'harms' and conflicts associated with the new media – from gambling to pornography – many governments have resisted the temptation to regulate, opting instead to encourage media providers to develop codes of conduct and technical measures to regulate themselves.

Codifying Cyberspace looks at media self-regulation in practice, in a variety of countries. It also examines the problems of balancing private censorship against fundamental rights to freedom of expression and privacy for media users. This book is the first full-scale study of self-regulation and codes of conduct in these fast-moving new media sectors and is the result of a three-year Oxford University study funded by the European Commission.

Providing essential critical perspective, Codifying Cyberspace presents a thorough exploration of the issues involved in self-regulation of the internet. Following recent European directives – including the 2007 Audiovisual Media Services Directive – self-regulation is being promoted as the means for regulating the range of 'harms' and conflicts associated with the new media, from gambling to pornography, but does it really work?

Presenting the results of a three year Oxford University study funded by the European Commission, Codifying Cyberspace looks at self-regulation in practice, in a variety of countries across Europe, North America and elsewhere, getting beyond the normal discussions of codes to analyze their implications for fundamental rights of freedom of expression, and their position in particular political and cultural contexts. It also examines the problems of balancing private censorship against fundamental rights to freedom of expression and privacy for media users.

This book is the first full-scale study of self-regulation and codes of conduct in these fast-moving new media sectors and will be an indispensable guide to all those with a general interest in media policy and regulation at a time where regulation is being replaced with industry and user level self-regulation.

Damian Tambini is Lecturer at the London School of Economics. He was previously Head of the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy, Oxford University. He is also Associate Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), the Oxford Internet Institute and at Oxford University's Said Business School. Tambini's previous publications include Privacy and the Media (2003), Collective Identities in Action: Theories of Ethnic Conflict (2002), New News: Impartial Broadcasting in the Digital Age (2002), Nationalism in Italian Politics (2001), Citizenship, Markets, and the State (2000) and Cyberdemocracy (1998).

Danilo Leonardi is Head of PCMLP (Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy) at the University of Oxford's Centre for Socio-Legal Studies. He also co-ordinates the IMLA (International Media Lawyers Association), an international network of lawyers working in the areas of media law, media freedom and media policy. He is a founding member of the Legal Human Academy, a group dedicated to innovation in methods for teaching law.

Chris Marsden LL.B., LL.M. is Senior Analyst at RAND Europe, and holds visiting fellowships at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Essex. Marsden has conducted research into better Internet regulation as a consultant for the UK communications regulators, for the European Commission and for the Council of Europe. His previous publications include Convergence in European Digital TV Regulation (1999) and Regulating the Global Information Society (2000).