An analysis of the fundamental tensions between copyright and social media: the legal implications of sharing images on Instagram

ABSTRACT

Copyright is inherently intertwined with the development of technology and none more so than the advent of the Internet and sharing technologies. More recently, social media platforms have become the latest challenge for copyright law and policy. This article builds on the literature that recognises the underlying conflict between copyright and social networking sites (SNSs); namely that the basic implication of copyright is the restriction of copying, whereas the ethos of social networking is the promotion of sharing. In particular, this article focuses on the disparity between the restricted acts of copying and communication to the public under copyright law and the encouragement of sharing on SNS Instagram. In doing so, it contextualises the debate surrounding copyright and social media and provides an understanding of the legal implications of using Instagram. As such this paper analyses (1) the infringement of copyright protected work on Instagram, and (2) the user-agreement and licensing of copyright material on Instagram. This study concludes that the disparity between the principles of copyright and social media lead to confusion and vulnerability of users. Therefore, it is suggested that Instagram should better inform its users of the implications of sharing third-party content as well as the terms of its user agreement. This could be done by implementing a copyright strategy, which includes a notice and takedown system as well as investing in producing educational content for users. Perhaps SNSs, such as Instagram might be more motivated to take steps to recognise intellectual property rights if they were considered Internet Services Provides such as YouTube.     

Situating the “Cultural Reach” of Cities in a Multiscalar Field

International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society - On the basis of empirical material from a city bordering Syria and Turkey, this article aims to situate the city’s emerging landscape...     

Turkey – from tutelary to delegative democracy

Guillermo O’Donnell’s influential work ‘Delegative Democracy’ set the discourse on a peculiar type of democracy. Lying between representative democracy and authoritarianism, the uniqueness of delegative democracy lies in its features, including an absence of horizontal accountability, strong centralised rule, individual leadership with unchecked powers, a cult figure embodying the nation and clientelist practices. While delegative democracies seem to arise out of presidential systems, Turkey, though a parliamentary system, has also displayed the distinctive features of delegative democracies. This paper identifies three characteristics of delegative democracy, which are responsible for the lack of democratic consolidation, if not the erosion of democracy itself: anti-institutionalism, an anti-political agenda and clientelism. Arguing that delegative democracy is the best concept with which to examine contemporary Turkey, the paper lays out how, post-2011, Turkey has demonstrated the three elements of delegative democracy. The final section discusses the implications of the Turkish case for scrutinising the very possibility of delegative democracy in parliamentary regimes.     

An end to a rumour

Mardin, is a city in the southeastern part of Turkey where people from different cultures and religions have been living together peacefully for centuries. The province hosted many valuable historical constructions representing different civilizations. Kasimiye Medresse, one of the most important educational centers of its times, has a sacred value for people in Mardin. The reason is that the stain on the wall of Kasimiye Medresse is considered to be Sultan Kasim's blood. Our study aims to analyze if the stain in question is blood. Serological tests are performed by using "Kastle-Meyer" and "Luminol" reactives on the scrapped samples taken from stained and unstained parts of the wall. At the end of the analysis, the stain is turned out to be a dye made of herbal roots ending the rumour of centuries.     

Y-STR polymorphism in Central Anatolian Region of Turkey

Eight Y-chromosome specific STR (Y-STR) loci including DYS19, DYS388, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392 and DYS393 were investigated in a group of males from Central Anatolian Region of Turkey. Healthy 59 males living in this region for at least three generations were included in the study. PCR analysis was carried out with Y-STR specific primers on genomic DNA obtained from peripheral blood samples and size determination of PCR products was performed by silver staining following 6% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). DYS388 was found to be the locus with lowest diversity (D) whereas DYS389II was the locus with highest diversity. The current study presented a framework of variation for the eight Y-STR loci in Central Anatolian population.     

Sexual variation in bucco-lingual dimensions in Turkish dentition

Sexual differences in the human skeleton have been well studied in many populations. Odontometric analysis of the human sexual variation has been less investigated and mostly derived from the dentition of extinct populations. Turkey is situated in a unique location where populations from different regions mixed with each other and created a rich gene pool. One might anticipate that modern Turkish population is composed of genes from the Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, Iran and further as well as from ancient Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and Asiatic Turks. It is clear that contemporary Turks are a mixture of these extant and extinct people and ideal to consider it a representative study population. The purpose of this study is to analyze dental dimensions and sexual variation in living Turks and develop forensic techniques to identify human remains from the teeth when any other technique is not available or not reliable. The study is composed of Ankara University dental students (50 male and 50 female casts, average age of 21 years). Bucco-lingual breadths from 14 teeth (I1 through M2 of the maxilla and mandible) are taken from the left side and analyzed using the discriminant function statistics. An intraobserver error test did not indicate any statistically significant difference between any two measurements. Results of the study revealed that males exceeded females significantly (P<0.001) in dimensions. Coefficient of variation was most obvious in I1s and I2s of both jaws in both sexes. Stepwise discriminant function statistics suggested that upper C, and lower C and M2 are the most contributory teeth to the function. Additional formulae were calculated for situation in which only one or a fragmented jaw is available for identification. Overall accuracy of sex diagnosis ranged from 73 to 77%. In conclusion this research supports earlier studies that sexual dimorphism is population specific. While dental difference between the sexes in several human populations has been found highly dimorphic, it was not found so in Turks and accuracy of classification remained low at about 77%. The difficulty or the lack of dimorphism comes from male subjects.     

The identification of a dismembered human body: a multidisciplinary approach

A criminal case was directed to a multidisciplinary forensic team for identification, concerning a victim whose head, having two gunshot wounds, had been separated by a sharp instrument and was recovered 6 months later. The purpose of this research was to determine the sex and age of the victim for human identification. Primarily, macroscopic examination of the skull, tooth, and DNA analysis was conducted for sex determination. A rough assessment of age was made from the skull based on anthropological findings, however a more definitive result of age estimation was determined utilizing dental morphology. The dental data showed an age range of 32-37 from the mineral examination and the formulation of microscopic measurements. The results obtained from the skull and dental analysis matched with the physical characteristics of the victim's body, the known personal data of this person, and with the superposition of the photos gathered by a formal request. Besides, the result of DNA profiling of the victim showed male gender and direct relationship with the victim's presumed wife and daughter. Generally, research on human identification consists of sex and age determination. The sex characteristics can be precisely proved from DNA tests. However, age can be estimated by skeletal, and dental analysis. In this case the performed sex and age analysis lead the research to the selective matching of the missing person's identity.     

Comparison of Turkish Injury Scale (TIS) with the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS)

According to the Turkish Penal Code, Section 456, an assailant is punished in a correlation to the severity of the victim's injury. In this study, the injury scale used in Turkey in the basis code 456 is compared with Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS). For this aim, a total of 984 cases out of the total amount reported at the Traumatology Section of the Turkish Council for Forensic Medicine were randomly selected and evaluated retrospectively. In all, 40.7% of injuries were caused by blunt trauma, whereas 59.3% were caused by a penetrating trauma. According to the Turkish Injury Scale (TIS), 40.3% of the cases were scored to be of a first degree of injury, 15.6% as second degree and 44.1% as third degree. When compared, the score points 3, 4 and 5 in the AIS were seen to be nearly equivalent to the TIS of third degree. From this point of view, in the modified AIS 91.1% of first degree of injury, 51.2% of second degree and 97.2% of third degree of injury are harmonious with TIS. Generally, 83.2% of the cases are harmonious with the AIS system. The purpose of this study is to determine what was the source of differences and to focus on particular traumatic lesions in order to determine a possible rearrangement of the Turkish Injury Scale.