Trust in the information society

Trust is an important feature for all users of the Internet who rely on the safety and security of network technologies and systems for their daily lives. Trust, or the lack of it, has also been identified by the European Commission’s Digital Agenda as a major barrier to further development of the information society in Europe. One of the areas in which concerns have been raised is in relation to children’s safety online. As a result, substantial efforts have been made by policymakers and by the industry to build greater trust and confidence in online digital safety. This paper examines what trust means in the context of children’s use of the Internet. Should policy on trust enhancement, for instance, include children’s own trust in the technologies or services they use or is it sufficient to seek to reinforce parental and adult confidence that children can be adequately protected? What is required to build that trust from either perspective? Does it need, or should it include a relationship of trust between parents and children? To tease out these questions further, the paper examines current European Union policy frameworks on digital safety, particularly industry responses to the call for a more trusted Internet environment for children, and argues that technical solutions to be effective need to carefully balance a number of competing objectives and to be sufficiently grounded in evidence of parental and child experience of the Internet.     

Post-Contractual Lock-in and the UK Private Finance Initiative (PFI): the Cases of National Savings and Investments and the Lord Chancellor's Department

According to the UK government, one of the key features of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is the scope it provides to transfer risk to private sector suppliers. Under the PFI, public bodies are expected to develop interdependent relationships with suppliers that allow risk to be transferred. However, it is the argument of the author that it will not always be possible for interdependent relationships to be engineered by public bodies – on many occasions, public bodies will find themselves asymmetrically locked-in to their supplier. This situation leads to private sector suppliers becoming dominant in those relationships which, in turn, will allow them to pass back risk and obtain greater returns. As a result, the author argues that it is not a question of whether risk can be transferred under the PFI, but when. This argument is illustrated by use of the contracts managed by the UK National Savings and Investments and the UK Lord Chancellor's Department.     

Mexico's Southern Flank: The “Third” U.S. Border

Mexico's crime-ridden southern frontier has become a veritable third U.S. border, as a constant flow of Central Americans and others cross into Mexico, often en route to the United States. As the number of unlawful migrants surges, their characteristics are changing: recent apprehensions include nationals of Caribbean, Middle Eastern, and Asian nations, and foreigners linked to terrorism are using Mexico as a thoroughfare to the United States. Mexico's immigration department is hindered by a number of factors in stanching this flow, and Mexican officials have only begun to publicly recognize the severity of the problem. Washington, too, must wake up to the security threat posed by Mexico's soft underbelly.     

Crime Trends in the EU

The paper’s aim is to show to EU policy makers, academics, journalists and the general public what the available information tells us about crime levels, trends in crime and public opinion about crime among Member States. The paper centres on an analysis of current trends on crime levels and trends based on the data available both from victimisation surveys and police statistics. The victimisation survey source is the published data collected in the International Crime Victimisation Survey. A separate analysis based on the Eurobarometer was also carried out. Data on police statistics present two separate sources i.e. the Council of Europe Sourcebook and the crime data published annually by the UK Home Office. These two sources both add considerable value to the raw police statistics by their choice of data, their commentary and their technical explanations and definitions. The paper compares data on three crime types (robbery, domestic burglary and theft of a motor vehicle) across the 15 Member States of the European Union (as in 2003). These three types were selected in line with the priorities of the EU Commission and as types of crime that are a major concern for EU-citizens. The paper has been modified from a report produced by the European Crime prevention network for the EU Directorate of Justice and Home Affairs with the permission of the EU. The members of the network are listed in the appendix.     

Local Authorities and Non–elected Agencies: Strategic Responses and Organizational Networks

This article deals with developing relationships between local authorities and local non–elected public service agencies in England and Wales. It classifies local authority responses to the growth of the non–elected state. Account is taken of varying agency characteristics and the constraints and dilemmas they face. From the local authority vantage point what is at stake is organizational (re)positioning in a changing institutional environment. Insights derived from strategic management are therefore utilized. But resource dependencies and exchanges also manifest themselves in these emerging relationships. Moreover, account must be taken of the scope for local authorities to be 'network managers' given the structural reconfiguration of the local state. The analysis therefore takes on board organizational networking theoretical frameworks. Although central government remains best placed to manipulate the 'rules of the [new and uncertain] game', interesting possibilities present themselves if local authorities can show more strategic skill than in the recent past.