U.S Federal Trade Commission hosts public forum on facial recognition technology

On December 8, 2011, the United States Federal Trade Commission hosted “Face Facts, A Forum on Facial Recognition Technology,” a one-day public forum exploring emerging issues in the field of facial recognition in Washington, D.C. Consisting of thought leaders from academics, government and industry, four panels analyzed and discussed the technology behind facial recognition, current and potential uses of that technology, and the privacy and security concerns raised by this newly-emerging technology. The event was open to the public and was made available on the Internet via webcast.     

Radical Islam in Europe

Europe now faces three related but different challenges: how to respond, in a time when “native” European populations are shrinking, to the growing presence of Muslim minorities; how to avoid having its relationships with its Muslim communities controlled by Islamists who seek to replace Western civilization with Islamic government based on sharia law; and what to do generally about this Islamist threat. Thus far, the European responses to these challenges have been shaped by four factors: accumulated civilizational exhaustion; the inability to grasp the challenge posed to European national identities by the allure of the global Caliphate; weakness arising from degraded security capabilities, including the impact of the continued drive to “build Europe” by adopting the Treaty of Lisbon; and the preference for appeasement of Islamist demands.     

South African regulation of online casinos licensed in a foreign jurisdiction

Advances in technology brought about new popular gambling activities such as online gambling (sometimes called trans-border e-gaming) in South Africa and abroad, demand new regulatory structures since the current laws on gambling do not have provisions for online gambling. This article addresses the legality of engaging in online gambling within the South African borders by casino operators who are licensed in a foreign jurisdiction, giving rise to the issue of determining the place where the act of gambling takes place between a player who is in South Africa while engaging on the Internet with a server in another country. Although this article deals with the South African perspective, realizing that South Africa is a developing country and the law relating to the Internet might be behind, a reference to the online gambling law of United States (US) is made to showcase a need for attention to regulate online gambling in both developing and developed countries.     

21世纪东盟与非盟合作的必要性分析

21世纪非盟与东盟为彼此之间共同利益加强合作是全球一体化趋势的结果。分享发展理念和科学技术交流已成为双方合作的重要领域,也是保持社会经济持续发展的关键。因此,要优先考虑东盟国家和非盟之间的合作,两个区域组织的国家要充分利用彼此资源和人力资本,融入技术进步和产业发展中,利用知识创造的产品和服务,有效地解决各自发展中所面临的挑战,以进一步保持经济持续增长。此外,东盟中新加坡和马来西亚的发展经验证明,可通过采取有效的发展战略促进社会经济的持续增长。因此,这为面临类似的发展挑战的非洲所借鉴,可促进其经济的快速增长。     

The Many Faces of Mexico

This article will reexamine basic assumptions about the geopolitics and character of the United States-Mexico border, take a closer look at current events that have affected the drug war and, finally, discuss possible policy responses beyond those routinely voiced in the public domain.     

King Fahd's Saudi Arabia

Written shortly after King Fahd of Saudi Arabia's death, this profile takes the measure of the man: “Profligate though he may have been, Fahd never forgot that Saudi Arabia was a rich place with a small army in a region full of ghastly predators. He proved forceful even with a weak hand.”     

Data and information theft in e-commerce, jurisdictional challenges, related issues and response of Indian laws

Data and information constitute a valuable resource both for the companies in general and individuals in specific. The traditional paper based transaction has been replaced by electronic transaction and now a day’s most of the valuable data and information’s are stored in electronic medium. Therefore data and information security have become a matter of great concern for every agencies acting on faith of e-transaction. In India there remains an added significance owing to the fact that a growing number of companies seek more centralized and less expensive methods of processing information, they’re turning to offshore outsourcing to fulfill many of their business and human resources processes. Data theft is not in itself a new concept, but has become an increasingly important issue in the digital age. The new mode of communication, its malleability, transmissibility, networking capacity, affect our lives in many and sometimes surprising ways, it requires that we find new legal solutions for new social questions.     

Beyond Fukushima: Japan's Emerging Energy and Environmental Challenges

This article considers the political-economic process by which “energy angst” created an embedded nuclear orientation in Japanese energy policymaking, and then how, following Fukushima, Japan initially tried to transform that structural tendency, through a political system poorly suited to reform, before edging back toward its traditional path. Due both to the prevailing systemic bias and the underlying political economy of nuclear power, the process of transformation promises to be a turbulent and extended one, with natural gas and energy efficiency being crucial tools for ameliorating the difficult realities of the domestic status quo.