To play with phantoms : Jean Baudrillard and the evil demon of the simulacrum

It is only by historically contextualizing Baudrillard's concept of the simulacrum that we can understand its form and effects – its historical efficacy,its nihilistic ungrounding of certain epistemological foundations, its subsequent demonization in the West, and the latter's attempt to domesticate its power. Baudrillard opposes the contemporary simulacrum with the Durkheimian symbolic but, as a privileged critical site functioning as the 'real', this only repeats the Western domestication. Ultimately, however, the diabolical power of the simulacrum is too great for the symbolic, and its success today overwhelms Baudrillard himself. The pact with its demon is a dangerous one.     

谈网址在网络司法管辖权确定中的法律地位

有失国际私法的问题研究，尤其是互联网中私法管辖权确定的问题上，目前还没有一种为各国普遍接受的标准，本文拟从网址的法律地位这一法律角度来探讨网络管辖权的确认问题，以期从中得到解决的方法。     

Chilling ISPs… when private regulators act without adequate public framework…

Self-regulation has found its adepts very early, but more academics are beginning to question its appropriateness and calling for a “hybrid regulation” as cyberspace becomes more and more an essential means of communication in everyday life. Yet, today the private sector has never been so strong within cyberspace and the chances to see the flowering of what U.S. lawyers know as public forums keep on diminishing. The success of filtering measures, the implementation is which is most of the time opaque, confirms this trend. More generally, the desire to see private powers confined in the digital environment is far from being granted. This is certainly due in part to the relative obsolescence of legal concepts that are inapt to frame the behavior of intermediaries, which do play the role of regulators. This paper thus seeks to determine and analyse the legal framework within which intermediaries act in cyberspace.     

国家间网络安全竞争的特点

网络空间的内涵和外延不断扩大,网络安全问题逐渐从技术层面向政治、经济、社会、军事等各个层面扩展。在数字时代,国家间网络安全竞争的焦点是科技竞争、数字经济规则的制定,以及网络安全能力的建设。从华为事件到委内瑞拉电网遭受网络攻击,再到脸书公司推出举世瞩目的Libra加密货币,既可以看到网络空间已经成为大国博弈的重要领域和工具,也可以感受到非国家行为体权力不断扩大对国家带来的冲击和挑战。展望未来,网络空间国际治理进程会与现实空间的权力博弈产生复杂的双向互动,其进程的走向将取决于技术与权力两种逻辑的互动结果。     

Building better crime simulations: systematic replication and the introduction of incremental complexity

Computer simulation models have changed the ways in which researchers are able to observe and study social phenomena such as crime. The ability of researchers to replicate the work of others is fundamental to a cumulative science, yet this rarely occurs in computer simulations. In this paper, we argue that, for computer simulations to be seen as a legitimate methodology in social science, and for new knowledge to be generated, serious consideration needs to be given to how simulations could or should be replicated. We develop the concept of systematic replication, a method for developing simulation experiments that move towards a generalisable inference that is directed, explicit, and incorporates complexity incrementally. Finally, we outline how the discrete parts of this process might be carried out in practice, using a simple simulation model.

Kinship assignment with the ForenSeq™ DNA Signature Prep Kit: Sources of error in simulated and real cases

Kinship recognition between anonymous DNA samples is becoming a relevant issue in forensics, more so with the increasing number of DNA profiles in databanks. Also, NGS-based genotyping is being increasingly used in routine personal identification, to simultaneously type large numbers of markers of different kind. In the present work, we explored computationally and experimentally the performance of the ForenSeq™ DNA Signature Prep Kit in identifying the true relationship between two anonymous samples, distinguishing it from other possible relationships. We analyzed with Familias R series of 10,000 pairs with 9 different simulated relationships, corresponding to different degrees of autosomal sharing. For each pair we obtained likelihood ratios for five kinship hypotheses vs. unrelatedness, and used their ranking to identify the preferred relationship. We also typed 21 subjects from two pedigrees, representing from parent-child to 4th cousins relationships. As expected, the power for identifying the true relationship decays in the order of autosomal sharing. Parent-child and full siblings can be robustly identified against other relationships. For half-siblings the chance of reaching a significant conclusion is already small. For more distant relationships the proportion of cases correctly and significantly identified is 10% or less. Bidirectional errors in kinship attribution include the suggestion of relatedness when this does not exist (10–50%), and the suggestion of independence in pairs of individuals more than 4 generations apart (25–60%). The real cases revealed a relevant effect of genotype miscalling at some loci, which could only be partly avoided by modulating the analysis parameters. In conclusion, with the exception of first degree relatives, the kit can be useful to inform additional investigations, but does not usually provide probatory results.     

Cyberspace Effects on Civil Society. The Ultimate Game-Changer or Not?

ABSTRACT

The article studies the effects of the emergence of cyberspace, or digitization, on civil society, and develops an analytical framework to that effect. It is distinguished between four types of civil societies: apolitical, political, transnational, and uncivic. Each type of civil society is considered separately vis-à-vis cyberspace developments in order to understand what kind of civil society is enhanced by these developments and, conversely, what kind of civil society is constrained. This understanding helps inform how cyberspace has changed the more generic society-state relations. While one can identify many instrumental changes and developments in civil society practices, the article concludes that the emergence of cyberspace has not profoundly changed society in terms of the relative power of one type of civil society over another. Thus, its transformative power is rather limited in a more fundamental sense. The empirical focus of the article is on Norwegian civil society, representing a Western developed democratic state, but it is argued that while the empirical results may vary, the analytical framework can arguably be applied and tailored to any society.     

Simulation for Theory Testing and Experimentation: An Example Using Routine Activity Theory and Street Robbery

Achieving a better understanding of the crime event in its spatio-temporal context is an important research area in criminology with major implications for improving policy and developing effective crime prevention strategies. However, significant barriers related to data and methods exist for conducting this type of research. The research requires micro-level data about individual behavior that is difficult to obtain and methods capable of modeling the dynamic, spatio-temporal interaction of offenders, victims, and potential guardians at the micro level. This paper presents simulation modeling as a method for addressing these challenges. Specifically, agent-based modeling, when integrated with geographic information systems, offers the ability to model individual behavior within a real environment. The method is demonstrated by operationalizing and testing routine activity theory as it applies to the crime of street robbery. Model results indicate strong support for the basic premise of routine activity theory; as time spent away from home increases, crime will increase. The strength of the method is in providing a research platform for translating theory into models that can be discussed, shared, tested and enhanced with the goal of building scientific knowledge.

CYBER‐ABUSE—A NEW WORLDWIDE THREAT TO CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

Cyberspace is a new frontier for both international and domestic family law. On the one hand, it presents great opportunities for society and, on the other, great dangers particularly for children. This paper explores a number of issues from a domestic and international family law perspective. These issues include:

• ? What is cyberspace, how has it emerged, and where is it likely to go?
• ? What are the potential dangers for children that arise from children's engagement with cyberspace?
• ? What is the nature and extent of domestic and international family laws that protect children from the dangers of cyberspace?
• ? What are some of the present and emerging policy issues that impact on these matters?

Cyber‐abuse is a term that encompasses a wide range of aggressive online activities.