Attention to Counter-Attitudinal Messages in a State Election Campaign

Research following the "selective exposure" model has focused on avoidance of political messages with which a person might disagree. But positive attention to such "counter-attitudinal" messages is worthy of study, in part because normative theories of democracy value exposure to information that might disturb citizens' political predispositions. Surveys of youth (N = 417) and parents (N = 430) examine attention to newspaper, television, and Web messages about candidates. While there is somewhat more attention to messages about and for a person's favored political candidate or party, forms of political involvement (knowledge, curiosity, and discussion) that predict this "attitude-consistent" attention also predict counter-attitudinal attention at least as strongly. Parents' education and students' exposure to civics lessons also predict both kinds of attention. These results suggest that attention to counterattitudinal political messages is worthy of further study as an important goal of political socialization and a criterion of citizen performance in democracy.     

In search of enduring information effects: Evidence from a ten-week panel experiment

The extent to which the electorate uses issue information to update their candidate evaluations over the course of political campaigns has often raised questions about citizen competence. Using a ten-week panel experiment designed to capture the low-information context of most congressional races this study contributes to our understanding of when and by what processes issue information produces enduring effects. Findings reveal that when voters need to assess an ideologically moderate candidate, they rely less on partisan cues but instead of storing issue information in long-term memory – either via a memory-based or on-line process – considerations in short-term memory remained one of the most powerful predictors of candidate evaluation, particularly when new issue information deviated from partisan norms.     

韩国的环保运动和绿党初探

韩国的环保运动和绿党建设在世界上并不属于先进之列,但在亚洲比很多国家先行一步。正是这先行的一步,为文化相似、经济发展阶段相近的周边国家提供了借鉴经验。20世纪90年代全面展开的韩国环保运动,一直坚持草根政治路线,致力模仿欧洲绿党建党。2012年3月成立的绿党,将政治选举和社会运动结合在一起,具有运动政党的典型特征。但是,由于韩国政治制度和社会环境还没有为绿党的发展提供必要的条件,韩国绿党不仅很难进入国会,甚至不能继续正式注册。如何进一步丰富政党政策,巩固政党组织,增加绿色理念的社会认知度,直接决定韩国绿党能否获得新生。     

Understanding Regulatory Governance in Northeast Asia: Environmental and Technological Cooperation among China,Japan and Korea

After the early 1990s, the wave of regionalism covered broader areas in the world, and Northeast Asia, which had weak regional cohesion largely due to history-oriented animosity, gradually developed initiatives for regional cooperation since the late 1990s. This article seeks to address why and how China, Japan, and South Korea have pursued regional cooperation by relying on the concept of ‘regional governance’. It advances two arguments. First, the governments of China, Japan, and South Korea have identified the avoidance of risk from uncertainty as a major objective of promoting trilateral cooperation in specific functional areas. Second, they have gradually intensified the harmonisation of regulatory frameworks in the cooperative process in collaboration with non-state actors. The article examines the arguments by tracing the evolution of trilateral cooperation in environmental protection and information technology (IT) development.     

Data protection in Europe – Some thoughts on reading the academic manifesto

The commentary by academics on the proposed European General Data Protection Regulation in [2013] 29 CLSR 180 has provoked thoughts in response. The responder strongly agrees with the doubts expressed about the definition of personal data, anonymisation and the identifiability of individuals. On the other hand, he disagrees with the views on consent and legitimacy and proposes support for a risk-based approach to data protection. He suggests that data protection does not need to be defended from the attack that it stifles business, but is justifiable for its assertion of fundamental rights. In conclusion, he shares the criticism of the European Commission's delegated and implementing powers and is concerned that the Regulation will be rushed to a conclusion for reasons of political ambition.     

EU update

This is the latest edition of the Bristows column on developments in EU law relating to IP, IT and telecommunications. This news article summarises recent developments that are considered important for practitioners, students and academics in a wide range of information technology, e-commerce, telecommunications and intellectual property areas. It cannot be exhaustive but intends to address the important points. This is a hard copy reference guide, but links to outside web sites are included where possible. No responsibility is assumed for the accuracy of information contained in these links.     

Privacy by design and anonymisation techniques in action: Case study of Match technology

Privacy by Design is now enjoying widespread acceptance. The EU has recently expressly included it as one of the key principles in the revised data protection legal framework. But how does Privacy by design and data anonymisation work in practise? In this article the authors address this question from a practical point of view by analysing a case study on EU Financial Intelligence Units (“FIUs”) using the Ma³tch technology as additional feature to the existing exchange of information via FIU.NET decentralised computer network. They present, analyse, and evaluate Ma³tch technology from the perspective of personal data protection. The authors conclude that Ma³tch technology can be seen as a valuable example of Privacy by Design. It achieves data anonymisation and enhances data minimisation and data security, which are the fundamental elements of Privacy by Design. Therefore, it may not only improve the exchange of information among FIUs and allow for the data processing to be in line with applicable data protection requirements, but it may also substantially contribute to the protection of privacy of related data subjects. At the same time, the case study clearly shows that Privacy by Design needs to be supported and complemented by appropriate organisational and technical procedures to assure that the technology solutions devised to protect privacy would in fact do so.     

The retention of personal information online: A call for international regulation of privacy law

New technologies permit online businesses to reduce expenses and increase efficiency by, for example, storing information in “the cloud”, engaging in online tracking and targeted advertising, location and tracking technologies, and biometrics. However, the potential for technology to facilitate long term retention of customers' personal information raises concerns about the competing right of individuals to the privacy of their personal information. Although the European Commission has recently released a proposal for regulation to “provide a data subject with the right to be forgotten and to erasure”, neither the OECD Privacy Guidelines nor the APEC Privacy Framework includes any requirement to delete personal information. While New Zealand includes a “limited retention principle” in the Privacy Act 1993, apart from one limited exception the privacy principles cannot be enforced in court. Taking New Zealand privacy law as an example, this paper examines the issue of retention of customer data, explains why this is a serious problem and argues that although it could be addressed by appropriate amendments to domestic laws, domestic privacy legislation may not be sufficient in an online environment. In the same way as other areas of law, such as the intellectual property regime, have turned to global regulatory standards which reflect the international nature of their subject matter, international privacy regulation should be the next stage for the information privacy regime.     

格式条款的法价值机理与规制新思路——兼评新《消费者权益保护法》第26条

格式条款因其有助于交易的迅捷而被广泛应用于各种消费领域,但其亦日益沦为经营者侵害消费者利益的工具,并愈演愈烈。因此,此次《消费者权益保护法》着重从防范格式条款滥用的角度对其进行修缮。但是,如果深入剖析格式条款制度所蕴涵的效率与公平法价值及两者间的运行机理,则会发现此次防范和规制格式条款的修改思路依然是旧有规整思路,难以取得法律修改的预期效果。合理而正确的规整思路应当是,区分不同消费领域对公平与效率价值的强弱需求,然后在遵循不同法价值机理的基础上配置相称的规制手段。     

新一代信息技术:机遇与挑战

信息化是全球范围内推动经济和社会变革的重要力量,是增强国家竞争力的制高点。与此同时,由信息技术所带来的信息安全问题亦日益凸显,已成为各国高度关注的问题。应对新一代信息技术挑战的对策主要有:加强管理体制与机制创新,加强信息化软硬件建设,加强网络舆情引导,加大对网络犯罪活动的打击力度与加强公众信息安全教育等。