Navigating the Regulatory Sea

IFCLAHelsinki, 10 June 2010

Graham Smith

Partner, Bird & Bird LLP

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Convergence

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Convergence - technical

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Convergence – legal/regulatory

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Convergence – legal/regulatory

Policy perspective

Illegal offline >>> illegal online

Platform neutral?

Technologically neutral?

Medium neutral?

Take care what you wish for…

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Convergence

Converging platforms

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Platform/medium convergence

<Telecoms + broadcast?>

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Platform/medium convergence

<Telecoms + broadcast + IT?>

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Platform/medium convergence

<Telecoms + broadcast + IT + print media?>

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Platform/medium convergence

<Telecoms + broadcast + IT + print media + UGC>

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Platform/medium convergence – legal and regulatory

Individual speech

"As the most participatory form of mass speech yet developed, the internet deserves the highest protection from

governmental intrusion." District Judge Dalzell, ACLU v Reno, 1996.

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Convergence – legal/regulatory

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Content types

{Voice}{Text}

{Images}

{Music}{Video}

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Content types

{Voice}

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Content types

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Content types

{Text}

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Content types

{Images}

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Content types

{Music}

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Content types

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Content types

{Video}

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Content types

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Another dimension

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Another dimension

Geographical

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Geographical

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Geographical

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Navigating the Regulatory Sea

Maps and charts?

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Expensive. Accurate? Static?

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Useful?

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Another approach

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Navigating the Regulatory Sea

Push the boat out? Bootstrap to legitimacy?

Kids and grown-ups

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Navigating the Regulatory Sea

The unthinkable will happen to someone!

CompuServe, Yahoo!, eBay, GoogleNo perfect courseRisk assessment

Thank you

Graham Smith

Partner, Bird & Bird LLP, London, UK

graham.smith@twobirds.com