Connectivity Said to be Upending Business and Legal Theory
MANCHESTER, U.K. -- The Internet is a powerful communication tool, but it’s also a threat to traditional business, speakers said Thurs. at an Internet Services Providers’ Assn. (ISPA) U.K. seminar here. In addition to sparking obvious dangers such as cybercrime and security breaches, the Internet is upending time-honored business models and roiling legal theory, they said. The U.K., at least, is “going from nowhere to somewhere very unfamiliar, very fast,” said Stephen Speed, dir. of the Dept. of Trade & Industry’s communications & content industries unit.
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Broadband is available to almost all U.K. residents, although only about 60% have PCs and Internet connections, Speed said. Because the U.K. no longer lags in Internet rollout, the govt. is shifting its attention from inputs - - physical infrastructure, market structure, and competitiveness, among others -- to social and economic benefits the cyberworld can bring.
But all that connectivity carries risks, Speed said. Well-worn business models will be destroyed or at least need substantial rewriting. Competition for products and services will come from unexpected directions and sometimes in forms that won’t be recognized until it’s too late. Countries may fail to stay ahead of low-cost economies such as China and India as they claw their way up the value chain. Companies think offshoring labor while keeping their main operations in the West is the way to go, but unless they themselves keep pushing up the value chain, they'll lose, he said.
On the other hand, growing access to Internet connections holds opportunity for Western companies, Speed said. They can develop higher value-added business models to replace offshored jobs. ISPs can “think local and act global” by providing not only personalized and local services but also portals to the outside world. The West can use its pervasive connections to achieve real social as well as economic gains, he said.
The Internet makes it possible for companies from sole traders to major stock market players to play ball with each other, said Stefan Foster, managing dir.- National Computing Centre, which works on effective use of information and communication technologies (ICT). By stimulating interbusiness communication, the Internet has made it easy to launch any product through “viral marketing,” he said. The downside is that unless cyberfraud is resolved, there will quality of service will remain inconsistent throughout the business hierarchy.
One of the more interesting online developments is the rise of blogs, which will require regulation in coming years, said Susan Hall, an ICT law expert. Govts. take blogging seriously so individuals must as well, she said. China, for instance, has ordered all bloggers and private Websites to register with the govt. by June 30 or face fines of around $121,000.
Blogging raises several important legal questions, Hall said. Are bloggers journalists? In 2004, 30 bloggers obtained press accreditation for the Democratic Party’s National Convention -- whereas in March, Apple won a Cal. ruling that journalistic protections against revealing sources don’t apply to bloggers. The answer to the question will affect other areas of the law, such as contempt of court, libel and the U.K. Data Protection Act.
Blogging also prompts employment issues such as how the activity should be treated in company e-mail and Internet policies, Hall said. But the “area to watch” in Europe is a possible clash between the right to free expression granted by the Human Rights Act and efforts to rein in bloggers.