IT law

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IT_law 

 

Information technology law (also called "cyberlaw") concerns the law of information technology, including computing and the internet. It is related to legal informatics, and governs the digital dissemination of both (digitalized) information and software, information security and electronic commerce. aspects and it has been described as "paper laws" for a "paperless environment". It raises specific issues of intellectual property in computing and online, contract law, privacy, freedom of expression, and jurisdiction.

History

The regulation of information technology, through computing and the internet evolved out of the development of the first publicly funded networks, such as ARPANET and NSFNET in the United States or JANET in the United Kingdom.

Areas of law

IT law does not constitute a separate area of law rather it encompasses aspects of contract, intellectual property, privacy and data protection laws. Intellectual property is an important component of IT law, including copyright, rules on fair use, and special rules on copy protection for digital media, and circumvention of such schemes. The area of software patents is controversial, and still evolving in Europe and elsewhere.

The related topics of software licenses, end user license agreements, free software licenses and open-source licenses can involve discussion of product liability, professional liability of individual developers, warranties, contract law, trade secrets and intellectual property.

In various countries, areas of the computing and communication industries are regulated – often strictly – by governmental bodies.

There are rules on the uses to which computers and computer networks may be put, in particular there are rules on unauthorized access, data privacy and spamming. There are also limits on the use of encryption and of equipment which may be used to defeat copy protection schemes. The export of hardware and software between certain states within the United States is also controlled.

There are laws governing trade on the Internet, taxation, consumer protection, and advertising. 

There are laws on censorship versus freedom of expression, rules on public access to government information, and individual access to information held on them by private bodies. There are laws on what data must be retained for law enforcement, and what may not be gathered or retained, for privacy reasons.

In certain circumstances and jurisdictions, computer communications may be used in evidence, and to establish contracts. New methods of tapping and surveillance made possible by computers have wildly differing rules on how they may be used by law enforcement bodies and as evidence in court.

Computerized voting technology, from polling machines to internet and mobile-phone voting, raise a host of legal issues.

Some states limit access to the Internet, by law as well as by technical means.

Jurisdiction

Issues of jurisdiction and sovereignty have quickly come to the fore in the era of the Internet.

Jurisdiction is an aspect of state sovereignty and it refers to judicial, legislative and administrative competence. Although jurisdiction is an aspect of sovereignty, it is not coextensive with it. The laws of a nation may have extraterritorial impact extending the jurisdiction beyond the sovereign and territorial limits of that nation. This is particularly problematic as the medium of the Internet does not explicitly recognize sovereignty and territorial limitations. There is no uniform, international jurisdictional law of universal application, and such questions are generally a matter of conflict of laws, particularly private international law. An example would be where the contents of a web site are legal in one country and illegal in another. In the absence of a uniform jurisdictional code, legal practitioners are generally left with a conflict of law issue.

Another major problem of cyberlaw lies in whether to treat the Internet as if it were physical space (and thus subject to a given jurisdiction's laws) or to act as if the Internet is a world unto itself (and therefore free of such restraints). Those who favor the latter view often feel that government should leave the Internet community to self-regulate. John Perry Barlow, for example, has addressed the governments of the world and stated, "Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract. This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours. Our world is different". A more balanced alternative is the Declaration of Cybersecession: "Human beings possess a mind, which they are absolutely free to inhabit with no legal constraints. Human civilization is developing its own (collective) mind. All we want is to be free to inhabit it with no legal constraints. Since you make sure we cannot harm you, you have no ethical right to intrude our lives. So stop intruding!" Other scholars argue for more of a compromise between the two notions, such as Lawrence Lessig's argument that "The problem for law is to work out how the norms of the two communities are to apply given that the subject to whom they apply may be in both places at once" (Lessig, Code 190).

With the internationalism of the Internet, jurisdiction is a much more tricky area than before, and courts in different countries have taken various views on whether they have jurisdiction over items published on the Internet, or business agreements entered into over the Internet. This can cover areas from contract law, trading standards and tax, through rules on unauthorized access, data privacy and spamming to more political areas such as freedom of speech, censorship, libel or sedition.

Certainly, the frontier idea that the law does not apply in "Cyberspace" is not true. In fact, conflicting laws from different jurisdictions may apply, simultaneously, to the same event. The Internet does not tend to make geographical and jurisdictional boundaries clear, but Internet users remain in physical jurisdictions and are subject to laws independent of their presence on the Internet. As such, a single transaction may involve the laws of at least three jurisdictions:

1. the laws of the state/nation in which the user resides,
2. the laws of the state/nation that apply where the server hosting the transaction is located, and
3. the laws of the state/nation which apply to the person or business with whom the transaction takes place.

So a user in one of the United States conducting a transaction with another user in Britain through a server in Canada could theoretically be subject to the laws of all three countries as they relate to the transaction at hand.

In practical terms, a user of the Internet is subject to the laws of the state or nation within which he or she goes online. Thus, in the U.S., Jake Baker faced criminal charges for his e-conduct, and numerous users of peer-to-peer file-sharing software were subject to civil lawsuits for copyright infringement. This system runs into conflicts, however, when these suits are international in nature. Simply put, legal conduct in one nation may be decidedly illegal in another. In fact, even different standards concerning the burden of proof in a civil case can cause jurisdictional problems. For example, an American celebrity, claiming to be insulted by an online American magazine, faces a difficult task of winning a lawsuit against that magazine for libel. But if the celebrity has ties, economic or otherwise, to England, he or she can sue for libel in the English court system, where the burden of proof for establishing defamation may make the case more favorable to the plaintiff.

Internet governance is a live issue in international fora such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the role of the current US-based co-ordinating body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was discussed in the UN-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in December 2003.

Internet law

The law that regulates the Internet must be considered in the context of the geographic scope of the Internet and political borders that are crossed in the process of sending data around the globe. The unique global structure of the Internet raises not only jurisdictional issues, that is, the authority to make and enforce laws affecting the Internet, but also questions concerning the nature of the laws themselves.

In their essay "Law and Borders – The Rise of Law in Cyberspace", David R. Johnson and David G. Post argue that it became necessary for the Internet to govern itself and instead of obeying the laws of a particular country, "Internet citizens" will obey the laws of electronic entities like service providers. Instead of identifying as a physical person, Internet citizens will be known by their usernames or email addresses (or, more recently, by their Facebook accounts). Over time, suggestions that the Internet can be self-regulated as being its own trans-national "nation" are being supplanted by a multitude of external and internal regulators and forces, both governmental and private, at many different levels. The nature of Internet law remains a legal paradigm shift, very much in the process of development.

Leaving aside the most obvious examples of governmental content monitoring and internet censorship in nations like China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, there are four primary forces or modes of regulation of the Internet derived from a socioeconomic theory referred to as Pathetic dot theory by Lawrence Lessig in his book, Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace:

1. Law: What Lessig calls "Standard East Coast Code", from laws enacted by government in Washington D.C. This is the most self-evident of the four modes of regulation. As the numerous United States statutes, codes, regulations, and evolving case law make clear, many actions on the Internet are already subject to conventional laws, both with regard to transactions conducted on the Internet and content posted. Areas like gambling, child pornography, and fraud are regulated in very similar ways online as off-line. While one of the most controversial and unclear areas of evolving laws is the determination of what forum has subject matter jurisdiction over activity (economic and other) conducted on the internet, particularly as cross border transactions affect local jurisdictions, it is certainly clear that substantial portions of internet activity are subject to traditional regulation, and that conduct that is unlawful off-line is presumptively unlawful online, and subject to traditional enforcement of similar laws and regulations.
2. Architecture: What Lessig calls "West Coast Code", from the programming code of the Silicon Valley. These mechanisms concern the parameters of how information can and cannot be transmitted across the Internet. Everything from internet filtering software (which searches for keywords or specific URLs and blocks them before they can even appear on the computer requesting them), to encryption programs, to the very basic architecture of TCP/IP protocols and user interfaces falls within this category of mainly private regulation. It is arguable that all other modes of internet regulation either rely on, or are significantly affected by, West Coast Code.
3. Norms: As in all other modes of social interaction, conduct is regulated by social norms and conventions in significant ways. While certain activities or kinds of conduct online may not be specifically prohibited by the code architecture of the Internet, or expressly prohibited by traditional governmental law, nevertheless these activities or conduct are regulated by the standards of the community in which the activity takes place, in this case internet "users". Just as certain patterns of conduct will cause an individual to be ostracized from our real world society, so too certain actions will be censored or self-regulated by the norms of whatever community one chooses to associate with on the internet.
4. Markets: Closely allied with regulation by social norms, markets also regulate certain patterns of conduct on the Internet. While economic markets will have limited influence over non-commercial portions of the Internet, the Internet also creates a virtual marketplace for information, and such information affects everything from the comparative valuation of services to the traditional valuation of stocks. In addition, the increase in popularity of the Internet as a means for transacting all forms of commercial activity, and as a forum for advertisement, has brought the laws of supply and demand to cyberspace. Market forces of supply and demand also affect connectivity to the Internet, the cost of bandwidth, and the availability of software to facilitate the creation, posting, and use of internet content.

These forces or regulators of the Internet do not act independently of each other. For example, governmental laws may be influenced by greater societal norms, and markets affected by the nature and quality of the code that operates a particular system.

Net neutrality

Another major area of interest is net neutrality, which affects the regulation of the infrastructure of the Internet. Though not obvious to most Internet users, every packet of data sent and received by every user on the Internet passes through routers and transmission infrastructure owned by a collection of private and public entities, including telecommunications companies, universities, and governments. This is turning into one of the most critical aspects of cyber Law and has immediate jurisdictional implications, as laws in force in one jurisdiction have the potential to have dramatic effects in other jurisdictions when host servers or telecommunications companies are affected. Very recently, Netherlands became the first country in Europe and the second in the world, after Chile to pass law relating to it. In U.S, on 12 March 2015, the FCC released the specific details of its new net neutrality rule. And on 13 April 2015, the FCC published the final rule on its new regulations

Free speech on the Internet

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls for the protection of free expression in all media. Which includes right such as freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

In comparison to traditional print-based media, the accessibility and relative anonymity of cyber space has torn down traditional barriers between an individual and his or her ability to publish. Any person with an internet connection has the potential to reach an audience of millions. These complexities have taken many forms, three notable examples being the Jake Baker incident, in which the limits of obscene Internet postings were at issue, the controversial distribution of the DeCSS code, and Gutnick v Dow Jones, in which libel laws were considered in the context of online publishing. The last example was particularly significant because it epitomized the complexities inherent to applying one country's laws (nation-specific by definition) to the internet (international by nature). In 2003, Jonathan Zittrain considered this issue in his paper, "Be Careful What You Ask For: Reconciling a Global Internet and Local Law".

In the UK the case of Keith-Smith v Williams confirmed that existing libel laws applied to internet discussions.

In terms of the tort liability of ISPs and hosts of internet forums, Section 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act may provide immunity in the United States.

Internet censorship

In many countries, speech through cyberspace has proven to be another means of communication which has been regulated by the government. The "Open Net Initiative", whose mission statement is "to investigate and challenge state filtration and surveillance practices" to "...generate a credible picture of these practices," has released numerous reports documenting the filtration of internet-speech in various countries. While China has thus far proven to be the most rigorous in its attempts to filter unwanted parts of the internet from its citizens, many other countries – including Singapore, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia – have engaged in similar practices of Internet censorship. In one of the most vivid examples of information control, the Chinese government for a short time transparently forwarded requests to the Google search engine to its own, state-controlled search engines.

These examples of filtration bring to light many underlying questions concerning the freedom of speech. For example, does the government have a legitimate role in limiting access to information? And if so, what forms of regulation are acceptable? For example, some argue that the blocking of "blogspot" and other websites in India failed to reconcile the conflicting interests of speech and expression on the one hand and legitimate government concerns on the other hand.

The creation of privacy in U.S. Internet law

Warren and Brandeis

At the close of the 19th century, concerns about privacy captivated the general public, and led to the 1890 publication of Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis: "The Right to Privacy". The vitality of this article can be seen today, when examining the USSC decision of Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27 (2001) where it is cited by the majority, those in concurrence, and even those in dissent.

The motivation of both authors to write such an article is heavily debated amongst scholars, however, two developments during this time give some insight to the reasons behind it. First, the sensationalistic press and the concurrent rise and use of "yellow journalism" to promote the sale of newspapers in the time following the Civil War brought privacy to the forefront of the public eye. The other reason that brought privacy to the forefront of public concern was the technological development of "instant photography". This article set the stage for all privacy legislation to follow during the 20 and 21st centuries.

Reasonable Expectation of Privacy Test and emerging technology

In 1967, the United States Supreme Court decision in Katz v United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967) established what is known as the Reasonable Expectation of Privacy Test to determine the applicability of the Fourth Amendment in a given situation. The test was not noted by the majority, but instead it was articulated by the concurring opinion of Justice Harlan. Under this test, 1) a person must exhibit an "actual (subjective) expectation of privacy" and 2) "the expectation [must] be one that society is prepared to recognize as 'reasonable'".

Privacy Act of 1974

Inspired by the Watergate scandal, the United States Congress enacted the Privacy Act of 1974 just four months after the resignation of then President Richard Nixon. In passing this Act, Congress found that "the privacy of an individual is directly affected by the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personal information by Federal agencies" and that "the increasing use of computers and sophisticated information technology, while essential to the efficient operations of the Government, has greatly magnified the harm to individual privacy that can occur from any collection, maintenance, use, or dissemination of personal information".

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978

Codified at 50 U.S.C. §§ 1801-1811, this act establishes standards and procedures for use of electronic surveillance to collect "foreign intelligence" within the United States. §1804(a)(7)(B). FISA overrides the Electronic Communications Privacy Act during investigations when foreign intelligence is "a significant purpose" of said investigation. 50 U.S.C. § 1804(a)(7)(B) and §1823(a)(7)(B). Another interesting result of FISA, is the creation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). All FISA orders are reviewed by this special court of federal district judges. The FISC meets in secret, with all proceedings usually also held from both the public eye and those targets of the desired surveillance.

(1986) Electronic Communication Privacy Act

The ECPA represents an effort by the United States Congress to modernize federal wiretap law. The ECPA amended Title III and included two new acts in response to developing computer technology and communication networks. Thus the ECPA in the domestic venue into three parts: 1) Wiretap Act, 2) Stored Communications Act, and 3) The Pen Register Act.

• Types of Communication
  • Wire Communication: Any communication containing the human voice that travels at some point across a wired medium such as radio, satellite or cable.
  • Oral Communication:
  • Electronic Communication

1. The Wiretap Act: For Information see Wiretap Act
2. The Stored Communications Act: For information see Stored Communications Act
3. The Pen Register Act: For information see Pen Register Act

(1994) Driver's Privacy Protection Act

The DPPA was passed in response to states selling motor vehicle records to private industry. These records contained personal information such as name, address, phone number, SSN, medical information, height, weight, gender, eye color, photograph and date of birth. In 1994, Congress passed the Driver's Privacy Protection (DPPA), 18 U.S.C. §§ 2721-2725, to cease this activity.

For more information see: Driver's Privacy Protection Act

(1999) Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

-This act authorizes widespread sharing of personal information by financial institutions such as banks, insurers, and investment companies. The GLBA permits sharing of personal information between companies joined together or affiliated as well as those companies unaffiliated. To protect privacy, the act requires a variety of agencies such as the SEC, FTC, etc. to establish "appropriate standards for the financial institutions subject to their jurisdiction" to "insure security and confidentiality of customer records and information" and "protect against unauthorized access" to this information. 15 U.S.C. § 6801

(2002) Homeland Security Act

-Passed by Congress in 2002, the Homeland Security Act, 6 U.S.C. § 222, consolidated 22 federal agencies into what is commonly known today as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The HSA, also created a Privacy Office under the DoHS. The Secretary of Homeland Security must "appoint a senior official to assume primary responsibility for privacy policy." This privacy official's responsibilities include but are not limited to: ensuring compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974, evaluating "legislative and regulatory proposals involving the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by the Federal Government", while also preparing an annual report to Congress.
For more information see: Homeland Security Act

(2004) Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act

-This Act mandates that intelligence be "provided in its most shareable form" that the heads of intelligence agencies and federal departments "promote a culture of information sharing." The IRTPA also sought to establish protection of privacy and civil liberties by setting up a five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. This Board offers advice to both the President of the United States and the entire executive branch of the Federal Government concerning its actions to ensure that the branch's information sharing policies are adequately protecting privacy and civil liberties.
For more information see: Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act

Legal enactments – examples

United Kingdom

The Computer Misuse Act 1990 enacted by the United Kingdom on 29 June 1990, and which came into force on 29 August 1990, is an example of one of the earliest such legal enactments. This Act was enacted with an express purpose of making "provision for securing computer material against unauthorized access or modification." Certain major provisions of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 relate to:

• "unauthorized access to computer materials",
• "unauthorized access with intent to commit or facilitate the commission of further offences", and
• "unauthorized modification of computer material."

The impact of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 has been limited and with the adoption of the Council of Europe adopts its Convention on Cyber-Crime, it has been indicated that amending legislation would be introduced in parliamentary session 2004–05 in order to rectify possible gaps in its coverage, which are many.

The CMA 1990 has many weaknesses; the most notable is its inability to cater for, or provide suitable protection against, a host of high tech attacks/crimes which have become more prevalent in the last decade. Certain attacks such as DDOS and botnet attacks can not be effectively brought to justice under the CMA. This act has been under review for a number of years. Computer crimes such as electronic theft are usually prosecuted in the UK under the legislation that caters for traditional theft (Theft Act 1968) because the CMA is so ineffective.

India

An example of information technology law is India's Information Technology Act, 2000, which was substantially amended in 2008. The IT Act, 2000 came into force on 17 October 2000. This Act applies to whole of India, and its provisions also apply to any offense or contravention, committed even outside the territorial jurisdiction of Republic of India, by any person irrespective of his nationality. In order to attract provisions of this Act, such an offence or contravention should involve a computer, computer system, or computer network located in India. The IT Act 2000 provides an extraterritorial applicability to its provisions by virtue of section 1(2) read with section 75. This Act has 90 sections.

India's The Information Technology Act 2000 has tried to assimilate legal principles available in several such laws (relating to information technology) enacted earlier in several other countries, as also various guidelines pertaining to information technology law. The Act gives legal validity to electronic contracts, recognition of electronic signatures. This is a modern legislation which makes acts like hacking, data theft, spreading of virus, identity theft, defamation (sending offensive messages) pornography, child pornography, cyber terrorism, a criminal offence. The Act is supplemented by a number of rules which includes rules for, cyber cafes, electronic service delivery, data security, blocking of websites. It also has rules for observance of due diligence by internet intermediaries (ISP's, network service providers, cyber cafes, etc.). Any person affected by data theft, hacking, spreading of viruses can apply for compensation from Adjudicator appointed under Section 46 as well as file a criminal complaint. Appeal from adjudicator lies to TDSAT

Notable cases

Section 66

• In February 2001, in one of the first cases, the Delhi police arrested two men running a web-hosting company. The company had shut down a website over non-payment of dues. The owner of the site had claimed that he had already paid and complained to the police. The Delhi police had charged the men for hacking under Section 66 of the IT Act and breach of trust under Section 408 of the Indian Penal Code. The two men had to spend 6 days in Tihar jail waiting for bail. Bhavin Turakhia, chief executive officer of directi.com, a webhosting firm said that this interpretation of the law would be problematic for web-hosting companies.

Section 66A Removed

• In September 2010, a freelance cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was arrested under Section 66A of the IT Act, Section 2 of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and for sedition under the Section 124 of the Indian Penal Code. His cartoons depicting widespread corruption in India were considered offensive.
• On 12 April 2012, a Chemistry professor from Jadavpur University, Ambikesh Mahapatra, was arrested for sharing a cartoon of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and then Railway Minister Mukul Roy. The email was sent from the email address of a housing society. Subrata Sengupta, the secretary of the housing society, was also arrested. They were charged under Section 66A and B of the IT Act, for defamation under Sections 500, for obscene gesture to a woman under Section 509, and abetting a crime under Section 114 of the Indian Penal Code.
• On 30 October 2012, a Puducherry businessman Ravi Srinivasan was arrested under Section 66A. He had sent tweet accusing Karti Chidambaram, son of then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, of corruption. Karti Chidambaram had complained to the police.
• On 19 November 2012, a 21-year-old girl was arrested from Palghar for posting a message on Facebook criticising the shutdown in Mumbai for the funeral of Bal Thackeray. Another 20-year-old girl was arrested for "liking" the post. They were initially charged under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (hurting religious sentiments) and Section 66A of the IT Act. Later, Section 295A was replaced by Section 505(2) (promoting enmity between classes). A group of Shiv Sena workers vandalised a hospital run by the uncle of one of girls. On 31 January 2013, a local court dropped all charges against the girls.
• On 18 March 2015, a teenaged boy was arrested from Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, for making a post on Facebook insulting politician Azam Khan. The post allegedly contained hate speech against a community and was falsely attributed to Azam Khan by the boy. He was charged under Section 66A of the IT Act, and Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different religions), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 505 (public mischief) of Indian Penal Code. After the Section 66A was repealed on 24 March, the state government said that they would continue the prosecution under the remaining charges.

Digital evidence collection and cyber forensics remain at a very nascent stage in India with few experts and less than adequate infrastructure. In recent cases, Indian Judiciary has recognized that tampering with digital evidence is very easy.

Other

Many Asian and Middle Eastern nations use any number of combinations of code-based regulation (one of Lessig's four methods of net regulation) to block material that their governments have deemed inappropriate for their citizens to view. PRC, Saudi Arabia and Iran are three examples of nations that have achieved high degrees of success in regulating their citizens' access to the Internet.

Electronic signature laws

• Australia – Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Cth) (also note that there is State and Territory mirror legislation)
• Costa Rica – Digital Signature Law 8454 (2005)
• European Union – Electronic Signatures Directive (1999/93/EC)
• Mexico – E-Commerce Act [2000]
• U.S. – Digital Signature And Electronic Authentication Law
  • • • U.S. – Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN)
• U.S. – Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA)
• U.S. – Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
• U.S. – Uniform Electronic Transactions Act – adopted by 46 states
• UK – s.7 Electronic Communications Act 2000

Information technology law

1. Florida Electronic Security Act
2. Illinois Electronic Commerce Security Act
3. Texas Penal Code – Computer Crimes Statute
4. Maine Criminal Code – Computer Crimes
5. Singapore Electronic Transactions Act
6. Malaysia Computer Crimes Act
7. Malaysia Digital Signature Act
8. UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Commerce
9. Information Technology Act 2000 of India
10. Thailand Computer Crimes Act B.E.2550

Information Technology Guidelines

1. ABA Digital Signature Guidelines
2. United States Office of Management and Budget

Enforcement agencies

The Information Technology Laws of various countries, and / or their criminal laws generally stipulate enforcement agencies, entrusted with the task of enforcing the legal provisions and requirements.

United States Federal Agencies

Many United States federal agencies oversee the use of information technology. Their regulations are promulgated in the Code of Federal Regulations of the United States.

Over 25 U.S. federal agencies have regulations concerning the use of digital and electronic signatures.

India

A live example of such an enforcement agency is Cyber Crime Police Station, Bangalore, India's first exclusive Cyber Crime enforcement agency.

• Other examples of such enforcement agencies include:
• Cydf Crime Investigation Cell of India's Mumbai Police.
• Cyber Crime Police Station of the state Government of Andhra Pradesh, India. This Police station has jurisdiction over the entire state of Andhra Pradesh, and functions from the Hyderabad city.
• In South India, the Crime Branch of Criminal Investigation Department, in Tamil Nadu, India, has a Cyber Crime Cell at Chennai.
• In East India, Cyber Crime Cells have been set up by the Kolkata Police as well as the Criminal Investigation Department, West Bengal.

Quotations

• "In Cyberspace, the First Amendment is a local ordinance."
  — John Perry Barlow, quoted by Mitchell Kapor in the foreword to The Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet
• "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
  — Tim May, signature, from 1996

Information privacy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_privacy 

 

Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data,
technology, the public expectation of privacy, legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data privacy or data protection.

Data privacy is a challenging since it attempts to use data while protecting an individual's privacy preferences and personally identifiable information. The fields of computer security, data security, and information security all design and use software, hardware, and human resources to address this issue.

Authorities

Laws

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (European Union)
• Data Protection Directive (European Union)
• California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) (California)
• Privacy Act (Canada)
• Privacy Act 1988 (Australia)
• Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 (India)
• China Cyber Security Law (CCSL) (China)
• Data Protection Act, 2012 (Ghana)
• Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (Singapore)
• Republic Act No. 10173: Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Philippines)
• Data protection (privacy) laws in Russia
• Data Protection Act 1998 (United Kingdom)
• Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL) (Bahrain)

Authorities by country

See also: Information commissioner and National data protection authority

• National data protection authorities in the European Union and the European Free Trade Association
• Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (Australia)
• Privacy Commissioner (New Zealand)
• Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL, France)
• Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Germany)
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (Hong Kong)
• Data Protection Commissioner (Ireland)
• Office of the Data Protection Supervisor (Isle of Man)
• National Privacy Commission (Philippines)
• Personal Data Protection Commission (Singapore)
• Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (Switzerland)
• Information Commissioner's Office (ICO, United Kingdom)

Information types

Various types of personal information often come under privacy concerns.

Cable television

This describes the ability to control what information one reveals about oneself over cable television, and who can access that information. For example, third parties can track IP TV programs someone has watched at any given time. "The addition of any information in a broadcasting stream is not required for an audience rating survey, additional devices are not requested to be installed in the houses of viewers or listeners, and without the necessity of their cooperations, audience ratings can be automatically performed in real-time."

Educational

In the United Kingdom in 2012, the Education Secretary Michael Gove described the National Pupil Database as a "rich dataset" whose value could be "maximised" by making it more openly accessible, including to private companies. Kelly Fiveash of The Register said that this could mean "a child's school life including exam results, attendance, teacher assessments and even characteristics" could be available, with third-party organizations being responsible for anonymizing any publications themselves, rather than the data being anonymized by the government before being handed over. An example of a data request that Gove indicated had been rejected in the past, but might be possible under an improved version of privacy regulations, was for "analysis on sexual exploitation".

Financial

Information about a person's financial transactions, including the amount of assets, positions held in stocks or funds, outstanding debts, and purchases can be sensitive. If criminals gain access to information such as a person's accounts or credit card numbers, that person could become the victim of fraud or identity theft. Information about a person's purchases can reveal a great deal about that person's history, such as places he/she has visited, whom he/she has contacted with, products he/she has used, his/her activities and habits, or medications he/she has used. In some cases, corporations may use this information to target individuals with marketing customized towards those individual's personal preferences, which that person may or may not approve.

Internet

The ability to control the information one reveals about oneself over the internet, and who can access that information, has become a growing concern. These concerns include whether email can be stored or read by third parties without consent, or whether third parties can continue to track the websites that someone visited. Another concern is if websites one visited can collect, store, and possibly share personally identifiable information about users.

The advent of various search engines and the use of data mining created a capability for data about individuals to be collected and combined from a wide variety of sources very easily. The FTC has provided a set of guidelines that represent widely accepted concepts concerning fair information practices in an electronic marketplace called the Fair Information Practice Principles.

To avoid giving away too much personal information, emails should be encrypted. Browsing of web pages as well as other online activities should be done trace-less via "anonymizers", in case those are not trusted, by open-source distributed anonymizers, so called mix nets, such as I2P or Tor – The Onion Router. VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are another "anonymizer" that can be used to give someone more protection while online. This includes obfuscating and encrypting web traffic so that other groups cannot see or mine it.

Email isn't the only internet content with privacy concerns. In an age where increasing amounts of information is online, social networking sites pose additional privacy challenges. People may be tagged in photos or have valuable information exposed about themselves either by choice or unexpectedly by others. Data about location can also be accidentally published, for example, when someone posts a picture with a store as a background. Caution should be exercised when posting information online, social networks vary in what they allow users to make private and what remains publicly accessible. Without strong security settings in place and careful attention to what remains public, a person can be profiled by searching for and collecting disparate pieces of information, worst case leading to cases of cyberstalking or reputation damage.

Locational

As location tracking capabilities of mobile devices are advancing (location-based services), problems related to user privacy arise. Location data is among the most sensitive data currently being collected. A list of potentially sensitive professional and personal information that could be inferred about an individual knowing only his mobility trace was published recently by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. These include the movements of a competitor sales force, attendance of a particular church or an individual's presence in a motel, or at an abortion clinic. A recent MIT study by de Montjoye et al. showed that four spatio-temporal points, approximate places and times, are enough to uniquely identify 95% of 1.5 million people in a mobility database. The study further shows that these constraints hold even when the resolution of the dataset is low. Therefore, even coarse or blurred datasets provide little anonymity.

Medical

People may not wish for their medical records to be revealed to others. This may be because they have concern that it might affect their insurance coverage or employment. Or, it may be because they would not wish for others to know about any medical or psychological conditions or treatments that would bring embarrassment upon themselves. Revealing medical data could also reveal other details about one's personal life. There are three major categories of medical privacy: informational (the degree of control over personal information), physical (the degree of physical inaccessibility to others), and psychological (the extent to which the doctor respects patients’ cultural beliefs, inner thoughts, values, feelings, and religious practices and allows them to make personal decisions). Physicians and psychiatrists in many cultures and countries have standards for doctor–patient relationships, which include maintaining confidentiality. In some cases, the physician–patient privilege is legally protected. These practices are in place to protect the dignity of patients, and to ensure that patients feel free to reveal complete and accurate information required for them to receive the correct treatment. To view the United States' laws on governing privacy of private health information, see HIPAA and the HITECH Act. The Australian law is the Privacy Act 1988 Australia as well as state-based health records legislation.

Political

Political privacy has been a concern since voting systems emerged in ancient times. The secret ballot is the simplest and most widespread measure to ensure that political views are not known to anyone other than the voters themselves—it is nearly universal in modern democracy, and considered to be a basic right of citizenship. In fact, even where other rights of privacy do not exist, this type of privacy very often does. Unfortunately, there are several forms of voting fraud or privacy violations possible with the use of digital voting machines.

Legality

The legal protection of the right to privacy in general – and of data privacy in particular – varies greatly around the world.

Laws and regulations related to Privacy and Data Protection are constantly changing, it is seen as important to keep abreast of any changes in the law and to continually reassess compliance with data privacy and security regulations. Within academia, Institutional Review Boards function to assure that adequate measures are taken to ensure both the privacy and confidentiality of human subjects in research.

Privacy concerns exist wherever personally identifiable information or other sensitive information is collected, stored, used, and finally destroyed or deleted – in digital form or otherwise. Improper or non-existent disclosure control can be the root cause for privacy issues. Informed consent mechanisms including dynamic consent are important in communicating to data subjects the different uses of their personally identifiable information. Data privacy issues may arise in response to information from a wide range of sources, such as:

• Healthcare records
• Criminal justice investigations and proceedings
• Financial institutions and transactions
• Biological traits, such as genetic material
• Residence and geographic records
• Privacy breach
• Location-based service and geolocation
• Web surfing behavior or user preferences using persistent cookies
• Academic research

Protection of privacy in information systems

As heterogeneous information systems with differing privacy rules are interconnected and information is shared, policy appliances will be required to reconcile, enforce, and monitor an increasing amount of privacy policy rules (and laws). There are two categories of technology to address privacy protection in commercial IT systems: communication and enforcement.

Policy communication

• P3P – The Platform for Privacy Preferences. P3P is a standard for communicating privacy practices and comparing them to the preferences of individuals.

Policy enforcement

• XACML – The Extensible Access Control Markup Language together with its Privacy Profile is a standard for expressing privacy policies in a machine-readable language which a software system can use to enforce the policy in enterprise IT systems.
• EPAL – The Enterprise Privacy Authorization Language is very similar to XACML, but is not yet a standard.
• WS-Privacy - "Web Service Privacy" will be a specification for communicating privacy policy in web services. For example, it may specify how privacy policy information can be embedded in the SOAP envelope of a web service message.

Protecting privacy on the internet

On the internet many users give away a lot of information about themselves: unencrypted e-mails can be read by the administrators of an e-mail server, if the connection is not encrypted (no HTTPS), and also the internet service provider and other parties sniffing the network traffic of that connection are able to know the contents. The same applies to any kind of traffic generated on the Internet, including web browsing, instant messaging, and others. In order not to give away too much personal information, e-mails can be encrypted and browsing of webpages as well as other online activities can be done traceless via anonymizers, or by open source distributed anonymizers, so-called mix networks. Well known open-source mix nets include I2P – The Anonymous Network and Tor.

Improving privacy through individualization

Computer privacy can be improved through individualization. Currently security messages are designed for the "average user", i.e. the same message for everyone. Researchers have posited that individualized messages and security "nudges", crafted based on users' individual differences and personality traits, can be used for further improvements for each person's compliance with computer security and privacy.

United States Safe Harbor program and passenger name record issues

The United States Department of Commerce created the International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles certification program in response to the 1995 Directive on Data Protection (Directive 95/46/EC) of the European Commission. Directive 95/46/EC declares in Chapter IV Article 25 that personal data may only be transferred from the countries in the European Economic Area to countries which provide adequate privacy protection. Historically, establishing adequacy required the creation of national laws broadly equivalent to those implemented by Directive 95/46/EU. Although there are exceptions to this blanket prohibition – for example where the disclosure to a country outside the EEA is made with the consent of the relevant individual (Article 26(1)(a)) – they are limited in practical scope. As a result, Article 25 created a legal risk to organisations which transfer personal data from Europe to the United States.

The program regulates the exchange of passenger name record information between the EU and the US. According to the EU directive, personal data may only be transferred to third countries if that country provides an adequate level of protection. Some exceptions to this rule are provided, for instance when the controller himself can guarantee that the recipient will comply with the data protection rules.

The European Commission has set up the "Working party on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data," commonly known as the "Article 29 Working Party". The Working Party gives advice about the level of protection in the European Union and third countries.

The Working Party negotiated with U.S. representatives about the protection of personal data, the Safe Harbor Principles were the result. Notwithstanding that approval, the self-assessment approach of the Safe Harbor remains controversial with a number of European privacy regulators and commentators.

The Safe Harbor program addresses this issue in the following way: rather than a blanket law imposed on all organisations in the United States, a voluntary program is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. U.S. organisations which register with this program, having self-assessed their compliance with a number of standards, are "deemed adequate" for the purposes of Article 25. Personal information can be sent to such organisations from the EEA without the sender being in breach of Article 25 or its EU national equivalents. The Safe Harbor was approved as providing adequate protection for personal data, for the purposes of Article 25(6), by the European Commission on 26 July 2000.

Under the Safe Harbor, adoptee organisations need to carefully consider their compliance with the onward transfer obligations, where personal data originating in the EU is transferred to the US Safe Harbor, and then onward to a third country. The alternative compliance approach of "binding corporate rules", recommended by many EU privacy regulators, resolves this issue. In addition, any dispute arising in relation to the transfer of HR data to the US Safe Harbor must be heard by a panel of EU privacy regulators.

In July 2007, a new, controversial, Passenger Name Record agreement between the US and the EU was made. A short time afterwards, the Bush administration gave exemption for the Department of Homeland Security, for the Arrival and Departure Information System (ADIS) and for the Automated Target System from the 1974 Privacy Act.

In February 2008, Jonathan Faull, the head of the EU's Commission of Home Affairs, complained about the US bilateral policy concerning PNR. The US had signed in February 2008 a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Czech Republic in exchange of a visa waiver scheme, without concerting before with Brussels. The tensions between Washington and Brussels are mainly caused by a lesser level of data protection in the US, especially since foreigners do not benefit from the US Privacy Act of 1974. Other countries approached for bilateral MOU included the United Kingdom, Estonia, Germany and Greece.

Night terror

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terror 

Night terror
Other names	Sleep terror, pavor nocturnus
Specialty	Psychiatry, Sleep medicine, Clinical Psychology

Night terror, also known as sleep terror, is a sleep disorder causing feelings of panic or dread typically occurring during the first hours of stage 3–4 non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep  and lasting for 1 to 10 minutes. They can last longer, especially in children. Sleep terrors are classified in the category of NREM-related parasomnias in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders. There are two other categories: REM-related parasomnias and other parasomnias. Parasomnias are qualified as undesirable physical events or experiences that occur during entry into sleep, within sleep, or during arousal from sleep.

Sleep terrors usually begin in childhood and usually decrease with age. Factors which may lead to sleep terrors are young age, sleep deprivation, medications, stress, fever, and intrinsic sleep disorders. Though the frequency and severity differ between individuals, the episodes can occur in intervals of days or weeks, but can also occur over consecutive nights or multiple times in one night. This has created a situation in which any type of nocturnal attack or nightmare may be confused with and reported as a night terror.

Night terrors tend to happen during periods of arousal from delta sleep, also known as slow-wave sleep. Delta sleep occurs most often during the first half of a sleep cycle, which indicates that people with more delta-sleep activity are more prone to night terrors. However, they can also occur during daytime naps. Night terrors can often be mistaken for confusional arousal.

While nightmares (bad dreams during REM sleep that cause feelings of horror or fear) are relatively common during childhood, night terrors occur less frequently. The prevalence of sleep terrors in general is unknown. The number of small children who experience sleep terror episodes (distinct from sleep terror disorder, which is recurrent and causes distress or impairment) are estimated at 36.9% at 18 months of age and at 19.7% at 30 months. In adults, the prevalence is lower, at only 2.2%. Night terrors have been known since ancient times, although it was impossible to differentiate them from nightmares until rapid eye movement was studied.

Signs and symptoms

The universal feature of night terrors is inconsolability, very similar to that of a panic attack. During night terror bouts, people are usually described as "bolting upright" with their eyes wide open and a look of fear and panic on their faces. They will often yell. Furthermore, they will usually sweat, exhibit rapid breathing, and have a rapid heart rate (autonomic signs). In some cases, individuals are likely to have even more elaborate motor activity, such as a thrashing of limbs—which may include punching, swinging, or fleeing motions. There is a sense that the individuals are trying to protect themselves and/or escape from a possible threat of bodily injury. Although people may seem to be awake during a night terror, they will appear confused, be inconsolable and/or unresponsive to attempts to communicate with them, and may not recognize others familiar to them. Occasionally, when a person with a night terror is awakened, they will lash out at the one awakening them, which can be dangerous to that individual. Most people who experience this do not remember the incident the next day, although brief dream images or hallucinations may occur and be recalled. Sleepwalking is also common during night-terror bouts, as sleepwalking and night terrors are different manifestations of the same parasomnia. Both children and adults may display behaviour indicative of attempting to escape; some may get out of bed and begin running around aimlessly while inconsolable, increasing the risk of accidental injury.

During lab tests, subjects are known to have very high voltages of electroencephalography (EEG) delta activity, an increase in muscle tone, and a doubled or faster heart rate. Brain activities during a typical episode show theta and alpha activity when monitored with an EEG. Episodes can include tachycardia. Night terrors are also associated with intense autonomic discharge of tachypnea, flushing, diaphoresis, and mydriasis—that is, unconscious or involuntary rapid breathing, reddening of the skin, profuse sweating, and dilation of the pupils. Abrupt but calmer arousal from NREM sleep, short of a full night-terror episode, is also common.

In children with night terrors, there is no increased occurrence of psychiatric diagnoses. However, in adults who suffer from night terrors there is a close association with psychopathology and mental disorders. There may be an increased occurrence of night terrors—particularly among those suffering or having suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). It is also likely that some personality disorders may occur in individuals with night terrors, such as dependent, schizoid, and borderline personality disorders. There have been some symptoms of depression and anxiety that have increased in individuals that have suffered from frequent night terrors. Low blood sugar is associated with both pediatric and adult night terrors. A study of adults with thalamic lesions of the brain and brainstem have been occasionally associated with night terrors. Night terrors are closely linked to sleepwalking and frontal lobe epilepsy.

Children

Night terrors typically occur in children between the ages of three and twelve years, with a peak onset in children aged three and a half years old. An estimated 1–6% of children experience night terrors. Children of both genders and all ethnic backgrounds are affected equally. In children younger than three and a half years old, peak frequency of night terrors is at least one episode per week. Among older children, peak frequency of night terrors is one or two episodes per month. The children will most likely have no recollection of the episode the next day. Pediatric evaluation may be sought to exclude the possibility that the night terrors are caused by seizure disorders or breathing problems. Most children will outgrow sleep terrors.

Adults

Night terrors in adults have been reported in all age ranges. Though the symptoms of night terrors in adolescents and adults are similar, the cause, prognosis and treatment are qualitatively different. These night terrors can occur each night if the sufferer does not eat a proper diet, get the appropriate amount or quality of sleep (e.g. sleep apnea), is enduring stressful events, or if he or she remains untreated. Adult night terrors are much less common, and often respond to treatments to rectify causes of poor quality or quantity of sleep. Night terrors are classified as a mental and behavioral disorder in the ICD. A study done about night terrors in adults showed that other psychiatric symptoms were prevalent in most patients experiencing night terrors hinting at the comorbidity of the two. There is some evidence of a link between night terrors and hypoglycemia.

When a night terror happens, it is typical for a person to wake up yelling and kicking and to be able to recognize what he or she is saying. The person may even run out of the house (more common among adults) which can then lead to violent actions. It has been found that some adults who have been on a long-term intrathecal clonidine therapy show side effects of night terrors, such as feelings of terror early in the sleep cycle. This is due to the possible alteration of cervical/brain clonidine concentration. In adults, night terrors can be symptomatic of neurological disease and can be further investigated through an MRI procedure.

Causes

There is some evidence that a predisposition to night terrors and other parasomnias may be congenital. Individuals frequently report that past family members have had either episodes of sleep terrors or sleepwalking. In some studies, a ten-fold increase in the prevalence of night terrors in first-degree biological relatives has been observed—however, the exact link to inheritance is not known. Familial aggregation has been found suggesting that there is an autosomal mode of inheritance. In addition, some laboratory findings suggest that sleep deprivation and having a fever can increase the likelihood of a night terror episode occurring. Other contributing factors include nocturnal asthma, gastroesophageal reflux, and central nervous system medications. Special consideration must be used when the subject suffers from narcolepsy, as there may be a link. There have been no findings that show a cultural difference between manifestations of night terrors, though it is thought that the significance and cause of night terrors differ within cultures. 

Also, older children and adults provide highly detailed and descriptive images associated with their sleep terrors compared to younger children, who either cannot recall or only vaguely remember. Sleep terrors in children are also more likely to occur in males than females; in adults, the ratio between sexes is equal. A longitudinal study examined twins, both identical and fraternal, and found that a significantly higher concordance rate of night terror was found in identical twins than in fraternal.

Though the symptoms of night terrors in adolescents and adults are similar, their causes, prognoses, and treatments are qualitatively different. There is some evidence that suggests that night terrors can occur if the sufferer does not eat a proper diet, does not get the appropriate amount or quality of sleep (e.g., because of sleep apnea), or is enduring stressful events. Adults who have experienced sexual abuse are more likely to receive a diagnosis of sleep disorders, including night terrors. Overall, though, adult night terrors are much less common and often respond best to treatments that rectify causes of poor quality or quantity of sleep.

Diagnosis

The DSM-V diagnostic criteria for sleep terror disorder requires:

• Recurrent periods where the individual abruptly but not completely wakes from sleep, usually occurring during the first third major period of sleep.
• The individual experiences intense fear with a panicky scream at the beginning and symptoms of autonomic arousal, such as increased heart rate, heavy breathing, and increased perspiration. The individual cannot be soothed or comforted during the episode.
• The individual is unable or almost unable to remember images of the dream (only a single visual scene for example).
• The episode is completely forgotten.
• The occurrence of the sleep terror episode causes clinically significant distress or impairment in the individual's functioning.
• The disturbance is not due to the effects of a substance, general medical condition or medication.
• Coexisting mental or medical disorders do not explain the episodes of sleep terrors.

Differential diagnosis

We have to distinguish night terrors from nightmares. In fact, in nightmares there are almost never vocalization or agitation, and if there are any, they are less strong in comparison to night terrors. In addition, nightmares appear ordinarily during REM sleep in contrast to night terrors, which occur in NREM sleep. Finally, individuals with nightmares can wake up completely and easily and have clear and detailed memories of their dreams.

A distinction between night terrors and epileptic seizure is required. Indeed, an epileptic seizure could happen during the night but also during the day. To make the difference between both of them, an EEG can be done and if there are some anomalies on it, it would rather be an epileptic seizure.

Assessment

The assessment of sleep terrors is similar to the assessment of other parasomnias and must include:

• When the episode occurs during the sleep period
• Age of onset
• How often these episodes occur (frequency) and how to they last for (duration)
• Description of the episode, including behavior, emotions, and thoughts during and after the event
• How responsive the patient is to external stimuli during the episode
• How conscious or aware the patient is, when awakened from an episode
• If the episode is remembered afterwards
• The triggers or precipitating factors
• Sleep–wake pattern and sleep environment
• Daytime sleepiness
• Other sleep disorders that might be present
• Family history for NREM parasomnias and other sleep disorders
• Medical, psychiatric, and neurological history
• Medication and substance use history

Additionally, a home video might be helpful for a proper diagnosis. A polysomnography in the sleep laboratory is recommended for ruling out other disorders, however, sleep terrors occur less frequently in the sleep laboratory than at home and a polysomnography can therefore be unsuccessful at recording the sleep terror episode.

Treatment

In most children, night terrors eventually subside and do not need to be treated. It may be helpful to reassure the child and their family that they will outgrow this disorder.

The duration of one episode is mostly brief but it may last longer if parents try to wake up the child. Awakening the child may make their agitation stronger. For all these reasons, it is important to let the sleep terror episode fade away and to just be vigilant in order for them not to fall to the ground.

Considering an episode could be violent, it may be advisable to secure the environment in which the child sleeps. Windows should be closed and potentially dangerous items should be removed from the bedroom, and additionally, alarms can be installed and the child placed in a downstairs bedroom.

Hypnosis could be efficient. Sleepers could become less sensitive to their sleep terrors.

One technique is to wake up just before the sleep terrors begin. When they appear regularly, this method can prevent their appearance.

Psychotherapy or counseling can be helpful in many cases. There is some evidence to suggest that night terrors can result from lack of sleep or poor sleeping habits. In these cases, it can be helpful to improve the amount and quality of sleep which the child is getting. It is also important to have a good sleep hygiene, if a child has night terrors parents could try to change their sleep hygiene. Another option could be to adapt child's naps so that they are not too long or too short. Then, excessive stress or conflicts in a child's life could also have an impact on their sleep too, so to have some strategies to cope with stress combined with psychotherapy could decrease the frequency of the episodes. A polysomnography can be recommended if the child continues to have a lot of night terror episodes.

 

If all these methods are not enough, benzodiazepines (such as diazepam) or tricyclic antidepressants may be used; however, medication is only recommended in extreme cases.

Research

A small study of paroxetine found some benefit. Another small trial found benefit with L -5-hydroxytryptophan (L -5-HTP).

Comparative studies of the Roman and Han empires

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Roman Empire and the Han Empire around AD 1

 

Political map of the Eastern Hemisphere in AD 200

Comparisons between the Roman and Han empires involve the comparative study of the roughly contemporaneous Roman Empire and the Han dynasty of early imperial China. At their peaks, both states controlled a large portion of the world population and produced political and cultural legacies that endure to the modern era; comparative studies largely focus on their similar scale at their pinnacles and on parallels in their rise and decline. The vast majority of studies focus on one or the other; however, the comparison of the two has attracted somewhat increased interest in the 21st century, with several studies examining the concepts of ethnicity, identity, and the views of foreigners.

History

Walter Scheidel reviewed the previous scholarship when he explained the purpose of Stanford University's Ancient Chinese and Mediterranean Empires Comparative History Project and the framework of its study in the early 21st century. Max Weber and Karl August Wittfogel both wrote works comparing the ancient Mediterranean and China; however, their studies have had little influence on later historians of the ancient world. Scheidel gives this as a contributing cause to the relative paucity of comparative studies between the two. The majority of the research in the subject area has concentrated on looking at the intellectual and philosophical history of each society. He also noted a change in the direction of research in the 2000s, with a refocusing on the "nature of moral, historical, and scientific thought" in Ancient Greece and China.

Several scholars have made comparative studies of the two empires. As historian Samuel Adshead puts it, "Other comparisons could be made ... None, however, offers so close a parallel with Han China as the Roman empire". These have tended to focus on the philosophical and intellectual histories of China and the Greco-Roman world, and despite modern interest, gaps remain in the scholarship comparing Rome and the Han Empire. Scheidel notes that there are no comparative studies of high culture; there is also a virtual absence of work on "political, social, economic or legal history" of the Greco-Roman world and ancient China. However, he does note that Adshead does briefly address the issue. Wittfogel's work has come in for criticism by later historians, but his studies have not fully been supplanted by up to date theses. In modern studies of imperialism, ancient China has generally been overlooked. In Scheidel's words, "[compared to the study of Europe and China in the early modern period] the comparative history of the largest agrarian empires of antiquity has attracted no attention at all. This deficit is only explicable with reference to academic specialization and language barriers".

The emergence of the United States of America as effectively the only superpower in the world after the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 20th century led to a renewed interest in empires and their study. For instance, the Roman Empire has occasionally been held up as a model for American dominance. The United States' hegemony is unprecedented in the modern system and thus the only illuminating cases can be found in pre-modern systems: “One difficulty with analyzing unipolarity is that we have mainly the current case, although examining the Roman and ancient China could be illuminating.”

In general, with the rise of the American primacy the study of historical empires, such as Han China and Rome, increased. In the field of comparative studies between empires, not just Rome and China, Shmuel Eisenstadt's The Political System of Empires (1963) has been described as influential as it pioneered the comparative approach. The act of comparing the Roman and Han empires is aided by the amount of written evidence from both, as well as other artefactual sources. In the words of Fritz-Heiner Mutschler and Achim Mittag, "Comparing the Roman and Chinese empires contributes not only to understanding the trajectories along which the two civilizations developed, but also to heightening our awareness of possible analogies between the present and the past, be it with regard to America or China." Recent work by Ronald A. Edwards shows how such comparisons can be helpful in understanding ancient Chinese and Roman political institutions.

Society

Principles of sociological examination have been identified that can be applied to the study of China and Rome. They draw on analytical and illustrative comparisons.

Political structure

One of the most appealing reasons for historians to begin comparing China and Rome, is their ascent to political hegemony over the Mediterranean and East Asia. However, political comparisons by Adshead have received negative response from Chinese history experts; citing his lack of use of Chinese sources, poor support of his arguments and an eagerness to take poorly supported points as facts.

Nonetheless more recently, China scholars have been engaging in comparative work on political institutions between China and Rome – see work by Ronald A. Edwards – and between China the early modern Europe – see work by Victoria Tin-bor Hui.

Rationale

According to Adshead's book China in World History, comparing Han China and the Roman Empire gives context and assists understanding of China's interactions and relations with other civilisations of Antiquity. In his China and the Roman Empire before Constantine, their "differences outweighed the similarities". In the opinion of Scheidel:

only comparisons with other civilizations make it possible to distinguish common features from culturally specific or unique characteristics and developments, help us identify variables that were critical to particular historical outcomes and allow us to assess the nature of any given ancient state or society within the wider context of premodern world history.