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Digital Activism in Russia: The Communication Tactics of Political Outsiders
by Sofya GlazunovaThis book provides an in-depth investigation of Russian online anti-establishment resistances in 2016–2019. Grounded in qualitative content analysis of the YouTube videos and social media data of opposition activist Alexey Navalny and his associates, the research covers the history of these communications, their tactics, and the impact on the Russian public sphere and peripheral electorates. Drawing from populism, journalism and digital media studies, Glazunova skilfully shows Russia’s digital public sphere to be a multi-faceted site with its own struggles, challenges, and unique communication strategies for political survival. An important and original work, Digital Activism in Russia reflects on the past, present, and future of such resistances in Russia, the central role played by digital media, and its relevance for the political activists struggling for democracy around the world.
Digital Activism in the Social Media Era: Critical Reflections on Emerging Trends in Sub-Saharan Africa
by Bruce MutsvairoThis book probes the vitality, potentiality and ability of new communication and technological changes to drive online-based civil action across Africa. In a continent booming with mobile innovation and a plethora of social networking sites, the Internet is considered a powerful platform used by pro-democracy activists to negotiate and sometimes push for reform-based political and social changes in Africa. The book discusses and theorizes digital activism within social and geo-political realms, analysing cases such as the #FeesMustFall and #BringBackOurGirls campaigns in South Africa and Nigeria respectively to question the extent to which they have changed the dynamics of digital activism in sub-Saharan Africa. Comparative case study reflections in eight African countries identify and critique digital concepts questioning what impact they have had on the civil society. Cases also explore the African LGBT community as a social movement while discussing opportunities and challenges faced by online activists fighting for LGBT equality. Finally, gender-based activists using digital tools to gain attention and facilitate social changes are also appraised.
The Digital Ape: How to Live (in Peace) with Smart Machines
by Roger Hampson Sir Nigel ShadboltThe smart-machines revolution is reshaping our lives and our societies. Here, Sir Nigel Shadbolt, one of the world's leading authorities on artificial intelligence, and Roger Hampson dispel terror, confusion, and misconception. We are not about to be elbowed aside by a rebel army of super-intelligent robots of our own creation. We were using tools before we became Homo sapiens, and will continue to build and master them, no matter how complicated they become. How we exercise that control--in our private lives, in employment, in politics--and make the best of the wonderful opportunities, will determine our collective future well-being. Chapter by chapter, The Digital Ape outline how our choices and the use and adaptation of the tools we've created can lead to opportunities for the environment (both built and natural), health, and our security. Shadbolt and Hampson are uniquely well-suited to draw on historical precedent and technical know-how to offer a vision of the future that is exciting, rather than nerve-wracking, to contemplate.
The Digital Ape: How to Live (in Peace) with Smart Machines
by Sir Nigel Shadbolt Roger HampsonThe smart-machines revolution is reshaping our lives and our societies. Here, Sir Nigel Shadbolt, one of the world's leading authorities on artificial intelligence, and Roger Hampson dispel terror, confusion, and misconception. We are not about to be elbowed aside by a rebel army of super-intelligent robots of our own creation. We were using tools before we became Homo sapiens, and will continue to build and master them, no matter how complicated they become. How we exercise that control--in our private lives, in employment, in politics--and make the best of the wonderful opportunities, will determine our collective future well-being. Chapter by chapter, The Digital Ape outline how our choices and the use and adaptation of the tools we've created can lead to opportunities for the environment (both built and natural), health, and our security. Shadbolt and Hampson are uniquely well-suited to draw on historical precedent and technical know-how to offer a vision of the future that is exciting, rather than nerve-wracking, to contemplate.
Digital Approaches to Promoting Integration in Higher Education: Opening Universities for Refugees (SpringerBriefs in Education)
by Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia Sarah Nell-Müller Roland HappThis book discusses digital learning opportunities in higher education for refugees with different educational, social, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Based on findings from practical studies and research projects from several countries, the book highlights the numerous challenges when it comes to the successful integration of refugees into higher education. These challenges arise at both the individual and the institutional level. The contributions included in this book show how these challenges can be effectively met using digital teaching-learning platforms. The work thus offers a comprehensive insight into the opportunities online-based learning platforms offer regarding the successful integration of refugees into higher education Overall, the research presented in this volume is relevant for political stakeholders, university practitioners in the field of migration research, university research, and online and digital learning.
Digital Assets and the Law: Fiat Money in the Era of Digital Currency (Routledge-Giappichelli Studies in Law)
by Filippo Zatti and Rosa Giovanna BarresiThis book delves into the intricacies of digital assets. With the increasing reliance on crypto and the potential adoption of digital currencies by central banks, our monetary system is at a critical point. The importance of taking the next step has become even more stringent, as evidenced by this systematic scientific reconstruction. Divided into five concentric parts, the book starts with a historical, technical and financial introduction to digital assets. It then explores the changing role of central banking and monetary economics in the upcoming era. Finally, it focuses on the broad legal issues arising from the new digital landscape, not shying away from exploring forward-thinking solutions and policies for the future. With the contributions of prominent international experts in the field, this collection supplies a transdisciplinary analysis based on the belief that complex phenomena can only be handled by complex solutions. This groundbreaking work aims to be more than just an academic treatise; it is a must-read for students, scholars, financial professionals, and all those who want to understand the emerging digital currency reality that many have yet to fully recognise.
Digital Assets and the Law: Fiat Money in the Era of Digital Currency (Routledge-Giappichelli Studies in Law)
This book delves into the intricacies of digital assets. With the increasing reliance on crypto and the potential adoption of digital currencies by central banks, our monetary system is at a critical point. The importance of taking the next step has become even more stringent, as evidenced by this systematic scientific reconstruction. Divided into five concentric parts, the book starts with a historical, technical and financial introduction to digital assets. It then explores the changing role of central banking and monetary economics in the upcoming era. Finally, it focuses on the broad legal issues arising from the new digital landscape, not shying away from exploring forward-thinking solutions and policies for the future. With the contributions of prominent international experts in the field, this collection supplies a transdisciplinary analysis based on the belief that complex phenomena can only be handled by complex solutions. This groundbreaking work aims to be more than just an academic treatise; it is a must-read for students, scholars, financial professionals, and all those who want to understand the emerging digital currency reality that many have yet to fully recognise.
Digital Authoritarianism and its Religious Legitimization: The Cases of Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and India
by Ihsan YilmazThis book explores how digital authoritarianism operates in India, Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and how religion can be used to legitimize digital authoritarianism within democracies. In doing so, it explains how digital authoritarianism operates at various technological levels including sub-network level, proxy level, and user level, and elaborates on how governments seek to control cyberspace and social media. In each of these states, governments, in an effort to prolong – or even make permanent – their rule, seek to eliminate freedom of expression on the internet, punish dissidents, and spread pro-state propaganda. At the same time, they instrumentalize religion to justify and legitimize digital authoritarianism. Governments in these five countries, to varying degrees and at times using different methods, censor the internet, but also use digital technology to generate public support for their policies, key political figures, and at times their worldview or ideology. They also, and again to varying degrees, use digital technology to demonize religious and ethnic minorities, opposition parties, and political dissidents. An understanding of these aspects would help scholars and the public understand both the technical and social aspects of digital authoritarianism in these five countries.
Digital Blood on Their Hands: The Ukraine Cyberwar Attacks
by Andrew JenkinsonCyberattacks are nothing particularly new to the world and Ukraine had suffered many such attacks by Russia over recent years. Russia had knowingly been exploiting Ukraine’s digital vulnerabilities as a proving ground for nearly a decade. Malware such as Sandworm and BlackEnergy had caused untold damage to the Ukrainian population and government previously, which allowed Russia to perfect cyberattacks for further, more global events. Russia had been planting cyber sleeper digital cells for years, especially in the US and the UK. Then, coincidently, the week after the Chinese Winter Olympic games had finished, Russia launched an all-out cyber offensive against 70 Ukrainian government websites. Owing to these being poorly—and insecurely—maintained, they toppled one by one, causing havoc and disruption to the Ukrainian government and to Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. As Q said in James Bond: ‘I can do more damage by breakfast sipping my Earl Grey tea with my keyboard than you ever can in the field.’ Sadly, Q was right, as we witness daily. The keyboard and mouse have indeed become mightier than the sword. The barrage of cyberattacks against Ukraine constitutes the first cyberwar by one nation against another. This attack crossed a very thin red line. That line had the hallmarks of a nation state, but had until now been confined to cyber criminal activities, immaterial of whom the perpetrators were. This, however, was now war. The cyberwar was simply a precursor, the softening of a country that would precede a kinetic war in which tens of thousands of people would lose their lives. This war was the first war for nearly 80 years that rang out deathly klaxons across Europe and the world. Digital Blood on Their Hands addresses the issues that the digital world has created, covering the culpability, causal links and even liabilities that go towards these war crime atrocities, often too frightening to believe and also too compelling to dismiss. It tells a side to the world’s first ever cyberwar that you would never otherwise see or possibly hear about.
Digital Blood on Their Hands: The Ukraine Cyberwar Attacks
by Andrew JenkinsonCyberattacks are nothing particularly new to the world and Ukraine had suffered many such attacks by Russia over recent years. Russia had knowingly been exploiting Ukraine’s digital vulnerabilities as a proving ground for nearly a decade. Malware such as Sandworm and BlackEnergy had caused untold damage to the Ukrainian population and government previously, which allowed Russia to perfect cyberattacks for further, more global events. Russia had been planting cyber sleeper digital cells for years, especially in the US and the UK. Then, coincidently, the week after the Chinese Winter Olympic games had finished, Russia launched an all-out cyber offensive against 70 Ukrainian government websites. Owing to these being poorly—and insecurely—maintained, they toppled one by one, causing havoc and disruption to the Ukrainian government and to Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. As Q said in James Bond: ‘I can do more damage by breakfast sipping my Earl Grey tea with my keyboard than you ever can in the field.’ Sadly, Q was right, as we witness daily. The keyboard and mouse have indeed become mightier than the sword. The barrage of cyberattacks against Ukraine constitutes the first cyberwar by one nation against another. This attack crossed a very thin red line. That line had the hallmarks of a nation state, but had until now been confined to cyber criminal activities, immaterial of whom the perpetrators were. This, however, was now war. The cyberwar was simply a precursor, the softening of a country that would precede a kinetic war in which tens of thousands of people would lose their lives. This war was the first war for nearly 80 years that rang out deathly klaxons across Europe and the world. Digital Blood on Their Hands addresses the issues that the digital world has created, covering the culpability, causal links and even liabilities that go towards these war crime atrocities, often too frightening to believe and also too compelling to dismiss. It tells a side to the world’s first ever cyberwar that you would never otherwise see or possibly hear about.
Digital Bouncers: A European roadmap to navigate access rights and moderation issues on social media platforms (European Monographs Series Set #118)
by Berdien B. E. van der DonkOnline content moderation is a well-known phenomenon. However, no consistent pattern exists on how it is done or how it is legally dealt with. This book addresses the complex issue of questionable content removals and account suspensions on social media platforms in the European Union, solving the existing legal ambiguity with a powerful roadmap designed to guide decision-makers in navigating online access rights and moderation issues. The roadmap’s elements are deduced from a technology-neutral comparative case law study of four Member States (Denmark, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands) based on rigorous selection criteria that highlight the most salient distinctions that characterise legal approaches to social media access and moderation. The ‘layers’ of the roadmap focus on such central issues as the following: the legal basis for social media platforms to impose restrictions; platform operators’ right to shape access, including limitations to the platform’s right to exclude users; the validity and enforceability of terms of service; and users’ and platforms’ remedies for breaches of the terms of service, including the procedural obligations in the Digital Services Act. Unlike previous work on the topic, this book does not focus on one field of law but touches upon and combines European law, constitutional and fundamental rights law, competition law, equality law, property law, and contract law, all reflected on and assessed through both a European and a national lens. By addressing these multifaceted legal aspects, it offers a holistic approach to resolving content moderation challenges and demonstrates which problems are most effectively addressed by which fields of law. The book’s roadmap can be used within the European Union to address and/or resolve any access and moderation problems on social media platforms. It will serve as a valuable resource for judges, social media platforms, and dispute resolution bodies, providing practical insights and guidance in navigating this complex landscape and streamlining decision-making processes. It will prove of immeasurable value in fostering a balanced and fair approach to content moderation in the EU that will ensure that all European users have equal opportunities for redress.
Digital Business: First International ICST Conference, DigiBiz 2009, London, UK, June 17-19, 2009, Revised Selected Papers (Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering #21)
by Veselin Rakocevic Katarina Stanoevska-Slabeva Luigi TelescaThis volume contains the proceedings of the First International ICST Conference on Digital Business (DigiBiz 2009), hosted by City University London in London, UK. This annual event had the main objective to stimulate and disseminate research results and experimentation on future Digital Business to a wider multidisciplinary forum that would allow the participants to cross the boundaries between research and business. The scientific offering in e-business, e-commerce, and ICT in general is quite broad and spans many different research themes, involving several communities and me- odologies. The growth and dynamic nature of these research themes pose both ch- lenges and opportunities. The challenges are in having scientists and practitioners talk to each other: despite the fact that they work on similar problems they often use very different languages in terms of research tools and approaches. The opportunities on the other hand arise when scientists and practitioners engage in multidisciplinary d- cussions leading to new ideas, projects and products.
Digital Carnivalesque: Power Discourse and Counter Narratives in Singapore Social Media (Cultural Studies and Transdisciplinarity in Education #10)
by Hoi-Yi Katy KanThis book challenges the framing of comedic acts as apolitical and it adopts a multimodal critical discourse approach to interrogate the performance of comedy as a form of power. It proposes using Bakhtin’s carnivalesque as the analytic tool to distil for readers key differences between humour as banal and humour as critical (and political) in today’s social media. Drawing from critical theory and cultural studies, this book takes an interdisciplinary approach in formulating a contemporary view of power that reflects social realities not only in the digital economy but also in a world that is increasingly authoritarian. With the proposition of newer theoretical lenses in this book, scholars and social scientists can then find a way to shift the conversation to uncover the evolving voices of (existing and newer) power holders in the shared digital space; and to view current social realities as a continual project in unpacking and understanding the adaptive ways of the human spirit.
Digital China: Big Data and Government Managerial Decision
by Qing JiangThis book is the first practical case study on the application of big data in China's government management scenarios, which is important for comprehensively presenting the achievements of China's e-government and digital construction as well as deeply understanding the implementation of big data strategy in China.The author of this book is one of the earliest practitioners engaged in the study of big data applications, and has personally experienced the development, major events, application cases, and industry changes of big data in China. Cases in this book are all actual projects carried out. The author of this book explains the development history of big data she has personally experienced, presenting in an easy-to-understand way the basic concept and characteristics of big data and practical interpretation, which provides important reference for the practical work of government and enterprise managers. The application ideas of big data in management innovation are proposed, and scenarios are described and discussed in terms of accelerating research on sharing big data in government affairs, breaking barriers, realizing data flow information sharing, creating one-stop services, improving the corresponding policy system for sharing big data in government affairs, building public information platform for e-government, and strengthening network and information infrastructure.Especially for the government personnel in departments, this book will give them a better understanding of the charm and value of big data, intuitively understand the utilization and analysis of big data, carry out effective government management and make correct decisions, so as to improve the data literacy of organizations and individuals, form scientific support for their own government's decision-making and management, thus promote the continued construction of digital government, digital China, and digital economy era based on the application of big data.
The Digital Citizen(ship): Politics and Democracy in the Networked Society
by Luigi CeccariniThis cutting-edge book explores the diverse and contested meanings of ‘citizenship’ in the 21st century, as representative democracy faces a mounting crisis in the wake of the digital age. Luigi Ceccarini enriches and updates the common notion of citizenship, answering the question of how it is possible to fully live as a citizen in a post-modern political community. Employing an international, multidisciplinary framework, Ceccarini brings together the findings of continental political philosophy and history, and contemporary western political science and communication studies to advance our understanding of political motivation and participation in the present day. As new participatory and monitoring dynamics of online citizenship redefine the very form of public space, this timely book addresses the values, creativity and aspirations through which social actors engage with a networked society, making use of technological innovations and new forms of communication to participate in post-representative politics. A provocative call to action in an era defined by distrust, disillusionment and digitization, this book is crucial reading for scholars and researchers of political science, sociology and communication studies, particularly those seeking a thoroughly modern understanding of digital citizenship. It will also benefit advanced political science students in need of a historical overview of the concept of citizenship and how it has developed under the auspices of the Internet.
Digital Citizenship and Political Engagement: The Challenge from Online Campaigning and Advocacy Organisations (Interest Groups, Advocacy and Democracy Series)
by Ariadne VromenThis book considers the radical effects the emergence of social media and digital politics have had on the way that advocacy organisations mobilise and organise citizens into political participation. It argues that these changes are due not only to technological advancement but are also underpinned by hybrid media systems, new political narratives, and a new networked generation of political actors. The author empirically analyses the emergence and consolidation within advanced democracies of online campaigning organisations, such as MoveOn, 38 Degrees, Getup and AVAAZ. Vromen shows that they have become leading political advocates, and influential on both national and international level governance. The book critically engages with this digital disruption of traditional patterns of political mobilisation and organisation, and highlights the challenges in embracing new ideas such as entrepreneurialism and issue-driven politics. It will be of interest to advanced students and scholars in political participation and citizen politics, interest groups, civil society organisations, e-government and politics and social media.
Digital Citizenship in China: Everyday Online Practices of Chinese Young People (Perspectives on Children and Young People #12)
by Jun FuThis book examines how emerging forms of citizenship are shaped by young people in digital spaces as way of making sense of contemporary Chinese society, forming new identities, and negotiating social and political participation. By focusing on Chinese young adults' everyday online practices, the book offers a unique treatment of the topic of young people and the Chinese Internet that navigates between the dominant focus on censorship on the one hand and protest and politicized action on the other. The book brings the focus of research from highly visible or spectacular forms of collectivity, belonging, and identification exhibited in young people's online practices to young people's everyday social and cultural engagement through new media. It brings new insights by understanding the meanings of young people's mundane and everyday online engagement for their citizenship learning, identity performance, and their formation of political subjectivity. Readers will gain insights into citizenship in China, and young people and the Chinese Internet.
Digital Civil Society: Wie zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen im Web 2.0 politische Ziele verfolgen
by Jasmin FitzpatrickJasmin Fitzpatrick widmet sich aus politikwissenschaftlicher Perspektive zivilgesellschaftlichen Organisationen und untersucht, wie diese das Potenzial der neuen Kommunikationskanäle des Web 2.0 nutzen. Im Fokus stehen zum einen ihre Mobilisierung von Unterstützern und zum anderen ihre Absicht, durch soziale Medien die Agenda zu besetzen. Im Zentrum der Analyse stehen zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen, die sich mit Menschenrechten und humanitärer Hilfe befassen. Methodisch werden quantitative und qualitative Verfahren kombiniert. Die Autorin zeigt, dass gerade kleinere Organisationen das Potenzial der neuen Kommunikationsmöglichkeiten noch nicht ausschöpfen.
Digital Communication and Populism in Times of Covid-19: Cases, Strategies, Examples (Studies in Digital Politics and Governance)
by Magdalena Musiał-Karg Óscar G. LuengoThis book examines different dimensions of digital communication and populism in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. While doing so, it discusses views, opinions, and research results regarding the conditions, experiences, constraints, benefits, and challenges related to the topic - not only using theoretical and methodological approaches but also practical perspectives. The COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic significantly accelerated the technological revolution presenting many social, economic, and political challenges, as it pushed the world into cyberspace to ensure social distancing. At the same time, many populist protests expressed in the digital public sphere massively gained importance during the lockdowns. As a result, one of the most significant consequences of using electronic tools is not only greater e-participation of citizens, but - especially evident through elections during a pandemic - even greater transfer of political communication and election campaigns into the space of new media. The book broadly analyses various contexts of digitalization of communication processes and populist politics from both theoretical and empirical perspectives in various case studies on the digitalization of information, communication, or participation processes during the COVID-19 pandemic in selected European countries and beyond. This book will appeal to students, researchers, and scholars of political communication, political science, electoral studies, digital politics, and democracy, as well as policy-makers interested in a better understanding of digital communication and populism during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Digital Communication for Agricultural and Rural Development: Participatory Practices in a Post-COVID Age (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by Gordon A. GowThis volume presents insights on the challenges of digital communication and participation in agricultural and rural development. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that digital technology and mediated participation is more important and essential in managing ongoing communication for development projects than ever before. However, it has also underscored the various challenges and gaps in knowledge with digital participatory practices, including the further exclusion of marginalized groups and those with limited access to digital technology. The book considers how the concept of participation has been transformed by the realities of the pandemic, reflecting on essential principles and practical considerations of communication for development and social change, particularly in the context of global agriculture and food security, the well-being of rural communities, and evolving environmental challenges, such as climate change. In gathering these insights, this volume highlights lessons for the future of participatory development in communication for development and social change processes. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of agricultural and rural development, communication for development, digital communication, and sustainable development more broadly.
Digital Communication for Agricultural and Rural Development: Participatory Practices in a Post-COVID Age (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by Gordon A. Gow Ataharul ChowdhuryThis volume presents insights on the challenges of digital communication and participation in agricultural and rural development. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that digital technology and mediated participation is more important and essential in managing ongoing communication for development projects than ever before. However, it has also underscored the various challenges and gaps in knowledge with digital participatory practices, including the further exclusion of marginalized groups and those with limited access to digital technology. The book considers how the concept of participation has been transformed by the realities of the pandemic, reflecting on essential principles and practical considerations of communication for development and social change, particularly in the context of global agriculture and food security, the well-being of rural communities, and evolving environmental challenges, such as climate change. In gathering these insights, this volume highlights lessons for the future of participatory development in communication for development and social change processes. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of agricultural and rural development, communication for development, digital communication, and sustainable development more broadly.
Digital contention in a divided society: Social media, parades and protests in Northern Ireland
by Paul ReillyHow are platforms such as Facebook and Twitter used by citizens to frame contentious parades and protests in ‘post-conflict’ Northern Ireland? What do these contentious episodes tell us about the potential of information and communication technologies to promote positive intergroup contact in the deeply divided society? These issues are addressed in what is the first in-depth qualitative exploration of how social media were used during the union flag protests (December 2012-March 2013) and the Ardoyne parade disputes (July 2014 and 2015). The book focuses on the extent to which affective publics, mobilised and connected via expressions of solidarity on social media, appear to escalate or de-escalate sectarian tensions caused by these hybrid media events. It also explores whether citizen activity on these online platforms has the potential to contribute to peacebuilding in Northern Ireland.
Digital contention in a divided society: Social media, parades and protests in Northern Ireland
by Paul ReillyHow are platforms such as Facebook and Twitter used by citizens to frame contentious parades and protests in ‘post-conflict’ Northern Ireland? What do these contentious episodes tell us about the potential of information and communication technologies to promote positive intergroup contact in the deeply divided society? These issues are addressed in what is the first in-depth qualitative exploration of how social media were used during the union flag protests (December 2012-March 2013) and the Ardoyne parade disputes (July 2014 and 2015). The book focuses on the extent to which affective publics, mobilised and connected via expressions of solidarity on social media, appear to escalate or de-escalate sectarian tensions caused by these hybrid media events. It also explores whether citizen activity on these online platforms has the potential to contribute to peacebuilding in Northern Ireland.
Digital Cultural Politics: From Policy to Practice (New Directions in Cultural Policy Research)
by Bjarki ValtyssonThis book is the first to thoroughly account for the changes in the landscape of cultural policy caused by digital communication and digital media. Valtysson investigates how communication infrastructures and dominant tech giants increasingly shape citizens’ production and consumption patterns, influencing how people meet and interact with cultural products. This book builds theoretical foundations to illuminate the complexities of the changing field of cultural policy and provides concrete manifestations of how policy relates to and shapes practice. The book focuses on archival politics, institutional politics and user politics, and includes analysis of Google Cultural Institute, Europeana, the BBC, the Brooklyn Museum and Te Papa Tongarewa. In order to further understand the complex nature of digital cultural politics, Valtysson provides an analysis of YouTube and Google’s privacy policies and how these relate to the EU’s regulatory frameworks within audio-visual media services, telecommunications, and data protection.
The Digital Currency Challenge: Shaping Online Payment Systems Through Us Financial Regulations
by P. MullanPrivate online digital currency systems offer people accessible, convenient, and inexpensive everyday financial tools outside of traditional bank-owned and operated platforms. Digital currency systems facilitate local and international fund transfers, online and offline payments, and simple cash-to-digital everyday financial products without the need for a conventional bank account of any retail bank product. Over the past several years, Bitcoin has grown into an efficient person-to-person and person-to-business payment system without the backing of any bank or financial institution. This phenomenon is producing a new level of an on- and offline commerce and a society much more attuned to digital currency systems. The Digital Currency Challenge details how new 2007-2008 U.S. legal issues surrounding digital currency products forced companies from the U.S. market and caused the Treasury Department to enact stricter regulations. Mullan profiles new and innovative present day digital currency systems, such as Bitcoin, and illustrates how software designers and monetary theorists use new technology to circumvent current U.S. regulations. This work also explains how new digital currency systems are not just software products, but tools providing financial freedom to people in countries all around the world.