Search Results (36)

This study focuses on Roblox as a case study to explore the legal and technical challenges of content moderation on child-focused social media platforms. As a leading Metaverse platform with millions of young users, Roblox provides immersive and interactive virtual experiences but also introduces significant risks, including exposure to inappropriate content, cyberbullying, and predatory behavior. The research examines the shortcomings of current automated and human moderation systems, highlighting the difficulties of managing real-time user interactions and the sheer volume of user-generated content. It investigates cases of moderation failures on Roblox, exposing gaps in existing safeguards and raising concerns about user safety. The study also explores the balance between leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) for efficient content moderation and incorporating human oversight to ensure nuanced decision-making. Comparative analysis of moderation practices on platforms like TikTok and YouTube provides additional insights to inform improvements in Roblox’s approach. From a legal standpoint, the study critically assesses regulatory frameworks such as the GDPR, the EU Digital Services Act, and the UK’s Online Safety Act, analyzing their relevance to virtual platforms like Roblox. It emphasizes the pressing need for comprehensive international cooperation to address jurisdictional challenges and establish robust legal standards for the Metaverse. The study concludes with recommendations for improved moderation strategies, including hybrid AI-human models, stricter content verification processes, and tools to empower users. It also calls for legal reforms to redefine virtual harm and enhance regulatory mechanisms. This research aims to advance safe and respectful interactions in digital environments, stressing the shared responsibility of platforms, policymakers, and users in tackling these emerging challenges. Full article

The Digital Services Act (DSA) is the first supranational regulation aimed at improving the safety, transparency and accountability of online platforms. However, the DSA enforcement process is substantially opaque due to the scarcity of publicly available legal documents on methods, sources and results of the investigations carried out under its scope. This paper examines the transparency of the DSA enforcement process, focusing on the legal and political motivations of the progression from requests for information (RFIs) to the initiation of proceedings, using the European Commission’s investigation against X as a case study. Full article

Many leading technology companies currently offer Machine Learning as a Service Platform, enabling developers and organizations to access the inference capabilities of pre-trained models via API calls. However, due to concerns over user data privacy, inter-enterprise competition, and legal and regulatory constraints, directly utilizing pre-trained models in the cloud for inference faces security challenges. In this paper, we propose communication-efficient secure three-party protocols for recurrent neural network (RNN) inference. First, we design novel three-party secret-sharing protocols for digit decomposition, B2A conversion, enabling efficient transformation of secret shares between Boolean and arithmetic rings. Then, we propose the lookup table-based secure three-party protocol. Unlike the intuitive way of directly looking up tables to obtain results, we compute the results by utilizing the inherent mathematical properties of binary lookup tables, and the communication complexity of the lookup table protocol is only related to the output bit width. We also design secure three-party protocols for key functions in the RNN, including matrix multiplication, sigmoid function, and Tanh function. Our protocol divides the computation into online and offline phase, and places most of the computations locally. The theoretical analysis shows that the communication round of our work was reduced from four rounds to one round. The experiment results show that compared with the current SOTA-SIRNN, the online communication overhead of sigmoid and tanh functions decreased by 80.39% and 79.94%, respectively. Full article

In common law, the “termination” of a contract entails several consequences, particularly on the basis of the context where such a term is used and, from a linguistic perspective, depending on the words that accompany it (e.g., “termination for cause” vs. “termination without cause”). In Italian civil law, there are manifold translations of the lemma “terminate”, which are investigated and discussed in this paper. To this aim, English and Italian comparable corpora of terms of service (i.e., online terms and conditions of web hosting services) are consulted, where similar clauses are retrieved and words are analyzed in context. In this way, the complex nature and the manifold meanings of the lemma “terminate” are unveiled, and Italian (full or partial) equivalents are proposed. The paper’s findings highlight that in order to explore the renderings of complex terms, such as “terminate”, not only are linguistic tools, such as ad hoc corpora, necessary, but also legal resources, such as statutory documents and case law. In addition, solid knowledge of the subject matter addressed is necessary. In this respect, this paper unveils corpus-based methodologies and research strategies to cope with the intricacies of the translation(s) of “termination” clauses. Full article

This paper presents the methodological approach adopted by a team of researchers from the Politehnica Bucharest National University of Science and Technology (UNSTPB) to revise and reconstruct the Feedback Form used in the university’s teaching staff evaluation process. (1) Background: Because of the imperative need to involve students, as active actors in the academic community, in this process, a Questionnaire on the identification of the students’ perception regarding the Feedback Form used by the institution was prepared and distributed online to 559 students enrolled in bachelor’s/master’s/doctoral programs in our higher education institution; (2) Methods: Taking into account the legal provisions in force, the scientific guidelines in the literature, and the recommendations/suggestions and observations made by our students, two instruments were developed for the evaluation of the teaching staff, i.e., the Feedback Questionnaire for students enrolled in bachelor’s/master’s degree programs and the Feedback Questionnaire for students enrolled in doctoral programs. By creating this tool to assess the university’s social reality, we aimed to identify the strengths/weaknesses of the Feedback Form used until this study was conducted; (3) Results: Centralizing and interpreting the data collected allowed us to gather complex and detailed insights on the way in which the beneficiaries of the educational services provided by the university want the feedback they provide to be formulated, collected, and interpreted, as well as a set of explicit student recommendations in this regard; (4) Conclusions: the need to start an ample revision process on the feedback questionnaire used to conduct the university’s teaching staff performance evaluation, based on the students’ unequivocal involvement, was justified by these fundamental premises. Full article

True crime podcasts invite their listeners to crowdsource investigations online, solving cases that have fallen through the cracks of the criminal justice system. Through a cultural criminologist lens, this digital ethnography examines The Vanished podcast as a case study of how true crime listeners engage with solving cases in digital community spaces. Previous studies have dismissed true crime fans as pseudo police acting as digital vigilantes. Podcasting communities provide an important public service, working as participatory journalists to investigate the story and report the truth. Rather than depending on law enforcement permission to organize, online crime-investigation communities leverage the Internet’s function as an organizing agent for mobilization beyond the parameters of conventional social structures and formal government agencies. Findings reveal a six-step process of case collaboration between podcast producers, active listeners, and family and friends of missing persons. Other communities can apply this unique system to successfully investigate crime, suggesting implications for individuals within marginalized groups less likely to find justice through the formal legal system. Full article

Efforts to establish Pakistan’s National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) have been underway for the past 15 years, and therefore it is necessary to gauge the current progress to channelize efforts into areas that need improvement. This article assessed Pakistan’s NSDI implementation efforts through well-established approaches, including the SDI readiness model, organizational aspects, and state of play. The data were collected from Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and Geographic Information System (GIS) experts. The findings underscored challenges related to human resources, SDI education/culture, long-term vision, lack of awareness of geoinformation (GI), sustainable funding, metadata availability, online geospatial services, and geospatial standards hindering NSDI development in Pakistan. However, certain factors exhibit favorable standings, such as the legal framework for NSDI establishment, web connectivity, geospatial software availability, the unavailability of core spatial datasets, and institutional leadership. Thus, to enhance the development of NSDI in Pakistan, recommendations include bolstering financial and human resources, improving online geospatial presence, and fostering a long-term vision for NSDI. Full article

Existing literature presents multiple perspectives on quality within organizational contexts. Although these perspectives may differ, they universally emphasize the importance of meeting customer expectations regarding products/services. Consequently, organizations are dedicated to addressing customer requirements to foster elevated satisfaction levels. This study aims to assess customer satisfaction in water laboratories and develop a predictive model using artificial neural networks to improve service quality. A methodology was devised, integrating principles from thermodynamics with logic programming for knowledge representation and reasoning. Data were collected from 412 participants of both genders, aged 22 to 79 years old, using a questionnaire covering six specific areas, i.e., customer service, quality of service provided, support documentation, technical support, billing and payment, and online services and tools. While customer opinions were largely positive, the study identified areas for improvement, including clarity and effectiveness in responses to inquiries, reliability of results, clarity of analysis reports, usefulness of test interpretation guidelines, inclusion of legal information, billing options, and online services. Differences in satisfaction were noted based on socio-demographic factors such as age and academic qualifications. The findings offer a framework (an ANN-based model) for future evaluations and improvements in services, highlighting the importance of addressing specific customer needs to enhance satisfaction. Full article

The railway infrastructure projects in Thailand aim to shift transportation from roads to railways. This is crucial for transporting goods in emerging economies and increasing the demand for rail freight transport. However, several dynamic uncertainties hinder sustainable rail freight transport in Thailand. This study aims to identify the key factors and validate their effects on the success of the modal shift from roads to railways in Thailand. A total of 200 participants filled out a questionnaire delivered online and via postal service. The key factors were categorized into the following categories: the rail freight transport system, demand, and development factors in Thailand. The inter-relationship and connection of these factors were analyzed using SEM (structural equation modeling). The SEM results showed that all causal factors in the model had a positive influence on rail freight development in Thailand, which explained 98.3% of the variance in the factors influencing development. This study’s findings underscore the influential significance of rail performance, rail infrastructure, the legal framework, pricing, mode choice, and technology on the expansion of rail freight transport in Thailand. The rail freight transport system, rail performance, rail infrastructure, and Thailand’s rail infrastructure development strategy were significant direct predictors of rail freight expansion. An expansion of the rail freight transport system also leads to rail freight demand. The results of this study have positive implications for the government, railway practitioners, and policymakers to prioritize their focus on achieving rail freight transport as the national target. Full article

This article aims to illuminate the little-studied phenomenon of asylum-seeking child-bearing women in the UK, survivors of violence and human trafficking. This is a significant issue in terms of the proportion of women affected and the paucity of care and support currently available to them as mother survivors. This study looked to examine the frontline support services of one project to survivor mothers through two collaborating organisations, Happy Baby Community and Hestia, and how their services support mothers’ experiences of perinatal mental health, infant feeding, and the general experiences of migrant women and trafficking survivors in maternity care in the UK. Using evidence collected from semi-structured service-users’ interviews and focus groups, and an anonymous online staff survey, this article shows the types of care and support that are required to address not only the challenges faced by any new mother, but also the additional challenges experienced with trafficking and seeking asylum such as mental health, housing, and legal and access to other support. This article illustrates the many complex and inter-related challenges these women face, and the way the project meets practical, informational, emotional, appraisal, and social needs. It concludes by identifying several implications of the support provided and/or needed, which could be considered by other services or policymakers looking to meet the fundamental needs and rights of this cohort. Full article

Local markets have been a special setting throughout human history. Apart from their important social role, they had immeasurable economic importance as primary forms of exchange of goods (trade). Nonetheless, they experienced numerous transformational changes that affected their functioning. Like other countries, Serbia has a long tradition of market activity. However, several novelties have been introduced in recent years. Among many, the process of e-fiscalization is the main issue. Therefore, the focus of our research is based on a qualitative analysis of online media content (news and comments) related to the fiscalization of market activity. The attitudes of different categories of participants (state authorities, vendors, and customers) were analyzed. LIGRE open-access software was used for this purpose. The results of the analysis showed conflicting parties. Legislators emphasize the exclusive positive effects, while vendors point to the negative side of fiscalization. As a third party, customers (service users) have an undefined attitude in relation to fiscalization (pros/cons/neutral). There is an agreement to introduce market activity into legal flows. However, the key prerequisite is the prior resolution of a number of problems (working conditions, business costs, market monopoly, etc.). Full article

Aims: We aimed to explore pharmacists’ attitudes and support toward medically assisted dying (MaiD) through the End of Life Choice Act 2019 (EOLC), their willingness to provide services in this area of practice, and the influences on their decisions. Methods: The study was conducted via an anonymous, online Qualtrics^TM survey of pharmacists. Registered New Zealand pharmacists who agreed to receive surveys from the two Schools of Pharmacy as part of their Annual Practicing Certificate renewal were invited to participate through an email with a Qualtrics URL link. The survey contained questions regarding demographics, awareness, knowledge, support for, and attitudes and willingness to participate. Results: Of the 335 responses received, 289 were valid and included in the analysis. Most participants supported legally assisted medical dying (58%), almost a third of participants did not support it (29%), and 13% of respondents were unsure. The five primary considerations that participants perceived to be beneficial included support from legislation, respect for patient autonomy, discussions around morality, ending suffering, and preserving dignity. The main concerns were legal, personal bias, palliation, stigmatisation, and vulnerability. Conclusions: The influences on the decision by pharmacists to support and willingness to participate in the provision of services consistent with the EOLC are complex and multifactorial. Diverse factors may influence attitudes, of which religion is the most significant factor in not supporting the Act or willingness to participate. Clarity and standardised guidance to ensure that assisted dying queries are appropriately managed in practice would help to address any potential access issues. Full article

In the contemporary digital landscape, web search functions as a pivotal conduit for information dissemination. Nevertheless, blind users (BUs) encounter substantial barriers in leveraging online services, attributable to intrinsic deficiencies in the information structure presented by online platforms. A critical analysis reveals that a considerable segment of BUs perceive online service access as either challenging or unfeasible, with only a fraction of search endeavors culminating successfully. This predicament stems largely from the linear nature of information interaction necessitated for BUs, a process that mandates sequential content relevancy assessment, consequently imposing cognitive strain and fostering information disorientation. Moreover, the prevailing evaluative metrics for web service efficacy—precision and recall—exhibit a glaring oversight of the nuanced behavioral and usability facets pertinent to BUs during search engine design. Addressing this, our study introduces an innovative framework to facilitate information exploration, grounded in the cognitive principles governing BUs. This framework, piloted using the Wikipedia dataset, seeks to revolutionize the search result space through categorical organization, thereby enhancing accessibility for BUs. Empirical and usability assessments, conducted on a cohort of legally blind individuals (N = 25), underscore the framework’s potential, demonstrating notable improvements in web content accessibility and system usability, with categorical accuracy standing at 84% and a usability quotient of 72.5%. This research thus holds significant promise for redefining web search paradigms to foster inclusivity and optimized user experiences for BUs. Full article

Technologies providing copyright-infringing IPTV content are commonly used as an illegal alternative to legal IPTV subscriptions and services, as they usually have lower monetary costs and can be more convenient for users who follow content from different sources. These infringing IPTV technologies may include websites, software, software add-ons, and physical set-top boxes. Due to the free or low cost of illegal IPTV technologies, illicit IPTV content providers will often resort to intrusive advertising, scams, and the distribution of malware to increase their revenue. We developed an automated solution for collecting and analysing malware from illegal IPTV technologies and used it to analyse a sample of illicit IPTV websites, application (app) stores, and software. Our results show that our IPTV Technologies Malware Analysis Framework (IITMAF) classified 32 of the 60 sample URLs tested as malicious compared to running the same test using publicly available online antivirus solutions, which only detected 23 of the 60 sample URLs as malicious. Moreover, the IITMAF also detected malicious URLs and files from 31 of the sample’s websites, one of which had reported ransomware behaviour. Full article

This article is about the role of cryptocurrencies, for example, decentralized autonomous organisations (DAOs) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), in the international art market. These are cryptocurrencies which can be used to work with local governments to deliver non-state-funded consultancy in, for example, funding bid writing or community risk assessment. Self-polycentric and cause-based DAOs typically focus on actively listening to their token owners, utilizing the group’s skills under a transparent incentive structure fostering trust. This article delivers a critical evaluation of DAOs as an organisational management structure and business operations vehicle. This evaluation considers DAOs’ utility in supplying goods and services, through the critical lens of facilitating the international art market. The objective of this article is to raise wider awareness and understanding of DAOs as a legal entity. This paper acts to introduce the uninitiated to the business, societal value and legal uncertainties of DAOs and NFTs. DAOs are internet-based organisations built upon a set of instructions presented in and controlled by a computer programme, i.e., a smart contract. Effectively, DAOs are an artificial, electronic, online, digital technology entity, with no physical form. Full article