Cherian Samuel’s Article on Social Media Published in Global Times

Associate Fellow, IDSA, Dr Cherian Samuel’s article, titled ‘Social media too slippery for law to handle’ was published in The Global Times on October 7, 2012.

Excerpt

Social media and user generated content have become subject to very intense scrutiny, with calls for regulatory mechanisms in different parts of the world. But like other cybersecurity issues, perspectives on this issue have diverged sharply from country to country.

While the developed world is exercised about intellectual property rights online, the potential to disrupt law and order is of greater concern in developing countries which lack both the skills and technologies to adequately monitor cyberspace for disruptive activities.

Two recent incidents have starkly highlighted these problems. In the first, on May 20, a 26-year-old woman was robbed, raped and murdered in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The ensuing riots, which began around June 3, left 80 dead and 80,000 displaced.

Read complete article [+]