Technology and Rights

What do we know about technology and rights? This article provides a fairly comprehensive overview of current issues regarding this topic. We explore and analyse a wide spectrum of rights that are challenged in this current era of technological convergence. We use the United States Bill of Rights as an example of the vulnerability of legal protections for rights against particular political and technological changes in this post 9-11 climate. New streams of rights acting as a safeguard against further incursions of technology into civil liberties are explored. We also address intellectual property rights and international trends in copyright, patent and trademark laws. We question whether these issues of technology and rights have a place in current technological literacy scenarios.     

Intellectual property: what do teachers and students know?

As society changes from an industrial to a knowledge era increasing importance and value is being placed on intellectual property rights. Technology teachers need to have pedagogical content knowledge of intellectual property if they are to incorporate it into their learning programmes to enable students to consider how to respect others’ intellectual property rights, how to protect their own ideas and how they can legitimately make use of others’ intellectual property. A survey of technology teachers and a small sample of students was undertaken to ascertain their knowledge of intellectual property and any misconceptions which may exist. The findings reflect an awareness of relevant concepts but confusion between key terms such as patent, copyright and registered design.     

Baywatch: Two approaches to measure the effects of blocking access to The Pirate Bay

In the fight against unauthorised sharing of copyright protected material, Dutch Internet Service Providers have been summoned by courts to block their subscribers' access to The Pirate Bay and related sites. This paper studies the effectiveness of this approach towards online copyright enforcement, using both a consumer survey and a newly developed non-infringing technology for BitTorrent monitoring. While a small group of respondents download less from illegal sources or claim to have stopped doing so, no impact is found on the percentage of the Dutch population downloading from illegal sources. Slight changes are found on the distribution of Dutch peers, but these seem related to the awareness raised by blocking rather than the blocking itself.     

Pirates and Samaritans: A decade of measurements on peer production and their implications for net neutrality and copyright

This study traces the evolution of commons-based peer production by a measurement-based analysis of case studies and discusses the impact of peer production on net neutrality and copyright law. The measurements include websites such as suprnova.org, youtube.com, and facebook.com, and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems Kazaa, Bittorrent, and Tribler. The measurements show the two sides of peer production, the pirate side with free availability of Hollywood movies on these P2P systems and the Samaritan side exhibited by the quick joining of 400,000+ people in a community to organize protests against events in Burma. The telecommunications and content industry are disrupted by this way of peer production. As a consequence, revenues of both industries are likely to suffer in the coming years. On the other hand, innovative P2P systems could win the battle on merit over classical distribution technologies. As a result, a continuation is expected of both legal actions against P2P and possible blocking actions of P2P traffic, violating net neutrality. It is argued that this hinders innovation and causes a large discrepancy between legal and user perspectives. A reform of copyright laws is clearly needed, otherwise they will be unenforceable around 2010.     

并购商誉对建筑企业盈利能力的影响研究

选取2011~2017年沪深两市建筑行业中的112家上市公司为样本进行了实证研究,得出结论:并购活动产生的商誉对该行业的企业盈利能力有显著的正向影响,并购商誉的金额越大,企业盈利能力越强。同时,进一步研究还发现了产权性质影响并购商誉与企业盈利能力之间的相关关系,并购商誉对企业盈利能力显著的正向影响主要存在于国有控股企业,非国有控股企业的并购商誉并未对企业盈利能力形成显著影响。最后,本文针对相关研究结论,结合建筑行业特点提出了合理化的建议。     

Employee Participation,Ownership, and Productivity: A Theoretical Framework

A new conceptual framework to define and differentiate among diverse forms of employee ownership is developed. Two central rights associated with ownership, return and control rights, are identified. Their impact on individual motivation, individual performance, organizational structural variables and organizational performance is evaluated. We show how, over certain ranges of combinations of control and return rights, the relationship between alternative ownership arrangements and organizational performance may be nonlinear. The implications for the introduction of employee ownership and the evaluation of empirical work are considered.     

Policy implications of technology for detecting P2P and copyright violations

The effectiveness of many proposed policies regarding both online copyright protection and network neutrality depend on the extent to which it is technically possible to detect peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), the transfer of copyrighted files, or both. There are many detection approaches, some performed primarily by network operators and some by application-layer agents. This paper describes capabilities, limitations, privacy issues, and policy implications of detection technologies and their countermeasures, in part through quantitative analysis of empirical data. Different approaches are better for different purposes. Network operators are well-positioned to estimate how widespread copyright violations are, but application-layer detection from outside entities has important advantages when the purpose is punishment. Detection is also imperfect, so policies should require more transparency regarding how it is done than we see today. It is shown that, although network operators may not detect every transfer, and they typically miss more video than audio, they can identify most individuals who share copyrighted files via P2P after several weeks of monitoring provided that traffic is unencrypted, which is useful for some purposes. However, it is also shown that encryption is already in use, and it effectively prevents network operators from detecting transfers of copyrighted content. Thus, if network operators are held responsible for monitoring illegal file sharing, there is a tension between using detection to identify violators of copyright law for punishment, which may motivate even greater use of encryption, and using detection for other purposes such as creating fair compensation schemes for copyright-holders, warning users that they may be violating copyright law, or allocating network resources. Alternatively, there are forms of detection that are not evaded through encryption, and application-layer agents rather than network operators are primarily responsible for these. These copyright policy issues are intertwined with network neutrality policy in subtle ways. Network neutrality rules do not protect illegal transfers of copyrighted content, but if network operators are responsible for enforcement (as in “graduated response”) then regulators must determine when it is reasonable to terminate or degrade service based on allegations of copyright violation given the limitations of detection technology to prove those allegations. Allegations of copyright violation should be considered invalid unless they are accompanied with information about how detection was performed and an opportunity for rebuttal. Such transparency has been routinely lacking in both laws and industry agreements.     

Copyright issues for home videotaping

The consumers' home use of videocassette recorders to record TV programmes or motion pictures has concerned copyright owners, who fear that their economic interest will be jeopardized. The 1976 US Copyright Act is silent on the issue of private, non-commercial home videotaping. The US Supreme Court, in the Betamax case, has ruled that private, non-commercial home videotaping is not a copyright infringement. However, neither the law nor the ruling has actually resolved the fundamental copyright problem associated with home videotaping. This article proposes a number of public and private policy options for reaching an optimal solution.     

Gone in 60 Seconds: The Impact of the Megaupload Shutdown on Movie Sales

The growth of Internet-based piracy has led to a wide-ranging debate over how copyright policy should be enforced in the digital era. In this paper we analyze the impact of the US government's shutdown of a major piracy site – Megaupload.com – on digital sales and rentals of movies.Exploiting cross-country variation in pre-shutdown usage of Megaupload, we find that the shutdown of Megaupload and its associated sites caused digital revenues for three major motion picture studios to increase by 6.5–8.5%. Our results suggest that some consumers will turn to legal channels when a major filesharing site is shut down, and by extension that illegal filesharing displaces digital movie sales.     

DOES COPYRIGHT ENFORCEMENT ENCOURAGE PIRACY?*

When copyright enforcement is targeted at high‐value buyers such as corporate and government users, the copyright holder charges super‐monopoly prices, thereby encouraging low‐value buyers to switch to inferior pirated copies. We show that enlarging the copyright holder's captive market through more extensive copyright enforcement reduces prices toward the monopoly level, increases sales of legitimate copies and can increase consumer surplus. Therefore, in contrast with the case of more intensive copyright enforcement, more extensive copyright enforcement over some range can increase the incentive to generate intellectual property while also reducing the loss to consumers from monopoly power.     

Identifying and addressing land governance constraints to support intensification and land market operation: Evidence from 10 African countries

Beyond concerns about agricultural productivity growth, issues of land governance have attracted global interest as demand for land acquisition by outsiders has increased rapidly but most of the transfers failed to live up to expectations and instead disrupted local livelihoods. We use the land governance assessment framework to identify key conceptual issues and identify how land governance in 10 African countries compares to global good practice. Results point towards weak protection of rights in practice, large gaps in female land access, and limited outreach and effectiveness of institutions to record rights and adjudicate disputes. We note that programs to improve performance along these lines had significant impact in other contexts, suggesting that efforts to improve land governance will be warranted and should be closely monitored and evaluated in an effort to identify models suited to African conditions and assess their impact and interaction with other factor markets.     

Digital piracy: Causes,consequences, and strategic responses

What should copyright holders do about the piracy of digital media? This paper first discusses the causes of piracy, with particular reference to the factors that lead consumers to engage in piracy en masse. Then it explores the consequences of piracy for copyright holders. The final section of the paper builds upon the proceeding sections to look at the different strategic responses copyright holders can adopt to deal with piracy. Given widespread digital piracy in Asia, these insights have particular relevance for the region.     

企业动漫角色商品化权收益影响因素的灰关联分析

本文通过文献研究、案例分析和实地调研,提出基于"动漫形象资产——动漫角色声誉——营销管理能力——制度环境友好性"的动漫企业角色商品化权收益的4要素分析模型。本文通过灰关联分析显示:对当期商品化权收入影响最大的是制度环境友好性,其次是营销管理能力、企业的动漫形象资产及动漫角色声誉;对后期商品化权收入影响最大的是动漫角色声誉,其次是制度环境友好性,企业的营销管理能力以及动漫形象资产。     

政府质量、社会资本与金字塔结构

本文以金字塔结构形成机理为研究对象,从金字塔结构融资优势理论的视角,检验了我国地方政府质量和社会资本对家族上市公司金字塔结构的影响,实证研究发现:较高的地方政府质量和社会资本水平能够帮助家族企业获取融资机会,缓解融资约束,降低金字塔结构层级和终极控制权与现金流权的分离度。在政府质量较低的地区,社会资本对家族企业金字塔结构作用更加显著,这揭示了社会资本与政府质量在家族企业金字塔结构选择中存在着替代效应。研究结论说明,转型经济中的家族企业发展,除了继续完善地方政府质量,构建地区之间以信任为基础的和谐社会氛围同样重要,本文的研究不仅对理解金字塔结构提供了一种新的视角,而且丰富了社会资本与政府质量的研究领域。     

融资约束视角下终极控股股东对企业风险承担的影响

本文利用我国2006～2014年沪深A股非金融类上市企业数据,研究终极控股股东对企业风险承 担的影响以及融资约束在该影响中的作用。结果表明,控股股东现金流权对企业风险承担的 影响呈U型结构,随现金流权的增大,现金流权对企业风险承担的影响由正转负。就我国市 场而言,控制权与现金流权的分离度对企业风险承担具有负向影响,这种负向影响程度随融 资约束的提高而减弱。     

Economic and Political Factors in Formal Grievance Resolution

The resolution of formal grievances is largely determined by the applicable rights of grievant and the facts surrounding disputes. However, to the extent these rights and/or facts are unclear, the granting or denial of grievances is also partially determined by economic and political factors. A model of the impact of such factors on the favor ability of grievance decisions is developed and tested. The tests yield support for the general thesis and for several specific hypotheses.     

The impact of internationalization on performance and innovation: The moderating effects of ownership concentration

Researchers in international business have long been interested in understanding the impact of internationalization on performance and innovation. However, prior studies of this research stream offer mixed results. This study contributes to this research stream by employing agency theory to investigate how ownership concentration affects the performance and innovation implications of internationalization. Specifically, we examine two primary effects of ownership concentration: the incentive alignment effect, proxied by the controlling shareholder??s cash flow rights, and the entrenchment effect, proxied by the divergence between control rights and cash flow rights of the controlling shareholder. Based on a sample of Taiwan??s publicly listed firms, we find that the incentive alignment effect moderates the relation between internationalization and performance and innovation positively and the entrenchment effect moderates the relation negatively. These findings shed light on the mixed results of the literature. In addition, most countries outside the United States and the United Kingdom have high ownership concentration; therefore, our results may be generalizable to other settings, providing insight into the role of corporate governance in internationalization.     

The Role and Impact of Trade Union Equality Representatives in Britain

Drawing on data from the first national survey of trade union equality representatives, this article assesses the role and impact of equality representatives in Britain. While the majority of equality representatives report having had a positive impact on employer equality practice, the analysis also suggests that equality representative effectiveness might be enhanced via the introduction of statutory rights to time off. In addition, it points to the need for unions to include equality on the bargaining agenda, attract new representatives to the role, and ensure that equality representatives have the confidence and skills to represent members effectively within grievance procedures. It also suggests an important role for the government in encouraging employers to engage in meaningful dialogue with equality representatives.     

CEO财务经历与非金融企业影子银行化

本文基于管理者异质性视角,以2013~2020年中国A股上市公司为研究样本,实证分析了CEO财务经历对非金融企业影子银行化的影响。研究发现:CEO财务经历可以抑制非金融企业的影子银行化,在采用倾向匹配得分法(PSM)等多种稳健性检验以后,上述结果依然稳健。进一步研究发现,CEO财务经历对非金融企业影子银行化的抑制作用在CEO权利较大的企业中和CEO权利较小的企业中均显著;在非国有企业中这种负相关关系依然显著,但在国有企业中不显著。     

Getting bank financing: A study of Vietnamese private firms

Private firms in transition economies are operating in an extremely uncertain environment, with underdeveloped market institutions, poorly defined property rights, and absence of reliable business data. This raises a very basic question of how owners of these firms persuade bankers to make much needed loans. This study employs an institutional perspective and argues that firms' legitimacy positively influences their accessibility to bank financing. Specifically, this study develops a model that links networking, professional management practices, and growth stage with bank financing and tests that model using a sample of Vietnamese private firms. The results support the hypotheses that growth stage and networking greatly influence firms' accessibility to bank financing, and that the impact of networking on financing is contingent on the growth stage.