Article Review #1:
Steven Sori
September 16th, 2024
Article Review #1: Do the means justify the end?
Research Question: Is understanding the implications of these legislative changes on freedom of expression of paramount importance as Jordan grapples with the challenge of maintaining cybersecurity while upholding democratic values? The answer to this will be discussed in detail throughout this review.
Research Methods: This article employed the following research methods: document analysis of legal texts, analytical and qualitative research, as well as comparative legal analysis. The data collection process was conducted by employment of analyzing the documents used in legal texts, allowing the researchers to find the number of cases regarding cybercrime in Jordan, as well as the different proposed amendments and what they meant, along with analyzing the legal text concerning already established acts such as the Electronic Crimes Act 2023. Qualitative research allowed this article to explore the ethics of the laws being proposed by the Jordanian government as well as the motivation behind proposing these mentioned laws and amendments.
Social Science Principles: Ethical considerations: this article goes in depth on the potential threats that exist to Jordanian citizen’s freedom of speech by the Electronic Crimes Act 2023. It also goes in depth to emphasize the import of address the impact that cyber violence games, which are not mentioned once in the ongoing efforts by Jordanian legislation to combat cybercrimes, has on children. For example, in December 2017, a group of Jordanian students from a private elementary school in Al-Karak City, South of Jordan, harmed themselves with sharp objects under the influence of the Cyber-Blue Whale game. Objectivity: This article does not show any bias or favor to a specific party. Instead, it focuses on using critical analysis to explore whether Jordanian legislation on how they address cybercrimes infringes on the freedom of speech rights of their citizens. The article highlights the proposed amendments in the Electronic Crimes Act 2023 by the Jordanian government, analyzing whether certain cybercrimes such as cyber-hate speech were infringing on freedom of expression or actually protecting the citizens. Scientific method: Through analytical and qualitative research, this Article is able to analyze their findings based solely on the facts. Researchers took the various legislations both attempted and passed through government, to determine whether they believed the Jordanian government was using cybercrime legislation as a blanket on the freedom of speech and information of Jordan.
Hypothesis: Does the Jordanian government’s cybersecurity legislation infringe on the freedom of speech? In accordance with the findings of this article, Jordan’s government is rightfully enacting new laws that are tougher and address a wider range of ever-evolving technology. However, while leaving certain terms such as “fake news” or “cyber-hate speech” subject to interpretation, they are allowing the jury in future trials to more extensively examine cases on a case-by-case matter, rather than a clear black and white definition.
Contributions: This article contributed to clearing up the Jordanian government’s shroud of ambiguity surrounding their controversial laws regarding cybersecurity and addressed certain controversies that skirted on the line of infringing freedom of speech. But did so in a way that both helps amend their legal grammar as well as clarify who these laws are intended for. The article also contributed to Jordanian society by providing an unbiased review on their laws and providing perspectives for both lawmakers and citizens. Thanks to this Article, a new legislation can be considered with clearer definitions to avoid misinterpretation or abuse of the legal wording. While the people of Jordan may seem marginalized to some, and therefore expected to have ambiguous and perhaps corrupt laws due to their socioeconomic standing on the international stage, they’ve shown a grasp on how to tackle rising cybercrime rates with stricter yet fair laws that don’t directly infringe on the rights of their citizens.
In conclusion, the Jordanian government has had success with upholding the democratic values of its country while combating the rising cybercrime rates in their country. Although throughout their proposals, the legal text skirted on the thin lines of the gray area, Jordanian authorities are enacting laws to help punish those seeking to abuse cyber laws and allow their juries to analyze in further detail on a case-by-case basis for loosely defined parts of their laws.
References: Chang, L. Y., & Grabosky, P. (2017). The governance of Cyberspace. Regulatory Theory, 533–551. https://doi.org/10.22459/rt.02.2017.31 Alaeldin Mansour Maghaireh (2024). Cybercrime Laws in Jordan and Freedom of Expression: A Critical Examination of the Electronic Crimes Act 2023.
Article Review #2:
Steven Sori
November 10th, 2024
Article Review #2: How far can loved ones go?
Hypothesis: Due to the expansion of the technological devices capable of monitoring loved ones, it is likely that data gathering will continue to increase in intimate relationships, therefore increasing the chances of privacy being violated amongst intimate relationships.
Research Methods: Surveying the parents of 13-17 year olds to see the wide range of actions taken by parents to monitor their children’s online activity and digital footprint was one of the research methods utilized to substantiate this article. Another survey taken by Pew Research Center was utilized to find what percentage of parents used tools provided by IoT devices such as parental controls, location sharing and other tracking services, this survey found that 61% of parents check the websites and browsing history of their children’s internet activity and 60% checked their children’s social media profiles and private messages. This article references an online panel of national representation of cohort of teens as a research method.
Social Science Principles: This article expresses variability in that it explores privacy threats within intimate relationships across the board and not just a particular group such as an ethnic group or age group. It also explains the ethics behind the boundaries that families may cross when accessing each other’s personal data such as passwords, phone monitoring and browsing history. The article highlights objectivity by surveying a wide range of intimate relationships and exploring the implications that of digital privacy designs on common household IoT’s such as cellphones, security cameras, and smart tablets.
Concepts from CYSE201S: Individual motives such as revenge from a loved one who feels hurt by the victim may overreach their boundary and become over possessive of them. We also see the psychodynamic theory relating to common privacy abuse behaviors in the sense of early childhood invasion of privacy can lead to them doing it in future relationships thinking that this behavior is acceptable. Reinforcement sensitivity in the sense of impulsivity and not fearing any consequences because they would be so minute.
Contributions: This article has highlighted some big issues that can be exploited maliciously by the wrong user. Mainly, stalker ware and tracking applications are not regulated as much as they should be and in this article there are a few recommendations made to help deter people from using these kinds of applications for unintended purposes such as stalking and accessing private information. The article calls for increased civil and criminal punishment severity for offenses with regard to privacy abuse. These marginal groups such as women and young children are sometimes abused in the form of privacy breach and digital tracking and there is not enough regulation or oversight to provide a voice for these groups, unlike high-profile breaches we see on the news from time to time.
Conclusion: In a nutshell, Data gathering in intimate relationships is only going to increase due to the widespread adoption of devices with tracking capability. People may misuse applications advertised for protecting and supervising loved ones, this leads to privacy abuse and also abusing technology that is not meant for malicious intentions. Also, a deeper regulatory eye may be due into stalker ware and tracking technology to see if protections can be put in place to offset the malicious users abusing their loved ones.
References: Pew Research Center. Parents, teens and digital monitoring. 2016 http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/01/07/parents-teens-and-digital-monitoring/ (26 April 2020, last accessed).
Shahani A. Smartphones are used to stalk, control domestic abuse victims. NPR 2014 September 25. https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/09/15/346149979/smartphones-are-used-to-stalk-control-domestic-abuse-victims (26 April 2020, last accessed)
Article Source Link: https://academic.oup.com/cybersecurity/article/6/1/tyaa006/5849222?searchresult=1#204267050