ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic forced civil society and business to face a new reality where much greater reliance needed to be placed on networked devices and internet distributed communications, including the provision of services ranging from medical advice to food, entertainment and even the facility to interact with family. The ability to meet in-person with family, friends, colleagues, business associates or customers was severely restricted leaving internationalisation as a utopian dream as borders were closed, students were denied access to a physical classrooms and businesses had to rapidly "pivot” or fail. These alternatives to real life have seemed less appealing to many, with every aspect of life "going online”, whether virtualectures, exams, meetings, mediations, court appearances, job interviews, shopping for a piece of cheese or starting a new trade relationship. Much innovation over the last two years has been around deploying online business models. There has also been a wider use of artificial intelligence to support "efficient” operations partly stimulated by the falling staffing levels due to the pandemic directly through sickness or forced isolations, or indirectly by a growing sense of the futility of working for a business, known as the Great Resignation ("Over the 12 months ending in January 2022, hires totalled 76.4 million and separations totalled 70.0 million…” indicating a huge refocusing on jobs in the USA) This paper looks at the challenge for legal systems to pivot around the growing trends in deployments of online innovation. Some businesses are now widely deploying software-based analysis systems, such as Airbnb, which is using them to "verify the identity and trustworthiness of a user of an online system” and flag potential guests who may be problematic. Although Airbnb is a multibillion-dollar business, it is a good example of how through using publicly available data, user supplied information, and smart software (artificial intelligence) a business can make predictions on the behaviour of its potential customers. Other AI resources have been creating new gaming scenarios, reporting on the news, and even creating new artworks and music. These kinds of use of AI in the marketplace have challenged the legal frameworks that support individual privacy and also ideas around human creativity. © 2022, Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited. All right reserved.
ABSTRACT
After a long period of instability, Nepal adopted a new Constitution in 2015, creating a multiparty federal republic. Previously Nepal had been a unitary state, albeit with a long period of political instability and insurgencies. In 2017 the two competing communist parties merged to form the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), which operated with a 2/3rd majority in the House of Representatives. The implementation of federalism has been slow and uneven. Despite assurances to the contrary, the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been lacking, with Constitutional obligations ignored. The machinations of the then Prime Minister have exacerbated this, apparently supported by the President to overcome constitutional norms to keep the Prime Minister in power. The paper analyses the devolution of powers to the provincial and local levels described in the constitution. There have been successes and failures. There appeared to be a concerted effort from the federal parliament and some in the bureaucracy to continue to centralize power. This early inaction has hindered its response to the pandemic. Of even more concern is the then prime minister's role as he sought to maintain his hold on power by ignoring the provisions of the Constitution. © 2022, Universitas Negeri Semarang. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Whilst fake news has been around since the time of Aesop and, COVID-19 has been around for over two millennia less, they joined ranks in 2020. This paper looks at the interface between fake news and governments’ responses to the COVID-19. It compares the approaches of Australia, Singapore and Thailand. Australia relies on a non-legislative approach, where the major digital service providers sign an industry code of practice that must meet the Australian Communications and Media Authority guidelines. As of mid-2021, Twitter, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Redbubble, TikTok, Adobe, and Apple have signed the industry code of practice. In addition, online advertising that does comply with the requirements of the Therapeutic Drugs Administration can result in sanctions and financial penalties. Australians need to check for the required information on the appropriate government website. Singapore is one of a small number of countries that has specific anti-fake news legislation. Its fact-checking site does not appear to be widely used. Thailand uses its more overarching cybercrime legislation, which does not define fake news. It has developed a comprehensive social media monitoring organization to identify fake news. In addition, it has a website that citizens can check whether news on social media is correct or not. This site has proven extremely popular with several million hits since it commenced operation in late 2019. The paper examines the efficacy of each of the approaches in controlling the twin pandemics. © 2022 Kasetsart University.