Liability Issues in Wireless Community Networks
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Federica Giovanella
Abstract
Wireless Community Networks (WCNs) are an emerging phenomenon in which people gather in networked communities, based on a bottom-up approach. These networks allow users interaction and/or can bring Internet connectivity where it would otherwise be unavailable. Computer scientists have studied these networks in depth, whilst legal scholars have paid only marginal attention to the phenomenon. This paper attempts to remedy the deficiency by analysing different potential liability issues arising from the diffusion of WNCs from the perspective of European law and advancing possible solutions to address these issues.
Note
This work was supported by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto (Trento, Italy) under the project ‘Wireless community networks: aspetti giuridici, sociologici e tecnici di un nuovo fenomeno d’aggregazione sociale’.
Acknowledgement
My gratitude goes to Dr Leonardo Maccari (University of Trento) for explaining the mechanisms underlying WCNs’ functioning and diffusion to me and for involving me in this challenging research. I wish to thank Matteo Ferrari, Giuseppe Bellantuono, Ken Oliphant, Roberto Caso and the two anonymous reviewers for the JETL for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this article, as well as the participants of the 2nd Biennial Meeting of the International Research Network on Technological Innovations, Uncertainty and the Law of Civil Liability, held in Trento, 10–13 June, 2014 and the participants of the ADAM Symposium, held in Paris, 2–3 October 2014. All remaining errors are the author’s.
© 2015 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/München/Boston
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- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
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- The Problem of Uncertain Factual Causation in Israeli Tort Law
- Liability Issues in Wireless Community Networks
- Three Errors in the Defamation Act 2013
- Legislation Note
- The 2013 German Patients’ Rights Act – Codifying Medical Malpractice Compensation
- Case Commentaries
- Article 8 ECHR as a General Personality Right?
- Book Reviews
- Ernst Karner/Ken Oliphant (eds),Loss of Housekeeping Capacity (De Gruyter, 2012) ISBN: 978 -3-89949-814-1. xiii + 337. €109.95 (hardback).
- Anne Jacquemet-Gauché,La responsabilité de la puissance publique en France et en Allemagne. Étude de droit comparé (LGDJ, Paris 2013, Bibliothèque de droit public 275). xx + 587 pp. ISBN 978-2-275-04020-2. € 62.00 (paperback).
- James Goudkamp, Tort Law Defences (Hart Studies in Private Law, 2013), 223 pp. ISBN 978-1-84946-291-4. £60 (hardback).
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- The Problem of Uncertain Factual Causation in Israeli Tort Law
- Liability Issues in Wireless Community Networks
- Three Errors in the Defamation Act 2013
- Legislation Note
- The 2013 German Patients’ Rights Act – Codifying Medical Malpractice Compensation
- Case Commentaries
- Article 8 ECHR as a General Personality Right?
- Book Reviews
- Ernst Karner/Ken Oliphant (eds),Loss of Housekeeping Capacity (De Gruyter, 2012) ISBN: 978 -3-89949-814-1. xiii + 337. €109.95 (hardback).
- Anne Jacquemet-Gauché,La responsabilité de la puissance publique en France et en Allemagne. Étude de droit comparé (LGDJ, Paris 2013, Bibliothèque de droit public 275). xx + 587 pp. ISBN 978-2-275-04020-2. € 62.00 (paperback).
- James Goudkamp, Tort Law Defences (Hart Studies in Private Law, 2013), 223 pp. ISBN 978-1-84946-291-4. £60 (hardback).
