Results 4,421-4,440 of 5,894 for speaker:James Lawless

Report on the Arts: Motion (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: I am grateful for the opportunity to share a few brief thoughts on this report in this debate. I welcome the report and it is important that focus is placed on the arts and the supports that are required in terms of funding, Government structures and regulatory frameworks and how they all might work together to support everything from our small town or village festivals right through to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 1: The Evidence (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: I thank the witnesses for their contributions and attendance. I have two questions which I will tie together and try to keep as brief as possible. The first relates to an incident from social media yesterday. As we know, the British general election is under way and we miss the presence of our British colleagues, with the exception of Lord Puttnam who is with us. The official Twitter...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 1: The Evidence (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: One of the weaknesses where the platforms get around existing obligations and we need to legislate for new obligations is the platform-publisher chestnut. They say they are just a dumb terminal displaying binary code which is throwing up content and that in that way they are just a carrier. To my mind, the companies are curating content and selling advertisements based on personalised...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 2: Industry Perspective (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: I will share time with Deputy Eamon Ryan. Staying with Facebook and to follow up on the previous speaker's contribution, was the Libra cryptocurrency an attempt to circumvent the issues we just talked about in terms of currencies from multiple jurisdictions coming in?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 2: Industry Perspective (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: I refer to the Libra cryptocurrency that Facebook was rolling out. Was that an attempt to in some way address some of the issues around rubles and many other currencies being used in multiple jurisdictions? Was the Libra currency geared towards circumventing some of the traceability and auditing issues Dr. Bickert has just been talking about with the previous speaker?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 2: Industry Perspective (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: If I understand the position correctly, Libra may assist in concealing some of the issues that have just been discussed. I will move on. Is it the case that, essentially, the only way for political messages to get across on Facebook is by advertising? The algorithms were changed about two years ago because there was a growth of negative news or, to an extent, spam on Facebook. My...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 2: Industry Perspective (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: Two allegations have been made against Facebook. One is that it promotes addictive behaviours in order to keep users on the platform. The second is that it has exploited its dominant position in some ways. An example that brings those two behaviours together is Facebook's advocacy for video content in recent years. I am told that the statistics for video content supplied by Facebook...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 2: Industry Perspective (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: Dr. Bickert might come back to me on that. I have a final question. What percentage of Facebook's moderation team globally is made up of company employees and what percentage is made up of outside contractors?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 2: Industry Perspective (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: Approximately.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 2: Industry Perspective (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: They are not subject to the same conditions. I have met some of them in Ireland and elsewhere, and I have read the stories. They are certainly not subject to the same conditions. There have been many stories about the harshness, the pay inequality, the difficult conditions they work in and the psychological trauma and mental health issues that have arisen afterwards. They may be subject...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 2: Industry Perspective (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: My next question is to Google and I am going to keep it tight.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 2: Industry Perspective (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: Yes. I understand that Google is a search engine and it performs as a directory but I also understand that any content, illegal or otherwise can be retrieved by the search engine because Google's view is that it is a directory. I was perturbed by this when I met Google recently, that it applies to disturbing content, freedom of speech, violent and pornographic content and illegal content....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 3: The State of Play in Regulation (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: I will be as succinct as possible. I have two questions, one for the Minister, Deputy Bruton, on the Irish environment and the new proposals, and one for the panel as a whole on regulatory enforcement. I welcomed the announcements this week and the Minister alluded to a number of other proposed measures. I look forward to reviewing the details of those when they are published. One of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 3: The State of Play in Regulation (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: The Minister mentioned the Digital Safety Commissioner Bill 2017. Does the same logic apply to the Online Advertising and Social Media (Transparency) Bill 2017? Is the Minister referring to both Bills?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 3: The State of Play in Regulation (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: I thank the Minister. I have a brief question for the panel. We are attempting to formulate regulation and legislation and while some countries have had more success than others in that regard, we are all moving in that direction. However, enforcement is the key to legislation and regulatory activity in any sphere. The Data Protection Commissioner has had some success in enforcement and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 4: International Collaboration (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: Can I ask Mr. Lovett - although I am interested in all views on this - about another old chestnut which is the question of net neutrality, and how we enforce this? How do we aspire to it? This is dual-layered because even if we manage our service providers, and legislate that service providers cannot boost or block particular types or sources of content, social media platforms are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 5: Future Collaboration (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: I drafted that part of the principles. The thinking behind it is to include this ticker. How we do it is immaterial but it is to include a transparency or disclosure notice such that all of these political advertisements have a ticker tape running beside or under them where the user can click to see who brought it to them, who sponsored it, and who funded it. That gets around many of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Session 5: Future Collaboration (7 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: On another output from the committee, it is important that when we leave here today we have some framework agreed among us for further follow-up actions. We had a discussion earlier with some of the panellists about this, but I am not sure if we reached any definitive conclusion. In the absence of an external framework, the grand committee retains the mantle and it falls on us as...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Quality (6 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: 215. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the measures being taken to reassure the public that water is appropriately treated and fit for consumption at both the Leixlip and Ballymore Eustace water plants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45595/19]

Illegal Drugs: Motion [Private Members] (5 Nov 2019)

James Lawless: I want to add to the words already spoken by my colleagues and I commend Deputy John Curran on bringing this motion forward. It is a very important motion, as highlighted last weekend by nine former Ministers of State who had responsibility for drugs and who called for urgent and further action on this scourge, which all Members see in their communities. While it is very much an urban issue...