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This article explores conceptual barriers to protecting children’s personal information in relation to online commercial data practices. It does this by using Vedder’s conceptual categories of privacy to identify and position parents’ and teenagers’ concepts of privacy within interpersonal, institutional and commercial data terrains. Drawing from qualitative interviews, the analysis shows that parents’ and teenagers’ conceptualise privacy in terms of the private/public dimension and that their conceptualisations of the consumer–corporate relationship, and corporations themselves, prohibited any concern for their decisional and informational privacy. As their conceptualisations of privacy harms were embedded within social rather than technological frames, this precluded motivation to protect children’s data privacy. This research argues that without a conceptual shift in the way we think about privacy and privacy harms, we need to question whether the logics of neoliberalism can effectively address children’s data privacy.

This article explores the failure of democratic nation-states to regulate corporate Internet intermediaries who essentially provide access to websites containing illegal and legal pornographic content. Existing literature credits this apparent diminishing regulatory role of states to neoliberalism. Drawing on Wacquant’s theory of ‘neoliberal statecrafting’ can explain the paucity of state media regulation while also accounting for when states do engage in alternative forms of regulation. Through a thematic analysis of key documents, media and interviews with ‘elite’ stakeholders in Australia and the United Kingdom, this research shows that private actors are generally exempt from state regulation, while individuals are simultaneously subject to punitive mechanisms for problematic and illegal uses of the Internet.

This article discusses policy debates in the United Kingdom and Australia concerning the regulation of online pornographic content as it relates to children. Through a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with key stakeholders at the negotiation table, we find that rather than positivist notions of the ‘developing’ and ‘vulnerable’ child dominating policy discourse, post-modern representations of the ‘savvy’ and ‘agentic’ child have come to dominate policy culture and outcomes. In this scenario, the regulatory role of states in providing media protection is diminished, while neoliberal forms of governance that emphasise the responsibility of individuals, including parents and children, have come to dominate the emerging policy landscape.

Wearable technology (WT) use in organizations is accelerating despite ethical concerns about personal privacy, data security, and stress from increased surveillance. Technology media, a key producer of meanings about WT, gives some attention to these issues but they also routinely promote WT as if they are a panacea for employee wellness. We critically analyze 150 media articles to understand how they justify the adoption of WT into organizational life. We contribute by extending previous work on surveillance technology to show how and why WT media discourses use neo-liberal justifications to justify WT implementation. We explore implications including competing health and wellness discourses and make suggestions for further research.

To assume the position of nawab consort in Bhopal at the end of the nineteenth century in anything but a purely passive role was in many ways courting disaster. Sayyid Siddiq Hasan Khan al-Qannauji al-Bukhari (1832–90), married to Shah Jahan, the third ruling begam1 of the central Indian state, was seen through the influence he exerted over his wife to be subverting the existing political order of Bhopal in which women literally reigned supreme under the benign umbrella of the British Raj. Siddiq Hasan’s steady, calculated assumption of power appeared to challenge both parties to the harmonious relationship which had been built up over generations between a ruling dynasty and the imperial power. To the royal family of Bhopal he was an evil force causing a deep schism among its members concerning the birthright of the family of Dost Mohammed Khan, its founder, to rule the state. To the British he was a scheming, immoral adventurer who, having succeeded at total emotional domination of the begam, attempted to control all aspects of the government of Bhopal by forcing his wife to adopt purdah while using the state’s finances and machinery to propagate his anti-British “Wahhabi” campaign. Condemned by both British officials and the local dynasty, the nawab consort was subjected to a relentless witch hunt until hounded out of the Bhopal court.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show that the way home‐based internet businesses (HBIBs) are operated and the reasons for which they are started enable HBIBs to bring about variety, and to argue that this variety has a broader impact on the industry and the economy.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a multiple case study approach, studying the best practices of eight HBIBs.FindingsThe study finds that HBIBs generate variety because of the unique way in which they operate, and because of the reasons why they are started. How HBIBs operate can be captured in the acronym SMILES: Speed, Multiple income, Inexpensive, LEan, and Smart. They are founded (amongst other motives) for reasons of autonomy, freedom and independence. Both aspects – the how and why – of HBIBs are conducive to the creation of variety as they facilitate trial‐and‐error commercialisation of authentic ideas.Research limitations/implicationsFive theoretical perspectives posit that variety is important for the industry and the economy: evolutionary theory, strategic management, organic urban planning, opportunity recognition, and the knowledge economy. The findings are discussed in the context of each perspective, showing how HBIBs play a role in each perspective.Practical implicationsPolicy makers should be aware of the importance of HBIBs, which can be promoted, providing generic facilities for business information, training, and mentoring, and by making compliance burdens more proportional to business size.Originality/valueThe paper shows how and why HBIBs are drivers of variety. This paper argues, by means of five theoretical perspectives, that because of the variety HBIBs generate, they contribute to the economy over and above their direct and indirect contributions in terms of revenue and employment.