Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. Background -- 2. Delineation -- 3. Structure -- PART I -- Chapter 1. Setting: Notions, Issues & Policy History -- 1.1. Clarification of the constitutive elements -- 1.1.1. Digital media content -- A. Introduction -- B. Recent developments in the media environment -- B.1. The emergence of new technologies -- B.2. Digitisation -- B.3. Convergence -- B.4. Control revolution, social networking and user-generated content -- C. Conclusion: digital media content -- 1.1.2. Minor -- 1.1.3. Harmful content -- A. Social science: history and theories of media content and media effects -- A.1. Social science and harmful media content -- A.2. Media effects research -- B. Why regulate harmful content?: the precautionary principle -- C. Exploration of the concept 'harmful content' -- C.1. Definitions of harmful content -- C.2. Harmful content versus illegal content -- C.3. Social science inspired concepts of harmful content -- C.4. Varieties of risks and varieties of harmful content -- D. Legal aspects and implications of harmful content -- D.1. Lack of legal definitions -- D.2. Harmful content and freedom of expression -- E. Concluding remarks -- 1.2. Protecting minors against harmful digital media content: identifying the regulatory challenges -- 1.2.1. Introduction -- A. Old versus new media -- B. Statistics -- C. Implications for policy and regulation? -- 1.2.2. Characteristics of the new information and communication networks -- 1.2.3. Obstacles to the use of traditional (content) regulation in the digital media environment -- 1.2.4. The United States legislative approach to protect minors on the Internet -- 1.2.5. The need for a broader regulatory framework -- 1.2.6. EU policy history: the protection of minors against harmful digital media content.

A. Communication Illegal and Harmful Content on the Internet -- B. Green Paper on the protection of minors and human dignity in audiovisual and information services -- C. Council Resolution on illegal and harmful content on the Internet -- D. Green Paper on the protection of minors and human dignity: Follow-up & Consultation -- E. Recommendations on the protection of minors and human dignity -- F. Successive Safer Internet programmes -- G. Council of Europe: a variety of policy documents -- H. Concluding remarks -- 1.3. Conclusion -- Chapter 2. Alternative Regulatory Instruments -- 2.1. "Regulation" -- 2.1.1. Regulation: conceptual elements -- 2.1.2. Centred or 'command-and-control' regulation -- A. Notion -- B. Drawbacks -- 2.1.3. Away from pure command-and-control regulation -- 2.1.4. Interim conclusion -- 2.2. "Alternative regulation" in policy documents -- 2.2.1. General policy documents -- A. International: OECD -- A.1. Recommendation on improving the quality of government regulation -- A.2. Report on regulatory reform -- B. European Union -- B.1. White Paper on European Governance -- B.2. The Final Report of the Mandelkern Group on Better Regulation -- B.3. Better Legislation Action Plan -- B.4. Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Lawmaking -- B.5. Other EU policy documents -- B.6. Interim conclusion -- 2.2.2. Media policy documents -- A. European Union -- B. Council of Europe -- C. Interim conclusion -- 2.3. Overview and analysis of different alternative regulatory instruments -- 2.3.1. Alternative regulatory instruments (ARIs) -- 2.3.2. Self-regulation -- A. Concept -- B. Self-regulation in the media sector: studies -- C. Illustration: codes of conduct -- D. Assets and drawbacks -- E. Interim conclusion -- 2.3.3. Co-regulation -- A. Concept -- B. Co-regulation in the media sector: the HBI and EMR study -- C. Illustrations.

C.1. Netherlands -- C.2. Germany -- C.3. Australia -- D. Assets and drawbacks -- E. Interim conclusion -- 2.3.4. Self- and co-regulation: Interim conclusion -- 2.3.5. Regulatory tools: Technology -- A. Technology: alternative regulatory instrument or regulatory tool? -- B. Technology and the protection of minors -- C. Illustrations -- C.1. Filtering -- C.2. Rating and labelling -- C.3. Parental monitoring and notification software -- C.4. Identification mechanisms -- C.5. Domain names -- D. Interim conclusion -- 2.3.6. Regulatory tools: Supporting mechanisms -- 2.4. Conclusion -- PART II -- Chapter 1. Legal Framework ('de lege lata') -- 1.1. Introduction -- 1.2. Human Rights - Children's rights -- 1.2.1. International -- A. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child -- B. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights -- 1.2.2. Council of Europe -- A. European Convention on the protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms -- B. European Social Charter -- C. Documents related to human rights and the information society -- D. Documents related specifically to children's rights -- 1.2.3. European Union -- A. EU Treaties -- B. Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union -- C. EU strategy on the rights of the child -- 1.2.4. Concluding remark -- 1.3. Human Rights: freedom of expression, privacy and procedural guarantees -- 1.3.1. Freedom of expression -- A. Article 10 ECHR -- B. Freedom of expression and the information society -- C. Freedom of expression and children -- D. Concluding remarks -- 1.3.2. Privacy -- A. Privacy and children -- B. Article 8 ECHR and the EU Privacy Directives -- C. The right to anonymity -- D. Concluding remark -- 1.3.3. Procedural guarantees -- A. Article 6 ECHR -- B. Article 13 ECHR -- 1.4. Content regulation.

1.4.1. Introduction -- 1.4.2. Regulation of audiovisual content -- A. Television without Frontiers Directive -- B. Revision process: from Television without Frontiers to Audiovisual Media Services -- C. Audiovisual Media Services Directive -- D. Council of Europe Convention on Transfrontier Television -- 1.4.3. Regulation of information society services: e-Commerce Directive -- 1.4.4. Indirect content regulation: liability of intermediaries -- A. Introduction -- B. e-Commerce liability regime -- C. Issues of concern -- 1.5. Internal market and competition -- 1.5.1. Internal market principles -- 1.5.2. Competition rules -- 1.6. General EU legislative principles and requirements -- 1.6.1. Proportionality -- 1.6.2. Subsidiarity -- 1.6.3. Article 288 para. 3 TFEU [ex 249 EC Treaty] -- 1.7. Conclusion -- Chapter 2. Using ARIs to Protect Minors from Harmful Content: Compliance with the Legal Framework -- 2.1. Introduction -- 2.2. Evaluation of different alternative regulatory instruments: compliance with the legal framework -- 2.2.1. Human rights -- A. Freedom of expression -- A.1. General principle -- A.2. Infringement by 'public authorities' -- A.3. Freedom of expression and horizontal effect -- A.4. Restrictions on freedom of expression and their justification -- A.5. Freedom of expression and self-regulation -- A.6. Freedom of expression and technology -- A.7. Concluding remarks -- B. Privacy -- B.1. General principle -- B.2. Privacy and alternative regulatory instruments -- B.3. Privacy and technology -- B.4. Concluding remarks -- C. Right to a fair trial -- C.1. General principle and delineation -- C.2. Scope of application -- C.3. The notion 'tribunal established by law' -- C.4. Procedural guarantees -- C.5. Concluding remark -- D. Right to an effective remedy -- D.1. General principle.

D.2. Article 13 ECHR and alternative regulatory instruments -- D.3. Horizontal effect of article 13 ECHR -- D.4. Article 6 and article 13 ECHR -- D.5. Concluding remarks -- E. Interim conclusion: ARIs and fundamental rights -- 2.2.2. Internal market legislation -- A. Free movement of goods -- A.1. General principles -- A.2. Conceptual elements -- A.3. Member States, individuals and responsibility -- A.4. Application of theory in practice: Dynamic Medien v. Avides Media -- B. Free movement of services -- B.1. General principles -- B.2. Scope -- B.3. Applicability to actions of private parties -- B.4. Free movement of services and the media sector -- C. Interim conclusion -- 2.2.3. Competition rules -- A. Article 101 TFEU [ex 81 EC Treaty] -- A.1. General principle -- A.2. Undertaking -- A.3. Agreements -- A.4. Inapplicability of article 101 para. 1 TFEU [ex 81 EC Treaty] -- A.5. Delegation to private bodies -- B. Article 102 TFEU [ex 82 EC Treaty] -- C. Article 106 TFEU [ex 86 EC Treaty] -- D. Interim conclusion -- 2.2.4. Article 288 para. 3 TFEU [ex 249 EC Treaty] -- A. General principle -- B. Requirements -- B.1. Content -- B.2. Nature -- B.3. Application and enforcement -- B.4. Liability in case of inadequate implementation -- C. Article 288 TFEU [ex 249 EC Treaty] and ARIs -- D. Interim conclusion -- 2.3. Conclusion: ARIs and their compatibility with the European legal framework -- Concluding Remarks and Recommendations for the Future -- 1. Retrospective of the research undertaken -- 2. Conclusions -- 3. Recommendations and indications for future research -- A. Recommendations -- B. Indications for future research -- Bibliography -- Index.