Freedom of Expression - Freedom of Connection
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Transcript of Freedom of Expression - Freedom of Connection
Freedom of Connection – Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet
William H. Dutton
Oxford Internet Institute (OII)
University of Oxford
Presentation for UNESCO Conference with Moroccan Internet Society on Freedom of Expression over the Internet, Marrakech, Morocco, 15 February 2013.
UNESCO Request to Critically Review Status of Research on Freedom of Expression:
• Some Pioneering Studies
• More Advocacy v Research
• Political Minefield (e.g., the McBride Commission 1977)
• Too Single-Issue Focused
Report Launch at UNESCO, Paris, 30 May 2011; Arabic trans. 2013.
The Internet Reconfigures Access in Ways that Can Empower Networked Individuals
A Fifth Estate?
Ecology of Choices Shaping Free Expression
Balancing Digital Rights
• Access – Freedom of Connection
• Freedom of Expression• Censorship• Equality (media literacy)• Freedom of Information• Privacy & Data Protection
Technical Innovations:Worldwide Diffusion of
Technologies of Connection
• Internet • World Wide Web• Mobile and Mobile
Internet
North America
Oceania / Australia
Europe Latin America / Caribbean
Middle East
Asia Africa0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
14% 1%
24%
10% 3%
42%
6%
266
21
475
205
63
825
111
77%
61%58%
35%30%
22%
11%
Percent of global Internet population
Number of Internet users (mio.)
Internet penetration within region%
Inte
rnet
use
rs
To
tal
nu
mb
er o
f In
tern
et u
sers
in
reg
ion
(m
io.)
Source: Internet World Stats - www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. Penetration rates are based on a world population of 6,845,609,960 and 1,966,514,816 estimated Internet users for June 30, 2010.
Percentage of Internet Users Across Regions of the World
Regions as Percentage of the Worldwide Population of Users
Number and Proportion of Internet Users by Region
Source: Internet World Stats- www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. Penetration rates are based on a world population of 6,930,055,154 and 2,267,233,742 estimated Internet users for December 31, 2011.
North America Oceania/Australia Europe Latin America/Carib.Middle East Asia Africa0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
12%
1%
22%
10%
3%
45%
6%
273
24
501
236
77
1017
139
79%
68%
61%
40%
36%
26%
14%
Percentage of global Internet population Number of Internet Users (mio.)Internet penetration within region
% o
f In
tern
et u
sers
To
tal
nu
mb
er o
f In
tern
et u
sers
(M
il.)
Technical Innovations: Technologies of Disconnection
Meta-analysis of Internet filtering surveys:
• Global growth of filtering (and increasing worldwide)
• No single country
• Variety of Objectives:
• Political • Moral• Commercial
BUT: Potential to Decentralize, e.g., Home Hubs
Industrial Policy and Regulation
• Technology-led Industrial Strategies, support economic growth• ICT for Development (ICT4D)• Competition Policy
• IPR: Copyright • IPR: Patents
Industrial Policy and Regulation
Copyright enforcement:
• ‘Three Strikes’ policy in France• Digital Economy Act (UK)• Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
Countered by:• The Pirate Party• Brazilian Copyright Reform Bill
Copyright Mot
User-Centric Policy• Child Protection Policy• Decency: Pornography• Libel: Defamation • Prevention of Hate Speech• Consumer Protection: Fraud• Section 127 of the UK Com
Act 2003 – electronic com that is ‘grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; …’
Copyright Mugley
Internet Policy• Internet Governance and Regulation (Multi-stakeholder Approach)• Domain Names and Numbers• Net Neutrality• Licensing, Regulation of Service Providers: Intermediaries• Internationalised Top-level Domain Names
Internet Policy:Standard-setting: Identity, Anonymity, Real Name
Registration
Security
• Secrecy, Confidentiality• Security against Malware• Counter-Radicalisation• National Security
– Blackberry Use– WikiLeaks: Confidentiality-Security– UK Data Communications Act
Ecology of Choices Shaping Free Expression
Encouraging Themes for Freedom of Expression
• Internet Empowering Networked Individuals – Enhancing Freedom of Connection and Expression (5th Estate)
• Major Issues of Human Rights are Increasingly Being Centered on the Internet and Web
• The Internet Space is not the ‘Wild West’ – much regulation exists
Countervailing Themes
• Freedom of Expression is not an Inevitable Outcome of Technological Innovation
• Continuing Global and Local Digital Divides in Access and the Production of Content
• Global Increase in Content Filtering and Censorship
• Freedom Shaped by Choices in the Wider Ecology of Actors, Objectives and Policies
• Use of Inappropriate Models for Internet Governance and Regulation threatens to Foster ‘Over-Regulation’, e.g., fear or complacency of the ‘Old Internet World’
Directions for Policy
• Reduce Digital Divides • Broaden Perspectives on Freedom of Expression
– the Larger Legal and Regulatory Ecology
− ways to democratize content control• Renew and Inform Debates over:
– Appropriate Regulatory Models for the Internet– Global and Local Approaches to Internet Governance– Ways to Inform the Public and Elected Officials about
the Internet and Legal-Regulatory Issues
Renew Research on Freedom of Expression
• More Systematic and Sustained Monitoring of Innovations in, and Use of, Internet Filtering
• Need to Track an Expanded Range of Policies and Regulatory Issues in this Ecology
• Critically Explore Relationships between Freedom of Expression and other Core Values and Rights
• Study Impacts on the Ground, including Public Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behavior
• Understand Assaults on Freedom of Expression as efforts to protect other Values and Interests