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Presentation on Freedom of Expression, given to the 'International Symposium on Freedom of Expression', UNESCO, Paris 26 January 2011.
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Freedom of Connection – Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet
Presentation for the International Symposium on Freedom of Expression, UNESCO, Paris, 26 January 2011.
William H. Dutton, Anna Dopatka, Michael Hills, Ginette Law, and Victoria Nash
Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
Cascading Issues over Freedom of Expression
The Internet Reconfigures Access in Ways that Can Empower Networked Individuals
Ecology of Choices Shaping Free Expression
Digital Rights
• Access – Freedom of Connection
• Freedom of Expression• Censorship• Equality (media literacy)• Freedom of Information• Privacy & Data Protection
Worldwide Diffusion of the Internet
0%
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
%In
tern
et u
sers
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.
Digital Rights
Meta-analysis of Internet filtering surveys:
• Global growth of filtering
• No single country
• Variety of Objectives:
• Political
• Moral
Industrial Policy and Regulation
• IPR: Copyright • IPR: Patents• Competition Policy• Technology-led Industrial Strategies• ICT for Development
Industrial Policy and Regulation
Copyright enforcement:
• ‘Three Strikes’ policy in France• Digital Economy Act (UK)
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
Copyright Mugley
Internet Policy• Internet Governance and Regulation• Domain Names and Numbers• Net Neutrality• Licensing, Regulation of Service Providers: Intermediaries• Internationalised Top-level Domain Names
Internet Policy:Standard-setting: Identity
Security
• Secrecy, Confidentiality• Security against Malware• Counter-Radicalisation• National Security
– Blackberry Use– WikiLeaks: Confidentiality-Security
Ecology of Choices Shaping Free Expression
Encouraging Themes for Freedom of Expression
• Internet Can Empowering Networked Individuals – Enhancing Freedom of Connection and Expression
• Worldwide Diffusion and Expanding Access in More Languages & Scripts enabling Networked Individuals to Find, Share and Create Content
• Major Issues of Human Rights are Increasingly Being Centered on the Internet and Web
• The Internet Space is not the ‘Wild West’
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
• Lack Appropriate Models for Internet Governance and Regulation
Directions for Policy
• Reduce Digital Divides • Broaden Perspectives on Freedom of Expression
– the Larger Legal and Regulatory Ecology• 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
• Monitor World Wide Internet Filtering in a more Systematic and Sustained Manner
• 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
Presentation for the International Symposium on Freedom of Expression, UNESCO, Paris, 26 January 2011.
William H. Dutton, Anna Dopatka, Michael Hills, Ginette Law, and Victoria Nash
Oxford Internet Institute,
University of Oxford
Opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNESCO or its Division for Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace.
