Deibert, Palfrey, Rohozinski, Zittrain (eds.): Access Contested: Security, Identity, and Resistance in Asian Cyberspace (2011)
Filed under book | Tags: · asia, blogging, botnet, censorship, china, cyberwar, facebook, freedom of expression, internet, journalism, politics, surveillance
A daily battle for rights and freedoms in cyberspace is being waged in Asia. At the epicenter of this contest is China–home to the world’s largest Internet population and what is perhaps the world’s most advanced Internet censorship and surveillance regime in cyberspace. Resistance to China’s Internet controls comes from both grassroots activists and corporate giants such as Google. Meanwhile, similar struggles play out across the rest of the region, from India and Singapore to Thailand and Burma, although each national dynamic is unique. Access Contested, the third volume from the OpenNet Initiative (a collaborative partnership of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, and the SecDev Group in Ottawa), examines the interplay of national security, social and ethnic identity, and resistance in Asian cyberspace, offering in-depth accounts of national struggles against Internet controls as well as updated country reports by ONI researchers.
The contributors examine such topics as Internet censorship in Thailand, the Malaysian blogosphere, surveillance and censorship around gender and sexuality in Malaysia, Internet governance in China, corporate social responsibility and freedom of expression in South Korea and India, cyber attacks on independent Burmese media, and distributed-denial-of-service attacks and other digital control measures across Asia.
Edited by Ronald Deibert, John Palfrey, Rafal Rohozinski, Jonathan Zittrain
Publisher MIT Press, 2011
Information Revolution and Global Politics series
ISBN 0262516802, 9780262516808
414 pages
OSCE: Freedom of Expression on the Internet (2011)
Filed under report | Tags: · censorship, freedom of expression, human rights, internet, law
In 2010, the Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media of the OSCE commissioned a report to assess Internet regulation among its Member States. Considering the global nature of the Internet, as well as the lack of harmonisation at international level, many States have adopted regulation measures in order to implement national legislation also on Internet related matters.
The OSCE examined, in particular, existing laws and practices related to freedom of expression, the free flow of information and media pluralism on the Internet, which are fields potentially menaced by national Internet legislation. Indeed, member states have made commitments in regard of media freedom principles with which they should act in accordance.
OSCE’s study is based on a questionnaire given to participating members, which deals with four main subjects: a) internet access, b) internet content regulation, c) blocking, filtering and content removal and, d) licensing and liability & Internet hotlines. Because of the significant cultural diversity between Member States, national Internet legislation differs from one state to another. According to what is considered harmful in one state, for example, different content regulation has been adopted. In addition, participating states have various provisions as far as Internet access is concerned. For instance, lately many states have authorised blocking access to websites deemed illegal conforming to national legislation. Such practices are incompatible with OSCE commitments, as well as with other universal or European conventions signed by Member States and concerning media freedom, freedom of expression and free flow of information.
After having examined all the elements provided by participating states, the report made a series of recommendations which aim to ensure that the Internet remains an open and public forum for freedom of opinion and expression. Some of the aforementioned recommendations are the respect of net neutrality, refrain from mandatory blocking of content or websites, recognition of Internet access as a human right, all taking into consideration the borderless nature of Internet.
Freedom of Expression on the Internet: Study of legal provisions and practices related to freedom of expression, the free flow of information and media pluralism on the Internet in OSCE participating States
Publisher: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE): The Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media, July 2011
233 pages