Freedom on the Internet
Freedom and security on the Internet are one of the greatest global challenges of the future. Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt has initiated a debate on the subject and the Swedish Government are prioritising these issues. Among other initiatives, Sweden will be hosting a first international expert meeting.
Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right that is protected by a number of international conventions. This protection includes the necessity for freedom of expression to apply regardless of the medium used to convey the message. Despite this, freedom of expression is seen by many governments, including a number of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, as a threat to their exercise of power. Various forms of surveillance and censorship of the Internet have thus become a new and increasingly common way of trying to suppress or restrict freedom of expression. Such restrictions are often crimes against human rights.
Today, different regimes are trying to stop opposition movements by restricting their scope to communicate with the rest of the world. Mobile phone traffic and Internet traffic are disrupted or closed down. Attempts are also made to trace critics of regimes and to spy on them on the Internet to control the exchange of thoughts, opinions and ideas. The result is that hundreds of cyber-dissidents are now in prison.
The new information technology is also used for cyber-warfare and cyber-espionage. The lack of security on the Internet is being made use of to threaten the freedom of users. This shows that freedom on the Internet is strongly linked to security with regard to network functions and user integrity. At the same time, there is an important balance of interests between, on the one hand, the freedom of users and the protection of personal integrity, and on the other, the requirement for security and control to stop the Internet from being misused.
Expert meeting in Sweden
The many challenges facing the use of the new technologies show that there is a need for more stringent compliance with the international rules that protect freedom of expression. Protection of the use of the Internet needs to be strengthened. The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression has asked for Sweden's participation in a first expert meeting to draw up principles for freedom of expression on the Internet. Sweden will be convening such a meeting in 2010. The aim of this meeting will be to collect ideas on how freedom of expression and other human rights in electronic media could be clarified and given stronger international protection, and to include these ideas in the Special Rapporteur's report to the UN Human Rights Council in 2011.
Related
External links
- Council of Europe: Convention on Cybercrime
- European Parliament: Strengthening Security and Fundamental Freedoms on the internet
- Stanford Draft: International Convention to Enhance Security from Cyber Crime and Terrorism
- Hillary Clinton: Remarks on Internet Freedom
- The Official Google blog: A new approach to China
