Apologies for the typos and bad grammar, it's 5am here and I have been up since 3am so still a bit cross eyed.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 5:14 AM, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro@gmail.com">salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Dear Bill,<div><br></div><div>A few key issues emerge that require consideration [good news is that we included them to our contributions to the MAG].</div>
<div><br></div><div>There is no question against what is internationally agreed objectionable content which includes the like of Child Pornography, Hate Speech, Defamation, Direct and Public Incitement to commit Genocide, Advocacy of National, Racial and Religious Hatred, Incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Whilst the freedom of expression is not absolute, Article 19 does give notion to special duties and responsibilities that it may be subject to certain restrictions such as for the respect of the rights and reputation of others, protection of national security, or of public order or of public health or morals. China in a joint Statement [China, Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Congo, Cuba, DPRK, Ethiopia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritania, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zimbabwe] alluded to this.</div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Globally we continue to witness the extraordinary muzzling of Freedom of Expression through justification of the exception. For example things like defamation is taken out of context in some instances. Eg. There are tyrannical usurpers who create draconian anti-sedition legal instruments and instances. There are instances of abuse of power and a direct violations of existing checks and balance mechanisms and removal of accountability. We hear of Jurisdictions that do not even publish Auditor General's reports or who have closed down these offices etc. We see the manipulation of the exception. I have seen countries continuously promulgate State of Emergencies to justify the muzzling of Freedom of Expression or others continuously invoke the Doctrine of Necessity to hide behind the veil of National Security.</div>
<div><br></div><div>The National Security exception and its boundaries in the midst of things like the Arab Springs and the Occupy "X" movements are undercurrents of a far deeper problem within those societies.</div>
<div><br></div><div> In China, the Artist Ai Wei Wei whose art has nudity and in some jurisdictions this against the "Public Moral" in China, possibly or we hear of how recently in Tunisia<font size="1"> (</font><span style="font-size:x-small;text-align:left;font-family:Calibri"><a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/02/20/tunisia-a-year-after-the-revolution-limitations-on-freedom-of-expression-continue/" target="_blank">http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/02/20/tunisia-a-year-after-the-revolution-limitations-on-freedom-of-expression-continue</a></span><span style="text-align:left"><a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/02/20/tunisia-a-year-after-the-revolution-limitations-on-freedom-of-expression-continue/" style="font-family:Calibri;font-size:x-small" target="_blank">/</a><font size="1" style="font-family:Calibri"> ) </font><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">were arrested for publishing nudity in a newspaper.</font></span></div>
<div><span style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><div><span style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">There are countries in the world whose public moral "accepts nudity" such as the tribal communities of parts of Africa and the Pacific and other countries where this is frowned upon due to the "public moral" in their societies.</font></span></div>
<div><span style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><div><span style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Take for example, Michaelangelo's "David" which is acclaimed to be a masterpiece of Renaissance culture between 1501 and 1504. In some countries, it would be a violation of the "public moral" and in others, it would be a work of art. I remember going to watch the land diving [this is the origin of Bungee jumping] in Pentecost Island in Vanuatu a few years ago where man would jump off a huge man made wooden tower from the top of a mountain with only a vine attached to his legs as part of a male initiation rite. If you don't jump you are not considered a "man" in their society and can't speak in meetings etc. I was shocked because they were all naked. Friends of mine who went to do some brief work on the island were shocked but after a while, we began to notice that for them, it was normal and has been engrained as a part of their culture. Of course, in some cities, if you were to walk naked in the city, you would be arrested on the spot.</font></span></div>
<div><span style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><div><span style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">I think in essence countries and people misinterpret Article 19 of the ICCPR when they fail to consider what I feel is an often overlooked part of the ICCPR which is the "preamble" which gives context and fully explains the spirit in which Article 19 was carefully crafted. I am copying part of the preamble here:</font></span></div>
<div><span style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><div><span style="text-align:left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">"</font></span><span style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-size:11px;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, <b><u>recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights </u></b>of <b><u>all members of the human family</u></b> is the <b><u>foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,</u></b></span></div>
<p style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-size:11px;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">Recognizing that these <b><u>rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person</u></b>,</p><p style="color:rgb(85,85,85);font-size:11px;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica">
Recognizing that, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ideal of free human beings enjoying civil and political freedom and freedom from fear and want can only be achieved if conditions are created whereby everyone may enjoy his <b><u>civil and political rights</u></b>, as well as his <b><u>economic, social and cultural rights</u></b>,</p>
<div><div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr"><font face="Arial"> If we explore these building blocks that are mentioned in the preamble, we see the foundation is based on freedom, justice and peace. It is worthwhile asking whether our systems reflect that.</font></div>
</div><div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr"><font face="Arial"> We see how the New Delhi (India)'s Court had mentioned that ISPs should filter obscene publications and have mechanisms in place. We see how this is provided for in their Obscene Publication Act etc. </font></div>
<div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr"><font face="Arial"> One of the emerging issues in this regard is the <b><u>danger of lawful content</u></b> being filtered and how do we protect and safeguard this from happening. This lawful content if filtered is the muzzling of "freedom of expression". </font><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">EU law precludes the
imposition of an injunction by a national court which requires an Internet
Service Provider (ISP) to install a filtering system with a view to preventing
the illegal downloading of files, see the Press Release: </span><a href="http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2011-11/cp110126en.pdf" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif" target="_blank">http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2011-11/cp110126en.pdf</a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> The actual
Judgment that was just released on the 24th November, 2011 is available
here: </span><a href="http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=EN&Submit=Submit&numaff=C-70/10" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif" target="_blank">http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=EN&Submit=Submit&numaff=C-70/10</a><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"></span></div>
<div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr"><font face="Arial"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr">
<font face="Arial"> What is the role of civil society, governments and private sector in ensuring that lawful content is not muzzled? What kind of Policies should be set in place? What kind of Standards should be set in place?</font></div>
<div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr"><font face="Arial"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr">
<font face="Arial"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr"><font face="Arial"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr">
<font face="Arial"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr"><font face="Arial"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr">
<font face="Arial"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr"><font face="Arial"><br></font></div><div style="margin-top:5.28pt;margin-bottom:0pt;margin-left:.56in;text-align:left;direction:ltr">
<font face="Arial"><br></font></div><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 4:12 AM, William Drake <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:william.drake@uzh.ch" target="_blank">william.drake@uzh.ch</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><a href="http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2012/02/china-panel-on-right-to-freedom-of-expression-19th-session-human-rights-council.html" target="_blank">http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2012/02/china-panel-on-right-to-freedom-of-expression-19th-session-human-rights-council.html</a></div>
<div><br></div><div>On behalf of Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Congo, Cuba, DPRK, Ethiopia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritania, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zimbabwe.</div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br><div>
<div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:normal;border-collapse:separate;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Arial;word-spacing:0px"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
<span style="text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-variant:normal;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:normal;border-collapse:separate;text-transform:none;font-size:medium;white-space:normal;font-family:Arial;word-spacing:0px"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
<br><br>***************************************************<br>William J. Drake<br>International Fellow & Lecturer<br>Media Change & Innovation Division, IPMZ<br>University of Zurich, Switzerland<br><a href="mailto:william.drake@uzh.ch" target="_blank">william.drake@uzh.ch</a></div>
<div style="word-wrap:break-word"><a href="http://www.mediachange.ch/people/william-j-drake" target="_blank">www.mediachange.ch/people/william-j-drake</a><br><a href="http://www.williamdrake.org" target="_blank">www.williamdrake.org</a><br>
****************************************************</div></span></div></span></div></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div>Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala</div><div><br></div><div>Tweeter: @SalanietaT</div><div>Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro</div>
<div>Cell: <a href="tel:%2B679%20998%202851" value="+6799982851" target="_blank">+679 998 2851</a></div>
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</font></span></div>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div>Salanieta Tamanikaiwaimaro aka Sala</div><div><br></div><div>Tweeter: @SalanietaT</div><div>Skype:Salanieta.Tamanikaiwaimaro</div><div>Cell: +679 998 2851</div>
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