[governance] FW: [csisac-members] [NYT] O.E.C.D. Calls on Members to Defend InternetFreedoms

Tue Dec 13 17:00:41 EST 2011

-----Original Message-----
From: csisac-members-bounces at csisac.org
[mailto:csisac-members-bounces at csisac.org] On Behalf Of Meryem Marzouki
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 1:24 PM
To: CSISAC Members
Subject: [csisac-members] [NYT] O.E.C.D. Calls on Members to Defend
InternetFreedoms

Dear all,

FYI this NYT article, with the mention that "A version of this article
appeared in print on December 14, 2011, in The International Herald Tribune
with the headline: O.E.C.D. Calls on Members to Defend Internet Freedoms."
The article lnks this call from OECD to its member to the June OECD HLM
communique. Best, Meryem

O.E.C.D. Calls on Members to Defend Internet Freedoms
By ERIC PFANNER
Published: December 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/technology/oecd-calls-on-members-to-defend
-internet-freedoms.html

PARIS  As a rising tide of digital dissent raises alarms in many capitals
around the world, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
on Tuesday called on member countries to promote and protect the global
free flow of information online.

The O.E.C.D. , a group of 34 developed countries, urged policy makers to
support investment in digital networks and to take a light touch on
regulation, saying this was essential for promoting economic growth via the
Internet.

Its really a milestone in terms of making a statement about openness,
said Karen Kornbluh, the U.S. ambassador to the O.E.C.D. You cant really
get the innovation you need in terms of creating jobs unless we work
together to protect the openness of the Internet.

The approval of the recommendations by the O.E.C.D. council builds on a
communiqué issued at a meeting in June, when the broad outlines of the
policy were drawn up. The guidelines are not binding, but are intended to
work through the power of persuasion . Also, the Internet recommendations
will from now on be included among the criteria for assessing candidates for
membership in the O.E.C.D., which is based in Paris.

While the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street and other movements have shown the
potential of the Internet for organizing political protest, there has also
been a backlash, with a number of governments stepping up their efforts to
crack down on free speech in the digital sphere.

China, which has long blocked access to Web sites deemed to be undesirable,
said recently that it would step up monitoring of social media, messaging
services and other forums in an effort to crack down on the publishing of
harmful information. India has asked Internet companies and social media
sites to prescreen user contributions to remove disparaging, inflammatory or
defamatory content, according to Internet company executives.

In Russia there were reports of a crackdown on Web-borne dissent before and
after parliamentary elections this month. Russia was one of a number of
countries that blocked the adoption of a U.S.-backed declaration of online
freedoms this month at a meeting of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe.

Russian officials, along with those of some developing countries, have made
no secret of their desire to regulate the Internet at an international
level, under the auspices of the International Telecommunications Union, a
United Nations agency. The O.E.C.D document, by contrast, endorses the
existing, dispersed model of Internet governance, under which governments,
business organizations and groups representing Internet users all have a
say.

The move by the O.E.C.D. on Tuesday validates, defends and promotes an
Internet model that is not government led, but led by the technical
community and the private sector, said Markus Kummer, vice president for
public policy at the Internet Society , whose members include technology
companies and educational institutions. I think it is timely to remember
some basic cornerstones, when there is increased pressure on governments to
get involved in a more hands-on way.

Some O.E.C.D. members policies have also come under scrutiny, especially
measures aimed at cracking down on unauthorized sharing of digital music and
other media. Campaigners for an open Internet have criticized the French
approach to fighting piracy, which includes the threat of disconnecting
persistent violators Internet connections.

In the United States, meanwhile, Internet companies like Google are
campaigning against congressional proposals that could require them to block
links to Web sites accused of facilitating piracy.

The music and movie industries say tougher action is needed to stop piracy.
But opponents of the measures say they could be used to stifle legitimate
political speech, not just copyright theft.

Among other things, the O.E.C.D. recommendation urges policy makers to
limit Internet intermediary liability  that is, to shield Internet
companies from responsibility for the content that they carry. Under
existing U.S. laws, Internet companies have a so-called safe harbor if they
take down copyright violations when they are informed of them.

Congress is proposing solutions that are inconsistent with the O.E.C.D.
principles, said Leslie Harris, president of the Center for Democracy and
Technology in Washington.

President Barack Obama has not taken a position on the bills, but members of
his administration have been outspoken in their defense of free speech on
the Internet.

The right to express ones views, practice ones faith, peacefully assemble
with others to pursue political or social change  these are all rights to
which all human beings are entitled, whether they choose to exercise them in
a city square or an Internet chat room, the U.S. secretary of state,
Hillary Rodham Clinton, said last week at an Internet conference in the
Netherlands. And just as we have worked together since the last century to
secure these rights in the material world, we must work together in this
century to secure them in cyberspace.

--
Meryem Marzouki - Paris, France
Email: meryem at marzouki.info
Lab. LIP6/CNRS/UPMC - www-polytic.lip6.fr
IRIS (Imaginons un réseau Internet solidaire) - www.iris.sgdg.org EDRI
(European Digital Rights) - www.edri.org

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