[governance] Rights online petition

Ian Peter ian.peter at ianpeter.com
Thu Jan 27 17:42:53 EST 2011


Hi Sala,

I think these paragraphs say it all

"Please sign this petition demanding that the platforms which host much of
the world¹s information, stand firm against the regimes who are repressing
their citizens, by establishing robust policies that respect human rights
and protecting the security of those who use their services."

To Online Service Providers:
"We call upon you to uphold the right to freedom of speech by establishing
rights-respecting policies and practices that protect online content
regardless of political pressures, hacks, or other attacks."


To me this is about getting companies, many of whom have global reach, to
adopt and announce policy principles which respect users rights and freedom
of speech, and outline in user agreements how they will react to requests
from governments and other bodies to take down sites or deny access. In
other words, a principle based response rather than a pragmatic political
one.

I know from a workshop IGC hosted in Hyderabad that, at that time at least,
even Google had no specific policy regime to deal with requests from
governments to deny access to certain sites.

A policy regime would perhaps start with a judicial process being required
before the company responded, rather than just mere political pressure.

Yes, this is perhaps firstly about the companies who have global reach - eg
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Paypal etc - but to me it makes sense for
this to move towards a global industry code of conduct for all access
providers, including small regional ones. Such a code of conduct would
provide a mechanism for service providers to resist pressure, be it from
governments (eg China and Facebook, US and Wikileaks) or other companies (eg
Hollywood pressure on small ISPs re movie downloads).

Yes, this is primarily something for the business community. But it wouldn't
hurt for civil society to support such action and promote it.



Ian Peter






> From: "Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro" <salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:10:57 +1200
> To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, Ian Peter <ian.peter at ianpeter.com>
> Cc: Ginger Paque <gpaque at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [governance] Rights online petition
> 
> Dear Ian,
> 
> Could you please send  me an explanation of what the Petition is
> about? I am not sure whether this is a petition for citizens within
> countries who have have their internet content and media censored or
> whether it is a Petition to declare Internet as a Human Right.
> 
> Eitherway, the theft of data/information from Facebook and other
> Social utility sites and the challenges of citizens from various
> jurisdictions to lodge a claim against these sites, or even the
> investigation process, underresourced regulatory regimes, and the
> various challenges extraterritorially pose deep philosophical
> questions that need to be asked before policies are written and laws
> are passed and treaties are signed.
> 
> Kind Regards,
> 
> Sala
> 
> On 1/28/11, Ian Peter <ian.peter at ianpeter.com> wrote:
>> While I cant tell you a great deal, their Advisory Board adds good
>> credibility for me (moveon, avaaz, ethanzuckerman, peter gabriel, tor
>> project etc)
>> 
>> Ian
>> 
>> Andrew Lewman - Executive Director of the Tor Project
>> Andrew Rasiej - Founder of Personal Democracy Forum
>> Chris Hughes - Co-founder of Facebook and Director of Online Organizing for
>> Obama¹s Presidential Campaign
>> Eli Pariser - Former Executive Director and Current Board President of
>> MoveOn.org
>> Ethan Zuckerman - Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and
>> Society, Co-Founder of Global Voices Online
>> Joe Rospars - New Media Director for Obama¹s 2008 Presidential Campaign and
>> Founding Partner of Blue State Digital
>> Lawrence Lessig - Co-founder of Creative Commons and Professor at Harvard
>> Law School
>> Peter Gabriel - Grammy Award winning international musician and co-founder
>> of Witness and the Elders
>> Reihan Salam - Policy advisor at Economics 21, blogger and conservative
>> political analyst
>> Ricken Patel - Co-founder and Executive Director, Avaaz.org
>> Professor Ron Deibert - Director of the Citizen Lab, Co-founder of the
>> OpenNet Initiative and Psiphon
>> Tattu Mambetallieva Emilbekovna - Director of the Civil Initiative on
>> Internet Policy
>> Yvette J. Alberdingk Thijm - Executive Director, Witness
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> From: Ginger Paque <gpaque at gmail.com>
>> Reply-To: Ginger Paque <gpaque at gmail.com>
>> Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:50:45 -0430
>> To: <governance at lists.cpsr.org>, Ian Peter <ian.peter at ianpeter.com>
>> Subject: Re: [governance] Rights online petition
>> 
>>    I tried to find more information on accessnow.org, and did not find much
>> background or history outside of their own site. Does anyone have
>> information or links to reviews or more information about this organization?
>> Even Web of Trust (WOT) says 'not enough ratings for this site' about their
>> site. This is not negative... but I would like to read more about them.
>> 
>>  Thanks, Ginger
>> 
>>  On 1/27/2011 4:16 PM, Ian Peter wrote:
>>> 
>>> While realising that the long term answer lies in governance, in the short
>>> term people might like to support the petition suggested below.
>>> 
>>> And perhaps somewhere in our strategies the idea of advocating terms of
>>> service as a tool for protection of users might be a good inclusion!
>>> 
>>> Ian Peter
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Dear Friends,
>>>> 
>>>> Events in Egypt and Tunisia, and Amazon's takedown of Wikileaks, have
>>>> shown
>>>> that our right to information online is fundamentally at risk.
>>>> Increasingly,
>>>> internet companies on both sides of the firewall are unilaterally
>>>> removing
>>>> the
>>>> online information that they host, and right now, nothing can stop them.
>>>> 
>>>> That includes the websites we get our information from, the videos we
>>>> watch,
>>>> and the social networking pages that channel news directly to us from
>>>> around
>>>> the world. This free exchange of information is in danger not just in
>>>> countries like Tunisia and Egypt (where Twitter has just been blocked),
>>>> but
>>>> as
>>>> the Wikileaks experience has shown us, in front of the firewall as well.
>>>> 
>>>> Each year thousands of webpages are taken offline, yet few receive legal
>>>> review or appeal, and only a handful, like Wikileaks, receive media
>>>> attention.
>>>> In the international information arms race, authoritarian governments are
>>>> redoubling efforts to close down open communication channels. Sign this
>>>> petition, urging internet companies like Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and
>>>> Google
>>>> to respond with a firm commitment to preserve the free flow of
>>>> information:
>>>> 
>>>> https://www.accessnow.org/freedom-of-speech-for-all
>>>> 
>>>> Most online content is hosted on corporate-owned servers, which have
>>>> unregulated control over what information we see and read. Following
>>>> Amazon's
>>>> decision to delete Wikileaks from its servers, internet companies are now
>>>> reviewing which sites they host and tightening their acceptable use
>>>> policies.
>>>> 
>>>> We may not be able to influence authoritarian states, but there are many
>>>> ways
>>>> that webhosts (often referred to as internet service providers (ISPs) and
>>>> online service providers (OSPs)) can respect our rights in their Terms of
>>>> Service, but they're not going to change their ways unless there's a
>>>> global
>>>> public outcry urging them to do so. Take action now by signing this
>>>> petition:
>>>> 
>>>> https://www.accessnow.org/freedom-of-speech-for-all
>>>> 
>>>> The Tunisian government blocked YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion but
>>>> protestors
>>>> were still able to use Facebook and Twitter to organize and spread
>>>> information
>>>> about the grassroots movement for democracy. The Egyptian government has
>>>> just
>>>> blocked Twitter while thousands of protestors are on the streets
>>>> demonstrating
>>>> for democracy and reform.
>>>> 
>>>> We can help keep the internet open and support freedom movements around
>>>> the
>>>> world, but only if we stand together as users and demand our right to
>>>> information. Join us by signing this petition, and we'll deliver it to
>>>> the
>>>> largest internet companies:
>>>> 
>>>> https://www.accessnow.org/freedom-of-speech-for-all
>>>> 
>>>> In 2010, we fought against the sale of surveillance technologies to
>>>> repressive
>>>> regimes; called upon the top 100 most trafficked websites to protect our
>>>> security by implementing HTTPS by default; and supported technologies
>>>> that
>>>> allow activists to securely connect to the internet. Now, let's take the
>>>> fight
>>>> for digital freedom to the online service providers who singlehandedly
>>>> control
>>>> what can be said on the internet. Sign here:
>>>> 
>>>> https://www.accessnow.org/freedom-of-speech-for-all
>>>> 
>>>> With hope,
>>>> The Access Team
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>>> 
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> --
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  Ginger (Virginia) Paque
>>  IGCBP Online Coordinator
>>  DiploFoundation
>>  www.diplomacy.edu/ig <http://www.diplomacy.edu/ig>
>> 
>> 
>> The latest from Diplo...
>>  Call for applications for Diplo Internet governance foundation courses now
>> open.
>>  See: http://www.diplomacy.edu/ig/news.asp
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 


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