Freedom of Connection – Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet

Presentation for Launch Event, UNESCO, Fontenoy Building, Paris, 30 May 2011.

William H. Dutton, Anna Dopatka, Michael Hills, Ginette Law, and Victoria Nash

Oxford Internet Institute (OII)

University of Oxford

 

UNESCO Request to Critically Review Status of Research on Freedom of Expression:

• Some Pioneering Studies• More Advocacy v Research• Politically Sensitive (e.g., the McBride Commission established in 1977)

• Too Narrowly Focused, e.g., Internet Content Filtering

The Internet Reconfigures Access in Ways that Can Empower Networked Individuals

Ecology of Choices Shaping Free Expression

Digital Rights

• Access – Freedom of Connection

• Freedom of Expression• Censorship• Equality (media literacy)• Freedom of Information• Privacy & Data Protection

Technical Innovations:Worldwide Diffusion of

Technologies of Connection

• Internet • World Wide Web• Mobile and Mobile

Internet

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

14% 1%

24%

10% 3%

42%

6%

266

21

475

205

63

825

111

77%

61%58%

35%30%

22%

11%

Percent of global Internet populationNumber of Internet users (mio.)Internet penetration within region

%In

tern

et u

sers

To

tal

nu

mb

er o

f In

tern

et u

sers

in

reg

ion

(m

io.)

Source: Internet World Stats - www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. Penetration rates are based on a world population of 6,845,609,960 and 1,966,514,816 estimated Internet users for June 30, 2010.

Percentage of Internet Users Across Regions of the World

Regions as Percentage of the Worldwide Population of Users

• Collaboration of OII, INSEAD, and comScore for the World Economic Forum (WEF)

• Online Global Survey • Completed by 5,400 Adult Internet Users • Conducted from Oct-Nov 2010• 13 countries: Australia/New Zealand, Brazil,

Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, India, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom

The Global Internet Values Project*

*Dutta, S., Dutton, W. H. and Law, G. (2011), The New Internet World: A Global Perspective on Freedom of Expression, Privacy, Trust and Security Online. New York: The World Economic Forum, April. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1810005

_x0007_ Mexico

_x0007_ Brazil

_x000d_ South Africa

_x0006_ Italy

_x0003_ UK

_x0008_ Germany

_x0016_ Australia/New Zealand

_x0002_US

_x0006_ India

_x0006_ Spain

_x0007_ Canada

_x0007_ France

_x0005_China

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

4%

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4%

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3%

3%

3%

3%

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6%

3%

8%

12%

14%

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19%

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27%

22%

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17%

26%

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37%

31%

41%

36%

37%

26%

41%

38%

46%

32%

40%

37%

43%

45%

44%

40%

38%

37%

36%

33%

32%

31%

31%

30%

30%

21%

Figure 1. "Access to the Internet should be a fundamental right for all people."

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree or disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

IND MEX ZAF UK USA AUS/NZ

USA BRA CHN ITA CAN ESP FRA GER0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

67% 67%

63%

58%56% 56% 56% 55% 55% 54%

52%

47% 46%44%

Figure 6. Percentage of Respondents who Support Freedom of Expression Online

Percentage of respondents who agree or strongly agree with the following questions related to freedom of ex -pression:

-"It is ok for people to express their ideas on the Inter-net, even if they are extreme."- "People should be able to express their opinion an-onymously on the Internet."- "I feel that I can express myself freely online.-"People should be free to criticize their government on the Internet."

IND ZAF MEX CHN BRA ITA ESP FRA US CAN GER UK AUS/NZ

0%

10%

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30%

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50%

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90%

7%11%

27%

32%

38%

52%

63%

69%

77% 78% 79%83% 83%

67%63%

67%

55% 55% 54%

47% 46%

56%52%

44%

58%56%

Figure 7. Support for Freedom of Expression According to In-ternet Diffusion

% of population online (2010)

Percentage of respondents who agree or strongly agree with the following questions re-lated to online freedom of expression:

Countries in order of Internet Diffusion

-"It is ok for people to express their ideas on the Internet, even if they are extreme."- "People should be able to express their opinion an-onymously on the Internet."- "I feel that I can express myself freely online.-"People should be free to criticize their government on the Internet."

China

Bra

zil

India

Italy

Mex

ico

Spa

in

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th A

frica

Ger

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yUS

Can

ada

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Aus

tralia

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land

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28%27%

25%

16%15% 15%

12% 12%

8% 7%

Figure 14. Percentage of Respondents who Produce Online Content Daily or Weekly

Percentage of respondents who produce the following content online content daily or weekly:

-"Update or create a profile on a social networking site."-"Post pictures or photos on the Internet."-"Post messages on discussion forums or message boards.""-Use a distribution list for e-mail."-"Write a (web) blog."-"Maintain a personal website."-"Post a podcast online."-"Post a video blog online."

Bra

zil

Mex

ico In

dia

China

Italy

Sou

th A

frica

Ger

man

y

Aus

tralia

/New

Zea

land

UK

Can

ada

US

Spa

in

Fra

nce

75%

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90%

95%94%

93% 93%

90%

88%

87%87%

86%85%

84%84%

82%82%

Figure 22. Percentage of Respondents who use the Internet Daily or Weekly for Communication Purposes

Percentage of respondents who use the Internet daily or weekly for the following communication and information purposes:

-"Check e-mail"-"Surf or browse on the Web"-"Check the news"

Emerging Pattern of Findings Supporting Conception of a ‘New Internet World’

1. New online nations are becoming the dominant nations in the Internet world;

2. Users are developing a global Internet culture: sharing similar concerns, values and attitudes toward expression, privacy, trust, and security;

3. Newly adopting countries are as liberal, if not more so, in their attitudes, such as support for freedom of expression;

4. Users in the newly adopting nations are more innovative in their patterns of use, e.g., social networking.

Four General Themes and Findings

Technical Innovations: Technologies of Disconnection

Meta-analysis of Internet filtering surveys:

• Global growth of filtering

• No single country

• Variety of Objectives:

• Political • Moral• Commercial

BUT: Potential to Decentralize, e.g., Home Hubs

Industrial Policy and Regulation

• Technology-led Industrial Strategies, support economic growth• ICT for Development (ICT4D)• Competition Policy

• IPR: Copyright • IPR: Patents

Industrial Policy and Regulation

Copyright enforcement:

• ‘Three Strikes’ policy in France• Digital Economy Act (UK)

Countered by:• The Pirate Party• Brazilian Copyright Reform Bill

Copyright Mot

User-Centric Policy

• Child Protection Policy• Decency: Pornography• Libel: Defamation • Prevention of Hate Speech• Consumer Protection: Fraud• …

Copyright Mugley

Internet Policy• Internet Governance and Regulation• Domain Names and Numbers• Net Neutrality• Licensing, Regulation of Service Providers: Intermediaries• Internationalised Top-level Domain Names

Internet Policy:Standard-setting: Identity

Security

• Secrecy, Confidentiality• Security against Malware• Counter-Radicalisation• National Security

– Blackberry Use– WikiLeaks: Confidentiality-Security

Ecology of Choices Shaping Free Expression

Encouraging Themes for Freedom of Expression

• Internet Empowering Networked Individuals – Enhancing Freedom of Connection and Expression

• Worldwide Diffusion and Support for Expression in a New Internet World

• Major Issues of Human Rights are Increasingly Being Centered on the Internet and Web

• The Internet Space is not the ‘Wild West’ – much regulation exists

Countervailing Themes

• Freedom of Expression is not an Inevitable Outcome of Technological Innovation

• Continuing Global and Local Digital Divides in Access and the Production of Content

• Global Increase in Content Filtering and Censorship

• Freedom Shaped by Choices in the Wider Ecology of Actors, Objectives and Policies

• Use of Inappropriate Models for Internet Governance and Regulation threatens to Foster ‘Over-Regulation’, e.g., fear or complacency of the ‘Old Internet World’

Directions for Policy

• Reduce Digital Divides • Broaden Perspectives on Freedom of Expression

– the Larger Legal and Regulatory Ecology

− ways to democratize content control• Renew and Inform Debates over:

– Appropriate Regulatory Models for the Internet– Global and Local Approaches to Internet Governance– Ways to Inform the Public and Elected Officials about

the Internet and Legal-Regulatory Issues

Renew Research on Freedom of Expression

• More Systematic and Sustained Monitoring of Innovations in, and Use of, Internet Filtering

• Need to Track an Expanded Range of Policies and Regulatory Issues in this Ecology

• Critically Explore Relationships between Freedom of Expression and other Core Values and Rights

• Study Impacts on the Ground, including Public Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behavior

• Understand Assaults on Freedom of Expression as efforts to protect other Values and Interests

Freedom of Connection – Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet

Presentation for Launch Event, UNESCO, Fontenoy Building, Paris, 30 May 2011.

William H. Dutton, Anna Dopatka, Michael Hills, Ginette Law, and Victoria Nash

Oxford Internet Institute (OII)

University of Oxford