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Crowdsourcing Freedom: What Can We As A Global User Community Do To Further The UN’s Vision of An Internet Free of Government Intervention?
On June 3, 2011 the Human Rights Council of the United Nations declared Internet Access a fundamental human right. It seeks universal access with freedom from government interference in all aspects of internet operation. It generally follows the guidance of a global coalition of Human Rights, Technology, Investors, The Global Network Initiative http://www.globalnetworkinitiative.org/newsandevents/Diverse_Coalition_Launches_New_Effort_To_Respond_to_Government_Censorship_and_Threats_to_Privacy.php envisioning its primary use and control by users and providers to further global conversation.
This visionary document distinguishes the internet from radio, television, and the press by virtue of its user driven content and locates the internet in the legal tradition of the right of assembly, the right to privacy, and free speech. Under the UN resolution government interference with the internet is sanctioned only to prevent the exploitation of children and to circumscribe inciting to violence. Otherwise the resolution calls for absolutely no interference by any government. Consistent with the General Assembly’s role as a deliberative body(rather than an enforcement body) it invites the world community to recognize and protect the unique possibilities of the internet as a voice of “we the people of earth”
How do we at TED crowdsource the realization of this user provider controlled vision of the internet?
Please read this March 2011 TED Conversation discussing whether access to the internet is a universal human right..interestingly many did not agree http://www.ted.com/conversations/606/should_the_internet_be_a_funda.html
At Pur TED Common Values poll I added the internet as a fundamanetal human right..visit and vote yea or nay at www.goo.gl/mod/0073
Paul van Zoggel
If yes, than yes.
What electricity is for physical health/comfort
Is internet for mental health/comfort
In the past the same discussion was on electricity not? Companies were offering in terms of scarcity, than everybody wanted it, electricity/energy related companies could see the potential of monetizing dependence.
This is where human rights come in. A human right is not making sure you have the right, but making sure nobody is abusing your physical/mental needs.
As normal as electricity for all is, as normal internet talk should be.
... As for crowdsourcing, we need to show that the internet is more than talking, spreading and consuming information. Not only communication, but also serious collaboration.
That quality of life is depending on it, like electricity was/is.
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
The philosophical and legal foundations on which the UN declaration was based are freedom of speech and privavcy. They distinguish the internet from say electricity or radio or tv because the content is user created.
It is a very significant declaration I think and yet it received no coverage at all in major global newspapers like the NY Times.
It remains to be seen, of course, how the UN will use/invoke the declaration.
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2010/03/27/a-bill-of-rights-in-cyberspace/
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
This would seem to be an essential mandate for every nation if interet access actually is to be regarded and protected as a fundamental human right. It is is certainly essential to any uses of the internet for direct democracy or for participating in “global e-acadamies”
.“Finland has become the first country in the world to declare broadband Internet access a legal right.Starting in July, telecommunication companies in the northern European nation will be required to provide all 5.2 million citizens with Internet connection that runs at speeds of at least 1 megabit per second.”
October 15, 2009http://articles.cnn.com/2009-10-15/tech/finland.internet.rights_1_internet-access-fast-internet-megabit?_s=PM:TECH
U.S. President Barack Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 called for an investment of $7.2 billion in broadband infrastructure and included an openness stipulation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Broadband_Plan_(United_States)
What other nations have taken this step? Can we , in the context of this converstaion, draft model legislation and push within our own countries for its adoption?
Debra Smith 200+
The Internet is to me, the single most hopefilled resource that we have as a human family for creating a better future. The fact that information is no longer held prisoner in ivory towers or held captive by people who can put a lid on truth by intimidation and secrecy means that we have the opportunity to learn, to know, to act.
This freedom must be protected at all costs and average people need to speak up to defend it.
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
,Hello & thanks for your post
.I think the U.N. and the many whose thinking guided Special Rapporteur LaRue's report see it as you do
.When I took this up ( in the context of Corvida's discussion on the Internet Magna Carta) I was intrigued by how a resource provided through private entities could be declared a fundamental human right..and interested in the legal foundation that distinguishes it from radio, tv, press, and even telephones/cell phones.
I accept the legal premise which anchors internet access in free speech, rights to assembly and privacy rights.We all heard about the black outs in the early days of the Tahir Square demonstrations and the total black out that existed in Syria on the day the General Assembly enacted this declaration.
What I didn't realize until I started to do more research in preparation for this TED Conversation , is how much government interference there is in the U.S., the U.K. France & China and how extensive the censorhsip and control is among Arab Nations.I am beginning to get the the idea that providers, technology companies, human rights activitists and humanists who see as you do the potential power of the internet to bring us together as a global community pushed for this to happen at the UN as a kind of warning..that even us in the "free world" are not free from government oversight and interference with our "free e-assembly" on the internet.
The UN Declaration, as far as I recall, got no play at all anywhwere. I stumbled on it doing google searches for Corvida's Conversation. So I wanted to highlight it here in the hopes that some of the issues and circumstances that informed the UN decision can be brought to light and we might explore solutions here together at TED
.It seems obvious that a government free internet will require a great deal more user involvement than we have been accustomed to. and also, by implication, that the UN declaration envisons an unprecented partnership between users and providers.
Debra Smith 200+
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
Canada is often a great source of model legislation. Anything you kow of on:
(1) decalaring internet access as a fundamental human right?
(2) mandating 100% broadband access (by a reasonable date)
(3) guranteeing non-interefrence ( except with suppoena showing good cause or for prima facie child exploitation or inciting violence/hate speech)
(4) guranteeing/mandating network neutrality?
Debra Smith 200+
Internet content is not specifically regulated in Canada, however local laws do apply to websites hosted in Canada as well as to residents who host sites on servers in other jurisdictions. A well-known example is the case of Ernst Zündel, who was investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission for promoting ethnic hatred via his website.
In November 2006, Canadian Internet service providers Bell, Bell Aliant, MTS Allstream, Rogers, Shaw, SaskTel, Telus, and Vidéotron announced "Project Cleanfeed Canada"; the voluntary blocking of access to hundreds of alleged child pornography sites. The list of blocked sites is compiled from reports by Internet users and investigated by the independent organization "cybertip.ca". Although this was a voluntary step with no involvement from the authorities, the Canadian government did express its approval.
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
:La Rue concludes his report by
:• Calling upon States to ensure that individuals can express themselves anonymously online
.• Calling upon States to refrain from adopting real-name registration systems
.• Underscoring that national security or counterterrorism cannot be used to justify restricting the right to expression unless an imminent legitimate threat is demonstrated
.• Underscoring the obligation of States to adopt effective privacy and data protection laws in accordance with article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Human Rights Committee’s general comment No. 16
.• Calling all States to decriminalize defamation.
Full Report at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/57293281/UN-Declaration-Internet-Access-as-Fundamental-Right
Judge Pau 50+
Sometimes it IS as simple as the money.
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
You mean don't allow advertisers or the sale of merchandise? Ins't that what makes the "freedom tto associate", freedom to speak, part possible?
Both the UK and France are in violation of the UN Declaration through their laws intended to protect copyrights and the billions of dollars lost to individuals and to the general economy through copy right abuses. Strikes me that user-provifder agreements and user self policing are esssential to keeping government out , at least on the copy right issue.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20002018-261.html
Perhaps the answer lies in the direction of technology..a policjing system that works via user subscribed software that does the policimg in the same way that Panda, Norton, andother anti-virus software police for invaders.?
Judge Pau 50+
You can advertise and sale offline and associate and speak online.
Commerce invite crimes, it is as good excuse as terrorism to intervene.
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
Worth hashing through.
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+
Lindsay Newland Bowker 50+