3C
Student No: 09076484
This is the link to my Power point.
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AVsuKkoJGd75ZGRxOWI3NnNfMGoyMzIyZjI&hl=en_US
My Blog is about Freedom of Speech Online. I have used a power point which are highlighted with bullet points and i have also included notes underneath for further explanations.
Power point Notes:
Slide 1: Define Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right of every human being. Concepts of freedom of speech can be found in early human rights documents. For example: England’s Bill of Rights 1689, Declaration of the rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted during the French Revolution, the First Amendment of the US Constitution and article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
No society has existed so far without there being a limitation of the freedom of speech of its citizens. Freedom of speech and it limitations has been an ongoing tag of war between the persons who wish to exercise this freedom and the one who feel threatened by it. On the other hand there are certain protections set aside in reference to freedom of speech, for example: will the act of speech create a dangerous situation? If so, the First Amendment does not protect that, nor does it protect inciting violence, obscenity, libel and slander
Slide 2 Free Speech online
With the advancement in technology, people have been able to express their opinions and ideas online. For example, social networking sites, websites, blogs and YouTube. Restrictions by Governments on the freedom of speech have crossed over to the online territory and many people are finding it difficult to voice their ideas and opinions without being silenced in one form or another.
Internet as a tool has helped many people who would otherwise have been unable to express their views freely to do so. It is also a global platform and the views posted online by one group can be viewed by millions of people around the world with access to internet. For example during the Arab uprising, we saw the use of internet and mobile devices as a tool to express opinions that would otherwise have not been expressed freely offline. Internet as a tool to free speech has faced many obstacles but it by far the most preferred choice for most people. "Freedom of expression online is a right, not a privilege - but it's a right that needs defending," said Steve Ballinger of Amnesty International.
The main factor that people prefer to use internet as a tool to free speech is mainly because of Anonymity to some extent. People who would be afraid to go out in public and express their opinion, in fear of being arrested or persecuted will do so online without being detected/recognized by their governments thus escaping being punished.
Governments are afraid of what people can do with the use of internet and the exercising of free speech, they therefore do monitor and try to regulate the use of internet and thereby limiting the freedom of speech by banning certain organization from being online, monitoring certain sites, and putting up firewalls to prevent access to information. Governments since 09/11 have increased their surveillance on the ordinary people in pretext of wanting to avoid another 09/11 from happening. This has led to Governments tracking the websites we visit, tapping phones, reading emails e.t.c. Which are all forms of Government control and fear of freedom of speech of its citizens.
Internet is offering people a chance to come together and protest these kinds of government’s interference. A good example is during the Arab uprising when Arab Governments tried to shut down internet access so that people cannot share their opinion and views online about what was happening on the ground, these led to a worldwide protest and people from all over the globe tried to pitch in and creatively use the internet to help these people be heard despite the government blockade.
Slide3: Free speech offline
Up until 1649, colonial England people were not allowed to criticize the Government. Freedom of speech offline has come about after 1649 when people thought that the restriction imposed by the colonial power was not working and people needed to be able to criticize the governments when they felt the need to. Offline freedom of speech has been meet with far stronger resistance from governments and at times public who hold a different view from the one expressed.
The medium that people relied on mostly to exercise their right to free speech was with the use of Newspaper, radio, TV or public gatherings. These methods posed so much difficult as the main stream media who are in favor of a government, religion or a certain group of people would not let people freely use their medium to put their message across.
Public gathering have always resulted into loss of lives and many people are afraid to go out to protest and let their voices be heard, in fear of being recognized by the Governments and be punished for expressing their views.
Slide 4: Threats to freedom of speech
The furor surrounding WikiLeaks has raised questions about the true limits of free speech in what is perhaps the most unregulated medium in the world. "Free speech online is under fire, but it has always been under fire to some degree," said Syracuse University's Milton Mueller. "What's new is that governments are developing new institutional mechanisms to control Internet expression."’
Many countries already openly violate the principle of Internet neutrality by blocking access to online publications that displease them. For example, the commander of the Iranian "special forces for moral security" said on Feb. 8, 2009 that "identifying banned websites and arresting Internet users that go on them is one of [its] responsibilities." It was the first time the country's police had spoken publicly about Internet censorship.
The thought that European countries could enact their own forms of Internet censorship was highly troubling. This is evident According to La Quadrature du Net, the approved final text “could represent a step backwards in many member states with regards to the defense of the fundamental right of access to internet.” The advocacy group also said the internet freedom provision included in the text “leaves the door open for restrictions of internet connections without a prior judicial decision.” (IPW, Information and Communications Technology/ Broadcasting, 10 November 2009)The ACTA agreement that is due to be submitted to the EU, is another form of government restriction, tracking and monitoring of citizens activities online.
The other factor is fear of repercussion. People who are actively involved in expressing their opinions freely or even joining a certain organization that would help them do so are faced with the dangers of being arrested and sentenced. "Egypt, Iran and China are the most dangerous places to blog about political life, accounting for more than half of all arrests since blogging became big," said Phil Howard, an assistant professor of communication at the university.
Another major threat to freedom of speech online is that most people are ignorant of the simple fact that they can express their opinions online and be heard and supported by a large numbers of people. Although this phenomenon is gaining momentum and more and more people are still not using these medium to their advantage.
Slide 5: Protection of freedom of speech online
There is no question that freedom of speech online is under immense threat, and if nothing is done to reverse this situation then sooner or later we will be faced with restrictions and regulations which will imprison us and take away one of the fundamental human rights. Governments are increasingly trying to find new ways of regulating the internet and its usage. This is evident in the number of laws that US and EU has passed or tried to pass for example Electronic Communication Privacy Act, Children Online Protection Act, Children’s Internet Protection Act, since 1986.
"Online speech is only as strong as its weakest link," Rebecca Jeschke of the EFF told TechNewsWorld. "If hosting providers cave quickly when challenged about hosting politically volatile or controversial content, then they will be challenged more often, and we might not have an Internet that works the way we'd like it to."
This is evident when WikiLeaks published sensitive documents online during the Cablegate incident, which resulted to Amazon and other webhosting sites to kick WikiLeaks off their servers.
People need to be actively involved if freedom of speech online is to be protected. They can do this by signing petitions to stop or amend legislation already in progress in their respective countries or globally that would pose a threat to freedom of speech online. A recent example is the petition known as Stop ACTA now. People are coming together to sign a petition that would be presented to the EU parliament to amend clauses in the agreement that poses a threat to freedom of speech online.
Another way of protecting freedom of speech online is to create awareness of the threats facing the use of internet to freely express one opinion. A good example is the Blue Ribbon campaign that was started by Electronic Frontier Foundation, to protect the rights of bloggers and citizens journalist. With creating awareness through this sort of campaigns more and more people will be able to join and support these kinds of events and this could lead to governments being forced to listen to the voices of the citizens.
Slide 6: Future of freedom of speech online
According to Le Coz 2009, “Net Neutrality means equal access to the same Internet for all, and the right, once access has been obtained, to access whatever content is available without restrictions. No Internet company, be they an access provider or search engine, should be able to discriminate, prioritize or filter website content or information transmission”. She went on to further state that net neutrality also meant banning regulations that impose control on the use of bandwidth, unless the security of the internet and the use are threatened.
Net Neutrality is a fundamental concept to the internet as we know it today. Its concept is simple; operators cannot say what one can or cannot do on the network. The operators sell bandwidth access but cannot determine its usage. Tim Berners-Lee, one of the founders of World Wide Web, describes it as “The freedom of connection, with any application, to any party”. There is one internet for everyone to use and it Is these idea that has allowed the strong economic, social and cultural beliefs on the internet today.
Jérémie Zimmerman during his interview with Reporters Without Borders stated that Net neutrality is indispensable in order to guarantee free competition, innovation, and the fundamental liberties of freedom of expression and communication in the digital environment. It is of paramount importance that people work towards advocating for Net Neutrality across the globe to ensure the future of free speech online.
Educating the masses is one of the ways of ensuring that people know what their rights and responsibilities are in terms of internet usage. A well informed public is an asset to the upholding of free speech online. For example shifting from using search engines from insecure HTTP to encrypted HTTPS. This will help reduce surveillance and alteration of one search traffic.
There are so many organizations that are fighting for the freedom of speech online. For example Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union, Advocacy global voices Online and many others. These organization need to have a centralized governing body that acts as its representative and therefore making their voice louder and their campaign more effective. Freedom of speech advocates online do support each other’s campaign for example the Blue Ribbon campaign initiated by EFF, but that will not be enough and they need to create a global campaign that will attract more attention and therefore be more effective.
