Internet Rights

The second Dialogue Forum on Internet Rights was convened in Cagliari, Sardegna, on October 24, 2008, gathering more than xxx international participants from governments, civil society, business sector and international organizations. It built on the interest raised by the first similar event held in Rome in September 2007 and the discussions conducted during the second Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro in November 2007.

The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss in an open and multi-stakeholder format the appropriate frameworks to express and guarantee the respect of the various rights relevant to the Internet and its use.

In spite of the diversity of origins and positions, a widely shared sentiment among participants was the importance of a human rights-based approach to Internet Governance. This echoed discussions held in Strasbourg a few days earlier in the context of the first European Dialogue on Internet Governance (Euro-DIG).

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October 28, 2008 — In an effort to protect and advance the human rights of freedom of expression and privacy, a diverse coalition of leading information and communications companies, major human rights organizations, academics, investors and technology leaders today launched the Global Network Initiative.

From the Americas to Europe to the Middle East to Africa and Asia, companies in the information and communications industries face increasing government pressure to comply with domestic laws and policies that require censorship and disclosure of personal information in ways that conflict with internationally recognized human rights laws and standards. The Initiative is founded upon new Principles on Freedom of Expression and Privacy — supported by specific implementation commitments and a framework for accountability and learning — that provide a systematic approach for companies, NGOs, investors, academics and others to work together in resisting efforts by governments that seek to enlist companies in acts of censorship and surveillance that violate international standards.

The Initiative is being launched in the 60th Anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is founded upon the internationally recognized human rights for freedom of expression and privacy set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
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The Dialogue Forum on Internet Rights 2 (DFIR2), which will be held on 24 October, is meant as a follow-up to the first edition of this initiative, which took place in Rome in 2007. Its aim is to keep up the international discussion process – officially launched by Italy, together with other actors, during the Athens IGF – to define a shared set of principles able to steer the democratic and inclusive development of the Internet (the so-called Internet Bill of Rights or Internet Rights Code).

The first edition of the Forum, organized together with the United Nations, featured participants from 70 countries and 53 governmental delegations. During the last IGF in Rio de Janeiro, it obtained an acknowledgment from the United Nations and registered the interest of many Countries, in particular Brazil, with whom Italy signed a Joint Declaration.

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Max Senges and the IBR Questions

On 31 July 2008, coalition leaders appeared at a workshop specifically organized by IETSI at the iSummit 2008, the global meeting of the Creative Commons community, to discuss of the Bill of Rights with the commoners from all the world.

After a few presentations (see here and here), most of the workshop was devoted to an open discussion, where similiarities and differences between the two projects were discussed; in the end, the Coalition got plenty of useful feedback from the several smart and committed people who attended the workshop.

May this be the start of a good collaboration!

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In its June conference call, Coalition members appointed a steering committee, drawing on nominations made on the mailing list in the past weeks. The role of the steering committee is that of being responsible for the organization and leadership of the campaign, ensuring a steadier progress of the work. The steering committee includes representatives of several members, including private companies such as Sun and the Italian and Brazilian governments.

The members of the steering committee are: Jaco Aizenman, Vittorio Bertola, Rafik Dammak, Robin Gross, Robert Guerra, Kostantinos Komaitis, Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza, Claudio Prado, Max Senges, Susan Struble, Stefano Trumpy. The steering committee selected Max Senges as its Chair.

The Coalition, as per a request by the IGF Advisory Group, also released a progress report on the status of its activities, which is available on this website as well.

At the IGF Consultations held in Geneva on 26 February 2008, the Coalition released a statement outlining a vision, a mission and some future actions.

The statement describes the Coalition as a multi-stakeholder set of actors sharing the objective of making rights on the Internet and their related duties, specified from the point of view of individual users, a central theme of the Internet Governance debate held in the IGF context. 

This leads to the view of a “bill of rights” as a set of several documents, some existing, some new – some substantial, some procedural or related to enforcement. These documents can accomplish a multi-faceted mission described as follows:

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IGF 2007 - Rio de Janeiro

The IGF held last week in Rio marked an outstanding success for the Dynamic Coalition on the Internet Bill of Rights.

During an initial organizational meeting, the Coalition agreed on an ambitious working plan for next year, including work on some initial documents, outreach, scientific activities, and a special look on enforcement.

On the following day, the workshop organized by the Coalition saw great attendance and lots of interest. Several excellent panelists, including the host country’s Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil, shared their views and their support for the campaign. Several voices from the audience exposed suggestions and concerns. In general, there was ample support for the need to put the theme of Internet rights at the core of the activities of the IGF.

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Fonte: Blog Midiautoria

O Ministro Gilberto Gil assinou ontem, dia 13, durante o Forum de Governança da Internet, junto com o Subsecretário de Estado para Comunicações do Governo da Itália, Luigi Vimercati, uma Declaração Conjunta sobre Direitos da Internet. Na Declaração, as autoridades dos dois países expressam apoio à criação de um conjunto de princípios sobre direitos fundamentais no ambiente da Internet, que devem incluir questões relativas a privacidade, proteção de dados, liberdade de expressão, acesso universal, neutralidade da rede, interoperabilidade, uso de padrões abertos, acesso público ao conhecimento, entre outros.

Veja aqui a íntegra do texto assinado (original em inglês, formato .pdf).

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Contribuição ao Forum de Governança da Internet (IGF) das Nações Unidas

Vittorio Bertola
31 de Julho de 2006

1) Introdução

Este documento introduz o conceito de uma “Carta dos Direitos da Internet”, uma breve discussão do porque de sua existência, e alguns diferentes pontos de vista no tema.

2) Visão geral e histórico do conceito

Desde a criação da Internet, pessoas e organizações que passam a fazer uso da rede percebem sua capacidade de operar profundas transformações em todos os setores da sociedade: economia, política, cultura, mídia, relações interpessoais, hobbies, empregos… tudo está sendo influenciado pelas mudanças promovidas pelo uso da Internet e pelo advento da Sociedade da Informação.

Portanto, logo evidenciou-se que os direitos e deveres tradicionais dos indivíduos seriam afetados e reformatados em função desta nova realidade. Alguns direitos tradicionais, como privacidade, tornaram-se centrais para o novo ambiente. De um momento para o outro, transações e interações internacionais tornaram-se parte do dia-a-dia de todos, trazendo problemas conceituais às definições de soberania e jurisdição. Novas questões conceituais tais como acesso e compartilhamento do conhecimento e neutralidade da rede (network neutrality) surgiram como consequência de novas possibilidades tecnológicas e modelos sócio-econômicos viabilizados pela Internet.

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