[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
Internet control
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Organization: Asialink - InterdocAsPac
To: amar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, cendit@xxxxxxxxxxxx, admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, CSJ.AHMD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
vibha@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, MDSAAA97@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
anilg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, akothari@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Ashish Kothari)
Date sent: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 13:21:18 +0000
Subject: Internet control
Send reply to: vikram!jagdish@xxxxxxxxxxx
Copies to: ilink@xxxxxxxxxxxx, pbidwai@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, sadc@xxxxxxxxxxxx,
suhas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, susan@xxxxxxxxxxxx,
parveen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, padma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
kaval@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, system@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, satya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Priority: normal
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 06:26:32 -0700 (PDT)
Title: 19 Sept 96 ASEAN Nations--Letter Opposing Proposed Internet
Restrictions
On September 4, the ASEAN member nations (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) stated that they had agreed to
collaborate on finding ways to control expression on the Internet. On
September 16, a number of human rights, free expression and electronic privacy
organizations wrote the following letter to the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta,
Indonesia to convey their concerns about this development. Similar letters
were also sent to the ASEAN members.
We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to express our deep
concern about the decision announced on September 4 by ASEAN member
nations to collectively regulate communication on the Internet. The
agreement was announced in Singapore, at the close of a meeting of
officials from ASEAN member nations that was organized by the Singapore
Broadcasting Authority.
We would like to respectfully remind the ASEAN nations that
content-based restrictions on online communication violate
internationally guaranteed rights of free expression. As stated in
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression:
this right includes freedom to hold opinions without
interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
The agreement did not include the adoption of a common regulatory
framework by ASEAN member nations. However, we are concerned that a
number of delegates to the meeting reportedly expressed support for
Singapore's recently established Internet Code of Practice. Human Rights
Watch/Asia has written to the Singaporean government to oppose these new
regulations, which impose sweeping controls on content, including
political discussion. The regulations have already resulted in arbitrary
censorship of at least one newsgroup message. They will surely induce a
chill on on-line speech in Singapore, and, as evidenced by the ASEAN
decision, they will affect online speech throughout the region.
It has been reported that one of the reasons for the ASEAN
agreement was a concern for preserving cultural values. While we
recognize the importance of representation for all cultures on the
Internet, we oppose censorship as a means of ensuring respect for
cultural norms. We believe that the most effective means of responding
to offensive content is by disseminating more content. Censoring
offensive material will not remove it from the Internet; it will simply
cause it to be reproduced on additional Internet sites.
We believe that the lack of agreement on a common regulatory
strategy by ASEAN member nations demonstrates the futility of attempts
by nations or groups of nations to introduce online content regulation
schemes. Within the ASEAN group itself, the cultural values of Vietnam,
for example, differ significantly from cultural values of the
Philippines. It is unlikely that the diverse group of ASEAN nations will
reach an agreement on the specifics of what should be censored, and how
that censorship should be accomplished. Moreover, because the Internet
is a global medium, moves to restrict online content will initiate
battles for competing cultural values on an international scale.
In closing, we would like to add that the attempt to restrict
Internet communication will detract from the many benefits that
electronic communication is bringing to the region. We hope that the
ASEAN nations will reconsider their unfortunate decision and instead
focus on the new opportunities that the Internet can provide to the
citizens of the region.
Human Rights Watch/Asia (http://www.hrw.org)
CITADEL-Electronic Frontier France (http://www.imaginet.fr/~mose/citadel)
Les Chroniques de Cyberie, Canada (http://www.cyberie.qc.ca/chronik/)
Electronic Privacy Information Center, USA (http://www.epic.org)
American Civil Liberties Union, USA (http://www.aclu.org)
cyberPOLIS, USA (http://www.cyberpolis.org/)
Electronic Frontiers Foundation, USA (http://www.eff.org)
ALCEI-Electronic Frontiers Italy (http://www.nexus.it/alcei)
Association des Utilisateurs d'Internet (AUI), France (http://www.aui.fr)
Fronteras Electronicas Espana (FrEE)--Electronic Frontiers Spain
(http://www.lander.es/~jlmartin/)
Electronic Frontiers Austin, Texas USA (http://www.eff.-austin.org),
Digital Citizens Foundation Netherlands--DBNL (http://www.xs4all.nl/~db.nl)
Article 19, 33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH, UK
PEN American Center, 568 Broadway, NY, USA
CommUnity, UK <URL:http://www.community.org.uk/>
Gopher Address://gopher.humanrights.org:5000
Listserv address: To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail message to
majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe hrw-news" in the body of the message
(leave the subject line blank).
Human Rights Watch
485 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10017-6104
TEL: 212/972-8400
FAX: 212/972-0905
E-mail: hrwnyc@xxxxxxx
1522 K Street, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20005
TEL: 202/371-6592
FAX: 202/371-0124
E-mail: hrwdc@xxxxxxx
------------------------------
End of SEASIA-L Digest - 21 Sep 1996 to 22 Sep 1996
***************************************************
.................................................
To unsubscribe from palaris-l, send an e-mail to:
palaris-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
in the message text, type unsubscribe
With greetings,
Jagdish Parikh - [Asialink / Interdoc-AsPac]