Methods of Internet Regulation

Areas of Concern National Security –Bomb-making, drugs, terrorism Protection of Minors –Violence, pornography Protection of Human Dignity –Racism, discrimination Economic Security –Fraud

Areas of Concern continued Information Security –Hacking, cracking Protection of Privacy –Electronic harassment Protection of Reputation –Libel, comparative advertising Intellectual Property –copyright

Censorship New technologies challenge existing patterns of control Who can claim to be the censor of an international medium Censorship does not promote the principle of regulated pluralism

Negative Regulation Existing laws don’t always seem to work very well Threat to free speech

Self-Regulation End-users take charge Interest group set up a hotline or webpage ISP having codes of conduct Set up supervisory bodies These approaches have met with mixed success in other venues –press

Filtering Systems Installing a “private gateway” to data on one’s own computer Recreational Software Advisory Council –RSAC –Integrated into Microsoft Explorer Rating system organizations are usually NOT independent

Filtering Systems continued Depends on “ratings” or labels –But who does the rating? Filters are too easy to hack Filters are notoriously inaccurate Adults are held hostage to standards set for children

Forward Looking Threat of censorship may undermine trust people have in the state Acts of censorship reveal the inappropriateness of the “public good” argument as a touchstone for the legitimacy of control Need to distribute power rather than concentrate it is small areas

More Forward Looking Policies should not curtail the use of the Internet for public debate Need to distinguish between material that people seek out versus material they are exposed to involuntarily Use the Internet to focus on pornographers rather then to ban pornography Nations need to cooperate