1. An Ethical Framework: Mechanisms For User-Enabled Choice and Normative Claims
Marshall Conley, Christina Patterson,
Carolyn Watters & Michael Shepherd
InfoEthics 2000
Paris November 13-15

2. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UNESCO has human rights competence in a number of areas, including:
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stresses the right to information, including 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
Article 12 refers to arbitrary interference with privacy …

3. UNESCO and the Information Highway: The Balance Between Control and Access
The Web is increasingly important for the exchange of knowledge, information & experience
UNESCO's INFO-ethics Programme stresses the importance of universal access to information in the public domain

4. UNESCO’S INFO-ethics Programme
Encourages international co-operation in promotion of:
the principles of equality, justice and mutual respect in the emerging Information Society
the identification of major ethical issues in the production, access, dissemination, preservation and use of information in the electronic environment
the provision of assistance to Member States in the formulation of strategies and policies on these issues

5. Ethical Frameworks and User-Enabled choice
There are no unified authorities, only multiple stakeholders with complex and contradictory agendas
This decentralized participation results in the individual user adding new content and tools to the system as a whole
The unified operating authority is replaced by a contradictory, and even chaotic form of control
Structural and systemic elements, such as web-filtering systems, represent ‘acknowledged conditions’ to uphold freedom of expression through ‘choice mechanisms’

6. The Good, the Bad and the Illegal
Like other communication technologies, the Internet carries a potentially harmful or illegal content and can be misused as a vehicle for criminal activities
However, there exist a number of different legal regimes at the national and international level to deal with this:
National security – instructions for bomb making, illegal drug production, etc
Protection of minors – violence, pornography, abusive forms of marketing
Protection of human dignity – incitement to racial hatred or racial discrimination

7. Ethical Considerations } normative orientation and public dialogue
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have the option to provide users with the choice to control the content delivered to users over the Internet
Rather than retrieving items from the Web, filtering systems are used to selectively restrict access to materials on the Web

8. Control?
The deployment of content control should be a reflection of individual, community and social policies and preferences
We can use systems which ‘filter out’ Web sites or Web pages that contain material that is objectionable to a community of users
Two principles must be considered:
Communication Principle: The right of communications as a fundamental human right
Free Expression Principle

9. Codes of Conduct?
The important questions:
Whose strategy?
Whose choice?
During this time of process innovation, codes of conduct, the realities, significance, and consequences of barriers to access, whether publicly or privately created, must be explored

10. Mechanisms for Realization of these Policies
We feel that a combination of mechanisms is required:
Normative Codes of Conduct developed by UNESCO
Industry self-regulation
Facilitation of end-user choice through technology
Technology by itself is not the solution

11. A Caveat
By early July 2000 a new Internet model began to evolve – ‘peer-to-peer’
Peer-to-peer communications takes away the ISP as the middleman. This means that you and I can communicate directly as long as we both have IP addresses and know each other’s address
The importance is that government will not be able to impose filtering at the ISP level

12. The Problem: the Web 1 billion documents (April 2000)
Average query is 2 words (e.g., sara name)
Continual explosive growth
Balance global indexing and access and unintentional access to inappropriate material

13. What were we doing pre-Web?
Channel access
Deny access
Check for age

14. Internet opens new Channels
ftp
telnet
List servers
Bulletin boards
Discussion groups
Chat rooms
Instant messaging
Web pages

15. Filtering
label
base
Web
doc
URL
lists
keywords
ratings
URLs

16. What have we got to work with?

17. Page Filtering Application Types
Client-side: Special purpose browser applications
e.g., SurfMonkey
Server-side: Child friendly portals
e.g.,Yahoo, Lycos
Proxies
Black and white lists
Keyword profiles
Labels

18. Browser Application: www.surfmonkey.com

19. Server-Side: Public Portals

20. Sneaky!!

21. Proxy level (hidden)

22. What works well?
Nothing

23. What’s the problem? Site Labels Black and White lists
Trust
Who does the labels?
Are the labels authentic?
Has the source document changed?
Scale - A billion docs?
Black and White lists
Ditto
Text analysis of page contents
Poor results

24. Other Filtering Application Types
Authorized Access to Adult material
e.g., Australian plan  credit card proof of age
Anonymity protection
ZeroKnowledge
Non-Http Filters
, etc.
Activity Monitors
privacy

25. On-going Issues to be addressed
Freedom of Expression
Protection of Minors

26. Summary Technology by itself is not the solution
A combination of mechanisms is required:
Normative Codes of Conduct developed by UNESCO
Industry self-regulation
Facilitation of end-user choice through technology
End-user must know what is being filtered, when it is being filtered, and why it is being filtered
Technology by itself is not the solution

27. More Info on Filtering Industry Canada report
Content Filtering Technologies and Internet Service Providers: Enabling User Choice
European Commission – Info. Society Website
Web information filtering lab:
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