Intermediaries and human rights – between co-opted law enforcement and human rights protection – PL 03b 2016
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Internet intermediaries are positioned between states and users: their position between co-opted law enforcement and human rights protection and the rules under which they act, from terms of service to national and European law, will be openly and critically debated.
Session description
Internet intermediaries enable communication online. They are thus essential to the exercise of human rights online and both essential to all Internet users and vulnerable to interventions by states. Intermediaries have become managers and adjudicators of freedom of expression and other rights. This is a task they neither wanted nor may be best suited to fill. The intermediaries’ terms of service seem like the actual Internet constitutions, while not providing many rights to users. From the Scarlet/Sabam, Telekabel, Digital Rights Ireland, Costeja and Schrems cases before the EU's highest Court to the Delfi and MTE cases before the European Court of Human Rights, European courts have approached the human rights obligations of intermediaries differently. Is it time for a revisit? How can we attribute responsibilities in the triangular relationship of states, intermediaries and users? Should we rely on self-regulation? What laws are applicable to users – can courts in one country change the rules for the activities of intermediaries in other countries? And what procedural guarantees exist for users’ rights in the ‘adjudication’ of conflicts?
Keywords
intermediaries, human rights, enforcement, platforms, gatekeepers, companies
Format
Until 30 April 2016. Please try new interactive formats out. EuroDIG is about dialogue not about statements.
Further reading
- EDRi Booklet: [Human Rights and Privatised Law Enforcement https://edri.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/EDRi_HumanRights_and_PrivLaw_web.pdf https://edri.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/EDRi_HumanRights_and_PrivLaw_web.pdf]
- https://edri.org/files/EDRI_CoE.pdf Council of Europe, Human Rights Violations Online, drafted by European Digital Rights, DGI (2014) 31, (04.12.2014)
- OECD The economic and social role of Internet intermediaries (2010): https://www.oecd.org/internet/ieconomy/44949023.pdf
- Council of Europe/EuroISPA, Human rights guidelines for Internet service providers (2008): http://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=09000016805a39d5
- Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights "The right to privacy in the digital age" (30.06.2014): http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session27/Documents/A.HRC.27.37_en.pdf
- Ways to tackle online hateful content proposed by the German Task Force against illegal online hate speech (15.12.2015): https://www.bmjv.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Artikel/12152015_TaskForceErgebnispapier_eng.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2
- FRA/Council of Europe Handbook on European data protection law (2014): http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2014-handbook-data-protection-law-2nd-ed_en.pdf
- The right to privacy in the digital age, Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=0900001680304b59
- Article 19's Report “Internet intermediaries: Dilemma of Liability” (2013): https://www.article19.org/data/files/Intermediaries_ENGLISH.pdf
- “Manila Principles on Intermediary Liability” (different civil society organisations, 2015): https://www.manilaprinciples.org/principles
- Cyberhate: an issue of continued concern for the Council of Europe’s Anti-Racism Commission (2015): http://www.coe.int/t/democracy/source/publications/Cyberhate_2015_en.pdf
- Governance of Online Intermediaries: Observations from a Series of National Case Studies, Berkman Center Research Publication No. 2015-5 (18.02.2015): http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2566364
- Offensive Online Comments - New ECtHR Judgment – commentary by Dirk Voorhoof and Eva Lievens (15.02.2016): http://echrblog.blogspot.fr/2016/02/offensive-online-comments-new-ecthr.html
- Criminal justice access to data in the cloud: challenges, (Council of Europe, 26.05.2016): https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=0900001680304b59
- Welcome to the Jungle: the Liability of Internet Intermediaries for Privacy Violations in Europe (IVIR, 2015): http://www.ivir.nl/publicaties/download/1720
Relevant judgements
- Judgement of the CJEU, Scarlet Extended SA v Société belge des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs SCRL (SABAM), (case C‑70/10): http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=115202&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=166646
- Judgement of the CJEU, Digital Rights Ireland Ltd v Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and Others (case C-293/12) and Kärntner Landesregierung and Others(C-594/12): http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A62012CJ0293
- Judgement of the CJEU, UPC Telekabel Wien GmbH v Constantin Film Verleih GmbH, Wega Filmproduktionsgesellschaft mbH (case C-314/12):http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=149924&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=166101
- Judgement of the CJEU, Google Spain SL,Google Inc. v Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD), Mario Costeja González (case C‑131/12): http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=152065&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=472733
- Judgement of the CJEU, Maximillian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner (case C-362/14): http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=169195&mode=lst&pageIndex=1&dir=&occ=first&part=1&text=&doclang=EN&cid=334679
- Judgement of the ECtHR Delfi AS v. Estonia (case no. 64569/09): http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-155105
- Judgement of the ECtHR Magyar Tartalomszolgáltatók Egyesülete and Index.hu ZRT v. Hungary (case no. 22947/13): http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-160314
- Judgement of the ECtHR Yildirim v. Turkey (case no. 3111/10): http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-115705
- Judgement of the ECtHR Cengiz and Others v. Turkey (cases no. 48226/10 and 14027/11): http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-159188
- Judgement of the ECtHR K.U. v. Finland (case no. 2872/02): https://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/dataprotection/Judgments/K.U.%20v.%20FINLAND%20en.pdf
People
Name, institution, country of residence
- Focal Point
Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann, Cluster of Excellence "Normative Orders", University of Frankfurt/Main, Germany
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Current discussion
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Conference call. Schedules and minutes
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Mailing list
Contact: pl3b@eurodig.org
Remote participation
Final report
Deadline 2016
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