Blocking, filtering and take-down of Internet content in Europe. State of play in the Council of Europe 47 member States – 2016

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EuroDIG 2016 | Side-event 9th June 16:30

Blocking, filtering and take-down of Internet content in Europe.

State of play in the Council of Europe 47 member States

A major Comparative study on blocking, filtering and take-down of Internet content in the 47 member States of the Council of Europe was commissioned to the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law. Some of its main findings are that in some States measures to block, filter and take-down Internet content fail to meet the conditions of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights; there are also States where the picture is not clear due to the lack of information; some States fail to define what is and isn’t acceptable online in a sufficiently precise way; and Internet intermediaries play a crucial role in this domain.

The Organisation would like to trigger the dialogue in this topic, its role and the one of different stakeholders to address this issue; in particular, it would like to discuss possible follow-up activities of the Council of Europe. With this idea in mind the Council of Europe will invite different speakers to join the conversation coming from Academia, NGOs, States, etc.

The format would be a session of 90 minutes with brief presentations from different stakeholders followed by questions and answers promoting an interactive dialogue with the attendants.

Confirmed speakers:

Ms Elda BROGI, Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom, European University Institute

Ms Stéphanie DE DYCKER, Swiss Institute of Comparative Law

Mr Jan KERKHOFS, Prosecutor’s Office, Counter-Terrorism Unit & Cybercrime Unit, Belgium

Mr Joe MCNAMEE, EDRi

Mr Marco PANCINI, Google

Mr Philippe VAN LINTHOUT, Investigating Judge, Belgium

Ms Silvia GRUNDMANN, Council of Europe

Related reading:

Report of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the state of democracy, human rights, and rule of law “A security imperative for Europe” (p. 47). [1]