Intermediaries and human rights – between co-opted law enforcement and human rights protection – PL 03b 2016

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Session teaser

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, platforms, responsibility, liability, users, e-commerce directive, human rights protection, law enforcement

Format

Until 30 April 2016. Please try new interactive formats out. EuroDIG is about dialogue not about statements.

Further reading

Relevant judgements

People

  • Pavel Antonov, BlueLink Civic Action Network
  • NGOs, Sofia, Bulgaria, pavelan@bluelink.net
  • Stefan Herwig, Germany, private sector, stefan@dependent.de
  • Martin Husovec (Tilburg, academia)
  • Jef Ausloos (Brussels, academia)
  • Cristina Angelopulos (Amsterdam, academia)
Panelists:
  1. Frank La Rue (Mr.), Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO, Guatemala/France [international organizations] (see note 1)
  2. Maud Sacquet (Ms.), Public Policy Manager, Computer and Communications Industry Association, Belgium, msacquet@ccianet.org [private sector] [or industry rep] (see note 2)
  3. Michael Rotert, Chairman of the Board, eco – Association of the Internet Industry, Germany, michael.rotert@eco.de [government] (see note 3)
  4. Karmen Turk, Triniti, University of Tartu, Estonia,karmen.turk@triniti.ee [academia] (see note 4)
  5. Nicolo Zingales, Dynamic Coalition on Platform Responsibility,Tilburg University, Netherlands, n.zingales@uvt.nl [academia] (see note 5)
  6. Allon Bar, Ranking Digital Rights & Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, Germany, a.bar@rankingdigitalrights.org [NGOs] (see note 6)
  7. Maryant Fernández, European Digital Rights (EDRi), Belgium, maryant.fernandez-perez@edri.org [NGOs] (see note 7)
  • Moderator: Dr. Matthias C. Kettemann, Frankfurt Research Center for Internet and Society, Cluster of Excellence "The Formation of Normative Orders", University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, matthias.kettemann@normativeorders.net (see note 8)
Co-Moderator: Nicolo Zingales, Dynamic Coalition on Platform Responsibility, Tilburg University, Netherlands, n.zingales@uvt.nl [academia]
  • Remote moderator: Matei-Eugen Vasile
  • Org team

Organising team is a group of people shaping the session. Every interested individual can become a member of an organising team (org team).

  • Reporter: Ana Gascon-Marcen, Council of Europe, France, Ana.GASCON-MARCEN@coe.int see note 7)

Current discussion

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Conference call. Schedules and minutes

Google document

Mailing list

Contact: pl3b@eurodig.org

Remote participation

Final report

Deadline 2016

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Notes

note 1: Frank La Rue (Mr.) Bio

Frank la Rue is a Guatemalan labour and human rights lawyer and was appointed to serve as UNESCO’s new Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information in March 2016. From August 2008 to August 2014 he served as UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression. During his tenure he wrote and presented 10 landmark reports on the state of freedom of expression to the UN Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly. Key messages: freedom of expression key enabling right on the internet; the impact of state surveillance on privacy and freedom of expression; Intermediary need protection; no co-opting outside of the legal system (not blocking without judicial authoritzation).

note 2: Maud Sacquet (Ms.) Bio

Maud Sacquet is Public Policy Manager at the trade association Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA). CCIA is an international, nonprofit association representing a broad cross section of computer, communications and internet industry firms. CCIA remains dedicated, as it has for over 40 years, to promoting innovation and preserving full, fair and open competition throughout our industry. Before joining the CCIA, Maud Sacquet worked for more than five years at Yahoo in Paris, ultimately as Legal Counsel working on notice and takedown issues, as well as law enforcement’s requests for information. Ms Sacquet holds a Master degree in Business law from the Institute of Political Studies of Paris (“Sciences Po Paris”) and a Master degree in European Business Law from the University Robert Schuman of Strasbourg. She also holds a LLM degree in Regulation and Technology from King’s College London, where she graduated with merits.

note 3: Nicolo Zingales Bio

Dr. Nicolo Zingales is assistant professor at Tilburg Law School, where he is also a senior researcher of the Tilburg Law and Economic Center (TILEC) and a research associate at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society (TILT). His research focuses on various aspects of Internet law and governance, including competition, IP and data protection law. Prior to joining Tilburg University, he was a fellow at the Center for Technology and Society of the Fundação Getulio Vargas, where he initiated and coordinated the "Terms of Service and Human Rights" project. He is a co-founder and coordinator of the Internet Governance Forum’s Dynamic Coalition on Platform Responsibility, which produced in 2015 Recommendation on Terms of Service and Human Rights. Key messages:Importance of international benchmarks and/or codes of conduct, like the one developed by the DCPR; Doctrine of positive obligations, and its relationship with the market power of certain intermediaries; Implications of increasing automation and artificial intelligence for intermediary liability regimes.