Surf Wiki
Save to docs
technology/computing

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Internet freedom

Digital rights, freedom of information and the right to Internet access and speech

Summary

Digital rights, freedom of information and the right to Internet access and speech

Internet freedom is an umbrella term that encompasses digital rights, freedom of information, the right to Internet access, freedom from Internet censorship, and net neutrality.

As a human right

Those who support internet freedom as a human right include the United Nations Human Rights Council, who declared internet freedom a Human Right in 2012. Eric Sterner agrees with the end goals of internet freedom but thinks that focusing on democracy and other freedoms is the best strategy.

Relatively free internets

J. Goldsmith notes the discrepancies in fundamental rights around free speech that exist between Europe and the United States, for example, and how that impacts internet freedom. In addition, the proliferation in certain kinds of speech that spreads false information and weakens trust in the accuracy of content online remains a topic of concern around internet freedom in all countries. The EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) seeks to control disinformation and misinformation on social media. It came into effect in 2023 and applies to large online platforms and search engines. The DSA requires platforms to take measures to limit the spread of disinformation and harmful content, such as removing or demoting it. It also requires platforms to be more transparent about their algorithms and content moderation practices. In doing so, the DSA aims to harmonize different national laws in the European Union that have emerged (since the Electronic Commerce Directive 2000) to address illegal content at national level.

Relatively unfree internets

Some countries work to ban certain sites and or words that limit internet freedom. The People's Republic of China (PRC) has the world's largest number of Internet users and one of the most sophisticated and aggressive Internet censorship and control regimes in the world. In 2020, Freedom House ranked China last of 64 nations in internet freedom.

References

References

  1. Altman, Alex. (2008-02-20). "A Coming Chill Over Internet Freedom?".
  2. Nicks, Denver. (March 19, 2014). "Russia's Youth Want Internet Freedom, Widening 'Censorship Gap'".
  3. Paul, Kari. (2021-09-22). "Internet freedom on the decline in US and globally, study finds". The Guardian.
  4. Carr, Madeline. (November 2013). "Internet freedom, human rights and power". [[Australian Journal of International Affairs]].
  5. (May 28, 2014). "Opinion: The Internet As a Human Right".
  6. Sterner, Eric R.. (2011). "The Folly of Internet Freedom: The Mistake of Talking About the Internet as a Human Right". [[The New Atlantis (journal).
  7. Goldsmith, J. (2018). The failure of internet freedom. Knight First Amendment Institute. Columbia University. https://knightcolumbia.org/content/failure-internet-freedom {{Webarchive. link. (2022-01-24. Retrieved on 12/3/19.)
  8. Stolton, Samuel. (18 August 2020). "Digital agenda: Autumn/Winter Policy Briefing".
  9. "Promoting Global Internet Freedom: Policy and Technology".
  10. Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. (2010). U.S. Initiatives to Promote Global Internet Freedom. Issues, Policy, and Technology. S.l]: [s.n.]. https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a516461.pdf {{Webarchive. link. (2019-12-04 Retrieved on 12/3/19.)
  11. "5 Predictions for Beijing's Assault on Internet Freedom in 2021". The Diplomat.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

broad-concept-articles internet-access digital-rights computing-and-society social-concepts
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Internet freedom — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report