Global Policy Weekly – September 19, 2013
CDT’s Global Policy Weekly highlights the latest Internet policy developments and proposals from around the world, compiled by CDT’s Global Internet Freedom Project.
FREE EXPRESSION
The Parliament of Grenada voted in favor of a law that may harm Internet users’ right to free speech. Under the Electronic Crimes Act, users could be imprisoned for posting “grossly offensive” material on social media pages or other media sites. The bill also allows up to a three year prison sentence for “intimidating, coercing, or annoying another person using an electronic system.” Critics report that the bill appears to be recriminalizing defamation online and express concern that the bill fails to guarantee truth as a defense. For more information on defamation laws, see CDT’s paper “Defamation in the Internet Age: Protecting Reputation Without Infringing Free Expression.”
Chinese authorities announced a new judicial interpretation governing information shared over social media. If a user posts a comment that is found to be libelous and the text is re-posted 500 times or viewed by 5,000 users, the user can be charged with defamation. Charges could result in up to three years imprisonment. The government says that the regulations are intended to curb “online rumors.” According to Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch, “critics of the government and whistleblowers are the real target.”
Internet users in Iran briefly gained access to Twitter and Facebook, but the services were blocked again the next day. Iranian officials blamed a technical glitch for the period of access, but The New York Times reports that political infighting may be responsible. The new president, Hassan Rouhani, has announced he wants to reduce Internet censorship, but conservatives control the government’s filtering and blocking technologies. The government began blocking Twitter and Facebook following post-election unrest in 2009.
ACCESS AND INTERNET NEUTRALITY
The European Commission published a reform package aimed at overhauling telecommunications regulation in the European Union. Among other things, the proposal also seeks to put in place EU-wide regulation on Internet neutrality. CDT welcomed the Commission’s interest in establishing neutrality protections, but raised concern about some of the specific provisions in the proposal. Other advocates worry that the proposal contains loopholes that will undermine net neutrality. According to Jens-Henrik Jeppesen, CDT Representative and Director for European Affairs, “The proposal can and should be improved to clarify that Internet access services must be subject to a general non-discrimination principle.”
SECURITY AND SURVEILLANCE
Jari Arkko, Chair of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Stephen Farrell, IETF Security Area Director issued a statement regarding pervasive monitoring practices by governments. Arkko and Farrell expressed that existing technical standards developed by IETF had not anticipated the extent of surveillance that now appears to be taking place. Acknowledging that many factors – such as end point security, law, and operational practices – are beyond IETF’s control, they outlined areas where IETF is working to improve security of internet communications. Security will also be a key topic in the IETF’s upcoming meeting in Vancouver.
COMPETITION
Google made a new attempt to settle an antitrust case with the European Union that began in 2010. Details of the offer were not released. One of the main claims in the case was that Google abused its search dominance to promote the company’s own products. EU competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia rejected a preliminary settlement in July when Google’s competitors claimed the terms of the settlement might actually increase Google’s market dominance.
