DOCSLIB.ORG

Freedom of Expression and the Internet by Wolfgang Benedek and Matthias C

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Freedom of Expression and the Internet by Wolfgang Benedek and Matthias C ENG With the rise of the Internet, the opportunities to express oneself have grown exponentially, as have the challenges to freedom of expression. From the Arab Spring to the global Occupy movement, freedom of expression on the Internet has had a profound impact on the debates FREEDOM which shape our future. At the same time, an increasing number of states use the Internet to spy on journalists and citizens, to prosecute and jail bloggers, and to censor online information. OF EXPRESSION This book sets out to answer essential questions regarding the extent and limits of freedom of expression online. It seeks to shed light on the often obscure landscape of what we are allowed to say online and how our ideas, and the process of imparting and receiving information, of and the expression Internet Freedom AND THE INTERNET are protected. It shows the large ambit of rights protected by freedom of expression – including freedom of the media and the right to access information via the Internet. It also highlights the importance of the standard-setting, monitoring and promotion activities of international and non-governmental organisations, with a chapter on relevant national practices that illustrates how different states deal with the challenge that the Internet has brought to ensuring freedom of expression for all. As the importance of the Internet in our daily lives grows, readers will find this book to be a valuable resource for understanding the rights and obligations of each actor on the Internet, including states, Internet companies and civil society. Professor Wolfgang Benedek is Head of the Institute of International Law and International Relations and Director of the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy of the University of Graz. His main research interests are human rights, human security, regulation of the Internet, and international economic law with a focus on global governance and international development law. He is the executive editor of the European Yearbook on Human Rights. “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression.” Dr Matthias C. Kettemann LL.M. (Harvard) studied international Article 10, European Convention on Human Rights law in Graz, Geneva and at Harvard Law School, and is a lecturer at the Institute of International Law and International Relations of the University of Graz and a post-doctoral fellow at the Cluster of Excellence “Normative Orders” at the University of Frankfurt/Main. He is co-editor of the European Yearbook on Human Rights. Prems 107513 Prems The Council of Europe is the continent’s leading human rights organisation. Wolfgang Benedek It includes 47 member states, 28 of which and Matthias C. Kettemann are members of the European Union. www.coe.int All Council of Europe member states have signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights, a treaty designed to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The European Court of Human Rights oversees the implementation of the Convention in the member states. Council of Europe http://book.coe.int €29/US$58 ISBN 978-92-871-7702-5 Freedom of expression and the Internet by Wolfgang Benedek and Matthias C. Kettemann Council of Europe Publishing The opinions expressed in this work are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the fficialo policy of the Council of Europe. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic (CD-Rom, Internet, etc.) or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the Directorate of Communications (F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex or [email protected]). Cover photo: Shutterstock Cover design: Documents and Publications Production Department (SPDP), Council of Europe Layout: Jouve, Paris Council of Europe Publishing F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex http://book.coe.int ISBN 978-92-871-7702-5 © Council of Europe, December 2013 Printed at the Council of Europe Contents List of abbreviations ....................................................................................... 7 Table of cases .................................................................................................. 9 Preface ............................................................................................................ 13 1. Introduction: the challenges of ensuring freedom of expression on the Internet ............................................................................................... 17 2. The content of freedom of expression online ....................................... 23 2.1. Main elements of the right ............................................................. 23 2.1.1. Freedom of opinion .............................................................. 26 2.1.2. Freedom of information ....................................................... 27 2.1.3. Freedom of the press and the media .................................... 28 2.1.4. Freedom of international communication .......................... 32 2.1.5. Freedom of artistic expression ............................................. 33 2.1.6. Freedom of cultural expression ........................................... 35 2.1.7. Freedom of science ............................................................... 36 2.1.8. A new freedom? Internet freedom and openness ............... 36 2.1.9. Right to anonymity .............................................................. 37 2.1.10. Right to whistle-blowing .................................................... 38 2.2. Corollary rights: freedom of assembly and association, right to education and access to knowledge .................................. 39 2.3. Right to access to the Internet ........................................................ 41 3. Restrictions on freedom of expression online ...................................... 45 3.1. Principles and problems .................................................................. 45 3.2. Criteria for restrictions and the practice of the Court in Internet cases ................................................................................................. 47 3.2.1. Criteria for restrictions ........................................................ 47 3.2.2. The practice of the Court ..................................................... 48 3.3. Conclusion ....................................................................................... 54 4. Standard‑setting by the Council of Europe and non‑state actors ....... 55 4.1. The context: the role of human rights in Internet governance .... 55 4.2. Activities of the Council of Europe: awareness raising and standard-setting .............................................................................. 56 4.2.1. Recommendations and declarations .................................... 57 4.2.2. Guidelines and recommendations for business .................. 62 4.3. Activities of non-state actors .......................................................... 66 4.3.1. The Charter on Human Rights and Principles for the Internet ....................................................................................... 66 3 Freedom of expression and the Internet 4.3.2. Standard-setting in the private sector ................................. 68 4.3.3. Transparency to protect freedom of expression ................. 69 5. Specific issues ........................................................................................... 73 5.1. Internet content regulation and freedom of expression ......................74 5.2. Access to the Internet as a precondition for freedom of expression online ............................................................................ 75 5.3. Technological neutrality and freedom of expression .................... 78 5.4. Network neutrality and freedom of expression............................. 79 5.5. Characteristics of protected and unprotected speech online ........ 81 5.6. Fighting online hate speech ............................................................ 82 5.7. Defamation, reputation and freedom of expression online .......... 88 5.8. Protection of children in light of freedom of expression .............. 92 5.9. Freedom of expression and Internet domain names ..................... 93 5.10. The role of Internet intermediaries.............................................. 97 5.11. Freedom of expression in social networks ................................... 98 5.12. Private and public spaces on the Internet.................................. 102 5.13. Transcending the national level ................................................. 107 6. Relevant practice on the national level................................................ 109 6.1. Jurisdiction and freedom of expression online .............................110 6.1.1. France v. US and Yahoo! v. LICRA: a tale of two countries and two courts ...........................................................................110 6.1.2. UK: the Internet comes under national jurisdiction .........111 6.2. Access and freedom of expression online .....................................111 6.2.1. Egypt: Internet shutdowns ................................................ 112 6.2.2 Internet access as a protected right in 20 Council of Europe member states .............................................................. 113 6.3. Copyright and freedom of expression online ............................... 115 6.3.1. France: the limits to enforcing copyright .........................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Media Self-Regulation Guidebook
    The Media Self-Regulation Guidebook All questions and answers The Representative on Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Freedom of the Media The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media wishes to thank the Governments of France, Germany and Ireland for their generous support to this publication. We would also like to extend our gratitude to Robert Pinker, Peter Stuber and the AIPCE members for their invaluable contributions to this project. The views expressed by the authors in this publication are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. Published by Miklós Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Edited by Adeline Hulin and Jon Smith © 2008 Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Wallnerstrasse 6 A-1010 Vienna, Austria Tel.: +43-1 514 36 68 00 Fax: +43-1 514 36 6802 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.osce.org/fom Design & Layout: Phoenix Design Aid, Denmark ISBN 3-9501995-7-2 The Media Self-Regulation Guidebook All questions and answers The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Miklós Haraszti Vienna 2008 CONTENTS Contents 7 Miklós Haraszti Foreword 9 I. The merits of media self-regulation Balancing rights and responsibilities By Miklós Haraszti 10 1. The nature of media self-regulation 13 2. Media self-regulation versus regulating the media 18 3. The promotion of mutual respect and cultural understanding 21 II. Setting up a journalistic code of ethics The core of media self-regulation By Yavuz Baydar 22 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Content Regulation in the Digital
    Content Regulation in the Digital Age Submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) February 2018 Introduction 1 I. Company compliance with State laws 2 Terrorism-related and extremist content 3 False news, disinformation and propaganda 4 The “right to be forgotten” framework? 7 How should companies respond to State content regulation laws and measures that may be inconsistent with international human rights standards? 8 II. Other State Requests 9 State requests based on platform terms of service (ToS) and “shadow” requests 9 Non-transparent agreements with companies 10 III. Global removals 11 IV. Individuals at risk 12 V. Content regulation processes 15 VI. Bias and non-discrimination 16 VII. Appeals and remedies 17 VIII. Automation and content moderation 17 IX. Transparency 18 X. General recommendations from APC 19 Introduction The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an international network and non- profit organisation founded in 1990 that works to help ensure everyone has affordable access to a free and open internet to improve lives, realise human rights and create a more just world. We welcome this topic because it is current and integral to our work. On the one hand there is a lot of ‘noise’ in the mainstream media about so-called “fake news” and what appears to be a fairly rushed response from platforms consisting of increasing in-house regulation of content. On the other hand, human rights defenders and activists we work with express concern that 1 platforms are removing some of their content in a manner that suggests political bias and reinforcing of societal discrimination.
    [Show full text]
  • Journalism in Jordan: a Comparative Analysis of Press Freedom in the Post-Arab Spring Environment
    Global Media Journal ISSN: 1550-7521 Special Issue 2015 Journalism in Jordan: A comparative analysis of press freedom in the post-Arab spring environment Matt J. Duffy, Hadil Maarouf 1. PhD, Berry College, GA,USA 2. Center for International Media Education, Georgia State University Corresponding author: Matt J. Duffy, PhD, Berry College, GA,USA. E-mail: [email protected] 1. Abstract Although once known for one of the most vibrant media sectors in the Arab world, the press freedom ranking of Jordan has declined in recent years. Despite governmental assurances during the height of the Arab Spring, promised reforms in freedom of the press have failed to materialize. By studying primary and secondary sources and interviewing Jordanian journalists, the authors identify four main developments that show diminished press freedom in Jordan. These developments will be described in detail and examined in the context of international media law. The analysis finds that the Jordanian approach to media regulation is often at odds with the approach recommended by the United Nations free speech rapporteurs. The authors also examine the press system of Jordan through the lens of Ostini and Fung’s press system theory. 1 Global Media Journal ISSN: 1550-7521 Special Issue 2015 2. Introduction organizations support the observation As the Arab region erupted in protests in that press freedom has gotten worse in early 2011, the king of Jordan appeared Jordan (see figures 1 and 2.) to see the writing on the wall. He fired Figure 1: Freedom House his cabinet and called for immediate changes in the organization of his Press Freedom Ranking government.
    [Show full text]
  • Poster: Introducing Massbrowser: a Censorship Circumvention System Run by the Masses
    Poster: Introducing MassBrowser: A Censorship Circumvention System Run by the Masses Milad Nasr∗, Anonymous∗, and Amir Houmansadr University of Massachusetts Amherst fmilad,[email protected] ∗Equal contribution Abstract—We will present a new censorship circumvention sys- side the censorship regions, which relay the Internet traffic tem, currently being developed in our group. The new system of the censored users. This includes systems like Tor, VPNs, is called MassBrowser, and combines several techniques from Psiphon, etc. Unfortunately, such circumvention systems are state-of-the-art censorship studies to design a hard-to-block, easily blocked by the censors by enumerating their limited practical censorship circumvention system. MassBrowser is a set of proxy server IP addresses [14]. (2) Costly to operate: one-hop proxy system where the proxies are volunteer Internet To resist proxy blocking by the censors, recent circumven- users in the free world. The power of MassBrowser comes from tion systems have started to deploy the proxies on shared-IP the large number of volunteer proxies who frequently change platforms such as CDNs, App Engines, and Cloud Storage, their IP addresses as the volunteer users move to different a technique broadly referred to as domain fronting [3]. networks. To get a large number of volunteer proxies, we This mechanism, however, is prohibitively expensive [11] provide the volunteers the control over how their computers to operate for large scales of users. (3) Poor QoS: Proxy- are used by the censored users. Particularly, the volunteer based circumvention systems like Tor and it’s variants suffer users can decide what websites they will proxy for censored from low quality of service (e.g., high latencies and low users, and how much bandwidth they will allocate.
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom of Expression
    ! BRIEFING NOTE SERIES Freedom of Expression Centre for Law and Democracy International Media Support (IMS) ! FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION BRIEFING NOTE SERIES July 2014 ! This publication was produced with the generous support of the governments of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. ! Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) International Media Support (IMS) 39 Chartwell Lane Nørregade 18 Halifax, N.S. 1165 Copenhagen K B3M 3S7 Denmark Canada Tel: +1 902 431-3688 Tel: +45 8832 7000 Fax: +1 902 431-3689 Fax: +45 3312 0099 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] www.law-democracy.org www.mediasupport.org © CLD, Halifax and IMS, Copenhagen ISBN 978-87-92209-62-7 This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ You are free to copy, distribute and display this work and to make derivative works, provided you give credit to Centre for Law and Democracy and International Media Support; do not use this work for commercial purposes; and distribute any works derived from this publication under a licence identical to this one. ! Abbreviations ACHR American Convention on Human Rights COE Council of Europe ECHR European Court of Human Rights ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICT Information and communications technology IPC Indonesia Press Council OAS Organization of American States OSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe PKK Kurdistan Workers’ Party PSB Public service
    [Show full text]
  • The Velocity of Censorship
    The Velocity of Censorship: High-Fidelity Detection of Microblog Post Deletions Tao Zhu, Independent Researcher; David Phipps, Bowdoin College; Adam Pridgen, Rice University; Jedidiah R. Crandall, University of New Mexico; Dan S. Wallach, Rice University This paper is included in the Proceedings of the 22nd USENIX Security Symposium. August 14–16, 2013 • Washington, D.C., USA ISBN 978-1-931971-03-4 Open access to the Proceedings of the 22nd USENIX Security Symposium is sponsored by USENIX The Velocity of Censorship: High-Fidelity Detection of Microblog Post Deletions Tao Zhu David Phipps Adam Pridgen [email protected] Computer Science Computer Science Independent Researcher Bowdoin College Rice University Jedidiah R. Crandall Dan S. Wallach Computer Science Computer Science University of New Mexico Rice University Abstract terconnected through their social graph and tend to post about sensitive topics. This biases us towards the content Weibo and other popular Chinese microblogging sites are posted by these particular users, but enables us to mea- well known for exercising internal censorship, to comply sure with high fidelity the speed of the censorship and with Chinese government requirements. This research discern interesting patterns in censor behaviors. seeks to quantify the mechanisms of this censorship: Sina Weibo (weibo.com, referred to in this paper sim- how fast and how comprehensively posts are deleted. ply as “Weibo”) has the most active user community of Our analysis considered 2.38 million posts gathered over any microblog site in China [39]. Weibo provides ser- roughly two months in 2012, with our attention focused vices which are similar to Twitter, with @usernames, on repeatedly visiting “sensitive” users.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Fund Investigative Journalism Insights from the Field and Its Key Donors Imprint
    EDITION DW AKADEMIE | 2019 How to fund investigative journalism Insights from the field and its key donors Imprint PUBLISHER RESPONSIBLE PUBLISHED Deutsche Welle Jan Lublinski September 2019 53110 Bonn Carsten von Nahmen Germany © DW Akademie EDITORS AUTHOR Petra Aldenrath Sameer Padania Nadine Jurrat How to fund investigative journalism Insights from the field and its key donors Sameer Padania ABOUT THE REPORT About the report This report is designed to give funders a succinct and accessible introduction to the practice of funding investigative journalism around the world, via major contemporary debates, trends and challenges in the field. It is part of a series from DW Akademie looking at practices, challenges and futures of investigative journalism (IJ) around the world. The paper is intended as a stepping stone, or a springboard, for those who know little about investigative journalism, but who would like to know more. It is not a defense, a mapping or a history of the field, either globally or regionally; nor is it a description of or guide to how to conduct investigations or an examination of investigative techniques. These are widely available in other areas and (to some extent) in other languages already. Rooted in 17 in-depth expert interviews and wide-ranging desk research, this report sets out big-picture challenges and oppor- tunities facing the IJ field both in general, and in specific regions of the world. It provides donors with an overview of the main ways this often precarious field is financed in newsrooms and units large and small. Finally it provides high-level practical ad- vice — from experienced donors and the IJ field — to help new, prospective or curious donors to the field to find out how to get started, and what is important to do, and not to do.
    [Show full text]
  • Claiming and Reclaiming the Digital World As a Public Space
    Claiming and Reclaiming the Digital World as a Public Space Experiences and insights from feminists in the Middle East and North Africa www.oxfam.org OXFAM DISCUSSION PAPER – NOVEMBER 2020 This paper seeks to highlight the experiences and aspirations of young women and feminist activists in the MENA region around digital spaces, safety and rights. It explores individual women’s experiences engaging with the digital world, the opportunities and challenges that women’s rights and feminist organizations find in these platforms, and the digital world as a space of resistance, despite restrictions on civic space. Drawing on interviews with feminist activists from the region, the paper sheds light on women’s online experiences and related offline risks, and illustrates patterns and behaviours that prevailed during the COVID-19 pandemic. © Oxfam International November 2020 This paper was written by Francesca El Asmar. Oxfam acknowledges the assistance of Hadeel Qazzaz, Manal Wardé, Neus Tirado Gual, Salma Jrad, Joane Cremesty, Suzan Al Ostaz, Fadi Touma and Mounia Semlali in its production, as well as the contributions of the interviewees who participated in the research process. It is part of a series of papers written to inform public debate on development and humanitarian policy issues. For further information on the issues raised in this paper please email [email protected] This publication is copyright but the text may be used free of charge for the purposes of advocacy, campaigning, education, and research, provided that the source is acknowledged in full. The copyright holder requests that all such use be registered with them for impact assessment purposes.
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom of Information: a Comparative Legal Survey
    JeXo C[dZ[b ^h i]Z AVl J^[_cfehjWdY[e\j^[h_]^jje Egd\gVbbZ9^gZXidgl^i]6GI>8A:&.!<adWVa 8VbeV^\c [dg ;gZZ :megZhh^dc! V aZVY^c\ _d\ehcWj_edehj^[h_]^jjeadem_iWd ^ciZgcVi^dcVa ]jbVc g^\]ih C<D WVhZY ^c _dYh[Wi_d]boYedijWdjh[\hW_d_dj^[ AdcYdc! V edh^i^dc ]Z ]Vh ]ZaY [dg hdbZ iZc nZVgh# >c i]Vi XVeVX^in! ]Z ]Vh ldg`ZY cekj^ie\Z[l[befc[djfhWYj_j_ed[hi" ZmiZch^kZan dc [gZZYdb d[ ZmegZhh^dc VcY g^\]i id ^c[dgbVi^dc ^hhjZh ^c 6h^V! 6[g^XV! Y_l_bieY_[jo"WYWZ[c_Yi"j^[c[Z_WWdZ :jgdeZ! i]Z B^YYaZ :Vhi VcY AVi^c 6bZg^XV! ]el[hdc[dji$M^Wj_ij^_ih_]^j"_i_j gjcc^c\ igV^c^c\ hZb^cVgh! Xg^i^fj^c\ aVlh! iV`^c\XVhZhidWdi]cVi^dcVaVcY^ciZgcVi^dcVa h[WbboWh_]^jWdZ^em^Wl[]el[hdc[dji WdY^Zh! VYk^h^c\ C<Dh VcY \dkZgcbZcih! VcY ZkZc ldg`^c\ l^i] d[ÒX^Vah id egZeVgZ iek]^jje]_l[[\\[Yjje_j5J^[i[Wh[ YgV[ig^\]iid^c[dgbVi^dcaVlh#>cVYY^i^dcid iec[e\j^[gk[ij_edij^_iXeeai[[ai ]^h ldg` l^i] 6GI>8A:&.! ]Z ]Vh egdk^YZY ZmeZgi^hZ dc i]ZhZ ^hhjZh id V l^YZ gVc\Z jeWZZh[ii"fhel_Z_d]WdWYY[ii_Xb[ d[ VXidgh ^cXajY^c\ i]Z LdgaY 7Vc`! kVg^djh JCVcYdi]Zg^ciZg\dkZgcbZciVaWdY^Zh!VcY WYYekdje\j^[bWmWdZfhWYj_Y[h[]WhZ_d] cjbZgdjh C<Dh# Eg^dg id _d^c^c\ 6GI>8A: \h[[Zece\_d\ehcWj_ed"WdZWdWdWboi_i &.!IdWnBZcYZaldg`ZY^c]jbVcg^\]ihVcY ^ciZgcVi^dcVa YZkZadebZci! ^cXajY^c\ Vh V e\m^Wj_imeha_d]WdZm^o$ hZc^dg ]jbVc g^\]ih XdchjaiVci l^i] Dm[Vb 8VcVYVVcYVhV]jbVcg^\]iheda^XnVcVanhi 68dbeVgVi^kZAZ\VaHjgkZn Vi i]Z 8VcVY^Vc >ciZgcVi^dcVa 9ZkZadebZci ;gZZYdbd[>c[dgbVi^dc/ 6\ZcXn8>96# ÆJ^[\h[[Ôeme\_d\ehcWj_edWdZ_Z[Wi IdWn BZcYZa ]Vh ejWa^h]ZY l^YZan! b_[iWjj^[^[Whje\j^[l[hodej_ede\ 6 8dbeVgVi^kZ AZ\Va HjgkZn Xdcig^Wji^c\ id cjbZgdjh 6GI>8A: &.
    [Show full text]
  • (2014) 11:3 Scripted 329 BOOK REVIEW FREEDOM OF
    (2014) 11:3 SCRIPTed 329 BOOK REVIEW FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND THE INTERNET By Wolfgang Benedek and Matthias C Kettemann Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2013, 190pp. ISBN 978-92-871-7702-5 (pbk). €29.00. European discussions of internet regulation tend to be dominated by the European Union dimension. This is unsurprising, reflecting as it does the central role of the Electronic Commerce Directive, the extensive case law of the Court of Justice and the large sums which have been spent by the Commission in successive Safer Internet programmes. It does mean, however, that not enough attention has been paid to either the extensive work that has been done through the Council of Europe on protecting fundamental rights online nor to significant judgments of the European Court of Human Rights such as Ahmet Yildirim v. Turkey.1 This book partially remedies that gap in the literature. Although short by the standards of most legal texts (at 190 pages) it provides a solid overview of the issues surrounding freedom of expression online, with a particular focus on the Council of Europe and European Convention on Human Rights aspects. In addition, the book outlines the work of other international actors such as the EU, UNESCO, the OSCE and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, as well as the growing human rights work of civil society and private entities such as the Global Network Initiative. The book opens with an introduction, setting out the general aims and structure of the work and illustrating the general issues presented through the example of the Twitter Joke Trial.2 Chapter two then seeks to identify the content of the right to freedom of expression online.
    [Show full text]
  • The Political Clubs of United Russia: Incubators of Ideology Or Internal Dissent?
    The Political Clubs of United Russia: Incubators of Ideology or Internal Dissent? Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Eileen Marie Kunkler, B.A. Graduate Program in Slavic and East European Studies The Ohio State University 2010 Thesis Committee: Goldie Shabad, Adviser Trevor Brown Copyright by Eileen Marie Kunkler 2010 Abstract In 2008, three political clubs were officially formed within the United Russia party structure: the Social-Conservative Club, the Liberal-Conservative Club, and the State-Patriotic Club. Membership of these clubs includes many powerful Duma representatives. Officially, their function is to help develop strategies for implementing the government‟s Strategy 2020. However, a closer examination of these clubs suggests that they also may function as an ideology incubator for the larger party and as a safety valve for internal party dissent. To answer the question of what the true function of these clubs is an attempt will be made to give: a brief overview of Unity‟s and Fatherland-All Russia‟s formation; a description of how United Russia formed; a summary of the ideological currents within United Russia from 2001-2009; a discussion of the three clubs; and a comparative analysis of these clubs to the Christian Democratic party of Italy and the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. Based on this evidence, it will be argued that primary purpose of these clubs is to contain intra-party conflict. ii Dedication Dedicated to my family and friends iii Acknowledgements I wish to thank my adviser, Goldie Shabad, for all of her help, advice, and patience in working on this project with me.
    [Show full text]
  • We Need Net Neutrality As Evidenced by This Article to Prevent Corporate
    We need Net Neutrality as evidenced by this article to prevent corporate censorship of individual free speech online, whether its AOL censoring DearAOL.com emails protesting their proposed email fee for prioritized email delivery that evades spam filters, AT&T censoring Pearl Jam which this article is about, or Verizon Wireless censoring text messages from NARAL Pro Choice America. If the FCC won't reclassify broadband under Title II the FTC should regulate Net Neutrality, also the DOJ should investigate corporations engaging in such corporate censorship and if they are violating competition laws break them up. Pearl Jam came out in favor of net neutrality after AT&T censored a broadcast a performance they did in Chicago last Sunday. I guess AT&T didn?t like Pearl Jam?s anti-Bush message. I don?t know if Pearl Jam?s sudden embrace of net neutrality is out of ignorance, or if it?s retaliation. It doesn?t really matter because it should help bring some more awareness to the issue. Here?s the issue with net neutrality, in a nutshell. AT&T wants to charge companies like Amazon, eBay, and Google when people like you and me access their web pages. And if the companies don?t pay, AT&T will make the web sites slower. The idea is that if one company doesn?t pay the fees but a competitor does, AT&T customers will probably opt to use the faster services. IT"S WORTH NOTING: Without content, an Internet connection has no value. Proponents say AT&T built the infrastructure, so they have the right to charge whoever uses it.
    [Show full text]