Training Manual on Digital Rights and Freedom of Expression Online
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Training Manual on Digital Rights and Freedom of Expression Online Litigating digital rights and online freedom of expression in East, West and Southern Africa mediadefence.org Training Manual on Digital Rights and Freedom of Expression Online Published by Media Legal Defence Initiative www.mediadefence.org This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. This means that you are free to share and adapt this work so long as you give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. Any such sharing or adaptation must be for non-commercial purposes, and must be made available under the same “share alike” terms. Full licence terms can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode. 1 Training Manual on Digital Rights and Freedom of Expression Online CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: SETTING THE CONTEXT ................................................................................... 4 I. What are digital rights? .................................................................................................. 4 II. Who constitutes a journalist?...................................................................................... 5 III. What is an internet intermediary? .............................................................................. 6 IV. The borderless enjoyment of freedom of expression .................................................. 7 CHAPTER 2: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ONLINE .............................................................. 8 I. Key principles of international law ................................................................................. 8 II. The right to freedom of expression under international law ...................................... 9 A. United Nations ........................................................................................................ 9 B. African regional instruments ............................................................................... 13 III. The right to freedom of expression online ................................................................ 16 CHAPTER 3: ACCESS TO THE INTERNET ........................................................................... 18 I. Is there a right to the internet under international law? .............................................. 18 II. Interferences with access to the internet .................................................................. 22 A. What is an internet shutdown? ............................................................................. 23 B. What is the blocking and filtering of content? ..................................................... 23 C. What is network neutrality? ................................................................................. 24 D. Limitation of the right to freedom of expression ................................................. 25 E. National security as a ground of justification ..................................................... 27 III. Intermediary liability ................................................................................................ 29 CHAPTER 4: DIGITAL PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION ............................................... 33 I. The right to privacy ....................................................................................................... 33 II. Data protection ......................................................................................................... 34 III. ‘The right to be forgotten’ .......................................................................................... 37 IV. Encryption and anonymity on the internet............................................................... 41 V. Government-led digital surveillance ......................................................................... 44 CHAPTER 5: SPECIFIC TYPES OF SPEECH-RELATED OFFENCES ONLINE .................... 48 I. Defamation and reputation .......................................................................................... 48 II. Breach of privacy ....................................................................................................... 51 III. Harassment ............................................................................................................... 52 IV. Hate speech ............................................................................................................... 55 V. ‘False news’, misinformation and propaganda ......................................................... 59 VI. Cybercrimes............................................................................................................... 61 CHAPTER 6: THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL RIGHTS IN AFRICA ........................................... 63 GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS ................................................................................................... 64 2 Training Manual on Digital Rights and Freedom of Expression Online LIST OF ACRONYMS ACDEG African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance ACHPR African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights ACRWC African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child AU African Union CJEU Court of Justice of the European Union CoE Council of Europe CRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child CRPD United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities EAC East African Community ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States ECtHR European Court of Human Rights EU European Union GDPR General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ICTs Information communication technologies MLDI Media Legal Defence Initiative OAS Organization of American States OHCHR United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights OSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe SADC Southern African Development Community SDGs Sustainable Development Goals UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN United Nations UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNGA United Nations General Assembly UNHRC United Nations Human Rights Council UNHRCtte United Nations Human Rights Committee UNSR United Nations Special Rapporteur URL Uniform Resource Locator 3 Training Manual on Digital Rights and Freedom of Expression Online CHAPTER 1: SETTING THE CONTEXT The importance of the right to freedom of expression is well-established under domestic and international law. It is recognised as a fundamental right in and of itself, as well as being key to facilitating an array of other fundamental rights. Importantly, through the freedom to receive and impart information and ideas, the right to freedom of expression can play a crucial role in achieving openness, transparency and accountability. It further enables individuals to achieve self-fulfilment and to meaningfully participate in decision-making and political affairs. The internet is one of the most powerful tools in facilitating the receiving and imparting of information and ideas. It allows for instant sharing of volumes of information, across borders and to wide audiences. It enables individuals to engage with diverse views and perspectives, and to access an array of resources to assist them to formulate their own views. As described in a report published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO):1 “Probably the single most important factor in understanding the impact of the internet on freedom of expression is the way in which it increases our ability to receive, seek and impart information. It enables the collaborative creation and sharing of content – it is a world where anyone can be an author and anyone can publish. The internet is helping develop spaces that can empower people, helping them communicate, collaborate and exchange views and information. This represents, in a real sense, the ‘democratisation’ of freedom of expression as it is no longer necessary to rely upon professional journalists or gatekeepers to act as public spokespeople for our views.” While the internet and other technologies offer enormous opportunities, they also present particular challenges. The digital rights landscape is constantly evolving as new technologies develop, and as we increasingly test the ambit of the right to freedom of expression and other rights online. This training manual highlights some of the key developments that have taken place or are currently being explored, both at an international and a national level. We hope that the manual will provide useful guidance for training purposes and in litigation, and can be a useful resource to anyone interested in media freedom, particularly in Africa. I. What are digital rights? It is now firmly entrenched by both the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights2 (ACHPR) and the United Nations3 (UN) that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, in particular the right to freedom of expression. As stipulated in 1 A. Puddephatt, ‘Freedom of expression and the internet’, UNESCO, 2016 at p 19 (accessible at: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002466/246670e.pdf). 2 ACHPR, ‘Resolution on the right to freedom of information and expression on the internet in Africa’, ACHPR/Res.362(LIX), 4 November 2016 (accessible at http://www.achpr.org/sessions/59th/resolutions/362/). 3 UN Human Rights Council, ‘Resolution on