[FYI] (Fwd) FC: Council of Europe and perils of "balancing" anonymity, free speech

["Axel H Horns" <horns@ipjur.com>]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Wed, 24 Apr 2002 00:04:32 -0500
To:             	politech@politechbot.com
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject:        	FC: Council of Europe and perils of "balancing" anonymity, free
 	speech
Send reply to:  	declan@well.com

HTML version:
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/coe.anonymity.042302.html
RTF version:
http://www.humanrights.coe.int/media/documents/Draftdeclaration.rtf

The Council of Europe is considering a "draft declaration on freedom
of communication on the Internet." (Comments should be sent to
media@coe.int by May 1.) It has many excellent parts, for which the
council deserves praise. But let's focus on the problems for the
moment.

While recognizing "freedom of expression," the council talks about
"balancing" it -- usually a codeword for restrictions on speech that
someone, somewhere may find to be objectionable. The council says
anonymity is important but must be -- again, that word -- "balanced"
with "the need for law enforcement authorities to trace the authors of
criminal deeds."

Those are the same "balancing" arguments we heard about key escrow a
few years ago.

Some excerpts:

>"Aware at the same time of the need to balance freedom of expression
>and information with other legitimate rights and interests;
>"Convinced that there is a necessity to state firmly that prior
>control of communications on the Internet, regardless of frontiers,
>should remain an exception; "Considering that a balance has to be
>found between the right of users of the Internet not to disclose
>their identity and the need for law enforcement authorities to trace
>the authors of criminal deeds; "Welcoming efforts by intermediaries
>to co-operate with law enforcement agencies when faced with illegal
>content on the Internet;

-Declan




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