[ga] FYI: Council of Europe and perils of "balancing" anonymity, free speech

[Jeff Williams <jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com>]

All assembly members,

  The following is a copy from Politech.com:

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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;

===============  Copy Ends here ===========





--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup - (Over 121k members/stakeholdes strong!)
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng/SR. Java/CORBA Development Eng.
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number:  972-244-3801 or 214-244-4827
Address: 5 East Kirkwood Blvd. Grapevine Texas 75208


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