Related Research Articles
Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic deceptions and media manipulation tactics to advance political, military, or commercial goals. Disinformation is implemented through attacks that "weaponize multiple rhetorical strategies and forms of knowing—including not only falsehoods but also truths, half-truths, and value judgements—to exploit and amplify culture wars and other identity-driven controversies."
Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and have access to information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. As articulated by UNESCO, it encompasses
"scientific, indigenous, and traditional knowledge; freedom of information, building of open knowledge resources, including open Internet and open standards, and open access and availability of data; preservation of digital heritage; respect for cultural and linguistic diversity, such as fostering access to local content in accessible languages; quality education for all, including lifelong and e-learning; diffusion of new media and information literacy and skills, and social inclusion online, including addressing inequalities based on skills, education, gender, age, race, ethnicity, and accessibility by those with disabilities; and the development of connectivity and affordable ICTs, including mobile, the Internet, and broadband infrastructures".
Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is a Washington, D.C.–based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation that advocates for digital rights and freedom of expression. CDT seeks to promote legislation that enables individuals to use the internet for purposes of well-intent, while at the same time reducing its potential for harm. It advocates for transparency, accountability, and limiting the collection of personal information.
Xiao Qiang is the Director and Research Scientist of the Counter-Power Lab, an interdisciplinary faculty-student research group focusing on digital rights and internet freedom, based in the School of Information, University of California, Berkeley and is funded by the US Department of State. He also serves as the director of the China Internet Project at Berkeley. Xiao is an adjunct professor at the School of Information and the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of China Digital Times, a bilingual news website.
Digital rights are those human rights and legal rights that allow individuals to access, use, create, and publish digital media or to access and use computers, other electronic devices, and telecommunications networks. The concept is particularly related to the protection and realization of existing rights, such as the right to privacy and freedom of expression, in the context of digital technologies, especially the Internet. The laws of several countries recognize a right to Internet access.
Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains but exceptionally may extend to all Internet resources located outside the jurisdiction of the censoring state. Internet censorship may also put restrictions on what information can be made internet accessible. Organizations providing internet access – such as schools and libraries – may choose to preclude access to material that they consider undesirable, offensive, age-inappropriate or even illegal, and regard this as ethical behavior rather than censorship. Individuals and organizations may engage in self-censorship of material they publish, for moral, religious, or business reasons, to conform to societal norms, political views, due to intimidation, or out of fear of legal or other consequences.
Michael H. Posner is an American lawyer, the Founding Executive Director and later the President of Human Rights First, the former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) of the United States, currently director for the Center of Business and Human Rights at NYU Stern School of Business, as well as Professor of Business and Society at New York University Stern School of Business, and a board member of the International Service for Human Rights.
Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognised as a human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law by the United Nations. Many countries have constitutional law that protects free speech. Terms like free speech, freedom of speech, and freedom of expression are used interchangeably in political discourse. However, in a legal sense, the freedom of expression includes any activity of seeking, receiving, and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used.
The right to Internet access, also known as the right to broadband or freedom to connect, is the view that all people must be able to access the Internet in order to exercise and enjoy their rights to freedom of expression and opinion and other fundamental human rights, that states have a responsibility to ensure that Internet access is broadly available, and that states may not unreasonably restrict an individual's access to the Internet.
This list of Internet censorship and surveillance by country provides information on the types and levels of Internet censorship and surveillance that is occurring in countries around the world.
Internet censorship in South Korea is prevalent, and contains some unique elements such as the blocking of pro-North Korea websites, and to a lesser extent, Japanese websites, which led to it being categorized as "pervasive" in the conflict/security area by OpenNet Initiative. South Korea is also one of the few developed countries where pornography is largely illegal, with the exception of social media websites which are a common source of legal pornography in the country. Any and all material deemed "harmful" or subversive by the state is censored. The country also has a "cyber defamation law", which allow the police to crack down on comments deemed "hateful" without any reports from victims, with citizens being sentenced for such offenses.
Access Now is a non-profit organization headquartered in Brooklyn, New York City, in the United States. It was founded in California in July 2009 and focuses on digital civil rights. The organization issues reports on global Internet censorship, and hosts the annual RightsCon human rights conference. It is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Its headquarters moved to New York at the beginning of 2022.
In Russia, internet censorship is enforced on the basis of several laws and through several mechanisms. Since 2008, Russia maintains a centralized internet blacklist maintained by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor).
Mass media regulations or simply media regulations are a form of media policy with rules enforced by the jurisdiction of law. Guidelines for mass media use differ across the world. This regulation, via law, rules or procedures, can have various goals, for example intervention to protect a stated "public interest", or encouraging competition and an effective media market, or establishing common technical standards. The principal targets of mass media regulation are the press, radio and television, but may also include film, recorded music, cable, satellite, storage and distribution technology, the internet, mobile phones etc. It includes the regulation of independent media.
IT-backed authoritarianism, also known as techno-authoritarianism, digital authoritarianism or digital dictatorship, refers to the state use of information technology in order to control or manipulate both foreign and domestic populations. Tactics of digital authoritarianism may include mass surveillance including through biometrics such as facial recognition, internet firewalls and censorship, internet blackouts, disinformation campaigns, and digital social credit systems. Although some institutions assert that this term should only be used to refer to authoritarian governments, others argue that the tools of digital authoritarianism are being adopted and implemented by governments with "authoritarian tendencies", including democracies.
The Network Enforcement Act, also known colloquially as the Facebook Act, is a German law that was passed in the Bundestag in 2017 that officially aims to combat fake news, hate speech and misinformation online.
Online hate speech is a type of speech that takes place online with the purpose of attacking a person or a group based on their race, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, and/or gender. Online hate speech is not easily defined, but can be recognized by the degrading or dehumanizing function it serves.
Deplatforming, also called no-platforming, is a form of Internet censorship of an individual or group by preventing them from posting on the platforms they use to share their information/ideas. This typically involves suspension, outright bans, or reducing spread.
The Digital Services Act (DSA) is an EU regulation adopted in 2022 that addresses illegal content, transparent advertising and disinformation. It updates the Electronic Commerce Directive 2000 in EU law, and was proposed alongside the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Disinformation attacks are strategic deception campaigns involving media manipulation and internet manipulation, to disseminate misleading information, aiming to confuse, paralyze, and polarize an audience. Disinformation can be considered an attack when it occurs as an adversarial narrative campaign that weaponizes multiple rhetorical strategies and forms of knowing—including not only falsehoods but also truths, half-truths, and value-laden judgements—to exploit and amplify identity-driven controversies. Disinformation attacks use media manipulation to target broadcast media like state-sponsored TV channels and radios. Due to the increasing use of internet manipulation on social media, they can be considered a cyber threat. Digital tools such as bots, algorithms, and AI technology, along with human agents including influencers, spread and amplify disinformation to micro-target populations on online platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Google, Facebook, and YouTube.
References
- ↑ Altman, Alex (2008-02-20). "A Coming Chill Over Internet Freedom?". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
- ↑ Nicks, Denver (March 19, 2014). "Russia's Youth Want Internet Freedom, Widening 'Censorship Gap'". Time. Archived from the original on 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
- ↑ Paul, Kari (2021-09-22). "Internet freedom on the decline in US and globally, study finds". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- ↑ Carr, Madeline (November 2013). "Internet freedom, human rights and power". Australian Journal of International Affairs . 67 (5): 621–637. doi:10.1080/10357718.2013.817525. ISSN 1035-7718. S2CID 153790388.
- ↑ "Opinion: The Internet As a Human Right". Time. May 28, 2014. Archived from the original on 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
- ↑ Sterner, Eric R. (2011). "The Folly of Internet Freedom: The Mistake of Talking About the Internet as a Human Right". The New Atlantis (32): 134–139. ISSN 1543-1215. JSTOR 43152664.
- ↑ Goldsmith, J. (2018). The failure of internet freedom. Knight First Amendment Institute. Columbia University. https://knightcolumbia.org/content/failure-internet-freedom Archived 2022-01-24 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved on 12/3/19.
- ↑ Stolton, Samuel (18 August 2020). "Digital agenda: Autumn/Winter Policy Briefing". Euractiv. Archived from the original on 4 September 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ↑ "Promoting Global Internet Freedom: Policy and Technology" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-04-19. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
- ↑ Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. (2010). U.S. Initiatives to Promote Global Internet Freedom. Issues, Policy, and Technology. S.l]: [s.n.]. https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a516461.pdf Archived 2019-12-04 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 12/3/19.
- ↑ Cook, Sarah. "5 Predictions for Beijing's Assault on Internet Freedom in 2021". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2020.