FC: Council of Europe and perils of "balancing" anonymity, free speech

[Declan McCullagh <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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