Internet control

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Organization:   Asialink - InterdocAsPac
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                vibha@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, MDSAAA97@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
                anilg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, akothari@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Ashish Kothari)
Date sent:      Tue, 24 Sep 1996 13:21:18 +0000
Subject:        Internet control
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Priority:       normal

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Date:          Tue, 24 Sep 1996 06:26:32 -0700 (PDT)


Title: 19 Sept 96 ASEAN Nations--Letter Opposing Proposed Internet
Restrictions

On September 4, the ASEAN member nations (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) stated that they had agreed to
collaborate on finding ways to control expression on the Internet. On
September 16, a number of human rights, free expression and electronic privacy
organizations wrote the following letter to the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta,
Indonesia to convey their concerns about this development. Similar letters
were also sent to the ASEAN members.

          We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to express our deep
     concern about the decision announced on September 4 by ASEAN member
     nations to collectively regulate communication on the Internet. The
     agreement was announced in Singapore, at the close of a meeting of
     officials from ASEAN member nations that was organized by the Singapore
     Broadcasting Authority.

          We would like to respectfully remind the ASEAN nations that
     content-based restrictions on online communication violate
     internationally guaranteed rights of free expression. As stated in
     Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

          Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression:
          this right includes freedom to hold opinions without
          interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
          ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

          The agreement did not include the adoption of a common regulatory
     framework by ASEAN member nations. However, we are concerned that a
     number of delegates to the meeting reportedly expressed support for
     Singapore's recently established Internet Code of Practice. Human Rights
     Watch/Asia has written to the Singaporean government to oppose these new
     regulations, which impose sweeping controls on content, including
     political discussion. The regulations have already resulted in arbitrary
     censorship of at least one newsgroup message. They will surely induce a
     chill on on-line speech in Singapore, and, as evidenced by the ASEAN
     decision, they will affect online speech throughout the region.

          It has been reported that one of the reasons for the ASEAN
     agreement was a concern for preserving cultural values. While we
     recognize the importance of representation for all cultures on the
     Internet, we oppose censorship as a means of ensuring respect for
     cultural norms. We believe that the most effective means of responding
     to offensive content is by disseminating  more content. Censoring
     offensive material will not remove it from the Internet; it will simply
     cause it to be reproduced on additional Internet sites.

          We believe that the lack of agreement on a common regulatory
     strategy by ASEAN member nations demonstrates the futility of attempts
     by nations or groups of nations to introduce online content regulation
     schemes. Within the ASEAN group itself, the cultural values of Vietnam,
     for example, differ significantly from cultural values of the
     Philippines. It is unlikely that the diverse group of ASEAN nations will
     reach an agreement on the specifics of what should be censored, and how
     that censorship should be accomplished. Moreover, because the Internet
     is a global medium, moves to restrict online content will initiate
     battles for competing cultural values on an international scale.

          In closing, we would like to add that the attempt to restrict
     Internet communication will detract from the many benefits that
     electronic communication is bringing to the region. We hope that the
     ASEAN nations will reconsider their unfortunate decision and instead
     focus on the new opportunities that the Internet can provide to the
     citizens of the region.

Human Rights Watch/Asia (http://www.hrw.org)
CITADEL-Electronic Frontier France (http://www.imaginet.fr/~mose/citadel)
Les Chroniques de Cyberie, Canada (http://www.cyberie.qc.ca/chronik/)
Electronic Privacy Information Center, USA (http://www.epic.org)
American Civil Liberties Union, USA (http://www.aclu.org)
cyberPOLIS, USA (http://www.cyberpolis.org/)
Electronic Frontiers Foundation, USA (http://www.eff.org)
ALCEI-Electronic Frontiers Italy (http://www.nexus.it/alcei)
Association des Utilisateurs d'Internet (AUI), France (http://www.aui.fr)
Fronteras Electronicas Espana (FrEE)--Electronic Frontiers Spain
     (http://www.lander.es/~jlmartin/)
Electronic Frontiers Austin, Texas USA (http://www.eff.-austin.org),
Digital Citizens Foundation Netherlands--DBNL (http://www.xs4all.nl/~db.nl)
Article 19, 33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH, UK
PEN American Center, 568 Broadway, NY, USA
CommUnity, UK <URL:http://www.community.org.uk/>

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Human Rights Watch
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TEL: 212/972-8400
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E-mail: hrwnyc@xxxxxxx

1522 K Street, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20005
TEL: 202/371-6592
FAX: 202/371-0124
E-mail: hrwdc@xxxxxxx
------------------------------

End of SEASIA-L Digest - 21 Sep 1996 to 22 Sep 1996
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With greetings,
Jagdish Parikh - [Asialink / Interdoc-AsPac]