Balancing Internet Regulation and Human Rights

Abstract:     
It’s not a secret that with the development of the Internet the transition from freedom into control can be noticed. Having been considered as a completely independent medium of communication which lays outside of any state jurisdiction according to views of "digital libertarians" in the early days of the Internet, cyberspace is becoming fully, and extensively, regulated space that we have ever known. This article aims to analyze the current instruments of Internet regulation both legal and through Internet architecture, and to find a balance between necessity of regulation in one hand and obligation to follow human right standards on the other hand. For this purpose various Internet control and censorship techniques is discussed, as well as international human rights standards which might be jeopardize by exercising of such control. In the end the attempt to strike a balance between Internet regulation and human rights is has been made.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 38

Keywords: Internet regulation, Internet control, Internet censorship, Internet filtration, Internet human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, privacy

working papers series