UN Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue has issued a report to the UN General Assembly Human Rights Council stating that “the Internet has become a key means by which individuals can exercise their right to freedom of opinion and expression.” His report further states that “cutting of users from internet access, regardless of the justification provided, including on the grounds of violating intellectual property rights law, to be disproportionate and thus a violation of article 19, paragraph 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
The report concludes by urging countries to have safeguards against:
- arbitrary blocking or filtering of content on the internet
- criminalization of legitimate expression
- imposition of intermediary liability
- disconnecting users from internet access, including on the basis of intellectual property rights law
- cyber-attacks
- inadequate protection of the right to privacy and data protection
The full report is available here.
The UN Special Rapportuer’s summary of the report:
This report explores key trends and challenges to the right of all individuals to seek,
receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through the Internet. The Special
Rapporteur underscores the unique and transformative nature of the Internet not only to
enable individuals to exercise their right to freedom of opinion and expression, but also a
range of other human rights, and to promote the progress of society as a whole. Chapter III
of the report underlines the applicability of international human rights norms and standards
on the right to freedom of opinion and expression to the Internet as a communication
medium, and sets out the exceptional circumstances under which the dissemination of
certain types of information may be restricted. Chapters IV and V address two dimensions
of Internet access respectively: (a) access to content; and (b) access to the physical and
technical infrastructure required to access the Internet in the first place. More specifically,
chapter IV outlines some of the ways in which States are increasingly censoring
information online, namely through: arbitrary blocking or filtering of content;
criminalization of legitimate expression; imposition of intermediary liability; disconnecting
users from Internet access, including on the basis of intellectual property rights law; cyberattacks;
and inadequate protection of the right to privacy and data protection. Chapter V
addresses the issue of universal access to the Internet. The Special Rapporteur intends to
explore this topic further in his future report to the General Assembly. Chapter VI contains
the Special Rapporteur’s conclusions and recommendations concerning the main subjects
of the report.
