Resources on Intermediary Liability and Gatekeeping

The central question to many Internet policy debates is whether Internet intermediaries such as ISPs, content hosts, and search engines should bear legal liability for or obligations to police third-party content. Intermediary liability arises where governments or private litigants can hold technological service providers liable for unlawful or harmful content disseminated by users of those services. Gatekeeping obligations, such as requirements that intermediaries filter or block access to content, can force intermediaries to monitor or limit how users access or post material.

The threat of either liability or gatekeeping obligations reduces intermediaries’ willingness to host user-generated content, leads intermediaries to block even legal content, and inhibits innovation. Limiting such obligations and protecting intermediaries from liability for the expressive actions of third parties expands the space for online expression, encourages innovation in the development of new communications services, and creates more opportunities for local content, thereby supporting development of the information society.

The resources below are intended to support Internet advocates as they fight for policies that recognize these principles and urge governments to protect intermediaries as critical platforms for innovation, expression, and economic activity. Working together, we can advance policies to address unlawful or harmful online content without burdening intermediaries or restraining the exercise of human rights online. These resources are published with the intent that they be used, reused, modified, and extended to be most effective in a variety of contexts.

Shielding the Messengers: Protecting Platforms for Expression and Innovation

This paper examines the impact on free expression, privacy, and innovation of forcing Internet intermediaries to bear liability or assume gatekeeping obligations for third-party content. Intermediary liability arises where governments or private litigants can hold technological intermediaries such as ISPs and websites liable for unlawful or harmful content disseminated by users of those services. Gatekeeping obligations, such as requirements that intermediaries filter or block access to content, force intermediaries to monitor or limit how users access or post material. The threat of either liability or gatekeeping obligations reduces intermediaries’ willingness to host user-generated content, leads intermediaries to block even legal content, and inhibits innovation. Limiting such obligations and protecting intermediaries from liability for the expressive actions of third parties expands the space for online expression, encourages innovation in the development of new communications services, and creates more opportunities for local content, thereby supporting development of the information society. Meanwhile, there are ways to address unlawful or harmful online content without burdening intermediaries. Internet advocates everywhere should urge governments to adopt policies that protect intermediaries as critical platforms for innovation, expression, and economic activity.

On The "Right to Be Forgotten": Challenges and Suggested Changes to the Data Protection Regulation

Since January 2012, the European Union institutions have been debating draft legislation to reform European rules on data protection (commonly referred to as the Data Protection Regulation (DPR)). Article 17 of the proposed DPR presents the concept of a "Right to Be Forgotten". Article 17 would allow a user to request that an online service provider delete all data – including data that has been made public – it has about that user. While CDT is sympathetic to the concerns that underlie Article 17, we have recommended that it be redrafted and narrowed substantially. As laid out in the Commissionʼs proposal it would significantly limit usersʼ free expression rights and impose unreasonable burdens on online platforms and ISPs, likely leading to fewer platforms for user speech. Private companies are ill-equipped to take responsibility for decisions that balance the right to privacy with the right to free expression. Such questions are ultimately for courts to decide, interpreting carefully drawn legislative mandates in light of relevant human rights jurisprudence. Moreover, we believe that the measures to protect journalistic and artistic expression – namely, those granted by Article 80 of the DPR – are too narrowly drafted and do not satisfy international human rights obligations regarding free expression.

Censoring Facebook: Social network's violent video dilemma

Facebook's decision to remove videos showing people being decapitated leaves the firm in a quandary: should or shouldn't it impose a wider censorship policy?

The Six Vital Questions About NSA Surveillance

The startling revelations about NSA surveillance this week -- from the collection of phone records to an Internet collection program named "PRISM' -- have brought a firestorm of media attention, but there are few solid answers about how these programs operate, how our personal information is being used or indeed, how post 9-11 laws have been interpreted to permit sweeping surveillance activities.

The American people are being told that the programs are subject to a "robust legal review" and in any event, have proven useful in fighting terrorism. The message has been straightforward: Nothing to see here folks, just move on. But we should not be reduced to playing guessing games about whether and how our own government is monitoring us and how far these programs reach into our private lives.

iPhone 6 rumor rollup for the week ending June 7

As Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference loomed, the iOSphere seemed resigned to No New Hardware, taking the wind out of much of the hot air about iPhone 6. But diehards do not go gentle in that good night.
This week, three different dates for the iPhone 6; new rumors that it will have a 4.8-inch screen; how a trade-in offer means the Next iPhone is coming soon; and the belief that both iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 will be released at the same time.

Kyrgyz vow to develop light industry

BISHKEK – Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev June 7 vowed to develop the country's light industry, his press office said in a statement. The announcement comes ahead of Light Industry Worker Day, June 9. Light industry during the last seven years has produced six times more products than it did before, he said, adding the country should step up efforts to make the "Made in Kyrgyzstan

Get ready to grill

Tharparkar: Re-voting at 47 NA-229-230 polling stations today

THARPARKAR: The partial re-polls in NA-229,
NA-230, PS-62, and PS-63 constituencies of desert
district of Tharparkar’s will be held today
(Saturday, June 1, 2013),

Talks with Taliban: JUI-F asks govt to create conducive environment

ISLAMABAD: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-
F) which has already decided not to play any
mediatory role in peace talks with Taliban
warned the PML-N government on Thursday of
a “complex situation” after withdrawal by the
militant organisation of its offer for talks. It
urged the government to create “conducive
environment for reconciliation”.
“Let us try to create a conducive environment for
talks and reconciliation, otherwise we will end
up fighting insurgency for years and the chance
for national building will be lost for decades,” a
JUI-F spokesman Jan Achakzai quoted Maulana
Fazlur Rehman as saying.
Talking to Dawn, Mr Achakzai said that Maulana
Fazlur Rehman believed that reconciliation with
the Taliban would not be possible if coercive
measures continued to be taken.
“We have to take them on board, otherwise we
will not be able to maintain sovereignty in Fata
whether because of Taliban challenging the writ
of the state or drones violating our sovereignty,”
said the Maulana.
According to the JUI-F chief, nearly 50,000
people had so far lost their lives because of
terrorism, but if “we do not find a solution,
there will be more losses incurred”.
Maulana Fazl said it was understandable that
the establishment was not ready to talk to
Taliban as “our officers and soldiers are dying”.
But, he claimed, military operations had not
contained militancy over the past decade and it
was time “to face it straight”.
The JUI-F chief suggested that “work should start
soon to remove the disconnect between all
stakeholders on Fata and the Taliban
insurgency.”
A few days ago, the JUI-F chief had stated that
his party was no more interested in playing any
role in bringing Taliban to the negotiating table
after realising that the country’s powerful
establishment was not in favour of any such
process.
He claimed to have the information that the
army had no interest whatsoever in peace talks
and reconciliation and, therefore, there was no
environment for any talks.
Soon after May 11 elections, the JUI-F and the
PML-N had started discussing a power-sharing
formula and the two parties had also constituted
committees to finalise it.
Earlier, the JUI-F had claimed that both parties
had agreed that talks with Taliban would be
held through a “grand peace jirga” as agreed by
the mainstream political parties in a
“declaration” at all-party conference organised
by the JUI-F in Islamabad on Feb 28.
But now the JUI-F feels that the PML-N appears
to have lost interest in it after the Taliban
withdrew the talks offer in the wake of the killing
of their impor-tant commander in a drone attack.

Authorities in Canada have charged the food giants Nestle and Mars, together with a network of independent wholesale distributors, in an alleged conspiracy to fix prices of chocolates.

chocolates.
The Competition Bureau in the capital Ottawa
said it has uncovered "evidence" suggesting
price-fixing.
Nestle Canada, Mars Canada, and the
distributors ITWAL have been charged.
The Bureau said the Canadian division of the US
confectionary company Hershey co-operated with
its investigation.
Officials said Hershey Canada, an alleged co-
conspirator, is expected to plead guilty at a
hearing later this month in exchange for
leniency.
"We are fully committed to pursuing those who
engage in egregious anti-competitive behaviour
that harms Canadian consumers," said John
Pecman, Interim Commissioner of Competition.
"Price-fixing is a serious criminal offence and
today's charges demonstrate the Competition
Bureau's resolve to stop cartel activity in
Canada," he added.
'Vigorous defence'
Mars Canada said in a statement: "Mars Canada
intends to vigorously defend itself against these
allegations. It is Mars Canada's policy not to
comment on pending litigation and we are
therefore unable to make any additional
comments in relation to this matter, which is
now before the court."
Three individuals have also been charged as part
of the investigation.
They are former Nestle Canada president Robert
Leonidas; Sandra Martinez, former president of
confectionery for Nestle Canada; and David
Glenn Stevens, president and chief executive of
ITWAL.

US swimming champion-turned-movie star Esther Williams has died in Los Angeles aged 91.

1.
Her spokesman said she died peacefully in her
sleep. She had been in declining health due to
old age.
A national swimming champion by the time she
was 16, her success led to a career in Hollywood
"aqua-musicals" designed just for her, in the
1940s.
She became known as Hollywood's Mermaid,
starring in films including Dangerous When Wet
and Easy to Wed.
Williams became one of cinema's biggest box-
office stars in the 1940s and 1950s, famously
appearing in spectacular swimsuits that
capitalised on her physical beauty.
Her films were typically lavish song-and-dance
affairs, following the same formula of romance,
music and comedy - held together by a
lightweight plot that provided infinite excuses
for the actress to get into the water.
Finales usually featured Williams diving into a
pool or lagoon and surfacing to a crescendo of
music, with water glistening on her beaming
face.
Her string of successful films included Thrill of a
Romance, Fiesta, On an Island With You and
Duchess of Idaho.
Co-stars included Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Red
Skelton, Ricardo Montalban and Howard Keel.
"I look at that girl and I like her," she said on
watching her films decades later, Reuters
reports.
"I can see why she became popular with
audiences. There was an unassuming quality
about her. She was certainly wholesome," she
said.
Esther Williams appeared on the BBC's Parkinson
show in 2000.
In the 1950s she attempted to branch out into
non-swimming roles, but met with little success.
"I guess what MGM found was that my audience
wanted that bathing suit," she said, when her
autobiography was released in 1999.
"And you know, when Cinemascope came in and
you've got that water all wrapped around you
and they'd do big close-ups of me... I think it
had too much pleasure connected with it for
them to change it."
She retired from the movies in 1962, following
her marriage to her third husband, Hollywood
playboy Fernando Lamas.
In her later years she hosted swimming events
for ABC-TV's coverage of the 1984 Olympic Games
and turned her attention to business, launching
her own line of swimwear.
Williams was married to Mr Lamas for 20 years
until his death in 1982. She and her last
husband Edward Bell lived in Los Angeles'
Beverly Hills.
Her autobiography also told of many romances,
including one with actor Jeff Chandler.
According to Williams, she discovered he was a
cross-dresser and walked out, explaining: "Jeff,
you're too big for polka dots." Several of Mr
Chandler's colleagues denied Williams' claims
when the book was published

The US National Security Agency (NSA) is collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans, US officials have confirmed.

The practice, first reported by the Guardian
newspaper, has been used to stop a
"significant" terrorist attack on the US, a senior
congressman said.
On Wednesday, the newspaper published the
secret order directing the Verizon company to
hand over telephone data.
Civil liberties groups said the details of the
report were "stunning".
Senior US Senator Dianne Feinstein on Thursday
confirmed the secret court order was a three-
month renewal of an ongoing practice.
US House intelligence committee chairman Mike
Rogers told reporters collecting Americans'
phone records was legal, authorised by Congress
and had not been abused by the Obama
administration.
He said it had prevented a "significant" attack
on the US "within the past few years" but
declined to offer more information.
Later, White House spokesman Josh Earnest
described the practice as a "critical tool"
enabling US authorities to monitor suspected
terrorists.

Turkey PM urges end to protests

PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan returns to Turkey,
telling supporters that nationwide protests
border on illegality and must end immediately.

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