[WSIS CS-Plenary] Please Sign - EDRI Statement And Call For Action On New CoE Rec. Failing To Uphold FoE

[Meryem Marzouki]

[Message sent to lists related to WSIS and IGF, where CS  
organizations are participating. Please excuse possible duplicates]

Dear all,

I'm forwarding to you this announcement of European Digital Rights  
(EDRI) statement and call for action on a recent Council of Europe  
Recommendation on 'promoting freedom of expression and information in  
the new information and communications environment'.

In this statement, EDRI expresses its serious concerns over this  
Recommendation. According to EDRI, the newly adopted instrument  
promotes opaque "self-regulation" and other soft law instruments  
driven by private interests and implemented through technical  
mechanisms, such as content rating and filtering mechanisms. EDRI  
considers this Recommendation to be damaging and a retrograde step  
for freedom of expression and freedom of the press in the online  
world. EDRI is deeply concerned that such instruments will be used to  
legitimize subtle means of censorship, through privatised censorship  
and measures to protect against so-called harmful content.

As other related instruments are currently in preparation by the  
Council of Europe, EDRI calls for NGOs and groups from all over the  
world to sign up in support of EDRI statement and take further action  
to help avoid the risk of more damages to freedom of expression and  
information in the online world.

We hope your organization or group will consider adding its  
signature, and spread the word to other organizations.

EDRI statement, call for action, and background information: 'New  
Council of Europe Recommendation fails to uphold online freedom of  
expression' (10.10.2007) is available at:
- (HTML) http://www.edri.org/coerec200711
- (PDF) http://www.edri.org/files/EDRI-coerec200711.pdf

Translations into other languages are in progress.

EDRI (an association of 28 members organizations from 17 European  
countries promoting civil rights in the information society) is an  
independent NGO observer to the Council of Europe Group of  
Specialists on Human Rights in the Information Society (MC-S-IS). It  
tried to raise its concerns inside the MC-S-IS group since the  
earliest discussions on the Recommendation draft as well as during  
each meeting of the group where the text has been debated. At the  
latest steps, it has also sent written suggestions for amendments to  
the group. Unfortunately, very few of these amendments have been  
taken into account.

Best,
Meryem Marzouki (EDRI and IRIS - Civil Society Human Rights Caucus co- 
coordinator at WSIS)

--
Meryem Marzouki - EDRI - http://www.edri.org
IRIS - Imaginons un réseau Internet solidaire
http://www.iris.sgdg.org
40 rue de la Justice - 75020 Paris, France