There’s a growing trend to filter and block content and...

There’s a growing trend to filter and block content and communications on the Internet, warned Navanetham Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, at the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) meeting this week in Geneva. Pillay said the advent of the Internet means countries can no longer be a monopoly information provider, and human rights activists are able to use crowd sourcing to share facts about human rights violations: “No wonder this has resulted in a backlash.” She expressed concerned about constant or just-in-time blocking of websites, and arbitrary arrests of bloggers on the pretext of protecting national security or fighting terrorism. Norwegian statistics said 60 countries are filtering or blocking the Internet in some way. Intellectual property rights can be misused, said Frank La Rue, U.N. Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. His 2011 report on the right to freedom of opinion and expression in the Internet boosted discussion on the human rights aspect of Internet governance. While La Rue said there’s no need for additional norms beside article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international laws, he said he hoped the human rights perspective would take a center stage at Internet governance meetings throughout the year. While many governments applauded the first debate about the issue at the HRC initiated by Sweden, and, like the U.S. and the EU, urged considering the complicity of private companies in filtering, manipulating and censoring, Russia, Belarus, China and Cuba objected to continuing talks on procedural issues. Cuba warned against double standards of Western countries, pointing to the Wikileaks case. Carlos Afonso, executive director of the Brazilian Instituto Nupef, acknowledged that governments often acted inconsistently. In Brazil, a charter on Internet rights has been prepared for acceptance in Congress. On the other hand, the administration was preparing decrees that are contradictory to those principles.