An Internet governance strategy to protect human rights, democracy and...

An Internet governance strategy to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law online won approval Thursday from the 47 members of the Council of Europe, the organization said. The strategy is a key priority of the U.K., which holds the current CoE chairmanship, it said. It calls for 40 different actions centered around Internet openness, user rights, data protection, cybercrime, democracy and culture, and children and young people. The plan’s aims include: (1) Develop a “framework of understanding and/or commitments” to protect Internet universality and openness as a way of safeguarding free speech. (2) Craft human rights-based standards to protect the cross-border flow of legal online content. (3) Develop human rights policy principles on network neutrality. (4) Update CoE data protection conventions. (5) Boost international cooperation against cybercrime and terrorist use of the Net. (6) Strengthen global coordination to protect children against child pornography and sex abuse materials. The actions will be put in place between now and 2015 in close cooperation with partners such as the EU and U.N., ISPs and other private sector players, and civil society, the CoE said.