On 6 and 7 April 2005 a committee of the Council of Europe debated on the merits of a new recommendation on human rights and Internet. On behalf of European Digital Rights Meryem Marzouki from the French digital rights organisation IRIS attended, in fact as the only NGO present. This second meeting of the Multidisciplinary Ad-hoc Committee of Experts on the Information Society (CAHSI) ended with a statement that will be presented to the CoE Committee of ministers, probably to be adopted by the CoE Summit of heads of states in mid May 2005.

The meeting was foremost an intergovernmental meeting, with EDRI in an observer role. Besides government representatives (of which the UK, the Netherlands and Norway were the most active), the secretariat of the group and the Culture and Media divisions of the CoE were present, as well as a delegate from the European Commission.

The objective was to finalise the document drafted during the first session on 3 and 4 February 2005. Thus most of the meeting was spent on amending the document, section by section, word by word. Marzouki was given the opportunity to introduce EDRI and outline three main reservations on the document. First of all, the document tended to over-stress the harmfulness of ICT. Secondly, there was too much focus on and promotion of self- and co-regulation and thirdly, EDRI saw no reason for the references to the Cybercrime Convention and specifically its controversial Additional Protocol (on xenophobic and racist speech).

The finalised (long) document was published on the CoE website on 13 April 2005. Though EDRI remains very concerned about the focus on self-regulation, for example with notice and takedown procedures, at least some distinction was made between harmful and illegal content. In stead of calling for a general combat against all illegal and harmful content, the recommendation now calls for the promotion of education and end user skills to critically assess the quality of information. In the section with suggestions for the private sector the dangers of private censorship and the need to distinguish between harmful and illegal content are explicitly addressed, but these points did not make it to the section where governments are invited to take action. The document states: "Private sector parties are "encouraged to address in a decisive manner (...) private censorship (hidden censorship) by Internet service providers, for example blocking or removing content, on their own initiative or upon the request of a third party; the difference between illegal content and harmful content."

A point in the draft statement EDRI is pleased to see is the call on member states to promote interoperable technical standards to allow for the widest possible access to content. Sadly, the attempt to create a time limit on measures curtailing human rights was limited to measures appealing to article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the article that grants member states exceptional rights in case of war or public emergencies threatening the life of the nation. Most of the state surveillance and control measures EDRI is highly concerned about do not invoke this exception but are presented as regular extensions of law enforcement powers.

Another issue EDRI was concerned about was the section about Intellectual Property. Much weaker than the recommendations of the Unesco NL conference from February 2005 this draft statement at least calls for protection of access to information. "Intellectual property rights must be protected in a digital environment, in accordance with the provisions of international treaties in the area of intellectual property. At the same time, access to information in the public domain must be protected, and attempts to curtail access and usage rights prevented."

Draft political statement on the principles and guidelines for ensuring respect for human rights and the rule of law in the information society approved by the CAHSI (13.04.2005) http://www.coe.int/t/e/integrated_projects/democracy/02_Activities/00_...(2005)7enfinal.asp#TopOfPage

(Thanks to Meryem Marzouki, EDRI-member IRIS)