On 28 April the European Commission published the Statement for the future of the internetsigned by over 60 countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, Israel, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Senegal, Ukraine.
Normative
The European Union adopts the new regulation on digital services
by Luca Bertuzzi
What is it about?
Not a binding legal text but a declaration of intent to guide the work of governments, companies and associations, pursuing the protection of human rights and the guarantee of an “open, free, global, interoperable, reliable and secure” Internet.
This Declaration arises from the fact that more and more authoritarian states use their power to limit freedom of expression by blocking or limiting access to the Internet and promoting disinformation in their own territory and in the public opinion of the countries targeted, as happened both abroad and in Europe during the elections. In this context, the freedom theoretically promised by the Internet is gradually endangered by a significant concentration of services, now considered essential, in the hands of a few large companies. In recent years, these same platforms have not been able to stem the phenomenon of disinformation andhate speechso much so that, at least in Europe, after a first attempt at self-regulation with the adoption of codes of conduct, the Commission has opted for a regulatory update by proposing new rules with the Digital Services Act, an urgency also felt by the Democratic Hillary Clinton who celebrated its adoption.
The vision and principles
With this Declaration, the signatory and future partners undertake to ensure that the Internet remains a “decentralized network of networks” where human rights are guaranteed and defended.
In particular, the States undertake to promote a society in which “fundamental freedoms are protected; is Internet connection guaranteed at an affordable price and without geographical distinctions, as they are favorite le digital skills to make the most of the network’s potential; the technologies are secure and privacy is protected; businesses, large and small, can innovate and compete; the infrastructure is designed to be safe, interoperable, reliable and sustainable; there technology is used to promote pluralism, freedom of expression, sustainability, inclusive economic growth, the fight against climate change”.
Normative
The European Union adopts the new regulation on digital services
by Luca Bertuzzi
The adhering partners must respect the principles of the “rule of law, non-arbitrariness, transparency, and may not use technological tools for illegal surveillance, social scoring or other mechanisms useful for social control or preventive arrest for the commission of a crime” . The European Parliament has recently expressed its opinion on this in the first draft with the amendments to the European regulation on artificial intelligence.
Not an invincible shield for human rights
As is evident, three important signatories are missing, perhaps without much surprise: the United States, China and India, three powers that, for different reasons, would have a lot to say about the use of the network. Instead, the United Kingdom appears, which a year ago was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for violating articles 8 and 10 of the European Charter of Human Rights, which protect privacy and freedom of expression, following the mass surveillance activity carried out by its secret services and disclosed by Snowden in 2013. The Court, while not excluding surveillance activity (Canada, New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom and United States are part of the secret service alliance named Five Eyes), argued that such requests had to be made with a mandate approved by a third-party authority independent of the government, as a guarantee for intercepted persons. It is therefore to be thought that the signing of the Declaration will not prevent some states from continuing to do what they have always done, in the name of “national security”, turning a blind eye to respect for human rights. Moreover, the Declaration is not a legally binding text. In fact, respect for privacy is also mentioned together with the needs of public security and national and international law, which in some countries can leave the door very open to possible abuses.
A statement for the Metaverse?
Perhaps this Declaration is intended to pave the way for a future in which the Internet we will use will be very different from what we know today. If the metaverse so much talked about is realized, all those principles enunciated, including the decentralization of the infrastructure, must be more guaranteed than ever to avoid that, from the land of the free, the Internet becomes a semi-private place, where inevitably the risk violation of fundamental rights is even more substantial than it is now.
Laws
The European regulation on artificial intelligence is starting to take shape
by Andrea Daniele Signorelli
