Human Rights, Digital Society and the Law
A Research Companion
Routledge Research in Human Rights Law Series

The Internet has created a formidable challenge for human rights law and practice worldwide. International scholarly and policy-oriented communities have so far established a consensus regarding only one main aspect ? human rights in the internet are the same as offline. There are emerging and ongoing debates regarding not only the standards and methods to be used for achieving the "sameness" of rights online, but also whether "classical" human rights as we know them are contested by the online environment. The internet itself, in view of its cross-border nature and its ability to affect various areas of law, requires adopting an internationally oriented approach and a perspective strongly focused on social sciences. In particular, the rise of the internet, enhanced also by the influence of new technologies such as algorithms and intelligent artificial systems, has influenced individuals? civil, political and social rights not only in the digital world, but also in the atomic realm. As the coming of the internet calls into question well-established legal categories, a broader perspective than the domestic one is necessary to investigate this phenomenon.

This book explores the main fundamental issues and practical dimensions related to the safeguarding of human rights in the internet, which are at the focus of current academic debates. It provides a comprehensive analysis with a forward-looking perspective of bringing order into the somewhat chaotic online dimension of human rights. It addresses the matter of private digital censorship, the apparent inefficiency of existing judicial systems to react to human rights violations online, the uncertainty of liability for online human rights violations, whether the concern with personal data protection overshadows multiple other human rights issues online and will be of value to those interested in human rights law and legal regulation of the internet.

1.Introduction

Human rights in the digital domain – the idea of non-coherence theory, Mart Susi





2. Right to the internet and rights inside the internet – theoretical dimension

The sameness of human rights online and offline, Miloon Kothari







Right of access to the internet – global approaches, Carolina Aguerre







The right to privacy: the end of Privacy Fatalism, Jonathon Penney







Freedom of expression online, Matthias C. Kettemann and Wolfgang Benedek







The digital disruption of human rights foundations – Hin-Yan Liu





3. Legislation, judicial and stakeholder practices – practical dimension

The main challenges related to protecting human rights in the internet - Changrok Soh, Daniel Connolly and Seunghyun Nam







Liability regimes for online human rights violations, Sten Schaumburg-Müller







Multistakeholderism – meaning and implications, Joanna Kulesza







Judicial balancing of human rights online, Oreste Pollicino and Oleg Soldatov







The role and practices of online stakeholders, Thomas Wischmeyer







The jurisprudence of the ECJ and ECtHR regarding data protection in the internet, Carsten M. Wulff







The Internet Balancing Formula, Mart Susi





4.Specific issues related to human rights and the internet

Human rights and the right to be forgotten, Ugo Pagallo and Massimo Durante







Finding a judicial definition of journalism: a challenging exercise in the digital age, Ellen Hovlid







Combating hate speech online – Jukka Viljanen







European copyright and human rights in the digital sphere, Christina Angelopoulos







Digital security and human rights: a plea for counter-infringement measures, Mireille Hildebrandt





5. Data protection issues

The challenge of personal data protection in the digital era and global responses, Alexandros Varveris and Fereniki Panagopoulou







Data protection in the private sector: convergence or localization of rights and expectations? W. Scott Blackmer





The protection of personal data in a digital society: the role of the GDPR, Tiina Pajuste





6.Global perspective





Africa, the internet and human rights, CH Powell and Tobias Schonwetter





The approach of North American courts towards the internet, David P. Stewart





Asian human rights law, jurisprudence, and practices towards the internet, Satoshi Yokodaido





Latin American human rights law jurisprudence and practices towards the internet, Oscar Raúl Puccinelli





The Russian perspective on human rights protection online, Dmitry Dedov

Mart Susi is Professor of Human Rights Law at Tallinn University, Estonia.