Yet another report: Internet disconnections a "disproportionate" penalty
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), with its 56 member countries made up of 1 billion people, is the “world's largest regional security organization.” And it really doesn't like Internet censorship.
A new OSCE report on
"Freedom of Expression on the Internet" (PDF) takes a hard line on all things Internet, issuing conclusions at odds with the practices of many of its most powerful member states, including France and the US. Net neutrality? Every country needs it. “Three strikes” laws that and in Internet disconnection? Disproportionate penalties for minor offenses. Internet access? It's a human right.
The report was prepared by Yaman Akdeniz, a law professor at Istanbul Bilgi University in Turkey, and it's a scorcher—coming to many of the same conclusions reached by UN Special Rapporteur Frank LaRue last month. Reports, even when they come from organizations like OSCE and the UN, seem unlikely to alter France's stance on Internet disconnections as response to online copyright infringement, or the United States'
newfound appreciation of the need for Internet site blocking. As for countries like Belarus and Kazahstan—well, the chances they will suddenly agree with Akdeniz and LaRue are infinitesimal.
