[IRP] Charter Version 1.1 DRAFT

[Dixie Hawtin]

Hello all,

Thank you for the extra couple of days! Apologies in advance that this is a long email, there is a lot to cover. We think before the discussion on the nitty gritty begins, it would be good to have a large conference call to make sure everyone is on the same page and to plan out the best way to make sure that we look at all the issues as a Coalition in a constructive and comprehensive way. Please respond to this doodle poll to help us schedule the call in a way that allows the greatest number of people to take part: http://doodle.com/yta6avwp9vig73kx.

Because this IRP mailing list is not well-suited to sending attachments, and we are having difficulties uploading them to the IRP website, at present all the documents listed below can be found on the Freedom of Expression Project website at this link: http://www.freedomofexpression.org.uk/resources/irp+charter+of+human+rights+and+principles+for+the+internet
Please note, we know this is not ideal, this is only an interim solution.

The documents which you will find at this link:

a)      Charter Version 1.1 DRAFT:  This is not Version 1.1, it is a draft. It will only become Version 1.1 following discussion and agreement among the Coalition.

b)      Annotated Charter Version 1.1 DRAFT: In the interest of transparency, this document contains notes explaining why I made the changes which I did. It also highlights some of the points for discussion by the Coalition.

c)       Comments 1: Collated comments July 2010 Version 1.0 with notes: this document collates all the comments which were made on Version 1.0 leading up to the IGF and indicates where comments have resulted in a change or been put forward as a topic for consultation.

d)      Comments 2: Charter comments (IGF onwards): Collated comments on the Charter from during and after the IGF up until today. This document does not explain whether the comments have resulted in changes or been put forward as a topic for consultation, but these points will be added to the document once Version 1.1 is confirmed.

e)      Comments 3: Comments which we have received from Open Society Foundation. For the record, OSF were not approached for comments, this is something they did voluntarily and of their own initiative.

f)       Consultation document: We have started to put down the topics for consultation in the next round. I haven't gotten very far yet, and some of these may change following the discussions the Coalition has now.

g)      Alternative Preamble: Meryem has come up with a very interesting proposal for the preamble: to separate the practical and visionary statements out, so that the practical elements are contained in a "Context" session and then the Preamble contains only the visionary statements which are presented in a fashion similar to other human rights preambles (e.g. "Whereas...").

About this draft of the Charter:
I think you will find that this draft of the Charter isn't a huge change from the last draft and certainly isn't perfect. I do however think that we have made some steps in the right direction. I have made a number of smallish changes (to use more definite language, take comments into account, remove references to specific stakeholders and particular technologies) and these are all explained in the annotated version. Beyond this I have made three bigger changes:

1.       Replaced existing preamble with Tapanis, and made some further changes to this (mainly to stress how amazing the internet is, and that human rights are non-negotiable)

2.       I have added in text quoting directly from the UDHR (where applicable), as this goes some way to answering the criticism that we borrowed language from the UDHR but then changed it in subtle ways which implied it was up for renegotiation (See OSF comments).  I also think it adds a stronger basis to the rest of our demands, making it clear that their foundations are to be found in the UDHR.

3.       I have added in the Right to Access the Internet, and put this at the top of the document. I'm sure this will bring up a large discussion and I think it is a very important conversation to have both inside and outside the Coalition. My thinking is that we do need to include some way of saying that people have some sort of right to the internet as access does underpin everything in the Charter, and it is illogical to talk about people's rights on the internet if they don't have access in the first place - that would exacerbate inequalities. Furthermore, I believe it is possible to argue for something along these lines within human rights standards. I moved it to the top because it underpins everything in the Charter, and because I wasn't sure that it fitted well under discrimination. I also merged digital inclusion and network neutrality with the right to access as I saw them as different elements of the same principle.

I think one of the more useful things to have come out of going through Version 1.0 is to have come up with a fairly comprehensive idea about what needs to be consulted on. As you can see a "Consultation document" is slowly building up, and I will continue to work on this over the coming weeks. For our discussions on this Version 1.1 Draft I would suggest that there are two main "areas" to talk about: A) Overall issues, and B) A few fairly quick suggestions for changes that I want to put to the Coalition. Beyond this of course all points to do with content can also be discussed, the Charter does not need to be perfect by the time we send it out, but these discussions can also help us to identify what topics we want to consult on. And can I suggest that if there are new clauses you want to include in the Charter, please bring them to the discussion now, that way we can be really comprehensive in our external consultations.

A)Overall Issues
i) Preamble - what format do we want to use? The one at present, or the new format suggested by Meryem which looks more similar to a traditional human rights preamble, and have all the practical issues relegated to a separate section titles "Context"?
ii) Title - do we want to call it "Charter"?
iii) What is the Charter? I think it would be really useful for us to try and pin down exactly what the Charter is (and what it is not), who it is directed towards, and how we are expecting it to be used. I don't think everyone in the Coalition is on the page (and I don't think everyone outside the Coalition understand from reading the Charter what it is) and I think that going forwards it would be really valuable if we can firm up some of these ideas.
iv) Order of the articles? At present the articles do not exactly follow the UDHR. I propose that we either: leave the order as it is; or put the sections in the same order as they appear in the UDHR, and then decide separately where to put those rights which do not fit in the UDHR e.g.  access to the Internet and Development; or Design an order which we think makes better logical sense.
v) The new Right to Access the Internet: what do we think? Is this the right approach?

B) Specific Issues (these can be seen highlighted in the Annotated Draft of the Charter)
i) There are a few sections which don't seem (to me) to add a whole lot to the Charter, and I wondered if maybe some of them could be deleted, or else strengthened. These are:  "Human Dignity", "Equality and Diversity of the Internet", ", "Consumer Protection" (this is a section which I really feel should be taken out, as it is not part of human rights and where it does overlap e.g. privacy, the overlapping elements can be dealt with there)., "Health and Social Services Online"
ii) Under non-discrimination, those issues which are specified to gender and age are actually true for all marginalized groups, I wonder whether we should remove the references to particular groups?
iii) Under "Liberty and Security" I removed the reference to functional connections, as we seemed to be saying that connections should work which appears to me to be a redundant point. I will reinstate it if the consensus is otherwise.
iv) Under Freedom of Relgion we have included: ""any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law." I think if we are going to include this in the Charter it belongs under freedom of expression. However, I think we should leave it out. The situations it calls for are covered for by restrictions, it is not in the UDHR and many people criticize it's being included in the ICCPR. This is a political discussion.
v) I'm not sure what this: "National legislation on privacy must be based upon international privacy frameworks that comply with the rule of law, respect fundamental human rights, and support democratic institutions." Adds to the Charter as it is true for all of the rights?
vi) Not sure if we need this in the Charter: "Workers and employees shall have Internet access at their work place, where available." It seems out of step with the different places of work which exist and places a big burden on small businesses. Is it worth including?
vii) I have removed "Everyone shall have access to their electronic health records on the Internet" as it implies people's health records should be available on the internet and many people wouldn't want this. I will reinstate it if the consensus is otherwise.
viii) Do we need to include the fair trial requirements (e.g. innocent until proven guilty), I currently only include those fair trial requirements which are stated in the UDHR. I think we should remove this bit. It would take up far too much space to dictate all the fair trial standards, and to leave out some imply they are not important. I think the statement "Criminal trials must follow fair trial standards as defined by International law" is enough.
ix) Removed e-voting following strong feelings that it should be removed. I will reinstate it if the consensus is otherwise.

And obviously there are all the bigger topics will form part of the wider consultation: defamation, network neutrality, privacy (especially virtual personality and anonymity), filtering and blocking, access to knowledge, intermediary liability etc.

I'm not working over the next week, so if there are any comments that are particularly directed to me I will respond when I get back a week on Monday. I will however join in on the IRP conference call whenever it is set, I wouldn't want to miss it!

I look forward to the discussions!
All the best,
Dixie
___________________________________________________________
Dixie Hawtin
Researcher Global Partners and Associates
338 City Road, London, EC1V 2PY, UK
Office: + 44 207 239 8251     Mobile: +44 7769 181 556
dixie at global-partners.co.uk<mailto:lisa at global-partners.co.uk>  www.global-partners.co.uk<http://www.global-partners.co.uk/>

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