2. GLOBAL ISSUES
Access and Civil Liberties are two sets
of issues in ICT Policy which are
crucial to the modern society. The
other concern is civil liberties which
refer to human rights and freedom.
These include freedom of expression,
the right to privacy, the right to
communicate and intellectual
property rights.
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3. Access to the Use of Internet and
ICT. Access means the possibility
for everyone to use the internet
and the other media. In richer
countries, basic access to internet
is almost available to all with
faster broadband connections.
There are still countries where
access to internet is still a
challenge.
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4. Infringement to Civil
Liberties or human rights.
What are specific internet
issues on internet policy
that have relationship to
civil liberties or human
rights? Let’s sudy the
examples that follow.
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5. Issue No.1: Freedom of
expression and Censorship
Under international human rights
conventions, all people are guaranteed
the rights for free expression. However,
with the shift from communication
through letter, newspaper and public
meetings to electronic communications
and on-line networking, a need to look
into how these new means modifies
the understanding of freedom of
expression and censorship. 5
6. 6
The UN Universal Declaration of
Human Rights provides that
everyone has the right to
freedom of thought, conscience
and religion, likewise the right
to freedom of opinion and
expression. However, there are
practices that violate these
provisions in the use of
internet.
7. Some examples are the following:
▪ Individual
rights are
given up
in order to
have
access to
electronic
networks.
▪ Censorship restricts the
transmission of information by
blocking it or filtering the
information.
▪ Blocking is preventing access to
whole areas of internet based upon
the “blacklist” of certain internet
address, location or email address.
▪ Filtering is sifting the packets of
data or messages as they move
across computer networks and
eliminating those considered
“undesirable materials”.
▪ Defamation
actions
maybe used
to silence
critics. This
action deters
the freedom
of
expression.
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8. Issue No.2: Privacy and Security
▪ Privacy policies are an issue
Most commercial sites have a
privacy policy. When someone
uses a site and click “I agree”
button, it is as if you have
turned over private information
to any authority that may
access it.
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9. There are several types of privacy as shown by the following
examples.
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1.Personal Privacy
The right of individuals
not to have their home,
private life or personal
life interfered.
2. Privacy of
Communication
The protection from
interference of
communications over the
phone
3. Information privacy
Related to the use of
computers and
communications system which
are able tto hold and process
information about large
numbers od people at a high
speed
10. Issue No.3: Surveillance and
Data Retention
▪ The use of electronic
communications has enhanced
the development of indirect
surveillance. In the indirect
surveillance, there is no direct
contact between the agent and
the subject of surveillance but
evidence of activities can be
traced.
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11. There is very little that can be done to prevent
surveillance difficult. This is called “counter surveillance”
or “information security” if it refers to computers and
electric communication.
▪ Dataveillance
The use of
personal
information to
monitor a person’s
activities
▪ Data Retention
The storage and
use of information
from
communication
systems.
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12. Issue No.4: E-pollutants fro
E-waste
▪ Large amount of e-waste is
generated by ICT. These are in
particular, terminal equipments
used for computing (PC’s laptops),
broadcasting (television and
radiosets), telephony (fixed and
mobile phones), and peripherals
(fax machines, printers and
scanners).
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13. ▪ The accumulated e-waste is due to rapid turnover of
equipment due to rapid improvement of software. While
material waste can be destroyed by crushing, toxic material
brought about by the different equipment requires utmost
management. The quantities of e-waste are increasing in
both developed and developing countries. A very dismissal
state is that there is a significant amount of electronic waste
that has been shipped from industrial countries to
developing countries, using less environmentally -
responsible procedure.
▪ Remedies include standardization and regularly measures to
increase the life cycle of equipment before they become
obsolete. Efficient extraction of toxic components and
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