Is Technology Good For Human Rights?

Claire Thompson, freelance PR consultant, Waves PR

Okay, okay! I know! The event was a week ago, and I’ve been slow to blog. But quite apart from work and Twestival commitments, I needed to think about which bit to blog. There were so many issues raised.

Let me put this into context for you.  I knew before I went that the answer was going to be: “It depends!”  But if you have a panel like this, you know there’s going to be something worth hearing:

- Kevin Anderson, blogs editor of the Guardian

- Susan Pointer, Director of Public Policy & Government Relations, Google

- Annabelle Sreberny, Professor of Global Media and Communication, School of Oriental and African Studies (special interest  Iran, bloggers & social media)

- the iPhone (otherwise known as Andrew Keen, the “antichrist of Silicon Valley”and author of ‘How the internet is killing our culture’  author, held up to a microphone because he couldn’t attend)  Andrew Keen

Add to this that it was being chaired by Rory Cellan-Jones, Technology Correspondent for the BBC, and you’ll know why it was a ‘must attend’ event. If I say to you that the audience was as packed with equally qualified people, like BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne (currently barred from Iran), you’ll forgive me for feeling that whatever I say won’t do justice to the debate. (Take a quick peek at who’s blogged already and you’ll understand why.)

So here’s the deal. Here are five central thoughts (there were a lot more!)  to expand upon later:

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Brazil: Special Commission Passes Right to Information Bill

For immediate release – 26 February 2010

Brazil: Special Commission Passes Right to Information Bill

A draft bill on the right to information was approved by consensus by a Special Commission in the Lower House of the Brazilian Congress on Wednesday. The Special Commission had been specially organised to review and pass the bill. To become law, the bill must be passed in both the Lower House and the Senate, and then be signed by the President.

ARTICLE 19 urges Brazilian legislators to bring the bill into line with international standards, including by taking into consideration civil society recommendations, and to concentrate efforts to adopt a final text of the Brazilian Right to Information Act during 2010.

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News: Brands Falling Foul of OnLine Laws

RESEARCH SHOWS BRANDS MAY BE FALLING FOUL OF LAWS ONLINE

• 81% rate their knowledge of social media marketing law as limited or non-existent
• BBC, NHS Choices, Gumtree and FutureGov unite to share best practice

London, February 25^th 2010:

Dominic Sparkes, MD, Tempero

Research from moderation company Tempero, shows 81% of brands rate knowledge of laws regulating their social media marketing as limited to non-existent. The number one reason cited for low knowledge was that company activity was limited to external platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but a UK solicitor cautioned against this misconception.

Danvers Baillieu, solicitor at Winston & Strawn, who specialises in representing web based companies such as Huddle and Zoombu , and runs Bootlaw, clarified:

“If you edit or run a group or community, even if you’re not responsible for the hosting of content (such as a Flickr group), then choosing not to exercise control and ignoring requests to remove defamatory or illegal content would not be a defence to any claims brought against you.”

10 year UGC veterans Tempero, which says it  protects more blue chip brands online than any other moderation company, is pro-actively tackling brand confusion on legitimate social marketing with the launch of a free eBook called ‘UGC and the law’.

Link to e-book: Law: user generated content

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Tempero: response to Google court case, Italy

Reference – Google directors given jail sentences for breaching Italian privacy laws (for content posted to YouTube byt third parties): http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/serious-threat-to-web-in-italy.html

Dominic Sparkes, MD, Tempero:

“Many publishers feel the risk of not moderating and relying on alerts from users is worth taking with ‘safe harbour’ providing a cushion against prosecution.  This case has potentially created a landmark ruling for those reactively moderating content on their sites and will send a warning shot across the bows of those operating within Social Media.”

“For sites such as YouTube, moderating every single video is near impossible but such large scale sites are going to have to implement additional protection measures to avoid similar cases.  Law lords are going to have to think carefully about how such a ruling is implemented in the future to avoid an onslaught of appeals and lobbying from many corporations.”

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Note: link to Tempero online media resources: http://www.wavespr.com/client-tempero-the-online-moderation-people/