A gathering of experts and international NGOs in Amsterdam has concluded with a joint  declaration on the main issues facing countries seeking to regulate online activity– including enforced regulation and filtering. Index on Censorship reports. (28-JUN-05)

A gathering of experts and international NGOs in Amsterdam has concluded with a joint declaration on the main issues facing countries seeking to regulate online activity – including enforced regulation and filtering. Index on Censorship reports.


The Third Amsterdam Internet Conference, subtitled Guaranteeing Media Freedom on the Internet, held 17-18 June at Amsterdam’s City Hall, was hosted by Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti.

The end of conference joint declaration with Paris-based media rights group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) covered key issues such as whether the Web should be filtered by the authorities, if website owners should be forced to register, the extent of national jurisdiction and the responsibility of service providers (ISPs).

It lists six main principles for protecting online media freedom and stresses that in a democratic and open society citizens should decide what they wish to access and view on the Internet. Any filtering or rating of online content by governments is unacceptable and websites should not be required to register with governmental authorities, the declaration states.

RSF said in a statement that the declaration’s six recommendations go beyond Europe and concern every country. It hopes they will provoke discussion in the run-up to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), scheduled for November in Tunis.

Freedom of the Internet will also be focus of a media conference in the South Caucasus and in Central Asia later this autumn. “I hope that together with journalists from those regions we will be able to come up with a helpful set of standards regarding the fragile freedom of the Internet media,” said Haraszti.

The Declaration

 1  Any law about the flow of information online must be anchored in the right to freedom of expression as defined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


 2  In a democratic and open society it is up to the citizens to decide what they wish to access and view on the Internet. Filtering or rating of online content by governments is unacceptable. Filters should only be installed by Internet users themselves. Any policy of filtering, be it at a national or local level, conflicts with the principle of free flow of information.


 3  Any requirement to register websites with governmental authorities is not acceptable. Unlike licensing scarce resources such as broadcasting frequencies, an abundant infrastructure like the Internet does not justify official assignment of licenses. On the contrary, mandatory registration of online publications might stifle the free exchange of ideas, opinions, and information on the Internet.


 4  A technical service provider must not be held responsible for the mere conduit or hosting of content unless the hosting provider refuses to obey a court ruling. A decision on whether a website is legal or illegal can only be taken by a judge, not by a service provider. Such proceedings should guarantee transparency, accountability and the right to appeal.


 5  All Internet content should be subject to the legislation of the country of its origin (“upload rule”) and not to the legislation of the country where it is downloaded.


 6  The Internet combines various types of media, and new publishing tools such as blogging are developing. Internet writers and online journalists should be legally protected under the basic principle of the right to freedom of expression and the complementary rights of privacy and protection of sources.

Declaration co-signed by Reporters sans Frontières