” I disagree with what you say but I will defend to death your right to say it.”
By writing that sentence, Voltaire pronounced an essential principle for each human being: its right to speak. Nowadays, the concept seems to have been trivialized in view of all the improvements established since the Age of Enlightenment, but it would be foolish to believe it is respected everywhere. Yes, freedom of speech is recognized in international and regional human rights law. Yes, it is enshrined in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights, and in Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Yes, freedom of speech references are ancient and numerous in the human History and Humanity has never been as far in its achievement than it is today. But Voltaire also denied the fact that “everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds” and his judgement still applies to our world.
A fragile right
Too many countries around the world prevent their people from expressing themselves and stop the development of a real free press. Indeed, freedom of information is an extension of freedom of speech and the failure to respect journalists’ work is a good indicator of human rights statement. According to indexes of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) or the International Press Institute, freedom is heavily compromised in such countries as China, Cuba, Iraq, Pakistan or Russia, until assassinations of journalists and other crimes against media personnel, as threats and incarcerations. Freedom of speech is measured in any medium and is more generally understood as freedom of expression in any of them, be it orally, in writing, print, through the Internet or through art forms.
The medium of citizen empowerment
The creation of Internet was based on the idea of a common area, a public space opened to everyone. Anything that anybody would wish to say could be heard by anyone else with access to the Internet, and this worldwide community would be as large and diverse as humanity itself. The principle of freedom of speech Would be also embedded in the Internet’s robust architecture, i.e the structure of a network able to adapt itself almost instantaneously to damage or outages to individual sections. Indeed it’s quite impossible to completely block access to information, but it’s unfortunately used. In the last years, state sponsored censorship, monitoring and surveillance of the Internet have been increased, encouraging defense organisms to alert the international community, like RSF with the launch of the “Online Free Expression Day” in 2008. A widely publicised example of censorship is the “Great Firewall of China”, a system that blocks content by preventing IP addresses from being routed through. But despite all the breaches of freedom of speech we can highlight, the Web remains a great tool to express oneself.
Internet doesn’t only provide universal access to free speech, it also promotes the basic concept of freedom of speech. It opened new possibilities for exercising this right: anonymity, data havens, easiness that allow free speech by guaranteeing that material cannot be removed. A new step has been crossed with the Web 2.0 based on a double pillar: inter connectivity and interactivity of web-delivered content in a medium used as a platform by its users. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web culture communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis, blogs, that are so many ways to express your point of view. By being a space created to and by users, Internet protects itself from being controlled by a single actor. Plurality of voices is born from the plurality of contributions. This Internet’s feature helps to develop tools to fight against its own censorship with open source projects, like Picidae that put forward the implementation of a decentralized server to override the screening.
A powerful megaphone
Its exponential growth in the last decade gave it the power to promote freedom of speech. Thus, as well as being the specific place to exercise your right to express yourself, Internet is also the best medium to defend it. Many sites have been built to keep the Internet open like the Center for Democracy and Technology, and creative initiatives are launched like Global Voices Online that works to develop tools, institutions and relationships to help all voices, everywhere, to be heard. The team seeks for information posted on blogs all over the world to help to know places and people other media often ignore. The impact remains minor compared with all freedom restrictions crimes committed every day but with this visibility given, it’s the speech impulse which is encouraged.
With substantial means, Human Rights associations don’t settle for opening websites to present their actions, they use the Web as a specific target in their campaigns. The involvement of RSF in this field is significant. Besides all the resources and publications concerning Internet censorship and “enemies”, users are invited to sign petitions to support journalists in danger and to download the Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents that offers practical advice and techniques on how to create a blog and shows how to sidestep the censorship measures imposed by certain governments. Media downloads are also directly available like communication campaigns and banners especially designed for bloggers. RSF is active through its blog network, RSFBLOG, that allows bloggers to publish information censored in their own countries, thus opening a small door to all those oppressed voices.
Nevertheless, the most pessimistic will argue that it’s not with a blog that Cuban and Chinese people will be manage to express themselves more freely. Sure, but if alarm cries are relayed all over the world, Internet could turn into a real support network, able to form a counter balance, and to provide people weapons to fight against attacks to their rights. To raise Internet at this level, the access to new technologies must be improved in developing countries which require money and investment, and this is another story…
If a few years ago, you had asked me what would be my relationship with such a technology than Internet, I probably should not have described my current use because it exceeded the limits I thought correct. At this time, I was hooked on TV but today it is often switched off and I’ve replaced the time spent behind the TV screen by hours spent behind my computer screen. I’m not someone who is blindly attracted by all it’s new and forget immediately what existed before. Besides, my favorite media remain the newspaper and the radio (I like to travel with the sound of these voices…). But from necessity, I need to be connected every day, for my work and my own pleasure. If I had the choice, I don’t think I’d spent so many time on the Web, because it often happens I surf for nothing ! But I can’t deny the importance of this medium, it’s a real help to me that allow me to satisfy my thirst for knowledge and to keep in touch with my closest friends I can’t see everyday.
