On 4 September 1996, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) member nations (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) stated that they had agreed to collaborate on finding ways to control expression on the Internet. On 16 September, a number of human rights, free expression and electronic privacy organizations wrote the following […]
On 4 September 1996, the Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) member nations (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) stated that they had agreed to
collaborate on finding ways to control expression on the Internet.
On 16 September, a number of human rights, free expression and
electronic privacy organizations wrote the following letter to the
ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia to convey their concerns
about this development. Similar letters were also sent to the
ASEAN members.
The full text of the letter follows:
“We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to express our
deep concern about the decision announced on September 4 by ASEAN
member nations to collectively regulate communication on the
Internet. The agreement was announced in Singapore, at the close
of a meeting of officials from ASEAN member nations that was
organized by the Singapore Broadcasting Authority.
“We would like to respectfully remind the ASEAN nations that
content-based restrictions on online communication violate
internationally guaranteed rights of free expression. As stated in
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression:
this right includes freedom to hold opinions without
interference and to seek, receive and impart information and
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’
“The agreement did not include the adoption of a common regulatory
framework by ASEAN member nations. However, we are concerned that
a number of delegates to the meeting reportedly expressed support
for Singapore’s recently established Internet Code of Practice.
Human Rights Watch/Asia has written to the Singaporean government
to oppose these new regulations, which impose sweeping controls on
content, including political discussion. The regulations have
already resulted in arbitrary censorship of at least one newsgroup
message. They will surely induce a chill on on-line speech in
Singapore, and, as evidenced by the ASEAN decision, they will
affect online speech throughout the region.
“It has been reported that one of the reasons for the ASEAN
agreement was a concern for preserving cultural values. While we
recognize the importance of representation for all cultures on the
Internet, we oppose censorship as a means of ensuring respect for
cultural norms. We believe that the most effective means of
responding to offensive content is by disseminating more content.
Censoring offensive material will not remove it from the Internet;
it will simply cause it to be reproduced on additional Internet
sites.
“We believe that the lack of agreement on a common regulatory
strategy by ASEAN member nations demonstrates the futility of
attempts by nations or groups of nations to introduce online
content regulation schemes. Within the ASEAN group itself, the
cultural values of Vietnam, for example, differ significantly from
cultural values of the Philippines. It is unlikely that the
diverse group of ASEAN nations will reach an agreement on the
specifics of what should be censored, and how that censorship
should be accomplished. Moreover, because the Internet is a global
medium, moves to restrict online content will initiate battles for
competing cultural values on an international scale.
“In closing, we would like to add that the attempt to restrict
Internet communication will detract from the many benefits that
electronic communication is bringing to the region. We hope that
the ASEAN nations will reconsider their unfortunate decision and
instead focus on the new opportunities that the Internet can
provide to the citizens of the region.”
Human Rights Watch/Asia (http://www.hrw.org)
CITADEL-Electronic Frontier France
(http://www.imaginet.fr/~mose/citadel)
Les Chroniques de Cyberie, Canada
(http://www.cyberie.qc.ca/chronik/)
Electronic Privacy Information Centre, USA (http://www.epic.org)
American Civil Liberties Union, USA (http://www.aclu.org)
cyberPOLIS, USA (http://www.cyberpolis.org/)
Electronic Frontiers Foundation, USA (http://www.eff.org)
ALCEI-Electronic Frontiers Italy (http://www.nexus.it/alcei)
Association des utilisateurs d’Internet (AUI), France
(http://www.aui.fr)
Fronteras Electronicas Espana (FrEE)
(http://www.lander.es/~jlmartin/)
Electronic Frontiers Austin, Texas USA
(http://www.eff.austin.org),
Digital Citizens Foundation Netherlands–DBNL
(http://www.xs4all.nl/~db.nl)
Article 19, United Kingdom
PEN American Center, United States
CommUnity, UK
