Just out of curiosity, why another Declaration? Don't get me wrong, I
don't think there's any harm here, but there are at least half a dozen
similar projects, most of which have been done in the past few years. See:
1994:
http://www.pff.org/issues-pubs/futureinsights/fi1.2magnacarta.html
1996:
https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html
2001:
http://www.cato.org/publications/techknowledge/libertarian-vision-telecom-hightechnology
2009:
http://internetrightsandprinciples.org/site/
2012:
http://www.internetdeclaration.org/
2012:
http://declarationofinternetfreedom.org/
2013:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9236603/A_Declaration_of_the_Interdependence_of_Cyberspace
On Thu, Apr 3, 2014 at 8:58 AM, Christian Fuchs <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
The information society, the Internet and the media are today
largely controlled by large corporations such as Google and Facebook
and a state-industrial complex. The control mechanisms unveiled by
Edward Snowden, the closure of and attack against public service
media, repression against critcal journalists, online platforms and
activists, and a highly centralised Internet and media economy are
characteristic for this situation.
We live in an unfree information society with limits to expression
and an unfree Internet.
Sign the Freedom of Information and Expression Declaration that
demands a free Internet, free media and a free information society!
The 2014 Vienna Declaration on Freedom of Information and Expression
Sign:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/__petition/The_2014_Vienna___Declaration_on_Freedom_of___Information_and_Expression___Petition/
<https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_2014_Vienna_Declaration_on_Freedom_of_Information_and_Expression_Petition/>
More information and videos of talks from the Freedom of Information
Conference:
http://freedom-of-information.__info/
<http://freedom-of-information.info/>
https://www.youtube.com/user/__transformeurope/feed
<https://www.youtube.com/user/transformeurope/feed>
-----------------------
The 2014 Vienna Declaration on Freedom of Information and Expression
This petition can be signed online at
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/__petition/The_2014_Vienna___Declaration_on_Freedom_of___Information_and_Expression___Petition/
<https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_2014_Vienna_Declaration_on_Freedom_of_Information_and_Expression_Petition/>
We, the speakers of the Vienna 2014 International Conference
“Freedom of Information Under Pressure. Control – Crisis – Culture”
(comprised of international academics, media practitioners,
librarians, experts of open culture and public space, activists,
critical citizens, lawyers and policy makers), sign the following
Declaration on Freedom of Information and Expression:
Having met in Vienna of Austria on 28 February and 1 March 2014 and
having discussed the challenges of freedom of information in the
light of the recent surveillance revelations and the increase in
censorship and prosecutions of media, journalists and
whistle-blowers in Europe and beyond, we express our deep concern
and appeal for public vigilance to defend freedom of information and
expression as key democratic rights.
We consider Edward Snowden’s revelations as a wake up call. His
story is not about one man leaking classified information; rather it
is about privacy, civil liberties, power and democracy. But also
about the future of the Internet itself, the nature of democratic
oversight - and much more.
We condemn the existence of a surveillance-industrial complex, in
which the American, British and other European states’ intelligence
services conduct mass surveillance of the Internet, social media,
mobile and landline telephones, in co-operation with communications
corporations such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Skype,
Yahoo!, Aol as well as private security firms.
We express our solidarity and support to whistle-blowers,
journalists and organisations, including Julian Assange, Edward
Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, the
Guardian and others, for their efforts towards fostering
transparency and public accountability. We denounce their oppression
and prosecution that we consider as a major threat to freedom of
information.
We observe a great paradox of the media in the 21st century:
although more people than ever have the means to express themselves
freely, there are huge power asymmetries that favour corporate and
state control of the media: journalists in Europe and many other
regions face an alarming increase in violent attacks, intimidation,
legal threats and other restrictions on their work. Among the
important factors of this paradox are the growth of anti-terrorism
laws and new nationalisms, the fusion of political, economic and
media power, and the weakening of the authority of critical and
high-quality media, including independent media, investigative
journalism and public service media. Furthermore, the Internet and
social media are largely controlled by corporations and there is not
enough material support for alternative Internet and media projects.
This mix seems to represent an existential challenge to critical
media, independent journalism and to the established framework of
international laws and safeguards for press freedom and the freedoms
of expression, speech, information and opinion.
We point out that the current crisis and austerity policies have a
serious negative effect on important democratic freedoms. The
official political reactions to the crisis have given grounds for
the further centralisation of corporate, state and media power that
undermine the freedom of information and further the prosecutions of
citizens, activists, journalists and the media. We particularly
condemn attempts to limit or close down critical, independent and
public service media. The Greek government’s closure of the public
service broadcaster ERT is in this respect a particularly alarming
development.
We stress that under the conditions of corporatisation and
bureaucratisation, the potentials created by access to information
and public knowledge are hampered. In many countries and at a
transnational level we lack adequate laws for the transparency of
corporate and state power and citizens’ access to information about
it in order to hold those in power accountable.
A particularly alarming development of the limitation of freedom of
information can be found in the world of libraries: large corporate
publishers tend to license access to academic and literary works
only in expensive bundles and make the access to easy-to-use e-books
difficult and expensive. The result is a limit of public access to
cultural works so that people have more and more to rely on
purchasing books and articles, which is a matter of purchasing power
that disadvantages many citizens. The corporate power of publishing
houses thereby limits the public’s right to inform itself.
We consider that the right of access to information can promote
citizens’ civic and political participation by raising their levels
of trust in political and policy-making institutions, while it can
fight phenomena such as lobbying and corruption. Open access to
public and digitised knowledge and scholarly research is also
crucial for the continuous education of the broader public and
professionals, the promotion of cultural production and diversity
and the preservation of the historic and collective memory. New
social media, libraries and archives can and should play an
important role in this field.
We are convinced that freedom of information is a value worth
struggling for and that the current framework and developments
strongly threaten freedom, democracy and basic civil liberties.
A free culture, a free economy of information and a free polity of
information are possible!
First signees:
Antonis Broumas (Attorney at law, Digital Liberation Network, Greece)
Arne Hintz (Lecturer, University of Cardiff, UK)
Augustine Zenakos (Journalist, UNFOLLOW magazine, Greece)
Barbara Trionfi (Press Freedom Manager, International Press Institute)
Christian Fuchs (Professor of Social Media, University of
Westminster, UK)
Dimitris Tsapogas (Researcher, University of Vienna, Austria)
Gerfried Sperl (Journalist, PHOENIX, Austria)
Gill Phillips (Director of Editorial Legal Service, The Guardian,
United Kingdom)
Joachim Losehand (Scholar, VIBE!at, Austria)
Kostas Arvanitis (Journalist and Director, Sto Kokkino Radio, Greece)
Kostas Efimeros (Publisher, The Press Project, Greece)
Lisa Schilhan (VÖB, University of Graz, Austria)
Mariniki Alevizopoulou (Journalist, UNFOLLOW magazine, Greece)
Minas Samatas (Professor, University of Crete, Greece)
Miyase Christensen (Professor, Stockholm University, Royal Institute
of Technology, Sweden, London School of Economics, UK)
Nikolaus Hamann (Vienna Public Libraries, KRIBIBI, Austria)
Paloma Fernández de la Hoz (Catholic Social Academy, Austria)
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