The Charlie Hebdo Assassinations, Free Speech, and The Right To Be Forgotten
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/001083.html
You can watch and hear it spreading virally around the world -- a
chant of defiance against evil: "Je Suis Charlie" - "I am Charlie" --
crowds, signs, hashtags -- it's everywhere, and it deserves to be.
And in the wake of the hideous mass assassinations at the offices of
"Charlie Hebdo" in Paris, suddenly France, Europe, and the rest
of the world are very suddenly very enthusiastic indeed about free
speech.
Lest there be any confusion about the matter, free speech -- even
obnoxious, ridiculing speech -- even speech that sometimes is
immensely disturbing and painful to innocent parties, is a fundamental
aspect of this phenomenon. For provocation via free speech was
Charlie's stock in trade, and the proud avocation of its murdered
staff.
They had been physically attacked before. At least one now senior
staff member -- killed in this attack -- reportedly had continuous
police protection. Recorded employee interviews display clearly not
only that Charlie's writers and cartoonists understood how offensive
and disturbing much of their publication was to many persons, but also
that they were fully cognizant of how potentially dangerous to
themselves this could be. They routinely rejected outside suggestions,
even by world leaders such as President Obama, that in some cases they
were exacerbating problems rather than helping to solve them. For
indeed, the freedom to say something doesn't necessarily mean that
it's always appropriate to actually say it.
But except in a relatively minuscule number of situations where
immediate, direct physical risk to individuals or property are
involved, we must hold the right to free speech as inviolate, as one
of the most fundamental of human rights.
For when speech is censored or otherwise controlled by governments, we
lose access to the fundamental raw material -- information -- by which
we can determine what's really going on around us affecting the lives
of ourselves, our colleagues, and our loved ones.
It is entirely appropriate in the wake of the Paris horror that we
also now hear people around the world quoting Evelyn Beatrice Hall's
famous illustrative line from her 1906 biography of French writer,
historian, and philosopher Francois-Marie Arouet -- Voltaire --
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right
to say it."
So it is notably ironic indeed that it's from Europe itself that the
single most dangerous and potentially damaging anti-free speech
abomination has spewed forth -- the EU's notorious "Right To Be
Forgotten" (RTBF), since the very concept of RTBF -- which the EU
is now proposing be applied as a global censorship mechanism against
Google and other websites -- is utterly and absolutely in conflict
with the entire basis of free speech.
Even if for the sake of the argument we momentarily ignore the
slippery slope nightmare of RTBF-type laws in the hands of evil
leaders and others whose goals are to cleanse history of search
results of which they don't approve or appreciate, the foundational
idea of RTBF, the false belief that it is possible to slice and dice
and micromanage free speech without destroying it, is utterly specious
and immensely dangerous.
If we are to stand as a world in support of free speech in the vein of
the murdered patriots of Charlie Hebdo, we must also stand united
against the gross hypocrisies represented by The Right To Be Forgotten
and similar concepts around the world.
To do less would be to dishonor the many brave persons who have died
in the name of free speech -- not only in Paris this week, but
throughout history.
We are all Charlie. And we are all the Internet.
And free speech must remain truly free.
Take care, all.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
I am a consultant to Google -- I speak only for myself, not for them.
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
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