Details
This important book examines how human rights are being applied in the digital era. The focus on ‘internet freedoms’ and ‘internet rights’ has risen considerably in recent years, and in July 2012 the first resolution on the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the internet was adopted by the U.N. Human Rights Council.
This timely book suggests four framings to examine human rights challenges in an internet era: the Internet as Infrastructure, the Internet as Public Sphere, the Internet as Media and the Internet as Culture. These propositions, and the questions that arise from them, are considered in the broad context of the way human rights are translated and applied in the information society, both in academic research and the international community’s policy discourse. The author points to the role of private actors vis-à-vis human rights as one of the most crucial and cross-cutting themes that needs to be addressed in order to advance human rights protection on the internet.
Combining research themes that are often dealt with separately, this book will appeal to civil society organizations, journalists, and policy makers in the field of internet and communication policy making. The book’s overview of internet-related academic discourse combined with human rights-based policy analysis will be useful for scholars, students, and practitioners working within these fields.
Contents: Preface Introduction Part I: Human Rights in the Internet Era 1. Theorizing the Internet Era 2. Revisiting Public and Private 3. Human Rights Part II: Framing the Net 4. Internet as Infrastructure 5. Internet as Public Sphere 6. Internet as Medium 7. Internet as Culture Summary of Internet Metaphors Part III: ICT and Social Change 8. ICT as a Tool for Empowerment in Uganda 9. Wikipedia as a Platform for Community Life and Collaboration 10. Conclusion Appendix A: List of Interviewed (Uganda) Appendix B: List of Interviewees (Wikipedia) Bibliography Index
Rikke Frank Jørgensen, The Danish Institute for Human Rights
‘Rikke Frank Jørgensen has given us a thoughtful and competent contribution to a debate of increasing global importance. Her theoretical analysis and practical case-study stimulate critical reflection on how we should connect the primary moral domain of our time – human rights – with the primary infrastructure for global communication, the Internet. This book is a must read for all who engage with the search for meaningful and practical normative directions for communications in the 21st century.’
– Cees J. Hamelink, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
‘Understanding the Internet is key to protecting human rights in the future. In Framing the Net, Rikke Frank Jørgensen, shows how this can be done. Deconstructing four key metaphors – the Internet as infrastructure, public sphere, medium and culture – she shows where the challenges to human rights protection online lie and how to confront them. Importantly, she develops clear policy proposals for national and international Internet policy-makers, all based on human rights. Her book is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of human rights on the Internet: and that should be everyone.’
– Wolfgang Benedek, University of Graz, Austria
‘Jørgensen’s examination of whether Internet governance can be better aligned with the rights and freedoms enshrined in human rights law and standards of compliance should be read by everyone in the academic, policy and legal practitioner communities. From women’s use of ICTs in Uganda to Wikipedia in Germany, information society developments make it imperative that scholars and practitioners understand why it matters how the issues are framed. This book successfully analyses a decade or more of debate in this field in an engaging and very illuminating way.’
– Robin Mansell, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
