Council Of Europe Passes Internet Governance Strategy

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch

In passing a comprehensive Internet Governance Strategy, the Council of Europe (CoE) today laid claim to a front runner position in the human rights dialogue for the internet.

According to a press release by the Strasbourg-based, 47-member organisation, the strategy integrates 40 lines of action, including the development of a variety of soft law instruments from a high-level “framework of understanding and/or commitments” protecting the “Internet’s universality, integrity and openness as a means of safeguarding freedom of expression regardless of frontiers and Internet freedom,” to protection standards for granting the unimpeded cross-border flow of legal internet content or human rights standards on network neutrality.

The CoE strategy is here.

The main action lines of the strategy that will govern the CoE’s internet-related work between 2012 and 2015 are:

• maximising rights and freedoms for internet users;
• advancing data protection and privacy;
• enhancing the rule of law and effective co-operation against cybercrime;
• maximising the internet’s potential to promote democracy and cultural diversity;
• protecting and empowering children and young people.

The document also links the various relevant legal instruments (and in some cases review efforts). These include: the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (CETS No. 108); the Cybercrime Convention (CETS No.189); the Convention on the Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on Financing of Terrorism (CETS No. 198); the Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CETS No. 196); and the Convention on the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes involving threats to public health (‘MEDICRIME’ Convention CETS No. 211).