{"id":632,"date":"2019-07-15T02:35:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T02:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/?p=632"},"modified":"2019-07-15T02:35:44","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T02:35:44","slug":"freedom-of-speech-freedom-from-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/index.php\/2019\/07\/15\/freedom-of-speech-freedom-from-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom of Speech\/Freedom from Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When\nthe late Christopher Hitchens was once asked to define a warlord, he replied\n\u201csomeone who controls a stretch of road.\u201d If the internet is truly the\n\u201cInformation Super Highway,\u201d it is reasonable to ask who gates, regulates, and\npatrols access to its turnpikes? As we approach another American presidential\nelection it has become apparent that no one knows who to trust to regulate and\npolice the highways on which we now all get our news and make sense of our\nworld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nspring CIGS INET assembled a small group of economists, legal scholars, and\ntech leaders to frame what may be one of the main technological issue of our\ntime: how can we rebuild the lost societal trust on digital platforms necessary\nfor the functioning of civil society? The questions motivating the conference\nincluded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are\nthe scales being tipped?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nso, who is doing the tipping?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is\nit for private, group, national or world interests?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is\nit done openly or cryptically?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is\nit done legally or illegally?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is\nit done according to rights or power?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few short years ago many\nof us believed that social media would be the engine of democracy.  Whether it is the Arab Spring or the\nco-ordination of marginalized groups like Black Lives Matter, social media has\nbeen and continues to hold the potential to be a source of political\nmobilization and a way to bring marginalized populations into the political\ndiscourse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flip side of this is of\ncourse political polarization as we see people increasingly disappear into\ntheir filter bubbles, misinformation and disinformation campaigns, and the\nspread of hateful messages. A low point for many was the live streaming of the\nterrorist attack in Christchurch a few months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public frustration with\nsocial platforms is now at an all time high and there are growing calls for\nregulation.  There is increasing\npolitical will and even an acknowledgement on the part of leaders of Social\nMedia companies like Google and Facebook of a need for regulation. Yet, given\nthe danger of unintended consequences with perverse incentives, it is essential\nthat regulations correctly weigh the tradeoffs between fundamentals such as\nsafety, freedom of speech and privacy as well as economic concerns. The meeting\nexplored these issues with presentations from economic, legal and political\nscience scholars, journalists, and leaders of the tech industry, revealing a\nclassic case of the blind men and the elephant parable: if we do not coordinate\nthe insights of these different sectors, the elephant in the room may be missed\nby all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we don\u2019t think much\nabout it in free societies, an open stretch of road is a difficult thing to\nmaintain for public benefit. The CIGS conference was made a success by so many\nparticipants coming together with an interest in keeping the information\nsuper-highway free of warlords for the benefit of all. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the late Christopher Hitchens was once asked to define a warlord, he replied \u201csomeone who controls a stretch of road.\u201d If the internet is truly the \u201cInformation Super Highway,\u201d it is reasonable to ask who gates, regulates, and patrols access to its turnpikes? As we approach another American presidential election it has become apparent … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Freedom of Speech\/Freedom from Speech”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":634,"href":"https:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions\/634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cigs-inet.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}