In places where there are still some democratic rights, like the United States, the issue of hate speech on-line is framed as a debate over whether some fool has the right to say something sexist or racist and whether Facebook or Twitter have the right to block that post. It's all about individuals and hurtful words and, in a sense, the veneer of respect. This is, without question, important to notice and organize around. Because if left unchallenged, it will morph into the situations in many other countries, like Pakistan, where hate speech is an organized force with the government compliant or actually involved.
Ironically, the key here may be to resist the obvious solution: repression of these forms of communication. That would be the government's choice, of course, because free expression is the greatest threat to it.
"We at Bytes for All hold Freedom of Expression very dear as an inviolable fundamental human right," Bytes for All's Ahmad said, "but often see it being fettered in false paradigms of morality, security, national interest or even hate speech.
"The need to counter the spread of hate speech in Pakistan's online space," the report's summary states, "is a pressing concern that needs to be addressed through a multi-pronged approach that educates, creates awareness and discourages hate and intolerance, prohibits and criminalizes the most extreme and dangerous forms of hate speech by law, yet guarantees that fundamental human rights to free speech and information are safeguarded."
Why we need to safeguard those rights was made painfully obvious earlier this month when the Egyptian court sentenced Alaa Abdel Fattah to 15 years in jail for being part of the 2013 demonstration. While Egypt -- known for the bizarre decisions of some of its judges -- has never been a beacon for judicial fairness, this imprisonment has a logic. That logic has become even clearer with the remarkably nasty sentencing this week of three journalists for the Al Jazeera network.
Fattah is one of Eqypt's most visible democracy activists and his blog, read world-wide, is one of the democracy movement's most respected news sources. Eloquent, charismatic, funny and principled without question, he's the kind of guy repressive governments view as a rash.
But the popular blogger has been much more than a source of information and interviews. He's a revolutionary activist and, possibly most dreaded, a "techie". He has spent the last period of time alternating between his blog and the training of Egyptian young people in the important tasks of coding, running servers and developing websites.
They knew what they were doing when they jailed Alaa Abdel Fattah. This was an attack, not only on free communications but on people's ability to develop the tools of communication.
The Al Jazeera case has provoked a deserved condemnation internationally but the attention to Fattah's case has been largely limited, at least in the United States, to technology organizations and rights groups. That has to change. The Internet is ours. It was started by people (not governments or companies) and the movements for change in this world now use it as our principle communications and mobilizing tool. Governments are not happy about that and their efforts to control it (and repress it when they can't control it) are attacks on our movements, our future and us. We can't ignore that.
Ironically, the key here may be to resist the obvious solution: repression of these forms of communication. That would be the government's choice, of course, because free expression is the greatest threat to it.
"We at Bytes for All hold Freedom of Expression very dear as an inviolable fundamental human right," Bytes for All's Ahmad said, "but often see it being fettered in false paradigms of morality, security, national interest or even hate speech.
"The need to counter the spread of hate speech in Pakistan's online space," the report's summary states, "is a pressing concern that needs to be addressed through a multi-pronged approach that educates, creates awareness and discourages hate and intolerance, prohibits and criminalizes the most extreme and dangerous forms of hate speech by law, yet guarantees that fundamental human rights to free speech and information are safeguarded."
Fattah is one of Eqypt's most visible democracy activists and his blog, read world-wide, is one of the democracy movement's most respected news sources. Eloquent, charismatic, funny and principled without question, he's the kind of guy repressive governments view as a rash.
But the popular blogger has been much more than a source of information and interviews. He's a revolutionary activist and, possibly most dreaded, a "techie". He has spent the last period of time alternating between his blog and the training of Egyptian young people in the important tasks of coding, running servers and developing websites.
They knew what they were doing when they jailed Alaa Abdel Fattah. This was an attack, not only on free communications but on people's ability to develop the tools of communication.
The Al Jazeera case has provoked a deserved condemnation internationally but the attention to Fattah's case has been largely limited, at least in the United States, to technology organizations and rights groups. That has to change. The Internet is ours. It was started by people (not governments or companies) and the movements for change in this world now use it as our principle communications and mobilizing tool. Governments are not happy about that and their efforts to control it (and repress it when they can't control it) are attacks on our movements, our future and us. We can't ignore that.
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