UN Report on the freedom of opinion and the privacy on internet

A special rapporteur of the UN, Frank La Rue, prepared and published an important report dealing with the freedom of expression on the internet.

The report is very critical towards the so-called three-strike law in force in France and Great Britain as well as the establishment of a centralized system in France, which shuts down the Internet to people committing copyright infringements. According to the rapporteur, this measure is disproportionate and infringes paragraph 3 of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The report also criticizes the use of social media, the censorship of the Internet and the limitation of freedom of expression in China, Vietnam and Iran. La Rue also expressed some concerns regarding the liability of internet service providers.