Association and Assembly in the Digital Age This paper examines the trend of governments restricting the associational activities of Facebook groups, social networks and other online communities and analyzes the protections provided to these groups under international law.

UN Human Rights Council Resolution on Freedom of Assembly and Association

This October 2012 resolution reminds states that all individuals have the right to assemble peacefully and associate freely, online as well as offline.

Report on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression

In this 2011 report, UN Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue emphasizes the applicability of international human rights norms on the right to freedom of opinion and expression to the Internet. .

Statements on Digital Freedoms

This entry includes remarks by former U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton at the OSCE First Plenary Session in Lithuania in December 2011 where she compared the rights of a gathering on Facebook to a public demonstration; a press release from the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in June 2011 stating that human rights must be respected both online and offline; and a report of the European Parliament from November 2012 on the EU Digital Freedom Strategy.

Draft Resolution on the Promotion, Protection and Enjoyment of Human Rights on the Internet

In this 2012 resolution, the UN Human Rights Council decided to continue “its consideration of the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, on the Internet and in other technologies…”

The Copenhagen Document, 1990

Article 9 of this OSCE document affirmed that the freedom of expression applied to new mass printing technologies in 1990 and, more broadly, that laws governing new technologies incorporate preexisting rights in any era.

The Jamming of Western Radio Broadcasts to Eastern Europe and The Soviet Union: The CSCE Compromise and its Future 

This article argues that the Soviet Union’s decision to stop jamming broadcasts at the end of the Cold War was not a concession, but rather signified that it was respecting its international obligations undertaken years earlier.

Global Internet Filtering Map

The OpenNet Initiative tracks restrictions on access to the Internet in more than forty countries worldwide.