free speech/human rights/the web
DESCRIPTION
The uprisings that have occurred all over the world in the last year have largely relied on web and social tools to spread. Tech companies been forced to respond to these events, sometimes supporting human rights and other times suppressing human rights. This presentation builds a case for supporting human rights through high-tech tools and the web.TRANSCRIPT
Last December, the Tunisian revolu5on started when a frustrated fruit vendor set himself on fire. That man, Mohamed Bouazii, was only 26. He was the sole earner for his 8 family members -‐-‐ and word about his death spread quickly across the web -‐-‐ though the implica5ons of his act wouldn’t be realized un5l much, much later.
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Back in 2009, Neda Agha Soltan was shot and killed during the Iranian Elec5on protests. Her death was captured on video and broadcast across the web, through LiveStream, YouTube and Vimeo. It was later described as “probably the most widely witnessed death in human history.” Like Mohamed, Neda was 26, and frustrated. She was from a middle class family -‐-‐ while he was from a lower class family. In life both were powerless indivisuals. In death they became the symbols that united their countries.
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The riots in London weren’t that different. A man was killed by the police, which resulted in widespread outrage, communicated through the web and mobile devices.
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That man’s name is Mark Duggan.
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The riots lasted 6 days, during which one story in par5cular led me to raise a concerned eyebrow to the issue of free speech, human rights and the web.
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You see, in hopes of ending the days long riots, bri5sh lawmakers considered shuYng down Facebook, Twi[er and Blackberry Messenger, which were the primary communica5ons tools for rioters.
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This is par5cularly alarming because the UK’s speech laws are similar to our First Amendment. So if the Bri5sh government can discuss shuYng off the internet so can ours. Luckily, the Bri5sh government made the right choice and kept the connec5on switched on.
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When this kind of thing happens, as it did in London, Mexico, Egypt, Libya and elsewhere, we as Americans must take no5ce. Because as soon as we take speech for granted, we’ve eroded our right to it. And that’s exactly what happened just this summer.
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In July San Francisco transit police shot and killed this man, 45 year old Charles Hill. Ader Hil’s death protests organized by the now infamous hack5vist group Anonymous lasted for 5 days.
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The most chao5c moment of those protests came when a group of 100 protestors tried to stop a commuter train from leaving the sta5on. BART authori5es, aware that the internet inside the BART subway system was being used to coordinate the protests, began mulling whether or not to shut the system down. Not the trains, the internet. Unfortunately, BART authori5es did temporarily shut down internet service. BART thought they were doing the right thing, that they were protec5ng lives by breaking up the protests – but ul5mately their decision limited the protesters’ ability to communicate, a fact that some say makes that choice uncons5tu5onal and illegal.
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What is most eye-‐opening about the BART protests is that they used the same tac5c as ousted Egyp5an president Hasni Mubarek ader thousands of Egyp5ans peacefully converged on Tahrir Square just months prior.
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As Mubarak learned, turning off the internet only served to bolster the movement he was trying to suppress.
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Oden in these situa5ons, it only takes one incident to transform a protest into a full blown revolu5on. Something as common as death, as we saw with Neda, Mohamed, James and Charles is proof that very li[le separates one event from the other. As the saying goes, some fight with guns, others fight with ideas.
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And to spread their ideas, these willful individuals are increasingly turning to the social tools. When those get shut down, they use their mobiles. When their mobiles no longer work, they go back to the original medium – physical protest.
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Occupy Wall Street exemplifies this point. What started as a series of denial of service a[acks on governmental and media web sites and Twi[er accounts soon transferred to the streets of some 30 American ci5es. Though some claim this movement is without formal demands, the 99%, who include people like this, are telling the world they’re 5red of being bystanders in their own lives, of being slaves to their debt,
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…of not having enough money to see a doctor. “I’m 18” this college freshman writes”…I haven’t been to the doctor since I was 14. I don’t know what we’re going to do when the money is gone.”
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Another writes, “I have a masters degree and a full 5me job in my field, and I have started selling my body to pay off the debt. I am the 99%.”
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These are the people who support Occupy Wall Street. On Saturday 700 of them were arrested while trying to march across the Brooklyn Bridge, following two weeks of protests on Wall Street -‐-‐ again organized by Anonymous, just blocks from where we sit today. The 99% are all around us, they’re in this room right now.
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So what can we as marketers take away from understanding the cross-‐sec5on of Free Speech, Human Rights and the Web? Do we as communicators have a role in protec5ng people’s right to free speech, and what are the consequences if we don’t? How should tech companies respond when governments require them to shut down the internet? How do we, as an industry, protect the right to speech that we rely on to do our jobs? As web communica5ons companies are dragged into these ba[les, it’s more important than ever for them to understand how to navigate these troubled waters; we need to figure out how to get ahead of the problem, and see it not as a risk to our brands, but an opportunity to show our customers that the communica5ons industry supports their rights. Our rights.
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At the end of the month, Facebook, Google, Yahoo!, SKYPE, Mozilla, AT&T and a great number of the world’s leaders in tech ac5vism, human rights, policy and development are converging on Silicon Valley to discuss these very topics. The Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference will be a[ended by progressive global brands and individuals like Gap, Twi[er, The New York Times, Robert Scoble, Craig Newmark, Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner and many more. This event is meant to help tech companies understand how to approach these sensi5ve topics, while maintaining the fundamental human rights we as Americans are bound to protect.
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You can learn more about the conference at rightscon.org.
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If the events of the last year have taught me anything, it’s that the process of social change starts only when people speak freely. In the US we have it pre[y good, and haven’t needed to unite on a na5onal level for a long 5me. I believe that what we’re seeing today is not some kind of anarchist movement, rather it’s an act of restlessness by a society that hasn’t cleared its throat since the 60s, when the previous genera5on banded together to call for change. Today Americans are figh5ng for their right to speak, at a 5me when the web is opening up a new world of informa5on and communica5ons technologies. The last ques5on I’ll pose for you today then is, how will we, as communicators for hire, respond? Thank you and good adernoon.
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