Human rights, digital society, and the law: a research companion

Cover -- Half Title -- Series -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Notes on contributors -- Part I Introduction -- Human rights in the digital domain - the idea of non-coherence theory -- Part II Right to the internet and rights inside the internet - theoretical dimension -- 1 The sameness of human rights online and offline -- 2 Right of access to the internet - global approaches -- 3 The right to privacy: The end of Privacy Fatalism -- 4 Freedom of expression online -- 5 The digital disruption of human rights foundations -- Part III Legislation, judicial and stakeholder practices - practical dimension -- 6 The main challenges related to protecting human rights in the internet -- 7 Liability regimes for online human rights violations -- 8 Multistakeholderism - meaning and implications -- 9 Judicial balancing of human rights online -- 10 The role and practices of online stakeholders -- 11 The jurisprudence of the ECJ and ECtHR regarding data protection in the internet -- 12 The Internet Balancing Formula -- Part IV Specific issues related to human rights and the internet -- 13 Human rights and the right to be forgotten -- 14 Finding a judicial definition of journalism: a challenging exercise in the digital age -- 15 Combating hate speech online -- 16 European copyright and human rights in the digital sphere -- 17 Digital security and human rights: a plea for counter-infringement measures -- Part V Data protection issues -- 18 The challenge of personal data protection in the digital era and global responses -- 19 Data protection in the private sector: convergence or localisation of rights and expectations? -- 20 The protection of personal data in a digital society: the role of the GDPR -- Part VI Global perspective -- 21 Africa, the internet and human rights -- 22 The approach of North American courts towards the internet.

Right to the Internet and rights inside the Internet : theoretical dimension -- Legislation, judicial and stakeholder practices : practical dimension -- Specific issues related to human rights and the Internet -- Data protection issues -- Global perspective.

The Internet has created a formidable challenge for human rights law and practice worldwide. International scholarly and policy-oriented communities have so far established a consensus regarding only one main aspect - human rights in the internet are the same as offline. There are emerging and ongoing debates regarding not only the standards and methods to be used for achieving the "sameness" of rights online, but also whether "classical" human rights as we know them are contested by the online environment. The internet itself, in view of its cross-border nature and its ability to affect various areas of law, requires adopting an internationally oriented approach and a perspective strongly focused on social sciences. In particular, the rise of the internet, enhanced also by the influence of new technologies such as algorithms and intelligent artificial systems, has influenced individuals' civil, political and social rights not only in the digital world, but also in the atomic realm. As the coming of the internet calls into question well-established legal categories, a broader perspective than the domestic one is necessary to investigate this phenomenon. This book explores the main fundamental issues and practical dimensions related to the safeguarding of human rights in the internet, which are at the focus of current academic debates. It provides a comprehensive analysis with a forward-looking perspective of bringing order into the somewhat chaotic online dimension of human rights. It addresses the matter of private digital censorship, the apparent inefficiency of existing judicial systems to react to human rights violations online, the uncertainty of liability for online human rights violations, whether the concern with personal data protection overshadows multiple other human rights issues online and will be of value to those interested in human rights law and legal regulation of the internet.