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By María Teresa Aveggio, Programme Manager
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After the boycott of the Internet on 18 January 2012 as a protest against proposed copyright legislation that would put the Internet’s open architecture in serious danger (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/01/17/f-sopa-canada.html) and online services like Wikipedia and Reddit along with some 115,000 other websites went dark , a new initiative has emerged in defence of the Internet: the Declaration of Internet Freedom (http://www.internetdeclaration.org/ )a short manifesto for a free and open Internet.
The Declaration is the initiative of many of the people and organizations that helped make the protest a resounding success. Its goal is to energise the millions of people who fought back against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act ) in an effort to ensure that the powers that be were unable to destroy the Web as the wide open space which it has been until now.
Launched on 4 July 2012 to coincide with Independence Day in the USA, the Declaration of Internet Freedom has been signed by more than 100 tech innovators, start-up founders, free speech activists, international human rights organisations and academics. |
| Image credit: www.theworldsbestever.com |
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Stating that “We stand for a free and open internet”, the Declaration represents a shift of the Internet community from the defensive to the offensive. It proposes a set of five principles and calls for governments to respect them: freedom of expression, access, openness, innovation and privacy. Organizations, groups and individuals all over the world are invited to sign the online petition in an effort to ensure that the freedom and openness that has characterised the Internet until now continues intact for the future.
Access and distribution of the Declaration was given a huge boost when Global Voices Online (http://globalvoicesonline.org/), an international network of bloggers, translator and citizen journalists, and its Project Lingua (http://globalvoicesonline.org/lingua/) decided to translate the Declaration. Since 4 July, the Declaration has appeared in 63 languages from K’iche, to Galician, from Afghan Dari to Aymara, from Azerbaijani to Hebrew and from Malagasy to Nepali. Project Lingua seeks to amplify Global Voices in languages other than English with the help of volunteer translators.
Paula Góes, online multilingual editor of Global Voices, says that she was very happy to join forces with Internet users from all over the world to make the Declaration available in 63 languages – and counting!
WACC, an ecumenical association of communicators around the world, is committed to communication rights which include free and accessible Internet for all.
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