An Ethical Framework: Mechanisms For User-Enabled Choice and

Normative Claims

Marshall Conley, Christina Patterson,

Carolyn Watters & Michael Shepherd

InfoEthics 2000Paris November 13-15

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

UNESCO has human rights competence in a number of areas, including:

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stresses the right to information, including freedom of opinion and expressionThis right includes freedom to hold opinions without

interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers

Article 12 refers to arbitrary interference with privacy …

UNESCO and the Information Highway: The Balance Between Control and Access

The Web is increasingly important for the exchange of knowledge, information & experience

UNESCO's INFO-ethics Programme stresses the importance of universal access to information in the public domain

UNESCO’S INFO-ethics Programme

Encourages international co-operation in promotion of:

the principles of equality, justice and mutual respect in the emerging Information Society

the identification of major ethical issues in the production, access, dissemination, preservation and use of information in the electronic environment

the provision of assistance to Member States in the formulation of strategies and policies on these issues

Ethical Frameworks and User-Enabled choice

There are no unified authorities, only multiple stakeholders with complex and contradictory agendas

This decentralized participation results in the individual user adding new content and tools to the system as a whole

The unified operating authority is replaced by a contradictory, and even chaotic form of control

Structural and systemic elements, such as web-filtering systems, represent ‘acknowledged conditions’ to uphold freedom of expression through ‘choice mechanisms’

The Good, the Bad and the Illegal

Like other communication technologies, the Internet carries a potentially harmful or illegal content and can be misused as a vehicle for criminal activities

However, there exist a number of different legal regimes at the national and international level to deal with this:

National security – instructions for bomb making, illegal drug production, etc

Protection of minors – violence, pornography, abusive forms of marketing

Protection of human dignity – incitement to racial hatred or racial discrimination

Ethical Considerations } normative orientation and public dialogue

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have the option to provide users with the choice to control the content delivered to users over the InternetRather than retrieving items from the Web,

filtering systems are used to selectively restrict access to materials on the Web

Control?

The deployment of content control should be a reflection of individual, community and social policies and preferencesWe can use systems which ‘filter out’ Web sites

or Web pages that contain material that is objectionable to a community of users

Two principles must be considered:Communication Principle: The right of

communications as a fundamental human rightFree Expression Principle

Codes of Conduct?

The important questions:Whose strategy?Whose choice?

During this time of process innovation, codes of conduct, the realities, significance, and consequences of barriers to access, whether publicly or privately created, must be explored

Mechanisms for Realization of these Policies

We feel that a combination of mechanisms is required:Normative Codes of Conduct developed by UNESCO Industry self-regulationFacilitation of end-user choice through technology

Technology by itself is not the solution

A Caveat

By early July 2000 a new Internet model began to evolve – ‘peer-to-peer’

Peer-to-peer communications takes away the ISP as the middleman. This means that you and I can communicate directly as long as we both have IP addresses and know each other’s address

The importance is that government will not be able to impose filtering at the ISP level

The Problem: the Web

1 billion documents (April 2000)Average query is 2 words (e.g., sara name)

Continual explosive growth

Balance global indexing and access and unintentional access to inappropriate material

What were we doing pre-Web?

Channel access

Deny access

Check for age

Internet opens new Channels

E-mail ftp telnet List servers Bulletin boards Discussion groups Chat rooms Instant messaging Web pages

Filtering

labelbase

Webdoc

URLlists

keywordsratings URLs

What have we got to work with?

Page Filtering Application Types

Client-side: Special purpose browser applications e.g., SurfMonkey

Server-side: Child friendly portals e.g.,Yahoo, Lycos

ProxiesBlack and white listsKeyword profilesLabels

Browser Application: www.surfmonkey.com

Server-Side: Public Portals

Sneaky!!

Proxy level (hidden)

What works well?

What’s the problem?

Site Labels Trust

Who does the labels?Are the labels authentic?Has the source document changed?

Scale - A billion docs?

Black and White listsDitto

Text analysis of page contentsPoor results

Other Filtering Application Types

Authorized Access to Adult materiale.g., Australian plan credit card proof of age

Anonymity protectionZeroKnowledge

Non-Http FiltersEmail, etc.

Activity Monitorsprivacy

On-going Issues to be addressed

Freedom of Expression

Protection of Minors

Summary

A combination of mechanisms is required:Normative Codes of Conduct developed by

UNESCOIndustry self-regulationFacilitation of end-user choice through

technologyEnd-user must know what is being filtered, when it is

being filtered, and why it is being filtered

Technology by itself is not the solution

More Info on Filtering

Industry Canada reportContent Filtering Technologies and Internet Service Providers:

Enabling User Choicehttp://strategis.ic.gc.ca/internet

European Commission – Info. Society Websitehttp://www.ispo.cec.be/iap

Web information filtering lab: http://www.cs.dal.ca/wifl {shepherd | watters}@cs.dal.ca Marshall.Conley@knowledgehouse.net