The West's Coming Internet War

[Commentary] The United Nations declared an audacious new right to the Internet in a long report. In the wake of Middle Eastern revolutions of the Arab Spring, the UN states that the Internet acts as a catalyst for a variety of other human rights, for free expression and the democratic exchange of ideas.

This expression can "offend, shock or disturb" as well as attack governments and high-profile figures, but people must be able to raise their voices online. Frank La Rue, the UN's special rapporteur for free expression, goes on to encourage "intermediaries in particular to disclose details regarding content removal requests and accessibility of websites." Using technology to block and filter content, La Rue contends, violates states' obligation to guarantee free expression. The UN document appears designed to target repression abroad in more heavily repressive spots such as the Middle East and China and to trumpet what the special rapporteur may consider Western values of freedom (and potentially to herald disclosures from groups like WikiLeaks), but the real target of its missives as well as the legal implications could very well fall closer to home. Some European countries have voiced the same broader goal of the UN declaration -- that people should have a right to Internet access. As the report acknowledges, France declared as much in 2009. Yet the underlying sentiments of freedom and expression hardly harmonize with European sensibilities surrounding privacy. The digital and growing right to be forgotten doesn't fit easily into the UN's message. Even more complicating is the EU's own presence within the UN, accounting for 27 member nations and an eighth of the votes.

Could Europe's right to be forgotten evolve into a direct violation of the UN's newly entrenched principles and commitment to Internet liberty? Expect the battles to only be beginning.