CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Mileszyk, Natalia Katarzyna |
|---|---|
| Title | THE PROTECTION OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS ONLINE: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND INTERMEDIARY SERVICES PROVIDERS SECONDARY LIABILITY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION |
| Summary | The blocking of twitter users, unwanted content on webpages or controversial comments on blogs – these are only a few examples how private actors censor content online. In the European Union the issue becomes more burning and widespread, since the E-Commerce directive makes the implementation of notice and take down procedure a defence against secondary liability of Intermediary Service Providers (ISPs).The impact of this procedure on limitation of freedom of expression is significant - the authors of publications are deprived of the right to prove if the content should never be blocked. Due to the fact that human rights do not bind private entities (ISPs are not responsible for human rights protection) the state should regulate possible interference of ISPs in such a way that their discretion is minimal. The paper analyses the legal framework of ISP liability in the European Union, the Council of Europe and Poland. It finds that EU member states within the process of regulating ISP liability did not fully take into consideration their human rights obligations. The thesis concludes that the state has positive obligation to legislate ISP secondary liability in order to protect freedom of speech against arbitrary decisions by ISPs and EU member states failed in this respect. The thesis supports this contention with an examination of both legislative measures and judicial decisions. So far the question of legal liability for Internet Service Providers for unlawful user generated content was mostly discussed from an economic or technical perspective – human rights aspects were neglected. The thesis, by closely examining the legal framework and practice in the European Union, the Council of Europe and Poland sheds new light on the rarely acknowledged issue of the interrelation of ISP liability and freedom of expression. |
| Supervisor | Irion, Kristina |
| Department | Legal Studies LLM |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/mileszyk_natalia.pdf |
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