Hungarian conference on Human rights v. Copyright in Feb 2012

10 December 2011 · Published by Stefan Larsson.

We have during the last few years heard arguments for treating internet access with a rights-based approach, and we have seen national legislative examples of it (i.e. Finland, Costa Rica). That the internet and access to it, means so much for so many in terms of how we lead our lives, education, information, banking etc, that not only should we not make laws that deny access for anyone, but we should secure a reliable access for everyone due to that the gain would be so high. For example, in relation to the so called Arab spring, access to internet has been spoken of as a means for democracy (check out this timeline).

This approach, however, is in stark contrast to another trend that seeks to disconnect users from Internet access if they violate intellectual property rights. This includes legislation based on the concept of “graduated response”, which imposes a series of penalties on copyright infringers that could lead to suspension of Internet service, such as the so-called “three- strikes-law” in France and the Digital Economy Act 2010 of the United Kingdom, or a recent proposal in Italy.

Conference 25 February 2012
This is a conflict that is not likely to go away. And a Hungarian conference in 25 February focuses the topic:

“Copyright and Human Rights in the Information Age: Conflict or Harmonious Coexistence?“

They invite presenters to submit paper proposal (500-600 words) before January 16, 2012. The conference is at the University of Szeged, in Hungary.

Special attention needs to be paid to the argument that claims that the access to Internet is a human right. This argument envisions protection against technical measures of the rights holders over the Internet, especially against the so-called “graduated response” regimes (according to which one’s Internet connection may ultimately be disconnected). Although the “access to Internet” is not declared to be a (generally and internationally accepted) human right per se, it has gained strong support within the file-sharing community, academia, and international organizations (including the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe). Several national legislative acts (f.e. in Finland and Costa Rica) and judicial decisions (f.e. in France) also support the view that “something has started”.

Will I see you there?

Read more here, or have a look at this Call for papers [pdf].