Privacy, Free Speech and Community: Applying Human Rights Law to Cyberspace
Valerie Steeves · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · 2000
The Internet is full of contradictions. On the one hand, the medium lends itself to free speech and individual empowerment. But at the same time, online communities have a great deal of power when it comes to enforcing group standards. Child pornographers trade obscene graphic files across international borders under a cloak of perceived anonymity. But the open nature of the network makes it a simple thing for police forces to put those individuals under surveillance, without even having to obtain search warrants. Consumers have vast quantities of product information at their fingertips, putting them in the driver’s seat of the virtual marketplace. But online corporations now routinely collect and mine the vast bits of personal data those consumers leave behind them wherever they surf. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.