Internet access is rapidly moving into the domain of human rights. It’s not quite the same as the essential right to food, water, and shelter, but without internet access people and groups can be significantly marginalized within society, excluded opportunity and information, and prevented from taking a holistic role in the democratic process.

Google‘s moves out of China highlight some of the issues with respect to censorship and freedom of speech. And the contrary views of nations regarding the so-called three-strikes rule in Finland (against) and France (for) highlight those of copyright control and the ability of trade organizations to apparently manipulate governments. The UK too is set to see draconian laws put in place allegedly because certain industry types have been cozying up to unelected members of government.

So, it was interesting to read a research paper from Lateef Mtima of the Howard University School of Law. Mtima points out that the problem of internet copyright infringement is one of the most familiar legal controversies of our time. There are various camps within the debate. There are, of course, the multinational copyright holders and the legal teams who are making copyright enforcement an industry in itself now that the old business model of actually selling the produce of talent is not offering shareholders such a good return on their investment. Then there are the criminal networks that mass produce and sell pirated DVDs and CDs, often to fund other criminal activities. Stuck in between are the small and medium companies with little protection and few concerns, the petty criminals, the naïve downloaders, and the freedom advocates and activists.

Whatever one’s view of the pertinent social debates, however, some facts are plain,” says Mtima. “Unauthorised internet distribution of copyrighted works is a prima facie violation of the copyright law [in the US].”

There is a vast spectrum of copyright infringement taking place every day on the internet. However, given the adoption of internet access as a human right, any industry action that seeks to deprive an individual accused of infringement, whether file sharing or posting copyright materials on a website must follow legal due process. We cannot afford to have a society that allows an industry and its heavies to take away an individual’s human rights. The legal system in democracies across the globe exists to protect the human rights of everyone on both sides of any argument. It must be for the legal systems to decide how and when personal freedoms might be removed in sentencing convicted criminals to jail or fines. Trade associations and their lawyers must not be allowed to side-step the law.

The arguments have been laid out many times before, but fundamentally no one is guilty until proven so. Moreover, even if a court decides it appropriate to deprive an individual of their internet access, how might that be implemented in any practical sense. If an internet provider is ordered to disable an account in a family home, a hotel, or business because one person there is found guilty of an infringement, then there will inevitably be problems in enforcing that punishment given that many other people may legitimately rely on the same internet connection.

“Ubiquitous internet access benefits everyone, and it would be to society’s detriment if it were to be unduly restricted in order to protect intellectual property rights,” says Mtima. “A
vibrant internet community requires a realistic balancing of all of legitimate interests.”

Lateef Mtima (2010). A vibrant internet community requires a realistic balancing of all of legitimate interests. Int. J. Private Law , 3 (3), 197-220

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