IGF 2010, 14-17 September 2010, Vilnius (Lithuania)

Open forum: Internet openness and privacy

Council of Europe open forum: states must cooperate to protect openness and privacy online

 [15/09/2010] In her opening speech at the Council of Europe open forum at the IGF, the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, pointed out that openness and the protection of privacy are key elements for building trust and confidence on the Internet, and that states should cooperate with other stakeholders to ensure them.

Markku Laukkanen, Chairman of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Sub-Committee on the Media, said that Internet freedom and openness have become more important with the steady increase in audiovisual media on the Internet and the majority of users shifting from traditional media to those new converged Internet media. “It is therefore important to identify and tackle the structural and operational restrictions to Internet freedom which may endanger the freedom necessary for every individual and democratic states in the 21st century”, he added.

Andreja Rihter, rapporteur of the PACE Committee on Culture, Science and Education, stressed that states are obliged to protect privacy of everyone under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. He said states should not only avoid any violation of privacy of Internet users through their own action, but also protect users against privacy intrusions by commercial entities.

Representatives of the private sector – including representatives of Facebook and Microsoft – participated in the forum, which will serve for the preparation of two PACE reports on the protection of privacy and on Internet openness.

- Programme
- Speech by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio
- Speech by Markku Laukkanen
- Speech by Andreja Rihter
- Transcript