The current "napalm-piken" debate, along with the recent judgment
against Facebook in the Max Schrems' case (before the European Court of
Justice), highlight core challenges to freedom of expression in the
internet age. Professor Charles Ess will explore these examples against their larger
backgrounds, beginning with a brief review of the emergence of
traditions, norms, and practices of freedom of expression in conjunction
with first print and then electronic media (radio, film, TV). This
background raises a first conceptual question: are internet-based media
more like traditional presses, which enjoy the greatest latitude in
freedom of expression - or are they more like electronic media (radio,
film, TV) that have historically been far more controlled by the
nation-state?
More broadly, freedom of expression in the internet age is supported
and/or threatened by an array of institutions and actors, beginning with
the transnational corporations that, as private companies, are free to
exercise "corporate censorship." Since the rise of the internet as a
publicly accessible medium in the early 1990s, there have thus emerged
the current struggles between nation-states (as traditional protectors
of free expression), transnational corporations, international
institutions (such as UNESCO), and citizen activists (such as Max
Schrems) and NGOs vis-a-vis the transnational corporations that dominate
as both carriers and content-providers. Against this background, the Max
Schrems' victory against FB in the European Court of Justice and the
"napalm-piken" events _may_ suggest cautious optimism that greater
freedom of expression may prevail online.
This tuesdaycoffeseminar will be held in English, there is no registration needed and all are welcome!