Intermediary Liability and Fundamental Rights

Author(s):  
Christophe Geiger ◽  
Giancarlo Frosio ◽  
Elena Izyumenko

This chapter sets the stage for considering the tension between intermediary liability and fundamental rights with special emphasis on the European legal framework. Competing fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, privacy, freedom of business, and the right to property are entangled with the intermediary liability conundrum. Policymakers are still in search of a balanced and proportional fine-tuning of online intermediaries’ regulation that might address the miscellaneous interests of all stakeholders involved, with special emphasis on users’ rights. In this context, the increasing reliance on automated enforcement technologies, which will be the topic of further review in multiple chapters throughout the Handbook, might set in motion dystopian scenarios where users’ fundamental rights are heavily undermined.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ani Kristo

Today’s society is part of a shared digital life, with an Internet population of 3.2 billion people. Though this colossal data infrastructure enables communication, information sharing, and collaboration, it is a place that favors a paradigm of continuous collection and storage of data, without much analysis of how that disrupts certain social norms and induces cases of violations of fundamental rights like privacy, freedom, and protection from discrimination.In 2016, the European Union adopted the General Data Protection Regulation, which introduced a right for individuals to have their personal data erased. This opened a discussion on privacy and identity concerns in the context of perpetual stigmatization and discrimination due to obsolete data that remains on the web. Through analyses of some cases in the U.S. and E.U., this paper will investigate the challenges of importing a similar legal framework for the erasure of personal data in the U.S., while ensuring the freedom of expression and maintaining the quality of the search engines and respective websites.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Nemţoi ◽  

Established as a personal right, the right to free speech implies obligations and duties, which may generate possible restrictions. Freedom of expression works correctly in a legal framework when it comes to a legitimate aim in a state law. Article 10, paragraph 2, of the Convention explains the conditions under which the right to freedom of expression is justified by the need to protect certain public interests (such as those relating to national security, the territorial space of the state, public order, the prevention of crimes, the protection of health and social morals, the guarantee of authority and the impartiality of the judiciary) but also to protect certain private interests, such as reputation and the rights of others. persons or the need to prevent the publication of secret information. This paragraph basically authorizes states to take certain measures to protect those interests, which materialize through rules and normative rules of the right to conscience, opinion and freedom of expression States enjoy a margin of appreciation for establishing the need for such reactions in a state governed by the rule of law, but in the end it is also up to the European Court of Human Rights to rule on the compatibility of interference with the provisions of the Convention, assessing on a case-by-case basis if the interference arises as a result of the urgent social issues and whether it is fair.


Author(s):  
Bojan Urdarević ◽  

Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are fundamental rights of workers and a means of achieving a balance between the interests of workers and employers. Through collective bargaining, the parties in the collective negotiations identify common but also mutually conflicting interests and come to a common agreement. In this sense, collective bargaining can be a means of achieving a balance between, on the one hand, employers' desire for greater flexibility at work and on the other hand, the desire of employees to adapt their obligations and needs. It is important to note that the success of collective bargaining depends largely on the economic, institutional, political and legal framework in which collective negotiations between unions and employers take place. For this reason, the level of development of collective bargaining and social dialogue is different from state to state. Today, the right to collective bargaining has become widely recognized in the academic community as a key instrument for regulating working conditions and relations between employers and workers in a way that ensures fairer distribution of funds, improves working conditions and preserves the dignity of workers,but also institutionalizes industrial conflicts.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Zuryati Mohamed Yusoff

<p>In Malaysia, the rights and liberties of the individual are recognised in the Federal Constitution of Malaysia. However, the right to privacy does not have the express constitutional recognition enjoyed by other rights such as the right to life and liberty and freedom of expression. This thesis identifies gaps in the protection of privacy interests in the current legal framework. There is no self-standing law on privacy in Malaysia, though there are several laws which provide limited rights to privacy such as the laws on data protection and criminal law. The existing laws are inadequate to protect private information and to protect against the intrusion of privacy. The importation of foreign principles through the reception of English Common Law offers only limited protection. Malaysia should, therefore, have a specific law to protect privacy. With a view to attaining that goal for Malaysia, this thesis undertakes a comparative analysis of two different experiences of the development of the law of privacy. They are the privacy law in England, which is largely based on the law of breach of confidence, and the privacy law in New Zealand, which has a distinct privacy tort recognised in its case law. The conclusion is that those countries’ experience can inform developments in Malaysia, and that the best way for Malaysia to develop its law now is by the enactment of a specific Privacy Act.</p>


Author(s):  
O. Kosilova

The article analyzes human dignity as a legal category and fundamental natural human right. The place and role of the right to human dignity in the system of constitutional rights of Ukraine and Germany are compared. The scientific substantiation of the right to human dignity in Ukraine and Germany, its normative protection in both countries, is investigated. The approaches to defining and interpreting the right to human dignity in the practice of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany are compared. The relationship between the right to human dignity and other human rights is determined, as well as the sphere of protection of this right. In particular, there are parallels between the right to life and the right to human dignity, and their relationship is determined. It is substantiated that the human life and dignity of each person enjoy the same constitutional protection regardless of the duration of the individual's physical existence. It is established that among Ukrainian scholars there is no unified view of the right to dignity as a fundamental natural right. The right to human dignity in Ukraine is enshrined in the norms of constitutional, civil and criminal law. For the most part, the protection of the right to human dignity is correlated with the right to the protection of honour and goodwill. The right to human dignity and honour are not clearly distinguished. The legisla- tion of Ukraine does not contain a legal norm defining the concept of the right to human dignity. The case-law of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in this area is not sufficiently developed and does not constitute a proper legal framework. In Germany, the right to human dignity is a decisive and fundamental human right that is fundamental to all other rights. Human dignity is the supreme fundamental value and the root of all fundamental rights. The right to human dignity enshrined in Article 1 of the Constitution of the Fed- eral Republic of Germany defines it as an absolute value, which means that it cannot be restricted by any other norm, even by another fundamental right that follows from human dignity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-270
Author(s):  
Joanna Ryszka

Implementation of the internal market is one of the basic aims of cooperation between Member States within the EU, being at the same time an integration area that is perceived positively by both their supporters and opponents. Issues related to the implementation of the internal market freedoms are even more interesting in its confrontation with the protection of fundamental rights. This is undoubtedly a significant issue when we think about the degree of identification of the Union citizens with the Union itself. The reviewed monograph takes all the above-mentioned elements, focusing in particular on examining how and to what extent the protection of these rights is implemented in the EU legislation on the internal market. The scientific analysis carried out within its scope covered such important and basic rights as personal data protection, freedom of expression, basic rights related to the performance of work and the right to health protection.


2021 ◽  
pp. 360-389
Author(s):  
Howard Davis

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. It discusses European Convention law and relates it to domestic law under the HRA. Questions, discussion points, and thinking points help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress and knowledge can be tested by self-test questions and exam questions at the chapter end. This chapter focuses on Article 10, one of the fundamental rights acknowledged in a liberal, democratic society—freedom of expression. Article 10 is a qualified right which reflects the idea that there can be important and legitimate reasons as to why freedom of expression may need to be restricted in order to protect other important rights and freedoms. While the first paragraph of Article 10 establishes a general right to freedom of expression, its second paragraph identifies the only bases upon which the right can be restricted. Restriction of the freedom of expression is subject to scrutiny by the courts, and its necessity must be established by the state. In particular the chapter discusses human rights in the context of political speech and the impact of restraints on hate speech.


2021 ◽  
pp. 263-270
Author(s):  
William A. Schabas

Political rights are often grouped with civil rights as if both adjectives apply to certain categories, and some fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, can be described as belonging to both categories. But the concept of political rights has an autonomous meaning. It applies specifically to the democratic vision of human rights, encompassing the right to participate in government, the right to vote and the right to participate in government. Elections must be both genuinie and periodic, based upon universal and equal suffrage and by secret vote or an equivalent free voting procedure. Equal access to the public service is also comprised within political rights.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-484
Author(s):  
Niovi Vavoula

Abstract Since the past three decades, an elaborate legal framework on the operation of EU-Schengen information systems has been developed, whereby in the near future a series of personal data concerning almost all third-country nationals (TCN s) with an administrative or criminal law link with the EU/Schengen area will be monitored through at least one information system. This article provides a legal analysis on the embedment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools at the EU level in information systems for TCN s and critically examines the fundamental rights concerns that ensue from the use AI to manage and control migration. It discusses automated risk assessment and algorithmic profiling used to examine applications for travel authorisations and Schengen visas, the shift towards the processing of facial images of TCN s and the creation of future-proof information systems that anticipate the use of facial recognition technology. The contribution understands information systems as enabling the datafication of mobility and as security tools in an era whereby a foreigner is risky by default. It is argued that a violation of the right to respect for private life is merely the gateway for a series of other fundamental rights which are impacted, such as non-discrimination and right to effective remedies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 472-478
Author(s):  
Gina Orga-Dumitriu

Abstract From the traditional functions of the general principles of the EU law – of interpretation, completion of the gaps and legality control, the principle of balancing seems to meet the most the exigencies of the first of these. The limits of the role of CJEU are certainly put to the test when it is called to settle conflicts between fundamental rights/fundamental freedoms. The trends formulated in Schmidberger (on the conflict between the free circulation of the commodities and the freedom of expression) or Promusicae (on the conflict between the right to the effective protection of the intellectual property and the right to the respect of the private life and the protection of the personal data) are more than illustrative. The doctrine assessments of the action of this principle reflect three fields in which the applicability thereof tends to reserve to the Court a role that is susceptible of creating controversies on its traditional extension. According to the authorized voice of Professor Norbert Reich, the balancing in the jurisprudence on the abusive clauses, the balancing for the avoidance of excessive protection and the balancing in social conflicts (making visible an aggravation of the conflict between fundamental rights and fundamental freedoms) are concerned.


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