I Book Review: Aspects of Regulating Freedom of Expression on the Internet
| Published date | 01 March 2011 |
| Date | 01 March 2011 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/016934411102900112 |
| Subject Matter | Part D: DocumentationI Book Review |
I Book Reviews
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 29/1 (2011) 143
Dragoş Cucereanu, As pects of Regulating Freedom of Exp ression on the Internet,
Intersentia, Antwerp, 200 8, 283 p., ISBN: 978–90–5095–8 42–41*
Can governments force internet service providers to deny their services to WikiLeaks?
May Facebook ban groups t hat deny the Holocaust, which is a c riminal oence in
certain countries but not in ot hers? ese examples illust rate how challenging it has
become to uphold freedom of ex pression and to balance it aga inst other va lues in a
globalised world, where the internet is the main forum for expression and information
for many people. is fascinating topic is the focus of Dragoş Cucereanu’s Ph.D. thesis
Aspects of Regulating Free dom of Expression on the Internet. Background to t his work
is the question of whether freedom of expression and the balance with ot her rights
and values is under threat, now that it becomes increasingly dicult for St ates to
eectively control p otentially harmfu l speech. Indeed, Cucerea nu’s work is certa inly
not limited to the techn ical issues that come up when dealing wit h the internet:
e rea l problems al l relate to changing relationships b etween the state and society and
their own nationa ls in the sense of less cont rol over the latter, and the need to accord ingly
nd new forms of regulation and cooperation a mong states to respond to such changes.
(p. 252)
His work raises two related issues: (1) how can the principles of freedom of expression
and its restrictions be applie d to the internet, considering its specic features; a nd (2)
how to eectively regulate speech on a global internet: is a global approach to harmful
speech necessar y?
In the rst part (chapter 2 and 3), the author aims to identify criteria for regulating
freedom of expression on the internet. is part is limited to three types of speech
– hate speech, obscenity and defamat ion – to illustrate t he issues at hand. Chapter 2
provides an analysis of t he principles behind freedom of speech and its restrict ions,
as derived from the case law of the European Court of Huma n Rights (ECtHR) a nd
the legal systems of severa l Western States. First, Cucerea nu looks at the social values
that s pecic speech bans aim to protect, such as protection of the vict ims’ life and
security which is one of the goals of hate speech bans. Secondly, he analyses how those
types of spe ech can lead to harm to such va lues (for instance, h ate speech can lead to
immediate v iolent action a gainst victims). Aer ident ifying the t ypes of actions t hat
can be used to prevent or dimi nish such harms (such as punishment of the author, or
changing the content of the materia l) Cucereanu analyses the criter ia through which
the ECtHR judges the level of harm and the balance between freedom of expression
and other values (for instance the context of armed conic t, which makes it more
likely that hate speech will result in v iolent action.) In ch apter 3 Cucereanu applies
these criteria to the specic features of the internet. He starts by identifying who t he
* Marloes van Noorloos, Ph.D. candidate, Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminolo gy,
Utrecht University, the Net herlands.
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