Estonia, Forum, Internet, Legislation, Technology, USA

Photo: flickr.com

According to Estonia's Foreign Minister, regrettably there are a lot of examples in the world today of attempts to restrict access to the use of the Internet and also freedom of expression on line. “Some countries have actually passed legislation in order to impede the use of social media,” Paet said. “The propagation of lies and propaganda has also been promoted by restricting the use of the Internet,” he added.

Paet said the key to fighting propaganda and lies and to ensure the freedom of the Internet is education. “The Internet offers many opportunities for a better education. The development of digital literacy is needed so that Internet users can make informed choices.” At the same time, countries must commit to ensuring free access to the Internet, to providing the required infrastructure and to encourage use of the Internet, as has been the case for a long while in Estonia.

The discussion focused on Freedom Online Coalition’s recommendations “Tallinn Agenda for Freedom Online”, adopted at the high-level conference in April in Tallinn. The implementation of the 23 recommendations will occur in close cooperation with representatives of the private sector and NGOs. Its progress will be evaluated at the Coalition’s next conference in Mongolia.

In addition to Foreign Minister Paet, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression Frank La Rue, Facebook representative Sarah Wynn-Williams, Human Rights Watch representative Eileen Donahoe and Foreign Ministry undersecretary for legal and consular affairs Marina Kaljurand also participated in the panel discussion.

Presentations were made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia Luvsanvandan Bold and the Coordinator for Mexico’s National Digital Strategy Alejandra Lagunes Soto.