IGF 2014

Economic activity, human development and civic engagement converge on the Internet. In connecting producers and consumers of information, online intermediaries serve as a valuable tool for growth and innovation. By organising and facilitating access to information, data and user-generated content, intermediaries play a crucial role in protecting the human rights of end users. While the economic benefits provided by online intermediaries is fairly widely acknowledged, a concerted approach to understanding their impact on human rights demands our urgent attention.
This workshop will consider the various roles and functions that intermediaries fulfil in the online space. Currently, the types of intermediaries covered by different liability regimes changes considerably across jurisdictions. Policy concerns raised by classification of functions and responsibilities across different types of intermediaries are not addressed systematically in existing law or jurisprudence, leading to widely differing regimes being imposed both across different legal systems and within the same legal system. The aim of this workshop will be, then, to come to a more in-depth and rounded understanding of what are the different classes of intermediaries, how they differ functionally and if their differing roles should bear an impact on their responsibility with regards to protection of human rights.
The workshop will be an opportunity to present and discuss ongoing research on the changing definition of intermediaries and their responsibilities across jurisdictions and technologies and contribute to a comprehensible framework for liability that is consistent with the capacity of the intermediary and with international human-rights standards.