Vendor
	Fritz Agency Christian Dittus
Original language
English

SPEECH POLICE

David Kaye

The Global Struggle to Govern the Internet

There is an epidemic sweeping the world, the Nigerian Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, said. It is the epidemic of fake news. Mixed with hate speech, it is a disaster waiting to happen. Some argue that the disaster has already happened. But is the solution as simple as ridding social media of disinformation and hate speech? Who should decide whether content should be removed from platforms, or which users should be kicked off? Should governments set the rules and force the American behemothsFacebook, YouTube and Twitterto follow? Or should the companies be permitted to moderate their space as they see fit?

David Kaye, one of the world's leading voices on human rights in the digital age, deals with these issues on a daily basis as the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression. Speech Police brings us behind the scenes, from Facebook's mini-legislative meetings to the European Commission's closed-door negotiations, and introduces journalists, activists, and content moderators who take down a virtual flood of photos, videos and text every day. He tells the story of people around the world who are trying to get it right while facing an almost impossible taskwith massive consequences for users and the public.

David Kaye is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the global body's principal monitor for freedom of expression issues worldwide. A professor of law at the University of California, Irvine, he began his legal career with the U.S. State Department. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and former member of the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law.

Available products
Book Published 2019-06-01 by Columbia Global Reports

Comments

Italy: Treccani Libri;

"We're at a critical juncture, in which the long-overdue techlash is being co-opted to put more power in the hands of Big Tech, in the guise of forcing the tech giants to take on more responsibility. Getting this right will have implications for decades. David Kaye's book is crucial to understanding the tactics, rhetoric and stakes in one of the most consequential free speech debates in human history." Cory Doctorow, author of Radicalized, Walkaway and Little Brother "Speech Police is an essential primer for understanding the toughest global governance problem of our digital age. The future of human rights and democracy depends on whether the exercise of government and private power across globally networked digital platforms can be constrained and held accountable." Rebecca MacKinnon, author, Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom "This is an important, timely, and provocative book on a hugely important topic. Everyone interested in free expression and social media should (and will) read it." Noah Feldman, Felix Frankfurter Professor at Harvard Law School "Speech Police doesn't merely surface the key questions surrounding platform governance and content moderation with flair and brevity it also introduces us to the varied people and institutions asking and answering them." Jonathan Zittrain, George Bemis Professor of International Law, Professor of Computer Science, and Co-Founder, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University "In this accessible, urgent volume, Kaye takes us on a whirlwind global tour of social media's sites of impact, from on-the-ground reports of activists in dangerous political climates to the candid conversations behind the closed doors of corporate boardrooms and the halls of government alike. His access allows us an unprecedented and often unguarded view of the players at all echelons, be they corporate scions, heads of state or rabble-rousing resistance journalists. In all cases, Kaye unveils the competing interests, hidden motivations, factions and forces influencing these platforms and introduces us to the many actors with a stake in their proliferation or restriction. All are given an unvarnished analysis by the individual charged with advancing the principles of human rights for a worldwide constituency. ... A must-read for anyone invested in the issues this book touches: in other words, all of us." Sarah Roberts, Assistant Professor of Information Studies, University of California Los Angeles "David Kaye has been an outstanding UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, and in this report he pungently distils his findings on one of the most important issues of our time." Timothy Garton Ash, author of Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World

An essential contribution to the discussion of free speech and its online enemies. Read more...