September 13, 1996 Glenn Sipin Philippines Council for Advanced Science and Technology Research and Development DOST Main Building General Santos Avenue Bicutan Taguig, Metro Manilla, The Philippines BY FAX: 011-632-837-3168 Dear Mr. Sipin: I am taking the liberty of sending you the attached document, signed by a number of human rights and Internet liberties organizations. It concerns the recent decision by ASEAN nations to regulate content on the Internet. I respectfully ask that you give it your full consideration, and that you favor us with a response. Sincerely, Sidney Jones Executive Director Human Rights Watch/Asia September 13, 1996 We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to express our opposition to the decision announced on September 4 by ASEAN member nations to collectively regulate communication on the Internet. The agreement was announced in Singapore, at the close of a meeting of officials from ASEAN member nations that was organized by the Singapore Broadcasting Authority. We would like to respectfully remind the Philippines government that content-based restrictions on online communication violate internationally guaranteed rights of free expression. As stated in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. The agreement did not include the adoption of a common regulatory framework by ASEAN member nations. However, we are concerned that a number of delegates to the meeting reportedly expressed support for Singapore's recently established Internet Code of Practice. Human Rights Watch/Asia has written to the Singaporean government to oppose these new regulations, which impose sweeping controls on content, including political discussion. The regulations have already resulted in arbitrary censorship of at least one newsgroup message. They will surely induce a chill on on-line speech in Singapore, and, as evidenced by the ASEAN decision, they will affect online speech throughout the region. We were pleased to see that press reports from the meeting quoted you as saying that the Philippines would not follow Singapore's example, and that "political control would not be on the Philippines' agenda." We sincerely hope that the Philippines will use its influence within ASEAN to urge Singapore and other nations that may follow that country's unfortunate lead to lift the restrictions that have already been put in place and to affirm international standards for freedom of expression. It has been reported that one of the reasons for the ASEAN agreement was a concern for preserving cultural values. While we recognize the importance of representation for all cultures on the Internet, we oppose censorship as a means of ensuring respect for cultural norms. We believe that the most effective means of responding to offensive content is by disseminating more content. Censoring offensive material will not remove it from the Internet; it will simply cause it to be reproduced on additional Internet sites. We believe that the lack of agreement on a common regulatory strategy by ASEAN member nations demonstrates the futility of attempts by nations or groups of nations to introduce online content regulation schemes. Within the ASEAN group itself, the cultural values of Vietnam, for example, differ significantly from cultural values of the Philippines. It is unlikely that the diverse group of ASEAN nations will reach an agreement on the specifics of what should be censored, and how that censorship should be accomplished. Moreover, because the Internet is a global medium, moves to restrict online content will initiate battles for competing cultural values on an international scale. In closing, we would like to add that the attempt to restrict Internet communication will detract from the many benefits that electronic communication is bringing to the region. We hope that the Philippines will continue to reject censorship and instead focus on the new opportunities that the Internet can provide to the citizens of the ASEAN region. Human Rights Watch/Asia CITADEL-Electronic Frontier France (http://www.imaginet.fr/~mose/citadel) Les Chroniques de Cyberie, Canada (http://www.cyberie.qc.ca/chronik/) Electronic Privacy Information Center, USA (http://www.epic.org) American Civil Liberties Union, USA (http://www.epic.org) cyberPOLIS, USA (http://www.cyberpolis.org/cyberPOLIS/) Electronic Frontier Foundation, USA (http://www.eff.org) ALCEI-Electronic Frontiers Italy (http://www.nexus.it/alcei) Association des Utilisateurs d'Internet (AUI), France (http://www.aui.fr) Fronteras Electronicas Espana (FrEE)--Electronic Frontiers Spain (http://www.lander.es/~jlmartin/) EFF-Austin (http://www.eff-austin.org) Digital Citizens Foundation Netherlands--DBNL (http://www.xs4all.nl/~db.nl)