Reflection on the Internet and Human Rights in Indonesia

In pursuance of Article 19 of UNDR, 1948, which talks about freedom of opinion and expression through any media and regardless of frontiers, Internet in 21st century has become one of the needs of the people round the globe as it is now the most prominent medium of communication, access to various information and mode spreading one’s word to all. Although the UN Human Rights Council has increasingly recognized that offline rights, such as the right to free speech and the right to peaceful assembly, should apply online as well, human rights law does not include explicit protections for online expression and association. So, the question that will be discussed here is “Should Internet freedom be configured as a human right?”

Today, Internet plays an important role in the life of our nation and state. Internet, in the form of social media or social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, so closely in daily life of the majority of our society. Internet gave rise to various rights, which can be very basic. The most important of all rights that will be or have arisen from the use of the internet is the right of freedom to access the internet. These right actually contains two kinds of rights which are guaranteed in all national and international human rights instruments: the right to freedom of expression and the right to get information.

2011

Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) is an annual report focusing on issues affecting information societies around the world. GISWatch 2011 looked at internet rights and democratisation, with a focus on freedom of expression and association online. This Special Edition picks up where GISWatch 2011 left off, analysing more than 60 country and thematic reports in order to better reveal and build understanding of the broad range of practical actions and strategies that activists are developing. Five clear themes emerge. The first is a strong emphasis on the need for collaborative networking, online and offline, to build multi-stakeholder engagement that can contribute to protection of internet-related human rights. Key ingredients include building a collaborative network structure, effective engagement with internet rights issues, network diversity, open network infrastructure, clear roles and responsibilities, and connection to offline mobilisation. Connected to this theme is the finding that although the internet is increasingly used as a space for dialogue and debate, democratic participation has not yet been fully realised and many groups remain marginalised both offline and online. There is a need to link online and offline democratic networks to build more meaningful and effective participation and to generate better internet-related public policy. A third theme is that advocacy efforts are most effective when based on robust evidence and research, but that there are research and information gaps in many areas, which may hinder activists’ advocacy campaigns and drive the need for innovative awareness-raising strategies. The continuing emergence and evolution of threats to internet freedoms is a major theme from the 2011 GISWatch reports, particularly around intellectual property laws, content filtering, cyber crime laws and anonymity. Strategies to resist these threats vary widely, but share a common element of being grounded in human rights and the use of rights to fight for wider social justice issues such as the need for the rule of law, affordable quality internet access, and freedom of expression. New forms of resistance are also emerging – for example, developing strategies for secure online communication to protect freedom of expression and freedom of association, including anonymity, particularly for women’s human rights defenders. The fifth theme that arose out of the 2011 GISWatch reports was that in many countries, internet rights advocates have clear, positive policy programmes. They seek to advance their objectives through concrete proposals in national and global policy spaces and through a mix of both online and offline strategies and actions. The policy proposals developed by local internet rights advocates are shaped by social, economic, environmental, political and other factors, but share commonalities. These include an emphasis on multi-stakeholder internet policy-making processes; coherence; a balanced approach to internet policy that responds to national contexts while also linking to global policy issues; and an emphasis on innovation in remedies for internet rights violations. The GISWatch 2011 reports highlighted a wide array of internet rights issues. We hope that this Special Edition will assist activists, civil society groups, human rights defenders, women’s human rights defenders and others, as well as the donors who fund them, to better understand the most effective strategies for practical resistance to threats to internet freedoms and the steps being taken to develop a positive internet rights and public policy agenda.

2011

Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) is an annual report focusing on issues affecting information societies around the world. GISWatch 2011 looked at internet rights and democratisation, with a focus on freedom of expression and association online. This Special Edition picks up where GISWatch 2011 left off, analysing more than 60 country and thematic reports in order to better reveal and build understanding of the broad range of practical actions and strategies that activists are developing. Five clear themes emerge. The first is a strong emphasis on the need for collaborative networking, online and offline, to build multi-stakeholder engagement that can contribute to protection of internet-related human rights. Key ingredients include building a collaborative network structure, effective engagement with internet rights issues, network diversity, open network infrastructure, clear roles and responsibilities, and connection to offline mobilisation. Connected to this theme is the finding that although the internet is increasingly used as a space for dialogue and debate, democratic participation has not yet been fully realised and many groups remain marginalised both offline and online. There is a need to link online and offline democratic networks to build more meaningful and effective participation and to generate better internet-related public policy. A third theme is that advocacy efforts are most effective when based on robust evidence and research, but that there are research and information gaps in many areas, which may hinder activists’ advocacy campaigns and drive the need for innovative awareness-raising strategies. The continuing emergence and evolution of threats to internet freedoms is a major theme from the 2011 GISWatch reports, particularly around intellectual property laws, content filtering, cyber crime laws and anonymity. Strategies to resist these threats vary widely, but share a common element of being grounded in human rights and the use of rights to fight for wider social justice issues such as the need for the rule of law, affordable quality internet access, and freedom of expression. New forms of resistance are also emerging – for example, developing strategies for secure online communication to protect freedom of expression and freedom of association, including anonymity, particularly for women’s human rights defenders. The fifth theme that arose out of the 2011 GISWatch reports was that in many countries, internet rights advocates have clear, positive policy programmes. They seek to advance their objectives through concrete proposals in national and global policy spaces and through a mix of both online and offline strategies and actions. The policy proposals developed by local internet rights advocates are shaped by social, economic, environmental, political and other factors, but share commonalities. These include an emphasis on multi-stakeholder internet policy-making processes; coherence; a balanced approach to internet policy that responds to national contexts while also linking to global policy issues; and an emphasis on innovation in remedies for internet rights violations. The GISWatch 2011 reports highlighted a wide array of internet rights issues. We hope that this Special Edition will assist activists, civil society groups, human rights defenders, women’s human rights defenders and others, as well as the donors who fund them, to better understand the most effective strategies for practical resistance to threats to internet freedoms and the steps being taken to develop a positive internet rights and public policy agenda.

2011

The 2011 Global Information Society Watch report investigates how governments and internet and mobile phone companies are trying to restrict freedom online -- and how citizens are responding to this using the very same technologies. Everyone is familiar with the stories of Egypt and Tunisia. GISWatch authors tell these and other lesser-known stories from over fifty countries including: PRISON CONDITIONS IN ARGENTINA Prisoners are using the internet protest living conditions and demand respect for their rights. TORTURE IN INDONESIA The torture of two West Papuan farmers was recorded on a mobile phone and leaked to the internet. The video spread to well-known human rights sites sparking public outrage and a formal investigation by the authorities. THE TSUNAMI IN JAPAN Citizens used social media to share actionable information during the devastating tsunami, and in the aftermath online discussions contradicted misleading reports coming from state authorities. Other countries include China, Iran, Lebanon and Pakistan. “Written by internationally-renowned experts, the report brings its readers easy-to-read and yet comprehensive articles, many with policy proposals, on the most important challenges protecting human rights on the internet is facing today,” says lawyer Matthias C. Kettemann, co-chair of the Internet Rights and Principles Coalition. “The report's country studies –which are in turn saddening, moving, uplifting-- shed light on how the internet can truly be a catalyst for change – and how it can be misused.” In his preface to the report Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression says “GISWatch 2011 offers timely commentary on the future of the internet as an open and shared platform that everyone has the right to access.” GISWatch 2011 also includes expert reports from: Egyptian blogger Ramy Raoof on the the role of the internet in the wave of recent social resistance in North Africa Alex Comninos on revolutions and cyber crackdowns in the Middle East and North Africa Ron Deibert (Open Net Initiative) on cyberwarfare and counter-terrorism: implications for an open and free internet Joe McNamee (EDRI) on internet intermediaries - the border control guards who get to monitor and censor your content simply because they host your information Ben Wagner on Who profits from restricting speech? Global Information Society Watch 2011 Internet rights and democratisation - Focus on freedom of expression and association online | Published by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Hivos The Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) is a space for collaborative monitoring of implementation of international (and national) commitments made by governments towards the creation of an inclusive information society. It focuses on monitoring progress made towards implementing the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) action agenda and other international and national commitments related to information and communications. It also provides analytical overviews of institutions involved in implementation. GISWatch aims to make governments and international organisations accountable for meeting the commitments they make through contributing to building a strong and sustainable global civil society policy advocacy network. The GISWatch Reports are a series of yearly reports covering the state of the information society from the perspectives of civil society. GISWatch is not only a publication, it is a process. The long term goal of the project is to build policy analysis skills and ‘habits’ into the work of civil society organisations that work in the areas of ICT for development, democracy and social justice.

Lampung Journal of International Law, 2022

The Internet has become a crucial part of modern society’s life due to its ability to facilitate communication and structure contemporary society. Indonesia has not been left out of this global phenomenon. The Internet came to Indonesia in 1983 and its usage has continued to expand ever since, especially within institutions of learning and in the government sector. The study of radical websites must be situated within the development of the Internet in Indonesia in general instead of being examined by itself. The impact of certain activities such as cyberterrorism must then be examined in perspective, given the vast expanse of Indonesia as an archipelago and the resulting difficulties in linking the entire country to the Internet. This article seeks to trace the development of the Internet in Indonesia and examine the resulting impact on the reach of the radical Bahasa Indonesia Islamic websites in the Indonesian Archipelago and beyond. It also highlights typical narrative and operations of the radical websites, which serves to distinguish them from radical websites from elsewhere, such as the Middle East.

Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Indonesian Legal Studies, ICILS 2020, July 1st 2020, Semarang, Indonesia, 2021

The telematics has radiply progress, especially related to the use of the internet, also gives some negative impacts besides having positive ones. The irresponsible use of the internet such as propaganda or even racism of racial, ethnic, religious, and organizational issues by some parties often disturbs the stability of the country's security. In recent years, there has been an increase in the blocking of internet sites with negative content. Pros and cons occur over the internet blocking policy in Indonesia which then requires further analysis related to the legal study. The legislation only regulates the government's authority to block content with certain themes, such as pornography, blasphemy, and hate speech. However, these rules do not explicitly provide the scope, boundaries, mechanisms, and efforts to fight and complain about the blocking. It needs to be regulated in more detail related to internet blocking in Indonesia involves the human rights as stipulated in the provisions in Article 28F of the 1945 Constitution.

Internet was perhaps originally designed to be an open communications medium. However, in reality, governments have started to increase their control over cyberspace. Governments the whole world over have demonstrated an increasing willingness to intervene with users' communications on the Internet. Clear recognition of the right to access the Internet can raise awareness at the international level of the illegality of many limitations imposed on connection and online content. It would serve as a useful tool for citizens in relation with State authorities to challenge their government on grounds of displaying unlawful conduct and adopting policy decisions.