The European Parliament and Human Rights on the Internet

Abstract

This chapter will provide a brief analysis of two issues that are currently at the heart of the political debate about human rights within the European Parliament. First, ‘Illegal and Harmful content on the Internet’ which includes the issues of racism, pornography and paedophilia, and how such content can be controlled. Second, the Technologies of political control’, which deals with the role of government in accessing and controlling information about individuals and organizations by means of covert surveillance using new information and communication technologies. These two issues are inseparably linked to the exponential growth of the Internet and the rapid development of new information and communication technologies, giving rise to many questions about access, control and the role of the state which challenge individual human and civil rights.