This book analyses gender-based offences on the Internet from the perspective of international human rights law, interwoven with rights theories and feminist legal theories. It investigates whether international human rights law is applicable in regulating harmful online conduct and speech, with a focus on sexual violence, various forms of harassment, sexist hate speech and harmful pornography. This involves assessing whether gender-based online offences are considered violations of international human rights law and – if they are recognised as such explicitly or by way of interpretation – the extent of state obligations. The book reviews a range of international law sources, such as selected international human rights law treaties, case law, soft-law documents and academic scholarship. The application of general human rights law provisions to the online sphere is evaluated by considering the online/offline coherence of provisions as well as potential gaps, inconsistencies and disadvantages that exist in the regulation of online gender-based offences. The makeup, aim and effect of social spheres, areas of law and legal principles are thus assessed in relation to gender and the Internet. Aspects discussed include the architecture of the Internet, the structure of public international law, the harm principle as employed in domestic law and international human rights law, and the scope of particular rights, mainly involving the freedom of expression and the right to privacy. Working from the premise that the transposition of international human rights law to the Internet must ensure the former’s functionality and effectiveness, the book argues that a contextual application of rights is called for. This requires assessing what is harmful online – including the effects of online speech and conduct - and what are effective means of regulating liability on the Internet. In turn, such assessments require a gender-sensitive approach.
Author(s): Maria Sjöholm
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 369
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Research Aims and Questions
1.3 Methods, Theories and Materials
1.4 Delimitations
References
Chapter 2: The Internet: A Gendered Space
2.1 Introduction
2.2 A Rights-Based Approach to the Internet
2.2.1 The Role for International Human Rights Law in Internet Regulation
2.2.2 A Gender Equal Internet
2.2.2.1 The Principle of Equality
2.2.2.2 A Human Right to Access the Internet?
2.2.2.3 Human Rights Online
2.2.2.4 Protection Against Gender-Based Harm
2.2.2.4.1 Introduction
2.2.2.4.2 Gender-Based Violations
2.2.2.4.3 Gender Stereotypes
2.2.2.4.4 Online Gender-Based Violations
2.2.2.4.4.1 International Human Rights Law
2.2.2.4.4.2 Empirical Studies and Theories
2.3 Gendering Features of the Internet
2.3.1 Introduction
2.3.2 Constraints of User Behaviour
2.3.2.1 Architecture
2.3.2.2 Online Social Norms and the Market
2.3.2.3 Domestic Law
2.4 Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: Challenges in International Human Rights Law
3.1 Introduction
3.2 What Is Harmful?
3.2.1 Introduction
3.2.2 Technosocial Harm
3.2.3 Theories on Harm
3.2.3.1 The Concept of Harm and the Limits of Intervention
3.2.3.2 The Harm of Speech
3.2.3.2.1 Harm Relative to the Values of Speech
3.2.3.2.2 Harm to Gender Equality
3.2.3.3 International Human Rights Law
3.2.3.4 Conclusion
3.3 The Scope of Rights Online and Offline: Harm, Values and Concepts
3.3.1 Introduction
3.3.2 The Freedom of Expression
3.3.2.1 Rights Theories
3.3.2.2 International Human Rights Law
3.3.2.3 The Freedom of Expression and the Internet
3.3.2.3.1 General Applicability
3.3.2.3.2 Freedom of Speech Values
3.3.2.4 Conclusion
3.3.3 The Right to Privacy
3.3.3.1 Rights Theories and International Human Rights Law
3.3.3.2 Privacy on the Internet
3.3.3.2.1 Introduction
3.3.3.2.2 Spaces
3.3.3.2.3 Non-Disclosure
3.3.3.2.4 Sexual Autonomy
3.3.3.3 Conclusion
3.3.4 Proportionality Assessments and Balancing in Conflicts of Rights
3.3.5 Summary
3.4 Who Is Liable?
3.4.1 Introduction
3.4.2 Individual Perpetrators and User Anonymity
3.4.3 Liability of Internet Intermediaries and Media Publishers
3.4.3.1 Soft Law Obligations for Intermediaries and Self-Regulation
3.4.3.2 State Obligations and Intermediary Liability
3.4.3.2.1 Introduction
3.4.3.2.2 EU Law and Secondary Liability
3.4.3.2.3 The European Court of Human Rights and Secondary Liability
3.4.3.2.3.1 Media Publishers
3.4.3.2.3.2 Intermediaries
3.4.3.3 Monitoring and Moderating Content
3.4.3.4 Value Embedded Technological Design
3.4.4 Conclusion
References
Untitled
Chapter 4: Online Gender-Based Offences and International Human Rights Law
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Sexual Violence
4.2.1 Introduction
4.2.2 The Prohibition and Definition of Sexual Violence
4.2.3 Hierarchies of Sexual Violence
4.2.4 Obligations to Protect
4.2.4.1 Criminalisation
4.2.4.1.1 Delineating Rape, Forced Masturbation and Forced Nudity
4.2.4.2 Obligations to Investigate and Provide Remedies
4.2.4.3 Regulating Intermediary Liability
4.2.5 Conclusions
4.3 Harassment
4.3.1 Introduction
4.3.2 Sexual Harassment
4.3.2.1 Introduction
4.3.2.2 From Domestic to International Law
4.3.2.3 Online Sexual Harassment
4.3.2.4 Conclusion
4.3.3 Threats of Violence and Disclosure
4.3.4 Defamation
4.3.4.1 Introduction
4.3.4.2 International Human Rights Law
4.3.4.3 Defamation on the Internet
4.3.4.4 Conclusion
4.3.5 The Disclosure of Private Information
4.3.5.1 Introduction
4.3.5.2 International Human Rights Law
4.3.5.3 Conclusion
4.4 Hate Speech
4.4.1 Theorising Harm
4.4.2 International Human Rights Law
4.4.3 Online Hate Speech
4.4.4 Sexist Hate Speech
4.4.4.1 Introduction
4.4.4.2 International Human Rights Law
4.4.4.3 Conclusion
4.5 Harmful Pornography
4.5.1 Introduction
4.5.2 Theorising Harm
4.5.3 Online Pornography
4.5.4 International Human Rights Law
4.5.4.1 Introduction
4.5.4.2 Controlling Access and Distribution
4.5.4.3 Pornography and Gender Equality
4.5.5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: Summary and Conclusion
5.1 Gendered Spheres
5.2 The Scope of Rights: Values, Harm and Balancing
5.3 Obligations and Liability
Reference
Index
