Who Should Control Freedoms in Virtual Worlds?
Apropos of yesterday’s odd and oddly disturbing move by the Australian government, a new blog post on Metanomics asks the question: “Who Should Responsible for Assuring Fundamental Freedoms in Virtual Worlds?” The post, by Metanomics government and policy correspondent Sterling Wright asks whether virtual worlds should be considered services or places, ISPs or ‘cultures’. She points to Europe: The Council of Europe seek(s) to define the responsibilities of ISPs. The Council’s Guidelines reflect an effort to apply to ISPs the responsibility of assuring “human rights” on the web. The Council argues that access to internet services is increasingly a prerequisite for engaging in a comprehensive, participatory democracy in an information society. Therefore, by providing the basic infrastructure that allows users to access and use the Internet, ISPs deliver a valuable public service and are in a unique position to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms, and may even have the responsib
