IAPA concerned at proposed law that would restrict freedom of expression on the Internet
IAPA concerned at proposed law that would restrict freedom of expression on the Internet
MIAMI, Florida (July 24, 2015)—The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today expressed concern at a draft law before the Argentine Congress that could truncate principles on freedom of expression in seeking to make those who manage Web sites be responsible for the content of information or opinion that they publish.
The motion was presented by governing party deputies Remo Carlotto, Diana Conti, Carlos Heller and Andrés Larroque to amend the Law Against åDiscrimination in effect since 1988.
The initiative seeks to apply sanctions for comments by readers that are regarded as insulting, discriminatory or aggressive. It proposes in a wide and vague manner that digital media prevent dissemination of such content. It encourages self-censorship and amounts to an attack on freedom of expression.
“One always has to be alert to these kinds of legislation which in seeking apparently laudable objectives end up being ways of controlling and censoring content,” said IAPA President Gustavo Mohme, editor of the Lima, Peru, newspaper La República, “especially,” he added, “when there is general legislation that protects people’s honor.”
The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Claudio Paolillo, editor of the Montevideo, Uruguay, weekly Búsqueda, agreed with Mohme. He explained that in all countries there exist “general laws and rules against libel, calumny and defamation, as established by constitutions and international treaties, making special laws unnecessary.”
In the legislative bill there are exposed to punishment all Web sites that allow users to make comments about their publications. In it are included blogs, social networks, news agencies, online newspapers and magazines, etc., requiring the managers of digital media to disallow comments that are considered to be discriminatory or that have been denounced as such by those who feel affected.
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information go to http://www.sipiapa.org.
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