It might well be that e-government will get an additional meaning very soon. If this happens the word would not just describe how we use technology for government purposes but also how we govern technology.

There are currently issues cropping up all over Europe and the traditional theoretical foundations of political parties do not provide a sound guide for how to address these issues.

First example Italy. The BBC Click programme reports:

Italian bloggers went on strike in July to protest against government measures that they claim could kill the internet. They say the Alfano decree restricts the rights of bloggers to express their opinions without fear of comeback.

Demonstrators online and on the streets say the Italian government is trying to muzzle the internet.

If the Alfano decree becomes law, it would put websites on a par with newspapers, giving a right to reply to anyone who believes their reputation has been damaged by something published on the internet.

But critics say the law is so archaic it barely works in print. Apply it online and it could kill free speech on the internet.

There have also been issues about web freedom in Germany that led to some people I know even leaving the SPD (because of its support for the law described below). Support for the new Pirate Party grew considerably as protest against the new law.

DER SPIEGEL reports:

Officially, at least, the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs drafted the legislation to contain child pornography on the Internet. Under the new law, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) will provide lists of Web sites to be blocked. For critics like Hillbrecht, though, the legislation is dangerous. Once the government starts blocking Internet sites, they argue, the censorship threshold will have been breached and Article 5 of Germany’s constitution, or Basic Law, which relates to free speech, will have been practically annulled.

For months, an image of Federal Minister of Family Affairs Ursula von der Leyen was prominently displayed on the Pirate Party’s home page. The site referred to her simply as “Zensursula” (Censorship Ursula), and it included a petition that people could use to voice their opposition to the law. The petition was signed by 134,000 people — the largest number of people to ever put their names on a single Bundestag petition.

So what should the progressive left policy on these issues be? How can a borderline between freedom of speech and the protection of privacy and children be defined? Is web censorship an effective way to deal with the undeniable problems some web content poses? Or is the web only the symptom and not the cause of these problems and therefore the wrong place for intervention?

I have to admit that I haven’t thought in depth about these issues yet. But this is an area where the centre-left sooner rather than later needs to develop a balanced policy that takes protection as well as freedom of speech aspects into account. Any ideas?

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