Freedom With Responsibility (Expanded)

8/10/2019 Freedom With Responsibility (Expanded)

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Short bio

CEO of the Online Hate Prevention Institute An Australian charity that combats all forms of online hate e.g. Racism,

Homophobia, Cyberbullying etc

We run http://fightagainsthate.coman online reporting tool for cyber-hate

Senior Member of the IEEE Chair, Student Awards Committee, IEEE Computer Society

Region 10 Coordinator, IEEE Computer Society

MDC Victorian Section

PhD in Computer Science, Lancaster University (UK)

LLM(Juris Doctor), Monash University (Australia)

More: www.oboler.com | www.ohpi.org.au
http://fightagainsthate.com/http://www.oboler.com/http://www.ohpi.org.au/http://www.ohpi.org.au/http://www.oboler.com/http://fightagainsthate.com/


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F.C. Kohli, The Information Society

Systems must operate in many environments -Technical, economic, social and political, as theyinteract with culture, history, heritage and traditions.

A systems success depends on how it integrates andharmonises new systems and techniques with theenvironment.

Thus, to successfully implement the systems

approach, it is critical to look at the system, its parts,problems and growth holistically, without isolating itfrom its environment and with out simplifyingcomplexities.


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Lawrence Lessig: Code Is Law - On Liberty in Cyberspace1

Every age has its potential regulator, its threat to liberty.

Ours is the age of cyberspace. It, too, has a regulator. This regulator, too,threatens liberty. But so obsessed are we with the idea that liberty means"freedom from government" that we dont even see the regulation in thisnew space. We therefore dont see the threat to liberty that this

regulation presents.

This regulator is codethe software and hardware that make cyberspaceas it is. This code, or architecture, sets the terms on which life incyberspace is experienced. It determines how easy it is to protect privacy,or how easy it is to censor speech.

unless we understand how cyberspace can embed, or displace, valuesfrom our constitutional tradition, we will lose control over those values.The law in cyberspacecodewill displace them.

1 http://harvardmagazine.com/2000/01/code-is-law-html)
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Lawrence Lessig: Code Is Law - On Liberty in Cyberspace1

In some contexts, for some, this unregulability is a virtue. This feature of

the Net, for example, protects free speech. It codes a First Amendment

into the architecture of cyberspace, because it makes it relatively hard for

governments, or powerful institutions, to control who says what when.

Butin other contexts, in the view of others, this unregulability is not a

virtuetake the German government confronted by Nazi speech, for

example, or the U.S. government faced with child pornography. In these

contexts, the architecture disables regulation as well. But in thesecontexts, unregulability is viewed as a vice.

1 http://harvardmagazine.com/2000/01/code-is-law-html)
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LETS LOOK AT SOME ISSUES...


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Online hate speech

Hate speech is speech or expression which is capable of instilling

or inciting hatred of, or prejudice towards, a person or group of

people on a specified ground including race, nationality, ethnicity,

country of origin, ethno-religious identity, religion, sexuality,

gender identity or gender - Gelber and Stone (2008)

Online Hate Speech is simply hate speech that iscommunicated via the internet. Some forms of it (but

not others) are unlawful in different legal jurisdictions.


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Racial Vilification (S18C RDA)

Lawsaffecting

contentregulatio

nandFiltering

Racial Discrimination Act 1975(Cth) S18C:

(1) It is unlawful for a personto do an act, otherwise than in private, if:(a) the act is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or

intimidate another personor a group of people; and

(b) the act is done because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the

other personor of some or all of the people in the group.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/rda1975202/s5.htmlhttp://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/rda1975202/s5.htmlhttp://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/rda1975202/s5.htmlhttp://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/rda1975202/s5.htmlhttp://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/rda1975202/s5.htmlhttp://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/rda1975202/s5.html


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Racial / Religious VilificationRacial and Religious Tolerance Act 2011 (Vic):

S7/(S8): A person must not, on the ground of the race(religious belief or activity) of

another person or class of persons, engage in conduct that incites hatred against,

serious contempt for, or revulsion or severe ridicule of, that other person or class of

persons.

Lawsaffecting

contentregulatio

nandFiltering


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Racist Griefing

William John Bligh was a 9 year old Aboriginal child from Queensland who died in tragic

Circumstances in February 2013.


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Impact of hate speech on Society

Legal scholar Jeremy Waldron (2012) argues that

hate speech:

undermines the public good of inclusiveness in society

becomes embedded in the permanent visible fabric ofsociety and victims assurance that there will be no need

to face hostility, violence, discrimination, or exclusion by

others in going about their daily life vanishes

Hate speech undermines democracy and preventsparticipation in society


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Impact of hate speech on individuals

Exposure to a higher level of racism is correlated with Greater emotional harm

Higher infant mortality

Lower life expectancy

Greater levels of substance abuse

Greater levels of truancy from school

Research shows that racism can cause physiological stress i.e.It has physical effects impacting health as well as the mental

harm it causes

The American Journal of Public Health had a special issues onthe heath impacts of racism in May 2012


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The value add from the internet

A Canadian court in 2006 said the Internet changed the slow,insidious effect of a relatively isolated bigoted commentary... [in]toa form of communication having a widespread circulation

Racism can be posted anonymously, which may make respondingimpossible, there is a power imbalance between an indentifiedresponder and an anonymous instigator

Individuals can be targeted by a virtual mob, the volume making

any meaningful response impossible (death by a 1,000 cuts)

The hate can flow across borders creating difficulties for lawenforcement who may lack authority to gather the evidence theyneed


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The Online Environment In a famous US court case in 1996 it was said that:

[c]ommunications over the Internet do not invade an individual'shome or appear on one's computer screen unbidden -American CivilLiberties Union v Reno, 929 F. Supp. 824, 844 (E.D. Pa. 1996)

The Internet has changed and today search engines and socialmedia can cause hate speech to appear unbidden

It is more comparable to Waldrons concern re: hate speech

being embedded in society, and a person being unable toengage in society without a level of anxiety.

Online the embedding of hate occurs quite literally with

websites, Facebook pages, etc becoming part of the internet


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The Chain of Accountability

What responsibility should rest with those providing

the tools that are abused to spread hate?

A social media platform, like Facebook or YouTube, which

hosts content or communities spreading hate? The internet connectivity provider (ISP) connecting the

user to the internet?

The internet service provider who providing hosting?

A company whose network is used to spread hate?

What can they do to mitigate their risk and limit their

liability?


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TERRORISM & EXTREMISM


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Leigh Rigby

Lee Rigby was a British soldier who was hacked to

death in London on May22nd 2013.

Last month it was revealed that a social media

company had data on one of the killers, and ifauthorities had this data, the murder could have

been prevented

There were also trolls who used his death to cause

public outrage, over 100 people called the British

police about one Facebook page


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Mehdi Masroor Biswas (@samiwitness)

In the early hours of Saturday morning Police traced

the owner of the @samiwitness twitter account and

arrested him

The account had over 17,000 followers and postedbeheading videos, and interviews with people going

to fight for ISIS (before they left and after)

It was run out of India by an Engineering graduate,

and focused on promoting ISIS to the UK and EU


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Background on @samiwitness "I haven't waged war against anybody. I just said stuff,

people followed me, then I followed them back and thenwe talked".

Charged under Section 125 of the Indian Penal Code, the

provision prohibits the waging of war, attempted wagingof war, or abetting the waging of war with any Asiaticpower in alliance or at peace with the Government ofIndia.

Biswassrole in spreading propaganda for ISIS via Twitteris very clearly a modern form of support for the wagingof war.


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ISIS Attack in Australia 15/12/14

Gunmen took people, including children, hostage in a

Lindt chocolate shop in Sydney on Monday morning

The hostages were made to hold a black ISIS flag

A Facebook page was created almost immediately insupport of the terrorists


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A free software problem

The image hosting site focused on Freedom...


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THE RESPONSIBILITY OFPROFESSIONALS


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Professional ethics

Social media platforms, and their systems for internally handling hatespeech, are all built by Computer Professionals. Management may alsobe Computing Professionals.

Members will improve the understanding of technology; itsappropriate application, and potential consequences; IEEE code of ethics

Members will avoid harmto others and Improve publicunderstanding of computing and its consequences ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest andSoftware engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interestsof their client and employer, consistent with the public interest

Joint IEEE Computer Society / ACM Code of Ethics for Software Engineers


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The Ethics vs Law Challenge

Hate Speech Unlawful (outside the USA)

UN Treaties ICCPR Art 20(2). Any advocacy of

national, racial or religious hatred thatconstitutes incitement todiscrimination, hostility or violence shall

be prohibited by law.

ICERD Art 4 obliges states to criminalisehate speech

National laws against racism E.g. Laws implementing the above

treaties

Additional Protocol to theConvention on Cyber Crime

Hate Speech is Protected Speech (USA)

Racism is not an exceptionto the 1stamendment

The speakers freedom of speechisconsidered more important than the

listeners freedom from abuse or fromvilification

There is a concern (distrust) aboutgiving the Government power to limitspeech.

This only applies to speech, action(e.g. Discrimination in employment)

is unlawful.

But online activity is pure speech, and US companies hold the data...

In the case of online hate speech, this difference of opinion over hate speech has a real impact


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...Impact on Policy

US Companies cannot be sued in the US (where theirassets are) over breaches of other countries laws

Most companies today only have a minority of users inthe USA (18% in North America for Facebook)

US Companies CANban hate speech. The FirstAmendment only prevents the government FORCING

them to do so, it doesnt stop them doing so

So they ban hate speech voluntarily, which allowsthem to say they comply with laws outside the US


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The Human Computer Interaction Challenge

We know the design of an interface can make it more(or less) likely that a person will use a certain productof feature

On Amazon you can purchase with a single click

On Facebook:

The reporting system has between 5 and 7 steps

Certain types of reporting options are buried behind termslike other (you wont find them without help)

A step late in the reporting process requires you to chooseto report the item, without this (which is optional) noreport happens


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TACKLING THE PROBLEM


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New problems & solutions to content problems

Experts need to be able to identify the hard cases

A hard case is anything the platforms arent respondingto correctly...

...so we need to monitor how they respond

Were back to the scale problem, but now we can solve itwith: Cloud computing

Crowd sourcing but we nneed to overcome crowds lack of technical knowledge

The aim is only to identify the outliers for the experts to process The volume of outliers can be manage by serving them to an

expert crowd for expert processing


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The Fight Against Hate software solution

A Crowd Sourcing solution

Overcomes difficulties around recognition

Creates problems of bias, ignorance and game playing

An artificial artificial intelligence (AAI) solution

Such solutions have been used for other problems by the

likes of Amazon (e.g. Amazon Mechanical Turk), and since

the 18thCentury [6]

Effectively using humans as agents, as we

would do with software agents


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The process

Users report the URL of online hate

They classify it

They review items reported by others

In both review and classification they express an opinionover the nature of the content, and their confidence in

their opinion

A points system favours strong opinion that are correct,

and weaker opinions that are wrong

Points are adjusted on verification of the content by the

system (based on the crowds opinion) or by an expert


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Examples of Statistics Available

Items reported over time Increase in items by social media platform

Trends over time by hate type

Time taken to remove items

Average time to remove item by platform

Trends in reports by state/country

Responsiveness by platform


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The need for engagement Without computing expertise, the problem of online hate in

social media cant be properly addressed

Online hate causes real harm, and it is made possible by thetechnology

There is an ethical obligation on those building such platforms

to address these problems There is a need for independent computer scientists, not

subject to the vested interest of the companies, to: research and report on how the problem is being addressed

Explain what is / is not technically possible by way of solutions

Laws reform, informed by technology expertise, is needed inthe area of evidence, privacy, and platform accountability(perhaps like pollution laws)


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THANK YOU, QUESTIONS?

Freedom With Responsibility (Expanded)

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