Internet universality
The concept recognizes that "the Internet is much more than infrastructure and applications; it is a network of economic and social interactions and relationships, which has the potential to enable human rights, empower individuals and communities, and facilitate sustainable development.
During the 37th session of the General Conference, UNESCO Member States affirmed the principle of the applicability of human rights in cyberspace.
This potential for reconfiguring access to information and knowledge, as well as changing freedom of expression, privacy, and trends in ethics and behavior, has been a theme in academic research.
The framework emphasizes a set of principles applied to the internet, focusing on human rights, openness, accessibility and multi-stakeholder participation.
Business models for internet activity may also be created to increase individuals' trust in the preservation, quality, integrity, security, accessibility, and authenticity of information on it.
[14] The research process included consultations at global forums, a written questionnaire sent to key actors, and a series of publications on internet freedom-related issues such as encryption, hate speech online, privacy, digital safety, and journalism sources.
[15] The outcome of this research was publicized in June 2018, and the final indicators were to be submitted to the UNESCO Member States in the International Program for Development of Communication (IPDC) for endorsement.
[citation needed] Access to information is the ability to seek and receive open scientific, indigenous, and traditional knowledge online, and also produce content in all forms.
This requires initiatives for freedom of information and the building of open and preserved knowledge resources, as well as a respect for cultural and linguistic diversity, educational opportunities for all, including new media literacy and skills, and social inclusion online, addressing inequalities based on income, skills, education, gender, age, race, ethnicity, or accessibility by those with disabilities.
Issues such as discrimination baes on gender, age, or disabilities, along with the intentions of practices and policies that may lead to it, and their outcomes, fall under this field.
[2] As the World Wide Web and related digital media have evolved, they have come to serve many diverse purposes for many different actors, such as household entertainment, government surveillance.
A worldwide ecology of policies and regulations changes local and global outcomes of the internet on access to information and knowledge, freedom of expression, privacy, and ethics.
[b] Another issue is holding intermediaries liable for specific digital content as if they were its publishers—for example, making social media platforms responsible for an alleged case of hate speech.
[2] Multiple actors, including individual users, can identify instances of censorship and expose these cases to the court of public opinion.
Despite this perception, academic research has not established that removing anonymity and requiring the identification of speakers would prevent speech considered insensitive or hurtful, which is often fostered by a larger set of circumstances, such as a failure of users sitting at a computer to fully realize that they are communicating with a real person.
A report of the former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression states that bulk access to all digital communications traffic eradicates the possibility of individualized proportionality analysis because it pre-empts prior authorization based on specific targeted suspicion.
Concerns were also expressed during the 'CONNECTing the dots' conference about surveillance tools, which were originally built to address severe crimes, but being used to collect personal information about dissidents, or sometimes from all citizens.
Manipulation of security practices, such as the introduction of 'back doors' into software, which were originally made to allow legitimate government access, can leave internet users vulnerable to illegitimate threats.
