broadband strategies handbook.pdf - Khazar University

y providing alternative sources of information from both faraway and nontraditionalsources such as other individuals.Regulating Specific Forms of ContentCountries have different social, cultural, and moral traditions. These traditionsgenerally are enforced by legislation that prohibits the display or disseminationof certain types of content. Governments have legitimate reasonsto regulate content: protection of minors, prevention of vices, and protectionof national security, to name a few. Tensions are inevitable, as countriesattempt to strike the right balance between the regulation of content on theInternet and the protection of fundamental rights, such as freedom ofexpression and information, which are strongly enabled by broadband;broadband-enabled Internet will make such restrictions more difficult toenforce.When a provider of prohibited content operates within a country’s borders,the country’s laws should be sufficient to shut it down. 40 However, ifthe proscribed content comes from overseas, such as from a foreign website,the prohibition can be difficult or impossible to enforce. Nonetheless, moreand more countries are implementing Internet controls of ever-increasingsophistication, including monitoring and filtering. 41Sometimes content is restricted by a government, possibly in an attemptto protect a domestic industry’s interest. Such appears to be the case withonline gambling in the United States. In 2006, the federal legislature, in anattempt to impede U.S. residents from gambling online, passed the UnlawfulInternet Gambling Enforcement Act. The law prohibits gambling businessesfrom accepting funds from gamblers wherever it would be unlawfulunder federal or state law. 42 Passage of the law prompted Antigua andBarbuda to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization, in which itclaimed that the United States had violated its commitment under theGeneral Agreement on Trade in Services to free trade in recreational services.The World Trade Organization ultimately ruled in favor of Antiguaand Barbuda and awarded it the right to suspend US$21 million annually inIPRs held by U.S. firms (WTO 2007, 55).Government regulation is not the only option for restricting certain typesof content. For example, the movie and video game industries, among others,voluntarily rate their content in order to help consumers to identifycontent appropriate for themselves and their families. The Family OnlineSafety Institute, an international nonprofit organization, administers a programwhereby websites rate their content in terms of language, violence,and sexual content, in response to a standard questionnaire. 43 In addition,140 Broadband Strategies Handbook