Confronting the Internet's Dark Side: Moral and Social Responsibility on the Free Highway

Terrorism, cyberbullying, child pornography, hate speech, cybercrime: along with unprecedented advancements in productivity and engagement, the Internet has ushered in a space for violent, hateful, and antisocial behavior. How do we, as individuals and as a society, protect against dangerous expressions online?

Confronting the Internet’s Dark Side is the first book on social responsibility on the Internet. It aims to strike a balance between the free speech principle and the responsibilities of the individual, corporation, state, and the international community. This book brings a global perspective to the analysis of some of the most troubling uses of the Internet. It urges net users, Internet service providers, and liberal democracies to weigh freedom and security, finding the golden mean between unlimited license and moral responsibility. This judgement is necessary to uphold the very liberal democratic values that gave rise to the Internet and that are threatened by an unbridled use of technology.

Raphael Cohen-Almagor is Professor and Chair in Politics at the University of Hull, United Kingdom. He has published extensively in the fields of political science, law, ethics, and philosophy, including The Right to Die with Dignity (2001), Speech, Media, and Ethics (2nd ed., 2005), and The Scope of Tolerance (2007). His second book of poetry, published in 2007, is entitled Voyages.

See this July 21, 2015, blog post on the Cambridge University Press fifteeneightyfour blog for more information about Confronting the Internet’s Dark Side, as well as the virtual roundtable on cyberpsychology with Raphael Cohen-Almagor and several other authors of related books. The author has also created a short video introducing the key points of his book.

Introduction

1. Historical Framework

2. Technological Framework

3. Theoretical Framework

4. Agent’s Responsibility

5. Readers’ Responsibility

6. Responsibility of Internet Service Providers and Web-Hosting Services, Part I: Rationale and Principles

7. Responsibility of Internet Service Providers and Web-Hosting Services, Part II: Applications

8. State Responsibility

9. International Responsibility

Conclusion

Glossary
Selected Bibliography

“This is a thoughtful book that challenges the Internet community (which embraces all of us) to consider how we might control abuse of the Internet; in the author’s words, to confront the Internet’s dark side.”—Michael H. Ryan, Telecommunications Policy

“Cohen-Almagor’s work is the rare combination of clear, fluid, and engaging writing, coupled with the right mix of information, abstract reflections, and tangible problems—making the book one of those rare essays that becomes a page-turner.… [It] is the perfect way to cause us to pause, think, and begin a much-needed conversation on how to preserve freedom of expression on the Internet while protecting our dearest moral values.”—Ignacio Ibanez Ferrandiz, Democracy and Society

“The dramatic growth of Internet technologies is creating a new era in democratic life, a crisis for the established media, and possibilities for participatory politics that challenge liberal institutions. This book documents today’s turning point with urgency and profound clarity. Ithiel de Sola Poole’s Technologies of Freedom has become a classic work defining the information society, with media technology as its axis. Confronting the Internet’s Dark Side is of that quality—a potential classic that defines for us moral responsibility in the new media age.”—Clifford Christians, University of Illinois

“Cohen-Almagor recognizes that if social responsibility on the Internet is to be implemented, discussions will need to focus on how and why one can draw limits on what one does on the Internet, as well as what ISPs and countries can do with the Internet. Not everyone will agree with the solutions proposed, but in light of the detailed stories concerning hate sites (toward groups or humanity in general), webcam viewing of actual suicides, the exponential growth of child pornography, and so forth, it is hard to fall back on knee-jerk First Amendment responses.”—Robert Cavalier, Carnegie Mellon University

“In this book, Raphael Cohen-Almagor makes a forceful case for greater social responsibility on the part of Internet service providers and all who surf the Web. Calling on us to think and act like citizens of the online world, he insists that we have a moral obligation to confront those who abuse the technology by using it to disseminate hate propaganda and child pornography, or by engaging in cyber-bullying, or by aiding and abetting terrorism. Fast-paced, philosophically sophisticated, and filled with illustrative and sometimes heart-wrenching examples, the book is intended to serve as a wake-up call and will challenge its readers to reconsider their views of free expression in the Internet age.”—Stephen L. Newman, York University