Internet and Responsibility. The Legal Means of Eradicating Hate Speech Online.

Abstract

In the global convergence of technology, numerous threats and challenges are presented and need to be tackled by the legal systems of the world. The expansive digital space and the use of information technology and the Internet to facilitate communication not only empower the users to express their views on the world, but also provide new channels for illegal and illicit behaviour to take new shapes.

This is why we need to try and address all of these issues under the umbrella of two terms: Internet and Responsibility.

In an era when our children and even ourselves might be subjected to degrading or dehumanizing comments or opinions online simply because we are a little lighter or darker than average, or simply because we do not fit clearly into social patterns that are generally accepted in contemporary main- stream society, we must engage in dialogue about how to tackle these intra-social conflicts that might eventually lead to the commission of serious crimes against vulnerable people and groups, even in the online environment.

Cyberbullying is the exemple éclatant to this scenario, demonstrating what sort of harmful results can online hate speech or harassment produce globally. The many countries of the world have been striving to invent cutting-edge legal and technological solutions to try and avoid the exacerbation of this phenomenon, but as new lanes have been opened on the information super- highway, extremist discourse previously locked into certain possibly marginalized communities has become wide-spread and easily accessible on the Internet.
This volume is dedicated to present possible solutions in the domain of Internet usage and the several forms of Responsibility we need to create and enforce. The Internet cannot be forced within the traditional and conventional forms, forms and limits of regulation in any field of the realm of law.

There is a constant need for thinking outside the box, when it comes to creating new means of responsibility and accountability to effectively try and stop hateful or inciting behaviour online. These different forms of responsibility need to be created with the tools at the disposal of the respective areas of the law, from among which this volume will details some in terms of constitutional law, media law and criminal law.

It is obvious that since the Internet poses global threats and challenges, we need not only look at the different solutions and practices existing in certain countries, but we also shall turn our attention toward the international level, to larger integrations that might exist in the different regions worldwide.

In Europe, the Council of Europe has adopted the Budapest Cybercrime Convention in 2001. This demonstrates that Hungary has been on the frontlines of the international war against cybercrime right from the beginning.

Our partner in this dialogue about online hate speech, Israel has also ratified this Convention in 2016, demonstrating their commitment to fight cybercrime, and most importantly online hate speech, which is a problem they are facing on a daily basis, given the sensitive and flammable territorial, regional and political, cultural situation they exist in. Hungary and Israel, in the form of a bilateral ministerial commitment, now will try and shed light on some of the above issues and propose ways to look at the way forward.
Internet usage shall go hand-in-hand with Responsibility for the opinion expressed, and Israel and Hungary shall fight side-by-side in this effort to tackle the many forms of online hate speech their racial, ethnic, religious or national communities are faced with on a daily basis. A safer Internet is our joint Responsibility.

We offer this volume to anyone, who is a daily user of the Internet, and to anyone, who has ever commented or thought about commenting on social media or video-sharing sites.

Márton Sulyok (editor)