표현의 자유에 관한 정보인권론

Abstract

Our current information environment is calling for a review of the existing relevant law and institutions, in both theoretical and practical terms. Even in the information society mainly characterized by the widespread use of the Internet, just like in the non-cyber real life, a violation of ethical or legal norms would result in a form of social outcry or legal sanction, but the growing demand for legislative adaptations due to the advancement of information technologies and the transformation of the communication systems which are subject to the regulations on people’s expressions have attracted more attention to the legal issues involved in the information environment. Given that, more often than not, online expressions have not only eroded the real-life rights but they have also restricted the rights that should be enjoyed and protected in the cyberspace, the discussions on the rights and interests to be protected online and offline must be made in advance, for the purposes of avoiding the dysfunctions of the information society and facilitating right remedies, being accompanied by specific legislative and policy responses in due process. In the meantime, the increasing global interdependency in the information society is opening a new phase for the formulation of human rights policies. Now it is more difficult to set up a concrete and effective structure of responses to the stronger human rights advocacy, since the realm of human rights has expanded as the traditional definition of civil and political freedom is replaced by a broader one with additional rights to be guaranteed. Considering that, in contrast to the universality and timelessness of the fundamental ideas on human rights, the policies concerning human rights are of dynamic nature in that they should be counteractive to the transforming social environment and cannot be free from the social and economic changes, the legal regulations governing human rights policies need to be flexible enough. At the time when, thanks to the expansion of the information and telecommunications network and the remarkable advancement of the IT technologies, the so called ‘digital contents’ are being transmitted at a rapid pace, the practical demand is increasing for internal control over the State administrative agencies’ actions to regulate the contents. Of course, it might be argued that the authority to review the contents should be transferred to the private sector and the contents providers and users should be bound to the standards that are agreed upon voluntarily among themselves. Therefore, there is right to express information, that is to say, freedom of expression in information society as one of human rights to information.