Requiem for a Dream: On Advancing Human Rights via Internet Architecture

• Published in: Policy and internet 2019-03, Vol.11 (1), p.61-83
• Main Authors: Mueller, Milton L., Badiei, Farzaneh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: arquitectura de Internet; Case studies; Code is Law; Computer architecture; código es ley; derechos humanos; Empirical analysis; Ethical standards; Ethics; gobernanza de internet; Governance; Human rights; IETF; Intellectuals; Internet; Internet architecture; Internet governance; Policy making; Protocol (computers); Standardization; Storms (meteorology); Technology assessment; valores en diseño; Values; values in design; 互联网工程任务组(IETF); 互联网架构; 人权; 代码即法律; 网络治理; 设计中的价值观
• ISSN: 1944-2866; 2194-6019; 1944-2866
• DOI: 10.1002/poi3.190

A growing number of scholars and policymakers are calling attention to the relationship between technology standards, protocols, human rights, ethics, and values—also claiming that human rights can be secured (or violated) via the Internet's standards and architecture. However, this assertion of governance through Internet architecture can oversimplify the complex relationship between technology and society. This article argues that human rights are primarily a political and institutional accomplishment, not a simple matter of technical design. By articulating a challenge to uncritical and imperfectly theorized efforts to link standards‐setting and protocol development to “values” and human rights objectives, we hope to foster a more realistic approach to Internet standardization and governance processes and a more balanced and well‐informed theoretical debate. Situated in the theoretical literature on science, technology, and society, our analysis is also informed by extensive empirical exposure to standardization and Internet governance processes. It includes two short case studies in which standards development and rights issues have intersected in ways that illuminate the relationship between rights and standards, and which can be interpreted to falsify certain claims. 抽象 越来越多的学者和政策制定者正在呼吁关注科技标准、协议、人权、道德以及价值观之间的关系, 同时主张: 人权可以通过互联网标准和机构从而得以保护或受到侵害。然而, 这种通过互联网架构进行治理的主张有可能过于简化了科技和社会之间的复杂关系。本文认为, 人权主要是一种政治上和制度上的成就, 而不仅仅是技术设计这样简单。通过阐明缺乏批判性的不完整理论实践(即将标准设定和协议拟定与“价值观”和人权目标联系起来)所面临的挑战, 笔者希望能制定出一项更具有现实意义的措施, 用于互联网标准化和治理过程, 同时引起更平衡、更全面的理论辩论。基于研究科学、技术和社会的相关理论文献, 本文同时对标准化和互联网治理过程进行了广泛的实证分析。分析包括了两例简短案例研究, 其中标准化的发展和权利问题在某些方面产生了交集, 即权利和标准之间的关系, 后者能够通过诠释进而伪造部分论断。 Resumen Un número creciente de académicos y legisladores llaman la atención sobre la relación entre los estándares tecnológicos, los protocolos, los derechos humanos, la ética y los valores, y también afirman que los derechos humanos se pueden asegurar (o violar) a través de los estándares y la arquitectura de Internet. Sin embargo, esta afirmación de la gobernanza a través de la arquitectura de Internet puede simplificar en exceso la relación compleja entre la tecnología y la sociedad. Este artículo argumenta que los derechos humanos son principalmente un logro político e institucional, no una simple cuestión de diseño técnico. Al articular un desafío a los esfuerzos acríticos e imperfectamente teorizados para vincular el establecimiento de normas y el desarrollo de protocolos con los “valores” y los objetivo