European Convention of Human Rights and the Protection of Private Life, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in a Digital Age
Sjøberg, Jakob (2023)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202304064890
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202304064890
Tiivistelmä
The thesis examines the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR) concerning the rights to private life (Article 8) and the rights to freedom of expression and access to information (Article 10) on the Internet.
The ECtHR has been strongly criticized for some of its decisions in the field of private life or freedom of expression on the Internet. The start of the thesis includes examples of this criticism. It has been voiced that the ECtHR lacks understanding of the ways that the Internet works, and that the lack of understanding has led to inconsistent decisions, a lack of clarity and missing protection of the human rights.
With this as the starting point, the thesis examines whether the ECtHR may in fact be said to have created consistency and clarity in its decisions. The thesis therefore presents principles on legal interpretation, and the ECtHR´s case-law on freedom of expression or private life on the Internet. The cases are then analyzed in order to find the answers to the question on whether the ECtHR has established consistency and clarity in its decisions. Finally, the thesis concludes and gives the reader a well-structured presentation of how the ECtHR may be said to assess cases on freedom of expression or private life on the Internet. Among the methods that are applied in the thesis are the IRAC structure on presentation of case-law, and the principles of legal interpretation. The results or findings are, shortly put, that the ECtHR has reached a considerable degree of certainty and clarity in its case-law on freedom of expression and private life on the Internet, and that it firstly relied on its case-law from traditional media to find similarities or differences between the new Internet subject and traditional media that it was familiar with. After the ECtHR has reached more decisions concerning the Internet, it does now increasingly rely on these decisions in new cases.
The ECtHR has been strongly criticized for some of its decisions in the field of private life or freedom of expression on the Internet. The start of the thesis includes examples of this criticism. It has been voiced that the ECtHR lacks understanding of the ways that the Internet works, and that the lack of understanding has led to inconsistent decisions, a lack of clarity and missing protection of the human rights.
With this as the starting point, the thesis examines whether the ECtHR may in fact be said to have created consistency and clarity in its decisions. The thesis therefore presents principles on legal interpretation, and the ECtHR´s case-law on freedom of expression or private life on the Internet. The cases are then analyzed in order to find the answers to the question on whether the ECtHR has established consistency and clarity in its decisions. Finally, the thesis concludes and gives the reader a well-structured presentation of how the ECtHR may be said to assess cases on freedom of expression or private life on the Internet. Among the methods that are applied in the thesis are the IRAC structure on presentation of case-law, and the principles of legal interpretation. The results or findings are, shortly put, that the ECtHR has reached a considerable degree of certainty and clarity in its case-law on freedom of expression and private life on the Internet, and that it firstly relied on its case-law from traditional media to find similarities or differences between the new Internet subject and traditional media that it was familiar with. After the ECtHR has reached more decisions concerning the Internet, it does now increasingly rely on these decisions in new cases.