On the morning of Monday 12 October, Index on Censorship will be teaming up with Policy Exchange and Google to discuss free expression and the Internet. Later that day, Liberty and Index on Censorship will stage Protest! an exciting event encouraging students to exercise their right to free speech, with special guest Sir Hugh Orde, head of the Association of Chief Police Officers
Why, people might sensibly ask, is Index on Censorship engaging with one of the world’s leading technology corporations and one of Britain’s top police chiefs? The answer is because we no longer see free expression only through the traditional prism of outright state censorship of or violence against writers and journalists.
The issue is more complex than that now. Of course, in many countries, from Russia to China to Burma to Zimbabwe, dissenters are attacked. There is no shortage of black and white cases of oppression that Index on Censorship reports in its magazine and on the website. This is still a vital function of organisations such as ours.
However, the other issues at stake are more complex. They range from so-called “hate speech” and issues of racial and religious offence, to issues of privacy and technology. So, we can rail as much as we do about state surveillance and CCTV, but what about Google Maps?
This will be one of many issues I am sure will be addressed by David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer, in an event Google and Policy Exchange are holding on Monday in association with Index on Censorship. He will undoubtedly be challenged on the question of Google Books, and the extent to which that compromises the lifeblood of publishers and authors. And then of course there is Google and China.
Over at the South Bank University, Index is joining forces with Liberty for the first time. The aim of the event is to encourage people to effectively exercise their right to protest, and to look at the extent to which that right has been curtailed by excessive police practices. Our gathering, which is aimed mainly at students and young people, includes an eclectic range of single-issue organisations.
What excites me most, and intrigues me, is the presence of Sir Hugh Orde, the head of the Association of Chief Police Officers. Does his willingness to step into the lion’s den suggest spin or a genuine determination of the police to learn the lessons of the G20 violence in April and to address the criticisms levelled in the official investigations that followed? I’m keen to find out…
