New publication of HFHR: Virtual Media – Real Problems

A book entitled Virtual Media – Real Problems has come out. It is edited by two lawyers with the HFHR Observatory of the Freedom of Media in Poland, Dominika Bychawska Siniarska and Dorota Głowacka. The publication is a compilation of articles in which lawyers and journalists describe problems with the application of law in the context of the growth of Internet communication.

The authors comment on the recent case-law of Polish and international courts with respect to standards of the freedom of speech and the protection of privacy, often relying on cases in which the HFHR has been involved.

The articles discuss such issues as the exercise of the freedom of speech in the on-line press and on discussion forums and blogs, principles of liability for Internet content, the removal of inconvenient information on an individual from the Internet (“the right to be forgotten”) and the role of internet archives in exercising the right of the public to information. The authors also touch on the issues related to the successful pursuit of claims by individuals whose rights have been violated in the cyberspace and analyse legal consequences of the public and private nature of various “spaces” in the Internet. Moreover, they point out areas in which the most urgent law reforms are needed in order to adjust the law to the requirements of modern technology.

“We hope that this book will contribute to a better understanding of Internet-related legal issues. We also hope that it will be useful for decision-makers responsible for developing the law regulating the Internet and that it will introduce lawyers to the current trends in domestic and international case-law concerning Internet communication. In preparing this publication we also had in mind journalists and national and local press publishers, whose work has an increased Internet presence and who, on a daily basis, have to wrestle with problems caused by the imperfect legal framework”, says editors, Dominika Bychawska-Siniarska and Dorota Głowacka.

Some of the authors are: Dominika Bychawska-Siniarska, Natalia Chojecka, advocate Jakub Czarnecki, Dorota Głowacka, Prof. Ireneusz C. Kamiński, Grzegorz Leśniewski, Piotr Markiewicz, Adam Ploszka, advocate Bartosz Rodak, Wojciech Tumidalski, Zuzanna Warso, Dr Michał Zaremba, advocate Natalia Zawadzka, Dr Marcin Z. Zieliński.

The book was inspired by the conference “Virtual Media – Real Problems” held in April 2014 at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, an event organised by the HFHR and the Centres for Human Rights at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University and the University of Warsaw.