Gatekeepers, Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibilities - Laidlaw.pdf

THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE




Gatekeepers,
Human Rights and
Corporate Social
Responsibilities


Emily B. Laidlaw

A thesis submitted to the Law Department of
the London School of Economics and Political Science
For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy


January 2012
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Declaration

I certify that the thesis I presented for examination for the PhD degree from the London
School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have
clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried
out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it).
The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided
that full acknowledgment is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without the prior
written consent of the author.
I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any
third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 99,611 words.
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ABSTRACT
Access to the and participation in discourse through the medium of the
have e integral parts of our democratic life. Facilitation of this democratic potential
critically relies on a governance structure supportive of the right to freedom of expression.
In western democracies, governance is largely the preserve of the private sphere. This is
because of two reasons. First, munication technologies that enable or disable
participation in discourse online are privately-owned. In order to find information, we use
search engines. In order to sort through the clutter, we use portals. In order to access the
, we need to use Service Providers (ISPs). Thus we inevitably rely on these
companies to participate in discourse online and they thereby e gatekeepers to our
digital democratic experience.
Second, governance of such technologies has been largely left panies to add