Asian human rights law, jurisprudence and practices toward the internet

This chapter discusses how possible and difficult it is to treat freedom of internet access as a human right. It aims to divide attitudes toward the internet into three categories and describes the characteristics of each category and typical legal systems. The chapter shows two prominent novel internet regulations among Asian countries: the Real-Name system, and anti-fake news laws. International law has gradually recognised internet access as a fundamental human right. There are many Asian countries between the two poles of, on the one hand, restricting internet freedom comprehensively and, on the other hand, respecting the free flow of information on the internet generally. The regulation of the internet has a dual nature: on the one hand, it restricts human rights such as the freedom of speech or free access to the internet, while on the one hand, it protects human rights such as privacy and dignity.