by: Deriel Ramadhan
The advancement of technology has brought a new perspective on law, primarily criminal law. Many crimes adapted technology and transformed into a more sophisticated form: online fraud, identity theft, and cyberbullying. The fourth Indonesian Scholars Forum (ISF) Politics and Law was successfully held on Sunday, 16 May 2021. It was led by Deriel Ramadhan, a student of LLM Criminal law at the University of Leeds. The discussion topic was: “How does the Indonesian government regulate cyberspeech? An analysis of Indonesia digital information law in the context of defamation”.
The session was opened by an outline of cyber speech by Andrew Murray. Deriel emphasised that Murray’s view on cyberspeech influenced the socially and legally settled environment. Deriel introduced four features of cyber speech: political speech, hate speech, cyberbullying, and freedom of speech. Freedom of speech received the most attention during the discussion and many participants provided thought-provoking arguments throughout the session.
The Indonesian government’s Information and Electronic Transaction Law (UU ITE) manifests cyberlibertarians and cyberpaternalism concepts. Many participants believed that this law curbs an individual’s freedom of speech under the guise of protecting one’s reputation. One participant argues that freedom of speech was initially intended to protect minority rights, but these days, it was used by those in power to protect their public image. Deriel highlighted that the theory of criminalisation, retribution and deterrence were failed to be implemented within ITE law. He called for a reform to abolish over criminalisation by this law. Further, he believed that the government needs to ensure the protection of free speech in Indonesia.
Some participants explored the idea of private actors’ involvement in regulating cyberspeech. There were pros and cons for this proposition, especially regarding the ethics and responsibility of online platforms in maintaining the space they provide for their users. The discussion lasted for more than an hour and a half and there were still opposing arguments about the implementation of UU ITE in Indonesia. What is your opinion about this issue?