The digital space is a powerful enabler for more inclusive democratic discourse, participation and policy-making. A free and open internet means simplified access to information, knowledge, culture and education, among other things, and it can also facilitate the exercise of fundamental rights. At the same time, digitisation comes with new challenges.

In terms of freedom of expression, for example, they include hate messages and other abusive forms of expression online, child sexual abuse material, cybercrime, the use of the internet for terrorist purposes and for sowing information disorder, - as a back side of the trend towards user-generated content. The abundance of data in the online space and powerful algorithms-based technologies pose serious risks to privacy, as well as to other interrelated human rights. The trans-border nature of the internet itself presents significant legislative and judicial challenges for existing legal and institutional frameworks.

The seminar, organised by the European Court of Human Rights, in cooperation with Directorate General of Human Rights and the Rule of Law of the Council of Europe (DGI), and with the support of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, will bring together members of the judiciary, prominent legal practitioners and academics, representatives of European institutions and non-governmental organisations, as well as other professionals to discuss human rights challenges in the digital age from the judicial perspective.

It will focus on three major subjects: protecting free expression and privacy in the digital environment, also with regard to implications of Big Data, and determining jurisdiction on the World Wide Web. Speakers coming from different legal systems and jurisdictions will exchange views on the ways to address the complexity that protection of human rights online presents for the judiciary.

The seminar will also pay tribute to the outstanding contribution of the Jurisconsult of the European Court of Human Rights, Lawrence Early, who will retire after many years of service.