Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia VI. Conclusion For nearly all forms of private and public expression, including on issues of public interest essential to the functioning of democracy, the internet is increasingly the primary venue for communication, debate and discussion. Distinctions between communications conducted online or offline, in private and or in public, are becoming ever narrower. Legal and regulatory frameworks designed to protect rights are struggling to take into account more contemporary challenges posed by cyberspace, where the frontiers of ethics, law, business and technology – and where they interact and collide – remain in a state of flux and constant evolution. However, core human rights principles, legal obligations and other standards, which remain applicable online as well as offline, should remain the point of departure. Whatever the gaps in laws regulating new technologies, many of the cases and situations highlighted in this report would be conducive to resolution simply by good faith implementation of well settled international human rights law. This report has thus sought to identify one starting point for a more comprehensive and forward-looking conversation about how international human rights law can help frame the development and implementation of legal frameworks affecting expression, information-sharing and political participation in the era of the internet. Concerns surrounding the spread of false information, hate speech and incitement to violence online or cyber-attacks are serious problems that demand solutions. These contemporary problems require urgent and effective action – but action that also protects the rights of individuals, including their rights to life, security, bodily integrity and privacy. Blunt, bad-faith legislative attempts by governments to combat these challenges such as those documented in this report are likely to be ineffective, socially disruptive and costly, if they do not take into account the impacts on human rights and fundamental freedoms. As technologies of surveillance and control further develop, including artificial intelligence and automation of surveillance technologies, governments will be tempted to exercise even greater control when such control suits its purposes. Without adequate attention to the impacts of these technologies, and with outdated legal and regulatory frameworks and mechanisms at the national and international levels, there is a real danger that the types of violations documented in this report will become more and more common. 159