The International Modern Media Institute is an independent non-profit institute founded in 2011 advocate for functioning laws on freedom of information, expression and speech, reflecting a borderless world and the challenges that it imposes locally and globally.
[this entry is currently a work in progress]
Mission and Purpose
To make Iceland the Switzerland of journalism, providing safehaven to investigative journalists to assist with international transparency efforts.
History
The institute was founded in 2011 but its founding members worked to make the Icelandic Parliament unanimously ratify the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative resolution in June 16, 2010. Founders include Birgitta Jónsdóttir ( spokesperson and Pirate Party co-founder and leader), Smári McCarthy (Pirate Party co-founder and Parliament member), Rop Gonggrijp (), and Julian Assange (WikiLeaks founder).
Participant Selection
Unclear what the process is, but it collaborates with international institutions and the academic community to promote debate and research in enhance and empower freedom of expression, freedom of speech, dissemination of information and publication, in Iceland and providing source and whisleblower protection to foreigners.
Specializations and Activities
Proposal for 2010 Icelandic Parliament resolution highlights and axis of work:
- The Icelandic Prize for Freedom of Expression
- Protection from “libel tourism” and other extrajudicial abuses
- Protection of intermediaries (internet service providers)
- Statute of limitations on publishing liabilities
- Virtual limited liability companies
- Whistleblower Protection
- Source Protection
- Communications Protection
- Prior Restraint Limitations
- Judicial process protections
- Ultra-modern Freedom of Information Act
Major projects and events
Funding
Crowdfunding supports the organization, it has received ~$23,000 USD, 52% of its goal[1].
Publications
by the IMMI
Status report on the resolution not having been made into law yet[2]
Islands of Resilience [3]: a study into the comparative qualities of different countries, throughout Europe and the world, with roughly 80 variables, each of which is assigned a rubric-based score from 1-5, based on of three categories of issues define a locale’s fitness for hosting the cloud: energy, connectivity, and jurisdiction. As the provision of cloud-based information technology services is becoming a competitive advantage for Iceland; price per kilowatt hour, redundant network availability, power grid resilience, environmental sustainability, climate, and equipment cooling requirements as core parts of their energy strategy.
Academic papers about IMMI
Thomas Hoeren: IMMI – The EU Perspective; CRi 5/2010
Florencio Cabello Fernández-Delgado, María Teresa Vera Balanza: Beyond WikiLeaks: The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative and the Creation of Free Havens; International Journal of Communication, Vol 6 (2012)
Wes Ritchie: Note: Why IMMI Matters: The First Glass Fortress in the Age of Wikileaks; Suffolk Transnational Law Review
Primavera di Filippi, Smári McCarthy: Cloud Computing: Legal Issues in Centralized Architectures; VII International Conference on Internet, Law and Politics, 2011
Primavera di Filippi, Smári McCarthy: Cloud Computing: Centralization and Data Sovereignty; European Journal of Law and Technology, Vol. 3, No 2, 2012
Secondary Sources
[1]https://igg.me/at/Switzerlandofbits/x/13142760, list of supporters https://en.immi.is/about-immi/official-immi-supporters/
[2]https://en.immi.is/immi-resolution/progression/
[3]http://islandsofresilience.eu/pdf/ior_full.pdf
External Links
Cohen, Noam. A Vision of Iceland as a Haven for Journalists, February. 21, 2010 https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/business/media/22link.html
Sterling, Bruce. The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, February 17, 2010
https://www.wired.com/2010/02/the-icelandic-modern-media-initiative/