Digital rights

The term digital rights is indicative of the freedom of individuals to perform actions involving the use of a computer, any electronic device, or a communications network. The term is particularly related to the protection and realization of existing rights, such as the right to privacy or freedom of expression (see freedom of information), in the context of new digital technologies, especially the Internet.

A number of human rights have been identified as relevant with regards to the Internet. These include: freedom of expression, data protection and privacy, freedom of association, women's rights and minority rights. Furthermore the right to education and multilingualism, consumer rights, and capacity building in the context of the right to development have also been identified. Human rights have been termed the "missing link" between the technology oriented and the value oriented approaches to the Internet.
The APC Internet Rights Charter was established by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) at the APC Europe Internet Rights Workshop, held in Prague, February 2001. The Charter draws on the People's Communications Charter and develops seven themes: internet access for all; freedom of expression and association; access to knowledge, shared learning and creation - free and open source software and technology development; privacy, surveillance and encryption; governance of the internet; awareness, protection and realization of rights. The APC states that "the ability to share information and communicate freely using the internet is vital to the realisation of human rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women."
In December 2003 the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was convened under the auspice of the United Nations (UN). After lengthy negotiations between governments, businesses and civil society representatives the WSIS Declaration of Principles was adopted reaffirming human rights:

"We reaffirm the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development, as enshrined in the Vienna Declaration. We also reaffirm that democracy, sustainable development, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as good governance at all levels are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. We further resolve to strengthen the rule of law in international as in national affairs

The WSIS Declaration also makes specific reference to the importance of the right to freedom of expression in the "Information Society" in stating:

"We reaffirm, as an essential foundation of the Information Society, and as outlined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Communication is a fundamental social process, a basic human need and the foundation of all social organisation. It is central to the Information Society. Everyone, everywhere should have the opportunity to participate and no one should be excluded from the benefits of the Information Society offers."

The 2004 WSIS Declaration of Principles also acknowledged that "it is necessary to prevent the use of information resources and technologies for criminal and terrorist purposes, while respecting human rights." Wolfgang Benedek comments that the WSIS Declaration only contains a number of references to human rights and does not spell out any procedures or mechanism to assure that human rights are considered in practice.
The Dynamic Coalition for an Internet Bill of Rights emerged in preparation for the 2008 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Rio as part of which the Coalition held a large preparatory Dialogue Forum on Internet Rights in Rome, September 2007. The Dialogue Forum established that the aim was not to develop a new legal bill of rights, but to work on a set of guidelines interpreting existing human rights with regard to the needs and challenges of the information society. The Coalition intends to undertake an inventory of existing international human rights instruments and to serve as a engagement platform to elaborate the content of the Internet Bill of Rights.

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