International
Digital
Rights
Days
10 & 11 December 2024
What are Digital Rights?
Digital rights are human rights. In a society increasingly shaped by the digital world, it is essential to emphasize the importance of everyone’s right to access, use, and create digital technologies and content. These rights encompass the protection of privacy, freedom of expression, and the right to access information online. They ensure that individuals can engage with digital platforms, participate in online communities, and share content freely and safely, without facing undue censorship, surveillance, or discrimination.
Digital rights also encompass issues such as data protection, net neutrality, and the right to be forgotten, ensuring that digital environments remain open, inclusive, and respectful of individuals’ rights and freedoms.
Why are Digital Rights important?
Digital rights are crucial for several reasons:
Freedom of Expression:
They protect individuals’ ability to express themselves freely online without fear of censorship or reprisal.
Privacy Protection
Digital rights safeguard personal data and communications, preventing unauthorized access and misuse by governments, corporations, or malicious entities.
Access to Information
They ensure that people can access a wide range of information and knowledge, fostering education and informed decision-making. They are a basis to provide qualitative information and fight against all kind of disinformation.
Equality and Inclusion
Digital rights help bridge the digital divide, ensuring that all individuals, regardless of socioeconomic status, have access to digital technologies and the internet.
Non-discrimination
They enhance the protection of marginalised groups from data profiling, unwarranted policing, biased technologies and online violations of human rights.
Security
Digital rights promote a safer online environment by enforcing laws and standards that protect users from cyber threats, harassment, and exploitation.
Democracy and Participation
They ensure that people can participate to online democratic processes and have a say in the digital transformation currently at work all over the world.
In essence, digital rights encompass all the fundamental human rights that must maintain the freedoms and protections of the offline world in the digital world. They ensure safe, fair and inclusive digital environments.