Blog: Digital Rights

Digital rights are human and legal rights that allow individuals to access, use, create and publish digital content on devices such as computers and mobile phones, as well as in virtual spaces and communities (Pangrazio & Sefton-Green, 2021). Online, two of the most contentious issues are freedom of expression and personal privacy. In order to protect your rights in a digital world, it's important to learn how technology is changing them, both for the better and the worse, and who is trying to use it against you. Our digital rights, particularly the rights to privacy and freedom of speech, are becoming increasingly significant as more aspects of our life, such as making purchases, interacting with others, and exchanging information, are increasingly conducted online. It is imperative that we have a knowledge of the ways in which our data can be utilized by businesses, governments, and internet mega-corporations such as Facebook. We need to be made aware as to if it is being traded or sold without our knowledge and permission.

Digital users are thought of as having the right to access, use, produce, and publish digital material under the internet paradigm. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which was established by Internet activists John Perry Barlow, Mitch Kapor, and John Gilmore, has become one of the most prominent organizations fighting for the protection of cyber rights. In 1996, in the article entitled A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, Barlow highlighted the discrepancy between the fundamental rights enshrined in the US Constitution and the violation of citizens' rights on the Internet. For example, in the 1990s, the postal service was inviolable, but email was not. The EFF's work defending these cases in court laid the foundation for the international recognition of cyber rights (Corporativa, 2022). There are more than 120 countries in the world that have some kind of legislation protecting personal data and access to information on the Internet. In the United States, there is no underlying federal legislation that governs data protection; rather, individual states are responsible for enforcing their own data protection regulations, which can be varied depending on the individual person.

References

Corporativa. (2022). Iberdrola. Iberdrola. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from https://www.iberdrola.com/innovation/what-are-digital-rights

Pangrazio, L., & Sefton-Green, J. (2021, January 15). Digital Rights, Digital Citizenship and Digital Literacy: What’s the Difference? | Pangrazio | Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research. Digital Rights, Digital Citizenship and Digital Literacy: What’s the Difference? | Pangrazio | Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from https://naerjournal.ua.es/article/view/v10n1-1