THE GLOBAL DIGITAL RIGHTS CHARTER

Preamble

These truths are self-evident:

• the digital realm, consisting of computers, mobile phones, the internet, augmented and virtual reality, the metaverse and other related technologies, is a permanent and important part of human society.
• people are endowed with certain inalienable rights that apply in the digital realm, just as they apply in the physical realm.
• people have the right to live their lives in the digital realm, with the same freedom, dignity, and personal sovereignty as in the physical realm.
• rights in the digital realm shall not be abridged without due process of law. Any abridgment of digital rights must further a compelling government interest and be narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.

The Digital Rights

1. Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the digital realm.
2. Everyone has the right to own, and hold in their own direct and exclusive possession and control, digital objects, without unreasonable burdens. The government shall not have the right to store or access passwords or private keys without due process of law. All other legal or natural persons shall not have the right to store or access passwords or private keys without explicit permission.
3. Everyone has the right to be free to transact digital objects, without unreasonable burdens.
4. Everyone has the right to use decentralized applications, without unreasonable burdens.
5. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures of their digital objects and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. This right extends to digital objects and information a person provides to a third party, whether intentionally or unintentionally. The government may not search or seize such digital objects or information without complying with the requirements of the foregoing sentence.
6. Everyone has the right to participate in the creation and maintenance of digital public commons, such as open-source software and public blockchains and distributed ledgers. No one shall be held responsible for the actions of others in a digital public commons that is not under that person's control.
7. Everyone has the right to privacy in their digital life. The right to privacy also includes the right of everyone to use encryption that is free from back doors or other intentional weaknesses or circumventions in the encryption that are accessible by the government or private companies or individuals. Interpretations of this right should be read broadly and to favor an individual's right to privacy.
8. Everyone has the right to be treated in a non-discriminatory manner regardless of sex, race, color, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or other belief, political opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age, gender or sexual orientation.
9. Everyone has the right to exit from any digital service by claiming their personal digital data. Digital services that utilize data held on a public blockchain are presumed compliant with this clause. Digital services that hold data in a private database must make such data available for export in common formats, in reasonable timeframes, using reasonable methods.
10. Everyone in the digital realm has the right to speak, assemble, practice their religion, conduct scientific and academic research, and petition the government.
11. Everyone has the right to define contractual rights in the digital realm and allow exercise of those rights in a personal or automated manner.
12. Everyone is free from collective punishment in the digital realm.
13. Everyone has the right to act in the digital realm through anonymous identities, pseudonymous identities and/or software agents, so long as each person maintains personal responsibility for the actions of all their identities and agents.
14. The rights enumerated above cannot be abridged, except when narrowly tailored to further a legitimate and compelling government interest and after due process of law. In any proceeding to abridge the rights enumerated above, the defendant shall have the right to legal representation and shall enjoy the presumption of innocence. National security exceptions to the above should be time- and scope-limited and supervised by a competent court with a presumption that hearings should be public. In no case should national security exemptions be applied to collective societal restrictions of digital rights.
15. Everyone has the obligation to comply with the relevant laws and regulations of their respective state and community, in a manner consistent with the rights enumerated above, and to respect the rights of others to conduct their digital lives peacefully.