A statement of human rights in the digital realm.
Digital spaces (realms) are now the default professional and
social spaces in developed economies.
In 2023, we work, play, socialize, advocate, communicate,
transact, earn a living, express our political and social views,
fall in love and marry, and keep in touch with our families,
primarily in the digital realm.
For better or for worse, almost every digital service is run by
a company, so the default “rights” models (and norms) in the
digital realm are that of a “customer”, not that of a “citizen.”
This means that even though, in theory, our existing
constitutional rights apply in the digital realm, in practice,
given the high level of corporatization of the digital realm, we
have vastly fewer rights in the digital realm than in the
physical realm.
There is also some level of tension between the state /
corporations and certain digital public commons. This tension
existed in the 1990s with open-source software and exists today
with public blockchains (cryptocurrencies). We believe there
should be no tension - digital public commons are good for
everyone and good for society, and are broadly within the
democratic tradition of a constitutional democracy.
Our view is that public spaces, public commons, and private
spaces should exist in the digital realm as they do in the
physical realm, and the state should protect and encourage those
spaces. In the physical world, you are allowed to own a home,
own a piece of art, walk on a public beach, public park or
public street and, in all cases, your rights to do so cannot be
abridged without the important due process protections that
modern democracies offer. By contrast, you have significantly
fewer rights in a private shopping mall or in a private office
building (the owner can ask you to leave).
Right now the digital realm primarily consists of the equivalent
of private shopping malls. We have no objection to shopping
malls, but it is important that you can also own a piece of art
privately, have a private conversation in your home or share a
public park with others in the digital realm as well.
The GDRC is not an anti-government or anti-corporate statement,
it is a pro-human rights, pro-democracy, pro-society,
pro-private ownership, pro-humanity statement. Every one of us
is firstly a citizen and secondarily a “consumer” or “user.”
Right now, the balance in the digital realm is far too weighted
towards the latter.
To put it simply, we believe that the traditional rights of a
constitutional democracy (speech, privacy, ownership, due
process and so on), should exist, not just in theory, but in
practice in the digital realm.
The original draft was written in the summer 2022 by
@punk6529.
The current, much improved version, has had input from dozens of
people from different backgrounds and fields.
We thank them all for their support and great ideas!
The GDRC 1 is released under a Creative Commons 0 (CC0) public
domain license. Full license text is here:
https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/
For the purposes of this copyright release, the author is
@punk6529.
You can use the GDRC 1 in any way you like, for non-commercial
or commercial use. Any contributions you make to the
GDRC github
however should be considered released under the CC0
license.
The GDRC 1 aims to be a statement of general principles. Subsequent GDRC community activities could include adapting it for specific legal systems.
The goal of the GDRC 1 is not to propose detailed laws and regulations. Subsequent GDRC community activities could include adapting it for specific legal or regulatory matters.
So do we. We believe laws are best developed within a framework of constitutional rights, in a similar manner to most modern democracies.
GDRC 1 is primarily about preserving public commons and their
associated norms in the digital realm. In the digital realm,
those public commons include open internet protocols such as
email, open-source software such as Linux, open file formats
such as PDFs and public blockchains (often called
cryptocurrencies).
We believe that digital public commons should be clearly legal
and, in the ideal case, actively encouraged by society and the
state for the same reason that we retain personal and public
spaces in the physical realm.
We also believe that there should be general principles
governing the relative rights and responsibilities of citizens,
companies, and the state in the digital realm.
Great! This may be true. You can fork the GDRC 1 on our github
account and give it a shot. We will see what comes from the
community over the next few months and perhaps release a GDRC
1.1 or GDRC 2.0.
In any case, you are welcome to build on the GDRC 1 and release
your own version.
We would greatly appreciate that. Ideally, you would also place a copy of your translation on the GDRC 1 github linked here.
That sounds wonderful. We would appreciate it if you could leave the letter template in the GDRC 1 github linked here so others can perhaps use it and adapt it.
Share the GDRC 1 with friends, family, colleagues and politicians. Find ways to pass this message along in your society and your context. If this is relevant to you, help us improve the GDRC 1 at our Github - this could involve alternative versions, versions fine-tuned for specific countries, more detailed explanations and activities of this type.
It is an ERC-721 Ethereum NFT with a video highlighting the text of the GDRC 1.
There is no cost to mint the GDRC 1 NFT, except for the Ethereum transaction ("gas") fee. It can be minted at: https://digitalrightscharter.org/mintGDRC1
If and when we launch a GDRC 2 NFT, which may be in a few months, a few years or never. We may choose to keep the GDRC 1 mint open forever, regardless of whether there is a GDRC 2.
No, that is not the aim. Anyone will be able to mint a GDRC 1 token for free, so we do not expect there will be financial value to these NFTs.
That is fine. There is no obligation to mint this free NFT. You
can use the GDRC 1 in a context that makes sense to you.
The GDRC 1 is technology-neutral as written.
You are welcome to do so.
You are welcome to do so.