Specific Issues for Discussion:
“We, the People” Indeed, in combating digital authoritarianism and to enable the civil society to flourish in an ever surveilled and censored Brave New World, it is impetus to refocus on the fundamentals and begin with “rights.”
“We, the People” In combating digital authoritarianism and allowing civil societies to flourish in an increasingly surveilled and censored Brave New World, it is imperative to focus on the fundamental rights.
What we need is a Bill of Rights — an impactful and comprehensive inventory of rights that the people innately possess that is unalienable by the State. This “Digital Bill of Rights,” as we like to call it, is a systematic, fundamental, and preventive initiative against digital authoritarianism. With this Digital Bill of Rights drafted, shared widely nationally and internationally, and ultimately codified domestically and internationally, we begin the critical effort to engineer the legal structure that moves our current state toward a free society and internet for the people, by the people, and of the people.
The Digital Bill of Rights would serve as an essential foundation for future generations. The people living in digital age cannot be fully protected by laws written more than a hundred years ago, as our archaic institutions have yet to catch up to modern-day technological advances. Our once democratic institution is now being undermined by the emergence of authoritarianism, with governments taking advantage of newly-developed technology, pervasive surveillance devices, and now, AI, causing what has been coined as “digital authoritarianism on steroids”. More than ever, we need to list and articulate a new set of freedoms and rights for the people and adopt them immediately.
