Tactics and tools for the protection
of Human Rights Defenders

30 March 2011

Access has been working with the Internet Rights and Principles Coalition – a dynamic multi-stakeholder working group formed and working under the aegis of the Internet Governance Forum – to develop 10 principles to govern the internet. They are still very much in draft format, but they are represented in the summaries below and we want to know what you think of them. Use the comment field below to tell us!

[UPDATE: The 10 Principles to Govern the Internet have been finished! The final version (published March 24th, 2011) appears first and then the draft principles that we published on March 10th are below them].
[UPDATE II: The 10 Principles to Govern the Internet have now been translated into Spanish, Swedish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Filipino, Romanian, Swahili, Thai, Macedonian, Finnish, Bosnian/Croatian, and Albanian!]


The Internet offers unprecedented opportunities for the realization of human rights, and plays an increasingly important role in our everyday lives. It is therefore essential that all actors, both public and private, respect and protect human rights on the Internet. Steps must also be taken to ensure that the Internet operates and evolves in ways that fulfill human rights to the greatest extent possible. To help realize this vision of a rights-based Internet environment, the 10 Rights and Principles are:

Universality and Equality
All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights, which must be respected, protected and fulfilled in the online environment.

Rights and Social Justice
The Internet is a space for the promotion, protection and fulfilment of human rights and the advancement of social justice. Everyone has the duty to respect the human rights of all others in the online environment.

Accessibility
Everyone has an equal right to access and use a secure and open Internet.

Expression and Association
Everyone has the right to seek, receive, and impart information freely on the Internet without censorship or other interference. Everyone also has the right to associate freely through and on the Internet, for social, political, cultural or other purposes.

Privacy and Data Protection
Everyone has the right to privacy online. This includes freedom from surveillance, the right to use encryption, and the right to online anonymity. Everyone also has the right to data protection, including control over personal data collection, retention, processing, disposal and disclosure.

Life, Liberty and Security
The rights to life, liberty, and security must be respected, protected and fulfilled online. These rights must not be infringed upon, or used to infringe other rights, in the online environment.

Diversity
Cultural and linguistic diversity on the Internet must be promoted, and technical and policy innovation should be encouraged to facilitate plurality of expression.

Network Equality
Everyone shall have universal and open access to the Internet’s content, free from discriminatory prioritisation, filtering or traffic control on commercial, political or other grounds.

Standards and Regulation
The Internet’s architecture, communication systems, and document and data formats shall be based on open standards that ensure complete interoperability, inclusion and equal opportunity for all.

Governance Human
rights and social justice must form the legal and normative foundations upon which the Internet operates and is governed. This shall happen in a transparent and multilateral manner, based on principles of openness, inclusive participation and accountability. 

***Draft principles as of March 10th***
 

Universality
All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights, which must respected, protected. and fulfilled in the online environment.

Accessibility
Everyone has an equal right to access and use a secure and open Internet.

Neutrality
Everyone must have uniform access to the Internet’s content, free from prioritization, discrimination, censorship, filtering, or traffic control.

Rights
The Internet is a space for the promotion, protection, and fulfillment of human rights. Everyone has the duty to respect the rights of all others in the online environment.

Expression
Everyone has the right to hold and express opinions, and to seek, receive, and impart information on the Internet without arbitrary interference or surveillance. Everyone has the right to communicate anonymously online.

Life, liberty and security
The rights to life, liberty, and security must be respected, protected and fulfilled online. These rights must not be infringed upon, or used to infringe other rights, in the online environment.

Privacy
Everyone has the right to privacy online free from surveillance, including the right to control how their personal data is collected, used, disclosed, retained, and disposed.

Diversity
Cultural and linguistic diversity on the Internet must be promoted, and technical and policy innovation should be encouraged to facilitate diversity of expression.

Standards and regulation
The Internet’s architecture shall be based on open standards that facilitate interoperability and inclusion of all for all.

Governance
Rights must form the legal and normative foundations upon which the Internet operates and is governed. This shall happen in a transparent and multilateral manner, based on principles of openness, inclusive participation and accountability as prescribed by law.