The Internet Bill of Rights Project: A Way to Reconcile Natural Freedoms and Needs for Regulation?

Abstract

Within broad debates on freedom, security and human rights on the Internet – carried on during recent years in national and international fora – the proposal for the creation and adoption of a Bill of Rights for the Internet has been the subject of uneven attention and mixed reviews. Acknowledging the renewed interest in the proposal showed by the Committee on Civil Liberties of the European Parliament, this paper explores the current state of the Internet Bill of Rights (IBR) project, and places a special focus on its potential as an instrument of reconciliation between natural freedoms and needs for regulation. Firstly, the paper discusses the rationale behind a Constitution-like document for the Internet. The main argument of the IBR promoters – according to whom all those who see in the Internet either only the freedoms it naturally enables, or the necessity of regulations and constraints in the name of security, are missing a vital part of the picture – is examined in light of broader discourses such as the opportunity to treat the Internet as a common good, and the need for its preservation as an unprecedently wide public space. Secondly, the paper turns to examine if the very relevance of the Internet inasmuch as the birth of a global public space is concerned makes it necessary to guarantee and safeguard citizens’ rights within that same public space through appropriate instruments, and if this is the case, what are the features these should have.