Privacy and the Need for an Internet Bill of Rights

Abstract

During the early days of the internet it was widely defended that being in an on-line environment clearly transformed some human rights; and might even create new ones. We argue for the consideration of an Internet Bill of Rights (IBR) however rather than inventing new rights, we propose that some rights have to be reconsidered within the emerging virtual context. Privacy, anonymity, freedom of expression, and so are not exactly the same rights we have in the realm of our physical being. What changes are some inarticulate contextual conditions, which make some people think that the rights are actually changing. This has theoretical implications. We attempt to show that there is no need to re-think rights like privacy from the beginning, or even eliminate it, as some scholars propose. It also has implications for policy making, as it provides a general methodology to consider and adapt to virtual contexts in order to assure that basic human rights can be correctly applied and defended in Cyberspace.