Digital Rights in the Time of Covid-19
Dr. Jun-E Tan
https://slides.com/jun-e/digitalrightscovid19
What we'll talk about today
- What is digital rights?
- Some examples of digital rights concerns in the time of Covid-19
Digital Rights:
A Conceptual Framework
- Tan, J.-E. (2019). "Digital Rights in Southeast Asia: Conceptual Framework and Movement Building". In Y.H. Khoo & D. Simanjundtak (Eds.), Exploring the Nexus between Technologies and Human Rights: Opportunities and Challenges for Southeast Asia. Bangkok: SHAPE-SEA (Download)
- 24 respondents in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila
- Data collection: July 2019
| Paradigm | Digital (1) | Digital (2) |
Developmental (1) |
Developmental (2) |
| Sphere | Conventional rights in digital spaces | Data-centred rights | Access to the digital | Governance of the digital |
| Description of sphere | Rights of individuals in digital spaces / on the Internet | Digital data that represent physical entities | Access to digital spaces and meaningful participation | Digital and Internet governance |
| Examples of rights | ✅ Rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly online ✅ Right to consumer protection ✅ Right to seek joy and pleasure ✅ Right to exist free from violence, hateful speech, and harassment ✅ Right to not be discriminated ✅ Right to have informed consent on participation |
✅ Right to data privacy ✅ Right to freedom from digital surveillance ✅ Right to data ownership and control ✅ Right to data security and protection |
✅ Right to access state and other services online ✅ Right to access the Internet ✅ Right to access information and content ✅ Right to access hardware/software |
✅ Right to participate in digital governance processes or be consulted on Internet policy issues |
A Framework for Digital Rights
| Paradigm | Digital (1) |
| Sphere | Conventional rights in digital spaces |
| Description of sphere | Rights of individuals in digital spaces / on the Internet |
| Examples of rights | ✅ Rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly online ✅ Right to consumer protection ✅ Right to seek joy and pleasure ✅ Right to exist free from violence, hateful speech, and harassment ✅ Right to not be discriminated ✅ Right to have informed consent on participation |
A Framework for Digital Rights
- UDHR / other human rights frameworks in digital spaces
- State and corporate rights violations in these spaces
- Particularities of digital technologies that bring challenges to human rights
- Law enforcement may not understand digital spaces to apply existing law
| Paradigm | Digital (2) |
| Sphere | Data-centred rights |
| Description of sphere | Digital data that represent physical entities |
| Examples of rights | ✅ Right to data privacy ✅ Right to freedom from digital surveillance ✅ Right to data ownership and control ✅ Right to data security and protection |
A Framework for Digital Rights
- A digital clone/shadow of you, in data format
- Data models of entities used to in an inappropriate / illegal / unethical way to change user behaviour or for surveillance
- Not only limited to individuals – e.g. smart homes and cities
- Surveillance capitalism (Zuboff, 2015) – new way of capitalising data in order to change behaviour
| Paradigm | Developmental (1) |
| Sphere | Access to the digital |
| Description of sphere | Access to digital spaces and meaningful participation |
| Examples of rights | ✅ Right to access state and other services online ✅ Right to access the Internet ✅ Right to access information and content ✅ Right to access hardware/software |
A Framework for Digital Rights
- About 60% of SEA is connected to the Internet, albeit unevenly
- Access can be discussed from different levels, e.g.
- No Internet access because of lack of infrastructure
- Internet/website shutdowns
- Technologies not designed for people with disabilities
- No access to software/hardware that you bought unless you agree to Terms of Use
- No access to state services unless you have an ID
| Paradigm | Developmental (2) |
| Sphere | Governance of the digital |
| Description of sphere | Digital and Internet governance |
| Examples of rights | ✅ Right to participate in digital governance processes or be consulted on Internet policy issues |
A Framework for Digital Rights
- Practice of establishing and implementing policies, procedures, and standards for proper development, use, and management of the digital
- Involving multiple state and nonstate actors, at multiple levels, e.g.
- FoE and privacy violations can happen across the entire value chain of the ICT industry
- Internet governance: whose version of the Internet? Beijing? Silicon Valley? Washington D.C? Brussels?