A CHECKLIST FOR A DIGITAL CITIZENS’ BILL OF RIGHTS
TRACY WESTEN1
"[A] bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse."
- Thomas Jefferson December 20, 1787
Introduction
Bills of Rights have a long and storied history. From the Magna Carta through the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Bills of Rights have been used to erect legal bulwarks against excessive uses of government power, as well as articulate important civil liberties and freedoms that cannot be infringed by government.
The articulation of these rights occurred at crucial moments in history. They provided important steps in the formation of modern democracies. The time now seems right to begin to articulate a Digital Citizens’ Bill of Rights that would define the basic rights and benefits of all citizens in the digital age, protecting them against electronic abuses of government power, and empowering them to participate more actively and effectively in the activities of democratic governance.
The following is a checklist of items that might be included in a new “Digital Citizens’ Bill of Rights.”
1. Right to Information
- Right to identify the name, title, contact information and duties of each elected official (e.g., a citizen should be able to access an online government database, enter his/her address and identify their city councilmember, county supervisor, state assembly member, etc., and easily understand their range of duties)
- Right to obtain elected officials’ voting records and positions on range of issues
- Right to access full-texts of all government research online and, where feasible, through other media (TV, Video-on-Demand)
- Right to locate and access existing government research
- Right to access government information in multiple languages where appropriate (e.g., English and French in Canada)
2. Right to Transparency
- Right to view online agendas of all upcoming governmental meetings
- Right to receive notification (e.g., email, text message), upon request, of upcoming governmental meetings and decisions (e.g., citizens would indicate they are interested in specific issues, and city council would email them notification a week before issues are considered, allowing citizens to participate in public hearing or comment in person or by email)
- Right to access online streamed and/or archived video coverage of public government decisions (e.g., video coverage of city council, state legislature), via TV, the Web or Cable TV/DBS/Cellular Video-on-Demand retrieval systems
3. Right to Petition
- Right to transmit opinions on pending issues to relevant government officials (will require creation of dedicate software)
- Right to expect that information transmitted to elected officials electronically will not be ignored (officials will log comments, respond in timely manner, etc.)
- Right to participate in periodic, online, non-binding government-initiated public opinion polls, to express opinions on major items pending before local, regional, state and national governments (e.g., government would conduct public opinion polls, post the results, and publicly respond through committee hearings, legislative resolutions, etc.) (alternative to binding ballot initiative)
4. Right to Vote
- Right to vote online in manner that is private, secure and accurate
- Right to sign online petitions to qualify citizen initiatives for the ballot in jurisdictions which utilize the ballot initiative process
- Right to receive voter information on all candidates for elected office and ballot measures in textual and/or video formats via the Web, Internet or Cable TV/DBS/Cellular Video-on-Demand retrieval systems
5. Right to Privacy
- Right of a citizen to inspect any information collected by government on that citizen and to correct it for errors or omissions
- Right to prevent government and private vendors from selling, disseminating or making public any private information collected by government, where that information personally identifies specific citizens
6. Right to Access
- Right of universal access to government information and services via the Internet (e.g., free government supported public points of access through libraries, kiosks, etc.)
- Right of access to government via electronic technologies (email, Internet), irrespective of age, gender, race, income or disability (e.g., voice activation for blind, sub-captioning for deaf)
- Right to receive free government-supplied email addresses and accounts (e.g., if otherwise unable to obtain or afford email or web access)
- Right of access to Internet at low or reasonable rates (tariffs, antitrust enforcement policies against media monopolization, etc.)
7. Right to Assemble
- Right to create or join online communities and forums
- Right to privacy in online memberships
8. Right to Freedom of Expression
- Right to free and uncensored personal communication without governmental intervention
- Right to free and uncensored communication in un-moderated public forums or networks
9. Right to Online Services
- Right to enter into government transactions (e.g., income tax filing) or obtain government services (e.g., auto registration) online
- Right to obtain online answers to specific questions relating to government (e.g., hours of park operation, ways to obtain camping permits)
Historical Note on Bills of Rights
The following are key milestones in the evolution democracies.
The English Magna Carta (1215) established protections against arbitrary and unjust rule by the king and established the concept that the powers of government could be limited by specific principles in a written document.
The English Bill of Rights (1689), a precursor to the U.S. Bill of Rights, ended the concept of the divine right of kings, limited the powers of the king and subjected the crown to the rule of law as enacted by Parliament. The English Bill of Rights included major provisions respecting petition and speech:
- That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal;
- That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.
Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) was used by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence and copied by a number of other colonies. It provided, among other things:
- That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments (Section 12).
New Hampshire Bill of Rights (1783), inspired by Virginia, and similar to a number of other colonial bills of rights that protected basic liberties against encroachment by government, provided, for example:
The people have a right, in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble and consult upon the common good, give instructions to submitted to the states for ratification contained relatively few civil rights protections. Thomas Jefferson, then Minister to France, wrote James Madison expressing alarm over “the omission of a bill of rights . . . providing clearly . . . for freedom of religion [and] freedom of the press ….” President George Washington, in his first inaugural address, urged Congress to propose amendments that offered "a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for public harmony." Congress responded by proposing 12 amendments, 10 of which were ratified in 1791 and became known as the Bill of Rights. The first of these reads:
- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
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