Where do Digital Rights Begin?

Where do Digital Rights Begin?

…  it begins with an idea.

As Americans we must honor those who came before us and fought to preserve our rights as well as a duty to fight for those whom are yet to be. We fought the British when we could no longer tolerate their tyranny. We fought each other over the soul of the nation during the Civil war. We fought in both world wars and stand as a bulwark and safe harbor where individual rights are enshrined in our constitution and vigorously protected.

As we move into the twenty-first century, we will be called on to be that bulwark and safe harbor on new frontiers. With the ubiquity of digital services and platforms at people’s fingertips, as a nation it is our duty to ensure the American people’s right to privacy is protected. The fourth amendment staunchly protects our privacy. However, when it comes to digital rights, it is incumbent upon us to legislate comprehensive ratifications to the fourth amendment to include protections for digital privacy and enhanced identity rights.

We can look to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 as progressive laws that begin to address both digital privacy and identity rights. While these laws are good first steps, they possess a flaw. The flaw is that they are opt-out laws. You have a right to request to be forgotten. You have a right to know where your information is and how it is used. Instead, I challenge the Senate and the Congress to legislate amendments that enshrine our digital rights in the constitution and then empower a new generation of technologists to bend the digital world to serve the people.