In order to help focus the contours of public discussion for a free Internet, Wyden and Issa propose the development of a Digital Citizen's Bill Of Rights. Their belief is that this statement will establish minimum doctrinal standards to prevent the regulation of the Internet to fall below a base set of rights. Here are their proposed basic rights for the Internet:
1. Freedom - digital citizens have a right to a free, uncensored internetIn my view, while a free Internet is important, so to is the freedom from harmful and illegal conduct that occurs on the Internet. A parent whose child is abused by cyberbullies will feel the need to provide some level of protection for improper Internet use, particularly when the actor resides in a foreign state that provides little or difficult legal protections. The same holds true for Internet purveyors of counterfeit goods, and other similar wrongful conduct. The notion of a free Internet is appealing, but the practical problems associated with undeveloped or difficult legal jurisdictions around the world provide, it seems to me, a practical impediment to a completely free Internet. When a person in a foreign state that provides little legal support against wrongful Internet usage can create international harm with little practical recourse, then a completely free Internet will not work.
2. Openness - digital citizens have a right to an open, unobstructed internet
3. Equality - all digital citizens are created equal on the internet
4. Participation - digital citizens have a right to peaceably participate where and how they choose on the internet
5. Creativity - digital citizens have a right to create, grow and collaborate on the internet, and be held accountable for what they create
6. Sharing - digital citizens have a right to freely share their ideas, lawful discoveries and opinions on the internet
7. Accessibility - digital citizens have a right to access the internet equally, regardless of who they are or where they are
8. Association - digital citizens have a right to freely associate on the internet
9. Privacy - digital citizens have a right to privacy on the internet
10. Property - digital citizens have a right to benefit from what they create, and be secure in their intellectual property on the internet
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