DIGITAL RIGHTS — NEW GENERATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS?

Abstract

Among the digital rights, besides the right for internet access that was the subject of consideration in the first part of the article, there are also a right to per-so nal data protection and a right to be forgotten (right to erasure).The right to personal data protection is usually enshrined at the supranational and national levels and is protected by the courts as an aspect of the right to privacy. As an independent fundamental right of a constitutional nature the right to personal data protection is enshrined in EU law. Nevertheless, all attempts to doctrinally justify the existence of certain aspects of this right, beyond the claims to the right to privacy, can not be considered successful. The Court of Justice of the EU, while dealing with the relevant cases in order to determine whether certain methods of processing personal data are legitimate, also refers to the right to privacy, considering these rights to be closely interrelated. The right to personal data protection provides additional (including procedural) guarantees of respect for privacy, human dignity and some other rights, but the purpose of these guarantees is precisely the content of the providing rights. The right to be forgotten (right to erasure) is one of the positive obligations with regard to the personal data protection. This right implies correction, deletion or termination of the processing of personal data at the request of their subject in the presence of a reason for this (when the relevant actions are carried out in violation of the principles of data processing or provisions of the legislation). Analogs of this right are the Latin American orders of habeas data, as well as the right of a person to demand the refutation of information discrediting his honor, dignity and business reputation, in case of their inconsistency with reality under civil law and the legislation on mass media. In digital age the importance of this right is increased by the fact that information posted on the Internet remains easily accessible for an indefinite, almost unlimited, time.This caused the extension of the right to be forgotten to information that is consistent to reality, but has lost its relevance and significance, however, continues to have an adverse impact on the reputation of the person concerned. At the same time, the realization of the right to be forgotten in respect of information posted online is connected with a number of technical problems that require legal solutions.In general, digitalization does not create new human rights of a fundamentally different legal nature. It only actualizes or smooths certain aspects of long-recognized rights, transfers their operation into the virtual space, creates new opportunities for their realization and generates new threats to them. Ensuring human rights in modern conditions involves the search for adequate legal solutions, taking into account the opportunities and limitations generated by digital technologies.