The campaign for digital citizenship

Abstract

This article seeks to rethink digital politics and make the case for a digital bill of rights, along the lines advocated by think tank Cybersalon, to which the authors are affiliated. The authors argue that recent reports and proposed bills by the US and UK governments to regulate the internet tend to focus on users as consumers rather than citizens, and to prioritise commercial and security interests over individual rights. They also argue that we need better laws on copyright that take more account of the way digital media works: the new ways of collaborating and creating opened up by the web and internet should be celebrated rather than closed down. They argue that, as internet users at the beginning of the digital age, we all have responsibility as citizens to participate in the shaping of the future.