Andy Updegrove has just posted about The Hague Decloration. I received a phone call about it this morning, and I believe it is one of the most important declarations on human rights to come along in quite some time. Please go read up on this. It may at first appear that technology and the standards those technologies are based on are a very meta-level aspect to human rights as apposed to the men in the night. Recent issues with Google, Yahoo, and Cuba, and South Africa have shown us otherwise. Please read Andy’s post en toto.
When one thinks of international human rights, one thinks of The Hague – home of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, and the situs of an increasing number of Tribunals chartered to redress the assaults on human dignity that inexcusably continue to plague this planet. It is therefore appropriate that The Hague has been chosen to witness yet another pronouncement in defense of human rights. That pronouncement has been titled The Hague Declaration by the new international group, called the Digital Standards Organization (“Digistan,” for short), that crafted it. In this blog entry, I’ll talk about what the Declaration is all about, and what it is intended to achieve.
The basic premise is that as more and more of our basic freedoms (speech, assembly, interaction with government, and so on) move from the real to the virtual world, care must be taken to ensure that our ability to exercise these freedoms is not inadvertently eroded or lost. And on the opportunity side, the Internet and the Web provide incredible and unique ways to bring the benefits heretofore enjoyed only in developed countries to those struggling for equality of opportunity in emerging countries.
– Andy Updegrove (Consortium Info Blog) ‘Introducing The Hague Declaration‘
