The internet has become the global public space for the 21st century. It unites not only internet users in Malta but also about two billion people around the globe, who connect every day on the world wide web.
In this digital age, the internet acts as the world’s town square, its classroom as well as the international community’s meeting place.
Its value lies in the variety of activities that people can pursue and in the ability to communicate about such activities with each other instantaneously.
The past 12 months have shown the awesome power of the internet as individuals throughout North Africa and the Middle East gathered to influence governments, rally support, share strife and celebrate change.
It is against this background that the White Paper published by the Government for consultation last week should be viewed. It proposes to enshrine four digital rights into the Constitution: the right to internet access; the right of access to information online; online freedom of expression; and the right to exchange information online.
The proposed rights would be enshrined in the section of the Constitution dealing with Malta’s basic principles.
The Government had first made the suggestion for such rights a few months ago at the height of the controversial EU-wide Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (Acta) to tighten copyright protection in Europe. This proposal was eventually killed off by the European Parliament and has now been shelved.
The Government’s White Paper on digital rights raises two key questions.
First, should the State formally recognise and safeguard the citizens’ rights to access to the internet?
Secondly, should this be embedded in the Constitution or is there a more practical way of doing so?
The answer to the first question is rather straightforward. The internet is a global public good that should be accessible to all. The State should, therefore, promote the citizen’s right to such access and refrain from introducing laws that unnecessarily impinge on internet access.
Several countries have adopted laws to make internet access a right.
It is self-evident that, with repressive regimes restricting access to information, a democratic country like Malta should take positive steps to guarantee access to the internet and to adopt general principles to ensure network use respects universal human rights.
These principles must ensure, however, that certain online material, like child pornography and sexual exploitation of children or cyber-terrorism, continues to be rigidly controlled. But there should also be basic legal guarantees, such as the right not to have one’s internet privacy violated and the right not to be disconnected from the internet by government diktat as a means of controlling citizens’ freedom of expression. The law should also cover aspects affected by the internet, such as privacy, data protection and the prevention of criminal abuse.
It is immediately apparent from any analysis of what a law on access to the internet as a civil right might contain that the answer to the second question, about embedding such a right in the Constitution, might pose difficulties.
The principles expressed in the Constitution – the right to work, promotion of culture, safeguarding of landscape, and so on – are simply and briefly expressed.
The four “digital rights” in the White Paper are also easily drafted. But unless they are underpinned by a law that spells out in detail the considerations expressed above in such a way as to introduce clear legislative safeguards, the commendable aspiration of giving citizens digital rights will remain just that: an aspiration.