Grassroots Use of Technology Conference 2008

2008-01-08 2-minute read

We had another amazing Internet Rights workshop

We had four groups of about four people each - a much smaller gathering than in the past. We also started the session 15 minutes late and old had an hour and 15 minutes to start with. Unfortunately we had to cut the discussion at the end.

On the positive side, we partnered with the Boston Action Tank. They ran the session immediately after ours. Taking the number one right (we ended up with two rights tied for first place - we chose the right to govern) we did a power analysis to determine what pre-conditions we need to achieve the right and who are our allies in the struggle. We didn’t have enough time to come out a publishable consensus - however, it was a useful and enlightening step to take with the rights.

And the rights are …

  1. First Amendment Rights shall extend to all online communications. [4]

  2. All users have the right to govern the Internet as a commons that allows participation and access for all. [4]

  3. Keep the information as private as we want. Levels of privacy should be dictated by the users. [3]

  4. Transparency about web site and network ownership. [3]

  5. Universal availability of relevant tools and training for full participation in the digital environment [3]

  6. Universal, free access to the Internet for everyone. [2]

  7. Information sent from a “sending” machine should not be edited or obstructed in their transit to the intended “receiving” machine. [2]

  8. All users have the right to form and self-govern online communities. [2]

  9. Right to accountable name-anonymous access to the Internet. [2]

  10. All users have the right to protect their data and transmissions from spying or editing. All users have the right to refuse to surrender their protection methods to individuals, organizations or governments. [1]

[The numbers in brackets are the number of groups that endorsed the right. 4 groups total.]