Internet Rights Workshops the NYC Grassroots Media Conference

2008-01-08 2-minute read

The results are in.

On March 2, 2008, May First/People Link organized a session to collaboratively develop a series of Internet Rights at the Grassroots Media Conference.

We ran the same workshop at the 2007 US Social Forum with different, but similar results.

At the GMC, we had less time, which seems to be reflected in the more raw wording. Also of note - none of the rights were endorsed by all groups (the number of endorsers are in brackets). We had a total of seven groups. And, of course, due to the nature of the project, there was some last minute back and forth - as you might imagine the last right was rather contentious!

  1. Freedom of expression. [5]

  2. The right to space, hardware, software, and non-restricted use of existing and future internet technology, including the right to not use a technology. [4]

  3. Labor rights for internet workers and technology produced with priorities of ecological sustainability, labor justice and respect of community land (production and disposal). [3]

  4. The right to a participatory governance process of the internet, including those who are not yet online. [3]

  5. Free, equitable, and open access to the internet. As well as the codified right to not participate. [3]

  6. Moderation against libel, slander, and defamation through the right to rebuttal. [2]

  7. Right to privacy, and anonymity in all network based activity. [2]

  8. The right to a domain name that is short descriptive and memorable, including equal-opportunity indexing. Non-fee-based promotion and searchability. Freedom from commercialization and speculation. [1]

  9. Internet service provided by multiple, independent providers who compete vigorously and offer access to the entire internet over a broadband connection, with freedom to attach within the home any legal device to the net connection and run any legal application. [1]

  10. The right for communities to enforce standards/values via censorship. [1]