Liberal Principles of Digitalisation

 When the Human Rights Committee elected in 2019 set up the priorities for the coming years, it was obvious we should deal with how digitalisation affects Human Rights. In a survey made, it could be noted that less than half of LI’s member parties had any policy on human rights in the digital area. As the guiding principle of our work is to serve member parties, we thought this would be an area of the biggest value for the liberal audiences.

Naturally, there were so many examples of how digitalisation affects our societies: restrictions of access to the net, Cambridge Analytica and other forms of interference in elections, hate speech and fake news, and mass surveillance to name a few. And each month it seems there is something new coming up; for instance, the Pegasus spyware that seems to have been in use even in societies that surprise as.

If we would be a scientific organisation we would have to define what digitalisation is, but that has not been seen as necessary. We have been working with a broad definition taking into account the transformation from analogical to digital representation of information and the ubiquitous access to the internet and how both are changing our societies. Equally, we have kept an eye on the way Artificial Intelligence, AI and the huge masses of information treated by supercomputers spell out new challenges. However, some of the terms we use in the ten principles are explained in the glossary.

In a certain manner, it would be easy to just follow the first principle we have stated: Any human rights respected in the physical world must be equally respected in digital form.

But that is certainly not enough. We all understand that there needs to be new ways to protect our rights and freedoms in a world where so much more control is possible. And a very fundamental change is occurring at present, where data including information about every one of us and our behaviour has become one of the most valuable assets in society. Could it be phrased: Data is the raw material of the digital society? Therefore questions on data, ownership of data and data retention and how we can control information on us is a very central question.

For Liberals the right to privacy is central. Or as Irwin Cotler put is in a video, which explains one of the principles: privacy is the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilised people” quoting a sentence of a judge 100 years ago.

Actually, it has quite often been said that there are three models of data ownership in the world today: the Chinese where the society owns all data, the American where companies own much of the data and the “European” which tries to protect the privacy of persons and their data.

How were the principles elaborated?

A working group of the Human Rights Committee was set up – and I want to thank all the members of the WG and also MEP Karen Melchior, who came as an external expert. It was clear for the working group that we would not deal with the larger societal implications like questions relating to the regulation of the big tech companies or exactly how digitalisation should work in education and health care. There are many issues to continue to be discussed by us liberals, as we will at the Congress in Sofia. It is however essential to point out that access to the information society is also one of the first preconditions for a more equal world, where no one should be left out.

And in the midst of this work, the COVID-19 came, which meant that the work had to be done mostly in virtual workshops and webinars. In this regard, digitalisation helped us! But it also showed us what lockdowns and denial of access to the internet mean in authoritarian societies. Unfortunately, this trend continues in these times of war, with very severe repercussions for anyone showing dissent. During our work, we heard so many testimonies on how authorities try to use surveillance technologies to hinder civil society actors, but also how democracy activists use new technology to uncover electoral fraud or mobilize action.

When liberals elaborate policies, the discussions undertaken have been most valuable, as always. I think of the numerable webinars we have had; for instance with EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, responsible for making the EU fit for the Digital Age, UN Special Rapporteur on the freedom of opinion David Kaye, Nobel Laureate Maria Resa, former MEP Marietje Schaake – the expert of the EP on cyber issues, the digital minister of Taiwan Audrey Tang – to mention a few. I want to thank all who participated in the webinars and in our work, including recording the videos that explain the principles and are part of our campaign.

A big thank also goes to our human rights officers Mikaela Hellman and Irene Wang who distilled and initiated much of the discussion as well as Jason Frazer who helped in so many ways.

Finally: much of this work could not have been done without the support of the Danish member party Radikale Venstre (RV) which so generously has enabled us to have the campaign around the principles. A big thank Radikale Venstre.