7 - Universal Declaration of Digital Human Rights

Whereas computing has become an extension of human thought, knowledge, creativity, communication, education, and democratic participation;

Whereas fundamental human rights and freedoms naturally extend to the digital world;

Whereas technology must remain a tool serving humanity and must never become an instrument of domination, dependency, or control;

Whereas an open, interoperable, and decentralized digital world is an essential condition for freedom in the twenty-first century;

We hereby proclaim this Universal Declaration of Digital Human Rights.

Every person has sovereignty over the computing systems they own or use.

The user is the sole authority over their computing environment.

No software, service, manufacturer, platform, or provider must deprive the user of that control.

Every person has the right to study, use, modify, copy, share, and improve any software lawfully acquired or made publicly available.

Networks must transport information in a neutral manner.

No communication must be denied equal treatment on the basis of its origin, destination, content, protocol, software implementation, or purpose.

Digital information must be representable using open, documented, long-term, and freely implementable formats.

Anyone lawfully authorized to access information has the right to do so using the software of their choice.

No one must be compelled to use a particular browser, operating system, application, or software in order to access information.

Open communication protocols constitute a common heritage of humanity.

Every conforming implementation of an open protocol has equal rights of access.

Software must not deliberately restrict the legitimate capabilities of its users for the benefit of a third party.

Everyone has the right to digital privacy.

The collection, retention, processing, or exploitation of personal data must not become a normal condition for exercising a fundamental right.

Everyone has the right to retrieve, back up, transfer, and archive all of their digital data using open formats.

Knowledge, public works, open scientific publications, and documents of public interest must remain accessible independently of any particular software, provider, or platform.

Open, distributed, and decentralized architectures should be preferred whenever they better preserve digital freedoms, network resilience, and user autonomy.

Any automated decision having a significant impact on a person's rights or freedoms must be explainable, verifiable, and open to challenge.

No implementation conforming to an open standard must be denied equal access to any public digital resource.

Digital knowledge constitutes a common heritage of humanity.

Its access, study, preservation, sharing, and transmission must be guaranteed for present and future generations.

The rights proclaimed in this Declaration constitute fundamental human rights for the digital age.

No technical, contractual, commercial, or organizational measure must abolish or unduly restrict these rights.

Computing belongs to its users.

The network belongs to everyone.

Knowledge belongs to humanity.