According to Jamael Jacob, Data Protection Officer of the ADMU, the principles of the UDHR must persist despite the changing tides of technology.
He divided digital rights into two aspects: rights on the internet, and rights to the internet.
Rights on the internet
Rights on the internet are the same inalienable rights afforded to everyone offline. With the instantaneous accessibility of information comes the right to freely receive and share it through any media, and be able to express and hold opinions without interference.
For Jacob, this right is threatened by the spread of disinformation facilitated by both government and private actors. Recent advances such as generative artificial intelligence have also been misused to produce fake content and exacerbate surveillance through its collection of training data.
Additionally, he noted the online attacks on the freedom of the press – with websites being taken down and journalists facing harassment and charges of cyber libel.
He listed controversial legislations that may threaten people’s digital rights; including the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Philippine Identification System Act, which can track a record history of one’s PhilSys transactions using the ID.
Rights to the internet
UNESCO defines the digital divide as the gap between those “who have internet access and are able to make use of new services offered on the World Wide Web, and those who are excluded from these services.”
The barriers to inclusive connectivity can be financial, cultural, or literacy and language-related.
“There are places where the infrastructure necessary to facilitate internet access are notably absent,” explains Jacob, “There are also places where these things are available but are beyond the reach of most people because of the prohibitive cost of connectivity.”He also noted instances when people do not know how to operate devices that allow network connections or do not understand the language used by these platforms.
“Further complicating matters is the gender divide,” he added, “In many places in the world, women, especially poor women, are still less likely to have access to ICT resources compared to their male counterparts.”
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