roundtable: a new Bill of Rights 2-2

roundtable: a new Bill of Rights 2/2

a new Bill of Rights 2/2

Richard K. Moore (rkmoore@iol.ie)
Thu, 19 Jan 1995 16:53:55 +0000 

Message-Id: <199501191656.QAA20821@GPO.iol.ie>
Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 16:53:55 +0000
To: gii-doc@cpsr.org
From: rkmoore@iol.ie (Richard K. Moore)
Subject: a new Bill of Rights 2/2


[begin Bill of Rights 2/2]
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4.0  Rules for cyberspace

Internet seems to have succeeded in supporting the
development of these myriad communities without any
rules of usage. The Internet infrastructure provides
raw connectivity and transport, and people manage
quite nicely to build the community structures they
need on top of that foundation.

Communities create their own rules, abide by them for
mutual benefit, and find ways to exclude disruptive
intruders. One might almost suppose that we need no
rules in cyberspace. If vendors deliver an upgraded
infrastructure, we can simply move our business onto
the new facilities, and keep our communities intact.
The only change would be the availability richer
media, and presumably a somewhat higher price of
admission.

In fact, such a pollyannic view is highly unwarranted,
indeed dangerous to the democratic potential of
cyberspace. There is considerable need for rules in
cyberspace. The reason we don't see that need with
Internet is because we've come to take for granted a
great many Internet virtues which are unique to the
accidental way in which Internet came into existence.

The infrastructure for Internet is provided
collectively by those institutions which voluntarily
maintain internet nodes and trunk lines. These
institutions impose no fees for the traffic they
carry; they enforce no policies about who can
communicate with whom; and they pay no attention to
the specific information carried by the traffic that
passes through their nodes.

The truth is that we inhabitants of Internet have
enjoyed a very free existence. The *unspoken charter*
under which we've been operating has implicity granted
us freedom from long-distance costs, freedom of
association, freedom of speech, and a reasonable
degree of privacy and security, within our Internet
world.

These freedoms weren't granted by any wise legislative
authority, but arose naturally from the voluntary,
non-commercial attitude shared by the infrastructure
"vendors". However they came about, these freedoms
have been *essential* to the formation and development
of the higher level Internet culture.

The next version of cyberspace, no matter whose
projections you use, will have a commercial basis. A
voluntary pony express system might work to open up
the West, but eventually, in our kind of society,
there will be tariffs, traffic accounting, and other
mechanisms which will have quite different dynamics from 
today's voluntary Internet vendor system.

So the rules we need for cyberspace are those rules
necessary to guarantee the preservation of certain
aspects of the Internet culture. Specifically we need
to preserve those aspects of the culture which enable
the free and open development of distributed
communities.

To put it simply, we need rules which guarantee:
   -freedom of association
   -freedom of expression
   -privacy in communications
   -availability of access

With these freedoms, we can construct and use our
communities, regardless of what color the silicon is.

These freedoms ring a note of resonance with the U.S.
Bill of Rights. And so they should.

The Bill of Rights laid down the freedoms which would
be guaranteed to the people of a certain space - the
physical territory of America. Those freedoms allowed
Americans to form communities, associations, unions,
clubs, lodges, etc. De Toqueville remarked several
times in his "Democracy in America" about the
unprecedented number of associations he found in
America. This ability to associate freely, and set
agendas autonomously from any central authorities, was
crucial to the development of our diverse, productive,
society.

Similarly, the same freedoms in cyberspace have the
same importance, and provide comparable benefits to
the society as a whole. Just as those freedoms are
*rights* of citizens in the physical world,
guaranteeing them the means to participate fully in
society, so must similar freedoms be *rights* of
everyone when they visit cyberspace.

This is true because cyberspace won't be an optional
appliance in the home, like a cuissinart or an
espresso grinder. Rather cyberspace access will be
*required* for  participation in the daily routine of
work, play, volunteer activities, etc.

In many of today's corporations, for example, email is
the only means used to announce meetings, distribute
policy statements, and otherwise carry on
communication-intensive operations. Every employee
gets his or her email account on their first day of
work, along with the badge and desk. Even new-employee
training schedules and materials are distributed via
the email system.

When cyberspace becomes more fully populated - which
is already happening rapidly with Internet - then it
won't just be operations in high-tech companies that
depend on it. PTA meetings, water bills, complaints to
the landlord, cub-scout outings, golf games, physical
community gatherings - all we be arranged from
cyberspace.

Cyberspace participation won't be a personal option,
any more than is using highways and phones. It will be
a basic requirement of modern life.

If we expect cyberspace to function like an additional
space in our lives - as it should - then we should
expect to have exactly the same rights in that space
as in any other -- and for the same reasons.

Guaranteed personal freedoms are the foundation upon
which our diverse society was able to create itself
and prosper. There's no reason we should give
cyberspace any less of a foundation.


----------------------------------------------------
5.0  A Bill of Rights for Cyberspace

Article I - Restriction of Powers of Congress

Congress shall neither promote nor abridge the
expression of any particular belief system in
cyberspace. Congress shall not abridge the freedom of
the people to assemble in cyberspace communities, and
to speak freely within those communities.

---

Article II - The Right of Access

The right to keep and use the equipment necessary to
access cyberspace shall not be infringed.

---

Article III - Intrusion by Government or Other
Agencies

No government agent, nor any agent of an
infrastructure vendor, in time of peace, shall be
permitted to intrude uninvited into a virtual
community, or to access community information without
authorization from that community, but in a manner to
be prescribed by law.

---

Article IV - Seizures, Searches and Warrants

The right of the people to be secure in their virtual
communities, electronic information, and access
equipment, against unreasonable searches and seizures,
shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue but
upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation,
and particularly describing the phyisical or virtual
space to be searched and the equipment or information
to be seized.

---

Article V - Certain Rights Not Denied to the People

The enumeration in this Bill of Rights of certain
rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage
others retained by the people.


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[end of Bill of Rights 2/2]

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