Your Digital Rights

Why you should read this site
Posted on July 20th, 2008 by Matt

Let me make my first sentence on this site as unambiguous as possible: digital rights are really, really important. Unfortunately, neither the public nor the government seem to know this.

Here in the UK, the influence of technology on our lives has never been greater. I am in no doubt that this is a good thing; almost everyone in the country now has access to tools that can potentially maker us safer, better informed and better connected. And as technology’s importance in our everyday lives continues to grow, we need to ensure that the rights we have come to expect in other aspects of our lives - privacy, freedom of speech, ownership, fair use and so on - are reflected and continued in our use of technology.

The government doesn’t seem to acknowledge this - in part through technological illiteracy, and in part because those who have a vested interest in the offline way of doing things can shout the loudest. It’s very rare that you’ll see this cause being championed by old media - you know, the guys who want you to read the news off a piece of paper. And this is all very worrying; it would be a disaster if the public at large only found out how important their digital rights were by losing them.

This site is an attempt to rectify the situation. I’ll be collecting and analysing news stories, articles and links in order to persuade both the public and the lawmakers that now is the time to fully acknowledge technology’s importance in our lives and to protect and nurture our use of it.

Mobile phones aren’t just used by teenagers. iPods aren’t just used by geeks. The internet isn’t just used by paedophiles and Star Trek fans. If you’re reading this, you should care about your digital rights, and this site will show you why.