The European Commission has announced a declaration to protect digital human rights. With the ‘Declaration on European Digital Rights and Principles’, the Commission hopes to make any future online activity fairer and safer.
The European Commission (EC) wrote the Declaration on European Digital Rights and Principles to guide policymakers in European governments and organizations. Ultimately, they should be able to use the EC’s standards when writing laws and policies.
The declaration “establishes once and for all that what is illegal offline should also be illegal online”, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said in a statement. Furthermore, the declaration describes that technology must respect people’s privacy. In addition, the EC promises to attempt to ensure that no individual is excluded by digital transformation.
A proposal for now
The declaration’s contents are not new. The same norms and values are mentioned in most European laws related to technology, such as the Digital Services Act, DNS4U and GDPR. That’s precisely the goal. As mentioned before, the declaration aims to match norms and values in future laws.
The declaration only becomes official when the European Parliament and member states approve the draft. The European Commission expects an agreement by the summer of this year.