Efforts are underway for Chile to add access to knowledge, digital sovereignty and privacy to the Chilean Constitution
from how-this-would-work-in-practice department
Chile is in the process of creating a new constitution – a process that seems fraught with both enormous potential and enormous risk, especially trying to do so in the midst of national social upheaval (although, I guess it is when most constitutions tend to be written). A process is in place and 155 people would have been responsible for creating this new constitution. Apparently, part of the process is open to an element of crowdsourcing, in that people can submit and vote on certain proposals, meaning that a set of three internet-related proposals have been put forward:
15,000 signatures are needed to directly submit citizen proposals to the constitutional debate.
The opportunity to achieve substantial, long-term change for digital rights and freedom of software and other intellectual works is unique in Chile’s history and may not be repeated in our lifetime. This is why four communities historically linked to the use and distribution of free software in Chile have come together to write three of these proposals, namely:
These constitutional proposals explain the principles of the nation, the rights of citizens and the duties of the state towards them. The inclusion of constitutional articles will enable and promote the creation of laws that effectively defend our freedoms and rights. They are not the end of the road to intellectual freedoms and digital rights, but only the beginning.
This all sounds good (actually, very good) in theory, although I’m a bit bummed as to how they would be implemented in practice, if they got the necessary signatures and support from the constitution framers . However, at the very least, it is worth looking at how the drafting of the modern constitution will take into account the rights of online users.
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Filed Under: access to knowledge, chile, constitution, digital sovereignty, privacy
