Proposal

APrIGF 2024 Session Proposal Submission Form
Part 1 - Lead Organizer
Contact Person
Grace Huang
Email
Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate) *
Judicial Reform Foundation
Designation
Director of Global Justice & Digital Freedom
Gender
gender-neutral
Economy of Residence
Taiwan
Primary Stakeholder Group
Civil Society
Part 2 - Session Proposal
Session Title
Digital Bill of Rights: A Systematic Bottom-Up Approach Towards Freedom in the Digital Age
Session Format
Workshop (60 minutes)
Where do you plan to organize your session?
Onsite at the venue (with online moderator for questions and comments from remote participants)
Specific Issues for Discussion
“We, the People” Indeed, in combating digital authoritarianism and to enable the civil society to flourish in an ever surveilled and censored Brave New World, it is impetus to refocus on the fundamentals and begin with “rights.”
“We, the People” In combating digital authoritarianism and allowing civil societies to flourish in an increasingly surveilled and censored Brave New World, it is imperative to focus on the fundamental rights.

What we need is a Bill of Rights — an impactful and comprehensive inventory of rights that the people innately possess that is unalienable by the State. This “Digital Bill of Rights,” as we like to call it, is a systematic, fundamental, and preventive initiative against digital authoritarianism. With this Digital Bill of Rights drafted, shared widely nationally and internationally, and ultimately codified domestically and internationally, we begin the critical effort to engineer the legal structure that moves our current state toward a free society and internet for the people, by the people, and of the people.

The Digital Bill of Rights would serve as an essential foundation for future generations. The people living in digital age cannot be fully protected by laws written more than a hundred years ago, as our archaic institutions have yet to catch up to modern-day technological advances. Our once democratic institution is now being undermined by the emergence of authoritarianism, with governments taking advantage of newly-developed technology, pervasive surveillance devices, and now, AI, causing what has been coined as “digital authoritarianism on steroids”. More than ever, we need to list and articulate a new set of freedoms and rights for the people and adopt them immediately.
Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF
This workshop is instrumental in fostering the discussion of Tracks 1 & 3 (Security & Trust; Governance of Emerging Technologies). As there are an innumerable amount of complex challenges revolving the safe and trust-worthy internet, including cybersecurity risks, privacy, information integrity, online safety, child protection etc., what we need is to implement these enduring principles and values and write this bill from a bottom-up approach. In this workshop, we begin by clarifying the risk-models, fortifying shared values, and producing a list of articulated rights that should be enshrined and protected by the rule of law.

We will lead the discussion by first showcasing our Initial Version of the Digital Bill of Rights. This Initial Version is collaboratively drafted by JRF’s Digital Lawyers Network comprising of exceptional attorneys equipped with extensive backrounds in uncovering security and technological vulnerabilities and master’s degrees in electronic engineering. This group of sophisticated lawyers have been investing in defending digital rights for years now.

The workshop participants would therefore benefit greatly fromthe Initial Version that is presented to them. They will therefore be able to quickly acquire a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental rights and grasp the core value of these enduring principles. With this starting point, the participants are invited to reflect, refine, add on to the list of rights in the Initial Version. With the benefit of breakup groups, participants will discuss in-depth about their ideas and especially the experience they have accumulated through their multiple background in term of demographics, countries/cultural origin, and professional standing-points.

The outcome of this workshop is two-folded. Collectively, an Advanced Version informed by the stakeholders will be developed; individually, the participants will have the unique experience in distilling fundamental values with other participants from diverse professional backgrounds.
Methodology / Agenda (Please add rows by clicking "+" on the right)
Time frame (e.g. 5 minutes, 20 minutes, should add up to 60 minutes) Description
5 Opening Remarks: Intro to the theme; Overview of the agenda; Setting tone
10 Group Warm-up: Ice Breaking; Self-introduction of group members
15 Build up Foundations for Group Discussion: An overview to the Digital Bill of Rights (Initial version)
15 Group Discussion: Reflection/refinements/Additions to the Initial Version
10 Group Presentation: Each group to present their collective outcomes and remarkable individual ideas
5 Concluding Remarks
Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible)
  • Moderator (Primary)

    • Name: JRF’s Digital Lawyers Network
    • Organization: Judicial Reform Foundation
    • Designation: Digital Law Taskforce
    • Gender: gender-neutral
    • Economy / Country of Residence: Taiwan
    • Stakeholder Group: Civil Society
    • Expected Presence: In-person
    • Status of Confirmation: Confirmed
    • Link of Bio (URL only): https://www.jrf.org.tw/keywords/129
Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session.
We, as the Judicial Reform Foundation (JRF), look to take initiative in drafting and organizing a global movement for Digital Bill of Rights. JRF is the perfect candidate to draft the Digital Bill of Rights for myriad of reasons. As a lawyer-based civil society organization, JRF is equipped with legal expertise and has organized hundreds of pro-bono lawyers over the past since 1995. Furthermore, JRF has an entire department dedicated to legal research and bill drafting. Moreover, as a bill for the people, JRF looks to take up the “bottom-up” approach as we are widely recognized by the Taiwanese society in playing the leading role in advancing democratic institutions.

Our Movement Approach for Digital Bill of Rights:
(1) Conducting collaborative legal drafting among expert lawyers. (Ongoing)
(2) Collaboration and consultation with domestic and international stakeholders. (Ongoing)
(3) Adjusting, amending, and refining the billt to reflect relevant stakeholders’ feedback.
(4) Raising public awareness in the necessity of digital rights and freedoms.
(5) Strategically advocating for the legislative process.
(6) Building and maintaining informed public support for codifying Digital Bill of Rights.
(7) International movement building: Expanding international impact by mainstreaming the idea of a Digital Bill of Rights. Having the draft serve as a valuable template for all countries and their civil societies to effectively create and implement their own Digital Bill of Rights.

In solidarity, JRF invites your joining the movement in constructing a free internet and free digitally connected society that is for the people, by the people, and of the people.

For more information and inquiry for collaboration, please contact JRF’s in-house attorney Grace Huang (grace.huang@jrf.org.tw).
Please declare if you have any potential conflict of interest with the Program Committee 2024.
No
Are you or other session contributors planning to apply for the APrIGF Fellowship Program 2024?
No
Brief Summary of Your Session
Participants express appreciation of the high interactiveness and inclusiveness of this session. Many participants of the younger generation actively contributed to the open discussion.
Substantive Summary of the Key Issues Raised and the Discussion
-Right to Minimized Datafication
-Right to Meaningful Alternative
-Promoting a Digital Environment Conducive to Democracy and Freedom and Maintaining Public Mental Health
-Digital Freedom National Policy
Conclusions and Suggestions of Way Forward
Ideation and brainstorming is still in need, especially with (re)focus on the level of systematic, right-based approaches.
Number of Attendees (Please fill in numbers)
    • On-site: 35
Gender Balance in Moderators/Speakers (Please fill in numbers)
  • Moderators

    • Non-binary / Self-describe: 1
  • Speakers

    • Male: 1
    • Female: 3
    • Non-binary / Self-describe: 1
How were gender perspectives, equality, inclusion or empowerment discussed? Please provide details and context.
Aspects around equality, inclusion and empowerment were significantly discussed. Many brought up concerns regarding poverty and the right to access internet.
Consent
I agree that my data can be submitted to forms.for.asia and processed by APrIGF organizers for the program selection of APrIGF 2024.