For a Sustainable Digital Future: Charter of Digital Rights

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[Originally published in English on LinkedIn]

A different approach

Future: something that is yet to come and that will happen in time. Something that is not yet, but is going to be. And if there is one thing we all have in common, it is the future ahead of us. And perhaps the word that best defines this not-so-distant future is uncertainty.

That is why we accepted the invitation from the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence (SEDIA) to contribute observations, qualifications and suggestions to the draft of the Charter of Digital Rights, whose aim is to “acknowledge the challenges posed by adapting current rights to the virtual environment, and to propose a frame of reference to help protect them in that context”.

So a group of colleagues from the Digital Transformation Management Program at IE Business School got down to work. After an exhaustive analysis of the document we saw the need to put forward a different approach from the one presented, and also to add nuance to some points that either had not been considered or that, as currently worded, could carry certain risks.

The point was to create a new frame of reference that would set out the key principles and areas for improvement around what we have called “the digital reality”, avoiding a protectionist outlook. We considered this a global and intergenerational question, so we saw the need to take into account different variables and proposals addressing not only different stakeholders, but also present and future generations.

With all this, it is important to put on record that we agree with SEDIA that this exercise should start out with the aim of enabling leadership and the launch of a process that is indispensable at a global level in order to guarantee a humanist digitalization, one that puts people at the center. That is why we have always argued for the vision of people, data and technology as enablers of transformation.

What we want to achieve with this proposal

• Create value around the digital reality with the intention of correcting the inequities perceived in a digital world.
• Contribute proposals and improvements on aspects that have been left out or that need to be defined more sharply because of the risks perceived in their application or regulation in the medium and long term.
• Avoid the inward-looking approach the document takes in its current form, fit the charter of digital rights to higher-ranking legal instruments and, at the same time, have it serve as a reference for the next presidency of the European Union (EU) and for its declared intention to create a European Charter of Digital Rights.

On the other hand, it is worth noting that the feeling we had after reading the draft was that the current text was framed from a position of fear of digitalization. Hence SEDIA has focused more on the risks than on the opportunities that the digital reality can offer not only to the user, but also to public and private institutions and to civil society as a whole.

We encourage SEDIA to use this opportunity as a lever to position this initiative as an exercise in open and participatory innovation that can serve as an example for other European actions of a similar nature: the sky is the limit!

We invite you to read, comment on and/or support the proposal we are leaving you here.

See you soon!

Bernardo Crespo | Beatriz Escriña | María Pardo | Ramón Puga | Santiago Sanz | Ana María Seijo