Digital Rights are your existing human rights when you are using a digital device such as a smartphone  or computer. 

Your human rights are guaranteed in international law and all of the same human rights that you have offline must be respected equally when you are online. 

For example, you have the right to privacy when instant messaging or sharing information with an online service provider and you have the right to freedom of assembly and speech when using social media. 

Protecting digital rights is important because our social, economic and political life is increasingly conducted online where we face new risks such as digital surveillance, disinformation, scammers, and algorithmic discrimination.

Everybody possesses the same digital rights no matter their age, sex, ability, ethnicity, religion or sexuality. These digital rights do not need to be activated to be claimed, and nobody can take them away. Digital rights apply to everybody, equally.

Digital rights include, for example:

· The right to privacy and to data protection when sharing personal information with government agencies or companies electronically.

· The right to free expression and to freedom from violence when on social media.

· The right to access online government services including digital social protection.

· The right to see personal data held about you and to correct inaccuracies and errors. 

Digital rights apply when you are using digital tools like email, sending instant messages on social media, or when accesssing online government services or using company wesbites. Digital rights also apply to information held about you in apps, by platform companies, or government agencies.  

Click on the image to the right to watch a short animation or download a free introduction to digital rights below.