Effort Underway To Have Chile Add Access To Knowledge, Digital Sovereignty, And Privacy To Chilean Constitution
Chile is in the middle of creating a new constitution -- a process that seems fraught with both huge potential and tremendous risks, especially trying to do it amidst domestic social upheaval (though, I guess that's when most constitutions tend to be written). A process is in place and 155 people are apparently been tasked with 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 proposals regarding the internet have been put forth:
15,000 signatures are required to submitcitizen proposals to the constitutional debate directly.
The opportunity to achieve substantive and long-term change fordigital rights and freedom of software and other intellectual works isunique in Chile's history, and may not be repeated in our lifetime.This is why four communities historically related to the use anddissemination of free software in Chile got together to draft three ofthese proposals, which are:
These constitutional proposals explain principles of the nation, therights of citizens, and the duties of the state concerning them. Theinclusion of the constitutional articles will allow and promote thecreation of laws that defend our freedoms and rights effectively. Theyare not the end of the road for intellectual freedoms and digitalrights, but only the beginning.
All of these sound good (in fact, very good) in theory, though I'm a bit squeamish about how they would be implemented in practice, should they get the necessary signatures and support from the constitution drafters. However, at the very least, it's worth watching how modern constitution drafting is going to consider user rights online.