Bill of Rights

Digital Age Bill of Rights

As Lessig points out in his article, much of the current Bill of Rights can be “translated” to protect civil rights in the digital world. However, there are several shortcomings. I argue the first and fourth amendments must be modified to be wholly applicable to the Internet.

First Amendment

Search engine results must be organized by most popular searches in that category. Companies cannot pay search engines to receive the first result for a search in a given category.

Anonymity on the Internet shall be allowed. Anonymity should only be revealed if the anonymous party chooses to reveal his identity, or he commits slander and is mandated by court to reveal his identity.

In an effort to protect children from excessive bullying, the government reserves the right to mandate that children register their age when they create an instant messaging account. Children, then, can only enter chat rooms that also have an adult instant message member who regulates the conversations.

To protect children from obscene material, the government may require websites to have an age verification system installed on the site.

The ability to create a virus that causes a mass number of computers to crash does not constitute freedom of speech. This is a crime against intellectual property, and the perpetrator shall receive consequences.

Fourth Amendment

The government shall not search through another individual’s computer without a reasonable cause.

When information is encrypted, the government can only receive the translation for such information through a court warrant.

The government does not reserve the freedom to access personal information from a social website on an individual apart from what he/she allows the public to see.

An individual must be notified if a private firm is collecting information on him/her.

An individual should be made aware of the information available to the public on him/her and correct any untruthful information.


*I still vouch for NetID’s on the Internet. However, I realize this can lead to privacy questions. Can one’s Internet history be encrypted?