Download This PaperThe E-Citizen and the State: Towards a Democracy in 140 Characters? An Attempt to Elaborate a Method of Regulation of the Cyber-Democratic Space
World Congress of Constitutional Law 2014 at the Faculty of Law of Oslo (Norway), June 2014
19 Pages Posted: 12 Jan 2015
Date Written: April 14, 2014
Abstract
The future will be digital or will not be. The twenty-first century has been synonymous of the opening of the Internet and new technologies to a large part of the population both from the North and the South. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to avoid computers, Smartphone or tablets, but also social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr...) which have a key role in the development of digital democracy and civic expression.
Indeed at the time of digital era, the citizen becomes transnational, timeless and (hyper) active. His voice rises and spreads widely. Violations of human rights and freedoms are now visible on a larger scale (as shown by Eric Snowden’s scandal, or the WikiLeaks Affair), revolutions transcend borders and their impact is broader (e.g the essential role played by social networks for the Arab Spring).
However, digital technologies also present new challenges for democracy. New dematerialized risks are emerging such as cybercrime or cyber surveillance. The State must guarantee and ensure the protection of the e-citizen. These threats make necessary and urgent the creation and establishment of new forms of regulation of the Internet to support, maintain and enhance the emergence of a genuine cyber citizenship for a more efficient and vigorous democracy. This paper will aim to elaborate a method of regulation of the cyber-democratic space to ensure that the cyber space can remain at the service of the expression of rights and freedoms, cornerstones of the democracy.
Keywords: Internet, freedom of expression, cybersurveillance, e-citizen, cybercrime, democracy, e-democracy, constitutional law, regulations
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