The introduction of digital rights in the Constitution of Malta

Abstract

The internet has become an indispensable tool in our society. Its nature makes it possible for it to be used in a myriad ways. It is a tool for communication, or for commerce; it facilitates exchanges between people; it can be used to share information, or media. The internet can be used for ill or for good, and the role that regulators have to play in this area has increasingly come into discussion. At the forefront is the question of how much can the State interfere, or how much it can legislate before its role is seen as invasive. The internet is not unregulated; it does not exist in a vacuum where it cannot be touched by legislators. However States who do act, are often put under the microscope, and rightly so. Acts and laws that have the internet as their focus come into intense and vehement scrutiny from the world. Major NGOs and international organisations are at the forefront of this examination. This can serve to bring into the light certain situations in countries where the internet can serve to bring about change. No country that has the respect of human rights at its heart can ignore the change that the internet has brought to how we view such rights. Human rights and the digital world have never been two separate issues; they overlap and serve to amplify each other. The internet is not another world or dimension, where human rights scrutiny and defence stop. States have to be at the forefront of this defence, by recognising the internet and the rights that go along with it. This Research Project serves as an analysis of the White Paper issued by the Government of Malta in 2012. This paper does not delve into a full and detailed analysis of the principles contained in the White Paper. Rather it proposes to be an examination of the reasons behind the bill and whether the proposed rights contained in it are compatible with the Constitution of Malta. The White Paper proposed, among other things, the introduction of ‘Digital Rights’ into Chapter II of the Constitution. Such consolidation would then lead the march for further legislation down the line. Its primary purpose was to affirm the stance that the Government was going to take regarding the Internet, and centred around four basic rights: (a) the right to access the internet (including both content and structure); (b) the right to access information over the internet (c) the right to share and impart information (d) the right to privacy over the internet The White Paper proposed that the Government should undertake a set of both positive and negative obligations in pursue of such rights.