Human rights and information technologies

Abstract

The social changes brought about by the deployment of information technologies are wide-ranging and fundamental. A human rights analysis of such technologically driven changes shows how they implicate significant opportunities as well as risks. The chapter argues that human rights are a core aspect of regulating such technologies, particularly as human rights provide a unifying purposive perspective for diverse technologies and deployment contexts. To this end, the chapter examines how the opportunities and risks of information technologies affect and relate to the fundamental values of freedom, dignity, and equality, as well as specific human rights, such as privacy or freedom of expression.