Image: Flickr/Oliver Wunder
When economic growth, the future of welfare provisions, concerns about EU membership, and migration take electoral priority, it is understandable that digital rights disappear somewhat from the political scene. But that does not imply that digital liberties should not be a matter of electoral concern. The internet and the digitization of public and private services, economic activity, and democratic protest, among others, are such a major part of many people’s lives that it is worth standing back a little from the electoral hot potatoes to reflect on why digital rights now matter for many of us and not just for the internet geeks, security services, and digital protest movements. The relative absence of digital rights from UK party manifestos and policy statements becomes quite striking in a context where debates on digital liberties, net neutrality and the future of Internet governance flourish across the world.
Digital rights in party manifestos
