Digital Magna Carta launched by British Library – vote now!

Students from around the world are taking part in a British Library project to consider which topics
should be included in a digital Magna Carta. The clauses fall under 3 categories; freedom, access and privacy.
3000 students from the UK and overseas have created over 500 My Digital Rights clauses for the British Library project, highlighting some of the concerns young people have with the digital age, including online safety and security, calls for online privacy, and to be able to enjoy freedom on the net.


Researchers at ComRes recently found that 29% of young people aged 10-18 wanted to feel safe and protected on the net, and 17% of those polled want to see freedom of speech and an uncensored net for everyone, no matter where they are in the world.

The digital Magna Carta marks the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta and the 25th anniversary of the web. The Magna Carta (meaning Great Charter in Latin) was granted by King John on 15 June 1215 at Runnymede, which meant that no one, even a King, was above the law. One of the four remaining copies of the 1215 Magna Carta is preserved in Salisbury Cathedral’s Chapter House, in the UK.
At the time of writing, the top ten digital Magna Carta clauses include “not to be censored by the government”,  “be free from censorship and mass surveillance”, and “not allow the government and technology companies to intrude on our privacy when online; whether searching information or surfing social media, the web we want should be private and safe.”

We at Hide My Ass! couldn’t agree more with the clauses young people have put forward for the digital Magna Carta!  We abhor net censorship and ridiculous blocks placed on websites by so many governments around the world – which is the main reason our VPN service was originally established.

Inventor of the world wide web Tim Berners-Lee believes a digital Magna Carta is critical to secure users’ online privacy, and freedom of speech on the net. Speaking at a We Want Web event in September last year Tim Berners-Lee said “There have been lots of times that it has been abused, so now the Magna Carta is about saying…I want a web where I’m not spied on, where’s there’s no censorship” Berners-Lee added  “Our rights are being infringed more and more on every side, and the danger is that we get used to it.”

Voting is open to the public and runs this week, with the top 10 digital Magna Carta clauses to be announced on Monday 15th June – Magna Carta Day!

What the digital Magna Carta will conclude, well, we’ll find out next week – but don’t forget to cast your vote!

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