Digital constitutionalism: Fundamental rights and power limitation in the Internet eco-system

Padovani, Claudia; Santaniello, Mauro

doi:10.1177/1748048518757114

Cited by 33 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Constitutionalism is the political project of defining these limits. "Digital constitutionalism," then, is the work of articulating limits on the exercise of power in a networked society (Padovani & Santaniello, 2018). The key challenge of digital constitutionalism is to identify how values of good governance can be protected in the digital age.…”

Section: The Governance Of Platformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Constitutionalism: Using the Rule of Law to Evaluate the Legitimacy of Governance by Platforms

Suzor

2018

Social Media + Society

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Platforms govern users, and the way that platforms govern matters. In this article, I propose that the legitimacy of governance of users by platforms should be evaluated against the values of the rule of law. In particular, I suggest that we should care deeply about the extent to which private governance is consensual, transparent, equally applied and relatively stable, and fairly enforced. These are the core values of good governance, but are alien to the systems of contract law that currently underpin relationships between platforms and their users. Through an analysis of the contractual Terms of Service of 14 major social media platforms, I show how these values can be applied to evaluate governance, and how poorly platforms perform on these criteria. I argue that the values of the rule of law provide a language to name and work through contested concerns about the relationship between platforms and their users. This is an increasingly urgent task. Finding a way to apply these values to articulate a set of desirable restraints on the exercise of power in the digital age is the key challenge and opportunity of the project of digital constitutionalism.

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Section: The Governance Of Platformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Constitutionalism: Using the Rule of Law to Evaluate the Legitimacy of Governance by Platforms

Suzor

2018

Social Media + Society

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“…For instance, the implementation of the Human Rights Core Values requires ICANN ‘to respect human rights within its narrow scope and mission’ (Milan and Ten Oever, 2017: 6) and does not involve attempting ‘to promote and protect a universal set of human rights’ (Padovani and Santaniello, 2018: 299) unless there is existing state legislation. Moreover, Hofmann’s (2016) analysis of the multi-stakeholder approach as narrative shows that while ‘ICANN’s policy development process has become increasingly transparent and open to participation over the years .…”

Section: On Icann and Its Root Monopolymentioning

confidence: 99%

ICANN’s dotCommunities: Analysing the construction of DNS-appropriate communities in the new gTLD programme

Kuznetsov

2020

New Media & Society

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This study investigates Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers’ (ICANN) new generic top-level domain (gTLD) programme, exploring how it a shape of ‘community’ suitable for domain name system (DNS) expansion is constituted. Despite the apparent goal of promoting rights to freedom of expression and free association, the prevalence of the controlled vocabulary model results in preference for unopposed entities with clear hierarchical structures and strict membership boundaries. This creates a TLD landscape incapable of encompassing the heterogeneity and uncertainty of many existing communities, but helps to reinforce ICANN’s discourse surrounding the function of the DNS and its role in Internet governance.

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“…On the one hand, the existing literature does not show doubts in relation to the notions of 'constitution' and 'constitutional law'. In fact, all the analysed authors refer to their traditional meanings proper to the state dimension (see also Padovani and Santaniello 2018). On the other hand, the notions of 'constitutionalism' and 'constitutionalisation' appear to be surrounded by a certain nebulosity, especially because they are generally dis-anchored from the traditional context of the state and projected in a transnational dimension.…”

Section: A New Systematic Theorisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the concept of digital constitutionalism does not correspond, as some scholars seem to suggest, to the documents of Internet bill of rights (seePadovani and Santaniello 2018;Yilma 2017). As correctly specified by Redeker, Gill and Gasser, digital constitutionalism is "a common term to connect a constellation of initiatives"(2018, 302).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Digital constitutionalism: a new systematic theorisation

Celeste

2019

International Review of Law, Computers & Technology

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Digital constitutionalism' is an appealing concept to explain the recent emergence of constitutional counteractions against the challenges produced by digital technology. However, the existing scholarship does not offer a unitary picture of this notion. This paper carries out a literature review of the topic and suggests a new systematisation of the theoretical framework surrounding the concept of digital constitutionalism. It is argued that digital constitutionalism is the ideology that adapts the values of contemporary constitutionalism to the digital society. It does not identify the normative responses to the challenges of digital technology, but rather embodies the set of principles and values that informs and guides them. Conversely, the emerging normative responses can be regarded as the components of a process of constitutionalisation of the digital environment. In light of the adopted definitions, the paper ultimately illustrates a new way of mapping the constitutional responses that have emerged to address the challenges of digital technology. They not only include the constitutional tools that we could define as 'classic' in the context of constitutional theory, such as the binding legal texts produced in the state-centric dimension, but, significantly, also new instruments, which are developed in the transnational dimension of private actors.

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Digital constitutionalism: Fundamental rights and power limitation in the Internet eco-system

Cited by 33 publications

References 29 publications

Digital Constitutionalism: Using the Rule of Law to Evaluate the Legitimacy of Governance by Platforms

Digital Constitutionalism: Using the Rule of Law to Evaluate the Legitimacy of Governance by Platforms

ICANN’s dotCommunities: Analysing the construction of DNS-appropriate communities in the new gTLD programme

Digital constitutionalism: a new systematic theorisation

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