The Declaration of Human Rights in Cyberspace
by Randall Lyman
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Human Rights
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"I've been carrying around the United Nations" Universal Declaration of Human Rights in my wallet for ten years, " says Bob Gelman, co-producer of the 10th Digital Be-In. "When I first read it, I was immensely impacted by it. "
And when it was pointed out to him that this year would be the 50th anniversary of that historic document, he decided it was high time to draft a Declaration of Human Rights in Cyberspace. This new declaration will be announced officially at the January 10th Digital Be-In, but the ideas in it have been taking shape in Gelman's mind for several years. "I'm not the first person to have said these things, " he says. The declaration "is about the same kinds of freedoms as in the United Nations declaration, extended into cyberspace. "
"In the world we're bequeathing to our children, there's a new power base: the acquisition and manipulation of information, " Gelman believes, and so education and access to the Internet "especially among those who are less fortunate and don't have easy access, such as in China and Africa" is key if the ideas of human rights and democracy in cyberspace are to be meaningful. Gelman hopes his Declaration of Human Rights in Cyberspace will be adopted by the UN one day as part of its Universal Declaration. "These are inalienable human rights people should have in any kind of political system. "
"If the gap between the Haves and Have-Nots widens because we've built tools that the Have-Nots can't access, then we're headed for catastrophe. "
In a multimedia industry where a few years is still considered a long time, Gelman has been an Internet activist for a decade, fighting for freedom of expression and serving as an advisor or board member for organizations such as Computers & You, which provides computer education and access to underprivileged inner-city residents. At present he devotes most of his time to Web development projects with a wide range of companies, including Verbum, which produces the annual Digital Be-In (Gelman has been with the Be-In since the fourth one, in 1992). He is also a contributing editor to Interactivity magazine, and recently completed a book, "Protecting Yourself Online, " in conjunction with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It"s scheduled for release in late February.
Gelman has an offbeat sense of humor too: to see it in action, check out his Web site (www.bgamedia.com) and count yourself among those who have watched his beard grow.
On a more serious note, though, he disagrees with the idea that the world of high tech and multimedia is only about profit and technology, and believes that values like human rights not only belong in the high tech world but are integral to it. At all levels, from Bill Gates to the technology marketers to the programmers who write the code, "I think the people who have made money in the industry feel they owe something in return, that they want to contribute back to the world. "
