Can The Internet Be Saved Without Harming Democracy?

[From The Guardian-] Citizens of the internet: here is some welcome news. Your downtrodden digital rights might be getting a well-overdue booster shot. But it comes with some warnings.

Last week in the Hague, a high-level group of 29 internet policymakers and influencers – including prominent ex-US and UK security and intelligence officials Michael Chertoff, Joseph Nye, Melissa Hathaway and David Omand – issued a clarion call for the protection and promotion of human rights online. Self-styled the Global Commission on Internet Governance, the group made this call as part of the broader objective of restoring trust and confidence in the internet.

Championing our fundamental human rights to privacy and personal data protection, the commission affirmed the need for strong encryption and other privacy-enhancing technologies, while completely rejecting government “backdoors” on communications platforms – on the basis that digital communications “should be inherently considered private between the intended parties”.

Read the full story in The Guardian here: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/17/can-the-internet-be-saved-without-harming-democracy