Earlier this year the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport published its new Digital Charter. This short document outlines a UK rolling programme of work designed to make the UK a friendly environment to start-up and grow digital businesses. It is also designed to make the UK a safe place to be online. The charter will be updated as the government’s programme of work changes in response to technological advancements.
The goal of the charter is to establish rules and norms for the online world that can be put into practice.
Digital Charter
The principles outlined in the charter, guiding the government’s work, are:
- the internet should be free, open and accessible;
- people should understand the rules that apply to them when they are online;
- personal data should be respected and used appropriately;
- protections should be in place to help keep people safe online, especially children;
- the same rights that people have offline must be protected online; and
- social and economic benefits brought by new technologies should be fairly shared.