Digital Human Rights from the Perspective of System Theory——Concept Definition, Social Function, and Constitutional Basis

The three core issues in the“digital human rights”debate are whether“digital human rights”are possible,necessary,and feasible.Both sides of the debate focus on discovering the value of“digital human rights”to individuals from a semantic level,but ignore the significance of“digital human rights”to the whole society and its subsystems at the level of social structure.By introducing Niklas Luhmann's System Theory,this observation blind spot can be eliminated.Fundamental rights are devoted to directly shaping not a physiological-psychological“individual”as a social environment but a social“person”that can be included by social systems.It is clear that digital human rights are the right to participate in digital communication of a“human”as a“person”,so they are possible in terms of conceptual definition.Digital human rights can help“people”lower the threshold for participation in digital communication,limit the excessive expansion of social systems,and promote the free and complete expression of body and mind,so they are necessary for social functions.There are limitations in the existing two ideas of“incorporating digital human rights into the constitution”.Based on the new construction idea of System Theory of Law,digital human rights as the right to participate in digital communication can be typified into digital communication in social sub-fields such as politics,economy,science,and art.The right to participate constructs a complete digital human rights system,making it feasible on the basis of the constitution.

The Prosecutorial Protection of Digital Human Rights

In the digital age,the rise of digital human rights has become an important expansion in the field of human rights.When advancing digital prosecution strategies,prosecutorial agencies should pay greater attention to the protection of digital human rights.The fragile state of digital human rights and the unique position of prosecutorial agencies in human rights protection make it imperative that prosecutorial agencies place more emphasis on fulfilling their responsibilities in legal oversight to promote the protection of digital human rights.Currently,prosecutorial agencies have strengthened the protection of digital human rights through such measures as promoting legal oversight with big data,enhancing the handling of criminal cases involving citizens'digital human rights,expanding the scope of public interest litigation protecting digital human rights,and improving their roles in civil and administrative prosecution.However,there are still challenges related to the inadequacy of updating the mindset,the incompleteness of measures,and the lack of innovation in mechanisms and systems.Therefore,prosecutorial agencies should further align with the implementation of digital prosecution strategies,update their human rights protection concepts,intensify efforts to combat cybercrime,strengthen the protection of citizens'personal information through prosecution,enhance public interest protection of collective digital human rights through public interest litigation,and actively innovate prosecutorial work mechanisms and systems to bolster the protection of digital human rights.

The Concept of Digital Human Rights and Its Reshaping of Basic Rights

Whether a new generation of human rights emerges in the digital age has sparked widespread debate.Academic understanding of digital technology remains confined to thinking about network technology and products,often overlooking the revolutionary nature of digital media.Digital media has the sweeping potential to unify all forms of media and reshape social life,giving rise to new demands for a new generation of human rights.The concept of digital human rights can be defined as the legitimate rights of human's infinitely extended personalities through digital media.Its core characteristic is its transcendency,where every person lives in a networked space that surpasses physical boundaries,nations,and individual personalities.Human rights are generally considered the foundation for basic constitutional rights,which,in turn,form the basis for legislative acts across various sectors.In recent years,China has enacted numerous laws in the digital domain to keep pace with the times,but due to the lack of guidance on digital human rights,these laws tend to be fragmented and disjointed.It is urgent to unify digital legislation at all levels on the basis of reshaping basic constitutional rights.Thus,it is essential to reshape the basic rights based on the concept and characteristics of digital human rights and streamline legislation at all levels under the unified guidance of basic rights.This can help establish a comprehensive digital human rights protection system that meets the demands of the modern era.

Modernization and the Diversity of Human Rights Among Civilizations--Review of the 2023 China-europe Seminar on Human Rights

Human rights are an achievement of humanity and a symbol of progress.Respect for and protection of human rights are basic principles of modern civilization.Around the world,countries and regions have chosen different paths to modernization,which are rooted in their unique civilizations.to promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations,facilitate human rights exchanges and cooperation between different countries,and advance the global development of human rights,on September 20,2023,the 2023 China-europe Seminar on Human Rights was held in Rome,the capital of Italy.Under the theme of“Modernization and the Diversity of Human Rights Among Civilizations,”the seminar focused on discussing topics such as exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations and the development of modern human rights philosophy,modernization and the free and well-rounded development of every person,sustainable development in the process of modernization,and the evolution of the civilization of human rights in the digital age.participants reached the following consensuses at the event:First,the participants from various countries spoke highly of the great achievements that China has made in human rights cause and fully recognized China’s contributions in promoting the development and progress of the global human rights cause;Second,the participants from all countries agreed that it is necessary to discard the concept of“Western-centrism,”transcend the mindset of“cultural superiority,”promote human rights exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations on the basis of equality and mutual respect,and inject new impetus into the diversity of human rights among civilizations;third,participants reaffirmed that human rights represent an open concept,and that we should discuss the development of human rights with an open mind and jointly promote the progress of human rights in the world.

Building International Consensus and Working Together to Advance the Development of the Global Human Rights Cause—Summary of Academic Views at the Forum on Global Human Rights Governance

On June 14-15,2023,the Forum on Global Human Rights Governance,jointly hosted by the State Council Information Office,the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,and the China International Development Cooperation Agency,was held in Beijing under the theme of“Equality,Cooperation and Development:The 30th Anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and Global Human Rights Governance.”Participants conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges on topics such as“International Cooperation and Global Human Rights Governance,”“Global Development Initiative and the Realization of the Right to Development”,“Global Security Initiative and Human Rights Protection,”“UN Human Rights Mechanisms and Global Human Rights Governance,”and“Human Rights Protection in the Digital Age.”The event helped build international consensus and yielded fruitful achievements.

The Dynamic System Theory of Legal Protection for Personal Information Rights Infringement

The advent of the big data era has presented unprecedented challenges to remedies for personal information infringement in areas such as damage assessment,proof of causation,determination of illegality,fault assessment,and liability.Traditional tort law is unable to provide a robust response for these challenges,which severely hinders human rights protection in the digital society.The dynamic system theory represents a third path between fixed constitutive elements and general clauses.It both overcomes the rigidity of the“allor-nothing”legal effect evaluation mechanism of the“element-effect”model and avoids the uncertainty of the general clause model.It can effectively enhance the flexibility of the legal system in responding to social changes.In light of this,it is necessary to construct a dynamic foundational evaluation framework for personal information infringement under the guidance of the dynamic system theory.By relying on the dynamic interplay effect of various foundational evaluation elements,this framework can achieve a flexible evaluation of the constitutive elements of liability and the legal effects of liability for personal information infringement.Through this approach,the crisis of personal information infringement in the era of big data can be mitigated,and the realization of personal information rights as digital human rights can be promoted.

Constructing Legal Order in an Intelligent Society

Legal order originated in a land-centered agricultural society,having now gone through a market-centered industrial society and a network-centered information society.With the rise of the intelligent society,it is transforming into an algorithmcentered legal order of an intelligent society.The"digital""networking""intelligent"revolution brought by the intelligent technologies including big data,cloud computing,the Internet,blockchain,and artificial intelligence(AI),has been causing critical challenges to the current legal order,and has generated powerful momentum for construction of fresh legal order featuring scientificness,people centeredness,justice,inclusiveness and co-governance.Construction of such a new jurisprudential legal order to solve this intelligent society's"governance deficit"is an urgent task.There is a need to set up a new foundation on which an intelligent society can build steady and lasting progress.