What is Individual Digital Sovereignty?
Individual Digital Sovereignty describes a strengthened sphere of personal self-determination in the face of the informational power exercised by public and private actors in the digital society.
It does not seek to replace the sovereignty of the State, create an absolute right over all information, or establish anonymity beyond the law. Its foundation is the protection of dignity, autonomy, personality, freedom and effective control over digital identity.
Digital Identity Is an Extension of the Person
Digital identity is more than an account or a technological record. It includes personal data, credentials, identifiers, interactions, reputation, metadata, behavioural patterns, profiles and algorithmic inferences that can shape how a person is recognised, classified, evaluated or treated.
Data Concentration Is Also Power Concentration
The large-scale accumulation of personal information allows organisations to observe, profile, predict and influence human behaviour. When knowledge derived from data is concentrated in a small number of actors, informational power becomes concentrated as well.
Identification Without Permanent Exposure
A person should not be required to reveal more information than is strictly necessary for a legitimate digital interaction. Digital systems should make it possible to verify specific attributes or credentials without unnecessarily exposing a person's complete identity.
13 Principles of Individual Digital Sovereignty
- The person must remain at the centre of digital systems.
- Every person should retain a primary sphere of decision-making over their digital identity.
- People must have effective legal, technical and practical control over data and credentials that affect them.
- Informational self-determination must include the ability to understand and decide how personal information is used.
- Identity exposure should always be limited to what is strictly necessary.
- Data use must have a legitimate, specific, understandable and proportionate purpose.
- Systems using personal information must be transparent, explainable and traceable.
- Organisations handling personal information assume a duty of responsible custody.
- Authorisations should be effectively revocable and violations should lead to meaningful remedies.
- Identity, data and credentials should be portable and interoperable.
- Individual Digital Sovereignty must not require a single, centralised or universally traceable identity.
- Digital rights must remain accessible regardless of age, language, disability, economic condition or digital literacy.
- People should participate fairly in the value systematically generated from their personal information.
Towards a Charter of Digital Rights
The manifesto proposes a new generation of digital rights designed to extend existing protections into a society shaped by digital identity, artificial intelligence, profiling and the data economy.
Sovereign Digital Identity
Effective Privacy
Verifiable Identification with Minimal Exposure
Reinforced Informational Self-Determination
Protection from Abusive Inferences and Profiling
Algorithmic Transparency and Meaningful Explanation
Human Review and Challenge of Automated Decisions
Universal Portability of Identity, Data and Attributes
Effective Revocation
Responsible Custody of Personal Data
Traceability and Accountability
Effective Reparation
Freedom from a Single Mandatory Digital Identity
Inclusion, Accessibility and Usability
Protection from Exploitation through Informational Asymmetries
Fair Participation in the Value Generated by Personal Data
Duties of Organisations
Organisations that collect, store, analyse, infer, share or monetise personal information should be subject to duties of justification, minimisation, security, transparency, traceability, accountability and effective reparation.
A Person-Centred Digital Society
The central proposal is simple: the next evolution of digital rights should not protect data only as isolated objects. It should protect people against the forms of power exercised through data and preserve their capacity to remain autonomous in the age of artificial intelligence and the data economy.
Read the Full Manifesto
This page provides a concise introduction. The complete foundational document contains the full definitions, principles, safeguards, organisational duties and proposed Charter of Rights.