# Digital Human Rights

*Open, secure, personal, independent, trustworthy, selective, resilient, portable & safe systems*

By [Friction Observer](https://friction.observer) · 2025-05-30

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I'm working on a few projects at the moment that have me struggling to ensure we're considering the full slate of baseline infrastructure capabilities.

Juan Benet has proposed a set of 8 Digital Human Rights. They cover a lot of important ground. You can get the full download in this video, starting ~7:00.

[![](https://paragraph.com/editor/youtube/play.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxmsiRxS5Hc)

I felt like they could use a bit of editing for clarity. As I was editing, I also realized there might be a missing 9th human right regarding "safety". Thus, I have arrived for now at the conclusion that all digital infrastructure must be _open_, _secure, personal, independent, trustworthy, selective, resilient, portable_ and _safe_.  
  
Would love your feedback.

**1\. Open: I can speak freely**
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> _I can share my thoughts, ideas, and work without needing permission — and without fear of censorship or erasure._

**Technical Corollaries:**

*   Content-addressable storage (e.g. IPFS)
    
*   Censorship-resistant publishing (e.g. peer replication, no single point of takedown, permissionless blockchains)
    
*   Signature-based authorship (e.g. Ed25519)
    

**2\. Secure: I can speak privately**
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> _I can share, organize, and express myself without being tracked, recorded, or overheard._

**Technical Corollaries:**

*   End-to-end encryption (e.g. Noise Protocol, Double Ratchet)
    
*   Metadata minimization (e.g. oblivious routing, mixnets)
    
*   Ephemeral communication with no server storage
    

**3\. Personal: I own my data**
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> _My files, messages, and memories belong to me. I decide who can see them — and I can take that access away at any time._

**Technical Corollaries:**

*   Local-first storage models (e.g. WNFS)
    
*   Capability-based access control (e.g. UCANs, ZCAP-LD)
    
*   Revocable, time-scoped, and minimal grants of access
    
*   Timestamped proof of custody or ownership (e.g. NFT metadata as a pointer to user-controlled data)
    

**4\. Independent: I connect directly**
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> _I use systems that link people and devices without needing companies, platforms, or governments in the middle._

**Technical Corollaries:**

*   Peer-to-peer networking (e.g. libp2p, WebRTC)
    
*   Overlay networks (e.g. WireGuard, Headscale)
    
*   Decentralized rendezvous and discovery (e.g. DHT, mDNS)
    
*   Public key infrastructure without central certificate authorities
    

**5\. Trustworthy: I can verify what happens**
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> _I don’t have to guess or assume. Every action leaves a trail I can check for myself._

**Technical Corollaries:**

*   Signed logs / event sourcing (e.g. Merkle DAGs, transparency logs)
    
*   Verifiable credentials & attestations (e.g. DID + VC standards)
    
*   Reproducible builds and cryptographic audit trails
    
*   Append-only public ledgers
    

**6\. Selective: I decide what to share**
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> _My information is private by default. Others only see what I choose to show — and only as much as they need._

**Technical Corollaries:**

*   Granular access delegation (e.g. CACAOs, UCANs)
    
*   Principle of least privilege enforced at the data layer
    
*   Encrypted blockstores with access via proxies or keys
    
*   Zero-knowledge proofs for selective disclosure
    
    *   _E.g. “I’m over 21” without revealing my birthday_
        
    *   _E.g. “I earn over $50K” without revealing my salary_
        

**7\. Resilient: I can count on my tools**
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> _My systems keep working — even offline, under pressure, or outside the mainstream. They don’t break when someone says so._

**Technical Corollaries:**

*   Offline-first architecture with sync (e.g. CRDTs, IPFS)
    
*   Open protocols and standards (e.g. no vendor lock-in)
    
*   Redundant infrastructure, mesh routing, error tolerance
    

**8\. Portable: I own my identity**
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> _My identity moves with me. It’s under my control, not tied to any platform — and I decide who can use it._

**Technical Corollaries:**

*   Decentralized identifiers (DIDs)
    
*   Mnemonic-seeded cryptographic identity (e.g. BIP39 → keypair)
    
*   Non-custodial identity wallets / portable agent keyrings
    

**9\. Safe: I can define my boundaries**
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> I choose how others can reach me, interact with me, and affect my experience. My tools help me set limits, avoid harm, and stay in control.

**Technical Corollaries:**

*   Consent-based interaction models (e.g. request-to-contact, scoped delegation)
    
*   Local filtering and blocklists
    
*   Agent behavior transparency and override mechanisms
    
*   Rate-limiting, abuse detection, and feedback tooling built in

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*Originally published on [Friction Observer](https://friction.observer/digital-human-rights)*