It is predicated on the right of individuals to hold any belief, and to convey their ideas to others in any form they deem appropriate. Because everything that flows over the Net is information, every use of the Net is inherently an exercise of freedom of speech, to be restricted only at great peril to human liberty. Such free expression becomes virtually meaningless if access to that expression is not itself protected. The right to communicate includes the right to participate in communication through interacting, organizing, petitioning, mobilizing, assembling, collaborating, sharing, and publishing. It would be a tragic waste of the Net's potential if it were to be deployed and provisioned in such a way as to encourage most people to be only passive consumers of mass communication.
People have the right to privacy.
The right to communicate is mirrored by the right to privacy. The use of personal data, including financial and demographic information, should be under the control of the person to whom it refers. Internet users have a right to maximal control over the way information about them is collected, used, and disseminated. This does not imply that all such collection, use, and dissemination is unacceptable, merely that it must be disclosed to the information's owner, who must also be given the ability not to participate in any unacceptable uses of that information. Privacy of communications must be accessible to all who desire it.