On the Protection of the Digitally Disadvantaged from the Perspective of the Capabilities Approach

YANG Junpeng

Abstract: Digital survival and development is not only an important part of the theory and practice of human rights in the digital society but also the purpose of protecting the digitally disadvantaged. Today, the rights approach to protecting the digitally disadvantaged ignores individual differences, the process of action, the quality of rights, and digital capability development which are of greatest concern to the capabilities approach. Therefore, it is inferior to the latter in terms of both content and effectiveness. From the perspective of the capabilities approach, the digitally disadvantaged manifest a combined state of weakened digital rights and digital disability. The exclusion of individual rights by technological rights, the lack of inherent capabilities due to individual differences, and the weak combination of structural imbalances are the essential logic of the problem of the digitally disadvantaged. Therefore, it is necessary to embed the capabilities approach as a value principle into the legal protection of the digitally disadvantaged and enhance the intrinsic capabilities by cultivating digital literacy within the dimension of rights. Additionally, it is also necessary to develop a comprehensive capability by combining digital power constraints and responsible allocation, diversified collaborative digital capability assessment, promotion and assistance, and national standardized, motivational, and preferential empowerment to ensure that the digitally disadvantaged unleash and develop their capabilities.

Keywords: capabilities theory · the digitally disadvantaged · digital rights · digital disability · legal empowerment