Frontier Issues of Human Rights Theory in the Digital Age

Editor's Note: With the widespread application of digital information technology, mankind has entered the digital age, and the theory and practice of human rights have also been affected. The foundation of human rights lies in “humans,” and the cognition of the concept of humans determines the nature and content of human rights. The Adjustment of the Legal Concept of “Humans” in the Digital Age conducts an in-depth reflection on the concept of humans in traditional law and proposes a plan to adjust the concept of humans in the digital age as the basis for developing a human rights system in the digital age. The spread of digital information technology is not homogeneous. Digital inequality will create a digital divide and produce the digitally disadvantaged. How to strengthen the protection of the digitally disadvantaged is a major issue facing human rights in the digital age. On the Protection of the Digitally Disadvantaged from the Perspective of the Capabilities Approach takes a unique approach. It proposes a “capability approach” to the protection of the digitally disadvantaged, and constructs a set of specific protection plans that is new and special. The digital age has given rise to some new types of rights claims, such as data rights, digital rights, and personal information rights. On the Constitutional Normative Logic of Data Rights Protection explores the constitutional normative logic of data rights protection from the perspective of constitutional relations and demonstrates the basic rights status of data rights. Based on the perspective of systems theory, Personal Information Governance in Automated Administration conducts an in-depth analysis of the complex issue of the right to self-determination of personal information in automated administration. In summary, the four papers published in this issue approach the research from different perspectives to promote the in-depth development of human rights theories in the digital age.