13 - Doctrinal Changes in Scope and the Meaning of Human Rights

Summary

Building on the analogy from quantum mechanics, we can ask whether certain human rights exist in a shared state. This would mean, for instance, whether the right to privacy exists in a shared state with the right to freedom of expression. Or, whether the right to reputation – leaving aside the issue whether such a self-standing right can be justified – exists in a shared state with the right of access to information. If the premise of such a shared state is correct, then it would follow that change in the scope and meaning of one right (particle) in this shared state leads to a simultaneous change in the opposite direction in the other right (particle). After transposition into a new domain, the features of a human rights idea, or characteristics of some offline traditional right, may appear in a higher spectrum than in the traditional setting. We notice wide variance between the meaning of freedom of expression offline and online, since offline it can rarely be justified as an absolute right, whereas online practice shows a duality: the parallel possibility of relativity and absoluteness.