https://waccglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Progressive-Decolonial_Approach_DigitalEcosystems.pdf
"Why is data valuable? Because it creates something that is now called “intelligence”; when computed together, your data, plus my data, plus the data of thousands of people gives
the data owner enormous power to shape, manipulate, and steer human activities and social affairs in specific directions. This is the new communicative and informative power of our
era. Whoever controls this power, can control societies, markets, and worldviews. In different international forums, such as the World Trade Organization and the UN Trade and
Development (UNCTAD), Northern voices (led by the US) have tried to defend the free flow of data, while Southern governments insist that data is a valuable resource and should not be gifted to the private sector.
One of the few conceptual frameworks to consistently inform this struggle is that of Communication Rights (CRs). This extends freedom of expression in several directions. If freedom of expression only defends the rights of a speaker, CRs include the right to be heard, listened to and understood, and responded to. CRs encompass the entire communication cycle, not just the moment of uttering an expression. Moreover, CRs are not centered on the individual, as they necessarily implicate the collective and social element of human communication. A wider range of human rights is thus essential to operationalizing CRs; “enabling” or ‘flanking’ rights that include rights to participate in one’s culture, of ethnic and linguistic minorities, to peaceful assembly and association, and the fruits of economic efforts. Together, the communication component of each can become larger than the sum of the parts, nurturing
a climate of mutual respect and tolerance between diverse communities and cultures. Communication rights, as a concept, is thus well suited to the current juncture in the digital era."
