WIKI & THE RIGHT TO CREATE KNOWLEDGE

HUMANS have an innate right not only to acquire information but also to contribute to its creation.

- SRIRAM VENKATAVARADAN

HUMANS have an innate right not only to acquire information but also to contribute to its creation. People fulfill their natural function as rational, social beings by engaging in meaningful pursuits and exercising their intellect through contributions to communal knowledge. The basic essence of human intellectual freedom would encompass not only the right to obtain, assimilate and regurgitate information provided but also the vital right to generate and contribute to it.

However, throughout history, the flow of information has not always been from the bottom up, but more like a trickle-down. Information has been carefully distributed under close control by institutions, governments, intellectual elites, media conglomerates, and censorship. These institutions have been gatekeepers, selectively choosing which viewpoints are important, even while they have been vital in the preservation and dissemination of knowledge.

People and communities, for their part, have often discovered ways to share their stories and produce information in their own ways outside institutional limitations. From the times of Socrates and the Greek agora, where citizens gathered to share and debate ideas, and those of Adi Shankaracharya and his theological debates to those of French cafes, we have always cultivated and shared knowledge as a community.

Pertinently, the foundation of this right is Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and expression. Its broad interpretation by the Supreme Court repeatedly maintained that it includes not only the right to speak but also the right to know, be informed, and—most importantly—take part in discourse.