Personal information rights and freedoms within the modern society

Abstract

The authors ascertain the correlation between the freedom of information use and both the freedom of speech and the right to information. There was applied the entire toolbox of interrelated and complementary universal scientific and specific methods inherent to philosophic research. The research methodology rests on the system and structure-functional analysis principles. The notions of information, freedom, justice and law are closely interlinked. When exercising freedom one inevitably makes his or her choice from among the available actions while relying on the previously obtained information. The human information rights that are, in their turn, a part of the overall notion of the law enjoy an exceptional role within the freedom of information. Far from being exhausted by the freedom of speech and the right to information, the freedom of information also includes various other aspects. It concerns the entire information and communication sphere at large. The freedom of information is not reduced to any certain type of socially-oriented information. The notion of the right to information goes beyond the right to access information while both of them take on the same social roles and are often terminologically interchangeable.