Study on the Legal Protection of the Right to a Digital Life for the Elderly

Taking Chongqing Yuzhong District as an Example

Abstract

The protection of the rights and interests of the elderly in the process of digitization requires the construction of a synergistic framework of “law, technology and system”. The study proposes the implementation of a “dynamic rationing” mechanism in the field of public services, mandating the retention of offline windows based on the proportion of elderly users, and the establishment of a flexible channel for the deployment of resources between online and offline, so that when digital channel resources are left vacant, they will be released to offline automatically, thus ensuring that the services can be accessed in real terms. The legal dimension advocates the establishment of new types of rights, such as the right to digital adaptation, through the Digital Inclusion Promotion Law, and the upgrading of the rules on offline service retention and the prohibition of mandatory face recognition, which were verified in local pilots, into national mandatory standards to provide a rigid basis for the defense of rights. Technological research and development should shift to a “rights-friendly” design paradigm, and implant self-limiting mechanisms in the underlying architecture of smart tools, such as closing non-essential data permissions by default and opening up age-adapted operating interfaces, in order to curb the exclusion of disadvantaged groups by technological alienation. Through legal empowerment to delimit the bottom line of service provision, technical ethics to constrain the logic of tool development, and institutional innovation to promote flexible resource allocation, a governance path that balances efficiency and dignity has been formed, providing a systematic solution for the aging society to cross the digital divide.