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The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes, I am,” he answered. Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.” “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied. Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.

In ancient Rome and our present day, the term “citizen” carries certain privileges, rights and of course, responsibilities. For most of history there were two concepts of citizenship: jus soli and jus sanguinis.

Jus soli, meaning “right of the soil”, commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. Jus soli was part of the English common law, in contrast to jus sanguinis, is a principle of nationality law by which citizenship is not determined by place of birth but by having one or both parents who are citizens of the state.

However, in the information age, we have a whole new term for some of these concepts, and that is digital citizenship. Of course there is no Latin translation for digital, but many of the same questions, beliefs and controversies that surround legal citizenship are involved in digital citizenship.

Just like the Roman Centurion, who recognized that Paul had certain rights because he was a Roman citizen, this site is dedicated to making the benefits of digital citizenship to all persons.

Acts 22:27-29 New International Version (NIV)