# Citizen

The word “citizen” comes from the Latin civitas, which means “city,” arriving through the filter of Anglo-Norman French via deinzein, also the root of denizen, somebody who lives in a particular place. In its oldest form, given social structure, being a citizen of a place might not have meant that much more than that you live there. And the word is still used to indicate merely that a person is a legal resident of a particular jurisdiction.

However, the word has come to connote something more, not just a passive dweller, but a good citizen, an active citizen.

Citizens are typically granted rights by their government and are also burdened with obligations or constraints expressed in laws.

#### How is the citizen relevant to the Network State?

When we speak of a citizen of the network state, we are using the term with the force of its positive connotations to describe an actively participating member of a political community. A network state would be empty and pointless without citizens.