Internet access is a human right, according to the United Nations! as it recommends in its Broadband Commission report (full text):
Communication – a Human Need and a Right Broadband technologies are fundamentally transforming the way we live. It is vital that no one be excluded from the new global knowledge societies we are building. We believe that communication is not just a human need – it is a right. The greater communication and understanding made possible through access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) can help us overcome the challenges in our complex and interdependent global society.
This was criticised by VINTON G. CERF, saying that(full text):
the argument, however well meaning, misses a larger point: technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself.
Communication – a Human Need and a Right Broadband technologies are fundamentally transforming the way we live. It is vital that no one be excluded from the new global knowledge societies we are building. We believe that communication is not just a human need – it is a right. The greater communication and understanding made possible through access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) can help us overcome the challenges in our complex and interdependent global society.
This was criticised by VINTON G. CERF, saying that(full text):
the argument, however well meaning, misses a larger point: technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself.
I'd agree with Cerf's position here - there is a substantial difference between claiming that "the Internet" is a human right, and claiming that the right to communicate is a human right.
ReplyDeleteUnder the EU telecommunications regime, functioning Internet access can be imposed as a universal service obligation, but quite what standard of connectivity this imposes is unsure - likely pretty low. However, Finland, for example, under their Communications Market Act (as amended: here) requires a minimum of a 1Mb connection as of July 2010.