Should Internet Access Be a Human Right?

by sara star | July 4, 2009 at 10:48 am

267 views | 36 Recommendations | 12 comments

Yesterday, I heard on the local news, that a town in Nova Scotia was going to offer free Wireless internet service to everyone. This would give equal access to everyone despite how much money they have. This is especially notable in the homeless population, who are quite adept with the computer. In a cold world, this can become their lifeline. Some predict that access to the internet will become a "human right" in the future.

Here's a prediction: in five years, a UN convention will enshrine network access as a human right (preemptive strike against naysayers: "Human rights" aren't only water, food and shelter, they include such "nonessentials" as free speech, education, and privacy). In ten years, we won't understand how anyone thought it wasn't a human right.

"You don't need a TV. You don't need a radio. You don't even need a newspaper," says Mr. Pitts, an aspiring poet in a purple cap and yellow fleece jacket, who says he has been homeless for two years. "But you need the Internet..."

First

Reported in NP June 11, 2009, France has declared it a basic human right already.

The French Constitutional Council, France's highest court, has declared that internet access is a "basic human right", completely deflating a new law passed by French President Nicholas Sarkozy in April 2009.

Stories from the trenches include homeless Mr. Livingston and Mr Pitts.

When he realized he would be homeless, Mr. Livingston bought a sturdy backpack to store his gear, a padlock for his footlocker at the shelter and a $25 annual premium Flickr account to display the digital photos he takes.
Mr. Livingston says his computer helps him feel more connected and human. "It's frightening to be homeless," he says. "When I'm on here, I'm equal to everybody else."

...Inside the tent, the taciturn 50-year-old has an HP laptop with a 17-inch screen and 320 gigabytes of data storage, as well as four extra hard drives that can hold another 1,000 gigabytes, the equivalent of 200 DVDs.

Mr. Pitts, the poet who lives under a bridge, keeps a mental list of spots to charge batteries and go online, including a deserted corner of a downtown train station and wired cafes whose owners don't mind long stays and lots of bags.

...When (Mr Pitts) was evicted from his apartment two years ago, Mr. Pitts says, "I thought: My existence and my life don't stop because I don't have a place to live.

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Roy C

at 13:07 on July 4th, 2009

Amy, I don't quite agree. For me, Internet access is a need, but it is not a right.

We are born with rights and needs, and we need to work for ourselves or for others for the needs. The rights are innate.We only lose them as criminals.

I don't have the right to have a car and a driver's license, but I have the right to due process and the right to be treated as everyone else is treated. My car and my license are needs to be met under the rubric of rights and due process.

FDR started this stuff where needs are considered rights.

cyn.khoo

at 17:14 on July 4th, 2009

Actually, I think it's the other way around--internet access is a right but not a need. To clarify, we NEED food and water to survive. We don't NEED information--what Internet essentially is--to survive, but we do have a right to freedom of information. But maybe that's just semantics.

In any case, I think the right should be enforced as far as no one should ever be actively barred from Internet access or have their access restricted, but not sure that it's such a fundamental need that the government has to actively provide it to everyone using public funding.

Then again, I may be underestimating the power of having Internet access, particularly in light of where the world seems to be heading, since I've never experienced permanently not having it myself.

Laughing-Samurai (not verified)

at 19:16 on July 4th, 2009

It's very easy in cities to create free wireless networks. There are many people who have a fast internet connection and provide a wireless hot spot. I do so myself. You could sit outside of my house with a laptop and enjoy free internet. I don't know how far it spreads because I have never tested it.

But I don't see how providing free internet will help the poor and homeless since they will also need something like a laptop to use it. And a power point to charge the battery?

Many places, like public libraries provide a free internet service, as do many other organisations. The cost of using an internet cafe is also quite low these days.

I don't think having internet is a human right or need. I do believe education is a human right, and the internet can be a part of that. Since most of the world's poor can't read or write, I don't see how a free internet will help them?

Amy Judd

at 11:10 on July 4th, 2009

I think it should be

SamirJ

at 11:53 on July 4th, 2009

Perfect example of taking technology too far!

Paschen

at 18:09 on July 4th, 2009

The French Courts have ruled that it is a basic right wish has some major implication and may cause several problem just from a logistic point.

If we make it a Human right then we make access to power and literacy automatically a human right as well.

At least it would have to be. 70% of the world population can not read nor write, maybe we are putting the cart before the horse here.

The internet does need computers, cell phones, cables, telephones, satellites and provider all things that are not cheep and that cause major pollution and need a lot of energy as well.

We did not make the telephone nor the radio a human right. Making the radio a human right would make more sense at this point then the same for the internet.

Babel-Fish

at 19:48 on July 4th, 2009

Hmmm well do humans really have rights without paying for them? If everything was free who pays the cost of such freedoms?

Let see Nova Scotia is footing the bill for wireless internet, hmmm... so the tax payer foots the bill really. People have to work and pay taxes or pay into charities for the so called free services someone is quoting as a human right. The point being is it right for a government authority to quote its a human right and then pay for the service out of tax money paid by people that work and pay taxes, then quote its a free service?

We can only really earn rights by working any thing else is charity that is not a right but given by people that care. It therefor can not be quoted as being a human right to have free internet access to have that if one does not work or have low earnings is a gift within a human caring society, its definaly not a right. If the Nova Scotia tax payers agree that free internet access for the homeless is something their tax money should be paid on, then swell and how kind. However politicians quoting its a human right are trying to delude the citizens as they are using such a term to sell their idea that its right to spend public money on such a service. In the end when things like this are quoted as being free someone has to pick up the tab as nothing is really for free.

sara star

at 04:42 on July 5th, 2009

In Nova Scotia, it is mandatory for everyone to recycle, one thing I am proud of.

They have just started an electronic recycle program which includes computers and its components. I agree there is a lot of outdated computers out there in the landfills, seeing how fast technology moves.

Paschen

at 07:41 on July 5th, 2009

Recycling is good Sara, however the manufacturing of some of those components is highly toxic as well as the recycling. We need green technology. wish is Still very expensive though. Cheeper then pollution would be in the long run, but a lot more expensive in the short run.Not compatible with a consumer based society that we are, still today.Many changes are needed and most wont be easy to swallow for all those in the industrialized world.

sara star

at 04:52 on July 5th, 2009

Thank you for your comments LS and BF.

Our rights don't necessarily mean free. Even education which is a right in North America, is paid for by the taxpayer.

Many people are becoming homeless with the real estate bust, as seen in tent cities springing up all over. A computer is a lifeline to some when all hope is lost.