Tuesday 9 March 2010

Is internet access human right?

I'm interested in "Internet access is 'a fundamental right'" from BBC News because I use it everyday and I want to know that how people think about it.

There is a survey which found that most people in various countries agree that internet access is a human right. Also,
Dr Hamadoun Toure said that government has to provide "the internet as basic infrastructure - just like roads, waste and water"(¶ 7). Although many people concern about security of their information and feel that they cannot safely express their opinion online, most people still think that internet access brings freedom to them.

I'm really surprise with the result of this survey. I think that internet is an important factor in my life. I use it to get knowledge and communicate with others. I also got a job because of it. However, I don't think that it's a fundamental right which everybody has to have. I still think that it's not basic infrastructure like water because I can survive without internet, but if I don't have water to drink, I will die. I believe that the government should provide the real basic needs before they think about this. Now we have a lot of disaster such as earthquake and drought, and these disasters cause the following problems such as lack of food and water. Therefore, we should concern about the disasters before accessing internet.
__________
References
Internet access is 'a fundamental right'. (2010, March 8). BBC News. Retrieved March 9, 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8548190.stm

3 comments:

  1. I'm inclined to agree with Ann on this issue. It seems to me that human rights are basic rights that apply to all people at all times and in all cultures. This requirement means that nothing modern could be a basic human right because it would not seem to make sense to say that people fifty years ago, let alone 1,000 years ago, were being deprived of a right that did not and could not possibly have existed until very recently - when I went online in 1995, the internet was very much a new thing, and no one really had any idea what it would so rapidly diversify and evolve into. Like Ann, it affects my life significantly on the rare occasions when my internet access is cut, but I don't feel that I'm being deprived of any right.
    I can think of reasons for making it a legal entitlement, but that is much weaker than seeing it as a basic human right. But for exactly the same reasons, I do not think that education or health care are basic human rights, either.
    The right to free speech, on the other hand, is a basic human right that has been and still is far too often denied people, even in modern societies, and many laws to control the internet do violate this basic human right and are therefore immoral, even when done with the best of intentions. (The mass murder of witches in the past, and still today in some African countries, was also done to serve god or for some other supposedly good reason, but was nonetheless perfectly evil.)

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  2. I aree with Ann. In the medern society, Internet bought to us convenience and quickness, but at the same time, it forces us to use it. Rather, sometimes, I felt that it invaded my privacy.

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  3. Human right? I don't think so. But being ablie to access to and use internet freely, is one of the freedom human could have. I agree with Peter that violating the rigth to speak as wish is violation of human right and the internet is just a way that is used to express your mind, make yourself heard. But no, internet access is not basic right and for me, neither do water supply and electricity.

    However, one day apart from Google, I probably die. I was so frustrated when I couldn't Google things I wanted to Google.

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