Access to the internet as a fundamental right
"Almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.
The survey - of more than 27,000 adults across 26 countries - found strong support for net access on both sides of the digital divide.
Countries such as Finland and Estonia have already ruled that access is a human right for their citizens.
International bodies such as the UN are also pushing for universal net access."
Seen in the historic light of other fundamental rights, perhaps internet access is already implicit in the exercise of the right to gather and the right of free speech. With so many social networks and so much information exchange online, not having a right to internet access would severely undermine these rights.
Anyway, this poll most likely means that many people will also consider it to be a right to participate online, and that is only a small step away from considering it a right to have a website. This means there will be an ever increasing need for publishing tools including Joomla.
I wonder, though, if electricity should not first be recognised and implemented as a human right. Where I live, there is a half-day power cut at least once a month, and no right of recourse against the monopolistic electricity supplier. This country is behind many EU states but I'm sure it is also ahead of many other places. On BBC World there is a small documentary about an African village where you cannot even charge an internet enabled mobile phone.
I also wonder how many people out of five would consider their mobile phone a fundamental right. I expect it is at about the same level. Considering how fast internet access now integrates with mobile telephony, I think content management systems have to be mobile-ready out of the box from now on.
I think a right to access to the internet is very close to the freedom of information that drives the open source community. It would be interesting to think about how the open source community, and projects like Joomla, could help spread internet access around the world.
Anyway, these are just a couple of thoughts about what I think is a remarkable news item - feel free to add your own!
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Comment by HarryB on March 8, 2010 at 7:47am -
A fundamental right...for those who have the money to pay for it! ;-)
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Comment by Marcos Peebles on March 9, 2010 at 1:20pm -
Actually it is stated as such by law in The European Union. Funny to see how journalists are 'misinformed' sometimes... ;-)
"Amendment 138/46 adopted again. Internet is a fundamental right in Europe."
Full article here: http://www.laquadrature.net/en/amendment-138-46-adopted-again
Granted... from thought to reality ... what Harry says is also true :)
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Comment by Ewout Wierda on March 9, 2010 at 2:10pm -
I could be mistaken but I think that amendment 138/46 says that no restrictions should be imposed that would be a restriction of one's fundamental rights and freedoms. So in that case I think access itself is not a fundamental right and can be restricted in whatever way would not restrict one's fundamental rights and freedoms. Still, it is enough for me this way.
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