Monday, March 08, 2010

The Right To The Internet!

A BBC World Service poll today suggests that four in five people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right.

What do we mean by "a fundamental right" in that context? It seems quite extraordinary that access to the newfangled interweb should be a fundamental right.

Do we mean hat someone else shouldn't deprive me of the right to free access to the web? Does everyone have that right? Do prisoners?

Or do we mean that someone else ought to do all they can to provide me with the internet?

How would the right to the internet compare to other rights? Say, the right to a fair trial? That's a rather different things, isn't it?

Who gives this right? With respect to whom? Etc.? Etc.

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