Is the Internet a Fundamental Human Right?
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Is the internet a fundamental human right? was one of the questions asked to more than 27,000 adults from 26 countries around the world.
The survey, conducted by GlobeScan for the BBC World Service found that 87% of internet users felt internet access should be the “fundamental right of all people”.
Of non-internet users polled, 71% said they should have to right to access the web.
Countries such as Finland and Estonia have already ruled that access is a human right for their citizens.
Countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Turkey most strongly support the idea of net access as a right, the survey found. More than 90% of those surveyed in Turkey, for example, stated that internet access is a fundamental right – more than those in any other European Country.
South Korea, the most wired country on Earth, had the greatest majority of people (96%) who believed that net access was a fundamental right. Nearly all of the country’s citizens already enjoy high-speed net access.
In Japan, Mexico and Russia around three-quarters of respondents said they could not cope without it. Most of those questioned also said that they believed the web had a positive impact, with nearly four in five saying it had brought them greater freedom.
Only 51% of Americans, 56% of Canadians and 46% of British polled thought it should be a right. Interesting numbers for the English speaking world, they would appear to suggest that they are a little ambivalent about the web or perhaps some of the countries with less rights see the internet as something more precious as a way of expressing freedom.
International bodies such as the UN are also pushing for universal net access.
WARNING This GlobeScan link is pdf file.
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How come libraries aren’t considered a human right? Access to internet = access to sources of knowledge and the other connected citizens of the planet. Religious nuts and conservatives can imagine nothing more dangerous to their small-minded control over their sheeplike followers than unfettered access. This might explain the lower rates in the Western world.
My local (underfunded of late) library has access to the internet for patrons, any time I have wandered in, more people are surfing the net and not the bookshelves.
LESLIE – Considering the whole concept of being connected originated right here (military) and in the UK (Berners-Lee) it is amazing how parts of the world have really got involved quicker than us, and some governments i.e. Norway and Estonia, have made it policy to get their whole population on-line. Vision is what it took, plus they are not pouring their national treasure into things that go BANG.
Heck, I can remember when we had to go through a university portal and it was all text – and yes, you could read “War and Peace” while waiting. Before the WWW there was Mosaic, which everyone thought was the cat’s meow. Then along came the WWW and a gzillion search engines. What’s better, Lycos or a mega search engine or . . . Lot’s of arguments at the bar.
About 15 years ago I had to sit through a very boring talk given by some goverment scientist on the “Second Generation Internet.” I’m still waiting.
I think it’s sad, but very telling, that the English speaking nations are behind the rest of the world. I wonder how many of them knew enough about the Internet and the world it has opened up for us. They probably don’t even know how to turn one on.
Internet access is a privilege, not a right. Keep them government bureaucrats out of my broadband connection.
Your internet access, your problem.
And above all, No Pubic Option.
Tom – “I want my dial-up back” just like in them there old days, before we had a communist in the White House.
LOL Holte. I remember those days well. I recall being excited when the connectivity speeds went from 24 to 56K. We have come a long way but we have a long way to go. Fortunately the president is committed to increasing bandwidth in America and wants to be able to compete on the world stage. Unlike Bush this president is technologically savvy.
P.S. The mail service attendant to comments has been reactivated.
Holte curiously the United States and Canada have some of the worst access in the world. Europe and Japan can access the web at speeds up to 100MB whereas in the U.S. I think the average connectivity speed is around 1.5 MB. How embarrassing but it reflects the figures your have provided.
MIKE – I never thought about speed being factor, good point. I have a high speed cable connection and it’s pretty quick, I suppose it could be a second or two quicker sometimes, but when I think back to dial-up, what a difference. When I first got connected in 1997, I used to read a book while I was waiting for pages to load.
Perhaps there are fewer porn mags in those countries so they need the net more!…;-)