by We live in a New Age. Technology not only runs our lives, it rules our being and ruins our sense of comprehensive societal cohesion. Has access to the internet become a fundamental human right? If so, should we have to pay for that right of access?
President Obama wants everyone to have free, high-speed, broadband access and the BBC recently reported their findings from a worldwide survey of internet use and expectation:
Four in five adults (79%) regard internet access as their fundamental right, according to a new global poll conducted across 26 countries for BBC World Service.
The poll of more than 27,000 adults conducted by GlobeScan found that 87 per cent of those who used the internet felt that internet access should be “the fundamental right of all people.” More than seven in ten (71%) non-internet users also felt that they should have the right to access the web.
Countries where very high proportions regarded internet access as their fundamental right included South Korea (96%), Mexico (94%), and China (87%).
Most web users are very positive about the changes the internet has brought to their lives, with strong support for the information available, the greater freedom it brings and social networking. However there was caution about expressing opinions online and fraud.
Nearly four in five (78%) said they felt it had brought them greater freedom, nine in ten (90%) said they thought it was a good place to learn, and just over half (51%) said they now enjoyed spending their spare time on social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace.
If we now believe internet access is a right — how do we protect that
right from being taken away?
If another nation blocks our
internet access — would that be enough for a declaration of war and a
violent response?
Should we amend the Constitution to include natural access to the internet or not?
Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and unlimited internet access? I wouldn’t mind that amendment. 🙂
The internet is so worldwide now that it seems impossible to completely cut off access to it. So many millions of access paths out there just waiting to be used — how to completely cut it off?
We protect guns as a sacred right in America — why not give free broadband internet access the same stature in the law? I don’t think it would be too hard to disconnect the internet in the USA. Remove the major backbones and everything would, essentially, stop.
Take control of the DNS servers — and you can even more quietly do whatever you like: Cut off, redirect, or delete.
Some government officials want the USA to be able to “cut off” anyone they please on the internet in milliseconds — all done, of course, in the name of preventing terrorism and protecting Das Homeland.