Comments for Is Internet Access a Fundamental Human Right? France's High Court Says Yes

Is Internet Access a Fundamental Human Right? France's High Court Says Yes

2009-06-11T16:29:15Z

France's highest court, the Constitutional Council, ruled that access to the internet is a "fundamental human right" this week in striking down a controversial "three strikes" anti-piracy law called Loi Hadopi, according to a report today from the UK Daily Mail. Were such an opinion agreed upon by other governments around the world, the implications would be striking.

]]> Conversely, are peoples' fundamental human rights being violated when they don't have access to the internet? It's tempting to consider internet access a luxury, but consider the increased quality of life that comes with the huge jump in access to cultural and logistical information the internet brings. We think this is an important opportunity to think about expanding our understanding of human rights.

Internet access in a time of democratized online publishing may be understood as a contemporary form of the right to self-expression. It could also be understood as part of basic access to public services in an increasingly online world. We do wonder what such a designation would mean for pricing policies and the internet economy.

Legal theory trailblazer Corey Doctorow wrote the following bold prediction in an article about homeless people and internet access last week:

Here's a prediction: in five years, a UN convention will enshrine network access as a human right (preemptive strike against naysayers: "Human rights" aren't only water, food and shelter, they include such "nonessentials" as free speech, education, and privacy). In ten years, we won't understand how anyone thought it wasn't a human right.

What do you think? Do you think internet access should be understood as a fundamental human right? Do you think that it's a frivolous distraction at a time when millions of people still don't have access to food, clean water and shelter?

France is a nation that decided earlier this year to give its citizens free one year subscriptions to a newspaper of choice on their 18th birthdays. Ostensibly to bail out the newspaper industry but also to foster a life-long habit of learning. That's pretty neat.

If you're interested in more details about this particular French ruling and can read French, check out our partner blog ReadWriteWeb France. If English is a requirement, Techdirt will no doubt have solid coverage of this and related issues.

Image: "PC bang", Seoul. By Flickr user tawalker

Comment from Sedat Kara on 2011-01-07

2011-01-08T06:15:53Z

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Comment from canlı maç izle on 2011-01-06

2011-01-06T20:01:39Z

I agree with sikiş hikayesi"You should make the anchor tags into absolute links which contain an anchor. To people who are already on your Web page they will still be able to link to the original comment because the absolute link won’t be noticeable"

Comment from Ncdex Tips on 2010-10-25

2010-10-25T08:16:41Z

A fundamental right in that it should be regarded as a medium of free speech and expression. Not a fundamental right that should be provided freely to everyone. If you can't afford to pay your own bill, then it isn't a "right" that you should be afforded. (Unless you go to a public library or some other establishment offering free access.

Comment from Jin on 2010-07-08

2010-07-09T05:14:52Z

Huamn rights should be somehting to do with people's lives.
We cannot live wihtout the water or food but at least I can
live without the access to the internet and it can be pretty hard to do but at some points, we have to learn how to live without them. Because in the near future people will be more dependent on the internet ant other electorinic devices and we won't be able to do any sime thing without them. To prevent those kind of thins happen, we should sometime be away from them and live our daily life.

Comment from yll bala on 2010-05-27

2010-05-27T20:54:07Z

frank Zajic-its his right to post if his post is not right you just say to others so they will know that isnt good post.

about the "Is Internet Access a Fundamental Human Right?" i dont think that interent would need to be a fundametal human right others have tell all thing thet prove this. its just stupid(i think) to make internet a fudametal human right.(sorry for my english)

Comment from frank Zajic on 2010-04-19

2010-04-19T16:58:52Z

Alex Barnett- you are not the sharpest nail are you? look up the human rights of any country, the basic one is "Human right to own property" USA has "Right to water" that is why everywhere their is a water fountain, and almost all water from the sink is ok to drink. If you know nothing about it dont post comments just to feel smart. im 16 =P and clearly i have proven you wrong very quickly without much effort.

Comment from Frank Zajic on 2010-04-19

2010-04-19T16:35:36Z

NO internet is not a human right because if it would be then so is the TV and phone, but is that declared a human right?
Internet does fulfill the role of a tv and phone. What about the companies that provide it. Will they just go bust or will France let you have a life long subscription too?
In this harsh time France can not afford to pay for everyones internet because it does not have the money for it and a human right ought to be free.
Another reason why it is argued for is because people dont need it for news but mainly socializing, free downloads and entertainment. Example? John the man who made the first post on this article has his picture off of facebook. Im sure people look at the news but that is not the main idea.
Compare this human right to others like "Freedom of life" "Freedom to own property" and then all the sudden FREEDOM OF INTERNET which means -freedom to make money (stock market) freedom to movies (illegal movies off of webs) freedom to call (skype). Internet is too big of a idea and therefore it can NOT be a human right

ROBIN- Great idea and totally irrelevant since FRANCE declared not some third world country and since FRANCE declared it only france has it as a human right.

Comment from Sikiş hikayesi on 2010-03-13

2010-03-13T16:08:28Z

You should make the anchor tags into absolute links which contain an anchor. To people who are already on your Web page they will still be able to link to the original comment because the absolute link won’t be noticeable

Comment from Sikiş Hikayeleri on 2010-03-13

2010-03-13T16:05:30Z

I have watched bings back links more than double in the past few days. Although I have not used it all that much I still think google tops them all but I will continue to use bing to give a better opinion

Comment from dekbanrai on 2009-12-04

2009-12-05T05:03:11Z

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Comment from Anonymous on 2009-11-04

2009-11-04T23:59:27Z

>>39
Yea, look at /b/ and tell me that.

Comment from MMo on 2009-07-05

2009-07-05T07:13:35Z

Freedom of speech is a Fundamental human right, but I don't think the internet itself is a human right. it's a privilege.

Comment from Andrew Russell on 2009-06-28

2009-06-29T03:41:43Z

I agree wholeheartedly.
The commenter on disadvantaged countries does point out that human rights are not widespread at the moment.

Also Cory Doctorow is not spelled Corey according to Boing Boing and Craphound.com
Andrew.

Comment from hiphop on 2009-06-27

2009-06-27T20:59:38Z

Will people ever stop pushing version rap numbers on the web!
http://www.hiphopalemi.net/Sohbet.asp

Comment from joe on 2009-06-19

2009-06-19T21:27:47Z

Does anyone care any more that the court did not actually say that internet access was a human right?

Comment from Alex Barnett on 2009-06-12

2009-06-12T19:50:26Z

I am 100% in agreement with Falafulu on this:

"Humans don't have a right to anything and that's an objective philosophical point. For example, there is no right to food ; only the right to work and keep the proceeds with which you may buy food."

The same too with Internet Access.

Comment from Ken Ewell on 2009-06-12

2009-06-12T16:43:41Z

Kostantinos Koukopoulos makes good points in #29 and #30, and it looks as though he has the determinate facts.

Liberty is the fundamental human right.
Access is a choice.

Comment from glensee919 on 2009-06-12

2009-06-12T15:18:06Z

Very interesting. I'm still torn though. On the one side, I think that yeah internet access should be a basic right, but I think we should worry about something else.

casino heists

obama credit card

Comment from Alexandros Georgiadis on 2009-06-12

2009-06-12T10:26:44Z

Ok. I was referring to those who have no access yet due to technical unavailability

Comment from Valentin on 2009-06-12

2009-06-12T10:06:30Z

Obviously people have led and will continue to lead happy lives without the internet - the internet is not required in the same way that food, water or freedom is.

However, in some societies the internet may become irreplaceable for the participation in cultural live, employment and the development of the personality. But then, for that we already have Articles 22, 23 and 27 (http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/):

22: Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

23.1: Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

27.1: Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

So then- Yes and No. There is no case for adding a right to internet access. But for developed societies the internet is already so important that an access right is implied by the current rights.

Comment from Kostantinos Koukopoulos on 2009-06-12

2009-06-12T09:49:57Z

I think the French High Court expressed it clearly that this is a matter of upholding liberty regarding human expression and communication, a right that exists independently of what medium is used. I would hope that the court would, for example, uphold the right to use smoke signals with just the same rationale used against the 3 strikes law in this case.

Comment from Kostantinos Koukopoulos on 2009-06-12

2009-06-12T09:45:42Z

We need to be clear: being deprived of using your internet connection is a clear violation of the fundamental right to free speech, the right choose what, when and how you communicate with other people. But ownership of an internet connection or having a contract with a service provider granting access to an internet connection is not a human right but something that resides completely in the domain of choice.

Comment from Dans on 2009-06-12

2009-06-12T08:22:42Z

education in each country have different systems, but it is important to provide the best education as well

Comment from Melman on 2009-06-11

2009-06-12T05:07:18Z

This is BS. Internet cannot be a human right, if not later everything will be a human right: the telephone, cells, cars, etc...

I agree that everyone should have access to the Internet, but not necessary this needs to be a HR. Libraries in most parts already provide free Internet access to the public, the are many open and free wifi hotspots.

Comment from Ken Ewell on 2009-06-11

2009-06-12T03:32:54Z

I think that besides the disputed political character of France's government, Falafulu Fisi's comment #13 above, has the right and accepted sense of the matter of what qualifies as a fundamental human right.

Don't pretend to give me fundamental rights that I have to pay for or be persistently provided by others. I do not not any such favor. And do not burden my with the hubris of others. As well as their own labor, humans beings also have a right to inquiry and a right to the properties of their own indubitable understanding. One needs no technology to access incorrigible knowledge yet very few people recognize their individual right to these universal resources.

Instead, the more privileged ones glibly rely on their telephone and ISP and some web page in place of something far more trustworthy and reliable: A personal property they can find hiding among the clutter of their own good senses. No modem required. Only the intellect for correctly encoding and decoding their incorrigible knowledge.

Comment from Jeff Shattuck on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T20:47:00Z

Saying is easy, doing is hard. Which is why this ruling is so ludicrous. What constitutes "access"? How much bandwidth is a right? Is it a right but you have to pay cash? Man, these judges should be embarrassed out of office for making such a sloppy, vague meaningless statement.

The only rights we should have are the right to life (meaning living how you want to live as long as you don't physically harm others), liberty (meaning you can vote to change your leadership) and the right to pursue happiness (again, so long as your idea of a good time isn't shooting people in malls).
Oh, and rights that allow you to OWN something, as opposed to GET something are good (we have the right to own property, but not the right to get it).

Jeff
www.cerebellumblues.com

Comment from Brandon Mendelson on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T20:31:32Z

Interesting. If education is, then yes, it would be.

Comment from Fabrice Epelboin on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T20:25:05Z

Good point Robin, but although they are often in a difficult situations, it's amazing to see how the internet, especialy mobile internet, is used in Africa. I've read a couple of post here on this topic.

Putting a mesh wifi network to give internet access in a big city is not that expensive anymore (from an ISP or a poor state point of view, afew millions, no more), so even if this is not going to be a universal right tomorow morning, there's hope.

Still, let's not forget billions of people don't have electricity not drinkable water, and those are way more important than internet access.

Comment from John on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T19:33:29Z

Robin, that's a good point. If no one around you has internet access, you aren't going to miss it as much.

When we talk about internet connections, we have to consider the practical & physical issues. But at some point, unless things go very badly, internet access will be universal & in effect will be an afterthought. You (or you're grandkids) won't notice it until it's gone.

Perhaps until that time we can refer to internet access as a measure of one's standard of living.

Comment from Jean-Michel Decombe on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T19:22:03Z

It is not because billions of people do not have guaranteed Internet access nowadays that it should not be considered a fundamental right. In fact, many people have yet to enjoy some of the most basic fundamental rights that are delineated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/). Eventually, it will become indeed clear that having access to the global brain is a fundamental right, whether it is implemented as it is right now, or in some other form. Note that when you do have a right, you do not have necessarily have to use it.

Comment from Marshall Kirkpatrick on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T19:10:53Z

Thanks for reminding us of that, Robin. Super important perspective for sure.

Comment from Marshall Kirkpatrick on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T19:10:00Z

"Thanks for reminding us of that, Robin. Super important perspective for sure."

Comment from Marshall Kirkpatrick on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T19:10:00Z

"Thanks for reminding us of that, Robin. Super important perspective for sure."

Comment from Robin on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T18:58:31Z

Marshall, all of these technologies require at least a minimally-functioning infrastructure, which many developing nations don't have. Often, the central governments can barely control their capital cities; it's left to the United Nations and other aid agencies to provide for the rural areas, and their resources are severely stretched.

In a more perfect world, yes, it would be wonderful to think of communication technologies as an "essential right". We're a long, long way from that. Many of the villages I've visited don't even have access to chalk and chalkboards so the children can learn to read and write. They don't have access to a bar of soap. They can't harvest their fields without fear of stepping on a landmine.

It's often difficult for us to imagine, but that's how billions on this planet are living.

Comment from Fabrice Epelboin on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T18:49:07Z

"France's Constitutional Council is made up of socialists."

Yeah, sure... Jacques Chirac (former president, Rep.), Valery Giscard d'Estain (former president, Rep.), Bernard Debrey (former president of the Nationa Assembly, Rep.), and so on... This court is in no way socialist, sorry.

Comment from theishu on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T18:27:09Z

I agree with Robin's take on this. Did the French system make a mistake by over-emphasizing its ruling with unnecessarily far-reaching implications?

Digressing from the subject for a moment, I like the fact that some of the RWW writers cover most of the angles on an issue in the articles instead of leaving it to the readers to point them out and kick up dust. Good job, aar-dub-dub! :)

Comment from Fabrice Epelboin on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T18:23:54Z

Hey Marshall

I knew you would be the first one to talk about that here!!!

Thanks a million. Ping me if you want some additional info :)

Comment from Falafulu Fisi on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T17:44:35Z

High Court ruled:
access to the internet is a fundamental human right...

France's Constitutional Council is made up of socialists. Those who believe in socialism advocate that what one owns (property rights) is not his/hers but others can have a say in it simply because of the misguided belief by socialists that it is for the greater good of the country/community.

Humans don't have a right to anything and that's an objective philosophical point. For example, there is no right to food ; only the right to work and keep the proceeds with which you may buy food. So to get access to the internet, one needs some sort of device (computer or mobile device for instance) in order to do that. Does a person have a right to such device? Nope! The person (consumer) may choose to buy such device or not. He can't demand that the society give him/her one, since the device needed to get access to the internet in the first place is (private) property of the producer (seller/business owner) of that product.

So, the definition of rights as defined by Objective Philosophy (as summarised by Philosopher John Locke & others) that :

Every man has a property in his own person: this no body has any right to but himself. The labour of his body, and the work of his hands...

This means that no one has a right to anything except the labor of his body and the workds of his hands.

For anyone to believe in France's Constitutional Council, it follows (or implied) that such person has a right for a tourism space flights. These services, tourism space flights costs something like millions to be taken to space and then back to earth, these days. This is why France's Constitutional Council is wrong in that ruling.

Comment from Don on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T17:44:30Z

This is getting to the end of the road on liberalism.... they just need to lock up the finance/health/major manufacturing and education and then they have us under their control whether we know it or not.

Comment from Alexandros Georgiadis on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T17:39:16Z

Absolutely! While non-access can't be a human rights violation yet, it's a good step towards education, information & participation

Comment from Marshall Kirkpatrick on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T17:36:45Z

Robin, would we then conclude that access to an SMS enabled mobile phone was an essential right?

Comment from Marshall Kirkpatrick on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T17:36:00Z

"Robin, would we then conclude that access to an SMS enabled mobile phone was an essential right?"

Comment from Robin on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T17:33:28Z

Perhaps it would be a good idea if we all turned off our computers and spent some time in a rural village in an developing nation, which is where about half the world's population live.

I think that we would quickly recognize the absurdity of calling internet access a "fundamental human right".

Comment from Trato on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T17:31:18Z

It's a little bit like running water or electric power. It may be not a "fundamental right" : you can have water at the fountain, you can use candle, but still, it's difficult without it. Even if you don't pay your bill, electric supply won't be cut off without an advance warning.

Comment from Chris on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T17:19:43Z

Individual A does not have a "right" to the labor of Individual B.

Under such a circumstance, Individual B is a slave.

Since Internet access is not superabundant (like air) and must be provided by the labor of others, you cannot have a "right" to it.

The only "rights" you have are:

a) the right to "trade" for Internet access
b) the right to receive it as a "gift"...provided that the gift was voluntarily given.

Comment from Panayotis Vryonis on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T17:16:44Z

Yes. Like education, the right to participate in democratic countries, and the right to freely express one's opinion. It's the same thing actually.

Comment from Michael_techie on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T17:00:46Z

Yep, its must for every netizens

Comment from Courtenay Bird on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T17:00:05Z

While I don't think internet access is currently a fundamental human right, I would definitely agree that in the near future it will be. This is especially true as land lines continue to decrease and more importance is placed on the functionality of mobile devices (even over laptops).

A few weeks ago I participated in the Computing at the Margins Symposium, held at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Several of the panelists and projects closely relate to what you discuss in this article. Check them out: http://www.computing-margins.org/agenda/

Comment from Marshall Kirkpatrick on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T16:56:37Z

John, I agree.

Comment from John on 2009-06-11

2009-06-11T16:52:08Z

An internet connection is in many ways a requirement to be a fully informed & functioning member of a group; not having a connection is akin to being denied equal access - of essentially being exiled from the tribe.