It's an interesting question. Most think of the Internet in the context of entertainment and productivity. I would ask that those who do remove themselves from the US (or any other prosperous nation) and think about Internet access in nations that are oppressed or depressed. 1. The Internet allows people to communicate (important in environments where the people are victims of oppression). 2. The Internet allows people to learn (if education is a human right, it's not a giant leap to say the Internet is how you deliver it). North Korea, at least, would be a very different nation with universal Internet access. I think a lot of smaller nations as well. There has never been a greater exporter for American ideals of freedom and democracy than the Internet. On the whole I think it has become something people shouldn't be denied access to. Is "boradband" a human right? I don't know the answer to that. But some level of access to the Internet (even if it's slow) is something that would make the world a better place if everyone had access. As we think about freedom and how our laws affect the Internet (SOPA, PROTECT IP, etc) this is something we should also keep in mind. On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 10:22 AM, Jay Ashworth <jra@baylink.com> wrote:
Vint Cerf says no: http://j.mp/wwL9Ip
But I wonder to what degree that's dependent on how much our governments make Internet access the most practical/only practical way to interact with them.
Understand: I'm not saying that FiOS should be a human right. But as a society, America's recognized for decades that you gotta have a telephone, and subsidized local/lifeline service to that extent; that sort of subsidy applies to cellular phones now as well.
Thoughts?
Cheers, -- jr 'yes, I know I'm early...' a -- Jay R. Ashworth Baylink jra@baylink.com Designer The Things I Think RFC 2100 Ashworth & Associates http://baylink.pitas.com 2000 Land Rover DII St Petersburg FL USA http://photo.imageinc.us +1 727 647 1274
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