Re: Whacky Weekend: Is Internet Access a Human Right?

On 5 January 2012 15:22, Jay Ashworth <jra@baylink.com> wrote:

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.

There is a subtlety here too - when we grant a monopoly (e.g. to operate a physical loop or in licensing spectrum) in return we often place a "universal service obligation" on the operator in order they don't abuse their monoply by not providing service to "less profitable" customers. This isn't the same as a "right" to a phone. Aled