On Thu, January 5, 2012 11:37 am, Zaid Ali wrote:
If I wrote a blog article that criticized the government and it was shutdown along with my Internet access I wouldn't say that my right to the Internet was violated. I would say that my right to free speech was violated. Regardless of one way or two way communication it is communication.
The Internet is quickly becoming more than just a medium for speech. It is access to services, education, markets, and tools of analysis, among *many* others. Many of the specifics are covered under other rights, so the question is does the whole become more than the parts, and is *that* a right? I'm with the 'probably not quite yet, but soon' group. I don't think it will be long before it is impossible to participate in modern society in any meaningful way without access to the Internet. Vint does have one other point: the tool is not the whole of the thing. What we currently call 'the Internet' could be replaced by a different network, if someone were to invent something that was a good enough replacement. But at this point, I think *that* network would be called 'the Internet' then, and we don't *have* a separate name for the tool from what it does. (With the possible exception of some terms in cyberpunk novels...) Daniel T. Staal --------------------------------------------------------------- This email copyright the author. Unless otherwise noted, you are expressly allowed to retransmit, quote, or otherwise use the contents for non-commercial purposes. This copyright will expire 5 years after the author's death, or in 30 years, whichever is longer, unless such a period is in excess of local copyright law. ---------------------------------------------------------------