Friday, June 12, 2009

Internet Access is a Human Right

ReadWriteWeb posted yesterday on the decision of the French Constitutional Council -- their High Court -- to declare Internet access a 'fundamental human right'.
Says RWW:
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.

Exactly.

The discussion of Internet access 'rights' came up here on TeachPaperless back in March with regards to the allocation of Stimulus funds for educational technology. I stand by my post from back then:
I don't want 'nice proposals for challenge grants'. I want access for all. Internet access as a civil right. Now.

Exactly.

2 comments:

  1. Internet Access is the means of access. The fundamental human right is access to information or the right to know. The original hacker ethic is the human right...all information is free--the hands on imperative...status is determined by what you know not who you are....see Steven Levy's Hackers chapter two....outstanding discussion

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  2. A quotation from Ivan Illich says much about this topic.

    "A good educational system should have three purposes: it should provide all who want to learn with access to available resources at any time in their lives; empower all who want to share what they know to find those who want to learn it from them; and finally, furnish all who want to present an issue to the public with the opportunity to make their challenge known. Such a system would require the application of constitutional guarantees to education. Learners should not be forced to submit to an obligatory curriculum, or to discrimination based on whether they possess a certificate or a diploma. Nor should the public be forced to support, through regressive taxation, a huge professional apparatus of educators and buildings which in fact restricts the public's chances for learning to the services the profession is willing to put on the market. It should use modern technology to make free speech, free assembly, and a free press truly universal and, therefore, fully educational"
    -Ivan Illich De-Schooling Society

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