I don't know if he is saying that everyone should get internet access for free so much as they should not be restricted from internet access.
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Has internet access become a human right?
- Thread starter MakiSupaStar
- Start date
I don't know if he is saying that everyone should get internet access for free so much as they should not be restricted from internet access.
I can't quite tell if this is biting sarcasm or condescension but it's looking a lot like the latter.You might want to rethink how you approach people. Try to be less of a douchebag and maybe people will find it easier to see your point of view. Drop the Oprah complex.
anymajordude said:
What are you so angry about? Jeesh. We're just trying to think some stuff out. You can disagree with me without being so angry, I'm not even going to take the bait with your 'brainwashed' comment. You've obviously 'seen the light' and we're very impressed over here.
What are you so angry about? Jeesh. We're just trying to think some stuff out. You can disagree with me without being so angry, I'm not even going to take the bait with your 'brainwashed' comment. You've obviously 'seen the light' and we're very impressed over here.
Maybe that chap's actually an Asian chick you offended with your comments here :scowl:
You may think you've peeled away a few more layers of the onion than most folks have. If though you feel the need to assert the superiority you suppose has come with your new "enlightenment" you need to keep peeling.
Best of luck.
That is pretty much my take on it.
Not a right to have the net, but the information should be free of censorship.
This next bit isn't directed at you per say.
Lets just say the U.S.A. does consider the ability to have the net a right, who are we to tell other countries that they too have to make it a right or that they cannot censor what information it allows their country to view? What ever happened to this thing called sovereignty?
I was offered a job as a stand-in for a donkey once. Because of my natural modesty I declined.
i never really felt comfortable discussing what should and shouldnt be, or is and isnt a "human right." I'm sitting here in america, in my comfy chair, in my own home, with my flat screen with surround sound going discussing whether (x) person in (y) country should have internet, when for a great majority of the world they'd be ecstatic to get some clean water
So how would you define rights, then? If government doesn't grant you rights, then what organization would actually be qualified to do that?
Or should we just say rights don't exist then? Because if anybody was to grant you rights, it would automatically imply that they have the power to take them away
There is no government that grants you human rights. We erect them in order to preserve an environment that supports them. At least in concept (not looking to get into a political argument about the specifics and or whether we have more or less rights -- that's another thread). But our government provides us certain services and access to information as part of our government infrastructure.
Those of you arguing about how you pay for it, so it's not a right, I think what we pay for is the actual convenience to have the internet in our homes, just like we pay for the convenience of having television in our homes, or a newspaper delivered to our homes, or ownership of books (as opposed to checking out via the library). But the government (here in the US) provides access to the internet in its libraries and other public locations. This also doesn't imply that it's something they give us, but rather that it's something that we as a people agree that it's important enough that we spend our tax dollars on providing access. As do other governments of the what is perceived as the 'free world'. I think the governments of the world have a taken a more supportive role in providing points of access and maintaining to a certain level the infrastructure involved to support it, which has led me to believe that access to the internet, or uncensored information is evolving to become an inalienable right (even if there are people that are living in poverty with out running water, or electricity, and other basic provisions).
I would say yes. Considering how many services depend on it currently and considering how important the internet will play in the future. I also am encouraged by the cities that are creating free WiFi hot spots. I think Philadelphia is one of those cities.
...and in a public library, yelling, "I know my rights. I KNOW MY RIGHTS!!!!! Ohhhhh ohhhhhhhh oHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Excuse me if I'm missing the point, but if what you've stated is the case, then I would say that internet access in itself has not become a right, though, ideally, access to information sans censor should be a right. You could, probably say that there is scope for the internet to become a right in your country. This is because you can
due to the obvious financial strength of countries such as yours. I see (and agree to) your point that the implementation of rights requires an active agreement amongst the masses to spend their money on it.
Yet, as you rightly point out in the last line of your post, it's way down on the priority list for the rest of the world, even a large part of the free world, as it were, to spend money on internet access when basic amenities are not available to the people. I've got to ask this: is there right to education in the US? In India, we're having a terribly tough time even thinking of implementing it. Even when, it's an absolutely basic right. That said, there is a right to information in place in India, which, IMO, is a great step forward for society in general, if it can be implemented.
So in the end, I guess I more or less agree with you in that information should be available to everyone. Yet, implementing internet access as a human right is a massive challenge.
Ahead lies a tangent.
What good is the internet if you're illiterate? Or don't have power? No computer? We already have access to some of the world's most incredible libraries, but if you don't have the time or inclination to use the resource, its not going to help you in the slightest.
The right to education is also a seriously contested subject here in the United States. What does that entail? Who does the educating? Is some education more valuable than others?
In fact, if I may be so bold, there are no nations that have ever existed that seriously address human rights before the citizenry demanded a change. Nations seek to encourage the rights that most benefit the whole state, and stifle those that may upset the status quo.
What good is the internet if you're illiterate? Or don't have power? No computer? We already have access to some of the world's most incredible libraries, but if you don't have the time or inclination to use the resource, its not going to help you in the slightest.
The right to education is also a seriously contested subject here in the United States. What does that entail? Who does the educating? Is some education more valuable than others?
In fact, if I may be so bold, there are no nations that have ever existed that seriously address human rights before the citizenry demanded a change. Nations seek to encourage the rights that most benefit the whole state, and stifle those that may upset the status quo.
Rights are social constructions (as many of the posters had been alluding to without explicitly stating that). Now the question, "Should Internet be a right?" is a different matter. I agree with the previous poster who said that, while access to the Internet in and of itself may not have to be a right, by extension of freedom to acquire information, it should be. Then, of course, we get into some murky territory, such as Wikileaks.
Oprah Complex...I'm so going to add that to my normal, everyday lexicon.
Oprah Complex...I'm so going to add that to my normal, everyday lexicon.
