Internet Access Is a Human Right, Says United Nations. Is Internet access and online freedom of expression a basic human right? The United Nations' Human Rights Council unanimously backed that notion in a resolution on Thursday. The resolution says that all people should be allowed to connect to and express themselves freely on the Internet. All 47 members of the Human Rights Council, including notoriously censorship-prone countries such as China and Cuba, signed the resolution. China's support for the resolution came with the stipulation that the "free flow of information on the Internet and the safe flow of information on the Internet are mutually dependent," as Chinese delegate Xia Jingge told the Council in a sign that the country isn't about to tear down the so-called "Great Firewall of China.
" The concept was first affirmed by a U.N. agency, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), in 2003. The Human Rights Council is a United Nations body that monitors human rights progress and violations across all member countries. Plenary panel. Déclaration des droits fondamentaux numériques. Le mardi 23 juin 2009, M. Hervé Morin, président du Nouveau Centre, a présenté lors d’une conférence de presse à la Fondation pour l’innovation politique la Déclaration des droits fondamentaux numériques.Cette déclaration, reproduite ci-dessous, est accompagnée d’un commentaire explicatif : document complet à télécharger librement. Participez au débat sur www.droits-numeriques.org Le lundi 29 juin, de 17h30 à 19h30, la Fondation pour l’innovation politique organise une table ronde intitulée « Vers une déclaration des droits fondamentaux numériques » pour alimenter ce débat.Cliquez ici pour accéder à l’invitation. Préambule La révolution numérique ouvre des opportunités sans précédent au service de la libre communication des pensées et des opinions, du progrès, de la connaissance, de la diversité culturelle et linguistique, du développement économique et social, de la réduction des inégalités et de l’épanouissement personnel et professionnel.
Article 1erRéseau Internet. Access to the Internet and Human Rights - thanks Vint! By Joy Liddicoat for APC WELLINGTON, New Zealand, 16 January 2012 13 January 2012 Dear Vint, Thanks for the best possible start to 2012 for internet rights advocates. Your New York Times article Internet Access is Not a Human Right sparked a lively debate about the internet, access and human rights. Much of the discussion following your article has been about definitions: What is a human right? Conversation on various lists turned to the advantages and disadvantages of access to the internet as a human right, the various implications (did this mean internet access should be free?) Cross-regional discussion also followed: What do each of these rights and concepts mean in different countries and regions?
Perhaps the discussions reveal more of what we do not know about human rights and their application to the internet. At the Internet Governance Forum in Nairobi last year, APC held a pre-event on access to the internet. Let’s keep this important debate going throughout this year and beyond. Is Internet Access A Human Right? An internet cafe in Istanbul. (UGUR CAN/AFP/Getty Images) A curious op ed appeared in The New York Times recently, titled “Internet Access is Not a Human Right.” In this piece—which I read as I do most news and media, via my computer—Vinton Cerf, a “father” of the Internet, makes an argument that despite the critical role of Information Communication Technologies (the internet) in the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, access to the Internet is not a human right. I should note that his right to express himself so is enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to… seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
The curious bit of his piece though, isn’t the claim that Internet Access is not a human right, but rather the exceptionally narrow portrayal of human rights from a legal and philosophical perspective. Smith & Ors, R. v (Rev 1) [2011] EWCA Crim 1772 (19 July 2011) Internet access IS a human right. Technology and philosophy have been at the center of more debates lately than ever before.
It’s clear that technology is advancing faster than anyone would have imagined a decade ago, while an argument could be made that the philosophies that brought the world this far are starting to regress to less-civilized times. In the question of whether or not internet access is a human right or simply a privilege, technology and philosophy collide dramatically. The arguments that Vinton G.
Cerf, Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist and a prominent computer scientist recognized as a “father of the Internet,” makes in his article titled “Internet Access Is Not a Human Right” are quite compelling. He states that “technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself.” It’s a “gotcha” statement that sidesteps the perception of those fighting for more internet rights based upon the tremendous role the web played in uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.
I disagree. Inforrm's Blog. In this feature we revisit older posts which remain of current interest. In this updated post from May 2010 we consider the “human right to internet access”. At an early stage of the street protests the Egyptian government cut off almost all Internet and cell service. It has been suggested that young activists in in Egypt, in Tunisia and elsewhere in the Middle East, have used these electronic tools to organize protests. This has led a number of commentators to revisit the question as to whether the right to access the Internet and other electronic media is becoming a new human right. This is, unsurprisingly, not a right which appears in any “human rights convention” or constitution. The Conseil was considering French legislation which allowed the Committee for the Protection of Copyright to cut off internet access to those who continued to download copyright material illicitly after two warnings. “The internet is only a means of communication.
“This is a serious sanction. Like this: UK Human Rights Blog. A recent United Nations Human Rights Council report examined the important question of whether internet access is a human right. Whilst the Special Rapporteur’s conclusions are nuanced in respect of blocking sites or providing limited access, he is clear that restricting access completely will always be a breach of article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the right to freedom of expression. But not everyone agrees with the United Nations’ conclusion. Vinton Cerf, a so-called “father of the internet” and a Vice-President at Google, argued in a New York Times editorial that internet access is not a human right: The best way to characterize human rights is to identify the outcomes that we are trying to ensure. Cerf does concede that internet access may be a civil right, defined as a right which is “conferred upon us by law” (arguably a definition which does not apply to the UK where the European Convention on Human Rights has been incorporated in to our law).
The Internet IS a (Human) RIght... It isn’t often that I find myself disagreeing with something that Vint Cerf, one of the ‘fathers of the internet’ has said, but when I read his much publicised Op Ed piece in the New York Times, I did. First of all, and perhaps most importantly, I didn’t like the headline, which stated baldly and boldly that ‘Internet Access is not a Human Right’. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with that statement, the piece said a great deal more than that – indeed, the main thrust of the argument was about the importance of the internet, and of internet access, to human rights. Many people will have just read the headline – or even read the many tweets which stated just that headline and a link – and drawn conclusions very different to those which Cerf might like. The headline, of course, may well have been the choice of the editorial team and the New York Times, rather than Cerf himself, but either he was OK with it or he allowed himself to be led in a particular direction.
Pour Vinton Cerf, père d'Internet, sa création n'est pas un droit. Is Internet access a fundamental human right? Should Internet access be seen as a fundamental human right, in the same category as the right to free speech or clean drinking water? The United Nations says it should, but in a New York Times op-ed, one of the fathers of the Internet argues it shouldn’t.
Vint Cerf is the co-creator of the TCP/IP standard the global computer network is built on, so when he says something about the impact of the Internet, it’s probably worth paying attention to. But is he right? And what are the implications if he’s wrong? Cerf’s position is somewhat surprising because, as even he acknowledges in his piece for the NYT, the events of the “Arab Spring” in 2011 reinforced just how powerful internet access can be when it comes to enabling dissidents in places like Egypt and Tunisia to co-ordinate their efforts and bring down authoritarian governments — despite attempts by dictators in those countries to shut down their access. Cerf: Access is not a right, but it enables other rights. Internet Access Is Not a Human Right. UN report declares internet access a human right. A United Nations report said on Friday that disconnecting people from the internet is a human rights violation and against international law.
The report railed against France and the United Kingdom, which have passed laws to remove accused copyright scofflaws from the internet. It also protested blocking internet access to quell political unrest. While blocking and filtering measures deny users access to specific content on the internet, states have also taken measures to cut off access to the internet entirely. The Special Rapporteur considers cutting off users from internet access, regardless of the justification provided, including on the grounds of violating intellectual property rights law, to be disproportionate and thus a violation of article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The report continues: Source: Wired.com. Vint Cerf: 'The internet is not a human right' 10 Ways to Build a Better Big Data Security Strategy Vint Cerf is warning that people who insist that the internet is some sort of human or civil right are missing the point. In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, Cerf – regarded by many as one of the fathers of the internet for his role in creating TCP/IP – explained that technology isn’t a human right in itself, but merely an enabler for more concrete things such as communication. He criticized the UN and others for taking the position that broadband communications is a human right, saying that we should instead focus on more fundamental problems.
“Technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself,” he writes. It might be argued that internet access was a civil right, since it is something that people look to governments to provide as a matter of course. “Improving the Internet is just one means, albeit an important one, by which to improve the human condition. 10 Ways to Build a Better Big Data Security Strategy. Internet Access Is Not a Human Right. Vint Cerf: Internet access is not a human right. One of the fathers of the internet, Vinton Cerf, widely known for creating the TCP/IP protocol took the opportunity in a recent NYT article to dismiss the idea that the internet is a civil or human right, saying that some people are missing the point entirely. He argues that use of the internet is not a human right, but is merely a method of communication, and entities such as the United Nations should be concentrating on more fundamental worldwide problems and not on making broadband communications a human right.
"Technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself," he writes. "There is a high bar for something to be considered a human right. Loosely put, it must be among the things we as humans need in order to lead healthy, meaningful lives, like freedom from torture or freedom of conscience. It is a mistake to place any particular technology in this exalted category, since over time we will end up valuing the wrong things. " Vint Cerf: Internet access isn't a human right | The Digital Home. Although some countries around the world argue that Internet access is a fundamental right , one of the "fathers of the Internet," Vint Cerf, doesn't see it that way. "Technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself," Cerf, who is also a Google's chief Internet evangelist, wrote yesterday in an editorial in The New York Times.
"There is a high bar for something to be considered a human right. Loosely put, it must be among the things we as humans need in order to lead healthy, meaningful lives, like freedom from torture or freedom of conscience. It is a mistake to place any particular technology in this exalted category, since over time we will end up valuing the wrong things. " But not everyone is so quick to agree. The same year, the European Union's European Commission Vice President Viviane Reding wrote to the European Parliament, saying that Internet access is no different than other basic freedoms we value. But perhaps Reding and those who agree with her are missing the point. United Nations report: Internet access is a human right.
Internet access is a human right, according to a United Nations report released on Friday. "Given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress, ensuring universal access to the Internet should be a priority for all states," said the report from Frank La Rue, a special rapporteur to the United Nations, who wrote the document "on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
" La Rue said in his report that access to the Internet is particularly important during times of political unrest, as demonstrated by the recent "Arab Spring" uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, among other countries. From the report: DOCUMENT: Read the United Nations report La Rue also urges governments to eschew laws that allow for people's access to the Internet to be blocked. Israeli newborn named 'Like' in tribute to Facebook -- Nathan Olivarez-Giles.