United Nations declares Internet access 'a human right'

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
6/8/2011
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Free Internet 'an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights'

The Internet is an awfully important thing to have in the 21st century. It is so important that the United Nations has declared free and uninterrupted Internet access as a basic human right, "an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress."

The report highlights the impact of online collaboration in the Arab Spring and says that 'facilitating access to the Internet for all individuals, with as little restriction to online content as possible, should be a priority for all States.'

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Presented to the General Assembly last week, U.N. Secretary General, Frank La Rue report comes as the capstone of a year's worth of meetings held between La Rue and local human rights organizations around the world, from Cairo to Bangkok.

The report highlights the impact of online collaboration in the Arab Spring and says that "facilitating access to the Internet for all individuals, with as little restriction to online content as possible, should be a priority for all States."

The U.N. report overwhelmingly supports the Internet as a communication platform, a boon to all democratic societies, but it also warns how the Internet's unique architecture threatens power brokers in repressed, authoritarian states.

The Internet is rooted in unique characteristics, such as its speed, worldwide reach and relative anonymity. At the same time, these distinctive features of the Internet that enable individuals to disseminate information in "real time" and to mobilize people has also created fear amongst Governments and the powerful.

This has led to higher restrictions on the Internet through the use of increasingly sophisticated technologies to block content, monitor and identify activists and critics, criminalization of legitimate expression and adoption of restrictive legislation to justify such measures.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation says that the U.N.'s support for anonymous expression and the protection it affords should inform how governments regulate security and surveillance. Forms of online surveillance, be it Facebook's privacy policy or the United States government's expanding treason law to document leaks, "often [take] place for political, rather than security reasons in an arbitrary and covert manner," La Rue argues. In short, broad surveillance powers or the erosion of privacy online endanger anonymity's ability to protect dissenters and journalists alike when they speak out.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Internet, inequality, Arab spring, whistle blowers

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1 - 5 of 5 Comments

WD
2 years ago

Absurd. The problem with people now a days is they believe they have a right to everything.
Robert Burford
2 years ago
We can not protect the rights of a fetus. We use capital punishment. Now how can we support as a right access to the internet. The United Nations may have an objective for internet access but realistically it is a goal just like healthcare or stopping domestic violence.
Sarah
2 years ago
This story has gotten a little exaggerated. Richard Bennett does a good job parsing what was actually said and who actually said it, re the Internet and human rights.

http://www.hightechforum.org/the-un-did-not-declare-an-internet-right/
Sandy
2 years ago
How can the UN say that the INTERNET is a right when they don't even defent the basic right to property ownership. They don't even defend the basic RIGHT TO LIFE for the unborn!
Theresa
2 years ago
This is very complicated: freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and freedom to do as we please, whenever we please, where-ever we please--it all "sounds" so good: "freedom" of technology! But what is "freedom?" We are indeed "free," but we don't have the "right" to do what is wrong! We may be "free" to do it, but we don't have the "right" to do it. How does government balance this... to protect it's people from "oppression" of various sorts, such as we have never seen before because of this, comparatively, new "technology?" I certainly don't have the answers, but Bl. Pope John Paul II wrote of the good technology can do and the harm it can do....Pope Benedict also has written of the same in several of his books, etc, So I have a bit of "fear" of this newfound "freedom" right!

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