10.Mar.2010 Give Us Free, Part II

The BBC reports that using the Internets is now a human right, just as Voltaire and Rousseau intended. This global study of 27,000 adults in 26 countries found universal support for the idea that access to the Internet was a human right of vital significance to human enlightenment:

Most of those questioned also said that they believed the web had a positive impact, with nearly four in five saying it had brought them greater freedom.

However, many web users also expressed concerns. The dangers of fraud, the ease of access to violent and explicit content and worries over privacy were the most concerning aspects for those questioned.

I’m all for the expansion of human rights and pro-Internet, but it seems strange that as a cooperative, social species, we’d leap to the inclusion of access to the Internet when many other rights seem contentious: free speech, the right to marry, medicine. If all this enlightenment is taking place, shouldn’t we see some action on these other rights?