Free internet access should be made a human right – study
4 months, 1 week ago

Free internet access should be made a human right – study

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Free internet access should be a human right as a world without it is now “unthinkable” because so much of daily life depends on it, a study has suggested. This limits the ability of those who remain offline to fully enjoy other human rights that being online helps to facilitate, so states must provide citizens with the tools they need to get online Dr Merten Reglitz, Birmingham University “We need it for our jobs, to maintain relationships, learn, access services, and to express ourselves – it is one of the most important parts of modern living. “A new human right would need to address this so that people would have a right to be protected from hostile actors online.” In the book, entitled Free Internet Access As A Human Right, Dr Reglitz has called on governments around the world to invest in digital services, broadband infrastructure and basic digital skills to help everyone meet the basic requirements for getting online. “These requirements might not be affordable for poorer countries, but a series of minimum core obligations would help them work towards free internet access as a human right.” He said these obligations should include a national broadband plan, networks to connect public venues to the internet and working with international organisations to gain access to the funding needed to deliver free and fair internet.

World Internet Right Free Human Indytech Internet Access Free Internet Access Digital Access  right  digital  access  internet  rights  sign  free  study  reglitz  world  human

History of this topic

World without internet ‘unthinkable’ as access labeled human right
4 months, 1 week ago

World without internet ‘unthinkable’ as access labeled human right

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. It sets out a draft article declaring internet access a human right, saying everyone should be able …

Government clears consideration of private member's bill on free internet
8 months, 1 week ago

Government clears consideration of private member's bill on free internet

New Indian Express  

NEW DELHI: The government has cleared the consideration of a private member's bill that seeks to grant every citizen the right to free internet access while ensuring equal access to people from backward and remote regions of the country. The Bill states that every citizen shall have the right to free internet access and the appropriate government shall, while ensuring …

When the stares align: Kashyap Kompella on why we care so little about data privacy
1 year, 4 months ago

When the stares align: Kashyap Kompella on why we care so little about data privacy

Hindustan Times  

The right to privacy is really the right to be left alone, and it includes digital privacy. Digital privacy is about having the ability to control one’s online information, including withholding all such information from others. For example, the European Union enacted a set of information privacy laws called the General Data Protection Regulation, but Big Tech firms have just …

Global Net freedom on the decline; India’s censorship regime creating uneven playing field: Freedom House report
1 year, 5 months ago

Global Net freedom on the decline; India’s censorship regime creating uneven playing field: Freedom House report

The Hindu  

According to a new report by Freedom House, a Washington DC-based non-profit, global Internet freedom has declined for the 13th consecutive year. The report, titled ‘Freedom on the Net 2023: The Repressive Power of Artificial Intelligence’, has raised a red flag on the increasing use of artificial intelligence by governments for censorship and spread of disinformation. Detailing AI-enabled digital repression …

Over the top: The Hindu Editorial on privacy and regulation of digital apps
2 years, 6 months ago

Over the top: The Hindu Editorial on privacy and regulation of digital apps

The Hindu  

The draft telecommunication Bill, put out last week for public comments, hints at a disturbing governmental pursuit, for more control over a range of digital applications and over-the-top streaming services that millions of Indians use daily. The new definition includes everything from broadcasting services to electronic mail, from voice mail to voice, video and data communication services, from Internet and …

India, China, Russia Missing from 'Future of the Internet' Pledge Inked by US, EU, UK And 32 Other Nations
2 years, 11 months ago

India, China, Russia Missing from 'Future of the Internet' Pledge Inked by US, EU, UK And 32 Other Nations

News 18  

The White House announced on April 28 that the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and 32 other countries have accepted an agreement, the “Declaration for the Future of the Internet”, but India, China, and Russia are notable exclusions. “Partners in this Declaration invite other partners who share this vision to join us in working together, with civil …

World Data Privacy Day Gets Something Very Wrong
3 years, 2 months ago

World Data Privacy Day Gets Something Very Wrong

Slate  

Taking part in the digital economy comes with a basic demand: expose yourself. Each year on January 28, civil libertarians honor World Data Privacy Day to call attention to this dire state of affairs. As one international data protection group states, “the objective of this day is to sensitize individuals and disseminate privacy practices and principles. It encourages everyone to …

Why internet access has become a human right
3 years, 3 months ago

Why internet access has become a human right

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. But when some people gained internet access, their opportunities to exercise political rights became much …

Internet Safety Is the New Internet Freedom
3 years, 4 months ago

Internet Safety Is the New Internet Freedom

Slate  

This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech. Fighting misinformation and extremist content, seeking to expose child abusers who use internet services—all of these issues easily fall under …

Second Opinion: How governments are coming for Big Tech
3 years, 5 months ago

Second Opinion: How governments are coming for Big Tech

LA Times  

Demonstrators protesting the military takeover of Myanmar flash the three-fingered symbol of resistance in Yangon, Myanmar, on April 4. Electoral disputes have led officials to shut off internet service, censor social media platforms and digital news outlets, and physically assault internet users. Set against the backdrop of an 11-year decline in global internet freedom and a 15-year decline in overall …

Pakistan’s new regulations aim to ‘silence the internet’
4 years, 4 months ago

Pakistan’s new regulations aim to ‘silence the internet’

Al Jazeera  

Increasingly in recent years, internet laws have been used to target journalists and rights activists who express dissent against the government. “They want to turn the internet into another PTV.” Amin-ul-Haque, Pakistan’s information technology minister, said the government supported freedom of speech, but would not tolerate certain forms of content. “Typically, consultations require drafts being circulated for public input, white …

Opinion | Human rights caught in the fake news storm
5 years, 1 month ago

Opinion | Human rights caught in the fake news storm

Live Mint  

Can phrases such as “IT cell” and “fake news” morph into issues related to human rights and the intersection of business and human rights? It’s heartening to see UK-based Institute for Human Rights and Business flag “Harnessing collective power to combat lies and propaganda online” as that watchdog’s key agenda for 2020. Equally, IHRB posits that “the troubling spread of …

Access to internet is a fundamental right, says Supreme Court
5 years, 2 months ago

Access to internet is a fundamental right, says Supreme Court

Hindustan Times  

Access to the internet is a fundamental right by extension, according to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Kashmir restrictions petitions, which also pulled up the government up for the telecommunications blackout in Jammu & Kashmir that, the judges said in their order on Friday, cannot go on indefinitely. The Supreme Court has directed the Jammu & Kashmir government to …

Guarantee Internet rights
5 years, 3 months ago

Guarantee Internet rights

The Hindu  

The Software Freedom Law Centre data says there have been more than a 100 Internet shutdowns in different parts of India in 2019 alone. Lifeline for people It is time that we recognise the right to Internet access as a fundamental right. Puttaswamy judgment, a right that is located through all our fundamental rights and freedoms — the right to …

No Proposal To Make Internet A Fundamental Right, Says Central Govt.
5 years, 3 months ago

No Proposal To Make Internet A Fundamental Right, Says Central Govt.

Live Law  

The Central Government, while answering a query in Lok Sabha, said that there is no proposal to make facility like internet a fundamental right. Replying to another question, the Minister said that as per the worldwide country rankings of internet connectivity speed, India is ranked 74th out of 207 countries in 2019. In a landmark judgment, the High Court of …

Free internet access should be declared a human right despite who pays the bill
5 years, 4 months ago

Free internet access should be declared a human right despite who pays the bill

Firstpost  

The UK Labour Party is promising to provide free broadband internet to every British household by 2030 if it wins the 2019 election. But when some people gained internet access, their opportunities to exercise political rights became much greater compared to those without the internet. This means internet access is required for people to have roughly equal opportunities to make …

'Right To Access Internet Is Part Of Right To Privacy And Right To Education' : Kerala HC [Read Judgment]
5 years, 6 months ago

'Right To Access Internet Is Part Of Right To Privacy And Right To Education' : Kerala HC [Read Judgment]

Live Law  

In a landmark judgment, the High Court of Kerala on Thursday declared that right to access internet is a fundamental right forming part of right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. "When the Human Rights Council of the United Nations have found that right to access to Internet is a fundamental freedom and a tool to …

Governments are rushing to regulate the internet. Users could end up paying the price
5 years, 11 months ago

Governments are rushing to regulate the internet. Users could end up paying the price

CNN  

Editor’s Note: James Griffiths is a Senior Producer for CNN International and author of “The Great Firewall of China: How to Build and Control an Alternative Version of the Internet.” CNN — In early 1996, John Perry Barlow – founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and one-time member of the Grateful Dead – declared the internet to be independent of …

A Threat to Our Fundamental Rights: Tharoor on Internet Shutdowns
6 years, 3 months ago

A Threat to Our Fundamental Rights: Tharoor on Internet Shutdowns

The Quint  

On the broader issue of internet governance and policy, you had advanced your version of a data protection bill. Do you see issued of technology and the internet evolving into an election or a mass political issue in a country like ours? The issues of technology and the internet must evolve into an election issue. The development of technology and …

2017 Was a Terrible Year for Internet Freedom
7 years, 3 months ago

2017 Was a Terrible Year for Internet Freedom

Wired  

Think of a country that stifles internet freedom. But in fact, according to a recent study by the non-profit Freedom House, the principles of internet freedom are under attack worldwide—including in the United States. Freedom House based its findings on an annual study of 65 countries, in which the group's researchers collect data on factors like ready access to the …

A neutral Internet
7 years, 4 months ago

A neutral Internet

The Hindu  

The struggle to keep the Internet freely accessible to all got a welcome shot in the arm on Tuesday. After consultation papers issued in May 2016 and this January, the regulator reiterated that there cannot be discriminatory treatment of websites on the Internet by service providers. This, in a nutshell, means that service providers such as telecom companies cannot stand …

No one owns Internet, should be open and free for all: Trai
7 years, 4 months ago

No one owns Internet, should be open and free for all: Trai

Deccan Chronicle  

New Delhi: The telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday backed net neutrality in the country by recommending that telecom operators or internet service providers cannot provide preferential treatment in terms of either increasing or slowing down internet speed while giving access to any website or its application. “The ‘discriminatory treatment’ in the context of treatment of content would include any form …

Freedom House: Governments strangling the web
7 years, 4 months ago

Freedom House: Governments strangling the web

Al Jazeera  

Freedom House report blames governments for using a range of tools to strangle the idealistic potential of the internet. Sanja Kelly: That would be internet without major government censorship, so it would be internet where the government does not block or filter internet content, anything related to politics or human rights or social issues, as we have seen in many …

Government outlines plans to 'regulate the internet' and get rid of problem content
7 years, 5 months ago

Government outlines plans to 'regulate the internet' and get rid of problem content

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. But it also made references to “regulating the internet” – suggesting that further restrictions on online content …

Right to privacy in digital era
7 years, 7 months ago

Right to privacy in digital era

Deccan Chronicle  

At the height of the Communist oppression in East Europe in the 1970s, when individual liberties had been entirely crushed in the name of the State, a Polish poet made an impassioned plea for his right to privacy. Instead of the Marxist slogan “Workers of this world, you have nothing to lose but your chains!”, which was then chanted with …

Right to privacy paves way for new data protection framework
7 years, 7 months ago

Right to privacy paves way for new data protection framework

Live Mint  

New Delhi: With the Supreme Court on Thursday upholding the right to privacy as a fundamental right, doors have been opened to an era of a holistic data protection framework. Prasad said the right to privacy is part of a citizen’s right to liberty, subject to certain restrictions, and added that the Congress party had failed to protect “individual liberties" …

Verdict on Right to privacy today: How Supreme Court's ruling may impact Aadhaar, citizen rights in digital era
7 years, 7 months ago

Verdict on Right to privacy today: How Supreme Court's ruling may impact Aadhaar, citizen rights in digital era

Firstpost  

A nine-judge Constitution bench is set to give its judgment on whether a fundamental right to privacy exists under the Constitution. The Supreme Court is expected to pronounce its verdict on Thursday whether right to privacy can be elevated to the status of a fundamental right under the Constitution. The verdict on right to privacy and Aadhaar, on which much …

Privacy in the digital age
7 years, 7 months ago

Privacy in the digital age

The Hindu  

The current focus on the right to privacy is based on some new realities of the digital age. In the same manner, the role of the state in terms of the right to privacy in the digital age is not just to abstain from its violation. While establishing a right to privacy, the Supreme Court must also direct the state …

The right to privacy explained
7 years, 8 months ago

The right to privacy explained

The Hindu  

A definite legal definition of ‘privacy’ is not available. Plagued by contradictions in the past judicial pronouncements on whether or not privacy is a fundamental right, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court decided to refer the question to a nine-judge Bench. But petitioners insist that the recognition of privacy as a fundamental freedom is an essential deterrent against …

Kashmir unrest: Ban on social media, internet services impinges on 'fundamental rights', say UN experts
7 years, 10 months ago

Kashmir unrest: Ban on social media, internet services impinges on 'fundamental rights', say UN experts

Firstpost  

UN human rights experts have called on India to “immediately” lift its ban on social media and mobile internet services arguing that the move is a “collective punishment” and impinges on the “fundamental rights of everyone in Kashmir”. “The scope of these restrictions has a significantly disproportionate impact on the fundamental rights of everyone in Kashmir, undermining the government’s stated …

Keep Internet platforms free of censorship
7 years, 10 months ago

Keep Internet platforms free of censorship

ABP News  

Sometime last year, the Pew Research Centre conducted an extensive study on the nature of the Internet, and asked “In the next decade, will public discourse online become more or less shaped by bad actors, harassment, trolls, and an overall tone of griping, distrust, and disgust?” The results were very pretty dismal. At the other end of the spectrum people …

The govt. argues against WhatsApp data sharing, seeks 'regulatory regime' for data protection
7 years, 11 months ago

The govt. argues against WhatsApp data sharing, seeks 'regulatory regime' for data protection

Firstpost  

The SC bench, which is hearing the WhatsApp privacy policy matter, was informed that the govt. A “regulatory regime” for data protection is in the offing, the government today told the Supreme Court, asserting that an individual’s freedom of choice needs to be protected. During the hearing, Salve read out the questions of law submitted by him, which included “whether …

Right to access Internet cannot be curtailed, says SC
7 years, 11 months ago

Right to access Internet cannot be curtailed, says SC

The Hindu  

Citizens have the right to access the Internet to gain information, wisdom and knowledge and their right cannot be curtailed unless it encroaches into the boundary of illegality, the Supreme Court observed on Thursday. The Centre, represented by Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar, said the prohibition under Section 22 should be only on paid ads for sex determination or online Assurance to …

Unacceptable challenges to free speech will arise if people are kept off the internet
8 years, 3 months ago

Unacceptable challenges to free speech will arise if people are kept off the internet

Firstpost  

Keeping people off the web would create “unacceptable” challenges to freedom of speech and commerce, a US diplomat said here on Thursday, underlining the need for every country to develop a culture of cyber security. “In Bangladesh, when people talk about cyber security they are often talking about how to prevent things from getting onto the web,” US Ambassador to …

India's internet freedom declining, report says
8 years, 4 months ago

India's internet freedom declining, report says

India TV News  

India may have overtook the US to become the world’s second largest internet consumer base behind China last year, but freedom of the internet is on the decline in the country, offsetting gains made in 2014 and 2015, a report stated today. A US-based think tank, Freedom House, in a report named "Freedom on the Net 2016" revealed that both …

The UN says that internet access is a basic human right, India disagrees
8 years, 8 months ago

The UN says that internet access is a basic human right, India disagrees

Firstpost  

The United Nations Human Rights Commission has passed a non-binding resolution that effectively makes internet access a basic human right. The resolution calls for states to address security issues and ensure freedom and security online, that they recognize the importance of privacy and have a system of accountability for human rights abuses. The 17 countries that opposed the resolution, India …

UN declares online freedom to be a human right that must be protected
8 years, 8 months ago

UN declares online freedom to be a human right that must be protected

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The resolution stresses that “the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online” particularly …

UNHRC unequivocally condemns internet blocking and disruptions [Read Resolution]
8 years, 9 months ago

UNHRC unequivocally condemns internet blocking and disruptions [Read Resolution]

Live Law  

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday passed a resolution condemning countries that prevent or disrupt access to the internet.According to the resolution, individuals’ online and offline rights, such as “freedom of expression” and choice of media deserve the same protections. The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday passed a resolution condemning countries that prevent or disrupt access …

UNHRC unequivocally condemns internet blocking and disruptions [Read Resolution]
8 years, 9 months ago

UNHRC unequivocally condemns internet blocking and disruptions [Read Resolution]

Live Law  

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday passed a resolution condemning countries that prevent or disrupt access to the internet.According to the resolution, individuals’ online and offline rights, such as “freedom of expression” and choice of media deserve the same protections. The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday passed a resolution condemning countries that prevent or disrupt access …

Internet regulations: From the US to Australia[1]- Chinadaily.com.cn
8 years, 10 months ago

Internet regulations: From the US to Australia[1]- Chinadaily.com.cn

China Daily  

Editor's note: Free flow of information on the internet is the ideal state. When the internet began connecting people and became important in people's economic and social life across the world, users realized that the internet had all things of real life, both good and bad. Many countries, including Western nations, have started internet control to protect their citizens, economies …

Bumps on the super-highway
9 years, 4 months ago

Bumps on the super-highway

The Hindu  

The evolution of the internet from a forum for communication and commerce to a medium of free exchange of opinion and views has been so rapid that the nearly ubiquitous worldwide network of computers is now almost an extension of social life for many on the planet. It is therefore a discomfiting fact that despite the communitarian growth of the …

Surveilling and censoring the internet in Pakistan
9 years, 10 months ago

Surveilling and censoring the internet in Pakistan

Al Jazeera  

Islamabad, Pakistan – A new bill before parliament could severely limit internet freedom and raises concerns the state is legalising censorship and mass digital surveillance, rights activists say. “Everyone has their own sense of what is morally right, how can you have something like that in the law, unless you define it… But they haven’t, they’ve done it so that …

Internet freedom in India improves slightly
10 years, 3 months ago

Internet freedom in India improves slightly

The Hindu  

India is only “partly free” with a rank of 30 out of 65 countries in Internet freedom but as of May this year, it has improved its score, a new report says. “India improved because of the reduced number of incidents in which ICT connectivity and access was restricted, the relative transparency in allocation of spectrum; less content blocking and …

The Charter of the Internet
10 years, 11 months ago

The Charter of the Internet

Al Jazeera  

Daniel Hind is the author of The Threat to Reason and The Return of the Public. In March, exactly twenty-five years after he first outlined his proposal for a “world-wide web”, Tim Berners-Lee called for “a global constitution – a bill of rights” to protect the “neutral, open internet”. This appeal for a “Magna Carta”, a single document that enshrines …

Leading authors call for bill of digital rights
11 years, 3 months ago

Leading authors call for bill of digital rights

The Hindu  

Over 500 leading authors across the world, including five Nobel laureates, signed an open letter challenging the global mass surveillance of Internet and telephone communications by the U.S. National Security Agency, describing the Agency’s snooping as a “theft” of data and a force undermining democratic principles. Coetzee, Orhan Pamuk, and Günter Grass called on the U.N. to create an international …

The Internet: Not a human right, but an essential utility
13 years, 2 months ago

The Internet: Not a human right, but an essential utility

Firstpost  

The internet is not a human right, nor is it a civil right, but it should be made an essential utility. In a New York Times op-ed, father of the internet, Vint Cerf, argued that access to the internet is not and should not be made a human right. Says Cerf: In June, citing the uprisings in the Middle East …

Father of the Internet: The Internet Isn’t a Human Right
13 years, 2 months ago

Father of the Internet: The Internet Isn’t a Human Right

Wired  

Vint Cerf knows the internet. You might be surprised, then, when he says the internet isn't a human right — but he's correct. Cerf's spiel, the entirety of which is worth reading in the NYT, boils down to this: human rights are things fundamental to our wellbeing as humans. They have nothing to do with tech — though that doesn't …

Government for collaborating with social networking websites
13 years, 3 months ago

Government for collaborating with social networking websites

The Hindu  

Reiterating that there was no question of censoring Internet content, Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday sought help from social networking websites and Internet companies in propagating government's various e-governance initiatives and make people more aware of the online environment. Mr. Sibal, who chaired a meeting ‘Citizen engagement and use of social media' where functionaries of all leading …

Experts hint Internet firms leaning towards increased surveillance
13 years, 6 months ago

Experts hint Internet firms leaning towards increased surveillance

Firstpost  

As the information collected by the Internet giants such as Facebook and Google proves to be irresistible for state agencies and advertising firms, it seems the firms are themselves taking the lead in tracking users on their sites. Nairobi: While the privacy battle rages over the usage and collection of personal data by Internet companies such as Google, Twitter and …

Discover Related