A new book has outlined why public institutions should recognise a new human right to free internet access and what such a right could look like.
Free Internet Access as a Human Right is a culmination of research from Dr Merten Reglitz, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham and has been published today (21 November) by Cambridge University Press.
The research argues that the new human right to free internet access should include protection from government censorship, surveillance and misuse, and private companies harvesting data.
Dr Reglitz explained: “For most of us a world without internet access is just unthinkable. 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. However, the internet as it currently stands is not without its problems. Some states greatly limit their populations’ digital access to limit criticism and monitor activity. We also have mostly unregulated social media platforms dominating the digital world and harvesting data for profit, not to mention internet users harming others online. All this infringes on our human rights including freedom of expression, privacy, and free and fair elections. A new human right would need to address this so that people would have a right to be protected from hostile actors online.
“My research over the years has outlined why access should be considered a human right, but in this book, I have set out what this right would have to require and what needs to be done to protect our human rights online.”
The book sets out a draft article so that ‘everyone shall have the right to access and use the internet without arbitrary interferences by any other party.’ The draft article specifies that governments should provide ‘the technological means and skills needed for guaranteed, meaningful access to the internet that is of sufficient quality for people to effectively make use of their human rights’ and that ‘any justified restrictions of the right must be (…) Necessary, proportionate, and minimal’.
“Despite the internet being a vital part of modern life, access is still unequal. 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, University of Birmingham
One of the biggest threats to internet access as a human right is global inequality and poverty, with a third of the global population without access mostly because those people cannot afford it. To overcome this, Dr Reglitz argues that authorities should invest in data and digital services, broadband infrastructure and basic digital skills so that everyone can meet the basic requirements for getting online, such as:
- access to sufficient digital data (i.e. by meeting the 2 GB for 2 per cent of monthly GNI per capita target), and
- permanent access to a smartphone; that all are
- covered by at least 4G mobile broadband networks, and that
- everybody has the opportunity to acquire basic digital skills.
The research argues that this ‘global standard of duties’ is feasible for most states to guarantee for their citizens, at least for those who cannot afford access themselves.
Dr Reglitz added: “Despite the internet being a vital part of modern life, access is still unequal. 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. 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.”
These minimum obligations would include a national broadband plan, developing networks to connect public venues to the internet, and joining an international organisation to access the funding needed to deliver free and fair access.
Dr Reglitz concluded: “The values and demands included in this idea are not optional. They are necessary to the premise that everyone possesses equal moral dignity and is entitled to live a decent life which is exactly what our human rights protect. Today, we live in societies that are ever-more characterised by the information flows and connections made possible by the digital world. Recognising and defending this right would have the potential to make the world a better place for everyone, with the help of the internet.”
