[governance] Internet access is 'a fundamental right'

[McTim]

On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 12:18 AM, Jean-Louis FULLSACK
<jlfullsack at orange.fr> wrote:
> Dear Parminder
>
> Please don't tell it to our colleagues : I'm still not much convinced
> that Internet access is actually "a fundamental right". What I'm quite sure
> : it isn't an "essential (ethymologically speaking) right". Even ICTs aren't
> ! That was well proven by the five thematic domains the UN Secretary General
> assigned to the the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Jo'burg
> through the acronym WEHAB : Water, Energy,Health, Agriculture and
> Biodiversity. There isn't the least allusion to ICT ! Only the WSIS carried
> this tall story of ICT saving the world from any evil !
>
> Listening to the daily news and watching regularly reports from Africa
> rather strengthen my scepticism about this legend. Let's be realistic and
> let's try to do our best for making the ICTs the most effective tool for
> education, for poverty alleviation and for human and economic development.
> Without no doubt, Internet will have all its place in that struggle, even
> without "fundamental rights" !

Very well said!  My position all along is that this is a sideshow,
already covered by the right to communicate.

Let's get people connected instead of worrying about granting them a
"right" that can't be
fulfilled.


-- 
Cheers,

McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
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