Internet Access as a Human Right

[ysabetwordsmith]

Here's an article about internet access as a human right.

I feel that human rights come in groups.  There are survival needs (food, water, health care, etc.).  There are sanity needs (freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom to marry, etc.).  And then there are the things that a society expects people to have in order to function as

Comments

[xiphias]

Are libraries an adequate way of providing this access

[ankewehner]

Last time I was at my local library (which was 2 or 3 years ago, admittedly), the only computer terminals they had were for searching their catalogue only.

[xiphias]

You're German, right?

The ONE thing that the United States does better than ANY other country in the world is libraries. Our health care sucks (although, with luck, in five years we may be where the rest of the world was thirty years ago), our food and water safety is terrible, our criminal "justice" system rivals Stalinist Russia -- but our libraries are better than any other libraries on the planet.

[siege]

At my local library, there are four or five computer stations specifically for searching the catalog, and about forty for internet access and general use, including a half-dozen or so set up for Spanish-speaking residents, next to the international book and magazine section.

[technoshaman]

I am not certain that libraries have the capacity, with their limited budgets, to provide access for everyone... not without pushing out the actual *books*, magazines, newspapers, and all the other little things libraries do that are actually big things... There is something ineffable about simply *browsing the stacks* and seeing what pops out at you... since a well-organised library has things organised by topic and sub-topic, you can find things you wouldn't otherwise find relevant to what you're doing... they *still* don't have that working via computer even though it's been a research topic since I was a lad....

[xiphias]

Librarians do see this as their job, though.

If we are arguing that access to information and to the ability to be active on the global community is a human right, then we, as a society, have a duty to fund that process.

Those funds should go to libraries for this purpose. Libraries are set up for it; librarians are all required to take coursework in it. This is their JOB. Why not use that fact?

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Libraries are a good resource for looking up a few bits of information. They are not a good resource for the kind of everyday access that society increasingly expects. That's why universal internet coverage is important. Libraries can provide backup options for people who can't afford a computer. But many people don't have the time or transportation to do all their internet work at a library, and even with expansion the libraries couldn't really service everyone or even a sizable chunk of everyone.

[technoshaman]

Also: Making something universal has a profound effect. Universal suffrage had a profound effect on civil rights. Universal healthcare means a far better quality of life for everyone... (I have participated in this firsthand. It's pretty darn awesome.) The Internet is a *massive* force for change. I don't know .... yeah, I do. We Americans have had universal *telephone* service for decades. It's time to pull that into the 21st Century. If everyone has the web in their pocket... the implications could be staggering, with a reasonably high probability.