What's The Point?

Berners-Lee and Halpin consider internet access a fundamental human right and call for urgent action to defend the internet. Because the internet is so unlike anything before, we need a completely new legal framework. By making internet access a human right, states can hold each other accountable. This could value the rights of individuals over corporations.

PDF to journal article.

Bullet Summary

• The fast progress of technology is creating a gap between those who have access to tech and those who don't. This gap is only getting bigger.
• Vint Cerf (in NYTimes 2012 op-ed) claims that the internet is just another technology that will likely be replaced. Therefore, we must use language that is inclusive of all technologies, independent from the internet, so that our conversations about these fundamental rights will stand the test of time.
• The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights asserts that to "seek, receive, and impart information" is a human right. Berners-Lee and Halpin want to take this further. They believe all of the social capabilities that the Internet creates should be a human right.
• There are two ways that we actively apply human rights:
  1. To connect those without certain rights with those who are working on giving them those rights (i.e. education)
  2. To incite strong protest when a right is unjustly taken away (i.e. freedom)
• Information does not fall prey to the tragedy of the commons.
• Information via the internet also allows us to organize and implement crucial services (i.e. curing diseases, supporting open government, and corporate responsibility).
• The internet is also being weaponized as a threat. For example, the Syrian government reportedly attacked the internet of its citizens. They used forged certificates of U.S. websites to "identify, prosecute and in some cases even kill citizen-activists."

Notable Quotes

"Access to information has crucial qualities that set it apart from something like water. Unlike water, information does not often disappear when an individual uses it." (4)

"The architecture of the Web leads not only to new capabilities, but to a whole new set of abuses against communication that were not possible with older technologies." (5)