I was about to get up in arms about this, but it turns out they didn't really declare internet access a human right. The human right is the right to proportional punishment. Their claim is that cutting someone off from internet access just because of copyright infringement is not proportional punishment. At least, that's my reading. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
Do governments care about human rights? How is canceling someone's Internet connection for downloading a movie worse that putting someone in a metal cage for 30 years because they made some drugs?<p>There is only one human right: the right to kill yourself. Everything else is a privilege that can be taken away for no reason.
I wonder what consequences this is going to have for countries in the long run with big firewalls or filtering. UN doesn't have much jurisdiction and can't do much, but these maps always paint an interesting picture: <a href="http://map.opennet.net/filtering-pol.html" rel="nofollow">http://map.opennet.net/filtering-pol.html</a>
That's awesome. This should have been done a while ago, though.<p>The record/music industries must feel pretty screwed right about now. A judge declared that an IP address != a person, and now they can't unfairly cut people off. I'd say that's a win for free speech.
I don't see why some people dislike this idea. If you think about it, this is really just an extension of the right to speech and the right to assembly. The only new thing is officially recognizing the Internet as an avenue for these things.
There's a lot of other stuff I would much rather see "declared a human right".<p>I'd also like to see what we mean by "human right" defined more clearly. It certainly doesn't seem to mean that everyone has a right to it, or that depriving it from someone is a crime against humanity.
As with many things, I don't think the U.N. advances discussion as much as it obscures key issues.<p>I firmly believe we are all moving toward a transhuman time when connectivity is king. My computers and connections are a part of my brain -- or at least will be -- and governments' role in my life end where my brain begins.<p>But making everything in the world a "right" is totally fracked.<p>It concerns me that well-meaning people are trying to create more and more controls on top of rapidly-advancing technology using terms and concepts they don't fully understand. In this game of "where's humanity going?" You don't get extra credit for good intentions. I don't mean to selectively pick on the U.N. The same is true for dozens of governmental and treaty efforts around the globe.<p>The way to deal with these governments cutting off internet access is in the streets, which the protesters are doing.