UN declares Internet access basic human right

The United Nations has declared free and uninterrupted Internet access as a basic human right.

It has issued a report, characterizing the world wide web "an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress," Catholic Online reported.

Presented to the General Assembly last week, UN Secretary General, the report written by Frank La Rue comes as the capstone of a year's worth of meetings held between La Rue and local human rights organizations around the world, from Cairo to Bangkok.

The report highlights the impact of online collaboration in the Arab Spring and says that "facilitating access to the Internet for all individuals, with as little restriction to online content as possible, should be a priority for all States."

The UN report overwhelmingly supports the Internet as a communication platform, a boon to all democratic societies, but it also warns how the Internet's unique architecture threatens power brokers in repressed, authoritarian states.

The Internet is rooted in unique characteristics, such as its speed, worldwide reach and relative anonymity. At the same time, these distinctive features of the Internet that enable individuals to disseminate information in "real time" and to mobilize people has also created fear amongst Governments and the powerful.

This has led to higher restrictions on the Internet through the use of increasingly sophisticated technologies to block content, monitor and identify activists and critics, criminalization of legitimate expression and adoption of restrictive legislation to justify such measures.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation says that the UN's support for anonymous expression and the protection it affords should inform how governments regulate security and surveillance. Forms of online surveillance, be it Facebook's privacy policy or the United States government's expanding treason law to document leaks, "often [take] place for political, rather than security reasons in an arbitrary and covert manner," La Rue argues. In short, broad surveillance powers or the erosion of privacy online endanger anonymity's ability to protect dissenters and journalists alike when they speak out.