Universal Connectivity

Highlights/Executive summary

This policy brief explains why public institutions should recognize a novel human right to Internet access. It offers suggestions for public institutions and digital connectivity advocacy groups to work toward universal Internet connectivity. Realising these recommendations would ensure that everyone has adequate opportunities to protect their morally fundamental interests and to enjoy their human rights. A human right to Internet access would entail:

Adopting a new global standard of minimum connectivity.
Public support for those who cannot secure Internet access for themselves.
Immediate fulfilment of minimum core obligations to promote digital connectivity.
Creating an International Broadband Development Fund.

Who is this for?

This policy brief is aimed at policymakers in domestic and global governance institutions, and at advocacy groups looking to promote universal Internet access.

Introduction

Internet access has become a prerequisite for having adequate opportunities to enjoy human rights in our digital age. In developing countries Internet access can make the difference between some enjoyment of human rights and none at all. However, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 2.6 billion (33% of humanity) was still offline in 2023. The number of people without meaningful Internet access is even bigger as the ITU counts as an Internet user everyone who has gone online at least once in the last three months. Those who remain offline globally are the poorest and/or least lucrative for private companies to connect. According to ITU estimates, establishing universal connectivity by 2030 would require nearly $428 billion USD annually. Most of these funds are needed in developing countries that do not have the resources required. But also in affluent societies, tens of millions or people cannot (or can barely) afford their own Internet connection.

15% of US households did not have a broadband subscription in 2018.
Almost 3% of the population of EU member states remained offline in 2022.

Recommendation

Internet Access as a Human Right

Public institutions should recognise a new human right that provides a legally claimable entitlement to access the Internet so that online access does not depend on people’s financial situation.
Internet access is insufficiently guaranteed and protected by existing human rights (e.g. the right to free expression). Individual rights can legitimately be curtailed in specific situations while Internet access has become essential for the enjoyment of most human rights (Reglitz 2024).
As the US Supreme Court has recognised, the Internet is the “modern public square” (SCOTUS 2017: 8). Access to this new digital public forum requires its own protection.

What follows from Internet Access as a Human Right

Adopting a new global standard of minimum connectivity:

Public institutions should guarantee all dimensions of connectivity for all (Reglitz 2024). This should mean that everyone enjoys at least:

Coverage by 4G broadband networks
Regular access to a smartphone
2GB of data for 2% of the monthly gross national income per capita (Broadband Commission 2024).
Opportunities to acquire basic digital skills.

These standards provide sufficient opportunities to meaningfully exercise human rights online and can be guaranteed by a majority of states right now. They will, however, need adjustment as technology develops.

Public support for those unable to secure online access for themselves:

Governments should offer financial and technological support for those citizens who are unable to afford this minimum connectivity standard (Reglitz 2024).
This includes the free or subsidised public provision of digital devices and data services.
Governments should also include the teaching of basic digital skills into school education curriculums and adult education opportunities.

Creating an International Broadband Development Fund:

To honour their commitments under the UN Sustainable Development Goals, developed nations should establish an International Broadband Development Fund as suggested by a Working Group of the UN’s Broadband Commission (Broadband Commission 2021: 57). The Fund would have the objectives:

To collect funds from states and donors for the purpose of developing the technical conditions of universal connectivity, and
To provide expertise for the effective use of these funds.

All States to immediately fulfil minimum core obligations:

These include the adoption of a national broadband plan and the installation and use of broadband networks in public administration offices and buildings.
Minimum core obligations are duties immediately feasible also for those states that currently are unable to fulfil all demands of human rights. Such core obligations have been specified for other socio-economic human rights (e.g. health).
The minimum core obligations have the aim of promoting more widespread development of broadband networks and are realisable for all states right now.

Key Insights/Takeaways

Internet access has become important enough to be recognised as a human right.

Those without Internet access are significantly limited in their opportunities to exercise and enjoy their human rights.
Functioning at a satisfactory level in digitalised societies today presupposes Internet access.
Internet access is no longer a luxury but a basic necessity.

Public and international support are needed to establish universal Internet connectivity.

Domestically, governments should support those unable to afford online access as they provide support for housing, clothing, and means of subsistence.
Internationally, states financially able to help ought to fulfil their Sustainable Development Goals commitments and form an International Broadband Development Fund to work toward universal connectivity.
States that require support for reaching universal connectivity must fulfil the minimum core obligations of the human right to Internet access and work progressively toward the full realisation of that right.

About the researcher

Dr Merten Reglitz
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Merten is a political philosopher with expertise in distributive justice, global ethics, and normative approaches to the internet.

Contact:

Dr Merten Reglitz/ Associate Professor/ Department of Philosophy/ University of Birmingham /

m.reglitz@bham.ac.uk.