Free Internet Access as a Human Right

However, 2.6 billion people (about 1/3 of humanity) had no internet access in 2024. Those who have internet access, though, can often not make use of it without problematic interference. According to estimates, in 2022 more than 3/4 of those who had internet access lived in countries where people were arrested for posting political, social, or religious content online and almost 2/3 of all global internet users were subject to online censorship. Even those who can use the internet without such limitations routinely have their personal data harvested by Big Tech platforms and other online services.

There is currently no widely accepted standalone/independent right to guaranteed access to the internet that is free from arbitrary interferences. This project offers the first comprehensive philosophical case for establishing such a novel human right:

"Article X

1. Everyone shall have the right to access and use the Internet without arbitrary interferences by any other party. Free Internet access offers uniquely powerful means for the use and protection of most human rights, it enables participation in cyberspace where a significant share of human interactions take place and unparalleled amounts of information are stored, and therefore can promote the progress of humanity overall.
2. This right shall entail the provision of the technological means and skills needed for guaranteed, meaningful access to the Internet that is of sufficient quality for people to effectively make use of their human rights; moreover, the right shall guarantee the absence of unjustifiable restrictions or interruptions to people’s exercise of their familiar freedoms (such as those to free expression, free information, free association) online.
3. Any justified restrictions of the right (e.g. temporary localised restrictions of Internet access and use, censorship, surveillance and other denials of privacy) must conform to the familiar requirements of acceptable restrictions of human rights. This means that they must be:
   1. Provided by public law and subject to review by independent judicial bodies;
   2. Necessary, proportionate, and minimal;
   3. Undertaken for legitimate ends (e.g. for the protection of the rights and reputation of others; network maintenance and security; the protection of national security, public health, or public order)” (Reglitz 2024: 335)."

The project's research focuses on the many ways in which the internet (positively and negatively) affects our human rights today and has indeed become practically indispensable for having adequate opportunities to enjoy and protect these rights.

Some of the project’s central questions include:

• How is a standalone human right to internet access justifiable?
• What are the impacts of the internet on human rights today?
• What are the main threats to the unimpeded access and use of the internet?
• What global standard of provision does a human right to internet access entail?
• What protections of internet access and use must public institutions guarantee?

The project is a work in philosophical human rights theory that is informed by insights about the internet from a wide range of disciplines such as computer science, law, medical science, educational science, economics, psychology, communication and media studies, and development studies. Its goal is to provide a positive vision for an alternative internet that is an empowering, human rights- promoting medium rather than a tool of surveillance, oppression, and profit maximisation.

Contact

For further information about this research, please email m.reglitz@bham.ac.uk

This project was supported by a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant.