Mashable Poll: Is the Internet a Fundamental Right?
I think that Sam Axon asks a very important question… Should the internet be something free and open to all? I voted, “Yes, but mainly because the free flow of information is necessary to preserve other liberties”.
Internet freedoms were in the headlines earlier this year after Google threatened to quit China, the world’s biggest Internet market, over strict censorship rules.
Just like we are all granted certain rights to freedoms – I wouldn’t say that the internet is a “fundamental right” – because time and time again, we have seen people abuse it and post hate and crime and other unmentionable things. Just like your parents can take away your car keys and your browsing privileges, I think that you can “lose” your right to surf the internet… 
Now do I think that right should be managed by the government? Heck no! But there has to be some “third-party” that can put one on probation or “ground” them temporarily for breaking the law or taking away other people’s right to freedoms. Unfortunately I don’t think this “third-party” exists without biases.
One interesting fact (from the many) in this article was that according to the poll, over 70 percent of respondents in Japan, Mexico and Russia said they could not live without the Internet. Have you ever tried to live one day without internet? Better yet, in college I remember my p
rofessor once dared us all to do one day without technology – we turned off the televisions, closed down the laptops and had to find something else to entertain us and keep us busy… The only thing I could come up with was sitting still because I figured as soon as I started moving, there was some piece of technology affecting my being – music on the radio, car to get somewhere, cell phone ringing – it was impossible to avoid… Would I DIE without internet? No. Would I function without internet? Not at all.
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