Re: Fwd: Re: [webp2p] Internet.org

> Clean drinking water should be a human right as internet access

Actually, neither should, because they're both prescriptive.

If you make something that has to be provided (e.g. a good or service) a
human right, you're implying that someone else must be forced to provide
it, should no-one volunteer.  That implies that someone else's rights
are being violated in the process.  

No drinking water?  Well, it's a human right, so let's force people to
give up some of theirs, or spend a portion of their life working to
provide it.  No internet connection?  Ditto.

Legitimate human rights are proscriptive; rather than forcing someone to
provide something to someone else, they merely state that one may not
perform a particular action against someone who is unwilling.

So a reasonable take on the water issue might be that: it is a violation
of rights to *prevent* someone from accessing clean drinking water, or
to forcibly deprive them of it should they have some.  Likewise, no-one
should be able to disconnect your ISP account because they don't like
what you're saying.

-- 
Duncan Bayne
ph: +61 420817082 | web: http://duncan-bayne.github.com/ | skype:
duncan_bayne

I usually check my mail every 24 - 48 hours.  If there's something
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Received on Thursday, 22 August 2013 07:05:18 UTC