Internet Rights Debate of the Day: Vint Cerf, one of the “fathers of the Internet” and Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist, says that Internet access is not a human right.
In a New York Times editorial, Cerf argued that although Internet access is an important enabler of human and civil rights (like freedom of expression), it’s a mistake to classify access to any particular technology as a right.
He explains,
“For example, at one time if you didn’t have a horse it was hard to make a living. But the important right in that case was the right to make a living, not the right to a horse. Today, if I were granted a right to have a horse, I’m not sure where I would put it.”
Instead, he thinks engineers are tasked with the civil responsibility to empower Internet users and keep them safe from dangers like viruses and worms.
Part of that responsibility includes opposing SOPA, which Cerf recently said could usher in “unprecedented censorship of the web,” as well as threatening efforts to make the web more secure for all users.
Still, Cerf’s opinion on Internet access as a human right puts him at odds with countries like France, Finland and Estonia, which have all created policies giving citizens the right to access over the past few years.
[nyt]
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