Author Topic: internet access is a human right  (Read 9274 times)

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Offline Kosh

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internet access is a human right
So says the French high court

Quote
France's highest court has inflicted an embarrassing blow to President Sarkozy by cutting the heart out of a law that was supposed to put France in the forefront of the fight against piracy on the internet.

The Constitutional Council declared access to the internet to be a basic human right, directly opposing the key points of Mr Sarkozy's law, passed in April, which created the first internet police agency in the democratic world.

The strongly-worded decision means that Mr Sarkozy's scheme has backfired and inadvertently boosted those who defend the free-for-all culture of the web.


:ha:
"The reason for this is that the original Fortran got so convoluted and extensive (10's of millions of lines of code) that no-one can actually figure out how it works, there's a massive project going on to decode the original Fortran and write a more modern system, but until then, the UK communication network is actually relying heavily on 35 year old Fortran that nobody understands." - Flipside

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Offline Rhymes

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Re: internet access is a human right
FRAK YEAH!
If you don't have Knossos, you need it.

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Re: internet access is a human right
The Internet is now a basic human right?  Glad I don't live in France where they pull rights like this out of thin air.
17:37:02   Quanto: I want to have sexual intercourse with every space elf in existence
17:37:11   SpardaSon21: even the males?
17:37:22   Quanto: its not gay if its an elf

[21:51] <@Droid803> I now realize
[21:51] <@Droid803> this will be SLIIIIIGHTLY awkward
[21:51] <@Droid803> as this rich psychic girl will now be tsundere for a loli.
[21:51] <@Droid803> OH WELLL.

See what you're missing in #WoD and #Fsquest?

[07:57:32] <Caiaphas> inspired by HerraTohtori i built a supermaneuverable plane in ksp
[07:57:43] <Caiaphas> i just killed my pilots with a high-g maneuver
[07:58:19] <Caiaphas> apparently people can't take 20 gees for 5 continuous seconds
[08:00:11] <Caiaphas> the plane however performed admirably, and only crashed because it no longer had any guidance systems

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: internet access is a human right
The Internet is now a basic human right?  Glad I don't live in France where they pull rights like this out of thin air.

I'm pretty sure it's just a logical application of the right to freedom of expression.

 

Offline NGTM-1R

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Re: internet access is a human right
Freedom of information is the basis of informed decision, which is in turn the basis of democratic government. (Or so we hope.)
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Offline Rick James

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Re: internet access is a human right
FRAK YEAH!

^ What he said.

France, me love you long time.

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Offline Blue Lion

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Re: internet access is a human right
Are phones basic human rights?

 

Offline Goober5000

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Re: internet access is a human right
So does that mean depriving someone of internet access is a human rights violation? :p

I would have simply said it's depriving someone of property (or interfering with the lawful enjoyment of contract) without due process of law.

 

Offline General Battuta

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Re: internet access is a human right
They're not saying the Internet is a basic human right. They're saying that restricting access to the Internet is a violation of a basic human right.

If I'm correct, and that's what they're saying, then that's a very important distinction.

 

Offline Dilmah G

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Re: internet access is a human right
ZOMG HAV MAH BABIEZ

 

Offline Liberator

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Re: internet access is a human right
...

That's like saying I have a right to have a plate of pancakes whenever I want...
So as through a glass, and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names, but always me.

There are only 10 types of people in the world , those that understand binary and those that don't.

 

Offline Dilmah G

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Re: internet access is a human right
...

That's like saying I have a right to have a plate of pancakes whenever I want...

They're not saying the Internet is a basic human right. They're saying that restricting access to the Internet is a violation of a basic human right.

If I'm correct, and that's what they're saying, then that's a very important distinction.

 

Offline Black Wolf

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Re: internet access is a human right
...

That's like saying I have a right to have a plate of pancakes whenever I want...

No, it's very very different. You don't have a right to pancakes, but nobody has the right to prevent you from eating some kind of food to sustain your life, assuming you can get at it yourself (i.e. grow it, buy it, hunt for it, whatever). This is the same thing I suspect - once you access the internet of your own volition and through your own resources, nobody can then restrict it, at least not in France.

Interesting how this will apply to, for example, maximum security prisoners, or if it sets any international precedents.
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Offline castor

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Re: internet access is a human right
The Internet is now a basic human right?  Glad I don't live in France where they pull rights like this out of thin air.
Man, you start to sound like Kim Jong-Il :P

 

Offline captain-custard

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Re: internet access is a human right
just to inform you this stems from the law passed lat april, and was also in process of being thrown out (as far as i understand by the European court)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HADOPI_law


basically it meant that after 3 strikes that you would loose your internet for one year  

( and due to a quirk in french contractual lawyou would continue paying for it...;)


voila
« Last Edit: June 13, 2009, 05:12:34 am by andicirk »
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Offline Fineus

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Re: internet access is a human right
So does that mean depriving someone of internet access is a human rights violation? :p
If we're going down that road and applying real world laws to internet related application - does that mean that if someone trolls a forum, the owner for the forum can prosecute for harassment? That if you flame someone in an online game, they can take you to court for it?

 

Offline Locutus of Borg

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Re: internet access is a human right
Life, Liberty, Property, and INTERNET ACCESS

- John Locke

During the time men live without a common power AND WWW.HARD-LIGHT.NET to keep them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and such a war, as if of every man, against every man.

- Thomas Hobbes
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We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own

Resistance is FUTILE

 

Offline MP-Ryan

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Re: internet access is a human right
If we're going down that road and applying real world laws to internet related application - does that mean that if someone trolls a forum, the owner for the forum can prosecute for harassment? That if you flame someone in an online game, they can take you to court for it?

Actually, those provisions already apply in any country which adheres to Common Law (UK, USA, Canada, Australia, etc).  Medium doesn't matter - harassment is harassment, regardless of where it occurs.  The Internet is no different than a telephone.

There are several high profile cases in both the US and Canada now regarding online bullying or Facebook/MSN conversations which have been introduced in evidence at murder trials.
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Offline Flipside

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Re: internet access is a human right
So does that mean depriving someone of internet access is a human rights violation? :p
If we're going down that road and applying real world laws to internet related application - does that mean that if someone trolls a forum, the owner for the forum can prosecute for harassment? That if you flame someone in an online game, they can take you to court for it?

Strictly speaking, yes, you can, but it depends greatly on what was said, and the 'trackability' of the person in question.

As was mentioned earlier, the report isn't really saying that the Internet is a basic human right, it's saying that piracy is not like Drunk Driving. If you drink-drive, you can lose your license to drive for several years (though, this doesn't happen nearly often enough imho), what this law tried to say, from what I understand, is that if you are caught downloading software illegally, one of the punishments involved may be forced removal of Internet use.

The problem with this is that, in order to drive a car, you need to pay for lessons, a test, a car, MOT, Tax, Insurance etc, you need to be qualified to own a car, because a car can do actual physical harm, it can kill people, especially if driven by a drunk. A Computer, or an Internet connection poses no such risk, withdrawing a car license is not a punishment, it's a protection for both the driver and those around him, it's done for safety reasons, no such justification can be applied to an Internet connection, and there is a basic human right surrounding punishments. Someone can get 6 months in jail and a 2 year driving ban only because of the safety aspect, you wouldn't find it so easy to pass the same kind of sentence for piracy.

Shoplifters can be banned from individual stores at the stores discretion, for example, they can even be banned from a particular shopping area by a court, but they cannot have 'the right to go shopping' removed short of enforced incarceration.

  
Re: internet access is a human right
Okay, I get what they're saying.  I thought the French court was saying that access to the Internet is a basic human right, and should therefore be subsidized by the government as it would be a basic human right.  However, if they are saying that the government has no right to restrict your internet access for whatever reason, that's different, and I support something like that.
17:37:02   Quanto: I want to have sexual intercourse with every space elf in existence
17:37:11   SpardaSon21: even the males?
17:37:22   Quanto: its not gay if its an elf

[21:51] <@Droid803> I now realize
[21:51] <@Droid803> this will be SLIIIIIGHTLY awkward
[21:51] <@Droid803> as this rich psychic girl will now be tsundere for a loli.
[21:51] <@Droid803> OH WELLL.

See what you're missing in #WoD and #Fsquest?

[07:57:32] <Caiaphas> inspired by HerraTohtori i built a supermaneuverable plane in ksp
[07:57:43] <Caiaphas> i just killed my pilots with a high-g maneuver
[07:58:19] <Caiaphas> apparently people can't take 20 gees for 5 continuous seconds
[08:00:11] <Caiaphas> the plane however performed admirably, and only crashed because it no longer had any guidance systems