Skelley

N1 English III CP


SHOULD INTERNET ACCESS BE A HUMAN RIGHT?
I believe that internet access should be a human right, regardless of who uses it or what

they use it for. It allows for unrivaled information access and communication speed, and those

who live in places that have internet, should be able to use it without restriction(s).

The internet is a relatively recent phenomenon, and although it had existed since

around the 1980s, it was very different then from the Internet we know and love. When it

became popular with the public, it was transformed almost overnight into a massive almost-

public forum for the exchange of ideas, news, and many other things. Events could be reported

on in near real-time, thoughts shared instantaneously, and the voiceless were almost made to

speak, in a sense. This would not last long, though, as US legislators and foreign officials saw

this as a threat to the security of their nation/country, to their position, or to both. This was and

is the case for many countries and nations to this day, such as China, North Korea, Iran, whose

leaders saw the Internet as a source of opposing ideals, which could potentially be used in a

revolution, and therefore deemed it to be a danger which was to be restricted, at the very least.

This has not deterred those who are determined to use the internet freely, especially in modern

times, as we have made many breakthroughs in technology to allow the circumvention of

censorship, such as Virtual Private Networks, commonly known as VPNs, and many other

advanced software programs and techniques.

Despite those foreign leaders best efforts, their citizens are still accessing restricted

websites and areas of the internet, and with greater frequency as time goes on, for they have

forgotten one of the largest flaws in censorship: Forbidden fruit are often the sweetest fruit of
them all. By attempting to prevent certain places on the web, they are creating a greater

demand for those sites to be accessed than there would normally be, and by restricting access

to ideals or ideas, they are causing them to fester within those who hold them.

On the flip side, internet censorship is not without justifications. There are some ideas,

some ideals, even some people, that would be better off not listened to, as they can be

dangerous or even devastating if enacted. This, of course, does not mean that all those who

listen will enact, but it is better to be safe than sorry, should we have to pay the cost in lives.

Just as restricting access to ideas can cause them to fester, so can allowing them to be freely

exchanges, the difference being that having those ideas restricted to a certain area makes it

infinitely to track their spread and growth.

To summarize, unrestricted internet access should be a human right, as it enables for

unparalleled communication and information access.