On Sunday, January 24, 2010, I participated in a stimulating panel discussion on “From Digital Third World to Digital Citizenship: the state of the internet and how Canada measures up“. The panel was organized by Dan Robichaud from the Halifax Regional CAP Association and it was part of Podcamp Halifax 2010
There is really no debate that Internet access is an important part of modern life. We use the Internet to access government information, look for a job, learn, read news, write blogs, keep in touch with relatives, make purchases, and so on. But unfortunately, access to the Internet is not yet universal. Even in a country as developed as Canada, we are still debating on (1) how to connect as many people as possible to the Internet and (2) whether or not a government should guarantee a minimal Internet connection to its citizens. To address these issues, some European countries, such as Estonia, Finland and France have declared the Internet a human right. The question is should Canada follow these European countries and also legally declare that Internet access is a human right?
You can find my thoughts on this issue at http://anatoliygruzd.com/home/?p=87
~Anatoliy Gruzd
Anatoliy, given the increasing dependence on Web-based information, I think that the approach taken in these European countries should at least be discussed as an option in Canada. If you think about Government information in Canada, for example, so much that is necessary to our daily lives is available on government web sites, including forms that need to be filled. If governments are increasingly transferring the onus on the consumer to download or fill these government forms, the the lack of access to the Internet may, in fact, threaten people’s right to access this information.