Free internet access should be considered a basic human right: Study

According to a study by University of Birmingham in UK, free internet access should be considered a basic human right. study tes that people in developing countries lack meaningful ways to influence global players shaping ir everyday lives. Researchers gave example of Kerala that sourn state in India has declared universal internet access a human right and aims to provide it for its 35 million people by this year.

Researchers also explain as political engment increasingly takes place online, basic freedoms that many take for granted including free expression, freedom of information and freedom of assembly are undermined if some citizens have access to internet and ors do t. Published in Journal of Applied Philosophy, study indicates that internet could be a primary means of protecting or basic human rights like life, liberty, and freedom from torture.

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"Internet access is luxury, but instead a moral human right and everyone should have unmonitored and uncensored access to this global medium -- provided free of charge for those unable to afford it," Merten Reglitz, a lecturer at University of Birmingham, said in a statement. "Without such access, many people lack a meaningful way to influence and hold accountable supranational rule-makers and institutions," Reglitz said.

As per researchers, people without internet access don't have a say in making of rules y must obey and which shape ir life chances. Reglitz added that exercising free speech and obtaining information was w heavily dependent on having internet access. Researchers also said that much of today's political debate took place online and politically relevant information is shared on internet, which means relative value se freedoms held for people 'offline' had decreased.

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Researchers furr said that study attributes unprecedented possibilities to internet for protecting basic human rights to life, liberty and bodily integrity. While researchers ackwledged that being online does t guarantee se rights, y cite examples of internet engment that helped hold governments and institutions to account. se examples include 'Arab Spring' which saw new ways of global reporting on government atrocities, researchers said.

Last but t least, researchers also gave example of #MeToo campaign which became a huge movement online.