[Chapter-delegates] Internet and Constitution

[Tommi Karttaavi]

Dear Alejandro, all,

That is right. The Finnish constitution says nothing about the Internet. 
It has a section about the freedom of speech, but that does not 
guarantee access to networks.

The Communications Market Act sets the provisions on the minimum rate of 
a functional Internet access but says nothing about the right of 
individual citizens to access the Internet.

The question about whether the access to Internet should be declared a 
fundamental human right is an interesting one. I don't know if any 
country has done that. The French HADOPI law is a kind of an antithesis 
to it. HADOPI makes it possible to suspend Internet access from people 
who have committed copyright infringement. I don't know if similar 
approach could be used with water, electricity or postal services.

Regards,

Tommi

On 25.4.2011 21:07, Alejandro Pisanty wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Tommi Karttavi has described the situation in Finland very well. More
> specifically than a "right to the Internet", what they have put in place
> is a modification of the universal-service provisions so that the
> government can designate an access provider for regions where no
> reasonable commercial provision exists. That is a measured approach.
>
> Ecuador (and here Carlos Vera surely will be able to tell us more) has
> enshrined a right to access the Internet. International knowledgeable
> criticism of this legislation states that it is useless because the
> right is not realized, nor can be.
>
> In Mexico a few federal states and cities have declared such a right and
> are on the way to implementing some free municipal WiFi networks; this
> happens in many other countries as well. AFAIK in the US municipal WiFi
> is not growing and is mostly considered dead in the water. The ones I
> know of in Mexico are lmited in geographical coverage and provide
> services with different sets of limitations (duration of connections,
> services and ports you can access, filtering, etc.)
>
> There are some programs which are in alliance with established large
> ISPs; they provide free, unlimited access to their paying clients (i.e.
> it's not really free) and limited services to those without an account.
>
> Authorities which start such programs tend to underestimate - and then
> underfund - the costs for operating, expanding reach, expanding
> capacity, dealing with legal and political liabilities, and contending
> with the constant pressure of telcos which oppose these projects.
>
> The case of Tunis provides an interesting test: can - and how - access
> to the means to exert recognized fundamental rights (expression, access
> to knowledge) be codified as a right in and of itself? What happens if
> you are too specific, what if too general, in the right that is coded?
>
> Yours,
>
> Alejandro Pisanty
>
>
>
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
> UNAM, Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico
>
> Tels. +52-(1)-55-5105-6044, +52-(1)-55-5418-3732
>
> * Mi blog/My blog: http://pisanty.blogspot.com
> * LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pisanty
> * Twitter: http://twitter.com/apisanty
> * Unete al grupo UNAM en LinkedIn,
> http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/22285/4A106C0C8614
>
> * Ven a ISOC Mexico, http://www.isoc.org.mx, ISOC http://www.isoc.org
> *Participa en ICANN, http://www.icann.org
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
>
> On Mon, 25 Apr 2011, Eric Burger wrote:
>
>> Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:52:33 -0400
>> From: Eric Burger <eburger at standardstrack.com>
>> To: Khaled KOUBAA <khaled.koubaa at gmail.com>
>> Cc: chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
>> Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] Internet and Constitution
>>
>> It is not yet a constitutional issue in the U.S., but a lot of the
>> rationale for network neutrality bills and universal service is that
>> once a preponderance of citizen interaction with their government is
>> via the Internet, such as for getting permits, paying taxes, and
>> voting, then universal Internet access becomes a right. Otherwise, an
>> individual without Internet access would be disenfranchised from their
>> own government.
>>
>> On Apr 25, 2011, at 8:11 AM, Khaled KOUBAA wrote:
>>
>>> Dear All,
>>> We in the Internet Society Tunisia are working with other partners on a
>>> campaign to introduce the "Right to access to the network" as a
>>> constitutional right to be added to the new constitution.
>>> We appreciate any feedback and help from your side if you can share with
>>> us other experience that you heard about or any country who is
>>> implementing such rules in their constitution.
>>> Many thanks,
>>> Khaled KOUBAA
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Chapter-delegates mailing list
>>> Chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
>>> https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/chapter-delegates
>>
>>
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