[Chapter-delegates] Internet and Constitution

[Patrick Vande Walle]

Dear Khaled, 

IMHO, a constitution is a fundamental text that
should still be relevant one century from now. As such, it should define
the fundamental rights themselves, rather than the way in which they are
exercised. 

As an example, the right to communicate should be covered
by the secrecy of correspondence. Whether the correspondence is a letter
on paper or an e-mail, or whatever technology that may appear in the
future should not be relevant at the constitutional level. 

The "Right
to access to the network" derives from other, more fundamental rights,
like the freedom of expression, information, etc. Hence, it is part of
the vision of the society. 

The concept of universal service, as
defined in the EU, already mentioned by Markus, is an economic concept.
It is about allowing citiziens to obtain a service, even where it does
not make economic sense. I would suggest such concept should appear in
Tunisian law, but this is another story.I could be based on a more
generic economic right, like we have in the Belgian constitution: The
article 23 [1] (French) mentions economic, social and cultural rights. I
would argue that the "right to access to the network" would derive from
them. 

Patrick 

On Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:11:58 +0100, 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

 

Links:
------
[1]
http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_du_Royaume_de_Belgique_du_17_f%C3%A9vrier_1994#Titre_II_:_Des_Belges_et_de_leurs_droits
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://elists.isoc.org/mailman/private/chapter-delegates/attachments/20110426/474a70c0/attachment.htm>