Category: Health and Healthcare

How Internet Access Can Be Considered a Human Right 

29/04/2023 

Background

COVID-19 exposed an underlying reality; not everyone has access to the internet and online services. With many people being confined to their homes, access to the internet became crucial for breaking social isolation and being able to partake in the economy. Many people were also increasingly reliant on the internet for accessing education, food, and medication. Thus, it became a lifeline for vulnerable groups and millions of people worldwide (Guy, 2022). Given that the internet became the means by which people were able to access other basic human rights, some have suggested that digital access itself belongs to the wider family of human rights.

This research brief will unpack how digital access intersects with other rights and the status of internet access as a human right. Drawing on recent research, we propose that a strong argument can be made that internet access should be considered a human right given the way that other basic rights, including access to healthcare, are becoming dependent on online connectivity in an increasingly digitalised world.

We conclude this brief with a few policy recommendations for securing internet access across the United Kingdom.

The Status of Internet Access as a Human Right

As of date, no international law has recognised internet access as a human right, nor that it is entailed by other protected rights. Yet, the support for recognising it as such is strong, as evidenced by a large-scale survey by the Internet Society in 2012 with 83% of the participants somewhat or strongly agreed that internet access should be labelled a human right. In the Summer of 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council agreed to a resolution condemning the disruption of internet access as a human rights violation (Vincent, 2016). Although this resolution is not legally binding, it can aid digital rights groups to put pressure on governments, policy makers, and relevant organisations.

Despite recognising internet access as crucial for a flourishing society, some suggest that it should not be elevated to the level of human rights. Neth Daño, Asia director of the ETC action group on erosion, technology and concentration, has suggested that it does not qualify as a human right as it cannot be considered intrinsic to what it means to be a human being; “The basic rights and services that people should be afforded are more important than the internet” (Equal Times, 2022). Moreover, if we considered internet access as a human right, governments may be forced to implement sufficient data infrastructure before other basic needs can be secured. But, Daño continues, surely we cannot put data connectivity “before electricity, food, and education”.

Steve Fuller, a social philosopher at the University of Warwick, has suggested that “the internet has had a chequered record of improving the human condition” – a minimum requirement of any human right (Fuller, 2017). The track record of the societal impact of an expanded internet access is still too mixed, according to Fuller.  Vinton Cerf, an internet pioneer, has suggested that it is a mistake to “place any particular technology” in the exalted category of human rights, since “over time we will end up valuing the wrong things” (Cerf, 2012).

An Argument for Internet Access as a Human Right: The Case of Mental Healthcare

Merten Reglitz, of the University of Birmingham, recently published an article in the journal Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, in which he argues that internet access should be considered a basic right due to how it has become indispensable for the realisation of other basic rights (2023). This is a “linkage argument”, meaning that something can be considered a right by virtue of it being necessary for someone to attain other, uncontroversial rights. This argument has three premises: 1) Everyone are entitled to socio-economic rights; 2) Internet access is practically indispensable for enjoying several socio-economic rights; 3) If we support an anchor right, we have good reasons to affirm that which achieves that right; namely, a supporting right.

Thus, we have good reasons to affirm internet access as a human right. Reglitz is careful to emphasise that mere “usefulness” is insufficient for something to be considered a supporting right, and that it must be “practically indispensable” for the enjoyment of this more basic right. Indeed, such an argument is already assumed by the UNESCO, which has declared that literacy is a human right. Literacy is not a good in itself, but it is “valuable as an enabler of other human rights”, including education and freedom of information (2023, p. 6).

In another article, co-written with Abraham Rudnick, Reglitz applies this argument specifically to issues of mental healthcare (2020). Internet access is a right “when there are currently no other viable means for realizing people’s human right to adequate health care”, including mental healthcare and the relief of mental suffering (Reglitz and Rudnick, 2020, p. 98). Such mental healthcare involves, at a minimum, treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention, with the purpose of reinstating sufficient levels of health. Today, the internet makes it possible to access a range of mental health apps, support self-management, and provide individualised feedback. As was noted in a previous research brief, the implementation of digital health systems and e-Health more broadly was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including digital mental healthcare solutions. Although sufficient in-person care solutions exist in some communities, digital mental healthcare solutions may be considered indispensable for people in rural communities, where in-person care is scarce due to geography or deemed too expensive. In this way, internet access is considered a right in those communities that are dependent on it for accessing adequate mental healthcare provision, which is justified by the basic right to healthcare.

Merten Reglitz and Abraham Rudnick have developed an interesting and forceful argument for the view that internet access should be considered a human right given the way that other basic rights, including access to healthcare, are becoming dependent on online connectivity in an increasingly digitalised world.

Policy recommendations

In order to secure adequate internet access, we propose the following recommendations to governments and policy makers:

1. Everyone, regardless of where they live, should have access to the internet. According to an Ofcom report, around 6% of UK households lack home internet access (Ofcom, 2022). We know from previous research that broadband availability is higher in urban than rural areas, including superfast broadband. We welcome the Government’s ambition to achieve a minimum of 85% gigabit capable coverage across the United Kingdom by 2025 (HM Treasury, 2020).  

2. All broadband providers should introduce social tariffs. Due to the cost-of-living crisis, many UK households are having to cut back their spending on internet access. Earlier statistics have shown that internet access largely depends on income. In March 2020, only 51 per cent of households earning between £6,000 to £10,000 had home internet access, compared with 99 per cent of households with an income over £40,000 (Local Government Association, 2021). Social tariffs – which are discounted deals for certain low-income people and for those claiming Universal Credit, Pension Credit, and other benefits – can offer valuable support to those that are struggling to stay online. Worryingly, however, millions of eligible households are missing out on such deals, according to Ofcom (Jolly, 2023). Half of eligible households remain unaware of social tariffs and the existence of cheaper deals. Lindsey Fussell, the Network & Communications Group Director at Ofcom, suggests that providers should “do much more to help these customers find and access these deals, at a time when these savings could make a massive difference”.   

3. Affordable devices schemes should be supported by the government and local councils. In the Leeds area, several important equipment schemes have been initiated. For example, Digital Access West Yorkshire refurbishes smart phones, tablets, laptops, and PCs for those that are experiencing the effects of the digital divide (https://accesswy.org/). Solidaritech, a community interest company, helps refugees and asylum seekers get access to technology to pursue studies, apply for jobs, start businesses, or convert existing qualifications to UK standards (https://solidaritech.com/). In Birmingham, the city council is gifting over a thousand digital devices through its Device Bank. Charities and community groups can apply for free laptops and computers to help those struggling to get digital access (Birmingham City Council, 2023).

References

Birmingham City Council. (2023). More than a thousand digital devices to be sent to communities. https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/news/article/1310/more_than_a_thousand_digital_devices_to_be_sent_to_communities 

Cerf, V. (2012). Internet Access is Not a Human Right. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/opinion/internet-access-is-not-a-human-right.html  

Guy, E. (2022). Should Access to the Internet Be a Human Right? Each Other. https://eachother.org.uk/should-access-to-the-internet-be-a-human-right/  

Equal Times. (2022). Internet access: a new human right? https://www.equaltimes.org/internet-access-a-new-human-right#.ZEzYYnbMKUk 

Fuller, S. (2017). Access to the internet is great, but it’s not a human right. The New Scientist. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2139144-access-to-the-internet-is-great-but-its-not-a-human-right/ 

HM Treasury. (2020) National Infrastructure Strategy. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938539/NIS_Report_Web_Accessible.pdf 

Jolly, J. (2023). Millions missing out on broadband social tariffs in UK, says Ofcom. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/24/millions-missing-out-on-broadband-social-tariffs-uk-ofcom 

Local Government Association. (2021). Tackling the digital divide - House of Commons, 4 November 2021. https://www.local.gov.uk/parliament/briefings-and-responses/tackling-digital-divide-house-commons-4-november-2021#:~:text=When%20the%20pandemic%20hit%20in,the%20skills%20to%20utilise%20it 

Ofcom. (2022). Digital exclusion: A review of Ofcom’s research on digital exclusion among adults in the UK. Available at: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/234364/digital-exclusion-review-2022.pdf.

Reglitz, M., and Rudnick, A. (2020). Internet access as a right for realizing the human right to adequate mental (and other) health care. International Journal of Mental Health, 49(1): 97-103. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207411.2020.1727019 

Reglitz, M. (2023). The socio-economic argument for the human right to internet access. Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. Unassigned: 1-29. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1470594X231167597 

Vincent, J. (2016). UN condemns internet access disruption as a human rights violation. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2016/7/4/12092740/un-resolution-condemns-disrupting-internet-access