Global Survey Finds Internet Access Considered “Fundamental Right”

The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy and the drafters of the National Broadband Plan aren’t the only ones interested in the issue of universal access to broadband. Quality high-speed Internet services – what Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Internet users around the globe have recognized as ”technologies of freedom” — are becoming indispensible to life in an increasingly interconnected world.

From the PEJ  New Media Index, which compares the leading commentary of blogs and social media sites focused on news to that of the mainstream press, comes the following about a new BBC survey . The poll found that four out of five adults worldwide consider Internet access to be a “fundamental right”:

Last week, in very large numbers, bloggers focused on a subject near and dear to their hearts-access to the internet.

The survey elicited more attention among bloggers than any other story in 2010, other than the devastating earthquake in Haiti, which also received 43% of the links the week of January 11-15, 2010.  And since PEJ began the New Media Index in January 2009, there have been just 10 stories in all that have captured more than 40% of links.

From March 8-12, the top story in the blogosphere was a BBC survey of more than 27,000 adults worldwide in which four out of five people consider internet access a “fundamental right.”  Fully 43% of links in blogs were about this story and a related information graphic that mapped the spread of internet access around the world.

The BBC World Service poll of  more than 27,000 adults reveals that, world-wide, people view the Internet in very positive terms, with 87% of those who used the Internet saying that Internet access ought to be “the fundamental right of all people.”  Other findings from the BBC survey include:

• Seventy-eight per cent said the Internet had brought them greater freedom.
• Nine in ten respondents (90%) said the Internet is a good place to learn.
• Respondents cited most often (47%) the ability to find information as the aspect of the Internet that they valued most, followed by the ability to connect with other people (32%), source of entertainment (12%) and other reasons.
• The poll found an even split between those who felt that the Internet is a safe place to express their personal opinions (48%) and those who did not feel this way (49%).
• Residents of the United States are more likely to say that the Internet has given them greater freedom in their lives (85% compared to 78% worldwide) and feel they can express themselves and speak freely on the Internet (55% compared to 48% worldwide). 
• Respondents said fraud (32%), violent and explicit content (27%) and privacy concerns (20%) caused the most concern in using the Internet.
• Most Internet users said that the Internet should not be regulated by governments, with more than half (53%) saying it should “never be regulated by any level of government anywhere.”

Read more from PEJ’s New Media Index and the BBC World Service.

The Federal Communications Commission recently released its survey of Broadband Adoption and Use in America. The report found that nearly two-thirds of American adults use a high-speed Internet connection to go online in the home.  For the remaining one-third who do not use broadband services at home, about 93 million Americans, the survey found the main dividing lines for access are along socioeconomic dimensions such as income, age and education.

The Knight Commission believes that all people have the right to be fully informed. “There need be no second-class citizens in informed communities,” the Commission stated in its report, Informing Communities. The Commission went on to say, ”Americans cannot compete globaly without new public policies and investment in technology.” If the free flow of information is as vital to freedom as these surveys and the public conversation surrounding them suggest, shouldn’t we be doing everything we can to make sure that all Americans have the tools, including broadband, the skills and the understanding to use information effectively?