With the human dependence on the internet, it's fair to include access to the internet as one of the fundamental human rights. Let's look at it from an angle where the existing fundamental human rights are somehow connected to the existing rights. Freedom to work, study, speech and many others have intertwined with the internet because we work, study and even express ourselves using the Internet.
Globally, a lot of our daily activities require the use of internet service, and it extends from just personal to commercial usage. We need it for all kinds of mobile transactions, communication, learning, entertainment, and even the healthcare system depends on it to an extent, so if the purpose of the human rights still remains promoting equality and empowering people, it means having access to the internet should be a right.
Depriving someone access to the internet in this digital age and time means disconnecting that individual from the world, so where is the equality or empowerment in that?"
I have had a related conversation with someone over this topic, and one of the things I hate is to see people claiming that there was a time when we never had the Internet and the human race survived. No doubt, we survived those years, but not anymore because the internet has become part of our daily lives.
Just this morning, I was going to the other side of the mainland, and the first thing I did before leaving my home was to see if there was traffic on my preferred route. The Google map made it possible with the help of the internet, and I was able to navigate the streets of Lagos without spending long hours sitting in the bus.
Let's imagine I am being deprived access to the internet suddenly; I can't tell what's happening on the road, and getting stuck in traffic is inevitable. It would mean that I can't make transactions and have to queue in the bank for every penny I need. Do you know what life would mean for me if deprived of the Internet? I can't even imagine it, so just send me to space instead.
What we survived then will be challenging to survive now because our lives weren't wired to the internet like they are today. It's more funny to think that those who feel like the internet isn't that necessary were the ones pleading for Twitter to be unbanned during the End SARS saga. That's just Twitter; now think of what would happen if the internet is taken down in a country like Nigeria.
I remember a time when a country's internet service was tampered with recently, probably because of an election or something else. I saw how the world reacted, and it tells how valuable the internet is to the world as a whole. I believe that the only time a person should be deprived of the internet is when they have committed a crime and been proven guilty by the court, which applies to depriving such a person of all other rights as well.
However, there could be some other reasons why a person could be denied access to the internet, and we mustn't be too blind to see these things.
Despite the availability of the Internet, there are people who still can't access it, probably because they can't afford a phone or even mobile data to enjoy the Internet services. We can't expect the government to take those responsibilities for us, so this is beyond discussing the fundamental human rights, or does having the right to education mean the government has to pay for your tuition?
While there are some setbacks with accessing the internet despite making it a fundamental human right, it should still remain a right across the world.