A right, no longer just a privilege.

If a world body so declares, so should member-nations comply.

Indeed, access to the world wide web is part of a person’s right to express his/herself  and to know.  Internet access could also be a platform to seek redress of grievances and, to a certain extent, freely assemble “online” through social networking sites.

And so with these in mind, we strongly urge the government to initiate policies or sponsor an enabling legislation to make such access mandatory and enforceable.       We agree with and support  a young legislator’s proposal calling on the government to start making steps to ensure universal access to the Internet following the United Nation’s report declaring access to the web as a basic human right.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino submitted House Resolution 1397 citing the UN report that vastly expands the capacity of individuals to enjoy their right to freedom of opinion and expression, which is an enabler of other human rights.

“The Internet boosts economic, social and political development and contributes to the progress of human kind as a whole,” Palatino was quoted by a  major broadsheet as saying.

Citing a UN Human Rights Council report, Palatino said facilitating access to the Internet for all individuals, with as little restriction to online content as possible, should be a priority of all governments.

“Universal access to the Internet should be a priority for all States given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights,” he said, explaining that   the UN encourages states to support initiatives to ensure that online information can be accessed in a meaningful way by all sectors of the population, including person with disabilities and persons belonging to linguistic minorities.

He said that the UN has  proposed to include Internet literacy skills in school curricula, conduct trainings to help individuals learn how to protect themselves against harmful content and explain the potential consequences of revealing private information on the Internet.

Palatino said the UN emphasizes that there should be as little restriction as possible to the flow of information via the Internet, except in few, exceptional and limited circumstances prescribed by the international human rights law.

“The report brought attention to content issues such as arbitrary blocking or filtering of content on the Internet, criminalization of legitimate expression, imposition of intermediary liability, disconnecting users from Internet access including on the basis of intellectual property rights law, cyber-attacks, inadequate protection of the right to privacy and data protection,” he said.

The partylist lawmaker noted that  the country has 30 million Internet users, 3.6 million of which are connected via broadband services. Yahoo-Nielsen’s survey showed that most Filipino internet users access web through Internet cafes.

He said that a majority of Filipinos remain unable to access the internet due to the “sorry state” of bandwidth in the country and high service fees.

Palatino said TxtPower, a consumer rights group, stated that while the Philippines has attained the respected status of a social media capital in the region and in Asia, the government’s telecommunications regulatory body, the National Telecommunications Commission, has failed to follow the lead of telecom regulators worldwide in defining what broadband Internet is, whether delivered via dial-up, wired or wireless connections.

“The group said, without such a definition, the NTC leaves telcos practically free to hoodwink end-users, including business and the government, regarding broadband Internet services, the cost and pricing and to keep Philippine Internet access among the slowest and most expensive in the region,” Palatino said.

Aside from accessibility and connectivity issues, the government, in the past, has committed several interventions and suggested several measures that may be deemed as violations to the right to Internet access and an encroachment on Internet and information technology.