[SunkenCiv]

[gorush]

I don’t think I want to live in a world where free internet access doesn’t exist.

[Paladin2]

Freedom of the Press (and hopefully “the truth” somewhere within).

[ronnie raygun]

They fear what they can’t control

[opentalk]

The left doesn’t like sunlight or competition. NY Times is dying a slow death.

[mamelukesabre]

Rights

Are they things which we can demand a government provide for us? Are they things which we can demand a government NOT block us from acquiring on our own? Does the right to bear arms mean the government gives us each a firearm and training? Or does it mean we are free to seek out our own firearms and training?

In america, we have rights spelled out in the constitution. These “inalienable” rights are not the full list. The list does not imply that anything not on the list is not a right.

Maybe internet really is a right. Maybe driving a car is a right. Maybe we have lots of rights we don’t know about and many of them are currently being violated.

[mamelukesabre]

“Today, if I were granted a right to have a horse, I’m not sure where I would put it”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are so many problems with this article I don’t know where to begin. Rights are not “granted”. Rights are INALIENABLE and we are endowed with them BY OUR CREATOR.

That said, yes ya dolt, you have a right to own a horse IF YOU WANT ONE AND HAVE THE MEANS TO BUY ONE. No one needs to grant it to you.

[jiminycricket000]

In the U.S. the internet is a government regulated/controlled medium. As the internet becomes more and more necessary to living our daily lives, in an array of different ways, and if government starts regarding our access to the internet as some sort of "privilege", they will eventually, (and you can bet on it), begin suspending individuals' rights to internet access for committing certain newly created "crimes". Those "crimes" could be anything from saying the wrong things about a particular political candidate, to not being politically correct in internet posts, or to making statements of Christian faith, such as the "hate crimes" of condemning homosexual, pervert acts, or of condemning the human slaughter of babies in the womb. And anything and everything in between they can dream up and turn into a "crime".

This of course will be their attempt to bring every American "in line". Because it is becomming more and more of a reality that we are indeed heading quickly to a time when we really will need the computer every bit as much as most of us need an automobile, or a credit card-if even just to make reservations for travel, etc.

[bigbob]

This from a man who was one of those that truly DID invent the internet

[Yardstick]

Loosely put, it must be among the things we as humans need in order to lead healthy, meaningful lives...

*face palm*

[SkyDancer]

According to Ron Paul if it’s not in the Constitution it’s not allowed. He said that since the Border Patrol is not in the Constitution then it’s not allowed; although, he did join the Air Force which is not mentioned but just the Army and Navy.

[4rcane]

free media is a human right. NYT need to provide their services and labour for free

[WilliamofCarmichael]

The Internet helps improve the human condition . . . but access merely for the sake of access is not a right. I think I get what he's saying.. but I see that he's connected to google -- and probably worships Obama.

Two factors IMO that mean that he's in the Cass Sunstein school of libertarian paternalism where the masses are free to choose (libertarianism) but the government specifies the options (paternalism) from among which the masses are permitted to choose. (And lately Sunstein has added nudging to make sure that the masses make the correct choice.)

Thus mere access to the 'Net is not a right because you would therefore have a right to bypass your betters. They want overseers aboard the Internet -- to protect themselves against us masses. I say

make warder boarding the Internet illegal!

Civil rights, after all, are different from human rights because they are conferred upon us by law, not intrinsic to us as human beings.

I swear I recall reading on a U.N. site the definition of "human rights" as those things that governments are obligated to provide -- IOW, no mention of inalienable rights at the U.N. -- and lately, in American politics.