Internet access is a 'fundamental right', global poll reveals
Internet access a 'fundamental right', finds global poll of more than 27,000 adults
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 08, Mar 2010 12:47
By inthenews.co.uk staff.
A poll has found almost four in five people around the world believe access to the internet is a 'fundamental right'.
The BBC World Service poll of more than 27,000 adults across 26 countries discovered that 87 per cent of internet users thought web access was a basic right.
"The right to communicate cannot be ignored," Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), told BBC News.
"The internet is the most powerful potential source of enlightenment ever created."
The survey, which was conducted by GlobeScan for the BBC, found that internet users in South Korea and Nigeria felt strongly that governments should never be involved in regulation of the internet, however, a majority of those in China and many European countries disagreed - with 55 per cent of those polled in the UK believing that there was a case for some government regulation of the internet.
More than 70 per cent of non-users felt that they should have access to the internet, and overall, almost 79 per cent of those questioned said they either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the description of the internet as a fundamental right - whether they currently had access or not.