ABSTRACT
There can be no doubt that the internet has become critical to a meaningful and dignified life, irrespective of one's geographical location. This chapter reviews arguments for and against recognising the right of access to the internet as an independent right and concludes that there is a basis for doing so. It shows that while the existing body international human rights law already protects several rights under which aspects of internet rights can be protected, there are some glaring gaps which warrant express recognition of a comprehensive right of access to the internet. Recognising such a right would herald momentous change in current thinking about internet rights which are seen mainly as freedom rights to conceptualising them as both freedom and socio-economic and development rights. Given the digital gap that exists across geo-political and economic divides and within states, recognising the right of access to the internet in this manner would obligate states to facilitate access to the internet as a socio-economic and development right and to protect the other rights associated with the internet. The chapter also calls attention to the role that private internet providers can play in protecting such a right.
