- It's easy to condemn a country for cutting off the internet, but can it be justified under certain situations?
- The UN Human Rights Council deemed that basic internet access is a human right, but is it a fundamental human right which should never be taken away?
- What if we're isolated from the outside world but can still access local email, banking, websites, etc. to carry on our daily lives. Does that count as being cut off from the internet and having a human right violated?
- The sheer scale of shutdown is surprising - not just a few days, but for months on end. How long could we last without access to the internet and how far would we travel to get it?
Actually I don't disagree with your general sentiment - if I understand it correctly - that (a) cutting off the Internet is relatively minor compared to war's true atrocities and (b) the UNHRC is basically an impressive-looking name to a dysfunctional and morally bankrupt organization (eg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Human_Rights_Cou...)
But my main point is that HN discussions are interesting when they're not on the judgmental side ("How bad is Syria compared to X?") but on the perceptive one ("What are the implications on the ground of cutting the net? How easy/hard is for Syrians to find other ways to connect?" etc)
> - The UN Human Rights Council deemed that basic internet access is a human right, but is it a fundamental human right which should never be taken away?
I think it can be qualified. The notion that free speech, which I think we can mostly agree is an equal if not more fundamental human right, can be qualified with things like "fighting words" or "clear and present danger" suggests that other rights can similarly have exceptions.
I don't know what those are, and I have a hard time accepting that our historical examples are a good indicator, so.
You do retain the ability of saying "Fighting words" or words that create a "clear and present danger" with the threat of punishment if used improperly. The critical principle of free speech is that it is free from prior restraint. You cant (or shouldnt) stop someone from saying something even if it is something they can be punished for.
Cutting off access to the internet is like wholesale confiscation of printing presses without regard to their actual use.
