Web access a “fundamental human right” according to major survey

Four in five adults (79%) regard internet access as their fundamental right, according to a global poll conducted across 26 countries for the BBC World Service. Forty-four per cent admitted that they did not think they could cope without the internet. 

The poll of more than 27,000 adults found that 87 per cent of those who used the internet felt that internet access should be “the fundamental right of all people.” More than seven in ten (71%) non-internet users also felt that they should have the right to access the web. Most web users are very positive about the changes the internet has brought to their lives. Nearly four in five (78%) said they felt it had brought them greater freedom, nine in ten (90%) said they thought it was a good place to learn, and just over half (51%) said they now enjoyed spending their spare time on social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace.

However many web users remain cautious about speaking their minds online. The poll found that they were evenly split between those who felt that “the internet is a safe place to express my opinions” (48%) and those who did not feel this (49%). 

Asked what aspect of the internet they most valued, people most commonly identified the ability to find information of all sorts (47%), with its next most popular aspect being the ability to interact and communicate with people (32%). The internet’s roles as a source of entertainment (12%), as a tool to locate, research, and buy products and services (5%), and as a forum for creativity and sharing of content (3%) were less commonly mentioned as its most valuable aspect.

The poll also found that fraud was the aspect of the internet that caused people most concern, with 32 per cent saying it was what worried them most. Fraud emerged as a greater public concern than violent and explicit content, which was mentioned by 27 per cent, and threats to privacy, which were the major concern of one in five people (20%).

The results are drawn from a survey of 27,973 adult citizens across 26 countries, including 14,306 internet users, conducted for BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan.  

So what do people think locally about some of these issues?