Law in Contemporary Society

View   r4  >  r3  ...
JeffKaoSecondPaper 4 - 23 Apr 2010 - Main.NathanStopper
Line: 1 to 1
 
META TOPICPARENT name="SecondPaper"
Line: 20 to 20
 That the rights that we take for granted today are not guaranteed may be unsettling; however, awareness of this fact also comes with recognition of the opportunity to advocate rights in the world that we want to see. While it may be unsettling that rights we currently take for granted are not guaranteed, by embracing this fact we can advocate for firmer commitments to their enforcement and to the enforcement of other necessary rights. (I think this makes the sentence a little more readable.) Access to internet can be that type of right. Although I know what you're getting at, your preceding sentence makes me a bit unsure of the "type of right" that access to internet can be. You're saying that it should be a newly recognized right, but that doesn't come out too clearly from the preceding sentence. A transition sentence would clear it up. Declaring a right may not guarantee it, after all, de facto slavery arguably still exists today in the form of economic oppression and the prison system. But these declarations of creed often allow the vague right declared to be elaborated into something more concrete, perhaps with binding legal force.
Changed:
<
<
De facto slavery does exist, but real slavery still exists as well. It will make your point (merely declaring a right doesn't ensure) much more powerful if you refer to the existence of actual slavery instead of a de facto version.
>
>
De facto slavery does exist, but real slavery still exists as well. It will make your point (merely declaring a right doesn't ensure that it will be respected) much more powerful if you refer to the existence of actual slavery instead of a de facto version.
 

Benefits of Internet Access Rights

Line: 36 to 36
 The language of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares the right to “hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers”. It contains even stronger language than Article 11 of the French Declaration on the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789, and arguments have been advanced that recognition of internet access should be recognized as a right under Article 19 of the UDHR.
Changed:
<
<
Internet use in the developing world is increasing at a dramatic rate, and declaring internet access a right will serve as an important guide to that growth, in deterring internet and information censorship, as well as encouraging the prioritization of information services infrastructure to bring them to parity with more developed countries. While the internet is a tool for communication, our freedom to information is only as good as the access to sources, and our ability to communicate. Every denial of such tools harms the right to information. The internet is already the best communication tool in terms of access to information and audience reach, and it is becoming increasingly indispensable, as second nature as speaking itself. We should therefore regard it as a fundamental right, vital to the future development of society.
>
>
Instead of saying that arguments have been advanced by other people, I think you might want to consider just saying that it should be recognized as a right under Article 19. That's basically what you're driving at in this paper, and since you're at the conclusion, I think you should just say what you're saying instead of relying on other people to say it for you.

Internet use in the developing world is increasing at a dramatic rate, and declaring internet access a basic human right will serve as an important guide (I'm not sure if "guide" is the correct word here. Maybe something like "an additional impetus for further growth") to that growth, in deterring internet and information censorship, as well as encouraging the prioritization of information services infrastructure to bring them to parity with more developed countries. You might also want to consider making two sentences here. Something like: "internet use in the developing world is increasing at a dramatic rate, and declaring internet access a basic human right will serves as an important impetus for further growth. By deterring internet and information censorship, as well as encouraging the prioritization of information services infrastructure to developing countries, the declaration of internet access a human right will help ensure greater enjoyment of this right." While the internet is a tool for communication, our freedom to information is only as good as the access to sources, and our ability to communicate. Every denial of such tools harms the right to information. The internet is already the best communication tool in terms of access to information and audience reach, and it is becoming increasingly indispensable, as second nature as speaking itself as indispensable as speech itself . We should therefore regard declare it as a fundamental right vital to the future development of (global?) society.

I think you're asking a really interesting question in this paper, but it would benefit from focusing more specifically on the right at stake (wow I sound like Scalia in Michael H.). Is it the right to have some access to the internet, the right to have a fast connection, the right to have cheap internet, the right to information that happens to be on the internet, all of these, or something totally different?

I think it might also benefit if you pushed on internet censorship a little more. A lot of people who don't have internet access live in countries where they are not allowed to have any, or complete, access. Another interesting area that you might want to think about exploring (you raise it in the conclusion as well) is how declaring access a human right could improve access in developing countries. Exploring both of these topics might be a good idea.

One last point - make your argument more forcefully. It's a very good argument that has a lot of merit, but instead of relying on what other people have said about it to passively make your points, just say it yourself and back it up with statistics or other arguments.

I hope some of this makes sense. I've been told that when I edit I try too much to turn the author's voice into my voice, so I won't be offended it you take whatever is useful and just forget the rest. It's a very interesting topic and has lots of potential. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

-- By JeffKao - 06 Apr 2010


Revision 4r4 - 23 Apr 2010 - 14:30:25 - NathanStopper
Revision 3r3 - 23 Apr 2010 - 02:48:50 - NathanStopper
This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform.
All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
All material marked as authored by Eben Moglen is available under the license terms CC-BY-SA version 4.
Syndicate this site RSSATOM