[pp.int.general] The right to protest

[Maxime Rouquet]

On 06/30/2012 11:32 AM, Daniel Riaño wrote:
> what is the exact wording of the article that declares the Internet
> access a basic human right in the legislations that have already
> included such right in their constitution (I think Finland, and probably
> some more)?

In France, when the Constitutional Council censored[1] the first HADOPI
law back in 2009, he declared that accessing the Internet was part of
the right to freedom of speech and communication.

Read "Considérant 11" :

	en conférant à une autorité administrative, même indépendante,
	des pouvoirs de sanction consistant à suspendre l'accès à
	internet, le législateur aurait, d'une part, méconnu le
	caractère fondamental du droit à la liberté d'expression et de
	communication

Which would be translated as something like this :

	by giving an administrative authority, even independent
	sanctioning powers of suspending access to Internet, the
	legislature, on the one hand, disregarded the fundamental right
	to freedom of expression and communication

The Constitutional Council is the highest authority in the French system
regarding the respect of the Constitution and a few other texts (like
the 1789 Declaration of Human and Citizen Rights or international treaties).

This is a very interesting decision as the Council did not proclaimed
Internet as a "new" human right, but stated that accessing to the
Internet was part of the existing fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the
DDHC (which concerned article is similar to article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights).

Regards,

m

[1]
http://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/decision//2009/decisions-par-date/2009/2009-580-dc/decision-n-2009-580-dc-du-10-juin-2009.42666.html