Office of Communications (Ofcom) (return to blog) Blog
Four in Five Regard Internet Access as a Fundamental Right: Global Poll
The BBC report that “Four in five adults (79%) regard internet access as their fundamental right according to a new global poll conducted across 26 countries for BBC World Service.
The poll of more than 27,000 adults conducted by GlobeScan 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. Countries where very high proportions regarded internet access as their fundamental right included South Korea (96%), Mexico (94%), and China (87%).
Most web users are very positive about the changes the internet has brought to their lives, with strong support for the information available, the greater freedom it brings and social networking. However there was caution about expressing opinions online and fraud…
The poll was commissioned for SuperPower a major season throughout March on the BBC’s international news services: BBC World Service, BBC World News and BBC.com, exploring the extraordinary power of the internet.
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. GlobeScan coordinated fieldwork, involving telephone and in-person interviews, between 30 November 2009 and 7 February 2010…”
The detailed findings can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/08_03_10_BBC_internet_poll.pdf
