Internet access-a human right?

Is there a fundemental right to being online?

The Times asked a number of people that question and here are some of the replies

Being cut off from your broadband isn’t the same as being whisked to Guantánamo; I see it more as a consumer right and a citizen’s right. Nobody says you have to shop online at Tesco, but it is convenient.

says David Rowan,Editor, Wired magazine

easy access to technology and information is a growing human right

.says Sam Barratt who is Head of Media for Oxfam .

and this from Padraig Reidy,Index on Censorship

As the internet becomes a prime conduit for information, it would seem that yes, access is a right. Increasingly it is merely another public space in which we interact and learn; a public space in which we are still learning how to conduct ourselves. The idea of barring people from that public space is detrimental to liberty and equality.