Almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the internet is a fundamental right, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.
The survey – of more than 27,000 adults across 26 countries – found strong support for net access on both sides of the digital divide.
Countries such as Finland and Estonia have already ruled that access is a human right for their citizens.
International bodies such as the UN are also pushing for universal net access.
« The right to communicate cannot be ignored, » Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), told BBC News.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8548190.stm