Michael J. Oghia is a Belgrade-based independent consultant, researcher, and editor working within the Internet governance ecosystem, focusing on sustainable access and the relationship between the Internet, the environment, and sustainability
Internet Access, Sustainability, and Citizen Participation: Electricity as a Prerequisite for Democracy?
The lack of internet access is especially problematic because it is a key driver of inequality, which is a principal threat to not just democracy, but all human rights; hence, the barriers listed above only serve to exacerbate inequality. As the authors of a paper that examined sustainability and participation in the digital commons (Franquesa & Navarro, 2017) emphasized: “it is well established that there is an access gap between citizens who can afford a digital device and an internet connection and those who cannot.
August 28, 2017