Events

1 July 2010

Open Connectivity, Open Data: Two Dimensions of the Right to Seek, Receive, and Impart Information

Lecture

Jonathon Penney
InternetNZ Senior Research Fellow in Cyber Law 2009
Based at the Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington

Recently, ideas about “rights” to Internet access or connectivity have received growing recognition from governments, legal institutions, and other political actors in several countries, including New Zealand. Despite this emerging political and legal recognition, there are few, if any, systematic studies exploring such ideas. Aiming to help fill this void, this lecture examines these emerging ideas, including the different notions of Internet "rights" and whether there is any legal basis for such rights in New Zealand. Though not without some obstacles, it will be argued that section 14 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights offers the best potential to found such claims.

Drawing on section 14's unique text, broader historical, social and legal context, as well as its past interpretations, Mr. Penney will argue that the right to "seek, receive, and impart information and opinions" does, in fact, offer a legal basis for a certain kind of right to Internet connectivity (open connectivity), as well as a legal basis to claim wider access— via the Internet or other mediums— to government information (open data). Some concrete implications, both legal and political, of these findings will also be discussed.

Law

Organisation:

InternetNZ, Victoria University Faculty of Law and the New Zealand Centre of International Economic Law.