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Comment by dfgonzalez | Hacker News Reader

Rights come with Obligations, so as long as they pay their taxes too, I'm OK with this

No they don't. Obviously not. Human rights are inalienable (though sometimes rights clash and then you need a mechanism to decide which one wins).

The UN has said that broadband Internet is a basic human right. This is starting to get difficult.

Internet access is a basic human right because it vastly improves the quality of human life.

Would internet access be a basic dolphin right? They didn't build it...

Neither did I...

I thought this was one of those negative rights, i.e. it doesn't have to be given to you, it just can't be taken from you.

Not given, but

“Each state should thus develop a concrete and effective policy to make the Internet widely available, accessible, and affordable to all segments of population.”

This can imply more than negative rights, in certain cases, but certainly not "free internet for everyone".

Interesting. It's always important when talking about "rights" to distinguish between negative and positive rights. Thanks for giving me a more fleshed out version there.

Not necessarily. Human infants have rights even if they are orphans with unknown family lineage. I don't think anyone wants to grant Dolphins the right to vote either. Just some basic protections, such as the right not to be killed without proper justification.

I'd say that rights don't come with obligations inherently. I believe a month-old baby has a right to live, and all it ever does is poop and cry.

That's not how things work. Some people never pay taxes, but have rights.

Don't most countries have fishing quotas within territorial waters as well? Not sure dolphins and whales will be happy with this.

Show me one dolphin who has exceeded quota.

People that don't have jobs don't have to pay taxes. (Except sales tax)

but they do get the dole.

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