Summary: Human rights scrutiny is a necessary component of any effort to ensure that communication technology can be effectively adopted and used. This is particularly true when the means of communication are shut down during a democratic upheaval in one country or cut off for 10 minutes on a television set in another.

The author proposes a model to solve dissemination and access problems based on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. While Autronic AG v. Switzerland stimulates the market to support innovation and dissemination of technology, Khurshid Mustafa and Tarzibachi v. Sweden supports the adoption of that technology without unjustified restriction by the state or private individuals. Together these cases can be interpreted as sending a signal to all innovators, disseminators and users, that no matter what type of communication technology is used, there exists a general right of access to all forms of information.

The legally inclined may wish to read the orginal article.