He said there was a high bar for something to be considered a human right. You have to deal with things like freedom from torture or freedom of conscience before you get to things like an internet connection.

Putting technology into this exalted category makes things difficult over time too, he says. Once, if you lacked a horse, it was hard to make a living. But if it was everyone's right to have a horse then it would be pretty silly today, he reasons.

It is better to talk about critical freedoms like freedom of speech and freedom of access to information which are not necessarily bound to any particular technology at any particular time.