You wouldn’t think I’m important enough for the World Wide Web Consortium to worry about my reading its posts. Well, not really the W3C, but whoever runs its Mastodon account. Access from my Liberdon account is blocked, following my disagreeing with their statement that access to information is a “basic human right.” Prior to the block, they had responded to my comment by suggesting that I should not follow their account. Humans who question their views don’t have this right, apparently. It doesn’t cause me any trouble; as the link in this paragraph shows, it’s trivial to get around the block. The hypocrisy is just amusing.

There are two reasons that access to information can’t be a basic human right. The first is that information has to be provided by someone. Claiming a right to get something from others means claiming entitlement to their time and actions. It claims a master-servant relationship which the servant hasn’t chosen. Second, claiming a blanket right to access information denies the right to secrecy and privacy. If others have a right to access to my personal information, I have no claim to keeping information confidential. All spying is, by that theory, legitimate.

There are many cases where people have a right to information. If the law puts demands on people, they have a right to know what it requires, what consequences they should expect, and how they can defend themselves within the system. I could list many other examples. The problem is the sweeping claim of access to information as a “basic human right.”

Of course, I don’t have a right to W3C’s information, and their blocking me doesn’t violate any actual rights of mine. But by their theory, I have such a right and they’re violating it.