a reminder
My work brings frequent reminders of one thing:
In this day and age, preventing someone from accessing the internet amounts to an abuse of human rights.
Others have argued this far more cogently than I can elsewhere. Here's how I see it on an everyday basis:
The Parole Board sets a condition banning someone from possessing or using an internet-capable device. The logic is sound: Their offending was online. To prevent further offending, keep them offline. Fair enough.
Except that that person, on release from prison, is constantly being told "Just do it online"
"But I can't"
"Why not?"
Now, do you really want the answer to that question? Should anybody be required to answer that question?
A lot of things can still be done the old-fashioned way, but it takes a lot of extra work, and that can include a lot of extra travel. For example, if you bank with Cooperative Bank and live in the Wellington region and you need to go in to a branch, then you're choices are Lower Hutt or Lambton Quay. That's not something you can do quickly on your lunch break if you're working in Porirua.
Now, if you've been released from prison and you are staying in transitional housing, you'll need to find stable, long-term accommodation. There is evidence to show that stable housing goes a long way to keeping people out of trouble. What I've been seeing the last few years is real estate agents running everything online. Go in the office to apply on paper and you're likely to be told that's no longer possible. What do you do if the Parole Board has decreed that you are not allowed internet access?
The thing is, controlled and monitored internet access are possible, and there are those who are allowed internet-capable devices but must hand them over to their Probation Officer for inspection when asked. It is possible to set things up so that a person may use the internet for certain specific purposes if they have an approved person supervising them to make sure they behave themselves. These things are done.
But they are not done for everyone, which leaves some people effectively shut out from a lot of basic life functions that the rest of us take for granted.
And surely it must be possible to set up a "white list" system in which those whose internet access needs monitoring are able to access government websites, their bank, an email address, and a few others such as their GP or real estate agents that they may need? That would allow them to participate in society while minimising the scope for reoffending.
It would be nice if the Parole Board would wake up to that reality, end the blanket bans on internet access, and opt for controlled, monitored, or supervised internet access instead.
It's really very hard to integrate people into society when all they face is barriers.