Whereas "mother-tongue education" was deemed a human right for every child inthe world by a Unesco report in the early '50s, "mother-tongue surfing" may verywell be the Information Age equivalent. If the Internet is to truly become theglobal network that it is promoted as being, then all users, regardless oflanguage background, should have access to it. To keep the Internet as thepreserve of those who, by historical accident, practical necessity, or politicalprivilege, happen to know English, is unfair to those who don't.