Finland: Broadband is a legal right
BBC News - Finland makes broadband a ‘legal right’:
Finland has become the first country in the world to make broadband a legal right for every citizen.
From 1 July every Finn will have the right to access to a 1Mbps (megabit per second) broadband connection. Finland has vowed to connect everyone to a 100Mbps connection by 2015.
In the UK the government has promised a minimum connection of at least 2Mbps to all homes by 2012 but has stopped short of enshrining this as a right in law.
The Finnish deal means that from 1 July all telecommunications companies will be obliged to provide all residents with broadband lines that can run at a minimum 1Mbps speed.
While this does sound pretty cool, I think the reason this works is because Finland has such a high Internet penetration. According to the article it says that about 96 percent of homes in the country have an Internet connection.
I don't know though if I'd say calling broadband access is right. But I do think equal access to information IS. I'm not sure if this isn't a rather roundabout way of doing that, though.
ETA: A closer reading of the bill shows that internet access is not given to be a 'legal right' but is instead a "universal service obligation" that the government says is part of "basic communications services like telephone or postal services".
Finland has become the first country in the world to make broadband a legal right for every citizen.
From 1 July every Finn will have the right to access to a 1Mbps (megabit per second) broadband connection. Finland has vowed to connect everyone to a 100Mbps connection by 2015.
In the UK the government has promised a minimum connection of at least 2Mbps to all homes by 2012 but has stopped short of enshrining this as a right in law.
The Finnish deal means that from 1 July all telecommunications companies will be obliged to provide all residents with broadband lines that can run at a minimum 1Mbps speed.
While this does sound pretty cool, I think the reason this works is because Finland has such a high Internet penetration. According to the article it says that about 96 percent of homes in the country have an Internet connection.
I don't know though if I'd say calling broadband access is right. But I do think equal access to information IS. I'm not sure if this isn't a rather roundabout way of doing that, though.
ETA: A closer reading of the bill shows that internet access is not given to be a 'legal right' but is instead a "universal service obligation" that the government says is part of "basic communications services like telephone or postal services".