Finland makes broadband a right.

I already liked Finland for their asskicking driver's education program and their tendency to turn out World Rally Champions. And now this...

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/14/finland-makes-broadb.html

Finland makes broadband a right Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications has declared that access to 1MB broadband is a legal right. This is significant as it recognizes that much of what we do in today's world requires the net, from renewal of government documents like driving licenses to education to access to health services to engagement in the civic process by filing comments and forms with our local and national governments. It's also significant because the EU is trying to pass legislation on behalf of the record industry that would require European ISPs to cut off your Internet access if you were accused -- without proof or a court case -- of infringing copyright. Recognizing that broadband is a right makes this much harder to square with norms of justice and human rights. According to the report, every person in Finland (a little over 5 million people, according to a 2009 estimate) will have the right of access to a 1Mb broadband connection starting in July. And they may ultimately gain the right to a 100Mb broadband connection. Just more than a year ago, Finland said it would make a 100Mb broadband connection a legal right by the end of 2015. Wednesday's announcement is considered an intermediate step. France, one of a few countries that has made Internet access a human right, did so earlier this year. France's Constitutional Council ruled that Internet access is a basic human right. That said, it stopped short of making "broadband access" a legal right. Finland says that it's the first country to make broadband access a legal right.

the rate of taxes that they pay over there, it had better be a right!

if we socialized internet connections here in the States, it would be bog slow.

I am hereby floundering myself.

maroon92 wrote: I am hereby floundering myself.

Well, somebody had to do it; might as well be you!

It's already considered a right by HUD here in the US - all new public housing projects and renovations must include it.

Nice work if you can get it.

There's a TINY difference between HUD mandating all their "new" housing be wired for broadband, and HUD paying for it's residents to have it. I'm guessing (as I don't know this for a fact) that HUD housing is broadband wired.

BTW, with the exception of a few 3rd world countries, the average citizen in the U.S. has about THE slowest speed of internet access. Developing countries have higher internet speeds as their lowest speeds of connection than many areas of the U.S.

well, is that a technology problem.. or the sheer size of the using population problem?

integraguy wrote: There's a TINY difference between HUD mandating all their "new" housing be wired for broadband, and HUD paying for it's residents to have it. I'm guessing (as I don't know this for a fact) that HUD housing is broadband wired.

No, operators have to provide the actual service.

One of the benefits of not getting there first - you can wait for it to be made better and cheaper. Applies to countries as well as individual customers.

oldsaw wrote:

maroon92 wrote: I am hereby floundering myself.

Well, somebody had to do it; might as well be you!

HAH! I'm stuck with dial up, broadband doesn't exist out here. I could pay 60+ a month for satellite, but I don't like the idea of rainclouds killing my connection in Florida.....for some reason.