Broadband internet a legal right in Finland

By on Jul 1, 2010 at 5:48 PM
Internet July 1, 2010

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Thanks to a new law that comes into effect today, every single citizen of Finland now has a legal right to a wired broadband connection with a minimum speed of 1Mbps. According to communication minister Suvi Linden, the reason for the law is due to the fact that “internet services are no longer just for entertainment” and that it is a necessary to have to live in their “information society.” In Finland, all but 4% of households currently have broadband connections. This, says the government, equates to about 4,000 households, all of which should be compliant with the new law in short order. And just in case you’re curious, no, the Finnish government isn’t going to go totally ape if people who benefit from this law get into piracy. According to Linden, the most the Finnish government will do if someone is illegally downloading copyrighted material is send them letters.

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31 Comments

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  • Jojo

    Time to pack up a good long winter coat, pair of boots and hit the road…

  • NOnE

    First!

    • Lunchbox

      I personally hate you.

  • blargh

    Free healthcare or free broadband, that is the question.

    • YAZombie

      They have both…

      • Tdot34

        And free university

      • doug

        …and free hotties too

    • Fuzz

      Actually it’s not _free_ broadband.

      If I understood correctly, this just means that companies can’t decide you’re not worth the trouble and deny you the right to have access to a 1Mbps connection. Most likely all the companies do this using mainly existing wireless 3G connections.

      What is interesting is that by 2015 they should provide you with 100Mbps connection. That will require more investments.

      (And if you are interested about healthcare, consult Wikipedia or Google.)

  • Lunchbox

    US lawmakers, please take note how real lawmakers represent for the best interest of their people.

  • YAZombie

    Welcome to a real democracy

  • El Oscuro Secreto

    1mb? There won’t be too much pirating going on anyway.

  • Prey521

    Broadband a legal right? WTF? This is the stupidest thing that I’ve read today.

  • Nokia N900

    As long as the illegal immigrants don’t get their filthy hands on it I’m all for it!

  • Alex

    Well this makes perfect sense! Just like the European lawmakers perfected the EU and other European economies.

  • MikeD

    It makes sense.

    Fat chance of that ever happening in the US. Too many suckers here paying too much for a lackluster bandwidth already. America seriously needs a reboot. It needs to address the future as opposed to holding on to the past to the point its to our own detriment.

  • http://www.phonejunkie.net tim lanfair

    Finland might be the model for the rest of the world. In the US cell phones and broadband are still considered a luxury, and does not carry much weight in the inalienable rights category of our constitution. The Term “information Society” could be the new slogan for a national broadband initiative. The 1-megabit per second is definitely not the fastest of speeds but as the web evolved and our society changes to an information society maybe everyone should have access to some degree? what do you think?

  • RadDude

    MikeD- Too many suckers? You do realize we are one of the few countries that do not have Bandwidth caps?

    Paying too much… have you seen the costs in Canada or Australia? It’s a joke.

    Who the hell doesn’t have access that we are talking about here? The ones that don’t contribute to society and sit on their lazy asses starting to drink beer at 10:AM everyday?

    Best interest of the people…I think we can make decisions for ourselves thank you very much.

    • MikeD

      They better not. They’d kill the internet economy in the US if they had caps.

      Also our internet is not world class. http://tinyurl.com/3xovr7c

      And people especially in rural areas are locked out because they can’t get a reliable internet connection. Soon if you don’t have an internet connection you are going to be locked into poverty. The web needs to be accessible by all. The price this country will pay is going to be very BAD, as other countries that are pro-access continue to surpass the US.

      Capitalism in its current state if not left modernized is going to literally drive America in to a ditch that it may never get out of for another 200 years if even ever.

      You want to compete against the growing rivalry happening world wide, you have to give your people an edge.

      • Alex

        Right – capitalism fails, socialism wins (assuming this is what you meant by “modernized capitalism”). And if that’s not what you meant, please explain to me how you modernize capitalism . . .

        By the way since you implied the US is “anti-access,” can you find me a law/code/statute that states certain citizens living in a certain area are forbidden access to the Internet?

      • MikeD

        I didn’t say socialism. You obviously don’t even know the true meaning of Socialism. The word is used too loosely as an excuse to do NOTHING.

        Capitalism uncontrolled was what drove us into the ditch. I’m sure you probably love this gilded age. (Look it up if you don’t know what I mean) but America became the number one power because we had the best infrastructure and educational system. If the rest of the world is putting in modern structures as well as modern policies to the way the world goes round, we will be left in the dust. Hell, our power grid is just one short-circuit away from a major business interruption.

        Yeah we have a powerful military, but we can’t go bomb these competitors. World war 2 damage is long gone and now the EU is getting up to speed. They have faster transit and American capitalism can’t seem to get hi-speed rail off the ground anywhere near Europe our Japan. So keep thinking all is fine, When obviously its not.

        Capitalism has lost all its PATRIOTISM. its all about holding on to the old technology, old policies and old , and playing a game of chicken to see how long they can do nothing until they have too. They this up keep it up and they’ll permanently lose the lead.

      • Alex

        You never answered any of my questions. How do you modernize capitalism?

        Also, if you honestly believe that capitalism caused the current crisis (i.e. what the talking heads on TV tell you) then you clearly have no clue. Look to history:
        - Federal Reserve Act of 1913
        - Community Reinvestment Act of ’77
        - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
        - Clinton’s reaffirmation of the Community Reinvestment Act

        What we have now is crony capitalism. Big businesses take extraordinary risks without the fear of going bankrupt because big brother will always be there for it. That type of capitalism will not work. The government is the cause of all of the bubbles and collapses. The government fixes prices through those items I mentioned above as well as: student loans, social security, food stamps, unemployment, stimulus packages, etc. If you don’t believe this, you truly are delusional.

        I agree with you, though, on our infrastructure. It is outdated; however, it still functions. Private industry will update it when they see fit. You also need to realize that we have building our infrastructure for over a century; therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that our infrastructure is outdated compared to other emerging markets (India, China, Europe — YES Europe! They were decimated after WWII and had a bunch to rebuild).

        By the way, we have a long way to go to lose the lead. I look forward to your response.

  • SOUTHERN MISS ELITE

    Firstly, Finland isn’t the BIGGEST country….so this can easily be a “right”

    Secondly, this just requires that every citizen has the ABILITY to obtain broadband internet. Those 4k who can’t get it right now may not want it when they get the clearance to get it.

    Thirdly, this would be pointless in America, because we’re a country that’s widely dispensed. Why should a major company lay lines to a remote city in Montana? They chose to live there in the wild….it would be a nightmare if a company (big or small) HAD to at least provide a service to them that they probably wouldn’t want.

    …Because you know with our lobbyists that are in America…somehow us tax payers would pay for that “right”.

  • The Man

    Nothing is more expensive than something that’s free. Especially when big brother is involved.

  • Dimwit

    @raddude,
    Actually, at my last house there was no broadband available, yet somehow I was making in excess of $95,000 a year. Sometimes the more “productive” among us prefer to live in less densely populated areas in order to get away from pricks like you. The cable companies said it wasn’t worth the investment in infrastructure to service homes on multi-acre lots.

  • Dimwit

    @ southern Miss,
    You mean like electricity?
    The FCC could make it “worth it” to those companies to lay that cable. Hell, with all the unemployment the government could lay the fiber trunks then charge the isp’s for access to them, and call it a jobs program.

    • SOUTHERN MISS ELITE

      You want the government to lay cable/fiber optics???

      Be careful what you wish for….because I wouldn’t allow a single politician to think they have any more power over broadband than they currently do.

      Mess around and you’ll have unfair bidding for the rights to the access with backdoor deals and kickbacks.

  • Dimwit

    But at least we would HAVE access.

  • trooth

    Everyone in the US has access to the satellite broadband service. They may not have the means to pay for it, but broadband internet service is available to everyone in the continental US. Granted the latency of a satellite is not good for playing games and voip services, however their bill did not state that playing online games or running voip was a right. Wild Blue offers .5 1.0 and 1.5 mbps connections.

    I guess the free market beat the legislature to the punch and already provides broadband access availability to all people in the mainland.

    • AyeYoZee

      How does one tie into this and make use of it? What is required? How come this news isn’t widespread? This is the first I’ve heard of it…

  • Andrew

    @trooth

    Wild Blue is a joke. My work is a provider of HughesNet which offers better speeds than Wildblue and we looked into selling WildBlue at one time, but it’s a joke…. HughesNet may not be as cheap but there are way better speeds. I have it at my house and I get speeds up to 2mbps.

  • http://alghienkad06.student.ipb.ac.id/ thea

    Welcome to a real democracy

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